唐 Tang · 诗 Poem
别薛华
Parting from Xue Hua
送送多穷路，遑遑独问津。
悲凉千里道，凄断百年身。
心事同漂泊，生涯共苦辛。
无论去与住，俱是梦中人。
Sorrowful is the thousand-li journey; heart-rending is this body of a hundred years.
Our hearts alike drift in exile; our lives together taste hardship.
Whether you go or stay, both of us are but dream-bound souls.
Meaning
Wang Bo's short octet sends off his friend Xue Hua with a mood of melancholy rather than consolation. Repeated farewells along wretched roads, an anxious lone traveler, a sorrowful thousand-li journey, and a heart-rending lifetime give way to the shared condition of drifting exiles. The poem closes on its famous line: whether one goes or stays, both are but people in a dream.
送了一程又一程，多是穷困之路；惶惶不安，独自问津。悲凉的是千里道路，凄断的是百年之身。心事一同漂泊，生涯共是苦辛。无论去者与留者，都是梦中之人。
Appreciation
Wang Bo's 'Parting from Xue Hua' distills the Tang farewell into forty characters of unrelieved melancholy. The first couplet opens with the reduplicated 'seeing off again and again' along 'many a wretched road,' the speaker 'anxious and adrift, alone asking the way'—already a figure of the homeless wanderer rather than a confident send-off. [Structure] The second couplet broadens the grief: 'sorrowful is the thousand-li road; heart-rending is the body of a hundred years,' where distance and lifespan become the measure of pain. [Shared fate] The third couplet turns from self to bond—'our hearts alike drift in exile; our lives together taste hardship'—elevating personal sorrow into a common condition. [Climax] The closing couplet delivers the poem's philosophy: 'whether you go or stay, both are but people in a dream.' [Significance] By moving from a particular parting to a universal verdict on transience, the poem escapes the clichés of parting verse and gains metaphysical weight. Wang Bo's 'lofty yet melancholy' (高华) manner here wears a philosophic depth unusual for so brief a form.
【白话串讲】 王勃写《别薛华》：“送送多穷路，遑遑独问津”——“悲凉千里道，凄断百年身”——“心事同漂泊，生涯共苦辛”——“无论去与住，俱是梦中人”——他送别友人，叹人生漂泊。 【意象与手法】 此诗写送别薛华，以悲凉写离情，以感慨写人生，是王勃的名篇。前四句「送送多穷路，遑遑独问津。悲凉千里道，凄断百年身」写送别之路的悲凉——「送送多穷路」写送了一程又一程的多穷之路，「遑遑独问津」写惶惶不安独自问津，「悲凉千里道」写千里道路的悲凉，「凄断百年身」写百年之身的凄断；后四句「心事同漂泊，生涯共苦辛。无论去与住，俱是梦中人」写共通的漂泊——「心事同漂泊」写心事一同漂泊，「生涯共苦辛」写生涯共同苦辛，「无论去与住，俱是梦中人」写无论去留都是梦中之人。全诗以送别写人生感慨，写尽漂泊的悲凉，正是王勃「高华」诗风的本领。 【情感与主旨】 此诗写送别友人薛华。薛华是王勃的友人，王勃与薛华同是漂泊异乡、仕途失意之人，此诗写送别时的感慨。前四句写送别之路：送了一程又一程，多是穷困之路；惶惶不安，独自问津；悲凉的是千里道路，凄断的是百年之身——那「送送」写送了一程又一程，那「穷路」写困顿之路，那「遑遑」写惶惶不安，那「问津」写问路，那「悲凉」「凄断」写尽送别之路的悲凉与身世的凄苦。后四句写共通的感慨：心事一同漂泊，生涯共同苦辛；无论去者与留者，都是梦中之人——那「心事同漂泊」写心事与友人一同漂泊，「生涯共苦辛」写生涯共同苦辛，「俱是梦中人」写无论去留都是梦中之人，写尽漂泊者的共同命运与人生如梦的感慨。全诗以送别写人生感慨，写尽漂泊的悲凉与身世之感，正是王勃「高华」诗风的本领，也是理解王勃身世感慨的重要篇章。 【名句点睛】 常考「送送多穷路，遑遑独问津」写送别之路的困顿与惶惶；「悲凉千里道，凄断百年身」写漂泊的悲凉；「无论去与住，俱是梦中人」写人生如梦的感慨；以及全诗以送别写人生感慨、以漂泊写身世的手法。
Background
Wang Bo (c. 650–676), courtesy name Zian, was the foremost of the 'Four Paragons of the Early Tang' (初唐四杰). A prodigy who fell early from favor—expelled from the Prince of Pei's household for a satirical proclamation and later implicated in a relative's crime—he knew exile and instability firsthand. Xue Hua was a friend sharing that condition of drift and frustrated career. This parting poem thus speaks from experience: both men were rootless, unsuccessful wanderers. Wang died at only twenty-seven, drowned on a journey, which lends the 'people in a dream' line a poignant prescience. The poem belongs to his mature lyric vein, where personal parting opens onto existential reflection.
此诗写送别友人薛华，是王勃的名篇。王勃（约650—676），字子安，绛州龙门（今山西河津）人，初唐四杰之首。薛华是王勃的友人，王勃与薛华同是漂泊异乡、仕途失意之人——王勃因戏作《斗鸡檄》被逐出沛王府，后又因事获罪，其父亦受牵连被贬；薛华亦仕途失意。同是天涯漂泊之人，王勃此诗写送别薛华时的感慨。前四句写送别之路：「送送多穷路」写送了一程又一程，多是穷困之路——「送送」写送别之绵长（送了一程又一程），「穷路」写困顿的道路；「遑遑独问津」写惶惶不安、独自问津——「遑遑」写惶惶不安，「问津」写问路、寻求出路；「悲凉千里道」写千里道路的悲凉；「凄断百年身」写百年之身的凄断——「百年身」写一生。后四句写共通的感慨：「心事同漂泊」写心事一同漂泊，「生涯共苦辛」写生涯共同苦辛，「无论去与住，俱是梦中人」写无论去者与留者，都是梦中之人——「去与住」写离去者与留下者，「俱是梦中人」写都是梦中之人，写尽漂泊者的共同命运与人生如梦的感慨。全诗以送别写人生感慨，写尽漂泊的悲凉与身世之感，是理解王勃身世感慨与初唐送别诗的重要篇章。
Art
Four techniques define the poem. First, reduplication: 'seeing off again and again' (送送) and 'anxious and adrift' (遑遑) stretch the farewell and voice restless unease, the doubled syllables mirroring lingering reluctance. Second, antithetical parallelism in the second couplet—'sorrowful' against 'heart-rending,' 'thousand-li road' against 'hundred-year body'—measures grief in space and time with formal symmetry. Third, the words 'alike' (同) and 'together' (共) in the third couplet convert isolation into shared fate, the bond of two exiles. Fourth, the closing aphorism—'whether go or stay, both are dream-people'—lifts the poem from event to idea, using the 'life is a dream' topos to dissolve the boundary between traveler and stay-at-home. The five-character regulated form, with its level-tone rhyme sustained, carries the lament in a calm, fatal music.
此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以叠字写送别。首句「送送多穷路」以「送送」的叠字写送别之绵长——那「送送」写送了一程又一程，写尽送别的依依不舍；「多穷路」写多是穷困之路，写尽道路的困顿。其二，以对仗写悲凉。「悲凉千里道，凄断百年身」以对仗写悲凉——「悲凉」对「凄断」，「千里道」对「百年身」，以道路之远写身世之悲，写尽漂泊的悲凉。其三，以共感写知音。「心事同漂泊，生涯共苦辛」写心事一同漂泊、生涯共同苦辛——那「同」「共」写尽与友人共通的命运，写尽同是天涯漂泊人的知音之感。其四，以感慨写人生。「无论去与住，俱是梦中人」以感慨写人生如梦——那「去与住」写去者与留者，「俱是梦中人」写都是梦中之人，写尽漂泊者的共同命运与人生如梦的感慨，以哲理收束，意味深长。四重手法，使此诗以送别写人生感慨，写尽漂泊的悲凉，正是王勃「高华」诗风的本领。尤其值得玩味者，此诗前四句写送别之路的困顿与悲凉，后四句由个人的悲凉推及与友人的共通命运——「心事同漂泊，生涯共苦辛」以「同」「共」二字，把一己之悲升华为天涯漂泊者的共同悲凉；结句「俱是梦中人」更由共命推及人生如梦的哲理，使送别诗不落离情别绪的俗套，而有人生观照的深度，正是王勃「高华而含哲理」诗风的体现。
Allusions
The poem draws on the classical vocabulary of parting and rootlessness. 'Many a wretched road' (穷路) echoes the topos of the blocked path—Ruan Ji weeping at the road's end—marking both literal and vocational dead-ends. 'Asking the way' (问津) recalls the Analects, where Zilu asks for the ford, a figure for seeking one's course in a disordered world. 'Thousand-li' evokes the long separation of '行行重行行,' while 'body of a hundred years' echoes the Nineteen Old Poems' 'we lodge one lifetime, sudden as dust.' 'Drifting in exile' (漂泊) belongs to the floating-duckweed tradition of the homeless. Above all, 'people in a dream' (梦中人) invokes the 'floating life is a dream' motif (Li Bai, Li Yu, Zhuangzi's butterfly), turning parting into a comment on the illusory passage of all existence. These references place Wang's personal grief in the long stream of Chinese lament.
此诗的用语深植于送别与身世感慨的传统。「送送」令人想到「送送多穷路」的叠字送别传统，也令人想到「送君千里，终须一别」的送别意象；「穷路」令人想到「穷途」的困顿意象——「阮籍哭穷途」（阮籍驾车至穷途而哭）的典故，令人想到「穷途末路」的困顿传统，也令人想到「行路难」的仕途感慨；「遑遑」令人想到「惶惶不可终日」的不安意象，也令人想到「遑遑无所归」的漂泊；「问津」令人想到《论语》「使子路问津焉」的问路典故，也令人想到「问津」作为寻求出路的意象；「悲凉千里道」令人想到「千里」写道路之远，也令人想到「行行重行行，与君生别离」的远别传统；「凄断百年身」令人想到「百年身」写一生的意象，也令人想到「人生寄一世，奄忽若飙尘」（《古诗十九首》）的百年身世感慨；「心事同漂泊」令人想到「漂泊」的羁旅意象，也令人想到「浮萍漂泊」的漂泊传统；「俱是梦中人」令人想到「人生如梦」的传统——「浮生若梦，为欢几何」（李白《春夜宴桃李园序》），也令人想到「梦里不知身是客」（李煜《浪淘沙》）的人生如梦意象，更令人想到「庄周梦蝶」的哲理。全诗化用穷途、问津、漂泊、人生如梦的传统意象，以送别写人生感慨，正是王勃承身世感慨传统、以送别写人生的本领。
Commentary
Qing critics admired the poem for 'writing personal fate through parting, with desolation to the bone' (以送别写身世，悲凉入骨), and the closing 'both are but people in a dream' is singled out as its philosophic core. Its literary-historical importance is twofold: as a model early-Tang five-character regulated farewell, and as a foil to Wang Bo's own 'Seeing Off Assistant Prefect Du,' written earlier in buoyant confidence ('within the world, bosom friends; to earth's end, neighbors'). The contrast between the two farewells charts the poet's shift from youthful assurance to embattled melancholy. For modern readers the poem remains a classic of Tang parting verse and a quiet testament to the early-Tang genius's tragic arc.
此诗历来被推为王勃的名篇，也是初唐送别诗的代表。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人评此诗「以送别写身世，悲凉入骨」；近人更指出「无论去与住，俱是梦中人」以人生如梦写送别，是此诗的哲理所在。在诗歌史上，此诗的特殊价值在于：它以四十字的短章写尽漂泊的悲凉与身世之感——那送送的穷路，那遑遑的问津，那悲凉的千里道，那凄断的百年身，那漂泊的心事，那苦辛的生涯，那梦中之人，都写尽了这位初唐天才漂泊失意的身世感慨；那「俱是梦中人」更以人生如梦写尽漂泊者的共同命运。此诗与王勃的《送杜少府之任蜀州》（「海内存知己，天涯若比邻」）同为送别名篇，一豪迈一悲凉——早年送杜少府时意气风发，客居送薛华时悲凉深沉，可见王勃心境的变化；又与《古诗十九首》「人生寄一世」一脉相承，可见中国诗写身世感慨的传统。对于今日读者，此诗是理解王勃身世感慨与初唐送别诗的窗口，也是中国诗写送别的经典——那俱是梦中之人的感慨，穿越千年，仍在诉说着漂泊者的悲凉。
Prosody
Line by line
悲凉千里道，凄断百年身
Sorrowful is the thousand-li road; heart-rending is the body of a hundred years.
悲凉的是千里道路，凄断的是百年之身。
Desolate and bleak, the thousand-li road; broken with grief, this hundred-year life.
此联是全诗写悲凉的核心，以对仗写漂泊的悲凉。「悲凉千里道」写悲凉的是千里道路——那「悲凉」写道路的悲凉，「千里道」写千里的道路，以千里之远写尽漂泊道路的悲凉；「凄断百年身」写凄断的是百年之身——那「凄断」写凄惨断肠，「百年身」写一生的身体、这一生，以百年之身写尽一生的凄断。这句的深意在于：它以「千里道」与「百年身」的对仗，写尽漂泊的悲凉——那千里的道路，是漂泊者要走的路，路上充满悲凉；那百年的身，是漂泊者的一生，一生都凄断；千里之远与百年之长，正是漂泊者道路与命运的写照，那「悲凉」写尽道路的荒凉与心境的悲凉，那「凄断」写尽一生的凄惨与断肠；道路千里而悲凉，身世百年而凄断，以空间之远写时间之长，写尽漂泊者无法摆脱的悲凉命运。若换作直说「我很悲惨」，则失其对仗与深沉；唯以「悲凉千里道」写道路、「凄断百年身」写身世，以千里与百年的对仗写尽漂泊的悲凉，也让此联成为全诗写悲凉的核心。
Wang Bo sets a spatial distance against a lifetime. "A thousand-li road" is the exile's route, and it is already desolate before the traveler sets out; "a hundred-year life" is the whole span of the self, and it is already broken. The couplet works as a matched pair—road and life, distance and duration—and the two nouns share the same ruin. The point is not that the journey is sad, but that the sadness has colonized the whole life and the whole road: wherever the man walks for the rest of his years, the bleakness goes with him. It is the young Wang Bo's grim premonition of his own short life. To have said his journey and his life were both miserable would flatten the matched pair; the formal parallel is the weight.
无论去与住，俱是梦中人
Whether you depart or stay, we are all but people in a dream.
无论离去的人还是留下的人，都是梦中之人。
Whether the one who goes or the one who stays—both are but dreamers in a dream.
此联是全诗的收束，以人生如梦写送别，是千古名句。「无论去与住」写无论离去的人还是留下的人——那「去与住」写送别中的去者与留者，写尽送别的双方；「俱是梦中人」写都是梦中之人——那「俱是」写都是，「梦中人」写梦中之人，以人生如梦写尽漂泊者的共同命运。这句的深意在于：它以「去与住」与「俱是梦中人」的关联，写尽漂泊者的共同命运与人生如梦的感慨——无论离去的人还是留下的人，都是梦中之人；那「去与住」写尽送别双方的处境——去者漂泊远行，留者滞留异乡，皆是漂泊；那「俱是梦中人」更以人生如梦写尽共同的命运——人生如梦，漂泊者更是梦中的过客，去者与留者，都在这如梦的人生中漂泊流转；那「梦中人」写尽人生如梦的虚幻与漂泊者的无奈，也写尽王勃身世的感慨——同是天涯漂泊人，相逢何必曾相识，无论去留，皆是梦中之人；以人生如梦收束，写尽送别的感慨与身世之感。若换作直说「我们都是可怜人」，则失其哲理；唯以「无论去与住」写去留、「俱是梦中人」写人生如梦，写尽漂泊者的共同命运，也让此联成为全诗最富哲理的一笔与千古名句。
The couplet closes the poem by universalizing the grief. "Whether going or staying" includes both parties to the farewell: the traveler setting out, the friend left behind, are exiles alike. "Both are dream-men" widens it still further: human life itself is a dream, so two men parting in a dream are dreaming inside a dream. The philosophy is consolation and indictment at once—if all life is dream, the pain of parting is as slight as it is unavoidable. Wang Bo would drown young at twenty-six; the line has since read as his own epitaph. To have said we are both poor souls would lose the metaphysical turn; the dream-frame is what raises a farewell into a poem about life.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Wang Bo's 'Seeing Off Assistant Prefect Du' counsels 'within the world there are bosom friends; to earth's end we are neighbors,' a farewell of youthful confidence. This 'Parting from Xue Hua' closes with 'both are but people in a dream,' a farewell of melancholy. Both are five-character regulated farewells; read together they reveal the shift in Wang Bo's sensibility from assurance to desolation.
王勃《送杜少府之任蜀州》「城阙辅三秦，风烟望五津」「海内存知己，天涯若比邻」写送别时的豪迈与慰藉，是王勃送别诗的名篇。此诗《别薛华》则「无论去与住，俱是梦中人」写送别时的悲凉与身世感慨。同为王勃送别五律，一写「海内存知己」的豪迈（送杜少府），一写「俱是梦中人」的悲凉（别薛华）；一以「天涯若比邻」写慰藉，一以「生涯共苦辛」写共苦。两诗对读，可见王勃送别诗早晚期心境的变化。
别董大 Parting from Dong Da 高适 · 同写送别友人，一劝勉一悲凉 Both partings from a friend—one encouraging, one melancholy.Gao Shi's 'Parting from Dong Da' urges 'do not worry no friend awaits ahead; who on earth does not know your name,' a consoling, bracing farewell. Wang Bo's poem, by contrast, sinks into 'both are but people in a dream.' Read together they show the Tang farewell in its two temperaments—reassuring versus lamenting.
高适《别董大》「千里黄云白日曛，北风吹雁雪纷纷」「莫愁前路无知己，天下谁人不识君」写送别友人时的劝勉，是送别诗的名篇。此诗《别薛华》则「悲凉千里道，凄断百年身」写送别友人时的悲凉。同为送别友人，一写「莫愁前路无知己」的劝勉（别董大），一写「俱是梦中人」的悲凉（别薛华）；一以「天下谁人不识君」写慰藉，一以「生涯共苦辛」写共苦。两诗对读，可见唐人送别诗一豪迈一悲凉的两种情调。