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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

苏武庙

The Temple of Su Wu

温庭筠

Wen Tingyun

咏史historical 七律seven-character regulated verse 气节integrity

苏武魂销汉使前，古祠高树两茫然。
云边雁断胡天月，陇上羊归塞草烟。
回日楼台非甲帐，去时冠剑是丁年。
茂陵不见封侯印，空向秋波哭逝川。

Su Wu's spirit dissolves before the Han envoy,
the old shrine and tall trees, both at a loss.
At the cloud's edge, the wild goose's message breaks; the Hu-sky moon,
on the ridge the sheep return amid border-grass smoke.
The day he returned, the towers were not the armor tents,
the time he left, capped and sworded, he was in his prime.
Maoling sees not the marquis-sealing seal,
in vain he weeps to the autumn waves for the vanished stream.

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Meaning

Visiting Su Wu's shrine, the poet traces the loyal envoy's nineteen years of captivity and his return to a changed, masterless court. The poem mourns that Su Wu kept his integrity yet received no reward his lord could witness—a grief Wen Tingyun, himself unrecognized, deeply shared.

当年苏武在汉朝使者面前激动得魂魄都要消散了；如今这座古老的祠庙与高大的树木，一同显得茫然无依。塞外的月色下，云边再也见不到传书的鸿雁；陇头的羊群归来时，塞上的野草笼着暮烟。归来那天所见的楼台已不是当年的甲帐，出使之时佩戴冠剑，正当壮盛之年。武帝已葬茂陵，看不到他封侯的印绶了；他只能空对着秋水，痛哭这一去不返的流年。

Appreciation

The poem's finest craft is its tangled chronology. The first couplet writes the return (spirit dissolving before the Han envoy), the second writes the captivity (goose-message broken, sheep returning), the third writes after-return then departure, the closing returns to after-return. Nineteen long years are scrambled and recombined like memory's flashbacks. Especially 'the day he returned' against 'the time he left' set within one couplet—between going and coming the man is white-haired, history changed; that huge gap is compressed into fourteen characters. Wen Tingyun spent his life frustrated, failing the exams again and again, so for a figure like Su Wu who held his staff unbending yet was never rewarded, he felt a deep resonance. The closing 'in vain' is heaviest—Su Wu kept his integrity nineteen years, but on return the old lord was dead, no one to see the marquis seal. This does not deny integrity but points out that its price is often repaid by no one.

【白话串讲】温庭筠拜苏武庙：“苏武魂销汉使前，古祠高树两茫然”。“云边雁断胡天月，陇上羊归塞草烟”——苏武在匈奴牧羊十九年。“回日楼台非甲帐，去时冠剑是丁年”——“茂陵不见封侯印，空向秋波哭逝川”——他回到长安，武帝已逝。【意象与手法】此诗最见匠心的是时序的错综。首联写归来（魂销汉使前），颔联写羁留（雁断羊归），颈联上句写归后、下句写去时，尾联又回到归后。十九年的漫长岁月被打乱重组，如记忆之闪回。特别是“回日”与“去时”在一联之内相对，一去一回之间，人已白头，历史已换，那种巨大的落差被压缩在十四字中。【情感与主旨】温庭筠一生落拓，屡试不第，对苏武这样持节不屈却终身不得酬报的人物，自有一种深切的共鸣。尾联的“空”字最重——苏武守节十九年，归来时旧主已逝，封侯的印绶再无人能看见。这不是否定气节，而是指出气节所付出的代价往往无人偿还。【名句点睛】 “回日楼台非甲帐，去时冠剑是丁年”——两句十四字，一句写归、一句写去，中间隔着十九年的风雪。对仗之工与感慨之深，在晚唐咏史诗中罕有其匹。

Background

Su Wu was a famous Western Han minister; in the first year of Tianhan (100 BCE) he was sent as envoy to the Xiongnu, detained nineteen years, herding sheep on the Northern Sea (today's Lake Baikal), holding the Han staff unbending, until the sixth year of Shiyuan (81 BCE) he returned to Han, by then Emperor Wu had died. Wen Tingyun wrote this poem before Su Wu's shrine. Gifted yet long stuck in low office, he felt especially deep sympathy for Su Wu's loyalty without reward.

苏武（？至前六〇），字子卿，西汉杜陵人，武帝时以中郎将使匈奴，被扣留十九年，牧羊北海（今贝加尔湖）之滨，持汉节不屈，至始元六年（前八一）方得归汉，时武帝已崩。其事具见《汉书·苏武传》，是中国历史上持节不屈、忠贞不移的典范。温庭筠（约八一二至约八六六），本名岐，字飞卿，太原人，晚唐诗词兼擅，诗与李商隐并称温李，词为花间鼻祖。他才高而屡困场屋，终身沉沦下僚，一生不得志。此诗为凭吊苏武庙而作，借历史人物之忠而不遇，寄寓自身怀才不遇的块垒。温庭筠对苏武这样守节十九年而归来无赏、旧主已逝的悲剧人物，自有一种深切的共鸣——二者皆有大才、皆抱忠诚，而皆不为世所用，故吊古即是自伤，是晚唐怀古诗中情景相生、今古交融的佳作，温庭筠才高而沉沦下僚，于苏武之忠而不遇自有深契；吊古即是自伤，故此诗不徒咏史，而是借孤臣之空，一吐自身怀才不遇之块垒。。

Art

The greatest artistic feature is 'tangled chronology.' Within eight lines, time leaps back and forth between return—captivity—after-return—departure—after-return, not at all linear, like the thoughts crowding in as the visitor stands before the shrine. This is very hard to manage; a slight slip becomes scattered, yet Wen Tingyun opens with 'spirit dissolves' and closes with 'weeps for the vanished stream,' both emotional high points, and lets time overturn in the middle while the vein never breaks. The second couplet is pure image-collage—cloud, goose, moon, sheep, grass, smoke, six nouns without verbs yet the picture forms itself, typical of Wen Tingyun's 'dense, beautiful images' style. The third couplet uses strict antithesis to press down the looseness of the previous couplet—one dense one neat, the whole poem steady.

此诗艺术上最大的特色是错综时序。八句之中，时间在不同时空点间反复跳跃：首联写归来（魂销汉使前），颔联写羁留（雁断羊归），颈联上句写归后（回日楼台）、下句写去时（去时冠剑），尾联又回到归后（茂陵不见、哭逝川）。十九年的漫长岁月被打乱重组，宛如凭吊者伫立庙前时纷至沓来的思绪，完全不循线性，却因以魂销起、以哭逝川结，首尾皆是情感高点，中间任凭时空翻覆而气脉不断。颔联纯用意象拼接——云、雁、月、羊、草、烟六个名词并置，不著动词而画面自成，是温庭筠意象密丽风格的典型。颈联则以严整对仗压住前联的疏散，一回日一去时，把十九年折叠在十四字中，一密一整、一散一工，使全诗于跳宕中自稳。这种以情绪统摄时空的章法，非大手笔不能驾驭，时序错综为此诗大特色，归、留、去、归往复跳跃，而气脉不断；颔联纯以名词并置，颈联以时空对压之，密丽与工整相济，非大手笔不能。。

Allusions

(1) 'Wild goose breaks' uses the tale of Su Wu's message: the Han Shu records the Han envoy falsely claiming the emperor shot a wild goose and found a silk letter, learning Su Wu was in a certain marsh, so the Xiongnu released him; here 'goose breaks' means news long cut off. (2) 'Sheep return on the ridge' refers to Su Wu herding sheep on the Northern Sea. (3) 'Armor tent' (jia zhang) means the splendid tent Emperor Wu built; the Han Wu Story records Emperor Wu made armor tents of glazed pearl and jade for spirits and a second tent for himself; here 'not the armor tents' says Emperor Wu is dead, the palaces not as old. (4) 'Ding nian' means prime manhood, the age a man becomes an adult. (5) 'Maoling' is Emperor Wu's tomb. (6) 'Vanished stream' uses the Analects: 'the master stood by the stream and said: thus things pass, never ceasing,' a metaphor for vanished years.

①雁断：用苏武传书之典。《汉书·苏武传》载汉使诡称天子射上林苑得雁，足系帛书，知苏武在某泽中，匈奴乃放归；此处雁断谓音讯久绝，云边再无传书之雁，极写羁留之孤绝。②陇上羊归：指苏武北海牧羊事，陇泛指北方高阜，羊归而人不得归，是全诗最痛处。③甲帐：汉武帝所造华美帐幕，《汉武故事》载武帝以琉璃珠玉列为甲帐居神、乙帐自居，此处以非甲帐言武帝已逝、宫阙非旧。④丁年：成丁之年、壮盛之龄，去时冠剑是丁年写少壮出使、白头始归的落差。⑤茂陵：汉武帝陵墓，在长安西北，代指已崩之武帝。⑥逝川：用《论语·子罕》子在川上曰逝者如斯夫之典，喻流逝不返的岁月。六处典故皆精准切题，融史事、地理、礼制、哲思于一炉，而浑化无迹，足见飞卿学殖之厚与用典之密，雁断、甲帐、丁年、茂陵、逝川六典，融史地礼哲于一炉而浑化无迹；尤其回日去时之对，时间方向亦相对，属对之奇为飞卿独造。。

Commentary

The Qing scholar Ji Yun said of this poem: 'The third and fourth lines write scene vast and desolate; the fifth and sixth antithesis is exquisitely absolute; the closing line is infinitely low and turning.' Shen Deqian in his Tang Poems Selected and Cut said: 'The 'return day' 'departure time' couplet—nineteen years of time, only in fourteen characters.' Yu Bixia called the closing 'the 'vain' character is heavily placed, a verdict on Su Wu's whole life.'

清人纪昀评此诗三四写景苍茫，五六对仗精绝，结句无限低回；沈德潜《唐诗别裁》云回日去时一联，十九年光阴，只在十四字中；俞陛云称尾联空字下得沉痛，为苏武一生下一断语。此诗在晚唐怀古诗中别具一格：它不似一般咏史直发议论，而以意象之密、时序之错写尽历史苍凉，是温李一派以丽密写沉郁的代表。历来选本多推此诗与《过陈琳墓》《经五丈原》并列为温庭筠怀古三绝。其经典意义在于把个人忠贞与时代辜负这一永恒主题，凝为茂陵不见封侯印、空向秋波哭逝川的千古一叹——气节被守住，而酬报永不可得，空字道尽一切。现代读者亦每于此读出知识分子在权力结构中无告的悲剧，足见其穿越性的共鸣，纪昀、沈德潜、俞陛云皆极赏此诗，以为空字足下一断语；其以丽密写沉郁，把忠贞无报之痛凝为千古一叹，足与杜陵咏怀古迹并峙。。

Prosody

Form Seven-character regulated verse (oblique-beginning, first line rhyming)七言律诗（仄起首句入韵）

Rhyme Rhymes with the Ping shui lower-level first Xian group: qian, ran, yan, nian, chuan. The Xian rhyme is long and clear-far, fitting the vast, recalling air of the poem; especially the closing 'nian' (year) and 'chuan' (stream) give a strong sense of time.押平水韵下平一先韵：前、然、烟、年、川一韵到底；首句入韵，中二联对仗。

Tone pattern The second couplet lays six nouns evenly, the syllables even like unrolling a picture; the third couplet places the two time-words 'return day' 'departure time' at the line-heads, forming a confronting check; the closing 'weeps for the vanished stream' in three characters, oblique-opening level-closing, like a long wail whose echo never ends.颔联六个名词平铺，音节均匀如展画卷；颈联回日去时两个时间词分置句首，形成对峙的顿挫；尾句哭逝川三字仄起平收，如一声长恸而余音不绝。

Reading note The third couplet 'the day he returned the towers were not the armor tents; the time he left capped and sworded he was in his prime' is a famous 'time antithesis' in Tang seven-character regulated verse; the opening line writes return, the matching line writes departure—not only do the parts of speech oppose, even the time directions oppose; such paired oddity is Wen Tingyun's own creation.此诗为七言律诗，仄起首句入韵格，八句五韵，前、然、烟、年、川皆属平水韵下平一先部。先韵绵长清远，与全诗苍茫追怀、时空悠远的气氛相合，尤以年、川二字收束，时间感极强，读来有逝者如斯之叹。中二联对仗精工而章法奇绝：颔联云边雁断胡天月、陇上羊归塞草烟纯以名词意象并置，不著动词而画面自成，是温庭筠密丽风格的典型；颈联回日楼台非甲帐、去时冠剑是丁年则为唐人七律中著名的时空对，出句写归、对句写去，不但词性相对，连时间方向也相对，属对之奇为飞卿独造。要之，此诗声律严整而气脉跳宕，先韵之悠远反衬历史之无情，平仄之稳衬托情感之激越，格律与内容相得益彰，诚晚唐怀古七律的巅峰之作。

Line by line

苏武魂销汉使前，

Su Wu's spirit dissolves before the Han envoy,

当年苏武见到汉朝使者时，激动得魂魄都要消散了。

In the old days, when Su Wu saw the Han envoy, he was so overcome his very soul dissolved.

首句破空而来，直入最动人的一刻。魂销本形容极度悲喜使人失神，此处写苏武乍见汉使的瞬间：十九年持节牧羊、望断归程，一旦故国来人出现在眼前，郁积的情感如堤坝崩塌，不是单纯的喜，也不仅是悲，而是整个精神在刹那间的瓦解与重建。诗人不写喜泣、不写呼号，独拈魂销二字，以极简之笔写极厚之情，力透纸背。更妙在汉使前点明这一刻的触发者——不是凯旋，不是圣旨，而是故国的一个普通人，便足以令铁骨男儿魂销。起笔即把读者拽入苏武十九年煎熬的终点，也为全诗的凭吊定下苍凉基调，是怀古诗中罕见的以人物瞬间精神崩溃开篇的写法。

The first line bursts in medias res, straight to the most moving moment. Soul dissolved describes extreme joy and grief turning a man distraught; here it is the instant Su Wu first sees the Han envoy. Nineteen years holding the staff, herding sheep, gazing till eyes failed for home - when a man from his own country suddenly stands before him, accumulated feeling bursts like a dam: not simple joy, not mere sorrow, but the whole spirit cracking and rebuilding in an instant. The poet writes neither weeping for joy nor cries, but picks out soul dissolved: minimal strokes, maximum emotion, pressing through the paper. Even finer, before the Han envoy marks the trigger - not triumph, not an edict, but one ordinary man from the homeland suffices to unmake a man of iron. The opening drags the reader to the end of Su Wu's nineteen years, and sets the poem's elegiac keynote - rare in historical elegy, which opens on a figure's instant spiritual collapse.

古祠高树两茫然。

the old shrine and tall trees, both at a loss.

如今这座古老的祠庙与高大的树木，相对着一片茫然。

Now the ancient temple and the tall trees face each other in blank vacancy.

次句由古及今、由人及物，时空陡然拉开。古祠点出凭吊之地，高树写庙前老木，两茫然以两字把祠与树并列为共同主体，仿佛它们也在怅惘。这是移情于物：真正茫然若失的是伫立庙前的诗人，他却不说自己，反说祠树相对无言、一片怅惘。物我不分之中，凭吊的孤独感反而更浓。古与高二字，一写时间之久、一写形姿之静，与首句魂销的剧烈动荡形成反差——当年人物的惊心动魄已逝，只剩静默的祠树见证千载沧桑。这一句把历史的宏大收束为一方小庙、几株老树，以静写哀，余味悠长，是温庭筠以景结情、含蓄不尽的典型笔法。

The second line moves from ancient to present, from man to object, time suddenly widened. Ancient temple marks the place of mourning; tall trees the old timber before it. Both blank makes temple and tree co-subjects, as if they too are bewildered. This is empathy projected onto things: the one truly blank is the poet standing before the temple, but he does not say himself; he says instead that temple and tree face each other in wordless vacancy. In the blur of object and self, the loneliness of mourning deepens. Ancient and tall - one writes the weight of time, the other the stillness of form - contrast with the first line's convulsion: the shocking moment is gone, only the silent temple and trees remain to witness a thousand years. The line reduces history's vastness to a small temple and a few old trees; grief written through stillness, long aftertaste - Wen Tingyun's typical closing in scenery, reserve inexhaustible.

回日楼台非甲帐，

The day he returned, the towers were not the armor tents,

归来那天所见的楼台，已不是出使前武帝的甲帐了。

The towers he saw on his return were no longer the Jia tent of Emperor Wu's day.

颈联上句写归。回日楼台非甲帐以一回字领起，写苏武归汉后重见宫阙，却已物是人非——连物也非了。甲帐用汉武帝以琉璃珠玉为帐的典故，非甲帐言旧主已崩、宫阙全换，当年待他以殊礼的朝廷，如今连当年的帐幕都不复存在。这七个字里压着巨大的落差：苏武守节十九年，归来要报效的君王却已长眠茂陵，他手中的汉节竟无处可交。非字最沉，它不是简单的变迁，而是忠诚失去对象的悲剧。以楼台之非写君国之逝，以小见大，把个人归来的空落写得惊心动魄，亦为尾联茂陵不见作铺垫，是全诗由景入史的关键一笔。

The upper line of the third couplet writes the return. On the day of return opens it: Su Wu revisits the palace after coming home to Han, yet things and men are both changed - even the things are changed. Jia tent alludes to Emperor Wu's tents of glass and pearls; no longer the Jia tent says the old sovereign is dead, the halls all replaced. The court that once honored him with extraordinary rites no longer has so much as its old curtains. These seven characters press an enormous gap: Su Wu kept his integrity for nineteen years, only to return to a sovereign long sleeping in the Maoling tomb; the Han staff in his hands has nowhere to be handed over. No longer is the heaviest word - not mere change, but tragedy of loyalty that has lost its object. Writing the prince's death through the towers' change, small to great, it makes the emptiness of personal return startling, and prepares the closing Maoling - the key stroke from scene into history.

去时冠剑是丁年。

the time he left, capped and sworded, he was in his prime.

而当初出使的时候，我头戴冠、腰佩剑，正当壮盛之年。

Yet when he set out, cap on head and sword at waist, he was in the prime of manhood.

颈联下句写去，与回日相对，构成著名的唐人时间对。去时冠剑是丁年写苏武当初奉使出塞，头戴冠、腰佩剑，正当成丁壮盛之龄。丁年二字极重，它代表人生最好的年华、最饱满的力气与抱负。与上句回日楼台非甲帐并读，一去一回之间，隔着十九年的北海风雪：去时是鲜衣怒马的壮年使节，回时是须发皆白的归老孤臣。这一联的惊人处在把十九年折叠于十四字中，且出句写归、对句写去，时间方向也相对，属对之奇为温庭筠独造。少壮出使、白头始归的落差，无一字言老而老态尽出，诚沈德潜所叹十九年光阴只在十四字中者，是晚唐律联的巅峰之作。

The lower line writes the departure, paired against return, forming the famous Tang time-couplet. When he set out, cap and sword - the prime of manhood: Su Wu leaving the pass on his mission, capped and girded for battle, in the full strength of a man. Prime of manhood weighs heavily: life's best years, fullest vigor and ambition. Read with on the day of return, towers no longer the Jia tent, between going and returning lie nineteen years of Beihai snow and wind: outward, the vibrant young envoy; homeward, the white-haired, solitary elder. The couplet's astonishments: nineteen years folded into fourteen characters; the first line writes return, the second departure - time's directions even opposed. This matched pair is Wen Tingyun's own invention. Young in setting out, white in returning: not one word says old, yet old age fills the lines. Shen Deqian marveled that nineteen years of light are held in fourteen characters - a pinnacle of late-Tang regulated couplets.

空向秋波哭逝川。

in vain he weeps to the autumn waves for the vanished stream.

他只能空对着秋日的江水，痛哭那一去不返的岁月。

He could only weep into the autumn current for the years gone past recall.

尾联收束全篇，是全诗的情感总爆发。茂陵不见封侯印已由个人转向君臣——所忠之君已死，所守之节无人得见；空向秋波哭逝川以空字承上，把前面所有的忠贞、等待、归来，全部压入这一个字里。空字是诗眼：它一字否定了苏武的全部酬报，节守住了、人回来了，可君王已逝、印绶无人见、青春无从追。哭逝川用孔子川上之叹，以水之逝喻年之逝，把无从追回的一生写得浩浩荡荡又凄凉无比。空与哭相连，悲不自胜；秋波二字更添萧瑟。全诗的错综时序至此收束于一声长恸，怀古与自伤合流——温庭筠自身的沉沦不遇，正借苏武之空一吐块垒，遂成千古怀古之绝唱。

The closing couplet gathers the poem, its total outburst of feeling. Maoling sees not the marquis's seal already turned from personal to ruler-and-minister: the lord he served is dead, the integrity he guarded unseen. Empty toward the autumn current, weeping for the flowing river - empty carries all the foregoing: loyalty, waiting, return, pressed into this one word. Empty is the eye: in one character it negates all Su Wu's reward - the staff kept, the man returned, yet the sovereign is dead, the seal unwitnessed, youth beyond recall. Weeping for the flowing river borrows Confucius by the stream, likening the years' passage to water's passage, writing a life beyond recall in vast, desolate sweep. Empty joined to weep, grief beyond bearing; autumn current adds chill. The poem's twisted time-sequence closes in one long lament; antiquity and self-pity merge - Wen's own fallen fortune finds release through Su Wu's emptiness, making this a timeless masterpiece of historical elegy.

Study

Word focus

魂销 The 'spirit dissolves' (hun xiao) originally describes extreme sorrow or joy making one lose oneself. Used at the moment Su Wu first sees the Han envoy, it is most precise: nineteen years of hope, despair, endurance, collapse in an instant at seeing the homeland's man—not plain joy, but the whole spirit's breaking and rebuilding. In two characters lies the weight of nineteen years. 苏武魂销汉使前之魂销，是全诗第一个、也是最震撼的一个动词。魂销本指精神因极度悲喜而涣散失神，常用于写骤遇大事时的失态。温庭筠用以写苏武乍见汉使的一刻，最为精确：十九年的期盼、绝望、坚守，在见到故国来人的瞬间全数崩塌，那不是单纯的喜悦，而是整个精神世界的瓦解与重建。仅二字，便抵得过千言万语的铺叙，将一段漫长苦难浓缩于一瞬。其妙尤在把苏武这个铁骨人物写到了脆弱处——唯有真到极致，才会魂销；而正是这一魂销，反证了十九年持节之重。以魂销起笔，先声夺人，为全诗定下苍凉的基调，亦见飞卿炼字以少胜多、以重写轻的手段。

两茫然 The 'both at a loss' (liang mangran) in 'the old shrine and tall trees, both at a loss' puts shrine and tree side by side as subjects, as if they too are bewildered. This is empathy onto things: the truly bewildered one is the poet standing before the shrine, yet he does not say himself but says the shrine and trees. In the blurring of thing and self, the loneliness of the visit grows thicker. 古祠高树两茫然之两茫然，是移情于物的妙笔。两字把古祠与高树并列为共同主体，仿佛它们也在相对怅惘，实则茫然者是伫立庙前的诗人自己。这种把人的情感外射到无生命之物上的写法，使凭吊的孤独感不落于直白，反而因物我界限的消融而更浓。茫然本写若有所失、浑然无措之态，用于祠树，既状庙宇的静寂荒远，也暗含历史沧桑无从把捉的怅惘。与首句魂销的剧烈相较，此句以静写哀，一动一静，张弛有度。温庭筠善以景结情，两茫然三字不着一愁字而愁自深，正是其怀古诗含蓄不尽的典型，亦开后世以物象收束苍凉的一法。

空 The 'in vain' (kong) in 'in vain he weeps to the autumn waves for the vanished stream' is the poem's eye. It negates all of Su Wu's reward in one character: the integrity was kept, the man returned, yet the lord is dead, the seal unseen, the youth unrecoverable. 'In vain' does not say integrity has no value, but that integrity's price is never repaid by anyone—and this is exactly Wen Tingyun's own pain of frustrated, unrecognized life. 空向秋波哭逝川之空，是全诗的诗眼与断语。它一字否定了苏武全部的酬报：节守住了，人回来了，可君王已逝、印绶无人见、青春无从追，一切努力归于虚空。空不是否定气节的价值，而是道出气节的代价从来无人偿还——这正是温庭筠自身沉沦不遇的痛处所在。以空领起哭逝川，悲慨遂由个人际遇上升为历史的无情：忠贞被守住，而回报永不可得。这个字下得极沉，俞陛云谓为苏武一生下一断语，信然。空与秋波、逝川相连，水逝无言而痛彻心髓。全诗错综时序，最终都收束于这一个空字，怀古与自伤在此合流，足见飞卿以一字摄全篇的腕力，亦使此诗超越具体史事而成为千古孤臣之叹。

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