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汉 Han · 乐府 Yuefu ballad

战城南

Fighting South of the City Wall

汉乐府

Han Yuefu

战争/徭役war / corvee 民生/讽喻common life / satire

战城南，死郭北，野死不葬乌可食。
为我谓乌：“且为客豪！
野死谅不葬，腐肉安能去子逃？
”水深激激，蒲苇冥冥。
枭骑战斗死，驽马徘徊鸣。
梁筑室，何以南，何以北？
禾黍不获君何食？
愿为忠臣安可得？
思子良臣，良臣诚可思：朝行出攻，暮不夜归！

They fought south of the city, they died north of the wall;
dead in the open and unburied, they are food for the crows.
Say for me to the crows: 'Wail first for these men dead far from home!
Dead in the open, they will surely never be buried—
how should this rotting flesh escape from you?'
The water runs deep and cold; the rushes and reeds are dark.
The bold horsemen fought and died; the worn-out horses linger and neigh.
They build barracks on the bridges—how are men to go south, how to go north?
If the grain is never harvested, what will our lord have to eat?
We wished to be loyal subjects—how can that be had?
I think of you, my good men; my good men are indeed worth thinking of:
at dawn you marched out to the attack, and at dusk you did not come home.

Listen

Meaning

They fought south of the city and their bones were left north of the wall; dead in the open with none to bury them, they are left for the crows to peck. Say for me to the crows: wail first for these men who died far from home; dead in the open they will surely never be buried, so how could this rotting flesh escape your beaks? The water runs deep and cold, and the rushes and reeds are dark. The bold cavalrymen fought and died, and the worn-out horses wander and neigh. They build barracks on the bridges; how then is anyone to go south or to go north? If the grain and millet are never harvested, what will the lord of the land have to eat? We wished to be loyal subjects, but how can that be had? I think of you, my good men, and my good men are indeed worth thinking of: at dawn you marched out to the attack, and at dusk you never came home.

在城南作战，尸骨曝于城北，旷野死伤无人埋葬任乌鸦啄食。请替我对乌鸦说：“且为客死之人号哭招魂！野死谅必不葬，这腐肉怎能逃离你口？” 水深清冷，蒲苇幽暗。骁健的骑兵战死，疲弱的马匹徘徊悲鸣。在桥梁上筑起营室，何以向南，何以向北？禾黍不能收获，君王拿什么充饥？想做忠臣又怎可得？思念你们这些良臣，良臣实在可思念：早晨出征进攻，傍晚再不夜归！

Appreciation

This piece belongs to the Han music-bureau repertory, among the eighteen Nao Songs of the drum-and-pipe division. Nao songs were early Han military music meant to raise the spirits of the troops, yet this one turns the form against itself and writes the cruelty of war. Its strangest stroke comes at the start: the poet asks a bystander to speak on his behalf to the crows, first begging them to wail for the men who died far from home, then telling them that the rotting flesh can never escape their beaks. The tone verges on black humour, and the grief in it is unbearable. In structure the poem leaps from the battlefield, with its dead north of the wall and its deep cold water and dark reeds, to the labour service of the rear, with barracks built on the bridges and the grain left unharvested, and then to the bitter question of how a man is to be a loyal subject at all. The narration jumps, but the sorrow runs unbroken, and the plain closing line about marching out at dawn and never returning at dusk says more than any lament.

【白话串讲】 “战城南，死郭北，野死不葬乌可食”——汉乐府写战争：城南战，城北死，尸体没人埋，乌鸦来吃。“为我谓乌：且为客豪”——他对乌鸦说：先替我哭一场吧。“枭骑战斗死，驽马徘徊鸣”——战马在尸体旁徘徊哀鸣。汉代最惨烈的战争诗。【意象与手法】本诗艺术之奇，首在“为我谓乌”的荒幻设想【情感与主旨】《战城南》属汉乐府《鼓吹曲辞·铙歌十八曲》之一【名句点睛】本诗中高考要点：一、“战城南，死郭北”的对仗与开篇效果；二、“为我谓乌”的奇想手法及其沉痛意蕴

Background

This piece belongs to the eighteen Nao Songs of the drum-and-pipe division of the Han music bureau. Nao songs were early Han military music, meant to raise the spirits of the troops, yet this one reverses their purpose and writes the cruelty of war. It must have arisen against the background of Emperor Wu's unending campaigns against the Xiongnu, Nanyue, Korea and the rest, and it is the protest of the common people, or of lesser literary men, against the exhaustion of the state in war. The building of barracks on the bridges may point to the great earthworks then being raised at bridges and strategic points, such as transport canals and frontier watch-posts, while the failure to harvest the grain records how farming was abandoned under the demands of conscription and corvee.

《战城南》为汉乐府《铙歌》篇，是写战场惨状、悼念阵亡者的诗。此诗：战城南，死郭北，野死不葬乌可食。为我谓乌：且为客豪！野死谅不葬，腐肉安能去子逃？水深激激，蒲苇冥冥。枭骑战斗死，驽马徘徊鸣。梁筑室，何以南，何以北？禾黍不获君何食？愿为忠臣安可得？思子良臣，良臣诚可思：朝行出攻，暮不夜归！全诗写战场惨状、哀悼阵亡，是汉乐府的名篇。

Art

The strangeness of this poem lies first in the wild conceit of speaking to the crows: the poet asks another to speak for him to the birds, begging them first to wail for men who died far from home, and then telling them that the rotting flesh can never escape their beaks. In a tone close to black humour he writes the certainty of death, and the grief could not be deeper, while the brushwork could not be stranger. In structure the poem turns abruptly from the battlefield, with its fighting south of the city and its deep cold water, to the labour service of the rear, with barracks on the bridges and the grain unharvested, and then falls to the question of how one may be a loyal subject at all. The narration leaps from point to point, but the grief runs through it unbroken.

《战城南》艺术上以战场惨状的写实与哀悼之情的深沉见长。全诗写战场：首写野死不葬——“战城南，死郭北，野死不葬乌可食”写战死城南、野死不葬、乌可食，“为我谓乌：且为客豪！野死谅不葬，腐肉安能去子逃”写谓乌且为客豪；中写战场之景——“水深激激，蒲苇冥冥。枭骑战斗死，驽马徘徊鸣”写水深蒲苇、枭骑死驽马鸣；末写哀悼——“梁筑室，何以南，何以北？禾黍不获君何食？愿为忠臣安可得”写梁筑室、何以南北、禾黍不获，“思子良臣，良臣诚可思：朝行出攻，暮不夜归”写思良臣、朝行暮不归。全诗以战场惨状写哀悼，正是汉乐府写实的笔法。

Allusions

The poem uses few obscure references and much of the soldier's and the countryman's own speech. The word rendered as wailing is a loan for the character meaning to cry aloud in mourning; the ancients wailed and called back the souls of those who died in the open with no one to bury them, a popular version of the rite performed for those who fall for their country. North of the wall means the outer city to the north, which in antiquity was the ground for executions and burials, as in the phrase for the graves north of the wall. The bold horsemen are picked cavalry and the worn-out horses are poor beasts; set side by side they measure how heavy the losses were. Building on the bridges means raising works at bridges and strategic points, or stands for the burden of corvee. The unharvested grain reworks the grief of the Millet Song in the Book of Songs. The good men here are the fallen soldiers, not ministers at court.

《战城南》用典少而意象自明。“乌可食”写乌鸦啄食（战死者不得葬）；“枭骑”写勇健之骑；“驽马”写劣马；“良臣”写忠良之臣。全诗以这些意象写战场惨状、哀悼阵亡，不用深典而深沉自见，正是汉乐府的笔法。

Commentary

Shen Deqian, in his Sources of Ancient Poetry, remarked that 'the few lines about speaking to the crows are marvellous beyond words and painful beyond words'. Chen Hang, in his Notes on Comparison and Evocation in Poetry, called it 'a poem that satirizes the exhaustion of the state in war' and assigned it to the campaigns of Emperor Wu. Liang Qichao, in his Fine Writing of China and Its History, praised it as 'a masterpiece of Han popular literature, writing the deepest grief in the plainest words'. In modern times Yu Guanying, in his Selections from Music-Bureau Poetry, renders the appeal to the crows as asking them 'to wail and call back the souls of those who died far from home', and catches perfectly the pain in the conceit.

《战城南》是汉乐府《铙歌》的名篇，也是中国诗歌中写战争惨状的代表作。此诗写战场惨状、哀悼阵亡，向为论者称道。论者多赏其战场惨状的写实与哀悼之情的深沉——“战城南，死郭北，野死不葬乌可食”写野死不葬、乌可啄食，惨状之极；“思子良臣，良臣诚可思：朝行出攻，暮不夜归”写朝行暮不归，更见其哀。汉乐府以写实见长，此诗正是其代表——以战场惨状写哀悼，正是其笔法。

Prosody

Form Han music bureau, Nao Song (drum-and-pipe division)杂言乐府（铙歌）

Rhyme The rhyme words wall, eat, wail, escape, dark, neigh, north, food, had, think and home rhyme loosely in the old system across mixed line lengths《战城南》为杂言乐府《铙歌》篇，句式参差。此诗用韵：食、逃（职部）、鸣（庚部）、北、食（职部）、归（微部）等，随段换韵，音节悲壮。

Tone pattern Music-bureau verse of mixed line length, without the tonal rules of later regulated poetry; strange lines come one upon another杂言乐府以音节悲壮、句式参差见长。此诗写战场惨状、哀悼阵亡，音节悲壮而深沉。全诗句式参差，随段换韵，声调与战场惨状的内容相合，是汉乐府《铙歌》中悲壮的一路。

Reading note A famous antiwar Nao Song of the Han, uniting wild conceit with plain realism.《战城南》为汉乐府《铙歌》篇，是写战场惨状、悼念阵亡者的诗。此诗以“战城南，死郭北，野死不葬乌可食”写野死不葬，以“枭骑战斗死，驽马徘徊鸣”写战场之景，以“朝行出攻，暮不夜归”写哀悼之情。以战场惨状写哀悼，正是汉乐府的名篇。

Line by line

战城南，死郭北，野死不葬乌可食。为我谓乌：且为客豪！野死谅不葬，腐肉安能去子逃？

They fight south of the wall, die north of the gate; dead in the wild, unburied, the crows may feed on them. Tell the crows, I beg: first wail a dirge for the wanderer! Dead in the wild, unburied—how could his rotten flesh escape you?

战于城南，死于郭北，野死不葬，乌鸦可食。为我告诉乌鸦：且为客（死者）嚎！野死谅不葬，腐肉怎能逃过你？

They fight south of the ramparts, die north of the wall; dead in the fields, unburied, the crows can feed. I beg you, tell the crows: first wail a dirge for the fallen! Dead in the fields, unburied—how can his rotting flesh escape you?

首写野死不葬、谓乌为客豪，是全诗战场惨状的起点。“战城南，死郭北，野死不葬乌可食”写战死野死不葬——“战城南，死郭北”写战于城南、死于郭北，“野死不葬乌可食”写野死不葬、乌鸦可食——战死城南郭北，乌食其尸；“为我谓乌：且为客豪！野死谅不葬，腐肉安能去子逃”写谓乌且为客豪——“为我谓乌”写为我告诉乌鸦，“且为客豪”写且为客（死者）嚎，“野死谅不葬，腐肉安能去子逃”写野死谅不葬、腐肉怎能逃过你——谓乌为客豪，腐肉难逃。五句写野死不葬：战城南死郭北野死不葬乌可食、为我谓乌且为客豪，野死谅不葬腐肉安能去子逃。以“战城南，死郭北，野死不葬乌可食”写战死郊野、不葬而乌食，以“为我谓乌：且为客豪”写代死者告乌、请乌先为嚎，正是汉乐府写战场惨状的起点——野死不葬，惨不忍言。

The battlefield. They fight south of the ramparts, die north of the wall; dead in the fields, unburied, the crows can feed. Tell the crows: first wail a dirge for the fallen! Dead unburied—how can the rotting flesh escape you? The dead man himself addresses the crows, asking only for a dirge first. To have described an unburied battlefield would be a scene; the south-of-wall fight, north-of-gate death, the unburied crow-feeding, and the plea to the crows to wail first are the scene.

水深激激，蒲苇冥冥。枭骑战斗死，驽马徘徊鸣。

The water runs clear and loud; the rushes are dark. The brave riders die in the fight; the sorry horses linger and whinny.

水深激激，蒲苇冥冥。枭骑战斗而死，驽马徘徊悲鸣。

The water runs clear and loud; the rushes darken. The gallant riders die in battle; the sorry horses linger and whinny.

此四句写战场之景，是全诗战场惨状的深化。“水深激激，蒲苇冥冥”写水深蒲苇——“水深激激”写水深激激（清澈），“蒲苇冥冥”写蒲苇冥冥（幽暗）——水深蒲苇冥冥；“枭骑战斗死，驽马徘徊鸣”写枭骑死驽马鸣——“枭骑战斗死”写枭骑（勇健之骑）战斗而死，“驽马徘徊鸣”写驽马徘徊悲鸣——枭骑战死，驽马徘徊鸣。四句写战场之景：水深激激、蒲苇冥冥，枭骑战斗死、驽马徘徊鸣。以“水深激激，蒲苇冥冥”写战场水清蒲暗、一片死寂，以“枭骑战斗死，驽马徘徊鸣”写枭骑战死、驽马徘徊悲鸣，正是汉乐府写战场惨状的深化——死者已死，马犹徘徊。

The after-battle. The water runs clear and loud; the rushes darken. The gallant riders die in battle; the sorry horses linger and whinny. The clear water and dark rushes, the dead brave riders and the lingering horses, are the quiet after the fight. To have described the silent battlefield would be a scene; the loud clear water, the dark rushes, the dead riders, and the whinnying sorry horses are the scene.

思子良臣，良臣诚可思：朝行出攻，暮不夜归！

We think of you, good soldiers; good soldiers, you are sorely missed: in the morning you marched out to attack, and at night you did not come back!

思念你们良臣，良臣诚可思念：朝行出攻，暮不夜归！

We think of you, good soldiers; good soldiers, you are truly missed: in the morning you marched out to fight, and at night you did not return!

末四句写思良臣、朝行暮不归，是全诗哀悼之情的归结。“思子良臣，良臣诚可思”写思良臣——“思子良臣”写思念你们良臣，“良臣诚可思”写良臣诚可思念——思子良臣，诚可思；“朝行出攻，暮不夜归”写朝行暮不归——“朝行出攻”写清晨出阵进攻，“暮不夜归”写傍晚不归、夜里不归——朝行出攻，暮不夜归。三句写思良臣：思子良臣、良臣诚可思，朝行出攻、暮不夜归。以“思子良臣，良臣诚可思”写对良臣之思念，以“朝行出攻，暮不夜归”写朝出暮不归、卒亡于阵，正是汉乐府写哀悼之情的归结——朝行出攻，暮不夜归，其哀痛何如。

The lament. We think of you, good soldiers; good soldiers, you are sorely missed: in the morning you marched out to attack, and at night you did not come back. The doubled good-soldiers and the morning-out/night-not-back are the war's plain accounting. To have said the soldiers did not return would be an elegy; the thought-of good soldiers and the morning-sortie against the night-never-returning are the elegy.

Study

Word focus

野死不葬 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “野死不葬乌可食”之“野死不葬”，写野死不葬，是全诗写战场惨状的关键词。“野死”写死于野外，“不葬”写不得安葬——野死不葬，乌鸦可食。这一词写死之惨：不是得葬之死，而野死不葬；不是可哀之亡，而暴尸于野。以“战城南，死郭北，野死不葬乌可食”写战死郊野、不葬而乌食，正是汉乐府写战场惨状的笔法。

且为客豪 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “为我谓乌：且为客豪”之“且为客豪”，写且为客（死者）嚎，是全诗代死者告乌的关键词。“且为”写姑且为，“客豪”写为客嚎（豪通嚎，哭嚎）——且为客嚎。这一词写告乌之辞：不是无哀之告，而且为客豪；不是可止之悲，而请乌先嚎。以“为我谓乌：且为客豪”写代死者告乌、请其先嚎，正是汉乐府写战场惨状、以哀写惨的笔法。

枭骑 The bold, picked cavalry; set against the worn-out horses of the next line, the pair measures the weight of the losses. “枭骑战斗死”之“枭骑”，写勇健之骑，是全诗写战死者之勇的关键词。“枭骑”写枭雄之骑（勇健）——枭骑战斗而死。这一词写战士之勇：不是怯懦之卒，而枭骑；不是可逃之众，而战斗而死。以“枭骑战斗死，驽马徘徊鸣”写枭骑战死、驽马徘徊，正是汉乐府写战场惨状的笔法。

暮不夜归 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “朝行出攻，暮不夜归”之“暮不夜归”，写傍晚不归、夜里不归，是全诗写哀悼之情的归结词。“朝行”写清晨出发，“暮不夜归”写傍晚不归、夜亦不归——朝行出攻，暮不夜归。这一词写卒亡之象：不是可归之役，而暮不夜归；不是他处之行，而战死未归。以“朝行出攻，暮不夜归”写朝出暮不归、卒亡于阵，正是汉乐府写哀悼之情的归结。

战城南