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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

酬曹侍御过象县见寄

An Answer to Prefect Cao, Who Passed Through Xiangxian and Sent Me a Poem

柳宗元

Liu Zongyuan

酬赠Reply-poem / Exchange of gifts 怀人Missing a friend

破额山前碧玉流，骚人遥驻木兰舟。
春风无限潇湘意，欲采蘋花不自由。

Before Mount Po'e a jade-green stream flows on;
A poet-scholar moors his magnolia boat, far away.
The spring wind holds endless meanings of Xiao and Xiang;
I would pluck the water-mint blossom, yet am not free to do so.

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Meaning

Written while Liu Zongyuan was exiled in Yongzhou, this poem answers Prefect Cao, who passed through Xiangxian and sent him a verse. In the first couplet Liu pictures the friend's boat moored below the mountain, a distant, graceful figure; in the second he turns to his own heart. The spring breeze over the Xiao and Xiang rivers stirs an endless longing for home, yet the exiled poet cannot freely pluck even a water-mint blossom to send in return. A poem of courtesy becomes a meditation on being held captive by circumstance.

破额山前碧玉流，骚人遥驻木兰舟。春风无限潇湘意，欲采蘋花不自由。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] Liu Zongyuan answers a verse sent by Prefect Cao, and answers it not with reciprocal praise but with a sudden turn inward.

[Structure] The four lines fall into two couplets of completely different weight. The first paints the friend: the jade-green stream before Mount Po'e, the scholar's magnolia boat lying far off. The second abandons the scene and speaks from the self: the spring wind, the homesick meaning of Xiao and Xiang, and the frustration of wanting to gather a flower and finding one cannot. The movement is from other to self, from picture to confession, compressed into twenty-eight characters.

[Imagery] Jade-green water, a magnolia boat, the spring wind, the Xiao and Xiang rivers and the water-mint blossom form a chain of cooler, paler images that quietly contrast with the heat of human greeting. The magnolia boat recalls the boat of the Chu exiles; the mint flower recalls the periplus of the Xiang goddess. Both traditions carry the sigh of the displaced.

[Feeling] What begins as a reply-poem ends as an self-portrait: the honorable official who cannot move, who must receive from afar and can give back nothing.

【白话串讲】柳宗元写《酬曹侍御过象县见寄》：“破额山前碧玉流，骚人遥驻木兰舟”——“春风无限潇湘意，欲采蘋花不自由”——他答谢友人寄诗——“欲采蘋花不自由”——他想采花却身不由己。【意象与手法】此诗写酬赠，以思乡写酬赠，是柳宗元的名篇。前二句写友人：「破额山前碧玉流，骚人遥驻木兰舟」写破额山前碧玉流、骚人遥驻木兰舟——写尽骚人遥驻的木兰舟；后二句写思乡：「春风无限潇湘意，欲采蘋花不自由」写春风无限潇湘意、欲采蘋花不自由——写尽欲采蘋花的不自由。全诗以思乡写酬赠，写尽骚人遥驻的木兰舟与欲采蘋花的不自由，是柳宗元的代表作。【情感与主旨】此诗写酬赠，以思乡写酬赠，是柳宗元的名篇。此诗为柳宗元贬永州时，答曹侍御见寄之作，写其思乡之情。曹侍御过象县寄诗与柳宗元，此诗写其相酬。此诗写破额山前碧玉流，骚人遥驻木兰舟；春风无限潇湘意，欲采蘋花不自由。此诗写友人：破额山前碧玉流，骚人遥驻木兰舟——写破额山前碧玉流、骚人遥驻木兰舟，写尽骚人遥驻的木兰舟；春风无限潇湘意，欲采蘋花不自由——写春风无限潇湘意、欲采蘋花不自由，写尽欲采蘋花的不自由。全诗以思乡写酬赠——那「骚人遥驻木兰舟」写尽骚人遥驻的木兰舟，「欲采蘋花不自由」写尽欲采蘋花的不自由，写尽骚人遥驻的木兰舟与欲采蘋花的不自由，是理解柳宗元酬赠诗的重要篇章。【名句点睛】常考「破额山前碧玉流，骚人遥驻木兰舟」写骚人遥驻的木兰舟；「欲采蘋花不自由」写欲采蘋花的不自由；以及全诗以思乡写酬赠、以用典写思乡的手法。

Background

Liu Zongyuan (773-819), courtesy name Zihou, was born in Hedong (today's Yongji, Shanxi). Known as Liu Hedong after his ancestral home and Liu Liuzhou from his final post as prefect of Liuzhou, he was one of the eight great prose masters of the Tang and Northern Song and is paired with Han Yu as the two pillars of classical prose. After the failure of the Yongzhen reform he was exiled, and from 805 he lived in Yongzhou, a period that produced some of his finest short poetry. This poem was written there in reply to Prefect Cao, who passed through Xiangxian on travel and sent him a verse.

此诗写酬赠，以思乡写酬赠，是柳宗元的名篇。柳宗元（773—819），字子厚，河东（今山西永济）人，世称「柳河东」，因官终柳州刺史，又称「柳柳州」，唐代文学家、哲学家、散文家和思想家，「唐宋八大家」之一，与韩愈并称「韩柳」。此诗为柳宗元贬永州时，答曹侍御见寄之作，写其思乡之情。曹侍御过象县寄诗与柳宗元，此诗写其相酬。此诗写破额山前碧玉流，骚人遥驻木兰舟；春风无限潇湘意，欲采蘋花不自由。此诗写友人：「破额山前碧玉流，骚人遥驻木兰舟」写破额山前碧玉流、骚人遥驻木兰舟——写尽骚人遥驻的木兰舟（破额山前碧玉流，骚人遥驻木兰舟）；「春风无限潇湘意，欲采蘋花不自由」写春风无限潇湘意、欲采蘋花不自由——写尽欲采蘋花的不自由（春风无限潇湘意，欲采蘋花不自由）。全诗以思乡写酬赠，写尽骚人遥驻的木兰舟与欲采蘋花的不自由，是理解柳宗元酬赠诗的重要篇章。

Art

The poem's technique rests on four moves. First, scenery used to present a person: the line on the jade stream is not decoration but the friend's presence in the landscape. Second, allusion used to express longing: the magnolia boat carries the whole weight of the Chu exiles' boats without naming them. Third, direct statement for feeling: the spring wind over Xiao and Xiang states the mood outright. Fourth, metaphor for frustration: gathering the water-mint is a small, tender act that the poet cannot perform. The two couplets also differ in grammar: the first is a scene, the second is a wish and its refusal. In addition, the poem's colour is deliberately light - jade green, magnolia white, mint green - while the feeling is one of constraint, so that beauty and frustration are held in the same breath. In this it exemplifies the Tang jueju of saying much in a short span, with the final line leaving the rejection unspoken.

此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以写景写友人。「破额山前碧玉流」以写景写友人——那「骚人遥驻木兰舟」写尽骚人遥驻的木兰舟，以写景写尽骚人遥驻的木兰舟。其二，以用典写思乡。「骚人遥驻木兰舟」以用典写思乡——那「木兰舟」写尽遥驻的木兰舟，以用典写尽骚人遥驻的木兰舟。其三，以直抒写情意。「春风无限潇湘意」以直抒写情意——那「无限潇湘意」写尽无限的潇湘意，以直抒写尽无限的潇湘意。其四，以比兴写不自由。「欲采蘋花不自由」以比兴写不自由——那「采蘋花」写尽欲采的蘋花，以比兴写尽欲采蘋花的不自由。此外，此诗前写骚人遥驻的木兰舟，后写欲采蘋花的不自由，由友及己，正是酬赠诗「以情写意」的写法。四重手法，使此诗以思乡写酬赠，写尽骚人遥驻的木兰舟与欲采蘋花的不自由，是柳宗元的代表作。又，此诗前二句以「破额山前」「碧玉流」「木兰舟」设色清丽，点出友人行舟之景；后二句「春风无限潇湘意」一笔宕开，将「潇湘」与故土、知己相连，末以「欲采蘋花不自由」一结，欲采而不得，把思乡而身不由己的苦衷寄于言外，尺幅之中含不尽之意，正是唐人绝句「以少胜多」的典范。

Allusions

The vocabulary is thick with the poetry of parting. Mount Po'e is the hill at Xiangxian in Guizhou, where the poem was answered. Jade-green water echoes the green of spring rivers across the canon. Poet-scholar (sao ren) is the classical word for the exiled poet, straight out of Qu Yuan; magnolia boat goes back to the Chu ci line The laurel oars, the orchid oars, which describes the boat of the shaman-poet. Spring wind recalls Wang Anshi's line that it greened the Jiangnan again, but here the wind only carries meaning. Xiao and Xiang are the two southern rivers and the standard metonym for exile's south, as in Qian Qi's line asking why the birds return from Xiao and Xiang so carelessly. The water-mint blossom points to the Nine Songs, Where I pluck the river isle's dendrobium, to be given to the far-off one - the very act of gathering for a distant friend that the poet cannot perform, and which turns the exchange of poems into a gesture of the same kind, forever unfinished.

此诗的用语深植于酬赠与思乡传统。「破额山」令人想到「破额山」写象县之山的意象——也令人想到「破额山前」的意象；「碧玉流」令人想到「碧玉流」写碧水的意象——也令人想到「春来江水绿如蓝」（白居易）的意象；「骚人」令人想到「骚人」写诗人的意象——也令人想到「迁客骚人」的意象；「木兰舟」令人想到「木兰舟」写木兰舟的意象——《楚辞》「桂棹兮兰枻」，也令人想到「兰舟桂棹」的意象；「春风」令人想到「春风」写春风的意象——也令人想到「春风又绿江南岸」（王安石）的意象；「潇湘」令人想到「潇湘」写潇湘的意象——也令人想到「潇湘何事等闲回」（钱起）的意象；「蘋花」令人想到「蘋花」写蘋花的意象——《九歌·湘夫人》「搴汀洲兮杜若」，也令人想到「采蘋采蘩」（《诗经》）的意象。全诗化用破额山、碧玉流、骚人、木兰舟、春风、潇湘、蘋花的意象典故，以思乡写酬赠，正是柳宗元「简淡」而善用典、承酬赠传统写思乡之本领。又，此诗「欲采蘋花不自由」化用《九歌·湘夫人》「搴汀洲兮杜若，将以遗兮远者」之意：本应采芳以赠远人、寄潇湘之情，却因身系贬所、行动不得自由而作罢，语本屈骚而归于自身遭际，使赠答之什兼得「香草美人」之遗意，正是柳宗元承楚辞而又能自抒怀抱处。

Commentary

This poem is universally admired as one of Liu Zongyuan's finest reply-poems and a model of homesickness written from an exile's quarters. Qing commentators praised its plainness and depth: it says much in few words and never raises its voice. Modern readers single out line one for its cool colour and line four for its quiet wrench. Its place in literary history is as a companion piece to Climbing the Tower at Liuzhou, written in the same year's circle of exile: one is a long regulated poem of boundless sea-and-sky sorrow, the other a short quatrain of a single frustrated gesture. Read together they show the two registers of Liu's exile verse, and both converge on the same theme - the honorable man who cannot act.

此诗历来被推为柳宗元酬赠诗的名篇，也是唐诗写贬所思乡的代表。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人评此诗「以思乡写酬赠，简淡深婉」；近人更指出「破额山前碧玉流，骚人遥驻木兰舟」写骚人遥驻的木兰舟，是此诗的名句。在诗歌史上，此诗的特殊价值在于：它以短章写尽骚人遥驻的木兰舟与欲采蘋花的不自由——那破额山，那前，那碧玉流，那骚人，那遥驻，那木兰舟，那春风，那无限，那潇湘意，那欲采，那蘋花，那不自由，都写尽了柳宗元笔下的酬曹侍御过象县见寄；那「欲采蘋花不自由」更以比兴写尽欲采蘋花的不自由。此诗与柳宗元《登柳州城楼寄漳汀封连四州》「城上高楼接大荒」同为贬所名篇，一写「海天愁思正茫茫」的登柳州城楼，一写「欲采蘋花不自由」的酬曹侍御；一写长律，一写绝句。两诗对读，可见柳宗元贬所诗的两种写法。对于今日读者，此诗是理解柳宗元酬赠诗的窗口，也是唐诗写贬所思乡的经典——那欲采蘋花的不自由，穿越千年，仍在诉说着骚人遥驻的木兰舟。

Prosody

Form Seven-character quatrain (qi yan jue ju)七言绝句

Rhyme Rhymes on the -iu sound (you rhyme group) in boat and free; the first line also carries the rhyme.七绝押「舟」「由」（尤韵），首句入韵

Tone pattern A seven-character jueju on the even-tone rhyme, rhyming from the opening line; its unadorned cadence suits the plainness of a reply-poem.此诗为七言绝句，押平声韵，首句入韵，音节简淡，正合酬赠的简淡。

Reading note As a seven-character jueju - before Mount Po'e a jade-green stream flows on, a poet-scholar moors his magnolia boat, far away; the spring wind holds endless meanings of Xiao and Xiang, I would pluck the water-mint blossom, yet am not free to do so - it rhymes on the even tone (boat, free), the first line rhymes, and the cadence is deliberately plain. The poem is a reply-poem that turns on homesickness: it first pictures the friend moored on the jade-green stream, then confesses that he cannot gather the flower. Four short lines, friend first and longing second, and the close leaves the frustration unspoken - exactly the plain and deep-buried manner of Liu Zongyuan. In reading aloud, take the friend's line lightly and the closing line slowly, so that its restraint rings out. Liu Zongyuan is called plain-spoken in his jueju, and this poem is the model of his reply-poems.此诗为七言绝句——「破额山前碧玉流，骚人遥驻木兰舟。春风无限潇湘意，欲采蘋花不自由」，押平韵（舟、由），首句入韵，音节简淡。全诗以思乡写酬赠：前写骚人遥驻的木兰舟（破额山前碧玉流），后写欲采蘋花的不自由（春风无限潇湘意）。短章四句，前写友人，后写思乡，以「欲采蘋花不自由」写尽欲采蘋花的不自由，正见柳宗元「简淡」的本色。诵读此诗，宜以简淡的语调读「骚人遥驻木兰舟」的友人，以深婉的语调读「欲采蘋花不自由」的思乡，结句要读得简淡而有余韵，方能传达出柳宗元的简淡深婉。柳宗元绝句以「简淡」著称，此诗正是其酬赠诗的典范。

Line by line

破额山前碧玉流，骚人遥驻木兰舟

Before Mount Po'e a jade-green stream flows on; a poet-scholar moors his magnolia boat, far away.

破额山前碧玉流，骚人遥驻木兰舟。

Before Po'e Hill the water flows like green jade; the poet, far off, has moored his magnolia boat.

此二句是全诗写友人的核心，以破额山前碧玉流写碧玉流，以骚人遥驻木兰舟写木兰舟，写尽骚人遥驻的木兰舟，是千古名句。「破额山前碧玉流」写破额山前碧玉流——那「破额山前」写破额山前，「碧玉流」写碧玉流，写尽破额山前的碧玉流；「骚人遥驻木兰舟」写骚人遥驻木兰舟——那「骚人遥驻」写骚人遥驻，「木兰舟」写木兰舟，写尽骚人遥驻的木兰舟。这句的深意在于：它以「破额山前碧玉流」的碧玉流与「骚人遥驻木兰舟」的木兰舟，写尽骚人遥驻的木兰舟——破额山前碧玉流，那「破额山前碧玉流」写尽破额山前的碧玉流——破额山前碧玉流，正是碧水如流的写照，那「碧玉流」写尽骚人遥驻的木兰舟；骚人遥驻木兰舟，那「骚人遥驻木兰舟」写尽骚人遥驻的木兰舟——骚人遥驻木兰舟，正是诗人停舟的写照，那「木兰舟」写尽骚人遥驻的木兰舟；那「破额山前碧玉流」写尽破额山前的碧玉流，那「骚人遥驻木兰舟」写尽骚人遥驻的木兰舟，一写碧玉流，一写木兰舟，写尽骚人遥驻的木兰舟——碧水如流而诗人停舟，正是友人的写照；此二句以碧玉流、木兰舟写尽骚人遥驻的木兰舟，也为下文的潇湘作铺垫，也让此二句成为全诗写友人的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「破额山前碧玉般的水流着，诗人远远地停着木兰舟」，则失其清丽；唯以「破额山前碧玉流」写碧玉流、「骚人遥驻木兰舟」写木兰舟，写尽骚人遥驻的木兰舟，也让此二句成为全诗写友人的核心。

Liu Zongyuan answers a friend's poem by imagining him on the river. Before Po'e Hill the current runs green as jade, and the poet, at a distance, has halted his magnolia boat. The polished courtesy of the language—jade water, magnolia boat—flatters the friend, but the word far-off is the real subject: the two men are separated by exile, and even a poetic reply crosses leagues. The stopped boat is the gesture of reading the poem. To have said my friend sent me a poem from the river would be a letter; the jade stream and the halted boat are the courtesy.

春风无限潇湘意，欲采蘋花不自由

The spring wind holds endless meanings of Xiao and Xiang; I would pluck the water-mint blossom, yet am not free to do so.

春风无限潇湘意，欲采蘋花不自由。

In the spring wind, endless is my longing by the Xiao and Xiang; I would gather the duckweed flowers, but I am not free.

此二句是全诗写思乡的核心，以春风无限潇湘意写潇湘意，以欲采蘋花不自由写不自由，写尽欲采蘋花的不自由，是千古名句。「春风无限潇湘意」写春风无限潇湘意——那「春风无限」写春风无限，「潇湘意」写潇湘意，写尽春风无限的潇湘意；「欲采蘋花不自由」写欲采蘋花不自由——那「欲采蘋花」写欲采蘋花，「不自由」写不自由，写尽欲采蘋花的不自由。这句的深意在于：它以「春风无限潇湘意」的潇湘意与「欲采蘋花不自由」的不自由，写尽欲采蘋花的不自由——春风无限潇湘意，那「春风无限潇湘意」写尽春风无限的潇湘意——春风无限潇湘意，正是春风寄意的写照，那「潇湘意」写尽欲采蘋花的不自由；欲采蘋花不自由，那「欲采蘋花不自由」写尽欲采蘋花的不自由——欲采蘋花不自由，正是欲采不得的写照，那「不自由」写尽欲采蘋花的不自由；那「春风无限潇湘意」写尽春风无限的潇湘意，那「欲采蘋花不自由」写尽欲采蘋花的不自由，一写潇湘意，一写不自由，写尽欲采蘋花的不自由——春风寄意而欲采不得，正是思乡的写照；此二句以潇湘意、不自由写尽欲采蘋花的不自由，也让此二句成为全诗写思乡的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「春风里有无尽的潇湘情意，想采蘋花却身不由己」，则失其含蓄；唯以「春风无限潇湘意」写潇湘意、「欲采蘋花不自由」写不自由，写尽欲采蘋花的不自由，也让此二句成为全诗写思乡的核心。

The closing is the famous predicament. In the spring wind the longing for the Xiao and Xiang country is boundless; I would gather the duckweed flowers to send you—as ancients once sent flowers to a loved one—but I am not free. The classical gesture of sending river flowers is blocked by exile itself: he is forbidden to travel, to gather, even to make a small graceful offering. The word not-free carries the whole weight of political banishment. To have said I wanted to send you a token but could not leave would be a note; the infinite spring wind and the blocked flowers are the longing.

Study

Word focus

遥 Far, distant. In 'a poet-scholar moors his magnolia boat, far away' it does double duty: it fixes the friend at a real distance on the river, and it opens the gap between the two men that the reply-poem cannot cross. A substitute such as 'near' or 'briefly' would destroy both effects at once. 「骚人遥驻木兰舟」之「遥」字是写友人关键词，一个「遥」字写尽骚人遥驻的木兰舟。遥者，遥远、远远也。柳宗元以「骚人遥驻木兰舟」写友人，这个「遥」字至少有双重意味：其一，写驻之遥——那「骚人遥驻木兰舟」写骚人遥驻木兰舟，那「遥」字写尽骚人遥驻的木兰舟——遥驻，正是远泊的写照，那「遥」字写尽骚人遥驻的木兰舟；其二，写情之远——那「遥」字更是写远——遥，正见相隔遥远的意味，那「遥」字写尽柳宗元的思乡。以「遥」字写友人，正是柳宗元写酬赠的枢纽——若换作「远」「暂」等字，则或失其与「骚人遥驻木兰舟」「破额山前碧玉流」的配合，或失其写遥的意味；唯「遥」字，以骚人遥驻木兰舟写尽停泊之远与相隔之遥，与「破额山前碧玉流」的碧玉流相合，写尽骚人遥驻的木兰舟，也让「骚人遥驻木兰舟」成为全诗写友人的名句。

采 To pluck, to gather. In 'I would pluck the water-mint blossom, yet am not free to do so' the verb turns an ordinary outdoor act into the whole ritual of sending a flower to a distant friend; the wish itself is what survives, not the act. 「欲采蘋花不自由」之「采」字是写思乡关键词，一个「采」字写尽欲采的蘋花。采者，采摘、采撷也。柳宗元以「欲采蘋花不自由」写思乡，这个「采」字至少有双重意味：其一，写花之采——那「欲采蘋花不自由」写欲采蘋花不自由，那「采」字写尽欲采的蘋花——欲采，正是想要采摘的写照，那「采」字写尽欲采的蘋花；其二，写意之寄——那「采」字更是写寄——采，正见采芳寄意的意味，那「采」字写尽柳宗元的思乡。以「采」字写思乡，正是柳宗元写酬赠的枢纽——若换作「摘」「折」等字，则或失其与「欲采蘋花不自由」「春风无限潇湘意」的配合，或失其写采的意味；唯「采」字，以欲采蘋花不自由写尽采芳之不得与身世之不自由，与「春风无限潇湘意」的潇湘意相合，写尽欲采的蘋花，也让「欲采蘋花不自由」成为全诗写思乡的名句。