唐 Tang · 诗 Poem
齐宫词
Lay of the Qi Palace
永寿兵来夜不扃，金莲无复印中庭。
梁台歌管三更罢，犹自风摇九子铃。
The golden lotuses are trodden in the courtyard no more.
On the Liang terrace the songs and flutes cease at the third watch,
and still the wind sways the nine little bells.
Meaning
The Southern Qi palace, whose last emperor had a floor of gold lotuses for his favourite to walk on, falls in a night with the gates unbarred; the court of the succeeding Liang dynasty keeps its music until midnight, and afterwards the wind keeps ringing the old palace bells. Li Shangyin writes a twenty-eight character quatrain in which luxury and ruin, noise and silence are held side by side, and the object that outlasts the dynasty is a bell on a roof.
永寿兵来夜不扃，金莲无复印中庭。梁台歌管三更罢，犹自风摇九子铃。
Appreciation
[Plain Paraphrase] There is not one explanatory word in the poem. Two facts and two pictures: a night when the gates were left open to soldiers, a golden floor no longer trodden, music stopping at midnight, and a bell still swinging in the wind. The reader is left to connect them. [Structure] The two couplets divide by time. The first is the fall of Qi — breaking in, empty courtyard. The second is the Liang that replaced it — music at the new terrace, and then the old bells, still there. [Imagery] The poem's imagination is in objects: a golden lotus floor, a row of nine bells, a wind. Nothing is said about the emperor or his parrot. The bell that 'still' swings is the whole poem's sorrow — things surviving the people who filled them.
【白话串讲】 李商隐写《齐宫词》：“永寿兵来夜不扃，金莲无复印中庭”——“梁台歌管三更罢，犹自风摇九子铃”——他写齐宫——金莲不再印中庭，只有九子铃在风里摇——他写兴亡。 【意象与手法】 此诗咏齐宫而感慨，以咏史写兴亡，是李商隐的名篇。前二句写齐亡：「永寿兵来夜不扃，金莲无复印中庭」写永寿兵来夜不扃、金莲无复印中庭——写尽齐宫的覆灭；后二句写梁宫：「梁台歌管三更罢，犹自风摇九子铃」写梁台歌管三更罢、犹自风摇九子铃——写尽梁宫的兴替。全诗以咏史写兴亡，写尽齐梁兴亡的感慨，是李商隐的代表作。 【情感与主旨】 此诗咏齐宫而感慨，以咏史写兴亡，是李商隐的名篇。此诗咏南齐亡国之事，写齐梁兴替的感慨。此诗写齐亡：永寿兵来夜不扃，金莲无复印中庭——写永寿宫兵来而夜不关（写萧衍起兵破齐）、金莲无复印中庭（用东昏侯凿金为莲花贴地令潘妃行其上「步步生莲花」之典，写齐宫覆灭），写尽齐宫的覆灭；梁台歌管三更罢，犹自风摇九子铃——写梁台歌管三更罢、犹自风摇九子铃（九子铃为齐宫旧物），写尽梁宫的兴替。全诗以咏史写兴亡——那「金莲无复印中庭」写尽齐宫的覆灭，「犹自风摇九子铃」写尽梁宫的兴替，写尽齐梁兴亡的感慨，是理解李商隐咏史诗的重要篇章。 【名句点睛】 常考「永寿兵来夜不扃，金莲无复印中庭」用东昏侯金莲之典写齐宫覆灭；「梁台歌管三更罢，犹自风摇九子铃」写梁宫的兴替；以及全诗以咏史写兴亡、以小物写兴亡的手法。
Background
Li Shangyin (c. 813–858), styled Yishan, was a late Tang poet who served briefly in the bureaucracy and long in provincial posts, and whose written style was notoriously difficult. He wrote a great many historical poems about the fall of the southern dynasties, which readers of his own day read as warnings about the decadence of the late Tang court. The Southern Qi (479–502) had been ended by the founder of the Liang; its last emperor, Donghun, was remembered for topping a flat gold lotus floor so that his favourite could walk on it and be seen as 'walking on lotuses'. Li Shangyin wrote in a time when the Tang itself seemed to be entering its last century.
此诗咏齐宫而感慨，以咏史写兴亡，是李商隐的名篇。李商隐（约813—858），字义山，号玉谿生，怀州河内（今河南沁阳）人，晚唐伟大的诗人。此诗咏南齐亡国之事，写齐梁兴替的感慨。南齐东昏侯萧宝卷荒淫无度，凿金为莲花贴地，令潘妃行其上，曰「步步生莲花」；后萧衍起兵破建康，东昏侯被杀，齐亡，萧衍建梁。此诗写齐亡：「永寿兵来夜不扃，金莲无复印中庭」写永寿宫兵来而夜不关（写东昏侯荒淫而不知警备，萧衍兵至）、金莲无复印中庭（用东昏侯凿金为莲之典，写齐宫覆灭）——写尽齐宫的覆灭；「梁台歌管三更罢，犹自风摇九子铃」写梁台歌管三更罢、犹自风摇九子铃（九子铃为齐宫旧物）——写尽梁宫的兴替。全诗以咏史写兴亡，写尽齐梁兴亡的感慨，是理解李商隐咏史诗的重要篇章。此诗的时代背景尤须留意：李商隐身处晚唐，国势日颓，藩镇割据、宦官专权、牛李党争交织，诗人目睹朝政腐败而无力回天，故其咏史之作多借六朝旧事讽喻当世。此诗咏齐东昏侯「凿金为莲」「兵来不扃」之荒淫误国，正是对晚唐君臣耽于逸乐的隐忧；而「梁台歌管三更罢」的兴替循环，更暗含「后人哀之而不鉴之，亦使后人而复哀后人也」的历史沉思，可见李商隐咏史不是为古而古，而是以史为鉴、借古讽今。
Art
The quatrain is an achievement of selection. It could have told the history of the fall; instead it keeps only two scenes and two objects, and lets the relation between them do the work. Three techniques are worth noting. First, the verbless first couplet, which simply places two conditions beside each other — soldiers and an unbarred gate, a golden floor and nobody walking on it — so that the cause is implied rather than stated. Second, the placement of 'no more' in the middle of the poem, so that the dynasties pass while a single object remains. Third, the refusal to moralize: the closing line is a picture, and its whole sadness lies in the word 'still'.
此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以用典写齐亡。「金莲无复印中庭」以用典写齐亡——那「金莲」用东昏侯凿金为莲、潘妃步步生莲之典写尽齐宫的覆灭，以用典写尽齐亡。其二，以对照写兴亡。「永寿兵来夜不扃」与「金莲无复印中庭」相对照，写尽齐宫的覆灭；「梁台歌管三更罢」与「犹自风摇九子铃」相对照，写尽梁宫的兴替。其三，以小物写兴亡。「犹自风摇九子铃」以小物写兴亡——那「九子铃」写齐宫旧物犹存，以小物写尽兴亡的感慨（物是人非）。其四，以含蓄写感慨。全诗四句，以咏史写感慨——那「金莲无复印中庭」的覆灭、「犹自风摇九子铃」的兴替，以含蓄写尽齐梁兴亡的感慨。此外，此诗「永寿」「梁台」「九子铃」三组意象的排布尤见匠心：永寿宫是齐宫覆灭之地，梁台是新朝宴乐之台，九子铃是穿联两朝之旧物——三组意象以「宫—台—铃」为线索，由大而小、由实而虚，写尽物换星移而旧物犹存的兴亡之叹。四重手法加这一线索，使此诗以咏史写兴亡，写尽齐梁兴亡的感慨，是李商隐的代表作。
Allusions
The golden lotuses are the favourite tale of Emperor Donghun of the Southern Qi, who took gold and made a lotus, ground it flat, and set his concubine Pan on it to walk, so that every step appeared to be a step on a lotus — a byword for imperial absurdity. The nine bells were the decorative bells hung round the palace eaves. Yongshou and the Liang terrace stand for the two palaces: the old house that fell and the new house that succeeded it. The poem's deep model is the classical complaint over the fall of a house, in which the surviving object — here a bell — continues to sound after the people who owned it are gone.
此诗的用语深植于咏史与兴亡的传统。「永寿兵来夜不扃」令人想到「永寿」写永寿宫的意象——齐东昏侯宫中，也令人想到「夜不扃」写夜不关门的意象——兵来而夜不扃，写尽荒淫不知警备；「金莲无复印中庭」令人想到「金莲」写金莲花的典故——东昏侯凿金为莲花贴地，潘妃行其上「步步生莲花」，也令人想到「无复印中庭」写无复印于中庭的意象——写尽齐宫覆灭；「梁台歌管三更罢」令人想到「梁台」写梁朝宫台的意象——萧衍建梁，也令人想到「歌管三更罢」写歌管至三更方罢的意象——写尽梁宫的宴乐；「犹自风摇九子铃」令人想到「九子铃」写九子铃的典故——齐宫内斋前曾悬九子铃（以玉为之），也令人想到「风摇九子铃」写风摇铃响的意象——写尽物是人非（九子铃犹在，而齐宫已亡）。全诗化用金莲、九子铃的典故与意象，以咏史写兴亡，正是李商隐「沉博绝丽」而善用典、承咏史传统写感慨的本领。
Commentary
This quatrain is one of the most quoted of Li Shangyin's historical poems, and its two closing lines have been praised for saying everything by saying nothing. Critics of the Song and Qing noted that its silence is more severe than any accusation, and that the choice of a bell rather than a person is what makes the poem modern in feeling. Later readers have read it as an allegory of the late Tang, where the poet, serving a court he saw decaying, could only present the ruins and let them speak.
此诗历来被推为李商隐咏史诗的名篇，也是唐人写齐梁兴亡的代表。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人评此诗「以咏史写兴亡，深婉含蓄」；近人更指出「金莲无复印中庭」用东昏侯金莲之典写齐宫覆灭，「犹自风摇九子铃」写梁宫的兴替，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齐梁兴亡的感慨——那永寿兵来的夜不扃，那无复印中庭的金莲，那三更罢的梁台歌管，那犹自风摇的九子铃，都写尽了李商隐对齐梁兴亡的感慨；那「犹自风摇九子铃」更以小物写尽物是人非的兴亡感慨。此诗与李商隐《隋宫》（「地下若逢陈后主，岂宜重问后庭花」）同为咏史名篇，一写隋宫（隋宫），一写齐宫（齐宫词）；又与杜牧《泊秦淮》（「商女不知亡国恨」）的咏史传统一脉相承，可见晚唐诗人借咏史讽当世的深意。对于今日读者，此诗是理解李商隐咏史诗的窗口，也是中国诗写兴亡的经典——那风摇的九子铃，穿越千年，仍在诉说着齐梁的兴亡。
Prosody
Line by line
金莲无复印中庭
The golden lotuses are trodden in the courtyard no more.
金莲无复印于中庭。
Golden lotus steps no longer print the middle court.
此句是全诗写齐亡的核心，以金莲写齐宫，以无复写覆灭，写尽齐宫的覆灭，是千古名句。「金莲无复印中庭」写金莲无复印于中庭——那「金莲」用东昏侯凿金为莲、潘妃步步生莲之典，「无复印中庭」写无复印于中庭，写尽齐宫的覆灭。这句的深意在于：它以「金莲」的典故与「无复印中庭」的无复，写尽齐宫的覆灭——金莲无复印于中庭，那「金莲」用东昏侯凿金为莲花贴地、潘妃行其上「步步生莲花」之典写尽齐宫的奢华——东昏侯凿金为莲，潘妃步步生莲，是齐宫的奢华；如今无复印于中庭，那「无复印中庭」写尽齐宫的覆灭——金莲犹在，而无复印于中庭，那「无复」写尽齐宫的覆灭（人亡宫毁）；那「金莲」写尽齐宫的奢华，那「无复印中庭」写尽齐宫的覆灭，一写奢华，一写覆灭，写尽齐宫的覆灭——当年步步生莲的奢华，如今无复印于中庭，正是齐宫覆灭的写照；此句以金莲之典写尽齐宫的覆灭，也让此句成为全诗写齐亡的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「齐宫覆灭了」，则失其用典；唯以「金莲无复印中庭」写金莲无复、写尽齐宫的覆灭，也让此句成为全诗写齐亡的核心。
The line is the core of the poem on the fall of Qi, an age-famed line. Golden lotus uses the allusion: the marquis of Donghou had golden lotuses cut and laid on the floor, and Pan Fei walked upon them, her steps producing lotus flowers. No longer print the middle court writes the fall of the palace. The hidden art: the golden lotus, the very emblem of the Qi palace's luxury, is now seen no more in the courtyard; the lotus may be imagined still, but the footsteps that printed it are gone, the palace fallen and its people gone. To have said baldly that the Qi palace has fallen would lose the allusion, and the line is the heart of the poem.
犹自风摇九子铃
And still the wind sways the nine little bells.
还自有风吹摇着九子铃。
Still, in the wind, the nine-bells sway and tinkle.
此句是全诗的收束，以九子铃写旧物，以风摇写犹存，写尽物是人非的兴亡感慨，是千古名句。「犹自风摇九子铃」写还自有风吹摇着九子铃——那「犹自」写还自，「风摇九子铃」写风吹摇着九子铃，写尽九子铃犹存。这句的深意在于：它以「犹自」的犹自与「风摇九子铃」的九子铃，写尽物是人非的兴亡感慨——还自有风吹摇着九子铃，那「犹自风摇九子铃」写尽九子铃犹存——九子铃为齐宫旧物（齐宫内斋前悬九子铃），如今梁台歌管三更罢，而九子铃犹自风摇，那「犹自」写尽旧物的犹存；那「九子铃」写尽齐宫的旧物，那「犹自风摇」写尽旧物的犹存，一写旧物，一写犹存，写尽物是人非的兴亡感慨——九子铃犹自风摇，而齐宫已亡、齐人已去，正是物是人非，而风摇的铃声仿佛还在诉说齐宫的旧事，那「犹自」写尽兴亡的感慨（梁台新主不知齐宫旧事，唯有九子铃犹在）；此句以九子铃写尽物是人非的兴亡感慨，也让此句成为全诗收束的千古名句。若换作直说「齐宫已亡」，则失其含蓄；唯以「犹自风摇九子铃」写旧物犹存，写尽物是人非的兴亡感慨，也让此句成为全诗的收束。
The line closes the poem, an age-famed close. Still, in the wind, the nine-bells sway and tinkle: still means yet, the nine-bells the old pendants hung before the Qi palace hall. The hidden art: the nine-bells are relics of the Qi palace; now that the Liang dynasty's songs and pipes have long ceased, the bells still sway and tinkle in the wind. The old object survives, the old world is gone, and the tinkling bell in the wind seems still to tell the old tale; the new ruler of the Liang terrace knows nothing of Qi, and only the bell remains. To have said baldly that the Qi palace is gone would lose the restraint, and the close in the surviving bell is the poem's most resonant line.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
'The Sui Palace' works by asking a question across two worlds — if the dead emperor of Chen met the dead emperor of Sui below, would he still be asking for the flowers of the later palace? — and it ends in a picture of corrupted grass. Here there is no question: the fall is given in a gate left open and a floor no longer trodden, and the end is a bell still swinging. The Sui poem argues about guilt; this one simply lets the ruin stand.
李商隐《隋宫》「紫泉宫殿锁烟霞，欲取芜城作帝家」「地下若逢陈后主，岂宜重问后庭花」咏隋炀帝，是李商隐咏史的名篇。此诗《齐宫词》则「金莲无复印中庭」「犹自风摇九子铃」咏齐东昏侯。同为李商隐咏史，一写隋炀帝的芜城（隋宫），一写齐东昏侯的齐宫（齐宫词）；一以「于今腐草无萤火」写荒芜，一以「犹自风摇九子铃」写旧物。两诗对读，可见李商隐咏史借古讽今的深意。
泊秦淮 Mooring at the Qin River (Bo Qin Huai) 杜牧 · 同咏亡国之音，一秦淮一齐宫 Both poems hear the sound of a lost dynasty in the present — one a song still being sung, one a bell still swinging.Du Mu's poem ends with the famous reversal: the singing girls by the river do not know the hatred of a fallen state, and still sing 'The flowers of the rear court'; the past survives as a tune in someone else's mouth. Here the past survives as a bell still moving in the wind. Both poems place the ruin inside the present scenery rather than in argument, which is why they are read together.
杜牧《泊秦淮》「烟笼寒水月笼沙，夜泊秦淮近酒家」「商女不知亡国恨，隔江犹唱后庭花」写亡国之音，是唐人咏史的名篇。此诗《齐宫词》则「梁台歌管三更罢，犹自风摇九子铃」写齐梁兴亡。同为咏亡国之音，一写「商女不知亡国恨」的秦淮（泊秦淮），一写「犹自风摇九子铃」的齐宫（齐宫词）；一以「隔江犹唱后庭花」写旧曲，一以「风摇九子铃」写旧物。两诗对读，可见晚唐诗人咏史的深意。