唐 Tang · 诗 Poem
楚江怀古
Meditating on the Past by the Chu River
露气寒光集，微阳下楚丘。
猿啼洞庭树，人在木兰舟。
广泽生明月，苍山夹乱流。
云中君不见，竟夕自悲秋。
Apes cry in the trees of Dongting; a man sits in a magnolia-wood boat.
The broad marsh births the bright moon; dark mountains clamp the tangled currents.
The Lord in the Clouds is not seen; all night I mourn the autumn alone.
Meaning
The poem voices sorrow for the past while drifting the Chu River on an autumn day, using the clear cold scene and the allusion to Qu Yuan's Lord in the Clouds. It gives voice to the poet's own exile, drifting, and the lonely anger of a misunderstood worthy.
露气与寒光交汇凝聚，残阳缓缓沉下楚地的山丘。猿猴在洞庭边的树丛中啼叫，我独坐在木兰舟中。广阔的湖泽上升起明月，苍翠的山峦夹着纷乱的流波。云中君（湘水之神）无从得见，整夜里独自悲叹这秋意。
Appreciation
The poem writes the sorrow for the past of a solitary autumn journey on the Chu River. The first couplet sets the clear, cold scene of dew, cold light, and a sinking sun. The second writes the drifting state with apes' cries and a lonely boat. The third couplet the broad marsh births the bright moon; dark mountains clamp the tangled currents opens a vast heaven and earth. The last turns through the allusion to the Lord in the Clouds to mourn the autumn all night, grieving the past and the self, with endless lonely anger. Dew breath, cold light, and faint sun tint a chill; the ape cry sets off the lone journey; the third couplet uses the verbs births and clamps for living motion, broad yet not excessive. It blends scene and feeling, gaining the clear, remote air of the Dali style.
【白话串讲】 “露气寒光集，微阳下楚丘”——马戴写楚江怀古：露气寒光。“猿啼洞庭树，人在木兰舟”——“广泽生明月，苍山夹乱流”——“云中君不见，竟夕自悲秋”——他想念屈原，独自悲秋。 【意象与手法】 “露气”“寒光”“微阳”渲染清冷；“猿啼”衬孤旅；颈联以“生”“夹”二动词写动景，阔大而不滥情。用云中君典，古调苍凉。 【情感与主旨】 借楚江秋景怀想自屈原以来的逐臣之悲，抒发自身贬谪飘零、知音难遇的孤愤，情景交融，得大历诗风之清迥。 【名句点睛】 “广泽生明月，苍山夹乱流”——以天地之阔写身世之孤，清境中见沉郁，是大历怀古诗的警联。
Background
Ma Dai was a Late-Tang poet (around the Dali and Kaicheng eras), long stuck in the exams and drifting through military staffs. This poem was likely written while traveling or exiled in the Chu region (around Dongting), using the Chu River's autumn scene to grieve the past and himself.
《楚江怀古》为唐代马戴所作，是写楚江秋景、怀古悲秋之情的诗。马戴（生卒年不详），字虞臣，曲阳人，唐代诗人。此诗：露气寒光集，微阳下楚丘。猿啼洞庭树，人在木兰舟。广泽生明月，苍山夹乱流。云中君不见，竟夕自悲秋。全诗写楚江秋景、怀古悲秋之情，是马戴诗的名篇。
Art
A five-character regulated verse; the middle two couplets are fine antitheses (ape cry — man; broad marsh — dark mountain), moving from scene to feeling, from the real to the allusion. The last couplet names the Lord in the Clouds to close on the past, clear, remote, and desolate, with tidy structure.
《楚江怀古》艺术上以楚江秋景的描摹与怀古悲秋之情的清冷见长。全诗八句：前四句写楚江秋景——“露气寒光集，微阳下楚丘”写露气寒光集、微阳下楚丘，“猿啼洞庭树，人在木兰舟”写猿啼洞庭树、人在木兰舟；后四句写怀古悲秋——“广泽生明月，苍山夹乱流”写广泽生明月、苍山夹乱流，“云中君不见，竟夕自悲秋”写云中君不见、竟夕自悲秋。全诗以楚江秋景写怀古悲秋之情，正是马戴诗清冷的笔法。
Allusions
The Lord in the Clouds is the cloud god worshipped in Qu Yuan's Nine Songs. The magnolia-wood boat uses the Chu Ci phrase magnolia oars, a symbol of a noble boat. Chu hills means the hills of the Chu region; all night (jing xi) means the whole night.
《楚江怀古》用典在“楚丘”“洞庭”“木兰舟”“云中君”。“楚丘”写楚地之丘；“洞庭”写洞庭湖；“木兰舟”用木兰舟之典（《楚辞》桂棹兰枻）；“云中君”用《九歌·云中君》之典（怀屈原）。全诗以这些典故写楚江秋景、怀古悲秋之情，用典自然而清冷自见，正是马戴诗的笔法。
Commentary
The Tang Poetry Mirror calls it a clear, remote air, born of the Dali era. The Ying Kui Lü Sui lists this poem under the past-meditation class, saying lines three-four are bleak, five-six are broad, and the close returns to the Lord in the Clouds, an ancient tune, desolate.
《楚江怀古》是马戴诗的名篇，也是晚唐五律中写怀古悲秋的代表作。此诗写楚江秋景、怀古悲秋之情，向为论者称道。论者多赏其楚江秋景的描摹与怀古悲秋之情的清冷——“露气寒光集，微阳下楚丘”写露气寒光集、微阳下楚丘，清冷之极；“猿啼洞庭树，人在木兰舟”用木兰舟之典写猿啼洞庭、人在木兰舟，更见其清；“广泽生明月，苍山夹乱流”写广泽生明月、苍山夹乱流，尤见其阔；“云中君不见，竟夕自悲秋”用云中君之典写竟夕自悲秋，尤见其悲。马戴为晚唐诗人，其五律以清冷著称，此诗正是其代表——以楚江秋景写怀古悲秋之情，正是其诗风。
Prosody
Line by line
露气寒光集，微阳下楚丘。猿啼洞庭树，人在木兰舟。
The dew gathers in cold light; the faint sun sinks behind the Chu hills. Ape cries from the Dongting trees; a man in the magnolia boat.
露气寒光集，微阳下楚丘。猿啼洞庭树，人在木兰舟。
The mist of dew gathers in cold light; the faint sun sinks on the Chu hills. Apes cry from the Dongting trees; a man in the magnolia bark boat.
首写露气寒光集、人在木兰舟，是全诗写楚江秋景的起点。“露气寒光集，微阳下楚丘”用楚丘之典写露气寒光集、微阳下楚丘——“露气寒光集”写露气寒光凝聚，“微阳下楚丘”用楚丘之地写微阳沉下楚丘——露气寒光，微阳楚丘；“猿啼洞庭树，人在木兰舟”用洞庭木兰舟之典写猿啼洞庭树、人在木兰舟——“猿啼洞庭树”用洞庭之典写猿啼洞庭之树，“人在木兰舟”用木兰舟之典写人在木兰舟上——猿啼洞庭，人在木兰舟。四句写露气寒光集、人在木兰舟：露气寒光集，微阳下楚丘。猿啼洞庭树，人在木兰舟。以“露气寒光集”写露气凝聚、寒光萧瑟，以“微阳下楚丘”写微阳西沉、楚丘苍茫，以“猿啼洞庭树”写猿啼洞庭、秋声凄厉，以“人在木兰舟”用木兰舟之典写人泛木兰舟、秋江独行，正是马戴诗写楚江秋景的起点——露寒微阳，猿啼木兰舟。
The opening writes the dew gathers in cold light, the faint sun sinks on the Chu hills, the starting point of the whole's writing the Chu river's autumn. The dew gathers in cold light writes the vapor condensing; the faint sun sinks on the Chu hills uses the Chu hills to write the setting sun. Ape cries from the Dongting trees uses the Dongting allusion; a man in the magnolia boat uses the magnolia boat allusion. The four lines write the gathering cold dew, the setting sun on the Chu hills, the apes' autumn cries, and the lone man in the magnolia boat, exactly Ma Dai's starting point of writing the Chu river autumn scene - cold dew, faint sun, ape cries, the magnolia boat.
广泽生明月，苍山夹乱流。
The broad marsh births the bright moon; dark mountains clamp the tangled currents.
广泽生明月，苍山夹乱流。
From the wide lake the bright moon rises; green mountains flank the racing torrent.
此二句写广泽生明月、苍山夹乱流，是全诗写楚江夜景的深化。“广泽生明月”写广泽生明月——“广泽生明月”写广阔湖泽升起明月——广泽生明月；“苍山夹乱流”写苍山夹乱流——“苍山夹乱流”写苍翠群山夹着奔流——苍山夹乱流。二句写广泽生明月、苍山夹乱流：广泽生明月，苍山夹乱流。以“广泽生明月”写广泽无垠、明月涌起，以“苍山夹乱流”写苍山对峙、乱流奔涌，正是马戴诗写楚江夜景的深化——广泽明月，苍山乱流。
The two lines write from the wide lake the bright moon rises; green mountains flank the racing torrent, the deepening of the whole's writing the Chu river night. From the wide lake the bright moon rises writes the boundless lake and the rising moon; green mountains flank the racing torrent writes the opposing hills and the rushing stream, exactly the deepening of Ma Dai's night scene - the wide lake and bright moon, the green mountains and racing torrent.
云中君不见，竟夕自悲秋。
The Lord in the Clouds is not seen; all night I mourn the autumn alone.
云中君不见，竟夕自悲秋。
The Lord of the Clouds I cannot see; all night I sorrow for autumn, alone.
末用云中君之典写云中君不见、竟夕自悲秋，是全诗写怀古悲秋之情的归结。“云中君不见”用云中君之典写云中君不见——“云中君不见”用《九歌·云中君》之典写云中君不得见——云中君不见；“竟夕自悲秋”写竟夕自悲秋——“竟夕自悲秋”写整夜独自悲秋——竟夕自悲秋。二句写云中君不见、竟夕自悲秋：云中君不见，竟夕自悲秋。以“云中君不见”用云中君之典写云中君不可见、怀古之情，以“竟夕自悲秋”写整夜悲秋、孤怀难遣，正是马戴诗写怀古悲秋之情的归结——云君不见，竟夕悲秋。
The close uses the Lord of the Clouds allusion to write the Lord of the Clouds I cannot see; all night I sorrow for autumn, alone, the landing of the whole's writing the longing and autumn grief. The Lord of the Clouds I cannot see uses the Nine Songs's Lord of the Clouds allusion for the invisible god and the nostalgic feeling; all night I sorrow for autumn, alone writes the whole night's autumn grief and the hard-to-dispel loneliness, exactly Ma Dai's landing of the nostalgic autumn grief - the cloud lord unseen, the whole night's autumn sorrow.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
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