All poems

魏晋 Wei-Jin · 诗 Poem

燕歌行

Song of Yan

曹丕

Cao Pi

离别/抒情parting / lyric 爱情/相思love / longing

秋风萧瑟天气凉，草木摇落露为霜。
群燕辞归鹄南翔，念君客游思断肠。
慊慊思归恋故乡，君何淹留寄他方？
贱妾茕茕守空房，忧来思君不敢忘。
不觉泪下沾衣裳。
援琴鸣弦发清商，短歌微吟不能长。
明月皎皎照我床，星汉西流夜未央。
牵牛织女遥相望，尔独何辜限河梁。

The autumn wind is bleak, the weather cold;
grass and trees wither, dew becomes frost.
Swallows depart, wild geese wing south—
thinking of you wandering abroad, my heart breaks.
You long for home, you love your native place;
why do you linger, stranded in a foreign land?
Forlorn, I keep the empty chamber alone;
sorrow comes, I think of you and dare not forget.
Unbidden, tears fall and wet my robe.
I take my lute, strike the strings, sound the clear Shang;
short the song, soft the hum, it cannot run long.
The bright moon shines on my bed;
the Milky Way turns west, the night not yet spent.
The Herd-boy and Weaving-girl gaze far apart—
what fault was yours, barred by the river's bridge?

Listen

Meaning

The autumn wind is bleak and the weather turns cold; grass and trees shed their leaves and dew becomes frost. The swallows go south and the wild geese take flight, and thinking of you wandering abroad breaks my heart. You are full of longing for home and love of your native place—why do you linger so long in a foreign land? Forlorn, I alone keep the empty chamber; when sorrow comes I think of you and dare not forget. Unbidden, tears fall and wet my robe. I take up my lute, strike the strings, and sound the clear Shang tune; the short song hummed softly cannot run long. The bright moon shines on my bed; the Milky Way wheels west and the night is not yet spent. The Herd-boy and Weaving-girl gaze at each other from afar—what fault was yours, that you are barred by the bridge of the river?

秋风萧瑟天气转凉，草木凋零白露为霜。群燕南归天鹅飞翔，想起远游的你令我断肠。你满心恋家思归故乡，为何久久滞留他乡？贱妾孤零零独守空房，忧思袭来想你不敢相忘。不觉泪落沾湿衣裳。抚琴拨弦奏起清商，短歌轻吟却唱不完长情。明月皎皎照我床榻，银河西转夜色正长。牵牛织女遥遥相望，你究竟何辜被阻隔在河桥那方。

Appreciation

Cao Pi, styled Zihuan, was the Emperor Wen of Wei and a central figure of Jian'an literature. The yuefu title 'Song of Yan' originally meant 'seasons change, the conscript does not return'; Cao Pi's version is the first to write, in a woman's voice, of autumn night longing, probably composed in the Jian'an years. Though the north was then pacified, war and garrison service were frequent, and parting of husbands and wives was a common sorrow. This poem is also the first complete seven-character poem extant in literary history (every line seven characters, one rhyme throughout), a milestone in the evolution of the form, hugely influential on later seven-character song-poems and palace and boudoir lyrics. The whole uses pure seven-character lines, each rhyming, level and oblique in accord, one rhyme carried through—gentle and flowing, fit for low, lingering feeling. In structure it ripples outward: 'autumn scene—swallows return—thinking of you—empty chamber—tears—lute—moonlit night—the weaving pair,' with scene and feeling breeding. 'Forlorn, I keep the empty chamber' and 'tears wet my robe' lay bare the heart in the woman's own voice, tender and plaintive; it closes with the Herd-boy and Weaving-girl 'barred by the bridge,' a rhetorical question that lifts personal parting into an eternal sense of separation, implicit and endless.

【白话串讲】 “秋风萧瑟天气凉，草木摇落露为霜”——曹丕写深秋。“念君客游思断肠”——她想着远游的丈夫。“贱妾茕茕守空房，忧来思君不敢忘”——她独守空房。“援琴鸣弦发清商，短歌微吟不能长”——弹琴唱歌，唱不成调。这是中国第一首完整的七言诗。【意象与手法】全篇纯用七言，句句入韵、平仄相谐而一韵贯通，声调清婉流转，最宜抒发低回之情【情感与主旨】曹丕字子桓，魏文帝，建安文学核心人物【名句点睛】高频考点：'现存最早完整七言诗'的文学史地位；'秋风萧瑟'等秋景描写的渲染作用；思妇形象的塑造；景情关系

Background

《燕歌行》为三国魏曹丕所作，是现存最早的完整的七言诗，写思妇怀人。曹丕（187—226），字子桓，曹操之子，魏文帝，兼工诗赋。此诗：秋风萧瑟天气凉，草木摇落露为霜；群燕辞归鹄南翔，念君客游思断肠；慊慊思归恋故乡，君何淹留寄他方？贱妾茕茕守空房，忧来思君不敢忘；不觉泪下沾衣裳，援琴鸣弦发清商；短歌微吟不能长，明月皎皎照我床；星汉西流夜未央，牵牛织女遥相望，尔独何辜限河梁？全诗写思妇怀人之情，是曹丕七言诗的代表作。

Art

The whole uses pure seven-character lines, each rhyming, level and oblique in accord, one rhyme carried through—gentle and flowing, fit for low, lingering feeling. In structure it ripples outward: 'autumn scene—swallows return—thinking of you—empty chamber—tears—lute—moonlit night—the weaving pair,' with scene and feeling breeding. 'Forlorn, I keep the empty chamber' and 'tears wet my robe' lay bare the heart in the woman's own voice, tender and plaintive; it closes with the Herd-boy and Weaving-girl 'barred by the bridge,' a rhetorical question that lifts personal parting into an eternal sense of separation, implicit and endless.

《燕歌行》艺术上以七言的流畅与情感的细腻见长。全诗十五句，层层写来：前四句写秋景起兴——“秋风萧瑟天气凉，草木摇落露为霜”写秋景，“群燕辞归鹄南翔，念君客游思断肠”写念君；中四句写思妇之态——“慊慊思归恋故乡，君何淹留寄他方”写思归，“贱妾茕茕守空房，忧来思君不敢忘”写守空房；后七句写思君之深——“不觉泪下沾衣裳，援琴鸣弦发清商”写泪下援琴，“短歌微吟不能长，明月皎皎照我床”写明月照床，“星汉西流夜未央，牵牛织女遥相望，尔独何辜限河梁”写牵牛织女之叹。全诗以秋景起兴、以牵牛织女作结，写思妇怀人之情，正是曹丕七言诗“婉约”的风格。

Allusions

The last line 'The Herd-boy and Weaving-girl gaze far apart—what fault was yours, barred by the bridge' uses the stars of the Cowherd and Weaver, from the Nineteen Old Poems' 'far-off is the Cowherd' and the folk tale, to set the once-a-year meeting of the heavens against the harder lot of the mortal 'lingering in a foreign land'; 'clear Shang' is the Han-Wei mournful yuefu mode, and 'Milky Way turns west' transforms the 'Weaver on high' image of the Shi Jing's 'Great East.' Allusion and scene merge, giving the boudoir plaint a cosmic loneliness.

《燕歌行》用典在“清商”“牵牛织女”“河梁”。“清商”写清商之曲，古乐府曲调名；“牵牛织女”用牛郎织女银河相望之典，写相思而不得会；“河梁”写河上之桥（或指银河），写阻隔。全诗以这些典故写思妇怀人，用典自然而情致深婉，正是曹丕七言诗用典写情的笔法。

Commentary

The Ming critic Hu Yinglin, in 'Poetic Councils,' called 'Zihuan's Song of Yan, first to create the seven-character form, graceful in tune, tender in feeling'; Wang Fuzhi judged it 'pours feeling, pours measure, pours colour, pours sound—unmatched in all time.' The modern scholar Yu Guanwei said it 'writes autumn longing like speech, like weeping, opening the Tang boudoir strain.' Zhong Rong's 'Gradations of Poets' placed Cao Pi in the middle rank, calling him 'plain as everyday talk,' yet this piece alone excels in pure grace.

《燕歌行》是曹丕的代表作，也是中国诗歌史上现存最早的完整七言诗，写思妇怀人的名篇。此诗写思妇怀人之情，向为论者称道。论者多赏其七言的流畅——“秋风萧瑟天气凉，草木摇落露为霜”写秋景，七言流转；“牵牛织女遥相望，尔独何辜限河梁”写牛女之叹，更见其情。曹丕诗以“婉约”著称，此诗正是其代表——以秋景写怀人、以牛女写相思，正是其婉约深婉的风格。

Prosody

Form Seven-character ancient poem · yuefu song (earliest complete seven-character poem)七言古诗（柏梁体）

Rhyme cold, frost, south, breaks, land, chamber, forget, robe, Shang, long, bed, spent, bridge—one rhyme throughout (yang group)《燕歌行》为七言古诗，十五句，押平声韵。此诗用韵：凉、霜、肠、方、忘、裳、商、长、床、央、望、梁（阳部），一韵到底，音节流转。

Tone pattern Not traceable (musical, every line rhymes)七言古诗以音节流转、气势舒展见长。此诗以秋景起，以牛女叹收，音节流转而情致深婉。全诗一韵到底，声调与思妇怀人的内容相合，是七言古诗中婉约的一路，也是现存最早的完整七言诗。

Reading note All seven-character, rhymed line by line, opens the seven-character song form, gentle and turning《燕歌行》为三国魏曹丕所作，是现存最早的完整七言诗，写思妇怀人。此诗以“秋风萧瑟天气凉”写秋景起兴，以“念君客游思断肠”写念君，以“贱妾茕茕守空房”写守空房，以“牵牛织女遥相望，尔独何辜限河梁”写牛女之叹。以秋写情、以牛女写相思，正是曹丕“婉约”诗风的代表作。

Line by line

秋风萧瑟天气凉，草木摇落露为霜。群燕辞归鹄南翔，念君客游思断肠。

The autumn wind sighs and the weather cools, plants and trees fall away and dew turns to frost; the swallows take leave and fly home, the wild geese soar south—thinking of you, wandering abroad, my sorrow breaks the heart.

秋风萧瑟，天气转凉，草木摇落，露水成霜。群燕辞归，天鹅南翔，念你客游在外，思之断肠。

The autumn wind is shrill and the air turns cold; plants and trees shed their leaves, dew congeals to frost. Flocks of swallows depart for home and the swans wing south; thinking of you, my husband, roaming as a stranger, my grief is torn apart.

前四句写秋景起兴，是全诗怀人的起点。“秋风萧瑟天气凉，草木摇落露为霜”写秋景——“秋风萧瑟”写秋风萧瑟，“天气凉”写天气转凉，“草木摇落”写草木摇落，“露为霜”写露水成霜——秋风萧瑟、草木摇落，正是秋深之景；“群燕辞归鹄南翔，念君客游思断肠”写念君——“群燕辞归”写群燕辞归，“鹄南翔”写天鹅南翔，“念君客游思断肠”写念君客游而思断肠——燕鹊皆归，而君客游不归，思之断肠。四句写秋景起兴：秋风萧瑟、草木摇落，群燕辞归、鹄南翔，念君客游、思断肠。以秋景写时之已深，以“群燕辞归鹄南翔”写万物皆归而君不归，正是曹丕以秋起兴写怀人的笔法——秋深物归，而君不归。

The opening quatrain uses autumn scenery to set the poem's longing in motion. The first couplet fixes the deep autumn—sighing wind, cooling air, falling leaves, frost. The second turns to migrating birds: swallows and geese all return south, and against this universal return the husband's absence becomes unbearable. Cao Pi's method is to let every living thing go home while the beloved stays away, so that the season itself becomes the cause of longing. It is the starting point of the most famous of all Chinese seven-character poems, and the first fully mature autumn-longing lyric.

慊慊思归恋故乡，君何淹留寄他方？贱妾茕茕守空房，忧来思君不敢忘。

Longing, you yearn to return and love your home—why then do you linger, lodged in a distant land? I, alone and forlorn, keep the empty room; grief comes and I think of you, and dare not forget.

你心中切切思归、眷恋故乡，为何长久滞留寄居他方？我孤孤单单守着空房，忧来思君，不敢忘怀。

Your heart is set on returning, longing for your old home; why do you linger on, dwelling in another place? Lonely and forlorn, I keep the empty chamber; when sorrow comes I think of you and cannot let you go.

中四句写思妇之态与思归之愿，是全诗情感的深化。“慊慊思归恋故乡，君何淹留寄他方”写思归之愿——“慊慊思归”写心中切切思归，“恋故乡”写眷恋故乡，“君何淹留寄他方”写为何长久滞留他方——你思归恋乡，为何淹留他方；“贱妾茕茕守空房，忧来思君不敢忘”写守空房——“贱妾茕茕”写我孤孤单单，“守空房”写守着空房，“忧来思君不敢忘”写忧来思君不敢忘——我守空房，思君不敢忘。四句写思妇之态与思归之愿：慊慊思归、恋故乡，君何淹留、寄他方；贱妾茕茕、守空房，忧来思君、不敢忘。以“慊慊思归恋故乡”写思君之愿，以“君何淹留寄他方”问其淹留，以“贱妾茕茕守空房”写己之孤，以“忧来思君不敢忘”写思之深，正是曹丕写思妇怀人之情的笔法——一问一守，情致深婉。

The middle quatroot expands the woman's feelings. The first two lines imagine the husband's own longing and then question why he stays abroad—a question that voices the wife's anxious uncertainty. The second two turn back to her solitude: 'I, forlorn, keep the empty room' pictures her isolation, while 'grief comes and I think of you, and dare not forget' measures the depth of the memory. The structure of question and vigil—why do you stay, while I keep watch—is Cao Pi's way of making longing tender rather than shrill.

不觉泪下沾衣裳，援琴鸣弦发清商。短歌微吟不能长，明月皎皎照我床。

Unaware, tears fall and wet my robe; I take up the qin and strike the strings, sounding the clear Shang mode; I hum a short song, softly, unable to sustain it, while the bright moonlight falls across my bed.

不知不觉泪下沾湿衣裳，取琴鸣弦奏出清商之曲。短歌微吟，不能长声，明月皎皎照在我的床上。

Before I know it, tears are falling and dampening my clothes; I reach for the qin, pluck the strings, and play the clear Shang air. A brief song, murmured low, I cannot sing it long; the bright, bright moonlight shines on my bed.

此数句写泪下援琴、明月照床，是全诗思妇情态的深化。“不觉泪下沾衣裳”写泪下——“不觉泪下”写不知不觉泪下，“沾衣裳”写沾湿衣裳——“援琴鸣弦发清商”写援琴——“援琴鸣弦”写取琴鸣弦，“发清商”写奏出清商之曲——“短歌微吟不能长”写短歌微吟——“短歌微吟”写短歌低吟，“不能长”写不能长声——“明月皎皎照我床”写明月照床——“明月皎皎”写明月皎洁，“照我床”写照着我的床。四句写泪下援琴、明月照床：不觉泪下沾衣裳，援琴鸣弦发清商；短歌微吟不能长，明月皎皎照我床。以“不觉泪下沾衣裳”写思之泪，以“援琴鸣弦发清商”写以琴写哀，以“短歌微吟不能长”写哀之难长吟，以“明月皎皎照我床”写月照孤床，正是曹丕写思妇情态的笔法——泪、琴、月，层层写其孤寂。

This passage deepens the wife's state through tears, music, and moonlight. Tears wet the robe before she knows it; she takes up the qin and plays the 'clear Shang' mode, the traditional music of autumn sorrow. Her song is short and faltering—grief will not sustain a long tune. The moonlight then falls bright on the empty bed, turning inward feeling into outward scene. The sequence of tears, qin, short song, and moon layers her solitude one image at a time, and the moonlit bed becomes the still center of her sleepless night.

星汉西流夜未央，牵牛织女遥相望，尔独何辜限河梁？

The Silver River drifts westward and the night is not yet done; the Cowherd and the Weaving Girl gaze at each other from afar—what wrong have you done, to be fenced off by the bridge over the river?

银河西流，夜未尽时。牵牛织女遥遥相望，你们又有什么罪过被限定在河梁两岸？

The Milky Way flows west and the night is far from over; the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden gaze at each other across the distance. What wrong have you done, you two, to be kept apart by the river's crossing?

末三句写牵牛织女之叹，是全诗怀人之情的归结。“星汉西流夜未央”写夜未央——“星汉西流”写银河西流，“夜未央”写夜未尽——“牵牛织女遥相望”写牛女相望——“牵牛织女”用牛郎织女之典，“遥相望”写遥遥相望——“尔独何辜限河梁”写何辜限河梁——“尔独何辜”写你们又有什么罪过，“限河梁”写被限定在河梁两岸。三句写牵牛织女之叹：星汉西流夜未央，牵牛织女遥相望，尔独何辜限河梁？以“星汉西流夜未央”写夜深未央，以“牵牛织女遥相望”写牛女相望而不得会，以“尔独何辜限河梁”写何辜被限，正是曹丕写怀人之情的归结——以牛女之隔写思妇与客游之君的相隔，问牛女而实自问。

The closing lines turn to the mythic lovers separated by the Silver River and bring the poem's longing to rest. The Milky Way drifting west tells how deep the night has grown; the Cowherd and Weaving Girl, fated to meet once a year, gaze at each other across the water. The question—what wrong have you done, to be so fenced off?—is addressed to the stars but really to herself and her absent husband. By identifying the separated couple with the separated lovers on earth, Cao Pi makes the personal longing cosmic: the wife's own isolation is written into the order of the heavens.

Study

Word focus

摇落 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “草木摇落露为霜”之“摇落”，写草木凋零，是全诗写秋景的关键词。“摇落”写摇落凋零——草木摇落，露水成霜。这一词写出宋玉《九辩》“草木摇落而变衰”，写秋之萧瑟：不是寻常之衰，而是摇落；不是微变之景，而是凋零之象。以“摇落”写秋景，正是曹丕以秋起兴写怀人的笔法——草木摇落，正是怀人之时。

思断肠 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “念君客游思断肠”之“思断肠”，写思之断肠，是全诗写念君之深的关键词。“思断肠”写思念至断肠——念君客游，思之断肠。这一词写思念之深：不是寻常之思，而是断肠；不是可忍之念，而是痛彻之思。以“思断肠”写念君，正是曹丕写思妇怀人至深的笔法——客游在外，思之断肠。

茕茕 Alone, without support; 'keep the empty chamber' writes the longing woman solitary, the height of loneliness. “贱妾茕茕守空房”之“茕茕”，写孤孤单单，是全诗写思妇孤寂的关键词。“茕茕”写出《诗经》“茕茕在疚”，写孤单——我孤孤单单守着空房。这一词写思妇之孤：不是寻常之独，而是茕茕；不是一时之孤，而是长久之守。以“茕茕”写守空房，正是曹丕写思妇孤寂之情的笔法——茕茕守空房，孤寂无依。

河梁 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “尔独何辜限河梁”之“河梁”，写河上之梁（指银河阻隔），是全诗写阻隔的关键词。“河梁”写河上之桥——牵牛织女被限定在河梁两岸。这一词以“河梁”写阻隔：不是可渡之桥，而是限隔之梁；不是相聚之途，而是相隔之界。以“河梁”写阻隔，正是曹丕以牛女写思妇与君相隔的笔法——问牛女何辜限河梁，实自问与君何阻隔。

燕歌行