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汉 Han · 古诗 Ancient poem

生年不满百

Life Lasts Less Than a Hundred Years

古诗十九首（无名氏）

Anonymous (Nineteen Old Poems)

哲理Philosophy 时序Theme 忧愤Theme

生年不满百，常怀千岁忧。
昼短苦夜长，何不秉烛游？
为乐当及时，何能待来兹？
愚者爱惜费，但为后世嗤。
仙人王子乔，难可与等期。

Life lasts less than a hundred years, yet I carry a thousand-years' worry.
The day is short, the long night bitter—why not hold a candle and roam?
Make merry while you can; how can you wait for what comes next?
The fool hoards his wealth and grudges the spend, only to be laughed at by later ages.
The immortal Wang Ziqiao—hard to meet him as an equal in span.

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Meaning

The fifteenth of the 'Nineteen Old Poems' in the 'Wen Xuan.' Its author is unknown, likely a lower-ranked literatus of the mid-to-late Eastern Han. In an age of constant partisan peril, life felt uncertain; 'hold a candle and roam' and 'make merry in time' are the helpless relief of men in turmoil, and show the late-Han awakening to life's brevity.

人生在世不满百年，心中却常牵挂千年以后的忧患。白昼短促、长夜苦寒，何不执烛夜游及时行乐？行乐就该趁当下，哪能空等那未知的来日？愚拙的人吝惜钱财不肯花费，只落得被后世耻笑。那长生不死的仙人王子乔，又岂是凡人可与同期期盼的。

Appreciation

The poem is built on philosophical argument yet never dry. It opens 'Life lasts less than a hundred years, yet I carry a thousand-years' worry,' setting force by opposing quantities; 'the day is short, the long night bitter—why not hold a candle and roam' moves from reason to scene, from scene to feeling. The fourth and fifth lines use question and counter-question, the tone pressing step by step. The last two lines raise 'the immortal Wang Ziqiao,' using the gap between immortal and mortal to set off the urgency of seizing the moment—carefree on the surface, grieving within, showing the Han poem's art of 'shallow yet able to be deep.'

【白话串讲】 “生年不满百，常怀千岁忧。昼短苦夜长，何不秉烛游”——人生不到一百年，却操着千年后的心。白天短黑夜长，为什么不点着蜡烛玩个痛快？汉代的“及时行乐”，活得明白。【意象与手法】此诗以哲理议论为骨架，却无枯淡之病。发端『生年不满百，常怀千岁忧』以数量对举立势；『昼短苦夜长，何不秉烛游』由理入景、以景生情；后幅连用设问与反诘，语气层层逼进；末二句拈出『仙人王子乔』，以仙凡不可期反衬及时行乐之切，旷达其表、悲慨其里。【情感与主旨】《生年不满百》列《文选》所收《古诗十九首》之第十五，作者已不可考，学界多断为东汉中后期下层文士之作。时值外戚宦官交替专权、党锢之祸连发，士人动辄得咎，生命无常之感弥漫，诗中『秉烛游』『为乐及时』之语，正是乱世文人对短促人生的无奈纾解，亦见汉末生命意识之觉醒。【名句点睛】中高考常取『生年不满百，常怀千岁忧』与『何不秉烛游』设题，考查对生命短促与忧思无穷矛盾的理解，以及『及时行乐』表象下深藏的悲慨。

Background

The fifteenth of the 'Nineteen Old Poems' in the 'Wen Xuan'; the author is unknown, commonly judged a lower-ranked literatus of the mid-to-late Eastern Han. Then, as consort clans and eunuchs took turns in power and the partisan prohibitions struck again and again, scholars erred at every turn and a sense of life's uncertainty spread. The lines 'hold a candle and roam' and 'make merry in time' are the helpless relief of turbulent-age scholars before a short life, and show the late-Han awakening to the value of life.

《生年不满百》列《文选》所收《古诗十九首》之第十五首，作者已不可考，学界多断为东汉中后期下层文士之作。《古诗十九首》产生于东汉桓、灵之世：其时外戚宦官交替专权，党锢之祸连发，士人或遭禁锢，或罹杀身之祸，仕进之路几乎断绝；加以水旱频仍、瘟疫横行，社会动荡，死亡随时可至。身处其间的文士，既不能建功立业，又深感生命短促、祸福无常，遂普遍生出人生如寄、及时行乐的感慨，此诗正是这一思潮的集中表达。诗中『秉烛游』『为乐及时』之语，看似劝人纵乐，实为乱世文人对短促人生的无奈纾解：既然功名无望、长生难期，唯有把握当下之乐。这种以放达写悲慨的心态，正是汉末生命意识觉醒的标志，也是魏晋玄学与旷达风气之先声，在中国思想史与文学史上均有承前启后的意义。此诗的思想与艺术在《十九首》中均具代表性，历来与《驱车上东门》《青青陵上柏》并称叹逝及时行乐三篇，是研读汉末文人精神世界的必读之作。

Art

The poem is built on philosophical argument yet never dry. It opens by opposing quantities; 'the day is short, the long night bitter—why not hold a candle and roam' moves from reason to scene, from scene to feeling. The fourth and fifth lines use question and counter-question, the tone pressing step by step. The last two lines raise 'the immortal Wang Ziqiao,' using the gap between immortal and mortal to set off the urgency of seizing the moment—carefree on the surface, grieving within, the finest of the Han poem's 'shallow yet able to be deep.'

此诗以哲理议论为骨架，却无枯淡之病，端在议论与形象的结合、设问与反诘的运用。发端『生年不满百，常怀千岁忧』以数量对举立势：百与千，一生与千秋，短与长、实与虚的悬殊对照，凸显忧思之不合比例，立片言而居要。『昼短苦夜长，何不秉烛游』由理入景、以景生情：昼短夜长本是物理，加一『苦』字便成心理，秉烛夜游更以形象之语写出及时行乐之旨。『为乐当及时，何能待来兹』以反诘逼进，语气凌厉。『愚者爱惜费，但为后世嗤』以愚者守财反衬达者行乐，冷峭幽默。末二句『仙人王子乔，难可与等期』拈出仙人典故，以仙凡不可同期反衬行乐之切，旷达其表、悲慨其里。全诗八句，四层递进，设问反诘层见叠出，语言质直而锋芒内敛，正是汉诗『浅而能深』之妙。全诗以议论入诗而不失诗味，设问反诘一气贯注，正是汉诗自然而然、不假雕饰的本色，也是古诗十九首『文温以丽，意悲而远』的典型体现。

Allusions

The poem's 'Wang Ziqiao' uses the tale of Prince Jin, son of King Ling of Zhou, who loved to play the sheng like a phoenix and later rode off with the immortal Fu Qiu to become an immortal, in the 'Lie Xian Zhuan.' The 'hold a candle and roam' image also continues the 'Nineteen Old Poems' line 'the day is short, the long night bitter,' and opens the later phrase 'the day is short, the night bitter—why not hold a candle and roam.' The poem uses only this one allusion, the rest direct; it wins not by piling allusions but by moving with plain, spoken questions.

诗中用典不多而皆为点睛。『王子乔』是诗中唯一显豁的典故：据《列仙传》，王子乔为周灵王太子晋，好吹笙作凤凰鸣，后随浮丘公登嵩山仙去，是古代著名的成仙得道者。诗人以此设论：连王子乔那样的仙人尚且不可期遇，何况凡人？长生无望，则唯有及时行乐，典故之用，正在反衬行乐之必要。『秉烛游』虽非事典，却是全诗最著意象：白昼苦短，则秉烛夜游以延长欢乐，这一意象后来凝固为成语『秉烛夜游』，成为及时行乐的同义语，曹操《短歌行》『昼短苦夜长，何不秉烛游』即直接沿用此句，可见其影响。『千岁忧』之『千岁』与『不满百』对举，写忧思之漫无边际，语本《庄子》『朝菌不知晦朔，蟪蛄不知春秋』的生命短长之思。全诗仅此数典，余皆直抒，不靠堆砌取胜，而以口语化的追问打动人心，正是古诗十九首质朴本色的体现。此诗用典虽少而皆关生死大事，把人生短促的感慨写得既具体又超迈，正是汉诗以浅语达深情的典范，对后世叹逝诗影响深远。

Commentary

Xie Zhen (Ming) said Han poems are 'natural, without carved ornament'; Wang Fuzhi praised the 'Nineteen' as 'one unbroken flow.' 'Life Lasts Less Than a Hundred Years' is seen as a representative of the late-Han awakening to life; Zhong Rong ranked the old poems in the top grade, 'warm yet fine in form, grieving yet far in meaning'—this piece among them.

《古诗十九首》在中国诗歌史上地位极高，刘勰《文心雕龙》称其『直而不野，婉转附物，怊怅切情，实五言之冠冕』；钟嵘《诗品》列古诗于上品，谓其『文温以丽，意悲而远，惊心动魄，可谓几乎一字千金』。此诗作为其中叹逝主题的代表，历代评家多着眼于其旷达中的悲慨：明人谢榛《四溟诗话》谓汉诗『自然而然，不假雕饰』，正可移评此篇；清人王夫之《姜斋诗话》称《十九首》『一味酣畅』，此诗以议论直陈、一气呵成，正是酣畅之体。论者多谓此诗表面劝人及时行乐，实为乱世士人生命焦虑的宣泄：当仕进无门、长生难期之际，唯有秉烛夜游的自嘲式放达，方能稍解悲怀。这种以乐写哀的笔法，与《青青陵上柏》《驱车上东门》等篇一脉相承，共同构成汉末生命意识觉醒的诗史，对后世曹操、曹植直至李白『人生得意须尽欢』皆有深远影响。此诗至今仍为各类教材与选本所收录，其及时行乐的旷达与忧生念远的悲慨，仍能引起现代读者的共鸣，足见汉末诗歌跨越时代的精神力量。

Prosody

Form Han five-character old poem (one of the Nineteen Old Poems)五言古诗（《古诗十九首》之一）

Rhyme You, you, zi, chi, qi; the zhi and wei groups mixed; Han poems rhyme loosely忧、游、兹、嗤、期押韵，属上古幽部、之部通押，汉诗多通押不拘严韵。

Tone pattern Five-character ancient form, level-oblique not fixed, natural two-three beat五言古体，不讲近体平仄，以自然的二二一或二一二节奏行文，偶句押韵，句式整齐而气脉流畅。

Reading note A representative of the mature literati five-character; not bound to yuefu meter此诗为五言古诗，十句五十字，属《古诗十九首》体，是文人五言诗成熟期的代表。五言句式较四言多出一字，音节容量更大，节奏更趋流走，上二下三的节奏自然顺畅，正合此诗议论说理、一气呵成的需要。用韵上，韵脚『忧、游、兹、嗤、期』属上古幽部、之部，两韵部通押，汉人用韵不若后世之严，多依口语自然相叶，正见汉古诗质朴自由的本色；偶句押韵，一韵到底，十句一气贯注，声情与辞情相谐，酣畅淋漓。句法上，全诗以议论为主而间以设问反诘：『何不秉烛游』『何能待来兹』『难可与等期』，三处问句如连珠炮发，一层紧似一层，读来气势逼人，正是王夫之所谓『一味酣畅』的声情效果。此诗不依乐府声律，属文人徒诗，其以议论为骨、以问句为气的写法，为后世论理诗开了先河，也是五言古诗由叙事写景转向说理议论的转折点，在诗歌体式发展史上具有重要地位。

Line by line

生年不满百，常怀千岁忧

Life lasts less than a hundred years, yet I carry a thousand-years' worry.

人生在世不满百年，心中却常牵挂千年以后的忧患。

Life lasts less than a hundred years, yet we harbor sorrows for a thousand.

发端两句以数量对举立势，是全诗立论的基石。『生年不满百』写人生之短：即使活到百岁，也不过匆匆百年；『常怀千岁忧』写忧思之长：人却常怀千年之远的忧患。百与千、生与忧、短与长，数字的悬殊对照之下，忧思的不合比例、人生的自寻烦恼，不言自明。此二句之妙，在以算术写哲理：把生命与忧患量化，一比之下，荒谬立见——人生不足百年，何苦为千年之后的事忧心忡忡？诗人不直接劝人看开，而先以数字戳破忧思的虚妄，立片言而居要，全篇议论由此展开。同时，『千岁忧』三字也暗含深意：汉末士人所忧者，何止一身？社稷之危、世道之乱、身后之名，皆在千岁之忧的笼罩之下，表面看开，实则忧患深重，旷达语中已藏悲凉。

The arithmetic. Life lasts less than a hundred years, yet we harbor sorrows for a thousand. The numbers (a hundred years, a thousand years of worry) expose the absurdity: we worry further ahead than we can live. To have said we worry too much about the future would be a saying; the under-a-hundred years against the constant thousand-year worries are the saying.

昼短苦夜长，何不秉烛游

The day is short, the long night bitter—why not hold a candle and roam?

白昼短促、长夜苦寒，何不执烛夜游及时行乐？

The day is short and the night long—why not wander with a candle in hand?

此句由立论转入行事，以设问提出及时行乐之方。『昼短苦夜长』写时日之感：白昼苦短，长夜难熬，一个『苦』字把客观的时间写成了主观的煎熬，见出诗人对光阴流逝的敏感与焦虑；『何不秉烛游』以反诘出之，提出对策——既然白昼苦短，何不秉烛夜游，把黑夜也变成行乐的光阴？『秉烛游』三字是全诗最著意象：烛光虽微，却足以驱散长夜之暗，把人生有限的光阴延伸开来，正是以形象之语写达观之理。此句之妙，在以设问写决断：『何不』二字，语气商量而意已坚定，仿佛诗人自己也在说服自己。由前句的忧思到此句的行乐，情感一转，而秉烛夜游的意象清新动人，遂成千古名句，曹操《短歌行》直接沿用，可见其感染力之强。

The candle. The day is short and the night long—why not wander with a candle in hand? The rhetorical question proposes turning the nights into days. The candle is the poem's famous image. To have said make the most of your time would be advice; the short-day-long-night and the why-not-wander-with-a-candle are the advice.

为乐当及时，何能待来兹

Take your joy in time; how can you wait for the coming year?

行乐就该趁当下，哪能空等那未知的来日？

Take your joy while you may; how can you wait for the year to come?

此句以反诘逼进，把及时行乐之理说透。『为乐当及时』正面立论：行乐要趁当下，一个『当』字见出决断；『何能待来兹』以反诘追问：来日方长，谁能保证来日可待？『来兹』即来年，未知的将来，看似遥远实则虚无，因为人生无常，祸福难测，空等来日无异于坐失良机。两句一正一反，说理彻底而语气凌厉，正是诗人在自我劝勉：不要说等以后，以后不可期，唯有当下最可把握。此句之妙，在以时间的无常立论：不是贪图享乐，而是看透了生命的不确定，才愈发珍惜当下。与前句『昼短苦夜长』相承，由夜以继日的具体行乐，上升为『及时』的普遍道理，议论层层推进，为下文讥愚者、叹仙人的展开作了铺垫，语气如连珠炮发，酣畅淋漓。

The insistence. Take your joy while you may; how can you wait for the year to come? The question presses the point: tomorrow is not guaranteed. The today-against-tomorrow is the carpe diem argument. To have said enjoy today would be a maxim; the take-your-joy-in-time and the how-can-you-wait-for-the-year-to-come are the maxim.

仙人王子乔，难可与等期

The immortal Wang Ziqiao—hard to meet him as an equal in span.

那长生不死的仙人王子乔，又岂是凡人可与同期期盼的。

The immortal Wang Zijiao is hard to count on, as men may.

末二句拈出仙人典故收束全篇，以仙凡不可同期反衬行乐之切。『仙人王子乔』用周灵王太子晋得道成仙的典故，王子乔吹笙引凤、登仙而去，是凡人艳羡的长生典范；『难可与等期』却当头一棒：神仙境界，岂是凡人可同期共待的？成仙无望，长生难期，则人生既不能延寿，又何必为千岁忧？唯有抓住当下，及时行乐。此句之妙，在以仙凡之隔彻底堵死长生的幻想：前文说尽人生之短、行乐之当，此处再以仙道之不可期作一总收，把及时行乐之理推向无可辩驳的境地，议论至此圆足。然细味之，此二句实含深悲：凡人既无仙缘，亦无退路，唯有在有限的年华中纵情自遣，看似旷达，实则无奈，正是『旷达其表、悲慨其里』的收束，全诗由劝世转入自叹，余味苍凉，令人久久回味。

The immortal. The immortal Wang Zijiao is hard to count on, as men may. The poem closes by dismissing the escape of immortality: the immortal's lifespan is not for us, so joy must be had here. To have said immortality was out of reach would be a dismissal; the immortal Wang Zijiao whom we cannot equal in hope is the dismissal.

Study

Word focus

苦 In 'the day is short, the long night bitter,' 'bitter' writes both the sleepless long night and the pressing worry—one word, two meanings, a bone-deep choice. 『昼短苦夜长』之『苦』，是此诗炼字见骨的典范。『苦』作动词用，意为苦于、为……所苦，写诗人苦于白昼之短、长夜之难熬。此字之妙，在化客观为主观：昼短夜长本是物理事实，人人皆然，加一『苦』字，便成了个人的煎熬体验——白昼苦短，是恨光阴流逝太快；长夜难熬，是忧思中夜不能寐。二字写尽汉末士人面对时间流逝的焦虑：不是从容地看待昼夜更替，而是被时间追赶、为时间所苦，生命的紧迫感扑面而来。同时，『苦』字也为下句『何不秉烛游』提供了逻辑的起点：正因为苦于长夜，才要秉烛而游，把苦变为乐，一个动词带动全句，既是情感的凝结，又是行事的因由，正是古诗炼字以情为本的典型，比后世『恨』字更见朴拙之味。

嗤 'But to be laughed at by later ages' uses one 'laugh' for the fool who hoards and is mocked—colloquial yet dripping with satire. 『但为后世嗤』之『嗤』，是此诗讽世笔法的点睛字。『嗤』即嗤笑、讥笑，写吝惜钱财的愚者，生前守着钱财不肯花费，死后只落得被后世嗤笑的下场。此字之妙，在以一个冷峭的字眼写出价值判断：愚者之愚，不在吝啬本身，而在把有限的生命耗于无限的聚敛，至死不开窍，徒留笑柄于后世。『嗤』字声调短促，含讥带讽，口吻冷峭，与前文劝人及时行乐的热切形成对照，一冷一热，讽意毕现。同时，『后世嗤』三字也暗含时间的深意：愚者以为守着钱财便保住了什么，殊不知百年之后，钱财烟消，唯有嗤笑长存，以身后之笑写生前之愚，讽刺入骨。此字口语化而入诗，正是汉诗『质而不俚』的体现，一字而见全诗讽世的锋芒。