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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

春水生二绝

Two Quatrains on the Rising Spring Water (first of the pair)

杜甫

Du Fu

二月六夜春水生。
门前小滩浑欲平，鸬鹚㶉𫛶莫漫喜。
吾与汝曹俱眼明。

On the sixth night of the second month, the spring water rose.
The little shoal before my gate is almost level now — cormorants and mandarin ducks, do not rejoice too soon.
I and you, my friends, have eyes that see clearly together.
Listen

Meaning

Du Fu records the night the spring flood rose: by the next day the little shoal in front of his gate has almost been covered. He turns to the water birds that have arrived with the rising water and tells them not to celebrate prematurely — he and they can see clearly enough, and the water will fall again. The poem is a small joke at the expense of the birds, and behind it a wry recognition shared between the poet and the creatures at his door.

二月六夜春水生。门前小滩浑欲平，鸬鹚㶉𫛶莫漫喜。吾与汝曹俱眼明。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] On the night of the sixth of the second month the spring water came up, and the little shoal in front of the gate is now almost level with the stream. Cormorants and mandarin ducks, do not be too pleased — you and I both have clear eyes, and we know how this ends. [Imagery] The poem is almost pure observation: a date, a shoal, two kinds of water bird, and a remark addressed to them. The comedy lies in the scale of the event — nothing more than a flooded sandbank — treated with the formal apparatus of a poem. [Structure] Three lines that move from fact to consequence to comment, and the comment is what makes the piece. [Tone] The mood is lively and unbuttoned, which is the point: Du Fu's reputation rests on grave, public verse, and here he is a man watching his own frontage and teasing the birds about it. The phrase 'we have eyes that see clearly together' is the joke's punchline — poet and birds are partners in the same small knowledge, and the shared clear-sightedness is a kind of fellowship.

【白话串讲】 杜甫写《春水生二绝》：“二月六夜春水生。门前小滩浑欲平”——“鸬鹚㶉𫛶莫漫喜。吾与汝曹俱眼明”——他写春水涨——春水生。 【意象与手法】 “二月六夜春水生。门前小滩浑欲平”写春水涨；“鸬鹚㶉𫛶莫漫喜”写水鸟；结以“吾与汝曹俱眼明”以与汝曹俱眼明写欣喜。活泼春日。 【情感与主旨】 杜甫写春日春水之作，写春水初生、门前小滩将平的情景，语言活泼，写尽春日之趣，是杜甫写景小诗的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“二月六夜春水生。门前小滩浑欲平”写春水涨；“鸬鹚㶉𫛶莫漫喜。吾与汝曹俱眼明”写春水之乐。

Background

Du Fu (712-770), courtesy name Zimei, also known as the Old Man of Shaoling, was born in Gongxian and is one of the two greatest poets of the Tang. This piece belongs to the years he spent at his thatched cottage beside the Brooking River at Chengdu, the period of his life when he was most nearly at peace and wrote a great number of short poems about his immediate surroundings — the weather, the visitors, the vegetables, the birds. The second month is early spring, when melting snow and rain swell the river; the date in the first line gives the poem the particularity of a note in a diary. That such a small event should have engaged one of China's most serious poets is itself the interest of the piece: it shows how completely he had made the life immediately around him his subject.

《春水生二绝》为唐代诗人杜甫所作诗。杜甫（712—770），字子美，号少陵野老，巩县人，唐代诗人。此诗写春日写景，为春水之作。诗中「二月六夜春水生」写二月六夜春水生；「门前小滩浑欲平，鸬鹚㶉𫛶莫漫喜」写门前小滩浑欲平，鸬鹚㶉𫛶莫漫喜；「吾与汝曹俱眼明」写吾与汝曹俱眼明。杜甫此诗以春日写景、吾与汝曹俱眼明写其写景之情，活泼春日，是杜甫诗中的名篇。此篇《春水生二绝》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《春水生二绝》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《春水生二绝》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 craft is in the turning of a trivial event into a poem by means of an addressee. Given only a date and a shoal, most writers would produce a description; Du Fu instead produces a remark, and the remark requires someone to address. By choosing the water birds he makes a small ecological observation — rising water brings fish, and therefore birds — into a social exchange, and the phrase 'do not rejoice too soon' treats the creatures as capable of hope and therefore of disappointment. The compression is notable: three lines, no adjectives of any consequence, and a complete dramatic situation. The closing line generalises the joke from the birds to 'you and I', so that the poet includes himself among those who watch the water and know it will fall again.

此诗艺术上以「活泼春日、以水写情」见长。全诗共三句，由二月六夜春水生而门前小滩浑欲平。起「二月六夜春水生」写二月六夜春水生：二月六夜春水生；「门前小滩浑欲平，鸬鹚㶉𫛶莫漫喜」写门前小滩浑欲平：门前小滩浑欲平，鸬鹚㶉𫛶莫漫喜；结「吾与汝曹俱眼明」写吾与汝曹俱眼明：吾与汝曹俱眼明。全诗以水写情，由二月六夜春水生而吾与汝曹俱眼明，活泼春日，是杜甫诗中的名篇。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。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

There is little learned reference here, which is part of the poem's character; the allusiveness that makes much of Du Fu difficult is entirely absent. The water birds themselves carry mild conventional associations — the cormorant as the fisher's trained helper, the mandarin duck as the emblem of paired affection — and naming both together gives a small picture of a riverbank teeming with life. The gesture of addressing birds is an old one in Chinese poetry, going back through the Chuci to the practice of remonstrating with or questioning the natural world. What Du Fu does with it is characteristic: instead of using the birds as figures for himself, he treats them as neighbours with whom a joke can be shared.

诗中「二月六夜春水生」「门前小滩浑欲平鸬鹚㶉𫛶莫漫喜」「吾与汝曹俱眼明」等语，皆含典故故实。「二月六夜春水生」写二月六夜春水生；「门前小滩浑欲平鸬鹚㶉𫛶莫漫喜」用鸬鹚之典（鸬鹚写水鸟），写门前小滩浑欲平鸬鹚㶉𫛶莫漫喜；「吾与汝曹俱眼明」写吾与汝曹俱眼明。诗人用鸬鹚之典入诗，不着痕迹，而把春日写景之情写得真切可感，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。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 poem is generally read as one of the best examples of Du Fu's domestic manner — the short, unpretentious verses from the Chengdu years in which everyday incident becomes poetry without any elevation of tone. Critics have valued it precisely for what it lacks: no grievance, no politics, no self-dramatisation. It is frequently cited in discussions of the range of his work, since the poet of the great public laments is also the poet who could make a quatrain out of a flooded sandbank and two birds. Commentators also remark on the humour, which is rarer in his work than is sometimes supposed and is here achieved by nothing more than a shift of addressee.

这首《春水生二绝》，是杜甫写春日写景之作，写二月六夜春水生、门前小滩浑欲平、吾与汝曹俱眼明之情，活泼春日。起「二月六夜春水生」——二月六夜春水生。写二月六夜春水生：二月六夜春水生——春水生；「门前小滩浑欲平，鸬鹚㶉𫛶莫漫喜」——门前小滩浑欲平，鸬鹚㶉𫛶莫漫喜。写门前小滩浑欲平：门前小滩浑欲平、鸬鹚㶉𫛶莫漫喜——浑欲平、莫漫喜；结「吾与汝曹俱眼明」——吾与汝曹俱眼明。写吾与汝曹俱眼明：吾与汝曹俱眼明——俱眼明。这「吾与汝曹俱眼明」，是全诗之结：以吾与汝曹俱眼明写其写景。全诗活泼春日，以水写情，正是杜甫诗中的名篇。综观全诗，情真、景切、理深，三者浑融无迹，故能于短短数语之中寄无限深意，令人百读不厌。其含蓄蕴藉之处，正是中国古典诗歌以少总多、言有尽而意无穷的美学精神的生动体现。综观全诗，情真、景切、理深，三者浑融无迹，故能于短短数语之中寄无限深意，令人百读不厌。其含蓄蕴藉之处，正是中国古典诗歌以少总多、言有尽而意无穷的美学精神的生动体现。

Prosody

Form Seven-character quatrain (irregular, in the old-style manner)诗（七言绝句）
Rhyme A short piece of three heptasyllabic lines, looser than the standard quatrain. The rhyming falls on 'rose' and 'clearly', in the level geng class, so that two of the three lines rhyme and the middle line, ending on 'too soon', breaks away — a shape that sets the warning apart from the comic resolution that follows it.此诗为七言绝句。押韵：「生」「明」押庚部韵。句式错落自然，声情活泼，正与写春日写景的活泼春日相称，也见其以七绝写写景的流转。
Tone pattern The first line, which supplies a date and an event, is matter-of-fact in rhythm, like an entry in a journal. The second lengthens as the poet turns from the fact to the birds, and the third, closing on the level rhyme, settles into the flat, dry tone of a punchline. The irregularity of the line count itself contributes to the casual effect: the poem sounds like something said rather than composed.句式上，「二月六夜春水生」写二月六夜春水生，音节活泼；「门前小滩浑欲平，鸬鹚㶉𫛶莫漫喜」写门前小滩浑欲平，音节轻快；结「吾与汝曹俱眼明」写吾与汝曹俱眼明，音节明亮。全诗音节随情起伏，由活泼而轻快、而明亮，正合七绝「流转」之妙，读来如春日写景、吾与汝曹俱眼明之音，活泼而动人。
Reading note Formally the piece does not observe the strict quatrain pattern — it runs to three seven-word lines and uses rhyme loosely, in the manner of the old-style or unregulated quatrain. That looseness is appropriate: the subject is a domestic trifle and the tone is conversational, and a rigorously regular form would have made the joke seem studied. The rhyme in two of the three lines gives just enough shape to hold the piece together, while the unrhymed middle line isolates the warning to the birds. It is a good example of Du Fu adjusting form to occasion in his smallest verses.此诗为七言绝句，是杜甫写春日写景之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「活泼春日、以水写情」：「二月六夜春水生」写二月六夜春水生、「门前小滩浑欲平，鸬鹚㶉𫛶莫漫喜」写门前小滩浑欲平、「吾与汝曹俱眼明」写吾与汝曹俱眼明。全诗活泼春日，以水写情。尤为精妙者，是「门前小滩浑欲平」写尽浑欲平；而「吾与汝曹俱眼明」用鸬鹚之典，正是杜甫诗「活泼春日」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《春水生二绝》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

二月六夜春水生。

On the sixth night of the second month, the spring water rose.

二月六夜春水生。

On the night of the sixth day of the second month, the spring waters rose.

起句写二月六夜春水生，起笔即见其春水。「二月六夜春水生」写二月六夜春水生，「二月六夜」写二月六夜、「春水生」写春水生。一句写二月六夜春水生，以二月六夜写二月六夜、以春水生写春水生，写尽二月六夜春水生之情。以水起兴，活泼而春日，是「以水起兴」的妙笔。此句以寥寥数语写尽深意，情韵兼胜，正是全诗点睛之笔。其于字句之间暗藏波澜，于平易之中寄寓曲折，尤当反复涵泳，方能得其三昧。

The opening line writes on the night of the sixth day of the second month, the spring waters rose, the spring water at once. The words the sixth day of the second month write the exact night; the spring waters rose the rising. The line writes to the full the feeling of the rising on that night. Rising through the water, lively and spring-like, the fine brush of rising through the water. In a few words it writes to the full the deep meaning, feeling and rhyme both fine; hidden waves beneath the plain words, to be savored again and again.

门前小滩浑欲平，鸬鹚㶉𫛶莫漫喜。

The little shoal before my gate is almost level now — cormorants and mandarin ducks, do not rejoice too soon.

门前小滩浑欲平，鸬鹚㶉𫛶莫漫喜。

The little shoal before the gate is nearly level; cormorants and mandarin ducks, rejoice not too soon.

此句写门前小滩浑欲平，是全诗写小滩之态的关键。「门前小滩浑欲平」写门前小滩浑欲平，「门前小滩」写门前小滩、「浑欲平」写浑欲平；「鸬鹚㶉𫛶莫漫喜」用鸬鹚之典写鸬鹚㶉𫛶莫漫喜，「鸬鹚㶉𫛶」写鸬鹚㶉𫛶、「莫漫喜」写莫漫喜。一句写门前小滩浑欲平鸬鹚㶉𫛶莫漫喜，以门前小滩浑欲平写浑欲平、以鸬鹚㶉𫛶莫漫喜写莫漫喜，写尽门前小滩浑欲平、鸬鹚㶉𫛶莫漫喜之情。以滩写情，活泼而春日，是「以滩写情」的点睛之笔。

This line writes the little shoal before the gate is nearly level, the key of the whole's writing the shoal. The words the little shoal before the gate write the bank; nearly level the rising water. Cormorants and mandarin ducks, rejoice not too soon uses the cormorant allusion. The line writes to the full the feeling of the nearly level shoal and the birds' premature joy. Writing feeling through the shoal, lively and spring-like, the eye-dotting brush.

吾与汝曹俱眼明。

I and you, my friends, have eyes that see clearly together.

吾与汝曹俱眼明。

I and you all have bright eyes alike.

结句写吾与汝曹俱眼明，是全诗立意的落点。「吾与汝曹」写吾与汝曹，「吾与」写吾与、「汝曹」写汝曹；「俱眼明」写俱眼明，「俱」写俱、「眼明」写眼明。一句写吾与汝曹俱眼明，以吾与汝曹写汝曹、以俱眼明写俱眼明，写尽吾与汝曹俱眼明之情。以明写情，活泼而春日，是全诗最动人处，也是「以明写情」的点睛之笔。此句以寥寥数语写尽深意，情韵兼胜，正是全诗点睛之笔。其于字句之间暗藏波澜，于平易之中寄寓曲折，尤当反复涵泳，方能得其三昧。

The closing line writes I and you all have bright eyes alike, the landing of the whole's bent. The words I and you all write the birds addressed; have bright writes the shared eagerness. The line writes to the full the feeling of the shared bright eyes. Writing feeling through the brightness, lively and spring-like, the most moving place of the whole and the eye-dotting brush. In a few words it writes to the full the deep meaning, feeling and rhyme both fine; hidden waves beneath the plain words, to be savored again and again.

Study

Word focus

春水 The spring flood, the water raised by melting snow and early rains. It is the poem's entire occasion; the point being that such a rise brings fish within reach of the birds and then, just as surely, subsides, which is what makes the warning to them funny. 「春水」写二月六夜春水生，是写春水之态的关键。「二月六夜春水生」着一「春水」，写春水——着一「春水」，写二月六夜春水生，见其水之春。两字写尽春水之态，是「以词写水」的妙笔。「春水」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。
小滩 The little shoal or sandbank in front of the poet's gate. Its smallness is the joke's measure: nothing is at stake but a patch of gravel going under water, and the poem's charm lies in treating that as worth a remark. 「小滩」写门前小滩浑欲平，是写小滩之态的关键。「门前小滩浑欲平」着一「小滩」，写小滩——着一「小滩」，写门前小滩浑欲平，见其滩之小。两字写尽小滩之态，是「以词写滩」的点睛之词。「小滩」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。
鸬鹚 The cormorant, the trained fishing bird of Chinese rivers and, by extension, any water bird that profits from high water. Naming it gives the scene a concrete, local character and supplies the poem with an addressee that can plausibly be imagined as rejoicing. 「鸬鹚」写鸬鹚㶉𫛶莫漫喜，是写鸬鹚之态的关键。「鸬鹚㶉𫛶莫漫喜」着一「鸬鹚」，写鸬鹚——着一「鸬鹚」，写鸬鹚㶉𫛶莫漫喜，见其鹚之鸬。两字写尽鸬鹚之态，是「以词写鸬」的点睛之词。「鸬鹚」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。
汝曹 'You lot', a familiar, slightly condescending plural form of address. The word establishes the tone of the close: the poet speaks to the birds as to neighbours or inferiors, and its bluntness is what makes the final line sound like a spoken punchline rather than a poetic sentiment. 「汝曹」写吾与汝曹俱眼明，是写汝曹之态的关键。「吾与汝曹俱眼明」着一「汝曹」，写汝曹——着一「汝曹」，写吾与汝曹俱眼明，见其曹之汝。两字写尽汝曹之态，是「以词写曹」的点睛之词。「汝曹」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 Prelude to the Water Melody: 'When Did the Bright Moon First Appear?' 苏轼 · 同写春日感怀、活泼旷达，一写人有悲欢离合、一写二月六夜春水生，皆于春日之中见活泼 The two could hardly be further apart in scale: one reflects on the moon and the incompleteness of all things, the other jokes with water birds about a flooded sandbank, but both belong to the tradition of the occasional poem written out of a particular moment.

Su Shi's lyric takes a mid-autumn night and rises from it to a general truth about parting and change, ending in a blessing that reaches across a thousand leagues. Du Fu's quatrain takes a spring night and stays with it entirely, ending in a joke shared with the birds at his door. The contrast is a useful reminder that the occasional poem has no fixed scale: the same impulse to mark a moment produced both a philosophical song and a domestic quip. Du Fu's smallness is deliberate, and it is what allows the poem its humour.

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」，写春日感怀、活泼旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；杜甫《春水生二绝》则以「二月六夜春水生」「吾与汝曹俱眼明」写春水生、俱眼明。两诗同写春日感怀、活泼旷达：一写人有悲欢离合、以悲欢写离合，一写二月六夜春水生、以春水写春日；一为苏轼之旷达、一为杜甫之活泼，并读正可见诗写「春日感怀」的两种笔法，皆于春日之中见活泼。

 八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Eight Beats of a Ganzhou Song: 'Facing the Pattering Evening Rain That Sprinkles the River Sky' 柳永 · 同写滩头凝望、活泼清丽，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写门前小滩浑欲平鸬鹚㶉𫛶莫漫喜，皆于滩头之中见凝望 Both poems begin from a stretch of water observed closely; one makes the rain-swept river a figure for desolation and distance, the other makes a flooded shoal an occasion for comedy, showing how a riverbank can carry opposite moods.

Liu Yong's speaker faces an autumn sky and a rain-washed river and finds in them only separation — the water is what keeps him from where he wants to be. Du Fu's speaker stands at the same kind of water's edge and finds company: the birds are there, the shoal is going under, and there is a joke to be made. Neither poet is more serious than the other; the difference is entirely in what the occasion is used for. Comparing them shows how completely a poet's purpose determines the emotional colour of identical natural material.

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」，写滩头凝望、活泼清丽，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；杜甫《春水生二绝》则以「门前小滩浑欲平，鸬鹚㶉𫛶莫漫喜」「二月六夜春水生」写莫漫喜、春水生。两诗同写滩头凝望、活泼清丽：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写门前小滩浑欲平鸬鹚㶉𫛶莫漫喜、以春水写春日；一为柳永之清丽、一为杜甫之活泼，并读正可见诗写「滩头凝望」的两种笔法，皆于滩头之中见凝望。