PoemBridge
Sign in Browse poems
All poems

唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

送李判官之润州行营

Seeing Off Judge Li on His Way to the Runzhou Camp

刘长卿

Liu Changqing

万里辞家事鼓鼙，今陵驿路楚云西。
江春不肯留归客，草色青青送马蹄。

Ten thousand miles from home he serves the drums of war,
on the Jinling post road, west beneath the clouds of Chu.
The spring on the river will not keep this parting guest;
green, green the grass, seeing off the horse's hooves.
Listen

Meaning

Liu Changqing sees off Judge Li, who leaves home far behind to serve in the military camp at Runzhou. The first couplet fixes the vastness of his journey — ten thousand miles from home, the Jinling post road running west into the cloudy land of Chu; the second makes the spring scenery itself an actor in the parting: the river spring cannot keep the guest, and the green grass seems to speed his horse on. The poem turns a frontier departure into a landscape of pale melancholy.

万里辞家事鼓鼙，今陵驿路楚云西。江春不肯留归客，草色青青送马蹄。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The friend has come ten thousand miles from home to serve under the drums of war; his road runs west from the Jinling post road into the cloudy country of Chu. Spring has come to the river, but the spring will not keep this guest: it lets him go, and the green grass seems to see him off — a green carpet for the horse's hooves. The scenery is lovely and the mood is lonely; spring does its best and still cannot hold him. [Structure] Two couplets, complete and compact: the first states the journey and its direction — from home, toward war, west into Chu; the second shifts to the season and the parting, where the scenery takes over the feeling. The turn from 'drums of war' to 'green grass' is the poem's whole art: the vast distance of a soldier's road crossed with the tenderness of spring. [Imagery] Drums, the post road, the clouds of Chu, river spring, green grass, horse's hooves — the martial and the pastoral are woven together. The spring that 'will not keep' the guest is personified; the grass that 'sees off' the hooves borrows the landscape to voice the poet's own reluctance.

【白话串讲】 刘长卿写《送李判官之润州行营》：“万里辞家事鼓鼙，今陵驿路楚云西”——“江春不肯留归客，草色青青送马蹄”——他送李判官——草色青青送马蹄。 【意象与手法】 “万里辞家事鼓鼙，今陵驿路楚云西”写万里辞家；“江春不肯留归客”写江春不留；结以“草色青青送马蹄”以草色送马蹄写别情。苍茫羁旅。 【情感与主旨】 刘长卿送李判官之作，写万里辞家、事鼓鼙的行役与草色青青送马蹄的别情，是送别诗中的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“万里辞家事鼓鼙，今陵驿路楚云西”写万里辞家；“江春不肯留归客，草色青青送马蹄”以草色送马蹄写别情。

Background

Liu Changqing (c. 726–c. 786), courtesy name Wenfang, a native of Hejian, was a Mid-Tang poet celebrated above all for his five-syllable verse and known to critics as the 'Great Wall of five-syllable poetry.' This seven-syllable quatrain sees off a judicial officer, Li, traveling to the camp at Runzhou in the lower Yangzi region (modern Zhenjiang, Jiangsu). Runzhou's camps guarded the canal and the river approaches, and the journey took the traveler west along the post road into the old land of Chu — the city's name in the first line appears in the source copy with a common graphic variant. Liu Changqing's own career was marked by repeated demotion and exile, which gives his parting poems their characteristic pale, vast melancholy — the blue of distance rather than the gold of High Tang ambition.

《送李判官之润州行营》为唐代诗人刘长卿所作诗。刘长卿（约726—约786），字文房，河间人，唐代诗人，以五言著称。此诗写送别羁旅，为送李判官之作。诗中「万里辞家事鼓鼙，今陵驿路楚云西」写万里辞家事鼓鼙，今陵驿路楚云西；「江春不肯留归客，草色青青送马蹄」写江春不肯留归客，草色青青送马蹄。刘长卿此诗以送别羁旅、草色青青送马蹄写其羁旅之情，苍茫羁旅，是刘长卿诗中的名篇。此篇《送李判官之润州行营》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《送李判官之润州行营》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 art lies in 'vast journey, feeling carried by grass.' Two couplets, two movements: the first opens the space — ten thousand miles from home, the Jinling post road, the clouds of Chu to the west — so that the friend's road stretches to the horizon; the second turns to the season and the parting. The marvel of the second couplet is its personification: 'the spring on the river will not keep this parting guest' gives spring a will, and its refusal reads both as spring's helplessness and the friend's necessity to go; 'green, green the grass, seeing off the horse's hooves' then hands the farewell to the landscape — the grass unrolls like a carpet, speeding the hooves onward. The doubling of the color word makes the green itself seem to move. Vast space in the first couplet, tender motion in the second; the martial opening softened by the pastoral close gives the poem its singular pale-green melancholy.

此诗艺术上以「苍茫羁旅、以草写情」见长。全诗共四句两联，由万里辞家事鼓鼙而江春不肯留归客。起「万里辞家事鼓鼙，今陵驿路楚云西」写万里辞家事鼓鼙：万里辞家事鼓鼙，今陵驿路楚云西；结「江春不肯留归客，草色青青送马蹄」写江春不肯留归客：江春不肯留归客，草色青青送马蹄。全诗以草写情，由万里辞家事鼓鼙而草色青青送马蹄，苍茫羁旅，是刘长卿诗中的名篇。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

The 'drums of war' stand for military service itself — drums being the instrument of campaign and camp — and in one phrase they place the friend's errand in the world of arms. The 'post road' is the imperial courier road, the great artery of travel and exile in Tang poetry; the 'clouds of Chu' name the old land of Chu, whose western skies were proverbial for distance and sorrow in farewell verse. Neither allusion is scholarly; both are the standard coinage of parting, and their force here comes from direction — home to the east, war and Chu to the west — so that geography itself performs the separation. The green grass of parting echoes the old farewell tradition in which the traveler's road is imagined as spread with grass, a last courtesy of the earth he leaves behind.

诗中「万里辞家事鼓鼙今陵驿路楚云西」「江春不肯留归客草色青青送马蹄」等语，皆含典故故实。「万里辞家事鼓鼙今陵驿路楚云西」用鼓鼙之典（鼓鼙写军鼓），写万里辞家事鼓鼙今陵驿路楚云西；「江春不肯留归客草色青青送马蹄」写江春不肯留归客草色青青送马蹄。诗人用鼓鼙之典入诗，不着痕迹，而把送别羁旅之情写得真切可感，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 poem, 'Seeing Off Judge Li on His Way to the Runzhou Camp,' is Liu Changqing's farewell to a judicial officer bound for the military camp, a journey of ten thousand miles from home. The opening couplet fixes the journey's scale and direction — ten thousand miles from home to serve the drums of war, the post road running west beneath the clouds of Chu — and the whole road stretches to the horizon. The closing couplet hands the parting to the season: 'the spring on the river will not keep this parting guest; green, green the grass, seeing off the horse's hooves.' Spring is given a will of its own, and its inability to keep the guest reads at once as spring's regret and the friend's necessity to go; the green grass unrolls like a carpet for the horse's hooves, the landscape itself speeding him on and seeing him off. Martial breadth in the first couplet, pastoral tenderness in the second — the poem's pale melancholy is the mark of Liu Changqing's hand. In twenty-eight characters the vastness of a soldier's road and the tenderness of a spring farewell are fused, which is why this quatrain has been anthologized as a model of the Mid Tang parting poem.

这首《送李判官之润州行营》，是刘长卿写送别羁旅之作，写万里辞家事鼓鼙、江春不肯留归客、草色青青送马蹄之情，苍茫羁旅。起「万里辞家事鼓鼙，今陵驿路楚云西」——万里辞家事鼓鼙，今陵驿路楚云西。写万里辞家事鼓鼙：万里辞家事鼓鼙、今陵驿路楚云西——事鼓鼙、楚云西；结「江春不肯留归客，草色青青送马蹄」——江春不肯留归客，草色青青送马蹄。写江春不肯留归客：江春不肯留归客、草色青青送马蹄——不肯留归客、送马蹄。这「江春不肯留归客，草色青青送马蹄」，是全诗之结：以草色青青送马蹄写其羁旅。全诗苍茫羁旅，以草写情，正是刘长卿诗中的名篇。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-syllable quatrain (qijue) — regulated-style verse诗（七言绝句）
Rhyme The poem rhymes on 'xi' and 'ti,' both in the level-tone qi rhyme group, one rhyme to the end. The level-tone rhyme gives the quatrain its open, lingering cadence, well matched to a journey that runs off into cloudy distance; the two rhymes bracket the poem — the clouds of Chu in the first couplet, the horse's hooves in the last — so that sound and sense end together.此诗为七言绝句，共四句两联。押韵：「西」「蹄」押齐部韵。前两句起、后两句转合，平仄相间，正与写送别羁旅的苍茫羁旅相称，也见其以七绝写羁旅的凝练。
Tone pattern The lines alternate level and oblique tones in the regulated manner, the first couplet broad and slow — its long words ('ten thousand miles,' 'post road,' 'clouds of Chu') stretching the space — and the second couplet quicker and more delicate, the reduplicated color word tripping like hooves. Within twenty-eight characters the cadence moves from vast expanse to tender motion, the regulated form's balance turned to expressive use.句式上，「万里辞家事鼓鼙，今陵驿路楚云西」写万里辞家事鼓鼙，音节苍茫；结「江春不肯留归客，草色青青送马蹄」写江春不肯留归客，音节悠长。全诗音节随情起伏，由苍茫而悠长，正合七绝「凝练」之妙，读来如送别羁旅、草色青青送马蹄之音，苍茫而动人。
Reading note This seven-syllable quatrain is one of Liu Changqing's celebrated farewell poems and a fine example of his 'vast and melancholy' style. Its art lies in 'vast journey, feeling carried by grass': the first couplet opens the space — ten thousand miles, the post road, the clouds of Chu — and the second hands the parting to the scenery. The marvel is 'the spring on the river will not keep this parting guest,' where personification lets the landscape share the poet's reluctance, and 'green, green the grass, seeing off the horse's hooves,' where the pastoral image answers the martial opening. Martial breadth softened by pastoral tenderness — the poem's singular pale melancholy is the mark of Liu Changqing's hand, and it has been anthologized for centuries.此诗为七言绝句，是刘长卿写送别羁旅之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「苍茫羁旅、以草写情」：「万里辞家事鼓鼙，今陵驿路楚云西」写万里辞家事鼓鼙、「江春不肯留归客，草色青青送马蹄」写江春不肯留归客。全诗苍茫羁旅，以草写情。尤为精妙者，是「万里辞家事鼓鼙」用鼓鼙之典；而「草色青青送马蹄」写尽送马蹄，正是刘长卿诗「苍茫羁旅」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《送李判官之润州行营》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

万里辞家事鼓鼙，今陵驿路楚云西。

Ten thousand miles from home he serves the drums of war; on the Jinling post road, west beneath the clouds of Chu.

万里辞家事鼓鼙，今陵驿路楚云西。

Ten thousand li from home, to the drums and war; the post road of Jinling, west of the Chu clouds.

起句写万里辞家事鼓鼙，起笔即见其辞家。「万里辞家事鼓鼙」用鼓鼙之典写万里辞家事鼓鼙，「万里辞家」写万里辞家、「事鼓鼙」写事鼓鼙；「今陵驿路楚云西」写今陵驿路楚云西，「今陵驿路」写今陵驿路、「楚云西」写楚云西。一句写万里辞家事鼓鼙今陵驿路楚云西，以万里辞家事鼓鼙写事鼓鼙、以今陵驿路楚云西写楚云西，写尽万里辞家事鼓鼙、今陵驿路楚云西之情。以家起兴，苍茫而羁旅，是「以家起兴」的妙笔。

The opening line writes 'ten thousand li from home, to the drums and war', the start. 'Ten thousand li from home, to the drums and war' uses the drums allusion — 'ten thousand li from home' the leaving home ten thousand li, 'to the drums and war' the war; 'the post road of Jinling, west of the Chu clouds' — 'the post road of Jinling' the Jinling road, 'west of the Chu clouds' the west of the Chu clouds. One line, rising through home, vast and traveler-like, the start of the departure verse.

江春不肯留归客，

The spring on the river will not keep this parting guest;

江春不肯留归客，

The river spring refuses to keep the returning guest,

此句写江春不肯留归客，是全诗写江春之态的关键。「江春不肯」写江春不肯，「江春」写江春、「不肯」写不肯；「留归客」写留归客，「留」写留、「归客」写归客。一句写江春不肯留归客，以江春不肯写不肯、以留归客写留归客，写尽江春不肯留归客之情。以春写情，苍茫而羁旅，是「以春写情」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 'the river spring refuses to keep the returning guest', the key image. 'The river spring refuses' — the river spring, refuses; 'keep the returning guest' — keep, the returning guest. Writing feeling through spring, vast and traveler-like, the eye of the poem: the spring itself refuses to detain the departing guest — the season drives him on, as if the world will not hold the wanderer.

草色青青送马蹄。

Green, green the grass, seeing off the horse's hooves.

草色青青送马蹄。

the grass so green, it speeds the horse's hooves.

结句写草色青青送马蹄，是全诗立意的落点。「草色青青」写草色青青，「草色」写草色、「青青」写青青；「送马蹄」写送马蹄，「送」写送、「马蹄」写马蹄。一句写草色青青送马蹄，以草色青青写青青、以送马蹄写送马蹄，写尽草色青青送马蹄之情。以蹄写情，苍茫而羁旅，是全诗最动人处，也是「以蹄写情」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 'the grass so green, it speeds the horse's hooves', the poem's landing. 'The grass so green' — the grass, the green; 'speeds the horse's hooves' — speeds, the hooves. Writing feeling through the hooves, vast and traveler-like, the poem's most moving point: the green grass of the riverbank escorts the horse's departure, green and vivid as if urging the journey on — the parting made the sharper by the fair scene.

Study

Word focus

辞家 'Ci jia,' to take leave of one's home — the act that opens the whole poem. Paired with 'ten thousand miles,' the two ordinary words carry the entire weight of the soldier's or wanderer's life: all travel begins in this leaving, and all distance is measured from it. 「辞家」写万里辞家事鼓鼙，是写辞家之态的关键。「万里辞家事鼓鼙」着一「辞家」，写辞家——着一「辞家」，写万里辞家事鼓鼙，见其家之辞。两字写尽辞家之态，是「以词写辞」的妙笔。「辞家」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。
驿路 'Yi lu,' the imperial post road — the great artery of official travel, exile, and farewell in Tang poetry. Naming it places the friend's journey on the empire's own network of roads, stretching west into Chu, and turns a private departure into a movement across the map. 「驿路」写今陵驿路楚云西，是写驿路之态的关键。「今陵驿路楚云西」着一「驿路」，写驿路——着一「驿路」，写今陵驿路楚云西，见其路之驿。两字写尽驿路之态，是「以词写驿」的点睛之词。「驿路」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。
归客 'Gui ke,' the returning guest — here the friend bound for the camp, called a 'guest' in the farewell tradition, one who must always be going back. That spring 'will not keep' this guest makes his departure a fact of the road rather than of choice. 「归客」写江春不肯留归客，是写归客之态的关键。「江春不肯留归客」着一「归客」，写归客——着一「归客」，写江春不肯留归客，见其客之归。两字写尽归客之态，是「以词写客」的点睛之词。「归客」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。
马蹄 'Ma ti,' the horse's hooves — the sound and speed of departure compressed into two characters. The grass 'sees off' the hooves, so the landscape itself speeds the horse on; the word ends the poem in motion, the friend already gone. 「马蹄」写草色青青送马蹄，是写马蹄之态的关键。「草色青青送马蹄」着一「马蹄」，写马蹄——着一「马蹄」，写草色青青送马蹄，见其蹄之马。两字写尽马蹄之态，是「以词写蹄」的点睛之词。「马蹄」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: 'Bright moon, when will you appear?' 苏轼 · 同写羁旅感怀、苍茫旷达，一写人有悲欢离合、一写万里辞家事鼓鼙今陵驿路楚云西，皆于羁旅之中见苍茫 Both write the wanderer's feelings beneath a vast sky; Su Shi finds philosophical breadth in parting, Liu Changqing finds pale melancholy.

Su Shi's 'Prelude to Water Melody' — 'Men have sorrow and joy, parting and reunion; the moon has its dark and clear, its waxing and waning — this has been hard since ancient times' — raises parting to philosophical breadth in a long song lyric. Liu Changqing's 'Seeing Off Judge Li' compresses the wanderer's road into a quatrain — 'ten thousand miles from home he serves the drums of war' and 'green, green the grass, seeing off the horse's hooves.' Su Shi writes parting through reason, Liu Changqing through landscape; one is Song breadth of mind, the other Tang pallor of mood. Read together they show two ways of enduring the same ancient fact of separation.

苏轼《水调歌头·明月几时有》「人有悲欢离合，月有阴晴圆缺，此事古难全」，写羁旅感怀、苍茫旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；刘长卿《送李判官之润州行营》则以「万里辞家事鼓鼙，今陵驿路楚云西」「草色青青送马蹄」写楚云西、送马蹄。两诗同写羁旅感怀、苍茫旷达：一写人有悲欢离合、以悲欢写离合，一写万里辞家事鼓鼙今陵驿路楚云西、以辞家写羁旅；一为苏轼之旷达、一为刘长卿之苍茫，并读正可见诗写「羁旅感怀」的两种笔法，皆于羁旅之中见苍茫。

 八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Eight Beats of Ganzhou Song: 'Facing the pattering evening rain on the river sky' 柳永 · 同写行营凝望、苍茫清丽，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写江春不肯留归客草色青青送马蹄，皆于行营之中见凝望 Both gaze from a river crossing into vast distance; Liu Yong's is clear and lush, Liu Changqing's pale and spare.

Liu Yong's 'Eight Beats of Ganzhou Song' — 'Facing the pattering evening rain on the river sky, one washing clears the autumn' — writes the wanderer's gaze from the river in the lush manner of the song lyric. Liu Changqing's 'Seeing Off Judge Li' — 'the spring on the river will not keep this parting guest; green, green the grass, seeing off the horse's hooves' — writes the same river-crossing gaze in the spare manner of the quatrain. Liu Yong is clear and dense, Liu Changqing pale and spare; the same riverside parting yields two textures — one of autumn rain and red fading flowers, one of spring grass and horse's hooves — together showing the range of the travel poem in Chinese literature.

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」，写行营凝望、苍茫清丽，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；刘长卿《送李判官之润州行营》则以「江春不肯留归客，草色青青送马蹄」「今陵驿路楚云西」写送马蹄、楚云西。两诗同写行营凝望、苍茫清丽：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写江春不肯留归客草色青青送马蹄、以草色写羁旅；一为柳永之清丽、一为刘长卿之苍茫，并读正可见诗写「行营凝望」的两种笔法，皆于行营之中见凝望。