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宋 Song · 诗 Poem

观长安城图

Viewing the Map of Chang'an City

陆游

Lu You

报国Serving the state / Patriotism 感慨Meditations

许国虽坚鬓已斑，山南经岁望南山。
横戈上马嗟心在，穿堑环城笑虏孱。
日暮风烟传陇上，秋高刁斗落云间。
三秦父老应惆怅，不见王师出散关。

My resolve to serve the state is firm though my temples have thinned;
For a year in the mountains south I have looked toward the southern hills.
Arm in arm I mounted my horse, alas that the heart is still there;
In trenches round the city I smiled at how feeble the foe.

At dusk the wind and smoke carry word from the Long region;
In high autumn the watch-drums fall out of the clouds.
The old men of the Three Qin should be grieved;
Never once has the royal army marched out through the San Guan.

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Meaning

Looking at a map of the old city of Chang'an, Lu You thinks of the army he served in the mountains south, where he rode out with a halberd and mocked the feebleness of the enemy, and of his own grey hair. He concludes with the people of the old capital, who have waited year after year and never once saw the royal army march out through the pass. The poem ties a private sense of unspent valour to a public failure of nearly a generation.

许国虽坚鬓已斑，山南经岁望南山。横戈上马嗟心在，穿堑环城笑虏孱。日暮风烟传陇上，秋高刁斗落云间。三秦父老应惆怅，不见王师出散关。

Appreciation

[Structure] The poem moves from the self to the world. The first couplet states the contradiction between an unchanging resolve and a changing body. The second recalls the military life, with its horses and its trenches. The third shifts to the frontier. The fourth turns to the people of the Three Qin, the reason the poem was written at all. [Imagery] Two sets of images are set against each other: the personal—grey temples, the mountains south, the hills in the distance—and the military—halberd, horse, trenches, watch-drums, wind and smoke of the Long region. The war images are active and intimate; the images of the capital are still and waiting. [Diction] 经岁, year after year, does theheavy lifting of the third couplet: it changes a single moment of longing into a span of years. 笑 in "In trenches round the city I smiled at how feeble the foe" is the important verb, because it is a smile aimed at an enemy, and therefore a sign of a man who still believes. [Feeling] The poem's grief belongs to the state rather than to the poet. The 'should be grieved' of the last couplet is spoken on behalf of other people, and it is this outward turn that makes the poem more than a complaint about personal age.

【白话串讲】陆游写《观长安城图》：“许国虽坚鬓已斑，山南经岁望南山”——“横戈上马嗟心在，穿堑环城笑虏孱”——“三秦父老应惆怅，不见王师出散关”——他看着长安城图——三秦父老盼着王师。【意象与手法】此诗写报国，以感慨写报国，是陆游的名篇。前四句写壮志：「许国虽坚鬓已斑，山南经岁望南山。横戈上马嗟心在，穿堑环城笑虏孱」写许国虽坚鬓已斑、山南经岁望南山——写尽许国的壮志；后四句写感慨：「日暮风烟传陇上，秋高刁斗落云间。三秦父老应惆怅，不见王师出散关」写日暮风烟传陇上、秋高刁斗落云间——写尽王师的未出。全诗以感慨写报国，写尽许国的壮志与王师的未出，是陆游的代表作。【情感与主旨】此诗写报国，以感慨写报国，是陆游的名篇。此诗为陆游观长安城图而作，抒发其收复失地、还我河山之志与壮志未酬之慨。陆游一生力主抗金，曾在南郑（今陕西汉中）从军，此诗忆及南郑军旅生涯，望长安而兴叹。此诗写许国虽坚而鬓已斑，山南经岁而望南山；横戈上马而嗟心在，穿堑环城而笑虏孱；日暮风烟传陇上，秋高刁斗落云间；三秦父老应惆怅，不见王师出散关。此诗写壮志：许国虽坚鬓已斑，山南经岁望南山——写许国虽坚鬓已斑、山南经岁望南山，写尽许国的壮志；横戈上马嗟心在，穿堑环城笑虏孱——写横戈上马嗟心在、穿堑环城笑虏孱，写尽横戈的壮志；日暮风烟传陇上，秋高刁斗落云间——写日暮风烟传陇上、秋高刁斗落云间，写尽陇上的风烟；三秦父老应惆怅，不见王师出散关——写三秦父老应惆怅、不见王师出散关，写尽王师的未出。全诗以感慨写报国——那「横戈上马嗟心在」写尽横戈的壮志，「不见王师出散关」写尽王师的未出，写尽许国的壮志与王师的未出，是理解陆游报国诗的重要篇章。【名句点睛】常考「许国虽坚鬓已斑，山南经岁望南山」写许国的壮志；「三秦父老应惆怅，不见王师出散关」写王师的未出；以及全诗以感慨写报国、以对照写惆怅的手法。

Background

Lu You (1125–1210), courtesy name Wuguan, self-styled Fangweng, was from Shan Yin in Yuezhou, that is Shaoxing in Zhejiang. He was a poet, historian and patriot of the Southern Song, known for a body of writing in which the wish to recover the northern territories recurs without ever being fulfilled. In middle life he served in the army at Nanzheng, in what is now Hanzhong in Shaanxi, and the memory of those years stayed with him. This poem was written in later life, on the occasion of his seeing a map of the former capital of Chang'an. Lu You gave his whole political energy to the cause of driving out the Jurchen and returning the old capitals, and poems such as this one and the《Book of Wrath》record what that commitment cost him in disappointment, while《Hearing That the Official Army Has Recovered the North》records a joy he never lived to share.

此诗写报国，以感慨写报国，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，南宋文学家、史学家、爱国诗人。此诗为陆游观长安城图而作，抒发其收复失地、还我河山之志与壮志未酬之慨。陆游一生力主抗金，曾在南郑（今陕西汉中）从军，此诗忆及南郑军旅生涯，望长安而兴叹。此诗写许国虽坚而鬓已斑，山南经岁而望南山；横戈上马而嗟心在，穿堑环城而笑虏孱；日暮风烟传陇上，秋高刁斗落云间；三秦父老应惆怅，不见王师出散关。此诗写壮志：「许国虽坚鬓已斑，山南经岁望南山」写许国虽坚鬓已斑、山南经岁望南山——写尽许国的壮志（许国虽坚鬓已斑，山南经岁望南山）；「横戈上马嗟心在，穿堑环城笑虏孱」写横戈上马嗟心在、穿堑环城笑虏孱——写尽横戈的壮志（横戈上马嗟心在，穿堑环城笑虏孱）；「日暮风烟传陇上，秋高刁斗落云间」写日暮风烟传陇上、秋高刁斗落云间——写尽陇上的风烟（日暮风烟传陇上，秋高刁斗落云间）；「三秦父老应惆怅，不见王师出散关」写三秦父老应惆怅、不见王师出散关——写尽王师的未出（三秦父老应惆怅，不见王师出散关）。全诗以感慨写报国，写尽许国的壮志与王师的未出，是理解陆游报国诗的重要篇章。

Art

The poem can be broken into four devices. It states its theme directly: "My resolve to serve the state is firm though my temples have thinned" — a contradiction set in a single line, with no image between the two halves. It uses allusion in "For a year in the mountains south I have looked toward the southern hills," where the southern hills stand both for the place where he served and for the capital he still cannot reach. It adopts military vocabulary for the scene of the frontier — "In high autumn the watch-drums fall out of the clouds" — so that the war is described in the language of the camp rather than of the study. It extends the feeling to others: "The old men of the Three Qin should be grieved." Two words deserve particular attention. 经岁, year after year, turns a private longing into a public chronology, and the reader is pushed to count the years that have gone by. 笑, in the couplet on the trenches, is the poem's one gesture of confidence, and it is deliberately placed before the failure of the last couplet, so that the two halves may be measured against each other. The rhymes on the 删 sound, held throughout, give the verse a level and unhurried pace, which makes the flat statement of the last line all the more conclusive.

此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以直抒写许国。「许国虽坚鬓已斑」以直抒写许国——那「鬓已斑」写尽斑白的双鬓，以直抒写尽许国的壮志。其二，以用典写望南山。「山南经岁望南山」以用典写望南山——那「南山」写尽南山的遥望，以用典写尽许国的壮志。其三，以军语写风烟。「秋高刁斗落云间」以军语写风烟——那「刁斗」写尽刁斗的军声，以军语写尽陇上的风烟。其四，以设想写惆怅。「三秦父老应惆怅」以设想写惆怅——那「应惆怅」写尽父老的惆怅，以设想写尽王师的未出。此外，此诗前四句写许国的壮志，后四句写王师的未出，由志及慨，正是报国诗「以志写慨」的写法。四重手法，使此诗以感慨写报国，写尽许国的壮志与王师的未出，是陆游的代表作。此诗还善于以「山南经岁望南山」的「经岁」写经岁之遥望——那「山南经岁」写尽经岁的遥望，正是以岁写望，以「经岁」写尽许国的壮志。又善以「穿堑环城笑虏孱」的「笑」字写对虏之蔑视——穿堑环城笑虏孱，正见笑虏孱弱的豪气，以「笑」字写尽横戈的壮志。

Allusions

Every element of the poem belongs to the vocabulary of serving the state and of grief. 许国, to give oneself to the state, is the idiom for devoting one's life to the polity, and runs alongside Du Fu's "How foolish I have been in giving myself." 鬓已斑, the temples already grey, brings with it the memory of "My two grey ears and ten black fingers." 南山, the southern hills, is the Zhongnan Shan of the region round Chang'an, and carries the further resonance of Tao Yuanming's line "I looked on the southern mountains at ease." 横戈, a halberd held across the body, is the image of a soldier at rest in the field, kin to the image of the general who accepts a lance and writes a poem. 刁斗 is the drum used to mark the night watches in the army, and so stands for the whole routine of the camp. 散关, the San Guan pass near Chang'an, was the frontier on the Jin border, and is remembered in Lu You's own line "The iron horse, the autumn wind of the Daxian pass." The old men of the Three Qin are the people of the old capital, waiting for an army that never came.

此诗的用语深植于报国与感慨传统。「许国」令人想到「许国」写以身许国的意象——也令人想到「许身一何愚」（杜甫）的意象；「鬓已斑」令人想到「鬓已斑」写鬓白的意象——也令人想到「两鬓苍苍十指黑」的意象；「南山」令人想到「南山」写终南山的意象——也令人想到「悠然见南山」（陶渊明）的意象；「横戈」令人想到「横戈」写横持戈矛的意象——也令人想到「横槊赋诗」的意象；「刁斗」令人想到「刁斗」写军中巡夜之器的意象——也令人想到「刁斗声寒」的意象；「散关」令人想到「散关」写大散关的意象——宋金交界，也令人想到「铁马秋风大散关」（陆游）的意象。全诗化用许国、鬓已斑、南山、横戈、刁斗、散关的意象，以感慨写报国，正是陆游「沉郁」而善军语、承报国传统写感慨之本领。「南山」令人想到「南山」写终南山的意象——也令人想到「终南捷径」的意象；「刁斗」令人想到「刁斗」写军中巡夜之器的意象——也令人想到「金戈铁马」的意象，以刁斗写军旅。

Commentary

The poem has long been ranked among Lu You's best poems of service and is representative of Southern Song verse written during the crisis with the Jin. Later readers have singled out "The old men of the Three Qin should be grieved; never once has the royal army marched out through the San Guan" as the line that carries the whole poem. In the history of the song it holds a particular position, because the grief it expresses is not his own alone but is extended to the people of the old capital. It also belongs to the same tradition as the《Book of Wrath》— one writing of the iron horse at the Daxian pass, the other of a halberd in the trenches — and to that of《Feeling Cool as the Dawn Approaches with the Wind》, whose line about the tears of the subjects dried up in the dust of the Hu runs in the same vein. For a modern reader, this poem is the clearest window onto Lu You's poetry of service, and the army that never marched out of the pass still moves the reader a thousand years later.

此诗历来被推为陆游报国诗的名篇，也是南宋诗写抗金复国的代表。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人评此诗「以感慨写报国，悲壮沉雄」；近人更指出「三秦父老应惆怅，不见王师出散关」写王师的未出，是此诗的名句。在诗歌史上，此诗的特殊价值在于：它以八句的七律写尽许国的壮志与王师的未出——那许国，那虽坚，那鬓已斑，那山南，那经岁，那望南山，那横戈，那上马，那嗟心在，那穿堑，那环城，那笑虏孱，那日暮，那风烟，那传陇上，那秋高，那刁斗，那落云间，那三秦父老，那应惆怅，那不见，那王师，那出散关，都写尽了陆游笔下的观长安城图；那「不见王师出散关」更以设想写尽王师的未出。此诗与陆游《书愤》（「早岁那知世事艰」）同为报国名篇，一写「铁马秋风大散关」的书愤（书愤），一写「横戈上马嗟心在」的观图（观长安城图）；又与陆游《秋夜将晓出篱门迎凉有感》「遗民泪尽胡尘里」的忧民传统一脉相承，可见南宋诗写抗金复国的传统。对于今日读者，此诗是理解陆游报国诗的窗口，也是南宋诗写抗金复国的经典——那未出散关的王师，穿越千年，仍在诉说着许国的壮志。

Prosody

Form Poem · seven-character lüshi (七言律诗)诗·七言律诗

Rhyme An eight-line lüshi rhyming 斑, 山, 孱, 间, 关 in the 十五删 group, one rhyme sounded throughout; the cadence is grave and heroic.七律，押「斑」「山」「孱」「间」「关」韵（上平十五删），一韵到底，音节悲壮

Tone pattern A seven-character lüshi rhymed on level tones, carried through on a single rhyme; the cadence is grave, which suits a poem about an unfulfilled promise.此诗为七言律诗，押平声韵，一韵到底，音节悲壮，正合报国的悲壮。

Reading note This is a seven-character lüshi in eight lines — "My resolve to serve the state is firm though my temples have thinned; for a year in the mountains south I have looked toward the southern hills..." — rhyming on the 删 sound (斑, 山, 孱, 间, 关) and held to the end, which gives the poem its long, level, funereal breath. The first half deals with the heroic years and the second with the failure of the army; the two are joined by the single rhyme. When reading, the line on mounting the horse with the halberd should be spoken with force, and the last couplet lowered and slower, so that the flat statement of the final line is heard as a judgement. Lu You's lüshi are famous for their depth, and this poem is a model of his poetry of service.此诗为七言律诗，八句——「许国虽坚鬓已斑，山南经岁望南山。横戈上马嗟心在，穿堑环城笑虏孱。日暮风烟传陇上，秋高刁斗落云间。三秦父老应惆怅，不见王师出散关」，押「删」韵（斑、山、孱、间、关），一韵到底，音节悲壮。全诗以感慨写报国：前四句写许国的壮志（许国虽坚鬓已斑、横戈上马嗟心在），后四句写王师的未出（日暮风烟传陇上、不见王师出散关）。八句短章，前写壮志，后写惆怅，以「不见王师出散关」写尽王师的未出，正见陆游「沉郁」的本色。诵读此诗，宜以悲壮的语调读「横戈上马嗟心在」的壮志，以沉雄的语调读「不见王师出散关」的惆怅，结句要读得悲壮而有余韵，方能传达出陆游的悲壮沉雄。陆游律诗以「沉郁」著称，此诗正是其报国诗的典范。

Line by line

三秦父老应惆怅，不见王师出散关

The old men of the Three Qin should be grieved; never once has the royal army marched out through the San Guan.

三秦父老应惆怅，不见王师出散关。

The elders of the Three Qin must be pining; they never see the royal armies pass out of the San Pass.

此二句是全诗写惆怅的核心，以三秦父老应惆怅写应惆怅，以不见王师出散关写出散关，写尽王师的未出，是千古名句。「三秦父老应惆怅」写三秦父老应惆怅——那「三秦父老」写三秦父老，「应惆怅」写应惆怅，写尽父老的惆怅；「不见王师出散关」写不见王师出散关——那「不见王师」写不见王师，「出散关」写出散关，写尽王师的未出。这句的深意在于：它以「三秦父老应惆怅」的应惆怅与「不见王师出散关」的出散关，写尽王师的未出——三秦父老应惆怅，那「三秦父老应惆怅」写尽父老的惆怅——三秦父老，正是三秦遗民的写照，那「应惆怅」写尽王师的未出；不见王师出散关，那「不见王师出散关」写尽王师的未出——不见王师出散关，正是王师未出的写照，那「出散关」写尽王师的未出；那「三秦父老应惆怅」写尽父老的惆怅，那「不见王师出散关」写尽王师的未出，一写父老，一写王师，写尽王师的未出——父老惆怅而王师未出，正是复国无望的写照；此二句以父老、王师写尽王师的未出，也让此二句成为全诗写惆怅的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「三秦的父老该多惆怅啊，看不到朝廷的大军从大散关打出来」，则失其悲壮；唯以「三秦父老应惆怅」写应惆怅、「不见王师出散关」写出散关，写尽王师的未出，也让此二句成为全诗写惆怅的核心。

Lu You, looking at a map of the lost capital, imagines the occupied people. The elders of the Three Qin must be pining; they never see the royal armies pass out of the San Pass. The imagined pining is the accusation: the people have waited generations, and no army comes through the pass. The word must measures the poet's certainty about what he cannot see. To have said the people longed for rescue would be sympathy; the elders pining with no army at the San Pass is the accusation.

许国虽坚鬓已斑，山南经岁望南山

My resolve to serve the state is firm though my temples have thinned; for a year in the mountains south I have looked toward the southern hills.

许国虽坚鬓已斑，山南经岁望南山。

My vow to the state is still firm, though my temples have gone grey; south of the mountains, year after year, I gaze at the Southern Hills.

此二句是全诗写壮志的核心，以许国虽坚鬓已斑写鬓已斑，以山南经岁望南山写望南山，写尽许国的壮志，是千古名句。「许国虽坚鬓已斑」写许国虽坚鬓已斑——那「许国虽坚」写许国虽坚，「鬓已斑」写鬓已斑，写尽斑白的双鬓；「山南经岁望南山」写山南经岁望南山——那「山南经岁」写山南经岁，「望南山」写望南山，写尽经岁的遥望。这句的深意在于：它以「许国虽坚鬓已斑」的鬓已斑与「山南经岁望南山」的望南山，写尽许国的壮志——许国虽坚鬓已斑，那「许国虽坚鬓已斑」写尽斑白的双鬓——许国虽坚，正是许国志坚的写照，那「鬓已斑」写尽许国的壮志；山南经岁望南山，那「山南经岁望南山」写尽经岁的遥望——山南经岁望南山，正是经年望山的写照，那「望南山」写尽许国的壮志；那「许国虽坚鬓已斑」写尽斑白的双鬓，那「山南经岁望南山」写尽经岁的遥望，一写许国，一写望山，写尽许国的壮志——许国志坚而经岁望山，正是壮心不已的写照；此二句以许国、望山写尽许国的壮志，也为下文的横戈作铺垫，也让此二句成为全诗写壮志的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「报国的志向虽然坚定，鬓发却已斑白，在山南多年遥望南山」，则失其悲壮；唯以「许国虽坚鬓已斑」写鬓已斑、「山南经岁望南山」写望南山，写尽许国的壮志，也让此二句成为全诗写壮志的核心。

Then the poet turns on himself. My vow to the state is still firm, though my temples have gone grey—determination intact, youth gone; south of the mountains, year after year, I gaze at the Southern Hills. The two verbs (vow, gaze) across the wasted years are the whole tragedy: the will is unbroken, the opportunity is not coming. The repeated gazing, year after year, at the hills he will never cross is the defeat. To have said I was old and still fighting would be a boast; the grey temples and the year-long gazing at the Southern Hills are the defeat.

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Word focus

斑 Meaning grey, speckled white: in 鬓已斑 it describes temples already turning white, so that the unchanging resolution of the first line is set against a body that cannot keep pace with it. 「许国虽坚鬓已斑」之「斑」字是写壮志的关键词，一个「斑」字写尽斑白的双鬓。斑者，花白、斑驳也。陆游以「许国虽坚鬓已斑」写壮志，这个「斑」字至少有双重意味：其一，写鬓之斑——那「许国虽坚鬓已斑」写许国虽坚鬓已斑，那「斑」字写尽斑白的双鬓——鬓已斑，正是双鬓花白的写照，那「斑」字写尽许国的壮志；其二，写志之坚——那「斑」字更是写坚——斑，正见鬓斑而志坚的深慨，那「斑」字写尽陆游的报国。以「斑」字写壮志，正是陆游写报国的枢纽——若换作「白」「苍」等字，则或失其与「许国虽坚」「鬓已斑」的配合，或失其写斑的意味；唯「斑」字，以许国虽坚鬓已斑写尽双鬓之花白与鬓斑而志坚之深慨，与「山南经岁望南山」的望南山相合，写尽许国的壮志，也让「许国虽坚鬓已斑」成为全诗写壮志的名句。

不见 Meaning to have not seen, to lack: in 不见王师出散关 it says not merely that the army has not left but that no one in the capital has ever seen it leave, which turns a military fact into a public loss. 「不见王师出散关」之「不见」是写惆怅的关键词，一个「不见」写尽王师的未出。不见者，看不到、不见到也。陆游以「不见王师出散关」写惆怅，这个「不见」至少有双重意味：其一，写师之不见——那「不见王师出散关」写不见王师出散关，那「不见」写尽王师的未出——不见王师，正是王师未出的写照，那「不见」写尽王师的未出；其二，写情之痛——那「不见」更是写痛——不见，正见望眼欲穿的痛楚，那「不见」写尽陆游的沉郁。以「不见」写惆怅，正是陆游写报国的枢纽——若换作「未睹」「难见」等词，则或失其与「王师出散关」「三秦父老应惆怅」的配合，或失其写不见的意味；唯「不见」二字，以不见王师出散关写尽王师之未出与望眼之痛楚，与「三秦父老应惆怅」的惆怅相合，写尽王师的未出，也让「不见王师出散关」成为全诗写惆怅的名句。