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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

重过圣女祠

Passing Again by the Shrine of the Holy Woman

李商隐

Li Shangyin

咏物Object poetry 游仙Immortal travel

白石岩扉碧藓滋，上清沦谪得归迟。
一春梦雨常飘瓦，尽日灵风不满旗。
萼绿华来无定所，杜兰香去未移时。
玉郎会此通仙籍，忆向天阶问紫芝。

The white stone gate is darkened by green moss;
Exiled from the Upper Realm, her return is long delayed.
A whole spring of dream-rain drifts over the roof tiles;
All day the divine wind cannot fill the sacred flag.
E'ge Luhua comes with no fixed dwelling;
Du Lanxiang has gone, and gone only just.
The Jade Lad will meet you here to enter the register of immortals;
I remember asking, at the steps of heaven, for purple lichen.

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Meaning

On a second visit to a shrine on the mountain road, the poet describes its decay and then the comings and goings of the goddesses who belong to it. He ends with an image of a Jade Lad recording a name in the celestial register, and with his own memory of once asking at the heavenly steps for a handful of immortal lichen. The shrine is deserted, the goddesses are unstable, and what the poet offers in place of either is a recollection of his own long-suppressed ambition to enter that world.

白石岩扉碧藓滋，上清沦谪得归迟。一春梦雨常飘瓦，尽日灵风不满旗。萼绿华来无定所，杜兰香去未移时。玉郎会此通仙籍，忆向天阶问紫芝。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The shrine stands at a white stone gate, moss grown thick on it, where a goddess who fell from the Upper Realm has been slow to get back. Rain falls on the tiles all spring long, and the divine wind will not fill the flag that hangs at the entrance. Goddesses come and go without settling; another has only just left. The poet then remembers an encounter with a Jade Lad, who could register a name among the immortals, and recalls his own former self, asking at the steps of heaven for purple lichen. [Structure] The octave runs from the gate outward and then back inward: the ruined shrine, the drifting rain, the flying goddesses, the memory of an encounter, and finally the memory of his own request. [Imagery] Moss, rain, and a half-fallen flag are all symptoms of neglect, and each describes a state of abandonment rather than a scene. The goddesses who 'come with no fixed dwelling' answer to these ruins: nothing here is permanent, and nothing permanent is here. The poem's quiet turning point is the last couplet, where the shrine's failure becomes the poet's own complaint, and the 'register of immortals' — the one thing that might have made his life fixed — is only something he asked about once.

【白话串讲】李商隐写《重过圣女祠》：“白石岩扉碧藓滋，上清沦谪得归迟”——“一春梦雨常飘瓦，尽日灵风不满旗”——“萼绿华来无定所，杜兰香去未移时”——他写圣女祠——圣女谪居人间迟迟不归。【意象与手法】此诗咏圣女祠，以咏祠写身世，是李商隐的名篇。前四句写祠景：「白石岩扉碧藓滋，上清沦谪得归迟」写白石岩扉碧藓滋、上清沦谪得归迟——写尽圣女的沦谪；「一春梦雨常飘瓦，尽日灵风不满旗」写一春梦雨常飘瓦、尽日灵风不满旗——写尽祠宇的荒凉；后四句写仙事：「萼绿华来无定所，杜兰香去未移时」写萼绿华来无定所、杜兰香去未移时——写尽仙女的飘忽；「玉郎会此通仙籍，忆向天阶问紫芝」写玉郎会此通仙籍、忆向天阶问紫芝——写尽通仙的向往。全诗以咏祠写身世，写尽圣女沦谪的荒凉与对仙籍的向往，是李商隐的代表作。【情感与主旨】此诗咏圣女祠，以咏祠写身世，是李商隐的名篇。圣女祠在陈仓（今陕西宝鸡）大散关一带，相传有圣女神。李商隐于大中六年、十年两次过此，因作此诗。此诗写祠景：白石岩扉碧藓滋，上清沦谪得归迟——写白石岩扉碧藓滋、上清沦谪得归迟，写尽圣女的沦谪；一春梦雨常飘瓦，尽日灵风不满旗——写一春梦雨常飘瓦、尽日灵风不满旗，写尽祠宇的荒凉；萼绿华来无定所，杜兰香去未移时——写萼绿华来无定所、杜兰香去未移时，写尽仙女的飘忽；玉郎会此通仙籍，忆向天阶问紫芝——写玉郎会此通仙籍、忆向天阶问紫芝，写尽通仙的向往。全诗以咏祠写身世——那「一春梦雨常飘瓦」写尽祠宇的荒凉，「忆向天阶问紫芝」写尽对仙籍的向往，写尽圣女沦谪的荒凉与对仙籍的向往，是理解李商隐咏物诗的重要篇章。【名句点睛】常考「一春梦雨常飘瓦，尽日灵风不满旗」写祠宇的荒凉；「萼绿华来无定所，杜兰香去未移时」写仙女的飘忽；「玉郎会此通仙籍，忆向天阶问紫芝」写对仙籍的向往；以及全诗以咏祠写身世、以圣女自况的手法。

Background

Li Shangyin (c. 813–c. 858), courtesy name Yi-shan, was a late Tang poet who took his sobriquet from the stream Yuxi. A native of Huaizhou, he never held high office: he was drawn into the struggle between the factions of Niu and Li, was thrown out of court for it, and spent his life travelling between provincial capitals as a secretary. The Shrine of the Holy Woman stood at Chencang, on the pass route through the great westward pass of Dasan in what is now Baoji, Shaanxi, and was said to be the residence of a goddess. The poet passed this way twice — in 852 on his way east from Chang'an, and again in 856 returning — hence 'passing again.' He wrote about his own ruined career through the figure of a goddess who fell and was slow to return.

此诗咏圣女祠，以咏祠写身世，是李商隐的名篇。李商隐（约813—约858），字义山，号玉谿生，怀州河内（今河南沁阳）人，晚唐伟大的诗人，与杜牧并称「小李杜」。圣女祠在陈仓（今陕西宝鸡）大散关一带，相传为圣女神祠。李商隐两次途经此地（大中六年自长安赴东川，大中十年自东川归），故曰「重过」。诗人一生陷于牛李党争，飘零宦海，遂借圣女沦谪写自身漂泊。「白石岩扉碧藓滋，上清沦谪得归迟」写白石岩扉碧藓滋、上清沦谪得归迟——写尽圣女的沦谪（白石岩扉上碧藓滋生，上清沦谪得归迟迟）；「一春梦雨常飘瓦，尽日灵风不满旗」写一春梦雨常飘瓦、尽日灵风不满旗——写尽祠宇的荒凉（一春梦雨常飘屋瓦，尽日灵风不满神旗）；「萼绿华来无定所，杜兰香去未移时」写萼绿华来无定所、杜兰香去未移时——写尽仙女的飘忽（萼绿华来去无定所，杜兰香离去未移时）；「玉郎会此通仙籍，忆向天阶问紫芝」写玉郎会此通仙籍、忆向天阶问紫芝——写尽通仙的向往（玉郎会于此地通仙籍，回忆曾向天阶问紫芝）。全诗以咏祠写身世，写尽圣女沦谪的荒凉与对仙籍的向往，是理解李商隐咏物诗的重要篇章。

Art

The octave is built on contrast rather than description. In the first couplet the ruined gate and the phrase 'slow to return' hand the goddess a guilt she never states; in the second, rain and a flag that will not rise measure that guilt in weather. The third couplet then loosens everything — the goddesses arrive and depart without leaving an address — so that the reader may feel the shrine's permanence as a joke. The last couplet turns the whole thing on itself, for the 'register of immortals,' which would be the one stable thing in this world, is not something the poet has entered; it is something he once asked about. The two lines that do this work are 'the divine wind cannot fill the flag' and 'the register of immortals': one is an image of failure made by nature, the other is an idea of order made by bureaucracy, and the poet puts them side by side. The most economical line is also the most famous: a whole spring of rain over the tiles, and a flag that will not move all day.

此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以写景写荒凉。「白石岩扉碧藓滋，一春梦雨常飘瓦」以写景写荒凉——那「碧藓滋」「常飘瓦」写尽藓滋瓦湿，以写景写尽祠宇的荒凉。其二，以拟人写沦谪。「上清沦谪得归迟」以拟人写沦谪——那「沦谪」「归迟」写尽圣女自天上谪下，以拟人写尽沦谪的迟归。其三，以仙事写飘忽。「萼绿华来无定所，杜兰香去未移时」以仙事写飘忽——那「萼绿华」「杜兰香」写尽仙女来去，以仙事写尽仙踪的飘忽。其四，以自况写身世。全诗借圣女沦谪自况，以自况写尽身世的漂泊。此外，此诗由祠景的荒凉写到仙事的飘忽，再写到通仙的向往，由实入虚，正是咏物诗「托物言志」的写法。四重手法，使此诗以咏祠写身世，写尽圣女沦谪的荒凉与对仙籍的向往，是李商隐的代表作。此诗尤可注意「不满旗」三字的匠心：灵风本是神异之风，理应满旗而扬，而「不满旗」正写神风之力微、香火之冷落——连神风都吹不满旗帜，可见祠宇之萧条；而「一春梦雨常飘瓦」以「常」字写雨之绵绵不断，一春不止，正与「不满旗」之短促相对——雨常而风微、瓦湿而旗低，以雨风之对照写尽圣女祠的荒凉，正是以物写境、以境写心的典范。

Allusions

The vocabulary of the poem is drawn from Taoist sources of the Tang. The Upper Realm is the highest of the three heavens, so to have 'fallen' from it is to have been exiled to the world; the dream-rain answers to the old story of the King of Chu dreaming of a goddess at Mount Wu and thereafter is said to have rained on the land into spring — the line 'a whole spring of dream-rain over the roof tiles' holds both meanings at once. The goddesses E'ge Luhua and Du Lanxiang are both figures of the hagiographies: one a lady of the nine hills, the other met by a fisherman and taken to a castle in the air. The Jade Lad is the young attendant who keeps the register of the heavenly ranks, and 'purple lichen' is the herb of the recluses, which the Four Grey-Haired Men of Mount Shang gathered to keep the world out. All of them are traditional; the poet's use of them is what is original.

此诗的用语深植于仙道与典故的传统。「上清沦谪」令人想到「上清」写仙界的意象——上清为三清之一，道教仙境，也令人想到「沦谪」写贬谪下凡的意象——「上清沦谪得归迟」正是李商隐的名句；「梦雨」令人想到「梦雨」写梦中之雨的意象——「一春梦雨常飘瓦」正是李商隐的名句，也令人想到「巫山云雨」的楚王梦神女典故；「灵风」令人想到「灵风」写神异之风的意象——「尽日灵风不满旗」正是李商隐的名句，也令人想到「灵旗」写神旗的意象；「萼绿华」「杜兰香」令人想到「萼绿华」「杜兰香」写仙女的典故——萼绿华为九嶷山仙女，杜兰香为渔父所遇仙女，皆见于道书；「玉郎」令人想到「玉郎」写仙官的意象——「玉郎会此通仙籍」正是李商隐的名句，也令人想到「紫芝」写仙药的意象——「忆向天阶问紫芝」正是李商隐的名句，也令人想到「商山四皓」采紫芝的典故。全诗化用上清、梦雨、萼绿华、杜兰香、玉郎、紫芝的典故，以咏祠写身世，正是李商隐「深情绵邈」而善用典、承仙道传统写身世的本领。

Commentary

Readers have long esteemed this as one of Li Shangyin's best poems and the finest of the Tang on the shrine of a goddess. Qing commentators said it used the subject 'with immortal airs about it, and yet a far-off sigh'; modern readers quote 'a whole spring of dream-rain drifts over the roof tiles, all day the divine wind cannot fill the flag' as its line. Its standing rests on a compression of which it is hard to find a rival: a ruin, a theology, and a biography are all done in eight lines, and the feeling at the centre never becomes a statement. It is usually read beside 'The Ornamented Harp,' which looks back on a whole life; the two are the poems in which Li Shangyin turned his losses into the subject itself. It also belongs to the long line of Chinese poems in which a goddess or a mountain deity stands in for a poet's own unworthiness.

此诗历来被推为李商隐咏物诗的名篇，也是唐人写圣女祠的代表。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人评此诗「以咏祠写身世，仙意盎然而寄慨遥深」；近人更指出「一春梦雨常飘瓦，尽日灵风不满旗」写祠宇的荒凉，是此诗的名句。在诗歌史上，此诗的特殊价值在于：它以八句的七律写尽圣女沦谪的荒凉与对仙籍的向往——那滋藓的白石岩扉，那上清沦谪的迟归，那常飘瓦的梦雨，那不满旗的灵风，那无定所的萼绿华，那去未移时的杜兰香，那玉郎，那紫芝，都写尽了李商隐笔下的圣女祠；那「一春梦雨常飘瓦」更写尽祠宇的迷离荒凉。此诗与李商隐《锦瑟》（「此情可待成追忆」）同为身世之作，一写「锦瑟无端五十弦」的追忆（锦瑟），一写「上清沦谪得归迟」的沦谪（重过圣女祠）；又与屈原《九歌》的山鬼意象一脉相承，可见中国诗以神女写身世的传统。对于今日读者，此诗是理解李商隐咏物诗的窗口，也是中国诗写圣女祠的经典——那常飘瓦的梦雨，穿越千年，仍在诉说着沦谪的荒凉。

Prosody

Form Shi · Seven-character lüshi (eight-line regulated verse)诗·七言律诗

Rhyme Lüshi in seven characters, rhyming on 'zi' (moss), 'chi' (late), 'qi' (flag), 'shi' (time), and 'zhi' (lichen) — the Zhi rhyme of the upper level, held to the end; the sound is long and slow, suited to the subject.七律，押「滋」「迟」「旗」「时」「芝」韵（上平四支），一韵到底，音节绵邈

Tone pattern A seven-character lüshi on the level tone, rhymed throughout, in a slow, drawn-out cadence that matches the drifting rain and the long delay.此诗为七言律诗，押平声韵，一韵到底，音节绵邈，正合仙道的绵邈。

Reading note Eight lines of seven characters, in the strict regulated form of four couplets: 'The white stone gate is darkened by green moss; / Exiled from the Upper Realm, her return is long delayed. / A whole spring of dream-rain drifts over the roof tiles; / All day the divine wind cannot fill the flag. / E'ge Luhua comes with no fixed dwelling; / Du Lanxiang has gone, and gone only just. / The Jade Lad will meet you here to enter the register of immortals; / I remember asking, at the steps of heaven, for purple lichen.' The rhyme is on the level Zhi group — zi, chi, qi, shi, zhi — one rhyme throughout, in a long, unhurried measure. Each couplet keeps its own work: the first the shrine and its fault, the second its decay, the third the goddesses' restlessness, the fourth the poet's own claim. Read the middle two couplets slowly, as clouded; let the last line fall away with nothing resolved in it. Li Shangyin's lüshi are famous for exactly this kind of unruffled line carrying an unquiet thought, and this is one of the best of them.此诗为七言律诗，八句——「白石岩扉碧藓滋，上清沦谪得归迟。一春梦雨常飘瓦，尽日灵风不满旗。萼绿华来无定所，杜兰香去未移时。玉郎会此通仙籍，忆向天阶问紫芝」，押「支」韵（滋、迟、旗、时、芝），一韵到底，音节绵邈。全诗以咏祠写身世：首联写祠景的沦谪（白石岩扉碧藓滋，上清沦谪得归迟），颔联写祠宇的荒凉（一春梦雨常飘瓦，尽日灵风不满旗），颈联写仙女的飘忽（萼绿华来无定所，杜兰香去未移时），尾联写通仙的向往（玉郎会此通仙籍，忆向天阶问紫芝）。四联由祠景写到荒凉，再到仙事，最后落到通仙，层层递进，正是咏物诗「托物言志」的典范。诵读此诗，宜以绵邈的语调读「一春梦雨常飘瓦」的荒凉，以缥缈的语调读「玉郎会此通仙籍」的仙意，结句要读得悠远而有余韵，方能传达出李商隐的深情绵邈。李商隐七律以「深情绵邈」著称，此诗正是其咏仙七律的典范。

Line by line

一春梦雨常飘瓦，尽日灵风不满旗

A whole spring of dream-rain drifts over the roof tiles; all day the divine wind cannot fill the flag.

一春的梦雨常飘在屋瓦上，尽日的灵风吹不满神旗。

All spring the dream-rain drifts over the tiles; all day the spirit-wind cannot fill the banners.

此二句是全诗写荒凉的核心，以一春梦雨常飘瓦写雨，以尽日灵风不满旗写风，写尽祠宇的荒凉，是千古名句。「一春梦雨常飘瓦」写一春的梦雨常飘在屋瓦上——那「一春梦雨」写一春的梦雨，「常飘瓦」写常飘屋瓦，写尽祠宇的雨湿；「尽日灵风不满旗」写尽日的灵风吹不满神旗——那「尽日灵风」写尽日的灵风，「不满旗」写吹不满神旗，写尽祠宇的萧条。这句的深意在于：它以「一春梦雨常飘瓦」的雨湿与「尽日灵风不满旗」的萧条，写尽祠宇的荒凉——一春的梦雨常飘在屋瓦上，那「一春梦雨常飘瓦」写尽祠宇的雨湿——梦雨绵绵，一春常飘屋瓦，正是祠宇冷落的写照，那「梦雨」写尽雨丝的迷离；尽日的灵风吹不满神旗，那「尽日灵风不满旗」写尽祠宇的萧条——灵风终日，却吹不满神旗，正是香火冷落的写照，那「不满旗」写尽神祠的萧条；那「一春梦雨常飘瓦」写尽祠宇的雨湿，那「尽日灵风不满旗」写尽祠宇的萧条，一写雨，一写风，写尽祠宇的荒凉——梦雨飘瓦而灵风不满，正是圣女祠的荒凉之境；此二句以雨湿、萧条写尽祠宇的荒凉，也让此二句成为全诗写荒凉的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「祠堂很荒凉」，则失其意境；唯以「一春梦雨常飘瓦」写雨湿、「尽日灵风不满旗」写萧条，写尽祠宇的荒凉，也让此二句成为全诗写荒凉的核心。

Li Shangyin revisits the shrine of the Holy Maiden and finds it abandoned. All spring, a dreamlike rain drifts over the tiles—rain that is half dream, not quite real; all day the spirit wind blows, but cannot even fill the shrine's banners. The failure is the point: a wind too feeble to lift a flag is a shrine where no goddess has attended. The dream-rain and the half-wind make a limbo, neither alive nor quite dead, and the lines have become a byword for religious desolation. To have said the shrine was run-down would be a report; the rain that dreams and the wind that cannot fill a banner are the emptiness.

萼绿华来无定所，杜兰香去未移时

E'ge Luhua comes with no fixed dwelling; Du Lanxiang has gone, and gone only just.

萼绿华来去无定所，杜兰香离去未移时。

E Luhua came with no fixed abode; Du Lanxiang had not been gone a moment.

此二句是全诗写飘忽的核心，以萼绿华来写来无定，以杜兰香去写去未移时，写尽仙女的飘忽，是千古名句。「萼绿华来无定所」写萼绿华来去无定所——那「萼绿华」写萼绿华仙女，「来无定所」写来去无定所，写尽仙踪的飘忽；「杜兰香去未移时」写杜兰香离去未移时——那「杜兰香」写杜兰香仙女，「去未移时」写离去未移时，写尽仙踪的倏忽。这句的深意在于：它以「萼绿华来无定所」的来与「杜兰香去未移时」的去，写尽仙女的飘忽——萼绿华来去无定所，那「萼绿华来无定所」写尽仙踪的飘忽——萼绿华来去无定，正是仙女倏忽的写照，那「无定所」写尽仙踪的飘忽；杜兰香离去未移时，那「杜兰香去未移时」写尽仙踪的倏忽——杜兰香刚去，未移时又去，正是仙女来去匆匆的写照，那「未移时」写尽仙踪的倏忽；那「萼绿华来无定所」写尽仙踪的飘忽，那「杜兰香去未移时」写尽仙踪的倏忽，一写来，一写去，写尽仙女的飘忽——来无定所而去未移时，正是仙踪难觅的写照；此二句以来去写尽仙女的飘忽，也让此二句成为全诗写飘忽的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「神仙来去无踪」，则失其典故；唯以「萼绿华来无定所」写来、「杜兰香去未移时」写去，写尽仙女的飘忽，也让此二句成为全诗写飘忽的核心。

The two allusions name the absent goddess. E Luhua was a female immortal who visited mortals but never stayed; Du Lanxiang another who vanished almost as soon as she arrived. Li Shangyin lays the two stories side by side: comings without fixed dwelling, departures without warning. The mortal visitor to the shrine is in the position of those old lovers—the goddess exists, but never stays, and the shrine is built for a presence that cannot be pinned down. The elusiveness of the allusions mirrors the elusiveness of the divinity. To have said immortals come and go unpredictably would be a moral; the two named ladies, arriving and vanishing, are the legend.

Study

Word focus

梦雨 In 'a whole spring of dream-rain drifts over the roof tiles,' meng yu, 'dream-rain,' is the image that makes the shrine's rain unreal and yet endless. It carries the old tale of the King of Chu, who dreamed of a goddess on Mount Wu and was rained on thereafter, so that the rain at the shrine may be the presence she leaves rather than water. It also says that the rain is dreamlike — neither violent enough to be weather nor missed when it stops. In this poem, where nothing endures, the rain is the one thing that does: it falls for a whole spring without pause, while everything it touches is already gone. 「一春梦雨常飘瓦」之「梦雨」是写荒凉的关键词，一个「梦雨」写尽祠宇的迷离。梦雨者，如梦之细雨也。李商隐以「一春梦雨常飘瓦」写祠宇，这个「梦雨」至少有双重意味：其一，写雨之迷离——那「一春梦雨常飘瓦」写一春的梦雨常飘屋瓦，那「梦雨」写尽细雨的迷离——如梦之雨，正是迷离缥缈，那「梦雨」写尽祠宇的迷离；其二，写境之如梦——那「梦雨」更是写境——梦雨飘瓦，正是如梦如幻之境，那「梦雨」写尽身世如梦之感。以「梦雨」写祠宇，正是李商隐写荒凉的枢纽——若换作「细雨」「微雨」等词，则或失其写如梦的意味，或失其与「灵风」的配合；唯「梦雨」二字，以一春梦雨常飘瓦写尽细雨的迷离与身世如梦之感，与「尽日灵风不满旗」的灵风相合，写尽祠宇的荒凉，也让「一春梦雨常飘瓦」成为全诗写荒凉的名句。

沦谪 In 'exiled from the Upper Realm, her return is long delayed,' lun zhe means to have fallen to a lower state by sentence — a word of punishment, not of travel. It is what turns the shrine from a ruin into a place with a grievance. And because the goddess's case is the poet's case — a talent exiled from his proper rank — the two are never separated from this line onwards; the decay of the shrine reads as the condition of both of them. Nothing in the poem names the poet's own disappointment, and nothing else needs to. 「上清沦谪得归迟」之「沦谪」是写身世的关键词，一个「沦谪」写尽圣女的被贬。沦谪者，贬谪、沦落也。李商隐以「上清沦谪得归迟」写圣女，这个「沦谪」至少有双重意味：其一，写贬谪之事——那「上清沦谪得归迟」写上清沦谪归来得迟，那「沦谪」写尽圣女的被贬——自仙界谪下，正是沦谪，那「沦谪」写尽圣女的遭际；其二，写自况之痛——那「沦谪」更是写自况——圣女沦谪，正是诗人自况，那「沦谪」写尽身世的漂泊。以「沦谪」写圣女，正是李商隐写身世的枢纽——若换作「谪居」「贬谪」等词，则或失其写沦谪的意味，或失其与「上清」的配合；唯「沦谪」二字，以上清沦谪得归迟写尽圣女的被贬与身世的漂泊，与「一春梦雨常飘瓦」的荒凉相合，写尽圣女沦谪的荒凉，也让「上清沦谪得归迟」成为全诗写身世的名句。