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宋 Song · 诗 Poem

梅花绝句·其二

Plum Blossoms, Quatrains — No. II

陆游

Lu You

咏梅On the Plum Blossom

幽谷那堪更北枝，年年自分著花迟。
高标逸韵君知否，正是层冰积雪时。

A deep valley — how can it bear to have north-facing branches as well?
Year after year I have long since made my peace with blossoming late.
Do you know, my friend, my high standard and my free spare air?
It is precisely the season of piled ice and heaped snow.

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Meaning

Lu You writes about a plum tree growing in a deep valley, on the north side of it, where the cold is worst and the flowers come later than anywhere else: every year the tree simply accepts that its bloom will be late. Then the poem turns: do you know what this late blooming means? It means that the flower opens precisely at the season of piled ice and heaped snow — that its finest hour is the coldest hour of the year. The poem is a self-portrait under the name of the plum, and the last line is the assertion that a man's standing is proven by the worst season, not the best.

幽谷那堪更北枝，年年自分著花迟。高标逸韵君知否，正是层冰积雪时。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The first two lines are about difficulty: a valley, and a branch facing north on top of that, and a flower that has given up on being early. The last two lines are about the meaning of that difficulty — a sudden question, 'do you know', and then the answer, which is that the plum blooms exactly when the ice is deepest. [Structure] The poem runs from circumstance to character, and the turn is made by one question; before the question the poem is plain and quasi-objective, after it everything is claim. [Imagery] The images are simple and all winter: a deep valley, north-facing boughs, late blossom, stacked ice, accumulated snow. Nothing is pretty or coloured; the whole is a monochrome of cold. The last four characters are the pivot of the poem — 'it is precisely' — because they convert a delay into a chosen moment. [Tone] Lu You never names himself, and never says 'I am like the plum'; the identification is left for the reader to make, which is what gives the four lines their weight.

【白话串讲】陆游写《梅花绝句·其二》：“幽谷那堪更北枝，年年自分著花迟”——“高标逸韵君知否，正是层冰积雪时”——他写梅花——正是层冰积雪时——高标逸韵。【意象与手法】此诗写咏梅，以咏梅写梅，是陆游的名篇。前二句写梅之遇：「幽谷那堪更北枝，年年自分著花迟」写幽谷那堪更北枝、年年自分著花迟——写尽梅的著花迟；后二句写梅之格：「高标逸韵君知否，正是层冰积雪时」写高标逸韵君知否、正是层冰积雪时——写尽梅的高标逸韵。全诗以咏梅写梅，写尽梅的著花迟与梅的高标逸韵，是陆游的代表作。【情感与主旨】此诗写咏梅，以咏梅写梅，是陆游的名篇。此诗咏梅而自喻高洁。陆游一生力主抗金而屡遭排挤，其咏梅诗多以梅自况。此诗写生于幽谷北枝的梅花，花开最迟，却正在层冰积雪之时怒放，正是陆游身处逆境而坚持高节的写照。此诗写梅之遇：幽谷那堪更北枝，年年自分著花迟——写幽谷那堪更北枝、年年自分著花迟，写尽梅的著花迟；高标逸韵君知否，正是层冰积雪时——写高标逸韵君知否、正是层冰积雪时，写尽梅的高标逸韵。全诗以咏梅写梅——那「年年自分著花迟」写尽梅的著花迟，「正是层冰积雪时」写尽梅的高标逸韵，写尽梅的著花迟与梅的高标逸韵，是理解陆游咏梅诗的重要篇章。【名句点睛】常考「幽谷那堪更北枝，年年自分著花迟」写梅的著花迟；「高标逸韵君知否，正是层冰积雪时」写梅的高标逸韵；以及全诗以咏梅写梅、以自喻写高洁的手法。

Background

Lu You (1125–1210), courtesy name Wuguan, called himself Fangweng, was from Shan Yin, today Shaoxing in Zhejiang, and was a patriot poet who spent his life urging resistance to the Jin. He was repeatedly pushed aside for his politics and spent his later years back in Shanyin, and it was there that he wrote this set of plum quatrains. He wrote plum blossoms throughout his life, in the lieutenant's poem of the same name and in many others; this is the second of a pair. The biography behind the poem is the ordinary one: a man whose advice was refused, who was left with nothing to do with his loyalty, and who therefore endows a flower in a cold valley with the only character worth having — that it opens when everything else is shut.

此诗写咏梅，以咏梅写梅，是陆游的名篇。陆游（1125—1210），字务观，号放翁，越州山阴（今浙江绍兴）人，南宋爱国诗人。此诗咏梅而自喻高洁。陆游一生力主抗金而屡遭排挤，其咏梅诗多以梅自况。此诗写生于幽谷北枝的梅花，花开最迟，却正在层冰积雪之时怒放，正是陆游身处逆境而坚持高节的写照。此诗写梅之遇：「幽谷那堪更北枝，年年自分著花迟」写幽谷那堪更北枝、年年自分著花迟——写尽梅的著花迟（幽谷那堪更北枝，年年自分著花迟）；「高标逸韵君知否，正是层冰积雪时」写高标逸韵君知否、正是层冰积雪时——写尽梅的高标逸韵（高标逸韵君知否，正是层冰积雪时）。全诗以咏梅写梅，写尽梅的著花迟与梅的高标逸韵，是理解陆游咏梅诗的重要篇章。陆游一生酷爱梅花，其《卜算子·咏梅》《梅花绝句》等咏梅之作甚多。此《梅花绝句》组诗共二首，其一写「闻道梅花坼晓风，雪堆遍满四山中。何方可化身千亿，一树梅花一放翁」，其二即此首。此诗作于陆游晚年退居山阴（今浙江绍兴）时，其时有收复中原之志而不得，遂以生于幽谷北枝、著花最迟的梅花自喻，写身处逆境而坚守高节。

Art

Four devices. First, plainness in the opening — 'a deep valley — how can it bear to have north-facing branches as well?' is a rhetorical question that stacks two difficulties without a single descriptive word, and it is tighter than a statement would be. Second, the human 'I' attached to the tree: 'year after year I have long since made my peace with blossoming late' puts the tree's acceptance in the first person, so the plum is not observed but spoken through. Third, the question in the third line, which leaves the whole poem hanging for one half-line and then answers it — the oldest and most effective turn in Chinese verse. Fourth, the closing line, where the two coldest nouns in the language are placed after a single emphasising particle, so that the flower's bloom and the season's severity arrive together. The whole is notable for refusing to state the moral: the reader is asked to do that.

此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以白描写梅之遇。「幽谷那堪更北枝」以白描写梅之遇——那「幽谷」「北枝」写尽梅的处境，以白描写尽梅的著花迟。其二，以拟人写梅之守。「年年自分著花迟」以拟人写梅之守——那「自分」写尽梅的甘愿，以拟人写尽梅的著花迟。其三，以发问写梅之格。「高标逸韵君知否」以发问写梅之格——那「君知否」写尽高标的发问，以发问写尽梅的高标逸韵。其四，以对照写梅之傲。「正是层冰积雪时」以对照写梅之傲——那「层冰积雪」写尽严寒的境遇，以对照写尽梅的高标逸韵。此外，此诗前二句写梅的著花迟，后二句写梅的高标逸韵，由遇及格，正是咏梅诗「以梅自喻」的写法。四重手法，使此诗以咏梅写梅，写尽梅的著花迟与梅的高标逸韵，是陆游的代表作。此诗还善于以「那堪」二字的反问写梅之处的艰——那「幽谷那堪更北枝」以反问写幽谷已深、更处北枝的境遇，正是层层递进写梅所处之最寒。又善以「君知否」的设问提挈全诗——前二句写梅之遇，后二句以「君知否」引出高标逸韵之答，正是先抑后扬、一问一答的结构。

Allusions

The plum in a deep valley with north-facing boughs draws on the old pairing of the northern and southern boughs, the south-facing one warming first and flowering first, so the north-facing bough is the one that flowers last — a known fact of southern plum orchards and a standing image of the late and therefore truer blossom. The deep valley has long been the setting for the withdrawn man who is never seen. 'High standard' and 'free spare air' are the two words used in praise of a man's uncompromising character and his unhurried bearing; the first is also Lu Du's phrase for a tower reaching the sky, and the second is the word the Sobore Lives used of the named men's spirit. The piled ice and heaped snow belong to the cold season and to the saying that the three friends of winter endure, the plum among them, when nothing else holds.

此诗的用语深植于咏梅与高洁传统。「幽谷」令人想到「幽谷」写深谷的意象——也令人想到「空谷幽兰」的意象；「北枝」令人想到「北枝」写北向枝的意象——南枝先暖而北枝后发，也令人想到「南枝」的意象；「著花迟」令人想到「著花迟」写开花的意象——也令人想到「著花未」的意象；「高标」令人想到「高标」写高格的意象——也令人想到「高标跨苍穹」的意象；「逸韵」令人想到「逸韵」写超逸风韵的意象——也令人想到「逸韵高标」的意象；「层冰积雪」令人想到「层冰积雪」写严寒的意象——《庄子》「犹有未树也」之外，也令人想到「岁寒三友」的意象。全诗化用幽谷、北枝、著花迟、高标、逸韵、层冰积雪的意象，以咏梅写梅，正是陆游「沉郁」而善咏物、承咏梅传统写高洁之本领。「高标」令人想到杜甫《同诸公登慈恩寺塔》「高标跨苍天」之句，以高标写超然物外的高格；「逸韵」令人想到《世说新语》以「逸韵」评名士风神的用语，以逸韵写超逸的风神。陆游以「高标逸韵」写梅，正见其以梅为高士之喻的用意。

Commentary

This quatrain has been counted among Lu You's best short poems and among the Song poems on the plum that are really self-portraits. Critics have pointed to the question in the third line, which holds the poem up and then drops the answer on it, and to the closing four characters, in which the flower's finest hour and the year's deepest cold are the same moment. Its standing is beside the lieutenant's poem on the plum, written earlier and darker, where the blossom opens by a broken bridge with no master and is trodden into the mud, keeping only its scent; here the blossom is not broken but late, and its virtue is not endurance but timing. Both belong to the tradition that reads a flower as a man's character, in which the plum meets the plum of the hermit with no garden and the plum of the court with no place.

此诗历来被推为陆游咏梅诗的名篇，也是宋人写梅花孤高的代表。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人评此诗「以咏梅写梅，孤高隽永」；近人更指出「高标逸韵君知否，正是层冰积雪时」写梅的高标逸韵，是此诗的名句。在诗歌史上，此诗的特殊价值在于：它以四句的绝句写尽梅的著花迟与梅的高标逸韵——那幽谷，那北枝，那年年，那自分，那著花迟，那高标，那逸韵，那君知否，那层冰，那积雪，那正是，都写尽了陆游笔下的梅；那「正是层冰积雪时」更以对照写尽梅的高标逸韵。此诗与陆游《卜算子·咏梅》（「驿外断桥边」）同为咏梅名篇，一写「零落成泥碾作尘，只有香如故」的驿外（卜算子），一写「高标逸韵君知否」的幽谷（梅花绝句其二）；又与王冕《墨梅》「不要人夸好颜色」的咏梅传统一脉相承，可见中国诗写梅的传统。对于今日读者，此诗是理解陆游咏梅诗的窗口，也是中国诗写梅的经典——那层冰积雪中的梅，穿越千年，仍在诉说着高标逸韵。

Prosody

Form A seven-jueju quatrain (jueju) of four lines诗·七言绝句

Rhyme Rhymes on the level-tone 'zhi' rhyme — branch, late, season — one rhyme through in a level tone. The 'zhi' rhyme is open and level, which is why the closing does not fall away.七绝，押「枝」「迟」「时」韵（上平四支），一韵到底，音节孤高

Tone pattern Four lines of seven characters, level rhyme, no regulated antithesis; the third line ends on an oblique tone so the poem breaks before the closing couplet and the fourth line turns back to level.此诗为七言绝句，押平声韵，一韵到底，音节孤高，正合咏梅的孤高。

Reading note The rhyme runs branch, late, season, all level, so the last line rings instead of dropping — and it is a poem that ends by asserting rather than by suffering. Inside the poem the third line is the hinge, closed on an oblique and short, which makes the fourth turn on it. Read the opening steadily, as a fact observed; give the middle line the flat acceptance of someone who has stopped hoping to be early; and on the last four characters slow, so the blossoming and the cold arrive together. Lu You's quatrains are usually compressed to the point of hardness, and this is among the most compact.此诗为七言绝句，四句——「幽谷那堪更北枝，年年自分著花迟。高标逸韵君知否，正是层冰积雪时」，押「支」韵（枝、迟、时），一韵到底，音节孤高。全诗以咏梅写梅：前二句写梅的著花迟（幽谷那堪更北枝、年年自分著花迟），后二句写梅的高标逸韵（高标逸韵君知否、正是层冰积雪时）。四句短章，前写遇合，后写高标，以「正是层冰积雪时」写尽梅的高标逸韵，正见陆游「沉郁」的本色。诵读此诗，宜以孤高的语调读「年年自分著花迟」的著花迟，以昂扬的语调读「正是层冰积雪时」的高标，结句要读得孤高而有余韵，方能传达出陆游的孤高隽永。陆游绝句以「沉郁」著称，此诗正是其咏梅绝句的典范。

Line by line

高标逸韵君知否，正是层冰积雪时

Do you know, my friend, my high standard and my free spare air? — it is precisely the season of piled ice and heaped snow.

高标逸韵君知否，正是层冰积雪时。

Do you know its high standard and graceful air? It is precisely at the time of piled ice and heaped snow.

此二句是全诗写高标的核心，以高标逸韵君知否写高标逸韵，以正是层冰积雪时写层冰积雪，写尽梅的高标逸韵，是千古名句。「高标逸韵君知否」写高标逸韵君知否——那「高标逸韵」写高标逸韵，「君知否」写君知否，写尽高标的发问；「正是层冰积雪时」写正是层冰积雪时——那「正是」写正是，「层冰积雪时」写层冰积雪时，写尽层冰的积雪。这句的深意在于：它以「高标逸韵君知否」的高标与「正是层冰积雪时」的层冰，写尽梅的高标逸韵——高标逸韵君知否，那「高标逸韵君知否」写尽高标的发问——高标逸韵，正是梅的品格的写照，那「高标逸韵」写尽梅的高洁；正是层冰积雪时，那「正是层冰积雪时」写尽层冰的积雪——层冰积雪，正是严寒的写照，那「正是」写尽梅的高标逸韵；那「高标逸韵君知否」写尽高标的发问，那「正是层冰积雪时」写尽层冰的积雪，一写高标，一写严寒，写尽梅的高标逸韵——层冰积雪中怒放，正是梅的高格；此二句以高标、层冰写尽梅的高标逸韵，也让此二句成为全诗写高标的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「梅花在最冷的时候开，品格很高」，则失其诗意；唯以「高标逸韵君知否」写高标逸韵、「正是层冰积雪时」写层冰积雪，写尽梅的高标逸韵，也让此二句成为全诗写高标的核心。

The standard. Do you know its high standard and graceful air? It is precisely at the time of piled ice and heaped snow. The asked-about high standard and the piled-ice moment are the Lu You plum. To have asked who knows the plum's character would be a question; the do-you-know-its-high-standard-and-graceful-air against the precisely-at-the-time-of-piled-ice-and-heaped-snow is the question.

幽谷那堪更北枝，年年自分著花迟

A deep valley — how can it bear to have north-facing branches as well? Year after year I have long since made my peace with blossoming late.

幽谷那堪更北枝，年年自分著花迟。

In the hidden valley, how could it bear the north-facing boughs? Year by year it is content to flower late.

此二句是全诗写遇合的核心，以幽谷那堪更北枝写北枝，以年年自分著花迟写著花迟，写尽梅的著花迟，是千古名句。「幽谷那堪更北枝」写幽谷那堪更北枝——那「幽谷」写幽谷，「那堪更北枝」写那堪更北枝，写尽幽谷的北枝；「年年自分著花迟」写年年自分著花迟——那「年年」写年年，「自分著花迟」写自分著花迟，写尽自分的著花迟。这句的深意在于：它以「幽谷那堪更北枝」的北枝与「年年自分著花迟」的著花迟，写尽梅的著花迟——幽谷那堪更北枝，那「幽谷那堪更北枝」写尽幽谷的北枝——幽谷北枝，正是寒地的写照，那「那堪更北枝」写尽梅的处境；年年自分著花迟，那「年年自分著花迟」写尽自分的著花迟——年年自分，正是甘于迟开的写照，那「自分」写尽梅的著花迟；那「幽谷那堪更北枝」写尽幽谷的北枝，那「年年自分著花迟」写尽自分的著花迟，一写北枝，一写著花迟，写尽梅的著花迟——幽谷北枝而著花迟，正是寒梅的写照；此二句以北枝、著花迟写尽梅的著花迟，也为下文的高标作铺垫，也让此二句成为全诗写遇合的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「梅花长在很冷的山谷里，开得很晚」，则失其深致；唯以「幽谷那堪更北枝」写北枝、「年年自分著花迟」写著花迟，写尽梅的著花迟，也让此二句成为全诗写遇合的核心。

The north bough. In the hidden valley, how could it bear the north-facing boughs? Year by year it is content to flower late. The hidden valley's north bough and the year-by-year late flowering are the contented exile. To have described the late-flowering north bough would be a scene; the hidden-valley-how-could-it-bear-the-north-facing-boughs against the year-by-year-content-to-flower-late is the scene.

Study

Word focus

迟 In 'year after year I have long since made my peace with blossoming late', the word means slow or late. It is the poem's situation before it is anything else: the plum flowers last because it is coldest where it stands. Besides describing the flower, it does the work of character, because a man who accepts lateness is valued by Lu You more than a man who is prompt; the delay becomes the proof of the standard rather than its cost. 「年年自分著花迟」之「迟」字是写梅之遇的关键词，一个「迟」字写尽梅的著花迟。迟者，迟缓、晚也。陆游以「年年自分著花迟」写梅之遇，这个「迟」字至少有双重意味：其一，写花之迟——那「年年自分著花迟」写年年自分著花迟，那「迟」字写尽梅的著花迟——著花迟，正是花开最晚的写照，那「迟」字写尽梅的处境；其二，写格之高——那「迟」字更是写高——迟，正见晚开的高格，那「迟」字写尽梅的高标逸韵。以「迟」字写梅之遇，正是陆游写咏梅的枢纽——若换作「晚」「缓」等字，则或失其与「年年自分」「著花」的配合，或失其写迟的意味；唯「迟」字，以年年自分著花迟写尽梅的著花迟与晚开的高格，与「正是层冰积雪时」的层冰积雪相合，写尽梅的著花迟，也让「年年自分著花迟」成为全诗写梅之遇的名句。

正 In 'it is precisely the season of piled ice and heaped snow', the adverb means exactly or just. It is the load-bearing word of the whole poem: it asserts that the cold hour is the intended one and not an accident, so the late flower and the deepest winter are the same event. Without it the line would be a description of weather; with it, the line is the poet's answer to the question asked two half-lines earlier. 「正是层冰积雪时」之「正」字是写高标的关键词，一个「正」字写尽怒放的时机。正者，恰好、正是也。陆游以「正是层冰积雪时」写高标，这个「正」字至少有双重意味：其一，写时之正——那「正是层冰积雪时」写正是层冰积雪时，那「正」字写尽怒放的时机——正是层冰积雪时，正是严寒怒放的写照，那「正」字写尽梅的高标逸韵；其二，写格之当——那「正」字更是写当——正，正见怒放的合宜，那「正」字写尽梅的高洁。以「正」字写高标，正是陆游写咏梅的枢纽——若换作「恰」「适」等字，则或失其与「是」「层冰积雪时」的配合，或失其写正的意味；唯「正」字，以正是层冰积雪时写尽怒放的时机与怒放的合宜，与「年年自分著花迟」的著花迟相合，写尽梅的高标逸韵，也让「正是层冰积雪时」成为全诗写高标的名句。