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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

卖花翁

The Old Flower Seller

吴融

Wu Rong

和烟和露一丛花，担入宫城许史家。
惆怅东风无处说，不教闲地著春华。

A cluster of flowers, still wet with mist and dew, is shouldered into the capital to the houses of the Xu and Shi clans.
The disconsolate east wind has nowhere to voice its grief; it will not let idle ground put forth its spring bloom.
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Meaning

Freshly cut flowers still dripping with mist and dew are carried into the capital to the mansions of the powerful Xu and Shi families. The spring wind grieves in silence: the blooms that should deck common ground are all swept up into noble courtyards. The poem is a quiet satire on the powerful monopolizing beauty and wealth while ordinary places are left bare.

和烟和露一丛花，担入宫城许史家。惆怅东风无处说，不教闲地著春华。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] A bunch of flowers, cut with the morning mist and dew still on them, is carried on a shoulder pole into the capital to the houses of the Xu and Shi, the great noble families. The sad east wind cannot complain anywhere: it is not allowed to let common ground wear its spring colors. [Structure] Two couplets, four lines: the first states the fact, that the flowers go to the noble houses; the second gives the judgment, that spring itself is grieved because the wild places get no bloom. [Imagery] The contrast between the freshness of mist and dew and the palace city, and between the monopolized flowers and idle ground, concentrates a whole social criticism into the fate of one shoulder pole of blossoms.

【白话串讲】 吴融写《卖花翁》：“和烟和露一丛花，担入宫城许史家”——“惆怅东风无处说，不教闲地著春华”——他写卖花翁——不教闲地著春华。 【意象与手法】 “和烟和露一丛花，担入宫城许史家”写花担入宫城；“惆怅东风无处说”写惆怅；结以“不教闲地著春华”以不教闲地著春华写感慨。婉讽感慨。 【情感与主旨】 吴融写卖花翁之作，写花被豪门占尽、不教闲地著春华的富贵垄断，讽刺豪门对美的独占，是讽喻诗中的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“和烟和露一丛花，担入宫城许史家”写花入豪门；“惆怅东风无处说，不教闲地著春华”写富贵垄断。

Background

Wu Rong (ca. 850-903), courtesy name Zihua, was a Late Tang poet from Shanyin. Writing at the very end of the Tang, when eunuchs and warlords carved up power, he voiced criticism through short satirical poems like this one. The Old Flower Seller became a classic of the genre: the flower-buying culture Bai Juyi had attacked a century earlier in Buying Flowers is here shown to have ended in outright monopoly by the great houses.

《卖花翁》为唐代诗人吴融所作诗。吴融（约850—约903），字子华，越州山阴人，唐代诗人。此诗写讽喻感慨，为咏卖花翁之作。诗中「和烟和露一丛花，担入宫城许史家」写和烟和露一丛花，担入宫城许史家；「惆怅东风无处说，不教闲地著春华」写惆怅东风无处说，不教闲地著春华。吴融此诗以讽喻感慨、不教闲地著春华写其感慨之情，婉讽感慨，是吴融诗中的名篇。此篇《卖花翁》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《卖花翁》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《卖花翁》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 power lies in what it withholds. It never scolds; it simply watches a shoulder pole of flowers disappear into the noble quarter and then attributes grief to the east wind. By making spring itself the complainant, Wu Rong turns a scene of beauty into an indictment. The diction is plain, mist and dew, shoulder pole, idle ground, yet the closing line, that spring may not bloom on common ground, lands with the weight of a verdict.

此诗艺术上以「婉讽感慨、以花写情」见长。全诗共四句两联，由和烟和露一丛花而惆怅东风无处说。起「和烟和露一丛花，担入宫城许史家」写和烟和露一丛花：和烟和露一丛花，担入宫城许史家；结「惆怅东风无处说，不教闲地著春华」写惆怅东风无处说：惆怅东风无处说，不教闲地著春华。全诗以花写情，由和烟和露一丛花而不教闲地著春华，婉讽感慨，是吴融诗中的名篇。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 Xu and Shi families were the great consort clans of the Han, the standard byword for aristocratic arrogance; naming them conjures the whole tradition of powerful families seizing the best of everything. Idle ground wearing its spring colors reverses the normal role of the east wind, which should bring spring to every plot alike; that it is not allowed to do so personifies spring as a victim of monopoly rather than a mere season.

诗中「和烟和露一丛花担入宫城许史家」「惆怅东风无处说不教闲地著春华」等语，皆含典故故实。「和烟和露一丛花担入宫城许史家」用许史之典（许史写汉朝许、史两家外戚），写和烟和露一丛花担入宫城许史家；「惆怅东风无处说不教闲地著春华」写惆怅东风无处说不教闲地著春华。诗人用许史之典入诗，不着痕迹，而把讽喻感慨之情写得真切可感，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 has been collected in anthologies for centuries as a model of restrained political satire. Later critics read it together with Bai Juyi's Buying Flowers as a pair documenting the fate of Tang flower culture: Bai Juyi's version shows the buying craze of the mid-Tang capital, while Wu Rong's shows, by the dynasty's end, flowers swept wholesale into the houses of the powerful. Its closing line, spring forbidden to bloom on common ground, has become a proverbial image of cultural and material monopoly.

这首《卖花翁》，是吴融写讽喻感慨之作，写和烟和露一丛花、惆怅东风无处说、不教闲地著春华之情，婉讽感慨。起「和烟和露一丛花，担入宫城许史家」——和烟和露一丛花，担入宫城许史家。写和烟和露一丛花：和烟和露一丛花、担入宫城许史家——一丛花、许史家；结「惆怅东风无处说，不教闲地著春华」——惆怅东风无处说，不教闲地著春华。写惆怅东风无处说：惆怅东风无处说、不教闲地著春华——无处说、著春华。这「惆怅东风无处说，不教闲地著春华」，是全诗之结：以不教闲地著春华写其感慨。全诗婉讽感慨，以花写情，正是吴融诗中的名篇。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 (jueju), four lines in two couplets.诗（七言绝句）
Rhyme It rhymes on the ma category: jia, house, and hua, flower, a soft, drawn-out sound fitting the poem's sighing tone.此诗为七言绝句，共四句两联。押韵：「家」「华」押麻部韵。前两句起、后两句转合，平仄相间，正与写讽喻感慨的婉讽感慨相称，也见其以七绝写感慨的凝练。
Tone pattern The opening couplet states the fact in even, flowing seven-character cadences; the closing couplet lengthens into lament, so the sound rides from plain narrative to a drawn-out sigh.句式上，「和烟和露一丛花，担入宫城许史家」写和烟和露一丛花，音节婉讽；结「惆怅东风无处说，不教闲地著春华」写惆怅东风无处说，音节悠长。全诗音节随情起伏，由婉讽而悠长，正合七绝「凝练」之妙，读来如讽喻感慨、不教闲地著春华之音，婉讽而动人。
Reading note A quatrain of rare economy: two couplets carry fact and judgment. The tone should be quiet and even, the irony carried by restraint, and the closing line should fall slowly, letting the phrase spring bloom linger.此诗为七言绝句，是吴融写讽喻感慨之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「婉讽感慨、以花写情」：「和烟和露一丛花，担入宫城许史家」写和烟和露一丛花、「惆怅东风无处说，不教闲地著春华」写惆怅东风无处说。全诗婉讽感慨，以花写情。尤为精妙者，是「担入宫城许史家」用许史之典；而「不教闲地著春华」写尽著春华，正是吴融诗「婉讽感慨」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《卖花翁》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

和烟和露一丛花，担入宫城许史家。

A cluster of flowers, still mingled with mist and dew, is carried into the capital to the houses of the Xu and Shi clans.

和烟和露一丛花，担入宫城许史家。

A cluster of flowers, with mist and dew; the pole bears them into the palace city, to the Xu and Shi mansions.

起句写和烟和露一丛花，起笔即见其丛花。「和烟和露一丛花」写和烟和露一丛花，「和烟和露」写和烟和露、「一丛花」写一丛花；「担入宫城许史家」用许史之典写担入宫城许史家，「担入宫城」写担入宫城、「许史家」写许史家。一句写和烟和露一丛花担入宫城许史家，以和烟和露一丛花写一丛花、以担入宫城许史家写许史家，写尽和烟和露一丛花、担入宫城许史家之情。以花起兴，婉讽而感慨，是「以花起兴」的妙笔。

The opening line writes 'a cluster of flowers, with mist and dew', the start. 'A cluster of flowers, with mist and dew' — with mist and dew, one cluster of flowers; 'the pole bears them into the palace city, to the Xu and Shi mansions' uses the Xu-Shi allusion — borne into the palace city, to the Xu and Shi houses. Rising through the flower, gentle in satire and sighing, the start of the verse.

惆怅东风无处说，

The disconsolate east wind has nowhere to voice its grief;

惆怅东风无处说，

The east wind is sorrowful, and nowhere to speak it,

此句写惆怅东风无处说，是全诗写惆怅之态的关键。「惆怅东风」写惆怅东风，「惆怅」写惆怅、「东风」写东风；「无处说」写无处说，「无处」写无处、「说」写说。一句写惆怅东风无处说，以惆怅东风写东风、以无处说写无处说，写尽惆怅东风无处说之情。以怅写情，婉讽而感慨，是「以怅写情」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 'the east wind is sorrowful, and nowhere to speak it', the key image. 'The east wind is sorrowful' — the sorrow, the east wind; 'nowhere to speak it' — nowhere, to speak. Writing feeling through the sorrow, gentle in satire and sighing, the eye of the poem.

不教闲地著春华。

it will not let idle ground put forth its spring colors.

不教闲地著春华。

it will not let the idle ground wear the spring's bloom.

结句写不教闲地著春华，是全诗立意的落点。「不教闲地」写不教闲地，「不教」写不教、「闲地」写闲地；「著春华」写着春华，「著」写着、「春华」写春华。一句写不教闲地著春华，以不教闲地写闲地、以著春华写着春华，写尽不教闲地著春华之情。以华写情，婉讽而感慨，是全诗最动人处，也是「以华写情」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 'it will not let the idle ground wear the spring's bloom', the poem's landing. 'It will not let the idle ground' — will not let, the idle ground; 'wear the spring's bloom' — wear, the spring bloom. Writing feeling through the bloom, gentle in satire and sighing, the poem's most moving point: the spring's splendor is all driven to the nobles' mansions, leaving the common earth bare — the grief of a beauty sold to the powerful.

Study

Word focus

丛花 A cluster of flowers: the word cluster stresses the small, ordinary quantity, a mere bunch, yet enough to show where all beauty goes. The freshness of the single cluster is set against the grandeur of the noble houses. 「丛花」写和烟和露一丛花，是写丛花之态的关键。「和烟和露一丛花」着一「丛花」，写丛花——着一「丛花」，写和烟和露一丛花，见其花之丛。两字写尽丛花之态，是「以词写丛」的妙笔。「丛花」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。
宫城 The palace city: the capital, seat of imperial and aristocratic power. The flowers' destination turns a flower seller's route into a map of social hierarchy. 「宫城」写担入宫城许史家，是写宫城之态的关键。「担入宫城许史家」着一「宫城」，写宫城——着一「宫城」，写担入宫城许史家，见其城之宫。两字写尽宫城之态，是「以词写城」的点睛之词。「宫城」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。
惆怅 Disconsolate or melancholy, attributed here to the east wind. Giving grief to the season itself lets nature mourn the monopolizing of spring, sharpening the satire without a word of anger. 「惆怅」写惆怅东风无处说，是写惆怅之态的关键。「惆怅东风无处说」着一「惆怅」，写惆怅——着一「惆怅」，写惆怅东风无处说，见其怅之惆。两字写尽惆怅之态，是「以词写怅」的点睛之词。「惆怅」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。
春华 Spring bloom or spring flowers: nature's gift that should belong to every plot of ground. That it is denied to idle ground makes it a measure of what the poor are deprived of. 「春华」写不教闲地著春华，是写春华之态的关键。「不教闲地著春华」着一「春华」，写春华——着一「春华」，写不教闲地著春华，见其华之春。两字写尽春华之态，是「以词写华」的点睛之词。「春华」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 苏轼 · 同写感慨讽喻、婉讽旷达，一写人有悲欢离合、一写和烟和露一丛花担入宫城许史家，皆于感慨之中见婉讽 Both turn from a concrete scene to philosophical reflection within a few lines

Su Shi's Prelude to Water Melody begins with the moon and rises to the reflection that men have sorrow and joy, parting and reunion, as the moon has its dark and clear, consolation through philosophy. Wu Rong's quatrain begins with flowers and sinks into a verdict on monopoly, grief without consolation. Both compress feeling into reflection, one healing and one wounding.

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」，写感慨讽喻、婉讽旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；吴融《卖花翁》则以「和烟和露一丛花，担入宫城许史家」「不教闲地著春华」写许史家、著春华。两诗同写感慨讽喻、婉讽旷达：一写人有悲欢离合、以悲欢写离合，一写和烟和露一丛花担入宫城许史家、以丛花写感慨；一为苏轼之旷达、一为吴融之婉讽，并读正可见诗写「感慨讽喻」的两种笔法，皆于感慨之中见婉讽。

 八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Eight Beats of Ganzhou 柳永 · 同写宫城凝望、婉讽清丽，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写和烟和露一丛花担入宫城许史家，皆于宫城之中见凝望 Both gaze into distance, blending personal sorrow with the vast scene

Liu Yong looks from a tower over the dusk rain spreading across the river sky toward home; Wu Rong watches a shoulder pole of flowers enter the noble quarter. One's melancholy widens into landscape, the other's narrows into a single image of injustice; both show how a small scene can carry an age's mood.

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」，写宫城凝望、婉讽清丽，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；吴融《卖花翁》则以「和烟和露一丛花，担入宫城许史家」「惆怅东风无处说」写许史家、无处说。两诗同写宫城凝望、婉讽清丽：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写和烟和露一丛花担入宫城许史家、以丛花写感慨；一为柳永之清丽、一为吴融之婉讽，并读正可见诗写「宫城凝望」的两种笔法，皆于宫城之中见凝望。