唐 Tang · 诗 Poem
北风行
Song of the North Wind
烛龙栖寒门，光曜犹旦开。
日月照之何不及此？
惟有北风号怒天上来。
燕山雪花大如席，片片吹落轩辕台。
幽州思妇十二月，停歌罢笑双蛾摧。
倚门望行人，念君长城苦寒良可哀。
别时提剑救边去，遗此虎文金鞞靫。
中有一双白羽箭，蜘蛛结网生尘埃。
箭空在，人今战死不复回。
不忍见此物，焚之已成灰。
黄河捧土尚可塞，北风雨雪恨难裁。
Why do sun and moon fail to shine on this place? Only the north wind howls in fury from the sky.
Yanshan snowflakes are large as mats, flake on flake blown down onto the Xuanyuan Terrace.
In the twelfth month a longing wife of Youzhou stops her song, ends her smile, her twin moths crushed.
Leaning at the gate she watches the traveler; she thinks of you on the long wall, bitter cold—truly to be pitied.
At parting you took the sword to rescue the border and went, leaving this tiger-patterned golden quiver.
Within it a pair of white-feathered arrows, where spiders have spun webs and dust has gathered.
The arrows are empty there; the man has now died in battle and will not return.
She cannot bear to see these things; she has burned them to ash.
The Yellow River one could dam with handfuls of earth, but the north-wind snow and hatred cannot be cut off.
Meaning
Li Bai dramatizes a frontier wife's grief: the bitter northern cold, her husband's departure, and his death in war. Finding his arrows abandoned and cobwebbed, she burns them to ash, yet her hatred outlasts even the Yellow River's damming. The poem fuses myth, hyperbole, and tender detail into heroic, sorrowful grandeur.
烛龙栖寒门，光曜犹旦开。日月照之何不及此？惟有北风号怒天上来。燕山雪花大如席，片片吹落轩辕台。幽州思妇十二月，停歌罢笑双蛾摧。倚门望行人，念君长城苦寒良可哀。别时提剑救边去，遗此虎文金鞞靫。中有一双白羽箭，蜘蛛结网生尘埃。箭空在，人今战死不复回。不忍见此物，焚之已成灰。黄河捧土尚可塞，北风雨雪恨难裁。
Appreciation
[Plain Paraphrase] The Candle-Dragon at the Cold Gate; sun and moon fail to reach here, only the north wind rages. Yanshan snowflakes like mats fall on Xuanyuan Terrace. A Youzhou wife in the twelfth month stops smiling; she leans at the gate thinking of her husband on the wall. He left with a sword, leaving a golden quiver; white arrows now cobwebbed. The man is dead; she burns the arrows. The Yellow River could be dammed, but the hatred cannot be cut. [Structure] The first six lines paint the bitter cold through myth and hyperbole; the middle lines turn to the wife's grief; the last lines close on the unending hatred. [Imagery] Snow 'large as mats' and the Candle-Dragon show the extreme north; the cobwebbed arrows and the burning show love and loss in small, sharp details. [Famous Lines] 'Yanshan snowflakes large as mats' is the hyperbole of cold; 'the arrows empty there, the man dead' states the blow; 'the Yellow River could be dammed' closes on unending hatred.
【白话串讲】 李白写《北风行》：“烛龙栖寒门，光曜犹旦开”——“日月照之何不及此？惟有北风号怒天上来”——“燕山雪花大如席，片片吹落轩辕台”——“倚门望行人，念君长城苦寒良可哀”——他写北方的苦寒与思妇。 【意象与手法】 此诗写幽州思妇的哀怨，以雪写寒冷，以箭写思念，是李白的名篇。前六句写北方的苦寒：「烛龙栖寒门」写烛龙栖寒门，「光曜犹旦开」写光曜犹旦开，「日月照之何不及此」写日月照之何不及此，「惟有北风号怒天上来」写惟有北风号怒天上来，「燕山雪花大如席」写燕山雪花大如席，「片片吹落轩辕台」写片片吹落轩辕台；中四句写思妇的哀怨：「幽州思妇十二月」写幽州思妇十二月，「停歌罢笑双蛾摧」写停歌罢笑双蛾摧，「倚门望行人」写倚门望行人，「念君长城苦寒良可哀」写念君长城苦寒良可哀；后十句写箭与思念：「别时提剑救边去」写别时提剑救边去，「遗此虎文金鞞靫」写遗此虎文金鞞靫，「中有一双白羽箭」写中有一双白羽箭，「蜘蛛结网生尘埃」写蜘蛛结网生尘埃，「箭空在」写箭空在，「人今战死不复回」写人今战死不复回，「不忍见此物」写不忍见此物，「焚之已成灰」写焚之已成灰，「黄河捧土尚可塞」写黄河捧土尚可塞，「北风雨雪恨难裁」写北风雨雪恨难裁。全诗以雪写寒冷、以箭写思念，写尽思妇的哀怨，正是李白「豪放」诗风的本领。 【情感与主旨】 此诗写幽州思妇的哀怨，以雪写寒冷，以箭写思念，是李白的名篇。此诗约作于唐玄宗天宝年间，写北地征战背景下幽州思妇的哀怨。此诗写思妇：烛龙（神话中衔烛照明的神龙，栖于寒门）栖寒门，光曜犹旦开——写北方的苦寒；日月照之何不及此？惟有北风号怒天上来——写日月之光也照不到此地，只有北风怒号；燕山雪花大如席，片片吹落轩辕台——以「大如席」的夸张写燕山雪花之大；幽州思妇十二月，停歌罢笑双蛾摧——写思妇愁眉紧锁；倚门望行人，念君长城苦寒良可哀——写倚门盼望，念征人在长城的苦寒；别时提剑救边去，遗此虎文金鞞靫——写征人别时提剑救边，留下虎纹金箭袋；中有一双白羽箭，蜘蛛结网生尘埃——写箭袋中的白羽箭已结网生尘；箭空在，人今战死不复回——写箭还在，人已战死；不忍见此物，焚之已成灰——写不忍见箭，焚烧成灰；黄河捧土尚可塞，北风雨雪恨难裁——写黄河捧土尚可堵塞，而思妇之恨如北风雨雪难以断绝。全诗以雪写寒冷、以箭写思念，写尽思妇的哀怨与怨恨，正是李白「豪放」诗风的本领。 【名句点睛】 常考「燕山雪花大如席」写北地苦寒的夸张名句；「箭空在，人今战死不复回」写征人战死的悲痛；「黄河捧土尚可塞，北风雨雪恨难裁」写怨恨难裁的收束；「烛龙栖寒门」用神话写苦寒；以及全诗以雪写寒、以箭写思、豪放悲壮的手法。
Background
Li Bai (701–762), style Tai Bai, known as the Banished Immortal, was the great romantic poet of the Tang. This 'Song of the North Wind' is a yuefu probably written in the Tianbao years amid constant northern campaigns, when conscripts manned the frontier and wives grieved. It opens with the Candle-Dragon at the Cold Gate and the un-reaching sun and moon; 'Yanshan snowflakes large as mats' hyperbolizes the north's cold; a Youzhou wife in the twelfth month stops her smile; she leans at the gate thinking of him on the long wall; he left with a sword, leaving a tiger-patterned golden quiver; within, a pair of white arrows now cobwebbed; the man is dead; she burns them; the Yellow River could be dammed but the hatred cannot be cut. Through snow and arrow the poem renders a wife's grief and deep hatred—a key to Li Bai's yuefu and Tang frontier poetry.
此诗写幽州思妇的哀怨，以雪写寒冷，以箭写思念，是李白的名篇。李白（701—762），字太白，号青莲居士，唐代伟大的浪漫主义诗人，人称「诗仙」。此诗约作于唐玄宗天宝年间，当时北方边患频仍，征人远戍，思妇幽怨。此诗写幽州（今北京一带）思妇：「烛龙栖寒门，光曜犹旦开」写烛龙（神话中衔烛照明的神龙，栖于寒门）栖于寒门，光曜犹如旦开——写北方极寒之地；「日月照之何不及此？惟有北风号怒天上来」写日月之光何不及此，只有北风号怒而来——写日月不及、唯有北风的苦寒；「燕山雪花大如席，片片吹落轩辕台」写燕山雪花大如席，片片吹落轩辕台（传说黄帝所筑之台）——以「大如席」的夸张写雪花之大、北地之寒；「幽州思妇十二月，停歌罢笑双蛾摧」写幽州思妇在十二月，停歌罢笑、双蛾（蛾眉）愁摧；「倚门望行人，念君长城苦寒良可哀」写倚门盼望行人，念及征人在长城苦寒、实在可哀；「别时提剑救边去，遗此虎文金鞞靫」写征人别时提剑救边而去，留下虎纹金箭袋（鞞靫即箭袋）；「中有一双白羽箭，蜘蛛结网生尘埃」写箭袋中有一双白羽箭，蜘蛛结网、积满尘埃——写征人久去不回，箭已生尘；「箭空在，人今战死不复回」写箭还空在，人已战死不复回；「不忍见此物，焚之已成灰」写不忍见这旧物，将其焚烧成灰；「黄河捧土尚可塞，北风雨雪恨难裁」写黄河捧土尚可堵塞，而北风雨雪般的怨恨难以裁断（裁即裁断）。全诗以雪写寒冷、以箭写思念，写尽思妇的哀怨与深恨，是理解李白乐府诗与唐代征战诗的重要篇章。
Art
The art has four facets. First, myth for cold: the Candle-Dragon at the Cold Gate and the un-reaching sun and moon evoke the extreme north. Second, hyperbole for snow: 'Yanshan snowflakes large as mats' exaggerates the flakes, 'flake on flake blown down' their abundance. Third, detail for longing: the golden quiver, white arrows, cobwebs and dust, and the burning to ash trace her love and grief in concrete things. Fourth, hyperbole to close: 'the Yellow River one could dam with handfuls of earth, but the north-wind snow and hatred cannot be cut off' measures hatred against an impossible deed. Four methods make the poem grand and sorrowful—Li Bai's heroic manner.
此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以神话写苦寒。起四句「烛龙栖寒门，光曜犹旦开。日月照之何不及此？惟有北风号怒天上来」以神话写苦寒——那烛龙栖寒门写尽极寒之地，日月不及、北风号怒写尽苦寒之甚，以神话写尽北地的苦寒。其二，以夸张写雪。「燕山雪花大如席，片片吹落轩辕台」以「大如席」的夸张写雪花——那「燕山雪花大如席」写尽雪花之大，那「片片吹落轩辕台」写尽雪落之盛，以夸张写尽北地风雪之烈。其三，以细节写思念。「别时提剑救边去，遗此虎文金鞞靫。中有一双白羽箭，蜘蛛结网生尘埃。箭空在，人今战死不复回。不忍见此物，焚之已成灰」以箭的细节写思念——那「虎文金鞞靫」「白羽箭」写尽遗物，「蜘蛛结网生尘埃」写尽岁月的流逝，「焚之已成灰」写尽断念的决绝，以细节写尽思妇的思念与悲痛。其四，以夸张收束。「黄河捧土尚可塞，北风雨雪恨难裁」以夸张收束——那「黄河捧土尚可塞」写黄河捧土尚可堵塞，「北风雨雪恨难裁」写怨恨如北风雨雪难以裁断，以夸张写尽怨恨之深。四重手法，使此诗以雪写寒冷、以箭写思念，写尽思妇的哀怨，正是李白「豪放」诗风的本领。
Allusions
The language rests on myth, the lamenting-wife, and war traditions. 'Candle-Dragon' comes from the 'Classic of Mountains and Seas'—the dragon whose seeing is day, blindness night, nesting at the northern Cold Gate. 'Xuanyuan Terrace' links to the Yellow Emperor's northern terrace. 'Youzhou wife' and 'twin moths crushed' draw the boudoir-lament line ('the young wife who knew no sorrow'); 'long wall bitter cold' the frontier; 'tiger-patterned golden quiver' and 'white-feathered arrows' the war; 'spiders spin webs' the long desertion; 'burned to ash' the grief ('the candle turns to ash ere tears dry'). 'Yellow River dammed with earth' echoes the impossibility of 'stopping the sea with a cup.' Melting these into snow and arrow, the poem is Li Bai's heroic, hyperbole-rich lament.
此诗的用语深植于神话、闺怨与征战的传统。「烛龙栖寒门」用烛龙之典——《山海经》烛龙「视为昼，瞑为夜」，栖于北方寒门，令人想到「烛龙」写神话神龙，也令人想到「寒门」写极寒之地；「光曜犹旦开」令人想到「光曜」写光明的意象，也令人想到「旦开」写破晓；「日月照之何不及此」令人想到「日月光」写普照的意象，也令人想到「不及此」写阳光不达的苦寒；「北风号怒天上来」令人想到「北风」写寒风的意象——「北风其凉」（《诗经·邶风·北风》），也令人想到「号怒」写风吼；「燕山雪花大如席」令人想到「燕山」写北地的意象，也令人想到「雪花大如席」写雪花之大的夸张——「燕山雪花大如席，片片吹落轩辕台」正是李白的名句；「轩辕台」令人想到「轩辕」写黄帝的意象——传说黄帝曾筑轩辕台于北方，也令人想到「台」写高台的意象；「幽州思妇」令人想到「幽州」写北地州郡的意象，也令人想到「思妇」写闺中思妇的意象——「闺中少妇不知愁」（王昌龄）；「双蛾摧」令人想到「双蛾」写蛾眉的意象，也令人想到「摧」写愁损的意象；「倚门望行人」令人想到「倚门」写倚门盼望的意象，也令人想到「望行人」写望归的意象；「长城苦寒」令人想到「长城」写边塞的意象——「秦时明月汉时关」，也令人想到「苦寒」写边地寒冷；「虎文金鞞靫」令人想到「虎文」写虎纹的意象，也令人想到「鞞靫」写箭袋的意象；「白羽箭」令人想到「白羽」写白羽装饰的箭，也令人想到「箭」写征战的意象；「蜘蛛结网生尘埃」令人想到「蜘蛛结网」写久无人动的意象，也令人想到「生尘埃」写尘封的意象——「尘埃落定」；「箭空在，人今战死不复回」令人想到「战死」写阵亡的意象——「可怜无定河边骨」，也令人想到「不复回」写一去不返的意象；「焚之已成灰」令人想到「焚」写焚烧的意象，也令人想到「成灰」写灰烬的意象——「蜡炬成灰泪始干」（李商隐）；「黄河捧土尚可塞」令人想到「黄河」写黄河的意象，也令人想到「捧土塞河」写以土塞河之不可能的夸张——《后汉书》「以土塞河」，更令人想到「杯水车薪」的不可为；「北风雨雪恨难裁」令人想到「北风雨雪」写风雪的意象，也令人想到「恨难裁」写怨恨难断的意象——「剪不断，理还乱」。全诗化用烛龙、燕山雪花、轩辕台、白羽箭、黄河捧土的意象与典故，以雪写寒冷、以箭写思念，正是李白「豪放」而善用夸张、承闺怨征战传统写悲慨的本领。
Commentary
Long praised as a master yuefu of Li Bai and a Tang model of the lamenting-wife-and-war poem, it is admired for 'writing cold through snow, longing through arrows, heroic and sorrowful.' 'Yanshan snowflakes large as mats' is a famous hyperbole of the north's cold. Its special value: in fourteen lines it exhausts a Youzhou wife's grief—the Candle-Dragon, the un-reaching sun and moon, the howling wind, the mat-like snow, the crushed moths, the leaning gate, the golden quiver, the cobwebbed arrows, the empty quiver, the dead man, the burned relic, the dammable Yellow River, the uncut hatred. With 'Ziye's Winter Song' it is a twin of Li Bai's wife-and-war poems; with the 'Classic of Poetry's' 'Mortar' it shares the lamenting-wife line. For readers it is a window onto Tang frontier poetry and the classic of the grieving wife.
此诗历来被推为李白乐府的名篇，也是唐人写思妇征战诗的代表。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人评此诗「以雪写寒、以箭写思，豪放悲壮」；近人更指出「燕山雪花大如席」以夸张写北地苦寒，是千古名句。在诗歌史上，此诗的特殊价值在于：它以十四句的长歌写尽幽州思妇的哀怨与深恨——那栖寒门的烛龙，那不及此的日月，那号怒的北风，那大如席的雪花，那吹落轩辕台的片片，那幽州十二月、停歌罢笑的思妇，那倚门望的行人，那苦寒的长城，那虎文金鞞靫，那结网生尘的白羽箭，那空在的箭，那战死不回的人，那已成灰的旧物，那捧土尚可塞的黄河，那难裁的恨，都写尽了思妇的哀怨与怨恨；那「燕山雪花大如席」更写尽北地的苦寒。此诗与李白的《子夜吴歌·冬歌》（「明朝驿使发」）同为写思妇征战的名篇，一写托衣的深情，一写焚箭的悲烈；又与《诗经·邶风·击鼓》的征战闺怨传统一脉相承，可见中国诗写思妇征战的传统。对于今日读者，此诗是理解李白乐府诗与唐代征战诗的窗口，也是中国诗写思妇的经典——那大如席的燕山雪花，穿越千年，仍在诉说着思妇的哀怨与深恨。
Prosody
Line by line
燕山雪花大如席，片片吹落轩辕台
Yanshan snowflakes are large as mats, flake on flake blown down onto the Xuanyuan Terrace.
燕山的雪花大如席，片片吹落轩辕台。
On Mount Yan, the snowflakes are as large as mats; flake by flake they drift down onto Xuanyuan Terrace.
此联是全诗写苦寒的核心，以「大如席」的夸张写雪花，是千古名句。「燕山雪花大如席」写燕山的雪花大如席——那「燕山」写北地之山，「雪花大如席」写雪花大如席，以夸张写尽雪花之大；「片片吹落轩辕台」写片片吹落轩辕台——那「片片」写雪花片片，「吹落轩辕台」写吹落轩辕台，写尽雪花飘落之盛。这句的深意在于：它以「燕山雪花大如席」的夸张与「片片吹落轩辕台」的铺写，写尽北地的苦寒——燕山的雪花大如席，那「雪花大如席」以夸张写尽雪花之大——雪本轻柔，何曾大如席，唯以夸张写尽北地苦寒之甚，正是「夸而有节」的典范；片片吹落轩辕台，那「片片吹落轩辕台」写尽雪花飘落之盛——轩辕台在极北，雪花片片吹落，正是苦寒之地的写照；那「大如席」写尽雪之硕大，那「片片吹落」写尽雪之繁盛，一写雪之大，一写雪之盛，写尽北地的苦寒——正是如此苦寒，才有下文思妇念及征人长城苦寒之可哀，此联以夸张写尽北地苦寒，为全诗写思妇的哀怨张本。若换作直说「北地雪很大很冷」，则失其夸饰；唯以「燕山雪花大如席」的夸张写雪花之大、「片片吹落轩辕台」写雪花之盛，写尽北地的苦寒，也让此联成为全诗写苦寒的核心与千古名句。
Li Bai opens with the most famous exaggeration in Chinese poetry. Snow, being light, has no business being "as large as a mat"; the impossibility is exactly the point—by magnifying a flake to the size of a sitting mat, he makes the northern cold so extreme it becomes absurd, and yet the excess is controlled, what critics call exaggeration with measure. "Flake by flake they drift onto Xuanyuan Terrace" piles the flakes up one on another until the far northern terrace is buried. The hyperbolic cold is necessary preparation: only in such weather could a soldier's death on the frontier be worthy of a woman's endless grief. A plain "the north is freezing" would be as cold as pity; the matsized flakes are what shock the reader into the waste.
黄河捧土尚可塞，北风雨雪恨难裁
The Yellow River one could dam with handfuls of earth, but the north-wind snow and hatred cannot be cut off.
黄河捧土尚且可以堵塞，而北风雨雪般的怨恨难以裁断。
You could still stop the Yellow River by clutching up earth in your hands; but this hatred, like north wind and driving snow, can never be cut short.
此联是全诗的收束，以捧土塞河写不可能，以恨难裁写怨恨之深，是千古名句。「黄河捧土尚可塞」写黄河捧土尚且可以堵塞——那「黄河捧土」写以手捧土塞黄河，「尚可塞」写尚可堵塞，写尽捧土塞河之不可能；「北风雨雪恨难裁」写北风雨雪般的怨恨难以裁断——那「北风雨雪」写北风怒号、大雪纷飞，「恨难裁」写怨恨难以裁断，写尽怨恨之深。这句的深意在于：它以「黄河捧土尚可塞」的夸张与「北风雨雪恨难裁」的对照，写尽思妇怨恨之深——黄河捧土尚且可以堵塞，那「黄河捧土尚可塞」以捧土塞河的夸张写尽不可能——捧土塞河，绝无可能，然以不可能之事作比，正见怨恨之深；北风雨雪般的怨恨难以裁断，那「北风雨雪恨难裁」写尽怨恨之深——那「恨难裁」写尽怨恨如北风雨雪般铺天盖地、难以裁断，那「难裁」写尽怨恨的无法断绝；那「尚可塞」写尽捧土塞河之不可能，那「恨难裁」写尽怨恨之更深，以「尚可塞」反衬「恨难裁」，写尽思妇对征人战死的怨恨之深——捧土塞河尚可为，而此恨难裁，正是极言怨恨之深；前文写尽焚箭成灰的决绝，此联以夸张收束，写尽怨恨难裁的深沉，也让此联成为全诗收束的千古名句。若换作直说「我恨得很深」，则失其夸饰；唯以「黄河捧土尚可塞」的夸张写不可能、「北风雨雪恨难裁」写怨恨之深，写尽思妇的深恨，也让此联成为全诗的收束。
The poem's closing reverses its own hyperbole. Clutching handfuls of earth to plug the Yellow River is, of course, impossible—but even that absurd thing, Li Bai says, would be easier than ending the woman's grief. The "still possible" of the impossible sets the measure against which the hatred is "impossible to cut": it rolls in like the north wind and the blizzard, unstopping, unending. After the preceding lines about burning the sentinel's arrows to ash, this final image widens the widow's grief into a weather, something the whole northern sky does. A plain "I hate and cannot stop hating" would have no scale; the river that might yet be plugged is the needed impossibility.
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Li Bai's 'Ziye's Wu Song — Winter Song' ('at dawn the post departs; all night she padded the war gown') shows a wife stitching a coat for her man—a famous lyric of devotion. This 'Song of the North Wind' answers with 'the arrows empty there, the man dead' and 'burned to ash'—devotion turned to grief. Both are Li Bai on the wife-and-war: the Winter Song deep in love ('when will it reach Lintao'), the North Wind fierce in hatred ('hatred cannot be cut off'). Read together they show Li Bai tender and heroic at once.
李白《子夜吴歌·冬歌》「明朝驿使发，一夜絮征袍。素手抽针冷，那堪把剪刀」写思妇为征人连夜制衣，是李白的名篇。此诗《北风行》则「燕山雪花大如席」「箭空在，人今战死不复回」写思妇的哀怨与深恨。同为李白写思妇征战，一写「一夜絮征袍」的深情（冬歌），一写「焚之已成灰」的悲烈（北风行）；一以「裁缝寄远道，几日到临洮」写盼望，一以「北风雨雪恨难裁」写怨恨。两诗对读，可见李白写思妇征战既深情又悲壮。
古意 An Ancient Mood 李白 · 同李白写边塞闺怨，一思归一怨恨 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
李白《古意》（「君为女萝草，妾作菟丝花」）写思妇的牵挂，是李白的诗篇。此诗《北风行》则「倚门望行人，念君长城苦寒良可哀」写思妇的哀怨。同为李白写边塞闺怨，一写「女萝菟丝」的缠绵（古意），一写「燕山雪花」的苦寒（北风行）；一以「轻烟引素练」写柔美，一以「黄河捧土尚可塞」写悲壮。两诗对读，可见李白写闺怨的多样。