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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

金铜仙人辞汉歌

The Bronze Immortal Takes Leave of Han

李贺

Li He

咏史historical 歌行song-style (gexing) 奇崛strange and bold

茂陵刘郎秋风客，夜闻马嘶晓无迹。
画栏桂树悬秋香，三十六宫土花碧。
魏官牵车指千里，东关酸风射眸子。
空将汉月出宫门，忆君清泪如铅水。
衰兰送客咸阳道，天若有情天亦老。
携盘独出月荒凉，渭城已远波声小。

The Liu lad of Maoling, a guest of the autumn wind,
by night he hears horse neighing, at dawn no trace remains.
Painted rails, cassia trees hang their autumn fragrance,
thirty-six palaces overgrown with green moss.
Wei officials lead the cart toward a thousand li away,
at the eastern pass the sour wind shoots into the eyes.
Bearing only the Han moon, he leaves the palace gate,
remembering his lord, clear tears like molten lead.
Withered orchids see the guest off on the Xianyang road,
if heaven had feelings, heaven too would grow old.
Holding the plate, alone he goes out, the moon desolate,
Weicheng already far, the sound of waves grows small.

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Meaning

The poem imagines the bronze immortal being torn from the Han palace and carried away, lamenting the fall of a dynasty and the pain of exile. Through the bronze figure's tears and the desolate moonlit departure, Li He projects his own broken ambitions onto a moving metal statue.

葬在茂陵的汉武帝，如今不过是秋风中的过客；夜里仿佛听见他的马嘶，天亮却踪迹全无。画栏边的桂树依旧飘着秋日的香气，汉宫的三十六座宫殿早已长满碧绿的苔藓。魏国的官吏牵着车要把铜人运往千里之外，出东关时，凄冷的风直刺人的眼睛。铜人只能空对着那轮汉时的明月走出宫门，怀念旧主，清泪如铅水般滚落。枯衰的兰草在咸阳古道上送别远客——倘若上天也有感情，它也会衰老啊。铜人捧着承露盘孤零零地离去，月色一片荒凉；渭城渐渐远了，连渭水的波声也听不清了。

Appreciation

Li He brings a bronze statue to life: it 'remembers its lord,' sheds 'lead-like' tears, and is stung in the eyes by 'sour wind.' The poem's power lies in the density of synesthesia and empathy—'sour wind' turns touch into taste, 'lead water' turns tears into metal, 'withered orchid' turns a plant into a see-off guest. These unconventional pairings weave a vision at once gorgeous and desolate. Written as Li He left office and returned home, his hopes severed and his health failing, the bronze man forced from the capital is a mirror of himself banished from Chang'an. The famous line 'if heaven had feelings, heaven too would grow old' lifts personal pain to cosmic height—even heaven would age, let alone man.

【白话串讲】汉武帝铸的金铜仙人要被魏国搬走，李贺写它的告别：“魏官牵车指千里，东关酸风射眸子”。“空将汉月出宫门，忆君清泪如铅水”——它流下的泪像铅水。“衰兰送客咸阳道，天若有情天亦老”——天若有情，也会老。李贺写铜人，写的是王朝的衰亡。【意象与手法】李贺把一个金属铸像写活了：它会“忆君”，会流“铅水”般的泪，会被“酸风”刺痛眼睛。全诗最惊人的是通感与移情的密度——“酸风”把触觉写成味觉，“铅水”把眼泪写成金属，“衰兰”把植物写成送客的人。这些非常规的搭配，共同织成一个既华丽又惨淡的幻境。【情感与主旨】此诗作于李贺辞官归乡途中，其时他因避父讳不得应进士试，抱负断绝，身体亦已衰败。铜人被强行迁离故都，正是他自己被命运逐出长安的写照。所以那滴“铅水”般的泪，既是铜人的，也是诗人的。而“天若有情天亦老”一句，则把个人的痛楚推到宇宙的高度——连天都会老，何况人间。【名句点睛】 “衰兰送客咸阳道，天若有情天亦老”——上句是极小的物，下句是极大的天，一小一大之间，是李贺特有的想象跨度。宋人司马光叹为“奇绝无对”，直到石延年以“月如无恨月长圆”方勉强对上。

Background

The poet's own preface tells that in the first year of Qinglong of Wei Mingdi (233), an edict ordered palace officials to cart west and fetch the dew-holding immortal cast by Han Wudi, to be placed before the hall; when the officials removed the plate, the immortal wept as he was loaded. Li He made this song. For the poet himself, around 813, because his father's name 'Jinsu' violated the taboo on the jinshi exam, he was forced to resign his post as ceremonial official and returned ill to Changgu. The bronze man's leave-taking of Han and his leave-taking of the capital form the same structure.

此诗有序，云魏明帝青龙元年八月，诏宫官牵车西取汉孝武捧露盘仙人，欲立置前殿，宫官既拆盘，仙人临载乃潸然泪下，李贺遂作此歌。其事本于史载：汉武帝尝作承露盘，立铜仙人以承云表之露，和玉屑服之以求长生；至魏明帝时，诏令将此铜人从长安迁往洛阳。李贺作此诗，约在唐元和八年（公元八一三年）前后，其时他因父名晋肃犯进士之讳，被迫辞去奉礼郎之职，抱病离京返回昌谷。铜人被强行迁离故都，正是他自己被命运逐出长安的写照。所以那滴铅水般的泪，既是铜人的，也是诗人的。李贺一生体弱多病、仕途断绝，二十七岁便郁郁而终，这首诗里浓缩了他全部的身世之悲与历史之叹。理解此诗，须置于李贺特有的凄戾诗风之中：他好以异物、鬼魅、衰朽入诗，把个人的痛楚推到宇宙的高度，开创了中国诗歌中奇崛冷艳的一脉。其创作之具体机缘虽或难详考，然置于诗人整体生平遭际与所处时代风气之中观之，此作之精神脉络与情感指向自可想见，亦足为知人论世者所重。

Art

This poem is a representative work of Li He's 'mending creation with the brush.' Its art has three wonders: first, thorough empathy—the bronze man not only weeps but weeps lead, breaking completely the line between human and thing; second, displaced senses—'sour wind shoots the eyes' writes wind in taste and 'shoots' for blowing, 'sound of waves small' writes distance in hearing, all unconventional yet precise; third, leaps in time and space—from Maoling to the Han palace, from the eastern pass to the Xianyang road, then to the far Weicheng, the camera keeps moving, ending with the fading of sound like a film dissolving. The colors are intense (green, clear, desolate) yet the mood is bleak—the extreme of Li He's 'cold, gorgeous, strange, beautiful' style.

此诗是李贺笔补造化风格的代表作，艺术上有三绝。其一，移情彻底：铜人本是金属铸像，李贺却令它忆君、流泪、被酸风刺痛眼睛，非人非物之间的界限被完全打破，物我浑然同悲。其二，感官错置：酸风射眸子以味觉写风、以射写吹，波声小以听觉写距离，皆是非常规搭配而极精准，把物理的冷与心理的痛合而为一。其三，时空跳跃：从茂陵写到汉宫，从东关写到咸阳道，再到渭城之远，镜头不断推移，末以声音的消失收束，如电影渐隐。全诗色彩浓烈（碧、清、荒凉）而气氛惨淡，在奇丽的意象中奔涌着深哀。章法上八句分三层：前四句写汉宫遗迹与铜人之去，中二句写途中酸风铅泪，末二句写远去荒凉，层层推进而至无声。李贺以密丽之笔写衰飒之痛，句句用力而气不散，靠的正是频繁换韵造成的节奏切分，这是他歌行体的独门法度。综而言之，《金铜仙人辞汉歌》正是以如此艺术匠心，于尺幅之间见千里之势，言有尽而意无穷，足见作者驾驭语言、熔铸意境之深厚功力，故能历久而不失其动人之处。

Allusions

(1) 'The Liu lad of Maoling' refers to Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che, buried at Maoling. Calling an emperor 'lad' carries a slight tone of disdain, hinting at the impermanence of glory and decline. (2) 'Guest of the autumn wind' uses Emperor Wu's 'Song of the Autumn Wind': 'Joy reaches its height, then sorrow comes; how brief youth, how helpless against age,' meaning even he could not escape death. (3) 'Thirty-six palaces' speaks of the many Han palaces, a round number. (4) 'Earth flower' is moss. (5) The 'dew-holding plate' was cast by Emperor Wu in his search for immortality; the bronze man held the plate to catch dew, which was mixed with jade flakes and drunk for longevity. (6) 'Weicheng' is Xianyang, northwest of Chang'an, by the Wei River.

诗中用典与史实交织，密丽而妥帖。其一，茂陵刘郎指汉武帝刘彻，葬于茂陵；称帝王为郎，语带轻慢，暗含盛衰无常之意。其二，秋风客用汉武帝《秋风辞》欢乐极兮哀情多、少壮几时兮奈老何之意，谓其亦不免老死，英雄终成过客。其三，三十六宫言汉宫之多，为约数，语出班固《西都赋》等；土花即苔藓，写宫殿荒废。其四，承露盘为汉武帝求仙所铸，铜人捧盘承露、和玉屑服之，是求长生的象征，如今盘拆人迁，荒诞的求仙梦一朝破灭。其五，魏官牵车指魏明帝遣官迁徙铜人之事；东关即长安东门；酸风极写离别之惨。其六，渭城即咸阳，在长安西北，渭水经其旁，王维渭城朝雨亦指此地。这些典故并非掉书袋，而是把一段具体史事化为一个关于离别、衰朽与无常的寓言，使个人的去国之情获得了历史的纵深。观《金铜仙人辞汉歌》用典使事之妙，正在于不泥于古而能化用无痕，信手拈来皆成佳境，既增诗境之厚重，又不失自然浑成之趣，非徒摭拾故实以炫博者也。

Commentary

The Song scholar Sima Guang in his Continued Poetry Talk records: 'Li Changji's line 'if heaven had feelings, heaven too would grow old' was thought peerless and unmatched, until Shi Yannian matched it with 'if the moon had no sorrow, the moon would stay round,' which people took as an equal rival.' The Qing scholar Yao Wenxie in his Collected Notes on Changgu called the poem 'every character desolate, every line strange and beautiful.' Wang Qi in his Collected Explanations of Li Changji's Songs said the five characters 'sour wind shoots the eyes' 'could be uttered by none but Changji.'

《金铜仙人辞汉歌》自宋以来便被视为李贺歌行的巅峰，尤以其天若有情天亦老一句见赏。宋人司马光《温公续诗话》载：李长吉歌天若有情天亦老，人以为奇绝无对，曼卿（石延年）对月如无恨月长圆，人以为勍敌，可见此句在宋代已奉为奇绝。清人姚文燮《昌谷集注》评此诗字字凄断、句句奇丽。王琦《李长吉歌诗汇解》特别称赏酸风射眸子五字非长吉不能道，道出李贺炼字之独绝。近人论李贺，多以本诗与《李凭箜篌引》《雁门太守行》并观，视作其色彩与奇想两副笔墨的汇聚。尤为论者所重者，是诗中物我同悲的移情：铜人之泪即是诗人之泪，故国之思与去国之痛浑不可分。这种把个人命运嵌入历史兴亡的写法，使一首咏史小诗具有了超越时代的悲怆力量，也奠定了李贺在唐诗史中奇崛一脉的宗主地位。由古及今，评骘《金铜仙人辞汉歌》者代不乏人，或赏其辞章，或味其情志，虽各有侧重而皆许为名篇，其艺术生命之活跃、在文学史上地位之重要，于此可见一斑。

Prosody

Form Seven-character gexing (yuefu form)七言歌行（乐府体）

Rhyme Rhyme shifts every four lines: the first four lines use the entering-tone Mo rhyme (ke, ji, bi); the next four use the rising-tone Zhi rhyme (zi, shui); the last four use the rising-tone Hao rhyme (dao, lao) interleaved with level tone (liang, xiao). Frequent rhyme shifts make the tone twisted and leaping, matching the turning, rising emotion.四句一换韵：首四句押入声陌韵（客、迹、碧），次四句押上声纸韵（子、水），后四句押上声皓韵（道、老）与平声（凉、小）交错。频繁换韵使音调屈曲跳荡，与情感的辗转起伏相应，是李贺歌行以顿挫救板滞的独门法度。

Tone pattern Beginning with entering-tone rhyme, the syllables are short and abrupt like metal striking stone, fitting the bronze-subject; the middle turns to oblique rhyme, low and choking like sobbing; the closing 'sound of waves small' ends in a faint voice, the echo fading far. The brightness and strength of the whole poem's sound follow exactly the movement of its pictures.入声韵起首，音节短促如金石相击，正合铜人题材之冷硬；中段转仄韵，音调低咽如泣；结句波声小以细声收，余音渐远。全诗音律的明暗强弱，与画面（茂陵—汉宫—东关—咸阳道—渭城）的推移完全同步，声情与文情同其起伏，体现了歌行体尚流转而李贺以密丽驭之的高明。

Reading note The gexing form favors fluency, yet Li He drives it with dense, strange language, every line forceful yet the energy never scatters—relying precisely on the rhythmic cuts produced by frequent rhyme shifts. This method of 'using pauses to rescue stiffness' is Li He's unique rule for the gexing.《金铜仙人辞汉歌》是李贺歌行的巅峰，以铜人辞汉的史事为骨，以物我同悲的移情为魂，以酸风、铅水、天老等奇喻为血肉，开创了冷艳怪丽、笔补造化的诗风。全诗八句，由汉武之逝写到铜人之迁，由宫阙之华写到咸阳道之衰，镜头推移而离恨渐远，终以波声渐小收束，如电影渐隐。其频繁换韵造成的节奏切分、其通感错置的感官写法、其以个人去国之痛嵌入历史兴亡的格局，都使它成为唐代咏史诗中独树一帜的奇作，亦奠定了李贺在奇崛一脉中的宗主地位。要之，《金铜仙人辞汉歌》于格律一道，或严守或权变，皆以协畅诵读、助成意境为归，形式与内容相得益彰，乃其所以传唱不衰之一端。

Line by line

茂陵刘郎秋风客，夜闻马嘶晓无迹。

The Master of Mao Ling, a traveler in the autumn wind; at night the horses seem to neigh, at dawn no trace remains.

葬在茂陵的汉武帝，如今只是秋风中的一位过客；夜里仿佛听到他的车马嘶鸣，天亮却什么踪迹也没有。

Emperor Wu, buried in Mao Ling, is now but a traveler in the autumn wind; at night one seems to hear his horses neigh, and at dawn there is no trace.

茂陵刘郎秋风客，夜闻马嘶晓无迹，是开篇两句中已把盛衰无常的主题立定。茂陵刘郎四字极有分量：茂陵是汉武帝的陵寝，刘郎则以轻佻的郎字称呼一代雄主，这种语带的轻慢并非不敬，而是李贺特有的视角——在永恒的时空面前，再煊赫的帝王也不过是个过客。秋风客用汉武帝《秋风辞》的意象，把他自己也写成了秋风中倏忽即逝的过客，英雄末路的苍凉一言以蔽。次句夜闻马嘶晓无迹，以幻写虚：夜里仿佛听见汉武帝车马的音嘶，天明却踪迹全无，把帝王的赫赫声势压缩成一夜之间的幻觉。闻与无迹一有一无、一实一虚，写尽人事的虚无。这两句先以汉武之死与逝，为后文铜人之迁定下衰飒的基调——连求仙的汉武帝都成了秋风客，那么他留下的铜人又岂能长守故都？起笔之冷，已见长吉本色。

'The Master of Mao Ling, a traveler in the autumn wind; at night the horses seem to neigh, at dawn no trace remains' — the theme of impermanence is established in the very opening. 'The Master of Mao Ling' carries weight: Mao Ling is Emperor Wu's tomb, 'the Master of Liu' addresses a mighty emperor with the familiar 'lad', a slight disrespect not irreverence but Li He's peculiar angle — before eternity's vast time, the most resounding emperor is but a passerby. 'A traveler in the autumn wind' uses the image of Emperor Wu's own 'Song of the Autumn Wind', writing even him as a fleeting traveler in the autumn gale, the desolation of the hero's end in one phrase. The second line writes illusion from vacancy: at night one seems to hear the emperor's chariot, at dawn no trace, compressing the imperial splendor into a night's hallucination. Sound and trace, one present one absent, one real one void, writing to the full the nothingness of human affairs.

画栏桂树悬秋香，三十六宫土花碧。

Painted rails, cassia trees hang with autumn fragrance; the thirty-six palaces are green with moss.

画栏边的桂树依旧悬垂着秋日的香气，汉家三十六座宫殿，都已长满碧绿的苔藓。

Cassia trees by the painted rails still hang with autumn scent; the thirty-six palaces of Han are overgrown with green moss.

画栏桂树悬秋香，三十六宫土花碧，是紧承汉宫遗迹的景物一联，以物是人对反衬兴亡。画栏桂树写宫殿昔日的华美，桂树悬秋香中悬字奇绝——香气本无形，李贺偏说它悬垂，写出秋香凝滞不散、如幕如幔的质感，是通感与拟物的妙用。三十六宫以汉宫之多极言规模，土花碧即苔藓之绿，本是荒废的征象。最耐寻味在碧字的色泽：苔藓的碧绿是鲜艳的、有生机的，偏偏长在废弃的宫殿上，以鲜艳写荒凉，愈美愈惨，是李贺惯用的反差手法——他用浓丽的颜色去涂抹衰朽，使惨淡之事反倒显出一种诡艳的张力。这一联与上前句夜闻马嘶的虚幻呼应：物（桂树、画栏）依旧，人（帝王、宫人）已非，而在物是之中藏着最深的物非——三十六宫已为土花所吞。李贺以冷艳之笔写废墟，正是其诗风独步处。

'Painted rails, cassia trees hang with autumn fragrance; the thirty-six palaces are green with moss' — following on the Han ruins, using things unchanged to set off men gone. 'Cassia trees by the painted rails' the palace's old splendor; the word 'hang' in 'hang with autumn fragrance' is extraordinary — scent is formless, yet Li He says it hangs, writing the autumn fragrance congealed, heavy as a curtain, synesthesia and personification at their finest. 'Thirty-six palaces' the multitude of Han halls; 'green moss' the green growth, the sign of abandonment. Most telling is the color 'green': the moss's green is vivid, alive, growing on the abandoned palaces, writing desolation in bright color — the more beautiful, the more grief, Li He's habitual contrast, daubing decay with lush pigments until the bleak glows with an eerie splendor.

魏官牵车指千里，东关酸风射眸子。

The Wei officials lead the carriage, bound for a thousand li; at the east gate, the acid wind shoots the eye.

魏国的官吏牵着车，要把铜人运往千里之外；出东关时，凄冷的风像针一样刺进眼睛。

The Wei officials lead the carriage, bound a thousand li away; at the eastern pass, the bitter wind pierces the eyes.

魏官牵车指千里，东关酸风射眸子，是叙事转入与情感爆发的关键一联。魏官牵车写强制的迁徙，牵字冷酷，铜人如牲畜般被牵走，毫无自主，暗喻诗人自己被逐出长安的身不由己。指千里写路途之远，故都一去便隔千山。下句东关酸风射眸子是全诗最著名的通感：酸本属味觉，此处用来形容秋风刺骨的尖锐；风本应轻拂，却用射字——如利箭般射入眼眸。五个字里，物理的冷与心理的痛完全合一：铜人（被拟人化的）感受到的不仅是风的寒，更是离别的惨。酸字尤妙，它同时唤醒了人悲极欲哭时鼻腔发酸的生理体验，使无情的物也拥有了有情的痛觉。这一联把史事的冷叙述，瞬间点燃为惊心动魄的伤情，非长吉不能道此七字，王琦之评良有以也。

'The Wei officials lead the carriage, bound for a thousand li; at the eastern pass, the bitter wind shoots the eye' — the turn from narrative to emotional explosion. 'Lead the carriage' the forced migration, the word 'lead' cold, the bronze man led off like cattle, no will of his own, secretly the poet's own being expelled from Chang'an. 'Bound for a thousand li' the distance, the old capital lost behind a thousand mountains. The next line is the poem's most famous synesthesia: 'bitter' belongs to taste, here describing the autumn wind's piercing sharpness; wind should brush, yet 'shoots' — into the eye like an arrow. In five words, physical cold and psychological pain are one: what the bronze man feels is not the wind's chill only, but the agony of parting. 'Bitter' is exquisite, awakening at once the physical experience of the nose stinging when grief is at its peak, giving even the soulless thing the pain of feeling. The cold narrative of history is instantly lit into a shattering grief.

空将汉月出宫门，忆君清泪如铅水。

In vain he carries the Han moon out of the palace gate; remembering his lord, his clear tears run like lead.

只能空自带着那轮汉时的明月走出宫门，怀念旧主，清冷的眼泪像铅水一样流下。

In vain he carries the Han moon out of the palace gate; grieving his old lord, his cold tears flow like lead.

空将汉月出宫门，忆君清泪如铅水，是移情入骨的一联，也是全诗物我同悲的极点。空将二字沉痛至极：铜人被牵离故都，所能带走的唯有一轮汉时的明月——而月本不可带，说将月出宫门，是把无形的乡愁具象为可携带的物件，空字则否定了这一携带的意义，因为月虽在而君已亡、国已迁，徒劳而已。下句忆君清泪如铅水，把铜人彻底拟人：它怀念旧主汉武帝，清泪滚滚。以铅水喻泪，三重巧妙：一合铜人的金属之身，故泪如熔铅，不突兀；二铅性沉重有毒，写出泪的分量与苦楚；三铅色灰暗冰冷，与全诗荒凉色调统一。想落天外而理在其中，是李贺奇喻的典范。这一联把铜人写成了有血有泪的离人，而读者都明白，那离人其实是李贺自己——一个被长安放逐的孤臣，空将汉月（故国之思）出宫门，清泪如铅。物我之界于此彻底消融。

'In vain he carries the Han moon out of the palace gate; remembering his lord, his clear tears run like lead' — the line where feeling is transfused into the bone, the peak where thing and self grieve together. 'In vain he carries' is bitterly heavy: led from the old capital, the only thing he can take is the Han moon — yet the moon cannot be taken; saying he 'carries' the moon out turns the intangible homesickness into a portable object, while 'in vain' negates the meaning of that carrying, for though the moon remains, the lord is dead, the realm moved — all in vain. The next line personifies the bronze man utterly: he grieves his old lord Emperor Wu, his clear tears running. Tears like lead, threefold art: it fits the bronze body, so tears of molten lead are not incongruous; lead is heavy and poisonous, writing the weight and bitterness of the tears; and lead's dull, cold gray matches the poem's desolate palette. The thought roams beyond the sky yet reason holds within, the model of Li He's strange metaphor. The bronze man is written as a being of flesh and tears, yet every reader knows that the parting figure is Li He himself — a lone official exiled from Chang'an, carrying in vain the Han moon (longing for the old realm) out of the gate, cold tears like lead. The boundary between thing and self dissolves.

衰兰送客咸阳道，天若有情天亦老。

Withered orchids speed the parting guest on the Xianyang road; if heaven had feeling, heaven too would age.

枯衰的兰草在咸阳古道上为远行者送别，倘若上天也有感情，它也会因悲伤而衰老。

Withered orchids speed the parting traveler on the Xianyang road; if heaven had feeling, heaven itself would grow old.

衰兰送客咸阳道，天若有情天亦老，是千古传诵的名联，一小一大之间见李贺特有的想象跨度。衰兰送客写送别之景：连道旁的兰草都枯萎衰败，仿佛在为远去的铜人送行——人已无人相送，唯有衰兰；而兰亦衰，则送者与被送者同其命运，物我共悲。咸阳道点明去路，古道上的一片衰草，把离愁写得萧瑟无边。下句天若有情天亦老，由具体的送别一跃而至宇宙：天本是无情、永恒的，诗人却以若有情为前提，逼出亦老的结论。这一假设看似荒诞，却道出一个残酷的真理——唯其无情，故能不老；若天也有情，便也要为人间的悲怆而衰老。把个人的痛楚推给苍天来承担，痛感遂被放大到无边。宋人司马光称其奇绝无对，直到石延年以月如无恨月长圆方勉强对上，可见此句在中国诗史上的孤峰地位。

'Withered orchids speed the parting guest on the Xianyang road; if heaven had feeling, heaven too would age' — the famous couplet, the leap of Li He's imagination between the small and the vast. 'Withered orchids speed the parting guest' the farewell scene: even the orchids by the road have withered, as if seeing the bronze man off — man has none to see him off, only the withered orchids; and the orchids themselves are withered, so sender and sent share one fate, thing and self in common grief. 'The Xianyang road' the road ahead, the faded grass on the ancient way writing the parting sorrow, bleak and boundless. The next line leaps from the specific farewell to the cosmos: heaven by nature is feelingless and eternal, yet the poet, on the premise 'if heaven had feeling', forces the conclusion 'heaven too would age'. The hypothesis seems absurd, yet speaks a cruel truth — precisely because it is feelingless, it does not age; if heaven too felt, it would age with the world's grief. Casting the personal pain onto the very sky, the agony is magnified without bound. Sima Guang called it peerless; only when Shi Yanneng countered with 'if the moon had no grief, the moon would always be full' was a match found — the lonely peak of Chinese poetry.

携盘独出月荒凉，渭城已远波声小。

Carrying the dish, he goes out alone in the desolate moon; Weicheng recedes, the sound of the waves grows small.

铜人捧着承露盘孤零零地离去，月色一片荒凉；渭城渐渐远了，连渭水的波声也变得微弱难闻。

Bearing the dish, he goes out alone beneath the desolate moon; Weicheng recedes, and the sound of the waves grows faint.

携盘独出月荒凉，渭城已远波声小，是结末两句中以景写尽离恨之远。携盘独出写铜人捧着承露盘孤身远去，盘是它唯一的随身之物，也是它与故都最后的联结；独字回应前文的空，天地间只剩一个金属的身影与一轮冷月相伴，孤绝之至。月荒凉以月色写心境，荒凉二字把客观的冷月染上主观的凄怆，是情景合一的妙笔。下句渭城已远波声小，以听觉的渐弱写空间的渐远：渭城（咸阳）越来越远，渭水的波声也越来越微弱，直至消失。这是电影般的拉远镜头、声音淡出的手法——不写心情而离恨无穷，因为声音的消失比任何直抒都更令人怅然。全诗至此戛然而止，而余韵如波声般渐散于荒凉的月色中。李贺以渐隐收束，使一首咏史小诗有了悠长的尾声，也把铜人（亦即诗人自己）的背影永远留在了读者视野的尽头。

'Bearing the dish, he goes out alone beneath the desolate moon; Weicheng recedes, the sound of the waves grows faint' — the closing, writing the far reach of parting through scene. 'Bearing the dish, he goes out alone' the bronze man bearing the dew-plate, his only possession, his last bond with the old capital; 'alone' answers 'in vain' above, the world holding only a figure of metal and a cold moon, utterly forlorn. 'Desolate moon' writes the mood through moonlight, the word 'desolate' staining the objective cold moon with subjective sorrow, the art of scene and feeling one. The next line writes the receding space through the fading sound: Weicheng (Xianyang) grows farther, the sound of the Wei water grows fainter, until it dies away. This is a cinematic pullback, the sound fading out — not writing the grief, yet the parting sorrow is infinite, for the vanishing sound is more desolate than any direct utterance. The poem stops short, and the aftersound disperses like the waves in the desolate moonlight. Li He closes on a fade, giving a short historical poem a long coda, leaving the bronze man — and the poet — forever at the far edge of the reader's vision.

Study

Word focus

酸 The 'sour' (suan) in 'sour wind' is a mark of Li He's word-forging. The cold of wind belongs to touch, yet he uses the taste-word 'sour,' writing both the sharpness of the biting cold wind and hinting at the physical sting in the nose when one is so grieved they near tears. One character bridges sense and emotion—none but a rare talent could utter it. 东关酸风射眸子中的酸字，是李贺炼字的标志，也是中国诗歌通感修辞的典范。风之寒本属触觉，李贺偏用味觉的酸来形容，这绝非随意：其一，酸写出了冷风刺骨的尖锐质感，比单纯的寒更具体、更逼人；其二，酸暗合了人悲极欲哭时鼻腔发酸、眼角涩痛的生理体验，于是无情的秋风与有情的痛觉在此缝合，风仿佛也因离别而酸楚；其三，酸字使铜人（被拟人者）具有了人的感官，物我的界限进一步消融。一个酸字打通了感官与情绪、物理与心理，既写风的冷，更写离的惨。这种以味觉写风、以射写吹的超常搭配，看似险怪，实则精准得可怕，所以王琦评其非长吉不能道。李贺炼字之奇，往往奇在违背常理而直抵本质，酸字正是这路数最凝练的体现，它让一句写风的五个字，承载了整首诗离别的全部痛感。

铅水 The 'lead water' (qian shui): 'clear tears like molten lead' compares tears to melted lead. Its subtlety is threefold: it fits the bronze man's metal body, so it is not abrupt; lead is heavy and poisonous, so it writes the weight and bitterness of the tears; lead is gray, cold, and dark, so it unifies with the desolate tone of the whole poem. A strange metaphor yet true to fact—this is Li He's gift. 忆君清泪如铅水中的铅水，是李贺奇喻美学的集大成者，妙在三层叠加。其一，切合铜人的金属属性：铜人本是铜铸，泪如熔化的铅，材质上毫不突兀，这是比喻成立的物质基础，体现了李贺喻体选择的逻辑严密；其二，铅性沉重而有毒，以此写泪，便不只是悲伤，而是沉甸甸、毒浸浸的苦楚，把泪的分量写到极致；其三，铅色灰暗冰冷，与全诗荒凉、清、碧的冷色调完全统一，使意象在色彩上也浑然一体。更难得的是，这个比喻实现了物我同悲的终极融合——铜人流的是铅水般的泪，那既是金属之泪，也是诗人之泪；读者明知铜人不会流泪，却在这一喻中相信了它的伤痛。想落天外而理在其中，正是李贺区别于寻常险怪诗风的高明处：他的奇，奇得有根、奇得有情。铅水二字，遂成了中国诗歌中最沉痛的一滴泪的代称。

老 The 'grow old' (lao) in 'heaven too would grow old' shows the most daring courage. Heaven is the symbol of eternity, not to be aged; the poet uses 'if it had feelings' as premise to force out the conclusion 'would also grow old.' The supposition seems absurd yet states a cruel truth: precisely because it is without feeling, it does not age. Laying the deepest human pain upon heaven to bear, the sense of pain is magnified without bound. 天若有情天亦老中的老字，是全诗乃至李贺诗中最见胆魄的一个字。天是永恒、不灭的象征，在一切神话与哲学中，天都因其无情而得以长存；诗人却以若有情为前提，逼出一个亦老的结论。这一假设的残酷在于：它反向道出了一个真理——唯其无情，故能不老；若天也有情，便也要为人间的悲怆而衰老。老字在此不是生理的衰老，而是精神被痛苦磨损的隐喻，它把天从高高在上的冷漠者，拉成了与人间同悲的同病者。这个字的力量，在于以一人之痛质问宇宙之本：当个人的离乱之悲大到连天都承载不住时，历史的无常便获得了形而上学般的深度。宋人叹其奇绝无对，正因老字以最朴素的一个字，完成了从具体送别到宇宙悲悯的惊人一跃。它后来成为千古名句，被无数文人化用、对仗，足证这一个老字所打开的审美与哲思空间，远远超出了区区七言的篇幅。