All poems

唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

野望

Gazing Over the Wilds

杜甫

Du Fu

忧国patriotic concern 思亲longing for kin 漂泊wandering

西山白雪三城戍，南浦清江万里桥。
海内风尘诸弟隔，天涯涕泪一身遥。
惟将迟暮供多病，未有涓埃答圣朝。
跨马出郊时极目，不堪人事日萧条。

White snow on the Western Hills, three garrison towns on guard,
The clear river at South Shore, and the Bridge of Ten Thousand Li.
Dust of war fills the land and my brothers are cut off from me,
At the world's edge, in tears, one man far from home.
I can only hand my late years over to constant illness,
Having offered not a drop or a mote in return to the sacred court.
On horseback I ride to the outskirts and gaze into the distance,
Unable to bear how human affairs grow bleaker by the day.

Listen

Meaning

From his exile in Chengdu the poet looks out at snow-covered frontier hills where garrisons keep watch, and at the river and bridge below. War has scattered his brothers, illness has taken his last years, and he has rendered the court no service at all.

西山白雪皑皑，三城皆有戍守，南浦清江之上，是那万里桥。海内风尘弥漫，诸位兄弟离散阻隔，天涯涕泪沾衣，我孤身漂泊路遥。只能将迟暮之年交付给缠身多病，未能有丝毫功绩报答圣朝。跨马出郊时时极目远望，更不堪这人事一天天萧条。

Appreciation

The poem moves inward by stages, which is its design. The opening couplet gives a wide landscape in which the mention of three garrison towns quietly introduces the threat on the border. The second couplet brings the war home by setting the scattered brothers against the single self, and the parallel of 'within the seas' and 'at the edge of heaven' makes the distance feel physical. The third couplet turns to the body, old and sick and useless to the state, with the self-reproach expressed as a failure to repay even a drop of water. The last line refuses consolation and ends on decline, and the accumulated weight of the poem is what gives that plain statement its force.

【白话串讲】 “西山白雪三城戍，南浦清江万里桥”——杜甫晚年写野望：“海内风尘诸弟隔，天涯涕泪一身遥”——弟弟们都在战乱中失散。“惟将迟暮供多病”——他老了，多病。“不堪人事日萧条”——他受不了这世道一天天萧条。【意象与手法】首联以“西山白雪”“南浦清江”的壮阔之景起笔，暗含边患之忧；颔联“诸弟隔”“一身遥”由景及情，写家国之痛；颈联自伤迟暮多病、无补朝廷；尾联以“不堪人事日萧条”收束，沉郁苍凉。【情感与主旨】此诗作于杜甫居成都时。诗中交织着对边患（三城戍）、对兄弟离散、对自身衰老多病而报国无力的多重悲慨，是杜甫晚年“沉郁顿挫”的典型之作。【名句点睛】 “海内风尘诸弟隔，天涯涕泪一身遥”——以工整对仗写尽家国之痛与漂泊之孤，对读令人鼻酸。

Background

The poem dates from around the second or third year of the Shangyuan era under Emperor Suzong, when Du Fu was living in his thatched hall at Chengdu. Although the An Lushan rebellion had been put down, regional commanders held power and Tibetan forces threatened the border, so that the three towns of the Western Hills had to be garrisoned; the poet's brothers were scattered and his own health was failing, which accounts for the depth of the poem's sorrow.

杜甫《野望》约作于唐肃宗上元二年（公元七六一年）居成都草堂时。安史之乱虽渐平而边患未已，吐蕃屡侵、藩镇割据，国家元气大伤。诗人漂泊西南，兄弟离散、一身孤远，兼以年老多病、报国无门，遂于跨马出郊、极目野望之际，将家国之痛与身世之悲一并倾吐。此诗与《蜀相》约同期，皆为其流寓成都时沉郁之作。唐代宗室此时正面临吐蕃陷长安、仆固怀恩之乱等危局，「三城戍」即指西山三城（松、维、保）的边防，折射出实实在在的边患之忧。理解此诗，须将其置于安史乱后唐室衰颓、士人漂泊的时代语境中，方能体会那「不堪人事日萧条」背后，既是个人的迟暮之叹，更是时代的衰飒之音。此诗作于唐肃宗上元二年（公元七六一年）杜甫居成都草堂时。西山三城皆驻重兵以防吐蕃，南浦万里桥则是锦江要津，诗人跨马出郊，望见边备与离乱，遂有此作。时杜甫已近衰暮，多病缠身，兄弟离散，报国无门，满目萧条的不仅是郊原，更是乱离的人间。

Art

The first couplet opens with a large landscape, the second joins feeling to scene, the third turns to the poet's own circumstances, and the fourth closes emotion with an image. The four couplets move from outside to inside and from the state to the self, deepening at each turn; the parallelism is exact and the temper of the whole is weathered and strong.

《野望》艺术上以壮阔之景起、以深曲之情承、以沉郁之慨结，结构浑成。首联「西山白雪三城戍，南浦清江万里桥」以对仗开篇，雪山戍守与清江长桥并置，空间开阔而暗含边患之忧与行旅之远。颔联「海内风尘诸弟隔，天涯涕泪一身遥」由景及情，以「诸弟隔」「一身遥」写家国之痛与漂泊之孤，对仗工切而情致凄怆。颈联「惟将迟暮供多病，未有涓埃答圣朝」自伤年老多病、无补朝廷，语含谦抑而悲愤暗藏。尾联「跨马出郊时极目，不堪人事日萧条」以动作收束，将满腔悲慨凝于「不堪」二字。全诗景、情、议交织，由外而内、由家而国，层层深化，于严整律法中见沉郁顿挫之气，是杜甫晚年七律中情景相生、家国之痛与个人沦落交融的典型之作。首联以西山白雪、南浦清江的壮阔之景起笔，暗含边患之忧；颔联诸弟隔、一身遥由景及情，写家国之痛；颈联自伤迟暮多病、无补朝廷；尾联以不堪人事日萧条收束，沉郁苍凉。全诗四联皆对，工稳而不板，情景议三者交融，是杜诗顿挫之法的体现。

Allusions

The Western Hills are the snowy ranges west of Chengdu, garrisoned in three towns because of Tibetan incursions. 'South Shore' names the waterside in the southern suburb. The Bridge of Ten Thousand Li is a bridge in Chengdu, said to be where Zhuge Liang saw Fei Yi off. The 'three towns' are Song, Wei, and Bao prefectures, the border defenses of the Western Hills. 'A drop and a mote' means the smallest trickle of water and speck of dust and stands for the least contribution. The 'sacred court' is the Tang throne.

《野望》用典虽少而寄意深远。「三城戍」指西山松、维、保三州戍守，实写吐蕃侵边的时局，是杜甫以诗记史的实证。「万里桥」在成都南门外，相传诸葛亮送费祎出使吴国时曰「万里之行始于此」，因以得名，杜甫居草堂常经此桥，暗含对丞相功业与自身不遇的对照。「涓埃」语出《周书》「不无涓埃之效」，喻微薄之功，诗人反用其意，言自己连微薄报效亦未能。「圣朝」为唐人对本朝的尊称，此处谦称中隐见忠悃。尾联「人事日萧条」化用魏晋以来伤时叹逝的传统语汇。全诗不靠繁密典故支撑，而以眼前实境与时代忧患相激荡，将个人「迟暮多病」与「三城戍」的边患、「诸弟隔」的离散并置，使家常身世之叹获得宏阔的历史纵深，正是杜诗「即事名篇、无复依傍」写法的体现。三城指四川松潘一带的戍守三城，为防吐蕃而设；万里桥在成都南门，诸葛武侯送费祎出使吴国至此感叹万里之行始于此。涓埃喻微小之力，出周书涓埃之效；圣朝乃诗人对唐室的美称，其中已暗含无力回天之叹，用事深稳。

Commentary

This poem stands with 'Climbing the Tower' and 'Night in the Tower' among the sombre works of Du Fu's Chengdu years; a Qing critic remarked that in the old poet's last decade an unbroken concern for the state is contained entirely within his language of landscape.

《野望》是杜甫晚年家国身世之悲的集中抒写。诗人跨马出郊、极目远望，望见的不是田园之乐，而是西山白雪下的边戍、清江上的长桥、离散天涯的兄弟与孤身飘零的自己。首联以壮阔之景暗藏忧端，颔联将家国之痛写得字字血泪，颈联自伤迟暮多病而报国无门，尾联以「不堪人事日萧条」收束，沉郁苍凉至于极点。此诗动人处在于其「真」：杜甫不回避自己的衰老、多病、无力，亦不掩饰对兄弟的思念与对朝廷的忠悃，这种坦诚使悲慨更具重量。在安史乱后唐室飘摇的背景下，「人事日萧条」既是诗人个人处境的写照，也是整个时代精神面貌的缩影。读此诗，当于对仗的严整中味其情感的奔涌，于「惟将」「未有」的谦抑中见其忠愤，方能领会杜甫晚年七律那种将个体命运与家国兴亡打成一片的浑厚境界。野望与登楼、登高并为杜甫成都时期的代表性伤时之作。诗中交织边患、思亲、衰病、飘泊之多重悲慨，而无一句直露叫嚣，全以景语蕴情，正是杜诗沉郁之法的体现。后世论者多以之与蜀相对读，一写丞相之烈，一写自身之艰，足见杜甫晚年心境的两个侧面。

Prosody

Form Seven-character regulated verse七言律诗

Rhyme The rhyme words are qiao ('bridge'), yao ('far'), chao ('court'), and tiao ('bleak'), in the level-tone 'xiao' group of the Pingshui rhyme tables.下平二萧韵，桥、遥、朝、条押韵

Tone pattern Level-tone opening, with strict parallelism in the two middle couplets, as in 'within the seas' answered by 'at the world's edge'.平起首句不入韵式，中二联对仗工切，沉郁苍凉

Reading note A seven-character regulated poem in which the middle couplets set 'within the seas' against 'at the world's edge' and 'I can only' against 'having not yet'; the scenery is broad and the feeling grievous, the work of Du Fu in old age worrying over the state and missing his brothers.《野望》为七言律诗，八句五十六字，是杜甫晚年居成都时的七律名篇。其用韵依《平水韵》归入下平二萧部，首句「西山白雪三城戍」以仄声「戍」收，不入韵，自第二句「南浦清江万里桥」的「桥」字起，与「遥」「朝」「条」同押萧韵，一韵到底，音色清远而略带萧飒，与野望伤时之调相协。平仄方面，此诗为平起首句不入韵体，首联「平平仄仄平平仄，平仄平平仄仄平」合律严整，开阖有度。颔联「海内风尘诸弟隔，天涯涕泪一身遥」与颈联「惟将迟暮供多病，未有涓埃答圣朝」均为工对，尤以「海内」对「天涯」、「诸弟」对「一身」、「风尘」对「涕泪」见空间与情感的双重张力。尾联「跨马出郊时极目，不堪人事日萧条」以散句收束，由对仗转为抒情，声律由密而疏，恰如目光由远及近、悲慨由外入内的流动。整体而言，此诗律法精严、气象浑成，家国之痛与身世之悲交融，是杜诗沉郁顿挫风格的典范呈现。

Line by line

海内风尘诸弟隔，

Dust of war across the land has cut him off from his brothers, and the poem passes from landscape into the world of men.

海内风尘弥漫，诸位兄弟离散阻隔，

Smoke and dust over the realm; my brothers are sundered apart,

「海内风尘诸弟隔」写尽战乱离乱中骨肉离散之痛。「风尘」既指兵燹战乱、道路阻绝，亦喻世途动荡；「诸弟隔」则直写兄弟天各一方、音书断绝的实况。杜甫兄弟多人，乱离之中存亡未卜、相见无期，此句以「海内」之广对「诸弟」之亲，空间愈阔而亲情愈远，反差之间悲意陡生。它承接首联「三城戍」的边患背景，将国家之难与家庭之殇叠合——风尘不止则离散难聚，战乱不息则骨肉永隔。对杜甫而言，兄弟离散正是时代苦难最切身的印证，也是其漂泊孤危心境的根源之一。此句与下句「天涯涕泪一身遥」构成工对，由「诸弟隔」到「一身遥」，由彼及此、由散到孤，把家国之痛收束为诗人独对天涯的涕泪，为后文自伤迟暮、不堪萧条铺垫了最深沉的情感底色。

Smoke and dust over the realm; my brothers are sundered apart exhausts the pain of flesh-and-blood separation in war-torn disorder. Smoke and dust means both the flames of war and the blocked roads, and the age's upheaval; sundered brothers directly writes the brothers in different corners, letters cut. Du Fu had several brothers; in the disorder their survival unknown, meeting uncertain; this line sets the realm's vast against the brothers' closeness - the wider the space, the farther the kin, grief starting in the contrast. It continues the border crisis background of the first couplet, overlaying national calamity with family sorrow: while the smoke and dust last, reunion is hard; while the war endures, flesh and blood are forever sundered. For Du Fu, brother separation is the most personal proof of the age's suffering, and one root of his drifting, endangered state. This line pairs with the next, tear and sweat on the far horizon: from sundered brothers to the solitary far horizon, from others to self, from scattering to solitude, gathering the grief of country and family into the poet's tears alone before the horizon - preparing the deepest emotional ground for the later self-pity on aging and decline.

未有涓埃答圣朝。

Having repaid the court not so much as a drop or a mote, he speaks with humility that reveals an obstinate loyalty.

未能有丝毫功绩报答圣朝。

Not one drop or mote of service have I rendered to repay the dynasty.

「未有涓埃答圣朝」是诗人自伤中最见忠悃亦最见悲愤的一句。「涓埃」喻微薄之力，诗人谦言自己连丝毫报效朝廷的功绩都未能建立。表面是谦抑自责，深层却是壮志难酬的剧痛——杜甫「许身稷契」、志在致君尧舜，却困居草堂、老病相催，空怀热肠而无用武之地。此句与「惟将迟暮供多病」对举，将「身」与「朝」、「病」与「功」的悖反写得触目惊心：生命交付给了疾病，却未能交付给朝廷。联系安史乱后唐室需才孔亟而诗人投闲置散的现实，这「未有」二字饱含多少不甘。它既是个人沦落的悲鸣，亦暗含对时局不能用贤的委婉讽慨。杜诗之「沉郁」，往往正在这种以谦辞写愤懑、以自责掩悲凉的节制笔法中显现，读来令人既敬其忠、复怜其遇。

Not one drop or mote of service have I rendered to repay the dynasty is the line in the poet's self-pity most showing loyal heart and most showing grief. Drop or mote metaphorizes the smallest strength; the poet humbly says he has not built even a shred of merit to serve the court. On the surface it is self-deprecation; in the depth it is the sharp pain of high ambition unfulfilled - Du Fu pledged himself to Ji and Xie, his will to guide the prince to Yao and Shun, yet is stranded in the thatched cottage, old age and illness pressing, a warm heart with no field to use it. This line sets against only old age and sickness: body against court, illness against merit, the contradiction shocking - life delivered to illness, yet not delivered to the court. Given the post-An Lushan reality of the Tang court needing talent while the poet lies idle, this have not holds how much unwillingness. It is at once the lament of personal decline and the hidden, gentle satire of the age's failure to use worth. Du Fu's deep gravity often appears precisely in this restrained brush of writing grief through humility, covering desolation through self-reproach - reading it, one respects his loyalty and pities his fate.

不堪人事日萧条。

The poem ends on affairs that grow bleaker daily, sombre and unrelieved.

更不堪这人事一天天萧条。

I cannot bear how the affairs of men decay day by day.

「不堪人事日萧条」以收束全篇的浩叹，将前文所有的边患、离散、迟暮、无补，汇为一句沉郁的总结。「不堪」二字力重千钧，写出诗人已到承受的极限；「人事日萧条」则把目光由个人推向时代——不仅是自己潦倒，更是整个世道、人事、国运一天天衰败下去。一个「日」字写出渐衰的过程感，使萧条不止于一时一地，而是不可逆转的时代趋势。此句承「跨马出郊时极目」而来，诗人望中所见、心中所感，最终都凝结为这无可奈何的「不堪」。在安史乱后唐室飘摇、藩镇割据、吐蕃侵凌的语境下，这「人事萧条」既是实录也是预言。杜甫以最朴素的词语收束最沉重的悲慨，不着浓墨而苍凉满纸，正是其晚年七律「沉郁顿挫」的至高境界，亦使《野望》超越个人抒怀，成为时代衰飒之音的代表。

I cannot bear how the affairs of men decay day by day closes the whole poem in a vast sigh, gathering all the foregoing border crisis, separation, aging, and uselessness into one somber summary. Cannot bear carries a thousand pounds, writing the poet at the limit of endurance; affairs of men decay day by day turns the gaze from the self to the age - not only his own decline, but the whole world, human affairs, and national fortune decaying day by day. One day-by-day writes the process of gradual decline, making the desolation not of one time or place, but an irreversible trend of the age. This line continues mounting the horse and going out to the suburb at times gazing far; what the poet sees and feels in gazing finally congeals into this helpless cannot bear. In the post-An Lushan context of the wavering Tang court, provincial warlord separatism, and Tibetan incursion, this desolation of human affairs is at once record and prophecy. Du Fu closes the heaviest grief in the plainest words, no heavy ink yet desolation filling the page - precisely the highest realm of his late regulated verse's deep gravity and rhythmic power, making Gazing Far surpass personal lament into the representative sound of the age's decline.

Study

Word focus

风尘 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 颔联「海内风尘诸弟隔」中，「风尘」一词意蕴丰厚，是全句情感与时代背景的交汇点。它本指风沙尘土，诗词中常借指兵燹战乱、道路阻绝与世途艰险。此处既写实——安史乱后海内兵连祸结、道路梗塞，使兄弟音书断绝；亦写虚——暗喻那个动荡离乱、让人身不由己的时代氛围。「风尘」以二字囊括了战乱的广度（海内）与离散的根由（阻隔），使「诸弟隔」不只是一己之痛，更是时代苦难的缩影。在杜诗中，「风尘」频繁出现（如「风尘荏苒音书绝」），几乎成为乱离时代的标志性语汇。此句以「风尘」连接国家之难与家庭之殇，使个人亲情获得宏阔的历史纵深。若将「风尘」换作「战乱」等直白之词，则失其蕴藉与诗味。二字之妙，正在于以景语写史事、以常词载重悲，体现了杜甫炼字「语淡而情浓」的极高造诣。

涓埃 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 颈联「未有涓埃答圣朝」中，「涓埃」以极微小的意象承载极沉重的自责。涓为细流、埃为微尘，合喻微不足道之功。诗人反用其常，言自己连这样微薄的贡献都未能献给朝廷，谦抑之中深藏壮志难伸的悲愤。此词出自典籍（如「涓埃之效」），经杜甫点化入诗，既显其用典之雅，更见其忠悃之诚——他始终以「报效圣朝」为毕生职志，未能如愿便引为终身之憾。在「惟将迟暮供多病」的对照下，「涓埃」之微与「圣朝」之重形成强烈反差，凸显生命被疾病消耗、却未及奉献于国家的悲剧性错位。杜诗好以此类谦辞写愤懑，表面自责、实则鸣不平，「涓埃」正是一例。二字虽小，却凝聚了儒家士大夫「达则兼济、穷亦思报」的价值信念，以及杜甫本人「穷年忧黎元、叹息肠内热」的赤子情怀，读来令人既敬且怜。

野望