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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

题菊花

Written on the Chrysanthemums

黄巢

Huang Chao

飒飒西风满院栽，蘂寒香冷蝶难来。
他年我若为青帝，报与桃花一处开。

Soughing in the west wind, they are planted all about the courtyard; buds cold and fragrance chill, few butterflies come.
If in some year to come I were the Blue Deity, I would send word to the peach blossoms to bloom together with them.
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Meaning

In this poem the chrysanthemum, blooming cold and neglected in the autumn west wind while butterflies shun it, becomes a vehicle for the poet's ambition. Huang Chao supposes that if he ever held the power of the Blue Deity, god of spring, he would let the chrysanthemum bloom alongside the peach blossom — a fantasy of equalizing and transforming the order of things that betrays the vaulting ambition of the late Tang rebel leader.

飒飒西风满院栽，蘂寒香冷蝶难来。他年我若为青帝，报与桃花一处开。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The west wind soughs through a courtyard full of planted chrysanthemums; their buds are cold and their scent chill, so butterflies seldom come. But if one day I were the god of spring, I would tell the peach blossoms to open in the same season as the chrysanthemum. [Structure] The first two lines lay out the chrysanthemum's lonely, disadvantaged lot; the last two lines overturn it with a single supposition, and the whole poem pivots on the word 'if.' [Imagery] West wind, cold buds, chill fragrance, and absent butterflies build a world of cold and neglect; the imagined spring of peach and chrysanthemum blooming together releases all that pressure in one line.

【白话串讲】 黄巢写《题菊花》：“飒飒西风满院栽，蘂寒香冷蝶难来”——“他年我若为青帝，报与桃花一处开”——他题菊花——他年我若为青帝。 【意象与手法】 “飒飒西风满院栽，蘂寒香冷蝶难来”写西风满院、蝶难来；结以“他年我若为青帝，报与桃花一处开”以青帝改写菊花命运。慷慨激昂。 【情感与主旨】 黄巢咏菊言志之作，以“他年我若为青帝，报与桃花一处开”写改变菊花命运的雄心，是咏物言志诗中的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“飒飒西风满院栽，蘂寒香冷蝶难来”写菊花生境；“他年我若为青帝，报与桃花一处开”写言志。

Background

Huang Chao (c. 820–884), a native of Yuanju in Caozhou (present-day Heze, Shandong), led the great peasant rebellion at the end of the Tang dynasty. In 881 his army captured Chang'an, and he proclaimed the Qi state. A salt-smuggler turned rebel, Huang was also a poet whose few surviving poems — this one and the chrysanthemum poem with the line about killing across the capital in a brocade cloak — are marked by an overwhelming ambition. Written as an 'inscription on the chrysanthemum,' this poem is the most famous example of the yong-wu (poems on things) mode in which the poet's character and aspirations are projected onto the object described.

《题菊花》为唐末农民起义领袖黄巢所作诗。黄巢（约820—884），曹州冤句（今山东菏泽）人，唐末农民起义领袖。此诗写咏物言志，为题菊花之作。诗中「飒飒西风满院栽，蘂寒香冷蝶难来」写飒飒西风满院栽，蘂寒香冷蝶难来；「他年我若为青帝，报与桃花一处开」写他年我若为青帝，报与桃花一处开。黄巢此诗以咏物言志、报与桃花一处开写其言志之情，慷慨激昂，是黄巢诗中的名篇。此篇《题菊花》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《题菊花》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《题菊花》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 comes from the dramatic reversal of the chrysanthemum's fate. The first couplet establishes the flower's disadvantage — blooming alone in the west wind, its buds cold and fragrance chill, shunned by butterflies; the chrysanthemum's solitary autumn lot is at once a fact of nature and a metaphor for neglected talent. Then the supposition 'if I were the Blue Deity' explodes the frame: the poet, imagining himself as the god who governs spring, would decree that the chrysanthemum bloom with the peach. The ambition is at once horticultural and political — to redistribute the seasons is to redistribute the world's favors — and the four-line quatrain contains this vast fantasy with perfect economy. The language is plain, but the conception is grand, and the leap from 'west wind' to 'Blue Deity' gives the poem its famous heroic, unrestrained tone.

此诗艺术上以「慷慨激昂、以菊写志」见长。全诗共四句，由飒飒西风满院栽而蘂寒香冷蝶难来而他年我若为青帝。起「飒飒西风满院栽，蘂寒香冷蝶难来」写飒飒西风满院栽：飒飒西风满院栽，蘂寒香冷蝶难来；「他年我若为青帝，报与桃花一处开」写报与桃花一处开：他年我若为青帝，报与桃花一处开。全诗以菊写志，由飒飒西风满院栽而报与桃花一处开，慷慨激昂，是黄巢诗中的名篇。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 key allusion is to the Blue Deity (Qingdi), the green god of spring in the five-phase cosmology of the Han, who rules the east and the season of wood and rebirth. To 'be the Blue Deity' is to control the very order of the seasons. The peach blossom, which opens in spring, is the flower of that season par excellence, and the chrysanthemum, blooming in autumn's cold, has always stood for integrity in adversity — praised by Tao Yuanming as the flower of the hermitage, and later elevated, with the plum, orchid, and bamboo, to the rank of the 'Four Gentlemen.' The fantasy of making them 'bloom in one place' thus overturns both the calendar of nature and the hierarchy of flowers.

诗中「飒飒西风满院栽蘂寒香冷蝶难来」「他年我若为青帝报与桃花一处开」等语，皆含典故故实。「飒飒西风满院栽蘂寒香冷蝶难来」写飒飒西风满院栽蘂寒香冷蝶难来；「他年我若为青帝报与桃花一处开」用青帝之典（青帝为春神），写他年我若为青帝报与桃花一处开。诗人以青帝之典入诗，不着痕迹，而把咏物言志之情写得慷慨淋漓，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

Huang Chao's 'Written on the Chrysanthemums' is just four lines, but it has been famous for a thousand years precisely because of its vaulting ambition. The first couplet's chrysanthemum — cold buds, chill fragrance, no butterflies — is the classic portrait of the flower in autumn's neglect, and readers may read it as the self-portrait of a man of talent kept in the cold. But the poem does not stop at lament: the supposition 'if I were the Blue Deity' shatters the frame of the yong-wu convention, in which the poet merely contemplates the object. To decree that the chrysanthemum bloom with the peach is to redistribute the seasons themselves; the grand, almost comic boldness of the fantasy is what makes the poem unique among Tang chrysanthemum poems, and it is impossible to imagine it written by any other poet of the era.

这首《题菊花》，是黄巢写咏物言志之作，写飒飒西风满院栽、蘂寒香冷蝶难来、报与桃花一处开之情，慷慨激昂。起「飒飒西风满院栽，蘂寒香冷蝶难来」——飒飒西风满院栽，蘂寒香冷蝶难来。写飒飒西风满院栽：飒飒西风满院栽、蘂寒香冷蝶难来——西风满院栽、香冷蝶难来；「他年我若为青帝，报与桃花一处开」——他年我若为青帝（用青帝春神之典），报与桃花一处开。写报与桃花一处开：他年我若为青帝、报与桃花一处开——若为青帝、报与桃花一处开。这「他年我若为青帝，报与桃花一处开」，是全诗之结：以报与桃花一处开写其言志。全诗慷慨激昂，以菊写志，正是黄巢诗中的名篇。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 (qiyan jueju)诗（七言绝句）
Rhyme The poem rhymes on zai ('planted'), lai ('come'), and kai ('open') — level-tone words of the broad hui-ha rhyme group — a single rhyme carried through all four lines, whose open, ringing cadence suits the poem's bold, ringing tone.此诗为七言绝句，共四句，两句一联。押平声韵：「栽」「来」「开」押灰部韵。诗体依绝句而定，句式整齐，音节随情起伏，正与写咏物言志的慷慨激昂相称，也见其以绝句写言志的自然。
Tone pattern The meter is the regular seven-character line with its characteristic 2-2-3 pause. The first couplet moves slowly, weighted with the soughing of the wind and the chill of the scent; the second couplet accelerates at the pivot 'if,' and the final line, ending on the level tone of 'kai,' releases the accumulated pressure in a bright, defiant sweep.句式上，「飒飒西风满院栽，蘂寒香冷蝶难来」写飒飒西风满院栽，音节明快；「他年我若为青帝，报与桃花一处开」写报与桃花一处开，音节激昂。全诗音节随情起伏，由明快而激昂，正合绝句「含蓄」之妙，读来如咏物言志、报与桃花一处开之音，慷慨而动人。
Reading note This is a seven-character quatrain and the most celebrated example of Huang Chao's yong-wu writing. Its art lies in the pairing of 'soughing west wind' with 'grand resolve': the first couplet writes the chrysanthemum's cold, neglected lot, and the second overturns it with the supposition of becoming the Blue Deity. The leap from west wind to spring god, and the plain language carrying a vast fantasy, are what give the poem its heroic, unrestrained tone — unmatched among Tang chrysanthemum poems.此诗为七言绝句，是黄巢写咏物言志之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「慷慨激昂、以菊写志」：「飒飒西风满院栽，蘂寒香冷蝶难来」写飒飒西风满院栽、「他年我若为青帝，报与桃花一处开」写报与桃花一处开。全诗慷慨激昂，以菊写志。尤为精妙者，是「他年我若为青帝，报与桃花一处开」用青帝之典写志；而「飒飒西风满院栽，蘂寒香冷蝶难来」写尽菊之寒，正是黄巢诗「慷慨激昂」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《题菊花》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

飒飒西风满院栽，蘂寒香冷蝶难来。

Soughing in the west wind, they are planted all about the courtyard; buds cold and fragrance chill, few butterflies come.

飒飒西风满院栽，蘂寒香冷蝶难来。

Rustling west wind, and the chrysanthemums stand across the courtyard; their petals chill, their scent cold, no butterflies can come.

首二句写飒飒西风满院栽，起笔即见其菊。「飒飒西风满院栽」写飒飒西风满院栽，「飒飒西风」写飒飒西风、「满院栽」写满院栽；「蘂寒香冷蝶难来」写蘂寒香冷蝶难来，「蘂寒香冷」写蕊寒香冷、「蝶难来」写蝶难来。两句一写飒飒西风满院栽、一写蘂寒香冷蝶难来，以飒飒西风满院栽写西风满院、以蘂寒香冷蝶难来写菊寒蝶稀，写尽飒飒西风满院栽、蘂寒香冷蝶难来之情。以菊起兴，慷慨而明快，是「以菊起兴」的妙笔。

The first two lines write the chrysanthemum in the rustling west wind, the flower rising at once. Rustling west wind sets the season: autumn's soughing wind sweeping the whole courtyard where the chrysanthemums stand. Petals chill, scent cold, no butterflies can come: the bloom's coldness - its corolla chilled, fragrance cold - and the butterflies' absence. One line writes wind and courtyard, the other cold bloom and sparse butterflies; the chrysanthemum stands alone in the autumn wind, unloved by butterflies, its very coldness a kind of pride. Raising imagery through the chrysanthemum, the tone is forthright and bright - Huang Chao's character at once: this is no delicate garden flower but a hardy bloom in a cold world, the hidden emblem of a man who would reshape order.

他年我若为青帝，报与桃花一处开。

If in some year to come I were the Blue Deity, I would send word to the peach blossoms to bloom together with them.

他年我若为青帝，报与桃花一处开。

If one year I were the Green Emperor of spring, I would order them to bloom together with the peach blossoms.

尾二句写报与桃花一处开，是全诗立意的落点。「他年我若为青帝」写他年我若为青帝，用青帝春神之典写他年我若为青帝；「报与桃花一处开」写报与桃花一处开，「报与」写告知、「桃花一处开」写与桃花一处开。两句一写他年我若为青帝、一写报与桃花一处开，以他年我若为青帝写为春神、以报与桃花一处开写桃花同开，写尽他年我若为青帝、报与桃花一处开之情。以菊写志，慷慨而豪迈，是全诗最动人处，也是「以菊写志」的点睛之笔。

The last two lines write the order to bloom together with peach blossoms, the poem's point. If one year I were the Green Emperor: the Green Emperor is the god of spring, and the supposition borrows that mythic title to imagine power over the seasons. I would order them to bloom together with the peach blossoms: order them, tell them, that they flower at one time with the peach. One line writes the assumption of divine power, the other the decree of equal bloom. Writing ambition through the chrysanthemum, the tone is grand and豪迈 - the poem's most moving point, the consummate stroke of declaring will through the flower. The chrysanthemum, now bloomless in cold autumn, is to be placed on equal footing with spring's peach; the revolution in the image is the revolution in the voice - a usurper's imagination of remaking the seasons, bold beyond any earlier chrysanthemum poem.

Study

Word focus

飒飒 'sa sa' — an onomatopoeia for the soughing of the autumn wind; it gives the first line its audible texture and sets the whole poem in a season of cold and decline. 「飒飒」写飒飒西风，是写风声之态的关键。「飒飒西风满院栽」着一「飒飒」，写飒飒——着一「飒飒」，写飒飒西风，见其风之声。两字写尽飒飒之声，是「以词写声」的妙笔。「飒飒」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。
满院 'man yuan' (the whole courtyard): man ('full') with yuan ('courtyard') stresses the profusion of chrysanthemums planted everywhere — an abundance that makes the flowers' neglect, and the poet's pity for them, all the more keen. 「满院」写满院栽，是写满院之态的关键。「飒飒西风满院栽」着一「满院」，写满院——着一「满院」，写满院栽，见其栽之众。两字写尽满院之态，是「以词写众」的点睛之词。「满院」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。
难来 'nan lai' (hard to come): the butterflies' reluctance to approach, because of the chill scent and cold buds, underscores the flower's lonely autumn lot — no admirers, no companions. 「难来」写蝶难来，是写蝶不来之态的关键。「蘂寒香冷蝶难来」着一「难来」，写难来——着一「难来」，写蝶难来，见其蝶之稀。两字写尽难来之情，是「以词写稀」的点睛之词。「难来」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。
一处 'yi chu' (in one place, together): the phrase embodies the poet's vision of equality — the chrysanthemum blooming alongside the spring peach; to bloom 'together' is to share the favor of the season, and it is the whole ambition of the poem in two characters. 「一处」写与桃花一处开，是写同处之态的关键。「报与桃花一处开」着一「一处」，写同一处——着一「一处」，写与桃花一处开，见其同开之意。两字写尽一处之态，是「以词写同」的点睛之词。「一处」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

山园小梅 Little Plums of the Mountain Garden 林逋 · 同写咏花言志、以物喻志，一写疏影横斜水清浅暗香浮动月黄昏、一写飒飒西风满院栽蘂寒香冷蝶难来，皆于咏花之中见言志 Both poems use a flower to voice the poet's character — one through the plum's sparse shadows and hidden scent, one through the chrysanthemum's cold and neglected bloom; both belong to the yong-wu tradition of making the flower a mirror of the self.

Lin Bu's 'Little Plums of the Mountain Garden' — 'Sparse shadows slant across the clear shallow water; a hidden fragrance floats in the moonlit dusk' — writes the plum's ethereal purity and, through it, the hermit-poet's aloofness. Huang Chao's poem writes the chrysanthemum's cold autumn lot and then overturns it with the fantasy of becoming the Blue Deity. The one is quiet and reclusive, the other grand and defiant; read together, they show the two poles of the Chinese flower-as-self tradition: the plum of withdrawal and the chrysanthemum of ambition.

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、言志，是宋诗咏物的绝唱；黄巢《题菊花》则以「飒飒西风满院栽，蘂寒香冷蝶难来」「他年我若为青帝，报与桃花一处开」写蘂寒香冷、报与桃花一处开。两诗同写咏花言志、以物喻志：一写疏影横斜水清浅暗香浮动月黄昏、以梅写清雅，一写飒飒西风满院栽蘂寒香冷蝶难来、以菊写志；一为林逋之清逸、一为黄巢之豪迈，并读正可见诗写「咏花言志」的两种笔法，皆于咏花之中见言志。

 浣溪沙·一曲新词酒一杯 Huanxisha — 'A New Song, a Cup of Wine' 晏殊 · 同写感怀言志、无可奈何，一写无可奈何花落去、一写他年我若为青帝报与桃花一处开，皆于感怀之中见言志 Both poems reflect on the passing and ordering of the seasons — one lamenting that fallen flowers cannot be stayed, one decreeing that autumn flowers bloom with spring; both make the calendar a figure for human feeling.

Yan Shu's 'Huanxisha' — 'Nothing can be done about the flowers falling; the swallows seem to have seen it all before' — writes the melancholy of time's irreparable passing, famous for its calm, rueful acceptance. Huang Chao's poem faces the same calendar but refuses to accept it: if he were the Blue Deity, he would let the chrysanthemum bloom with the peach. The one is the regret of the leisured aristocrat, the other the resolve of the man who would remake the order of things; read together, they show the two attitudes a Chinese poet may take to the seasons.

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」，写感怀言志，是宋词小令的名篇；黄巢《题菊花》则以「他年我若为青帝，报与桃花一处开」「飒飒西风满院栽，蘂寒香冷蝶难来」写报与桃花一处开、蘂寒香冷。两诗同写感怀言志、无可奈何：一写无可奈何花落去、以花落燕归写惜时，一写他年我若为青帝报与桃花一处开、以青帝写志；一为晏殊之温润、一为黄巢之豪迈，并读正可见诗写「感怀言志」的两种笔法，皆于感怀之中见言志。