Farewell (No. 2) (赠别·其二) by Du Mu · Chinese Poem Audio and Explanation

Meaning

One who is deeply feeling seems at parting wholly without feeling; only feels that before the wine cup even a smile cannot be forced. The candle, as if it too had a heart and pitied the parting, weeps tears for us until dawn.

多情的人别时反倒像全然无情，只觉得在酒樽面前连笑也装不出来。蜡烛仿佛也有惜别之心，替人垂泪一直到天明。

Appreciation

A late-Tang love quatrain of seven characters, the poem catches the paradox of parting: the more one feels, the more one seems numb. The opening line states this reversal plainly; the second shows the forced smile failing at the cup. Then, instead of weeping aloud, the poet lends his tears to the candle, whose "heart" pities the parting and weeps till dawn—personification that makes the thing feel so the self need not. The little poem is implicit, winding, and tender, a fine example of Du Mu's quatrain art.

【白话串讲】 “多情却似总无情，唯觉尊前笑不成”——杜牧写离别：多情的人看起来反而无情，举杯时笑不出来。“蜡烛有心还惜别，替人垂泪到天明”——蜡烛有心，替人流泪到天明。【意象与手法】全诗四句，尺幅千里。首句‘多情却似总无情’以悖论式起笔，道出情到极深处反显木然的心理真实【情感与主旨】《赠别》二首约作于唐文宗大和七至九年（833—835）杜牧为淮南节度使牛僧孺掌书记于扬州时【名句点睛】中高考常取‘蜡烛有心还惜别，替人垂泪到天明’及首句悖论设题。考点一：手法，移情于物（拟人），以烛泪写离泪

Background

The two "Farewell" poems were likely written between 833 and 835, when Du Mu served as secretary to the military governor Niu Sengru at Yangzhou, in the reign of Emperor Wenzong. The young poet, brilliant and free, moved among the courtesans and loved one singing girl; in 835 he was appointed censor in Chang'an and wrote the two poems on parting. The first writes of her "supple grace at thirteen," the second of the feeling at parting. This second poem does not paint her looks but dwells on the tangled heart at leave-taking—a product of Du Mu's Yangzhou moon and deep feeling, and a proof of the late-Tang quatrain's skill in feeling.

《赠别·其二》为唐代杜牧所作，是写惜别之情的七绝。杜牧（803—852），字牧之，京兆万年人，唐代诗人。此诗：多情却似总无情，唯觉尊前笑不成。蜡烛有心还惜别，替人垂泪到天明。全诗写惜别之情，是杜牧诗的名篇。

Art

Four lines, yet a whole world. The first line "Deep feeling seems at parting all but feelingless" opens on a paradox, speaking the psychological truth that feeling at its deepest shows as a blank; the second line "Only before the cup I find no smile can come" writes the failed, forced smile, its ache self-known. The last two lines turn the brush to transfer feeling onto a thing: "The candle, having a heart, pities our farewell, and weeps for us, dropping tears till the dawn" casts the lover's tears upon the candle's, using the candle's "heart" to set off the lover's "feelingless" trance—clever personification, thing and self mingled. A short piece, yet its feeling is winding and subtle; a model of Du Mu's "implicit and far-reaching" quatrains.

《赠别·其二》艺术上以情理的翻折与移情的妙笔见长。全诗四句，层层写来：前二句写多情似无情——“多情却似总无情，唯觉尊前笑不成”写多情似无情、尊前笑不成；后二句写蜡烛惜别——“蜡烛有心还惜别，替人垂泪到天明”写蜡烛有心、替人垂泪。全诗以蜡烛移情写惜别之情，正是杜牧诗深情婉转的笔法。

Allusions

The poem uses allusion very lightly, born purely of scene and personification. "Before the cup" means before the wine vessel; "cup" is a variant for "zun," a common phrase at Tang farewell feasts, not an obscure allusion. The "candle" image is old (as in Yu Xin's "north of Dai the clouds darken by day, an inch of candle a thousand li"), but Du Mu makes the still thing live, giving the candle a "heart" and "pity." The whole poem leans not on stacked allusion; the four characters "weeps for us" quietly inherit the "candle tears" tradition yet strike new meaning—just the late-Tang quatrain's strength of "feeling over learning," and need not be read as quotation-hunting.

《赠别·其二》用典少而妙喻自见。“多情却似总无情”写情深而似无情；“蜡烛有心还惜别”以蜡烛之“心”（烛芯）移情写惜别，“替人垂泪”写蜡泪替人垂。全诗以蜡烛移情写惜别，不用深典而妙趣自见，正是杜牧诗深情婉转的笔法。

Commentary

The Qing reader Song Gule, in "Ten Thousand Tang Quatrains Selected," said "words of utmost feeling, deep without effort." Hengtang Tuishi recorded it with "Farewell (No. 1)," saying "the two poems, one charming, one deep, each at its best." Modern critics often set the "candle having a heart" line beside Li Shangyin's "the silkworm dies ere its thread is spent," saying that late-Tang quatrains writing of love show Li deep and winding, Du clear and handsome, and this poem's "weeps for us" shows especial cleverness and devotion.

《赠别·其二》是杜牧诗的名篇，也是中国诗歌中写惜别之情的代表作。此诗写惜别之情，向为论者称道。论者多赏其情理的翻折与移情的妙笔——“多情却似总无情，唯觉尊前笑不成”写多情似无情，情理翻折；“蜡烛有心还惜别，替人垂泪到天明”写蜡烛替人垂泪，移情妙绝。杜牧诗以俊爽深婉著称，此诗正是其代表——以移情写惜别，正是其诗风。

Prosody

Form Seven-character quatrain七言绝句

Rhyme Ping-shui rhyme, lower-level eight geng group (feelingless, come, dawn)《赠别·其二》为七言绝句，四句，押平声韵。此诗用韵：情、成、明（庚部），一韵到底，音节婉转。

Tone pattern First line enters rhyme, level-onset level-close七言绝句以音节婉转、情致深婉见长。此诗写惜别之情，音节婉转而深婉。全诗以七言贯底，声调与惜别之情的内容相合，是杜牧诗中深情婉转的一路。

Reading note Four lines, twenty-eight characters; a late-Tang love quatrain, personification especially fine.《赠别·其二》为唐代杜牧所作，是写惜别之情的七绝。此诗以“多情却似总无情，唯觉尊前笑不成”写多情似无情，以“蜡烛有心还惜别，替人垂泪到天明”写蜡烛替人垂泪。以移情写惜别，正是杜牧诗的名篇。

Line by line

多情却似总无情，唯觉尊前笑不成。

Too feeling, I seem altogether unfeeling; only before the cup I cannot smile.

多情却似乎总显得无情，只觉得在尊前笑不出来。

Full of feeling, I seem to have none at all; only before the wine cup, laughter will not come.

前二句写多情似无情，是全诗惜别之情的起点。“多情却似总无情”写多情似无情——“多情却似总无情”写多情的人却似乎总显得无情；“唯觉尊前笑不成”写尊前笑不成——“唯觉尊前”写只觉得在尊前（酒杯前），“笑不成”写笑不出来——尊前笑不成。二句写多情似无情：多情却似总无情，唯觉尊前笑不成。以“多情却似总无情”写情深之极反似无情（离愁太深，反觉木然），以“唯觉尊前笑不成”写尊前欲笑而不能，正是杜牧诗写惜别之情的起点——情深似无情，欲笑笑不成。

The first two lines write too-feeling as unfeeling, the starting point of the poem's reluctant farewell. Full of feeling, I seem to have none at all writes too deep feeling's reverse appearance as feelingless - the sorrow of parting so deep that one seems numb. Only before the wine cup, laughter will not come writes before the cup wishing to smile yet unable - Du Mu's starting point for the farewell feeling: deep feeling appears unfeeling, wishing to smile yet unable.

蜡烛有心还惜别，替人垂泪到天明。

The candle, having a heart, pities our farewell, and weeps for us, dropping tears till the dawn.

蜡烛有心，还懂得惜别，替人垂泪直到天明。

The candle has a heart and pities our parting, weeping for us till dawn.

末二句写蜡烛惜别，是全诗移情妙笔的归结。“蜡烛有心还惜别”写蜡烛有心惜别——“蜡烛有心”写蜡烛有心（烛芯），“还惜别”写还懂得惜别——蜡烛有心，还惜别；“替人垂泪到天明”写替人垂泪——“替人垂泪”写替人垂泪（蜡泪），“到天明”写直到天明——替人垂泪到天明。二句写蜡烛惜别：蜡烛有心还惜别，替人垂泪到天明。以“蜡烛有心还惜别”以蜡烛之“心”移情写其惜别，以“替人垂泪到天明”写蜡泪替人垂泪直到天明，正是杜牧诗移情妙笔的归结——蜡烛有心，替人垂泪，正见人之别情难已。

The last two lines write the candle's pitying farewell, the resolution of the poem's empathy brush. The candle has a heart and pities our parting writes the candle's heart (the wick) still knowing how to grieve the parting. Weeping for us till dawn writes the candle's tears (the wax tears) falling for the people until dawn. The two lines write the candle's pitying farewell - Du Mu's empathy resolution: the candle has a heart, weeping for us, precisely showing the people's parting feeling hard to end.

Study

Word focus

多情却似总无情 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “多情却似总无情”之“多情却似总无情”，写多情反似无情，是全诗写惜别之情的名句。“多情”写多情之人，“似总无情”写似乎总无情——多情的人却似乎总显得无情。这一句写情深之极反似无情：不是真无情，而似无情；不是情浅之态，而情深之极反觉木然。以“多情却似总无情”写惜别之情，正是杜牧诗以情理翻折写情的名句——离愁太深，反似无情。

尊前 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “唯觉尊前笑不成”之“尊前”，写酒杯之前，是全诗写钱别之场的关键词。“尊前”写酒尊之前——只觉得在尊前笑不出来。这一词写钱别之场：不是别后之地，而尊前；不是欢会之饮，而离席之樽。以“唯觉尊前笑不成”写尊前欲笑不能，正是杜牧诗写惜别之情的笔法——尊前相对，笑不成声。

有心 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “蜡烛有心还惜别”之“有心”，写蜡烛有心，是全诗移情妙笔的关键词。“有心”写蜡烛有烛芯（谐“心”）——蜡烛有心，还懂得惜别。这一词以“有心”写蜡烛：不是无情之物，而有心；不是可写之物，而谐音有心之烛。以“蜡烛有心还惜别”以烛芯之“心”移情写惜别，正是杜牧诗移情妙笔的所在。

垂泪 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “替人垂泪到天明”之“垂泪”，写垂泪、蜡泪，是全诗写别情难已的归结词。“垂泪”写滴泪（蜡泪）——替人垂泪直到天明。这一词写蜡泪之态：不是无由之滴，而垂泪；不是可止之泪，而替人垂到天明。以“替人垂泪到天明”写蜡泪替人垂泪，正是杜牧诗以移情写别情难已的归结——蜡烛垂泪，正见人情。

赠别·其二