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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

楚吟

The Chu Song

李商隐

Li Shangyin

咏史Poems on History 感慨Meditation on Life

山上离宫宫上楼，楼前宫畔暮江流。
楚天长短黄昏雨，宋玉无愁亦自愁。

On the hill, an imperial summer palace,
And on that palace, a tower;
Before the tower, beside the palace, the evening river flows.
The sky of Chu, however long the day,
Rains at dusk.
Song Yu has no cause for sorrow —
And yet he sorrows.

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Meaning

Li Shangyin looks down from a hill at an abandoned royal residence in the south and then out over the river that runs beside it. The sky of Chu is described as always raining at dusk. He then recalls Song Yu, the Warring States poet of Chu who complained of autumn, and observes the strangeness that Song Yu should be sorrowful even when he has no cause to be — a line the poet quietly accepts as his own condition.

山上离宫宫上楼，楼前宫畔暮江流。楚天长短黄昏雨，宋玉无愁亦自愁。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The first three lines are a descent: the palace on the hill, the tower on the palace, the river beside the tower. [Structure] Three lines of scene, then a single line that apportions the weather, then the poet's remark on Song Yu. [Imagery] The palace and the tower are leftover, but the river has not stopped, and that is the poem's first quietly devastating observation. [Turn] The last two lines are a paradox with no answer: 'Song Yu has no cause for sorrow — / and yet he sorrows.' The paradox is offered as a truth about himself and about every later reader. [Technique] The linking of 'palace' and 'tower' in successive lines, each word closing the line and opening the next, is a craft of the same family as the couplet's doubled wording, and it makes the scene feel stacked, position upon position, with nothing left standing.

【白话串讲】李商隐写《楚吟》：“山上离宫宫上楼，楼前宫畔暮江流”——“楚天长短黄昏雨，宋玉无愁亦自愁”——他写楚地黄昏——宋玉无愁也自愁。【意象与手法】此诗咏楚宫而感慨，以咏史写愁怀，是李商隐的名篇。前三句写楚宫：「山上离宫宫上楼，楼前宫畔暮江流」写山上离宫宫上楼、楼前宫畔暮江流——写尽楚宫的荒凉；「楚天长短黄昏雨」写楚天长短黄昏雨——写尽楚天的暮雨；后一句写感慨：「宋玉无愁亦自愁」写宋玉无愁亦自愁——写尽无愁自愁的感慨。全诗以咏史写愁怀，写尽楚宫兴废的感慨，是李商隐的代表作。【情感与主旨】此诗咏楚宫而感慨，以咏史写愁怀，是李商隐的名篇。此诗咏楚国旧宫（离宫），写楚宫兴废的感慨。此诗写楚宫：山上离宫宫上楼，楼前宫畔暮江流——写山上离宫宫上楼、楼前宫畔暮江流，写尽楚宫的荒凉（山上离宫，楼上有楼，而楼前宫畔唯暮江东流）；楚天长短黄昏雨，宋玉无愁亦自愁——写楚天长短黄昏雨、宋玉无愁亦自愁，写尽无愁自愁的感慨。全诗以咏史写愁怀——那「楼前宫畔暮江流」写尽楚宫的荒凉，「宋玉无愁亦自愁」写尽无愁自愁的感慨，写尽楚宫兴废的感慨，是理解李商隐咏史诗的重要篇章。【名句点睛】常考「山上离宫宫上楼，楼前宫畔暮江流」写楚宫的荒凉；「楚天长短黄昏雨」写楚天的暮雨；「宋玉无愁亦自愁」写无愁自愁的感慨；以及全诗以咏史写愁怀、以顶真写兴废的手法。

Background

Li Shangyin (c. 813 – c. 858), courtesy name Yishan, was the greatest poet of the late Tang. He wrote many poems on the old states, and in them he habitually used the ruin of a dynasty as a screen for his own feelings about the decay of the current one. Song Yu (Song Yu), his subject here, was a Chu poet of the Warring States who wrote the 'Nine Disputations' in which autumn itself is invented as a cause of grief; to invoke him is to invoke the whole tradition of Chinese sorrow.

此诗咏楚宫而感慨，以咏史写愁怀，是李商隐的名篇。李商隐（约813—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。此诗咏楚国旧宫，写楚宫兴废的感慨。宋玉是战国时楚国的辞赋家，善写悲秋与感慨，其《九辩》有「悲哉秋之为气也」之叹。此诗写楚宫：「山上离宫宫上楼，楼前宫畔暮江流」写山上离宫宫上楼、楼前宫畔暮江流——写尽楚宫的荒凉（山上离宫，楼上有楼，而楼前宫畔唯见暮江东流）；「楚天长短黄昏雨，宋玉无愁亦自愁」写楚天长短黄昏雨、宋玉无愁亦自愁——写尽无愁自愁的感慨（楚天黄昏，暮雨迷濛，宋玉无愁亦自生愁）。李商隐借楚宫兴废、宋玉多愁，写自己对晚唐国势与自身身世的感慨。全诗以咏史写愁怀，写尽楚宫兴废的感慨，是理解李商隐咏史诗的重要篇章。此诗的时代背景尤须留意：李商隐身处晚唐，国势日颓，诗人目睹朝政凋敝而身世飘零，故其咏史之作多借古事抒今慨。楚宫之兴废，正可与晚唐之衰微相对照；而宋玉之「无愁亦自愁」，更是诗人自况——纵然无端之愁亦无从排遣，何况亲历家国之忧。一句「宋玉无愁亦自愁」，既是咏古，亦是自叹，咏史与自伤交织，正是李商隐咏史诗的独特之处。

Art

The poem's first quality is its economy: five of the six lines are inanimate, and none of them comments. The palace has already been abandoned before the poem begins, and the reader is given no dates or names for it. The craft of the linking — 'palace' at the end of line one and the middle of line two, 'tower' at the end of line two — produces a staircase of words, so that the eye is carried down and away without ever being told to look. The line 'The sky of Chu, however long the day, / rains at dusk' is the poem's least elegant construction and its most effective: the metre breaks, and the weather is granted the whole field. The final paradox is left without resolution, and that is the poem's whole argument: it declines to explain why a man should be sad when nothing has happened to him.

此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以顶真写层叠。「山上离宫宫上楼，楼前宫畔暮江流」以顶真写层叠——那「宫」字顶真、「楼」字顶真，写尽离宫楼台的重重叠叠，以顶真写尽楚宫的层叠。其二，以写景写荒凉。「楼前宫畔暮江流」以写景写荒凉——那「暮江流」写尽暮江东流，以写景写尽楚宫的荒凉。其三，以景物写愁境。「楚天长短黄昏雨」以景物写愁境——那「黄昏雨」写尽黄昏暮雨，以景物写尽愁的弥漫。其四，以反说写愁怀。「宋玉无愁亦自愁」以反说写愁怀——那「无愁亦自愁」以无愁亦愁反说，写尽愁之不可免，以反说写尽无愁自愁的感慨。此外，此诗前三句皆写楚宫楚天之景，末一句忽然落到宋玉，由景及人，正是「兴」体诗由物及情的手法。此外，此诗由「山上离宫宫上楼」的俯瞰，写到「楼前宫畔暮江流」的平视，再到「楚天长短黄昏雨」的远眺，镜头由近及远、由高而低，最后落到「宋玉无愁亦自愁」的人物，正是中国画「以大观小」的取景之法，可见李商隐融画入诗的功力。四重手法，使此诗以咏史写愁怀，写尽楚宫兴废的感慨，是李商隐的代表作。

Allusions

'Imperial summer palace' is the tangled, secondary palace of a southern capital, and its ruin is the poem's first subject. 'Song Yu' is the Chu poet who first wrote autumn as a cause of sorrow, in the line 'Sad is the autumn as it becomes a breath'; the allusion carries with it the whole tradition of mourning autumn. 'Rains at dusk' picks up that tradition and makes it a permanent climate rather than a seasonal mood, so the weather itself has taken up the grief. The river 'beside the palace' stands for the passage of a dynasty: the buildings stay where they were, and only the water moves, which is why the poem's most famous line is also its most impersonal.

此诗的用语深植于咏史与楚辞的传统。「山上离宫宫上楼」令人想到「离宫」写行宫的意象——楚王别馆，也令人想到「宫上楼」写楼上有楼的意象——以顶真写层叠；「楼前宫畔暮江流」令人想到「暮江流」写暮江东流的意象——「楼前宫畔暮江流」正是李商隐的名句，也令人想到「大江东去」式的江流意象；「楚天长短黄昏雨」令人想到「楚天」写楚地的意象——「楚天千里清秋」（辛弃疾），也令人想到「黄昏雨」写黄昏暮雨的意象——「巴山夜雨涨秋池」的雨夜之愁；「宋玉无愁亦自愁」令人想到「宋玉」写宋玉的典故——宋玉善写悲秋多愁，其《九辩》「悲哉秋之为气也」，也令人想到「无愁亦自愁」写无愁自愁的意象——「宋玉无愁亦自愁」正是李商隐的名句。全诗化用楚天、宋玉的典故与意象，以咏史写愁怀，正是李商隐「沉博绝丽」而善用典、承楚辞悲秋传统写感慨的本领。又「暮江流」三字尤堪玩味：一「暮」字点明时是黄昏，一「江流」暗喻兴废如江水奔逝，宫楼之静止与江水之流动相映，更添荒凉迟暮之感。

Commentary

Long ranked among Li Shangyin's best historical poems, and often quoted for the last line, which is one of the few places in the tradition where sorrow is described as involuntary. Qing readers commented on the poem's 'deep and veiled' manner. Modern readers single out the closing couplet, in which the poet's own feeling is disguised as a remark about a dead man. The poem's special quality is that it does not moralize: there is no line about a fallen dynasty or a warning to the present. For a modern reader, this is the poem's gift — the ruin is there, the rain is there, and the only thing the poet can add is the observation that Song Yu, who had no reason, was sad anyway, which is exactly the position of anyone who reads the poem.

此诗历来被推为李商隐咏史诗的名篇，也是唐人写楚宫兴废的代表。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人评此诗「以咏史写愁怀，含蕴深婉」；近人更指出「楼前宫畔暮江流」写楚宫的荒凉，「宋玉无愁亦自愁」写无愁自愁的感慨，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楚宫兴废的感慨——那山上离宫的宫上楼，那楼前宫畔的暮江流，那楚天长短的黄昏雨，那无愁亦自愁的宋玉，都写尽了李商隐对楚宫兴废的感慨；那「宋玉无愁亦自愁」更以无愁亦愁写尽愁之不可免。此诗与李商隐《齐宫词》（「犹自风摇九子铃」）同为咏史名篇，一写齐宫（齐宫词），一写楚宫（楚吟）；又与李商隐「楚天长短黄昏雨」的凄迷之境一脉相承，可见李商隐咏史兼及自身的深沉感慨。对于今日读者，此诗是理解李商隐咏史诗的窗口，也是中国诗写兴废的经典——那黄昏的楚雨，穿越千年，仍在诉说着无愁自愁的感慨。

Prosody

Form Chinese poetry — seven-character quatrain (Qi Yan Jue Ju)诗·七言绝句

Rhyme Quatrain on the 'You' rhyme (下平十一尤): lou, liu, chou — one rhyme maintained to the end, in the long, drawing-out tone of the level voice七绝，押「楼」「流」「愁」韵（下平十一尤），一韵到底，音节流丽

Tone pattern A seven-character quatrain on level-tone rhymes, single rhyme throughout, in a soft, drawn-out rhythm that matches the evening rain.此诗为七言绝句，押平声韵，一韵到底，音节流丽，正合咏史的流丽。

Reading note Four lines of seven characters, rhyming on the You rhyme (lou, liu, chou) and held to the end. All three are open vowels that trail away, so the lines seem to stop rather than to finish; the rhyme is helped by the linking of words between lines, which loosens the normal close of a quatrain. Read lines 1 and 2 quickly, on the stair of the words; give the weather line its full length; and let the final line carry out slowly, since the poem's whole speech is that last, unhurried observation.此诗为七言绝句，四句——「山上离宫宫上楼，楼前宫畔暮江流。楚天长短黄昏雨，宋玉无愁亦自愁」，押「尤」韵（楼、流、愁），一韵到底，音节流丽。全诗以咏史写愁怀：前三句写楚宫楚天之景（山上离宫宫上楼，楼前宫畔暮江流；楚天长短黄昏雨），末一句写感慨（宋玉无愁亦自愁）。四句短章，前写景，后写愁，正见李商隐咏史诗「含蕴深婉」的本色。此诗最妙处在前两句的顶真：「宫」字、「楼」字首尾相接，写尽离宫楼台的层叠，音节上也如层楼递进、回环往复。诵读此诗，宜以流丽的语调读「山上离宫宫上楼」的层叠，以感慨的语调读「宋玉无愁亦自愁」的愁怀，结句「宋玉无愁亦自愁」要读得深长而有余韵，方能传达出李商隐的深婉含蓄。李商隐绝句以「沉博绝丽」著称，此诗正是其咏史绝句的典范。

Line by line

楼前宫畔暮江流

Before the tower, beside the palace, the evening river flows.

楼前宫畔唯有暮江东流。

Before the tower, by the ruined palace, only the evening river flows east.

此句是全诗写荒凉的核心，以宫畔写旧址，以暮江流写荒凉，写尽楚宫的荒凉，是千古名句。「楼前宫畔暮江流」写楼前宫畔唯有暮江东流——那「楼前宫畔」写楼前宫畔，「暮江流」写暮江东流，写尽楚宫的荒凉。这句的深意在于：它以「楼前宫畔」的旧址与「暮江流」的江流，写尽楚宫的荒凉——楼前宫畔唯有暮江东流，那「楼前宫畔」写尽离宫楼台的所在——山上离宫，宫上楼，楼前宫畔，层层叠叠的宫楼；然而如今宫畔无人，唯有暮江东流，那「暮江流」写尽楚宫的荒凉——昔日宫殿巍峨、宴乐喧阗，如今楼前宫畔，唯见暮江默默东流，那「暮江流」写尽兴废的荒凉；那「楼前宫畔」写尽离宫的旧址，那「暮江流」写尽楚宫的荒凉，一写旧址，一写江流，写尽楚宫的荒凉——宫楼犹在，而宫人已去，唯暮江东流，正是物是人非的兴废之叹；此句以暮江流写尽楚宫的荒凉，也让此句成为全诗写荒凉的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「楚宫荒废了」，则失其含蓄；唯以「楼前宫畔暮江流」写旧址与江流，写尽楚宫的荒凉，也让此句成为全诗写荒凉的核心。

The line is a whole meditation on fallen glory in eleven characters. Before the tower, by the side of the palace, only the evening river flows east. The layered architecture—palace on the hill, tower above the palace, the tower looking out—once enclosed a court of feasting; now the palace side is empty, and the only motion left is the dark river going its way. The word only carries the desolation: everything human has withdrawn, and the evening current remains. It is the classical ruin scene, Chu's old palaces reduced to water and dusk. To have said the Chu palace was ruined would be a guidebook; the flowing evening river where the palace used to be is the ruin.

楚天长短黄昏雨

The sky of Chu, however long the day, rains at dusk.

楚天之上，无论如何总有黄昏之雨。

Over the Chu sky, evening rain falls, as it always does.

此句是全诗写愁境的核心，以楚天写楚地，以黄昏雨写愁雨，写尽楚天黄昏雨的迷濛，是千古名句。「楚天长短黄昏雨」写楚天之上无论如何总有黄昏之雨——那「楚天」写楚地之天，「长短黄昏雨」写无论如何总有黄昏之雨，写尽楚天黄昏雨的迷濛。这句的深意在于：它以「楚天」的楚地与「黄昏雨」的愁雨，写尽楚天黄昏雨的迷濛——楚天之上无论如何总有黄昏之雨，那「楚天长短黄昏雨」写尽楚天黄昏雨的迷濛——楚天辽阔，而黄昏时总有雨，那「长短」写尽黄昏雨的多与久（无论如何、总是），那「黄昏雨」写尽愁雨的迷濛；那「楚天」写尽楚地的辽阔，那「黄昏雨」写尽愁雨的迷濛，一写楚天，一写黄昏雨，写尽楚天黄昏雨的迷濛——楚天黄昏，暮雨迷濛，正是愁境的弥漫；而「长短」二字更妙——以口语入诗，写尽黄昏雨无论如何总有、绵绵不绝之态，正是李商隐以俗语写深愁的本领；此句以黄昏雨写尽楚天黄昏雨的迷濛，也让此句成为全诗写愁境的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「楚天正下着黄昏雨」，则失其情味；唯以「楚天长短黄昏雨」写楚天与黄昏雨，写尽楚天黄昏雨的迷濛，也让此句成为全诗写愁境的核心。

The second line is the famous odd colloquialism. Over the Chu sky, evening rain falls, as it always does. The word long-or-short is spoken prose—it means anyway, in every case—and its flatness inside a poem is the shock: the rain does not arrange itself poetically, it simply, inevitably rains at dusk over the wide Chu sky. The matter-of-fact word is how Li Shangyin turns personal gloom into weather: there is no escaping this dusk, this drizzle, this sky. To have said the Chu sky was raining at evening would be a scene; the colloquial anyway is the inescapable mood.

Study

Word focus

长短 In 'the sky of Chu, however long the day, / rains at dusk,' changduan means 'however long or short,' and is used here as a single invariable phrase meaning 'at whatever length the day may be'; the odd, unpoetic word is what makes the rain seem to fall unconditionally rather than on one particular evening. (About 30 words) 「楚天长短黄昏雨」之「长短」是写愁境的关键词，一个「长短」写尽楚天黄昏的迷濛。长短者，无论如何、总是也，亦有长短参差之意。李商隐以「楚天长短黄昏雨」写楚天，这个「长短」至少有双重意味：其一，写楚天之久——那「楚天长短黄昏雨」写楚天无论如何总有黄昏雨，那「长短」写尽楚天黄昏雨之多——楚天昏雨，绵绵不绝，那「长短」写尽愁雨的绵长；其二，写愁境之迷——那「长短」更是写愁境——楚天长短，黄昏雨迷濛，正写尽愁之弥漫，那「长短」写尽愁境的迷濛。以「长短」写楚天，正是李商隐写愁境的枢纽——若换作「总是」「尽是」等词，则或失其与「楚天」的配合，或失其写长短参差的意味；唯「长短」二字，以楚天长短黄昏雨写尽楚天黄昏雨的绵长与愁境的迷濛，与「宋玉无愁亦自愁」的无愁亦自愁相合，写尽无愁自愁的感慨，也让「楚天长短黄昏雨」成为全诗写愁境的名句。

自愁 In 'Song Yu has no cause for sorrow — / and yet he sorrows,' zi chou means to sorrow of oneself, without external cause; it turns grief into a native energy, and by attributing it to Song Yu the poet also acknowledges it in himself. (About 30 words) 「宋玉无愁亦自愁」之「自愁」是写愁怀的关键词，一个「自愁」写尽无愁自愁的感慨。自愁者，自己生愁也。李商隐以「无愁亦自愁」写宋玉，这个「自愁」至少有双重意味：其一，写愁之自发——那「宋玉无愁亦自愁」写宋玉无愁亦自生愁，那「自愁」写尽愁之自发——即使无愁，亦自生愁，那「自愁」写尽愁之不可免；其二，写身世之慨——那「自愁」更是写身世——以宋玉自比，无愁亦自愁，正见诗人自己愁怀难遣，那「自愁」写尽身世的感慨。以「自愁」写宋玉，正是李商隐写愁怀的枢纽——若换作「生愁」「添愁」等词，则或失其写自发的意味，或失其与「无愁亦」的配合；唯「自愁」二字，以无愁亦自愁写尽愁之自发与身世的感慨，与「楚天长短黄昏雨」的黄昏雨相合，写尽无愁自愁的感慨，也让「宋玉无愁亦自愁」成为全诗写愁怀的千古名句。

楚吟