唐 Tang · 诗 Poem
石鼓歌
Song of the Stone Drums
张生手持石鼓文，劝我试作石鼓歌。
少陵无人谪仙死，才薄将奈石鼓何。
周纲凌迟四海沸，宣王愤起挥天戈。
大开明堂受朝贺，诸侯剑佩鸣相磨。
蒐于岐阳骋雄俊，万里禽兽皆遮罗。
镌功勒成告万世，凿石作鼓隳嵯峨。
从臣才艺咸第一，拣选撰刻留山阿。
雨淋日炙野火燎，鬼物守护烦撝呵。
Show full original poem
张生手持石鼓文，劝我试作石鼓歌。
少陵无人谪仙死，才薄将奈石鼓何。
周纲凌迟四海沸，宣王愤起挥天戈。
大开明堂受朝贺，诸侯剑佩鸣相磨。
蒐于岐阳骋雄俊，万里禽兽皆遮罗。
镌功勒成告万世，凿石作鼓隳嵯峨。
从臣才艺咸第一，拣选撰刻留山阿。
雨淋日炙野火燎，鬼物守护烦撝呵。
公从何处得纸本，毫发尽备无差讹。
辞严义密读难晓，字体不类隶与蝌。
年深岂免有缺画，快剑斫断生蛟鼍。
鸾翔凤翥众仙下，珊瑚碧树交枝柯。
金绳铁索锁钮壮，古鼎跃水龙腾梭。
陋儒编诗不收入，二雅褊迫无委蛇。
孔子西行不到秦，掎摭星宿遗羲娥。
嗟余好古生苦晚，对此涕泪双滂沱。
忆昔初蒙博士征，其年始改称元和。
故人从军在右辅，为我度量掘臼科。
濯冠沐浴告祭酒，如此至宝存岂多。
毡包席裹可立致，十鼓只载数骆驼。
荐诸太庙比郜鼎，光价岂止百倍过。
圣恩若许留太学，诸生讲解得切磋。
观经鸿都尚填咽，坐见举国来奔波。
剜苔剔藓露节角，安置妥帖平不颇。
大厦深檐与盖覆，经历久远期无佗。
中朝大官老于事，讵肯感激徒媕婀。
牧童敲火牛砺角，谁复著手为摩挲。
日销月铄就埋没，六年西顾空吟哦。
羲之俗书趁姿媚，数纸尚可博白鹅。
继周八代争战罢，无人收拾理则那。
方今太平日无事，柄任儒术崇丘轲。
安能以此尚论列，愿借辩口如悬河。
石鼓之歌止于此，呜呼吾意其蹉跎。
Shaoling is gone and the Banished Immortal dead — how shall my slender talent deal with these drums?
The Zhou dynasty's bonds grew lax and the four seas boiled; King Xuan rose in wrath and brandished heaven's war-club.
Wide he opened the Bright Hall to receive homage; the feudal lords' swords and girdle-pendants clashed and rang.
At Qiyang he hunted, showing his gallant men; for ten thousand li the birds and beasts were all drawn into the nets.
The merit engraved and inscribed to tell ten thousand ages; stone was cut into drums, the towering crags hewn level.
His attendant officers' arts all ranked first; the finest were chosen to carve and inscribe, left on the mountain's flank.
Rain drenched them, the sun scorched them, wildfire swept; guardian spirits watched over them, troubled, warding off harm.
Where did you, sir, obtain this paper rubbing? Every hair of it complete, without a single error.
The diction is stern, the sense dense, hard to read; the script resembles neither the clerical nor the tadpole hand.
After so many years, how could no strokes be missing? — gaps as if hacked by a keen sword, breeding dragons and crocodiles.
As the luan bird soars and the phoenix mounts, the immortals descend; like coral and emerald trees with their branches intertwined.
Golden cords and iron chains, the bosses proud and strong; as when the ancient cauldron leaped into the river — a dragon mounts, a shuttle flies.
Petty scholars compiling the Songs never included them; the two Ya sections are too narrow to hold their winding grace.
Confucius never traveled west into Qin; picking up the stars, he left behind the sun and moon.
Alas, I love antiquity yet was born too late; before them my tears fall in twin torrents.
I recall when first I was summoned to serve as a Doctor of the University — that very year the reign title was changed to Yuanhe.
An old friend served in the army of the Western Auxiliary District; he measured the ground for me and dug the drums from their mortar-shaped pits.
I washed my cap and bathed, and told the Libationer: such peerless treasures — how many could still survive?
Wrapped in felt and matting they could arrive at once; ten drums would need only a few camel-loads.
Present them in the Grand Temple beside the Ding of Gao; their worth would surpass it a hundredfold and more.
If the imperial grace allows them to remain in the University, students could lecture and discuss them and learn from one another.
When the Stone Classics were shown at Hongdu the crowds choked the gates; soon the whole land would come rushing to see.
Scrape the moss and lichen away to reveal the horn-like angles; set them level and secure, firm and straight.
Give them the deep eaves of a great hall to shelter under; through long ages to come, may they suffer no mishap.
But the court's high ministers, veterans of the world's ways — how would they be stirred to feeling? They merely hem and haw and equivocate.
Herd-boys strike fire on them, cattle rub their horns; who will ever reach out a hand to stroke and fondle them?
Day by day eaten away, month by month melted, they sink into oblivion; six years I have gazed west, chanting in vain.
Wang Xizhi's popular script, bent on pretty charm, could still fetch a flock of white geese for a few sheets.
Since Zhou, eight dynasties of ceaseless fighting have passed; no one has gathered them up — and how should the world be set right?
Now in this age of great peace with nothing to do, the court trusts Confucian teaching and honors Confucius and Mencius.
How can I, with this plea, hope to state the case in high debate? I would only borrow an eloquence like a river pouring from the heavens.
My song of the stone drums stops here — alas, my purpose is doomed to come to nothing.
Meaning
Han Yu's poem celebrates the Stone Drums — ten ancient drum-shaped stones bearing China's earliest monumental script — and mourns their neglect. Blending reverence for antiquity with playful self-mockery, it traces the drums' origin under King Xuan of Zhou, praises their cragged calligraphy in dazzling images, and laments that they are ignored by officials and abused by herd-boys. Beneath the ode to a relic lies a veiled protest: true cultural treasures, like the poet's own talent, go unrecognized.
张生手持石鼓文，劝我试作石鼓歌。少陵（杜甫）已无人，谪仙（李白）已死，我才学浅薄，将奈这石鼓何。周朝纲纪衰颓，四海沸乱，宣王愤然而起，挥动天戈。大开明堂接受朝贺，诸侯的剑佩相互鸣磨。在岐阳田猎骋其雄俊，万里之内的禽兽皆被遮罗。镌刻功业勒成文字告于万世，凿石作鼓，削平嵯峨。从臣的才艺堪称第一，拣选撰刻，留在山阿。雨淋日晒，野火焚烧，鬼物守护，烦劳呵斥。您从何处得到这纸本，毫发皆备，没有差讹。辞严义密，读之难晓；字体不类隶书与蝌蚪文。年深日久，岂能没有缺画，如快剑斫断，生出蛟鼍。鸾翔凤翥，众仙飞下；珊瑚碧树，交结枝柯。金绳铁索，锁钮壮固；如古鼎跃水，龙腾梭飞。陋儒编诗而不收入，二雅褊迫，没有委蛇之气。孔子西行不到秦国，拾取星宿而遗漏了羲和与嫦娥。嗟我好古，生得太晚，对此涕泪，双双滂沱。回忆当初初蒙博士之征，那年才改称元和。故人在军中于右辅，为我度量，掘出臼科。濯冠沐浴，禀告祭酒，如此至宝，存世岂多。毡包席裹，可立即致送，十面石鼓，只载数匹骆驼。进献太庙，可比郜鼎，光价岂止百倍超过。圣恩若许留在太学，诸生讲解，得以切磋。观经鸿都尚且填咽，坐见举国之人前来奔波。剜苔剔藓，露出节角；安置妥帖，平稳不颇。大厦深檐，加以盖覆，经历久远，期无差错。朝中大官，老于世事，岂肯感激，只是媕婀。牧童敲火，牛砺其角；谁复着手，为之摩挲。日销月铄，就此埋没；六年西顾，空自吟哦。羲之俗书，趁姿取媚，数纸尚可换得白鹅。继周八代，争战方罢；无人收拾，治理那得。方今太平，日日无事；柄任儒术，崇尚孔丘、孟轲。安能以此高论列；愿借辩口如悬河。石鼓之歌，止于此矣；呜呼，我的意愿其将蹉跎。
Appreciation
[Plain Paraphrase] Master Zhang brings a rubbing of the Stone Drum inscriptions and urges Han Yu to write about them; Han Yu protests his unworthiness since Du Fu and Li Bai are dead. He recounts the drums' origin under King Xuan of Zhou, the hunt at Qiyang, and the carving of the stones. [Structure] The middle section praises the archaic script in a cascade of images — phoenixes and immortals, coral trees, golden cords and iron chains — before the close turns from admiration to lament: the drums lie unstudied, used by herd-boys for kindling, slowly eroding, while Wang Xizhi's fashionable calligraphy fetches geese. [Imagery] The contrast between phoenix-like script and herd-boys striking fire carries the poem's emotional turn, and the final sigh that his purpose will come to nothing extends the lament from the relic to the poet's own unheeded talent. The poem is a landmark of the ideal of using prose methods within poetry.
【白话串讲】 韩愈写《石鼓歌》：“张生手持石鼓文，劝我试作石鼓歌”——“少陵无人谪仙死，才薄将奈石鼓何”——“周纲凌迟四海沸，宣王愤起挥天戈”——“镌功勒成告万世”——他写石鼓——少陵无人谪仙死。 【意象与手法】 张生手持石鼓文、劝我试作石鼓歌，写作诗之由；周纲凌迟四海沸、宣王愤起挥天戈，写石鼓之来源；镌功勒成告万世、凿石作鼓隳嵯峨，写石鼓之制作；嗟余好古生苦晚、对此涕泪双滂沱，写其珍视；结以“石鼓之歌止于此，呜呼吾意其蹉跎”叹其意之难酬。铺陈排比、气势雄浑。 【情感与主旨】 韩愈咏石鼓文之作，写其对石鼓文的珍视与感叹，是韩愈咏古名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“张生手持石鼓文，劝我试作石鼓歌”写作诗之由；“嗟余好古生苦晚，对此涕泪双滂沱”写其珍视。
Background
Han Yu (768–824), courtesy name Tuizhi, was the leader of the Ancient Prose (guwen) Movement and is counted first among the Eight Great Masters of Tang and Song literature. The Stone Drums — ten drum-shaped stones incised with archaic zhou-style script, unearthed near Fengxiang (Qiyang) in Shaanxi and now kept in the Palace Museum in Beijing — record a royal hunt of King Xuan of Zhou. Han Yu wrote this song in the early Yuanhe era, around 806, while holding office connected with the Imperial University and seeing the neglected drums at first hand; the poem closes with an appeal that they be preserved there for students to study.
《石鼓歌》为唐代文学家韩愈所作歌行体长诗。韩愈（768—824），字退之，河南河阳（今河南孟州）人，唐代文学家、思想家，古文运动的倡导者，世称「韩昌黎」「韩文公」。石鼓为唐代出土于陕西凤翔（岐阳）的十面石鼓，上刻籀文（大篆），为记述周宣王田猎之事的重要文物，今存北京故宫博物院。此诗写韩愈咏石鼓文。诗中「张生手持石鼓文，劝我试作石鼓歌」写作诗之由；「周纲凌迟四海沸，宣王愤起挥天戈」写石鼓所记周宣王之事；「镌功勒成告万世，凿石作鼓隳嵯峨」写石鼓之制作；「嗟余好古生苦晚，对此涕泪双滂沱」写其珍视；「圣恩若许留太学，诸生讲解得切磋」写其愿石鼓留于太学；「日销月铄就埋没，六年西顾空吟哦」叹石鼓之被忽视；「石鼓之歌止于此，呜呼吾意其蹉跎」叹其意之难酬。韩愈好古，对石鼓文极为珍视，此诗以铺陈排比写石鼓文之珍贵与其被忽视之慨，气势雄浑，是韩愈咏古名篇，也是「以文为诗」的典型体现。
Art
The poem's craft lies in sweeping, accumulative rhetoric. Han Yu builds a vast historical narrative — dynastic decline, royal restoration, hunt, carving — in dense couplets, then pivots to an ecstatic inventory of images for the script's beauty. A further device is contrast: the resplendent drums of antiquity against their humiliated present, Wang Xizhi's marketable prettiness against their priceless archaism. The tonal design follows the song-form convention of shifting rhymes: the opening is plain and conversational, the middle cadences soar with rapid parallel images, and the close sinks into long, slow rhymes of grief. Finally, the relic becomes a mirror for the poet: in mourning the drums' neglect he mourns his own stalled purpose.
此诗艺术上以「铺陈排比、气势雄浑」见长。全诗五十六句，前段写作诗之由与石鼓之来源，中段写石鼓文之文字之妙，后段写珍视石鼓、叹其被忽视。前段「张生手持石鼓文，劝我试作石鼓歌」「周纲凌迟四海沸，宣王愤起挥天戈」写作诗之由与石鼓所记之事；「蒐于岐阳骋雄俊，万里禽兽皆遮罗。镌功勒成告万世，凿石作鼓隳嵯峨」写石鼓之制作。中段写石鼓文之文字之妙：「辞严义密读难晓，字体不类隶与蝌」「鸾翔凤翥众仙下，珊瑚碧树交枝柯。金绳铁索锁钮壮，古鼎跃水龙腾梭」以鸾翔凤翥、金绳铁索等写其字之美。后段写珍视石鼓、叹其被忽视：「嗟余好古生苦晚，对此涕泪双滂沱」写其珍视；「牧童敲火牛砺角，谁复著手为摩挲。日销月铄就埋没，六年西顾空吟哦」叹其被忽视；「石鼓之歌止于此，呜呼吾意其蹉跎」叹其意之难酬。全诗铺陈排比，气势雄浑，是韩愈咏古名篇。
Allusions
The poem is rich in allusion. Shaoling is Du Fu and the Banished Immortal is Li Bai, whose deaths leave Han Yu, in playful self-deprecation, without worthy predecessors. The Ding of Gao was a treasured bronze vessel of the state of Song, invoked to rate the drums above any royal heirloom. The line that a few sheets of Wang Xizhi's calligraphy could still buy white geese recalls the Taoist classic the master wrote in exchange for a flock of geese. Hongdu refers to the Hongdumen Academy of the Eastern Han, where crowds choked the gates to view the engraved Stone Classics — a promise of the drums' future fame. The remark that Confucius never traveled west into Qin adapts the saying that the Sage gathered the stars but missed the sun and moon: the Confucian canon never reached Qin.
诗中「少陵」「谪仙」「郜鼎」「羲之」「鸿都」「丘轲」「悬河」等语，皆含典故故实。「少陵」指杜甫，「谪仙」指李白，韩愈叹杜甫已死、李白已亡，无人能作此歌；「郜鼎」为春秋时宋国郜国所铸之鼎，为至宝，韩愈以石鼓比郜鼎，写其珍贵；「羲之」指王羲之，其书《黄庭经》曾换白鹅，「数纸尚可博白鹅」以王羲之换鹅之典，反衬石鼓文之更可宝贵；「鸿都」指东汉鸿都门学，「观经鸿都尚填咽」以汉灵帝时摹写石经、观者填咽之盛，写石鼓若入太学必万人来观；「丘轲」指孔子（名丘）与孟子（名轲），「柄任儒术崇丘轲」写尊崇儒术；「悬河」用《世说新语》郭象「如悬河泻水」之语，写辩才无碍。诗人以少陵谪仙、郜鼎、羲之、鸿都、丘轲、悬河等典入诗，不着痕迹，而把石鼓文之珍贵与其被忽视之慨写得真切可感，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。
Commentary
Since the Tang, the Song of the Stone Drums has been prized as the greatest poetic tribute to an ancient artifact. Song and Ming critics praised its heroic, surging spirit, and it became a model of the song-form (gexing) style. Modern scholars value it doubly: as literature and as early epigraphy, since the poem preserves the fullest Tang account of the drums' condition and fate. It also crystallizes a cultural habit — the scholar's longing to preserve antiquity against neglect — that still resonates. Anthologies usually excerpt the opening self-deprecation and the closing lament, the two passages that best show Han Yu fusing personal ambition with cultural stewardship.
这首《石鼓歌》，是韩愈咏石鼓文之作，写其对石鼓文的珍视与感叹，铺陈排比，气势雄浑。开篇写作诗之由：「张生手持石鼓文，劝我试作石鼓歌。少陵无人谪仙死，才薄将奈石鼓何」——张生手持石鼓文，劝我试作石鼓歌；杜甫已无人、李白已死，我才学浅薄，将奈这石鼓何。以杜甫、李白之死写无人能为此歌，也见其对此歌之郑重。接着写石鼓之来源：「周纲凌迟四海沸，宣王愤起挥天戈。大开明堂受朝贺，诸侯剑佩鸣相磨」——周朝纲纪衰颓，宣王愤然而起，大开明堂受朝贺，写石鼓所记周宣王中兴之事；「蒐于岐阳骋雄俊，万里禽兽皆遮罗。镌功勒成告万世，凿石作鼓隳嵯峨」——在岐阳田猎、镌功勒成、凿石作鼓，写石鼓之制作。中段写石鼓文之文字之妙：「辞严义密读难晓，字体不类隶与蝌。年深岂免有缺画，快剑斫断生蛟鼍」——辞严义密，字体不类隶书蝌蚪文，年深而有缺画；「鸾翔凤翥众仙下，珊瑚碧树交枝柯。金绳铁索锁钮壮，古鼎跃水龙腾梭」——如鸾翔凤翥、珊瑚碧树、金绳铁索，以一连串奇丽的比喻写石鼓文之字之美，气势飞动。后段写珍视石鼓、叹其被忽视：「嗟余好古生苦晚，对此涕泪双滂沱」——嗟我好古生得太晚，对此涕泪滂沱，写其珍视；「牧童敲火牛砺角，谁复著手为摩挲。日销月铄就埋没，六年西顾空吟哦」——牧童敲火、牛砺其角，无人摩挲，日销月铄而就埋没，叹石鼓之被忽视；「羲之俗书趁姿媚，数纸尚可博白鹅」——王羲之的俗书趁姿取媚，数纸尚可换得白鹅，以羲之换鹅之典反衬石鼓文之更可宝贵；「石鼓之歌止于此，呜呼吾意其蹉跎」——石鼓之歌止于此，呜呼，我的意愿其将蹉跎。叹其意之难酬。全诗铺陈排比，气势雄浑，以文为诗，正是韩愈咏古名篇，也是「古文运动」领袖「以文为诗」的典型体现。
Prosody
Line by line
张生手持石鼓文，劝我试作石鼓歌。
Master Zhang holds a rubbing of the Stone Drum inscriptions and urges me to try my hand at a Song of the Stone Drums.
张生手持石鼓文，劝我试作石鼓歌。
Master Zhang holds the stone-drum inscription, urging me to try a song of the stone drums.
首二句写作诗之由，起笔即入题。「张生手持石鼓文」写张生手持石鼓文，「张生」为韩愈之友（疑指张籍），「手持石鼓文」写其持拓本而来；「劝我试作石鼓歌」写劝我试作石鼓歌，「劝」写其相劝，「试作」写其谦抑——面对这珍贵的石鼓文，韩愈亦自谦「试作」。两句一写其来、一写其劝，点出作歌之由，也以「试作」见韩愈对此歌之郑重，起笔即入题，是「叙事起笔」的妙笔。
The first two lines write the cause of the poem, entering the theme at once. 'Master Zhang holds the stone-drum inscription' — 'Master Zhang' is Han Yu's friend (perhaps Zhang Ji), 'holds the stone-drum inscription' his coming with the rubbing; 'urging me to try a song of the stone drums' — the 'urging' his persuasion, the 'try' his modesty — before these precious drums, even Han Yu calls it a 'try'. Two lines, one his coming one his urging, naming the cause of the song, and showing through 'try' the seriousness with which Han Yu takes it, entering the theme at the start, the 'narrative opening' stroke.
鸾翔凤翥众仙下，珊瑚碧树交枝柯。
As the luan bird soars and the phoenix mounts, the immortals descend; like coral and emerald trees with their branches intertwined.
如鸾鸟飞翔、凤凰飞举，众仙飞下；如珊瑚碧树，交结枝柯。
Like luan birds soaring, phoenixes rising, the immortals descending; like coral and jade trees, their branches intertwined.
此二句写石鼓文字之美，是全诗写其字的关键。「鸾翔凤翥众仙下」写如鸾鸟飞翔、凤凰飞举，众仙飞下，「鸾翔凤翥」以鸾凤之飞写其字之势飞动，「众仙下」以众仙飞下写其字之超凡；「珊瑚碧树交枝柯」写如珊瑚碧树交结枝柯，「珊瑚碧树」写其字之色彩与华美，「交枝柯」写其笔画之交错。两句以鸾凤、众仙、珊瑚、碧树等一连串奇丽的比喻写石鼓文字之美，把古老难识的籀文写得光彩夺目、气势飞动，正见韩愈「以文为诗」、铺陈排比之笔力，是写字的典范之笔。
These two lines write the beauty of the stone-drum characters, the key of the poem's writing of the script. 'Like luan birds soaring, phoenixes rising, the immortals descending' — 'luan birds soaring, phoenixes rising' writing the characters' flying momentum through the luan and phoenix, 'the immortals descending' writing their transcendence through the immortals. 'Like coral and jade trees, their branches intertwined' — 'coral and jade trees' writing the characters' color and splendor, 'intertwined branches' the strokes' crossing. Two lines, through the strange, bright metaphors of luan, phoenix, immortals, coral, and jade trees, writing the beauty of the archaic script as glowing and sweeping, showing Han Yu's 'poetry through prose', the layering and parallelism, the model writing of the script.
嗟余好古生苦晚，对此涕泪双滂沱。
Alas, I love antiquity yet was born too late; before them my tears fall in twin torrents.
嗟我喜好古物却生得太晚，对此涕泪双双滂沱而下。
Alas, I love the old, yet was born too late; before these, my tears pour down in streams.
此二句写韩愈对石鼓文之珍视，是全诗写情的关键。「嗟余好古生苦晚」写嗟我好古却生得太晚，「好古」写其好古之性，「生苦晚」写其生得太晚，未能亲见石鼓盛世；「对此涕泪双滂沱」写对此涕泪双双滂沱，「涕泪滂沱」写其泪下如雨，见其感动之深。两句一写其好古而晚生之憾、一写其见石鼓文而涕泪之深，以「涕泪滂沱」写尽韩愈对这千年文物的珍视与感动——生苦晚而不能亲见，见其文而泪下。以泪写情，真挚动人，是全诗写情的点睛之笔。
These two lines write Han Yu's treasure of the inscription, the key of the poem's feeling. 'Alas, I love the old, yet was born too late' — 'love the old' his love of antiquity, 'born too late' his coming too late to see the drums' prime. 'Before these, my tears pour down in streams' — 'tears pour down' the rain of his tears, showing the depth of his stirring. Two lines, one the regret of loving the old and coming late, one the depth of tears before the inscription, writing through 'tears in streams' Han Yu's treasure and stirring before this thousand-year relic — born too late to see it, and seeing the script, the tears fall. Writing feeling through tears, sincere and moving, the eye of the poem's feeling.
牧童敲火牛砺角，谁复著手为摩挲。
Herd-boys strike fire on them, cattle rub their horns; who will ever reach out a hand to stroke and fondle them?
牧童敲火，牛砺其角；谁还伸手，为之摩挲。
The shepherd boys strike fires, the oxen grind their horns; who now reaches out to stroke and caress them?
此二句叹石鼓之被忽视，是全诗写慨的关键。「牧童敲火牛砺角」写牧童敲火、牛砺其角，「牧童敲火」写石鼓竟被牧童当作敲火之石，「牛砺角」写牛在其上磨角，写其遭人轻贱；「谁复著手为摩挲」写谁还伸手为之摩挲，「摩挲」写抚玩珍视，「谁复」写无人再珍视它。两句一写其遭牧童牛砺之贱、一写其无人摩挲之叹，以「敲火砺角」与「摩挲」相对，写尽这千年至宝被世人轻贱忽视之慨——如此宝物，竟在牧童牛砺间日销月铄。以贱写宝、以叹写慨，含蓄而沉痛，是写慨的点睛之笔。
These two lines sigh at the drums' neglect, the key of the poem's lament. 'The shepherd boys strike fires, the oxen grind their horns' — 'shepherd boys strike fires' the drums used by boys as fire-striking stones, 'the oxen grind their horns' the oxen rubbing their horns on them, writing their being held cheap. 'Who now reaches out to stroke and caress them?' — 'stroke' the fondling and treasuring, 'who now' no one treasuring them more. Two lines, one the boys and oxen's cheap use, one the sigh that no one strokes, setting 'fire-striking, horn-grinding' against 'caressing', writing the lament that this thousand-year treasure is held cheap and neglected by the world — such a treasure, worn away daily between the shepherd boys and the oxen. Writing the treasure through the cheap, writing the lament through the sigh, restrained and bitter, the eye of the lament.
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In Listening to Master Ying Play the Qin, Han Yu renders music through shifting scenes — whispered tender words, then warriors charging the enemy camp. The Song of the Stone Drums likewise builds power through accumulative description: phoenixes, coral trees, golden cords. Read together they show Han Yu's hallmark use of prose methods in poetry, his rugged vigor, and his love of strange, splendid imagery.
韩愈《听颖师弹琴》「昵昵儿女语，恩怨相尔汝。划然变轩昂，勇士赴敌场」，以儿女语、勇士赴敌场写琴声之起落，是唐人写音乐的名篇；《石鼓歌》则以「鸾翔凤翥众仙下，珊瑚碧树交枝柯」写石鼓文字之美，「牧童敲火牛砺角，谁复著手为摩挲」叹其被忽视。两诗同出韩愈之手：一写琴声之妙、以儿女勇士写声、奇丽飞动，一咏石鼓文之古、以鸾凤众仙写字、铺陈排比；一为听乐、一为咏古，并读正可见韩愈「以文为诗」、铺陈排比、奇崛雄浑的诗风。
登高 Climbing High 杜甫 · 同以咏物咏古抒怀才不遇之慨，一咏石鼓文之被埋没、一咏古柏之材大难用，皆于咏物中寄自叹 Both voice thwarted talent through an old object or scene; one laments drums buried in neglect, the other a soaring tree wasted by time.Du Fu's Climbing High turns autumn height and the endless river into a meditation on exile, illness, and wasted years. Han Yu's song turns a neglected relic into a meditation on unheeded purpose. Where Du Fu is somber and compressed, Han Yu is surging and rhetorical; both make the outer thing a mirror of the self.
杜甫《登高》「无边落木萧萧下，不尽长江滚滚来」「万里悲秋常作客，百年多病独登台」，写登高所见之秋景与身世之悲，是唐诗登高诗最著名者；韩愈《石鼓歌》则以「嗟余好古生苦晚，对此涕泪双滂沱」「牧童敲火牛砺角，谁复著手为摩挲」咏石鼓文之被轻贱埋没。两篇同写身世之慨：一以登高秋景写漂泊老病之悲、沉郁顿挫，一以石鼓被埋没写怀才不遇之叹、雄浑感慨，皆于诗中见深沉的自我写照。