163. 和贾至舍人早朝大明宫之作（岑参）
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现代汉语译文
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鸡鸣紫陌曙光寒，莺啭皇州春色阑。
现代汉语译文
鸡叫声起在京城大道上，曙光带着寒意；黄莺啼啭，皇都的春色已近尾声。
紫陌指京城的道路。鸡鸣、莺啭两个禽声开场，一个报晓、一个报春将尽——早朝的诗从声音写起，人还没出场。
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金阙晓钟开万户，玉阶仙仗拥千官。
现代汉语译文
宫阙的晓钟里万扇门户次第打开，玉阶前仪仗簇拥着千百位官员。
金阙对玉阶，万户对千官，数目字与贵重字交错，写出宫城开门的程序感。开字是这一联的动词眼：钟声一到，门一扇一扇开。
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花迎剑佩星初落，柳拂旌旗露未干。
现代汉语译文
花儿迎着还未落尽的残星和官员们身上的剑佩，柳枝拂过旌旗，露水未干。
剑佩、旌旗都是朝官的随身物。花迎、柳拂把宫里草木写成有礼的侍者，早朝的庄严里透出春晓的柔。星初落、露未干都在写早。
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独有凤凰池上客，阳春一曲和皆难。
现代汉语译文
只有凤凰池上的中书舍人，写出一曲《阳春》这样的高调，叫人应和都难。
凤凰池是中书省的代称，指贾至本人。阳春用「阳春白雪」曲高和寡的典，恭维得体：夸对方诗好，也交代了自己这首和诗的来历。
赏析 · Commentary
一场唱和：原作与三首和诗 · One Round of Matching Poems: the Original and Three Replies
肃宗乾元元年春天，中书舍人贾至写了《早朝大明宫呈两省僚友》，同僚王维、岑参、杜甫各作一首奉和，是唐诗史上著名的一场唱和。四人同题同韵事，写法各异：岑参这首以声色取胜，鸡鸣莺啭、钟声剑佩，把早朝写成一场声音与光线的演出；王维一首重仪典的庄严；杜甫一首最见心事。四首里后人评得最高的是王、岑两首，杜甫那首反而常被认为「和意」不足。这场唱和也是研究七律成熟的样本——同一题目、同一体裁、四位高手，差异全在剪裁。
In the first spring of the Qianyuan era, Secretary Jia Zhi wrote on the morning audience at the Daming Palace and presented it to his colleagues of the two secretariats; Wang Wei, Cen Shen and Du Fu each answered with a poem — a famous round in Tang poetry history. Four poems, one occasion: Cen Shen's wins by sound and color, cocks and orioles, bell and sword-pendants, the audience staged as a performance of voices and light; Wang Wei's stresses ceremonial gravity; Du Fu's carries the most private weight. Later judges ranked Wang and Cen highest, and often found Du Fu's the least of the four in matching spirit. The round is also a specimen of the maturing seven-character regulated verse — one subject, one form, four masters, all difference lying in selection.
恭维的技术：把难处说成对方的功力 · The Technique of the Compliment: Turning Difficulty Into the Other Man's Power
和诗的规矩是依原作的题目甚至韵脚写一首，等于当着原作者和一群同僚的面交作业。岑参的尾联把自己和诗的难处直接说了出来：阳春一曲和皆难——您的诗是《阳春》那样的曲子，我们都难以为继。这句话替自己留了台阶，也是最高级的恭维：不说您写得好，而说您写得太好以致我们难写。凤凰池上客一语又点明贾至的身份（中书舍人掌诏令），地位与才气并提。整首诗在前六句把早朝写得花团锦簇，结句轻轻一转就把功劳记回原作头上，章法上滴水不漏。
The rules of a matching poem require following the original's subject, even its rhymes — handing in one's work before the original author and a room of colleagues. Cen Shen's closing couplet states the difficulty outright: a song of Yangchun so lofty it is hard for any to answer — your poem is such a tune that our replies can hardly keep up. It saves his own face and delivers the finest compliment: not you wrote well, but you wrote so well that writing after you is hard. The phrase guest on the Phoenix Pool names Jia's office, the Secretariat that drafts edicts — rank and talent together. The first six lines dress the audience in flowers and silk; the last line quietly hands the credit back to the original. The architecture leaves nothing to fault.
以禽声开场：早朝诗的另类起笔 · Opening on Bird Voices: an Unconventional Start for an Audience Poem
写宫廷早朝，常规的起法是从天子、仪仗、钟鼓入手，岑参偏从鸡鸣、莺啭两声禽语开始，让人先听见声音再看见宫阙。这一选择和第三联的花迎柳拂连成一条线：全诗的人间高处（金阙、玉阶、千官）始终被自然的声音与草木包围着，庄严里带春意。曙光寒三字也值得留意——春天将尽（春色阑）的早晨仍有寒意，时间感非常精确：这是暮春某个工作日的清晨，百官照常上朝，天地却在换季。大场面与小细节的配比，是这首诗在四首和作里显得最鲜活的原因。
To write of the morning audience, the conventional opening is emperor, procession, bells and drums. Cen Shen starts instead on two bird voices, cockcrow and oriole, letting the reader hear before seeing the palace. This choice joins the flowers greeting and willows brushing of the third couplet in one line of intent: the human heights of the poem — golden towers, jade steps, a thousand officials — stay surrounded by natural sound and growing things, solemnity laced with spring. The chill in the dawn light also deserves notice: a late-spring morning (the season's color wearing out) still cold at first light — the timing exact, an ordinary working morning of late spring, officials filing in while the season turns. The ratio of grand scene to small detail is what makes this the liveliest of the four replies.