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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

齐安郡中偶题

A Casual Inscription in Qi'an Commandery

杜牧

Du Mu

两竿落日溪桥上，半缕轻烟柳影中。
多少绿荷相倚恨，一时回首背西风。

Two poles of setting sun on the creek bridge, half a wisp of pale smoke among the willow shadows.
How many green lotus leaves, leaning on one another, nurse their resentment — all at once they turn their heads, turning their backs on the west wind.
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Meaning

An autumn evening at Qi'an commandery: the sun stands two poles high over the creek bridge, a half wisp of smoke drifts through the willow shadows, and the green lotus leaves — leaning on one another as if sharing a wordless resentment — all at once turn their backs on the west wind. The still scene turns personal in the last couplet, the lotuses' resentment quietly carrying the exiled poet's own.

两竿落日溪桥上，半缕轻烟柳影中。多少绿荷相倚恨，一时回首背西风。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] Two poles of setting sun on the creek bridge; half a wisp of pale smoke among the willow shadows. How many green lotus leaves, leaning on one another, nurse their resentment; all at once they turn their heads, turning their backs on the west wind. [Structure] Two couplets, one still and one moving: the first fixes a quiet dusk in two horizontal lines — sun on the bridge, smoke in the willows; the second suddenly gives the lotuses human posture and feeling. [The Turn] The poem's life is in the word 'resentment' and the verb 'turn their backs'. The lotus leaves lean together like wronged companions, then in one motion turn from the west wind — a scene that reads as a portrait of the poet himself, an exile turning his back on a hostile age. The first couplet's calm makes the second couplet's motion land all the harder.

【白话串讲】 杜牧写《齐安郡中偶题》：“两竿落日溪桥上，半缕轻烟柳影中”——“多少绿荷相倚恨，一时回首背西风”——他写齐安郡——多少绿荷相倚恨。 【意象与手法】 “两竿落日溪桥上，半缕轻烟柳影中”写落日溪桥；“多少绿荷相倚恨”以绿荷相倚写恨；结以“一时回首背西风”以荷背西风写感。清丽含蓄。 【情感与主旨】 杜牧写齐安郡中偶题之作，写落日溪桥、绿荷相倚背西风的秋景，于景物中寓情思，是杜牧写景诗中的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“两竿落日溪桥上，半缕轻烟柳影中”写落日溪桥；“多少绿荷相倚恨，一时回首背西风”以绿荷背西风写感。

Background

Du Mu (803-ca. 852), courtesy name Muzhi, was a native of Jingzhao Wannian (modern Xi'an) and, with Li Shangyin, one of the 'Little Li-Du' of the late Tang. Written casually while he was prefect of Qi'an commandery (Huangzhou, in modern Hubei), around 842-844, the poem belongs to the group of landscape pieces he wrote during his demotion to the south. The clear, restrained scene carries the mood of an official removed from court: the sun setting, the wind turning cold, the lotuses at the end of their season.

《齐安郡中偶题》为唐代诗人杜牧所作诗。杜牧（803—约852），字牧之，京兆万年（今陕西西安）人，唐代诗人，「小李杜」之一。此诗写景感怀，为齐安郡中偶题之作。诗中「两竿落日溪桥上，半缕轻烟柳影中」写两竿落日溪桥上，半缕轻烟柳影中；「多少绿荷相倚恨，一时回首背西风」写多少绿荷相倚恨，一时回首背西风。杜牧此诗以写景感怀、一时回首背西风写其感怀之情，清丽含蓄，是杜牧诗中的名篇。此篇《齐安郡中偶题》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《齐安郡中偶题》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 lies in its quiet tension. The opening couplet builds a perfectly still dusk: 'two poles of setting sun' gives the sun's height with a measurer's precision, 'half a wisp of pale smoke' gives the faintest thread of haze among the willows — two horizontal lines with no person in them, the scene pure, cool, and withdrawn. Then the second couplet moves: 'leaning on one another' gives the lotus leaves the posture of companions, 'nurse their resentment' gives them a feeling, and 'turn their heads, turning their backs on the west wind' gives them a single shared gesture of refusal. The lotuses become a chorus of wronged figures, and the poet stands behind them. The stillness of the first couplet makes the motion of the second land; the scene's coolness makes the feeling's hurt legible. Twenty-eight characters, from pure scene to a fully personal close.

此诗艺术上以「清丽含蓄、以景写情」见长。全诗共四句，由两竿落日溪桥上而多少绿荷相倚恨。起「两竿落日溪桥上，半缕轻烟柳影中」写两竿落日溪桥上：两竿落日溪桥上，半缕轻烟柳影中；结「多少绿荷相倚恨，一时回首背西风」写多少绿荷相倚恨：多少绿荷相倚恨，一时回首背西风。全诗以景写情，由两竿落日溪桥上而一时回首背西风，清丽含蓄，是杜牧诗中的名篇。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 couplet 'how many green lotus leaves, leaning on one another, nurse their resentment; all at once they turn their heads, turning their backs on the west wind' has become famous for its personification of the lotus. The west wind is autumn's wind — the herald of cold and decline, standing since the Book of Songs for the season's turning against life. The lotuses, at the end of summer, turning from the west wind, gave later readers the classic image of beauty or talent refusing to bow to encroaching age and hostile fortune; the couplet is often read as Du Mu's self-portrait in exile, a man of parts turning his back on a cold age. The poem also carries the water-country imagery of his other Huangzhou pieces — bridges, willows, smoke, lotus — the world of the middle Yangtze in which he wrote his landscape quatrains.

诗中「两竿落日溪桥上半缕轻烟柳影中」「多少绿荷相倚恨一时回首背西风」等语，皆含典故故实。「两竿落日溪桥上半缕轻烟柳影中」写两竿落日溪桥上半缕轻烟柳影中；「多少绿荷相倚恨一时回首背西风」写多少绿荷相倚恨一时回首背西风。诗人以落日、绿荷等语入诗，不着痕迹，而把写景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

This quatrain has been widely anthologized, and the couplet of the green lotuses turning from the west wind has been singled out ever since for its personification: the lotuses lean like wronged companions and turn as one body, a scene that readers have always felt to be the poet's own posture. Its charm is restraint — no word of complaint is spoken, yet the turning of the leaves says everything. Later criticism praises the poem as a model of 'writing feeling through scene': the still dusk is the face of the feeling, the lotuses' turn is its heart. It pairs naturally with Du Mu's other Huangzhou landscape poems, and modern readers still cite its last couplet as one of Tang poetry's finest examples of a scene that quietly confesses a state of mind.

这首《齐安郡中偶题》，是杜牧写写景感怀之作，写两竿落日溪桥上、半缕轻烟柳影中、多少绿荷相倚恨、一时回首背西风之情，清丽含蓄。起「两竿落日溪桥上，半缕轻烟柳影中」——两竿落日溪桥上，半缕轻烟柳影中。写两竿落日溪桥上：两竿落日溪桥上、半缕轻烟柳影中——落日溪桥、轻烟柳影；结「多少绿荷相倚恨，一时回首背西风」——多少绿荷相倚恨，一时回首背西风。写多少绿荷相倚恨：多少绿荷相倚恨、一时回首背西风——绿荷相倚恨、回首背西风。这「多少绿荷相倚恨，一时回首背西风」，是全诗之结：以一时回首背西风写其感怀。全诗清丽含蓄，以景写情，正是杜牧诗中的名篇。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诗（七言绝句）
Rhyme It rhymes on the eastern group (dongbu), with zhong and feng as the rhymes on the second and fourth lines; the first line does not rhyme. The deep, resonant eastern rhyme gives the short poem a wide, quiet echo.此诗为七言绝句，共四句。押韵：「中」「风」押东部韵。诗体依绝句而定，句式整齐，音节短促而清丽，正与写写景感怀的清丽含蓄相称，也见其以绝句写感怀的凝练。
Tone pattern The first line opens oblique-level and runs to an oblique close; the second is fully level-oblique; the third runs level and collapses into obliques at 'resentment'; the fourth closes on a rising level pattern. The movement from level calm to a slightly broken close matches the poem's turn from still scene to sudden motion.句式上，「两竿落日溪桥上，半缕轻烟柳影中」写两竿落日溪桥上，音节清丽；结「多少绿荷相倚恨，一时回首背西风」写多少绿荷相倚恨，音节含蓄。全诗音节由清丽而含蓄，正合绝句「凝练」之妙，读来如写景感怀、一时回首背西风之音，清丽而动人。
Reading note A short quatrain of twenty-eight characters in the deep eastern rhyme: the meter is clean, the syllables cool and withdrawn, matching an autumn dusk written in scene. The first couplet is pure scene, the second gives the lotuses a single shared motion, and the rhyme's deep resonance lets that motion linger. Read the first couplet slowly and quietly, and let the last couplet's 'turn their heads' arrive like one body turning.此诗为七言绝句，是杜牧写写景感怀之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「清丽含蓄、以景写情」：「两竿落日溪桥上，半缕轻烟柳影中」写两竿落日溪桥上、「多少绿荷相倚恨，一时回首背西风」写多少绿荷相倚恨。全诗清丽含蓄，以景写情。尤为精妙者，是「半缕轻烟柳影中」写尽柳影之景；而「多少绿荷相倚恨，一时回首背西风」写尽荷恨西风，正是杜牧诗「清丽含蓄」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《齐安郡中偶题》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

两竿落日溪桥上，半缕轻烟柳影中。

Two poles of setting sun on the creek bridge, half a wisp of pale smoke among the willow shadows.

两竿落日溪桥上，半缕轻烟柳影中。

The setting sun, two poles high, over the bridge by the stream; a wisp of thin mist in the shadow of the willows.

首句写两竿落日溪桥上，起笔即见其景。「两竿落日溪桥上」写两竿落日溪桥上，「两竿落日」写两竿落日、「溪桥上」写溪桥上；「半缕轻烟柳影中」写半缕轻烟柳影中，「半缕轻烟」写半缕轻烟、「柳影中」写柳影中。两句一写两竿落日溪桥上、一写半缕轻烟柳影中，以两竿落日溪桥上写落日溪桥、以半缕轻烟柳影中写轻烟柳影，写尽两竿落日溪桥上、半缕轻烟柳影中之情。以景起兴，清丽而含蓄，是「以景起兴」的妙笔。

The first line writes the setting sun over the bridge, the start. 'The setting sun, two poles high, over the bridge by the stream' — the sun two poles above the horizon, the bridge; 'a wisp of thin mist in the shadow of the willows' — the light mist, the willow shadows. Rising through the scene, clear and restrained, the start of the quiet autumn evening by the stream.

多少绿荷相倚恨，一时回首背西风。

How many green lotus leaves, leaning on one another, nurse their resentment — all at once they turn their heads, turning their backs on the west wind.

多少绿荷相倚恨，一时回首背西风。

How many green lotus leaves, leaning on each other in grief; at once they turn their backs on the west wind.

结句写多少绿荷相倚恨，是全诗立意的落点。「多少绿荷相倚恨」写多少绿荷相倚恨，「多少绿荷」写多少绿荷、「相倚恨」写相倚恨；「一时回首背西风」写一时回首背西风，「一时回首」写一时回首、「背西风」写背西风。两句一写多少绿荷相倚恨、一写一时回首背西风，以多少绿荷相倚恨写相倚恨、以一时回首背西风写背西风，写尽多少绿荷相倚恨、一时回首背西风之情。以荷写情，清丽而含蓄，是全诗最动人处，也是「以荷写情」的点睛之笔。

The closing line writes the green lotus leaves leaning on each other in grief, the poem's landing. 'How many green lotus leaves, leaning on each other in grief' — the leaves leaning together as if in sorrow; 'at once they turn their backs on the west wind' — suddenly, all together, they turn away from the autumn wind. Through the lotus it writes the feeling, clear and restrained, the poem's most moving point: the leaves, once fair, now in the grief of autumn, turning from the wind as from a grief they cannot bear — the poet's own autumn sorrow, projected on the pond.

Study

Word focus

落日 The setting sun. 'Two poles' gives the sun's height above the horizon with a measurer's precision, fixing the hour as late afternoon giving way to dusk. In Tang landscape poetry the setting sun regularly carries the overtone of decline and ending; here it opens the poem in cool, exact stillness and sets the season's mood. 「落日」写两竿落日溪桥上，是写落日之态的关键。「两竿落日溪桥上」着一「落日」，写落日——着一「落日」，写两竿落日溪桥上，见其日之落。两字写尽落日之态，是「以词写日」的妙笔。「落日」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。
溪桥上 On the creek bridge. The vantage point from which the whole scene is watched — the sun over the bridge, smoke in the willows, and later the lotuses. Three characters place the eye of the poem without introducing a person, keeping the opening couplet pure scene. 「溪桥上」写两竿落日溪桥上，是写溪桥之态的关键。「两竿落日溪桥上」着一「溪桥上」，写溪桥上——着一「溪桥上」，写两竿落日溪桥上，见其桥之溪上。三字写尽溪桥上之态，是「以词写桥」的点睛之词。「溪桥上」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。
绿荷 The green lotus leaves. In late summer they are still green but past their flowering, and Du Mu gives them human posture and feeling — leaning like wronged companions — so that the pond's last greenness becomes the poem's vehicle for resentment. 「绿荷」写多少绿荷相倚恨，是写绿荷之态的关键。「多少绿荷相倚恨」着一「绿荷」，写绿荷——着一「绿荷」，写多少绿荷相倚恨，见其荷之绿。两字写尽绿荷之态，是「以词写荷」的点睛之词。「绿荷」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。
西风 The west wind — autumn's wind, the herald of cold and decline. That the lotuses turn their backs on it gives the wind the force of a hostile power; in the Chinese poetic tradition the west wind stands for the season's turning against life, and here also for the cold fortune the exiled poet turns from. 「西风」写一时回首背西风，是写西风之态的关键。「一时回首背西风」着一「西风」，写西风——着一「西风」，写一时回首背西风，见其风之西。两字写尽西风之态，是「以词写风」的点睛之词。「西风」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

浣溪沙·一曲新词酒一杯 Huanxisha (Washing Silk Creek) 晏殊 · 同写惜时感怀、无可奈何，一写无可奈何花落去、一写两竿落日溪桥上多少绿荷相倚恨，皆于惜时之中见感怀 Both write melancholy about time passing — one 'helpless to watch the flowers fall', one 'setting sun on the creek bridge'

Yan Shu's 'helpless the flowers fall away, the swallows return as if known' writes the melancholy of time's passing through falling flowers and returning swallows; Du Mu writes the same feeling through the setting sun and the lotuses turning from the west wind. Both feel the same helplessness at decline — one warm and moist, one clear and cool — and read together they show two manners of writing sorrow at time's passing, one in Song lyric and one in Tang quatrain.

晏殊《浣溪沙·一曲新词酒一杯》「无可奈何花落去，似曾相识燕归来」，写惜时感怀、无可奈何，是宋词小令的名篇；杜牧《齐安郡中偶题》则以「两竿落日溪桥上，半缕轻烟柳影中」「多少绿荷相倚恨」写落日溪桥、绿荷相倚恨。两诗同写惜时感怀、无可奈何：一写无可奈何花落去、以花落燕归写惜时，一写两竿落日溪桥上多少绿荷相倚恨、以落日写感怀；一为晏殊之温润、一为杜牧之清丽，并读正可见诗写「惜时感怀」的两种笔法，皆于惜时之中见感怀。

 山园小梅 Little Plums in the Mountain Garden 林逋 · 同写景物清雅、含蓄超然，一写疏影横斜水清浅暗香浮动月黄昏、一写两竿落日溪桥上半缕轻烟柳影中，皆于景物之中见清雅 Both write quiet, aloof scenery — one 'sparse shadows, faint scent', one 'setting sun on the creek bridge'

Lin Bu's 'sparse shadows slant across the clear shallow water; a faint scent floats in the moonlit dusk' writes the plum's aloof purity in a Song landscape poem; Du Mu writes the lotus's turning from the west wind in a Tang quatrain. Both find a cool, withdrawn purity in scene — one through the plum's scent and shadow, one through sun, smoke, and the lotuses' single motion — and read together they show the shared tradition of quiet, self-possessed landscape writing across Tang and Song.

林逋《山园小梅》「疏影横斜水清浅，暗香浮动月黄昏」，写梅之清雅、景物清雅，是宋诗咏物的绝唱；杜牧《齐安郡中偶题》则以「两竿落日溪桥上，半缕轻烟柳影中」「多少绿荷相倚恨」写落日溪桥、绿荷相倚恨。两诗同写景物清雅、含蓄超然：一写疏影横斜水清浅暗香浮动月黄昏、以梅写清雅，一写两竿落日溪桥上半缕轻烟柳影中、以落日写感怀；一为林逋之清逸、一为杜牧之清丽，并读正可见诗写「景物清雅」的两种笔法，皆于景物之中见清雅。