Tang poem · seven-character quatrain唐诗 · 七言绝句

yè夜shàng上shòu受xiáng降chéng城wén闻dí笛

lǐ李yì益Li Yi · Tang唐

Hearing a Flute at Night on the Wall of Shouxiang City

huí回lè乐fēng烽qián前shā沙sì似xuě雪

shòu受xiáng降chéng城wài外yuè月rú如shuāng霜

bù不zhī知hé何chù处chuī吹lú芦guǎn管

yí一yè夜zhēng征rén人jìn尽wàng望xiāng乡

Underlined words have notes: tap one. The Pinyin button below shows or hides all pinyin. 一 and 不 are marked with the tone you actually say.字下有虚线的，点开有注释。下方的“拼音”按钮可以显示或隐藏全部拼音。“一”“不”标的是实际读出来的变调。

The common text reads fēng (beacon tower) and chéng wài (outside the city), used here. The source text has fēng meaning peak, and chéng xià (below the city).

通行本作“回乐烽前沙似雪，受降城外月如霜”，这里采用通行本。底本作“回乐峰前”“受降城下”。

Line by line逐句翻译

回乐烽前沙似雪Before the Huile beacon tower, the sand is white as snow;回乐烽前的沙地，白得像雪，
受降城外月如霜outside Shouxiang City, the moonlight is cold as frost.受降城外的月光，冷得像霜。
不知何处吹芦管From somewhere, no one knows where, comes the sound of a reed pipe,不知道从哪里传来了吹芦笛的声音，
一夜征人尽望乡and all night long every soldier gazes toward home.这一夜，守边的士兵个个都望着家乡。

Words字词注释

回乐烽huí lè fēng: huí lè fēng: the beacon tower near Huile County, around today's Lingwu in Ningxia. A beacon tower was a high platform on the frontier where fires were lit to warn of attack.回乐烽：回乐县附近的烽火台。回乐县在今天宁夏灵武一带。烽火台是边境上点火报警的高台。
受降城shòu xiáng chéng: shòu xiáng chéng: a Tang frontier town whose name means "the city where enemies surrender".受降城：唐朝边境上的城，名字的意思是“接受敌人投降的城”。
月如霜yuè rú shuāng: yuè rú shuāng: the moonlight is as white as frost.月如霜：月光白得像一层霜。
何处hé chù: hé chù: where.何处：什么地方。
芦管lú guǎn: lú guǎn: a reed pipe, a flute made of reed, with a mournful sound.芦管：用芦苇做的笛子，声音很悲凉。
征人zhēng rén: zhēng rén: soldiers far from home, guarding the frontier.征人：离家远行、守卫边疆的士兵。
尽jìn: jìn: all, every one.尽：全，都。
望乡wàng xiāng: wàng xiāng: to look toward home, to long for home.望乡：望着家乡的方向，想家。

How to read it读音

乐lè: Huí lè is a place name, and the second character is read lè.“回乐”是地名，“乐”读 lè。
降xiáng: Shòu xiáng means accepting surrender, so the character is read xiáng, not jiàng.“受降”是接受投降，“降”读 xiáng，不读 jiàng。
尽jìn: Here jìn means all, so it is read jìn.“尽”是全、都的意思，读 jìn。

Background创作背景

Li Yi worked for many years with the armies on the northern frontier and knew frontier life well. This poem tells what he felt one night when he climbed the wall of Shouxiang City and heard a flute. There are two views of where Shouxiang City was. One says it was one of the three Shouxiang cities built north of the Yellow River by Zhang Renyuan in the early Tang; another says it means the town of Lingzhou, today's Lingwu in Ningxia. The year it was written is also not known.

李益多年在北方边境的军队里做事，熟悉边塞的生活。这首诗写他夜里登上受降城，听到笛声时的感受。受降城在哪里有两种说法：一说是唐朝初年张仁愿在黄河北岸修的三座受降城之一，一说指灵州（今宁夏灵武）的城。写作年份也不能确定。

The poet作者

Li Yi (746–829) was a mid-Tang poet. After passing the top exam he was long unable to get ahead, so he went to the frontier to serve on the staff of army commanders. He lived on the frontier for many years and wrote many frontier poems, and his seven-character quatrains are especially famous. Records say that in his own day musicians often set his poems to music and sang them.

李益（746—829），中唐诗人。他考中进士后，很长时间不得志，就到边境的节度使军中做幕僚，也就是给将军当助手。他在边塞住了很多年，写了不少边塞诗，七言绝句尤其有名。据记载，他的诗在当时常被乐工谱成曲子传唱。

The mood意境

The poem shows the scene first, then a sound, and last the people. The first two lines are all white: sand like snow, moonlight like frost. The frontier night is cold and empty, and one look makes you feel alone. In the third line, the sound of a reed pipe suddenly comes from somewhere, sad and mournful, breaking the silence. The last line shows the power of that sound: all night, every soldier thinks of home. The poet does not say he himself is homesick, or that the soldiers cry. He only writes "all gaze toward home", and we can see the soldiers standing in the moonlight, silently looking far away.

这首诗先写景，再写声音，最后写人。前两句是一片白：沙像雪，月像霜。边塞的夜又冷又空，看一眼就让人觉得孤单。第三句，忽然不知从哪里传来芦笛声，悲悲凉凉的，打破了安静。最后一句写这笛声的力量：一夜之间，所有士兵都在想家。诗人没有说自己想家，也没有说士兵哭了，只写了“尽望乡”三个字，我们却能看到一个个士兵站在月光下，默默望向远方。