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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

商山早行

Early Departure from Shang Mountain

温庭筠

Wen Tingyun

羁旅travel 思乡homesickness 秋景autumn

晨起动征铎，客行悲故乡。
鸡声茅店月，人迹板桥霜。
槲叶落山路，枳花明驿墙。
因思杜陵梦，凫雁满回塘。

At dawn I rise; the travelers' bells jangle,
The wanderer sets out, grieving for his old home.
Cock crow, thatched inn, the moon,
Footprints on the plank bridge, frost.
Oak leaves fall on the mountain road,
Plum blossoms brighten the post-house wall.
Thinking of last night's dream of Duling,
Where wild ducks and geese fill the winding pond.

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Meaning

The poem records a traveler's pre-dawn departure through the mountains, his homesickness sharpened by the cold road, and closes with a warm dream of home that only deepens his longing.

清晨起身，车马的铃铎已叮当作响，远行的旅人不禁为思念故乡而伤悲。残月未落，茅草店外传来鸡鸣；木板桥上覆着白霜，早已印满行人的足迹。槲树的枯叶洒落山路，枳树的白花照亮了驿站的墙。于是想起昨夜梦回杜陵的情景——满塘的野鸭大雁正自在游弋。

Appreciation

The poem turns entirely on the two words 'early travel.' Bells, cock-crow, and frost-marked footprints all testify to the hour, and the earlier the start, the heavier the traveler's weariness. Its famous couplet 'Cock crow, thatched inn, the moon / Footprints on the plank bridge, frost' stacks six naked nouns without a single verb, letting the reader assemble the scene. The closing dream of home's warm pond, set against the cold fallen leaves, makes the homesickness stronger by contrast rather than by statement.

【白话串讲】 “晨起动征铎，客行悲故乡”——温庭筠写商山早行：清晨动身，铃铛响。“鸡声茅店月，人迹板桥霜”——鸡叫、茅店、月亮、板桥、霜——五个词，一幅画。“槲叶落山路，枳花明驿墙”——“因思杜陵梦，凫雁满回塘”——他想起昨晚梦里的故乡。【意象与手法】 “鸡声茅店月，人迹板桥霜”十字全为名词，不用一个动词、形容词，纯以意象并置。声、色、时、地、人迹俱全，读者自行拼合出一幅早行图。这种“名词句”写法后来被马致远《天净沙·秋思》推向极致，是中国诗歌意象叠加的经典范例。【情感与主旨】全诗围绕“早行”二字展开：铎声写早，鸡声残月写早，霜上人迹写早——写得越早，越见旅途之苦；而苦的根源在“悲故乡”。结尾以梦中故乡的凫雁满塘作结，与眼前的落叶枯霜形成温暖与凄清的对照，思乡之情不写而自浓。【名句点睛】 “鸡声茅店月，人迹板桥霜”——十字无一虚设、无一动词，却把一个旅人凌晨启程的全部体感写尽。宋人极爱此联，叹为“状难写之景如在目前”。

Background

Wen Tingyun spent his life thwarted in office, failing the exams repeatedly and drifting for years. This poem was likely written near the end of the Dazhong era of Emperor Xuanzong, as the poet left Chang'an for a post, passing through Shang Mountain (in present-day Shaanxi). Duling, southeast of Chang'an, was where Wen had once lived, so the 'Duling dream' at the end points to his true home.

温庭筠字飞卿，太原祁人，晚唐诗坛与李商隐齐名，世称温李，又以词开花间一派之先，被后世尊为花间鼻祖。此诗题曰商山早行，商山在今陕西商洛境内，是长安东南通往东都洛阳与荆襄一带的要道，秦末四皓避居于此，向为羁旅往还必经之地。温庭筠一生累举不第、恃才傲物、屡忤权贵，中年以后长期奔走于长安与东南之间，仕途蹭蹬，行旅频仍。此篇当作于他离开长安、东出商山赴襄阳幕府途中，写清晨启程的所见所感，是其漂泊生涯的真实写照。诗中杜陵一语，杜陵在长安城南，是温庭筠久居之地，此处代指故乡，故末句梦回杜陵、凫雁满塘，正是以旧游之乐反衬眼前之苦。全诗紧扣一个早字落笔，铎声、鸡声、残月、晓霜层层写晨行之早，而早的背后是不得已而行的羁愁，是仕途失意者被迫离京的酸楚，故虽只写一朝一路之景，却承载着诗人半生飘零的身世之感，向来被推为唐人五律写羁旅行役的压卷之作。

Art

The poem's best-known achievement is the 'parallel brocade' (liejin) of the second couplet: six noun images—cock-crow, thatched inn, moon, footprints, plank bridge, frost—set side by side with no connecting words, a montage that leaves enormous blank space yet dense information. Structurally it also opposes the real and the unreal: the first six lines are present fact, the last two turn to last night's dream, leaping from a bitter-cold present to a warm homeland as a sharp counterpoint.

此诗最见工力处在于中间两联的意象经营，尤以颔联鸡声茅店月、人迹板桥霜十字全用名词并置、不着一个动词与形容词而闻名。诗人把鸡声、茅店、残月、人迹、板桥、晓霜六种物象直接叠加，声、色、时、地、行迹俱全，读者须凭想象自行拼合，遂由这六个词组织出一幅完整的凌晨启程图，正合宋人梅尧臣所谓状难写之景如在目前、含不尽之意见于言外之说。这种纯以名词句叠加成境的写法，上承汉魏乐府白描之法，下启马致远天净沙秋思枯藤老树昏鸦一类曲家名句，是中国诗歌意象叠加艺术的经典范式。就章法而言，全诗以晨起动征铎点明早行，以客行悲故乡一句直贯到底，此后铎声、鸡声、残月、人迹、晓霜句句写早，写得愈早，愈见旅途之孤苦；颔联写清冷的实景，颈联槲叶、枳花转写山路驿墙的荒僻，末联忽以昨夜梦回故乡、凫雁满塘的温暖之境作结，与眼前的落叶枯霜形成冷暖对照，思乡之情不著一悲字而弥漫全篇。虚实相生、以景结情，是此诗最高明的收束方式。

Allusions

The poem uses almost no allusion. 'Duling' is a place name, the tomb of Emperor Xuan of Han, southeast of Chang'an, where scholars gathered in the Tang; Wen Tingyun once called himself a 'traveler of Duling,' and here it stands for his home—a borrowing of place to carry feeling, not a classical reference.

此诗用典不多而字字有来历。杜陵是全诗唯一明确的地名典实：杜陵在长安城南，本为汉宣帝陵所在，其地邻近少陵，杜甫尝自称杜陵布衣、少陵野老，故杜陵在唐诗中常与长安故园、京华旧游相联系。温庭筠久居杜陵一带，此处以杜陵梦代指故乡之梦，既是写实，又借杜陵二字唤起长安京华的记忆，与漂泊在外的商山早行两相对照。征铎一词，铎为行旅车马所悬之大铃，古称行车必有鸾铎之声，《周礼》有司马振铎之载，此处以征铎写车马启行，是行役的典型物象。凫雁满回塘之凫雁，凫为野鸭，雁为候鸟，二者皆水禽，古诗中常以凫雁写水乡的安闲之景，又因雁有随季南北迁徙、传书寄远之义，故凫雁满塘一句既写故园水泽之乐，又暗含游子如雁、身不由己之意。槲叶、枳花则是商山一带秋冬之交的实有物产，槲为落叶乔木、其叶经冬始落，枳即枸橘、春开白花，二者点出早行的时令与地域，虽非典故而具有极强的地方色彩与真实感。

Commentary

Ouyang Xiu's 'Poetry Talk of the Six Ones' records Mei Yaochen's praise of that couplet as a model of 'setting the hard-to-write scene before the eyes, and lodging endless meaning beyond the words.' Shen Deqian's 'Tang Poetry: Selected' notes the line on oak leaves and plum blossoms also paints the desolate mountain post-road like a picture.

此诗自宋以来备受推崇，尤以颔联为历代诗话反复称引。欧阳修《六一诗话》记梅尧臣论诗，举鸡声茅店月、人迹板桥霜为状难写之景如在目前的典范，谓其道路辛苦、羁愁旅思，尽在言外，此评遂成千古定论。李东阳《怀麓堂诗话》further称此十字不用一二闲字，止提掇出紧关物色字样，而音韵铿锵、意象具足，是诗家绝唱，并指出后人虽欲效之而难及其自然。清人沈德潜《唐诗别裁》录此诗，评曰早行名篇，鸡声二句意象具足，为后人叠字之祖；纪昀亦称其写景清切、格律精严。近世学者论意象叠加、名词句手法者，无不以此联为汉语诗歌以词组境的最佳例证，并常与马致远天净沙秋思并举，说明此一手法自唐诗至元曲一脉相承的演进。综观诸家评论，皆集矢于颔联的炼象之功，而于全诗以早字贯串、以梦境作结的整体构思，亦多有阐发，足见此篇在唐人五律中的典范地位历久不衰。

Prosody

Form Five-character regulated verse (oblique-tone opening, first line not rhyming)五言律诗

Rhyme Rhymes on the yang category of the seventh rhyme group: xiang, shuang, qiang, tang.押平水韵下平七阳韵，韵脚为乡、霜、墙、塘，首句晨起动征铎不入韵，偶句一韵到底

Tone pattern The second couplet 'Cock crow, thatched inn, the moon / Footprints on the plank bridge, frost' is a tight antithesis—cock-crow versus footprints, thatched inn versus plank bridge, moon versus frost, noun against noun, not a word amiss.仄起首句不入韵式，中间颔联鸡声茅店月、人迹板桥霜与颈联槲叶落山路、枳花明驿墙两联对仗工稳，平仄谐调

Reading note Both middle couplets are antithetical; the second shines through noun juxtaposition, the third through the verbs 'fall' and 'brighten,' one still and one moving, avoiding stiffness.此诗为五言律诗的典范之作，格律精严而气韵天然。全篇仄起首句不入韵，偶句押下平七阳韵，乡、霜、墙、塘四字收音开口舒朗，读来一路悠长，与羁旅怀乡的绵邈之情相应。最见功力者为中间两联的对仗：颔联鸡声茅店月对人迹板桥霜，六个名词两两相对，鸡声对人迹、茅店对板桥、月对霜，工整无比而全不见斧凿，纯以物象并列成境，是名词句对仗的极致；颈联槲叶落山路对枳花明驿墙，落字与明字一沉一亮、一动一静相对，又于工对之中见出变化。声调上，此诗以清冷短促之字写晨行之早，以开口长音之韵脚舒展怀乡之思，急舒相济，遂使一首格律谨严的五律读来毫无板滞之感。历来论者以为温庭筠此篇于严整的律体中写尽羁旅辛酸，格律与情韵两臻其妙，故推为唐人五律早行诗的压卷。

Line by line

晨起动征铎，客行悲故乡。

At dawn he rises and the traveling bells stir; the guest on the road grieves for his homeland.

清晨起身，车马的铃铎已叮当作响，远行的旅人不禁为思念故乡而伤悲。

At dawn I rise, the travel bells already ringing; the wayfarer grieves for his home.

首联开门见山点出早行二字。晨起写时之早，动征铎以铃铎之声写车马已发，一个动字使无声的清晨顿时有了声响，也点出旅人不得不早行的仓促。次句客行悲故乡直抒胸臆，客行二字定下漂泊的基调，悲故乡三字则一笔道破全诗情感的根源：正因心悬故园，故清晨启程分外凄楚。此联一景一情，声色与心绪并出，为下文层层写早、句句含悲预设了完整的抒情框架，是全篇的总冒。

The opening couplet goes straight to the point, naming the early journey. 'At dawn I rise' the earliness of the hour, 'the travel bells already ringing' the carriage bells writing that the convoy has started, the one word 'ringing' giving the silent dawn its sound at once, and naming the traveler's forced, hasty start. The next line, 'the wayfarer grieves for his home', speaks from the heart: 'the wayfarer' tunes the keynote of wandering, and 'grieves for his home' names in one stroke the root of the whole feeling — precisely because the heart hangs on the old garden, the morning departure is the more desolate. This couplet, one scene one feeling, sound and mood together, presupposes the complete lyrical frame for the later layering of early hour and grief, the master opening of the whole.

鸡声茅店月，人迹板桥霜。

Cock-crow, thatched inn, the moon; footprints, plank bridge, the frost—six images with no verb, the whole early scene made by the reader.

残月未落，茅草店外传来鸡鸣；木板桥上覆着白霜，早已印满行人的足迹。

Cockcrow outside the thatched inn under the fading moon; footprints on the wooden bridge frost.

此联是全诗乃至唐人五律中最负盛名的名句，十字全为名词，不用一个动词、形容词，纯以意象并置成境。鸡声、茅店、残月写耳中所闻与天上所见，人迹、板桥、晓霜写脚下所履与眼前所睹，声、色、时、地、行迹俱全，读者须自行拼合，遂在心中浮现一幅旅人踏霜早行的清冷图景。人迹二字尤为沉痛：桥上晓霜已印满先行者的足迹，可见早行者不止一人，天下奔波之苦人皆有之，个人的羁愁遂被推广为普遍的人间辛酸，含蓄而深远。

This couplet is the most famous line of the poem and of Tang five-character regulated verse; ten words all nouns, without one verb or adjective, the scene formed purely by the juxtaposition of images. 'Cockcrow' the ear, 'the thatched inn' and 'the fading moon' the eye and sky; 'footprints', 'the wooden bridge', 'the morning frost' the foot and the sight before; sound, color, hour, place, and track all present, and the reader must piece them together himself, the cold picture of the traveler on the frost at dawn rising in the mind. The words 'footprints' are the most grieved: the bridge's morning frost already printed with the tracks of earlier walkers, showing that the early starters are not one man alone, the toil of all under heaven shared, the personal homesickness extended to the universal human grief, restrained and far-reaching.

因思杜陵梦，凫雁满回塘。

Thus he thinks of last night's dream of Duling, where wild ducks and geese fill the winding pond.

于是想起昨夜梦回杜陵的情景——满塘的野鸭大雁正自在游弋。

And I think of my dream of Duling, where ducks and geese filled the winding pond.

尾联陡转，由眼前的荒寒实景荡开，写昨夜梦回故园杜陵的温暖之境。因思二字承上启下，说明这一路的鸡声晓霜触动了乡愁，遂引出梦中所见。凫雁满回塘一句以水乡的安闲丰盈作结，满字写野鸭大雁之多、之自在，与眼前落叶枯霜的孤清恰成冷暖两境的对照。诗人不再申诉旅愁，只以一个明丽的梦境收束，而梦愈美、醒愈苦，思乡之情不著一字而弥漫无穷，是以景结情、虚实相生的绝妙笔法。

The closing couplet turns abruptly, swinging out from the desolate real scene before the eyes to the warm dream of the old garden of Duling from last night. 'And I think of' carries the above and leads the below, showing that the cockcrow and morning frost of this road have touched the homesickness, bringing forth what the dream held. The line 'where ducks and geese filled the winding pond' closes on the ease and abundance of the water country; 'filled' writes the ducks and geese' numbers and freedom, set against the loneliness of the falling leaves and frost before the eyes, the two realms of cold and warm. The poet no longer pleads the traveler's grief, but closes on one bright dream, and the fairer the dream, the bitterer the waking; the homesickness not one word, yet diffused without end, the masterstroke of closing in scene, the real and the unreal giving birth to each other.

Study

Word focus

动 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 动字是首句晨起动征铎的诗眼。铎为行旅车马所悬之铃，本是静物，一个动字使铃铎叮当作响，清晨的寂静遂被这一声铃铎打破，早行的仓促与不得已尽在其中。动字既写实景之声，又暗写旅人被时序催逼、天未大亮即须启程的心境；它下得极轻，却使整句由静入动、由暗入明，为全诗奠定了清冷而急促的行旅基调。若换作闻字、听字，则只见旅人之被动，而失却车马催发、身不由己的动感，可见此字看似寻常，实经锤炼。

人迹 In 'footprints on the plank bridge, frost,' the word seems plain yet runs deep—frost already bears footprints, meaning someone set out even earlier than the poet. One phrase writes the toil of all travelers, lifting the scene from one man to all mankind. 人迹二字是颔联的点睛所在，也是全诗意蕴最深之处。板桥晓霜之上印着行人的足迹，说明在这个天色未明的清晨，先行者早已踏霜而过。人迹既补足了霜、桥、晓的画面，使静景中透出人的活动，又以他人之早行反衬自身之早行，暗示天下奔波劳碌者何其之多。个人的羁愁由此被扩展为普遍的人间辛苦，一己之悲遂具有了广大的共鸣。二字看似平淡写实，实则含蓄地打通了个人与众生，是名词句中最富人情与哲思的一笔。

满 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 满字是尾联凫雁满回塘的关键字，写故园水塘中野鸭大雁之多、之自在。它以充盈、圆满之感，与眼前商山早行途中的槲叶飘零、晓霜遍地形成鲜明的冷暖对照：故乡之境愈丰盈安闲，眼前之路愈孤清凄冷。满字所状不仅是凫雁之众，更是梦中故园那份无忧无虑、生机盎然的整体氛围，寄托着诗人对安定生活的深切渴慕。以一个满字收束全篇，使梦境格外温暖明丽，而梦醒之后的漂泊之苦也因此愈显难堪，反衬之力全在此一字。