All poems

宋 Song · 诗 Poem

诏追供职学省晓发鸣山驿

Setting Out at Dawn from Mingshan Station, Recalled by Edict to Serve at the Directorate of Education

杨万里

Yang Wanli

羁旅travel 行役official journey 思乡homesickness 写景scenery

数店疏仍密，千峰整复斜。
冰痕犹带浪，霜草自成花。
录录堪朝列，星星已鬓华。
帝城万事好，得似早还家。

A few inns, sparse then dense; a thousand peaks, level now aslant.
Ice traces still bear their wave patterns; frosted grasses turn to flowers of their own.
Mediocre, I barely hold a place among the court's ranks; starry white already streaks my temples.
Though everything in the imperial city is fine, how does it compare with going home early?

Listen

Meaning

Written on a dawn departure from a post station while summoned by imperial edict to serve in the Directorate of Education, the poem traces the inns and mountains of the early-spring road, then turns inward: the poet confesses his ordinariness at court, laments his graying hair, and concludes that all the splendors of the capital cannot match an early return home. It is a travel poem that is really about weariness of official life and longing for home.

驿站沿途的旅店时疏时密,远处千百座山峰时整时斜。溪中残冰犹带水波的纹理,经霜的野草上凝结的霜花自成一番景致。自己碌碌无奇,勉强厕身朝廷官列,鬓边却已生出星星白发。京城纵有万般好处,哪里比得上早早回到家乡。

Appreciation

The poem exemplifies the "lively method" of the Chengzhai style: everyday language, mobile perspective, and words of hidden weight. The opening couplet uses the function words "still" and "again" to set sparse and dense, level and slanting into ceaseless motion, as if the scene were filmed from a moving horse. "Ice traces still bear waves" makes stillness hold motion, and "frosted grasses become flowers on their own" finds nature's artistry in withered stalks, while the close weighs the capital's plenty against the homeland in a single light question that carries real force of renunciation.

【白话串讲】杨万里接到诏书回京，清晨从鸣山驿出发：“数店疏仍密，千峰整复斜”。“冰痕犹带浪，霜草自成花”——“帝城万事好，得似早还家”——他写赴任路上的心情。【意象与手法】此诗以诚斋活法写晓行山景。首联「数店疏仍密,千峰整复斜」以「仍」「复」两虚字连缀疏密正斜,画面随车马移动不断变换;颔联「冰痕犹带浪,霜草自成花」以静写动、于败草中发现天工,炼字精妙;后四句由景入情,「录录」「星星」自谦自伤,尾联「帝城万事好,得似早还家」以议论作结,把倦游思归收在淡淡一问中。【情感与主旨】此诗作于杨万里奉诏赶赴学省途中。早行驿路,山景清美,反衬出对宦海浮沉的厌倦:「录录堪朝列」自嘲碌碌无奇,「星星已鬓华」暗伤岁月催人。帝城虽好,终不如早还家,功名之恋与故园之思并置对勘,归心之切见于淡然一问。写景之灵与抒情之淡相生,是诚斋体由清新走向深沉的中年心境,羁旅行役诗中情理俱胜的一篇。【名句点睛】「冰痕犹带浪,霜草自成花」:冰上犹带水纹,以静写动,似闻冰下奔涌;霜草自成花,从败草中见造化天工。两句炼字入妙,早春晨行的清冽与艰辛兼收,是诚斋善从细微处取景的典范。

Background

Yang Wanli wrote this poem at Mingshan Station while setting out before dawn, summoned by imperial edict to serve at the Directorate of Education (xuesheng), the Song term for the Imperial University and its affiliated offices. Having earned his jinshi degree in 1154, Yang served repeatedly as a local education official and in library posts, and his career involved constant transfers between the provinces and the capital. The word "edict" in the title marks this as an official summons rather than ordinary travel, and "dawn" indicates the hardship of mounting his horse before daybreak. Mingshan Station lay on the main route between Jiangxi and Hunan, a road Yang often traveled between his home in Jishui and the court at Lin'an, and his Chengzhai collection contains many notes on such journeys. Passing through an early-spring landscape of scattered inns, rolling peaks, unmelted ice, and frost-crowned grass, the poet's thoughts turned from scenery to his own drifting career, closing with the reflection that the capital, for all its advantages, cannot compare with home.

此诗为杨万里奉诏赶赴行在供职学省途中晓发鸣山驿时所作。学省指国子监一类学官署署,宋人以学省或外学称国子监,杨万里绍兴二十四年进士及第后,屡任州县学官与馆职,乾道、淳熙间曾召试馆职,后知漳州、常州等地,仕途迁转频繁。诗题着一诏字,说明此行乃朝廷征召,非寻常行旅;着一晓字,点明天色未明即策马启程的辛劳。鸣山驿位于赣湘孔道,杨万里往返家乡吉水与行在临安,常经由此路,其诚斋诗集自注多记驿程琐事。此诗写于初春时节,驿路两旁数家旅店疏密相间,群峰起伏,晨冰未泮,霜草凝华,面对如画山景,诗人却由朝列录录、鬓华星星联想到自身宦海浮沉,遂以帝城虽好、不如早还家作结,流露出倦于簿书、思念故园的复杂心绪。杨万里一生虽以高寿令名见称,然其晚年奉祠退居之前,宦游跋涉之感屡见于篇,本篇正可视作其中年行役诗的代表之一。背景综合《宋史·杨万里传》与周汝昌选注《杨万里选集》(上海古籍出版社)相关系年考订。又按,学省之名,宋人诗文习用,或以称国子监及宗学、武学诸学署,杨万里于此职颇不以荣进为念,其诚斋集自序屡言江湖倦游,可见一斑。诗中帝城与还家之对,盖由其往来赣湘、京浙间数十载的切身体验而来,并非泛泛套语。

Art

The poem's great strength lies in the "live method" of the Chengzhai style, where ease of surface conceals the labor of refinement. The first couplet joins two pairs of pictures with function words, the camera moving from village to mountain range and the rhythm of mountain travel caught in the alternation of sparse and dense. The second couplet, the finest descriptive writing in the poem, sets "still bears waves" against still ice so that the frozen stream seems to keep its surge beneath, while "flowers of their own" discovers heaven's craftsmanship in frost on dead grass. The third couplet turns from scene to self, pairing the self-mockery of "mediocre" with the self-pity of "starry temples," the single word "barely" anchoring a whole life's disappointment. The closing couplet sets the capital's goodness against the joy of home in a deliberate weighing of values: flat in tone, heavy in import. Plain words throughout, yet the function words "still," "own," and "barely" each bear a thousandweight of feeling—shallow on the surface, deep beneath.

此诗最大特色在诚斋体式的活法运作,于平易晓畅中见锻炼之工。首联数店疏仍密,千峰整复斜,以两个虚字连接两组画面,店疏而密、峰整而斜,俯仰之间写出山行特有的错落节奏,镜头由近及远,由村落而群峰,画面陡然而活。次联冰痕犹带浪,霜草自成花,乃全诗写景最精处,冰痕着犹带浪三字,以静写动,使凝冰仿佛仍藏奔涌之势;霜草着自成花,则就眼前细物托出造化天工,不言美而美自现。三联转笔写人,录录堪朝列,星星已鬓华,由景入情,以碌碌无奇的自嘲与鬓发斑白的自伤相映照,虚字堪字尤其凝重,将一己身世之感轻轻顿住。尾联帝城万事好,得似早还家,以议论收束,帝城之好与故园之乐形成价值对勘,语气看似平淡,内里却含去就取舍的分量。全篇对仗工整而气机流动,写景不用奇字,言情不落叫嚣,正如清代论者所称诚斋善以浅语写深意,此诗即是明证。就章法言,前半写景、后半抒怀,景情相生,转捩处不留痕迹,是宋人五律中体格浑成的一路。全诗以浅语写至境,而炼字处如犹、自、堪等虚字,皆有千钧之重,浅其表而深其里,正合诚斋晚年所谓脱却江西窠臼、自出机杼之论。

Allusions

"Lu-lu" (mediocre) derives from Sima Qian's remark in the Shiji that Xiao He and Cao Cen "rose from humble origins and showed no extraordinary deeds," making it the standard humble term for one's own uselessness in office. "Xing-xing" (starry) for graying hair comes from Zuo Si's "Rhapsody on White Hair" of the Western Jin—"starry white hairs grow at the temples' edge"—which made the word the standing metonym for age, with Du Fu's travel poems echoing the same tone. "Imperial city" is the traditional honorific for the capital, from Han and Tang yuefu and court poems, carrying by itself the suggestion of fame and fortune. The wish to "return home early" answers Tao Yuanming's call in "Return Home"—"the fields and garden are going to waste—why not return?"—reactivating the great theme of official wandering versus reclusion that runs through all of Chinese literati writing. Notably, every allusion here is drawn from familiar books, none obscure, yet each gains new aptness from being set in lived travel experience, showing Yang Wanli's principle of using the past naturally rather than as a display of pedantry.

录录一词,源出《史记·萧相国世家》,太史公言何与参俱起微细,录录未有奇节,录录即碌碌、平庸无所作为之貌。诗人用以自状,谦抑之中暗含对馆阁清要之职的冷眼,与唐人自谦台省之任时的用法一脉相承。星星指白发星星点点,语出西晋左思《白发赋》星星白发,生于鬓垂,后世遂以星星为华发之代称,杜甫《成都府》亦云翳翳桑榆日,照我征衣裳,与星星对举,皆以岁月之感入行旅之吟。此外,帝城一词为长安、汴京一类京邑的传统美称,汉唐乐府与唐人应制诗屡见,宋人沿用不衰,本身即含功名富贵之地的暗示。早还家之愿,则上承陶渊明《归去来兮辞》田园将芜胡不归的召唤,将宦游与归隐这一贯穿中国士大夫文学的母题再度激活。值得玩味的是,诗中用典皆取常见书,无一僻典,却因置于真切的行旅体验中而倍增贴切,可见诚斋化用故实以自然为尚,不以饾饤为工,这与其论诗主张不求与古人合而不能不合的观点正相表里。典故来源可参《史记》(中华书局点校本)、《文选》卷十三《白发赋》及陶集诸通行注本。又帝城好而早还家之思,与杜甫春日行旅诗中得归即喜的吟咏亦有一脉相通处,可见用典之妙不在征引繁富,而在以故实照映当下情境,使千载之前人之心与眼前行役相接,此即所谓善用事者。

Commentary

Yang Wanli advocated the "live method" of poetry, describing in his preface to the Jingxi Collection how in 1178 he suddenly awakened, "bade farewell to the Tang poets and to the masters of the Jiangxi school," and found his own voice. That preface is the classic self-account of the Chengzhai style's formation. The Siku editors praised his poetry as vigorous in thought and fresh in manner, free of the old Jiangxi manner, ranking him with Lu You, Fan Chengda, and You Mao as the four great poets of the restoration. Zhou Ruchang, in his selected Yang Wanli, located the style's value in observing ordinary nature with fresh eyes and finding poetry where everyone else saw nothing—precisely what this poem does with a post-road morning scene. Anthologies have usually favored the famous quatrains, and this regulated travel poem has drawn less commentary, yet its precision of diction and depth of feeling make it essential to understanding how the Chengzhai style, so often praised for lightness, could also deepen into melancholy.

杨万里论诗倡活法,其自述学诗历程见于《诚斋荆溪集序》,谓戊戌作诗忽若有悟,于是辞谢唐人及王、陈、江西诸君子,皆不敢学,而后欣如也。此序历来被视作诚斋体形成的夫子自道,学者多引以说明其诗以自然灵脱为归。《四库全书总目·诚斋集提要》称其诗才思健拔,别开生面,不落江西旧格,与陆游、范成大、尤袤并称中兴四大诗人,而清新流利处或谓尤在诸家之上。明代胡应麟《诗薮》外编于宋人律诗多致不满,而于诚斋之清新流丽则时有称引,虽不无轩轾,亦见其诗在宋调中别具清新之致。周汝昌《杨万里选集》前言指出,诚斋体的价值在于以崭新的眼光观察平凡的自然景物,于人人常见处发现诗意,此诗对驿路朝景的捕捉,正是此种诗学理想的实践。就本诗而言,历代选本多录诚斋晓出净慈寺、小池一类绝句,此首五律行役之作历来评家着墨较少,然其炼字之精、情韵之厚,足以与荆溪集中最上乘之作并观,今日读者正可借此类作品补足对诚斋诗体认识之缺环。要之,此诗于诚斋全集虽非压卷之作,然其以行役写心境、以浅语寓深意的本事,正可作理解诚斋体由清新走向深沉的重要样品,学者于此不可轻过。

Prosody

Form Five-character regulated verse (wuyan lüshi)五言律诗

Rhyme Level-tone rhyme in the Xia-ping "ma" category (xie, hua, hua, jia)平水韵下平六麻(斜、花、华、家)

Tone pattern First line begins oblique and does not rhyme; tonal pattern broadly regular, with fine parallelism in the middle couplets首句仄起不入韵,平仄大体合律,颔联对仗工整

Reading note This is a five-character regulated poem rhyming in the level-tone "ma" rhyme of the Pingshui system; the four rhyme words—xie, hua, hua, jia—have an open, spreading mouth-shape, giving a relaxed, bright sound suited to dawn travel and clear mountain scenery. In tonal pattern, the first line "A few inns, sparse then dense" runs oblique-oblique-level-level-oblique, the oblique-opening non-rhyming type, while the second line rises level-level-oblique-oblique-level, the tone lifting from suppressed to elevated; the third and fourth lines are regular, and the middle couplets are on the whole correctly parallel, though the doubled entering-tone word lu-lu in the third couplet creates a deliberate halting rhythm that fits the self-mocking tone. The penultimate line "Everything in the imperial city is fine" runs oblique-level-oblique-oblique-oblique, three obliques in a row—an intentional violation within Song practice—yet the final line rescues it with level-level-oblique-oblique-level, so the flow of breath never breaks. The first six lines are unhurried and the close slightly emphatic, the music moving in step with the feeling; entering-tone words ("a few," "lu-lu," "barely like") scattered through the poem alternate fall and rise, matching the rhythm of hills glimpsed at dawn, a genuine union of sound and scene.此诗为五言律诗,押平水韵下平六麻韵,斜、花、华、家四韵字口形开阔,读来有舒展明快之感,与早行晓色、山野清景的情境相合。平仄方面,首句数店疏仍密为仄仄平平仄,属仄起不入韵式,次句千峰整复斜作平平仄仄平,声调由抑而扬,第三句冰痕犹带浪为平平平仄仄,第四句霜草自成花为平仄仄平平,中两联对仗大体工稳,唯录录堪朝列之录录两入声字连用,使该句声情顿挫,恰好配合自嘲的语气。尾联帝城万事好一句作仄平仄仄仄,连用三仄,是宋人五律中破格之处,然以拗救之理论之,乃下句得似早还家以平平仄仄平相救,气韵依然流转。全诗前六句节奏舒缓,尾联略作顿挫,音律与情思起伏同步,是诚斋五律中声情并胜的一首。又此诗以入声字数店、录录、得似等错落其间,诵读时抑扬相间,恰与山行晨色中起伏的景物节奏相应,声与景会,尤见匠心。

Line by line

数店疏仍密，千峰整复斜。

A few inns appear sparse then dense, and a thousand peaks stand level, then tilt aslant, along the moving road.

驿站沿途的旅店时疏时密,远处千百座山峰时整时斜。

The roadside inns are sparse, then dense; the thousand peaks are upright, then slanting.

两句以疏仍密、整复斜两组对立语写行旅所见,店与人聚散、山与人俯仰相对,画面在移动的车马中不断变换。虚字仍与复,一作连系,一作呼应,使景物不再是静止的剪影,而带上速度与呼吸。全诗由此展露天未明即登程的苍茫视野,为后文鬓华之叹布下底色,笔致极活。两语又暗藏赶路之速与观物之闲的对峙,马背上一瞥之间,村店峰峦俱成诗句,正是诚斋体捕捉刹那景色的看家本领。

These two lines write the road scenery in the two sets of opposing words, sparse then dense and upright then slanting, the inns gathering and scattering with men, the peaks bowing and rising against men, the picture constantly changing in the moving carriage and horse. The function words then and again, one as a link, one as an echo, make the scenery no longer a static silhouette, but carry speed and breath. The whole poem from this unfolds the vast view of setting out before dawn, laying the ground color for the later sigh at the temples' white, the brush most nimble. The two words also secretly hide the standoff of the speed of the hastening and the leisure of watching things; between a glance on horseback, the village inns and peaks all become poetry, exactly the Chengzhai style's house-craft of catching the instant scenery.

冰痕犹带浪，霜草自成花。

The remaining ice still bears the pattern of waves, and frost on the withered grasses turns them into flowers of their own accord.

溪中残冰犹带水波的纹理,经霜的野草上凝结的霜花自成一番景致。

The ice marks still bear the ripple; the frosted grass of itself flowers.

冰痕犹带浪,以静态的冰写动态的波,着一带字,顿觉流水仍在冰下奔涌;霜草自成花,则从寻常败草中发现造化天工,着自字,暗示此花非人力所成,弥足珍贵。两语一写水、一写陆,一暖一寒,共同织出初春晨行特有的清冽画面,是诚斋善从细微处取景的典型笔墨。且冰霜并置,寒气透纸,早春晨行之艰辛与清美兼见,物色之新,全赖一双不肯放过寻常景物的眼睛。

The ice marks still bear the ripple writes the dynamic wave through static ice; the single word bear makes one feel at once that the flowing water still surges beneath the ice. The frosted grass of itself flowers discovers the work of heaven from the ordinary dead grass; the single word of itself hints that this flower is not made by human force, the more precious. The two words, one writing water one writing land, one warm one cold, together weave the clear biting picture peculiar to the early-spring morning road, the typical Chengzhai brush of winning the view from the minute. Moreover, the ice and frost set side by side, the cold breath through the paper, the hardship and the beauty of the early-spring morning road both appear; the newness of the things all depends on a pair of eyes that will not let the ordinary scenery pass.

录录堪朝列，星星已鬓华。

Undistinguished as I am, I barely hold a place among the court's ranks, while starry white hairs have already appeared at my temples.

自己碌碌无奇,勉强厕身朝廷官列,鬓边却已生出星星白发。

A mere drone fit for the court ranks; already flecked with white, my temples turn gray.

此联由写景转入写己,录录自谦而含不甘,星星自伤而带无奈,堪字既实写身分处境,又隐含着对簿书劳形的厌倦。两句工对而意脉相承,将仕途的平凡与岁月的流逝并置,情绪由前联的清景转入沉郁,为尾联早还家之愿蓄足势。此联亦见诚斋五律中不多见的苍老之音,行役既久,年光暗度,两语间自有一种无言之叹,较一般叹老之作更见沉实。

This couplet turns from writing scenery to writing oneself, drudge self-deprecating yet carrying unwillingness, flecked with white self-grief yet carrying helplessness; the word fit at once plainly writes the station and lot, and secretly holds the weariness of the office documents' wearing the form. The two lines are a wrought parallel and the meaning vein carries on, setting side by side the ordinariness of officialdom and the passage of the years, the feeling turning from the clear scenery of the preceding couplet to melancholy, gathering force for the closing wish to return home early. This couplet also shows the seldom-seen old and stern note of Chengzhai's five-character regulated verse; the road service long, the years secretly passing, between the two words there is of itself a wordless sigh, more solid than the ordinary sigh of age.

帝城万事好，得似早还家。

Though everything in the imperial city is good, how can it compare with returning home early?

京城纵有万般好处,哪里比得上早早回到家乡。

The imperial city has everything fine; how can it compare with going home early?

尾联以议论作结,却不说京华不可居,反说京华万事皆好,欲扬先抑,然后轻轻一转,道出还家之愿,语似商量,情极坚决。此种以好衬归的写法,比直陈厌倦更高一层,显出诗人对功名与田园两方都了然于胸的清醒,余味绵长。帝城好三字虚写其盛,早还家三字实写其愿,虚实相间,去留之志,尽在淡然一问中交代清楚。此问之中,仕途之恋与田园之思两相对照,又着一早字,归心之切,跃然纸上,语虽劝慰,实为自誓。

The closing couplet closes in argument, yet does not say the capital cannot be dwelt in, but on the contrary says the capital's ten thousand things are all fine, first depressing then raising, then with a light turn speaks the wish to return home, the words as if in discussion, the feeling most resolute. This way of using fine to set off the return is a move higher than directly stating weariness, showing the poet's clear eye knowing both fame and the fields, the aftertone long. The three words imperial city fine write its splendor in the void, and the three words return home early write its wish in the solid; the void and solid alternate, and the will of going or staying is all made clear in the plain question. Within this question, the love of officialdom and the thought of the fields are set against each other; and the single word early makes the earnestness of the heart's return leap on the paper, the words though consoling really an oath to oneself.

Study

Word focus

仍 In "sparse yet dense," the word reng means "still/and then," linking the two mutually exclusive states of sparse and dense into a continuous succession, as if the traveler counts inns one by one and the spacing keeps changing—one small function word brings the whole moving scene alive. 仍字在疏仍密中作又、且解,数店之疏与密本是互斥的两种状态,着一仍字,便把它们连贯成先后相承的动态,仿佛行人一路点数旅店,疏处亦见密,密处复转疏,空间的参差错落被一笔写活。它同时暗示行程之持续与观物之从容,一仍字而全句皆振,可见诚斋炼虚字之功。此字之妙,尤在无意中写出行程的绵延,店非一店,峰非一峰,一路行来,疏密正斜,皆是目之所接、心之所感。

自 In "frost grass turns to flowers of its own," zi means spontaneously, without human agency: the frost blooming on dead grass needs no poet's praise to be beautiful, giving the humble object an aesthetic value independent of man. 霜草自成花的自字,有天然生成、不假人力之意。霜华凝于败草,本是岁寒寻常物色,着此一字,便赋予它独立于人的美学价值,不必诗人赞咏而自有其美。自字在唐诗中多带任性自适的意味,诚斋此处取其天成之趣,与首句仍字之经营恰成对照,一人工一天然,章法细密。自字又有自得之意,霜华之白、草色之枯,造化点染,不假人言,诗人于此只是拈出而欣赏之,其胸次之恬然,亦借自字透出。

堪 In "barely fit for the court's ranks," kan means "to be barely equal to," condensing the poet's mixed attitude into one word—he deems himself undistinguished and unfit for high charge, yet he stands in the ranks all the same, his self-mockery, grievance, and resignation all gathered in a single syllable. 录录堪朝列的堪字,作勉强、足以解,自谦口吻毕现。堪字将诗人对馆职生活的复杂态度凝聚于一念之间:既自认无奇,不堪大任,又终究身在朝列,不得不以此自安。一字之中,有牢骚,有自嘲,也有守分知足,是全诗情脉的枢纽,下联星星鬓华即由此感发。又堪字上承录录,下启星星,将自谦、自怜与自安三层意思连成一气,一字而管照全篇之情感走向,此即古人所谓诗眼。