唐 Tang · 诗 Poem
侠客行
The Song of the Knight-Errant (Xiake Xing)
赵客缦胡缨，吴钩霜雪明。
银鞍照白马，飒遝如流星。
十步杀一人，千里不留行。
事了拂衣去，深藏身与名。
闲过信陵饮，脱剑膝前横。
将炙啖朱亥，持觞劝侯嬴。
三杯吐然诺，五岳倒为轻。
眼花耳热后，意气素霓生。
救赵挥金槌，邯郸先震惊。
千秋二壮士，煊赫大梁城。
纵死侠骨香，不惭世上英。
谁能书合下，白首太玄经。
His Wu hook bright as frost and snow;
On the silver saddle, the white horse gleaming,
Rushing and streaming like a shooting star.
Ten paces he kills a man,
A thousand li he leaves no trace.
When the deed is done, he flicks his sleeves and goes,
Hiding deep his body and his name.
At leisure he visits the gate of Lord Xinling and drinks,
Drawing his sword, he lays it across his knees.
He gives the roast to Zhu Hai,
And raising the cup urges Hou Ying.
Three cups, and he utters his promise;
The Five Mountains are light against it.
After the dim eyes and the hot ears,
His spirit and will give birth to the white rainbow.
Saving Zhao, he wields the golden mallet,
And Handan is the first to tremble.
For a thousand autumns, the two brave knights
Blaze in the city of Daliang.
Though he die, his knightly bones are fragrant,
He is not ashamed before the heroes of the world.
Who can, beneath the study window,
White his head over the Taixuan Classic?
Meaning
Li Bai's famous poem on the knight-errant of his youth, on the old theme of the yuefu 'Miscellaneous Songs,' written about the Kaiyuan era when the poet, sword in hand, left his home and traveled far. The poem writes the old deeds of the Warring States knights Zhu Hai and Hou Ying, who aided Lord Xinling in saving Zhao, using the ancient knight to voice his present feeling—the knight who, the deed done, 'flicks his sleeves and goes, hiding deep his body and his name' is the embodiment of Li Bai's life ideal of 'the merit done, refusing the reward, flicking the sleeves and returning to the rivers and lakes.' The poem opens with the appearance and the deeds of the knight: 'ten paces he kills a man, a thousand li he leaves no trace,' 'when the deed is done, he flicks his sleeves and goes'; then the meeting with Lord Xinling and the two brave knights of the Records of the Grand Historian; and the close in the fame and the death of the knight: 'though he die, his knightly bones are fragrant, he is not ashamed before the heroes of the world,' with the retort against the bookish pedant who whitens his head over the classics.
燕赵之地的侠客，头上系着粗疏的胡人帽带，腰间佩带的吴钩宝刀，在霜雪之中寒光闪闪。银鞍与白马相映生辉，飞驰起来快如流星。他们十步之内能杀一人，横行千里无人能挡。事成之后便拂衣而去，深深藏起自己的身家姓名。闲暇时到信陵君门下饮酒，解下佩剑横放在膝前。亲手把烤肉递给朱亥，举起酒杯劝侯嬴畅饮。三杯下肚便许下诺言，五岳之重也看得轻微。酒酣耳热之际，一股豪气如素霓横贯而生。救赵之时挥动金槌，邯郸城先为之震惊。千秋之后，朱亥、侯嬴两位壮士，依然煊赫地传名于大梁城中。纵使身死，侠骨也留芳香，不惭于世上任何英雄。谁能像扬雄那样老死于书阁之下，白首穷经去写《太玄经》呢？
Appreciation
The structure of the poem takes the word 'knight' as its bone, its twenty-four lines advancing layer on layer: the opening eight lines write the appearance and the deeds of the knight, with the dress, the blade, and the steed for his form and the killing and the flicking of the sleeves for his spirit; the middle eight lines write the acquaintance of the knight, from the lone wanderer to the knight befriending the powerful gate—Lord Xinling, Zhu Hai, and Hou Ying, all of the Records of the Grand Historian, the history brought into the poem, giving the knight a concrete historical stage; the last eight lines write the merit and the fame of the knight, saving Zhao with the golden mallet and Handan trembling, closing in the argument of 'though he die, his knightly bones are fragrant,' with the retort against the pedantry of Yang Xiong whitening his head over the classics, the structure opening and closing on the grand scale. In method, first the extreme hyperbole: 'ten paces he kills a man, a thousand li he leaves no trace,' 'the Five Mountains are light against it,' the impossible numbers writing the peerless courage; second, the vivid action: 'he flicks his sleeves and goes,' 'he gives the roast to Zhu Hai, and raising the cup urges Hou Ying,' the action of the knight alive in a few strokes; third, the plain and the grand: the whole poem in the plain five-character lines, the language condensed, every word striking the ear.
【白话串讲】 李白写《侠客行》：“赵客缦胡缨，吴钩霜雪明”。“十步杀一人，千里不留行。事了拂衣去，深藏身与名”——“三杯吐然诺，五岳倒为轻”——“纵死侠骨香，不惭世上英”——他写侠客的豪气。 【意象与手法】 全诗以侠立骨、以气驭文，多用夸张（十步杀一人、五岳倒为轻）、烘托（吴钩霜雪明、银鞍照白马）、用事入诗（信陵、朱亥、侯嬴救赵）与对比收束（侠客拂衣去对儒生白首太玄经），章法大开大合。 【情感与主旨】 李白咏侠实为自抒怀抱：侠客功成身退、深藏名姓，正是诗人「功成不受赏，拂衣归江湖」理想的化身，寄托了盛唐士人蔑视礼法、追求自由的任侠精神。 【名句点睛】 常考「十步杀一人，千里不留行」「事了拂衣去，深藏身与名」「纵死侠骨香，不惭世上英」的侠义人格，以及末二句褒侠贬儒的对比。
Background
This poem was written in Li Bai's youth, on the old yuefu theme, about the Kaiyuan era when the poet, sword in hand, left his home and traveled far. Li Bai from his childhood was a knight and valued honor; the New Book of Tang records that he 'delighted in the arts of statecraft, struck the sword as a knight-errant, made light of wealth and was generous in giving,' and his letter to Governor Pei of Anzhou recounts 'wandering east to Weiyang, in less than a year scattering more than three hundred thousand in gold'—the knightly life was the true background of Li Bai's youth. The Tang inherited the tradition of the Six Dynasties knights, the young knights of Chang'an and Luoyang swaggering in the marketplaces, and Li Bai's 'Song of the Knight-Errant,' 'Song of the Young Men,' and 'White Horse' pieces are the products of this fashion. This poem writes the old deeds of the Warring States knights Zhu Hai and Hou Ying aiding Lord Xinling in saving Zhao, using the ancient knight to voice the present feeling—written in the full prosperity of the Kaiyuan era, when the state was strong and the spirit of the scholars high, the poem's 'ten paces he kills a man' is at once the boast of the young knight and the rising spirit of the High Tang.
《侠客行》是李白青年时代的咏侠名篇，属乐府《杂曲歌辞》旧题，约作于开元年间诗人仗剑去国、辞亲远游之际。李白自幼任侠尚义，《新唐书》本传载其「喜纵横术，击剑为任侠，轻财重施」，其《上安州裴长史书》又自述「东游维扬，不逾一年，散金三十余万」，游侠生活是李白青年经历的真实底色。唐代承六朝游侠之风，长安、洛阳游侠少年横行市井，李白的《侠客行》《少年行》《白马篇》皆为此风气之产物。此诗写战国时魏国侠客朱亥、侯嬴辅佐信陵君救赵的旧事，借古侠以抒今怀——诗中那位功成身退、深藏名姓的侠客，正是李白「功成不受赏，拂衣归江湖」的人生理想的化身。值得注意的是，此诗作于开元全盛时期，国势强盛、士风昂扬，诗中「十步杀一人，千里不留行」的极度夸张，也折射出盛唐人恃才自信、蔑视礼法的时代精神。后世虽未确载此诗本事，然其流传极广，与《将进酒》《行路难》同为李白豪放风格的代表作。
Art
The structure takes the word 'knight' as its bone, advancing layer on layer: the appearance and the deeds, the acquaintance with the powerful gate, the merit and the fame, and the close in the argument and the retort. In method, the extreme hyperbole, the vivid action, and the plain and the grand: the impossible numbers writing the peerless courage, the action of the knight alive in a few strokes, the condensed language, every word striking the ear. The whole poem, from the form to the spirit, from the deed to the fame, the knight of the ideal written to the utmost, the spirit of the High Tang in the song.
此诗章法以「侠」字为骨，二十四句层层推进：起八句写侠客之貌与行，以装束、兵刃、坐骑写其形，以杀敌、拂衣写其神；中八句写侠客之交，由独行侠转入任侠与权门结交——信陵君、朱亥、侯嬴皆《史记·魏公子列传》中人，以史入诗，使侠客有了具体的历史舞台；后八句写侠客之功与名，救赵挥槌、邯郸震惊，终以「纵死侠骨香」的议论收束，并反诘扬雄白首穷经之迂，章法大开大合。艺术手法上，一是极度夸张：「十步杀一人」「千里不留行」「五岳倒为轻」，以不可能的数目字极写侠客之勇与诺言之重，气势夺人；二是烘托渲染：「吴钩霜雪明」以兵器寒光写人之英武，「银鞍照白马，飒遝如流星」以物象鲜明写奔行之迅疾，寥寥数语，形象跃然纸上；三是对比收束：以侠客「事了拂衣去」对比儒生「白首太玄经」，褒侠贬儒，寄寓诗人对两种人生的价值抉择；四是用事入诗而不隔：信陵、朱亥、侯嬴、太玄诸典皆熔铸于叙事议论之中，无掉书袋之弊。语言上全用短句，动词多单字（杀、行、去、藏、饮、横、啖、劝、吐、挥），节奏铿锵，如金鼓齐鸣，声情与侠气相称。
Allusions
The allusions of the poem are gathered in the Records of the Grand Historian and the yuefu tradition. The first is 'Lord Xinling stealing the tally to save Zhao': Qin besieging Handan, the king of Wei fearing Qin and looking on, Lord Xinling, using Hou Ying's plan, stole the tally of the army, and Zhu Hai killed Jin Bi with the forty-catty iron mallet, seized the army, and saved Zhao, as in the Records of the Grand Historian. The 'visiting the gate of Lord Xinling and drinking,' 'giving the roast to Zhu Hai and urging Hou Ying,' and 'saving Zhao, he wields the golden mallet' all come from this, the knight's honor realized in the concrete work of helping the distressed. The second is 'the white rainbow': the Records record that when Jing Ke stabbed the King of Qin there was the sign of the white rainbow piercing the sun, and his spirit and will moved the heaven; the poem's 'his spirit and will give birth to the white rainbow' continues this, the spirit and will of the knight moving the heaven.
此诗用典集中于《史记》与乐府传统。其一为「信陵君窃符救赵」：秦围邯郸，魏王畏秦观望，信陵君用侯嬴计窃得兵符，朱亥以四十斤铁椎椎杀晋鄙，夺军救赵，事见《史记·魏公子列传》。诗中「闲过信陵饮」「将炙啖朱亥，持觞劝侯嬴」「救赵挥金槌，邯郸先震惊」皆从此出，侠客之义落实于扶危济困的具体功业。其二为「素霓」：《史记》载荆轲刺秦时有白虹贯日之象，其气感动天地，此诗「意气素霓生」化用此典，写侠客一诺千金、正气凛然，足以上干天象。其三为「拂衣去」：用鲁仲连功成不受赏之典，李白《古风》「却秦振英声，后世仰末照」亦赞鲁仲连，可见诗人对功成身退人格的倾慕。其四为「太玄经」：扬雄晚年白首太玄、闭门著书，以儒生书斋生活反衬侠客的淋漓痛快，是李白「儒不如侠」价值取向的流露。其五为「吴钩」：吴地所产弯刀，李贺「男儿何不带吴钩」同用之，已成唐人写侠的固定意象。全诗典故与叙事交融，历史人物与想象侠客叠印，虚虚实实，正是李白以气用典的本色。
Commentary
'The Song of the Knight-Errant' is the most heroic in spirit of Li Bai's knight poems, in a triad with the 'White Horse' and the 'Song of the Young Men.' It lifts the knight-errant from the level of the market bully to the ideal personality of relieving the state's distress and retiring when the deed is done, shaping one of the most glorious knight figures of Chinese literature. The lines 'ten paces he kills a man, a thousand li he leaves no trace,' 'when the deed is done, he flicks his sleeves and goes, hiding deep his body and his name,' and 'though he die, his knightly bones are fragrant, he is not ashamed before the heroes of the world' are condensed in language and striking in sound, recited by the young of a thousand years, the very incarnation of the romantic spirit of the High Tang.
《侠客行》在李白咏侠诗中气格最雄，与《白马篇》《少年行》鼎足而三。它把游侠从市井豪强的层面提升到为国纾难、功成身退的理想人格高度，塑造了中国文学中最为光辉的侠客形象之一。诗中「十步杀一人，千里不留行」「事了拂衣去，深藏身与名」「纵死侠骨香，不惭世上英」等句，语言凝练、掷地有声，千百年来被反复传诵，成为侠之精神定义的经典表述，甚至被后世武侠文学奉为圭臬。从文学史看，此诗上承曹植《白马篇》「捐躯赴国难，视死忽如归」的侠义精神，下启中唐贾岛《剑客》等咏侠之作，是侠义母题由为国转向任己的关键一环。就李白本人而言，诗中侠客正是「托身白刃里，杀人红尘中」的自我写照，其后的《行路难》《将进酒》中那种蔑视权威、追求自由的豪气，于此已见端倪。此诗亦常被用来考察盛唐士人的任侠风气与功名观，是理解李白人格与唐代文化精神的重要文本。须注意者，诗中暴力夸张属文学想象，读者当取其侠义之气与自由精神，而非效其行事。
Prosody
Line by line
赵客缦胡缨，吴钩霜雪明。银鞍照白马，飒遝如流星。
The knight of Zhao with his coarse cap strings, his Wu hook bright as frost and snow; on the silver saddle, the white horse gleaming, rushing and streaming like a shooting star. (The opening eight lines write the appearance: the dress, the blade, and the steed, the form of the knight, the white horse rushing like a shooting star.)
燕赵侠客系着粗疏的胡人帽带，佩带的吴钩宝刀在霜雪中寒光闪闪；银鞍与白马相映生辉，奔驰起来快如流星。
The Zhao knight wears a coarse barbarian hat-tie; his Wu hooks shine like frost and snow. A silver saddle gleams on the white horse, and he charges like a shooting star.
开篇四句为侠客造像，由头到腰再到坐骑，层层收拢，写出一个英气逼人的立体形象。「缦胡缨」写帽带粗疏无文，点出侠客不修边幅的野性；「吴钩霜雪明」以宝刀寒光映霜雪，人未登场而杀气已凝；「银鞍照白马」以银与白二色交映，写出坐骑的明洁华贵；「飒遝如流星」以流星之疾写奔驰之快，动感十足。四句全用名词与形容词堆叠，不用一个动词正面写人，而侠客之英武已跃然纸上——这是李白写人物的典型笔法，先以物象烘托，再让形象自己站出。后文「十步杀一人」的雷霆手段，正是从此处蓄势而来。
The opening four lines sculpt the knight: from head to waist to mount, gathering layer by layer, producing a vivid, three-dimensional figure. Coarse barbarian hat-tie writes the rough, unadorned tie, marking the knight's untamed wildness; Wu hooks shine like frost and snow uses the saber's cold gleam against frost - the killing aura condensed before the man appears. A silver saddle gleams on the white horse uses silver and white inter-reflecting, writing the mount's purity and luxury; he charges like a shooting star writes speed through the meteor's swiftness, motion abundant. The four lines stack nouns and adjectives, not one verb writing the man frontally, yet the knight's martial bearing leaps to the page - Li Bai's typical method of portraiture: first surround with objects, then let the figure stand forth. The thunderstroke of within ten paces he slays below gathers force precisely here.
十步杀一人，千里不留行。事了拂衣去，深藏身与名。
Ten paces he kills a man, a thousand li he leaves no trace. When the deed is done, he flicks his sleeves and goes, hiding deep his body and his name. (The extreme hyperbole and the ideal: the impossible numbers of the courage, and the merit done, the name hidden, flicking the sleeves and going—the life ideal of Li Bai.)
十步之内便能杀一人，横行千里无人能挡；事成之后拂衣而去，深深藏起身家姓名。
Within ten paces he slays a man; across a thousand li no trace remains. The deed done, he brushes his robes and is gone, hiding deep his person and name.
此四句是全诗的核心，写侠客的勇与德。「十步杀一人」化用《庄子》「臣之剑十步一人，千里不留行」的语意，以数目字极言其勇；「千里不留行」写纵横千里、来去无碍的豪气。前二句是侠客之形，后二句则是侠客之神：「事了拂衣去」用鲁仲连功成不受赏之典，写侠客不居功、不恋位；「深藏身与名」更进一层，连姓名都不留于世，功成身退、隐姓埋名。这就把侠客从好勇斗狠的武夫提升到功成不居的高士境界，也寄寓了李白自身的人生理想——立功而不邀赏，潇洒而来，飘然而去。四句两两对照，一显一隐，侠客形象至此完成由勇到德的升华，是全诗立意的关键。
These four lines are the poem's core, writing the knight's courage and virtue. Within ten paces he slays a man adapts Zhuangzi's sword - ten paces one man, a thousand li without leaving a trace, using numbers to write courage to the extreme; a thousand li no trace writes the grandeur of ranging a thousand li, coming and going unhindered. The first two lines are the knight's form; the last two his spirit: the deed done, he brushes his robes and is gone adapts Lu Zhonglian's accepting no reward after saving the state, writing the knight's refusal to dwell on merit; hiding deep his person and name goes further - even his name left unknown, merit accomplished, body withdrawn, name hidden. This raises the knight from a brawling warrior to the lofty realm of achievement without dwelling, and lodges Li Bai's own life ideal: merit won yet reward not sought, coming free, going drifting. The four lines pair two and two, one manifest one hidden; the knight image completes the sublimation from courage to virtue - the key to the poem's thesis.
三杯吐然诺，五岳倒为轻。眼花耳热后，意气素霓生。
Three cups, and he utters his promise; the Five Mountains are light against it. After the dim eyes and the hot ears, his spirit and will give birth to the white rainbow. (The honor of the knight: the promise weighed against the Five Mountains, the spirit and will moving the heaven, the white rainbow of Jing Ke continuing.)
三杯下肚便许下诺言，五岳之重也看得轻；酒酣耳热之际，一股豪气如素霓横贯而生。
After three cups he pledges his word; the Five Mountains weigh light. When eyes swim and ears burn, a spirit like a white rainbow rises.
此四句写侠客的交游与气概，是全诗最见李白豪情之处。「三杯吐然诺」写侠客轻诺重信，三杯酒便许下生死之约，一个吐字写出许诺之快、之诚；「五岳倒为轻」以五岳之重反衬诺言之重，极度的夸张中见出侠客视信义重于泰山的品格。后二句由酒入气：「眼花耳热后」写酒酣之态，真切如见；「意气素霓生」化用荆轲刺秦白虹贯日的典故，写豪气上冲霄汉，如白虹横贯天际。素霓（白虹）本是天象，此处写侠客意气竟能上感天象，是李白惯用的以天写人的浪漫夸张。四句由诺言写到意气，由人事写到天象，侠客的形象愈发高大，为下文救赵的壮举蓄满气势。
These four lines write the knight's comradeship and bearing, the poem's most Li Bai-like heroism. After three cups he pledges his word writes the knight's light word and heavy trust: three cups and a pledge of life and death; breathes out writes the promise' speed and sincerity. The Five Mountains weigh light sets the mountains' weight against the promise, extreme hyperbole showing the knight's holding honor heavier than Mount Tai. The last two lines move from wine to spirit: when eyes swim and ears burn writes the drunken state, vivid as before the eyes; a spirit like a white rainbow rises adapts Jing Ke's white rainbow piercing the sun, writing the heroism surging to the heavens like a white rainbow across the sky. White rainbow was originally an astral phenomenon; here the knight's spirit is said to move heaven itself - Li Bai's customary method of writing man through heaven. The four lines move from promise to spirit, from human affairs to astral phenomena; the knight image grows loftier, storing full momentum for the rescue of Zhao below.
纵死侠骨香，不惭世上英。谁能书合下，白首太玄经。
Though he die, his knightly bones are fragrant, he is not ashamed before the heroes of the world. Who can, beneath the study window, white his head over the Taixuan Classic? (The close: the fame of the knight, the bones fragrant in the death, and the retort against the pedantry of Yang Xiong whitening his head over the classics.)
纵使身死，侠骨亦留芳香，不惭于世上任何英雄；谁能像扬雄那样老死于书阁之下，白首穷经去写《太玄经》呢？
Though he die, the knight's bones leave fragrance, no shame before the heroes of the age. Who would stay below the library eaves, white-haired over the Great Mystery?
末四句以议论收束全篇，点明主旨。「纵死侠骨香」写侠客虽死而英名不朽，骨尚留香，以香写名，化抽象为具体；「不惭世上英」写其功业足与当世英豪比肩而无愧。二句为侠客的一生下了定论。后二句笔锋一转：「谁能书合下，白首太玄经」，以扬雄皓首穷经、老死书斋的儒生生活作反衬，一句反诘收束，褒侠贬儒之意豁然。此处的对比并非全盘否定读书，而是李白以侠客的自由奔放对照书斋的拘束沉闷，寄托自己不甘皓首穷经、要建功立业的人生取向。全诗由形象而议论，由叙事而感慨，章法收得干净利落，而侠客的英风豪气已长留纸上，这正是李白咏侠诗以气运笔的典范。
The last four lines resolve the poem in argument, naming the thesis. Though he die, the knight's bones leave fragrance writes the knight's deathless fame even in death, bones still fragrant - using fragrance for fame, abstract made concrete. No shame before the heroes of the age writes his achievement enough to stand with the age's bravest without blush. These two lines pronounce the knight's life. The last two lines turn: who would stay below the library eaves, white-haired over the Great Mystery sets the scholar's withered book-lodge life of Yang Xiong as contrast, one rhetorical question closing, praising the knight and depreciating the scholar made clear. The contrast is not a total negation of scholarship, but Li Bai setting the knight's free wildness against the study's constraint and dullness, lodging his own refusal to whiten his head over classics, his will to win merit. The poem moves from image to argument, narrative to sigh, the structure closed cleanly; the knight's heroic bearing long remains on the page - precisely Li Bai's knight poetry wielded by spirit.
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Cao Zhi's 'White Horse'—'the white horse, adorned with the gold bridle, gallops to the northwest... sacrificing the body for the national distress, looking on death as if returning home'—and Li Bai's 'Song of the Knight-Errant' both write the knight, the twin peaks of the Chinese poem of the knight: Cao Zhi's knight serves the state, 'sacrificing the body for the national distress,' the loyalty of the knight of the state; Li Bai's knight is free in the world, 'when the deed is done, he flicks his sleeves and goes, hiding deep his body and his name,' the freedom of the knight of the rivers and lakes. One the knight of the state's service, one the knight of the world's freedom; one the loyalty, one the transcendence—the source and the continuation of the knightly spirit, the two ideals of the Chinese knight.
曹植《白马篇》「捐躯赴国难，视死忽如归」与《侠客行》同写游侠，是中国咏侠诗的双璧。差异在：曹植笔下的幽并游侠儿是「为国」的侠——白马饰金羁，连翩西北驰，捐躯赴国难，功业归于朝廷；李白笔下的赵客则是「任己」的侠——十步杀一人，事了拂衣去，深藏身与名，功业归于自我。一重社会责任，一重个体自由，正见侠义精神由建安向盛唐的嬗变。二诗又同以夸张写勇、以议论明志，曹植以「视死忽如归」收束，李白以「白首太玄经」反诘，气格一沉郁一豪宕。合观二诗，可窥中国侠文化由汉魏入唐的精神轨迹，而李白之侠更近后世江湖侠客的想象。
少年行 Song of the Young Gallants 王维 · 盛唐咏侠的双璧 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
王维《少年行》「孰知不向边庭苦，纵死犹闻侠骨香」与《侠客行》同咏盛唐游侠，且「纵死犹闻侠骨香」与「纵死侠骨香」字面几乎相同，可见盛唐诗人共享同一侠义话语。差异在：王维笔下的少年侠是「官家」的侠——出身于豪门、立功于边庭，前途指向仕途功名；李白笔下的侠客是「江湖」的侠——信陵门下、大梁城中，功成之后拂衣隐去。王诗四首组诗写少年的一生，工于侧面烘托与画面组接；李诗单篇二十四句，长于正面铺写与议论收束。二诗并读，可见盛唐任侠风气的两个侧面：入世的功名之侠与出世的自由之侠，而李白的侠客行正是后者最响亮的宣言。
剑客 剑客 贾岛 · 由侠行到剑志的收缩 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
贾岛《剑客》「十年磨一剑，霜刃未曾试。今日把示君，谁有不平事」与《侠客行》同写侠客之器与侠客之志，而格局迥异。李白写侠，是全景式的人生：装束、身手、交游、功业、归宿，铺陈开阖，气象万千；贾岛写剑，是聚焦式的自白：以剑自喻，十年磨砺、一展锋芒，含蓄内向。一以气盛，一以意深；一为大开大合的乐府，一为短小精悍的五绝。二诗又同以兵刃起兴：吴钩与霜刃皆寒光凛然，而李白之侠功成身退，贾岛之剑志在除不平。由李到贾，可见咏侠诗由盛唐的任侠外向转向中唐的托物言志，时代风气之变，尽在二诗之间。