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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

登柳州城楼寄漳汀封连四州

Climbing the Liuzhou City Tower, to the Four Prefects of Zhang, Ting, Feng, and Lian

柳宗元

Liu Zongyuan

贬谪banishment 友情friendship

城上高楼接大荒，海天愁思正茫茫。
惊风乱飐芙蓉水，密雨斜侵薜荔墙。
岭树重遮千里目，江流曲似九回肠。
共来百越文身地，犹自音书滞一乡。

Atop the city wall, a high tower joins the great waste;
By sea and sky my sorrowful thought spreads, vast and dim.
The startled wind wildly beats the lotus on the water;
Dense rain slants, invading the wall where ivy climbs.
Ridge trees heavy, they block my thousand-li gaze;
The river winds like a gut that knots nine times.
Together we came to the tattooed land of the Hundred Yue—
Yet still our letters lag, each in his own place.

Listen

Meaning

The high tower on the city wall reaches straight to the vast, barren edge; facing sea and sky, my boundless sorrowful thought knows no end. The sudden wind startles and wildly beats the lotus on the water; dense rain slants and invades the wall where ivy climbs. The ridge trees lie heavy and block my gaze toward a thousand li; the river winds like my gut knotted nine times. Together we were banished to this tattooed, barbarian land of the Hundred Yue, yet still each of us is held in his own place, and letters can hardly pass.

城上高楼直连着旷远荒僻的边际，面对海天，我茫茫的愁思正无边无际。狂风惊骤，胡乱地吹打着水面的荷花；密雨斜飞，侵凌着爬满薜荔的城墙。岭上的树木重重，遮断了望向千里的目光；江流曲折，就像我九转的愁肠。我们一同被贬到这百越纹身化外之地，却仍然各自滞留一方，书信都难通传。

Appreciation

The first couplet 'Atop the city wall, a high tower joins the great waste; by sea and sky my sorrowful thought spreads, vast and dim' rises with tower meeting waste and sea-sky boundless, feeling and scene blended, sorrow as broad as heaven and earth. The second 'The startled wind wildly beats the lotus on the water; dense rain slants, invading the wall where ivy climbs' uses 'startled wind' and 'dense rain' to symbolize the political storm, and 'lotus' and 'ivy' to stand for the pure character assailed. The third 'Ridge trees heavy, they block my thousand-li gaze; the river winds like a gut that knots nine times' writes with scene the blocked view home and the knotted gut. The last couplet points 'together we came... yet still' and sighs that letters lag in one land. The whole is broad in scene, deep in feeling, with double meaning in its imagery—solemn and repressed.

【白话串讲】柳宗元被贬柳州，登城楼想念同被贬到漳、汀、封、连四州的朋友：“城上高楼接大荒，海天愁思正茫茫”。“岭树重遮千里目，江流曲似九回肠”——山遮住视线，江水弯得像愁肠。“共来百越文身地，犹自音书滞一乡”——都在蛮荒之地，却音书不通。【意象与手法】首联“城上高楼接大荒，海天愁思正茫茫”以高楼接荒、海天茫茫起势，情景交融，愁思与天地同阔【情感与主旨】唐宪宗元和十年（815），柳宗元与韩泰、韩晔、陈谏、刘禹锡等因永贞革新牵连，再度被贬远州【名句点睛】中高考常赏其“借景抒情、比兴寄托”与“沉郁顿挫”风格。常考

Background

In the tenth year of Yuanhe (815) of Emperor Xianzong, Liu Zongyuan and Han Tai, Han Ye, Chen Jian, Liu Yuxi, caught in the aftermath of the Yongzhen Reform, were banished again to far prefectures: Liu Zongyuan as prefect of Liuzhou, Han Tai of Zhangzhou, Han Ye of Tingzhou, Chen Jian of Fengzhou, Liu Yuxi of Lianzhou—the afterwave of the 'Two Wangs and Eight Secretaries'. This poem was written when Liu Zongyuan first reached Liuzhou and climbed the city tower, gazing toward the four prefects, lodging the grief of sharing banishment to the wild and the cut-off of letters. 'The four prefectures of Zhang, Ting, Feng, and Lian' are the seats of those four men.

《登柳州城楼寄漳汀封连四州》为唐代诗人柳宗元所作。柳宗元（773—819），字子厚，河东人，中唐古文运动的倡导者，与韩愈并称“韩柳”，亦工诗。此诗写诗人贬谪柳州后登城楼怀人之作：永贞革新失败后，柳宗元被贬永州，后改贬柳州；同时被贬的韩泰、韩晔、陈谏、刘禹锡分赴漳州、汀州、封州、连州。此诗登柳州城楼，望四州而怀故人：城上高楼接大荒，海天愁思正茫茫；惊风乱飐芙蓉水，密雨斜侵薜荔墙；岭树重遮千里目，江流曲似九回肠；共来百越文身地，犹自音书滞一乡。全诗以登楼所见写贬谪之愁，是柳宗元贬谪诗的名篇。

Art

The first couplet 'Atop the city wall, a high tower joins the great waste; by sea and sky my sorrowful thought spreads, vast and dim' rises with tower meeting waste and sea-sky boundless, feeling and scene blended, sorrow as broad as heaven and earth. The second 'The startled wind wildly beats the lotus on the water; dense rain slants, invading the wall where ivy climbs' uses 'startled wind' and 'dense rain' to symbolize the political storm, and 'lotus' and 'ivy' to stand for the pure character assailed, sorrow within the scene. The third 'Ridge trees heavy, they block my thousand-li gaze; the river winds like a gut that knots nine times' writes with scene the blocked view home and the knotted gut. The last couplet points 'together we came... yet still' and sighs that letters lag in one land. The whole is broad in scene, deep in feeling, with double meaning in its imagery—solemn and repressed.

《登柳州城楼寄漳汀封连四州》艺术上以景中含情与对仗的精工见长。全诗八句，层层写来：首联写登楼——“城上高楼接大荒，海天愁思正茫茫”写登楼所见——高楼接大荒，海天愁思茫茫；“惊风乱飐芙蓉水，密雨斜侵薜荔墙”写近景之乱——惊风飐芙蓉、密雨侵薜荔，写贬谪之惊风雨；“岭树重遮千里目，江流曲似九回肠”写远景之愁——岭树遮目、江流曲肠，写望乡之不得；“共来百越文身地，犹自音书滞一乡”写怀人之情——同贬百越而音书难通。全诗以登楼为纲，由所见之景写所怀之情，景中含情，情中见景，正是柳宗元贬谪诗“沉郁”的风格。

Allusions

'Lotus' and 'ivy' take from the Chu Ci 'gather ivy in the water, pluck lotus from the tree-top' and Qu Yuan's tradition of using fragrant plants and beauties to stand for purity, symbolizing the poet's and his friends' steadfast character, and darkly hinting at their being assailed by wind and rain—an imagistic use of Chu Ci's bi-xing, not a narrative tale. 'The tattooed land of the Hundred Yue' uses the Liji 'to the south are the barbarians, with marked foreheads and crossed toes' and the Zhuangzi custom of tattooing and cutting hair, pointing to the unopened land around Liuzhou, marking the farness of the banishment. 'A gut that knots nine times' comes from Sima Qian's 'my gut turns nine times a day'.

《登柳州城楼》用典在“芙蓉”“薜荔”“百越”“文身”。“芙蓉”指荷花，出《离骚》“集芙蓉以为裳”，以香草喻君子；“薜荔”为香草，出《离骚》“贯薜荔之落蕊”，亦喻君子；“百越”指南方百越之地，写贬所之远；“文身”指越人断发文身之俗，写贬所之荒；“九回肠”写愁肠百转，出司马迁《报任安书》“肠一日而九回”。全诗以这些典故写贬谪之愁：芙蓉薜荔被风雨摧残，正是诗人遭贬的写照；百越文身、音书难通，正是贬谪的凄凉。以典写愁，正是柳宗元“沉郁”的风格。

Commentary

Later critics often put Liu Zongyuan beside Tao Yuanming and Wei Yingwu, yet Ji Yun judged this poem 'the opening mood is broad and far, and below it presses layer on layer, most repressed'. The Qing Shen Deqian also said 'it begins from before the tower, the sorrowful thought vast and dim, and below every scene bears sorrow'. Moderns often read it beside Liu's 'River Snow'—one shows lone sternness in utter stillness, one shows solemn depth in vastness—both crystals of his banished heart.

《登柳州城楼寄漳汀封连四州》是柳宗元贬谪诗的代表作，也是唐代七律中的名篇。此诗以登楼怀人写贬谪之愁，沉郁顿挫，向为论者称道。论者多赏其“惊风乱飐芙蓉水，密雨斜侵薜荔墙”的写法——以惊风密雨写政敌之迫害，以芙蓉薜荔写君子之遭殃，比兴深婉；“岭树重遮千里目，江流曲似九回肠”写望乡不得之愁，更见沉郁。柳宗元与韩愈并称“韩柳”，其诗虽不如文名之盛，而贬谪诗沉郁深婉，此诗正是其代表。全诗由登楼而望、由望而愁、由愁而怀人，层层深入，是七律中沉郁顿挫的名篇。

Prosody

Form Seven-character regulated poem (seven-character lü)七言律诗

Rhyme Ping-shui rhyme, lower-level seven yang group (waste, dim, wall, gut, land), first line enters rhyme《登柳州城楼》为七言律诗，八句，押平声韵。此诗用韵：荒、茫、墙、肠、乡（阳部），一韵到底，音节沉郁。七律句式整饬，宜于写登楼怀人。

Tone pattern Level-onset, first-line-enters-rhyme form; yang rhyme throughout, strict metre七言律诗以声调抑扬、对仗工整见长。此诗首联写登楼，音节苍茫；颔联写风雨，音节惊骤；颈联写望乡，音节沉郁；尾联写怀人，音节深情。全诗以平韵贯底，声调随登楼所见的景与情起伏，是七律中沉郁顿挫的名篇。

Reading note Seven-character lü, level-onset first-line-enters-rhyme, yang rhyme to the end, strict in rule.《登柳州城楼寄漳汀封连四州》为七言律诗，是柳宗元贬谪诗的代表作。此诗以登楼怀人为纲：首联写登楼而望、愁思茫茫，颔联写惊风密雨、香草被摧，颈联写岭树遮目、江流曲肠，尾联写同贬百越、音书难通，层层深入，沉郁顿挫。诗中“惊风乱飐芙蓉水，密雨斜侵薜荔墙”以风雨写迫害、以香草写君子，比兴深婉；“岭树重遮千里目，江流曲似九回肠”写望乡不得之愁，更见沉郁。此诗与柳宗元的《江雪》同为贬谪诗名篇，一写孤寂之景，一写怀人之愁。

Line by line

城上高楼接大荒，海天愁思正茫茫。

From the high tower over the wall, the great waste opens; the sea-sky and my sorrow are one vast blur.

城上的高楼远接大荒，海天相接，愁思正茫茫无际。

The high tower above the city joins the wilds; sea and sky meet, and my sorrow is boundless.

首联写登楼所见之景与所怀之愁。“城上高楼接大荒”写登楼所见——“城上高楼”写登临之处，“接大荒”写远接荒原，视野辽阔；“海天愁思正茫茫”写愁思之广——“海天”写海天相接，“茫茫”写愁思无涯。二句以“高楼接大荒”写登高望远，以“海天茫茫”写愁思无际，景与愁交融：登楼愈高，所见愈远；所见愈远，愁思愈茫。以“接大荒”写景之阔，以“茫茫”写愁之深，正是柳宗元贬谪诗沉郁的开篇——一登楼而愁思万千，为全诗定下苍茫的基调。

The opening couplet writes the scenery seen from the tower and the sorrow within. From the high tower over the wall, the great waste opens writes the climb - the high tower over the wall the place of ascent, joins the great waste the distant wilds, the view vast. The sea-sky and my sorrow are one vast blur writes the sorrow's breadth - sea-sky where sea and sky meet, vast the sorrow's boundlessness. The two lines, using the high tower joining the waste for the height and distance, and the sea-sky vast for the boundless sorrow, fuse scenery and grief: the higher the climb, the farther the sight; the farther the sight, the vaster the grief. Using joining the waste for the broad scenery and vast for the deep grief, exactly Liu Zongyuan's brooding opening of the exile verse - one climb and ten thousand sorrows, fixing the whole's vast key.

惊风乱飐芙蓉水，密雨斜侵薜荔墙。

The sudden wind ruf fles the lotus water; the dense rain slants against the wall clad in figs.

惊风胡乱吹动芙蓉覆盖的水面，密雨斜斜侵袭薜荔攀附的墙垣。

The startled wind stirs the lotus-covered water; the driving rain beats slantwise against the fig-covered wall.

颔联写近景之乱，是全诗比兴最深的联。“惊风乱飐芙蓉水”写风之骤——“惊风”写风之暴烈，“乱飐”写其吹乱芙蓉之水；“密雨斜侵薜荔墙”写雨之急——“密雨”写雨之密集，“斜侵”写其侵袭薜荔之墙。二句以惊风密雨写风雨之暴，以芙蓉薜荔写香草之摧：芙蓉为荷花（出《离骚》），薜荔为香草（亦出《离骚》），皆喻君子；惊风密雨写政敌之迫害，芙蓉薜荔被摧写君子之遭殃。以“乱飐”“斜侵”写风雨之暴烈，以“芙蓉”“薜荔”写君子之憔悴，比兴深婉，正是柳宗元遭贬后心境的写照——风雨飘摇，香草摧折。

The jaw couplet writes the near scene's turmoil, the couplet of deepest analogy. The sudden wind ruf fles the lotus water writes the wind's suddenness - the startled wind the wind's fierceness, the ruf fles the ruffled lotus water. The dense rain slants against the wall clad in figs writes the rain's urgency - the dense rain the rain's thickness, the slant invasion the rain beating on the fig wall. The two lines use the startled wind and dense rain for the storm's fury, and the lotus and figs for the香草's breaking: the lotus is the hibiscus (from Li Sao), the figs the fragrant plant (also from Li Sao), both meta-phors for the gentleman; the startled wind and dense rain write the political foes' persecution, the lotus and figs broken the gentleman's suffering. Using the ruf fles and slant invasion for the storm's fury, and the lotus and figs for the gentleman's haggardness, the analogy deep and tender, exactly the portrait of Liu Zongyuan's mood after exile - the storm-tossed, the fragrant plant broken.

岭树重遮千里目，江流曲似九回肠。

The ridge on ridge of trees hides the gaze of a thousand li; the river winds like a nine-times-twisted gut.

岭上的树木重重遮蔽了千里之目，江流曲折，正像九回百转的愁肠。

Ridge on ridge of trees blocks the thousand-mile gaze; the river winds like a thrice-twisted, nine-turning gut.

颈联写远景之愁，是全诗写望乡不得的名联。“岭树重遮千里目”写望乡之不得——“岭树”写南方之山树，“重遮”写其重重遮蔽，“千里目”写望乡之远目——山树重重，遮蔽了望乡的视线；“江流曲似九回肠”写愁肠之百转——“江流曲”写江流曲折，“九回肠”写愁肠九转。二句以“岭树重遮”写目之所不及，以“江流曲似九回肠”写愁之所难遣：山遮望眼，故乡不可见；江曲愁肠，离愁不可解。以“重遮”写望之不得，以“九回肠”写愁之百转，景中含情、情中见景，正是柳宗元“沉郁”笔法的极致。

The neck couplet writes the far scene's grief, the famous couplet of the homeward gaze's failure. The ridge on ridge of trees hides the gaze of a thousand li writes the homeward gaze's thwarting - the ridge trees the southern mountain woods, ridge on ridge the layered hiding, the thousand-mile gaze the far look home - the mountain woods layer on layer, hiding the homeward sight. The river winds like a nine-times-twisted gut writes the sorrow's thousand twists - the river's winding the river's bend, the nine-times-twisted gut the sorrow's nine turns. The two lines use the ridge trees' layered hiding for the sight's beyond reach, and the river winding like the twisted gut for the sorrow's unresolvable: the mountains hiding the eyes, home unseen; the river winding the gut, the parting grief untied. Using the layered hiding for the gaze's failure and the nine-twisted gut for the sorrow's thousand turns, feeling within scenery and scenery within feeling, exactly the peak of Liu Zongyuan's brooding brush.

共来百越文身地，犹自音书滞一乡。

We came together to the tattooed lands of the Yue; yet even now our letters are stalled, each in a different quarter.

我们同被贬到这百越文身之地，却仍然音书难通，各自滞留在一方。

We have come together to the tattooed lands of the Yue; yet still our letters are held up, each in a different corner.

尾联写怀人之情，是全诗的归结。“共来百越文身地”写同贬之谊——“共来”写与韩泰等四人同贬，“百越文身地”写贬所之远、之荒；“犹自音书滞一乡”写音书难通——“犹自”写尚且，“音书滞一乡”写音书阻隔、各滞一乡。二句由景入情：同来百越，本是同病相怜；而音书难通，更添思念之苦。以“共来”写同贬之谊，以“犹自”写音书之滞，把登楼怀人的深情写到极处。这一收束，既写贬谪的凄凉，亦写友情的深挚，正是柳宗元贬谪诗沉郁而深情的归结。

The tail couplet writes the longing for friends, the landing of the whole. We came together to the tattooed lands of the Yue writes the fellowship of shared exile - came together the shared exile with Han Tai and others, the tattooed lands of the Yue the distant wild place of exile. Yet even now our letters are stalled, each in a different quarter writes the letters' blocked passage - yet even now the stillness, letters stalled in one quarter the letters held, each in a different place. The two lines move from scenery to feeling: coming together to the Yue, originally sharing the same illness; yet the letters blocked, the longing's pain the more. Using came together for the shared-exile fellowship and yet even now for the letters' stall, writing the deep feeling of the tower's longing to the utmost. This close at once writes the desolation of exile and the depth of friendship, exactly the landing of Liu Zongyuan's brooding and deep exile verse.

Study

Word focus

接大荒 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “城上高楼接大荒”之“接大荒”，写高楼远接荒原，是全诗登高望远的起点。“接”写相接，“大荒”写广漠荒原——城上高楼，远接大荒。这一词写登楼所见之辽阔：不是寻常的城郭，而是远接大荒的荒原；不是近处的景致，而是无尽的苍茫。以“接大荒”写景之阔，正是柳宗元贬谪诗苍茫开篇的笔法——登楼而望，惟见大荒。

乱飐 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “惊风乱飐芙蓉水”之“乱飐”，写惊风吹乱芙蓉之水，是全诗写风雨暴烈的关键。“乱”写其杂乱无序，“飐”写风吹物动——惊风乱飐，吹乱芙蓉水面。这一词写风之暴烈：不是和风拂水，而是乱飐芙蓉；不是有序的吹拂，而是无序的摧折。以“乱飐”写风，正是柳宗元写政敌迫害之暴烈、君子遭殃之凌乱的比兴笔法。

斜侵 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “密雨斜侵薜荔墙”之“斜侵”，写密雨斜斜侵袭薜荔之墙，是全诗写雨之急的关键。“斜”写雨之斜落，“侵”写其侵袭——密雨斜侵，侵袭薜荔之墙。这一词写雨之急猛：不是直落，而是斜侵；不是轻洒，而是侵袭。以“斜侵”写雨，与上句“乱飐”对举，惊风密雨、乱飐斜侵，写尽风雨之暴烈，正是柳宗元写贬谪处境的比兴笔法。

九回肠 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “江流曲似九回肠”之“九回肠”，写愁肠百转，是全诗写愁的关键词。“九回”写出《报任安书》“肠一日而九回”，“肠”写愁肠——江流曲折，正如愁肠九回。这一词以江曲写愁肠：江流愈曲，愁肠愈转；江流无尽，愁肠难解。以“九回肠”写愁，正是柳宗元“沉郁”笔法的极致——把抽象的愁写得如江流般曲折无尽。