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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

渡湘江

Crossing the Xiang River

杜审言

Du Shenyan

迟日园林悲昔游，今春花鸟作边愁。
独怜京国人南窜，不似湘江水北流。

In the long spring sunlight the garden brings back the grief of former outings;
this year's flowers and birds only make a frontier sorrow.
Pity me alone, a man of the capital driven south in exile -
not like the water of the Xiang, which flows north.
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Meaning

Written while being banished south across the Xiang, the poem says that spring itself has turned against the speaker. The gardens that once gave pleasure now recall what he has lost, and the flowers and birds of this southern spring only deepen his exile's grief. The closing comparison is the poem's heart: the river he is crossing flows north, back toward the capital, while he is compelled to go south. The theme is the bitterness of being the only thing in the landscape moving away from home.

迟日园林悲昔游，今春花鸟作边愁。独怜京国人南窜，不似湘江水北流。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] Under the lingering spring sun the gardens make me grieve for the outings of other years; the flowers and birds of this spring have become a border sorrow. I alone am to be pitied, a man of the capital driven south in exile - I am not like the Xiang's water, which runs north.<br>[Structure] The first couplet sets up a double reversal: past pleasure becomes present pain, and the standard materials of spring joy become the materials of grief. The second couplet delivers the single comparison on which everything turns, and closes on it without comment.<br>[Imagery] The decisive image is directional. North means capital, career, home; south means exile. By setting his own forced movement against the river's free one, the poet makes a whole political catastrophe visible in one geometric contrast.<br>[Mood] The feeling is one of helpless indignity rather than despair. The word for driven out or banished carries shame as well as sorrow, and the envy of the water is almost childlike in its plainness, which makes it more piercing.

【白话串讲】 杜审言写《渡湘江》：“迟日园林悲昔游，今春花鸟作边愁”——“独怜京国人南窜，不似湘江水北流”——他渡湘江——不似湘江水北流。 【意象与手法】 “迟日园林悲昔游，今春花鸟作边愁”以春鸟花作边愁写悲；“独怜京国人南窜”写京国人南窜；结以“不似湘江水北流”以水北流反衬人南窜。深婉感人。 【情感与主旨】 杜审言写迁谪之作，写被贬南窜的悲愁，以“不似湘江水北流”反衬身不由己的南窜，是唐人迁谪诗中的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“迟日园林悲昔游，今春花鸟作边愁”以春鸟花作边愁写悲；“独怜京国人南窜，不似湘江水北流”以水北流反衬南窜。

Background

Du Shenyan (about 645 - about 708), courtesy name Bijian, was descended from a Xiangyang family that had moved to Gongxian, and was the grandfather of Du Fu. He was an accomplished court poet, a founder of the regulated octave alongside Shen Quanqi and Song Zhiwen, and famously vain about his own gifts. Late in life he was caught up in the factional violence that attended the rise of the Empress Wu's favourites and was exiled to Fengzhou in the far south, a journey that took him across the Xiang River in Hunan. This quatrain comes from that journey. Southern exile was the standard punishment of the Tang bureaucracy, and the Xiang valley, associated since the Warring States with Qu Yuan's banishment, was already soaked in the literary tradition of loyal men sent away from the capital.

《渡湘江》为唐代诗人杜审言所作诗。杜审言（约645—约708），字必简，祖籍襄阳，迁居巩县（今河南巩义），初唐诗人，杜甫之祖父。此诗写抒情迁谪，为渡湘江之作。诗中「迟日园林悲昔游，今春花鸟作边愁」写迟日园林悲昔游，今春花鸟作边愁；「独怜京国人南窜，不似湘江水北流」写独怜京国人南窜，不似湘江水北流。杜审言此诗以抒情迁谪、不似湘江水北流写其迁谪之情，深婉感人，是杜审言诗中的名篇。此篇《渡湘江》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《渡湘江》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 force comes from a single structural idea: reversal. Spring, normally the season of delight, is made to produce grief; the garden, normally a place of leisure, is made to recall loss; and the birds and flowers that conventionally cheer a poet are declared to be nothing but sorrow at the frontier. Having established that everything is inverted, the poet produces his masterstroke in the last two lines. The comparison is breathtakingly simple - the water goes north, I go south - and it requires no explanation, because every reader of the time understood what north meant. Notice also that the speaker does not say he wishes to go north; he says he is not like the water. The envy is stated as a fact of classification, and that restraint is what keeps the poem from self-pity. The whole political disaster is compressed into one grammatical contrast.

此诗艺术上以「深婉感人、以水写情」见长。全诗共四句两联，由迟日园林悲昔游而独怜京国人南窜。起「迟日园林悲昔游，今春花鸟作边愁」写迟日园林悲昔游：迟日园林悲昔游，今春花鸟作边愁；结「独怜京国人南窜，不似湘江水北流」写独怜京国人南窜：独怜京国人南窜，不似湘江水北流。全诗以水写情，由迟日园林悲昔游而不似湘江水北流，深婉感人，是杜审言诗中的名篇。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

The Xiang River carries the accumulated grief of Chinese exile poetry. It is the river of the south, the region of the old Chu state where Qu Yuan was banished and finally drowned himself, and where the bamboo still shows the spots of the mourning women's tears. To be crossing the Xiang southward was therefore to be re-enacting a famous banishment, and Du Shenyan's readers would have felt that weight without being told. The garden outings of former years also glance at the court gatherings and suburban excursions that a successful official enjoyed, so that the first line's grief is social as well as scenic.

诗中「迟日园林悲昔游今春花鸟作边愁」「独怜京国人南窜不似湘江水北流」等语，皆含典故故实。「迟日园林悲昔游今春花鸟作边愁」写迟日园林悲昔游今春花鸟作边愁；「独怜京国人南窜不似湘江水北流」用湘江之典（湘江在湖南，写南迁），写独怜京国人南窜不似湘江水北流。诗人以湘江之典入诗，不着痕迹，而把抒情迁谪之情写得真切可感，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

Later critics singled out the closing couplet as one of the great concise statements of exile in the Tang, praising its refusal to explain itself. Qing commentators noted that the poem's power depends on the contrast remaining unpursued: the poet states the difference between himself and the river and then stops, leaving the reader to feel the injustice rather than being told about it. The piece has also been read as a document of early regulated-quatrain technique, since the four lines already display the balanced, economical construction that Du Shenyan and his contemporaries were then perfecting. Its durability owes much to its transferability: anyone forced to move against their own desire recognises that last comparison immediately.

这首《渡湘江》，是杜审言写抒情迁谪之作，写迟日园林悲昔游、独怜京国人南窜、不似湘江水北流之情，深婉感人。起「迟日园林悲昔游，今春花鸟作边愁」——迟日园林悲昔游，今春花鸟作边愁。写迟日园林悲昔游：迟日园林悲昔游、今春花鸟作边愁——悲昔游、作边愁；结「独怜京国人南窜，不似湘江水北流」——独怜京国人南窜，不似湘江水北流。写独怜京国人南窜：独怜京国人南窜、不似湘江水北流——人南窜、水北流。这「独怜京国人南窜，不似湘江水北流」，是全诗之结：以不似湘江水北流写其迁谪。全诗深婉感人，以水写情，正是杜审言诗中的名篇。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 (qi yan jue ju), four lines of seven syllables, in two couplets, composed in the regulated manner.诗（七言绝句）
Rhyme A single level-tone rhyme links the first and second line-endings, with the third line unrhymed and the fourth returning to it, so the poem opens and closes on the same sustained sound.此诗为七言绝句，共四句两联。押韵：「愁」「流」押尤部韵。前两句起、后两句转合，平仄相间，正与写抒情迁谪的深婉感人相称，也见其以七绝写迁谪的凝练。
Tone pattern The tonal alternation is regular, giving the first couplet a slow, heavy cadence appropriate to remembered grief, and the final line a level, resigned fall. The movement from a lowered opening to a plain closing matches the movement from bitter memory to a bare statement of fact.句式上，「迟日园林悲昔游，今春花鸟作边愁」写迟日园林悲昔游，音节低回；结「独怜京国人南窜，不似湘江水北流」写独怜京国人南窜，音节悠长。全诗音节随情起伏，由低回而悠长，正合七绝「凝练」之妙，读来如抒情迁谪、不似湘江水北流之音，深婉而动人。
Reading note The quatrain's turn comes exactly where the form requires it, at the third line, and it is a turn from scene to self: the first couplet is about spring, the second about a man. The sustained rhyme holds the two halves together as one thought, which is essential, since the comparison in the last line only works if the reader still has the spring scene in mind.此诗为七言绝句，是杜审言写抒情迁谪之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「深婉感人、以水写情」：「迟日园林悲昔游，今春花鸟作边愁」写迟日园林悲昔游、「独怜京国人南窜，不似湘江水北流」写独怜京国人南窜。全诗深婉感人，以水写情。尤为精妙者，是「不似湘江水北流」用湘江之典；而「独怜京国人南窜」写尽人南窜之情，正是杜审言诗「深婉感人」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《渡湘江》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

迟日园林悲昔游，今春花鸟作边愁。

In the long spring sunlight the garden brings back the grief of former outings; this year's flowers and birds only make a frontier sorrow.

迟日园林悲昔游，今春花鸟作边愁。

In the slow spring sun, the gardens grieve for my former wanderings; this spring the birds and flowers become frontier sorrow.

起句写迟日园林悲昔游，起笔即见其悲。「迟日园林悲昔游」写迟日园林悲昔游，「迟日园林」写迟日园林、「悲昔游」写悲昔游；「今春花鸟作边愁」写今春花鸟作边愁，「今春花鸟」写今春花鸟、「作边愁」写作边愁。一句写迟日园林悲昔游今春花鸟作边愁，以迟日园林悲昔游写悲昔游、以今春花鸟作边愁写作边愁，写尽迟日园林悲昔游、今春花鸟作边愁之情。以园起兴，深婉而感人，是「以园起兴」的妙笔。

The opening line writes in the slow spring sun, the gardens grieve for my former wanderings, the grief at once. The words the slow spring sun, the gardens write the scene; grieve for my former wanderings the grief. This spring the birds and flowers become frontier sorrow writes the birds and flowers. The line writes to the full the feeling of the gardens grieving the former wanderings and this spring's frontier sorrow. Rising through the garden, deep-tender and moving, the fine brush of rising through the garden.

独怜京国人南窜，

Pity me alone, a man of the capital driven south in exile.

独怜京国人南窜，

Alas, I, a man of the capital, am driven southward,

此句写独怜京国人南窜，是全诗写南窜之态的关键。「独怜京国人」写独怜京国人，「独怜」写独怜、「京国人」写京国人；「南窜」写南窜，「南」写南、「窜」写窜。一句写独怜京国人南窜，以独怜京国人写京国人、以南窜写南窜，写尽独怜京国人南窜之情。以迁写情，深婉而感人，是「以迁写情」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。

This line writes alas, I, a man of the capital, am driven southward, the key of the whole's writing the southward exile. The words alas write the pity; a man of the capital the exile. Driven southward writes the banishment. The line writes to the full the feeling of the man of the capital driven south. Writing feeling through the exile, deep-tender and moving, 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.

不似湘江水北流。

Not like the water of the Xiang, which flows north.

不似湘江水北流。

unlike the Xiang River, which flows north.

结句写不似湘江水北流，是全诗立意的落点。「不似湘江」用湘江之典写不似湘江，「不似」写不似、「湘江」写湘江；「水北流」写水北流，「水」写水、「北流」写北流。一句写不似湘江水北流，以不似湘江写湘江、以水北流写北流，写尽不似湘江水北流之情。以水写情，深婉而感人，是全诗最动人处，也是「以水写情」的点睛之笔。

The closing line writes unlike the Xiang River, which flows north, the landing of the whole's bent. The words unlike the Xiang River use the Xiang River allusion; flows north the current. The line writes to the full the feeling of not being like the north-flowing Xiang. Writing feeling through the water, deep-tender and moving, the most moving place of the whole and the eye-dotting brush.

Study

Word focus

迟日 The long, slow sunlight of late spring, a phrase with a long poetic pedigree. It suggests abundance and leisure, which is why it can be made to hurt: the day is as generous as ever and the speaker has no use for it. 「迟日」写迟日园林悲昔游，是写迟日之态的关键。「迟日园林悲昔游」着一「迟日」，写迟日——着一「迟日」，写迟日园林悲昔游，见其日之迟。两字写尽迟日之态，是「以词写日」的妙笔。「迟日」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。
边愁 Frontier sorrow - the grief of being at the edge of the empire. The compound converts a personal mood into a geographical condition, as though misery were simply a property of the southern borderlands. 「边愁」写今春花鸟作边愁，是写边愁之态的关键。「今春花鸟作边愁」着一「边愁」，写边愁——着一「边愁」，写今春花鸟作边愁，见其愁之边。两字写尽边愁之态，是「以词写愁」的点睛之词。「边愁」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。
京国 The capital region, meaning both the city itself and the whole world of court and career it stands for. Naming it identifies the speaker as someone who belongs there and is therefore displaced rather than merely travelling. 「京国」写独怜京国人南窜，是写京国之态的关键。「独怜京国人南窜」着一「京国」，写京国——着一「京国」，写独怜京国人南窜，见其国之京。两字写尽京国之态，是「以词写京」的点睛之词。「京国」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。
湘江 The Xiang River in Hunan, the great waterway of southern exile and the river associated with Qu Yuan's banishment. Its importance here is purely directional: it flows north, and that is the one thing the speaker cannot do. 「湘江」写不似湘江水北流，是写湘江之态的关键。「不似湘江水北流」着一「湘江」，写湘江——着一「湘江」，写不似湘江水北流，见其江之湘。两字写尽湘江之态，是「以词写江」的点睛之词。「湘江」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 Song lyric to the tune Shui diao ge tou: 'The bright moon, when did it first appear?' 苏轼 · 同写迁谪感怀、深婉旷达，一写但愿人长久、一写不似湘江水北流，皆于迁谪之中见深婉 Both works were written by men displaced from the capital, and both resolve the pain of displacement very differently.

Su Shi, exiled to Mizhou, works through his grievance until it dissolves into a general law about parting and reunion, ending in a blessing that reaches across distance. Du Shenyan stops at the fact of distance and lets it stand. Read together they mark the distance between a Tang poet who records the wound and a Song poet who reasons his way beyond it.

苏轼《水调歌头·明月几时有》「但愿人长久，千里共婵娟」，写迁谪感怀、深婉旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；杜审言《渡湘江》则以「不似湘江水北流」「独怜京国人南窜」写水北流、人南窜。两诗同写迁谪感怀、深婉旷达：一写但愿人长久、以千里共婵娟写思亲，一写不似湘江水北流、以湘江写迁谪；一为苏轼之旷达、一为杜审言之深婉，并读正可见诗写「迁谪感怀」的两种笔法，皆于迁谪之中见深婉。

 八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Song lyric to the tune Ba sheng gan zhou: 'Against the whispering evening rain that sweeps the river sky' 柳永 · 同写江上迁谪、深婉凝望，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写迟日园林悲昔游今春花鸟作边愁，皆于江上之中见迁谪 Both set a displaced man before southern waters, but one is a voluntary wanderer and the other an exiled official.

Liu Yong's speaker roams the rivers and lakes because he has no post, and his sorrow is the ache of a man who has chosen, or drifted into, a life away from home. Du Shenyan has been driven out by decree, and the difference is everything: where Liu Yong's river suggests the aimlessness of a career, Du Shenyan's suggests the direction he is forbidden to take.

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」，写江上迁谪、深婉凝望，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；杜审言《渡湘江》则以「迟日园林悲昔游，今春花鸟作边愁」「独怜京国人南窜」写悲昔游、人南窜。两诗同写江上迁谪、深婉凝望：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写迟日园林悲昔游今春花鸟作边愁、以花鸟写边愁；一为柳永之清丽、一为杜审言之深婉，并读正可见诗写「江上迁谪」的两种笔法，皆于江上之中见迁谪。