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汉 Han · 乐府 Yuefu ballad

豫章行

Song of Yuzhang

汉乐府

Han Yuefu (anonymous)

咏物Object poem 讽喻Satire

白杨初生时，乃在豫章山。
上叶摩青云，下根通黄泉。
凉秋八九月，山客持斧斤。
我柯摧折，根株尽埋沈。
门有车马客，驾言发大梁。
观者满路傍，攀折要路津。

When the white poplar first sprang up, it was on Yuzhang Mountain.
Its upper leaves brushed the blue clouds; its lower roots reached the yellow springs.
In the cool eighth and ninth month, the mountain man came with ax and hatchet.
My branches are broken; root and trunk are wholly sunk and lost.
At the gate are carriage-and-horse guests, who drive forth from Great Liang.
Onlookers fill the roadside; they climb and break trees at the vital ford.

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Meaning

When the white poplar first grew, it was on Yuzhang Mountain. Its upper leaves brushed the blue clouds; its lower roots reached the yellow springs. In the cool eighth and ninth month, the mountain man came with ax and hatchet. My branches are broken; root and trunk are wholly sunk and lost. At the gate are carriage-and-horse guests, driving forth from Great Liang. Onlookers fill the roadside; they climb and break trees blocking the vital ford.

白杨初生的时候，还长在豫章山中。上枝叶摩挲青云，下树根通达黄泉。凉秋八九月，山里人手持斧斤。我的枝柯被摧折，根株尽被埋没沉沦。门外有乘车马的宾客，驾车从大梁出发。围观者挤满路旁，攀折树木挡在要道路口。

Appreciation

This 'Yu Zhang Xing' belongs to the 'Xiang He Ge Ci · Qing Diao' category of Han yuefu; Yuzhang was a Han commandery name (around present-day Jiangxi), rich in fine camphor wood. This old lyric was likely written in the Eastern Han. The poem speaks in the first person of a white poplar on the mountain, writing how it could have reached the clouds above and the yellow springs below in majestic poise, yet is broken by the mountain man's ax in autumn and its roots sunk, while grand officials pass in carriages and onlookers climb and break trees at the ford. In the Han, corvee was heavy and fine great timber was often requisitioned by the government for building, and the common folk suffered. The poet uses the object to mirror himself, hinting through the felled tree that the stalwart and gifted are destroyed by conscription and denied their use — a yuefu piece of 'chanting the object and also stinging the rule', fit for the middle-school item of 'object-commends-character' and 'yuefu folk song'.

【白话串讲】豫章山的白杨，长得高耸入云，却被人砍下来做木材。“我柯摧折，根株尽埋沉”——白杨的命运，像被征用的百姓：成材，反而成了灾难。【意象与手法】诗用拟人第一人称「我」贯穿，使白杨开口自诉，物我交融，哀婉动人。「上叶摩青云，下根通黄泉」以夸张对句极写白杨的雄拔生机，与「我柯摧折，根株尽埋沈」的惨状形成强烈跌宕，先荣后枯，撼人心魄。后半由物及人，「门有车马客，驾言发大梁」转入达官过往的喧阗，与白杨的孤寂毁灭对照；「观者满路傍，攀折要路津」以路人攀折断路收束，暗喻征役扰民、道路阻塞的时弊。比兴双关，言有尽而意无穷。【情感与主旨】《豫章行》属汉乐府「相和歌辞·清调曲」，豫章为汉郡名（今江西一带），多产豫樟良木。此篇为乐府古辞，约作于东汉。汉代徭役繁重，良木巨材多被官府徵调以供营造，民间苦之。诗人托物自况，借树木遭伐暗喻壮士才士被征役所毁、不得其所，是乐府「咏物兼刺政」的一篇。【名句点睛】常考托物言志手法；「上叶摩青云，下根通黄泉」的夸张对比；第一人称「我」的拟人叙述效果；汉乐府「感于哀乐，缘事而发」的现实精神。

Background

This 'Yu Zhang Xing' is a Han yuefu lyric of the 'Xiang He Ge Ci · Qing Diao' category. Yuzhang was a Han commandery name (around present-day Jiangxi), rich in fine camphor wood. This old lyric was likely written in the Eastern Han. The poem speaks in the first person of a white poplar on the mountain, writing its majestic poise of reaching cloud and spring, then its breaking by the mountain man's ax and the sinking of its roots, while grand officials pass and onlookers break trees at the ford. In the Han, corvee was heavy and fine great timber was often requisitioned by the government for building, and the common folk suffered. The poet uses the object to mirror himself, hinting through the felled tree that the stalwart and gifted are destroyed by conscription and denied their use — a yuefu piece of 'chanting the object and also stinging the rule'.

《豫章行》属汉乐府「相和歌辞·清调曲」，《乐府诗集》收录于卷三十四，为乐府古辞。豫章为汉代郡名，辖今江西大部，境内多产豫樟（樟木）等良材，故以「豫章」名篇者，多咏良木。《乐府解题》谓「豫章行，伤离别，言寿短景驰，容华不久」，然此篇实以白杨自诉的寓言方式，写良木遭伐之痛。汉代徭役制度繁重，大兴土木（如营建宫殿、陵寝、驰道），官府大量徵调民间良木巨材，所谓「伐木供役」，民不堪命；同时汉代乐府多「感于哀乐，缘事而发」，民间歌者借树木被伐喻人被征役所毁，正是乐府刺政的传统手法。诗中白杨「上叶摩青云，下根通黄泉」，本可参天拔地，却于凉秋被山客斧斤摧折、根株埋沉；又见达官车马喧阗而过、路人攀折要路，暗喻良材被征、贤才被毁、道路阻塞的时代之弊。全诗以拟人第一人称「我」贯穿，物我交融，是汉乐府咏物诗中寄托遥深的佳作。就诗体源流而言，《豫章行》乐府古辞今存者以此篇为最早，其题下后世有曹植、陆机、李白诸家拟作，然多写游仙或别离，与古辞「伐木喻役」的主旨渐行渐远，唯此古辞以白杨自诉的寓言直承「缘事而发」的乐府精神，最为本色。诗中「白杨初生」的起笔、「我柯摧折」的自诉，皆是民间歌者质朴的视角与口吻，其语言的素朴与情感的沉痛，正是汉乐府「质而不俚，浅而能深」的典型，也是后世拟作所难以企及的民间本色。

Art

The poem runs throughout in the first-person 'I', letting the white poplar speak for itself, object and self merged, plaintive and moving. 'Its upper leaves brushed the blue clouds; its lower roots reached the yellow springs' uses exaggerated parallel lines to write the poplar's towering vitality, forming a strong fall with the later 'my branches are broken; root and trunk are wholly sunk' — first glory then withering, shaking the heart. The latter half turns from object to man: 'at the gate are carriage-and-horse guests, who drive forth from Great Liang' turns to the bustle of passing grandees, contrasted with the poplar's lonely destruction; 'onlookers fill the roadside; they climb and break trees at the vital ford' closes with onlookers breaking the road, hinting at the ill of corvee disturbing the people and blocking the roads. Comparison and implication twinned, the words end yet the meaning lingers.

此诗最突出的艺术手法是以拟人第一人称「我」贯穿全篇，让白杨开口自诉，物我交融，哀婉动人。开篇「白杨初生时，乃在豫章山」以「初生」起笔，写白杨生命之初的朴素与无名；「上叶摩青云，下根通黄泉」以极度夸张的对句极写白杨的雄拔伟岸——枝叶上摩青云、根系下通黄泉，顶天立地，生机蓬勃，先写「荣」的极致。继而「凉秋八九月，山客持斧斤」笔锋一转，写毁灭的来临；「我柯摧折，根株尽埋沈」以第一人称直写被伐之痛，「摧折」「埋沈」与「摩青云」「通黄泉」形成强烈跌宕，先荣后枯，撼人心魄。后半由物及人：「门有车马客，驾言发大梁」写达官贵人车马喧阗而来，「观者满路傍，攀折要路津」写路人围观、攀折树木阻塞要道，与白杨被伐后的孤寂毁灭形成对照，暗喻官府徵调之扰与道路阻塞之弊。全诗由物及人、由景及政，比兴双关，言有尽而意无穷，正是汉乐府「深衷浅貌、语短情长」的本色。

Allusions

The poem uses no obvious classical allusion, purely lodging a life's lament in the object of the felled poplar, belonging to the yuefu folk tradition of 'arising through the object'. Only the word 'Yuzhang' originally means the camphor wood produced in Yuzhang commandery; the poem uses the place-name to stand for fine timber, implicitly carrying the semantic link of 'great timber invites the axe', in the same vein as the Zhuang Zi's 'mountain trees bring their own ruin' and Zuo Si's 'thick grows the pine at the ravine's bottom'; but the whole does not directly cite the allusion. Its strength lies in 'not borrowing old tales, speaking straight through the object' — writing the cruelty of corvee through the poplar's destruction, natural and unworked, the more showing its deep grief.

此诗为乐府古辞，纯以白杨遭伐的物象寄托身世之慨，几乎不用经史典故，其「用事」体现在对前人思想与意象的暗中承袭。「豫章」一词本指豫章郡所产樟木（豫樟），诗中借产地名代指良木，暗含「材大招伐」的语义关联——树木因高大成材而招致斧斤，正是《庄子·山木》「山木自寇也，膏火自煎也」、即「材美招祸」思想的诗化表达；又与左思《咏史》「郁郁涧底松，离离山上苗。以彼径寸茎，荫此百尺条」的讽喻意脉相通——以良木（或松）喻才士，以遭伐（或受荫蔽）喻遭际不公，是汉魏文学「比兴咏物」的惯用模式。「山客持斧斤」之「山客」为隐者或山居者之称，此处泛指进山伐木之人；「驾言发大梁」之「驾言」出自《诗经·邶风·泉水》「驾言出游」的语式，「大梁」为战国魏都（今河南开封），汉代仍为通都大邑。全诗不直引古事，而以物象与语式的暗承传其讽喻，正见乐府民歌「不借古事、直以物言」的本色。

Commentary

The Yue Fu Shi Ji, citing the 'Gu Jin Yue Lu', lists Yu Zhang Xing under the Qing Diao. The Ming critic Wang Shizhen said Han yuefu is 'plain yet not vulgar', and this poem proves it. The modern Yu Guan Ying in 'Selected Yuefu Poems' says it 'uses the felling of the tree to metaphor the pressing of the man, gentle yet full of sting'. Contemporary scholarship mostly classes it as an Eastern-Han folk yuefu, praising 'using the object to grieve for oneself, deep grief beyond the words'. It shares the Han yuefu system with 'The Peacock Flies Southeast'; though one narrates and one chants the object, both write the misfortune of the individual from the bottom view, enough to show the breadth of the Han yuefu spirit of 'moved by grief and joy, arising from the event'.

《乐府诗集》题解引《古今乐录》将《豫章行》列于清调曲，并载曹植、陆机、李白等皆有拟作，可见此题流传之久远。明·王世贞《艺苑卮言》称汉乐府「质而不俚，浅而能深」，此诗正可为例：语言质朴如话，而以白杨自诉的寓言写尽良材被毁之痛，浅语之中自有深意。近人余冠英《乐府诗选》选录此诗，评其「以树的被伐喻人的被役，婉而多讽」，一语道破其咏物刺政的主旨。当代学界多将此篇归为东汉民间乐府，赞其「托物自伤，沉痛在言外」，并将其与《孔雀东南飞》《陌上桑》等同视为汉乐府现实精神的代表。《豫章行》与《孔雀东南飞》虽一为咏物短章、一为叙事长篇，却同以底层视角写个体遭际之不幸，可见汉乐府「感于哀乐，缘事而发」的精神广度——无论写人写物，都能从最微小的生命遭际中照见时代的伤痛，这正是汉乐府不朽的艺术力量所在。就文学影响而言，此诗以树喻人的比兴传统影响深远：其「材大招伐」的构思，下启左思《咏史》「郁郁涧底松」的以松喻才士、白居易《涧底松》的直咏其意，乃至后世无数「木秀于林」的咏叹，皆可溯源于此。诗中「观者满路傍，攀折要路津」的讽刺，又开后世以「要路」喻仕途、以「攀折」喻钻营的讽喻意象，其影响不限于诗歌，更及于辞赋小说。作为汉乐府咏物刺政的源头之作，此诗虽篇幅短小，而意蕴深远，在中国诗歌比兴传统中占有不可忽视的地位。

Prosody

Form Han yuefu · Xiang He Ge Ci Qing Diao (Yu Zhang Xing)汉乐府·相和歌辞·清调曲《豫章行》古辞

Rhyme Mainly five-character, not strict in rhyme五言为主，用韵宽松，山、泉、斤、沈、梁、津等字随韵换押，不严依近体格律。

Tone pattern Not traceable汉乐府古辞，以五言为主，偶有长短句（如「我柯摧折」三言句），句式自由，声情质朴。

Reading note Yuefu old lyric, five-character object-chant and narrative, no near-style rule.此诗为汉乐府相和歌辞清调曲《豫章行》的古辞，是乐府民歌而非近体诗，故不讲究平仄黏对、对仗工稳，而重在以自由的句式、质朴的语言叙事抒情。全诗以五言为主，间以三言短句（「我柯摧折」），句式长短相济，节奏随情感起伏：写白杨伟岸则语势轩昂（「上叶摩青云，下根通黄泉」），写被伐之痛则语势顿挫（「我柯摧折，根株尽埋沈」），写达官喧阗则语势急促（「门有车马客，驾言发大梁」），声情与辞情相应。乐府民歌本可入乐歌唱，此诗虽声谱不传，然其句式的错落、语气的质朴，仍可想见当日歌者以悲音咏叹之状。作为汉乐府「感于哀乐，缘事而发」传统的产物，此诗在格律上的自由正是其在内容上自由书写民间疾苦的前提——不为格律所缚，方能为物写照、为民代言，这正是乐府古辞区别于后世近体诗的根本特征，也是其生生不息的民间生命力所在。

Line by line

上叶摩青云，下根通黄泉

Its upper leaves brushed the blue clouds; its lower roots reached the yellow springs.

上枝叶摩挲青云，下树根通达黄泉。

Above, its leaves brush the blue clouds; below, its roots reach through to the Yellow Springs.

此二句以极度夸张的对句极写白杨的雄拔伟岸，是全诗「荣」的极点，也为后文的「枯」蓄足势能。「上叶摩青云」写枝叶向上，直摩青云——「摩」字写枝叶与云相触，仿佛伸手可及，极言其高；「下根通黄泉」写根系向下，深达黄泉——「通」字写根脉纵横，深不可测，极言其深。一上一下、一叶一根，两句对举，把白杨写成一株顶天立地的巨树：上接苍天、下探幽冥，天地之间唯它独尊。这种夸张不是无端的想象，而是乐府民歌惯用的「铺张扬厉」手法，以极度的渲染写尽白杨生命力的旺盛与材质的伟大。「摩青云」「通黄泉」的宏大意象，又与后文「摧折」「埋沈」的惨状形成天壤之别——越是写其伟大，毁灭越是惨烈，先荣后枯的跌宕，正是全诗撼人心魄的力量所在。

The tree's height. Above, its leaves brush the blue clouds; below, its roots reach through to the Yellow Springs. The top-to-bottom enormity (clouds above, springs below) is the tree's prime, before the felling. To have described a vast tree would be a description; the leaves brushing the blue clouds above and the roots reaching the Yellow Springs below are the description.

我柯摧折，根株尽埋沈

My branches are broken; root and trunk are wholly sunk and lost.

我的枝柯被折断，根株全被埋没沉沦。

My branches are broken; my roots and stump are all buried and sunk.

此二句是全诗情感爆发的顶点，以第一人称「我」直写被伐之痛，物我交融，哀婉入骨。前文「上叶摩青云，下根通黄泉」写尽白杨的伟岸，此处「我柯摧折」陡然跌落——那直摩青云的枝叶被一一摧折，「根株尽埋沈」写连深达黄泉的根株也被尽数掘起、埋没沉沦，先是「摧折」的局部之伤，再是「埋沈」的彻底之毁，层层写尽毁灭的惨酷。最动人处在于「我」字：白杨开口自诉，「我」被摧折、「我」被埋沉，一个「我」字把树写成了有知觉、有痛苦的生命，树的毁灭即是人的毁灭，读来如闻其声、如见其痛。此二句与前三句的荣枯对照，构成全诗最强烈的戏剧张力，也把托物言志的讽刺指向落到了实处——良木如此被毁，正如壮士才士被征役所毁，物之痛即是人之痛。

The felling. My branches are broken; my roots and stump are all buried and sunk. The tree now speaks in the first person: the broken branches, then the buried roots. To have said the tree was felled would be an event; the my-branches-broken and the roots-and-stump-buried-and-sunk are the event.

门有车马客，驾言发大梁

At the gate are carriage-and-horse guests, who drive forth from Great Liang.

门外有乘车马的宾客，驾车从大梁出发。

At the gate there are guests with carriages and horses; they drive out from Daliang.

此二句是全诗的转折，由咏物转入写人，由白杨的毁灭转入达官显贵的登场。「门有车马客」写门外停着达官贵人的车马，「车马」之盛正见其身份之尊；「驾言发大梁」写其驾车从大梁而来，「驾言」出自《诗经》「驾言出游」的语式，「大梁」为战国魏都、汉代通都大邑，从大梁而来的车马客，正是从权力中心而来的达官。此二句以白杨的视角写人：白杨被伐之时，达官的车马正浩浩荡荡经过——一边是良木的毁灭，一边是权贵的喧阗，两个场景并置，形成强烈的对照。这对照暗含讽刺：被征伐的良木供谁所用？不过是供这些达官贵人的宫室车马罢了。「门有车马客」五字，看似写实，实为全诗由咏物转向刺政的枢纽，权贵的登场，正是良木毁灭的深层原因。

The guests. At the gate there are guests with carriages and horses; they drive out from Daliang. The grand carriages from the eastern capital arrive while the tree is cut. To have described rich guests arriving would be a scene; the carriage-horses at the gate and the departure from Daliang are the scene.

观者满路傍，攀折要路津

Onlookers fill the roadside; they climb and break trees at the vital ford.

围观者挤满路旁，攀折树木挡在要道路口。

Onlookers line the roadside, climbing and breaking the trees at the critical crossing.

结二句以路人攀折断路收束全诗，暗喻时弊，言有尽而意无穷。「观者满路傍」写达官车马过处，围观者挤满路旁，市井的喧闹与白杨的孤寂形成又一重对照——没有人关心那株被伐的巨树，人人都仰望着权贵的车尘；「攀折要路津」写围观者争相攀折路旁的树木，挡住了要道的渡口——「要路津」本指交通要道，此处一语双关：既写行人攀折树木、阻塞道路的实景，又暗喻仕途要路被小人壅塞、贤才无路上进的时代之弊。全诗以白杨自诉始，以路人喧阗终，荣枯对照、物我对举，结处不着一字议论，而讽刺之意已在画面之外。白杨被伐、路人断路，正是「材大招伐、路被壅塞」的比兴双关，全诗言尽于此，而意蕴无尽，正是汉乐府「结句以景、余韵悠长」的本色。

The onlookers. Onlookers line the roadside, climbing and breaking the trees at the critical crossing. The crowd breaking the roadside trees at the important ford is the double image: the road clogged by petty climbers. To have described crowds breaking branches would be a scene; the onlookers filling the road and the breaking at the critical ford are the scene.

Study

Word focus

摩 To brush, to press against — writing the poplar leaves' upward reach into the clouds, one word showing its towering stance. 「上叶摩青云」之「摩」字，是全诗写白杨之高最传神的一个动词。「摩」本义为摩擦、迫近，此处写白杨的枝叶向上生长，直与青云相擦相触——不是「接」云的静态相接，而是「摩」云的动态相触，仿佛那枝叶仍在不停地向上攀升，与飘过的云气擦身而过，写尽白杨生机之盛、长势之猛。「摩」字还暗含「迫近」的意味，枝叶既已触及青云，则其高已不可再增，顶天立地之势油然而生。与下句「通黄泉」的「通」字对举：上「摩」下「通」，一触一达，枝叶之上升与根系之下探，两句共同写出一株贯通天地、无远弗届的巨树形象。一个「摩」字，既见乐府民歌夸张铺陈的本色，又见其用字之精审，是「以一字写尽气象」的典范。

埋沈 Sunk and lost — writing how utterly the roots are destroyed, the grief condensed in two words. 「根株尽埋沈」之「埋沈」二字，是全诗写毁灭之惨最沉痛的一笔。「埋沈」即埋没沉沦，「埋」写被土掩埋，「沈」写沉入地下，二字连用，写尽白杨根株被掘起后尽数埋没、永无出头之日的彻底毁灭。「尽」字冠于前，写毁灭之全——不是部分被毁，而是连根带株、一丝不存；「埋沈」二字收于后，写毁灭之深——不是倒伏在地，而是沉埋地下，永世不得复生。与前三句「上叶摩青云，下根通黄泉」的伟岸对照，一荣一枯、一升一沉，触目惊心。「埋沈」的沉痛，不仅在于树的毁灭，更在于其隐喻的人之遭际：壮士才士被征役所毁，正如良木被伐埋沈，永无施展之日。二字凝练沉郁，力透纸背，正是汉乐府「质而不俚、浅而能深」的用字典范。

豫章行