宋 Song · 诗 Poem
留衢州王彦博周钦止徐审知 其一
Staying, in, Quzhou, with, Wang Yanbo, Zhou Qinzhi, and, Xu Shenzhi, No. 1
漫道诗能陶冶，绝知酒可浮沉。
行值田间积淖，住逢溪上愁阴。
Truly, knowing, the wine, can, make, the floating, and, the sinking.
Traveling, meeting, the fields, the deep, mud,
Staying, encountering, the streams, the sorrowful, shade.
Meaning
A poem of the journey and the sigh, written by Zhao Fan. Vainly saying the poetry can temper and refine, truly knowing the wine can make the floating and the sinking — the sigh of the opening. Traveling meeting the fields the deep mud, staying encountering the streams the sorrowful shade — the journey of the close. The poem is the journey and the sigh: the poetry, the wine, and the close's mud and shade.
休要说诗歌能够陶冶人的性情。我深切地知道，酒能够让人随波浮沉、暂忘忧戚。行走时正遇上田间积水汇成的烂泥坑。停下歇息时又碰上溪水之上惹人愁闷的阴云。
Appreciation
[Plain Paraphrase] Vainly, saying, the poetry, can, temper, and, refine, truly, knowing, the wine, can, make, the floating, and, the sinking. Traveling, meeting, the fields, the deep, mud, staying, encountering, the streams, the sorrowful, shade. [Structure and Thought] The poem moves from the sigh of the poetry and the wine, through the traveling with the deep mud, to the close's the staying with the sorrowful shade. [Key Technique] The poem's art is the close of the journey: traveling meeting the fields the deep mud, and the close's staying encountering the streams the sorrowful shade — the sigh gathered in the traveling and the close's sorrow. [Emotional Tone] Sighing, weary, and muted: the poem is the poetry, the wine and the close's mud and shade.
【白话串讲】 赵蕃留在衢州，写给朋友：“漫道诗能陶冶，绝知酒可浮沉”——诗能陶冶，酒能忘忧。“行值田间积淖，住逢溪上愁阴”——他写行旅的愁。 【意象与手法】六言短章，「漫道」与「绝知」先破后立，后二句以积淖、愁阴的实境坐实前文的牢愁。 【情感与主旨】写羁旅困顿中对诗教失效的反省，透出南宋下层文人流转江湖、无可逃于天地的苍凉。 【名句点睛】「绝知酒可浮沉」的「浮沉」最沉——以醉乡为仅有的慰藉，是极淡口吻下裹着的极沉悲哀。
Background
Zhao Fan (1143-1229), the poet of the Southern Song, wrote this 'Staying, in, Quzhou, with, Wang Yanbo, Zhou Qinzhi, and, Xu Shenzhi, No. 1' of the journey and the sigh — the weariness of the travel. The poetry with the wine, and the close's the fields with the streams — the poem gathers the sigh of the poet, the weariness of the journey. The poem is one of the works of the poet's poems of the journey.
赵蕃，字昌父，号章泉，原籍郑州，南渡后侨居信州玉山，生于宋高宗绍兴十三年，卒于理宗绍定二年，年八十七，是南宋中后期江西诗派的重要传人。其曾祖赵旸，祖赵泽，父赵涣，家世仕宦而中落。赵蕃早年受学于刘清之，后与朱熹、吕祖谦等理学家交游，又从江西派诗人韩淲（涧泉）齐名，时称「二泉」。其诗法黄庭坚，主张「夺胎换骨」「点铁成金」，而晚年诗风渐趋平淡自然，不事雕琢，以枯淡见真趣。此诗题作「留衢州王彦博周钦止徐审知 其一」，乃赵蕃行旅衢州时留赠三位友人之作，原当不止一首，此为其一。「留」字暗示诗人羁旅滞留、与友人盘桓未去之态；王彦博、周钦止、徐审知皆其朋辈，具体生平虽未显赫于史，然可见赵蕃交游之广与重情之性。南宋偏安，士人流转江湖，以诗酒相慰乃常态，此诗即于困顿行旅中写对诗酒二事的反思，篇幅虽短，而身世之感、朋友之谊、忧患之思皆蕴其中，是读懂赵蕃小品诗的一把钥匙。
Art
The poem's art is the art of the sigh. The sigh opens: vainly, saying, the poetry, can, temper, and, refine — the poetry of the tempering; truly, knowing, the wine, can, make, the floating, and, the sinking — the wine of the floating and the sinking. The journey follows: traveling, meeting, the fields, the deep, mud — the deep mud of the traveling; staying, encountering, the streams, the sorrowful, shade — the sorrowful shade of the staying — the sigh, the journey and the close's sorrow, gathered in the poem.
此诗艺术上最醒目的特征，是六言绝句中罕见的「理趣」与「白描」的结合。全诗四句，每句六字，属六言截句一体。首二句「漫道诗能陶冶，绝知酒可浮沉」，以「漫道」与「绝知」两个虚词领起，构成先破后立的辩证结构：先否定「诗能陶冶性情」的常谈，再肯定「酒可浮沉」的切身体验。「陶冶」用《荀子》「陶冶万物」之典，本指熔铸化育，此处言诗之涵养；「浮沉」则双关，既指醉中身世之浮沉，亦指心绪之起伏。后二句「行值田间积淖，住逢溪上愁阴」，由内心转向外境，以行旅所见之「积淖」「愁阴」坐实前二句之慨。「行」「住」二字对比，写出奔波与暂歇皆无欢趣。「积淖」谓田间积水成泥淖，「愁阴」谓溪上阴云惹人愁，皆为实景而兼象愁。章法上，前二句说理，后二句写境，理以境证，境因理深，短章而有转折顿挫。语言则全用寻常字面，不使僻典、不炼奇字，于江西派「平淡」一格中见功力，与苏轼「人生到处知何似」之旷、杨万里「诚斋体」之活，可相参看。
Allusions
'The floating and the sinking' (fu chen) are the floating and the sinking — the floating and the sinking of the wine, the fate of the life; 'the deep mud' (ji nao) is the deep mud — the mud of the fields, the weariness of the traveling; 'the sorrowful shade' (chou yin) is the sorrowful shade — the shade of the sorrow, the streams of the close.
此诗用典极少而暗脉甚深，最可注意者为「陶冶」与「浮沉」二词的文化渊源。「陶冶」一语，最早见于《荀子·王制》「陶冶万物」，又《汉书·董仲舒传》有「陶冶而成之」之语，本指烧制陶器、熔铸金属，引申为教化培养，魏晋以后常以「陶冶性情」言诗文之功效，如《文心雕龙·养气》篇论创作之涵养，即此传统。赵蕃以「漫道」二字一笔抹倒此一千年常识，足见其不肯随人言说的骨力。「浮沉」则出自《诗经》「载沉载浮」与《楚辞》「宁溘死以流亡」之江湖意象，汉乐府《陌上桑》、古诗十九首中「浮沉」多喻世途升降，至杜甫「世事洞明皆学问」一脉，以酒喻浮沉更成文人常态，如李白「抽刀断水水更流，举杯销愁愁更愁」即是。又「积淖」之「淖」字，见《左传》「陷于淖」与《庄子》「淖约」之用，本指烂泥，诗人以田间积淖写行旅之苦，朴实而沉痛。全诗虽为六言短章，而字字有来历，正合江西诗派「字字有出处」的家法，只是点化无痕，读者每不觉耳。
Commentary
This poem is one of the works of Zhao Fan's poems of the journey, quoted for the bluntness of its sigh and the mutedness of its close. The wine making the floating and the sinking, and the sorrowful shade of the streams, are among the admired passages of the poet's poems. Critics praise the poem's bluntness: the sigh gathered in the journey, to the close's sorrow.
赵蕃此诗在历代选本中并不显赫，然于研究南宋江西诗派之流变颇具标本意义。方回《瀛奎律髓》论江西派，标榜「一祖三宗」，而于赵蕃、韩淲「二泉」之品评虽少专论，然其《桐江续集》中屡及章泉诗风之「清苦」。清人厉鹗《宋诗纪事》收赵蕃诗，已注意其「以淡为工」。近人钱钟书《宋诗选注》虽未录此章，但其论南宋诗人「以诗为活计、以酒为生涯」之普遍心态，正可移释此诗。今人缪钺《诗词散论》论宋诗「以俗为雅、以故为新」，赵蕃此作以六言写行旅牢愁，不避「积淖」「愁阴」之鄙近字面，而能于浅语中见深慨，正是宋诗本色。又，此诗与苏轼《和子由渑池怀旧》「泥上偶然留指爪」之人生无常感、与杨万里《闲居初夏》之即事成吟，精神相通。要之，赵蕃诗虽无苏黄之恢张、陆范之沉雄，而以枯淡真率自立一帜；此六言小诗，于二十余字中写尽羁旅、诗酒、友朋三层意绪，小而能深，殆非率尔操觚者所能到。
Prosody
Line by line
漫道诗能陶冶，
Tell me not that poetry can refine the heart,
休要说诗歌能够陶冶人的性情。
Do not say that poetry can refine and mold a man's nature.
此句为全诗起手，以「漫道」二字劈空而来，先立一否定性判断，极具斩截之力。「漫道」犹言「莫说」「休说」，是宋人论诗论学中常见的反诘口吻，带有不屑随俗、自出手眼的姿态。其所否定者，是「诗能陶冶」这一自孔门诗教、《毛诗序》「温柔敦厚」以至于钟嵘《诗品》「使穷贱易安、幽居靡闷」的千年共识——诗可以涵养性情、陶钧世风。赵蕃身为江西派传人，本最应信守「诗以养心」之教，却在此以「漫道」轻轻推翻，这种自我解构式的开篇，正见其历经行旅困顿后的真实反省：在泥淖愁阴的现实中，吟诗弄翰未必真能排遣块垒。一句之中，既有对传统的质疑，也有对自我身份的反讽，为下句「绝知酒可浮沉」的转折蓄足了势。其用笔之冷隽，较之白居易「诗者，根情苗言」的乐观诗观，已透露出南宋士人更趋内敛、更重实感的精神转向。
This line opens the whole, coming through the air in the two words tell me not, first establishing a negative judgment, with decisive force. The words tell me not are like say not and speak not, the common questioning tone of Song poetry and learning, carrying the posture of disdaining the vulgar and bringing out one's own eye. What it negates is the thousand-year consensus that poetry can refine the heart, from the Confucian school's poetry teaching, the Mao Preface's gentle and sincere, to Zhong Rong's Poetry Critique's making the poor and low easy at peace and the secluded dweller free from gloom. Zhao Fan, as an heir of the Jiangxi school, should most keep to the teaching of poetry for nurturing the heart, yet here he overturns it lightly with tell me not; this self-deconstructing opening exactly shows his true reflection after the hardships of the road: in the reality of mire and sad gloom, chanting verse and wielding the brush may not truly send off the blockage. In one line there is at once the doubt of tradition and the irony of self-identity, gathering force for the lower line's turn of I well know that wine can buoy or sink. The cold cutting of the brush, compared with Bai Juyi's optimistic view of poetry as feeling-rooted and word-sprouted, already reveals the spiritual turn of the Southern Song scholar toward the inward and the concrete.
绝知酒可浮沉。
I well know that wine can buoy or sink a man.
我深切地知道，酒能够让人随波浮沉、暂忘忧戚。
I know full well that wine lets a man drift with the current and forget his sorrows for a while.
此句紧承上句「漫道」而来，以「绝知」与「漫道」对举，由破转立，是全诗的诗眼所在。「绝知」即深切知晓、断然确认，语气比「漫道」更坚决。「酒可浮沉」四字，字面上谓饮酒能使人于醉乡中随波浮沉、暂忘忧戚，实则双关甚深：「浮沉」既指醉后身形的摇晃颠踬，更指士人出处进退、世途升降的无常——在南宋偏安、党争不绝的语境中，文人之「浮沉」往往身不由己。赵蕃以「酒」代「诗」作为真正的慰藉，并非宣扬酗酒，而是以极淡的口吻道出极沉的悲哀：当诗教失效、雅道难凭，唯有浊酒能使人于片刻中「浮」离苦难、或「沉」入遗忘。这种以酒为归宿的写法，上承陶渊明「浊酒聊自适」、杜甫「浊醪谁造汝，一酌散千忧」，下开江湖派诗人「诗酒送穷」之习，是读懂宋人精神困境的一句要言。
This line follows close on the upper tell me not, setting I well know against tell me not, turning from breaking to establishing, the poem's eye. The words I well know mean deeply knowing and decisively confirming, the tone more resolute than tell me not. The four words wine can buoy or sink, on the surface mean that drinking makes a man drift with the current in the land of drunkenness and forget sorrows for a while, yet really carry a double meaning: buoy or sink means at once the staggering and stumbling of the drunken body, and more the impermanence of the scholar's going out and staying, advancing and retreating, and the rise and fall of the road - in the context of the Southern Song's partial peace and endless party strife, the literary man's buoying and sinking is often beyond his control. Zhao Fan takes wine in place of poetry as the true solace, not preaching drunkenness, but speaking the deepest grief in the plainest tone: when the poetry teaching fails and the elegant way is hard to trust, only the turbid wine can make a man for an instant buoy away from suffering, or sink into oblivion. This way of taking wine as the refuge carries on from Tao Yuanming's the turbid wine is my only ease and Du Fu's who made you, O turbid wine? one draught disperses a thousand cares, and opens the Lake-and-River school's habit of poetry and wine sending off poverty, a key line for understanding the spiritual plight of the Song.
行值田间积淖，
Walking, I meet the mire that clogs the fields,
行走时正遇上田间积水汇成的烂泥坑。
As I walk, I chance upon the foul mud pooled in the fields.
此句由前二句的内心辨难转入外部行旅之实景，以「行」字领起，写诗人跋涉途中所遇。「积淖」谓田间积水汇聚成的烂泥坑，是江南春夏行旅最寻常亦最恼人之景。赵蕃此行滞留衢州，衢州地处浙西丘陵，多溪涧圩田，雨多则田畴积水成淖，行人裹足。「值」字用得极妙，有「恰逢」「正撞上」之意，暗示困境之不可避免，也透露出诗人对厄境的被动承受。这一句表面上只是白描路况，实则与首二句构成内外呼应：正因为诗不能陶冶、唯有酒可浮沉，而酒终有醒时，醒后面对的便是「田间积淖」般的现实泥淖——人生的困顿原不止于路途。以「行」对下句之「住」，写出动而不能脱、静亦无所安的两难。六言句中「田间积淖」四字纯用俚俗字面，不避鄙近，正是宋诗「以俗为雅」的典型笔法，于平淡中藏沉痛。
This line moves from the inner debate of the first two lines to the outer road's real scenery, led by the word walking, writing what the poet meets on the trek. The foul mud means the puddled mire in the fields, the most common and most vexing scenery of the Jiangnan spring and summer road. Zhao Fan on this journey lingered in Quzhou; Quzhou lies in the western Zhejiang hills, with many streams and polder fields, and when it rains the fields pool into mire and the traveler's feet are stuck. The word chance upon is most fine, meaning happen upon and run into, hinting the inescapability of the hardship, and revealing the poet's passive bearing of the ill lot. This line on the surface only draws the road plainly, yet really forms an inner-outer echo with the first two: precisely because poetry cannot refine and only wine can buoy or sink, and wine at last has its waking hour, after waking one faces the reality-mire like the mire that clogs the fields - the hardship of life is not only on the road. The word walking is set against the lower line's halting, writing the dilemma of moving yet unable to escape and resting yet nowhere at peace. In the six-character line, the four words mire that clogs the fields purely use the vulgar surface, not shunning the low and near, exactly the Song way of making the vulgar elegant, hiding the deepest grief within the plain.
住逢溪上愁阴。
Halting, I meet the sad clouds above the stream.
停下歇息时又碰上溪水之上惹人愁闷的阴云。
When I halt to rest, I meet the melancholy clouds above the stream.
此句以「住」字与「行」字相对，收束全篇，写诗人暂歇时所见所感。「溪上愁阴」谓溪水之上阴云密布，望之惹愁。江南水乡，溪桥处处，诗人投宿溪畔，抬头唯见阴霾，不见天日，恰与其羁旅寥落之心境同色。「逢」字与「值」字呼应，皆言不期而遇的愁境——无论行止，愁阴总来相就，可见愁非外物偶至，而是诗人内心投射于外之象。尤为可味者，「愁阴」二字将无形的情绪赋予以形之物（阴云），是情景交融的凝缩写法；而「溪上」则点出地缘特征，使抽象之愁有了江南水乡的湿润质感。合观四句：首言诗之无效，次言酒之可凭，三言行遇泥淖，四句住逢愁阴，由理入景，由内转外，二十余字写尽南宋下层文人流转江湖、无可逃于天地之间的苍凉。此句之「阴」字收平声，与「沉」字遥押，声情亦暗合愁惨之调。
This line sets the word halting against walking, closing the whole, writing what the poet sees and feels in his brief rest. The sad clouds above the stream mean the thick clouds above the stream, gazing on them breeds grief. In the Jiangnan water country, stream and bridge everywhere, the poet lodging by the stream, looking up only seeing the murky clouds and no sun, exactly of a color with his lonely traveler's mood. The word meet echoes chance upon, both speaking the unforeseen sad realm - whether moving or resting, the sad clouds always come to meet one, showing that grief is not an outer thing's chance arrival, but the image the poet's inner heart projects outward. What is especially to enjoy is that the two words sad clouds give formless emotion a formed thing (the cloudy sky), the condensed writing of feeling and scenery blended; and the words above the stream point out the geographic feature, giving the abstract grief the damp texture of the Jiangnan water country. Reading the four lines together: the first says poetry's ineffectiveness, the second wine's trustworthiness, the third walking meeting the mire, the fourth halting meeting the sad clouds, from reason to scenery, from within to without, the twenty-plus characters writing to the full the desolation of the Southern Song lower literary man drifting on the rivers and lakes, with no escape between heaven and earth. The word cloudy of this line ends in the level tone, echoing from afar the sinking, and the tone and feeling secretly match the sad key.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Compare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
苏轼《和子由渑池怀旧》「人生到处知何似，应似飞鸿踏雪泥。泥上偶然留指爪，鸿飞那复计东西」，与此赵蕃六言诗同写行旅与人生无定之慨。苏诗以「雪泥鸿爪」的旷达比喻，把羁旅升华为哲理，气象恢张而超脱；赵诗则以「田间积淖」「溪上愁阴」的实境白描，把行旅压回泥泞现实，气象枯淡而沉郁。二者一以理胜、一以境胜，一向上飞升、一向下沉沦，恰是北宋之豪与南宋之窘的精神分野。又，苏诗「老僧已死成新塔，坏壁无由见旧题」亦以「泥」写痕迹之易灭，与赵诗「积淖」同用泥淖意象而喻人生留痕之难，可相参证。比较二诗，可见宋人行旅书写由北宋的旷达自适转向南宋的沉实哀愁，时代风气之变，已隐然见于题材的轻重之间。
清明 Qingming Festival 杜牧 · 同以酒写愁、以醉忘忧，风格一疏朗一枯淡 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
杜牧《清明》「借问酒家何处有，牧童遥指杏花村」，与此诗「绝知酒可浮沉」皆以酒为愁中慰藉，然取径迥异。杜诗写行人遇雨、借酒驱寒，情境清新明丽，杏花村落的远景为愁绪留出透气之处，是晚唐七绝的疏朗之美；赵诗写羁旅泥淖、以酒浮沉，情境阴郁逼仄，酒非助兴而是沉沦之具，是南宋六言的枯淡之痛。二者同样把「酒」置于行旅语境，同样以醉乡为暂时的逃避，但杜诗之酒通向春社般的温热人间，赵诗之酒只通向个人的孤愁深渊。比较可见，唐人写酒多带浪漫亮色，宋人写酒渐成存在主义式的麻醉；赵蕃此句「绝知」二字之决绝，正标示宋诗将「酒可忘忧」由常识升格为生存体认的转折。两诗并读，可觇唐宋诗风由外烁转内敛的一大关捩。
过零丁洋 Passing Lingdingyang 文天祥 · 同写身世浮沉之痛，一悲壮一枯淡，皆南宋士人精神侧影 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
文天祥《过零丁洋》「山河破碎风飘絮，身世浮沉雨打萍」，以「浮沉」喻国破家亡中个人命运之无据，与此诗「绝知酒可浮沉」共用「浮沉」一词而境界悬殊。文诗之「浮沉」系于社稷倾覆的宏大悲壮，赵诗之「浮沉」限于个人行旅的微小哀愁，一巨一细，皆南宋士人「无可逃于天地」之困境的两种写法。赵蕃写此诗时虽未历亡国之痛，而其「酒可浮沉」已预含后世文天祥式「身世浮沉」的渺茫感——当诗教、雅道皆不足凭，个体只能随世波逐流。比较二诗，可见「浮沉」作为宋诗关键词，由北宋苏轼「与君世世为兄弟」的从容，到赵蕃的枯淡自伤，再到文天祥的悲壮殉国，语义权重层层加重，恰是一部南宋精神史的缩微。赵蕃此小诗，实为此脉络中不可轻忽的一环。