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魏晋 Wei-Jin · 诗 Poem

却东西门行

Ballad of the East and West Gates

曹操

Cao Cao

离别Parting 豪情Theme

鸿雁出塞北，乃在无人乡。
举翅万里余，行止自成行。
冬节食南稻，春日复北翔。
田中有转蓬，随风远飘扬。
长与故根绝，万岁不相当。
奈何此征夫，安得去四方。
戎马不解鞍，铠甲不离傍。
冉冉老将至，何时反故乡。
神龙藏深泉，猛兽步高冈。
狐死归首丘，故乡安可忘。

The wild geese fly out beyond the northern frontier, into a country where no man dwells.
They lift their wings a myriad miles and more; going or halting, they form their own ranks.
At winter's turn they feed on southern rice; in spring days they wing northward again.
In the fields there is the rolling tumbleweed, drifting far away upon the wind.
Long severed from its old root, in ten thousand years the two will never meet.
What then of this soldier on campaign? How can he help but go to the four quarters?
The warhorse never has its saddle loosed; the armour never leaves his side.
Slowly, slowly old age draws near—when shall he return to his native land?
The divine dragon hides in the deep spring; the fierce beast paces the high ridge.
The fox at death turns its head to its own hill—how could a man forget his native land?

Listen

Meaning

The wild geese fly out beyond the northern frontier into a land where nobody lives. They lift their wings for a myriad miles and more, and whether flying or resting they order themselves into ranks. In winter they feed on the rice of the south; in spring they fly north again. In the fields the tumbleweed spins and drifts far on the wind, cut off from its old root for good, so that in ten thousand years the two will never meet again. What of this soldier on campaign, driven to the four quarters of the earth? His warhorse is never unsaddled, his armour never leaves his body. Old age is coming on little by little; when will he ever return home? The divine dragon hides in a deep spring, the fierce beast paces a high ridge; even a dying fox turns its head toward the hill where it was born, so how could a man forget his native land?

鸿雁飞出塞北，在那无人之乡。举翅飞越万里余，行止自排成行。冬天啄食南方稻，春日又向北飞翔。田中有飞转的蓬草，随风远远飘扬，长久与故根断绝，万年不再相遇。可叹这征夫，怎能去往四方？战马不解鞍，铠甲不离身旁。渐渐年老将至，何时返回故乡？神龙藏身深泉，猛兽漫步高冈。狐死头向故丘，故乡怎可遗忘！

Appreciation

Cao Cao took an old Han Music Bureau title and filled it with the hard truth of his own campaigning years. The poem falls into two halves. The first six lines open with wild geese that lift their wings a myriad miles and shuttle south in winter and north in spring, and with a tumbleweed in the field that drifts far on the wind and is severed from its old root for ever: the drifting of things stands for the drifting of men, so that the evocative opening already carries a comparison. The second half turns to the soldier himself, where warhorse and armour are never laid aside and old age comes on unnoticed. The close gathers everything into the fox that dies with its head toward its own hill, and lets a single question—how could a man forget his native land?—carry the whole weight of the poem.

【白话串讲】鸿雁从塞北飞出，飞万里也要成行。曹操写征夫：“戎马不解鞍，铠甲不离傍”——马不卸鞍，甲不离身。“冉冉老将至，何时反故乡”？连曹操也写出了征夫想回家的眼泪。【意象与手法】诗分两层：前六句以鸿雁「举翅万里」「冬南春北」与转蓬「随风远扬」「长绝故根」起兴，借物之飘零喻人之流转，兴中有比；后六句转入征夫自身，「戎马不解鞍，铠甲不离傍」以对句写征战之劳，「冉冉老将至」叹岁月催人；末以「神龙藏深泉，猛兽步高冈」「狐死归首丘」的排比收束，引类譬喻，归结「故乡安可忘」的执念。比兴相生，意象雄阔而情致沉郁，见曹操诗「志深笔长、梗概多气」的建安风骨。【情感与主旨】《却东西门行》为曹操所作，属乐府「相和歌辞·瑟调曲」。诗约作于建安年间曹操南征北战、军旅不息之时。诗中以鸿雁、转蓬起兴，写征夫戎马不解、老死异乡的悲慨，亦暗含曹操身为统帅转战四方、思归而不得的复杂心绪。汉末天下大乱，百姓与士卒久役于外，「白骨露于野，千里无鸡鸣」，此诗正是乱世征役之苦的真实写照，兼有志在天下的慷慨与羁旅思归的苍凉。【名句点睛】本诗为高考「建安诗歌」「羁旅思乡」鉴赏篇目。考点：①比兴手法——鸿雁、转蓬起兴喻征夫飘零；②「狐死首丘」用典；③「冉冉老将至」的生命之叹；④末句「故乡安可忘」的情感归结。

Background

The Ballad of the East and West Gates is by Cao Cao and belongs to the Music Bureau repertoire, in the class of Harmonizing Songs, Se-mode Tunes; the title was an old Han Music Bureau title, which Cao Cao borrowed in order to voice a feeling of his own. The poem was probably written during the Jian'an years, when Cao Cao was campaigning north and south without rest. Taking wild geese and tumbleweed as its opening figures, it writes the grief of soldiers whose horses are never unsaddled and who may grow old and die far from home, and it also holds the tangled mind of a commander who fights across the four quarters and longs to return but cannot. At the end of the Han the empire fell into chaos and both commoners and soldiers served long years abroad; the poem is a true likeness of the hardship of campaign in a broken age, at once ardent in ambition and desolate in homesickness.

《却东西门行》为曹操所作，属乐府「相和歌辞·瑟调曲」。「却东西门行」本为汉乐府旧题，曹操借题抒怀。曹操（155—220），字孟德，沛国谯（今安徽亳州）人，东汉末年政治家、军事家、文学家，建安文学的开创者与领袖。此诗约作于建安年间（196—220）曹操南征北战、军旅不息之时。汉末天下大乱，董卓之乱后群雄割据，百姓流离，士卒久役于外。曹操《蒿里行》写「白骨露于野，千里无鸡鸣」，正是这一时代的写照。此诗以鸿雁、转蓬起兴，写征夫戎马不解鞍、铠甲不离身，渐老而不能归乡的悲慨，亦暗含曹操身为统帅，转战四方、思归而不得的复杂心绪——他既有「周公吐哺，天下归心」的雄心，也有「冉冉老将至」的岁月之叹与故土之思。此诗与《短歌行》《观沧海》等并为曹操乐府诗的代表，兼有志在天下的慷慨与羁旅思归的苍凉，正是「建安风骨」的典型体现，也是中国诗歌史上较早、较完整的「征夫思归」之作。

Art

The poem is built in two layers. The first six lines begin with the geese that lift their wings a myriad miles and move south in winter and north in spring, and with the tumbleweed that drifts far on the wind and is long severed from its old root; the wandering of natural things figures the wandering of men, so that the opening evocation also functions as metaphor. The next six lines turn to the soldier, where the balanced pair 'The warhorse never has its saddle loosed; the armour never leaves his side' writes the toil of unending war, and 'slowly, slowly old age draws near' sighs at time that will not wait. The ending gathers force through parallel figures—the divine dragon hidden in a deep spring, the fierce beast pacing a high ridge, the fox dying with its head toward its hill—reasoning from kind to kind and settling on the fixed thought that home can never be forgotten. Evocation and comparison breed each other, the imagery is broad and the feeling deeply brooding, and the unhurried five-character measure suits that bleakness, showing the Jian'an bone and vigour of Cao Cao's verse, deep in purpose and long in stroke.

此诗艺术上以「比兴相生、引类譬喻」为最大特色。诗分两层：前六句以鸿雁与转蓬起兴——「鸿雁出塞北，乃在无人乡。举翅万里余，行止自成行。冬节食南稻，春日复北翔」写鸿雁冬南春北、万里迁徙，喻征夫常年转战、居无定所；「田中有转蓬，随风远飘扬。长与故根绝，万岁不相当」写飞蓬随风远扬、永绝故根，喻征夫离乡背井、归乡无期，兴中有比，借物之飘零喻人之流转。后六句转入征夫自身：「奈何此征夫，安得去四方」以设问写身不由己；「戎马不解鞍，铠甲不离傍」以对句写征战之劳——战马不曾解鞍，铠甲不离身边，征战之不息、戒备之常备，跃然纸上；「冉冉老将至，何时反故乡」叹岁月催人、归期无定。末四句「神龙藏深泉，猛兽步高冈。狐死归首丘，故乡安可忘」以神龙、猛兽、狐三物引类譬喻：龙藏深泉、兽步高冈，皆得其所，唯征夫失所；狐死犹首向故丘，人岂能忘故乡！比兴相生，意象雄阔而情致沉郁，见曹操诗「志深笔长、梗概多气」的建安风骨。

Allusions

The poem uses the story of the fox that dies with its head toward its own hill, from the Record of Rites, Tan Gong ('when a fox dies it sets its head straight toward its hill; this is humaneness') and from the Songs of Chu, Lament for Ying ('the bird in flight returns to its old home; the fox at death must turn its head to its hill'), meaning that even birds and beasts cherish the soil that bore them, so that longing for home is simply human feeling. 'Tumbleweed' transforms the old image of the plant blown loose by the wind, rooted in the figure of the flying tumbleweed in the Book of Lord Shang, to write the soldier's dispersal; 'The divine dragon hides in the deep spring; the fierce beast paces the high ridge' sets creatures that each hold their proper place against a soldier who has none. The allusions melt naturally into the evocative comparisons, unworked yet full of implication, showing Cao Cao's masterly habit of using allusion as though without intent.

此诗用典不多而皆恰切，熔铸自然。「狐死归首丘」为全诗最重要的典故，语出《礼记·檀弓上》「狐死正丘首，仁也」及《楚辞·九章·哀郢》「鸟飞反故乡兮，狐死必首丘」——传说狐死之时，头必朝向出生的山丘，古人以此喻禽兽犹恋故土、人岂能忘本。曹操以此典写征夫思归，正合「故乡安可忘」的题旨，用典自然融化于比兴，不事雕琢而意蕴深厚。「转蓬」化用蓬草随风飘转之象，《商君书》「飞蓬遇飘风而行千里」已用蓬喻飘转无定，曹操以「长与故根绝，万岁不相当」写蓬与根之永绝，正是征夫与故乡之永别的写照，此后「转蓬」遂成飘零身世的经典意象（曹植「转蓬离本根，飘飖随长风」即承此）。「神龙藏深泉，猛兽步高冈」用龙兽各得其所之象，反衬征夫失所之悲，语本《周易》「潜龙勿用」及《楚辞》意象。全诗用典于无意，正见曹操「用典如己出」的大家手笔。且「神龙藏深泉」暗用《周易·乾卦》「潜龙勿用」及《管子》「蛟龙得水」之典，以龙潜深泉喻贤者待时而动，与「猛兽步高冈」之得其所并置，反衬征夫之失所，引类譬喻，愈见其悲。

Commentary

The Anthology of Music Bureau Poetry notes in its head-note that this title belongs to the Harmonizing Songs, Se-mode Tunes. The Ming critic Hu Yinglin, in Thickets of Poetry, said that Cao Cao's poems are 'like an old general of You and Yan, sunken and grand in tone and spirit'. Zhong Rong, in Gradations of Poets, called Duke Cao 'archaic, direct and sorrowful'. The modern scholar Yu Guanying said that this poem 'begins with goose and tumbleweed, writes out the whole grief of the campaigner, and closes with the fox's love of its hill, desolate beyond measure'. Present-day scholars generally treat it as a representative campaign poem by Cao Cao and praise its far-reaching evocative charge and 'the softness of human feeling glimpsed within an ardent temper', reading it with Bitter Cold March and Song of Haoli as a double movement of pity for disorder and longing for home.

此诗为曹操乐府诗中的名篇，历代评价颇高。《乐府诗集》题解谓「却东西门行，乐府相和歌瑟调曲」。明代胡应麟《诗薮》称曹操诗「如幽燕老将，气韵沉雄」，正可移评此诗——鸿雁万里、转蓬飘零、戎马不解鞍，意象雄阔，气势沉雄。钟嵘《诗品》评曹公「古直悲凉」，此诗以古直之笔写悲凉之情，正是「古直悲凉」的典型。近人余冠英谓此诗「以雁蓬起兴，写尽征夫之悲，而结以狐首之恋，苍凉无限」，点出其比兴与情感的妙处。从诗史角度看，此诗的意义有三：其一，它是建安诗歌「梗概多气」风格的代表，将汉末乱世征夫之苦写得苍凉沉郁；其二，它是「羁旅思乡」母题的重要作品，「转蓬」「狐死首丘」意象对后世影响深远（曹植、王粲皆承其绪）；其三，它以乐府旧题写时代新意，是曹操「借古题写时事」创作方法的典范。此诗与《苦寒行》（写征途之险）、《蒿里行》（写乱世之惨）并为曹操军旅诗的代表，于慷慨中见人性的柔软，是其「怜民」之心的艺术化呈现。

Prosody

Form Music Bureau poem, Harmonizing Songs, Se-mode Tune (five-character)乐府诗·相和歌辞瑟调曲（五言为主）

Rhyme Five-character lines with free change of rhyme乡、翔、扬、当、方、傍、乡、忘（阳唐韵为主，一韵到底）

Tone pattern Not traceable五言为主，间有「乃在」「奈何」「安得」等虚词句，不依近体平仄

Reading note Cao Cao's imitation of a Music Bureau title, writing army life in five-character lines with no regulated-verse metre.此诗为乐府诗，属「相和歌辞·瑟调曲」，为曹操拟古乐府之作，共十句，以五言为主。全诗押阳唐韵：「乡」「翔」「扬」「当」「方」「傍」「乡」「忘」等字一韵到底（首句「乡」起韵，末句「忘」收韵），阳唐韵字音开阔响亮，与全诗意象的雄阔相合，然开阔之中见苍凉，正合「慷慨沉郁」的建安风骨。句式上，全诗以五言为主，间以「乃在无人乡」「奈何此征夫」「安得去四方」等带虚词的句子，句式灵活，不依近体平仄，正见乐府诗「因事而作、不拘格律」的特点。结构上，前六句比兴（鸿雁、转蓬），中四句写征夫（奈何、戎马、冉冉），末四句引类收束（神龙、猛兽、狐），层层推进。曹操以乐府旧题写时代新意，五言体的舒展配其苍凉之意，为后世五言乐府羁旅诗的典范。

Line by line

鸿雁出塞北，乃在无人乡。

The wild geese fly out beyond the northern frontier, into a country where no man dwells.

鸿雁飞出塞北，在那无人之乡。

Wild geese fly out beyond the northern frontier, into a land where no man dwells.

「鸿雁出塞北，乃在无人乡」为全诗起兴，以鸿雁起笔，意象雄阔苍凉。「塞北」点明极北边塞之地，「无人乡」写其荒凉——塞北苦寒之地，人烟稀少，是鸿雁所出的荒远之乡。鸿雁本为候鸟，冬南春北，此处写其出于塞北无人之乡，既写其居处之荒远，亦暗喻征夫戍守边塞、身处绝域。此兴之妙有三：其一，以雁喻人，鸿雁万里迁徙、行止成行，正如征夫常年转战、居无定所，起兴即点出「飘零」的主题；其二，以景写情，「塞北」「无人乡」的荒凉之景，为全诗定下苍凉沉郁的基调；其三，以高写阔，鸿雁起于塞北、飞于万里，意象高远开阔，正见曹操诗「气象雄阔」的特色，起笔即有建安风骨。

Wild-geese-fly-out-beyond-the-northern-frontier is the poem's bi-xing, starting with wild geese, the imagery grand and desolate. Northern-frontier names the far northern border; no-man's-land writes its barren - the cold northern frontier, sparse people, the wild geese's distant land. Wild geese are migratory, south in winter, north in spring; here written as coming from the northern frontier's no-man's-land, both writing their dwelling's distance and secretly comparing conscripts garrisoning the border, in the far region. The bi-xing's beauty: first, using geese for men, wild geese migrating ten thousand li in flocks, just like conscripts campaigning year-round, no fixed dwelling; the opening names the wandering theme. Second, using scenery for feeling: the northern frontier's barren scene sets the poem's desolate somber tone. Third, using height for breadth: wild geese rising from the northern frontier, flying ten thousand li, the imagery lofty and broad, exactly showing Cao Cao's grand bearing, the opening already bearing Jian'an bone.

田中有转蓬，随风远飘扬。

In the field a tumbleweed rolls, drifting far on the wind.

田中有飞转的蓬草，随风远远飘扬。

In the field a tumbleweed rolls, drifting far away on the wind.

「田中有转蓬，随风远飘扬」为全诗第二层比兴，紧接下句「长与故根绝」，以转蓬喻征夫，写尽飘零之痛。「转蓬」即随风飞转的蓬草，「随风远飘扬」写其被风吹起、远远飘荡、身不由己；而「长与故根绝」则写其与生养之根长久断绝，永难相见。此比之妙有三：其一，以物写人，蓬草离根而飘，正如征夫离乡而戍——蓬随风飘是身不由己，征夫从军是身不由己，比兴之间，飘零之悲自见；其二，以「绝」写痛，「长与故根绝」之「绝」字力重千钧——不是暂离，是永绝，蓬草再也不能回到故根，征夫或许再也回不到故乡，一字写尽绝望；其三，以象传远，「转蓬」自此成为飘零身世的经典意象，曹植「转蓬离本根，飘飖随长风」即承此脉，此句实开「转蓬」意象之先，影响深远。

In-the-field-a-tumbleweed-rolls is the poem's second layer of bi-xing, following the next line long-cut-off-from-its-old-root, using tumbleweed for conscripts, exhausting the wandering pain. Tumbleweed means the grass rolling on the wind; drifting-far-away-on-the-wind writes its being blown up, far adrift, body not its own. The bi-xing's beauty: first, using thing for man, tumbleweed leaving root drifting, just like conscripts leaving home garrisoning - tumbleweed drifting is body not own, conscripts enlisting is body not own; between bi-xing the wandering grief appears. Second, using cut-off for pain: long-cut-off-from-its-old-root's cut-off weighs a thousand catties - not temporary leaving, but eternal severance; tumbleweed can never return to its root, conscripts perhaps never return home; one character exhausts despair. Third, using imagery for distance: tumbleweed hence becomes the classic image of wandering fate; Cao Zhi's tumbleweed leaving its original root, drifting on the long wind follows this vein; this line actually opens the tumbleweed image, its influence far-reaching.

戎马不解鞍，铠甲不离傍。

The war horse never sheds its saddle; the armor never leaves its side.

战马不解鞍，铠甲不离身旁。

War horses never unsaddle; armor never leaves the side.

「戎马不解鞍，铠甲不离傍」为全诗由物转入征夫自身的枢纽，以对句写征战之劳，沉郁有力。「戎马不解鞍」写战马从不卸下鞍辔——战事频繁，马不解鞍，随时待命出征；「铠甲不离傍」写铠甲从不离开身边——戒备常备，衣不解带，随时准备厮杀。两句对仗工整，「戎马」对「铠甲」、「不解鞍」对「不离傍」，一写马、一写人，写尽征战之不息、戒备之常备。此联之妙有三：其一，以细节写劳，「不解鞍」「不离傍」两个细节，将征夫常年备战、居无宁日的劳苦写得具体可感；其二，以物写心，马不解鞍、甲不离身，正是征夫「安得去四方」而不得的根源——不是不想归，是战事不容归；其三，以简写繁，十字写尽军旅生活的全部艰辛，语言质直而意蕴深厚，正见曹操「古直」诗风。

War-horses-never-shed-its-saddle is the poem's pivot from thing to conscript, using a couplet for campaign toil, somber and powerful. War-horses-never-shed-its-saddle writes the war horse never unsaddled - campaigns frequent, horse never un-saddled, ready at any time. Armor-never-leaves-its-side writes armor never off - constant vigilance, ready for battle. The two lines parallel: war-horse against armor, never-saddle against never-side, one for horse one for man, exhausting campaign's endlessness and vigilance' constancy. The couplet's beauty: first, using detail for toil: never-saddle and never-side two details write the conscripts' year-round preparedness, days without peace, concrete and felt. Second, using thing for heart: horse never saddled, armor never off, is exactly the root of conscripts' how-can-they-leave-the-four-quarters-yet-cannot - not wanting to return, but campaigns not allowing return. Third, using brevity for richness: ten characters exhaust all military life's hardship, language plain yet meaning deep, exactly showing Cao Cao's ancient-plain style.

狐死归首丘，故乡安可忘。

The fox at death turns its head to its own hill—how could a man forget his native land?

狐死头向故丘，故乡怎可遗忘。

The fox at death turns its head to its own hill; how could one forget home?

「狐死归首丘，故乡安可忘」为全诗结句，用典收束，以兽恋故土反衬人思归，苍凉无限。「狐死归首丘」用《礼记·檀弓》「狐死正丘首，仁也」及《楚辞·哀郢》「狐死必首丘」之典——狐死之时，头必朝向出生的山丘，禽兽尚且眷恋故土；「故乡安可忘」以反问收束——狐死犹恋故丘，人岂能忘故乡！此结之妙有三：其一，以典写情，借狐首向丘的本能，写人思归的必然，用典自然，引类譬喻，情感由物及人，层层递进；其二，以问写痛，「安可忘」的反问，正写「不能忘、不可忘、偏又归不得」的沉痛，征夫之悲在问中达到高潮；其三，以情收势，全诗由鸿雁转蓬起兴，历戎马铠甲、老将至之叹，至此以「故乡安可忘」的执念收束，苍凉之中见坚贞，正是曹操「于慷慨中见人性柔软」的所在。

The-fox-at-death-turns-its-head is the poem's closing, using allusion for resolution, using beast's love of homeland to set off man's longing, infinite desolation. The-fox-at-death-turns-its-head uses Book of Rites Tan Gong's fox at death faces its hilltop, this is ren and Chu ci Ai Ying's fox at death must face its hilltop allusion - at death the fox's head turns to the hill where it was born; even beasts love their homeland. How-could-one-forget-home? closes in a rhetorical question - the fox at death still loves its hill, how could man forget home! The closing's beauty: first, using allusion for feeling, borrowing the fox's instinct for head-turning, writing man's inevitable longing, allusion natural, comparison apt, feeling moving from thing to man layer by layer. Second, using question for pain: how-could-forget's question writes cannot-forget, must-not-forget, yet-returning-impossible's grief; the conscript's grief peaks in the question. Third, using feeling for closing force: the poem from wild geese and tumbleweed bi-xing, through war-horses-armor and old-age sigh, here closes on the how-could-forget-home obsession; amid desolation showing steadfastness, exactly where Cao Cao shows humanity's softness amid vehemence.

Study

Word focus

冉冉 Meaning gradually, little by little. It writes the irreversible approach of old age and answers the question 'when shall he return to his native land?', so that the sorrow reaches far. 「冉冉老将至」之「冉冉」，炼字精微，写老之将至的不可逆，悲慨深长。「冉冉」为叠词，本义为缓慢地、渐渐地，此处写衰老渐渐降临——不是骤然而至，而是一点一点、不知不觉地逼近，如影随形。此词之妙有三：其一，以渐写哀，「冉冉」写老之将至是一个缓慢而不可逆的过程——人不是忽然老的，而是在日复一日的征战中渐渐老去，「冉冉」二字写尽这种无声的消磨；其二，以缓衬急，老之「冉冉」而「何时反故乡」之问愈急，越是渐渐地老去，越是急切地想回故乡，缓与急的对照，愈见征夫内心的焦灼；其三，以声传情，「冉冉」叠词音节舒缓绵长，读来如岁月缓缓流逝之声，与「老将至」的苍凉相合。二字写尽岁月无情，是曹操炼字的精到处，也与「不解鞍」「不离傍」的征战之劳相呼应。

相当 Meaning to meet, to come together again. In 'in ten thousand years the two will never meet', it writes the permanent separation of the tumbleweed from its root, a figure for a homecoming that will never happen. 「万岁不相当」之「相当」，为全诗写蓬根永绝的关键词，力重而悲。「相当」此处训相遇、相值、相合，「万岁不相当」即万年也不会再相遇——蓬草离根之后，随风飘荡，再也无法回到故根。此词之妙有三：其一，以时间写绝，「万岁」极言时间之长，「不相当」写相遇之绝，以时间的无限写重逢的无望——不是一年两年，而是万岁之久、永不相逢，写尽飘零之绝望；其二，以蓬写人，蓬与根「万岁不相当」，正如征夫与故乡、与亲人的永别——离家之日，即是永诀之时，以物之永隔写人之永别，比兴深婉；其三，以朴写痛，「相当」为口语常语，曹操以常语入诗，质直朴拙，而「万岁」二字将这份朴拙推向苍茫，愈朴愈痛，正是曹操「古直悲凉」诗风的典型。二字写尽蓬根之绝，亦写尽征夫之悲。