清 Qing · 诗 Poem
闻鹧鸪
Hearing the Partridge
鹧鸪声里夕阳西，陌上征人首尽低。
遍地关山行不得，为谁辛苦尽情啼？
Everywhere the passes and hills block the way — for whom do you toil, crying your heart out?
Meaning
In the partridge's cry of 'none may pass, my brother' the sun has already sunk to the west; along the country path the wandering travellers each bow their heads. Beneath heaven the passes and mountains bar the way everywhere, so no journey is possible — and you, partridge, for whom do you toil so, crying your fill?
在鹧鸪「行不得也哥哥」的啼声里，夕阳已向西沉落；田间小路上羁旅的征人，个个都低垂着头。普天之下关山阻隔、处处行不得，你鹧鸪又是为了谁，如此辛苦地尽情啼叫呢？全诗以「闻」字立骨，将鸟声与人愁打成一片，借「行不得」的双关写羁旅之悲，结以痴问，构思尖新，语似平浅而情极沉挚，是清初羁旅绝句中的佳作。
Appreciation
You Tong's 'Hearing the Partridge' is a short quatrain of travel lament that turns entirely on the partridge's cry. The bird's call, sounding like 'none may pass, my brother', had long been the wanderer's heartbreak in Chinese poetry, and the poet seizes it to voice his own homelessness. Two scenes carry the whole: the dusk with its partridge cry, and the bowed heads of travellers on the road. Out of this plain stuff the poem draws a quiet, lingering sorrow, and its closing question — put to the bird, but really to himself — makes the exile's plight feel endless. Though only four lines, it moves step by step into grief and stays with the reader.
【白话串讲】 “鹧鸪声里夕阳西，陌上征人首尽低”——尤侗写：夕阳西下，鹧鸪叫“行不得也哥哥”，路上的征人听了都低下头。“遍地关山行不得，为谁辛苦尽情啼”——遍地关山走不得，鹧鸪你为谁这么拼命地叫？ 【意象与手法】 诗以「闻」字立骨，将鸟声与人愁打成一片。首句「鹧鸪声里夕阳西」以声衬景，暮色与啼声交织成愁；次句「陌上征人首尽低」，「尽」字写羁旅之普泛，低头之状凄然在目。后两句妙在双关：鹧鸪本啼「行不得」，而「遍地关山行不得」既写鸟声亦写征人实境，末以「为谁辛苦尽情啼」反诘，痴问中见身世之悲，构思尖新。 【情感与主旨】 尤侗（1618—1704），字同人，号悔庵，江苏长洲人，清初文学家，诗词戏曲俱擅。其一生屡应科举不第，又曾游幕四方，南北辗转，深谙羁旅行役之苦。此诗当为途中闻鹧鸪啼声而作。鹧鸪啼声似「行不得也哥哥」，自来为游子断肠之音，诗人即借此鸟声抒写漂泊无依、归路难寻之慨。 【名句点睛】 本诗为羁旅诗鉴赏篇目。考点：一、「鹧鸪」意象的含意（啼声谐「行不得也哥哥」，为游子断肠之音）；二、「遍地关山行不得」的双关手法（鸟声与征人实境）；三、结句反问的表达效果与情感（痴问中见身世之悲）。
Background
You Tong (1618-1704), courtesy Tongren, style Hui'an, was from Changzhou in Jiangsu, a literatus of the early Qing known equally for poetry, song and drama. He repeatedly failed the civil-service examinations and wandered as a client of various offices, north and south, and knew deeply the bitterness of travel and service away from home. This poem was likely written on a journey upon hearing the partridge cry. The partridge's call sounds like 'none may pass, my brother' and since antiquity has been the broken-hearted sound of the wanderer; the poet uses this bird's voice to give voice to his own sense of drifting without harbour and the difficulty of finding the road home. The language seems plain, yet the feeling is deeply sincere.
《闻鹧鸪》为清初文学家尤侗（1618—1704）所作，是一首借鹧鸪啼声写羁旅之悲的七绝。尤侗字同人，号悔庵，晚号西堂老人，江苏长洲（今苏州）人，清初著名文学家、戏曲家，诗、词、曲、骈文俱擅，与王士禛、朱彝尊等交善，有《西堂全集》。尤侗一生科举蹭蹬：顺治五年（1648）中举后，屡试不第，直至康熙十八年（1679）以博学鸿儒科授翰林院检讨，参修《明史》，时年已六十二岁。在此之前，他长期游幕四方、南北辗转，或依人作客，或奔走科场，深谙羁旅行役之苦。此诗即写于其奔波途中闻鹧鸪啼声之时。鹧鸪为南方山鸟，其啼声哀婉凄切，古人拟其声为「行不得也哥哥」，遂成为羁旅漂泊、归路难寻的象征，李白「宫女如花满春殿，只今惟有鹧鸪飞」、辛弃疾「江晚正愁余，山深闻鹧鸪」皆借鹧鸪写愁。尤侗途中闻鹧鸪，正值夕阳西下、暮色苍茫，啼声入耳，正触其「行不得」的羁旅之痛——他一生奔波，科场失意、宦途晚达，正如那「行不得」的鹧鸪，欲行而路艰、欲归而无计，遂以二十八字写尽漂泊无依的感慨。此诗语似平浅而情极沉挚，是清初羁旅诗中的佳作，也折射出清代士人在科举与游幕制度下普遍的漂泊心态。
Art
The poem is built on the word 'hearing', fusing the bird's sound with human melancholy. The opening 'Amid the partridge's call the sun sinks west' sets scene through sound, the dusk and the cry braided into one mournful hue; 'on the road the travellers all bow their heads' uses 'all' to generalize the exile's lot, the bowed heads vivid before us. The latter two lines work a pun: the partridge naturally cries 'none may pass', and 'everywhere the passes and hills block the way' names both the bird's song and the travellers' real blockage. The final 'for whom do you toil, crying your heart out' turns a feigned question back on the poet's own drifting life, a fresh and pointed design.
此诗艺术上最突出的特色，是以「闻」字立骨，将鸟声与人愁打成一片，并以后二句的双关与反问见巧思，是「即声取意」的羁旅绝句典范。首句「鹧鸪声里夕阳西」以声衬景，起笔即营造出苍凉的氛围：鹧鸪的啼声，与西沉的夕阳，一有声、一有色，声与景交织成一片愁云惨淡的暮色——啼声愈凄，夕阳愈暗，愁绪愈浓，七个字写尽「日暮途穷」的况味。次句「陌上征人首尽低」由鸟及人：田间小路上，羁旅的征人，个个低垂着头，「尽」字写羁愁之普泛——不是一人低头，而是所有征人都低头，羁旅之苦是普遍的命运，「低头」之状凄然在目，如一幅暮色中的行旅图。后二句是全诗的机锋所在：「遍地关山行不得」以「行不得」双关——鹧鸪啼声谐「行不得也哥哥」，而「遍地关山」又是征人眼前的实境，鸟声之「行不得」与征途之「行不得」合而为一，物我交融，双关巧妙；「为谁辛苦尽情啼」以反诘收束——你鹧鸪为谁辛苦、为谁尽情啼叫？这一痴问，问的是鹧鸪，伤的却是自己：鹧鸪啼「行不得」，正如诗人叹「行不得」，同是天涯行路难，何必苦苦相催？痴问之中，身世之悲尽出。全诗四句，由景入人、由人入问，层层深入，语平而意曲，正见尤侗「以巧思写深情」的功力。
Allusions
The partridge is a classic image in classical poetry; its cry is heard as 'none may pass, my brother', and since Li Bai's 'the palace maids like flowers filled the spring hall, now only partridges fly' and Xin Qiji's 'by the river at dusk I am sorrowful still, deep in the hills I hear the partridge', it has stood for wandering and obstruction. This poem takes the cry directly as 'none may pass', a common way of 'taking meaning from the sound'; 'passes and hills' follows the yuefu tradition of 'passes and hills hard to cross', marking the barrier of frontier service and travel. The allusion is natural and leaves no trace.
此诗用典的核心在「鹧鸪」意象，其内涵源远流长，是理解全诗的关键。「鹧鸪」为南方山禽，其鸣声古人拟为「行不得也哥哥」，遂成为羁旅漂泊、行路艰难的象征。此意象的文学传统深厚：唐代李白《越中览古》「宫女如花满春殿，只今惟有鹧鸪飞」以鹧鸪写盛衰之感，郑谷《鹧鸪》「相呼相应湘江阔，苦竹丛深日向西」专咏鹧鸪，更以「苦竹」「日向西」写其愁苦，时人称之为「郑鹧鸪」；五代词人顾敻「鹧鸪声里画楼东」、辛弃疾《菩萨蛮·书江西造口壁》「江晚正愁余，山深闻鹧鸪」皆以鹧鸪写愁。尤侗此诗「鹧鸪声里夕阳西」，正是承此「鹧鸪啼愁」的传统——以鹧鸪之声写羁旅之愁，属「即声取意」的常格而自有新意。此外，「关山」一语承乐府《关山月》及「关山难越，谁悲失路之人」（王勃《滕王阁序》）的传统，写征戍羁旅之阻隔；「行不得」的拟声，更与《乐府诗集》所收《鹧鸪词》「行不得也哥哥」的歌声相印证，古歌今用。全诗用典自然，皆化入眼前之景、耳畔之声，不落痕迹，正见尤侗「以古语写今情」的功力。
Commentary
You Tong's poetry is praised for being 'skilled in feeling'; Wang Shizhen said his 'poems are like a spring of ten thousand measures, issuing wherever the ground allows'. This short 'Hearing the Partridge' has been likened by critics to a separate vein from Su Shi's 'the human world's true flavour is the clear joy', one of travel melancholy. Modern readers count it among the early-Qing travel quatrains that 'write the human heart through a bird's cry' — four lines deepening step by step into grief, closing on a foolish question that lingers.
此诗历来被视为清初羁旅绝句的佳作，其「以鸟声写人心」的构思颇受推许。尤侗以戏曲（《钧天乐》等）与诗文名世，王士禛谓其诗「如万斛泉源，不择地而出」，即指其诗思泉涌、自然流出；此《闻鹧鸪》短章，正其「不择地而出」的妙品——二十八字，看似信手拈来，实则巧思内蕴：首句以声衬景，次句以「尽」字写羁愁之普，后二句以「行不得」双关、以「为谁」痴问，层层深入，无一闲笔。近人论清初诗，多以尤侗为「性灵」一路的先声——其诗不拘格调，直写性情，此诗之「痴问」正是性情之语：不问苍天、不问归程，却问一只鹧鸪「为谁辛苦尽情啼」，痴得可爱，也痴得沉痛。就诗史意义言，此诗是「鹧鸪」意象传统在清代的又一次精彩运用：李白以鹧鸪写盛衰，辛弃疾以鹧鸪写国愁，尤侗以鹧鸪写身世，同一意象，历代各有寄托，而此诗之「行不得」双关，将鸟声与人愁打成一片，构思之巧、用情之深，在羁旅诗中自成一家。其「为谁辛苦尽情啼」的痴问，更超越了具体的羁旅，写出了一切「行不得」者（失意者、漂泊者、困顿者）共有的心声，故能引起持久的共鸣。
Prosody
Line by line
鹧鸪声里夕阳西
Amid the partridge's call the sun sinks west
在鹧鸪的啼声里，夕阳已向西沉落
Amid the partridge's call, the setting sun sinks in the west.
首句七字，是全诗的起笔，以声衬景，一开篇即营造出苍凉愁惨的氛围。「鹧鸪声里」写听觉——鹧鸪啼声哀婉，古人拟其声为「行不得也哥哥」，声声入耳，如诉如泣；「夕阳西」写视觉——夕阳西沉，暮色苍茫，正是「日暮乡关何处是」的断肠之时。七字之中，听觉与视觉交织：啼声是「行不得」的催促，夕阳是「归不得」的提醒，一有声、一有色，声与景打成一片，共同构成「日暮途穷」的意境——鹧鸪啼于夕阳之中，仿佛连鸟都在为行旅之人哀叹。此句以「声里」写夕阳，把抽象的愁绪具象为「鹧鸪声」与「夕阳」两个意象的叠印：声愈凄，景愈暗，愁愈浓，七个字写尽羁旅的苍凉况味，为次句「征人首尽低」的出场铺设了最合适的时间与氛围，是全诗「以声起情」的典范开篇。
The opening seven characters are the rising stroke of the poem, setting scene through sound, and at once creating an atmosphere of bleak distress. Amid the partridge's call writes the hearing: the partridge's cry is plaintive, the ancients imitating its note as going no further, brother dear; note by note entering the ear, as if complaining and weeping. The setting sun sinks in the west writes the sight: the sun sinking in the west, the dusk vast, precisely the heart-breaking hour of dusk, where is my home. Within seven characters, hearing and sight interweave: the cry is the urging of going no further, the setting sun the reminder of returning no further, one with sound, one with color, sound and scene beaten into one, together forming the realm of dusk and road's end — the partridge calling in the setting sun, as if even the bird grieved for the traveler. The line writes the setting sun through amid the cry, turning abstract grief into the overlay of two images, the partridge's cry and the setting sun: the more forlorn the sound, the darker the scene, the thicker the grief; seven characters exhausting the bleakness of the traveler, laying the most fitting hour and atmosphere for the next line's every traveler hangs his head low — the model opening of the poem's way of raising feeling through sound.
陌上征人首尽低
On the country road the travellers all bow their heads
田间小路上羁旅的征人，个个都低垂着头
On the road, every traveler hangs his head low.
次句由鸟及人，是全诗情感从景到人的落实，「尽」字写尽羁旅之普泛，是全句的诗眼。「陌上」点出地点——田间小路，正是行旅之途；「征人」点出人物——羁旅的行人，奔波在途的客子；「首尽低」写其神态——个个低垂着头，「尽」字最有力：不是一人低头，而是所有征人都低头，「尽」字把羁旅之苦写成普遍的命运——人人低头，无人昂首，正如「遍地关山行不得」的处境，欲行而路艰、欲归而无计，只能垂首前行。「低头」之状凄然在目，如一幅暮色苍茫中的行旅图：夕阳之下，陌上征人，垂首踽踽，而鹧鸪的「行不得」之声在耳边回荡——人听鸟声而低头，鸟啼人愁，物我同悲。此句以「尽」字写普泛、以「低头」写神态，把首句的苍凉氛围落实为具体的人物形象，为后二句「行不得」的双关与「为谁辛苦」的痴问作了人物与情感的铺垫。
The second line moves from bird to man, the landing of the poem's feeling from scene to person; the word all exhausts the universality of the traveler's lot, the poetic eye of the line. On the road marks the place — the field path, precisely the road of travel. The traveler marks the figure — the traveler, the wayfarer hurrying on the road. Hangs his head low writes his bearing — every one with head bowed; the word all is the most forceful: not one man with bowed head, but all travelers with heads bowed; the word all writes the hardship of travel as a universal fate — every head bowed, none raised, precisely the plight of mountains and passes everywhere, going impossible: wanting to go and the road hard, wanting to return and no way, only to walk on with bowed head. The bowed head is pitiable before the eyes, like a painting of travel in the vast dusk: beneath the setting sun, the traveler on the road, head bowed and trudging, while the partridge's going no further echoes in the ear — the man hears the bird and bows, the bird calls and the man grieves, object and self in one sorrow. The line writes the universal through all, the bearing through the bowed head, landing the bleak atmosphere of the opening in a concrete figure, preparing the person and emotion for the double entendre of going impossible and the fond question of for whom below.
遍地关山行不得
Everywhere the passes and hills block the way
普天之下关山阻隔、处处行不得
Mountains and passes spread everywhere — to go is impossible.
此句是全诗的机锋所在，以「行不得」双关，将鸟声与人境合而为一，是全诗最见巧思的一笔。「遍地关山」写眼前实境——关山阻隔，无处不在，出门即是关山，处处皆是险阻，「遍地」二字写阻隔之广，普天之下竟无坦途；「行不得」写双关之妙——鹧鸪啼声谐「行不得也哥哥」，是鸟声的拟写；而「遍地关山」之下，人确确实实行不得，是征人的实境。鸟声之「行不得」与征途之「行不得」在此合流：鹧鸪啼的是「行不得」，征人叹的也是「行不得」，鸟与人同声相和、同病相怜——连鸟都知道行路难，何况征人？「遍地」与「行不得」相配，把羁旅之难写到绝处：不是一处关山难越，而是遍地关山、处处难行，归路与去路，皆是「行不得」。「行不得」三字，既是鹧鸪之声，又是征人之叹，物我交融，双关巧妙，正是此诗「以鸟声写人心」的核心句，也为末句「为谁辛苦尽情啼」的痴问蓄足了势能。
The line is the crux of the poem, using the double entendre of going impossible to fuse the bird's cry with the human lot, the most artful stroke. Mountains and passes spread everywhere writes the real scene before the eyes — barriers of mountains and passes, everywhere; to step out is to meet a pass, every place a danger; the word everywhere writes the breadth of the barrier, the whole earth without a level road. Going impossible writes the double entendre: the partridge's cry mimics going no further, brother dear, the imitation of the bird's note; yet beneath the mountains and passes everywhere, the man truly cannot go — the traveler's real lot. The going impossible of the bird's cry and the going impossible of the road merge here: the partridge cries going impossible, the traveler sighs going impossible, bird and man in one voice, one ailment; even the bird knows the road is hard, how much more the traveler? Everywhere paired with going impossible writes the hardship of travel to the utmost: not one pass hard to cross, but passes everywhere, hard to go everywhere; the road of return and the road ahead are both going impossible. The three words going impossible are at once the partridge's cry and the traveler's sigh, object and self fused, the double entendre clever, precisely the core line of the poem's way of writing the human heart through the bird's cry, storing full force for the fond question of for whom do you toil and sing your heart out?
为谁辛苦尽情啼？
For whom do you labor, and sing your heart out?
你是为了谁，如此辛苦地尽情啼叫呢
For whom do you toil, and cry your fill?
结句以反诘收束，是全诗情感的爆发点，也是全诗最见性情的一笔，痴问之中见身世之悲。「为谁辛苦」写问鸟——鹧鸪啼「行不得」，苦苦相催，究竟是为谁辛苦？「尽情啼」写鸟之痴——啼得尽情尽力，声嘶力竭，仿佛有诉不尽的愁；「为谁辛苦尽情啼」连起来，是一声痴问：你为谁辛苦、为谁尽情啼叫？此问的妙处有三：其一，以问写痴——不问苍天、不问归程，却问一只鸟「为谁辛苦」，痴得可爱，而痴中见情，正见诗人愁极而语无伦次的真实状态；其二，以问写同病——鹧鸪啼「行不得」，诗人亦「行不得」，同是天涯行路难，诗人明知鹧鸪为「行不得」而啼，却偏要问「为谁」，这明知故问里，是「同病相怜」的自伤——鹧鸪啼的正是我的愁，问鹧鸪即是问自己；其三，以问写无奈——「为谁辛苦」的答案本不可得，正如归期本不可问，一问之下，愁绪如暮色般弥漫无边，言尽而意无穷。全诗以这声痴问收束，如鹧鸪之啼，余音袅袅，不绝于耳，正见尤侗「以巧思写深情」的笔力。
The closing line ends in a rhetorical question, the eruption of the poem's feeling, the most temperamental stroke, fond question carrying the grief of a life. For whom do you toil writes the question to the bird — the partridge cries going impossible, urging with all its might, and for whom is this toil? Cry your fill writes the bird's doting — crying to the full, to the hoarse throat, as if grief beyond telling. The whole: for whom do you toil, and sing your heart out? is a fond question. Its beauty is threefold: first, writing doting through the question — asking not of heaven, not of the road home, but of a bird, for whom do you toil? doting to the charming, and within the doting the feeling, precisely the true state of the poet's grief beyond order. Second, writing shared ailment through the question — the partridge cries going impossible, the poet also goes impossible, fellow sufferers of the hard road; the poet knows well the partridge cries for going impossible, yet must ask for whom? and in this asking what he knows lies the self-wound of fellow-feeling — the partridge's cry is precisely my grief, and asking the partridge is asking myself. Third, writing helplessness through the question — the answer to for whom do you toil is unattainable, as the day of return is unaskable; at the one question, grief spreads like the dusk, words ended and meaning unending. The poem closes on this fond question, like the partridge's cry, the aftertone lingering, writing Yu Yuedao's brush of writing deep feeling through artful thought.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Both are Qing poets writing travel scenes from life: You writes sorrow through a heard cry, Zha sees fire while moored at night — they may be read together.
查慎行《舟夜书所见》「月黑见渔灯，孤光一点萤。微微风簇浪，散作满河星」与此诗同属清代士人羁旅途中即景之作，同以极短的篇幅写旅途中的所见所闻，而情调迥异：查诗写夜泊所见——月黑江上，一点渔灯如萤，微风簇浪，散作满河星光，画面由静而动、由暗而明，写的是旅途中的意外之美，心境宁静安详，是「以景见趣」；尤诗写暮行所闻——鹧鸪啼声、夕阳西沉，征人低头、关山阻隔，画面由声而景、由景而人，写的是旅途中的无尽之愁，心境苍凉沉郁，是「以声写愁」。一写夜泊之静美、一写暮行之愁苦；一安详、一沉郁。二诗并读，可见清代羁旅诗的两副面孔——「苦旅」与「乐游」，亦可比较查慎行之「清真」与尤侗之「沉挚」。
鹧鸪天·祖国 Partridge Sky - The Motherland 秋瑾 · 同用鹧鸪意象寄慨，一写羁愁一写救国，可见时代意蕴之异 Same (partridge image / reflection)Both use the partridge image to lodge feeling: one writes travel melancholy, the other the saving of the nation — their historical meanings differ greatly.
秋瑾《鹧鸪天·祖国》「祖国沉沦感不禁，闲来海外觅知音。金瓯已缺总须补，为国牺牲敢惜身」与此诗同以「鹧鸪」为题、同用鹧鸪意象寄慨，而所寄之情截然不同：尤侗借鹧鸪「行不得」之声写羁旅漂泊、归路难寻的个人之愁，是传统「鹧鸪啼愁」意象的延续，愁在身世；秋瑾以「鹧鸪天」词牌写「祖国沉沦」的忧愤，「为国牺牲敢惜身」的壮烈，是近代「鹧鸪」意象的时代新变，忧在祖国。一写「行不得」的无奈（个人），一写「沉沦」的愤激（家国）；一低回、一激昂。二作并读，可见「鹧鸪」意象从清初到清末的演变——由羁旅之愁到家国之恨，同一意象在不同时代承载不同的情感，正见中国诗歌意象传统的延续性与开放性，亦可比较尤侗之「沉挚」与秋瑾之「激越」。