All poems

唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

梦泽

Mengze (the Marshes of Dreams)

李商隐

Li Shangyin

咏史Historical subject 讽刺Satire

梦泽悲风动白茅，楚王葬尽满城娇。
未知歌舞能多少，虚减宫厨为细腰。

Over Mengze a mournful wind moves the white reeds; the King of Chu has buried every delicate one in the city.
No one knows how much of the singing and dancing there was; the kitchens were cut to nothing, all for a slender waist.

Listen

Meaning

The poem looks at the old marsh that gave Chu its famous beauty stories and turns them into a scene of burial. The chalk-white reeds move in a mournful wind across the marsh, and the poet says the King of Chu sent to his grave every beautiful woman in the city — the 'slender waist' fashion of which he was fond. Then the judgment comes: no one can now say how much singing and dancing those lives supported, and the court's food was reduced to nothing simply to produce a pretty waist. The satire is on a ruler whose taste killed more than it pleased.

梦泽悲风动白茅，楚王葬尽满城娇。未知歌舞能多少，虚减宫厨为细腰。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] Two couplets, and each one does its work in a single image. The first presents the marsh as a burial ground; the second reduces the whole story to a waste. [Structure] A seven-character quatrain. The first couplet sets the scene and states the fact; the second couplet answers it with a question and a summary. [Imagery] The white reeds are the only real thing left, moving in a wind that is called mournful. Against them stands the whole city of beauty, 'every delicate one' — and the word for buried is the same word for the direction the court went. [Emotion] The poem is famously cool. There is no pity spoken for the women and no rage at the king; the irony is left to do it. The last line is the whole poem's judgment: the food was cut for a waist, and no one can now say what the singing was worth.

【白话串讲】李商隐写《梦泽》：“梦泽悲风动白茅，楚王葬尽满城娇”——“未知歌舞能多少，虚减宫厨为细腰”——楚王好细腰，宫女们节食——“未知歌舞能多少”——他写楚宫女的悲剧。【意象与手法】此诗写咏史，以讽刺写咏史，是李商隐的名篇。前二句写楚宫：「梦泽悲风动白茅，楚王葬尽满城娇」写梦泽悲风动白茅、楚王葬尽满城娇——写尽楚宫的悲剧；后二句写细腰：「未知歌舞能多少，虚减宫厨为细腰」写未知歌舞能多少、虚减宫厨为细腰——写尽细腰的讽刺。全诗以讽刺写咏史，写尽楚宫的悲剧与细腰的讽刺，是李商隐的代表作。【情感与主旨】此诗写咏史，以讽刺写咏史，是李商隐的名篇。此诗写李商隐过梦泽（楚地古泽）咏史之作。梦泽在楚地，楚王好细腰，宫中女子节食以求细腰，多饿死者。此诗写梦泽悲风动白茅，楚王葬尽满城娇（楚王葬送了满城娇美的宫女）；未知歌舞能多少，虚减宫厨为细腰——那宫厨的饭食白白削减，只为细腰。此诗写楚宫：梦泽悲风动白茅，楚王葬尽满城娇——写梦泽悲风动白茅、楚王葬尽满城娇，写尽楚宫的悲剧；未知歌舞能多少，虚减宫厨为细腰——写未知歌舞能多少、虚减宫厨为细腰，写尽细腰的讽刺。全诗以讽刺写咏史——那「楚王葬尽满城娇」写尽楚宫的悲剧，「虚减宫厨为细腰」写尽细腰的讽刺，写尽楚宫的悲剧与细腰的讽刺，是理解李商隐咏史诗的重要篇章。【名句点睛】常考「梦泽悲风动白茅，楚王葬尽满城娇」写楚宫的悲剧；「未知歌舞能多少，虚减宫厨为细腰」写细腰的讽刺；以及全诗以讽刺写咏史、以对照写悲剧的手法。

Background

Li Shangyin (about 813-858), courtesy name Yishan, of Huai Prefecture, was a late-Tang poet who worked in several modes, among them the historical poem that uses a single old story to judge the present. Mengze here refers to the marsh country of Chu, the great marshland south of the Yangtze associated with the state of Chu and with its luxury. The poem belongs to his years of travelling in the Chu region, where he visited the sites of the old state. The story it touches, of a ruler so attached to slender waists that his court starved itself, belonged to the standard stock of complaint against tyrants and taste.

此诗写咏史，以讽刺写咏史，是李商隐的名篇。李商隐（约813—约858），字义山，号玉谿生，怀州河内（今河南沁阳）人，唐代诗人，与杜牧并称「小李杜」，与温庭筠合称「温李」。此诗写李商隐过梦泽（楚地古泽）咏史之作。梦泽在楚地，楚王好细腰，宫中女子节食以求细腰，多饿死者。此诗写梦泽悲风动白茅，楚王葬尽满城娇（楚王葬送了满城娇美的宫女）；未知歌舞能多少，虚减宫厨为细腰——那宫厨的饭食白白削减，只为细腰。此诗写楚宫：「梦泽悲风动白茅，楚王葬尽满城娇」写梦泽悲风动白茅、楚王葬尽满城娇——写尽楚宫的悲剧（梦泽悲风动白茅，楚王葬尽满城娇）；「未知歌舞能多少，虚减宫厨为细腰」写未知歌舞能多少、虚减宫厨为细腰——写尽细腰的讽刺（未知歌舞能多少，虚减宫厨为细腰）。全诗以讽刺写咏史，写尽楚宫的悲剧与细腰的讽刺，是理解李商隐咏史诗的重要篇章。此诗写于李商隐游历楚地期间。云梦泽为楚地古泽，楚灵王好细腰，宫中女子争相节食，多饿死者。李商隐过此，见梦泽悲风、白茅摇动，感楚王葬尽满城娇之惨剧，遂作此诗以讽。

Art

The restraint is the technique. Li Shangyin could have written a long elegy for the buried women; instead he gives one wind-stirred marsh and one hypothetical question. Two devices carry the satire. First, the verb 'to bury' is applied to living women, so the palace is present-tense: the court did not merely fall, it buried its beauty. Second, the last couplet balances a question nobody can answer against a waste that is plain to see — 'no one knows how much the dancing was' against 'the kitchens were cut to nothing.' The reeds and the kitchens are the only images of the poem's two halves, and they meet in the word 'vainly,' which is the whole judgment in one syllable.

此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以悲风写梦泽。「梦泽悲风动白茅」以悲风写梦泽——那「悲风动白茅」写尽白茅的悲风，以悲风写尽楚宫的悲剧。其二，以点破写悲剧。「楚王葬尽满城娇」以点破写悲剧——那「葬尽」写尽满城的娇女，以点破写尽楚宫的悲剧。其三，以反讽写细腰。「未知歌舞能多少」以反讽写细腰——那「未知」写尽歌舞的茫然，以反讽写尽细腰的讽刺。其四，以对照写悲剧。「虚减宫厨为细腰」以对照写悲剧——那「虚减」写尽宫厨的虚减，以对照写尽细腰的讽刺。此外，此诗前二句写楚宫的悲剧，后二句写细腰的讽刺，由葬及减，正是咏史诗「以典写讽」的写法。四重手法，使此诗以讽刺写咏史，写尽楚宫的悲剧与细腰的讽刺，是李商隐的代表作。此诗还善于以「梦泽悲风动白茅」的「悲风」「白茅」写楚泽之荒凉——那「悲风动白茅」写尽泽畔的萧瑟，正是以景写哀，以「白茅」写尽楚宫的悲剧。又善以「楚王葬尽满城娇」的「葬尽」写葬送之惨——葬尽满城娇，正见满城娇女尽葬，以「葬尽」写尽楚宫的悲剧。

Allusions

The substance is Mo Zi's account that the King of Chu loved slender waists, so that the women of his palace starved themselves and many died — the standard anecdote used against rulers who ruin their people for a taste. 'Fine waist' also carries the later poetry of Du Mu, who wrote of the slim Chu waists held light in the palm. The white reeds return to the Shijing, where a white reed wraps a dead deer, and to the marsh country of Meng inMeng Haoran's line about the vapour rising over the Cloud and Dream marshes. Mengze is thus both an actual place and the site of the old story, which is what lets a four-line poem hold the whole of Chu.

此诗的用语深植于咏史与讽刺传统。「梦泽」令人想到「梦泽」写楚泽的意象——云梦泽，也令人想到「气蒸云梦泽」（孟浩然）的意象；「白茅」令人想到「白茅」写白茅的意象——也令人想到「白茅包之」的意象；「楚王葬尽满城娇」用楚王好细腰之典——《墨子》「楚王好细腰，宫中多饿死」，也令人想到「细腰宫」的意象；「歌舞」令人想到「歌舞」写歌舞的意象——也令人想到「三千宠爱在一身」之外的意象；「宫厨」令人想到「宫厨」写宫廷御厨的意象——也令人想到「御膳」的意象；「细腰」令人想到「细腰」写细腰的意象——也令人想到「楚腰纤细掌中轻」（杜牧）的意象。全诗化用梦泽、白茅、楚王、歌舞、宫厨、细腰的意象典故，以讽刺写咏史，正是李商隐「沉博」而善用典、承咏史传统写讽刺之本领。「白茅」令人想到「白茅」写茅草的意象——也令人想到《诗经》「野有死麕，白茅包之」的意象；「满城娇」令人想到「满城娇」写娇女的意象——也令人想到「后宫佳丽三千人」（白居易）的意象，以满城娇写楚宫之盛而尽葬。

Commentary

This quatrain is a standard example of the late-Tang historical poem, praised for being severe and yet contained. Qing readers valued its compression; modern readers single out the last line, in which a question about the dancing meets a fact about the kitchen. Its particular strength is that it refuses both pity and invective: the poet states the waste and lets the reader supply the blame. It is usually read beside Li Shangyin's 'Sui Palace,' where the same methods produce a similar chill, and it has been taken as a model for the sort of historical irony that late Tang poets used to write about the gathering decline of their own court.

此诗历来被推为李商隐咏史诗的名篇，也是唐诗写楚宫悲剧的代表。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人评此诗「以讽刺写咏史，沉痛含蓄」；近人更指出「未知歌舞能多少，虚减宫厨为细腰」写细腰的讽刺，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的悲剧与细腰的讽刺——那梦泽，那悲风，那动白茅，那楚王，那葬尽，那满城娇，那未知，那歌舞，那能多少，那虚减，那宫厨，那为细腰，都写尽了李商隐笔下的梦泽；那「虚减宫厨为细腰」更以对照写尽细腰的讽刺。此诗与李商隐《隋宫》（「乘兴南游不戒严」）同为咏史名篇，一写「地下若逢陈后主」的隋宫（隋宫），一写「楚王葬尽满城娇」的梦泽（梦泽）；又与《墨子》楚王好细腰的典故传统一脉相承，可见中国诗写咏史讽刺的传统。对于今日读者，此诗是理解李商隐咏史诗的窗口，也是唐诗写楚宫悲剧的经典——那虚减的宫厨，穿越千年，仍在诉说着细腰的讽刺。

Prosody

Form Poem — seven-character quatrain (qi Yan jue ju)诗·七言绝句

Rhyme Seven-character quatrain; rhymes on jiao, yao (ping sheng, the second 'Xiao' rhyme), one rhyme carried through.七绝，押「娇」「腰」韵（下平二萧），一韵到底，音节沉痛

Tone pattern Level tone with a single bright rhyme; the smoothness of the sound sharpens the irony, because nothing in the music prepares the reader for the burial in the first couplet.此诗为七言绝句，押平声韵，一韵到底，音节沉痛，正合咏史的沉痛。

Reading note Four lines of seven characters, rhyming on jiao and yao, both level tone, so the poem closes its lines on open vowels and sounds graceful throughout. That is deliberate: a graceful sound carrying a burial is exactly the effect the poem wants. The tonal pattern is the ordinary quatrain pattern, and there is no antithesis, the two couplets each standing alone: the first a scene and a fact, the second a question and a verdict. Read the second couplet level and quiet, so that the irony is not announced. This is Li Shangyin's compact historical manner at its clearest.此诗为七言绝句，四句——「梦泽悲风动白茅，楚王葬尽满城娇。未知歌舞能多少，虚减宫厨为细腰」，押「萧」韵（娇、腰），一韵到底，音节沉痛。全诗以讽刺写咏史：前二句写楚宫的悲剧（梦泽悲风动白茅、楚王葬尽满城娇），后二句写细腰的讽刺（未知歌舞能多少、虚减宫厨为细腰）。四句短章，前写悲剧，后写讽刺，以「虚减宫厨为细腰」写尽细腰的讽刺，正见李商隐「沉博」的本色。诵读此诗，宜以沉痛的语调读「楚王葬尽满城娇」的悲剧，以讽刺的语调读「虚减宫厨为细腰」的讽刺，结句要读得沉痛而有余韵，方能传达出李商隐的沉痛含蓄。李商隐绝句以「沉博绝丽」著称，此诗正是其咏史诗的典范。

Line by line

未知歌舞能多少，虚减宫厨为细腰

No one knows how much of the singing and dancing there was; the kitchens were cut to nothing, all for a slender waist

未知歌舞能多少，虚减宫厨为细腰。

Who knows how many years of song and dance there can be? In vain they cut the palace kitchen fare for slender waists.

此二句是全诗写讽刺的核心，以未知歌舞能多少写能多少，以虚减宫厨为细腰写为细腰，写尽细腰的讽刺，是千古名句。「未知歌舞能多少」写未知歌舞能多少——那「未知歌舞」写未知歌舞，「能多少」写能多少，写尽歌舞的茫然；「虚减宫厨为细腰」写虚减宫厨为细腰——那「虚减宫厨」写虚减宫厨，「为细腰」写为细腰，写尽宫厨的虚减。这句的深意在于：它以「未知歌舞能多少」的能多少与「虚减宫厨为细腰」的为细腰，写尽细腰的讽刺——未知歌舞能多少，那「未知歌舞能多少」写尽歌舞的茫然——未知歌舞，正是歌舞无多的写照，那「能多少」写尽细腰的讽刺；虚减宫厨为细腰，那「虚减宫厨为细腰」写尽宫厨的虚减——虚减宫厨，正是白减膳食的写照，那「为细腰」写尽细腰的讽刺；那「未知歌舞能多少」写尽歌舞的茫然，那「虚减宫厨为细腰」写尽宫厨的虚减，一写歌舞，一写宫厨，写尽细腰的讽刺——歌舞未几而宫厨虚减，正是楚宫女子的悲剧；此二句以歌舞、宫厨写尽细腰的讽刺，也让此二句成为全诗写讽刺的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「为了细腰白白节食，歌舞也没享几年」，则失其含蓄；唯以「未知歌舞能多少」写能多少、「虚减宫厨为细腰」写为细腰，写尽细腰的讽刺，也让此二句成为全诗写讽刺的核心。

The waist. Who knows how many years of song and dance there can be? In vain they cut the palace kitchen fare for slender waists. The unknown years of dancing and the vain starving for slender waists (the Chu king's favorite) are the satire. To have mocked the starving court ladies would be a satire; the who-knows-how-many-years-of-song-and-dance against the in-vain-cut-palace-kitchen-fare-for-slender-waists is the satire.

梦泽悲风动白茅，楚王葬尽满城娇

Over Mengze a mournful wind moves the white reeds; the King of Chu has buried every delicate one in the city

梦泽悲风动白茅，楚王葬尽满城娇。

On the Dream Marsh the mournful wind stirs the white reeds; the Chu king has buried all the fair maids of the city.

此二句是全诗写悲剧的核心，以梦泽悲风动白茅写动白茅，以楚王葬尽满城娇写满城娇，写尽楚宫的悲剧，是千古名句。「梦泽悲风动白茅」写梦泽悲风动白茅——那「梦泽悲风」写梦泽悲风，「动白茅」写动白茅，写尽白茅的悲风；「楚王葬尽满城娇」写楚王葬尽满城娇——那「楚王葬尽」写楚王葬尽，「满城娇」写满城娇，写尽满城的娇女。这句的深意在于：它以「梦泽悲风动白茅」的悲风与「楚王葬尽满城娇」的满城娇，写尽楚宫的悲剧——梦泽悲风动白茅，那「梦泽悲风动白茅」写尽白茅的悲风——梦泽悲风，正是泽畔悲风的写照，那「动白茅」写尽楚宫的悲剧；楚王葬尽满城娇，那「楚王葬尽满城娇」写尽满城的娇女——楚王葬尽，正是楚王葬女的写照，那「满城娇」写尽楚宫的悲剧；那「梦泽悲风动白茅」写尽白茅的悲风，那「楚王葬尽满城娇」写尽满城的娇女，一写梦泽，一写楚王，写尽楚宫的悲剧——梦泽悲风而满城娇葬，正是楚宫悲剧的写照；此二句以悲风、娇女写尽楚宫的悲剧，也为下文的细腰作铺垫，也让此二句成为全诗写悲剧的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「梦泽边风吹白茅，楚王把满城的美人都葬送了」，则失其沉痛；唯以「梦泽悲风动白茅」写动白茅、「楚王葬尽满城娇」写满城娇，写尽楚宫的悲剧，也让此二句成为全诗写悲剧的核心。

The marsh. On the Dream Marsh the mournful wind stirs the white reeds; the Chu king has buried all the fair maids of the city. The mournful wind in the white reeds and the buried city's beauties are the elegy. To have described the marsh wind would be scenery; the Dream-Marsh-mournful-wind-stirring-the-white-reeds against the Chu-king-buried-all-the-fair-maids-of-the-city is the scenery.

Study

Word focus

葬 In 'the King of Chu has buried every delicate one in the city,' zang is to bury, to inter. It is the poem's heavy verb: applied to living women and to a whole city, it turns the palace's fancy into a graveyard, and it is what lets the first couplet's reeds be read as funerary grass. 「楚王葬尽满城娇」之「葬」字是写悲剧的关键词，一个「葬」字写尽满城的娇女。葬者，埋葬、葬送也。李商隐以「楚王葬尽满城娇」写悲剧，这个「葬」字至少有双重意味：其一，写女之葬——那「楚王葬尽满城娇」写楚王葬尽满城娇，那「葬」字写尽满城的娇女——葬尽，正是尽皆埋葬的写照，那「葬」字写尽楚宫的悲剧；其二，写罪之深——那「葬」字更是写深——葬，正见葬送芳华的惨剧，那「葬」字写尽李商隐的讽刺。以「葬」字写悲剧，正是李商隐写咏史的枢纽——若换作「埋」「死」等字，则或失其与「楚王葬尽」「满城娇」的配合，或失其写葬的意味；唯「葬」字，以楚王葬尽满城娇写尽满城之娇女与葬送之惨剧，与「梦泽悲风动白茅」的悲风相合，写尽楚宫的悲剧，也让「楚王葬尽满城娇」成为全诗写悲剧的名句。

虚 In 'the kitchens were cut to nothing, all for a slender waist,' xu means vainly, in vain. It carries the poem's judgement in one word: the cutting of the kitchens achieved a fashion and nothing else, so the whole sacrifice is set down as wasted. 「虚减宫厨为细腰」之「虚」字是写讽刺的关键词，一个「虚」字写尽宫厨的虚减。虚者，白白、徒然也。李商隐以「虚减宫厨为细腰」写讽刺，这个「虚」字至少有双重意味：其一，写减之虚——那「虚减宫厨为细腰」写虚减宫厨为细腰，那「虚」字写尽宫厨的虚减——虚减宫厨，正是白减膳食的写照，那「虚」字写尽细腰的讽刺；其二，写情之悲——那「虚」字更是写悲——虚，正见徒劳无益的悲凉，那「虚」字写尽李商隐的讽刺。以「虚」字写讽刺，正是李商隐写咏史的枢纽——若换作「空」「枉」等字，则或失其与「宫厨」「为细腰」的配合，或失其写虚的意味；唯「虚」字，以虚减宫厨为细腰写尽宫厨之虚减与徒劳之悲凉，与「未知歌舞能多少」的未知相合，写尽细腰的讽刺，也让「虚减宫厨为细腰」成为全诗写讽刺的名句。

梦泽