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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

题齐安城楼

Written on the Qi'an City Tower

杜牧

Du Mu

羁旅Life on the road 思乡Homesickness

呜咽江楼角一声，微阳潋潋落寒汀。
不用凭阑苦回首，故乡七十五长亭。

A horn on the river tower sobs out a single note;
the faint sun shimmers down onto the cold sandbar.
No need to lean on the balustrade and gaze back in anguish —
my hometown lies seventy-five long pavilions away.

Listen

Meaning

Climbing the Qi'an city tower at dusk, Du Mu is pierced by a sobbing horn, a dying sun, and a cold sandbar — images of exile. Talking himself out of looking homeward, he counts the distance instead: seventy-five post-road pavilions, an exact measure of how far home lies. The poem turns the precision of arithmetic into the measure of homesickness.

呜咽的江楼号角响起一声，微弱的夕阳映着潋潋的水光，落在寒冷的汀洲上。不必倚着栏杆苦苦回头眺望，家乡还在七十五座长亭之外啊。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] From the tower over the river a horn sobs once; the weak sun shimmers as it sets on the cold sandbar. The poet tells himself not to lean on the rail and look back — home is seventy-five long pavilions away, too far to see. [Imagery] The opening couplet layers sound and sight: the sobbing horn for the ear, the faint sun, glittering water, and cold sandbar for the eye, with the word 'cold' carrying the chill of autumn and exile into touch. Dusk — the hour of homesickness — fuses scene with feeling. [Technique] The second couplet's art is contradiction: 'no need' argues against a 'painful looking back' it confesses. The more he counsels himself not to look, the more we feel the looking. The exact number — seventy-five pavilions, roughly the true distance from Huangzhou to Chang'an — measures longing with the precision of accountancy: the more exact the count, the keener the pain.

【白话串讲】杜牧写《题齐安城楼》：“呜咽江楼角一声，微阳潋潋落寒汀”——“不用凭阑苦回首，故乡七十五长亭”——他算着回故乡要走七十五个长亭——他写思乡。【意象与手法】此诗是杜牧题咏齐安（黄州）城楼的七绝，写登楼远眺时的乡愁。前两句写景：「呜咽江楼角一声，微阳潋潋落寒汀」，呜咽的号角、微弱的夕阳、潋潋的水光、寒冷的汀洲，四个意象叠加，写尽黄昏江楼的苍凉——号角的呜咽似在诉愁，夕阳的微弱正见日暮，寒汀的萧瑟更添秋意，视听交织，情景交融，是历来传诵的名句。后两句抒情：「不用凭阑苦回首，故乡七十五长亭」，写登楼眺望故乡不得，只能自我劝慰——不必倚栏苦望，故乡远在七十五座长亭之外，望也望不到。这两句以「不用」的劝慰写「回首」的深情，以「七十五长亭」的夸张写故乡的遥远，曲折含蓄，把深沉的乡愁写得既明白又委婉。全诗前写景后抒情，景中含情、情中见景，是杜牧七绝中的名作。【情感与主旨】此诗是杜牧任黄州（齐安）刺史时所作，约在唐武宗会昌二年至四年（842-844）之间。杜牧出身京兆杜氏（今陕西西安），本为京城贵胄，却因仕途挫折被外放至黄州、池州等地任刺史。黄州远离京城，地处长江中游，杜牧客居于此，乡愁油然而生。此诗即写其登齐安城楼远眺时的乡愁：黄昏的江楼上，号角呜咽，夕阳西沉，诗人凭栏眺望北方——故乡长安的方向，却只见寒汀暮水，不见长安。于是诗人自我劝慰：「不用凭阑苦回首，故乡七十五长亭」——不必苦苦回望了，故乡在七十五座长亭之外，望也是望不到的。这「不用」二字，看似洒脱，实是深愁；这「七十五长亭」，看似精确，实是遥不可及。诗中既有羁旅漂泊的孤寂，也有对故乡深切的思念，更有仕途失意、身不由己的无奈，是杜牧外放时期乡愁诗的代表作，也是理解其「十年一觉扬州梦」之外另一面心境的重要作品。【名句点睛】常考“呜咽江楼角一声，微阳潋潋落寒汀”以呜咽号角、微阳寒汀写尽黄昏江楼的苍凉；“不用凭阑苦回首，故乡七十五长亭”以“不用”的劝慰写思乡之深。

Background

Du Mu (803–c. 852), courtesy name Muzhi, belonged to the capital's Du clan; his grandfather Du You was chancellor under Dezong and Xianzong. Caught in the Niu–Li factional strife, he was repeatedly posted to the provinces, serving as prefect of Huangzhou (ancient Qi'an, present-day Huanggang, Hubei) from 842 to 844, far from Chang'an on the middle Yangtze. This tower poem belongs to those exiled years and is one of his finest homesickness quatrains; the 'seventy-five long pavilions' matches the real post-road distance from Huangzhou to the capital.

此诗为杜牧任黄州刺史期间所作，约在唐武宗会昌二年至四年（842-844）之间。黄州即今湖北黄冈，古称齐安。杜牧出身京兆杜氏，祖父杜佑是德宗、宪宗两朝宰相，杜牧少年时便以才华知名，但因卷入牛李党争等政治漩涡，仕途并不顺利。会昌二年，杜牧被外放为黄州刺史，远离京城长安，此后又转任池州、睦州刺史，直到晚年才入朝为官。黄州地处长江中游，远离长安数千里，杜牧客居此地，正值壮年而仕途失意，乡愁与羁旅之感油然而生。此诗写其登齐安城楼远眺时的情景：黄昏时分，江楼上号角呜咽，夕阳西沉，诗人凭栏北望故乡长安的方向，却只见寒汀暮水，不见归程，于是自我劝慰：「故乡七十五长亭」。长亭是古代驿道上供行人歇息的亭子，十里一长亭、五里一短亭，「七十五长亭」犹言七十五个驿站，极言故乡之远。据考证，黄州距长安约一千五百里，以古制计约合七十五个驿程，故杜牧所数「七十五长亭」并非虚指，而是对归程的精确计算——越是精确，越见归程之遥、归心之切。此诗是杜牧外放时期乡愁诗的代表，也是其七绝「俊爽」之外「沉郁」一面的体现，与《泊秦淮》《清明》等齐名，展现了杜牧诗歌的丰富面貌。

Art

Four layers of craft. First, superimposed imagery: the sobbing horn (sound), the faint sun, glittering water, and cold sandbar (sight and touch) compress an entire dusk into fourteen characters. 'Sobbing' is the poem's pivot word — it describes the horn and, by transfer, the poet's own stifled grief. Second, the scene is built to breed feeling: dusk is the hour when travelers think of home, and the horn is the wanderer's music of exile. Third, the contradiction between 'no need' and 'painful looking back': the consolation confesses the wound it pretends to heal. Fourth, exact number against unbridgeable distance: seventy-five pavilions is not hyperbole but real mileage — counted, verified, and therefore unbearable. Restraint everywhere: no direct cry of sorrow, yet every image aches.

此诗的艺术特色可从四个层面解析。其一，视听交织的意象叠加。前两句「呜咽江楼角一声，微阳潋潋落寒汀」，连用四个意象：呜咽的号角（听觉）、微弱的夕阳（视觉）、潋潋的水光（视觉）、寒冷的汀洲（触觉），视听交织、情景交融，二十八字中写尽黄昏江楼的苍凉。「呜咽」一词尤妙，既写号角之声，又暗含诗人心中之悲，声情并茂。其二，以景衬情的渲染。号角的呜咽、夕阳的微弱、寒汀的萧瑟，都是为乡愁造境——日暮黄昏正是思乡最切之时，号角呜咽更添羁旅之悲，景物的苍凉与心境的苍凉互相映发。其三，「不用」与「苦回首」的矛盾张力。后两句「不用凭阑苦回首，故乡七十五长亭」，以「不用」的劝慰写「苦回首」的深情——「不用」是自我安慰，正说明「回首」之苦；「苦回首」是实际行为，正见乡愁之深。劝慰与行为之间的矛盾，正是乡愁无法排遣的证明。其四，以精确写遥远的反衬。「故乡七十五长亭」以精确的数字写遥远的距离，七十五座长亭，是诗人数过、算过的归程——越精确，越显其思乡之切；越遥远，越显其归程无望。四重手法层层推进，使这首七绝成为杜牧乡愁诗中最含蓄、最深沉的一首。

Allusions

The poem avoids learned allusion and works through the accumulated associations of its images. The 'horn' is the camp and watchtower instrument whose wail in Tang poetry — as in Li Yi's line about the reed pipe on which all the expeditioners gaze home — means exile. The 'faint sun' and 'cold sandbar' recall Cui Hao's 'At sunset, where is my home? The misty river fills me with grief.' The 'long pavilion' is the classical image of the post road — Yu Xin's 'every five li a short pavilion, every ten a long one' — and Li Bai's 'Where is the road home? Pavilion after pavilion.' 'Leaning on the balustrade' is the stock gesture of one who climbs to look for home. By stacking these time-honored images, Du Mu summons the whole tradition of the wandering poet's homesickness without citing a single text.

此诗的意象与用语深植于中国「羁旅思乡」的文学传统。「呜咽江楼角一声」的「角」指号角，是军营与戍楼常见的乐器，暮色中号角呜咽，正是边塞、江楼诗中常见的声景（如李益「不知何处吹芦管，一夜征人尽望乡」以芦管写乡愁），杜牧以「呜咽」写角声，声情并茂。「微阳潋潋落寒汀」的「微阳」写夕阳，「潋潋」写水光（语出苏轼「水光潋滟晴方好」，此词本写水光荡漾），「寒汀」写水边沙洲，夕阳、水光、寒汀，正是黄昏江景的典型意象，令人想到崔颢「日暮乡关何处是，烟波江上使人愁」的日暮乡愁。「长亭」是古代驿道的经典意象，语出庾信《哀江南赋》「十里五里，长亭短亭」，「七十五长亭」极言故乡之远，暗含「望尽长亭更短亭」的归途之思（李白《菩萨蛮》「何处是归程，长亭更短亭」即用此意象）。「凭阑」也是古典诗词中登临眺望的常见动作（柳永「无言谁会凭阑意」），「凭阑苦回首」写尽登楼望乡的深情。全诗几乎不用典，而以「角声」「微阳」「寒汀」「长亭」「凭阑」这些意象的叠加，调动起读者关于羁旅思乡的全部联想，正是杜牧「以意象传情、以白描写愁」的高妙，也是晚唐七绝「含蓄隽永」风格的体现。

Commentary

The poem has always been prized as the finest of Du Mu's homesickness quatrains. Critics call it 'gentle yet full of thought,' singling out 'seventy-five long pavilions': the exact number, they note, is the secret of its pain — precision replaces rhetoric, and the counted distance makes the distance infinite. Compared with Cui Hao's question 'Where is my home?' or Li Bai's simple lifting of the head to the bright moon, Du Mu's self-consolation 'no need to look back' is the most indirect, and therefore the most heartrending. The seventy-five pavilions also measure more than geography: they gauge the distance between the poet and the capital, between his talent and his unfulfilled career. It is the key to Du Mu's 'melancholy' side — beyond the 'dream of ten years in Yangzhou' — and a model of how a quatrain can write grief through scene, number, and restraint.

此诗历来被推为杜牧七绝中的乡愁名篇，也是唐代「登临思乡」诗中的佳作。历代论者多激赏「呜咽江楼角一声，微阳潋潋落寒汀」的苍凉意境与「故乡七十五长亭」的沉痛：清人评此诗「婉而多思」，近人更指出「故乡七十五长亭」以精确的数字写极远的归程，数字越精确，乡愁越沉重，是「以精确写遥远」的典范。在登临思乡诗史上，此诗的独特价值在于：它把「登楼」与「思乡」结合得十分自然——不是泛泛的乡愁，而是从「呜咽角声」听到乡愁、从「微阳寒汀」看到乡愁、从「七十五长亭」数到乡愁的具体可感的乡愁。相较于崔颢「日暮乡关何处是」的发问、李白「举头望明月」的直白，此诗以「不用凭阑苦回首」的自我劝慰写乡愁，更见曲折含蓄。此诗也反映了杜牧外放时期的心境：他出身贵胄、怀抱大才，却沉沦州县，那「七十五长亭」的距离，不仅是地理的距离，更是他与京城、与理想仕途的距离。对于今日读者，此诗是理解杜牧「沉郁」一面的钥匙，也是学习七绝「以景写情、以数字写愁」艺术的范本——二十八字间，角声呜咽，乡愁绵长，正是晚唐诗歌「夕阳无限好，只是近黄昏」式的苍凉。

Prosody

Form Seven-character quatrain (qijue)七言绝句（平起首句不入韵）

Rhyme First line unrhymed; the poem rhymes on ting ('sandbar') and ting ('pavilion'), both in the level-tone 9-qing rhyme group. The clear, prolonged rhyme chimes with the cold river scene.押下平九青韵，韵脚为「汀」「亭」。首句「声」字平声不入韵，属首句不入韵之格。韵脚「汀」「亭」皆属青部，韵音清远悠长，与「寒汀」「长亭」的清冷意境相谐。

Tone pattern The level-tone opening falls into the hush of dusk; line three turns on the strained 'bitter looking back'; line four settles into a long, level close, the rhyme drawn out like a sigh over seventy-five pavilions.呜咽江楼角一声，平仄平平仄仄平；微阳潋潋落寒汀，平平仄仄仄平平；不用凭阑苦回首，仄仄平平仄平仄；故乡七十五长亭，仄平仄仄仄平平。全诗平仄大体合于七绝格律，第三句「不用凭阑苦回首」以「仄平仄」的拗峭收束，正见「苦回首」的哽咽之音；末句以平声收束，余韵悠长，正应「七十五长亭」的绵长乡愁。

Reading note A level-opening, first-line-unrhymed qijue in the qing rhyme. The four lines divide into scene and feeling: the low, heavy music of the first couplet's dusk gives way to the strained turn of 'no need' and the drawn-out cadence of the final count. Du Mu's quatrains are famed for briskness, but this one is all melancholy — sound and feeling move in step.此诗是平起首句不入韵的七言绝句，押平声青韵，格律大体严整。全诗四句两层：前两句写景，以「呜咽」「微阳」「寒汀」的苍凉意象营造黄昏江楼的氛围，音节低沉；后两句抒情，以「不用凭阑苦回首」的拗峭与「故乡七十五长亭」的平缓形成对照——「苦回首」的拗峭如哽咽，而「七十五长亭」的平缓如绵长的叹息。声调的安排与情感完全同步：写景的低沉、劝慰的拗峭、望远的绵长，层层推进。诵读此诗，宜以低沉的语调读前两句的苍凉景致，以婉转的语调读「不用凭阑苦回首」的劝慰，以绵长的语调读「故乡七十五长亭」的遥望，使乡愁在声调中绵延不尽。杜牧七绝以「俊爽」著称，此诗却以「沉郁」见长，正是其七绝风格的另一种呈现，也是晚唐「夕阳」诗境的代表。

Line by line

呜咽江楼角一声，微阳潋潋落寒汀。

A horn on the river tower sobs out a single note; the faint sun shimmers down onto the cold sandbar.

呜咽的江楼号角响起一声，微弱的夕阳映着潋潋的水光，落在寒冷的汀洲上。

One sobbing note of the river-tower horn; the faint sun, rippling light, sets on the cold sandbar.

起句以对仗写黄昏江楼的苍凉，视听交织，是历来传诵的名句。「呜咽江楼角一声」写听觉——江楼上的号角呜咽着响了一声，一个「呜咽」写角声的悲凉，仿佛那号角也在诉愁，而「一声」更见其孤寂——不是雄壮的角声，而是孤零零的一声，在黄昏的江楼上回荡；「微阳潋潋落寒汀」写视觉——微弱的夕阳，映着潋潋的水光，缓缓落在寒冷的汀洲上，「微阳」写夕阳的微弱，「潋潋」写水光的荡漾，「寒汀」写汀洲的清寒，三个意象叠加，写尽黄昏江景的苍凉。两句一写「角」、一写「阳」，一闻一见、一声一色，把黄昏江楼的苍凉渲染得淋漓尽致。值得注意的是，「呜咽」既是写角声，也是写心境——诗人听到的角声之所以呜咽，正因其心中满怀乡愁；「寒汀」之「寒」，既是秋暮之寒，也是羁旅之寒。景中有情、情在景中，正是此联的妙处，也为后两句的乡愁作了充分的铺垫。

The opening line writes the desolation of the river tower at dusk through parallelism, sight and sound interwoven, a famous line through the ages. One sobbing note of the river-tower horn writes hearing: the horn on the river tower sobs a single note; sobbing writes the horn's sorrow, as if the horn itself were voicing grief, and one note writes the loneliness - not a martial blast but a single solitary sound echoing at dusk on the tower. The faint sun, rippling light, sets on the cold sandbar writes sight: the weak sunset, mirrored in the rippling water, slowly descending on the chill sandbar; faint sun writes the sun's weakness, rippling the water's undulation, cold sandbar the sandbar's chill - three images layered, exhausting the desolation of the dusk river scene. One line writes the horn, one the sun; one sound, one color - the desolation of the dusk tower rendered to the full. Notably, sobbing writes both the horn and the poet's mood: the horn sounds sobbing because his heart is full of homesickness; the cold of the cold sandbar is both the chill of late autumn and the chill of wandering. Feeling within scene, scene within feeling - the line's art, and full preparation for the homesickness of the last two lines.

不用凭阑苦回首，故乡七十五长亭。

No need to lean on the balustrade and gaze back in anguish — my hometown lies seventy-five long pavilions away.

不必倚着栏杆苦苦回头眺望，家乡还在七十五座长亭之外啊。

No need to lean on the rail and strain my eyes back toward home; my hometown lies beyond seventy-five post stages.

这两句是全诗情感的高潮，以「不用」的劝慰写深沉的乡愁，曲折含蓄。「不用凭阑苦回首」是自我劝慰——不必倚着栏杆苦苦回头眺望了，一个「不用」，看似洒脱，实是深愁：正因为「苦回首」而不得，才不得不「不用」；「苦」字更见其深情，不是轻轻的回望，而是「苦」望——望得辛苦、望得无望。「故乡七十五长亭」是劝慰的理由——故乡在七十五座长亭之外，太远了，望也望不到。「七十五长亭」这一精确的数字，是全诗最沉痛的一笔：它不是虚指，而是诗人数过、算过的归程——黄州到长安，恰约七十五个驿程；正因如此精确，才更显归程之遥、归乡之无望。两句一写「劝」，一写「远」，劝慰越平淡，乡愁越深重；距离越精确，归程越渺茫。这两句把「望乡不得」的绝望与「自我劝慰」的无奈写得入木三分，是杜牧乡愁诗中最沉痛的结尾，千载之下，读之仍令人怅惘。

These two lines are the poem's emotional climax, writing deep homesickness through the self-admonition of no need, winding and reserved. No need to lean on the rail and strain my eyes back is self-consolation: no need to lean on the rail and gaze back painfully - one word no need seems free, yet is deep grief: precisely because straining one's eyes back achieves nothing, one must say no need; strain writes deep feeling - not a light look but a painful gaze, gazing with hardship, gazing with no hope. My hometown lies beyond seventy-five post stages is the reason for the consolation: home is beyond seventy-five post stages, too far, beyond sight. The precise number, seventy-five post stages, is the poem's bitterest stroke: no vague allusion but a route the poet has counted - from Huangzhou to Chang'an, exactly some seventy-five stages; precision makes the distance real, and the homecoming hopeless. One line writes the admonition, one the distance: the plainer the consolation, the deeper the homesickness; the more exact the distance, the dimmer the road home. The two lines write the despair of gazing homeward in vain and the helplessness of self-consolation to the bone - Du Mu's bitterest close in homesickness verse, still wistful a thousand years on.

Study

Word focus

呜咽 Sobbing — a word for stifled weeping transferred to the horn's wail; it fuses the sound of the instrument with the poet's own choked grief, the emotional key to the whole poem. 「呜咽」二字是首句的点睛之笔，写号角之声，也是写诗人心中之悲，声情并茂。呜咽，本指低声哭泣，也形容水流、乐器等发出的低沉悲切的声响。杜牧以「呜咽」写江楼的号角声，至少有双重意味：其一，写角声之悲——号角本应是雄壮的军乐，而在这黄昏的江楼上，那一声号角却如泣如诉，低沉呜咽，「呜咽」二字写出角声的悲切，也写出黄昏江楼的苍凉；其二，写心境之悲——角声本身无所谓悲喜，是诗人怀着乡愁去听，才听出那呜咽之音，所以「呜咽」既是写角声，也是写诗人心中的悲咽。一个词，把客观的声与主观的情融为一体，正是「移情」手法的精妙运用。若换作「凄切」「悲凉」等词，则或失其声音的质感，或失其含蓄的意味；唯「呜咽」二字，既拟角声之悲，又写人心之悲，正是杜牧炼字的精到处，也让这一声号角成为杜牧乡愁诗的标志性声音。

不用 'No need' — self-consolation that gives itself away: urging himself not to look homeward only betrays how unbearable the looking has become. 「不用」二字是全诗情感最复杂的两个字，以劝慰写乡愁，曲折入骨。不用，即不必、不要。杜牧以「不用凭阑苦回首」自我劝慰，这「不用」至少有四重意味：其一，写望乡之无望——故乡太远，望也望不到，所以「不用」望了，这是绝望中的自我劝慰；其二，写思乡之深——正因思乡太切、回首太苦，才不得不劝自己「不用」回首，「不用」正是「苦回首」的反证；其三，写强作洒脱——「不用」是故作潇洒的口气，仿佛不在乎，而这不在乎恰恰暴露了在乎，正是「欲盖弥彰」；其四，写无可奈何——「不用」不是不想，而是不能、不可得，是无可奈何的放弃。这四个字，把「望乡不得、思乡太深、强作洒脱、无可奈何」的复杂心绪浓缩在一起，正是杜牧以平淡之语写深愁的高妙。若换作「莫要」「休要」等词，则或失其口语的亲切，或失其复杂的况味；唯「不用」二字，最平淡，也最深沉。