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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

梁甫吟

The Liangfu Chant

李白

Li Bai

咏怀Meditation on the Self 用典Heavy Allusion

长啸梁甫吟，何时见阳春？
君不见朝歌屠叟辞棘津，八十西来钓渭滨。
宁羞白发照清水，逢时壮气思经纶。
广张三千六百钓，风期暗与文王亲。
大贤虎变愚不测，当年颇似寻常人。
君不见高阳酒徒起草中，长揖山东隆准公。
入门不拜骋雄辩，两女辍洗来趋风。
东下齐城七十二，指挥楚汉如旋蓬。
狂客落魄尚如此，何况壮士当群雄！
我欲攀龙见明主，雷公砰訇震天鼓。
帝旁投壶多玉女，三时大笑开电光，倏烁晦冥起风雨。
阊阖九门不可通，以额叩关阍者怒。
白日不照吾精诚，杞国无事忧天倾。
猰貐磨牙竞人肉，驺虞不折生草茎。
手接飞猱搏雕虎，侧足焦原未言苦。
智者可卷愚者豪，世人见我轻鸿毛。
力排南山三壮士，齐相杀之费二桃。
吴楚弄兵无剧孟，亚夫咍尔为徒劳。
梁甫吟，声正悲。
张公两龙剑，神物合有时。
风云感会起屠钓，大人臲卼当安之。

A long sigh, the Liangfu chant — when shall I see the bright spring?
Have you not heard of the butcher of Chaoge who left Jijin,
Who at eighty came west to fish by the waters of Wei?
What shame that white hair mirrors in the clear stream!
Given his hour, his spirit dreamed of ordering the world.
He cast his line three thousand and six hundred times,
And his hidden constancy drew him near to King Wen.
A great sage changes like a tiger, past all guessing by fools;
In those years he seemed an ordinary man.
Have you not heard of the chief drunkard of Gaoyang, rising from the ranks,
Who bowed once, long and low, before the long-nosed lord of the east?
He did not knuckle under at the door but loosed his argument,
Till two women stopped washing and hurried to serve him.
Down east he took seventy-two cities of Qi,
And steered Chu and Han as though they were tops spinning.
Even a reckless broken man fared so —
How much more should a true hero among the heroes!
I would climb the dragon to stand before the enlightened lord,
But Thunder Lord cracks and the heavenly drum booms.
Beside the god many jade maidens play at pitch-pot;
Three times they laugh and cleave the light, and in a blink dark and storm arise.
The nine gates of the heavenly gate cannot be passed;
I knock upon the gate with my forehead, and the wardens are angry.
The white sun does not shine upon my sincerity;
I, a man of Qi, needlessly fear the sky falling.
The wolf-beasts whet their fangs and compete to eat men,
While the gracious unicorn will not break a living stem.
I catch the flying monkey and wrestle the carved tiger,
And stand sideways on the red-hot rock and never call it pain.
The wise can coil themselves away, the foolish swell with pride;
Men of this world see me lighter than a goose feather.
Yet with strength I push aside three heroes of the southern mountain,
And the chancellor of Qi killed them for the price of two peaches.
Wu and Chu raise their banners but lack a Jie Meng —
And Lord Yaofu laughs at you: it is all in vain.
The Liangfu chant, and the sound is sorrowful.
The two dragon swords of Lord Zhang — a god's weapon keeps its hour.
When wind and cloud converge, butchers and fishers rise to fame;
A great man, poised on the brink, must learn to wait at peace.

Listen

Meaning

Li Bai takes an old chant named after a grave-mound and uses it to state his own position: a man of great talent who cannot get an audience. In the first half he tells two stories — the old butcher fishing by the Wei river at eighty who was taken up by King Wen, and the wine-drinking scholar who appeared from an obscure rank and instantly masterminded the fall of Qi — to prove that worth always finds its hour if one waits. In the second half he shows that his own hour will not come: the heavenly gate is shut, wardens blows at his forehead, the sun ignores his sincerity, and the world is full of beasts that eat men. He ends by returning to the chant and deciding that a great man should accept his uneasy waiting.

长啸梁甫吟，何时见阳春？君不见朝歌屠叟辞棘津，八十西来钓渭滨。宁羞白发照清水，逢时壮气思经纶。广张三千六百钓，风期暗与文王亲。大贤虎变愚不测，当年颇似寻常人。君不见高阳酒徒起草中，长揖山东隆准公。入门不拜骋雄辩，两女辍洗来趋风。东下齐城七十二，指挥楚汉如旋蓬。狂客落魄尚如此，何况壮士当群雄！我欲攀龙见明主，雷公砰訇震天鼓。帝旁投壶多玉女，三时大笑开电光，倏烁晦冥起风雨。阊阖九门不可通，以额叩关阍者怒。白日不照吾精诚，杞国无事忧天倾。猰貐磨牙竞人肉，驺虞不折生草茎。手接飞猱搏雕虎，侧足焦原未言苦。智者可卷愚者豪，世人见我轻鸿毛。力排南山三壮士，齐相杀之费二桃。吴楚弄兵无剧孟，亚夫咍尔为徒劳。梁甫吟，声正悲。张公两龙剑，神物合有时。风云感会起屠钓，大人臲卼当安之。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The poem is built on a single movement of argument. Li Bai proves his case in the first half with historical men who rose from the lowest places — a butcher, a drunkard — and then applies the proof to himself and finds it failing. The failure is the poem.[Structure] There are three blocks: the two 'have you not heard' exclamations of rising, the long middle where the gates are shut, and the returning 'Liangfu chant' that closes. The recurring formula 'have you not heard' drives the reader forward like a recitative.[Imagery] The imagery turns from the plain and human world — a fishing rod, a bow, a pair of women washing — to thunder, jade maidens, lightning, storms and finally wolf-beasts and tigers. This is the shift from the world of achievement to the world of power that cannot be reached, and the terrifying middle of the poem is where the two meet.

【白话串讲】李白写《梁甫吟》：“长啸梁甫吟，何时见阳春”——“君不见朝歌屠叟辞棘津，八十西来钓渭滨”——姜太公八十遇文王——“大贤虎变愚不测，当年颇似寻常人”——他写怀才待时。【意象与手法】此诗写怀才不遇的感慨，以大量典故写志向，是李白的名篇。开篇以「梁甫吟」起兴，「何时见阳春」写尽渴望明时的心情；中间连用姜太公、郦食其两典，写「大贤虎变」「狂客落魄尚如此，何况壮士当群雄」的自信；继而「我欲攀龙见明主」写求仕的艰难，「以额叩关阍者怒」写不通的愤懑；末段以「猰貐磨牙」「驺虞不折生草茎」写善恶的对照，「力排南山三壮士，齐相杀之费二桃」用晏子二桃杀三士之典写世道的险恶；结句「张公两龙剑，神物合有时」「风云感会起屠钓」以宝剑终合、姜尚终遇文王作结，写尽怀才不遇而自信终将遇合的感慨。【情感与主旨】此诗写怀才不遇而自信终遇的感慨，是李白政治抱负的集中抒发。此诗作于李白初入长安求仕受阻之后，诗人以「梁甫吟」（乐府古题）写怀才不遇的悲愤与自信：那「长啸梁甫吟，何时见阳春」写尽对明时的渴望；那「大贤虎变愚不测」写尽对自身才具的自信；那「我欲攀龙见明主，雷公砰訇震天鼓」写尽求仕的艰难；那「白日不照吾精诚」写尽不被理解的悲愤；那「力排南山三壮士，齐相杀之费二桃」写尽世道的险恶；那「张公两龙剑，神物合有时」写尽终将遇合的自信。全诗以大量典故写志向，写尽怀才不遇而自信终遇的感慨，是理解李白政治抱负的重要篇章。【名句点睛】常考「君不见朝歌屠叟辞棘津」用姜太公之典写怀才不遇而终遇明主；「力排南山三壮士，齐相杀之费二桃」用二桃杀三士之典写世道险恶；「张公两龙剑，神物合有时」写终将遇合的自信；「白日不照吾精诚」写不被理解的悲愤；以及全诗大量用典、以典写志的手法。

Background

The Liangfu chant was an old title, attached in the popular tradition to a burial mound at Qicheng where three heroes and three wise men were killed by the chancellor of Qi with two peaches; the original song 'stepping out of the gate of Qi, I look far off at Dangyinli' expressed just this sense of a talent outrunning its hour. Li Bai (701–762) wrote this long version early in his career, before his years at Chang'an, in the manner of the yuefu ballads. He spent his twenties travelling and studying, and conceived in the lifetime of the emperor Xuanzong but was never given a real office, and poems like this record his conviction that his talent was being wasted.

此诗写怀才不遇的感慨，以大量典故写志向，是李白的名篇。李白（701—762），字太白，号青莲居士，祖籍陇西成纪，唐代伟大的浪漫主义诗人，人称「诗仙」。此诗作于唐玄宗天宝初，李白初入长安求仕受阻之后，以《梁甫吟》（乐府古题，相传诸葛亮好为梁甫吟）写怀才不遇的悲愤与自信。此诗写怀才不遇：「长啸梁甫吟，何时见阳春」写长啸梁甫吟、何时见阳春——写尽对明时的渴望；「君不见朝歌屠叟辞棘津，八十西来钓渭滨」用姜太公之典写姜尚垂钓渭滨——写怀才不遇而终遇文王；「君不见高阳酒徒起草中，长揖山东隆准公」用郦食其之典写郦生见刘邦——写布衣草莽而能指挥楚汉；「我欲攀龙见明主，雷公砰訇震天鼓」写攀龙见主的艰难；「阊阖九门不可通，以额叩关阍者怒」写以额叩关而不通的愤懑；「白日不照吾精诚，杞国无事忧天倾」写精诚不照的悲愤；「猰貐磨牙竞人肉，驺虞不折生草茎」写恶兽磨牙、仁兽不折草——写善恶的对照；「力排南山三壮士，齐相杀之费二桃」用二桃杀三士之典写世道的险恶；「张公两龙剑，神物合有时。风云感会起屠钓，大人臲卼当安之」写两龙剑终合、风云感会——写终将遇合的自信。全诗以大量典故写志向，写尽怀才不遇而自信终遇的感慨，是理解李白政治抱负的重要篇章。

Art

Li Bai's long poems move by momentum rather than by argument, and here the momentum is provided by the repeated 'have you not heard'. Two of them introduce the exemplars of rising; the middle section has no such lever and instead accumulates images of obstacle — thunder, a crashing drum, locked gates, angry wardens, a sun that will not shine. The verse shifts register constantly, from colloquial (a old man with white hair) to mythological (jade maidens at pitch-pot) to bloody (wolf-beasts fighting over men's flesh). What holds it together is the single voice, at once indignant and self-mocking, that is never once lost.

此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以起兴写感慨。开篇「长啸梁甫吟，何时见阳春」以起兴写感慨——那「梁甫吟」写乐府古题的起兴，「何时见阳春」写尽对明时的渴望，以起兴写尽怀才不遇的感慨。其二，以用典写自信。「君不见朝歌屠叟辞棘津，八十西来钓渭滨」「君不见高阳酒徒起草中，长揖山东隆准公」以用典写自信——那姜太公、郦食其的典故写尽大贤虎变、狂客落魄终能成功的自信，以用典写尽怀才不遇而终遇的自信。其三，以想象写艰难。「我欲攀龙见明主，雷公砰訇震天鼓。帝旁投壶多玉女，三时大笑开电光」以想象写艰难——那攀龙见主、雷公震鼓、玉女投壶的想象写尽求仕的艰难与天门的阻隔，以想象写尽怀才不遇的愤懑。其四，以典故写险恶与结句写自信。「力排南山三壮士，齐相杀之费二桃」以二桃杀三士之典写世道的险恶；「张公两龙剑，神物合有时」以剑合之典写终将遇合的自信——那两龙剑「神物合有时」写尽宝剑终合、终将遇合的信念。四重手法，使此诗以大量典故写志向，写尽怀才不遇而自信终遇的感慨，是李白的代表作。

Allusions

The poem is almost a catalogue. Jiang Taigong, the butcher of Chaoge who fished by the Wei at eighty and was found by King Wen; Li Yiji, the Gaoyang scholar who bowed to Liu Bang, refused to kneel, and within a year took the cities of Qi; the 'three heroes of the southern mountain' killed for two peaches by the chancellor of Qi, the story that gives the title its weight; Jie Meng, the hired killer whose absence saved the general Yaofu from a revolt; Zhang Liang's two dragon swords, which meet as divine weapons only at the right hour; and the man of Qi in 'fearing the sky falling', who worried about the sky collapsing when the stars shifted. Every one of them is a story about a man and his hour.

此诗的用语深植于怀才不遇与用典的传统。「梁甫吟」令人想到乐府古题的意象——相传诸葛亮躬耕陇亩，好为《梁甫吟》，也令人想到写怀才不遇的古题传统；「长啸」令人想到长啸抒怀的意象——魏晋名士以长啸抒怀，也令人想到「啸」写豪情的意象；「朝歌屠叟辞棘津，八十西来钓渭滨」用姜太公之典——吕尚钓于渭滨，遇文王而兴，八十始遇，令人想到「渭滨垂钓」写怀才待时的典故；「宁羞白发照清水」令人想到「白发」写衰老的意象，也令人想到「羞」写羞惭的意象；「逢时壮气思经纶」令人想到「经纶」写经世之才的意象——「满腹经纶」；「广张三千六百钓」令人想到姜太公「三千六百钓」的典故——吕尚钓渭滨多年，也令人想到「广张」写张设的意象；「大贤虎变愚不测」令人想到「虎变」的典故——《周易》「大人虎变」，也令人想到「愚不测」写愚人不测的意象；「高阳酒徒起草中」用郦食其之典——郦食其自称高阳酒徒，也令人想到「酒徒」写狂放的意象；「长揖山东隆准公」令人想到「隆准公」写汉高祖刘邦的典故——刘邦隆准龙颜，也令人想到「长揖」写长揖不拜的意象；「东下齐城七十二」用郦食其下齐之典——郦食其凭口舌下齐七十余城，也令人想到「指挥楚汉如旋蓬」写指挥若定的意象；「我欲攀龙见明主」令人想到「攀龙」写攀附龙鳞的典故——攀龙附凤，也令人想到「见明主」写见明主的意象；「雷公砰訇震天鼓」令人想到「雷公」写雷神的意象——「雷公砰訇」，也令人想到「震天鼓」写雷声如鼓的意象；「帝旁投壶多玉女」令人想到「投壶」写宴饮游戏的意象——东王公与玉女投壶，也令人想到「玉女」写仙女的意象；「阊阖九门不可通」令人想到「阊阖」写天门（天帝之门）的意象——《离骚》「吾令帝阍开关兮」，也令人想到「九门」写九重门的意象；「以额叩关阍者怒」令人想到「以额叩关」写叩关的意象，也令人想到「阍者怒」写守门人发怒的意象；「白日不照吾精诚」令人想到「白日」写君主的意象——「白日」喻君主，也令人想到「精诚」写精诚的意象——「精诚所至，金石为开」；「杞国无事忧天倾」用杞人忧天之典——《列子》杞人忧天地崩坠，也令人想到「忧天倾」写忧国的意象；「猰貐磨牙竞人肉」令人想到「猰貐」写食人恶兽的意象——《山海经》猰貐食人，也令人想到「磨牙」写磨牙的意象；「驺虞不折生草茎」令人想到「驺虞」写仁兽的意象——《诗经》驺虞为仁兽，不履生草，也令人想到「不折生草茎」写仁兽不伤生的意象；「手接飞猱搏雕虎」令人想到「接飞猱」「搏雕虎」写勇力的意象——养由基射猿，也令人想到「侧足焦原未言苦」写履险的意象；「力排南山三壮士，齐相杀之费二桃」用二桃杀三士之典——晏子以二桃杀三士，令人想到「费二桃」写以桃杀士的典故；「吴楚弄兵无剧孟，亚夫咍尔为徒劳」用剧孟之典——吴楚之乱，周亚夫得剧孟，也令人想到「徒劳」写徒劳的意象；「张公两龙剑，神物合有时」用张华雷焕之典——两龙剑终合于延平津，令人想到「两龙剑」写宝剑的典故，也令人想到「神物合有时」写终将遇合的意象；「风云感会起屠钓」令人想到「风云」写风云际会的意象——「风云际会」，也令人想到「起屠钓」写屠钓（姜太公、百里奚）终起的意象。全诗化用姜太公、郦食其、攀龙、阊阖、杞人忧天、二桃杀三士、剧孟、两龙剑的典故，以大量典故写志向，正是李白「豪放飘逸」而善用典、承怀才不遇传统写感慨的本领。

Commentary

Later readers have treated this as Li Bai's manifesto of unfulfilled promise, and specifically as a poem about the difference between historical opportunity and personal luck. The pivotal passage is the locked gate — 'the nine gates of the heavenly gate cannot be passed; I knock with my forehead and the wardens are angry' — which generations of critics read as the court at Chang'an. The closing resolution has been read both as genuine acceptance and as Li Bai's customary way of ending a long poem by turning back to its title. In either case the famous effect is the same: the chant is sad precisely because it cannot be finished.

此诗历来被推为李白怀才不遇诗的名篇，也是唐人写怀才不遇的代表。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人评此诗「以大量典故写志向，纵横跌宕」；近人更指出「君不见朝歌屠叟辞棘津，八十西来钓渭滨」用姜太公之典写怀才不遇而终遇明主，「力排南山三壮士，齐相杀之费二桃」用二桃杀三士之典写世道险恶，是此诗的名句。在诗歌史上，此诗的特殊价值在于：它以三十余句的长篇写尽怀才不遇而自信终遇的感慨——那梁甫吟的起兴，那何时见阳春的渴望，那朝歌屠叟与渭滨垂钓的姜太公，那高阳酒徒与指挥楚汉的郦食其，那攀龙见主的艰难，那雷公震鼓的威吓，那以额叩关的愤懑，那白日不照的悲愤，那杞人忧天的忧国，那猰貐磨牙的恶兽，那驺虞不折的仁兽，那二桃杀三士的险恶，那两龙剑终合的自信，都写尽了李白怀才不遇而自信终遇的感慨；那「大贤虎变愚不测」更写尽对自身才具的自信。此诗与李白《行路难》（「长风破浪会有时」）同为怀才不遇名篇，一写「停杯投箸不能食」的悲愤，一写「何时见阳春」的渴望；又与诸葛亮好为《梁甫吟》的传统一脉相承，可见李白以古题写己志的用心。对于今日读者，此诗是理解李白政治抱负的窗口，也是中国诗写怀才不遇的经典——那风云感会的屠钓，穿越千年，仍在诉说着才士终将遇合的信念。

Prosody

Form Seven-character song-form poem in the Yuefu manner诗·七言歌行（乐府体）

Rhyme Changed repeatedly — bin/lun, qin/ren, gong/feng/peng/xiong, gu/nv/yu/nu, qing/jing/ku, mao/tao/lao, bei/shi/zhi — giving a highly broken rhythm.七言歌行，转韵（滨、纶、亲、人、公、风、蓬、雄、鼓、女、雨、怒、倾、茎、苦、毛、桃、劳、悲、时、之），音节跌宕

Tone pattern Level and oblique tones interleaved in the loose ballad rhythm, no regulated couplets, so the sound follows the emotion.此诗为七言歌行，乐府体，多次转韵，音节跌宕，正合怀才不遇感慨的跌宕。

Reading note A long poem of many stanzas, the rhyme shifting at almost every short passage. Each change of rhyme marks a change of subject, so the structure sounds like a sequence of arguments rather than a single development.此诗为七言歌行，乐府体，以「长啸梁甫吟」起，全诗多次转韵——「滨、纶、亲、人」为一段，「公、风、蓬、雄」为一段，「鼓、女、雨、怒」为一段，「倾、茎、苦」为一段，「毛、桃、劳」为一段，「悲、时、之」为收束，转韵处正合情感的转折，音节跌宕。全诗以大量典故写志向：开篇起兴写渴望（长啸梁甫吟，何时见阳春），中段用姜太公、郦食其两典写自信（君不见朝歌屠叟辞棘津，八十西来钓渭滨；君不见高阳酒徒起草中，长揖山东隆准公），继写求仕艰难（我欲攀龙见明主，雷公砰訇震天鼓），末段写世道险恶与终将遇合（力排南山三壮士，齐相杀之费二桃；张公两龙剑，神物合有时）。诵读此诗，宜以豪放的语调读「君不见朝歌屠叟辞棘津」的用典，以悲愤的语调读「白日不照吾精诚」的感慨，结句「风云感会起屠钓，大人臲卼当安之」要读得自信而有余韵，方能传达出李白的纵横跌宕。李白歌行以「豪放飘逸」著称，此诗正是其怀才不遇乐府体的典范。

Line by line

君不见朝歌屠叟辞棘津，八十西来钓渭滨

Have you not heard of the butcher of Chaoge who left Jijin, who at eighty came west to fish by the waters of Wei?

君不见那朝歌的屠叟辞别棘津，八十岁西来钓于渭滨。

Do you not see the butcher of Zhaoge who left Jijin, at eighty coming west to fish on the Wei shore?

此二句是全诗写自信的核心，以姜太公之典写怀才不遇而终遇明主，写尽李白对终将遇合的自信，是千古名句。「君不见朝歌屠叟辞棘津」写君不见那朝歌的屠叟辞别棘津——那「朝歌屠叟」写姜太公早年屠牛于朝歌，「辞棘津」写辞别棘津，写尽姜太公早年的落魄；「八十西来钓渭滨」写八十岁西来钓于渭滨——那「八十」写姜太公八十始遇，「钓渭滨」写垂钓渭滨，写尽姜太公晚年的机遇。这句的深意在于：它以「朝歌屠叟」的落魄与「八十西来钓渭滨」的机遇，写尽怀才不遇而终遇明主的自信——朝歌的屠叟辞别棘津，那「朝歌屠叟」用姜太公之典写尽姜太公早年的落魄——吕尚未遇时，屠牛朝歌、钓于棘津，落魄如此；八十岁西来钓于渭滨，那「八十西来钓渭滨」写尽姜太公晚年的机遇——八十始遇文王，垂钓渭滨而终成大业；那「朝歌屠叟」写尽早年的落魄，那「八十西来钓渭滨」写尽晚年的机遇，一写落魄，一写机遇，写尽怀才不遇而终遇明主的自信——姜太公八十始遇文王，自己正当壮年，又何必忧怀才不遇？这正是李白以姜太公自比的自信，也是全诗写怀才不遇而终遇的核心；此二句以姜太公之典写尽怀才不遇而终遇明主的自信，也让此二句成为全诗写自信的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「我终会得到重用」，则失其用典；唯以「朝歌屠叟辞棘津」「八十西来钓渭滨」的姜太公之典写尽怀才不遇而终遇明主的自信，也让此二句成为全诗写自信的核心。

The butcher. Do you not see the butcher of Zhaoge who left Jijin, at eighty coming west to fish on the Wei shore? The old butcher who met King Wen at eighty is Li Bai's hope. To have cited the Jiang Ziya allusion would be an allusion; the butcher-of-Zhaoge-left-Jijin against the eighty-coming-west-to-fish-on-the-Wei-shore is the allusion.

白日不照吾精诚，杞国无事忧天倾

The white sun does not shine upon my sincerity; I, a man of Qi, needlessly fear the sky falling.

白日不照我的精诚，如杞人无事而忧天倾。

The bright sun does not shine on my devotion; like the man of Qi, I grieve without cause lest the sky fall.

此二句是全诗写悲愤的核心，以白日不照写不被理解，以杞人忧天写忧国，写尽怀才不遇的悲愤，是千古名句。「白日不照吾精诚」写白日不照我的精诚——那「白日」写君主（白日喻君主），「不照」写不照临，「吾精诚」写我的精诚，写尽精诚不被理解的悲愤；「杞国无事忧天倾」写如杞人无事而忧天倾——那「杞国」用杞人忧天之典，「无事忧天倾」写无事而忧天倾，写尽忧国而无谓的悲愤。这句的深意在于：它以「白日不照吾精诚」的不被理解与「杞国无事忧天倾」的忧国，写尽怀才不遇的悲愤——白日不照我的精诚，那「白日不照吾精诚」写尽精诚不被理解的悲愤——我精诚为国，而君主（白日）不照临我的精诚，那「不照」写尽不被理解的悲愤；杞人无事而忧天倾，那「杞国无事忧天倾」用杞人忧天之典写尽忧国而无谓的悲愤——我忧心国事，正如杞人忧天，在世人眼中竟成无谓，那「无事忧天倾」写尽忧国而被嘲的悲愤；那「白日不照吾精诚」写尽不被理解的悲愤，那「杞国无事忧天倾」写尽忧国而被嘲的悲愤，一写不被理解，一写忧国被嘲，写尽怀才不遇的悲愤——这正与「我欲攀龙见明主，雷公砰訇震天鼓」「以额叩关阍者怒」的求仕艰难相呼应；此二句以白日不照、杞人忧天写尽怀才不遇的悲愤，也让此二句成为全诗写悲愤的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「君主不理解我的忠诚」，则失其用典；唯以「白日不照吾精诚」写不被理解、「杞国无事忧天倾」写忧国被嘲，写尽怀才不遇的悲愤，也让此二句成为全诗写悲愤的核心。

The grief. The bright sun does not shine on my devotion; like the man of Qi, I grieve without cause lest the sky fall. The bright sun (the emperor) not shining on his devotion, and the Qi-state worry-about-the-sky allusion, are the grief. To have said the emperor did not understand him and he was mocked for his patriotism would be a complaint; the bright-sun-not-shining-on-my-devotion against the Qi-state-worrying-without-cause-lest-the-sky-fall is the complaint.

Study

Word focus

虎变 The transformation of a great man, from the image of a tiger shedding its coat; a sudden, unguessed change of fortune that separates the sage from ordinary men. 「大贤虎变愚不测」之「虎变」是写才具的关键词，一个「虎变」写尽大贤的蜕变。虎变者，如虎之花纹变化也，语出《周易》「大人虎变」，写大人如虎之变，焕然更新。李白以「大贤虎变」写大贤，这个「虎变」至少有双重意味：其一，写蜕变之巨——那「大贤虎变愚不测」写大贤如虎之变，愚人不测，那「虎变」写尽大贤由凡入圣的蜕变——当年颇似寻常人，一朝虎变，愚人莫测；其二，写自信之强——那「虎变」更是写自信——大贤虎变，正是诗人对自身终将脱颖的自信，那「虎变」写尽怀才不遇而自信终遇的信念。以「虎变」写才具，正是李白写自信的枢纽——若换作「变化」「蜕变」等词，则或失其与《周易》的呼应，或失其写大贤虎变的凝练；唯「虎变」二字，以如虎之变写尽大贤的蜕变与自信，与「愚不测」的不测相合，写尽怀才不遇而自信终遇的信念，也让「大贤虎变愚不测」成为全诗写自信的名句。

精诚 Sincerity, whole-heartedness. Here it is the poet's unrecognized devotion to the service of the state, which the ruler's light does not reach. 「白日不照吾精诚」之「精诚」是写忠诚的关键词，一个「精诚」写尽李白精诚为国的忠诚。精诚者，真诚、至诚也。李白以「吾精诚」写自己的忠诚，这个「精诚」至少有双重意味：其一，写忠诚之真——那「白日不照吾精诚」写白日不照我的精诚，那「精诚」写尽忠诚的至真——精诚所至，金石为开，我以精诚为国；其二，写悲愤之深——那「精诚」更是写悲愤——精诚如此，而白日不照，那「精诚」写尽不被理解的悲愤。以「精诚」写忠诚，正是李白写悲愤的枢纽——若换作「忠诚」「真心」等词，则或失其与「白日不照」的呼应，或失其写至诚的凝练；唯「精诚」二字，以至诚写尽精诚为国的忠诚与不被理解的悲愤，与「杞国无事忧天倾」的忧国相合，写尽怀才不遇的悲愤，也让「白日不照吾精诚」成为全诗写悲愤的名句。

梁甫吟