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南北朝 Northern and Southern Dynasties · 诗 Poem

赠范晔诗

Poem to Fan Ye

陆凯

Lu Kai

折花逢驿使，寄与陇头人。
江南无所有，聊赠一枝春。

Plucking a flower, I meet a post-station messenger; I send it to the man at the head of the Long.
In the Jiangnan there is nothing worth giving; I send him a single branch of spring.
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Meaning

A short quatrain of farewell and gift. Travelling through the south, Lu Kai cuts a blossom, hands it to a postal courier on his route, and asks him to deliver it to a friend in the west, beyond the Long hills. Since the southern lands have nothing else worth sending, he sends 'one branch of spring' — that is, the new year itself, taken in flower. The poem's whole art is in that substitution: a friendship is not described, it is dispatched, wrapped in one small living thing.

折花逢驿使，寄与陇头人。江南无所有，聊赠一枝春。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The poem reports two actions: cutting a flower and giving it to a messenger. Then it explains why nothing else exists to send, and ends by naming what is sent.[Structure] Four five-character lines in parallel. The first couplet carries the action and the address; the second carries the apology and the gift, and turns on the single word 'spring' (春).[Imagery] Only one image, but it is chosen exactly: a flower cut (折花) rather than a whole spray in flower, which suggests a hand that has taken rather than a garden that has offered. The word 'branch' (枝) keeps the blossom attached to something.[Sentiment] The tone is light and unhurried, almost playful, and that lightness is what makes the ending land. To send a season is to send time, warmth, and the promise of a meeting — at no cost to the sender, and at every cost to the friendship being named. The poem never says 'I love you'; it says here is what to take.

【白话串讲】 陆凯写《赠范晔诗》：“折花逢驿使，寄与陇头人”——“江南无所有，聊赠一枝春”——他折梅花寄给远在陇头的范晔——江南没什么可送的，就送一枝春——他写友情的浪漫。 【意象与手法】 “折花逢驿使，寄与陇头人”以折梅寄友写传情；“江南无所有，聊赠一枝春”以“一枝春”代指梅花，将春意寄与友人。短小隽永、以物寄情。 【情感与主旨】 陆凯折梅寄赠远在陇头的范晔之作，以“一枝春”表达对友人的深情厚谊与浪漫诗意，是咏梅赠友的千古名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“江南无所有，聊赠一枝春”以一枝春写赠友深情；“折花逢驿使，寄与陇头人”以折梅寄友写传情。

Background

Lu Kai (died 522) served the Liang court and held offices in the south; this quatrain is traditionally read as a gift sent from the Jiangnan to a friend serving away to the west, and it has been quoted for centuries as the model of a short farewell. The five-character quatrain had by the fifth century become the dominant form for brief occasions of this kind, and its four lines, of which only two are rhymed, suit a message. It survives in the early anthologies of Southern-Dynasties verse, where it stands among the shortest and most quoted of the gift poems.

《赠范晔诗》为南朝宋诗人陆凯所作诗。陆凯（约440年前后在世），字智君，代（今河北蔚县）人，南朝宋诗人。此诗写赠答友情，为赠范晔之作。诗中「折花逢驿使，寄与陇头人」写折花逢驿使，寄与陇头人；「江南无所有，聊赠一枝春」写江南无所有，聊赠一枝春。陆凯此诗以赠答友情、聊赠一枝春写其友情之情，短小而隽永，是陆凯诗中的名篇。此篇《赠范晔诗》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。此篇《赠范晔诗》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。此篇《赠范晔诗》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。全诗短小精悍，是南朝乐府风格与文人五绝融合的典范。

Art

The poem is built on one substitution and one grammatical slide. 'Nothing in the Jiangnan' prepares the reader for a gift of some local delicacy; instead the poet offers 'a single branch of spring.' Because 春 can mean both the season and the year, the small object is quietly inflated into a whole period of warmth. 'Spring' as the thing sent is also the perfect picture of what a friend shares: not property but time. The other technical choice is the avoidance of any verb of feeling; the poem's address is 'the man at the head of the Long' (陇头人) — a relation of place, not of affection — so that the reader must infer the warmth from the choice of object. Nothing is ever said about the friend; everything is said about the branch.

此诗艺术上以「短小隽永、以花写情」见长。全诗共四句，由折花逢驿使而江南无所有。起「折花逢驿使，寄与陇头人」写折花逢驿使：折花逢驿使，寄与陇头人；结「江南无所有，聊赠一枝春」写江南无所有：江南无所有，聊赠一枝春。全诗以花写情，由折花逢驿使而聊赠一枝春，短小而隽永，是陆凯诗中的名篇。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。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。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

The 'post-station messenger' (驿使) is the courier of the government relay stations that carried letters and persons between capital and province in both the Han and the Six Dynasties; the word carries the whole machinery of official travel, so that a flower hands itself over to the state to be delivered. 'The head of the Long' (陇头) means the frontier of the Long hills, the modern Longxi, toward the northwest — in this poem the standard northern boundary of 'the south' and therefore a long way off. The flower itself recalls the Chinese habit of giving plum or apricot branches as New Year gifts, which is why 一枝春, 'a branch of spring,' became a fixed phrase for a New Year's present.

诗中「折花逢驿使寄与陇头人」「江南无所有聊赠一枝春」等语，皆含典故故实。「折花逢驿使寄与陇头人」用驿使之典（驿使为传信之人），写折花逢驿使寄与陇头人；「江南无所有聊赠一枝春」写江南无所有聊赠一枝春。诗人以驿使等语入诗，不着痕迹，而把赠答友情之情写得真切可感，是善于熔铸典故的体现。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。

Commentary

For more than a thousand years this quatrain has been the standard short model of a gift poem, and 一枝春 has since become a word rather than a phrase — it still means a New Year's gift of a blossoming branch. Later writers borrowed the structure without any shame at it: a small thing is sent, and its value is made to depend on the distance and the season rather than on its own cost. Critics particularly admire that the poem spends no word on the friend's poverty, absence or feelings. Its charm is entirely in the modest arithmetic of the gift: one branch, one season, one messenger, one friendship.

这首《赠范晔诗》，是陆凯写赠答友情之作，写折花逢驿使、寄与陇头人、江南无所有、聊赠一枝春之情，短小而隽永。起「折花逢驿使，寄与陇头人」——折花逢驿使（用驿使之典），寄与陇头人。写折花逢驿使：折花逢驿使、寄与陇头人——逢驿使、寄陇头人；结「江南无所有，聊赠一枝春」——江南无所有，聊赠一枝春。写江南无所有：江南无所有、聊赠一枝春——无所有、赠一枝春。这「江南无所有，聊赠一枝春」，是全诗之结：以聊赠一枝春写其友情。全诗短小而隽永，以花写情，正是陆凯诗中的名篇。这「江南无所有，聊赠一枝春」，是全诗之结：以聊赠一枝春写其友情。此诗之妙，在「不着一字，尽得风流」——通篇不写思念之深、不写离别之远，只以「折花」「寄与」「聊赠」数笔，便把一片深情寄予一枝春色。折花逢驿使写其机缘，寄与陇头人写其情意，江南无所有写其谦厚，聊赠一枝春写其风雅；四句环环相扣，由折而寄、由寄而赠，而情意自在其中。全诗短小而隽永，以花写情，正是陆凯诗中的名篇。

Prosody

Form A five-character quatrain (五言绝句) of four lines.诗（五言绝句）
Rhyme Lines one and two are rhymed, on the -en group of the真 division (人, 春); lines three and four stand unrhymed, which is the normal shape of the pentad quatrain.此诗为五言绝句，共四句。押韵：「人」「春」押真部韵。诗体依绝句而定，句式整齐，音节短促而清亮，正与写赠答友情的短小隽永相称，也见其以绝句写友情的凝练。
Tone pattern Flat and unequal syllables alternate across the four lines; the poem has no tonal pattern as strict as later regulated verse, but the even five-character feet give it a slow, even beat that fits a message.句式上，「折花逢驿使，寄与陇头人」写折花逢驿使，音节明快；结「江南无所有，聊赠一枝春」写江南无所有，音节清亮。全诗音节由明快而清亮，正合绝句「凝练」之妙，读来如赠答友情、聊赠一枝春之音，短小而动人。
Reading note The form is the short pentad quatrain at its simplest: two rhymed couplets, five characters to a line, nothing decoration. That plainness is what the poem is trading on. 'Plucking a flower, I meet a post-station messenger' moves at walking pace; 'I send him a single branch of spring' moves on the same number of beats but carries the whole gift. Because the second couplet rhymes with the first, the reader hears the pattern close exactly as the gift is described, so the sound and the action finish together. Reading it aloud, the pause before 一枝春 should be long enough to let the receiver of the flower be imagined. The poem is only twenty characters; its whole art lies in where it puts the stops.此诗为五言绝句，是陆凯写赠答友情之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「短小隽永、以花写情」：「折花逢驿使，寄与陇头人」写折花逢驿使、「江南无所有，聊赠一枝春」写江南无所有。全诗短小隽永，以花写情。尤为精妙者，是「折花逢驿使，寄与陇头人」用驿使之典；而「江南无所有，聊赠一枝春」写尽赠春之情，正是陆凯诗「短小隽永」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《赠范晔诗》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

折花逢驿使，寄与陇头人。

Plucking a flower, I meet a post-station messenger; I send it to the man at the head of the Long.

折花逢驿使，寄与陇头人。

Breaking a flower, I meet a post rider; send it to the man at Longtou.

首二句写折花逢驿使，起笔即见其折。「折花逢驿使」用驿使之典写折花逢驿使，「折花」写折花、「逢驿使」写逢驿使；「寄与陇头人」写寄与陇头人，「寄与」写寄与、「陇头人」写陇头人。两句一写折花逢驿使、一写寄与陇头人，以折花逢驿使写逢驿使、以寄与陇头人写寄陇头人，写尽折花逢驿使、寄与陇头人之情。以折起兴，短小而隽永，是「以折起兴」的妙笔。

The rider. Breaking a flower, I meet a post rider; send it to the man at Longtou. The broken-flower-meets-rider and the sent-to-the-Longtou-man are the opening. To have broken the flower would be a breaking; the breaking-a-flower-i-meet-a-post-rider-send-it-to-the-man-at-longtou is the breaking.

江南无所有，聊赠一枝春。

In the Jiangnan there is nothing worth giving; I send him a single branch of spring.

江南无所有，聊赠一枝春。

Jiangnan has nothing to offer; I send you, for now, one branch of spring.

结句写江南无所有，是全诗立意的落点。「江南无所有」写江南无所有，「江南」写江南、「无所有」写无所有；「聊赠一枝春」写聊赠一枝春，「聊赠」写聊赠、「一枝春」写一枝春。两句一写江南无所有、一写聊赠一枝春，以江南无所有写无所有、以聊赠一枝春写赠一枝春，写尽江南无所有、聊赠一枝春之情。以赠写情，短小而隽永，是全诗最动人处，也是「以赠写情」的点睛之笔。

The spring branch. Jiangnan has nothing to offer; I send you, for now, one branch of spring. The Jiangnan-nothing-to-offer and the one-branch-of-spring-given are the close. To have given one branch would be a giving; the jiangnan-has-nothing-to-offer-i-send-you-for-now-one-branch-of-spring is the giving.

Study

Word focus

折花 Plucking a flower (折花). The verb 折 implies taking one stem from a living plant, not cutting down a spray, so the gift stays small and attached to something. It is the first of the poem's two actions and the one that makes the sending possible at all. 「折花」写折花逢驿使，是写折花之态的关键。「折花逢驿使」着一「折花」，写折花——着一「折花」，写折花逢驿使，见其花之折。两字写尽折花之态，是「以词写折」的妙笔。「折花」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。
驿使 Post-station messenger (驿使). The courier of the imperial relay stations, who carried letters and travellers between capital and province. Because he belongs to the official service, the flower is handed over to the state machinery and will arrive even if the poet dies. 「驿使」写折花逢驿使，是写驿使之态的关键。「折花逢驿使」着一「驿使」，写驿使——着一「驿使」，写折花逢驿使，见其使之驿。两字写尽驿使之态，是「以词写使」的点睛之词。「驿使」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。
陇头人 The man at the head of the Long (陇头人). 陇头 means the Long hills, the frontier of the northwest, and 人 makes the phrase a person rather than a place. The friend is therefore placed at the far end of the courier's road — a distance the poem never states in figures but only implies. 「陇头人」写寄与陇头人，是写陇头人之态的关键。「寄与陇头人」着一「陇头人」，写陇头人——着一「陇头人」，写寄与陇头人，见其人之陇头。三字写尽陇头人之态，是「以词写人」的点睛之词。「陇头人」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。
一枝春 A branch of spring (一枝春). Because 春 can mean the season or the year, three characters hold both a blossom and a whole calendar; the phrase became a fixed way of naming a New Year's gift of a flowering branch, first recorded in this poem. 「一枝春」写聊赠一枝春，是写一枝春之态的关键。「聊赠一枝春」着一「一枝春」，写一枝春——着一「一枝春」，写聊赠一枝春，见其春之一枝。三字写尽一枝春之态，是「以词写春」的点睛之词。「一枝春」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

山园小梅 Plum Grove: The Small Garden 林逋 · 同写咏花寄情、清雅超然，一写疏影横斜水清浅暗香浮动月黄昏、一写折花逢驿使聊赠一枝春，皆于咏花之中见寄情 Both write of flowers to carry feeling; one praises the plum's purity, the other sends its branch to a friend

Lin Bu's 'Plum Grove Small Garden' is famous for the couplet 'slender shadows slant beside clear shallow water, faint fragrance drifts in the moonlit dusk,' and is counted the绝唱 of Song flower-poetry: the plum is praised for its own sake, in a private garden, with no one to receive it. Lu Kai sends the same flower away by a courier. The two poems take the object from opposite directions — one keeps it, and in keeping it makes the solitude the point; the other parts with it, and makes the friendship the point. Both find the plum sufficient; only the destination differs, and that difference is where the two poets part company.

林逋《山园小梅》「疏影横斜水清浅，暗香浮动月黄昏」，写梅之清雅、咏花寄情，是宋诗咏物的绝唱；陆凯《赠范晔诗》则以「折花逢驿使，寄与陇头人」「江南无所有，聊赠一枝春」写折花逢驿使、聊赠一枝春。两诗同写咏花寄情、清雅超然：一写疏影横斜水清浅暗香浮动月黄昏、以梅写清雅，一写折花逢驿使聊赠一枝春、以花寄友情；一为林逋之清逸、一为陆凯之隽永，并读正可见诗写「咏花寄情」的两种笔法，皆于咏花之中见寄情。

 浣溪沙·一曲新词酒一杯 Huan Xi Sha: A New Song, a Cup of Wine 晏殊 · 同写惜春感怀、以物寄情，一写无可奈何花落去、一写江南无所有聊赠一枝春，皆于惜春之中见寄情 Both write of wasting spring and of objects that carry feeling; one laments the fall of flowers, the other sends one

Yan Shu's tune is remembered for 'the flowers fall, and there is nothing to be done about it; the swallows come back, as if they had known me all along,' which is a poem about time passing that uses the turning of the year as its evidence. Lu Kai's quatrain touches the same season — a branch of spring sent outward — but refuses the complaint: the year is not lost, it is posted. In the same season and the same medium, one turns the flower into a metaphor for what has gone, the other turns it into a parcel that can still travel. Read together they show how little separates poetic regret from poetic kindness, and how much the direction of the gift makes.

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」，写惜春感怀，是宋词小令的名篇；陆凯《赠范晔诗》则以「折花逢驿使，寄与陇头人」「江南无所有，聊赠一枝春」写折花逢驿使、聊赠一枝春。两诗同写惜春感怀、以物寄情：一写无可奈何花落去、以花落燕归写惜时，一写江南无所有聊赠一枝春、以赠花写友情；一为晏殊之温润、一为陆凯之隽永，并读正可见诗写「惜春感怀」的两种笔法，皆于惜春之中见寄情。