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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

马诗·其五

Horse Poems, No. 5

李贺

Li He

咏物objects 言志aspiration 边塞frontier

大漠沙如雪，燕山月似钩。
何当金络脑，快走踏清秋。

In the great desert the sand is like snow,
Over the Yan Mountains the moon is like a hook.
When will it wear a bridle chased with gold,
And gallop swiftly across the clear autumn?

Listen

Meaning

A fine horse stands in the northern desert beneath a hooked moon, waiting for the day it will be given a gold-fitted bridle and allowed to run. The horse is the poet himself, a man of talent longing to be put to use.

广袤的沙漠里沙白如雪，燕山之上弯月恰似银钩。何时才能戴上镶金的马笼头，在清秋时节纵蹄飞驰。

Appreciation

The first two lines sketch the frontier in two cold strokes: sand white as snow, a moon curved like a sabre, a landscape at once beautiful and armed. The second half turns from scene to voice, and the horse becomes a self-portrait of the poet. The question 'when' carries all the impatience of a gifted man kept idle, while the final gallop across the clear autumn is a burst of energy that exists only in wish. Twenty characters hold a whole career of frustration, and the poem's force comes from how little it explains and how much it withholds.

【白话串讲】 “大漠沙如雪，燕山月似钩”——李贺写马：大漠的沙像雪，燕山的月像钩。“何当金络脑，快走踏清秋”——什么时候配上金笼头，在清秋里快跑？他写马，是写自己怀才不遇。【意象与手法】前两句以“沙如雪”“月似钩”勾勒边塞的清寒辽阔，景中暗藏战地气息；后两句以骏马自喻，由物及人，托物言志。“何当”一问，把期待与不平尽数托出。【情感与主旨】李贺借骏马渴望驰骋沙场，抒写自己虽怀奇才却沉沦下僚、报国无门的愤懑。马即诗人，清秋骋蹄之愿，正是英雄用武之渴。【名句点睛】 “何当金络脑，快走踏清秋”——十四字写尽才士渴望施展抱负的焦灼，是李贺“马诗”组诗中最为激越的一问。

Background

The 'Horse Poems' are a set of twenty-three quatrains by Li He, and this is the fifth. Li He called himself a descendant of the Tang royal house and set his heart on public achievement, but a taboo on his father's name barred him from sitting the highest examinations, and he remained obscure and embittered all his short life. The splendid horse in these poems is a figure for the poet himself.

李贺，字长吉，河南福昌人，唐代宗室远支，世称李昌谷。他七岁能辞章，少年才名藉甚，然因避父讳不得应进士举，一生困顿，仅做过奉礼郎这样的小官，二十七岁便郁郁而终，是中唐极夭折的天才诗人。其诗想象奇诡、辞采瑰丽，好以乐府古题抒写不遇之悲，世称诗鬼，与李白、李商隐并称三李。《马诗》为李贺组诗，共二十三首，皆借马抒怀，此其五为组中最脍炙人口的一篇。诗中以大漠、燕山等边塞意象起兴，借骏马渴望驰骋寄托自己虽有奇才却沉沦下僚、报国无门的愤懑。中唐藩镇割据、边患频仍，士人每以从军边塞为进身之阶，李贺此诗正写尽才士渴望用武、一展抱负的焦灼。更须注意者，李贺身为宗室远支却久沉下僚，其以马自况绝非偶然，马之俊与己之屈，恰成终生不遇的悲剧性反讽，故知此诗不仅是咏物，更是诗人生命困境的浓缩写照，是理解李贺咏物言志诗风与身世之悲的关键之作。

Art

A short piece carrying a large intention. The opening couplet establishes a scene that works as poetic stimulus: the frontier is both a real place and an image of the field where merit is won. The closing couplet shifts from the object to the person who contemplates it, so that description becomes confession. Two lines of landscape and two lines of feeling, with force hidden in the scene and purpose visible in the feeling, give the poem its restrained yet muscular character.

此诗仅二十字而章法完整，前两句写景起兴，后两句托物言志，由物及人，浑然一体。首句「大漠沙如雪」以雪喻沙，状边塞沙白如雪的清寒辽阔；次句「燕山月似钩」以钩喻月，弯月如银钩悬于燕山，景中暗藏战地肃杀之气。两句皆用明喻，设色冷峻，勾勒出一片苍凉雄阔的塞外夜景，为骏马出场铺就苍茫背景。后两句笔锋陡转，「何当金络脑」以问句领起，金络脑指镶金马笼头，象征受重用、被赏识；「快走踏清秋」以骏马在清秋纵蹄飞驰作结，将渴望一展身手的焦灼尽数托出。全诗景情相生，设问奇崛，以马自况，十四字写尽英雄用武之渴。尤为妙者，前二句纯为客观冷景，后二句忽入主体热望，冷热之间张力迸发，短短二十字竟有起承转合之全幅，是李贺以小诗写大悲的至高水平，亦见其乐府小绝不尚铺叙而贵凝缩的独门家数。其以二十字包举起承转合，较之铺陈长篇更难，正见长吉于短章中见雄肆的独绝手段。

Allusions

The Yan Mountains are the northern frontier ranges, long associated with border warfare. The gold-chased bridle is the harness of a prized war horse and stands for the recognition and employment of talent. 'Clear autumn' evokes the season when the air is crisp and horses are strong, the best time for riding and for campaigns.

诗中用典与意象多承前代边塞与咏马传统。「燕山」即燕然山，今蒙古境内杭爱山，东汉窦宪曾在此勒石记功，后世以燕然代指边功，李贺取燕山入诗，暗含立功边陲之想。「金络脑」典出南朝乐府与唐人咏马诗，指华美马具，鲍照《拟古》有「毡带佩双鞬，象弧插雕服」之属，而李白《白马篇》亦写「酒后竞风采，三杯弄宝刀」，以马饰显英武；李贺反以何当设问，写骏马未得金络之憾，实是自伤不遇。「清秋」在唐诗多指慷慨用兵之时，此处清秋既写时令爽朗，亦喻廓清宇内、施展抱负的良机。此外沙如雪化用窦巩、月似钩承前代咏月之喻，皆融化无迹。全诗以马为典身、以边地为典境，将个人沉沦之悲纳入千古英雄失路之叹，故虽短章而典故层深，非浅尝可尽。李贺以边塞与咏马两大传统融铸于此，使个人之悲获得历史与地理的双重纵深，是其咏物诗用典绵密的典型。

Commentary

Read alongside the other pieces in the sequence, such as those on the starving horse and on the legendary Red Hare, this poem shows how completely Li He used horses to write the sorrow of a life without recognition; at his strongest he loses nothing by comparison with the High Tang masters.

李贺《马诗》二十三首，以马喻己，此其五最为后世传诵。明人高棅《唐诗品汇》列李贺为长吉体之宗，谓其「辞尚奇诡，所得颇惊迈」。清人方扶南评马诗组作「借题抒慨，无往不奇」。与李贺并世的韩愈亟赏其才，曾作《讳辩》为之鸣不平，可见其不遇之痛实为社会所共见。就咏马传统而言，自曹魏曹叡《种瓜篇》、唐人杜甫《房兵曹胡马》、白居易《折剑头》以降，咏马多寄托骏骨之思，李贺此诗承其脉而更趋奇崛。近人钱钟书《谈艺录》论长吉诗「比喻之法，行空如天马」，此诗沙如雪、月似钩二喻，正见其以寻常物象翻新奇境的本领。二十字而气象沉雄，足与杜甫《胡马》并峙咏马双璧，亦为后世少年才子抒写怀才不遇之共鸣渊薮，其影响直至龚自珍、毛泽东诸家。要之，此诗以马为镜、以问为刃，将少年才士的抑塞之气凝为千古不磨的壮语，在唐人咏马诗中独标高格。其雄健与幽峭并存，实为一代诗风之缩影。

Prosody

Form Five-character quatrain五言绝句（唐诗·乐府题）

Rhyme The rhyme words are gou ('hook') and qiu ('autumn'), belonging to the level-tone 'you' group of the Pingshui rhyme tables.末句秋字入韵（下平十一尤），前二句散行不对韵

Tone pattern Oblique-tone opening, with the first line entering the rhyme.古绝体，平仄近律而首尾不拘，属歌行化小绝

Reading note In twenty characters the colors are laid on like painting, and the movement runs from setting to feeling; the pivot question in the third line releases a scholar's craving to be employed, and it is the eye of the whole horse sequence.此诗虽列五绝，实带乐府歌行气息。前两句大漠沙如雪、燕山月似钩为对句，平仄大致合律而微拗，恰合李贺险仄之习；后两句何当金络脑、快走踏清秋以散句收束，何当为平仄，快走踏清秋为仄仄仄平平，末句秋字押下平尤韵，一韵独收，声情振起。整体不以严律绳之，而气脉奔放，与其奇崛诗风相应。李贺作诗务去陈言、追求听觉上的涩重与新异，此篇二十字音节顿挫、喻象突兀，读来如闻金戈踏沙，是其五绝中声情最激越者。又，前二句以仄收不对韵，后二句以问起以韵收，声律上先抑后扬，恰与内容由冷景转入热望的节奏同构，是形式与情感高度统一的声律范本。

Line by line

大漠沙如雪，

In the great desert the sand is white as snow; the simile fixes the cold, austere color of the frontier in a single stroke.

广袤的沙漠里沙白如雪，

The great desert's sand is like snow,

起句以大漠起势，空间浩渺，沙白如雪一喻将边塞的清寒与辽阔一并写出。雪本静物，用以拟沙，既状其色白，亦染其冷寂，为全诗铺下苍凉底色。李贺善以冷色调设景，此处不写沙之热烈而写其如雪之寒，正暗合诗人孤峭心绪，亦为后文骏马踏秋的温热渴望蓄势，冷景热心，对照生姿。更可玩味者，大漠与沙如雪的叠写，将一片无声的白色荒寒推到读者眼前，这种以颜色造境的手法，正是长吉体标志性的视觉奇诡，寥寥五字已先声夺人，为后文奇问预留了阔大的边地舞台。

The opening rises through the great desert, the space vast, the metaphor of 'sand like snow' writing the frontier's cold clarity and breadth at once. Snow is originally still, used to figure the sand, both writing its white color and dyeing its cold solitude, laying the desolate groundwork for the whole. Li He is skilled at setting the scene in cold tones, here writing not the sand's heat but its snow-like cold, precisely matching the poet's lonely, steep mood, and storing the groundwork for the later warm craving of the fine horse treading the autumn, cold scene and hot heart, the contrast's charm. The more to be chewed, the double writing of the great desert and the sand like snow, pushing a silent white desolation before the reader's eyes, this craft of creating the realm through color, precisely the Changji style's signature visual strangeness, the few words seizing the ear first, reserving the vast frontier stage for the later strange question.

何当金络脑，

When will it wear the gold-chased bridle? The question turns from scene to feeling: the horse hopes for a discerning master, the poet for an appointment.

何时才能戴上镶金的马笼头，

when shall I wear the golden bridle?

由景入情，笔锋陡转，以何当一问领起全诗的渴望与不平。金络脑象征骏马受重用、得赏识的荣耀，亦是诗人自况抱负的物化。何当二字是全诗诗眼，既含期待，更含久不得遇的焦灼与怨悱，将托物言志的旨归点到即止却力透纸背，李贺咏马组诗之魂于此一问尽显，沉郁奇崛兼而有之。尤为动魄者，何当是虚拟而非现实，意味着金络之愿终属悬想，这种明知不可得而仍痴问的语气，比直抒不遇更见沉痛，恰是李贺将身世之悲化为雄健之愿的至高手笔，读之令人神旺而转生怅惘。

From scene to feeling, the brush turns abruptly, leading with the question of 'when shall' the whole's craving and grievance. The 'golden bridle' symbolizes the fine horse's being put to use, its glory in winning recognition, and is at once the materialized figure of the poet's own ambition. The words 'when shall' are the poem's eye, holding both the expectation and the long-frustrated anxiety and resentment, landing the entrusting-the-will thesis at a touch and yet the force piercing the paper; the soul of Li He's horse-chant series shows itself in this one question, the somber and the strange together. The more heart-striking, 'when shall' is the hypothetical not the real, meaning the golden bridle's wish belongs after all to the hanging imagination, this tone of the mad question while knowing it cannot be got, the more piercing than a plain saying of no meeting, precisely Li He's highest craft of turning the life's grief into the vigorous wish, the reading making the spirit rise and then turn wistful.

快走踏清秋。

To run swiftly over the clear autumn ground closes the poem with an image of release, all bottled energy suddenly given its field.

在清秋时节纵蹄飞驰。

Then I would gallop, treading the clear autumn.

结句以骏马纵蹄踏秋的画面收束，清秋爽朗，正宜驰骋，快走二字写尽渴望舒展的急切。踏字极有力度，将前文的郁积一展而空，然何当所问未答，踏秋之愿终是悬想，故昂藏中仍带怅惘。二十字以问起以想结，景情往复，是李贺将不遇之悲化为雄健之愿的至高手笔。其妙尤在清秋二字，既点明时令之佳，又暗喻廓清宇内、一展抱负的盛世机遇，骏马踏之，便是英雄用武的圆满意象，而这一切终究悬于何当一问之下，使结句在昂扬中仍回荡着未偿之憾，余味最为深长。

The closing line closes in the picture of the fine horse galloping and treading the autumn, the clear autumn bracing, fit for the ride, the words 'gallop' writing to the full the eagerness to be stretched. The word 'tread' the most forceful, unfolding the above's accumulated suppression in one sweep, and yet the question of 'when shall' unanswered, the autumn-treading wish after all a hanging imagination, hence within the lofty bearing still the wistfulness. The twenty words rise in question and close in imagination, scene and feeling turning back, precisely Li He's highest craft of turning the no-meeting grief into the vigorous wish. Its beauty especially in 'the clear autumn', both naming the season's excellence, and secretly figuring the golden age's opportunity to clear the realm and stretch the ambition, the fine horse treading it, is the perfect image of the hero's use, and all this after all hangs on the question of 'when shall', making the closing line, within the soaring, still echo the unfulfilled regret, the aftertaste the most long.

Study

Word focus

如雪 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 以雪喻沙，是李贺设色冷峻的典型笔法。沙与雪本异质，诗人取其色白与质寒之相似，将边塞大漠的辽阔清寒凝于一喻，既写视觉之白，亦写体感之冷，为全诗定下苍凉基调。此喻不着边塞苦寒之常语，而自见奇警，正合长吉体尚奇尚冷的审美，亦与后文清秋踏驰的温热渴望形成冷暖对照。更可注意者，如雪之喻使大漠化静为冷、化热为寒，在读者感官中唤起一种近乎寂灭的辽阔，这种以通感造境的炼字，正是李贺胜于常人的地方，一字之喻已立全篇之骨。

似钩 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 以钩喻月，弯月如银钩悬于燕山，意象精警而暗藏锋芒。钩为兵器之形，此处既写月之弯，亦暗伏边地征战、立功燕然的肃杀之气，使静夜明月平添英武之慨。李贺好以器物喻天象，似钩一喻便将柔月写出刚性，与其诗风之奇崛相表里，并为骏马踏秋的壮怀蓄势。尤为可取者，钩与雪、与后文金络脑、踏清秋形成一条兵器与战争意象的暗线，使看似写景的开篇实则已埋下请缨报国之伏笔，字字皆有归着，可见长吉炼字之密。

何当 The phrase 'when will it' marks the poem's single turn and carries an urgency close to complaint. 何当即何时能够，是全诗转折与诗眼所在。它由前两句的景物描写猛然拉入主体渴望，以问句承载期待与不平双重情绪。二字看似平易，却是托物言志章法的枢纽——景为马设，问为己发，何当未答，则沉沦之悲与用武之渴俱在其中，简净而力重千钧。在中国古典诗歌的设问传统中，何当一类虚词最见吞吐之妙，李贺用此二字，把少年才士急于用世却又无门可入的焦灼凝定为一声悬问，较之直白呼喊更耐寻味，是此诗由景入情、由物及人的关键转捩。