送沈生昆弟随侍之博白四绝句 其二

Meaning

This is the second of four quatrains seeing off the Shen brothers, who were accompanying their father to Bobai in the far south of Guangxi. Instead of the usual gloom of parting, the poet counsels them not to grieve like the lovers of the 'southern shore' legend, but to treat the journey as a chance to seek out recluses in the Western Hills. He even projects ahead: by the time they reach the Ling ranges the year's last month will be near, and then they may break a branch of blossoming plum to send home — turning helpless longing into a graceful appointment of spring. It is farewell written with an open heart, affection deepened rather than diminished by its lightness.

不必在南浦伤怀黯然，倒不如好生取道西山去拜访隐逸高人。等你们兄弟抵达岭南时节应当临近腊月了，那时若要寄托相思，大可折一枝梅花寄来报春。

Appreciation

In twenty-eight characters the poem turns three times — reversal, direction, anticipation. The opening couplet first breaks then builds: 'no need' sweeps away the cliché of soul-consuming grief at the southern shore, while 'better to' sets up the positive advice of visiting hidden men, converting parting sorrow into the pleasures of travel. The closing couplet leaps from the present parting to the future arrival, reckoning by 'by the time you reach' and closing with the borrowed elegance of sending a branch of plum — distance dissolved into a promise. The running couplets keep the tiny quatrain supple, and the treatment of stock allusions is the poem's finest stroke: the southern shore is stripped of its sorrow, the sent plum reversed in direction, stale language made new, a delicate demonstration of the Song art of 'making the old new.'

【白话串讲】 张方平送沈家兄弟其二：“不须南浦怀消黯，好过西山访隐沦”——别伤心，去访隐士。“比到岭时应近腊，相思可寄一枝春”——“相思可寄一枝春”——他劝朋友把相思寄成花枝。 【意象与手法】此诗以「翻案—指点—预想」三层递进，语短意长。起联以「不须」翻江淹南浦销魂之案，以「好过」引出访隐之趣，前抑后扬；后联由眼前跳到将来，「一枝春」化用陆凯寄梅典，将远念点化为清欢。首联流水对破板滞，短章具开阖之力。 【情感与主旨】主旨是旷达送别：不以黯然销魂写离愁，而以访隐、寄春宽慰友人，于宋调以理遣情中见关切之厚，亦折射方平晚年恬退好道的性分。 【名句点睛】「相思可寄一枝春」最见巧思，翻陆凯寄梅故实而移其地、反其向，把无奈远念化作清雅春约，短章余味悠长。

Allusions

The poem uses three allusions, all stock phrases of farewell made fresh. First, 'southern shore' comes from Jiang Yan's 'Rhapsody on Parting' — 'I see you off at the southern shore, what grief is like this' — and before him from the 'Hymns of the Nine Songs' — 'I speed my lovely one from the southern shore' — so that by Tang times it was a collective symbol of parting grief. Fangping reverses it with 'no need,' a conscious refusal of the whole tradition: precisely because the southern shore had become a worn token of soul-loss, he negates it and declines the Tang mold. Second, 'hidden ones' (yinlun) means recluses, a term found in the Hou Hanshu; the 'Western Hills' plays on its many real referents (Luoyang, Hongzhou, and others all had famous Western Hills), at once a scenic stop on the route and a figurative dwelling of lofty men, real and imagined at once, so that the consolation never turns preachy. Third, 'a branch of spring' is from Lu Kai's 'Poem Presented to Fan Ye': 'I broke a plum branch and met the courier, and sent it to the man at the pass-head; the south has nothing to offer — let me send you a branch of spring.' Lu Kai sent plum from the south to his friend in the north; Fangping reverses the geography, imagining the Shen brothers, reaching the Lingnan near the twelfth month when the plum will open, breaking a branch to send back to the central plains as word of spring — turning Lu Kai's one-way sending into a two-way appointment. The three allusions neither stick nor stagnate: the southern shore loses its grief, the hidden ones gain their charm, the branch of spring turns its direction, filling the small poem with matter yet keeping it light — the Song art of 'poetry by learning' turning stacked bricks into open air.

诗中用典凡三处，皆送别诗常语而能化熟为生。其一，「南浦」出自江淹《别赋》「送君南浦，伤如之何」，自来为送别地名之代称。方平偏以「不须南浦怀消黯」反用其事，正因南浦已成销魂套语，故特加否定，见其不肯落唐人窠臼的用意。其二，「隐沦」指隐士，《后汉书》有「隐沦」之称，西山可指隐居之地（亦暗合「西山」多地实指，如洛阳、洪州皆有西山胜境），言兄弟南行可取道访贤，将远役说成寻幽。其三，「一枝春」用陆凯《赠范晔诗》「折梅逢驿使，寄与陇头人。江南无所有，聊赠一枝春」之典，原是北地寄梅江南的相思之句；方平反其地：想象沈生兄弟到岭南近腊时，可折梅寄回中原报春，把陆凯的「寄梅」化作「待梅」的相约。三典皆不黏不滞，南浦反其哀、隐沦添其趣、一枝春转其向，使短章有典实而不滞重，足见宋人「以才学为诗」而能化堆垛为清空的手段。「一枝春」一典之外，尚需辨「南浦」的多重所指：江淹《别赋》之外，屈原《九歌·河伯》已有「送美人兮南浦」，其后南朝乐府、唐人送别皆承其绪，故「南浦」已成为一种集体性的离愁符号。张方平以「不须」否定之，等于对这一符号传统作了一次有意识的规避。而「西山访隐沦」亦暗用「西山」可指隐居之地的多义性，既实指途经名胜，又虚指高士所居，虚实相生，使劝慰之语不显说教而有余味。

Commentary

Small as it is, the poem shows Zhang Fangping's poetic bent and the Song spirit. Those who deny the Northern Song any great writers of quatrains pass over such small pieces, yet close reading yields value. Fangping's style is dignified and warm; his seven-character quatrains are especially good at easing farewell grief with wit, at one with the direction of Ouyang Xiu and Sima Guang, 'making prose of poetry, governing feeling with reason.' Qing anthologies classed such farewell quatrains under the heading of 'open-hearted ease.' Modern criticism says 'the Tang prized feeling, the Song prized idea,' and this poem is its footnote: the opening reverses Jiang Yan's case — the victory of idea; the close sends a branch of spring — the reach of idea. Against Tang lines like 'the lone sail's distant shadow vanishes into the blue emptiness' or 'west of the Yang pass you will have no old friends,' Fangping's easy tone of 'no need ... better to ... then you may send' is unmistakably a Song face. As the second of four, the poem should be read with its companions to see the deepening consolation and lengthening affection; read alone it loses its place in the sequence. Together with Su Shi's farewell works and Fangping's own 'Seeing Off Scholar Su to Qiantang,' it embodies the collective Song turn to 'dispelling feeling with reason,' though Fangping's ease is warmer than Su's boldness and plainer than Huang Tingjian's ruggedness — rooted in his late-life reclusive disposition. A mere twenty-eight characters, yet a typical slice of his old-age mind and of the Song quatrain's curing of parting with wit.

此诗虽短，却颇见张方平诗学取向与宋调风神，历来论北宋七绝非大家者，往往略过此类小制，然细味自有价值。方平诗风典重温厚，七言绝句尤擅以理趣遣送别之哀，与同时欧阳修、司马光等人「以文为诗、以理节情」的取向一致。清人所辑宋诗选中，此类送别小诗多被归入「旷达」一格。近人论宋诗，每言「唐人尚情，宋人尚意」，方平此首正是注脚：起句翻江淹南浦之案，是「意」之胜；结句寄一枝春，是「意」之远。较之唐人「孤帆远影碧空尽」的怅望、「西出阳关无故人」的执手，方平以「不须」「好过」「可寄」的从容口吻出之，确是宋人面目。又，此诗为组诗第二首，置于四绝之中，当与前后章合观，方见其劝慰渐深、情致渐远的章法用心；孤章赏之易失其位，合组读之乃见体贴之全。此诗与苏轼《南乡子·和杨元素》「何日功成名遂了，还乡」、以及张方平本人《送苏学士钱塘监郡》等送别之作，共同体现了宋人「以理遣情」的集体转向。然张方平之旷达，较苏之豪迈更见温厚，较黄庭坚之拗峭更见平易。其根柢在晚年恬退、好谈隐逸的性分，故能于送别中自然地注入「访隐沦」的闲趣与「寄一枝春」的清欢。此诗虽仅二十八字，却是观察张方平晚年心境与宋调绝句「以理趣遣离愁」的一个典型切片。

Prosody

Line by line

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