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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

采桑女

The Mulberry-Picking Girl

唐彦谦

Tang Yanqian

春风吹蚕细如蚁，桑芽才努青鸦嘴。
侵晨探采谁家女，手挽长条泪如雨。
去岁初眠当此时，今岁春寒叶放迟。
愁听门外催里胥，官家二月收新丝。

Spring wind blows; the silkworms are fine as ants;
The mulberry buds just thrust out green crow-beaks.
At dawn who is that girl gathering—
Her hand on the long bough, tears like rain?
Last year at this time the worms had just slept;
This year the spring cold has delayed the leaves.
She dreads hearing the petty official urge at the gate—
The court will collect the new silk in the second month.
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Meaning

A spring scene of premature silkworm rearing meets a weeping girl: cold weather has delayed the mulberry leaves she needs, yet the government will demand new silk in the second month. Tang Yanqian exposes the cruel mismatch between nature's pace and the taxman's deadline, a quiet indictment of peasant oppression.

春风吹蚕细如蚁，桑芽才努青鸦嘴。侵晨探采谁家女，手挽长条泪如雨。去岁初眠当此时，今岁春寒叶放迟。愁听门外催里胥，官家二月收新丝。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] Spring wind ripens silkworms tiny as ants while mulberry buds barely push out green, crow-beak tips. At dawn a girl goes gathering—hand on the long branch, weeping like rain. Last year the worms had just entered their first sleep by now; this year cold spring has held back the leaves. She grieves to hear the petty official's summons at her door: the court will take the new silk in the second month. [Structure] A delicate natural opening (wind, worms, buds), the human focus (weeping girl), a temporal contrast (last year / this year), and the oppressive close (the official, the tax). [Imagery] The 'green crow-beaks' of buds and 'tears like rain' set fragile life against hard demand. [Tone] Sorrowful, pointed, socially acute—a 'people's' poem in the Bai Juyi vein.

【白话串讲】 唐彦谦写《采桑女》：“春风吹蚕细如蚁，桑芽才努青鸦嘴”——“侵晨探采谁家女，手挽长条泪如雨”——“去岁初眠当此时，今岁春寒叶放迟”——“愁听门外催里胥，官家二月收新丝”——他写采桑女——手挽长条泪如雨。 【意象与手法】 “春风吹蚕细如蚁，桑芽才努青鸦嘴”写蚕细桑嫩；“侵晨探采谁家女，手挽长条泪如雨”写采桑女泪；“去岁初眠当此时，今岁春寒叶放迟”写叶迟之叹；结以“愁听门外催里胥，官家二月收新丝”写官家催收新丝。沉痛讽喻。 【情感与主旨】 唐彦谦写悯农讽喻之作，写采桑女春寒叶迟、无蚕可养而官家二月即催收新丝的疾苦，揭露赋税之苛，是悯农讽喻诗的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“侵晨探采谁家女，手挽长条泪如雨”以手挽长条泪如雨写采桑女；“愁听门外催里胥，官家二月收新丝”以官家催丝写赋税之苛。

Background

Tang Yanqian (fl. late 9th c.), a late-Tang poet of the 'satirical and allegorical' lineage influenced by Bai Juyi and Du Mu. 'The Mulberry-Picking Girl' belongs to the tradition of poems exposing the burden of the silk and tax system on rural women, who reared silkworms and wove tribute silk for the court. The 'li xu', a low village official, represents the grassroots enforcement of state extraction—a recurring figure in Tang social poetry.

《采桑女》为唐代诗人唐彦谦所作诗。唐彦谦（约870年前后在世），字茂业，并州晋阳人，唐代诗人。此诗写悯农讽喻，为咏采桑女之作。诗中「春风吹蚕细如蚁，桑芽才努青鸦嘴」写春风吹蚕细如蚁，桑芽才努青鸦嘴；「侵晨探采谁家女，手挽长条泪如雨」写侵晨探采谁家女，手挽长条泪如雨；「去岁初眠当此时，今岁春寒叶放迟」写去岁初眠当此时，今岁春寒叶放迟；「愁听门外催里胥，官家二月收新丝」写愁听门外催里胥，官家二月收新丝。唐彦谦此诗以悯农讽喻、官家二月收新丝写其讽喻之情，沉痛讽喻，是唐彦谦诗中的名篇。此篇《采桑女》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。此篇《采桑女》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。

Art

The poem's craft is its quiet, escalating indictment through contrast. The opening is almost pretty—wind, ant-like worms, buds like green crow-beaks—establishing the fragile, hopeful beginning of the sericultural year. The second couplet centers the human cost: a girl weeping as she gathers, her tears 'like rain' against the tender bough. The third couplet widens time: last year the worms slept by now, but this year's cold has delayed the leaves—nature itself is uncooperative. The close lands the blow: the li xu's summons and the court's second-month silk collection. The structure moves from delicate nature to human sorrow to systemic cruelty, so the tax appears not as abstraction but as the cause of a girl's tears. Plain, image-led diction maximizes the social punch.

此诗艺术上以「沉痛讽喻、以蚕写情」见长。全诗共八句四联，由春风吹蚕细如蚁而侵晨探采谁家女而去岁初眠当此时。起「春风吹蚕细如蚁，桑芽才努青鸦嘴」写春风吹蚕细如蚁：春风吹蚕细如蚁，桑芽才努青鸦嘴；「侵晨探采谁家女，手挽长条泪如雨」写侵晨探采谁家女：侵晨探采谁家女，手挽长条泪如雨；「去岁初眠当此时，今岁春寒叶放迟」写去岁初眠当此时：去岁初眠当此时，今岁春寒叶放迟；结「愁听门外催里胥，官家二月收新丝」写官家二月收新丝：愁听门外催里胥，官家二月收新丝。全诗以蚕写情，由春风吹蚕细如蚁而官家二月收新丝，沉痛讽喻，是唐彦谦诗中的名篇。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。

Allusions

The silkworm's first sleep is the sericultural term for the worms' first moult, a fixed stage marking the rearing calendar; the poem uses it to contrast years. 'The li xu' was the lowest-ranking village official tasked with mustering corvée and tax, here the face of state extraction at the peasant's door. 'New silk in the second month' references the early, often ruinous exactions on silk-producing households, a real late-Tang grievance.

诗中「春风吹蚕细如蚁桑芽才努青鸦嘴」「侵晨探采谁家女手挽长条泪如雨」「去岁初眠当此时今岁春寒叶放迟」「愁听门外催里胥官家二月收新丝」等语，皆含典故故实。「春风吹蚕细如蚁桑芽才努青鸦嘴」写春风吹蚕细如蚁桑芽才努青鸦嘴；「侵晨探采谁家女手挽长条泪如雨」写侵晨探采谁家女手挽长条泪如雨；「去岁初眠当此时今岁春寒叶放迟」写去岁初眠当此时今岁春寒叶放迟；「愁听门外催里胥官家二月收新丝」用里胥之典（里胥写里正胥吏），写愁听门外催里胥官家二月收新丝。诗人用里胥之典入诗，不着痕迹，而把悯农讽喻之情写得真切可感，是善于熔铸典故的体现。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。

Commentary

'The Mulberry-Picking Girl' is esteemed as a late-Tang satirical poem that lets imagery do the indicting: the weeping girl and the untimely tax need no moralizing footnote. It is often read alongside Bai Juyi's 'Parting from the People' and the broader silk-tax poetry as testimony to peasant hardship. Its strength is restraint—sorrow rendered through a single girl's tears and a single official's knock.

这首《采桑女》，是唐彦谦写悯农讽喻之作，写春风吹蚕细如蚁、侵晨探采谁家女、去岁初眠当此时、官家二月收新丝之情，沉痛讽喻。起「春风吹蚕细如蚁，桑芽才努青鸦嘴」——春风吹蚕细如蚁，桑芽才努青鸦嘴。写春风吹蚕细如蚁：春风吹蚕细如蚁、桑芽才努青鸦嘴——细如蚁、青鸦嘴；「侵晨探采谁家女，手挽长条泪如雨」——侵晨探采谁家女，手挽长条泪如雨。写侵晨探采谁家女：侵晨探采谁家女、手挽长条泪如雨——谁家女、泪如雨；「去岁初眠当此时，今岁春寒叶放迟」——去岁初眠当此时，今岁春寒叶放迟。写去岁初眠当此时：去岁初眠当此时、今岁春寒叶放迟——当此时、叶放迟；结「愁听门外催里胥，官家二月收新丝」——愁听门外催里胥，官家二月收新丝。写官家二月收新丝：愁听门外催里胥、官家二月收新丝——催里胥、收新丝。这「愁听门外催里胥，官家二月收新丝」，是全诗之结：以官家二月收新丝写其讽喻。全诗沉痛讽喻，以蚕写情，正是唐彦谦诗中的名篇。

Prosody

Form Seven-character regulated octet诗（七言律诗）
Rhyme Rhymes on zui, yu, chi, and si, in the zhi category—a relatively closed, plaintive tone suiting the sorrowful satire.此诗为七言律诗，共八句四联。押韵：「嘴」「雨」「迟」「丝」押支部韵。平仄相间，对仗工整，正与写悯农讽喻的沉痛讽喻相称，也见其以律诗写讽喻的凝练。
Tone pattern The opening is light and delicate; the middle dips into a weeping, lingering cadence; the close turns cold and accusing on the court's tax.句式上，「春风吹蚕细如蚁，桑芽才努青鸦嘴」写春风吹蚕细如蚁，音节沉痛；「侵晨探采谁家女，手挽长条泪如雨」写侵晨探采谁家女，音节低回；「去岁初眠当此时，今岁春寒叶放迟」写去岁初眠当此时，音节沉郁；结「愁听门外催里胥，官家二月收新丝」写官家二月收新丝，音节冷峻。全诗音节随情起伏，由沉痛而低回、由沉郁而冷峻，正合律诗「凝练」之妙，读来如悯农讽喻、官家二月收新丝之音，沉痛而动人。
Reading note A seven-character lüshi of social satire. Its zhi rhyme and image-led movement carry delicate nature into a girl's tears and the taxman's knock—restraint doing the indicting, a late-Tang satirical model.此诗为七言律诗，是唐彦谦写悯农讽喻之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「沉痛讽喻、以蚕写情」：「春风吹蚕细如蚁，桑芽才努青鸦嘴」写春风吹蚕细如蚁、「侵晨探采谁家女，手挽长条泪如雨」写侵晨探采谁家女、「去岁初眠当此时，今岁春寒叶放迟」写去岁初眠当此时、「愁听门外催里胥，官家二月收新丝」写官家二月收新丝。全诗沉痛讽喻，以蚕写情。尤为精妙者，是「手挽长条泪如雨」写尽泪如雨；而「官家二月收新丝」用里胥之典，正是唐彦谦诗「沉痛讽喻」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《采桑女》一诗之所以读来声情并茂，正在于诗人以声韵配合情思、以节奏烘托意境，音节之长短、平仄之起伏，皆与诗意相为表里，此亦可见中国古典诗歌声律之美与匠心之工。

Line by line

春风吹蚕细如蚁，桑芽才努青鸦嘴。

Spring wind blows; the silkworms are fine as ants; the mulberry buds just thrust out green crow-beaks.

春风吹蚕细如蚁，桑芽才努青鸦嘴。

The spring wind blows the silkworms, thin as ants; the mulberry buds just push out like a black crow's beak.

起句写春风吹蚕细如蚁，起笔即见其春蚕。「春风吹蚕细如蚁」写春风吹蚕细如蚁，「春风」写春风、「吹蚕细如蚁」写吹蚕细如蚁；「桑芽才努青鸦嘴」写桑芽才努青鸦嘴，「桑芽」写桑芽、「才努青鸦嘴」写才努青鸦嘴。一句写春风吹蚕细如蚁桑芽才努青鸦嘴，以春风吹蚕细如蚁写细如蚁、以桑芽才努青鸦嘴写青鸦嘴，写尽春风吹蚕细如蚁、桑芽才努青鸦嘴之情。以蚕起兴，沉痛而讽喻，是「以蚕起兴」的妙笔。

The opening line writes the spring wind blows the silkworms, thin as ants, the spring silkworms at once. The words spring wind write the breeze; thin as ants write the tiny worms. The mulberry buds just push out like a black crow's beak writes the bursting buds. The line writes to the full the feeling of the ants-thin worms and the crow-beak buds. Rising through the silkworm, painful and satirical, the fine brush of rising through the silkworm.

侵晨探采谁家女，手挽长条泪如雨。

At dawn who is that girl gathering—her hand on the long bough, tears like rain?

侵晨探采谁家女，手挽长条泪如雨。

At dawn, whose daughter goes to gather? Her hand pulls the long branch, tears like rain.

此句写侵晨探采谁家女，是全诗写谁家女之态的关键。「侵晨探采谁家女」写侵晨探采谁家女，「侵晨」写侵晨、「探采谁家女」写探采谁家女；「手挽长条泪如雨」写手挽长条泪如雨，「手挽长条」写手挽长条、「泪如雨」写泪如雨。一句写侵晨探采谁家女手挽长条泪如雨，以侵晨探采谁家女写谁家女、以手挽长条泪如雨写泪如雨，写尽侵晨探采谁家女、手挽长条泪如雨之情。以泪写情，沉痛而讽喻，是「以泪写情」的点睛之笔。

This line writes at dawn, whose daughter goes to gather?, the key of the whole's writing the daughter. The words at dawn write the early hour; whose daughter goes to gather writes the unknown girl. Her hand pulls the long branch, tears like rain writes the weeping. The line writes to the full the feeling of the dawn gathering and the tears like rain. Writing feeling through the tears, painful and satirical, the eye-dotting brush.

去岁初眠当此时，今岁春寒叶放迟。

Last year at this time the worms had just slept; this year the spring cold has delayed the leaves.

去岁初眠当此时，今岁春寒叶放迟。

Last year at this time the silkworms first slept; this year the spring is cold, the leaves unfold late.

此句写去岁初眠当此时，是全诗写去岁之态的关键。「去岁初眠当此时」写去岁初眠当此时，「去岁」写去岁、「初眠当此时」写初眠当此时；「今岁春寒叶放迟」写今岁春寒叶放迟，「今岁春寒」写今岁春寒、「叶放迟」写叶放迟。一句写去岁初眠当此时今岁春寒叶放迟，以去岁初眠当此时写当此时、以今岁春寒叶放迟写叶放迟，写尽去岁初眠当此时、今岁春寒叶放迟之情。以岁写情，沉痛而讽喻，是「以岁写情」的点睛之笔。

This line writes last year at this time the silkworms first slept, the key of the whole's writing last year. The words last year write the past; at this time the silkworms first slept writes the season. This year the spring is cold, the leaves unfold late writes the delayed foliage. The line writes to the full the feeling of last year's sleep and this year's late leaves. Writing feeling through the year, painful and satirical, the eye-dotting brush.

愁听门外催里胥，官家二月收新丝。

She dreads hearing the petty official urge at the gate—the court will collect the new silk in the second month.

愁听门外催里胥，官家二月收新丝。

Sadly she hears the village clerk urging at the gate; the government collects new silk in the second month.

结句写官家二月收新丝，是全诗立意的落点。「愁听门外催里胥」用里胥之典写愁听门外催里胥，「愁听门外」写愁听门外、「催里胥」写催里胥；「官家二月收新丝」写官家二月收新丝，「官家二月」写官家二月、「收新丝」写收新丝。一句写愁听门外催里胥官家二月收新丝，以愁听门外催里胥写催里胥、以官家二月收新丝写收新丝，写尽愁听门外催里胥、官家二月收新丝之情。以丝写情，沉痛而讽喻，是全诗最动人处，也是「以丝写情」的点睛之笔。

The closing line writes the government collects new silk in the second month, the landing of the whole's bent. Sadly she hears the village clerk urging at the gate uses the allusion to the village clerk; the words sadly she hears write the dread. The government collects new silk in the second month writes the early levy. The line writes to the full the feeling of the clerk's urging and the government's new silk. Writing feeling through the silk, painful and satirical, the most moving place of the whole and the eye-dotting brush.

Study

Word focus

春蚕 Spring silkworms — the tiny worms the girl rears; 'fine as ants' shows how fragile and early the rearing begins, and how vulnerable she is to the tax. 「春蚕」写春风吹蚕细如蚁，是写春蚕之态的关键。「春风吹蚕细如蚁」着一「春蚕」，写春蚕——着一「春蚕」，写春风吹蚕细如蚁，见其蚕之春。两字写尽春蚕之态，是「以词写蚕」的妙笔。「春蚕」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
桑芽 Mulberry buds — the new shoots the worms must eat; their late arrival (green crow-beaks) is the immediate cause of the girl's distress. 「桑芽」写桑芽才努青鸦嘴，是写桑芽之态的关键。「桑芽才努青鸦嘴」着一「桑芽」，写桑芽——着一「桑芽」，写桑芽才努青鸦嘴，见其芽之桑。两字写尽桑芽之态，是「以词写芽」的点睛之词。「桑芽」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
长条 Long bough — the mulberry branch the girl grasps as she weeps, anchoring the human image in the tree. 「长条」写手挽长条泪如雨，是写长条之态的关键。「手挽长条泪如雨」着一「长条」，写长条——着一「长条」，写手挽长条泪如雨，见其条之长。两字写尽长条之态，是「以词写条」的点睛之词。「长条」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
里胥 The li xu — the village official who summons households for tax and corvée; his knock at the gate embodies the state's extraction the girl fears. 「里胥」写愁听门外催里胥，是写里胥之态的关键。「愁听门外催里胥」着一「里胥」，写里胥——着一「里胥」，写愁听门外催里胥，见其胥之里。两字写尽里胥之态，是「以词写胥」的点睛之词。「里胥」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。

Related Reading

水调歌头·明月几时有 Shui Diao Ge Tou: When Will the Moon Be Bright 苏轼 · 同写悯农感怀、沉痛旷达，一写人有悲欢离合、一写侵晨探采谁家女手挽长条泪如雨，皆于悯农之中见沉痛 Both touch labour/anxiety under spring

Su Shi's lyric turns on cosmic ease; Tang Yanqian's poem contrasts spring's promise with a girl's tax-driven tears. Both use the season, but one consoles, the other accuses.

苏轼《水调歌头·明月几时有》「人有悲欢离合，月有阴晴圆缺，此事古难全」，写悯农感怀、沉痛旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；唐彦谦《采桑女》则以「侵晨探采谁家女，手挽长条泪如雨」「官家二月收新丝」写泪如雨、收新丝。两诗同写悯农感怀、沉痛旷达：一写人有悲欢离合、以悲欢写离合，一写侵晨探采谁家女手挽长条泪如雨、以采桑写悯农；一为苏轼之旷达、一为唐彦谦之沉痛，并读正可见诗写「悯农感怀」的两种笔法，皆于悯农之中见沉痛。

 八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Ba Sheng Gan Zhou: Facing the Rivulets of Dusk Rain Falling on River and Sky 柳永 · 同写蚕桑凝望、沉痛清丽，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写春风吹蚕细如蚁桑芽才努青鸦嘴，皆于蚕桑之中见凝望 Both open on delicate natural scene then turn grave

Liu Yong's lyric moves from dusk rain to romantic sorrow; Tang Yanqian's moves from tender buds to a girl's weeping and the taxman. Both begin pretty and darken, but one is personal, the other social.

柳永《八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天》「对潇潇暮雨洒江天，一番洗清秋」，写蚕桑凝望、沉痛清丽，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；唐彦谦《采桑女》则以「春风吹蚕细如蚁，桑芽才努青鸦嘴」「去岁初眠当此时」写青鸦嘴、当此时。两诗同写蚕桑凝望、沉痛清丽：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写春风吹蚕细如蚁桑芽才努青鸦嘴、以春蚕写悯农；一为柳永之清丽、一为唐彦谦之沉痛，并读正可见诗写「蚕桑凝望」的两种笔法，皆于蚕桑之中见凝望。