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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

蓝桥驿见元九诗

Seeing Yuan the Ninth's Poem at the Blue Bridge Post-station

白居易

Bai Juyi

怀友Remembering a Friend 羁旅Travelling Exile

蓝桥春雪君归日，秦岭秋风我去时。
每到驿亭先下马，循墙绕柱觅君诗。

At Blue Bridge in the spring snow, the day you turned homeward;
On the Qin mountains in the autumn wind, the hour I went away.
Every time I reach a post-station arbour I dismount first,
And walk the walls and round the pillars hunting for your poem.
Listen

Meaning

Bai Juyi is travelling south in exile along the post roads when he passes a station where his great friend Yuan Zhen (Yuan Jiu) had once left a poem on the wall. The two had crossed each other on the road — Yuan had passed this way northward through the spring snow, Bai was going the other way in the autumn wind — and now the poet cannot ride past; he gets down and searches the walls for handwriting he already misses. The poem is about friendship as something recorded on physical surfaces along a road.

蓝桥春雪君归日，秦岭秋风我去时。每到驿亭先下马，循墙绕柱觅君诗。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The first couplet is a single, perfect accident: the two men passed on the same road in opposite seasons, and the poet names both dates as though the collision could have been otherwise. The second shows the consequence, and it is not grief but a small, stubborn habit — at every arbour he gets down off his horse and looks for the other man's verses.[Structure] The poem moves from the public, historical fact of the crossing to the private, repeated action of looking. The last two lines are a narrative, and they are what makes the poem modern and believable.[Imagery] Snow in the first line and wind in the second give the friction of the two seasons; then the poem descends to the most earthly details available — a dismounted horse, a wall, pillars. The friend survives as ink on plaster, and that is exactly what the poet is hunting for.

【白话串讲】 白居易写《蓝桥驿见元九诗》：“蓝桥春雪君归日，秦岭秋风我去时”——“每到驿亭先下马，循墙绕柱觅君诗”——他经过蓝桥驿，看见元稹题的诗——每到驿亭先下马，循着墙绕柱子找他写的诗——他写对友人的牵挂。 【意象与手法】 此诗写怀友，以题壁写怀友，是白居易的名篇。前二句写交臂：「蓝桥春雪君归日，秦岭秋风我去时」写蓝桥春雪君归日、秦岭秋风我去时——写尽交臂的遗憾；后二句写觅诗：「每到驿亭先下马，循墙绕柱觅君诗」写每到驿亭先下马、循墙绕柱觅君诗——写尽觅诗的深情。全诗以题壁写怀友，写尽交臂的遗憾与觅诗的深情，是白居易的代表作。 【情感与主旨】 此诗写怀友，以题壁写怀友，是白居易的名篇。此诗写白居易贬官江州途中，在蓝桥驿看到元稹题壁诗的情景。元和十年（815），元稹自贬所回京，经蓝桥驿题诗于壁；同年白居易因上疏被贬江州司马，亦经蓝桥驿，见元稹题诗，遂作此诗。两人一归一去，交臂而过，唯有驿壁之诗可寻。此诗写交臂：蓝桥春雪君归日，秦岭秋风我去时——写蓝桥春雪君归日、秦岭秋风我去时，写尽交臂的遗憾；每到驿亭先下马，循墙绕柱觅君诗——写每到驿亭先下马、循墙绕柱觅君诗，写尽觅诗的深情。全诗以题壁写怀友——那「秦岭秋风我去时」写尽交臂的遗憾，「循墙绕柱觅君诗」写尽觅诗的深情，写尽交臂的遗憾与觅诗的深情，是理解白居易怀友诗的重要篇章。 【名句点睛】 常考「蓝桥春雪君归日，秦岭秋风我去时」写交臂的遗憾；「每到驿亭先下马，循墙绕柱觅君诗」写觅诗的深情；以及全诗以题壁写怀友、以对照写交臂的手法。

Background

Yuan Zhen (779–831) and Bai Juyi (772–846) were inseparable friends and professional correspondents, exchanging poems on every stage of their careers. In 815 Yuan Zhen was demoted far south to Tongzhou; Bai Juyi was also sent out of the capital, first to Jiangzhou and then farther south. The Blue Bridge was on the road through the Qinling mountains, and the Qin range marks the boundary between the capital region and the south. The poem dates from Bai's southern journey; the other man's poem on the station wall was one of the many they left for each other on these roads.

此诗写怀友，以题壁写怀友，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」，与新乐府运动相关，为唐代存诗最多的诗人。此诗写白居易贬官江州途中，在蓝桥驿看到元稹题壁诗的情景。元和十年（815），元稹自贬所回京，经蓝桥驿题诗于壁；同年白居易因上疏被贬江州司马，亦经蓝桥驿，见元稹题诗，遂作此诗。两人一归一去，交臂而过，唯有驿壁之诗可寻。此诗写交臂：「蓝桥春雪君归日，秦岭秋风我去时」写蓝桥春雪君归日、秦岭秋风我去时——写尽交臂的遗憾（蓝桥春雪君归日，秦岭秋风我去时）；「每到驿亭先下马，循墙绕柱觅君诗」写每到驿亭先下马、循墙绕柱觅君诗——写尽觅诗的深情（每到驿亭先下马，循墙绕柱觅君诗）。全诗以题壁写怀友，写尽交臂的遗憾与觅诗的深情，是理解白居易怀友诗的重要篇章。

Art

The poem's whole effect comes from two details. First, the compressed crossing: 'spring snow you went home, autumn wind I went away' states in one line a whole biography of missed encounters, with the two seasons and two directions set in parallel against each other. Second, the plain physical action of the last two lines. Bai Juyi, the great master of plainness, refuses to say that he misses Yuan; he says that he gets down from his horse at every arbour and walks round the pillars. The repetition implied in 'every time' does more than any declaration of sorrow would.

此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以对照写交臂。「蓝桥春雪君归日，秦岭秋风我去时」以对照写交臂——那「春雪」「秋风」写尽归去时的对照，以对照写尽交臂的遗憾。其二，以时令写变迁。「蓝桥春雪君归日」以时令写变迁——那「春雪」写尽元稹归时的春天，以时令写尽人事的变迁。其三，以白描写觅诗。「每到驿亭先下马」以白描写觅诗——那「先下马」写尽驿亭的急切，以白描写尽觅诗的深情。其四，以细节写深情。「循墙绕柱觅君诗」以细节写深情——那「循墙绕柱」写尽绕柱寻诗的细节，以细节写尽觅诗的深情。此外，此诗前二句写交臂的遗憾，后二句写觅诗的深情，由恨及觅，正是怀友诗「以逆写情」的写法。四重手法，使此诗以题壁写怀友，写尽交臂的遗憾与觅诗的深情，是白居易的代表作。此诗还善于以「君归日」「我去时」的对举写两人的交臂——那「君归」「我去」写尽归去时的对照，正是「一归一去」的错过，以对举写尽交臂的遗憾。又善以「每到驿亭先下马」的「每」字写寻觅的恒常——「每」写每次如此，正是「每到必寻」的深情，一个「每」字写尽觅诗的恒久。

Allusions

Blue Bridge and the Qin mountains are real places on the route between Chang'an and the south, and in the legend of the Blue Bridge the name is also that of a bridge where the beautiful Yaо-ji met her lover, making the place one of assignments rather than of partings — a quiet irony, since Bai passes it missing a friend. 'Yuan the Ninth' is Yuan Zhen, the ninth of his generation in the clan. The wall poems are the genuine nine-century habit of verse on post-station plaster, which created a whole travelling correspondence in chalk and ink.

此诗的用语深植于怀友与题壁传统。「蓝桥」令人想到「蓝桥」写蓝桥驿的意象——在陕西蓝田，也令人想到「蓝桥驿」的意象；「春雪」令人想到「春雪」写春雪的意象——也令人想到「蓝桥春雪君归日」的意象；「秦岭」令人想到「秦岭」写秦岭的意象——也令人想到「云横秦岭家何在」（韩愈）的意象；「驿亭」令人想到「驿亭」写驿站的意象——也令人想到「驿寄梅花」的意象；「循墙绕柱」令人想到「循墙绕柱」写觅诗的意象——也令人想到「粉壁题诗」的意象。全诗化用蓝桥、春雪、秦岭、驿亭、循墙绕柱的意象，以题壁写怀友，正是白居易「平易」而善写情、承题壁传统写友情之本领。「蓝桥」令人想到蓝桥驿为唐代驿路名胜——也令人想到裴航蓝桥遇云英的传说；「驿亭题诗」令人想到唐人驿壁题诗的风气——白居易《蓝桥驿见元九诗》正写此传统。又「春雪」令人想到韩愈《春雪》「白雪却嫌春色晚，故穿庭树作飞花」的春雪意象；「秋风」令人想到李白《忆秦娥》「西风残照，汉家陵阙」的秋意苍茫，一春一秋，正见两人一归一去。

Commentary

This was among the most popular of Bai Juyi's short poems in his own lifetime and is constantly quoted for the last couplet. Commentators single out the 'every time I dismount' as the highest form of the plain style: the poem concludes with an action rather than a sentiment, and the reader is left to infer the size of the friendship from the regularity of the gesture. Later anthologists used it as the standard example of friendship poetry written not in the drawing-room but on a post road.

此诗历来被推为白居易怀友诗的名篇，也是唐诗写元白友谊与驿壁题诗的典型。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人评此诗「以题壁写怀友，真挚深沉」；近人更指出「每到驿亭先下马，循墙绕柱觅君诗」写觅诗的深情，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交臂的遗憾与觅诗的深情——那蓝桥，那春雪，那君归日，那秦岭，那秋风，那我去时，那每到，那驿亭，那先下马，那循墙，那绕柱，那觅君诗，都写尽了白居易笔下的蓝桥驿；那「循墙绕柱觅君诗」更以细节写尽觅诗的深情。此诗与白居易《同李十一醉忆元九》（「花时同醉破春愁」）同为怀元九名篇，一写「循墙绕柱觅君诗」的驿壁（蓝桥驿见元九诗），一写「计程今日到梁州」的同醉（同李十一醉忆元九）；又与元稹《闻乐天授江州司马》「垂死病中惊坐起」的元白友谊传统一脉相承，可见中国诗写友谊的传统。对于今日读者，此诗是理解白居易怀友诗的窗口，也是中国诗写题壁觅诗的经典——那绕柱寻觅的身影，穿越千年，仍在诉说着觅诗的深情。

Prosody

Form Seven-character quatrain诗·七言绝句
Rhyme Rhymes on the Zhi category — 'hour' and 'poem' — level tone throughout, one unchanged rhyme.七绝，押「时」「诗」韵（上平四支），一韵到底，音节沉挚
Tone pattern Level tone, even and plain, the sound of ordinary travel narrative.此诗为七言绝句，押平声韵，一韵到底，音节沉挚，正合怀友的沉挚。
Reading note Four lines of seven characters, strict and short. The first couplet propounds the missed crossing, the second reports the resulting habit; the rhyme on 'poem' at the end holds the search in place.此诗为七言绝句，四句——「蓝桥春雪君归日，秦岭秋风我去时。每到驿亭先下马，循墙绕柱觅君诗」，押「支」韵（时、诗），一韵到底，音节沉挚。全诗以题壁写怀友：前二句写交臂的遗憾（蓝桥春雪君归日、秦岭秋风我去时），后二句写觅诗的深情（每到驿亭先下马、循墙绕柱觅君诗）。四句短章，前写交臂，后写觅诗，以「循墙绕柱觅君诗」写尽觅诗的深情，正见白居易「平易」的本色。诵读此诗，宜以沉挚的语调读「秦岭秋风我去时」的交臂，以深情的语调读「循墙绕柱觅君诗」的觅诗，结句要读得沉挚而有余韵，方能传达出白居易的真挚深沉。白居易绝句以「平易」著称，此诗正是其怀友绝句的典范。

Line by line

每到驿亭先下马，循墙绕柱觅君诗

Every time I reach a post-station arbour I dismount first, and walk the walls and round the pillars hunting for your poem.

每到驿亭先下马，循墙绕柱觅君诗。

At every post pavilion I first dismount, and following the walls and circling the pillars, I look for your poems.

此二句是全诗写觅诗的核心，以每到驿亭先下马写下马，以循墙绕柱觅君诗写觅诗，写尽觅诗的深情，是千古名句。「每到驿亭先下马」写每到驿亭先下马——那「每到驿亭」写每到驿亭，「先下马」写先下马，写尽驿亭的下马；「循墙绕柱觅君诗」写循墙绕柱觅君诗——那「循墙绕柱」写循墙绕柱，「觅君诗」写觅君诗，写尽绕柱的觅诗。这句的深意在于：它以「每到驿亭先下马」的下马与「循墙绕柱觅君诗」的觅诗，写尽觅诗的深情——每到驿亭先下马，那「每到驿亭先下马」写尽驿亭的下马——每到驿亭先下马，正是每驿必寻的写照，那「先下马」写尽觅诗的深情；循墙绕柱觅君诗，那「循墙绕柱觅君诗」写尽绕柱的觅诗——循墙绕柱，正是遍寻题壁的写照，那「觅君诗」写尽觅诗的深情；那「每到驿亭先下马」写尽驿亭的下马，那「循墙绕柱觅君诗」写尽绕柱的觅诗，一写下马，一写觅诗，写尽觅诗的深情——每到驿亭而绕柱觅诗，正是情深意切的写照；此二句以下马、觅诗写尽觅诗的深情，也让此二句成为全诗写觅诗的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「我每次路过驿站都找他写的诗」，则失其画面；唯以「每到驿亭先下马」写下马、「循墙绕柱觅君诗」写觅诗，写尽觅诗的深情，也让此二句成为全诗写觅诗的核心。

The search. At every post pavilion I first dismount, and following the walls and circling the pillars, I look for your poems. The dismount at every pavilion and the wall-following pillar-circling search are the friendship. To have described searching for the friend's wall poems would be a habit; the at-every-post-pavilion-first-dismount against the following-walls-circling-pillars-looking-for-your-poems is the habit.

蓝桥春雪君归日，秦岭秋风我去时

At Blue Bridge in the spring snow, the day you turned homeward; on the Qin mountains in the autumn wind, the hour I went away.

蓝桥春雪君归日，秦岭秋风我去时。

Blue Bridge, spring snow—the day you returned; Qinling, autumn wind—the time I went.

此二句是全诗写交臂的核心，以蓝桥春雪君归日写君归，以秦岭秋风我去时写我去，写尽交臂的遗憾，是千古名句。「蓝桥春雪君归日」写蓝桥春雪君归日——那「蓝桥春雪」写蓝桥春雪，「君归日」写君归日，写尽君归的春雪；「秦岭秋风我去时」写秦岭秋风我去时——那「秦岭秋风」写秦岭秋风，「我去时」写我去时，写尽我去的秋风。这句的深意在于：它以「蓝桥春雪君归日」的君归与「秦岭秋风我去时」的我去，写尽交臂的遗憾——蓝桥春雪君归日，那「蓝桥春雪君归日」写尽君归的春雪——君归日，正是元稹北归的写照，那「春雪」写尽归时的春天；秦岭秋风我去时，那「秦岭秋风我去时」写尽我去的秋风——我去时，正是白居易南贬的写照，那「秋风」写尽去时的秋天；那「蓝桥春雪君归日」写尽君归的春雪，那「秦岭秋风我去时」写尽我去的秋风，一写君归，一写我去，写尽交臂的遗憾——君归春雪而我去秋风，正是交臂错过的写照；此二句以君归、我去写尽交臂的遗憾，也为下文的觅诗作铺垫，也让此二句成为全诗写交臂的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「元稹春天回去，我秋天路过」，则失其对照；唯以「蓝桥春雪君归日」写君归、「秦岭秋风我去时」写我去，写尽交臂的遗憾，也让此二句成为全诗写交臂的核心。

The missed meeting. Blue Bridge, spring snow—the day you returned; Qinling, autumn wind—the time I went. The spring-snow return against the autumn-wind departure are the crossed paths. To have described the missed meeting would be a contrast; the Blue-Bridge-spring-snow-the-day-you-returned against the Qinling-autumn-wind-the-time-I-went is the contrast.

Study

Word focus

觅 To hunt for, to search. It suggests something deliberately sought in a place where it may not be, and so carries the poet's hopefulness and disappointment. 「循墙绕柱觅君诗」之「觅」字是写深情的关键词，一个「觅」字写尽觅诗的深情。觅者，寻觅、搜寻也。白居易以「循墙绕柱觅君诗」写深情，这个「觅」字至少有双重意味：其一，写诗之觅——那「循墙绕柱觅君诗」写循墙绕柱觅君诗，那「觅」字写尽觅诗的搜寻——绕柱觅诗，正是遍寻题壁的写照，那「觅」字写尽觅诗的深情；其二，写情之切——那「觅」字更是写切——觅，正见寻觅的迫切，那「觅」字写尽友情的深挚。以「觅」字写深情，正是白居易写怀友的枢纽——若换作「寻」「找」等字，则或失其与「循墙绕柱」「君诗」的配合，或失其写觅的意味；唯「觅」字，以循墙绕柱觅君诗写尽觅诗的搜寻与寻觅的迫切，与「每到驿亭先下马」的先下马相合，写尽觅诗的深情，也让「循墙绕柱觅君诗」成为全诗写深情的名句。
先 First, beforehand. The dismount happens before anything else, so the search is the man's natural condition on the road. 「每到驿亭先下马」之「先」字是写急切的关键词，一个「先」字写尽下马的急切。先者，首先、提前也。白居易以「每到驿亭先下马」写急切，这个「先」字至少有双重意味：其一，写下马之先——那「每到驿亭先下马」写每到驿亭先下马，那「先」字写尽下马的急切——先下马，正是到驿即寻的写照，那「先」字写尽觅诗的深情；其二，写情之切——那「先」字更是写切——先，正见思念的迫切，那「先」字写尽友情的深挚。以「先」字写急切，正是白居易写怀友的枢纽——若换作「早」「速」等字，则或失其与「每到驿亭」「下马」的配合，或失其写先的意味；唯「先」字，以每到驿亭先下马写尽下马的急切与思念的迫切，与「循墙绕柱觅君诗」的觅相合，写尽觅诗的深情，也让「每到驿亭先下马」成为全诗写急切的名句。

Related Reading

同李十一醉忆元九 Drunk, Thinking of the Ninth with the Eleventh 白居易 · 同白居易怀元九诗，一觅诗一计程 Another Bai Juyi poem about Yuan Zhen; one counts the distance of the road, this one searches the walls of it.

'In flower time we got drunk and broke the spring sorrow, drunk we broke off flower branches for cups; suddenly I think of the friend gone to the edge of heaven, and working out the distance, he reaches Liangzhou today' — the friend is tracked along a road by arithmetic. Here he is tracked along the same road by memories on the walls. One poem measures the friendship in miles, the other in stations.

白居易《同李十一醉忆元九》「花时同醉破春愁，醉折花枝当酒筹。忽忆故人天际去，计程今日到梁州」写怀友，是白居易的名篇。此诗《蓝桥驿见元九诗》则「循墙绕柱觅君诗」写觅诗。同为白居易怀元九诗，一写「计程今日到梁州」的计程（同李十一醉忆元九），一写「循墙绕柱觅君诗」的觅诗（蓝桥驿见元九诗）；一写春日，一写驿路。两诗对读，可见白居易怀友诗的两种场景。

 闻乐天授江州司马 Hearing that Le Tian was made Prefect of Jiangzhou 元稹 · 同写元白友谊，一垂死病中一觅君诗 Both poems are about the friendship of Yuan and Bai; one receives the news of a demotion in bed, this one searches for the friend's verses post by post.

'The lamp has no flame, its shadow sways; tonight I hear you banished to Jiangzhou. Sitting up in alarm in a dying illness, the dark wind blows rain into the cold window' — Yuan writing from his sickbed in Tongzhou. Bai answers not with news but with the discovery of Yuan's old poem on a station wall. The two together show a friendship kept up across thousands of miles by ink alone.

元稹《闻乐天授江州司马》「残灯无焰影幢幢，此夕闻君谪九江。垂死病中惊坐起，暗风吹雨入寒窗」写友谊，是元稹的名篇。此诗《蓝桥驿见元九诗》则「循墙绕柱觅君诗」写友谊。同为写元白友谊，一写「垂死病中惊坐起」的闻谪（闻乐天授江州司马），一写「循墙绕柱觅君诗」的觅诗（蓝桥驿见元九诗）；一写友在远方，一写诗在驿壁。两诗对读，可见元白友谊的深情。