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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

春思·野花如雪绕江城

Spring Thoughts: 'Wild Flowers Like Snow Ring the River Town'

韦应物

Wei Yingwu

野花如雪绕江城，坐见年芳忆帝京。
阊阖晓开凝碧树，曾陪鸳鹭听流莺。

Wild flowers like snow ring the river town; sitting here I watch the year's glory and remember the imperial capital.
When the heavenly gates opened at dawn, the emerald trees stood still —
I once stood in the ranks of courtiers and listened to the flowing orioles.
Listen

Meaning

Wei Yingwu sits in a river town ringed with white spring blossom, and the sight of the year's glory carries him back to the capital. He remembers the palace gates opening at daybreak, the green trees standing motionless, and himself in line with the other officials, listening to the orioles. The poem holds two scenes — a present of white flowers and a past of court ceremony — and lets the memory of the second give the first its quiet sadness.

野花如雪绕江城，坐见年芳忆帝京。阊阖晓开凝碧树，曾陪鸳鹭听流莺。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] Wild flowers like snow encircle the river town; sitting and watching the year in its glory, the poet remembers the imperial capital. There, when the great gates were opened at dawn, the emerald trees stood hushed, and he once took his place among the ranked courtiers and listened to the orioles. [Structure] The first couplet gives the present scene and the turn toward memory; the second gives the memory itself, in two details rather than a summary. The poem is thus entirely composed of two pictures, and the emotion lives in the gap between them. [Imagery] 'Wild flowers like snow' is the poem's signature: white blossom that should be cheerful is described by a word that suggests cold and transience. Against it stands the recollection of the capital, where the same spring was formal, ordered and shared. [Tone] The feeling is gentle and regretful, held well within the bounds of courtesy. There is no complaint about exile, no request for recall — only the observation that the year's glory is here, and that it once was elsewhere. The restraint is characteristic of Wei Yingwu and is what gives the quatrain its dignity.

【白话串讲】 韦应物写《春思·野花如雪绕江城》：“野花如雪绕江城，坐见年芳忆帝京”——“阊阖晓开凝碧树，曾陪鸳鹭听流莺”——他写春思忆京——坐见年芳忆帝京。 【意象与手法】 “野花如雪绕江城，坐见年芳忆帝京”写野花忆京；“阊阖晓开凝碧树，曾陪鸳鹭听流莺”以阊阖鸳鹭写旧日朝班；结以“曾陪鸳鹭听流莺”写旧游。清婉怀人。 【情感与主旨】 韦应物写春思之作，写野花如雪绕江城而忆帝京，追忆曾陪鸳鹭听流莺的朝班旧事，体现对京华旧日的怀念，是韦应物诗中的清婉之作。 【名句点睛】 常考“野花如雪绕江城，坐见年芳忆帝京”以野花如雪写忆京；“阊阖晓开凝碧树，曾陪鸳鹭听流莺”以鸳鹭写朝班旧事。

Background

Wei Yingwu (737-792) was a native of Chang'an and is best known for landscape and retirement poetry in a plain, spare style; he served in several provincial posts and is often called Wei Suzhou from his governorship of Suzhou. This poem belongs to a group of short pieces in which a seasonal sight in the provinces calls up the capital he has left. The 'heavenly gates' are the palace gates of Chang'an, and the ranks of courtiers are described by the traditional image of mandarin ducks and egrets standing in ordered rows, a standard figure for the assembled officials at audience. The orioles belong to the same world: the trees of the palace grounds and the birdsong heard while waiting for the morning court to open. The poem's whole weight rests on the reader knowing that the speaker is now outside that order.

《春思·野花如雪绕江城》为唐代诗人韦应物所作诗。韦应物（737—792），京兆长安人，唐代诗人，以山水田园诗著称。此诗写春思怀人，为春日思归之作。诗中「野花如雪绕江城，坐见年芳忆帝京」写野花如雪绕江城，坐见年芳忆帝京；「阊阖晓开凝碧树，曾陪鸳鹭听流莺」写阊阖晓开凝碧树，曾陪鸳鹭听流莺。韦应物此诗以春思怀人、曾陪鸳鹭听流莺写其怀人之情，清婉怀人，是韦应物诗中的名篇。此篇《春思·野花如雪绕江城》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《春思·野花如雪绕江城》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 juxtaposition without comment. The poet sets two scenes side by side — white blossom around a provincial town, green stillness at the palace gates — and says nothing about how he feels. The connection is made by the single word 'remember' in the first couplet, and everything after that is pure image. The comparison of wild flowers to snow is the decisive stroke: it gives the present scene the coldness of the thing it resembles, so that spring and winter, flowering and fading, are present together. The second couplet works by stillness rather than action — the gates open, the trees stand motionless, and the courtiers listen — and the hush it describes is exactly the hush of the remembered morning, held intact after many years. The close, with its orioles, leaves the poem on a sound rather than a thought.

此诗艺术上以「清婉怀人、以花写情」见长。全诗共四句两联，由野花如雪绕江城而阊阖晓开凝碧树。起「野花如雪绕江城，坐见年芳忆帝京」写野花如雪绕江城：野花如雪绕江城，坐见年芳忆帝京；结「阊阖晓开凝碧树，曾陪鸳鹭听流莺」写阊阖晓开凝碧树：阊阖晓开凝碧树，曾陪鸳鹭听流莺。全诗以花写情，由野花如雪绕江城而曾陪鸳鹭听流莺，清婉怀人，是韦应物诗中的名篇。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 the standard diction of court poetry. The 'heavenly gates' refers to the great gates of the palace, a phrase with cosmological overtones that mark the emperor's residence as the pivot of the world. The ranks of courtiers are rendered by the traditional pairing of mandarin ducks and egrets, birds famous for standing and flying in perfect order, which had been the conventional figure for the arrayed officialdom since the Han. The 'emerald trees' are the palace plantations, and the orioles are the birds of the capital's spring, a stock presence in verses written about court life. None of these is obscure to a Tang reader; together they construct an entire world, so that the poet's single word 'remember' is enough to move the reader out of the river town and into Chang'an.

诗中「野花如雪绕江城坐见年芳忆帝京」「阊阖晓开凝碧树曾陪鸳鹭听流莺」等语，皆含典故故实。「野花如雪绕江城坐见年芳忆帝京」写野花如雪绕江城坐见年芳忆帝京；「阊阖晓开凝碧树曾陪鸳鹭听流莺」用阊阖、鸳鹭之典（阊阖写宫门，鸳鹭写朝班），写阊阖晓开凝碧树曾陪鸳鹭听流莺。诗人用阊阖、鸳鹭之典入诗，不着痕迹，而把春思怀人之情写得真切可感，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

The poem is usually grouped with Wei Yingwu's other brief lyrics of recollection and is valued for its quietness. Critics have noted that the poem of remembering the capital is one of the most conventional subjects in Chinese verse, and that what distinguishes this one is how little is made of it: no reproach against fortune, no flattery of the throne, only two pictures placed side by side. The first line is the one most often quoted, and its comparison of blossom to snow has been praised for saying two things at once. It is also cited as evidence of the poet's characteristic manner, in which strong feeling is conveyed by understatement and by the choice of a single telling adjective.

这首《春思·野花如雪绕江城》，是韦应物写春思怀人之作，写野花如雪绕江城、阊阖晓开凝碧树、曾陪鸳鹭听流莺之情，清婉怀人。起「野花如雪绕江城，坐见年芳忆帝京」——野花如雪绕江城，坐见年芳忆帝京。写野花如雪绕江城：野花如雪绕江城、坐见年芳忆帝京——绕江城、忆帝京；结「阊阖晓开凝碧树，曾陪鸳鹭听流莺」——阊阖晓开凝碧树，曾陪鸳鹭听流莺。写阊阖晓开凝碧树：阊阖晓开凝碧树、曾陪鸳鹭听流莺——凝碧树、听流莺。这「阊阖晓开凝碧树，曾陪鸳鹭听流莺」，是全诗之结：以曾陪鸳鹭听流莺写其怀人。全诗清婉怀人，以花写情，正是韦应物诗中的名篇。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, rhyming in the level tone on 'capital' and 'oriole', both in the geng class. The third line closes obliquely and does not rhyme, which is the standard break, so that the poem opens on a statement, pauses, and resolves on the remembered sound of birdsong.此诗为七言绝句，共四句两联。押韵：「京」「莺」押庚部韵。前两句起、后两句转合，平仄相间，正与写春思怀人的清婉怀人相称，也见其以七绝写怀人的凝练。
Tone pattern The first couplet is even and unhurried, appropriate to a man sitting and watching; the second, with its remembered scene, slows further, and the adjective 'still' seems to hold the line in place. The final line returns to a level close on the rhyme word 'oriole', so the poem ends on a sound — which is exactly the effect the closing image asks for. The regular alternation of level and oblique keeps the recollection composed rather than wistful.句式上，「野花如雪绕江城，坐见年芳忆帝京」写野花如雪绕江城，音节清婉；结「阊阖晓开凝碧树，曾陪鸳鹭听流莺」写阊阖晓开凝碧树，音节悠长。全诗音节随情起伏，由清婉而悠长，正合七绝「凝练」之妙，读来如春思怀人、曾陪鸳鹭听流莺之音，清婉而动人。
Reading note The piece is a heptasyllabic quatrain and observes the standard pattern: four lines, a single level rhyme in the even lines, an oblique close in the third, and regular tonal alternation. What is worth noticing is how the formal regularity supports the poem's restraint — the feeling is held inside a fixed shape and never allowed to overflow. The closing rhyme on the word for the singing bird is a small piece of judgement: the poem ends on the sound it has been describing. As a specimen of Wei Yingwu's plain manner, it shows how little machinery is needed when the images are chosen well.此诗为七言绝句，是韦应物写春思怀人之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「清婉怀人、以花写情」：「野花如雪绕江城，坐见年芳忆帝京」写野花如雪绕江城、「阊阖晓开凝碧树，曾陪鸳鹭听流莺」写阊阖晓开凝碧树。全诗清婉怀人，以花写情。尤为精妙者，是「野花如雪绕江城」写尽绕江城；而「曾陪鸳鹭听流莺」用鸳鹭之典，正是韦应物诗「清婉怀人」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《春思·野花如雪绕江城》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

野花如雪绕江城，坐见年芳忆帝京。

Wild flowers like snow ring the river town; sitting here I watch the year's glory and remember the imperial capital.

野花如雪绕江城，坐见年芳忆帝京。

Wild flowers like snow ring the river town; sitting and watching the spring bloom, I think of the capital.

起句写野花如雪绕江城，起笔即见其野花。「野花如雪绕江城」写野花如雪绕江城，「野花如雪」写野花如雪、「绕江城」写绕江城；「坐见年芳忆帝京」写坐见年芳忆帝京，「坐见年芳」写坐见年芳、「忆帝京」写忆帝京。一句写野花如雪绕江城坐见年芳忆帝京，以野花如雪绕江城写绕江城、以坐见年芳忆帝京写忆帝京，写尽野花如雪绕江城、坐见年芳忆帝京之情。以花起兴，清婉而怀人，是「以花起兴」的妙笔。

The opening line writes wild flowers like snow ring the river town, the wild flowers at once. The words wild flowers like snow write the pale blooms; ring the river town the riverside setting. Sitting and watching the spring bloom, I think of the capital writes the memory. The line writes to the full the feeling of the snow-like flowers and the memory of the capital. Rising through the flower, clear-tender and longing, the fine brush of rising through the flower.

阊阖晓开凝碧树，

When the heavenly gates opened at dawn, the emerald trees stood still —

阊阖晓开凝碧树，

At dawn the Gate of Heaven opens over the deep-green trees,

此句写阊阖晓开凝碧树，是全诗写阊阖之态的关键。「阊阖晓开」用阊阖之典写阊阖晓开，「阊阖」写阊阖、「晓开」写晓开；「凝碧树」写凝碧树，「凝碧」写凝碧、「树」写树。一句写阊阖晓开凝碧树，以阊阖晓开写晓开、以凝碧树写凝碧树，写尽阊阖晓开凝碧树之情。以门写景，清婉而怀人，是「以门写景」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 at dawn the Gate of Heaven opens over the deep-green trees, the key of the whole's writing the gate. It uses the Gate of Heaven allusion; the words at dawn the gate opens write the morning court; the deep-green trees the palace greenery. The line writes to the full the feeling of the dawn-opening gate. Writing scenery through the gate, clear-tender and longing, 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.

曾陪鸳鹭听流莺。

I once stood in the ranks of courtiers and listened to the flowing orioles.

曾陪鸳鹭听流莺。

where once I walked with the mandarin ducks and egrets, listening to the singing orioles.

结句写曾陪鸳鹭听流莺，是全诗立意的落点。「曾陪鸳鹭」用鸳鹭之典写曾陪鸳鹭，「曾陪」写曾陪、「鸳鹭」写鸳鹭；「听流莺」写听流莺，「听」写听、「流莺」写流莺。一句写曾陪鸳鹭听流莺，以曾陪鸳鹭写鸳鹭、以听流莺写听流莺，写尽曾陪鸳鹭听流莺之情。以莺写情，清婉而怀人，是全诗最动人处，也是「以莺写情」的点睛之笔。

The closing line writes where once I walked with the mandarin ducks and egrets, listening to the singing orioles, the landing of the whole's bent. It uses the mandarin ducks and egrets allusion for the court colleagues; the words once I walked write the old service. Listening to the singing orioles writes the old morning court. The line writes to the full the feeling of the old colleagues and the oriole song. Writing feeling through the oriole, clear-tender and longing, the most moving place of the whole and the eye-dotting brush.

Study

Word focus

野花 Wild flowers, uncultivated and unowned, the opposite of the planted greenery of the palace. The word quietly establishes the poet's situation: what surrounds him now grows without anyone's ordering, and its whiteness is what carries him back to a place where everything was arranged. 「野花」写野花如雪绕江城，是写野花之态的关键。「野花如雪绕江城」着一「野花」，写野花——着一「野花」，写野花如雪绕江城，见其花之野。两字写尽野花之态，是「以词写花」的妙笔。「野花」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。
年芳 The year's glory, the blossoming prime of the season. That the poet merely 'sits and watches' it is the point — he is a spectator of a spring in which he no longer has a part, and the word's pleasantness sharpens the contrast with what he remembers. 「年芳」写坐见年芳忆帝京，是写年芳之态的关键。「坐见年芳忆帝京」着一「年芳」，写年芳——着一「年芳」，写坐见年芳忆帝京，见其芳之年。两字写尽年芳之态，是「以词写芳」的点睛之词。「年芳」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。
阊阖 The heavenly gates, the name for the great gates of the imperial palace, with cosmological overtones that mark the emperor's residence as the pivot of the world. Opening them at dawn was the act that began the day's audience, and the word alone carries the whole weight of court ceremony. 「阊阖」写阊阖晓开凝碧树，是写阊阖之态的关键。「阊阖晓开凝碧树」着一「阊阖」，写阊阖——着一「阊阖」，写阊阖晓开凝碧树，见其阖之阊。两字写尽阊阖之态，是「以词写阖」的点睛之词。「阊阖」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。
流莺 The flowing oriole, the birdsong of the capital's spring and a stock presence in poetry about court life. Ending on it means the poem closes on a sound rather than a thought, and the sound is one the poet heard while standing in the ranks and can no longer hear. 「流莺」写曾陪鸳鹭听流莺，是写流莺之态的关键。「曾陪鸳鹭听流莺」着一「流莺」，写流莺——着一「流莺」，写曾陪鸳鹭听流莺，见其莺之流。两字写尽流莺之态，是「以词写莺」的点睛之词。「流莺」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。

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水调歌头·明月几时有 Prelude to the Water Melody: 'When Did the Bright Moon First Appear?' 苏轼 · 同写怀人感怀、清婉旷达，一写但愿人长久、一写野花如雪绕江城坐见年芳忆帝京，皆于怀人之中见清婉 Both poems think of an absent place and the people belonging to it; one wishes that men might live long and share the moon across a thousand leagues, the other remembers the palace gates and the ranks of courtiers, and both handle absence with composure.

Su Shi's lyric turns absence into something shared: the moon is visible to both parties, and the blessing reaches across distance. Wei Yingwu's quatrain offers no such consolation; the capital is not somewhere he can look toward, only somewhere he remembers, and what he recalls is a formality in which he once had a place. One poem resolves by making the absent present, the other by holding the recollection steady. Read together they show two very different responses to the same situation, and the difference is one of temperament rather than of skill.

苏轼《水调歌头·明月几时有》「但愿人长久，千里共婵娟」，写怀人感怀、清婉旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；韦应物《春思·野花如雪绕江城》则以「野花如雪绕江城，坐见年芳忆帝京」「曾陪鸳鹭听流莺」写忆帝京、听流莺。两诗同写怀人感怀、清婉旷达：一写但愿人长久、以千里共婵娟写思亲，一写野花如雪绕江城坐见年芳忆帝京、以野花写怀人；一为苏轼之旷达、一为韦应物之清婉，并读正可见诗写「怀人感怀」的两种笔法，皆于怀人之中见清婉。

 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 · 同写江城凝望、清婉清丽，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写野花如雪绕江城坐见年芳忆帝京，皆于江城之中见凝望 Both are set in a river town and involve a long look outward; one faces rain over an autumn river and thinks of someone far away, the other watches white blossom around the town and remembers the capital, and both make the scene a threshold to what is absent.

Liu Yong's speaker is caught in the present: the rain, the failing autumn, the repeated washing of the clear season, and the gaze that cannot reach its object. Wei Yingwu's speaker moves out of the present almost immediately — the flowers are seen and then, by a single word, become a memory of somewhere else. One is a poem of being stuck, the other of being carried. Both use the same structure of looking out across water, and the comparison shows how much depends on whether the look stays or travels.

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」，写江城凝望、清婉清丽，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；韦应物《春思·野花如雪绕江城》则以「野花如雪绕江城，坐见年芳忆帝京」「阊阖晓开凝碧树」写忆帝京、凝碧树。两诗同写江城凝望、清婉清丽：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写野花如雪绕江城坐见年芳忆帝京、以野花写怀人；一为柳永之清丽、一为韦应物之清婉，并读正可见诗写「江城凝望」的两种笔法，皆于江城之中见凝望。