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宋 Song · 诗 Poem

梅花绝句·其一

Quatrains on the Plum Blossom, No. 1

陆游

Lu You

咏梅Ode to the plum blossom 高洁Noble purity 励志Self-encouragement

闻道梅花坼晓风，雪堆遍满四山中。
何方可化身千亿，一树梅前一放翁。

I hear the plum blossoms split their buds in the dawn wind,
Piled like snow, they fill all the four mountains.
How can I transform myself into a thousand million selves,
That before every plum tree there stands one Fangweng?

Listen

Meaning

On hearing that the plums have flowered across the whole mountain range, the aging poet longs to multiply himself a thousand-millionfold so that he may stand before every tree. Beneath the whimsical surface lies Lu You's lifelong identification with the plum's cold-blooming purity — the flower as mirror of his own unbowed character after a lifetime of frustrated ambition.

听说梅花在晓风中绽放，像雪堆一样遍满四面的山中。有什么办法能化身千亿，让每一树梅花前都有一个我（放翁）来赏看呢？

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The poem opens on hearsay — the plums have burst into bloom somewhere over the mountains — and the poet's heart is instantly captive. The wish to become a thousand million men is the confession of a devotee who cannot bear that even one tree should bloom unwitnessed. [Structure] Four movements in twenty-eight characters: hearing (wen dao), seeing (xue dui), wishing (he fang), and standing (yi shu mei qian yi Fangweng). The scale shrinks from four mountains to one tree, and the host of thousand-million selves resolves into one old man per tree — grandeur funneled into intimacy. [Imagery and Feeling] 'Split' (che) and 'heaped' (dui) make the opening loud and white; the closing is quiet and fond. The self-styled name Fangweng at the end turns the poem into a signed confession, half-proud, half-mocking, utterly disarming.

【白话串讲】陆游写《梅花绝句》：“闻道梅花坼晓风，雪堆遍满四山中”——“何方可化身千亿，一树梅前一放翁”——他愿化身千亿，每树梅花前都有一个陆游——他爱梅痴狂。【意象与手法】此诗是陆游《梅花绝句》二首的第一首，写闻梅而欲化身千万以赏梅的痴情，是陆游咏梅诗中最奇绝的名篇。首句「闻道梅花坼晓风」写梅花初绽——那「闻道」写听闻（不是亲见，而是听说），那「坼晓风」写梅花在晓风中绽放，「坼」字写梅花绽开的动态；次句「雪堆遍满四山中」写梅花遍山——那「雪堆」写梅花如雪堆（白梅如雪），那「遍满四山中」写梅花遍满四面的山中，「遍满」写梅花之盛；三句「何方可化身千亿」以奇想发问——那「何方」写有什么办法，那「化身千亿」写把自身化作千亿（佛教「化身」之说），奇想天开；末句「一树梅前一放翁」写化身的目的——那「一树梅前一放翁」写每一树梅花前都有一个放翁（陆游自号放翁），是千古名句。全诗以「闻道」起笔，写听闻梅花遍山，忽发「化身千亿」的奇想，以「一树梅前一放翁」写尽爱梅之痴，想象奇绝，是陆游咏梅诗中最著名的篇章。【情感与主旨】此诗作于南宋宁宗庆元年间（1198年前后），时陆游约七十四岁，闲居山阴（今浙江绍兴）。陆游一生爱梅，咏梅诗极多，将梅视为高洁的象征。此诗写其闻梅而欲化身千万以赏梅——那「闻道梅花坼晓风，雪堆遍满四山中」写梅花在晓风中绽放、如雪遍满四山，那「何方可化身千亿，一树梅前一放翁」写愿化身千亿、每树梅花前都有自己。那「化身千亿」的奇想，写尽了诗人对梅花的挚爱——一树梅花前一个自己，方能赏遍所有梅花；那「放翁」的自称，更写尽诗人与梅相伴的痴情与孤傲。全诗以奇绝的想象写爱梅之痴，那「化身千亿」的奇想、「一树梅前一放翁」的痴语，都是咏梅诗中的千古名句，是陆游咏梅诗与爱国主义精神的写照（陆游爱梅，正因梅的高洁与傲骨）。【名句点睛】常考“闻道梅花坼晓风，雪堆遍满四山中”写梅花遍山如雪之盛；“何方可化身千亿，一树梅前一放翁”写化身千亿赏梅的痴情，是千古名句。

Background

Lu You (1125-1210), styled Wuguan and known by his sobriquet Fangweng, was from Shanyin in Yuezhou (present-day Shaoxing, Zhejiang) and stands as the supreme patriotic poet of the Southern Song. A lifelong advocate of recovering the north from the Jurchen, he saw his hopes fail and spent his last decades in retirement at Shanyin beside Jian Lake. He wrote more than a hundred poems on the plum, treating it as the emblem of purity and unyielding spine. This quatrain, composed around 1198 when he was about seventy-four, is the most celebrated of them.

此诗是陆游《梅花绝句》二首的第一首，作于南宋宁宗庆元四年（1198）前后，时陆游约七十四岁，闲居山阴（今浙江绍兴）鉴湖之畔。陆游（1125—1210），字务观，号放翁，越州山阴人，南宋伟大的爱国主义诗人。他一生主张抗金收复中原，却壮志难酬，晚年闲居山阴，以诗酒自娱。陆游酷爱梅花，一生咏梅诗多达百余首，将梅视为高洁、傲骨的象征，与梅「人花合一」。此诗写其听闻梅花盛开而欲化身千万以赏梅。诗中「闻道梅花坼晓风」写听说梅花在晓风中绽放——「闻道」写听闻（不是亲见，而是闻知），「坼晓风」写梅花在晓风中绽开（「坼」写绽开、开放）；「雪堆遍满四山中」写梅花如雪堆遍满四面的山中——「雪堆」写白梅如雪堆（白梅之白如雪），「遍满四山中」写梅花遍满四山；「何方可化身千亿」写有什么办法能化身千亿——「何方」写有什么方法，「化身千亿」化用佛教「化身」之说（佛有千百亿化身）；「一树梅前一放翁」写每一树梅花前都有一个放翁——「放翁」是陆游的自号（他晚年自号放翁，取「放达」之意）。全诗以奇绝的想象写爱梅之痴，是陆游咏梅诗中最著名的篇章。

Art

The poem works by compounding extremes. It opens on hearsay (wen dao): the blossoms are so numerous and so famed that word of them travels — a landscape implied rather than shown. 'Heaped like snow' (xue dui) makes the white of the flowers massive, and 'fills all four mountains' (bian man) exhausts space itself. Then the leap: the Buddhist fancy of a thousand million transformation bodies converts excess of feeling into cosmic whimsy. The landing is precise — 'before every plum tree, one Fangweng' — where the vast number is answered by a single, repeatable figure. The effect is both grandiose and homely, which is the poem's peculiar charm.

此诗的艺术特色可从四个层面解析。其一，以「闻道」起笔的构思。首句「闻道梅花坼晓风」以「闻道」起笔——不是亲见梅花，而是听闻梅花盛开，那「闻道」写尽梅花盛开的声名远播，也写尽诗人闻梅而心动的情态。其二，以「雪堆」写梅之盛。次句「雪堆遍满四山中」以「雪堆」写白梅如雪堆、遍满四山——那「雪堆」写白梅之白如雪，那「遍满四山中」写梅花之盛，写尽梅花遍山的盛景。其三，以奇想写痴情。三句「何方可化身千亿」以佛教「化身」之说发问——那「化身千亿」是奇绝的想象（把自身化作千亿），以奇想写爱梅之痴，是咏梅诗中最奇绝的想象。其四，以「放翁」写人花合一。末句「一树梅前一放翁」写每一树梅花前都有一个放翁——那「一树梅前一放翁」写尽诗人与梅相伴的痴情，人花合一，是千古名句。四重手法层层递进，使这首咏梅诗以奇绝的想象写尽爱梅之痴，正是陆游咏梅诗的本领，也是其人格与梅花的合一。

Allusions

Three layers of reference deepen the poem. The 'thousand million transformation bodies' (hua shen qian yi) alludes to the Buddhist doctrine that a Buddha may emanate countless bodies to save all creatures; Lu You re-dedicates that omnipresence to the love of flowers. 'Fangweng' is the poet's own sobriquet, taken late in life when he was ridiculed for his unrestrained ways, so the closing line signs the poem with his chosen identity. The snow-and-plum confusion recalls Wang Anshi's 'Plum Blossom' ('From afar I know it is not snow'), while the image of a man inseparable from his plum echoes the Song hermit Lin Bu, who called the plum his wife and the crane his son.

此诗的用语深植于咏梅与佛教传统。「闻道梅花坼晓风」写梅花初绽——那「坼」字令人想到「雷惊天地龙蛇蛰，雨足郊原草木柔」的「坼」字传统（坼写绽开），也令人想到「初冬夜饮」的晓风意象，那「晓风」令人想到「杨柳岸，晓风残月」（柳永《雨霖铃》）的晓风意象；「雪堆遍满四山中」写梅如雪堆——那「雪堆」令人想到「遥知不是雪，为有暗香来」（王安石《梅花》）的梅雪之辨——王安石以「不是雪」写梅，陆游以「雪堆」写梅，正是一同一异的咏梅传统，也令人想到「梅须逊雪三分白，雪却输梅一段香」（卢梅坡《雪梅》）的梅雪比较；「何方可化身千亿」写化身千亿——那「化身千亿」化用佛教「千百亿化身」之说（《梵网经》等佛经有佛现千百亿化身之说），也令人想到「分身」的神话传统（如观音应化），那「何方」的反问写尽奇想；「一树梅前一放翁」写一树梅前一放翁——那「放翁」是陆游的自号（晚年自号放翁），那「一树梅前」令人想到「疏影横斜水清浅，暗香浮动月黄昏」（林逋《山园小梅》）的梅前赏梅传统，也令人想到「梅妻鹤子」的林逋典故——林逋以梅为妻，陆游愿化千亿赏梅，正是同一爱梅之痴。全诗化用佛教化身、王安石《梅花》、林逋梅妻等咏梅与佛教的意象，以奇想写爱梅之痴，正是陆游「以想象写痴情」的本领。

Commentary

This quatrain has been held since the Song and Yuan as the most fantastically imagined plum poem in the language; Qing and modern critics alike cite 'the fancy of a thousand million bodies' as unrivalled in the yongmei tradition. Its fame rests on the union of hyperbole and warmth: the wish is impossible, the feeling behind it is exact. Set beside Lu You's 'Bu Suan Zi: Ode to the Plum' and Wang Anshi's 'Plum Blossom', it completes a triangle of Song plum poetry — one chanting noble solitude, one scenting out the blossom, one simply unable to leave a single tree unvisited.

此诗历来被推为陆游咏梅诗中最著名的篇章，也是中国咏梅诗想象最奇绝的名篇。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人评此诗「化身千亿之想，奇绝无伦」；近人更指出「何方可化身千亿，一树梅前一放翁」以佛教化身之说写爱梅之痴，想象之奇绝，是咏梅诗中的千古绝唱。在文学史上，此诗的特殊价值在于：它以奇绝的想象写出了陆游对梅花的挚爱——那「闻道梅花坼晓风，雪堆遍满四山中」写梅花遍山的盛景，那「何方可化身千亿，一树梅前一放翁」写愿化身千亿、每树梅花前都有一个自己；那「化身千亿」的奇想，写尽了诗人对梅花的痴情——一树梅花前一个自己，方能赏遍所有梅花，正是爱之极而生的奇想；那「放翁」的自称，更写尽诗人与梅相伴的痴情与孤傲——梅的高洁傲骨，正是陆游人格的写照（陆游一生主张抗金、壮志难酬，梅的傲骨正是其精神的寄托）。诗中「何方可化身千亿，一树梅前一放翁」是千古名句。此诗与《卜算子·咏梅》（「驿外断桥边」）同为陆游咏梅的名篇，一以奇想写痴情，一以托物言志写孤高；又与王安石《梅花》（「遥知不是雪，为有暗香来」）同为咏梅名篇，一写梅之香，一写爱梅之痴。对于今日读者，此诗是理解陆游爱梅之痴的窗口，也是中国咏梅诗想象最奇绝的经典——那化身千亿的奇想、一树梅前的放翁，穿越千年，仍在诉说着爱梅之痴与孤傲之志。

Prosody

Form Seven-character quatrain (qi yan jue ju), level opening with first-line rhyme (ping qi ping shou)七言绝句（平起平收，首句入韵）

Rhyme Level-tone dong group throughout (feng, zhong, weng), one rhyme to the end; the wide, sonorous dong rhyme suits the vast blossom scene and the far-fetched fancy.全诗押平声东韵（风、中、翁），一韵到底，韵音宽洪，正合梅花的盛景与奇想的开阔。

Tone pattern Twenty-eight characters in four lines of seven; the first couplet paints the blossoming scene, the second the wish to multiply the self. The first couplet moves briskly on che and bian man; the second turns whimsical on he fang and hua shen, with the closing line settling into a broad, level cadence.此诗为七言绝句，四句二十八字，押平声韵。全诗按内容可分为两联：前联写梅花盛景（闻道梅花坼晓风、雪堆遍满四山中）；后联写化身赏梅的奇想（何方可化身千亿、一树梅前一放翁）。声调上，前联以「坼」「遍满」写梅花之盛，节奏明快；后联以「何方」「化身」写奇想，节奏转奇，正合奇想的开阔。

Reading note A jueju on the plum, level-start and first-line rhyming. Recite the first couplet brightly to sound the mountain of blossom, and the second ardently, with fond insistence on 'one Fangweng before every tree' — the line on which the whole poem turns.此诗是七言绝句咏梅的名篇，以「坼」字写梅花初绽、以「化身千亿」写爱梅之痴，正是陆游咏梅诗的本领。全诗四句：前联写梅花盛景（闻道梅花坼晓风、雪堆遍满四山中），后联写化身赏梅的奇想（何方可化身千亿、一树梅前一放翁）。声调上，前联节奏明快，写梅花之盛；后联以「化身千亿」写奇想，节奏转奇，那「雪堆遍满四山中」的盛景、「一树梅前一放翁」的痴情，正是陆游爱梅的深意。诵读此诗，宜以明快的语调读前联的梅花盛景，以痴情的语调读后联的化身奇想，尤其「何方可化身千亿，一树梅前一放翁」两句，要读得痴情而热烈，方能传达出陆游爱梅之痴。陆游咏梅诗极多，此诗正是其想象最奇绝的经典。

Line by line

雪堆遍满四山中。

(The blossoms,) piled like snow, fill all the four mountains.

（梅花）像雪堆一样遍满四面的山中。

(The plum blossoms) like snow drifts, fill all the hills around.

这句是写梅花盛景的名句，以「雪堆」写白梅如雪、以「遍满」写梅花之盛，写尽梅花遍山的盛景。「雪堆遍满四山中」写梅花像雪堆一样遍满四山——那「雪堆」写白梅之白如雪（白梅簇簇如雪堆），那「遍满四山中」写梅花遍满四面的山中，那「遍满」写梅花之多、之盛。这句的深意在于：它以「雪堆」写白梅的形态——那白梅盛开，簇簇如雪堆，写尽白梅之白、之盛；以「遍满四山中」写梅花的分布——不是一树两树，而是遍满四面的山中，那「遍满」写尽梅花遍山的盛景——满山皆梅，如雪堆遍野；那「雪堆」与「遍满」相合，写尽梅花如雪遍山的壮观。而那「雪堆」的比喻，也暗合咏梅的传统（王安石「遥知不是雪，为有暗香来」写梅似雪而非雪，陆游以「雪堆」写梅，正是同一梅雪之辨的传统——那遍山的白梅，正如雪堆一般）。以「雪堆」写梅之白、以「遍满」写梅之盛，正是陆游写梅花盛景的本领，也让这句成为写梅花遍山的千古名句。

This line is a famous verse of the plum's splendor, writing the white plum as snow through the snow drifts, and the abundance through the fill, exhausting the mountain-wide plum. The snow drifts fill all the hills around writes the plum like snow drifts over the four hills — the snow drifts writing the white plum's whiteness (the white plum clustered like snow drifts), the fill all the hills writing the plum filling the four hills, the fill writing the plum's number and abundance. The deep meaning lies in: the snow drifts writing the white plum's form — the white plum in full bloom, clustered like snow drifts, exhausting the whiteness and abundance; the fill all the hills writing the plum's distribution — not one or two trees, but the four hills filled, the fill exhausting the mountain-wide splendor — the hills all plum, like the snow drifts over the fields; the snow drifts and the fill together exhausting the plum-like-snow mountain spectacle. And the snow-drift metaphor also answers the plum-ode tradition (Wang Anshi's from afar I know it is not snow, for a faint fragrance drifts over writing the plum like and yet not snow, Lu You writing the plum through the snow drifts, precisely the same plum-snow distinction tradition — the mountain-wide white plum, precisely like the snow drifts). Writing the whiteness through the snow drifts, the abundance through the fill, precisely Lu You's craft of the plum's splendor, making this line a famous verse of the mountain-wide plum.

何方可化身千亿，一树梅前一放翁。

How can I transform myself into a thousand million selves, that before every plum tree there stands one Fangweng?

有什么办法能化身千亿，让每一树梅花前都有一个放翁来赏看呢？

By what art could I turn into a thousand million selves? Before each plum tree, one old Weng.

这句是全诗的点睛之笔，也是千古名句，以佛教「化身」之说写爱梅之痴，想象奇绝，写尽人花合一。「何方可化身千亿」写有什么办法能化身千亿——那「何方」写有什么方法（以反问写无从得法的遗憾），那「化身千亿」化用佛教「千百亿化身」之说，把自身化作千亿；「一树梅前一放翁」写每一树梅花前都有一个放翁——那「一树梅前」写每树梅花前，那「一放翁」写一个放翁（陆游自号）。这句的深意在于：它以「化身千亿」写出了诗人对梅花的挚爱——满山的梅花太多，一个自己赏不过来，唯有化身千亿，方能每树梅花前都有一个自己；那「何方」的反问，写尽无从得法的遗憾与爱梅的迫切；那「一树梅前一放翁」更写尽人花合一——每树梅花前都有一个放翁相伴，正是「人即梅、梅即人」的痴情；而那「放翁」的自称，写尽诗人与梅相伴的孤傲——梅的高洁傲骨，正是放翁人格的写照。以「化身千亿」写痴情、以「一树梅前一放翁」写人花合一，正是陆游以奇想写爱梅的本领，也让这句成为咏梅诗中想象最奇绝的千古名句。

This line is the poem's telling stroke, a famous line through the ages, writing the love-craziness through the Buddhist incarnation doctrine, the imagination wondrous, exhausting the man-flower oneness. By what art could I turn into a thousand million selves? writes the device sought (the by what art writing the regret of the no device through the question), the thousand million selves borrowing the Buddhist thousand-hundred-million bodies doctrine, turning the self into a thousand million; before each plum tree, one old Weng writes the one old Weng by each plum tree — the by-each-tree writing by each tree, the one old Weng one old Weng (Lu You's self-styled name). The deep meaning lies in: the thousand million selves write the poet's love for the plum — the hills of plum too many, one self cannot see them all, only the thousand-million transformation, so that by each plum tree there is a self; the by what art's question exhausting the no-device regret and the love's urgency; the before-each-plum-one-old-Weng further exhausting the man-flower oneness — by each plum tree one old Weng for company, precisely the man-is-plum, plum-is-man craziness; and the old Weng's self-name exhausting the poet's pride in keeping company with the plum — the plum's purity and proud bone, precisely old Weng's character. writing craziness through the thousand million, the oneness through the by-each-tree, precisely Lu You's craft of writing love through the wondrous thought, making this line the most imaginative famous verse in plum-ode poetry.

Study

Word focus

坼 To split open, burst. Of plum buds cracking open in the dawn wind; it captures the sudden, explosive moment of first blossoming, unlike the plain 'open'. 「坼」字是写梅花初绽的关键字，一个「坼」字写尽梅花绽开的动态，是「闻道梅花坼晓风」的词眼。坼者，绽开、裂开也。陆游以「梅花坼晓风」写梅花初绽，一个「坼」字，至少有双重意味：其一，写梅花之绽放——那「坼」字写梅花在晓风中绽开（花苞裂开而绽放），「坼」字写尽梅花绽开的动态——不是「开」的静态，而是「坼」的迸裂，写尽梅花初绽的生机；其二，写绽放之突然——那「坼」字令人想到「坼」的迸裂之意（如「春雷坼甲」），「坼」字写尽梅花在晓风中骤然绽开的盛况，也暗含冬去春来的生机。以「坼」字写梅，正是陆游写梅花初绽的关键——若换作「开」「放」等字，则或失其「迸裂」的动态，或失其「初绽」的新鲜；唯「坼」字，以一字写尽梅花绽开的动态与初绽的生机，与「晓风」相合，写尽梅花在晓风中绽放的盛景，也让「闻道梅花坼晓风」成为写梅花初绽的名句。

放 Unrestrained, at large — the core of Lu You's sobriquet 'Fangweng' ('Old Fellow at Large'), which he adopted after being mocked for ignoring convention. Here it marks the poet standing before every plum tree: self-mocking, fond, and proudly unconventional. 「放」字是写陆游自号的关键字，一个「放」字写尽诗人与梅相伴的痴情与孤傲，是「一树梅前一放翁」的词眼。放者，放达、狂放也。陆游以「一树梅前一放翁」写自己，一个「放」字，至少有双重意味：其一，写放翁之自号——那「放翁」是陆游的自号（他晚年因「不拘礼法」被讥为「颓放」，遂自号「放翁」），「放」字写尽陆游的放达与狂放——不拘礼法、放达自适，那「放翁」自称写尽诗人的个性；其二，写与梅相伴之痴——那「一放翁」写每树梅花前一个放翁，那「放」字也暗含「放达」的赏梅之态——放翁赏梅，放达自适，那「放」字写尽诗人与梅相伴的痴情与孤傲。以「放」字写人，正是陆游写「放翁」的关键——那「放翁」的自号，正是陆游晚年「放达」人格的写照（抗金无门、壮志难酬，遂以放达自适）；若换作「闲」「野」等字，则或失其「放达」的个性，或失其与「放翁」自号的呼应；唯「放」字，以一字写尽放翁的放达与与梅相伴的痴情，与「化身千亿」相合，写尽一树梅前一放翁的人花合一，也让「一树梅前一放翁」成为咏梅诗中想象最奇绝的千古名句。