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惯于长夜

I Have Grown Accustomed to the Long Night

鲁迅

Lu Xun

革命斗争Theme 悲愤抒怀memory

惯于长夜过春时，挈妇将雏鬓有丝。
梦里依稀慈母泪，城头变幻大王旗。
忍看朋辈成新鬼，怒向刀丛觅小诗。
吟罢低眉无写处，月光如水照缁衣。

Long accustomed to passing spring amid endless night,
I carry wife and children—hair now threadlike white.
In dreams, my mother's tears still haunt me faintly;
Above city walls, warlords change their banners daily.
How can I bear seeing comrades turn to ghosts?
Into the array of blades I seek small verses of protest.
After chanting, brows lowered—nowhere to write them;
Literary moonlight flows like water upon my black robe.

Listen

Meaning

Written after the execution of five young leftist writers by the Kuomintang in 1931, this poem channels Lu Xun's rage against political terror. He witnessed friends turned to ghosts while warlords shifted allegiances, and responded not with silence but with verse.

我已习惯在漫漫长夜里度过春日，携着妻儿奔波避祸，两鬓早已斑白如丝。睡梦中依稀闪过慈母垂泪的容颜，城头上的大王旗却变幻无常。怎忍看朝夕相处的朋友竟成新鬼，我愤怒地冲向刀丛，去寻觅几句小诗。吟罢低眉，却无处可以写出，只有如水般的月光，照着我的黑色长衣。

Appreciation

A masterpiece of political poetry—the finest in modern Chinese literature. Lu Xun transforms personal grief (mother's death, friends murdered) into universal resistance. The image of seeking verse amid daggers became a defining metaphor for intellectual courage.

【白话串讲】 “惯于长夜过春时，挈妇将雏鬓有丝”——鲁迅写惯于长夜。“梦里依稀慈母泪，城头变幻大王旗”——“忍看朋辈成新鬼，怒向刀丛觅小诗”——“吟罢低眉无写处，月光如水照缁衣”——他悼念被杀害的战友。【意象与手法】首联“惯于长夜过春时，挈妇将雏鬓有丝”写长夜般黑暗中携家避祸；颔联“梦里依稀慈母泪，城头变幻大王旗”以梦境慈母与城头变幻的军阀旗帜对照；颈联“忍看朋辈成新鬼，怒向刀丛觅小诗”为全诗筋骨，悲愤交迸、爱憎分明；尾联“吟罢低眉无写处，月光如水照缁衣”以月光缁衣收束，缁衣暗喻处境之艰。沉郁悲愤，对仗工整，以白描写血火现实。【情感与主旨】左联五烈士遇害后所作的血泪之作，悼念柔石等被杀害的战友。长夜、刀丛、缁衣等意象凝缩那个年代的腥风血雨，是现代革命文学的重要见证，亦见其以诗为武器的战斗精神。【名句点睛】常考“忍看朋辈成新鬼，怒向刀丛觅小诗”以忍看怒向写悲愤；“梦里依稀慈母泪，城头变幻大王旗”以慈母泪与大王旗对照写乱世。

Background

February 1931: five Young Leftist Writers were executed in Shanghai by KMT secret police. Lu Xun, who had mentored them, wrote this under the cover of darkness, fearing retaliation himself.

此诗作于一九三一年二月，时白色恐怖肆虐上海，鲁迅的挚友、左联作家柔石、殷夫、胡也频、李伟森、冯铿五位青年被捕，于二月七日夜在龙华遇害，史称左联五烈士。消息传来，鲁迅悲愤难抑，避居花园庄旅馆，写下了这首七律。诗原题《无题》，后常以首句惯于长夜过春时称之，堪称血泪之作。一九三零年左联成立，鲁迅是发起人与精神领袖，五烈士中柔石与他情谊尤深，曾协助他翻译与出版。短短数月之间，青年伙伴化为新鬼，而自己亦在通缉与监视之中，携妻许广平、子海婴东躲西藏。这个春天，对鲁迅而言不是春光，而是漫漫长夜——政治的高压、同志的鲜血、母亲的担忧、自身的危险，一齐压上心头。他一生信奉直面惨淡的人生，此刻却连写一句诗都无处可投，只能在月光下默然。读此诗，须把它放回那个血腥的一九三一年早春，才能懂得低眉无写处五字，是怎样一种被捂住嘴的痛。

Art

Powerful juxtaposition of dream vs reality (mother's tears vs warlord banners), personal vs political, writing vs censorship. The final image of moonlight on dark robes evokes both purity and invisibility.

首联惯于长夜过春时，挈妇将雏鬓有丝，以叙事起笔，写长夜里携家避祸、鬓发已斑，把时代的黑暗与个人的老去叠在一起；一个惯字，道尽对黑暗的麻木与无奈。颔联梦里依稀慈母泪，城头变幻大王旗，以梦境中的慈母与城头变幻的军阀旗帜对照，一边是乱世亲情之悲，一边是政局无常之荒诞，虚实相生。颈联忍看朋辈成新鬼，怒向刀丛觅小诗，为全诗筋骨，忍看友人成鬼、怒向刀丛觅句，悲愤交迸，爱憎分明，把一个文人在屠刀下仍以诗为武器的姿态写得如铁。尾联吟罢低眉无写处，月光如水照缁衣，以月光缁衣收束，无从发声的压抑感力透纸背，缁衣暗喻处境之艰。全诗句句写实地，却句句有骨，沉郁悲愤，以白描写血火现实，古体形式承载现代斗争内容，语淡而情烈，是鲁迅旧体诗中最为刚硬的篇章，亦是中国现代文学中少有的以旧诗写血火之作。

Allusions

The poem uses few allusions, yet every word has a pedigree. 'The Great King's banner' derives from the ancient protocol of erecting banners for a sovereign's progress, originally the flag of a Son of Heaven or feudal lord; Lu Xun turns it into a satire of the warlords of his day, who kept changing their flags atop city walls while the people's suffering never changed -- 'Great King' here is shot through with irony. 'New ghosts' comes from the Zuo Zhuan ('new ghosts cry in their grievance, old ghosts weep') and Du Fu's 'Song of the Chariots' ('new ghosts complain in sorrow, old ghosts weep'); Lu Xun calls his murdered young comrades 'new ghosts,' mourning their wrongful deaths and indicting the slaughter of the age. 'Black robe' (zi yi) originally means a garment of black; the 'Black Robe' ode in the Book of Songs (Zheng airs) praises Duke Wu's love of worthies, and later usage came to denote a monk's robe or plain mourning dress. Lu Xun applies it to himself: the dark clothing of a man in hiding, a metaphor for a prisoner-like existence in darkness and persecution, and, beyond that, a solitary purity that keeps itself unstained by a corrupt world. These words seem ordinary, yet each has been steeped in the classics, and Lu Xun loads them with the most modern blood and grief -- old bottles for new wine, antiquity pressed into the service of the present, giving a modern poem a secret bloodline to the classical tradition of sorrowful indignation.

诗中用典不多，却字字有来历。大王旗，典出古代王者出巡建旗之制，本指天子或诸侯的旌旗；鲁迅借以讽刺当时各路军阀城头易帜、你方唱罢我登场的乱象，旗换而民苦依旧，所谓大王，实含讥讽。新鬼，语本《左传》新鬼烦冤旧鬼哭及杜甫《兵车行》新鬼烦冤旧鬼哭，鲁迅以新鬼称遇害的青年战友，既有对死者冤屈的悲悼，亦有对时代屠戮的控诉。缁衣，本指黑色之衣，《诗经·郑风·缁衣》以缁衣美武公之好贤，后世多以缁衣指僧袍或素服；鲁迅自况缁衣，既写避居时深色衣衫之实，亦暗喻身处黑暗、身遭迫害的囚徒般处境，更有一层以黑衣自守、不同流合污的孤洁之意。这些语汇，看似寻常，却都经古典浸润，被鲁迅用来承载最现代的鲜血与悲愤，正是旧瓶新酒、以古语写今事的范例，也使一首现代诗获得了与古典忧愤传统的隐秘血脉。亦使一首现代诗在古典忧愤的长河里另有其源，足见汉语之旧瓶未尝不能盛时代之新酒。

Commentary

Considered one of Lu Xun's greatest achievements—it combines classical rigor with revolutionary urgency.

此诗在鲁迅旧体诗中地位极高，向来被视为其血泪之作与战斗之诗的代表。许广平在回忆文字中提及，鲁迅写此诗时悲愤至极，几不能成眠；冯雪峰等左联战友亦记述，此诗在战友间秘密传抄，成为那个年代反抗者的精神旗帜。近人论鲁迅旧体诗，多以惯于长夜与自嘲横眉冷对千夫指并举，认为二者一写对同志之爱、一写对敌之恨，合见鲁迅的人格全貌。学界亦指出，此诗的珍贵，在于它把宏大的时代悲剧收束到个人的身体经验——鬓丝、慈母泪、缁衣、月光，都是极具体的物事，却因承载了牺牲与压抑而获得普遍意义。亦有论者将其与杜甫忧国诗篇并读，视为现代版的沉郁顿挫。读此诗，当于其刚硬字面下，听见一个最清醒的人，在最黑暗的夜里，仍不肯沉默的心脏。鲁迅以旧体写新痛，正说明真性情不受体式所限，其诗不独为个人之悲，亦为一时代之证词，故能穿越血火而长存于人心。

Prosody

Form Seven-character Regulated Verse (Qiyan Lüshi)七言律诗（七律，八句四联，中二联对仗）

Rhyme English explanation is being prepared.押平水韵上平四支：丝、旗、诗、衣，一韵到底，音色细而沉，恰配悲愤低回、月光如水的收束基调。

Tone pattern English explanation is being prepared.惯于长夜过春时，仄平平仄仄平平；挈妇将雏鬓有丝，仄仄平平仄仄平；梦里依稀慈母泪，仄仄平平平仄仄；城头变幻大王旗，平平仄仄仄平平；忍看朋辈成新鬼，仄平平仄平平仄；怒向刀丛觅小诗，仄仄平平仄仄平；吟罢低眉无写处，平仄平平平仄仄；月光如水照缁衣，仄平平仄仄平平。中二联基本相对，合七律常格。

Reading note Masterful tonal pattern; dense allusions balanced by raw emotion.此诗体为七律，八句四联，中二联梦里依稀慈母泪，城头变幻大王旗、忍看朋辈成新鬼，怒向刀丛觅小诗皆两两对仗，属近体正格。韵脚丝、旗、诗、衣同属平水韵上平四支，一韵到底，支韵发音细切而悠长，恰配全诗悲愤低回、终以月光收束的语气。声调上，首联以叙事平缓起调，颔联以梦境与实景对照，颈联陡然振起、怒意铿锵，尾联复归于静，形成怒—静的跌宕。律诗讲究浑成，鲁迅此作却以古体般的沉痛入律，对仗而不伤气，用典而不隔，结句以景代情，使严整的七律承载了最现代的血火。读其声，先闻其怒，终见其静，正见旧体诗在鲁迅手中仍可有劈开黑暗的力量。

Line by line

惯于长夜过春时，挈妇将雏鬓有丝。

Long used to spending spring nights in endless darkness, I carry wife and child from hiding; my temples already streaked with gray.

我已习惯在漫漫长夜里度过春日，携着妻儿奔波避祸，两鬓早已斑白如丝。

I am long used to spending springtime in endless night; with wife and child in tow, my temples already streaked with gray.

首联以叙事起笔，把时代的黑暗与个人的老去叠在一起写，是全诗最沉的一句自述。惯于长夜过春时，字面说习惯在漫漫长夜中度过春天，实则长夜是政治黑暗的隐喻，春时却本该是光明的季节，二者拧在一起，写出一个被剥夺了春天的人的日常。挈妇将雏鬓有丝，携妻带子四处避祸，两鬓斑白如丝——一个惯字，道尽对黑暗的麻木、无奈与隐忍。这不是偶然一夕的惊惶，而是经年累月的、已经习惯的恐惧。鲁迅把一个时代知识分子的流离与早衰，压缩进十四字，读来如见其形容枯槁而目光如炬，起笔即已把读者拽进那个无法安睡的春天。

The opening. Long used to spending spring nights in endless darkness, I carry wife and child from hiding; my temples already streaked with gray. The long night (the political darkness) in spring (the season of light) is the whole era; the wife-and-child in hiding and the graying temples are Lu Xun's own. To have said he was used to the dark times would be a summary; the long-used-to-endless-night-spring against the wife-child-in-tow-gray-streaked-temples is the summary.

忍看朋辈成新鬼，怒向刀丛觅小诗。

How can I watch friends become ghosts? Angered toward daggers, I hunt for my small poems.

怎忍看朝夕相处的朋友竟成新鬼，我愤怒地冲向刀丛，去寻觅几句小诗。

How can I bear to watch my friends become new ghosts? In rage, I seek out small poems among the thickets of knives.

颈联是全诗的筋骨，也是鲁迅人格最耀亮的一笔。忍看朋辈成新鬼，一个忍字，写尽眼睁睁看着朝夕相处的青年战友被杀害却无力相救的绞痛；新鬼二字，承接古典冤魂之意，把现代屠戮写得惊心。怒向刀丛觅小诗，则由悲转怒，由忍转抗——你不让我说话，我偏要在刀丛里写诗；诗成了武器，成了墓碑，成了复仇。这一句把文人最柔弱的举动（觅小诗）放在最凶险的语境（刀丛）中，反差越大，骨力越硬。它回答了什么叫以笔为枪：不是口号，而是明知危险仍要向刀口上撞的一种抉择，是绝望里长出的愤怒。

The backbone. How can I bear to watch my friends become new ghosts? In rage, I seek out small poems among the thickets of knives. The unbearable watching of the young friends' murders, and the turning to write poems in the knife-thickets, are the writer's weapon. To have said he wrote in defiance of terror would be a statement; the bear-to-watch-friends-become-new-ghosts against the rage-seeking-small-poems-among-the-knife-thickets is the statement.

吟罢低眉无写处，月光如水照缁衣。

Finished chanting—nowhere to publish; moonlight falls like water on my black robe.

吟罢低眉，却无处可以写出，只有如水般的月光，照着我的黑色长衣。

The poem done, I bow my head, nowhere to write it; moonlight like water falls on my black robe.

尾联以极静收极烈，是全诗最沉痛的落点。吟罢低眉无写处，诗写成了，却无处可投、无人可寄、连发声的缝隙都没有，一个无写处，把高压之下的窒息写得透骨；低眉不是谦卑，而是无处可去的垂首。月光如水照缁衣，镜头忽然拉远，只剩一袭黑衣浸在如水月光里——缁衣既写避居实况，也暗喻身陷黑暗的处境与孤洁自守。这一结，以景语收情语，不言悲而悲自溢，不言怒而怒未消，只把一个人和他的影子留在月下，让读者自己去承接那份被捂住嘴的痛。刚硬了一整首，最后却这样安静地收住，余味更烈。

The close. The poem done, I bow my head, nowhere to write it; moonlight like water falls on my black robe. The no-place-to-write and the moonlight on the black robe are the final quiet after the rage. To have ended with moonlight on black would be an image; the poem-done-bowing-head-nowhere-to-write against the water-like-moonlight-on-the-black-robe is the image.

Study

Word focus

长夜 Endless night; political repression and moral darkness. 长夜是贯穿全诗的母题，也是全诗最重的隐喻。字面指漫漫长夜，实指那个暗无天日、白色恐怖笼罩的时代；春时本应是光明的季节，却要长夜度过，二者对撞，写出一个被剥夺了春天的人的生存状态。更妙在惯于二字——不是偶遇长夜，而是习惯长夜，意味着黑暗已从突发事件变成日常，恐惧已被生活消化成麻木。这个词的张力在于，它既是客观的时代写照，又是主观的心理纪实，把一代人在高压下的异化写得极深。长夜之后，才有月光如水的尾联，整首诗便在夜与月的明暗之间完成情绪的起伏。

刀丛 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 刀丛是颈联的关键词，也是全诗最锋利的意象。丛，本指草木聚集，此处用以形容刀刃之多、杀机之密，仿佛四周皆是出鞘的刀，无所逃于天地之间。怒向刀丛觅小诗，把文人最柔弱的举动放进最凶险的语境，反差之间，骨力陡生。刀丛既是实指龙华特务的刑具与通缉的罗网，也是整个吞噬青年的时代暴力的象征。鲁迅选这个字，不回避危险，反而把危险推到眼前，使觅小诗这一动作获得赴死的重量。一个丛字，写尽围猎之感，也写尽以笔向刀口撞上去的决绝。

缁衣 Black robe; symbol of the persecuted writer or monk-like asceticism. 缁衣是尾联的收束意象，看似闲笔，实含数层。字面指黑色的衣衫，写避居旅馆、深衣素服的实况；古典里缁衣又常与僧袍、素服、幽居相连，带一层离世远祸的孤洁。鲁迅自况缁衣，既暗喻身处黑暗、身遭监视的囚徒般处境，也隐喻在政治泥淖中仍守一身清白、不与浊世同流的自持。月光如水照缁衣，黑衣浸在冷月里，色调极简极冷，却把前面所有的怒与悲都沉淀下来，化作一种无声的坚守。缁衣因此不只是一件衣服，而是诗人在长夜里不肯脱下的良知的颜色。