唐 Tang · 诗 Poem
邺都引
Song of the Capital Ye
君不见魏武草创争天禄，群雄睚眦相驰逐。
昼携壮士破坚阵，夜接词人赋华屋。
都邑缭绕西山阳，桑榆汗漫漳河曲。
城郭为虚人代改，但有西园明月在。
邺傍高冢多贵臣，娥眉𥊑睩共灰尘。
试上铜台歌舞处，唯有秋风愁杀人。
While the heroes of the age, glaring with rage, raced and chased one another?
By day he led his stout warriors to break the strong formations,
By night he received the poets to compose in the splendid halls.
The capital wound around the sunny side of the western hills,
Mulberries and elms spread far along the winding banks of the Zhang.
But the walls and moats are now empty, and the generations have changed —
Only the bright moon of the Western Garden remains.
Beside Ye there are many lofty tombs of the great ministers,
And the moth-browed beauties with their darting eyes are all one with the dust.
Climb the Copper Bird Terrace, the place of song and dance —
Only the autumn wind remains, and it is enough to kill the heart.
Meaning
A historical poem on the ruins of Ye, the capital of Cao Cao (Lord Wu of Wei) and of the Wei dynasty. The poem recalls the founder's first contest for the empire, when the heroes of the age glared and raced; by day he broke strong formations with his stout warriors, by night he received the poets in his splendid halls. The capital wound around the hills, the mulberries and elms spread along the Zhang River — but now the walls are empty and the generations changed, and only the bright moon of the Western Garden remains. The tombs of the great ministers lie beside Ye, and the moth-browed beauties with their darting eyes are dust. Climb the Copper Bird Terrace, the place of song and dance — only the autumn wind remains, and it is enough to kill the heart. The poem is the classic meditation on the vanity of power and pleasure before the ruins of a great dynasty.
君不见魏武草创争天禄，群雄睚眦相驰逐。昼携壮士破坚阵，夜接词人赋华屋。都邑缭绕西山阳，桑榆汗漫漳河曲。城郭为虚人代改，但有西园明月在。邺傍高冢多贵臣，娥眉𥊑睩共灰尘。试上铜台歌舞处，唯有秋风愁杀人。
Appreciation
[Plain Paraphrase] Do you not see how Cao Cao, founding his rule, contended for the empire while the heroes glared and raced? By day he led the stout warriors to break the strong formations; by night he received the poets in the splendid halls. The capital wound around the western hills; the mulberries and elms spread along the Zhang. But the city is now empty and the generations have changed; only the bright moon of the Western Garden remains. Beside Ye are the lofty tombs of many great ministers; the moth-browed beauties with darting eyes are all one with the dust. Climb the Copper Bird Terrace, the place of song and dance — only the autumn wind remains, enough to kill the heart. [Structure and Thought] The poem is built on a single grand contrast: the full life of the capital under Cao Cao — warriors by day, poets by night, the winding city, the spreading trees — against the emptiness of the present: the changed generations, the moon alone, the tombs, the dust, and the wind. [Key Technique] The poem's art is the art of the double scene: the past is reconstructed in concrete detail (the warriors, the poets, the halls) so that its ruin is felt as a real loss, and the present is reduced to the few survivors — the moon, the tombs, the autumn wind. [Emotional Tone] Elegiac and overwhelming: the poem moves from the heroic past through the mournful present to the final cry, 'only the autumn wind remains, and it is enough to kill the heart.'
【白话串讲】 张说写《邺都引》：“君不见魏武草创争天禄，群雄睚眦相驰逐”——“昼携壮士破坚阵，夜接词人赋华屋”——“城郭为虚人代改，但有西园明月在”——“邺傍高冢多贵臣，娥眉𥊑睩共灰尘”——他写邺都——但有西园明月在。 【意象与手法】 君不见魏武草创争天禄、群雄睚眦相驰逐，写魏武草创；昼携壮士破坚阵、夜接词人赋华屋，写昼携壮士；城郭为虚人代改、但有西园明月在，写城郭为虚人代改；结以“试上铜台歌舞处，唯有秋风愁杀人”写唯有秋风愁杀人。苍凉悲慨。 【情感与主旨】 张说咏史怀古之作，写魏武帝邺都之盛衰，以“试上铜台歌舞处，唯有秋风愁杀人”写盛衰之慨，是咏史怀古的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“昼携壮士破坚阵，夜接词人赋华屋”写曹操文武之才；“试上铜台歌舞处，唯有秋风愁杀人”写盛衰之慨。
Background
Zhang Yue (667–730), courtesy name Daoji, was one of the most powerful and accomplished figures of the early High Tang — a chancellor, general, and the leading writer of his age. This poem was written in his youth, before his rise, when he visited Ye, the ancient capital of Cao Cao and the Wei dynasty on the Zhang River (present-day Anyang, Henan). The 'Copper Bird Terrace' was the famous tower built by Cao Cao, where the court's song and dance were held and where, by his deathbed command, his concubines were to reside; the 'Western Garden' was the pleasure garden of the Wei court. The poem, one of the earliest and most powerful historical laments of the Tang, established the ruins of Ye as a permanent theme in Chinese poetry.
《邺都引》为唐代诗人张说所作诗。张说（667—730），字道济，一字说之，洛阳人，唐代诗人、政治家，官至中书令，封燕国公。此诗写咏史怀古，为咏邺都之作。诗中「君不见魏武草创争天禄，群雄睚眦相驰逐」写君不见魏武草创争天禄，群雄睚眦相驰逐；「昼携壮士破坚阵，夜接词人赋华屋」写昼携壮士破坚阵，夜接词人赋华屋；「城郭为虚人代改，但有西园明月在」写城郭为虚人代改，但有西园明月在；「试上铜台歌舞处，唯有秋风愁杀人」写试上铜台歌舞处，唯有秋风愁杀人。张说此诗以咏史怀古、唯有秋风愁杀人写其怀古之情，苍凉悲慨，是张说诗中的名篇。此篇《邺都引》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《邺都引》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 art of the historical panorama compressed into a few scenes. The opening is epic: the founding contention, the glaring heroes, the warrior and the poet side by side — the two faces of Cao Cao, the soldier-poet. The middle moves from the living city to its ruin, with the 'only' (dan you) of the moon as the pivot: of all that life, only the bright moon remains. The tombs and the dust of the beauties complete the levelling. The close climbs the Copper Bird Terrace, the very place of the song and dance, and finds only the autumn wind — the wind as the sole survivor of the age's music. The progression from warriors and poets to moon, dust and wind is the whole argument of the elegy.
此诗艺术上以「苍凉悲慨、以古写今」见长。全诗共十二句，由君不见魏武草创争天禄而昼携壮士破坚阵而城郭为虚人代改。起「君不见魏武草创争天禄，群雄睚眦相驰逐」写君不见魏武草创争天禄：君不见魏武草创争天禄，群雄睚眦相驰逐；「昼携壮士破坚阵，夜接词人赋华屋」写昼携壮士破坚阵：昼携壮士破坚阵，夜接词人赋华屋；「城郭为虚人代改，但有西园明月在」写城郭为虚人代改：城郭为虚人代改，但有西园明月在；结「试上铜台歌舞处，唯有秋风愁杀人」写唯有秋风愁杀人：试上铜台歌舞处，唯有秋风愁杀人。全诗以古写今，由君不见魏武草创争天禄而唯有秋风愁杀人，苍凉悲慨，是张说诗中的名篇。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。
Allusions
'Lord Wu of Wei' (Wei Wu) is Cao Cao, posthumously honored as Emperor Wu of Wei; 'contending for the blessing of Heaven' (zheng tianlu) is contending for the mandate of empire. 'The Copper Bird Terrace' (Tongque Tai) is the tower where the Wei court kept its music and where, by Cao Cao's command, his ladies were to reside after his death. 'The Western Garden' (Xiyuan) is the pleasure garden of the Wei court, remembered in Cao Zhi's poems. 'The moth-browed beauties with darting eyes' (emei minglu) are the ladies of the court, whose elegance is now dust. The poem draws on the whole Wei literary tradition — the poets of the Jian'an era whom Cao Cao gathered about him, the most brilliant literary court in Chinese history — so that the ruin of Ye is the ruin of an age of heroes and poets together.
诗中「君不见魏武草创争天禄群雄睚眦相驰逐」「昼携壮士破坚阵夜接词人赋华屋」「都邑缭绕西山阳桑榆汗漫漳河曲」「城郭为虚人代改但有西园明月在」「邺傍高冢多贵臣娥眉𥊑睩共灰尘」「试上铜台歌舞处唯有秋风愁杀人」等语，皆含典故故实。「君不见魏武草创争天禄群雄睚眦相驰逐」用魏武之典（魏武即曹操），写君不见魏武草创争天禄群雄睚眦相驰逐；「昼携壮士破坚阵夜接词人赋华屋」写昼携壮士破坚阵夜接词人赋华屋；「城郭为虚人代改但有西园明月在」用西园之典（西园为邺下名园），写城郭为虚人代改但有西园明月在；「邺傍高冢多贵臣娥眉𥊑睩共灰尘」写邺傍高冢多贵臣娥眉𥊑睩共灰尘；「试上铜台歌舞处唯有秋风愁杀人」用铜台之典（铜台即铜雀台，曹操所筑），写试上铜台歌舞处唯有秋风愁杀人。诗人以魏武、西园、铜台之典入诗，不着痕迹，而把咏史怀古之情写得真切可感，是善于熔铸典故的体现。
Commentary
This poem is one of the earliest and most influential historical laments of the Tang, and it established the ruins of Ye as a permanent theme of Chinese poetry. The final line — 'only the autumn wind remains, and it is enough to kill the heart' — is quoted in every anthology as the very type of the elegy on fallen glory. Critics note how the poem anticipates the great historical laments of the High Tang, from 'the moon over the Western Garden' to the meditations of later poets on the ruins of the capitals.
这首《邺都引》，是张说写咏史怀古之作，写君不见魏武草创争天禄、昼携壮士破坚阵、城郭为虚人代改、唯有秋风愁杀人之情，苍凉悲慨。起「君不见魏武草创争天禄，群雄睚眦相驰逐」——君不见魏武草创争天禄，群雄睚眦相驰逐。写君不见魏武草创争天禄：君不见魏武草创争天禄、群雄睚眦相驰逐——草创争天禄、睚眦相驰逐；「昼携壮士破坚阵，夜接词人赋华屋」——昼携壮士破坚阵，夜接词人赋华屋。写昼携壮士破坚阵：昼携壮士破坚阵、夜接词人赋华屋——破坚阵、赋华屋；「城郭为虚人代改，但有西园明月在」——城郭为虚人代改，但有西园明月在。写城郭为虚人代改：城郭为虚人代改、但有西园明月在——人代改、明月在；结「试上铜台歌舞处，唯有秋风愁杀人」——试上铜台歌舞处，唯有秋风愁杀人。写唯有秋风愁杀人：试上铜台歌舞处、唯有秋风愁杀人——歌舞处、愁杀人。这「试上铜台歌舞处，唯有秋风愁杀人」，是全诗之结：以唯有秋风愁杀人写其怀古。全诗苍凉悲慨，以古写今，正是张说诗中的名篇。
Prosody
Line by line
君不见魏武草创争天禄，群雄睚眦相驰逐。
Do you not see how Lord Wu of Wei, in the first founding of his rule, contended for the blessing of Heaven, while the heroes of the age, glaring with rage, raced and chased one another?
君不见魏武草创争天禄，群雄睚眦相驰逐。
Do you not see how Martial Wei, in the rough beginning, contended for heaven's favor; all the warring lords glared and chased one another.
起句写君不见魏武草创争天禄，起笔即见其魏武。「君不见魏武草创争天禄」用魏武之典写君不见魏武草创争天禄，「君不见」写君不见、「魏武草创争天禄」写魏武草创争天禄；「群雄睚眦相驰逐」写群雄睚眦相驰逐，「群雄睚眦」写群雄睚眦、「相驰逐」写相驰逐。一句写君不见魏武草创争天禄群雄睚眦相驰逐，以魏武草创争天禄写争天禄、以群雄睚眦相驰逐写相驰逐，写尽君不见魏武草创争天禄、群雄睚眦相驰逐之情。以古起兴，苍凉而悲慨，是「以古起兴」的妙笔。
The opening writes do you not see how Martial Wei, in the rough beginning, contended for heaven's favor, Martial Wei named at the first stroke. Do you not see: see it. Martial Wei, in the rough beginning, contended for heaven's favor: Cao Cao's rough founding, fighting for the mandate. All the warring lords glared and chased one another: the lords' hostility, their racing pursuit. One line writes Martial Wei's rough contention and the lords' chasing - Zhang Yue's starting point for the Wei capital: the rough beginning, the warring chase. The line opens with antiquity as bi-xing, bleak and grievous: the founding of Wei is recalled in one glance at the contending lords.
昼携壮士破坚阵，夜接词人赋华屋。
By day he led his stout warriors to break the strong formations; by night he received the poets to compose in the splendid halls.
昼携壮士破坚阵，夜接词人赋华屋。
By day he led his braves to break the firm ranks; by night he welcomed men of letters to compose in the splendid halls.
此句写昼携壮士破坚阵，是全诗写破阵之态的关键。「昼携壮士破坚阵」写昼携壮士破坚阵，「昼携壮士」写昼携壮士、「破坚阵」写破坚阵；「夜接词人赋华屋」写夜接词人赋华屋，「夜接词人」写夜接词人、「赋华屋」写赋华屋。一句写昼携壮士破坚阵夜接词人赋华屋，以昼携壮士破坚阵写破坚阵、以夜接词人赋华屋写赋华屋，写尽昼携壮士破坚阵、夜接词人赋华屋之情。以士写古，苍凉而悲慨，是「以士写古」的点睛之笔。
This line writes by day he led his braves to break the firm ranks, the key to the poem's breaking-ranks state. By day he led his braves: the day's braves. To break the firm ranks: piercing the strong lines. By night he welcomed men of letters to compose in the splendid halls: the night's writers, composing in the halls. One line writes day's braves and night's writers - Zhang Yue's middle turn: at once breaking ranks and receiving men of letters, the two sides of Cao Cao's genius. The line uses braves for antiquity, bleak and grievous: the strong ruler's day and night both shown in parallel.
城郭为虚人代改，但有西园明月在。
But the walls and moats are now empty, and the generations have changed — only the bright moon of the Western Garden remains.
城郭为虚人代改，但有西园明月在。
Walls become ruins, generations change; only the bright moon over the West Garden remains.
此句写城郭为虚人代改，是全诗写城郭之态的关键。「城郭为虚人代改」写城郭为虚人代改，「城郭为虚」写城郭为虚、「人代改」写人代改；「但有西园明月在」用西园之典写但有西园明月在，「但有西园」写但有西园、「明月在」写明月在。一句写城郭为虚人代改但有西园明月在，以城郭为虚人代改写人代改、以但有西园明月在写明月在，写尽城郭为虚人代改、但有西园明月在之情。以月写古，苍凉而悲慨，是「以月写古」的点睛之笔。
This line writes walls become ruins, generations change, the key to the poem's walls state. Walls become ruins: the city's fall. Generations change: the people's turnover. Only the bright moon over the West Garden remains uses the West Garden allusion: the West Garden's moon. One line writes walls to ruins and the West Garden's moon - Zhang Yue's turn: all is ruin and change, only the moon over the old pleasure garden abides. The line uses the moon for antiquity, bleak and grievous: the bright moon outlasts all glory.
试上铜台歌舞处，唯有秋风愁杀人。
Climb the Copper Bird Terrace, the place of song and dance — only the autumn wind remains, and it is enough to kill the heart.
试上铜台歌舞处，唯有秋风愁杀人。
Try climbing the Bronze Tower where songs and dances once were; only the autumn wind remains, grief-crushing.
结句写试上铜台歌舞处，是全诗立意的落点。「试上铜台歌舞处」用铜台之典写试上铜台歌舞处，「试上铜台」写试上铜台、「歌舞处」写歌舞处；「唯有秋风愁杀人」写唯有秋风愁杀人，「唯有秋风」写唯有秋风、「愁杀人」写愁杀人。一句写试上铜台歌舞处唯有秋风愁杀人，以试上铜台歌舞处写歌舞处、以唯有秋风愁杀人写愁杀人，写尽试上铜台歌舞处、唯有秋风愁杀人之情。以秋写情，苍凉而悲慨，是全诗最动人处，也是「以秋写情」的点睛之笔。
The closing line writes try climbing the Bronze Tower where songs and dances once were, the poem's landing. Try climbing the Bronze Tower uses the Bronze Tower allusion: the tower's site of song and dance. Only the autumn wind remains, grief-crushing: the autumn wind alone, killing with grief. One line writes the Bronze Tower's old dance ground and the autumn wind - Zhang Yue's resolution: the tower where Cao Cao gathered his singers now holds only the autumn wind. The line uses autumn for feeling, bleak and grievous, the poem's most moving point: the once-splendid song and dance have left nothing but the wind.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Su Shi's 'Prelude to Water Melody' asks when the bright moon began and turns to the philosophical consolation; Zhang Yue's 'Song of the Capital Ye' asks the same moon over the vanished kingdom of Wei — only the bright moon of the Western Garden remains.
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」，写怀古感怀、苍凉旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；张说《邺都引》则以「城郭为虚人代改，但有西园明月在」「试上铜台歌舞处，唯有秋风愁杀人」写明月在、愁杀人。两诗同写怀古感怀、苍凉旷达：一写人有悲欢离合、以悲欢写离合，一写城郭为虚人代改但有西园明月在、以城郭写怀古；一为苏轼之旷达、一为张说之苍凉，并读正可见诗写「怀古感怀」的两种笔法，皆于怀古之中见苍凉。
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 · 同写登台凝望、苍凉清丽，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写试上铜台歌舞处唯有秋风愁杀人，皆于登台之中见凝望 Both are the poems of the ruined place and the autumn — Zhang Yue's Copper Bird Terrace, Liu Yong's rain and wilting flowers.Liu Yong's 'Eight Beats of Ganzhou' is the Song lyric of the autumn desolation; Zhang Yue's 'Song of the Capital Ye' is the Tang ancient-verse of the ruined capital — the Copper Bird Terrace where only the autumn wind remains, enough to kill the heart.
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」，写登台凝望、苍凉清丽，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；张说《邺都引》则以「试上铜台歌舞处，唯有秋风愁杀人」「君不见魏武草创争天禄，群雄睚眦相驰逐」写歌舞处、相驰逐。两诗同写登台凝望、苍凉清丽：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写试上铜台歌舞处唯有秋风愁杀人、以秋风写怀古；一为柳永之清丽、一为张说之苍凉，并读正可见诗写「登台凝望」的两种笔法，皆于登台之中见凝望。