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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

重阳席上赋白菊

On the White Chrysanthemum, Written at the Double Ninth Feast

白居易

Bai Juyi

满园花菊郁金黄，中有孤丛色似霜。
还似今朝歌酒席，白头翁入少年场。

The whole garden of chrysanthemums burns a deep golden yellow,
and in their midst one lonely clump is the colour of frost.
It is very like this morning's feast of song and wine —
a white-haired old man has stepped into the young men's ground.
Listen

Meaning

At a Double Ninth banquet Bai Juyi notices a single white chrysanthemum standing among a garden of golden ones, and quietly makes it a portrait of himself. The frost-white clump is conspicuous against the yellow, just as his white head is conspicuous among the young revellers. The poem turns a piece of self-mockery into good humour: the poet laughs at his own age and yet stays at the feast.

满园花菊郁金黄，中有孤丛色似霜。还似今朝歌酒席，白头翁入少年场。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] A garden is thick with chrysanthemums, every one of them a rich golden yellow, and among them stands a single clump pale as frost. The sight strikes the poet: is this not the very picture of today's banquet, where a white-haired old fellow has wandered into a company of youths? [Imagery] The whole poem rests on one contrast of colour — gold against frost-white. The gold is mass, convention, the crowd; the single white clump is singularity, age, the self. Because the two are placed side by side in the first couplet, the second couplet needs no transition beyond the word 'still' ('hai si', 'it is still like'): the leap from flower to man feels inevitable rather than clever. [Structure] A quatrain in two movements: the first couplet presents an object, the second reads that object as an emblem. [Tone] The self-portrait as a 'white-haired old man' could easily be pathetic, but the closing words defuse the pathos: he has entered the young men's ground, he is present, he is taking part. The ruling mood is openness and amusement rather than regret, which is why this occasional quatrain has stayed popular as a poem of cheerful old age.

【白话串讲】 白居易写《重阳席上赋白菊》：“满园花菊郁金黄，中有孤丛色似霜”——“还似今朝歌酒席，白头翁入少年场”——重阳席上满园黄菊，只有一丛白如霜——他自比白头翁入少年场。 【意象与手法】 “满园花菊郁金黄，中有孤丛色似霜”以金黄与似霜对照写白菊；“还似今朝歌酒席”写酒席；结以“白头翁入少年场”以白头翁自比写自嘲。旷达重阳。 【情感与主旨】 白居易重阳席上咏白菊之作，写满园黄菊中一丛白菊，自比“白头翁入少年场”，于自嘲中见旷达，是重阳咏菊的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“满园花菊郁金黄，中有孤丛色似霜”以金黄与似霜对照写白菊；“还似今朝歌酒席，白头翁入少年场”以白头翁自比写旷达。

Background

The author, Bai Juyi (772-846), courtesy name Letian, also known as the Hermit of Xiangshan, was a native of Xiagui and one of the most prolific and widely read poets of the Tang. The Double Ninth Festival, falling on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, was traditionally kept by climbing high places, drinking wine and admiring chrysanthemums. Bai Juyi wrote many occasional pieces for such gatherings, and this quatrain belongs to his habit of seizing one small telling image in the middle of a party. Rather than praising the flower in general terms he picks out the single white clump in a garden of gold and turns it into a joke at his own expense. Tang literary sociability depended on exactly this: verses composed, exchanged and judged on the spot, with the man who could make his companions laugh in four lines being the one whose work travelled.

《重阳席上赋白菊》为唐代诗人白居易所作诗。白居易（772—846），字乐天，号香山居士，下邽人，唐代诗人。此诗写咏物重阳，为重九席上之作。诗中「满园花菊郁金黄，中有孤丛色似霜」写满园花菊郁金黄，中有孤丛色似霜；「还似今朝歌酒席，白头翁入少年场」写还似今朝歌酒席，白头翁入少年场。白居易此诗以咏物重阳、白头翁入少年场写其重阳之情，旷达重阳，是白居易诗中的名篇。此篇《重阳席上赋白菊》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。此篇《重阳席上赋白菊》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。

Art

The craft of the poem lies in compression and in a single well-judged pivot. The first couplet is purely visual: a mass of gold, an isolated patch of frost-colour. No emotion is stated, yet the contrast already carries a value judgement, since the eye is drawn to what is different. The second couplet supplies the reading, and the hinge is the phrase 'still like' — a word that asks the reader to accept the flower and the banquet as the same picture seen twice. Technically this is the quatrain's classic turn: the opening presents a scene, the close interprets it. Colour is used as character-drawing, so that the poet need never describe his own appearance; 'white-haired old man' completes the image the chrysanthemum began. The humour depends on understatement — no lament for lost youth, no boast of vigour — and the lightness is what makes the self-mockery winning rather than bitter.

此诗艺术上以「旷达重阳、以菊写情」见长。全诗共四句两联，由满园花菊郁金黄而还似今朝歌酒席。起「满园花菊郁金黄，中有孤丛色似霜」写满园花菊郁金黄：满园花菊郁金黄，中有孤丛色似霜；结「还似今朝歌酒席，白头翁入少年场」写还似今朝歌酒席：还似今朝歌酒席，白头翁入少年场。全诗以菊写情，由满园花菊郁金黄而白头翁入少年场，旷达重阳，是白居易诗中的名篇。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。

Allusions

The central reference is the figure of the 'white-haired old man' (bai tou weng), a stock type in Chinese verse for aged retirement and for the veteran who survives his generation; the phrase 'the young men's ground' (shao nian chang) echoes old Music Bureau and Han usage for the pleasure grounds where fashionable youths gathered, so the poet is placing himself in a scene conventionally reserved for the young. Behind the whole poem stands the chrysanthemum's established symbolism since Tao Yuanming: the flower of the recluse, of late autumn, and of integrity that keeps its colour when other blossoms fail. The Double Ninth setting brings with it the customs of wine, dogwood and longevity. Bai Juyi uses none of these heavily; the allusions sit lightly beneath the surface, so that a reader unaware of them still follows the joke, while a reader who knows them hears an extra resonance in the white clump.

诗中「满园花菊郁金黄中有孤丛色似霜」「还似今朝歌酒席白头翁入少年场」等语，皆含典故故实。「满园花菊郁金黄中有孤丛色似霜」写满园花菊郁金黄中有孤丛色似霜；「还似今朝歌酒席白头翁入少年场」用白头翁之典（白头翁写老年人），写还似今朝歌酒席白头翁入少年场。诗人用白头翁之典入诗，不着痕迹，而把咏物重阳之情写得真切可感，是善于熔铸典故的体现。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。

Commentary

Later readers have valued the poem for its tone rather than its scale. It is one of a large family of Tang occasional quatrains in which a poet makes a small natural object answer to his own situation, and it is usually singled out as among the most graceful because the self-portrait is so unforced. Critics note that the Double Ninth poem normally leans toward melancholy — absence of friends, the passing of years, the approach of winter — and that Bai Juyi quietly reverses the expectation: the white head is a fact, but it is not a grievance. Anthologists have kept it as a model of how little machinery a good quatrain needs: two colours, one comparison, one smile. It is also frequently quoted in discussions of Bai Juyi's later manner, when plain language and self-deprecating humour became his signature.

这首《重阳席上赋白菊》，是白居易写咏物重阳之作，写满园花菊郁金黄、还似今朝歌酒席、白头翁入少年场之情，旷达重阳。起「满园花菊郁金黄，中有孤丛色似霜」——满园花菊郁金黄，中有孤丛色似霜。写满园花菊郁金黄：满园花菊郁金黄、中有孤丛色似霜——郁金黄、色似霜；结「还似今朝歌酒席，白头翁入少年场」——还似今朝歌酒席，白头翁入少年场。写还似今朝歌酒席：还似今朝歌酒席、白头翁入少年场——歌酒席、入少年场。这「还似今朝歌酒席，白头翁入少年场」，是全诗之结：以白头翁入少年场写其重阳。全诗旷达重阳，以菊写情，正是白居易诗中的名篇。综观全诗，情真、景切、理深，三者浑融无迹，故能于短短数语之中寄无限深意，令人百读不厌。其含蓄蕴藉之处，正是中国古典诗歌以少总多、言有尽而意无穷的美学精神的生动体现。综观全诗，情真、景切、理深，三者浑融无迹，故能于短短数语之中寄无限深意，令人百读不厌。其含蓄蕴藉之处，正是中国古典诗歌以少总多、言有尽而意无穷的美学精神的生动体现。

Prosody

Form Seven-character quatrain诗（七言绝句）
Rhyme A heptasyllabic quatrain of four lines in two couplets. The rhyming words are 'frost' and 'ground', both in the level-tone yang rhyme class, giving a single rhyme carried through the second and fourth lines. The first line sets the scene without rhyming, the second completes the couplet, and the closing couplet turns to interpretation; level and oblique tones alternate regularly, and the compact form suits an occasional poem meant to be tossed off at a banquet.此诗为七言绝句，共四句两联。押韵：「霜」「场」押阳部韵。前两句起、后两句转合，平仄相间，正与写咏物重阳的旷达重阳相称，也见其以七绝写重阳的凝练。
Tone pattern The opening couplet is bright and level in sound, matching the mass of golden blossoms; the closing couplet lengthens as the poet moves from sight to reflection. The rhythm follows the feeling: quick and pictorial at first, slower and more conversational at the close. This is the heptasyllabic quatrain's characteristic effect — condensed but not abrupt — and it lets the final line land as a spoken joke rather than a formal summing up.句式上，「满园花菊郁金黄，中有孤丛色似霜」写满园花菊郁金黄，音节旷达；结「还似今朝歌酒席，白头翁入少年场」写还似今朝歌酒席，音节悠长。全诗音节随情起伏，由旷达而悠长，正合七绝「凝练」之妙，读来如咏物重阳、白头翁入少年场之音，旷达而动人。
Reading note The piece is a seven-character quatrain and one of Bai Juyi's best-known occasional verses. Its distinctive quality is the pairing of openness with self-irony: a garden of gold, one clump of frost, and an old man at a young man's feast. The craft is concentrated in two places — the colour contrast of the first couplet and the pivot 'still like' that licenses the leap from flower to self. Because the form is so short, every word carries weight; nothing is wasted on decoration. The closing line is the one anthologists quote, and it is the measure of the poem's success that the reader laughs with the poet rather than at him.此诗为七言绝句，是白居易写咏物重阳之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「旷达重阳、以菊写情」：「满园花菊郁金黄，中有孤丛色似霜」写满园花菊郁金黄、「还似今朝歌酒席，白头翁入少年场」写还似今朝歌酒席。全诗旷达重阳，以菊写情。尤为精妙者，是「满园花菊郁金黄」写尽郁金黄；而「白头翁入少年场」用白头翁之典，正是白居易诗「旷达重阳」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《重阳席上赋白菊》一诗之所以读来声情并茂，正在于诗人以声韵配合情思、以节奏烘托意境，音节之长短、平仄之起伏，皆与诗意相为表里，此亦可见中国古典诗歌声律之美与匠心之工。

Line by line

满园花菊郁金黄，中有孤丛色似霜。

The whole garden of chrysanthemums burns a deep golden yellow, and in their midst one lonely clump is the colour of frost.

满园花菊郁金黄，中有孤丛色似霜。

The garden is full of chrysanthemums, dense as golden yellow; among them one lone clump is white as frost.

起句写满园花菊郁金黄，起笔即见其花菊。「满园花菊郁金黄」写满园花菊郁金黄，「满园花菊」写满园花菊、「郁金黄」写郁金黄；「中有孤丛色似霜」写中有孤丛色似霜，「中有孤丛」写中有孤丛、「色似霜」写色似霜。一句写满园花菊郁金黄中有孤丛色似霜，以满园花菊郁金黄写郁金黄、以中有孤丛色似霜写色似霜，写尽满园花菊郁金黄、中有孤丛色似霜之情。以菊起兴，旷达而重阳，是「以菊起兴」的妙笔。

The opening line writes the garden is full of chrysanthemums, dense as golden yellow, the chrysanthemums at once. The words garden full of chrysanthemums write the blooms; dense as golden yellow the rich yellow. Among them one lone clump is white as frost writes the isolated white cluster. The line writes to the full the feeling of the dense golden garden and the lone frost-white clump. Rising through the chrysanthemum, broad-minded and Double-Ninth, the fine brush of rising through the chrysanthemum.

还似今朝歌酒席，

It is still like this morning's feast of song and wine —

还似今朝歌酒席，

It is like this very day's singing and wine feast,

此句写还似今朝歌酒席，是全诗写酒席之态的关键。「还似今朝」写还似今朝，「还似」写还似、「今朝」写今朝；「歌酒席」写歌酒席，「歌酒」写歌酒、「席」写席。一句写还似今朝歌酒席，以还似今朝写今朝、以歌酒席写歌酒席，写尽还似今朝歌酒席之情。以席写情，旷达而重阳，是「以席写情」的点睛之笔。此句以寥寥数语写尽深意，情韵兼胜，正是全诗点睛之笔。其于字句之间暗藏波澜，于平易之中寄寓曲折，尤当反复涵泳，方能得其三昧。

This line writes it is like this very day's singing and wine feast, the key of the whole's writing the feast. The words like this very day write the present; the singing and wine feast write the banquet. The line writes to the full the feeling of this very day's song and wine. Writing feeling through the feast, broad-minded and Double-Ninth, the eye-dotting brush. In a few words it writes to the full the deep meaning, feeling and rhyme both fine; hidden waves beneath the plain words, to be savored again and again.

白头翁入少年场。

a white-haired old man has stepped into the young men's ground.

白头翁入少年场。

an old white-haired man entering the young people's hall.

结句写白头翁入少年场，是全诗立意的落点。「白头翁入少年场」用白头翁之典写白头翁入少年场，「白头翁」写白头翁、「入少年场」写少年场。一句写白头翁入少年场，以白头翁写白头翁、以入少年场写少年场，写尽白头翁入少年场之情。以翁写情，旷达而重阳，是全诗最动人处，也是「以翁写情」的点睛之笔。此句以寥寥数语写尽深意，情韵兼胜，正是全诗点睛之笔。其于字句之间暗藏波澜，于平易之中寄寓曲折，尤当反复涵泳，方能得其三昧。

The closing line writes an old white-haired man entering the young people's hall, the landing of the whole's bent. It uses the white-haired old man allusion; the words old man write the aged poet, entering the young people's hall the youth gathering. The line writes to the full the feeling of the old man among the young. Writing feeling through the old man, broad-minded and Double-Ninth, the most moving place of the whole and the eye-dotting brush. In a few words it writes to the full the deep meaning, feeling and rhyme both fine; hidden waves beneath the plain words, to be savored again and again.

Study

Word focus

花菊 The flowering chrysanthemum, the emblem of late autumn and, since Tao Yuanming, of the recluse who keeps his colour when other blossoms fail; here the word gathers the whole garden into a single mass of bloom against which the one white clump can stand out. 「花菊」写满园花菊郁金黄，是写花菊之态的关键。「满园花菊郁金黄」着一「花菊」，写花菊——着一「花菊」，写满园花菊郁金黄，见其菊之花。两字写尽花菊之态，是「以词写菊」的妙笔。「花菊」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
金黄 Deep golden yellow, the conventional colour of chrysanthemums at the Double Ninth. The word supplies the field of value in the poem: gold means the crowd, the expected, the many, and everything the frost-white clump is not. 「金黄」写满园花菊郁金黄，是写金黄之态的关键。「满园花菊郁金黄」着一「金黄」，写金黄——着一「金黄」，写满园花菊郁金黄，见其黄之金。两字写尽金黄之态，是「以词写黄」的点睛之词。「金黄」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
歌酒 Song and wine, the stock pairing for festive gathering. It marks the occasion as a banquet of music and drinking, so that the leap from the garden of flowers to the company at table is a leap between two scenes of the same holiday. 「歌酒」写还似今朝歌酒席，是写歌酒之态的关键。「还似今朝歌酒席」着一「歌酒」，写歌酒——着一「歌酒」，写还似今朝歌酒席，见其酒之歌。两字写尽歌酒之态，是「以词写歌」的点睛之词。「歌酒」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
白头 White-haired, the Chinese shorthand for old age. The two syllables do the work of a full self-portrait: they supply the colour that answers 'the colour of frost' in the first couplet and make the comparison to the white clump complete. 「白头」写白头翁入少年场，是写白头之态的关键。「白头翁入少年场」着一「白头」，写白头——着一「白头」，写白头翁入少年场，见其头之白。两字写尽白头之态，是「以词写头」的点睛之词。「白头」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。

Related Reading

水调歌头·明月几时有 Prelude to the Water Melody: 'When Did the Bright Moon First Appear?' 苏轼 · 同写重阳感怀、旷达，一写人有悲欢离合、一写满园花菊郁金黄中有孤丛色似霜，皆于重阳之中见旷达 Both treat the Double Ninth mood of reflection and openness; one speaks of the griefs and joys of parting, the other of a single frost-white clump in a garden of gold, and both find openness within the seasonal occasion.

Su Shi's lyric turns on the line that men have sorrow and joy, parting and meeting, and the moon has cloud and clear sky — an incompleteness no age has escaped. Bai Juyi's quatrain works on a much smaller scale, using a garden of golden chrysanthemums and one white clump to reach a similar acceptance. Read together they show two ways of writing openness: Su Shi reasons his way there through cosmic analogy, Bai Juyi laughs his way there through a joke at his own expense. The song lyric is expansive and philosophical; the quatrain is compressed and social. The comparison is useful for seeing how the same attitude takes very different shapes in the two genres.

苏轼《水调歌头·明月几时有》「人有悲欢离合，月有阴晴圆缺，此事古难全」，写重阳感怀、旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；白居易《重阳席上赋白菊》则以「满园花菊郁金黄，中有孤丛色似霜」「白头翁入少年场」写色似霜、入少年场。两诗同写重阳感怀、旷达：一写人有悲欢离合、以悲欢写离合，一写满园花菊郁金黄中有孤丛色似霜、以白菊写重阳；一为苏轼之旷达、一为白居易之旷达，并读正可见诗写「重阳感怀」的两种笔法，皆于重阳之中见旷达。

 八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Eight Beats of a Ganzhou Song: 'Facing the Pattering Evening Rain That Sprinkles the River Sky' 柳永 · 同写席上凝望、旷达清丽，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写满园花菊郁金黄中有孤丛色似霜，皆于席上之中见凝望 Both are poems of gazing from a gathering place, clear and composed in style; one writes of rain sweeping the autumn sky, the other of a frost-white clump among golden chrysanthemums, and both find a steady gaze within a scene of feasting or travel.

Liu Yong's lyric is a long song of travel and longing, its rain-washed autumn sky setting a tone of clear melancholy. Bai Juyi's quatrain shares the clarity but not the melancholy: the gaze falls on flowers rather than on distance, and the feeling resolves in amusement. Where Liu Yong's speaker is separated from what he looks toward, Bai Juyi's speaker is already in the middle of the party he describes. Putting the two side by side shows how the same lucid, uncluttered imagery can serve very different emotional ends — one a poetry of absence, the other a poetry of presence.

柳永《八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天》「对潇潇暮雨洒江天，一番洗清秋」，写席上凝望、旷达清丽，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；白居易《重阳席上赋白菊》则以「满园花菊郁金黄，中有孤丛色似霜」「还似今朝歌酒席」写色似霜、歌酒席。两诗同写席上凝望、旷达清丽：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写满园花菊郁金黄中有孤丛色似霜、以白菊写重阳；一为柳永之清丽、一为白居易之旷达，并读正可见诗写「席上凝望」的两种笔法，皆于席上之中见凝望。