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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

秋兴八首·其三

Autumn Meditations, No. 3

杜甫

Du Fu

咏怀Personal Reflection 秋景Autumn Scenery

千家山郭静朝晖，日日江楼坐翠微。
信宿渔人还泛泛，清秋燕子故飞飞。
匡衡抗疏功名薄，刘向传经心事违。
同学少年多不贱，五陵衣马自轻肥。

A thousand households in the mountain town lie still in the morning light;
Day after day I sit in the river tower, amid green hills.
Fishermen who have slept two nights still drift on and on;
In clear autumn the swallows, as ever, fly and fly.
Kuang Heng opposed in memorials — my merit is thin;
Liu Xiang transmitted the classics — my heart's purpose is crossed.
My schoolfellows of youth are mostly far from humble;
At the Five Mounds, their robes are light and their horses fat.

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Meaning

Sojourning at Kuizhou, Du Fu watches the mountain town lie quiet in morning light and sits day after day in a tower above the river. Fishermen drift on, swallows keep flying, and everything in nature continues while he remains fixed. He then measures himself against two Han figures: Kuang Heng, whose blunt memorials won him a chancellor's seat, and Liu Xiang, who transmitted the classics without ever being properly used. Both comparisons fail in his own case. The poem closes on his former classmates, now grandees at the capital with light robes and fat horses, and the contrast completes a portrait of talent unrecognised and ambition thwarted.

千家山郭静朝晖，日日江楼坐翠微。信宿渔人还泛泛，清秋燕子故飞飞。匡衡抗疏功名薄，刘向传经心事违。同学少年多不贱，五陵衣马自轻肥。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] A hillside town of a thousand houses rests in the calm of dawn, and the poet sits again and again in the tower among green slopes. The fishermen go on drifting, the swallows go on flying; only he stays. [Structure] An eight-line regulated poem in two halves. The first four lines are scene: stillness, repetition, then two images of ceaseless motion that throw his own stasis into relief. The last four lines are self-assessment by way of two historical parallels and a closing contrast with successful contemporaries. [Imagery] The repeated words for drifting and flying are the poem's hinge: nature's busy purposelessness is set against a man who can do nothing. [Feeling] Resentment is disciplined into allusion. Rather than complain, the poet cites precedents and lets the reader draw the conclusion: his remonstrance failed, his vocation is unfulfilled, and his peers have prospered. The tone is the reserved bitterness characteristic of his late regulated verse.

【白话串讲】杜甫写《秋兴八首·其三》：“千家山郭静朝晖，日日江楼坐翠微”——“信宿渔人还泛泛，清秋燕子故飞飞”——“匡衡抗疏功名薄，刘向传经心事违”——“同学少年多不贱，五陵衣马自轻肥”——他写秋日的漂泊与怀才不遇。【意象与手法】此诗写客居夔州的感怀，以景写情，以典故写身世，是杜甫的名篇。前四句写江楼的秋景：「千家山郭静朝晖」写千家山郭静朝晖，「日日江楼坐翠微」写日日江楼坐翠微，「信宿渔人还泛泛」写信宿渔人还泛泛，「清秋燕子故飞飞」写清秋燕子故飞飞；后四句写身世的感慨：「匡衡抗疏功名薄」写匡衡抗疏功名薄，「刘向传经心事违」写刘向传经心事违，「同学少年多不贱」写同学少年多不贱，「五陵衣马自轻肥」写五陵衣马自轻肥。全诗以景写情、以典故写身世，写尽客居的孤寂与身世的感慨，是杜甫的代表作。【情感与主旨】此诗写客居夔州的感怀，以景写情，以典故写身世，是杜甫的名篇。此诗是杜甫《秋兴八首》组诗之三，作于大历元年（766）秋，杜甫流寓夔州（今重庆奉节）时。此诗写感怀：千家山郭静朝晖，日日江楼坐翠微——写山城的朝晖、日日独坐江楼；信宿渔人还泛泛，清秋燕子故飞飞——写连宿的渔人还自泛舟，清秋的燕子故自飞飞；匡衡抗疏功名薄，刘向传经心事违——用匡衡、刘向之典：匡衡上疏直谏而位至宰相，我（杜甫）也抗疏（上疏）却功名微薄；刘向传经而不遇，我传经的心事也违背；同学少年多不贱，五陵衣马自轻肥——写同学少年多已显贵，五陵（长安豪贵所居）的衣马自轻肥。全诗以秋景写孤寂，以典故写身世，写尽客居夔州的孤寂与功名无成、心事相违的感慨，是理解杜甫《秋兴八首》与晚年心绪的重要篇章。【名句点睛】常考「匡衡抗疏功名薄，刘向传经心事违」用典写身世的感慨；「同学少年多不贱，五陵衣马自轻肥」写同学显贵而自伤；「信宿渔人还泛泛，清秋燕子故飞飞」写秋景的孤寂；以及全诗以景写情、以典故写身世的手法。

Background

Du Fu (712-770), courtesy name Zimei, was born in Gong county in Henan and is honoured as the Poet Sage; with Li Bai he forms the pairing Li and Du. This is the third of the eight Autumn Meditations, written in autumn of 766 while he was sheltering at Kuizhou, present-day Fengjie in Chongqing. Although the An Lushan rebellion had been suppressed, military governors held the provinces and affairs of state continued to deteriorate; Du Fu, drifting in the southwest, felt both personal and national failure acutely. The allusions are precise: he had once submitted a blunt memorial in defence of the minister Fang Guan and had been punished for it, whereas Kuang Heng of the Han rose to chancellor through just such frankness. Liu Xiang, who collated and transmitted the classics without advancement, matches Du Fu's own unfulfilled vocation of service through learning.

此诗写客居夔州的感怀，以景写情，以典故写身世，是杜甫的名篇。杜甫（712—770），字子美，巩县（今河南巩义）人，唐代伟大的现实主义诗人，人称「诗圣」，与李白并称「李杜」。此诗是杜甫《秋兴八首》组诗之三，作于大历元年（766）秋，杜甫流寓夔州（今重庆奉节）时。其时安史之乱虽平，但藩镇割据、国事日非，杜甫漂泊西南，对身世与国事有深切的感慨。此诗写感怀：「千家山郭静朝晖，日日江楼坐翠微」写千家山郭沐浴朝晖，日日独坐江楼于翠微（青翠的山色）之中——写客居的孤寂；「信宿渔人还泛泛，清秋燕子故飞飞」写连宿两夜的渔人还自泛舟，清秋的燕子故自飞飞——写秋景的流动与自己的滞留；「匡衡抗疏功名薄，刘向传经心事违」用匡衡、刘向之典——匡衡（西汉人）上疏直谏、得居相位，而我（杜甫）也曾抗疏（上疏救房琯）却功名微薄；刘向（西汉人）校书传经，而我传经的心事（为国传经、致君尧舜的心志）也相违背；「同学少年多不贱，五陵衣马自轻肥」写同学少年多已显贵，五陵（长安豪贵所居之地）的衣马自轻肥——写同学显贵而自伤困顿。全诗以秋景写孤寂，以典故写身世，写尽客居夔州的孤寂与功名无成、心事相违的感慨，是理解杜甫《秋兴八首》与晚年心绪的重要篇章。

Art

The craft works on four levels. First, stillness: the opening couplet fixes a whole town in morning light and fixes the poet in a habitual seat, and the word for 'day after day' makes idleness itself the subject. Second, motion as foil: the fishermen drift and the swallows fly, and because their movement is without purpose it only sharpens the poet's paralysis — everything moves except him. Third, allusion: the middle couplet sets two Han predecessors against himself in strict parallel, each name carrying an achievement that his own life reverses. Fourth, contrast: the closing couplet turns to schoolfellows now richly dressed and well mounted at the capital's fashionable mounds, and the poem ends without comment, the bitterness left to the reader. Antithesis throughout is exact: mountain town against river tower, fisherman against swallow, Kuang Heng against Liu Xiang.

此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以静景写孤寂。起二句「千家山郭静朝晖，日日江楼坐翠微」以静景写孤寂——那「千家山郭静朝晖」写尽山城的静穆，「日日江楼坐翠微」写尽日日的独坐，以静景写尽客居的孤寂。其二，以动景写滞留。「信宿渔人还泛泛，清秋燕子故飞飞」以动景写滞留——那「渔人还泛泛」「燕子故飞飞」写尽渔人的泛舟、燕子的飞飞，以动景反衬自己的滞留——渔人燕子皆动，唯己不动，写尽孤寂。其三，以典故写身世。「匡衡抗疏功名薄，刘向传经心事违」以典故写身世——那匡衡抗疏与自己的抗疏相对照，刘向传经与自己的心事相对照，以典故写尽功名薄、心事违的身世感慨。其四，以对照写感慨。「同学少年多不贱，五陵衣马自轻肥」以对照写感慨——那同学少年多不贱、五陵衣马自轻肥写尽同学的显贵，与自己功名薄、心事违相对照，写尽自伤。四重手法，使此诗以景写情、以典故写身世，写尽客居的孤寂与身世的感慨，是杜甫的代表作。

Allusions

Kuang Heng was a Western Han scholar whose frank memorials won the favour of Emperor Yuan and carried him to the chancellorship; Du Fu had likewise submitted a frank memorial, in defence of Fang Guan, and been ruined for it, hence 'my merit is thin.' Liu Xiang was a Western Han scholar ordered to collate and transmit the classics, who never obtained real power; Du Fu's ambition to serve the state through learning is likewise crossed. The Five Mounds are the five Han imperial tombs near Chang'an around which the great families built their villas, so that 'light robes and fat horses' evokes a life of effortless privilege. The swallows, conventionally, are the birds of the great families' ruined halls, and the fishermen recall the free wanderers of older verse.

此诗的用语深植于客居感怀与用典的传统。「千家山郭静朝晖」令人想到「千家」写众多人家的意象，也令人想到「山郭」写出城郭的意象——「山郭酒旗风」（杜牧），更令人想到「朝晖」写朝光的意象；「日日江楼坐翠微」令人想到「江楼」写江边楼阁的意象，也令人想到「翠微」写青翠山色的意象——「帝子降兮北渚，目眇眇兮愁予」的翠微，更令人想到「坐翠微」写独坐山色的孤寂；「信宿渔人还泛泛」令人想到「信宿」写连宿的意象，也令人想到「渔人」写渔夫的意象——「渔父莞尔而笑」，更令人想到「泛泛」写泛舟的意象；「清秋燕子故飞飞」令人想到「清秋」写秋色的意象——「自古逢秋悲寂寥」，也令人想到「燕子」写秋燕的意象——「朱雀桥边野草花」，更令人想到「故飞飞」写故自飞飞的意象；「匡衡抗疏功名薄」用匡衡之典——匡衡西汉人，因上疏直言得汉元帝赏识，官至丞相，令人想到「匡衡抗疏」写直谏的典故，也令人想到「抗疏」写上疏直谏——杜甫曾上疏救房琯，故以此自比；「刘向传经心事违」用刘向之典——刘向西汉人，受诏校书传经，终身不遇，令人想到「刘向传经」写传经的典故，也令人想到「传经」写传承经典——杜甫自比刘向，写传经心事相违；「同学少年多不贱」令人想到「同学」写同窗的意象——「恰同学少年」（毛泽东《沁园春·长沙》），也令人想到「少年」写同年的意象，更令人想到「多不贱」写多已显贵；「五陵衣马自轻肥」令人想到「五陵」写长安豪贵之地的意象——五陵是汉代五座帝陵，豪贵聚居，也令人想到「衣马自轻肥」写衣轻马肥的显贵——「乘肥衣轻」，更令人想到「轻肥」写豪贵生活的意象。全诗化用匡衡、刘向、五陵的传统典故与意象，以景写情、以典故写身世，正是杜甫「沉郁顿挫」而善用典、承客居感怀传统写身世的本领。

Commentary

The poem is generally ranked among the finest of the eight Autumn Meditations and as a representative of Tang verse on sojourning and unrecognised talent. Qing critics described it as grave and measured; modern readers single out the allusive couplet on Kuang Heng and Liu Xiang as the memorable lines. Its distinction is the way personal grievance is converted into historical judgement: by citing two Han predecessors, the poet generalises his own disappointment and makes it a statement about how states treat honesty and learning. Read beside 'Climbing the Heights,' which puts the same loneliness into vast natural imagery, it shows Du Fu working the same material through history rather than landscape. It is central to any understanding of his late years.

此诗历来被推为杜甫《秋兴八首》的名篇，也是唐人客居感怀诗的代表。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人评此诗「以景写情、以典故写身世，沉郁顿挫」；近人更指出「匡衡抗疏功名薄，刘向传经心事违」用典写身世，是此诗的名句。在诗歌史上，此诗的特殊价值在于：它以八句的律诗写尽客居夔州的孤寂与身世的感慨——那静穆的千家山郭，那日日的江楼独坐，那泛泛的渔人，那飞飞的燕子，那抗疏而功名薄的匡衡，那传经而心事违的刘向，那多不贱的同学少年，那自轻肥的五陵衣马，都写尽了杜甫客居的孤寂与身世感慨；那「同学少年多不贱，五陵衣马自轻肥」更写尽同学显贵而自伤困顿。此诗与杜甫的《登高》（「万里悲秋常作客，百年多病独登台」）同为客居秋兴名篇，一写秋景，一写身世；又与《秋兴八首》组诗一脉相承，可见杜甫晚年客居感怀诗的深沉。对于今日读者，此诗是理解杜甫《秋兴八首》与晚年心绪的窗口，也是中国诗写客居感怀的经典——那故飞飞的清秋燕子，穿越千年，仍在诉说着功名薄、心事违的感慨。

Prosody

Form Seven-character regulated poem, eight lines诗·七言律诗

Rhyme A single level-tone rhyme carried through lines one, two, four, six and eight.七言律诗，押「晖」「微」「飞」「违」「肥」韵（上平五微），一韵到底，对仗工整

Tone pattern A seven-character regulated poem in a level rhyme with strict antithesis; the cadence is grave and measured, matching the poem's restrained bitterness.此诗为七言律诗，八句，押平声韵，一韵到底，对仗工整，音节沉郁，正合感慨的沉郁。

Reading note Antithesis is exact throughout: mountain town against river tower, fishermen against swallows, Kuang Heng against Liu Xiang, schoolfellows against the Mounds. The first half is scene, the second self-assessment. Read the opening calmly, the allusive couplet with weight, and the closing slowly, since the poem ends on an unspoken comparison rather than an explicit judgment.此诗为七言律诗，八句——「千家山郭静朝晖，日日江楼坐翠微。信宿渔人还泛泛，清秋燕子故飞飞。匡衡抗疏功名薄，刘向传经心事违。同学少年多不贱，五陵衣马自轻肥」，押「微」韵（晖、微、飞、违、肥），一韵到底，对仗工整（山郭对江楼、渔人对燕子、匡衡对刘向、同学对五陵）。全诗以景写情、以典故写身世：前四句写秋景（千家山郭静朝晖，日日江楼坐翠微；信宿渔人还泛泛，清秋燕子故飞飞），后四句写身世（匡衡抗疏功名薄，刘向传经心事违；同学少年多不贱，五陵衣马自轻肥）。诵读此诗，宜以沉静的语调读「千家山郭静朝晖」的秋景，以感慨的语调读「匡衡抗疏功名薄」的身世，结句「五陵衣马自轻肥」要读得自伤而有余韵，方能传达出杜甫的沉郁顿挫。杜甫律诗以「沉郁顿挫」著称，此诗正是其客居感怀律诗的典范。

Line by line

匡衡抗疏功名薄，刘向传经心事违

Kuang Heng opposed in memorials — my merit is thin; Liu Xiang transmitted the classics — my heart's purpose is crossed.

匡衡抗疏直谏而功名显赫，我却功名微薄；刘向传经而心事相违。

Kuang Heng remonstrated boldly and rose high — I am but poorly known; Liu Xiang transmitted the classics — my own heart's wish has gone astray.

此联是全诗写身世的核心，以匡衡、刘向的典故写功名薄、心事违，是千古名句。「匡衡抗疏功名薄」写匡衡抗疏直谏而功名显赫，我却功名微薄——那「匡衡抗疏」用匡衡上疏直谏、官至丞相之典，「功名薄」写自己功名微薄，写尽抗疏而功名薄的身世；「刘向传经心事违」写刘向传经而心事相违——那「刘向传经」用刘向校书传经之典，「心事违」写自己传经的心事相违，写尽传经而心事违的感慨。这句的深意在于：它以「匡衡抗疏功名薄」的对照与「刘向传经心事违」的对照，写尽杜甫身世的感慨——匡衡抗疏直谏，得居相位，而我（杜甫）也曾抗疏（上疏救房琯），却功名微薄，那「功名薄」写尽自己抗疏而不得志的感慨——同是抗疏，匡衡显赫，我独微薄；刘向传经，而我传经的心事（致君尧舜的心志）也相违背，那「心事违」写尽自己传经而心事相违的感慨——本是传经济世之志，却与世相违；那「功名薄」写尽功名的微薄，那「心事违」写尽心事的相违，一写功名，一写心事，写尽杜甫抗疏而功名薄、传经而心事违的身世感慨——这正是「同学少年多不贱，五陵衣马自轻肥」所伤的对象。若换作直说「我功名不成、志向难遂」，则失其用典；唯以「匡衡抗疏功名薄，刘向传经心事违」的典故写尽功名薄、心事违的身世，也让此联成为全诗写身世的核心与千古名句。

The couplet is the core of the poem's own lot, writing the fame and the heart's wish through the allusions to Kuang Heng and Liu Xiang, an immortal line. Kuang Heng remonstrated boldly and rose high — I am but poorly known: Kuang Heng's bold memorial rose him to chancellor, while Du Fu, who also remonstrated boldly (in pleading for Fang Guan), is but poorly known. Liu Xiang transmitted the classics — my own heart's wish has gone astray: Liu Xiang collated and transmitted the classics, yet the poet's own heart's wish (to guide the ruler to sagehood) has gone astray. The deep meaning: one remonstrance, Kuang Heng glorious and Du Fu obscure; the transmission of the classics, Liu Xiang faithful and Du Fu's heart thwarted. One writes the thin fame, one the thwarted heart, exhausting Du Fu's lot — precisely what the next couplet's schoolmates grieves over. Were it said plainly my fame has not come and my ambition unfulfilled, the allusive contrast would be lost; only through the two allusions is the lot exhausted, making the couplet the core of the poem.

同学少年多不贱，五陵衣马自轻肥

My schoolfellows of youth are mostly far from humble; at the Five Mounds, their robes are light and their horses fat.

同学少年多已显贵，五陵的衣马自轻肥。

My schoolmates of young years are mostly far from humble; at the Wuling mansions, in light furs and fat horses, they take their ease.

此联是全诗的收束，以同学显贵与自身困顿的对照写自伤，是千古名句。「同学少年多不贱」写同学少年多已显贵——那「同学少年」写同窗同年，「多不贱」写多已显贵，写尽同学显贵的现状；「五陵衣马自轻肥」写五陵的衣马自轻肥——那「五陵」写长安豪贵所居之地，「衣马自轻肥」写衣轻马肥的显贵，写尽豪贵的轻肥。这句的深意在于：它以「同学少年多不贱」的显贵与「五陵衣马自轻肥」的轻肥，写尽同学显贵而自伤困顿的感慨——同学少年多已显贵，那「多不贱」写尽同学多已显贵——当年的同学少年，多已高官厚禄，正是「多不贱」；五陵衣马自轻肥，那「五陵衣马自轻肥」写尽豪贵的轻肥——五陵是长安豪贵聚居之地，衣轻马肥，正是显贵生活的写照；那「多不贱」写尽同学的显贵，那「自轻肥」写尽豪贵的轻肥，一写显贵，一写轻肥，写尽同学显贵而自己功名薄、心事违的自伤——同学少年皆显贵，五陵衣马自轻肥，而自己独坐江楼、功名微薄，正是「同学少年多不贱」对「日日江楼坐翠微」的反衬；此联上承「匡衡抗疏功名薄，刘向传经心事违」的身世感慨，以同学显贵的对照收束，写尽自伤，也让此联成为全诗收束的千古名句。若换作直说「同学们都发达了而我穷困」，则失其含蓄；唯以「同学少年多不贱，五陵衣马自轻肥」的对照写尽同学显贵而自伤，也让此联成为全诗的收束。

The couplet is the close of the poem, writing the self-sorrow through the contrast of the schoolmates' eminence and his own plight, an immortal line. My schoolmates of young years are mostly far from humble is precisely the picture of the classmates' high offices; at the Wuling mansions, in light furs and fat horses, they take their ease precisely the picture of the prosperous great. The deep meaning: the schoolmates all eminent, the poet alone sitting at the river tower, poorly known, precisely the reverse contrast of the prosperous against the humble. The couplet follows the Kuang Heng and Liu Xiang lines, closing through the contrast of the schoolmates' eminence. Were it said plainly my classmates have all succeeded while I am poor, the restraint would be lost; only through the contrast is the self-sorrow exhausted, making the couplet the immortal close of the poem.

Study

Word focus

违 In 'my heart's purpose is crossed,' the word means thwarted, going against what was intended. It applies to vocation rather than to circumstance: the poet's ambition to serve through learning has run counter to events, which makes the failure moral as well as practical. 「刘向传经心事违」之「违」字是写身世的关键字，一个「违」字写尽心事相违的感慨。违者，违背、相违也。杜甫以「心事违」写刘向传经，这个「违」字至少有双重意味：其一，写心事之违——那「刘向传经心事违」写刘向传经而心事相违，那「违」字写尽自己传经心事与世相违的感慨——本是致君尧舜之心，却与世相违；其二，写身世之慨——那「违」字更是写身世——心事相违，正是身世坎坷的写照，那「违」字写尽杜甫身世的感慨。以「违」字写身世，正是杜甫写感慨的枢纽——若换作「背」「乖」等字，则或失其与「刘向传经」的配合，或失其写心事相违的凝练；唯「违」字，以一字写尽传经心事与世相违的感慨，与「匡衡抗疏功名薄」的功名相合，写尽功名薄、心事违的身世，也让「刘向传经心事违」成为全诗写身世的名句。

不贱 In 'mostly far from humble,' the phrase uses a negative to mean high-placed and prosperous. It is deliberately indirect: rather than say his schoolfellows are grandees, the poet says they are not lowly, and the understatement carries the sting of comparison. 「同学少年多不贱」之「不贱」是写对照的关键词，一个「不贱」写尽同学显贵的现状。不贱者，不卑贱、显贵也。杜甫以「多不贱」写同学少年，这个「不贱」至少有双重意味：其一，写显贵之实——那「同学少年多不贱」写同学少年多已显贵，那「不贱」写尽同学显贵的现状——多不贱，正是多已显贵；其二，写自伤之慨——那「不贱」更是写自伤——同学多不贱，而自己功名薄，那「不贱」写尽同学显贵而自伤困顿的感慨。以「不贱」写对照，正是杜甫收束全诗的枢纽——若换作「显贵」「得意」等词，则或失其与「五陵衣马自轻肥」的含蓄，或失其写对照的反衬；唯「不贱」二字，以不卑贱写尽同学显贵的现状，与「日日江楼坐翠微」的独坐相对照，写尽同学显贵而自伤，也让「同学少年多不贱」成为全诗收束的名句。