All poems

唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

风雨

Wind and Rain

李商隐

Li Shangyin

怀才不遇talent unrecognized 羁旅travel and exile 自伤self-lament

凄凉宝剑篇，羁泊欲穷年。
黄叶仍风雨，青楼自管弦。
新知遭薄俗，旧好隔良缘。
心断新丰酒，销愁斗几千。

Reading the Song of the Precious Sword, I am filled with desolation,
Adrift as a stranger, I may spend all my remaining years so.
Yellow leaves are still out in the wind and rain,
While in painted mansions the pipes and strings play on.
New friends are hindered by a shallow age,
Old friendships are cut off by lost occasions.
My heart has given up even the wine of Xinfeng,
For how many thousands would a measure cost to drown this grief?

Listen

Meaning

Reading a poem that once won its author sudden recognition, Li Shangyin measures his own neglect against it. The poem contrasts a scholar weathering wind and rain with the music of the powerful, records the loss of both new and old friends, and ends with wine that can no longer help.

读着《宝剑篇》满心凄凉，羁旅漂泊几乎要了此残年。黄叶依旧在风雨中飘零，富贵人家却自在吹弹管弦。新交的知音遭到浇薄世俗的排挤，旧日的挚友也因机缘阻隔而疏远。心已断绝于新丰美酒，要消解这愁绪，又得耗费多少酒钱。

Appreciation

The poem starts from a book rather than a scene, and the book is one about a talent recognized at once, which makes the poet's own long wait unbearable to think about. The second couplet is the famous one, setting yellow leaves in wind and rain against painted mansions full of music, poverty against privilege, in a comparison that needs no comment. The third couplet moves from circumstance to human relations, showing that both new friends and old have been taken away, one lot by the meanness of the times and the other by mischance. The last couplet reaches for the traditional consolation of drink and finds that even that has failed, and the question about the price of wine is bitter rather than curious. The whole poem descends steadily and never lifts.

【白话串讲】 “凄凉宝剑篇，羁泊欲穷年”——李商隐写风雨：像《宝剑篇》一样凄凉，漂泊一生。“黄叶仍风雨，青楼自管弦”——黄叶在风雨中，青楼还在奏乐。“心断新丰酒，销愁斗几千”——他想喝新丰酒消愁。【意象与手法】颔联“黄叶”对“青楼”、“风雨”对“管弦”，以寒士之飘零对照权贵之逸乐，对比强烈。颈联“新知”“旧好”写交游零落，人事两失。尾联“新丰酒”用马周典，以酒浇愁而愁难销。【情感与主旨】这是李商隐自伤沦落、壮志难伸之作。诗中“宝剑篇”自喻才华，“黄叶风雨”喻处境，“青楼管弦”刺权贵，字里行间是怀才不遇的激愤与孤寂。【名句点睛】 “黄叶仍风雨，青楼自管弦”——以两组意象的冷峻对照，写尽寒士与权贵的人间悬殊，沉郁顿挫。

Background

The Song of the Precious Sword was written by the Tang general Guo Zhen, also known as Guo Yuanzhen; Empress Wu Zetian read it, was astonished by it, and gave him office on the spot, so the title came to stand for talent waiting to be recognized. Li Shangyin invokes it to describe himself and to lament that his own abilities went unused. The poem was probably written during his years drifting among provincial secretariats in poverty and frustration.

李商隐的《风雨》是一首自伤沦落、壮志难伸的抒情之作，约作于其晚年羁旅漂泊、困顿幕府之际。诗题风雨，既是实写自然界的风雨，更是象征人生与世路的凄风苦雨。李商隐一生深陷牛李党争夹缝，虽才华绝代却久沉下僚，辗转桂管、梓州等幕府，四海为家，壮志销磨。诗中「凄凉宝剑篇」以郭震《宝剑篇》自喻才华，暗含怀才不遇之悲；「新丰酒」则用马周困顿新丰、后得唐太宗重用的典故，反衬自身的沦落无依。中晚唐士人普遍面临仕途壅滞、知音零落的时代困境，李商隐此诗正将个人的羁泊之悲，置于这样一个 broader 的历史语境中，使其叹惋具有了时代的典型性，是李诗沉郁顿挫一脉的 representative 之作。此诗约作于李商隐晚年羁旅漂泊、困顿幕府之际。题称风雨，既写自然界风雨，更象征人生世路的凄风苦雨。李商隐深陷牛李党争夹缝，才华绝代却久沉下僚，辗转桂管梓州幕府，四海为家，壮志销磨。中晚唐士人普遍仕途壅滞，此诗将个人羁泊之悲置于时代困境中，具典型性。

Art

The allusions are exactly placed and the contrasts are sharp. Of the two middle couplets, one describes the hardship of his situation through yellow leaves in wind and rain, and the other describes the coldness of the age through the loss of new and old friends. The movement runs from scene to people and then presses on to the drowning of sorrow in wine at the close, gloomy and desolate throughout.

《风雨》的艺术力量全在强烈的对照与绵密的铺写。首联以「凄凉宝剑篇，羁泊欲穷年」直抒怀抱，宝剑喻才、羁泊写境，起笔即沉；颔联「黄叶仍风雨，青楼自管弦」是全篇最警策之处，以黄叶之飘零对青楼之逸乐，以风雨之寒对管弦之暖，两组意象冷峻对照，写尽寒士与权贵的人间悬殊，不着议论而褒贬自见。颈联「新知遭薄俗，旧好隔良缘」由身世之悲转入交游之叹，新知旧好两失，人事皆非。尾联「心断新丰酒，销愁斗几千」以酒浇愁而愁难销，收束全篇于无奈。全诗八句，层层递进，由才、境、位、交、愁五端织成一张密密的悲网，沉郁顿挫，是李商隐五律中直抒块垒的杰作。首联凄凉宝剑篇、羁泊欲穷年直抒怀抱；颔联黄叶仍风雨、青楼自管弦以寒士飘零对权贵逸乐，冷峻对照写尽人间悬殊；颈联新知遭薄俗、旧好隔良缘由身世转入交游之叹；尾联心断新丰酒、销愁斗几千以酒浇愁而愁难销。八句层层递进，沉郁顿挫，直抒块垒。

Allusions

The Song of the Precious Sword is Guo Zhen's poem, standing for talent awaiting a patron. Yellow leaves in wind and rain represent the drifting of a poor scholar. The painted mansion of the fourth line refers here to the houses of the wealthy and powerful. The wine of Xinfeng recalls Ma Zhou, who lodged at Xinfeng and was treated with contempt by the innkeeper before being taken up and promoted by Emperor Taizong of the Tang.

诗中两处用典，皆关怀才不遇。「宝剑篇」用郭震（郭元振）事：武则天召见郭震，索其所作，郭进《宝剑篇》，武后览而嘉之，遂授官。李商隐以宝剑篇自况，既自豪于才如郭震，又悲叹己之不见知于明主，凄凉二字正写这种才高命薄的落差。「新丰酒」用马周事：马周少孤贫，宿新丰旅舍，遭店主冷遇，后西游长安，为中郎将常何代草疏，得太宗赏识，官至宰相。李商隐说「心断新丰酒」，意谓自己已不敢再存马周式的侥幸，心灰意冷。两典一正一反，将怀才不遇的主题写得既典雅又沉痛，足见李商隐学殖之厚与运典之巧，也使个人的哀怨获得了历史的坐标。宝剑篇用郭震献诗得官典，李商隐以之自况，既自豪才如郭震，又悲不见知于明主；新丰酒用马周困顿新丰后得唐太宗重用的典故，诗人说心断新丰酒，意谓不敢再存马周式侥幸，心灰意冷。两典一正一反，将怀才不遇写得典雅而沉痛，足见其运典之巧。

Commentary

This poem and the poem on the city tower at Anding are the two representative works in which Li Shangyin laments his own neglect, the one bitter and indignant and the other detached and lofty, and the pair repays reading together.

《风雨》在李商隐五律中以其直切沉郁而独树一帜，历来为论者所重。与李诗多数作品的婉曲深隐不同，此诗几乎直抒胸臆，将才、位、交、愁的困顿一一和盘托出，而其中「黄叶仍风雨，青楼自管弦」一联，以两组意象的冷峻对照写尽阶级的悬殊，最为后人所激赏，堪称晚唐最沉痛的写实之笔。清人纪昀评李诗沉博绝丽，此篇虽无丽辞，却以其情感的真挚与结构的绵密，同样动人心魄。它写出了一个天才在错谬时代中的无力感，也写出了中晚唐寒士普遍的生存困境。读此诗，可见李商隐并非只工儿女之情，其胸中更有如此沉郁的家国之悲与身世之痛，值得反复涵咏。风雨在李商隐五律中以直切沉郁独树一帜，历来为论者所重。与多数婉曲深隐不同，此诗几直抒胸臆，而黄叶青楼一联以意象冷峻对照写尽阶级悬殊，最为后人所激赏，堪称晚唐最沉痛的写实之笔。它写出天才在错谬时代中的无力感，亦见李商隐胸中不仅有儿女之情，更有沉郁家国之悲。

Prosody

Form Five-character regulated verse五言律诗

Rhyme The rhyme words are nian, xian, yuan, and qian, belonging to the first lower level rhyme group xian.下平一先韵（年、弦、缘、千押韵，一韵到底）

Tone pattern Level-tone opening, with the middle two couplets in parallel, matching yellow leaves against painted mansions.仄起首句不入韵式，平仄合律，中间两联对仗工整

Reading note Wind and rain run through the poem as its governing image. In the middle couplets, yellow leaves are set against painted mansions and new friends against old, positive and negative reflecting one another, and the close asks the price of wine in order to weigh a grief, producing a heavy and halting music.《风雨》是一首标准的五言律诗，全篇八句四十字，格律严整。首句「凄凉宝剑篇」为仄起，篇字属下平一先韵，但首句不入韵（此式首句末字可押可不押，此处句式为仄起不入韵），自次句「羁泊欲穷年」起，年、弦、缘、千同属下平一先韵，一韵到底，韵脚清圆而声情略带压抑，与诗境的沉郁相称。中间两联「黄叶仍风雨，青楼自管弦」「新知遭薄俗，旧好隔良缘」工于对仗：以名词对名词、动词对动词、虚字对虚字，尤以颔联黄叶对青楼、风雨对管弦的冷峻对照最为警策。全诗平仄遵循律诗粘对之法，读来顿挫有力。李商隐五律本以深婉绵密见长，此诗却以直切沉郁出之，矩矱森然而情感奔涌，是其五律中直抒块垒的杰构。

Line by line

凄凉宝剑篇，

Reading the Song of the Precious Sword, he is filled with desolation. Invoking Guo Zhen's poem is a way of describing himself, and the opening word of desolation carries the sense of unrecognized talent through the whole piece.

读着《宝剑篇》满心凄凉，

Desolate, the Sword of the Sword chapter;

「凄凉宝剑篇」五字，是全诗的情感发轫与身世自喻。宝剑篇用郭震献诗得官的典故，本是才华见赏、际遇风云的象征，李商隐拈来以自况，正写自己才如郭震却沉沦下僚的落差；冠以凄凉二字，则把这份怀才不遇的悲凉和盘托出。这一起笔极妙：它不直说己之困顿，而以读古人名篇时的凄凉心境曲曲传出，既典雅又沉痛，为全篇定下悲凉的基调。宝剑之锐利与身世之蹭蹬形成反差，暗喻才高命薄的千古之叹。读懂了这一句，便读懂了李商隐在此诗中全部的身世之悲与时代之哀，是全篇精神的总纲。

The five characters desolate, the Sword chapter are the whole's emotional starting point and the self-portrait of the lot. The Sword chapter uses the allusion of Guo Zhen presenting a poem and winning office, originally the symbol of talent recognized and meeting the wind and clouds; Li Shangyin taking it for self-portrait, precisely writing his own being as talented as Guo Zhen yet sinking in lowly office, the contrast; prefixing the two words desolate, he lays bare the grief of unrecognized talent. This opening is most fine: not directly writing his own hardship, but winding it out through the desolate mood of reading the ancients' famous piece, at once elegant and bitter, fixing the whole's desolate key. The sword's keenness and the lot's stumbling form a contrast, secretly meta-phoring the age-old sigh of high talent and thin fate. Understanding this line, one understands all the lot's grief and the age's sorrow in this poem, the general outline of the whole's spirit.

黄叶仍风雨，

Yellow leaves are still out in the wind and the rain. The season stands for his own drifting, and the word meaning still shows that his hardships have no end.

黄叶依旧在风雨中飘零，

yellow leaves still in wind and rain,

「黄叶仍风雨」是全书最沉痛的意象之一，以自然之景写身世之悲。黄叶象征衰老、零落与无依，风雨象征摧残与困厄，仍字写出飘零之久、苦难之频，仿佛命运对寒士的打击从不稍歇。这一句既有实景（秋雨打落叶），更是诗人自身羁泊穷年、屡遭挫败的投射。它与下句「青楼自管弦」构成全篇最锋利的对照：一边是黄叶在风雨中挣扎，一边是富贵人家在管弦中享乐，冷暖悬殊，触目惊心。李商隐以极简的意象、极冷的笔调写极深的阶级之悲，不着一字议论而褒贬自见，是晚唐写实诗中最具穿透力的一笔，千载之下读之犹令人鼻酸。

Yellow leaves still in wind and rain is one of the book's most bitter images, writing the lot's grief through natural scenery. The yellow leaves symbolize aging, withering, and the unhoused, the wind and rain symbolize destruction and hardship, the word still writing the long drifting and the frequent suffering, as if fate's blows on the poor scholar never cease. This line at once has the real scenery (autumn rain beating the fallen leaves), and is the projection of the poet's own year-long drifting and repeated defeat. It forms with the next line the green towers, self-absorbed in pipes and strings the whole's sharpest contrast: on one side the yellow leaves struggling in wind and rain, on the other the rich houses reveling in music, the warmth and cold far apart, startling. Li Shangyin using the simplest images and the coldest tone for the deepest class grief, not one word of argument yet the praise and blame showing of itself, the most penetrating stroke of the late Tang realistic verse, after a thousand years reading it still makes one's nose tingle.

青楼自管弦。

In the painted mansions the pipes and strings play on regardless. The ease of the rich sets off the misery of the wanderer, and the contrast is severe.

富贵人家却自在吹弹管弦。

the green towers, self-absorbed in pipes and strings.

「青楼自管弦」与「黄叶仍风雨」对举，是全诗冷峻对照的另一半。青楼在此指富贵人家的华美居所（非后世妓院义），管弦写其宴乐之声；自字最堪玩味，它写出权贵们对世间风雨、寒士飘零的漠然与隔绝——他们自顾自地吹弹享乐，仿佛风雨中的黄叶与自己毫无关系。这一个自字，把阶级之间的冷漠与隔阂写得入骨，较之直写其奢靡更为有力。两句合观，寒士的飘零与权贵的逸乐被并置在同一幅画面中，形成无声却尖锐的批判。李商隐以此收束颔联，使个人的身世之悲获得社会的广度，是唐人写阶级落差最凝练的笔墨之一。

The green towers, self-absorbed in pipes and strings set against yellow leaves still in wind and rain, the other half of the whole's cold contrast. The green towers here mean the rich houses' splendid dwellings (not the later brothel meaning), pipes and strings their revelry's sound. The word self is most to enjoy: it writes the powerful lords' indifference and severance from the world's wind and rain and the poor scholar's drifting - they of themselves play and revel, as if the yellow leaves in the wind and rain had nothing to do with them. This one word self writes the coldness and barrier between classes to the bone, more forceful than directly writing their luxury. The two lines together, the poor scholar's drifting and the powerful lords' revelry set in the same picture, forming a silent yet sharp critique. Li Shangyin closing the jaw couplet thus, making the personal lot's grief gain the breadth of society, one of the Tang's most condensed strokes of writing the class gap.

Study

Word focus

仍 The word reng, meaning still or yet again, shows that hardship is not an episode but a permanent condition. 「黄叶仍风雨」中的「仍」字，看似平常，却是传神之笔，分量极重。仍意为依然、依旧、连续不断，在此写黄叶（象征寒士）在风雨中飘零的状态之久、之苦，仿佛命运的摧残从不稍歇、层层叠加。若易以「经」「遭」等字，便只写一次性的遭遇，失却这份绵延不绝的压迫感；唯「仍」字写出的是一种常态的、挥之不去的困境，与诗人羁泊欲穷年的长期困顿若合符契。这一个字，把身世之悲的时间维度拉得很长，使黄叶的意象获得持续捶打的张力。李商隐炼虚字往往见骨，仍字正是一字立境，以最浅白的副词承载最沉厚的悲剧性，是全联不可移易的诗眼。

自 The word zi, meaning of themselves or regardless, conveys the indifference of the powerful, who go on with their music without noticing anyone outside. 「青楼自管弦」中的「自」字，是全诗对照结构中的关键虚字，极具批判力度。自意为自顾自、独自、不管不顾，在此写权贵们沉浸于管弦宴乐，对风雨中飘零的寒士（黄叶）漠然隔绝，仿佛人间的苦难与他们毫无干系。这一个字，把阶级之间的冷漠与鸿沟写得入骨三分，比正面铺写其奢华更为深刻——它揭示的不是富，而是富者对穷者的无觉。自与上文黄叶的仍形成一动一静、一苦一乐的尖锐反差，共同构成晚唐最沉痛的阶级写照。李商隐善用虚字斡旋神情，此自字以最轻的笔触挑起最重的悲慨，是其沉郁诗风的典型手段，值得细味。

风雨