元 Yuan · 诗 Poem
论诗绝句·其四
Quatrains on Poetry · No. 4
一语天然万古新，豪华落尽见真淳。
南窗白日羲皇上，未害渊明是晋人。
when the splendour has fallen away, the true and pure appears.
Under the south window, in the long daylight, he is a man of high antiquity;
and it does Tao Yuanming no harm to have been a man of Jin.
Meaning
Tao Yuanming's language is natural and unforced, and stays new for a thousand ages; only when all ornament has fallen away does its plain truth show. Under his south window, through the long daylight, he lives as freely as one of the men of high antiquity, and being born into the Jin does nothing to spoil that ancient purity.
第一句说陶诗语言自然天成、万古常新；第二句说洗尽华丽辞藻后露出真淳本色。南窗之下白日悠悠，陶渊明如太古羲皇时人般自在；第三四句说即便身处晋代，也并不妨碍他保有这种远古的纯真。
Appreciation
The quatrain argues, yet it never stops being a poem. The first two lines state the case directly, setting the natural against the ornate, and the phrase for the splendour falling away carries the whole labour of refinement in it. The third line paints Tao under his south window in the long daylight, quietly borrowing his own words about lying beneath the north window and calling himself a man of the age before history. The last line turns once more: the age he lived in could not alter his truth. Four lines carry a single breath, praise and blame declare themselves, and a small poem holds the judgement of a historian.
【白话串讲】 元好问评陶渊明：“一语天然万古新，豪华落尽见真淳”——一句天然，万古常新；豪华落尽，才见真淳。“南窗白日羲皇上，未害渊明是晋人”——陶渊明是晋人，却像羲皇时代的人。 【意象与手法】 全诗以议论入诗而不失诗味，起二句正面立论，天然与豪华对举，落尽二字见洗炼之功 【情感与主旨】 元好问（1190—1257）为金末元初文坛领袖，晚年撰《论诗绝句》三十首系统评诗，此其四专论陶渊明 【名句点睛】 此诗常考论诗主旨与关键字句赏析
Background
Yuan Haowen (1190-1257) was the leading man of letters of the late Jin and early Yuan; in his later years he wrote the thirty Quatrains on Poetry as a systematic judgement of the tradition, and this fourth piece is devoted to Tao Yuanming. In the change of dynasties poets were given either to sharp novelty or to ornament, and Yuan Haowen set up a standard by discussing Tao. He held that Tao's verse is natural in a single phrase and stripped of all splendour, and that this could cure the ills of the age. The poem was written about the time of the regency of Toregene, when the poet was living in retirement without office; he pours his own grief into an ancient cup, and beneath the criticism lie the feeling of his own history and the resolve to keep himself unstained.
《论诗绝句·其四》为金末元初元好问所作，是论陶渊明诗、标举真淳之旨的诗论。元好问（1190—1257），字裕之，号遗山，秀容人，金末元初诗人。此诗：一语天然万古新，豪华落尽见真淳。南窗白日羲皇上，未害渊明是晋人。全诗论陶渊明诗之真淳，是元好问论诗绝句的名篇。
Art
The whole poem puts argument into verse without losing the flavour of verse. The first two lines state the thesis head-on, the natural set against the ornate, while the words for falling away carry the whole work of stripping down. The third line paints Tao's ease under the south window in the daylight, quietly using his own letter to his sons, in which he lies beneath the north window and calls himself a man of the age before history. The closing phrase, that it did him no harm, advances the thought a step further: the age could not change his truth. The four lines run in a single breath, praise and blame are self-evident, and a short poem carries a historian's insight, opening a fresh path within the genre of verse criticism.
《论诗绝句·其四》艺术上以论诗的评骘与主旨的鲜明见长。全诗四句：首写天然万古新——“一语天然万古新”写一语天然、万古常新；中写豪华落尽——“豪华落尽见真淳”写豪华落尽、见其真淳；末写南窗羲皇——“南窗白日羲皇上”写南窗白日、羲皇上人，“未害渊明是晋人”写未害渊明是晋人。全诗论陶渊明诗之真淳，正是元好问论诗绝句评骘鲜明的笔法。
Allusions
The poem uses allusion exactly and without a seam. The man of high antiquity comes from Tao Yuanming's letter to his sons, in which he says that living at leisure beneath the north window he is like one of the people of the earliest age. 'When the splendour has fallen away, the true and pure appears' transforms Wang Anshi's idea that what looks most ordinary is the most remarkable and that what comes as if easily was made with the greatest labour, and makes it more seamless still. The south window too comes from Tao's own line about leaning on the south window to lodge his pride. The poet heaps up no learning for display but works Tao's life and vocabulary naturally into his judgement, so that allusion and argument are wholly of a piece, proof of his learning and of his critical eye.
《论诗绝句·其四》用典在“羲皇上”“渊明”。“羲皇上”用陶渊明自称羲皇上人之典（《与子俨等疏》“常言五六月中，北窗下卧，遇凉风暂至，自谓是羲皇上人”）；“渊明”写陶渊明。全诗以这些典故论陶诗，用典自然而旨趣鲜明，正是元好问论诗绝句的笔法。
Commentary
Weng Fanggang said that Yuan Haowen's criticism had an eye of its own, and that this piece in particular reaches the inmost sense of Tao's poetry. Qian Zhongshu observed that it 'uses little to sum up much, fixing a judgement in a single phrase'. Anthologies of every age include the quatrain and treat it as the final word on Tao, which shows how far its influence has reached. Present-day scholars still take its two terms, the natural and the truly pure, as the accepted verdict on Tao's verse, evidence of how keen Yuan Haowen's sight was. Later critics have honoured this piece as the touchstone of settled judgement, and the praise is not empty.
《论诗绝句·其四》是元好问论诗绝句的名篇，也是论陶渊明诗的代表作。此诗论陶渊明诗之真淳，向为论者称道。论者多赏其论诗的评骘与主旨的鲜明——“一语天然万古新，豪华落尽见真淳”论陶诗天然真淳，鲜明之极；“南窗白日羲皇上，未害渊明是晋人”用羲皇上人之典论渊明之趣，更见其旨。元好问《论诗绝句》以评骘诗人、标举宗旨著称，此诗正是其代表——论陶诗之真淳，正是其诗论宗旨。
Prosody
Line by line
一语天然万古新，豪华落尽见真淳。
One phrase, natural and whole, fresh for endless ages; all ornament stripped away, the true and simple appear.
一语天然万古新，豪华落尽见真淳。
One phrase natural and whole, fresh through the ages; luxury cast off, the true and simple shine through.
首写陶诗天然真淳，是全诗论陶渊明诗的起点。“一语天然万古新”写一语天然——“一语天然万古新”写陶诗一语天然、万古常新——一语天然万古新；“豪华落尽见真淳”写豪华落尽——“豪华落尽见真淳”写豪华落尽而见其真淳——豪华落尽，见真淳。二句写陶诗天然真淳：一语天然万古新，豪华落尽见真淳。以“一语天然万古新”写陶诗语言天然、万古常新，以“豪华落尽见真淳”写去尽豪华而见真淳，正是元好问论陶诗之真淳的起点——陶诗之妙，在天然真淳。
The opening writes the natural simplicity of Tao's poetry, the starting point of the poem's essay on Tao Yuanming. 'One phrase, natural and whole, fresh for endless ages' — Tao's verse, artless and natural, ever new; 'all ornament stripped away, the true and simple appear' — luxury cast off, the true and simple revealed. The genius of Tao's verse lies in the natural and the simple.
南窗白日羲皇上，未害渊明是晋人。
South window, sunlight, a man of the age before Fuxi — yet it never hurt that Yuanming was a man of Jin.
南窗白日羲皇上，未害渊明是晋人。
Beneath the south window in the sun he ranks among the men before Fuxi; yet nothing mars that Yuanming was a man of Jin.
末写南窗羲皇、未害晋人，是全诗论陶渊明之趣的归结。“南窗白日羲皇上”写南窗羲皇——“南窗白日羲皇上”用陶渊明羲皇上人之典写南窗白日、自谓羲皇上人——南窗白日羲皇上；“未害渊明是晋人”写未害晋人——“未害渊明是晋人”写也无害渊明是晋人——未害渊明是晋人。二句写南窗羲皇、未害晋人：南窗白日羲皇上，未害渊明是晋人。以“南窗白日羲皇上”用羲皇上人之典写渊明南窗自适、如羲皇上人，以“未害渊明是晋人”写此种高趣亦无害其为晋人，正是元好问论陶渊明之趣的归结——渊明之趣，超然而不失其真。
The closing resolves the poem on Tao Yuanming's charm. 'South window, sunlight, a man of the age before Fuxi' uses Tao's own self-name — 'a man of the age before Fuxi,' the high antiquity he fancied himself in, sitting by his south window; 'yet it never hurt that Yuanming was a man of Jin' writes that this lofty bent did not keep him from being a true man of his dynasty, loyal to Jin. Tao's charm, detached yet never false — the resolution of Yuan Haowen's essay.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Compare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
元好问《论诗三十首》总论历代诗道，与本首同为元好问论诗之作。差异在对象：论诗绝句其四专论陶渊明；论诗三十首通论历代诗人。一写“渊明”之真淳，一写“诗道”之总旨。两者并读，可见元好问诗论的不同层次。
摸鱼儿·雁丘词 Song of the Wild Geese Mound 元好问 · 同为元好问作品，一为诗论一为情词，一文一情 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
元好问《摸鱼儿·雁丘词》“问世间情为何物”写雁之情，与本首同为元好问作品。差异在体裁：论诗绝句为诗论；摸鱼儿为词。一写“诗”之论，一写“情”之深。两者并读，可见元好问诗才与词才的两种体现。
鹧鸪天·候馆灯昏 Partridge Sky, Lamplight Dim at the Wayside Inn 元好问 · 与本首相关联的同类或同作者作品，供对比阅读 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
此处关联元好问《鹧鸪天·候馆灯昏》，与本首在主题、体裁或作者上相关联，可对比阅读以见其同异。