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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

邯郸冬至夜思家

Thinking of Home on the Winter-Solstice Night at Handan

白居易

Bai Juyi

愁思yearning 时序seasons and time 抒情lyricism

邯郸驿里逢冬至，抱膝灯前影伴身。
想得家中夜深坐，还应说著远行人。

At the posthouse in Handan I chance upon the winter solstice; hugging my knees before the lamp, my shadow keeps me company.
I imagine my family at home sitting deep into the night, surely still speaking of the traveler far away.

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Meaning

On the winter-solstice night the poet lodges alone at a posthouse in Handan and feels the loneliness of a festival spent far from home. Instead of stating his own longing directly, he imagines his family at home sitting up late, talking about him. The poem turns a single traveler's homesickness into a shared, two-sided bond of love.

我客居在邯郸的驿馆里，正好遇上冬至之夜，独自抱膝坐在灯前，只有自己的影子相伴。想来此刻家中的亲人正深夜围坐灯下，一定还在念叨着远行在外的我。

Appreciation

The art lies in its 'writing from the opposite side': rather than voicing his own yearning, the poet conjures his family's thoughts of him, deepening the feeling by a fold. The opening couplet builds isolation through three plain images—hugging knees, the lamp, the accompanying shadow—while the closing couplet opens spatial and emotional distance with quiet tenderness. In twenty-eight characters, not one word says 'sorrow,' yet sorrow fills the page, a perfect example of Bai Juyi's plain language and lingering feeling.

【白话串讲】白居易在邯郸的驿馆过冬至：“邯郸驿里逢冬至，抱膝灯前影伴身”。“想得家中夜深坐，还应说著远行人”——他猜想：家里的人这时也坐着，在说远行的他。他写思念，写得温暖。【意象与手法】前两句以「影伴身」写尽孤寂，抱膝、灯前、影伴身三组意象层层加码，烘托出驿馆寒夜的冷清；后两句从对面写来，不写自己想家，反写家人念我，虚处传神，是「对写法」的典范。冬至节令点出时序，佳节思亲的题旨由此生发。【情感与主旨】白居易早年宦游南北，此诗写冬至夜驿馆孤宿的思亲之情，看似平淡，实则深挚。诗中不直说思念，而借家人念我写我念家人，两地一心，愈转愈深，是唐人思乡诗中的精短名篇。【名句点睛】常考「想得家中夜深坐，还应说著远行人」的对面写法，以及「抱膝灯前影伴身」以影写孤的妙笔。

Background

This poem was likely written during the Zhenyuan era (some say the winter of 802) when the young Bai Juyi, traveling north and south in pursuit of office, lodged at a posthouse in Handan (in modern Hebei) on the night of the winter solstice. The winter solstice, one of the twenty-four solar terms, was greatly valued by the ancients—'the winter solstice is as great as the New Year' and 'at the solstice the yang is reborn'—a day for family reunion and ancestor worship. The poet, alone at the posthouse on this festival, felt the warmth of the occasion sharpen his solitude. Born to a humble family, with his father Bai Jigeng long away on official postings, Bai had known migration and study in strange places from childhood, so his depiction of the cold posthouse night is drawn from lived experience. Included in the Collected Works of Bai Juyi, it belongs to his early period, already showing the plain, easy, everyday-language style that conveys deep feeling. Because the solstice triggers homesickness, the poem became a classic of festival-and-nostalgia poetry, resonating with exiles in every age.

此诗约作于贞元年间（一说贞元二十年冬），白居易青年时代为求仕宦游南北，途经邯郸（今属河北）时客居驿馆，正值冬至之夜，思家之情油然而生，遂成此篇。冬至为二十四节气之一，古人极重此节，有「冬至大如年」「冬至一阳生」之说，是家人团聚、祭祖贺冬的日子，诗人于此夜孤宿驿馆，节日的温煦与客居的孤冷形成强烈对照，思亲之情格外深切。白居易出身寒微，父亲白季庚长期宦游在外，诗人少小即随家迁徙、异地求学，对羁旅孤寂有切身体会，故能将驿馆寒夜的细节写得如此真切。此诗收入《白氏长庆集》，属早年作品，语言已见其浅切平易、以寻常语写深挚情的本色；诗中「抱膝」的姿态、「影伴身」的孤寂、「想得家中夜深坐」的推想，都是客舍夜景的真实写照。冬至之夜，万家灯火团圆，而诗人独对孤灯，节令与时序成为触发乡愁的契机，此诗遂成为以节令写乡愁的经典，千百年间离家在外的游子读之无不共鸣。

Art

The structure is 'real first, then imaginary': the first couplet describes the scene before his eyes, the second the scene at home, moving from fact to fancy and from self to others. The first couplet sketches the lonely posthouse with three strokes—hugging knees, before the lamp, the shadow as companion: on the solstice night he sits alone, hugs knees for warmth, alone with his shadow; the word 'companion' exhausts loneliness—no one at his side but his own shadow, which by its presence heightens his solitude. The second couplet turns sharply, not writing how he misses home but how his family misses him: 'I imagine my family at home sitting deep into the night, surely still speaking of the traveler far away.' This 'writing from the opposite side' turns a one-way longing into a two-way bond, deepening the feeling and expanding the scene from the posthouse to both Handan and his homeland. The solstice is no idle detail: festival thoughts of kin are a perennial theme, and the solstice night makes the joy of reunion and the grief of solitude intensify each other. In twenty-eight characters, not a word of sorrow yet sorrow overflows—the mastery of Bai's 'simple in language, long in feeling.'

全诗结构为「前实后虚」：前两句写眼前实景，后两句写家中虚景，由实入虚、由己及人，构思精妙。前两句以「抱膝」「灯前」「影伴身」三笔勾勒驿馆孤寂图：冬至之夜，独坐灯前，抱膝取暖，形影相吊；一个「伴」字写尽孤独——身畔无人，唯有自己的影子相伴，以影之在反衬人之孤，独处之状如在目前。后两句笔锋陡转，不写自己如何想家，反写家人如何想我：「想得家中夜深坐，还应说著远行人」，料想此刻家中亲人也正深夜未眠，围坐灯下，念叨着远行的我。这种从对面写来的笔法，清人称为「对面着笔」，今人谓之「对写法」：不直抒己情，而借对方之想写我之思，把单向的思念化为双向的牵挂，情感因而翻进一层，境界也由驿馆一隅推展到邯郸与故乡两地之间。冬至节令亦非闲笔：佳节思亲是中国诗歌的母题，冬至夜的节序氛围愈显团聚之乐与独宿之悲，时序与情感互相生发。全诗二十八字，无一字写愁而愁情满纸，正是白诗深入浅出、语短情长的功夫。

Allusions

The language is plain and almost without visible allusion, yet its imagery and method inherit tradition. First, lamp and shadow: sitting alone with a single lamp, a shadow for company, has been a sign of loneliness since 'wandering alone' in the Chu Ci, and Tao Yuanming's 'Form, Shadow, and Spirit' also writes solitude through the shadow; Bai's three words 'shadow keeps me company' personify the shadow, turning the still into the active and making it the only companion—most ingenious, later developed by Li Bai's 'raising my cup to invite the moon, with my shadow making three.' Second, the winter-solstice festival: the solstice is a lesser New Year, a day for sacrifice and family gathering; writing homesickness through solitary lodging on a festival is a classic motif of travel literature, seen also in Cui Tu's 'Thoughts on New Year's Eve' and Gao Shi's 'Written on New Year's Eve'; this poem varies the motif by using the solstice instead of New Year's Eve. Third, the posthouse image: the posthouse was an official inn, a typical setting of exile literature; Handan posthouse is a real place, and posthouse, lone lamp, and cold night form the fixed combination of the wandering poet's longing. Fourth, the method of imagining the opposite side derives from the Shi Jing 'Juan'er' ('I sigh, thinking of my man'), and is echoed in Wang Wei's 'knowing from afar my brothers climb high'; Bai's poem is an excellent heir, its allusion lying in method rather than wording, thus wholly natural.

此诗用语平易，用典几乎不着痕迹，然其意象与笔法多有传统承传。其一是灯与影：独对孤灯、形影相吊，自《楚辞·九章》「茕茕独行」以来即为孤寂的符号，古诗「独坐空堂上」、陶渊明《形影神》皆从影写孤，白居易「影伴身」三字以影拟人，化静为动，把影子写成唯一的伴侣，最见巧思，后世李白「举杯邀明月，对影成三人」正是同一路数的发展。其二是冬至节令：冬至为亚岁，古人于此日祭天祭祖、家人团聚，以节日孤宿写思乡是羁旅文学的传统母题，崔涂《除夜有怀》、高适《除夜作》皆其例，此诗以冬至代除夜，同一母题的变奏。其三是驿馆意象：驿为官设旅舍，历来是羁旅文学的典型场景，邯郸驿是实指地名，驿站、孤灯、寒夜构成游子思乡的固定组合，写来真实可感。其四是对面推想的笔法，源于《诗经·周南·卷耳》「嗟我怀人」以对方之怀写己之思，王维「遥知兄弟登高处，遍插茱萸少一人」即其流变，白居易此诗正是这一手法的出色继承，典在笔法而不在字句，故浑然天成。

Commentary

This poem is a famous piece among Bai Juyi's exile-and-homesickness works, capturing in twenty-eight characters the universal feeling of missing kin on a festival. Its first value is the ingenuity of conception: 'I imagine my family at home sitting deep into the night, surely still speaking of the traveler far away' writes from the opposite side, turning one-way longing into two-way concern and becoming a model for later 'opposite-side' writing; Wang Wei's 'knowing from afar my brothers climb high' and Du Fu's 'tonight at Fuzhou the moon, only she watches alone' belong to this line, but Bai's version, in homely language, is the more approachable—plain words yet true feeling, what all have in heart yet none have put to paper. Its second value is plain language and deep feeling: no difficult word appears, as if chatting with family, yet the loneliness of the lone lamp and shadow and the depth of two-place remembrance lie beyond the words, exactly matching Bai's poetic creed of 'shallow words, deep thought; subtle meaning, manifest phrasing,' continuous with his early pursuit that 'an old woman could understand.' In literary history, with 'Asking Liu Nineteen' and 'On the Pond,' it represents Bai's plain style and influenced the Song 'Bai style' and later vernacular poetry. Through the winter solstice it gained lasting seasonal meaning, quoted every year at that festival, a classic expression of the Chinese feeling 'on every festival I miss my kin doubly,' with cross-age appeal that still moves the exiled today.

此诗是白居易羁旅思乡诗中的名篇，以二十八字写尽佳节思亲的普遍情怀。其价值首在构思之妙：「想得家中夜深坐，还应说著远行人」从对面写来，不写自己思家而写家人念我，把单向的思念化为双向的牵挂，情感翻进一层，成为后世对面写法的典范；王维「遥知兄弟登高处」、杜甫「今夜鄜州月，闺中只独看」皆此一脉，而白诗以家常语出之，更见平易近人，语浅而情真，人人心中所有而笔下所无。其价值次在语浅情深：全篇无一难字，如对家人絮语，而孤灯独影之寂、两地相忆之深，皆在言外，正合白居易「言浅思深、意微词显」的诗学主张，与其早年「老妪能解」的追求一脉相承。在文学史上，此诗与《问刘十九》《池上》等同为白诗平易风格的代表作，影响了宋代白体诗与后世白话诗风。此诗又因冬至节令获得持久的节令意义，每逢冬至即被反复征引，是中国人「每逢佳节倍思亲」情感的经典表达，具有跨越时代的感染力，至今读来仍能唤起离乡游子的共鸣。

Prosody

Form Seven-character quatrain (qijue)七言绝句

Rhyme Four lines, level-tone zhen rhyme; 'body' (shen) and 'person' (ren) rhyme, one rhyme throughout, the sound gentle and winding. The zhen rhyme is level and prolonged, suiting the distant, low-returning feeling of homesickness; lines two and four rhyme while one and three do not, the standard quatrain pattern, the tone relaxed like family chat.全诗四句，押平声真韵，「身」「人」相叶，一韵到底，音节谐婉。真韵平正悠长，与思家之情的绵远低回相称；二、四句押韵，一三句不押，是七绝通例，声情舒缓，如家人絮语，娓娓道来。

Tone pattern The seven-character quatrain commonly alternates level and oblique tones with rising and falling rhythm. The first line 'At Handan's posthouse I meet the winter solstice' begins on an oblique tone, its music grave, writing the fact of lodging away; the second 'hugging knees before the lamp, my shadow keeps me company' flows in balanced tones, writing the stillness of sitting alone; the third 'I imagine my family at home sitting deep into the night' turns to the imaginary, its tone low and slow; the last 'surely still speaking of the traveler far away' closes long and drawn out, its resonance unbroken, the sound matching the fact-to-fancy shift.七绝以平仄相间、抑扬有致为常。本诗首句「邯郸驿里逢冬至」仄起，音节沉着，写客居之实；次句「抱膝灯前影伴身」平仄谐婉，写独坐之静；三句「想得家中夜深坐」转以虚写，声调低缓；末句「还应说著远行人」收以悠长，余韵不绝，声情与虚实转换相合。

Reading note This is a seven-character quatrain, a short, compact form ideal for a fleeting emotion. The quatrain's four lines show the introduction–development–turn–conclusion structure with great clarity: the first line introduces, fixing time and place (Handan posthouse, winter solstice) and the lonely, lodging tone; the second line develops, spreading the lone sitting of hugging knees before the lamp with the shadow as companion, the lonely scene before the eyes; the third line turns, the brush moving from the posthouse scene to the home scene, the words 'I imagine' opening the two places' space, the pivot from fact to fancy; the last line concludes, closing with the family speaking of the traveler far away, condensing the two-place longing into one daily picture, words ended yet meaning endless. In rhyme, the zhen rhyme is prolonged and level, fitting the distant feeling of homesickness; in phrasing, all is plain colloquial, no allusion, no ornament—the true nature of the quatrain's 'saying much with little.' Qing critics called it 'light in language yet lasting in flavor,' pointing to its twenty-eight characters exhausting the two-place longing—a rare fine quatrain among Bai's.此诗为七言绝句，体制短小精悍，最宜抒写一瞬的情思。绝句四句，起承转合的章法在此诗中体现得极为分明：首句起，点明时间地点（邯郸驿、冬至），先定客居孤寂之基调；次句承，铺写抱膝灯前、影伴身的独坐之状，孤寂之景如在目前；三句转，笔锋由驿馆实景转入家中虚景，「想得」二字拉开两地空间，章法上由实入虚，是全诗的转折枢纽；末句合，以家人说著远行人收束，把两地相思凝于一个日常画面，言有尽而意无穷。用韵上，真韵悠长平正，与思乡的绵远情致相合；句法上，全用口语化的平实句，不用典、不雕琢，正是绝句体「以少总多」的本色。清人评此诗「语淡而味永」，正指其以二十八字写尽两地相思的浑成之妙，是白居易七绝中不可多得的名篇。

Line by line

邯郸驿里逢冬至，抱膝灯前影伴身。

At the posthouse in Handan I chance upon the winter solstice; hugging my knees before the lamp, my shadow keeps me company.

客居在邯郸的驿馆里，正逢冬至之夜；独自抱膝坐在灯前，只有自己的影子相伴。

At Handan posthouse, the Winter Solstice has come; alone, knees drawn up by the lamp, my shadow keeps me company.

前两句实写眼前景，是全诗孤寂氛围的营造者。首句点明时间地点：邯郸驿里逢冬至，冬至本是家人团聚的佳节，诗人却身在驿馆，一个「逢」字写出节令的不期而至与客居的无可奈何，佳节与客地的对照已暗含愁绪。次句以三组意象层层加码：抱膝，写独坐取暖的姿态，蜷缩之状如见；灯前，写驿馆昏黄的孤灯，营造出寒夜的氛围；影伴身，是全句的题眼——身畔无人，唯有自己的影子相伴，以影之在反衬人之孤，把孤独写得具体可感。三笔勾勒，一幅驿馆寒夜独坐图跃然纸上。此二句纯用白描，无一字写愁，而「影伴身」三字已把形影相吊的孤寂写尽，为后文的对面推想蓄足了势，是唐人绝句「以景起、以情承」的典型。

The first two lines describe the actual scene, building the lonely mood. The time and place — Handan inn on the Solstice, a festival of family reunion, yet the poet is lodged alone; the word 'come' shows the feast arriving unbidden in a strange land. Then three images layered: knees drawn up, the huddled posture; the lamp, the dim lone light; and 'my shadow keeps me company' — no one at hand but his own shadow, shadow set against loneliness. Not a word of sorrow, yet 'shadow keeps me company' has drained the solitude to the dregs.

想得家中夜深坐，还应说著远行人。

I imagine my family at home sitting deep into the night, surely still speaking of the traveler far away.

料想此刻家中的亲人，正深夜围坐灯下，一定还在念叨着远行在外的我。

I imagine my family sitting up deep in the night, even now speaking of the wanderer far away.

后两句转写家中，是全诗构思最妙处，用的是「对面着笔」的对写法。诗人不直说自己如何思念家人，而推想此刻家中亲人也正深夜未眠，围坐灯下，念叨着远行的自己：「夜深坐」写家人因牵挂而不肯就寝的情态，与驿馆中的独坐形成两地相照；「说著远行人」写家人念叨的内容正是自己，一个「远」字点出空间的距离，也见出思念的绵长。这种写法妙在以对方之想写我之思：我既想家，家人亦念我，单向的思念化为双向的牵挂，情感翻进一层，愈见深挚；同时「还应」二字是揣测之辞，虚处传神，把不确定的推想写得如在目前，更添亲切。此二句与王维「遥知兄弟登高处，遍插茱萸少一人」同一机杼，而语更家常，情更温厚，千百年来离乡游子读之，皆如闻家中亲人絮语，是白诗语浅情深的极致。

The last two lines turn homeward, the poem's cleverest stroke, the technique of writing from the other side. He does not say how he misses his family, but imagines them sitting up late by the lamp, talking of him: 'sitting deep in the night' shows their wakeful worry, set against his own sitting alone in the inn; 'speaking of the wanderer' shows the one they speak of is himself, the word 'far' naming both the distance and the longing. One-directional longing becomes two-way concern, and 'must be' gives the guess a vivid presence. It matches Wang Wei's 'far off I know my brothers climb the height, all wearing dogwood but one short'.

Study

Word focus

伴 In 'hugging my knees before the lamp, my shadow keeps me company,' the word 'companion' is the poetic eye of the line and the condensation of the whole poem's loneliness. Companion means to keep company; here it says his own shadow accompanies him—this one word makes formless loneliness tangible: no one at his side but the shadow, whose 'being there' contrasts his 'being alone,' exhausting the taste of being alone with one's shadow. The word's ingenuity is threefold: personification, making the shadow a feeling companion to contrast the world's coldness; writing the empty (loneliness) through the solid (shadow), giving loneliness a form; and opposing 'shadow' to 'body,' as if two figures face each other, emphasizing solitude. Had it been 'shadow follows body,' it would be mere description; 'companion' makes the shadow the only kin, showing the poet's self-mockery and helplessness—a model of word-craft, later echoed in 'with my shadow making three.' 「抱膝灯前影伴身」之「伴」字，是全句的诗眼，也是全诗孤寂感的凝缩。伴本是相伴、陪伴之意，此处却说自己的影子陪伴自己，一个「伴」字把无形的孤独写得具体可感：身畔无人，唯有影子相随，影之「在」反衬人之「孤」，形影相吊的况味尽在其中。此字之妙有三：一是拟人化，把影子写成有情的伴侣，以影之有情反衬世人之无情、客地之冷清；二是以实写虚，影子是实的、可见的，孤独是虚的、不可捉摸的，以影写孤，孤独便有了形象；三是与「身」字对举，影与身如二人相对，愈显一人独处。若作「影随身」「影共身」，则只是客观的描写；一个「伴」字，把影子写成了唯一的亲人，冷清中见出诗人的自嘲与无奈，是炼字的典范，后世「对影成三人」正是由此生发。

想得 In 'I imagine my family at home sitting deep into the night,' the two words 'I imagine' are the pivot from fact to fancy and the opener of the opposite-side method. 'Imagine' means to suppose or infer; once these two words fall, the brush turns from the posthouse lamp to the home a thousand li away, space instantly widening, feeling turning from lonely sitting to deep concern. Their ingenuity: first, they write deep feeling through conjecture—the poet is unsure of home yet asserts it as certain, making the concern vivid as if seen; second, they turn the imaginary into the real, the home scene becoming present through 'imagine,' fact and fancy born together; third, the colloquial tone matches the plain style, intimate like chatting with family. Had it been 'know from afar' or 'should think,' it would feel refined and distant; 'imagine' is natural and close—ordinary words yet the key turning the feeling from self to others. 「想得家中夜深坐」之「想得」二字，是后两句由实入虚的转折枢纽，也是对面写法的发语词。「想得」即料想、推想之意，二字一落，笔锋便从驿馆孤灯转入千里之外的家门，空间瞬间拉开，情感也随之由独处之寂转为牵挂之深。此二字之妙在于：一是以揣度写深情，诗人并不确定家中情形，却以「想得」作肯定的推想，把牵挂写得真切笃定，仿佛亲见；二是化虚为实，家中夜深坐、说著远行人本是想象中的虚景，因「想得」二字而如在目前，虚实相生；三是语气的家常，想得二字是口语化的表达，与全诗平易的风格一致，亲切如对家人絮语。若作「遥知」「应念」则嫌文雅疏远，不及「想得」来得自然而贴心，二字看似寻常，实为全诗情感由己及人的关键。

说著 In 'surely still speaking of the traveler far away,' the two words 'speaking of' (shuo zhuo) bring colloquial speech into poetry, the most characteristic of Bai's plain style. 'Speaking of' means to talk about or dwell on, writing the family sitting around the lamp, their talk circling the distant kin; the particle 'zhuo' shows the ongoing state, as if the family's topic flows on and on. Their ingenuity: first, the intimate colloquialism—not 'miss' or 'care' but 'speaking of,' like family small talk, closest to life, embodying Bai's 'old woman can understand' creed; second, writing deep feeling in homely words—the family's chatter is ordinary, yet pointed by the poet it becomes proof of two-place longing, the more homely the truer; third, echoing 'traveler far away,' showing the family's deep thought and the poet's self-pity as the far traveler. Common yet elegant, shallow yet deep, they turn abstract longing into audible murmur—the essence of Bai's 'wonder from the ordinary.' 「还应说著远行人」之「说著」（说着）二字，以口语入诗，是全诗最见白诗本色的字眼。说著即谈论、念叨之意，写家人围坐灯下，话题绕不开远行的亲人；一个「著」（着）字写出念叨的持续状态，仿佛家人的话题绵绵不断、久久不息。此二字之妙在于：一是口语化的亲切，不说「思念」「挂怀」而说「说著」，如家人闲话家常，最贴近生活本真，正是白居易「老妪能解」诗学主张的体现；二是以家常语写深挚情，家人的念叨本是寻常事，经诗人一点，便成为两地相思的见证，愈家常愈见真情；三是与「远行人」呼应，说著的对象是远行人，可见家人念之深、思之切，也暗含诗人以远行人之身份自道自怜之意。二字俗中见雅、浅中见深，把抽象的思念化为可闻的絮语，正是白诗「用常得奇」的本色。