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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

秋思赠远

Autumn Thoughts, Sent to One Far Away

王涯

Wang Ya

当年只自守空帷，梦里关山觉别离。
不见乡书传鴈足，唯看新月吐蛾眉。

Those years I kept my empty curtain alone,
Learning of our parting only in dreams of mountain passes.
No letter from home comes by the wild goose's feet—
I only watch the new moon lift its moth-brow curve.
Listen

Meaning

A wife alone at her empty curtain looks back on years of separation, in which her husband existed for her only in dreams of the mountain passes. Now no letter arrives by wild-goose post; all she can do is watch the crescent moon rise, its slender curve like a woman's eyebrow.

当年只自守空帷，梦里关山觉别离。不见乡书传鴈足，唯看新月吐蛾眉。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] In those years I kept my empty curtain alone; only in dreams of the mountain passes did I feel our parting. No letter from home comes on the wild goose's feet; I only watch the new moon bare its moth-eyebrow curve. [Structure] Two couplets: the first recalls the remembered solitude (empty curtain, mountain-pass dreams), the second turns to the present (no letter, only the crescent moon). The poem's turn is built on one contrast: 'no letter' against 'only the moon'. [Imagery] The poem works by absence - the absent husband, the absent letter - and by substitution: the crescent moon stands in for both the letter that never comes and the wife's own arched brows. This double substitution gives the quatrain its deep, restrained sorrow.

【白话串讲】 王涯写《秋思赠远》：“当年只自守空帷，梦里关山觉别离”——“不见乡书传鴈足，唯看新月吐蛾眉”——他写秋思赠远——唯看新月吐蛾眉。 【意象与手法】 “当年只自守空帷，梦里关山觉别离”写守空帷、梦里别离；“不见乡书传鴈足”写无乡书；结以“唯看新月吐蛾眉”以新月写思念。深婉怀人。 【情感与主旨】 王涯写秋思赠远之作，写守空帷、梦里关山而无乡书可盼、唯看新月吐蛾眉的思念，是写秋思的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“当年只自守空帷，梦里关山觉别离”写守空帷；“不见乡书传鴈足，唯看新月吐蛾眉”以新月写思念。

Background

Wang Ya (c. 764-835), courtesy name Guangjin, was from Taiyuan. A poet and high statesman of the mid-Tang - he served as chancellor under Xianzong - he is remembered in literary history mainly for short lyrics. 'Autumn thoughts, sent to one far away' belongs to the popular quatrain subgenre of the same name, in which a wife (or a poet speaking in a wife's voice) sends her longing to a husband serving at the frontier or in distant office. The 'mountain passes' (guanshan) of the second line mark the absent man as a frontier traveler, so the poem joins the long yuefu tradition of the woman waiting at home.

《秋思赠远》为唐代诗人王涯所作诗。王涯（约764—835），字广津，太原人，唐代诗人。此诗写秋思怀人，为秋日怀人之作。诗中「当年只自守空帷，梦里关山觉别离」写当年只自守空帷，梦里关山觉别离；「不见乡书传鴈足，唯看新月吐蛾眉」写不见乡书传鴈足，唯看新月吐蛾眉。王涯此诗以秋思怀人、唯看新月吐蛾眉写其怀人之情，深婉怀人，是王涯诗中的名篇。此篇《秋思赠远》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《秋思赠远》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《秋思赠远》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 quatrain's craft lies in the antithesis of its second couplet: 'I do not see a letter from home carried by the wild goose's feet; I only see the new moon open its moth-eyebrow curve.' Negation ('no letter') is answered by consolation ('only the moon'), and the two halves share one grammar of watching. The images form a chain of longing: the empty curtain (absence made domestic), the mountain-pass dream (the husband present only in sleep), the wild goose (the letter that does not come), the crescent moon (the one thing that does come). 'Moth-brow' (e mei) is the poem's masterstroke: the crescent's curve and a beautiful woman's arched brows are the same shape, so watching the moon is also a mirror of the wife herself. Nothing is wept; the sorrow stays in the objects.

此诗艺术上以「深婉怀人、以月写情」见长。全诗共四句两联，由当年只自守空帷而不见乡书传鴈足。起「当年只自守空帷，梦里关山觉别离」写当年只自守空帷：当年只自守空帷，梦里关山觉别离；结「不见乡书传鴈足，唯看新月吐蛾眉」写不见乡书传鴈足：不见乡书传鴈足，唯看新月吐蛾眉。全诗以月写情，由当年只自守空帷而唯看新月吐蛾眉，深婉怀人，是王涯诗中的名篇。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

'Yan zu' (the wild goose's feet) alludes to the Han story of Su Wu, detained in the Xiongnu north, who was said to have tied a letter to a goose's foot to send home - hence the wild goose became the standard bearer of letters in Chinese poetry, and 'no letter by goose feet' means complete silence from the absent one. 'Guan shan' (mountain passes) is the classic frontier image of separation from Han yuefu's 'Guan shan yue' onward. 'E mei' (moth eyebrows) - the slender curved eyebrow of a beautiful woman - is a standard metonym for the waiting wife, and the crescent moon is itself called the 'moth-brow moon'. The 'empty curtain' (kong wei) belongs to the emblem of the waiting or abandoned wife from the yuefu and 'Nineteen Old Poems' tradition.

诗中「当年只自守空帷梦里关山觉别离」「不见乡书传鴈足唯看新月吐蛾眉」等语，皆含典故故实。「当年只自守空帷梦里关山觉别离」用关山之典（关山写关塞山岭），写当年只自守空帷梦里关山觉别离；「不见乡书传鴈足唯看新月吐蛾眉」用鴈足之典（鴈足写鸿雁传书），写不见乡书传鴈足唯看新月吐蛾眉。诗人用关山、鴈足之典入诗，不着痕迹，而把秋思怀人之情写得真切可感，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

Wang Ya is a minor figure in the Tang canon, yet this quatrain survives in anthologies as a model of the 'sent to one far away' subgenre, praised for its 'deep and restrained' (shen wan) sorrow. Commentators single out the 'no letter... only the moon' antithesis: the poem refuses to state grief directly, letting it accumulate instead in the objects of watching - the empty curtain, the absent letter, the rising crescent. The double meaning of 'moth-brow' - the moon's curve and the wife's brows - has been admired as a perfect fusion of scene and feeling, typical of the Tang quatrain's economy.

这首《秋思赠远》，是王涯写秋思怀人之作，写当年只自守空帷、不见乡书传鴈足、唯看新月吐蛾眉之情，深婉怀人。起「当年只自守空帷，梦里关山觉别离」——当年只自守空帷，梦里关山觉别离。写当年只自守空帷：当年只自守空帷、梦里关山觉别离——守空帷、觉别离；结「不见乡书传鴈足，唯看新月吐蛾眉」——不见乡书传鴈足，唯看新月吐蛾眉。写不见乡书传鴈足：不见乡书传鴈足、唯看新月吐蛾眉——传鴈足、吐蛾眉。这「不见乡书传鴈足，唯看新月吐蛾眉」，是全诗之结：以唯看新月吐蛾眉写其怀人。全诗深婉怀人，以月写情，正是王涯诗中的名篇。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 Seven-character quatrain (qiyan jueju)诗（七言绝句）
Rhyme Rhymes on the oblique-tone 'zhi' group: li (parting), mei (moth-brow); the second and fourth lines close on this rhyme, standard for the jueju.此诗为七言绝句，共四句两联。押韵：「离」「眉」押支部韵。前两句起、后两句转合，平仄相间，正与写秋思怀人的深婉怀人相称，也见其以七绝写怀人的凝练。
Tone pattern The seven-character lines run long and flowing: a pause after the fourth character in the first line of each couplet, a pause after the second in the second, so the couplets move from slow recollection to suspended watching.句式上，「当年只自守空帷，梦里关山觉别离」写当年只自守空帷，音节深婉；结「不见乡书传鴈足，唯看新月吐蛾眉」写不见乡书传鴈足，音节悠长。全诗音节随情起伏，由深婉而悠长，正合七绝「凝练」之妙，读来如秋思怀人、唯看新月吐蛾眉之音，深婉而动人。
Reading note The jueju form's brevity suits the poem's restraint: four lines, two couplets, one remembered solitude and one present watch. No regulated antithesis is obligatory between the couplets, yet the second couplet's internal balance ('no letter' against 'only the moon') gives it the feel of a half-couplet of longing.此诗为七言绝句，是王涯写秋思怀人之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「深婉怀人、以月写情」：「当年只自守空帷，梦里关山觉别离」写当年只自守空帷、「不见乡书传鴈足，唯看新月吐蛾眉」写不见乡书传鴈足。全诗深婉怀人，以月写情。尤为精妙者，是「梦里关山觉别离」用关山之典；而「唯看新月吐蛾眉」用鴈足之典，正是王涯诗「深婉怀人」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《秋思赠远》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

当年只自守空帷，梦里关山觉别离。

Those years I kept my empty curtain alone; learning of our parting only in dreams of mountain passes.

当年只自守空帷，梦里关山觉别离。

In those years I kept the empty curtain alone; in dreams the mountain passes, waking to the parting.

起句写当年只自守空帷，起笔即见其空帷。「当年只自守空帷」写当年只自守空帷，「当年只自」写当年只自、「守空帷」写守空帷；「梦里关山觉别离」用关山之典写梦里关山觉别离，「梦里关山」写梦里关山、「觉别离」写觉别离。一句写当年只自守空帷梦里关山觉别离，以当年只自守空帷写守空帷、以梦里关山觉别离写觉别离，写尽当年只自守空帷、梦里关山觉别离之情。以帷起兴，深婉而怀人，是「以帷起兴」的妙笔。

The opening line writes 'in those years I kept the empty curtain alone', the start. 'In those years I kept the empty curtain alone' — those years, keeping the empty curtain; 'in dreams the mountain passes, waking to the parting' uses the mountain-pass allusion. Rising through the curtain, restrained and longing, the start of the homesick verse.

不见乡书传鴈足，

No letter from home comes by the wild goose's feet;

不见乡书传鴈足，

No home letter comes, borne on the swan's feet.

此句写不见乡书传鴈足，是全诗写乡书之态的关键。「不见乡书」写不见乡书，「不见」写不见、「乡书」写乡书；「传鴈足」用鴈足之典写传鴈足，「传」写传、「鴈足」写鴈足。一句写不见乡书传鴈足，以不见乡书写乡书、以传鴈足写传鴈足，写尽不见乡书传鴈足之情。以书写情，深婉而怀人，是「以书写情」的点睛之笔。此句以寥寥数语写尽深意，情韵兼胜，正是全诗点睛之笔。其于字句之间暗藏波澜，于平易之中寄寓曲折，尤当反复涵泳，方能得其三昧。

This line writes 'no home letter comes, borne on the swan's feet', the key image. 'No home letter' — no letter from home; 'borne on the swan's feet' uses the swan-foot allusion, the letter carried by the wild swan. Through the letter it writes the feeling, restrained and longing, the point where the waiting's ache shows: no letter, only the new moon.

唯看新月吐蛾眉。

I only watch the new moon lift its moth-brow curve.

唯看新月吐蛾眉。

Only watching the new moon put forth its moth-brow.

结句写唯看新月吐蛾眉，是全诗立意的落点。「唯看新月」写唯看新月，「唯看」写唯看、「新月」写新月；「吐蛾眉」写吐蛾眉，「吐」写吐、「蛾眉」写蛾眉。一句写唯看新月吐蛾眉，以唯看新月写新月、以吐蛾眉写吐蛾眉，写尽唯看新月吐蛾眉之情。以眉写情，深婉而怀人，是全诗最动人处，也是「以眉写情」的点睛之笔。此句以寥寥数语写尽深意，情韵兼胜，正是全诗点睛之笔。其于字句之间暗藏波澜，于平易之中寄寓曲折，尤当反复涵泳，方能得其三昧。

The closing line writes 'only watching the new moon put forth its moth-brow', the poem's landing. 'Only watching the new moon' — watching the new moon; 'put forth its moth-brow' — the slender crescent like a painted moth brow. Through the brow it writes the feeling, restrained and longing, the poem's most moving point: the wife alone, night after night, watching the crescent moon — a figure of longing, waiting for the letter that never comes.

Study

Word focus

空帷 Empty curtain: the bed-curtain of the wife alone - the classic domestic emblem of separation, an absence made visible in the furniture of the marriage chamber. 「空帷」写当年只自守空帷，是写空帷之态的关键。「当年只自守空帷」着一「空帷」，写空帷——着一「空帷」，写当年只自守空帷，见其帷之空。两字写尽空帷之态，是「以词写帷」的妙笔。「空帷」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。
关山 Mountain passes: the frontier image of separation from Han yuefu onward; here the passes appear only in dreams, marking the husband as a distant traveler beyond reach. 「关山」写梦里关山觉别离，是写关山之态的关键。「梦里关山觉别离」着一「关山」，写关山——着一「关山」，写梦里关山觉别离，见其山之关。两字写尽关山之态，是「以词写关」的点睛之词。「关山」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。
乡书 Letter from home: the long-awaited word from the absent one; its absence ('no letter') is the poem's central lack, since even longing must be fed by news. 「乡书」写不见乡书传鴈足，是写乡书之态的关键。「不见乡书传鴈足」着一「乡书」，写乡书——着一「乡书」，写不见乡书传鴈足，见其书之乡。两字写尽乡书之态，是「以词写书」的点睛之词。「乡书」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。
新月 New moon: the crescent whose slender curve is called the 'moth-brow moon'; the one presence that answers the wife's watching when no letter comes. 「新月」写唯看新月吐蛾眉，是写新月之态的关键。「唯看新月吐蛾眉」着一「新月」，写新月——着一「新月」，写唯看新月吐蛾眉，见其月之新。两字写尽新月之态，是「以词写月」的点睛之词。「新月」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

水调歌头·明月几时有 Prelude to Water Melody: When Will the Moon Be Bright? 苏轼 · 同写怀人感怀、深婉旷达，一写但愿人长久、一写当年只自守空帷梦里关山觉别离，皆于怀人之中见深婉 Both long for an absent beloved beneath the same moon - one wishes 'may we long last, and share the moonlight though a thousand li apart', the other watches the new moon with no letter; both meet longing under the moon.

Su Shi's song turns the moon into a bridge across distance - 'though a thousand li apart we share this moonlight's beauty' - consolation through the shared sky. Wang Ya's quatrain makes the same moon a substitute for a letter that never came, consolation without comfort. Read together: one moon, two longings - Su Shi's reaching across distance, Wang Ya's standing still beneath it.

苏轼《水调歌头·明月几时有》「但愿人长久，千里共婵娟」，写怀人感怀、深婉旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；王涯《秋思赠远》则以「当年只自守空帷，梦里关山觉别离」「唯看新月吐蛾眉」写觉别离、吐蛾眉。两诗同写怀人感怀、深婉旷达：一写但愿人长久、以千里共婵娟写思亲，一写当年只自守空帷梦里关山觉别离、以空帷写怀人；一为苏轼之旷达、一为王涯之深婉，并读正可见诗写「怀人感怀」的两种笔法，皆于怀人之中见深婉。

 八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Eight Tones of Ganzhou: On the Drizzling Evening Rain Spreading over the River Sky 柳永 · 同写月下凝望、深婉清丽，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写不见乡书传鴈足唯看新月吐蛾眉，皆于月下之中见凝望 Both gaze into autumn distance with deep, limpid feeling - one faces 'the drizzling evening rain spreading over the river sky', the other watches the new moon for a letter by goose feet; both gaze into autumn distance.

Liu Yong's song is the wanderer's own gaze, turning and turning back toward home; Wang Ya's quatrain is the stay-at-home wife's gaze, turned toward the frontier she cannot see. Both poets let the landscape carry the longing - Liu Yong through the washing rain and pure autumn, Wang Ya through the crescent's moth-brow curve.

柳永《八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天》「对潇潇暮雨洒江天，一番洗清秋」，写月下凝望、深婉清丽，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；王涯《秋思赠远》则以「不见乡书传鴈足，唯看新月吐蛾眉」「梦里关山觉别离」写吐蛾眉、觉别离。两诗同写月下凝望、深婉清丽：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写不见乡书传鴈足唯看新月吐蛾眉、以新月写怀人；一为柳永之清丽、一为王涯之深婉，并读正可见诗写「月下凝望」的两种笔法，皆于月下之中见凝望。