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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

咏怀古迹·其三

Reflections on Ancient Sites, No. 3

杜甫

Du Fu

怀古Nostalgia for the Past 昭君Wang Zhaojun 咏史Historical Reflection 七律Regulated Verse

群山万壑赴荆门，生长明妃尚有村。
\n一去紫台连朔漠，独留青冢向黄昏。
\n画图省识春风面，环佩空归夜月魂。
\n千载琵琶作胡语，分明怨恨曲中论。

Thousands of peaks and ravines rush toward Jingmen;
Here still stands the village where Lady Ming was born.
Once she left the Purple Terrace for the northern waste—
Only her green tomb remains, facing the dusk.
Her spring-breeze face was vaguely known through a portrait;
Her jade pendants in vain returned with her soul on moonlit nights.
For a thousand years the pipa has played barbarian tunes,
And clearly in the music her resentment is told.

Listen

Meaning

Du Fu visits the site of Wang Zhaojun's birthplace and laments her forced marriage to the northern nomads, her lonely tomb, and the emperor's blindness that sealed her fate. Using her story, he voices his own exile and frustrated ambition.

成千上万的山峦山谷连绵不断，如向荆门奔去，王昭君生长的山村至今留存。她一离开汉宫便远嫁塞外沙漠，最后只留一座青冢对着黄昏。糊涂的君王只凭画图略识她的容颜，月夜里环佩叮当是她归来的魂魄。千载流传的琵琶曲弹着胡地音调，曲中分明倾诉着满腔的怨恨。

Appreciation

This third poem of Du Fu's suite opens with a magnificent landscape surging toward Jingmen, then narrows to the village of the ill-fated beauty. The parallel couplets contrast her departure from the Han palace with her lonely desert tomb, the emperor's vain recognition through a painting with her soul's nightly return, and finally turn her eternal pipa song into an unmistakable cry of grievance. The work is both historical judgment and personal lament, a supreme example of Du Fu's 'sinking and frustrated' style.

【白话串讲】 “群山万壑赴荆门，生长明妃尚有村”——杜甫写王昭君的故乡。“一去紫台连朔漠，独留青冢向黄昏”——她远嫁匈奴，只留青冢。“画图省识春风面，环佩空归夜月魂”——“千载琵琶作胡语，分明怨恨曲中论”——千年的琵琶声里，都是她的怨恨。【意象与手法】首联以群山万壑奔赴荆门的雄奇起势，落于小小的昭君村，大开大合；颔联“一去”“独留”写尽昭君一生悲剧；颈联写元帝昏庸、昭君魂归故国；尾联以琵琶怨恨点题。叙事明确、形象突出、寓意深远。【情感与主旨】借咏王昭君以抒己怀，于咏史中寄寓诗人自身流落夔州、不遇明主、乡关万里之悲，“悲昭君以自悲”。是七言咏史律诗之绝唱，见杜甫以古事写今情、将史笔与诗心融为一体的至高成就。【名句点睛】常考“一去紫台连朔漠，独留青冢向黄昏”以“去”“留”对照写昭君悲剧一生；“千载琵琶作胡语，分明怨恨曲中论”以琵琶声写千古之怨。

Background

Written in 766, the first year of the Dali era, when Du Fu was dwelling in Kuizhou. The five-poem suite reflects on ancient sites connected with Yu Xin, Song Yu, Wang Zhaojun, Liu Bei, and Zhu Geliang, while always expressing the poet's own displacement and unrecognized talent. This poem focuses on Wang Zhaojun, a palace lady of Emperor Yuan of Han, sent in 33 BCE to marry the Xiongnu chieftain Huhanye as a peace bride. Her native village is said to lie near Jingmen, gorge-mouth of the Yangtze. Du Fu, himself stranded in the southwest and never fully recognized by the court, finds a mirror for his own fate in her story.

咏怀古迹五首是杜甫大历元年（公元七六六年）寓居夔州时所作，其三专咏王昭君。昭君名嫱，汉元帝宫人，竟宁元年远嫁匈奴呼韩邪单于，和亲宁边。荆门在今湖北宜都长江峡口，昭君村相传在其附近。杜甫身经开元盛世与安史乱离，晚年漂泊西南，壮志难酬，借古迹以抒怀，五首分咏庾信、宋玉、昭君、先主、武侯，而己之身世流落、才士不遇之悲贯于其间。此诗起笔群山万壑奔赴荆门，气象磅礴，以大地之雄深烘托一女子之悲剧；明妃村尚存，而青冢长向黄昏，写尽去国怀乡之恨。诗中分明怨恨四字，直指君王昏庸、画图误人，亦暗含诗人自伤沦落、不为世用之慨。读此诗当知咏古即是咏怀，古迹之苍茫正映诗人之心境，千载之下犹能动人。昭君之悲实乃封建宫廷制度之缩影，画工受贿、君王昏聩，遂使绝代佳人埋骨荒漠；杜甫借古题抒不遇之慨，正与自身流落西南、不为世用同一怀抱，故能超越一时一事而具千载之悲悯。后人读此诗，于荆门山色与青冢黄昏之间，想见那位女子望乡之魂，亦想见诗人去国之心，个人命运与时代悲音于此交融，低回不已。此诗为杜甫《咏怀古迹》其三，专咏王昭君，约作于夔州。诗人借古讽今，以明妃之遇抒自身不遇之悲。组诗五首皆借古迹抒怀，此章最负盛名。唐代和亲之事屡见，昭君故事流传已远，杜甫于漂泊中过荆门，望群山奔赴，念青冢独存，遂将个人沦落与千古红颜之恨打成一片。明妃村尚在，而君王不识，画图误人，正是诗人自伤沦弃之寄托，寄托之深非徒吊古而已。

Art

The poem is rigorously structured yet grand in momentum. The opening line, 'Thousands of peaks and ravines rush toward Jingmen,' animates the landscape with a single verb (赴), then the next line brings the eye down to a small village. The second couplet uses the contrast of 'once left' and 'alone remains,' stretching from palace to desert and from life to death. The third couplet mingles the historical account of the portrait with the legendary return of Zhaojun's soul, creating a haunting interplay of reality and illusion. The final couplet breaks into direct address, dissolving all restraint into an outcry of resentment. Narrative, scene, emotion, and judgment are seamlessly fused within the regulated-verse form, showing Du Fu's command of formal precision and emotional depth.

此诗章法严整而气势奔放，七律之正格而能化板为活。首联起手即群山万壑赴荆门，以千山万壑奔赴之动势拉开宏大空间，一赴字力重千钧，先声夺人；次句点明妃村，由远及近，收束于小小村落，大小相形，悲壮自生。颔联一去独留，以紫台对朔漠、青冢对黄昏，时空对举，写其生离死别、魂羁异域。颈联画图省识、环佩空归，于虚实之间写君王之昏与魂魄之怨，省识空归四字最沉痛。尾联千载琵琶收束千载之恨，以胡语曲中点出怨恨论，余音不绝。全诗叙事、写景、抒情、议论交融，对仗精工而气流贯，不似寻常怀古诗之平弱，沉郁顿挫，最见老杜本色。全诗以大开大阖之笔写深哀，于严整律格之中见纵横之气，起联如高山坠石先声夺人，结联如余音绕梁悠悠不绝。其妙在叙事、写景、抒情、议论四者交融而无迹，对仗精工而气流贯注，不似寻常怀古诗之平弱。章法之妙与情韵之厚交相辉映，足为后世怀古律诗之楷式，亦见老杜驱遣七律、举重若轻之全力，沉郁顿挫之旨尽在其中。首联群山万壑赴荆门以雄阔之景起势，生长明妃尚有村点出人地。颔联一去紫台连朔漠独留青冢向黄昏以去留对照、空间开阖写尽漂泊与孤寂。颈联画图省识春风面环佩空归夜月魂虚实相生，生前不遇与死后魂归皆成空幻。尾联千载琵琶作胡语分明怨恨曲中论收束千古之恨。对仗精严，气象沉雄，以景裹情，宕漾开阔，是杜律怀古之冠。

Allusions

Zhaojun's story is recorded in the Hanshu; the detail of the emperor judging concubines by portraits comes from Ge Hong's 'Miscellaneous Notes of the Western Capital.' According to this story, the painter Mao Yanshou disfigured her because she refused to bribe him. Her tomb, called the 'Green Tomb,' was said to keep its grass green forever. The jade pendants and the soul returning in moonlight are drawn from folk legend. Du Fu fuses history, anecdote, and legend here: the painting that 'lightly recognized' her face is a bitter satire on Emperor Yuan's blindness, while the soul's vain return intensifies the tragedy of exile. These allusions turned Zhaojun into an enduring symbol of unrecognized worth, echoed by Wang Anshi and Ma Zhiyuan in later ages.

昭君出塞事见《汉书·元帝纪》与《匈奴传》：竟宁元年，元帝以宫人王嫱字昭君赐呼韩邪单于。晋人葛洪《西京杂记》增益画图省识之说，谓元帝按图召幸，昭君不肯贿赂画工毛延寿，遂被点破容姿，久不见御；及遣嫁，临辞乃见其真貌，元帝悔之。杜甫画图省识春风面即用此典，讥元帝之昏。青冢谓昭君墓，相传冢上草色常青，故云独留青冢向黄昏。环佩空归夜月魂，化用昭君魂魄归汉之民间传说，言其死犹望乡。琵琶作胡语，本匈奴马上之乐，后人托昭君作怨思之曲。杜甫熔史传、笔记、传说于一炉，借古女之恨写今士之悲，用典不着痕迹而寄意遥深，诚为咏史怀古之范式。除史传笔记外，昭君意象经杜甫提炼，遂成诗词中固定的怀才不遇之符号，后世王安石《明妃曲》、马致远《汉宫秋》皆沿此脉而作。青冢、环佩、琵琶诸象，由史实而传说而诗语，层层积淀为文化符号。读杜诗当于典故网络之中，体认其以古喻今、借女写士之深沉寄托，知咏史非徒征事，乃所以写心也。明妃即王嫱，晋人避司马昭讳改呼明君为明妃。紫台指汉宫，青冢谓昭君墓，相传草色常青。画图省识化用毛延寿行贿丑图之典，刺元帝以画取人。环佩空归本神女湘灵之意象，写魂魄夜归之虚。琵琶作胡语指《昭君怨》乐曲。此类典故皆熟典而经老杜重新熔铸，古今交织，使个人之恨与千载之怨同归于琵琶一曲，用事之妙在融化无痕而寄慨遥深。

Commentary

This poem is at once a lament for Zhaojun and a self-portrait of Du Fu. She leaves the Han palace; Du Fu leaves Chang'an. She is alone on the northern steppe; he is stranded in Kuizhou. The 'spring-breeze face' is known only through a painter’s deception, just as talent in the world is judged by appearances. The soul's return by moonlight is 'in vain'—a homecoming that can never heal the separation. The word 'clearly' insists that her resentment is no obscure mystery: it is every woman and every scholar betrayed by an unseeing authority. The poem's grand scenery only deepens the loneliness of the green tomb, and its end calls across the centuries to all who have been silenced. For this reason, the poem has been called the finest historical poem in the Chinese tradition, and a perfect instance of Du Fu's 'poem-history' (shishi).

此诗表面咏昭君，骨子里却是杜甫自画像。一去紫台连朔漠，写昭君离汉；独留青冢向黄昏，写其终老荒漠。明面悲昭君，暗面悲己身——诗人亦是一去紫台之明妃，漂泊西南，望京华而不得归。画图省识春风面，刺君王不识贤才；环佩空归夜月魂，叹归期之虚。分明怨恨曲中论，分明二字斩钉截铁，将千古之恨和盘托出。前人评此诗云：悲昭君以自悲也。杜甫一生忠爱，却遭贬斥流离，与昭君之见弃何异？结以千载琵琶，时空陡然拉长，个人的沦落遂成历史的叹息。雄阔之景、深婉之情、沉郁之气，尽在此二十八字中，诚为咏史怀古之绝唱，千载之下读之犹堪泪下。诗人以女子之怨写士子之恨，以历史之悲写身世之痛，物我双关而古今叠映；其沉郁不在辞藻雕琢，而在将个体漂泊升华为时代悲音。分明怨恨四字，既是昭君之恨，亦是杜甫之恨，更是千古才士之恨。此即杜诗所以被尊为诗史者也，二十八字抵得一篇长赋，雄阔之景中藏最沉郁之骨。综而论之，此诗以雄阔之景写深婉之恨，以女子之悲剧写士子之沦落，怀古与咏怀浑不可分。其气象之宏、寄托之远，在唐人咏史诗中允推上乘，非徒征事隶典者所能望其项背；起结之间，个人漂泊与时代悲音交融为一，故能千载之下犹动人心，为诗史之最佳注脚，亦见老杜格局之特大，小题目而具大怀抱，非区区咏古者可比，诚一代之悲音。后人或以诗史目杜，此篇正其一端：不直言己悲，而借明妃之恨曲曲传出，故怨而不怒、哀而能厚。荆门山色与青冢黄昏相对无言，而诗人之孤愤自在天地之间；读此诗当知咏古即是咏怀，古迹之苍茫正映其心，此即杜律沉郁顿挫之极则，二十八字抵得一篇长赋，雄阔苍凉兼而有之，诚咏史之绝唱，足为后世之楷式。明妃村至今犹在，青冢长向黄昏，诗人以地之永恒反衬人之飘零；此种以空间写时间、以古迹写心史的笔法，开后世怀古伤今之先声，东坡前后赤壁赋亦承其脉。知人论世，则此诗非独悲昭君，亦悲天下失志之士；其影响所被不独在诗苑，更在文人观照历史、安顿自我之眼光与方法，故能历久而不废。综而论之，此诗以雄阔之景写深婉之恨，以女子之悲剧写士子之沦落，怀古与咏怀浑不可分。其气象之宏、寄托之远，在唐人咏史诗中允推上乘，非徒征事隶典者所能望其项背；起结之间，个人漂泊与时代悲音交融为一，故能千载之下犹动人心，为诗史之最佳注脚，亦见老杜格局之特大，小题目而具大怀抱，非区区咏古者可比，诚一代之悲音。此诗非仅吊昭君，实为少陵自画像。分明怨恨四字是诗魂，怨恨者何，遇主不遇、去国不还、画图误人、青冢向晚皆是。杜甫以明妃之独留荒塞自况流落夔州，以省识春风面刺君王不识贤才。环佩空归写魂魄犹念故国，正是诗人虽漂泊而心系朝廷之喻。结以千载琵琶将个体悲剧上升为永恒之女性与才士共命，沉郁悲凉，寄托之厚直追屈子，为咏史怀古第一等笔墨。

Prosody

Reading note All four couplets are parallel or semi-parallel, with especially striking antithesis in the second and third couplets: 一去/独留, 紫台/青冢, 朔漠/黄昏, 画图/环佩, 春风面/夜月魂. The final couplet turns to prose-like conclusion, yet retains the rhyme. The use of empty words such as 'still' (尚) and 'in vain' (空) adds depth while preserving strict prosodic form.此诗为七言律诗，仄起首句入韵，韵脚门、村、昏、魂、论皆平声元文韵（古音相近相通）。首联群山万壑赴荆门，生长明妃尚有村，对仗工整，赴字炼动；颔联一去紫台连朔漠，独留青冢向黄昏，一去对独留，紫台对朔漠，青冢对黄昏，时空、色彩、虚实两两相对，工稳而大气。颈联画图省识春风面，环佩空归夜月魂，省识对空归，春风面对夜月魂，细节精切。尾联千载琵琶作胡语，分明怨恨曲中论，以散句收束，破中有立。律诗贵中二联对仗，此诗四联皆见经营，而气脉流转不滞，沉郁顿挫，最见杜律功力，足为七言咏史之式。此七律押元韵，门村昏魂论为韵，一韵到底，声调苍凉。四联皆对，首联群山万壑对生长明妃，颔联一去独留工对而气象宏阔，颈联画图环佩虚实相对，尾联千载分明以议论收。平仄谨严，黏对无误。尤妙在去连独留、省识空归等虚字斡旋，使对仗不死。全诗以雄景写哀情，大开大合，声情悲壮，最称怀古七律之典型，诵之令人想见青冢黄昏之寂寞。

Line by line

一去紫台连朔漠，独留青冢向黄昏。

Thousands of peaks and ravines surge toward the Jingmen pass—a powerful opening that visualizes the whole landscape rushing to the site.

Once gone, the Purple Palace connected to the northern desert; alone she left the Green Tomb facing the dusk.

此联以一去对独留，以汉宫紫台对塞外朔漠，以生离对死别，空间由繁华京华推向荒寒大漠，时间由出嫁延展到埋骨。紫台暗指君王所在，朔漠写绝域之苦；青冢向黄昏，以无人凭吊之孤冢对落日苍茫，凄清欲绝。一去了无归期，独留无人作伴，十字写尽昭君一生悲剧，亦暗喻才士去国、老大无成之恨，对仗精切而情韵无穷，是杜律中最为沉痛之句。一去独留以去留对照写尽漂泊孤寂，青冢向黄昏一片苍凉，是为千古失意者共命之象。

This couplet sets once gone against alone left, the Han palace Purple Terrace against the frontier northern desert, living parting against death's farewell; space pushes from the prosperous capital to the desolate great desert, time extends from marriage to burial. Purple Terrace secretly names the sovereign's place; northern desert writes the absolute frontier's hardship. The Green Tomb facing the dusk sets the un-mourned lone mound against the vast setting sun, bleak to the extreme. Once gone with no date of return, alone left with no companion; ten characters exhaust Wang Zhaojun's whole tragedy, and secretly metaphorize the talent going abroad, old age without achievement's grief; the parallel refined, the savor endless - Du Fu regulated verse's most grieving line. Once gone, alone left, using going-staying contrast to exhaust drifting solitude; the Green Tomb facing the dusk, one whole stretch of bleakness - the shared image of all the disappointed through the ages.

画图省识春风面，环佩空归夜月魂。

The village where Lady Ming (Wang Zhaojun) was born still exists, setting the vast scene against a single human dwelling.

Through the painting he barely knew her spring-wind face; her jade pendants - in vain the night-moon soul returns.

颈联由史入幻，省识本指略识，此处讽刺元帝只凭画图草草认人，以致错失绝色；环佩空归写昭君死后魂魄月夜归来，空字见归亦无益、恨终难消。春风面对夜月魂，生前容华与死后幽魄对照，愈显君王糊涂、女子命薄。两句虚实相生，将史事之荒唐与传说之哀婉打成一片，沉痛之中见工整，是杜律沉郁顿挫之典范，亦为全诗由叙事转入抒情之关键。画图误人、魂魄空归，生前不遇与死后虚幻皆成空，沉郁悲凉直追屈子。

The third couplet passes from history to fantasy; barely knew originally means slightly recognized, here satirizes the Yuan emperor recognizing men carelessly from a painting, hence missing the peerless beauty. Her jade pendants - in vain the night-moon soul returns writes Zhaojun's posthumous soul returning in moonlight; in vain shows the return profitless, the hatred unappeased. Spring-wind face against night-moon soul: living beauty against posthumous dim spirit, all the more showing the sovereign's muddle and the woman's thin fate. The two lines void and solid generating each other, fusing the history's absurdity with the legend's pathos; within the grief, refinement - the model of Du Fu's somber, rhythmic regulated verse, also the poem's key turn from narrative to lyric. The painting misleads, the soul returns in vain: living unrecognized and posthumous illusion both become void; the somber grief reaches straight back to Qu Yuan.

Study

Word focus

省识 'lightly recognize'—to know someone only vaguely, here implying the emperor's careless reliance on portraits rather than actual meeting, a sharp criticism. 省识犹言略识、粗识。元帝按图召幸，并不亲见，故曰省识。杜甫以此二字轻轻一点，便揭出君王怠政、信画工而弃真人这一荒唐根由。春风面三字陪衬，愈显省识之草率可笑。一字之贬，重于斧钺：不是昭君不美，而是君王不曾真识。此词既关合昭君悲剧之成因，又暗刺历代帝王不辨贤愚，小词中有大文章，最见老杜炼字之警策与寄托之遥深。省识本指略识，此处刺元帝以画图取人而真面难辨，暗喻君王不识贤才之悲。

分明 'clearly'—used at the poem's climax to make the hidden resentment explicit, uniting Zhaojun's and Du Fu's grievance. 分明犹言清清楚楚、明明白白。尾联千载琵琶作胡语，分明怨恨曲中论，以分明收束全篇，将千载幽恨一笔挑明。此前写景叙事皆含蓄，至此忽作断定语，如异峰突起，力重千钧。怨恨二字乃诗眼，既指昭君之恨，亦指诗人之恨、千古才士之恨。分明二字使含蓄转为直露而不失沉厚，恰如戏剧之高潮，令读者悚然动容，知咏古实以自伤，章法至是乃合。分明二字是诗魂，将千古红颜与才士之怨恨写得透彻，寄慨遥深。