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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

江南曲·李益

Jiangnan Ballad

李益

Li Yi

嫁得瞿塘贾，朝朝误妾期。
早知潮有信，嫁与弄潮儿。

I married a merchant from Qutang,
Who day after day misses the date he set.
Had I known the tide keeps its word,
I would have married a tide-playing lad.
Listen

Meaning

The poem speaks in the voice of a woman who regrets marrying a merchant of Qutang, for his long trading voyages keep him from returning on time. Unlike her husband, the tide always keeps its schedule, so she wryly wishes she had married a tide-rider instead. In twenty characters it voices longing, grievance and regret with the directness and wit of a folk ballad.

嫁得瞿塘贾，朝朝误妾期。早知潮有信，嫁与弄潮儿。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The speaker married a merchant of Qutang, yet day after day he misses the date he set; had she known that the tide keeps its word so faithfully, she would rather have married a tide-playing lad. [Imagery] The poem turns on a witty contrast: the merchant, who lives by the river's trade, is faithless, while the tide, which the tide-riders follow, is perfectly reliable — so the tide-rider becomes an ironic ideal of a husband who would always come home on time. [Structure] In four lines the poem moves from complaint to a regretful counterfactual. The closing wish to marry a tide-rider is not literal but a bitter joke, and that joke is what deepens the resentment — the classic yuefu trick of hiding deep sorrow behind plain words.

【白话串讲】 李益写《江南曲》：“嫁得瞿塘贾，朝朝误妾期”——“早知潮有信，嫁与弄潮儿”——她嫁了瞿塘商贾——早知潮有信，嫁与弄潮儿。 【意象与手法】 “嫁得瞿塘贾，朝朝误妾期”写嫁商贾误期；“早知潮有信”以潮有信写怨恨；结以“嫁与弄潮儿”写嫁弄潮儿。含蓄深婉。 【情感与主旨】 李益写闺怨之作，写嫁得瞿塘商贾、朝朝误期的怨情，以“早知潮有信，嫁与弄潮儿”写悔嫁，是乐府民歌风的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“嫁得瞿塘贾，朝朝误妾期”写嫁商贾误期；“早知潮有信，嫁与弄潮儿”以潮有信写悔嫁。

Background

Li Yi (c. 746-c. 829), courtesy name Junyu, was a native of Guzang in Longxi (present-day Wuwei, Gansu) and one of the 'Ten Talents of the Dali Reign' (766-780). Celebrated for frontier poems and boudoir laments, he often sang of soldiers' wives and longing women. This piece, written in the yuefu 'Jiangnan' mode, belongs to that vein: a merchant husband who sails the Yangtze trade routes and a wife left waiting at home, a common social reality of the mid-Tang.

《江南曲》为唐代诗人李益所作诗。李益（约746—约829），字君虞，陇西姑臧（今甘肃武威）人，唐代诗人，「大历十才子」之一。此诗写闺怨感怀，为乐府江南曲之作。诗中「嫁得瞿塘贾，朝朝误妾期」写嫁得瞿塘贾，朝朝误妾期；「早知潮有信，嫁与弄潮儿」写早知潮有信，嫁与弄潮儿。李益此诗以闺怨感怀、嫁与弄潮儿写其闺怨之情，含蓄深婉，是李益诗中的名篇。此篇《江南曲·李益》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。此篇《江南曲·李益》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。此篇《江南曲·李益》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。

Art

The poem's artistry lies in restraint and contrast. The first two lines state the facts plainly: marriage to a Qutang merchant, promises endlessly broken; the repeated 'day after day' mimics the grinding repetition of disappointment. The last two lines pivot on the tide's 'trust': the tide rises and falls on schedule, so the tide-riders of the Qiantang bore — who come and go exactly with the water — become an ironic ideal of reliability. The closing wish to marry a tide-rider is deliberately absurd, and that absurdity gives the poem its bittersweet bite: resentment is voiced as a joke, so the grievance feels deeper rather than lighter. The diction is folk-plain, yet every word is weighed, achieving the 'deep and subtle' quality praised by generations of critics.

此诗艺术上以「含蓄深婉、以怨写情」见长。全诗共四句，由嫁得瞿塘贾而朝朝误妾期而早知潮有信。起「嫁得瞿塘贾，朝朝误妾期」写嫁得瞿塘贾：嫁得瞿塘贾，朝朝误妾期；「早知潮有信，嫁与弄潮儿」写早知潮有信：早知潮有信，嫁与弄潮儿。全诗以怨写情，由嫁得瞿塘贾而嫁与弄潮儿，含蓄深婉，是李益诗中的名篇。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。

Allusions

Qutang, one of the Three Gorges on the upper Yangtze, evokes the merchant's long and perilous journeys upstream. The 'tide' carries a double meaning: the tidal bores of the Qiantang River in Jiangnan, famous throughout the Tang, whose schedule was proverbial — hence the phrase that the tide 'keeps faith'. The 'tide-playing lad' refers to the bold swimmers of Zhejiang who rode the Qiantang bore in annual contests; to a wife left waiting, such a lad figures as a man who would return as punctually as the tide itself.

诗中「嫁得瞿塘贾朝朝误妾期」「早知潮有信嫁与弄潮儿」等语，皆含典故故实。「嫁得瞿塘贾朝朝误妾期」用瞿塘之典（瞿塘为三峡之一），写嫁得瞿塘贾朝朝误妾期；「早知潮有信嫁与弄潮儿」写早知潮有信嫁与弄潮儿。诗人以瞿塘、潮信等语入诗，不着痕迹，而把闺怨感怀之情写得真切可感，是善于熔铸典故的体现。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。

Commentary

This little yuefu has long been treasured as a model of 'resentment spoken through a smile'. Anthologists from the Tang onward have singled out its closing couplet for its conversational wit and emotional precision, and it remains one of the most quoted boudoir poems, compressing a woman's whole grievance into a single impossible wish. Its folk directness distinguishes it within Li Yi's generally more polished frontier and farewell verse, and the final line has become a proverbial example of turning private sorrow into public wit.

这首《江南曲》，是李益写闺怨感怀之作，写嫁得瞿塘贾、朝朝误妾期、嫁与弄潮儿之情，含蓄深婉。起「嫁得瞿塘贾，朝朝误妾期」——嫁得瞿塘贾（用瞿塘之典），朝朝误妾期。写嫁得瞿塘贾：嫁得瞿塘贾、朝朝误妾期——嫁得瞿塘贾、朝朝误妾期；「早知潮有信，嫁与弄潮儿」——早知潮有信，嫁与弄潮儿。写早知潮有信：早知潮有信、嫁与弄潮儿——潮有信、嫁与弄潮儿。这「早知潮有信，嫁与弄潮儿」，是全诗之结：以嫁与弄潮儿写其闺怨。全诗含蓄深婉，以怨写情，正是李益诗中的名篇。综观全诗，情真、景切、理深，三者浑融无迹，故能于短短数语之中寄无限深意，令人百读不厌。其含蓄蕴藉之处，正是中国古典诗歌以少总多、言有尽而意无穷的美学精神的生动体现。综观全诗，情真、景切、理深，三者浑融无迹，故能于短短数语之中寄无限深意，令人百读不厌。其含蓄蕴藉之处，正是中国古典诗歌以少总多、言有尽而意无穷的美学精神的生动体现。

Prosody

Form A five-character quatrain (wujue) written in the yuefu 'Jiangnan' mode.诗（五言绝句·乐府）
Rhyme Four lines of five characters each, rhyming on 'qi' and 'er', both level-tone words of the traditional zhi rhyme group. The open, lingering vowels suit the plaintive, song-like mood of a woman's grievance.此诗为五言绝句，共四句，两句一联。押平声韵：「期」「儿」押支部韵。诗体依乐府江南曲而定，句式整齐，音节随情起伏，正与写闺怨感怀的含蓄深婉相称，也见其以乐府写闺怨的自然。
Tone pattern The meter is regular and ballad-like: the first couplet states the grievance in a low, lingering cadence, while the second turns brisk and ironic, its lighter rhythm matching the wit of the impossible wish. The shift from complaint to repartee is carried by the change in cadence alone.句式上，「嫁得瞿塘贾，朝朝误妾期」写嫁得瞿塘贾，音节低回；「早知潮有信，嫁与弄潮儿」写早知潮有信，音节轻快。全诗音节随情起伏，由低回而轻快，正合绝句「含蓄」之妙，读来如闺怨感怀、嫁与弄潮儿之音，含蓄而动人。
Reading note A five-character yuefu quatrain and one of Li Yi's most celebrated boudoir lyrics. Its plain diction, folk directness and 'resentment voiced as jest' ending make it a textbook example of the mid-Tang yuefu revival, and anthologists have kept it in print for the 'deep and subtle' charm of its final couplet.此诗为五言绝句，是李益写闺怨感怀之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「含蓄深婉、以怨写情」：「嫁得瞿塘贾，朝朝误妾期」写嫁得瞿塘贾、「早知潮有信，嫁与弄潮儿」写早知潮有信。全诗含蓄深婉，以怨写情。尤为精妙者，是「嫁得瞿塘贾，朝朝误妾期」用瞿塘之典；而「早知潮有信，嫁与弄潮儿」写尽潮信之怨，正是李益诗「含蓄深婉」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《江南曲·李益》一诗之所以读来声情并茂，正在于诗人以声韵配合情思、以节奏烘托意境，音节之长短、平仄之起伏，皆与诗意相为表里，此亦可见中国古典诗歌声律之美与匠心之工。

Line by line

嫁得瞿塘贾，朝朝误妾期。

I married a merchant from Qutang, / Who day after day misses the date he set.

嫁得瞿塘贾，朝朝误妾期。

I married a merchant of Qutang; morning after morning he misses our tryst.

首二句写嫁得瞿塘贾，起笔即见其怨。「嫁得瞿塘贾」用瞿塘之典写嫁得瞿塘贾，「嫁得」写嫁得、「瞿塘贾」写瞿塘贾；「朝朝误妾期」写朝朝误妾期，「朝朝」写朝朝、「误妾期」写误妾期。两句一写嫁得瞿塘贾、一写朝朝误妾期，以嫁得瞿塘贾写嫁得贾人、以朝朝误妾期写误妾期，写尽嫁得瞿塘贾、朝朝误妾期之情。以嫁起兴，含蓄而深婉，是「以嫁起兴」的妙笔。

The first two lines write marrying a Qutang merchant, the start of the grievance. 'I married a merchant of Qutang' — the Qutang gorge merchant; 'morning after morning he misses our tryst' — the repeated missing of her waiting. It is the start of the tender, deep complaint.

早知潮有信，嫁与弄潮儿。

Had I known the tide keeps its word, / I would have married a tide-playing lad.

早知潮有信，嫁与弄潮儿。

Had I known the tides keep their time, I would have married the tide-rider.

尾二句写早知潮有信，是全诗立意的落点。「早知潮有信」写早知潮有信，「早知」写早知、「潮有信」写潮有信；「嫁与弄潮儿」写嫁与弄潮儿，「嫁与」写嫁与、「弄潮儿」写弄潮儿。两句一写早知潮有信、一写嫁与弄潮儿，以早知潮有信写潮有信、以嫁与弄潮儿写嫁与弄潮儿，写尽早知潮有信、嫁与弄潮儿之情。以信写情，含蓄而深婉，是全诗最动人处，也是「以信写情」的点睛之笔。

The last two lines write 'had I known the tides keep their time', the poem's landing. 'Had I known the tides keep their time' — the tides are regular, unlike the merchant's promises; 'I would have married the tide-rider' — the young man who rides the tides comes and goes on schedule. Through 'time' it writes the feeling, the poem's most moving point — the wife's playful, bitter regret that she did not choose the man as faithful as the tide.

Study

Word focus

瞿塘贾 A merchant of Qutang (one of the Three Gorges), who travels the Yangtze trade routes and is long absent from home; the phrase evokes long, perilous voyages and endlessly broken promises. 「瞿塘贾」写嫁得瞿塘贾，是写贾人之态的关键。「嫁得瞿塘贾」着一「瞿塘贾」，写瞿塘贾——着一「瞿塘贾」，写嫁得瞿塘贾，见其贾之远。三字写尽瞿塘贾之态，是「以词写贾」的妙笔。「瞿塘贾」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
朝朝 'Day after day': the repetition stresses the grinding regularity of broken appointments, so the wife's grievance accumulates with every syllable. 「朝朝」写朝朝误妾期，是写朝朝之态的关键。「朝朝误妾期」着一「朝朝」，写朝朝——着一「朝朝」，写朝朝误妾期，见其误之频。两字写尽朝朝之态，是「以词写朝」的点睛之词。「朝朝」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
潮有信 'The tide keeps faith': tides rise and fall on schedule, so they are proverbially reliable — an ironic contrast with the husband's unreliability. 「潮有信」写早知潮有信，是写潮信之态的关键。「早知潮有信」着一「潮有信」，写潮有信——着一「潮有信」，写早知潮有信，见其潮之信。三字写尽潮有信之态，是「以词写信」的点睛之词。「潮有信」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
弄潮儿 A tide-rider: the bold youths of the Qiantang bore who swim with the tides; here an ironic ideal of a husband who would always return on time. 「弄潮儿」写嫁与弄潮儿，是写弄潮儿之态的关键。「嫁与弄潮儿」着一「弄潮儿」，写弄潮儿——着一「弄潮儿」，写嫁与弄潮儿，见其儿之弄潮。三字写尽弄潮儿之态，是「以词写儿」的点睛之词。「弄潮儿」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。

Related Reading

浣溪沙·一曲新词酒一杯 Huanchai Sha — 'A Cup of New Wine to a New Song' 晏殊 · 同写感怀伤时、无可奈何，一写无可奈何花落去、一写早知潮有信嫁与弄潮儿，皆于感怀之中见无可奈何 Both voice melancholy about time and helpless resignation — one 'helplessly the flowers fall', the other 'had I known the tide keeps faith' — each finding resignation within lament.

Yan Shu's 'helplessly the flowers fall, seemingly the swallows return' mourns the passing of spring in the soft, self-aware style of Song ci; Li Yi's Jiangnan Ballad voices a wife's grievance through the witty wish to marry a tide-rider. Both dwell on helpless resignation, but one is the scholar's gentle sigh and the other the folk song's deep, subtle irony; read together they show two ways of turning helpless feeling into poetry.

晏殊《浣溪沙·一曲新词酒一杯》「无可奈何花落去，似曾相识燕归来」，写感怀伤时，是宋词小令的名篇；李益《江南曲》则以「嫁得瞿塘贾，朝朝误妾期」「早知潮有信，嫁与弄潮儿」写朝朝误妾期、嫁与弄潮儿。两诗同写感怀伤时、无可奈何：一写无可奈何花落去、以花落燕归写惜时，一写早知潮有信嫁与弄潮儿、以潮信写闺怨；一为晏殊之温润、一为李益之深婉，并读正可见诗写「感怀无可奈何」的两种笔法，皆于感怀之中见无可奈何。

 山园小梅 The Small Plum Tree in the Mountain Garden 林逋 · 同写闺情清雅、含蓄蕴藉，一写疏影横斜水清浅暗香浮动月黄昏、一写嫁得瞿塘贾朝朝误妾期，皆于闺情之中见含蓄 Both write restrained, understated feeling — one through 'slanting shadows, drifting fragrance', the other through 'married a Qutang merchant, missed day after day' — each finding subtlety in restraint.

Lin Bu's 'slanting shadows spread over the clear shallows, hidden fragrance drifts in the twilight moon' is the Song masterpiece of quiet, chaste object-description; Li Yi compresses a whole grievance into four plain lines of folk wit. Where Lin Bu's restraint is serene and reclusive, Li Yi's is wry and bittersweet; together they show two faces of 'restraint' in Chinese verse.

林逋《山园小梅》「疏影横斜水清浅，暗香浮动月黄昏」，写梅之清雅、含蓄蕴藉，是宋诗咏物的绝唱；李益《江南曲》则以「嫁得瞿塘贾，朝朝误妾期」「早知潮有信，嫁与弄潮儿」写朝朝误妾期、嫁与弄潮儿。两诗同写闺情清雅、含蓄蕴藉：一写疏影横斜水清浅暗香浮动月黄昏、以梅写清雅，一写嫁得瞿塘贾朝朝误妾期、以潮信写闺怨；一为林逋之清逸、一为李益之深婉，并读正可见诗写「闺情含蓄」的两种笔法，皆于闺情之中见含蓄。