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宋 Song · 诗 Poem

杨万里·宿新市徐公店

Lodging at New-Market Xu's Inn

杨万里

Yang Wanli

田园pastoral 童趣childlike joy

篱落疏疏一径深，树头新绿未成阴。
儿童急走追黄蝶，飞入菜花无处寻。

Sparse fence, a path running deep; treetops' new green not yet shade.
A child rushes to chase a yellow butterfly, which flies into the rape flowers—nowhere to seek.

Listen

Meaning

A countryside late-spring scene: a sparse fence and new leaves, then a child chasing a yellow butterfly that vanishes into the same-colored blossoms.

稀稀疏疏的篱笆旁，一条小路通向远方幽深之处；树枝上刚绽出新绿，还没有形成浓密的树荫。村里的儿童奔跑着追逐黄色的蝴蝶，蝴蝶飞进金黄的菜花丛中，再也无处寻觅。

Appreciation

First two lines set still scene: 'sparse' and 'deep path' write the far fence; 'new green not yet shade' catches late spring. Last two turn to motion—the child and butterfly, ending where same colors merge.

【白话串讲】 “儿童急走追黄蝶，飞入菜花无处寻”——小孩子追黄蝶，追进菜花地里，黄蝶和菜花一样黄，找不到了。杨万里把童年写活了。【意象与手法】前两句布静景：「疏疏」「一径深」写篱落幽远，「新绿未成阴」传春末夏初时节的清新；后两句转动态：「儿童急走追黄蝶」以连续动作写童趣盎然，「飞入菜花无处寻」以黄蝶没入同色黄花作结，画面戛然而止而意趣悠长。动静、疏密、色彩相映，浅语见活趣。【情感与主旨】杨万里与陆游、范成大、尤袤并称「中兴四大诗人」。此诗作于其乡居或行旅途中投宿新市（今属浙江）徐姓客店时，约当孝宗淳熙年间。诗人跳出江西诗派窠臼，创「诚斋体」，主张「万象毕来，献予诗材」，此篇即目写生，记乡村春暮所见。【名句点睛】「儿童急走追黄蝶，飞入菜花无处寻」为写童趣的千古名句，黄蝶没入同色黄花，既合物理又留余味，是「诚斋体」活法的最佳体现；「急走」「无处寻」的动态描写为常考要点。

Background

Yang Wanli (Chengzhai), with Lu You, Fan Chengda, You Mao, the 'Four Great Mid-restore Poets.' Composed when lodging at New-Market (Zhejiang) Xu's inn, about 1174–1189. Breaking the Jiangxi school, he founded the 'Chengzhai style'—'all scenes come, offer me material'—this is an instant sketch, a representative idle little poem.

杨万里（1127—1206），字廷秀，号诚斋，吉州吉水人，与陆游、范成大、尤袤并称「中兴四大诗人」。此诗作于其乡居或行旅途中投宿新市（今属浙江德清）徐姓客店之时，约当孝宗淳熙年间。新市地处江南水乡，河网密布，田园如画，诗人投宿于此，日暮闲行，见疏篱小径、新绿未阴，又见村童追蝶、蝶入菜花，遂即目成诗。杨万里早年学江西诗派，后尽焚少作，跳出江西派「资书以为诗」的窠臼，师法自然，创「诚斋体」，主张「不听陈言只听天」「万象毕来，献予诗材」，以活泼的眼光捕捉生活中的瞬间意趣。此篇正是其「诚斋体」的代表作，纯任天真，不事雕琢，将乡村春暮的一个寻常瞬间写得生机盎然，毫无堆砌之弊。又，新市为江南古镇，至今仍保留「新市古镇」之名，当年徐公店当为道旁客店，诗人投宿其间，暮春闲行，偶见村童追蝶，遂即景成诗，其事虽微，其趣却永，正见诚斋「万物皆诗」的创作观——在旁人看来寻常不过的乡村暮景，在诚斋笔下却成为千古名篇，此即「诗在生活之中」的最好证明。

Art

First two lines still: 'sparse, deep path' and 'new green not yet shade' catch the fresh late spring; last two turn to motion: 'child rushes to chase' with continuous action, 'flies into rape flowers nowhere to seek' ends the frame with lingering fun. Still-moving, sparse-dense, color (yellow butterfly, yellow flower) set off; shallow words, live interest.

前两句布静景，后两句转动态，动静相生，是本诗章法之妙。「篱落疏疏一径深」写篱笆稀疏、小径幽深，「疏疏」以叠字写篱落之疏朗，「深」字写小径之幽远，一近一远，村野疏朗之景如在目前；「树头新绿未成阴」以「新绿」写春末夏初的时节特征，新叶初绽而尚未成荫，一个「未」字暗含时光流转的细微观察。后两句陡转动态：「儿童急走追黄蝶」以「急走」「追」两个连续动作写尽童趣，「飞入菜花无处寻」以黄蝶没入同色黄花作结，画面戛然而止而意趣悠长——蝶与花同色，儿童怅然四顾的神情呼之欲出。全诗动静、疏密、色彩相映成趣，语言浅近而意境清新，正是诚斋体「活法」的典型体现。全诗最见功力处在「色」与「趣」的经营：疏篱、小径、新绿是嫩色，黄蝶、菜花是明色，色彩由淡入浓，画面由疏入密；儿童急走是动趣，蝶入菜花是静趣，动极转静，戛然而止。前两句的疏淡与后两句的热闹恰成对比，而「无处寻」的怅惘又使热闹归于余韵，正是「于平淡处见奇趣」的诚斋本色。

Allusions

This poem has no obvious allusion; it is pure sketching of what lies before the eye -- precisely the signature of the 'Chengzhai style.' The hedge, the path, the rape flowers are all ordinary village sights; the children and the yellow butterfly are simply what is present. The poem borrows no historical tale and no set phrase, catching a moment of life in bare description. 'Rushing' (ji zou) is an old word: in classical Chinese 'zou' meant to run (the Shiming glosses: 'to walk slowly is bu, to go quickly is qu, to race is zou'), so 'ji zou' is simply 'to dash' -- ancient diction rather than allusion. 'Rape flowers' (cai hua) are the golden blossoms that covered the Jiangnan fields in late spring, an everyday country sight. By being 'without allusion' the poem achieves its own Chengzhai distinction, answering Yang Wanli's creed of 'listening to no stale words, only to Heaven' -- for him the ten thousand things of nature were inexhaustible poetic material, needing no help from old books, a spirit of artistic innovation in the history of Chinese poetry that gives this poem its breath of living life. The detail of 'a yellow butterfly into yellow flowers' also quietly accords with the physics of protective coloration: the insect and the blossom share one hue and are hard to tell apart. The poet catches the moment, writing both the child's innocence and the truth of nature -- the Chengzhai habit of letting principle enter poetry. 'The new green on the tree tops has not yet made shade' marks the fineness of the season and answers 'flying into the rape flowers' as the dusk of spring; beneath the ease is a keen sense of the turning of the year.

本诗无明显用典，纯为即目写生，这恰是「诚斋体」的特色所在。「篱落」「小径」「菜花」皆村野寻常物象，「儿童」「黄蝶」亦为眼前即景，全诗不假史事、不用成语，惟以白描捕捉生活瞬间。「急走」一词为古语，「走」在古汉语中义为奔跑（《释名》：「徐行曰步，疾行曰趋，疾趋曰走」），故「急走」即急跑，非典实而是古语入诗。「菜花」即油菜花，江南春末遍野金黄，是当时乡村常见之景。全诗以「无典」自成诚斋一格，正合杨万里「不听陈言只听天」的创作主张——在他看来，天地万象即是取之不尽的诗材，不必乞灵于古人书卷，这在中国诗歌史上是一种富有革新精神的艺术自觉，也使此诗获得了扑面而来的生活气息。此外，此诗写「黄蝶入黄花」的细节，亦暗合「保护色」的自然物理：蝶与花同色，本难分辨，诗人捕捉此景，既写儿童之天真，又合物理之真，可见诚斋体「以理趣入诗」的特点；「树头新绿未成阴」写时序之微，与「飞入菜花」写春暮之景呼应，全诗于闲适之中暗含对季节流转的敏锐感知。

Commentary

Yang's poems are known for 'live method, penetrating ease'; Lu You praised 'a thousand years' affair of literature.' A classic of children's literacy; critics say 'like household talk yet natural interest.' Qian Zhongshu called Chengzhai 'clever lively writing of ordinary things'—this is the specimen.

杨万里诗以「活法」「透脱」著称，陆游誉其「文章千古事，得失寸心知」，又赞其诗「处处山川怕见君」。此诗为历代童蒙与小学语文的经典篇目，流传极广，论者谓其「如话家常而意趣天然」，二十八字写尽乡村春暮的生机与童趣。近人钱锺书《宋诗选注》称诚斋体「擅长用聪明活泼的写法写平常的事物」，正以此诗为标本：题材平常到不能再平常——篱笆、小径、树绿、村童追蝶，却因观察的敏锐与表达的活脱而成为千古名篇。此诗的价值，一在它是理解「诚斋体」艺术特征的入门之作，二在它保存了南宋江南乡村生活的鲜活图景，三在其以浅语写活趣的语言成就，为后世写儿童题材的诗歌提供了范本。又，此诗自入编小学教材以来，流传极广，几乎家喻户晓，其「儿童急走追黄蝶」的画面更成为一代代中国人童年的共同记忆，可见诚斋体「以活法写童趣」的持久魅力；钱锺书称杨万里「擅写平常事物」而不平常，此诗正是「平常事物」与「不平常之趣」完美结合的标本。

Prosody

Form Seven-character quatrain, Southern Song, Yang Wanli七言绝句

Rhyme Pingshui rhyme, lower-level Qin (shen, yin, xun)深、阴、寻，属平水韵下平十二侵韵，首句入韵，一韵到底

Tone pattern First line enters rhyme; level-onset, level-ending; 'sparse fence, deep path' level-onset平起首句入韵式，全诗平仄合律，音节明快流畅

Reading note A quatrain in plain sketch of village child-fun; the Chengzhai 'live method,' no allusion.此诗为七言绝句，首句入韵，押下平十二侵韵，韵脚「深」「阴」「寻」皆为平声闭口音（以-m收尾的阳声韵），音韵深沉悠长，读来有幽深绵远之感，与诗中「一径深」「未成阴」的幽深意境相谐。平仄上为平起首句入韵式，全诗平仄合律，音节明快。章法上，前两句写静景、后两句写动景，由静入动、由景入趣，起承转合分明：首句「篱落疏疏一径深」起笔写村野之景，次句「树头新绿未成阴」承以时节特征，三句「儿童急走追黄蝶」陡转动态，结句「飞入菜花无处寻」以画面收束而余味无穷。全诗二十八字，语言浅近如话，音节流畅自然，正合诚斋体「不装腔作势、不堆砌典故」的艺术追求，是七绝中以白描写生、以活趣动人的典范之作。

Line by line

篱落疏疏一径深

Sparse fence, a path running deep.

稀稀疏疏的篱笆旁，一条小路通向远方幽深之处。

The sparse hedges, one path stretching far into depth.

首句布静景，写村野的疏朗幽远。「篱落」即篱笆，点出村居环境；「疏疏」以叠字写篱笆之稀疏，疏朗而不密实，正合乡村篱笆的寻常形态，也暗含春末草木尚未繁茂的时节特征；「一径深」写一条小径通向远方，「深」字既写小径之幽远，又写视线之延展，由近及远，空间层次分明。三组意象，篱、径、深，由物及路、由近及远，村野疏淡之境如在目前。此句以白描写景，看似平淡，却为后两句的童趣场面铺设了开阔疏朗的背景，静景为动景蓄势，正见诚斋体「即目写生」而章法自具的功力。

The opening line lays the static scene, writing the village's sparse-seclusion. The hedge i.e. the fence, pointing out the village dwelling's environment; the sparse using the doubled words for the fence's thinness, loose-and-not-dense, precisely the village-fence's ordinary form, and secretly carrying the late-spring's plants-and-trees'-not-yet-lush season feature; the one-path-stretches-far-into-depth writing a small path's leading to the distance, the shen word's at once writing the path's seclusion-and-distance, and the gaze's extension, from near to far, the spatial layers' clear. Three groups of images, the hedge, path, depth, from the thing's to the road's, from near to far, the village's sparse-realm's as-in-present-eye. This line using the plain-description for the scene, the surface's plain, and yet for the below two lines' child-fun scene's laying the open-sparse background, the static scene's storing the force for the motion scene, precisely seeing the Chengzhai-style's on-the-eye-life-painting and the craft's self-possessed.

树头新绿未成阴

Treetops' new green not yet shade.

树枝上刚绽出新绿，还没有形成浓密的树荫。

On the branches the new green is not yet a shade.

次句点出春末夏初的时节特征，是全诗时序的关键。「树头」点出观察的方位，仰视之间见枝头新叶；「新绿」以色彩写春意，新叶初绽，绿意鲜活，一个「新」字写出生命的初生与蓬勃；「未成阴」三字是全句的警策，「未」字暗含观察的细致——树叶虽已新绿，却尚未繁密成荫，正是春末夏初、绿意初浓而未盛的特定时刻。此句以「未」字写时光流转的微妙，可见诗人对季节变化的敏锐感受。新绿未阴，则阳光可透、蝶影可见，也为后两句「儿童追蝶」提供了明亮疏朗的场景，前后勾连，浑然一体，是即景诗中观察入微的典范。

The second line points out the late-spring-early-summer season feature, the whole poem's time-sequence key. The branch-top pointing out the observation's direction, the upward-gaze's seeing the branch's new leaves; the new-green using the color for the spring-feeling, the new leaves' just-opened, the green's vivid, the one xin word's writing the life's first-blossom-and-vigor; the not-yet-a-shade three words' the whole line's warning, the wei word's secretly carrying the observation's fineness — the leaves' though's new-green, and yet's not-yet-lush-into-shade, precisely the late-spring-early-summer's green's first-rich-and-yet-not-full's specific moment. This line using the wei word for the time's flowing's subtlety, seeing the poet's season-change's acute feeling. The new-green's no-shade, then the sunlight's penetrate-able and the butterfly's shadow's seeable, and for the below two lines' children-chase-butterfly's providing the bright-sparse scene, the front-back interlink, the seamless, the on-the-scene-poem's observation-finest model.

儿童急走追黄蝶，飞入菜花无处寻

A child rushes to chase a yellow butterfly, which flies into the rape flowers—nowhere to seek.

村里的儿童奔跑着追逐黄色的蝴蝶，蝴蝶飞进金黄的菜花丛中，再也无处寻觅。

Children run fast chasing a yellow butterfly; it flies into the rape blossoms, nowhere to be found.

后两句是全诗最有生趣的部分，动态收束，童趣盎然。「儿童急走追黄蝶」以「急走」「追」两个连续动作写儿童追逐的急切，「急走」写出奔跑的迅疾，「追」写追逐的专注，童稚之态跃然纸上；「飞入菜花无处寻」陡然一转，黄蝶飞入金黄的菜花丛中，蝶与花同色，转眼间无处寻觅，画面戛然而止。此句妙在两处：一是合乎物理，黄蝶入黄花，本难分辨，观察真实；二是留有余味，儿童怅然四顾、搔首踟蹰的神情尽在言外，读者仿佛也随之一怔。前两句的静景至此全活，动静相生，全诗便在儿童追蝶的盎然生趣中收束，余韵不尽，正是诚斋体「活法」的最佳体现。

The below two lines are the whole poem's most lively part, the motion's close, the childlike abundance. The children-run-fast-chasing-a-yellow-butterfly using the run-fast-and-chase two continuous motions for the children-chase's eagerness, the run-fast writing the running's swiftness, the chase writing the pursuit's focus, the child-pose's vivid; the it-flies-into-the-rape-blossoms-nowhere-to-be-found's sudden turn, the yellow butterfly's flown into the golden rape blossoms, the butterfly-and-flower's same-color, the instant's nowhere-to-find, the picture's abrupt stop. This line's wonder in two places: one's the physical-law's match, the yellow-butterfly-into-yellow-flower's originally the hard-to-distinguish, the observation's real; two's the leaving-the-aftertaste, the child's blank-gaze-and-scratching-head's pose's all within the unsaid, the reader's as-if's along-the-way's stunned. The above two lines' static scene's to here's all-alive, the motion-and-stillness's mutual birth, the whole poem's thus's closing on the children-chase-butterfly's abundant fun, the aftertone endless, precisely the Chengzhai-style's living-method's best embodiment.

Study

Word focus

疏疏 'sparse fence'—reduplication writes the fence thin, making a sparse, far village mood; shallow words, true meaning. 「篱落疏疏」之「疏疏」，叠字写篱笆之稀落疏朗，是营造春野疏淡之境的关键词。「疏疏」以叠字摹状，既写出篱笆稀疏透光的形态，又暗含春末草木初盛而未繁茂的时节特征，语浅意真。叠字在诗中兼有音韵之美：两个「疏」字连读，音调轻快疏朗，正合村野的清新气息。若换作「疏落」「稀疏」则或嫌文气、或失之平板，唯「疏疏」叠字，既有形象的疏朗感，又有音韵的轻快感，将乡村篱笆的寻常之美写得如在目前。此二字还与下句「新绿未成阴」的疏朗画面相谐，共同构成全诗明净清新的基调，是诚斋体以浅语写真景、以叠字传神韵的佳例，也可见杨万里炼字「不求奇而自奇」的追求。

急走 'child rushes'—'zou' old means run; 'rushes' writes the chase's speed, the child's manner alive; Chengzhai liveliness. 「儿童急走」之「走」字，古义为奔跑（《释名》：「疾趋曰走」），与今义「行走」不同，「急走」即急跑，写出儿童追逐黄蝶时奔跑的迅疾。此二字以连续的动作写尽童趣：一个「急」字写心情之急切、脚步之匆忙，一个「走」字写奔跑之动态，急而带风，儿童那副全心追逐、目不旁顾的神态呼之欲出。若换作「急跑」「快追」则失之直白，「急走」以古语入诗，既准确写出奔跑的动态，又带几分文雅的书卷气，正合诚斋体「以俗为雅」的语言追求。与下句「飞入菜花无处寻」的转折相接，急走之速与蝶没之快形成呼应，更添童趣的生动，是此诗炼字传神的关键，也是理解古汉语词汇演变的有趣例证。