先秦 Pre-Qin · 诗经 Classic of Poetry
载驰
I Drive On (Zai Chi)
载驰载驱，归唁卫侯。
驱马悠悠，言至于漕。
大夫跋涉，我心则忧。
既不我嘉，不能旋反。
视尔不臧，我思不远。
既不我嘉，不能旋济。
视尔不臧，我思不閟。
陟彼阿丘，言采其蝱。
女子善怀，亦各有行。
许人尤之，众稚且狂。
我行其野，芃芃其麦。
控于大邦，谁因谁极？
大夫君子，无我有尤。
百尔所思，不如我所之。
You do not approve my plan; still I cannot turn back. Seeing your counsel is not good, my thought reaches far.
You do not approve my plan; still I cannot cross back. Seeing your counsel is not good, my thought is not shut away.
I climb that sloping hill and gather betony. A woman feels deeply, yet each has her own course. The men of Xu blame me—they are but childish and mad.
I walk the fields where the wheat grows thick. I appeal to the great states—who will lean on me, who will come to the end? My lords, blame me not. A hundred of your plans are less than my going.
Meaning
Lady Xu Mu, the first named woman poet in Chinese history, races to mourn her fallen state of Wey and to seek help from a great power. Her court ministers try to stop her; she answers them sharply, defending her own course. The poem is a bold, public act of patriotic resolve.
车马疾行，回去慰问卫侯。驱马长途，来到漕邑。许国大夫跋涉来阻，我的心里满是忧愁。 你们不赞成我的主张，我也不能掉转车头返回。看你们的主张不善，我的思虑并不短浅。 你们不赞成，我也不渡河而返。看你们的主张不善，我的思虑并不闭塞。 登上那高丘，采些贝母。女子多愁善感，也各有道理。许国人责备我，他们幼稚又狂妄。 我走在原野，麦子茂盛。向大国控诉求救，谁肯依傍、谁肯来救助？大夫君子，不要责备我。你们百般谋划，不如我亲自前往。
Appreciation
Five stanzas: the first opens with the hurried drive ('I drive on and on'), the anxious heart plain to see; the second and third repeat 'you do not approve my plan,' using two 'seeing your counsel is not good' to refute the Xu ministers, tone firm; the fourth climbs the hill to gather betony as an image, and declares 'a woman feels deeply, yet each has her own course,' then calls the Xu men 'childish and mad'; the last closes with 'a hundred of your plans are less than my going,' resolute and unyielding. Narrative, argument, and feeling merge, shaping a unique patriotic woman poet.
【白话串讲】 卫国灭亡，许穆夫人赶回娘家吊唁，被许国人拦住了。她写下这首诗：“女子善怀，亦各有行”——女子虽多愁，但有自己的主张。这是中国第一位女诗人的作品。 【意象与手法】 全诗五章，以赋法直陈为主而兼比兴。首章「载驰载驱」「驱马悠悠」连用「载」字写车马疾驰，归心似箭之态跃然纸上；二三章以「既不我嘉，不能旋反（济）」「视尔不臧，我思不远（不閟）」的重章叠句展开驳论，语气斩钉截铁、层层递进；四章「陟彼阿丘，言采其蝱」以采贝母疗忧起兴，把无形的忧思化为有形的动作，再以「许人尤之，众稚且狂」直斥阻挠者；末章「我行其野，芃芃其麦」以麦野生机反衬亡国之痛，「控于大邦，谁因谁极」连发两问，结以「百尔所思，不如我所之」的果决宣言。叙事、议论、抒情浑然一体，塑造出果决刚毅的爱国女诗人形象。 【情感与主旨】 此诗为许穆夫人闻卫国被狄人所灭、驰归吊唁并谋复国而作，抒发其宗国颠覆之痛与救亡图存之志。面对许国大夫「妇人非礼」的阻挠，诗人以「不能旋反」「不能旋济」申明己志之不可夺，以「我思不远」「我思不閟」自明思虑之通达，以「众稚且狂」怒斥迂阔之议，以「百尔所思，不如我所之」宣示行动之决断。全诗洋溢着炽烈的爱国热情与刚毅果决的担当精神，是中国文学史上最早的女性爱国诗篇。 【名句点睛】 常考「百尔所思，不如我所之」的思想内涵（以行动对空谈、以亲行对空议，见其果决与担当）；「载驰载驱」以虚词写动态的手法；重章叠句「既不我嘉，不能旋反（济）」的递进效果；「言采其蝱」的起兴与疗忧之意；许穆夫人作为中国第一位有姓名可考的女诗人的文学史意义。
Background
'I Drive On' is a famous poem in the 'Airs of Yong,' generally held to be by Lady Xu Mu, the first named woman poet in Chinese literary history. The Zuo Zhuan (Duke Min, year 2) records that Duke Yi of Wey, who loved cranes, was killed when the Di tribe destroyed Wey; the remnants set up Duke Dai at Cao. Xu Mu, a princess of Wey married to the Marquis of Xu, heard of Wey's fall and wished to rush to mourn and contact a great state to restore the country. Xu ministers, citing 'it is not fit for a woman,' stopped her; she would not yield and made this poem to state her will. 'The Xu men blame me' and 'I appeal to the great states' are drawn from fact, proving it grew from a real political crisis and personal choice.
《载驰》为《诗经·鄘风》名篇，作者为许穆夫人，是中国文学史上有明确姓名可考的第一位女诗人。许穆夫人是卫宣姜之女、卫懿公之妹（一说卫昭伯之女），嫁许穆公为夫人，故称许穆夫人。据《左传·闵公二年》载，卫懿公好鹤，鹤有乘轩者，民不堪命；公元前660年（鲁闵公二年）冬，狄人伐卫，卫师大败于荧泽，懿公被杀，卫国几乎灭亡，遗民七百三十人渡过黄河，与共、滕二邑之民共立懿公之弟申为君，是为戴公，居于漕邑（今河南滑县一带）。许穆夫人闻宗国颠覆，心急如焚，驰驱归唁，欲为复国奔走；然许国大夫以「妇人非礼」相阻，夫人悲愤交集，赋《载驰》以明志，抒写其「控于大邦」、求援复国的决心。此后齐桓公果遣高傒率甲士三千戍卫，卫得复国，后迁楚丘。此诗即诞生于这一真实的政治危机之中，是「诗言志」传统在女性诗人笔下的最早体现，其本事之明确、情感之刚烈，在《诗经》中独树一帜。
Art
Five stanzas: the first opens with the hurried drive ('I drive on and on') and the long road, the anxious heart plain; the second and third repeat 'you do not approve my plan, I cannot turn back (cross back),' using two 'seeing your counsel is not good' to refute the Xu ministers, tone cutting and firm; the fourth climbs the hill to gather betony as an image, declares 'a woman feels deeply, yet each has her own course,' and calls the Xu men 'childish and mad'; the last closes with 'a hundred of your plans are less than my going,' resolute and unyielding. Narrative, argument, and feeling become one, shaping a unique patriotic woman poet.
全诗五章，章法严谨而节奏鲜明。首章以「载驰载驱，归唁卫侯」的急行起笔，连用两个「载」字写车马疾驰，归心如焚之态跃然纸上；「驱马悠悠，言至于漕」点出目的地，「大夫跋涉，我心则忧」陡转，写许国大夫赶来阻拦，忧从中来，叙事、写景、抒情一气呵成。二三章以重章叠句之法展开驳论：「既不我嘉，不能旋反」与「既不我嘉，不能旋济」仅一字之变（反与济），以「视尔不臧，我思不远」「我思不閟」回击，语气斩钉截铁、层层递进，把许人的劝阻与己见的坚定对举，议论入诗而不失诗味。四章笔锋一转，以「陟彼阿丘，言采其蝱」起兴，借采贝母疗忧之俗写排遣愁思，「女子善怀，亦各有行」自辩，继而直斥「许人尤之，众稚且狂」，刚烈之态毕现。末章「我行其野，芃芃其麦」以麦野起兴，写行途所见，复以「控于大邦，谁因谁极」连发两问，追问求援之路，结以「百尔所思，不如我所之」的宣言，收束于自信与决断。五章由叙事而驳论、由比兴而宣言，情感的浓度层层加码，塑造出果决刚毅、深明大义的爱国女诗人形象。
Allusions
'Meng' (betony) was anciently thought to cure melancholy; 'I gather the betony' quietly uses the 'gather × to ease the heart' image common in the Songs—an image, not a deep allusion. 'I appeal to the great states' uses the Spring and Autumn rite of 'kong' (reporting, appealing) to a great state, recording the fact that the lady sought aid. The poem is mostly plain description and direct statement, no dense ornament; its political circumstance (Wey fallen to the Di, Xu men blocking aid) is the historical context itself, which later commentators read by the Zuo Zhuan.
《载驰》用典极简，而其「本事」本身即是最大的典故系统。首章「归唁卫侯」之「唁」为吊问失国者之礼，合于《礼记》「吊失国曰唁」的古礼；「大夫跋涉」之「跋涉」出《左传》「跋涉山川」之语，写许国大夫远道阻拦之劳。四章「陟彼阿丘，言采其蝱」为《诗经》典型的「采草起兴」传统：「蝱」即贝母，古以为可疗郁结之疾，采之正为排遣忧思，与《卷耳》「采采卷耳」、《芣苢》「采采芣苢」同一机杼，是「以物托情」的比兴手法。「控于大邦」之「控」训赴告、控诉，为春秋时诸侯求援之礼制用语，《左传》屡见「告急」「乞师」之文，此句是许穆夫人欲向齐等大国求援复国的实录，后来齐桓公果救卫，诗之预见与史实相合。至于「芃芃其麦」写卫地麦野之盛，以生机勃发之景反衬亡国之痛，暗用《黍离》「彼黍离离」的故国禾黍传统。「视尔不臧」之「臧」训善、好，为春秋时评断政见的常用语；「亦各有行」之「行」训道理、主张，皆礼乐文化浸润下的语汇。诗中「大夫」「君子」二词并见，前者写许臣之来阻，后者写其空议，称谓的转换间已暗藏褒贬。全诗以本事入诗、以礼制入诗、以比兴写志，无一处僻典而处处有典，正见《诗经》「用事而隐」的朴素美学。
Commentary
The Mao preface: 'I Drive On, by Lady Xu Mu. Grieved that her ancestral state was overthrown, she blamed herself for not saving it.' Zhu Xi: 'The lady pitied Wey's fall, drove to mourn and plan its restoration; Xu's ministers blocked her wish, so she made this poem to state her mind.' The Qing scholar Wei Yuan called her 'a great man among women's chambers.' Modern scholars hail Xu Mu as China's first woman poet; her poem opens the tradition of women's patriotic lyric.
《毛诗序》最早揭示其本事：「《载驰》，许穆夫人作也。闵其宗国颠覆，自伤不能救也。」朱熹《诗集传》申之曰：「夫人悯卫之亡，驰驱而归，将以唁卫侯而谋复之，许之臣子以不如所请，故作此诗以自言其意。」二家皆以史证诗，确立了此诗「爱国明志」的阐释传统。清人魏源《诗古微》推许穆夫人为「闺阁中自有伟丈夫」，以「伟丈夫」许一女子，可见其气节之夺人心魄；方玉润《诗经原始》亦称其「情词激烈，气格高亢」。近世以来，学者更从女性文学史的角度重估其价值：许穆夫人是中国文学史上第一位有明确姓名与生平可考的女诗人，其诗一出手即是爱国抒怀的宏大主题，开后世女性以诗言志、以诗忧国的先声。诗中「百尔所思，不如我所之」的果决宣言，与后世木兰、秋瑾等女性形象遥相呼应。就诗学而言，此诗以赋为主而兼比兴，议论入诗而情韵不衰，为《国风》中罕见的政治抒情诗，其刚健质朴的风格亦对后世爱国诗歌产生深远影响。
Prosody
Line by line
载驰载驱，归唁卫侯。
Driving on, driving hard, I hasten home to mourn for the lord of Wey.
车马疾驰飞奔，赶回去吊唁慰问卫国的国君。
Chariot and horses gallop on at full speed; I race back home to condole with the ruler of Wey.
首句以「载驰载驱」四字开篇，连用两个「载」字作语助，写车马驰驱之状，急促的节奏与急迫的心情合而为一。「载」在《诗经》中常用作发语词（如《氓》「载笑载言」），此处重叠使用，一读之下便有马蹄翻飞、尘土飞扬的动态画面。归心似箭的许穆夫人，闻宗国覆灭、懿公被杀，不顾礼法约束，连夜驱车赶回漕邑「归唁卫侯」——「唁」字用古礼吊问失国者之义，见其不以常礼自拘、以救亡为急的决断。四字一句、一开篇即定全诗基调，急切、果决、悲愤交织，是《国风》中少有的以行动开篇的政治抒情，为后文许人阻拦时的「我心则忧」预作张本。
The opening rises on four characters, driving on, driving hard, the word driving doubled as a particle, writing the galloping of the team; the urgent rhythm and the urgent heart are one. Driving in the Shijing commonly opens a clause, as in the teasing husband air, driving with laughter and speech; doubled here, the very reading gives a moving picture of flying hooves and rising dust. Lady Xu Mu, her heart flying home, hears of the fall of her ancestral state and the murder of Duke Min; casting aside ritual constraint, she drives through the night to the settlement of Cao to mourn for the lord of Wey. The word mourn uses the ancient rite of condoling one who has lost his state, showing her resolve to put the rescue of her country before ordinary etiquette. Four characters a line, the keynote set at once: urgency, resolve, and grief interwoven; a rare political lyric in the Airs that opens with action, preparing the my heart is sore against the opposition of the men of Xu that follows.
既不我嘉，不能旋反。
Since you approve not my course, I cannot turn the chariot back.
既然你们不赞同我的主张，我也不能掉转车头返回。
Since you will not favor my plan, I simply cannot wheel my chariot around and return.
此句是全诗驳论的开端，语气斩钉截铁。「既不我嘉」是让步，「不能旋反」是决断，一退一进之间，许穆夫人对许国大夫阻拦的回应已见分晓：你们不赞成也罢，我决不会因此回头。「旋反」即掉转车头返回，一个「不能」把「不许回」写成「不能回」，将外在的禁令化为内在的自觉，见出其归救宗国的意志已坚不可摧。与第三章「不能旋济」（不肯渡河而返）只差一字，重章叠句、一唱三叹，把同样的决绝反复申说，愈说愈坚。此句以议论入诗而激情饱满，与后世「虽九死其犹未悔」的屈原式宣言异代同心，是《诗经》中最早的「宣言体」诗句，塑造了果决刚毅的女性形象。
The line opens the poem's rebuttal, its tone cut as a blade. Since you approve not my course is the concession; I cannot turn the chariot back is the resolve; in one yielding and one pressing, Lady Xu Mu's answer to the Xu ministers who would stop her is already plain: let you disapprove; I will not turn back for it. Turn back is to wheel the chariot and return; the one word cannot writes you forbid me to return as I cannot return, turning an external prohibition into an inner resolve, showing that her will to rescue her ancestral state is already unbreakable. It differs by one character from the third stanza's cannot cross the river and return; the refrain, sung again and again, declares the same resolve each time, firmer as it is spoken. The line brings argument into poetry yet is charged with passion; in another age it is one with Qu Yuan's declaration though nine times I die, I would not repent, the earliest declaration verse in the Shijing, shaping a resolute, steadfast woman.
陟彼阿丘，言采其蝱。
I climb that rounded hill, and gather the fritillary there.
登上那高高的山丘，采摘那里的贝母草。
I climb that high, rounded hill, and pick the fritillary herbs growing there.
四章以「陟彼阿丘，言采其蝱」起兴，是全诗由驳论转向抒情的枢纽。「阿丘」是偏高之丘，登高可以望远，望远可以怀乡——许穆夫人登丘而望，正是望卫地、望宗国；「言采其蝱」之「蝱」即贝母，古医家以为贝母可疗郁结、解忧烦，采蝱正是要借草木之药排遣深重的忧思。此二句是《诗经》典型的「采草起兴」手法，与《卷耳》「采采卷耳」、《芣苢》「采采芣苢」同一传统，然其用意更为沉痛：他人采草或为劳作、或为欢愉，夫人采蝱则为疗心，以有形之草木写无形之忧思，物我相映。登高、采药、怀忧，三个动作层层推进，把亡国之痛与自救之心写得既具体又含蓄，为下文「女子善怀，亦各有行」的申辩蓄足情感。
The fourth stanza rises on I climb that rounded hill, and gather the fritillary there, the pivot where the poem turns from rebuttal to lyric. The rounded hill is a rounded rise; height lets one see far, and seeing far lets one think of home: Lady Xu Mu climbs the hill to look toward Wey, toward her ancestral state. The fritillary of gather the fritillary there: ancient physicians held the bulb cured depression and dispelled care; gathering it is to seek relief for her heavy sorrow through the medicine of plants. The two lines are the typical Shijing manner of rising on gathered herbs, one tradition with gathering, gathering the burr-daisy and gathering, gathering the plantain, yet with deeper sorrow: others gather herbs for labor or for joy; the lady gathers the fritillary to heal her heart, writing intangible sorrow through tangible plants, object and self mirroring each other. Climbing the height, gathering the herb, cherishing her grief: the three actions advance layer by layer, writing the pain of a lost state and the will to save it as at once concrete and restrained, storing emotion for the plea of a woman's heart is full of tender cares, yet each has her own course that follows.
百尔所思，不如我所之。
With all the thoughts you have debated, they are not worth the journey I myself shall make.
你们百般谋划、千般思虑，都不如我亲自前往。
For all your many counsels and deliberations, none can compare with the road I myself must take.
结句是全诗的情感高潮，也是千古名句。「百尔所思」写许国大夫们聚议纷纭、反复筹谋，一个「百」字见其思虑之多、主张之繁；「不如我所之」以「所之」（所往、所行）对「所思」，以行动对空谈，一笔扫尽许人的迂阔之议——你们想得再多，也不如我亲自驰归、亲自求援来得实在。此句是许穆夫人全部刚毅性格的浓缩：不尚空谈、不惧非议、以身赴难，其见识与胆魄远在许国须眉之上。「百尔所思，不如我所之」遂成为后世志士「坐而论不如起而行」的精神源头，与《左传》所载其后齐桓公果遣师救卫的史实相印证，诗人之预见与行动力皆令人叹服，堪称《诗经》中掷地有声的最强音。
The closing line is the emotional peak of the poem and an age-famed couplet. With all the thoughts you have debated writes the Xu ministers in long, wrangling counsel; the word all shows the abundance of their schemes and their many proposals. They are not worth the journey I myself shall make sets my going against your thinking, action against idle talk, sweeping away at one stroke the hollow debates of the men of Xu: think as much as you please, it is nothing to my galloping back myself, to my going myself to beg for aid. The line condenses the whole of Lady Xu Mu's resolute character: no love of empty talk, no fear of reproach, risking herself in the crisis; her insight and nerve far outstrip the bearded men of Xu. All your thoughts are not worth my going becomes the spiritual source of later patriots' maxim that arguing from a seat is not as good as rising to act; it is borne out by the Zuo Tradition, which tells how Duke Huan of Qi, soon after, sent an army to rescue Wey: the poet's foresight and her power of action are alike admirable, and the line stands as the most sonorous voice in the Shijing.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Xu Mu and Qu Yuan both held firm when the state was in peril; compare their voices.
许穆夫人与屈原，一为卫国公主、一为楚国逐臣，相隔约三百余年，却在国难之际发出相似的誓言：夫人「百尔所思，不如我所之」以行动宣言抗辩非议，屈原「虽九死其犹未悔」「吾将上下而求索」以殉道精神坚守理想。二人皆以诗明志、以行动自证，然表达方式有别：夫人之诗以赋直陈、议论入诗，言辞质朴刚健，是民歌口吻；屈原之诗以香草美人比兴、以瑰丽想象铺陈，文辞华赡悲壮，是文人创作。一刚直一沉郁，一质朴一绚烂，恰可见《诗经》与《楚辞》两大传统的分野，亦可见中国爱国文学自其源头便有刚健与悲壮两种基因，而许穆夫人以女性身份开此先河，尤为可贵。
式微 Decline (Shi Wei) 诗经 · 同为《诗经》忧勤行役、归思难遂之作，可比较抒情口吻 Both 'Airs' poems lament toilsome service and unfulfilled return—compare the lyric tone.Both write weary service and ungranted return; compare the voice.
《式微》（邶风）以「式微式微，胡不归？微君之故，胡为乎中露」的重章追问，写役人久役不归、思归不得的怨叹，口吻是哀怨的、被动的——归与不归，系于「君之故」；《载驰》则相反，归与不归，全由己决——「不能旋反」「不能旋济」斩钉截铁，口吻是刚毅的、主动的。同为行役奔波的归思主题，《式微》是被役者的无奈之叹，《载驰》是救亡者的自觉之行；一哀一烈、一柔一刚，正可见《诗经》抒情主人公性格的多样。合观二诗，尤能体会许穆夫人「归」字背后的担当：她的归不是逃避役苦，而是赴国难，其精神高度非《式微》役人可比。
柏舟 The Cypress Boat (Bai Zhou) 诗经 · 同为《诗经》女子坚守己志之作，可比较女性自我书写 Both write a woman's steadfast will; 'my heart is not a stone' and 'I cannot turn back' both show a woman holding her own course—compare women's self-writing.Both a woman's steadfast will; compare self-expression.
《柏舟》（邶风）与《载驰》皆出自女子之手、皆写女子面对压力而坚守己志：《柏舟》「我心匪石，不可转也。我心匪席，不可卷也」以石席之坚喻志之不可夺，写的是遭群小排挤、无人理解的孤愤；《载驰》「我思不远」「我思不閟」「百尔所思，不如我所之」则直接向反对者宣战，写的是救亡图存的行动与担当。二诗相较，《柏舟》之守是消极的守贞（守志不渝而困于环境），《载驰》之守是积极的进取（守志而行、以行动破局）；《柏舟》情感沉郁幽怨，《载驰》情感激昂果决。同为《诗经》中最具主体意识的女性声音，一内敛一外放，共同证明先秦女性并非只有「温柔敦厚」一副面孔，其精神世界之丰沛，足为后世女性文学张本。