南朝梁鍾嶸《詩品》曾推崇嵇康詩云：「託諭清遠，良有鑒裁」；而其中「目送歸鴻，手揮五絃」一語，東晉畫家顧愷之曾道：「手揮五絃易，目送歸鴻難。」又清神韻派詩論家王士禎亦云：「妙在象外」。如此，在「手揮五絃」與「目送歸鴻」所並置的意象中，便極可能蘊藏著嵇康「良有鑒裁」下「託諭清遠」的審美究竟。職此，本文擬以「越名任心」、「不繫所欲」、「妙在象外」等三個進程，來一探嵇康詩中「目送歸鴻，手揮五絃」的審美意蘊。

In the days of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Liang Dynasty critic Zhong Rong highly praised the poetry of Ji Kang in his Critique of Poetry. Zhong Rong states, "The thoughts expressed within his poetry are pure and distant, yet possess a deep understanding and creativity." In reference to Ji Kang's two lines, "Gazing after the wild geese returning home, plucking a song on the pentachord," the artist, Gu Kai Zhi, of the Eastern Jin Dynasty said, "Plucking the pentachord is easy, gazing after the wild geese returning home is hard." In addition, the Qing Dynasty poet, Wang Shizhen, advocate of shenyun (spiritual resonance) theory, said of Ji Kang's poetry, "Exquisite beauty lies outside of appearance," therefore, the juxtaposition of "plucking a song on the pentachord" and "gazing after the wild geese returning home" creates a visualization of Ji Kang's outstanding thoughts expressed by his words of "deep understanding and creativity" which are "pure and distant." And in this way, it achieves his ultimate goal, the appreciation of beauty. Accordingly, this article uses three sections, "Transcend worldly fame and position", "Don't be tied down by desires", and "Exquisite beauty lies outside of appearance," to discuss the aesthetic sensibility and meaning of Ji Kang's poem, "Gazing after the returning wild geese, plucking the pentachord."