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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

菩提寺禁裴迪来相看说逆贼等凝碧池上作音乐供奉人等举声便一时泪下私成口号诵示裴迪

Imprisoned at the Bao Temple: Pei Di Comes to Visit and Speaks of the Rebels Making Music at the Ningbi Pool, and of the Attendants Who Wept As They Listened — A Private Impromptu Verse Composed for Pei Di

王维

Wang Wei

乱离Turmoil of the Times 感时Contemporary Lament

万户伤心生野烟，百官何日再朝天。
秋槐叶落空宫里，凝碧池头奏管弦。

Ten thousand households grieving, and wild smoke rising over them;
When will the hundred ministers behold the sky again?
In the empty palace the autumn locust trees drop their leaves;
At Ningbi pool head they play pipe and string.

Listen

Meaning

Wang Wei was held in the Bao Temple in Chang'an after the city fell in 756 and forced to serve the rebel court. When his friend Pei Di came to see him and told how the rebels held a feast with music at the Ningbi pool, and how the palace attendants there broke into weeping at the sound, the poet wrote this four-line poem in private and gave it to Pei Di. The first couplet gives the ruined city — ten thousand homes mourning, smoke over the desolate streets, and the question of when the court may return to court the emperor. The second sets the falling leaves of an empty palace against the music played at the pool.

万户伤心生野烟，百官何日再朝天。秋槐叶落空宫里，凝碧池头奏管弦。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The first couplet is a whole city in two statements: grief everywhere, and smoke where there should be chimneys; then the unanswered question of when the officials will again stand before the sovereign. The second couplet narrows from the city to a single pool, and sets a falling leaf against a sounding string. [Structure] The poem moves from the many to the one, from the public disaster to a single act of foreign music in a garden; and it moves from grief to music, which is the hardest movement in it. Nothing is named as irony, yet that is plainly what it is. [Imagery] Wang Wei's images are all quiet and exact: wild smoke, autumn locust leaves, an empty palace, a pool, pipe and string. The last two lines offer almost nothing — the emptiness and the music are simply placed side by side, and the reader supplies the weeping that Pei Di reported and that the poem declines to state.

【白话串讲】王维写《菩提寺禁裴迪来相看说逆贼等凝碧池上作音乐》：“万户伤心生野烟，百官何日再朝天”——“秋槐叶落空宫里，凝碧池头奏管弦”——他被困长安，写叛军作乐、百官何时再朝见天子——他写国难。【意象与手法】此诗写感慨，以忧国写感慨，是王维的名篇。前二句写伤心：「万户伤心生野烟，百官何日再朝天」写万户伤心生野烟、百官何日再朝天——写尽万戸的伤心；后二句写宫中：「秋槐叶落空宫里，凝碧池头奏管弦」写秋槐叶落空宫里、凝碧池头奏管弦——写尽凝碧的管弦。全诗以忧国写感慨，写尽万戸的伤心与凝碧的管弦，是王维的代表作。【情感与主旨】此诗写感慨，以忧国写感慨，是王维的名篇。此诗为安史之乱中王维被俘囚于菩提寺时所作。安禄山攻陷长安，王维被俘，被迫任伪职，囚禁于菩提寺。叛军在凝碧池设宴作乐，王维闻之伤心，私成此诗诵示裴迪。此诗写万户伤心生野烟，百官何日再朝天；秋槐叶落空宫里，凝碧池头奏管弦。此诗写伤心：万户伤心生野烟，百官何日再朝天——写万户伤心生野烟、百官何日再朝天，写尽万戸的伤心；秋槐叶落空宫里，凝碧池头奏管弦——写秋槐叶落空宫里、凝碧池头奏管弦，写尽凝碧的管弦。全诗以忧国写感慨——那「万户伤心生野烟」写尽万戸的伤心，「凝碧池头奏管弦」写尽凝碧的管弦，写尽万戸的伤心与凝碧的管弦，是理解王维感慨诗的重要篇章。【名句点睛】常考「万户伤心生野烟，百官何日再朝天」写万戸的伤心；「秋槐叶落空宫里，凝碧池头奏管弦」写凝碧的管弦；以及全诗以忧国写感慨、以对照写悲愤的手法。

Background

Wang Wei (701–761), courtesy name Mojie, a native of Puzhou, was a poet and painter who worked with Meng Haoran in the pair known as the two Wangs. When An Lushan's rebels took Chang'an, Wang Wei was taken, took medicine to make himself mute, and was nevertheless forced to accept an office under the false court; he was confined in the Bao Temple. This poem belongs to that imprisonment. Pei Di ran the same risk to come and see him, and brought news of the feast at the Ningbi pool in the western park: the rebels playing, the attendants forced to listen, and a general weeping that broke the silence. After the rebellion was put down, this verse was kept forward as evidence that Wang Wei had not accepted the false office, and it helped him get a commutation.

此诗写感慨，以忧国写感慨，是王维的名篇。王维（701—761），字摩诘，号摩诘居士，河东蒲州（今山西永济）人，唐代诗人、画家，与孟浩然并称「王孟」。此诗为安史之乱中王维被俘囚于菩提寺时所作。安禄山攻陷长安，王维被俘，被迫任伪职，囚禁于菩提寺。叛军在凝碧池设宴作乐，王维闻之伤心，私成此诗诵示裴迪。此诗写万户伤心生野烟，百官何日再朝天；秋槐叶落空宫里，凝碧池头奏管弦。此诗写伤心：「万户伤心生野烟，百官何日再朝天」写万户伤心生野烟、百官何日再朝天——写尽万戸的伤心（万户伤心生野烟，百官何日再朝天）；「秋槐叶落空宫里，凝碧池头奏管弦」写秋槐叶落空宫里、凝碧池头奏管弦——写尽凝碧的管弦（秋槐叶落空宫里，凝碧池头奏管弦）。全诗以忧国写感慨，写尽万戸的伤心与凝碧的管弦，是理解王维感慨诗的重要篇章。王维被安禄山叛军俘获后，曾服药装哑，被迫接受伪职，然心向唐室。此诗写于被囚菩提寺期间，裴迪冒险来看望，告知凝碧池叛军作乐之事，王维百感交集，私成此绝句，后成为其「不污伪命」的证词，肃宗平乱后凭此诗获宥。

Art

The poem's craft is what it leaves out. Having been told that attendants wept, the poet does not write a weeping line; having been told of music, he writes two bare nouns for the instruments, and the reader is left to hear it. The second couplet is the whole artistic turn: the same season, the same city, one half empty and one half sounding — the locust leaves falling inside a palace with no one in it, and the strings being played beside a pool. Wang Wei also uses the mot juste for the smoke, so that the smoke seems to be produced by the grief rather than by burned houses. The fourth line ends the poem on the sound, not on the response to it, which is an unusual and very controlled choice: the music is left ringing while the palace goes on being empty.

此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以白描写伤心。「万户伤心生野烟」以白描写伤心——那「生野烟」写尽升腾的野烟，以白描写尽万戸的伤心。其二，以设问写朝天。「百官何日再朝天」以设问写朝天——那「何日再朝天」写尽何日的朝天，以设问写尽万戸的伤心。其三，以空宫写荒凉。「秋槐叶落空宫里」以空宫写荒凉——那「秋槐叶落」写尽秋槐的落叶，以空宫写尽空宫的荒凉。其四，以对照写悲愤。「凝碧池头奏管弦」以对照写悲愤——那「奏管弦」写尽作乐的管弦，以对照写尽凝碧的管弦。此外，此诗前二句写万戸的伤心，后二句写凝碧的管弦，由伤及乐，正是感慨诗「以乐写悲」的写法。四重手法，使此诗以忧国写感慨，写尽万戸的伤心与凝碧的管弦，是王维的代表作。此诗还善于以「万户伤心生野烟」的「生」字写野烟之升腾——那「万户伤心生野烟」写尽升腾的野烟，正是以生写腾，以「生」字写尽万戸的伤心。又善以「秋槐叶落空宫里」的「叶落」写秋槐之萧瑟——秋槐叶落空宫里，正见宫苑萧瑟的写照，以「叶落」写尽空宫的荒凉。

Allusions

The place names do the heavy work. Ningbi pond was a pool in the imperial park of Chang'an, named for the clear green water frozen at it; it became, through this poem, a standing way of naming a enemy banquet held in a captured capital. The hundred ministers are the court of the Tang; to 'behold the sky' is to stand before the throne in audience, a phrase taken straight from court usage. The autumn locust is the tree that stood in the palace grounds, and its falling leaves stand for a season passing without the court. Wild smoke is the smoke of open ground where houses burned. The phrase for weeping in a sudden concentric way comes from the account of the attendants who, hearing the music, could not hold back their tears — the story Pei Di brought, which the poem converts into a picture rather than an event.

此诗的用语深植于感慨与忧国传统。「万户」令人想到「万户」写万户人家的意象——也令人想到「千门万户曈曈日」（王安石）的意象；「野烟」令人想到「野烟」写野烟的意象——也令人想到「城春草木深」的意象；「朝天」令人想到「朝天」写朝见天子的意象——也令人想到「拜舞朝天」的意象；「秋槐」令人想到「秋槐」写秋槐的意象——也令人想到「槐落」的意象；「空宫」令人想到「空宫」写空寂宫殿的意象——也令人想到「故宫禾黍」的意象；「凝碧池」令人想到「凝碧池」写长安宫苑池名的意象——也令人想到「凝碧池头」的意象。全诗化用万户、野烟、朝天、秋槐、空宫、凝碧池的意象，以忧国写感慨，正是王维「浑成」而善白描、承忧国传统写感慨之本领。「野烟」令人想到「野烟」写野烟的意象——也令人想到「汉家陵阙」（李白）的意象；「秋槐」令人想到「秋槐」写秋槐的意象——也令人想到「槐花黄」的意象，以秋槐写宫苑。「凝碧池」令人想到「凝碧池」写长安宫苑池名的意象——也令人想到「池头」的意象，以凝碧写宫苑作乐。

Commentary

This has been read since the Tang as one of the chief poems of the rebellion and as Wang Wei's proof of loyalty. Later critics praised precisely its restraint: a man who had been forced to serve and who had to deny it in verse chose the four quietest possible words for it. Its standing rests on that self-control — no complaint, no named rebel, no exclamation — and on the scene it fixes, a captured garden with music in it. It is read beside Du Fu's Spring View, where the same broken capital is seen in spring, and in the tradition of writing about a ruined dynasty, in which the poet of the fallen court is expected to be silent and instead keeps his place in the poem.

此诗历来被推为王维感慨诗的名篇，也是唐诗写安史之乱的代表。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人评此诗「以忧国写感慨，沉痛婉转」；近人更指出「万户伤心生野烟，百官何日再朝天」写万戸的伤心，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万戸的伤心与凝碧的管弦——那万户，那伤心，那生野烟，那百官，那何日，那再朝天，那秋槐，那叶落，那空宫里，那凝碧池头，那奏管弦，都写尽了王维笔下的凝碧池；那「凝碧池头奏管弦」更以对照写尽凝碧的管弦。此诗与杜甫《春望》（「国破山河在」）同为乱世名篇，一写「感时花溅泪」的春望（春望），一写「百官何日再朝天」的凝碧（凝碧池）；又与李商隐《隋宫》「地下若逢陈后主」的咏史传统一脉相承，可见唐诗写忧国的传统。对于今日读者，此诗是理解王维感慨诗的窗口，也是唐诗写安史之乱的经典——那凝碧池头的管弦，穿越千年，仍在诉说着万戸的伤心。

Prosody

Form A seven-jueju quatrain (jueju) of four lines诗·七言绝句

Rhyme Rhymes on the level-tone 'xian' rhyme — sky, string — through in one rhyme. The level ending is unusual for a poem of this subject; it leaves the last sound open and unfallen, as though the music were still going.七绝，押「天」「弦」韵（下平一先），一韵到底，音节沉痛

Tone pattern Seven characters to the line, level rhyme, four lines; the third line closes on an oblique tone so the poem breaks before the final couplet, then turns back to level for the close.此诗为七言绝句，押平声韵，一韵到底，音节沉痛，正合感慨的沉痛。

Reading note Four lines: the city, the court, the empty palace, the pool. The rhyme runs sky and string and is level, which is why the ending does not sink — a grief reported in a major key. The third line is the hinge, closed on an oblique and short, so that the fourth turns on it and the last sound of the poem is the sound of the instruments. Read the first couplet slowly so the wild smoke establishes itself; make the third line thin and empty; and let the last four characters ring out, keeping the music in the ear after the palace has gone silent. This is the highly finished, quiet manner of Wang Wei at his most controlled.此诗为七言绝句，四句——「万户伤心生野烟，百官何日再朝天。秋槐叶落空宫里，凝碧池头奏管弦」，押「先」韵（天、弦），一韵到底，音节沉痛。全诗以忧国写感慨：前二句写万戸的伤心（万户伤心生野烟、百官何日再朝天），后二句写凝碧的管弦（秋槐叶落空宫里、凝碧池头奏管弦）。四句短章，前写伤心，后写管弦，以「凝碧池头奏管弦」写尽凝碧的管弦，正见王维「浑成」的本色。诵读此诗，宜以沉痛的语调读「百官何日再朝天」的伤心，以低回的语调读「凝碧池头奏管弦」的管弦，结句要读得沉痛而有余韵，方能传达出王维的沉痛婉转。王维绝句以「浑成」著称，此诗正是其感慨诗的典范。

Line by line

万户伤心生野烟，百官何日再朝天

Ten thousand households in grief, and wild smoke rising over them; when will the hundred ministers behold the sky again?

万户伤心生野烟，百官何日再朝天。

Ten thousand households grieve while wild smoke rises; when shall the officials again have audience before the throne?

此二句是全诗写伤心的核心，以万户伤心生野烟写生野烟，以百官何日再朝天写再朝天，写尽万戸的伤心，是千古名句。「万户伤心生野烟」写万户伤心生野烟——那「万户伤心」写万户伤心，「生野烟」写生野烟，写尽升腾的野烟；「百官何日再朝天」写百官何日再朝天——那「百官何日」写百官何日，「再朝天」写再朝天，写尽何日的朝天。这句的深意在于：它以「万户伤心生野烟」的生野烟与「百官何日再朝天」的再朝天，写尽万戸的伤心——万户伤心生野烟，那「万户伤心生野烟」写尽升腾的野烟——万户伤心，正是千家万户伤心的写照，那「生野烟」写尽万戸的伤心；百官何日再朝天，那「百官何日再朝天」写尽何日的朝天——百官何日再朝天，正是百官盼朝的写照，那「再朝天」写尽万戸的伤心；那「万户伤心生野烟」写尽升腾的野烟，那「百官何日再朝天」写尽何日的朝天，一写万户，一写百官，写尽万戸的伤心——万户伤心而百官盼朝，正是乱世的写照；此二句以万户、百官写尽万戸的伤心，也为下文的空宫作铺垫，也让此二句成为全诗写伤心的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「千家万户伤心，野烟四起，文武百官什么时候再能朝见天子」，则失其沉痛；唯以「万户伤心生野烟」写生野烟、「百官何日再朝天」写再朝天，写尽万戸的伤心，也让此二句成为全诗写伤心的核心。

The two lines are the heartbreak of the poem, an age-famed couplet. Ten thousand households grieve while wild smoke rises: the ten thousand households write the people's sorrow, the wild smoke the rebel-held land. When shall the officials again have audience before the throne? writes the longing of the court. The hidden art: as Wang Wei, captive in Chang'an after the An Lushan rebellion, hears the rebels' musicians playing in the Frozen Jade Pool, the wild smoke rising over desolate homes figures a country overrun, and when again? voices the officials' prayer for the return of the sovereign. Ten thousand households on one side, the officials on the other, write a disordered age; the lines prepare the empty palace that follows. To have said baldly that every household grieves and the officials long for audience would lose the depth; only the wild smoke and the deferred audience keep the sorrow biting.

秋槐叶落空宫里，凝碧池头奏管弦

In the empty palace the autumn locust drops its leaf; at Ningbi pool head they play pipe and string.

秋槐叶落空宫里，凝碧池头奏管弦。

Autumn leaves fall in the deserted palace; by the Pool of Gathered Jade, they play the pipes and strings.

此二句是全诗写管弦的核心，以秋槐叶落空宫里写空宫里，以凝碧池头奏管弦写奏管弦，写尽凝碧的管弦，是千古名句。「秋槐叶落空宫里」写秋槐叶落空宫里——那「秋槐叶落」写秋槐叶落，「空宫里」写空宫里，写尽秋槐的落叶；「凝碧池头奏管弦」写凝碧池头奏管弦——那「凝碧池头」写凝碧池头，「奏管弦」写奏管弦，写尽作乐的管弦。这句的深意在于：它以「秋槐叶落空宫里」的空宫里与「凝碧池头奏管弦」的奏管弦，写尽凝碧的管弦——秋槐叶落空宫里，那「秋槐叶落空宫里」写尽秋槐的落叶——秋槐叶落空宫里，正是空宫叶落的写照，那「空宫里」写尽凝碧的管弦；凝碧池头奏管弦，那「凝碧池头奏管弦」写尽作乐的管弦——凝碧池头奏管弦，正是池头作乐的写照，那「奏管弦」写尽凝碧的管弦；那「秋槐叶落空宫里」写尽秋槐的落叶，那「凝碧池头奏管弦」写尽作乐的管弦，一写空宫，一写奏乐，写尽凝碧的管弦——空宫叶落而池头作乐，正是悲愤的写照；此二句以空宫、管弦写尽凝碧的管弦，也让此二句成为全诗写管弦的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「秋槐叶落在空寂的宫里，凝碧池头却奏着管弦」，则失其沉痛；唯以「秋槐叶落空宫里」写空宫里、「凝碧池头奏管弦」写奏管弦，写尽凝碧的管弦，也让此二句成为全诗写管弦的核心。

The two lines are the core of the poem's music, an age-famed couplet. Autumn leaves fall in the deserted palace: autumn leaves writes the falling foliage, empty palace the forsaken halls. By the Pool of Gathered Jade, they play the pipes and strings writes the rebel concert. The hidden art: autumn leaves in the deserted palace write desolation, while by the very pool where the Xuanzong court once feasted, the rebels now strike up the orchestra. Empty halls and falling leaves against the playing of pipes and strings at the pool's edge set grief against infamy: the old palace dead, the usurpers merry. The contrast of the deserted autumn hall and the wanton music is the very bitterness of a captive loyalist; to have said it flatly would lose the sting, and the couplet remains the close of the poem.

Study

Word focus

空 In 'in the empty palace the autumn locust drops its leaf', the word means empty rather than silent or cold. It has to carry the whole second couplet: the palace is not ruined, merely unoccupied, and it is that absence that lets the leaf fall unremarked. A word meaning lonely or deserted would give the feeling away; emptiness is what the poet is claiming, and the music in the next line answers it. 「秋槐叶落空宫里」之「空」字是写管弦核心的关键词，一个「空」字写尽空宫的荒凉。空者，空寂、空无也。王维以「秋槐叶落空宫里」写管弦，这个「空」字至少有双重意味：其一，写宫之空——那「秋槐叶落空宫里」写秋槐叶落空宫里，那「空」字写尽空宫的荒凉——空宫里，正是宫闱空寂的写照，那「空」字写尽凝碧的管弦；其二，写情之悲——那「空」字更是写悲——空，正见国破宫空的悲怆，那「空」字写尽王维的感慨。以「空」字写管弦，正是王维写忧国的枢纽——若换作「寂」「冷」等字，则或失其与「秋槐叶落」「空宫里」的配合，或失其写空的意味；唯「空」字，以秋槐叶落空宫里写尽宫闱之空寂与国破之悲怆，与「凝碧池头奏管弦」的管弦相合，写尽凝碧的管弦，也让「秋槐叶落空宫里」成为全诗写管弦的名句。

再 In 'when will the hundred ministers behold the sky again', the word means again, and it carries the whole of the first couplet's longing: the audience was a repeated event, it has stopped, and the question is not whether but when it restarts. It also tells the reader that the court still exists and that the poet still counts himself among its ministers. 「百官何日再朝天」之「再」字是写伤心的关键词，一个「再」字写尽何日的朝天。再者，再一次、再次也。王维以「百官何日再朝天」写伤心，这个「再」字至少有双重意味：其一，写朝之再——那「百官何日再朝天」写百官何日再朝天，那「再」字写尽何日的朝天——再朝天，正是再次朝见的写照，那「再」字写尽万戸的伤心；其二，写盼之切——那「再」字更是写切——再，正见重朝天子的热盼，那「再」字写尽王维的忧国。以「再」字写伤心，正是王维写感慨的枢纽——若换作「复」「重」等字，则或失其与「百官何日」「朝天」的配合，或失其写再的意味；唯「再」字，以百官何日再朝天写尽朝天之再盼与重朝之热望，与「万户伤心生野烟」的伤心相合，写尽万戸的伤心，也让「百官何日再朝天」成为全诗写伤心的名句。