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宋 Song · 诗 Poem

黄庭坚·雨中登岳阳楼望君山

Climbing Yueyang Tower in Rain to View Jun Mountain

黄庭坚

Huang Tingjian

山水landscape 感怀reflection

雨中登岳阳楼望君山其一投荒万死鬓毛斑，生出瞿塘滟滪关。
未到江南先一笑，岳阳楼上对君山。
其二满川风雨独凭栏，绾结湘娥十二鬟。
可惜不当湖水面，银山堆里看青山。

Cast into the wilderness, ten thousand deaths, my temples flecked; I have come alive out of the Qutang and Yanyu gorges. Before reaching Jiangnan I first smile — on Yueyang Tower facing Jun Mountain.
A whole river of wind and rain, I lean the rail alone; Jun Mountain knots the twelve chignons of the Xiang goddess. Pity I am not upon the lake's surface, to view the green hill amid heaps of silver mountains.

Listen

Meaning

First: Banished to the far wilderness, surviving ten thousand deaths, my hair at the temples is flecked with white; now alive I have passed the perilous Qutang and Yanyu gorges. Before returning to my Jiangnan homeland I first smile — on Yueyang Tower facing Jun Mountain. Second: A whole river of wind and rain, I lean on the rail alone; Jun Mountain knots the twelve hair-coils of the Xiang goddess. Pity that I am not on the lake's surface, to look at the green mountain amid heaps of silver mountains (waves).

其一：被贬荒远之地九死一生，鬓发已斑白，如今活着走出瞿塘峡滟滪堆的险关。还没回到江南故乡，先欣然一笑，在岳阳楼上面对君山。其二：满江风雨中我独自倚栏，君山如湘水女神绾起的十二个发鬟。只可惜不在湖面之上，不能在银山般的浪堆里去看那青翠的山色。

Appreciation

The pair of poems, one joyous one wondrous, complement each other. The first, 'Cast into the wilderness, ten thousand deaths, my temples flecked', opens in heavy grief; 'Before reaching Jiangnan I first smile' turns abruptly to joy, the contrast strong, the spirit leaping from the page. The second, 'A whole river of wind and rain, I lean the rail alone' writes the scene; 'Jun Mountain knots the twelve chignons of the Xiang goddess' uses myth to figure the mountain's shape, charming and wondrous; 'view the green hill amid heaps of silver mountains' compares the waves to mountains, the imagination flying. The whole is steep yet not harsh, opening a new face among exile poems.

【白话串讲】黄庭坚被贬四川多年，终于回江南：“投荒万死鬓毛斑，生出瞿塘滟滪关”——九死一生，活着过了瞿塘峡。“未到江南先一笑，岳阳楼上对君山”——还没到江南先笑了。“满川风雨独凭栏”——他在风雨里看君山。【意象与手法】组诗两首，一喜一奇，相辅相成。其一「投荒万死鬓毛斑」以沉痛起，「未到江南先一笑」陡转欣喜，对比强烈，神情跃然【情感与主旨】黄庭坚（1045—1105），字鲁直，号山谷道人，洪州分宁（今江西修水）人，江西诗派开山祖【名句点睛】中高考常考：①分析「未到江南先一笑」中「笑」字的内涵，须答出劫后余生、将归故乡的欣喜与旷达

Background

Huang Tingjian (1045-1105), styled Luzhi, style Valley Daoist, from Hongzhou Fenning (today's Xiushui, Jiangxi), founder of the Jiangxi poetry school. In the first year of Chongning, already past sixty, he was pardoned on his way north from his place of banishment Yizhou, and his boat passed Yueyang; in wind and rain he climbed the tower to view Jun Mountain and gladly took up his brush. Before this he had met factional disaster again and again, banished far to the southwest, hardly escaping death, so 'cast into the wilderness, ten thousand deaths' is no exaggeration. This poem was written just as he escaped death and was about to return to Jiangnan, hence grief and joy mixed, yet ending in broad-mindedness.

《雨中登岳阳楼望君山》为北宋黄庭坚所作，是写登楼望山、谪后归来的七绝。黄庭坚（1045—1105），字鲁直，号山谷道人，分宁人，北宋诗人。此诗：投荒万死鬓毛斑，生出瞿塘滟滪关。未到江南先一笑，岳阳楼上对君山。全诗写谪后归来、登楼望山，是黄庭坚诗的名篇。

Art

The pair of poems, one joyous one wondrous, complement each other. The first, 'Cast into the wilderness, ten thousand deaths, my temples flecked', opens in heavy grief; 'Before reaching Jiangnan I first smile' turns abruptly to joy, the contrast strong, the spirit leaping. 'I have come alive out of the Qutang and Yanyu gorges' in plain narration shows the peril of surviving ten thousand deaths. The second, 'A whole river of wind and rain, I lean the rail alone' writes the scene; 'Jun Mountain knots the twelve chignons of the Xiang goddess' uses myth to figure the mountain shape, charming and wondrous; 'view the green hill amid heaps of silver mountains' compares waves to mountains, the imagination flying. The whole is steep yet not harsh, opening a new face among exile poems.

《雨中登岳阳楼望君山》艺术上以经历的苍凉与归来的旷达见长。全诗四句，层层写来：前二句写谪后归来——“投荒万死鬓毛斑，生出瞿塘滟滪关”写投荒万死、生出瞿塘；后二句写登楼望山——“未到江南先一笑，岳阳楼上对君山”写未到江南先笑、岳阳楼上对君山。全诗以谪后归来写旷达，正是黄庭坚诗苍凉旷达的笔法。

Allusions

'The twelve chignons of the Xiang goddess' uses the Xiang-goddess (Ehuang, Nüying) allusion. Jun Mountain is also called Xiang Mountain, said to be where Shun's consorts are buried; the two ladies wept and dotted the bamboo with spots, so the poet uses 'Xiang goddess' for Jun Mountain's deity, and the goddess's hair-coils for the clustered peaks. Also 'Qutang Yanyu gorges' names the Yangzi gorges' peril — not an allusion but a factual geography, secretly holding the lament of having lived through life and death. The allusion is natural, myth and reality intertwined, adding romantic colour.

《雨中登岳阳楼望君山》用典在“投荒”“瞿塘滟滪”“君山”。“投荒”写放逐至荒远之地；“瞿塘滟滪”写长江瞿塘峡之滟滪堆（险滩）；“君山”写洞庭湖中君山（湘妃所居）。全诗以这些意象写谪后归来、登楼望山，不用深典而苍凉旷达自见，正是黄庭坚诗的笔法。

Commentary

Predecessors praised Huang Tingjian's poetry 'making the common elegant, making the old new'. These two quatrains turn new meaning in the exile theme; Fang Dongshu said of them 'a heroic brightness breathes from the page, with broad-mindedness'. The modern says of him 'seeing brightness within hardship', a fine variation on exile poetry, readable alongside Du Fu's 'Climbing Yueyang Tower' with its brooding.

《雨中登岳阳楼望君山》是黄庭坚诗的名篇，也是宋代写谪后归来、旷达之情的代表作。此诗写登楼望山、谪后归来，向为论者称道。论者多赏其经历的苍凉与归来的旷达——“投荒万死鬓毛斑，生出瞿塘滟滪关”写投荒万死、出生入死，苍凉之极；“未到江南先一笑，岳阳楼上对君山”写未到江南先笑、登楼对君山，更见其旷达。黄庭坚为北宋江西诗派之宗，其诗以苍凉旷达、生新瘦硬著称，此诗正是其代表——以谪后归来写旷达，正是其诗风。

Prosody

Form Seven-character quatrain (pair of two poems)七言绝句

Rhyme First poem rhymes shan group (flecked, gorges, mountain); second rhymes shan/han group (rail, chignons, mountain)《雨中登岳阳楼望君山》为七言绝句，四句，押平声韵。此诗用韵：关、山（删部），一韵到底，音节苍劲。

Tone pattern First line enters rhyme, level-onset level-close七言绝句以音节苍劲、情致旷达见长。此诗写谪后归来、登楼望山，音节苍劲而旷达。全诗以七言贯底，声调与旷达之情的内容相合，是黄庭坚诗中苍凉旷达的一路。

Reading note Both are seven-character quatrains, one joyous one wondrous, short chapters showing grand weather.《雨中登岳阳楼望君山》为北宋黄庭坚所作，是写登楼望山、谪后归来的七绝。此诗以“投荒万死鬓毛斑，生出瞿塘滟滪关”写谪后归来之苍凉，以“未到江南先一笑，岳阳楼上对君山”写归来一笑之旷达。以谪后归来写旷达，正是黄庭坚诗的名篇。

Line by line

投荒万死鬓毛斑，生出瞿塘滟滪关。

Banished to the wilds through ten thousand deaths, my hair has turned streaked; alive I have passed the Qutang gorge and the Yanyu barrier.

投荒万死，鬓毛已斑；竟然生出瞿塘滟滪之关。

Banished to the distant wilds through ten thousand deaths, my temples are streaked with white; yet I have come alive through the Qutang gorge and the Yanyu reef barrier.

前二句写谪后归来，是全诗旷达之情的起点。“投荒万死鬓毛斑”写投荒万死——“投荒万死”写放逐至荒远之地、万死一生，“鬓毛斑”写鬓毛已斑——投荒万死，鬓毛斑；“生出瞿塘滟滪关”写生出瞿塘——“生出”写竟然活着出来，“瞿塘滟滪关”写长江瞿塘峡之滟滪堆险关——生出瞿塘滟滪关。二句写谪后归来：投荒万死鬓毛斑，生出瞿塘滟滪关。以“投荒万死鬓毛斑”写放逐荒远、万死一生、鬓毛已斑之苍凉，以“生出瞿塘滟滪关”写出险滩生还之庆幸，正是黄庭坚诗写谪后归来、旷达之情的起点——九死一生，竟得生还。

The first two lines write the return after exile, the starting point of the poem's open temper. Banished to the wilds through ten thousand deaths writes the sending to the remote wastes, a thousand deaths and one life; my hair has turned streaked writes the years' cost; yet I have passed alive the Qutang gorge and the Yanyu barrier writes the Yanyu reef of the Yangtze's Qutang gorge, the word alive the wonder of having come through. The two lines: the desolation of banishment and white hair, the joy of surviving the perilous rapids — precisely the starting point of Huang Tingjian's open-tempered return after exile: nine deaths and yet still alive.

未到江南先一笑，岳阳楼上对君山。

Before reaching the south of the river, I smile first; on the Yueyang Tower, I face the Jun Mountain.

未到江南，先已一笑；岳阳楼上，面对君山。

Before arriving in the south of the river, I have already smiled; standing on the Yueyang Tower, I face the Jun Mountain.

末二句写登楼望山、旷达之笑，是全诗旷达之情的归结。“未到江南先一笑”写未到江南先笑——“未到江南”写还未到江南，“先一笑”写先已一笑——未到江南先一笑；“岳阳楼上对君山”写登楼对君山——“岳阳楼上”写在岳阳楼上，“对君山”写面对君山——岳阳楼上对君山。二句写登楼望山：未到江南先一笑，岳阳楼上对君山。以“未到江南先一笑”写未及江南而先一笑之旷达，以“岳阳楼上对君山”写登岳阳楼、面对君山之景，正是黄庭坚诗写旷达之情的归结——历尽艰险，归来一笑；登楼对山，其情旷达。

The last two lines write the ascent to the tower and the open smile, the gathering of the poem's temper. Before arriving in the south of the river, I have already smiled writes the smile before reaching home, open and unforced; standing on the Yueyang Tower, I face the Jun Mountain writes the tower and the mountain before the eyes. The two lines: the open smile before the south, the tower facing the mountain — precisely the gathering of Huang's open temper: through every hardship, returning with a smile; the tower facing the mountain, the temper at ease.

Study

Word focus

投荒 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “投荒万死鬓毛斑”之“投荒”，写放逐至荒远之地，是全诗写谪居之艰的关键词。“投荒”写投放至荒远之地——“投荒万死”写放逐荒远、万死一生。这一词写谪居之艰：不是寻常之贬，而投荒；不是可安之地，而荒远绝域。以“投荒万死鬓毛斑”写投荒万死、鬓毛已斑，正是黄庭坚诗写谪后归来的苍凉之笔。

瞿塘滟滪 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “生出瞿塘滟滪关”之“瞿塘滟滪”，写长江瞿塘峡之滟滪堆险关，是全诗写险难之关键的关键词。“瞿塘”写瞿塘峡，“滟滪”写滟滪堆（险滩）——生出瞿塘滟滪之关。这一词写险关之险：不是寻常之渡，而瞿塘滟滪；不是易渡之关，而千古险滩。以“生出瞿塘滟滪关”写出险滩生还之侥幸，正是黄庭坚诗写谪后归来、九死一生的笔法。

未到江南 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “未到江南先一笑”之“未到江南”，写还未到江南，是全诗写归来之情的关键词。“未到江南”写还未到江南之地——未到江南，先已一笑。这一词写归途之近：不是已归之地，而未到江南；不是可止之程，而将到未到。以“未到江南先一笑”写未及江南而先一笑之旷达，正是黄庭坚诗写归来之情的笔法。

对君山 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “岳阳楼上对君山”之“对君山”，写面对君山，是全诗写登楼望山、旷达之情的归结词。“岳阳楼”写岳阳楼，“对君山”写面对洞庭君山——岳阳楼上，面对君山。这一词写登楼所见：不是可愁之景，而对君山；不是愁苦之望，而旷达相对。以“岳阳楼上对君山”写登楼对山、其情旷达，正是黄庭坚诗写旷达之情的归结。