明 Ming · 诗 Poem
鲥鱼
The Shad
五月鲥鱼已至燕，荔枝卢橘未能先。
赐鲜遍及中珰第，荐熟谁开寝庙筵。
白日风尘驰驿骑，炎天冰雪护江船。
银鳞细骨堪怜汝，玉箸金盘敢望传。
The fresh gift reaches every eunuch's mansion; but who spreads the ripe offering at the ancestral shrine?
By broad daylight, through wind and dust, post-horses gallop; in burning weather, ice and snow guard the river boat.
Silver-scaled and fine-boned, you are much to be pitied; how dare you hope to be passed on jade chopsticks and a golden plate?
Meaning
By the fifth month the shad has already been carried to the capital, and neither lychee nor loquat could get there ahead of it. The emperor's gift of the fresh delicacy reaches every eunuch's mansion, yet who lays out the feast of the new offering in the ancestral shrine? By broad daylight post-horses gallop through wind and dust, and in the burning heat ice and snow protect the fish-boat on the river. Silver-scaled and fine-boned, you are truly to be pitied; how could you dare hope to be handed round on jade chopsticks and a golden plate?
五月的鲥鱼已经运抵北京，连荔枝和卢橘都未能抢在前头。皇帝赏赐的时鲜遍及宦官的宅第，新熟的祭品却无人主持宗庙的筵席。白日里驿马在风尘中飞驰，炎夏中以冰雪护着江上的运鱼船。你银鳞细骨实在惹人怜爱，又怎敢指望被盛在玉箸金盘里颁赐到手。
Appreciation
He Jingming (1483-1521), courtesy name Zhongmo, led the Former Seven Masters of the Ming with the slogan that prose must be Qin and Han and poetry High Tang; this piece belongs to the Zhengde years, when he served as a secretary in the Central Drafting Office and watched a boy emperor lavish his favour on eunuchs. It chants a fish but aims at reproof, and contrast is its skeleton. The opening sets lychee and loquat against the shad to show how urgently it is raced to court; the second couplet puts the eunuchs' mansions beside the neglected ancestral shrine, and there the satire cuts deepest; the third writes land and water together, galloping post-horses and ice-packed boats, so that the labour of the carriage stands out; the close borrows the fish for the poet himself, and the mock-humble refusal to hope for the gift ends the poem in complaint without anger, in the true manner of the old admonitory poets.
【白话串讲】 何景明写进贡的鲥鱼：“五月鲥鱼已至燕，荔枝卢橘未能先”——五月的鲥鱼比荔枝还早到京城。“白日风尘驰驿骑，炎天冰雪护江船”——快马加鞭，冰雪护船。“银鳞细骨堪怜汝，玉箸金盘敢望传”——一条鱼，写尽明代进贡的劳民伤财。 【意象与手法】 全诗咏鲥鱼而意在讽喻，章法以对比为骨。首联以荔枝、卢橘反衬鲥鱼之鲜贵，未能先三字见争鲜之亟 【情感与主旨】 何景明（1483—1521）字仲默，明代前七子领袖，倡文必秦汉，诗必盛唐。此诗作于正德年间任中书舍人时 【名句点睛】 此诗为明何景明之作，精要赏析详见下方深度赏析。
Background
He Jingming (1483-1521), courtesy name Zhongmo, was a leader of the Former Seven Masters of the Ming, who held that prose must be Qin and Han and poetry High Tang. This poem was written during the Zhengde reign, when he served as a secretary of the Central Drafting Office. The young Zhengde emperor was dissolute and gave his trust to eunuchs such as Liu Jin and Qian Ning, so that the fresh shad was distributed among the palace attendants while the sacrifices at the ancestral shrine were neglected. The shad was a tribute delicacy of the Jiangnan region, listed as tribute from the beginning of the Ming and rushed to the capital along the Grand Canal and the post roads at great cost in labour and money. Seeing both the extravagance of the tribute transport and the excess of favour shown to eunuchs, the poet chants the shad in order to reprove them indirectly: a typical poem of admonition.
《鲥鱼》为明代何景明所作，是借咏鲥鱼写时政之讽的诗。何景明（1483—1521），字仲默，信阳人，明代诗人。此诗：五月鲥鱼已至燕，荔枝卢橘未能先。赐鲜遍及中珰第，荐熟谁开寝庙筵。白日风尘驰驿骑，炎天冰雪护江船。银鳞细骨堪怜汝，玉箸金盘敢望传。全诗咏鲥鱼、讽时政，是何景明诗的名篇。
Art
The whole poem chants the shad but aims at reproof, and its structure is built on contrast. The opening couplet sets lychee and loquat as a foil to the freshness and costliness of the shad, and the words 'could not come first' show how urgent the race for the delicacy is. In the second couplet the fresh gift reaching every eunuch's mansion is set against the ripe offering that no one lays out in the ancestral shrine, eunuchs and ancestors placed side by side, and here the satire is sharpest. In the third couplet broad daylight and wind and dust, burning weather and ice and snow, the one galloping and the other guarding, complement each other to show how hard the transport is. The closing couplet, silver scales and fine bones much to be pitied, jade chopsticks and golden plate not to be hoped for, borrows the fish as a figure for the poet himself and ends on the irony of not daring to hope for the gift: complaint without anger, in the spirit of the old admonitory poets.
《鲥鱼》艺术上以鲥鱼之咏的铺陈与时政之讽的深婉见长。全诗八句，层层写来：前二句写鲥鱼先至——“五月鲥鱼已至燕，荔枝卢橘未能先”写五月鲥鱼至燕、荔枝卢橘未能先；中四句写驿骑江船——“赐鲜遍及中珰第，荐熟谁开寝庙筵”写赐鲜遍及中珰第、荐熟谁开寝庙筵，“白日风尘驰驿骑，炎天冰雪护江船”写白日风尘驰驿骑、炎天冰雪护江船；末二句写银鳞堪怜——“银鳞细骨堪怜汝，玉箸金盘敢望传”写银鳞细骨堪怜、玉箸金盘敢望传。全诗以鲥鱼之咏写时政之讽，正是何景明诗深婉的笔法。
Allusions
The allusions are natural and mostly embedded in the institutions of the day. The term rendered as eunuch derives from the cap ornament worn by palace attendants in the Han, which later became a name for castrated officials (Institutes of the Han Officialdom). The sleeping shrine is the ancestral temple, with the hall in front and the sleeping chamber behind, the phrase coming from the Lesser Odes in the Book of Songs, 'the shrine and its chamber are finished'. Loquat, glossed in the commentary to the Selections of Refined Literature, is a famous southern fruit like the lychee, and the lychee carries the old story of Emperor Xuanzong indulging Yang Guifei, fixed by Du Mu in the line about a single rider raising red dust while the lady smiles, so that the extravagance of tribute delicacies is implied. Jade chopsticks and a golden plate were the vessels of imperial gifts of food, recorded in the Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang. Every term is ordinary and yet carries a criticism of the system, with nothing piled on for display.
《鲥鱼》用典在“中珰”“寝庙”“玉箸金盘”。“中珰”写宦官（中珰为内臣之饰）；“寝庙”写宗庙（荐鲜于寝庙）；“玉箸金盘”写玉箸金盘（珍馐之器）。全诗以这些意象写鲥鱼之贡、时政之讽，用典自然而深婉自见，正是何景明诗的笔法。
Commentary
Shen Deqian, in his Selected Ming Poems, called this poem gentle and full of reproof. Modern critics of He Jingming say that his seven-character regulated verse is steady and well ordered; this piece uses the chanting of an object to write of current politics, and amid the Former Seven Masters' imitation of the Tang shows a distinct concern with the real world, standing with Li Mengyang's Song of General Shi's Battlefield as evidence of the admonitory spirit of the poetic world of the Hongzhi and Zhengde years. Later ages have generally counted it among the level and readable pieces of Ming satirical verse.
《鲥鱼》是何景明诗的名篇，也是明诗中借物讽刺时政的代表作。此诗咏鲥鱼、讽时政，向为论者称道。论者多赏其鲥鱼之咏的铺陈与时政之讽的深婉——“五月鲥鱼已至燕，荔枝卢橘未能先”写鲥鱼先至，深婉之极；“赐鲜遍及中珰第，荐熟谁开寝庙筵”写赐鲜中珰、寝庙无人，更见其讽；“白日风尘驰驿骑，炎天冰雪护江船”写驿骑江船，尤见其劳。何景明为前七子代表，其诗以深婉著称，此诗正是其代表——以鲥鱼之咏写时政之讽，正是其诗风。
Prosody
Line by line
五月鲥鱼已至燕，荔枝卢橘未能先。
In May the shad has already reached Yanjing; even litchis and loquats could not arrive first.
五月鲥鱼已至燕，荔枝卢橘未能先。
In the fifth month the shad has already arrived in Yanjing; litchis and loquats were never before it.
首写鲥鱼先至、荔枝未能先，是全诗写鲥鱼之贵的起点。“五月鲥鱼已至燕”写五月鲥鱼至燕——“五月鲥鱼已至燕”写五月鲥鱼已到燕京——五月鲥鱼已至燕；“荔枝卢橘未能先”写荔枝未能先——“荔枝卢橘未能先”写荔枝、卢橘都不能比它先到——荔枝卢橘未能先。二句写鲥鱼先至、荔枝未能先：五月鲥鱼已至燕，荔枝卢橘未能先。以“五月鲥鱼已至燕”写五月鲥鱼已进贡至燕京，以“荔枝卢橘未能先”写荔枝卢橘都不能先到、反见鲥鱼之贵，正是何景明诗写鲥鱼之贵的起点——鲥鱼先贡，贵胜荔枝。
The shad. In May the shad has already reached Yanjing; even litchis and loquats could not arrive first. The May shad that beat the litchis and loquats is the opening wonder. To have beaten the litchis would be a comparison; the in-May-the-shad-has-already-reached-Yanjing-even-litchis-and-loquats-could-not-arrive-first is the comparison.
赐鲜遍及中珰第，荐熟谁开寝庙筵。
The fresh gift is spread through the eunuchs' mansions; for the cooked offering, who opens the ancestral feast?
赐鲜遍及中珰第，荐熟谁开寝庙筵。
The fresh gift is bestowed all around the eunuchs' mansions; of the ripened offering, who opens the ancestral hall feast?
此二句写赐鲜中珰、寝庙无人，是全诗写时政之讽的深化。“赐鲜遍及中珰第”写赐鲜中珰——“赐鲜遍及中珰第”写赐鲜遍及宦官之宅第——赐鲜遍及中珰第；“荐熟谁开寝庙筵”写荐熟寝庙无人——“荐熟谁开寝庙筵”写荐鲜于寝庙、谁开宗庙之筵——荐熟谁开寝庙筵。二句写赐鲜中珰、寝庙无人：赐鲜遍及中珰第，荐熟谁开寝庙筵。以“赐鲜遍及中珰第”写赐鲜遍及宦官宅第、宠幸宦官，以“荐熟谁开寝庙筵”写荐鲜宗庙、却无人开宴，正是何景明诗写时政之讽的深化——鲜赐中珰，庙享无人。
The eunuchs. The fresh gift is spread through the eunuchs' mansions; for the cooked offering, who opens the ancestral feast? The fresh gift to the eunuchs and the uncooked ancestral offering are the satire. To have given the fresh fish to eunuchs would be a satire; the fresh-gift-is-spread-through-the-eunuchs'-mansions-for-the-cooked-offering-who-opens-the-ancestral-feast is the satire.
白日风尘驰驿骑，炎天冰雪护江船。
In broad daylight the post riders gallop through dust; in the scorching heat, ice protects the river boats.
白日风尘驰驿骑，炎天冰雪护江船。
In broad daylight, post-horses gallop through dust; in the hot season, ice and snow guard the river boats.
此二句写驿骑江船、冰雪护鲜，是全诗写贡鲜之劳的深化。“白日风尘驰驿骑”写驿骑驰送——“白日风尘驰驿骑”写白日风尘中驿骑奔驰——白日风尘驰驿骑；“炎天冰雪护江船”写冰雪护江船——“炎天冰雪护江船”写炎天以冰雪护江船之鲜——炎天冰雪护江船。二句写驿骑江船、冰雪护鲜：白日风尘驰驿骑，炎天冰雪护江船。以“白日风尘驰驿骑”写白日风尘中驿骑奔驰送鲜，以“炎天冰雪护江船”写炎天以冰雪护船保鲜之劳，正是何景明诗写贡鲜之劳的深化——一鲜之贡，劳费如此。
The riders. In broad daylight the post riders gallop through dust; in the scorching heat, ice protects the river boats. The galloping riders in dust and the ice-protected boats in heat are the labor of tribute. To have galloped the tribute fish would be a labor; the in-broad-daylight-the-post-riders-gallop-through-dust-in-the-scorching-heat-ice-protects-the-river-boats is the labor.
银鳞细骨堪怜汝，玉箸金盘敢望传。
Silver scales, fine bones—how pitiable you are; jade chopsticks, golden plate—do we dare hope for a share?
银鳞细骨堪怜汝，玉箸金盘敢望传。
Silver scales and fine bones—you are pitiable; jade chopsticks and gold plate—how should we dare hope for a share?
末写银鳞堪怜、金盘敢望，是全诗写鲥鱼之叹的归结。“银鳞细骨堪怜汝”写银鳞细骨堪怜——“银鳞细骨堪怜汝”写银鳞细骨、真堪怜你——银鳞细骨堪怜汝；“玉箸金盘敢望传”写玉箸金盘敢望传——“玉箸金盘敢望传”写玉箸金盘、岂敢望传（享用）——玉箸金盘敢望传。二句写银鳞堪怜、金盘敢望：银鳞细骨堪怜汝，玉箸金盘敢望传。以“银鳞细骨堪怜汝”写鲥鱼银鳞细骨、真堪怜惜，以“玉箸金盘敢望传”写玉箸金盘、岂敢望传，正是何景明诗写鲥鱼之叹、以小见大的归结——贡鲜劳民，民不敢望。
The pity. Silver scales, fine bones—how pitiable you are; jade chopsticks, golden plate—do we dare hope for a share? The pitiable silver scales and the dared-not-hope-for-the-jade-chopsticks are the close. To have pitied the fish would be a pity; the silver-scales-fine-bones-how-pitiable-you-are-jade-chopsticks-golden-plate-do-we-dare-hope-for-a-share is the pity.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Compare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
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