290. Master Jia | Li Shangyin
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
宣室求贤访逐臣，贾生才调更无伦。
English translation
In the Xuan Chamber he sought the worthy and summoned a banished minister; Master Jia's talent and bearing were beyond compare.
The Xuan Chamber is a hall in the Han Weiyang Palace, standing for the emperor's place of audience. A banished minister is an official who has been exiled, here Jia Yi, who had been posted away to Changsha. The couplet lifts the scene high first: the emperor seeks talent, Jia Yi's gifts are unmatched, and it looks like the meeting of a wise ruler and a worthy servant. Beyond compare raises the expectation to its height.
Original Chinese text
可怜夜半虚前席，不问苍生问鬼神。
English translation
Pitiably, at midnight he leaned his mat forward for nothing; he asked not about the people but about ghosts and spirits.
Leaning the mat forward means the emperor, listening intently, shifted his seat nearer the speaker; for nothing marks that this attention came to nothing. The common people are the masses; ghosts and spirits recalls the Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji), which records that Emperor Wen questioned Jia Yi in the Xuan Chamber about the nature of ghosts and spirits. The moving of the mat was real; the pity is that the wrong subject was asked—the ruler cared not for the people's welfare.
赏析 · Commentary
先扬后抑的一转 · A Turn from Praise to Lament
前两句把话说得很满：求贤、访逐臣、才调无伦，像要写一段君臣相得。第三句“可怜”一转，第四句点破：问到半夜，问的却是鬼神。诗人不指责贾谊，也不直接骂皇帝，只把“不问苍生”四个字摆出来，失望和讥讽就都在里面了。
The opening couplet says it all in praise: seeking worthies, summoning a banished minister, talent beyond compare—it looks like a story of ruler and servant well met. The third line turns on the word pitiable, and the fourth reveals: they talked past midnight, and the subject was ghosts and spirits. The poet blames neither Jia Yi nor the emperor directly; he sets down the words asked not about the people and leaves the disappointment and the irony inside them.
有才的人怕遇不上好题目 · Talent's Fear: The Wrong Question
贾谊一番应对，让文帝听得移席，可见其才学确实打动人；但这番本事用在了鬼神上。李商隐写此事，未必只是替古人叹，也含着对当世的感慨：世上有才的人不少，难得的是君主肯问该问的事。末句不下断语，却比断语更重。
Jia Yi's replies made Emperor Wen move his mat, proof that his learning truly moved the man; yet that gift was spent on ghosts and spirits. In writing this, Li Shangyin need not be sighing only for an ancient; he also speaks to his own age: the world has no shortage of talent, but it is rare for a ruler to ask what ought to be asked. The last line passes no verdict, and weighs more than a verdict would.