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先秦 Pre-Qin · 诗经 Classic of Poetry

君子阳阳

The Gentleman Radiant

诗经

Book of Songs

宴饮/祝颂feasting / blessing 爱情/相思love / longing

君子阳阳，左执簧，右招我由房。
其乐只且！
君子陶陶，左执翿，右招我由敖。
其乐只且！

The gentleman is radiant with joy;
in his left hand he holds the reed-pipe,
with his right he beckons me into the chamber.
What happiness that is!
The gentleman is glowing with delight;
in his left hand he holds the feathered plume,
with his right he beckons me out to roam.
What happiness that is!

Listen

Meaning

That gentleman is radiant and full of spirit; in his left hand he holds the reed-pipe, and with his right he beckons me to go with him into the chamber. What boundless happiness that is! That gentleman is glowing with contented delight; in his left hand he holds the feathered plume, and with his right he beckons me to go roaming with him. What boundless happiness that is!

那位君子神采飞扬，左手执着笙簧，右手招我同游房中。真是快乐无量！那位君子和乐陶陶，左手执着羽旌，右手招我同游敖地。真是快乐无量！

Appreciation

This short song belongs to the eleven pieces of the Airs of Wang in the Book of Songs. The Mao preface reads it as a lament for the decline of Zhou, in which a worthy man invites a friend to take modest office and so keep himself from harm, while Zhu Xi took it for a song of husband and wife making merry together; most modern scholars read it more simply as a song of feasting and invitation. Its most striking feature is the pair of repeated stanzas, which change only a handful of words, the reed-pipe for the feathered plume, the chamber for the open country, radiance for glowing delight, so that the melody circles back on itself. The reduplicated descriptions make the figure vivid, and the two small gestures, the left hand holding an instrument and the right hand beckoning, sketch in a few strokes a man dancing at his ease and pressing his friend warmly to join him.

【白话串讲】 “君子阳阳，左执簧，右招我由房。其乐只且”——那个君子高高兴兴，左手拿着笙，右手招我去跳舞。“君子陶陶，左执翿，右招我由敖”——他快快乐乐，拿着羽毛扇。一首快乐的歌舞小调。【意象与手法】本诗艺术上最显著的特征是重章叠句与复沓结构【情感与主旨】《君子阳阳》属《诗经·王风》十一篇之一。毛序谓“闵周也，君子遭乱，相招为禄仕，全身远害”，以为是贤者隐遁自乐之诗【名句点睛】中考高考若取此诗，命题多集中于

Background

This piece is one of the eleven poems of the Airs of Wang. The Mao preface says it 'grieves for Zhou: the gentleman met with disorder, and men called one another to take salaried office so as to keep themselves whole and avoid harm', reading it as the song of a worthy man delighting in retirement. Zhu Xi, in his Collected Commentaries on the Songs, took it instead for the words of a husband and wife making merry together. Scholars today mostly follow the reading of feasting, roaming and mutual invitation, and take it for a short song sung at a gathering, whether among the common people or the nobility of the eastern Zhou royal domain. Its date falls around the Spring and Autumn period, and it reflects the way people of a troubled age used feasting and roaming to dispel their cares. Its manner is calm and light, quite unlike the many mournful pieces of the Airs of Wang.

《君子阳阳》为《诗经·王风》篇，是写君子与乐者相乐之诗。此诗：君子阳阳，左执簧，右招我由房。其乐只且！君子陶陶，左执翿，右招我由敖。其乐只且！全诗两章写君子执簧执翿、招我同乐，是《诗经》的名篇。

Art

The most conspicuous feature of the poem is its repeated stanzas and its circling structure. The two stanzas change only a few words, the reed-pipe for the feathered plume, the chamber for the open country, radiance for glowing delight, and this produces a melodic sense of return. The first reduplicated word describes the look of a man well pleased and at ease, the second the look of contented delight, and such doubled words make the figure lively and real. The description of action, the left hand holding an instrument and the right hand beckoning, is simple and spare, yet it brings before us a picture of the host rising to dance at his ease and drawing his guest along with warm insistence.

《君子阳阳》艺术上以乐舞之欢与欢愉之情的明快见长。全诗两章，层层写来：一章写君子阳阳、执簧招我——“君子阳阳，左执簧，右招我由房。其乐只且”写君子阳阳、执簧招我由房、其乐只且；二章写君子陶陶、执翿招我——“君子陶陶，左执翿，右招我由敖。其乐只且”写君子陶陶、执翿招我由敖、其乐只且。全诗写乐舞之欢，正是《诗经》重章叠句的笔法。

Allusions

The poem uses no allusions and simply sets out the pleasures of a feast in plain description. A few words need glossing. The phrases rendered as going into the chamber and going out to roam were explained by the Mao commentary as using the chamber and taking one's pleasure abroad, that is, accepting the invitation to enter and then to go out roaming. The feathered plume is a dance property made of plumes and ox-tails. The final particles are mere exclamations, like an English 'ah'. The reed of the first stanza is the vibrating tongue of a mouth-organ, which tells us that the scene is one of music and dance with instruments in hand.

《君子阳阳》用典少而意象自明。“阳阳”写喜乐之貌；“陶陶”写和乐之貌；“簧”写笙簧（乐器）；“翿”写舞具羽翿；“由房、由敖”写相招同乐之所（房为房中之乐，敖为翱翔游嬉）。全诗以这些意象写乐舞之欢，不用深典而明快自见，正是《诗经》的笔法。

Commentary

Zhu Xi, in his Collected Commentaries on the Songs, wrote: 'This poem too, I suspect, is the language of husband and wife making merry together.' Fang Yurun, in his Original Meaning of the Book of Songs, said that 'a certain air of calm and contented pleasure leaps from the page'. Yao Jiheng, in his General Discussion of the Book of Songs, remarked that 'this poem has only the one line of the refrain, and yet the joy in it is already complete'. In modern times Yu Guanying, in his Selections from the Book of Songs, renders it as the pleasure of inviting a friend to roam and treats it as a short popular song of the eastern Zhou.

《君子阳阳》是《诗经·王风》的名篇，也是中国诗歌中写乐舞欢愉的代表作。此诗写君子执簧执翿、招我同乐，向为论者称道。论者多赏其乐舞之欢与欢愉之情的明快——“君子阳阳，左执簧，右招我由房。其乐只且”写君子阳阳、执簧招我，欢愉之极；“君子陶陶，左执翿，右招我由敖”写君子陶陶、执翿招我，更见其乐。此诗写乐舞相乐之情，正以明快之笔写欢愉，正是《诗经》写乐之笔法。

Prosody

Form Book of Songs, Airs of Wang (four-character lines)四言诗（诗经体）

Rhyme In the first stanza the rhyme words fall across the yu and yang groups (pipe, chamber, particle); in the second across the xiao and yao groups (plume, roam, particle); the rhyming is broadly regular《君子阳阳》为四言诗，二章，每章四句。此诗用韵：簧、房、且（阳部），翿、敖、且（宵部），随章换韵，音节明快。

Tone pattern Four-character ancient verse with none of the later level and oblique rules; the rhyme changes with the repeated stanza四言诗经体以音节明快、重章叠句见长。此诗写乐舞之欢，音节明快而欢愉。全诗两章重章叠句，声调与欢愉之情的内容相合，是《诗经》中明快的一路。

Reading note The Songs were court and folk music from the Western Zhou to the Spring and Autumn period, mainly in four-character lines and built on repeated stanzas.《君子阳阳》为《诗经·王风》篇，是写君子与乐者相乐之诗。此诗以“君子阳阳，左执簧，右招我由房。其乐只且”写执簧招我、同乐房中，以“君子陶陶，左执翿，右招我由敖”写执翿招我、同游翱翔。写乐舞之欢，正是《诗经》的名篇。

Line by line

君子阳阳，左执簧，右招我由房。其乐只且！

Our lord is bright and gay; in his left hand the reed pipe, his right beckons me to the chamber music. What joy!

君子喜乐洋洋，左手执笙簧，右手招我同乐房中。其乐无限啊！

Our lord is bright and cheerful; in his left hand he holds the reed, with his right he beckons me to the chamber music. What joy!

一章写君子阳阳、执簧招我，是全诗乐舞之欢的起点。“君子阳阳”写君子阳阳——“君子阳阳”写君子喜乐洋洋——君子阳阳；“左执簧，右招我由房”写执簧招我——“左执簧”写左手执笙簧，“右招我由房”写右手招我同乐房中——执簧招我由房；“其乐只且”写其乐无限——“其乐只且”用叹词写其乐无限——其乐只且。三句写一章之乐舞：君子阳阳、左执簧、右招我由房，其乐只且。以“君子阳阳”写君子喜乐之貌，以“左执簧，右招我由房”写执簧招我、同乐房中，以“其乐只且”写其乐无限，正是《诗经》写乐舞之欢的起点——君子执簧，招我同乐。

The pipe. Our lord is bright and gay; in his left hand the reed pipe, his right beckons me to the chamber music. What joy! The lord-bright-gay and the left-hand-reed-pipe and the right-beckons-chamber-music and the what-joy are the opening. To have been bright and gay would be a being; the our-lord-is-bright-and-gay-in-his-left-hand-the-reed-pipe-his-right-beckons-me-to-the-chamber-music-what-joy is the being.

君子陶陶，左执翿，右招我由敖。其乐只且！

Our lord is warm and glad; in his left hand the feather fan, his right beckons me to the pastimes. What joy!

君子和乐陶陶，左手执羽翿，右手招我同游翱翔。其乐无限啊！

Our lord is warm and joyful; in his left hand he holds the feather fan, with his right he beckons me to the sports. What joy!

二章写君子陶陶、执翿招我，是全诗乐舞之欢的归结。“君子陶陶”写君子陶陶——“君子陶陶”写君子和乐陶陶——君子陶陶；“左执翿，右招我由敖”写执翿招我——“左执翿”写左手执羽翿，“右招我由敖”写右手招我同游翱翔——执翿招我由敖；“其乐只且”写其乐无限——“其乐只且”用叹词写其乐无限——其乐只且。三句写二章之乐舞：君子陶陶、左执翿、右招我由敖，其乐只且。以“君子陶陶”写君子和乐之貌，以“左执翿，右招我由敖”写执翿招我、同游翱翔，以“其乐只且”写其乐无限，正是《诗经》写乐舞之欢的归结——执簧执翿，同乐同游。

The fan. Our lord is warm and glad; in his left hand the feather fan, his right beckons me to the pastimes. What joy! The lord-warm-glad and the left-hand-feather-fan and the right-beckons-pastimes and the what-joy are the close. To have been warm and glad would be a being; the our-lord-is-warm-and-glad-in-his-left-hand-the-feather-fan-his-right-beckons-me-to-the-pastimes-what-joy is the being.

Study

Word focus

阳阳 A doubled word for the look of a man well pleased and at his ease; the repetition makes the host's glowing countenance vivid. “君子阳阳”之“阳阳”，写喜乐之貌，是全诗写君子之乐的关键词。“阳阳”写喜乐洋洋——君子喜乐洋洋。这一词写君子之貌：不是忧戚之貌，而阳阳；不是端肃之态，而喜乐洋溢。以“君子阳阳”写君子喜乐之貌，正是《诗经》写乐舞之欢的笔法。

执簧 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “左执簧”之“执簧”，写执笙簧，是全诗写乐舞之具的关键词。“执”写手持，“簧”写笙簧（乐器）——左手执笙簧。这一词写君子执乐之态：不是空手之乐，而执簧；不是无言之歌，而持簧奏乐。以“君子阳阳，左执簧”写君子执簧奏乐，正是《诗经》写乐舞之欢的笔法。

招我由房 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “右招我由房”之“招我由房”，写招我同乐房中，是全诗写相招同乐的关键词。“招我”写招我，“由房”写由房中（房中之乐）——右手招我同乐房中。这一词写相招之乐：不是独乐之境，而招我由房；不是可辞之约，而同乐之招。以“左执簧，右招我由房”写执簧招我、同乐房中，正是《诗经》写乐舞相乐的笔法。

其乐只且 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “其乐只且”之“其乐只且”，用叹词写其乐无限，是全诗写欢愉之情的归结词。“其乐”写其乐，“只且”写语气词表感叹——其乐无限啊。这一词写乐之无限：不是有限之乐，而其乐只且；不是可尽之欢，而叹美无限。以“其乐只且”写乐之无限，正是《诗经》写乐舞欢愉之情的归结。