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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

落第长安

Failing the Examination in Chang'an

常建

Chang Jian

家园好在尚留秦，耻作明时失路人。
恐逢故里莺花笑，且向长安度一春。

My home is safe and still stands in the land of Qin,
but I am ashamed to be a man who lost his way in an enlightened age.
I fear the orioles and flowers of my old village would laugh at me,
so let me pass one spring here in Chang'an.
Listen

Meaning

Having failed the metropolitan examination, the poet cannot face going home: the orioles and flowers of his native village would laugh at him. So he stays on in Chang'an for a spring. Beneath the self-mockery lies the shame and loneliness of a failed scholar in the capital.

家园好在尚留秦，耻作明时失路人。恐逢故里莺花笑，且向长安度一春。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] My family's home is still safe here in Qin; I am ashamed to have lost my way in a bright age. If I go home the orioles and flowers will laugh at me, so let me linger in Chang'an for one spring. [Structure] The quatrain opens with home and shame and closes with the flowers' imagined laughter, turning a personal failure into a scene at once comic and poignant. [Imagery] 'Orioles and flowers' are not mere spring color but a chorus of mockers; staying in Chang'an is less a plan than a refuge from shame. The self-deprecating humor is what gives the poem its lasting charm.

【白话串讲】 常建写《落第长安》：“家园好在尚留秦，耻作明时失路人”——“恐逢故里莺花笑，且向长安度一春”——他落第——恐逢故里莺花笑。 【意象与手法】 “家园好在尚留秦，耻作明时失路人”写耻作失路人；“恐逢故里莺花笑”写恐莺花笑；结以“且向长安度一春”写留长安度春。自嘲感怀。 【情感与主旨】 常建写落第感怀之作，写落第后耻归故里、恐逢莺花笑而滞留长安的羞愧，是写落第心态的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“家园好在尚留秦，耻作明时失路人”写耻作失路人；“恐逢故里莺花笑，且向长安度一春”写落第滞留。

Background

Chang Jian (c. 708-c. 765) was a Tang poet from Chang'an, a contemporary of Wang Wei and friend of many reclusive writers; he is best remembered for the quiet line 'All night still the fish hawks rest by the sand; at dawn the poet rows his boat up the stream' from 'Inscribed on the Back of a Relic Temple.' This poem belongs to a large body of Tang verse on failing the examination. The examination system made the capital a magnet for scholars; failure meant returning home in disgrace, and this poem records the poet's inability to face that homecoming. 'Enlightened age' is the standard praise of the reigning dynasty, which sharpens the shame of being its 'lost man.'

《落第长安》为唐代诗人常建所作诗。常建（约708—约765），长安人，唐代诗人。此诗写落第感怀，为落第后之作。诗中「家园好在尚留秦，耻作明时失路人」写家园好在尚留秦，耻作明时失路人；「恐逢故里莺花笑，且向长安度一春」写恐逢故里莺花笑，且向长安度一春。常建此诗以落第感怀、且向长安度一春写其感怀之情，自嘲感怀，是常建诗中的名篇。此篇《落第长安》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《落第长安》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《落第长安》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 self-mockery carried by diction and personification. 'Lost his way' (shilu) is the key phrase: the failed candidate is a man off the road in a well-ordered age, and the double sense of losing one's place and one's direction makes the shame concrete. The orioles and flowers are personified as laughing villagers, an imagined chorus that turns inward shame into an external, almost theatrical scene. The closing 'let me pass one spring' is deliberately casual—its lightness measuring how heavy the failure is. The two couplets move from reason (home is safe) through emotion (shame) to action (staying), a tight quatrain arc.

此诗艺术上以「自嘲感怀、以春写情」见长。全诗共四句两联，由家园好在尚留秦而恐逢故里莺花笑。起「家园好在尚留秦，耻作明时失路人」写家园好在尚留秦：家园好在尚留秦，耻作明时失路人；结「恐逢故里莺花笑，且向长安度一春」写恐逢故里莺花笑：恐逢故里莺花笑，且向长安度一春。全诗以春写情，由家园好在尚留秦而且向长安度一春，自嘲感怀，是常建诗中的名篇。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 poem carries few formal allusions but works from two conventions. 'Orioles and flowers' (yinghua) is stock spring imagery from the classical tradition, here inverted into mockers. More important is the social allusion beneath 'lost his way': in Tang usage the 'lost man' is one who fails to find his place in the world, echoing the Confucian ideal that in an enlightened age the worthy should find office. The poet's shame is measured against that very ideal—in a good age, failure can only be one's own fault—which is why he would rather hide among the capital's spring crowds than meet his village's flowers.

诗中「家园好在尚留秦耻作明时失路人」「恐逢故里莺花笑且向长安度一春」等语，皆含典故故实。「家园好在尚留秦耻作明时失路人」写家园好在尚留秦耻作明时失路人；「恐逢故里莺花笑且向长安度一春」用莺花之典（莺花写莺啼花开），写恐逢故里莺花笑且向长安度一春。诗人用莺花之典入诗，不着痕迹，而把落第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

The poem is Chang Jian's best-known short piece and a favorite in anthologies of examination-failure verse. Readers have always responded to its honest self-mockery: most failed candidates pretended indifference, but this poem admits the fear of laughter and the wish to hide, which makes it more credible than high-minded resignation. Its image of orioles and flowers laughing at the failure has become a byword. For modern readers it is an intimate glimpse of the human cost of the examination system—the pressure not only to succeed but to be seen to succeed, and the loneliness of the capital for those who do not.

这首《落第长安》，是常建写落第感怀之作，写家园好在尚留秦、恐逢故里莺花笑、且向长安度一春之情，自嘲感怀。起「家园好在尚留秦，耻作明时失路人」——家园好在尚留秦，耻作明时失路人。写家园好在尚留秦：家园好在尚留秦、耻作明时失路人——尚留秦、失路人；结「恐逢故里莺花笑，且向长安度一春」——恐逢故里莺花笑，且向长安度一春。写恐逢故里莺花笑：恐逢故里莺花笑、且向长安度一春——莺花笑、度一春。这「恐逢故里莺花笑，且向长安度一春」，是全诗之结：以且向长安度一春写其感怀。全诗自嘲感怀，以春写情，正是常建诗中的名篇。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 A seven-character quatrain (qijue).诗（七言绝句）
Rhyme Four lines in two couplets, rhyming on 'man' (ren) and 'spring' (chun) in the Zhen group; level and oblique tones alternate, the compact form matching the self-mocking candor of the poem.此诗为七言绝句，共四句两联。押韵：「人」「春」押真部韵。前两句起、后两句转合，平仄相间，正与写落第感怀的自嘲感怀相称，也见其以七绝写感怀的凝练。
Tone pattern The first couplet opens with a flat statement of fact, then tightens on the word 'ashamed'; the second couplet turns with 'I fear' and relaxes into the long, trailing close 'one spring in Chang'an,' so the music moves from tension to a weary release.句式上，「家园好在尚留秦，耻作明时失路人」写家园好在尚留秦，音节自嘲；结「恐逢故里莺花笑，且向长安度一春」写恐逢故里莺花笑，音节悠长。全诗音节随情起伏，由自嘲而悠长，正合七绝「凝练」之妙，读来如落第感怀、且向长安度一春之音，自嘲而动人。
Reading note A compact seven-character quatrain: the first couplet states the situation—home is safe, yet I am ashamed; the second gives the reason—the flowers would laugh—and the resolution—so I stay. The word 'ashamed' carries the poem's weight, while 'for the time being' opens the release; the closing line should be read slowly, its resignation trailing off like spring itself.此诗为七言绝句，是常建写落第感怀之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「自嘲感怀、以春写情」：「家园好在尚留秦，耻作明时失路人」写家园好在尚留秦、「恐逢故里莺花笑，且向长安度一春」写恐逢故里莺花笑。全诗自嘲感怀，以春写情。尤为精妙者，是「耻作明时失路人」写尽失路人；而「且向长安度一春」用莺花之典，正是常建诗「自嘲感怀」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《落第长安》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

家园好在尚留秦，耻作明时失路人。

My home is safe and still stands in the land of Qin, but I am ashamed to be a man who lost his way in an enlightened age.

家园好在尚留秦，耻作明时失路人。

My home is well, yet I still linger in Qin; ashamed to be a man who lost the road in a bright age.

起句写家园好在尚留秦，起笔即见其家园。「家园好在尚留秦」写家园好在尚留秦，「家园好在」写家园好在、「尚留秦」写尚留秦；「耻作明时失路人」写耻作明时失路人，「耻作明时」写耻作明时、「失路人」写失路人。一句写家园好在尚留秦耻作明时失路人，以家园好在尚留秦写尚留秦、以耻作明时失路人写失路人，写尽家园好在尚留秦、耻作明时失路人之情。以家起兴，自嘲而感怀，是「以家起兴」的妙笔。

The opening line writes 'my home is well, yet I still linger in Qin', the start. 'My home is well, yet I still linger in Qin' — the home well, yet lingering in Qin; 'ashamed to be a man who lost the road in a bright age' — the shame of being the failed one in an enlightened time. Rising through home, self-mocking yet feeling, the start of the failed-exam lament.

恐逢故里莺花笑，

I fear the orioles and flowers of my old village would laugh at me—

恐逢故里莺花笑，

I fear to meet, in my home town, the orioles and flowers laughing at me.

此句写恐逢故里莺花笑，是全诗写莺花之态的关键。「恐逢故里」写恐逢故里，「恐逢」写恐逢、「故里」写故里；「莺花笑」用莺花之典写莺花笑，「莺花」写莺花、「笑」写笑。一句写恐逢故里莺花笑，以恐逢故里写故里、以莺花笑写莺花笑，写尽恐逢故里莺花笑之情。以笑写情，自嘲而感怀，是「以笑写情」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 'I fear to meet, in my home town, the orioles and flowers laughing at me', the key image. 'I fear to meet' the dread of returning; 'the orioles and flowers laughing' uses the allusion to the spring orioles and flowers, writing the shame of being laughed at by the very spring. Through laughter it writes the feeling, self-mocking yet feeling, the key of the failed scholar's dread of facing home.

且向长安度一春。

so let me pass one spring here in Chang'an.

且向长安度一春。

I will spend, then, one more spring in Chang'an.

结句写且向长安度一春，是全诗立意的落点。「且向长安」写且向长安，「且向」写且向、「长安」写长安；「度一春」写度一春，「度」写度、「一春」写一春。一句写且向长安度一春，以且向长安写长安、以度一春写度一春，写尽且向长安度一春之情。以春写情，自嘲而感怀，是全诗最动人处，也是「以春写情」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。

The closing line writes 'I will spend, then, one more spring in Chang'an', the poem's landing. 'I will spend, then, in Chang'an' the resignation to stay; 'one more spring' the season of waiting. Through spring it writes the feeling, self-mocking yet feeling, the poem's most moving point: the shame-faced decision to linger another spring in the capital rather than return to be mocked by the home town's flowers.

Study

Word focus

家园 'Home.' The word opens the poem with what should be comfort—family and house still standing in Qin—yet it only sharpens the shame: the home that should receive him is the very thing he dare not face. Its plainness gives the line its quiet ache. 「家园」写家园好在尚留秦，是写家园之态的关键。「家园好在尚留秦」着一「家园」，写家园——着一「家园」，写家园好在尚留秦，见其园之家。两字写尽家园之态，是「以词写园」的妙笔。「家园」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。
失路 'To lose the way.' In Tang usage the lost man is one without a place in the world. Applied to an examination candidate, it turns abstract failure into the image of a wanderer off the road in an age when all roads lead to office, making the shame both personal and social. 「失路」写耻作明时失路人，是写失路之态的关键。「耻作明时失路人」着一「失路」，写失路——着一「失路」，写耻作明时失路人，见其路之失。两字写尽失路之态，是「以词写失」的点睛之词。「失路」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。
故里 'The old village.' Home becomes a tribunal: the place that knew him before he left is imagined as the place that will judge him now. The warmth of the word is undercut by the fear that follows it. 「故里」写恐逢故里莺花笑，是写故里之态的关键。「恐逢故里莺花笑」着一「故里」，写故里——着一「故里」，写恐逢故里莺花笑，见其里之故。两字写尽故里之态，是「以词写里」的点睛之词。「故里」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。
长安 'Chang'an.' The capital is not ambition here but refuge. Staying for one spring is less a decision than a hiding place, the city's crowds offering anonymity to a man who cannot face his village. 「长安」写且向长安度一春，是写长安之态的关键。「且向长安度一春」着一「长安」，写长安——着一「长安」，写且向长安度一春，见其安之长。两字写尽长安之态，是「以词写安」的点睛之词。「长安」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 Prelude to Water Melody: When Will the Moon Be Clear? 苏轼 · 同写感怀落第、自嘲旷达，一写人有悲欢离合、一写家园好在尚留秦耻作明时失路人，皆于感怀之中见自嘲 Both face disappointment with self-mocking candor

Su Shi's 'Prelude to Water Melody' accepts that 'men have sorrow and joy, parting and reunion, as the moon has dark and cloud, round and incomplete—these things have been hard to be perfect since old,' turning personal grief into philosophical breadth. Chang Jian's poem stays in the smaller, sharper mode of self-mockery: a failed candidate hiding from his village's flowers. Read together, they show two postures of the disappointed scholar—Su Shi's consolation and Chang Jian's blush.

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」，写感怀落第、自嘲旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；常建《落第长安》则以「家园好在尚留秦，耻作明时失路人」「且向长安度一春」写失路人、度一春。两诗同写感怀落第、自嘲旷达：一写人有悲欢离合、以悲欢写离合，一写家园好在尚留秦耻作明时失路人、以失路写感怀；一为苏轼之旷达、一为常建之自嘲，并读正可见诗写「感怀落第」的两种笔法，皆于感怀之中见自嘲。

 八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Eight Beats of Ganzhou Song: To the Evening Rain 柳永 · 同写故里凝望、自嘲清丽，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写恐逢故里莺花笑且向长安度一春，皆于故里之中见凝望 Both write the wanderer gazing homeward

Liu Yong's 'Eight Beats of Ganzhou Song' ('Facing the soughing evening rain pouring on the river sky, a washing cleans late autumn') looks back toward home with lyric elegance; Chang Jian looks toward home in dread, afraid of its flowers' laughter. Both poets make the road home a state of mind—one of reluctant longing, the other of ashamed evasion.

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」，写故里凝望、自嘲清丽，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；常建《落第长安》则以「恐逢故里莺花笑，且向长安度一春」「耻作明时失路人」写度一春、失路人。两诗同写故里凝望、自嘲清丽：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写恐逢故里莺花笑且向长安度一春、以莺花写感怀；一为柳永之清丽、一为常建之自嘲，并读正可见诗写「故里凝望」的两种笔法，皆于故里之中见凝望。