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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

对雪

Facing Snow

高骈

Gao Pian

六出飞花入户时，坐看青竹变琼枝。
如今好上高楼望，盖尽人间恶路岐。

When the six-petalled flying blossoms enter my door,
I sit and watch the green bamboo turn to jade branches.
Now is the time to climb the high tower and look out:
it has covered over all the crooked, evil roads of the world.
Listen

Meaning

The poem watches snow arrive and transform the world. Indoors, the speaker sees the green bamboo outside his window turn into branches of jade; outdoors, he realises that the snow has buried every twisting, treacherous path that people use. The delight in the beautiful transformation carries a moral undertone: the snow does in an hour what men will not do in a lifetime - it makes the crooked world straight and clean.

六出飞花入户时，坐看青竹变琼枝。如今好上高楼望，盖尽人间恶路岐。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] As the six-pointed flying flowers drift in at my door, I sit and watch the green bamboo become branches of jade. This is the moment to go up the high tower and look: the snow has covered every base and winding road in the world.<br>[Structure] The first couplet is intimate and close-up: snow at the doorway, bamboo at the window. The second couplet pulls back to a wide view from a tower and converts the pretty scene into a judgement on the world. The move from the small to the large is the whole design of the poem.<br>[Imagery] The central image is transformation by whiteness. Bamboo, already an emblem of integrity, is transmuted into jade; roads, emblems of human traffic and human scheming, are simply erased. The vocabulary of value - jade, high tower, crooked paths - keeps the reader aware that this is more than weather.<br>[Mood] The tone is bright and celebratory, unusual for snow poems, which tend toward cold and hardship. There is a flash of satisfaction in the last line, as though the speaker enjoyed seeing the world's dirtiness briefly hidden.

【白话串讲】 高骈写《对雪》：“六出飞花入户时，坐看青竹变琼枝”——“如今好上高楼望，盖尽人间恶路岐”——他写对雪——盖尽人间恶路岐。 【意象与手法】 “六出飞花入户时，坐看青竹变琼枝”写雪落青竹变琼枝；“如今好上高楼望”写登高望雪；结以“盖尽人间恶路岐”以雪盖恶路写雪之净。清新明丽。 【情感与主旨】 高骈写对雪之作，写雪落青竹变琼枝的美景，以“盖尽人间恶路岐”写雪掩盖人间歧路，寄寓对人间险恶的感慨，是对雪诗中的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“六出飞花入户时，坐看青竹变琼枝”写雪变琼枝；“如今好上高楼望，盖尽人间恶路岐”以雪盖恶路写感慨。

Background

Gao Pian (821-887), courtesy name Qianli, was a native of Youzhou, near modern Beijing, and one of the notable soldier-poets of the late Tang. He commanded against the Nanzhao incursions in the south-west and later held great military power in Huainan, where his career ended in rebellion and disgrace. His surviving poems are few and mostly occasional, but this quatrain has kept a place in every popular anthology. Written by a man who spent his life among armies and factional intrigue, its last line reads very differently from a scholar's snow poem: the crooked roads buried under white are not only physical lanes but the devious paths of public life that he knew at first hand.

《对雪》为唐代诗人高骈所作诗。高骈（821—887），字千里，幽州（今北京西南）人，唐代将领、诗人。此诗写景感怀，为咏雪之作。诗中「六出飞花入户时，坐看青竹变琼枝」写六出飞花入户时，坐看青竹变琼枝；「如今好上高楼望，盖尽人间恶路岐」写如今好上高楼望，盖尽人间恶路岐。高骈此诗以写景感怀、盖尽人间恶路岐写其感怀之情，清新明丽，是高骈诗中的名篇。此篇《对雪》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《对雪》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《对雪》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 art is the art of scale and of a single decisive verb. It opens with the smallest possible observation - snowflakes coming in at a door - and closes with the largest possible claim, about the whole human world. The transformation of bamboo into jade is managed with one word, and it does double duty: it flatters the eye and it quietly moralises, since bamboo and jade are both standing emblems of the gentleman. The last line is where the craft is most obvious. The word for evil or base attached to forked roads turns a landscape feature into an ethical one, and the verb of covering over converts a snowfall into an act of purification. Nothing is explained, no lesson is drawn; the reader makes the connection between whiteness and uprightness unaided, which is why the poem can be enjoyed by a child and pondered by an adult.

此诗艺术上以「清新明丽、以雪写情」见长。全诗共四句，由六出飞花入户时而坐看青竹变琼枝而如今好上高楼望。起「六出飞花入户时，坐看青竹变琼枝」写六出飞花入户时：六出飞花入户时，坐看青竹变琼枝；「如今好上高楼望，盖尽人间恶路岐」写如今好上高楼望：如今好上高楼望，盖尽人间恶路岐。全诗以雪写情，由六出飞花入户时而盖尽人间恶路岐，清新明丽，是高骈诗中的名篇。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 six-petalled blossom is the traditional Chinese description of a snowflake, which was observed to have six points; the phrase had been in use since the Han and gives the opening line both precision and charm. Turning bamboo into jade draws on the long association of bamboo with the unyielding gentleman and of jade with purified virtue. The closing image of forked and crooked roads echoes a common Chinese figure for moral error and lost direction, familiar from the old saying that one weeps at the forking of the road. Gao Pian quotes nothing directly; he takes three well-worn associations and makes them do new work in four lines.

诗中「六出飞花入户时坐看青竹变琼枝」「如今好上高楼望盖尽人间恶路岐」等语，皆含典故故实。「六出飞花入户时坐看青竹变琼枝」写六出飞花入户时坐看青竹变琼枝；「如今好上高楼望盖尽人间恶路岐」写如今好上高楼望盖尽人间恶路岐。诗人以六出、琼枝等语入诗，不着痕迹，而把写景感怀之情写得真切可感，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

This quatrain has been a favourite in elementary readers for centuries because its first couplet is so immediately pleasing, yet critics have always returned to the second. Later commentators noted that the poem's originality lies in refusing the conventional snow-poem complaint about cold and poverty, and in turning instead to a moral satisfaction that almost no other snow poem expresses. Some readers, knowing Gao Pian's career as a warlord, have heard irony in the last line - a man who had walked many crooked paths delighting in their temporary erasure. Whether or not that biographical reading is intended, the poem's durability comes from its double register: a perfectly clear picture of a snowfall that also reads as a wish about the world.

这首《对雪》，是高骈写写景感怀之作，写六出飞花入户时、坐看青竹变琼枝、盖尽人间恶路岐之情，清新明丽。起「六出飞花入户时，坐看青竹变琼枝」——六出飞花入户时，坐看青竹变琼枝。写六出飞花入户时：六出飞花入户时、坐看青竹变琼枝——六出飞花入户、青竹变琼枝；「如今好上高楼望，盖尽人间恶路岐」——如今好上高楼望，盖尽人间恶路岐。写如今好上高楼望：如今好上高楼望、盖尽人间恶路岐——好上高楼望、盖尽恶路岐。这「如今好上高楼望，盖尽人间恶路岐」，是全诗之结：以盖尽人间恶路岐写其感怀。全诗清新明丽，以雪写情，正是高骈诗中的名篇。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 (qi yan jue ju), four lines of seven syllables, in the modern regulated manner.诗（七言绝句）
Rhyme A level-tone rhyme runs through the first, second and fourth line-endings, with the third line left unrhymed to mark the turn. The pure, open quality of this rhyme suits the brightness of a snow-lit world.此诗为七言绝句，共四句，两句一联。押平声韵：「时」「枝」「岐」押支部韵。诗体依绝句而定，句式整齐，音节随情起伏，正与写写景感怀的清新明丽相称，也见其以绝句写感怀的自然。
Tone pattern The level and oblique syllables are arranged in the standard alternating pattern, so the first couplet sounds even and contemplative - fitting for a man sitting still - while the third line's oblique ending gives the exhortation to climb the tower its lift. The last line settles back into a level close, calm and satisfied.句式上，「六出飞花入户时，坐看青竹变琼枝」写六出飞花入户时，音节明丽；「如今好上高楼望，盖尽人间恶路岐」写如今好上高楼望，音节轻快。全诗音节随情起伏，由明丽而轻快，正合绝句「含蓄」之妙，读来如写景感怀、盖尽人间恶路岐之音，清新而动人。
Reading note The quatrain completes its turn within four lines by changing scale rather than mood: the first couplet looks at one plant beside a doorway, the second at the entire world from a tower. The clean, well-balanced prosody keeps that expansion from seeming abrupt, and the rhyme's sustained openness lets the final claim about the crooked roads sound serene rather than bitter.此诗为七言绝句，是高骈写写景感怀之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「清新明丽、以雪写情」：「六出飞花入户时，坐看青竹变琼枝」写六出飞花入户时、「如今好上高楼望，盖尽人间恶路岐」写如今好上高楼望。全诗清新明丽，以雪写情。尤为精妙者，是「六出飞花入户时，坐看青竹变琼枝」写尽雪景之美；而「如今好上高楼望，盖尽人间恶路岐」写尽雪盖之怀，正是高骈诗「清新明丽」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《对雪》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

六出飞花入户时，坐看青竹变琼枝。

When the six-petalled flying blossoms enter my door, I sit and watch the green bamboo turn to jade branches.

六出飞花入户时，坐看青竹变琼枝。

When the six-petaled flying flowers enter the door, I sit and watch the green bamboos turn to jade branches.

首二句写六出飞花入户时，起笔即见其景。「六出飞花入户时」写六出飞花入户时，「六出飞花」写六出飞花、「入户时」写入户时；「坐看青竹变琼枝」写坐看青竹变琼枝，「坐看」写坐看、「青竹变琼枝」写青竹变琼枝。两句一写六出飞花入户时、一写坐看青竹变琼枝，以六出飞花入户时写飞花入户、以坐看青竹变琼枝写青竹变琼枝，写尽六出飞花入户时、坐看青竹变琼枝之情。以雪起兴，清新而明丽，是「以雪起兴」的妙笔。

The opening two lines write when the six-petaled flying flowers enter the door, the scene at once. The words the six-petaled flying flowers write the snowflakes; enter the door the moment. I sit and watch the green bamboos turn to jade branches writes the watching bamboos. The two lines, one writing the flying snow entering the door, one writing the green bamboos turning to jade branches, write to the full the feeling of the entering snow and the changed branches. Rising through the snow, fresh and bright, the fine brush of rising through snow.

如今好上高楼望，盖尽人间恶路岐。

Now is the time to climb the high tower and look out: it has covered over all the crooked, evil roads of the world.

如今好上高楼望，盖尽人间恶路岐。

Now I would climb the high tower and gaze: may it cover all the evil crossroads of the world.

尾二句写如今好上高楼望，是全诗立意的落点。「如今好上高楼望」写如今好上高楼望，「如今好上」写如今好上、「高楼望」写高楼望；「盖尽人间恶路岐」写盖尽人间恶路岐，「盖尽人间」写盖尽人间、「恶路岐」写恶路岐。两句一写如今好上高楼望、一写盖尽人间恶路岐，以如今好上高楼望写好上高楼望、以盖尽人间恶路岐写盖尽恶路岐，写尽如今好上高楼望、盖尽人间恶路岐之情。以雪写情，清新而明丽，是全诗最动人处，也是「以雪写情」的点睛之笔。

The tail two lines write now I would climb the high tower and gaze, the landing of the whole's bent. The words now I would write the wish; climb the high tower and gaze the ascent. May it cover all the evil crossroads of the world writes the covering. The two lines, one writing the wish to climb the tower, one writing the covering of the evil crossroads, write to the full the feeling of the high gaze and the covering. Writing feeling through the snow, fresh and bright, the most moving place of the whole and the eye-dotting brush.

Study

Word focus

六出 Six-pointed, the classical description of a snowflake. The number is not decorative: Chinese observers had long noted that snow crystals have six points, so the word gives the line a quiet precision inside its flowery metaphor. 「六出」写六出飞花入户时，是写六出之态的关键。「六出飞花入户时」着一「六出」，写六出——着一「六出」，写六出飞花入户时，见其雪之形。两字写尽六出之态，是「以词写出」的妙笔。「六出」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。
琼枝 Branches of jade, or of fine white jade-like stone. The word lifts the snow-laden bamboo out of the ordinary and into the language of preciousness and moral refinement, so that a garden plant becomes an emblem. 「琼枝」写坐看青竹变琼枝，是写琼枝之态的关键。「坐看青竹变琼枝」着一「琼枝」，写琼枝——着一「琼枝」，写坐看青竹变琼枝，见其枝之琼。两字写尽琼枝之态，是「以词写枝」的点睛之词。「琼枝」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。
高楼 The high tower. Its function is to change the point of view: from it the speaker stops looking at one bamboo and looks over the whole human world, which is exactly the widening the poem needs in its second half. 「高楼」写如今好上高楼望，是写高楼之态的关键。「如今好上高楼望」着一「高楼」，写高楼——着一「高楼」，写如今好上高楼望，见其楼之高。两字写尽高楼之态，是「以词写楼」的点睛之词。「高楼」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。
恶路岐 Base and forking roads. The compound merges a physical forked lane with the traditional figure for going astray in conduct, so that the snow covering them reads at once as a landscape event and as a moral cleansing. 「恶路岐」写盖尽人间恶路岐，是写恶路岐之态的关键。「盖尽人间恶路岐」着一「恶路岐」，写恶路岐——着一「恶路岐」，写盖尽人间恶路岐，见其路之恶。三字写尽恶路岐之态，是「以词写路」的点睛之词。「恶路岐」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 Song lyric to the tune Shui diao ge tou: 'The bright moon, when did it first appear?' 苏轼 · 同写感怀言志、超然旷达，一写我欲乘风归去、一写如今好上高楼望盖尽人间恶路岐，皆于感怀之中见言志 Both are short pieces that rise from a scene to a large statement about how the world is, one through the moon, the other through snow.

Su Shi's lyric climbs imaginatively to the moon and comes back with a philosophic acceptance of human incompleteness. Gao Pian's quatrain climbs an actual tower and comes back with a moral wish: that the world's crooked paths might be buried. The comparison highlights a Tang preference for letting the physical image carry the whole argument, where the Song lyric feels free to reason aloud.

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」，写感怀言志、超然旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；高骈《对雪》则以「六出飞花入户时，坐看青竹变琼枝」「如今好上高楼望，盖尽人间恶路岐」写六出飞花、盖尽恶路岐。两诗同写感怀言志、超然旷达：一写我欲乘风归去、以乘风写超然，一写如今好上高楼望盖尽人间恶路岐、以高楼望写言志；一为苏轼之超然、一为高骈之明丽，并读正可见诗写「感怀言志」的两种笔法，皆于感怀之中见言志。

 八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Song lyric to the tune Ba sheng gan zhou: 'Against the whispering evening rain that sweeps the river sky' 柳永 · 同写登临感怀、凝望天涯，一写误几回天际识归舟、一写如今好上高楼望盖尽人间恶路岐，皆于登临之中见感怀 Both poems look outward from a high place over a vast scene, but one ends in longing and the other in satisfaction.

Liu Yong gazes over the washed autumn river and is overwhelmed by what he cannot reach; the wide view intensifies his homesickness. Gao Pian takes the same wide view and is exhilarated, because the width allows him to see every crooked road covered at once. Reading them together shows how much of a poem's mood is decided not by the prospect itself but by what the poet wants from it.

柳永《八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天》「想佳人妆楼颙望，误几回、天际识归舟」，写登临感怀、凝望天涯，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；高骈《对雪》则以「如今好上高楼望，盖尽人间恶路岐」「六出飞花入户时，坐看青竹变琼枝」写好上高楼望、坐看青竹变琼枝。两诗同写登临感怀、凝望天涯：一写误几回天际识归舟、以凝望写思归，一写如今好上高楼望盖尽人间恶路岐、以高楼望写感怀；一为柳永之清丽、一为高骈之明丽，并读正可见诗写「登临感怀」的两种笔法，皆于登临之中见感怀。