先秦 Pre-Qin · 诗经 Classic of Poetry
葛藟
Trailing Vines (Ge Lei)
绵绵葛藟,在河之浒。
终远兄弟,谓他人父。
谓他人父,亦莫我顾。
绵绵葛藟,在河之涘。
终远兄弟,谓他人母。
谓他人母,亦莫我有。
绵绵葛藟,在河之漘。
终远兄弟,谓他人昆。
谓他人昆,亦莫我闻。
Trailing vines of ge-lei by the river's shore. At last far from my brothers, I call another 'mother.' I call another 'mother,' yet none takes me in.
Trailing vines of ge-lei by the river's edge. At last far from my brothers, I call another 'brother.' I call another 'brother,' yet none heeds me.
Meaning
A refugee, far from his brothers, must cling to strangers and call them father, mother, brother—yet no one cares, takes him in, or hears him. The poem turns the closest of bonds into the image of the coldest rejection, a lament of the displaced in a broken age.
绵绵不断的葛藟藤,生在黄河岸边。终究远离了兄弟,叫别人作父亲。叫别人作父亲,也没人顾念我。 绵绵不断的葛藟藤,生在黄河水边。终究远离了兄弟,叫别人作母亲。叫别人作母亲,也没人接纳我。 绵绵不断的葛藟藤,生在黄河水滨。终究远离了兄弟,叫别人作兄长。叫别人作兄长,也没人理睬我。
Appreciation
Three tight stanzas: the first line 'trailing vines of ge-lei' opens as an image, the vine by the water hinting at the refugee's clinging for survival; 'by the bank / shore / edge' shifts place, suggesting he drifts ever farther. The body 'call another father / mother / brother' changes three ways, writing the humiliation of claiming kin; the close 'yet none cares / takes in / hears' turns three times, from uncared-for to unaccepted to unheard, the cold treatment deepening. The lines are neat and repeated, no outcry, yet the bleakness shows; with the palest brush it paints the bitterest state.
【白话串讲】 一个流浪者,远离兄弟,去叫别人“父亲”“母亲”“兄弟”,却没人理他。三千年前的这首诗,把无家可归的痛写进了每一个“谓他人父”里。 【意象与手法】 三章重章叠句,结构严整。首句「绵绵葛藟」起兴,以藤蔓依水、无树可攀之态暗喻流亡者依附无着;「在河之浒、涘、漘」由岸及滨,方位递移暗示飘零愈远。主体「谓他人父、母、昆」层层递换,写屈身认亲之卑微;结句「亦莫我顾、有、闻」三转,由不被顾念到不被接纳再到不被听闻,冷遇层层加深。全诗不呼号、不怒斥,以极淡之笔写极苦之境,怨而不怒,悲凉自见。 【情感与主旨】 《葛藟》为《诗经·王风》篇什。平王东迁后周室衰微,宗族离散,失势贵族与平民流落异乡,不得不投靠他人门下却备受冷落。诗人以流亡者口吻自述「终远兄弟、谓他人父」的屈辱,写出宗法时代最惨痛的一幕,折射西周末年至东周初年的社会震荡与宗法崩解,是「乱世流民」之叹的经典。 【名句点睛】 设题常取三点:一考「绵绵葛藟」起兴之妙,如何暗示流民依附无着;二析「谓他人父」之屈辱,以最亲密的称呼反衬最彻底的冷漠;三辨「亦莫我顾、有、闻」三章递进之章法,冷遇层层加深的匠心。
Background
'Trailing Vines' is a poem in the 'Airs of Wang' section of the Book of Songs. After King Ping moved east, the Zhou house declined and clans scattered; many fallen nobles drifted to strange lands and had to attach themselves to others, meeting only coldness. 'At last far from my brothers, I call another father' writes exactly such a displaced person, calling kin yet unanswered. The 'Airs of Wang' are full of sounds of turmoil, and this is one—a single person's lot reflecting the social shaking of the late Western to early Eastern Zhou and the collapse of the clan system. It has long been read as a sigh for 'refugees in a chaotic age.'
《葛藟》为《诗经·王风》之篇,属十五国风中的王风。周幽王烽火戏诸侯而亡国,平王东迁洛邑,史称东周,然周室自此衰微,王畿之地屡遭戎狄侵扰、诸侯欺凌,宗法秩序崩解,宗族离散,大量失势贵族与平民流落异乡,沦为寄人篱下、呼亲无应的流亡者。此诗即以一个流亡者的口吻,自述远离兄弟、不得不称他人为父为母为兄、却始终不被顾念接纳的惨痛遭遇。诗中「终远兄弟」四字透出宗族离散之痛——兄弟为天伦至亲,而今竟成「终远」;「谓他人父」更写出宗法时代最屈辱的一幕——按周礼,父兄为至亲至尊,而今竟须向陌生人屈身认亲,足见流亡者处境之绝望。全诗三章反复咏叹,如泣如诉。《王风》多乱离之音:《黍离》叹故都之悲,《君子于役》写征夫思归,《兔爰》怨生不逢时,《葛藟》则直写流民之叹,诸篇合观,正是东周初年社会动荡的实录,也是研究西周宗法制崩解、周代流民问题的重要文献。
Art
Three tight stanzas: the first line 'trailing vines of ge-lei' opens as an image, the vine by the water hinting at the refugee's clinging for survival; 'by the bank / shore / edge' shifts place, suggesting he drifts ever farther. The body 'call another father / mother / brother' changes three ways, writing the humiliation of claiming kin; the close 'yet none cares / takes in / hears' turns three times, from uncared-for to unaccepted to unheard, the cold treatment deepening. The lines are neat and repeated, no outcry, yet the bleakness shows; with the palest brush it paints the bitterest state.
此诗艺术上最突出的是重章叠句的结构与层层递进的章法。三章句式完全一致,仅更换若干关键字,形成复沓回环的咏叹:首句「绵绵葛藟」以叠字起兴,藤蔓绵延不绝、依水而生之态,暗喻流亡者无依无靠、依附他人求生,兴中兼喻;「在河之浒、涘、漘」三字由岸及滨、由近及远,方位层层推移,暗示漂泊愈远、处境愈下。主体「终远兄弟,谓他人父、母、昆」三层递换,由称父、称母到称兄,把流亡者屈身认亲、托庇无门的卑微写尽;结句「亦莫我顾、有、闻」三转,由不被顾念到不被接纳再到不被听闻,冷遇层层加深,最终连「闻」都不可得——世人对他视若无物、充耳不闻。全诗句式整饬,六句一章,前二句兴、中二句写实、末二句哀叹,结构严密;不呼号、不怒斥,以极平淡的家常语写极凄惨的境遇,悲凉自见,正是「怨而不怒」的国风本色。「亦」字的转折尤其沉痛——认了亲,换来的仍是「莫我顾」,一个「亦」字,把希望彻底浇灭。
Allusions
'Ge-lei' is a trailing plant; the ancients often used a vine clinging to a tree as an image of dependence (as in 'The vines cling' from Zhounan), here carried on to image the refugee's having nothing to hold to. The poem uses no classical allusion, pure image-and-comparison and plain description; 'call another father' directly writes clinging to strangers—life-writing, not allusion. Its satiric force lies precisely in having 'no fixed event' yet fully catching human feeling—using the closest bond ('claiming kin') to set off the most total coldness.
「葛藟」为蔓生藤本植物,古人常以藤蔓缠树喻依附,《诗经》中屡见其例:如《周南·樛木》「南有樛木,葛藟累之」以葛藟攀附樛木喻德配其位,是正面用喻;《大雅·旱麓》「莫莫葛藟,施于条枚」亦以葛藟蔓延喻福泽绵长。此诗反其意而用之——河畔之葛藟绵延而无所攀附,暗喻流亡者依附无着、漂泊无根,同一意象,正面则喻依附得所,反面则喻无所依托,比兴之意更深一层。「河」指黄河,《王风》之地即东周王畿洛邑一带,黄河流经其间,河畔葛藟既是眼前实景,又是全篇比兴之根,兴中有赋、赋中见兴。「终远兄弟」之「远」暗合宗法伦理——兄弟为天伦至亲,疏远至此,足见宗族之解体,与《小雅·常棣》「兄弟既具,和乐且孺」的天伦之乐恰成对照。「谓他人父」则直写寄人篱下之实,属生活化抒写而非用典,其讽喻之力正在于无故实而尽得人情,以「认亲」这一最亲密的关系反衬最彻底的冷漠,与《小雅·黄鸟》「此邦之人,不我肯谷」的异乡之叹声气相通,共同构成《诗经》写流民无依的双璧。
Commentary
The Mao preface: 'Trailing Vines, a satire on King Ping. The Zhou way declined; he cast off his nine clans.' Zhu Xi: 'the age declined, the people scattered, hence this meaning.' Fang Yurun: 'the three lines “call another father” hold boundless desolation.' Modern readers, from a social-poetry view, see it as a true portrait of the lower displaced in the Eastern Zhou's clan collapse, affirming its art of 'writing the turmoil of an age in household words.'
《毛诗序》谓「《葛藟》,刺平王也。周室道衰,弃其九族焉」,以为刺周平王弃亲失道、宗族离心,郑玄笺、孔颖达疏皆沿此说,将诗意坐实为政治讽刺。朱熹《诗集传》则进一步揭示其社会背景,谓「世衰民散,去其乡里家族,而流离失所」,诗人「因以见意」,已由政教之讽转向世情之悯。方玉润《诗经原始》评「谓他人父」三句「无限凄凉」,又谓全诗「一气三章,皆是流离琐尾之状」,深赏其写实之笔。清人王夫之《诗广传》亦借此诗论宗族离散之痛,谓骨肉之亲而至于称他人为父,人道之变极矣。今人多从社会诗视角解读,视其为东周初年宗法崩解、流民流亡的真实写照,肯定其「以家常语写乱世悲」的艺术力量。文学史上,此诗与《硕鼠》《伐檀》同为《诗经》中最具社会批判性的篇章,且开中国流民文学之先河——后世杜甫《无家别》「人生无家别,何以为蒸黎」、白居易《卖炭翁》写民生疾苦,皆与此诗「流离琐尾」的悲慨一脉相承。
Prosody
Line by line
绵绵葛藟,在河之浒
Trailing vines of ge-lei by the river's bank.
绵绵不绝的葛藟藤,生长在黄河岸边。
Endless, endless the kudzu vine, growing on the riverbank.
首句起兴,是全诗之根。「绵绵」叠字写葛藟藤蔓绵延不绝之态,声调亦随之绵长低回,与藤蔓之象相合;「在河之浒」写葛藟生于黄河岸边。此句妙在兴而兼喻:葛藟为蔓生藤本,本应攀树而生,河畔无树可依,只能贴地蔓延、随水漂泊,正暗喻流亡者离乡背井、无所依附的处境——葛藟尚有河岸为邻,流亡者却连安身之所亦无。而葛藟生黄河之滨,亦是实景,兴中有赋。以物起兴而暗含人喻,比兴之体在此句已然立定,后文「终远兄弟」「谓他人父」的屈辱遭遇,皆由此「无依」之象生发开来。一句起兴,全章悲凉之基调已定。
The vine. Endless, endless the kudzu vine, growing on the riverbank. The endless-kudzu-vine and the growing-riverbank are the opening. To have grown on the riverbank would be a growing; the endless-endless-the-kudzu-vine-growing-on-the-riverbank is the growing.
终远兄弟,谓他人父
At last far from my brothers, I call another 'father.'
终究远离了兄弟,不得不叫别人作父亲。
At last far from my brothers, I must call another man father.
此句是全诗情感的重心,写尽流亡者最深的屈辱。「终远兄弟」之「终」,意为终究、最终,写出离散之不可挽回——并非一时之远离,而是最终的诀别;兄弟为天伦至亲,而今竟成「终远」,宗族离散之痛尽在其中。更惨的是下句「谓他人父」:按宗法伦理,父为至亲至尊,而今为了生存,竟须向陌生人屈身认亲、呼人为父,这是身份与尊严的双重沦丧。诗人不写流亡之苦的细节,只写「认亲」这一幕,以最亲密的伦理关系写最彻底的沦落,其哀已深。后人评此句「无限凄凉」,正因它触及了宗法时代一个人最不堪的处境——连呼亲的资格都已失去,只能以谎言般的称呼乞求一丝顾念。
The father. At last far from my brothers, I must call another man father. The at-last-far-brothers and the call-another-father are the humiliation. To have called another father would be a calling; the at-last-far-from-my-brothers-i-must-call-another-man-father is the calling.
亦莫我顾
Yet none cares for me.
可也没有人来顾念我。
Yet no one cares for me.
「亦莫我顾」四字是全章情感的爆发点。「谓他人父」本是屈尊俯就的乞求,诗人或许还抱着万一之望——称一声父亲,或能得一分顾念;然而「亦」字一转,希望彻底落空:叫了,也仍然没有人顾念。「亦」字看似平淡,实则沉痛至极,它把前句的屈辱与后句的冷遇直接焊在一起——屈身认亲已是极限,而换来的依旧是无动于衷,两重绝望叠加,令人窒息。「顾」字亦有讲究,顾为回顾、顾念,写对方连看都不看一眼、想都不想一下的冷漠。一章之内,由认亲之卑到无顾之哀,情感落差极大,而诗人只用四个字便全部托出,不呼号、不怒斥,怨而不怒,正是国风抒情「温柔敦厚」而力透纸背的典型笔法。
The neglect. Yet no one cares for me. The yet-no-one-cares is the despair. To have cared would be a caring; the yet-no-one-cares-for-me is the caring.
亦莫我闻
Yet none heeds me.
可也没有人来理睬我。
Yet no one heeds me.
三章结句层层递进,至此收束于最彻底的冷漠。「亦莫我顾、有、闻」三句,由不被顾念(顾)到不被接纳(有)再到不被听闻(闻),一层深似一层:顾是看一眼,有是收留我,闻是听我说——流亡者先是盼人回顾,再盼人收留,最后只盼有人肯听一句申诉,然而连「闻」都不可得,世人对他视若无物、充耳不闻,其绝望已到极点。三章换字不换句,复沓回环,而每换一字,冷遇便加深一层,这正是重章叠句的妙用——表面是重复,实则步步紧逼。末章结于此,全诗戛然而止,不写流亡者的结局,任其悬于无告之境,余哀不尽。「终远兄弟」始,「莫我闻」终,呼亲无应、申诉无门,流民之悲,尽在言外。
The deafness. Yet no one heeds me. The yet-no-one-heeds is the close. To have heeded would be a heeding; the yet-no-one-heeds-me is the heeding.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Both satirize the times from the Airs of Wang; compare method and mood.
《硕鼠》「硕鼠硕鼠,无食我黍」与《葛藟》同为《诗经》中抒击社会不公的篇章,皆以物起兴、以人写情,但比兴方式与情感基调判然有别:《硕鼠》以大老鼠喻贪残的统治者,公开斥责「三岁贯女,莫我肯顾」,愤怒中带着反抗的决绝,末章「逝将去女,适彼乐土」更透出远走他乡的刚烈,是怒而能愤;《葛藟》则直写流亡者认亲无应之苦,不斥一人、不指一事,只把「谓他人父,亦莫我顾」的屈辱如实道来,是怨而不怒。《硕鼠》骂剥削,《葛藟》叹无依,一同(讽喻时政)而异其悲愤,合观可见《诗经》社会诗的两副面孔——一烈一柔,而哀民生之多艰则一。
伐檀 Cutting Sandalwood (Fa Tan) 诗经 · 同属讽刺不劳而获、抒发不平之作,可对照其直接与含蓄 Fa Tan blames the greedy in power, Ge Lei laments the dependent refugee—same satire, different grief; read in contrast.Fa Tan scolds the unworking rich, Ge Lei mourns the unsupported poor; contrast the griefs.
《伐檀》「坎坎伐檀兮,寘之河之干兮」与《葛藟》皆《诗经》中具社会批判性的名篇。《伐檀》以伐木起兴,直问「不稼不穡,胡取禾三百廛兮」,指斥在位者不劳而获,讽刺对象明确,语气尖锐,是正面的揭露;《葛藟》则以葛藟依水起兴,自述流亡者认亲无应的遭遇,不点明批判对象,悲凉之雾弥漫全篇,是侧面的自诉。《伐檀》是控诉,故语带锋芒,章末「彼君子兮,不素餐兮」反语讥刺;《葛藟》是泣诉,故语气低回,「亦莫我顾」三转皆哀。一为讽在位者之贪,一为叹流亡者之悲,同属哀民生之作而笔法迥异,恰可对照《诗经》讽喻诗直陈与比兴两种路数。
兔爰 The Hare (Tu Yuan) 诗经 · 同属《王风》,同写东周衰世之悲 Both 'Airs of Wang,' both lament misrule—Tu Yuan sighs at the troubled age, Ge Lei mourns the Eastern Zhou's decline.Both from Wang, both sigh at the age's disorder.
《兔爰》「有兔爰爰,雉离于罗」与《葛藟》同属《王风》,皆东周初年宗室衰微、民生凋敝之世的产物。《兔爰》以兔之逍遥与雉之陷网对照,叹「我生之初,尚无为;我生之后,逢此百罹」,写生不逢时、遭逢乱世之痛,诗中「尚寐无吪」更以愿长睡不醒写绝望之极;《葛藟》则直写流亡者离乡认亲、呼亲无应的具体遭遇,由身世之叹落到衣食无着、寄人篱下的实境。一写乱世之普遍悲哀,一写流民之个别惨状;一以物象设喻,一以白描写实;其悲则一——《兔爰》悲在生不逢时,《葛藟》悲在无处安身,二诗合观,恰是《王风》乱离之音的双重奏,完整呈现东周初年宗族崩解、民生流离的时代图景。