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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

筹边楼

The Border-Planning Tower

薛涛

Xue Tao

平临云鸟八窗秋，壮压西川四十州。
诸将莫贪羌族马，最高层处见边头。

Level with the clouds and birds, autumn at its eight windows;
in its might it presses down on the forty prefectures of Western Shu.
Generals, do not covet the horses of the Qiang tribes —
from the highest storey one can see the frontier's very edge.
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Meaning

Xue Tao climbs the Border-Planning Tower and describes its height and power: it stands level with the clouds and birds and seems to hold down the whole of Western Shu. From that height she turns to the frontier question itself, warning the generals not to provoke the Qiang by coveting their horses. The poem combines admiration for the tower's strategic grandeur with a statesmanlike worry that greed on the border will bring war.

平临云鸟八窗秋，壮压西川四十州。诸将莫贪羌族马，最高层处见边头。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The tower rises until it is on a level with the clouds and the birds, and autumn fills its eight windows; in its mass and might it seems to weigh down the forty prefectures of Western Shu below. Then the poet addresses the commanders directly: do not covet the horses of the Qiang, for from this highest storey one can see the frontier itself. [Imagery] The poem works by scale. Clouds, birds, eight windows, forty prefectures — the numbers and the wide horizons make the building a symbol of the whole region's defence rather than a mere viewpoint. [Structure] The first couplet is descriptive and admiring; the second turns abruptly to admonition. That turn is the poem's real subject: the tower exists so that someone can see the border, and seeing it clearly means understanding how easily peace is lost. [Tone] The mood is grave and forceful, unusual in a woman poet of the period and rarer still in a poem so short. What might have been a sightseeing quatrain becomes a piece of public counsel, and the authority of the closing warning comes from the height established in the opening lines.

【白话串讲】 薛涛写《筹边楼》：“平临云鸟八窗秋，壮压西川四十州”——“诸将莫贪羌族马，最高层处见边头”——她登筹边楼——壮压西川四十州。 【意象与手法】 “平临云鸟八窗秋，壮压西川四十州”写筹边楼之壮；“诸将莫贪羌族马”以劝诸将写边患；结以“最高层处见边头”写登高见边。深沉豪迈。 【情感与主旨】 薛涛登筹边楼之作，写楼之雄壮与对边事的关切，以“诸将莫贪羌族马”讽谏诸将，是唐代女诗人写边塞题材的难得之作。 【名句点睛】 常考“平临云鸟八窗秋，壮压西川四十州”写筹边楼之壮；“诸将莫贪羌族马，最高层处见边头”以劝诸将写边患。

Background

Xue Tao (c. 768-c. 832), courtesy name Hongdu, was born in Chang'an and became the best-known woman poet of the Tang; she was nicknamed the 'female collator' for her learning and moved in the circle of the great officials who governed Shu. The Border-Planning Tower was built in Chengdu by the military governor Li Deyu as a place from which to watch and plan the defence of the western frontier, where Tang authority met the Tibetan and Qiang peoples. Relations on that frontier turned as much on trade and on raids for livestock as on formal campaigns. Xue Tao's poem is therefore not a tourist's verse but a comment on contemporary policy, written by someone close to the provincial government. It is one of the very few frontier poems by a Tang woman, and its public, statesmanlike voice is what has kept it in anthologies.

《筹边楼》为唐代女诗人薛涛所作诗。薛涛（约768—约832），字洪度，长安（今陕西西安）人，唐代女诗人，「女校书」之号。此诗写咏史写景，为登筹边楼之作。诗中「平临云鸟八窗秋，壮压西川四十州」写平临云鸟八窗秋，壮压西川四十州；「诸将莫贪羌族马，最高层处见边头」写诸将莫贪羌族马，最高层处见边头。薛涛此诗以咏史写景、最高层处见边头写其咏史之情，深沉豪迈，是薛涛诗中的名篇。此篇《筹边楼》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《筹边楼》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《筹边楼》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 technique is a single bold turn. Two lines of exaltation — the tower level with cloud and bird, pressing down on forty prefectures — establish height, mass and command, and give the speaker the authority to advise. The second couplet abandons description for direct address: 'Generals, do not covet.' The abruptness is deliberate, and it is what makes the quatrain memorable; the reader is pulled from admiration into argument in the space of one line. Personification helps: the tower 'presses down' on the region, so a building becomes an act of policy. The closing line completes the logic rather than decorating it — the whole point of the height is that the frontier is visible, and the whole point of visibility is responsibility. Nothing in the poem is ornamental: every image is either scale or counsel.

此诗艺术上以「深沉豪迈、以景写情」见长。全诗共四句，由平临云鸟八窗秋而诸将莫贪羌族马。起「平临云鸟八窗秋，壮压西川四十州」写平临云鸟八窗秋：平临云鸟八窗秋，壮压西川四十州；结「诸将莫贪羌族马，最高层处见边头」写诸将莫贪羌族马：诸将莫贪羌族马，最高层处见边头。全诗以景写情，由平临云鸟八窗秋而最高层处见边头，深沉豪迈，是薛涛诗中的名篇。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 vocabulary is that of Tang frontier administration rather than of literary borrowings. 'Western Shu' and its forty prefectures name the real province governed from Chengdu; the Qiang were the non-Han peoples of the western marches whose horses were both prized and coveted, and horse-raids across the border were a standing cause of conflict. The 'eight windows' alludes to the tower's open design and, by extension, to the wide view that a commander needs. There is also an echo of the older convention in which climbing a tower produces both a survey of the land and a surge of public concern: the tower-climbing poem, from Wang Can onward, joins personal feeling to the fate of the state. Xue Tao takes that convention and strips it of self-pity, using the height to see outward instead of inward.

诗中「平临云鸟八窗秋壮压西川四十州」「诸将莫贪羌族马最高层处见边头」等语，皆含典故故实。「平临云鸟八窗秋壮压西川四十州」写平临云鸟八窗秋壮压西川四十州；「诸将莫贪羌族马最高层处见边头」写诸将莫贪羌族马最高层处见边头。诗人以云鸟、羌族等语入诗，不着痕迹，而把咏史写景之情写得真切可感，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

Readers have long remarked on the incongruity — a courtesan-poet writing with the authority of a minister — and have generally treated it as a mark of her range. The poem is regularly cited as evidence that Xue Tao's work is not confined to the delicate and personal; here she handles public material with a firmness that matches the better-known frontier verse of male contemporaries. Critics also note the economy of the warning: the poem does not scold at length but places the generals' greed and the visible border in the same frame, letting the reader draw the conclusion. It is usually grouped with her other occasional and political pieces as the part of her output that earned her the respect of the Shu administration, and it remains the piece most often quoted when her seriousness as a poet is discussed.

这首《筹边楼》，是薛涛写咏史写景之作，写平临云鸟八窗秋、壮压西川四十州、诸将莫贪羌族马、最高层处见边头之情，深沉豪迈。起「平临云鸟八窗秋，壮压西川四十州」——平临云鸟八窗秋，壮压西川四十州。写平临云鸟八窗秋：平临云鸟八窗秋、壮压西川四十州——八窗秋、四十州；结「诸将莫贪羌族马，最高层处见边头」——诸将莫贪羌族马，最高层处见边头。写诸将莫贪羌族马：诸将莫贪羌族马、最高层处见边头——莫贪羌马、见边头。这「诸将莫贪羌族马，最高层处见边头」，是全诗之结：以最高层处见边头写其咏史。全诗深沉豪迈，以景写情，正是薛涛诗中的名篇。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. The rhyming words are 'autumn', 'prefectures' and 'edge', all in the level-tone you rhyme class, so that lines one, two and four rhyme while the third breaks the pattern — a shape that gives the poem a firm, forward-driving sound well suited to its admonitory close.此诗为七言绝句，共四句。押韵：「秋」「州」「头」押尤部韵。诗体依绝句而定，句式整齐，音节短促而豪迈，正与写咏史写景的深沉豪迈相称，也见其以绝句写咏史的凝练。
Tone pattern The opening couplet is broad and open in sound, matching the wide survey from the tower; the closing couplet tightens as the poet shifts from description to command. The short heptasyllabic line keeps the whole piece brisk, so the warning arrives without preamble. Level and oblique tones alternate in the standard manner, and the result is a quatrain that sounds forceful rather than lyrical — appropriate to public counsel rather than to private feeling.句式上，「平临云鸟八窗秋，壮压西川四十州」写平临云鸟八窗秋，音节豪迈；结「诸将莫贪羌族马，最高层处见边头」写诸将莫贪羌族马，音节深沉。全诗音节由豪迈而深沉，正合绝句「凝练」之妙，读来如咏史写景、最高层处见边头之音，深沉而动人。
Reading note The poem is a seven-character quatrain and one of Xue Tao's best-known pieces. Its formal distinction is the abrupt turn between the couplets: two lines of exaltation, then two of direct address. Because the quatrain is so short, the turn does all the work, and the closing line has to carry both the image of the visible frontier and the argument about responsibility. The rhyme in three of the four lines gives the verse a ringing quality that supports its public tone. Read aloud, the poem sounds like what it is — a short speech from a high place.此诗为七言绝句，是薛涛写咏史写景之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「深沉豪迈、以景写情」：「平临云鸟八窗秋，壮压西川四十州」写平临云鸟八窗秋、「诸将莫贪羌族马，最高层处见边头」写诸将莫贪羌族马。全诗深沉豪迈，以景写情。尤为精妙者，是「平临云鸟八窗秋，壮压西川四十州」写尽筹边之势；而「诸将莫贪羌族马，最高层处见边头」写尽见边之警，正是薛涛诗「深沉豪迈」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《筹边楼》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

平临云鸟八窗秋，壮压西川四十州。

Level with the clouds and birds, autumn at its eight windows; in its might it presses down on the forty prefectures of Western Shu.

平临云鸟八窗秋，壮压西川四十州。

Level with the clouds and birds, the eight windows open to autumn; grand, it overawes the forty provinces of Western Sichuan.

首句写平临云鸟八窗秋，起笔即见其楼。「平临云鸟八窗秋」写平临云鸟八窗秋，「平临云鸟」写平临云鸟、「八窗秋」写八窗秋；「壮压西川四十州」写壮压西川四十州，「壮压」写壮压、「西川四十州」写西川四十州。两句一写平临云鸟八窗秋、一写壮压西川四十州，以平临云鸟八窗秋写云鸟八窗、以壮压西川四十州写西川四十州，写尽平临云鸟八窗秋、壮压西川四十州之情。以楼起兴，深沉而豪迈，是「以楼起兴」的妙笔。

The opening line writes level with the clouds and birds, the eight windows open to autumn, the tower at once. The words level with the clouds and birds write the height; the eight windows open to autumn the open casements. Grand, it overawes the forty provinces of Western Sichuan writes the tower's sway. The two lines, one writing the cloud-bird height and eight autumn windows, one writing the grand overawing of Western Sichuan's forty provinces, write to the full the feeling of the towering height and the grand sway. Rising through the tower, deep and heroic, the fine brush of rising through the tower.

诸将莫贪羌族马，最高层处见边头。

Generals, do not covet the horses of the Qiang tribes — from the highest storey one can see the frontier's very edge.

诸将莫贪羌族马，最高层处见边头。

Generals, covet not the Qiang horses; from the highest storey you may see the frontier.

结句写诸将莫贪羌族马，是全诗立意的落点。「诸将莫贪羌族马」写诸将莫贪羌族马，「诸将莫贪」写诸将莫贪、「羌族马」写羌族马；「最高层处见边头」写最高层处见边头，「最高层处」写最高层处、「见边头」写见边头。两句一写诸将莫贪羌族马、一写最高层处见边头，以诸将莫贪羌族马写莫贪羌马、以最高层处见边头写见边头，写尽诸将莫贪羌族马、最高层处见边头之情。以见写情，深沉而豪迈，是全诗最动人处，也是「以见写情」的点睛之笔。

The closing line writes generals, covet not the Qiang horses, the landing of the whole's bent. The words generals, covet not write the warning; the Qiang horses the tribal cavalry. From the highest storey you may see the frontier writes the wide prospect. The two lines, one writing the not coveting of the Qiang horses, one writing the frontier seen from the highest storey, write to the full the feeling of the warning and the prospect. Writing feeling through the prospect, deep and heroic, the most moving place of the whole and the eye-dotting brush.

Study

Word focus

云鸟 Clouds and birds, the two markers by which Chinese poetry measures height. To be level with them is to be above the human world, which is what gives the tower its emblematic force: it is not merely tall, it occupies the position from which a whole province can be surveyed. 「云鸟」写平临云鸟八窗秋，是写云鸟之态的关键。「平临云鸟八窗秋」着一「云鸟」，写云鸟——着一「云鸟」，写平临云鸟八窗秋，见其鸟之云。两字写尽云鸟之态，是「以词写鸟」的妙笔。「云鸟」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。
四十州 The forty prefectures, a round figure for the whole of Western Shu. The number converts a building into a political fact: what the tower dominates is not scenery but an administrative region, and the poem's concern is therefore with governance as much as with view. 「四十州」写壮压西川四十州，是写四十州之态的关键。「壮压西川四十州」着一「四十州」，写四十州——着一「四十州」，写壮压西川四十州，见其州之四十。三字写尽四十州之态，是「以词写州」的点睛之词。「四十州」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。
羌族马 The horses of the Qiang, the border people's most coveted possession. The phrase compresses an entire frontier problem into three syllables: the livestock that made raids profitable and turned local friction into war. To name them is to name the cause of the trouble the poem warns against. 「羌族马」写诸将莫贪羌族马，是写羌马之态的关键。「诸将莫贪羌族马」着一「羌族马」，写羌族马——着一「羌族马」，写诸将莫贪羌族马，见其马之羌族。三字写尽羌族马之态，是「以词写马」的点睛之词。「羌族马」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。
边头 The frontier's edge, the actual line where Tang authority met the peoples beyond. Its appearance in the closing line is the poem's point: the border is not an abstraction but something visible from the tower, and therefore something the commanders can be held responsible for. 「边头」写最高层处见边头，是写边头之态的关键。「最高层处见边头」着一「边头」，写边头——着一「边头」，写最高层处见边头，见其头之边。两字写尽边头之态，是「以词写边」的点睛之词。「边头」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

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 · 同写登高凝望、深沉悲慨，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写平临云鸟八窗秋壮压西川四十州，皆于登高之中见凝望 Both are poems of climbing high and gazing, grave in feeling; one writes of rain sweeping the autumn sky, the other of a tower level with cloud and bird above forty prefectures, and both find a steady gaze within the act of looking out.

Liu Yong's lyric is a traveller's poem: the gazer is far from home, the rain-washed sky is beautiful and desolate, and the feeling turns inward toward longing. Xue Tao's quatrain also climbs and also looks out, but the gaze is political rather than personal — what she sees is a frontier and a policy failure waiting to happen. Read together they show the range of the high-place poem in Chinese tradition: the same physical act can produce private sorrow or public counsel. Liu Yong's manner is clear and melancholy; Xue Tao's is grave and forceful. The contrast is instructive for anyone studying how setting is used to license very different kinds of speech.

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」，写登高凝望、深沉悲慨，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；薛涛《筹边楼》则以「平临云鸟八窗秋，壮压西川四十州」「最高层处见边头」写云鸟八窗秋、最高层见边头。两诗同写登高凝望、深沉悲慨：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写平临云鸟八窗秋壮压西川四十州、以登楼写边塞；一为柳永之清丽、一为薛涛之豪迈，并读正可见诗写「登高凝望」的两种笔法，皆于登高之中见凝望。

 水调歌头·明月几时有 Prelude to the Water Melody: 'When Did the Bright Moon First Appear?' 苏轼 · 同写凭高感怀、豪迈超然，一写我欲乘风归去、一写平临云鸟八窗秋壮压西川四十州，皆于凭高之中见豪迈 Both poems speak from a height with a sense of larger concern; one imagines riding the wind homeward, the other warns the generals from the top storey of a frontier tower, and both achieve a kind of grandeur through elevation.

Su Shi's lyric rises from a personal occasion to cosmic reflection, its height measured in 'jade towers and jewelled mansions' and its resolution in acceptance. Xue Tao's quatrain keeps its height firmly on the ground: the tower exists to look at a border, and the poem's resolution is advice. Where Su Shi's speaker is exalted and isolated by elevation, Xue Tao's is made responsible by it. Comparing the two clarifies what is distinctive about her poem — the refusal to let height become an escape, and the insistence that a wide view carries an obligation. Both are grand, but one is grand by soaring and the other by standing firm.

苏轼《水调歌头·明月几时有》「我欲乘风归去，又恐琼楼玉宇，高处不胜寒」，写凭高感怀、豪迈超然，是宋词长调的名篇；薛涛《筹边楼》则以「平临云鸟八窗秋，壮压西川四十州」「最高层处见边头」写云鸟八窗秋、最高层见边头。两诗同写凭高感怀、豪迈超然：一写我欲乘风归去、以乘风写超然，一写平临云鸟八窗秋壮压西川四十州、以登楼写边塞；一为苏轼之超然、一为薛涛之豪迈，并读正可见诗写「凭高感怀」的两种笔法，皆于凭高之中见豪迈。