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清 Qing · 诗 Poem

竹石

Bamboo in the Rock

郑燮

Zheng Xie

咏物Object-chanting 言志Expressing ambition 清诗Qing poem

咬定青山不放松，立根原在破岩中。
千磨万击还坚劲，任尔东西南北风。

Biting firm the green hill, never letting go,
Roots planted deep in broken rock, from the start.
Thousand grindings, ten thousand blows, still strong and tough,
Let the winds from east, west, south, north blow as they will.

Listen

Meaning

The bamboo clings tenaciously to the mountain, rooted in cracked rocks. Despite countless hardships and raging winds from all directions, it remains resilient and unyielding, symbolizing unwavering integrity.

竹子紧紧咬定青山绝不放松，原本就把根须扎在破碎的岩石缝隙之中。纵使遭受千般磨砺万般击打，依旧坚韧挺拔，任凭你刮那来自东西南北的狂风。

Appreciation

This poem on a painting uses bamboo to portray a person's character. The word 'bite' personifies the bamboo's gripping action, highlighting its stubbornness. The harsh setting of broken rocks contrasts with the bamboo's vitality, while the final lines show calm defiance against adversity.

【白话串讲】郑板桥一生爱竹，这首题画诗写的是竹，也是他自己：“咬定青山不放松”，扎根破岩，任你东西南北风。他一生清贫刚直，这首诗就是他的自画像。【意象与手法】此诗为清郑燮之作，精要赏析详见下方深度赏析。【情感与主旨】郑燮（1693—1765），号板桥，清代"扬州八怪"之一，诗书画三绝。此诗为其《竹石图》题画之作【名句点睛】常考托物言志手法（竹=文人坚贞气节，物我合一）；关键字赏析："咬定"之"咬"拟人写根之牢、"任尔"见从容无畏

Background

Zheng Xie (1693-1765), known as Banqiao, was a leading figure of the 'Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou' in the Qing Dynasty. He excelled in poetry, calligraphy, and painting. After a rocky official career, he retired to sell paintings. This poem is an inscription on his painting 'Bamboo and Rock', reflecting his unyielding character.

郑燮（一六九三—一七六五），字克柔，号板桥，江苏兴化人。他早岁家贫，康熙年间中秀才，雍正十年中举人，乾隆元年成进士，先后任山东范县、潍县知县共十二年。为官时颇有惠政，潍县大饥，他开仓赈贷、令大户煮粥，又修城筑池以工代赈，因此得罪上司，终于乾隆十八年前后罢官，此后寓居扬州，以卖画为生，与金农、黄慎等并称扬州八怪。板桥诗书画三绝，画尤以兰、竹、石为专长，其画多自题诗于上，故其诗集中题画之作极多，本篇即为《竹石图》上的题画诗。此类作品的写作情境与一般诗作不同：诗为画作而写，须与画面上的竹与石相应，故篇中所咏之竹并非泛指，而是画中那株从破裂岩缝中长出的竹；诗中之意也须一望可解，不容曲折隐晦，因此语言格外简劲。此诗确切作年难以考定，一般认为属其罢官后卖画扬州的时期，故所写坚劲不屈之态，与其自身的宦海遭际互为映照。文字流传中有小异，任尔一作任你，尔字较劲而合于古语，通行本多作尔；还坚劲之劲字亦有作韧者，然劲字为韵句之内的关键字眼，作劲更合竹性。诗见《郑板桥集》，为其题画诗中传诵最广的一篇。

Art

The language is sharp and forceful. Twenty-eight characters progress from 'biting firm' to 'roots planted', then to 'thousand grindings' and 'winds', ending with 'still strong' and 'let'. Personification and exaggeration create tension in minimal words, exemplifying the unity of poem and painting.

此诗二十八字，通体只写一株竹，而层次极为分明。首句咬定青山不放松，从竹与山的关系入手：不写竹之高、竹之绿、竹之姿，而先写它抓住山的姿态，一个咬字把无知之物写成有意志的生命，全诗的拟人基调由此确立。次句立根原在破岩中回过头交代根由：所以能咬定，正因它的根本就扎在破裂的岩石之中——原字带追溯之意，说明这份坚牢不是后天勉强，而是生来如此。前二句一状形、一究本，由外及内。后二句转写它所受的对待与所持的态度：千磨万击还坚劲以数量之极言磨难之多，还字一转，见其历尽而不改；任尔东西南北风则把风向铺满四方，写出无处可避的围攻，而一个任字轻轻置于其上，全篇的气度便定了——不是硬抗，而是不以为意。四句之间，前二句写其立身之固，后二句写其应物之定，固而后能定，理路极顺。修辞上以拟人为主干，咬定、不放松、还坚劲、任尔皆是人的动作与神情；又以夸张助势，千磨万击、东西南北皆言其多其全；而通篇不出一个我字，托物言志之意全由物态透出，物我合一而不见痕迹。语言则近于口语，斩钉截铁，无一虚字，正合板桥书画中那种瘦硬倔强的笔性。

Allusions

Bamboo has symbolized steadfast purity since Wang Wei and Su Shi. Zheng Xie inherited this tradition but emphasized stubbornness in broken rocks. As one of the 'Eight Eccentrics', his bamboo paintings and poems together embody his 'lean and pure' personality, rooted in the literati bamboo tradition.

此诗不用一处故典，然所写之竹却承载着极深厚的传统。以竹象征君子，自《诗经·卫风》咏绿竹猗猗已见端绪；《礼记》一系文献以竹箭之有筠比君子之有德；魏晋人更把竹提升为人格的伴侣，《世说新语》载王子猷暂寄空宅亦令种竹，人问其故，但啸咏指竹曰何可一日无此君，竹遂成士人不可须臾离的精神象征。唐人白居易作《养竹记》，明言竹似贤，其本固、其性直、其心空、其节贞，把竹的物性一一对应于德性，为后世咏竹立下阐释的模型。宋人以画竹为文人画正宗，文同、苏轼相继而起，苏轼有宁可食无肉、不可居无竹之语，又主张画竹须先得成竹于胸中，于是竹兼有绘画与人格的双重意义。郑板桥正处在这一传统的下游，他自谓所画乃四时不谢之兰、百节长青之竹，又常以竹自况，其题画诗中屡以竹言吏治民瘼、言士节操守。本篇的创造在于加入了石：竹不长于沃土而长于破岩，故其坚不只是天性，更是与恶劣处境相搏的结果，比前人单咏竹节竹心更进一层。字词训诂上有三处宜辨：咬定之咬为俗语入诗，形容根须钳夹之紧；原在之原义为本来、原本，非平原之原；坚劲之劲读去声，义为强韧有力，与柔弱相对，兼含挺直不弯之意。

Commentary

Zheng Xie's self-comment 'Hard to be糊涂' and 'Lean and pure when stripped of redundancy' align with this poem. Modern critic Fu Baoshi praised his bamboo as 'aloof and resilient, just like the man'. This poem, together with his painting and personality, fully displays his moral backbone.

郑板桥的诗，历来评者以为不以格律辞采见长，而以真率警拔取胜；其题画诗更因附于画面而广泛流传，影响远出诗坛之外。就本篇而言，后世称许集中于两点：一是咬字之奇。前人写竹之固，多用挺、立、抱、盘诸字，皆是静态；板桥独用一咬字，以口部之力状根须之钳，遂将植物写成一个咬紧牙关的生命，评者多以为此一字而全诗生。二是任尔一语之气度。困厄之中言不屈者多矣，或作抗辞，或作怨语；此诗偏以任字出之，不辩不争，风从四面来而我自若，其中的从容比强硬更为有力。二者相合，遂使一首题画小诗具有格言的分量。传播史上，此诗初随《竹石图》及《郑板桥集》流布，清代中晚期以来，板桥书画风行南北，题画诗亦随之广传；近世更因其语浅意深、宜于劝勉，被大量选入教材与励志读本，咬定青山不放松、任尔东西南北风二句几成日常成语，常用以形容立场坚定、不为外力所动。这种普及也带来一点偏失：读者多径取其励志之义，而忽略立根原在破岩中一句所交代的前提——所有的坚强都有其根本，若无破岩中扎下的根，则咬定青山只是空话。板桥本人罢官后卖画自给而不改其狂直，正是那株破岩之竹的写照，故此诗的可信，终究来自作者的身世。

Prosody

Form Inscribed poem on painting (Zheng Xie's 'Bamboo and Rock'), seven-character quatrain, oblique tone starting with first line rhymed七言绝句，为《竹石图》上的题画诗

Rhyme Rhymes on the first level 'dong' rhyme group: song, zhong, feng.首句入韵，韵脚为松、中、风三字，同属平水韵上平一东部，一韵到底

Tone pattern First line: 仄仄平平仄仄平; last two lines flow continuously, not strict parallelism.平仄依七绝仄起首句入韵格：咬定青山不放松为仄仄平平仄仄平，立根原在破岩中为仄平平仄仄平平，千磨万击还坚劲为平平仄仄平平仄，任尔东西南北风为仄仄平平平仄平；黏对大体合律，末句因东西南北四字连用而于平仄上稍见拗动，然读来反增其气

Reading note Borrowing bamboo to express resolute character, consistent with Zheng Xie's 'lean and hard' painting style, a representative of Qing inscribed poems expressing ambition.题画诗有其特殊的格律要求：因须题于画上，与竹石的笔墨相配，故句子宜短、语气宜劲、意思宜一望可解，不容许长篇的铺陈与曲折的用典。七言绝句正是最合此需的体式，二十八字一气写就，四句之间起、承、转、合分明，题在画幅的空白处又与竹枝的走势相映，诗与画于是成为一体。此诗押上平一东韵，松、中、风三字皆开口而收鼻音，音色浑厚沉着，读来有一种低而不哑的坚实感，与所咏之竹的品性极为相配；尤其末字风，既是韵脚又是全诗最后一个意象，音长而余响不绝，仿佛四面之风犹在耳边，而竹已自若。声律的安排亦有可说之处：末句东西南北四个方位词连缀，按律此处本当有平仄的错落，如今四字堆叠，节奏顿变，形成一处小小的拗折，然而正因此拗，风之乱、势之杂反而如在目前，而下一个风字落定，全篇也随之收住。可见格律于板桥并非拘束，其偶然的破格往往正是气势所迫，与其书法中的乱石铺街之法同一机趣。

Line by line

咬定青山不放松，

It bites fast into the green mountain and will not let go,

竹子紧紧咬定青山绝不放松

It grips the green mountain tight and will not let go,

起句以一个咬字定全篇之神。竹根本无口，而说它咬住青山，是把植物写成一个用尽气力的生命：咬者，齿牙相钳，须用力而后能持，其中含着紧张、含着较量、含着不肯松开的意志。定字继之，谓咬住之后便不移易，一咬一定，动作即成状态。不放松三字是口语，重复申明前意而语气更狠，仿佛有人在旁劝其放手而它偏不。全句只写竹与山的关系，不及竹之形色，可见作者所重不在观赏而在品格。以一俗字而得千古之名，正因它写出了寻常人都能体会的那种咬紧牙关之感。

The opening fixes the spirit of the whole in the single word bite. The bamboo has no mouth, and yet it is said to bite the green mountain; the plant is written as a life straining with all its might: to bite is to grip with the teeth, to hold only by force, within it tension, a contest, and the will not to loosen. The word fixed follows, saying that once bitten it does not shift; the biting and the fixing, action becoming state. Will not let go is plain speech, repeating the former meaning with a harder tone, as if some bystander urged it to let go, and it refused. The whole line writes only the relation of bamboo and mountain, not the bamboo's form or color, showing that what the author values is not the look but the character. One common word and an immortal name: precisely because it writes the feeling every ordinary man knows of clenching the teeth and holding on.

立根原在破岩中。

its roots are set, after all, in the cracked rock.

原本就把根须扎在破碎的岩石缝隙之中。

having rooted itself, in fact, in the cracked rock.

次句回过头来交代根由，是全诗最见分量而最易被忽略的一句。原字带追溯语气，谓这并非临时的坚持，而是生来的处境与选择：它的根从一开始就不在沃土，而在破裂的石缝之间。破岩二字极狠，石本坚不可入，而又已破裂，故既贫瘠又危险；根须在这样的地方生长，每一寸都是挣得的。有此一句，首句的咬定才不显蛮劲，而成为一种不得不然又心甘情愿的姿态；后二句的不惧风磨也才有了依据——凡根扎得深者，方能任风摇动。写坚强而先写其根，是此诗高于一般励志之语的地方。

The second line looks back and gives the reason, the most weighty and most overlooked line of the poem. The word after all carries a retrospective tone, saying this is no makeshift resolve, but the lot and choice from birth: its roots, from the start, are not in the rich soil, but in the fissures of the shattered stone. The two words cracked rock are fierce: stone is properly hard to enter, and already fractured, so that it is at once barren and dangerous; the roots growing in such a place, each inch is wrested. With this line, the biting of the opening no longer seems mere brute force, but a posture at once inevitable and willing; and the fearless wind below also finds its ground — only the deeply rooted can bear the wind's shaking. Writing strength by first writing its root, this is where the poem rises above the ordinary words of encouragement.

千磨万击还坚劲，

A thousand grindings, ten thousand blows — still tough and upright,

纵使遭受千般磨砺万般击打，依旧坚韧挺拔

Through a thousand grindings and ten thousand blows, it stays tough and firm,

第三句转写外来的对待。千、万皆虚数，言其多而不可计；磨为反复的消耗，击为骤然的打击，一缓一急，两种伤害的方式都写到了，可见所历之全。而全句的重心在还字：还者，依旧、仍然，是历经之后的结果，非未经之前的自夸。有此一字，坚劲二字便有了时间的厚度——不是天生不坏，而是坏不了。劲字读去声，义兼强韧与挺直，与柔弱、弯曲相对，正是竹的物性所在：竹能大幅摇曲而不折，风过则复直，这是柔与刚的统一，也是此诗所推崇的人格样式。

The third line turns to the treatment from without. Thousand and ten thousand are both indefinite numbers, pressing the multitude beyond count; grinding is the repeated wearing, striking the sudden blow, one slow, one sudden, both ways of harm written, showing the fullness of what it has passed. Yet the weight of the whole line lies in the word still: still means as before, nevertheless, the result after the ordeal, not the self-praise before it. With this one word, the tough and upright carries the thickness of time — not born unbreakable, but unbreakable. The word tough, read in the falling tone, means at once resilient and upright, set against softness and bending, precisely the nature of the bamboo: the bamboo can bend far and not break, the wind passing and it stands straight again, the unity of soft and hard, and the human pattern the poem admires.

任尔东西南北风。

let the wind come from east, west, north or south.

任凭你刮那来自东西南北的狂风。

let the wind blow from east, west, north, or south.

结句以极大的气度收束。东西南北四方并举，是把风的来路全数堵满，写出无处可避、无隙可逃的围攻之势；而这样的重压之下，作者只用一个任字作答。任者，听凭、不加抗拒，其中没有咬牙，没有怒气，只是不以为意——比硬抗更高一层。尔字为第二人称，直呼其风，语气中含着一点轻慢与调侃，遂使全诗在森严之中透出板桥式的狂放。首句以咬字之紧起，结句以任字之松收，一紧一松而精神益显：正因根咬得极紧，才可以对风放得极开。二十八字至此收住，斩然而有余音。

The closing ends in the greatest breadth. East, west, north, south are set out together, blocking all the quarters from which the wind may come, writing the siege from which there is no refuge and no crevice to flee; yet beneath such weight the author answers with the single word let. Let means to allow, not to resist, within it no clenched teeth, no anger, only unconcern — one layer higher than hard resistance. The word you addresses the wind in the second person, the tone carrying a touch of scorn and banter, so that within the sternness the Banqiao wildness shows. The opening rises on the tightness of biting, the closing settles on the looseness of letting; tight and loose, and the spirit the clearer: precisely because the roots are bitten the tighter, the more it can open wide to the wind. The twenty-eight characters end here, decisively, with an aftertone.

Study

Word focus

咬 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 咬是全诗最见胆气的一字，也是历来评者必举之字。竹本无口，用咬字状其根之钳石，是纯然的拟人，且所拟者不是文雅的姿态，而是用尽齿力的粗野动作。此字之妙有三：一在力度，咬须以齿相扣、以力相持，比抱、盘、附诸字都紧；二在意志，凡咬者必有不肯放开之心，故一字之中已含品格；三在俗，咬为日常口语，入诗本嫌粗率，然置于此处却生猛可感，与板桥书画中那种瘦硬奇崛的笔意正相一致。若易作抱定、盘定，则只见形态而失其精神。以最俗之字得最高之境，是板桥诗最大的本领。

立根 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 立根二字看似平实，实为全诗的地基。立为主动之辞，谓非风吹土积而偶然生此，乃是自家把根立在了这里，其中含有选择的意味；根则是一切枝叶的所本，写根便是写本质。板桥不写竹的枝叶花实，独写其根，正说明他所咏的不是竹的外观而是竹的所以然。且此二字与下文破岩相配，愈见其难：立根于沃土不足称，立根于破岩方是本事。诗中不着一个我字，而志士立身之义已由立根二字暗透——凡人之能任四面之风者，必先有其立根之处，此为全诗最深一层的道理。

任 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 任字是结句的关键，也是全诗气度所系。任者听凭、不加计较，与抗、拒、斗诸字相反：面对四面之风，它不迎击，只是不动。这一态度比硬抗更难，也更高——硬抗仍以对手为意，不动则已不将对手放在心上。板桥写困厄，从不作悲愤之语，此字最能见其性情：罢官卖画而自适，狂而不怨，正是任的功夫。与首句的咬字对读，一紧一松，构成全诗的张力：根上不肯让一分，风前却不争一句。此外任字后接尔字直呼其风，语带轻慢，遂使森严的气象里透出几分调侃，这种亦庄亦谐的笔调，也是扬州八怪一路的本色。

还 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 还字为副词，义即依旧、仍然，是第三句的枢机所在。若无此字，千磨万击坚劲便成天生不坏的夸语；有此一字，则坚劲成为历经磨击之后的结果，其间隐含着漫长的受伤与恢复的过程。诗之可信不在其言之壮，而在其承认了磨与击的真实存在；还字就是承认之后的坚持，故读来沉着而不虚。此字又与次句的原字前后照应：原写其本来如此，还写其至今不改，一始一终，把竹的一生贯串起来。二十八字之中，虚字用得如此吃重，可见板桥诗虽以率直见称，于字句间的分寸实有讲究。

竹石