宋 Song · 诗 Poem
观雨
Watching the Rain
山客龙钟不解耕，开轩危坐看阴晴。
前江后岭通云气，万壑千林送雨声。
海压竹枝低复举，风吹山角晦还明。
不嫌屋漏无乾处，正要群龙洗甲兵。
The river before, the ridge behind, share one breath of cloud; a thousand groves through ten thousand gullies send the sound of rain.
Like a sea the downpour presses the bamboo low, then it rises again; the wind blows the hill's corner dark, then bright once more.
He does not mind the leaking roof with nowhere dry, but welcomes the dragons washing the armor of his troops.
Meaning
Watching a summer storm from his mountain refuge, the aged, displaced poet turns personal discomfort into a prayer that the rain is heaven cleansing the soldiers' armor — a hope for victory and peace.
老态龙钟的山中客并不懂农事耕作，却大开窗户端身正坐，凝望天色的阴晴变化。 屋前的大江与屋后的山岭云气相通，千林万壑送来一片隆隆雨声。 暴雨如海压下，竹枝被打伏又重新挺举；狂风吹过山角，天色忽暗忽明。 我不嫌屋子漏雨没有一处干爽，正盼着群龙行雨为将士洗净甲兵。
Appreciation
The whole poem names rain only once, in the fourth line, and otherwise writes it obliquely — cloud-breath, rain-sound, bamboo, hill-corner, all things within the rain. Shifting and dark-bright are at once weather and the times, one phrase two meanings, opening the vista at once. The neck couplet's press, rise, dark, bright form two tensions, showing all things struggling and unyielding in wind and rain. The closing line inverts Du Fu's 'no dry spot by the leaking bed,' turning personal distress in a leap to care for the nation, the brush suddenly lifting.
【白话串讲】 陈与义在战乱中看雨：“山客龙钟不解耕，开轩危坐看阴晴”。“海压竹枝低复举，风吹山角晦还明”——竹枝被雨压弯又挺起。“不嫌屋漏无乾处，正要群龙洗甲兵”——他不嫌屋漏，正希望这场雨能洗净兵器、洗出太平。 【意象与手法】 全篇只在第四句出现一个雨字，其余全用侧写：云气、雨声、竹枝、山角，皆是雨中之物。阴晴、晦明既是天象，又双关时局，一语两意，境界顿开。颈联的压、举、晦、明四字构成两组张力，写出风雨中万物的挣扎与不屈。尾联翻用杜甫床头屋漏无干处之句，反其意而行，由个人困顿一跃而为家国关怀，笔势陡然拔起。 【情感与主旨】 此诗作于建炎四年（1130）夏，诗人流寓湖南邵阳山中。国破家亡、颠沛流离，是全诗的底色；但他不作哀鸣，而是从竹枝低复举、山角晦还明中看出危局中的一线生机，最终以洗甲兵三字托出对抗金取胜、天下太平的殷切期待。写雨而实写时局，忧己而终归忧国。 【名句点睛】 不嫌屋漏无乾处，正要群龙洗甲兵。上句自嘲处境之窘，下句陡转，化用武王伐纣天降大雨洗兵的传说，把一场夏雨读成了洗兵的吉兆。个人的漏屋之苦被家国的胜负所吞没，胸襟之阔，令人动容。
Background
Chen Yiyi, style name Qufei, art name Jianzhai, of Luoyang, was an outstanding poet of the transition between Northern and Southern Song, one of the three masters of the Jiangxi school. This poem was written in summer of 1130, when the capital Bianjing had fallen and the poet was in refuge in the Zhenmou mountains of Shaoyang, Hunan; as the Changsha defender Xiang Ziyin's resistance against the Jin turned hopeful, the poet watched the rain and thought of the times, and wrote this.
陈与义（一〇九〇至一一三八），字去非，号简斋，洛阳人，南北宋之交最杰出的诗人之一，与黄庭坚、陈师道并称江西诗派三宗。他早年以《墨梅》诗见赏于宋徽宗，名动京师；靖康之乱后仓皇南奔，辗转襄汉、湖湘、岭表，饱尝流离之苦，诗风亦由清婉转为沉郁苍凉，深得杜甫之骨。此诗作于宋高宗建炎四年（一一三〇）夏，其时汴京早陷，二帝北狩，中原板荡，诗人流寓湖南邵阳贞牟山中，赁居僧舍，困顿无聊。是年长沙守帅向子諲组织抗金，南方抗敌形势略有转机。诗人身处山中，大雨滂沱，由观雨之景联想到漫天烽火与前线将士，遂成此篇，将个人困厄与家国命运融为一体，是南渡诗人感时念乱的代表作，亦可见其晚年诗格由江西入老杜之轨迹，其诗风之转关，正可与《伤春》《雨中再赋》诸篇合观，皆于南渡流离中逼近老杜之沉郁；此篇尤可见其以景写时、以雨喻政之独到手眼，足为简斋七律之冠冕。。
Art
The poem is governed by the word watch: from inside to outside, near to far, the first six lines write the rain's real scene, the closing couplet suddenly turns to allusion and feeling, first restrained then uplifted. Shifting and dark-bright pun on weather and times — the most crafted moment of the poem.
全诗以观字为眼，结构上层层推开，由室内之我写到室外之雨，再由眼前实景跃入天下时局，章法井然而气脉奔涌。前六句纯写雨景，却通篇不著一雨字，皆用侧笔烘托：云气、雨声、竹枝、山角，无一物不是雨中之物，所谓不写雨而雨意满纸，是古典诗学中以宾代主、虚实相生之法的妙用。中间两联尤见匠心，颔联前江后岭通云气，万壑千林送雨声，以空间之纵横极写雨势之浩荡；颈联海压竹枝低复举，风吹山角晦还明，以两组动宾相对，压与举、晦与明构成两重张力，既状风雨之狂暴，又暗喻危局中事物之挣扎与转机。尾联陡然转捩，由写景跳到用典抒怀，不嫌屋漏无乾处翻用杜甫句意而反其哀，正要群龙洗甲兵化武王伐纣之传说，笔势由抑而扬，由个人漏屋之苦一跃而为洗甲息兵之宏愿，境界顿开，诚简斋学杜而能自出机杼处，通篇以不写之写为高，雨字虽仅见于题，而云气雨声竹枝山角无往而非雨，此种侧面烘托之法最为后世称赏，亦见宋人咏物趋精之一斑。。
Allusions
Dragons washing the armor: legend has it that when King Wu of Zhou campaigned against Yin, heaven sent a great rain, and Jiang Taigong said this was heaven washing our armor to aid the conquest; later washing the armor meant imminent victory and coming peace. Du Fu's Washing the War-Horses has 'would that strong men draw the heavenly river to cleanse the armor, never to be used again' — the poem takes exactly this sense. Leaking roof, nowhere dry adapts Du Fu's My Thatched Roof Broken by Autumn Winds: 'by the bed the roof leaks, nowhere dry' — but inverts its meaning. Mountain guest: a hermit, from Ge Hong's Baopuzi.
群龙洗甲兵：语本周武王伐殷的传说。相传武王出兵之日天降大雨，军中颇有怨言，姜太公（吕尚）曰此乃上天为我洗涤兵甲，以示助周伐纣，后遂以洗兵、洗甲指战事将捷、天下将平。杜甫《洗兵马》有安得壮士挽天河、净洗甲兵长不用之句，此处正取其意而寄恢复之望。屋漏无乾处：化用杜甫《茅屋为秋风所破歌》床头屋漏无干处，原句写个人贫寒，陈与义反其意而用之，由自伤转为忧国，足见点化之妙。山客：指隐士，语本葛洪《抱朴子·正郭》称郭泰为山客，此处诗人以山中老翁自况，暗含去国离乡、寄身草野的身世之感。龙：在中国文化中原为司雨之神，群龙行雨既是眼前暴雨如注之实景，又是洗兵吉兆之象征，一实一虚，双关叠用，使一场夏雨承载了重整山河的宏大寓意，综上可知，此诗用典虽止数处，而皆关君臣恢复之大义，非徒逞博雅；洗甲与屋漏一正一反，互为映发，使一场夏雨兼具天象与政代双重指涉。。
Commentary
The Song Poetry Appreciation Dictionary holds this poem broad in vista and rich in meaning; though it sings a rain-scene it lodges the times, capturing Du Fu's grave spirit without the awkward obscurity of Huang Tingjian.
此诗历来为选家所重，《宋诗鉴赏辞典》以为全篇气象开阔、意蕴深厚，虽咏雨景而句句寄寓时局，得杜甫沉郁顿挫之神而不染黄庭坚生新瘦硬之癖，是南渡诗风由江西入老杜的关键之作。近人论陈与义，多以《伤春》《观雨》诸篇为代表，认为其晚年七律已脱江西窠臼，于平淡中见悲壮。钱钟书《宋诗选注》亦指出简斋南渡后诗格一变，由清丽转为沉郁，此诗正其变后之证。尾联洗甲兵之语，既是对前线抗金将士的声援，也是诗人自己无力请缨、唯借诗篇寄慨的写照，故读来慷慨中有酸楚，旷达中含悲凉，诚为时代苦难熔铸而成的杰作，与陆游、文天祥诸作同列爱国诗篇之林，综而论之，观雨以闲淡之起、沉郁之结，写尽南渡士人于风雨飘摇中犹存恢复之望的复杂心曲，其气象开阔、寄托遥深，足与陆游文天祥一脉相承，其以景起以志结，情景相生，足为宋人感时寓慨之矩矱。。
Prosody
Line by line
山客龙钟不解耕，开轩危坐看阴晴。
A mountain guest, old and stooped, knows not the plough; he opens the window and sits upright to watch the shifting sky.
老态龙钟的山中客并不懂农事耕作，却大开窗户端身正坐，凝望天色的阴晴变化。
The mountain guest, old and bent, knows nothing of plowing; he opens the window and sits bolt upright, watching the weather change.
首联破题，以山客自况，写观雨之人与其姿态。山客点明身份，龙钟状老态，不解耕则暗示本非农夫，不必因雨而忧稼穑，故能从容危坐观雨，暗含去国离乡、寄身草野的身世之感。开轩危坐四字极写静观之态：轩窗洞开，正身端坐，于风雨将至中保持一种镇定。看阴晴三字是全诗之眼，表面写天色阴晴，实则以阴晴双关时局之明暗、国运之否泰。一老翁临窗而坐、静观天变，其从容之中藏着对山河残破的隐痛，亦见诗人于乱离中不肯随波逐流的风骨。此起笔看似闲淡，实已为后文洗甲兵的家国之思埋下伏线。
The opening states the theme, figuring the poet himself as the mountain guest and his posture of watching the rain. The mountain guest names the identity; the old and bent describes the age; knows nothing of plowing hints he is no farmer, need not grieve the crops on account of rain, and so can calmly sit watching — carrying the grief of the exile from the capital, dwelling in the wilds. Opens the window and sits bolt upright writes the still-watching posture: the casement wide, the body upright, a calm held while the storm gathers. Watching the weather change is the eye of the whole poem: on the surface the sky's brightness and cloud, in truth a double meaning for the times' darkness and light, the dynasty's weal and woe. An old man at the window, calmly watching the sky's change, his calm hiding the pain over the broken land, and the scholar's refusal to drift in the upheaval. The opening seems leisure, and yet has planted the thread of the following lines' wash-the-armor thought.
前江后岭通云气，万壑千林送雨声。
The river before, the ridge behind, share one breath of cloud; a thousand groves through ten thousand gullies send the sound of rain.
屋前的大江与屋后的山岭云气相通，千林万壑送来一片隆隆雨声。
The river before and the ridge behind exchange their clouds; a thousand ravines and a thousand woods send the rain's sound.
颔联承首联之观，铺开雨来之前的浩荡气象。前江后岭写空间之纵横，一前一后、一江一岭，诗人居所正处于天地交汇之处；通云气三字写云气贯通上下，水汽弥漫，是雨将至的先兆。万壑千林送雨声则以听觉极写雨势之广：千沟万壑、层层林木，把雨声一阵阵送来耳边，仿佛天地万物都在传递这场大雨的消息。送字用得极活，将无声无情的云雨写得有情有信。此联不写雨而写云气与雨声，正是不著雨字而雨意满纸的妙处，气象开阔，已暗含后文风雨洗兵的宏大背景。
The middle couplet takes up the watching, spreading the vast weather before the rain. The river before and the ridge behind exchange their clouds writes the space's breadth — before and behind, a river and a ridge, the poet's dwelling at the meeting of heaven and earth; exchange writes the cloud breath flowing between above and below, the mist gathering, the sign of the coming rain. A thousand ravines and a thousand woods send the rain's sound writes the breadth of the falling rain through the ear: ten thousand gullies, layered woods, sending the rain's sound wave after wave to the ear, as if all things were carrying the news of the great rain. The word send is most alive, making the feelingless cloud and rain feelingful and reliable. The couplet writes not the rain itself but the cloud breath and the rain sound, precisely the magic of the rain's feeling filling the page without the word rain, the vast mood already carrying the grand background of the later wash-the-armor.
海压竹枝低复举，风吹山角晦还明。
Like a sea the downpour presses the bamboo low, then it rises again; the wind blows the hill's corner dark, then bright once more.
暴雨如海压下，竹枝被打伏又重新挺举；狂风吹过山角，天色忽暗忽明。
The rain like a sea presses the bamboo boughs down, and they rise again; the wind sweeps the hilltop, dark and bright by turns.
颈联是写景最用力处，两组对仗写尽风雨中的动荡与不屈。海压竹枝低复举：暴雨如海倾压而下，竹枝被打得低伏，却又一次次重新挺举，低与复举形成张力，竹之坚韧由此可见，亦是诗人自身虽遭困顿而志节不改的写照。风吹山角晦还明：狂风吹过山角，天色忽暗忽明，晦与还明相对，写天光在风雨中的反复。这四个动词构成两组起落，既状自然之狂暴，又暗喻时局之昏明相寻、危中有机。物象之挣扎与重振，正是南渡士人于国难中盼望转机的心理投射，炼字之工，全在动态之中见出坚毅。
The neck couplet is the most labored scenic writing, two balanced pairs writing the turmoil and the unbrokenness in the storm. The rain like a sea presses the bamboo boughs down, and they rise again: the rain pours down like a sea, the bamboo boughs beaten low, and yet rising again and again — the low and the rise form the tension, the bamboo's toughness visible, and the portrait of the poet's unbroken will amid hardship. The wind sweeps the hilltop, dark and bright by turns: the wind over the peak, the sky's darkness and brightness by turns, the dark and the bright set against, writing the light's wavering in the storm. The four verbs form two rhythms of rise and fall, describing the natural fury and hinting the times' alternation of dark and light, danger and opening. The thing's struggle and recovery is the psychological projection of the southern-crossing scholar awaiting a turn in the national crisis, the polishing of the words all in the dynamics showing resolve.
不嫌屋漏无乾处，正要群龙洗甲兵。
He does not mind the leaking roof with nowhere dry, but welcomes the dragons washing the armor of his troops.
我不嫌屋子漏雨没有一处干爽，正盼着群龙行雨为将士洗净甲兵。
I do not mind the leaking room with no dry spot; I wish only for the dragons' rain to wash the armor clean.
尾联由景入怀，笔势陡转，是全诗精神所聚。不嫌屋漏无乾处翻用杜甫床头屋漏无干处之句，却反其哀怨而为之旷达：杜甫由此生出兼济天下之愿，陈与义则由个人漏屋之苦淡然处之，不为己悲。正要群龙洗甲兵忽然振起，将一场夏雨读作成群神龙行雨、为出征将士洗净甲兵的吉兆，化用武王伐纣天降大雨洗兵的传说与杜甫洗兵马诗意。由漏屋之窘一跃而为洗甲息兵之宏愿，个人困顿被家国之胜负所吞没，胸襟之阔令人动容。写雨而实写时局，忧己而终归忧国，沉郁慷慨，足为南渡诗之钜篇。
The closing moves from scene to feeling, the brush turning sharply, the poem's gathered spirit. I do not mind the leaking room with no dry spot reverses Du Fu's the bed's head leaks and no dry spot, and yet turns his sorrow into equanimity: Du Fu from his leaking bed rises to the wish to shelter all under heaven, and Chen Yuyi takes his own leaking-roof hardship lightly, not grieving for himself. I wish only for the dragons' rain to wash the armor clean suddenly rises, reading a summer rain as the dragons' holy wash of the soldiers' armor, drawing on the legend of the rain washing the arms at the Zhou's conquest and Du Fu's poem of washing the troops. From the embarrassment of the leaking room to the grand wish for washed arms and ended war, the personal hardship swallowed by the national cause, the breadth of breast moving. Writing the rain and truly writing the times, grieving the self and ending in grief for the country, somber and generous, a great poem of the southern crossing.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Both are poems of the times written in displacement after the state's fall. Du's verse flows straight from the plants before him to feeling time and parting; Chen's uses wind and rain to pun on the times, more tension within restraint — showing Jianzhai learning from Du yet finding his own voice.
同为国破流离中的忧时之作。杜诗由眼前草木直抒感时恨别，以乐景写哀，沉郁悲壮；陈诗则借风雨双关时局，由观雨之景层层推入洗甲息兵之愿，含蓄之中更见张力。二诗皆写乱离之痛，皆以个人处境映照家国命运；而杜甫身在围城、直写血泪，陈与义身在草野、托物寄慨，一显一隐，机杼有别。然其忧乐关天下之心则一，皆得杜甫沉郁之骨。合观之，可见简斋学杜而能自出面目，于南渡诗风中别开生面，足资并读以见时代苦难下诗人情怀之同异。
茅屋为秋风所破歌 My Thatched Roof Broken by Autumn Winds 杜甫 · 化用出处（屋漏句所本） Source of the adaptationChen's line about the leaking roof exactly adapts Du Fu's 'by the bed the roof leaks, nowhere dry' but inverts its meaning. Du extends from his own cold to all cold scholars under heaven; Chen Yiyi extends from his own leak to washing armor and ending war — the logic of extending from self to others is of one line.
陈诗不嫌屋漏无乾处正化用杜甫《茅屋为秋风所破歌》床头屋漏无干处，而反其意用之。杜甫由己之寒推及天下寒士，发出安得广厦千万间之愿，是推己及人的仁者胸怀；陈与义则由己之漏推及洗甲息兵，将个人困顿纳入恢复中原的宏愿，是推己及国的志士襟抱。二诗皆以漏屋起笔，皆于困苦中见人格之高；而杜诗悲悯广博，陈诗慷慨冷峻，路数一脉相承而境界各异。点化前贤而不落痕迹，正见简斋熔铸唐音的深厚功力，亦可见宋诗以故为新的一途。