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唐 Tang · 文 Prose

滕王阁序

Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng

王勃

Wang Bo

写景Scenic description 怀古Contemplating the past 哲理Philosophical reflection 抒怀Expressing one's heart

豫章故郡，洪都新府。
星分翼轸，地接衡庐。
襟三江而带五湖，控蛮荆而引瓯越。
物华天宝，龙光射牛斗之墟；
人杰地灵，徐孺下陈蕃之榻。
雄州雾列，俊采星驰。
台隍枕夷夏之交，宾主尽东南之美。
都督阎公之雅望，棨戟遥临；

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豫章故郡，洪都新府。
星分翼轸，地接衡庐。
襟三江而带五湖，控蛮荆而引瓯越。
物华天宝，龙光射牛斗之墟；
人杰地灵，徐孺下陈蕃之榻。
雄州雾列，俊采星驰。
台隍枕夷夏之交，宾主尽东南之美。
都督阎公之雅望，棨戟遥临；
宇文新州之懿范，襜帷暂驻。
十旬休假，胜友如云；
千里逢迎，高朋满座。
腾蛟起凤，孟学士之词宗；
紫电青霜，王将军之武库。
家君作宰，路出名区；
童子何知，躬逢胜饯。
时维九月，序属三秋。
潦水尽而寒潭清，烟光凝而暮山紫。
俨骖騑于上路，访风景于崇阿。
临帝子之长洲，得仙人之旧馆。
层峦耸翠，上出重霄；
飞阁流丹，下临无地。
鹤汀凫渚，穷岛屿之萦回；
桂殿兰宫，即冈峦之体势。
披绣闼，俯雕甍，山原旷其盈视，川泽纡其骇瞩。
闾阎扑地，钟鸣鼎食之家；
舸舰迷津，青雀黄龙之舳。
云销雨霁，彩彻区明。
落霞与孤鹜齐飞，秋水共长天一色。
渔舟唱晚，响穷彭蠡之滨；
雁阵惊寒，声断衡阳之浦。
遥襟甫畅，逸兴遄飞。
爽籁发而清风生，纤歌凝而白云遏。
睢园绿竹，气凌彭泽之樽；
邺水朱华，光照临川之笔。
四美具，二难并。
穷睇眄于中天，极娱游于暇日。
天高地迥，觉宇宙之无穷；
兴尽悲来，识盈虚之有数。
望长安于日下，目吴会于云间。
地势极而南溟深，天柱高而北辰远。
关山难越，谁悲失路之人？
萍水相逢，尽是他乡之客。
怀帝阍而不见，奉宣室以何年？
嗟乎！
时运不齐，命途多舛。
冯唐易老，李广难封。
屈贾谊于长沙，非无圣主；
窜梁鸿于海曲，岂乏明时？
所赖君子见机，达人知命。
老当益壮，宁移白首之心？
穷且益坚，不坠青云之志。
酌贪泉而觉爽，处涸辙以犹欢。
北海虽赊，扶摇可接；
东隅已逝，桑榆非晚。
孟尝高洁，空余报国之情；
阮籍猖狂，岂效穷途之哭！
勃，三尺微命，一介书生。
无路请缨，等终军之弱冠；
有怀投笔，慕宗悫之长风。
舍簪笏于百龄，奉晨昏于万里。
非谢家之宝树，接孟氏之芳邻。
他日趋庭，叨陪鲤对；
今兹捧袂，喜托龙门。
杨意不逢，抚凌云而自惜；
钟期既遇，奏流水以何惭？
呜呼！
胜地不常，盛筵难再；
兰亭已矣，梓泽丘墟。
临别赠言，幸承恩于伟饯；
登高作赋，是所望于群公。
敢竭鄙怀，恭疏短引；
一言均赋，四韵俱成。
请洒潘江，各倾陆海云尔。

This was the ancient commandery of Yuzhang, and is now the new prefecture of Hongdu. Its stars are allotted to the Wings and the Chariot, and its earth borders on Mount Heng and Mount Lu. It takes the Three Rivers for its lapels and the Five Lakes for its girdle, controlling the wilds of Jing and drawing Ou and Yue in its train. The glory of its products is the treasure of heaven — the sword-light of Longguang shot over the Ox and the Dipper; the spirits of its soil produce outstanding men, for here Xu Ruzi was once received on the couch of Chen Fan. The mighty prefecture looms like banks of mist, and its brilliant talents stream like stars. Its walls and moats repose on the border between the civilized heartland and the outer tribes, and host and guests are all the finest of the southeast. Governor Yan, of lofty renown, comes from afar with halberds and ceremonial guards; Governor Yuwen of Xuanzhou, of exemplary virtue, sojourns here a while with his curtained carriage. In this ten-day rest from duty, fine friends gather like clouds, and greeted across a thousand li, honored guests fill every seat. Soaring dragons and rising phoenixes — such is the prose of Academician Meng, our master of letters; Purple Lightning and Blue Frost — such is the arsenal of General Wang, our man of war. My father holds office as magistrate in these parts, and on my way to his post I pass through this famous region; what does a mere youth know, to be present at so splendid a farewell feast?

The time is the ninth month, the season belonging to late autumn. The floodwaters have drained away and the cold pools run clear; the misty radiance congeals, and the evening hills turn purple. I drive my carriage along the high highway, seeking beauty in the towering ridges, and come to the long isle of the imperial prince, where I find the old lodge of the transcendent. Layered peaks rear their verdure, piercing the highest clouds; the flying gallery, flushed with flowing crimson, overhangs a bottomless void. Cranes on the sandbars and ducks on the islets exhaust every winding of the shores; halls of cassia and palaces of orchid follow the very contours of the hills.

I open the embroidered door-panels and look down from the carved roof-beams: hills and plains stretch wide enough to fill the eye, while rivers and marshes wind in bewildering profusion. Dwellings crowd the ground — households that dine with bells and tripods; ships and war-jammers choke the ferries, their sterns carved as blue sparrows and yellow dragons. The clouds break up, the rain clears; color floods the heavens, and all is bright. Falling sunset clouds and a lone wild duck fly as one; the autumn waters and the endless sky merge in a single hue. Fishing boats sing in the evening, their echoes dying at the farthest shore of Lake Pengli; migrating geese, startled by the cold, cry out until their calls break off at the banks of Hengyang.

My far-reaching mood has only just unfolded, and my untrammeled spirits take swift wing. Clear pipes sound forth, and a cool wind arises; a fine song, suspended in the air, holds the white clouds still. The green bamboos of the Sui Garden put to shame the wine-cup of Pengze; the scarlet lotuses of the Ye River outshine the writing-brush of Linchuan. The four delights are all present, and the two rarities both combine. I gaze my fill upon the mid-sky and take my pleasure to the utmost in this idle day. High is the sky, vast the earth — I wake to the infinity of the universe; when joy is spent, sorrow comes — I perceive that fullness and decline have their appointed number. I look toward Chang'an below the setting sun, and toward Wu and Kuaiji among the clouds. The land reaches its limit at the deep Southern Sea; the Pillar of Heaven towers high, and the North Star is distant. Ranges and passes are hard to cross — who will pity the man who has lost his way? We meet like duckweed drifting on the water — every one a sojourner in a stranger's land. I yearn for the gates of the imperial palace but cannot behold them; in what year shall I be summoned to the Xuanshi Hall?

Alas! Fortune runs uneven, and the road of fate is full of twists. Feng Tang aged quickly with nothing achieved, and Li Guang could never win his fief. Jia Yi was demoted to Changsha — not because the age lacked a sage ruler; Liang Hong was banished to a bend of the sea — how could the times have lacked enlightened government? What a gentleman relies on is to read the signs of the hour; what a wise man relies on is to accept the decree of fate. Old in years, one's spirit should grow more vigorous — how could one change the heart of a white-haired resolve? Hard-pressed in fortune, one's will should stand all the firmer — never let fall the ambition that rides above the blue clouds. Drinking from the Greedy Spring, one still feels refreshed; stranded in a dried-up rut, one can yet rejoice. The Northern Sea is far indeed, but the whirlwind can carry one there; the eastern corner (the dawn) has been lost, yet the western corner (the dusk) is not too late. Meng Chang was lofty and spotless, yet his longing to serve his country went unfulfilled; Ruan Ji was wild and unbridled — shall I imitate his weeping at the end of the road?

I, Wang Bo, am a man of three-foot humble destiny, a mere scholar. With no way to ask for the tassel of command, I merely match Zhong Jun in his twentieth year; with a heart to throw down the brush for the sword, I admire Zong Que riding the long wind. I cast aside hairpin and tablet, the insignia of office, for the span of a lifetime, yet cross ten thousand li to attend my parents at dawn and dusk. I am no precious tree of the Xie family, yet I am graced with fragrant neighbors as Mencius's mother was. One day I shall wait upon my father's court, privileged to answer like Kong Li; today I lift my sleeves in salute, glad to be drawn up through the Dragon Gate. Since no Yang Yi has appeared to present my 'Lingyun' rhapsody, I can only stroke it and sigh for myself; but having met my Zhong Ziqi, why should I be ashamed to play the tune of 'Flowing Waters'?

Alas! Fair places do not remain, and grand feasts are hard to repeat. The Orchid Pavilion is a thing of the past, and the Zi Marsh lies in ruins. At parting I offer these words — fortunate to receive such kindness at this splendid feast; to climb this height and compose a rhapsody is what I hope for from you, gentlemen. I venture to pour out my humble thoughts and respectfully write this brief preface; one rhyme-word apiece falls to each of you, and a four-couplet poem is already done. Now let each of you pour out a River Pan and a Sea Lu of literary brilliance!

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Meaning

Composed impromptu at a farewell feast on the renovated Pavilion of Prince Teng, this preface moves from praise of the region and the assembled guests through a celebrated vision of the autumn river at dusk, and then inward: the infinity of the universe turns joy to sorrow, and personal misfortune — lost roads, unrecognized talent — deepens it, before the poet pulls himself up to the vow that age and hardship will never bend his will. In form the summit of Chinese parallel prose, in content a young genius's fusing of landscape, philosophy, and self-portrait.

这里是汉代的豫章旧郡，如今是洪州的新设府城。天上的星宿分野属于翼宿、轸宿，地势连接着衡山和庐山。以三江为衣襟，以五湖为衣带，控制着楚地，连接着瓯越。物产的精华是上天的珍宝，宝剑的光芒直射牛宿、斗宿之间；人中的俊杰是大地灵秀之气所钟，徐孺子曾在陈蕃特设的榻上安歇。雄伟的州城像云雾一样罗列，杰出的才俊如繁星般奔驰。城池坐落在华夏与蛮夷交界之处，宴席上的宾客和主人都是东南一带的精英。都督阎公有崇高的声望，仪仗远道而来；宇文刺史有美好的风范，车驾在此暂驻。正值十日一休的假期，好友如云；不远千里前来赴会，高朋满座。文采如腾蛟起凤，是孟学士文章之宗；武艺如紫电青霜，是王将军的兵器宝库。家父在南方做县令，我因探亲路过这有名的地方；我年幼无知，却有幸参加这场盛大的饯别宴会。正当九月，时值深秋。积水消尽，寒冷的潭水清澈见底；烟霭凝聚，傍晚的山峦呈现出紫色。驾着车马行进在高高的道路上，到崇山峻岭中寻访美景。来到滕王长子的旧日长洲，见到仙人般的旧日馆阁。层层山峦耸立着青翠之色，向上直冲九霄；高耸的楼阁涂饰着流动的朱红，向下俯瞰深不见底。白鹤栖息的小洲、野鸭聚集的小岛，极尽岛屿萦回曲折之致；桂树香兰装饰的宫殿，就着山冈的形势而建。推开雕花的阁门，俯视雕刻的屋脊，山原辽阔尽收眼底，川泽迂回令人惊叹。屋舍遍地，多是钟鸣鼎食的富贵人家；船只塞满渡口，尽是青雀黄龙的华丽巨舟。云消雨停，阳光普照天空明朗。晚霞与孤雁一同飞翔，秋水与长天连成一片。渔舟上传来傍晚的歌声，响彻彭蠡湖畔；雁阵因寒意而惊叫，声音在衡阳水滨断绝。登高望远胸怀舒展，飘逸的兴致迅速飞扬。排箫声起清风徐来，细歌凝滞白云为之停留。睢园的绿竹，气势压过彭泽陶渊明的酒樽；邺水边的荷花，光彩照临临川谢灵运的文笔。良辰、美景、赏心、乐事四美俱全，贤主嘉宾二难并陈。放眼长天，尽情游乐在闲暇之日。天高地远，感到宇宙的无穷；兴致已尽悲戚袭来，认识到盈亏盛衰自有定数。遥望长安在落日之下，指点吴会在云海之间。地势尽处南海幽深，天柱高耸北极遥远。关山难以越过，谁来同情迷失路途之人？萍水相逢，都是客居他乡的游子。怀念宫门却不得相见，何时才能像贾谊那样被召到宣室？可叹啊！时运不济，命运多有坎坷。冯唐容易衰老，李广难以封侯。贾谊被贬到长沙，并非没有圣明的君主；梁鸿隐居到海边，难道缺少清明的时代？所依靠的，是君子洞察机微、通达之人安于命运。年纪虽老而志气更加壮盛，怎能在白头时改变初心？处境穷困而意志更加坚定，绝不放弃高远的凌云之志。即使喝了贪泉的水仍觉清爽，身处干涸的车辙中依然欢乐。北海虽远，乘着旋风仍可到达；早晨的时光已经逝去，珍惜傍晚的时光还不算晚。孟尝君高洁，空有报国之情；阮籍纵情狂放，我怎会效仿他穷途恸哭！我王勃，不过是三尺微命、一个书生。无路请缨杀敌，等同终军二十岁时的志向；怀有投笔从戎之心，仰慕宗悫乘长风破万里浪的豪情。舍弃一生的官职俸禄，到万里之外侍奉父母晨昏。虽然不是谢家那样的宝树，却也受到孟母那样的好邻居熏陶。将来有一天趋庭承受教诲，恭敬地陪侍如孔鲤应答；今日捧起衣襟，荣幸地登上龙门。杨得意不逢，只能抚摸凌云之赋而自我叹惜；钟子期既然相遇，奏一曲流水又有什么惭愧？唉！名胜之地不会常在，盛大的宴会难以再有；兰亭盛会已经过去，金谷园林已成废墟。临别之际赠言，有幸承蒙盛大的饯别；登高作赋，是寄望于诸位贤公。我冒昧地竭尽鄙陋的心怀，恭敬地写下这篇短序；每人分韵赋诗，四韵都已写成。请诸位倾洒潘岳之江、陆机之海般的文采吧！

Appreciation

[Overview] The 'Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng' is the supreme masterpiece of Chinese parallel prose: a farewell preface that becomes a survey of geography, a vision of landscape, a meditation on fate, and a self-portrait. [Structure] The piece is built as a spiral. It opens outward — region, stars, guests, talents — then rises through the tower and the view, pauses on the famous pair of lines ('falling sunset clouds and a lone wild duck fly as one'), then turns inward: joy gives way to sorrow, scenery to fate, until the emotional floor is reached at 'who will pity the man who has lost his way?' From that floor the piece rebuilds itself — 'never let fall the ambition that rides above the blue clouds' — and ends in a graceful, conventional bow to the company. [Imagery] The imagery scales from the cosmic (stars allotted to constellations) to the intimate (a lone duck at dusk), and the emotional register scales with it. What makes the piece great is that the turn from joy to sorrow is not a rhetorical device but a genuine movement: the wider the universe appears, the more real the poet's smallness and sorrow feel — and the more heroic his final resolve.

【白话串讲】 “豫章故郡，洪都新府”——王勃写《滕王阁序》。“落霞与孤鹜齐飞，秋水共长天一色”——千古名句。“关山难越，谁悲失路之人；萍水相逢，尽是他乡之客”——“老当益壮，宁移白首之心；穷且益坚，不坠青云之志”——王勃路过滕王阁，即席写下这篇千古奇文，第二年溺水而亡，年仅二十七岁。【意象与手法】全文以骈俪对偶立骨：地理、人物、宴会、登临、感慨、自勉，层层铺陈，大开大合。意象上由实入虚、由外入内——物华天宝、人杰地灵写洪州之胜，层峦飞阁、落霞秋水写阁上之景，天高地迥、关山萍水转写宇宙与身世，老当益壮、桑榆非晚终归于奋起。手法上，对偶工整而气脉贯通，用典密集而融化无痕，铺陈有序而虚实相生，四六句式骈散相间，声情并茂。【情感与主旨】文章由宴游之乐（逸兴遄飞）转入宇宙之思（兴尽悲来），再跌入身世之悲（关山难越、怀才不遇），终以自勉奋起（穷且益坚、桑榆非晚）收束，情感经历了由喜而悲、由悲而昂的三重转折。主旨在于：虽处时运不齐、命途多舛之境，而能不坠青云之志、不效穷途之哭，以昂扬进取的盛唐气度超越个人的失意，抒写了一个天才少年对宇宙人生的深沉感悟与自我期许。【名句点睛】常考『落霞与孤鹜齐飞，秋水共长天一色』的写景之妙（动静相生、水天一色），『老当益壮，宁移白首之心；穷且益坚，不坠青云之志』的励志之意（老而弥壮、穷而弥坚），『天高地迥，觉宇宙之无穷；兴尽悲来，识盈虚之有数』的人生哲思，以及『关山难越，谁悲失路之人；萍水相逢，尽是他乡之客』的身世悲慨，四者并观，方见全文情思之脉络。

Background

Wang Bo (650–676), the foremost of the 'Four Talents of the Early Tang,' wrote the preface in 675, at the age of twenty-five. Banished from the court of Prince Pei after a satirical squib and then nearly executed for killing an official's slave, he had been dragged down with his father, who was exiled to Jiaozhi (modern northern Vietnam). Traveling south to visit his father, Wang Bo passed through Hongzhou (Nanchang) in the ninth month, when Governor Yan Boyu was feasting the guests at his newly rebuilt Pavilion of Prince Teng — a tower first raised by Li Yuanying, the twenty-second son of Emperor Gaozu, and one of the three great towers of the Jiangnan south. Legend has it that Yan intended the preface for his son-in-law's prepared composition, but Wang Bo, uninvited and unhesitating, took up the brush and wrote the whole piece on the spot. The next year Wang Bo drowned crossing the sea and died of shock at twenty-seven, and this preface became his swan song.

《滕王阁序》作于唐高宗上元二年（675年）重阳节前后，是王勃短暂生命中的绝唱。王勃（650—676），字子安，绛州龙门（今山西河津）人，初唐四杰之首，出身儒学世家，祖父王通为隋末大儒，叔祖王绩为隐逸诗人。王勃少年早慧，六岁能文，九岁读颜师古《汉书注》而作《指瑕》纠其失误，十六岁应幽素科及第，授朝散郎，后因戏作《檄英王鸡文》被高宗逐出沛王府，又因擅杀官奴几乎丧命，连累父亲王福畤贬为交趾（今越南北部）县令。上元二年，王勃往交趾省父，途经洪州（今江西南昌），适逢洪州都督阎伯屿重修滕王阁竣工，于九月九日重阳大宴宾僚。滕王阁为唐高祖第二十二子滕王李元婴任洪州都督时所建，故称滕王阁，与湖北黄鹤楼、湖南岳阳楼并称江南三大名楼。相传阎公本欲使其婿吴子章宿构文章以显名，席间假意遍请众宾作序，众皆逊谢，王勃竟不推辞，提笔立就。阎公初闻『豫章故郡』句尚不以为然，及至『落霞与孤鹜齐飞，秋水共长天一色』，瞿然而起，叹曰：『此真天才，当垂不朽矣！』遂成即席赋文的千古佳话。王勃次年渡海溺水，惊悸而卒，年仅二十七岁，《滕王阁序》遂成其绝笔。文中既有应酬颂扬的铺陈，更有『关山难越』的失路之悲与『穷且益坚』的自勉之志，正是这位天才少年一生才情与身世的浓缩。

Art

The piece is the textbook of parallel prose (pianwen) techniques. (1) Parallelism: nearly every couplet is antithetical — the grand 'it takes the Three Rivers for its lapels and the Five Lakes for its girdle' against 'controlling the wilds of Jing and drawing Ou and Yue in its train,' the opposed 'old in years one's spirit should grow more vigorous' against 'hard-pressed in fortune one's will should stand all the firmer.' (2) The four-six rhythm: four-character clauses strike short and hard, six-character clauses flow long and sinuous, and the two lengths alternate like breathing. (3) Allusion used invisibly: more than forty historical and literary references are dissolved into the texture, never displayed. (4) Controlled scale: the piece moves from region to guests, from guests to tower, from tower to view, from view to universe, from universe to self — each step widening until the pivot 'when joy is spent, sorrow comes,' after which the movement reverses and narrows, purposefully, into resolve. (5) Sound: though unrhymed, the parallelism of tones and the sentence-final particles give the prose a tidal cadence.

此文是骈文的典范之作，艺术上集对偶、用典、铺陈、声律之大成。其一是严整工巧的对偶：全文几乎句句成对，有正对如『襟三江而带五湖，控蛮荆而引瓯越』，有反对如『老当益壮，宁移白首之心；穷且益坚，不坠青云之志』，有当句对如『潦水尽而寒潭清，烟光凝而暮山紫』，四六句式错综交替，骈四俪六，蝉联而下。其二是典雅密集的用典：全文用典达四十余处，事典与语典交织，如『龙光射牛斗之墟』用张华、雷焕识剑气事，『徐孺下陈蕃之榻』用陈蕃礼贤下士事，『冯唐易老，李广难封』『屈贾谊于长沙』『窜梁鸿于海曲』一连数典写怀才不遇，典故而能融化无痕，切合身世。其三是宏阔有序的铺陈：由地理（星分翼轸）而物产（物华天宝）而人事（宾主尽东南之美），由远近高下之景（层峦耸翠、飞阁流丹）而人文宴乐，层层推进，大开大合。其四是精妙的章法：全文以登阁所见为经、以情感起伏为纬，由喜（逸兴遄飞）而悲（兴尽悲来、关山难越）而奋（穷且益坚、桑榆非晚），情随景迁、景随情转，最终收于『请洒潘江，各倾陆海』的谦辞，腾挪跌宕而一气贯通。其五是虚实相生：眼前实景与心中情思、用典虚写交错互映，使尺幅之内具万里之势，故被后人奉为骈文极则。

Allusions

The allusions fall into three groups. Geographical and astronomical: the 'Wings and Chariot' are the asterisms governing the region of Yuzhang in classical astrology; the 'sword-light of Longguang' refers to the Zhang Hua and Lei Huan story from the Book of Jin, where two swords unearthed at Fengcheng shot their radiance over the Ox and Dipper; 'Xu Ruzi on the couch of Chen Fan' recalls the Book of the Later Han, where Governor Chen Fan of Yuzhang kept a couch for the hermit Xu Zhi alone. Frustrated talent: Feng Tang, still a gentleman of the palace at ninety; Li Guang, whose ill-lucked fate won him no fief; Jia Yi demoted to Changsha under a sage ruler; Liang Hong driven into hiding by the sea's bend — four consecutive allusions that turn personal disappointment into a pattern of history. Stoic exemplars: Wu Yinzhhi, who drank from the Greedy Spring yet remained incorruptible; the stranded fish of Zhuangzi's 'dry rut'; the North Sea reached by the whirlwind; dawn lost but dusk not too late; Meng Chang's unfulfilled loyalty and Ruan Ji's weeping at the end of the road, cited only to reject him. The close uses Yang Deyi, who recommended Sima Xiangru's rhapsody, and Zhong Ziqi, who alone understood Bo Ya's music — self-pity and gratitude in a breath. All of it is fused into the parallelism 'like salt dissolved in water,' with no seam showing.

《滕王阁序》用典之密之精，堪称骈文之最，约可分三类。其一为地理天文之典：『星分翼轸』谓洪州分野属翼、轸二宿，《汉书·地理志》有分野之说；『龙光射牛斗之墟』用《晋书·张华传》雷焕于丰城掘得龙泉、太阿双剑、剑气上冲牛斗之典，以宝剑之光喻洪州物华天宝；『徐孺下陈蕃之榻』用《后汉书·徐稚传》豫章太守陈蕃特设一榻、专待高士徐孺子之典，赞洪州人杰地灵。其二为历史人物之典，集中于抒怀部分：『冯唐易老』用汉文帝时冯唐白首为郎事，『李广难封』用飞将军李广数奇不封事，『屈贾谊于长沙』用贾谊贬为长沙王太傅事，『窜梁鸿于海曲』用梁鸿隐姓埋名于海曲事，四典连用皆喻才士不遇；『酌贪泉而觉爽』用《晋书·吴隐之传》饮贪泉而不改清节事，『处涸辙以犹欢』用《庄子·外物》涸辙之鲋事，写身处逆境而自守其志。其三为文士宴集之典：『睢园绿竹』用梁孝王睢园宴集事，『邺水朱华』用曹植《公宴诗》『朱华冒绿池』句，『兰亭已矣』用王羲之兰亭修禊事，『梓泽丘墟』用石崇金谷园（梓泽）事，皆写文人盛会的兴衰代谢。结末『杨意不逢，抚凌云而自惜；钟期既遇，奏流水以何惭』，用杨得意荐司马相如、伯牙遇钟子期二典，自伤不遇而又自幸知音。凡此诸典，融化于骈偶声律之中，如盐入水，不见斧凿之痕，正是初唐骈文『用事而不为事使』的最高境界。

Commentary

The piece has been called 'the finest parallel prose in the world,' and the judgment has never been seriously challenged. Han Yu, no lover of ornamental prose, still praised its 'magnificent diction.' Its influence is twofold. As a form, it set the pattern for the tower-record: every later writer who climbed a famous tower and wrote about it wrote, in some sense, under its shadow — Fan Zhongyan's 'Record of Yueyang Tower' is its direct descendant, and the spiritual lineage from 'never let fall the ambition' to 'not to rejoice at external things, not to sorrow for oneself' to 'to worry before the world worries' can be traced line by line. As a text, the famous pair 'falling sunset clouds and a lone wild duck fly as one' — which adapts, and surpasses, Yu Xin's 'falling flowers and jeweled canopies fly as one' — became the archetype of landscape description in the language, quoted by schoolchildren for thirteen centuries. Du Fu's 'your bodies and fame will both perish, while the rivers flow on forever' was written of the Four Talents; this preface is Wang Bo's river.

《滕王阁序》是中国骈文的巅峰之作，被后人推为『天下第一骈文』。就文体史而言，六朝骈文如庾信《哀江南赋》已极工丽，然多绮靡繁缛；王勃此文以初唐四杰的革新精神入骈，以雄浑气象与真情感慨洗去齐梁脂粉气，使骈文由宫廷艳藻回归言志述怀，成为初唐文风转变的里程碑。就思想内容而言，文章超越了一般应酬序文的空洞颂美：『天高地迥，觉宇宙之无穷；兴尽悲来，识盈虚之有数』已将个人感慨升华为对宇宙人生的哲思；『老当益壮，宁移白首之心；穷且益坚，不坠青云之志』『东隅已逝，桑榆非晚』更在失意中焕发出昂扬进取的盛唐气象，故韩愈在《新修滕王阁记》中赞其『壮其文辞』，此后历代文人登阁，无不受此文笼罩。就名句传播而言，『落霞与孤鹜齐飞，秋水共长天一色』化用庾信《马射赋》『落花与芝盖同飞，杨柳共春旗一色』而青出于蓝，成为写景名句的典范，千百年来妇孺能诵。就影响而言，此文确立了后世楼阁记的写法，范仲淹《岳阳楼记》『不以物喜，不以己悲』的襟怀，实与王勃『穷且益坚』的精神一脉相承。王勃年未而立而文垂千古，正应了杜甫『尔曹身与名俱灭，不废江河万古流』的赞誉，《滕王阁序》便是那万古奔流不废的江河。

Prosody

Form Parallel prose (pianwen) in the four-six style, also known as siliu wen骈文（四六骈俪体，亦称四六文）

Rhyme Parallel prose does not rhyme, and this piece carries its rhythm not by end-rhymes but by parallelism and by sentence-final particles (zhi, er, zhe, ye, yi, zai, hu), which rise and fall like breaths; the final line's mention of 'four rhymes already composed' refers to the appended poem, not to the prose itself.骈文不押韵，本文不以韵脚为纲，而以句尾虚字（之、而、者、也、矣、哉、乎）与对仗结构为节奏纽带；偶句多收于平声或仄声，上下联平仄互异、交相错落，形成抑扬顿挫的声律美。文末『一言均赋，四韵俱成』指另作四韵诗，正文主体不押韵，靠骈偶与虚字传神。

Tone pattern The basic units are four-character and six-character clauses in alternation — hence the name four-six style. Four-character clauses strike short and hard ('its stars are allotted to the Wings and the Chariot'), six-character clauses flow long and sinuous ('it takes the Three Rivers for its lapels and the Five Lakes for its girdle'), and seven- and eight-character lines ('falling sunset clouds and a lone wild duck fly as one') are scattered in for breadth. Within each couplet, level and oblique tones alternate; between coupled lines they are opposed, so the whole piece chimes antithetically like struck bronze.句式以四字句、六字句为主，四六交替、奇偶相生，故称四六文。四字句短促有力，如『星分翼轸，地接衡庐』；六字句舒徐宛转，如『襟三江而带五湖，控蛮荆而引瓯越』；七字八字长联间杂其间，如『落霞与孤鹜齐飞，秋水共长天一色』。句中平仄相间、句间平仄相对，长联短联错综，诵读时如潮起潮落，声情与文情相合。

Reading note The beauty of this prose lies not in rhyme but in cadence. The four-six alternation produces a tidal rhythm: short, stamping fours followed by long, undulating sixes, read aloud like waves. The sentence-final particles are the secret of the music — 'zhi' in 'the infinity of the universe' and 'the appointed number of fullness and decline' turns what would be stiff parallelism into a sigh; without them, parallel prose risks the woodenness of a ledger. Han Yu's praise of its 'magnificent diction' is really praise of this union of strictest form with freest feeling: every couplet answers another, yet the whole moves like a single voice.《滕王阁序》是四六骈文的极致，其声律之美不在押韵而在骈偶与顿挫。全文以四字句、六字句为基本句式，四六交错、蝉联而下，故又称四六文：四字句如『星分翼轸，地接衡庐』短促劲健，六字句如『襟三江而带五湖，控蛮荆而引瓯越』舒徐悠长，更有七字、八字的长联（如『落霞与孤鹜齐飞，秋水共长天一色』）间杂其间，长短相济，诵读时如潮水起伏，自有节奏之美。声律上虽不押韵，却讲究平仄相配：每联之内平仄相间，上下联之间平仄相对，如『物华天宝』对『人杰地灵』，『龙光射牛斗之墟』对『徐孺下陈蕃之榻』，抑扬相配，铿锵可诵；句尾善用『之、而、者、也、矣、哉、乎』等虚字收束，一虚一实，顿挫生姿，如『天高地迥，觉宇宙之无穷；兴尽悲来，识盈虚之有数』，虚字将骈句的板滞化为跌宕，情思随声调起伏。全篇句句相对、字字求工，却因情感灌注而不见雕琢之痕，韩愈称其『壮其文辞』，正指这种既工丽又雄壮的声音气象。骈文至王勃，始脱六朝之绮靡而具盛唐之气象，本文即是声律与文气完美结合的标本，千年来一直被奉为骈文诵读的典范。

Line by line

落霞与孤鹜齐飞，秋水共长天一色

Falling sunset clouds and a lone wild duck fly as one; the autumn waters and the endless sky merge in a single hue.

傍晚的晚霞与孤独的野鸭一同飞翔，秋天的江水与辽远的天空连成一片颜色。

The setting sun and a lone wild duck fly together; the autumn waters and the far-off sky blend into one color.

此句为全文写景之最，亦是中国文学史上最负盛名的写景名句之一。其妙处有三：一是动静相生——『落霞』是静中流动的光彩，『孤鹜』是动中孤独的生命，一者自天而下，一者贴水而飞，二者『齐飞』，画面便活了；二是上下相映——秋水在低，长天在高，秋水的碧与长天的青本自难分，一个『一色』写水天一体的澄明空阔，境界为之大开；三是虚实相济——『落霞』『秋水』是实景，而『齐飞』『一色』是眼光的综合与想象的升华，实中见虚。此句本有渊源：庾信《马射赋》有『落花与芝盖同飞，杨柳共春旗一色』，王勃化四物为两物、化工巧为天然，遂成千古绝唱，后世写秋江暮景者多效其体而莫能及。两句十字，写尽了暮秋江天的壮美与寥廓，也是全文由写景转入抒情的枢纽。

This couplet is the finest scenery in the whole preface and one of the most celebrated scenic lines in Chinese literature. Its excellence is threefold. First, motion and stillness interwoven: the sunset glow is flowing light within stillness; the lone duck is a solitary life within motion - one descending from the sky, one skimming the water, and together in flight the picture comes alive. Second, above and below answering: autumn water below, long sky above; the green of water and blue of sky are naturally one, and one color writes the limpid, vast unity of water and sky, the realm opening wide. Third, the real and the imagined fused: sunset glow and autumn water are real, while fly together and one color are the eye's synthesis and imagination's elevation. The line has a source: Yu Xin's Prose on the Horse Shoot says falling flowers fly together with the canopies, willows share one color with the spring banners; Wang Bo reduces four things to two and transmutes craft into nature, making an eternal masterpiece. Later writers of autumn river dusk imitate his form but never reach it. Two lines, ten characters, exhaust the grandeur and vastness of the autumn river-sky, and serve as the hinge from scenery to lyrical statement.

天高地迥，觉宇宙之无穷；兴尽悲来，识盈虚之有数

High is the sky, vast the earth — I wake to the infinity of the universe; when joy is spent, sorrow comes — I perceive that fullness and decline have their appointed number.

天宇高远，大地辽阔，才感到宇宙的无穷无尽；兴致已尽，悲感袭来，才明白盈虚消长自有定数。

Heaven is high, earth far; I feel the boundlessness of the universe. Delight spent, sorrow comes; I know that rise and fall have their appointed measure.

此四句由写景宴乐陡转入深沉的人生哲思，是全文情感的转折点。『天高地迥』承上文『穷睇眄于中天』的纵目远眺而来，在极目远望、逸兴遄飞之际，忽然感到天地之广大、宇宙之无穷，人的渺小与短暂感油然而生；『兴尽悲来』则直写情绪的骤变——欢宴正酣而悲从中来，因为『识盈虚之有数』：盈虚即盈亏盛衰，『有数』即冥冥中自有定数，这是对『时运不齐，命途多舛』的初步觉悟。这四句的深刻处，在于把宴游之乐纳入宇宙人生的坐标中来审视：乐是短暂的，宇宙是无穷的，个人的穷达是有定数的，于是欢乐的底色上便涂上了苍凉。这种由乐入悲的写法，上承王羲之《兰亭集序》『俯仰一世』的感慨，下开苏轼《前赤壁赋》『哀吾生之须臾，羡长江之无穷』的哲思，是六朝以来文人宇宙意识的延续，也是王勃的独到之处——于极欢处见极悲，方能于极悲中奋起。

These four lines turn from feasting and scenery abruptly to deep philosophy, the emotional pivot of the preface. Heaven is high, earth far continues the previous gazing into the mid-sky: in the full sweep of eye and rising elation, one suddenly feels the vastness of heaven and earth, the boundless universe, and the smallness and brevity of man welling up. Delight spent, sorrow comes writes the abrupt change of feeling - the feast at its height, yet grief rising, because I know rise and fall have their appointed measure. Rise and fall means waxing and waning, growth and decline; their appointed measure says destiny in the unseen. This is the first awakening to ill-timed fortune and a course fraught with setbacks. The profundity lies in judging the joy of the feast within the coordinates of cosmos and human life: joy is brief, the universe infinite, personal fortune is foreordained - and over the bright ground of happiness is painted desolation. This movement from joy to grief descends from Wang Xizhi's sigh of a lifetime between one glance in the Orchid Pavilion Preface, and opens into Su Shi's grief for our life's brief moment, envy of the endless Yangtze in his Red Cliff Rhapsody - the continuity of the Six Dynasties scholar's cosmic consciousness, and Wang Bo's own distinction: seeing extreme sorrow in extreme joy, one may rise again from extreme sorrow.

关山难越，谁悲失路之人？萍水相逢，尽是他乡之客

Ranges and passes are hard to cross — who will pity the man who has lost his way? We meet like duckweed drifting on the water — every one a sojourner in a stranger's land.

关山重重难以越过，谁来同情这迷失路途的人呢？像浮萍一样偶然相逢的，都是客居他乡的游子。

Mountain passes and frontiers are hard to cross; who pities the man who has lost his way? Meeting like duckweed on the water, we are all sojourners in a strange land.

此四句直抒身世之感，是全文情感最浓烈处，历来令失意之人同声一叹。『关山难越』既是写实——王勃此行远赴交趾，关山万里；更是象征——仕途坎坷、志不得伸，如同行路之人迷失于重重关山之间。『谁悲失路之人』以反问出之，写尽无人理解的孤独：满座高朋、胜友如云，却无人能悲悯一个失路的天才。『萍水相逢』四字用浮萍随水漂流的意象，写尽人生聚散的无定与客居的漂泊——同是天涯沦落，彼此皆是客子，宴会越欢腾，乡愁与身世之感便越深重。此句与下文『怀帝阍而不见，奉宣室以何年』相接，由身世之感上升为怀才不遇、报国无门之悲，把个人的不幸与时代的不遇融为一体。就艺术言，反问与感叹交错，关山、萍水的意象与情思浑融，骈句而有散文的顿挫，是骈文以情动人的典范，其悲慨之深，直追屈原『路漫漫其修远兮』的求索之叹。

These four lines speak directly of personal lot, the preface's most passionate moment, echoed for ages by every disappointed man. Mountain passes and frontiers hard to cross is both literal - Wang Bo traveling far to Jiaozhi, mountains and passes ten thousand li - and symbolic: an official road rugged, ambition unfulfilled, like a traveler lost among barrier after barrier. Who pities the man who has lost his way is a rhetorical question exhausting the loneliness of being misunderstood: the hall is full of eminent friends, yet none pities a lost genius. Meeting like duckweed on the water uses the image of duckweed drifting to exhaust the uncertainty of gathering and scattering, the wandering of sojourners - all of us fallen on the same shore; the more uproarious the feast, the deeper the homesickness and the sense of lot. The lines join what follows, gazing toward the imperial gate unseen, to rise from personal grief into the sorrow of talent unrecognized, service barred - fusing personal misfortune with the age's unkindness. Artfully, rhetorical question and exclamation alternate; the images of passes and duckweed fuse with feeling; parallel prose yet with the beats of essay - a model of parallel prose moving through feeling, its deep indignation reaching Qu Yuan's long road ahead, far to seek.

老当益壮，宁移白首之心？穷且益坚，不坠青云之志

Old in years, one's spirit should grow more vigorous — how could one change the heart of a white-haired resolve? Hard-pressed in fortune, one's will should stand all the firmer — never let fall the ambition that rides above the blue clouds.

年纪虽老，志气应当更加壮盛，哪里能改变白头之年的初心？处境穷困，意志应当更加坚定，绝不放弃高远的凌云之志。

Old, yet the spirit should grow stronger; how could white hairs alter the heart? Poor, yet the will should grow firmer; never let the lofty, cloud-piercing ambition fall.

此二句是全文的脊梁，也是千百年来激励无数士人的座右铭。就句式言，『老当益壮』与『穷且益坚』对举，『宁移白首之心』与『不坠青云之志』相应，工整之中见跌宕，反问与否定把昂扬之气推到顶点。就意蕴言，王勃此时年仅二十余岁，正遭际坎坷、前路未卜，却以『老』『穷』自警——『老当益壮』化用《后汉书·马援传》『丈夫为志，穷当益坚，老当益壮』，『穷且益坚』直取马援语意，但王勃注入的是对时运不齐、命途多舛的超越：不因年暮而移心，不因穷困而堕志，白首与青云的对照，把个体生命的有限投入理想境界的无限之中。就情感结构言，此句上承『时运不齐』的悲慨，下启『北海虽赊，扶摇可接』的奋起，是全文由悲转昂的枢纽，盛唐昂扬进取的时代精神在此已先声夺人，与『落霞』名句一景一志，双峰并峙。

These two lines are the backbone of the preface and the motto that has steeled scholars for a thousand years. In form: old, yet stronger and poor, yet firmer are set against each other; how could white hairs alter the heart and never let the lofty ambition fall answer each other, parallelism intricate yet sweeping, question and negation pushing spirit to its height. In meaning: Wang Bo is but in his twenties, his course rugged, his future uncertain, yet he takes old and poor as warnings to himself. Old, yet stronger adapts Ma Yuan's maxim from the Later Han Book - a man's resolve, poor yet firmer, old yet stronger; poor yet firmer takes Ma Yuan's words, but Wang Bo infuses a transcendence over ill-timed fortune and a course of setbacks: heart unshaken by age, resolve unbroken by poverty. The contrast of white hairs and cloud-piercing resolve invests the finite individual life with the infinite ideal. In emotional structure: the line rises from the indignation of ill-timed fortune and opens into the resolve, though the northern sea is distant, it can be reached on the whirlwind - the hinge from grief to uplift; the aspiring spirit of the High Tang sounds here before its time, standing twin with the sunset couplet: one scenery, one resolve, two peaks.

Study

Word focus

凝 Congeal — in 'the misty radiance congeals and the evening hills turn purple,' this verb freezes the drifting vapors of dusk into a held, breathless moment; because the light 'congeals,' the hills can settle into their deep purple, the unique color of twilight. Paired with 'drained' in the facing line ('the floodwaters have drained away and the cold pools run clear'), one word empties, the other fills — a classic Wang Bo stroke. 『烟光凝而暮山紫』之『凝』字，是全文炼字的典范。暮色初合，山间雾气与夕光交会，本是动态渐变的自然过程，一个『凝』字却将其写成仿佛凝固的静态——烟气不再飘散，而是凝住、聚拢，如同将整个黄昏的色泽都收摄在一瞬之间；正因『凝』，山色才显出浓重的『紫』，紫色是暖中透冷的暮色，恰是黄昏独有的调子。与对句『潦水尽而寒潭清』的『尽』字相映：『尽』写积水消逝、潭水显出清冽的质感，『凝』写烟光停驻、山色显出浓重的色彩，一消一聚、一清一紫，动词与色彩相互生发。『凝』字还暗含时间感——它把流动的暮光冻结成可凝视的画面，为下文『落霞与孤鹜齐飞』的黄昏名句铺设了凝重的底色。后人评王勃善用一字之炼，此『凝』字足为代表。

齐 Together — the hinge of the most famous line. 'Fly as one' lets the lifeless sunset cloud share the duck's life, and the duck share the cloud's radiance; the word's insistence on simultaneity and shared direction freezes the instant in which sky and water meet, answering the 'single hue' of the line below. Yu Xin's original used a different word; Wang Bo's 'as one' rings brighter and so surpassed it. 『落霞与孤鹜齐飞，秋水共长天一色』之『齐』字，是与『一色』相对仗的句眼，也是全句的灵魂。『齐飞』写晚霞与孤鹜在同一片天际并行飞舞——霞本无生命，因与孤鹜『齐飞』而仿佛有了生命；鹜本凡物，因与落霞同飞而染上绮丽的霞光，二者互相成就，画面由静转动、由平面变立体。若不用『齐』而用『同』『共』，则只写并列而乏动感；『齐』字强调的同时性与同向性，把天光与鸟影在黄昏交汇的刹那定格下来，正与下句『一色』的水天浑融相呼应——天上有霞鹜齐飞，水上有秋水长天同色，上下两个画面合成一个完整的秋江暮景。此字之妙还在于化用而不袭用：庾信《马射赋》『落花与芝盖同飞』用『同』，王勃易为『齐』，音节更响亮，画面更空灵，故能青出于蓝而胜于蓝。

坠 Fall — in 'never let fall the ambition that rides above the blue clouds,' the abstract will is treated as something heavy and aloft that could crash to the ground; the refusal to let it fall gives the vow its ringing force, and set against 'blue clouds' the word measures the distance between aspiration and the dust. 『不坠青云之志』之『坠』字，是全句气骨所系。『志』本抽象，说『不坠』便将其写得如重物悬空、如飞鸟翔天——志若坠，则委顿于地、再无高飞之望；『不坠』二字，把坚守志向的决绝写得掷地有声。『坠』与『青云』相配尤妙：青云在高，志在青云之上，坠落便从青云跌入尘泥，一高一低之间，写尽守住与堕落的悬隔。全句『穷且益坚，不坠青云之志』，前有『穷且益坚』的肯定，后有『不坠』的否定，肯定与否定相激，昂扬之气喷薄而出；『坠』字置于否定词之后，音节短促有力，读来如誓言铿锵。与对句『宁移白首之心』的『移』字相照：『移』写心的动摇，『坠』写志的跌落，二者皆从反面着笔，反衬出操守的坚定。古人论炼字，谓志字须配重字乃见分量，王勃以『坠』配志，千载之下犹闻其声。