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先秦 Pre-Qin · 诗经 Classic of Poetry

墙有茨

Thorns on the Wall

诗经

Book of Songs

民生/讽喻common life / satire 讽喻/刺政satire / against misrule

墙有茨墙有茨，不可埽也。
中冓之言，不可道也。
所可道也，言之丑也。
墙有茨，不可襄也。
中冓之言，不可详也。
所可详也，言之长也。
墙有茨，不可束也。
中冓之言，不可读也。
所可读也，言之辱也。

Thorns grow on the wall; they cannot be swept away.
What was said in the inner chamber cannot be told abroad.
If it could be told, the telling would be too foul.
Thorns grow on the wall; they cannot be cleared away.
What was said in the inner chamber cannot be set out in full.
If it were set out in full, it would make too long a tale.
Thorns grow on the wall; they cannot be bundled off.
What was said in the inner chamber cannot be published abroad.
If it were published abroad, the words would be a disgrace.

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Meaning

Thorns grow on the wall and cannot be swept off. The private talk of the palace chambers must not be repeated outside. If it really were repeated, the words would be too foul to bear. Thorns grow on the wall and cannot be cleared away. The private talk of the palace chambers must not be gone into in detail. If it were gone into, the tale would run on and on. Thorns grow on the wall and cannot be bound up and carried off. The private talk of the palace chambers must not be broadcast. If it were broadcast, the words would bring nothing but shame.

墙上有蒺藜，不可扫除它。宫闱中的私语，不可向外说呀。如果真要说出来，那话说出来太丑了。墙上有蒺藜，不可除掉它。宫闱中的私语，不可细说呀。如果细说，那话可就长了。墙上有蒺藜，不可捆走它。宫闱中的私语，不可宣扬呀。如果宣扬，那话真叫人羞辱。

Appreciation

This is one of the Airs of Yong in the Book of Songs, and one of the boldest satires in the whole collection. Each of its three stanzas opens with the same evocative image, thorns rooted in a wall that cannot be swept, cleared, or bundled away, and the image carries its own comparison: a palace scandal that the more it is hushed up the more plainly it shows. The heart of the poem is the layered turn from 'it cannot be told' to 'if it could be told, the telling would be too foul', so that the refusal to speak becomes the sharpest kind of speech. The recurring pattern of 'it cannot be... if it could be...' circles round and round, resentful without anger, indirect yet full of reproach, and shows exactly what later critics meant by remonstrating through the veil of literary form.

【白话串讲】 “墙有茨，不可埽也”——墙上的蒺藜扫不掉。“中冓之言，不可道也”——宫里的话，不能说。“所可道也，言之丑也”——说出来太丑。一首讽刺诗，说的是卫国宫廷的丑事。【意象与手法】诗三章重章，每章皆以「墙有茨，不可埽（襄、束）也」起兴——蒺藜扎墙、除之不得，恰喻宫闱丑事欲盖弥彰【情感与主旨】《墙有茨》为《诗经·国风·鄘风》之一篇。鄘为周初分封于殷墟周围的诸侯国（今河南卫辉一带），后并入卫【名句点睛】中高考常考：①分析「墙有茨，不可埽也」的兴（比）手法，须答出以蒺藜难除喻丑事难掩

Background

This piece belongs to the Airs of Yong in the Airs of the States. Yong was a fief established at the beginning of the Zhou around the old Shang capital, in the region of present-day Weihui in Henan, and was later absorbed into the state of Wey. The Mao preface says the poem satirizes Duke Xuan of Wey: 'The people of Wey satirize their ruler. Prince Wan had illicit relations with the ruler's consort, and the people loathed it yet could not speak of it.' What is meant is the notorious court scandal in which Duke Xuan seized the bride intended for the crown prince Ji, the lady Xuan Jiang, and in which his son Wan, known as Zhao Bo, afterwards took Xuan Jiang for himself. The poem names no one, yet what the 'talk of the inner chamber' refers to is perfectly clear, and it stands as a model of veiled political satire in the Zhou.

《墙有茨》为《诗经·鄘风》篇，是讽刺卫国宫闱丑事不可道说之诗。此诗：墙有茨，不可埽也。中冓之言，不可道也。所可道也，言之丑也。墙有茨，不可襄也。中冓之言，不可详也。所可详也，言之长也。墙有茨，不可束也。中冓之言，不可读也。所可读也，言之辱也。全诗三章以墙茨为喻讽宫闱之丑，是《诗经》的名篇。

Art

The poem is built of three repeated stanzas, each opening with the image of thorns on a wall that cannot be swept, cleared or bundled off. The thorns take root in the wall and will not come out, which is exactly what a palace scandal does when men try to cover it. The core is the graded movement of 'the talk of the inner chamber cannot be told; if it could be told, the telling would be too foul': first the refusal, then the reversal, so that the more the matter is veiled the more vividly the reader imagines its filth. Without ever naming the foulness the poem makes the foulness plain. The recurring 'it cannot be... if it could be...' pattern turns back on itself, resentful without anger, gentle in manner yet heavy with reproach, and captures perfectly the art of comparison and evocation used for indirect remonstrance.

《墙有茨》艺术上以墙茨的取兴与讽刺的含蓄见长。全诗三章，层层写来：一章写不可埽、不可道——“墙有茨，不可埽也。中冓之言，不可道也”写墙茨不可埽、中冓之言不可道，“所可道也，言之丑也”写言之丑；二章写不可襄、不可详——“墙有茨，不可襄也。中冓之言，不可详也”写不可襄不可详，“所可详也，言之长也”写言之长；三章写不可束、不可读——“墙有茨，不可束也。中冓之言，不可读也”写不可束不可读，“所可读也，言之辱也”写言之辱。全诗以墙茨为喻写宫闱之丑，正是《诗经》重章叠句的笔法。

Allusions

The plant of the opening line is the caltrop, a thorny weed. Such thorns were set along walls to keep out thieves, but the poem reverses the idea and says they cannot be swept away, hinting that the scandal, like the thorns, is there to stay. The phrase for the inner chamber means the deep, closed apartments of a palace, so that 'the talk of the inner chamber' is palace gossip; from this poem the term itself became a byword for hidden scandal, as in the later expression 'the shame of the inner chamber'. The two variant verbs in the second and third stanzas mean respectively to clear away and to bind up, both of them ordinary words for getting rid of weeds. The whole poem takes an everyday farming scene, the weeding of a wall, as its point of departure and turns it into political satire, so that the comparison seems entirely natural and yet the reproach is severe.

《墙有茨》用典少而取兴自然。“墙有茨”以墙上蒺藜为兴（茨为蒺藜）；“中冓之言”写宫中内室之言（中冓为宫闱深处）；“埽、襄、束”写扫除、除去、捆束。全诗以墙茨为喻讽宫闱之丑，不用深典而含蓄自见，正是《诗经》比兴的笔法。

Commentary

The Mao preface states plainly that the poem 'satirizes the ruler', and the commentaries of Zheng Xuan and the subcommentary of Kong Yingda follow it. Zhu Xi's Collected Commentaries on the Songs also says that 'the old explanation takes it to concern the affair of Duke Xuan'. Modern critics observe that the poem 'never speaks of the foulness, yet the foulness shows itself, which is the very essence of satire'. Its phrase for the inner chamber even passed into the language as a set expression, proof enough of its influence. Fang Yurun, in his Original Meaning of the Book of Songs, calls it 'boundlessly implicit and endlessly worth pondering', a true model of the folk-air manner.

《墙有茨》是《诗经·鄘风》的名篇，也是中国诗歌中讽刺诗的代表作。此诗以墙茨为喻讽卫国宫闱之丑，向为论者称道。论者多赏其墙茨的取兴与讽刺的含蓄——“墙有茨，不可埽也。中冓之言，不可道也”写墙茨不可埽、中冓之言不可道，含蓄之极；“所可道也，言之丑也”写言之丑，更见其讽刺。此诗刺卫国宫闱之丑，正以墙茨为喻、以含蓄刺之，正是《诗经》讽刺诗的笔法。

Prosody

Form Book of Songs, Airs of the States, Airs of Yong (four-character lines in repeated stanzas)四言诗（诗经体）

Rhyme The first stanza rhymes in the you group (sweep, tell, foul); the second in the yang group (clear, detail, long); the third in the wu group (bundle, publish, disgrace)《墙有茨》为四言诗，三章，每章六句。此诗用韵：埽、道、丑（幽部），襄、详、长（阳部），束、读、辱（屋部），随章换韵，音节自然。

Tone pattern Mainly four-character lines with a change of rhyme in each repeated stanza; the level and oblique patterns of later regulated verse do not apply四言诗经体以音节自然、重章叠句见长。此诗以墙茨为喻讽宫闱之丑，音节自然而含蓄。全诗三章重章叠句，声调与讽刺的内容相合，是《诗经》中含蓄讽刺的一路。

Reading note A repeated-stanza song that uses evocative comparison to satirize the court, remonstrating through the veil of literary form.《墙有茨》为《诗经·鄘风》篇，是讽刺卫国宫闱丑事不可道说之诗。此诗以“墙有茨，不可埽也。中冓之言，不可道也”写其言不可道，以“不可详也”写其不可详，以“不可读也”写其不可读。以墙茨为喻讽宫闱之丑，正是《诗经》的名篇。

Line by line

墙有茨，不可埽也。中冓之言，不可道也。所可道也，言之丑也。

On the wall grows the bindweed; it cannot be swept away. Words of the inner chamber cannot be spoken; if they could, how ugly they would sound.

墙上有蒺藜，不可扫除。宫闱深处之言，不可道说。所能道说的，说来也丑。

On the wall grows the tribulus; it cannot be swept away. Words of the inner chamber cannot be told; if told, how ugly the tale.

一章写不可埽、不可道，是全诗讽刺的起点。“墙有茨，不可埽也”写墙茨不可埽——“墙有茨”以墙上蒺藜为兴，“不可埽也”写不可扫除——墙有茨，不可埽；“中冓之言，不可道也”写中冓之言不可道——“中冓之言”写宫闱深处之言，“不可道也”写不可道说——中冓之言，不可道；“所可道也，言之丑也”写言之丑——“所可道也”写所能道说的，“言之丑也”写说来也丑——言之丑。三句写一章之讽刺：墙有茨不可埽也、中冓之言不可道也，所可道也、言之丑也。以“墙有茨，不可埽也”以墙茨为喻写其不可扫除，以“中冓之言，不可道也”写宫闱之言不可道说，以“所可道也，言之丑也”写言之丑，正是《诗经》写讽刺的起点——其言不可道，道之则丑。

The bindweed. On the wall grows the bindweed; it cannot be swept away. Words of the inner chamber cannot be spoken; if they could, how ugly they would sound. The wall-bindweed-cannot-swept and the inner-chamber-words-cannot-spoken and the if-spoken-how-ugly are the opening. To have grown on the wall would be a growing; the on-the-wall-grows-the-bindweed-it-cannot-be-swept-away-words-of-the-inner-chamber-cannot-be-spoken-if-they-could-how-ugly-they-would-sound is the growing.

墙有茨，不可襄也。中冓之言，不可详也。所可详也，言之长也。

On the wall grows the bindweed; it cannot be cleared away. Words of the inner chamber cannot be told in detail; if told in detail, how long the tale.

墙上有蒺藜，不可除去。宫闱深处之言，不可详说。所能详说的，说来话长。

On the wall grows the tribulus; it cannot be cleared away. Words of the inner chamber cannot be detailed; if detailed, how long the tale.

二章写不可襄、不可详，是全诗讽刺的深化。“墙有茨，不可襄也”写墙茨不可襄——“墙有茨”以墙上蒺藜为兴，“不可襄也”写不可除去——墙有茨，不可襄；“中冓之言，不可详也”写中冓之言不可详——“中冓之言”写宫闱深处之言，“不可详也”写不可详说——中冓之言，不可详；“所可详也，言之长也”写言之长——“所可详也”写所能详说的，“言之长也”写说来话长——言之长。三句写二章之讽刺：墙有茨不可襄也、中冓之言不可详也，所可详也、言之长也。以“墙有茨，不可襄也”写墙茨不可除去，以“中冓之言，不可详也”写宫闱之言不可详说，以“所可详也，言之长也”写言之长，正是《诗经》写讽刺的深化——其言不可详，详之则长。

The clearing. On the wall grows the bindweed; it cannot be cleared away. Words of the inner chamber cannot be told in detail; if told in detail, how long the tale. The wall-bindweed-cannot-cleared and the inner-chamber-words-cannot-detailed and the if-detailed-how-long are the deepening. To have grown on the wall would be a growing; the on-the-wall-grows-the-bindweed-it-cannot-be-cleared-away-words-of-the-inner-chamber-cannot-be-told-in-detail-if-told-in-detail-how-long-the-tale is the growing.

墙有茨，不可束也。中冓之言，不可读也。所可读也，言之辱也。

On the wall grows the bindweed; it cannot be bound away. Words of the inner chamber cannot be repeated; if repeated, how shameful they would sound.

墙上有蒺藜，不可捆束。宫闱深处之言，不可诵读。所能诵读的，说来也是耻辱。

On the wall grows the tribulus; it cannot be bound away. Words of the inner chamber cannot be recited; if recited, how shameful the tale.

三章写不可束、不可读，是全诗讽刺的归结。“墙有茨，不可束也”写墙茨不可束——“墙有茨”以墙上蒺藜为兴，“不可束也”写不可捆束——墙有茨，不可束；“中冓之言，不可读也”写中冓之言不可读——“中冓之言”写宫闱深处之言，“不可读也”写不可诵读——中冓之言，不可读；“所可读也，言之辱也”写言之辱——“所可读也”写所能诵读的，“言之辱也”写说来也是耻辱——言之辱。三句写三章之讽刺：墙有茨不可束也、中冓之言不可读也，所可读也、言之辱也。以“墙有茨，不可束也”写墙茨不可捆束，以“中冓之言，不可读也”写宫闱之言不可诵读，以“所可读也，言之辱也”写言之辱，正是《诗经》写讽刺的归结——其言不可读，读之则辱。

The binding. On the wall grows the bindweed; it cannot be bound away. Words of the inner chamber cannot be repeated; if repeated, how shameful they would sound. The wall-bindweed-cannot-bound and the inner-chamber-words-cannot-repeated and the if-repeated-how-shameful are the close. To have grown on the wall would be a growing; the on-the-wall-grows-the-bindweed-it-cannot-be-bound-away-words-of-the-inner-chamber-cannot-be-repeated-if-repeated-how-shameful-they-would-sound is the growing.

Study

Word focus

墙有茨 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “墙有茨，不可埽也”之“墙有茨”，以墙上蒺藜为兴，是全诗取兴的关键词。“墙有茨”写墙上生蒺藜（茨为蒺藜）——墙有茨，不可扫除。这一词以墙茨起兴：不是他物之兴，而墙有茨；不是可除之刺，而蔓生难埽。以“墙有茨，不可埽也”以墙茨为喻写其不可扫除，正是《诗经》比兴讽刺的笔法。

中冓之言 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “中冓之言，不可道也”之“中冓之言”，写宫闱深处之言，是全诗讽刺对象的关键词。“中冓”写宫中内室（宫闱深处），“之言”写其言——宫闱深处之言。这一词写宫闱之秘：不是寻常之言，而中冓之言；不是可道之事，而宫闱丑事。以“中冓之言，不可道也”写宫闱之言不可道说，正是《诗经》写讽刺之深的笔法。

不可道也 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “中冓之言，不可道也”之“不可道也”，写不可道说，是全诗写宫闱丑事难言的关键词。“不可道”写不可道说——宫闱之言不可道说。这一词写言不可道：不是可道之事，而不可道；不是可讳之隐，而丑不堪言。以“中冓之言，不可道也”写宫闱之言不可道说，正是《诗经》写讽刺含蓄的笔法。

言之丑也 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “所可道也，言之丑也”之“言之丑也”，写说来也丑，是全诗写讽刺之深的归结词。“言之丑”写说来也丑——所能道说的，说来也丑。这一词写事之丑：不是可夸之事，而言之丑；不是可饰之恶，而丑不可道。以“所可道也，言之丑也”写宫闱之事言之则丑，正是《诗经》写讽刺之深的归结。

墙有茨