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陈情表

Memorial on Filial Feeling (Chen Qing Biao)

李密

Li Mi

名篇Masterpiece 奏疏Memorial (royal address) 孝道Filial piety

臣密言：臣以险衅，夙遭闵凶。
生孩六月，慈父见背；
行年四岁，舅夺母志。
祖母刘悯臣孤弱，躬亲抚养。
臣少多疾病，九岁不行，零丁孤苦，至于成立。

Your servant Mi declares: your servant, by ill fortune, early met sorrow and calamity. At six months born, the loving father left my back; at four years of age, the uncle forced my mother's will. Grandmother Liu pitied your servant's orphaned weakness and reared me herself. Your servant was often sick in youth, at nine could not walk, lone and bitter, until grown to manhood.

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Meaning

Li Mi opens by declaring his harsh fate: his father died when he was six months old, his mother was forced to remarry at his fourth year, and his grandmother Liu alone reared him through sickness and lonely childhood. The passage builds the emotional ground for his later claim that, having been raised by her, he cannot leave her to answer the throne's summons.

臣李密上言：臣因命运多舛，早年便遭逢忧患凶丧。臣出生才六个月，慈父就去世了；长到四岁，舅父又逼迫母亲改嫁，夺去了母亲守节的志向。祖母刘氏怜悯臣孤苦弱小，亲自抚养臣长大。臣年少时体弱多病，九岁还不能行走，孤苦零丁，一直到长大成人。

Appreciation

Built on 'feeling' with 'reason' as its use, the piece fuses confession and argument: first the sorrow of his birth, then the fact of grandmother and grandson leaning on each other, then the dilemma of advance or retreat, step by step. Parallel and prose interlace, four-character lines flow with grief, the tone humble and earnest — phrases like 'lone and bitter' and 'reared me herself' strike the heart.

【白话串讲】李密写《陈情表》：“臣以险衅，夙遭闵凶。生孩六月，慈父见背”——他从小丧父。“祖母刘悯臣孤弱，躬亲抚养”——“臣无祖母，无以至今日；祖母无臣，无以终余年”——“乌鸟私情，愿乞终养”——晋武帝读了都感动，允许他回家养祖母。“读陈情表不哭者不孝”。【意象与手法】本文以「情」为骨、以「理」为用，将陈情与说理熔于一炉：先陈身世之悲，再言祖孙相依之实，后申进退两难之衷，层层递进。语言骈散相间，多用四字句而哀音流动，措辞谦卑恳切，尤以「零丁孤苦」「躬亲抚养」等语直击人心【情感与主旨】全文的核心是「孝」：祖母抚养之恩与孙儿反哺之情的对等，构成辞官不赴的伦理根基。李密以孝抗王命，实则是以人情破君权，将忠孝难以两全的千古难题，化为一纸恳切陈情的自白【名句点睛】「生孩六月，慈父见背」「零丁孤苦，至于成立」为陈情名句；「臣无祖母，无以至今日，祖母无臣，无以终余年」虽在节选之外，正是此段身世叙写的必然归宿，常考其以情动人的说服艺术

Background

The Memorial on Filial Feeling was written in the early Western Jin. Its author Li Mi (224-287), styled Lingbo, also named Qian, was a man of Qianwei Wuyang (today Pengshan, Sichuan). Known for filial devotion in youth, he studied under Qiao Zhou and mastered the Zuo Zhuan; in Shu-Han he served as provincial aide, secretariat gentleman, and chief clerk to the general, several times envoy to Wu, famed for eloquence. After Shu-Han fell, Jin Wudi (Sima Yan), to win over Shu scholars and steady the new dynasty, repeatedly summoned Li Mi to court - first as gentleman, then as tutor to the heir, with edicts piling up and local authorities pressing. By then his grandmother Liu was aged and bedridden; if Li Mi answered the call, none would care for her; if he firmly declined, he risked angering the new court. Caught between loyalty (serving the new dynasty) and filial care (nursing his grandmother), Li Mi wrote this memorial to Jin Wudi, laying out her nurturing grace and his wish to repay it, begging to fulfill filial duty first and loyalty after. Reportedly the emperor was moved, granting two servants and ordering local supplies for the grandmother. Only after her death and mourning did Li Mi serve, rising to prefect of Hanzhong, later dismissed for a poem that gave offense, dying at home. The memorial became the immortal masterpiece of Chinese literature moved by filial piety.

《陈情表》作于西晋初年，作者李密（224—287），字令伯，一名虔，犍为武阳（今四川彭山）人。李密早年以孝闻名乡里，师事谯周，治《春秋左氏传》，蜀汉时为州从事、尚书郎、大将军主簿，曾多次出使吴国，有辩才。蜀汉灭亡后，晋武帝司马炎为笼络蜀地士人、稳固新朝统治，屡次征召李密入朝，先拜郎中，又除太子洗马，诏书累下，郡县逼迫。此时李密的祖母刘氏年事已高，疾病缠身，卧床不起，李密若应诏赴任，祖母将无人奉养；若坚辞不就，又恐触怒新朝、招致祸端。在忠（事新朝）与孝（养祖母）的两难困境中，李密写下这篇《陈情表》上呈晋武帝，极陈祖母养育之恩与自己报养之愿，恳请准许他先尽孝、后尽忠。据说晋武帝读后深受感动，赐奴婢二人，并令郡县供其祖母膳食。祖母去世、守丧期满后，李密方出仕，官至汉中太守，后因赋诗得罪免官，卒于家。此表遂成为中国文学史上以「孝」动人的千古名篇。

Art

This is a lyric masterpiece of the memorial form, parallel-prose public writing, its scheme 'feeling as warp, reason as weft.' Three layers: open with the sorrow of birth under 'ill fortune, calamity,' telling father's death, mother's loss, grandmother's rearing, the sick lonely child — founding the feeling; turn to the present dependence of grandmother and grandson, the causal 'without grandmother no today'; close with the dilemma, begging to put filial care first. Though this excerpt is only the opening, the scheme shows: first the keenest grief to move the throne, then the plainest reason to persuade, then the humblest words to spare the ruler's grace. In language it favors four-character lines ('six months born,' 'four years of age,' 'lone and bitter,' 'reared me herself'), short and breathless, fitting grief; with antitheses like 'your servant by ill fortune' it stays tidy yet mournful. The wording is abjectly humble — 'your servant Mi declares' opens in court ritual — the art of advancing by retreat. The sparseness is praised: a decade of life in dozens of characters, yet the bone-deep pain and nurturing grace are all there.

本文是奏疏体（表）中的抒情杰作，属于骈散结合的公牍散文，章法以「陈情」为经、「说理」为纬。全文结构可分三层：开篇自述身世之悲，以「险衅」「闵凶」总起，叙父丧母去、祖母抚养、体弱孤苦的遭际，为全篇之「情」奠基；中间转入祖孙相依的现状，点明「臣无祖母，无以至今日」的因果链条，将报恩之心落到实处；结尾申述进退两难之状，恳请以孝为先。虽本篇所录仅为开篇一段，其章法精神已可见一斑：先以极痛之语动君听，再以极实之理服君心，后以极卑之辞全君恩。语言艺术上，本文多用四字句（「生孩六月」「行年四岁」「零丁孤苦」「躬亲抚养」），短句连排、声促气短，正合悲苦之情的节奏；又杂以「臣以险衅，夙遭闵凶」这样的对句，整饬而不失哀婉。措辞上极尽谦卑：「臣密言」三字以臣礼开头，「伏惟」「猥以微贱」「当侍东宫」等语自抑至极，是「以退为进」的进言艺术。叙事之简练尤为人称道——十余年身世，仅以数十字写完，而骨肉之痛、养育之恩俱在其中。

Allusions

The piece's allusions root in China's filial and loyalty-filial ethics. 'Ill fortune' and 'calamity' draw on the Zuo Zhuan's 'heaven sends disaster' and the Documents' 'mournful, O little one,' and 'early met calamity' echoes the Songs' 'alas, my parents, who toiled to bear me,' lending private grief the weight of canon. 'The loving father left my back' uses the passive 'see' for 'was left by,' with the Songs' 'no father, what shelter' in its orphan's note. 'The uncle forced my mother's will' touches the remarriage ethics of 'husband dead, follow the son' — an in-law forcing the mother to remarry was a family tragedy, yet Li Mi states it without blame, showing self-restraint, against the rites' 'widow weeps not by night.' 'Grandmother Liu pitied my weakness, reared me herself' echoes the Songs' 'father gave me life, mother nursed me,' and the bond of grandparent and grandchild adds a two-fold pity of 'orphaned young, alone old.' The whole logic of repayment rests on Confucian 'filial care is the source of all conduct' — the Xiaojing's 'body, hair, skin, received from parents, dare not harm' becomes concrete 'reared me herself' and 'the days to repay her.' These make a private resignation a literary declaration of filial ethics.

《陈情表》的用典与传统文化内涵，深植于中国孝道与忠孝关系的伦理语境。其一，「险衅」「闵凶」之语，本于《左传》「天降之灾」与《尚书》「闵予小子」的忧患表达，「夙遭闵凶」暗合《诗经·小雅》「哀哀父母，生我劬劳」的丧亲之痛，以经典语汇写自身遭际，使私情获得经典的分量。其二，「慈父见背」化用「见」字的被动用法，本于先秦文献「见背」即弃我而去之意，语带《诗经》「无父何怙」的孤子哀音。其三，「舅夺母志」涉及古代「夫死从子」之外的再嫁伦理：舅氏迫母改嫁，在封建礼教中是家庭悲剧，李密写来不怨不恨，只作陈述，反显其克己的教养，与《礼记》「寡妇不夜哭」的守节语境相映。其四，「祖母刘悯臣孤弱，躬亲抚养」暗合《诗经》「父兮生我，母兮鞠我」的养育之恩，而祖孙相养又不同于母子，更添一层「幼而孤、老而独」的双向悲悯。其五，全篇的报恩逻辑根植于儒家「孝为百行之源」的观念，《孝经》「身体发肤，受之父母，不敢毁伤」的孝道本体，在李密笔下化为具体的「躬亲抚养」与「报养之日」。这些文化内涵使一篇辞官的私表，成为孝道伦理的文学宣言。

Commentary

The Memorial on Filial Feeling has been recited through ages, far beyond a document, the model of Chinese filial literature. The Jin Shu records Jin Wudi reading it: 'A scholar famed is not vainly so!' — he granted the request and sent two servants and provisions for the grandmother. Later it entered the Wen Xuan and the Guwen Guanzhi, ranked with Zhuge Liang's Chu Shi Biao as twin jewels of ministers' feeling — ancients said 'he who reads the Chu Shi without weeping is not loyal; he who reads the Chen Qing without weeping is not filial.' In form it founded the 'feeling against command' tradition: Han memorials stated policy, from Wei-Jin some spoke private feeling to the throne, Li Mi first; later Han Yu's Dirge for the Twelfth Nephew and Gui Youguang's Xiangji Xu Zhi inherit its blood. In thought, 'filial first, loyalty after' eased the ancient scholar's greatest conflict — loyalty and filial cannot both — with a feeling-and-reason solution influencing countless later choices. In schools it stays a model of parallel-prose moved by feeling.

《陈情表》自问世起即为历代传诵的名篇，其影响远超公文范畴，成为中国孝道文学的典范。据《晋书·李密传》载，晋武帝司马炎读表后「览之曰：『士之有名，不虚然哉！』」，不仅准其所请，更赐奴婢二人、令郡县供其祖母膳食——一篇奏章能打动开国君主至此，可见其情辞之力。此后此文历代入选文选、古文选本：萧统《文选》收录之，清人吴楚材、吴调侯《古文观止》亦录之，与诸葛亮《出师表》并列为臣子情文的双璧，古人合称「读《出师表》不哭者不忠，读《陈情表》不哭者不孝」。就文体史而言，此文确立了「以情抗命」的奏疏传统：汉代奏疏多陈政事，魏晋以来始有以私情动君之文，李密此表开其端，后世韩愈《祭十二郎文》、归有光《项脊轩志》的抒情散文皆受其血脉滋养。就思想史而言，「先尽孝、后尽忠」的申述，调和了忠孝冲突这一古代士人的最大困境，为「忠孝不能两全」提供了情理兼备的解决范式，影响及于此后无数士大夫的人生抉择。现代以来，此文长期入选中学语文教材，作为骈散结合、以情动人的写作范本，其「报恩」母题仍具普遍感染力。

Prosody

Form Memorial (biao) form, a four-six parallel-prose public document奏疏体表文，骈散结合的四六骈俪化散文

Rhyme As parallel-prose it does not force rhyme, yet its sound is fine: the passage is mostly four-character lines ('six months born,' 'loving father left back,' 'four years of age,' 'uncle forced mother's will,' 'lone and bitter'), short and rushed like choking sobs; line-final 'calamity,' 'back,' 'will,' 'rear,' 'walk,' 'manhood' fall on oblique tones, read like weeping, a low mournful breath.本文为骈散结合的奏表，不刻意押韵，但声情组织极精：全段以四字句为主（「生孩六月」「慈父见背」「行年四岁」「舅夺母志」「零丁孤苦」），短句连排形成急促哽咽的节奏；句尾「凶」「背」「志」「养」「行」「立」等字皆收于仄声，读来如泣如诉，形成低回哀婉的声气基调。

Tone pattern Mostly four-character antitheses, mixed with tidy lines like 'your servant by ill fortune, early met calamity' and loose lines like 'until grown to manhood'; parallel lines short like sobs, loose lines occasional like sighs, hurry and ease alternate — the tone of grieving self-confession. Throughout he calls himself 'your servant,' abject yet mournful, fitting a minister's memorial.句式以四字对偶为主，杂以「臣以险衅，夙遭闵凶」这样的整句与「至于成立」这样的散句，骈散相济。对句多而短促，如呜咽；散句偶而纡缓，如叹息，急徐交替，正是悲苦自陈的语调。通篇自称「臣」，措辞卑抑（「臣密言」「臣以」），声气上恭敬而哀恳，符合臣子上表的分寸。

Reading note Its sound-beauty is 'short clauses carry mournful sound.' Almost the whole passage is four-character lines — 'six months born, loving father left back; four years of age, uncle forced mother's will,' 'grandmother Liu pitied my weakness, reared me herself,' 'your servant often sick, at nine could not walk, lone and bitter, until grown' — four-character lines have a crisp haste, run together like short sobs, fitting the pain of lost parents. Li Mi uses antithesis for echo: 'six months born' against 'four years of age,' 'loving father left back' against 'uncle forced mother's will'; 'lone and bitter' are two rhyming binomes, low and turning, sound joining feeling, the model of parallel prose's sound-emotion fusion. Loose lines break in like sighs — 'reared me herself' stands unpaired, for a grandmother's toil no antithesis can sum; 'until grown' loosens the close, breath slowing as if emerging from childhood grief, building for the later confession. Though unrhymed, the dense oblique-tone endings give each line a choked tail; read again, the mournful sound arise. A Qing critic called it 'earnest and grieving, word and feeling both present' — sound aiding feeling is why it outlasts common documents.《陈情表》的声韵之美，全在「以短句传哀音」。全段几乎全由四字句组成：「生孩六月，慈父见背；行年四岁，舅夺母志」「祖母刘悯臣孤弱，躬亲抚养」「臣少多疾病，九岁不行，零丁孤苦，至于成立」——四字句本有斩截急促之势，连排而下，便如一声声短促的呜咽，正合丧亲失怙之痛。李密又善用对偶制造回环：「生孩六月」对「行年四岁」，以时间之短写遭变之频；「慈父见背」对「舅夺母志」，以父丧母去写亲离之痛；「零丁孤苦」四字，零丁、孤苦皆为叠韵连绵词，读来低回婉转，声与情合，是骈文声律与情感融合的典范。散句的穿插则如叹息：「躬亲抚养」前不用对仗，以单句散行，正合祖母之劳无法以对句概括的实情；「至于成立」以散句收束，语气由急促转纡缓，仿佛从幼年的悲苦中渐渐走出，为下文的陈情蓄势。全段虽不押韵，而仄声收句的密集使用（凶、背、志、养、行、立），使每句都带哽咽的尾音，一读再读，哀音自生。故清人评此表「恳恻悱恻，词情并至」，正指其以声助情、声情交融的独特魅力，这也是它区别于一般公牍而成为文学作品的根本原因。

Line by line

臣密言：臣以险衅，夙遭闵凶。

Your servant Mi declares: your servant, by ill fortune and ill omen, early met sorrow and calamity. (The fixed opening of a memorial, 'your servant Mi declares' sets the ruler-subject line at once, padding the later bold plea to resign; 'by ill fortune' confesses a fated hard road, 'early met calamity' says the woe came young — cause then effect, total then particular, raising the banner of the whole passage's grief.)

臣李密上言：臣因命运坎坷多难，早年就遭逢忧患与凶丧之事。

I, Mi, speak: I have been beset by perils and misfortunes from my earliest years.

开篇六字「臣以险衅，夙遭闵凶」，是全篇悲苦基调的总纲。「臣密言」是表的固定起式，依奏疏礼法自称，一开口便君臣分明，为后文「以孝辞官」的冒昧恳求预作身份铺垫。「以险衅」三字自陈命途多舛——「险」言命运之艰险，「衅」本指血祭之隙、引申为罪咎与祸端，二字连用，写尽人生道路上的凶险裂隙；「夙遭闵凶」则点明这些祸患来得极早——「夙」即早，「闵」通悯、忧病之意，「凶」指丧事，四字如泣如诉。值得注意的是全句的时态层次：先说命之「险衅」（先天），再说遭之「闵凶」（后天），由因及果、由总及分，为下文「生孩六月，慈父见背」的具体叙述立起纲目。语言上六字而两用「之」前的四字结构，节奏短促，如一声长叹之后接连两声呜咽，正是悲苦之情的声气形态。

The opening. I, Mi, speak: I have been beset by perils and misfortunes from my earliest years. The memorial's formal opening, then the perils from earliest years, set the petition's grief. To have said his life was unfortunate from the start would be a confession; the subject-says-the-peril-and-trouble-from-earliest-years is the confession.

生孩六月，慈父见背；行年四岁，舅夺母志。

At six months born, the loving father left my back; at four years of age, the uncle forced my mother's will. (Two four-character antitheses compress Li Mi's two cruelest early blows — father's death and mother's loss. 'Six months' and 'four years' are frighteningly short, the more the pain; 'loving father left back' uses the passive 'see' for a gentle euphemism for death, the word 'loving' full of a child's yearning; 'uncle forced mother's will' hides pity for the mother, written without blame, showing his breeding.)

臣出生才六个月，慈父就离我而去；长到四岁，舅父又逼迫母亲改嫁，夺去了母亲守节的志向。

When I was six months old, my kind father left me; at four, my uncle forced my mother's remarriage.

这两句以两个四字对句，浓缩了李密幼年最惨痛的两件事：丧父与失母。「生孩六月」与「行年四岁」两个时间状语极短促——六月、四岁，人生尚在襁褓与孩提之间，便已接连遭遇至亲离散，时间越短，愈见其苦。「慈父见背」以「见」字表被动，「见背」即背弃我而去，是古人对「死」的委婉说法，一个「慈」字饱含孺慕之思——父亲在世时的慈爱，唯存于记忆中，反衬「背」之痛切。「舅夺母志」四字最是沉痛：舅氏逼迫母亲改嫁，夺其守节之志，此处「夺」字既是叙述事实，又暗藏对母亲被迫改嫁的怜悯——母亲并非无情，而是势不得已，李密写来不带一句怨言，反见其胸襟与教养。两句对仗工整，「六月」对「四岁」、「见背」对「夺志」，短促的四字句如两记重锤，将人生的第一重悲剧砸在读者心上，为「祖母刘悯臣孤弱」的转笔蓄足力量。

The two losses. When I was six months old, my kind father left me; at four, my uncle forced my mother's remarriage. The father's death at six months and the mother's remarriage at four are the childhood's two disasters. To have said he lost his father and mother early would be a summary; the six-months-kind-father-left-me against the four-years-old-uncle-forced-mother's-remarriage is the summary.

祖母刘悯臣孤弱，躬亲抚养。

Grandmother Liu pitied your servant's orphaned weakness and reared me herself. (The turning point and footing of the whole feeling: after father and mother gone, only grandmother Liu sheltered him. 'Pitied my weakness' shows her mercy; 'reared me herself' shows her toil — 'herself' means no hand but hers. This line is the hinge: the earlier 'orphaned weakness' exists to lift this 'pity,' the later sickness exists to prove this 'rearing,' burying the seed of 'without grandmother no today.')

祖母刘氏怜悯臣孤苦弱小，亲自抚养臣长大。

My grandmother Liu, pitying my orphaned weakness, raised me with her own hands.

此句是全篇情感的转折点与立足点：父亲背弃、母亲改嫁之后，天地间唯一庇护李密的，便是祖母刘氏。「悯臣孤弱」四字，写祖母之慈：悯者，哀怜也；孤者，无父也；弱者，幼小无依也——三个字层层递进，写尽孙儿遭际之可怜，也写尽祖母见怜之必然。「躬亲抚养」四字，写祖母之劳：「躬亲」强调亲手、亲自，不假手于奴仆，可见老人在孙儿身上倾注的全部心力；「抚养」则涵盖衣食冷暖、病痛照拂的全过程。这一句在结构上是全篇的枢纽——前文写尽「孤弱」之悲，正为突出此处的「悯」；后文「臣少多疾病，九岁不行」之病弱，正为落实「抚养」之劳。祖孙相依的画面至此定格，后文「臣无祖母，无以至今日」的因果逻辑在此已埋下伏笔。一个「悯」字、一个「躬」字，将祖孙间无言的大爱凝于八字之中，是全篇最动人的笔墨之一。

The grandmother. My grandmother Liu, pitying my orphaned weakness, raised me with her own hands. The pity and the own-hands raising are the petition's whole point. To have said his grandmother raised him would be a fact; the grandmother-Liu-pitying-my-orphaned-weakness against the raising-with-her-own-hands is the fact.

臣少多疾病，九岁不行，零丁孤苦，至于成立。

Your servant was often sick in youth, at nine could not walk, lone and bitter, until grown to manhood. (Continuing 'reared me herself,' the sick child proves the grandmother's hardship. 'Often sick' then 'at nine could not walk' fixes the weakness; 'lone and bitter' are two binomes, low and turning like weeping; 'until grown' sweeps a dozen years in one breath, restrained and deep. By sickness showing toil, by toil showing feeling, it doubles the grounding for 'without me no end to her years.')

臣年少时体弱多病，九岁还不能行走，孤苦零丁，一直长到成年。

In childhood I was often ill; at nine I could not walk. Lonely and forlorn, I grew to manhood.

此句承接「躬亲抚养」，以自身的病弱反衬祖母养育之难，是全段情感的收束。「臣少多疾病」总写体质之弱，疾病二字涵盖幼年无数病痛；「九岁不行」以极具体的细节坐实「多疾病」——九岁尚不能行走，其病弱之甚、祖母照拂之劳，皆在不言之中。这两句写「我」之病，正是为了写「祖母」之辛：一个病弱到九岁不能行的孩子，要「躬亲抚养」到「成立」，其间艰辛可以想见。「零丁孤苦」四字连用两个双声叠韵词（零丁、孤苦），声调低回，如泣如诉，是骈文中极佳的声情结合——「零丁」本指孤身无依，「孤苦」兼言形单与心悲，四字写尽身世的全貌。「至于成立」以「至于」二字带出漫长岁月的流逝，仿佛将十几年寒暑一笔带过，愈见叙述的克制与情感的深沉。全句由病写辛、由辛见情，将「孤弱」与「抚养」的关系彻底坐实，为全表「祖母无臣，无以终余年」的恳请完成了情感与逻辑的双重铺垫。

The childhood. In childhood I was often ill; at nine I could not walk. Lonely and forlorn, I grew to manhood. The often-ill, the nine-years-old-not-walking, and the lonely-to-manhood, are the proof of the grandmother's labor. To have described a sickly childhood would be a summary; the often-ill-at-nine-could-not-walk against the lonely-forlorn-until-grown is the summary.

Study

Word focus

险衅 Your servant 'by ill fortune and ill omen' (xian xin) — 'xian' is the steep dangerous road, 'xin' the blood-sacrifice cleft, extended to fissure and calamity. Together they make abstract ill fate into felt image: life as a dangerous road with clefts of disaster. The word is precise — it names no single woe but the general bitter fate, paving for the specific pains below, and pairs with 'early met calamity,' one virtual one real, one total one particular. Later 'ill fortune' became fixed for lonely hardship, its weight from this memorial. 「臣以险衅」之「险衅」，是全篇自陈身世的起笔关键词，意谓命运艰险多祸。二字皆含凶厄之意：「险」指道路的崎岖难行，引申为命运之凶险；「衅」本指牲血涂于器物缝隙以祭神，引申为缝隙、裂痕，再引申为事端、祸患，含「天有不测」的意味。二字连用，既写命途之路「险」，又写人生之隙生「衅」，将抽象的命蹇化为可感的形象——人生如行险路，处处是裂开的祸端。此词选得极准：它不具体指任何一件祸事，而是总括性的悲运陈述，为下文「慈父见背」「舅夺母志」的具体之痛张目；同时又与「夙遭闵凶」相照应，「险衅」言命之艰，「闵凶」言遭之惨，一虚一实、一总一分。后世「险衅」成为描写孤苦身世的固定语汇，如「家门不幸，叠遭险衅」，其沉痛力度正源于李密此表。

见背 The 'loving father left my back' (jian bei) — an ancient euphemism for death, 'was left by.' Three graces: the 'see' is the classical passive, elegant against the everyday 'six months born'; 'back' holds both 'leave' and 'fail,' yet with 'loving' before it turns to a child's yearning, blame-free, sorrow-restrained, fitting Confucian measure of grief; read against 'child' it is keener — a six-month babe, the father already 'gone,' his heaven a blank. Later 'left my back' became the fixed phrase for a father's death, its tactful mourn set by Li Mi. 「慈父见背」之「见背」，是古人讳言「死」的委婉语，意为「背弃我而去」。此词的妙处有三：其一，「见」字是文言被动标志（「见背」即「背我」），语带先秦古雅之气，与「生孩六月」的日常语汇形成雅俗相济的层次；其二，「背」字含「离开」与「辜负」双重意味——父亲离世，是弃子而去，本可怨恨，而「慈」字在前，则化为孺慕的悲思，怨而不怒、哀而不伤，正合儒家「丧亲之痛，发而皆中节」的情感分寸；其三，「背」与「孩」对读尤觉沉痛：六个月的婴儿尚不知人事，父亲已然「背」去，天伦之乐于他唯有记忆的空白。后世「见背」成为丧父的固定表达（如「先父见背」「慈亲见背」），其婉转含蓄的哀音，正由李密此语定型。一个委婉词，写尽孤儿对亡父的全部孺慕与遗憾。

躬亲 Grandmother Liu 'reared me herself' (gong qin) — 'gong' is body, extended to personally; 'qin' is herself; together 'with her own hands.' Its depth is before 'rear': the word shows her total devotion — an aged woman day and night tending a sick child who 'at nine could not walk,' feeding, carrying, warming, none by another's hand. Against 'pitied my weakness,' 'pity' is the heart, 'herself' the deed, heart and act one, the grandmother lives. Drop the word and the love is vague; keep it and the old woman bending over her grandson stands before us. Later 'gong qin' and 'see to it oneself' extend from it, but here it is most moving — not an official posture but a grandmother's spent remaining years. 「躬亲抚养」之「躬亲」，意为亲自、亲手，是全段点染祖母慈爱深情的核心副词。「躬」本指身体，引申为亲身（如「躬耕」）；「亲」为亲自；二字连用，强调事必己出、不假人手。此词的深意在于「抚养」二字之前：「躬亲」二字写祖母养孙的彻底投入——以垂暮之身，日夜操劳于一个「多疾病」「九岁不行」的孙儿，喂药、扶掖、嘘寒问暖，无一假手他人，其辛劳与慈爱尽在此二字之中。与「悯臣孤弱」的「悯」相对：「悯」是怜其孤弱之心，「躬亲」是行其抚养之实，心与行合，祖母的形象立时血肉丰满。若去此二字，只作「祖母刘抚养臣」，则慈爱泛泛而谈；加「躬亲」，则老人颤巍巍亲手照料孙儿的身影如在目前。后世「躬亲」「事必躬亲」皆由此词引申，而此处之「躬亲」最为动人，因为它不是行政姿态，而是一位祖母倾尽残年的爱。

陈情表