唐 Tang · 诗 Poem
闻乐天授江州司马
On Hearing That Letian Was Sent Down to Be Marshal of Jiangzhou
残灯无焰影幢幢，此夕闻君谪九江。
垂死病中惊坐起，暗风吹雨入寒窗。
this very night I hear that you are banished to Jiujiang.
Dying in sickness, I start up in shock and sit upright—
the dark wind drives the rain in at my cold window.
Meaning
The dying lamp has no flame left, and its shadows waver yellow on the wall; this very night I suddenly hear that you too have been banished, all the way to Jiujiang. Lying gravely ill, I am so startled that I sit bolt upright; out in the dark the bleak wind drives cold rain straight in at my chill window.
残灯已无火苗，灯影在墙上摇曳昏黄；就在今夜，忽然听说您也被贬谪到了九江。我正在垂危的病中，惊得坐起身来；暗夜里凄风吹着冷雨，直扑进寒浸浸的窗棂。
Appreciation
The poem sets a shock of grief against a desolate scene. The first line, 'the guttering lamp has lost its flame, its shadows flicker and sway', fills the sickroom with a dim, wavering stillness in which sorrow already lies. The second line names the matter, and the news that a friend is banished to Jiujiang falls like thunder from a clear sky. The third line catches the moment in a single telling detail: 'dying in sickness, I start up in shock and sit upright'—the word 'shock' carries the whole weight of the poem, and the act of sitting up shows a man who can no longer lie still. The last line closes with scene instead of statement, letting the dark wind and cold rain at the window body forth the chill inside. Scene and feeling breed each other, and the effect is heartbreaking.
【白话串讲】 元稹病重在床，忽然听说好友白居易被贬江州：“垂死病中惊坐起”——一个垂死的人，惊得坐了起来。“暗风吹雨入寒窗”——他担心的不是自己，是朋友。 【意象与手法】 全诗以凄凉之景烘托惊恸之情。首句「残灯无焰影幢幢」渲染病室幽暗摇曳的死寂氛围，景中已含悲；次句点题，「闻君谪九江」如晴天霹雳。三四句以「垂死病中惊坐起」这一传神细节写震惊——「惊」字力重千钧，「坐起」见其不能成寐；结以「暗风吹雨入寒窗」，以景结情，将内心寒苦外化为凄风苦雨。景情相生，凄婉欲绝。 【情感与主旨】 唐宪宗元和十年（815），宰相武元衡遇刺，白居易上疏请捕凶手，被诬「越职言事」贬江州司马；元稹早因得罪宦官贬为通州司马，时正病卧。此夕忽闻挚友亦遭远谪，悲慨交并，援笔成此。二人同遭贬斥、命运相牵，诗以病中惊起之态，写尽挚友同命之痛，是唐代友情诗中的至情之作。 【名句点睛】 本诗为高中友情诗重要篇目。考点：①情感——同遭贬谪的相怜之悲与挚友深情；②「惊坐起」的细节传神；③首句环境烘托与末句以景结情的写法；④「暗」「寒」等字的炼字效果。
Background
In 815, the tenth year of the Yuanhe era under Emperor Xianzong, the chancellor Wu Yuanheng was assassinated; Bai Juyi submitted a memorial urging that the murderers be caught, was accused of 'speaking beyond his office' and demoted to be Marshal of Jiangzhou. Yuan Zhen had already offended the eunuchs and been sent down as Marshal of Tongzhou (present-day Dazhou in Sichuan), and at the time lay ill in bed. Hearing that night that his dearest friend had also been banished far away, he was overcome and wrote this poem at once. Both men had fallen and their fates were bound together; with the picture of a sick man starting up from his bed the poem says all there is to say of the pain of sharing a friend's fate, and it stands among the most deeply felt friendship poems of the Tang.
唐宪宗元和十年（815），宰相武元衡在上朝途中被藩镇刺客刺杀，举朝震骇。白居易时任左赞善大夫，率先上疏请捕凶手，被权贵诬为「越职言事」，贬为江州（今江西九江）司马。与此同时，元稹早已因得罪宦官集团，于元和五年（810）被贬江陵士曹参军，元和十年又转任通州（今四川达州）司马，时正身染重病，卧床不起。元稹与白居易早年同科及第，交谊极深，世称「元白」，二人倡和诗篇数以百计。此诗即写于元稹病卧通州期间，忽闻挚友白居易亦遭远谪之际。诗人在垂死病中惊闻噩耗，悲慨交并，援笔成此，托人寄与白居易。白居易读后极为感动，回信称：「此句他人尚不可闻，况仆心哉！」二人同遭贬斥、命运相牵，此诗以病中惊起之态，写尽挚友同命之痛，是唐代友情诗中至情至性的名篇，也是中唐朋党倾轧、贤士遭贬的时代缩影。此诗后由白居易收入唱和诗卷，元白二人以诗书相慰于贬谪之中，遂成中唐文学史上最动人的友谊佳话，此诗正是其见证。
Art
The whole poem uses a desolate scene to set off a shock of grief. The first line, 'the guttering lamp has lost its flame, its shadows flicker and sway', paints the dead stillness of a dim sickroom, and sorrow is already in the scene. The second line names the subject, and 'I hear that you are banished to Jiujiang' strikes like thunder from a clear sky. The third and fourth lines write the shock through the telling detail of 'dying in sickness, I start up in shock and sit upright'—the word 'shock' has the weight of a thousand pounds, and 'sit upright' shows that sleep is impossible. The close, 'the dark wind drives the rain in at my cold window', ends with scene rather than statement, turning the chill within into a bleak wind and bitter rain outside. Scene and feeling generate each other, and the sorrow is almost unbearable.
全诗以凄凉之景烘托惊恸之情，二十八字中情景交融，层层递进。首句「残灯无焰影幢幢」写病室之景：油灯将尽，火苗已无，唯余摇曳昏黄的灯影在墙上晃动，「残灯」「无焰」「幢幢」层层渲染，将死寂、幽暗、摇荡的病室氛围写尽，景中已含悲意，为全诗定下凄凉的基调。次句「此夕闻君谪九江」点题，「此夕」紧承上句之夜，「闻君谪九江」如晴天霹雳，在死寂中炸响。三四句是全诗高潮：「垂死病中惊坐起」以「垂死」「病中」「惊坐起」三个短语连续逼出，写尽震惊之态——自己已垂死病卧，闻友遭贬，竟惊得猛然坐起，可见此讯对其冲击之巨；「惊」字力重千钧，「坐起」二字见其不能成寐、欲起而不能。结句「暗风吹雨入寒窗」转写窗外之景：暗夜凄风吹雨，直扑入寒窗，「暗」「寒」二字将内心的寒苦外化为凄风苦雨，以景结情，凄婉欲绝，余韵无穷。尤须注意者，全诗无一字直写「念」「悲」，而悲痛自见——环境之凄凉、动作之惊起、风雨之寒窗，皆以客观之笔写主观之情，正是「以景传情、以态写心」的典范。
Allusions
The poem uses few learned allusions and excels in plain description of scene and feeling. 'Jiujiang' is Jiangzhou (present-day Jiujiang in Jiangxi), so named because the Yangtze divides there into nine branches, and it marks the place of Bai Juyi's exile; the doubled word rendered 'flicker and sway' describes the wavering of lamplight. 'Dying in sickness' states the plain fact of Yuan Zhen's own grave illness and is no allusion. Only the gesture of 'starting up in shock' may be read beside Du Fu's astonished line about mounting a friend's hall again after twenty years; but Du's shock is joy and this one is grief, and the contrast between the two makes each the clearer.
此诗少使事典，以白描情景见长，然遣词用字皆有深意。「九江」即江州，因长江于此分流九派而得名，点白居易贬所，属地理实指而非用典。「幢幢」形容灯影晃动、摇曳不定之貌，语出汉乐府《伤歌行》「昭昭素明月，辉光烛我床……忧人不能寐，耿耿夜何长」一类的汉魏乐府传统，用以写灯影之乱，兼喻心绪之乱。「垂死病中」直写元稹自身沉疴之实，非用典。「惊坐起」一态，可与杜甫《赠卫八处士》「焉知二十载，重上君子堂……访旧半为鬼，惊呼热中肠」之惊呼并观，然杜诗写久别重逢之惊喜，此诗写忽闻贬讯之惊悲，杜喜此悲，正见二诗一欢一苦之异。全诗以眼前实景、自身实情写真挚情谊，不假典故而自工，正合元稹「怜渠直道当时语，不著心源傍古人」的创作主张。且「九江」「通州」两地之遥，正暗含「江州司马青衫湿」的千里同悲——元白二人一在通州病榻、一在江州贬所，同命相怜之意尽在不言中，其诗书往还本身即构成中唐贬谪文学中最动人的篇章，此诗正是这一篇章中最沉痛的一页。
Commentary
The poem has been handed down together with Bai Juyi's answering pieces. On reading it Bai sighed that 'even a stranger could hardly bear to hear such a line—how much less my own heart'. Modern critics find Yuan Zhen's seven-character quatrains deep and brooding, and say that this one, in twenty-eight characters, exhausts the pain of hearing such news from a sickbed; the three words 'start up in shock' are a masterstroke of life-drawing for all time, proof of how deep the bond between Yuan and Bai ran, and they are constantly cited by students of mid-Tang friendship poetry.
此诗为元稹七绝中的名篇，历代评价极高。白居易读此诗后感慨万千，其《与元微之书》中引此诗并叹曰：「此句他人尚不可闻，况仆心哉！至今每吟，犹恻恻耳。」可见此诗撼人心魄的力量。后世论者多以「至情」「写生」许之：近人以为元稹七绝沉郁，此篇于二十八字中写尽病中闻贬的惊痛，「惊坐起」三字尤千古写生妙笔。从诗史角度看，此诗与白居易《舟中读元九诗》「把君诗卷灯前读，诗尽灯残天未明」等作构成「元白」诗歌倡和的重要一环，二人的贬谪诗互相慰藉、互相砥砺，是中唐文学史上最动人的友情篇章。此诗以个人病榻之景写时代贬谪之痛，以小见大，兼有友情之真与身世之悲，常为论中唐友情诗者所称，也是理解「元白」交谊与中唐士人命运的重要作品。此诗之传，不仅在其艺术之工，更在其情之真——病中闻讯、惊坐而起，正是至情之人方有的至诚反应，古今读者为之动容者，皆因从中看到了友情的极致，是唐诗友情题材中「以痛写情」的杰作。
Prosody
Line by line
残灯无焰影幢幢
The dying lamp has no flame; its shadows waver on the wall.
残灯已无火苗，灯影在墙上摇曳昏黄。
The spent lamp has no flame left; its shadows flicker dimly on the wall.
「残灯无焰影幢幢」为全诗首句，七字写尽病室的死寂幽暗。「残灯」点明灯将尽，暗示夜已深、人未眠；「无焰」写灯只有余烬而无火苗，灯光微弱欲灭；「幢幢」以叠词写灯影摇曳晃动之貌，光影在墙上忽明忽暗，如鬼魅般不安。三个意象层层递进：残灯已悲，无焰更悲，影幢幢则将这种悲渲染成一种摇荡不宁的氛围。此句纯写景而景中已含悲：病中的诗人独对残灯，灯影幢幢正如其心绪之摇荡，为次句「闻君谪九江」的震惊预作氛围铺垫。以灯写情、以景传悲，起笔即入凄凉之境，是唐人绝句「起句以景定调」的典范。
The opening line, seven characters exhausting the sickroom's dead silence and gloom. Spent lamp fixes the lamp near its end, implying the night deep, the sleepless; no flame writes only embers, the light weak and dying; waver uses a reduplicative word for the lamp shadows' swaying, light and dark on the wall flickering like ghosts. Three images layered: spent lamp already grievous, no flame more so, wavering shadows spreading the grief into a rocking, restless atmosphere. The line is pure scenery, yet scenery already holds grief: the sick poet alone facing the spent lamp, the wavering shadows like his wavering heart, preparing the shock of hearing you exiled to Jiujiang below. Writing feeling through the lamp, grief through scenery, the opening entering the desolate realm - the model of the Tang quatrain's setting the tone with scenery at the first line.
此夕闻君谪九江
This very night I hear you are exiled to Jiujiang.
就在今夜，忽然听说您也被贬谪到了九江。
Tonight, suddenly, word comes that you too have been demoted to Jiujiang.
「此夕闻君谪九江」为全诗次句，点题之句，如晴天霹雳。「此夕」紧承上句之夜，点明时间就在今夜，此时此地，与残灯幢幢之境相接，强调消息到来之突然、之凑巧；「闻君」点出事件——听到了关于你的消息；「谪九江」点明消息内容——白居易被贬为江州司马。此句之妙在于「闻」字：一个「闻」字，将消息的传来写得猝不及防，在死寂的夜里，这个消息如惊雷炸响。诗人不写自己如何反应，先写消息本身，为下句「惊坐起」的剧烈反应蓄势。上句写景之静，此句写讯之惊，一静一动，静极而动，全诗情感由此引爆。
The second line names the theme, like a bolt from the blue. This very night continues the last line's night, fixing the time as tonight, this place, joining the spent lamp's wavering shadows, emphasizing the news' suddenness and coincidence. Hear you names the event - word of you. Exiled to Jiujiang names the content - Bai Juyi demoted to prefect of Jiujiang. The line's art lies in hear: one hear writes the news arriving unawares; in the dead night, this message explodes like thunder. The poet does not write his own reaction first, but the news itself, storing force for the shocked start-up below. The last line's still scenery, this line's startling news: one still, one moving, stillness to its extreme then motion, the poem's feeling detonated here.
垂死病中惊坐起
Sick, at death's door, I start up in shock.
我正在垂危的病中，惊得坐起身来。
I, lying dying of illness, sit bolt upright in shock.
「垂死病中惊坐起」为全诗第三句，是全诗情感的高潮，也是千古传诵的写生妙笔。「垂死」写病之重，生命垂危；「病中」写身之困，卧床难起；「惊坐起」三字陡然转折——一个垂死病卧之人，竟因震惊而猛然坐起！「惊」字力重千钧，写尽消息对心灵的巨大冲击；「坐起」见其反应之剧烈，欲起身而不能，只能强撑坐起。此句以动作写心理，将闻讯后的震惊、关切、悲愤、无奈全部凝聚在一个「惊坐起」的动作中。垂死之躯与惊起之态形成强烈反差，愈见其情之深、痛之切。元稹自身病重垂危，闻挚友遭贬，竟惊而起坐，此情此景，千载之下读之犹令人动容。
The third line is the poem's emotional climax, the celebrated lifelike stroke. Dying writes the illness' gravity, life at its edge; sick writes the body's bondage, bedridden. Start up in shock: three characters turn abruptly - a dying, bedridden man, suddenly sitting up in shock! Shock weighs a thousand catties, writing the news' impact on the heart; sit up shows the reaction's violence, unable to rise, only forcing himself upright. The line writes psychology through action, condensing shock, concern, grief, and helplessness after the news into one shocked start-up. The dying body and the startled start-up form a fierce contrast, all the more showing the depth of feeling and keenness of pain. Yuan Zhen himself gravely ill, hearing his closest friend's exile, yet starting upright in shock - the scene moves readers a thousand years on.
暗风吹雨入寒窗
Dark wind drives the rain through the cold window.
暗夜里凄风吹着冷雨，直扑进寒浸浸的窗棂。
The dark wind drives the cold rain straight in at the chill window.
「暗风吹雨入寒窗」为全诗结句，以景结情，将内心的寒苦外化为凄风苦雨。「暗风」写风之阴森，夜色沉沉，风声凄厉；「吹雨」写风雨交加，雨借风势，风助雨威；「入寒窗」写风雨直扑窗棂，仿佛要破窗而入。「暗」「寒」二字炼字精警：风是暗的，窗是寒的，暗风、寒窗，正与首句「残灯」相应，构成一个从灯到窗、从室内到室外、从视觉到听觉触觉的完整凄凉之境。此句妙在以景作结：诗人惊坐之后，万般悲痛无从说起，唯见暗风凄雨扑窗，心中的寒苦与窗外的风雨融为一体。全诗以景起、以景结，首尾呼应，景情相生，凄婉欲绝，余韵悠长。
The closing line ends in scenery, externalizing inner cold and bitterness into bleak wind and rain. Dark wind writes the wind's gloom, night heavy, wind shrill; drives the rain writes wind and rain together, rain riding the wind, wind lending rain its force; through the cold window writes wind and rain beating straight at the lattice, as if to break in. Dark and cold are exquisitely refined: the wind dark, the window cold - dark wind, cold window, answering the opening's spent lamp, composing a complete desolate realm from lamp to window, indoors to outdoors, sight to hearing and touch. The line's art lies in closing in scenery: after the shocked start-up, ten thousand griefs beyond speech; only the dark wind and bleak rain beating the window, the heart's cold merging with the rain outside. The poem opens in scenery and closes in scenery, head and tail echoing, scene and feeling born together, desolate to breaking, savor long.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Li entrusts the bright moon to accompany the exile, Yuan writes a sick man starting up from bed; both come from the depth of the heart, and the two ways of comforting a friend may be compared.
李白《闻王昌龄左迁龙标遥有此寄》「杨花落尽子规啼，闻道龙标过五溪。我寄愁心与明月，随君直到夜郎西」与元稹此诗同属「闻友遭贬」题材，然写法与情感各异：李白以杨花子规起兴，托明月寄愁，将思念化为「随君直到夜郎西」的浪漫想象，情致飘逸旷达；元稹以残灯寒窗写境，以「惊坐起」写情，将悲痛凝聚在病榻之上，情致沉郁凄婉。李白之愁是诗人的、浪漫的，元稹之痛是病人的、切身的。比较二诗可见唐代贬谪友情诗的两极：一以想象慰藉友人，一以切身之痛同悲，各极其致，皆足感人。
酬乐天扬州初逢席上见赠 In Answer to Letian, at Our First Meeting at a Banquet in Yangzhou 刘禹锡 · 同元白刘贬谪唱和圈之作 Same (both belong to the circle of exchanged poems among Yuan, Bai and Liu in exile)Liu's poem answers Bai Juyi, Yuan's is written on hearing of Bai's demotion; together they show how mid-Tang friends, repeatedly banished, consoled one another with poems and letters.
刘禹锡《酬乐天扬州初逢席上见赠》「巴山楚水凄凉地，二十三年弃置身……沉舟侧畔千帆过，病树前头万木春」写自己被贬二十三年的遭遇，却能以「沉舟侧畔千帆过」的豪语自我宽解，于沉痛中见旷达；元稹此诗写病中闻友遭贬，以「惊坐起」写同命之悲，于沉痛中见深情。二诗同属中唐贬谪唱和之作，同写贬谪之痛，然刘诗以理遣情、昂扬向上，元诗以情写痛、凄婉低回。一豪一悲，恰可见中唐贬谪诗人面对厄运的不同姿态，也可见「元白刘」这一文人群体在困境中以诗书相慰的深厚情谊。
琵琶行 Song of the Pipa 白居易 · 同写江州贬谪之痛 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
白居易《琵琶行》「同是天涯沦落人，相逢何必曾相识……座中泣下谁最多，江州司马青衫湿」写自己在江州浔阳江头听琵琶女弹奏而感怀身世，发出「同是天涯沦落人」的千古慨叹；元稹此诗写自己在通州病中闻白居易贬江州而惊坐，与《琵琶行》所写正是同一事件的两端——一个身在江州自叹沦落，一个身在通州闻讯而悲。二诗一为长篇歌行，一为短小绝句，然皆以贬谪之痛为内核，皆以泪与情动人。比较二诗，可见「元白」这对挚友虽分隔两地，却以诗篇互诉衷肠，共同记录下中唐贤士遭贬的时代悲剧。