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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

邯郸少年行

A Lad of Handan

高适

Gao Shi

游侠Knights-Errant 感慨Social Disillusionment

邯郸城南游侠子，自矜生长邯郸里。
千场纵博家仍富，几度报仇身不死。
宅中歌笑日纷纷，门外车马常如云。
未知肝胆向谁是，令人却忆平原君。
君不见即今交态薄，黄金用尽还疏索。
以兹感叹辞旧游，更于时事无所求。
且与少年饮美酒，往来射猎西山头。

South of Handan's wall there is a knight-errant,
Proud that he grew up in the land of Handan.
A thousand rounds of gambling — yet his house is still rich;
Often he took revenge, and still he did not die.
In his house, song and laughter day by day;
Outside his gate, carriages and horses ever like clouds.
He knows not to whom to give his heart and liver, and so
He can only think of Lord Pingyuan, and regret it.
Can you not see how thin the friendship of today is?
Spend your gold, and men grow cold and distant.
With such misgivings I quit my old haunts,
And ask nothing further of the affairs of the world.
Let me drink good wine with the young, and ride,
And hunt across the foot of the western hill.

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Meaning

Gao Shi paints a Handan knight-errant who is rich, brave, famous and gregarious, and then asks to whom such a man could ever give his loyalty. He names Lord Pingyuan, the lord who welcomed three thousand guests, and observes that the friendship of the present is worth nothing: spend your gold and men turn cold. The poem ends by withdrawing — no longer seeking anything of the world, drinking with the young and hunting on the western hill.

邯郸城南的游侠之子，自矜生长在邯郸里。千场纵博家仍富，几度报仇身不死。宅中歌笑日纷纷，门外车马常如云。不知肝胆向谁是，令人却忆平原君。君不见即今交态薄，黄金用尽还疏索。以兹感叹辞旧游，更于时事无所求。且与少年饮美酒，往来射猎西山头。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] A young knight-errant of Handan is rich and daring, but does not know to whom he should give his loyalty; recalling Lord Pingyuan, Gao Shi says that friendship is worth less than gold, and retires from public life into wine and hunting.
[Structure] Six lines of accumulation, four of disenchantment, four of withdrawal; each block is rhymed separately, so the poem sounds like three separate utterances.
[Imagery] The images are those of abundance and speed — thousand rounds of gambling, carriages like clouds, wine, the hunt — and after them nothing is added but the empty question and the thinness of friendship.
[Tone] The poem masks its own bitterness behind a subject it does not identify with: the lad is a figure for the poet's disappointed ideals, and the final lines let the poet speak in his own name for the first time.

【白话串讲】高适写《邯郸少年行》：“邯郸城南游侠子，自矜生长邯郸里”——“千场纵博家仍富，几度报仇身不死”——“未知肝胆向谁是，令人却忆平原君”——“君不见即今交态薄，黄金用尽还疏索”——他写游侠与世态炎凉。【意象与手法】此诗写邯郸游侠的豪放与世态炎凉的感慨，是高适的名篇。前六句写游侠的豪放：「邯郸城南游侠子」写邯郸游侠，「千场纵博家仍富」写纵博的豪富，「几度报仇身不死」写报仇的勇武，「宅中歌笑日纷纷，门外车马常如云」写门庭若市的繁华；中四句写世态炎凉：「未知肝胆向谁是」写不知肝胆向谁，「令人却忆平原君」写令人忆平原君，「君不见即今交态薄」写如今交态淡薄，「黄金用尽还疏索」写黄金用尽即疏远；后四句写看破与超脱：「以兹感叹辞旧游」写感叹而辞旧游，「更于时事无所求」写对时事无所求，「且与少年饮美酒，往来射猎西山头」写与少年饮美酒、射猎西山。全诗以游侠写世态，写尽豪放与感慨，正是高适「质实」诗风的本领。【情感与主旨】此诗写邯郸（今河北邯郸）游侠的豪放与世态炎凉的感慨。邯郸是战国赵都，自古多游侠之士。高适早年游历燕赵，对游侠生活有深切的体验。此诗写邯郸游侠：邯郸城南的游侠之子，自矜生长在邯郸里；千场纵博家仍富，几度报仇身不死；宅中歌笑日纷纷，门外车马常如云——写游侠的豪富、勇武与门庭若市；「未知肝胆向谁是，令人却忆平原君」写游侠肝胆相照却不知向谁，令人忆起战国时礼贤下士、能养士的平原君（赵胜）；「君不见即今交态薄，黄金用尽还疏索」写如今交态淡薄，黄金用尽便被疏远，写世态炎凉；「以兹感叹辞旧游，更于时事无所求。且与少年饮美酒，往来射猎西山头」写感叹而辞别旧交、对时事无所求、与少年饮美酒射猎西山的超脱。全诗以游侠写世态，写尽游侠的豪放与世态炎凉的感慨，也暗写高适自己怀才不遇、交游零落的感慨，正是高适「质实」诗风的本领。【名句点睛】常考「未知肝胆向谁是，令人却忆平原君」写游侠的肝胆与对平原君的追忆；「君不见即今交态薄，黄金用尽还疏索」写世态炎凉；「千场纵博家仍富，几度报仇身不死」写游侠的豪放；以及全诗以游侠写世态、以今昔对照写感慨的手法。

Background

Gao Shi (c. 704–765), courtesy name Dafu, of Bohai, was a leading frontier poet of the High Tang, paired with Cen Shen as the two 'Gao and Cen'. Poor in his youth, he went west to Chang'an at about twenty to seek office without success, and then spent years travelling between Liang, Song and the states of Yan and Zhao, which put him in the way of exactly the kind of life he describes. Handan was the capital of the state of Zhao in the Warring States period and remained famous for its knights-errant (youxia); the poet recalls Lord Pingyuan, Zhao's prince, who by tradition kept three thousand guests. The poem is generally dated to Gao Shi's early, wandering years, before his career at court.

此诗写邯郸（今河北邯郸）游侠的豪放与世态炎凉的感慨，是高适的名篇。高适（约704—765），字达夫，渤海蓨（今河北景县）人，盛唐著名边塞诗人，与岑参并称「高岑」。高适早年家贫，二十岁西游长安求仕未果，此后长期游历梁宋、燕赵之间，对游侠生活与世态炎凉有深切的体验。邯郸是战国时赵国的都城，自古多游侠之士，任侠尚义之风盛行。此诗写邯郸游侠：「邯郸城南游侠子，自矜生长邯郸里」写邯郸城南的游侠之子，自矜生长于邯郸；「千场纵博家仍富，几度报仇身不死」写游侠的豪富与勇武——纵博千场而家仍富，报仇几度而身不死；「宅中歌笑日纷纷，门外车马常如云」写门庭若市的繁华；「未知肝胆向谁是，令人却忆平原君」写游侠肝胆相照却不知向谁，令人忆起战国四公子之一的平原君赵胜——平原君礼贤下士、养士三千，正是肝胆相照的知己；「君不见即今交态薄，黄金用尽还疏索」写世态炎凉——如今交态淡薄，黄金用尽便被疏远；「以兹感叹辞旧游，更于时事无所求。且与少年饮美酒，往来射猎西山头」写感叹而辞别旧交、对时事无所求、与少年饮美酒射猎西山的超脱。全诗以游侠写世态，写尽游侠的豪放与世态炎凉的感慨，也暗写高适自己怀才不遇、交游零落的感慨，是理解高适早年心境与游侠诗传统的重要篇章。

Art

The first half is pure accumulation, and Gao Shi's craft is in the accumulations being uninterrupted: a thousand rounds of gambling, a house still rich, several acts of revenge, the body still unharmed, song and laughter without fail, horses without number. Nothing is explained and no emotion is named, and the effect is of a man who has everything except a cause. The pivot comes when the poet abandons the third person and asks the question — 'he knows not to whom to give his heart and liver' — and then introduces the past, Pingyuan. The rhetorical 'can you not see' of the fifth couplet turns the poet from observer to accuser, and the last four lines finally name the speaker: 'I quit my old haunts'. The structured quiet of the accumulation against the abrupt change of voice is the whole technique. Note too the poem's refusal to censure the lad, who is plainly a portrait of what the poet once thought himself.

此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以铺陈写豪放。前六句「邯郸城南游侠子，自矜生长邯郸里。千场纵博家仍富，几度报仇身不死。宅中歌笑日纷纷，门外车马常如云」以铺陈写游侠的豪放——那「千场纵博」「几度报仇」写游侠的豪富与勇武，「宅中歌笑」「门外车马」写门庭若市，铺陈写尽游侠的豪放生活。其二，以追忆写感慨。「未知肝胆向谁是，令人却忆平原君」写游侠的肝胆与对平原君的追忆——那「未知肝胆向谁是」写肝胆相照却不知向谁，「却忆平原君」以追忆写对礼贤下士的平原君的向往，以古讽今，写尽世无平原君的感慨。其三，以对照写世态。「君不见即今交态薄，黄金用尽还疏索」以「即今」写当今交态淡薄——那「交态薄」写交情淡薄，「黄金用尽还疏索」写黄金用尽即疏远，以今昔对照写尽世态炎凉。其四，以超脱收束。「以兹感叹辞旧游，更于时事无所求。且与少年饮美酒，往来射猎西山头」写感叹而辞旧游、对时事无所求、与少年饮美酒射猎西山的超脱——那「无所求」写看破世态的超脱，「饮美酒」「射猎西山」写及时行乐的豪放，以超脱收束，余韵豪放。四重手法，使此诗以游侠写世态，写尽豪放与感慨，正是高适「质实」诗风的本领。

Allusions

Three traditions are drawn on. The knight-errant traces back to Sima Qian's 'Biographies of Knights-Errant'; the phrase 'the men of Yan and Zhao are given to kangkai beige' — generous, singing grief — comes from Han Yu's preface 'Sending Dong Shao-nan away', and Handan's reputation as a city of chivalry rests on it. Zongbo, unrestrained gambling, alludes to the board-games of high culture. Pingyuan jun is Lord Pingyuan (Zhao Sheng), one of the four lords of the Warring States, famous for receiving guests; his household included the self-recommending Mao Sui, whose story supplies the poem's silent measure of what has vanished. 'Golden spent, and men grow distant' inverts the familiar saying that scattered gold returns — and supplies the poem's maxim about human feeling. The closing wine and hunt recall the conventional escape of the disenchanted.

此诗的用语深植于游侠与世态感慨的传统。「邯郸城南游侠子」令人想到「邯郸」作为游侠之地的意象——「燕赵多慷慨悲歌之士」（韩愈《送董邵南序》），也令人想到「游侠」的传统（司马迁《史记·游侠列传》）；「自矜」令人想到「自矜功伐」的自我夸耀，也令人想到游侠的自负；「千场纵博」令人想到「纵博」写豪赌的意象，也令人想到「六博」的博戏传统；「几度报仇身不死」令人想到「报仇」写侠义复仇的传统（「士为知己者死」），也令人想到「血染征衣」的侠客；「宅中歌笑日纷纷，门外车马常如云」令人想到「门庭若市」的繁华意象，也令人想到「车如流水马如龙」的盛况；「肝胆向谁是」令人想到「肝胆相照」的侠义，也令人想到「剖心析肝」的赤诚；「平原君」令人想到战国四公子之一的平原君赵胜——礼贤下士、养士三千，令人想到「毛遂自荐」的典故，也令人想到「宾客盈门」的养士传统——诗人忆平原君，正是叹如今世无礼贤下士之人；「交态薄」令人想到「交态」写交情的意象，也令人想到「人情薄如纸」的世态；「黄金用尽还疏索」令人想到「黄金」写钱财的意象，也令人想到「千金散尽还复来」的反面——黄金用尽便被疏远，写尽世态炎凉，更令人想到「以利相交，利尽则散」的古训；「无所求」令人想到「淡泊」的超脱，也令人想到「不求闻达」的隐逸；「饮美酒」「射猎西山」令人想到「射猎」写游猎的意象，也令人想到「美酒」的豪放传统。全诗化用邯郸游侠、平原君、黄金、交态的传统意象与典故，以游侠写世态，正是高适「质实」而善用典、承游侠传统写感慨的本领。

Commentary

This long poem is counted among Gao Shi's best early work and is often quoted as a representative of Tang knights-errant verse. Qing critics praise it as 'writing of the knight-errant to write of the world's manners, bold and yet sorrowful'; modern editors single out the couplet 'He knows not to whom to give his heart and liver, / and so he can only think of Lord Pingyuan', which turns a portrait into a political complaint. Its importance is that it shows the knight-errant poem turning from praise to disenchantment: where Cao Zhi's 'White Horse' has the knight die for the state, Gao Shi's has him unable to find anyone worth dying for. It is usually read alongside Gao Shi's 'Farewell to Dong Dafu', the other famous early poem, and after it readers often turn to the frontier verse he made his name with.

此诗历来被推为高适的名篇，也是唐人游侠诗的代表。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人评此诗「以游侠写世态，豪放而感慨」；近人更指出「未知肝胆向谁是，令人却忆平原君」写世无礼贤之人，是此诗的名句。在诗歌史上，此诗的特殊价值在于：它以十四句的长歌写尽游侠的豪放与世态的炎凉——那自矜的游侠子，那千场纵博的豪富，那几度报仇的勇武，那门庭若市的繁华，那未知肝胆的感慨，那令人忆的平原君，那淡薄的交态，那用尽的黄金，那无所求的超脱，那饮美酒射猎西山的豪放，都写尽了游侠的豪放与世态的感慨；那「令人却忆平原君」更写尽世无礼贤之人的感慨。此诗与高适的《别董大》同为早年名篇，一写送别的豪情，一写游侠的感慨；又与曹植《白马篇》（「捐躯赴国难」）同为写游侠的名篇，可见中国游侠诗的传统。对于今日读者，此诗是理解高适早年心境与唐人游侠诗的窗口，也是中国诗写游侠世态的经典——那令人忆的平原君，穿越千年，仍在诉说着世态炎凉的感慨。

Prosody

Form Seven-character ancient poem (qiyan gushi), with changes of rhyme诗·七言古诗

Rhyme Rhyme changes with the argument, couplet by couplet: zi/li, fu/si, fen/yun, shi/jun, bo/suo, you/qiu, jiu/tou — seven keys in fourteen lines, each a closed pair.七言古体，转韵（子/里、富/死、纷/云、是/君、薄/索、游/求、酒/头），随情转韵

Tone pattern A seven-character gushi of fourteen lines, rhyming in couplets and changing key with every change of subject; the brisk, unhurried cadence is typical of Gao Shi's plain, unornamented verse.此诗为七言古诗，十四句，两句一韵转韵，音节奔放，正合豪放的奔放。

Reading note This is a seven-character ancient poem (qiyan gushi) — that rhymes in couplets and changes its key seven times in fourteen lines. Each new subject takes a new rhyme: the lad's origins and the self-possession of Handan (zi, li); his wealth and his safety (fu, si); his house and his street (fen, yun); then the question and Pingyuan (shi, jun); then the thinness of friendship (bo, suo); then the departure and the turning away (you, qiu); and finally wine and the western hill (jiu, tou). Because a gushi poem does not observe the tonal rules of the lüshi, the line-pauses are free and the pace is quick. Read each couplet as a separate utterance: the first three in a light, boastful voice, the middle one with weight, the last two to be finished off almost carelessly. Gao Shi's gushi are known for zhishi — plain, solid, unadorned — and this poem is a good instance.此诗为七言古诗，十四句，两句一韵转韵——「游侠子」的「子」与「邯郸里」的「里」，「家仍富」的「富」与「身不死」的「死」，「日纷纷」的「纷」与「常如云」的「云」，「向谁是」的「是」与「忆平原君」的「君」，「交态薄」的「薄」与「还疏索」的「索」，「辞旧游」的「游」与「无所求」的「求」，「饮美酒」的「酒」与「西山头」的「头」，随情转韵，音节奔放。全诗以游侠写世态：前六句写游侠豪放（邯郸城南游侠子，自矜生长邯郸里；千场纵博家仍富，几度报仇身不死；宅中歌笑日纷纷，门外车马常如云），中四句写感慨（未知肝胆向谁是，令人却忆平原君；君不见即今交态薄，黄金用尽还疏索），后四句写超脱（以兹感叹辞旧游，更于时事无所求；且与少年饮美酒，往来射猎西山头）。诵读此诗，宜以豪放的语调读「千场纵博家仍富」的游侠，以感慨的语调读「未知肝胆向谁是」的感慨，结句「往来射猎西山头」要读得超脱而有余韵，方能传达出高适的豪放与感慨。高适古体以「质实奔放」著称，此诗正是其游侠古体的典范。

Line by line

未知肝胆向谁是，令人却忆平原君

He knows not to whom to give his heart and liver, and so he can only think of Lord Pingyuan.

不知肝胆相照能向谁，令人却忆起平原君。

Not knowing to whom to open my heart, one recalls Lord Pingyuan.

此联是全诗写感慨的核心，以肝胆写侠义，以追忆写世无礼贤之人。「未知肝胆向谁是」写不知肝胆相照能向谁——那「肝胆」写肝胆相照的赤诚，「未知向谁是」写不知能向谁，写尽侠义之士无处托付肝胆的感慨；「令人却忆平原君」写令人却忆起平原君——那「却忆」写转而追忆，「平原君」写战国时礼贤下士的平原君赵胜，写尽对礼贤之人的追忆。这句的深意在于：它以「未知肝胆向谁是」的感慨与「令人却忆平原君」的追忆，写尽世无礼贤之人的感慨——游侠之士，肝胆相照，却不知向谁托付，那「未知向谁是」写尽侠义之士的孤独与感慨；正因如此，才令人追忆战国时的平原君——平原君礼贤下士、养士三千，正是肝胆相照的知己，那「却忆平原君」以追忆写尽对礼贤之人的向往，也暗写当今世无平原君的感慨；以古讽今，那「未知」写尽当今的世态，那「却忆」写尽对古人的追忆，写尽游侠之士怀才不遇、肝胆无托的感慨。若换作直说「没有知己」，则失其深婉；唯以「未知肝胆向谁是」写感慨、「令人却忆平原君」的追忆写讽今，写尽世无礼贤之人的感慨，也让此联成为全诗写感慨的核心。

The regret. Not knowing to whom to open my heart, one recalls Lord Pingyuan. The swordsman's heart has no recipient, so the thought turns to the War States lord who kept three thousand retainers. To have said no friends remain would be a complaint; the opened-heart-has-no-one against the recalling-of-Lord-Pingyuan is the complaint.

君不见即今交态薄，黄金用尽还疏索

Can you not see how thin the friendship of today is? Spend your gold, and men grow cold and distant.

君不见如今交情淡薄，黄金用尽便还疏远。

Do you not see how thin friendships are today? When the gold is spent, they drift away.

此联写世态炎凉，以「即今」写当今，以黄金写世情。「君不见即今交态薄」写君不见如今交情淡薄——那「君不见」以呼告写提醒，「即今交态薄」写当今交情淡薄，写尽世态炎凉；「黄金用尽还疏索」写黄金用尽便还疏远——那「黄金用尽」写钱财耗尽，「还疏索」写便被疏远冷落，写尽以利相交、利尽则散的世态。这句的深意在于：它以「即今交态薄」的直陈与「黄金用尽还疏索」的对照，写尽世态炎凉——如今交情淡薄，那「即今」写当今的世态，与往昔游侠的豪放相对照；黄金用尽便被疏远，那「黄金用尽」写尽钱财与交情的关联，「还疏索」写尽黄金用尽即疏远冷落的炎凉——以利相交，利尽则散，正是世态炎凉的本质；那「交态薄」写尽人情淡薄，那「黄金用尽还疏索」写尽以利相交的凉薄，与前文「门外车马常如云」的门庭若市相对照，门庭若市是因富贵，黄金用尽便疏远，正写尽世态的炎凉与人情的冷暖。若换作直说「现在的人很势利」，则失其含蓄；唯以「君不见即今交态薄」写世态、「黄金用尽还疏索」写炎凉，以对照写尽世态炎凉，也让此联成为全诗写世态的名句。

The age. Do you not see how thin friendships are today? When the gold is spent, they drift away. The direct address (do you not see?) and the spent-gold drift state the cold rule of interest-based friendship. To have said friendships fade when money runs out would be a saying; the today's-thin-friendships against the gold-spent-and-distant are the saying.

Study

Word focus

纵纵 (zòng) means to let go, to give free play; in 千场纵博 it is 'unrestrained' gambling — a thousand rounds of unrestrained play — and the word is what makes the scale boastful rather than merely busy. Its force is kept up in 纵死, where even dying is let run its course. 「千场纵博家仍富」之「纵」字是写豪放的关键字，一个「纵」字写尽游侠的豪放。纵者，放纵、纵情也。高适以「纵博」写游侠，这个「纵」字至少有双重意味：其一，写豪放之态——那「千场纵博」写纵情赌博千场，那「纵」字写尽游侠纵情享乐的豪放；其二，写气魄之盛——那「纵」字更是写气魄——千场纵博而家仍富，那「纵」字写尽游侠挥金如土的豪富与气魄。以「纵」字写豪放，正是高适铺陈游侠的枢纽——若换作「赌」「博」等字，则或失其纵情的意味，或失其与「千场」的配合；唯「纵」字，以一字写尽纵情享乐的豪放，与「千场」「家仍富」相合，写尽游侠的豪富与豪放，也让「千场纵博家仍富」成为全诗写游侠豪放的关键。

却却 (què) here means 'only then' or 'and yet'; in 令人却忆平原君 it makes the memory arrive against expectation, so the lad's loyalty turns to a defunct prince the moment he realises no one deserves it. elsewhere in the poem the same character carries the 'retreat' sense of turning back. 「令人却忆平原君」之「却」字是写追忆的关键字，一个「却」字写尽对古人的追忆与讽今。却者，反而、转而也。高适以「却忆」写平原君，这个「却」字至少有双重意味：其一，写追忆之转——那「令人却忆平原君」写令人转而追忆平原君，那「却」字写尽由今及古的追忆之转；其二，写讽今之意——那「却」字更是写讽今——正因当今世态淡薄，才转而追忆礼贤下士的平原君，那「却」字写尽以古讽今的深意。以「却」字写追忆，正是高适写感慨的枢纽——若换作「便」「即」等字，则或失其转折的深婉，或失其与「未知肝胆向谁是」的呼应；唯「却」字，以一字写尽由今及古的追忆与以古讽今的深意，与「未知肝胆向谁是」的感慨相合，写尽世无礼贤之人的感慨，也让「令人却忆平原君」成为全诗写感慨的名句。