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宋 Song · 诗 Poem

读杜工部诗

Reading the Poems of Du Gongbu

张方平

Zhang Fangping

山水landscape 田园pastoral 边塞frontier 愁思melancholy

文物皇唐盛，诗家老杜豪。
雅音还正始，感兴出离骚。
运海张鹏翅，追风骋骥髦。
三春上休苑，八月浙江涛。
璀璨开鲛室，幽深闭虎牢。
金晶神鼎重，玉气霁虹高。
甲马腾千队，戈船下万艘。
吴钩铦莫触，羿彀巧无逃。
远意随孤鸟，雄筋举六鳌。
曲严周庙肃，颂美孔图襃。
世乱多群盗，天遥隔九臯。
途穷伤白发，行在窘青袍。
忧国论时事，司功去谏曹。
七哀同谷寓，一曲锦川遨。
妻子饥寒累，朝廷战伐劳。
倦游徒右席，乐善伐干旄。
旧里归无路，危城至辄遭。
行吟非楚泽，达观念庄濠。
逸思乘秋水，愁肠困浊醪。
耒阳三尺土，谁为翦蓬蒿。

The culture of imperial Tang flourished; among poets, old Du stood most heroic.
His noble notes restored the Zhengshi tone; his stirred inspiration flowed from the Li Sao.
Skimming the seas he spread the roc's wings; chasing the wind he galloped the finest steeds.
In late spring he roamed the imperial parks; in the eighth month, the tides of the Zhe River.
Resplendent, he opened the mermaids' pearl chamber; dark and deep, he sealed fast the Hulao Pass.
Golden crystal, the sacred tripod's weight; jade vapor, the clearing rainbow's height.
Armored horses surged in a thousand squadrons; war boats descended by the ten thousand.
The Wu hook is too keen to touch; Yi's bowshot too deft to escape.
His farthest meaning follows the lone bird; his mighty sinews lift the six giant turtles.
His hymns as solemn as the Zhou temples; his praises worthy of the charts of Confucius.
The world in chaos teemed with bandit hosts; heaven far off, beyond the nine marshes.
Road's end, he grieved his whitening hair; at the mobile court, pinched in his black gown.
Anxious for the state he judged the times; from the remonstrance office he passed to a clerkship.
His "Seven Sorrows" lodged at Tonggu; one song roamed the Brocade River.
Wife and children burdened by hunger and cold; the court worn by campaigns without end.
Weary of roaming, he sat idle at the guest of honor's seat; loving good, he raised the banner of worth.
No road led back to his old village; to beleaguered cities he came, and met only hardship.
Chanting as he walked—yet not by the marshes of Chu; in broad vision he mused on the Hao bridge of Zhuangzi.
His untrammeled thoughts rode the Autumn Waters; his sorrowful heart was steeped in rough wine.
At Leiyang, three feet of earth—who will shear away the weeds for him?

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Meaning

A vast "extended regulated" poem in twenty couplets, it is a formal coronation of Du Fu. Opening with the flourishing of Tang civilization and Du's heroism, it praises the poet's lineage—his orthodox music restored to the Zhengshi note, his inspiration sprung from the Li Sao—then works through a cascade of twelve metaphors for the power, splendor, depth, and precision of his art. The latter sections recount Du Fu's suffering in a world of rebellion, his poverty, his exile, his devotion to the state, and close with his three feet of earth at Leiyang, unweeded and unmourned.

唐代文物昌盛，诗家中以杜甫最为雄豪。他雅正之音上承正始，感兴之怀出自离骚。如运海张开鹏翅，如追风驰骋骏髦。三春游上林，八月下浙江之涛。诗境璀璨如入鲛人室，幽深如闭虎牢关。如金晶神鼎之重，如玉气霁虹之高。甲马腾跃千队，戈船直下万艘。笔如吴钩锐不可触，法如羿彀巧无可逃。远意随孤鸟，雄筋举六鳌。曲度严如周庙之肃，颂美合于孔图之襃。世乱多群盗，天遥隔九皋。途穷伤白发，行在窘青袍。忧国论时事，司功去谏曹。七哀寓同谷，一曲遨锦川。妻子饥寒相累，朝廷战伐徒劳。倦游空居右席，乐善自伐干旄。旧里归无路，危城至辄遭。行吟虽非楚泽，达观已念庄濠。逸思乘秋水，愁肠困浊醪。耒阳三尺之土，谁为剪其蓬蒿。

Appreciation

The poem's method is "general—particular—verdict": two lines fixing era and man, sixteen lines of sustained metaphor for the poetry itself, then the life, then the elegiac close. Its most striking device is the use of an entire metaphor-system in place of abstract critical vocabulary: roc's wings and fine steeds for power, the pearl chamber and Hulao for radiance and depth, armored squadrons and war fleets for massed force, the Wu hook and Yi's bowshot for edge and craft. To write criticism in the manner of a fu, with images drawn from heaven, geography, human affairs, and myth, arranged along a line from outer to inner, from vast to fine, is the Song poets' signature fusion of essay and verse—and by using Du Fu's own favored form, the extended regulated poem, to honor the master of that form, the tribute is built into the genre itself.

【白话串讲】张方平读杜甫的诗：“文物皇唐盛，诗家老杜豪”——“雅音还正始，感兴出离骚”——“运海张鹏翅，追风骋骥髦”——“甲马腾千队，戈船下万艘”——他赞杜甫是诗中之豪。【意象与手法】长篇排律以「总—分—评」为经。起联总挈时代与人物，中段以比喻群落写诗境：鹏翅、骥髦喻才力，鲛室、虎牢喻境象，甲马、戈船喻沉雄，吴钩、羿彀喻法度锐利，皆以实象写虚品。后幅写杜之遭际忧国，结以身后不平。【情感与主旨】主旨是对杜甫的正式加冕：既赞其「豪」的雄健才力，又揭其「雅音还正始」的诗统地位与「感兴出离骚」的忠爱之源，折射北宋中期杜甫经典化的时代进程。【名句点睛】「雅音还正始，感兴出离骚」一联最见论诗之眼，以「还」「出」二字框定杜诗双重品格，开后世诗圣说的先声。

Background

Zhang Fangping's "Reading the Poems of Du Gongbu" is a grand five-character extended regulated poem devoted wholly to Du Fu and his poetry. Fangping lived in the mid-Northern Song, precisely when Du Fu's reputation was being raised from "a poet of our dynasty's reading" to supreme classic: Wang Yucheng had already said that "Zimei's collected poems opened a new world of poetry," Ouyang Xiu and Mei Yaochen honored Li Bai and Du Fu together, and Wang Anshi and Su Shi were elevating Du Fu to the ultimate standard—"of all poets ancient and modern, Zimei alone stands first." Fangping's poem, in the unprecedented scale of twenty couplets, is the ceremonial crowning within that process. Extending regulated verse to honor a person had Tang precedent—Du Fu himself had written long regulated poems to Li Bai, and Yuan Zhen's epitaph for Du had argued the case in prose—so that Fangping's choice to praise the master of extended regulated verse in the master's own form is itself an act of homage. Fangping's own style was classical and mellow, far from Du Fu's brooding intensity, yet the metaphors of galloping steeds and sinews lifting giant turtles show how reading Du transformed his own register, the tribute visibly enlarging the poet paying it. Understanding this node in the Song reception of Du Fu is the key to reading the poem's verdicts—"restored the Zhengshi tone," "hymns as solemn as the Zhou temples"—as the formal canonization of a sage by a loyal servant of the Song state.

张方平《读杜工部诗》是一首规模宏大的五言排律，专咏杜甫及其诗。方平生于杜诗渐受推尊的北宋中期，自王安石誉杜为「诗家之史」、苏轼谓「古今诗人众矣，而子美独为首」，杜诗地位正冉冉上升。方平此诗既是对杜诗的礼赞，亦折射北宋中期对杜甫的经典化过程。方平本人诗风典重温厚，与杜之沉郁顿挫貌异而皆重风骨，故能相知。此诗当作于方平退居读书、精研唐贤之时。了解杜诗在宋代接受史的这一节点，方能读懂诗中「雅音还正始」「曲严周庙肃」的定调——那是一代宋臣对诗圣的正式加冕。北宋对杜甫的接受，大致经历了由「本朝之诗」到「古今之冠」的抬升过程：宋初王禹偁已谓「子美集开诗世界」，然终宋初之世，杜诗尚未被奉为最高典范；至仁宗朝，欧阳修、梅尧臣推尊李杜，王安石、苏轼更将杜甫推向诗家极则。张方平此诗作于这一抬升过程中，以二十联的宏制为杜甫「加冕」，其规模在宋人咏杜诗中罕见。又，以排律咏人，本有唐人的传统，杜甫自己即以《赠李白》《寄李十二白二十韵》等长篇铺叙友人，元稹《唐故工部员外郎杜君墓系铭》则以文论杜；张方平取「排律」之体而咏「排律之祖」杜甫，可谓以杜之体还咏杜之人，体例本身即含致敬之意。方平诗风典重温厚，本与杜之沉郁有别，然此诗「追风骋骥髦」「雄筋举六鳌」诸喻，力摹杜之雄健，可见其对杜诗「豪」之一面的倾心，与其平素温厚之作判然两途，正见「读杜」使其诗境为之一变。

Art

The poem is a five-character extended regulated poem, twenty couplets on a single rhyme—rare in Fangping's work and rare among Song poems on Du Fu. Its framework is "general—particular—verdict": the opening couplet fixes era and man in ten characters; the long central section (sixteen lines) exclusively grades Du Fu's poetry; the next section turns to his life and times; the close mourns him at Leiyang. The core of the poem is its metaphor-clusters: roc's wings and finest steeds for power; the mermaids' pearl chamber for radiance, Hulao for depth; golden tripod and clearing rainbow for weight and height; armored horses and war boats for massed strength; the Wu hook and Yi's bowshot for edge and inescapable craft; the lone bird and six giant turtles for reach and might. The images are drawn from astronomy (golden crystal, jade vapor, clearing rainbow), geography (Hulao, the pearl chamber), human affairs (squadrons, fleets, weapons), and myth (the roc, the giant turtles), ten thousand phenomena without confusion, because a single thread—outer to inner, vast to minute, power to craft—runs through them all. This image-based criticism is more vivid than the abstract adjectives of the Shipin tradition, a model of the Song method of treating poetry criticism as prose composition and writing judgment in the manner of a fu.

此诗五言排律，二十联一韵到底，是方平诗中罕见的长篇。章法以「总—分—评」为经：起首「文物皇唐盛，诗家老杜豪」总挈时代与人物；中段「雅音还正始」以下铺陈杜诗之境——以「运海张鹏翅，追风骋骥髦」喻其气势，「璀璨开鲛室」喻其瑰丽，「甲马腾千队」喻其沉雄，「吴钩铦莫触」喻其锐利；复以「世乱多群盗」以下写杜之遭际与忧国；终以「耒阳三尺土，谁为翦蓬蒿」收结，寄以身后不平。通篇以比喻群落写诗境，是宋人以文论诗的手法，比直写感慨更见工力。细按章法，此二十联实可分为「总挈—品诗—叙身—寄慨」四大段：起二句总挈时代人物；自「雅音还正始」至「颂美孔图襃」，凡十六句，专品杜诗之格，是全文主体；自「世乱多群盗」至「达观念庄濠」，转叙杜甫身世遭际；末二句「逸思乘秋水」以下，归结于身后之吊。四段之中，尤以「品诗」一段最为铺张扬厉：方平连下鹏翅、骥髦、鲛室、虎牢、金晶神鼎、玉气霁虹、甲马、戈船、吴钩、羿彀、孤鸟、六鳌十二喻，从气势、瑰丽、沉雄、锐利、高远诸面穷形尽相地摹写杜诗之境，极尽排律铺陈之能事。其喻象之选取，上取天文（金晶、玉气、霁虹）、中取地理（虎牢、鲛室）、下取人事（甲马、戈船、吴钩），又兼及神话（鹏翅、六鳌），万象并陈而不乱，正因有一条「由外而内、由巨而细、由势而法」的线索贯穿其间。此等以博喻品诗的笔法，较之《诗品》之抽象形容，更具形象，是宋人以文论诗、以赋笔写评的典范。

Allusions

The allusions and figures must be sorted. "Zhengshi" names the pure, austere literary manner of the Wei reign-period, so "his noble notes restored the Zhengshi tone" claims Du Fu as heir of the orthodox Ya music—a term fixed in poetics by the Shishuo Xinyu's entry on "the Zhengshi note." "Li Sao" derives from Sima Qian's account that Qu Yuan's "Li Sao" was born of resentment: Fangping takes the strand of loyal grief, joining "poetry may complain" to Du Fu and welding Qu Yuan to Du as the lineage of loyal love. "The roc's wings" and "finest steeds" come from Zhuangzi's great peng and the tradition of the thousand-li horse, images of sheer power. "The mermaids' pearl chamber" is from the Records of Strange Things, where mermaids weep pearls—to enter the chamber is to come away gleaming—for the jewel-bright splendor of Du's verse; "Hulao" is the impregnable pass of Chenggao, for depth that can be held. "Yi's bowshot" is from the Zhuangzi, "to wander within Yi's bowshot": central to the mark and inescapable, converted here from mortal danger to poetic method—whoever enters Du Fu's range is held fast by his art. "The Hao bridge of Zhuangzi" alludes to the debate over the fish's joy, standing for Du Fu's late-life breadth of vision, set in deliberate contrast with the "sorrowful heart steeped in rough wine." Every allusion is aimed at one facet of the poetry, and together they weave the net of judgment in which the whole of Du Fu is caught.

诗中用典与比喻须辨。其一，「正始」指魏正始年间诗文清峻之风，方平以「雅音还正始」说杜诗上承风雅正声。其二，「离骚」见「感兴出离骚」，谓杜之感兴有屈子忠愤之遗。其三，「鹏翅」「骥髦」喻才力雄健，本庄子大鹏、千里马意象。其四，「鲛室」出《述异记》鲛人泣珠，喻杜诗如入鲛室得珠之璀璨。其五，「虎牢」指成皋险隘，喻诗境幽深可守。其六，「羿彀」用《庄子》羿之彀中，喻杜诗法度精密无可逃。其七，「庄濠」用庄子濠梁，结以「达观念庄濠」说杜晚年达观。诸喻皆切诗品，非泛设。诸典之中，可再析其源流与用意。其一，「正始」虽为魏齐王芳年号，然「正始之音」作为风雅正声的代称，实经《世说新语》「正始之音」条而确立，后遂成诗学批评的固定话头，方平以「雅音还正始」上接风雅，用的是这一诗学谱系的通义。其二，「离骚」之为「感兴」之源，本《史记·屈原列传》「屈平之作离骚，盖自怨生也」，方平取「怨而忠」之一义，谓杜诗之「感兴」有屈子忠愤之遗，遂把「诗可以怨」的传统接于杜甫。其三，「羿彀」出《庄子·德充符》「游于羿之彀中」，本喻「中其机括、无可逃避」；方平借以说杜诗法度之精密，读者一入其彀中，便为其艺术所牢笼，妙在化「危机」为「诗法」之喻。其四，「庄濠」用庄子、惠子濠梁观鱼之典，写杜晚年达观、与物同乐，与「愁肠困浊醪」的忧苦形成对照，见杜诗情志之两歧。诸典皆非泛设，而各就诗品之一端，共同织成一张论杜之网。

Commentary

This poem is a key document in the Song reception of Du Fu. Read beside Wang Anshi's "Portrait of Du Fu" and Su Shi's "Inscribed on a Portrait of Du Fu," the division of labor is precise: Wang values the compassion of "his thin wife sprawled before him, his son collapsing behind"; Su values the loyalty of "not once forgetting his sovereign even at a single meal"; Fangping values the poetic lineage of "restored the Zhengshi tone"—compassion, loyalty, and heroic power, three sides of the poet-sage that the Northern Song assembled together. Fangping's distinction is to make the poetry, not the man, his organizing principle, devoting the poem's body to the art itself, with the full battery of metaphor—a procedure that takes Yuan Zhen's prose epitaph toward its "comprehensive synthesis" verdict and renders it as poetry, a genuine forerunner of fully articulated image-criticism of Du Fu. Qing commentators, annotating Du line by line, quoted Song verdicts freely; the couplet "hymns as solemn as the Zhou temples, praises worthy of the charts of Confucius" anticipates the later standardized tone of solemnity and loyal love. To read this poem is to learn that Du Fu's sainthood was not a fact awaiting discovery but a cultural construction—and that Zhang Fangping was among its most industrious builders.

此诗是宋人杜诗接受史的重要文献。与王安石《杜甫画像》、苏轼《题杜甫画像》并观，王重其「瘦妻僵前子仆后」的悲悯，苏重其「一饭未尝忘君」的忠悃，方平则重其「雅音还正始」的诗统地位——三人各取一端，合起来正是北宋中期杜甫经典化的三维。方平以排律咏杜，体大而虑周，视唐人咏诗人（如元稹《唐故工部员外郎杜君墓系铭》）之文更趋诗化。清人仇兆鳌注杜，每引宋人评语，方平此诗「曲严周庙肃，颂美孔图襃」一联，实开后世以「肃穆」「忠爱」定杜的先声。读此诗，当知杜甫之所以为诗圣，宋人功不可没，而方平此长篇正是加冕礼上的一篇颂词。再就接受史看，此诗还隐藏着一个饶有趣味的现象：宋人论杜，各执一端，而各端之间又互为补充。王安石重杜之「悲天悯人」，苏轼重杜之「一饭不忘君」，方平重杜之「雄豪」与「诗统」，三人所取，恰构成杜甫形象的三个侧面——仁者之怀、忠者之节、豪者之力，合而观之，方是完整的「诗圣」。而方平此诗的特殊处，在于它不以「人」为纲，而以「诗」为纲，专力铺陈杜诗的艺术境界，这在宋人咏杜诗中别树一帜；元稹《墓系铭》虽已开「集大成」之说，然以排律之诗体、博喻之手法全面品杜者，方平此作可称先声。后人论杜诗「浑涵汪茫、千汇万状」，方平此诗以十二喻摹之，正与「千汇万状」之评相映成趣。读此诗，当知宋人对杜甫的尊崇，不仅是一种文学判断，更是一种文化建构，而张方平正是这场建构中出力甚勤的一位。

Prosody

Form Five-character extended regulated verse (wuyan pai-lü)五言排律

Rhyme Level hao rhyme throughout, one rhyme to the end: hao, sao, mao, tao, lao, gao, sou, tao, ao, bao, gao, pao, cao, ao, lao, mao, zao, hao, lao, hao—a long single-rhyme composition通押平声豪韵，入韵字为豪、骚、髦、涛、牢、高、艘、逃、鳌、襃、臯、袍、曹、遨、劳、旄、遭、濠、醪、蒿，一韵到底，长篇宏制。

Tone pattern Tones follow regulated patterns, with parallel couplets throughout, e.g. "skimming the seas he spread the roc's wings / chasing the wind he galloped the finest steeds," tones matched and word-classes paired五言排律依律调平仄，中多联对仗，如「运海张鹏翅，追风骋骥髦」「璀璨开鲛室，幽深闭虎牢」「甲马腾千队，戈船下万艘」，平仄相对、词性相侔。

Reading note For a twenty-couplet extended regulated poem, the great prosodic risk is exhaustion, and this poem's strength is sustaining one rhyme to the end without the breath failing. The hao rhyme belongs to the open-mouthed first-division of the xiao group: its vowel is resonant and expansive, ideally suited to the heroic weather of "old Du stood most heroic" and to the poem's manner of amplification. Holding twenty couplets on this rhyme, Fangpour pours forward like the Long River, sounding grand and strong in proportion to the heroism it praises. The middle section's chain of images—roc's wings and steeds for power, pearl chamber and Hulao for scene, squadrons and fleets for mass, Wu hook and Yi's bowshot for method—each closes on the hao rhyme, so the vocal current never breaks. Extended regulated verse most fears sagging in the middle; here the metaphor-clusters keep changing the scenery, and the resonance of the hao rhyme holds the frame, so that length never becomes looseness. Among the rhyme-words, hao and lao carry a shade of somber depth, quietly admitting the grief of Du Fu's "sorrowful heart" within the splendor—one sound serving two moods, which is the poem's finest prosodic touch.此诗既为二十联长篇排律，音韵之长者，在一韵到底而气不竭。豪韵属效摄开口一等，元音洪亮、音色开阔，最宜写「老杜豪」的雄健气象与铺陈之盛。方平以豪韵笼二十联，如长江大河一泻而下，读来声宏势壮，正与所咏杜诗之豪相称。中幅连喻诗境：鹏翅、骥髦状才力，鲛室、虎牢状境象，甲马、戈船状沉雄，吴钩、羿彀状法度，皆以豪韵收句，声气一贯。排律最忌中幅疲沓，此诗以比喻群落层层换境，赖豪韵的洪亮托住，故长篇而不松散。宋人长篇咏人，每以文法入诗，此诗音韵与章法相表里，豪韵之宏正是其体格的外显，欲体会宋调排律之壮阔，此篇足堪取法。再就韵脚看，豪韵诸字多含「ao」之洪亮元音，且以平声贯穿，正宜铺陈杜诗之雄；而「濠」「醪」等字微带沉郁，又暗透杜甫「愁肠」之悲，一声而兼两境。

Line by line

文物皇唐盛，诗家老杜豪。

The civilization of imperial Tang flourished, and among the poets old Du Fu stood supreme in heroic power.

总写唐代文物之盛，而诗家中以杜甫最为雄豪

The culture of the great Tang was splendid; among poets, old Du was the bold.

此开篇一联是全诗总挈，作法如史论起手。上句「文物皇唐盛」先立时代坐标，唐之盛世文物灿然，为杜甫出场铺一层恢宏背景；下句「诗家老杜豪」方落到本题，一个「豪」字是方平对杜诗的总体判定。常人论杜多曰「沉郁」「忠厚」，方平独标「豪」字，盖见其「气吞风雅」「力敌曹刘」的雄健一面，与其排律中「运海张鹏翅，追风骋骥髦」的喻写一脉。更可味者，「老杜」之称在北宋已流行，方平沿用，含亲炙之意，不似后人 distant 的「诗圣」尊号那般疏隔。五言短联而能总揽时代与人物、定下「豪」的基调，是长篇咏人之作的稳当起手，后文一切铺陈皆从此「豪」字生发。

The opening couplet is the poem's whole frame, the method like the opening of a historical essay. The first line first establishes the age's coordinate: the splendid culture of the prosperous Tang, laying a vast background for Du Fu's entrance. The second lands on the theme, and the single word bold is Fangping's total verdict on Du's poetry. Most who discuss Du say somber and loyal; Fangping alone sets up the word bold, seeing the vigorous side of his swallowing the elegantiae and his strength matching Cao and Liu, in the same line as his regulated verse's soaring like a spreading roc's wing and racing like a thoroughbred's gallop. What is more to taste is that the name old Du was already current in the Northern Song; Fangping uses it, holding the meaning of personal discipleship, not the distant later title of Sage of Poetry. A short five-character couplet that can take in age and man and fix the key of bold, a steady opening for a long poem on a man; all the later description grows from this word bold.

雅音还正始，感兴出离骚。

His orthodox music restored the pure tone of the Zhengshi era, and his stirred inspiration issued from the Li Sao.

言杜诗雅正之音上承正始，感兴之怀出自离骚

His pure tone returns to the Zhengshi era; his stirring feeling comes down from the Li Sao.

此联是全诗诗学定调，最见方平论诗之眼。上句「雅音还正始」，正始为魏齐王芳年号，其时诗文（何晏、嵇康等）尚清峻，后人常以「正始之音」代表风雅正声；方平说杜诗使雅音「还」于正始，意谓自风雅沦替后，杜公重新接续了诗歌的正统血脉。下句「感兴出离骚」，直指杜之感兴有屈子忠愤之遗，把杜甫上接屈原，构成「风雅—正始—离骚—杜」的统绪。二字「还」字吃紧，写出杜诗中绝复兴的史观；「出」字吃紧，写出感兴所自。一联而囊括诗统与情统两端，比泛言「继承风雅」精确得多。宋人建构杜诗正统地位，此联正是一句纲领性的判语，开后世「诗圣」说的先声。

This couplet fixes the poem's poetics, most showing Fangping's eye in discussing poetry. The first, his pure tone returns to the Zhengshi era: Zhengshi is the era of Cao Fang of Wei, when letters (He Yan, Ji Kang and others) prized clarity and sternness, and later ages often take the sound of Zhengshi to represent the correct strain of elegant poetry; Fangping says Du's poetry returns the pure tone to Zhengshi, meaning that since the decline of the elegant strain, Du has rejoined the orthodox bloodline of poetry. The second, his stirring feeling comes down from the Li Sao, directly points out that Du's stirring feeling has the legacy of Qu Yuan's loyal grief, placing Du Fu above and linking him to Qu Yuan, forming the lineage of elegant strain - Zhengshi - Li Sao - Du. The word returns is decisive, writing the historical view of Du's poetry's interrupted revival; the word comes down is decisive, writing the source of the stirring feeling. One couplet encloses both the poetic lineage and the emotional lineage, far more precise than a general saying of inheriting the elegant strain. The Northern Song construction of Du's orthodox status; this couplet is exactly a programmatic verdict, opening the earlier note of the later Sage of Poetry.

Study

Word focus

豪 The word hao, "heroic," is Fangping's one-word verdict on Du Fu's poetry and the pivot of the whole poem: where Yuan Zhen said "vast and all-encompassing" and Song readers said "brooding" or "loyal," Fangping alone fixes on heroic vigor—the power of the roc's wings, the sweep that swallows past and present—correcting the lopsided image of Du as only sorrowful, and generating every later image of the poem from this single character. 「诗家老杜豪」之「豪」字，是方平对杜诗的总评诗眼，亦全诗精神所聚。寻常论杜，唐人元稹曰「浑涵汪茫」，宋人多曰「沉郁」「忠厚」，方平独标「豪」，别具只眼。豪者，雄健、气盛、力能扛鼎也，正对应后文「运海张鹏翅，追风骋骥髦」的喻写——杜诗之豪，在气势、在才力、在囊括古今的魄力。此字之妙，在补世人对杜「惟愁惟苦」的偏面印象：杜固多忧国涕泪，亦有「会当凌绝顶」「一览众山小」之豪，方平拈出，见其读杜之全。一字而定全篇基调，后文璀璨、甲马、吴钩、雄筋诸喻，皆从此「豪」字流出。以一字总评一大家，是宋人诗话式批评入诗的范例，炼字之功在能摄千首于一字。

骚 The word sao, naming the Li Sao, is the complementary pivot: it grounds Du Fu's emotional lineage in Qu Yuan's loyal grief, balancing "heroic" with the deep and the sincere. Where "Zhengshi" fixes the orthodoxy of his music, "Li Sao" fixes the depth of his feeling—one dignified, one plaintive, one heroic, one sorrowful—the pair of words together framing Du Fu's double character and keeping the verdict from one-sidedness. 「感兴出离骚」之「骚」字，是与「豪」互补的另一诗眼，代表杜诗情感传统的源头。《离骚》为屈原代表作，自来是忠愤、怨悱、美人迟暮的象征；方平说杜之「感兴」出自离骚，是把杜甫上接屈原，构成「屈—杜」的忠爱谱系。此字之重，在揭示杜诗不惟气豪，更兼情挚——其忧国论时事、司功去谏曹，皆屈子「长太息以掩涕」的嗣响。上句「正始」言诗统之正，此句「离骚」言情统之深，一雅一怨、一豪一悱，恰好框定杜诗双重品格。宋人论杜每分「忠爱」与「雄豪」两路（苏轼重忠爱、王安石重雄健），方平此联一身兼之，骚字正是平衡「豪」的关键，使总评不至偏枯。