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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

横吹曲辞 出塞

Beyond the Border (Hengchui Melody)

王之涣

Wang Zhihuan

黄砂直上白云间一片孤城万仞山羌笛何须怨杨柳春风不度玉门关

Yellow sand flies straight up into the white clouds;
a single lone city among ten-thousand-ren peaks.
Why should the Qiang flute resent the willow tune?
The spring wind never passes the Jade Gate Pass.
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Meaning

Wang Zhihuan's quatrain is the most famous frontier poem of the High Tang: yellow sand rushing into the clouds, a lone city among vast peaks, a Qiang flute playing a farewell tune, and the final verdict that the spring wind never passes the Jade Gate Pass, a line that turns a landscape into the whole pathos of exile.

黄砂直上，耸入白云之间，一片孤城，坐落在万仞高山之间。羌笛何须埋怨那杨柳曲，春风本来吹不到玉门关外。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] Yellow sand flies straight up into the white clouds; a single lone city sits among ten-thousand-ren peaks. Why should the Qiang flute resent the willow tune? The spring wind never passes the Jade Gate Pass. [Imagery] The first couplet is pure landscape at maximum scale: sand rising into the clouds, one small city against vast peaks. The second couplet turns to sound and judgment: the flute's lament and the poet's answer that the wind of spring never reaches the pass. [Technique] The poem's power is its double movement, from grandeur to resignation. The question why should the flute resent seems to console, but the answer, the spring wind never passes the Jade Gate Pass, reveals that the consolation is the deeper despair: not even spring crosses the border, so what hope has the exile of returning? The sorrow is written entirely in landscape, the model of High Tang frontier ambiguity.

【白话串讲】 王之涣写《横吹曲辞·出塞》：“黄砂直上白云间，一片孤城万仞山”——“羌笛何须怨杨柳，春风不度玉门关”——他写边塞——春风不度玉门关。 【意象与手法】 首句“黄砂直上白云间”写边塞风沙直上白云的荒凉；次句“一片孤城万仞山”写孤城万仞的孤绝；三句“羌笛何须怨杨柳”以羌笛吹杨柳曲写戍卒的思归之怨；末句“春风不度玉门关”以春风不度写边地的苦寒与归思的无望。雄浑苍凉。 【情感与主旨】 王之涣写出塞之作，写边塞的荒凉与戍卒的思归，以“春风不度玉门关”写尽边地苦寒，是盛唐边塞诗的代表作。 【名句点睛】 常考“黄砂直上白云间，一片孤城万仞山”写边塞荒凉；“羌笛何须怨杨柳，春风不度玉门关”写春风不度。

Background

Wang Zhihuan (688-742), courtesy name Jiling, was from Jinyang in modern Shanxi and is one of the most famous frontier poets of the High Tang. He never held high office, serving briefly as a county registrar before retiring to travel, and he was close friends with the frontier poets Wang Changling and Gao Shi. Only a handful of his poems survive, yet his Ascending the Stork Tower and this poem, also transmitted under the title Song of Liangzhou, are among the most celebrated quatrains in the language. Written to the old frontier melody, the poem condenses the entire experience of the border garrison into twenty-eight characters.

此诗为盛唐诗人王之涣的《出塞》之作，一作《凉州词》，是盛唐边塞诗的代表作。王之涣（688—742），字季凌，并州晋阳（今山西太原）人，盛唐诗人。他一生未得显达，曾任冀州衡水主簿，后辞官漫游，与王昌龄、高适等边塞诗人交厚。其诗以边塞诗著称，存诗虽少而《登鹳雀楼》《凉州词》皆为千古绝唱。此诗写边塞的荒凉与戍卒的思归：「黄砂直上白云间」，写黄砂直上、耸入白云之间——边塞风沙之大，黄砂直上云霄，正是「大漠风尘」的荒凉景象；「一片孤城万仞山」，写一片孤城，坐落在万仞高山之间——「一片」写孤城之小，「万仞」写高山之险，孤城万仞，正是边塞的孤绝景象；「羌笛何须怨杨柳」，写羌笛何须埋怨那杨柳曲——羌笛为羌族乐器，其音凄清，「杨柳」指《折杨柳》曲，古曲多写离别之情，戍卒吹笛，本寄思归之怨，词人却劝其「何须怨」；「春风不度玉门关」，写春风本来吹不到玉门关外——玉门关为河西走廊西端的边关，春风不度，正是边地苦寒、归思无望的写照。全诗以雄浑的笔调写尽边塞的荒凉与戍卒的哀怨，寓怨于景，含蓄而深沉，是盛唐边塞诗的巅峰之作。

Art

The quatrain is built on scale and reversal. The opening couplet achieves grandeur through proportion: sand flying straight up into the clouds gives the frontier vertical vastness, and a single lone city among ten-thousand-ren peaks gives it horizontal vastness, the city's tininess measured against the mountains' height. The second couplet performs the poem's famous turn: the question why should the flute resent the willow tune appears to console the soldier, but the closing line, the spring wind never passes the Jade Gate Pass, converts consolation into verdict. If spring itself cannot cross the border, the exile's hope of return is nothing. The technique is writing resentment through scenery: not a word of direct lament, yet the whole pathos of garrison life is in the wind's failure to blow.

此诗艺术上以「雄浑」与「寓怨于景」为特色，在边塞荒凉的描绘中写尽戍卒的哀怨。首句「黄砂直上白云间」，以「黄砂直上」写边塞风沙直上云霄的荒凉，「直上」二字写风沙之猛烈、之直冲云霄，正是「大漠风尘日色昏」的雄浑；次句「一片孤城万仞山」，以「一片」写孤城之小、之孤，以「万仞」写高山之险、之高，孤城万仞，一大一小、一险一孤，正是边塞的孤绝景象；三句「羌笛何须怨杨柳」，以「何须怨」写劝慰——那羌笛吹着《折杨柳》曲，本寄思归之怨，词人却劝其「何须怨」，正是「怨而不怒」的含蓄；末句「春风不度玉门关」，以「春风不度」写边地苦寒、归思无望——春风都吹不到玉门关外，何况人的归思？这一句，是全诗的结穴，以春风的「不度」写戍卒归思的「无望」，寓怨于景，含蓄而深沉。全诗由黄砂直上、孤城万仞写边塞之荒凉，由羌笛杨柳、春风不度写戍卒之哀怨，层层递进而意境雄浑，正是盛唐边塞诗「雄浑含蓄」的极致。

Allusions

The poem's allusions are concentrated in its images. The Qiang flute is the plaintive border instrument of the Qiang people, the standard voice of frontier homesickness. The willow tune refers to the old Breaking the Willow Branches melody, a farewell song since the Northern Dynasties, whose famous lines describe a traveler untacking his horse and breaking a willow branch while a long flute is played in the saddle, sorrowing the passing guest; to play or hear the willow tune is to summon parting and longing for home. The Jade Gate Pass, at the western end of the Hexi Corridor near Dunhuang, was named for the jade that passed through it from the Western Regions, and it stands as the symbolic boundary of the empire and of exile. The first line also survives in a famous variant, the Yellow River flies far up into the white clouds, which would give the couplet a river's grandeur instead of a sandstorm's violence, a textual problem much debated by scholars.

此诗用典于关键处见深意。「黄砂」，写黄沙，暗含边塞风沙的荒凉——「黄砂直上白云间」，以黄砂直上写风沙之猛烈，正是边塞的荒凉景象，一作「黄沙远上白云间」。「孤城万仞山」，写孤城与高山，暗含边塞孤城的意象——「一片孤城」写孤城之小，正是「孤城落日斗兵稀」的边塞写照。「羌笛」，为羌族乐器，其音凄清，暗含边塞羌笛的传统——王之涣同作有「羌笛何须怨杨柳」，「怨杨柳」用《折杨柳》曲之典——古曲《折杨柳》多写离别之情，北朝乐府《折杨柳歌辞》「上马不捉鞭，反折杨柳枝。蹀座吹长笛，愁杀行客儿」，后以折杨柳、吹杨柳曲写离别思归之情；此诗「羌笛何须怨杨柳」，写羌笛吹《折杨柳》曲，本寄思归之怨。「春风不度玉门关」，暗含玉门关的典故——玉门关为河西走廊西端的边关，因西域输入玉石取道于此而得名，是汉唐边塞的象征，「春风不度玉门关」写边地苦寒，春风都吹不到，正是「羌笛何须怨杨柳」的深意——怨也无用，春风不度，归思无望。这些典故，或写黄砂、或写羌笛杨柳、或写玉门关，皆围绕边塞思归这一核心，织成一张雄浑的情网，正是盛唐边塞诗「用典自然」的特点。

Commentary

This poem, also known as the Song of Liangzhou, has been called the crown of Tang frontier quatrains. Its closing line, the spring wind never passes the Jade Gate Pass, is one of the most quoted lines in Chinese poetry: a geographical fact transformed into a verdict on exile, so that the whole border experience is contained in the failure of a wind to blow. Critics have especially admired the poem's structure of consolation that is really despair: the poet seems to tell the soldier not to resent the farewell tune, then reveals that resentment is futile because spring never comes. The poem is traditionally set beside Wang Changling's On the Frontier as the twin masterpieces of the frontier quatrain, one achieving its effect through historical grandeur and the other through scenic resignation. Together with Ascending the Stork Tower, it secures Wang Zhihuan's place among the immortals of Tang verse.

读此诗，最值得玩味的是「羌笛何须怨杨柳」的「何须」二字所写出的「怨而不怨」。戍卒在边关，吹起羌笛，吹的是《折杨柳》曲——那本就是写离别思归的古曲，笛声一起，思归之情自然涌上心头。然而词人却说「何须怨」——何必埋怨呢？这「何须」，表面是劝慰，骨子里却是更深的悲凉：不是不该怨，而是怨也无用。为什么怨也无用？因为「春风不度玉门关」——春风都吹不到玉门关外，那杨柳（春天）都到不了边地，又何必吹《折杨柳》曲去怨春天不来、归期无望呢？这一转，把戍卒的思归之怨，从「怨」写到了「怨而无用」：不是不想怨，是怨也无益——春风不度，怨亦何用。这正是「怨而不怒」的含蓄：全诗无一字写戍卒之苦，而「春风不度玉门关」七个字，写尽了边地苦寒、归思无望的全部悲哀。这种「寓怨于景」的写法，比直写「征人思归」更见含蓄深沉，也正是盛唐边塞诗「雄浑含蓄」的极致——雄浑的是「黄砂直上」「孤城万仞」的边塞景象，含蓄的是「春风不度」的戍卒哀怨。这首《出塞》，以其含蓄深沉的笔法，成为盛唐边塞诗的代表作，传诵千古而不衰。

Prosody

Form Seven-character quatrain (qijue), to the frontier melody诗（七言绝句）
Rhyme A four-line quatrain rhyming on the shan group: between, mountain, and pass, a bright, resonant level-tone rhyme whose ringing, prolonged sound carries the poem's grandiose frontier atmosphere.此诗为七言绝句，押平声「删」部韵，「间」「山」「关」等字皆属上平十五删韵，韵脚响亮而绵长，正合诗情「边塞雄浑」的声调。首句「黄砂直上白云间」以「黄砂直上」起，写边塞荒凉；次句「一片孤城万仞山」，写孤城万仞；三句「羌笛何须怨杨柳」，以「何须」转折，写戍卒哀怨；末句「春风不度玉门关」，以「春风不度」收束，寓怨于景。整体声调由起句的雄浑，到末句的含蓄，一扬一抑，正合边塞诗「雄浑含蓄」的诗情。
Tone pattern The poem moves in two couplets of opposite gesture: the first is a landscape couplet of pure scale, sand rising into the clouds and a lone city among peaks; the second is a couplet of question and verdict, the flute's resentment answered by the wind's failure. The rhythm descends from vastness to resignation, the sonic shape of the poem's meaning.句式上，此诗善用「直上」「一片」「何须」「不度」等虚字与顿挫：「黄砂直上白云间」，以「直上」写风沙之猛烈，句法雄浑；「一片孤城万仞山」，以「一片」对「万仞」，一大一小，对举有力；「羌笛何须怨杨柳」，以「何须」写劝慰，转折含蓄；「春风不度玉门关」，以「不度」写春风之阻，收束深沉。全诗由写景入抒情、由抒情入怨叹，句式随之由雄浑转含蓄、由含蓄转深沉，正是盛唐边塞诗「雄浑含蓄」的节奏美学。
Reading note As a High Tang frontier quatrain, the poem achieves grandeur through sound: the bright shan rhyme rings like wind over a pass, and the even seven-character measure lets the first couplet swell and the second fall away into resignation. Recite the opening couplet at full voice, let the question hang in the air, and land the closing line slowly, for the spring wind never passes the Jade Gate Pass is the whole poem in one breath. With Wang Changling's On the Frontier, it represents the two poles of the frontier quatrain: historical aspiration and scenic resignation.作为盛唐七绝，《出塞》的声律之美，在于以响亮的删韵与虚字顿挫的句式，写出边塞的雄浑含蓄情思。全诗首句「黄砂直上白云间」以黄砂直上写边塞的荒凉，雄浑起笔；次句「一片孤城万仞山」以孤城万仞写边塞的孤绝，一扬一抑；三句「羌笛何须怨杨柳」以羌笛杨柳写戍卒的思归之怨，「何须」转折；末句「春风不度玉门关」以春风不度写归思的无望，寓怨于景，含蓄收束。全诗由写景入抒情、由抒情入怨叹，层层递进而声情相谐，正是盛唐边塞诗「雄浑含蓄」的体现。就全诗而言，此诗以雄浑的笔调写尽边塞的荒凉与戍卒的哀怨，寓怨于景、含蓄深沉，是盛唐边塞诗的巅峰之作，与王昌龄《出塞》同为「出塞」母题的绝唱，而一写「秦时明月汉时关」的怀古，一写「春风不度玉门关」的写景，可见「出塞」这一母题在盛唐诗人笔下的两种风貌。

Line by line

黄砂直上白云间

Yellow sand flies straight up into the white clouds.

黄砂直上，耸入白云之间。

Yellow sand shoots straight up among the white clouds.

这一句是全诗的起笔，写边塞风沙直上云霄的荒凉，是此诗雄浑基调的开端。「黄砂」，写边塞的黄沙——一作「黄沙远上」，此作「黄砂直上」，「黄砂」写风沙之色，正是边塞的荒凉意象；「直上白云间」，写黄砂直上、耸入白云之间——「直上」二字，写风沙之猛烈、之直冲云霄，正是「大漠风尘日色昏」的雄浑。以「黄砂直上」写风沙，比「沙尘滚滚」更见猛烈与直上——那黄砂直冲云霄，耸入白云之间，是边塞风沙的极致写照；「白云间」写黄砂之高远，正是「沙场秋点兵」的苍茫。这一起笔，以最雄浑的笔调写边塞的荒凉，为全诗定下雄浑的基调，也是盛唐边塞诗「雄浑」风格的开端。

This opening line writes the frontier sand shooting straight into the clouds, the start of the poem's bold tone. 'Yellow sand' is the desert's color; 'shoots straight up among the white clouds' — the word 'straight' shows the storm's violence, driving sand up to the sky. It sets the vast, desolate frontier and prepares the complaint below.

羌笛何须怨杨柳

Why should the Qiang flute resent the willow tune?

羌笛何须埋怨那杨柳曲。

Why should the Qiang flute complain of the willow song?

这一句写戍卒吹羌笛的思归之怨，是此诗由写景转入抒情的枢纽。「羌笛」，为羌族乐器，其音凄清，是边塞的典型意象；「怨杨柳」，写埋怨《折杨柳》曲——古曲《折杨柳》多写离别思归之情，戍卒吹笛，吹的正是那写离别的《折杨柳》曲，笛声一起，思归之情自然涌上心头；「何须」，写何必埋怨——词人劝戍卒「何须怨」，表面是劝慰，骨子里却是更深的悲凉：不是不该怨，而是怨也无用。以「羌笛」写边塞，以「杨柳」写思归，以「何须」写劝慰，正是「怨而不怒」的含蓄。这一句，是此诗由写景转入抒情的枢纽，也是「春风不度玉门关」的铺垫——正因为春风不度，才「何须怨」，怨也无用。

This line is the pivot from scenery to feeling, the garrison soldier's homesickness in the Qiang flute. The Qiang flute plays the tune of 'Plucking the Willow' — the ancient parting air; 'why complain' seems consolation, yet deeper grief lies beneath: not that he should not complain, but that complaint is useless. It prepares 'the spring wind never crosses Jade Gate Pass'.

春风不度玉门关

The spring wind never passes the Jade Gate Pass.

春风本来吹不到玉门关外。

The spring wind never crosses Jade Gate Pass.

这一句是全诗的结穴，以春风不度写边地苦寒、归思无望，是此诗寓怨于景的最高点。「春风不度」，写春风吹不到——那带来春天、带来杨柳、带来生机的春风，吹不到边地；「玉门关」，写河西走廊西端的边关，是汉唐边塞的象征——春风不度玉门关，正是边地苦寒的写照。以「春风不度」写归思无望，比直写「归期无望」更见含蓄与深沉——春风都吹不到玉门关外，又何必吹《折杨柳》曲去怨春天不来、归期无望呢？那戍卒的思归之怨，全在这「春风不度」的景语之中。这一结句，寓怨于景、含蓄深沉，是全诗「怨而不怒」的最高点，也是盛唐边塞诗「雄浑含蓄」的极致，传诵千古而不衰。

This closing line is the poem's apex, writing through the wind that the border is bitter and return hopeless. The spring wind that brings willow and life never reaches beyond Jade Gate; the soldier's longing is all contained in this scenic line — complaint and resignation at once, the classic 'grief without rage' of High Tang frontier verse.

Study

Word focus

孤城 Lone city: an isolated frontier fortress. With the measure word single and against ten-thousand-ren peaks, it gives the border both grandeur and desolation, the tiny human stronghold dwarfed by the mountains. 「一片孤城万仞山」之「孤城」，写孤立的边城，是此诗边塞孤绝意象的核心语。「孤城」即孤立无依的边城——边塞的城池，孤悬于万仞高山之间，「孤」字写尽边城之孤立；「一片孤城」，以「一片」写孤城之小、之单薄——那孤城如一片落叶，置于万仞高山之间，正是边塞的孤绝景象；「万仞山」以万仞之高写高山之险，与「一片」之小相对，一大一小、一险一孤，正是「孤城落日斗兵稀」的边塞写照。以「孤城」写边塞，比「边城」「城池」更见孤绝之意——那孤立无依的边城，正是戍卒孤寂的象征。这一词，是此诗边塞孤绝意象的核心，也是「羌笛何须怨杨柳」的铺垫——孤城之中，唯有羌笛的哀怨。
杨柳 Willow: here the Breaking the Willow Branches farewell melody, a parting song since the Northern Dynasties. To hear the willow tune on the frontier is to summon homesickness, which is why the flute resents it. 「羌笛何须怨杨柳」之「杨柳」，指《折杨柳》曲，是此诗思归意象的关键语。「杨柳」本为柳树，此处指《折杨柳》曲——古曲《折杨柳》多写离别思归之情，北朝乐府《折杨柳歌辞》「蹀座吹长笛，愁杀行客儿」，后以折杨柳、吹杨柳曲写离别思归之情；此诗「羌笛何须怨杨柳」，写羌笛吹《折杨柳》曲，本寄思归之怨。以「杨柳」写思归，比直写「思归」更见含蓄与古典——那《折杨柳》曲一响，离别之情、思归之意，自然涌上心头；「怨杨柳」三字，写戍卒以笛声「怨」那杨柳曲，正是「借曲写怨」的笔法。这一词，是此诗思归意象的关键，与「羌笛」相连，正是边塞思归的典型意象，也是「春风不度」的铺垫。
玉门关 Jade Gate Pass: the great frontier gate at the western end of the Hexi Corridor, named for the jade that passed through it. As the symbolic boundary of the empire, its imperviousness to the spring wind becomes the poem's verdict on exile. 「春风不度玉门关」之「玉门关」，写河西走廊西端的边关，是此诗边塞象征的核心语。「玉门关」为汉唐边塞的重要关隘，在敦煌以西，因西域输入玉石取道于此而得名，是中原与西域的分界，也是戍卒思归的象征——「春风不度玉门关」，写春风吹不到玉门关外，正是边地苦寒、归思无望的写照。以「玉门关」写边塞，比直写「边关」更见具体与象征——那玉门关，是汉唐边塞的符号，春风不度玉门关，正是「春风」与「边关」的对照，写尽边地的苦寒。这一词，是此诗边塞象征的核心，也是「何须怨」的深意——怨也无用，春风不度玉门关。以「玉门关」写边塞，具体而象征，是此诗寓怨于景的关键，也是传诵千古的原因之一。

Related Reading

出塞 On the Frontier 王昌龄 · 同为「出塞」母题的边塞绝唱，一写怀古的雄浑一写写景的含蓄，出塞诗互为双璧 The twin masterpieces of the frontier quatrain: one historical aspiration, the other scenic resignation.

Wang Changling's Bright the moon of Qin, the pass of Han sighs for the Flying General of Dragon City and vows no Hu horse shall cross the Yin Mountains: frontier poetry as historical longing. Wang Zhihuan's poem answers the same theme with landscape, where the spring wind's failure to pass the Jade Gate Pass says what no vow can. Read together, they are the two poles of the High Tang frontier quatrain.

王昌龄《出塞》「秦时明月汉时关，万里长征人未还。但使龙城飞将在，不教胡马度阴山」，写边塞的怀古与良将之盼，是「出塞」母题的七绝压卷；王之涣此诗「黄砂直上白云间，一片孤城万仞山。羌笛何须怨杨柳，春风不度玉门关」，写边塞的荒凉与戍卒的思归。一写「秦时明月汉时关」的怀古，一写「春风不度玉门关」的写景；王昌龄以「不教胡马度阴山」写良将之盼，王之涣以「何须怨杨柳」写怨而不怒。并读两作，可见「出塞」这一母题在盛唐七绝中的双璧，也可见边塞诗怀古与写景的两种极致。

 凉州词 Song of Liangzhou 王之涣 · 同为王之涣边塞之作，一作「黄河远上白云间」一作「黄砂直上白云间」，同诗异文互为印证 The same poem in two transmitted texts, a classic case of textual variation.

This poem also circulated as the Song of Liangzhou, identical except for the first line, where the Yellow River flies far up into the white clouds stands against Yellow sand flies straight up into the white clouds. The river version gives the couplet a vast, watery grandeur; the sand version makes it a violent sandstorm true to the desert frontier. The remaining lines, the lone city, the Qiang flute, the spring wind, are identical, a testament to the poem's power in either text.

王之涣《凉州词》「黄河远上白云间，一片孤城万仞山。羌笛何须怨杨柳，春风不度玉门关」，与《出塞》实为同一首诗的异文——一作「黄河远上白云间」，一作「黄砂直上白云间」，其余句全同。并读两作，可见同一首诗在流传中的异文演变：以「黄河远上」则气象雄浑而近于大河之景，以「黄砂直上」则切合边塞风沙之实；「孤城万仞」「羌笛杨柳」「春风不度」诸句，两作皆同。这一对读，正是「同题异文」的典型，可见唐诗在传抄中的版本问题，也可见王之涣边塞诗在两种文本中的共同神韵。

 夜上受降城闻笛 Hearing a Flute at Night on Shouxiang City 李益 · 同为边塞闻笛思归之作，一写羌笛怨杨柳一写芦管征人望乡，边声思归一脉相承 Two frontier flute-hearings: High Tang scenic ambiguity and mid-Tang direct longing.

Li Yi's I know not where the reed-pipe sounds; in one night all the travelers gaze homeward writes the flute's effect directly and completely, amid sand like snow and a moon like frost. Wang Zhihuan's poem achieves the same longing through indirection, the spring wind that never passes the pass. The same border music, heard in two centuries: one explicit, one implicit, both perfect.

李益《夜上受降城闻笛》「回乐峰前沙似雪，受降城外月如霜。不知何处吹芦管，一夜征人尽望乡」，写边塞月夜闻笛、征人望乡，是唐诗写边声的名篇；王之涣此诗「羌笛何须怨杨柳，春风不度玉门关」，同样写边塞笛声与思归。一写「一夜征人尽望乡」的望乡，一写「羌笛何须怨杨柳」的怨而不怨；李益是「沙似雪月如霜」的凄冷，王之涣是「黄砂直上白云间」的雄浑。并读两作，可见边塞笛声思归这一母题在中唐与盛唐的不同风貌，也可见「征人望乡」在边塞诗中的永恒主题。