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南北朝 Northern and Southern Dynasties · 诗 Poem

临行与故游夜别

Parting at Night from Old Companions on the Eve of Departure

何逊

He Xun

离别Parting 羁旅Theme 感时Theme 抒情Emotion

历稔共追随，一旦辞群匹。
复如东注水，未有西归日。
夜雨滴空阶，晓灯暗离室。
相悲各罢酒，何时同促膝。

For years on end we followed one another;
in a single day I take leave of all my company.
It is like water pouring away to the east:
there is no day for it to return to the west.
Night rain drips on the empty steps;
the dawn lamp darkens the room of parting.
Grieving together, we each set down the wine;
when shall we sit knee to knee again?

Listen

Meaning

For years on end we have kept company together, and now in a single day I take my leave of all my friends. It is like water pouring away to the east, which has no day on which to return to the west. Night rain drips on the empty steps; the lamp at dawn only deepens the darkness of the room where we part. Grieving with one another, we each set down our cups; when shall we sit knee to knee again?

多年以来一同追随交游，一旦却要辞别众位友朋。又像那向东流去的水，再没有向西回流的日子。夜雨滴落在空寂的台阶上，拂晓的残灯使离别的屋子更显昏暗。彼此伤悲，各自停下酒杯，何时才能再次促膝相聚？诗人以久聚乍别的怅惘起笔，借东流之水喻后会难期，又用夜雨空阶、晓灯暗室的凄清景物烘托离情，把南北朝文人行役漂泊、聚散无常的感慨写得低回不尽。

Appreciation

The poem begins in narrative, and the plain statement that years of companionship end in a single day already conveys how brutal the change is. The third and fourth lines strike a fine figure, using water pouring away eastward for the impossibility of meeting again and reworking the old yuefu line about the rivers reaching the sea. The fifth and sixth turn to scene: night rain on empty steps and a dawn lamp darkening the room of parting join hearing to sight, so that a cold, desolate view carries the desolation of the feeling, the couplet neat yet unforced. The close is a question, and the feeling trails away after it.

【白话串讲】 “夜雨滴空阶，晓灯暗离室”——何逊临行前和朋友夜别：雨滴空台阶，灯照着离别的房间。“相悲各罢酒，何时同促膝”——他们放下酒杯，不知道什么时候能再促膝长谈。【意象与手法】诗以叙事起，历稔共追随，一旦辞群匹于平实中见聚散之剧；三四句以东注水设譬精警，喻别后难再；五六句夜雨滴空阶，晓灯暗离室视听结合，以凄清之景衬悲凉之情，对仗工稳而自然；末以何时同促膝的问句收束，余情袅袅。全诗由事入理、由理入景、由景入情，层层转折而一气贯通。【情感与主旨】何逊一生沉沦下僚，屡为诸王记室、参军，辗转四方，诗中多行役离别之叹。此诗作于某次赴任或移镇前夕，与旧日交游夜饮话别，久交乍别、后会难期，遂把聚散无常的怅惘与羁旅漂泊的孤寂凝于一夕，是南朝文人行役离别诗的代表作。【名句点睛】高频考点：一情感，写久交乍别、后会难期之悲；二手法，以东注水为喻，以夜雨晓灯之景衬情；三炼字，空、暗二字的表达效果；四句式，末联以问收束的抒情效果。须结合何逊沉沦下僚、行役漂泊的身世作答。

Background

He Xun (about 466-519), styled Zhongyan, was a poet of the Liang in the Southern Dynasties, able to write verse at eight and admired by both Fan Yun and Shen Yue. He spent his life in minor posts, serving repeatedly as recorder or adjutant to various princes and moving from place to place, so that his poems are full of the laments of travel and parting. This poem was most likely written on the eve of some new appointment or transfer, when he drank through the night with old friends and, feeling how brief their gatherings were and how hard another meeting would be, produced this piece.

何逊（约四六六至五一九），字仲言，南朝梁诗人，东海郯人。他八岁能诗，青年时即为范云、沈约所赏，沈约曾叹读其诗一日三复犹不能已，然何逊一生沉沦下僚，历仕南平王萧伟、庐陵王萧续等藩王府邸的记室、参军，屡随府主迁转，奔走于建康、江州、郢州之间，终身未得显达。此诗题作临行与故游夜别，当作于某次离京赴任或随府移镇的前夕，与旧日交游夜饮话别，酒阑人散之际，有感于聚散之促、后会之难，遂成此篇。南朝文人多游幕生涯，行役与离别是他们诗中最常见也最真切的题材，何逊此诗正是这一时代背景下的产物。诗中流露的羁旅之悲与知己难再的怅惘，既是个人的遭际感喟，也折射出六朝士人身不由己、辗转风尘的普遍命运，故能在离别的题目下写出超越一时一地的深沉情感，成为何逊离别诗中最具代表性的一篇。诗题着一夜字，点明话别竟夜、依依不舍之情，正是南朝文人离筵的典型场景，亦见何逊选材之精。

Art

The poem opens with narration, and the contrast between years of following one another and a single day of leave-taking conveys, in the plainest words, how violent the separation is. The third and fourth lines carry a sharp figure, using the eastward-pouring water for the impossibility of return, reworking the old line about all rivers reaching the sea and making it new. The fifth and sixth turn to description, joining sound and sight in night rain dripping on the empty steps and a dawn lamp darkening the room of parting, so that a bleak scene sets off a bleak heart, the parallel steady yet natural. It ends on a question, and the feeling lingers on.

此诗章法谨严，情理景层层推进。首联以叙事起笔，历稔共追随，一旦辞群匹，用多年相随之久反衬一旦辞别之骤，于平实语中见聚散离合的剧烈，起笔即定下全诗的低回基调。三四句设譬精警，复如东注水，未有西归日，以东流之水喻别后难再，化用乐府百川东到海的语意而翻出新境，把时间的不可逆与离别的不可返写得斩截而沉痛。五六句转写眼前之景，夜雨滴空阶，晓灯暗离室，视听结合，夜雨滴阶以有声写无声之寂，晓灯将灭以光暗写别室之黯，凄清之景与悲凉之情交融无间，对仗工稳而自然天成，向称千古名联。末联相悲各罢酒，何时同促膝以问句收束，把满腔离愁化作对重逢的悬想，余情袅袅，不绝如缕。全诗由事入理、由理入景、由景入情，层层转折而一气贯通，是南朝五言诗由古趋律进程中兼具古意与近调的典范之作。全诗八句而转折四层，尺幅之内情波迭起，足见其谋篇布局之精。

Allusions

The eastward-pouring water reworks the old yuefu line asking when the hundred rivers that reach the sea will ever flow west again, together with the image of the passing stream in the 'Analects'; it figures a parting from which there is no return. To sit knee to knee means to sit close and talk intimately, a phrase common in the letters of the Wei and Jin, as in those of Ji Kang and Wang Xizhi. The poem uses almost no allusion and wins entirely by plain description and by comparison, which is characteristic of He Xun's clear and deft manner.

此诗用典极少而化用自然，正见何逊清巧诗风。复如东注水，未有西归日化用汉乐府《长歌行》百川东到海，何时复西归的成句，又暗合《论语·子罕》子在川上曰：逝者如斯夫，不舍昼夜的流水之叹，以水之东流不复返喻别后之难再，把乐府的时光之悲转为离别之痛，取意更切，措语更凝。促膝一词本指两人对坐、膝与膝相触的亲近之态，出于魏晋人书札常语，如嵇康、王羲之帖中屡以促膝言知己之欢，何逊借以写与故游昔日相处之密与今宵话别之亲，语虽平常而情味深长。夜雨滴空阶，晓灯暗离室的意象组合，则暗承六朝送别诗以苦雨残灯写离情的传统，开唐人夜雨孤馆、晓灯别筵一类意境的先声，杜甫、李商隐诸家写夜雨离情处，皆可于此觅得端绪。全诗以白描比兴取胜，融化经史乐府而无堆砌之痕。夜雨晓灯的意象组合，实启唐人夜雨孤灯写愁的先声，李商隐巴山夜雨之句即其嗣响。

Commentary

Shen Yue admired He Xun greatly and once said that whenever he read his poems he went through them three times in a day and still could not put them down. Du Fu wrote that he had studied hard the painstaking art of Yin and He, honouring He Xun alongside Yin Keng. The Ming critic Lu Shiyong said his poetry has a clear sound and a plain substance, like moonlight on a clear stream. Later ages have generally taken He Xun as the representative of the clear and deft school of the Qi and Liang.

沈约对何逊推崇备至，尝谓每读卿诗，一日三复，犹不能已，又评何逊诗清便宛转，如流风回雪，正是何诗清新流丽而情致宛转的写照。杜甫晚年颇学阴何苦用心，以何逊与阴铿并尊，自称于何逊处得力最多，可见其对后世的影响。明人陆时雍《诗镜总论》称何逊诗清音素质，如月照清流，点出其语言洗练、意境澄澈的特色。就本篇而言，历代论者尤赏夜雨滴空阶，晓灯暗离室一联，以为以景写情，凄警入神，开唐人离别诗以景物烘托情感的法门。何逊处于齐梁之际，上承谢朓山水诗的清丽，下启唐人近体诗的圆熟，此诗叙事、设譬、写景、抒情熔于一炉，句法已近律调而仍存古意，正是五言诗由古体向近体过渡的关键一环，在中国古典离别诗传统中占有承前启后的重要地位。其诗隋唐之际流传甚广，唐人选本多录何逊之作，可见其在六朝至唐诗史上的枢纽地位。

Prosody

Form Five-character old-style poem (Southern Dynasties parting verse)五言古诗（南朝离别诗，近律化）

Rhyme Old style, rhyming in the entering-tone groups zhi, mo and xie古体用韵，追、匹、日、室、膝等字属入声韵部，入声短促，正合离别凄切之情。

Tone pattern Five characters, increasingly attentive to parallelism and close to regulated cadence五言八句，中间两联已讲对仗，句法渐近律调，但尚未严守平仄粘对。

Reading note He Xun's clear and deft manner, setting off feeling with scene, opening the way for Tang poems of night parting.此诗为五言八句的古体，处于齐梁五言诗由古趋律的过渡阶段。全诗押入声韵，追匹日室膝等字皆入声，入声字音短促急收，诵读时自有一种迫促凄紧的声情，与诗中所写夜雨滴阶、晓灯将暗的萧瑟氛围和别离在即的急切心绪暗相呼应，是声情与辞情相凑的佳例。句式上，首联以叙事起，颔联设譬，颈联写景，尾联抒情，章法已具律诗四联的雏形；颈联夜雨滴空阶，晓灯暗离室对仗工稳，音义俱佳，为全诗最著声律之美者。然其押韵用入声而不避口语虚字，平仄亦未严格合律，仍属古体。何逊诗以清巧著称，正体现在这种古律交融的过渡形态中，既存汉魏古诗的朴拙气骨，又具近体诗的凝练圆转，对唐人五律的形成有直接的启示。

Line by line

历稔共追随，一旦辞群匹。

For years we kept close company; in one morning I part from all my friends.

多年以来一同追随交游，一旦却要辞别众位友朋。

For years we kept close company; in a single morning I take leave of all my friends.

首联以叙事起笔，历稔写相交之久，追随写相处之密，一旦写离别之骤，群匹写友朋之多，四层意思压缩在十字之中，笔力精炼。用多年相随之久反衬一旦辞别之骤，久与骤的强烈反差，使聚散无常的怅惘扑面而来。追随二字更暗含彼此志趣相投、同游共处的深厚情谊，为下文夜雨话别、罢酒相悲蓄足情感。起笔不写景而先写情，平实中见跌宕，是南朝离别诗以情领起的典型写法，也为全诗定下低回沉郁的基调。

The years. For years we kept close company; in one morning I part from all my friends. The years-keep-close-company and the one-morning-part-from-friends are the opening. To have kept close company would be a keeping; the for-years-we-kept-close-company-in-one-morning-i-part-from-all-my-friends is the keeping.

复如东注水，未有西归日。

Like water flowing east, there is never a day of return west.

又像那向东流去的水，再没有向西回流的日子。

It is like water flowing east; there is never a day of flowing back west.

两句以比喻写后会难期，是全诗设譬最精警处。东注水即东流入海之水，古人以水之东流不复返喻时光或人生之不可逆，何逊借以喻别离，此别之后，如东流之水，再无西归之日，把离别的决绝与前途的渺茫写得斩截而沉痛。复如二字承上启下，由叙事转入设喻，章法自然；未有西归日的斩钉截铁，与首联一旦辞群匹的仓促呼应，愈见后会无期的绝望。以水喻别，化乐府成句而翻出新意，语浅情深，是六朝人善用眼前之物喻心头之痛的典范。

The water. Like water flowing east, there is never a day of return west. The water-flowing-east and the never-a-day-return-west are the metaphor. To have flowed east would be a flowing; the like-water-flowing-east-there-is-never-a-day-of-return-west is the flowing.

夜雨滴空阶，晓灯暗离室。

Night rain drips on the empty steps; the dawn lamp dims the parting room.

夜雨滴落在空寂的台阶上，拂晓的残灯使离别的屋子更显昏暗。

Night rain drips on the empty steps; the dawn lamp darkens the parting room.

此联是全诗最著意境的写景名句，视听结合，以景衬情。夜雨滴空阶，以雨声之细碎反衬空阶之寂静，一滴一滴敲在人心上，写出长夜难寐、相对无言的愁闷；晓灯暗离室，写天将破晓、灯焰将残，微弱的灯光使离别的屋子愈显昏暗，暗字既写光线，更写心境，离愁如夜色与灯影一般浓得化不开。夜与晓的时间推移，暗示话别竟夜；空与暗二字，把惜别之情的孤寂凄清渲染到极致。此联对仗工稳而自然，不事雕琢，向称千古名句，开唐人离别诗以景物写情的先声。

The rain. Night rain drips on the empty steps; the dawn lamp dims the parting room. The night-rain-on-empty-steps and the dawn-lamp-dims-parting-room are the scene. To have dripped on the steps would be a dripping; the night-rain-drips-on-the-empty-steps-the-dawn-lamp-dims-the-parting-room is the dripping.

相悲各罢酒，何时同促膝。

Grieving, we set down our cups; when shall we sit knee to knee again?

彼此伤悲，各自停下酒杯，何时才能再次促膝相聚？

Sorrowing, we each set down the wine; when shall we sit knee to knee again?

末联以动作与问句收束全篇。相悲二字直写彼此心绪，一个悲字笼罩全诗；各罢酒写酒阑人散、各怀离绪而饮不下去，以细节写情，无声处见深情。何时同促膝以问句作结，把满怀离愁化作对重逢的渺茫期待，促膝忆昔日的亲密，何时叹今朝的难期，一问之下，余情袅袅，不绝如缕。以问收尾，情意不尽，是南朝抒情诗惯用的结法，何逊用之尤见低回往复之致，令人掩卷怅然，也正是何逊清巧诗风在收束处的典型体现。

The cups. Grieving, we set down our cups; when shall we sit knee to knee again? The grieving-set-down-cups and the when-sit-knee-to-knee-again are the close. To have set down the cups would be a setting-down; the grieving-we-set-down-our-cups-when-shall-we-sit-knee-to-knee-again is the setting-down.

Study

Word focus

空 'Empty' leaves the steps on which the night rain falls bare of any presence, so that the sound of each drop enlarges the silence and the loneliness of the hour. 夜雨滴空阶之空，是全诗炼字的精妙处。空写台阶之寂寥无人，唯有夜雨一滴一滴落下，声声入耳，以有声反衬无声，愈显离室之冷清与离人之孤寂。空字还暗含心境之空落，宴罢将别，人去楼空，阶空室空，正与心中空荡荡的失落感相应，景语皆情语。若作幽阶、玉阶则仅状物之形，空字则兼写物与人，把惜别之际的萧索凄清一笔写透，故后世论者皆以此为炼字入神的典范，杜甫夜雨孤馆、李商隐空阶滴雨的意境皆可溯源于此，一字之工而境界全出。

暗 'Darkens' turns the guttering dawn lamp into an active agent that deepens the gloom of the room of parting, and the feeling is carried entirely by the light. 晓灯暗离室之暗，既写实景又染情思。晓灯本已残弱，将灭未灭之际，光线黯淡，使离别的屋子更显昏暗压抑；暗字点出长夜将尽、分别在即的时刻，也把离人心头灰暗沉重的情绪投射到灯影上，物我交融。此字与上句空字对举，一空一暗，一写声境一写光境，视听之间构筑起完整的凄清氛围。暗字更有一种迟暮迟留的意味，灯暗而不忍吹熄，正见离人相对无言、拖延时光的依恋，把夜别特有的黯淡心境写得含蓄而真切，是六朝人善以光影传情的佳例。

罢 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 相悲各罢酒之罢，是末联的点睛动词。罢写放下酒杯、饮不下去的动作，一个罢字，把酒阑人散、离愁塞胸的情态写得如在目前，不是酒尽而罢，而是悲不能饮、饮亦无味而罢，动作背后是千言万语说不出的怅惘。各字与罢字连用，写彼此各自罢酒，相对无言，唯余叹息，愈见分离在即的无奈。以动作细节写内心波澜，正是六朝抒情诗由铺陈藻饰转向白描传神的关键笔法，何逊此字下得极准，为全诗的收束添了一重含蓄深沉的余味，与何时同促膝的问句相映成趣。