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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

杜工部蜀中离席

A Parting Feast in Shu, after Du Gongbu

李商隐

Li Shangyin

离别Parting 感慨Lament

人生何处不离群？
世路干戈惜暂分。
雪岭未归天外使，松州犹驻殿前军。
座中醉客延醒客，江上晴云杂雨云。
美酒成都堪送老，当垆仍是卓文君。

Where in this life does one not part from one's company?
Upon the road of the world, amid arms and war — how precious is even a brief dividing.
The envoys from beyond the snow mountains have never come back;
Troops are still quartered at Songzhou before the palace gate.
Among the guests, the drunk keep the sober company;
On the river, clear cloud mingles with rain.
Chengdu's good wine could last me to old age;
At the counter it is still Zhuo Wenjun who waits.

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Meaning

Li Shangyin wrote this at a farewell feast in Chengdu, in a voice deliberately borrowed from Du Fu. The opening couplet makes parting universal — in time of war no one escapes it — and then complains about how brief the separating is. The second couplet widens to the disorders of the region: envoys stranded beyond the Snow Mountains, soldiers still garrisoned at Songzhou. At the table itself drunk and sober guests share one cup, and on the river clear cloud mingles with rain; Chengdu, with its wine and its celebrated hostess at the counter, appears as a place where a man might grow old. The poem is a farewell that cannot settle, because private parting is set against a war that is not finished.

人生何处不离群？世路干戈惜暂分。雪岭未归天外使，松州犹驻殿前军。座中醉客延醒客，江上晴云杂雨云。美酒成都堪送老，当垆仍是卓文君。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The poem opens with a rhetorical question and an answer: everywhere men part, and in a time of war the parting is all the more to be prized. It then names the troubles that make the parting bitter — envoys lost beyond the mountains, troops still camped before the capital — before returning to the feast itself, where drunk and sober sit together and the river mixes clear cloud with rain. The last couplet offers the city as a refuge: the wine is good enough to grow old in, and the woman of the wine-shop is the famous Zhuo Wenjun, still at her counter. [Structure] The whole poem is one movement outward and back: the self at the feast, the world beyond the window, and then the self again at the counter. [Imagery] The central image is the mingling of clear and rain cloud, which stands for a feast in which everything is half of what it should be, and it is prepared by the mingling of drunk and sober guests.

【白话串讲】李商隐写《杜工部蜀中离席》：“人生何处不离群？世路干戈惜暂分”——“雪岭未归天外使，松州犹驻殿前军”——“座中醉客延醒客，江上晴云杂雨云”——“美酒成都堪送老，当垆仍是卓文君”——他写乱世中的离席。【意象与手法】此诗写感慨，以送别写感慨，是李商隐的名篇。前四句写世乱：「人生何处不离群？世路干戈惜暂分。雪岭未归天外使，松州犹驻殿前军」写人生何处不离群、世路干戈惜暂分——写尽离群的干戈；后四句写蜀中：「座中醉客延醒客，江上晴云杂雨云。美酒成都堪送老，当垆仍是卓文君」写座中醉客延醒客、江上晴云杂雨云——写尽晴雨的江上。全诗以送别写感慨，写尽离群的干戈与晴雨的江上，是李商隐的代表作。【情感与主旨】此诗写感慨，以送别写感慨，是李商隐的名篇。此诗为李商隐在成都送别友人而作，仿杜甫笔意写离情与世乱。诗题拟杜甫（杜工部）诗风，写蜀中离席，感慨乱世中的人生聚散。此诗写人生何处不离群，世路干戈惜暂分；雪岭未归天外使，松州犹驻殿前军；座中醉客延醒客，江上晴云杂雨云；美酒成都堪送老，当垆仍是卓文君。此诗写世乱：人生何处不离群，世路干戈惜暂分——写人生何处不离群、世路干戈惜暂分，写尽离群的干戈；雪岭未归天外使，松州犹驻殿前军——写雪岭未归天外使、松州犹驻殿前军，写尽天外的使节；座中醉客延醒客，江上晴云杂雨云——写座中醉客延醒客、江上晴云杂雨云，写尽晴雨的江上；美酒成都堪送老，当垆仍是卓文君——写美酒成都堪送老、当垆仍是卓文君，写尽当垆的文君。全诗以送别写感慨——那「人生何处不离群」写尽离群的干戈，「当垆仍是卓文君」写尽当垆的文君，写尽离群的干戈与晴雨的江上，是理解李商隐感慨诗的重要篇章。【名句点睛】常考「人生何处不离群？世路干戈惜暂分」写离群的干戈；「座中醉客延醒客，江上晴云杂雨云」写晴雨的江上；以及全诗以送别写感慨、以用典写蜀中的手法。

Background

Li Shangyin (about 813-858), zi Yishan, so Yuxi and Fan Nan, was from Huaizhou and wrote in the last decades of the Tang. He had been driven from the capital for years by the struggle between the two court factions, and by the time he reached Chengdu he had spent that period mostly away from office. The poem belongs to the years he spent in Shu, when he was working under the military governor of the region, and it is written in the manner of Du Fu, whose verse he admired and imitated openly — hence the title, which names the master rather than the occasion. The song title is probably not his own; the poem is an imitation of a Du Fu style.

此诗写感慨，以送别写感慨，是李商隐的名篇。李商隐（约813—约858），字义山，号玉谿生，又号樊南生，怀州河内（今河南沁阳）人，晚唐著名诗人，与杜牧并称「小李杜」，与温庭筠并称「温李」。此诗为李商隐在成都送别友人而作，仿杜甫笔意写离情与世乱。诗题拟杜甫（杜工部）诗风，写蜀中离席，感慨乱世中的人生聚散。此诗写人生何处不离群，世路干戈惜暂分；雪岭未归天外使，松州犹驻殿前军；座中醉客延醒客，江上晴云杂雨云；美酒成都堪送老，当垆仍是卓文君。此诗写世乱：「人生何处不离群，世路干戈惜暂分」写人生何处不离群、世路干戈惜暂分——写尽离群的干戈（人生何处不离群，世路干戈惜暂分）；「雪岭未归天外使，松州犹驻殿前军」写雪岭未归天外使、松州犹驻殿前军——写尽天外的使节（雪岭未归天外使，松州犹驻殿前军）；「座中醉客延醒客，江上晴云杂雨云」写座中醉客延醒客、江上晴云杂雨云——写尽晴雨的江上（座中醉客延醒客，江上晴云杂雨云）；「美酒成都堪送老，当垆仍是卓文君」写美酒成都堪送老、当垆仍是卓文君——写尽当垆的文君（美酒成都堪送老，当垆仍是卓文君）。全诗以送别写感慨，写尽离群的干戈与晴雨的江上，是理解李商隐感慨诗的重要篇章。

Art

The poem's craft is in its two middle couplets, which do no descriptive work at all. '雪岭未归天外使，松州犹驻殿前军' gathers the geography of complaint — the Snow Mountains where an envoy is stranded, Songzhou where the guard still stands — into one parallel line, and '座中醉客延醒客，江上晴云杂雨云' does the same for the feast. The second of these is the poem's hinge: the mingling of clear and rain cloud answers the mingling of drunk and sober guests, so that the weather outside and the company inside are identical. The closing couplet then chooses, or pretends to choose, the consolation of wine and of a beautiful woman at the counter, and the choice is what makes the parting felt rather than resolved.

此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以设问写感慨。「人生何处不离群」以设问写感慨——那「世路干戈惜暂分」写尽离群的干戈，以设问写尽离群的干戈。其二，以对仗写世乱。「雪岭未归天外使」以对仗写世乱——那「松州犹驻殿前军」写尽殿前的驻军，以对仗写尽天外的使节。其三，以对照写江上。「座中醉客延醒客」以对照写江上——那「江上晴云杂雨云」写尽晴雨的江上，以对照写尽晴雨的江上。其四，以用典写蜀中。「当垆仍是卓文君」以用典写蜀中——那「当垆」用卓文君典写蜀中，以用典写尽当垆的文君。此外，此诗前四句写离群的干戈，后四句写晴雨的江上，由世及景，正是感慨诗「以乱写慨」的写法。四重手法，使此诗以送别写感慨，写尽离群的干戈与晴雨的江上，是李商隐的代表作。此诗还善于以「雪岭未归天外使」的「未归」写使节之未归——那「雪岭未归」写尽未归的雪岭，正是以未写归，以「未归」写尽天外的使节。又善以「美酒成都堪送老」的「堪送老」写成都之宜老——美酒成都堪送老，正见成都宜老的写照，以「堪送老」写尽当垆的文君。

Allusions

The name of the poem and the allusion at its close both point to the same source. Du Gongbu is Du Fu, who held the honorary title of left minister of defence; to write 'after Du Gongbu' is to declare an inheritance, and every不平 note of the poem is in the elder's voice. '当垆' brings in Zhuo Wenjun, who left her wealthy husband for the musician Sima Xiangru, sold wine at the counter of her own accord, and became the standard emblem of a woman who chooses for herself; that Chengdu should still be keeping her at the counter is Li Shangyin's way of saying that the city has not changed, and therefore that he may stay. The '离群' of the opening line is commonplplace; neither allusion is laboured. The weight lies in who is being invoked and what is being declined.

此诗的用语深植于感慨与送别传统。「离群」令人想到「离群」写离群的意象——《礼记》「离群索居」，也令人想到「离群索居」的意象；「干戈」令人想到「干戈」写战乱的意象——也令人想到「干戈寥落」（文天祥）的意象；「雪岭」令人想到「雪岭」写雪岭的意象——川西雪山，也令人想到「雪山」的意象；「松州」令人想到「松州」写松州的意象——今四川松潘，也令人想到「松州城」的意象；「晴云杂雨云」令人想到「晴云杂雨云」写晴雨相杂的意象——也令人想到「东边日出西边雨」（刘禹锡）的意象；「当垆」令人想到「当垆」写当垆卖酒的意象——卓文君当垆卖酒，也令人想到「文君当垆」的意象。全诗化用离群、干戈、雪岭、松州、晴云杂雨云、当垆的意象典故，以送别写感慨，正是李商隐「深婉」而善用典、承感慨传统写送别之本领。「离群」令人想到「离群」写离群的意象——也令人想到「离群索居」的意象；「雪岭」令人想到「雪岭」写雪岭的意象——也令人想到「岷山雪」的意象，以雪岭写蜀中。

Commentary

The poem has been read in the Qing as a demonstration of Li Shangyin's flair, and in the recent century as a document of his mood in Shu: a sensitive man making his way in a provincial government, writing a farewell in the manner of the man he most respected, and unable to feel anything like consolation. Readers have noted that the last couplet is the oddest — that it offers exactly the escape that the poem cannot take. In this it resembles the best of Du Fu's imitations: the surface is calm, the enticement is real, and the reader is left to notice that a man who could stay in Chengdu would not have written a farewell. The poem's elegance is precisely what makes its unresolved state so legible.

此诗历来被推为李商隐感慨诗的名篇，也是唐诗写蜀中离别的代表。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人评此诗「以送别写感慨，沉郁顿挫，深得杜意」；近人更指出「座中醉客延醒客，江上晴云杂雨云」写晴雨的江上，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离群的干戈与晴雨的江上——那人生，那何处，那不离群，那世路，那干戈，那惜暂分，那雪岭，那未归，那天外使，那松州，那犹驻，那殿前军，那座中，那醉客，那延醒客，那江上，那晴云，那杂雨云，那美酒，那成都，那堪送老，那当垆，那仍是，那卓文君，都写尽了李商隐笔下的杜工部蜀中离席；那「当垆仍是卓文君」更以用典写尽当垆的文君。此诗与杜甫《赠卫八处士》「人生不相见，动如参与商」同为离群名篇，一写「人生何处不离群」的李商隐（蜀中离席），一写「访旧半为鬼」的杜甫（赠卫八处士）；一写李商隐，一写杜甫。两诗对读，可见唐诗写离别感慨的传统。对于今日读者，此诗是理解李商隐感慨诗的窗口，也是唐诗写蜀中离别的经典——那当垆的文君，穿越千年，仍在诉说着离群的干戈。

Prosody

Form Poem in the seven-character octave (heptasyllabic lü-shi)诗·七言律诗

Rhyme A seven-character octave rhyming throughout on qun, fen, jun, yun and jun — the 'wen' group of level tones — so that every line closes on the same nasal vowel. The sound is even and rather closed, which suits a poem that keeps circling back to its own feeling.七律，押「群」「分」「军」「云」「君」韵（上平十二文），一韵到底，音节顿挫

Tone pattern The regulated verse is here almost unwary: the lines are regular seven-character cadences, but the rhythm is always on the point of slowing down, especially at the head of lines where a single word carries the weight — '干戈', '醉客', '晴云'. The parallel middle couplets are careful without being showy, and the opening question is the only place the metre sounds like speech.此诗为七言律诗，押平声韵，一韵到底，音节顿挫，正合感慨的顿挫。

Reading note Du Fu's example is visible in the bones of the poem: the density, the historical weight of the middle couplet, the refusal to state a feeling plainly. What is Li Shangyin's own is the temperament that keeps the argument open. The octave moves from a generaltruth to a particular grievance, then back to the table, then to a temptation, and never lands anywhere; the rhyme, held for eight lines, is what keeps the instability audible. Later readers have used the poem as a demonstration of how an imitation can be more sceptical than its model.此诗为七言律诗，八句——「人生何处不离群？世路干戈惜暂分。雪岭未归天外使，松州犹驻殿前军。座中醉客延醒客，江上晴云杂雨云。美酒成都堪送老，当垆仍是卓文君」，押「文」韵（群、分、军、云、君），一韵到底，音节顿挫。全诗以送别写感慨：前四句写离群的干戈（人生何处不离群、松州犹驻殿前军），后四句写晴雨的江上（座中醉客延醒客、当垆仍是卓文君）。八句短章，前写世乱，后写蜀中，以「当垆仍是卓文君」写尽当垆的文君，正见李商隐「深婉」的本色。诵读此诗，宜以顿挫的语调读「世路干戈惜暂分」的感慨，以低回的语调读「当垆仍是卓文君」的文君，结句要读得顿挫而有余韵，方能传达出李商隐的沉郁顿挫。李商隐律诗以「深婉」著称，此诗正是其感慨诗的典范。

Line by line

人生何处不离群？世路干戈惜暂分

Where in this life does one not part from one's company? Upon the road of the world, amid arms and war — how precious is even a brief dividing.

人生何处不离群？世路干戈惜暂分。

In all life, where is there a place without parting? On a road of war, we cherish even this brief separation.

此二句是全诗写感慨的核心，以人生何处不离群写不离群，以世路干戈惜暂分写惜暂分，写尽离群的干戈，是千古名句。「人生何处不离群」写人生何处不离群——那「人生何处」写人生何处，「不离群」写不离群，写尽人生的离群；「世路干戈惜暂分」写世路干戈惜暂分——那「世路干戈」写世路干戈，「惜暂分」写惜暂分，写尽离群的干戈。这句的深意在于：它以「人生何处不离群」的不离群与「世路干戈惜暂分」的惜暂分，写尽离群的干戈——人生何处不离群，那「人生何处不离群」写尽人生的离群——人生何处不离群，正是人生多离群的写照，那「不离群」写尽离群的干戈；世路干戈惜暂分，那「世路干戈惜暂分」写尽离群的干戈——世路干戈惜暂分，正是乱世惜别的写照，那「惜暂分」写尽离群的干戈；那「人生何处不离群」写尽人生的离群，那「世路干戈惜暂分」写尽离群的干戈，一写人生，一写世路，写尽离群的干戈——人生离群而乱世惜别，正是感慨的写照；此二句以人生、世路写尽离群的干戈，也为下文的雪岭作铺垫，也让此二句成为全诗写感慨的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「人生哪里没有离别离散呢？乱世干戈中更珍惜暂时的分别」，则失其深婉；唯以「人生何处不离群」写不离群、「世路干戈惜暂分」写惜暂分，写尽离群的干戈，也让此二句成为全诗写感慨的核心。

Li Shangyin, writing in the style of Du Fu's Sichuan farewell, opens with a universal. In all life, where is there a place without parting? The answer is nowhere; parting is the human condition. But on a road of war, even this brief separation is cherished—because in war you may never meet again, a parting that would be ordinary becomes precious. The universal softened by the wartime particular is the poem's pathos. To have said we all part, and in war the parting is sad, would be a statement; the universal question set against the brief wartime parting is the pathos.

座中醉客延醒客，江上晴云杂雨云

Among the guests, the drunk keep the sober company; On the river, clear cloud mingles with rain.

座中醉客延醒客，江上晴云杂雨云。

Among the guests, the drunk urge the sober to drink; over the river, fair clouds are mingled with rain clouds.

此二句是全诗写江上的核心，以座中醉客延醒客写延醒客，以江上晴云杂雨云写杂雨云，写尽晴雨的江上，是千古名句。「座中醉客延醒客」写座中醉客延醒客——那「座中醉客」写座中醉客，「延醒客」写延醒客，写尽醉客的延客；「江上晴云杂雨云」写江上晴云杂雨云——那「江上晴云」写江上晴云，「杂雨云」写杂雨云，写尽晴雨的江上。这句的深意在于：它以「座中醉客延醒客」的延醒客与「江上晴云杂雨云」的杂雨云，写尽晴雨的江上——座中醉客延醒客，那「座中醉客延醒客」写尽醉客的延客——座中醉客延醒客，正是醉客劝醒的写照，那「延醒客」写尽晴雨的江上；江上晴云杂雨云，那「江上晴云杂雨云」写尽晴雨的江上——江上晴云杂雨云，正是晴雨相杂的写照，那「杂雨云」写尽晴雨的江上；那「座中醉客延醒客」写尽醉客的延客，那「江上晴云杂雨云」写尽晴雨的江上，一写座中，一写江上，写尽晴雨的江上——座中醉醒而江上晴雨，正是离席的写照；此二句以座中、江上写尽晴雨的江上，也为下文的当垆作铺垫，也让此二句成为全诗写江上的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「座中醉客劝着醒客，江上晴云夹杂着雨云」，则失其对照；唯以「座中醉客延醒客」写延醒客、「江上晴云杂雨云」写杂雨云，写尽晴雨的江上，也让此二句成为全诗写江上的核心。

The banquet couplet is the famous double image. Among the guests, the drunk urge the sober to drink; over the river, fair clouds are mingled with rain clouds. Inside the tent, drunkenness and sobriety cross-purposes; outside, fine weather and storm weather mix on the river. The two scenes mirror each other—drunk and sober, fair and foul—and neither resolves. The poem's time of civil war has no settled weather, inside or out. To have described the farewell party and the river weather would be two notes; the paired drunk-and-sober, fair-and-rain images are the mirror.

Study

Word focus

惜 To prize, to grieve over: the character carries both feelings at once, so that a brief separation is both valuable and painful. In '世路干戈惜暂分' it is the whole tone of the poem in one word — the resignation of a man in time of war who knows he will not see the person again, and cannot say which part of him is the relief and which the grief. 「世路干戈惜暂分」之「惜」字是写感慨的关键词，一个「惜」字写尽离群的干戈。惜者，珍惜、惋惜也。李商隐以「世路干戈惜暂分」写感慨，这个「惜」字至少有双重意味：其一，写分之惜——那「世路干戈惜暂分」写世路干戈惜暂分，那「惜」字写尽离群的干戈——惜暂分，正是珍惜暂别的写照，那「惜」字写尽离群的干戈；其二，写情之重——那「惜」字更是写重——惜，正见乱世别离的深情，那「惜」字写尽李商隐的深婉。以「惜」字写感慨，正是李商隐写送别的枢纽——若换作「叹」「伤」等字，则或失其与「世路干戈」「暂分」的配合，或失其写惜的意味；唯「惜」字，以世路干戈惜暂分写尽暂分之珍惜与乱世之深情，与「人生何处不离群」的离群相合，写尽离群的干戈，也让「世路干戈惜暂分」成为全诗写感慨的名句。

杂 Mingled: the character makes the cloud of the river into one thing, so that clear and rain cannot be told apart, and by extension makes the gathering at the feast so. It is the word that turns a description of weather into a judgement on men, and it does so without ever becoming a complaint. 「江上晴云杂雨云」之「杂」字是写江上的关键词，一个「杂」字写尽晴雨的江上。杂者，夹杂、交错也。李商隐以「江上晴云杂雨云」写江上，这个「杂」字至少有双重意味：其一，写云之杂——那「江上晴云杂雨云」写江上晴云杂雨云，那「杂」字写尽晴雨的江上——杂雨云，正是晴雨相杂的写照，那「杂」字写尽晴雨的江上；其二，写世之幻——那「杂」字更是写幻——杂，正见世事变幻的莫测，那「杂」字写尽李商隐的深婉。以「杂」字写江上，正是李商隐写感慨的枢纽——若换作「混」「间」等字，则或失其与「江上晴云」「雨云」的配合，或失其写杂的意味；唯「杂」字，以江上晴云杂雨云写尽晴雨之相杂与世事之变幻，与「座中醉客延醒客」的醉客相合，写尽晴雨的江上，也让「江上晴云杂雨云」成为全诗写江上的名句。