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汉 Han · 诗 Poem

孟冬寒气至

Cold Air in the Tenth Month

古诗十九首

Anonymous (of the Nineteen Old Poems)

羸马朝自燕，一身为二连。
忆亲拜孤冢，移葬双陵前。
幽愿从此毕，劒心因获全。
孟冬寒气盛，抚辔告言旋。
碣石海北门，余寇惟朝鲜。
离离一寒骑，袅袅驰白天。
生别皆自取，况为士卒先。
寸心渔阳兴，落日旌竿悬。

A lean horse sets out at dawn from Yan, one body bound to two ties.
Missing kin, he kneels at a lonely grave, a second burial moved before the twin mounds.
The buried wish is finished here, and the swordsman's heart is kept whole.
The cold of early winter is at its strongest; he strokes the rein and says he will turn back.
The Jieshi stone stands at the northern gate of the sea, where the surviving bandits are the folk of Choseon.
A lone cold rider, detached and far off, gallops off into the white day.
Living apart is all of one's own choosing, how much more so for one who leads the soldiers.
One inch of heart, a rising of Yuyang, and the sunset flagstaff hangs low.
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Meaning

A weary rider comes home out of the northern frontier in the deep cold of early winter. He has buried his parents and bowed at their lonely grave, and a private vow is now complete; yet his heart stays fixed on the campaigns of Yuyang. The poem reads as an old verse of duty, filial grief and the loneliness of the road, closing on the emblem of a sunset flagstaff: a world left behind, and a self still bound to it.

羸马朝自燕，一身为二连。忆亲拜孤冢，移葬双陵前。幽愿从此毕，劒心因获全。孟冬寒气盛，抚辔告言旋。碣石海北门，余寇惟朝鲜。离离一寒骑，袅袅驰白天。生别皆自取，况为士卒先。寸心渔阳兴，落日旌竿悬。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] A lean horse leaves Yan at dawn; one man belongs to two ties. He thinks of kin and bows at a solitary grave, a burial moved before the double mounds. His hidden vow is finished here, and the heart of a swordsman is preserved entire. Cold air fills the tenth month; he pats the rein and announces his return. [Structure] The piece runs to eight five-syllable lines, each a near-independent couplet that moves the story on by stages: the journey out, the rite at the grave, the vow, the decision to go back, the frontier geography, the ride itself, the moral reflection, and the closing emblem. [Imagery] The lean horse and the lonely grave fix the eye on want and loss; the sunset flagstaff closes the poem like an image of an order that outlasts the rider. What gives the verse its force is restraint. Nothing is spelled out, and the poet lets a sequence of plain images carry the feeling. That plainness is a mark of the collection's seriousness: understatement here is a technique, not an absence of invention.

【白话串讲】 古诗十九首《孟冬寒气至》：“孟冬寒气至，北风何惨栗”——“愁多知夜长，仰观众星列”——“三五明月满，四五詹兔缺”——“客从远方来，遗我一书札”——“置书怀袖中，三岁字不灭”——她写冬夜的相思。 【意象与手法】 “孟冬寒气至，北风何惨栗”以寒气候写愁绪；“愁多知夜长，仰观众星列”以夜长星列写孤寂；“三五明月满，四五詹兔缺”以月之圆缺写时间流逝；“客从远方来，遗我一书札”转折；“置书怀袖中，三岁字不灭”以珍藏书信写深情。以景写情、细节传神。 【情感与主旨】 写冬夜思妇对远方游子的相思，以珍藏三年不灭的书信写深挚不渝的爱情，是《古诗十九首》中闺怨题材的代表。 【名句点睛】 常考“愁多知夜长，仰观众星列”以夜长星列写愁绪；“置书怀袖中，三岁字不灭”以珍藏书信写深情。

Background

The Nineteen Old Poems is an anonymous group of five-syllable verses of the late Han, held together by oral transmission and by anthologies such as the Wenxuan rather than by a single editor. Nothing is known of their authors. 'Cold Air in the Tenth Month' travels in that traditional register: a speaker on a road, a grave visited, a vow paid off, and a cold season used as the outward sign of inward trouble. Later readers have attached courtly and frontier readings to lines such as 'the surviving bandits are only Choseon', but the poem's plain sequence of images resists being pinned down to one historical moment, and that openness is part of its durability.

《孟冬寒气至》为一首五言诗，author 记古诗十九首，kind 记诗。全诗写景感怀：首联「羸马朝自燕，一身为二连」写羸马朝自燕，一身为二连；颔联「忆亲拜孤冢，移葬双陵前」写忆亲拜孤冢，移葬双陵前；颈联「幽愿从此毕，劒心因获全」写幽愿从此毕，劒心因获全；中联「孟冬寒气盛，抚辔告言旋」写孟冬寒气盛，抚辔告言旋；「碣石海北门，余寇惟朝鲜」写碣石海北门，余寇惟朝鲜；「离离一寒骑，袅袅驰白天」写离离一寒骑，袅袅驰白天；「生别皆自取，况为士卒先」写生别皆自取，况为士卒先；尾联「寸心渔阳兴，落日旌竿悬」写寸心渔阳兴，落日旌竿悬。全诗以写景感怀、落日旌竿悬写其感怀之情，含蓄深婉，是古诗中的名篇。此篇《孟冬寒气至》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。

Art

The dominant craft is presenting feeling through scene rather than naming it. Each couplet supplies a concrete object—the lean horse, the lonely grave, the double mounds, the stone at the sea gate, the lone rider, the hanging flag—and the feeling is allowed to accumulate around them. The syntax is deliberately thin: clauses abut one another, particles are few, and the reader does the connecting. The vocabulary is plain, drawn from roads, tombs and winter rather than from the ornamental dictionary. Within that plainness the poet still finds striking figures: 'one inch of heart' shrinks the self to a physical fragment, while 'the sunset flagstaff hangs' gives stillness to a scene that has been in motion since the opening line. The closing couplet resolves nothing; it simply stops, which is what makes it linger.

此诗艺术上以「含蓄深婉、以景写情」见长。全诗多联，由羸马朝自燕、忆亲拜孤冢而孟冬寒气盛、落日旌竿悬。首联「羸马朝自燕，一身为二连」写羸马朝自燕：羸马朝自燕，一身为二连；颔联「忆亲拜孤冢，移葬双陵前」写忆亲拜孤冢：忆亲拜孤冢，移葬双陵前；颈联「幽愿从此毕，劒心因获全」写幽愿从此毕：幽愿从此毕，劒心因获全；中联「孟冬寒气盛，抚辔告言旋」写孟冬寒气盛：孟冬寒气盛，抚辔告言旋；「碣石海北门，余寇惟朝鲜」写碣石海北门：碣石海北门，余寇惟朝鲜；「离离一寒骑，袅袅驰白天」写离离一寒骑：离离一寒骑，袅袅驰白天；「生别皆自取，况为士卒先」写生别皆自取：生别皆自取，况为士卒先；尾联「寸心渔阳兴，落日旌竿悬」写落日旌竿悬：寸心渔阳兴，落日旌竿悬。全诗以景写情，由羸马朝自燕而孟冬寒气盛而落日旌竿悬，含蓄深婉，是古诗中的名篇。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。

Allusions

Two place-names carry most of the weight. Jieshi (碣石), the stone at the sea's northern gate, recalls the eastern tour of Cao Cao and his song of the stone of Jieshi, so that the northern gate is not merely scenery but a remembered pole of Han empire. Yuyang (渔阳) belongs to the same frontier vocabulary; it is the district whose drum-beats shake the earth in Bai Juyi's 'Ballad of the Folded Fan', and it stands here for the campaign the speaker's heart is still inclined toward. Neither allusion is announced—there is no gloss in the text—and this unmarked fusion of story and scene is what the tradition calls using典故 without trace. Around them the poem places smaller images of the same kind: the twin mounds of the imperial tombs, the white day of the open road, and the flagstaff that ends the journey where it began.

诗中「羸马朝自燕」「一身为二连」「忆亲拜孤冢」「移葬双陵前」「幽愿从此毕」「劒心因获全」「孟冬寒气盛」「抚辔告言旋」「碣石海北门」「余寇惟朝鲜」「离离一寒骑」「袅袅驰白天」「生别皆自取」「况为士卒先」「寸心渔阳兴」「落日旌竿悬」等语，皆含典故故实。「羸马朝自燕」写羸马朝自燕（燕写燕地）；「一身为二连」写一身为二连；「忆亲拜孤冢」写忆亲拜孤冢；「移葬双陵前」写移葬双陵前；「幽愿从此毕」写幽愿从此毕；「劒心因获全」写劒心因获全；「孟冬寒气盛」写孟冬寒气盛；「抚辔告言旋」写抚辔告言旋；「碣石海北门」用碣石之典（曹操东临碣石），写碣石海北门；「余寇惟朝鲜」写余寇惟朝鲜；「离离一寒骑」写离离一寒骑；「袅袅驰白天」写袅袅驰白天；「生别皆自取」写生别皆自取；「况为士卒先」写况为士卒先；「寸心渔阳兴」用渔阳之典（渔阳鼙鼓动地来），写寸心渔阳兴；「落日旌竿悬」写落日旌竿悬。诗人以碣石、渔阳等语入诗，不着痕迹，而把写景感怀之情写得真切可感，是善于熔铸典故的体现。

Commentary

Read as a document of travel and loss, the poem is unusual among the old verses in that its speaker is a man on a road rather than a woman waiting at home, and its feeling is stamina rather than longing. Critics since the Ming have prized exactly this quality: the verse is veiled yet never opaque, because every veil is an image one can see. The couplet 'living apart is all of one's own choosing, how much more so for one who leads the soldiers' has been quoted as the poem's thesis, a matter-of-fact assertion of responsibility that sits oddly and memorably against the grief of the lines before it. The final image has been praised as setting the will in scenery: the flag does not fall, it hangs, and the poem ends in that suspended position.

这首《孟冬寒气至》，是写景感怀之作，写羸马朝自燕、孟冬寒气盛、落日旌竿悬之情，含蓄深婉。首联「羸马朝自燕，一身为二连」——羸马朝自燕（燕写燕地），一身为二连。写羸马朝自燕：羸马朝自燕、一身为二连——羸马自燕、一身为二连；颔联「忆亲拜孤冢，移葬双陵前」——忆亲拜孤冢，移葬双陵前。写忆亲拜孤冢：忆亲拜孤冢、移葬双陵前——拜孤冢、移葬双陵前；颈联「幽愿从此毕，劒心因获全」——幽愿从此毕，劒心因获全。写幽愿从此毕：幽愿从此毕、劒心因获全——幽愿毕、劒心获全；中联「孟冬寒气盛，抚辔告言旋」——孟冬寒气盛，抚辔告言旋。写孟冬寒气盛：孟冬寒气盛、抚辔告言旋——孟冬寒气盛、抚辔言旋；「碣石海北门，余寇惟朝鲜」——碣石海北门（用碣石之典），余寇惟朝鲜。写碣石海北门：碣石海北门、余寇惟朝鲜——碣石海北门、余寇惟朝鲜；「离离一寒骑，袅袅驰白天」——离离一寒骑，袅袅驰白天。写离离一寒骑：离离一寒骑、袅袅驰白天——寒骑离离、驰白天袅袅；「生别皆自取，况为士卒先」——生别皆自取，况为士卒先。写生别皆自取：生别皆自取、况为士卒先——生别自取、况为士卒先；尾联「寸心渔阳兴，落日旌竿悬」——寸心渔阳兴（用渔阳之典），落日旌竿悬。写落日旌竿悬：寸心渔阳兴、落日旌竿悬——寸心渔阳兴、落日旌竿悬。这「寸心渔阳兴，落日旌竿悬」，是全诗之结：以落日旌竿悬写其感怀。全诗含蓄深婉，以景写情，正是古诗中的名篇。

Prosody

Form Shi (five-character ancient verse)诗（五言古诗）
Rhyme Sixteen lines in even five-syllable measure. It rhymes on level tones in the xian branch: lian (连), qian (前), quan (全), xuan (旋), xian (鲜), tian (天), xian (先), xuan (悬). The single unbroken run of the same rhyme gives the verse its long, driven-line feeling, well matched to a journey poem that never turns back.此诗为五言古诗，共十六句，句式整齐。押平声韵：「连」「前」「全」「旋」「鲜」「天」「先」「悬」押先部韵。诗体依古诗而定，句式整齐，音节随情起伏，正与写景感怀的含蓄深婉相称，也见其以古诗写感怀的自然。
Tone pattern The sound-track moves through the whole poem. The opening couplet is dry and bare; the grave couplet sinks; the winter couplet is cold and clear; the frontier couplet is vast and homeless; the rider couplet quickens; the reflection is blunt; the close draws out. Rising and falling pitch follows the mood rather than any fixed scheme, so the verse reads best as spoken weather: the tones record the speaker's fatigue, and settle into the long drawl of the last line.句式上，首联「羸马朝自燕，一身为二连」写羸马朝自燕，音节苍凉；颔联「忆亲拜孤冢，移葬双陵前」写忆亲拜孤冢，音节低回；「孟冬寒气盛，抚辔告言旋」写孟冬寒气盛，音节清冷；「碣石海北门，余寇惟朝鲜」写碣石海北门，音节苍茫；「离离一寒骑，袅袅驰白天」写离离一寒骑，音节明快；「生别皆自取，况为士卒先」写生别皆自取，音节感慨；尾联「寸心渔阳兴，落日旌竿悬」写落日旌竿悬，音节绵长。全诗音节随情起伏，由苍凉而清冷、由感慨而绵长，正合古诗「浑成」之妙，读来如写景感怀、落日旌竿悬之音，含蓄而动人。
Reading note Because this is ancient verse rather than a regulated poem, there is no strict tonal pattern (平仄) or obligatory couplet parallelism; the craft lies in the even five-syllable line and the sustained rhyme. That freedom suits this kind of writing, where the rhythm is meant to follow a road rather than a formal frame. Later Tang poets inherited the form and tightened it; reading the verse aloud, one hears why the loose line proved so durable, since the pace is that of a horse at a walk and the rhyme carries the reader the whole way.此诗为五言古诗，是写景感怀之作，也是古诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「含蓄深婉、以景写情」：「羸马朝自燕，一身为二连」写羸马朝自燕、「忆亲拜孤冢，移葬双陵前」写忆亲拜孤冢、「孟冬寒气盛，抚辔告言旋」写孟冬寒气盛、「碣石海北门，余寇惟朝鲜」写碣石海北门、「寸心渔阳兴，落日旌竿悬」写落日旌竿悬。全诗含蓄深婉，以景写情。尤为精妙者，是「碣石海北门」用碣石之典；而「寸心渔阳兴」用渔阳之典，「落日旌竿悬」以景写志，正是含蓄深婉的典范，为历代选本所常收。《孟冬寒气至》一诗之所以读来声情并茂，正在于诗人以声韵配合情思、以节奏烘托意境，音节之长短、平仄之起伏，皆与诗意相为表里，此亦可见中国古典诗歌声律之美与匠心之工。

Line by line

羸马朝自燕，一身为二连。

A lean horse sets out at dawn from Yan, one body bound to two ties.

羸马朝自燕，一身为二连。

My lean horse has come at dawn from Yan; alone, I am bound up in two ties.

首联写羸马朝自燕，起笔即见其行。「羸马朝自燕」写羸马朝自燕，「羸马」写瘦马、「朝自燕」写晨自燕地；「一身为二连」写一身为二连，「一身」写一身、「为二连」写为二连。两句一写羸马朝自燕、一写一身为二连，以羸马朝自燕写瘦马自燕、以一身为二连写一身二连，写尽羸马朝自燕、一身为二连之情。以马起兴，含蓄而苍凉，是「以马起兴」的妙笔。

The opening. My lean horse has come at dawn from Yan; alone, I am bound in two ties. The lean horse is the traveler's; the two ties are the pulls of duty and family. To have described riding a thin horse would be a journey; the dawn ride from Yan and the body bound in two ties are the journey's division.

忆亲拜孤冢，移葬双陵前。

Missing kin, he kneels at a lonely grave, a second burial moved before the twin mounds.

忆亲拜孤冢，移葬双陵前。

I think of my parents, bow to their lone grave, and move them to rest before the twin tombs.

此二句写忆亲拜孤冢，是全诗写其孝思的关键。「忆亲拜孤冢」写忆亲拜孤冢，「忆亲」写思念亲人、「拜孤冢」写拜孤坟；「移葬双陵前」写移葬双陵前，「移葬」写移葬、「双陵前」写双陵之前。两句一写忆亲拜孤冢、一写移葬双陵前，以忆亲拜孤冢写拜孤冢、以移葬双陵前写移葬，写尽忆亲拜孤冢、移葬双陵前之情。以亲写孝，含蓄而深挚，是「以亲写孝」的点睛之笔。

The filial act. I think of my parents, bow to their lone grave, and move them to rest before the twin tombs. The reburial is the pious duty. To have said I visited my parents' grave would be a visit; the bow before the lone grave and the reburial before the twin tombs are the visit.

孟冬寒气盛，抚辔告言旋。

The cold of early winter is at its strongest; he strokes the rein and says he will turn back.

孟冬寒气盛，抚辔告言旋。

In the first month of winter the cold is severe; I lay my hand on the reins and say it is time to turn home.

此二句写孟冬寒气盛，是全诗写冬寒的关键。「孟冬寒气盛」写孟冬寒气盛，「孟冬」写孟冬、「寒气盛」写寒气盛；「抚辔告言旋」写抚辔告言旋，「抚辔」写抚着缰绳、「告言旋」写告言归。两句一写孟冬寒气盛、一写抚辔告言旋，以孟冬寒气盛写冬寒、以抚辔告言旋写抚辔言归，写尽孟冬寒气盛、抚辔告言旋之情。以寒写行，含蓄而苍凉，是「以寒写行」的点睛之笔。

The return. In the first month of winter the cold is severe; I lay my hand on the reins and say it is time to turn home. The winter cold and the touching of the reins frame the decision to turn. To have said I decided to go home in winter would be a decision; the severe winter cold and the hand on the reins saying turn-home are the decision.

碣石海北门，余寇惟朝鲜。

The Jieshi stone stands at the northern gate of the sea, where the surviving bandits are the folk of Choseon.

碣石海北门，余寇惟朝鲜。

At Jieshi, the northern gate to the sea, the only remaining rebels are in Chaoxian.

此二句写碣石海北门，是全诗以典写景的关键。「碣石海北门」写碣石海北门，用碣石之典写碣石海北门；「余寇惟朝鲜」写余寇惟朝鲜，「余寇」写残余之寇、「惟朝鲜」写只有朝鲜。两句一写碣石海北门、一写余寇惟朝鲜，以碣石海北门写碣石门、以余寇惟朝鲜写余寇朝鲜，写尽碣石海北门、余寇惟朝鲜之情。以典写景，含蓄而苍茫，是「以典写景」的点睛之笔。

The frontier. At Jieshi, the northern gate to the sea, the only remaining rebels are in Chaoxian. The named frontier gate and the named remaining enemy place the poem on the Han's northeastern border. To have described the northern frontier would be a place; the Jieshi sea-gate with the only remaining rebels in Chaoxian is the place.

寸心渔阳兴，落日旌竿悬。

One inch of heart, a rising of Yuyang, and the sunset flagstaff hangs low.

寸心渔阳兴，落日旌竿悬。

My heart is stirred at Yuyang; in the setting sun the banner pole stands raised.

尾联写落日旌竿悬，是全诗立意的落点。「寸心渔阳兴」写寸心渔阳兴，用渔阳之典写寸心渔阳兴；「落日旌竿悬」写落日旌竿悬，「落日」写落日、「旌竿悬」写旌竿高悬。两句一写寸心渔阳兴、一写落日旌竿悬，以寸心渔阳兴写寸心之兴、以落日旌竿悬写旌竿悬于落日，写尽寸心渔阳兴、落日旌竿悬之情。以景写志，含蓄而苍茫，是全诗最动人处，也是「以景写志」的点睛之笔。

The closing. My heart is stirred at Yuyang; in the setting sun the banner pole stands raised. The suspended banner at sunset is the image of the camp's end. To have said I felt stirred at the frontier would be a feeling; the heart stirred at Yuyang and the banner pole in the setting sun are the feeling.

Study

Word focus

羸 羸 (lei) means thin, weak, exhausted, and the horse here is a lean, spent animal. It is the first word of the poem and sets the tone: the journey has been long and the resources at the beginning of it are almost gone. 「羸」字写羸马朝自燕，是写马瘦之态的关键。「羸马朝自燕」着一「羸」，写瘦弱——着一「羸」字，写羸马，见其马之瘦。一字写尽羸马之态，是「以一字写形」的妙笔。「羸」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
孤 孤 (gu) means solitary, orphaned, alone. Applied to a grave it describes a tomb with no one left to tend it, a place made lonely by the death of kin. The word quietly transfers that loneliness from the place to the speaker who kneels before it. 「孤」字写忆亲拜孤冢，是写孤坟之态的关键。「忆亲拜孤冢」着一「孤」，写孤单——着一「孤」字，写拜孤冢，见其冢之孤。一字写尽孤冢之态，是「以一字写情」的点睛之词。「孤」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
旋 旋 (xuan) here means to turn, to come round, to return. In 'announces he will turn back' it gives the closing of the journey, and the nostalgia of a return that is really only a change of direction. 「旋」字写抚辔告言旋，是写归返之态的关键。「抚辔告言旋」着一「旋」，写归返——着一「旋」字，写告言旋，见其旋归之意。一字写尽言旋之情，是「以一字写归」的点睛之词。「旋」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
悬 悬 (xuan) means to hang. The flagstaff hangs in the setting sun, neither falling nor moving, so the final image is one of suspension: the journey over, the tie to the frontier not yet cut. 「悬」字写落日旌竿悬，是写旌竿高悬的关键。「落日旌竿悬」着一「悬」，写高挂——着一「悬」字，写旌竿悬，见其竿之高。一字写尽高悬之态，是「以一字写景」的点睛之词。「悬」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。

Related Reading

八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Ba Sheng Gan Zhou — 'Dusk Rain Bathes the Sky Over the River' 柳永 · 同写羁旅感怀、望乡怀远，一写不忍登高临远望故乡渺邈归思难收、一写忆亲拜孤冢移葬双陵前，皆于羁旅之中见怀远 Both write the feeling of travel away from home, one from the top of a tower looking down, one from the back of a horse looking back; in each case the distance to home is what produces the grief.

Liu Yong's famous long tune bears the line about not daring to climb the tower and look toward the far horizon, where home is a blue haze too distant to see and the thought of returning will not be quieted. That is grief handled by altitude and by refusing to look. 'Cold Air in the Tenth Month' handles the same feeling by humility: no tower, no horizon, only a lean horse, a grave, and a flag that will not come down. Where Liu Yong is elaborate and confessional, the old verse is compressed and impersonal, and the comparison is most useful for showing that the same loneliness can be written at either length.

柳永《八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天》「不忍登高临远，望故乡渺邈，归思难收」，写羁旅感怀、望乡怀远，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；《孟冬寒气至》则以「羸马朝自燕，一身为二连」「忆亲拜孤冢，移葬双陵前」写羸马朝自燕、忆亲拜孤冢。两诗同写羁旅感怀、望乡怀远：一写不忍登高临远望故乡渺邈归思难收、以登高写归思，一写忆亲拜孤冢移葬双陵前、以拜冢写孝思；一为柳永之清丽、一为古诗之深婉，并读正可见诗写「羁旅怀远」的两种笔法，皆于羁旅之中见怀远。

 浣溪沙·一曲新词酒一杯 Huan Xi Sha — 'A New Song, A Cup of Wine' 晏殊 · 同写感怀写景、无可奈何，一写无可奈何花落去、一写生别皆自取况为士卒先，皆于感怀之中见无可奈何 Both record a mood of memory that will not be reasoned away, one through the falling flower and returning swallow, one through a grave visited and a journey half finished.

Yan Shu's little tune gives the famous couplet 'the flowers fall as one can only sigh; the swallows come back as though they had known me before'. His sorrow is about time, and it is softened by the consolation of recurrence. The old poem's sorrow is about what cannot recur: the dead stay dead, the road must be walked again, and the poem refuses the comfort. Placed side by side, the two show two Chinese attitudes to loss, one seeking mitigation in the returning cycle of things, the other insisting on the weight of what is past and finding its only relief in duty.

晏殊《浣溪沙·一曲新词酒一杯》「无可奈何花落去，似曾相识燕归来」，写感怀写景，是宋词小令的名篇；《孟冬寒气至》则以「生别皆自取，况为士卒先」「寸心渔阳兴，落日旌竿悬」写生别皆自取、落日旌竿悬。两诗同写感怀写景、无可奈何：一写无可奈何花落去、以花落燕归写惜时，一写生别皆自取况为士卒先、以生别写感怀；一为晏殊之温润、一为古诗之深婉，并读正可见诗写「感怀无可奈何」的两种笔法，皆于感怀之中见无可奈何。