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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

秋词·其二

Autumn Song, No. 2

刘禹锡

Liu Yuxi

秋景Autumn Scenery 咏怀Personal Reflection

山明水净夜来霜，数树深红出浅黄。
试上高楼清入骨，岂如春色嗾人狂。

Hills are bright, waters clear, frost comes with the night;
A few trees of deep red break out from pale yellow.
Try climbing a high tower: the clarity enters the bone —
How can it be like spring colours, that goad a man to frenzy?

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Meaning

Liu Yuxi praises autumn as superior to spring. The hills are bright, the streams clear, night brings frost, and a few trees of deep crimson stand out against paler yellow. Climbing a tower, the poet feels an autumn clarity that penetrates to the bone, and he contrasts it with spring, which merely incites a restless excitation. Behind the landscape lies a claim about character: severity and clarity are worth more than seductive warmth, and the poet's own unyielding temper finds its season in autumn rather than in spring.

山明水净夜来霜，数树深红出浅黄。试上高楼清入骨，岂如春色嗾人狂。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] A night frost has fallen; the hills are luminous and the water pure. Among the turning leaves a few deep-red crowns emerge from a paler yellow ground. The poet urges himself to climb, and the air up there is so keen it seems to enter the marrow. [Structure] Two couplets: the first a scene, the second a judgement. The first couplet is deliberately quiet — bright hills, clear water, frost, a few coloured trees — and contains no emotion at all. The second couplet supplies the verdict, and does so by comparison: autumn clarifies, spring intoxicates. [Imagery] The key image is sensory rather than visual: clarity entering the bone. Autumn is not seen but felt, and the unusual verb for spring's effect, to goad or sic on, makes spring sound like an instigator of disorder. [Significance] The poem inverts the Chinese tradition of autumn melancholy. Written during exile, it reads as self-definition: the speaker prefers the season that steadies rather than the one that excites.

【白话串讲】刘禹锡写《秋词·其二》：“山明水净夜来霜，数树深红出浅黄”——“试上高楼清入骨，岂如春色嗾人狂”——他登上高楼，秋气清入骨髓——他说秋天比春天更让人清醒。【意象与手法】此诗写咏秋，以感慨写咏秋，是刘禹锡的名篇。前二句写秋景：「山明水净夜来霜，数树深红出浅黄」写山明水净夜来霜、数树深红出浅黄——写尽秋景的明净；后二句写感慨：「试上高楼清入骨，岂如春色嗾人狂」写试上高楼清入骨、岂如春色嗾人狂——写尽清入骨的感慨。全诗以感慨写咏秋，写尽秋景的明净与清入骨的感慨，是刘禹锡的代表作。【情感与主旨】此诗写咏秋，以感慨写咏秋，是刘禹锡的名篇。此诗为《秋词二首》之二，写秋景的明净与秋意的清冽，反衬春色的喧狂。刘禹锡有「诗豪」之称，其咏秋之作多写秋之清美。此诗写山明水净而夜来霜，数树深红而出浅黄；试上高楼而清入骨，岂如春色嗾人狂（岂像春色那样撩人发狂）。此诗写秋景：山明水净夜来霜，数树深红出浅黄——写山明水净夜来霜、数树深红出浅黄，写尽秋景的明净；试上高楼清入骨，岂如春色嗾人狂——写试上高楼清入骨、岂如春色嗾人狂，写尽清入骨的感慨。全诗以感慨写咏秋——那「数树深红出浅黄」写尽秋景的明净，「岂如春色嗾人狂」写尽清入骨的感慨，写尽秋景的明净与清入骨的感慨，是理解刘禹锡咏秋诗的重要篇章。【名句点睛】常考「山明水净夜来霜，数树深红出浅黄」写秋景的明净；「试上高楼清入骨，岂如春色嗾人狂」写清入骨的感慨；以及全诗以感慨写咏秋、以对比写清冽的手法。

Background

Liu Yuxi (772-842), courtesy name Mengde, was born in Luoyang and served as a poet, essayist and thinker; he is paired with Liu Zongyuan as the two Lius and with Bai Juyi as Liu and Bai, and was nicknamed the Poet-Hero. He took part in the Yongzhen reform of 805 and spent roughly two decades in provincial exile after its failure, first at Langzhou and then at Lianzhou, yet his spirit never broke. This is the second of two Autumn Songs, companion to the famous opening 'Since ancient times men have met autumn with sorrow and loneliness; I say autumn surpasses the spring dawn.' Written in exile, it uses the clarity of autumn as an image of the poet's own unbending character and openly reverses the conventional lament for the season.

此诗写咏秋，以感慨写咏秋，是刘禹锡的名篇。刘禹锡（772—842），字梦得，洛阳人，唐代文学家、哲学家，有「诗豪」之称，与柳宗元并称「刘柳」，与白居易并称「刘白」。此诗为《秋词二首》之二，写秋景的明净与秋意的清冽，反衬春色的喧狂。刘禹锡有「诗豪」之称，其咏秋之作多写秋之清美。此诗写山明水净而夜来霜，数树深红而出浅黄；试上高楼而清入骨，岂如春色嗾人狂（岂像春色那样撩人发狂）。此诗写秋景：「山明水净夜来霜，数树深红出浅黄」写山明水净夜来霜、数树深红出浅黄——写尽秋景的明净（山明水净夜来霜，数树深红出浅黄）；「试上高楼清入骨，岂如春色嗾人狂」写试上高楼清入骨、岂如春色嗾人狂——写尽清入骨的感慨（试上高楼清入骨，岂如春色嗾人狂）。全诗以感慨写咏秋，写尽秋景的明净与清入骨的感慨，是理解刘禹锡咏秋诗的重要篇章。刘禹锡一生经历永贞革新失败、贬谪多年，然志气不衰，其咏秋诗一反悲秋传统。此诗写于贬谪期间，以秋之清峻自喻，言秋色清入骨，胜于春色撩人狂，正见其傲骨。

Art

Four techniques shape the quatrain. First, plain description: bright hills and clear water are recorded without comment, letting cleanness of diction imitate cleanness of air. Second, colour: deep red emerging from pale yellow gives a painter's contrast, and the verb 'emerge' makes the colour an event rather than a state. Third, direct assertion: 'the clarity enters the bone' is unusually physical, converting a temperature into an inward moral condition. Fourth, contrast: spring is not described at all but characterised by what it does to people, and the verb chosen for it is deliberately coarse, suggesting incitement and loss of self-command. The poem also uses the tentative 'try' of climbing to modest advantage: the experience is offered as an experiment, which makes the conclusion feel discovered rather than asserted.

此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以白描写秋景。「山明水净夜来霜」以白描写秋景——那「山明水净」写尽山水的明净，以白描写尽秋景的明净。其二，以色彩写秋叶。「数树深红出浅黄」以色彩写秋叶——那「深红出浅黄」写尽秋叶的色彩，以色彩写尽秋景的明净。其三，以直抒写清冽。「试上高楼清入骨」以直抒写清冽——那「清入骨」写尽入骨的清冽，以直抒写尽清入骨的感慨。其四，以对比写狂春。「岂如春色嗾人狂」以对比写狂春——那「嗾人狂」写尽撩人的春色，以对比写尽清入骨的感慨。此外，此诗前二句写秋景的明净，后二句写清入骨的感慨，由景及慨，正是咏秋诗「以清写慨」的写法。四重手法，使此诗以感慨写咏秋，写尽秋景的明净与清入骨的感慨，是刘禹锡的代表作。此诗还善于以「山明水净夜来霜」的「山明水净」写山水之明净——那「山明水净」写尽山水的明净，正是以明写净，以「明净」写尽秋景的明净。又善以「试上高楼清入骨」的「试上」写登楼之试——试上高楼清入骨，正见登楼试秋的清峻，以「试上」写尽清入骨的感慨。

Allusions

Night frost belongs to a long tradition in which frost marks the world's turning toward austerity; red and yellow leaves recall the common topos that frost-bitten leaves outshine spring blossoms. The high tower is the conventional place of ascent and of clarified vision. The word rendered 'goad' properly means to sic a dog on, and its use here is strikingly colloquial — spring is pictured as urging a person into irrational excitement. The underlying argument, that autumn excels spring, directly answers the ancient habit of mourning the season, and the poet's reputation as the Poet-Hero rests on just such reversals of received sentiment.

此诗的用语深植于咏秋与感慨传统。「山明水净」令人想到「山明水净」写山水明净的意象——也令人想到「山明水秀」的意象；「夜来霜」令人想到「夜来霜」写夜霜的意象——也令人想到「月落乌啼霜满天」（张继）的意象；「深红浅黄」令人想到「深红浅黄」写秋叶的意象——也令人想到「霜叶红于二月花」（杜牧）的意象；「清入骨」令人想到「清入骨」写清冽的意象——也令人想到「清入肺腑」的意象；「嗾人狂」令人想到「嗾人狂」写撩人发狂的意象——嗾者，唆使也，也令人想到「酒不醉人人自醉」的意象；「高楼」令人想到「高楼」写高楼的意象——也令人想到「更上一层楼」（王之涣）的意象。全诗化用山明水净、夜来霜、深红浅黄、清入骨、嗾人狂、高楼的意象，以感慨写咏秋，正是刘禹锡「诗豪」而善比兴、承咏秋传统写感慨之本领。「深红浅黄」令人想到「深红浅黄」写秋叶的意象——也令人想到「满城尽带黄金甲」的意象；「嗾」令人想到「嗾」写唆使的意象——也令人想到「嗾使」的意象，以嗾写春色撩狂。

Commentary

The poem is counted among Liu Yuxi's best autumn pieces and as a representative of the austerely clear strain in Tang seasonal verse. Qing critics described it as lofty and natural; modern readers single out the second couplet as the memorable lines. Its importance lies in its brevity and its reversal: in twenty-eight characters it overturns the entire convention of autumn grief. Read beside the first Autumn Song, which argues the case in abstract terms and sends a crane up through the clouds, this poem argues it through sensation, and the two together show Liu Yuxi working the same theme as thesis and as picture. It also belongs with later praise of red leaves, such as the famous line that frost-bitten leaves are redder than February flowers.

此诗历来被推为刘禹锡咏秋诗的名篇，也是唐诗写秋景清冽的代表。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人评此诗「以感慨写咏秋，清峻自然」；近人更指出「试上高楼清入骨，岂如春色嗾人狂」写清入骨的感慨，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秋景的明净与清入骨的感慨——那山明，那水净，那夜来霜，那数树，那深红，那出浅黄，那试上，那高楼，那清入骨，那岂如，那春色，那嗾人狂，都写尽了刘禹锡笔下的秋词；那「岂如春色嗾人狂」更以对比写尽清入骨的感慨。此诗与刘禹锡《秋词·其一》（「自古逢秋悲寂寥」）同为咏秋名篇，一写「晴空一鹤排云上」的秋日（其一），一写「试上高楼清入骨」的秋景（其二）；又与杜牧《山行》「霜叶红于二月花」的咏秋传统一脉相承，可见中国诗写咏秋的传统。对于今日读者，此诗是理解刘禹锡咏秋诗的窗口，也是唐诗写秋景清冽的经典——那清入骨的高楼，穿越千年，仍在诉说着清入骨的感慨。

Prosody

Form Seven-character quatrain诗·七言绝句

Rhyme Lines one, two and four rhyme in a single level-tone rhyme carried through the poem.七绝，押「黄」「狂」韵（下平七阳），一韵到底，音节清峻

Tone pattern A seven-character quatrain in a level rhyme, one rhyme throughout; the cadence is crisp and austere, matching the clarity the poem praises.此诗为七言绝句，押平声韵，一韵到底，音节清峻，正合咏秋的清峻。

Reading note The quatrain divides into a descriptive first couplet and a judgmental second couplet, with the third line breaking the rhyme to prepare the turn. Read the first couplet lightly and brightly, then slow the last two lines so that the comparison with spring lands as a considered verdict rather than an exclamation.此诗为七言绝句，四句——「山明水净夜来霜，数树深红出浅黄。试上高楼清入骨，岂如春色嗾人狂」，押「阳」韵（黄、狂），一韵到底，音节清峻。全诗以感慨写咏秋：前二句写秋景的明净（山明水净夜来霜、数树深红出浅黄），后二句写清入骨的感慨（试上高楼清入骨、岂如春色嗾人狂）。四句短章，前写明净，后写清冽，以「岂如春色嗾人狂」写尽清入骨的感慨，正见刘禹锡「诗豪」的本色。诵读此诗，宜以清峻的语调读「数树深红出浅黄」的秋景，以清高的语调读「岂如春色嗾人狂」的感慨，结句要读得清峻而有余韵，方能传达出刘禹锡的清峻自然。刘禹锡绝句以「诗豪」著称，此诗正是其咏秋诗的典范。

Line by line

试上高楼清入骨，岂如春色嗾人狂

Try climbing a high tower: the clarity enters the bone — how can it be like spring colours, that goad a man to frenzy?

试上高楼清入骨，岂如春色嗾人狂。

Try climbing the tall tower: the chill cuts to the bone — how unlike spring's colors, which egg men to madness.

此二句是全诗写感慨的核心，以试上高楼清入骨写清入骨，以岂如春色嗾人狂写嗾人狂，写尽清入骨的感慨，是千古名句。「试上高楼清入骨」写试上高楼清入骨——那「试上高楼」写试上高楼，「清入骨」写清入骨，写尽入骨的清冽；「岂如春色嗾人狂」写岂如春色嗾人狂——那「岂如春色」写岂如春色，「嗾人狂」写嗾人狂，写尽撩人的春色。这句的深意在于：它以「试上高楼清入骨」的清入骨与「岂如春色嗾人狂」的嗾人狂，写尽清入骨的感慨——试上高楼清入骨，那「试上高楼清入骨」写尽入骨的清冽——试上高楼清入骨，正是登楼清冽的写照，那「清入骨」写尽清入骨的感慨；岂如春色嗾人狂，那「岂如春色嗾人狂」写尽撩人的春色——岂如春色嗾人狂，正是岂像春色撩人的写照，那「嗾人狂」写尽清入骨的感慨；那「试上高楼清入骨」写尽入骨的清冽，那「岂如春色嗾人狂」写尽撩人的春色，一写清冽，一写春色，写尽清入骨的感慨——秋清入骨而春色撩狂，正是清胜于狂的写照；此二句以清冽、春色写尽清入骨的感慨，也让此二句成为全诗写感慨的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「试着登上高楼，清凉透骨，哪里像春色那样撩人发狂」，则失其清峻；唯以「试上高楼清入骨」写清入骨、「岂如春色嗾人狂」写嗾人狂，写尽清入骨的感慨，也让此二句成为全诗写感慨的核心。

The two lines are the core of the poem's meditation, writing the bone-deep chill through try climbing the tall tower: the chill cuts to the bone and the maddening spring through how unlike spring's colors, which egg men to madness, exhausting the bone-deep meditation. Try climbing the tall tower: the chill cuts to the bone is precisely the picture of the tower's clear cold; how unlike spring's colors, which egg men to madness precisely the picture of the spring that provokes frenzy. The deep meaning: autumn's chill to the bone and spring's colors egging on madness, precisely the picture of the clear prevailing over the wild. One writes the chill, one the spring, exhausting the meditation. Were it said plainly try climbing the tower, the cool cuts to the bone, nothing like spring's colors egging men to madness, the austere edge would be lost; only through the bone-deep chill and the maddening spring is the meditation exhausted, making the lines the core of the poem.

山明水净夜来霜，数树深红出浅黄

Hills are bright, waters clear, frost comes with the night; a few trees of deep red break out from pale yellow.

山明水净夜来霜，数树深红出浅黄。

The hills bright, the waters clean; frost falls in the night; here and there, deep crimson shows through the pale yellow of the trees.

此二句是全诗写明净的核心，以山明水净夜来霜写夜来霜，以数树深红出浅黄写出浅黄，写尽秋景的明净，是千古名句。「山明水净夜来霜」写山明水净夜来霜——那「山明水净」写山明水净，「夜来霜」写夜来霜，写尽山水的明净；「数树深红出浅黄」写数树深红出浅黄——那「数树深红」写数树深红，「出浅黄」写出浅黄，写尽深红的浅黄。这句的深意在于：它以「山明水净夜来霜」的夜来霜与「数树深红出浅黄」的出浅黄，写尽秋景的明净——山明水净夜来霜，那「山明水净夜来霜」写尽山水的明净——山明水净，正是山水明净的写照，那「夜来霜」写尽秋景的明净；数树深红出浅黄，那「数树深红出浅黄」写尽深红的浅黄——数树深红出浅黄，正是红叶间黄的写照，那「出浅黄」写尽秋景的明净；那「山明水净夜来霜」写尽山水的明净，那「数树深红出浅黄」写尽深红的浅黄，一写山水，一写秋叶，写尽秋景的明净——山明水净而红叶浅黄，正是秋景的写照；此二句以霜、红叶写尽秋景的明净，也为下文的清冽作铺垫，也让此二句成为全诗写明净的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「山明水净，夜里下了霜，几棵树深红间着浅黄」，则失其清峻；唯以「山明水净夜来霜」写夜来霜、「数树深红出浅黄」写出浅黄，写尽秋景的明净，也让此二句成为全诗写明净的核心。

The two lines are the core of the poem's clarity, writing the night frost through the hills bright, the waters clean; frost falls in the night and the yellow-through-crimson through here and there, deep crimson shows through the pale yellow of the trees, exhausting the autumn scene's clarity. The hills bright, the waters clean; frost falls in the night is precisely the picture of the clean hills and waters; here and there, deep crimson shows through the pale yellow of the trees precisely the picture of the crimson amid the gold. The deep meaning: the bright hills and clean waters and the crimson and gold leaves, precisely the picture of autumn. One writes the hills and waters, one the autumn leaves, exhausting the clarity. Were it said plainly the hills are bright and waters clean, frost at night, several trees deep crimson with pale yellow showing, the austere beauty would be softened; only through the frost and the crimson-amid-yellow is the autumn clarity exhausted, preparing the later chill and making the lines the core of the poem.

Study

Word focus

出 In 'deep red breaks out from pale yellow,' the word means to emerge or stand forth. It makes colour an action: the red crowns push out of the yellow ground, so that the autumn scene appears defined and lucid rather than merely fading. 「数树深红出浅黄」之「出」字是写秋景的关键词，一个「出」字写尽深红的浅黄。出者，显现、露出也。刘禹锡以「数树深红出浅黄」写秋景，这个「出」字至少有双重意味：其一，写色之出——那「数树深红出浅黄」写数树深红出浅黄，那「出」字写尽深红的浅黄——出浅黄，正是红色间黄的写照，那「出」字写尽秋景的明净；其二，写秋之明——那「出」字更是写明——出，正见秋色分明的清峻，那「出」字写尽刘禹锡的清峻。以「出」字写秋景，正是刘禹锡写咏秋的枢纽——若换作「衬」「映」等字，则或失其与「数树深红」「浅黄」的配合，或失其写出的意味；唯「出」字，以数树深红出浅黄写尽红叶之浅黄与秋色之分明，与「山明水净夜来霜」的山明水净相合，写尽秋景的明净，也让「数树深红出浅黄」成为全诗写明净的名句。

嗾 In 'that goad a man to frenzy,' the word properly means to sic a dog on someone. Its deliberately coarse, colloquial force pictures spring as an instigator of disorder, and the contempt in the verb is what allows autumn to win the comparison. 「岂如春色嗾人狂」之「嗾」字是写感慨的关键词，一个「嗾」字写尽撩人的春色。嗾者，唆使、撺掇也。刘禹锡以「岂如春色嗾人狂」写感慨，这个「嗾」字至少有双重意味：其一，写色之嗾——那「岂如春色嗾人狂」写岂如春色嗾人狂，那「嗾」字写尽撩人的春色——嗾人狂，正是撩人发狂的写照，那「嗾」字写尽清入骨的感慨；其二，写狂之贬——那「嗾」字更是写贬——嗾，正见春色撩人的贬义，那「嗾」字写尽刘禹锡的清峻。以「嗾」字写感慨，正是刘禹锡写咏秋的枢纽——若换作「撩」「引」等字，则或失其与「春色」「人狂」的配合，或失其写嗾的意味；唯「嗾」字，以岂如春色嗾人狂写尽春色之撩狂与秋清之可贵，与「试上高楼清入骨」的清入骨相合，写尽清入骨的感慨，也让「岂如春色嗾人狂」成为全诗写感慨的名句。