Tang Dynasty
The Fisherman
Liu Zongyuan
渔翁夜傍西岩宿，晓汲清湘燃楚竹。
烟销日出不见人，欸乃一声山水绿。
回看天际下中流，岩上无心云相逐。
Translation
The old fisherman spends the night beside the western cliff. At dawn he draws clear Xiang River water and burns bamboo from Chu. The smoke clears, the sun rises, and the man is no longer seen. Only one creaking sound of the oar is heard, and the mountains and waters seem suddenly greener. Looking back, his boat is already far off, descending the midstream from the edge of the sky. Above the cliff, mindless clouds drift after one another.
Analysis
"The Fisherman" is one of Liu Zongyuan's representative landscape poems from his exile in Yongzhou. On the surface, it describes an old fisherman leaving at dawn. More deeply, it presents a vision of withdrawal from the human world and union with the natural landscape. The opening line places the fisherman beside a western cliff at night. He does not sleep in an inn or village, but by rock and water. From the beginning, he belongs more to the landscape than to society. "At dawn he draws clear Xiang River water and burns bamboo from Chu" gives simple daily actions: drawing water, making fire. Yet in this setting, these acts feel pure and self-sufficient. The phrases "clear Xiang" and "Chu bamboo" also root the poem in the southern landscape where Liu Zongyuan was exiled. "The smoke clears, the sun rises, and the man is no longer seen" is a crucial transition. The fisherman disappears almost like the morning smoke. Liu does not describe his departure in detail; he lets human presence fade away. "Only one creaking sound of the oar is heard, and the mountains and waters seem suddenly greener" is the poem's most famous moment. The fisherman is unseen, but one sound remains. That sound does not disturb the landscape. Instead, it awakens it. The mountains and waters appear more vivid, as if the oar's sound had released their color. The next line expands distance. Looking back, the boat is already far away in the midstream, as if descending from the horizon. Human life becomes smaller and more remote. The final line turns to clouds above the cliff, drifting after one another "without mind." This "mindless" movement suggests a Daoist or Buddhist freedom from intention and attachment. The fisherman, the river, the sound, and the clouds all belong to a world beyond worldly striving. The poem's beauty lies in how lightly it treats human presence. The fisherman appears, acts, disappears, and becomes sound. Finally even that sound gives way to cloud and water. In exile and loneliness, Liu Zongyuan imagines a life of quiet detachment and natural freedom.
About the Author
Liu Zongyuan, courtesy name Zihou, was a major Tang dynasty writer, thinker, and poet from Hedong, often known as Liu Hedong. He took part in the Yongzhen Reform, and after its failure he was demoted and exiled to Yongzhou and later Liuzhou. He is one of the Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song, famous for works such as "The Snake Catcher's Story," "Record of the Little Stone Pond," and the "Eight Records of Yongzhou." His poetry often reflects exile, solitude, clear landscapes, and philosophical detachment. "The Fisherman" shows his ability to turn a simple river scene into a profound image of freedom, distance, and quiet withdrawal.