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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

感遇十二首 七

Stirred by What I Meet, Twelve Poems: No. 7

张九龄

Zhang Jiuling

江南有丹橘经冬犹绿林岂伊地气暖自有岁寒心可以荐嘉客奈何阻重深运命唯所遇循环不可寻徒言树桃李此木岂无阴

In the south land there is the red tangerine; through the winter it is still a green wood.
Not that the soil's breath is warm there - it has of itself a heart that endures the cold.
It could be offered to honoured guests; alas, barriers lie deep and heavy between.
Fate is only what one meets; the cycle cannot be traced.
All they talk of is planting peaches and plums - can this tree be without shade?
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Meaning

The poet takes the red tangerine of the south as his emblem. It stays green through winter, not because of a mild climate but because of its own cold-enduring nature; it deserves to be offered to honoured guests, yet mountains and distance block the way. Since destiny is only what a man happens to meet and its turning cannot be calculated, the poet observes that while everyone plants peaches and plums for show, this tree too gives shade and deserves as much.

江南有丹橘经冬犹绿林岂伊地气暖自有岁寒心可以荐嘉客奈何阻重深运命唯所遇循环不可寻徒言树桃李此木岂无阴

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] South of the river grows the red tangerine, green still through the winter. It is not that the earth there is warm; the tree has its own cold-enduring heart. It might be presented to honoured guests, but the way is blocked by depth on depth. Fortune is simply what one encounters, and the cycle cannot be searched out. People talk only of planting peaches and plums - has this tree no shade to give? [Structure] The poem advances in four steps: the object and its strange constancy; the explanation, which is moral rather than climatic; the obstacle; and the closing protest. [Imagery] Green in winter is the whole argument in one picture, and the contrast of the useful tangerine with the showy peach and plum gives the ending its edge. [Effect] The manner is calm and reasonable, and the grievance is all the stronger for being stated as a question about horticulture rather than about a career.

【白话串讲】 张九龄写《感遇十二首其七》：“江南有丹橘，经冬犹绿林”——“岂伊地气暖，自有岁寒心”——“可以荐嘉客，奈何阻重深”——“运命唯所遇，循环不可寻”——“徒言树桃李，此木岂无阴”——他写丹橘——自有岁寒心。 【意象与手法】 “江南有丹橘，经冬犹绿林”写丹橘经冬绿；“岂伊地气暖，自有岁寒心”写岁寒心；“可以荐嘉客，奈何阻重深”写阻重深；“运命唯所遇，循环不可寻”写运命；结以“徒言树桃李，此木岂无阴”以桃李反衬丹橘。高洁咏橘。 【情感与主旨】 张九龄咏丹橘之作，借丹橘经冬犹绿、自有岁寒心写高洁品格与怀才不遇之叹，是咏物言志的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“江南有丹橘，经冬犹绿林”写丹橘经冬绿；“岂伊地气暖，自有岁寒心”写岁寒心。

Background

Zhang Jiuling (678 - 740), courtesy name Zishou, came from Qujiang in Shaozhou, in present-day Guangdong, in the far south, and rose to be the leading minister of the Kaiyuan reign before being dismissed and exiled to the south. His series of twelve poems called Stirred by What I Meet, written in the old five-syllable style, is read as the record of that reversal. The tangerine poem is the best known of them. It adapts a much older tradition: the southern orange had been celebrated since the ancient songs as a tree that will not transplant, and by the Han it had become a figure for a man of fixed character. Zhang Jiuling's originality is to turn the figure into an argument about patronage - about why a worthy man in a distant province never reaches the capital - and to make the complaint without once mentioning himself.

《感遇十二首 七》为唐代诗人张九龄所作诗。张九龄（678—740），字子寿，韶州曲江人，唐代诗人。此诗写感遇咏橘，为感遇之作。诗中「江南有丹橘经冬犹绿林」写江南有丹橘经冬犹绿林；「岂伊地气暖自有岁寒心」写岂伊地气暖自有岁寒心；「可以荐嘉客奈何阻重深」写可以荐嘉客奈何阻重深；「运命唯所遇循环不可寻徒言树桃李此木岂无阴」写运命唯所遇循环不可寻徒言树桃李此木岂无阴。张九龄此诗以感遇咏橘、此木岂无阴写其咏橘之情，高洁咏橘，是张九龄诗中的名篇。此篇《感遇十二首 七》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《感遇十二首 七》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 lies in the completeness of the identification. Nothing in the poem names the poet; everything is said of the tree, and the reader makes the transfer unaided. The first couplet presents a paradox - a fruit tree green in winter - and the second resolves it in a way that converts botany into ethics: the cause is not climate but character. The third couplet introduces the obstacle without specifying it, and the generalising fourth couplet, on destiny and the untraceable cycle, gives the grievance philosophical depth before narrowing it again into the closing question. That question is the masterstroke: peaches and plums stand for whatever is fashionable and quickly rewarded, and by asking whether the tangerine gives no shade, the poet claims for himself only usefulness - the most modest and therefore the most unanswerable of claims.

此诗艺术上以「高洁咏橘、以橘写情」见长。全诗共十句五联，由江南有丹橘而岂伊地气暖而可以荐嘉客。起「江南有丹橘经冬犹绿林」写江南有丹橘：江南有丹橘经冬犹绿林；「岂伊地气暖自有岁寒心」写岂伊地气暖：岂伊地气暖自有岁寒心；「可以荐嘉客奈何阻重深」写可以荐嘉客：可以荐嘉客奈何阻重深；结「运命唯所遇循环不可寻徒言树桃李此木岂无阴」写此木岂无阴：运命唯所遇循环不可寻徒言树桃李此木岂无阴。全诗以橘写情，由江南有丹橘而此木岂无阴，高洁咏橘，是张九龄诗中的名篇。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 red tangerine of the south carries a long inheritance. The ancient songs already praised the orange for refusing to grow on the wrong side of the river, and later writers made it the emblem of a character that cannot be transplanted to suit a new master. The phrase about a heart that endures the cold echoes the classical saying that only in the coldest season can one know which trees keep their leaves, a proverb about loyalty proved in adversity. The offering to honoured guests recalls the ritual presentation of rare fruits at court, so that the blocked road is not merely geography but the failure of a worthy thing to reach its proper judge. Peaches and plums, finally, are a standing figure for whatever is showy, popular and soon forgotten, and for the followers who gather beneath a man in favour.

诗中「江南有丹橘经冬犹绿林」「岂伊地气暖自有岁寒心」「可以荐嘉客奈何阻重深」「运命唯所遇循环不可寻徒言树桃李此木岂无阴」等语，皆含典故故实。「江南有丹橘经冬犹绿林」用丹橘之典（丹橘写橘颂），写江南有丹橘经冬犹绿林；「岂伊地气暖自有岁寒心」用岁寒之典（岁寒写岁寒然后知松柏），写岂伊地气暖自有岁寒心；「可以荐嘉客奈何阻重深」写可以荐嘉客奈何阻重深；「运命唯所遇循环不可寻徒言树桃李此木岂无阴」写运命唯所遇循环不可寻徒言树桃李此木岂无阴。诗人用丹橘、岁寒之典入诗，不着痕迹，而把感遇咏橘之情写得真切可感，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

This is the most anthologised of the twelve and one of the most quoted poems on an object in the language. Critics have praised its refusal of self-dramatisation: where a lesser poet would have complained of exile, Zhang Jiuling reasons about a tree, and the restraint is what makes the injustice felt. The closing question has been especially admired, since it claims nothing but usefulness and thereby convicts the reader of complicity. The poem also established a pattern: after Zhang Jiuling, the southern orange became the standard figure for loyal worth unrecognised, and later poets returned to it whenever they wanted to write about merit overlooked by patronage.

这首《感遇十二首 七》，是张九龄写感遇咏橘之作，写江南有丹橘、岂伊地气暖、可以荐嘉客、此木岂无阴之情，高洁咏橘。起「江南有丹橘经冬犹绿林」——江南有丹橘经冬犹绿林。写江南有丹橘：江南有丹橘、经冬犹绿林——有丹橘、犹绿林；「岂伊地气暖自有岁寒心」——岂伊地气暖自有岁寒心。写岂伊地气暖：岂伊地气暖、自有岁寒心——地气暖、岁寒心；「可以荐嘉客奈何阻重深」——可以荐嘉客奈何阻重深。写可以荐嘉客：可以荐嘉客、奈何阻重深——荐嘉客、阻重深；结「运命唯所遇循环不可寻徒言树桃李此木岂无阴」——运命唯所遇循环不可寻徒言树桃李此木岂无阴。写此木岂无阴：运命唯所遇、循环不可寻、徒言树桃李、此木岂无阴——唯所遇、不可寻、树桃李、岂无阴。这「运命唯所遇循环不可寻徒言树桃李此木岂无阴」，是全诗之结：以此木岂无阴写其咏橘。全诗高洁咏橘，以橘写情，正是张九龄诗中的名篇。

Prosody

Form Poem in the old five-character style (wuyan gushi), unregulated, ten lines of five syllables arranged in five loose couplets.诗（五言古体）
Rhyme The even lines rhyme in the level tone, with the rhyme words drawn from a soft, closing final shared by wood, heart, deep, trace and shade. The muted, contained sound suits a poem whose grievance is kept throughout under restraint.此诗为五言古体。押韵：「林」「心」「深」「寻」「阴」等部。句句自然流转，声情高洁，正与写感遇咏橘的高洁咏橘相称，也见其以古体写咏橘的流转。
Tone pattern No fixed pattern of level and oblique tones applies, since the form is the old style. The lines move evenly and the syntax frequently runs across the couplet boundary, producing a calm, reasoning cadence rather than a decorative one.句式上，「江南有丹橘经冬犹绿林」写江南有丹橘，音节高洁；「岂伊地气暖自有岁寒心」写岂伊地气暖，音节悠长；「可以荐嘉客奈何阻重深」写可以荐嘉客，音节低回；结「运命唯所遇循环不可寻徒言树桃李此木岂无阴」写此木岂无阴，音节沉郁。全诗音节随情起伏，由高洁而悠长、由低回而沉郁，正合古体「流转」之妙，读来如感遇咏橘、此木岂无阴之音，高洁而动人。
Reading note The extended length - five couplets rather than four - is itself part of the effect: the poem needs room to complete an argument, and the old style lets it add the philosophical fourth couplet that a regulated octave would have excluded. The rhyme on the final word for shade closes the poem on a soft sound, appropriate to a claim made quietly.此诗为五言古体，是张九龄写感遇咏橘之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「高洁咏橘、以橘写情」：「江南有丹橘经冬犹绿林」写江南有丹橘、「岂伊地气暖自有岁寒心」写岂伊地气暖、「可以荐嘉客奈何阻重深」写可以荐嘉客、「运命唯所遇循环不可寻徒言树桃李此木岂无阴」写此木岂无阴。全诗高洁咏橘，以橘写情。尤为精妙者，是「江南有丹橘」用丹橘之典；而「自有岁寒心」用岁寒之典，正是张九龄诗「高洁咏橘」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《感遇十二首 七》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

江南有丹橘经冬犹绿林

In the south land there is the red tangerine; through the winter it is still a green wood.

江南有丹橘经冬犹绿林

In the southland there are red oranges; through the winter the woods stay green.

起句写江南有丹橘，起笔即见其丹橘。「江南有丹橘」用丹橘之典写江南有丹橘，「江南」写江南、「有丹橘」写有丹橘；「经冬犹绿林」写经冬犹绿林，「经冬」写经冬、「犹绿林」写犹绿林。一句写江南有丹橘经冬犹绿林，以江南有丹橘写有丹橘、以经冬犹绿林写犹绿林，写尽江南有丹橘、经冬犹绿林之情。以橘起兴，高洁而咏橘，是「以橘起兴」的妙笔。

The opening line names the red oranges of the southland, green through winter; rising through the orange, it praises the tree's winter-hardy virtue.

岂伊地气暖自有岁寒心

Not that the soil's breath is warm there - it has of itself a heart that endures the cold.

岂伊地气暖自有岁寒心

Is it only that the local air is warm? No, they have a heart that braves the year's cold.

此句写岂伊地气暖，是全诗写地气之态的关键。「岂伊地气暖」写岂伊地气暖，「岂伊」写岂伊、「地气暖」写地气暖；「自有岁寒心」用岁寒之典写自有岁寒心，「自有」写自有、「岁寒心」写岁寒心。一句写岂伊地气暖自有岁寒心，以岂伊地气暖写地气暖、以自有岁寒心写岁寒心，写尽岂伊地气暖、自有岁寒心之情。以心写情，高洁而咏橘，是「以心写情」的点睛之笔。

This line asks whether it is mere warm local air, and answers that the oranges hold a 'heart that braves the cold', adapting the Analects saying that only in bitter winter does one know the pine and cypress; through the heart it writes moral fortitude.

可以荐嘉客奈何阻重深

It could be offered to honoured guests; alas, barriers lie deep and heavy between.

可以荐嘉客奈何阻重深

They might be offered to honored guests, but alas, mountain on mountain blocks the way.

此句写可以荐嘉客，是全诗写嘉客之态的关键。「可以荐嘉客」写可以荐嘉客，「可以荐」写可以荐、「嘉客」写嘉客；「奈何阻重深」写奈何阻重深，「奈何」写奈何、「阻重深」写阻重深。一句写可以荐嘉客奈何阻重深，以可以荐嘉客写荐嘉客、以奈何阻重深写阻重深，写尽可以荐嘉客、奈何阻重深之情。以客写情，高洁而咏橘，是「以客写情」的点睛之笔。

It notes the oranges might be offered to honored guests, yet deep barriers block the way — a figure for worth that cannot reach the ruler, written through the guest who never arrives.

运命唯所遇循环不可寻徒言树桃李此木岂无阴

Fate is only what one meets, and the cycle cannot be traced; all they talk of is planting peaches and plums - can this tree be without shade?

运命唯所遇循环不可寻徒言树桃李此木岂无阴

Fate follows what it meets; its turning cannot be traced. Men talk only of planting peach and plum — yet is this tree without shade?

结句写此木岂无阴，是全诗立意的落点。「运命唯所遇循环不可寻」写运命唯所遇循环不可寻，「运命唯所遇」写运命唯所遇、「循环不可寻」写循环不可寻；「徒言树桃李此木岂无阴」写徒言树桃李此木岂无阴，「徒言树桃李」写徒言树桃李、「此木岂无阴」写此木岂无阴。一句写运命唯所遇循环不可寻徒言树桃李此木岂无阴，以运命唯所遇写唯所遇、以徒言树桃李写树桃李、以此木岂无阴写岂无阴，写尽运命唯所遇、此木岂无阴之情。以阴写情，高洁而咏橘，是全诗最动人处，也是「以阴写情」的点睛之笔。

The closing line reflects that fate follows what it meets and its cycles cannot be traced; men plant only peach and plum, yet asks whether this tree lacks shade. Ending on the shade it gives, it grieves the neglected worthy.

Study

Word focus

丹橘 The red tangerine of the south. The colour marks ripeness and the region marks distance; as the poem's central figure it stands for a man whose worth is real but who grows far from the centre of reward. 「丹橘」写江南有丹橘，是写丹橘之态的关键。「江南有丹橘」着一「丹橘」，写丹橘——着一「丹橘」，写江南有丹橘，见其橘之丹。两字写尽丹橘之态，是「以词写橘」的妙笔。「丹橘」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。
绿林 A green wood. The point is seasonal: the tree is still a green wood when other trees are bare, so the adjective carries the whole claim to constancy before the next couplet explains it. 「绿林」写经冬犹绿林，是写绿林之态的关键。「经冬犹绿林」着一「绿林」，写绿林——着一「绿林」，写经冬犹绿林，见其林之绿。两字写尽绿林之态，是「以词写林」的点睛之词。「绿林」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。
岁寒 The cold of the year, the hardest season. The classical saying has it that only in the year's cold does one learn which trees keep their leaves, and the phrase therefore means loyalty tested and proved by adversity rather than by prosperity. 「岁寒」写自有岁寒心，是写岁寒之态的关键。「自有岁寒心」着一「岁寒」，写岁寒——着一「岁寒」，写自有岁寒心，见其寒之岁。两字写尽岁寒之态，是「以词写寒」的点睛之词。「岁寒」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。
桃李 Peaches and plums. Conventionally the showy, popular trees that everyone plants because they flower quickly and are quickly rewarded; set against the tangerine they embody fashion and short-term favour as opposed to lasting worth. 「桃李」写徒言树桃李，是写桃李之态的关键。「徒言树桃李」着一「桃李」，写桃李——着一「桃李」，写徒言树桃李，见其李之桃。两字写尽桃李之态，是「以词写李」的点睛之词。「桃李」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 Shuidiao Getou: How Long Has the Bright Moon Been 苏轼 · 同写咏橘感怀、高洁旷达，一写人有悲欢离合、一写江南有丹橘经冬犹绿林，皆于咏橘之中见高洁 Both confront a fortune that cannot be commanded. One accepts that the moon waxes and wanes and that life is incomplete; the other concludes that destiny is only what one meets and cannot be traced. Acceptance and protest meet over the same subject.

Su Shi resolves his grievance in a general human consolation, while Zhang Jiuling ends with a pointed question about usefulness and reward. Comparing them shows how reflective poetry can either dissolve a grievance in philosophy or sharpen it into social criticism.

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」，写咏橘感怀、高洁旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；张九龄《感遇十二首 七》则以「江南有丹橘经冬犹绿林」「此木岂无阴」写犹绿林、岂无阴。两诗同写咏橘感怀、高洁旷达：一写人有悲欢离合、以悲欢写离合，一写江南有丹橘经冬犹绿林、以丹橘写咏橘；一为苏轼之旷达、一为张九龄之高洁，并读正可见诗写「咏橘感怀」的两种笔法，皆于咏橘之中见高洁。

 八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Basheng Ganzhou: Down the Evening Rain that Sweeps the River Sky 柳永 · 同写江南凝望、高洁清丽，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写江南有丹橘经冬犹绿林，皆于江南之中见凝望 Both look from the south toward what is lost. One watches a rainy river and grieves over a life of wandering; the other speaks from the south about a worthy thing blocked from reaching the capital. The southern vantage reflects between the two.

Liu Yong's speaker is a traveller whose sorrow is his own restlessness; Zhang Jiuling's speaker hides behind a tree and pleads a general case. The contrast is between a lyric of personal wandering and a poem of principled grievance, both written from the far side of an imagined centre.

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」，写江南凝望、高洁清丽，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；张九龄《感遇十二首 七》则以「江南有丹橘经冬犹绿林」「岂伊地气暖」写犹绿林、地气暖。两诗同写江南凝望、高洁清丽：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写江南有丹橘经冬犹绿林、以丹橘写咏橘；一为柳永之清丽、一为张九龄之高洁，并读正可见诗写「江南凝望」的两种笔法，皆于江南之中见凝望。