唐 Tang · 诗 Poem
题大庾岭北驿
Inscribed on the Northern Post Station at Dayu Ridge
阳月南飞雁，传闻至此回。
我行殊未已，何日复归来。
江静潮初落，林昏瘴不开。
明朝望乡处，应见陇头梅。
My journey, however, is far from being over; on what day shall I ever come back?
The river lies calm as the tide has just ebbed; the forest grows dim where the miasma never lifts.
Tomorrow, at the place where I gaze back toward my home, I should see the plum trees in blossom on the ridge top.
Meaning
Written while the poet was traveling into exile in the far south, the poem voices the anguish of banishment and homesickness. Noting that even the wild geese turn back at Dayu Ridge — the boundary between the central lands and the tropics — Song Zhiwen laments that his own road south has no end and no date of return. Through the desolate river-and-forest scene and the imagined plum blossoms of tomorrow, grief and a faint hope are blended.
十月里南飞的鸿雁，听说飞到大庾岭就会折回。而我此行的贬谪之路，却遥遥没有尽头，不知何日才能北返归来。江面平静，晚潮刚刚退落；林间昏暗，瘴气弥漫不开。明日翻过岭去再回望家乡的方向，大约能望见陇头绽放的梅花了吧。
Appreciation
[Plain Paraphrase] Flying south in the tenth month, the wild geese are said to turn back at Dayu Ridge; yet the banished poet must press on, with no day of return in sight. The calm river and ebbing tide, the dim forest and unlifting miasma, deepen the loneliness of the southern frontier; and at daybreak, looking back toward home, he hopes to catch sight of the plum blossoms on the ridge. [Structure] The poem moves from the geese — an objective correlative for return — to the self, from feeling to scene, from present reality to imagined tomorrow. [Imagery] Geese, tide, forest, miasma, and plum blossoms form a graded progression of cold and darkness that finally releases a single warm note. The contrast between the geese, which can turn back, and the exile, who cannot, is the structural heart of the poem.
【白话串讲】 宋之问写《题大庾岭北驿》：“阳月南飞雁，传闻至此回”——“我行殊未已，何日复归来”——“江静潮初落，林昏瘴不开”——“明朝望乡处，应见陇头梅”——他题大庾岭——应见陇头梅。 【意象与手法】 以雁之到此即回，反衬己之南行未已、归期难卜；江静潮落、林昏瘴开，写尽岭外风物之荒寒；结以“明朝望乡处，应见陇头梅”于凄恻中寄一脉希望。情景交融。 【情感与主旨】 宋之问写贬谪岭南、途经大庾岭时的思乡之情，是初唐贬谪诗中思乡名作。 【名句点睛】 常考“阳月南飞雁，传闻至此回”以雁反衬南行未已；“明朝望乡处，应见陇头梅”于凄恻中寄希望。
Background
Song Zhiwen (c. 656–c. 712), a leading Early Tang poet from Fenzhou (present-day Fenyang, Shanxi), was paired with Shen Quanqi as 'Shen and Song' for his role in regularizing the tonal patterns of regulated verse. After the Shenlong coup of 705 destroyed the Zhang brothers, whom he had ingratiated himself with, Song was demoted to a post as a military officer in Lianzhou (present-day Luoding, Guangdong). Passing Dayu Ridge — the pass between Jiangxi and Guangdong, also called Mei Ridge for its plum trees, and known in legend as the point where south-flying geese turn back — he inscribed this poem at the post station on the northern side. It remains a classic of Early Tang exile poetry.
《题大庾岭北驿》为初唐诗人宋之问所作五言律诗。宋之问（约656—约712），一名少连，字延清，汾州（今山西汾阳）人，初唐著名诗人，与沈佺期并称「沈宋」，对律诗格律的定型有重要贡献。此诗作于其贬谪岭南途中。武则天晚年，宋之问依附张易之兄弟，神龙政变后张易之伏诛，宋之问被贬为泷州（今广东罗定）参军，远赴岭南，途经大庾岭时题此诗于岭北驿馆。大庾岭在今江西大余与广东南雄交界处，为五岭之一，古来是中原通往岭南的要隘，岭上多梅，故又称梅岭。传说南飞的大雁至此而回，故又有「回雁峰」之称的传说与之相类。诗人以「阳月南飞雁，传闻至此回」起笔，以雁之南飞至此即回，反衬己之被贬岭南、身不由己、归期难卜，思乡之情油然而生。全诗以贬谪之悲与思乡之情交织，写尽岭外风物之荒寒与游子望乡之凄切，是初唐贬谪诗中的名篇，也是宋之问诗「流丽工整、情真意切」风格的代表作。
Art
The poem's craft lies in its use of the wild geese as a foil and in the fusion of feeling with scene. The opening couplet borrows the legend that geese turn back at the ridge: the bird that can return sets off the exile who cannot. The second couplet turns to direct outcry — 'shu wei yi' (by no means ended) stresses the endless road, while the question 'on what day shall I return' makes the uncertainty of homecoming audible. The third couplet shifts to scene: still river, ebbing tide, dim forest, unlifting miasma — one water and one wood, one stillness and one gloom — externalizing the exile's melancholy. The closing couplet returns to imagination: the plum blossoms on the ridge are both a token of home and a herald of spring, and the tentative 'should see' keeps a thread of hope alive within the sorrow.
此诗艺术上以「以雁起兴、情景交融」见长。全诗八句，前半写情、后半写景，而情与景交融无间。首联「阳月南飞雁，传闻至此回」以雁起兴：十月的鸿雁南飞，传说至大庾岭而回，雁尚有知返之日，而诗人贬谪南行，身不由己。颔联「我行殊未已，何日复归来」直抒胸臆：「殊未已」写贬途之漫长无尽，「何日复归来」以问句写归期之渺茫，与首联之雁形成鲜明对照——雁能回，而人不知何日归。颈联「江静潮初落，林昏瘴不开」转写岭外风物：江面平静、晚潮初落，林间昏暗、瘴气弥漫，一片荒寒萧索之景，正映衬诗人贬谪之愁。尾联「明朝望乡处，应见陇头梅」以想象收束：明日翻过岭去，回望乡关之处，大约能望见岭上绽放的梅花吧。梅是乡关的象征，亦是春之先兆，诗人于凄恻之中寄一线希望，结语含蓄蕴藉，情韵悠长。全诗由雁及人、由情及景、由实入虚，章法井然而情真意切，是初唐五律中情景交融的典范。
Allusions
'Yang yue' (the sunny month) is the classical name for the tenth lunar month, from the Erya's gloss 'the tenth month is yang,' and it quietly marks the onset of winter. 'Longtou mei' (ridge-top plum) fuses two traditions: Dayu Ridge itself is called Mei Ridge (Plum Ridge) because its plums bloom in the tenth month, and 'Longtou' originally names the Long Mountains, where the old Music Bureau song 'Song of Longtou' sings of the wanderer with his body adrift in the wilderness. By blending the two, the poet turns a local blossom into a universal emblem of homesickness without any visible seam.
诗中「阳月」「陇头梅」皆含典故与故实。「阳月」为农历十月的别称，典出《尔雅·释天》「十月为阳」，言十月阳气未衰，故称阳月。诗人于阳月南行，正当初冬，与「南飞雁」之候相应，时序之悲已在其中。「陇头梅」一词，兼涉两事：其一，大庾岭上多梅，故又称梅岭，岭南梅花于十月即开，诗人之「应见陇头梅」，正是写岭南风物之特异，亦以梅寄乡思；其二，「陇头」本指陇山（今陕西、甘肃交界），古乐府有《陇头歌辞》「陇头流水，流离山下。念吾一身，飘然旷野」，写游子漂泊之悲，后世诗文多以「陇头」代指乡关。宋之问此用「陇头梅」，将梅岭之梅与陇头思乡之典融合无间，既写眼前所见之梅花，亦寄对乡关的遥望之情，典故活用而不着痕迹，正是初唐诗人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。
Commentary
This poem has been prized for centuries as a model of Early Tang regulated verse in which feeling and scene interpenetrate. The opening couplet is its most celebrated stroke: the geese that can turn back stand in perfect contrast to the exile who cannot, so that homesickness arises without a word of direct statement. 'Shu wei yi' lays bare the endlessness of the banished road, and the question 'on what day shall I return' is at once heavy and helpless. The middle couplet's bleak southern scene — still river, ebbing tide, dim forest, miasma — is the externalization of the exile's sorrow. The ending, imagining the ridge-top plums, is the poem's second stroke of genius: the plum is both a token of home and a harbinger of spring, so that within unrelieved grief a single thread of hope and consolation survives.
这首《题大庾岭北驿》，写尽了贬谪游子于关山万里之外的思乡之情，真切动人。首联以雁起兴，是全诗最巧妙处：「阳月南飞雁，传闻至此回」，十月的鸿雁南飞，传说飞到大庾岭便会折回。雁尚有知返之日、有归程可去，而诗人呢？颔联「我行殊未已，何日复归来」紧承而来，直写己之贬途漫漫、归期难卜——「殊未已」三字，写尽此行的身不由己与遥遥无尽；「何日复归来」的一问，问得沉痛而无奈。雁回人不回，物我对照之间，思乡之情已沛然莫御。颈联转写风物：「江静潮初落，林昏瘴不开」，江面平静、潮水初落，林间昏暗、瘴气不散，这荒寒萧索的岭外景象，正是诗人贬谪之愁的外化。尾联以想象作结：「明朝望乡处，应见陇头梅」，明日翻过岭去，再回望乡关，大约能望见岭上的梅花吧。这「应见」二字，既是对明日所见的一种揣想，更是对乡关的一种遥望与寄托——梅是乡关的象征，亦是春的先兆，于一片凄恻之中，透出一线希望与慰藉。全诗由雁及人、由情及景、由实入虚，思乡之情层层加深，而以含蓄之语收束，正是初唐五律中情景交融、情真意切的名篇。
Prosody
Line by line
阳月南飞雁，传闻至此回。
In the tenth month the wild geese fly south; it is said they turn back upon reaching this ridge.
十月里南飞的鸿雁，听说飞到大庾岭这里就会折返北归。
In the tenth month the wild geese fly south; rumor says they turn back only when they reach this ridge.
首联以雁起兴，是全诗的关键。诗人于贬谪途中经大庾岭，见南飞之雁，听传说中「雁至此回」的故实，不禁触物兴怀：雁飞到此处，尚能折返，回归故地；而自己呢？「阳月」点出时序之悲，十月南行，正当初冬；「传闻至此回」写雁之传说，为下文「我行殊未已」的反衬作铺垫。诗人不直写己之南行，而以雁之能回起兴，物我对照之下，思乡与自伤之情已隐然其中。两句起笔自然，含蓄蕴藉，为全诗奠定了羁旅思乡的基调，是即景起兴、以物写人的妙笔。
The opening couplet raises the wild goose as its motif, the key to the whole poem. On his way into exile the poet crosses Dayu Ridge; seeing the southbound geese and hearing the tale that they turn back here, his heart is stirred: the geese, flying this far, can still turn home; and what of himself? Tenth month marks the season's grief - southward travel in early winter. Rumor says they turn back here sets up the foil for my journey is far from ended below. The poet does not write his own southward journey directly but raises the goose's turning as a motif; in the contrast between bird and self, homesickness and self-pity already lurk. Two lines rise naturally, reserved and pregnant, setting the poem's keynote of exile and longing - a masterly instance of raising feeling through the scene and writing the man through the bird.
我行殊未已，何日复归来。
My journey, however, is far from being over; on what day shall I ever come back?
而我此行的贬谪之路，却遥遥没有尽头，不知何日才能北返归来。
My own journey south is far from ended; I wonder on what day I shall return.
颔联直抒胸臆，与首联之雁形成鲜明对照。「我行殊未已」写己之贬途：雁至此而回，我之行却遥遥未已，「殊未已」三字，既写贬途之漫长无尽，更见其身不由己、欲归不能的无奈；「何日复归来」以问句写归期之渺茫，一「何日」问得沉痛而渺茫，与雁之「至此回」对照，更见其有家难归之悲。两句一写行、一问归，直吐胸臆而不失含蓄，把诗人于关山之外的思乡之情与贬谪之痛，写得真切动人，是全诗情感最直接处。
The second couplet speaks the heart directly, set sharply against the geese above. My own journey south is far from exhausted writes the road of exile: the geese turn here, while my journey stretches on without end - far from exhausted writes both the endlessness of the banishment road and the helplessness of being unable to turn back. On what day shall I return ends in question, asking a homecoming date that is dim and bitter; set against the geese turn here, it sharpens the grief of a homeward barred. One line writes going, one asks return, speaking the heart yet not losing reserve; the longing beyond the passes and the pain of exile are written truthfully and movingly - the poem's most direct emotional point.
江静潮初落，林昏瘴不开。
The river lies calm as the tide has just ebbed; the forest grows dim where the miasma never lifts.
江面平静，晚潮刚刚退落；林间昏暗，瘴气弥漫不开。
The river is still, the tide just ebbing; the woods grow dark, their miasmal haze unbroken.
颈联转写岭外风物，以景写情。「江静潮初落」写江面之平静、潮水之退落，一个「静」字，见江边之空旷寂寥；「林昏瘴不开」写林间之昏暗、瘴气之弥漫，一个「昏」字，见山林之阴翳荒寒。两句一水一林、一静一昏，写出岭南风物特有的荒寒萧索，也暗含贬谪之地瘴疠之区的险恶。诗人不直写愁，而以此荒寒之景写贬谪之愁，景中含情、情以景见，正是「一切景语皆情语」的体现。两句对仗工整、意象苍凉，为尾联的望乡之思作了环境上的铺垫，是情景交融的佳句。
The third couplet turns to scenery beyond the ridge, writing feeling through landscape. The river is still, the tide just ebbing: one word still writes the emptiness and silence of the riverside. The woods grow dark, their miasmal haze unbroken: one word dark writes the shadowed, bleak hills. One line water, one wood; one still, one dark - rendering the peculiar desolation of the Lingnan southland, and hinting at the peril of the miasmic exile lands. The poet does not write grief directly but writes the sorrow of exile through this bleak scenery: feeling lodged in scene, scene revealing feeling - the very truth that all scenery is feeling. The couplet is well matched, its imagery bleak, preparing the closing homesickness environmentally; scenery and feeling fused.
明朝望乡处，应见陇头梅。
Tomorrow, at the place where I gaze back toward my home, I should see the plum trees in blossom on the ridge top.
明日翻过岭去再回望家乡的方向，大约能望见陇头绽放的梅花了吧。
Tomorrow, when I look back toward home from the ridge, I shall perhaps see the plum blossoms blooming on its crest.
尾联以想象收束，于凄恻中寄一线希望。「明朝望乡处」写明日翻过大庾岭，回望乡关之处——岭为南北分界，翻岭之后，中原乡关愈远，故曰「望乡处」，一个「望」字，见游子对乡关的深切回望；「应见陇头梅」写诗人揣想，明日回望之时，大约能望见岭上（陇头）绽放的梅花。「应见」二字，既是揣想，更是寄托——梅是乡关的象征，亦是春之先兆，诗人于贬谪途中的一片凄恻里，借这岭上梅花，寄寓对乡关的遥望与对归期的期许。两句由实入虚、以景结情，含蓄蕴藉，情韵悠长，正是初唐五律中「以景结情」的妙笔。
The closing couplet gathers in imagination, lodging a thread of hope amid desolation. Tomorrow, looking back toward home from the ridge: after crossing Dayu Ridge, the northbound home grows farther still, hence the place of looking homeward; one word look writes the wanderer's deep backward gaze. I shall perhaps see the plum blossoms on the ridge writes the poet's surmise: tomorrow, looking back, he may see the plum blooming on the crest. Perhaps to see is both conjecture and entrusting - plum is the symbol of home and the herald of spring; amid the desolation of exile, the poet entrusts the ridge's plum with his gaze toward home and his hope of return. From the real to the imagined, closing in scenery, reserved and melodious - a masterly early-Tang five-character regulated verse closing in scene.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Xue Daoheng's 'Thinking of Home on Renri' — 'Only seven days into spring, yet two years from home; my return comes after the geese have gone, my longing flowers before the blossoms' — writes the urgency of homesickness through the calendar, and was a celebrated model of the theme in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Song Zhiwen's poem instead opens with the geese turning back at Dayu Ridge and asks 'on what day shall I return,' a question that makes the exile's hopelessness deeper than Xue's. Both poems use geese and season to kindle homesickness; one writes the urgency of the wish to return, the other the despair of the banished road.
薛道衡《人日思归》「入春才七日，离家已二年。人归落雁后，思发在花前」，写羁旅他乡、思归情切，以「人归落雁后」自叹归期尚在雁后，思乡之情发于花前，是南北朝写思归的名篇；宋之问《题大庾岭北驿》则以「阳月南飞雁，传闻至此回」起兴，写雁能回而己难归，「何日复归来」的疑问更见归期之渺茫。两诗同以雁写思归、以时序起兴，一写归心之切、一写贬途之悲，情致相近而格调各异，对读可见古人以雁寄乡思的悠久传统与不同诗境下的艺术处理。
静夜思 Quiet Night Thoughts 李白 · 同写思乡之情，一以月光写举头望月之思，一以雁梅写羁旅望乡之悲，可见思乡诗之两大手法 Both are homesickness poems; one writes it through moonlight and the lifted head, the other through geese and plum blossoms on the road into exile — the two great modes of Chinese homesickness verse.Li Bai's 'Quiet Night Thoughts' — 'I lift my head to the bright moon, I lower it and think of home' — writes universal, word-simple homesickness through moonlight. Song Zhiwen's poem writes homesickness in the specific situation of banishment, through geese and ridge-top plums, its sorrow alloyed with the despair of exile. The one is natural and unadorned, the other exact and ornate; read together they show how the eternal theme of homesickness took two different faces in Tang poetry.
李白《静夜思》「举头望明月，低头思故乡」，以明月起兴，写举头望月、低头思乡的千古乡愁，语言天然、意境浑成，是思乡诗中最普及的名篇；宋之问《题大庾岭北驿》则以贬谪途中见南飞之雁、望岭上之梅，写游子望乡之悲，「明朝望乡处，应见陇头梅」于凄恻中寄一线希望。两诗一以月光写思乡之普遍，一以雁梅写思乡之特定情境；一浑朴自然、一工整流丽，恰成对照，正可见思乡这一永恒母题在唐人笔下各具面目的表达。