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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

望月有感

Thoughts on Seeing the Moon

白居易

Bai Juyi

思乡homesickness 亲情family affection

时难年荒世业空，弟兄羁旅各西东。
田园寥落干戈后，骨肉流离道路中。
吊影分为千里雁，辞根散作九秋蓬。
共看明月应垂泪，一夜乡心五处同。

When troubled times and famine years sweep the homestead bare,
Brothers adrift, each wanders to his own quarter.
Fields lie desolate after the clang of arms;
Flesh and blood scattered, wandering upon the roads.
A lonely shadow, like wild geese parted a thousand li;
Torn from the root, like tumbleweeds of late autumn.
We watch the same bright moon and should let tears fall—
In one night the homesick heart is shared in five places.

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Meaning

In hard times and famine years the family estate is gone; brothers drift as strangers, each to his own quarter. The fields and gardens lie desolate after the wars; flesh and blood are scattered, wandering on the roads. A lonely shadow, like wild geese parted a thousand li; torn from the root, scattered like tumbleweeds of late autumn. Tonight we watch the same bright moon and should shed tears; in one night the homesick heart is shared in five places.

时世艰难、年岁饥荒，祖传家业化为乌有；兄弟们漂泊异乡，各奔西东。田园在兵火之后荒凉残破，骨肉至亲在颠沛流离于道路之中。形单影只如同分飞千里的孤雁，离根飘散如同深秋的飞蓬。今夜共望一轮明月，应当一同落泪；一夜之间，思乡之心在五处相通。

Appreciation

A seven-character regulated poem centred on the moon, it opens from the general sorrow of the age to the intimate sorrow of one family. The first couplet sets the scene of brothers scattered by famine and war; the middle couplets turn the household ruin into concrete images—desolate fields, wandering kin, a lone shadow like parted wild geese, a rootless tumbleweed. Its focus is the closing turn: under the shared moon the five separated homes become one in feeling, so that private grief widens into a quiet bond. The language is plain yet weighted, typical of Bai Juyi's clear and tender manner.

【白话串讲】 “时难年荒世业空，弟兄羁旅各西东”——战乱饥荒，白居易的兄弟们各奔东西。“吊影分为千里雁，辞根散作九秋蓬”——像散落的雁和蓬。“共看明月应垂泪，一夜乡心五处同”——这一夜，五处的人都在月下流泪想家。【意象与手法】全诗以‘望月’为聚焦点，章法由面到点、由实入虚。首联‘时难年荒世业空，弟兄羁旅各西东’总写离乱背景【情感与主旨】《望月有感》原有序：‘自河南经乱，关内阻饥，兄弟离散，各在一处【名句点睛】中高考常取颈联‘吊影分为千里雁，辞根散作九秋蓬’及尾联设题。考点一：修辞手法，比喻（孤雁、秋蓬）写漂泊无依

Background

"Thoughts on Seeing the Moon" carries the poet's own preface: "Since the troubles in Henan, with famine blocking the Guannei region, my brothers scattered, each in his own place. Moved by the moon I set down my feelings, sending them to my eldest brother at Fuliang, my seventh brother at Yuqian, my fifteenth brother at Wujiang, and also to my brothers and sisters at Fuli and Xiagui." The poem was likely written between 799 and 800, during the reign of Emperor Dezong. Regional warlords held their fiefs, wars came one upon another, Henan saw years of fighting, and Guannei suffered famine; the Bai family was scattered—the eldest brother at Fuliang, the seventh at Yuqian, the fifteenth at Wujiang, the poet staying at Fuli, the youngest brother at Xiagui. One night he gazed at the moon and, thinking of brothers and sisters at the four corners of the earth, wrote this to send them; it is a representative work of Bai Juyi's earlier years, writing of family love amid the chaos of separation.

《望月有感》为唐代白居易所作，是写战乱离散、望月思亲的诗。白居易（772—846），字乐天，唐代伟大诗人。此诗：时难年荒世业空，弟兄羁旅各西东。田园寥落干戈后，骨肉流离道路中。吊影分为千里雁，辞根散作九秋蓬。共看明月应垂泪，一夜乡心五处同。全诗写战乱中弟兄离散、望月思乡，是白居易诗的名篇。

Art

This poem takes the moon as its focus, its structure moving from the broad to the particular and from the real to the virtual. The first couplet "When troubled times and famine years sweep the homestead bare; brothers adrift, each wanders to his own quarter" gives the general background of separation and chaos; the second couplet "Fields lie desolate after the clang of arms; flesh and blood scattered, wandering upon the roads" states the pain of a broken home in neat antithesis; the third couplet "A lonely shadow, like wild geese parted a thousand li; torn from the root, like tumbleweeds of late autumn" compares the self to lone wild geese and autumn tumbleweeds, its imagery desolate; the last couplet "We watch the same bright moon and should shed tears; in one night the homesick heart is shared in five places" gathers the five scattered kin under the one moon, moving from dispersal back to unity—space stretched wide yet feeling drawn close, deeply in the grave manner of Du Fu yet clearer and more tender.

《望月有感》艺术上以意象的贴切与思亲的深沉见长。全诗八句，层层写来：前四句写战乱离散——“时难年荒世业空，弟兄羁旅各西东”写世业空、弟兄西东，“田园寥落干戈后，骨肉流离道路中”写田园寥落、骨肉流离；后四句写望月思亲——“吊影分为千里雁，辞根散作九秋蓬”写千里雁、九秋蓬，“共看明月应垂泪，一夜乡心五处同”写望月垂泪、乡心五处同。全诗以意象写战乱离散、望月思亲，正是白居易诗平易深挚的笔法。

Allusions

The poem's allusions are natural and unforced. "Wild geese a thousand li" transforms the image of Su Wu's "wild goose carrying a letter" and the old line "a wild goose a thousand li," comparing brothers flying apart with no word to send; "tumbleweeds of late autumn" derives from Cao Zhi's "the tumbleweed leaves its own root" and Pan Yue's "the tumbleweed flies with the wind," using the autumn weed torn from its root to write rootless drifting; "a lonely shadow" comes from Tao Yuanming's "form and shadow comfort each other" (also in the Memorial on Begging for a Leave phrase "alone and solitary, form and shadow comforting each other"), pressing the loneliness to the utmost. "Shared in five places" closes with a number, setting off the breadth of the scattering. The allusions are all common yet fitting, adding weight to this poem of separation.

《望月有感》用典少而意象自明。“千里雁”用雁行写兄弟（兄弟为雁行）分散；“九秋蓬”用蓬草飘转写离散（《曹植》“转蓬离本根”之意）；“乡心五处同”写五处弟兄望月同心。全诗以这些意象写战乱离散，不用深典而情深自见，正是白居易诗以意象写情的笔法。

Commentary

The poem originally carried a long preface, and Song readers especially valued "preface and poem illuminating each other." Modern critics set it beside Du Fu's "Thinking of My Brothers on a Moonlit Night," saying Du is grave and deep while Bai is clear and tender, both writing of separation and kin yet each with his own spirit. The Qing anthologist Hengtang Tuishi included it in his "Three Hundred Tang Poems," praising it as "one breath from start to finish, both feeling and form achieved." The closing "in one night the homesick heart is shared in five places," gathering under the moon, is praised as a model of "saying much with little" among poems of moon-gazing and longing.

《望月有感》是白居易诗的名篇，也是中国诗歌中写战乱离散、望月思亲的代表作。此诗写战乱中弟兄离散、望月思乡，向为论者称道。论者多赏其意象的贴切——“吊影分为千里雁，辞根散作九秋蓬”以千里雁、九秋蓬写弟兄离散，贴切之极；“共看明月应垂泪，一夜乡心五处同”写望月垂泪、乡心五处同，更见其情。白居易以平易深挚著称，此诗正是其代表——以意象写思亲，正是其诗风。

Prosody

Form Seven-character regulated poem (seven-character lü)七言律诗

Rhyme Ping-shui rhyme, upper-level first dong group (bare, quarter, roads, autumn, places)《望月有感》为七言律诗，八句，押平声韵。此诗用韵：空、东、中、蓬、同（东部），一韵到底，对仗工整，音节平易。

Tone pattern First line enters rhyme, level-onset level-close七言律诗以音节平易、情致深挚见长。此诗写战乱离散、望月思亲，音节平易而深挚。全诗一韵到底，声调与思亲之情的内容相合，是白居易诗中平易深挚的一路。

Reading note Eight lines in four couplets, the middle two neatly antithetical; a clear, tender, grave work of Bai Juyi's earlier years.《望月有感》为唐代白居易所作，是写战乱离散、望月思亲的诗。此诗以“时难年荒世业空，弟兄羁旅各西东”写世业之空、弟兄之散，以“吊影分为千里雁，辞根散作九秋蓬”以雁蓬写离散，以“共看明月应垂泪，一夜乡心五处同”写望月思亲。以意象写思亲，正是白居易诗的名篇。

Line by line

时难年荒世业空，弟兄羁旅各西东。田园寥落干戈后，骨肉流离道路中。

Times are troubled, the harvests fail, the family estate is empty; brothers are exiled to the four winds. Farms lie desolate after the wars; flesh and blood drift along the roads.

时局艰难年岁荒歉，世业已空；弟兄羁旅，各自西东。田园在战乱后寥落，骨肉在道路中流离。

Hard times and barren years have left the family estate empty; brothers are wandering, each to a different quarter. The farms lie desolate after the wars; flesh and blood are scattered along the roads.

前四句写战乱离散，是全诗思亲的起点。“时难年荒世业空，弟兄羁旅各西东”写世业空、弟兄西东——“时难年荒世业空”写时局艰难年岁荒歉、世业已空，“弟兄羁旅各西东”写弟兄羁旅、各自西东——世业已空，弟兄西东；“田园寥落干戈后，骨肉流离道路中”写田园骨肉——“田园寥落干戈后”写田园在战乱后寥落，“骨肉流离道路中”写骨肉在道路中流离——田园寥落，骨肉流离。四句写战乱离散：时难年荒世业空、弟兄羁旅各西东，田园寥落干戈后、骨肉流离道路中。以“时难年荒世业空，弟兄羁旅各西东”写世业之空、弟兄之散，以“田园寥落干戈后，骨肉流离道路中”写田园骨肉之流离，正是白居易诗写战乱离散的起点——乱世之中，家破人散。

The first four lines write wartime dispersion, the starting point of the poem's longing. Times are troubled, the harvests fail, the family estate is empty; brothers are exiled to the four winds: the estate empty, the brothers scattered. Farms lie desolate after the wars; flesh and blood drift along the roads: the farms desolate after arms, the flesh and blood on the roads. Four lines write wartime dispersion: hard times and barren years, brothers to the four winds; desolate farms after war, flesh and blood on the roads. One couplet writes the empty estate and scattered brothers, the other the farms and flesh and blood in dispersion - Bai Juyi's starting point for wartime separation: in the disordered age, home broken, family scattered.

吊影分为千里雁，辞根散作九秋蓬。共看明月应垂泪，一夜乡心五处同。

Gazing at my shadow, I am a goose parted a thousand li; torn from the root, I scatter like autumn tumbleweed. Gazing together at the bright moon, we must weep; in one night, five places share the same homesick heart.

吊影自伤，分为千里之雁；辞根四散，化作九秋之蓬。共看明月应当垂泪，一夜乡心五处相同。

Mourning my shadow, I am like a wild goose a thousand li from the flock; torn from the root, I drift like autumn thistledown. Looking up at the same bright moon, we must all shed tears; in one night, five places share the same longing for home.

后四句写望月思亲，是全诗思亲之情的归结。“吊影分为千里雁，辞根散作九秋蓬”写千里雁、九秋蓬——“吊影分为千里雁”写吊影自伤、分为千里之雁，“辞根散作九秋蓬”写辞根四散、化作九秋之蓬——分为千里雁，散作九秋蓬；“共看明月应垂泪，一夜乡心五处同”写望月垂泪——“共看明月应垂泪”写共看明月应当垂泪，“一夜乡心五处同”写一夜乡心、五处相同——望月垂泪，乡心五处同。四句写望月思亲：吊影分为千里雁、辞根散作九秋蓬，共看明月应垂泪、一夜乡心五处同。以“吊影分为千里雁，辞根散作九秋蓬”以千里雁、九秋蓬写弟兄离散之象，以“共看明月应垂泪，一夜乡心五处同”写五处弟兄望月同心，正是白居易诗写思亲之情的归结——同看明月，乡心五处同。

The last four lines write moon-gazing and longing for kin, the resolution of the feeling. Gazing at my shadow, I am a goose parted a thousand li: mourning the shadow, parted like a thousand-li goose. Torn from the root, I scatter like autumn tumbleweed: leaving the root, scattered like autumn thistledown. One couplet writes the thousand-li goose and the autumn tumbleweed as images of brothers parted. Gazing together at the bright moon, we must weep; in one night, five places share the same homesick heart: gazing at the moon and weeping; the homesick heart one night, five places alike. Four lines write moon-gazing longing: the divided goose, the scattered tumbleweed; the shared moon and tears, the five places of one heart. One couplet uses the goose and tumbleweed for the brothers' dispersion, the other writes five brothers gazing at one moon with one heart - Bai Juyi's resolution of longing: the same bright moon, five homesick hearts as one.

Study

Word focus

羁旅 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “弟兄羁旅各西东”之“羁旅”，写寄居他乡，是全诗写弟兄离散的关键词。“羁旅”写羁留旅居——弟兄羁旅，各自西东。这一词写弟兄之遇：不是安居之人，而羁旅；不是团聚之居，而寄旅西东。以“弟兄羁旅各西东”写弟兄之散，正是白居易诗写战乱离散的笔法。

千里雁 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “吊影分为千里雁”之“千里雁”，写千里之雁、兄弟分散，是全诗以雁写兄弟离散的关键词。“千里雁”写雁行千里（雁行喻兄弟）——吊影自伤，分为千里之雁。这一词以“千里雁”写兄弟：不是团聚之雁，而千里雁；不是同飞之群，而分散千里之雁。以“吊影分为千里雁”写兄弟分散、吊影自伤，正是白居易诗以雁写兄弟离散的笔法。

九秋蓬 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “辞根散作九秋蓬”之“九秋蓬”，写深秋的蓬草、飘转离散，是全诗写离散之象的关键词。“九秋”写深秋，“蓬”写蓬草——辞根四散，化作九秋之蓬。这一词以“九秋蓬”写离散：不是有根之草，而蓬；不是可聚之物，而辞根飘转。以“辞根散作九秋蓬”写弟兄辞根离散，正是白居易诗以蓬草写离散之象的笔法。

乡心 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “一夜乡心五处同”之“乡心”，写思乡之心，是全诗思亲之情的归结词。“乡心”写思乡之心——一夜乡心、五处相同。这一词写思乡之情：不是一人之思，而乡心；不是独有之念，而五处相同。以“共看明月应垂泪，一夜乡心五处同”写五处弟兄望月同心，正是白居易诗写思亲之情的归结——乡心五处，同看明月。