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先秦 Pre-Qin · 诗经 Classic of Poetry

东山

The East Mountain

诗经

Book of Songs

战争/徭役war / corvee 思乡/羁旅homesickness / wandering

我徂东山，慆慆不归。
我来自东，零雨其濛。
我东曰归，我心西悲。
制彼裳衣，勿士行枚。
蜎蜎者蠋，烝在桑野。
敦彼独宿，亦在车下。
我徂东山，慆慆不归。
我来自东，零雨其濛。
果臝之实，亦施于宇。
伊威在室，蟏蛸在户。
町畽鹿场，熠燿宵行。
不可畏也，伊可怀也。
我徂东山，慆慆不归。
我来自东，零雨其濛。
鹳鸣于垤，妇叹于室。
洒扫穹窒，我征聿至。
有敦瓜苦，烝在栗薪。
自我不见，于今三年。
我徂东山，慆慆不归。
我来自东，零雨其濛。
仓庚于飞，熠燿其羽。
之子于归，皇驳其马。
亲结其缡，九十其仪。
其新孔嘉，其旧如之何？

I went to the East Mountain, and long, long I did not return.
Now I come from the east, and a fine rain drizzles down.
In the east I spoke of going home, and my heart grieved toward the west.
I cut out my everyday clothes; no more shall I march with a gag between my teeth.
The mulberry worm creeps and creeps, long lodged in the mulberry fields;
and I, huddled and sleeping alone, lay beneath the war chariot.
I went to the East Mountain, and long, long I did not return.
Now I come from the east, and a fine rain drizzles down.
The fruit of the wild gourd has crept over the eaves;
sowbugs are in the room, and spiders' webs across the door.
The yard has become a deer pasture, and fireflies glimmer through the night.
Yet it is not a thing to fear; it is rather a thing to long for.
I went to the East Mountain, and long, long I did not return.
Now I come from the east, and a fine rain drizzles down.
The stork cries on the anthill, and my wife sighs in the room.
She sprinkles and sweeps and stops the chinks, for her soldier is almost home.
The round bitter gourds hang still, long lodged on the chestnut firewood.
Since I saw them last, three years have gone by.
I went to the East Mountain, and long, long I did not return.
Now I come from the east, and a fine rain drizzles down.
The orioles are in flight, and their feathers shine bright.
When that girl went to her wedding, her horses were bay and white.
Her mother tied on her sash, and the rites were ninety in number.
Our new marriage was truly fair; what will the old love be now?

Listen

Meaning

I marched away to the East Mountain and for a long time could not come home. Now I am returning from the east, and a fine rain drifts down. In the east I said I was going home, and my heart was already grieving toward the west. I cut out ordinary clothes to wear, for I shall no longer march in the ranks with a gag between my teeth. The mulberry worm creeps slowly along, lodged for a long time in the mulberry fields, and I, curled up and sleeping alone, lay under the war chariot. I marched away to the East Mountain and for a long time could not come home. Now I am returning from the east, and a fine rain drifts down. The fruit of the wild gourd has spread over the eaves; sowbugs are in the room and spiders have spun their webs by the door. The fields around the house have become a pasture for deer, and fireflies glimmer through the night. Yet such desolation is not to be feared; it only makes me long for home the more. I marched away to the East Mountain and for a long time could not come home. Now I am returning from the east, and a fine rain drifts down. The stork cries on the anthill and my wife sighs in the house. She sprinkles and sweeps and stops the cracks to make ready, for her soldier is soon to return. The round bitter gourds have hung a long while on the chestnut firewood. Since I left home and saw them last, three years have gone by. I marched away to the East Mountain and for a long time could not come home. Now I am returning from the east, and a fine rain drifts down. The orioles fly to and fro with shining feathers. When that girl came as a bride, her horses were dappled bay and white. Her mother tied the sash for her, and the ceremonies were ninety in number. Our wedding was truly beautiful; what will our meeting be like now?

我出征去东山，久久不能回还。如今我从东方归来，细雨蒙蒙正迷漫。我在东都说要回家，心却早向西方悲。缝制那身便服，从此不再衔枚行阵。蜎蜎蠕动的桑虫，久久停在桑野。那孤身独宿的我，也蜷在兵车之下。我出征去东山，久久不能回还。如今我从东方归来，细雨蒙蒙正迷漫。瓜蒌的果实，已蔓延到屋檐。土鳖虫在屋里，蜘蛛结网在门边。田地成了鹿游的场圃，萤火夜里闪闪。这般荒凉也不可怕，反倒惹人思念。我出征去东山，久久不能回还。如今我从东方归来，细雨蒙蒙正迷漫。鹳鸟在蚁冢上鸣，妻子在室中长叹。打扫穹窒准备迎归，我的征人就要回还。那圆圆的苦瓜，久挂在栗薪上面。自我离家不见，到如今已经三年。我出征去东山，久久不能回还。如今我从东方归来，细雨蒙蒙正迷漫。黄莺翩翩飞，羽毛闪亮光。那女子出嫁时，花马红白杂色扬。母亲为她结佩巾，仪节繁复九十样。新婚实在美好，旧日重逢又当怎样？

Appreciation

This is the fourth of the seven pieces of the Airs of Bin, and the longest sustained lyric in the Airs. Tradition attaches it to the Duke of Zhou's eastern campaign, but the poem itself says that three years have passed, and it reads as the lived experience of one ordinary soldier coming home from a long tour of duty. Its supreme achievement is a structure that repeats and yet changes. All four stanzas open with the same four lines, the march to the East Mountain, the long absence, the return from the east, the drizzling rain, so that a single refrain sets the emotional key; but each second half opens a new scene. First comes the hardship of the camp, the mulberry worm in the fields and the man curled under his chariot; then the imagined desolation of home, gourd vines over the eaves, sowbugs in the room, deer in the yard, fireflies in the dark; then the household waiting, the stork on the anthill and the wife sighing as she sweeps; and last the memory of the wedding day. The rain that runs through every stanza holds the whole together, and the closing question, left unanswered, leaves the joy and dread of reunion hanging in the air.

【白话串讲】 “我徂东山，慆慆不归。我来自东，零雨其濛”——一个士兵打完仗回家：去东山时，久久不归；回来时，细雨蒙蒙。“我东曰归，我心西悲”——他一路走，一路想家。“制彼裳衣，勿士行枚”——终于能脱下军装了。【意象与手法】《东山》艺术成就极高，首在结构上的“重章而能变”。四章皆以“我徂东山，慆慆不归【情感与主旨】《东山》属《诗经·豳风》七篇之一，列于《豳风》第四【名句点睛】本诗中高考要点：一、“重章而能变”的结构，分析四章同起笔而异内容的匠心；二、“零雨其濛”作为贯穿意象的作用

Background

This poem is one of the seven pieces of the Airs of Bin, where it stands fourth. The Mao preface says: 'It concerns the Duke of Zhou's eastern campaign. The Duke of Zhou campaigned in the east and returned after three years; he comforted the officers and men who came back, and praised them in this poem.' Tradition therefore attaches it to the Duke of Zhou's suppression of Guan and Cai, and Zhu Xi's Collected Commentaries on the Songs cites the same view. The poem itself, however, says plainly that 'since I saw them last, three years have gone by', and reads as the real feeling of an ordinary conscript returning after three years on garrison duty, so it need not be tied to the Duke of Zhou at all. Its occasion is some eastern expedition of the Zhou in which service lasted three years, and the poet speaks in the voice of a soldier on the road home.

《东山》为《诗经·豳风》篇，是写征人归乡之思的长诗。此诗：我徂东山，慆慆不归。我来自东，零雨其濛。我东曰归，我心西悲。制彼裳衣，勿士行枚。蜎蜎者蠋，烝在桑野。敦彼独宿，亦在车下。……全诗写征人归乡之思、久役思家，是《诗经》的名篇。

Art

The artistic achievement of this poem is very high, and lies first in a structure that repeats and yet varies. All four stanzas begin with the same four lines about going to the East Mountain, the long absence, the return from the east and the drizzling rain, so that a circling emotional key is established; but the second half of each stanza opens a new scene. The first writes the hardship of the ranks, with the mulberry worm creeping in the fields and the soldier huddled alone beneath his chariot. The second imagines the desolation of home, with gourd vines over the eaves, sowbugs in the room and deer grazing in the yard. The third imagines the household longing for his return, with the stork crying on the anthill and the wife sighing indoors. The fourth recalls the beauty of the wedding, with orioles in flight and the mother tying on the bride's sash.

《东山》艺术上以归乡之思的绵长与征人心理的深婉见长。全诗四章，层层写来：一章写我徂东山、慆慆不归——“我徂东山，慆慆不归。我来自东，零雨其濛”写我徂东山、慆慆不归、零雨其濛，“我东曰归，我心西悲”写我东曰归、我心西悲，“制彼裳衣，勿士行枚”写制彼裳衣、勿士行枚，“蜎蜎者蠋，烝在桑野。敦彼独宿，亦在车下”写蜎蜎者蠋、敦彼独宿车下；后三章写室家之思。全诗以归乡之思写久役思家，正是《诗经》长诗回环往复的笔法。

Allusions

The poem draws on the usual evocative images and domestic details of the Book of Songs and uses few obscure references. Marching with a gag refers to the ancient practice of holding a short rod crosswise in the mouth on the march to keep the ranks silent, so that to say the gag is finished is to say that campaigning is over. The plant of the second stanza is the wild gourd; the insects are the sowbug and the long-legged spider; the word for the yard means the open ground about a farmhouse, and the light in the night is the firefly. The stork crying on the anthill was believed to foretell rain, and here it introduces the household's longing for the soldier's return. The round bitter gourd is a calabash, and the firewood is chestnut wood. The colours of the wedding horses are a mixture of yellow and white.

《东山》用典少而意象自明。“徂东山”写往东山（征役之地）；“慆慆不归”写久不归（慆慆为久久）；“零雨其濛”写濛濛细雨；“勿士行枚”写不再衔枚行军。全诗以这些意象写征人归乡之思，不用深典而深婉自见，正是《诗经》的笔法。

Commentary

Zhu Xi remarked in his Collected Commentaries on the Songs that the poem belongs with the sentiment of 'alas for my father and mother, who bore me with such toil'. Fang Yurun, in his Original Meaning of the Book of Songs, praised it as 'the supreme song of all ages for writing a soldier's thoughts on the road home'. Wang Fuzhi, in his Jiang Zhai Poetry Talks, held that the principle by which 'a joyful scene written for sorrow, and a sorrowful scene for joy, doubles both the sorrow and the joy' is already embodied in this poem. In modern times Yu Guanying, in his Selections from the Book of Songs, called it 'the folk song with the finest psychological description of them all'.

《东山》是《诗经·豳风》的名篇，也是中国诗歌中写征人归乡的代表作。此诗写征人归乡之思、久役思家，向为论者称道。论者多赏其归乡之思的绵长与征人心理的深婉——“我徂东山，慆慆不归。我来自东，零雨其濛”写久役东征、零雨归途，绵长之极；“我东曰归，我心西悲”写东归而西悲，更见思家之切；后三章写室家之思、睹物怀人，尤见深婉。此诗写征人归乡，正以回环往复写之，正是《诗经》长诗的笔法。

Prosody

Form Book of Songs, Airs of Bin (mainly four-character lines with some of three and five characters)四言诗（诗经体）

Rhyme The rhymes of the opening lines fall across the wei, zheng, wu and yu groups (return, drizzle, grieve, gag, worm, chariot); the four stanzas share an opening and change scene《东山》为四言诗，四章，每章十二句。此诗用韵：归、濛（微部）、枚、野、下（马部）等，随章换韵，音节绵长。

Tone pattern Four-character ancient verse with none of the later level and oblique rules; built on a repeated framework四言诗经体以音节绵长、回环往复见长。此诗写征人归乡之思，音节绵长而深婉。全诗四章回环往复，声调与归乡之思的内容相合，是《诗经》长诗中深婉的一路。

Reading note The longest lyric in the Airs of Bin, whose psychological drawing opens the great theme of the homecoming soldier.《东山》为《诗经·豳风》篇，是写征人归乡之思的长诗。此诗以“我徂东山，慆慆不归。我来自东，零雨其濛”写久役归途，以“我东曰归，我心西悲”写东归西悲，以“制彼裳衣，勿士行枚”写解甲归来。写征人归乡之思，正是《诗经》的名篇。

Line by line

我徂东山，慆慆不归。我来自东，零雨其濛。我东曰归，我心西悲。

I went to the eastern hill, long, long not returning. I come from the east; the drizzle drifts. They say return from the east; my heart grieves toward the west.

我往东山，久久不归。我从东方归来，濛濛细雨。我自东方说归，我心却向西方而悲。

I went to the Eastern Hill, long and long not returning. I come from the east; the fine rain drifts and drizzles. Though I return from the east, my heart grieves toward the west.

一章首写归乡之思，是全诗征人归乡的起点。“我徂东山，慆慆不归”写久役东征——“我徂东山”写我往东山（征役之地），“慆慆不归”写久久不归——我徂东山，慆慆不归；“我来自东，零雨其濛”写零雨归途——“我来自东”写我从东方归来，“零雨其濛”写濛濛细雨——自东而归，零雨其濛；“我东曰归，我心西悲”写东归西悲——“我东曰归”写我自东方说归，“我心西悲”写我心却向西方而悲——东归而西悲。五句写一章之归思：我徂东山慆慆不归、我来自东零雨其濛，我东曰归、我心西悲。以“我徂东山，慆慆不归”写久役东征、迟迟不归，以“我来自东，零雨其濛”写归途濛濛细雨，以“我东曰归，我心西悲”写东归而心悲于西（思家），正是《诗经》写征人归乡之思的起点——久役始归，心犹西悲。

The return. I went to the eastern hill, long, long not returning. I come from the east; the drizzle drifts. They say return from the east; my heart grieves toward the west. The went-eastern-hill-long-not-returning and the come-east-drizzle-drifts and the return-east-heart-grieves-west are the opening. To have gone to the eastern hill would be a going; the i-went-to-the-eastern-hill-long-long-not-returning-i-come-from-the-east-the-drizzle-drifts-they-say-return-from-the-east-my-heart-grieves-toward-the-west is the going.

制彼裳衣，勿士行枚。蜎蜎者蠋，烝在桑野。敦彼独宿，亦在车下。

Make me my civilian clothes; no more biting the gag on the march. The wriggling caterpillars lie in the mulberry wilds; he who sleeps alone, he too, beneath the cart.

制作那衣裳，不再衔枚行军。蠕动的蚕，久在桑野。那敦然独宿的人，也在车下。

Make me my civilian clothes; no more of marching with the gag in the mouth. The wriggling silkworms lie in the mulberry fields; he who sleeps curled up alone, he too, under the cart.

一章末写制裳解甲、独宿车下，是全诗征役之苦的深化。“制彼裳衣，勿士行枚”写制裳解甲——“制彼裳衣”写制作那衣裳（便服），“勿士行枚”写不再衔枚行军——制裳勿行枚；“蜎蜎者蠋，烝在桑野”写蜎蜎者蠋——“蜎蜎者蠋”写蠕动的蚕，“烝在桑野”写久在桑野——蜎蜎者蠋在桑野；“敦彼独宿，亦在车下”写独宿车下——“敦彼独宿”写那敦然独宿的人，“亦在车下”写也在车下——敦彼独宿车下。四句写一章末之苦：制彼裳衣勿士行枚、蜎蜎者蠋烝在桑野，敦彼独宿亦在车下。以“制彼裳衣，勿士行枚”写制便服、不再衔枚之解甲，以“蜎蜎者蠋，烝在桑野。敦彼独宿，亦在车下”写蚕在桑野、独宿车下之劳，正是《诗经》写征役之苦的深化——解甲归来，犹忆独宿车下之劳。

The cart. Make me my civilian clothes; no more biting the gag on the march. The wriggling caterpillars lie in the mulberry wilds; he who sleeps alone, he too, beneath the cart. The make-civilian-clothes-no-gag-march and the wriggling-caterpillars-mulberry-wilds and the sleeps-alone-beneath-cart are the weariness. To have made the clothes would be a making; the make-me-my-civilian-clothes-no-more-biting-the-gag-on-the-march-the-wriggling-caterpillars-lie-in-the-mulberry-wilds-he-who-sleeps-alone-he-too-beneath-the-cart is the making.

Study

Word focus

徂东山 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “我徂东山，慆慆不归”之“徂东山”，写往东山，是全诗写征役之地的关键词。“徂”写往，“东山”写东山（征役之地）——我往东山。这一词写征役之远：不是近地之役，而徂东山；不是可归之程，而久役之地。以“我徂东山，慆慆不归”写久役东征、迟迟不归，正是《诗经》写征人归乡的起点。

慆慆不归 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “慆慆不归”之“慆慆不归”，写久久不归，是全诗写久役之久的意象词。“慆慆”写久长（慆慆），“不归”写不归——久久不归。这一词写役期之久：不是短役之期，而慆慆不归；不是可归之期，而久久难归。以“我徂东山，慆慆不归”写久役迟迟不归，正是《诗经》写征人思归的笔法。

零雨其濛 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “我来自东，零雨其濛”之“零雨其濛”，写濛濛细雨，是全诗写归途之景的关键词。“零雨”写落雨，“其濛”写濛濛——濛濛细雨。这一词写归途之雨：不是晴明之途，而零雨其濛；不是可避之雨，而濛濛沾衣。以“我来自东，零雨其濛”写归途濛濛细雨，正是《诗经》写征人归乡、以雨写愁的笔法。

我心西悲 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “我东曰归，我心西悲”之“我心西悲”，写我心向西方而悲，是全诗写思家之切的归结词。“我心”写我心，“西悲”写向西方（家所在）而悲——我心却向西方而悲。这一词写归而思家：不是无悲之归，而西悲；不是可止之念，而东归心西。以“我东曰归，我心西悲”写东归而心悲于西，正是《诗经》写征人思家之切的归结。

东山