ChineseStudy

285. Sent to Assistant Director Linghu | Li Shangyin

Contents

Text

English translation

The clouds of Song and the trees of Qin—long have we lived apart; a pair of carp has come from far away, a single sheet of writing.

Clouds of Song and trees of Qin name the two places in place of the two people, and echo Du Fu's lines about thinking of a friend through spring trees and evening clouds. Long have we lived apart marks the length of the separation. A pair of carp means a letter, from the Han yuefu in which a traveler from afar leaves two carp that hold a written message; from far away marks the distance, and a single sheet of writing marks how thin the gift is, carrying both regard and modesty. (One edition reads a single sheet of brush and ink; I follow a letter, which suits the image of the two carp.)

Ask no more after the old guest of the Liang Garden; he is the sick Xiangru in the autumn rain at Maoling.

The Liang Garden was the park of Prince Xiao of Liang in the Han, where Sima Xiangru was once a guest; the old guest is the poet himself, hinting that he too was once received with kindness by the Linghu family. Ask no more is both self-mockery and the loneliness of one who would rather not say much. Maoling is where Sima Xiangru spent his last, ailing years; the sick Xiangru likens the poet to him, describing his own illness, failure, and neglect.

赏析 · Commentary

一封信里的旧情与近况 · Old Ties and Present Straits in One Letter

前两句回应来信：我们分隔已久，多谢你远远寄来一纸。后两句说自己的近况：不要打听我这个“旧宾客”了，我如今像茂陵秋雨里的病相如。诗人用典把自己的落魄裹起来，既谢对方念旧，又不肯直陈潦倒，分寸恰在其间。

The opening couplet answers the letter: we have long been apart, and I thank you for sending a sheet from so far. The closing couplet tells of his own state: ask no more about this old guest, for he is now the sick Xiangru in the Maoling rain. Through allusion the poet wraps up his decline—he thanks the other for remembering old ties while refusing to lay out his poverty plainly, and the balance falls exactly there.

两个典故，一层身世 · Two Allusions, One Life Story

司马相如既做过梁园宾客，又终于茂陵卧病——正好对应李商隐与令狐家的关系：早年受恩、后来疏远、如今多病失意。他不直说自己被冷落、仕途不顺，只借相如的口吻点一点。典用得贴切，怨与谢便都不必说尽。

Sima Xiangru was both a guest of the Liang Garden and a sick man at Maoling at the end—exactly matching Li Shangyin's relation to the Linghu family: favored early, estranged later, now ill and disappointed. He does not say outright that he has been neglected or that his career has stalled; he merely hints through Xiangru's voice. The allusion fits so well that neither complaint nor thanks must be spelled out.

Feedback