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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

赠别

A Parting Gift (Zengbie)

杜牧

Du Mu

唐诗Tang Poetry 赠别Parting Gift 艳情Romantic 七言绝句Seven-Character Quatrain 杜牧Du Mu

娉娉褭褭十三余，豆蔻梢头二月初。
春风十里扬州路，卷上珠帘总不如。

Slender and graceful, just past thirteen,
Like the cardamom at the tip of the spray in early February.
On the spring wind, ten li of the Yangzhou road,
Rolled up the pearl curtains—none could match her.

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Meaning

A parting gift by Du Mu, written during his years in the Yangzhou secretariat, to a young singing girl of thirteen in a Yangzhou pavilion. 'Slender and graceful, just past thirteen' writes her form in the void, with the reduplicated words, without a single stroke of the concrete; 'like the cardamom at the tip of the spray in early February' is the most famous line, the budding cardamom of early February, unopened, for the youth and the tenderness of the thirteen-year-old girl; 'on the spring wind, ten li of the Yangzhou road, rolled up the pearl curtains, none could match her' writes her beauty against the whole Yangzhou of the spring wind—among all the beauties behind the rolled pearl curtains, none could match her. The poem, in its surface, is a light gift of the singing girl, yet beneath the light and the graceful there hides the sense of the drifting life.

她就像二月初豆蔻花枝梢头含苞待放的那般娇嫩模样。春风吹拂着绵延十里的扬州城内繁华街道。哪怕卷起珠帘露出无数丽人，也总都不如她美好。身姿轻盈柔美，年纪才十三岁出头。

Appreciation

The wonder of the poem is first the 'writing the spirit through the form' and 'the thing for the man,' advancing layer on layer. The first line, 'slender and graceful, just past thirteen,' uses the two groups of reduplicated words to write the lightness of her form and the grace of her bearing, no stroke of the concrete and all the spirit in the void, inheriting the 'deep and quiet' of the Book of Songs and more ornate. The second line, 'like the cardamom at the tip of the spray in early February,' the plant for the young girl, is the most famous line of the poem. The cardamom, sending out its bud in early February, unopened, is exactly the youth and the tenderness of the thirteen-year-old girl; the 'tip of the spray' points out the just-opened posture, and the 'early February' fixes the season, the comparison at once exact in the season and vivid in the image. This method of 'the object and the man one, the object for the man' is more subtle than the general comparison. The third and fourth lines turn from the woman to the scene: the ten li of the Yangzhou road on the spring wind, the beauties behind the pearl curtains, 'none could match her'—the whole city of Yangzhou as the background, the beauty of the girl written to the utmost.

【白话串讲】杜牧写赠别：“娉娉褭褭十三余，豆蔻梢头二月初”——他写一个十三岁的歌女。“春风十里扬州路，卷上珠帘总不如”——扬州十里春风，都不如她。杜牧最动人的赠别。【意象与手法】以「豆蔻」喻少女成千古名喻，「春风十里」铺陈众美反衬一人之独绝，「总不如」斩钉截铁。【情感与主旨】表面写对扬州歌妓的倾倒，轻婉中暗含身世飘零，与《遣怀》互看是风流而不溺于风流的胸襟。【名句点睛】「豆蔻梢头二月初」最警——把植物物性与少女生命阶段神合，自此「豆蔻年华」凝固为汉语定格。

Background

Du Mu (803–852), courtesy name Muzhi, a native of Wannian, Jingzhao, in his old age living in the Fanchuan villa, known as Du Fanchuan. He passed the jinshi in the second year of Dahe, then the examination of the worthy and upright, and was appointed Collator of the Hongwen Library; later he entered the secretariat of Shen Chuanshi in Jiangxi and Xuanshe, and followed Niu Sengru as the staff officer and secretary of the Huainan circuit, living in Yangzhou for several years. This poem was written in the Yangzhou secretariat, about the seventh to the ninth years of Dahe. The title 'a parting gift' gives it to a young singing girl of thirteen in a Yangzhou pavilion. In the Tang, Yangzhou was the seat of the Huainan circuit and the Salt and Iron Commissioner, merchants thronging and the stages and pavilions of song at their height, and the literati of the secretariats lingering in the pleasures of the sound and the color was the fashion of the time. Du Mu, a young genius of fine presence, on the one hand drinking and singing and going in and out of the gay quarters, on the other cherishing the ambition of serving the world. This poem, in its surface writing the parting gift of the singing girl, in truth hides beneath the light and the graceful the sense of the drifting life.

杜牧，字牧之，京兆万年人，晚年居樊川别墅，世称杜樊川。大和二年登进士第，复举贤良方正，授弘文馆校书郎，后入沈传师江西、宣歙观察使幕，又随牛僧孺为淮南节度推官、掌书记，在扬州生活数年。此诗即作于扬州幕中，约当大和七年至九年之间。诗题「赠别」，所赠乃扬州倡楼中一名年方十三的歌妓。唐代扬州为淮南节度使治所，盐铁转运使驻节之地，商贾辐辏，歌台舞榭极盛，文人幕客流连声色乃当时风气。杜牧少年俊才，风神秀朗，一方面酣饮狂歌、出入青楼，另一方面胸怀用世之志，每以王佐自许。此诗表面写赠别歌妓，实则于轻婉之中暗含身世飘零之感。其《遣怀》诗「落魄江湖载酒行，楚腰纤细掌中轻。十年一觉扬州梦，赢得青楼薄幸名」，正可与此参看。前人注杜牧诗，如冯集梧《樊川诗集注》、清人《唐诗三百首》评点，多以此诗为艳情之作，然亦指出其以美人香草寄托遥深。此诗历来被选家看重，正因它于浅语中见深情，于风流中见风骨，是杜牧七言绝句中别开生面的一副笔墨。

Art

The art is the 'writing the spirit through the form' and 'the thing for the man,' advancing layer on layer: the reduplicated words of the first line write the form in the void; the cardamom of the second line, the plant for the girl, is the most famous comparison, exact in the season and vivid in the image; the third and fourth lines turn from the woman to the scene, the ten li of Yangzhou and the pearl curtains for the background, 'none could match her' the beauty written to the utmost. The whole poem, from the woman to the scene, the spirit through the form and the thing for the man, the beauty of the thirteen-year-old girl written in the light and the graceful.

此诗艺术妙处，首在「以形写神」与「以物喻人」的层层递进。首句「娉娉褭褭十三余」，连用「娉娉」「褭褭」两组叠字，状其体态轻盈、风姿绰约，不着一实写而全以虚笔传神，深得《诗经》「窈窕」遗意而更趋绮丽。次句「豆蔻梢头二月初」，以植物喻少女，是此诗最著名之句。豆蔻于农历二月初抽蕊，含苞未放，正似十三岁少女之青春娇嫩；以「梢头」点出初绽之姿，又以「二月初」坐实节候，使比喻兼具时令之精确与意象之鲜活。这种「即物即人、物人合一」的手法，较之一般比喻更为浑成。后二句忽作开阔之笔，「春风十里扬州路」以扬州全域之繁华作衬，「卷上珠帘总不如」以无数佳丽作比，反跌出此女之不可方物。章法上先点年龄，次状风神，再以众美烘托，由点到面，由实入虚，尺幅中有千里之势。语言则清空如话，不用典、不使事，纯以白描取胜，而情韵悠长。清沈德潜《唐诗别裁集》论杜牧绝句「远韵远神」，此诗正其代表。其与李白「云想衣裳花想容」之浓丽、王昌龄「一片冰心在玉壶」之蕴藉，同中有异，各具唐音之三昧。

Allusions

The allusions of the poem are most sparing, yet the comparison of the cardamom has a deep cultural source worth tracing. The name of the cardamom first appears in the materia medica; the Jin Xi Han's Records of the Plants of the South writes: 'the cardamom flower, its shoot like the reed, its leaf like the ginger, its flower making a spike, born with the young leaf rolled about it, the flower faintly red, the tip of the spike deep in color, the leaf gradually unfolding and the flower gradually emerging.' Because its flower, not yet fully open, is like a young girl's shyness, later ages compared the young woman to it. Du Mu was not the first to compare the young girl to the cardamom in Tang poetry, yet to bring it into the quatrain and make of it an eternal famous comparison truly begins with him.

此诗用典极省，然「豆蔻」一喻实有深厚之文化源流，值得溯考。豆蔻之名，初见本草。晋嵇含《南方草木状》载：「豆蔻花，其苗如芦，其叶如姜，其花作穗，嫩叶卷之而生，花微红，穗头深色，叶渐舒，花渐出。」因其花未大开时形如少女含羞，故后世以之比拟妙龄女子。唐人诗中以豆蔻喻少女，杜牧并非首创，然以此入绝句且成千古名喻，实自牧之始。此前如王维、李白诗多以「芙蓉」「桃李」喻佳人，至杜牧别辟「豆蔻」一境，遂成定格。其后诗词沿用以「豆蔻年华」专指十三四岁女子，已成汉语固定语汇，如宋人词中「豆蔻梢头春色浅」之类，皆从此诗脱化。「娉娉褭褭」四字，语源亦古，《楚辞·九歌》写神女之态，汉乐府《陌上桑》写罗敷「袅袅」皆其远祖；「娉」形容容止闲雅，本出《说文》系联之训。又「春风十里」暗用杜牧自撰《赠别》另一首之句法，亦与其《遣怀》「扬州梦」意象一脉相承。综上，「豆蔻」之喻由本草之名转为文学之典，经此诗而定型，堪称典故生长之典型例证，足见诗歌点化之功。

Commentary

Du Mu's seven-character quatrains hold an eminent place in literary history, and this 'Parting Gift' is the most widely circulated of his romantic quatrains, valued by the anthologists and the critics of every age. The Qing Hengtang Tuishi included it in the Three Hundred Tang Poems, keeping it in circulation among the people; his standard of selection valued the 'bone and spirit' while also taking the 'native sensibility,' and the poem's inclusion is because it writes the romantic with the clear words without falling into the frivolous. The Qing Shen Deqian, in his Separate Selections of Tang Poetry, says of Du Mu's quatrains that 'Mu Zhi's quatrains have a far flavor and a far spirit,' and this poem, in the light and the graceful with the hidden sense of the drifting life, is exactly an example.

杜牧七绝在文学史上地位崇高，此首《赠别》为其艳情绝句中传世最广者，历来选家与论者皆予重视。清蘅塘退士《唐诗三百首》录此诗，使之一直流传人口，其选诗标准重「风骨」而兼取「性灵」，此诗入选正因其以清词写艳情而不堕纤佻。清沈德潜《唐诗别裁集》论杜牧诗，以为「牧之绝句，远韵远神」，虽未专评此章，而其整体判断可移用于此。近代学者刘大杰《中国文学发展史》论晚唐诗歌，指出杜牧善以「俊爽」之笔写儿女之情，此诗「豆蔻梢头」之喻即其俊爽本色。今人周汝昌主编《唐诗鉴赏辞典》释此诗，尤重「春风十里扬州路，卷上珠帘总不如」之反衬手法，以为「以千百花容月貌烘托一人，而一人之胜已在言外」。又，此诗与同题「多情却似总无情」一首，一写形、一写情，向被并读。钱钟书《谈艺录》论唐人七绝，曾及杜牧「二十八字史论」与艳体之两面，可为此诗定位之参照。综之，诸家共识在：此诗以浅近语、鲜活喻、开阔境写儿女私情，于晚唐绮靡风气中别开清境，故能历久弥新。

Prosody

Form Seven-character quatrain七言绝句

Rhyme Rhymes on the yu rhyme of the level tone: yu, chu, ru平水韵上平六鱼部（余、初、如）

Tone pattern Beginning on a level tone with the first line in rhyme, the second and fourth lines rhyming on the level tone, the tones fitting 'the first, third, and fifth free, the second, fourth, and sixth clear'平起首句入韵式，二四句押平声韵，平仄合「一三五不论、二四六分明」

Reading note The clear and bright yu rhyme and the even, graceful tone of the seven-character quatrain carry the light and graceful parting gift.此诗为七言绝句，四句二十八字，格律属「平起首句入韵」体。首句「娉娉褭褭十三余」，平仄为「平平仄仄仄平平」，起手即就韵；次句「豆蔻梢头二月初」为「仄仄平平仄仄平」，「头」「初」双平收，与首句共押上平六鱼部之「余」「初」。三句「春风十里扬州路」为「平平仄仄平平仄」，以仄收不入韵，是绝句承转之常；末句「卷上珠帘总不如」为「仄仄平平仄仄平」，回押「如」字，与首句遥相呼应，完成韵脚之闭环。四句用韵为「余、初、如」，同属鱼韵，一韵到底，声调清柔婉转，正与儿女情长之内容相得益彰。平仄上严守近体诗「二四六分明」之律，首句「三」为仄、五字「十」为仄，皆合「一三五不论」之宽；次句「二」「头」平、「初」平，音节匀整。整体看，此诗虽为艳情之作，而声律清健、用韵疏朗，无靡曼之病，是晚唐七绝中声情相称的范例，亦见杜牧于形式法度之熟稔。

Line by line

豆蔻梢头二月初

Like the cardamom at the tip of the spray in early February. (The most famous line: the cardamom, sending out its bud in early February, unopened, for the youth and the tenderness of the thirteen-year-old girl, exact in the season and vivid in the image.)

她就像二月初豆蔻花枝梢头含苞待放的那般娇嫩模样。

Like cardamom buds on the bough, early February.

此句为全诗最醒豁之比喻，亦是中国诗史上以植物喻少女的巅峰之笔。豆蔻生于南方，农历二月抽蕊，花苞未绽之时形如处女含羞，「梢头」二字强调其初萌初绽、未经风雨的姿态，「二月初」则坐实时令，使比喻兼具植物学之真实与季节感之温润。尤为精妙者，在于「十三余」与「二月初」的数字呼应：少女之年与春初之月，皆处于「将满未满」的临界，暗合中国人「将熟最美」的审美。这一喻象并非单纯的形似，而是神合——豆蔻之清、之嫩、之含蕴，恰似歌妓未谙世事却又风情初显的生命状态。自此句出，文学作品中「豆蔻」与「少女」几乎成为等价符号，其点化之功，足与陶渊明以「菊」写隐逸、周敦颐以「莲」写君子相提并论。

This line is the whole poem's clearest metaphor, also Chinese poetry history's peak brush of using plants to metaphorize young girls. Cardamom grows in the south, sprouting in the lunar second month; when the bud not yet opened, its shape is like a virgin shy. On the bough two characters emphasize its first-sprout first-open, unweathered posture; early February grounds the season, making the metaphor hold both botanical truth and season warmth. Especially subtle is the numerical echo of barely past thirteen and early February: the girl's age and early spring month are both at the not-yet-full critical point, secretly matching the Chinese nearly-ripe-is-fairest aesthetic. This metaphor is not mere formal likeness, but spiritual fusion - the cardamom's clearness, tenderness, and held-fullness are precisely the singing girl's life state of not-yet-knowing-the-world yet charm first-shown. Since this line, in literary works cardamom and young girl almost become equivalent symbols; its transforming power can rank with Tao Yuanming's using the chrysanthemum for seclusion, Zhou Dunyi's using the lotus for the gentleman.

春风十里扬州路

On the spring wind, ten li of the Yangzhou road, (The turn to the scene: the ten li of the Yangzhou road on the spring wind, the whole city as the background of the girl's beauty.)

春风吹拂着绵延十里的扬州城内繁华街道。

Ten li of Yangzhou road in the spring breeze,

此句于前二句之特写后忽然宕开，将镜头由一人之姿拉升至整座扬州城的春色繁华。扬州在唐代为第一等的繁华都会，春风十里极言其歌楼舞榭、珠帘绣户之密集。「春风」既写节候，亦暗指冶游之风、温柔之乡，与首句「十三余」之青春气息一脉相通。这一笔的功用，在于为下一句的反跌蓄势——先以全城佳丽之众作极盛之衬，方显得「卷上珠帘总不如」的断语格外有力。从修辞看，这是典型的「以多衬少、以众烘托一」，属于中国古典诗歌「反面敷粉」的手法。杜牧仅用七字便勾勒出一座城市的肌理与体温，其概括力之强，正见晚唐七绝「尺幅千里」的特质，也为后世「春风十里」成为描写扬州或繁华胜地的固定意象埋下伏笔。

This line, after the previous two lines' close-up, suddenly opens out, lifting the lens from one person's posture to the whole Yangzhou city's spring prosperity. Yangzhou in Tang was the first-rank prosperous metropolis; ten li of spring wind exaggerates its song-towers dance-pavilions, pearl-screens embroidered-doors density. Spring breeze at once writes the season, and secretly means the pleasure-seeking wind, the land of tenderness; one vein with the opening's barely past thirteen youth air. This brush's function lies in storing force for the next line's reversal - first using the whole city beauties' multitude as extreme-prosperity foil, only then making the rolled pearl screens fall-short verdict extra forceful. From rhetoric, this is typical using-many-to-set-off-few, using-the-multitude-to-favor-one, belonging to Chinese classical poetry's reverse-powdering method. Du Mu in only seven characters outlines a city's texture and body-warmth; its summarizing power precisely showing late-Tang seven-character quatrain's foot-wide-thousand-li-zhang trait, also preparing the later spring-wind-ten-li's becoming the fixed image for describing Yangzhou or prosperous resorts.

卷上珠帘总不如

Rolled up the pearl curtains—none could match her. (The close: among all the beauties behind the rolled pearl curtains, none could match her, the beauty of the girl written to the utmost against the whole Yangzhou.)

哪怕卷起珠帘露出无数丽人，也总都不如她美好。

all the beauties behind rolled pearl screens fall short of her.

此句为全篇之结穴与诗眼，以斩钉截铁的口气收束,将前面铺垫的千万佳丽一笔压倒。「卷上珠帘」是唐人写歌楼的常见动作，珠帘之后的女子们本是扬州春色的一部分，然而在诗人心中，她们「总不如」眼前这位十三余的少女。一个「总」字极有分量，它不是「多不如」，而是「全部不如」，把比较推向绝对。这种绝对化恰恰出自情人眼中之主观，反显情之专一与深挚。从章法言，此句与「春风十里扬州路」构成「铺陈—否定」的结构，繁华越是铺张，被赠者之独绝越是凸显。清人论诗所谓「以乐景写哀、以众美写独」，此正其变体。全诗至此戛然而止，不赘一语伤情，而眷恋之意已溢于言外，正是杜牧「不着一字，尽得风流」手笔的印证。

This line is the whole piece's knot and eye, closing in decisive tone, pressing the previously laid-out ten-thousand beauties down in one stroke. Rolling up the pearl screens is the Tang song-tower common action; the women behind the pearl screens are originally part of Yangzhou's spring color, yet in the poet's heart they all fall short of this barely-past-thirteen girl before him. One always most weighty: it is not many fall short, but all fall short, pushing the comparison to the absolute. This absoluteness precisely comes from the lover's-eye subjectivity, instead showing love's singleness and depth. From craft, this line and ten li of Yangzhou road in the spring breeze form the elaboration-negation structure: the more the prosperity is elaborated, the more the gifted one's uniqueness is highlighted. Qing poetry theory's writing-grief-through-joy-scenery, writing-the-uniquethrough-the-many-beauties, this is precisely its variant. The whole poem here stops abruptly, not adding one word of grief, yet the clinging feeling already overflows the words; precisely the proof of Du Mu's not-writing-one-word-yet-getting-all-the-charm brush.

娉娉褭褭十三余

Slender and graceful, just past thirteen, (The first line: the two groups of reduplicated words write the lightness of her form and the grace of her bearing, no stroke of the concrete and all the spirit in the void.)

身姿轻盈柔美，年纪才十三岁出头。

Graceful and slender, barely past thirteen.

开篇即点明所赠歌妓的年龄与体态，是全诗立象之根。「娉娉」状其容止闲雅、举止安详，「褭褭」状其腰肢柔软、步履轻盈，两个叠字皆从《楚辞》、汉乐府写美人之传统中化出，却因其置于句首而先声夺人，未写容色先写风神。紧接「十三余」三字，以极精确的数字交代年岁——「余」字尤妙，既言已过十三，又暗示未及十四，正处在少女向少妇过渡的含蕊之时，与次句「豆蔻梢头」遥相呼应。此句之炼，在于以虚写实：诗人不画眉眼唇齿，只以两组叠字与一个数词，便令一个活脱脱的妙龄歌妓立于纸上。这种「不写之写」，正是中国诗学「传神」理想的具体实践，亦可见杜牧虽写艳情而笔力清健，不为俚俗所困。

The opening at once names the gifted singing girl's age and bearing, the root of the whole poem's image-establishment. Graceful writes her leisurely bearing, composed manner; slender writes her waist's softness, step's lightness; the two reduplications both transformed from Songs of Chu, Han yuefu's beauty-writing tradition, yet because placed at the sentence's start they win the ear first, writing spirit before writing face. Immediately following barely past thirteen three characters, with most precise number stating age - past is especially subtle: at once saying already past thirteen, and implying not yet fourteen, precisely at the bud stage of girl-to-woman transition, echoing the next line's cardamom bough from afar. This line's refining lies in using the void to write the solid: the poet does not paint eyes, brows, lips, teeth, only using two reduplication groups and one numeral, yet makes a living young singing girl stand on the paper. This not-writing-writing is precisely Chinese poetics's spirit-transmission ideal's concrete practice; also showing Du Mu though writing erotic feeling, brush-force clear and strong, not trapped by vulgarity.

Study

Word focus

豆蔻 Cardamom. The most famous comparison of the poem: the cardamom, sending out its bud in early February, unopened, for the youth and the tenderness of the thirteen-year-old girl—since this poem, 'the cardamom years' has become the word for the girl's early youth. 「豆蔻」二字是全诗的诗眼与千古典故的源头。从字面上看，它本是一种姜科植物的名称，见载于嵇含《南方草木状》等本草著作；但经杜牧此句点化，它完成了从「物名」到「喻象」再到「文化符号」的三级跳。诗人择取豆蔻「二月抽蕊、含苞未放」的物性，去贴合十三岁少女「将熟未熟」的生命阶段，其贴切之处不止于外形，更在于那种清、嫩、含蓄、微怯的神韵。炼字之妙，在「梢头」二字与「豆蔻」的搭配：梢头意味着最高最尖、最先迎春之处，暗喻此女在众多少女中最为拔尖、最为鲜活。自此诗后，「豆蔻年华」凝固为汉语中专指十三四岁女子的成语，其生命力的长久，正说明这一个词的选用达到了「一词立而一典成」的艺术高度，是诗歌炼字点化现实的典范。

总不如 None could match her. The word of the close: among all the beauties behind the rolled pearl curtains, none could match her—the whole Yangzhou as the background, the beauty of the girl written to the utmost. 「总不如」三字为篇末断语，看似平易，实则炼意极深。「总」是全、皆之义，在这里承担了将前面「春风十里扬州路」所铺陈的无数佳丽一笔抹倒的功能，其分量之重，在于把比较推向不可动摇的绝对。「不如」本是寻常比较词，但置于「卷上珠帘」这一特定情境之后，便不再是客观品评，而是情人主观偏爱的直白宣告。炼字之要，在于诗人明知扬州处处佳人，却偏用「总」字说得毫无商量余地，这种「无理而妙」正合中国诗学所谓「诗有别趣，非关理也」。一个「总」字，把风流才子的任性与深情浑融为一，既见其狂，亦见其痴。若易「总」为「尽」或「皆」，意味便减；唯「总」字口语而坚决，最得七绝天然之趣，足见杜牧驱遣寻常语以成至境的腕力。

娉娉褭褭 Slender and graceful. The two groups of reduplicated words of the first line: the lightness of her form and the grace of her bearing, no stroke of the concrete and all the spirit in the void. 「娉娉褭褭」为两组叠字连用，是全诗起手最见功力处。叠字在中国诗歌中源远流长，《诗经》「关关」「窈窈」已开其端，至汉乐府、六朝乐府而大盛；杜牧此处以「娉娉」写容止之雅、「褭褭」写身姿之柔，二者叠加，产生视听通感般的韵律效果。炼字之妙，首先在声调：平平仄仄，读来先有摇曳之致，与所写对象的轻盈体态同构。其次在留白：诗人完全不写眉眼衣饰，只以两组形容姿态的叠字笼罩全人，正所谓「传神写照，正在阿堵之外」。再次在渊源：「褭」字本指袅袅炊烟、细长柔曲之物，移以写人，便自带一种飘忽如仙的气质，与「豆蔻」的清嫩一虚一实，共构少女之整体风神。两组叠字置于句首，先声夺人，是七绝起法中「突起」一类的绝佳示范。

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