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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

曲江二首·其二

At the Qujiang River, Two Poems: No. 2

杜甫

Du Fu

感时Lamenting the Times 惜春Cherishing Spring

朝回日日典春衣，每日江头尽醉归。
酒债寻常行处有，人生七十古来稀。
穿花蛱蝶深深见，点水蜻蜓款款飞。
传语风光共流转，暂时相赏莫相违。

Back from court, day after day I pawn my spring robes;
Every day by the river I drink my fill and reel home.
Wine debts are a common thing wherever I go—
Who lives to seventy since ancient times?
Butterflies thread the flowers, deep in the blossoms seen;
Dragonflies touch the water, drifting down in leisure flight.
I send word to the spring scene: flow on with me a while—
For this brief moment let us enjoy each other, do not part.

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Meaning

Written in spring 758, while Du Fu served in Chang'an after offending Emperor Suzong, the poem shows him pawning his clothes to drink at the Qujiang every day. The surface abandon - wine debts, drunken reeling, 'who lives to seventy?' - masks the pain of political disgrace; amid the drinking, butterflies and dragonflies still enact spring's beauty, and he begs the season to linger with him a while.

退朝之后，我天天典当春衣，每天在江头喝得大醉而归。酒债寻常，走到哪里都有，人生七十岁自古以来就稀少。穿花的蝴蝶在花丛深处时隐时现，点水的蜻蜓在水面上款款飞。传话给那春光，让它与我一同流转，暂且相赏，不要相违。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] Back from court, day after day I pawn my spring robes; every day by the river I drink my fill and reel home. Wine debts are common wherever I go; who lives to seventy since ancient times? Butterflies thread the flowers, seen deep in the blossoms; dragonflies touch the water, drifting down in leisure. I send word to the spring scene to flow on with me a while - for this brief moment let us enjoy each other, do not part. [Structure] Four couplets in a clear progression: drinking (couplets 1-2), lament (couplet 2), spring scene (couplet 3), clinging to spring (couplet 4). The butterfly-and-dragonfly couplet is the pivot from self-indulgence to the beauty outside. [Imagery] The poem's tension is between abandon and grief: pawning robes, debts everywhere, drunken reeling - gaiety that is really self-numbing. Against this, the butterfly-and-dragonfly couplet gives pure, exact vitality ('threading flowers' answers 'touching water'), and the close personifies spring as a companion begged to linger.

【白话串讲】杜甫写《曲江二首·其二》：“朝回日日典春衣，每日江头尽醉归”——他当了春衣去买酒。“酒债寻常行处有，人生七十古来稀”——“穿花蛱蝶深深见，点水蜻蜓款款飞”——“传语风光共流转，暂时相赏莫相违”——他写曲江春光。【意象与手法】此诗是杜甫《曲江二首》之二，写典衣沽酒、醉游曲江的放达，是杜甫「以酒遣愁」的名篇。前两联写纵酒行乐：「朝回日日典春衣，每日江头尽醉归」写退朝后典衣沽酒、江头尽醉的放达；「酒债寻常行处有，人生七十古来稀」写酒债之多的自嘲与人生苦短的感慨，「人生七十古来稀」更是千古名句。后两联写惜春：「穿花蛱蝶深深见，点水蜻蜓款款飞」写曲江春日的生机，穿花蛱蝶、点水蜻蜓，工对精妙；「传语风光共流转，暂时相赏莫相违」传语春光、共相流转，写对春光的留恋与珍惜。全诗由纵酒到惜春，由行乐到惜时，表面放达而骨子沉痛，是杜甫「以乐写忧」的又一典范。【情感与主旨】此诗作于唐肃宗乾元元年（758）春，与《曲江二首·其一》同时，时杜甫在长安任左拾遗。此前杜甫因疏救房琯触怒肃宗，仕途失意，此诗即写其退朝后纵酒游曲江的放达与感慨。诗中「朝回日日典春衣，每日江头尽醉归」写其典衣沽酒、日日醉游，看似放达，实则是失意中的自我麻醉；「酒债寻常行处有，人生七十古来稀」以「酒债」写纵酒之甚，以「人生七十古来稀」写人生苦短，那「古来稀」的慨叹，正是失意者对生命易逝的敏感；「穿花蛱蝶深深见，点水蜻蜓款款飞」写曲江的春景，蛱蝶穿花、蜻蜓点水，生机盎然；「传语风光共流转，暂时相赏莫相违」以传语春光写惜春之情——既然人生苦短、春光易逝，便暂且相赏、莫负春光。全诗表面是纵酒行乐、及时行乐，骨子里却是失意者以酒消愁、以乐遣忧的自我排遣，那「人生七十古来稀」的慨叹、「暂时相赏莫相违」的惜春，都透着对人生与时代的深沉感慨，是理解杜甫乾元元年复杂心境的重要作品。【名句点睛】常考“穿花蛱蝶深深见，点水蜻蜓款款飞”写曲江春日的生机，工对精妙；“人生七十古来稀”写人生苦短，是流传千古的名句。

Background

The poem was written in spring 758 (the first year of the Qianyuan era), when Du Fu was in Chang'an as a Left Reminder (zuo shiyi) at Emperor Suzong's court. Having joined the court in 757 after the An Lushan Rebellion broke out in 755, he offended the emperor by defending the disgraced general Fang Guan and was effectively sidelined. The Qujiang - the 'Winding River' and its pleasure gardens outside the capital - was where the court relaxed. 'Pawning my spring robes' shows his real poverty, and the daily drunkenness is the self-anesthesia of a man politically stranded. The poem and its companion 'Qujiang No. 1' together record this pivotal, humiliated year in Du Fu's life.

此诗作于唐肃宗乾元元年（758）春，是杜甫《曲江二首》的第二首。杜甫于至德二载（757）投奔肃宗，任左拾遗，因上疏营救房琯而触怒肃宗，虽得免罪，但已不受重用。乾元元年春，杜甫在长安，退朝之余，日日到曲江纵酒游赏，写下此诗。诗中「朝回日日典春衣，每日江头尽醉归」写其退朝后典衣沽酒、日日醉游——「典春衣」写其生活之拮据（需典当春衣才能沽酒），「尽醉归」写其纵酒之甚，这看似放达，实则是失意中的自我麻醉；「酒债寻常行处有，人生七十古来稀」写其酒债累累的窘况与人生苦短的感慨——「酒债寻常行处有」写其到处赊酒、酒债累累，「人生七十古来稀」更以人生短暂的慨叹，为纵酒行乐提供理由，实则暗含对国事与身世的深沉忧思。诗中「穿花蛱蝶深深见，点水蜻蜓款款飞」写曲江春日的生机，是杜甫写景的名句；「传语风光共流转，暂时相赏莫相违」以拟人写惜春之情——传语春光、共相流转，暂且相赏、莫负春光。此诗与《曲江二首·其一》同时而作，一写伤春的愁绪，一写纵酒的放达，共同记录杜甫乾元元年的复杂心境。安史之乱虽已进入第三年，但国势未复，杜甫在长安目睹朝政的腐败（宦官专权、藩镇割据初现）与自身的失意，那「人生七十古来稀」的慨叹与「暂时相赏莫相违」的惜春，正是这种双重忧思的流露。

Art

The poem's masterstroke is 'writing grief through gaiety' (yi le xie ai). The first two couplets pile up abandon: robes pawned daily, drinking till reeling, debts in every street, and the famous dismissal 'who lives to seventy since ancient times?' - each line laughs and each line aches, because the reader sees that the pawning is poverty and the drinking is flight. The third couplet is the poem's technical summit: exact antithesis ('threading flowers' against 'touching water', 'butterflies' against 'dragonflies', 'deeply seen' against 'leisurely flying'), reduplicatives that enact the creatures' slow hovering, and a pure vitality that contrasts with the drunkard's dissolution - the scene is so alive that the closing plea becomes inevitable. The close personifies spring ('I send word to the spring scene') and ends on the poignant adverb 'for the moment' (zanshi): he knows spring, like his own favor at court, cannot last, so he begs it only to linger a while.

此诗的艺术特色可从四个层面解析。其一，以放达写忧思的笔法。全诗表面写纵酒行乐（典衣沽酒、尽醉而归、酒债寻常），骨子里却写失意之忧——那「日日典春衣」的拮据、「尽醉归」的放纵、「酒债寻常」的窘况，都是失意者以酒消愁的写照，以放达写忧思，正是「以乐写哀」的笔法。其二，工对与生机的结合。颈联「穿花蛱蝶深深见，点水蜻蜓款款飞」对仗精工：「穿花」对「点水」、「蛱蝶」对「蜻蜓」、「深深见」对「款款飞」，蛱蝶穿花的动态与蜻蜓点水的从容，写尽曲江春日的生机，是杜甫写景的名句，也是全诗由「纵酒」到「惜春」的转折。其三，人生苦短的感慨。「人生七十古来稀」以直白的语言写人生短暂，是千古名句——它既有对人生易逝的深沉感慨，也为纵酒行乐提供了理由，更暗含对国事多艰、生命有限的忧思。其四，拟人传情的收束。「传语风光共流转，暂时相赏莫相违」以拟人写春光——诗人「传语」给风光，请它与自己一同流转、暂且相赏，把对春光的留恋写得亲切动人，「暂时」二字更见其对春光易逝的清醒与珍惜。四重手法层层推进，使此诗成为杜甫「以酒遣愁、以乐写忧」的又一典范。

Allusions

'Pawning spring robes' for wine echoes Li Bai's 'Bring in the Wine' ('my flower horse, my thousand-fur robe - call the boy out to trade them for fine wine'), but Du Fu's version is stripped of swagger into real poverty. 'Who lives to seventy since ancient times?' draws on the Analects' 'at seventy I could follow my heart's desire without overstepping' and the Han yuefu 'Nineteen Old Poems' lament 'man's life does not reach a hundred' - life's brevity used here both as excuse and as ache. 'Common' (xunchang) carries a famous pun: it means 'ordinary', but as a measure of length (eight chi is a xun, twice that is chang) it quietly answers 'seventy' in the next line. The personified 'send word to the spring scene' recalls Li Bai's 'I entrust my sorrowful heart to the bright moon', and the carpe-diem of 'let us enjoy each other, do not part' belongs to the 'Nineteen Old Poems' tradition of 'better to drink fine wine'.

此诗的意象与用语深植于古诗传统。「朝回日日典春衣」的「典春衣」写典当春衣沽酒，令人想到李白「五花马，千金裘，呼儿将出换美酒」的以物换酒，而「典春衣」更见其生活之拮据；「每日江头尽醉归」化用《诗经》「既醉以酒」与陶渊明「漉我新熟酒」的饮酒传统。「酒债寻常行处有」写赊酒之况，「寻常」一词在此兼有「平常」与「八尺为寻、倍寻为常」（计量单位）的双关义——「寻常行处」既是「到处」之意，又暗含「八尺」「十六尺」的计量，暗扣「人生七十古来稀」的「七十」之数，是杜甫诗中著名的双关。「人生七十古来稀」化用《论语》「七十而从心所欲，不逾矩」与古诗「人生不满百」的寿命观念，是千古名句。「穿花蛱蝶深深见」的「蛱蝶」写蝴蝶，「深深见」写其在花丛深处时隐时现，令人想到谢朓「鱼戏新荷动，鸟散余花落」的写景笔法；「点水蜻蜓款款飞」的「款款」写蜻蜓飞行的从容，令人想到《古诗十九首》「胡马依北风，越鸟巢南枝」的叠字用法。「传语风光共流转」的「传语」以拟人写春光，令人想到李白「我寄愁心与明月」的拟人笔法；「暂时相赏莫相违」化用《古诗十九首》「不如饮美酒，被服纨与素」的及时行乐思想。全诗化用诗经、古诗、李白的意象与传统，以纵酒写行乐、以惜春写忧思，正是杜甫「以典写情、化古为新」的本领。

Commentary

The poem has long been prized as one of the most characteristic of Du Fu's 758 Chang'an years. Qing commentators are precise about its double voice: Qiu Zhao'ao's 'Du shi xiang zhu' calls 'who lives to seventy since ancient times?' 'plain words, most profound grief', and Pu Qilong's 'Du shi xin jie' sums up the whole poem as 'writing grievance through abandon' (yi fangda xie laosao). The butterfly-and-dragonfly couplet is universally quoted as a model of Tang scene-writing - its exact parallelism and unhurried life make it a favorite exercise in couplet appreciation. For modern readers the poem is a window into the poet's gaiety-over-grief psychology: a sidelined official, a capital still shadowed by rebellion, and a poet who drinks, pawns, and begs the spring to stay.

此诗历来被推为杜甫《曲江二首》中的名篇，也是「人生七十古来稀」这一千古名句的出处。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人仇兆鳌《杜诗详注》评「人生七十古来稀」为「语极平淡，意极沉痛」，浦起龙《读杜心解》更指出此诗「以放达写牢骚」，表面纵酒行乐，骨子里是失意的牢骚。在文学史上，此诗的特殊价值在于：它以「纵酒行乐」的表面写「失意忧思」的内里，是杜甫「以乐写哀」的典型——那「日日典春衣」的拮据、「每日尽醉归」的放纵、「酒债寻常」的窘况，看似放达，实则是失意者以酒消愁的写照；而「人生七十古来稀」的慨叹，更把个人的失意上升为对人生易逝的普遍感慨，成为千古名句。诗中「穿花蛱蝶深深见，点水蜻蜓款款飞」一联，写尽曲江春日的生机，是杜甫写景的杰作，也为其后「传语风光共流转」的惜春作了铺垫。此诗与《曲江二首·其一》同为乾元元年之作，一写伤春、一写纵酒，共同记录了杜甫在长安的失意岁月。对于今日读者，此诗是理解杜甫乾元元年心境的窗口，也是感受中国诗歌「以乐写哀」传统的典范——那江头的醉归、古来稀的慨叹、款款飞的蜻蜓，穿越千年，仍在诉说着诗人「表面放达、骨子沉痛」的复杂心境。

Prosody

Form Seven-character regulated verse (qiyan lushi), level-opening first-line-rhymed pattern七言律诗（平起首句入韵）

Rhyme Rhymes on the level-tone 'wei' group: yi (robes), gui (home), xi (rare), fei (fly), wei (part) - a clear, prolonged rhyme whose lingering music suits the poem's long-drawn cherishing of spring.押上平五微韵，韵脚为「衣」「归」「稀」「飞」「违」。首句「衣」字平声入韵，属首句入韵之格。韵脚「衣」「归」「稀」「飞」「违」皆属微部，韵音清微悠长，正合其惜春感时的绵长意境。

Tone pattern The seven-character lines follow the standard lushi pattern: the first line opens level with rhyme, and each couplet carries the 2-2-3 beat ('back from court / day after day / pawn spring robes'). The middle couplets observe strict tonal antithesis, so the butterflies and dragonflies move in perfectly matched music.朝回日日典春衣，平平仄仄仄平平；每日江头尽醉归，仄仄平平仄仄平；酒债寻常行处有，仄仄平平平仄仄；人生七十古来稀，平平仄仄仄平平；穿花蛱蝶深深见，平平仄仄平平仄；点水蜻蜓款款飞，仄仄平平仄仄平；传语风光共流转，平仄平平仄平仄；暂时相赏莫相违，仄平平仄仄平平。全诗平仄合于七律格律，对仗精工，音节流转。

Reading note The poem is a model qiyan lushi with first-line rhyme: four couplets of entering, continuing, turning and summing up, with obligatory antithesis in the middle two couplets ('wine debts...' against '...seventy?', and the butterfly-dragonfly couplet). The level 'wei' rhyme and the smooth, unhurried 2-2-3 beat let the poet's two voices - the drunkard's reel and the mourner's sigh - share one music, which is precisely the poem's method: grief heard through the rhythm of gaiety.此诗是平起首句入韵的七言律诗，押平声微韵，格律严整，对仗精工，是杜甫七律中的名篇。全诗四联结构分明：首联写纵酒（典衣沽酒、尽醉而归），颔联写感慨（酒债寻常、人生七十），颈联写春景（蛱蝶穿花、蜻蜓点水），尾联写惜春（传语风光、暂时相赏）。前两联写人与事，后两联写景与情，章法井然。声调上，全诗以平声微韵为韵脚，韵音清微悠长，配合「日日典春衣」的放达与「暂时相赏」的惜春，全篇音节流转而不失沉郁。诵读此诗，宜以放达的语调读首联的纵酒，以感慨的语调读颔联的人生苦短，以轻快的语调读颈联的春景，以留恋的语调读尾联的惜春，使全诗的情感在声调中层层流转。杜甫七律以「沉郁顿挫」著称，此诗却是其七律中「以放达写牢骚」的代表，正见其驾驭情感的多样功力。

Line by line

酒债寻常行处有，人生七十古来稀。

Wine debts are a common thing wherever I go; who lives to seventy since ancient times?

酒债寻常，走到哪里都有，人生七十岁自古以来就稀少。

Wine debts are everywhere, as common as the road; for man, seventy years of age have been rare since olden times.

这两句是全诗情感的核心，也是千古名句，以酒债写纵酒、以人生写感慨，沉痛而隽永。「酒债寻常行处有」写纵酒之甚——「酒债」写其赊酒之况，「寻常行处有」写其到处赊酒、酒债累累，「寻常」二字在此兼有双关义（既是「平常」之意，又是「八尺为寻、倍寻为常」的计量单位，暗扣下句「七十」），写尽诗人纵酒的狼狈与放达——为了借酒消愁，他不惜处处赊欠；「人生七十古来稀」写人生苦短——「古来稀」以直白的语言写人生七十自古稀少，生命短暂，正因如此，才要及时行乐，也正因如此，那「日日尽醉」的放纵才有了悲凉的底色。两句一写「酒债」之多、一写「人生」之短，以纵酒写行乐、以人生写感慨，表面是达观，骨子里是沉痛——那酒债，是失意的债务；那古来稀，是生命有限的叹息。尤其「人生七十古来稀」一句，以最平淡的语言写最深刻的感慨，成为千古传诵的名句，也让这两句成为《曲江二首》中情感最沉重的一笔。

These two lines are the emotional core of the poem, and a famous line through the ages, wine debts writing the drinking, life writing the lament, bitter and lasting. 'Wine debts are everywhere, as common as the road' the excess of drinking — 'wine debts' the buying of wine on credit, 'everywhere, as common as the road' the credit wherever he goes, the debts piled high; 'as common' here carries a double meaning (both 'ordinary', and the unit of measure, eight feet a xun, double a xun a chang, secretly answering the next line's 'seventy'), writing to the full the plight and the ease of the poet's drinking — to drown his care in wine, he does not mind owing wherever he goes. 'Seventy years of age have been rare since olden times' the shortness of life — 'rare since olden times', in plain words, writing that seventy years has been rare since old days, life short; precisely because of this, one should make the most of the hour, and precisely because of this, the 'drunk to the dregs every day' abandon has its desolate ground. Two lines, one the many 'wine debts', one the shortness of 'life', writing revelry through the wine debt, writing the lament through life; on the surface resigned, at the root bitter — the wine debt is the debt of disappointment; the 'rare since olden times' is the sigh of life's limit. Especially the line 'seventy years of age have been rare since olden times', writing the deepest lament in the plainest words, became a famous line through the ages, and made these two lines the heaviest emotional stroke of the two Qujiang poems.

穿花蛱蝶深深见，点水蜻蜓款款飞。

Butterflies thread the flowers, deep in the blossoms seen; dragonflies touch the water, drifting down in leisure flight.

穿花的蝴蝶在花丛深处时隐时现，点水的蜻蜓在水面上款款飞。

Butterflies threading the flowers are seen deep within; dragonflies skimming the water fly at ease.

这两句写曲江春日的生机，是杜甫写景的名句，也是全诗由「纵酒」到「惜春」的转折。「穿花蛱蝶深深见」写蛱蝶穿花——蝴蝶在花丛中穿梭，「深深见」写其在花丛深处时隐时现，一个「深深」写花之繁、蝶之隐，那蛱蝶在花海中出没，若隐若现，正是春深花密的景象；「点水蜻蜓款款飞」写蜻蜓点水——蜻蜓在水面上轻轻点过、缓缓飞走，「款款飞」以「款款」写其飞行的从容舒缓，那点水的蜻蜓、款款的飞姿，正是春水初生的景象。两句对仗精工（穿花对点水、蛱蝶对蜻蜓、深深见对款款飞），一写蛱蝶之隐、一写蜻蜓之显，一深一浅、一隐一现，把曲江春日的生机写得如在目前。值得注意的是，这两句写景的生机，正与首联「日日尽醉」的放达形成对照——诗人醉眼朦胧中看到的蛱蝶蜻蜓，是那样鲜活、那样从容，正是春光的美好，让他生出了「传语风光共流转，暂时相赏莫相违」的惜春之情。以生机写惜春、以景语写情语，正是这两句的妙处。

These two lines write the spring life of the Qujiang, Du Fu's famous scenic line, and the poem's turn from 'drinking' to 'treasuring spring'. 'Butterflies threading the flowers are seen deep within' the butterflies threading the blooms — the butterflies weaving among the flowers, 'seen deep within' their appearing and disappearing in the flower depths, the one 'deep' writing the flowers' abundance and the butterflies' hiding, the butterflies going in and out of the sea of flowers, faint and clear, precisely the deep spring's thick bloom. 'Dragonflies skimming the water fly at ease' the dragonflies skimming the water — the dragonflies lightly touching the water, slowly flying off, 'at ease' writing their unhurried flight through 'at ease', the skimming dragonfly, the leisurely flight, precisely the scene of the spring water's new birth. The couplet is exact (threading flowers against skimming water, butterflies against dragonflies, 'seen deep within' against 'fly at ease'), one the butterflies' hiding, one the dragonflies' showing, one deep one shallow, one hidden one appearing, writing the Qujiang spring's life as before the eyes. Notable: the life in this scenic writing sets off against the opening couplet's 'drunk to the dregs every day' abandon — the butterflies and dragonflies the poet sees through his drunken eyes, so vivid, so unhurried, precisely the beauty of spring that gives birth to his 'tell the wind and light to linger, admire the moment and not turn from me' grief of treasuring spring. Writing the treasuring through life, writing emotional language through scenic language, the beauty of these two lines.

Study

Word focus

寻常 'Common': a famous pun - it means 'ordinary, everywhere', but as a measure of length (eight chi is a xun, twice that a chang) it quietly answers 'seventy' in the next line; either way it piles up the debts with a laugh that aches. 「寻常」二字是写酒债的关键字，兼有双关，极见杜甫炼字的功力。寻，八尺；常，倍寻（十六尺），「寻常」本义是计量单位，引申为「平常、普通」。杜甫以「酒债寻常行处有」写酒债，这「寻常」至少有双重意味：其一，作「平常」解——酒债平常得很，走到哪里都有，「寻常行处有」写其到处赊酒、酒债累累，语气中带着自嘲的放达；其二，作「计量」解——「寻常」本是长度单位，暗扣下句「人生七十古来稀」的「七十」（古代以「寻常」「七十」皆为数词），两句以「寻常」对「七十」，工整而有趣，是杜甫诗中著名的双关。以「寻常」写酒债，既写其寻常之多，又暗含计量的意味，正是杜甫「一字多义」的炼字功夫，也让「酒债寻常行处有，人生七十古来稀」成为千古名句。这一个「寻常」，让那酒债既有了「平常」的自嘲，又有了「计量」的深意，正见杜甫语言的丰富与精妙。

款款 'Leisurely, unhurried': the reduplicative gives the dragonfly's flight its slow, drifting grace - and by sympathy the watcher's own calm; a single reduplicative makes the spring scene breathe. 「款款」二字是写蜻蜓飞行的点睛之笔，以叠字写从容之态，生动而传神。款款者，迟缓、从容也。杜甫以「点水蜻蜓款款飞」写蜻蜓，一个「款款」，至少有双重意味：其一，写飞行之从容——蜻蜓点水后，不慌不忙、缓缓飞走，「款款」写其飞行的从容舒缓，那点水的蜻蜓、款款的飞姿，正是春水初生时的宁静景象；其二，写观景之从容——「款款」既是写蜻蜓，也是写观者的心境——诗人醉眼朦胧中看那蜻蜓款款而飞，心情也随之从容宁静，那纵酒的放达、人生苦短的慨叹，在这一刻都被蜻蜓的「款款」柔化了。以「款款」写蜻蜓，叠字的运用使画面有了韵律，令人想到《古诗十九首》「胡马依北风，越鸟巢南枝」的叠字笔法。若换作「缓缓」「徐徐」等词，则或失其叠字的韵律，或失其从容的意味；唯「款款」二字，以叠字写尽蜻蜓的从容与观者的宁静，正是杜甫炼字的功力，也让「点水蜻蜓款款飞」成为写春景的名句。