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宋 Song · 诗 Poem

谢人惠千叶牡丹

Thanking a Friend for a Gift of Thousand-Petal Peonies

苏辙

Su Zhe

咏花On Flowers 谢赠Thanking a Gift 惜时Cherishing Time 闲居Leisure at Home

东风催趁百花新，不出门庭一老人。
天女要知摩诘病，银瓶满送洛阳春。
可怜最后开千叶，细数余芳尚一旬。
更待游人归去尽，试将童冠浴湖滨。

The east wind hastens all the hundred flowers to bloom anew,
Yet I remain an old man who never leaves his gate.
The heavenly maid must know the sickness of Mojie,
And sends, in a silver vase, the full spring of Luoyang.
Pity that the thousand-petal blooms open last of all—
Counting what remains, their fragrance lasts scarce ten days.
When at last the sightseers have all gone home,
I shall try, with lads and elders, to bathe by the lakeside.

Listen

Meaning

In his old age, retired at Yingchang, Su Zhe thanks a friend for sending him a gift of the famous thousand-petal peonies of Luoyang. The east wind hurries the hundred flowers, but he stays shut up at home like an old hermit; the 'heavenly maid' (the friend) seems to know his illness and sends him the whole spring of Luoyang in a silver vase. He pities that these last-blooming peonies will fade in about ten days, and promises that when the sightseers have gone, he will take his friends and young companions to bathe in the lake, in the spirit of Zeng Dian's joyful ideal in the Analects.

东风催赶着百花次第更新,而我却是不出庭门的一位老人。天女也知我如摩诘居士般清病,便用银瓶满满送来洛阳的满瓶春色。可叹这千叶牡丹是最后开放的花,细细数来,剩余的花期不过还有十天罢了。等到赏花的游人尽数归去之后,我便试着带几位老友和童仆,到湖边效曾点浴沂之乐。

Appreciation

A poem of thanks that rises above polite formula through its skillful use of allusion and its careful turns. The opening couplet sets the clamor of the spring flowers against the old man who stays within his gate—noise and stillness facing each other. The second couplet is the most inventive: the friend's gift becomes a heavenly maid calling on the ailing Vimalakirti (Mojie, i.e., Wang Wei) and sending spring itself in a silver vase, gratitude turned entirely into beautiful metaphor. The word 'pity' in the third couplet pivots from thanks to regret, as the last-blooming peonies will fade in ten days—pity for the flower and, quietly, for his own old age. The closing couplet opens out from the flower to the promise of a lakeside bath in the spirit of Zeng Dian, lifting a gift of peonies to the level of a meeting of kindred spirits.

【白话串讲】苏辙感谢朋友送千叶牡丹：“东风催趁百花新，不出门庭一老人”。“天女要知摩诘病，银瓶满送洛阳春”——“可怜最后开千叶，细数余芳尚一旬”——他写赏牡丹。【意象与手法】此诗为谢赠之作,笔致雅洁,善用典与转折。首联「东风催趁百花新,不出门庭一老人」以春之闹衬老之静;「天女要知摩诘病,银瓶满送洛阳春」把赠花写成天女送春,一虚一实,谢意尽化妙喻;「可怜最后开千叶,细数余芳尚一旬」,「怜」字由谢转惜,细数见惜时之心;末联以曾点浴沂之约作结,把一枝牡丹升华为知己相期之乐。【情感与主旨】此诗为苏辙晚年退居颍昌时谢友人赠牡丹之作。「不出门庭一老人」是晚境自画像,摩诘病自比奉佛清修;银瓶满送洛阳春,感激尽在比喻之中。怜千叶最后开,既是惜花亦是自怜,暗寓珍重余光的深心;末以童冠浴湖之约收束,寄闲适相期之趣。全诗由赞春、谢赠、惜花、约游层层转进,是应酬诗中化俗为雅的大家手笔。【名句点睛】「天女要知摩诘病,银瓶满送洛阳春」:把赠花写成天女问疾、银瓶送春的仙事,谢意尽化妙喻。「满」字写花盛情厚,「洛阳春」把千载牡丹风流尽收瓶中,比喻新巧而不浮泛,是谢赠诗中的才思一联。

Background

This poem was written in Su Zhe's old age, when he had retired to Yingchang (near modern Xuchang, Henan). Exiled for party affiliation in the Shaosheng era, pardoned at the end of the Yuanfu era, he built a house by the Ying River in the Chongning era and never returned to office, calling himself the 'Old Recluse of the Ying Bank,' closing his gate to visitors and passing his days in reading and writing. The 'thousand-petal peony' is the double-flowered peony, a prized variety; Luoyang peonies were the finest in the realm in Song times. Gifts of rare peonies among literati were a common courtesy. The poem answers such a gift, comparing himself to Wang Wei in his Buddhist quietude and promising a Zeng Dian-style lakeside outing.

此诗为苏辙晚年退居颍昌时所作。苏辙自绍圣初坐党籍贬谪,元符末遇赦北归,崇宁中遂筑室许州颍水之滨,不复出仕,自号颍滨遗老,杜门谢客,以读书著述自娱。千叶牡丹即重瓣牡丹,花瓣繁密,层层叠叠,故曰千叶,宋代洛阳牡丹甲于天下,有姚黄、魏紫等名品,千叶诸色尤为珍异,士大夫以之相馈遗,蔚为风气。诗题谢人惠千叶牡丹,即答谢友人惠赠此花。首句不出门庭一老人,正是颍滨遗老晚境的自画像;天女要知摩诘病,银瓶满送洛阳春,以王维奉佛问疾之典自况,而把友人赠花比作天女散花、送来满瓶洛阳春色,感激之情,全在比喻之中。末二句可怜最后开千叶,细数余芳尚一旬,更待游人归去尽,试将童冠浴湖滨,既惜花开之将谢,又约浴乎沂水之游,借《论语》曾点言志之典,寄身世闲适之趣。苏辙晚景清贫,得友馈花而欣然赋诗,此诗正是其晚年交游与心境的一帧写真。苏辙生平见《宋史·苏辙传》及曾枣庄、马德富校点《栾城集》(上海古籍出版社)前言。又按,苏辙晚年杜门不出,然朋旧馈遗、书信往还,未尝断绝,此诗之牡丹,当出许洛故交之手,千叶名品,风雅之赠也;诗人于谢札之中,兼申惜春、期游之约,可见其虽闭户著书,而交情之笃、兴味之雅,初未稍减,是研究其晚年交游的珍料。

Art

The whole poem advances in four linked steps: praising spring, thanking for the gift, pitying the flower, and promising an outing. The east wind hurrying the flowers sets off the old man's closed gate; the heavenly maid's 'full spring' sets off the ten remaining days of fragrance; the empty sightseeing grounds prepare the quiet lakeside bath. Allusion is apt yet never obscure: the Vimalakirti sickness and the heavenly maid scattering flowers turn the gift into a celestial courtesy, while the Zeng Dian ideal of bathing in the Yi River and singing in the spring wind closes the poem on a note of lofty ease. Every line earns its place; the response-poem is handled with a master's precision.

此诗为应酬谢赠之作,而笔致雅洁,不落俗套,全在善用典与善转折。首联东风催趁百花新,不出门庭一老人,以百花争新衬老人独守,春风之闹与门庭之静相对,起笔便见身分。天女要知摩诘病,银瓶满送洛阳春,是全诗最见匠心的两句,友人赠花之事被写成天女问疾、银瓶送春,一虚一实,感谢之情全化作美丽的比喻,银瓶二字又透出花之珍贵与赠者之郑重。可怜最后开千叶,细数余芳尚一旬,怜字是情感转折的枢纽,由谢转入惜,千叶花开在百花之后,已是最后的芳华,而细数余芳,尚有一旬,既怜花之将谢,亦暗寓老境之珍重光阴。更待游人归去尽,试将童冠浴湖滨,再由惜花推开,游人散尽之后,携友浴于湖滨,何等萧散,以曾点之乐作结,把一枝牡丹的馈赠上升到知己相期的人生至乐,境界顿高。全诗四联,由赞春、谢赠、惜花、约游层层转进,用典贴切而不晦涩,应酬诗写到这般地步,正是大家手笔。又全诗四联,一线相贯,东风催花之新,正为老人闭门之旧作衬;天女送春之满,正为余芳一旬之短作衬;游人归尽之静,又为浴沂同乐之约作势,层层相生,无一处闲笔,谢诗而能如此精密,大家手笔固不同凡响。

Allusions

'The sickness of Mojie' refers to Wang Wei, whose given name (Mojie) was taken from the Buddhist layman Vimalakirti, who feigned sickness and was visited by a heavenly maid scattering flowers to test the disciples; Wang Wei, a devout Buddhist who kept a long vegetarian fast in his later years, is the poet's model of quiet piety. The 'heavenly maid' scattering flowers becomes the friend sending peonies, the 'full spring of Luoyang' filling a silver vase. 'Luoyang spring' points to Luoyang's peonies, famed since the Tang and Five Dynasties as the finest under heaven, catalogued in Ouyang Xiu's 'Record of Luoyang Peonies.' 'To bathe with lads and elders by the lakeside' comes from the Analects, where Zeng Dian dreams of 'in late spring, wearing spring clothes, five or six grown men and six or seven boys, bathing in the Yi River, enjoying the breeze among the rain altars, and returning home singing,' and Confucius sighs, 'I am with Dian!' The allusions draw on Buddhist scripture, Confucian classics, and the flower catalogue at once, fused without a seam.

摩诘病用王维事,王维字摩诘,其名取义于佛典维摩诘居士,维摩诘示疾,天女散花以验诸菩萨弟子习气,事见《维摩诘所说经·观众生品》;《旧唐书·王维传》载王维弟兄俱奉佛,居常蔬食,不茹荤血,晚年长斋,摩诘病即借王维奉佛清修而多病之状,诗人自比。天女散花原出佛经,曲用为友人遣使送花之喻,银瓶满送洛阳春,则翻新为银瓶插花、春色盈门之意。洛阳春指洛阳牡丹盛放之春,唐末五代以来洛阳牡丹为天下第一,欧阳修《洛阳牡丹记》详记其品种源流,千叶之名亦见其中。童冠浴湖滨用《论语·先进》曾皙言志,暮春者,春服既成,冠者五六人,童子六七人,浴乎沂,风乎舞雩,咏而归,夫子喟然叹曰吾与点也,诗人借以写与友人童冠浴水、春风咏归之乐,暗含吾与点也的襟怀。此外,东风催趁的催趁,为宋人习语,有催促赶趁之意,活泼生动。诸典一用佛经,一用儒典,一用花谱,熔于一炉而无扞格,是苏辙晚岁诗书融通的体现,典源参《维摩诘所说经》罗什译本、《论语》何晏集解及欧阳修《洛阳牡丹记》通行本。又此诗之妙,尤在二典合用而旨趣自新,摩诘之病,原是示疾说法之典,天女散花,原是验习气之戏,诗人取而写病中得花之喜,已翻出新境;浴沂风雩,本是曾点言志之典,诗人约友浴湖,更是把圣门之乐搬入寻常生活,化庄严为亲切,用典至此,可谓精妙绝伦。

Commentary

Su Zhe's poetry has its own character within Song poetry. The Siku quanshu summary of the Luancheng ji praises it, like his prose, for its vastness and plainness, without decorative flourish, yet with a deep and steady air. The Qing critic Ji Yun praised the old, strong quality of his verse. In this poem, what might easily have been polite formula is lifted by the allusions to Vimalakirti and Zeng Dian into something refined; the layered movement from thanks to pity to promise makes it an important document of Su Zhe's late friendships and state of mind. Modern editors of the Luancheng ji have given it particular attention as a representative of his later work.

苏辙为文与兄苏轼齐名,人称二苏,其诗在宋诗中自具一格。《四库全书总目·栾城集提要》谓其诗如其文,汪洋澹泊,不事藻绘,而气格浑厚,一时推为大宗。苏轼兄弟相与倡和,苏辙集中和陶、次韵之作甚多,而其晚年颍滨诸作,意境尤趋平淡,论者以为深得陶、柳之遗。宋人周必大《二老堂诗话》评子由诗,谓其纤余澹泊,非人力所及,可与其文之汪洋同观。清人纪昀评《栾城集》诗,多称其老健,然亦时有颓唐之笔。就本篇而言,赠物答谢之诗本易流于应酬套语,而此诗以摩诘病、浴沂风雩之典化俗为雅,赠花之情、惜花之致、期游之约层层相生,历代注苏集者(如宋人孙汝听、清人今人笺注诸本)于此类诗多所留意,视为苏辙晚年交游与心态的重要文献。今人曾枣庄校点《栾城集》及《三苏全书》之苏辙诗部分,于此诗亦著录考订,足见其在苏辙现存诗作中的代表性。又苏辙诗向以朴淡见称,此诗却于朴淡中藏妩媚,银瓶、洛阳春等语,色泽鲜明,可见其诗并非一味枯淡,只是晚年习于收敛,偶一发露,便觉璀璨,读苏集者于此等处最宜留心,方不致以偏概全。

Prosody

Form Seven-character regulated verse (qilü)七言律诗

Rhyme Level-tone rhymes of the eleventh rhyme-group: xin, ren, chun, xun, bin平水韵上平十一真(新、人、春、旬、滨)

Tone pattern First line starts level and ends level; middle couplets in strict parallel; the tone is peaceful and well-measured首句平起平收,中二联对仗工整,音律平和

Reading note The rhymes xin, ren, chun, xun, bin are all bright and open, matching the gracious mood of a poem of thanks. The tones are even and calm, the couplets finely matched, and the double entering-tone 'Mojie' gives a dignified Buddhist weight to the second couplet.此诗为七言律诗,押平水韵上平十一真韵,新、人、春、旬、滨五韵字皆清亮舒展,声情安雅,与谢赠诗的雍容情调相合。平仄上首句东风催趁百花新作平平平仄仄平平,平起平收式,起调平和;次句不出门庭一老人作仄仄平平仄仄平,一老二字一入声一上声,音情顿挫,写出迟暮之感。颔联天女要知摩诘病,银瓶满送洛阳春,为平仄仄平平仄仄、平平仄仄仄平平,摩诘二字叠入声,读来有佛家语之庄重;颈联可怜最后开千叶,细数余芳尚一旬,为仄平仄仄平平仄、仄仄平平仄仄平,可怜二字拗而自然,音节如叹。尾联更待游人归去尽,试将童冠浴湖滨,试将童冠之童平、冠仄,平仄相谐,结于平收,余韵悠悠。全诗音节平正,不施奇险,正是苏辙晚年诗风平实中见醇厚的特点,于声律亦可见其老成。又此诗音节与内容相称,新、春、滨诸韵字清亮,宜于春意之明丽,而入声字如百、一、落、惜之属,错杂其间,又于明丽中见顿挫,正合老人赏花惜时的幽微心境,声情两得。

Line by line

东风催趁百花新，不出门庭一老人。

The east wind hastens all the hundred flowers to bloom anew, yet I remain an old man who never leaves his gate. (The opening couplet: the clamor of the spring flowers sets off the old man's closed gate—noise and stillness facing each other, the whole spring outside while the heart stays within.)

东风催赶着百花次第更新,而我却是不出庭门的一位老人。

The east wind urges the hundred flowers anew; at home and indoors, one old man.

两句以春风百花之热闹反衬老人独守之清寂,催趁二字写出东风催花、时序流转的动态,不出门庭则见闭户著书、与世疏远的晚境。一闹一静,对照鲜明,百花新与一老人,仿佛整个春天都在门外,而诗人的心在门内,起笔便见颍滨遗老淡泊自持的身分与气象。一闹一静,对照鲜明,百花新与一老人,仿佛整个春天都在门外,而诗人的心在门内,起笔便见颍滨遗老淡泊自持的身分与气象,也暗伏了末段浴沂之约的由来。

These two lines set the bustle of spring wind and hundred flowers against the stillness of the old man's solitary keeping; the two words urge write the east wind's urging the flowers and the motion of the season's turn, and at home and indoors shows the late life of closing the door to write and being remote from the world. One noisy one still, the contrast sharp; the hundred flowers new and the one old man, as if the whole spring is outside the gate, and the poet's heart within, the opening at once showing the Yingbin old man's self-possessed plainness and atmosphere, and secretly laying the origin of the closing's appointment to bathe by the Yi.

天女要知摩诘病，银瓶满送洛阳春。

The heavenly maid must know the sickness of Mojie, and sends, in a silver vase, the full spring of Luoyang. (The second couplet turns the friend's gift into a celestial courtesy—the heavenly maid calling on the ailing Vimalakirti, gratitude turned entirely into beautiful metaphor.)

天女也知我如摩诘居士般清病,便用银瓶满满送来洛阳的满瓶春色。

The heavenly maiden, knowing Vimalakirti's sickness, sends a silver bottle brimming with Luoyang spring.

此联把友人赠花写成了天女问疾、银瓶送春的仙家故事,感谢之情尽化于妙喻之中。摩诘病自比奉佛清修的王维,暗含对身世的称量;银瓶满送洛阳春,则把千叶牡丹的珍贵与赠者的情谊一并写出,满字尤见其多其厚。比喻新巧而不浮泛,是谢赠诗中最见才思的一联。银瓶满送,写花之盛与情之厚,洛阳春三字,更把千载牡丹名都的风流尽收瓶中,比喻新巧而不浮泛,是谢赠诗中最见才思的一联,读之如见银瓶映日、满室春光的景象。

This couplet writes the friend's gift of flowers as a heavenly maiden asking after sickness and a silver bottle sending spring, the thanks all transformed into the marvelous meta-phor. Vimalakirti's sickness compares himself to the Buddha-worshipping Wang Wei of pure cultivation, secretly weighing his own lot; a silver bottle brimming with Luoyang spring writes at once the preciousness of the thousand-petaled peony and the giver's friendship, the word brimming most showing its abundance and depth. The meta-phor new and clever yet not floating, the couplet of the thank-gift poem most showing talent. The silver bottle brimming writes the flower's splendor and the feeling's depth; the three words Luoyang spring further gathers into the bottle the romance of the thousand-year peony capital, the meta-phor new and clever yet not floating, the couplet of the thank-gift poem most showing talent, reading it as if seeing the silver bottle in the sun, the room full of spring.

可怜最后开千叶，细数余芳尚一旬。

Alas, these thousand-petaled peonies bloom the last of all; counting the remaining fragrance, still ten days are left. (The word 'alas' turns the poem from thanks to pity: the thousand-petaled peony blooms after all the other flowers, the last of its glory, its fate mirroring the old man's late years—pitying the flower is pitying oneself.)

可叹这千叶牡丹是最后开放的花,细细数来,剩余的花期不过还有十天罢了。

Pity the thousand-petaled bloom that opens last; counting its remaining fragrance, barely ten days.

怜字是全诗由谢转惜的枢纽,千叶牡丹盛开于百花之后,已是最后的芳华,其命运与迟暮老人暗相映照,怜花正是自怜。细数余芳,尚有一旬,以数日子的动作写对光阴的珍重,语淡而情长,把惜花之情与老境之感融成一片,是全诗情感最深婉的一联。细数余芳,尚有一旬,以数日子的动作写对光阴的珍重,语淡而情长,把惜花之情与老境之感融成一片,是全诗情感最深婉的一联,花与人,在这一数之中同老同惜。

The word pity is the hinge of the poem turning from thanks to cherishing; the thousand-petaled peony blooms after the hundred flowers, already the last of the blossoms, its fate secretly echoing the late-in-years old man, pitying the flower is self-pity. Counting its remaining fragrance, barely ten days writes the cherishing of time through the act of counting the days, the words plain the affection long, fusing the feeling of cherishing the flower and the sense of old age into one, the poem's deepest and tenderest couplet. Counting its remaining fragrance, barely ten days writes the cherishing of time through the act of counting the days, the words plain the affection long, fusing the cherishing of the flower and the sense of old age into one, the poem's deepest and tenderest couplet, the flower and the man in this counting growing old and cherishing together.

更待游人归去尽，试将童冠浴湖滨。

When at last the sightseers have all gone home, I shall try, with lads and elders, to bathe by the lakeside. (The closing couplet opens out from the fading flower to the promise of a lakeside bath in the spirit of Zeng Dian, lifting the gift to a meeting of kindred spirits.)

等到赏花的游人尽数归去之后,我便试着带几位老友和童仆,到湖边效曾点浴沂之乐。

Wait till the sightseers have all gone; then try bathing, youths and caps, by the lake shore.

尾联以约游作结,由惜花推开一层,游人归尽之后,湖滨清静,正宜携友浴水,暗用曾点浴沂风雩、咏而归之典,寄托吾与点也的闲适襟怀。着一试将,见兴致,也见从容,牡丹之馈赠最终升华为人与人的相知与山水之约,结句悠然,余味不尽。游人去尽,湖滨方静,正宜浴水咏归,着一试将,见兴致,也见从容,牡丹之馈赠最终升华为人与人的相知与山水之约,结句悠然,余味不尽,是谢赠诗以约游作结的妙笔。

The closing couplet closes in the appointment to wander, sweeping open one layer from cherishing the flower: after the sightseers have all gone, the lake shore quiet, fit to take friends to bathe in the water, secretly using the allusion of Zeng Dian's bathing by the Yi and wind in the rain altars and returning singing, lodging the leisure of I am with Dian. The words try to write the delight and also the composure; the peony's gift at last sublimates into the understanding between men and the appointment with hills and waters, the closing line unhurried, the aftertone unending. The sightseers gone, the lake shore at last still, fit to bathe and return singing; the words try to write the delight and also the composure, the peony's gift at last sublimates into the understanding between men and the appointment with hills and waters, the closing line unhurried, the aftertone unending, the thank-gift poem's fine brush of closing in the appointment to wander.

Study

Word focus

催趁 To hasten, to press on. A lively colloquial Song expression; the east wind becomes an urgent messenger of flowers, while its hidden sense of 'time pressing' quietly prepares the pity for the fading blooms. 东风催趁百花新的催趁,为宋人俗语,有催促、赶趁之意,着一催趁,东风便成了急性的催花使者,百花次第而开、争先恐后的情态跃然纸上。此语入诗,化雅为俗,却生动异常,正是宋诗以俗语传神的路数,与不出门庭的静对举,春之闹与老之静尽在一联之中。催趁一词,化雅为俗,却生动异常,正是宋诗以俗语传神的路数,与不出门庭的静对举,春之闹与老之静尽在一联之中,而此语又暗含时不我待之意,为后文惜花伏笔。

满 Full. The silver vase 'full' of Luoyang spring—at once the richness of the gift, the abundance of the flowers, and the fullness of the friend's feeling; the word also sets off the 'scarce ten days' of remaining fragrance. 银瓶满送洛阳春的满字,写瓶中花满、春色满溢之状,是赠者之厚、花事之盛、情谊之丰的总会。着一满字,银瓶的珍、牡丹的繁、洛阳春的浓,一并满到读者眼前,而下句细数余芳尚一旬的惋惜,也正因这满,才更见将谢之痛,一满一短,呼应成趣。满字既写瓶中花满,亦写春色之盈,更写情谊之丰,三意叠合,而字面仍极平易,是炼字中所谓一字三意而不见其功者,尤见苏辙晚年诗艺之精纯。

数 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 细数余芳尚一旬的数字,写老人屈指计算剩余花期的动作,看似琐细,实是惜时之心的具象化。着一数字,牡丹之凋谢便有了倒计时的紧迫,老人的岁月之感也随之一一在数中流过。此字用日常动作写深微心绪,语极平淡而情极绵长,是苏辙晚年诗善于以朴语写深情的一例。数字以日常动作写深微心绪,语极平淡而情极绵长,一旬之数,屈指可待,光阴之迫,花寿之短,俱在其中,是苏辙晚年诗善于以朴语写深情的一例,亦是此诗最动人处。