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魏晋 Wei-Jin · 诗 Poem

拟古九首其九

Imitating the Ancients, No. IX (Planting Mulberry)

陶渊明

Tao Yuanming

种桑长江边，三年望当采。
枝条始欲茂，忽值山河改。
柯叶自摧折，根株浮沧海。
春蚕既无食，寒衣欲谁待。
本不植高原，今日复何悔。

I planted mulberry trees by the Great River,
Three years of hoping to pick their leaves.
The branches had just begun to grow luxuriant,
When suddenly the mountains and rivers were changed.
Branches and leaves were torn and wrecked,
Roots and stumps now drift out on the open sea.
Spring silkworms have nothing left to eat—
Cold clothing, then, for whom should it wait?
It never took root on the high plateau;
So what is left for me to grieve about?
Listen

Meaning

A mulberry grove set out on the riverbank, meant to yield silk in three years, is torn up when the realm changes and floats away like debris upon the sea. Tao Yuanming turns this small disaster of husbandry into a parable of a turbulent age: things raised in hopeful labor are destroyed by forces no one can control. In the close he accepts the ruin without self-reproach — the tree should never have been planted where the water could reach it, and since that was never his intention, there is nothing left to regret.

种桑长江边，三年望当采。枝条始欲茂，忽值山河改。柯叶自摧折，根株浮沧海。春蚕既无食，寒衣欲谁待。本不植高原，今日复何悔。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] He sows mulberries beside the Great River and waits three years for the first picking; the branches are barely lush when the 'mountains and rivers change' and everything is destroyed. [Structure] Each of the ten lines moves forward as cause begets consequence: planting, growth, sudden ruin, and finally resignation. [Imagery] The whole poem runs on one image, the mulberry tree, and its four fateful stages — planted, growing, broken, adrift — so that an impersonal agricultural fact becomes the measure of a life. The paradox of the last couplet (nothing was planted on the high plateau, so nothing need be regretted) converts grief into a stoic shrug: the disaster was never within his design, therefore it wounds him less. The tone is quiet rather than tragic; the 'regret' is withheld, which is precisely what makes it felt.

【白话串讲】 陶渊明写《拟古九首其九》：“种桑长江边，三年望当采”——“枝条始欲茂，忽值山河改”——“柯叶自摧折，根株浮沧海”——“春蚕既无食，寒衣欲谁待”——“本不植高原，今日复何悔”——他写拟古——本不植高原。 【意象与手法】 “种桑长江边、三年望当采”写种桑长江边；“枝条始欲茂、忽值山河改”写枝条始欲茂；“柯叶自摧折、根株浮沧海”写柯叶自摧折；“春蚕既无食、寒衣欲谁待”写春蚕既无食；结以“本不植高原，今日复何悔”写本不植高原。悲慨深挚。 【情感与主旨】 陶渊明写感怀伤时之作，以种桑长江边写身世与时变之慨，是陶渊明诗中的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“种桑长江边，三年望当采”写种桑长江边；“本不植高原，今日复何悔”写时变之慨。

Background

Tao Yuanming (c. 365–427), courtesy name Yuanliang, posthumously named the靖节 master, lived at Chaisang in Xunyang (modern Jiujiang, Jiangxi) and is counted the founder of Chinese pastoral poetry. The 'Imitating the Ancients' group of nine poems is generally dated to the last years of the Jin, around 417–420, as the dynasty was collapsing into the hands of Liu Yu. The ninth poem is the most political of the set and is usually read as an allegory of the fall of the Jin, with the mulberry tree standing for the house of Sima and the 'change of mountains and rivers' for the abdication that ended the dynasty.

《拟古九首其九》为东晋诗人陶渊明所作诗。陶渊明（约365—427），一名潜，字元亮，私谥靖节，浔阳柴桑（今江西九江）人，东晋诗人，田园诗派的开创者。此诗写感怀伤时，为拟古之作。诗中「种桑长江边，三年望当采」写种桑长江边，三年望当采；「枝条始欲茂，忽值山河改」写枝条始欲茂，忽值山河改；「柯叶自摧折，根株浮沧海」写柯叶自摧折，根株浮沧海；「春蚕既无食，寒衣欲谁待」写春蚕既无食，寒衣欲谁待；「本不植高原，今日复何悔」写本不植高原，今日复何悔。陶渊明此诗以感怀伤时、今日复何悔写其伤时之情，悲慨深挚，是陶渊明诗中的名篇。此篇《拟古九首其九》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。此篇《拟古九首其九》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。

Art

Tao works by plain narration rather than ornament: ten five-character lines, no motif repeated, no emotion named. The power of the poem lies in its sequence of verbs — planted, hoped, began, changed, wrecked, drifted — which stages a collapse as inevitable as any logical demonstration. 'Hills and rivers changed' (山河改) compresses the fall of a dynasty into three characters, while 'roots and stumps adrift on the open sea' (根株浮沧海) picks up the sea imagery traditional in the 'flake of green silt' (沧海桑田) story of change. The enigmatic final couplet withholds consolation and instead resituates the poet outside blame, so that the poem ends in an unsolved, deliberately unresolved tone.

此诗艺术上以「悲慨深挚、以桑写情」见长。全诗共十句，由种桑长江边而枝条始欲茂而柯叶自摧折。起「种桑长江边，三年望当采」写种桑长江边：种桑长江边，三年望当采；「枝条始欲茂，忽值山河改」写枝条始欲茂：枝条始欲茂，忽值山河改；「柯叶自摧折，根株浮沧海」写柯叶自摧折：柯叶自摧折，根株浮沧海；「春蚕既无食，寒衣欲谁待」写春蚕既无食：春蚕既无食，寒衣欲谁待；结「本不植高原，今日复何悔」写本不植高原：本不植高原，今日复何悔。全诗以桑写情，由种桑长江边而今日复何悔，悲慨深挚，是陶渊明诗中的名篇。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。

Allusions

The dominant reference is the well-known 'flakes of green silt' line of the Wei philosopher RuanJi, by which the sea is said to become mulberry fields and mulberry fields again to sea — a shorthand for the perpetual turning of the world. Here Tao turns it inside out: the mulberries planted on the bank now drift on the sea, so the tree itself becomes the evidence of cosmic change. 'Cold clothing, for whom should it wait?' (寒衣欲谁待) retains the ordinary labor song's logic of supply and need while quietly emptying it. 'The high plateau' (高原) alludes to the classical maxim that plants are best rooted on high, firm ground, and so the absence of that condition explains the ruin without any explicit complaint.

诗中「种桑长江边三年望当采」「枝条始欲茂忽值山河改」「柯叶自摧折根株浮沧海」「春蚕既无食寒衣欲谁待」「本不植高原今日复何悔」等语，皆含典故故实。「种桑长江边三年望当采」用种桑之典（种桑写农桑之业），写种桑长江边三年望当采；「枝条始欲茂忽值山河改」写枝条始欲茂忽值山河改；「柯叶自摧折根株浮沧海」用沧海之典（沧海写桑田沧海），写柯叶自摧折根株浮沧海；「春蚕既无食寒衣欲谁待」写春蚕既无食寒衣欲谁待；「本不植高原今日复何悔」写本不植高原今日复何悔。诗人以种桑、沧海等典入诗，不着痕迹，而把感怀伤时之情写得真切可感，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。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

The poem has been read by traditional commentators as an allegory of the Jin dynasty's downfall and, by others, more simply as an allegory of the poet's own lost hopes in public service. Modern readers tend to find its refusal to regret anti-climactic and praise it instead for a steadiness that looks like philosophy rather than heroism. It remains one of the most frequently anthologized of the nine and is often paired with Tao's 'Reading the Classic of Mountains and Seas' as an instance of his habit of encoding history inside rural description.

这首《拟古九首其九》，是陶渊明写感怀伤时之作，写种桑长江边、枝条始欲茂、柯叶自摧折、春蚕既无食、今日复何悔之情，悲慨深挚。起「种桑长江边，三年望当采」——种桑长江边（用种桑之典），三年望当采。写种桑长江边：种桑长江边、三年望当采——种桑长江边、望当采；「枝条始欲茂，忽值山河改」——枝条始欲茂，忽值山河改。写枝条始欲茂：枝条始欲茂、忽值山河改——始欲茂、山河改；「柯叶自摧折，根株浮沧海」——柯叶自摧折，根株浮沧海（用沧海之典）。写柯叶自摧折：柯叶自摧折、根株浮沧海——自摧折、浮沧海；「春蚕既无食，寒衣欲谁待」——春蚕既无食，寒衣欲谁待。写春蚕既无食：春蚕既无食、寒衣欲谁待——既无食、欲谁待；结「本不植高原，今日复何悔」——本不植高原，今日复何悔。写本不植高原：本不植高原、今日复何悔——不植高原、复何悔。这「本不植高原，今日复何悔」，是全诗之结：以今日复何悔写其伤时。全诗悲慨深挚，以桑写情，正是陶渊明诗中的名篇。

Prosody

Form Shi (five-character ancient verse)诗（五言古诗）
Rhyme A ten-line five-character ancient poem. The rhyme words are 'cai' (采, to pick), 'gai' (改, changed), 'hai' (海, sea), 'dai' (待, to wait) and 'hui' (悔, regret) — all in the Old Chinese *-ə huei rhyme group, giving the whole poem a single sustained note that settles on the regret of the final line.此诗为五言古诗，共十句。押韵：「采」「改」「海」「待」「悔」押灰部韵。诗体依古诗而定，句式整齐，音节随情起伏，正与写感怀伤时的悲慨深挚相称，也见其以古诗写伤时的自然。
Tone pattern The metre is even and unhurried: five syllables to a line, ten lines to the poem, with a caesura after the second syllable in most lines ('Zhong— Sang— jiang— bian—'). Because ancient verse does not observe the later tonal patterns, the cadence is regulated by syntax rather than by pitch; the effect is a slow, levelebb delivery in which the one short, sharp phrase 'huzhi shanhe gai' (忽值山河改) breaks the measured pulse and is never quite recovered.句式上，「种桑长江边，三年望当采」写种桑长江边，音节舒缓；「枝条始欲茂，忽值山河改」写枝条始欲茂，音节悲慨；「柯叶自摧折，根株浮沧海」写柯叶自摧折，音节深挚；「春蚕既无食，寒衣欲谁待」写春蚕既无食，音节低回；结「本不植高原，今日复何悔」写本不植高原，音节悠长。全诗音节随情起伏，由舒缓而悲慨、由深挚而低回、由低回而悠长，正合古诗「自然」之妙，读来如感怀伤时、今日复何悔之音，悲慨而动人。
Reading note As a form the piece is deliberately old-fashioned — ancient verse (古诗) rather than regulated verse — suiting a poem that claims to be an imitation of the ancients. This choice of form is itself meaningful: the flat, untuned line stands for a plain mind confronting plain catastrophe, and the absence of contrived melody reinforces the poetry's moral steadiness. Readers should note how the rhyme scheme, running smoothly through 'cai/ gai/ hai/ dai/ hui', quietly aligns the poet's own grief with the word for regret while the syntax keeps that grief in check.此诗为五言古诗，是陶渊明写感怀伤时之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「悲慨深挚、以桑写情」：「种桑长江边，三年望当采」写种桑长江边、「枝条始欲茂，忽值山河改」写枝条始欲茂、「柯叶自摧折，根株浮沧海」写柯叶自摧折、「春蚕既无食，寒衣欲谁待」写春蚕既无食、「本不植高原，今日复何悔」写本不植高原。全诗悲慨深挚，以桑写情。尤为精妙者，是「种桑长江边，三年望当采」用种桑之典；而「柯叶自摧折，根株浮沧海」用沧海之典，正是陶渊明诗「悲慨深挚」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《拟古九首其九》一诗之所以读来声情并茂，正在于诗人以声韵配合情思、以节奏烘托意境，音节之长短、平仄之起伏，皆与诗意相为表里，此亦可见中国古典诗歌声律之美与匠心之工。

Line by line

种桑长江边，三年望当采。

I planted mulberry trees by the Great River, three years of hoping to pick their leaves.

种桑长江边，三年望当采。

I planted mulberry by the Yangtze; three years I hoped for the harvest.

首二句写种桑长江边，起笔即见其桑。「种桑长江边」用种桑之典写种桑长江边，「种桑」写种桑、「长江边」写长江边；「三年望当采」写三年望当采，「三年」写三年、「望当采」写望当采。两句一写种桑长江边、一写三年望当采，以种桑长江边写种桑江边、以三年望当采写望当采，写尽种桑长江边、三年望当采之情。以桑起兴，悲慨而深挚，是「以桑起兴」的妙笔。

The opening two lines write planting mulberry by the Yangtze, the mulberry present from the start. Planted-mulberry-by-the-Yangtze uses the mulberry allusion for planting by the river. Three-years-I-hoped-for-the-harvest writes the waiting. One line for planting by the Yangtze, one for the three-year wait. Using mulberry for bi-xing, the grief is deep and sincere - the fine stroke of mulberry bi-xing.

枝条始欲茂，忽值山河改。

The branches had just begun to grow luxuriant, when suddenly the mountains and rivers were changed.

枝条始欲茂，忽值山河改。

The branches were just growing lush, when suddenly hills and rivers changed.

此二句写枝条始欲茂，是全诗写山河之态的关键。「枝条始欲茂」写枝条始欲茂，「枝条」写枝条、「始欲茂」写始欲茂；「忽值山河改」写忽值山河改，「忽值」写忽值、「山河改」写山河改。两句一写枝条始欲茂、一写忽值山河改，以枝条始欲茂写始欲茂、以忽值山河改写山河改，写尽枝条始欲茂、忽值山河改之情。以改写情，悲慨而深挚，是「以改写情」的点睛之笔。

These two lines write the branches just growing lush, the key to the poem's hills-rivers state. The-branches-were-just-growing-lush writes the start of lushness. Suddenly-hills-and-rivers-changed writes the dynastic change. One line for the branches' lushness, one for the sudden change. Using change for emotion, the grief is deep and sincere - the finishing stroke of change-for-emotion.

柯叶自摧折，根株浮沧海。

Branches and leaves were torn and wrecked; roots and stumps now drift out on the open sea.

柯叶自摧折，根株浮沧海。

Boughs and leaves are broken off; roots and trunk float on the blue sea.

此二句写柯叶自摧折，是全诗写摧折之态的关键。「柯叶自摧折」写柯叶自摧折，「柯叶」写柯叶、「自摧折」写自摧折；「根株浮沧海」用沧海之典写根株浮沧海，「根株」写根株、「浮沧海」写浮沧海。两句一写柯叶自摧折、一写根株浮沧海，以柯叶自摧折写自摧折、以根株浮沧海写浮沧海，写尽柯叶自摧折、根株浮沧海之情。以折写情，悲慨而深挚，是「以折写情」的点睛之笔。

These two lines write the boughs breaking, the key to the poem's breaking state. Boughs-and-leaves-are-broken-off writes the breakage. Roots-and-trunk-float-on-the-blue-sea uses the sea allusion for the floating. One line for the boughs' breakage, one for the roots floating on the sea. Using breakage for emotion, the grief is deep and sincere - the finishing stroke of breakage-for-emotion.

本不植高原，今日复何悔。

It never took root on the high plateau; so what is left for me to grieve about?

本不植高原，今日复何悔。

If I had not planted on the high plain, why regret it today?

结句写本不植高原，是全诗立意的落点。「本不植高原」写本不植高原，「本不」写本不、「植高原」写植高原；「今日复何悔」写今日复何悔，「今日」写今日、「复何悔」写复何悔。两句一写本不植高原、一写今日复何悔，以本不植高原写不植高原、以今日复何悔写复何悔，写尽本不植高原、今日复何悔之情。以悔写情，悲慨而深挚，是全诗最动人处，也是「以悔写情」的点睛之笔。

The closing line writes the not-planting-on-the-high-plain, the poem's thought landing. If-I-had-not-planted-on-the-high-plain writes the high-plain choice. Why-regret-it-today writes the regret. One line for the high-plain planting, one for today's regret. Using regret for emotion, the grief is deep and sincere - the poem's most moving place, the finishing stroke of regret-for-emotion.

Study

Word focus

种桑 'Zhong sang,' 'planting mulberries': the first act of the poem and the act whose failure everything else narrates. Mulberry leaves fed the silkworms that produced silk for winter clothing, so the phrase simultaneously names a household economy and a timeline of patient waiting. It is deliberately plain: a verb and a noun, no image, no feeling. 「种桑」写种桑长江边，是写种桑之态的关键。「种桑长江边」着一「种桑」，写种桑——着一「种桑」，写种桑长江边，见其桑之种。两字写尽种桑之态，是「以词写桑」的妙笔。「种桑」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。
山河改 'Shanhe gai,' 'the mountains and rivers changed': a compressed way of naming the fall of a dynasty, since mountains and rivers stand for the realm itself. The adverb 'huzhi' (忽值, suddenly encountered) supplies the shock, and the substitution of 'gai' for the more common 'bing' (change, in the sense of two things exchanging) leaves the direction of the change unspecified and therefore more ominous. 「山河改」写忽值山河改，是写山河之态的关键。「忽值山河改」着一「山河改」，写山河改——着一「山河改」，写忽值山河改，见其河之改。三字写尽山河改之态，是「以词写改」的点睛之词。「山河改」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。
沧海 'Canghai,' 'the blue sea': here the destination of the uprooted tree. It draws on the standard image of the sea as a field turned into silt and silt turned into sea, so that the tree's destruction also replays the cosmic cycle of change. Because the thing that destroys the tree is the sea it was planted beside, the poem's imagery closes back on itself with bitter logic. 「沧海」写根株浮沧海，是写沧海之态的关键。「根株浮沧海」着一「沧海」，写沧海——着一「沧海」，写根株浮沧海，见其海之沧。两字写尽沧海之态，是「以词写海」的点睛之词。「沧海」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。
寒衣 'Hanyi,' 'winter clothing': the payoff of the third line, since mulberry leaves feed the silkworms whose silk makes the winter garment. The rhetorical question 'yu shui dai' (欲谁待, for whom should it wait) points at both the laborer left without clothes and the poet left without any service to fit into, and so turns idle agriculture into an emblem of wasted vocation. 「寒衣」写寒衣欲谁待，是写寒衣之态的关键。「寒衣欲谁待」着一「寒衣」，写寒衣——着一「寒衣」，写寒衣欲谁待，见其衣之寒。两字写尽寒衣之态，是「以词写衣」的点睛之词。「寒衣」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。

Related Reading

水调歌头·明月几时有 Diao Toupai: 'When Will There Be a Full Moon?' 苏轼 · 同写感怀伤时、超然旷达，一写人有悲欢离合、一写枝条始欲茂忽值山河改，皆于感怀之中见伤时 Both works register a sense of human vulnerability within a larger order: Su Shi names it as the inevitable mixture of joy and parting in human life, Tao Yuanming imagines it as a tree destroyed from outside. Each treats change as something to be absorbed rather than answered.

Su Shi's famous long tune opens its middle stanza with 'Men have sorrow and joy, they part and meet again; the moon is bright or dim, waxed or full — this has been true since old' and closes the poem with a wish for long lives 'though a thousand miles apart.' Tao's poem arrives at a similar calm, but by a different road: instead of enumerating the alternating phases of existence he describes their violent interruption and then refuses complaint. Where Su Shi's tone is generous and consoling, Tao's is cool, even stubborn, and his refusal to console himself is what makes the finale persuasive.

苏轼《水调歌头·明月几时有》「人有悲欢离合，月有阴晴圆缺，此事古难全」，写感怀旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；陶渊明《拟古九首其九》则以「枝条始欲茂，忽值山河改」「柯叶自摧折，根株浮沧海」写始欲茂山河改、自摧折浮沧海。两诗同写感怀伤时、超然旷达：一写人有悲欢离合、以悲欢写离合，一写枝条始欲茂忽值山河改、以桑写伤时；一为苏轼之超然、一为陶渊明之悲慨，并读正可见诗写「感怀伤时」的两种笔法，皆于感怀之中见伤时。

 八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Ba Sheng Gan Zhou: 'In the Autumn Rain That Streaming Down the Sky' 柳永 · 同写羁旅伤时、凝望天涯，一写误几回天际识归舟、一写种桑长江边三年望当采，皆于羁旅之中见伤时 Both are poems of displacement in which the self is placed at a distance from home and the horizon does the work of feeling; Liu Yong broadens the view, Tao Yuanning narrows it to a single gesture of resignation at the end.

Liu Yong's celebrated long tune reaches its crest in 'Thinking of his love on the painted tower, gazing out again and again, mistaking every returning boat at the horizon for hers.' Tao's poem shares the structure of standing outside an order that has shifted, but replaces the watcher's accumulating sightings with a single instantaneous ruin. Both ends the poem by making the poet's stance the final object: Liu Yong's wanderer keeps looking, Tao's poet has already stopped looking and simply declines to regret. Read together the two show how the same experience of historical turbulence can be rendered as longing or as equanimity.

柳永《八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天》「想佳人妆楼颙望，误几回、天际识归舟」，写羁旅伤时、凝望天涯，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；陶渊明《拟古九首其九》则以「种桑长江边，三年望当采」「柯叶自摧折，根株浮沧海」写种桑长江边、根株浮沧海。两诗同写羁旅伤时、凝望天涯：一写误几回天际识归舟、以凝望写思归，一写种桑长江边三年望当采、以种桑写伤时；一为柳永之清丽、一为陶渊明之悲慨，并读正可见诗写「羁旅伤时」的两种笔法，皆于羁旅之中见伤时。