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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

月夜忆舍弟

Thinking of My Younger Brothers on a Moonlit Night

杜甫

Du Fu

思乡homesickness 兄弟brothers

戍鼓断人行，边秋一雁声。
露从今夜白，月是故乡明。
有弟皆分散，无家问死生。
寄书长不达，况乃未休兵。

The garrison drum cuts off the traveller's road;
In the frontier autumn a single wild goose cries.
From tonight the dew turns white;
The moon is brightest over my old home.
I have brothers, but all of them are scattered;
No home is left in which to ask if they live or die.
Letters sent never arrive,
Still less now, when the fighting has not ceased.

Listen

Meaning

The drum in the watchtower sounds and the roads are already empty of travellers; on the frontier in autumn a single wild goose cries. From tonight the white dew of the season begins, yet the moon overhead seems brightest above my native place. I have brothers, but they are all scattered, and with our home destroyed there is nowhere to ask whether they are alive or dead. The letters I send never reach them, and the war has still not come to an end.

戍楼更鼓声起，路上已断绝行人；边地秋夜，传来一只孤雁的哀鸣。从今夜起白露盈草，天上的明月却还是故乡的最明亮。虽有兄弟却都流离分散，家园已毁无从探问生死。寄出的家书长久不能送达，何况战火至今仍未停息。

Appreciation

The poem turns upon the moonlit night, with scene and feeling everywhere joined and the structure deepening step by step. The opening couplet begins with sounds, the garrison drum and the lone goose, which fill the night with the harshness and loneliness of war. The second couplet moves feeling into the landscape, and the belief that the moon of home is brighter is unreasonable and exactly right, the very form that homesickness takes. The third turns from scene to fact and states the pain of scattered brothers and a vanished home; the closing couplet, with letters that never arrive and a war that will not stop, opens private grief into the sorrow of an age.

【白话串讲】 “戍鼓断人行，边秋一雁声”——安史之乱，杜甫在战乱中想念离散的弟弟。“露从今夜白，月是故乡明”——今晚白露，故乡的月亮最亮。“有弟皆分散，无家问死生”——弟弟们都失散了，没有家可问生死。“寄书长不达，况乃未休兵”——信寄不到，因为还在打仗。【意象与手法】全诗以‘月夜’为枢纽，情景交融，章法层层深入。首联‘戍鼓断人行，边秋一雁声’以听觉起势，烘托战乱中肃杀孤寂的氛围【情感与主旨】《月夜忆舍弟》作于唐肃宗乾元二年（759）秋，时杜甫流寓秦州（今甘肃天水）【名句点睛】中高考多取颔联‘露从今夜白，月是故乡明’设题。考点一

Background

'Thinking of My Younger Brothers on a Moonlit Night' was written in the autumn of the second year of the Qianyuan era (759), when Du Fu was living as a refugee in Qinzhou, present-day Tianshui in Gansu. In the ninth month of that year Shi Siming took Luoyang and attacked Henan, the imperial commander Lu Jiong was defeated at Yexian, war ran on year after year and the roads were cut. Du Fu's four younger brothers, Du Ying, Du Guan, Du Feng and Du Zhan, were scattered through Shandong, Henan and the region east of the Yangzi; their home was in ruins and there was no knowing whether they lived. On an autumn night at the frontier, hearing the garrison drum and a lone goose and thinking of brothers from whom no word could come, the poet wrote this poem, in which love of family and grief for the state are fused into one.

《月夜忆舍弟》为唐代杜甫所作，是写战乱中忆弟的诗。杜甫（712—770），字子美，号少陵野老，襄阳人，唐代伟大诗人。此诗：戍鼓断人行，边秋一雁声。露从今夜白，月是故乡明。有弟皆分散，无家问死生。寄书长不达，况乃未休兵。全诗写安史乱中忆弟、思家，是杜甫诗的名篇。

Art

The whole poem is hinged on the moonlit night, feeling and scene interpenetrating, the plan deepening layer by layer. The opening couplet begins with sound, the garrison drum and the cry of a single goose, which set the harsh and lonely atmosphere of a country at war. The second couplet moves the poet's feeling into the landscape, and the subjective illusion that the moon is brighter over home writes the obsessiveness of longing, unreasonable in fact and perfect in art. The third couplet passes from scene to matter and states plainly the pain of scattered brothers and a lost home; the closing couplet, with its step of thought from letters to a war that has not ended, widens private family feeling into the tragedy of the age, brooding and halting, a single note sounded three times over.

《月夜忆舍弟》艺术上以景色的渲染与忆弟的深沉见长。全诗八句，层层写来：前四句写边秋之景——“戍鼓断人行，边秋一雁声”写戍鼓雁声，“露从今夜白，月是故乡明”写白露明月；后四句写忆弟之痛——“有弟皆分散，无家问死生”写弟皆分散、无家问生死，“寄书长不达，况乃未休兵”写寄书不达、未休兵。全诗以边秋之景写忆弟之痛，正是杜甫诗沉郁顿挫的笔法。

Allusions

The poem uses no evident allusion and wins entirely by direct statement of what lies before the poet. The garrison drum, the frontier autumn and the cry of the goose are common images in Tang poems of war and dispersal rather than references to any particular source, and the line on the dew turning white marks the solar term of White Dew, plain description of the season. The poem heaps up no learning; yet the line about the moon of home, in an impression that plainly contradicts physical fact, says everything about longing in a time of separation, which shows Du Fu's power of astonishing statement returning at last to the natural. There is no need to look for hidden sources.

《月夜忆舍弟》用典少而意象自明。“戍鼓”写戍楼之鼓；“一雁”用孤雁之喻，亦写雁序（兄弟为雁行）之孤；“露从今夜白”写白露时节（此日正值白露），“月是故乡明”写故乡之月。全诗以这些意象写忆弟思家，不用深典而情深自见，正是杜甫诗以景写情的笔法。

Commentary

Pu Qilong, in his Reading of Du with the Heart, said that in this poem every household is in ruin and every word is bitter. Of the couplet on the moon of home Yang Wanli said that the poem ends while the flavour lasts. Later critics usually set it beside 'Spring View', saying that grief for the times and care for the state are both lodged in the moon. Qiu Zhao'ao, annotating Du Fu, took it as the finest of the Qinzhou poems written for his brothers in that year, evidence of its plaintive sincerity and of a sorrow that later ages have shared.

《月夜忆舍弟》是杜甫诗的名篇，也是中国诗歌中写战乱思亲的代表作。此诗写安史乱中忆弟，向为论者称道。论者多赏其景色的渲染——“露从今夜白，月是故乡明”写白露明月，怀乡之情尽在其中；“有弟皆分散，无家问死生”写弟皆分散、无家问生死，更见其痛。杜甫为唐代伟大诗人，其诗以沉郁顿挫著称，此诗正是其代表——以景写情、沉郁深挚，正是其诗风。

Prosody

Form Five-character regulated verse五言律诗

Rhyme Ping-shui rhyme, lower level eighth geng group (road, cry, bright, live, ceased)《月夜忆舍弟》为五言律诗，八句，押平声韵。此诗用韵：声、明、生、兵（庚部），一韵到底，对仗工整，音节沉郁。

Tone pattern First line enters the rhyme; oblique onset with oblique close五言律诗以音节沉郁、对仗工整见长。此诗写边秋忆弟，音节沉郁而深挚。全诗一韵到底，声调与忆弟之情的内容相合，是杜甫诗中沉郁顿挫的一路。

Reading note Eight lines in four couplets, the second and third couplets neatly parallel; a representative work of Du Fu's brooding, halting manner.《月夜忆舍弟》为唐代杜甫所作，是写战乱中忆弟的诗。此诗以“戍鼓断人行，边秋一雁声”写边秋战乱之景，以“露从今夜白，月是故乡明”写白露明月、怀乡之情，以“有弟皆分散，无家问死生”写弟散无家，以“寄书长不达，况乃未休兵”写寄书不达。以景写情、沉郁深挚，正是杜甫诗的名篇。

Line by line

戍鼓断人行，边秋一雁声。露从今夜白，月是故乡明。

The garrison drum cuts off all travel; in the frontier autumn, one goose's cry. Dew turns white from tonight; the moon is brighter over home.

戍楼的鼓声断绝了人行，边秋传来一声孤雁。露从今夜变白，月是故乡的明。

The garrison drum cuts off all footsteps; in the border autumn, a lone goose calls. Dew turns white from this night; the moon is brighter over my homeland.

前四句写边秋之景，是全诗忆弟思家的起点。“戍鼓断人行，边秋一雁声”写戍鼓雁声——“戍鼓断人行”写戍楼鼓声断绝了行人之路（戒严），“边秋一雁声”写边秋传来一声孤雁——戍鼓断行，边秋雁声；“露从今夜白，月是故乡明”写白露明月——“露从今夜白”写露从今夜变白（白露节），“月是故乡明”写月是故乡的明——露从今夜白，月是故乡明。四句写边秋之景：戍鼓断人行、边秋一雁声，露从今夜白、月是故乡明。以“戍鼓断人行，边秋一雁声”写战乱边秋之景，以“露从今夜白，月是故乡明”写白露明月、怀乡之情，正是杜甫诗以景写情的笔法——边秋孤雁，白露明月，思乡之情油然而生。

The first four lines write the border-autumn scene, the starting point for remembering brothers and home. The garrison drum cuts off all travel writes the garrison drum cutting off the roads (martial law); in the frontier autumn, one goose's cry writes the lone goose's sound in the border autumn. Dew turns white from tonight writes the dew turning white from this night (White Dew festival); the moon is brighter over home writes the moon of the homeland. The four lines write the border-autumn scene: the drum cutting travel, the lone goose's cry, the white dew, the bright moon. Using the drum and goose for the war-torn border autumn, the white dew and bright moon for homesickness - precisely Du Fu's brush of writing feeling through scenery: the lone border goose, the white-dew moon, and the longing rises of itself.

有弟皆分散，无家问死生。寄书长不达，况乃未休兵。

Brothers I have are all scattered; no home remains to ask if they live or die. Letters sent never reach; and the wars are still unended.

有弟弟都各自分散，没有家可问生死。寄书常常不能到达，何况战事未休。

Brothers I have are scattered far and wide; no home remains to ask of life or death. Letters I send never arrive; how much less, when arms are still unlaid.

后四句写忆弟之痛，是全诗战乱思亲的归结。“有弟皆分散，无家问死生”写弟皆分散——“有弟皆分散”写有弟弟都各自分散，“无家问死生”写没有家可问生死——弟皆分散，无家问生死；“寄书长不达，况乃未休兵”写寄书不达——“寄书长不达”写寄书常常不能到达，“况乃未休兵”写何况战事未休——寄书不达，何况未休兵。四句写忆弟之痛：有弟皆分散、无家问死生，寄书长不达、况乃未休兵。以“有弟皆分散，无家问死生”写弟散无家、生死难问，以“寄书长不达，况乃未休兵”写寄书不达、兵戈未休，正是杜甫诗写战乱思亲的归结——战乱之中，弟散无家，生死难问。

The last four lines write the pain of remembering brothers, the resolution of the war-torn longing for kin. Brothers I have are all scattered writes the brothers each dispersed; no home remains to ask if they live or die writes no home to inquire after life and death. Letters sent never reach writes the letters' constant non-arrival; and the wars are still unended writes the fighting still unceasing. The four lines write the pain of remembering brothers: brothers scattered, no home for life or death, letters not delivered, arms unended. Using brothers scattered and no home to write the unaskable life and death, letters never reaching and wars unended to write the barrier of war - precisely Du Fu's resolution of war-torn longing for kin: in the wars, brothers scattered, no home, life and death unknown.

Study

Word focus

戍鼓 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “戍鼓断人行”之“戍鼓”，写戍楼的鼓声，是全诗写战乱之景的关键词。“戍鼓”写戍楼更鼓——戍楼的鼓声断绝了人行。这一词写战乱之音：不是寻常之鼓，而戍鼓；不是升平之响，而戒严之声。以“戍鼓断人行”写战乱戒严，正是杜甫诗写边秋战乱之景的笔法。

一雁声 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “边秋一雁声”之“一雁声”，写一声孤雁，是全诗以雁写孤的关键词。“一雁”写孤雁，“声”写其声——边秋传来一声孤雁。这一词以“一雁”写孤：不是群雁之鸣，而一雁声；不是有伴之雁，而失群孤雁（亦喻兄弟离散）。以“边秋一雁声”写孤雁，正是杜甫诗以孤雁写己之孤、兄弟离散的笔法。

月是故乡明 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “月是故乡明”之“月是故乡明”，写月是故乡的明，是全诗写怀乡之情的名句。“月”写明月，“故乡明”写故乡之月明——月是故乡的明。这一句写月之明：不是他乡之月不明，而故乡月明；不是客观之理，而主观之情——同一明月，独觉故乡之明。以“月是故乡明”写怀乡，正是杜甫诗以主观之情写月、思乡之切的名句。

死生 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “无家问死生”之“死生”，写生死存亡，是全诗写弟之安危的关键词。“死生”写生死——没有家可问生死。这一词写弟之安危：不是平安之问，而问死生；不是可答之情，而生死难问。以“无家问死生”写弟散无家、生死难问，正是杜甫诗写战乱思亲之痛的笔法——无家可问，生死未卜。