汉 Han · 乐府 Yuefu ballad
妇病行
The Sick Wife
妇病连年累岁，传呼丈人前一言。
当言未及得言，不知泪下一何翩翩。
属累君两三孤子，莫我儿饥且寒，有过慎莫笪笞。
行当折摇，思复念之。
乱曰：抱时无衣，襦复无里。
闭门塞牖，舍孤儿到市。
道逢亲交，泣坐不能起。
从乞求与孤儿买饵，对交啼泣，泪不可止。
我欲不伤悲，不能已。
探怀中钱持授交。
入门见孤儿，啼索其母抱。
徘徊空舍中，行复尔耳，弃置勿复道。
Before the word is spoken, unchecked the tears come tumbling down.
'Entrust to you our two or three fatherless babes — let not my children hunger or cold;
if they err, beat them not too hard.' Now I am failing; think of them ever.
Refrain: I hold my babe with no clothes; the jacket has no lining.
I shut the door, stop the window, leave the orphans for the market.
On the road I meet a friend; I sit and weep, unable to rise.
I beg him to buy the orphans some cakes; before him I cry, the tears will not stop.
I would not grieve — yet cannot hold it in.
I feel in my breast and place the coins in his hand.
Back home I meet the orphans, wailing for their mother's arms.
I pace the empty room; so it goes again — let it be, say no more.
Meaning
A poor woman has been sick for years and summons her husband to hear a last word. Before she can speak, her tears fall. She entrusts their two or three orphans to him, begging that the children not go hungry or cold and that he not beat them too hard, for she is failing and will soon die. In the refrain the husband, with no clothes for the babe and a jacket without lining, shuts the windows and leaves the orphans to beg in the market. He meets a friend on the road, sits weeping, and begs him to buy cakes for the children; he cannot stop his tears. He would not grieve but cannot help it, presses his last coins into the friend's hand, then returns home to orphans crying for their mother. He paces the empty room and falls silent — the tragedy repeats itself; say no more.
妇人病倒连年累岁，传话叫丈夫到跟前来留一句话。正要说话还来不及说，不知眼泪怎样纷纷落下。嘱托拖累你这两三个孤儿，莫让我的孩子挨饿受寒，有了过错千万莫要鞭打。我即将命断气绝，你要常常思念他们。乱辞说：抱孩子时没有衣服，短袄又无里衬。关上门窗，撇下孤儿到市上。路上遇到亲友，哭泣坐下不能起身。向亲友乞求替孤儿买糕饼，对着亲友啼哭，泪水止不住。我想要不悲伤，却不能自制。摸出怀中钱交托亲友。进门看见孤儿，啼哭索要母亲的怀抱。在空屋里徘徊，事又如此，罢了罢了，不再多说。
Appreciation
This Han ballad is stark, documentary realism built from speech and detail. It opens on the dying wife calling her husband for 'one word', then 'tears tumbling down' before she speaks — a silent grief already told. Her dying charge, 'let not my children hunger or cold', 'beat them not too hard', is every word blood and tears, revealing both a mother's love and a household's desperation. The refrain shifts to the husband: shutting the door, begging a friend for cakes, meeting the orphans crying for their mother — a montage of details that lays a father's helplessness and a child's innocence over one another like film. It ends 'let it be, say no more', refusing to finish, and the pain lingers. The language is plain as talk yet cuts to the bone; it is the model of yuefu's 'plain yet not coarse'.
【白话串讲】 一个病了很多年的女人，临终前拉着丈夫：“属累君两三孤子，莫我儿饥且寒”——孩子就托付给你了，别让他们饿着冻着。“行当折摇，思复念之”——我快死了，你要常想想我。汉乐府里最催泪的临终嘱托。 【意象与手法】 本诗以高度写实的白描手法，通过对话与细节刻画悲剧。开篇以病妇『传呼丈人前一言』的临终场景入笔，『泪下一何翩翩』以叠词写无声之泣；临终嘱托『莫我儿饥且寒』『慎莫笪笞』，语语血泪。后半『乱曰』转写丈夫视角：闭门塞牖、道逢亲交乞饵、入门见孤儿索母，动作细节如蒙太奇般叠加，结尾『弃置勿复道』以欲说还休作结，余痛无穷。 【情感与主旨】 《妇病行》为汉乐府民歌，属《相和歌辞·瑟调曲》（据《乐府诗集》）。此诗写一户贫寒人家，主妇久病将逝，临终嘱夫善视孤儿；丈夫迫于生计不得不撇下孤儿外出乞讨，归见孤儿索母，悲不能已，是东汉末年贫民生活的惨淡缩影，具有强烈的社会批判意义与纪实价值。 【名句点睛】 中高考常考：①内容理解——梳理病妇临终嘱托与丈夫乞讨两幅画面所构成的家庭悲剧；②白描手法与细节描写的艺术效果；③『乱曰』的结构作用。
Background
The Sick Wife is a Han yuefu folk song in the Se Diao (silk-string) mode of the Yuefu Anthology. Han yuefu 'arose from joy and grief, born of events', gathering the real voice of common people and reflecting their suffering. The poem pictures a destitute household: the wife sick unto death, the husband forced by want to leave the orphans begging, and the children crying for their mother — a mirror of the late-Han misery of war and heavy taxes, when the poor sold their children and broke their families. The naked poverty of 'holding the babe with no clothes, a jacket with no lining' and the horror of 'crying for mother's arms' are a record and an indictment of the times.
《妇病行》为汉乐府民歌，属《相和歌辞·瑟调曲》，最早见录于《宋书·乐志》，郭茂倩《乐府诗集》收入《相和歌辞》。汉乐府民歌多采自民间，『感于哀乐，缘事而发』，真实反映底层人民的生活疾苦。此诗写一户贫寒人家：主妇久病将逝，临终嘱托丈夫善待孤儿；丈夫迫于生计，不得不撇下幼子外出乞讨，归家见孤儿啼索母抱，悲不能已。东汉末年，外戚宦官专权，政治腐败，赋役繁重，加以水旱蝗灾连年，贫民卖儿鬻女、妻离子散者不可胜数，诗中『抱时无衣，襦复无里』的赤贫之状与『啼索其母抱』的惨景，正是当时社会惨状的缩影。此诗不写帝王将相，专写贫民家庭之悲，具有强烈的社会批判意义与纪实价值，是汉乐府现实主义精神的集中体现。此诗与《孤儿行》《东门行》等同为汉乐府写贫民生活的名篇，共同构成汉代底层社会的生活图卷，是研究汉代社会史与文学史的重要材料。
Art
The poem is high realism by white description, drawing the tragedy through speech and detail. It opens on the dying wife's 'one word' and the 'tears tumbling' — a reduplicative for soundless weeping, piercing. Her charge 'let not my children hunger or cold', 'beat them not too hard' is blood and tears, showing deep mother-love and a wretched state. The refrain turns to the husband's view: shut the door, meet a friend and beg for cakes, come home to orphans crying for their mother — a sequence of action details stacked like montage, writing a father's powerlessness and grief into the bone. The close 'so it goes again — let it be, say no more' refuses to end, and the ache is endless. The language is homely as speech yet pierces the page; it is the very type of yuefu's 'plain yet not coarse'.
本诗以高度写实的白描手法，通过对话与细节刻画悲剧，不着一字议论而悲情自现。开篇以病妇『传呼丈人前一言』的临终场景入笔，从传话、欲言、未及言而泪下的过程写起，『泪下一何翩翩』以叠词写无声之泣，凄楚动人。临终嘱托是全诗情感的至深处：『莫我儿饥且寒』『慎莫笪笞』，语语血泪，见母爱之深与处境之惨。后半『乱曰』转写丈夫视角：抱时无衣、襦无里，是贫家生活的惨淡写实；闭门塞牖、舍孤儿到市、道逢亲交、泣坐不能起、从乞求买饵、探怀中钱授交，一系列动作细节如蒙太奇般叠加，把男性家长的无力与悲恸写得入骨。结尾『入门见孤儿，啼索其母抱』以孤儿索母的细节一击致命，『行复尔耳，弃置勿复道』以欲说还休作结，余痛无穷。语言朴质如口语，却力透纸背，是汉乐府『质而不俚』的典范。全诗以白描写真、以细节传情，不事雕琢而力透纸背，正是汉乐府『感于哀乐，缘事而发』创作精神的典范，也是中国叙事诗写实传统的高峰。
Allusions
'Husband' (zhang ren) in Han yuefu often means a wife's word for her man, not 'father-in-law' as later; here 'calls her husband near' is the Han vernacular. 'Failing' (zhe yao) means to waste away and die, the sick wife judging her own end. 'Beat with a switch' (da chi) — the switch is bamboo, the rod a stick, both Han household punishment, showing even the poor used the rod. 'Refrain' (luan yue) is the common close-mark of yuefu and Chu Ci, as in the 'Luans' of Li Sao, gathering the whole grief. The allusions are really folk speech and form, fitting the Han real condition, with no literati ornament — the yuefu spirit of 'born of events'.
此诗用典甚少而俗语古义颇多，正见其民间本色。『丈人』在汉乐府中常指丈夫，与后世称岳父之义不同，如本诗『传呼丈人前一言』即妻呼其夫，是汉代民间俗语用法。『折摇』通『折夭』，谓夭折、命断，写病妇自料将死，语出沉痛。『笪笞』之『笪』为竹鞭，『笞』为杖击，皆汉代刑罚与家法之具，病妇嘱咐丈夫莫以笪笞责打孤儿，见贫家虽无长物，亦难免体罚，更见其忧儿之心切。『乱曰』为乐府及《楚辞》常见的尾声标志，如《离骚》之『乱曰』，用于总收全篇悲情，此处以『乱曰』领起丈夫乞讨的场面，结构上形成两段式叙述。『襦』为短上衣，『里』为衣内衬，『无衣』『无里』写贫寒之状，皆汉代下层生活的实写。全诗用典（实为俗语与体制）皆切合汉代社会实况，无任何文人藻饰，体现乐府『缘事而发』的写实精神。全诗俗语古义皆切合汉代社会实况，无任何文人藻饰，正体现乐府民歌『缘事而发』的写实精神与民间本色，为后世保存了珍贵的汉代语言与社会史料。
Commentary
The Yuefu Anthology, citing the Gujin Yuelu, places it in the Se Diao. The Ming critic Hu Yinglin's Shisou calls Han yuefu 'plain yet not coarse, shallow yet able to go deep'; The Sick Wife is its finest. The modern scholar Yu Guan Ying's Yuefu Shixuan says it 'writes a poor family's tragedy through the dying wife's words and the husband's begging, deeply reflecting the pain of the lower people'. Its pale realism stands in one line with Du Fu's 'the stench of meat and wine behind vermilion gates'.
《乐府诗集》引《古今乐录》将《妇病行》列入《瑟调曲》，历代选本多录此诗。明人胡应麟《诗薮》称汉乐府『质而不俚，浅而能深』，《妇病行》正是其例：语言朴质如口语，而情感的深度、写实的力度，远非雕琢之作可比。清人沈德潜《古诗源》选录此诗，评汉乐府『体贴人情，委曲必尽』，此诗写病妇临终之言、丈夫乞讨之状、孤儿索母之啼，正是『委曲必尽』的典范。今人余冠英《乐府诗选》评曰：『这首诗写一个贫民家庭的悲剧，通过病妇临终的话和丈夫出门乞讨、回家见孤儿的情景，深刻地反映了当时下层人民的痛苦。』其白描之惨淡，足与杜甫『朱门酒肉臭，路有冻死骨』的写实精神同列一脉，是中国诗歌现实主义传统的源头之一，对后世杜甫、白居易等新乐府诗人影响深远。此诗至今读来仍令人心碎，其白描之惨淡、情感之深挚，足与后世杜甫《三吏》《三别》等新乐府名篇并观，是中国现实主义诗歌传统中不可忽视的一环。
Prosody
Line by line
妇病连年累岁，传呼丈人前一言
My wife has lain sick year on year; she calls her husband near to speak one word.
妇人病倒连年累岁，传话叫丈夫到跟前来留一句话。
The wife has been ill for years and years; she sends word for her husband to come before her and hear one last word.
起笔即写临终场景，不事铺垫而悲情自现。『妇病连年累岁』写病之久：连年累岁，可见病妇长期缠绵病榻，家境之贫、医药之缺自在言外；『传呼丈人前一言』写临终之嘱：病妇已无力起身，只能传话叫丈夫到跟前，要留下一句话，『一言』二字写尽临终之人千言万语无从说起、只余一句话的沉重。两句一写病之久，一写言之事，时间与事件并置，把读者直接带入弥留之际的贫家小屋。『丈人』是汉代民间对丈夫的称呼，正是乐府民歌的口语本色。此起笔之妙，在不写病妇如何形容枯槁，而只写传话、留言这两个动作，以最简省的笔墨写出最沉重的时刻，为下文泪下、托孤的展开蓄足情感，正是汉乐府白描写实的典型开篇。
The deathbed scene opens without prelude. The wife has been ill for years and years; she sends word for her husband to come before her and hear one last word. The one word is the whole point: she has more to say, but only one word is left. The spoken invitation is the last act. To have described a dying wife would be pathos; the summons for one last word is the pathos.
当言未及得言，不知泪下一何翩翩
Before the word is spoken, unchecked the tears come tumbling down.
正要说话还来不及说，不知眼泪怎样纷纷落下。
About to speak, she cannot get the words out; her tears fall, nobody knows how fast, in showers.
此句写临终欲言而泪先下的瞬间，是全诗第一处催人泪下之笔。『当言未及得言』写正要开口却来不及说出：临终之人有千言万语，却连一句话也来不及完整说出，见其情之悲、时之迫；『不知泪下一何翩翩』写眼泪不由自主地纷纷落下，『不知』二字写泪之不受控制，『一何』写其程度之甚，『翩翩』以叠词状泪落纷纷之态，如见泪珠连串滚落。此句之妙，在把临终之际欲言难言、以泪代言的复杂情态写得真切如见：不是不悲，而是悲到说不出话，只能任眼泪代言。『翩翩』本形容鸟飞轻快之态，移以写泪，既见泪落之纷纷，又暗含生命之将逝，叠词凄楚，白描胜于渲染，正是汉乐府以拙语写深情的长处，为下文托孤的血泪之言作了最充分的铺垫。
The moment of speech. About to speak, she cannot get the words out; her tears fall, nobody knows how fast, in showers. The word nobody (she does not know) is the involuntary nature of the weeping—the body outruns the will. The fluttering word borrowed from flying birds describes the falling tears. To have said she wept before speaking would be a detail; the tears falling like birds' wings before the words come is the detail.
属累君两三孤子，莫我儿饥且寒
I entrust to you our two or three fatherless babes — let not my children hunger or cold.
嘱托拖累你这两三个孤儿，莫让我的孩子挨饿受寒。
I burden you with these two or three motherless children; let not my sons go hungry or cold.
此句是临终嘱托的核心，语语血泪，见母爱之深与处境之惨。『属累』即嘱托拖累，病妇自知将死，把孤儿托付给丈夫，一个『累』字既写托孤之重，又含拖累之歉，见其无奈与不忍；『两三孤子』写孤儿之众，两三子尚未成年而将失母，惨情自见。『莫我儿饥且寒』是最朴素也最沉重的嘱托：不求富贵，只求孩子不挨饿受寒，为人母者临终所念，不过如此，而一个『莫』字见出其深知此愿亦难，因为家境赤贫，饥寒本难避免，嘱托愈朴素，现实愈残酷。此句之妙，在以最家常的语言写最深沉的母爱：不涉任何修饰，句句从心底流出，正是乐府民歌本色。病妇托孤之言，自此开启后半丈夫乞讨的悲剧，母爱之深与命运之惨，在此形成最强烈的对照。
The bequest. I burden you with these two or three motherless children; let not my sons go hungry or cold. The word burden carries the apology—the dying woman apologizes for leaving the children. The request is the smallest possible: not hunger, not cold. That even this is doubtful is the poem's poverty. To have said she asked him to care for the children would be a request; the burden and the plea against hunger and cold are the request.
乱曰：抱时无衣，襦复无里
The refrain: when I take them up, they have no coat; the short jacket has no lining.
乱辞说：抱孩子时没有衣服，短袄又无里衬。
The refrain: when he takes them up, they have no coat; their little jacket has no lining.
『乱曰』是乐府及《楚辞》的尾声标志，此处以之转入丈夫视角，结构上形成前后两段：前写病妇托孤，后写丈夫乞讨。『抱时无衣，襦复无里』写贫家之赤贫：抱起孩子时没有完整的衣服，短袄连里衬也没有，『无衣』『无里』层层递进，写尽家徒四壁的惨状。此句之妙，在以细节写贫穷：不泛言家贫，而写孩子无衣可穿、短袄无里，具体的物象比抽象的叙述更具冲击力，贫到连孩子的衣服都凑不齐，正是当时贫民生活的真实写照。『乱曰』后的丈夫，面对着无衣的孤儿与无米的空屋，不得不闭门塞牖、撇下孩子外出乞讨，此句正是丈夫悲剧的起点：母亲之托尚未凉透，父亲已陷入无法照料的绝境，两段叙事由此衔接，白描之中自见惨淡。
The refrain turns to the husband. When he takes them up, they have no coat; their little jacket has no lining. The two no's (no coat, no lining) are the poverty in children's clothing. The structural turn (乱) from dying wife to failing husband is the poem's second half. To have said the children were ragged would be a detail; the coatless children and the liningless jacket are the raggedness.
入门见孤儿，啼索其母抱
Back home I meet the orphans, wailing for their mother's arms.
进门看见孤儿，啼哭索要母亲的怀抱。
He enters the door and sees the orphans, crying and demanding their mother's arms.
此句是全诗最摧人心肝的细节，以孤儿索母一击致命。丈夫乞讨归来，进门看见孤儿，孩子不懂母亲已死，犹自啼哭着索要母亲的怀抱，『啼索其母抱』五字，写尽幼儿失母之悲与父亲无言之痛。此句之妙，在以最天真的行为写最残酷的现实：孩子越是天真地要妈妈，越反衬出母亲已逝、父亦无力回天的绝望；『索』字写孩子执着地索取，索而不得，愈见其悲。全诗至此，病妇托孤时的凄凉与丈夫乞讨时的辛酸，都在孤儿这一声啼哭中达到高潮：母亲的遗言还在耳边，而孩子已经永远失去了怀抱。诗人不写丈夫如何痛哭，只写孤儿索母，以不言写至悲，正是汉乐府白描艺术的最高境界，令人不忍卒读。
The knockout. He enters the door and sees the orphans, crying and demanding their mother's arms. The children do not know she is dead; they ask for her. The poem does not describe the father's face. The child's demand is the whole grief. To have said the children cried for their dead mother would be pathos; the orphans crying for mother's arms he cannot give are the pathos.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Writing the people's hardship across ages; see the realist continuity from Book of Songs to Han yuefu.
《诗经·小雅·鸿雁》与汉乐府《妇病行》同写民生疾苦，一为西周雅诗，一为汉代民歌，跨越时代而写实精神一脉相承。《鸿雁》以鸿雁起兴，写使臣抚恤流民、筑室安民之劳，是贵族诗人自上而下的悯民之作，风格温厚典雅；《妇病行》则直写贫民家庭自身的悲剧，以病妇托孤、丈夫乞讨的白描写真，是平民诗人自下而上的哀诉，风格朴质惨烈。《鸿雁》以兴写情，含蓄委婉；《妇病行》以事写悲，直白沉痛。二诗对读，可见中国诗歌写实传统从《诗经》到汉乐府的演进：由贵族视角的悯民转向民间视角的自我倾诉，表现对象与抒情方式都更贴近底层，正是现实主义诗歌传统的重要发展。
东门行 Song of the East Gate 汉乐府 · 同属汉乐府，同写贫民家庭的困境 Same (both Han yuefu / livelihood theme) / Differ (conflict: 'East Gate' husband turns to crime, this a family's scattering)Both Han yuefu on lower-class suffering; compare their different resistance and lament.
《东门行》与《妇病行》同属汉乐府，同写贫民家庭的绝境，而人物的选择各异。《东门行》写贫夫为饥寒所迫，不顾妻子劝阻，拔剑出门铤而走险，是全家的反抗与挣扎，悲壮激烈；《妇病行》则写病妇托孤、丈夫乞讨，面对绝境只有流泪与乞求，是全家的隐忍与哀恸，凄楚惨淡。《东门行》以行动写抗争，如烈火；《妇病行》以细节写悲苦，如寒冰。一写挣扎中的爆发，一写绝望中的沉没，恰可见汉乐府写贫民生活的两个侧面：既有铤而走险的抗争者，也有逆来顺受的悲苦人。二诗对读，正可全面认识汉代底层人民的生存状态，亦可比较汉乐府叙事诗在处理同一题材时的人物塑造艺术。
平陵东 East of Pingling 汉乐府 · 同属汉乐府社会批判之作，批判对象不同 Same (both Han yuefu / social critique) / Differ (target: 'East of Pingling' jeers officials' plunder, this writes a poor home's tragedy)Both yuefu 'born of events'; compare the critical angles.
《平陵东》与《妇病行》同属汉乐府中反映社会黑暗之作，而批判的对象与方式各异。《平陵东》写官吏仗势劫掠良民，『平陵东，松柏桐，不知何人劫义公』，揭露的是官府豪强的暴行，矛头直指统治阶层的横征暴敛，是政治批判；《妇病行》则纯写贫民家庭的内部悲剧，病妇之死、孤儿之啼、丈夫之乞，皆不见直接加害之人，而悲剧之源正在当时的社会制度，是隐性的社会批判。《平陵东》以叙案写暴，锋芒外露；《妇病行》以写真写悲，沉痛内敛。二诗对读，可见汉乐府批判现实的两种笔法：或直刺官府之恶，或暗写民生之惨，皆为『感于哀乐，缘事而发』的典范，共同构成汉代社会批判的现实主义画卷。