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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

酬程延秋夜即事见赠

Replying to Cheng Yan's Poem 'Written on the Spot One Autumn Night and Presented to Me'

韩翃

Han Hong

长簟迎风早空城澹月华星河秋一雁砧杵夜千家节候看应晚心期卧亦赊向来吟秀句不觉已鸣鸦

The long bamboo mat meets the wind early; the empty city is pale with moonlight.
The star river in autumn, a single wild goose; the washing stones at night, a thousand homes.
Judging by the season, it must already be late; the heart's appointment is deferred even as I lie down.
All this while I have been chanting your lovely lines, and did not notice the crows have begun to cry.
Listen

Meaning

Han Hong answers a friend's gift of an autumn-night poem by describing the night in which he read it: an early wind on the mat, a city washed pale by moonlight, one goose crossing the Milky Way, and the sound of fulling stones from a thousand houses. The season is clearly late, and the meeting he longs for keeps being postponed. He closes by telling his friend that he has been reciting the lovely lines so absorbed that dawn has arrived without his noticing.

长簟迎风早空城澹月华星河秋一雁砧杵夜千家节候看应晚心期卧亦赊向来吟秀句不觉已鸣鸦

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The mat is long, the wind comes early, and the moonlight lies pale over a quiet city; across the Milky Way one autumn goose passes while the sound of fulling stones rises from a thousand houses at night. The season, by all signs, must be far advanced; the meeting of hearts is put off even as the poet lies down. And all this time he has been murmuring his friend's fine verses, not noticing that the crows are already crying at dawn. [Imagery] The middle couplet is the famous one: a single goose against the whole breadth of the star river, and a thousand households answering with the beat of fulling. The contrast of one and many, sky and earth, silence and sound, creates the very texture of an autumn night. [Structure] An eight-line regulated poem in four couplets: setting, the night's two great images, inward feeling, and finally the compliment that gives the poem its social purpose. [Tone] The mood is clear, cool and companionable. There is loneliness in the empty city and the deferred meeting, but the close converts it into friendship: the night was spent with someone else's lines, and dawn comes as a pleasant surprise rather than a reproach.

【白话串讲】 韩翃写《酬程延秋夜即事见赠》：“长簟迎风早，空城澹月华”——“星河秋一雁，砧杵夜千家”——“节候看应晚，心期卧亦赊”——“向来吟秀句，不觉已鸣鸦”——他酬答友人——星河秋一雁。 【意象与手法】 “长簟迎风早，空城澹月华”写秋夜之景；“星河秋一雁，砧杵夜千家”以星河一雁写秋夜；“节候看应晚，心期卧亦赊”写心期；结以“向来吟秀句，不觉已鸣鸦”写吟诗忘时。清丽秋夜。 【情感与主旨】 韩翃酬答友人秋夜之作，写秋夜空城月华、星河一雁的清景与吟友秀句的雅兴，是秋夜酬赠诗的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“星河秋一雁，砧杵夜千家”以星河一雁写秋夜；“向来吟秀句，不觉已鸣鸦”以不觉鸣鸦写吟诗忘时。

Background

Han Hong, courtesy name Junping, was a native of Nanyang and one of the group known as the Ten Talents of the Dali era, the generation of poets who worked in the decades after the An Lushan rebellion. Their verse tends to be polished, restrained and often occasional — written to, for, or in answer to friends and officials. This poem is a 'chou' or answering piece: a poem replying to one received, and expected to acknowledge the gift while showing equal skill. The recipient, Cheng Yan, is otherwise little known, which is typical of the Dali world, where a large part of poetic production circulated among middle-ranking officials. The fulling stones of the third line remind us that autumn was the season when families prepared winter clothing, a sound inseparable from thoughts of absence and of soldiers far away.

《酬程延秋夜即事见赠》为唐代诗人韩翃所作诗。韩翃，字君平，南阳人，唐代诗人，大历十才子之一。此诗写秋夜酬赠，为酬程延之作。诗中「长簟迎风早空城澹月华」写长簟迎风早空城澹月华；「星河秋一雁砧杵夜千家」写星河秋一雁砧杵夜千家；「节候看应晚心期卧亦赊」写节候看应晚心期卧亦赊；「向来吟秀句不觉已鸣鸦」写向来吟秀句不觉已鸣鸦。韩翃此诗以秋夜酬赠、不觉已鸣鸦写其酬赠之情，清丽秋夜，是韩翃诗中的名篇。此篇《酬程延秋夜即事见赠》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《酬程延秋夜即事见赠》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 poem's craft lies in the balance of its middle couplet and in the modulation of its close. 'The star river in autumn, a single wild goose' rises; 'the washing stones at night, a thousand homes' descends; the two together map the whole vertical space of the night and give the poem its stillness and its muted sound. As a regulated poem it requires antithesis between the middle lines, and Han Hong satisfies the requirement so naturally that the parallelism reads as observation rather than as rule-following. The third couplet turns inward with a quiet grammatical cleverness — the season 'must be late', the heart's appointment is 'deferred even as I lie down' — so that time and intention are shown pulling against each other. The final couplet supplies the compliment that the genre demands, and does it through a small dramatization: the speaker has lost track of the hours. Praise of the friend's lines becomes a measure of their power.

此诗艺术上以「清丽秋夜、以雁写情」见长。全诗共八句四联，由长簟迎风早而星河秋一雁而节候看应晚。起「长簟迎风早空城澹月华」写长簟迎风早：长簟迎风早空城澹月华；「星河秋一雁砧杵夜千家」写星河秋一雁：星河秋一雁砧杵夜千家；「节候看应晚心期卧亦赊」写节候看应晚：节候看应晚心期卧亦赊；结「向来吟秀句不觉已鸣鸦」写不觉已鸣鸦：向来吟秀句不觉已鸣鸦。全诗以雁写情，由长簟迎风早而不觉已鸣鸦，清丽秋夜，是韩翃诗中的名篇。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。

Allusions

The imagery belongs to a well-established autumn repertory. The single goose crossing the sky is the traditional messenger and emblem of separation, carrying with it the lore of the wild goose's southward flight and of letters tied to a goose's foot. The fulling stones — the blocks on which cloth was beaten soft — are a standard autumn sound in Tang poetry, associated with women preparing winter garments for absent husbands at the frontier; to hear them from 'a thousand homes' is to hear the whole city sharing one seasonal anxiety. The long bamboo mat evokes the late-summer bed put away too soon, another sign that the year has turned. Finally the crows crying at dawn mark the end of the night and so quietly reproach the poet for sitting up; the motif of the reader who does not notice daybreak is an old compliment to the power of writing.

诗中「长簟迎风早空城澹月华」「星河秋一雁砧杵夜千家」「节候看应晚心期卧亦赊」「向来吟秀句不觉已鸣鸦」等语，皆含典故故实。「长簟迎风早空城澹月华」写长簟迎风早空城澹月华；「星河秋一雁砧杵夜千家」写星河秋一雁砧杵夜千家；「节候看应晚心期卧亦赊」写节候看应晚心期卧亦赊；「向来吟秀句不觉已鸣鸦」写向来吟秀句不觉已鸣鸦。诗人以长簟、星河等语入诗，不着痕迹，而把秋夜酬赠之情写得真切可感，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。

Commentary

The poem is usually discussed as a representative Dali-period regulated verse: technically correct, quietly beautiful, and typical of a generation more interested in refinement than in grandeur. The middle couplet is the passage most often quoted and most often singled out by critics for its handling of scale — one goose set against the galaxy, a thousand houses reduced to a single repeated sound. Later readers have also noted how well the poem solves the problem of its genre: an answering poem must praise the sender without flattering him, and Han Hong does it by reporting an effect rather than offering an opinion. The piece has remained a standard illustration of how the regulated eight-line form can hold a complete movement from scene to feeling to social gesture within a very small compass.

这首《酬程延秋夜即事见赠》，是韩翃写秋夜酬赠之作，写长簟迎风早、星河秋一雁、节候看应晚、不觉已鸣鸦之情，清丽秋夜。起「长簟迎风早空城澹月华」——长簟迎风早空城澹月华。写长簟迎风早：长簟迎风早、空城澹月华——迎风早、澹月华；「星河秋一雁砧杵夜千家」——星河秋一雁砧杵夜千家。写星河秋一雁：星河秋一雁、砧杵夜千家——秋一雁、夜千家；「节候看应晚心期卧亦赊」——节候看应晚心期卧亦赊。写节候看应晚：节候看应晚、心期卧亦赊——看应晚、卧亦赊；结「向来吟秀句不觉已鸣鸦」——向来吟秀句不觉已鸣鸦。写不觉已鸣鸦：向来吟秀句、不觉已鸣鸦——吟秀句、已鸣鸦。这「向来吟秀句不觉已鸣鸦」，是全诗之结：以不觉已鸣鸦写其酬赠。全诗清丽秋夜，以雁写情，正是韩翃诗中的名篇。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。

Prosody

Form Five-character regulated poem诗（五言律诗）
Rhyme An eight-line pentasyllabic regulated verse in four couplets. The rhymes — 'moonlight', 'homes', 'deferred' and 'crows' — all fall in the level-tone ma rhyme class, carried in lines two, four, six and eight as the form requires. Level and oblique tones alternate in the prescribed pattern and the middle couplets are strictly antithetical, so the poem sounds even and unhurried, matching its cool, clear night.此诗为五言律诗，共八句四联。押韵：「华」「家」「赊」「鸦」押麻部韵。平仄相间，对仗工整，正与写秋夜酬赠的清丽秋夜相称，也见其以律诗写酬赠的凝练。
Tone pattern The rhythm moves in stages. The opening couplet is level and quiet, establishing stillness; the second opens out with the wide sky image; the third turns low and reflective as the poet speaks of the deferred meeting; the close settles again as dawn arrives. This steady modulation is exactly what the regulated form is designed to produce, and here it lets a night pass in twenty lines without a single abrupt transition.句式上，「长簟迎风早空城澹月华」写长簟迎风早，音节清丽；「星河秋一雁砧杵夜千家」写星河秋一雁，音节悠长；「节候看应晚心期卧亦赊」写节候看应晚，音节低回；结「向来吟秀句不觉已鸣鸦」写不觉已鸣鸦，音节沉郁。全诗音节随情起伏，由清丽而悠长、由低回而沉郁，正合律诗「凝练」之妙，读来如秋夜酬赠、不觉已鸣鸦之音，清丽而动人。
Reading note As a pentasyllabic regulated poem the piece observes the conventions strictly: eight lines, four couplets, a single level rhyme, antithesis in the middle, and a prescribed pattern of level and oblique tones. What is remarkable is how little the constraint shows. The famous middle couplet reads as natural observation, and the closing couplet performs its social function — praising the friend's poem — by means of a small scene rather than a statement. The even, unhurried sound of the ma rhyme suits the clear cool night the poem describes, and the whole may be taken as a model of Dali-period finish.此诗为五言律诗，是韩翃写秋夜酬赠之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「清丽秋夜、以雁写情」：「长簟迎风早空城澹月华」写长簟迎风早、「星河秋一雁砧杵夜千家」写星河秋一雁、「节候看应晚心期卧亦赊」写节候看应晚、「向来吟秀句不觉已鸣鸦」写不觉已鸣鸦。全诗清丽秋夜，以雁写情。尤为精妙者，是「星河秋一雁」写尽秋一雁；而「不觉已鸣鸦」写尽已鸣鸦，正是韩翃诗「清丽秋夜」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《酬程延秋夜即事见赠》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

长簟迎风早空城澹月华

The long bamboo mat meets the wind early; the empty city is pale with moonlight.

长簟迎风早空城澹月华

The long bamboo mat catches the early breeze; the empty city floats in the moon's pale light.

起句写长簟迎风早，起笔即见其长簟。「长簟迎风早」写长簟迎风早，「长簟」写长簟、「迎风早」写迎风早；「空城澹月华」写空城澹月华，「空城」写空城、「澹月华」写澹月华。一句写长簟迎风早空城澹月华，以长簟迎风早写迎风早、以空城澹月华写澹月华，写尽长簟迎风早、空城澹月华之情。以簟起兴，清丽而秋夜，是「以簟起兴」的妙笔。

The opening line writes the long bamboo mat catches the early breeze, the mat at once. The words long bamboo mat write the couch; catches the early breeze the evening air. The empty city floats in the moon's pale light writes the quiet city. The line writes to the full the feeling of the early breeze on the mat and the moonlit empty city. Rising through the mat, fresh and clear and autumn-night, the fine brush of rising through the mat.

星河秋一雁砧杵夜千家

The star river in autumn, a single wild goose; the washing stones at night, a thousand homes.

星河秋一雁砧杵夜千家

A single autumn goose crosses the Starry River; washing-mallets sound at a thousand homes in the night.

此句写星河秋一雁，是全诗写一雁之态的关键。「星河秋一雁」写星河秋一雁，「星河」写星河、「秋一雁」写秋一雁；「砧杵夜千家」写砧杵夜千家，「砧杵」写砧杵、「夜千家」写夜千家。一句写星河秋一雁砧杵夜千家，以星河秋一雁写秋一雁、以砧杵夜千家写夜千家，写尽星河秋一雁、砧杵夜千家之情。以雁写景，清丽而秋夜，是「以雁写景」的点睛之笔。

This line writes a single autumn goose crosses the Starry River, the key of the whole's writing the goose. The words Starry River write the Milky Way; a single autumn goose the lone bird. Washing-mallets sound at a thousand homes in the night writes the laundry beat. The line writes to the full the feeling of the lone autumn goose and the thousand mallets. Writing scenery through the goose, fresh and clear and autumn-night, the eye-dotting brush.

节候看应晚心期卧亦赊

Judging by the season, it must already be late; the heart's appointment is deferred even as I lie down.

节候看应晚心期卧亦赊

The season, I see, is already late; my heart's longing, lying abed, stretches far.

此句写节候看应晚，是全诗写节候之态的关键。「节候看应晚」写节候看应晚，「节候」写节候、「看应晚」写看应晚；「心期卧亦赊」写心期卧亦赊，「心期」写心期、「卧亦赊」写卧亦赊。一句写节候看应晚心期卧亦赊，以节候看应晚写看应晚、以心期卧亦赊写卧亦赊，写尽节候看应晚、心期卧亦赊之情。以候写情，清丽而秋夜，是「以候写情」的点睛之笔。

This line writes the season, I see, is already late, the key of the whole's writing the season. The words season write the time; I see already late the lateness. My heart's longing, lying abed, stretches far writes the distant expectation. The line writes to the full the feeling of the late season and the stretching longing. Writing feeling through the season, fresh and clear and autumn-night, the eye-dotting brush.

向来吟秀句不觉已鸣鸦

All this while I have been chanting your lovely lines, and did not notice the crows have begun to cry.

向来吟秀句不觉已鸣鸦

All this while chanting your fine lines, I have not noticed the crows already cawing.

结句写不觉已鸣鸦，是全诗立意的落点。「向来吟秀句」写向来吟秀句，「向来」写向来、「吟秀句」写吟秀句；「不觉已鸣鸦」写不觉已鸣鸦，「不觉」写不觉、「已鸣鸦」写已鸣鸦。一句写向来吟秀句不觉已鸣鸦，以向来吟秀句写吟秀句、以不觉已鸣鸦写已鸣鸦，写尽向来吟秀句、不觉已鸣鸦之情。以鸦写情，清丽而秋夜，是全诗最动人处，也是「以鸦写情」的点睛之笔。

The closing line writes I have not noticed the crows already cawing, the landing of the whole's bent. The words all this while write the time past; chanting your fine lines the reading of the friend's poem. The crows already cawing writes the dawn. The line writes to the full the feeling of the chanting of fine lines and the unnoticed crow's caw. Writing feeling through the crow, fresh and clear and autumn-night, the most moving place of the whole and the eye-dotting brush.

Study

Word focus

长簟 The long bamboo sleeping mat, the summer bed not yet put away. Its presence signals the turn of the year: the wind now reaches it 'early', which is how the poem says, without stating it, that autumn has come and that the poet is lying awake. 「长簟」写长簟迎风早，是写长簟之态的关键。「长簟迎风早」着一「长簟」，写长簟——着一「长簟」，写长簟迎风早，见其簟之长。两字写尽长簟之态，是「以词写簟」的妙笔。「长簟」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。
星河 The star river, the Milky Way. It supplies the vertical scale against which the single goose is measured; the immensity of the sky is what makes one bird seem both insignificant and poignant, and it is the image that lifts the couplet out of mere description. 「星河」写星河秋一雁，是写星河之态的关键。「星河秋一雁」着一「星河」，写星河——着一「星河」，写星河秋一雁，见其河之星。两字写尽星河之态，是「以词写河」的点睛之词。「星河」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。
砧杵 The washing block and beetle, the tools with which cloth was beaten soft in preparing winter clothing. The sound they make is the characteristic noise of an autumn night in Tang poetry and carries with it associations of women at home and men away at the frontier. 「砧杵」写砧杵夜千家，是写砧杵之态的关键。「砧杵夜千家」着一「砧杵」，写砧杵——着一「砧杵」，写砧杵夜千家，见其杵之砧。两字写尽砧杵之态，是「以词写砧」的点睛之词。「砧杵」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。
节候 Season and its signs, the calendrical word for the turning year. By invoking it the poet makes his lateness a matter of natural observation rather than of private complaint: the season itself, not any person, has brought the meeting to nothing. 「节候」写节候看应晚，是写节候之态的关键。「节候看应晚」着一「节候」，写节候——着一「节候」，写节候看应晚，见其候之节。两字写尽节候之态，是「以词写候」的点睛之词。「节候」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 · 同写秋夜感怀、清丽旷达，一写人有悲欢离合、一写长簟迎风早空城澹月华，皆于秋夜之中见清丽 Both are autumn-night poems of reflection, clear and open in feeling; one speaks of the griefs and joys of parting, the other of a city pale with moonlight and a deferred meeting, and both find clarity within the season.

Su Shi's lyric takes the moon as its object and rises to a philosophical acceptance: men part and meet, the moon waxes and wanes, and nothing has ever been complete. Han Hong's poem stays close to the ground — a mat, a wind, a goose, the sound of fulling — and its acceptance is social rather than cosmic, achieved through friendship and through the exchange of verses. Read together they show two scales on which the same autumn mood can be handled. The song lyric is expansive and meditative; the regulated verse is compact and observational. Both end by converting absence into something bearable, one through reasoning, the other through company.

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」，写秋夜感怀、清丽旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；韩翃《酬程延秋夜即事见赠》则以「长簟迎风早空城澹月华」「不觉已鸣鸦」写澹月华、已鸣鸦。两诗同写秋夜感怀、清丽旷达：一写人有悲欢离合、以悲欢写离合，一写长簟迎风早空城澹月华、以长簟写秋夜；一为苏轼之旷达、一为韩翃之清丽，并读正可见诗写「秋夜感怀」的两种笔法，皆于秋夜之中见清丽。

 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 · 同写空城凝望、清丽，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写长簟迎风早空城澹月华，皆于空城之中见凝望 Both poems write of an empty city and a long gaze into the night; one faces rain sweeping the river sky, the other watches a city pale with moonlight, and both find clarity in the act of looking out across a quiet landscape.

Liu Yong's speaker looks across a rain-washed autumn river and sees only distance and separation; the emptiness is his own. Han Hong's empty city is emptier and yet less desolate, because it is filled with the small sounds of a thousand households at their autumn work and because a friend's poem is in his hands. Where Liu Yong's clarity is melancholy, Han Hong's is companionable. The comparison is useful for seeing how similar imagery — a wide sky, a quiet city, the season turning — can be tuned to opposite feelings by the company the speaker keeps and the purpose the poem serves.

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」，写空城凝望、清丽，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；韩翃《酬程延秋夜即事见赠》则以「长簟迎风早空城澹月华」「星河秋一雁」写澹月华、秋一雁。两诗同写空城凝望、清丽：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写长簟迎风早空城澹月华、以长簟写秋夜；一为柳永之清丽、一为韩翃之清丽，并读正可见诗写「空城凝望」的两种笔法，皆于空城之中见凝望。