Biography

Jia Dao was born near modern Beijing; after a period as a Buddhist monk, he went to Chang'an. He became one of Han Yu's disciples, but failed the jinshi exam several times. He wrote both discursive gushi and lyric jintishi. His works were criticised as "thin" by Su Shi, and some other commentators have considered them limited and artificial.

According to Dr. James J.Y. Liu (1926–1986), a professor of Chinese and comparative literature, Jia's poem The Swordsman "seems...to sum up the spirit of knight errantry in four lines." "The Swordsman" reads in Liu's translation as follows:

A metric translation of the original Chinese poem with one iamb per Chinese character reads as follows:

The original Chinese:

剑客:

十年磨一剑,

霜刃未曾试.

今日把示君,

谁有不平事.

The opening line of The Swordsman is often used as a proverb to refer to a long and arduous undertaking.

生平

贾岛贫寒，曾经做过和尚，法号无本。元和五年（810年）冬，至长安，见张籍。据说在洛阳时候因当时有令禁止和尚午后外出，贾岛做诗发牢骚，被韩愈发现其才华。后受教于韩愈，并还俗参加科举，但累举不中第。元和十四年（819年），韩愈抵潮州（今广东潮州），致信贾岛，贾岛作《寄韩潮州愈》诗给韩愈。长庆二年（822年）举进士，以「僻涩之才无所用」。唐文宗的时候被排挤，贬做长江主簿。唐武宗会昌年初由普州司仓参军改任司户，未任病逝。《新唐书》将贾岛附名于《韩愈传》之后。

评价

贾岛是著名的「苦吟派」诗人，著名的典故「推敲」即出自此人。传说他在驴背上苦思「鸟宿池边树，僧敲月下门」两句，反覆斟酌用推还是用敲字，以至错入了韩愈的仪仗。后来人们将斟酌鍊字称作「推敲」。他还曾为自己的《送无可上人》颔联「独行潭底影，数息树边身」写了注释，其中的「二句三年得，一吟双泪流」道出作者吟诗的艰辛，后世亦有诗人受这两句诗的影响。

贾岛的代表作有〈寻隐者不遇〉：「松下问童子，言师采药去；只在此山中，云深不知处」，他较为擅长五言律诗，意境多孤苦荒凉，赵紫芝、翁灵舒之辈，独喜贾岛、姚合之诗。姚合与贾岛友善，后世合称「姚贾」，并将二人之诗称为「姚贾诗派」；又有一说，姚诗学贾。

司空图说贾岛：「贾浪仙诚有警句，视其全篇，意思殊馁，大抵附于蹇涩，方可致才，亦为体之不备也。」苏轼在〈祭柳子玉文〉中提到：「元轻白俗，郊寒岛瘦。」评价他和同时代的诗人孟郊，遂成千古定评。欧阳修讥其诗如「烧杀活和尚」。有《长江集》10卷，通行有《四部丛刊》影印明翻宋本。

贾岛为僧无可的堂兄，两人诗歌均尚奇险。《剑客》辞云：「十年磨一剑，霜刃未曾试。今日把示君，谁有不平事？」竹林七贤之刘伶好酒，后人戏谑曰：「贾岛醉来非假倒，刘伶饮尽不留零」。

注释

参考

• 《全唐诗》贾岛小传

• 《全唐文》卷七六三苏绛《贾司仓墓志铭》

• 《新唐书》卷一七六

• 《唐才子传》卷五

• 李嘉言：《贾岛年谱》

• 贾岛诗英译书 : When I Find You Again, It Will Be in Mountains: The Selected Poems of Chia Tao by Mike O'Connor. Paperback, 160 pages. Published November 1st 2000 by Wisdom Publications

• 静永健：〈贾岛「推敲」考 〉。