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宋 Song · 诗 Poem

梅尧臣·陶者

The Potter

梅尧臣

Mei Yaochen

民生livelihood 讽喻satire

陶尽门前土，屋上无片瓦。
十指不沾泥，鳞鳞居大厦。

He has dug out all the earth before his door to fire his tiles,
Yet not a single tile rests upon his own roof.
His ten fingers never touch a speck of clay,
Yet he dwells in a towering mansion, its eaves in fish-scale rows.

Listen

Meaning

The tile-maker exhausts the soil before his gate to fire bricks and tiles, yet he himself has not a single tile upon his roof. Meanwhile the gentleman whose ten fingers never touch mud lives in a great mansion whose roof tiles are arrayed like the scales of a fish.

烧陶的匠人挖尽了门前的泥土（烧砖瓦），自己屋顶上却没有一片瓦。而那些十指从不沾泥的贵人，却住在高大如鱼鳞般排列的华厦之中。

Appreciation

This four-line poem wins by extreme plain description and stark contrast; it contains not a word of direct comment, yet its criticism cuts to the bone. The first two lines write the laborer: he digs out the earth before his door to bake tiles, yet has no tiles to cover his own head, a reversal of cause and effect that already holds injustice. The last two lines turn sharply to the parasite whose fingers never touch mud and the fish-scale mansion, a glaring contrast. Words such as all and none, never touch and fish-scale are honed within plainness. In only twenty characters the binary of laborer and non-laborer condenses ages of social injustice, plain on the surface and grief within, a model of Mei Yaochen's creed that within plainness lies indignation.

【白话串讲】 “陶尽门前土，屋上无片瓦。十指不沾泥，鳞鳞居大厦”——梅尧臣写烧瓦工：挖光了门前的土，自己屋顶却没有一片瓦；那些十指不沾泥的人，却住着鳞次栉比的大厦。宋代最锋利的一首对比诗。【意象与手法】本诗以极简白描与强烈对比取胜，通篇不着一字议论，而批判力透纸背。前两句“陶尽门前土，屋上无片瓦”写劳动者【情感与主旨】梅尧臣（1002—1060），字圣俞，北宋现实主义诗人，与欧阳修并称“梅欧”，倡导平淡诗风、力矫西昆浮艳【名句点睛】本诗为初中古诗常见讽喻篇目，考试重点

Background

Mei Yaochen (1002 to 1060), courtesy Shengyu, was a Northern Song realist poet, paired with Ouyang Xiu as the Mei-Ou and a champion of a plain, understated style against the ornate Xikun manner. The title The Potter denotes the craftsman who fires bricks and tiles. In the early Northern Song, class division sharpened: laborers toiled year-round without enough to eat, while the idle enjoyed the fruit of others' work, and Mei exposed this injustice with his brush. The poem was likely written in his early years of wandering or as a minor local official, when he witnessed the contrast between a potter's hovel and a noble's mansion, and set it down in twenty white-described characters. It inherits the realist spirit of Du Fu's 'Behind the vermilion gates meat and wine rot, on the road lie frozen bones' and Bai Juyi's 'write for the matter' New Yuefu, a stirring work of Song poetry caring for the people's hardship.

此诗为梅尧臣悯农之作。梅尧臣（1002—1060），字圣俞，宣城（今属安徽）人，北宋著名诗人，与欧阳修交谊深厚，世称“梅欧”。梅尧臣一生仕途不显，官至都官员外郎，然诗名甚著，是北宋诗文革新运动的重要人物，力倡平淡诗风，反对西昆体的浮艳雕琢。此诗写烧陶匠人的悲苦：陶者（制陶的匠人）烧尽了门前的土，自己屋顶却没有一片瓦；而那些十指不沾泥的贵人，却住在鳞次栉比的华厦之中。全诗四句二十字，不着一字议论，而批判之意力透纸背，是典型的“以白描见讽刺”之作。北宋中叶，土地兼并、贫富分化日益严重，梅尧臣以诗人的良知关注民生，此诗正是其“以诗写实”的典范。与《田家四时》《汝坟贫女》等作一样，此诗以极简的笔墨写出极深的哀悯，体现了他“状难写之景，如在目前”的诗学主张。

Art

The poem prevails through minimal plain description and sharp contrast, without a single line of argument yet with criticism piercing the page. The first two lines portray the worker: he exhausts the earth at his door to fire tiles, yet has no tile to shelter him, a reversal that already carries grievance. The last two lines pivot to the finger-never-touches-mud parasite against the fish-scale (rows like fish scales) mansion, a blinding contrast. The words all and none, never touch and fish-scale show craft within the plain. Twenty characters condense perennial social injustice into the worker and non-worker dyad, plain outside and profound grief within, the very type of Mei's indignation within plainness.

此诗艺术上以极简白描与强烈对比取胜，通篇不着一字议论，而批判力透纸背。前两句“陶尽门前土，屋上无片瓦”写烧陶匠人的悲苦：“陶尽”写其耗尽门前之土以烧砖制瓦，“无片瓦”写其自家屋顶竟没有一片瓦——付出最多者所得最少，强烈的反差在一“尽”一“无”之间立现。后两句“十指不沾泥，鳞鳞居大厦”写不劳者的优渥：“十指不沾泥”写其从不劳作，“鳞鳞居大厦”写其华厦如鱼鳞般排列——“鳞鳞”以屋瓦之密写华厦之盛，与匠人“无片瓦”形成尖锐对照。全诗四句，前两句一联写劳动者之悲，后两句一联写不劳者之乐，两组对举、层层逼进，把“劳而不获、获而不劳”的不公写得触目惊心。尤可注意者，全诗无一个“悲”字、无一个“愤”字，纯以白描呈现事实，让对比自己说话——这正是“讽刺诗”的上乘写法，把愤怒藏于冷静，把批判藏于画面。

Allusions

Though short, the poem deeply inherits the earlier realist tradition. Its spirit derives directly from Du Fu's class contrast 'Behind the vermilion gates meat and wine rot, on the road lie frozen bones' and Bai Juyi's New Yuefu 'The Charcoal Seller' with its creed 'write for the matter, sing only the people's ills'. Fish-scale depicts roof tiles in rows; later poets often used it for tile grandeur, here the reduplicative writes the mansion's luxury, setting off the worker's poverty. The potter image also echoes the ancient memory of potting and cave-dwelling. Every line is realistic with no overt allusion, yet rests on the classic concern for the people, so that smallness reveals greatness, of one weave with 'Cutting Sandalwood' in the Book of Songs: 'They do not reap nor hoe, why then three hundred sheaves of grain?'

此诗几乎不用典，纯以白描与对比取胜，这正体现了梅尧臣反西昆、倡平淡的诗学主张。西昆体讲究用典繁富、辞藻华丽，梅尧臣却以最朴素的词语写最真实的生活。“陶尽门前土”写实景，“鳞鳞居大厦”写实况，不假任何典故，而批判自在其中。若求其思想渊源，则“劳者不得食”的批判，承《诗经·伐檀》“不稼不穑，胡取禾三百廛兮”以来悯农讽世的传统；其以对比见不公的手法，亦可上溯汉乐府“朱门酒肉臭”一系的现实主义精神。全诗以无典胜有典，正是平淡诗风的极致——不事雕琢，而震撼力愈强。

Commentary

Ouyang Xiu's Poetry Talk praises Mei's 'profound thought, subtle craft, distant and idle-plain intent'. The modern scholar Qian Zhongshu, in his Selected Songs of the Song, said this poem's 'twenty characters equal a whole Cutting Sandalwood', placing it beside that Book of Songs ode for its realist force. Critics often call it 'a small poem with great grief': utterly plain in language yet piercing in its exposure of the world, carrying the line of Du Fu and Bai Juyi's New Yuefu, a fine Song work mindful of the people's suffering.

此诗四句二十字，是北宋讽喻诗的名篇。论者多赏其“以对比见讽刺”的手法：前二句写陶者之悲，后二句写贵人一乐，两组画面并置，不着一字议论而批判自明。清人评梅尧臣诗“平淡”而“深远”，此诗正是平淡中的深意——文字极简，而社会批判的锋芒极锐。与白居易《卖炭翁》、张俞《蚕妇》等同为悯农讽世之作，梅诗以最少的文字写最深的哀悯，可见其“意新语工”的诗学追求。全诗至今读来仍有现实意义，正是因为它写出了人类社会中永恒的命题——劳动与分配的不公。梅尧臣以“状难写之景，如在目前”自许，此诗正是其在目前之景中见深远之意的典范。

Prosody

Form Five-character ancient quatrain (satiric vignette)五言绝句（仄起首句不入韵式）

Rhyme The ancient quatrain does not bind strict rhyme; tile and mansion fall in the rising tone, earth a loose match, overall not ruled by near-regulated tone全诗押上声马韵（或去声禡韵），韵脚为“瓦、厦”，两句一韵。仄声韵短促顿挫，正合讽喻的锋芒。五绝用仄韵者较少，此诗以仄韵写讽世，声情峭拔，与内容的批判性相称。

Tone pattern Five-character, plain language, near archaic tune此诗为仄起首句不入韵的五绝。首句“陶尽门前土”平仄平平仄，“屋上无片瓦”仄仄平仄仄；三句“十指不沾泥”仄仄仄平平，“鳞鳞居大厦”平平平仄仄。五绝短小，此诗平仄自然，音节简洁有力，四句两两对举，声情与画面同步，是五绝中以白描见讽刺的典范。

Reading note Realist satire, plain description and contrast, plain yet grievous.此诗体制为五言绝句，以二十字写一个尖锐的社会命题，是“以少总多”的极致。五绝最重含蓄，此诗之妙正在含蓄中的锋芒：全诗无一字议论，纯以两组画面的对比呈现——陶者无片瓦，贵人居大厦；劳动者一无所有，不劳者坐享其成。这种“让事实说话”的写法，比任何直接的批判都更有力量。梅尧臣主张“状难写之景，如在目前”，此诗正是把社会的不公“状”到读者眼前：读完二十字，那“无片瓦”的陶者与“居大厦”的贵人便如在目前，而诗人的愤怒与哀悯，尽在这不言之中。

Line by line

陶尽门前土，屋上无片瓦。

He has dug out all the earth before his door, and on his roof not a tile.

烧陶的匠人挖尽了门前的泥土来烧砖制瓦，自己屋顶上却没有一片瓦。

The potter has dug up all the earth before his door to make bricks and tiles, yet on his own roof not a single tile.

起句即写陶者的悲苦，是全诗的第一重对比。“陶尽门前土”写其劳作之勤——制陶须用土，匠人把门前的土都挖尽了，“尽”字写其耗尽心力、耗尽资源；“屋上无片瓦”写其所得之薄——烧了那么多砖瓦，自家屋顶却没有一片。“尽”与“无”相对，付出与所得形成巨大的落差：耗尽门前土的是他，无片瓦遮身的是他。两句以白描写实，不着一字议论，而陶者之悲已令人心酸。这一联为后文贵人的华厦作了铺垫——正是有人“无片瓦”，才更显有人“居大厦”的不公。

The opening at once writes the potter's hardship, the poem's first contrast. He has dug out all the earth before his door writes the labor's diligence — pottery needs earth, the potter digging up all the earth before the door, the word all writing the exhaustion of strength and resource; and on his roof not a tile writes the reward's thinness — fired so many tiles, and his own roof without one. The all and the not-one set in contrast, the outlay and the reward forming the huge gap: the one who exhausted the door's earth is he, the one with no tile over his head is he. Two lines in the plain drawing of fact, not one word of argument, and the potter's grief already heart-rending. This couplet stores ground for the below's noble houses — precisely because someone has no tile, the injustice of someone dwelling in the great mansion the clearer.

十指不沾泥，鳞鳞居大厦。

Ten fingers never touched by mud, they dwell in the mansions, tile upon tile.

那些十指从不沾泥的贵人，却住在高大如鱼鳞般排列的华厦之中。

Those whose ten fingers never touch the mud dwell in the grand mansions, their roofs ranked like fish scales.

此联写不劳者的优渥，是全诗的第二重对比，也是批判的锋芒所在。“十指不沾泥”写其从不劳作——泥是陶者谋生之物，不沾泥者正是陶者的对立面；“鳞鳞居大厦”写其华厦之盛——“鳞鳞”以鱼鳞之密写屋瓦之繁，高大的华厦鳞次栉比，极言其富。两句与前联形成尖锐的对举：陶者“陶尽土”而“无片瓦”，贵人“不沾泥”而“居大厦”；劳动者所得无有，不劳者坐享其成。全诗在此戛然而止，不着一字议论，而“劳而不获、获而不劳”的不公已在对比中昭然若揭。把愤怒藏于冷静，正是此诗最见功力处。

This couplet writes the non-laborers' comfort, the poem's second contrast, and the critical edge. Ten fingers never touched by mud writes their never laboring — mud the potter's livelihood, the mud-untouched the potter's opposite; they dwell in the mansions, tile upon tile writes the mansion's splendor — the like-fish-scales the dense roof tiles, the tall mansions ranked, the wealth's extremity. Two lines set in sharp contrast with the above: the potter dug the earth and has no tile, the noble touched no mud and dwells in the mansion; the laborer's reward nothing, the non-laborer's sitting at the harvest. The poem stops here abruptly, not one word of argument, and the injustice of labor-without-reward and reward-without-labor already manifest in the contrast. Hiding the anger in the calm, precisely this poem's greatest craft.

Study

Word focus

陶尽 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “陶尽门前土”之“陶尽”，写制陶匠人耗尽门前之土。“陶”作动词，指烧制陶器，“尽”字写其竭尽——门前的土都被挖尽烧尽，见其劳作之勤、耗费之巨。然而这“尽”字恰恰反衬出“无片瓦”的荒诞：付出了全部，却没有留下分毫给自己。一字之下，陶者的悲苦、社会的不公，都在“尽”与“无”的对照中显现。以“尽”写勤，以“无”写悲，正是炼字的深意。

片 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “屋上无片瓦”之“片”，极言其少、其微。“片瓦”是瓦的最小单位，连一片瓦都没有，则其困苦可知；着一“片”字，把“无瓦”的惨状写到极致——不是没有好瓦，而是连一片遮身的瓦都没有。同时，“片”字与下句“鳞鳞居大厦”的“鳞鳞”形成对照：一片瓦也无，与千鳞万鳞的华厦，一少一多、一无一有，反差何其强烈。以“片”写无，正是以少写多、以微写巨。

鳞鳞 The reduplicative fish-scale paints the mansion's roof tiles in dense, shimmering rows, its luxury mirroring the worker's bareness; the bright image makes the contrast bite all the keener. “鳞鳞居大厦”之“鳞鳞”，以鱼鳞喻屋瓦之密，写华厦之盛。“鳞鳞”叠字，既写屋瓦如鱼鳞般整齐密排，更写华厦之多、之广——不止一座，而是鳞次栉比、连绵不断。这叠字与上句“十指不沾泥”并置，讽刺之意尽出：不劳者竟居如此华厦。同时，“鳞鳞”与陶者“屋上无片瓦”形成极端的对照——陶者烧瓦而无瓦，贵人安居于千鳞万鳞的华厦。一字写尽贵人的豪奢，也写尽社会的荒谬。

不沾泥 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “十指不沾泥”之“不沾泥”，以否定的细节写贵人的不劳而获。“沾泥”是劳作的标志——陶者十指皆泥，泥是他们谋生的印记；贵人“不沾泥”，即从不劳作。“不沾”二字看似轻描淡写，实则蕴含极深的讽刺：这双手既不曾沾泥，便不配拥有大厦；而大厦恰恰归了这不沾泥的手。以“沾泥”与“不沾泥”分判劳与获，正是全诗对比手法最凝练的一笔。