明 Ming · 诗 Poem
渡易水
Crossing the Yi River
并刀昨夜匣中鸣，燕赵悲歌最不平。
易水潺湲云草碧，可怜无处送荆卿。
of all sad songs, those of Yan and Zhao ring most with wrong.
The Yi still murmurs on, the clouds white, the grass green—
but alas, there is nowhere now to see a Jing Ke off.
Meaning
Last night the keen blade of Bingzhou rang aloud inside its case. Of all the lands, Yan and Zhao are where mournful, high-hearted songs ring with the deepest sense of wrong. The Yi River still flows murmuring along, the clouds are white and the grass green as of old; yet alas, there is no longer any place to see off a hero like Jing Ke.
并州的快刀昨夜在匣中鸣响，燕赵之地悲歌慷慨最为激越不平。易水依旧潺潺流淌、云白草碧，可叹如今再无地方送别像荆轲那样的壮士。
Appreciation
Chen Zilong, courtesy name Wozi and styled Dazun, a native of Huating in Songjiang, took his doctorate in the tenth year of the Chongzhen reign and served as supervising secretary of the Ministry of War; after the fall of the Ming he raised a volunteer army against the Qing, and when it failed and he was captured he drowned himself for his country. The opening, the Bing blade singing in its case last night, begins with an image of half-legendary force, hinting that a hero's will cannot be held down, and it carries great tension. The second line names outright the high-hearted air of the Yi River, Jing Ke's own ground. The third turns suddenly still, setting the murmuring water, the white cloud and the green grass of an unchanging nature against the wreck of human affairs, and the close, that there is nowhere now to see a Jing Ke off, ends in helpless lament: the old place remains but the hero is gone, so that scene and feeling, past and present, stand in sharp opposition, and a hard, vigorous manner holds a plaintive grief that lingers.
【白话串讲】 “并刀昨夜匣中鸣，燕赵悲歌最不平”——陈子龙渡易水：宝刀在匣中鸣响。“易水潺湲云草碧，可怜无处送荆卿”——可如今，哪里还有荆轲这样的人？他写荆轲，写的是对时局的悲愤。 【意象与手法】 起句“并刀昨夜匣中鸣”以宝刀夜鸣这一带有神话色彩的意象起兴，暗喻英雄壮志难抑，极有张力 【情感与主旨】 陈子龙，字卧子，号大樽，松江华亭人。崇祯十年进士，曾官兵科给事中。明亡后组织义军抗清，事败被俘，投水殉国 【名句点睛】 常考“用典抒情”“以景结情”“怀古伤今”。命题示例：末句“可怜无处送荆卿”妙在何处？答
Background
Chen Zilong, courtesy name Wozi and styled Dazun, was a native of Huating in Songjiang. He took his doctorate in the tenth year of the Chongzhen reign and held office as supervising secretary of the Ministry of War. After the fall of the Ming he organized a volunteer army to resist the Qing; when the enterprise failed and he was taken, he threw himself into the water and died for his country. The Yi River is in present-day Yi county, Hebei, the place from which Jing Ke set out to assassinate the king of Qin, and from ancient times a site of high and mournful song. This poem takes the crossing of the Yi as an occasion for reflection on the past and must have been written as the Ming gave way to the Qing and the state stood in mortal danger. The poet likens himself to the keen blade and measures himself against Jing Ke, uttering on a journey the lament of a dynasty's rise and fall; it is a work of a man anxious for his times and vowed to recovery, and concentrates the tragic spirit of the loyalist poets.
《渡易水》为明代陈子龙所作，是咏荆轲渡易水、慨英雄无地之诗。陈子龙（1608—1647），字卧子，号大樽，松江华亭人，明末诗人。此诗：并刀昨夜匣中鸣，燕赵悲歌最不平。易水潺湲云草碧，可怜无处送荆卿。全诗咏荆轲、慨英雄无地，是陈子龙诗的名篇。
Art
The opening line, the Bing blade singing in its case last night, begins with an image touched by legend, hinting that a hero's will cannot be repressed, and it holds great tension. The second line states directly the high-hearted air of the Yi River and Jing Ke's old ground. The third suddenly turns still, writing the eternal nature of murmuring water, white cloud and green grass and setting it against the vicissitudes of human affairs. The closing line, that there is nowhere now to see a Jing Ke off, ends on a note of helplessness: the ancient place survives but the hero is no more, so that scene and feeling, past and present, are set in violent contrast, and a firm, hard manner carries a plaintive grief whose aftertaste is long.
《渡易水》艺术上以荆轲之咏的悲壮与英雄无地的深慨见长。全诗四句：首写并刀匣鸣——“并刀昨夜匣中鸣”写并刀昨夜匣中鸣；中写燕赵悲歌——“燕赵悲歌最不平”写燕赵悲歌最不平；末写易水送荆卿——“易水潺湲云草碧，可怜无处送荆卿”写易水潺湲、云草碧，可怜无处送荆卿。全诗咏荆轲渡易水，正是陈子龙诗悲壮深慨的笔法。
Allusions
The poem turns on the story of Jing Ke's attempt on the king of Qin. Jing Ke, called Jing Qing, was a man of Wei in the Warring States period who at the charge of Prince Dan of Yan went into Qin to strike at its king, and took his leave at the Yi River with the song, 'The wind is bleak, the Yi water cold; once gone, the brave man will not come again'. Yan and Zhao have always bred men of high and mournful song, whence the phrase about the sad songs of Yan and Zhao. The Bing blade means the keen blades and shears produced in Bingzhou, in present-day Shanxi, and here stands for a fine sword, a figure for ambition and its cutting edge. With the affair of Jing Ke as its central image, the poem grieves for the present through the past, concentrating in one bend of the Yi River both the resolve to die for one's country and the bitterness that no one comes forward to take up the task.
《渡易水》用典在“并刀”“燕赵悲歌”“荆卿”。“并刀”写并州之刀（快刀）；“燕赵悲歌”用韩愈《送董邵南序》“燕赵古称多感慨悲歌之士”之意；“荆卿”写荆轲（渡易水入秦）。全诗以这些典故咏荆轲，用典自然而悲壮自见，正是陈子龙诗的笔法。
Commentary
Chen Zilong's poetry is rich and ornate in manner yet tragic and heroic in his last years, and critics have called him the rearguard of Ming poetry. A modern critic said of Crossing the Yi River that its twenty-eight characters are worth a whole Song of the Yi River, writing today's hatred through an ancient place, deep and halting in movement. Most of his poems on the past were written as one dynasty gave way to another, and through allusions to Jing Ke and Zu Ti they lodge his resolve on recovery. Xia Wanchun was his pupil and continued the same manner, so that the two are named together as the twin jewels of the poetic world at the end of the Ming.
《渡易水》是陈子龙诗的名篇，也是明末诗中咏荆轲的代表作。此诗咏荆轲渡易水、慨英雄无地，向为论者称道。论者多赏其荆轲之咏的悲壮与英雄无地的深慨——“并刀昨夜匣中鸣，燕赵悲歌最不平”写并刀匣鸣、燕赵悲歌，悲壮之极；“易水潺湲云草碧，可怜无处送荆卿”写易水潺湲、无处送荆卿，更见其慨。陈子龙为明末抗清志士，其诗以悲壮著称，此诗正是其代表——咏荆轲而慨英雄，正是其诗风。
Prosody
Line by line
并刀昨夜匣中鸣，燕赵悲歌最不平。
The Bing knife rang in its scabbard last night; the sad songs of Yan and Zhao are the most unappeased of all.
并刀昨夜匣中鸣，燕赵悲歌最不平。
The Bing sword rang in its scabbard last night; the tragic songs of Yan and Zhao hold the deepest grievance.
首写并刀匣鸣、燕赵悲歌，是全诗咏荆轲之悲的起点。“并刀昨夜匣中鸣”写并刀匣鸣——“并刀昨夜匣中鸣”写并州快刀昨夜在匣中鸣响（示警）——并刀昨夜匣中鸣；“燕赵悲歌最不平”写燕赵悲歌——“燕赵悲歌最不平”用韩愈燕赵悲歌之意写燕赵悲歌、最是不平——燕赵悲歌最不平。二句写并刀匣鸣、燕赵悲歌：并刀昨夜匣中鸣，燕赵悲歌最不平。以“并刀昨夜匣中鸣”写并州快刀匣中鸣响、如示不平，以“燕赵悲歌最不平”写燕赵悲歌之士、最感不平，正是陈子龙诗咏荆轲之悲的起点——刀鸣匣中，悲歌不平。
The knife. The Bing knife rang in its scabbard last night; the sad songs of Yan and Zhao are the most unappeased of all. The sword ringing in its scabbard and the Han Yu Yan-Zhao sad-songs allusion are the opening. To have made the sword ring would be a sign; the Bing-knife-rang-in-its-scabbard-last-night against the sad-songs-of-Yan-and-Zhao-are-the-most-unappeased-of-all is the sign.
易水潺湲云草碧，可怜无处送荆卿。
The Yi River murmurs on, cloud and grass still green; alas, there is nowhere to see off Jing Ke.
易水潺湲云草碧，可怜无处送荆卿。
The Yi River murmurs on, clouds and grass still blue; alas, there is no place left to see off Jing Qing.
末写易水送荆卿、无处可送，是全诗写英雄无地的归结。“易水潺湲云草碧”写易水潺湲——“易水潺湲云草碧”写易水潺湲流淌、云草碧绿——易水潺湲云草碧；“可怜无处送荆卿”写无处送荆卿——“可怜无处送荆卿”写可怜无处送别荆卿（荆轲）——可怜无处送荆卿。二句写易水送荆卿、无处可送：易水潺湲云草碧，可怜无处送荆卿。以“易水潺湲云草碧”写易水潺湲、云草碧绿之依旧，以“可怜无处送荆卿”写可怜无处送别荆卿（无复荆轲之英风），正是陈子龙诗写英雄无地的归结——易水犹在，荆卿无觅。
The river. The Yi River murmurs on, cloud and grass still green; alas, there is nowhere to see off Jing Ke. The murmuring Yi River and the no-place-to-send Jing Ke (the assassin is no more) are the close. To have mourned the absence of heroes would be a lament; the Yi-River-murmurs-on-cloud-and-grass-still-green against the alas-there-is-nowhere-to-see-off-Jing-Ke is the lament.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Chen Zilong wrote twice on the Yi River, once in this seven-character quatrain and once in the Song of the Yi River, both lodging the pain of a lost dynasty in Jing Ke; compare two structures on one theme.
陈子龙《易水歌》咏易水之悲，与本首同为陈子龙咏易水之诗。差异在情境：渡易水写无处送荆卿；易水歌写易水之歌。一写“渡”之慨，一写“歌”之悲。两者并读，可见陈子龙咏荆轲易水的两种情境。
秋日杂感 Autumn Day Reflections 陈子龙 · 同为陈子龙诗写家国之慨，一咏荆轲一写秋日之感，皆悲壮 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
陈子龙《秋日杂感》写秋日家国之慨，与本首同为陈子龙诗。差异在主题：渡易水咏荆轲；秋日杂感写秋日之感。一写“荆”之慨，一写“秋”之悲。两者并读，可见陈子龙诗写家国之慨的两种主题。
点绛唇·春日风雨 Rouge Lips: Spring Wind and Rain 陈子龙 · 与本首相关联的同类或同作者作品，供对比阅读 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
此处关联陈子龙《点绛唇·春日风雨》，与本首在主题、体裁或作者上相关联，可对比阅读以见其同异。