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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

惜牡丹花

Pitying the Peonies

白居易

Bai Juyi

惆怅阶前红牡丹，晚来唯有两枝残。
明朝风起应吹尽，夜惜衰红把火看。

Sad at heart before the steps the red peonies —
At evening only two branches linger on.
Tomorrow when the wind rises they will all be blown away;
Tonight, pitying the fading red, I hold a torch to look.
Listen

Meaning

A poem of pity for the fading peonies, written on an evening when only two branches of the red flowers remain. The poet grieves before the steps: by evening only two branches are left; tomorrow the wind will blow even these away. So tonight, pitying the fading red, he takes a torch and looks at the flowers by firelight. The poem captures the tenderness of a man who will not let beauty go unseen even in its last hours.

惆怅阶前红牡丹，晚来唯有两枝残。明朝风起应吹尽，夜惜衰红把火看。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] Sad at heart before the steps are the red peonies; when evening comes, only two branches remain. Tomorrow when the wind rises they should all be blown away; tonight, pitying the withering red, I hold a torch to look at them. [Structure and Thought] The quatrain moves through four stages of a single evening: the grief of the opening, the fact of the two remaining branches, the forecast of tomorrow's wind, and the decision of the final line — the torchlit look. [Key Technique] The poem's power is the sudden close: after three lines of resigned sorrow, the poet acts — he takes up a torch and looks. The firelight against the fading red becomes the emblem of all human tenderness toward what is about to be lost. [Emotional Tone] Gentle, wistful, and quietly valiant: the grief is real, but so is the refusal to let beauty perish unseen.

【白话串讲】 白居易写《惜牡丹花》：“惆怅阶前红牡丹，晚来唯有两枝残”——“明朝风起应吹尽，夜惜衰红把火看”——他惜牡丹——夜惜衰红把火看。 【意象与手法】 “惆怅阶前红牡丹，晚来唯有两枝残”写红牡丹残；“明朝风起应吹尽”写明朝风起；结以“夜惜衰红把火看”写夜惜衰红把火看。婉转惜花。 【情感与主旨】 白居易写惜牡丹花之作，写明朝风起应吹尽、夜惜衰红把火看的惜花之情，是咏花诗中的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“惆怅阶前红牡丹，晚来唯有两枝残”写红牡丹残；“明朝风起应吹尽，夜惜衰红把火看”写惜花。

Background

Bai Juyi (772–846), courtesy name Letian, styled Xiangshan Hermit, was one of the greatest mid-Tang poets and the leading voice of the New Music Bureau movement. He served as prefect of Hangzhou and later of Suzhou, where peonies were a famous local flower and the object of an intense seasonal cult. This poem was written during his tenure in the south, at the season when the peonies were dying; it belongs to his large body of poems on flowers and the passing of spring, and it is one of the most beloved of all Tang poems on the pity of fading beauty.

《惜牡丹花》为唐代诗人白居易所作诗。白居易（772—846），字乐天，号香山居士，又号醉吟先生，祖籍太原，生于河南新郑，中唐诗人，新乐府运动倡导者。此诗写咏物惜花，为惜牡丹之作。诗中「惆怅阶前红牡丹，晚来唯有两枝残」写惆怅阶前红牡丹，晚来唯有两枝残；「明朝风起应吹尽，夜惜衰红把火看」写明朝风起应吹尽，夜惜衰红把火看。白居易此诗以咏物惜花、夜惜衰红把火看写其惜花之情，婉转惜花，是白居易诗中的名篇。此篇《惜牡丹花》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。此篇《惜牡丹花》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。

Art

The poem's art is the economy with which it builds to its single dramatic act. The first line fixes the scene and the mood: 'sad at heart before the steps the red peonies.' The second narrows the fact: only two branches remain. The third projects the future — the wind of tomorrow will finish them. Then, instead of ending in resignation, the fourth line breaks into action: 'tonight, pitying the fading red, I hold a torch to look.' The torch is the poem's masterstroke: against the coming darkness and wind, it holds the dying flowers in one circle of light, and the whole weight of the poet's pity is concentrated in that small, deliberate act.

此诗艺术上以「婉转惜花、以夜写情」见长。全诗共四句两联，由惆怅阶前红牡丹而明朝风起应吹尽。起「惆怅阶前红牡丹，晚来唯有两枝残」写惆怅阶前红牡丹：惆怅阶前红牡丹，晚来唯有两枝残；结「明朝风起应吹尽，夜惜衰红把火看」写明朝风起应吹尽：明朝风起应吹尽，夜惜衰红把火看。全诗以夜写情，由惆怅阶前红牡丹而夜惜衰红把火看，婉转惜花，是白居易诗中的名篇。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。

Allusions

The peony, in Tang poetry, was the 'king of flowers,' the emblem of wealth, glory, and the fleeting prime of life; to pity the peony was to pity the brevity of all splendor. 'The fading red' (shuaihong) names the flower at its last stage, its color already gone dull. 'Holding a torch to look at flowers' became a recognized gesture of the flower-lover's devotion, echoed in later poetry and prose as the type of the man who honors beauty even at its end.

诗中「惆怅阶前红牡丹晚来唯有两枝残」「明朝风起应吹尽夜惜衰红把火看」等语，皆含典故故实。「惆怅阶前红牡丹晚来唯有两枝残」写惆怅阶前红牡丹晚来唯有两枝残；「明朝风起应吹尽夜惜衰红把火看」写明朝风起应吹尽夜惜衰红把火看。诗人以牡丹、衰红等语入诗，不着痕迹，而把咏物惜花之情写得真切可感，是善于熔铸典故的体现。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。

Commentary

This quatrain is one of the most famous flower poems in the language, treasured for its final image of the torchlit look. For a thousand years, 'holding a torch to look at the fading flowers' has stood as the type of tender devotion to what is about to be lost. Critics praise the poem's restraint: the grief is never enlarged, the act is never explained — the torch simply appears, and the reader understands.

这首《惜牡丹花》，是白居易写咏物惜花之作，写惆怅阶前红牡丹、明朝风起应吹尽、夜惜衰红把火看之情，婉转惜花。起「惆怅阶前红牡丹，晚来唯有两枝残」——惆怅阶前红牡丹，晚来唯有两枝残。写惆怅阶前红牡丹：惆怅阶前红牡丹、晚来唯有两枝残——红牡丹、两枝残；结「明朝风起应吹尽，夜惜衰红把火看」——明朝风起应吹尽，夜惜衰红把火看。写明朝风起应吹尽：明朝风起应吹尽、夜惜衰红把火看——应吹尽、把火看。这「明朝风起应吹尽，夜惜衰红把火看」，是全诗之结：以夜惜衰红把火看写其惜花。全诗婉转惜花，以夜写情，正是白居易诗中的名篇。综观全诗，情真、景切、理深，三者浑融无迹，故能于短短数语之中寄无限深意，令人百读不厌。其含蓄蕴藉之处，正是中国古典诗歌以少总多、言有尽而意无穷的美学精神的生动体现。综观全诗，情真、景切、理深，三者浑融无迹，故能于短短数语之中寄无限深意，令人百读不厌。其含蓄蕴藉之处，正是中国古典诗歌以少总多、言有尽而意无穷的美学精神的生动体现。

Prosody

Form Seven-character quatrain (qijue)诗（七言绝句）
Rhyme The poem rhymes on the level-tone words 'can' (remaining) and 'kan' (to look) in the han-shan rhyme group, in the standard second and fourth line pattern.此诗为七言绝句，共四句两联。押韵：「残」「看」押寒删部韵。前两句起、后两句转合，平仄相间，正与写咏物惜花的婉转惜花相称，也见其以七绝写惜花的凝练。
Tone pattern The opening is slow and heavy with grief; the middle lines are flat and factual; the final line quickens with the decision — the torch appears, and the cadence ends on the bright, open 'kan' (to look).句式上，「惆怅阶前红牡丹，晚来唯有两枝残」写惆怅阶前红牡丹，音节低回；结「明朝风起应吹尽，夜惜衰红把火看」写明朝风起应吹尽，音节婉转。全诗音节随情起伏，由低回而婉转，正合七绝「凝练」之妙，读来如咏物惜花、夜惜衰红把火看之音，婉转而动人。
Reading note This is a seven-character quatrain by Bai Juyi. The first line states the sorrow before the red peonies; the second notes the two remaining branches at evening; the third foretells the wind of tomorrow; and the fourth performs the vigil — the torch held over the fading red tonight. The quatrain's art is the refusal of the future: since tomorrow the flowers will be gone, the poem keeps them tonight by firelight.此诗为七言绝句，是白居易写咏物惜花之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「婉转惜花、以夜写情」：「惆怅阶前红牡丹，晚来唯有两枝残」写惆怅阶前红牡丹、「明朝风起应吹尽，夜惜衰红把火看」写明朝风起应吹尽。全诗婉转惜花，以夜写情。尤为精妙者，是「惆怅阶前红牡丹」写尽红牡丹；而「夜惜衰红把火看」写尽把火看之情，正是白居易诗「婉转惜花」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《惜牡丹花》一诗之所以读来声情并茂，正在于诗人以声韵配合情思、以节奏烘托意境，音节之长短、平仄之起伏，皆与诗意相为表里，此亦可见中国古典诗歌声律之美与匠心之工。

Line by line

惆怅阶前红牡丹，晚来唯有两枝残。

Sad at heart before the steps the red peonies — at evening only two branches linger on.

惆怅阶前红牡丹，晚来唯有两枝残。

Sorrowful before the red peonies by the steps; by evening only two sprays remain unfaded.

起句写惆怅阶前红牡丹，起笔即见其惆怅。「惆怅阶前红牡丹」写惆怅阶前红牡丹，「惆怅阶前」写惆怅阶前、「红牡丹」写红牡丹；「晚来唯有两枝残」写晚来唯有两枝残，「晚来唯有」写晚来唯有、「两枝残」写两枝残。一句写惆怅阶前红牡丹晚来唯有两枝残，以惆怅阶前红牡丹写红牡丹、以晚来唯有两枝残写两枝残，写尽惆怅阶前红牡丹、晚来唯有两枝残之情。以花起兴，婉转而惜花，是「以花起兴」的妙笔。

The opening writes sorrowful before the red peonies by the steps, the sorrow named at the first stroke. Sorrowful before the red peonies by the steps: mourning the crimson peonies at the stair foot. By evening only two sprays remain unfaded: evening, all but two sprays fallen. One line writes the sorrowful red peonies, the other the two remaining sprays - Bai Juyi's starting point for cherishing the peony: crimson at dusk, only two left. The line opens with the flower as bi-xing, plaintive and cherishing: the grief is not for flowers alone, but for beauty's swift passing.

明朝风起应吹尽，

Tomorrow when the wind rises they will all be blown away;

明朝风起应吹尽，

Tomorrow when the wind rises, it should blow them all away,

此句写明朝风起应吹尽，是全诗写风起之态的关键。「明朝风起」写明朝风起，「明朝」写明朝、「风起」写风起；「应吹尽」写应吹尽，「应」写应、「吹尽」写吹尽。一句写明朝风起应吹尽，以明朝风起写风起、以应吹尽写吹尽，写尽明朝风起应吹尽之情。以风写情，婉转而惜花，是「以风写情」的点睛之笔。此句以寥寥数语写尽深意，情韵兼胜，正是全诗点睛之笔。其于字句之间暗藏波澜，于平易之中寄寓曲折，尤当反复涵泳，方能得其三昧。

This line writes tomorrow's wind should blow them all away, the key to the poem's wind. Tomorrow when the wind rises: the coming dawn, the rising gale. It should blow them all away: all the blooms swept away. One line writes the coming wind and its certain destruction - the lover of flowers already grieves the wind before it rises. The line uses wind to write feeling, plaintive and cherishing, hiding waves within plain words: the imagined tomorrow heightens tonight's urgency.

夜惜衰红把火看。

Tonight, pitying the fading red, I hold a torch to look.

夜惜衰红把火看。

so at night, grieving the fading red, I hold a lamp to look at them.

结句写夜惜衰红把火看，是全诗立意的落点。「夜惜衰红」写夜惜衰红，「夜惜」写夜惜、「衰红」写衰红；「把火看」写把火看，「把火」写把火、「看」写看。一句写夜惜衰红把火看，以夜惜衰红写衰红、以把火看写把火看，写尽夜惜衰红把火看之情。以火写情，婉转而惜花，是全诗最动人处，也是「以火写情」的点睛之笔。此句以寥寥数语写尽深意，情韵兼胜，正是全诗点睛之笔。其于字句之间暗藏波澜，于平易之中寄寓曲折，尤当反复涵泳，方能得其三昧。

The closing writes grieving the fading red by lamp at night, the poem's landing. Night, grieving the fading red: at night, mourning the withering bloom. Holds a lamp to look at them: raising a light to inspect the petals. One line writes the night's grief for the faded red, the other the lamp held up - the poem's resolution: no ordinary gazing, but a lamp-lit vigil over dying flowers. The line uses firelight to write feeling, plaintive and cherishing, the poem's most moving point: by lamplight, the last crimson held against tomorrow's wind.

Study

Word focus

惆怅 'Sad at heart' — the sorrow that opens the pity for the fading flowers. 「惆怅」写惆怅阶前红牡丹，是写惆怅之态的关键。「惆怅阶前红牡丹」着一「惆怅」，写惆怅——着一「惆怅」，写惆怅阶前红牡丹，见其怅之惆。两字写尽惆怅之态，是「以词写愁」的妙笔。「惆怅」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
牡丹 'The peonies' — the red peonies before the steps, the poem's beloved object. 「牡丹」写惆怅阶前红牡丹，是写牡丹之态的关键。「惆怅阶前红牡丹」着一「牡丹」，写牡丹——着一「牡丹」，写惆怅阶前红牡丹，见其丹之牡。两字写尽牡丹之态，是「以词写花」的点睛之词。「牡丹」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
衰红 'The fading red' — the red grown old, the peonies' decline. 「衰红」写夜惜衰红把火看，是写衰红之态的关键。「夜惜衰红把火看」着一「衰红」，写衰红——着一「衰红」，写夜惜衰红把火看，见其红之衰。两字写尽衰红之态，是「以词写红」的点睛之词。「衰红」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
把火 'Holding the torch' — the torchlight vigil over the fading flowers, the poem's central gesture. 「把火」写夜惜衰红把火看，是写把火之态的关键。「夜惜衰红把火看」着一「把火」，写把火——着一「把火」，写夜惜衰红把火看，见其火之把。两字写尽把火之态，是「以词写火」的点睛之词。「把火」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。

Related Reading

水调歌头·明月几时有 Prelude to Water Melody: When Did the Bright Moon Begin? 苏轼 · 同写惜花感怀、婉转旷达，一写人有悲欢离合、一写夜惜衰红把火看，皆于惜花之中见婉转 Both hold a night vigil over the beautiful and the passing — Su Shi's moon and wine, Bai Juyi's torch and fading peonies.

Su Shi's 'Prelude to Water Melody' keeps the night with the moon and the wine; Bai Juyi's 'Pitying the Peonies' keeps the night with the torch over the fading red — the two night vigils, one philosophical, one tender.

苏轼《水调歌头·明月几时有》「人有悲欢离合，月有阴晴圆缺，此事古难全」，写惜花感怀、婉转旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；白居易《惜牡丹花》则以「夜惜衰红把火看」「惆怅阶前红牡丹」写把火看、红牡丹。两诗同写惜花感怀、婉转旷达：一写人有悲欢离合、以悲欢写离合，一写夜惜衰红把火看、以衰红写惜花；一为苏轼之旷达、一为白居易之婉转，并读正可见诗写「惜花感怀」的两种笔法，皆于惜花之中见婉转。

 八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Eight Beats of Ganzhou: Facing the Evening Rain That Spatters the Long River 柳永 · 同写阶前凝望、婉转清丽，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写惆怅阶前红牡丹晚来唯有两枝残，皆于阶前之中见凝望 Both pity the withering of the beautiful — Liu Yong's wilting flowers and returning swallows, Bai Juyi's fading peonies under the torch.

Liu Yong's 'Eight Beats of Ganzhou' — 'the red withers, the green fades' — is the slow lyric of the fading world; Bai Juyi's quatrain is the compressed vigil — the torch held over the last two branches before the wind.

柳永《八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天》「对潇潇暮雨洒江天，一番洗清秋」，写阶前凝望、婉转清丽，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；白居易《惜牡丹花》则以「惆怅阶前红牡丹，晚来唯有两枝残」「明朝风起应吹尽」写红牡丹、应吹尽。两诗同写阶前凝望、婉转清丽：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写惆怅阶前红牡丹晚来唯有两枝残、以牡丹写惜花；一为柳永之清丽、一为白居易之婉转，并读正可见诗写「阶前凝望」的两种笔法，皆于阶前之中见凝望。