宋 Song · 诗 Poem
秋晚登城北楼
Ascending the North City Tower on an Autumn Evening
幅巾藜杖北城头，卷地西风满眼愁。
一点烽传散关信，两行雁带杜陵秋。
山河兴废供搔首，身世安危入倚楼。
横槊赋诗非复昔，梦魂犹绕古梁州。
A single beacon flame brings word from Sanguan; two lines of wild geese carry the autumn of Duling.
The rise and fall of river and mountain are given to my scratching head; the peril and safety of my own life enter the tower where I lean.
Shouldering a lance and composing verses is no longer as it was; yet my dreaming soul still circles the ancient Liangzhou.
Meaning
In retirement at Shanyin, Lu You climbs the north city wall one autumn evening. The west wind sweeping the ground fills his eyes with grief; a single beacon carries news from the frontier pass, and two lines of geese bring the autumn of the northern capital region. The fate of the rivers and mountains and the hazards of his own life are compressed into the act of leaning on the tower. The man who once shouldered a lance and composed poems is gone, but his dreaming soul still circles the old frontier of Liangzhou.
幅巾藜杖北城头，卷地西风满眼愁。 一点烽传散关信，两行雁带杜陵秋。 山河兴废供搔首，身世安危入倚楼。 横槊赋诗非复昔，梦魂犹绕古梁州。
Appreciation
[Plain Paraphrase] An old man in a cloth head-wrap leans on a bramble staff at the north wall. The west wind sweeps the ground and everything he sees is sorrow. One beacon flame, two skeins of geese - and then the reflection that the rivers and mountains rise and fall while he can only scratch his head, and that his own fate is bound up in the tower where he leans. [Structure] The first four lines are perception: the climb, the wind, the beacon, the geese. The last four are reflection: the fate of the country, the fate of the man, and the memory of the frontier. [Imagery] The poem works by contraction. A single beacon flame stands for the whole northern war; two lines of geese stand for an entire autumn over the old capital. From such tiny perceptions the poem expands to the rise and fall of rivers and mountains, and then contracts again to a dreaming soul circling one ancient province.
【白话串讲】 陆游写《秋晚登城北楼》：“幅巾藜杖北城头，卷地西风满眼愁”——“一点烽传散关信，两行雁带杜陵秋”——“山河兴废供搔首，身世安危入倚楼”——“横槊赋诗非复昔，梦魂犹绕古梁州”——他登城北楼——梦魂犹绕古梁州。 【意象与手法】 此诗写感慨，以秋景写感慨，是陆游的名篇。前四句写秋望：「幅巾藜杖北城头，卷地西风满眼愁。一点烽传散关信，两行雁带杜陵秋」写幅巾藜杖北城头、卷地西风满眼愁——写尽西风的秋愁；后四句写感慨：「山河兴废供搔首，身世安危入倚楼。横槊赋诗非复昔，梦魂犹绕古梁州」写山河兴废供搔首、身世安危入倚楼——写尽山河的兴废。全诗以秋景写感慨，写尽西风的秋愁与山河的兴废，是陆游的代表作。 【情感与主旨】 此诗写感慨，以秋景写感慨，是陆游的名篇。此诗为陆游晚年闲居山阴时，秋日登城北楼而作，写其忧国忧民、壮志未酬之慨。陆游早年曾在南郑（今陕西汉中）军中，志在收复失地；晚年退居山阴，登城北望，感山河兴废。此诗写幅巾藜杖北城头，卷地西风满眼愁；一点烽传散关信，两行雁带杜陵秋；山河兴废供搔首，身世安危入倚楼；横槊赋诗非复昔，梦魂犹绕古梁州。此诗写秋望：幅巾藜杖北城头，卷地西风满眼愁——写幅巾藜杖北城头、卷地西风满眼愁，写尽西风的秋愁；一点烽传散关信，两行雁带杜陵秋——写一点烽传散关信、两行雁带杜陵秋，写尽杜陵的秋雁；山河兴废供搔首，身世安危入倚楼——写山河兴废供搔首、身世安危入倚楼，写尽山河的兴废；横槊赋诗非复昔，梦魂犹绕古梁州——写横槊赋诗非复昔、梦魂犹绕古梁州，写尽古梁的梦魂。全诗以秋景写感慨——那「卷地西风满眼愁」写尽西风的秋愁，「梦魂犹绕古梁州」写尽古梁的梦魂，写尽西风的秋愁与山河的兴废，是理解陆游感慨诗的重要篇章。 【名句点睛】 常考「幅巾藜杖北城头，卷地西风满眼愁」写西风的秋愁；「山河兴废供搔首，身世安危入倚楼」写山河的兴废；以及全诗以秋景写感慨、以对照写今昔的手法。
Background
Lu You (1125-1210), courtesy name Wuguan, styled Fangweng, of Shanyin in present-day Shaoxing, was a Southern Song man of letters, historian and patriot. This poem was written in his retirement at Shanyin, on an autumn evening when he climbed the north city tower. In his middle years he had served with the army at Nanzheng in present-day Hanzhong, Shaanxi, determined on recovering the lost north; in old age, retired and looking north from the city wall, he felt the rise and fall of the country as a personal injury. Sanguan, the Great Sanguan Pass, was the frontier he had known; Duling, near present-day Xi'an, stands for the northern heartland; Liangzhou, the old province to which Nanzheng belonged, is the region of his military service. The poem belongs to the last decades of a life in which the frontier was never forgotten for a day.
此诗写感慨，以秋景写感慨，是陆游的名篇。陆游（1125—1210），字务观，号放翁，越州山阴（今浙江绍兴）人，南宋文学家、史学家、爱国诗人。此诗为陆游晚年闲居山阴时，秋日登城北楼而作，写其忧国忧民、壮志未酬之慨。陆游早年曾在南郑（今陕西汉中）军中，志在收复失地；晚年退居山阴，登城北望，感山河兴废。此诗写幅巾藜杖北城头，卷地西风满眼愁；一点烽传散关信，两行雁带杜陵秋；山河兴废供搔首，身世安危入倚楼；横槊赋诗非复昔，梦魂犹绕古梁州。此诗写秋望：「幅巾藜杖北城头，卷地西风满眼愁」写幅巾藜杖北城头、卷地西风满眼愁——写尽西风的秋愁（幅巾藜杖北城头，卷地西风满眼愁）；「一点烽传散关信，两行雁带杜陵秋」写一点烽传散关信、两行雁带杜陵秋——写尽杜陵的秋雁（一点烽传散关信，两行雁带杜陵秋）；「山河兴废供搔首，身世安危入倚楼」写山河兴废供搔首、身世安危入倚楼——写尽山河的兴废（山河兴废供搔首，身世安危入倚楼）；「横槊赋诗非复昔，梦魂犹绕古梁州」写横槊赋诗非复昔、梦魂犹绕古梁州——写尽古梁的梦魂（横槊赋诗非复昔，梦魂犹绕古梁州）。全诗以秋景写感慨，写尽西风的秋愁与山河的兴废，是理解陆游感慨诗的重要篇章。
Art
Four techniques structure the poem. First, plain description opens it: the cloth head-wrap, the bramble staff and the north wall name a retired old man without comment, and the west wind sweeping the ground supplies the grief he will not name. Second, antithesis carries the middle couplet: one beacon against two lines of geese, Sanguan against Duling, so that military news and seasonal migration are balanced against each other. Third, direct statement carries the reflection: the rise and fall of rivers and mountains is given to a scratching head, and the safety of a life enters the leaning-place. Fourth, contrast between past and present closes it: shouldering a lance and composing verses is no longer what it was. Two verbal choices matter: the single flame, where one is the smallest possible number, makes the whole northern war remote and precarious; and the phrase no longer as it was states a whole lifetime of decline in four words.
此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以白描写登楼。「幅巾藜杖北城头」以白描写登楼——那「卷地西风满眼愁」写尽西风的秋愁，以白描写尽西风的秋愁。其二，以对仗写秋望。「一点烽传散关信」以对仗写秋望——那「两行雁带杜陵秋」写尽杜陵的秋雁，以对仗写尽杜陵的秋雁。其三，以直抒写兴废。「山河兴废供搔首」以直抒写兴废——那「身世安危入倚楼」写尽安危的倚楼，以直抒写尽山河的兴废。其四，以对照写今昔。「横槊赋诗非复昔」以对照写今昔——那「梦魂犹绕古梁州」写尽古梁的梦魂，以对照写尽古梁的梦魂。此外，此诗前四句写西风的秋愁，后四句写山河的兴废，由景及慨，正是感慨诗「以秋写慨」的写法。四重手法，使此诗以秋景写感慨，写尽西风的秋愁与山河的兴废，是陆游的代表作。此诗还善于以「一点烽传散关信」的「一点」写烽火之微茫——那「一点烽传」写尽一点烽火，正是以点写微，以「一点」写尽散关的烽信。又善以「横槊赋诗非复昔」的「非复昔」写今昔之变——横槊赋诗非复昔，正见今非昔比的深慨，以「非复昔」写尽古梁的梦魂。
Allusions
The vocabulary draws on both the reflective and the autumn traditions. The cloth head-wrap and bramble staff are the dress of a retired scholar, familiar from Song poems of leaning on a staff. The west wind is the standard autumn wind of Chinese poetry, from the old road and lean horse of later times back to the Songs. Sanguan is the Great Sanguan Pass, which Lu You himself celebrated in the line about iron horses and autumn wind at Great Sanguan. Duling, south of Chang'an, is where Du Fu called himself a plain-clothed man of Duling. Shouldering a lance and composing verses is Cao Cao, described by Su Shi in the Red Cliff rhapsody as a hero of his age; Lu You uses it to measure what he once was. Liangzhou is the ancient province containing Nanzheng, the region of his only military service.
此诗的用语深植于感慨与秋景传统。「幅巾藜杖」令人想到「幅巾藜杖」写闲居装扮的意象——幅巾束发、藜杖扶行，也令人想到「杖藜扶我过桥东」（志南）的意象；「西风」令人想到「西风」写秋风的意象——也令人想到「古道西风瘦马」（马致远）的意象；「散关」令人想到「散关」写大散关的意象——也令人想到「铁马秋风大散关」（陆游）的意象；「杜陵」令人想到「杜陵」写杜陵的意象——在今陕西西安，也令人想到「杜陵秋」的意象；「横槊赋诗」令人想到「横槊赋诗」写曹操的意象——也令人想到「横槊赋诗，固一世之雄也」（苏轼）的意象；「梁州」令人想到「梁州」写梁州的意象——南郑古属梁州，也令人想到「古梁州」的意象。全诗化用幅巾藜杖、西风、散关、杜陵、横槊赋诗、梁州的意象，以秋景写感慨，正是陆游「沉郁」而善用典、承感慨传统写秋愁之本领。「杜陵」令人想到「杜陵」写杜陵的意象——也令人想到「杜陵有布衣」（杜甫）的意象；「梁州」令人想到「梁州」写梁州的意象——南郑古属梁州，也令人想到「梁州梦」的意象，以梁州写军旅。
Commentary
The poem is ranked among Lu You's finest reflective pieces and is a standard example of Southern Song autumn grief over the country. Qing critics praised it as reflection written through autumn scenery, melancholy and heroic at once; modern readers single out the couplet on rivers and mountains and on one's own life as the signature. Its particular value is that eight lines of regulated verse hold both the fate of the state and the fate of one man without separating them. Read beside his poem on indignation - the one that remembers iron horses and autumn wind at Great Sanguan - it shows the same memory handled in two moods, there defiant, here resigned. For readers today it remains the clearest window onto Lu You's late reflective poetry: a dreaming soul still circling the old frontier, long after the body stopped following.
此诗历来被推为陆游感慨诗的名篇，也是南宋诗写秋愁忧国的代表。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人评此诗「以秋景写感慨，沉郁悲壮」；近人更指出「山河兴废供搔首，身世安危入倚楼」写山河的兴废，是此诗的名句。在诗歌史上，此诗的特殊价值在于：它以八句的七律写尽西风的秋愁与山河的兴废——那幅巾，那藜杖，那北城头，那卷地，那西风，那满眼愁，那一点烽，那传散关信，那两行雁，那带杜陵秋，那山河兴废，那供搔首，那身世安危，那入倚楼，那横槊赋诗，那非复昔，那梦魂，那犹绕，那古梁州，都写尽了陆游笔下的秋晚登城北楼；那「梦魂犹绕古梁州」更以对照写尽古梁的梦魂。此诗与陆游《书愤》（「早岁那知世事艰」）同为感慨名篇，一写「铁马秋风大散关」的壮志（书愤），一写「梦魂犹绕古梁州」的秋愁（秋晚登城北楼）；又与曹操「横槊赋诗」的典故传统一脉相承，可见中国诗写感慨的传统。对于今日读者，此诗是理解陆游感慨诗的窗口，也是南宋诗写秋愁忧国的经典——那犹绕梁州的梦魂，穿越千年，仍在诉说着山河的兴废。
Prosody
Line by line
山河兴废供搔首，身世安危入倚楼
The rise and fall of river and mountain are given to my scratching head; the peril and safety of my own life enter the tower where I lean.
山河兴废供搔首，身世安危入倚楼。
The rise and fall of hills and rivers set me scratching my head; the safety and peril of my own fate gather as I lean on the tower.
此二句是全诗写兴废的核心，以山河兴废供搔首写供搔首，以身世安危入倚楼写入倚楼，写尽山河的兴废，是千古名句。「山河兴废供搔首」写山河兴废供搔首——那「山河兴废」写山河兴废，「供搔首」写供搔首，写尽兴废的搔首；「身世安危入倚楼」写身世安危入倚楼——那「身世安危」写身世安危，「入倚楼」写入倚楼，写尽安危的倚楼。这句的深意在于：它以「山河兴废供搔首」的供搔首与「身世安危入倚楼」的入倚楼，写尽山河的兴废——山河兴废供搔首，那「山河兴废供搔首」写尽兴废的搔首——山河兴废，正是山河存亡的写照，那「供搔首」写尽山河的兴废；身世安危入倚楼，那「身世安危入倚楼」写尽安危的倚楼——身世安危，正是身世浮沉的写照，那「入倚楼」写尽山河的兴废；那「山河兴废供搔首」写尽兴废的搔首，那「身世安危入倚楼」写尽安危的倚楼，一写山河，一写身世，写尽山河的兴废——山河兴废而身世安危，正是忧国的写照；此二句以山河、身世写尽山河的兴废，也让此二句成为全诗写兴废的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「山河的兴亡让我搔首叹息，身世的安危都寄托在倚楼远望中」，则失其沉郁；唯以「山河兴废供搔首」写供搔首、「身世安危入倚楼」写入倚楼，写尽山河的兴废，也让此二句成为全诗写兴废的核心。
The two lines are the core of the poem's rise and fall, writing the head-scratching through the rise and fall of hills and rivers set me scratching my head and the leaning on the tower through the safety and peril of my own fate gather as I lean on the tower, exhausting the hills and rivers' fortunes. The rise and fall of hills and rivers set me scratching my head is precisely the picture of the nation's fate; the safety and peril of my own fate gather as I lean on the tower precisely the picture of his own drifting lot. The deep meaning: the rise and fall of the hills and rivers and the safety and peril of his own fate, precisely the picture of patriotic grief. One writes the nation, one the self, exhausting the rise and fall. Were it said plainly the rise and fall of the land makes me scratch my head and sigh, my own fate's weal and woe all gathered in the leaning on the tower, the somber depth would be lost; only through the head-scratching and the leaning on the tower is the rise and fall exhausted, making the lines the core of the poem.
幅巾藜杖北城头，卷地西风满眼愁
In a cloth head-wrap, with a bramble staff, at the north wall's height - the west wind sweeping the earth fills my eyes with sorrow.
幅巾藜杖北城头，卷地西风满眼愁。
A cloth cap, a thorn staff, on the northern city wall; the wind sweeping the ground, west wind, fills my eyes with grief.
此二句是全诗写秋愁的核心，以幅巾藜杖北城头写北城头，以卷地西风满眼愁写满眼愁，写尽西风的秋愁，是千古名句。「幅巾藜杖北城头」写幅巾藜杖北城头——那「幅巾藜杖」写幅巾藜杖，「北城头」写北城头，写尽幅巾的登楼；「卷地西风满眼愁」写卷地西风满眼愁——那「卷地西风」写卷地西风，「满眼愁」写满眼愁，写尽西风的秋愁。这句的深意在于：它以「幅巾藜杖北城头」的北城头与「卷地西风满眼愁」的满眼愁，写尽西风的秋愁——幅巾藜杖北城头，那「幅巾藜杖北城头」写尽幅巾的登楼——幅巾藜杖，正是闲居装扮的写照，那「北城头」写尽西风的秋愁；卷地西风满眼愁，那「卷地西风满眼愁」写尽西风的秋愁——卷地西风满眼愁，正是满眼皆愁的写照，那「满眼愁」写尽西风的秋愁；那「幅巾藜杖北城头」写尽幅巾的登楼，那「卷地西风满眼愁」写尽西风的秋愁，一写登楼，一写秋愁，写尽西风的秋愁——幅巾登楼而西风满眼，正是秋愁的写照；此二句以登楼、西风写尽西风的秋愁，也为下文的散关作铺垫，也让此二句成为全诗写秋愁的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「戴着幅巾拄着藜杖登上城北的城头，卷地的西风吹来满眼愁绪」，则失其意境；唯以「幅巾藜杖北城头」写北城头、「卷地西风满眼愁」写满眼愁，写尽西风的秋愁，也让此二句成为全诗写秋愁的核心。
The two lines are the core of the poem's autumn grief, writing the north wall through a cloth cap, a thorn staff, on the northern city wall and the grief-filled eyes through the wind sweeping the ground, west wind, fills my eyes with grief, exhausting the west wind's autumn sorrow. A cloth cap, a thorn staff, on the northern city wall is precisely the picture of the retired scholar's dress; the wind sweeping the ground, west wind, fills my eyes with grief precisely the picture of eyes full of sorrow. The deep meaning: the cloth-capped climb and the west wind filling the eyes, precisely the picture of autumn grief. One writes the climb, one the wind, exhausting the autumn sorrow. Were it said plainly wearing a cloth cap and leaning on a thorn staff I climb the northern wall, the sweeping west wind fills my eyes with grief, the mood would be lost; only through the cloth cap and the thorn staff and the sweeping wind is the autumn grief exhausted, preparing the later pass and making the lines the core of the poem.
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The other poem opens with the Yellow River running thirty thousand li into the sea and the peaks five thousand fathoms high, and ends with a conquered people's tears exhausted in barbarian dust; this one ends with a dreaming soul circling the old frontier. One gazes at the occupied north, the other at the poet's own past. Read together they show two directions of the same grief.
陆游《秋夜将晓出篱门迎凉有感》「三万里河东入海，五千仞岳上摩天」写感慨，是陆游的名篇。此诗《秋晚登城北楼》则「梦魂犹绕古梁州」写感慨。同为陆游秋景感慨诗，一写「遗民泪尽胡尘里」的遗民（秋夜将晓出篱门迎凉有感），一写「山河兴废供搔首」的兴废（秋晚登城北楼）；一写晨景，一写秋晚。两诗对读，可见陆游感慨的两种写法。
登岳阳楼 Ascending Yueyang Tower 杜甫 · 同写登楼感慨，一吴楚东南坼一山河兴废 Both ascend a tower and reflect: one over Lake Dongting, one over the north city wall.Du Fu, long having heard of Dongting's waters, at last climbs the tower and sees Wu and Chu split by the lake; Lu You climbs his own city wall and thinks on the rise and fall of rivers and mountains. Both are old men on towers with a country in ruin, and in both the personal and the national are inseparable. Read together they show how Tang and Song poets handled the same situation.
杜甫《登岳阳楼》「昔闻洞庭水，今上岳阳楼」写登楼感慨，是杜甫的名篇。此诗《秋晚登城北楼》则「身世安危入倚楼」写登楼感慨。同为写登楼感慨，一写「吴楚东南坼」的洞庭（登岳阳楼），一写「山河兴废供搔首」的城楼（秋晚登城北楼）；一写杜甫，一写陆游。两诗对读，可见唐诗宋诗写登楼感慨的两种笔法。