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魏晋 Wei-Jin · 诗 Poem

赠从弟·亭亭山上松

To My Cousin: The Pine on the Mountain

刘桢

Liu Zhen

咏物言志object-chanting and aspiration 松柏pine and cypress 建安风骨Jian'an spirit

亭亭山上松，瑟瑟谷中风。
风声一何盛，松枝一何劲。
冰霜正惨凄，终岁常端正。
岂不罹凝寒，松柏有本性。

Towering stands the pine upon the mountain; rustling blows the wind in the vale.
How fierce the wind's sound! How sturdy the pine's boughs!
Ice and frost are bitter-cruel, yet through the year it stands upright.
Has it not suffered the clinging cold? The pine and cypress have their nature.

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Meaning

Using the pine as a metaphor for the upright man, the poem declares that true constancy is not the absence of hardship but the native strength to remain upright through it.

高高的山上挺立着青松，山谷间响起瑟瑟的寒风。那风声是多么猛烈，松枝又是多么刚劲。冰霜正凛冽严酷，松树却终年端然挺直。难道它没有遭受严寒的侵凌吗？只因松柏天生就有耐寒的本性。

Appreciation

The whole poem centers on the pine, wholly metaphor and opening image. Towering sketches its form, rustling imitates its sound — form and sound both drawn. The vale-wind and the mountain-pine are set high against low; the fiercer the wind, the sturdier the pine, a frontal clash. Two how exclamations run through; one fierce, one sturdy, name both sides' force and the poet's leaning at once. The last two lines turn statement into question-and-answer, from outer uprightness into inner nature, leaping from chanting the object to stating aspiration.

【白话串讲】 “亭亭山上松，瑟瑟谷中风”——刘桢写山上松：风那么大，松枝那么劲。“冰霜正惨凄，终岁常端正”——“岂不罹凝寒，松柏有本性”——松柏不怕冷，因为那是它的本性。他写松，是写自己的品格。【意象与手法】全诗以松为中心，通篇比兴。亭亭状其姿，瑟瑟摹其声，一状一摹，绘影绘声。谷中风与山上松高下相形，风愈盛而松愈劲，构成正面冲突。两个一何连用，感叹之气贯注；一盛一劲，把对立双方的力量与诗人的情感倾向同时点出。末二句变陈述为设问自答，由外在的端正深入到内在的本性，由咏物一跃而为言志。【情感与主旨】此诗名为赠从弟，通篇却不着一语于兄弟之情，而以松柏自况、勉励堂弟。在世积乱离的建安年代，诗人勉人亦以自勉：外力可以摧折枝叶，却不能改易本性；真正的操守不是没有遭遇严寒，而是遭遇严寒仍旧端正。这正是建安文人慷慨任气、磊落使才的精神写照。【名句点睛】岂不罹凝寒，松柏有本性。一问一答，戛然收束而余味无穷。它把读者的目光从松树亭亭端正的外貌引向其内在的秉性，点明坚贞并非侥幸避开风霜，而是根植于天性的自觉持守，遂成千古励志名句。

Background

Liu Zhen, style name Gonggan, of Ningyang in Dongping, was one of the Seven Masters of Jian'an, named alongside Cao Zhi as Cao and Liu. Cao Pi said his five-character poems excelled, wonderful beyond his age. Displaced by war, he drifted to the Xindu region; the three To My Cousin poems were written then, on duckweed-algae, pine-cypress, and phoenix — this is the second.

刘桢（？至二一七），字公干，东平宁阳人，建安七子之一，与孔融、陈琳、王粲、徐幹、阮瑀、应玚并称，以五言诗著称，风格刚健挺拔，钟嵘《诗品》列为上品，称其贞骨凌霜，高风跨俗。此诗为《赠从弟》三首中的第二首，题中从弟即堂弟，是刘桢写给族中弟弟的勉励之作。建安时期，汉室倾颓、群雄并起，文人多怀抱功业之志，而命运多舛，刘桢自己亦因性倨傲物、不媚权贵而仕途蹭蹬。诗中以山上青松自况并励其弟，正是建安文人慷慨任气、以坚贞自守相期许的精神写照。理解此诗，须置于建安风骨的大背景下：那是一个既悲凉又刚健的时代，诗人们于离乱中犹存风骨，刘桢此作即其代表，以极简的物象承载极重的操守之誓，刘桢为建安七子之一，性傲物而诗刚健；此以松勉弟，正建安文人慷慨任气、以坚贞相期之写照，亦见离乱之世犹存风骨的精神底色，其诗质实而有风骨，与曹刘并立于建安之坛，非偶然也。。

Art

Wholly metaphor and opening image, using object to liken man. Four couplets advance layer by layer: lines one-two set pine against wind; three-four strengthen the clash with two how; five-six move from wind to ice-frost, from a moment to the whole year; the last two close in question-and-answer, from surface to inner, from this to that, tightly woven.

全诗通篇比兴，以松为中心，由外在之姿写到内在之本性，层层递进。起二句亭亭山上松，瑟瑟谷中风以一状一摹开篇：亭亭绘松之姿，瑟瑟摹风之声，绘影绘声，山高风烈，松与风高下相形，构成正面冲突的舞台。三四句风声一何盛，松枝一何劲以两个一何加强感叹，盛写风力之狂、劲写松骨之坚，一盛一劲将对立双方的力量与诗人褒贬同时点出。五六句冰霜正惨凄，终岁常端正由风及霜，由动态转入静态，写松在凛冽冰霜中终年端然，由外力之酷写到内守之定。末二句岂不罹凝寒，松柏有本性变陈述为设问自答，由外在的端正深入到内在的本性，由咏物一跃而为言志。章法上先姿、次力、次守、终性，由表及里、由物及人，是建安咏物诗中以物明志的典范，亦见刘桢锤炼之功，通篇比兴，由姿而力、由守而性，层层递进；亭亭写形、一何写势、本性写根，物我相融而无痕，是汉魏咏物言志最简净亦最遒壮的范本。。

Allusions

The pine and cypress have their nature is rooted in the Analects: 'Only when the year grows cold do we know the pine and cypress are the last to fade' — using the pine and cypress to liken the gentleman who does not change his integrity in adversity. Suffering the clinging cold: li means to suffer, ning han the bitter cold. Towering: lofty and erect in bearing. Rustling: imitating the sound of the cold wind.

松柏：在中国文化中原为耐寒常青之木，《论语·子罕》已有岁寒，然后知松柏之后凋也之语，以松柏喻君子处逆境而节操不移，此诗正承此经典隐喻。亭亭：高耸直立之貌，出《诗经》与汉赋形容物之高洁 upright，此处写松之挺拔。瑟瑟：风声，拟声词，写风之劲疾，六朝诗中多用之状秋风寒声。一何：何等、多么，为汉魏古诗常见感叹语，如《木兰诗》中亦见，用以加强语气。罹：遭受，凝寒指严寒，岂不罹凝寒以反问写松亦非不受寒，只是本性使然。冰霜：喻严酷之境遇，与《离骚》香草美人传统中的霜雪意象一脉。全诗用典融化于自然物象，不深奥而贴切，松柏本性一语直承孔子之训，是儒家比德传统在汉魏之际的鲜活体现，松柏之喻直承论语岁寒后凋之训，亭亭、瑟瑟、一何、罹皆汉魏常语而各得其所；以本性结，把哲学训诫化为可感物性，比德之传统焕然，以物性喻德性，比德之传统至汉魏而极盛，此诗其显例。。

Commentary

Zhong Rong's Poetry Grading says Liu Zhen 'relies on his spirit and loves the strange, often stirring and absolute, with true bone frost-defying and lofty wind crossing the vulgar' — this poem shows exactly those 'true bone frost-defying' four characters.

此诗为建安咏物言志之绝唱，历来为选家推重。钟嵘《诗品》称刘桢气过其文，雕润恨少，而贞骨凌霜，高风跨俗，正可移评此诗之刚健。历代论者多赏其语言质朴而风骨遒上，与曹植赠弟诸作并观，认为同写兄弟相勉而刘诗更见清峻。其经典意义在于把儒家岁寒后凋的君子之训，化为一首可诵的咏物小诗，松柏有本性遂成中国人言坚贞的终极隐喻。近人论的建安风骨，每举此诗为语言简劲、风力遒壮的标本。要之，此诗不以辞彩胜，而以骨力胜，通篇无一字媚软，于极度简净中见出建安文人慷慨任气、磊落使才的精神，亦足为后世一切以物明志之作的源头之一，钟嵘称其贞骨凌霜、高风跨俗，移评此诗最切；松柏有本性遂成言坚贞之终极隐喻，不以辞彩胜而以骨力胜，足为建安风骨在五言小诗之凝定，骨力之内，犹见温厚，是建安刚健而未失其厚之处。。

Prosody

Form Five-character ancient poem五言古诗（建安咏物诗）

Rhyme Eight lines, four rhymes; begins in the level-tone east group, the rhyme shifts with the mood from gentle to abrupt.风、中、盛、劲、凄、正、性古音相近相协，汉魏古体用韵宽缓，转韵自然，音节劲健如骨。

Tone pattern Tone pattern not specified; a five-character ancient poem without regulated tonal constraints.五言二二一顿，不拘后代平仄，以气运词，风声一何盛、松枝一何劲以对称句式造成顿挫，节奏遒壮。

Reading note A five-character ancient poem; wind-fierce pine-sturdy, ice-frost upright write the pine's constancy layer by layer, closing on 'nature' — Gonggan's famed piece using the pine to liken integrity and urging his cousin to keep his will.此诗为五言古诗，属建安时期咏物言志之作，不尚严格律法而贵风骨遒上。用韵方面，风、中、盛、劲、凄、正、性诸字古音相近相协，汉魏古体本不拘平仄对偶，韵脚随情绪流转而自然转换，读来劲健质实，正如钟嵘所评贞骨凌霜、高风跨俗。句式以五言二二一顿为主，亭亭山上松、风声一何盛皆自然断句，不假雕饰。最见声情之妙处在两个一何的对称叠加，使风盛与松劲形成声律上的对抗与平衡，恰合内容中外力与内守的冲突。要之，此诗声律为骨力服务，不以谐婉悦耳为务，而以简劲刚健动人，是建安风骨在五言小诗中的凝定体现，亦足见汉魏古诗以质胜文、以气驭辞的高境。

Line by line

亭亭山上松，

Tall and straight, the pine upon the hill,

高高的山上挺立着青松。

Tall and straight stands the green pine on the mountain height.

起句破题，以亭亭二字立起全诗的物象主体。亭亭本形容物之高耸直立、姿容清拔，此处写山上青松挺拔独立之态，既是写形，亦是写神——松之孤直高洁已暗含其中。山上松三字点明位置：松生于高山之上，与下句谷中风形成高下之势，既写出环境的险峻，也暗示松所处之地正是对抗狂风的第一线。这一个起句极简，却为全篇定下刚健清峻的基调，无一笔柔媚。更可玩味者，诗人以松自况，亭亭之姿即是士人挺立不阿的身影，物我于此初合。建安诗尚风骨，起笔即见骨力，不假雕饰而气象自弘，是汉魏古诗以质胜文的典型，亦为此诗由物及志的叙事起点。

The opening states the theme, the word 'tall and straight' raising the poem's central object. 'Tall and straight' originally describes something high and upright of bearing, and here writes the pine on the mountain, standing straight and alone—at once its form and its spirit, the pine's lone integrity already implied. 'The pine upon the hill' fixes the position: the pine grows on the high mountain, forming a high-low contrast with the wind in the valley, writing both the peril of the place and the fact that the pine stands at the front line against the gale. The opening is utterly simple, yet sets the poem's vigorous, stern keynote without a soft stroke. What is more intriguing is that the poet compares himself to the pine: the tall and straight posture is the scholar's figure standing unbowed, and object and self here first merge. Jian'an verse values bone, and the opening shows sinew, unadorned yet grand, the typical Han-Wei way of quality over ornament, and the narrative starting point of the poem's movement from object to purpose.

风声一何盛，

How fierce the wind's voice!

那风声是多么猛烈。

How mighty is the force of the wind!

此句写外力之狂，为松之劲设立对手。风声一何盛以一何加强感叹语气，盛字极写谷中风的猛烈浩大。一何是汉魏古诗中常见的叹词，含何等、多么之意，一经使用，便把客观的描写转为饱含情感的赞叹或惊心，使风力不仅可闻，更可感其压迫。风在此是象征：既是自然界的谷风，也是人生中种种摧折士人的外力——权势、时运、离乱。诗人不回避风的盛，反而以盛字尽情写出，因为唯有盛，方能显出松枝一何劲中的劲之可贵。这一句与下句构成全诗第一组张力，先立其敌，后显其守，章法上是对比烘托的典型，亦见刘桢以简劲之笔造冲突的手段。

The line writes the fury of the outer force, setting the adversary for the pine's strength. 'How fierce the wind's voice' uses 'how' to intensify the exclamation, and 'fierce' to write the violence of the valley wind. 'How' is a common exclamation in Han-Wei verse, meaning 'how' or 'what a'; once used, it turns objective description into an awestruck or shuddering praise, making the wind not only audible but oppressive. The wind here is symbolic: both the valley wind of nature and the various outer forces in life that break the scholar—power, fortune, war. The poet does not avoid the fierceness of the wind but writes it to the full, because only a fierce wind can make the 'strength' of the pine's boughs in the next line precious. The line and the next form the poem's first tension, setting the enemy first and then showing the defense, the typical method of contrast and the way Liu Zhen makes conflict with a few strong strokes.

松枝一何劲。

How unyielding the pine's boughs!

松枝又是多么刚劲。

And yet how resolute are the pine branches!

紧承上句，以一何劲与一何盛相对，是全诗力量感的核心。劲者，刚健有力、不屈不挠之谓，写松枝在狂风中的挺然不折。与风声之盛形成正面对抗：风愈盛，而松枝愈劲，二者相激，松之骨力乃显。两个一何前后呼应，一写外压之重、一写内守之坚，诗人的情感倾向不言而喻——他赞叹的不是风，而是风中的松。这一句已由状物转入拟人，松枝的劲实即士人操守的劲，物我在此完成第二次融合。建安诗重风骨，劲字正是骨的具象化，寥寥数字而遒壮有力，不施脂粉而神完气足，足见刘桢贞骨凌霜、高风跨俗的独到手眼，亦为此诗言志蓄势。

Following the preceding line, 'how unyielding' pairs with 'how fierce,' the core of the poem's sense of force. 'Unyielding' means vigorous and unbending, writing the pine boughs standing unbroken in the gale. It meets the fierceness of the wind head-on: the fiercer the wind, the more unyielding the boughs, the two provoking each other until the pine's backbone shows. The two 'how' echo back and forth, one writing the weight of outer pressure, one the firmness of inner holding, and the poet's leaning is plain—he praises not the wind but the pine in the wind. The line has moved from describing the object to personifying it: the unyielding boughs are the unyielding integrity of the scholar, and object and self complete their second fusion. Jian'an verse values bone, and the word 'unyielding' is the bone made visible; in few characters it is sinewy and strong, unadorned yet complete in spirit, showing Liu Zhen's rare eye for a cold integrity and preparing the poem's statement of purpose.

岂不罹凝寒，

Is it not that it suffers the biting cold?

难道它没有遭受严寒的侵凌吗？

Surely it has not escaped the biting frost and cold?

末联以设问自答收束，由外在的端正深入到内在的本性。岂不罹凝寒以反问起：松柏难道不曾遭受严寒的侵凌吗？罹是遭受，凝寒指酷寒。这一问极妙，它先承认松柏并非不历严寒、并非侥幸避开风霜，而是同样承受了凝寒的摧折。如此一来，松之可贵便不再是外力的缺席，而是身处严寒而依旧端然。这个反问翻进一层，把咏物诗常见的直颂改为思辨，使立意更深：真正的坚贞不是没有遭遇严寒，而是遭遇严寒仍旧本性不移。岂不二字以退为进，先予后夺，是汉魏诗中常见的说理笔法，亦显刘桢虽质实而自有曲折。

The closing couplet opens in a question and self-answer, moving from outward uprightness to inner nature. 'Is it not that it suffers the biting cold?' opens in rhetorical form: do the pine and cypress not suffer the inroad of bitter cold? 'Suffer' means to undergo, 'biting cold' the severe frost. The question is exquisite: it first admits that the pine does not escape the cold, that it is not lucky enough to avoid the frost, but suffers the same assault. Thus the pine's worth is not the absence of outer attack but standing upright even within the cold. The question turns one level deeper, changing the usual direct praise of the object poem into reflection, making the aim deeper: true loyalty is not never meeting the cold but not changing its nature when it does. The words 'is it not' advance by retreating, giving first and then taking, a common Han-Wei method of argument, and show that Liu Zhen, though plain, has his own turns.

松柏有本性。

The pine and cypress have their inborn nature.

只因松柏天生就有耐寒的本性。

It is simply that pine and cypress possess an inborn nature that endures the cold.

结句以松柏有本性作答，一字千金，是全诗由咏物跃而言志的关纽。有本性三字，把前面所有的亭亭、劲、端正都归源于内在的、天生的禀赋——松之坚贞不是勉强撑持，而是本性的自然流露。此语直承《论语》岁寒然后知松柏之后凋的儒家比德传统，把哲学的训诫化为可感的物性。诗人以松喻人、以本性喻操守，勉励从弟（亦自勉）：真正的士人，其刚直不阿亦如松柏，根于本性、发于天然，非外力可夺。五个字收束全诗，举重若轻，由物及人、由表及里，把一首咏物小诗升格为人格的宣言。其所以成为千古名言，正在于它以最朴之语说出了中国人关于操守的最深信念，亦为建安风骨立一凝定之范。

The closing line answers 'the pine and cypress have their inborn nature,' worth a thousand pieces of gold, the hinge where the poem leaps from describing the object to declaring its purpose. The words 'have their inborn nature' trace all the tall straightness, unyielding strength, and upright bearing to an inner, inborn endowment: the pine's loyalty is not forced but the natural outpouring of its nature. The line directly inherits the Analects' saying that only when the year grows cold do we see how pine and cypress are the last to wither, turning the moral injunction into a palpable quality of things. The poet compares pine to man and 'inborn nature' to integrity, urging his cousin (and himself): the true scholar's uprightness, like the pine and cypress, is rooted in nature, born of the natural, and cannot be taken by outer force. Five characters close the poem with effortless weight, moving from object to person and from surface to depth, raising a small object poem into a declaration of character. It became a timeless saying because it states, in the plainest words, the deepest Chinese conviction about integrity, and sets a fixed model of JianAN bone.

Study

Word focus

亭亭 The two characters tingting sketch the pine's loftiness and hint at a lone, proud, unbending air. 亭亭山上松之亭亭，是全诗第一个、也是最形神兼备的形容词。亭亭本形容物之高耸直立、姿容清拔，常用于写女子或花木之修长挺拔，此处移以写山上青松，既绘其形之高直，亦传其神之孤洁。这一个叠词以声音的悠长模拟出松干挺立不移的静态之美，读来便有清峻之气扑面。它不止于写貌，更暗含一种不倚不阿的姿态——松生于高山，独立于风，亭亭正是士人挺立尘表、不随流俗的身影投射。在汉魏诗中，叠字（青青、皎皎、亭亭）本用于增色，而刘桢以亭亭起笔，先立其骨，使全诗刚健之气自第一字而生。可以说，亭亭二字已为此诗定调：不以辞彩媚人，而以骨相惊人，足见建安诗人炼字尚质的取向。

一何 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 风声一何盛，松枝一何劲中的一何，是汉魏古诗中极关键的感叹虚词，意为何等、多么，用于加强语气、倾注情感。刘桢在一联之中两用一何，先以风声一何盛写外力之狂，继以松枝一何劲写内守之坚，两个一何遥相呼应，把客观的景物对照变成饱含褒贬的激情赞叹。其妙处在使描写由冷转热：风与松本是无情之物，一经一何点染，便有了诗人鲜明的立场——他惊于风之盛，更佩于松之劲。这种以虚词提挈全联、以重复造对称的手段，是汉乐府与古诗常用的声情之法，简净而有力。一何二字看似轻巧，实则是全诗张力得以成立的关键榫卯，亦见刘桢虽雕润恨少而风力自遒的本领。

本性 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 松柏有本性之本性，是全诗的诗眼与终极落点。本性指事物天生固有、不可移易的特质，诗人用以写松柏耐寒的天然禀赋，并由此隐喻士人坚贞操守的根源性。这一个词把前面所有的外在描写——亭亭之姿、劲之抗风、端正之守——全部收束于一个内在的根：松之可贵不在其强撑，而在其本性使然，如遇严寒而端然，是天然如此，非勉力为之。本性二字直承孔子岁寒后凋之训，把儒家君子之德的哲学，凝为可感的物性真理。以本性励从弟，即是说操守当如松柏，根于天性、发于自然，方为真实不伪。五字收篇，由物及人、由表及里，举重若轻，使此诗超越一时咏物而成为中国人言坚贞的永恒符号，足证刘桢以少总多、以质胜文的巅峰手腕。