唐 Tang · 诗 Poem
宣城见杜鹃花
Seeing Azaleas at Xuancheng
蜀国曾闻子规鸟，宣城还见杜鹃花。
一叫一回肠一断，三春三月忆三巴。
At each call my heart-strings snap once more; in the third spring, the third month, I remember Sanba.
Meaning
Long ago in Shu I heard the cuckoo's cry; now at Xuancheng I again see the azalea in flower. With each call my heart breaks anew; in this late spring, the third month, I recall my homeland of Sanba.
从前在蜀国我曾听到子规鸟的啼鸣，如今在宣城又见到了杜鹃花。杜鹃鸟一叫，我的愁肠便断一回，在这暮春三月，我更加思念远在巴蜀的故乡。
Appreciation
A famous late-life homesick poem written when Li Bai lodged at Xuancheng, it is exquisite in the punning identity of 'azalea flower' and 'cuckoo bird' and in its time-space contrast. Shu was the cuckoo's (and the poet's) home; at Xuancheng the azaleas bloom and stir memory of Shu. The first two lines contrast 'once heard in Shu' with 'again see at Xuancheng'—past and present, heard and seen—planting homesickness. The last two lines stack the numerals 'one' and 'three,' 'heart breaks once more' for the cuckoo's pain, 'remember Sanba' for the homesick aim, the sound circling like the cuckoo's blood-crying lament. The poem moves from flower to bird to homeland; the punning identity and the exile's deep longing fuse in this small poem.
【白话串讲】 李白写《宣城见杜鹃花》：“蜀国曾闻子规鸟，宣城还见杜鹃花”——“一叫一回肠一断，三春三月忆三巴”——他在宣城看见杜鹃花，想起故乡蜀地的子规鸟——他写思乡。 【意象与手法】 此诗是李白晚年客居宣城时的思乡名作，妙在「杜鹃花」与「杜鹃鸟」的同名双关与时空对照。蜀地是杜鹃鸟（子规）的故乡，也是诗人的故乡；宣城的杜鹃花开得正好，却触动了诗人对蜀地旧事的回忆。前两句以「蜀国曾闻」「宣城还见」对举，一昔一今、一闻一见，在时空的对照中埋下思乡的伏笔；后两句「一叫一回肠一断，三春三月忆三巴」，连用「一」「三」两组数字叠字，以「肠一断」写闻鹃的痛楚，以「忆三巴」点明思乡的指向，音节回环往复，如杜鹃啼血般哀婉。全诗由花及鸟、由鸟及乡，花鸟同名之巧与羁旅思乡之深，在这一首小诗中浑然交融。 【情感与主旨】 此诗作于唐玄宗天宝末年，李白晚年流寓宣城之时。诗人此时已年近花甲，历经长安被放还、永王璘事件入狱流放的巨大波折，客居宣城，思乡之情日益浓烈。宣城地处江南，暮春时节杜鹃花盛开，而杜鹃花（映山红）本是蜀地特产，诗人见花开而忆故乡，又闻杜鹃鸟啼（子规啼声如「不如归去」），花鸟同名的巧合更添哀愁。诗以「一叫一回肠一断」的夸张笔法写闻鹃之痛，以「三春三月忆三巴」的直白点出思乡之切，把羁旅之悲与故园之思写得淋漓尽致。其中既有对蜀中故里的深情眷恋，也有李白一生漂泊、老而未归的深沉叹惋，读来令人动容。 【名句点睛】 常考「杜鹃花」与「杜鹃鸟」同名双关的构思，以及「一叫一回肠一断，三春三月忆三巴」中数字叠用的修辞与音节之美；同时注意「蜀国」「三巴」与李白蜀中籍贯的关系，理解诗人借花鸟寄托的思乡之情。
Background
This poem was written around the thirteenth year of Tianbao (754), when Li Bai, in his late years, lodged at Xuancheng (present Anhui). Though born in Suye and raised in Mianzhou, Shu (present Jiangyou, Sichuan), Shu was the homeland of his youth; 'Shu' and 'Sanba' in the poem refer to it. After being dismissed from court in 744, Li Bai roamed for over a decade; by 754, past fifty, he lingered around Xuancheng. Politically disappointed (the Yongwang Li Lin affair was still ahead, but the dismissal had already soured him on office) and drifting, his homesickness grew. Xuancheng was where the Southern-Dynasty poet Xie Tiao had been governor; Li Bai admired Xie and lingered there, writing 'Farewell at the Xie Tiao Tower in Xuanzhou.' Xuancheng, in Jiangnan, has azaleas (rhododendrons) in full bloom in late spring; the azalea is a Shu specialty, called 'azalea flower' by the Shu people, and Shu also has the cuckoo-bird (zigui) legend—the ancient Shu king Du Yu, the 'Wangdi,' after abdicating turned into the cuckoo, crying bitterly, its voice like 'go home, go home.' At Xuancheng Li Bai saw the azaleas and recalled Shu: then in Shu he heard the cuckoo; now in Xuancheng he sees the azalea. Flower and bird share a name, time and space cross—hence this poem. Its value lies in weaving personal homesickness with the Shu flower-bird legend, writing in the most economical scope Li Bai's deepest late-life feeling—a poet adrift half his life, in another land's bloom, looking back to his home, heart breaking for Sanba.
此诗约作于唐玄宗天宝十三载（754）前后，李白晚年流寓宣城（今安徽宣城）时期。李白虽出生于碎叶、长于蜀中绵州昌隆（今四川江油），蜀地是其青少年成长的故乡，诗中「蜀国」「三巴」皆指此。天宝三载，李白被唐玄宗赐金放还，此后十多年间漫游各地，至天宝十三载已年过五旬，从宣城一带盘桓。此时李白政治上失意（此前永王璘事件尚未来临，但被放还的打击已使他对仕途心灰），生活上漂泊，思乡之情日益浓烈。宣城是南朝谢朓曾为太守之地，李白素仰谢朓，故流连于此，写下《宣州谢朓楼饯别校书叔云》等名篇。宣城地处江南，暮春时节杜鹃花（映山红）漫山开放，而杜鹃花本是蜀中特产，蜀人称之为「杜鹃花」；同时蜀中又有杜鹃鸟（子规）的传说——古蜀望帝杜宇死后化为杜鹃鸟，啼声凄苦，如「不如归去」。李白在宣城见杜鹃花开，油然忆起蜀中旧事：当年在蜀，听到的是子规鸟的啼鸣；如今在宣城，看到的是杜鹃花的花开。花鸟同名，时空交错，遂成此诗。这首诗的可贵之处在于，它将个人的思乡之情与蜀地特有的花鸟传说紧密交织，以最经济的篇幅写出了李白晚年最深沉的情感——一个漂泊半生的诗人，在他乡的花开花落中，回望故园，肠断三巴。
Art
The artistic conception is extremely ingenious, readable on four levels. First, the clever pun of identical names: the azalea flower and the cuckoo bird share a name; Li Bai seizes this, setting 'once heard the cuckoo bird' against 'again see the azalea flower,' interlacing auditory memory (hearing the bird) with visual present (seeing the flower), so the two sensory experiences重合 on the word 'cuckoo/azalea,' and the homesickness bursts from that point. Second, the time-space contrast: the first two lines 'once heard in Shu' and 'again see at Xuancheng,' past and present, Shu and Xuan, double contrast in space and time—then hearing the bird in Shu, now seeing the flower at Xuan, between them ten thousand rivers and long years, and the homesickness naturally surges. Third, the rhetorical stacking of numerals: the last two lines 'at each call my heart-strings snap once more; in the third spring, the third month, I remember Sanba' use two numeral groups—'at each call my heart-strings snap once more' with three 'one's writes the cuckoo's every cry breaking the heart, the sound urgent like blood-crying; 'in the third spring, the third month, I remember Sanba' with three 'three's writes the late-spring homesickness, the sound long like a sigh. The two groups, one urgent one long, form a tonal contrast, writing the cuckoo's pain and the deep longing to the full. Fourth, the unity of direct and implicit: the last line 'remember Sanba' directly states the homesickness, candid; yet the whole uses flower and bird as medium, not directly writing the hardship of drift, letting the feeling flow naturally under their trigger—direct within indirect, indirect within direct. These four layers stack, making this small poem a representative of Li Bai's late-life homesick verse.
此诗的艺术构思极为精巧，可从四个层面分析。其一，同名双关的巧妙构思。杜鹃花与杜鹃鸟同名，李白抓住这一巧合，以「曾闻子规鸟」「还见杜鹃花」对举，将听觉的回忆（闻鸟）与视觉的当下（见花）交错，花鸟同名，遂使两种感官经验在「杜鹃」一词上重合，思乡之情便在这重合点上喷薄而出。其二，时空对照的结构。前两句「蜀国曾闻」与「宣城还见」，一昔一今、一蜀一宣，空间与时间双重对照，昔日在蜀闻鸟、今日在宣见花，中间隔着万水千山与漫长岁月，思乡之情便在这对照中自然涌出。其三，数字叠用的修辞。后两句「一叫一回肠一断，三春三月忆三巴」，连用两组数字：「一叫一回肠一断」以三个「一」写杜鹃每啼一声、愁肠便断一回，音节急促，如啼血之声；「三春三月忆三巴」以三个「三」写暮春三月的思乡，音节绵长，如叹息之悠。两组数字一急促一绵长，形成声调上的对照，把闻鹃的痛与思乡的深写得淋漓尽致。其四，直抒与含蓄的统一。末句「忆三巴」直点思乡，情感坦白；但全诗又以花鸟为媒介，不直写漂泊之苦，而是让思乡之情在花鸟的触媒下自然流露，直中有曲、曲中有直。四重手法层层叠加，使这首小诗成为李白晚年思乡诗的代表作。
Allusions
The core of the poem's allusion and imagery is the 'cuckoo'—the pun of flower and bird sharing a name, rooted in Shu's cultural tradition. The 'cuckoo bird' is the zigui, from the tale of the ancient Shu king Du Yu: the 'Wangdi' Du Yu, after abdicating, turned into the cuckoo, crying day and night until it bled, its voice 'go home, go home.' This made the cuckoo a symbol of 'longing to return' and 'bitter sorrow'—Li Bai's 'Hard Roads to Shu' ('again I hear the zigui cry under the night moon, sorrow in the empty mountain') uses it. The 'azalea flower' (rhododendron) is said to be dyed by the cuckoo's blood, especially abundant in Shu, hence 'Shu mountain red.' Flower and bird share name and source, both tied to Shu and the Wangdi legend; Li Bai's 'once heard' and 'again see' link them, so the flower seen at Xuancheng echoes the bird heard in Shu, and 'remember Sanba' gains a solid allusive root. Further, 'Sanba' means the three commanderies Ba, Badong, and Baxi—present Chongqing and Sichuan—Li Bai's homeland; 'third spring, third month' darkly fits the 'Book of Songs' spring tradition and the late-spring homeward-poem motif (Wang Wei's 'green grass will be green next spring, will the prince return?'). The allusions are seamless, melting the Shu flower-bird legend, the Wangdi myth, and personal fate into one—twenty-eight characters carrying deep cultural weight, the master's 'writing feeling through allusion, melting allusion without trace.'
此诗的典故与意象核心是「杜鹃」——花鸟同名的双关，深植于蜀地的文化传统。「杜鹃鸟」即子规，典出古蜀望帝杜宇的故事：传说蜀王杜宇号望帝，因禅位后化为杜鹃鸟，昼夜悲鸣，啼至血出乃止，其声如「不如归去」。这一传说使杜鹃鸟成为「思归」「悲苦」的象征，李白《蜀道难》「又闻子规啼夜月，愁空山」即用此典。「杜鹃花」即映山红，因传说是杜鹃啼血所染而名，蜀地尤其繁盛，故又名蜀山红。花与鸟同名同源，皆与蜀地、与望帝传说相连，李白以「曾闻」「还见」勾连，遂使宣城所见之花与蜀中所闻之鸟遥相呼应，一个「忆三巴」便有了坚实的典故根基。此外，「三巴」指巴郡、巴东、巴西三郡，即今重庆、四川一带，是李白的故乡所在；「三春三月」则暗合《诗经》「春日载阳」的时令传统与暮春思归的诗歌母题（如王维「春草明年绿，王孙归不归」）。全诗用典不着痕迹，将蜀地花鸟传说、望帝神话与个人身世熔于一炉，使二十八字的小诗承载起深厚的文化意蕴，正是李白「以典写情、化典无痕」的大家手笔。
Commentary
This poem has long been praised as a famous homesick poem of Li Bai and one of the most classic uses of the 'cuckoo' image. Critics have long admired the flower-bird pun: the Qing scholar Wang Qi's commentary cites earlier readers calling it 'aroused by the cuckoo's sound and color, making the homesickness all the more keen'; modern scholars note 'at each call my heart-strings snap once more' stacks numerals to write the cuckoo pain, sound and feeling both at their peak. In literary history, the 'cuckoo' image became a classic symbol of homesickness and sorrow: Li Shangyin's 'the Wangdi's spring heart entrusted to the cuckoo,' Bai Juyi's 'the cuckoo cries blood, apes wail,' Wen Tianxiang's 'henceforth leave the Jiangnan road, turn into a blood-crying cuckoo'—all stem from the 'cuckoo-homesickness' tradition Li Bai opened here. The poem's special value is melting personal exile feeling with Shu's cultural memory into a universal emotion: flowers and birds are heartless, yet the poet has feeling; the ends of the earth have no home, yet home is in the heart. Li Bai drifted all his life, 'ever fond of entering famous mountains'; this poem reveals the softest corner of the drifter's heart—the thought of home. Compared with 'Quiet Night Thought' ('raise my head to the bright moon, lower it and think of home') with its universal homesickness, this poem, via the cuckoo flower-bird, makes the longing more concrete and poignant. For today's readers it is a classic entry to the Chinese 'cuckoo' image and the 'exile-homesickness' motif, and vivid proof of Li Bai's late verse turning from bold to desolate, from ethereal to grave.
此诗历来被推为李白思乡诗中的名作，也是「杜鹃」意象最经典的运用之一。历代论者多赏其花鸟同名双关之巧：清人王琦注《李太白全集》引前人说，谓此诗「以杜鹃之声色起兴，倍觉思乡之情切」；近人论此诗，更指出「一叫一回肠一断」以数字叠用写闻鹃之痛，音节与情感俱臻极致。在文学史上，「杜鹃」意象自此成为思乡与悲苦的经典符号：李商隐「望帝春心托杜鹃」、白居易「杜鹃啼血猿哀鸣」、文天祥「从今别却江南路，化作啼鹃带血归」，皆由李白此诗所开辟的「杜鹃思乡」传统而来。此诗的特殊价值在于，它把个人的羁旅之情与蜀地的文化记忆熔铸为一种普遍的情感：花鸟本无情，而诗人有情；天涯本无乡，而故乡在心。李白一生漂泊，「一生好入名山游」，此诗却道出了漂泊者心中最柔软的一角——故园之思。相较于《静夜思》「举头望明月，低头思故乡」的普泛化乡愁，此诗以杜鹃花鸟为载体，乡愁更具象、更凄切。对于今日读者，此诗是理解中国文学「杜鹃」意象与「羁旅思乡」母题的经典入口，也是李白晚年诗歌由豪放转苍凉、由飘逸转沉挚的生动见证。
Prosody
Line by line
蜀国曾闻子规鸟，宣城还见杜鹃花。
In the land of Shu I once heard the cuckoo bird; at Xuancheng again I see the azalea bloom. (Two lines in antithesis write the pun of flower and bird sharing a name; in the time-space contrast the root of homesickness already shows. 'In the land of Shu I once heard the cuckoo bird' is memory—Shu was Li Bai's home and the cuckoo's most bitter cry; 'once' opens a distance in time, the boyhood hearing still vivid. 'At Xuancheng again I see the azalea flower' is the present—the poet now lodging at Xuancheng sees the azaleas in late spring; 'again see' writes time's turning and the season's cycle. The bird heard in Shu then, the flower seen at Xuan now, same name same source, become a double stimulus. The two lines, past and present, heard and seen, Shu and Xuan, are neatly antithetical yet feeling flows. The subtlety: the poet does not say homesick directly, only places the two same-named things side by side; the long years and thousand miles between 'once heard' and 'again see' are enough for the reader to taste the drift and the homesick undercurrent. Flower and bird重合 as if fate's arrangement, pushing the poet's longing to the point it must be spoken.)
从前在蜀国我曾听到子规鸟的啼鸣，如今在宣城又见到了杜鹃花。
In Shu I once heard the cuckoo's cry; now in Xuancheng I see the azaleas bloom.
两句以对举之笔写花鸟同名之巧，时空对照中已见思乡之根。「蜀国曾闻子规鸟」是回忆——蜀地是李白的故乡，也是子规鸟啼声最凄切之地，一个「曾」字拉开时间的距离，少年闻鸟的记忆依稀在目；「宣城还见杜鹃花」是眼前——诗人如今流寓宣城，暮春见杜鹃花盛开，「还见」二字写时光流转、物候循环，昔年蜀中所闻之鸟，今日宣城所見之花，同名同源，遂成双重刺激。两句一昔一今、一闻一见、一蜀一宣，对仗工整而情意流转。妙处在于，诗人没有直说思乡，只是将两件同名之物并置，那「曾闻」「还见」之间的漫漫岁月与千里行程，已足以让读者体味到漂泊的况味与乡愁的暗涌。花与鸟的重合，仿佛命运的安排，把诗人的乡愁推到了不得不抒发的关口。
The two lines use parallel writing of the flower and bird sharing a name; in space-time contrast, the root of homesickness is already present. In Shu I once heard the cuckoo's cry is memory - Shu is Li Bai's homeland, and the land where the cuckoo's cry is most mournful; one once draws the distance of time, the youth's memory of hearing the bird still vivid. Now in Xuancheng I see the azaleas bloom is the present - the poet now adrift in Xuancheng, seeing the azaleas in late spring; now see writes time's flow, the season's cycle: the bird once heard in Shu, the flower now seen in Xuancheng, same name, same source, become a double stimulus. The two lines one past one present, one hearing one seeing, one Shu one Xuancheng, refined parallel yet feeling flowing. The art: the poet does not directly say homesick, but places the two same-named things side by side; between once heard and now seen, the long years and thousand-li journey are already enough for the reader to taste the drifting and the hidden homesickness. The flower-bird coincidence, as if fate's arrangement, pushes the homesickness to the point of having to break forth.
一叫一回肠一断，三春三月忆三巴。
At each call my heart-strings snap once more; in the third spring, the third month, I remember Sanba. (These two lines are the emotional climax and the极致 of rhetoric. 'At each call my heart-strings snap once more' stacks three 'one's to write that with each cuckoo cry the poet's heart breaks anew—making the abstract 'heart-break' concrete as a correspondence to every cry, as if the bird's voice cuts not the ear but the heart, the sound urgent like blood-crying, writing the cuckoo pain to the extreme. 'In the third spring, the third month, I remember Sanba' stacks three 'three's to write the long late-spring longing—'third spring' is late spring, the third month when spring ends, spring gone yet the man not returned, the homesickness keener; 'Sanba' directly names the homeland, the three commanderies the poet's soul. The two numeral groups contrast: one the pain of 'break,' one the depth of 'remember'; the former urgent, the latter long. The last line breaks out 'remember Sanba,' spending the six lines' gathered homesickness in one phrase, yet because of the layered bedding it is not blunt but痛快, exactly Li Bai's 'direct feeling yet endless flavor.')
杜鹃鸟一叫，我的愁肠便断一回；在这暮春三月，我更加思念远在巴蜀的故乡。
One cry, one twist of breaking heart; in the third month, third spring, I remember the Three Ba.
这两句是全诗情感的高潮，也是修辞的极致。「一叫一回肠一断」以三个「一」字叠用，写杜鹃每啼一声、诗人愁肠便断一回——把抽象的「肠断」具象为每一次啼鸣的对应，仿佛那鸟声不是响在耳边，而是直接割在心上，音节急促，如啼血之声，极写闻鹃之痛。「三春三月忆三巴」以三个「三」字叠用，写暮春三月的深长思念——「三春」即暮春，三月正是春尽之时，春尽而人未归，思乡之情愈烈；「三巴」直点故乡，巴郡巴东巴西，是诗人魂牵梦萦之地。两组数字相对照：一者为「断」之痛，一者为「忆」之深；前者急促，后者绵长。末句点破「忆三巴」，将前六句积蓄的乡愁一语道尽，却因前面层层铺垫，故不显直白，反而痛快淋漓，正是李白「直抒胸臆而情味无穷」的本色。
These two lines are the poem's emotional climax, the rhetoric's extreme. One cry, one twist of breaking heart repeats three ones, writing that with each cuckoo call the poet's heart breaks once - converting abstract heartbreak into the correspondence to each cry, as if the bird's sound were not ringing in the ear but cutting directly into the heart; the syllables urgent, like the cry of blood, exhausting the pain of hearing the cuckoo. In the third month, third spring, I remember the Three Ba repeats three threes, writing the deep longing of late spring: third spring means late spring; the third month is spring's end; spring ends yet the man not returned, homesickness all the keener. Three Ba directly names the homeland - Ba Commandery, Ba Dong, Ba Xi, the place the poet's heart clings to. The two number groups contrast: one writes the pain of breaking, the other the depth of remembering; the former urgent, the latter lingering. The closing names remember the Three Ba, exhausting the homesickness stored through the previous six characters in one phrase; yet because of the layer upon layer of preparation, it does not seem plain, but rather unburdens itself fully - precisely Li Bai's nature of speaking the heart directly yet with inexhaustible savor.
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'Quiet Night Thought' ('raise my head to the bright moon, lower it and think of home') is Li Bai's early homesick poem, using moonlight as trigger, language extremely simple, mood clear, the homesickness universal. 'Seeing Azaleas at Xuancheng' is a late-life homesick poem, using the cuckoo flower-bird as trigger, with the flower-bird pun and numeral stacking, the longing more concrete and poignant. One borrows 'moon' for homesickness, one borrows 'flower-bird' for homesickness; the early homesickness is clear as the moon, the late heavy as blood. Read together they show the consistency and change of Li Bai's life-long homesickness, and his verse turning from early bright to late desolate.
《静夜思》「举头望明月，低头思故乡」是李白早年思乡诗，以月光为触媒，语言极简、意境澄澈，乡愁是普泛的、普世的。《宣城见杜鹃花》则是晚年思乡诗，以杜鹃花鸟为触媒，花鸟同名之巧、数字叠用之奇，乡愁更具体、更凄切。一借「月」写思乡，一借「花鸟」写思乡；早年的乡愁清澈如月，晚年的乡愁沉重如血。两诗对读，可见李白一生乡愁的一贯与变化，也可见其诗歌由早年明快到晚年的苍凉。
送友人 Seeing a Friend Off 李白 · 同写客中送别与离情，一送人一自伤 Both written away from home—one seeing a friend off, one grieving himself.'Seeing a Friend Off' ('green hills cross the north wall, white water ring the east city; here we part once, the lone tumbleweed ten-thousand-li journey') writes the scene of seeing a friend off, green hills white water, one parting, bold yet deep feeling. 'Seeing Azaleas at Xuancheng' writes the self-grief of lodging abroad and seeing flowers to think of home, cuckoo-blood, heart breaking for Sanba, desolate yet grave. One 'sees a friend off,' one 'remembers himself'; one the sorrow of parting a friend, one the lament of homesick yearning. Both are Li Bai's away-from-home works, yet one bold one tender, one released one gathered, showing two sides of his emotional world.
《送友人》「青山横北郭，白水绕东城。此地一为别，孤蓬万里征」写送别友人的场景，青山白水、此地一别，豪放中有深情。《宣城见杜鹃花》则写客居他乡、见花思乡的自伤，杜鹃啼血、肠断三巴，苍凉中有沉痛。一为「送人」，一为「自忆」；一写别友的感伤，一写思乡的哀婉。两诗都是李白客居之作，却一豪一婉、一放一收，展示出李白情感世界的两个侧面。
无题·昨夜星辰昨夜风 Untitled: Last Night's Stars, Last Night's Breeze 李商隐 · 同写春夜之思，一借花鸟一借星辰 Both write spring-night longing—one via flower-bird, one via stars.Li Shangyin's 'Untitled: Last Night's Stars, Last Night's Breeze' ('let not the spring heart bloom with the flowers; an inch of longing, an inch of ash') writes the passion and disillusion of longing via spring heart and flowers, implicit and deep. Li Bai's 'Seeing Azaleas at Xuancheng' writes homesickness via the cuckoo flower-bird, direct in feeling, heart breaking for Sanba. Both are springtime deep feeling: Li Shangyin twists and隐含, Li Bai candid and grave; Li's feeling points to 'person,' Bai's to 'homeland.' One late-Tang graceful, one High-Tang frank—contrasted, they show the era-change of Tang poetry's lyric style.
李商隐《无题·昨夜星辰昨夜风》「春心莫共花争发，一寸相思一寸灰」以春心花发写相思的炽热与幻灭，含蓄深婉。李白《宣城见杜鹃花》则以杜鹃花鸟写思乡，直抒其情，肠断三巴。同是春日的深情，李商隐曲折幽微，李白坦白沉痛；李诗之情指向「人」，白诗之情指向「乡」。一为晚唐的婉约，一为盛唐的率真，两相对照，可见唐诗抒情风格的时代变迁。