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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

对雪

Against the Snow

杜甫

Du Fu

乱离Turbulence and exile 雪景Snow scene

战哭多新鬼，愁吟独老翁。
乱云低薄暮，急雪舞回风。
瓢弃尊无绿，炉存火似红。
数州消息断，愁坐正书空。

New ghosts in multitudes upon the field of war; I, an old man, moan as I sing.
Turbid clouds hang low toward evening;
Sudden snow whirls in the returning wind.
The cup is left, and there is no green wine in it;
The stove remains, and the fire only looks red.
News from several states has been cut off;
I sit and write blank characters in my sorrow.

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Meaning

Written in Chang'an during the An Lushan rebellion, when Du Fu was trapped in the rebel capital with his family, the poem sets a battlefield just outside a starving room. New ghosts without number, an old man singing alone, snow whirling at dusk — public catastrophe and private age press on each other at once. The third couplet descends to the plainest facts available: the wine is finished, and the stove holds nothing but a fire that appears warm. The closing line catches the poet with nowhere to put his worry, writing empty characters in the air after the manner of Yin Hao. Everything in the poem is a way of not saying what he most wants to know.

战哭多新鬼，愁吟独老翁。乱云低薄暮，急雪舞回风。瓢弃尊无绿，炉存火似红。数州消息断，愁坐正书空。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The first couplet sets the scale — dead men, and one living old man who cannot stop making a sound. The second turns to the weather, and the weather is not comfort: clouds pressed low, snow whirling in a returning wind. The third reduces everything to two objects, an empty cup and a stove whose fire only pretends to be warm, which is as close as Du Fu ever comes to plain starvation. The fourth reports the last enemy: no news, and a hand writing nothing on nothing. [Structure] The octave moves from the mass of the dead to the single self, then from the self to two household objects, then back out to the world and the silence of it. [Imagery] The images are chosen for poverty, not for beauty — dregs, a stove, a gourd, blank air — and that is why the poem afflicts rather than pleases.

【白话串讲】杜甫写《对雪》：“战哭多新鬼，愁吟独老翁”——“乱云低薄暮，急雪舞回风”——“瓢弃尊无绿，炉存火似红”——“数州消息断，愁坐正书空”——他独坐对雪——数州消息断。【意象与手法】此诗写乱离，以雪景写乱离，是杜甫的名篇。前四句写时局：「战哭多新鬼，愁吟独老翁。乱云低薄暮，急雪舞回风」写战哭多新鬼、愁吟独老翁、乱云低薄暮、急雪舞回风——写尽乱离的时局；后四句写愁苦：「瓢弃尊无绿，炉存火似红。数州消息断，愁坐正书空」写瓢弃尊无绿、炉存火似红、数州消息断——写尽愁坐的苦况。全诗以雪景写乱离，写尽乱离的时局与愁坐的苦况，是杜甫的代表作。【情感与主旨】此诗写乱离，以雪景写乱离，是杜甫的名篇。此诗写杜甫在安史之乱中独居长安、对雪怀忧的愁苦。天宝十五载（756）安史之乱爆发，杜甫身陷叛军占领的长安，目睹战乱惨状，又逢大雪，遂作此诗，写愁坐书空的苦况与对亲人的忧念。此诗写时局：战哭多新鬼，愁吟独老翁——写战哭多新鬼、愁吟独老翁，写尽乱离的时局；乱云低薄暮，急雪舞回风——写乱云低薄暮、急雪舞回风，写尽雪景的苍茫；瓢弃尊无绿，炉存火似红——写瓢弃尊无绿、炉存火似红，写尽愁坐的苦况；数州消息断，愁坐正书空——写数州消息断、愁坐正书空，写尽忧念的深沉。全诗以雪景写乱离——那「急雪舞回风」写尽雪景的苍茫，「愁坐正书空」写尽忧念的深沉，写尽乱离的时局与愁坐的苦况，是理解杜甫乱离诗的重要篇章。【名句点睛】常考「战哭多新鬼，愁吟独老翁」写乱离的时局；「乱云低薄暮，急雪舞回风」写雪景的苍茫；以及全诗以雪景写乱离、以环境写心境的手法。

Background

Du Fu was living in Chang'an when the rebellion of An Lushan broke out in 755, and for a time he stayed in the captured capital; this poem belongs to those years, most likely in the winter after the city had been held by the rebels for some months. He had recently lost his younger son to starvation and had spent the period trying to reach the emperor's court, wandering between Chang'an and the outskirts with his family. The poem's casual poverty — a cup with nothing in it, a stove without fuel — is not poetic exaggeration; Du Fu kept accounts of exactly such things in his letters of the same years. It is one of the few of his poems in which a disaster is reported in the language of domestic supply.

此诗写乱离，以雪景写乱离，是杜甫的名篇。杜甫（712—770），字子美，号少陵野老，巩县（今河南巩义）人，唐代诗人，与李白并称「李杜」，被尊为「诗圣」，其诗被称为「诗史」。此诗写杜甫在安史之乱中独居长安、对雪怀忧的愁苦。天宝十五载（756）安史之乱爆发，杜甫身陷叛军占领的长安，目睹战乱惨状，又逢大雪，遂作此诗，写愁坐书空的苦况与对亲人的忧念。此诗写时局：「战哭多新鬼，愁吟独老翁」写战哭多新鬼、愁吟独老翁——写尽乱离的时局（战哭多新鬼，愁吟独老翁）；「乱云低薄暮，急雪舞回风」写乱云低薄暮、急雪舞回风——写尽雪景的苍茫（乱云低薄暮，急雪舞回风）；「瓢弃尊无绿，炉存火似红」写瓢弃尊无绿、炉存火似红——写尽愁坐的苦况（瓢弃尊无绿，炉存火似红）；「数州消息断，愁坐正书空」写数州消息断、愁坐正书空——写尽忧念的深沉（数州消息断，愁坐正书空）。全诗以雪景写乱离，写尽乱离的时局与愁坐的苦况，是理解杜甫乱离诗的重要篇章。

Art

The poem's method is subtraction. Each couplet removes one more layer of comfort: first the dead are counted and the singer identified, then the sky is shown to offer nothing, then the cup and the stove are shown to offer nothing, and at the end the news is cut off so that even knowing the worst is impossible. The middle couplet is the most famous for exactly this reason — '瓢弃尊无绿，炉存火似红' — because the second clause is a lie told by a poor man to himself, and Du Fu lets it stand. The closing allusion to Yin Hao, who after his disgrace wrote the four characters '咄咄怪事' in the air, provides the only motion in a poem otherwise made of stillness: a hand moving in empty space.

此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以直抒写时局。「战哭多新鬼」以直抒写时局——那「新鬼」写尽战死的惨状，以直抒写尽乱离的时局。其二，以景语写雪境。「乱云低薄暮，急雪舞回风」以景语写雪境——那「乱云」「急雪」写尽云雪的苍茫，以景语写尽雪景的苍茫。其三，以白描写苦况。「瓢弃尊无绿，炉存火似红」以白描写苦况——那「瓢弃」「炉存」写尽家徒四壁，以白描写尽愁坐的苦况。其四，以用典写忧念。「愁坐正书空」以用典写忧念——那「书空」用殷浩书空之典写忧念，以用典写尽忧念的深沉。此外，此诗前四句写乱离的时局，后四句写愁坐的苦况，由时及己，正是乱离诗「以景写情」的写法。四重手法，使此诗以雪景写乱离，写尽乱离的时局与愁坐的苦况，是杜甫的代表作。此诗还善于以「战哭多新鬼」与「愁吟独老翁」的对照写乱离中个人之渺小——那「多新鬼」写新鬼之多，与「独老翁」的「独」相对，正是千万人之死与一人之愁的对照，以个体之愁写时代之悲。又善以「数州消息断」的空间感写忧念之广——数州音讯断绝，正是战乱阻隔的写照，以空间之断写牵挂之深。

Allusions

The last line's 书空 comes from the Shi Shuo Xin Yu, in which Yin Hao, dismissed from office by Huan Wen, spent his days writing the four characters '咄咄怪事' in mid-air with his finger, refusing to state his complaint in words. Du Fu takes the gesture because it fits exactly: a man with too much to say writing nothing. The image of new ghosts repeats his own earlier line '新鬼烦冤旧鬼哭', and the poverty of the cup and stove follows the plainest tradition of his verse — that a poet's job is to get the fact down. The allusion therefore adds nothing to the picture; it adds the reason the poet cannot put down what he has just described.

此诗的用语深植于乱离与忧念传统。「战哭」令人想到「战哭」写战乱的意象——也令人想到「新鬼烦冤旧鬼哭」（杜甫）的意象；「新鬼」令人想到「新鬼」写新亡的意象——也令人想到「可怜无定河边骨」的意象；「回风」令人想到「回风」写回旋风的意象——也令人想到「旋风四起」的意象；「尊无绿」令人想到「尊无绿」写无酒可饮的意象——绿指绿酒，也令人想到「樽中酒不空」的意象；「书空」令人想到「书空」用殷浩之典——《世说新语》载殷浩被黜后终日书空作「咄咄怪事」，也令人想到「咄咄书空」的意象。全诗化用战哭、新鬼、回风、尊无绿、书空的意象典故，以雪景写乱离，正是杜甫「沉郁」而善写实、承乱离传统写忧念之本领。「书空」典出《世说新语·黜免》——东晋殷浩被桓温废黜后，终日以手在空中书写「咄咄怪事」四字，故后世以「书空」写失意忧愤之态。杜甫于愁坐中以手书空，正是以殷浩自况，写其忧愤难遣之状。

Commentary

Critics have long prized this poem for the exactness of its misery. Where 'Spring View' turns the ruined capital into a symbolic landscape, 'Against the Snow' refuses to symbolise anything: a gourd is cast aside, a stove holds a red that is only apparent, and there is no wine. The effect is of a mind counting what it has and finding very little, which is the condition of the whole city rather than of one man. Read beside the poems Du Fu wrote when he was free to move, this is the poem of a man who has stopped travelling and started waiting. It has been quoted in every generation since as the standard account of what it means to be alive in a land at war.

此诗历来被推为杜甫乱离诗的名篇，也是唐人写安史之乱中愁苦的代表。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人评此诗「以雪景写乱离，沉郁悲怆」；近人更指出「瓢弃尊无绿，炉存火似红」写愁坐的苦况，是此诗的名句。在诗歌史上，此诗的特殊价值在于：它以八句的五律写尽乱离的时局与愁坐的苦况——那战哭，那新鬼，那愁吟，那老翁，那乱云，那薄暮，那急雪，那回风，那瓢弃，那尊无绿，那炉存，那火似红，那数州，那书空，都写尽了杜甫笔下的对雪；那「愁坐正书空」更以用典写尽忧念的深沉。此诗与杜甫《春望》（「国破山河在」）同为陷贼名篇，一写「感时花溅泪」的春望（春望），一写「急雪舞回风」的对雪（对雪）；又与陆游「夜阑卧听风吹雨」的忧国传统一脉相承，可见中国诗写乱离的传统。对于今日读者，此诗是理解杜甫乱离诗的窗口，也是中国诗写雪中愁坐的经典——那书空的老翁，穿越千年，仍在诉说着乱离的忧念。

Prosody

Form Poem in the five-character octave (pentadic lü-shi)诗·五言律诗

Rhyme A five-character octave rhyming on weng, feng, hong and kong — the 'dong' group of level tones — held for the whole poem. The rounded, closed vowel gives the verse a slow weight, and the sameness of the rhyme is what lets the poverty of the imagery register as a fact rather than as a mood.五律，押「翁」「风」「红」「空」韵（上平一东），一韵到底，音节沉郁

Tone pattern The regulated frame is exact, but the rhythm is deliberately heavy: five characters to a line, two middle couplets in parallel, and almost no ornament. The repeated low tone of the rhymes, and the monosyllabic endings — weng, feng, hong, kong — produce a kind of stamping cadence, which is appropriate to a poem that keeps reporting what has run out.此诗为五言律诗，押平声韵，一韵到底，音节沉郁，正合乱离的沉郁。

Reading note Du Fu's octaves of the rebel years are usually the shortest and plainest he wrote, and this is a small model of the kind. Nothing here is pictorial; the poem's music comes from its accumulations of want — cup, stove, news, air — and from the way the last couplet refuses to add a single word of sympathy. '愁坐正书空' leaves the reader with an image of a man motionless and writing nothing, and that image, not the battle-field of the opening line, is what has kept the poem current through every age since.此诗为五言律诗，八句——「战哭多新鬼，愁吟独老翁。乱云低薄暮，急雪舞回风。瓢弃尊无绿，炉存火似红。数州消息断，愁坐正书空」，押「东」韵（翁、风、红、空），一韵到底，音节沉郁。全诗以雪景写乱离：前四句写乱离的时局（战哭多新鬼、急雪舞回风），后四句写愁坐的苦况（瓢弃尊无绿、愁坐正书空）。八句短章，前写时局，后写苦况，以「愁坐正书空」写尽忧念的深沉，正见杜甫「沉郁」的本色。诵读此诗，宜以沉郁的语调读「急雪舞回风」的苍茫，以低回的语调读「愁坐正书空」的忧念，结句要读得沉郁而有余韵，方能传达出杜甫的沉郁悲怆。杜甫律诗以「沉郁顿挫」著称，此诗正是其乱离诗的典范。

Line by line

乱云低薄暮，急雪舞回风

Turbid clouds hang low toward evening; Sudden snow whirls in the returning wind.

乱云低薄暮，急雪舞回风。

Tumultuous clouds hang low at dusk; swirling snowflakes dance in the whirling wind.

此二句是全诗写雪境的核心，以乱云低薄暮写乱云，以急雪舞回风写急雪，写尽雪景的苍茫，是千古名句。「乱云低薄暮」写乱云低薄暮——那「乱云」写乱云，「低薄暮」写低薄暮，写尽乱云的低垂；「急雪舞回风」写急雪舞回风——那「急雪」写急雪，「舞回风」写舞回风，写尽急雪的飞舞。这句的深意在于：它以「乱云低薄暮」的乱云与「急雪舞回风」的急雪，写尽雪景的苍茫——乱云低薄暮，那「乱云低薄暮」写尽乱云的低垂——乱云低暮，正是云压天低的写照，那「低薄暮」写尽雪景的苍茫；急雪舞回风，那「急雪舞回风」写尽急雪的飞舞——急雪回风，正是风雪交加的写照，那「舞回风」写尽雪景的苍茫；那「乱云低薄暮」写尽乱云的低垂，那「急雪舞回风」写尽急雪的飞舞，一写云，一写雪，写尽雪景的苍茫——乱云低暮而急雪回风，正是风雪逼人的写照；此二句以乱云、急雪写尽雪景的苍茫，也为下文的苦况作铺垫，也让此二句成为全诗写雪境的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「天阴了，下大雪」，则失其气象；唯以「乱云低薄暮」写乱云、「急雪舞回风」写急雪，写尽雪景的苍茫，也让此二句成为全诗写雪境的核心。

Du Fu's snow poem opens with weather at its worst. Tumultuous clouds hang low at dusk—the sky pressing down—and swirling snowflakes dance in the whirling wind. The snow does not fall but dances, caught in its own little vortices of wind; the word dance is ominous, a storm that is enjoying itself. The low clouds and the dancing snow are the physical pressure of the cold. To have said the sky was overcast and it snowed heavily would be a weather report; the low clouds and the dancing, whirling snow are the pressure.

瓢弃尊无绿，炉存火似红

The gourd is left aside and the cup holds no green wine; The stove remains, and the fire only looks red.

瓢弃尊无绿，炉存火似红。

The gourd is cast aside, the wine jar has no green; the stove is there, and the fire seems red.

此二句是全诗写苦况的核心，以瓢弃尊无绿写瓢弃，以炉存火似红写炉存，写尽愁坐的苦况，是千古名句。「瓢弃尊无绿」写瓢弃尊无绿——那「瓢弃」写瓢弃，「尊无绿」写尊无绿，写尽瓢弃的无酒；「炉存火似红」写炉存火似红——那「炉存」写炉存，「火似红」写火似红，写尽炉存的假红。这句的深意在于：它以「瓢弃尊无绿」的无酒与「炉存火似红」的假火，写尽愁坐的苦况——瓢弃尊无绿，那「瓢弃尊无绿」写尽瓢弃的无酒——瓢弃尊空，正是家徒四壁的写照，那「尊无绿」写尽愁坐的苦况；炉存火似红，那「炉存火似红」写尽炉存的假红——炉存火红，正是炉中无火的写照，那「火似红」写尽愁坐的苦况；那「瓢弃尊无绿」写尽瓢弃的无酒，那「炉存火似红」写尽炉存的假红，一写无酒，一写无火，写尽愁坐的苦况——瓢弃无酒而炉存假火，正是困顿的写照；此二句以无酒、假火写尽愁坐的苦况，也为下文的书空作铺垫，也让此二句成为全诗写苦况的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「又冷又饿又没酒」，则失其含蓄；唯以「瓢弃尊无绿」写瓢弃、「炉存火似红」写炉存，写尽愁坐的苦况，也让此二句成为全诗写苦况的核心。

Then the poverty. The gourd ladle is cast aside, the wine jar has no green—no wine left, since green was the color of the brew; the stove is there, and the fire seems red. The seeming is the famous stroke: the stove is cold, the fire is imagined, a hearth the poet wishes were warm. No wine, no fire, in the dancing snow. The two wants (no wine, no fire) measure the winter wretchedness. To have said I had no wine and no fire would be a complaint; the abandoned gourd, the wine jar without green, and the merely seeming-red stove are the wretchedness.

Study

Word focus

独 Alone: the character measures the singer against the multitude of the dead, so that one life is set beside an innumerable loss. It is also the poem's own tone — Du Fu being the only person there — and it prepares the solitude of the closing gesture, writing in empty air with no one to receive it. 「愁吟独老翁」之「独」字是写孤寂的关键词，一个「独」字写尽老翁的孤寂。独者，独自、孤单也。杜甫以「愁吟独老翁」写孤寂，这个「独」字至少有双重意味：其一，写身之独——那「愁吟独老翁」写愁吟独老翁，那「独」字写尽老翁的孤单——独老翁，正是独坐吟愁的写照，那「独」字写尽乱离的时局；其二，写境之孤——那「独」字更是写孤——独，正见环境的孤危，那「独」字写尽愁坐的苦况。以「独」字写孤寂，正是杜甫写乱离的枢纽——若换作「孤」「一」等字，则或失其与「愁吟」「老翁」的配合，或失其写独的意味；唯「独」字，以愁吟独老翁写尽老翁的孤单与环境的孤危，与「战哭多新鬼」的新鬼相合，写尽乱离的时局，也让「愁吟独老翁」成为全诗写孤寂的名句。

似 As if, as though: the character makes the fire only appear to be red, so that the stove warms nobody and the poverty of the household is stated without ever becoming an accusation. It is the quietest and most painful word in the poem, and it is what lets Du Fu report a lie as a fact. 「炉存火似红」之「似」字是写苦况的关键词，一个「似」字写尽假火的苦况。似者，似乎、好像也。杜甫以「炉存火似红」写苦况，这个「似」字至少有双重意味：其一，写火之假——那「炉存火似红」写炉存火似红，那「似」字写尽炉火的假红——火似红，正是炉中无火的写照，那「似」字写尽愁坐的苦况；其二，写情之幻——那「似」字更是写幻——似，正见寒中错觉的幻象，那「似」字写尽苦况的深沉。以「似」字写苦况，正是杜甫写乱离的枢纽——若换作「如」「若」等字，则或失其与「炉存」「火红」的配合，或失其写似的意味；唯「似」字，以炉存火似红写尽炉火的假红与寒中错觉的幻象，与「瓢弃尊无绿」的尊无绿相合，写尽愁坐的苦况，也让「炉存火似红」成为全诗写苦况的名句。

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