唐 Tang · 诗 Poem
封丘作
Written at Fengqiu
我本渔樵孟诸野，一生自是悠悠者。
乍可狂歌草泽中，宁堪作吏风尘下。
只言小邑无所为，公门百事皆有期。
拜迎官长心欲碎，鞭挞黎庶令人悲。
归来向家问妻子，举家尽笑今如此。
生事应须南亩田，世情尽付东流水。
梦想旧山安在哉，为衔君命且迟回。
乃知梅福徒为尔，转忆陶潜归去来。
All my life I have been a man at ease.
Rather sing wildly out among the reeds and marshes,
Than serve as an official under the dust of the world.
They said a small district would leave me to myself;
In the official's office every business has its deadline.
Bowing to greet my superiors, my heart would break;
Whipping the common people, it rends me to mourn.
I come home and ask my wife and children;
My whole family laughs at how things now stand.
Livelihood must come from the fields in the south;
The ways of the world are given to the river as it flows east.
I dream of the old hills — where, I wonder, are they?
For your command I linger, and delay.
Then I know that Mei Fu's service was all in vain;
I think instead of Tao Qian going home.
Meaning
Gao Shi accepted the post of county尉 at Fengqiu only in his fifties, after years of poverty and wandering, and this poem is a record of what the office did to him. He begins with his nature — a fisherman and a woodcutter, a free man — and sets against it the duties which are not rest but deadlines, bowing to superiors and striking the people. Home offers only ridicule. He resolves that livelihood belongs in the fields and the world's ways in the river that flows east, but the obligation of holding an office still holds him for a while, and only at the end, through the examples of Mei Fu and Tao Qian, does the decision arrive.
我本是孟诸野外的渔夫樵夫，一生自是悠悠自在之人。只可狂歌于草泽之中，哪堪作吏于风尘之下。只说小县无所作为，公门百事皆有期限。拜迎官长心欲碎，鞭挞黎庶令人悲。归来向家问妻子，举家尽笑今如此。生事应须南亩田，世情尽付东流水。梦想旧山安在哉，为衔君命且迟回。乃知梅福徒为尔，转忆陶潜归去来。
Appreciation
[Plain Paraphrase] The poem is one man's argument with his own office. It opens with what he was — a fisher on the marshes, a man at ease — and then sets the opposite: an official's office where every business has a deadline, where he must bow to superiors and can only be useful by striking the people. Home answers him with laughter. The middle of the poem therefore offers two resignations at once, a material one (live off the fields) and a moral one (give the world's ways to the river), and then admits that he is still there, held by a command from above. The end resolves nothing by argument but by example: Mei Fu gave up his office for nothing, and Tao Qian, who is the one he thinks of, went home.
【白话串讲】 高适写《封丘作》：“我本渔樵孟诸野，一生自是悠悠者”——“乍可狂歌草泽中，宁堪作吏风尘下”——“拜迎官长心欲碎，鞭挞黎庶令人悲”——“归来向家问妻子，举家尽笑今如此”——他做小吏，拜迎官长、鞭打百姓，于心不忍——他写做官的痛苦。 【意象与手法】 此诗写作吏的痛苦与归隐之思，是高适的名篇。前四句写本性与作吏的矛盾：「我本渔樵孟诸野」写本是渔樵之人，「一生自是悠悠者」写一生自在，「乍可狂歌草泽中」写只可狂歌草泽，「宁堪作吏风尘下」写哪堪作吏风尘；中四句写作吏的痛苦：「只言小邑无所为」写本说小县无为，「公门百事皆有期」写公门百事有期，「拜迎官长心欲碎」写拜迎官长心碎，「鞭挞黎庶令人悲」写鞭挞百姓可悲；后四句写归隐之思：「生事应须南亩田」写生计应靠田园，「世情尽付东流水」写世情付之东流，「梦想旧山安在哉」写梦想归山，「为衔君命且迟回」写为君命而迟回；末四句写归隐的决断：「乃知梅福徒为尔」写知梅福徒然，「转忆陶潜归去来」写转忆陶渊明归去来。全诗以作吏的痛苦写归隐之思，写尽吏隐矛盾，正是高适「质实」诗风的本领。 【情感与主旨】 此诗作于高适任封丘（今河南封丘）县尉时。高适早年家贫，四处漂泊，五十岁后始任封丘县尉，然县尉之职须拜迎长官、鞭挞百姓，与高适的本性与志向不合，遂有此作。此诗写其作吏的痛苦与归隐之思：我本是孟诸（古泽名，在今河南商丘一带）野外的渔夫樵夫，一生自在；只可狂歌于草泽，哪堪作吏于风尘；只说小县无所作为，公门百事皆有期限；拜迎官长心欲碎，鞭挞百姓令人悲；归来问妻子，举家皆笑我如今如此；生计应靠南亩田，世情尽付东流水；梦想归山何在，为衔君命暂且迟疑；乃知梅福（汉代辞官归隐者）徒然如此，转忆陶渊明《归去来兮辞》。全诗以作吏的痛苦写归隐之思，写尽吏隐矛盾与高适「不屈己、不干人」的志节，正是高适诗「质实」而见性情之本领。 【名句点睛】 常考「拜迎官长心欲碎，鞭挞黎庶令人悲」写县尉之职的痛苦与仁心；「我本渔樵孟诸野」写本性自在；「乍可狂歌草泽中，宁堪作吏风尘下」写吏隐矛盾；「乃知梅福徒为尔，转忆陶潜归去来」用典写归隐之思；以及全诗以作吏写归隐、直抒胸臆的手法。
Background
Gao Shi (about 704-765), zi Dafu, from Bohai, is remembered as one of the two great poets of the frontier along with Cen Shen. Poor in his youth, he travelled west to Chang'an at twenty and failed to find patrons; for many years afterwards he lived between Liang and Song, fishing and cutting wood, until in middle age a recommendation brought him the post of county尉 at Fengqiu in Henan. He kept that office a short while and then left, and later rose far, to the rank of minister and the title of Marquis of Bohai. This poem was written while he held the county post, near the middle of the 740s, and is the clearest evidence we have of how he experienced it.
此诗作于高适任封丘（今河南封丘）县尉时，约在天宝八载（749）前后。高适（约704—765），字达夫，渤海蓨（今河北景县）人，盛唐著名边塞诗人，与岑参并称「高岑」，晚年官至散骑常侍，封渤海县侯。高适早年家贫，二十岁时西游长安求仕未果，此后长期漂泊梁宋之间，渔樵耕读，五十岁前后才由张九皋荐举任封丘县尉。然县尉之职须拜迎长官、鞭挞百姓，与高适「不屈己、不干人」的本性与「致君尧舜」的志向不合，遂有辞官归隐之思，作此诗。此诗写其作吏的痛苦与归隐之思：「我本渔樵孟诸野，一生自是悠悠者」写其本性的自在——孟诸是古泽名，在今河南商丘一带，高适早年曾居梁宋，渔樵为生；「乍可狂歌草泽中，宁堪作吏风尘下」写宁可狂歌草泽、不堪作吏风尘的志节；「拜迎官长心欲碎，鞭挞黎庶令人悲」写县尉拜迎长官、鞭挞百姓的痛苦与仁心；「乃知梅福徒为尔，转忆陶潜归去来」用梅福（汉代九江尉，弃官归隐）与陶渊明（弃官归隐，作《归去来兮辞》）之典写归隐之思。全诗以作吏的痛苦写归隐之思，写尽吏隐矛盾，是理解高适早年心境与盛唐士人出处取舍的重要篇章。
Art
The poem's power comes from its plainness and its honesty about its own hesitation. Gao Shi refuses to make himself a heroic recluse: his first four lines state a preference, but the eighth line admits the office has already been taken, and the thirteenth admits he is still lingering out of obligation. The two most famous lines, '拜迎官长心欲碎，鞭挞黎庶令人悲', are pure report — no imagery, no metaphor — and that is why they are remembered. The poem also uses the conversational cadence of the heptasyllabic ancient style, with its long lines and colloquial particles, so that it sounds like a man talking at his kitchen table rather than composing.
此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以对比写本性。前四句「我本渔樵孟诸野，一生自是悠悠者。乍可狂歌草泽中，宁堪作吏风尘下」写本性自在与作吏的矛盾——那「渔樵」「草泽」写其本性的自在，「作吏风尘」写官场的劳碌，以「乍可」「宁堪」的对比写尽宁可狂歌草泽、不堪作吏风尘的志节。其二，以直陈写痛苦。「只言小邑无所为，公门百事皆有期」写公门百事皆有期限的劳碌，「拜迎官长心欲碎，鞭挞黎庶令人悲」直陈拜迎官长、鞭挞百姓的痛苦与仁心——那「心欲碎」「令人悲」直抒胸臆，写尽作吏的痛苦。其三，以反问写归思。「梦想旧山安在哉，为衔君命且迟回」以「安在哉」的反问写归思，写尽梦想归山而暂缓迟疑的矛盾。其四，以用典写决断。「乃知梅福徒为尔，转忆陶潜归去来」用梅福弃官、陶渊明归隐之典，写尽归隐的决断——那「转忆陶潜归去来」以陶渊明《归去来兮辞》收束，写尽归隐之思。四重手法，使此诗以作吏的痛苦写归隐之思，写尽吏隐矛盾，正是高适「质实」诗风的本领。
Allusions
Two men close the poem, and both are officials who gave up office, which is exactly why they can close it. Mei Fu was a magistrate of Jiujiang under the Han who abandoned his post on discovering that his heart was not in it, and is remembered as one of the earliest examples of the 'official who lives as a hermit'. Tao Qian resigned as magistrate of Pengze rather than bow to a district inspector for five dou of grain, and wrote the 'Returning Home' prose poem about it. Earlier in the poem, the marshes of Mengzhu and the fishing and woodcutting recall the wandering life of the age, and the phrase bowing to greet superiors carries the memory of Tao Qian's refusal. Both allusions are chosen for what they prove and not for their antiquity.
此诗的用语深植于隐逸与出处取舍的传统。「孟诸」令人想到古泽名，在宋州（今河南商丘）一带，高适早年曾居梁宋，渔樵耕读，令人想到「泽畔」的隐逸意象；「渔樵」令人想到「渔樵于江渚之上」的隐逸传统，也令人想到「渔樵耕读」的田园意象；「悠悠者」令人想到「悠悠」写自在闲适，也令人想到「闲云野鹤」的自在；「狂歌草泽」令人想到「狂歌」写放达不羁，也令人想到「楚狂接舆」（《论语》「楚狂接舆歌而过孔子」）的狂者意象，更令人想到「草泽」作为民间野处的意象；「作吏风尘」令人想到「风尘」写官场奔波的意象，也令人想到「卑栖」的县尉屈居意象；「公门百事皆有期」令人想到「公门」写官署，也令人想到「案牍劳形」的吏事；「拜迎官长」令人想到「折腰」的官场屈辱——「不为五斗米折腰」（陶渊明），写尽县尉拜迎长官的屈辱；「鞭挞黎庶」令人想到「黎庶」写百姓，也令人想到「苛政猛于虎」的仁心；「南亩田」令人想到《诗经》「馌彼南亩」的农田意象，也令人想到「归田园居」的归隐；「东流水」令人想到「逝者如斯夫」的流水意象，也令人想到「付之东流」的放下；「旧山」令人想到「旧山」写故乡山林的意象，也令人想到「山中」的隐逸；「梅福」用汉代九江尉梅福弃官归隐之典——梅福为县尉，不满王莽专权而弃官归隐，令人想到「吏隐」的传统；「陶潜归去来」用陶渊明辞彭泽令、作《归去来兮辞》归隐之典，写尽归隐的决断。全诗化用渔樵、狂歌、折腰、梅福、陶潜的隐逸传统意象与典故，以作吏写归隐，正是高适「质实」而见性情、善用典的本领。
Commentary
This is one of the few poems in the Chinese canon that deals directly with the daily vexations of a small official, and it has been prized for that reason. Later readers valued it as a document: here, they said, is what it means to hold office against your nature. The Ming commentators called it 'sincere, plain, and deep in feeling', which is to describe exactly the effect the poem aims for. In the history of Chinese poetry it stands beside Tao Qian's prose as the classic statement of the conflict between a man's temper and his post, and it has been quoted ever since by officials who understood the feeling and by men who were inclined to leave.
此诗历来被推为高适的名篇，也是盛唐士人写吏隐矛盾的代表。历代论者对此诗评价极高：明人评此诗「直抒胸臆，语质而情深」；近人更指出「拜迎官长心欲碎，鞭挞黎庶令人悲」写县尉之职的痛苦与仁心，是千古名句。在诗歌史上，此诗的特殊价值在于：它以十六句的长歌写尽作吏的痛苦与归隐之思——那渔樵的本性，那狂歌草泽的志节，那作吏风尘的无奈，那公门百事的劳碌，那拜迎官长的心碎，那鞭挞黎庶的悲哀，那南亩田、东流水，那梅福、陶潜，都写尽了这位盛唐诗人在出处之间的痛苦与抉择；那「转忆陶潜归去来」更写尽归隐的决断。此诗与高适的《燕歌行》（「战士军前半死生」）同为高适名篇，一写边塞战争的苍凉，一写吏隐矛盾的痛苦；又与陶渊明《归去来兮辞》一脉相承，可见盛唐士人对陶渊明归隐传统的继承。对于今日读者，此诗是理解高适早年心境与盛唐士人出处取舍的窗口，也是中国诗写吏隐矛盾的经典——那拜迎官长的心碎、鞭挞黎庶的悲哀，穿越千年，仍在诉说着士人在官场与归隐间的痛苦。
Prosody
Line by line
拜迎官长心欲碎，鞭挞黎庶令人悲
Bowing to greet my superiors, my heart would break; Whipping the common people, it rends me to mourn.
拜迎官长，心欲破碎；鞭挞百姓，令人悲哀。
Kowtowing to superiors, my heart is near to breaking; flogging the common people, it makes me wretched.
此联是全诗写痛苦的核心，直陈县尉之职的痛苦与仁心，是千古名句。「拜迎官长心欲碎」写拜迎官长心欲碎——那「拜迎官长」写县尉拜迎上官的屈辱，「心欲碎」写心欲破碎，写尽屈己逢迎的痛苦；「鞭挞黎庶令人悲」写鞭挞百姓令人悲哀——那「鞭挞黎庶」写县尉鞭挞百姓，「令人悲」写令人悲哀，写尽鞭挞百姓的仁心之痛。这句的深意在于：它以「拜迎官长」与「鞭挞黎庶」的直陈，写尽县尉之职的痛苦与高适的仁心——县尉之职，须拜迎上官、俯首帖耳，那「心欲碎」写尽屈己逢迎、志向受挫的痛苦；又须鞭挞百姓、催征赋役，那「令人悲」写尽不忍鞭挞黎庶的仁心——高适本以「致君尧舜上」为志，如今却要鞭挞百姓，正是其志向与职守的矛盾；那「心欲碎」写尽拜迎的屈辱，那「令人悲」写尽鞭挞的仁心，一屈一悲，写尽县尉之职的痛苦与高适的仁者之心。若换作直说「县尉的差事很痛苦」，则失其直陈与仁心；唯以「拜迎官长心欲碎」写屈辱、「鞭挞黎庶令人悲」写仁心，直陈写尽作吏的痛苦，也让此联成为全诗写痛苦的核心与千古名句。
Gao Shi, appointed a county lieutenant, hates the job in his bones. Kowtowing to superiors, my heart is near to breaking—the required deference to every official above him is personal mutilation; flogging the common people, it makes me wretched—the duties of the post require him to beat the very people he was born among. The two miseries are symmetrical: humiliated above, brutal below. The line is famous because it refuses the official's two faces. To have said the job was degrading would be a complaint; the heart-breaking kowtow and the wretched flogging are the degradation.
乍可狂歌草泽中，宁堪作吏风尘下
Rather sing wildly out among the reeds and marshes, Than serve as an official under the dust of the world.
宁可狂歌于草泽之中，哪堪作吏于风尘之下。
I would rather sing wildly in the marsh grass; how can I endure being a clerk in the dust of office?
此联写本性自在与作吏的矛盾，以对比写志节。「乍可狂歌草泽中」写宁可狂歌于草泽之中——那「乍可」写宁可，「狂歌草泽」写狂歌于草泽、放达自在，写尽本性向往的自在；「宁堪作吏风尘下」写哪堪作吏于风尘之下——那「宁堪」写哪堪、岂能忍受，「作吏风尘」写作吏于官场风尘，写尽对官场的厌倦。这句的深意在于：它以「乍可狂歌草泽中」与「宁堪作吏风尘下」的对比，写尽高适的志节——宁可狂歌于草泽之中，放达自在，也不堪作吏于官场风尘之下，那「乍可」写尽宁可的选择，那「宁堪」写尽不堪的决绝；「狂歌草泽」写尽对自在生活的向往——高适本以渔樵为生，狂歌草泽正合其本性；「作吏风尘」写尽对官场的厌倦——风尘劳碌、屈己逢迎，正是作吏之苦；宁可狂歌草泽，不堪作吏风尘，正是高适「不屈己、不干人」志节的体现，也为其后写县尉之苦与归隐之思立下基调。若换作直说「我不想当官」，则失其志节；唯以「乍可狂歌草泽中」写向往、「宁堪作吏风尘下」写决绝，以对比写尽志节，也让此联成为全诗志节的凝结点。
The refusal follows. I would rather sing wildly in the marsh grass—a commoner, free, neglected; how can I endure being a clerk in the dust of office? The two ways of life are absolute: the wild song in the grass, or the dusty clerk's grind. The would-rather and the how-can-endure make the choice a matter of self-respect. This poem is why Gao Shi eventually left. To have said I would rather be free than an official would be a preference; the wild song in the marsh versus the clerk in the dust is the choice.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Tao Qian's prose resolves in a single burst — '归去来兮，田园将芜胡不归' — and then repeats itself in the secession of the wind and the coming of the carriage, so that the heart that has decided is heard deciding over and over. Gao Shi takes the same subject sixty years before his own moment of decision and writes it as an argument with himself: he states his nature, tests it against the office, is mocked at home, and only at the end thinks of Tao Qian. The earlier text isthe lyric of逸; the later is the document of a man who has already taken the post and must live with having taken it.
陶渊明《归去来兮辞》「归去来兮，田园将芜胡不归」「悟已往之不谏，知来者之可追」写辞官归隐的决心，是归隐文学的名篇。此诗《封丘作》则「乃知梅福徒为尔，转忆陶潜归去来」以陶渊明之典写归隐之思。同为写归隐，一写「田园将芜胡不归」的辞官（归去来兮辞），一写「转忆陶潜归去来」的归思（封丘作）；一以「归去来兮」写决然归隐，一以「为衔君命且迟回」写徘徊迟疑。两篇对读，可见陶渊明的决然归隐与高适的吏隐矛盾之不同。
燕歌行 Song of the Northern Frontier 高适 · 同高适名篇，一边塞一吏隐 The two best-known poems of the same poet, one of war and one of office'Song of the Northern Frontier' gives '战士军前半死生，美人帐下犹歌舞' and looks outward, to the frontier and to the officer who is not doing his duty; the present poem looks inward, to a county office and to a heart that will not bear it. Both are heptasyllabic, both are calm in tone, and both turn on an injustice that the poet observes without formulating. Most readers know Gao Shi only through the frontier song; the present poem, with its household detail and its family laughing, is what shows the man who wrote it.
高适《燕歌行》「战士军前半死生，美人帐下犹歌舞」「君不见沙场征战苦，至今犹忆李将军」写边塞战争的苍凉与士卒之苦，是高适边塞诗的名篇。此诗《封丘作》则「拜迎官长心欲碎，鞭挞黎庶令人悲」写吏隐矛盾的痛苦。同为高适名篇，一写「战士军前半死生」的边塞（燕歌行），一写「拜迎官长心欲碎」的吏隐（封丘作）；一以「至今犹忆李将军」写良将之思，一以「转忆陶潜归去来」写归隐之思。两诗对读，可见高适既写边塞又写吏隐的丰富。