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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

开圣寺

Kaisheng Temple

温庭筠

Wen Tingyun

路分蹊石夹烟丛，十里萧萧古树风。
出寺马嘶秋色里，向陵鸦乱夕阳中。
竹间泉落山厨静，塔下僧归影殿空。
犹有南朝旧碑在，耻将兴废问休公。

The road forks among rocky paths through misty thickets; for ten miles the wind sighs through ancient trees.
Leaving the temple, my horse neighs amid autumn colors; toward the imperial tombs, crows scatter in the setting sun.
A spring falls among the bamboo, the mountain kitchen is still; beneath the pagoda a monk returns, the shadowed hall stands empty.
Only a stele of the Southern Dynasties still remains; I am ashamed to ask the monk Xiu about rise and fall.
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Meaning

Visiting the old Kaisheng Temple in autumn, Wen Tingyun records its desolate scenery: the rocky, misty approach, the sighing ancient trees, the neighing horse and scattering crows at sunset, the silent kitchen and the empty hall where a monk returns beneath the pagoda. The surviving Southern Dynasties stele turns scene into meditation on the rise and fall of dynasties. The poem's theme is historical melancholy — the ruin of a once-glorious temple mirrors the passing of the southern courts.

路分蹊石夹烟丛，十里萧萧古树风。出寺马嘶秋色里，向陵鸦乱夕阳中。竹间泉落山厨静，塔下僧归影殿空。犹有南朝旧碑在，耻将兴废问休公。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The visitor's approach to the temple winds through rocks and misty thickets, and for miles the wind sighs among old trees. Leaving, he hears his horse neigh in the autumn air and sees crows disturb the sunset above the tombs. Inside, a spring drips through the bamboo while the kitchen is silent; a monk walks back beneath the pagoda to an empty hall. Only a Southern Dynasties stele survives, and the poet is ashamed to question the monk about the temple's rise and fall. [Structure] The four couplets move from approach, to departure, to interior stillness, to final meditation — a journey outward that becomes a journey back through time. [Imagery] Every image is old, empty, or fading: misty thickets, sighing trees, scattering crows, setting sun, empty hall. The crow-filled sunset and the shadowed hall do the emotional work, and the closing stele focuses centuries of dynastic change into one weathered stone. The mood is desolate reflection, not loud grief — a late-Tang consciousness of ruin.

【白话串讲】 温庭筠写《开圣寺》：“路分蹊石夹烟丛，十里萧萧古树风”——“出寺马嘶秋色里，向陵鸦乱夕阳中”——“竹间泉落山厨静，塔下僧归影殿空”——“犹有南朝旧碑在，耻将兴废问休公”——他游开圣寺——犹有南朝旧碑在。 【意象与手法】 “路分蹊石夹烟丛，十里萧萧古树风”写古寺之路；“出寺马嘶秋色里，向陵鸦乱夕阳中”写出寺秋色；“竹间泉落山厨静，塔下僧归影殿空”写竹泉塔影；结以“犹有南朝旧碑在，耻将兴废问休公”以南朝旧碑写怀古。苍凉怀古。 【情感与主旨】 温庭筠游开圣寺之作，写古寺秋色与南朝旧碑的兴废之感，是温庭筠怀古诗中的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“出寺马嘶秋色里，向陵鸦乱夕阳中”写古寺秋色；“犹有南朝旧碑在，耻将兴废问休公”以南朝旧碑写怀古。

Background

Wen Tingyun (c. 812–c. 866), originally named Qi and styled Feiqing, was a late-Tang poet and ci lyricist from Taiyuan, the leading figure of the 'Flowery' school of ci. 'Kaisheng Temple' is a visit to an old temple — probably in the Yangtze region, near the tombs of the southern dynasties — written in the late-Tang fashion for meditating on ruins. The Southern Dynasties (420–589) had made the south a center of Buddhist temple building and courtly splendor; by Wen's day their glories were ruins. The poem belongs to the late-Tang tradition of 'meditating on the past' (huaigu), in which decaying temples and weathered steles became the standard furniture of historical reflection, and it is among Wen's most admired poems.

《开圣寺》为唐代诗人温庭筠所作诗。温庭筠（约812—约866），本名岐，字飞卿，太原祁人，晚唐诗人、词人，花间词派代表。此诗写景怀古，为游开圣寺之作。诗中「路分蹊石夹烟丛，十里萧萧古树风」写路分蹊石夹烟丛，十里萧萧古树风；「出寺马嘶秋色里，向陵鸦乱夕阳中」写出寺马嘶秋色里，向陵鸦乱夕阳中；「竹间泉落山厨静，塔下僧归影殿空」写竹间泉落山厨静，塔下僧归影殿空；「犹有南朝旧碑在，耻将兴废问休公」写犹有南朝旧碑在，耻将兴废问休公。温庭筠此诗以写景怀古、耻将兴废问休公写其怀古之情，苍凉怀古，是温庭筠诗中的名篇。此篇《开圣寺》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《开圣寺》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 'desolate meditation on the past, expressing feeling through scenery.' Its eight regulated lines form a complete movement: the first couplet describes the misty, tree-sighing approach; the second the departure scene of neighing horse and sunset crows; the third the temple's interior — spring among bamboo, silent kitchen, a monk returning to an empty hall; the last couplet closes on the Southern Dynasties stele and the shame of asking about rise and fall. The technique worth noting is the accumulation of desolate images without a single direct cry of emotion: wind, trees, crows, sunset, empty hall, old stele. The parallel couplets are impeccably regulated, yet the feeling is somber and cold, so that form and mood seem to pull against each other — a hallmark of late-Tang regulated verse. The closing rhetorical question leaves the historical sigh unspoken, which is precisely its power.

此诗艺术上以「苍凉怀古、以景写情」见长。全诗共八句四联，由路分蹊石夹烟丛而出寺马嘶秋色里而竹间泉落山厨静。起「路分蹊石夹烟丛，十里萧萧古树风」写路分蹊石夹烟丛：路分蹊石夹烟丛，十里萧萧古树风；「出寺马嘶秋色里，向陵鸦乱夕阳中」写出寺马嘶秋色里：出寺马嘶秋色里，向陵鸦乱夕阳中；「竹间泉落山厨静，塔下僧归影殿空」写竹间泉落山厨静：竹间泉落山厨静，塔下僧归影殿空；结「犹有南朝旧碑在，耻将兴废问休公」写耻将兴废问休公：犹有南朝旧碑在，耻将兴废问休公。全诗以景写情，由路分蹊石夹烟丛而耻将兴废问休公，苍凉怀古，是温庭筠诗中的名篇。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

'Shadowed hall' (yingdian) refers to the Buddha hall holding the temple's images — the 'shadow' is that of the Buddha or of a revered monk's portrait — and its emptiness says the temple is abandoned. 'Southern Dynasties' (Nanchao) refers to the four southern regimes of Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen (420–589), famed for Buddhism and courtly luxury, whose rise and fall became the stock shorthand for historical mutability. 'Rise and fall' (xingfei) is the traditional formula for dynastic flourishing and decline. 'The monk Xiu' (Xiugong) is generally taken to be the elderly monk of the temple, who has witnessed its decline; asking him about the temple's past would only confirm the ruin, so the poet is 'ashamed' to ask. The stele of the Southern Dynasties is itself the physical witness of that vanished age.

诗中「路分蹊石夹烟丛十里萧萧古树风」「出寺马嘶秋色里向陵鸦乱夕阳中」「竹间泉落山厨静塔下僧归影殿空」「犹有南朝旧碑在耻将兴废问休公」等语，皆含典故故实。「路分蹊石夹烟丛十里萧萧古树风」写路分蹊石夹烟丛十里萧萧古树风；「出寺马嘶秋色里向陵鸦乱夕阳中」写岀寺马嘶秋色里向陵鸦乱夕阳中；「竹间泉落山厨静塔下僧归影殿空」用影殿之典（影殿写佛殿），写竹间泉落山厨静塔下僧归影殿空；「犹有南朝旧碑在耻将兴废问休公」用南朝之典（南朝写六朝兴废），写犹有南朝旧碑在耻将兴废问休公。诗人以影殿、南朝之典入诗，不着痕迹，而把写景怀古之情写得真切可感，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。

Commentary

'Kaisheng Temple' is one of Wen Tingyun's most celebrated poems and a late-Tang model of the huaigu (meditation on the past) mode. Critics praise the couplet 'leaving the temple, my horse neighs amid autumn colors; toward the imperial tombs, crows scatter in the setting sun' as a perfect fusion of scene and feeling — the horse's neigh and the crows' clamor seem to voice the ruin themselves. Commentators also note how the poem sustains an atmosphere of emptiness through pure description (the silent kitchen, the monk returning to the empty hall) without once stating grief directly. The closing couplet, in which the Southern Dynasties stele makes the poet 'ashamed to ask about rise and fall,' is read as the poem's point: history is present in the stone, and the question is too painful to put to the one who remembers. Later anthologists placed it among the finest late-Tang temple-and-ruin poems.

这首《开圣寺》，是温庭筠写写景怀古之作，写路分蹊石夹烟丛、出寺马嘶秋色里、竹间泉落山厨静、耻将兴废问休公之情，苍凉怀古。起「路分蹊石夹烟丛，十里萧萧古树风」——路分蹊石夹烟丛，十里萧萧古树风。写路分蹊石夹烟丛：路分蹊石夹烟丛、十里萧萧古树风——蹊石夹烟丛、萧萧古树风；「出寺马嘶秋色里，向陵鸦乱夕阳中」——出寺马嘶秋色里，向陵鸦乱夕阳中。写出寺马嘶秋色里：出寺马嘶秋色里、向陵鸦乱夕阳中——秋色里、夕阳中；「竹间泉落山厨静，塔下僧归影殿空」——竹间泉落山厨静，塔下僧归影殿空。写竹间泉落山厨静：竹间泉落山厨静、塔下僧归影殿空——山厨静、影殿空；结「犹有南朝旧碑在，耻将兴废问休公」——犹有南朝旧碑在，耻将兴废问休公。写耻将兴废问休公：犹有南朝旧碑在、耻将兴废问休公——旧碑在、问休公。这「犹有南朝旧碑在，耻将兴废问休公」，是全诗之结：以耻将兴废问休公写其怀古。全诗苍凉怀古，以景写情，正是温庭筠诗中的名篇。

Prosody

Form Seven-character regulated verse (qilü): eight lines in four couplets — opening, response, turn, and conclusion.诗（七言律诗）
Rhyme The rhyme words 'feng, zhong, kong, gong' all belong to the eastern rhyme group (dongbu) of the level tone, with the first line rhyming; the rhyme is closed and heavy, matching the poem's somber meditation.此诗为七言律诗，共八句四联。押韵：「风」「中」「空」「公」押东部韵。首联起、颔联承、颈联转、尾联合，平仄相间，正与写写景怀古的苍凉怀古相称，也见其以七律写怀古的工稳。
Tone pattern The tonal patterns follow the regulated norms, with strict antithesis in the middle couplets: the neighing horse answers the scattering crows, autumn colors answer the setting sun, bamboo spring answers pagoda monk, still kitchen answers empty hall. The measured, regulated movement contrasts deliberately with the desolate feeling, a late-Tang refinement.句式上，「路分蹊石夹烟丛，十里萧萧古树风」写路分蹊石夹烟丛，音节苍凉；「出寺马嘶秋色里，向陵鸦乱夕阳中」写出寺马嘶秋色里，音节萧瑟；「竹间泉落山厨静，塔下僧归影殿空」写竹间泉落山厨静，音节沉静；结「犹有南朝旧碑在，耻将兴废问休公」写耻将兴废问休公，音节冷峭。全诗音节随情起伏，由苍凉而萧瑟、由沉静而冷峭，正合七律「工稳」之妙，读来如写景怀古、耻将兴废问休公之音，苍凉而动人。
Reading note A seven-character regulated verse of the huaigu (meditation on the past) type, in which decaying temple scenery carries the weight of dynastic change. The poem's art is 'desolate meditation, feeling expressed through scenery': approach, departure, interior emptiness, and the closing stele succeed one another without a single direct cry of grief. The perfectly regulated parallelism against the ruined, empty scene is the poem's signature tension, and the closing couplet's unspoken question about rise and fall leaves the historical sigh to the reader.此诗为七言律诗，是温庭筠写写景怀古之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「苍凉怀古、以景写情」：「路分蹊石夹烟丛，十里萧萧古树风」写路分蹊石夹烟丛、「出寺马嘶秋色里，向陵鸦乱夕阳中」写出寺马嘶秋色里、「竹间泉落山厨静，塔下僧归影殿空」写竹间泉落山厨静、「犹有南朝旧碑在，耻将兴废问休公」写耻将兴废问休公。全诗苍凉怀古，以景写情。尤为精妙者，是「塔下僧归影殿空」用影殿之典；而「犹有南朝旧碑在」用南朝之典，正是温庭筠诗「苍凉怀古」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《开圣寺》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

路分蹊石夹烟丛，十里萧萧古树风。

The road forks among rocky paths through misty thickets; for ten miles the wind sighs through ancient trees.

路分蹊石夹烟丛，十里萧萧古树风。

The road forks among stone paths and misty groves; ten li of soughing wind in ancient trees.

起句写路分蹊石夹烟丛，起笔即见其路。「路分蹊石夹烟丛」写路分蹊石夹烟丛，「路分蹊石」写路分蹊石、「夹烟丛」写夹烟丛；「十里萧萧古树风」写十里萧萧古树风，「十里萧萧」写十里萧萧、「古树风」写古树风。一句写路分蹊石夹烟丛十里萧萧古树风，以路分蹊石夹烟丛写夹烟丛、以十里萧萧古树风写古树风，写尽路分蹊石夹烟丛、十里萧萧古树风之情。以路起兴，苍凉而怀古，是「以路起兴」的妙笔。

The opening line writes the forking road through stone paths and misty groves, the start. 'The road forks among stone paths and misty groves' — the stony path veined with misty thickets; 'ten li of soughing wind in ancient trees' — ten li of wind in the old trees. Rising through the road, desolate and historical, the start of the temple visit.

出寺马嘶秋色里，向陵鸦乱夕阳中。

Leaving the temple, my horse neighs amid autumn colors; toward the imperial tombs, crows scatter in the setting sun.

出寺马嘶秋色里，向陵鸦乱夕阳中。

Leaving the temple, horses neigh in the autumn colors; crows swirl toward the tombs in the setting sun.

此句写出寺马嘶秋色里，是全诗写出寺之态的关键。「出寺马嘶秋色里」写出寺马嘶秋色里，「出寺马嘶」写出寺马嘶、「秋色里」写秋色里；「向陵鸦乱夕阳中」写向陵鸦乱夕阳中，「向陵鸦乱」写向陵鸦乱、「夕阳中」写夕阳中。一句写出寺马嘶秋色里向陵鸦乱夕阳中，以出寺马嘶秋色里写秋色里、以向陵鸦乱夕阳中写夕阳中，写尽出寺马嘶秋色里、向陵鸦乱夕阳中之情。以鸦写景，苍凉而怀古，是「以鸦写景」的点睛之笔。

This line writes leaving the temple, horses neighing in the autumn colors, the key image. 'Leaving the temple, horses neigh in the autumn colors' — the departure in the autumn light; 'crows swirl toward the tombs in the setting sun' — the crows gathering by the tomb mounds at dusk. Through the crow it writes the scene, desolate and historical, the historical melancholy of the autumn departure.

竹间泉落山厨静，塔下僧归影殿空。

A spring falls among the bamboo, the mountain kitchen is still; beneath the pagoda a monk returns, the shadowed hall stands empty.

竹间泉落山厨静，塔下僧归影殿空。

Between the bamboos a spring falls, the mountain kitchen still; below the pagoda a monk returns, the shadow hall empty.

此句写竹间泉落山厨静，是全诗写泉落之态的关键。「竹间泉落山厨静」写竹间泉落山厨静，「竹间泉落」写竹间泉落、「山厨静」写山厨静；「塔下僧归影殿空」用影殿之典写塔下僧归影殿空，「塔下僧归」写塔下僧归、「影殿空」写影殿空。一句写竹间泉落山厨静塔下僧归影殿空，以竹间泉落山厨静写山厨静、以塔下僧归影殿空写影殿空，写尽竹间泉落山厨静、塔下僧归影殿空之情。以僧写景，苍凉而怀古，是「以僧写景」的点睛之笔。

This line writes the spring falling between bamboos, the key image. 'Between the bamboos a spring falls, the mountain kitchen still' — the spring's fall, the kitchen's silence; 'below the pagoda a monk returns, the shadow hall empty' — the monk's return, the hall's emptiness. Through the monk it writes the scene, desolate and historical, the temple's stillness after the monk has gone.

犹有南朝旧碑在，耻将兴废问休公。

Only a stele of the Southern Dynasties still remains; I am ashamed to ask the monk Xiu about rise and fall.

犹有南朝旧碑在，耻将兴废问休公。

Still an old Southern Dynasties stele remains; ashamed, I would not ask the monk Xiu of rise and fall.

结句写犹有南朝旧碑在，是全诗立意的落点。「犹有南朝旧碑在」用南朝之典写犹有南朝旧碑在，「犹有南朝」写犹有南朝、「旧碑在」写旧碑在；「耻将兴废问休公」写耻将兴废问休公，「耻将兴废」写耻将兴废、「问休公」写问休公。一句写犹有南朝旧碑在耻将兴废问休公，以犹有南朝旧碑在写旧碑在、以耻将兴废问休公写问休公，写尽犹有南朝旧碑在、耻将兴废问休公之情。以碑写情，苍凉而怀古，是全诗最动人处，也是「以碑写情」的点睛之笔。

The closing line writes the old Southern Dynasties stele, the poem's landing. 'Still an old Southern Dynasties stele remains' — the surviving stele of the Six Dynasties; 'ashamed, I would not ask the monk Xiu of rise and fall' — unwilling to ask the resident monk about the realm's changes. Through the stele it writes the feeling, desolate and historical, the poem's most moving point: the Tang traveller before the Six Dynasties relic, too ashamed to speak of dynasties' fall.

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Word focus

蹊石 Rocky footpaths (xishi): the stones of the winding path that 'divides' through the misty thickets, giving the temple's approach a rough, neglected look and opening the poem's mood of desolation. 「蹊石」写路分蹊石夹烟丛，是写蹊石之态的关键。「路分蹊石夹烟丛」着一「蹊石」，写蹊石——着一「蹊石」，写路分蹊石夹烟丛，见其石之蹊。两字写尽蹊石之态，是「以词写石」的妙笔。「蹊石」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。
烟丛 Misty thickets (yancong): the haze-wreathed bushes flanking the path; the drifting mist half-conceals them, lending the approach an air of age, damp, and withdrawal from the world. 「烟丛」写路分蹊石夹烟丛，是写烟丛之态的关键。「路分蹊石夹烟丛」着一「烟丛」，写烟丛——着一「烟丛」，写路分蹊石夹烟丛，见其丛之烟。两字写尽烟丛之态，是「以词写丛」的点睛之词。「烟丛」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。
夕阳 Setting sun (xiyang): the crows 'scatter' in its fading light, so the image joins the noise of the birds with the day's decline, deepening the poem's atmosphere of dusk and ruin. 「夕阳」写向陵鸦乱夕阳中，是写夕阳之态的关键。「向陵鸦乱夕阳中」着一「夕阳」，写夕阳——着一「夕阳」，写向陵鸦乱夕阳中，见其阳之夕。两字写尽夕阳之态，是「以词写阳」的点睛之词。「夕阳」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。
旧碑 Old stele (jiubei): the weathered stone of the Southern Dynasties that alone survives of the temple's past; it concentrates vanished glory into a mute object and triggers the poem's meditation on dynastic rise and fall. 「旧碑」写犹有南朝旧碑在，是写旧碑之态的关键。「犹有南朝旧碑在」着一「旧碑」，写旧碑——着一「旧碑」，写犹有南朝旧碑在，见其碑之旧。两字写尽旧碑之态，是「以词写碑」的点睛之词。「旧碑」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 Shui Diao Ge Tou — When Will the Bright Moon Appear? 苏轼 · 同写怀古感怀、苍凉旷达，一写人有悲欢离合、一写犹有南朝旧碑在耻将兴废问休公，皆于怀古之中见苍凉 Both works meditate on time and change in a desolate yet capacious spirit; one asks 'men have sorrow and joy, parting and reunion,' the other 'only a Southern Dynasties stele still stands' — both find desolation within reflection on the past.

Su Shi's 'Shui Diao Ge Tou' ('Men have sorrow and joy, parting and reunion; the moon has its dark and clear, its waxing and waning — this has been so since antiquity') is a celebrated long lyric of philosophical consolation. Wen Tingyun's 'Kaisheng Temple' instead uses 'only a Southern Dynasties stele still remains, ashamed to ask the monk Xiu about rise and fall' and 'beneath the pagoda a monk returns, the shadowed hall stands empty' to voice the melancholy of ruins. Read together, one shows reflection on the past reaching philosophical breadth, the other reaching cold desolation — two manners of facing change.

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」，写怀古感怀、苍凉旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；温庭筠《开圣寺》则以「犹有南朝旧碑在，耻将兴废问休公」「塔下僧归影殿空」写旧碑在、影殿空。两诗同写怀古感怀、苍凉旷达：一写人有悲欢离合、以悲欢写离合，一写犹有南朝旧碑在耻将兴废问休公、以旧碑写怀古；一为苏轼之旷达、一为温庭筠之苍凉，并读正可见诗写「怀古感怀」的两种笔法，皆于怀古之中见苍凉。

 八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Ba Sheng Gan Zhou — Facing the Dusk Rain Spilling over the River Sky 柳永 · 同写寺前凝望、苍凉清丽，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写出寺马嘶秋色里向陵鸦乱夕阳中，皆于寺前之中见凝望 Both works gaze in contemplation amid rain and autumn scenery with a desolate, clear beauty; one faces 'the dusk rain spilling over the river sky,' the other leaves the temple amid 'autumn colors' and 'crows in the setting sun' — both fix a lingering gaze upon desolation.

Liu Yong's 'Ba Sheng Gan Zhou' ('Facing the dusk rain spilling over the river sky, one washing clears the autumn') is a famous Song lyric of the traveler's gaze. Wen Tingyun's 'Kaisheng Temple' instead writes 'leaving the temple, my horse neighs amid autumn colors; toward the imperial tombs, crows scatter in the setting sun.' Both stand amid autumn rain and fading light, but Liu Yong turns the gaze toward his own journey home while Wen Tingyun turns it back through dynastic history — one clear and delicate, the other somber and cold.

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」，写寺前凝望、苍凉清丽，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；温庭筠《开圣寺》则以「出寺马嘶秋色里，向陵鸦乱夕阳中」「竹间泉落山厨静」写夕阳中、山厨静。两诗同写寺前凝望、苍凉清丽：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写出寺马嘶秋色里向陵鸦乱夕阳中、以秋色写怀古；一为柳永之清丽、一为温庭筠之苍凉，并读正可见诗写「寺前凝望」的两种笔法，皆于寺前之中见凝望。