宋 Song · 诗 Poem
艮岳百咏 椒崖
Pepper Cliff, from 'One Hundred Songs of the Genyue Garden'
团枝红实见秋成，曾按方书合五行。
不遣汉宫涂屋壁，此间吞饵得长生。
Not sent to coat the Han palace walls; here one swallows the pellet and gains long life.
Meaning
Pepper branches cluster with red berries, a full sign of autumn's ripening; the pepper was once classed in the pharmacopoeia and the five elements. Rather than being used, as in the Han, to plaster the palace walls, here on the cliff one swallows the pepper pellet and gains long life. The quatrain turns a garden ornament into an image of the Daoist pursuit of immortality.
椒树枝条团簇,红红的椒实累累满枝,正是一片秋收成熟的景象。它曾按照医家药书之理,与阴阳五行之说相契合。不叫它去涂抹汉朝椒房殿的屋壁。在这椒崖之上,吞服椒饵,便可获得长生。
Appreciation
This four-line poem is tightly built with opening, continuation, turn, and close: the first line paints the clustered red berries and the season; the second lifts the pepper into the realm of alchemy; the third suddenly rejects the old Han use of pepper-plaster; the last lands on eating the pellet for long life. From scene to principle, principle to use, use to the Way, three turns yet one breath—a model of the short jueju's 'much in little.' Beneath the praise of the garden runs a faint historical chill: the line 'gain long life' both flatters the Genyue as an immortals' den and reflects how Emperor Huizong and his court drowned in alchemy and ignored the people.
【白话串讲】 李质写艮岳的椒崖：“团枝红实见秋成，曾按方书合五行”。“不遣汉宫涂屋壁，此间吞饵得长生”——他写皇家园林的椒实。 【意象与手法】 此诗四句起承转合井然:起句「团枝红实」以形色写景,「见秋成」点出时令;承句「曾按方书合五行」由形入性,把椒抬入道术层次;转句「不遣汉宫涂屋壁」反用椒房殿之典,一笔撇开俗用;合句「此间吞饵得长生」落到服食求仙。由景及理,由理及用,由用及道,转折三层而气脉一贯,是小绝句「以少总多」的典范。 【情感与主旨】 此诗是李质奉诏题咏艮岳之作,本是颂圣应制,却于歌咏椒崖之中透出时代消息。「不遣汉宫涂屋壁,此间吞饵得长生」,以椒房香艳反衬仙家清虚,把一株椒树推入丹鼎烟霞。末句「得长生」既是颂美艮岳为神仙窟宅,亦如实映出徽宗朝君臣溺于方术、不恤民力的风气,咏物之外,自有一种历史的苍凉与警醒。 【名句点睛】 「不遣汉宫涂屋壁,此间吞饵得长生」:一「不遣」一「此间」,撇开椒房香艳旧路,转出服食求仙奇想,用典翻新,转折有力,二十八字中机锋全在此处。
Background
Genyue was the imperial garden Emperor Huizong began in 1117 at the northeast corner of Bianjing, modeled on Hangzhou's Phoenix Mountain, gathering the realm's strange flowers, rocks, birds, and beasts with extreme craft, built over more than ten years, a symbol of the Huizong era's 'abundant, grand' spirit. Literati were ordered to write on its scenes; Li Zhi and Cao Zu each made 'One Hundred Songs of the Genyue,' a hundred poems on a hundred views, of which 'Pepper Cliff' is one. Pepper Cliff decorated the cliff with pepper trees and berries for their clustered red and warm fragrance. As the Song shi and the Genyue ji record, the garden's building harassed the people grievously (the Flower-and-Stone Convoy), and Huizong honored Taoism, styled himself Emperor of the Way, set up temples in the garden, and practiced cultivation for long life; the line 'here one swallows the pellet and gains long life' is a direct picture of that court fashion. Li Zhi, a close official, wrote in praise of the throne, yet by taking pepper as medicine and eating for immortality he also hints the era's drowning in alchemy and neglect of the people—read not merely as scene but as a miniature of late Northern Song palace life.
艮岳是宋徽宗政和七年起在汴京东北隅仿杭州凤凰山形胜营造的皇家园林,广收天下奇花异石、珍禽瑞兽,穷极工巧,前后经营逾十年,成为徽宗一朝「丰亨豫大」气象的象征。当时文人奉诏题咏艮岳诸景,李质与曹组各作《艮岳百咏》一百首,分咏园中一百处景观,此篇所咏「椒崖」即其一。椒崖以椒树椒实堆叠装饰山崖,取其红实累累、温香袭人之致。据《宋史·徽宗纪》及《艮岳记》所载,艮岳之建,土人运石不绝,花石纲扰民尤甚,而徽宗崇信道教,自号道君皇帝,于园中设宫观、行炼养之术,求长生不老,此诗「此间吞饵得长生」一句,正是其时宫苑风气的直接写照。李质身为近臣,题咏之作本为颂圣应制,然此诗以椒入药、以服食求仙入题,于歌咏景物之中,亦暗寓了徽宗朝君臣溺于神仙方术、不恤民力的时代背景,读来不徒是咏物写景,更是一幅北宋末年宫苑生活的缩影。
Art
Though an imperial-command object poem, short, it is orderly and blends real and empty. The first two lines really paint the cliff: 'clustered branches, red fruit show the autumn's ripening' first with 'clustered branches' 'red fruit' writes the pepper's luxuriance and the berry's fullness, points the autumn season, bright color, full picture; 'once matched to the pharmacopoeia and the five elements' turns from scene to principle, saying the pepper's nature fits the pharmacopoeia and five elements, raising the thing into the Taoist level, foreshadowing. The last two lines grow from principle to comment, turning a layer: 'not sent to coat the Han palace walls' suddenly opens, pulling the Han pepper-room plaster old tale; 'here one swallows the pellet and gains long life' returns to the present, saying the pepper's use is not the spice's fragrance but the pellet's long life. One release one rein, one negative one positive, in twenty-eight characters it writes the thing's form, the thing's use, and the meaning beyond, turning at will, not stiff. The whole takes 'pepper' as hinge, tying pepper-berry, pharmacology, pepper-room, immortal pellet together, layered yet clear—a model of object-jueju's 'small thing big made, much in little,' though imperial-command yet with craft. And the four lines open-continue-turn-close are neat: open with scene, continue with principle, turn with allusion, close with intent, like the Changshan snake, head and tail answering; the jueju craft is seen here.
此诗虽为应制咏物之作,篇幅极短,却章法井然,虚实相生。前两句实写椒崖之景:「团枝红实见秋成」,先以「团枝」「红实」状椒树之茂、椒实之繁,点出秋成时令,色彩鲜明,画面饱满;「曾按方书合五行」,一笔由景入理,言椒之性理本合医家药书与五行之说,将眼前物产引入道术的层次,为后文伏脉。后两句由理生议,翻出一层:「不遣汉宫涂屋壁」,忽然宕开,拉出汉代椒房殿以椒泥涂壁的旧事;「此间吞饵得长生」,复折回眼前,谓椒之用不在椒房之香艳,而在服食之长生。一放一收,一反一正,在二十八字之间,既咏物之形,又言物之用,更寄象外之旨,转折如意,不落板滞。全诗以「椒」为枢纽,把椒实、药理、椒房、仙饵绾合一处,语意层叠而辞旨清朗,是咏物绝句中「小题大做、以少总多」的范例,虽系应制,而匠意自在。且四句之间,起承转合井然:起以写景,承以说理,转以用典,合以申意,如常山之蛇,首尾相应,绝句章法之精,于此可见。
Allusions
The poem's allusions are fine, woven on 'pepper-room' and 'eating.' 'Han palace coats walls' uses the pepper-room tale: the Han shu says the pepper-room was the queen's dwelling, plastered with pepper-mud for warmth and fragrance; the Sanfu huangtu also records the Han Weiyang palace pepper-room, later 'pepper-room' stands for the harem, warm and fragrant, many children. The two words 'not send' brush aside this fragrant worldly old use, turning to 'here swallow the pellet gain long life' the Taoist eating idea—using the allusion yet not stuck in it, a 'overturning' method. 'Pharmacopoeia' means medical books; 'five elements' from yin-yang five-elements; pepper enters medicine and is warm, compounded in pellets, eaten to keep face and prolong life, as in the Baopuzi and the Shennong bencao—the basis of Taoist regimen. The poet joins pepper's drug nature to the five elements, then five elements to the immortals, step by step, pushing an ordinary pepper tree into the alchemy's mist; the path's cleverness shows the Song object-poem's 'borrow thing to speak the Way, make allusion enter transformation,' and the depth of Huizong-era literati steeped in the art. As for 'clustered branches red fruit,' the word 'clustered' describes the pepper's shape, also from the Chu ci 'once branches sharp thorns, round fruit clustered' writing the orange's grammar—object description has its source, showing the poet's tie to the sao-ya tradition.
此诗用典甚精,而以「椒房」与「服食」二事为经纬。「汉宫涂屋壁」用椒房殿之典:《汉书·车千秋传》载「椒房殿名,皇后所居,以椒和泥涂壁,取其温而芳也」,《三辅黄图》亦载汉未央宫椒房殿之制,后世遂以椒房代指后妃宫闱,温香多子,是其取义。「不遣」二字,一笔撇开这香艳而世俗的旧用途,转出「此间吞饵得长生」的道家服食之想,用典而不泥于典,是「翻案」之法。「方书」指医药之书,「五行」则本于阴阳五行之说,椒入药而性温,配伍丹饵,服之可驻颜延寿,此说见诸《抱朴子·仙药》及《神农本草经》等,为道教养生术所本。诗人以椒之药性通于五行,复由五行通于神仙,层层递进,把一株寻常椒树推入丹鼎烟霞之中,其取径之巧,足见宋人咏物诗「借物言道、使典入化」的本领,亦见徽宗朝士大夫濡染道术之深。至于「团枝红实」之语,以「团」状椒之形,亦自《楚辞·九章》「曾枝剡棘,圆果抟兮」写橘之句法脱化而来,咏物状形,自有渊源,可见诗人于骚雅之传统亦非无所承。
Commentary
Li Zhi's 'One Hundred Songs of the Genyue' survives little, and poem talks rarely single it out, yet since the Song bibliographies it has been valued for both document and literature. The Zhizhai shulu jieti records the 'One Hundred Songs' as Huizong-era imperial-command pieces; such works praised the age's peace as their job, yet this pepper-cliff poem, with 'pharmacopoeia' 'five elements' 'swallow pellet' 'long life,' is like a picture of Emperor of the Way cultivating—unintentionally showing the era's news, later readers feel 'a sense across ages.' On object-poem craft, four short lines from form to nature, nature to use, use to Way, three turns yet one breath, placed beside Tang Wang Jian's 'Palace Poems' it yields nothing. If fault, the imperial-command form is inevitably inflated, 'gain long life' already shows flattery; yet exactly so, the poem is a fine document of late Northern Song court belief and literati mind, poem and history proving each other, its value here. In sum, imperial-command poetry prizes fitness, and this poem within fitness also forges new intent, with pepper-room and immortal pellet turning a wave, its talent not the ordinary servant's, later judges of the 'One Hundred Songs' pair Li and Cao, seeing this one knows it true.
李质《艮岳百咏》传世甚少,历代诗话亦鲜有专评,然自宋人书目著录以来,其文献价值与文学价值俱为后世所重。《直斋书录解题》著录《艮岳百咏》,谓其为徽宗朝应制之什,此类作品本以歌颂升平为职,然此咏椒崖一首,却能于颂美之中,着「方书」「五行」「吞饵」「长生」诸语,宛然一幅道君皇帝修仙图,无意间透出时世的消息,后人读之,每有「隔世之感」。就咏物诗法度言,短短四句,由形及性,由性及用,由用及道,转折三层,而气脉一贯,置之唐人王建《宫词》诸作旁,亦不多让。若谓其病,则在应制之体不免浮夸,「得长生」云云,已露谀颂之态;然亦正因如此,此诗恰成北宋末年宫廷信仰与士人心态的绝佳史料,诗史互证,其价值正在于此。要之,应制之诗,贵在得体,而此诗于得体之中,又能自铸新意,以椒房、仙饵两事翻出波澜,其才情笔力,非寻常供奉者可比,后世评《艮岳百咏》者,每以李曹并称,观此一首,知其不虚。
Prosody
Line by line
团枝红实见秋成
Clustered branches, red fruit show the autumn's ripening. (The opening paints the pepper cliff's form and color, the poem's 'sketch from life': 'clustered branches' writes the pepper branches' thick luxuriance, 'red fruit' the berries' bright fullness; one 'clustered' one 'red,' bright color, live spirit, and 'show autumn's ripening' points the season—these red berries are the autumn's ripened result. In seven characters, form, color, season all present, picture before the eyes. Genyue was a royal garden where every plant sought strange and fine; Pepper Cliff used pepper berries for ornament, for their red warmth, the poet not writing the cliff's danger but the berries' fullness, exactly the object-poem's 'small sees big, thing sees season' hand. The word 'show' makes the autumn scene as if before the eyes, laying a tangible image base for the later principle and use.)
椒树枝条团簇,红红的椒实累累满枝,正是一片秋收成熟的景象。
Clustered boughs of red fruit show the autumn's ripening.
起句先写椒崖之形与色,是全诗的「写生」之笔。「团枝」状椒枝之丛簇茂密,「红实」状椒实之鲜红饱满,一「团」一「红」,色彩明艳,生意盎然,而「见秋成」三字,点出时令:原来这累累红实,是秋日成熟的结果。七字之中,形、色、时三者兼备,画面如在目前。艮岳为皇家园林,一草一木皆求奇求丽,椒崖以椒实为饰,取其红艳温香,诗人不写山崖之险,单写椒实之盛,正是咏物诗「即小见大、即物见时」的笔法。着一「见」字,把秋成之景写得如在眼前,为后文论椒之性理、椒之用度,先立下可感可触的形象基础。
The opening line first writes the shape and color of the Pepper Crag, the poem's sketching brush. Clustered boughs writes the pepper branches' clustering and density; red fruit writes the pepper fruit's red fullness; one clustered one red, the color bright and the life abounding. And the three words show the autumn's ripening point out the season: this clustering red fruit is the result of autumn's ripening. In seven characters, shape, color and season all complete, the picture as if before the eyes. Genyue was a royal garden, and every grass and tree sought the strange and the fair; the Pepper Crag used pepper fruit for adornment, taking its red warmth and fragrance. The poet does not write the crag's steepness, but only the pepper fruit's abundance, exactly the object-singing method of seeing the great in the small and the season in the thing. The single word show writes the autumn-ripening scene as if before the eyes, first laying a perceptible image ground for the later discussing the pepper's nature and use.
曾按方书合五行
Once it was matched to the pharmacopoeia and the five elements. (This line turns from the pepper's form to its nature, the key step from real to empty: 'matched pharmacopoeia' says pepper is warm, enters medicine, the herbalists have their say; 'fits five elements' goes further, placing pepper in the five-elements cosmic scheme, as a thing where heaven-earth's spirit gathers. Pepper is real yet small, but 'fits five elements' lifts it into the immortal's alchemy. This line continues and opens: precisely because pepper 'fits five elements,' the later can say it 'swallows pellet gain long life'; and 'once matched' hints this is not the poet's fancy but grounded in the pharmacopoeia, plain yet tight in logic, typical Song object-poem's 'learning into poem.')
它曾按照医家药书之理,与阴阳五行之说相契合。
It once, by the prescription books, answered the five phases.
此句由椒之形转入椒之性,是前两句中由实入虚的关键一步。「按方书」言椒性温,可入药饵,本草医家各有定说;「合五行」更进一步,把椒置于五行生克的宇宙图式之中,视之为天地灵气所钟之物。椒之为物,实而温,味辛,医家谓其「纯阳之物」,正合于五行中木火之性,诗人以「合」字撮合药理与玄理,轻轻一点,便把一株寻常椒树抬入仙家丹鼎的领域。此句承上启下:正因椒「合五行」,后文才可能说它可「吞饵得长生」;而「曾按」二字,暗示此非诗人臆说,乃有方书为据,语虽平淡,理路却极严密,是宋人咏物诗「以学理入诗」的典型手法。
This line moves from the pepper's shape to its nature, the key step in the first two lines from solid to void. By the prescription books says the pepper's nature is warm and can enter medicine and elixir, and the herbalists and physicians have fixed sayings. Answered the five phases steps further, placing the pepper in the cosmic scheme of the five phases' generation and conquest, seeing it as the thing on which heaven and earth's numinous breath converges. The pepper is solid and warm, acrid in flavor, and the physicians call it the pure yang thing, exactly matching the nature of wood and fire in the five phases; the poet uses the word answer to match pharmacology and mysterious reason, and with a light touch raises an ordinary pepper tree into the realm of the immortal's cinnabar tripod. This line carries the upper and leads the lower: precisely because the pepper answers the five phases, the later saying that it can be swallowed to win long life is possible; and the two words once, by hint that this is not the poet's fancy but has the prescription books as its evidence, the words plain yet the rational course most close-woven, the typical Song object-singing method of entering learning and reason into verse.
不遣汉宫涂屋壁
Not sent to coat the Han palace walls. (This line suddenly opens, pulling the Han pepper-room old tale, the poem's finest turn: the pepper-room was plastered with pepper-mud for warmth and fragrance, the queen's dwelling, the pepper's most famous use. The poet uses a 'not' to brush this well-known old path aside: 'not send' both lightly negates the pepper-room fragrance tale and deliberately raises this pepper's worth—it scorns to be the harem's ornament. Structurally this line 'releases,' pulling the reader's mind from the cliff to the Han palace a thousand years off, opening time-space distance; in tone it contrasts with the last line's 'here,' one there one here, one fragrant one empty, building force for the 'gain long life' strange idea, the jueju 'turn' at its best.)
不叫它去涂抹汉朝椒房殿的屋壁。
Not sent to the Han palace to plaster the room's walls.
此句忽然宕开一笔,拉出汉代椒房殿的旧典,是全诗转折最妙处。椒房殿以椒和泥涂壁,取其温而芳,为后妃所居,本是椒之为物最著名的用途。诗人偏偏用一个「不」字,把这条世所共知的老路一笔撇开:「不遣」云云,既是对椒房香艳故事的轻轻否定,也是有意抬高此椒的身价——它不屑于作后妃宫闱的妆点。此句在结构上起着「放」的作用,把读者的联想从眼前的椒崖引向千载之上的汉宫,拉开时空的距离;而在语气上,则与末句的「此间」遥相对照,一彼一此,一香艳一清虚,为「得长生」的奇想蓄足势能,是绝句「转」法中的上乘手段。
This line suddenly sweeps the brush aside, drawing out the old allusion of the Han palace's Pepper Chamber, the poem's finest turn. The Pepper Chamber hall plastered its walls with pepper and mud, taking its warmth and fragrance, and was the dwelling of the empress and consorts, originally the pepper's most famous use. The poet deliberately uses the single word not to brush aside this well-known old road: not sent is at once a light denial of the Pepper Chamber's fragrant and amorous story, and an intentional raising of this pepper's value - it disdains to adorn the consorts' inner palace. In structure, this line plays the part of release, leading the reader's association from the present Pepper Crag to the Han palace a thousand years above, opening the distance of time and space; and in tone, it echoes from afar the closing line's here, one that one this, one fragrant one void, gathering full force for the strange thought of winning long life, the first-class method of the quatrain's turning.
此间吞饵得长生
Here one swallows the pellet and gains long life. (The close reins in the whole, turning the pepper's use from the pepper-room's fragrance to the immortal's eating, the poem's intent: 'swallow pellet' means eating the pepper pellet for long life; 'gain long life' points the highest hope of Taoist cultivation. The poet says pepper is not for walls but for pellets, meaning: born in the Genyue immortal realm, fullest in breath, fitting five elements, so it aids long life, above the Han pepper-room. This line both praises the throne—calling the Genyue pepper cliff an immortals' den—and satirizes the age: Huizong honored the Way and sought immortality, the court swept along, this 'long life' idea is the age's picture. With 'here' against 'Han palace,' 'long life' against 'coat walls,' two by two, clear intent, twenty-eight characters closed clean, echo lingering, making one think beyond the red berries of that age's vanity and frenzy.)
在这椒崖之上,吞服椒饵,便可获得长生。
Here, swallowing the elixir, one wins long life.
结句收束全篇,把椒的用度由椒房之香艳一转而为仙家之服食,是全诗立意所在。「吞饵」指服食椒饵以求延年,「得长生」则直点道教炼养的最高期许。诗人谓椒不用涂壁而用吞饵,言下之意:此椒生于艮岳仙境之中,秉气最全,合于五行,故能助人长生,较之汉宫椒房,高下自判。此句既是颂圣——把艮岳椒崖说成神仙窟宅,亦是讽世——徽宗崇道求仙,朝野靡然,此「长生」之想,正是一代风气的写照。以「此间」对「汉宫」,以「长生」对「涂壁」,两两相形,辞旨朗然,二十八字收得干净利落,余韵却回荡不尽,令人于椒实红艳之外,想见那一个时代的虚妄与迷狂。
The closing line gathers the whole, turning the pepper's use from the Pepper Chamber's fragrance to the immortal's taking of the elixir, the poem's bent. Swallowing the elixir means taking the pepper elixir to seek longer years, and winning long life directly points to the highest expectation of Taoist refinement. The poet says the pepper is not used to plaster walls but to swallow the elixir; the meaning between the lines is that this pepper grows in the Genyue immortal realm, endowed with the most complete breath, answering the five phases, hence can help man win long life, and compared with the Han palace's Pepper Chamber, the high and the low are of themselves judged. This line is at once praise of the sage - describing the Genyue Pepper Crag as a grotto of immortals - and satire of the age - Emperor Huizong exalting the Way and seeking immortality, the court and country following, and this thought of long life is exactly the portrait of a generation's fashion. Pairing here with the Han palace, and long life with plastering the walls, the two set off, the diction and purport clear; the twenty-eight characters close cleanly, the aftertone curling without end, making the reader, beyond the red pepper fruit, imagine the delusion and madness of that age.
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Compare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
曹组亦作《艮岳百咏》一百首,与李质之作同题并传,后世诗话每将二人并称。就咏椒崖一体而言,李质此作以「方书」「五行」「吞饵」「长生」组织成篇,偏重于道术仙想,思理绵密;曹组之作则多铺陈椒实椒花之丽色,偏重于景物刻画,辞藻华美。一取径于理,一取径于色,正见同题之作不必同调,作者性情、才具各见于此。且两人之作皆为徽宗朝应制题咏,同是歌颂艮岳、夸美升平,而李质此篇于颂美之中暗寓求仙之想,较之曹作的纯粹写景,更多一层时代精神的投影,并读两作,尤可体会应制咏物诗在颂扬与写实之间的微妙张力。
古风·秦王扫六合 古风·秦王扫六合 李白 · 同涉服食求仙之思,一以史为鉴讽其虚妄,一以当代为咏发其向往 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
李白《古风》「秦王扫六合,虎视何雄哉」,后半专写秦皇「刑徒七十万,起土骊山隈」与「铭功会稽岭,骋望琅琊台」的求仙之事,结以「但见三泉下,金棺葬寒灰」,以史笔戳破长生之妄。李质此诗则以「此间吞饵得长生」为椒崖颂美,对服食求仙抱着笃信与向往。一讽一颂,立场恰成对照;然李白所讽之秦皇,与李质所颂之徽宗,皆以帝王之尊而溺于神仙方术,其行事如出一辙。两诗对读,仿佛预演与回响:李白之于始皇,正是千年之后对徽宗的历史谶语,读者于此,不能不叹诗史之互证、讽颂之难分,此正古典咏物诗言近旨远的深意所在。
长恨歌 Song of Everlasting Sorrow 白居易 · 同用椒房意象,一写宫闱情爱之盛衰,一写服食长生之奇想 Both use the pepper-room image—one writes the harem's love rise and fall, one writes the immortal long-life strange ideaBai Juyi's 'Song of Everlasting Sorrow' 'pepper-room's gray-robed attendants, fair brows grow old' uses pepper-room for the harem, writing Xuanzong and Yang's love rise and fall; pepper-room's warmth sets off the fair brow's late, grieving and moving. Li Zhi's 'not sent to coat the Han palace walls' uses the same pepper-room allusion yet turns new intent: pepper is not for the pepper-room's fragrance but for the immortal pellet, pulling pepper from love's harem into the immortal's alchemy. One uses pepper-room for man's love, one for immortal's idea; Bai's pepper-room is love's abyss, Li's is the long-life ladder's abandoned old path. The two read show the same allusion's different working in lyric and object poem: Bai takes its 'warmth' to set off deep feeling, Li abandons its 'warmth' to state immortal intent, the allusion's craft all in whether one can renew it, and the two poets each reach their extreme, a model for later.
白居易《长恨歌》「椒房阿监青娥老」,以椒房代指后妃宫闱,写玄宗贵妃情事之盛衰,椒房之温香,衬红颜之迟暮,哀感顽艳。李质此诗「不遣汉宫涂屋壁」,同用椒房之典而翻出新意:椒不为椒房之香艳而设,乃为吞饵长生而用,把椒从情爱宫闱拉入仙家丹鼎。一以椒房写人之情,一以椒房写仙之想;白诗椒房是情感的渊薮,李诗椒房是长生阶梯下被舍弃的旧路。两诗并观,可见同一典故在抒情诗与咏物诗中的不同运化:白诗取其「温香」以衬深情,李诗弃其「温香」以申仙意,用典之妙,全在能否翻新,而两位诗人各极其致,正可为后人取法。