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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

初贬官过望秦岭

First Exile: Passing the Lookout Ridge of Wangqinling

白居易

Bai Juyi

贬谪Exile 感慨Lament

草草辞家忧后事，迟迟去国问前途。
望秦岭上回头立，无限秋风吹白须。

Hastily leaving home, worried over what will follow;
Long delayed in leaving the country, asking what lies ahead.
Standing on the Lookout Ridge of the Qinling, looking back,
An endless autumn wind blowing through my white beard.

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Meaning

On his way into exile Bai Juyi stopped at the Wangqin ridge, a northern spur of the Qin mountains, and looked back. Leaving home he had been hurried and anxious about the arrangements still to be made; leaving the capital he had been slow, asking where the road would end. On the ridge he turns and stands, and the wind of autumn blows through a beard that has already turned white. The poem gives the moment of forced departure in four lines: haste, delay, the turning round, and the weather on a man's face.

草草辞家忧后事，迟迟去国问前途。望秦岭上回头立，无限秋风吹白须。

Appreciation

[Structure] Two lines of departure and two lines of standing still; the sequence is movement then immobility, and the last line is the only image. [Imagery] The four concrete things are the leaving home, the departure from the capital, the ridge, and the white beard — no more, and each is an ordinary thing. [Technique] The poem's central device is the two 'dao' adverbs, `hastily' and `long delayed', which set haste against reluctance in the same sentence: the man was in a hurry to get out of an embarrassing position and slow to leave a country he had served. [Mood] The tone is plain and low, and the resignation of the last line is not voiced; the poem's sadness is in the mismatch between the smallness of the occasion (a ridge, a beard) and the size of the event. Nothing is explained, and the reader has to know the history to know why it mattered.

【白话串讲】白居易写《初贬官过望秦岭》：“草草辞家忧后事，迟迟去国问前途”——“望秦岭上回头立，无限秋风吹白须”——他被贬江州，过望秦岭——站在岭上回头望，秋风吹着白须——他写贬谪的苍凉。【意象与手法】此诗写贬谪，以感慨写贬谪，是白居易的名篇。前二句写辞家：「草草辞家忧后事，迟迟去国问前途」写草草辞家忧后事、迟迟去国问前途——写尽辞家的仓皇；后二句写回首：「望秦岭上回头立，无限秋风吹白须」写望秦岭上回头立、无限秋风吹白须——写尽回首的苍凉。全诗以感慨写贬谪，写尽辞家的仓皇与回首的苍凉，是白居易的代表作。【情感与主旨】此诗写贬谪，以感慨写贬谪，是白居易的名篇。此诗写白居易初贬江州司马、经过望秦岭（在陕西蓝田，秦岭北麓）之作。元和十年（815），白居易因上疏请捕刺杀宰相武元衡之贼，为执政所恶，被贬江州司马。此诗写草草辞家、忧念后事，迟迟去国、问询前途；在望秦岭上回头而立，无限秋风吹白须。全诗写贬谪之途的仓皇与苍凉，正是白居易遭贬时心境的写照。此诗写辞家：草草辞家忧后事，迟迟去国问前途——写草草辞家忧后事、迟迟去国问前途，写尽辞家的仓皇；望秦岭上回头立，无限秋风吹白须——写望秦岭上回头立、无限秋风吹白须，写尽回首的苍凉。全诗以感慨写贬谪——那「草草辞家忧后事」写尽辞家的仓皇，「无限秋风吹白须」写尽回首的苍凉，写尽辞家的仓皇与回首的苍凉，是理解白居易贬谪诗的重要篇章。【名句点睛】常考「草草辞家忧后事，迟迟去国问前途」写辞家的仓皇；「望秦岭上回头立，无限秋风吹白须」写回首的苍凉；以及全诗以感慨写贬谪、以景语写苍凉的手法。

Background

Bai Juyi (772–846), courtesy name Letian, so-called Xiangshan jushi and later Zuiyin Xiansheng, was from XiaGui — modern Weinan, Shaanxi — and is the poet who left the largest body of work in Tang. In the tenth month of 815, some months after he petitioned the emperor to arrest those who had assassinated the prime minister Wu Yuanheng, he was banished to be司马 of Jiangzhou — a post of rank with no duties. This poem was written on the way, at the Wangqin ridge in Lintian, Shaanxi, on the north side of the Qin mountains; he was joined on the road by his brother and by friends. He would not return to the capital for years, and his years in Jiangzhou produced the essays and the poems in which he turned toward the simplicity of folk taste. The poem is short, plain and wholly characteristic: it reports an incident without interpreting it.

此诗写贬谪，以感慨写贬谪，是白居易的名篇。白居易（772—846），字乐天，号香山居士，又号醉吟先生，下邽（今陕西渭南）人，唐代诗人，与元稹并称「元白」，为新乐府运动代表，为唐代存诗最多的诗人。此诗写白居易初贬江州司马、经过望秦岭（在陕西蓝田，秦岭北麓）之作。元和十年（815），白居易因上疏请捕刺杀宰相武元衡之贼，为执政所恶，被贬江州司马。此诗写草草辞家、忧念后事，迟迟去国、问询前途；在望秦岭上回头而立，无限秋风吹白须。全诗写贬谪之途的仓皇与苍凉，正是白居易遭贬时心境的写照。此诗写辞家：「草草辞家忧后事，迟迟去国问前途」写草草辞家忧后事、迟迟去国问前途——写尽辞家的仓皇（草草辞家忧后事，迟迟去国问前途）；「望秦岭上回头立，无限秋风吹白须」写望秦岭上回头立、无限秋风吹白须——写尽回首的苍凉（望秦岭上回头立，无限秋风吹白须）。全诗以感慨写贬谪，写尽辞家的仓皇与回首的苍凉，是理解白居易贬谪诗的重要篇章。

Art

The poem's economy is extreme. Four lines, and not one of them carries more than one image; the only figure is the wind blowing through the beard, and that figure is not invented but reported, since the wind and the beard are both things a traveller feels. The two adverbs do the work of the whole poem: `hastily' tells of a leave-taking that could not be arranged properly, and `long delayed' tells of a departure the poet would rather not have made, and between them the reader infers a man pushed out of an office and reluctant to leave a capital he loved. `Looking back' is the physical act that gives the poem its title and its time — the moment when a journey becomes irreversible. The last line is chosen for its plainness: not `I wept' but `an endless autumn wind blowing through my white beard', and the wind continues after the poem ends, because the reader is left holding a man standing on a ridge with his face turned the wrong way.

此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以叠字写仓皇。「草草辞家忧后事」以叠字写仓皇——那「草草」写尽辞家的仓促，以叠字写尽辞家的仓皇。其二，以叠字写迟回。「迟迟去国问前途」以叠字写迟回——那「迟迟」写尽去国的迟缓，以叠字写尽贬谪的惆怅。其三，以动作写回首。「望秦岭上回头立」以动作写回首——那「回头立」写尽回头的伫立，以动作写尽回首的苍凉。其四，以景语写苍凉。「无限秋风吹白须」以景语写苍凉——那「秋风」「白须」写尽秋风的苍凉，以景语写尽回首的苍凉。此外，此诗前二句写辞家的仓皇，后二句写回首的苍凉，由行及立，正是贬谪诗「以景写慨」的写法。四重手法，使此诗以感慨写贬谪，写尽辞家的仓皇与回首的苍凉，是白居易的代表作。此诗还善于以「草草」「迟迟」的对仗写行色之仓皇——那「草草」写辞家之仓促，「迟迟」写去国之迟缓，以对仗写尽贬途的仓皇。又善以「忧后事」「问前途」的层递写忧思之深——忧后事而问前途，以层递写尽贬谪的惆怅。

Allusions

The ridge and the beard are the only allusions, and both belong to the tradition of the exiled official. To `look back from the Qin mountains' is one of the recognized postures of departure from the capital: the秦岭 was the last high ground from which a man leaving Chang'an could see the city, and countless Tang poems turn there — Han Yu, banished in the same direction, wrote the same ridge in `To My Grand-Nephew Xang, on My being Left the Capital', where `clouds lie across the Qin mountains — where is my home?' and could not go on. `A white beard' carries the older association of age and of biography: in the folk poetics of the age a grey beard was the sign of a man who had been lin his office long enough to be worn by it. That the poet's beard is already white while he is still in his forties is what makes the line a complaint without words.

此诗的用语深植于贬谪与感慨传统。「草草」令人想到「草草」写仓促的意象——也令人想到「草草劳人」的意象；「辞家」令人想到「辞家」写离家的意象——也令人想到「辞家万里行」的意象；「去国」令人想到「去国」写离京的意象——也令人想到「去国怀乡」的意象；「望秦岭」令人想到「望秦岭」写秦岭的意象——在陕西蓝田，也令人想到「云横秦岭家何在」（韩愈）的意象；「回头」令人想到「回头」写回望的意象——也令人想到「却望并州是故乡」（刘皂）的意象；「白须」令人想到「白须」写白须的意象——也令人想到「莫道桑榆晚，为霞尚满天」之外的意象。全诗化用草草、辞家、迟迟、去国、望秦岭、回头、白须的意象，以感慨写贬谪，正是白居易「平易」而善写真、承贬谪传统写苍凉之本领。「秦岭」令人想到「秦岭」写秦岭南麓的意象——也令人想到韩愈《左迁至蓝关示侄孙湘》「云横秦岭家何在」的意象；「白须」令人想到「白须」写白须的意象——也令人想到「白首方悔读书迟」的意象，以白须写贬途的苍老。

Commentary

The poem has long been prized for the plainness that conceals so much. Later readers have singleled out `hastily leaving home, worried over what will follow / long delayed in leaving the country, asking what lies ahead' as the condensation of a whole situation: a petition that failed, an exile that had to be made at once, and a man who understood the implications only as he walked away from the capital. It is also often quoted beside Han Yu's line on the same mountains, since the two exiles met the same geography and wrote the same gesture of looking back, and the comparison shows how much can be left unsaid in four lines. In the history of the poetry of exile it stands as a modest, unassertive piece; its continuing power comes from its refusal to explain itself.

此诗历来被推为白居易贬谪诗的名篇，也是唐诗写贬途苍凉的代表。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人评此诗「以感慨写贬谪，苍凉悲切」；近人更指出「望秦岭上回头立，无限秋风吹白须」写回首的苍凉，是此诗的名句。在诗歌史上，此诗的特殊价值在于：它以四句的绝句写尽辞家的仓皇与回首的苍凉——那草草，那辞家，那忧后事，那迟迟，那去国，那问前途，那望秦岭上，那回头立，那无限，那秋风，那吹白须，都写尽了白居易笔下的初贬过望秦岭；那「无限秋风吹白须」更以景语写尽回首的苍凉。此诗与白居易《蓝桥驿见元九诗》（「蓝桥春雪君归日」）同为贬途名篇，一写「每到驿亭先下马」的驿路（蓝桥驿），一写「望秦岭上回头立」的秦岭（初贬过望秦岭）；又与韩愈《左迁至蓝关示侄孙湘》「云横秦岭家何在」的贬谪传统一脉相承，可见唐诗写贬谪的传统。对于今日读者，此诗是理解白居易贬谪诗的窗口，也是唐诗写秦岭的经典——那吹白须的秋风，穿越千年，仍在诉说着回首的苍凉。

Prosody

Form Poem (seven-character quatrain)诗·七言绝句

Rhyme Four seven-character lines with an unbroken rhyme on the 虞 group — `what will follow', `what lies ahead', `white beard' — all on the same close, rounded vowel. The rhyme is unvaried and the lines are of equal length, so the poem has the level, unremitting sound of a road being walked; it is a quatrain that gives no sign of relief anywhere.七绝，押「途」「须」韵（上平七虞），一韵到底，音节苍凉

Tone pattern The voice is slow and low. The first line hurries, the second lengthens and hesitates, the third is a stop, and the fourth falls away on the long close vowel with the wind still going. The pause before the last three characters in every line is what keeps the emphasis on the ends, and the ends here are the two clauses of the same feeling.此诗为七言绝句，押平声韵，一韵到底，音节苍凉，正合贬谪的苍凉。

Reading note The formal choices of this quatrain all serve the subject. A single rhyme that never changes gives the reader the sensation of a road with no turns; the seven-character line, which in Tang is the line of narrative and of plain statement, is used throughout because nothing in the poem should sound elevated; and the rhyme vowel, rounded and unhurried, keeps the whole piece at one pitch. The prosody therefore does not accompany the feeling — it does not lighten at any point — and that constancy is what makes the closing image land. It is the prosody of an exile poem that declines to be a poem about exile, and the very regularity of the verse is the reason the last line sounds so ordinary, and so true.此诗为七言绝句，四句——「草草辞家忧后事，迟迟去国问前途。望秦岭上回头立，无限秋风吹白须」，押「虞」韵（途、须），一韵到底，音节苍凉。全诗以感慨写贬谪：前二句写辞家的仓皇（草草辞家忧后事、迟迟去国问前途），后二句写回首的苍凉（望秦岭上回头立、无限秋风吹白须）。四句短章，前写仓皇，后写苍凉，以「无限秋风吹白须」写尽回首的苍凉，正见白居易「平易」的本色。诵读此诗，宜以沉痛的语调读「草草辞家忧后事」的仓皇，以苍凉的语调读「无限秋风吹白须」的苍凉，结句要读得苍凉而有余韵，方能传达出白居易的苍凉悲切。白居易绝句以「平易」著称，此诗正是其贬谪诗的典范。

Line by line

望秦岭上回头立，无限秋风吹白须

On the Lookout Ridge of the Qinling he stands looking back, an endless autumn wind blowing through his white beard.

望秦岭上回头立，无限秋风吹白须。

On Wangqin Ridge he stands and turns to look back; the endless autumn wind blows through his white whiskers.

此二句是全诗写苍凉的核心，以望秦岭上回头立写回头立，以无限秋风吹白须写吹白须，写尽回首的苍凉，是千古名句。「望秦岭上回头立」写望秦岭上回头立——那「望秦岭上」写望秦岭上，「回头立」写回头立，写尽回头的伫立；「无限秋风吹白须」写无限秋风吹白须——那「无限秋风」写无限秋风，「吹白须」写吹白须，写尽秋风的吹须。这句的深意在于：它以「望秦岭上回头立」的回首与「无限秋风吹白须」的秋风，写尽回首的苍凉——望秦岭上回头立，那「望秦岭上回头立」写尽回头的伫立——望秦岭上，正是立岭回望的写照，那「回头立」写尽回首的苍凉；无限秋风吹白须，那「无限秋风吹白须」写尽秋风的吹须——无限秋风，正是秋意无边的写照，那「吹白须」写尽回首的苍凉；那「望秦岭上回头立」写尽回头的伫立，那「无限秋风吹白须」写尽秋风的吹须，一写回首，一写秋风，写尽回首的苍凉——回首而立而秋风吹须，正是贬途苍凉的写照；此二句以回首、秋风写尽回首的苍凉，也让此二句成为全诗写苍凉的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「站在秦岭上回头望，秋风吹着我花白的胡子，很凄凉」，则失其含蓄；唯以「望秦岭上回头立」写回头立、「无限秋风吹白须」写吹白须，写尽回首的苍凉，也让此二句成为全诗写苍凉的核心。

Bai Juyi, demoted, climbs the ridge that looks back toward Chang'an and stops. He stands and turns; the endless autumn wind blows through his white whiskers. The single backward standing figure is the whole exile: the road ahead is south, the heart behind, and the white whiskers in the wind measure the age at which this disgrace has come. Endless is the autumn wind, and endless is what he cannot say. To have said I looked back at the capital sadly would be statement; the standing figure in the wind is the sorrow.

草草辞家忧后事，迟迟去国问前途

Hastily leaving home, worried over what will follow; long delayed in leaving the country, asking what lies ahead.

草草辞家忧后事，迟迟去国问前途。

Hurriedly he left home, anxious for what was to come; slowly he leaves the capital, asking what lies ahead.

此二句是全诗写仓皇的核心，以草草辞家忧后事写忧后事，以迟迟去国问前途写问前途，写尽辞家的仓皇，是千古名句。「草草辞家忧后事」写草草辞家忧后事——那「草草辞家」写草草辞家，「忧后事」写忧后事，写尽辞家的仓促；「迟迟去国问前途」写迟迟去国问前途——那「迟迟去国」写迟迟去国，「问前途」写问前途，写尽去国的迟缓。这句的深意在于：它以「草草辞家忧后事」的忧后事与「迟迟去国问前途」的问前途，写尽辞家的仓皇——草草辞家忧后事，那「草草辞家忧后事」写尽辞家的仓促——草草辞家，正是仓促离家的写照，那「忧后事」写尽辞家的仓皇；迟迟去国问前途，那「迟迟去国问前途」写尽去国的迟缓——迟迟去国，正是迟回离京的写照，那「问前途」写尽贬谪的惆怅；那「草草辞家忧后事」写尽辞家的仓促，那「迟迟去国问前途」写尽去国的迟缓，一写辞家，一写去国，写尽辞家的仓皇——草草辞家而迟迟去国，正是被贬仓皇的写照；此二句以辞家、去国写尽辞家的仓皇，也为下文的回首作铺垫，也让此二句成为全诗写仓皇的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「仓促离开家，忧心忡忡地踏上贬谪的路」，则失其沉痛；唯以「草草辞家忧后事」写忧后事、「迟迟去国问前途」写问前途，写尽辞家的仓皇，也让此二句成为全诗写仓皇的核心。

The couplet gives the two rhythms of the banishment. In haste he left home, anxious about what would follow; slowly he leaves the capital, uncertain what lies ahead. The hurry and the slowness are the contradiction: the summons allowed no packing, yet departure itself drags. The phrase ask the future is the exile's real condition—a man who used to know his way now has to inquire of the road. To have said I left home in confusion and dreaded the journey would be a diary; the hurried farewell set against the slow departure is the dread.

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Word focus

草草 Hastily, in a hurry — here not carelessness but necessity: the leave-taking had to be made at once, and so the poet was worried about the matters left unfinished behind him. 「草草辞家忧后事」之「草草」是写仓皇的关键词，一个「草草」写尽辞家的仓促。草草者，仓促、草率也。白居易以「草草辞家忧后事」写仓皇，这个「草草」至少有双重意味：其一，写辞之草草——那「草草辞家忧后事」写草草辞家忧后事，那「草草」写尽辞家的仓促——草草辞家，正是仓促离家的写照，那「草草」写尽辞家的仓皇；其二，写势之急——那「草草」更是写急——草草，正见被贬的急迫，那「草草」写尽贬谪的仓皇。以「草草」写仓皇，正是白居易写贬谪的枢纽——若换作「匆匆」「仓皇」等词，则或失其与「辞家忧后事」「迟迟去国问前途」的配合，或失其写草草的意味；唯「草草」二字，以草草辞家忧后事写尽辞家之仓促与被贬之急迫，与「迟迟去国问前途」的迟迟相合，写尽辞家的仓皇，也让「草草辞家忧后事」成为全诗写仓皇的名句。

无限 Endless, without limit — the word applied to the wind rather than to the feeling, but it is what makes the last line a statement about the years ahead as well as about the weather. 「无限秋风吹白须」之「无限」是写苍凉的关键词，一个「无限」写尽秋风的苍凉。无限者，无边、无穷也。白居易以「无限秋风吹白须」写苍凉，这个「无限」至少有双重意味：其一，写风之无限——那「无限秋风吹白须」写无限秋风吹白须，那「无限」写尽秋风的苍凉——无限秋风，正是秋意无边的写照，那「无限」写尽回首的苍凉；其二，写情之深——那「无限」更是写深——无限，正见感慨的无穷，那「无限」写尽贬谪的苍凉。以「无限」写苍凉，正是白居易写贬谪的枢纽——若换作「不尽」「无边」等词，则或失其与「秋风」「吹白须」的配合，或失其写无限的意味；唯「无限」二字，以无限秋风吹白须写尽秋风之无边与感慨之无穷，与「望秦岭上回头立」的回首相合，写尽回首的苍凉，也让「无限秋风吹白须」成为全诗写苍凉的名句。