汉 Han · 诗 Poem
赠妇诗
Poem Presented to My Wife
人生譬朝露，居世多屯蹇。
忧艰常早至，欢会常苦晚。
念当奉时役，去尔日遥远。
遣车迎子还，空往复不还。
省书情凄怆，临食不能饭。
独坐空房中，谁与相劝勉。
长夜不能眠，伏枕独展转。
忧来如循环，匪席不可卷。
Sorrow and trial come early; joyful meeting comes always late.
I think that I must answer the summons of the time, and day by day go far from you.
I sent the carriage to fetch you; it went empty and returned empty.
Reading your letter, my heart is desolate; facing food I cannot eat.
Alone I sit in the empty room - who is there to comfort me?
The long night I cannot sleep; on the pillow I toss alone.
Sorrow comes like a wheel returning; it is not a mat that can be rolled away.
Meaning
Life is like the morning dew; to live in the world is mostly full of hardship. Sorrow and trial come early; happy meetings are always, cruelly, late. I think that I must answer the call of duty and go day by day farther from you. I sent the carriage to fetch you, but it went and came back empty. Reading your letter my heart is desolate; before my meal I cannot eat. Alone I sit in the empty room - who is there to cheer me? The long night I cannot sleep; on my pillow I toss alone. Sorrow comes like a circling wheel; it is not a mat that can be rolled up and cast aside.
人生好比清晨的露水，处世多有艰难。忧愁苦难常早早到来，欢聚却总是苦于太晚。想到要奉命去服役，离你一天天遥远。派车去接你回来，空车去又空车返。读你的信不禁凄怆，面对饭菜吃不下。独自坐在空房中，有谁来相劝慰。长夜不能成眠，伏在枕上独自辗转。忧思袭来如循环无尽，不是席子可以卷起抛开。
Appreciation
The poem rises with 'Life is like the morning dew', sighing at life's brevity and the world's hardship, setting a mournful key. It then advances layer by layer: from 'I must answer the summons' and parting from his wife, to the failed fetching ('went empty and returned empty'), to the details 'reading your letter, my heart desolate' and 'facing food I cannot eat', making the longing especially true. It closes with 'the long night I cannot sleep', 'on the pillow I toss alone', and 'sorrow comes like a wheel', transforming the Songs' 'My heart is not a mat, that can be rolled' - using 'not a mat that can be rolled' for sorrow that cannot be put away. The language is plain and deep; from scene to feeling, from event to heart, whole and natural.
【白话串讲】 秦嘉被派去外地做官，想接妻子同行，却错过了。他写下《赠妇诗》：“人生譬朝露，居世多屯蹇”——人生像朝露。“独坐空房中，谁与相劝勉”——他一个人坐在空房里，连个说话的人都没有。 【意象与手法】 诗以人生譬朝露起兴，叹人生短促、世路屯蹇，定下悲凉基调。中间层层推进：由念当奉时役的将与妻远别，到空往复不还的迎妻落空，再到省书凄怆、临食不能饭的细节，将思念写得分外真切。末以长夜展转、忧来如循环收束，化用《诗经·柏舟》「我心匪席，不可卷也」，以匪席不可卷喻忧思缠绵难遣。 【情感与主旨】 秦嘉，字士会，东汉陇西人，桓帝时举上计掾入京，其妻徐淑因病还家，嘉奉役离乡，未能面别，乃作赠妇诗三首并派车迎妻，徐淑亦以诗答。此其一写临行前对妻子的思念与未能相聚的怅惘，开文人夫妇酬答诗之先河。 【名句点睛】 考点：一、起兴与比喻（朝露喻人生短促）；二、细节描写的表达效果（临食不能饭、长夜不能眠）；三、「匪席不可卷」用典翻新之妙。
Background
Qin Jia, courtesy Shihui, was a man of Longxi in the Eastern Han; under the Emperor Huan he was recommended as a registrar and went to the capital. His wife Xu Shu, ill, had returned home; as Jia left for duty he could not part from her in person, so he wrote three poems presented to his wife and sent a carriage to fetch her, and Xu Shu answered in poem. This, the first, writes his longing before departure and his regret at not meeting. In the Han, the scholar's going to office and the couple's parting were common; Jia's poem is prized for true feeling, opening the tradition of the literati husband-wife exchange. The affair is recorded in the 'New Songs from the Jade Terrace' and the 'Yiwen Leiju' letters between Jia and Shu, proof of its authenticity.
秦嘉，字士会，东汉陇西（今甘肃一带）人，桓帝时举上计掾入京，官至黄门郎。其妻徐淑，东汉女诗人，因病还居母家，夫妻聚少离多。秦嘉奉役离乡、将赴京师时，未能与妻面别，乃作《赠妇诗》三首并附书信，遣车迎妻，徐淑亦以诗答之，此事见《玉台新咏》及《艺文类聚》所载嘉与淑书，足证其真实可考。此诗为三首之第一首，写临行前对妻子的思念与未能相聚的怅惘。东汉士人入京为官、夫妻离别本是常事，然秦嘉以真性情出之，将人生短促之叹与夫妻离别之悲熔为一体，深情绵邈，是文人五言诗成熟初期的代表作，也是中国诗歌史上最早的文人夫妇赠答诗之一，开魏晋夫妻酬答之先河，在中国诗歌史上的地位不可低估。秦嘉与徐淑的赠答诗，是中国诗歌史上最早的文人夫妇酬唱之作：嘉有三首赠妇诗、一封书信，淑有答诗及书信，夫妻两地传书、以诗寄情，其事完整地保存在《玉台新咏》等文献中，是研究东汉文人生活与情感的第一手材料，也是「夫妇之情入诗」这一传统的开端。
Art
The poem rises with 'Life is like the morning dew', sighing at life's brevity and the world's hardship, setting a mournful key. It then advances layer by layer: from 'I must answer the summons' and his coming parting from his wife, to the failed fetching ('went empty and returned empty'), to the details 'reading your letter, my heart desolate' and 'facing food I cannot eat', making the longing true. It closes with 'the long night I cannot sleep', 'on the pillow I toss alone', and 'sorrow comes like a wheel', transforming the Songs' 'My heart is not a mat, that can be rolled' - using 'not a mat that can be rolled' for the un-dispellable sorrow. Plain in language yet deep in feeling, from scene to emotion, from event to heart, whole and unforced.
诗以「人生譬朝露」起兴，叹人生短促、世路屯蹇，定下悲凉基调，再由人生之叹落到离别之悲，层层推进：先写「念当奉时役，去尔日遥远」，点出将与妻远别的迫近；再写「遣车迎子还，空往复不还」，以迎妻落空的实事写相见无期；继以「省书情凄怆，临食不能饭」「独坐空房中，谁与相劝勉」的细节，将思念写得分外真切——食不下咽、独坐空房，皆是寻常动作而深情毕现；末以「长夜不能眠，伏枕独展转」「忧来如循环，匪席不可卷」收束，化用《诗经·柏舟》「我心匪席，不可卷也」，以匪席不可卷喻忧思缠绵难遣。全诗语言质朴深情，由景及情、由事及心，结构层层递进，一气流走，浑然天成，是东汉文人五言诗以真情胜、以细节写的典范。此外，全诗以「忧」字一线贯穿：忧人生之短、忧世路之难、忧离别之远、忧迎妻之空、忧独处之寂、忧长夜之永、忧循环之无尽，七忧层层推进，如浪叠浪，把相思之苦写到极致；而结以「匪席不可卷」的用典，更以「不可」的决绝收束，忧之深、情之切，尽在反复的咏叹之中。
Allusions
'Life is like the morning dew' transforms the 'Autumn Winds' of Emperor Wu and the Nineteen Old Poems' 'life lodged in this world, suddenly like drifting dust', the dew figuring life's brevity. 'Hard and hindered' comes from the 'Book of Changes', the hexagrams Tun and Jian, both images of peril, meaning a difficult plight. 'Not a mat that can be rolled' quotes directly the Songs' 'Odes of Bei, The Cypress Boat' - 'my heart is not a mat, that can be rolled' - originally a woman's steadfastness, here Qin Jia turns it to write sorrow that cannot be dispelled, renewing the old phrase, apt and natural. The allusion does not clog; it shows the literati poet's grounding of argument in the classics.
「人生譬朝露」化用汉武帝《秋风辞》「人生譬朝露」之句，亦承《古诗十九首》「人生寄一世，奄忽若飙尘」的朝露之喻，叹生命短促；「屯蹇」出自《周易》：屯卦、蹇卦皆险难之象，合称屯蹇，指处境艰难，文人以易卦语入诗，典雅而见学养；「匪席不可卷」直接引用《诗经·邶风·柏舟》「我心匪席，不可卷也」——原诗以「我心匪席」写女子守志不移，秦嘉转用以写忧思之不可排遣，翻新古语，贴切自然：席子可以卷起收起，忧思却如影随形、无法收起。全诗用典皆融于白话般的叙述中，不露斧凿痕，显文人五言诗「据经立义」的修养，亦见汉末文人诗由质直向典雅过渡的痕迹。「朝露」之喻又与其妻徐淑答诗「妾身兮不令，婴疾兮来归」相映：夫妻两地，同叹命途多舛，露之易晞既是丈夫对人生的感叹，也暗含对妻子病体的忧虑，典故与书信往来中的真实关切交融，使此诗的情意更加深挚可感。「空往复不还」之「空」又与其妻徐淑答诗「空床难独守」相映，夫妻同用「空」字写独守之悲，可谓隔空传情。
Commentary
Zhong Rong's 'Gradations of Poets' listed Qin Jia and his wife's affair as 'both to be pitied, and the writing grieving and resentful'; Xu Shu's answering poem is praised with it. The Ming critic Hu Yinglin said of Qin Jia and Xu Shu, 'though the language is shallow and the feeling deep, yet in the Eastern Capital they already opened the Wei-Jin husband-wife exchange'. Shen Deqian's 'Source of Ancient Poetry' includes his poems, calling the tone gentle and the feeling tender. Thus Jia's poem, by its true and deep feeling, holds its own place in the stream of old poetry, ancestor of later boudoir and exchange verse.
钟嵘《诗品》将秦嘉列于中品，谓其「夫妻事既可伤，文亦凄怨」，徐淑答诗亦并称之。明胡应麟《诗薮》谓「秦嘉徐淑，虽语浅情深，然在东京，已开魏晋夫妇酬答之风」，道出其文学史意义。沈德潜《古诗源》收其诗，称「词气和婉，情致缠绵」，是东汉文人五言的佳作。此诗之价值有二：一是情感之真，以贫贱夫妻的生离死别写人间至情，不假藻饰而感人至深，为后来潘岳《悼亡诗》、元稹《遣悲怀》之先声；二是文体之变，以五言长诗写夫妻之情，语言由质实转文雅，是文人五言诗由「质」向「文」过渡的关键一环。语浅情深、情致缠绵，此八字可尽秦嘉诗之妙，亦可见东汉文人诗在古诗十九首之外的另一条抒情路径。此诗在文学史上的意义，还在于其「书信体」的抒情方式：以「遣车迎子」「省书凄怆」等具体人事写情，情事交融，开后世「以事写情」的叙情诗传统；潘岳《悼亡诗》、元稹《遣悲怀》乃至杜甫《月夜》，皆可见此诗以家常细节写夫妻深情的先导作用，其为情诗正宗之祖，实至名归。
Prosody
Line by line
人生譬朝露，居世多屯蹇
Life is like the morning dew; dwelling in the world is full of hardships.
人生好比清晨的露水，处世多有艰难。
Life is like morning dew; living in the world is beset with hardships.
起兴设喻，叹人生短促、世路艰难，定下全诗悲凉基调。「人生譬朝露」化用汉武帝《秋风辞》「人生譬朝露」之句，以清晨露水喻生命短促：露之易晞如命之易逝，这一比喻承《薤露》挽歌之传统，一开篇便把人带入对生命无常的警醒之中；「居世多屯蹇」紧承其上，「屯蹇」用《周易》屯、蹇二卦之象，指险难困顿，写人在世上的艰难——生命本就短暂，世路又复多艰，短促与艰难叠加，人生的悲凉基调立定。此联由人生之叹起笔，看似泛写，实为下文的离别之悲张本：正因为生命短促、世事艰难，与妻的离别才更显沉痛，起兴之笔已含全篇之情。
The comparison. Life is like morning dew; living in the world is beset with hardships. The dew figure (from the funeral tradition) and the hard road set the poem's bleakness before the separation. To have said life was short and hard would be a saying; the morning-dew life against the world's many hardships is the saying.
遣车迎子还，空往复不还
I send a carriage to fetch you home; it returns as empty as it went.
派车去接你回来，空车去又空车返。
I send a carriage to bring you back; it goes empty and returns empty.
写迎妻落空，是叙事中情感最曲折的一笔。诗人要远行了，派车去接妻子回来当面话别，这本是临别前唯一的慰藉；而车去车回，空车而返——妻子或因病情、或因他故未能归来，「空往复不还」五个字，写尽期望的落空：派车时满怀希望，等车时焦急难耐，见空车时的失望与怅惘，尽在不言中。两个「空」字叠用，加重了落空的意味：去时空车，回时空车，去也空空、回也空空，正如诗人此刻空落落的心。「遣车迎子还」的殷勤与「空往复不还」的徒劳相对照，把「相见无期」写得具体而沉痛，也为下文「省书情凄怆」的独坐相思作了铺垫，是叙事写情、以事见心的妙笔。
The empty carriage. I send a carriage to bring you back; it goes empty and returns empty. The doubled empty (out and back) is the failed summons: the wife is too ill to come. To have said the carriage returned without her would be an event; the sent-to-fetch-you against the empty-going-empty-returning is the event.
省书情凄怆，临食不能饭
Reading your letter, my heart is stricken; facing the meal, I cannot eat.
读你的信不禁凄怆，面对饭菜吃不下。
Reading your letter, my heart is desolate; facing the food, I cannot eat.
以读信、废食两个细节写相思之深，是最见真情的白描。妻子虽未能归来，却托人带回了书信，「省书」即读信——展信而读，字字句句触动了离愁别绪，「情凄怆」三字直写读信时的心境，凄怆之情溢于言表；「临食不能饭」更以最寻常的细节写最深的思念：面对饭菜却吃不下，茶饭不思，正是相思入骨、忧思成疾的写照。此句不写如何思念，而写思念使人废食，以身体的反应写情感的深度，比直说「我很想你」有力百倍。读信是情的直接触动，废食是情的身体化，两个细节层层递进，把相思写得具体可感，是汉末文人诗「以细节写深情」的典范，为后世悼亡、怀人诗开辟了「从日常生活取材」的路径。
The letter and the meal. Reading your letter, my heart is desolate; facing the food, I cannot eat. The two small acts (reading the letter, unable to eat) are the grief's bodily proof. To have said he could not eat after reading the letter would be a detail; the heart-stricken letter-reading and the meal-facing-without-eating are the detail.
独坐空房中，谁与相劝勉
I sit alone in the empty room; who is there to comfort and encourage me?
独自坐在空房中，有谁来相劝慰。
I sit alone in the empty room; who is there to comfort and encourage me?
写独坐空房、无人相劝的孤寂，由思妻转入自怜自伤，情感更进一层。「独坐空房中」写形单影只：空房本已寂寥，一个「空」字，既写房中之空，也写心中之空——房无人而心无依；「谁与相劝勉」以反问出之，写无人相劝慰、无人相扶持的孤独：往常妻子在时，愁苦尚有人分担，如今孑然一身，纵有千般愁绪，也只能独自吞咽。这一问，问出了离人对伴侣的全部依赖与此刻的全部失落。此句由外景写到内心，由「空房」之实写到「无人」之虚，把相思的孤独推向深处，与下句「长夜不能眠」相接，构成从昼到夜、从坐立到卧眠的完整愁苦链条，是诗中由事入情、由情入心的关键转折。
The empty room. I sit alone in the empty room; who is there to comfort and encourage me? The empty room and the unanswered question are the solitude. To have said he sat alone would be a posture; the alone in the empty room and the who-will-comfort-me question are the posture.
忧来如循环，匪席不可卷
Sorrow comes around like a circling wheel; I am not a mat to be rolled up and put away.
忧思袭来如循环无尽，不是席子可以卷起抛开。
Sorrow returns in cycles; I am not a mat that can be rolled up and set aside.
以《诗经·柏舟》之典收束全诗，喻忧思缠绵难遣，余味悠长。「忧来如循环」写忧思之循环无尽：如车轮般周而复始，一波未平一波又起，越想排遣越是涌来，一个「循环」把忧思的缠人不放写得形象而无奈；「匪席不可卷」化用《诗经·邶风·柏舟》「我心匪席，不可卷也」——原诗写女子守志之心如非席不可卷，秦嘉转用以写忧思：席子可以卷起收起，忧思却无法卷走抛开，翻新古语，贴切自然。此句以「不可卷」的否定句式收束，不答而答地写尽忧思之不可排遣，与「长夜不能眠，伏枕独展转」相接，把彻夜不眠的相思推向高潮又戛然而止，全诗在无尽的循环忧思中落下帷幕，余哀不绝。
The sorrow. Sorrow returns in cycles; I am not a mat that can be rolled up and set aside. The Book of Songs allusion (my heart is not a mat) is turned to grief: unlike a mat, sorrow cannot be rolled away. To have said sorrow could not be dismissed would be a saying; the circling sorrow against the not-a-mat-to-be-rolled is the saying.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Both famed Han five-character parting lyrics - one to a wife, one to a friend; both shallow in words, deep in feeling.
两诗同属东汉（或托名汉代）文人五言赠别之作，皆以质朴之语写离别之情。《与苏武诗》「良友远别离，各在天一方」「长当从此别，且复立斯须」写友朋之别，情感旷达中见苍凉，重在知己相惜；《赠妇诗》则写夫妻之别，以遣车迎妻、空车而返、临食不能饭等细节写相思，重在情深意切。一写友、一写妻；一为君子之交的旷远，一为夫妇之情的缠绵。两诗并读，可见汉代五言诗写「别情」的两种类型，亦可见文人五言诗在题材与情感上的拓展，正为《古诗十九首》的集大成作了准备。
留别妻诗 Poem of Parting from My Wife 苏武 · 同写汉代行役离别、夫妻相思，可比较汉人写离愁的不同写法 Same (Han - parting and longing)Su Wu's parting from his wife also writes the parting of service; compare Han treatments of leave-taking grief.
两诗同写汉代夫妻行役离别，而笔法各异。《留别妻诗》「结发为夫妻，恩爱两不疑」「生当复来归，死当长相思」以誓言式的直白写夫妻之情，情感庄重坚定，以「生当复归」的承诺自勉勉人；《赠妇诗》则写「遣车迎子还，空往复不还」的落空与「临食不能饭」「长夜不能眠」的愁苦，以琐细的生活细节写相思，情感低回缠绵。一以誓言写情、庄重明朗；一以细节写情、缠绵悱恻。两诗并读，可见汉代夫妻离别诗的两种声口，亦可见「以行动写情」与「以承诺写情」的不同美学，恰为后世闺怨、悼亡诗提供了双重范式。
送元二使安西 Seeing Yuan Er Off to Anxi 王维 · 异（同写离情，一为汉五言深婉、一为唐绝句旷达，可见离情诗体之演变） Different (leave-taking - form)Both write farewell - one Han five-character and deep, one Tang quatrain and open; see the evolution of the leave-taking lyric.
两诗同写离别之情而时代、诗体、格调皆异。《送元二使安西》「劝君更尽一杯酒，西出阳关无故人」为盛唐七绝，以一杯酒写尽对友人远赴边塞的牵挂，语言明快、格调旷达，是盛唐人乐观自信精神的写照；《赠妇诗》则为东汉五言古诗，以朝露之叹、空车之返、废食之愁写夫妻离别，语言质实、情致深婉，是汉末人忧生念远的写照。一为唐诗的明朗高华，一为汉诗的质朴深婉，恰可见离情诗由汉至唐的文体演变与情感变迁，并读正可勾勒中国送别诗由古体到近体、由沉郁到旷达的发展轨迹。