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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

金陵城西楼月下吟

Composed under the Moon on the Western Tower at Jinling

李白

Li Bai

登临Climbing and Writing 怀古Reflection on the Past

金陵夜寂凉风发，独上高楼望吴越。
白云映水摇空城，白露垂珠滴秋月。
月下沉吟久不归，古来相接眼中稀。
解道澄江净如练，令人长忆谢玄晖。

At Jinling the night is silent and a cool wind rises;
Alone I mount the high tower and look out over Wu and Yue.
White clouds mirror in the water and shake the empty city;
White dew hangs like pearls and drips from the autumn moon.
Below the moon I stand lost in thought, and do not go back;
Anciently, few were the eyes that met another's in sympathy.
I can say why the clear river is pure as a white silk robe,
And it makes me remember Xie Xuanhui again and again.

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Meaning

Li Bai climbs the western tower of the former capital at night and looks out over the country he has travelled through. The clouds and the dew, the empty city and the autumn moon, are all calm and beautiful, and yet he stands there a long time without returning indoors, thinking of how few men ever met a kindred spirit. The poem ends by naming the poet he most loved, who once described the same river in almost the same words, and the memory of him is what makes the strange beauty bearable.

金陵夜寂凉风发，独上高楼望吴越。白云映水摇空城，白露垂珠滴秋月。月下沉吟久不归，古来相接眼中稀。解道澄江净如练，令人长忆谢玄晖。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] On a quiet night at Jinling a cool wind gets up and the poet climbs a high tower to look south over Wu and Yue. Clouds lie on the water and rock the empty city; dew hangs like pearls and drips from the autumn moon. He stays lost in thought and does not go back, and remarks that few men in history have ever met a kindred spirit. Then he recalls the line of Xie Xuanhui about the clear river, pure as white silk, and remembers him again and again. [Structure] Eight lines in two blocks. The first four are the view, made of two parallel phrases of white on white. The last four turn to the self and the tradition, ending on a memory of a poem rather than a scene. [Imagery] The colour vocabulary is almost entirely white: cloud, water, city, dew, pearl, moon, silk. Against that monochrome the only movement is the shaking and the dripping, and both are small, so the whole scene is still and delicate. [Sentiment] The poet names his loneliness and then answers it by reaching for a dead poet, which is the older Chinese answer. The beauty of the night is what makes the loneliness felt rather than merely stated.

【白话串讲】李白写《金陵城西楼月下吟》：“金陵夜寂凉风发，独上高楼望吴越”——“白云映水摇空城，白露垂珠滴秋月”——“月下沉吟久不归，古来相接眼中稀”——“解道澄江净如练，令人长忆谢玄晖”——他月下登楼，想起谢朓。【意象与手法】此诗写金陵夜月登楼的感慨，以景写孤寂，以典故写知音，是李白的名篇。前四句写金陵的夜景：「金陵夜寂凉风发」写金陵夜寂凉风发，「独上高楼望吴越」写独上高楼望吴越，「白云映水摇空城」写白云映水摇空城，「白露垂珠滴秋月」写白露垂珠滴秋月；后四句写登楼的感慨：「月下沉吟久不归」写月下沉吟久不归，「古来相接眼中稀」写古来相接眼中稀，「解道澄江净如练」写解道澄江净如练，「令人长忆谢玄晖」写令人长忆谢玄晖。全诗以景写孤寂、以典故写知音，写尽金陵夜月的感慨，正是李白「豪放」诗风的本领。【情感与主旨】此诗写金陵夜月登楼的感慨，以景写孤寂，以典故写知音，是李白的名篇。此诗约作于李白游金陵（今南京）时。此诗写登楼：金陵夜寂凉风发，独上高楼望吴越——写金陵夜寂、凉风初起，独上高楼眺望吴越；白云映水摇空城，白露垂珠滴秋月——写白云映水、摇荡空城，白露垂珠、滴落秋月；月下沉吟久不归，古来相接眼中稀——写月下沉吟久不归，古来能相接（神交）的人眼中稀少；解道澄江净如练，令人长忆谢玄晖——写懂得吟咏「澄江净如练」的谢朓（谢玄晖），令人长忆。全诗以景写孤寂——那「独上高楼望吴越」写尽登楼的孤寂，「古来相接眼中稀」写尽知音稀少；以典故写知音——那「澄江净如练」化用谢朓《晚登三山还望京邑》「余霞散成绮，澄江静如练」，写尽对谢朓（谢玄晖）的追慕，写尽金陵夜月的感慨，正是李白「豪放」诗风的本领。【名句点睛】常考「白云映水摇空城，白露垂珠滴秋月」写金陵夜月的佳句；「古来相接眼中稀」写知音稀少的感慨；「解道澄江净如练，令人长忆谢玄晖」用谢朓之典写追慕；以及全诗以景写孤寂、以典故写知音的手法。

Background

Li Bai (701-762) spent his last years moving between the southern capitals and never settled; the city he calls Jinling is Nanjing, the former capital of the southern dynasties, and climbing a tower there meant looking toward the towers of the past. By the time of this poem he was in his fifties, after failures at court and long years of wandering, and his habit of addressing his dead predecessors - rather than his contemporaries - grew stronger with age. The poem belongs to the group of his climbing verses written on the road, in which landscape and self-history are never far apart.

此诗写金陵夜月登楼的感慨，以景写孤寂，以典故写知音，是李白的名篇。李白（701—762），字太白，号青莲居士，唐代伟大的浪漫主义诗人，人称「诗仙」。此诗约作于李白游金陵（今南京）时，写夜月登金陵城西楼的感慨。此诗写登楼：「金陵夜寂凉风发，独上高楼望吴越」写金陵夜寂、凉风初起，独上高楼眺望吴越（吴越之地，即今江浙一带）——写登楼的孤寂；「白云映水摇空城，白露垂珠滴秋月」写白云映水、摇荡空城，白露垂珠、滴落秋月——写金陵夜月的美景；「月下沉吟久不归，古来相接眼中稀」写月下沉吟、久不归去，古来能相接（神交、心意相通）的人眼中稀少——写知音稀少的感慨；「解道澄江净如练，令人长忆谢玄晖」写懂得吟咏「澄江净如练」的谢朓（谢玄晖），令人长忆——用谢朓《晚登三山还望京邑》「余霞散成绮，澄江静如练」之句，写对谢朓的追慕。全诗以景写孤寂——那「独上高楼望吴越」写尽登楼的孤寂，「古来相接眼中稀」写尽知音稀少；以典故写知音——那「澄江净如练」化用谢朓之句，写尽对谢玄晖的追慕，写尽金陵夜月的感慨，是理解李白登临怀古诗的重要篇章。

Art

The architecture of the poem is regular even in its irregularity: four lines of scene, four of reflection, with the rhymes moved at the midpoint from an entering tone into a level one, so the sound changed at the same place the mood did. The famous couplet rests on a doubled word pair, cloud and white, dew and white, and on two verbs - shaking and dripping - that are the only events in the first half. The loneliness is expressed not by the word for it but by the act of standing still and not going in. The closing line does the work of a whole argument in one move: by recalling a particular dead poet and his particular line, Li Bai turns his solitude into a place in a tradition, and makes the reader stand with him there. The allusion is praised because it flatters nothing and consoles nobody falsely.

此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以景写孤寂。起二句「金陵夜寂凉风发，独上高楼望吴越」以景写孤寂——那「夜寂凉风发」写尽金陵夜寂，「独上高楼望吴越」写尽独上高楼的孤寂，以景写尽登楼的孤寂。其二，以对仗写夜景。「白云映水摇空城，白露垂珠滴秋月」以对仗写夜景——那「白云映水摇空城」写尽白云映水的摇荡，「白露垂珠滴秋月」写尽白露垂珠的滴落，以对仗写尽金陵夜月的明净。其三，以议论写感慨。「月下沉吟久不归，古来相接眼中稀」以议论写感慨——那「月下沉吟久不归」写尽月下沉吟，「古来相接眼中稀」写尽古来知音稀少，以议论写尽知音稀少的感慨。其四，以典故写追慕。「解道澄江净如练，令人长忆谢玄晖」以典故写追慕——那「澄江净如练」化用谢朓之句，写尽对谢玄晖（谢朓）的追慕，以典故写尽知音难觅中对前贤的追慕。四重手法，使此诗以景写孤寂、以典故写知音，写尽金陵夜月的感慨，正是李白「豪放」诗风的本领。

Allusions

The reference is to Xie Tiao, who styled himself Xuanhui and who wrote, looking back from the third hill at the capital, that the remaining splinters of cloud become silk and the clear river lies still like a white robe. Li Bai takes the phrase and answers it in the same words, 'pure as white silk,' in a different place, at night, on a tower, with the river called by its other name. The whole poem is built on that dialogue: he does not merely recall a beautiful line, he competes with it, and he lets the memory of the man be the poem's conclusion. Elsewhere in his climbing verse Li Bai also looks toward the southern dynasties and their fallen towers, which is the historical sense the allusion carries.

此诗的用语深植于登临怀古与知音的传统。「金陵夜寂凉风发」令人想到「金陵」写南京的意象——「金陵王气黯然收」，也令人想到「夜寂凉风发」写秋夜的意象；「独上高楼望吴越」令人想到「独上高楼」写登楼孤寂的意象——「独上高楼，望尽天涯路」（晏殊），也令人想到「吴越」写江浙之地的意象；「白云映水摇空城」令人想到「白云」写白云的意象——「白云千载空悠悠」，也令人想到「映水摇空城」写云影摇荡的意象；「白露垂珠滴秋月」令人想到「白露」写秋露的意象——「白露为霜」（《诗经》），也令人想到「垂珠滴秋月」写露珠滴月的意象；「月下沉吟久不归」令人想到「月下沉吟」写月下低吟的意象，也令人想到「久不归」写流连不归的意象；「古来相接眼中稀」令人想到「相接」写神交相接的意象，也令人想到「眼中稀」写眼中稀少的意象——知音难得；「解道澄江净如练」化用谢朓《晚登三山还望京邑》「余霞散成绮，澄江静如练」——写懂得吟咏澄江净如练，令人想到「澄江静如练」写江水的名句，也令人想到「净如练」写江水如白练的意象；「令人长忆谢玄晖」用谢朓之典——谢朓字玄晖，南朝齐诗人，善写山水，李白深慕之，令人想到「谢朓」写山水诗人的典故——「诗传谢朓清」，也令人想到「长忆」写长久的追忆。全诗化用澄江净如练、谢玄晖的典故与意象，以景写孤寂、以典故写知音，正是李白「豪放」而善用典、承登临怀古传统写追慕的本领。

Commentary

Critics have long singled out the second couplet as an example of Li Bai at his most controlled, and the last couplet as the place where he quietly puts himself in a line of succession. The poem is often placed with his other verses from the same city, especially the longer one on the phoenix terrace, where he also stands on a hill and looks at the same river; there the complaint is about the court and the capital, here about the scarcity of a kindred spirit. The closing image of recalling the dead poet has been read as Vanity, and also as a decision: to be one more in a chain rather than one alone.

此诗历来被推为李白登临怀古的名篇，也是唐人写金陵诗的代表。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人评此诗「以景写孤寂、以典故写知音，清旷高远」；近人更指出「白云映水摇空城，白露垂珠滴秋月」写金陵夜月，是此诗的名句。在诗歌史上，此诗的特殊价值在于：它以八句的律诗写尽金陵夜月登楼的感慨——那夜寂的金陵，那凉风发的高楼，那独上高楼的吴越之望，那映水摇空城的白云，那垂珠滴秋月的白露，那月下沉吟的久不归，那古来相接的稀，那澄江净如练的谢朓，那长忆的谢玄晖，都写尽了李白金陵夜月的感慨与对知音的追慕；那「解道澄江净如练，令人长忆谢玄晖」更写尽对谢朓的追慕。此诗与李白《登金陵凤凰台》（「凤凰台上凤凰游」）同为金陵名篇，一写登凤凰台，一写登城西楼；又与谢朓「澄江静如练」的山水传统一脉相承，可见李白对前贤的追慕。对于今日读者，此诗是理解李白登临怀古诗的窗口，也是中国诗写金陵的经典——那滴落秋月的白露，穿越千年，仍在诉说着月下登楼的孤寂与追慕。

Prosody

Form Seven-character regulated verse (qiyan lüshi)诗·七言律诗

Rhyme A seven-character regulated verse of eight lines; rhymes change at the midpoint, entering-tone 'fa','yue','yue' in the first four and level 'gui','xi','hui' in the last four.七言律诗，押「发」「越」「月」「归」「稀」「晖」韵（入声六月、上平五微），换韵，音节清朗

Tone pattern Seven-character regulated verse with an entering-tone opening and a level-tone close; the change of rhyme falls exactly at the turn from view to reflection.此诗为七言律诗，八句，前四句押入声韵、后四句押平声韵，换韵，音节清朗，正合感慨的清朗。

Reading note Eight lines, in strict regulated form except that the rhyme changed at the halfway point, from the hard, closed entering sounds of the first four lines to the open level vowel 'ui' of the last three; the sound of the poem therefore turns at precisely the place where the scenery gives way to thought. The couplets are even, and the two famous lines are built on the same repeated colour word. The caesura falls after the fourth character, so the second half of each line is where the verb usually sits, which is why the two verbs in the central couplet hold the whole scene together.此诗为七言律诗，八句——「金陵夜寂凉风发，独上高楼望吴越。白云映水摇空城，白露垂珠滴秋月。月下沉吟久不归，古来相接眼中稀。解道澄江净如练，令人长忆谢玄晖」，前四句押入声韵（发、越、月），后四句押平声韵（归、稀、晖），换韵，音节清朗。全诗以景写孤寂、以典故写知音：前四句写夜景（金陵夜寂凉风发，独上高楼望吴越；白云映水摇空城，白露垂珠滴秋月），后四句写感慨（月下沉吟久不归，古来相接眼中稀；解道澄江净如练，令人长忆谢玄晖）。诵读此诗，宜以清朗的语调读「白云映水摇空城」的夜景，以感慨的语调读「古来相接眼中稀」的知音，结句「令人长忆谢玄晖」要读得悠远而有余韵，方能传达出李白的清旷。李白律诗以「豪放清旷」著称，此诗正是其登临怀古律诗的典范。

Line by line

白云映水摇空城，白露垂珠滴秋月

White clouds mirror in the water and shake the empty city; white dew hangs like pearls and drips from the autumn moon.

白云映水摇荡着空城，白露垂珠滴落秋月。

White clouds mirrored in water rock the empty city; white dew hangs like pearls, dripping in the autumn moon.

此联是全诗写景的核心，以白云白露写金陵夜月，是千古名句。「白云映水摇空城」写白云映水摇荡着空城——那「白云映水」写白云映在水中，「摇空城」写云影摇荡空城，写尽云影映水的摇荡；「白露垂珠滴秋月」写白露垂珠滴落秋月——那「白露垂珠」写白露凝珠，「滴秋月」写露珠滴落秋月，写尽白露滴月的明净。这句的深意在于：它以「白云映水摇空城」的摇荡与「白露垂珠滴秋月」的滴落，写尽金陵夜月的明净与空寂——白云映在水面，云影摇荡着空城，那「白云映水摇空城」写尽云影映水、摇荡空城的空寂——空城，正是金陵的荒寂，云影摇荡其间，更见空寂；白露垂珠、滴落秋月，那「白露垂珠滴秋月」写尽白露凝珠、滴落秋月的明净——秋月明净，白露垂珠，正是金陵秋夜之美；那「白云映水摇空城」写尽云影的空寂，那「白露垂珠滴秋月」写尽秋月的明净，一写空寂，一写明净，写尽金陵夜月的明净空寂——正是如此美景良宵，才引下文月下沉吟的感慨；此联以白云白露的对仗写尽金陵夜月，是李白写景的妙笔，也让此联成为全诗写景的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「金陵秋夜很美」，则失其景象；唯以「白云映水摇空城」写云影、「白露垂珠滴秋月」写秋月，写尽金陵夜月的明净空寂，也让此联成为全诗写景的核心。

The night. White clouds mirrored in water rock the empty city; white dew hangs like pearls, dripping in the autumn moon. The cloud reflections rocking the empty city and the dew pearls in the autumn moon are Jinling's night. To have described the moonlit night would be scenery; the white-clouds-mirrored-in-water-rocking-the-empty-city against the white-dew-pearls-dripping-in-the-autumn-moon is the scenery.

解道澄江净如练，令人长忆谢玄晖

Who could say better than he that the clear river is pure as a white silk robe; it makes me think of Xie Xuanhui again and again.

懂得吟咏澄江净如练的谢朓，令人长忆。

He who can say the clear river is pure as white silk makes me long forever for Xie Xuanhui.

此联是全诗的收束，以澄江净如练化用谢朓之句，写尽对知音前贤的追慕，是千古名句。「解道澄江净如练」写懂得吟咏澄江净如练——那「解道」写懂得吟咏，「澄江净如练」化用谢朓《晚登三山还望京邑》「澄江静如练」，写尽谢朓吟咏澄江的名句；「令人长忆谢玄晖」写令人长忆谢朓——那「令人长忆」写令人长久追忆，「谢玄晖」写谢朓（字玄晖），写尽对谢朓的追慕。这句的深意在于：它以「解道澄江净如练」的化用与「令人长忆谢玄晖」的追忆，写尽对知音前贤的追慕——懂得吟咏澄江净如练，那「解道澄江净如练」写尽对谢朓名句的懂得——「澄江静如练」是谢朓写景的名句，李白深解其妙，那「解道」写尽懂得知音；令人长忆谢朓，那「令人长忆谢玄晖」写尽对谢朓的追慕——古来相接眼中稀，唯有谢玄晖能相接（神交），那「长忆」写尽追慕之深；那「解道澄江净如练」写尽知音的名句，那「令人长忆谢玄晖」写尽追慕的深情，一写名句，一写追慕，写尽李白对谢朓的追慕——这正是「古来相接眼中稀」的注脚：知音稀少，唯有前贤谢玄晖可相接；此联以化用谢朓之句收束，写尽对知音前贤的追慕，也让此联成为全诗收束的千古名句。若换作直说「我怀念谢朓」，则失其化用；唯以「解道澄江净如练」化用谢朓之句、「令人长忆谢玄晖」写追慕，写尽对知音前贤的追慕，也让此联成为全诗的收束。

Xie Tiao. He who can say the clear river is pure as white silk makes me long forever for Xie Xuanhui. The quoted Xie Tiao line (the clear river like silk) and the longing for the earlier poet are Li Bai's fellow-spirit. To have said he thought of Xie Tiao would be a recollection; the who-can-say-the-clear-river-pure-as-silk against the makes-me-long-forever-for-Xie-Xuanhui is the recollection.

Study

Word focus

摇 'Yao,' to shake, to rock. It gives the clouds a slow violence against the still city, and because the city is also 'empty,' the single verb carries both the motion of the water and the emptiness it reflects. 「白云映水摇空城」之「摇」字是写景象的关键字，一个「摇」字写尽云影映水的摇荡。摇者，摇荡、摇动也。李白以「摇空城」写白云映水，这个「摇」字至少有双重意味：其一，写云影之荡——那「白云映水摇空城」写白云映水摇荡着空城，那「摇」字写尽云影映水、摇荡空城的动态——云影在水，随风摇荡；其二，写空城之寂——那「摇」字更是写空城——云影摇荡空城，正见空城的寂寥，那「摇」字写尽金陵空城的空寂。以「摇」字写景象，正是李白写景的枢纽——若换作「映」「荡」等字，则或失其写云影动态的灵动，或失其与「空城」的配合；唯「摇」字，以一字写尽云影映水、摇荡空城的动态与空寂，与「白露垂珠滴秋月」的滴落相合，写尽金陵夜月的明净空寂，也让「白云映水摇空城」成为全诗写景的名句。

稀 'Xi,' sparse, few. It measures the whole of history in one word, and it does so quietly, without any word of loneliness in the line, which is why the feeling lands after the reader has already agreed with it. 「古来相接眼中稀」之「稀」字是写感慨的关键字，一个「稀」字写尽知音稀少的感慨。稀者，稀少、难得也。李白以「眼中稀」写古来相接，这个「稀」字至少有双重意味：其一，写知音之少——那「古来相接眼中稀」写古来能相接的人眼中稀少，那「稀」字写尽知音的稀少——古往今来，能神交相接者稀；其二，写孤寂之深——那「稀」字更是写孤寂——知音稀，正见孤寂之深，那「稀」字写尽月下登楼的孤寂。以「稀」字写感慨，正是李白写孤寂的枢纽——若换作「少」「寡」等字，则或失其与「古来相接」的配合，或失其写知音难得的凝练；唯「稀」字，以一字写尽古来知音稀少的感慨与孤寂，与「令人长忆谢玄晖」的追慕相合，写尽知音稀少的感慨，也让「古来相接眼中稀」成为全诗写感慨的名句。