All poems

魏晋 Wei-Jin · 诗 Poem

杂诗·白日沦西河

Miscellaneous Poems · The White Sun Sinks in the West River

陶渊明

Tao Yuanming

忧愤Theme 感时Theme 抒情Emotion

白日沦西河，素月出东岭。
遥遥万里晖，荡荡空中景。
风来入房户，夜中枕席冷。
气变悟时易，不眠知夕永。
欲言无予和，挥杯劝孤影。
日月掷人去，有志不获骋。
念此怀悲凄，终晓不能静。

The white sun sinks in the west river; the plain moon rises o'er the east ridge.
Far, far the light of ten thousand li; vast, vast the scene in the void.
Wind comes into my room; at midnight the pillow and mat grow cold.
The air's change tells the season turned; sleepless, I know the night is long.
I would speak, but none answers; I lift my cup to cheer my lonely shadow.
Sun and moon fling the man away; my will finds no room to run.
Thinking this, my breast fills with grief; till dawn I cannot be still.

Listen

Meaning

The white sun sinks into the west river; the pure moon rises above the east ridge. Far off, the light of ten thousand li; vast, the scene floating in the void. Wind enters the room; at midnight the pillow and mat grow cold. The changing air tells that the season has turned; wakeful, he knows the long night. He would speak, but none answers; he lifts his cup to comfort his lonely shadow. Sun and moon fling the man aside; his ambition finds no room to run. Thinking this, his breast fills with grief; till dawn he cannot be calm.

太阳沉落西边的河岸，素洁的月亮升起在东岭。遥遥万里洒下清辉，浩荡地浮在空中的光影。风儿吹进房门，夜半枕席生寒。气候转变才悟时序更易，难以成眠才知长夜悠永。想要说话却无人应和，举起酒杯劝慰孤影。日月抛掷人而去，空有壮志却不得施展。念及此满怀悲凄，直到天明仍不能平静。

Appreciation

Tao Yuanming's 'Miscellaneous Poems' (twelve in all) were not written at one time or place; many treat travel, the seasons, and the grief of unspent ambition. This 'The White Sun Sinks in the West River' was likely written in his late years. The structure climbs in four steps — scene, body, heart, will: the opening four lines write autumn night's void by the sun sinking, moon rising, far light; 'wind comes into my room' turns from scene to body, writing cold; 'the air's change tells the season turned' turns from body to heart, the startled sense of time; 'I would speak, none answers' turns to loneliness, 'I lift my cup to cheer my lonely shadow' writes self-comfort by a strange, sharp line; it ends 'sun and moon fling the man away; my will finds no room to run', bursting into the grief of will. The stiller the scene, the more the heart moves — a fine reverse contrast, natural antithesis, deep and checked.

【白话串讲】 “白日沦西河，素月出东岭”——陶渊明写日落月出。“欲言无予和，挥杯劝孤影”——想说话没人应，他举杯劝自己的影子。“日月掷人去，有志不获骋”——时光抛下人就走了，他的志向却无处施展。【意象与手法】章法以「景—身—心—志」四层递转：起四句以白日沦、素月出、万里晖写秋夜之旷寂，是静景蓄势；「风来入房户」二句由景入身，写寒；「气变悟时易」二句由身入心，写时不我待之惊；「欲言无予和」转孤独，「挥杯劝孤影」以奇警写自遣；终以「日月掷人去，有志不获骋」喷薄志悲。景愈静而心愈动，反衬极妙，对仗自然，沉郁顿挫。【情感与主旨】陶渊明《杂诗》十二首非一时一地之作，多写羁旅、时序与壮志之悲，此「白日沦西河」一首约作于其晚年。诗人早年怀「大济苍生」之志，然归隐躬耕后济世无门，晚境益孤。诗中「日月掷人去，有志不获骋」正是对一生出处矛盾的总慨——既不肯同流合污，又不甘志业落空。故虽写秋夜不眠，实则是易代离乱、理想成尘的时代与个人双重悲慨，足补「平淡」陶诗之另一面。【名句点睛】常考：一、情感主旨，须答「时光流逝、壮志不伸的悲慨」及陶诗沉郁一面；二、结构，分析「景—身—心—志」的层层深入；三、「挥杯劝孤影」「日月掷人去」的炼字之妙。

Background

Tao Yuanming's 'Miscellaneous Poems' (twelve in all) were not written at one time or place; many treat travel, the seasons, and the grief of ambition unspent. This 'white sun sinks in the west river' was likely written in his late years. Early he held the great wish 'to save the age and all below'; after retiring to farm, the way to serve was closed, and in age he grew lonelier. 'Sun and moon fling the man away; my will finds no room to run' is the whole-life lament of his clash between exit and entry — unwilling to drift with the corrupt, yet unable to see his will done. So though it writes a sleepless autumn night, it is really the double grief of a broken age and a spent self, filling out the other, 'calm' face of Tao's poetry.

陶渊明（约365—427），字元亮，一说名潜，字渊明，号五柳先生，浔阳柴桑（今江西九江）人，东晋末至南朝宋初诗人，中国田园诗的开山鼻祖。其《杂诗》十二首非一时一地之作，多写羁旅、时序与壮志之悲，此「白日沦西河」一首，学者或系于其中年（约405年前后归隐之初），或系于晚年（约410—420年间），然从「日月掷人去，有志不获骋」的沉痛语气看，当作于其晚年。陶渊明早年怀「大济苍生」之志，曾数度出仕（为江州祭酒、镇军参军、彭泽令等），然东晋末年政治黑暗——桓玄篡晋、刘裕代晋，战乱频仍，仕途污浊，他终于「不为五斗米折腰」而辞彭泽令归隐，躬耕自食。归隐之后，渊明虽得田园之乐，然「大济苍生」之志终无所施——乱世不容清者，田园亦难饱腹，晚年更遭火灾、饥荒，境遇日蹙。此诗写秋夜不眠，由昼夜交替、气候转变而悟时序之易、长夜之永，进而想到日月掷人、壮志难骋，终至彻夜难平——这不仅是个人「有志不获骋」的悲慨，更是东晋易代、理想成尘的时代投影：清节之士在乱世中的孤立与悲怆，尽在此秋夜之中。此诗足补「平淡」陶诗之另一面——金刚怒目、志士悲歌的沉郁慷慨，是理解陶渊明全人的重要文本。

Art

The structure climbs in four steps — scene, body, heart, will: the opening four lines write autumn night's void by the sun sinking, moon rising, far light; 'wind comes into my room' turns from scene to body, writing cold; 'the air's change tells the season turned' turns from body to heart, the startled sense of time; 'I would speak, none answers' turns to loneliness, 'I lift my cup to cheer my lonely shadow' writes self-comfort by a strange, sharp line; it ends 'sun and moon fling the man away; my will finds no room to run', bursting into the grief of will. The stiller the scene, the more the heart moves — a fine reverse contrast, natural antithesis, deep and checked.

此诗艺术之妙，在「景—身—心—志」四层递转的严密章法与「景静心动」的反衬。起四句写景：白日沦于西河，素月出于东岭——昼夜交替，是时间的运行；「遥遥万里晖，荡荡空中景」写月光之远与光影之阔——万里清辉，空中浩荡，秋夜之旷寂尽在其中，这是「静景蓄势」，为全诗铺开一个空旷寂静的宇宙背景。次二句由景入身：「风来入房户，夜中枕席冷」——风入房门，夜半枕席生寒，由天地的旷寂转入身体的感受，「冷」字写尽秋夜之寒，也暗含孤居之寂。三、四句由身入心：「气变悟时易，不眠知夕永」——气候转变才悟时序更易，难以成眠才知长夜悠永，由身体的冷写到心境的惊悟：时不我待的警觉，在「悟」字中乍然点亮。五、六句写孤独：「欲言无予和，挥杯劝孤影」——想要说话却无人应和，只好举起酒杯劝慰自己的孤影，「无予和」写尽无人可语的孤寂，「劝孤影」以奇警之笔写自遣，是千古名句。七、八句喷薄志悲：「日月掷人去，有志不获骋」——日月抛掷人而去，空有壮志不得施展，全诗的情感至此达到高潮，「掷」字写尽时光之无情，「不获骋」写尽壮志之落空。末二句「念此怀悲凄，终晓不能静」以「终晓」收束——念及此满怀悲凄，直到天明仍不能平静，把一夜的辗转反侧写到尽头。全诗景愈静而心愈动，反衬极妙，对仗自然（白日对素月、遥遥对荡荡、气变对不眠），沉郁顿挫，是陶诗「平淡」之外的另一副笔墨。

Allusions

'I lift my cup to cheer my lonely shadow' reworks the 'form and shadow' thought that existed before Li Bai; Tao writes the loneliness of 'none answers' by 'cheer my lonely shadow', a new, grieved phrase — his own lone-heart coinage (later Li Bai's 'under the moon, drinking alone, my shadow makes three' truly inherits this). 'The white sun sinks in the west river' — 'river' means the Yellow River or a great river, common speech; 'plain moon' rises o'er the east ridge, a painted scene. The whole uses few recondite allusions, only scene-and-feeling breeding to write will — plain yet deep.

此诗用典极淡，而意象皆有渊源，正见渊明「以自然为诗」的本色。「白日沦西河，素月出东岭」化用汉乐府《陌上桑》「日出东南隅，照我秦氏楼」一类日月的传统意象，而渊明以「沦」「出」写日月之运行，天地之运转如在目前，暗含《周易》「日中则昃，月盈则食」的盈虚之理——白日沦而素月出，昼夜相代，正是时间的永恒运行。「挥杯劝孤影」是全诗最著创意的意象：以酒杯劝慰自己的影子，化用「形影」之思——魏晋玄学有「形影神」之辨（渊明自己有《形影神》诗），以「劝孤影」写无人相和之独，语新意悲，是渊明孤怀的创语；此意象后为李白所承——李白《月下独酌》「举杯邀明月，对影成三人」即脱胎于此，可见其影响之深。「日月掷人去」之「掷」字，化用古诗「人生天地间，忽如远行客」的时光之叹，而「掷」字写尽日月抛人而去的无情，比「逝」「驰」更见狠辣。「有志不获骋」之「骋」本指马之奔驰（如「驰骋沙场」），此处以「骋」写志之施展——志如骏马，欲骋而不得，写尽壮志难酬的憋闷。全诗少用僻典，唯以情景相生之笔写志，本色而深厚。

Commentary

The Song critic Zhu Xi says Tao's poetry 'is plain out of nature, yet in the Miscellaneous Poems you see his feeling'. The Qing critic Fang Dongshu calls this piece 'deep to the bone, one breath to the topic'. Moderns hold that 'sun and moon fling the man away' inherits the Jian'an bone directly — showing Yuanming is not only calm, but has the fierce, grieved note of a man of will, most able to break the bias that 'Tao's poetry is all even and peaceful'.

此诗历代评价极高，被视为陶诗「沉郁」一面的代表作。朱熹《朱子语类》评陶诗「平淡出于自然」，又谓「渊明诗，人皆说是平淡，据某看他自豪放，但豪放得来不觉耳」，此诗「日月掷人去，有志不获骋」正是「豪放得来不觉」的明证——看似平淡，实则沉郁慷慨。清人方东树《昭昧詹言》称此篇「沉至深厚，一气赴题」，谓其「笔力圆劲，直逼曹阮」——直承建安风骨（曹植「骋我径寸翰，流藻垂华芬」的志意）、阮籍《咏怀》的忧思而来。近人论陶，多以此诗打破「陶诗一味平和」的偏见：鲁迅《魏晋风度及文章与药及酒之关系》指出「陶潜正因为并非浑身是静穆，所以他伟大」——此诗正是「并非浑身静穆」的铁证，其「日月掷人去」的悲慨、「终晓不能静」的激荡，与《读山海经》「精卫衔微木，将以填沧海」的怒目金刚，同是渊明心底的另一面。此诗在文学史上的价值，在于它证明了中国田园诗鼻祖并非逃世的隐者，而是「志士悲歌」的诗人：其「有志不获骋」的悲慨，上承屈原「长太息以掩涕兮，哀民生之多艰」的忧患，下启杜甫「致君尧舜上，再使风俗淳」的抱负，是中国士人「穷则独善」之下的「达则兼济」之梦的哀歌。

Prosody

Form Five-character ancient poem (one of the 'Miscellaneous Poems' sequence)五言古诗（陶渊明《杂诗》十二首之二）

Rhyme Shifting rhyme; front scene-lines and back feeling-lines each assonant to its own换韵体：前段「岭、景」押韵（上古耕部），后段「冷、永」（耕部）、「影、骋、静」（耕部）相押，全诗基本一韵（耕部）到底，偶有转接，韵部清亮悠长，正合秋夜清空之境。

Tone pattern Ancient five-character, no near-style level-oblique古体五言，不究平仄黏对，句式齐整（全诗十四句皆五言），音节舒缓而见顿挫；「日月掷人去」以「仄仄仄平仄」的拗折起句，音节突兀，如一声惊雷，「终晓不能静」以「平仄仄平仄」收束，音节低回，如长叹不绝。

Reading note Scene-body-heart-will deepening; deep and checked, showing Tao's bleak side.此诗为陶渊明《杂诗》十二首之二，五言古诗，全诗十四句，章法上堪称「景—身—心—志」四层递进的典范：起四句写景（白日沦、素月出、万里晖、荡荡景），是秋夜旷寂的宇宙背景；次二句写身（风入户、枕席冷），由天地转入自身；再次二句写心（悟时易、知夕永），由身体转入心境；再次二句写孤（无予和、劝孤影），由时序之悟转入孤独之境；又次二句写志（掷人去、不获骋），喷薄出全诗的主旨；末二句写悲（怀悲凄、不能静），以彻夜不眠收束。五层递进，层层深入，由外而内、由景而情、由情而志，一气贯注，如剥笋之层层见心。用韵上，全诗以耕部韵（岭、景、冷、永、影、骋、静）贯穿，音色清亮悠长，与秋夜清空之境相谐；句法则齐整的五言十四句，音节舒缓，唯「日月掷人去」以拗折之句突起，如平湖中炸起惊雷，正是陶诗「平淡中见奇警」的声律体现。此诗在陶渊明全部作品中占有特殊地位：它证明陶诗并非一味的「采菊东篱」的静穆，而是有着「金刚怒目」的激荡，上承阮籍《咏怀》的忧思，下开杜甫「沉郁顿挫」的先声，是中国诗歌「志士悲歌」传统的重要一环。

Line by line

白日沦西河，素月出东岭

The white sun sinks in the west river; the plain moon rises o'er the east ridge.

太阳沉落西边的河岸，素洁的月亮升起在东岭。

The bright sun sinks beyond the western river; the white moon rises over the eastern ridge.

起句写昼夜交替，是全诗「以景起情」的开端。「白日沦西河」写日落——太阳沉入西边的河岸，「沦」字写其沉没之状，如舟之沉、物之坠，沉得缓慢而不可挽回；「素月出东岭」写月升——素洁的月亮从东岭升起，「素」字写月之洁白，「出」字写其上升之态。一沦一出，一西一东，昼夜的交替在两句中完成。此联的妙处有三：一是「以日月写时间」——白日沦、素月出，正是时间的永恒运行，暗含「日月相推而明生焉」的宇宙节律，为全诗「气变悟时易」的时序之叹伏笔；二是「以对偶写流转」——「白日」对「素月」、「沦」对「出」、「西河」对「东岭」，对仗自然而流转，如日月之相替，无迹可寻；三是「以静景蓄势」——日沉月升，天地旷远，这寂静的秋夜正是下文「枕席冷」「悟时易」的舞台，静景为动情蓄势。

The opening writes the alternation of day and night, the starting point of the poem's 'feeling awakened by scenery.' 'The bright sun sinks beyond the western river': the word 'sinks' renders its going down, slow and irretrievable, like a boat foundering. 'The white moon rises over the eastern ridge': the word 'white' gives the moon's purity, 'rises' its ascent. One sinking, one rising, one west, one east, and the alternation of day and night is complete in two lines. The art is threefold: writing time through sun and moon—the sinking sun and rising moon are the eternal motion of time, hinting the cosmic rhythm; writing circulation through parallelism—'bright sun' against 'white moon,' 'sinks' against 'rises,' 'western river' against 'eastern ridge,' natural and flowing; and storing momentum in still scenery—the sunken sun and risen moon, the vast and quiet autumn night, are the stage for the later 'cold pillow' and 'awakening to time's change,' the still scene preparing the stirring emotion.

欲言无予和，挥杯劝孤影

I would speak, but none answers; I lift my cup to cheer my lonely shadow.

想要说话却无人应和，举起酒杯劝慰孤影。

I would speak, but there is none to answer; I raise my cup and toast my lonely shadow.

此二句是全诗写孤独的警策，也是千古名句。「欲言无予和」写无人可语——想要说话，却没有人应和：「欲言」写有话要说（心中郁结，不吐不快），「无予和」写无人可语（说给谁听？谁来应和？）——五个字写尽孤独的极致：不是不想说，而是说了也没人听、没人懂；「挥杯劝孤影」写自遣——举起酒杯，劝慰自己的影子：无人可劝，便劝影子；无人共饮，便与影共酌——「劝孤影」三字，把孤独写得既悲凉又奇崛：以酒杯邀影，是无可奈何中的自我排遣，也是孤傲自持中的自我安慰。此二句的妙处在于「以奇警写常悲」：孤独是常悲，「劝孤影」是奇笔——人劝影，影无应，孤独愈深；而这奇崛的意象，正见渊明于平淡中见奇警的本色。此意象后为李白《月下独酌》「举杯邀明月，对影成三人」所承，可见其影响之深远。

These lines are the poem's masterstroke on loneliness and an age-old couplet. 'I would speak, but there is none to answer': he has words to say, a congestion in his heart that must out, yet no one to speak to, no one to answer—the five characters write the extreme of loneliness: not unwilling to speak, but speaking and being neither heard nor understood. 'I raise my cup and toast my lonely shadow': no one to urge, so he urges his shadow; no one to drink with, so he drinks with his shadow—the three words 'toast my lonely shadow' write the loneliness as at once pitiable and fantastic: inviting the shadow with the cup is self-consolation in helplessness, and self-comfort within proud reserve. The art lies in writing ordinary grief through a startling image: loneliness is ordinary, 'toasting the lonely shadow' is the stroke of genius—the man urges the shadow, the shadow does not answer, and the loneliness deepens. Li Bai later took this image in 'drinking alone beneath the moon,' raising the cup to invite the moon and making three of himself and his shadow, showing its far-reaching influence.

日月掷人去，有志不获骋

Sun and moon fling the man away; my will finds no room to run.

日月抛掷人而去，空有壮志却不得施展。

The sun and moon fling man aside and go; I have ambition, yet cannot let it run free.

此二句是全诗的精神内核，也是全诗情感的喷薄处。「日月掷人去」写时光之无情——日月把人们抛掷在身后，自己径自运转而去：「掷」字是千古炼字，把日月写成一个冷酷的投掷者，将人像废物一样随手抛下——不是「逝」（客观的流逝），不是「驰」（匆忙的奔走），而是「掷」（主动的抛弃），一个字写尽时光对生命的无情，狠辣至极；「有志不获骋」写壮志之落空——空有志向，却不得施展：「骋」本写马之奔驰，此处以「骋」写志之施展——志如骏马，欲骋而不得，憋闷欲死。此二句的妙处在于「以两极端相撞」：日月之无情（掷人）与志士之执著（有志）相撞——正因为「有志」，才更痛于「掷人」；正因为「掷人」，才更恨「不获骋」。这是陶渊明一生出处矛盾的总慨：既不肯同流合污（故归隐），又不甘志业落空（故悲慨），两句写尽这千古难题，是陶诗「金刚怒目」一面的铁证。

These lines are the spiritual core of the poem and its bursting point. 'The sun and moon fling man aside and go': the word 'fling' is a timeless stroke, writing sun and moon as a cold thrower who casts man aside like refuse—not 'passes' (objective lapse) or 'races' (hurried going) but 'flings' (active rejection), one character writing all the ruthlessness of time toward life, pitiless to the extreme. 'I have ambition, yet cannot let it run free': 'run free' originally describes a galloping horse, here used for the unfolding of will—ambition like a fine horse that would run yet cannot, stifled to death. The art lies in the collision of two extremes: the ruthlessness of sun and moon (flinging man) against the insistence of the patriot (having ambition)—precisely because he 'has ambition,' the 'flinging' hurts the more; precisely because he is 'flung,' the 'cannot run free' enrages the more. The lines are the total lament of Tao's lifelong contradiction—unwilling to follow the vulgar (hence his retirement) yet unable to bear a wasted ambition (hence his grief)—the iron proof of the 'angry-eyed' side of Tao's poetry.

念此怀悲凄，终晓不能静

Thinking this, my breast fills with grief; till dawn I cannot be still.

念及此满怀悲凄，直到天明仍不能平静。

Thinking on this, I am filled with mournful desolation, and until dawn I cannot be still.

末二句以「终晓」收束，写彻夜不眠的余痛，是全诗的结穴。「念此怀悲凄」写悲之起——念及「日月掷人去，有志不获骋」这一层，满怀悲凄：「念此」二字承接上文，把前文的景、身、心、志四层收拢于一个「念」字——正是这一念，使秋夜的静景、枕席的冷、长夜的永、孤影的独，全部凝聚为悲凄；「终晓不能静」写悲之续——直到天明，仍不能平静：「终晓」写时间之长（从夜半到天明），「不能静」写心绪之乱——一夜未眠，天已破晓，而胸中波涛未平。此二句的妙处在于「以时间的延续写情感的深度」：不写「悲」到什么程度，而写悲到「终晓不能静」——一夜的辗转，正是悲之深的度量；「不能静」三字更暗含「志」的执着——心不能静，正因志不能忘，若真能静（忘世忘志），又何来终晓之悲？以「终晓」收束全诗，余痛悠长，沉郁不尽，正是陶诗「平淡」外表下「悲慨」内核的完成。

The closing two lines end on 'until dawn,' writing the lingering pain of a sleepless night, the poem's conclusion. 'Thinking on this, I am filled with mournful desolation': the words 'thinking on this' gather up the preceding scenery, body, heart, and will into a single thought—it is this thought that condenses the still autumn night, the cold pillow, the endless night, and the lonely shadow into grief. 'Until dawn I cannot be still': 'until dawn' writes the length of time (from midnight to daybreak), 'cannot be still' the turmoil of mind—a night without sleep, dawn already come, yet the billows in his breast unspent. The art lies in writing the depth of feeling through the duration of time: not saying how deep the grief is, but that it lasts 'until dawn,' the whole night's tossing being the measure of its depth; and the words 'cannot be still' carry the insistence of will—the heart cannot be still precisely because the will cannot be forgotten, for could one truly be still (forgetting the world and the will), whence the grief until dawn? Closing on 'until dawn,' the pain lingers, somber and unexhausted, the completion of the grief within Tao's plain exterior.

Study

Word focus

荡荡 'Vast, vast the scene in the void' writes the moonlight's boundless spread; the reduplicative paints the vast, distant scene, setting off the later narrowness of the lone breast — still scene, moving heart. 「荡荡空中景」之「荡荡」，叠字状月光之浩荡无边，是全诗写秋夜之旷的传神字。「荡荡」写光影之阔——月光在空中浩荡流动，铺满天地，无边无际：叠字「荡荡」造成音律的绵长，如月光之铺展，正合「遥遥万里晖」的辽远。此字的妙处在于「以景之旷写心之孤」：月色愈是荡荡无边，愈反衬诗人独处一室之孤——万里清辉普照，而无人与我共看；空中光影荡荡，而枕席之冷独侵。景愈阔而身愈小，月愈明而心愈暗，这正是「以旷景写孤怀」的反衬手法。此字还与下文的「孤影」遥相呼应：荡荡的光影之中，只有一个孤独的身影——「荡荡」之阔与「孤影」之单，一开一合，把秋夜的旷寂与诗人的孤独写得互为表里。叠字之用，一石二鸟，正是陶诗「平淡中见深厚」的体现。

掷 'Fling' in 'sun and moon fling the man away' is a ruthless word, writing time's casting the man aside; one word, a thousand weight, exhausting the pain of a spent will. 「日月掷人去」之「掷」字，是全诗最狠辣的炼字，写时光弃人而去的无情。「掷」本指投掷、抛扔——以手掷物，随意抛下；此处移以写日月：日月运转，把人像废物一样抛掷在身后，径自前行——不是「逝」的客观流逝，不是「驰」的匆忙奔走，而是「掷」的主动抛弃：日月仿佛有意志，故意把人抛下，头也不回。此字的妙处有三：一是写无情之极——「掷」字把时光的无情写到极致，人如被弃之物，不值一顾；二是写无奈之极——人被日月「掷」下，无法反抗，无法挽留，只能眼睁睁看着自己被抛在时间的尘埃里；三是写悲愤之极——「掷」字暗含诗人的怨愤：壮志未酬，而日月已掷我而去，这不甘、不忿、不舍，尽在一个「掷」字中。若易为「逝」「驰」「流」，则或失其狠、或失其怨；唯「掷」字能写尽时光的无情与志士的悲愤，是陶诗炼字的巅峰，与「有志不获骋」的「骋」字对举，一掷一骋，张力十足。

骋 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「有志不获骋」之「骋」字，意为「奔驰、施展」，以马之奔驰喻志之施展，是全诗写壮志的关键字。「骋」本写骏马驰骋之态——四蹄腾空，纵横千里；此处以「骋」写志——志向如骏马，渴望驰骋于天地之间，施展抱负，建功立业：一个「骋」字，把「志」从抽象的概念化为奔腾的骏马，志之雄、之烈、之渴望，尽在其中。然而「不获骋」三字陡转——骏马被缚，志不得施：不是没有志（有），不是志不烈（烈），而是「不获」——得不到施展的机会。此字的妙处在于「以马喻志」的双重张力：骋之愈烈，不获骋之痛愈深；志之愈雄，不获骋之悲愈重。此字还与上句「掷」字相生：日月「掷」人而去，而人之志「不获骋」——时间的无情与志向的落空，正是「悲凄」的总根源。陶渊明一生「大济苍生」之志终未得骋，此「骋」字正是其壮志难酬的千古一叹。