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清 Qing · 诗 Poem

赠梁任父同年

To Liang Rengong, a Fellow Graduate

黄遵宪

Huang Zunxian

爱国patriotism 交游friendship

寸寸山河寸寸金，侉离分裂力谁任。
杜鹃再拜忧天泪，精卫无穷填海心。

Inch by inch the land, inch by inch of gold; torn apart and split, who will bear the strength to save it?
Like the cuckoo I bow twice and shed my heaven-worrying tears; like the Jingwei, an endless heart to fill the sea.

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Meaning

Every inch of land is as precious as an inch of gold; the country is torn and split — who will take up the strength to guard it? Like the cuckoo I bow twice and shed my heaven-worrying tears of grief; like the Jingwei bird, I hold an endless heart to fill the sea — my devotion to the country.

每一寸山河都如每一寸黄金般珍贵，国土割裂离散，这挽留守护之力有谁担当？我如杜鹃般再拜洒下忧国之泪，更怀精卫那无穷尽填海般的报国之心。

Appreciation

Huang Zunxian, a native of Jiaying in Guangdong, a 1876 juren, served in the legations of Japan, the United States, Britain, and Singapore, and lived through the Self-Strengthening and Reform movements. Liang Qichao, courtesy Zhuoru, style Rengong ('Rengong' an honorific), was a fellow graduate of the same examination year. This poem was likely written around the Jiawu War (1894-1895), when China's crushing defeat brought the crisis of partition by the powers. The poet encourages his fellow graduate: grieving the land's 'tearing apart' yet swearing with the cuckoo and Jingwei an undying will — a typical voice of Reform-minded men saving the nation, and an opening of the 'Poetry Revolution's' use of the old form for the age's peril.

【白话串讲】黄遵宪赠梁启超：“寸寸山河寸寸金”——每一寸山河都像金子一样宝贵。“杜鹃再拜忧天泪，精卫无穷填海心”——他要像杜鹃啼血、精卫填海一样，为这个国家奔走。【意象与手法】首句「寸寸山河寸寸金」以复迭「寸寸」强调国土之珍贵无价，如闻痛惜之声；次句「侉离分裂力谁任」，「侉离」谓离析割裂，以设问逼出担当之问。后二句「杜鹃再拜忧天泪，精卫无穷填海心」对仗精整：杜鹃啼血典写忧国之泪，精卫填海典写不懈之志，一哭一誓，血泪交迸。「再拜」见其郑重，「无穷」见其恒久。全诗激情炽烈而格律俨然，新意境（救亡）入旧风格（七绝、古典典故），正是「诗界革命」主张之实践。【情感与主旨】黄遵宪，广东嘉应人，光绪二年举人，历任驻日、美、英、新使僚，亲历洋务与维新。梁启超字卓如，号任公，「任父」为尊称，二人同科（同年）。此诗约作于甲午战争（1894-1895）中国惨败、列强瓜分危机迫近之际。诗人以「同年」相勉，既痛国土「侉离分裂」，更以杜鹃、精卫自誓不死之志，是维新志士救亡图存心声的典型，亦开「诗界革命」以旧体写时代危局之风。【名句点睛】考点一：情感——理解诗人对国土沦丧的痛惜与救亡图存的决心。考点二：手法——「寸寸」复迭、设问、用典（杜鹃、精卫）的运用。考点三：风格——「新意境入旧风格」的诗界革命主张。

Background

黄遵宪（1848—1905），字公度，号人境庐主人，广东嘉应（今梅州）人，清代诗人、外交家、政治家，近代「诗界革命」的倡导者与代表诗人。光绪二年（1876）中举，历任驻日使馆参赞、驻美国旧金山总领事、驻英国使馆参赞、新加坡总领事等职，亲历洋务运动与维新变法，晚年积极参与湖南新政。梁启超（1873—1929），字卓如，号任公，广东新会人，近代思想家、文学家，「任父」为时人对梁启超的尊称（「父」通「甫」，为男子美称）。黄遵宪与梁启超为同科（光绪二年同榜）举人，故称「同年」。此诗约作于甲午战争（1894—1895）之后，中国惨败于日本，签订《马关条约》，割台湾、赔巨款，列强掀起瓜分中国的狂潮，亡国危机迫在眉睫。诗人感时伤事，赠诗于同年的梁启超，既痛国土「侉离分裂」，更以杜鹃啼血、精卫填海自誓，激励志士共赴国难。此诗是维新志士救亡图存心声的典型，也是黄遵宪「我手写我口」「新意境入旧风格」诗界革命主张的实践，在近代诗歌史上具有标志性意义。

Art

The first line 'inch by inch the land, inch by inch of gold' repeats 'inch by inch' to stress the land's priceless worth, as if one heard his cry of pity. The second line 'torn apart and split, who will bear the strength' — 'kuo li' means to come apart and split; a rhetorical question forces out the question of who will take up the charge. The last two lines 'like the cuckoo I bow twice and shed my heaven-worrying tears; like the Jingwei, an endless heart to fill the sea' are neatly antithetical: the cuckoo's blood-tears allude to grief for the state, the Jingwei's sea-filling to unceasing resolve — one weeps, one swears, blood and tears mingling. 'Bow twice' shows his gravity; 'endless' shows his constancy. The whole burns with passion yet keeps its strict form; new conception (saving the nation) enters the old style (seven-jue, classical allusion) — exactly the 'Poetry Revolution's' practice of 'old style holding new conception.'

此诗艺术上以「新意境入旧风格」为最大特色，二十八字中激情炽烈而格律俨然。首句「寸寸山河寸寸金」以复迭「寸寸」起笔：「寸寸」两字复迭，如一声声痛惜的叹息——每一寸山河都如每一寸黄金般珍贵，国土之无价、痛惜之深，尽在复迭的节奏之中。次句「侉离分裂力谁任」以设问承之：「侉离」谓国土离析割裂，「力谁任」问守护之责谁来担当，一问之下，如击鼓般敲在人心上。后二句「杜鹃再拜忧天泪，精卫无穷填海心」对仗精整，是全诗情感的升华：「杜鹃再拜」写忧国之泪——如杜鹃啼血，再拜而泣，洒下忧天之泪；「精卫无穷填海心」写报国之志——如精卫衔石填海，无穷无尽，矢志不渝。一哭一誓，血泪交迸，「再拜」见其郑重，「无穷」见其恒久。全诗四句，复迭、设问、对仗、用典熔于一炉，以旧体七绝写新时代的救亡主题，正是「诗界革命」主张之实践。又全诗四句，前二句一贵一痛、后二句一泪一志，两两相对，情感的起伏如潮涨潮落，而以「精卫无穷填海心」收束，如洪钟之鸣，余响不绝，正是七绝「以力收束」的典范。

Allusions

'Cuckoo' uses the tale of the king Wang Di who became a cuckoo and cried blood (Huayang Guo Zhi), often for grief of a lost state; Huang's 'like the cuckoo I bow twice and shed my heaven-worrying tears' joins the cuckoo's blood-crying with the 'man of Qi who feared the sky's falling,' writing the worry of saving the nation. 'Jingwei' is from the Shan Hai Jing — the Yan emperor's daughter drowned and became a bird that fills the sea with pebbles — a figure for unflagging will; here it states loyalty to the country. 'Kuo li' comes from the Zhuangzi or Yang Xiong's 'Dialect,' meaning the land's fracturing. The three allusions all bear on the state's rise and fall, apt to the age's crisis, weighty and forceful.

此诗用典皆取自经典而关合家国兴亡。「寸寸山河寸寸金」暗用《庄子》「尺寸之地」及宋人「寸土必争」之义，以金喻国土之贵，句法或本于唐人「一寸山河一寸金」之语（金人亦用此语），黄遵宪以复迭强调，愈见痛惜。「侉离」语出《庄子·人间世》「侉离」谓支离割裂之貌，或本扬雄《方言》「侉」训大、离训分，皆言国土分崩离析之状。「杜鹃」用蜀王望帝化为杜鹃、啼血乃止之典，见《华阳国志》《蜀王本纪》——望帝失国，魂化杜鹃，昼夜悲啼，直至啼血，后常以杜鹃啼血喻亡国之痛、忧国之深；「再拜」用《礼记》拜礼，写其郑重恳切；「忧天」化用「杞人忧天」之典（《列子·天瑞》），此处反其意用之——非为无谓之忧，实为真切的亡国之忧。「精卫」用《山海经·北山经》炎帝少女女娃溺海化鸟、衔石填海之神话，喻矢志不懈、不达目的不罢休；「无穷」与「填海心」连用，写其恒久不变。三典（杜鹃、忧天、精卫）皆关家国兴亡，贴切时代危局，厚重有力。

Commentary

Liang Qichao, in his 'Ice-Drinker's Studio Poetry Talks,' praised Huang Zunxian as the chief of the 'Poetry Revolution,' saying he 'opened a realm of his own, standing alone.' This poem is praised by Xia Yan, Qian Zhonglian, and others as a modern patriotic masterpiece. Moderns hold that Huang, with a classical prose hand, works new learning; the two lines on the cuckoo and Jingwei are as deep and strong as old Du Fu. Though but twenty-eight characters, it shows both the age's crisis and the loyalist's liver and gall — a phosphorescence of modern poetic history.

此诗为近代爱国诗的代表作，历代评价极高。梁启超《饮冰室诗话》亟称黄遵宪为「诗界革命」之魁，谓其「独辟境界，卓然自立」，此诗正是其「独辟境界」的体现——以传统七绝的格律与典故，写甲午之后的救亡危局，新意境入旧风格，开近代诗歌新风。夏衍、钱仲联诸家皆誉此诗为近代爱国诗代表作。近人认为黄氏以古文家之笔运新学理，「杜鹃」「精卫」二句沉雄似老杜——杜鹃之泪、精卫之心，血泪交迸，沉郁顿挫，深得杜诗沉雄之致。从诗史角度看，此诗的意义有三：其一，它是「诗界革命」的标本——主张「我手写我口，古岂能拘牵」，以旧体诗写新内容，此诗以救亡主题入七绝，正是这一主张的实践；其二，它是近代爱国诗的典范——以「寸寸山河寸寸金」写国土之痛，以「精卫无穷填海心」写救国之志，为近代志士提供了精神号召；其三，它是黄遵宪与梁启超交谊的见证——同年相勉、共赴国难，展现了近代知识分子的家国情怀。此诗虽仅二十八字，而时代危局与志士肝胆俱见，足称近代诗史之磷光。

Prosody

Form Seven-character quatrain (seven-character jue)七言绝句

Rhyme Ping-shui lower-level twelve qin group (gold, bear, heart)平水韵·下平十二侵韵（金、任、心）

Tone pattern Level-onset, first line enters rhyme平起首句入韵式：「寸寸山河寸寸金」为仄仄平平仄仄平，「侉离分裂力谁任」为平平平仄仄平平，平仄大体合律，气脉流畅

Reading note New conception into old form; embodies the Poetry Revolution's 'old style holding new conception'此诗为七言绝句，平起首句入韵式，押平水韵下平十二侵韵，「金」「任」「心」三字一韵到底。侵韵字音沉郁深长，与全诗写忧国悲愤、救亡决心的沉雄基调相谐。全诗四句：首句写山河之贵（寸寸山河寸寸金），次句写分裂之痛（侉离分裂力谁任），三句写忧国之泪（杜鹃再拜忧天泪），四句写报国之志（精卫无穷填海心），由贵到痛、由泪到志，层层推进，起承转合分明。此诗格律大体严谨：首句「寸寸山河寸寸金」以「寸寸」复迭破常格，复迭之中见顿挫；后二句「杜鹃再拜忧天泪，精卫无穷填海心」对仗精整，「杜鹃」对「精卫」（鸟名相对）、「再拜」对「无穷」、「忧天泪」对「填海心」，工稳而气壮。值得注意的是，此诗以严整的近体格律写新时代的救亡内容，正是黄遵宪「诗界革命」所主张的「旧风格含新意境」——格律是旧的，意境是新的，旧瓶装新酒，为近代诗歌的发展开辟了新路。

Line by line

寸寸山河寸寸金

Inch by inch the land, inch by inch of gold

每一寸山河都如每一寸黄金般珍贵。

Every inch of the hills and rivers is worth an inch of gold.

「寸寸山河寸寸金」为全诗首句，以复迭「寸寸」起笔，如闻痛惜之声。「寸寸」两字复迭，一句之内两见，音节顿挫，如一声声沉重的叹息——「寸寸山河」写国土之细碎珍贵，每一寸都不可弃；「寸寸金」以金喻山河，写国土之价值无价，一寸山河一寸金。此句之妙有三：其一，复迭之警，「寸寸」的复迭使节奏如捶胸顿足，把对国土的爱惜与痛惜写得声声入耳；其二，以金写贵，以黄金喻山河，将抽象的爱国之情化为可感的珍贵之价——山河如金，寸寸珍贵，弃一寸如弃万金；其三，为全诗定调，「寸寸山河」的珍视，正是下文「侉离分裂」之痛的前提——正因为寸寸珍贵，分裂才寸寸痛心。此句起笔即如一声长叹，复迭之中见深情，是近代爱国诗中最著名的起句之一。

Every inch of the hills and rivers is worth an inch of gold is the opening line of the poem, rising on the repeated inch, as if the voice of regret were heard. The repeated inch appears twice in one line, the cadence broken like a heavy sigh after sigh — every inch of the hills and rivers writes the land's minute, precious part, not an inch to be abandoned; worth an inch of gold uses gold for the land, writing the priceless value of the territory, an inch of land an inch of gold. The line is threefold: first, the striking repetition — the repeated inch makes the rhythm like the beating of breast and stamp of foot, writing the love and grief for the land, note by note in the ear; second, writing the worth through gold, the gold for the hills and rivers, turning abstract patriotism into the sensible precious price — the land like gold, inch by inch precious, to abandon an inch is to abandon a fortune; third, fixing the tone of the poem — the treasuring of every inch of land is precisely the premise for the grief of the riven and torn below: precisely because every inch is precious, the splitting is inch by inch a heartbreak. The opening rises like a long sigh, deep feeling within the repetition, one of the most famous opening lines of modern patriotic poetry.

侉离分裂力谁任

Torn apart and split, who will bear the strength to save it?

国土割裂离散，这挽留守护之力有谁担当？

The land is riven and torn apart; who will take up the task of holding it?

「侉离分裂力谁任」为全诗次句，以设问承之，逼出担当之问。「侉离」谓离析割裂、支离破碎，语出《庄子·人间世》，写国土分崩离析之状；「分裂」与「侉离」同义反复，强调国土被列强瓜分之危——甲午之后，列强掀起瓜分狂潮，割地赔款，国土日削；「力谁任」以设问发问——挽救危亡的力量，谁来担当？此问之妙有三：其一，以问写痛，「力谁任」之问，正是痛极之问——山河破碎而无人可任，或竟无人愿任，问中见忧愤；其二，以问写责，此问既是问人，更是问己——力谁任？我任之！诗人以此自勉并勉励「同年」梁启超，一问之下，担当之志已立；其三，以问承转，上句写国土之贵，此句写分裂之痛，由贵到裂、由爱到痛，情感的张力在设问中推向高潮，为后二句「杜鹃」「精卫」的誓言蓄势。

The second line of the poem follows with a question, pressing out the call to duty. Riven means fractured, split, shattered, from the Zhuangzi's In the Human World, writing the land's breaking asunder; torn is a tautology with riven, stressing the danger of the powers' partition — after the Sino-Japanese war, the powers raised the frenzy of carve-up, ceding land and paying indemnity, the territory daily shrinking; who will take up the task? asks the question — the force to save the crisis, who will bear it? The question is threefold: first, writing the grief through the question — who will take up the task? is precisely the question of grief at the extreme — the land broken and none to bear it, perhaps none willing, the anxiety and wrath within the question; second, writing the duty through the question — the question is at once to others and to oneself — who bears the task? I bear it! The poet thus encourages himself and encourages his fellow graduate Liang Qichao; one question, and the will to duty is established; third, carrying and turning through the question — the upper line writes the land's worth, this line the grief of the splitting, from worth to split, from love to grief, the emotional tension pushed to the climax in the question, storing force for the vows of the cuckoo and Jingwei below.

杜鹃再拜忧天泪

Like the cuckoo, I bow again and shed my heaven-grieving tears.

我如杜鹃般再拜洒下忧国之泪。

Like the cuckoo, I bow again, weeping tears for the sorrows of the land.

「杜鹃再拜忧天泪」为全诗第三句，用典写忧国之泪，沉痛悲切。「杜鹃」用望帝化鹃、啼血乃止之典——蜀王望帝失国，魂化杜鹃，悲啼至血出，后以此喻亡国之痛、忧国之深，此处写诗人如杜鹃般为国土之危而泣；「再拜」用拜礼写其郑重——不是泛泛一叹，而是郑重再拜，如对故国山河行大礼，恳切沉痛；「忧天泪」化用「杞人忧天」之典而反其意——非无谓之忧，而是真切的亡国之忧，忧极而泪下，是为「忧天泪」。此句之妙有三：其一，以典写痛，杜鹃啼血之典将忧国之痛写得触目惊心——不是流泪，是啼血；其二，以礼写诚，「再拜」写其对国事的郑重与虔敬，士大夫的家国之情尽在一拜之中；其三，以泪写深，「忧天泪」三字将「忧」与「泪」相连，忧之深则泪之切，血泪交迸，为下句「填海心」的誓言蓄足情势。

The third line of the poem uses allusion for the sorrowing tears, sorrowful and cutting. The cuckoo uses the allusion of Wang Di turned cuckoo and weeping blood until the end — the Shu king Wang Di, losing his realm, his soul turned cuckoo, grieving and crying until the blood came; later ages use it for the grief of the fallen country and the depth of patriotic sorrow, here writing the poet like the cuckoo weeping for the land's peril. Bow again writes the earnestness through the rite — not a passing sigh, but the solemn repeated bow, as if performing the great rite before the old hills and rivers, earnest and sorrowful. The heaven-grieving tears transforms the allusion to the man of Qi who feared the sky would fall, against its sense — not a needless anxiety, but the true grief of the fallen country, grief at the extreme and tears falling, hence the heaven-grieving tears. The line is threefold: first, writing the grief through allusion — the cuckoo weeping blood turns the patriotic grief to something that shocks the eye — not weeping, but crying blood; second, writing the sincerity through the rite — the repeated bow writes the solemnity and reverence for the affairs of state, the scholar-official's feeling for family and country gathered in one bow; third, writing the depth through tears — the three words heaven-grieving tears link grief and tears, the deeper the grief, the sharper the tears, blood and tears bursting forth, storing full force for the vow of the sea-filling heart below.

精卫无穷填海心

Like the Jingwei, an endless heart to fill the sea

更怀精卫那无穷尽填海般的报国之心。

And the heart of Jingwei, who fills the sea, without end.

「精卫无穷填海心」为全诗结句，以神话自誓，写矢志不渝，收束雄健。「精卫」用《山海经·北山经》神话——炎帝之少女女娃溺于东海，化为精卫鸟，日衔西山之木石以填东海，历万世而不止，喻矢志不懈；「无穷」写其恒久——不是一时之志，而是无穷无尽、至死不休的坚持；「填海心」写其目标之难与心志之坚——填海本是不可为之事，而精卫为之不已，正如救国本是至难之业，而志士为之不息。此句之妙有三：其一，以神话写志，借精卫填海这一「知其不可为而为之」的神话，写诗人与志士们救亡图存的决心——明知国势危殆，而填海之心无穷；其二，以恒写坚，「无穷」二字写志之恒久，与上句「再拜」之郑重相对，一泪一志、一悲一坚，血泪交迸而意志昂扬；其三，以誓收束，全诗由「山河之贵」到「分裂之问」，由「忧天之泪」到「填海之心」，情感层层推进，至此以雄健的誓言收束，救亡图存的决心掷地有声，为全诗画上铿锵的句号。

The closing line of the poem swears through myth, writing the unshaken resolve, closing with vigor. Jingwei uses the myth of the Classic of Mountains and Seas, the Northern Classics — the younger daughter of the Flame Emperor, Nüwa, drowned in the Eastern Sea, turned into the Jingwei bird, daily carrying twigs and stones from the western hills to fill the Eastern Sea, through the ages without cease, figuring the unflagging resolve. Without end writes the lastingness — not a moment's resolve, but the endless, life-long persistence. The sea-filling heart writes the difficulty of the goal and the firmness of the will — filling the sea is properly an impossible task, yet Jingwei does it without ceasing, as saving the country is properly the hardest of causes, and the patriot does it without rest. The line is threefold: first, writing resolve through myth, borrowing the Jingwei-filling-the-sea myth of acting knowing it cannot be done, to write the determination of the poet and the patriots to save the nation — knowing the country's peril, yet the sea-filling heart without end; second, writing firmness through lastingness — the two words without end write the endurance of resolve, set against the solemnity of the repeated bow above, one tear and one resolve, one grief and one firmness, blood and tears bursting and the will high; third, closing in vow — the poem moves from the land's worth to the splitting's question, from the heaven-grieving tears to the sea-filling heart, the emotion advancing layer on layer, closing at last in the vigorous oath, the determination to save the nation ringing like thrown metal, striking the clangorous period of the poem.

Study

Word focus

侉离 'Kuo li' means to come apart and split, figures the land's fracturing; an old word made new, apt to the crisis. 「侉离分裂力谁任」之「侉离」，为全诗最见古意与新意的炼字，写国土分崩之状，贴切危局。「侉离」本为古语，语出《庄子·人间世》「侉离」谓支离割裂、形体不全之貌（一说本扬雄《方言》），此处移以形容国土——国土如人之形体般被支解割裂，触目惊心。此词之妙有三：其一，古语生新，以先秦古语写当代危局，古意与新境相激，愈显割裂之惨——国土不是一般的「分裂」，而是如形体支解的「侉离」，痛感倍增；其二，与「分裂」连文，「侉离」与「分裂」同义连用，音韵铿锵，如刀割之响，写尽甲午之后列强瓜分、国土日削的惨状；其三，以字见学，黄遵宪为「诗界革命」主将而学养深厚，用「侉离」二字，正见其「以古文家之笔运新学理」的特点——旧词新用，言近旨远。二字写尽国土分崩之痛，是近代诗中炼字生新、以古写今的典范。

再拜 Shows gravity and sincerity, answering 'heaven-worrying tears,' revealing the loyalist's sincerity in saving the nation. 「杜鹃再拜忧天泪」之「再拜」，为全诗写忧国之诚的关键词，一字见郑重。「再拜」为古代礼节，拜而又拜，表极度恭敬郑重，《礼记》「再拜稽首」为最敬之礼。此处写诗人对故国山河「再拜」——不是一拜，而是再拜，郑重之至。此词之妙有三：其一，以礼写诚，「再拜」将抽象的爱国之情化为具体的动作——如对国土行最敬之礼，郑重恳切，士大夫的家国之情尽在一拜再拜之中；其二，以拜写悲，「再拜」与「忧天泪」相连——拜而又拜，泪落如雨，行礼之庄重与流泪之悲切相映，愈见其痛之深、诚之至；其三，以拜写人，「再拜」二字刻画出诗人的形象——一位对破碎山河郑重行礼、洒泪忧国的志士，其忠贞恳切之态如在目前，与末句「精卫填海」的坚毅相呼应，一恭一坚，正是志士的完整人格。二字以动作写至诚，是黄遵宪炼字传神的妙笔。