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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

王昭君

Wang Zhaojun

李白

Li Bai

唐Tang Dynasty 李白Li Bai 王昭君Wang Zhaojun 七古Seven-character Ancient Verse 宫怨Palace Lament

汉家秦地月，流影照明妃。
一上玉关道，天涯去不归。
汉月还从东海出，明妃西嫁无来日。
燕支长寒雪作花，蛾眉憔悴没胡沙。
生乏黄金枉图画，死留青冢使人嗟。

The moon of the Han house over the land of Qin sheds its drifting light on the Radiant One.
Once she sets foot on the Jade Pass road, she goes to the edge of the sky and never returns.
The Han moon still rises out of the Eastern Sea, but the Radiant One, wedded to the west, has no day of coming back.
On Mount Yanzhi the cold never ends, and snow serves as blossoms; her moth-browed beauty withers and is buried in northern sands.
In life, lacking gold, she was wronged by the painted portrait; in death she leaves only the Green Tomb, making people sigh.

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Meaning

The bright moon of the Han homeland shines on Wang Zhaojun as she sets out through the Jade Pass, never to return. The Han moon still rises from the Eastern Sea, but she who married westward has no homecoming. Amid the cold of the northern border, her beauty fades into the desert sands. Because she lacked gold to bribe the painter, her portrait was distorted in life; after death only the Green Tomb remains to make posterity sigh.

汉家秦地的明月，流光映照着明妃。一旦走上玉门关的路，天涯远去再不回。汉月依旧从东海升起，明妃西嫁却再无归日。燕支山长寒雪当作花，蛾眉憔悴埋没在胡沙。生前缺少黄金枉被画师描摹，死后只留青冢令人嗟叹。

Appreciation

Li Bai's poem uses the Han dynasty story of Wang Zhaojun's far-off marriage to tell the tragedy of a peerless beauty buried in northern sands, while also hinting at the grievance of an unrecognized talent. The opening sets the Han moon beside the Radiant One, writing the sorrow of leaving home forever; the closing lines dwell on the bitter cold beyond the frontier and end with the eternal sigh of the Green Tomb. The line “In life, lacking gold, she was wronged by the painted portrait” points sharply at the painter who betrayed her and the ruler who was blind. The whole poem flows with suppressed indignation and is a classic example of Li Bai's yuefu meditations on ill-fated beauty.

【白话串讲】 “汉家秦地月，流影照明妃”——李白写王昭君：汉家明月照着她。“一上玉关道，天涯去不归”——“燕支长寒雪作花，蛾眉憔悴没胡沙”——“生乏黄金枉图画，死留青冢使人嗟”——她因为没给画师钱，被画丑了，远嫁匈奴。【意象与手法】前四句以“汉月”与“明妃”对举写去国不还之悲；后四句以“燕支雪”“蛾眉憔悴”渲染塞外苦寒；“生乏黄金枉图画”直指画师误人、君王昏聩；结以“死留青冢使人嗟”收束苍凉。气脉流转，咏史中见孤愤。【情感与主旨】借明妃远嫁典故写绝代佳人埋没胡沙的悲剧，亦暗寓才士不遇之愤，与《于阗采花》“自古妒蛾眉，胡沙埋皓齿”同一机杼，是李白乐府咏叹红颜薄命的典型之作。【名句点睛】常考“生乏黄金枉图画，死留青冢使人嗟”以青冢写昭君悲剧；“一上玉关道，天涯去不归”以玉关道写去国不还。

Background

This poem takes as its theme the story of Wang Qiang (courtesy name Zhaojun; called Mingfei, the Radiant One, after the Jin dynasty taboo on the name Zhao) who married the Xiongnu chieftain in the reign of Emperor Yuan of Han. According to the Han shu and Hou Han shu, Zhaojun entered the harem as a good family's daughter, but because she refused to bribe the court painter Mao Yanshou, her portrait was made ugly and the emperor never noticed her. In 33 BC, when Huhanye, the Xiongnu chanyu, came to court seeking a marriage alliance, Emperor Yuan gave him Zhaojun; only at departure did he see her true beauty, but it was too late, and he had the painters executed. Zhaojun died in foreign lands and was buried in the place known as the Green Tomb. For Li Bai, the story is also a mirror of his own frustration as a talented man without patronage, just as Zhaojun was misrepresented for lack of gold.

李白《王昭君》以汉元帝时王嫱（字昭君，晋避司马昭讳称明妃）远嫁匈奴的典故为题材。其事见《汉书》《后汉书》：昭君以良家子入选掖庭，因不肯贿赂画工毛延寿，被点丑画像，迟迟不得见帝；竟宁元年，匈奴呼韩邪单于来朝求亲，元帝以昭君赐之，临别才发现其绝色，然已无法悔改，遂杀毛延寿等画工。昭君出塞，死于异域，葬于青冢。这个故事自汉以来便是诗人最爱：它集合了绝色、远嫁、君昏、臣奸、红颜薄命诸般元素，天然是一出悲剧。李白写它，表层是咏史，深层却藏着「才士不遇」的孤愤——他自己同样负才被弃、在朝中不得要领，昭君因「乏黄金」而被误，与士人因无援引而被埋没，何其相似。此诗写法上以「汉月」与「明妃」对举贯穿：月是汉家的、永恒的、循环升落的；人是汉家的、却一去不回的。这种「物常在人逝」的对照，是李白处理去国怀乡题材的惯技。把它放在李白集中看，与《于阗采花》「自古妒蛾眉，胡沙埋皓齿」同一机杼，都是借女子之厄写男儿之愤。读懂这层寄托，才不被「咏史」二字瞒过。

Art

The art of the poem lies in weaving everything around the moon and building the structure on contrast. The opening line “The moon of the Han house ... shines its drifting light on the Radiant One” introduces both moon and lady at once, planting the seed that the moon will remain while she goes. Then the poem splits them apart: the moon still rises from the Eastern Sea, but she who married west has no day of return. The same moon illuminates both the homeland and the unreachable frontier, compressing immense space and relentless time into one image. The later lines shift to the bitter cold of Yanzhi and the fading of beauty, then close with the bitter irony of gold and the portrait and the lingering sigh of the Green Tomb. The poem does not argue; it lets the multiple contrasts—moon and woman, life and death, Han and Hu—speak for themselves.

此诗的艺术，在于以「月」为线、以「对比」为骨，把一出远嫁悲剧写得回环低回。开篇「汉家秦地月，流影照明妃」，以汉月流光照亮明妃起笔，月与人同时出场，已埋下「月常照、人长去」的伏笔。接着「一上玉关道，天涯去不归」「汉月还从东海出，明妃西嫁无来日」，把月与人彻底劈成两途：月从东海照常升起，人向西嫁永无归日。同一轮月，照着出发的故国，也照着不归的绝域，空间的辽远与时间的无情，被一个月亮收束殆尽。这种「以不变衬已变」的手法，比直写离别更沉。后半「燕支长寒雪作花，蛾眉憔悴没胡沙」，转写塞外苦寒与容华凋零；「生乏黄金枉图画，死留青冢使人嗟」收束，点睛于「黄金」误人与「青冢」余哀。全诗气脉流转，不事雕琢而情韵苍凉，于咏史中见孤愤，是李白乐府咏叹红颜薄命的典型之作。它不以议论取胜，而以月与人、生与死、汉与胡的多重对照，让悲剧自己说话。

Allusions

The allusions are drawn from the Zhaojun story. Mingfei is Wang Zhaojun, named to avoid the Jin dynasty taboo on the character zhao. The Jade Pass road stands for the route leaving China for the Western Regions. Yanzhi is the Yanzhi (Yan-zhai) Mountain in Xiongnu territory, named for the rouge-producing flower; Li Bai turns this around, saying the mountain is so cold that snow serves as blossoms, writing a frontier without spring. The line about lacking gold refers to Mao Yanshou's slanderous painting: because Zhaojun would not bribe him, her portrait was made ugly and the emperor was deceived. The Green Tomb is the traditional tomb of Zhaojun in Hohhot, said to keep its grass green forever, and it became the eternal symbol of marrying far away and never returning. Li Bai reshapes these allusions into a flowing current of resentment, making them carriers of emotion rather than displays of knowledge.

诗中用典集中在昭君本事。「明妃」即王昭君，因避晋讳改称呼，李白沿用。「玉关道」指玉门关，代指通向西域的出塞之路；「去不归」直点「一去紫台连朔漠」的永恒离别。「燕支」即焉支山，在匈奴地，以产红蓝花（燕支／胭脂）得名，李白反用其意，说山长寒、雪作花，写塞外无春。「生乏黄金枉图画」用毛延寿点丑之典：昭君不肯行贿，画像被毁，致元帝初不知其美。这一笔把悲剧根源指向「黄金」——金钱扭曲了君王的眼，也断送了女子的命。「死留青冢」用青冢典：昭君墓在呼和浩特，传说草色常青，故称；「青冢」遂成远嫁不归、埋骨异域的永恒符号。这些典故经李白重排，重点不在复述故事，而在「黄金误人」的控诉与「青冢」的余叹。他把一个宫廷轶闻，提炼成「才美者因无援而被埋没」的普遍寓言——这正是此诗能越过咏史、触动士人的原因。还可留意汉月在典故系统中的特殊位置：月本是思乡、团圆、永恒的传统意象，李白却让它与明妃西嫁对举，使月的恒常反衬人的孤往，这一对照本身即是一种不着痕迹的用典——它承自南朝江淹恨赋试望平原、蔓草萦骨式的去国悲怀，又开后世秦时明月汉时关的时空并写之先声。诗中不引经据史，而把毛延寿、青冢、燕支、玉关诸典熔铸成一股流动的怨流，典故在此已不是知识的陈列，而是情感的载体。也正因用典如此浑成，此诗才既能让文人读出不遇之讽，又能让常人只觉其哀婉动人，雅俗同感，是为用典之上乘。

Commentary

Li Bai wrote more than one poem on Wang Zhaojun, and this piece is closely related to his “Yutian Caizhua” and the two “Wang Zhaojun” poems. Critics have long admired the moon-thread structure: the Han moon and the Radiant One stand in stark contrast, giving the poem a lingering beyond-the-words flavor. Shen Deqian in Tangshi Biecai singled out the lines “The Han moon still rises out of the Eastern Sea / but the Radiant One, wedded to the west, has no day of coming back” as a mirrored contrast that is doubly haunting. Modern readers also stress the allegory: Zhaojun being wronged for lack of gold parallels the talented man who fails because he has no patron. Unlike Du Fu's more weighty and magnificent treatment, Li Bai's is clear and flowing; where Du Fu emphasizes the deep-rooted resentment, Li Bai emphasizes the irreversible departure. The poem also shows Li Bai's stylistic freedom, shifting between five-character and seven-character lines and changing rhyme as emotion turns. Zhaojun here is not the weeping victim of later drama; she is rendered with a quiet dignity, her fate set against the constant moon as a measure of what cannot be changed.

李白咏王昭君，集中不止一首，此篇与《王昭君二首》《于阗采花》互为表里。历代论者多赏其「以月贯串」的章法：明人胡应麟《诗薮》论太白乐府，称其「往往遥情远韵，意外之味」，此诗汉月与明妃的对照，正是「意外之味」的范例。清人沈德潜《唐诗别裁》选此诗，特点「汉月还从东海出，明妃西嫁无来日」二句，以为「对面写照，倍觉凄神」。近人论此诗，更重其寄托：昭君「生乏黄金枉图画」，与李白自伤「无媒介以自达于君」的处境暗通，故红颜之厄实为士不遇之喻。也有论者指出，此诗与杜甫《咏怀古迹》「群山万壑赴荆门」一诗同写昭君，杜以沉郁苍莽胜、李以流转清远胜；杜重其「怨恨」、李重其「不归」，各有侧重。还有一点：此诗体近歌行，句式长短间出（五言起、七言承、五言转、七言合），不主故常，正合李白乐府「解纵绳墨」的脾气。一篇咏史小制，能同时见章法、见寄托、见体性，足称佳作。今人读此诗，还当注意李白笔下的昭君不同于后世戏曲里哭哭啼啼的弱者形象：他写其不归而不写其怨啼，写青冢而不写其凄厉，反以汉月之恒照衬其命运之决绝，于苍凉中见出一种静气与尊严。这种处理，与李白一贯推崇的不屈人格暗合——昭君虽去，其美其志不被番邦磨灭，正如月之常照不为人事改易。一篇小诗，既能入史评、又能动凡心，在唐人咏昭君诸作中，确属以情韵胜、以寄托深而传之久远的一篇。

Prosody

Form Seven-character Ancient Verse (qigu, yuefu-style song-poem; the lines mix five and seven characters and the rhyme shifts freely)七言古诗（七古，乐府歌行体，句式五七间出，转韵自由，不主故常）

Rhyme The rhyme changes with the emotional turn: the opening couplet uses yue and fei (the old pronunciation can bring them together); the next line uses gui; then ri (entering tone); the final section uses sha and jie. The rhyme pattern shifts from distant and soft to bleak and drawn-out, matching the circular image of the moon that shines forever while the woman does not return.全诗随情转韵：首联月、妃（月属月韵、妃属微韵，古音相近可通协），次联归（微韵），三联日（质韵入声），四联沙（麻韵）、嗟（麻韵）。韵随段落而换，声情由悠远而苍凉，与「月常照、人长去」的回环基调相生。

Tone pattern As a song-style poem, it does not follow strict tonal parallelism but relies on the flow of qi. The five-character opening, seven-character continuation, five-character turn, and seven-character close create an irregular, singing rhythm. The entering-tone words such as ri and xue bring a short, biting sound that supports the desolate frontier atmosphere.歌行体不尚严格粘对，而重气脉流转。此诗五言起（汉家秦地月）、七言承（一上玉关道）、五言转（汉月还从东海出）、七言合（燕支长寒雪作花），长短间出，平仄随情；入声「日」「雪」等字短促收束，助塞外凄厉之境。

Reading note This poem best shows Li Bai's freewheeling manner: it does not keep the even regularity of all seven-character ancient verse, but lets five- and seven-character lines take turns, like changes in the rhythm of a song. The rhyming pattern also traces the emotional curve: the soft yue/fei rhyme at the start, the decisive gui and sharp entering-tone ri in the middle, and the open, long a-sound of sha/jie at the end, which drags the lingering sorrow far away. Pay special attention to the antithetical lines about the Han moon and the Radiant One: the syntax is symmetrical while the fates are opposite, creating a rhythm of “always ... yet never ...” that is the distinctive beauty of song-style verse.此诗体近歌行，最见李白「解纵绳墨」的脾气：它不守七古一律的齐整，而让五言、七言轮流登场，像唱歌时板式的变化。这种长短句的交错，使咏史小制有了吟叹的节奏——该悠远处用五言拉远（汉月还从东海出），该沉实处用七言压住（燕支长寒雪作花）。换韵也暗藏情绪曲线：开篇月妃微韵，声音柔远，是起手的流照；转入归、日，归字收束不返、日字入声短断，情绪渐紧；末段沙、嗟同麻韵，开口而长，把余哀拖得很远，像一声叹到最后才落。最值得注意的是「汉月还从东海出，明妃西嫁无来日」的对照句法：同一轮月（常）对同一个人（变），句式对称而命运相反，读来有一种「明明……却……」的怅惘节拍。这种以声调的对称写命运的反差，是歌行体最擅长、也最不易学的妙处。

Line by line

汉家秦地月，流影照明妃。

The moon of the Han house over the land of Qin shines its flowing light on the Radiant One. This opening sets the grand, constant moon as a backdrop. The moon belongs to the homeland and is eternal; the word “shines” is light but heavy, because it witnesses her beauty, her solitude, and her coming departure. Already the seed is planted: the moon will remain, while she will go away.

汉家秦地的明月，流光映照着明妃。

The moon over the Han lands and Qin's soil pours its light on the bright lady.

这一联是全诗的起手，也是「月—人」对照结构的定调之笔。「汉家秦地月」先立一个宏大、恒常的背景：秦地是故国，月是汉家的月，它不属于哪一个人，而属于整片江山与所有离人。这个月亮一出场，就带着「普照」与「永恒」的意味。「流影照明妃」把月光收束到一个人身上：流动的清辉，照着即将远嫁的明妃。一个「照」字极轻，却重——它暗示月光见证了一切：见证她的美、她的孤、她即将开始的漫长不归。月本无情，此刻却像唯一的送行者。更深的妙处在「汉家」与「明妃」的所属关系：月是汉家的，人也是汉家的，可人就要离开汉家了，唯余这轮汉月还留着、还照着。起笔这一照，已悄悄埋下「月常在、人长去」的悲剧种子。后面所有「汉月还从东海出，明妃西嫁无来日」，都是这一联的回响与展开。

This couplet is the poem's opening and the tuning of the moon-and-woman contrast. The moon over the Han lands and Qin's soil first sets a vast, constant background: Qin soil is the old country; the moon is the Han moon, belonging to no one person but to the whole land and all who leave it. From its first appearance, this moon carries the meaning of universal shining and eternity. Pours its light on the bright lady gathers the moonlight onto one person: flowing radiance on the lady about to marry far. One word shine is light yet weighty - it hints the moonlight witnessed everything: her beauty, her solitude, the long, unreturning road ahead. Moon heartless, yet now like the only escort. The deeper subtlety lies in the belonging of Han lands and bright lady: the moon is Han's, the woman is Han's, yet she is about to leave Han, and only this Han moon remains, still shining. This opening shine secretly plants the tragic seed: the moon endures, the person goes. All the following verses - the Han moon rising again from the eastern sea, the bright lady wedded west with no day of return - are the echo and unfolding of this couplet.

一上玉关道，天涯去不归。

Once she sets foot on the Jade Pass road, she goes to the edge of the sky and never returns. The word “once” makes the departure irreversible. The Jade Pass is the boundary between China and the Western Regions; beyond it lies a different world. “Never returns” is absolute, not merely “difficult to return”; it extinguishes all hope and makes the separation final.

一旦走上玉门关的路，天涯远去再不回。

Once she takes the road to Jade Gate, she goes to the world's end and never returns.

这一联是全书最斩截的离别句。「一上玉关道」的「一」字，写出转折的不可逆：只要踏上那条向西的路，命运便被改写，没有回头键。「玉关道」本指玉门关，是中原与西域的分界，踏过它，就等于踏出了故国的边界。「天涯去不归」五字，把空间（天涯）与时间（不归）叠在一起：去得那么远，远到像到了天边；去得那么绝，绝到再无归日。一个「不」字，把所有的希望轻轻掐灭，比「难归」「未归」都狠——它不是说回不来，而是说根本不会有回来这回事。这联的力道，在它的干脆。前面还写月光流照的温柔，到这里突然一鞭，把温柔抽走，露出离别的法律般的冷酷。读者读到「不归」二字，心跟着往下一沉，也才真正懂得后面「汉月」为何要反复地、徒劳地升起——因为人已不归，唯有月还在替故国守着那轮旧光。

This couplet is the sharpest farewell line in the poem. One in once she takes the road to Jade Gate writes the irreversibility of the turn: once she sets foot on that westward road, fate is rewritten, no returning. The Jade Gate road is the pass between the Central Plains and the Western Regions; stepping over it is stepping out of the old country's bounds. She goes to the world's end and never returns folds space (world's end) and time (never returns): going so far, as if to the sky's edge; going so absolutely, no day of return. One word never gently extinguishes all hope - harsher than hard to return or not yet returned: it is not that she cannot come back, but that coming back simply will not happen. The couplet's force lies in its finality. The tenderness of flowing moonlight above is suddenly whipped away, revealing the law-like coldness of parting. The reader's heart sinks at never returns, and only then understands why the Han moon must rise again, vainly - since the person will not return, the moon alone keeps the old light for the old country.

生乏黄金枉图画，死留青冢使人嗟。

In life, lacking gold, she was wronged by the painted portrait; in death she leaves only the Green Tomb, making people sigh. This is the climax and the moral. “Lacking gold” means refusing to bribe Mao Yanshou, so the portrait was distorted. The word “wronged” condemns both the painter and the blinded ruler. The Green Tomb remains as the eternal object of pity, turning a court anecdote into a universal lament.

生前缺少黄金枉被画师描摹，死后只留青冢令人嗟叹。

Alive, she lacked gold and her portrait was falsely painted; dead, she leaves the Green Tomb to make men sigh.

这一联是全诗的收束与点睛，也是李白寄托所在。「生乏黄金枉图画」揭出悲剧的根：昭君不是不美，而是「乏黄金」——不肯行贿，画像便被画工毁了，君王因此错过了她。一个「枉」字，把「黄金」的荒唐与「图画」的虚妄一并骂尽：决定女子命运的，竟不是她的容华，而是几两黄铜。这分明是借女子之厄，写士人之愤——才士因无援引而被埋没，与美人因无黄金而被误，同理同源。「死留青冢使人嗟」转到死后：人已埋骨胡沙，只剩青冢（传说草色长青的昭君墓）惹人嗟叹。「青冢」是余哀的符号，也是不归的物证。生与死对举，一写被误之因、一写不归之果，把一出宫廷轶闻，凝成永恒的怅惘。这联最见李白的「借古自照」：他写昭君，写的也是自己——同样有才、同样不遇、同样在朝中无「黄金」可通。一篇咏史，到此露出孤愤的底色；而「使人嗟」三字，把个人的叹，推成了千古读者的共叹。

This couplet is the poem's closing and eye, and Li Bai's own projection. Alive, she lacked gold and her portrait was falsely painted uncovers the root of the tragedy: Zhaojun was not unbeautiful but lacked gold - refusing to bribe, her portrait was falsified by the painter, and the king missed her. One word falsely curses both the absurdity of gold and the vanity of the portrait: a woman's fate decided not by her beauty but by a few ounces of brass. This is clearly the scholar's indignation through the woman's plight - talent buried for lack of patron, beauty missed for lack of gold, the same source. Dead, she leaves the Green Tomb to make men sigh turns to after death: her bones buried in the barbarian sands, only the Green Tomb (the legend of her ever-green grave) left to move sighs. The Green Tomb is the symbol of lingering grief and the proof of no return. Life and death set against each other: one writes the cause of being misjudged, one the result of no return - a court anecdote condensed into eternal wistfulness. The couplet most shows Li Bai's seeing himself through antiquity: writing Zhaojun, he writes himself - equally talented, equally unrecognized, equally without gold at court. A verse on history here reveals the ground of lonely indignation; and makes men sigh pushes the personal sigh into the common sigh of readers through the ages.

Study

Word focus

明妃 Mingfei, the Radiant One; the respectful name for Wang Zhaojun after avoiding the Jin taboo on the character Zhao. The name itself carries an irony: called “bright,” yet her brightness was hidden by the painter and the ruler. 「明妃」即王昭君，因避晋司马昭讳改称。李白用「明妃」而非「昭君」，既沿旧称，也暗含一层「美而被蔽」的暗示——「明」者本应显、应照，却偏偏被画工点暗、被君王错过。这个称呼本身就是一个反讽：名之曰明，命之实暗。一字之中，已藏着全诗的悲剧内核，是李贺式「以名写命」的先声。后人咏昭君多用明妃，正是承李白此诗之习惯，使明妃渐成一种固定的诗意符号——它不只指一个人，更指一种美而被蔽、才而不遇的普遍命运。李白取明字下笔，看似随手沿称，实则暗扣分明见弃的反讽：名愈显而命愈暗，愈明愈见君侧之昏、画工之奸。一个称呼里埋着整首诗的控诉，这正是太白炼字于不经意处的老辣。

汉月 The Han moon; the moon of the homeland, constant and cyclical. It is the poem's central image, serving as the unchanging witness to the one-way journey of the woman. 「汉月」是贯穿全诗的灵魂意象。它是汉家的、故国的、永恒的、循环升落的；与「明妃西嫁无来日」的单向不归形成最根本的对照。月常在而人长去，以不变衬已变，比直写离别更沉。这个意象还暗接李白「千里共婵娟」式的共月逻辑：月照故国也照绝域，于是空间虽隔，却被同一轮月连起——连起，却更显不归之痛。一轮月，担起了全诗的时空与情感。

燕支 / 胡沙 Yanzhi (Mount Yanzhi) and the northern desert sands. Yanzhi was known for the rouge flower, but the poem turns it into a place where snow serves as flowers; the sands bury the beauty, writing the cruelty of the foreign frontier. 「燕支长寒雪作花，蛾眉憔悴没胡沙」中的燕支（焉支山）与胡沙，是塞外苦寒的代号。燕支本产胭脂，李白却反说「雪作花」，把本该艳丽的山写成终年飞雪的荒寒；胡沙则埋没「蛾眉」，把容华的凋零写得触目。这两个地名词，把抽象的「远嫁之苦」落到了具体的地理与气候上，使悲剧有了可触的冷与远。它们与「汉月」「玉关」对举，构成汉—胡、暖—寒、归—不归的空间张力。

黄金枉图画 Gold and the falsified portrait. The phrase condemns a system in which beauty and talent are recognized only through bribery; Zhaojun was wronged because she lacked gold, just as a gifted man may be buried for lack of patronage. 「生乏黄金枉图画」七字，是全诗最锋利的一笔。「黄金」代表贿赂与援引，「图画」代表君王的眼与命运，「枉」字则把二者的荒诞一语揭破：决定绝色命运的，竟是几两黄铜；君王据以取舍的，竟是一幅被金钱扭曲的画像。这分明是李白借女子写士人——才士因无「黄金」以通君侧而被埋没，与昭君因无黄金而被误，同出一理。五个字里，藏着一篇《不遇赋》。

王昭君