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宋 Song · 诗 Poem

冬夜读书示子聿·其二

Reading at Night, Written for Zi Yu: No. 2

陆游

Lu You

读书Reading 教子Teaching One's Son

圣师虽远有遗经，万世犹传旧典刑。
白首自怜心未死，夜窗风雪一灯青。

Though the sage is far away, his books remain,
And through ten thousand ages the old laws come down to us.
My white head pities itself, and yet the heart is not dead;
By my window, in wind and snow, a single green lamp.

Listen

Meaning

Lu You tells his youngest son that the teaching of the sage survives in the books even though the sage himself is long gone. He adds that his own white head still mistakes itself for a young man, and that by his window, in the wind and snow, there is still only one green lamp burning. The poem is an instruction on study, but its real subject is a father who is still, at eighty, in the act of reading.

圣师虽远有遗经，万世犹传旧典刑。白首自怜心未死，夜窗风雪一灯青。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] Two lines about the survival of the old teaching, two lines about the poet's continued reading in winter. [Structure] The first couplet is the case for study; the second is the evidence of its effect on one old reader. [Imagery] The lamp is the poem's single image, and everything converges on it: the wind and the snow outside, the white head within, and the small green light that is still burning. [Turn] The word 'not dead' is placed after 'white head pities itself,' and the juxtaposition is what makes the closing couplet a declaration rather than a complaint. [Tone] The poem is written in the plainest language Lu You had, and its plainness is the source of its force; there is no ornament between the reader and the act of reading.

【白话串讲】陆游写《冬夜读书示子聿·其二》：“圣师虽远有遗经，万世犹传旧典刑”——“白首自怜心未死，夜窗风雪一灯青”——他白发读书——夜窗风雪一灯青——他示儿子。【意象与手法】此诗写教子，以读书写教子，是陆游的名篇。前二句写遗经：「圣师虽远有遗经，万世犹传旧典刑」写圣师虽远有遗经、万世犹传旧典刑——写尽遗经的传承；后二句写夜读：「白首自怜心未死，夜窗风雪一灯青」写白首自怜心未死、夜窗风雪一灯青——写尽夜读的坚守。全诗以读书写教子，写尽遗经的传承与夜读的坚守，是陆游的代表作。【情感与主旨】此诗写教子，以读书写教子，是陆游的名篇。此诗为《冬夜读书示子聿》八首之二。陆游教子读书，冬夜作此诗示子聿（陆游幼子）。此诗写圣师（孔子）虽远而有遗经传世，万世犹传旧典刑（典型法度）；自己白首而自怜心未死，夜窗风雪中犹有一灯青。此诗写遗经：圣师虽远有遗经，万世犹传旧典刑——写圣师虽远有遗经、万世犹传旧典刑，写尽遗经的传承；白首自怜心未死，夜窗风雪一灯青——写白首自怜心未死、夜窗风雪一灯青，写尽夜读的坚守。全诗以读书写教子——那「圣师虽远有遗经」写尽遗经的传承，「夜窗风雪一灯青」写尽夜读的坚守，写尽遗经的传承与夜读的坚守，是理解陆游教子诗的重要篇章。【名句点睛】常考「圣师虽远有遗经，万世犹传旧典刑」写遗经的传承；「白首自怜心未死，夜窗风雪一灯青」写夜读的坚守；以及全诗以读书写教子、以灯青写坚守的手法。

Background

Lu You (1125–1210), courtesy name Wuguan, styled Fangweng, was a patriotic poet of the Southern Song from Shan Yin, and left more than nine thousand poems. This poem is one of a group of eight written at night for his son Zi Yu, the youngest of his children, and it is the second of the set. Lu You was never successful in office; he lived in his native place for long stretches, and the reading and teaching of those years produced both this group of poems and the family's standard.

此诗写教子，以读书写教子，是陆游的名篇。陆游（1125—1210），字务观，号放翁，越州山阴（今浙江绍兴）人，南宋爱国诗人，存诗九千余首，兼工词。此诗为《冬夜读书示子聿》八首之二。陆游教子读书，冬夜作此诗示子聿（陆游幼子）。此诗写圣师（孔子）虽远而有遗经传世，万世犹传旧典刑（典型法度）；自己白首而自怜心未死，夜窗风雪中犹有一灯青。此诗写遗经：「圣师虽远有遗经，万世犹传旧典刑」写圣师虽远有遗经、万世犹传旧典刑——写尽遗经的传承（圣师虽远有遗经，万世犹传旧典刑）；「白首自怜心未死，夜窗风雪一灯青」写白首自怜心未死、夜窗风雪一灯青——写尽夜读的坚守（白首自怜心未死，夜窗风雪一灯青）。全诗以读书写教子，写尽遗经的传承与夜读的坚守，是理解陆游教子诗的重要篇章。此诗写于陆游晚年教子读书期间。《冬夜读书示子聿》八首为陆游冬夜教子之作，子聿为陆游幼子。此诗写圣人虽远而遗经犹存，自白首而心未死，风雪夜窗犹挑灯读书，以勉励子聿勤学，正是陆游教子诗的写照。

Art

The poem's discipline is its refusal of beauty. The only picture is the lamp, and it is described with one adjective — green, the colour of the flame and of old paper — and everything else is stated as fact: white head, wind, snow, a single lamp. The argument of the first couplet is compressed into a single causal line: the sage is far, but his books are not. The two halves never justify one another; the first is inherited teaching, the second is the poet's own persistence, and the reader is left to connect them. The closing line is a picture and an evidence in one, which is the quality Lu You most often reached for in his later work.

此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以直抒写遗经。「圣师虽远有遗经」以直抒写遗经——那「虽远有遗经」写尽遗经的传承，以直抒写尽遗经的传承。其二，以时间写传承。「万世犹传旧典刑」以时间写传承——那「万世犹传」写尽万世的传承，以时间写尽遗经的传承。其三，以直抒写心志。「白首自怜心未死」以直抒写心志——那「心未死」写尽不死的丹心，以直抒写尽夜读的坚守。其四，以景语写坚守。「夜窗风雪一灯青」以景语写坚守——那「风雪一灯青」写尽风雪的灯青，以景语写尽夜读的坚守。此外，此诗前二句写遗经的传承，后二句写夜读的坚守，由经及读，正是教子诗「以读示子」的写法。四重手法，使此诗以读书写教子，写尽遗经的传承与夜读的坚守，是陆游的代表作。此诗还善于以「圣师虽远有遗经」的「虽远有」写遗经之传——那「虽远有遗经」写尽圣人虽远而遗经犹存，正是以转折写传承，以「虽远有」写尽遗经的传承。又善以「万世犹传旧典刑」的「犹传」写传承之久——万世犹传，正见万世相传之久的写照，以「犹传」写尽遗经的传承。

Allusions

'The sage' is Confucius, and 'the old laws' are the institutions and models of the ancients, which the poet says are still transmitted in the books. 'Green lamp' is the standard term for the lamplight of the study, and 'to study by a green lamp' became a byword for patient reading. 'White head' is the conventional term for old age, and it is used here with a verb of self-pity rather than of complaint, which is what makes the next line a defiance. The sentiment that the heart does not die with the white head connects the poem to the long tradition of 'a hero's heart is not altered in old age' that runs from Cao Cao's 'The Tortoise and the Hare' to Lu You's own poetics of persistence.

此诗的用语深植于读书与教子传统。「圣师」令人想到「圣师」写孔子的意象——也令人想到「至圣先师」的意象；「遗经」令人想到「遗经」写遗留下来的经书的意象——也令人想到「六经」的意象；「典刑」令人想到「典刑」写典型法度的意象——也令人想到「典型」的意象；「白首」令人想到「白首」写白头的意象——也令人想到「白首穷经」的意象；「心未死」令人想到「心未死」写心志未泯的意象——也令人想到「烈士暮年，壮心不已」（曹操）的意象；「一灯青」令人想到「一灯青」写青灯的意象——也令人想到「青灯有味是儿时」的意象。全诗化用圣师、遗经、典刑、白首、心未死、一灯青的意象，以读书写教子，正是陆游「沉郁」而善写实、承教子传统写坚守之本领。「圣师」令人想到「圣师」写孔子的意象——也令人想到「孔子删述六经」的意象；「遗经」令人想到「遗经」写经籍的意象——也令人想到「学而优则仕」的意象；「一灯青」令人想到「青灯」写青灯古卷的意象——也令人想到「十年寒窗」的意象，以一灯青写夜读之景。

Commentary

Long ranked among Lu You's best poems of instruction, and often quoted with the third of the group, 'The ancients left nothing of their learning unexerted.' Qing readers valued the poem's 'sincere and heavy' plainness. Modern readers single out the closing line, in which the whole poem's argument is laid in a single picture of a lamp beside a snowy window. The poem's special place is that it teaches by example rather than by precept: the son is not told to study, he is shown a white-haired man still studying. For readers today it is also the clearest instance of the Southern Song's reading culture, in which the private act of an old man alone with a lamp was considered a public virtue.

此诗历来被推为陆游教子诗的名篇，也是宋诗写冬夜读书的代表。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人评此诗「以读书写教子，沉郁真切」；近人更指出「白首自怜心未死，夜窗风雪一灯青」写夜读的坚守，是此诗的名句。在诗歌史上，此诗的特殊价值在于：它以四句的绝句写尽遗经的传承与夜读的坚守——那圣师，那虽远，那有遗经，那万世，那犹传，那旧典刑，那白首，那自怜，那心未死，那夜窗，那风雪，那一灯青，都写尽了陆游笔下的冬夜读书示子聿；那「夜窗风雪一灯青」更以景语写尽夜读的坚守。此诗与陆游《冬夜读书示子聿·其三》（「古人学问无遗力」）同为教子名篇，一写「绝知此事要躬行」的躬行（其三），一写「夜窗风雪一灯青」的坚守（其二）；又与曹操《龟虽寿》「壮心不已」的心志传统一脉相承，可见中国诗写读书的传统。对于今日读者，此诗是理解陆游教子诗的窗口，也是宋诗写冬夜读书的经典——那风雪中的青灯，穿越千年，仍在诉说着夜读的坚守。此诗的价值更在于它把教子之深意寄托于「心未死」与「一灯青」的意象中——白首而心未死，风雪而灯犹青，正是陆游一生笃学的写照，也是他对子聿的期许。后世学者指出，「夜窗风雪一灯青」以景结情，写尽寒夜苦读的坚守，与「古人学问无遗力」并为陆游教子诗之双璧。

Prosody

Form Chinese poetry — seven-character quatrain (Qi Yan Jue Ju)诗·七言绝句

Rhyme Quatrain on the 'Qing' rhyme (下平九青): xing, qing — one rhyme maintained to the end, in the low, closed tone of the level voice七绝，押「刑」「青」韵（下平九青），一韵到底，音节沉郁

Tone pattern A seven-character quatrain on level-tone rhymes, single rhyme throughout, in a slow and heavy rhythm that matches the stillness of the night reading.此诗为七言绝句，押平声韵，一韵到底，音节沉郁，正合读书的沉郁。

Reading note Four lines of seven characters, rhyming on the Qing rhyme (xing, qing) and held to the end; the rhyme is a close, narrow one, so the lines settle rather than open out, which suits a poem about a closed room with snow outside. The pattern is regular, and the only place the rhythm breaks is the third line, where the self-pity and the denial are compressed together. Read the first couplet calmly and with weight, and let the last line lengthen slightly, since the lamp is what the poem stops on.此诗为七言绝句，四句——「圣师虽远有遗经，万世犹传旧典刑。白首自怜心未死，夜窗风雪一灯青」，押「青」韵（刑、青），一韵到底，音节沉郁。全诗以读书写教子：前二句写遗经的传承（圣师虽远有遗经、万世犹传旧典刑），后二句写夜读的坚守（白首自怜心未死、夜窗风雪一灯青）。四句短章，前写遗经，后写坚守，以「夜窗风雪一灯青」写尽夜读的坚守，正见陆游「沉郁」的本色。诵读此诗，宜以庄重的语调读「万世犹传旧典刑」的传承，以沉郁的语调读「夜窗风雪一灯青」的坚守，结句要读得沉郁而有余韵，方能传达出陆游的沉郁真切。陆游绝句以「沉郁」著称，此诗正是其教子诗的典范。

Line by line

白首自怜心未死，夜窗风雪一灯青

My white head pities itself, and yet the heart is not dead; by my window, in wind and snow, a single green lamp.

白首自怜心未死，夜窗风雪一灯青。

White-headed, I pity myself, yet my heart is not dead; at the night window, in wind and snow, one lamp burns blue.

此二句是全诗写坚守的核心，以白首自怜心未死写心未死，以夜窗风雪一灯青写一灯青，写尽夜读的坚守，是千古名句。「白首自怜心未死」写白首自怜心未死——那「白首自怜」写白首自怜，「心未死」写心未死，写尽不死的丹心；「夜窗风雪一灯青」写夜窗风雪一灯青——那「夜窗风雪」写夜窗风雪，「一灯青」写一灯青，写尽风雪的灯青。这句的深意在于：它以「白首自怜心未死」的心未死与「夜窗风雪一灯青」的一灯青，写尽夜读的坚守——白首自怜心未死，那「白首自怜心未死」写尽不死的丹心——白首自怜，正是白首自叹的写照，那「心未死」写尽夜读的坚守；夜窗风雪一灯青，那「夜窗风雪一灯青」写尽风雪的灯青——夜窗风雪，正是风雪夜窗的写照，那「一灯青」写尽夜读的坚守；那「白首自怜心未死」写尽不死的丹心，那「夜窗风雪一灯青」写尽风雪的灯青，一写白首，一写风雪，写尽夜读的坚守——白首而心未死，风雪而灯犹青，正是坚守的写照；此二句以丹心、青灯写尽夜读的坚守，也让此二句成为全诗写坚守的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「头发白了心还没死，风雪夜里还点着灯读书」，则失其画面；唯以「白首自怜心未死」写心未死、「夜窗风雪一灯青」写一灯青，写尽夜读的坚守，也让此二句成为全诗写坚守的核心。

Lu You writes to his son on a winter night. White-headed, I pity myself, yet my heart is not dead—the admission of age followed by the refusal to be finished. At the night window, in wind and snow, one lamp burns blue. The single blue lamp in the storm is the famous image: the old man, the cold night, the small steady flame. The heart not dead is the thread that connects him to that flame. To have said I am old but still determined would be a declaration; the blue lamp at the snowy window is the determination.

圣师虽远有遗经，万世犹传旧典刑

Though the sage is far away, his books remain, and through ten thousand ages the old laws come down to us.

圣师虽远有遗经，万世犹传旧典刑。

Though the Sage-Master is long gone, he left his classics; for ten thousand generations the old models are still handed down.

此二句是全诗写遗经的核心，以圣师虽远有遗经写遗经，以万世犹传旧典刑写旧典刑，写尽遗经的传承，是千古名句。「圣师虽远有遗经」写圣师虽远有遗经——那「圣师虽远」写圣师虽远，「有遗经」写有遗经，写尽圣师的遗经；「万世犹传旧典刑」写万世犹传旧典刑——那「万世犹传」写万世犹传，「旧典刑」写旧典刑，写尽万世的传承。这句的深意在于：它以「圣师虽远有遗经」的遗经与「万世犹传旧典刑」的旧典刑，写尽遗经的传承——圣师虽远有遗经，那「圣师虽远有遗经」写尽圣师的遗经——圣师虽远，正是圣人虽远的写照，那「有遗经」写尽遗经的传承；万世犹传旧典刑，那「万世犹传旧典刑」写尽万世的传承——万世犹传，正是万世相传的写照，那「旧典刑」写尽遗经的传承；那「圣师虽远有遗经」写尽圣师的遗经，那「万世犹传旧典刑」写尽万世的传承，一写圣师，一写万世，写尽遗经的传承——圣师虽远而遗经犹传，正是道统相传的写照；此二句以遗经、典刑写尽遗经的传承，也为下文的坚守作铺垫，也让此二句成为全诗写遗经的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「孔子虽然离我们很远，但他的书一直传到现在」，则失其庄重；唯以「圣师虽远有遗经」写遗经、「万世犹传旧典刑」写旧典刑，写尽遗经的传承，也让此二句成为全诗写遗经的核心。

The lesson turns to Confucius. Though the Sage-Master is long gone, he left his classics; for ten thousand generations the old models are still handed down. The argument is consolation for the aging student: the Master died, yet his books outlast him, and the old man's late nights are how that transmission continues. The old models means the canonical examples of conduct. To have said Confucius's books have been handed down for ages would be a fact; the distance of the Sage against the persistence of the classics is the consolation.

Study

Word focus

怜 In 'my white head pities itself,' lian means to pity, and here it is turned on the poet himself; it leaves room for the denial that follows, because a man who can pity his own old age is exactly the man who still wants to be taught. (About 30 words) 「白首自怜心未死」之「怜」字是写心志的关键词，一个「怜」字写尽自怜的感慨。怜者，怜惜、自怜也。陆游以「白首自怜心未死」写心志，这个「怜」字至少有双重意味：其一，写自怜之怜——那「白首自怜心未死」写白首自怜心未死，那「怜」字写尽自怜的感慨——自怜，正是自我怜惜的写照，那「怜」字写尽夜读的坚守；其二，写志之坚——那「怜」字更是写坚——怜，正见白首而不悔的坚定，那「怜」字写尽陆游的执着。以「怜」字写心志，正是陆游写教子的枢纽——若换作「叹」「惜」等字，则或失其与「白首自」「心未死」的配合，或失其写怜的意味；唯「怜」字，以白首自怜心未死写尽自怜之感慨与白首之坚定，与「夜窗风雪一灯青」的灯青相合，写尽夜读的坚守，也让「白首自怜心未死」成为全诗写心志的名句。

青 In 'a single green lamp,' qing here means the dim green of an old oil flame; it carries the cold colour of the lamp and the warmth of the study at once, and it has kept the phrase 'green lamp' as the standard name of a scholar's lamp. (About 30 words) 「夜窗风雪一灯青」之「青」字是写坚守的关键词，一个「青」字写尽灯火的青荧。青者，青荧、青碧也。陆游以「夜窗风雪一灯青」写坚守，这个「青」字至少有双重意味：其一，写灯之青——那「夜窗风雪一灯青」写夜窗风雪一灯青，那「青」字写尽灯火的青荧——一灯青，正是青灯犹明的写照，那「青」字写尽夜读的坚守；其二，写心之明——那「青」字更是写明——青，正见风雪中灯犹明的坚守，那「青」字写尽陆游的执着。以「青」字写坚守，正是陆游写教子的枢纽——若换作「明」「亮」等字，则或失其与「夜窗风雪」「一灯」的配合，或失其写青的意味；唯「青」字，以夜窗风雪一灯青写尽灯火之青荧与风雪之坚守，与「白首自怜心未死」的心未死相合，写尽夜读的坚守，也让「夜窗风雪一灯青」成为全诗写坚守的名句。