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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

问刘十九

A Question to Liu the Nineteenth

白居易

Bai Juyi

抒情Lyric 时序Season and Time

绿蚁新醅酒，红泥小火垆。
晚来天欲雪，能饮一杯无。

Green ants on the newly brewed wine,
A small red-clay stove with its fire aglow.
At dusk the sky seems bent on snow—
Won't you come and share a cup or no?

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Meaning

On a winter evening as snow threatens, the poet invites his friend Liu the Nineteenth to come warm himself by the small stove and share a cup of newly made wine. The poem turns a humble, everyday scene into one of the warmest invitations in Chinese poetry, capturing friendship's quiet comfort amid the cold.

新酿的酒面上浮着细碎的绿色泡沫，红泥做的小火炉正燃着暖融融的火。天色已晚，看样子快要下雪了，你能来同我共饮一杯吗？

Appreciation

The poem's charm rests entirely on its feeling of warmth, built layer upon layer and closed with a question. Green wine and red stove set up a bright, cozy still-life; the coming snow then sharpens the invitation's naturalness. Twenty characters read like a spoken note to a friend—plain in language yet inexhaustible in aftertaste, a model of Bai Juyi's 'shallow words, deep thought.'

【白话串讲】 “绿蚁新醅酒，红泥小火垆”——白居易酿了新酒，烧了红泥火炉。“晚来天欲雪，能饮一杯无”——天要下雪了，能来喝一杯吗？这是中国最温暖的邀约。【意象与手法】全诗四句，由「酒」「炉」「雪」「问」四个意象层叠而成：绿酒红炉，色彩对映，暖意融融；晚雪将至，寒气逼人，一暖一寒相激相衬。前三句铺景设境，末句以「能饮一杯无」的日常口语发问，如当面邀友，亲切自然。【情感与主旨】此诗写冬夜邀友对饮，于风雪欲来的寒夜中凸现友情的温暖。诗人不写寒而写暖，不写孤独而写期约，把生活的温情写得触手可及，是白居易闲适诗的代表。【名句点睛】「晚来天欲雪，能饮一杯无」以天气之寒衬酒意之暖，以一句口语的叩问收束全篇，亲切之极，遂成千古传诵的邀饮名句。

Background

Bai Juyi (772–846) likely wrote this poem around 817, during his posting as Military Advisor of Jiangzhou (modern Jiujiang, Jiangxi), or perhaps in his later years as a retired official in Luoyang; scholars favor the Jiangzhou dating. In 815 Bai was demoted to Jiangzhou Military Advisor after memorializing for the arrest of the assassins of Chancellor Wu Yuanheng—a turning point that shifted him from a courtier who would 'aid the world' to a local leisure-official content to 'cultivate himself.' During his Jiangzhou years he wrote both the melancholy 'Song of the Pipa' and a great number of 'leisure poems' for self-consolation, of which this is representative. 'Green ants on the newly brewed wine' describes fresh wine; 'a small red-clay stove' its warming fire—the scene is the plain winter lodging of a humble scholar, showing Bai's simple yet contented life then. 'Liu the Nineteenth' was a friend he met in Jiangzhou, surnamed Liu and ranked nineteenth; his full name is unknown, but Bai exchanged several poems with him. Calling a friend by his birth rank was a common Tang intimacy. Writing on a snow-threatened winter night an invitation to drink, the poem became one of the warmest invitations in Chinese literature, showing Bai's other side—finding poetry in daily trifles and warmth in plain living.

白居易（772—846）此诗约作于元和十二年（817）前后任江州（今江西九江）司马时期，或说作于晚年分司洛阳时期，学界多主江州说。元和十年（815），白居易因上疏请捕刺杀宰相武元衡之凶手，被贬为江州司马，这是他一生命运的转折点——由「兼济天下」的朝官变为「独善其身」的地方闲员。在江州期间，他写下《琵琶行》的沉郁，也写下大量「闲适诗」以自遣，此诗正是闲适诗的代表。诗中「绿蚁新醅酒」写新酿之酒，「红泥小火垆」写炉火之温，场景为一介寒士冬夜的日常起居，可见此时白居易生活清简而自得其乐。诗题「刘十九」为白居易在江州结识的友人，姓刘、排行十九，其人名不详，白居易另有《刘十九同宿》《雪夜小饮赠梦得》等诗与之往还；以排行称人，是唐人习用的亲切叫法。此诗写冬夜欲雪之际邀友对饮，一事一景，脱口而出，却成为中国文学史上最温暖的邀约之一，正体现了白居易「文章合为时而著，歌诗合为事而作」之外的另一面——于日常琐事中发现诗意、于平淡生活中体味温情。

Art

The poem's art lies wholly in the words 'feeling' and 'warmth,' with its structure laying groundwork layer upon layer and closing on a question. The first line 'green ants on the newly brewed wine' writes the wine's freshness—flecks of green foam on unstrained new brew, called 'green ants'; 'newly brewed' shows it is home-style, rustic yet intimate. The second line 'a small red-clay stove' writes the warmth—the red-clay stove is a folk crude vessel; 'red' and the preceding 'green' form a bright color contrast, green wine and red stove bringing warmth to the eye before the touch. The third line 'at dusk the sky seems bent on snow' turns sharply to cold—the coming snow's chill makes the wine's and stove's warmth all the more precious, and gives the invitation its natural reason. The last line closes with a colloquial question, as if speaking face to face, and all the expectation and friendship rest in that one ask. The four lines move wine → stove → snow → question; images and feeling both rise in warmth; twenty characters are a winter night vignette and an invitation note, plain yet endless—a model of Bai's 'shallow words, deep thought.'

此诗艺术之妙，全在一个「情」字与「暖」字，而章法上则层层铺垫、以问收束。首句「绿蚁新醅酒」写酒之新：新酿的酒面上浮着细小的绿色泡沫，古人称之为「绿蚁」，「新醅」点明酒未过滤，是乡野家常的新酒，质朴中见亲切；次句「红泥小火垆」写炉之暖：红泥小炉是民间粗器，「红」与上句「绿」构成鲜明的色彩对映，绿酒红炉，暖色扑面，视觉的暖已先于触觉的暖抵达读者。第三句「晚来天欲雪」陡转写寒：暮色四合，天将落雪，一「欲」字写雪将下未下之际的酝酿，寒气侵人，与前面的暖意形成冷暖相激；正因天寒，酒的暖、炉的暖才愈显珍贵，也才使「能饮一杯无」的邀约有了最自然的理由。末句以问句收束，全用口语，如当面相商，毫无修饰，而期待之情、友谊之笃尽在此一问之中。四句由酒而炉、由炉而雪、由雪而问，物象层层推进，情绪层层升温，二十字如一幅冬夜小景，又似一封邀友短笺，明白如话而余味无穷，正是白诗「言浅思深、意微词显」的典范。

Allusions

This poem uses few allusions yet its imagery is deep, showing Bai's gift of 'wonder from the ordinary.' 'Green ants' refers to the greenish foam on newly brewed wine—wine lees and rice grains floating on the surface, slightly green and fine as ants, hence the name; the term comes from the wine culture since the Six Dynasties, used by Southern court literati for new wine. Bai revives this old word with both accuracy and classical grace, carrying a rustic 'home-brew' air. 'A small red-clay stove' is pure plain description; 'red-clay' writes a folk earthen stove, 'small fire' its faint flame, and the character 'stove' (lu) faintly echoes Zhuo Wenjun selling wine behind the counter in Han—she and Sima Xiangru keeping themselves by their own labor; Bai's 'stove' hints at the plebeian warmth of serving a guest home-brewed wine. 'Seems bent on snow' shows sensitivity to weather, and 'snowy night' in literati tradition is linked to friends' gatherings: Wang Huizhi's impromptu night visit to Dai Kui—'going on a whim, returning when the mood ended'—is a famous elegant tale; Bai sets the scene with 'bent on snow,' presenting the 'snowy-night visit' as another form of that elegance—not necessarily returning when the mood ends, only asking 'won't you share a cup,' turning elegance into the homely, a Bai-style transformation of the refined into the real. The poem uses almost no allusion yet every word has a source—the cultural depth behind Bai's 'understood even by old women.'

此诗用典极少而意象底蕴深厚，正见白居易「用常得奇」的本领。「绿蚁」一词，本指新酿酒面上浮起的绿色泡沫——因酒曲与米渣浮于液面，色微绿、细碎如蚁，故名，此语出自六朝以来的酒文化，南朝文人常以之写新酒，白居易拈此旧词入诗，既准确又古雅，还自带「家常新酿」的乡野气息。「红泥小火垆」则纯是白描，以「红泥」写民间粗陶炉、以「小火」写炉火之微，其中「垆」字暗含汉代卓文君当垆沽酒的佳话余影——文君当垆、相如涤器，是贫贱相守的自食其力，白居易以「垆」写炉，隐隐有以家酿待客的平民情味。「天欲雪」暗含对天气的敏感，而「雪夜」在文人传统中素与友朋雅集相连：王徽之雪夜乘兴访戴逵，「乘兴而来，兴尽而返」，传为千古雅事；白居易以「欲雪」设境，正是「雪夜访友」这一文人雅趣的另一种呈现——不必兴尽而返，只问「能饮一杯无」，把雅事写成家常，是白居易式的化雅为俗、化俗为真。此诗几乎不用典而字字有来历，正是白诗「老妪能解」背后的文化厚度。

Commentary

In Bai Juyi's collected works this is a representative 'leisure poem' and the most famous poem of 'inviting a drink' in Chinese poetic history. Critics of all ages prize its sincerity: the Qing scholar Huang Sheng said 'of Tang poems close to human feeling, none matches this,' and moderns cite 'at dusk the sky seems bent on snow, won't you come and share a cup or no' as the peerless song of friendship. Its value is threefold: first, in twenty characters it writes the eternal scene of 'inviting a friend by the stove on a cold night'—green wine, red stove, threatening snow, the ask—four utterly plain images that evoke countless readers' shared memory of winter warmth; this ability 'to awaken the most empathy with the fewest images' is the essence of Bai's 'shallow words, deep thought.' Second, it marks the daily-life turn of mid-Tang poetry—High-Tang poets wrote ideals, frontiers, and landscapes, while Bai turned to the everyday of one stove and one cup, pioneering the Song 'making the vulgar elegant.' Third, the colloquial question 'won't you come and share a cup or no' became the classic paradigm of the 'snowy-night invitation' topos, echoed through Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing. Read beside his satirical poems, we see a complete great poet: one who 'sings only of the people's ills' and one who asks 'a cup or no'—between grand concern and small warmth lies the two faces of the Chinese literatus.

此诗在白居易集中是「闲适诗」的代表作，也是中国诗歌史上写「邀饮」最著名的篇章。历代评家皆赏其真率：清人黄生《唐诗摘钞》谓「唐诗之近人情者，莫如此作」，今人亦多引「晚来天欲雪，能饮一杯无」为友情诗之绝唱。此诗的价值有三：其一，它以二十字写出「寒夜炉边邀友」的永恒场景，绿酒、红炉、欲雪、问饮，四个意象朴素到极点，却唤起无数人对冬夜温暖的共同记忆，这种「以最少的意象唤起最多的共情」的能力，正是白居易「言浅思深」诗学的精髓；其二，它标志着中唐诗歌题材的日常化——盛唐诗人多写理想、边塞、山水，白居易则把笔触伸向一炉一酒、一饮一诺的日常生活，开宋人「以俗为雅」的先声；其三，诗中「能饮一杯无」的口语问句，成为后世「雪夜邀饮」母题的经典范式，宋元明清诗词中屡屡化用「天欲雪」「能饮一杯无」之句，足见其影响深远。此诗与白居易的讽喻诗并观，可见一个完整的大诗人：既能「惟歌生民病」，亦能「一饮一杯无」，于大关怀与小温情之间，恰是中国士大夫精神的一体两面。

Prosody

Form Five-character quatrain (archaic-jue form)五言绝句（古绝体）

Rhyme Rhymes with the level-tone 'Yu' rhyme: stanza two 'stove' (lu) and last 'no' (wu) are rhyme feet, in the Pingshui rhyme table upper-level seventh Yu; first line 'wine' (jiu) is oblique and does not rhyme, third line 'snow' (xue) oblique and does not rhyme—one rhyme throughout, sparse and round.全诗押平声「虞」韵：次句「垆」、末句「无」为韵脚，属《平水韵》上平七虞韵；首句「酒」仄声不入韵，第三句「雪」仄声不入韵，一韵到底而韵脚疏朗，音调圆转平和。

Tone pattern In tone-pattern: 'green ants new brew wine' is oblique-oblique-level-level-oblique; 'red clay small fire stove' is level-level-oblique-oblique-level—the first two lines couple neatly and follow the rules; 'at dusk comes sky bent snow' is oblique-level-level-oblique-oblique, 'can drink one cup no' is level-oblique-oblique-level-level—the whole is near a regulated quatrain but ends on a level tone, its music regular yet colloquially casual.平仄上「绿蚁新醅酒」仄仄平平仄，「红泥小火垆」平平仄仄平，前二句对仗工稳、平仄合律；「晚来天欲雪」仄平平仄仄，「能饮一杯无」平仄仄平平，全诗近于律绝而末句以平声收，音节于整饬中见口语的随意。

Reading note This poem is a five-character quatrain, yet in metrical terms it approaches an 'archaic jue'—though it generally follows near-modern tonal rules, it is not strict about matching and linking, and the last line 'won't you come and share a cup or no' is pure colloquial speech, reading like talk, which is exactly the formal embodiment of Bai Juyi's poetics of 'writing for the matter's sake.' The five-character quatrain of twenty characters is best for an impromptu scene; Bai uses it for the homely scene of a winter-night invitation to a friend—a high fit of form and content. In rhyme it uses the 'Yu' rhyme (stove, no); though only two rhyme words, the tone is round and gentle, harmonizing with the stove's warmth and the invitation's intimacy. In antithesis the opening couplet 'green ants on the newly brewed wine, a small red-clay stove with its fire aglow' is neat yet shows no axe-marks: color against color (green vs red), vessel against vessel (wine vs stove), modifier against modifier (newly brewed vs small fire)—a fine example of 'putting colloquial language into a couplet' that naturally achieves craft. The whole poem's tone is even, its meter alternating 'two-two-one' and 'two-one-two' (green ants / new brew / wine, red clay / small fire / stove; at dusk / sky seems / snow, can drink / one cup / no), the footstep synchronized with meaning, read in one breath like an affectionate invitation. This poem stands alone among quatrains for its 'sincerity': no grand words, no ornate allusions, only plain language writing plain life, yet it became a millennium-recited masterpiece—proving the wonder of metrical form lies not in craft but in 'fitting the temperament.'此诗为五言绝句，然格律上近于「古绝」——虽大体合于近体平仄，却不拘对仗粘对之严，末句「能饮一杯无」纯以口语入诗，读来如说话，这正是白居易「为事而作」的诗学在形式上的体现。五绝体制二十字，最宜于即景口占，白氏以之写冬夜邀友的家常场景，可谓体裁与内容的高度契合。用韵上押「虞」韵（垆、无），韵脚虽只两字而音调圆转，与炉火之暖、问语之亲相谐；对仗上首联「绿蚁新醅酒，红泥小火垆」工整而不见斧凿：颜色对（绿对红）、器物对（酒对垆）、定语对（新醅对小火），是「以俗语入对」而自然成工的佳例。全诗声调平稳，节奏为「二二一」与「二一二」相间，如「绿蚁／新醅／酒，红泥／小火／垆。晚来／天欲／雪，能饮／一杯／无」，音步与语意同步，读来一气贯注，恰似一次亲切的相邀。此诗在五绝史上以「真率」独标一格：不作壮语，不设典藻，唯以本色语言写本色生活，却成为传诵千年的名篇，足证格律之妙不在工而在「合于情性」。

Line by line

绿蚁新醅酒，红泥小火垆。

Newly brewed wine shows green ants of foam; a small red-clay stove burns warm.

新酿的酒面上浮着绿色的细沫，红泥做的小火炉正燃着暖融融的火。

Newly brewed wine, its green foam still floating; a small red-clay stove burning warmly.

首联以两个名词性意象并置，绿酒、红炉，构成一幅色彩明丽的冬夜静物图。「绿蚁」写酒之新——新酿未滤，液面浮着细如蚁的绿色泡沫，一个「新」字点出酒是刚酿好的，带着农家的质朴与新鲜；「红泥」写炉之朴——红泥小炉是民间粗器，造型朴拙，却正是家常取暖之物，「小」字更添亲切，仿佛炉火不大而刚好够两人围坐。两句一酒一炉、一绿一红，色彩冷暖相映，视觉先于触觉传递出「暖」的讯息；「新醅」与「小火」相对，酒之新酿、火之微燃，皆是不急不缓的家常节奏，为后文「晚来天欲雪」的骤寒与「能饮一杯无」的邀约铺设了从容的氛围。二十字无一字言情，而主人待客的诚意与生活的安适已溢出字面。

The opening couplet juxtaposes two noun images - green wine, red stove - composing a bright-colored winter-night still life. Green ants writes the wine's newness - freshly brewed, unstrained, the surface floating green foam fine as ants; one new character marks the wine just made, carrying rustic freshness. Red clay writes the stove's plainness - a coarse earthenware stove, rustic in form, yet precisely the household warming object; small adds intimacy, as if the fire small yet just right for two. Two lines: one wine one stove, one green one red, colors warm and cold set off, the sense of warmth reaching sight before touch; newly brewed and small fire paired - new wine, faint flame, all the unhurried household rhythm, preparing the calm atmosphere for the evening's threatened snow and the can you come below. Twenty characters, not one word of feeling, yet the host's sincerity and life's contentment overflow the page.

晚来天欲雪，能饮一杯无。

At dusk the sky seems bent on snow—won't you come and share a cup or no?

天色已晚，看来快要下雪了，你能来同我饮一杯吗？

Evening comes, the sky looks like snow; can you come share a cup?

后联由景入情，是全诗的落点与高潮。「晚来天欲雪」写天时将暮、雪意将至，「欲」字最妙——雪尚在酝酿未落之际，寒气已悄然浸透暮色，一个「欲」字写出天气变化的临界状态，也把人的关注引向即将到来的寒夜；正因天寒欲雪，前两句的绿酒红炉才格外珍贵，暖与寒在此相激相衬。末句「能饮一杯无」以口语直问，如当面相邀，语气亲切而略带俏皮——「无」字是唐代口语中的疑问词（相当于「吗」），此问既是不容拒绝的热情，又是留有余地的体谅，把一个冬夜邀约写得自然天成。四句至此，由酒而炉、由炉而雪、由雪而问，层层递进，二十字中可见炉火、闻酒香、感寒意、会友情，是「以小见大」的千古名句，也是中国诗歌中关于友谊最温暖的表达之一。

The closing couplet turns from scenery to feeling, the poem's landing and climax. Evening comes, the sky looks like snow: the day darkening, snow about to come; threatens is most exquisite - snow still brewing, not yet fallen, yet cold already soaking the dusk; one threatens writes the weather's critical state and draws attention to the coming cold night. Precisely because of the cold, the green wine and red stove above grow precious; warm and cold strike each other. The last line, can you come share a cup, asks directly in speech, like a face-to-face invitation, tone intimate and faintly playful - no is a Tang colloquial question particle; the question is at once an irresistible warmth and a considerate leave of space, making a winter-night invitation natural as heaven. Four lines: wine, stove, snow, question - layer by layer; in twenty characters one sees the stove, smells the wine, feels the cold, meets the friend - the classic small-sees-large line, one of Chinese poetry's warmest expressions of friendship.

Study

Word focus

绿蚁 Green ants: the fine green foam on the surface of newly brewed, unstrained wine, here used by Bai Juyi as a vivid, homely metonym for fresh wine. 「绿蚁」二字是首句的诗眼，是写新酿之酒最传神的说法。古人酿酒，未滤清时酒面浮有细碎泡沫，色微绿、形如蚁，故称「绿蚁」；白居易以「绿蚁」代酒，既准确写出新醅酒的真实形态，又赋予家常酒以生动的情趣——「绿」字写色，青绿如春，与「红泥」的暖红形成冷暖对照；「蚁」字写形，细小密集，暗示酒是刚刚酿成、未经滤清的鲜物。此词本为六朝以来酒文化的习用语，白居易用之却不显典故而只见新鲜，仿佛这酒就是刚刚捧出、还浮着泡沫的「活的」酒。若径写「新酿酒」，则质实无味；著「绿蚁」二字，酒之新、酒之鲜、酒之趣全出，正是炼字以神传的典范，也为全诗定下质朴亲切的基调。

欲 Seems bent on / about to: the key turning word of the third line, capturing snow's gathering-but-not-yet-fallen state, which makes the warm invitation natural rather than urgent. 「晚来天欲雪」之「欲」字，是全诗转折的关键字，是写天气变化最精微的一笔。「欲」表「将要」，却比「将」多一层「酝酿」「趋近而未至」的动态：雪意已在云层中聚结，天光渐暗，寒气渐侵，而雪还未落——这个临界状态，正是诗人与友人围炉等待的最好时辰。若作「晚来天已雪」或「天正雪」，则雪已落下，寒气迫人，邀约的从容便成了急切；唯「欲」字写出雪将落未落之际的悬置感，寒而不迫、期待而不焦躁，与炉火的暖、酒意的浓恰成最和谐的配比。此字还暗中承担结构功能：它把前三句的「暖」推向与「寒」的对峙，使末句「能饮一杯无」的问话有了最自然的由头——天欲雪，正宜饮。一字之置，全诗皆活。

无 Or no: a Tang colloquial interrogative particle (like '吗'), placed at the line's end to make the invitation sound like warm, spoken everyday speech. 「能饮一杯无」之「无」字，是唐代口语疑问词（相当于「么」「吗」），置于句末，是全诗情味最浓的字。此问看似随口，实则极有讲究：若作「能饮一杯乎」「可饮一杯否」，则文气太重，失却家常；唯「无」字是活生生的对话口语，仿佛诗人就坐在炉边、端着酒盏，抬眼笑问对座的友人——语气里既有热情相邀的诚意，又有「你若不来，我亦不强」的留有余地，亲切而不失分寸。以虚字收束全篇，是白居易的拿手好戏：前句实写景（酒、炉、雪），末句虚发问，虚实相生，二十字以一问荡开无穷余味。后人多效此句法（如「能饮一杯无」屡被化用），正因其问得自然、问得深情，把友情中最日常也最动人的瞬间定格为永恒。