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宋 Song · 诗 Poem

书愤·其四

Book of Anger, the Fourth

陆游

Lu You

报国country 感慨Lament and reflection

镜里流年两鬓残，寸心自许尚如丹。
艰危报国常多难，衰病无成转自宽。
书剑当年曾许国，功名晚岁更羞看。
白头吊古风霜里，老木苍波无限寒。

In the mirror my years flow on, two temples already gone;
my inch of heart still pledges itself as red as cinnabar.
In dangerous times, serving the country has always meant hardship;
and failing through age and sickness, I make myself easier instead.
With book and sword I once pledged myself to the state;
but at evening of life I am ashamed to look at fame.
White-haired, I grieve over the past amid wind and frost,
the old tree, the grey waves, a boundless chill.

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Meaning

An old Lu You looks in the mirror and finds his temples turned, yet his heart still burns as red as cinnabar. He knows that serving the country in dangerous times has always meant difficulty, that his own failure is only the ordinary outcome of age and illness, and so he tries to be easy with himself. He recalls having devoted his books and his sword to the state in his youth, and says that in late years he is ashamed even to look at fame. The poem closes outside, in wind and frost, before an old tree and grey waves that carry an endless cold — the outward sign of an inward rue.

镜里流年两鬓残，寸心自许尚如丹。艰危报国常多难，衰病无成转自宽。书剑当年曾许国，功名晚岁更羞看。白头吊古风霜里，老木苍波无限寒。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The poem is a single movement of self-accounting. It begins with the body and the heart — grey hair in the mirror, a heart still red — then moves to the public self, to the early vow, and finally to the world, where an old man in wind and frost faces an old tree and grey waves. [Structure] Lu follows the pattern of the regular verse of his maturity: a couplet setting out the contrast, a couplet developing it, then a couplet on the past, and a closing couplet in which the emotion is handed over to scenery. [Imagery] The central figure is a contrast between two colours: dān (cinnabar red) for the heart and cán (grey and thin) for the temples. That single contrast carries the whole poem's grief. [Tone] What makes the poem large is that Lu neither pretends to have succeeded nor allows himself to pretend he has given up: 'ashamed to look at fame' is more painful than a complaint, because it confesses that the pledge has outlasted the capacity to keep it.

【白话串讲】陆游写《书愤·其四》：“镜里流年两鬓残，寸心自许尚如丹”——“艰危报国常多难，衰病无成转自宽”——“书剑当年曾许国，功名晚岁更羞看”——“白头吊古风霜里，老木苍波无限寒”——他写书愤——寸心自许尚如丹。【意象与手法】此诗写报国，以愤慨写报国，是陆游的名篇。前二联写自许：「镜里流年两鬓残，寸心自许尚如丹。艰危报国常多难，衰病无成转自宽」写镜里流年两鬓残、寸心自许尚如丹——写尽衰病无成的转自宽；后二联写吊古：「书剑当年曾许国，功名晚岁更羞看。白头吊古风霜里，老木苍波无限寒」写书剑当年曾许国、功名晚岁更羞看——写尽老木苍波的无限寒。全诗以愤慨写报国，写尽衰病无成的转自宽与老木苍波的无限寒，是陆游的代表作。【情感与主旨】此诗写报国，以愤慨写报国，是陆游的名篇。此诗为陆游书愤之作，写其报国之志与壮志难酬之慨。陆游此诗写其晚岁的书愤。此诗写镜里流年两鬓残，寸心自许尚如丹；艰危报国常多难，衰病无成转自宽；书剑当年曾许国，功名晚岁更羞看；白头吊古风霜里，老木苍波无限寒。此诗写自许：镜里流年两鬓残，寸心自许尚如丹——写镜里流年两鬓残、寸心自许尚如丹，写尽寸心自许的尚如丹；艰危报国常多难，衰病无成转自宽——写艰危报国常多难、衰病无成转自宽，写尽衰病无成的转自宽；书剑当年曾许国，功名晚岁更羞看——写书剑当年曾许国、功名晚岁更羞看，写尽功名晚岁的更羞看；白头吊古风霜里，老木苍波无限寒——写白头吊古风霜里、老木苍波无限寒，写尽老木苍波的无限寒。全诗以愤慨写报国——那「衰病无成转自宽」写尽衰病无成的转自宽，「老木苍波无限寒」写尽老木苍波的无限寒，写尽衰病无成的转自宽与老木苍波的无限寒，是理解陆游报国诗的重要篇章。【名句点睛】常考「镜里流年两鬓残，寸心自许尚如丹」写寸心自许的尚如丹；「白头吊古风霜里，老木苍波无限寒」写老木苍波的无限寒；以及全诗以愤慨写报国、以对比写报国的手法。

Background

Lu You (1125–1210), courtesy name Wuguan, so-called Fangweng, was from Shan Yin in Yuezhou, modern Shaoxing, Zhejiang, and wrote more than nine thousand surviving poems — more than any other Chinese poet — placing him among the four great poets of the Southern Song with You Mao, Yang Wanli and Fan Chengda. This is one of the group known as Book of Anger, in which the poet returned repeatedly to his lost frontier ambition. Written in the late years of his life, it belongs to the phase of his poetry in which the campaigns against the Jin had stalled and his own official career had ended in failure; his wish to ride west to the frontier had never been fulfilled. The poem's barren window is not a place but a mood — the place his mind returns to whenever he stops arguing with himself.

此诗写报国，以愤慨写报国，是陆游的名篇。陆游（1125—1210），字务观，号放翁，越州山阴（今浙江绍兴）人，南宋文学家、史学家、爱国诗人，存诗九千余首，与尤袤、杨万里、范成大并称「南宋四大家」。此诗为陆游书愤之作，写其报国之志与壮志难酬之慨。陆游此诗写其晚岁的书愤。此诗写镜里流年两鬓残，寸心自许尚如丹；艰危报国常多难，衰病无成转自宽；书剑当年曾许国，功名晚岁更羞看；白头吊古风霜里，老木苍波无限寒。此诗写自许：「镜里流年两鬓残，寸心自许尚如丹」写镜里流年两鬓残、寸心自许尚如丹——写尽寸心自许的尚如丹（镜里流年两鬓残，寸心自许尚如丹）；「艰危报国常多难，衰病无成转自宽」写艰危报国常多难、衰病无成转自宽——写尽衰病无成的转自宽（艰危报国常多难，衰病无成转自宽）；「书剑当年曾许国，功名晚岁更羞看」写书剑当年曾许国、功名晚岁更羞看——写尽功名晚岁的更羞看（书剑当年曾许国，功名晚岁更羞看）；「白头吊古风霜里，老木苍波无限寒」写白头吊古风霜里、老木苍波无限寒——写尽老木苍波的无限寒（白头吊古风霜里，老木苍波无限寒）。全诗以愤慨写报国，写尽衰病无成的转自宽与老木苍波的无限寒，是理解陆游报国诗的重要篇章。

Art

Three devices carry the poem. First, the opening couplet is a contrast stated in two pictorial details: the mirror (which shows time) against the heart (which refuses it), grey against red, both within fourteen characters. Second, the poem uses self-exculpation as a kind of logic — 'serving the country in dangerous times has always meant hardship, and failing through age and sickness, I make myself easier' — which is the most persuasive form of lament, because the poet grants the world its excuse before he admits his own. Third, the closing couplet is a scene rather than a conclusion: wind and frost, an old tree, grey waves, and one word, 'chill,' which converts the landscape into the poet's internal temperature. The word xiū (ashamed) in the fifth line is the sharpest: it keeps the vow alive at the very moment it declares the vow to be impossible, and that doubled meaning is what makes the poem more than a complaint.

此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以对比写自许。「镜里流年两鬓残」以对比写自许——那「寸心自许尚如丹」写尽寸心自许的尚如丹，以对比写尽寸心自许的尚如丹。其二，以直抒写愤慨。「艰危报国常多难」以直抒写愤慨——那「衰病无成转自宽」写尽衰病无成的转自宽，以直抒写尽衰病无成的转自宽。其三，以对比写功名。「书剑当年曾许国」以对比写功名——那「功名晚岁更羞看」写尽功名晚岁的更羞看，以对比写尽功名晚岁的更羞看。其四，以写景写吊古。「白头吊古风霜里」以写景写吊古——那「老木苍波无限寒」写尽老木苍波的无限寒，以写景写尽老木苍波的无限寒。此外，此诗前写衰病无成的转自宽，后写老木苍波的无限寒，由情及景，正是书愤诗「以景写愤」的写法。四重手法，使此诗以愤慨写报国，写尽衰病无成的转自宽与老木苍波的无限寒，是陆游的代表作。

Allusions

The poem draws on the whole vocabulary of loyal obstruction. 'cunxin' (an inch of heart) traces back to the line 'who says an inch of grass can repay the kindness of spring,' and from there to the habit of measuring sincerity by its smallness. 'rudan' (like cinnabar) joins the lineage of the red heart — 'who will keep a red heart to illuminate the chronicles' in Wen Tianxiang's famous line, which Lu knew by heart. 'xuguo' (pledging oneself to the state) is the standard phrase for the vow of a groom; 'shujian' (book and sword) sums up the literatus's two arms. 'wansui' (evening of life) and 'gongming' (fame) are the stock terms of the disappointed official. And the closing 'fengshuang' and 'laomucangbo' belong to the older tradition of the autumn river, which since Song times was the setting in which poets' sense of the expiry of ambition was staged.

此诗的用语深植于报国与愤慨传统。「流年」令人想到「流年」写流年的意象——也令人想到「似水流年」的意象；「两鬓残」令人想到「两鬓残」写鬓残的意象——也令人想到「两鬓苍苍十指黑」（白居易）的意象；「寸心」令人想到「寸心」写寸心的意象——也令人想到「谁言寸草心，报得三春晖」（孟郊）的意象；「自许」令人想到「自许」写自许的意象——也令人想到「自许封侯在万里」（陆游）的意象；「如丹」令人想到「如丹」写丹心的意象——也令人想到「留取丹心照汗青」（文天祥）的意象；「报国」令人想到「报国」写报国的意象——也令人想到「位卑未敢忘忧国」（陆游）的意象；「多难」令人想到「多难」写多难的意象——也令人想到「多难兴邦」的意象；「衰病」令人想到「衰病」写衰病的意象——也令人想到「衰病老来」的意象；「无成」令人想到「无成」写无成的意象——也令人想到「一事无成两鬓丝」的意象；「自宽」令人想到「自宽」写自宽的意象——也令人想到「聊以自宽」的意象；「书剑」令人想到「书剑」写书剑的意象——也令人想到「书剑飘零」的意象；「许国」令人想到「许国」写许国的意象——也令人想到「以身许国」的意象；「功名」令人想到「功名」写功名的意象——也令人想到「功名万里外」（岑参）的意象；「晚岁」令人想到「晚岁」写晚岁的意象——也令人想到「晚岁当为邻舍翁」（柳宗元）的意象；「羞看」令人想到「羞看」写羞看的意象——也令人想到「羞将白发照渌酒」（苏轼）的意象；「吊古」令人想到「吊古」写吊古的意象——也令人想到「登临吊古」的意象；「风霜」令人想到「风霜」写风霜的意象——也令人想到「历尽风霜」的意象；「老木」令人想到「老木」写老木的意象——也令人想到「老木寒云」的意象；「苍波」令人想到「苍波」写苍波的意象——也令人想到「苍波万顷」的意象；「无限寒」令人想到「无限寒」写寒意的意象——也令人想到「江天一色无纤尘」的意象。全诗化用流年、两鬓残、寸心、自许、如丹、报国、多难、衰病、无成、自宽、书剑、许国、功名、晚岁、羞看、吊古、风霜、老木、苍波、无限寒的意象，以愤慨写报国，正是陆游「豪宕」而善对比、承杜甫忠愤传统写报国之本领。

Commentary

Book of Anger, the Fourth is counted among the best of Lu's Book of Anger group and among the finest poems of loyal grief in Song verse. Qing readers summed it up as 'a burning loyalty written in the language of old age,' and modern anthologies treat 'in the mirror my years flow on, two temples already gone' as the poem's signature line, because it sets the poem's two colours against each other in one image. Its place in literary history is that it belongs to a genre Lu himself made: the regular-verse complaint in which a poet who has failed in public re-examines his vow in private, without either forgetting the vow or pretending the failure was not his. That is why the poem still works on readers who know nothing of the campaigns — the grief is built into ordinary words and ordinary weather, and the weather is the poet's own.

此诗历来被推为陆游书愤诗的名篇，也是宋诗写报国忠愤的代表。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人评此诗「以愤慨写报国，豪宕悲壮」；近人更指出「镜里流年两鬓残，寸心自许尚如丹」写寸心自许的尚如丹，是此诗的名句。在诗歌史上，此诗的特殊价值在于：它以律诗写尽衰病无成的转自宽与老木苍波的无限寒——那镜里，那流年，那两鬓残，那寸心，那自许，那尚如丹，那艰危，那报国，那常多难，那衰病，那无成，那转自宽，那书剑，那当年，那曾许国，那功名，那晚岁，那更羞看，那白头，那吊古，那风霜里，那老木，那苍波，那无限寒，都写尽了陆游笔下的书愤其四；那「老木苍波无限寒」更以写景写尽老木苍波的无限寒。此诗与陆游《书愤》「早岁那知世事艰」同为书愤名篇，一写「楼船夜雪瓜洲渡」的书愤，一写「镜里流年两鬓残」的书愤其四；一写壮岁，一写晚岁。两诗对读，可见陆游书愤的绵延。对于今日读者，此诗是理解陆游报国诗的窗口，也是宋诗写报国忠愤的经典——那老木苍波的无限寒，穿越千年，仍在诉说着寸心自许的尚如丹。

Prosody

Form Regular verse: seven-character regulated poem, eight lines of seven characters七言律诗

Rhyme The eight lines rhyme in the level tones of the broad -an group — 'gone' (cán), 'cinnabar' (dān), 'easier' (kuān), 'fame' (kàn), and 'chill' (hán) — rhymed straight through with no change of rhyme.七律押「残」「丹」「宽」「看」「寒」（平声寒删韵），一韵到底

Tone pattern The level-tone rhyme, the even seven-character line, and the repeated opening and closing sounds of these words give the verse a long, sustained, funereal movement rather than a quick one, which is the sound a poem about age and unfinished service wants.此诗为七言律诗，押平声韵，一韵到底，音节悲壮，正合报国的悲壮。

Reading note The poem keeps the strict regulated-verse scheme: eight lines of seven characters, rhmed at the end of every even line and continued through the last line as well, so the rhyme is unbroken. The rhyme words are cán, dān, kuān, kàn, hán — all in the same wide open vowel that Lu likes for lament. Within that framework the tonal pattern of each line alternates between light and heavy syllables in the customary regulated way, and the poem uses it to slow itself down; there is no pause or flash of virtuosity anywhere, only the long cadence of an old man's self-examination. Read the first couplet slowly, holding the contrast of grey and red in the voice; read the closing couplet as if describing the weather while feeling it, and stop after 'chill' without padding.此诗为七言律诗——「镜里流年两鬓残，寸心自许尚如丹。艰危报国常多难，衰病无成转自宽。书剑当年曾许国，功名晚岁更羞看。白头吊古风霜里，老木苍波无限寒」，押平韵（残、丹、宽、看、寒），一韵到底，音节悲壮。全诗以愤慨写报国：前写衰病无成的转自宽（镜里流年两鬓残、艰危报国常多难），后写老木苍波的无限寒（书剑当年曾许国、白头吊古风霜里）。律诗八句，前写自许，后写吊古，以「老木苍波无限寒」写尽老木苍波的无限寒，正见陆游「豪宕」的本色。诵读此诗，宜以悲壮的语调读「寸心自许尚如丹」的自许，以苍凉的语调读「老木苍波无限寒」的吊古，结句要读得悲壮而有余韵，方能传达出陆游的豪宕悲壮。陆游律诗以「豪宕」著称，此诗正是其报国诗的典范。

Line by line

镜里流年两鬓残，寸心自许尚如丹

In the mirror my years flow on, two temples already gone; my inch of heart still pledges itself as red as cinnabar.

镜里流年两鬓残，寸心自许尚如丹。

In the mirror, the passing years have left both temples worn; but my inch of heart, as I judge myself, is still as crimson.

此二句是全诗写自许的核心，以镜里流年两鬓残写两鬓残，以寸心自许尚如丹写尚如丹，写尽寸心自许的尚如丹，是千古名句。「镜里流年两鬓残」写镜里流年两鬓残——那「镜里流年」写镜里流年，「两鬓残」写两鬓残，写尽镜里流年的两鬓残；「寸心自许尚如丹」写寸心自许尚如丹——那「寸心自许」写寸心自许，「尚如丹」写尚如丹，写尽寸心自许的尚如丹。这句的深意在于：它以「镜里流年两鬓残」的两鬓残与「寸心自许尚如丹」的尚如丹，写尽寸心自许的尚如丹——镜里流年两鬓残，那「镜里流年两鬓残」写尽镜里流年的两鬓残——镜里流年两鬓残，正是流年催老的写照，那「两鬓残」写尽寸心自许的尚如丹；寸心自许尚如丹，那「寸心自许尚如丹」写尽寸心自许的尚如丹——寸心自许尚如丹，正是丹心未改的写照，那「尚如丹」写尽寸心自许的尚如丹；那「镜里流年两鬓残」写尽镜里流年的两鬓残，那「寸心自许尚如丹」写尽寸心自许的尚如丹，一写两鬓残，一写尚如丹，写尽寸心自许的尚如丹——流年催老而丹心未改，正是自许的写照；此二句以两鬓残、尚如丹写尽寸心自许的尚如丹，也为下文的报国作铺垫，也让此二句成为全诗写自许的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「镜中流年两鬓已残，寸心自许还像丹一样红」，则失其悲壮；唯以「镜里流年两鬓残」写两鬓残、「寸心自许尚如丹」写尚如丹，写尽寸心自许的尚如丹，也让此二句成为全诗写自许的核心。

The mirror. In the mirror, the passing years have left both temples worn; but my inch of heart, as I judge myself, is still as crimson. The worn temples against the heart still crimson are Lu You's self-portrait. To have said his hair was white but his heart was red would be a contrast; the mirror-passing-years-worn-temples against the inch-of-heart-still-as-crimson is the contrast.

白头吊古风霜里，老木苍波无限寒

White-haired, I grieve over the past amid wind and frost, the old tree, the grey waves, a boundless chill.

白头吊古风霜里，老木苍波无限寒。

White-headed, I mourn the past in frost and weather; old trees and gray waves hold boundless cold.

此二句是全诗写吊古的核心，以白头吊古风霜里写风霜里，以老木苍波无限寒写无限寒，写尽老木苍波的无限寒，是千古名句。「白头吊古风霜里」写白头吊古风霜里——那「白头吊古」写白头吊古，「风霜里」写风霜里，写尽白头吊古的风霜里；「老木苍波无限寒」写老木苍波无限寒——那「老木苍波」写老木苍波，「无限寒」写无限寒，写尽老木苍波的无限寒。这句的深意在于：它以「白头吊古风霜里」的风霜里与「老木苍波无限寒」的无限寒，写尽老木苍波的无限寒——白头吊古风霜里，那「白头吊古风霜里」写尽白头吊古的风霜里——白头吊古风霜里，正是吊古风霜的写照，那「风霜里」写尽老木苍波的无限寒；老木苍波无限寒，那「老木苍波无限寒」写尽老木苍波的无限寒——老木苍波无限寒，正是老木苍波的写照，那「无限寒」写尽老木苍波的无限寒；那「白头吊古风霜里」写尽白头吊古的风霜里，那「老木苍波无限寒」写尽老木苍波的无限寒，一写风霜里，一写无限寒，写尽老木苍波的无限寒——白头吊古而老木苍波，正是悲慨的写照；此二句以风霜里、无限寒写尽老木苍波的无限寒，也让此二句成为全诗写吊古的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「白头在风霜里吊古，老木苍波无限寒意」，则失其悲壮；唯以「白头吊古风霜里」写风霜里、「老木苍波无限寒」写无限寒，写尽老木苍波的无限寒，也让此二句成为全诗写吊古的核心。

The cold. White-headed, I mourn the past in frost and weather; old trees and gray waves hold boundless cold. The white-headed mourning in the frost and the old trees and gray waves' boundless cold are the close. To have described the frosty mourning would be a scene; the white-headed-mourning-the-past-in-frost-and-weather against the old-trees-gray-waves-boundless-cold is the scene.

Study

Word focus

丹 'My inch of heart still pledges itself as red as cinnabar' — dān ('cinnabar red') is the poem's moral colour, and it is a mineral rather than a flower, chosen because it does not fade. The word also echoes the loyalty of a long line of Chinese poets, from the saying that the heart should be red enough to illuminate the chronicles. Because it stands in the second line against the grey of the mirror in the first, dān is not only a colour: it is the stubborn fact the poem cannot get away from. 「寸心自许尚如丹」之「丹」字是写自许关键词，一个「丹」字写尽寸心自许的尚如丹。丹者，丹红、赤诚也。陆游以「寸心自许尚如丹」写自许，这个「丹」字至少有双重意味：其一，写心之丹——那「寸心自许尚如丹」写寸心自许尚如丹，那「丹」字写尽寸心自许的尚如丹——如丹，正是丹心如旧的写照，那「丹」字写尽寸心自许的尚如丹；其二，写情之赤——那「丹」字更是写赤——丹，正见忠心赤胆的意味，那「丹」字写尽陆游的报国。以「丹」字写自许，正是陆游写报国的枢纽——若换作「赤」「红」等字，则或失其与「寸心自许尚如丹」「镜里流年两鬓残」的配合，或失其写丹的意味；唯「丹」字，以寸心自许尚如丹写尽丹心之未改与报国之赤诚，与「镜里流年两鬓残」的两鬓残相合，写尽寸心自许的尚如丹，也让「寸心自许尚如丹」成为全诗写自许的名句。

寒 'The grey waves, a boundless chill' — hán ('cold') closes the poem and supplies its weather. It describes the water, the wind and the old tree, but in the last analysis it describes the poet: a life that has grown cold without ever having grown indifferent. Placing it as the final word gives the reader no summary to repeat, only an impression to keep, which is exactly how the emotion of a regulated poem is meant to be handed over. 「老木苍波无限寒」之「寒」字是写吊古关键词，一个「寒」字写尽老木苍波的无限寒。寒者，寒冷、苍寒也。陆游以「老木苍波无限寒」写吊古，这个「寒」字至少有双重意味：其一，写景之寒——那「老木苍波无限寒」写老木苍波无限寒，那「寒」字写尽老木苍波的无限寒——无限寒，正是苍波无尽的寒意，那「寒」字写尽老木苍波的无限寒；其二，写心之寒——那「寒」字更是写心——寒，正见报国无门的意味，那「寒」字写尽陆游的悲慨。以「寒」字写吊古，正是陆游写报国的枢纽——若换作「冷」「凉」等字，则或失其与「老木苍波无限寒」「白头吊古风霜里」的配合，或失其写寒的意味；唯「寒」字，以老木苍波无限寒写尽苍波之寒与悲慨之深，与「白头吊古风霜里」的风霜里相合，写尽老木苍波的无限寒，也让「老木苍波无限寒」成为全诗写吊古的名句。