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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

昌谷北园新笋四首·其一

New Bamboo Shoots at the North Garden of Changgu, Four Poems · First

李贺

Li He

咏物Object poetry 咏竹Bamboo

箨落长竿削玉开，君看母笋是龙材。
更容一夜抽千尺，别却池园数寸泥。

The husks fall from the tall culms, as if carved open from jade;
Look you — these mother shoots are dragon stuff.
Given but one night, let them shoot a thousand feet,
Leaving behind the few inches of garden mud.

Listen

Meaning

Bamboo shoots have broken through their sheaths in the northern garden, pale and smooth as carved jade, and the poet cries out that such shoots are material for dragons. With a single night's grace they could shoot up a thousand feet, forget the few inches of garden mud they came from, and be away. The poem praises the shoots while quietly praising the poet's own unspent ambition.

箨落长竿削玉开，君看母笋是龙材。更容一夜抽千尺，别却池园数寸泥。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] In his home garden at Changgu Li He watches bamboo shoots push out of their husks, bright as carved jade, and declares them dragons in waiting. He then imagines what a single night would do for them: a thousand feet of new culm, and the little patch of mud left behind. [Structure] The four lines form a chain of shape, quality, force, and will. The first presents the shoots as they are; the second declares what they are made of; the third asks for what they might do; the fourth says what that would cost them. [Imagery] Carved jade gives the shoots their cool smoothness and their worth; the dragon gives them a destiny; a thousand feet gives them scale; 'a few inches of garden mud' gives them — and us — their origins. The final contrast is what makes the poem more than a nature note: a thousand feet against a few inches, height against roots. The poet's own situation stands behind all four lines, and neither the shoots nor the poet is named as the other; the identification is left for the reader to make.

【白话串讲】李贺写《昌谷北园新笋四首·其一》：“箨落长竿削玉开，君看母笋是龙材”——“更容一夜抽千尺，别却池园数寸泥”——新笋一夜能抽千尺——他借笋写自己的抱负。【意象与手法】此诗咏竹笋而言志，是李贺的名篇。前二句写笋的形质：「箨落长竿削玉开」写箨落长竿、削玉而开，「君看母笋是龙材」写君看母笋是龙材；后二句写笋的志向：「更容一夜抽千尺」写更容一夜抽出千尺，「别却池园数寸泥」写别却池园数寸之泥。全诗以咏笋写凌云之志，写尽新笋冲天而上的志向，正是李贺「瑰奇」诗风的本领。【情感与主旨】此诗咏竹笋而言志，是李贺的名篇。李贺才华横溢而怀才不遇，其咏物诗多借物言志。此诗咏新笋：箨（笋壳）落长竿，如削玉而开，君看母笋（大笋）是龙材（成龙之材）；更容一夜抽出千尺，别却池园数寸之泥。全诗以笋写凌云之志——那「箨落长竿削玉开」写笋脱壳而出，如削玉般晶莹；那「君看母笋是龙材」写笋是龙材，终将成龙；那「更容一夜抽千尺」写一夜抽出千尺，写尽新笋冲天而上的气势；那「别却池园数寸泥」写别却数寸之泥，写尽摆脱禁锢、直上青云的志向。全诗以咏笋写凌云之志，写尽新笋冲天而上的志向，正是李贺「瑰奇」诗风的本领。进一步看此诗的结构，四句之间层层递进，构成了「形—质—势—志」的完整链条。首句「箨落长竿削玉开」写笋的形——笋壳脱落，长竿如削玉般晶莹，先写笋形之美；次句「君看母笋是龙材」写笋的质——母笋是龙材，终将成龙，再写笋质之非凡，一个「看」字以呼告引出惊叹，为后文的凌云之志张本；第三句「更容一夜抽千尺」写笋的势——一夜抽出千尺，以「更容」的假设语气写尽冲天之势，是全诗最昂扬的一笔；末句「别却池园数寸泥」写笋的志——别却数寸泥，直上青云，以「千尺」对「数寸泥」，写尽摆脱禁锢的决心。四句由形到质、由势到志，层层递进，将咏物与言志完美融合——咏的是笋，言的是志，笋即人，人即笋，正是咏物诗「托物言志」的最高境界。这一结构上的匠心，使四句绝句既有写物的精工，又有言志的磅礴，是此诗艺术上最见功力之处。【名句点睛】常考「更容一夜抽千尺」写新笋冲天而上的气势；「君看母笋是龙材」写笋是龙材、终将成龙；「箨落长竿削玉开」写笋脱壳如削玉；以及全诗以咏笋言志、写凌云之志的手法。

Background

Li He (790–816), courtesy name Chang-ji, came from Fuchang in what is now Yiyang, Henan. He was a prodigy who claimed a brush from the gods, died at twenty-seven, and left behind a body of verse unlike anything of its time, characteristically terse, violent, and full of rare objects. The name Changgu, 'Long Valley,' is his family place in Henan, and the north garden there was his own. Because his father's name contained the character for 'jin,' he was barred from the examinations as a matter of naming etiquette, and spent his short life seeking patronage. This poem, and the three that follow it, were written amid the ordinary business of watching his garden grow, and read as an ordinary subject made enormous.

此诗咏竹笋而言志，是李贺的名篇。李贺（790—816），字长吉，福昌（今河南宜阳）人，中唐著名诗人，人称「诗鬼」。昌谷是李贺的家乡（今河南宜阳），北园是他家中的园圃。此诗约作于李贺家居昌谷时期，咏北园新笋而言志。李贺才华横溢而怀才不遇，因避父讳不得应进士举，仕途困顿，其咏物诗多借物言志。此诗咏新笋：「箨落长竿削玉开」写箨（笋壳）落长竿、如削玉而开——新笋脱壳，长竿如玉，晶莹剔透；「君看母笋是龙材」写君看母笋（大笋、老笋）是龙材——笋是龙材，终将成龙（古代有「竹化为龙」的传说，「龙材」即终将成龙之材）；「更容一夜抽千尺」写更容一夜抽出千尺——新笋一夜之间抽出千尺，写尽冲天而上的气势；「别却池园数寸泥」写别却池园数寸之泥——摆脱池园数寸之泥的禁锢，直上青云。全诗以咏笋写凌云之志，写尽新笋冲天而上的志向，也是李贺自身凌云之志的写照，是理解李贺咏物言志诗的重要篇章。

Art

The poem works by four moves which all point the same way. It opens with the shape of the shoots — sheaths fallen, culms standing, 'as if carved open from jade' — and so establishes both beauty and worth in one image. It then jumps to their destiny with 'dragon stuff,' a phrase that both praises and predicts. The third line is the pivot: an unreal condition, 'given but one night,' attached to an impossible height, 'a thousand feet.' The fourth closes with the thing the shoots would have to abandon. The 'like' of the second line and the 'but' of the fourth are the only grammatical links, and both do the real work: one attaches a metaphor, the other a cost. Structurally the poem climbs by degrees — form, substance, impulse, resolution — and never once explains itself, which is why a reader must bring a little of the poet's pride to it. Every word is plain, and every word is loaded.

此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以形写神。起句「箨落长竿削玉开」写笋的形质——那「箨落」写笋壳脱落，「长竿削玉开」写长竿如削玉般晶莹，以形写神，写尽新笋脱壳的晶莹与挺拔。其二，以喻写材。「君看母笋是龙材」以「龙材」的比喻写笋是龙材——那「龙材」写终将成龙之材，以喻写尽新笋的非凡资质与凌云之志。其三，以夸张写势。「更容一夜抽千尺」以「一夜抽千尺」的夸张写新笋冲天而上的气势——那「千尺」写尽冲天的气势，那「一夜」写尽生长的神速，以夸张写尽凌云之志。其四，以对比写志。「别却池园数寸泥」以「千尺」与「数寸泥」的对比写摆脱禁锢、直上青云——那「千尺」写尽志向之高，那「数寸泥」写尽禁锢之微，以对比写尽别却数寸泥、直上千尺的凌云之志。此外，此诗的章法也极见匠心：四句之间层层递进，构成了「形—质—势—志」的完整链条。首句「箨落长竿削玉开」写笋的形——笋壳脱落，长竿如削玉般晶莹，先写笋形之美；次句「君看母笋是龙材」写笋的质——母笋是龙材，终将成龙，再写笋质之非凡，一个「看」字以呼告引出惊叹，为后文的凌云之志张本；第三句「更容一夜抽千尺」写笋的势——一夜抽出千尺，以「更容」的假设语气写尽冲天之势，是全诗最昂扬的一笔；末句「别却池园数寸泥」写笋的志——别却数寸泥，直上青云，以「千尺」对「数寸泥」，写尽摆脱禁锢的决心。四句由形到质、由势到志，层层递进，将咏物与言志完美融合——咏的是笋，言的是志，笋即人，人即笋，正是咏物诗「托物言志」的最高境界。这一结构上的匠心，使四句绝句既有写物的精工，又有言志的磅礴，是此诗艺术上最见功力之处。四重手法加上章法的递进，使此诗以咏笋写凌云之志，写尽新笋冲天而上的志向，正是李贺「瑰奇」诗风的本领。

Allusions

The poem draws on the old connection between bamboo and dragons: shoots were nicknamed 'dragon buds,' and there were stories of culms turning into dragons, so 'dragon stuff' is not a fancy but a technical term of the garden. 'A thousand feet' answers to a familiar wish in the poetry of the Tang, that some tree or other would grow a thousand feet high. The sheaths, the culms, and the jade all belong to the bamboo writing of the Tang, where bamboo stood for a man empty within and straight without. 'A few inches of garden mud' is the deliberate reverse of the lotus's 'from the mud yet unstained' and of the bamboo's own 'an empty heart,' both of which take soil as an environment to be transcended by purity; here soil is only a small prison to be left behind. The word hua, 'to transform,' lies just under 'dragon,' and with it the whole tradition in which a literary man becomes a dragon rather than an official.

此诗的用语深植于咏竹与言志的传统。「箨落」令人想到「箨」写笋壳的意象——「箨龙」是笋的雅称，也令人想到「落箨」写脱壳的意象；「长竿」令人想到「长竿」写竹竿的意象，也令人想到「竿」写直立的意象；「削玉开」令人想到「削玉」写竹竿如玉的意象，也令人想到「玉」写晶莹的意象——「洗濯其根，玉立修竹」；「母笋是龙材」令人想到「龙材」写终将成龙之材的意象——古代有「竹化为龙」的传说，也令人想到「龙」写凌云飞升的意象；「一夜抽千尺」令人想到「抽」写竹笋抽长的意象，也令人想到「千尺」写高耸的意象——「新松恨不高千尺」（杜甫），更令人想到「千尺」写凌云的高度；「别却池园数寸泥」令人想到「别却」写离别的意象，也令人想到「数寸泥」写微小禁锢的意象——「出淤泥而不染」的反用，更令人想到「竹解虚心」的传统。全诗化用箨龙、龙材、千尺、数寸泥的传统意象与典故，以咏笋写凌云之志，正是李贺「瑰奇」而善用喻、承咏物言志传统写凌云的本领。

Commentary

Readers have long esteemed this as the leading poem of Li He's object-writing, and 'given but one night, let them shoot a thousand feet' is the line most often quoted. Its reputation rests on its strangeness: of all Tang poems on bamboo, this is the one that leaves the garden entirely for the sky. Where later writers of bamboo verse praise endurance, as the Qing poet Zheng Xie does with 'It grips the green mountains and will not let go, rooted in the broken rock,' Li He praises escape. That is why the two are read together — one poem about a bamboo that stays where it is planted, this one about bamboo that would be gone by morning. The poem's later life is in the poet's own legend: the ambitious youth who never got the chance to grow.

此诗历来被推为李贺咏物言志的名篇，也是唐人咏竹笋诗的代表。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人评此诗「以咏笋写凌云之志，瑰奇挺拔」；近人更指出「更容一夜抽千尺」写新笋冲天而上的气势，是此诗的名句。在诗歌史上，此诗的特殊价值在于：它以四句的绝句写尽新笋的形质与凌云之志——那削玉般的长竿，那龙材的母笋，那一夜抽千尺的气势，那别却数寸泥的志向，都写尽了新笋冲天而上的凌云之志；那「更容一夜抽千尺」更写尽摆脱禁锢、直上青云的志向。此诗与郑板桥《竹石》（「咬定青山不放松」）同为咏竹言志名篇，一写新笋凌云，一写竹石坚定；又与李贺自身怀才不遇的身世相印，可见中国诗咏物言志的传统。对于今日读者，此诗是理解李贺咏物言志诗与身世感慨的窗口，也是中国诗咏笋的经典——那别却数寸泥、直上千尺的新笋，穿越千年，仍在诉说着凌云之志。

Prosody

Form Shi · Seven-character jueju (quatrain)诗·七言绝句

Rhyme Jueju in seven characters, level tone from the first line, rhyming on 'cai' (stuff) and 'ni' (mud) — the Hui and Qi rhymes of the upper level, carried on with a single rhyme until the end.七言绝句，平起，押「材」「泥」韵（上平十灰、上平八齐），一韵到底

Tone pattern A seven-character jueju on the level tone, rhymed throughout, its lines bright and straight — the sound of a stalk standing up.此诗为七言绝句，四句，押平声韵，音节清亮挺拔，正合新笋的挺拔。

Reading note Four lines of seven characters: 'The husks fall from the tall culms, as if carved open from jade; / Look you — these mother shoots are dragon stuff. / Given but one night, let them shoot a thousand feet, / Leaving behind the few inches of garden mud.' The rhyme comes in on the first line and holds — cai, ni, in the Hui and Qi groups — so that the whole quatrain rests on level tone and never shifts. The effect is of something rising without interruption; the sustained monotone suits a stem that grows through the night. Read the first line bright and cool, as if touching carved jade; read 'Look you' with force, for it is the poem's cry; and let the last line fall short and hard, so that its few inches sound like something being left behind. Li He's short poems are famous for exactly this — a plain line and then an enormous one.此诗为七言绝句，四句——「箨落长竿削玉开，君看母笋是龙材。更容一夜抽千尺，别却池园数寸泥」，首句入韵，「开」「材」「泥」押平声韵，一韵到底，音节清亮挺拔。全诗以咏笋言志：前二句写笋的形质（箨落长竿削玉开，君看母笋是龙材），后二句写笋的志向（更容一夜抽千尺，别却池园数寸泥）。诵读此诗，宜以清亮的语调读「箨落长竿削玉开」的晶莹，以昂扬的语调读「更容一夜抽千尺」的气势，结句「别却池园数寸泥」要读得决绝而有力，方能传达出李贺的凌云之志。李贺绝句以「瑰奇挺拔」著称，此诗正是其咏物言志绝句的典范。

Line by line

更容一夜抽千尺，别却池园数寸泥

Given but one night, let them shoot a thousand feet, leaving behind the few inches of garden mud.

更容它一夜抽出千尺，摆脱池园数寸之泥。

If only it were allowed, in a single night it would shoot up a thousand feet, quitting the few inches of mud by the garden pool.

此联是全诗言志的核心，以夸张写势，以对比写志，是千古名句。「更容一夜抽千尺」写更容它一夜抽出千尺——那「更容」写更让、只要容许，「一夜抽千尺」写一夜抽出千尺，写尽新笋冲天而上的气势；「别却池园数寸泥」写摆脱池园数寸之泥——那「别却」写摆脱、离开，「池园数寸泥」写池园数寸之泥，写尽摆脱禁锢、直上青云。这句的深意在于：它以「更容一夜抽千尺」的夸张与「别却池园数寸泥」的对比，写尽新笋的凌云之志——只要容许，新笋一夜之间便抽出千尺，那「一夜抽千尺」以夸张写尽冲天而上的气势——千尺之高，一夜而成，正见新笋凌云之志的不可遏制；摆脱池园数寸之泥，那「别却池园数寸泥」写尽摆脱禁锢的志向——那「千尺」与「数寸泥」的对比，写尽志向之高与禁锢之微——新笋不甘困于数寸之泥，而要直上千尺，正是凌云之志的写照；那「更容一夜抽千尺」写尽气势，那「别却池园数寸泥」写尽志向，一写冲天，一写摆脱，写尽新笋凌云之志，也是李贺自身凌云之志的写照。若换作直说「我要出人头地」，则失其凝练；唯以「更容一夜抽千尺」的夸张写势、「别却池园数寸泥」的对比写志，写尽新笋的凌云之志，也让此联成为全诗言志的核心与千古名句。

Li He speaks through a new bamboo shoot. Let it but be allowed, he says, and in one night it will shoot up a thousand feet, leaving behind the few inches of mud at the garden pool. The exaggeration—one night, a thousand feet—is the shoot's impatience, and the contrast between the thousand-foot height and the few-inch mud measures the whole poem's grievance: what the shoot is cramped inside is absurdly small next to what it could become. The bamboo that turns into a dragon is the old legend behind the confidence. It is Li He's own ambition speaking through the plant. To have said I want to rise in the world would be a complaint; the thousand feet against the few inches are the ambition made physical.

君看母笋是龙材

Look you — these mother shoots are dragon stuff.

君看那大笋是终将成龙的良材。

Look, that mother shoot is timber fit to become a dragon.

此句写笋的资质，以「龙材」的比喻写尽新笋的非凡，是全诗写质的点睛之笔。「君看母笋是龙材」写君看那大笋是终将成龙的良材——那「君看」以呼告写请你看，「母笋是龙材」写大笋是龙材，写尽新笋非凡的资质。这句的深意在于：它以「君看母笋是龙材」的呼告与比喻，写尽新笋的凌云资质——君看那母笋是龙材，那「君看」以呼告引出惊叹，仿佛要拉读者共赏；那「母笋是龙材」以「龙材」的比喻写尽新笋的非凡——古代有「竹化为龙」的传说，笋是龙材，终将成龙，那「龙材」写尽新笋终将凌云的资质；此句上承「箨落长竿削玉开」的写形，下启「更容一夜抽千尺，别却池园数寸泥」的写势与写志——正因为是龙材，才一夜抽千尺、别却数寸泥，那「君看母笋是龙材」以龙材写尽新笋的资质与信心，正是全诗由形到志的枢纽。若换作直说「这笋能长很高」，则失其比喻；唯以「君看母笋是龙材」的呼告与「龙材」的比喻写尽新笋的凌云资质，也让此句成为全诗写质的点睛之笔。

The line is a pointed summons. Look, says the poet, that mother shoot is timber fit to become a dragon. The word look pulls the reader in as if to share a secret; the dragon material invokes the old tales of bamboos metamorphosing into dragons in deep waters. The shoot is not a plant but an unrecognized potential, and the line does double duty as the hinge of the poem: because the shoot is dragon material, the next couplet's thousand-foot growth and escape from the mud are not fantasy but destiny. To have said this bamboo will grow very tall would be botany; the dragon material is the prophecy.

Study

Word focus

抽 In 'given but one night, let them shoot a thousand feet,' the character chou, 'to draw out,' is the word that gives the line its force. It means the shoots pulling themselves upward, joint by joint, and it contains both the speed of the action and the effort of it. Characteristic of Li He, the word is chosen for the energy it carries rather than the accuracy it shows: a thousand feet in one night is not possible, and the poet wanted the impossible. Replace chou with 'grow' or 'rise' and the line loses its gathering tension — what remains is a fact instead of an achievement. 「更容一夜抽千尺」之「抽」字是写气势的关键字，一个「抽」字写尽新笋拔节而上的气势。抽者，抽长、拔节也。李贺以「抽千尺」写新笋，这个「抽」字至少有双重意味：其一，写拔节之快——那「一夜抽千尺」写一夜抽出千尺，那「抽」字写尽新笋拔节抽长的神速——一夜之间，抽出千尺，正是「抽」字的力度；其二，写凌云之势——那「抽」字更是写势——抽即向上生长、挺拔而上，那「抽」字写尽新笋冲天而上的凌云之势。以「抽」字写气势，正是李贺言志的枢纽——若换作「长」「生」等字，则或失其拔节的力度，或失其与「千尺」的配合；唯「抽」字，以一字写尽新笋拔节抽长的神速与凌云之势，与「别却池园数寸泥」的摆脱相合，写尽新笋的凌云之志，也让「更容一夜抽千尺」成为全诗言志的名句。

别却 In 'leaving behind the few inches of garden mud,' bie que, 'to part with,' is the key to the poem's will. It carries a decision: the shoots would leave the mud of their own accord, and not be dragged out of it. It also carries the poem's whole attitude to ordinary life — not contempt for it but indifference to it as a limit, which is a different thing. Had the poet written 'to part from' or 'to leave,' the plain separation would remain but the willingness, and with it the pride, would go. It is this word as much as 'a thousand feet' that makes the last line a statement of ambition rather than of description. 「别却池园数寸泥」之「别却」是写志向的关键词，一个「别却」写尽摆脱禁锢的志向。别却者，别离、摆脱也。李贺以「别却」写池园数寸泥，这个「别却」至少有双重意味：其一，写摆脱之决——那「别却池园数寸泥」写摆脱池园数寸之泥，那「别却」写尽摆脱禁锢的决绝——毅然别却，义无反顾；其二，写志向之高——那「别却」更是写志向——别却数寸泥，正是为了直上千尺，那「别却」写尽摆脱微末禁锢、直上青云的凌云之志。以「别却」写志向，正是李贺言志的枢纽——若换作「离却」「脱离」等词，则或失其决绝的力度，或失其与「更容一夜抽千尺」的呼应；唯「别却」二字，以别离数寸泥写尽摆脱禁锢的决绝与凌云之志，与「一夜抽千尺」的冲天相合，写尽新笋的凌云之志，也让「别却池园数寸泥」成为全诗言志的名句。