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先秦 Pre-Qin · 诗 Poem

东山

East Mountain

诗经·豳风

The Book of Songs

诗经poetry 豳风Theme 征役Theme 思乡Homesickness 战争War

我徂东山，慆慆不归。
我来自东，零雨其濛。
我东曰归，我心西悲。
制彼裳衣，勿士行枚。
蜎蜎者蠋，烝在桑野。
敦彼独宿，亦在车下。
我徂东山，慆慆不归。
我来自东，零雨其濛。
果臝之实，亦施于宇。
伊威在室，蟏蛸在户。
町畽鹿场，熠耀宵行。
不可畏也，伊可怀也。
我徂东山，慆慆不归。
我来自东，零雨其濛。
鹳鸣于垤，妇叹于室。
洒扫穹窒，我征聿至。
有敦瓜苦，烝在栗薪。
自我不见，于今三年。
我徂东山，慆慆不归。
我来自东，零雨其濛。
仓庚于飞，熠耀其羽。
之子于归，皇驳其马。
亲结其缡，九十其仪。
其新孔嘉，其旧如之何。

I went forth to Mount Dong; long, long I did not return.
I come from the east, and the fine rain mists.
When in the east I spoke of going home, my heart grieved for the west.
I make those robes and clothes; no more the file, no more the gag of war.
The curling silkworm grubs, massed in the mulberry wild;
huddled, I sleep alone, also beneath the cart.
I went forth to Mount Dong; long, long I did not return.
I come from the east, and the fine rain mists.
The creeping fig's fruit trails on the eaves;
the sow-bug is in the room, the spider at the door.
The trampled deer-pasture glows with fireflies by night.
It is not to be feared - it is to be cherished.
I went forth to Mount Dong; long, long I did not return.
I come from the east, and the fine rain mists.
The stork cries on the ant-hill; the wife sighs in the room.
Sweep and plaster the rooms - my campaign will arrive.
The bitter gourds lie clustered, massed on the chestnut faggots.
Since I last saw her, it is now three years.
I went forth to Mount Dong; long, long I did not return.
I come from the east, and the fine rain mists.
The oriole takes flight, its plumage gleaming.
That maiden went to her wedding, bay and piebald her horses.
Her kin tied the bridal sash; a hundred rites, ninetyfold.
The new bride was very fair - how is the old one now?

Listen

Meaning

A soldier returning home after years away fears what he will find - and what his wife has become.

我往东山去征戍，久久不归乡。如今我从东方回，细雨迷蒙中。想起在东说归期，我心已向西悲伤。缝制那日常衣裳，不再行军衔枚。桑野里蠕动的蚕虫，蜷缩独眠在兵车下。我往东山去征戍，久久不归乡。如今从东回，细雨迷蒙中。瓜蒌的果实，攀缘在屋檐。土鳖爬满屋，蜘蛛结网在门边。田舍成鹿场，萤火夜中明。这般景象不必怕，却更惹人思念家。我往东山去征戍，久久不归乡。如今从东回，细雨迷蒙中。鹳鸟在蚁冢鸣，妻在室内叹息。洒扫居室除尘，我的征人就要到。团团苦瓜，堆在栗柴上。自我离家不相见，到今已有三年。我往东山去征戍，久久不归乡。如今从东回，细雨迷蒙中。黄莺翩翩飞，羽毛闪亮光。当年那女子出嫁，花马红白杂。母亲为她系佩巾，礼仪繁复多。新婚实在美，旧人重逢又如何。

Appreciation

Under the mists of Mount Dong the soldier counts his fears as much as his hopes. The final line - 'how is the old one now?' - turns a homecoming into one of literature's first portraits of anxious love.

【白话串讲】 “我徂东山，慆慆不归。我来自东，零雨其濛”——诗经《豳风·东山》：我远征东山，久不归。“我东曰归，我心西悲”——“制彼裳衣，勿士行枚”——他想着回家换下军装。“果臝之实，亦施于宇”——他想家中的景象。征夫归乡的盼望。【意象与手法】四章均以“我徂东山，慆慆不归。我来自东，零雨其濛”起兴，细雨迷蒙的归途烘托苍凉孤寂；第一章以“蜎蜎者蠋”自况写征人卑微无依；第二章想象家乡荒芜却“伊可怀也”；第三章设想妻子在家叹息；第四章追忆新婚以乐景反衬重逢之忧。由景及情、由己及家的层层推进。【情感与主旨】写一位远征多年的士兵在归途中的复杂心理，将行役之苦、思乡之切、夫妻之情熔于一炉，历来被视为征役诗的代表作。其抒情范式对后世闺怨诗与边塞题材影响深远。【名句点睛】常考“我徂东山，慆慆不归。我来自东，零雨其濛”以零雨起兴写归途苍凉；“不可畏也，伊可怀也”以荒凉愈添思念写乡情。

Background

One of the 'Airs of the States' in the Book of Songs (Shijing), the Bin Wind. A conscript's monologue on the long march home, weaving camp hardship with tender memory of his bride.

《东山》是《诗经·豳风》的一篇，也是中国文学史上征役诗的鼻祖。豳地大致在今陕西旬邑、彬州一带，周人早期发祥之地，豳风多写农事与征戍，带着周民族质朴深婉的基因。此诗所写，是一位随军远征多年的士兵，在归途细雨中百感交集的独白。关于时代，旧有三说：一说周公东征，一说春秋诸戎之乱，今人多认为它反映的是周初以降频繁的徭役征戍，未必坐实某一战事。重要的是它的视角——它不是将军的凯歌，不是史官的记功，而是一个具体的小兵，在零雨其濛里回想虫鼠、想念妻子、揣度重逢。这种以归乡者第一人称展开的心理叙事，在诗经之前几乎绝无仅有。更特别的是它的结构：四章开头都是我徂东山，慆慆不归。我来自东，零雨其濛这八句重章叠唱，像一支反复出现的主题曲，把读者一次次拉回那条泥泞的归路。在这支主题曲之下，四章分别展开四种心情：虫下独眠的凄苦、家园荒芜的忧惧、妻子叹息的温柔、新婚回忆的怅惘。读懂东山，要先懂周人为什么要反复歌唱征人——因为那是他们真实的历史经验，是无数个像诗中人一样，把青春丢在东山、把白发等在家门里的普通人。周民族自迁岐以来，征伐与农事始终是立国两端，豳风之诗多由此出。东山把宏大的征戍史，收束为一个老兵的雨中独白，这种平民视角在先秦极为难得，它把诗经温柔敦厚的精神，落实为对一个普通士兵命运的体恤。

Art

The refrain 'I went to Dong Mountain... the fine rain mists' opens each stanza like a marching beat; the view shifts from self to the deserted house to the wife's waiting to the wedding that now seems distant.

《东山》最了不起的艺术成就，是它用极简的结构装下了极深的心理层次。四章同以我徂东山起首，这是诗经典型的重章手法，但东山没有让四章原地踏步，而是每章在叠唱之后宕开一笔，各写一境，由外而内、由景及情、由己及家，层层深入。第一章写眼前实景：兵车之下，独宿如虫，是归途的凄苦；第二章转写想象中的家乡：虫鼠满室、田变鹿场，却偏说不可畏也，伊可怀也，以反跌写思念之深；第三章跳到妻子一面：鹳鸣妇叹、洒扫以待，由己之归推及妻之盼，视角第一次越出自我；第四章忽然回到多年前的婚礼：皇驳其马、亲结其缡，以新婚之乐反衬今日重逢之忧。这种章法，像剥笋一样，一层层露出征人最柔软的心。其次是意象的选择极具生活实感：蜎蜎的蚕虫、爬墙的土鳖、结网的蜘蛛、闪烁的萤火、团团的苦瓜，无一不是农家院落里最寻常的小物，却因离乱而格外刺心。最后是那场贯穿全诗的雨——零雨其濛，既是真实的天气，也是弥漫全诗的情绪底色，把欢欣与忧惧都洇成一片迷蒙。东山之妙，正在它不喊痛，只让你自己看见雨里那个老兵。更值得说的是它的节制：诗人写战乱离散之苦，不着一字控诉，只让老兵在雨里自己回想、自己掂量。这种不喊不叫的悲，比嚎啕更有后劲，正是诗经哀而不伤的极致。

Allusions

Mount Dong is the eastern campaign; the 'file and gag' the soldier's silence in night march. The bitter gourd and chestnut faggots are homely images of the hearth he left.

《东山》的用典与影响，集中在它开创的征人思妇范式。诗中我徂东山、零雨其濛的重章，直接影响了后世无数写归旅、写细雨的名篇；而由己及妻、由实及虚的写法，更成为闺怨与边塞题材共同的源头。汉乐府《十五从军征》中兔从狗窦入，雉从梁上飞，中庭生旅谷，井上生旅葵的荒宅描写，分明是东山第二章伊威在室、蟏蛸在户、町畽鹿场的隔代回响；杜甫《无家别》今夏草木长，脱身得西走……久行见空巷，日瘦气惨凄，其兵燹后归家所见之荒，亦与东山同调。至于以乐景写哀、以新婚反衬重逢忧惧的章法，更下启多少征人诗与闺怨词。值得注意，东山所写并非宏大战功，而是小人物的归来，这种平民视角在先秦极为难得，它把诗经的温柔敦厚落实为对一个普通士兵命运的体恤。可以说，没有东山开辟的这条路，就不会有后来中国诗歌里那一条绵延不绝的、替征人说话的现实主义支流。东山之后，征人诗成为中国诗歌一个恒久的母题，而它开创的以荒写怀、以反写正之法，更被后世反复取用，足见其范式之力。

Commentary

Ancient and modern readers prize its psychological realism: the joy of return shadowed by the fear that time has altered everything, above all the wife.

《东山》在诗经学里的地位，历来极高。朱熹《诗集传》谓此诗为周公东征，大夫美之而作，虽美其君，而叹其归之劳，已点出它哀而不伤的基调。方玉润《诗经原始》更叹其写情写景，无所不肖，说是东山一诗，可贵在能曲体人情。历代注家多注意到，此诗四章章法匀整而情感递进，从眼前实景到想象虚景，从个人孤苦到夫妻温情，由浅入深，哀而不伤，体现了豳风质实深婉的风格。而尤其被称道的，是它的克制：诗人写战乱离散之苦，却不着一字控诉，只让老兵在雨里自己回想、自己掂量。这种不喊不叫的悲，比嚎啕更有后劲。近代学者闻一多从民俗学角度读东山，认为诗中蚕虫、土鳖、萤火、苦瓜皆是豳地风物与生殖崇拜的遗存，更见其文化厚度。今人读东山，无论是否考订出具体史事，都会被那句其旧如之何击中——九年征戍，归来面对的究竟是团圆还是陌生，诗人把问题悬在那里，留给每一个有过离别的人去答。这也正是它穿越三千年仍新鲜的原因：它写的不是某场战争，而是人类共通的归乡之惧。东山之伟大，不在辞藻，而在它替一个无名老兵，把归途上的复杂心绪，说成了人类共同的乡愁。

Prosody

Form Folk-song stanza from the Book of Songs (four-character line)诗经·豳风，四言为主，四章重章叠句，属西周至春秋间乐歌

Rhyme Rhymes shift by stanza - the archaic rhyme scheme of the Airs.各章随情换韵，首章归、悲、枚、下等交错押韵，二章宇、户、羽、怀相叶，三章室、至、薪、年相叶，四章飞、衣、仪、何相叶，四章各有韵脚而皆以濛字遥领归途之调。

Tone pattern Four-character line; refrains and parallel imagery typical of the Airs.诗经本无后世平仄之说，以四言二拍为节奏骨架，每句二字一顿，重章处声调往复，吟咏之间自然成韵，非唐人格律所能范围。

Reading note A cornerstone of Chinese narrative lyric; its soldier's-homecoming motif recurs for millennia.东山的声律，核心在那四章反复出现的我徂东山，慆慆不归。我来自东，零雨其濛。这八句在每章开头原样重现，是诗经重章之法的极致运用。它的妙处不在变化，而在不变：同一段旋律，每章都先奏一遍，把听众拉回同一条雨路，然后才各自展开不同心境。这种结构天然适合歌唱——乐工反复咏唱叠句，听众在重复中积攒情绪，再被后文的新内容击中。四言二拍的节奏（二字一顿）短促而稳定，像脚步、像雨点，正好配合归人走在泥途上的步频。更巧的是，各章后半换了不同韵脚，写虫用幽细之韵，写荒用沉郁之韵，写妻用温厚之韵，写婚用明快之韵，情变则韵变，声随情走。若用后世格律绳之，这些换韵与重章都会被视作不规整，但恰恰是不规整，才让东山的悲有了呼吸的起伏。它是一首用重复和雨写成的歌，重复是骨架，雨是血肉。

Line by line

我徂东山，慆慆不归。我来自东，零雨其濛。

I went forth to Mount Dong; long, long I did not return. I come from the east, and the fine rain mists.

我往东山去征戍，久久不归乡。如今我从东方回，细雨迷蒙中。

I went to the Eastern Hills, long, long without return. Now I come from the east, the fine rain drizzling.

这八句是全诗的基调与骨架，四章反复叠唱，像一支不肯停的主题曲。我徂东山，慆慆不归，是过去的陈述：我去了东山，久久不回。徂是往、去，慆慆是久长之貌，两个字把时间的沉重说出来。我来自东，零雨其濛，是当下的画面：如今我从东边回来，细雨迷蒙。零雨是小雨，濛是模糊，归途的天色与心情一同洇开。请注意这八句每一章都原样重现，却因后文不同而不显得重复，反而像每一次回想都从同一帧画面出发——读者也跟着老兵，一次次站上那条雨路。更妙在东山二字：去时是东山，回时也是东山，山没变，人变了。这场雨，下在归途，也下在整首诗的心上。

These eight lines are the keynote and skeleton of the whole, repeated through four stanzas like a theme song that will not stop. 'I went to the Eastern Hills, long, long without return' is the statement of the past: I went to the eastern hills and have long not come back. 'Went' means to go, 'long, long' the appearance of length, the two characters speaking the weight of time. 'Now I come from the east, the fine rain drizzling' is the present picture: now I return from the east, the fine rain drifting. 'Fine rain' is light rain, 'drifting' blurred, the homeward sky and mood alike bleeding together. Note these eight lines recur verbatim in every stanza, yet do not feel repetitive because of what follows—rather, each recollection starts from the same frame, and the reader follows the old soldier, standing again and again on that rainy road. The art lies in the 'Eastern Hills': going, it was the Eastern Hills; returning, it is the Eastern Hills; the hill is unchanged, the man has changed. This rain falls on the homeward way, and on the heart of the whole poem.

蜎蜎者蠋，烝在桑野。敦彼独宿，亦在车下。

The curling silkworm grubs, massed in the mulberry wild; huddled, I sleep alone, also beneath the cart.

桑野里蠕动的蚕虫，蜷缩独眠在兵车下。

Wriggling, wriggling, the silkworm in the wild mulberry; huddled, he sleeps alone, under the chariot.

这是第一章的核心意象，写征人途中独眠的凄苦，手法极巧。蜎蜎是虫蠕动的样子，蠋是桑间野蚕；诗人不说自己苦，而说看那桑野里蠕动的蚕虫——以虫自况，把自己降到和自然物一样的卑微无依。烝是在，敦是团圆之貌，敦彼独宿写人蜷成一团孤眠，亦在车下点明地点：兵车底下。蚕在桑野，人在车下，同是蜷缩、同是露宿、同是无枝可栖，物我于此合一。这种比兴不事渲染，却比直说辛苦十倍，因为读者会自己替他把虫与人叠成同一个影子。东山写苦，从不喊痛，只给你看一只虫、一辆车、一个蜷着的人，余下的，雨替他说。

This is the core image of the first stanza, writing the forlornness of the soldier's lone sleep on the march, the method most subtle. 'Wriggling' is the motion of a worm, 'silkworm' the wild silkworm of the mulberry; the poet does not say his own hardship but points to the wriggling worm in the mulberry wild—comparing himself to the worm, lowering himself to the same lowly, rootless state as a natural creature. 'In' means at, 'huddled' the appearance of balling up; 'huddled, he sleeps alone' writes the man curled into a ball sleeping solitarily, 'under the chariot' the place: under the war wagon. The silkworm in the mulberry wild, the man under the chariot, alike curled, alike sleeping out, alike with no branch to roost on—thing and self become one here. This evocation, unadorned, is ten times more moving than a direct cry of hardship, because the reader himself layers the worm and the man into one shadow. The 'Eastern Hills' writes hardship without crying out; it only shows you a worm, a wagon, a curled man, and the rest the rain speaks for him.

果臝之实，亦施于宇。伊威在室，蟏蛸在户。町畽鹿场，熠耀宵行。不可畏也，伊可怀也。

The creeping fig's fruit trails on the eaves; the sow-bug is in the room, the spider at the door. The trampled deer-pasture glows with fireflies by night. It is not to be feared - it is to be cherished.

瓜蒌的果实，攀缘在屋檐。土鳖爬满屋，蜘蛛结网在门边。田舍成鹿场，萤火夜中明。这般景象不必怕，却更惹人思念家。

The bitter melon's fruit trails over the eaves; woodlice fill the house, spiders web the door. The fields are deer-paths, the glowworms glitter at night. These sights are not dreadful—rather, they make me long for home.

这是第二章，写征人想象中荒芜的家园，是全诗心理最曲折的一笔。果臝是瓜蒌，藤蔓爬上屋檐；伊威是土鳖虫，爬满室内；蟏蛸是蜘蛛，在门口结网；町畽是田舍空地，已成野兽出没的鹿场；熠耀是萤火，夜里明明灭灭。一片废墟景象，按理该令人畏惧，诗人却偏说不可畏也，伊可怀也——不可怕，反而更惹人思念。这一反转是东山的诗眼：家园越荒，牵挂越深，因为那荒里全是他离去后无人打理的痕迹，每一处破败都是他欠下的时光。以荒写怀，以畏写恋，把思念写到不讲理的地步，恰恰最讲理地写出了离人心理。

This is the second stanza, writing the waste home in the soldier's imagination, the most psychologically winding stroke of the poem. The bitter melon is a gourd whose vines climb the eaves; woodlice crawl the rooms; spiders web the door; the cleared ground has become a deer-run; glowworms glitter in the night. A scene of ruin that by rights should frighten, yet the poet says 'these sights are not dreadful—rather, they make me long for home.' This reversal is the poem's eye: the more waste the home, the deeper the longing, because within the waste are all the traces untended since he left, every desolation a time he owes. Writing longing through desolation, writing love through dread, carrying longing to the point of unreason—precisely the most reasonable writing of the parted heart.

其新孔嘉，其旧如之何。

The new bride was very fair - how is the old one now?

新婚实在美，旧人重逢又如何。

The new bride was so fair—what of the old one, now we meet again?

这是第四章的收束，也是全诗的余音，分量极重。其新孔嘉，回想当年新婚实在美好——皇驳其马、亲结其缡，花马红白、母亲系帨，是整首诗里唯一亮色的段落。可笔锋一转，其旧如之何：那旧人，如今重逢又当如何？新是回忆里的圆满，旧是现实里的未知，一乐一忧，戛然而止。诗人不回答，把问题悬在雨里。这一问太残忍也太真实：多年征戍，夫妻都已不是离别时的模样，团圆未必是喜剧。东山高明在此——它不给征人一个虚假的大团圆，而是诚实地把重逢的恐惧说出来。三千年后的读者，仍会被这未竟之问轻轻击中。

This is the close of the fourth stanza, the afterecho of the poem, weighty beyond measure. 'The new bride was so fair' recalls the beauty of the old wedding—the red and white horses, the mother tying the sash, the only bright passage in the whole. Yet the brush turns: 'what of the old one, now we meet again?' The new is the fullness in memory, the old the unknown in reality, one joy one sorrow, stopping abruptly. The poet does not answer, leaving the question hanging in the rain. The question is cruel and true: after years of campaigning, husband and wife are no longer as when they parted, and reunion may not be a comedy. The greatness of 'Eastern Hills' lies here—it gives the soldier no false happy ending, but honestly speaks the fear of reunion. Three thousand years later, the reader is still lightly struck by this unfinished question.

Study

Word focus

慆慆 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 慆慆是久长、绵绵不绝的样子，诗中慆慆不归写离乡之久。这个叠字极有重量，它不单说时间长，更说时间拖沓、望不到头的熬。比起单说久，慆慆带出的是心理感受——每一天都长得像一年。东山用它起调，先给全诗铺上一层化不开的漫长。叠字本就是诗经的表情符号，慆慆二字，正是征人心里那根一直在走的弦，它一响，整首诗的慢与苦就都有了着落。

零雨其濛 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 零雨是小雨、落雨，濛是迷蒙不清。这四个字是贯穿全诗的天气，也是情绪的底色。它不写暴雨的猛烈，而写细雨的缠绵，恰合归人百感交集、说不清道不明的怅惘。雨丝把喜悦（要回家了）与忧惧（家还在吗、人还在吗）都洇成一片，分不出边界。零雨其濛因此不只是景，而是整首诗的呼吸节奏，四章叠唱时，雨也跟着下一次。它是东山最忠实的伴侣，也是全诗情绪的总容器。

蜎蜎 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 蜎蜎形容虫类蠕动爬行之状，诗中用来形容桑野的野蚕。诗人以蠕动的蚕虫自比，把堂堂征人降到最卑微的自然物，写尽露宿无依的孤苦。这个叠字有慢、有软、有无法自控的飘零感，恰如人在命运里身不由己的蠕动。以虫喻人，是东山最锋利的比兴，而蜎蜎二字正是这把刀的刃，轻轻一划，就把一个大兵写成了虫一般卑微的存在。

伊可怀也 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 伊是语气词，可怀是可思念。全句承不可畏也而来，说家园虽荒却更惹人思念。怀字是这首诗的核——东山四章，写虫、写荒、写妻、写婚，绕来绕去都是一个怀字。怀是牵挂，是放不下，是明知荒芜仍要回去的执念。伊可怀也四个字，把前面所有凄楚都翻成温柔，是东山以反写正的关键一笔。没有这个怀，前面的荒就只是荒；有了它，荒就成了最深的思念。

孔嘉 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 孔是甚、很，嘉是美好。其新孔嘉写当年新婚十分美好，是诗中唯一明快的亮色。孔字加重语气，嘉字收束温情，短短四字撑起一整段回忆的华彩。它与结尾其旧如之何形成乐与忧的强烈对照：孔嘉越亮，其旧之问越暗。一词而见章法，正是诗经善于用短词撬动大情绪的本领。孔嘉与如之何，一明一暗，把整首诗的张力收束在六个字里。

东山