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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

送杨氏女

Seeing Off My Daughter, the Yang Bride

韦应物

Wei Yingwu

永日方戚戚，出行复悠悠。
女子今有行，大江溯轻舟。
尔辈苦无恃，抚念益慈柔。
幼为长所育，两别泣不休。
对此结中肠，义往难复留。
自小阙内训，事姑贻我忧。
赖兹托令门，任恤庶无尤。
贫俭诚所尚，资从岂待周。
孝恭遵妇道，容止顺其猷。
别离在今晨，见尔当何秋。
居闲始自遣，临感忽难收。
归来视幼女，零泪缘缨流。

All day long my heart is heavy with grief;
the departure now draws near, and drags on.
Today my daughter goes to her new home,
a light boat climbing the great river upstream.
You, my children, suffered the loss of your mother;
thinking of it, I am only the more tender.
The younger was raised by the elder sister;
now the two part, weeping without end.
Seeing this, my very entrails are knotted;
by right she must go — I cannot keep her.
From childhood you lacked a mother's teaching;
serving your parents-in-law — this is my worry.
Thankfully you are entrusted to a good family,
trusting and kind — perhaps no blame will fall.
Poverty and plainness are truly to be prized;
why should a dowry be complete?
Be filial and reverent, follow the way of a wife;
in bearing and conduct, follow their wishes.
Parting is this morning;
seeing you again — what year will that be?
In idleness I could distract myself;
when the feeling strikes, suddenly it cannot be held.
Returning home, I look at my youngest daughter;
tears fall, streaming down my cap's tassels.

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Meaning

Wei Yingwu gives away his eldest daughter in marriage. Having lost his wife early, he has been both father and mother to his children, and the poem moves through the whole range of a father's feeling: grief at parting, pity that the girls lost their mother, anxiety about the bride's new duties, advice on frugality and wifely conduct, and finally, after the wedding, the tears he sheds at the sight of his youngest daughter. Written in plain, unhurried language, it is one of the Tang dynasty's greatest poems of parental love.

整日心中戚戚，行期又将悠悠而至。女儿今日要出嫁，大江上溯轻舟。你们自幼丧母，没有依靠，抚念之下，我更觉慈爱温柔。幼女为长女所抚养，姐妹离别，泣不成声。对此情景，我结心肠，道义上应当嫁去，难以强留。你自小缺少母亲的教导，侍奉公婆令我担忧。幸而托付给好门第，夫家宽厚，大约不会苛责。贫俭本是所崇尚的，嫁妆岂求周全？你要孝恭遵从妇道，容止顺从夫家的规矩。别离就在今晨，再见你不知要到何年何秋。闲居时本可自我排遣，临到感触时忽然难以收住。归来看着幼女，眼泪顺着冠缨流下。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] All day my heart is heavy; the day of departure is here. My daughter will travel up the great river to her new home. You children lost your mother young, and the thought only makes me tenderer; the younger was raised by her elder sister, and now the two weep inconsolably. My heart knots at the sight, but she must go. You lacked a mother's teaching — will you manage your parents-in-law? Thank heaven it is a good family. Be frugal, be filial, be proper in bearing. Parting is this morning; when shall I see you again? I can distract myself in quiet hours, but when the feeling comes it will not be held. Returning home, I see my youngest daughter, and tears stream down my cap. [Technique] The poem is a five-character ancient-style verse of twenty-four lines — a narrative, not a lyric. It advances by plain statement rather than image, and its power comes from sequence: grief, pity, anxiety, instruction, farewell, return. The final scene — the father weeping at the sight of the remaining child — gathers the whole poem into one image. [Emotion] The dominant note is tenderness without lamentation. Wei Yingwu's famous plainness here carries the weight of double parenthood: a man who was both father and mother to motherless girls, sending his first daughter into another household.

【白话串讲】韦应物写《送杨氏女》：“永日方戚戚，出行复悠悠”——“女子今有行，大江溯轻舟”——“尔辈苦无恃，抚念益慈柔”——“自小阙内训，事姑贻我忧”——“贫俭诚所尚”——他送女儿出嫁——抚念益慈柔。【意象与手法】永日方戚戚、尔辈苦无恃，写临别之悲与失恃之怜；自小阙内训、事姑贻我忧，写对女儿嫁后的担忧；孝恭遵妇道、容止顺其猷，写对女儿的叮咛嘱托；结以“归来视幼女，零泪缘缨流”以归来见幼女而流泪写慈父之深情。情真语挚。【情感与主旨】韦应物送别出嫁的长女之作，写尽慈父嫁女的深挚情感，是唐人写亲情诗中的名篇。【名句点睛】常考“自小阙内训，事姑贻我忧”写对嫁后的担忧；“归来视幼女，零泪缘缨流”写慈父之深情。

Background

Wei Yingwu (c. 737–c. 792), a native of Chang'an, served as prefect of Chuzhou, Jiangzhou and Suzhou — hence 'Wei of Suzhou' — and ranks with Wang Wei, Meng Haoran and Liu Zongyuan among the Tang's great landscape-and-quiet poets. His wife died young, leaving daughters to be raised by their father; the 'Yang bride' of the title is his eldest daughter, married into the Yang family. The poem records the whole experience of giving a daughter away: the grief, the pity for the motherless girls, the instructions, and the tears after her return home. It is a classic example of Wei Yingwu's 'plain yet deeply felt' style, and one of the finest Tang poems on family love.

《送杨氏女》为中唐诗人韦应物所作五言古诗。韦应物（约737—约792），京兆长安人，中唐著名诗人，历任滁州、江州、苏州刺史，世称韦苏州，诗风清雅淡远，与王维、孟浩然、柳宗元并称「王孟韦柳」。杨氏女即韦应物的长女，嫁与杨氏，故称杨氏女。此诗写送长女出嫁。韦应物早年丧妻，长女失恃，由他为父兼母，抚养长大，如今长女出嫁，韦应物亲自送嫁，百感交集，赋此诗。诗中「永日方戚戚，出行复悠悠」写临别之悲；「尔辈苦无恃，抚念益慈柔」写女儿失恃之怜；「幼为长所育，两别泣不休」写姐妹之别；「自小阙内训，事姑贻我忧」写对女儿嫁后之担忧；「赖兹托令门，任恤庶无尤」写托付好门第之宽慰；「孝恭遵妇道，容止顺其猷」写对女儿的叮咛；「别离在今晨，见尔当何秋」写别离之悲与重逢之渺；「归来视幼女，零泪缘缨流」写归来见幼女而流泪。此诗以慈父之笔写嫁女之情，情真语挚，细腻深婉，是唐人写亲情诗中的名篇，也是韦应物「淡泊深挚」诗风的典型体现。

Art

The poem's art is narrative and sequential. Twenty-four five-character lines unfold in three movements: the first six lines establish the parting and the girls' orphanhood; the middle ten move from knotted entrails through instruction to exhortation; the last eight turn to the parting itself and the return home. There are no set pieces of imagery — the craft is in the ordering of plain statements, each carrying its share of feeling. The register shifts quietly from narration to prayer: 'thinking of it, I am only the more tender' admits the father's double burden, and 'serving your parents-in-law — this is my worry' voices the fear of a man who cannot teach his daughter what her mother would have taught. The moral instructions — frugality, filiality, deference — could have been cold, but they arrive as acts of love: a father equipping his child for a household where she will have no mother to turn to. The ending concentrates everything: the father returns, sees the youngest daughter, and weeps down his cap's tassels. The image is quiet, physical, unforgettable.

此诗艺术上以「叙事写情、细腻深婉」见长。全诗二十四句，前六句写临别之悲与失恃之怜，中十句写对女儿嫁后之担忧与叮咛，后八句写别离之悲与归来之感。首六句「永日方戚戚，出行复悠悠。女子今有行，大江溯轻舟。尔辈苦无恃，抚念益慈柔。幼为长所育，两别泣不休」写临别之悲：整日戚戚，行期悠悠；女儿今日出嫁，大江溯轻舟；你们自幼丧母，抚念益慈柔；幼女为长女所抚养，两别泣不休。中十句「对此结中肠，义往难复留。自小阙内训，事姑贻我忧。赖兹托令门，任恤庶无尤。贫俭诚所尚，资从岂待周。孝恭遵妇道，容止顺其猷」写担忧与叮咛：义往难留；自小阙母训，事姑令我忧；幸托好门第，任恤庶无尤；贫俭为尚，嫁妆岂求周全；孝恭遵妇道，容止顺其猷。后八句「别离在今晨，见尔当何秋。居闲始自遣，临感忽难收。归来视幼女，零泪缘缨流」写别离之悲与归来之感：别离在今晨，再见当何秋；闲居本可自遣，临感忽难收；归来视幼女，零泪缘缨流。全诗由临别而担忧、由叮咛而别离、由别离而归感，叙事写情，细腻深婉，是唐人写亲情诗中的名篇。

Allusions

The poem's allusions are embedded in its ritual vocabulary. 'No support' (wushi) points to the Book of Songs line 'without a father, what support? without a mother, what reliance?' — to lose one's mother is 'to lose one's reliance,' a phrase that instantly frames the girls' orphanhood. 'The way of a wife' (fudao) invokes the Record of Rites teaching of a woman's virtue, speech, appearance and work. 'Good family' (lingmen) and 'trust and sympathy' (renxu, from the Zhou Li's list of social virtues) place the marriage within a network of classical ethical terms. 'Cap tassels' (ying) — the straps of a scholar's cap — turn the father's tears into a gentleman's tears: the weeping man is a father, but also a Confucian householder in ceremonial dress. None of these is paraded; they are dissolved into plain speech, which is precisely Wei Yingwu's art.

诗中「妇道」「缨流」等语，皆含礼制故实。「妇道」指为人妇之道，《礼记》有妇德、妇言、妇容、妇功之教，「孝恭遵妇道」写其叮咛女儿遵从妇道，见慈父对女儿的教诲；「缨流」指冠缨垂流，「零泪缘缨流」写眼泪顺着冠缨流下，出《论语》「小杖则受，大杖则走」等礼制语境，后世诗文多以「缨」写士人之冠服，此处以零泪缘缨写诗人作为父亲、又是士人的形象，眼泪沿冠缨而下，慈父之悲尽在其中。「令门」指美好的门第，「托令门」写女儿嫁入好门第。「任恤」出《周礼》「孝、友、睦、姻、任、恤」之教，指信任体恤。诗人以妇道、令门、任恤等礼制故实入诗，不着痕迹，而把慈父对女儿嫁后的担忧、托付与叮咛写得真切可感，是善于熔铸礼教故实的体现。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

'Seeing Off My Daughter, the Yang Bride' is one of the most moving family poems in Chinese literature. Its opening lines — 'All day long my heart is heavy with grief; the departure now draws near' — need no ornament: the sorrow is already complete. What has always drawn readers is the poem's honesty about double parenthood: Wei Yingwu lost his wife early and raised his daughters himself, so 'You, my children, suffered the loss of your mother; thinking of it, I am only the more tender' carries the weight of two roles in a single line. Later critics place this poem alongside Du Fu's 'Thinking of My Brothers on a Moonlit Night' as one of the Tang dynasty's two supreme poems of kinship — one written in wartime grief, the other at a wedding. The closing image, tears streaming down the cap's tassels as the father looks at his remaining daughter, has been quoted for twelve centuries as the perfect expression of a father's love: restrained, physical, and complete.

这首《送杨氏女》，是韦应物送别出嫁的长女之作，写尽慈父嫁女的深挚情感，情真语挚，读之令人动容。开篇「永日方戚戚，出行复悠悠」，写临别之悲：整日心中戚戚，行期又将悠悠而至。女儿的婚期已定，即将远嫁，做父亲的整日忧心。「女子今有行，大江溯轻舟」，女儿今日要出嫁，将溯大江而上。中段写失恃之怜与对女儿的担忧：「尔辈苦无恃，抚念益慈柔」——你们自幼丧母，没有依靠，抚念之下，我更觉慈爱温柔。韦应物早年丧妻，长女失恃，他既当爹又当娘，这「尔辈苦无恃」五字，写尽女儿幼年失母之怜，也写尽他为父兼母的辛酸。「自小阙内训，事姑贻我忧」——你自小缺少母亲的教导，侍奉公婆令我担忧。女儿失恃，无人教以妇道，如今出嫁，做父亲的怎能不忧？「赖兹托令门，任恤庶无尤」——幸而托付给好门第，夫家宽厚，大约不会苛责，这既是宽慰女儿，也是自我宽慰。「孝恭遵妇道，容止顺其猷」——你要孝恭遵从妇道，容止顺从夫家的规矩，这是慈父对女儿的最后叮咛。末段写别离之悲与归来之感：「别离在今晨，见尔当何秋」——别离就在今晨，再见你不知要到何年何秋，一别之后，重逢无期，慈父之心，何等凄凉；「居闲始自遣，临感忽难收」——闲居时本可自我排遣，临到感触时忽然难以收住；「归来视幼女，零泪缘缨流」——送嫁归来，看着家中幼女，眼泪顺着冠缨流下。这一结最为动人：送走了长女，归来看到幼女，想起她将来也要出嫁，想起失去母亲的孩子们，悲从中来，泪流不止。全诗由临别而担忧、由叮咛而别离、由别离而归感，叙事写情，细腻深婉，正是韦应物「淡泊深挚」诗风的体现，也是唐人写亲情诗中父爱最真挚的篇章之一。

Prosody

Form Five-character ancient-style verse (guti): twenty-four lines in the loose, unregulated manner of ancient verse, free of tonal patterning and parallelism五言古诗（古体，非近体律诗）

Rhyme The poem rhymes in the level-tone you group (shang ping 11) of the pingshui system — you, zhou, rou, xiu, liu, you, you, zhou, you, qiu, shou, liu — one rhyme throughout, held steadily and widely. Ancient-style verse may change or repeat rhymes at will; here Wei Yingwu keeps a single soft rhyme for the entire length, its low, circling sound matching the unhurried grief of a wedding morning.全诗为五言古诗，押平声韵，韵脚「悠」「舟」「柔」「休」（尤部）、「留」「忧」「尤」「周」「猷」（尤部）、「秋」「收」「流」（尤部）一韵到底，用韵宽稳。古体诗不拘平仄对仗，而以意运笔，此诗以「悠」「舟」「柔」「休」「留」「忧」「尤」「周」「猷」「秋」「收」「流」等字一韵到底，音节婉转低回，正与嫁女送别的深挚情调相称，也见其作古体以畅写亲情之用心。

Tone pattern As an ancient-style poem, the lines follow no fixed level-oblique patterns, but the rhythm is carefully modulated to the feeling: 'yong ri fang qi qi, chu xing fu you you' opens in a slow, dragging cadence that enacts the reluctance of departure; the instruction lines 'pin jian cheng suo shang, zi cong qi dai zhou' are level and even, like measured counsel; 'bie li zai jin chen, jian er dang he qiu' drops into a quiet, questioning cadence; and the closing 'gui lai shi you nü, ling lei yuan ying liu' sinks to a low, choked close. The verse moves by the sense rather than the rule, as ancient verse should.句式上，首六句「永日方戚戚，出行复悠悠」写临别之悲，音节低回；「尔辈苦无恃，抚念益慈柔」写失恃之怜，音节温婉；中十句「对此结中肠，义往难复留」写义嫁难留，音节沉挚；「自小阙内训，事姑贻我忧」写嫁后之忧，音节忧虑；「孝恭遵妇道，容止顺其猷」写叮咛教诲，音节郑重；后八句「别离在今晨，见尔当何秋」写别离之悲，音节凄凉；「归来视幼女，零泪缘缨流」写归来之感，音节低咽。全诗音节随情起伏，由低回而温婉、由忧虑而郑重、由凄凉而低咽，正合古体诗「以意运笔」之体，读来如慈父送女、絮絮叮咛之音，深挚而动人。

Reading note The prosody serves the narrative. Because the poem is ancient-style rather than regulated, it can run long — twenty-four lines — without stiffness, and its sentences accumulate like a father talking. The single you rhyme holds the poem together tonally: its open, murmuring vowel is the sound of someone speaking quietly so as not to break. The final couplet lands on 'liu' (to flow), so that the rhyme itself enacts the tears streaming down the cap — sound and sense meeting at the very end. This is Wei Yingwu's plainness at its most precise: nothing is regulated, and nothing is accidental.此诗为五言古诗，是唐人写亲情诗中的名篇，也是韦应物「淡泊深挚」诗风的典型体现。全诗的艺术特色在于「叙事写情、细腻深婉」：首段「永日方戚戚，出行复悠悠」写临别之悲，「尔辈苦无恃，抚念益慈柔」写失恃之怜与父爱之深；中段「自小阙内训，事姑贻我忧」写对女儿嫁后的担忧，「孝恭遵妇道，容止顺其猷」写慈父的叮咛教诲；末段「别离在今晨，见尔当何秋」写别离之悲与重逢之渺，「归来视幼女，零泪缘缨流」写归来见幼女而流泪。全诗由临别而担忧、由叮咛而别离、由别离而归感，叙事写情，细腻深婉。尤为动人者，是「尔辈苦无恃，抚念益慈柔」写尽慈父失母女儿的双重深情，而「归来视幼女，零泪缘缨流」一结，以归来见幼女而泪流，写尽慈父嫁女的满心悲酸，正是韦应物「于淡泊中见深挚」的典范，为历代选本所常收，与杜甫《月夜忆舍弟》等写亲情之作并传。

Line by line

尔辈苦无恃，抚念益慈柔。

You, my children, suffered the loss of your mother; thinking of it, I am only the more tender.

你们自幼丧母，没有依靠，抚念之下，我更觉慈爱温柔。

You children have been motherless, poor things; my care of you is the tenderer.

此二句写女儿失恃之怜，是全诗情感的源头。「尔辈苦无恃」写你们自幼丧母，没有依靠，「无恃」指丧母，《诗经》「无父何怙，无母何恃」，母亡谓之失恃，「苦」字写其失恃之苦；「抚念益慈柔」写抚念之下，我更觉慈爱温柔，「抚念」写其对女儿的怜爱抚育，「益慈柔」写其因女儿失恃而加倍慈爱。两句一写女儿之苦、一写父亲之慈，以失恃之苦写父爱之深——女儿自幼丧母，父亲便以双倍的爱抚育她，这「益慈柔」三字，写尽慈父失母女儿的双重深情，是全诗情感的源头，也为后文嫁女之悲与担忧作了铺垫。

These two lines write the pity for the daughter's loss of her mother, the source of the poem's feeling. 'You children have been motherless, poor things' — 'motherless' means the loss of the mother, the Book of Songs, 'without a father, on whom to lean? without a mother, on whom to depend?', the mother's death called 'loss of dependence'; the word 'poor' writes the grief of the loss. 'My care of you is the tenderer' — 'my care' his loving fostering of the daughter, 'the tenderer' his doubled tenderness because the daughter is motherless. Two lines, one the daughter's grief, one the father's tenderness, writing the father's deep love through the loss-of-dependence grief — the daughter motherless from small, and the father fosters her with double love; these words 'the tenderer' write to the full the double depth of the loving father and the motherless daughter, the source of the poem's feeling, and the groundwork for the later grief of the wedding and the worry.

自小阙内训，事姑贻我忧。

From childhood you lacked a mother's teaching; serving your parents-in-law — this is my worry.

你自小缺少母亲的教导，如今出嫁侍奉公婆，令我担忧。

From small, you lacked a mother's teaching; now, serving your mother-in-law, you give me anxiety.

此二句写对女儿嫁后的担忧，是全诗慈父之心的集中体现。「自小阙内训」写女儿自小缺少母亲的教导，「阙内训」指缺乏母亲在家的训诲——女儿失恃，无人教以妇道，此是父亲心中长期的隐痛；「事姑贻我忧」写如今出嫁侍奉公婆，令我担忧，「事姑」指侍奉公婆，「贻我忧」写其为女儿嫁后能否侍奉好公婆而担忧。两句一写过去失恃之憾、一写将来侍姑之忧，把慈父对女儿嫁后的深切担忧写得真切而细腻——女儿失恃已苦，如今出嫁，又恐其因缺乏教导而难事公婆，这份担忧，正是慈父深爱女儿的表现。

These two lines write the worry for the daughter after the wedding, the concentrated showing of the loving father's heart. 'From small, you lacked a mother's teaching' — 'lacked a mother's teaching' the lack of the mother's home instruction — the daughter motherless, no one to teach the wifely way, this the father's long-hidden pain. 'Now, serving your mother-in-law, you give me anxiety' — 'serving your mother-in-law' the serving of the husband's parents, 'give me anxiety' his worry whether the daughter will serve the parents-in-law well after the wedding. Two lines, one the past regret of the loss, one the future worry of the service, writing the loving father's deep, fine worry for the daughter after the wedding — the daughter's motherless lot is hard enough, and now the wedding, fearing her, through the lack of teaching, will find the parents-in-law hard to serve; this worry is precisely the showing of the loving father's deep love for the daughter.

孝恭遵妇道，容止顺其猷。

Be filial and reverent and follow the way of a wife; in bearing and conduct, follow their wishes.

你要孝恭遵从妇道，容止顺从夫家的规矩。

Be filial and respectful, follow the wifely way; in bearing and movement, obey their rules.

此二句是慈父对女儿的叮咛嘱托，是全诗情意最深挚处。「孝恭遵妇道」写要孝恭遵从妇道，「孝恭」写孝亲恭顺，「遵妇道」叮咛其恪守为妇之道；「容止顺其猷」写容止要顺从夫家的规矩，「容止」写仪容举止，「顺其猷」写顺从夫家的法度。两句以对仗之语，写尽慈父送嫁时对女儿的谆谆教诲——既怜其失恃，又恐其失教，故临别之际，殷殷叮咛，嘱其孝恭、遵道、顺猷。这叮咛之中，既有父亲对女儿的期望，更有父亲对女儿嫁后幸福的心愿，语重心长，是全诗慈父形象最饱满处，也是「以叮咛写深情」的典范之笔。

These two lines are the loving father's charge and entrusting to the daughter, the deepest part of the poem's feeling. 'Be filial and respectful, follow the wifely way' — 'filial and respectful' the filial piety and reverence, 'follow the wifely way' the charge to keep the wifely path; 'in bearing and movement, obey their rules' — 'bearing and movement' the countenance and conduct, 'obey their rules' the obedience to the husband's house's laws. Two lines, in the paired words, writing to the full the loving father's earnest teaching at the daughter's wedding — pitying her loss of the mother, and fearing her lack of teaching, hence at the parting, the earnest charge, bidding her be filial, follow the way, obey the rules. In this charge, at once the father's expectation of the daughter, and the father's wish for her happiness after the wedding, the words weighty and long, the fullest part of the loving father's image, and the model of 'writing deep feeling through the charge'.

归来视幼女，零泪缘缨流。

Returning home, I look at my youngest daughter; tears fall, streaming down my cap's tassels.

送嫁归来，看着家中幼女，眼泪顺着冠缨流下。

Returning, I look on the young daughter; tears run down along my cap-strings.

尾二句写归来见幼女而流泪，是全诗情感的高潮。「归来视幼女」写送嫁归来，看着家中幼女，「视幼女」见其归来后目光落在幼女身上——长女已嫁，家中唯余幼女；「零泪缘缨流」写眼泪顺着冠缨流下，「零泪」写泪珠零落，「缘缨流」写泪沿冠缨而下，一位泪流满面的父亲形象宛然在目。两句一写归来视女之景、一写零泪流缨之状，送走了长女，归来看到幼女，想起她将来也要出嫁，想起失去母亲的孩子们，慈父之心，悲从中来，泪流不止。以「零泪缘缨流」作结，含蓄而深沉，把慈父嫁女之后的满心悲酸写得如在目前，是全诗境界最高的收束之笔，读之令人动容。

The last two lines write the tears at the return on seeing the young daughter, the emotional climax of the poem. 'Returning, I look on the young daughter' — the return from the wedding, the eyes resting on the young daughter at home — the elder daughter married, only the young one left; 'tears run down along my cap-strings' — 'tears' the falling drops, 'along my cap-strings' the tears running down the cap's cords, the image of a father's face in tears as before the eyes. Two lines, one the scene of the return and the looking on the daughter, one the state of the tears along the strings; the elder daughter seen off, the return to see the young one, the thought that she too will one day marry, the thought of the children who lost their mother, the loving father's heart, grief rising from within, the tears unceasing. Closing in 'tears run down along my cap-strings', restrained and deep, writing the loving father's full heart of grief after the daughter's wedding as before the eyes, the highest-realm close of the poem, the reading moving the heart.

Study

Word focus

无恃 'Wushi' means to have lost one's mother — from the Book of Songs, 'without a father, what support? without a mother, what reliance?' In two characters it tells the girls' lifelong orphanhood, and with 'bitter' before it, their suffering; it also implies the father's double labor as both parents. It is the emotional source of the whole poem. 「无恃」指丧母失恃，《诗经》「无父何怙，无母何恃」，母亡谓之失恃。「尔辈苦无恃」着一「无恃」，写女儿自幼丧母、失去依靠，「苦」字更见其失恃之苦。两字写尽女儿幼年失母之怜，也写尽父亲既当爹又当娘的双重辛酸，是全诗情感的源头，是「以典写情」的点睛之词。「无恃」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。

忧 'You' (worry) is the father's fear for his daughter's married life: having lost her mother, she was never taught household duties, and now must serve her parents-in-law. The worry is itself the proof of love — not distrust of her ability, but fear for her happiness in a home where she has no one to turn to. 「忧」字写对女儿嫁后的担忧，是慈父之心的集中体现。「事姑贻我忧」着一「忧」，写女儿出嫁侍奉公婆，令父亲担忧——因女儿失恃、缺乏母训，父亲深恐其嫁后难事公婆。着一「忧」字，把慈父对女儿嫁后的深切牵挂写得真切细腻，这担忧正是深爱的表现，是全诗慈父形象的关键词。「忧」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。

遵 'Zun' (to follow, abide by) in 'be filial and reverent, follow the way of a wife' is the father's key instruction. Its gravity shows how seriously he takes her new duties, and how much he fears her lack of a mother's teaching. At parting, the repeated injunctions — filial, proper, obedient — are the weightiest form his love can take. 「遵」字写叮咛女儿遵从妇道，是慈父教诲的关键。「孝恭遵妇道」着一「遵」，写叮咛女儿要遵行妇道——孝恭、遵道、顺猷，皆是父亲对女儿的期望与教诲。「遵」字见其训诫之郑重，也见其唯恐女儿失教之心，临别叮咛，语重心长，是「以叮咛写深情」的关键词。「遵」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。

零泪 'Ling' (to fall, scatter) modifies tears: not a single sob but tears falling one after another, beyond control. After the bride has gone, the father returns, sees the youngest daughter, and the tears stream down his cap's tassels — 'falling tears' measures the grief that cannot be measured, and closes the poem in silence. 「零泪」写泪珠零落而下，是尾联写慈父之悲的关键。「归来视幼女，零泪缘缨流」着一「零泪」，写泪珠零落、纷纷而下，送嫁归来，见幼女而泪流不止——「零」字写泪之零落纷纷，见其悲之不能自抑。以「零泪缘缨流」写父亲泪流满面之状，含蓄而深沉，是全文情感高潮的点睛之词。「零泪」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。