All poems

近现代近现代 · 诗 Poem

无题·惯于长夜过春时

Untitled: Accustomed to Passing Springtime in the Long Night

鲁迅

Lu Xun

名篇famous poem 七律eight-line regulated verse (qilü) 咏怀expressing personal feeling

惯于长夜过春时，挈妇将雏鬓有丝。
梦里依稀慈母泪，城头变幻大王旗。
忍看朋辈成新鬼，怒向刀丛觅小诗。
吟罢低眉无写处，月光如水照缁衣。

Accustomed to passing springtime in the long night,
With wife and child in tow, white strands appear at my temples.
In dreams, faintly, my loving mother's tears;
Atop the walls, the warlords' banners shift and change.
How can I bear to watch my friends become fresh ghosts,
Angrily I turn toward the thicket of blades to seek a little poem.
Having chanted, I lower my brows—nowhere to write it down,
Moonlight like water shines upon my black robe.

Listen

Meaning

The poet writes of his life in flight during the White Terror: habituated to the dark years, he drags his family from place to place, his hair already streaked with white. He dreams of his mother weeping while warlords' banners change above the city walls; he grieves friends murdered into 'fresh ghosts' yet turns his wrath into verse. The poem closes on a solitary figure—chant done, nowhere to set it down, only moonlight upon his black robe.

已经习惯于在漫漫长夜里度过春天，带着妻子和幼子逃亡，鬓边已添了白发。睡梦里依稀看见慈母的眼泪，城头上不断变幻着军阀的旗帜。忍心看着朋友们一个个成了新鬼，满腔愤怒，向着刀丛剑树搜寻小诗。吟成之后低下头来，却没有地方可以写，只有如水一般明亮的月光，照着我黑色的衣衫。

Appreciation

This is a strictly regulated seven-character lü verse whose formal discipline only intensifies its pent-up grief. The four couplets move from the long night of the age, through family tears and warlord banners, to the blood-soaked climax of mourning friends and seeking poems amid blades, ending in cold moonlight. Without a single allusion, it writes directly in blood and tears—the quintessential example of Lu Xun's classical poetry used 'as a dagger.'

【白话串讲】鲁迅写《无题·惯于长夜过春时》：“惯于长夜过春时，挈妇将雏鬓有丝”。“梦里依稀慈母泪，城头变幻大王旗”——“忍看朋辈成新鬼，怒向刀丛觅小诗”——“吟罢低眉无写处，月光如水照缁衣”——他写白色恐怖中的悲愤。【意象与手法】本诗为七言律诗，格律谨严而情感沉郁。颔联「梦里依稀慈母泪，城头变幻大王旗」以家国对举，慈母之泪与军阀之旗一柔一暴；颈联「忍看朋辈成新鬼，怒向刀丛觅小诗」对仗工整而字字泣血，「忍看」与「怒向」写出忍无可忍的愤怒。通篇不用典而直书，以血泪铸诗，是鲁迅旧体诗「以诗当匕首」的典范【情感与主旨】全诗以「长夜」写时代的黑暗，以「缁衣」写不屈的坚守：流亡之痛、丧友之痛、无处写诗之痛层层叠加，而痛中自有愤、愤中自有骨。这是鲁迅在白色恐怖中的自画像，也是他「横眉冷对千夫指」精神的又一写照【名句点睛】「忍看朋辈成新鬼，怒向刀丛觅小诗」为千古名联，写尽革命文人在屠刀下的悲愤与勇气，常考其对仗的精工与情感的沉痛

Background

The poem 'Untitled: Accustomed to Passing Springtime in the Long Night' was written in February 1931, a seven-character regulated verse (qilü) composed by Lu Xun to mourn the 'Five Martyrs of the League of Left-Wing Writers.' On January 17, 1931, five young writers—Rou Shi, Yin Fu, Hu Yepin, Feng Keng, and Li Weisen—were arrested at a meeting in the Oriental Hotel in Shanghai and secretly executed by firing squad at Longhua on the night of February 7. Rou Shi was Lu Xun's close friend and student; when arrested, a sample printing contract from Lu Xun was still in his pocket. Upon hearing the news, Lu Xun was forced to take refuge at the Huayuanzhuang Hotel, where he wrote this poem in the midst of flight. By then Lu Xun was nearly fifty. Since leaving Beijing in 1926 and settling in Shanghai in 1927, he had lived through the bloody storms of the 'March 18th Massacre' and the Guangzhou 'April 12th Purge.' The phrase 'accustomed to the long night' sums up those dark years under warlord rule. In the poem, 'with wife and child in tow' describes his flight with Xu Guangping and their young son Haiying; 'white strands at the temples' writes of aging; 'mother's tears' of his mother's worry for her son; 'warlords' banners' of the shifting politics of warlord warfare; 'friends become fresh ghosts' of the death of the five young writers; 'seeking a little poem amid the thicket of blades' of resistance with pen as sword; and 'moonlight shines upon my black robe' of a solitary, indignant figure. This poem and Lu Xun's contemporaneous essay 'In Memory of Forgetting' are two sides of one coin—both words written in blood and tears by Chinese literati under the White Terror.

《无题·惯于长夜过春时》作于1931年2月，是鲁迅为悼念「左联五烈士」而作的七律。1931年1月17日，柔石、殷夫、胡也频、冯铿、李伟森五位青年作家在上海东方旅社开会时被捕，2月7日深夜被秘密枪杀于龙华。柔石是鲁迅的挚友与学生，被捕时衣袋里还装着鲁迅印书合同的样本；鲁迅闻讯后被迫避难于花园庄旅馆，在流亡中写下此诗。其时鲁迅已年届五十，从1926年离京南下，1927年到上海定居，其间经历了「三一八」惨案、广州「四一二」清党等血雨腥风，「惯于长夜」四字正是对军阀统治下黑暗岁月的概括。诗中「挈妇将雏」写携许广平与幼子海婴避难，「鬓有丝」写年华老去，「慈母泪」写母亲为儿担忧，「大王旗」写军阀混战的政局，「朋辈成新鬼」写五位青年作家之死，「刀丛觅小诗」写以笔为剑的抗争，「月光照缁衣」写孤愤的身影。此诗与鲁迅同时期杂文《为了忘却的记念》互为表里，都是白色恐怖下中国文人以血泪写成的文字。

Art

This poem is a strictly regulated seven-character lü verse, yet the depth of its feeling and the economy of its language make it one of the highest achievements of Lu Xun's classical-style poetry. In structure, the eight lines in four couplets form a seamless beginning-development-turn-conclusion: the opening couplet sets the tone of the age with 'long night' and writes the reality of flight with 'with wife and child in tow,' beginning heavily yet plainly; the second couplet carries on the pain of family and state—'mother's tears' belongs to the home, 'warlords' banners' to the nation, one tender and one violent, one sorrowful and one chaotic, a balanced antithesis of vastly disparate imagery; the third couplet turns to the grief of lost friends and the anger of resistance, the emotional climax of the poem—the verbs 'how can I bear to watch' and 'angrily I turn' trace a psychological progression from unbearable endurance to irrepressible wrath; the closing couplet joins the impossibility of writing once the chant is done, ending with the cold, silent image of 'moonlight like water shining upon my black robe,' leaving a desolate aftertaste. In language, the whole poem uses no allusion and no ornament, gaining force through direct statement: phrases like 'accustomed to,' 'how can I bear to watch,' 'angrily I turn' are crisp and forceful; the antithesis is especially masterful—in the second couplet 'in dreams' answers 'atop the walls,' 'faintly' answers 'shift and change,' 'mother's tears' answers 'warlords' banners'; in the third couplet 'how can I bear to watch' answers 'angrily I turn,' 'friends' answers 'thicket of blades,' 'become fresh ghosts' answers 'seek a little poem'—the part-of-speech matching is precise yet the semantic tension is immense: mother's tears against warlords' banners, fresh ghosts against little poem, each set of incongruous images placed in parallel, revealing the absurdity of the age and the rift within the poet's heart. The poem records events and writes indignation in verse—a blood-and-thunder echo of the 'poet-historian' tradition (Du Fu) in the twentieth century.

本诗是一首格律谨严的七言律诗，而情感之沉郁、语言之凝练，使它成为鲁迅旧体诗的最高成就之一。章法上，八句四联起承转合浑然一体：首联以「长夜」定时代基调、以「挈妇将雏」写流亡实况，起得沉痛而平实；颔联承写家国之痛——「慈母泪」是家，「大王旗」是国，一柔一暴、一悲一乱，对仗工整而意象悬殊；颈联转写丧友之痛与抗争之怒，是全诗情感的高潮，「忍看」与「怒向」两个动词写出忍无可忍、怒不可遏的心理流程；尾联合写吟成之后的无处可写，以「月光如水照缁衣」的冷寂画面收束，余韵苍凉。语言上，通篇不用典、不雕琢，以直书见力：「惯于」「忍看」「怒向」等语皆斩截有力；对仗尤见功力，颔联「梦里」对「城头」、「依稀」对「变幻」、「慈母泪」对「大王旗」，颈联「忍看」对「怒向」、「朋辈」对「刀丛」、「成新鬼」对「觅小诗」，词性精工而意义张力极大——慈母泪与大王旗、新鬼与小诗，皆以极不协调的意象对举，正见时代之荒诞与诗人内心的撕裂。全诗以诗纪事、以诗写愤，是「诗史」传统（杜甫）在二十世纪的血色回声。

Allusions

Although this poem does not pile up classical allusions, its cultural meaning is deeply rooted in multiple contexts of Chinese traditional poetics. First, the image of the 'long night': from the Chu Ci's 'the long night is endless' to Du Fu's 'how can I endure when the long night soaks me through,' the 'long night' has always been a symbol of dark times. Lu Xun's 'accustomed to passing springtime in the long night,' with the words 'accustomed to,' writes a habituation to darkness, adding another layer of grief—not that it does not hurt, but that it has hurt too long, too long. Second, 'mother's tears' inherits the Chinese motif of filial devotion and the wandering son: the deep affection of Meng Jiao's 'Song of the Wandering Son' ('the thread from a loving mother's hand') here becomes 'in dreams, faintly, my loving mother's tears'—in flight the poet dreams of his mother weeping; the child's worry and the pain of family and state are interwoven. Third, 'warlords' banners' adapts the folk-song image of 'banners shifting atop the city wall,' writing directly the chaos of warlord warfare; the word 'great kings' brings underworld slang into the poem, biting yet colloquial, exactly Lu Xun's technique of 'making the vulgar elegant' borrowed from his essayistic style. Fourth, 'friends become fresh ghosts' covertly echoes Du Fu's 'new ghosts wail in grievance, old ghosts weep' (from 'Ballad of the War Carts'), using 'fresh ghosts' for the young who died beneath the butcher's knife—ancient words for a modern use, blood and tears bursting forth. Fifth, the allusion of the 'black robe' originates in the Shi Jing ('Zheng Feng: Black Robe'), originally a garment praising the worthy; later 'black robe' often meant the clothing of monks or Taoists and black garments. Lu Xun writes with 'moonlight like water shines upon my black robe' his figure in a black gown under the moon—both literal (Lu Xun often wore black) and symbolic of the 'black' identity of a fighter: the black robe like ink, the color of pen and ink, and also an unextinguished figure in the dark night.

本诗虽不堆砌典故，其文化内涵却深植于中国传统诗学的多重语境。其一，「长夜」之象：从《楚辞》「长夜漫漫」到杜甫「长夜沾湿何由彻」，「长夜」始终是黑暗时代的象征，鲁迅「惯于长夜过春时」以「惯于」二字写对黑暗的习以为常，更添一层沉痛——不是不痛，而是痛得太久、太久。其二，「慈母泪」承中国孝亲与游子母题：孟郊《游子吟》「慈母手中线」的深情，在此化为「梦里依稀慈母泪」——流亡中的诗人梦见母亲垂泪，儿女之忧与家国之痛交织。其三，「大王旗」化用「城头变幻大王旗」的民间谣谚意象，直写军阀混战「城头旗换」的乱局，「大王」一词以江湖语入诗，辛辣而通俗，正见鲁迅「以俗为雅」的杂文笔法入诗。其四，「朋辈成新鬼」暗承杜甫「新鬼烦冤旧鬼哭」（《兵车行》）的冤魂意象，以「新鬼」写死于屠刀之下的青年，古语今用，血泪交迸。其五，「缁衣」之典本出《诗经·郑风·缁衣》，原写好贤之服，后世缁衣常指僧道之服与黑衣；鲁迅以「月光如水照缁衣」写自己黑色的长衫在月光下的身影，既写实（鲁迅常着黑衫），更象征「黑色」的斗士身份——缁衣如墨，是笔与墨的颜色，也是黑夜中不灭的身影。

Commentary

'Untitled: Accustomed to Passing Springtime in the Long Night' is the pinnacle of Lu Xun's classical-style poetry and a famous elegy in the history of modern Chinese literature. The poem was not initially published; in 1933 Lu Xun presented it at the request of his Japanese friend Yamamoto Hatsue and included it in 'Collection Beyond the Collection'; in 1933 Lu Xun wrote 'In Memory of Forgetting,' making public the manuscript reading of 'angrily I turn toward the thicket of blades to seek a little poem' (the first draft had 'blade's edge'), and said 'it is not the young writing memory for the old, but in these thirty years I have witnessed the blood of many youths'—poem and essay confirm each other, becoming a blood-red monument of left-wing literature. In literary history this poem has three significances: first, it carries the most immediate revolutionary subject matter in strict qilü form, proving that classical verse could still face the age directly in the modern era—Lu Xun's practice of 'new wine in an old bottle' runs in the same vein as Mao Zedong's classical-style poetry; second, it writes the pain of the age through personal pain, elevating the plaintiveness of traditional elegy into the solemn heroism of a revolutionary, a modern continuation of the 'poet-historian' spirit; third, the couplet 'how can I bear to watch my friends become fresh ghosts, angrily I turn toward the thicket of blades to seek a little poem' became the spiritual portrait of left-wing intellectuals—the blood of the five martyrs such as Rou Shi and the words from Lu Xun's brush together forged the most grievous memory of the White Terror era. Later critics of Lu Xun's classical poetry all take the 'long night' poem as the crown; the four characters 'accustomed to the long night' became a classic formulation of the 'dark age' in the history of modern Chinese literature.

《无题·惯于长夜过春时》是鲁迅旧体诗的巅峰之作，也是中国现代文学史上悼亡诗的名篇。此诗最初未公开发表，1933年鲁迅应日本友人山本初枝之请书赠，并收入《集外集》；1933年鲁迅作《为了忘却的记念》，将「怒向刀丛觅小诗」的原稿笔迹（初稿作「刀边」）公之于世，并称「不是年青的为年老的写记念，而在这三十年中，却使我目睹许多青年的血」——诗与文互证，成为左翼文学的血色纪念碑。文学史上，此诗的意义有三：其一，它以谨严的七律形式承载最现实的革命题材，证明旧体诗在现代依然可以直面时代——鲁迅以「旧瓶装新酒」的实践，与毛泽东旧体诗词一脉相通；其二，它以个人之痛写时代之痛，悼亡中见愤怒、流亡中见风骨，把传统悼亡诗的哀婉提升为革命者的悲壮，是「诗史」精神的现代延续；其三，「忍看朋辈成新鬼，怒向刀丛觅小诗」一联，成为左翼知识分子的精神写照——柔石等五烈士的鲜血与鲁迅笔下的文字，共同铸成白色恐怖年代最沉痛的记忆。后世论鲁迅旧体诗者，无不以「长夜」一诗为压卷；「惯于长夜」四字，更成为中国现代文学史上「黑暗时代」的经典表述。

Prosody

Form Seven-character regulated verse (qilü): eight lines in four couplets, with level-oblique tonal patterning and antithesis in the middle two couplets.七言律诗（八句四联，平仄粘对、中间两联对仗）

Rhyme The poem follows the 'zhi' rhyme of the Pingshui rhyme scheme; the rhyme feet are 'shi, si, qi, shi, yi,' sustaining one rhyme throughout with a calm, low, and somber tone, matching the depressed and desolate emotional register. All five rhyme feet—'shi, si, qi, shi, yi'—are level-toned, each line ending on a level tone, read like a low, lingering sigh, protracted yet unhurried.本诗押平水韵「支」韵，韵脚为「时、丝、旗、诗、衣」，一韵到底、声调平缓低沉，正合沉郁苍凉的情感基调；五个韵脚「时、丝、旗、诗、衣」皆为平声，句句落在平声上，读来如低回的叹息，绵长而不迫促。

Tone pattern The metrical rules are strict, the level-oblique tones following the standard qilü pattern with correct adhesion and correspondence, the sound orderly and weighty. The second couplet 'in dreams… mother's tears, atop the walls… warlords' banners' and the third couplet 'how can I bear to watch… fresh ghosts, angrily I turn… little poem' are both finely balanced antitheses, ringing like metal striking stone; the opening and closing couplets proceed in looser, unpatterned lines—the opening narrates slowly and heavily, the closing ends with scene and feeling, leaving a long aftertaste. Prose and pattern alternate, stillness and motion complement each other.格律谨严，平仄依七律正格，粘对无误，声调整饬而凝重。颔联「梦里依稀慈母泪，城头变幻大王旗」、颈联「忍看朋辈成新鬼，怒向刀丛觅小诗」皆对仗精工，读来如金石相击；首尾两联则以散行出之，首联叙事沉缓，尾联以景结情、余韵悠长，整散相间、动静相济。

Reading note As a standard seven-character lü verse, the beauty of its sound lies in 'bearing heavy feeling within strict form'—the more orderly the form, the more restrained and powerful the feeling appears. The whole poem follows the 'zhi' rhyme of the Pingshui scheme; among the eight rhyme positions, the five characters 'shi, si, qi, shi, yi' are all level-toned open syllables, their sound low, level, and long, like a suppressed sigh in the long night, one sigh to the end, unbroken—'shi' lingering, 'si' fine, 'qi' rising, 'shi' sinking, 'yi' slowing; the five rhyme feet undulate slightly upon a level-toned base, like small ripples of emotion within the grief. Metrically, the poem strictly observes the qilü standard: level-oblique adhesion and correspondence without the slightest error, its sound weighty yet not stiff; in the second couplet 'in dreams, faintly, mother's tears / atop the walls, shift and change, warlords' banners,' the paired 'faintly' and 'shift and change' are double alliteration and rhyme, the sound swaying, writing the blur of dream and the flicker of banner shadows, sound and meaning joined; the third couplet is the apex of the poem's sound and rhyme, the two lines like two heavy hammers, finely balanced, level-oblique in harmony, read crisp and forceful—exactly the sonic embodiment of 'angrily I turn.' The opening couplet enters the theme with plain narration, its sound slow and heavy; the closing couplet turns to scene, its sound returning from fierce to low—the 'lower' of 'lower my brows,' the 'like' of 'like water,' their syllables soft, like weariness and reflection after anger. The sound of the four couplets begins in heaviness, carries in chaos, turns in wrath, concludes in silence—exactly the emotional beginning-development-turn-conclusion. Lu Xun places the 'new wine' of the age into the 'old bottle' of qilü, and the wine's potency is all the greater for the bottle's strictness.《无题·惯于长夜过春时》作为一首标准的七言律诗，其音律之美在于「以谨严的格律承载沉痛的情感」，形式愈整饬，愈见情感的克制与力量。全诗押平水韵「支」韵，八个韵脚中「时、丝、旗、诗、衣」五字皆为平声开口音，声音低平绵长，如长夜中压抑的叹息，一叹到底、不绝如缕——「时」之绵、「丝」之细、「旗」之扬、「诗」之沉、「衣」之缓，五个韵脚在平声的基调上略有起伏，恰似沉痛中情绪的微澜。格律上，此诗严守七律正格：平仄粘对一丝不苟，读来声调凝重而不板滞；颔联「梦里依稀慈母泪，城头变幻大王旗」中「依稀」「变幻」双声叠韵相对，声情摇曳，写梦境之迷离与旗影之晃动，声与义合；颈联「忍看朋辈成新鬼，怒向刀丛觅小诗」是全诗声韵的顶点，两句如两记重锤，对仗精工（忍看—怒向、朋辈—刀丛、成新鬼—觅小诗），平仄相谐，读来斩截有力，正是「怒向」的声化。首联「惯于长夜过春时，挈妇将雏鬓有丝」以平实的叙述入题，声调沉缓；尾联「吟罢低眉无写处，月光如水照缁衣」转入写景，声调由激越复归低回，「低眉」的「低」、「如水」的「如」，音节绵软，恰似愤怒之后的疲倦与沉思。四联之声，起于沉、承于乱、转于怒、合于寂，恰如情感的起承转合。鲁迅以七律之「旧瓶」，装时代之「新酒」，而酒味之烈，正因瓶之谨严——形式愈工，情感愈显其沉。

Line by line

惯于长夜过春时，挈妇将雏鬓有丝。

Accustomed to passing springtime in the long night, with wife and child in tow, white strands appear at my temples. (The opening couplet is the first brushstroke of the fugitive's self-portrait, writing the desolation of the dark years. 'Accustomed to the long night' carries enormous weight: 'long night' symbolizes the era—since leaving Beijing in 1926, Lu Xun witnessed warlord darkness, and 'long night' sums up those ten years; 'passing springtime' hints at February 1931—winter's end yet spring like night. Most grievous is 'accustomed to': not numbness but pain grown habitual, and habituation itself is the greatest tragedy. 'With wife and child in tow' writes the hurried flight with family; 'white strands' writes the aging of fifty—the fragility of life in flight.)

已经习惯于在漫漫长夜里度过春天，带着妻子和幼子逃亡，鬓边已添了白发。

Used to passing spring in the long night, wife and child led along, my temples streaked with gray.

首联两句是流亡者自画像的起笔，写尽黑暗岁月中的苍凉。「惯于长夜过春时」七个字分量极重：「长夜」是时代的象征——自1926年离京南下以来，鲁迅经历了三一八惨案、四一二清党、五次围剿，目睹军阀的黑暗统治，「长夜」正是这十年的概括；「过春时」则暗写1931年2月——冬尽春来，而春亦如夜，诗人在春天里度过的是更深的黑暗；最沉痛的是「惯于」二字——「惯于」不是麻木，而是痛到习以为常，习以为常本身即是最大的悲剧。「挈妇将雏鬓有丝」以写实之笔承接：柔石等被捕后，鲁迅携许广平、海婴避难，「挈妇将雏」写拖家带口的仓皇，「鬓有丝」写五十岁的衰老——以「丝」写白发，如游丝般纤细易断，暗喻生命的脆弱与流亡的煎熬。两句一虚一实，以「惯于」的沉痛起、以「鬓丝」的苍凉承，一个在长夜中流亡的老人的形象，已立在读者眼前。

The exile. Used to passing spring in the long night, wife and child led along, my temples streaked with gray. The used-to-long-night spring and the led wife-and-child and the gray temples are the self-portrait. To have grown used to the long night would be a getting-used; the used-to-passing-spring-in-the-long-night-wife-and-child-led-along-my-temples-streaked-with-gray is the getting-used.

梦里依稀慈母泪，城头变幻大王旗。

In dreams, faintly, my loving mother's tears; atop the walls, the warlords' banners shift and change. (The second couplet sets home against state, the greatest imagistic tension of the poem. 'Mother's tears' is the tender image of home; 'warlords' banners' writes the reality of warlord chaos. The two are placed in parallel—one a parent's tears, one the banners of a troubled age; one a dream, one waking reality—weaving personal longing and the era's turmoil into one web of shared grief.)

睡梦里依稀看见慈母的眼泪，城头上不断变幻着军阀的旗帜。

In dreams, my mother's tears glimmer; on the city walls, the warlords' flags keep changing.

颔联以家与国对举，是全诗意象张力最大的一联。「梦里依稀慈母泪」写梦：流亡中的诗人梦见远在北京的母亲垂泪——「依稀」二字写梦境的朦胧，泪眼在梦中若隐若现，可见思念之深、担忧之重；鲁迅早年留学日本时母亲为其完婚，此后母子间多有隔阂，然血浓于水，流亡之际梦见慈母垂泪，正是游子最本真的情感。慈母泪是「家」的意象，柔软而深情。「城头变幻大王旗」写现实：军阀混战，城头旗帜不断易主——「变幻」二字写尽政局的无常，「大王」一词以绿林江湖语入诗，辛辣地嘲讽军阀的土匪本质。慈母泪与大旗相对：一为至亲之泪，一为乱世之旗；一为梦中之情，一为醒时之实。两句以「梦里」与「城头」、「依稀」与「变幻」对仗，虚实相生，将个人的乡愁与时代的乱局并置，正是家国同悲的写法——母亲的泪为儿子而流，儿子的泪为时代而流，天下兴亡与骨肉之念在两句中交织成网。

The flags. In dreams, my mother's tears glimmer; on the city walls, the warlords' flags keep changing. The dreamt mother's tears and the changing warlords' flags are the couplet. To have changed the flags would be a changing; the in-dreams-my-mother's-tears-glimmer-on-the-city-walls-the-warlords'-flags-keep-changing is the changing.

忍看朋辈成新鬼，怒向刀丛觅小诗。

How can I bear to watch my friends become fresh ghosts, angrily I turn toward the thicket of blades to seek a little poem. (The third couplet is the climax and one of the most grievous famous lines in modern Chinese poetry. 'Friends become fresh ghosts' writes the grief of lost comrades—the five young lives turned to ghosts beneath the blade; 'how can I bear to watch' is heart-rending: unwilling yet forced to watch. 'Angrily I turn toward the thicket of blades' writes resistance—in a forest of knives the poet seeks only 'a little poem,' the smallness of poetry against the mass of blades showing the literatus's stubbornness: knives may kill, but not the poem. The couplet is finely balanced and blood-soaked, a poem turned into a javelin.)

忍心看着朋友们一个个成了新鬼，满腔愤怒，向着刀丛剑树搜寻小诗。

How can I bear to see my friends become new ghosts? In rage I hunt for a small poem among the groves of swords.

颈联是全诗的高潮，也是中国现代诗中最沉痛的名联之一。「忍看朋辈成新鬼」写丧友之痛：「朋辈」是柔石、殷夫等青年战友，鲁迅视之如友如子，如今「成新鬼」——「新鬼」二字直用杜甫「新鬼烦冤旧鬼哭」，写刚死的冤魂，五条年轻的生命在屠刀下化为新鬼，痛彻心扉；「忍看」二字最是撕心裂肺——「忍看」即「怎忍看」「不忍看」，然不忍看而终须看、终已看，一个「忍」字写尽目睹友人惨死的切肤之痛。「怒向刀丛觅小诗」写抗争之怒：「刀丛」者，刀剑如林也，写白色恐怖的森然；「觅小诗」三字举重若轻——在刀丛剑树之中，诗人要「觅」的竟只是「小诗」，以诗之「小」对刀之「丛」，愈见文人的倔强：刀可以杀人，却杀不了诗；「怒向」二字是全联的力点，把「忍看」的痛推为「怒向」的勇，忍无可忍则怒，怒不可遏则写——以诗为匕首，投枪掷向刀丛。两句对仗精工（忍看—怒向、朋辈—刀丛、成新鬼—觅小诗），而字字泣血，是血泪凝成的诗，也是诗化了的投枪。

The poem. How can I bear to see my friends become new ghosts? In rage I hunt for a small poem among the groves of swords. The bear-not-to-see-the-friends-new-ghosts and the rage-hunting-the-small-poem-among-swords are the climax. To have borne not seeing would be a bearing; the how-can-i-bear-to-see-my-friends-become-new-ghosts-in-rage-i-hunt-for-a-small-poem-among-the-groves-of-swords is the bearing.

吟罢低眉无写处，月光如水照缁衣。

Having chanted, I lower my brows—nowhere to write it down, moonlight like water shines upon my black robe. (The closing couplet ends the poem with a cold, silent image, a stillness after anger, desolate and lingering. 'Nowhere to write it down' is the deepest grief—not lack of pen and paper, but no place to publish; under the White Terror, even words mourning friends cannot see the light. 'Moonlight like water shines upon my black robe' ends with scene and feeling: clear cold moonlight upon the black gown—black and white distinct, showing the poet's lone nobility and unyielding spirit. All fierce emotion settles into a silent figure under the moon.)

吟成之后低下头来，却没有地方可以写，只有如水一般明亮的月光，照着我黑色的衣衫。

The poem done, I bow my head—there is nowhere to write it; moonlit water shines on my black robe.

尾联以冷寂的画面收束全诗，是愤怒之后的沉静，余韵苍凉而深长。「吟罢低眉无写处」写创作困境：「吟罢」承上句「觅小诗」，诗已吟成；「低眉」写沉思低首之态，愤怒之后是沉重的低回；「无写处」三字最是沉痛——不是没有纸笔，而是没有可以发表的地方，白色恐怖下言路断绝，血写的诗无处安放，这是比杀身更深的悲哀：连哀悼亡友的文字都不能公之于世。「月光如水照缁衣」以景结情：如水般清冷的月光，照着诗人黑色的长衫——「如水」写月光之清寒明澈，「缁衣」写黑色衣衫（鲁迅常着黑衫），清光与黑衣相对，冷与黑相映，营造出空寂孤独的意境。这一结句的妙处在于「以景写人」：愤怒与悲痛都沉淀为月光下静立的身影，缁衣是斗士的黑，月光是清白的明，黑白分明中见出诗人的孤高与不屈。全诗由长夜的悲、慈母的泪、新鬼的痛、刀丛的怒，终于月光下的缁衣——一切激烈的情绪归于一幅冷寂的画面，而画面之外，是更深的夜。

The moon. The poem done, I bow my head—there is nowhere to write it; moonlit water shines on my black robe. The no-where-to-write and the moonlit-water-on-the-black-robe are the close. To have had nowhere to write would be a nowhere; the the-poem-done-i-bow-my-head-there-is-nowhere-to-write-it-moonlit-water-shines-on-my-black-robe is the nowhere.

Study

Word focus

惯于 'Accustomed to' (in 'accustomed to passing springtime in the long night') is the tuning fork of the poem's emotional register, meaning habituated, taken as customary. Its brilliance lies in 'writing darkness through habit': the long night should not be habitual, yet the poet is 'accustomed'—not numb resignation but a grievous inertia formed after long endurance of dark rule. Paired with 'passing springtime' it is especially poignant: spring, image of light and warmth, is passed like a long night. The word also implies a bleak confidence: one accustomed to darkness is one who has seen through it, and precisely thereby 'angrily turns toward the thicket of blades.' A single 'accustomed to' writes all the vicissitude and unyielding spirit of a fighter in the dark. 「惯于长夜过春时」之「惯于」，是全诗情感基调的定盘星，意谓习惯于、习以为常。此词之妙在于「以习惯写黑暗」：长夜本不可惯，而诗人竟「惯于」——这「惯」不是随遇而安的麻木，而是对黑暗统治的长久忍受之后形成的沉痛惯性，正如他自述「向来是不惮以最坏的恶意来推测中国人的」。正因「惯于」，长夜才更显其长：一个人的忍耐是有尽头的，而夜没有；「惯于」二字把个人与时代的对抗写成了旷日持久的消耗战。与「过春时」相配尤见深意：春本是光明温暖之象，而诗人「过春时」如过长夜，春在长夜中失去意义——正因为惯于长夜，春天也成了夜的一部分。此词还暗含一种悲凉的自信：惯于黑暗者，正是看透了黑暗的人，正因看透，方能「怒向刀丛觅小诗」。一个「惯于」，写尽了一个斗士在黑暗中的全部沧桑与不屈。

缁衣 'Black robe' (in 'moonlight like water shines upon my black robe') is the imagistic settling point of the poem's ending, meaning black clothing. 'Zi' is black; the phrase originates in the Shi Jing ('Zheng Feng: Black Robe'), originally a garment praising the worthy; later it often meant black or monastic robes. Lu Xun writes his black gown—he often wore black, literal; yet the image also symbolizes: black is the color of pen and ink, marking the literatus; black is the color of night, the poet part of the dark yet not of it; black means steadfast endurance like dark iron. The clear moonlight against the heavy black sets off the loneliness of the figure. The word settles anger into stillness, grief into realm—the extreme of Lu Xun's 'cold, stern' style. 「月光如水照缁衣」之「缁衣」，是全诗结尾的意象收束点，指黑色的衣服。「缁」本为黑色，缁衣一词出《诗经·郑风·缁衣》，原写好贤之服，后世缁衣多指黑衣、僧衣。鲁迅在诗中以「缁衣」写自己的黑色长衫——他常年着黑色衣袍，这是写实；而「缁衣」的意象又有多重象征：其一，黑色是笔与墨的颜色，「缁」与「墨」相通，缁衣是文人身份的标记，月光照缁衣，正是墨色在清光下的显现；其二，黑色是黑夜的颜色，缁衣与长夜同色，诗人是黑夜的一部分，也是黑夜中的异数——他在黑暗中生存，却不与黑暗同流；其三，黑色有坚忍不拔的意味，如玄铁般沉静，「月光如水照缁衣」以水的清冷反衬缁衣的沉黑，黑白相照，愈见衣之黑、光之明、人之孤。此词收束全诗，把愤怒沉淀为静穆，把悲痛升华为境界，是鲁迅「冷峻」风格的极致体现。