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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

客中行

A Sojourner's Song

李白

Li Bai

羁旅travel 抒情lyricism 名篇masterpiece

兰陵美酒郁金香，玉椀盛来琥珀光。
但使主人能醉客，不知何处是他乡。

The delicious wine of Lanling, fragrant with the scent of yujin spice,
poured into jade bowls, it glows with the light of amber.
But so long as my host will let his guest drink his fill,
I shall not know any more where a strange land is.

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Meaning

Written while Li Bai was traveling far from home, this quatrain turns the usual sadness of the sojourner into joy. The first couplet praises the famous wine of Lanling — fragrant with the yujin herb, glowing amber in jade bowls. The second declares that so long as his host keeps his guest drunk, he will forget he is in a strange land altogether. Behind the wine's brightness lies Li Bai's expansive creed that the whole world can be home.

兰陵出产的美酒散发着郁金香般的芬芳，盛在玉碗之中，映出琥珀一样晶莹明亮的光泽。只要主人能让我痛饮一醉，我便浑然忘却身在异乡，不知道哪里才是他乡了。

Appreciation

A seven-character quatrain of utmost simplicity and rich aftertaste. The first two lines paint the wine through scent and color, and the last two turn from wine to person with the particles 'but so long as' and 'not know,' the whole flowing as if spoken in a single breath. Not one word writes sorrow, yet sorrow is dissolved; not one word writes boldness, yet boldness shines — the manner of 'water springing from a lotus, natural without carving.' The closing line's reversal of homesickness into release is the most open-hearted ending in the whole tradition of travel poetry.

【白话串讲】李白写《客中行》：“兰陵美酒郁金香，玉椀盛来琥珀光”——兰陵美酒香。“但使主人能醉客，不知何处是他乡”——只要主人能让我醉，哪里都是故乡。李白走到哪里，都能把异乡喝成故乡。【意象与手法】此诗题一作《客中作》，是李白客游他乡时的即兴之作。全诗以「酒」为线索层层推进：前两句写酒之香与色，「郁金香」以花写酒香，「琥珀光」以色写酒光，嗅觉视觉并用，未饮先醉；后两句由酒及人，以「但使」「不知」两个虚词勾连，翻出「不知何处是他乡」的旷达语。妙在全诗不写客愁而写客乐，以乐景写乐情，反用「他乡」之思：不是不知乡关何处，而是醉后浑然忘我、随处皆家。此即李白式的豪放——把羁旅之苦升华为天地为家的放达。【情感与主旨】此诗表面写饮酒之乐，实则写客中旷达之情怀。李白一生仗剑远游、漂泊四方，客愁本是寻常主题，他却以「醉客」化解乡思：只要一醉，异乡即故乡。这种「处处无家处处家」的胸襟，正是盛唐气象与李白个性的结合——自信、豪迈、以天下为家。末句「不知何处是他乡」以反问收束，将客中愁绪翻转成畅快淋漓的达观，是李白「谪仙人」气质的典型流露。【名句点睛】「但使主人能醉客，不知何处是他乡」为千古名句：以「但使」让步、「不知」翻转，把乡愁化入醉意，语浅情深，豪而不浮，是羁旅诗中最旷达的一结。

Background

Li Bai (701–762), styled Taibai, the greatest romantic poet of the High Tang and honored as the 'Poet-Immortal,' wrote this quatrain (also titled 'Sojourning') while traveling away from home. Commentators disagree on the date: either during his first wanderings after leaving Shu in the Kaiyuan years, or while living in eastern Lu (modern Shandong) in the Tianbao era. The 'Lanling wine' of the poem was a famous product of Lanling in Shandong, a place with a long brewing history — Xunzi had served as its magistrate in the Warring States period — still famed for its wine in the Tang. Li Bai, who called himself 'an immortal among wine cups,' made wine one of the central images of his poetry, and this quatrain records a night of drinking deep and singing in a strange land. Its easy confidence — 'I shall not know where a strange land is' — reflects the expansiveness of the High Tang, when a scholar could feel the whole empire was home.

李白（七零一—七六二），字太白，号青莲居士，盛唐最伟大的浪漫主义诗人，与杜甫并称「李杜」，后世尊为「诗仙」。此诗题一作《客中作》，为李白客游他乡时所作。关于其创作背景，古今注家说法不一：一说作于开元年间李白初出蜀、漫游天下的途中；一说作于天宝年间诗人客居东鲁（今山东）期间。诗中所写「兰陵美酒」为山东兰陵（今临沂市苍山县兰陵镇一带）所产名酒，兰陵古属楚地，战国时荀子尝为兰陵令，此地酿酒历史悠久，至唐代仍以美酒著称。李白一生好酒，自称「臣是酒中仙」，酒是他诗歌中最重要的意象之一；此诗正是诗人在异乡痛饮美酒、乘醉放歌的实录。盛唐国力强盛、士人胸怀开阔，李白以「不知何处是他乡」的旷达语写客愁，反衬出盛唐士子「以天下为家」的气度，也折射出诗人漂泊一生却始终豪情不减的人格。此诗虽只二十八字，却以极小的篇幅写出李白式的人生态度，是其七绝中传诵最广的名篇之一，历代选本无不收录。

Art

This quatrain has four lines in two movements, of utmost simplicity of design yet rich implication. The first two lines write the wine: 'The delicious wine of Lanling, fragrant with the scent of yujin spice' begins with smell — 'yujin' is at once the name of the aromatic herb the ancients steeped in wine and a figure for the wine's fragrance, scent within scent; 'poured into jade bowls, it glows with the light of amber' turns to sight — 'jade bowls' gives the vessel's preciousness, 'amber' the wine's color and luster. One line scent, one line light; one virtual, one concrete; the beauty of the wine is pushed to the extreme, building pressure toward the later 'drunk.' The last two lines move from thing to person: 'But so long as my host will let his guest drink his fill' writes the perfect ease of host and guest in a concessive tone, and 'I shall not know any more where a strange land is' turns out the poem's theme with 'not know' — not literal ignorance but drunken forgetting, joy that leaves no room for homesickness. In structure, first concrete then virtual, thing first then person, advancing layer by layer; in rhetoric, two elegant images, 'yujin' and 'amber,' refined but not obscure; in diction, the two particles 'but so long as' and 'not know' run through the four lines so that they flow as if blurted out entire. Not one word speaks of sorrow yet sorrow dissolves of itself; not one word speaks of boldness yet boldness appears — Li Bai's quatrain manner of 'water springing from a lotus, natural without carving.' Notably, though a jueju, the poem commands the Han yuefu arts of reversal and the counter-case: ordinary travel poems use bright moon, lone goose, and cold washing-blocks to write sorrow; Li Bai uses fine wine, jade bowls, and amber to write joy; the concessive 'but so long as' turns 'making the guest drunk' into unstinted friendship between host and guest, and the solid fact of 'a strange land' is dissolved into the virtual 'not know' — within four lines he completes three reversals, from thing to person, from drunkenness to forgetting, from sorrow to joy, each line beyond expectation yet each within reason. This 'turning the void into surprise' is Li Bai's craft peculiar to him among the quatrain masters Wang Changling and Wang Zhihuan, and the deep reason this poem never tires.

此诗七言绝句，四句两联，章法极简而意蕴丰厚。前两句写酒：首句「兰陵美酒郁金香」从嗅觉落笔，「郁金香」三字既是香草之名（古人以郁金浸酒），又以花写酒香，香中见色；次句「玉椀盛来琥珀光」转从视觉落笔，「玉椀」写酒器之贵，「琥珀」写酒色之美，以物写酒，色光兼备。两句一香一光、一虚一实，把酒之美写到极致，为后文「醉」字蓄势。后两句由物及人：「但使主人能醉客」以让步语气写宾主尽欢，「不知何处是他乡」以「不知」二字翻出全诗主旨——不是真的不知，而是醉后忘忧、乐不思乡。章法上，前实后虚、先物后人，层层推进；修辞上，用「郁金香」「琥珀」两个名物作比，典雅而不晦涩；语气上，「但使」「不知」两个虚词贯穿，使四句一气流转，如脱口而出。全诗无一字写愁而愁自解，无一字写豪而豪气自见，正是李白绝句「清水出芙蓉，天然去雕饰」的典型风貌。值得细味的是，此诗虽为绝句，却深得汉乐府「反衬」「翻案」之妙：寻常客中诗多以明月、孤雁、寒砧写愁，李白偏以美酒、玉椀、琥珀写乐，以「但使」的假设句把「醉客」写成宾主之间的无间情谊，把「他乡」的实指化为「不知」的虚语，四句之内完成三次翻转——由物及人、由醉及忘、由愁及乐，句句出乎意料，又句句在情理之中。这种「翻空出奇」的笔法，正是李白绝句异于王昌龄、王之涣诸家的独门功夫，也是此诗千百年来读之不厌的深层原因。

Allusions

The poem's allusions and objects both carry meaning. First, 'Lanling wine': Lanling is an ancient place where Xunzi once served as magistrate, and its wine was famed throughout the land; later Tang poems often sang of 'Lanling wine,' Li Bai's being the most famous — the place gained luster from the poem. Second, 'yujin spice' (yujinxiang): the ancients steeped the aromatic herb yujin (a turmeric of the ginger family) in wine for its fragrance, so fine wine and 'yujin' became paired terms; some say 'yujin xiang' was itself a name for fine wine. The herb enters the poem with scent and a hint of noble purity, matching Li Bai's aesthetic of the unadorned. Third, 'amber': the fossil resin, yellow and translucent, was the standing metaphor for the color of fine wine, just as 'night-glittering cups' is in 'grape wine in luminous cups.' Fourth, the motif of 'a strange land': homesickness is an eternal theme of Chinese poetry, from the Book of Songs' 'when I left, the willows were fresh' to the Han ballad's 'sad songs may stand in for weeping,' usually written in low, lingering grief; Li Bai reverses the current, turning homesickness into expansive release with 'I shall not know where a strange land is' — the very character of the High Tang, 'spirit before all.' Allusions without heaviness, objects without clutter: scent, light, drunkenness, and homeland fused into one — a model of 'using allusion as if it were one's own.'

此诗用典与用物皆含深意。其一，「兰陵美酒」：兰陵为古地名，战国时荀子于此为令；此地美酒名闻天下，后世唐诗中屡见「兰陵酒」之咏，李白此诗是其中最著者，兰陵亦因此诗而更增声名。其二，「郁金香」：古人以郁金香草（姜科植物郁金）浸酒，取其芳香，故美酒常与「郁金」并称；一说「郁金香」本身即美酒名。此句以香草入诗，既写酒香，又暗含高洁的象征意味，与李白「清水出芙蓉」的审美追求相合。其三，「琥珀」：琥珀为松柏树脂的化石，色黄而透明，古人常以之喻美酒之色，如「葡萄美酒夜光杯」之「夜光」同属以色写酒的笔法。其四，「他乡」意象：客中怀乡是中国诗歌的永恒母题，从《诗经》的「昔我往矣」到汉乐府的「悲歌可以当泣」，乡愁多写得沉痛低回；李白却反其道而行，以「不知何处是他乡」把乡愁翻成旷达，正见盛唐诗歌「以气为主」的时代特征。全诗用典不滞、用物不繁，香、光、醉、乡四者浑然一体，是李白「用事如己出」的典范。

Commentary

This poem has been recited without pause, one of Li Bai's famous quatrains and the crowning piece on the theme of sojourning. Critics have admired its expansiveness: Shen Deqian in Tangshi biecai praised Li Bai's quatrains as 'words near, feeling far, utterance held back,' and this poem is exactly so — twenty-eight characters plain as speech, with bold and untrammeled spirit entirely beyond the words. Its uniqueness is 'writing the guest with joy': it does not complain of travel but celebrates drunkenness, transmuting the hardship of wandering into the delight of making one's home the whole world; only a poet who 'all his life loved to roam famous mountains' could write such a line, and later echoes include Su Shi's 'wherever this heart is at peace, there is my home.' Easy to memorize and deep in feeling, it has long entered every anthology and textbook, a model of 'seeing the great in the small.' It pairs with 'Quiet Night Thoughts': one writes the depth of homesickness, one the release of the drunken guest — two faces of Li Bai's travel poetry and proof of the breadth of his emotional world. In reception history it was often set beside the 'Song of Liangzhou,' the one 'heroic,' the other 'unfettered,' the twin gems of Tang poems on wine; modern readers gloss it as 'content with one's lot, at ease anywhere,' which, if not quite its full boldness, proves its appeal across time. Lanling itself still trades on 'Lanling fine wine' as its cultural emblem — a twenty-eight-character poem that wrote the biography of a place and a thing, proof of classic literature's power to shape regional culture and of this poem's unique value in the history of transmission.

此诗历代传诵不衰，是李白七绝中的名篇，也是「客中」题材的千古绝唱。历代评家多赏其旷达：清人沈德潜《唐诗别裁》评李白绝句「语近情遥，含吐不露」，此诗正是如此——二十八字明白如话，而豪情逸气尽在言外。与一般羁旅诗相比，此诗的独特处在于「以乐写客」：不诉客愁，反写客醉，把漂泊之苦升华为天地为家的快意，这种「不知何处是他乡」的达观，只有李白这样「一生好入名山游」的诗人写得出。后世「此心安处是吾乡」（苏轼《定风波》）等句，皆可见此诗精神之流响。在教学与传播史上，此诗因语浅情深、易于成诵，历来入选各类选本与教材，是唐诗名篇中「以小见大」的典范。它与《静夜思》恰成对照：一写乡愁之深，一写客醉之达，共同构成李白羁旅诗的一体两面，足见其情感世界的丰富与阔大。从接受史看，此诗在明清诗话中屡被拈出与《凉州词》对举，论者以为一「雄」一「逸」，并称唐诗写酒之双璧；现代读者亦常以「乐天知命」「随遇而安」释之，虽未尽其豪，亦可证其超越时空的感染力。此外，诗中「兰陵」一地因诗而显，至今山东兰陵犹以「兰陵美酒」为文化名片，一首二十八字的小诗竟能为一地一物立传，足见经典文学对地域文化的塑造力，这也是此诗在传播史上的独特价值。

Prosody

Form Seven-character quatrain (qijue, regulated verse)七言绝句（近体七绝）

Rhyme Level-tone 'yang' rhyme throughout: xiang, guang, xiang; the first line rhymes; the resonant, drawn-out rhymes match the high spirits of the wine.押平声「阳」韵：香（xiāng）、光（guāng）、乡（xiāng），一韵到底，首句入韵，韵脚响亮悠长，声情与酒兴相称。

Tone pattern A level-start pattern with the first line rhyming, tones interlaced and easy to chant; each line moves in a 2–2–3 beat, the sound flowing like running water, and the last line closes oblique-to-level with a long aftertone.七绝格律，此诗为平起首句入韵式，平仄相间、朗朗上口。全诗四句皆七言，节奏为「二二三」，如「兰陵／美酒／郁金香」，音节流丽，诵读时如行云流水，末句「不知何处是他乡」以仄起平收，余音悠长。

Reading note This is a seven-character quatrain of regulated verse, strict in rule yet sweeping in momentum — a model of Li Bai's 'driving the meter by spirit.' The form is tiny and prizes perfect turns: the first line opens (the wine's scent), the second continues (its light), the third turns (from wine to man), the fourth closes (the theme); the four lines lock together and finish in one breath. It rhymes xiang, guang, xiang — all open and resonant, suited to the poem's expansive and open-hearted tone — with the first line rhyming so that the opening is sonorous from the start. Though regulated, Li Bai is not rigid: the entering-tone words 'jade bowl' and 'amber' interleave with the level tones to create cadence, and the reading rises and falls with ease. The quatrain reached its perfection in the High Tang, Wang Changling subtle and Li Bai bold; this poem, 'every word natural, no borrowing of carving,' twenty-eight characters flowing as if blurted out, with the meter riding unnoticed within, shows his mastery of 'following the heart's desire without overstepping the line.'此诗为七言绝句，属近体诗，格律严整而气势流走，是李白七绝「以气运律」的典范。七绝体格短小，最重起承转合：此诗首句起（写酒香）、次句承（写酒光）、三句转（由酒及人）、四句合（翻出主旨），四句之间环环相扣，一气呵成。用韵上，押平声阳韵，韵脚「香」「光」「乡」皆洪亮开阔，与诗中豪迈旷达的情调相合；首句即入韵，使开篇便声情饱满。平仄上，虽为律句，但李白并不拘泥，全诗以自然声调行文，「玉椀盛来琥珀光」中「玉椀」「琥珀」两个入声字与平声相间，形成顿挫，读来抑扬有致。七绝在盛唐达于极盛，王昌龄以婉约见长，李白以豪放取胜；此诗正是李白七绝「字字天然、不假雕饰」的代表，二十八字一气流转，如脱口而出，而格律自在其中，可见李白「从心所欲不逾矩」的功力。

Line by line

兰陵美酒郁金香，玉椀盛来琥珀光。

The fine wine of Lanling is fragrant with the scent of yujin spice, and served in jade bowls it glows with amber light.

兰陵出产的美酒散发着郁金香般的芳香，盛在玉碗之中，映出琥珀一样晶莹明亮的光泽。

The fine wine of Lanling breathes the scent of tulip; in a jade bowl, it glows with the light of amber.

这两句以工笔细写美酒，是全诗「醉」字的根基。「兰陵美酒郁金香」从嗅觉入手，以香草「郁金香」状酒香之馥郁，一个「香」字，使人未饮先闻其味；「玉椀盛来琥珀光」转从视觉落笔，「玉椀」写酒器之名贵，「琥珀光」以松脂化石的晶莹透明喻酒色之美，光色相映，如在目前。两句一香一光、一虚一实，嗅觉与视觉交织，把美酒写得色香俱全、华贵动人。更重要的是，这两句极写酒之美，正是为后文「醉」字蓄势：酒愈美，醉意愈浓，醉后忘乡愈自然，故前两句的铺写是后两句「不知何处是他乡」的逻辑前提。李白于此不写人而写酒，正是以物衬情、借物起兴的高明处。

These two lines write the fine wine in fine strokes, the ground of the poem's 'drunkenness'. 'The fine wine of Lanling breathes the scent of tulip' begins with smell, the herb 'tulip' for the wine's fragrance, the one word 'scent' letting the reader smell it before drinking; 'in a jade bowl, it glows with the light of amber' turns to sight, 'jade bowl' the vessel's costliness, 'amber' the fossil resin's crystal clarity as a metaphor for the wine's beauty, light and color together as before the eyes. One line scent, one light, one virtual one real, smell and sight woven, writing the wine in color and scent, luxurious and moving. More important, writing the wine's beauty to the full stores momentum for the 'drunkenness' below: the fairer the wine, the deeper the drunkenness, the more natural the forgetting of home. Li Bai here writes the wine rather than the man, the high art of setting off feeling through things.

但使主人能醉客，不知何处是他乡。

So long as my host can make his guest drunk, I shall not know any more where the strange land is.

只要主人能让我痛饮一醉，我便浑然忘却身在异乡，不知道哪里才是他乡了。

Only let the host make me drunk; I shall not know where the strange land is.

这两句由酒及人，翻出全诗主旨，是「客中」题材中最旷达的一转。「但使主人能醉客」以让步语气写宾主尽欢——一个「醉」字承上启下，既指酒醉，更指心醉；「不知何处是他乡」以「不知」二字收束，妙在全诗不是真不知，而是醉后忘忧、乐不思归。李白把沉重的乡愁化解为轻快的醉语：不是没有乡思，而是以酒浇之、以豪气胜之，把羁旅之苦升华为「处处无家处处家」的达观。与《静夜思》「举头望明月，低头思故乡」的深情凝望相比，此诗以「不知」写超脱，一沉一扬、一敛一放，恰成对照。此两句所以传诵千古，正在于以最浅显的语言写出了盛唐诗人以天下为家的人格气象。

These two lines move from wine to man, turning up the poem's theme, the freest turn in the 'in a strange land' genre. 'Only let the host make me drunk' the concessive tone of host and guest at one, the one word 'drunk' carrying above and below, meaning both wine-drunkenness and heart-drunkenness; 'I shall not know where the strange land is' closes with 'not know', the beauty being that the poem is not truly not knowing, but the drunken forgetting of care, joy that will not think of home. Li Bai dissolves the heavy homesickness into a light drunken word: not that there is no homesickness, but that he drowns it in wine and masters it with boldness, raising the hardship of travel into the breadth of 'no home everywhere, home everywhere'. Set against 'before my bed lies bright moonlight ... bowing it to think of home' of Quiet Night Thought, this poem writes transcendence through 'not know', one heavy one light, one gathered one released, a deliberate contrast. These two lines have lasted through the ages precisely because they write, in the plainest speech, the High Tang poet's personality of taking the world as his home.

Study

Word focus

郁金香 Yujin (yujinxiang) is the aromatic turmeric herb the ancients steeped in wine for its fragrance; here it names at once the wine's scent and its elegance, opening the poem on the nose before any drink is taken. 「兰陵美酒郁金香」之「郁金香」三字，是全诗第一处点睛。郁金为姜科香草，古人取其根浸酒，酒即带芬芳，「郁金香」遂成美酒之代称；此处以花写酒、以香写味，一语双关，既是酒名，又活画出酒香之馥郁。此三字之妙有三：其一，以嗅觉入诗，与下句「琥珀光」的视觉相对，香光并用，通感生色；其二，「郁金香」本身即为名物，典雅有来历，却不显雕琢，正合李白「天然去雕饰」的审美；其三，香字领起全诗，未写饮而先闻香，为「醉客」之「醉」作了嗅觉上的铺垫。李白炼字善于以名物写感受，此「郁金香」与「玉椀」「琥珀」连用，层层叠加，把美酒的色香写到极致，使读者未饮先醉，足见其体物之工。

不知 The words 'not know' (buzhi) are the eye of the poem: not real ignorance but the drunken mind's willing release, by which Li Bai lightly dissolves homesickness into ease. 「不知何处是他乡」之「不知」二字，是全诗诗眼，亦李白旷达精神的凝缩。此「不知」非真不知，而是醉后忘忧、乐不思乡的「不知」——是一种主动的超脱与放达。其妙在于以否定语写肯定情：客愁本是羁旅诗常态，李白却以「不知」二字将乡思轻轻化解，仿佛不是被乡愁折磨，而是主动选择遗忘；「何处是他乡」的反问更添一层豪气——既然处处皆可为家，何来「他乡」可言？二字之轻，正衬出李白胸襟之大。若换作「忘却」「不管」等字，便觉着力、着相，唯「不知」二字以最自然的口吻说出，如醉后呓语，浑然天成，把沉痛的乡愁化为轻快的达观，正是「清水出芙蓉」的境界。

客中行