The Bee (蜂) by Luo Yin · Chinese Poem Audio and Explanation

Meaning

Whether on the flat ground or the towering peak, every place of boundless beauty has been taken by you. Yet when you have gathered a hundred flowers and made the sweet honey, this toil—for whom is it? And that sweetness—for whom is it to taste?

不论是平坦的地面还是高耸的山尖，凡是风光无限的好去处，都被你们占据了。可当采遍百花、酿成香甜的蜜之后，这般辛苦，究竟是为谁而忙？那甜味，又是为谁来尝？

Appreciation

The first two lines 'Whether on the level ground or the mountain peak, every scene of endless beauty is seized' use 'whether' and 'every' to write the bee's wide wandering and its seizing of all beauty—seeming to praise yet really blaming, building force for what follows. The last two 'Having gathered a hundred flowers into honey, for whom the toil, for whom the sweet' turn sharply, with the two 'for whom' rhetorical questions laying bare the paradox that the bee toils for honey yet does not enjoy it. The whole takes rise from the object to satirize the world; the language is plain as a folk rhyme, yet the intent deep and painful—in the small bee one sees the great unfairness of society, implicit and sharp, with endless aftertaste.

【白话串讲】 “不论平地与山尖，无限风光尽被占”——罗隐写蜜蜂：到处采蜜，占尽风光。“采得百花成蜜后，为谁辛苦为谁甜”——采了百花酿成蜜，却是为谁辛苦为谁甜？他写蜂，是在问天下的劳苦人。【意象与手法】前两句“不论平地与山尖，无限风光尽被占”以“不论”“尽被”极写蜜蜂奔波之广、占尽风光，似褒实贬，为后文蓄势【情感与主旨】罗隐一生累举不第，十试进士皆落，又值晚唐衰世，目睹世态炎凉、劳动者不得食其力的不公【名句点睛】中高考常赏其“托物讽喻”与“反诘结尾”。常考

Background

Luo Yin failed the exams again and again all his life, ten attempts at the jinshi all failing, and lived in the declining Tang, witnessing the world's coldness and the unfairness that the labourer does not eat his fill. This 'Bee', taking object-chant as its title, borrows the bee gathering flowers and making honey yet not enjoying it, to allegorize the universal tragedy of the lower labourer (or the talent-unrecognized scholar) who toils all year yet makes weddings for others. The style is plain as a ballad yet the satire deep—a representative of Late-Tang object-chant satire, of a piece with Nie Yizhong's and Du Xunhe's poems on the farmers.

《蜂》为晚唐诗人罗隐所作。罗隐（833—910），字昭谏，新城人，晚唐诗人，有“江东才子”之称。此诗写蜜蜂之劳苦：不论平地与山尖，无限风光尽被占；采得百花成蜜后，为谁辛苦为谁甜。全诗以蜜蜂采蜜写劳动者之悲：蜜蜂占尽风光、采尽百花，而蜜成之后，却不知为谁辛苦、为谁而甜。以蜂喻人，写劳动者的辛劳与成果被占，是晚唐讽喻诗的名篇。罗隐一生怀才不遇，其诗多讽刺，此诗正是其讽刺精神的体现。

Art

The first two lines 'Whether on the level ground or the mountain peak, every scene of endless beauty is seized' use 'whether' and 'every' to write the bee's wide wandering and its seizing of all beauty—seeming to praise yet really blaming, building force for what follows. The last two 'Having gathered a hundred flowers into honey, for whom the toil, for whom the sweet' turn sharply, with the two 'for whom' rhetorical questions laying bare the paradox that the bee toils for honey yet does not enjoy it. The whole takes rise from the object to satirize the world; the language is plain as a folk rhyme, yet the intent deep and painful—in the small bee one sees the great unfairness of society, implicit and sharp, with endless aftertaste.

《蜂》艺术上以比喻的贴切与反问的警策见长。全诗四句，层层写来：“不论平地与山尖，无限风光尽被占”写蜂之忙碌——不论平地山尖，无限风光尽被占；“采得百花成蜜后，为谁辛苦为谁甜”写蜂之劳苦——采得百花成蜜后，不知为谁辛苦、为谁而甜。全诗以蜂写劳动者：占尽风光写其奔忙，采花成蜜写其劳苦，为谁辛苦写其成果被占。以“为谁辛苦为谁甜”的反问收束，警策有力，正是罗隐讽刺诗的风格。

Allusions

The 'bee' takes the common honey-making insect as its subject, from the Six-Dynasties object-chant tradition (as Guo Pu's 'Bee Rhapsody') of using the bee for diligence—not a specific historical tale. 'For whom the toil, for whom the sweet' transforms the old poem 'making weddings for others' (Qin Taoyu's 'Poor Girl', 'yearly I hate the gold thread, making weddings for others') in its rhetorical, world-satirizing intent; yet Luo Yin uses the bee for the poor girl, renewing its meaning. The whole lodges satire in everyday matters—'showing the principle through the thing' rather than citing a tale.

《蜂》用典少而比喻自明。“蜂”为传统意象，古人以蜂写勤劳，而罗隐以蜂写劳动者之悲；“百花”写蜂采之花，“蜜”写蜂酿之蜜，皆写实。全诗以蜂喻劳动者，不用深典而讽刺自见。罗隐为晚唐怀才不遇的诗人，其诗多讽刺时世，此诗以蜂写劳动者之辛劳与成果被占，正是其讽刺精神的体现——以平常之物写深刻之理。

Commentary

Luo Yin's poetry is much 'sighing at the world and satirizing the age'; this piece uses the bee as a parable, plain words yet deep meaning. Earlier critics said of it 'like a ballad, like a proverb, yet the satire goes to the bone'. The Qing Wu Qiao, in his Poetry Talks by the Hearth, on object-chant poetry, often cites such 'neither sticky nor loose, meaning flung far' as the model. Moderns often read it beside Li Shen's 'To the Farmers' and Nie Yizhong's 'On the Farm Family' as the twin gems of Late-Tang farmer-pitying, world-satirizing little poems—in twenty-eight characters one sees society's unfairness.

《蜂》是罗隐讽刺诗的名篇，也是晚唐讽喻诗的代表作。此诗以蜂写劳动者之悲，向为论者称道。论者多赏其“采得百花成蜜后，为谁辛苦为谁甜”的反问——以“为谁辛苦为谁甜”写劳动者成果被占，遂成千古名句，为后人所传诵；“无限风光尽被占”写蜂之奔忙，更见其劳。罗隐一生怀才不遇，其诗多讽刺，此诗正是其讽刺精神的体现——以蜂喻劳动者，写尽封建社会中劳动者辛劳而成果被占的不公。

Prosody

Form Seven-character quatrain七言绝句

Rhyme Ping-shui rhyme, lower-level fourteen yan group (peak, seized, sweet), first line enters rhyme《蜂》为七言绝句，押平声韵。此诗用韵：尖、占、甜（盐部），一韵到底，音节明快。七绝句式整饬，宜于写讽喻之作。

Tone pattern Level-onset, first-line-enters-rhyme form; peak, seized, sweet rhyme in yan, rule near a ballad yet strict七言绝句以声调抑扬、音节流丽见长。此诗以“不论平地与山尖”起，音节舒展如蜂之奔波；“无限风光尽被占”写其占尽风光，声情明快；“采得百花成蜜后”写其劳苦有成，音节转沉；“为谁辛苦为谁甜”以两问收，声情警策。全诗以平韵贯底，声调与讽刺的内容相合，是七绝中警策有力的一路。

Reading note Seven-character quatrain, level-onset first-line-enters-rhyme; peak, seized, sweet rhyme in yan, near a ballad yet strict in rule.《蜂》为七言绝句，是罗隐讽刺诗的名篇。此诗以蜂喻劳动者：不论平地山尖、无限风光尽占，写其奔忙；采得百花成蜜、为谁辛苦为谁甜，写其劳苦与成果被占。以“为谁辛苦为谁甜”的反问收束，警策有力，写尽劳动者辛劳而成果被占的不公。罗隐一生怀才不遇，其诗多讽刺，此诗正是其讽刺精神的体现，也是晚唐讽喻诗的代表作。

Line by line

不论平地与山尖，无限风光尽被占。

Whether on the level plain or the mountain peak, all the boundless beauty is seized.

无论是平地还是山尖，无限美好的风光都被它占尽。

Whether on the level plain or on the mountain top, all the boundless beauty is taken.

首二句写蜂之奔忙与占尽风光。“不论平地与山尖”写蜂之奔波——“不论”写不论何地，“平地与山尖”写平地高山皆到；“无限风光尽被占”写蜂之占尽——“无限风光”写花之美好，“尽被占”写尽被占据。二句以“不论”写蜂之奔波无处不在，以“尽被占”写其占尽风光：平地上、山尖上，无限的风光都被蜜蜂占据。这一起笔写蜂之忙碌与占尽风光，表面写其风光，实为后文的“为谁辛苦”作反衬——占尽风光，却不知为谁辛苦。以“无限风光”写其表面之荣，正为下文的劳苦作对照。

The opening two lines write the bee's bustle and its seizing of all beauty. Whether on the level plain or the mountain peak writes the bee's running - whether writes no matter where, the level plain or the mountain peak the low ground and high hill both reached. All the boundless beauty is seized writes the bee's taking all - boundless beauty the flowers' loveliness, all the taking the occupancy. The two lines use whether for the bee's running everywhere, and all the seized for its taking all the beauty: on the plain, on the peak, the boundless beauty all occupied by the bee. This opening writes the bee's busy and its taking of all beauty, on the surface writing its splendor, in truth setting off the later for whose toil - taking all the beauty, yet not knowing for whom the toil. Using boundless beauty for its outward glory, exactly the contrast for the later toil.

采得百花成蜜后，为谁辛苦为谁甜。

When the hundred flowers are gathered and the honey made, for whom is the toil, for whom the sweetness?

采得百花酿成蜜后，却是为谁辛苦、为谁而甜呢？

After gathering the hundred flowers and making honey, for whom is the toil, for whom the sweetness?

后二句写蜂之劳苦与成果被占，是全诗的点睛之笔。“采得百花成蜜后”写蜂之劳苦有成——“采得百花”写其辛劳，“成蜜后”写其有成；“为谁辛苦为谁甜”写成果被占——“为谁辛苦”写其辛劳无主，“为谁甜”写其甜蜜他人享。二句以“采得百花”写其劳苦，以“为谁辛苦为谁甜”的反问写其成果被占：蜜蜂采尽百花酿成蜜，却不知为谁辛苦、为谁而甜。这一反问警策有力：劳动者辛劳一生，成果却为他人所享。以蜂喻劳动者，写尽封建社会中劳动者辛劳而成果被占的不公，正是罗隐讽刺诗的绝唱。

The last two lines write the bee's toil and its fruit seized, the eye-dotting stroke of the whole. When the hundred flowers are gathered and the honey made writes the bee's toil with a result - gathering the hundred flowers its toil, the honey made the result. For whom is the toil, for whom the sweetness? writes the fruit's being seized - for whom the toil its toil without a master, for whom the sweetness its sweetness enjoyed by another. The two lines use gathering the hundred flowers for the toil, and the rhetorical question for whom is the toil, for whom the sweetness? for the fruit's being seized: the bee gathering all the flowers and making honey, yet not knowing for whom the toil, for whom the sweetness. This rhetorical question is alert and forceful: the laborer toiling a lifetime, yet the fruit enjoyed by another. Using the bee for the laborer, writing to the full the injustice of the feudal society in which the laborer toils yet the fruit is seized, exactly Luo Yin's satire at its best.

Study

Word focus

不论 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “不论平地与山尖”之“不论”，写无论何地，是全诗写蜂之奔波的关键词。“不论”即无论、不论，着一词，便写出蜂之奔波无处不在——不论是平地还是山尖，都到。这一词以“不论”写蜂之辛劳没有界限：不是只在一处采蜜，而是不论何地都奔波。以“不论”写奔波，正是罗隐以蜂喻劳动者之劳的笔法。

尽被占 'every scene is seized'—'every' and 'is seized' write the bee's thorough gleaning, on the surface praising its diligence seizing the spring, darkly planting the irony of 'not enjoyed by itself'. “无限风光尽被占”之“尽被占”，写无限风光尽被占据，是全诗写蜂之表面风光的关键词。“尽”写全部，“被占”写被占据——无限风光，尽被蜜蜂占据。这一词写蜂之占尽风光：不是占一处，而是尽被占；不是偶尔风光，而是占尽风光。以“尽被占”写其表面之荣，正是为后文“为谁辛苦”作反衬——占尽风光，却不知为谁辛苦。

采得 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “采得百花成蜜后”之“采得”，写采花而成蜜，是全诗写蜂之劳苦的关键词。“采”写采花，“得”写所得——采得百花，酿成蜜。这一词写蜂之劳苦有成：不是未采而获，而是采得百花；不是不劳而获，而是辛劳有成。以“采得百花”写其劳苦，正是罗隐以蜂喻劳动者之悲的笔法——采花之劳，成蜜之甜，皆在其中。

为谁 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “为谁辛苦为谁甜”之“为谁”，两用反问，是全诗讽刺的关键词。“为谁”即为了谁，两次反问——“为谁辛苦”，写其辛劳无主；“为谁甜”，写其甜蜜他人享。这一词以两问写劳动者成果被占：辛苦而不知为谁，甜蜜而他人享。以“为谁”两问收束，警策有力，正是罗隐讽刺诗的绝唱——以两问写尽劳动者辛劳而成果被占的不公。

蜂