All poems

唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

与浩初上人同看山寄京华亲故

Viewing the Mountains with Monk Haochu, Sent to Kin and Friends in the Capital

柳宗元

Liu Zongyuan

思乡homesickness 贬谪exile

海畔尖山似剑铓，秋来处处割愁肠。
若为化得身千亿，散上峰头望故乡。

By the sea the sharp peaks stand like sword-edges;
In autumn, everywhere they cut my sorrowful heart.
If I could be changed into a thousand, ten thousand selves,
I would scatter on the peaks to gaze at my home.

Listen

Meaning

The sharp peaks by the sea stand like sword edges; in autumn, everywhere they cut my sorrowful heart. If I could be transformed into a thousand, ten thousand bodies, I would scatter onto every peak-top to gaze at my home.

海边的尖山像剑锋般峭立，秋来处处割断我的愁肠。若能化作千万个身躯，便散立每座峰头眺望故乡。

Appreciation

A seven-character quatrain of strange and steep imagination, it opens by likening the coastal peaks to sword-edges that "cut" the homesick heart—a bold metaphor blending sight and pain. Then, instead of plain longing, the poet conjures a wild fancy: were he split into a thousand, ten thousand selves, each would stand on a peak gazing homeward. The exaggerated, mythic wish presses the ache of exile to its limit. Sad in feeling yet strong in brush, it shows Liu Zongyuan's "odd without" manner, unlike the usual plaint of banishment.

【白话串讲】柳宗元被贬柳州，和和尚浩初看山：“海畔尖山似剑铓，秋来处处割愁肠”——海边的山像剑尖，割着他的愁肠。“若为化得身千亿，散上峰头望故乡”——他真想化身千亿，站满每个山头望故乡。【意象与手法】起句“海畔尖山似剑铓”以剑锋喻山，奇峭警拔；“秋来处处割愁肠”将无形乡愁化为可“割”之痛，比喻兼通感【情感与主旨】柳宗元参与永贞革新失败，贬永州十年，后徙柳州（今广西）刺史。此诗作于柳州任上【名句点睛】常考比喻与奇想。必考“海畔尖山似剑铓，秋来处处割愁肠”的比喻及“割”字妙处；亦考“化身千亿”的夸张效果

Background

Liu Zongyuan joined the Yongzhen Reform and failed; banished to Yongzhou for ten years, then moved to be prefect of Liuzhou (today's Guangxi). This poem was written during his Liuzhou post. With the monk Haochu he toured and, seeing the sharp peaks by the sea, was moved to homesickness, sending it to kin and friends in the capital. Liuzhou is ten thousand li from the capital; the poem is typical of his grief at banishment to the far wilds with no hope of return.

《与浩初上人同看山寄京华亲故》为唐代柳宗元所作，是写望山思乡的七绝。柳宗元（773—819），字子厚，河东人，唐代文学家。此诗：海畔尖山似剑铓，秋来处处割愁肠。若为化得身千亿，散上峰头望故乡。全诗写谪居海畔望山思乡，是柳宗元诗的名篇。

Art

The opening line "By the sea the sharp peaks stand like sword-edges" compares the mountains to sword-edges, strange and arresting; "In autumn, everywhere they cut my sorrowful heart" makes the formless homesick sorrow a pain "cut" by a blade—metaphor joined with synesthesia. The last two lines suddenly conceive "if I could be changed into a thousand, ten thousand selves, scatter on the peaks to gaze at home," writing the obsession of looking home in a mythical, exaggerated imagination, the feeling sad yet the brush strong, deeply in the "strange and odd" line of Han and Liu.

《与浩初上人同看山寄京华亲故》艺术上以比喻的奇警与思乡的深沉见长。全诗四句，层层写来：前二句写尖山如剑——“海畔尖山似剑铓，秋来处处割愁肠”写尖山似剑、割愁肠；后二句写化身望乡——“若为化得身千亿，散上峰头望故乡”写化千亿身、散峰头望故乡。全诗以剑铓之喻写思乡之痛，正是柳宗元诗奇警深沉的笔法。

Allusions

The poem's "changed into a thousand, ten thousand selves" quietly uses the Buddhist idea of "manifestation of the body" and the "Lotus Sutra" doctrine of divided bodies; it also resembles Zhuangzi's "the myriad things and I are one." The thought arises because Monk Haochu (a Buddhist) is at his side. "Sword-edges" is a real description of the peak's shape, not an allusion yet apt as metaphor. The whole uses the Buddhist image to help the homesick fancy—both jesting and grave, grief and joy mingled.

《与浩初上人同看山寄京华亲故》用典少而比喻奇警。“浩初上人”写僧人之名（上人为僧之尊称）；“身千亿”用佛教化身之说，写化千亿身；“故乡”写京华故里。全诗以这些意象写思乡之痛，不用深典而奇警自见，正是柳宗元诗的笔法。

Commentary

The Song Fan Xiwen, in "Night Talk by the Bed," said "Liu Zongyuan's line 'cut my sorrowful heart' is wonderfully strange." Later readers set this poem beside Li Bai's "three thousand strands of white hair," both masters of exaggeration. Moderns say Liu's poems are "dry without, rich within"; this one writes deep sorrow in steep, bright lines, most showing the banished scholar's breast.

《与浩初上人同看山寄京华亲故》是柳宗元诗的名篇，也是唐代谪居诗中写思乡的代表作。此诗写谪居海畔望山思乡，向为论者称道。论者多赏其比喻的奇警——“海畔尖山似剑铓，秋来处处割愁肠”写尖山似剑、割人愁肠，奇警之极；“若为化得身千亿，散上峰头望故乡”写化身千亿、散上峰头望乡，更见思乡之切。柳宗元谪居柳州，其诗以峭拔深沉著称，此诗正是其代表——以奇喻写思乡，正是其诗风。

Prosody

Form Seven-character quatrain七言绝句

Rhyme Ping-shui rhyme, lower-level seven yang group (edges, heart, home)《与浩初上人同看山寄京华亲故》为七言绝句，四句，押平声韵。此诗用韵：铓、肠、乡（阳部），一韵到底，音节峭拔。

Tone pattern Level-onset, first line enters rhyme七言绝句以音节峭拔、情致深沉见长。此诗写望山思乡，音节峭拔而深沉。全诗以七言贯底，声调与思乡之痛的内容相合，是柳宗元诗中峭拔深沉的一路。

Reading note Liu Zongyuan's quatrain, steep and strange, unlike the usual banishment plaint.《与浩初上人同看山寄京华亲故》为唐代柳宗元所作，是写望山思乡的七绝。此诗以“海畔尖山似剑铓，秋来处处割愁肠”写尖山如剑、割愁肠，以“若为化得身千亿，散上峰头望故乡”写化身千亿、散峰头望乡。以奇喻写思乡之痛，正是柳宗元诗的名篇。

Line by line

海畔尖山似剑铓，秋来处处割愁肠。

By the sea, the peaked mountains are like sword points; when autumn comes, everywhere they cut my grieving bowels.

海畔的尖山如剑锋一般，秋来处处割人愁肠。

By the sea, the sharp peaks are like sword blades; when autumn comes, they cut the sorrowful heart everywhere.

前二句写尖山如剑，是全诗思乡之痛的起点。“海畔尖山似剑铓”写尖山似剑——“海畔尖山”写海边的尖山，“似剑铓”写如剑锋一般——海畔尖山似剑铓；“秋来处处割愁肠”写割愁肠——“秋来处处”写秋来处处，“割愁肠”写割人愁肠——秋来处处割愁肠。二句写尖山如剑：海畔尖山似剑铓，秋来处处割愁肠。以“海畔尖山似剑铓”写尖山如剑之奇喻，以“秋来处处割愁肠”写尖山割愁肠之痛，正是柳宗元诗写思乡之痛的起点——见尖山而愁肠如割。

The first two lines write the peaked mountains like swords, the starting point for the homesickness's pain. By the sea, the peaked mountains are like sword points writes the mountains like blades - by the sea's sharp peaks; like sword points, the mountain peaks as sword edges. When autumn comes, everywhere they cut my grieving bowels writes the cutting of the sorrow - when autumn comes; cutting the sad bowels. The two lines write the peaks like swords: by the sea the peaks are like sword points; when autumn comes they cut the grieving bowels everywhere. Using the peaks' sword-point metaphor and the cutting bowels' pain - precisely Liu Zongyuan's starting point for homesickness: seeing the sharp peaks, the bowels feel as if cut.

若为化得身千亿，散上峰头望故乡。

If I could be changed into a thousand, ten thousand selves, I would scatter on the peaks to gaze at my home.

如何能化得身千亿，散上峰头去望故乡。

If I could turn myself into a thousand billion bodies, I would scatter them on every peak to gaze toward home.

末二句写化身望乡，是全诗思乡之切的归结。“若为化得身千亿”写化身千亿——“若为化得”写如何能化得，“身千亿”用佛教化身之说写身化千亿——若为化得身千亿；“散上峰头望故乡”写散峰头望乡——“散上峰头”写散上峰头，“望故乡”写望故乡——散上峰头望故乡。二句写化身望乡：若为化得身千亿，散上峰头望故乡。以“若为化得身千亿”写欲化身千亿之奇想，以“散上峰头望故乡”写千亿之身散上峰头、同望故乡，正是柳宗元诗写思乡之切的归结——一峰不能尽望，故欲化身千亿，其思乡之切可知。

The last two lines write transforming the body to gaze home, the resolution of the homesickness's depth. If I could turn myself into a thousand billion bodies writes the transforming into myriads - how could I transform; a thousand billion bodies uses Buddhist transformation-body doctrine. I would scatter them on every peak to gaze toward home writes scattering on the peaks - scatter on the peaks; gaze toward home. The two lines write the transformation and the home-gazing: if I could become a thousand billion selves, scattering them on the peaks to gaze home. Using the fancy of a thousand billion bodies and the myriads gazing home from the peaks - precisely Liu Zongyuan's resolution: one peak cannot suffice for gazing, hence he would become a thousand billion; the depth of homesickness is plain.

Study

Word focus

剑铓 Using sword-edges for the sharp peaks, it writes both the peak's steepness and, by hint, the sharpness of the sorrow. “海畔尖山似剑铓”之“剑铓”，写剑锋，是全诗写尖山之奇的比喻词。“剑铓”写剑的锋芒——海畔的尖山如剑锋一般。这一词以“剑铓”写尖山：不是寻常之山，而似剑铓；不是平缓之峰，而尖锐如剑。以“海畔尖山似剑铓”写尖山之奇喻，正是柳宗元诗以奇喻写景的笔法。

割愁肠 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “秋来处处割愁肠”之“割愁肠”，写割人愁肠，是全诗写思乡之痛的比喻词。“割”写割断，“愁肠”写愁苦之肠——秋来处处割人愁肠。这一词写尖山之痛：不是寻常之愁，而割愁肠；不是可忍之痛，而如剑之割。以“秋来处处割愁肠”写尖山如剑、处处割愁，正是柳宗元诗写思乡之痛的笔法。

身千亿 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “若为化得身千亿”之“身千亿”，用佛教化身之说，写化千亿身，是全诗写思乡之切的奇想词。“身千亿”写千亿之化身——如何能化得身千亿。这一词以“身千亿”写化身之想：不是一身之望，而身千亿；不是可足之望，而千亿之身。以“若为化得身千亿”写欲化身千亿之奇想，正是柳宗元诗写思乡之切的奇笔。

望故乡 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “散上峰头望故乡”之“望故乡”，写望故乡，是全诗思乡之情的归结词。“望”写遥望，“故乡”写京华故里——散上峰头望故乡。这一词写思乡之愿：不是偶望之念，而望故乡；不是可解之思，而千亿身同望。以“散上峰头望故乡”写千亿化身散上峰头同望故乡，正是柳宗元诗写思乡之切的归结。