唐 Tang · 诗 Poem
齐安郡晚秋
Late Autumn in Qi'an Commandery
柳岸风来影渐疏，使君家似野人居。
云容水态还堪赏，啸志歌怀亦自如。
雨暗残灯棋欲散，酒醒孤枕雁来初。
可怜赤壁争雄渡，唯有蓑翁坐钓鱼。
The look of the clouds, the posture of the water, are still worth beholding; my cry of aspiration and my sung contentment keep me free.
Rain darkens, the lamp gutters, the chess game breaks up; wine leaves me, and on a lonely pillow the geese arrive at first.
Ah, the ford where the Red Cliffs were fought for mastery — now only an old man in a straw cloak sits there fishing.
Meaning
Du Mu, exiled to Qi'an (Huangzhou) in his later years, describes a quiet commandery autumn: sparse willow shadows, clouds and water worth watching, an evening of rain, a dying lamp and a chess game breaking up, a waking head and a lonely pillow, and the first geese. Then the poem turns to the Red Cliffs — the place of a famous battle — and finds only an old fisherman. The public glory of the past and the private loneliness of the present are set against each other.
柳岸风来影渐疏，使君家似野人居。云容水态还堪赏，啸志歌怀亦自如。雨暗残灯棋欲散，酒醒孤枕雁来初。可怜赤壁争雄渡，唯有蓑翁坐钓鱼。
Appreciation
[Plain Paraphrase] The first half is one man's boring, beautiful afternoon: a governor who lives like a hermit, watching cloud shapes and the water, a game of chess dragging to an end in the rain, waking from wine at night with the geese passing. Then the last couplet changes the ground entirely — the ford where the Red Cliffs battle was fought is now a place where an old man in a straw cloak fishes. [Structure] The regulated verse moves through its four loads in the usual way: scene, mood, night, then the historical turn in the closing couplet. The turn falls exactly where regulated poetry demands it, and the contrast does all the work. [Imagery] Du Mu's images are light and cool — wind, shadow, cloud, water, rain, lamp, pillow, geese — and they are chosen for solidity of feeling rather than drama. The final contrast is deliberately flat: 'a ford where heroes fought' and 'an old man fishing' in the same sentence.
【白话串讲】 杜牧写《齐安郡晚秋》：“柳岸风来影渐疏，使君家似野人居”——“云容水态还堪赏，啸志歌怀亦自如”——“雨暗残灯棋欲散，酒醒孤枕雁来初”——“可怜赤壁争雄渡，唯有蓑翁坐钓鱼”——他写齐安的晚秋与闲愁。 【意象与手法】 此诗写齐安郡晚秋，以晚秋写落寞，是杜牧的名篇。前四句写闲居：「柳岸风来影渐疏，使君家似野人居」写柳岸风来影渐疏、使君家似野人居——写尽秋日的萧疏；「云容水态还堪赏，啸志歌怀亦自如」写云容水态还堪赏、啸志歌怀亦自如——写尽闲居的自如；后四句写落寞：「雨暗残灯棋欲散，酒醒孤枕雁来初」写雨暗残灯棋欲散、酒醒孤枕雁来初——写尽秋夜的孤寂；「可怜赤壁争雄渡，唯有蓑翁坐钓鱼」写可怜赤壁争雄渡、唯有蓑翁坐钓鱼——写尽怀古的落寞。全诗以晚秋写落寞，写尽杜牧谪守齐安的孤寂与怀古之情，是杜牧的代表作。 【情感与主旨】 此诗写齐安郡晚秋，以晚秋写落寞，是杜牧的名篇。此诗当为杜牧任黄州刺史（黄州即齐安郡）时所作。此诗写闲居：柳岸风来影渐疏，使君家似野人居——写柳岸风来影渐疏、使君家似野人居，写尽秋日的萧疏；云容水态还堪赏，啸志歌怀亦自如——写云容水态还堪赏、啸志歌怀亦自如，写尽闲居的自如；雨暗残灯棋欲散，酒醒孤枕雁来初——写雨暗残灯棋欲散、酒醒孤枕雁来初，写尽秋夜的孤寂；可怜赤壁争雄渡，唯有蓑翁坐钓鱼——写可怜赤壁争雄渡、唯有蓑翁坐钓鱼，写尽怀古的落寞。全诗以晚秋写落寞——那「柳岸风来影渐疏」写尽秋日的萧疏，「唯有蓑翁坐钓鱼」写尽怀古的落寞，写尽杜牧谪守齐安的孤寂与怀古之情，是理解杜牧后期诗的重要篇章。 【名句点睛】 常考「柳岸风来影渐疏，使君家似野人居」写秋日的萧疏；「雨暗残灯棋欲散，酒醒孤枕雁来初」写秋夜的孤寂；「可怜赤壁争雄渡，唯有蓑翁坐钓鱼」写怀古的落寞；以及全诗以晚秋写落寞、由闲居到怀古的手法。
Background
Du Mu (803–852), styled Yizhi, came from a family of officials and passed the jinshi examination in his youth, but his career was a long series of transfers between capital and province. In his forties he was sent to Qi'an (modern Huanggang, Hubei) as governor of the commandery — a posting he resented, since it was far from the centre. The region is famous because the battle of the Red Cliffs (208) was traditionally located there. This regulated verse belongs to that exile period, when Du Mu wrote many of his best autumn and historical pieces.
此诗写齐安郡晚秋，以晚秋写落寞，是杜牧的名篇。杜牧（803—约852），字牧之，京兆万年（今陕西西安）人，晚唐伟大的诗人，与李商隐并称「小李杜」。唐武宗会昌二年至四年（842—844），杜牧外放为黄州刺史（黄州治所在今湖北黄冈，即古齐安郡），远离朝廷，心怀抑郁。此诗即写其在齐安郡度过的晚秋。「柳岸风来影渐疏，使君家似野人居」写柳岸风来影渐疏、使君家似野人居——写尽秋日的萧疏（柳岸风吹，树影渐疏，使君的家似野人住处）；「云容水态还堪赏，啸志歌怀亦自如」写云容水态还堪赏、啸志歌怀亦自如——写尽闲居的自如（云容水态还堪赏玩，啸志歌怀亦自得其乐）；「雨暗残灯棋欲散，酒醒孤枕雁来初」写雨暗残灯棋欲散、酒醒孤枕雁来初——写尽秋夜的孤寂（雨暗灯残棋将散，酒醒孤枕闻雁初来）；「可怜赤壁争雄渡，唯有蓑翁坐钓鱼」写可怜赤壁争雄渡、唯有蓑翁坐钓鱼——写尽怀古的落寞（可怜当年赤壁争雄，如今唯有蓑翁独坐垂钓）。全诗以晚秋写落寞，写尽杜牧谪守齐安的孤寂与怀古之情，是理解杜牧后期诗的重要篇章。
Art
The poem is built on a slow descent from outer to inner and then a sudden jump outward in time. The first couplet establishes the governor's self-imposed poverty ('a governor's house resembles a hermit's dwelling'); the second turns that into a state of mind, where cloud and water can still be enjoyed; the third narrows to a single night, rain, a guttering lamp and a lonely pillow; the fourth leaves the poet altogether and puts two pictures of the same ford — heroic and trivial — beside each other. The strength of the close lies in its restraint: no argument is made, only a comparison, and the reader supplies the conclusion about the emptiness of fame. The antithesis of the third couplet and the balanced fourth couplet are handled smoothly, so that the historical weight arrives without emphasis.
此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以写景写萧疏。「柳岸风来影渐疏，使君家似野人居」以写景写萧疏——那「影渐疏」写尽柳影的稀疏，以写景写尽秋日的萧疏。其二，以闲适写压抑。「云容水态还堪赏，啸志歌怀亦自如」以闲适写压抑——那「还堪赏」「亦自如」写尽表面的闲适，以闲适反写内心的压抑。其三，以细节写孤寂。「雨暗残灯棋欲散，酒醒孤枕雁来初」以细节写孤寂——那「残灯」「孤枕」「雁来初」写尽秋夜的细节，以细节写尽秋夜的孤寂。其四，以怀古写落寞。「可怜赤壁争雄渡，唯有蓑翁坐钓鱼」以怀古写落寞——那「赤壁争雄」「蓑翁钓鱼」写尽今昔的对照，以怀古写尽英雄消歇的落寞。此外，此诗由白日的萧疏写到夜雨的孤寂，再写到怀古的落寞，由景而情、由今而古，正是写景诗「由实入虚」的写法。四重手法，使此诗以晚秋写落寞，写尽杜牧谪守齐安的孤寂与怀古之情，是杜牧的代表作。
Allusions
The Red Cliffs (chibi) are the traditional site of the 208 battle in which Zhou Yu and the easternWu allies defeated the huge force of Cao Cao, an event that fixed the division of the third century. Here the poet mentions it only to set beside a fisherman's solitude, a topos as old as the fisherman of Dan Tao — the man who fishes in the river rather than seeking the world. The geese at night carry the older association of the letter and of exile, so that the traveller's loneliness and the historical ruin are both present in one small sound.
此诗的用语深植于晚秋与怀古的传统。「柳岸风来影渐疏」令人想到「柳岸」写柳岸的意象——「柳岸风来影渐疏」正是杜牧的名句，也令人想到「影渐疏」写树影稀疏的意象；「使君家似野人居」令人想到「野人」写野人的意象——「使君家似野人居」正是杜牧的名句，也令人想到「陶渊明」的归隐意象；「雨暗残灯棋欲散」令人想到「残灯」写残灯的意象——「雨暗残灯棋欲散」正是杜牧的名句，也令人想到「酒醒孤枕」写孤枕的意象；「可怜赤壁争雄渡」令人想到「赤壁」写赤壁的意象——「赤壁争雄渡」正是杜牧的名句，也令人想到「赤壁之战」的历史，杜牧另有《赤壁》「东风不与周郎便，铜雀春深锁二乔」咏赤壁。全诗化用柳岸、残灯、赤壁的意象，以晚秋写落寞，正是杜牧「俊爽峭健」而善怀古、承晚秋传统写落寞的本领。还需联系杜牧「赤壁」诗来读：杜牧于齐安郡（黄州）为官，地近赤壁古战场，其《赤壁》「折戟沉沙铁未销」即作于此地。此诗「可怜赤壁争雄渡」之「可怜」，既有可叹之意，又暗含对英雄功业终归消歇的冷峻反思——争雄渡口的英雄已成陈迹，唯蓑翁垂钓，正与其「铜雀春深锁二乔」的翻案之思一脉相承，可见杜牧在齐安对历史兴亡的深长玩味。
Commentary
This regulated verse is counted among Du Mu's finest late works, and its closing couplet is the most quoted part: 'Ah, the ford where the Red Cliffs were fought for mastery — now only an old man in a straw cloak sits there fishing.' Later anthologists admired the way the poem keeps its decorum while delivering a historical judgement; Song writers in particular valued its restraint compared with the louder allegorizing of some late Tang history poems. Modern readers note that the poem is really about the speaker: the old fisherman is the figure he recognises himself in, an exile with no part in public affairs.
此诗历来被推为杜牧谪守时期的代表作，也是唐人写晚秋的名篇。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人评此诗「以晚秋写落寞，俊爽中含萧飒」；近人更指出「雨暗残灯棋欲散，酒醒孤枕雁来初」写秋夜的孤寂，是此诗的名句。在诗歌史上，此诗的特殊价值在于：它以八句的七律写尽杜牧谪守齐安的孤寂与怀古之情——那渐疏的柳影，那似野人使君家，那还堪赏的云容水态，那欲散的残灯棋，那孤枕，那雁来初，那赤壁争雄，那蓑翁钓鱼，都写尽了杜牧笔下的齐安晚秋；那「可怜赤壁争雄渡，唯有蓑翁坐钓鱼」更以今昔对照写尽英雄消歇的落寞。此诗与杜甫《登高》（「万里悲秋常作客」）同为晚秋名篇，一写「无边落木萧萧下」的悲秋（登高），一写「唯有蓑翁坐钓鱼」的落寞（齐安郡晚秋）；又与杜牧《赤壁》的怀古一脉相承，可见赤壁情结在杜牧心中的分量。对于今日读者，此诗是理解杜牧后期诗的窗口，也是中国诗写晚秋的经典——那独坐钓鱼的蓑翁，穿越千年，仍在诉说着晚秋的落寞。
Prosody
Line by line
雨暗残灯棋欲散，酒醒孤枕雁来初
Rain darkens, the lamp gutters, the chess game breaks up; wine leaves me and, on a lonely pillow, the geese arrive at first.
雨暗灯残，棋局将散；酒醒孤枕，雁声初来。
Rain darkens the dying lamp, the chess game breaks up; wine wears off on the lonely pillow, as wild geese first cry in.
此二句是全诗写孤寂的核心，以雨暗残灯写环境，以酒醒孤枕写心境，写尽秋夜的孤寂，是千古名句。「雨暗残灯棋欲散」写雨暗灯残棋局将散——那「雨暗」写雨色昏暗，「残灯」「棋欲散」写灯残棋散，写尽秋夜的清冷；「酒醒孤枕雁来初」写酒醒孤枕闻雁声初来——那「酒醒孤枕」写酒醒独卧，「雁来初」写雁声初来，写尽秋夜的孤寂。这句的深意在于：它以「雨暗残灯棋欲散」的环境与「酒醒孤枕雁来初」的心境，写尽秋夜的孤寂——雨暗灯残棋局将散，那「雨暗残灯棋欲散」写尽秋夜的清冷——雨色昏暗、残灯将尽、棋局将散，正是无聊之夜的写照，那「棋欲散」写尽长夜的消磨；酒醒孤枕闻雁声初来，那「酒醒孤枕雁来初」写尽秋夜的孤寂——酒醒独卧孤枕，忽闻雁声初来，正是羁旅之夜的写照，那「雁来初」写尽秋雁初来的萧瑟；那「雨暗残灯棋欲散」写尽秋夜的清冷，那「酒醒孤枕雁来初」写尽秋夜的孤寂，一写环境，一写心境，写尽秋夜的孤寂——雨暗灯残而酒醒孤枕，正是晚秋长夜的孤寂；此二句以环境、心境写尽秋夜的孤寂，也让此二句成为全诗写孤寂的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「晚上很冷清很孤单」，则失其画面；唯以「雨暗残灯棋欲散」写环境、「酒醒孤枕雁来初」写心境，写尽秋夜的孤寂，也让此二句成为全诗写孤寂的核心。
The two lines are the core of the poem's loneliness, an age-famed couplet. Rain darkens the dying lamp, the chess game breaks up: rain darkens the gloom, dying lamp and game breaking up the chill of the autumn night. Wine wears off on the lonely pillow, as wild geese first cry in: wine gone on a solitary pillow, the first goose cries the desolate autumn night. The hidden art: rain-dark, lamp-dying, the chess game dispersing, write a tedious night worn away; wine wearing off on the lonely pillow, and the first goose cry, write a traveler's night. The environment and the inner mood together write the loneliness of the late-autumn night; to have said baldly that the evening was cold and solitary would lose the picture, and the couplet remains the heart of the poem.
可怜赤壁争雄渡，唯有蓑翁坐钓鱼
Ah, the ford where the Red Cliffs were fought for mastery — now only an old man in a straw cloak sits there fishing.
可怜当年赤壁争雄之地，如今唯有蓑笠老翁独坐垂钓。
Pitiful the ford where heroes contended at Red Cliff: now only an old man in straw sits fishing.
此二句是全诗写怀古的核心，以赤壁争雄写今昔，以蓑翁钓鱼写落寞，写尽英雄消歇的落寞，是千古名句。「可怜赤壁争雄渡」写可怜当年赤壁争雄之地——那「可怜」写可叹，「赤壁争雄渡」写赤壁争雄之地，写尽对英雄事业的感慨；「唯有蓑翁坐钓鱼」写如今唯有蓑笠老翁独坐垂钓——那「唯有」写只有，「蓑翁坐钓鱼」写蓑翁垂钓，写尽英雄消歇的落寞。这句的深意在于：它以「可怜赤壁争雄渡」的今昔与「唯有蓑翁坐钓鱼」的对照，写尽英雄消歇的落寞——可怜当年赤壁争雄之地，那「可怜赤壁争雄渡」写尽对英雄事业的感慨——赤壁之战，曾是何等英雄争雄的战场，如今那「赤壁争雄渡」写尽当年的盛事；如今唯有蓑笠老翁独坐垂钓，那「唯有蓑翁坐钓鱼」写尽英雄消歇的落寞——当年的战场，如今唯有蓑翁垂钓，那「蓑翁坐钓鱼」写尽今昔的巨变；那「可怜赤壁争雄渡」写尽对英雄事业的感慨，那「唯有蓑翁坐钓鱼」写尽英雄消歇的落寞，一写今昔，一写对照，写尽英雄消歇的落寞——赤壁争雄而蓑翁钓鱼，正是英雄消歇的千古之叹；此二句以今昔、对照写尽英雄消歇的落寞，也让此二句成为全诗写怀古的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「如今没有人记得赤壁之战了」，则失其深沉；唯以「可怜赤壁争雄渡」写今昔、「唯有蓑翁坐钓鱼」写对照，写尽英雄消歇的落寞，也让此二句成为全诗写怀古的核心。
The two lines are the core of the poem's meditation on the past, an age-famed couplet. Pitiful the ford where heroes contended at Red Cliff: ke lian means alas, the Red Cliff crossing the battlefield. Now only an old man in straw sits fishing: only writes what remains, the straw-clad angler the quiet. The hidden art: the battle of Red Cliff was once a field where heroes contended; now at that very ford, only an old man in straw raincloth sits fishing. The heroes' striving set against the angler's quiet writes the age-old sigh over the passing of heroes; to have said baldly that no one remembers the battle of Red Cliff now would lose the depth, and the contrast of the heroic ford and the old fisherman is the poem's meditation.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Du Fu's 'Ascending the Heights' gathers a whole landscape into one catastrophe — wind, apes, white sand, falling leaves, the endless river — and closes on his own old age and illness. This poem is quieter and smaller in scale: a willow bank, a chess game, one pillow. Du Fu's grief is overwhelming and public; Du Mu's is controlled, almost delicate, and the historical echo in the last couplet gives it its sadness.
杜甫《登高》「风急天高猿啸哀，渚清沙白鸟飞回。无边落木萧萧下，不尽长江滚滚来」写秋日登高，是七律之冠。此诗《齐安郡晚秋》则「柳岸风来影渐疏，使君家似野人居」写齐安晚秋。同为写晚秋悲怀，一写「万里悲秋常作客」的悲（登高），一写「唯有蓑翁坐钓鱼」的落寞（齐安郡晚秋）；一写「百年多病独登台」的衰病，一写「啸志歌怀亦自如」的压抑。两诗对读，可见唐律写秋的传统。
赤壁 The Red Cliffs (Chi Bi) 杜牧 · 同杜牧咏赤壁，一咏史一怀古 Both poems take up the Red Cliffs, one asking what would have happened if the wind had not favoured Zhou Yu, and one finding only a fisherman there.'The Red Cliffs' is at its most argumentative: a broken spear in the sand, the eastern wind that gave Zhou Yu the victory, and the thought that without it the two beauties of the Cao camp would have been locked in the Bronze Terrace. Here the same ford appears with no argument at all — simply an old man in a straw cloak fishing. Du Mu's mind had moved from asking 'what if' to seeing that nothing is left to ask about.
杜牧《赤壁》「折戟沉沙铁未销，自将磨洗认前朝。东风不与周郎便，铜雀春深锁二乔」咏赤壁之战，是杜牧最著名的咏史诗。此诗《齐安郡晚秋》则「可怜赤壁争雄渡，唯有蓑翁坐钓鱼」怀赤壁。同为写赤壁，一写「折戟沉沙」的咏史（赤壁），一写「蓑翁坐钓鱼」的怀古（齐安郡晚秋）；一以「东风不与周郎便」发议论，一以「唯有蓑翁坐钓鱼」写对照。两诗对读，可见杜牧赤壁情结的一贯。