唐 Tang · 诗 Poem
八阵图
The Eightfold Battle Formation
功盖三分国，名成八阵图。
江流石不转，遗恨失吞吴。
The river flows, yet the stones never turn; a lifelong regret—failing to swallow Wu.
Meaning
Du Fu contemplates the site of Zhuge Liang's legendary Eightfold Battle Formation and honors the statesman's towering achievements while mourning his unfulfilled ambition. The quatrain sets the enduring stone array against a lasting regret that Zhuge Liang never completed his design to unite the realm.
功盖三分国，名成八阵图。江流石不转，遗恨失吞吴。
Appreciation
[Plain Paraphrase] The poem opens by declaring Zhuge Liang's merit greater than that of the whole age of the Three Kingdoms, and his fame secured by the Eightfold Formation he devised. It closes by noting that, though the river rushes on, the stones of the formation never turn, yet a regret remains that he failed to 'swallow Wu.'
[Structure] The first couplet celebrates achievement (merit and fame); the second turns to regret (the unyielding stones and the unfulfilled hope). The two halves form a deliberate contrast between glory and grief.
[Imagery] 'The river flows, yet the stones never turn' juxtaposes ceaseless water with immovable rock, a figure for Zhuge Liang's steadfast will and the permanence of his legacy. The brittle phrase 'failing to swallow Wu' sharpens the pathos. This is a model of Du Fu's 'history-chanting' verse: in twenty characters it weighs a hero's greatness and his unfinished dream, restrained yet profoundly moving.
【白话串讲】 杜甫写《八阵图》：“功盖三分国，名成八阵图”——“江流石不转，遗恨失吞吴”——他写诸葛亮——八阵图的石头历经江流冲不动——他叹他未能吞吴的遗恨。 【意象与手法】 此诗咏诸葛亮八阵图而感慨，以咏史写遗恨，是杜甫的名篇。前二句写诸葛亮的功业：「功盖三分国」写功盖三分国，「名成八阵图」写名成八阵图；后二句写遗恨：「江流石不转」写江流石不转，「遗恨失吞吴」写遗恨失吞吴。全诗以咏史写遗恨，写尽对诸葛亮功业与遗恨的感慨，是杜甫的代表作。 【情感与主旨】 此诗咏诸葛亮八阵图而感慨，以咏史写遗恨，是杜甫的名篇。八阵图是诸葛亮所创的阵法，遗迹在夔州（今重庆奉节）长江边。杜甫大历元年（766）初到夔州时作此诗。此诗咏八阵图：功盖三分国，名成八阵图——写诸葛亮的功业盖过三分之国（魏蜀吴三分天下），声名成就于八阵图；江流石不转，遗恨失吞吴——写江水奔流而八阵图之石不转，遗恨在于失算于吞吴。全诗以咏史写遗恨——那「功盖三分国」写尽诸葛亮的盖世功业，「江流石不转」写尽八阵图的千古不移，「遗恨失吞吴」写尽诸葛亮未竟的遗恨，写尽对诸葛亮功业与遗恨的感慨，是理解杜甫咏史诗的重要篇章。 【名句点睛】 常考「功盖三分国，名成八阵图」写诸葛亮的盖世功业；「江流石不转，遗恨失吞吴」写八阵图的千古不移与遗恨；以及全诗以咏史写遗恨、含蓄深沉的手法。
Background
Du Fu (712–770), styled Zimei, was a native of Gongxian (present-day Gongyi, Henan) and the supreme realist poet of the Tang, honored as the 'Sage of Poetry.' The Eightfold Formation is an array attributed to Zhuge Liang (181–234), the Shu statesman and strategist; its remains lay on the bank of the Yangtze at Kuizhou (present-day Fengjie, Chongqing). Du Fu composed this poem in 766, shortly after arriving at Kuizhou and seeing the formation's traces. Looking upon stones that had resisted the river for centuries, he praised Zhuge Liang's surpassing merit in shaping the tripartite realm and lamented that his ambition to unify it was left incomplete—an emblem of the poet's own melancholy over greatness unfulfilled.
此诗咏诸葛亮八阵图而感慨，以咏史写遗恨，是杜甫的名篇。杜甫（712—770），字子美，巩县（今河南巩义）人，唐代伟大的现实主义诗人，人称「诗圣」。八阵图是诸葛亮所创的阵法，遗迹在夔州（今重庆奉节）长江边，相传为诸葛亮布石所成。杜甫大历元年（766）初到夔州时，见八阵图遗迹而作此诗。此诗咏八阵图：「功盖三分国，名成八阵图」写诸葛亮的功业盖过三分之国（魏蜀吴三分天下），声名成就于八阵图——写诸葛亮的盖世功业；「江流石不转，遗恨失吞吴」写江水奔流而八阵图之石不转（石阵历江水冲激而不移），遗恨在于失算于吞吴——写八阵图的千古不移与未竟的遗恨。全诗以咏史写遗恨——那「功盖三分国」写尽诸葛亮的盖世功业，那「江流石不转」写尽八阵图的千古不移，那「遗恨失吞吴」写尽诸葛亮未竟的遗恨，写尽对诸葛亮功业与遗恨的感慨，是理解杜甫咏史诗的重要篇章。
Art
The artistry works on four planes. First, achievement is captured by summation: the opening lines compress a lifetime of glory—'merit crowns the Three Kingdoms, fame rests on the Eightfold Formation'—into the tersest possible praise. Second, endurance is conveyed through contrast: 'the river flows, yet the stones never turn' sets rushing water against fixed rock, figuring the formation's millennial constancy. Third, regret is voiced as judgment: 'a lifelong regret—failing to swallow Wu' turns reflection into a verdict on Zhuge Liang's unmet design. Fourth, feeling is held in reserve: across four lines the poem moves from glory to grief without a single open lament, its restraint itself the emotion. Structurally the two couplets oppose 'greatness of deed' to 'depth of regret,' letting splendor throw the regret into sharper relief—the classic 'history-chanting' architecture of using glory to accentuate loss, and a concentrated expression of Du Fu's 'profound and halted' manner.
此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以概括写功业。起二句「功盖三分国，名成八阵图」以概括写功业——那「功盖三分国」写尽诸葛亮功盖三分之国的盖世功业，「名成八阵图」写尽声名成就于八阵图，以概括写尽诸葛亮的功业与声名。其二，以对比写不移。「江流石不转」以对比写不移——那「江流」写尽江水的奔流，「石不转」写尽石阵的不转，以江流与石不转的对比写尽八阵图的千古不移。其三，以议论写遗恨。「遗恨失吞吴」以议论写遗恨——那「遗恨」写尽遗恨，「失吞吴」写尽失算于吞吴（东吴），以议论写尽诸葛亮未竟的遗恨。其四，以含蓄写感慨。全诗四句，以咏史写感慨——那「功盖三分国」的功业、「遗恨失吞吴」的遗恨，以含蓄写尽对诸葛亮功业与遗恨的感慨。再从章法上看，此诗四句两联，前联写功业，后联写遗恨，形成「功业之盛」与「遗恨之深」的对照。前联「功盖三分国，名成八阵图」以最凝练的笔墨总写诸葛亮的盖世功业——三分天下之功，八阵图之名，是诸葛亮一生的功业与声名；后联「江流石不转，遗恨失吞吴」则以江流石不转的千古不移反衬遗恨的深沉——功业虽盖世，遗恨亦深沉，江流石不转而遗恨难消。两联之间，一写功业之盛，一写遗恨之深，以盛衬恨，愈见遗恨之深；这正是咏史诗「以功业衬遗恨」的章法，也是杜甫写诸葛亮「鞠躬尽瘁，死而后已」而功业未竟的深长感慨。四重手法加上章法的对照，使此诗以咏史写遗恨，写尽对诸葛亮功业与遗恨的感慨，是杜甫的代表作。
Allusions
The language is rooted in the tradition of praising Zhuge Liang and in the lore of the formation. 'Crowns the Three Kingdoms' echoes the tripartite realm of his 'Longzhong Plan' (天下三分); 'the Eightfold Formation' invokes the stone array he is said to have laid. 'The river flows, yet the stones never turn' recalls the old saying 'my heart is not a stone, it cannot be turned' (Shijing) and the legend that the formation's stones withstand the torrent. 'Failing to swallow Wu' glances at the unresolved debate over Zhuge Liang's policy toward Eastern Wu, and resonates with Du Fu's own 'The Temple of the Premier': 'the great enterprise unfinished, he died, and heroes weep.' The poem thus weaves the Three Kingdoms, the formation, the unmoving stones, and the lost Wu into a single meditation—proof of Du Fu's mastery in deploying allusion to sustain a tradition of historical reflection.
此诗的用语深植于咏史与诸葛亮传说的传统。「功盖三分国」令人想到「三分国」写魏蜀吴三分天下的意象——「天下三分」（诸葛亮《隆中对》），也令人想到「功盖」写功业盖世的意象——诸葛亮辅佐刘备，成三分天下之功，功盖当世；「名成八阵图」令人想到「八阵图」写诸葛亮所创阵法的典故——八阵图相传为诸葛亮布石所成，也令人想到「八阵」写兵阵的意象；「江流石不转」令人想到「江流」写江水的意象，也令人想到「石不转」写石头不转的意象——《诗经》「我心匪石，不可转也」，更令人想到八阵图之石历江水冲激而不移的传说；「遗恨失吞吴」令人想到「遗恨」写未竟之恨的意象——「出师未捷身先死，长使英雄泪满襟」（杜甫《蜀相》），也令人想到「失吞吴」写失算于吞吴的意象——指诸葛亮联吴抗魏，未急于吞吴，或有不同议论。全诗化用三分国、八阵图、江流石不转、失吞吴的典故与意象，以咏史写遗恨，正是杜甫「沉郁顿挫」而善用典、承咏史传统写感慨的本领。
Commentary
This quatrain has long been ranked among Du Fu's finest history-chants and a representative Tang poem on Zhuge Liang. Critics through the ages have praised it for voicing regret through historical reflection with reserved depth; modern readers single out 'merit crowns the Three Kingdoms, fame rests on the Eightfold Formation' as its celebrated line. Its special value lies in condensing a whole career and its sorrow into twenty characters—the merit, the fame, the unmoving stones, the unfulfilled regret. Together with 'The Temple of the Premier' it forms Du Fu's twin tribute to Zhuge Liang, one at the shrine, one at the formation. For today's readers it is a window onto his history-poems and a classic of Chinese verse on the hero who could not finish his task—the stones in the river still speaking of that regret across the ages.
此诗历来被推为杜甫咏史的名篇，也是唐人写诸葛亮诗的代表。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人评此诗「以咏史写遗恨，含蓄深沉」；近人更指出「功盖三分国，名成八阵图」写诸葛亮的盖世功业，「遗恨失吞吴」写遗恨，是此诗的名句。在诗歌史上，此诗的特殊价值在于：它以四句的绝句写尽诸葛亮的功业与遗恨——那功盖三分国的功业，那八阵图的名成，那江流石不转的不移，那失吞吴的遗恨，都写尽了杜甫对诸葛亮功业与遗恨的感慨；那「江流石不转，遗恨失吞吴」更写尽八阵图的千古不移与未竟的遗恨。此诗与杜甫《蜀相》（「出师未捷身先死，长使英雄泪满襟」）同为咏诸葛亮名篇，一写武侯祠的感慨，一写八阵图的遗恨；又与《三国志》八阵图的记载一脉相承，可见杜甫对诸葛亮的崇敬。对于今日读者，此诗是理解杜甫咏史诗的窗口，也是中国诗写诸葛亮的经典——那江流中不转的石阵，穿越千年，仍在诉说着英雄的遗恨。
Prosody
Line by line
功盖三分国，名成八阵图
His merit crowns the Three Kingdoms; his fame rests on the Eightfold Formation.
功业盖过三分之国，声名成就于八阵图。
His merit overshadowed the three kingdoms; his fame was made by the Eight-Formation Diagram.
此联是全诗写功业的核心，以功盖写功业，以名成写声名，写尽诸葛亮的盖世功业，是千古名句。「功盖三分国」写功业盖过三分之国——那「功盖」写功业盖世，「三分国」写魏蜀吴三分天下，写尽诸葛亮功盖三分之国的盖世功业；「名成八阵图」写声名成就于八阵图——那「名成」写声名成就，「八阵图」写诸葛亮所创的阵法，写尽声名成就于八阵图。这句的深意在于：它以「功盖三分国」的功业与「名成八阵图」的声名，写尽诸葛亮的盖世功业——功业盖过三分之国，那「功盖三分国」写尽诸葛亮功盖当世的功业——辅佐刘备，成三分天下之功，功业盖过三分之国，那「功盖」写尽功业的盖世；声名成就于八阵图，那「名成八阵图」写尽声名成就于八阵图——八阵图是诸葛亮智慧的象征，声名因之而成，那「名成八阵图」写尽声名的千古；那「功盖三分国」写尽功业的盖世，那「名成八阵图」写尽声名的千古，一写功业，一写声名，写尽诸葛亮的盖世功业——这功业与声名，正是下文「遗恨失吞吴」的反衬：功盖三分国、名成八阵图的诸葛亮，竟有未竟的遗恨；此联开篇写尽功业，为全诗写遗恨作铺垫，也让此联成为全诗写功业的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「诸葛亮功业很大」，则失其概括；唯以「功盖三分国」写功业、「名成八阵图」写声名，写尽诸葛亮的盖世功业，也让此联成为全诗写功业的核心。
The quatrain opens by stacking Zhuge Liang's glory as high as it will go. "His merit overshadowed the three kingdoms" compresses the whole career—guiding Liu Bei to found Shu against Wei and Wu—into a single claim of supremacy over the age. "His fame was made by the Eight-Formation Diagram" fixes that renown on a concrete relic: the legendary stone battle-lines still said to lie in the Yangtze shallows near Baidicheng. One line covers achievement, the other the monument that survived it. This opening is deliberately excessive, because it exists to make the closing "unfulfilled regret" the more devastating: so great a man, and still he died with his cause unfinished. To have said Zhuge Liang was a great hero would be flat; the two superlatives are the necessary setup for the elegy.
江流石不转，遗恨失吞吴
The river flows, yet the stones never turn; a lifelong regret—failing to swallow Wu.
江水奔流而石阵不转，遗恨在于失算于吞吴。
The river flows on, but the stones do not shift; his lingering regret: the fatal error over swallowing Wu.
此联是全诗写遗恨的核心，以石不转写不移，以失吞吴写遗恨，写尽诸葛亮未竟的遗恨，是千古名句。「江流石不转」写江水奔流而石阵不转——那「江流」写江水的奔流，「石不转」写石阵的不转，写尽八阵图之石历江水冲激而不移；「遗恨失吞吴」写遗恨在于失算于吞吴——那「遗恨」写未竟之恨，「失吞吴」写失算于吞吴，写尽诸葛亮未竟的遗恨。这句的深意在于：它以「江流石不转」的不移与「遗恨失吞吴」的遗恨，写尽诸葛亮未竟的遗恨——江水奔流而石阵不转，那「江流石不转」写尽八阵图之石的千古不移——江水日夜奔流，而八阵图之石历久不转，那「石不转」写尽八阵图的千古不移，也暗写诸葛亮的心志如石不移；遗恨在于失算于吞吴，那「遗恨失吞吴」写尽诸葛亮未竟的遗恨——联吴抗魏是诸葛亮的大计，然终未能吞吴（或指失算于吞吴之议），那「遗恨」写尽未竟之恨；那「江流石不转」写尽石阵的不移，那「遗恨失吞吴」写尽遗恨的未竟，一写不移，一写遗恨，写尽诸葛亮功业未竟的遗恨——功盖三分国、名成八阵图，而江流石不转、遗恨失吞吴，正是英雄末路的感慨；此联以石不转、失吞吴收束，写尽诸葛亮未竟的遗恨，也让此联成为全诗写遗恨的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「诸葛亮有遗憾」，则失其意象；唯以「江流石不转」写不移、「遗恨失吞吴」写遗恨，写尽诸葛亮未竟的遗恨，也让此联成为全诗写遗恨的核心。
The closing turns the relic into a judgment. Though the Yangtze races on, the eight-formation stones have never been displaced—an image as much of Zhuge Liang's unshakable purpose as of stone. Against that permanence stands the unfulfilled regret: Shu's ill-fated campaign against Wu, which undid the alliance against Wei and left the chancellor's grand plan unfinished. The stillness of the stones and the flow of the river give way to the still greater grief of a lifetime's work uncompleted. Regret is the poem's last word, and it is the heavier for being hung on such towering achievement. To have said Zhuge Liang died with regrets would lose the monument; the stones that will not move are what make the regret endure.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Du Fu's 'The Temple of the Premier' ('Where to seek the Premier's shrine?… Beyond the walls of Chengdu the cypresses stand deep' / 'the great enterprise unfinished, he died, and heroes weep') lament at the shrine. This poem, 'The Eightfold Battle Formation,' laments at the formation. Both are Du Fu's tributes to Zhuge Liang—one on dying before success at the shrine, one on the unyielding stones by the river; read together they reveal the poet's reverence and regret for the statesman's glory and unfinished dream.
杜甫《蜀相》「丞相祠堂何处寻？锦官城外柏森森」「出师未捷身先死，长使英雄泪满襟」写武侯祠的感慨，是杜甫咏诸葛亮的名篇。此诗《八阵图》则「功盖三分国，名成八阵图」「江流石不转，遗恨失吞吴」写八阵图的感慨。同为杜甫咏诸葛亮，一写「出师未捷身先死」的武侯祠（蜀相），一写「江流石不转」的八阵图（八阵图）；一以「三顾频烦天下计」写际遇，一以「功盖三分国」写功业。两诗对读，可见杜甫对诸葛亮功业与遗恨的崇敬与感慨。
过零丁洋 Crossing the Lonely Ocean 文天祥 · 同写英雄遗恨，一蜀相一零丁 Both voice a hero's regret—one for the Premier, one at the Lonely Ocean.Wen Tianxiang's 'Crossing the Lonely Ocean' ('Since olden times who has not died? Keep a loyal heart to illuminate the histories') voices a hero's regret and constancy. This poem's 'a lifelong regret—failing to swallow Wu' voices Zhuge Liang's unfulfilled regret. Both treat a hero's regret—one on unyielding loyalty (Lonely Ocean), one on unmoving stones (the Formation); read together they show the Chinese poetic tradition of lamenting a hero's unfinished purpose.
文天祥《过零丁洋》「人生自古谁无死？留取丹心照汗青」写英雄的遗恨与坚贞，是文天祥的名篇。此诗《八阵图》则「遗恨失吞吴」写诸葛亮未竟的遗恨。同为写英雄遗恨，一写「留取丹心照汗青」的坚贞（过零丁洋），一写「江流石不转」的不移（八阵图）；一以「山河破碎风飘絮」写国难，一以「功盖三分国」写功业。两诗对读，可见中国诗写英雄遗恨的传统。