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汉 Han · 乐府 Yuefu ballad

上陵

Ascending the Imperial Tombs

汉乐府

Han Yuefu

祭祀/颂赞sacrifice / praise 民生/讽喻common life / satire

上陵何美，下津风以寒。
问客从何来，言从水中央。
桂树为君船，青丝为君笮，木兰为君櫂，黄金错其间。
沧海之雀赤翅鸿，白雁随。
山林乍开乍合，曾不知日月明。
醴泉之水，光泽何蔚蔚。
芝为车，龙为马，览遨游，四海外。
甘露初二年，芝生铜池中，仙人下来饮，延寿千万岁。

How fair it is up on the tomb-hill; below at the ford the wind blows cold.
We ask the stranger where he comes from; he says he comes from the middle of the waters.
Cassia wood makes your boat, blue silk your mooring rope,
magnolia your oars, with gold inlaid between.
Sparrows of the vast sea, red-winged wild geese, and white geese following after.
The wooded hills now open and now close, so that one cannot tell the brightness of sun and moon.
The water of the sweet spring—how richly it gleams!
Magic fungus for a carriage and a dragon for a horse, he roams and looks beyond the four seas.
In the second year of Ganlu the fungus grew in the bronze pool;
the immortals came down to drink, and prayed for a life of ten thousand thousand years.

Listen

Meaning

How magnificent it is to climb up to the imperial tombs, while below at the ford a cool wind blows with a touch of cold. We ask the stranger where he has come from, and he answers that he comes from the middle of the waters. Cassia wood is made into a boat for you, blue silk is twisted into your mooring rope, magnolia is carved into your oars, and gold is inlaid along the hull. Sparrows of the vast sea and red-winged wild geese fly by, with white geese following after. The wooded hills now open and now close, until one can no longer tell the brightness of sun and moon. The water of the sweet spring, how richly and abundantly it gleams. Magic fungus serves as a carriage and a dragon as a horse, and in them he roams at will beyond the four seas. In the second year of the Ganlu reign the magic fungus grew in the bronze pool; the immortals came down to drink of it and prayed for a life of ten thousand thousand years.

登上陵墓何等壮美，渡口之下凉风带着寒意。问那客人从何处来，回答说从水中央而来。以桂树为你造船，青丝为你做缆索，木兰为你制船桨，黄金错嵌在船身之间。沧海之雀与赤翅鸿雁，白雁相随。山林忽开忽合，竟不知日月的光明。醴泉之水，光泽何等盛美。以芝草为车，以龙为马，纵览遨游于四海之外。甘露初二年，芝草生于铜池之中，仙人下凡来饮，祈求延寿千万岁。

Appreciation

This piece stands among the eighteen Nao Songs of the Han drum-and-pipe division, a hymn sung at the court's suburban and ancestral sacrifices in praise of auspicious omens. Its closing lines name the second year of Ganlu, a reign title of Emperor Xuan, who was fond of portents and trusted the prophetic texts, so that the song was evidently made to celebrate a wonder of his day. The poem is written in mixed line lengths, spread out in bold description, with strange and splendid imagination and a breath that opens and closes freely. The opening exclamation over the beauty of the tomb-hill gathers up the whole; a question and answer then lead into a world of marvels; four parallel lines heap up cassia boat, silk rope, magnolia oars and inlaid gold to display the richness of the vessel; and fungus carriage and dragon horse carry the roaming beyond the four seas. Lines of three, four, five and seven characters follow one another, uniting the free sweep of the Chu manner with the ornate fullness of court hymn, though the piling up of praise and the leaping of images also betray the empty adornment of the prophecy-loving age.

【白话串讲】 “上陵何美，下津风以寒”——汉乐府写登陵眺望：“桂树为君船，青丝为君笮”——桂树做船，青丝做缆。“醴泉之水，光泽何蔚蔚”——醴泉的光泽。汉代人写仙境，金碧辉煌。【意象与手法】全诗以杂言铺陈，想象瑰奇，气脉开阖。开篇‘上陵何美’总起，继以问答引出奇境【情感与主旨】《上陵》列于汉鼓吹铙歌十八曲，为朝廷郊庙登歌、颂美符瑞之作【名句点睛】本诗宜从‘汉乐府颂瑞诗的特征与手法’角度命题。考点一：概括诗中祥瑞意象（醴泉、芝草、龙马、仙人）及其颂美用意

Background

This piece is listed among the eighteen Nao Songs of the Han drum-and-pipe division and is a hymn for the court's suburban and ancestral sacrifices, praising auspicious omens. Its closing lines say plainly that 'in the second year of Ganlu the fungus grew in the bronze pool'; Ganlu was a reign title of Emperor Xuan, who loved portents and believed in the prophetic texts, so that men of the time composed this song on the occasion of a marvel in order to praise his virtue. Although it comes from the same music bureau as 'Haoli', one is a dirge for the dead and the other a hymn of good omen, which shows that the Han music bureau served both mourning and celebration, and also how strong the doctrine of the heavenly mandate had grown in the later Western Han.

《上陵》为汉乐府《铙歌》篇，是写游仙上陵、神君降临的诗。此诗：上陵何美，下津风以寒。问客从何来，言从水中央。桂树为君船，青丝为君笮，木兰为君櫂，黄金错其间。沧海之雀赤翅鸿，白雁随。山林乍开乍合，曾不知日月明。醴泉之水，光泽何蔚蔚。芝为车，龙为马，览遨游，四海外。甘露初二年，芝生铜池中，仙人下来饮，延寿千万岁。全诗写游仙上陵、神君降临，是汉乐府的名篇。

Art

The whole poem is spread out in lines of mixed length, with strange and splendid imagination and a breath that opens and closes freely. The opening exclamation over the beauty of the tomb-hill gathers the whole together, and a question and answer then lead into a world of marvels. The four lines beginning with the cassia-wood boat use parallel construction to heap up the preciousness of the vessel's fittings, while the fungus carriage and the dragon horse use the furniture of the immortals to write to the utmost the freedom of the roaming. The line lengths are irregular, of three, four, five and seven characters by turns, and the poem gains both the free sweep of the Chu manner and the ornate fullness of court hymn. Yet the exaggeration is excessive and the images leap about, so that the empty adornment of the prophetic literature also shows through, and one should distinguish its beauty from its overstatement.

《上陵》艺术上以游仙的瑰丽与神君降临的奇幻见长。全诗写游仙上陵：首写上陵之美——“上陵何美，下津风以寒”写上陵何美、下津风寒，“问客从何来，言从水中央”写问客何来、言从水中央；中写仙舟之华——“桂树为君船，青丝为君笮，木兰为君櫂，黄金错其间”写桂树为船、青丝为笮、木兰为櫂、黄金错其间；末写游仙与甘露——“沧海之雀赤翅鸿，白雁随”写沧海雀鸿、白雁相随，“山林乍开乍合，曾不知日月明”写山林开合、不知日月，“醴泉之水，光泽何蔚蔚”写醴泉光泽，“芝为车，龙为马，览遨游，四海外”写芝车龙马、遨游海外，“甘露初二年，芝生铜池中，仙人下来饮，延寿千万岁”写甘露灵芝、仙人来饮、延寿千万岁。全诗以游仙写神君降临，正是汉乐府瑰丽的笔法。

Allusions

The poem draws chiefly on images of good omen and immortal legend. The sweet spring comes from the Record of Rites, where 'heaven sends down sweet dew and earth puts forth a sweet spring', a sign of great peace. The fungus is the magic mushroom, held in the Han to be a plant of immortality and long life. Making a dragon serve as a horse reworks the Rites of Zhou, where 'a horse of eight feet and more is called a dragon', together with the tradition of the immortals' mounts. Ganlu is directly the reign title of Emperor Xuan, a historical fact embedded in the verse. All these images rest on the Han doctrines of the resonance between heaven and man and of mandates and portents, and to bring auspicious signs into song is the typical way of allusion in Han hymns of praise.

《上陵》用典在“桂树为君船”“芝为车，龙为马”“甘露”“延寿千万岁”。“桂树为君船”写以桂树为仙舟（桂舟）；“芝为车，龙为马”写以灵芝为车、龙为马（仙驾）；“甘露”写甘露降（祥瑞）；“延寿千万岁”写长生之愿。全诗以这些意象写游仙上陵，用典自然而瑰丽自见，正是汉乐府的笔法。

Commentary

The Collection of Music-Bureau Poems, in its explanatory note, cites the Record of Music Ancient and Modern in placing this piece among the Nao Songs and says that it 'labours to praise the ruler's virtue and to extol auspicious omens'. In modern times Xiao Difei observed that the Nao Songs are 'strange in language and often past understanding', though this is precisely the lingering echo of the Chu manner. Zhu Qian of the Qing, in his True Meaning of Music-Bureau Poetry, held that this piece is 'so spread out and heightened that it comes near the Summons of the Soul in the Songs of Chu', which proves the richness of its imagination and its descent from the tradition of Qu Yuan and Song Yu.

《上陵》是汉乐府《铙歌》的名篇，也是中国诗歌中写游仙的代表作。此诗写游仙上陵、神君降临，向为论者称道。论者多赏其游仙的瑰丽与神君降临的奇幻——“上陵何美，下津风以寒”写登陵之美，奇幻之极；“桂树为君船，青丝为君笮，木兰为君櫂，黄金错其间”写仙舟之华，更见其瑰丽；“芝为车，龙为马，览遨游，四海外”写游仙海外，尤见其想。汉乐府以想象瑰丽见长，此诗正是其代表——以游仙写神君，正是其笔法。

Prosody

Form Han music bureau, Nao Song (hymn for the suburban and ancestral sacrifices)杂言乐府（铙歌）

Rhyme Free in strict rhyme; with the mixed line lengths the even lines rhyme loosely《上陵》为杂言乐府《铙歌》篇，句式参差。此诗用韵：寒、间（寒部）、随（微部）、蔚（物部）、海、岁（贿部）等，随段换韵，音节瑰丽。

Tone pattern Not traceable杂言乐府以音节瑰丽、句式参差见长。此诗写游仙上陵、神君降临，音节瑰丽而奇幻。全诗句式参差，随段换韵，声调与游仙的内容相合，是汉乐府《铙歌》中瑰丽的一路。

Reading note Lines of three to seven characters are used together, spread out richly, gaining the free sweep of the Chu manner and the ornate fullness of the hymn.《上陵》为汉乐府《铙歌》篇，是写游仙上陵、神君降临的诗。此诗以“上陵何美，下津风以寒”写登陵之美，以“桂树为君船，青丝为君笮”写仙舟之华，以“芝为车，龙为马，览遨游，四海外”写遨游海外，以“仙人下来饮，延寿千万岁”写延寿之愿。以游仙写神君降临，正是汉乐府的名篇。

Line by line

上陵何美，下津风以寒。问客从何来，言从水中央。

How fair the Upper Tomb; below the ford the wind is cold. I ask the guest whence he comes; he says, from the middle of the waters.

上陵何其美，下津风以寒。问客从何来，说从水中央来。

How fair the Upper Tomb; below the ford the wind blows cold. I ask the traveler where he comes from; he says from the middle of the river.

首写上陵之美、神客之来，是全诗游仙的起点。“上陵何美，下津风以寒”写上陵之美——“上陵何美”写上陵何其美，“下津风以寒”写下津风以寒——上陵美，下津风寒；“问客从何来，言从水中央”写问客何来——“问客从何来”写问客从何来，“言从水中央”写说从水中央来——问客何来，言从水中央。四句写上陵之美、神客之来：上陵何美、下津风以寒，问客从何来、言从水中央。以“上陵何美，下津风以寒”写登陵之美、下津风寒，以“问客从何来，言从水中央”写问仙客何来、答从水中央，正是汉乐府写游仙之始的笔法——登陵而遇仙客，自水中央而来。

The immortal's arrival. How fair the Upper Tomb; below the ford the wind blows cold. I ask the traveler where he comes from; he says from the middle of the river. The water-middle origin is the immortal's: such guests do not come by land. To have said an immortal guest arrived would be an arrival; the fair tomb, the cold ford wind, and the answer from the middle of the waters are the arrival.

桂树为君船，青丝为君笮，木兰为君櫂，黄金错其间。

Cinnamon wood for your boat, black silk for your tow-rope, magnolia for your oar, gold inlaid between them.

桂树为君之船，青丝为君之笮（缆），木兰为君之櫂（桨），黄金交错其间。

Cinnamon wood is your boat, black silk your tow-cable, magnolia your oar, with gold inlaid throughout.

此四句写仙舟之华，是全诗游仙瑰丽的深化。“桂树为君船”写桂树为船——“桂树为君船”写以桂树为君之船——桂树为船；“青丝为君笮，木兰为君櫂，黄金错其间”写青丝木兰黄金——“青丝为君笮”写青丝为君之缆，“木兰为君櫂”写木兰为君之桨，“黄金错其间”写黄金交错其间——青丝为缆，木兰为桨，黄金错其间。四句写仙舟之华：桂树为君船、青丝为君笮、木兰为君櫂、黄金错其间。以“桂树为君船”写以桂木为仙舟，以“青丝为君笮，木兰为君櫂，黄金错其间”写青丝缆、木兰桨、黄金交错其间，正是汉乐府写游仙之华、仙舟之丽的笔法——桂舟金错，其华无比。

The immortal boat. Cinnamon wood is your boat, black silk your tow-cable, magnolia your oar, with gold inlaid throughout. The listing of the boat's precious materials is the fu's catalog style applied to a heavenly vessel. To have described a fine boat would be a description; the cinnamon boat, silk cable, magnolia oar, and inlaid gold are the description.

芝为车，龙为马，览遨游，四海外。

Magic fungus for the chariot, dragons for the horses; gazing, roaming, beyond the four seas.

以芝为车，以龙为马，览遨游，至于四海外。

The magic fungus is the chariot, the dragons are the horses; he roams and gazes beyond the four seas.

此四句写芝车龙马、遨游海外，是全诗游仙之想的归结。“芝为车，龙为马”写芝车龙马——“芝为车”写以灵芝为车，“龙为马”写以龙为马——芝为车，龙为马；“览遨游，四海外”写遨游海外——“览遨游”写览游遨游，“四海外”写至于四海外——览遨游，四海外。四句写芝车龙马、遨游海外：芝为车、龙为马、览遨游、四海外。以“芝为车，龙为马”写以芝为车、以龙为马之仙驾，以“览遨游，四海外”写遨游至于四海之外，正是汉乐府写游仙之想的归结——芝车龙马，遨游海外。

The chariot. The magic fungus is the chariot, the dragons are the horses; he roams and gazes beyond the four seas. The fungus-car and dragon-horses are the final ascent: no longer a boat on the river, but a chariot crossing the world's ends. To have said he rode dragons beyond the seas would be a journey; the fungus-car and dragon-horses roaming beyond the four seas are the journey.

Study

Word focus

上陵何美 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “上陵何美，下津风以寒”之“上陵何美”，写登陵何其美，是全诗写游仙之景的关键词。“上陵”写登上高陵，“何美”写何其美——上陵何其美。这一词写登陵之美：不是寻常之登，而上陵；不是可叹之景，而何美之陵。以“上陵何美，下津风以寒”写登陵之美、下津风寒，正是汉乐府写游仙之景的笔法。

桂树为君船 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “桂树为君船”之“桂树为君船”，写以桂树为仙舟，是全诗写仙舟之华的关键词。“桂树”写桂木（香木），“为君船”写为君之船——以桂树为君之船。这一词写仙舟之华：不是寻常之舟，而桂树为船；不是粗陋之舸，而香木仙舟。以“桂树为君船，青丝为君笮”写桂舟青缆之华，正是汉乐府写游仙瑰丽的笔法。

芝为车，龙为马 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “芝为车，龙为马”之“芝为车，龙为马”，写以灵芝为车、以龙为马，是全诗写仙驾之奇的关键词。“芝”写灵芝（仙草），“龙为马”写以龙为马——以芝为车，以龙为马。这一词写仙驾之奇：不是凡间之车，而芝为车；不是凡马之驾，而龙为马。以“芝为车，龙为马，览遨游，四海外”写芝车龙马、遨游海外，正是汉乐府写游仙之想的笔法。

延寿千万岁 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “仙人下来饮，延寿千万岁”之“延寿千万岁”，写延寿千万岁，是全诗写游仙之愿的归结词。“延寿”写延长寿命，“千万岁”写千万岁——延寿千万岁。这一词写长生之愿：不是有尽之寿，而延寿千万岁；不是可止之愿，而万岁长生。以“甘露初二年，芝生铜池中，仙人下来饮，延寿千万岁”写甘露灵芝、仙人来饮、延寿万岁，正是汉乐府写游仙之愿的归结。

上陵