近现代 近现代 · 诗 Poem
乡愁
Nostalgia (Xiangchou)
小时候，乡愁是一枚小小的邮票，我在这头，母亲在那头。
长大后，乡愁是一张窄窄的船票，我在这头，新娘在那头。
后来啊，乡愁是一方矮矮的坟墓，我在外头，母亲在里头。
而现在，乡愁是一湾浅浅的海峡，我在这头，大陆在那头。
When I grew up, nostalgia was a narrow narrow boat ticket, I on this side, my bride on that side.
Later, nostalgia was a low low grave, I outside, mother inside.
And now, nostalgia is a shallow shallow strait, I on this side, the Mainland on that side.
Meaning
Written in 1971 by Yu Guangzhong, when he was forty-three, residing on Xiamen Street in Taipei. The poem takes the four images of the stamp, the boat ticket, the grave, and the strait, writing the nostalgia of the four stages of the life: 'when I was little, nostalgia was a small small postage stamp, I on this side, mother on that side'—the nostalgia of the childhood, the separation of the mother and the son maintained by the letter; 'when I grew up, nostalgia was a narrow narrow boat ticket, I on this side, my bride on that side'—the nostalgia of the youth, the parting of the husband and the wife crossed by the boat; 'later, nostalgia was a low low grave, I outside, mother inside'—the nostalgia of the middle age, the separation of the life and the death never to be crossed; 'and now, nostalgia is a shallow shallow strait, I on this side, the Mainland on that side'—the nostalgia of the present, the separation of the home and the country cut by the strait. The four images advance from the small to the great, from the life to the death, from the individual to the nation, the capacity of the nostalgia expanding layer on layer, and the close of the strait the personal nostalgia elevated to the nostalgia of the home and the country.
小时候，乡愁是一枚小小的邮票，我在这头，母亲在那头。长大后，乡愁是一张窄窄的船票，我在这头，新娘在那头。后来啊，乡愁是一方矮矮的坟墓，我在外头，母亲在里头。而现在，乡愁是一湾浅浅的海峡，我在这头，大陆在那头。
Appreciation
The poem of four stanzas and sixteen lines, its art with the 'the advance of the images and the refrain of the sentence-forms' as the core. The choice of the four images is especially ingenious: the stamp (the childhood, the separation of the mother and the son, maintained by the letter), the boat ticket (the youth, the parting of the husband and the wife, crossed by the boat), the grave (the middle age, the separation of the life and the death, never to be crossed), the strait (the present, the separation of the home and the country, cut by the sea)—from the small to the great, from the life to the death, from the individual to the nation, the capacity of the nostalgia expanding layer on layer, the close of the strait gathering the whole life; the refrain of the sentence-forms: 'when I was little... when I grew up... later... and now' the repetition of the 'I on this side... on that side' forming the music of the refrain, the four stanzas of the same sentence-forms yet the four stages of the different feelings, the deep and the lingering of the nostalgia written with the plain and the true. The whole poem, with the daily images and the refrain of the sentence-forms, writes the great nostalgia of the Chinese, the most widely recited modern poem of the nostalgia.
【白话串讲】 余光中写《乡愁》：“小时候，乡愁是一枚小小的邮票，我在这头，母亲在那头”。“长大后，乡愁是一张窄窄的船票”——“后来啊，乡愁是一方矮矮的坟墓”——“而现在，乡愁是一湾浅浅的海峡，我在这头，大陆在那头”——写乡愁最动人的一首诗。 【意象与手法】 全诗以「乡愁是……」的比喻句式为骨架，邮票、船票、坟墓、海峡四个意象层层递进，从小到大、从具体到抽象、从个人到家国；「我在这头／母亲在那头」的句式反复回环，如叹息般一唱三叹；叠词（小小的、窄窄的、矮矮的、浅浅的）更添民歌般的韵味。 【情感与主旨】 这首诗既是个人生命史的乡愁——思念母亲、思念妻子，更是民族集体记忆的乡愁——海峡两岸的隔绝；由「邮票」到「海峡」，乡愁从一家一人的思念升华为整个中华民族的团圆之盼。 【名句点睛】 「乡愁是一湾浅浅的海峡，我在这头，大陆在那头」是点睛之笔：以「浅浅」写海峡，反衬思念之深、隔绝之久，成为当代汉语中表达两岸情思最著名的诗句。
Background
The poem was written in 1971, when Yu Guangzhong was forty-three, residing on Xiamen Street in Taipei. Yu Guangzhong (1928–2017), ancestral home in Yongchun, Fujian, born in Nanjing, Jiangsu, moved to Taiwan with his parents in 1949, thereafter shuttling between Hong Kong and America, and from 1974 taught at Sun Yat-sen University in Taiwan. His life was one of the drifting: leaving his home in his youth for Chongqing (going to Sichuan with his mother during the War of Resistance), crossing the sea to Taiwan in his youth, traveling to America to lecture in his middle age, settling in Kaohsiung in his later years, calling himself 'the poet of the nostalgia.' The background of the poem is twofold: first, the personal grief, he had left his home since 1949, more than twenty years without returning to the Mainland, mother and the native land both the objects of the longing; second, the grief of the age, since 1949 the strait separated the two sides, the family of the poet and the home of the country the deep grief of the age, the personal nostalgia of the poem carrying the grief of the age.
《乡愁》作于1971年，余光中时年四十三岁，居于台北厦门街。余光中（1928—2017），祖籍福建永春，生于江苏南京，1949年随父母迁居台湾，此后辗转香港、美国，1974年起任教于台湾中山大学。他一生漂泊：少时离乡赴渝（抗战时随母入川），青年渡海去台，中年旅美讲学，晚年定居高雄，自谓「乡愁诗人」。此诗创作背景有二：一是个人之愁，他自1949年离乡，二十余年未回大陆，母亲与故土皆成思念的对象；二是时代之愁，1949年后海峡两岸长期隔绝，千万家庭隔海相望，「邮票」「船票」「坟墓」「海峡」正是两岸离散者共同的生命经验。1971年，余光中在台北旧居的深夜里，二十余年的乡愁涌上心头，仅用二十分钟便写下此诗。诗人自己说，这首诗的灵感来自「小时候」的亲身经历——母亲缝补衣裳、寄信牵系；而「新娘」一节则写他与妻子范我存的聚少离多。全诗以个人经验写普遍乡愁，以「小我」之愁写「大我」之思，故能引起海峡两岸乃至全球华人的共鸣，成为当代华人文学中传诵最广的诗篇之一。
Art
The art is the 'the advance of the images and the refrain of the sentence-forms': the stamp, the boat ticket, the grave, and the strait, from the small to the great, from the life to the death, from the individual to the nation, the capacity of the nostalgia expanding layer on layer; the 'when I was little... and now' and the 'I on this side... on that side' the refrain, the music of the nostalgia—the plain and the true, the deep and the lingering.
全诗四节十六行，艺术上以「意象递进、句式回环」为核心。四个意象的选择极具匠心：邮票（童年，母子分离，以信维系）、船票（青年，夫妻离别，以舟往来）、坟墓（中年，生死相隔，永不能通）、海峡（现在，家国隔离，以海横断）——由小而大、由生而亡、由个人而民族，乡愁的容量层层扩展，最后一节以「海峡」收束，把一生的乡愁升华为民族的乡愁。句式上，四节完全对称：「小时候／长大后／后来啊／而现在」的时间序，「乡愁是……」的判断句式，「我在这头／××在那头」的空间句式，节节复沓、如环无端，如叹息声一声接一声。修辞上最见功力者有三：一是比喻，乡愁本是无形之情，诗人以邮票、船票、坟墓、海峡四种实物为喻，使乡愁可触可感；二是对比，「这头／那头」的空间对立，把「隔」字写到极致；三是叠词，「小小的」「窄窄的」「矮矮的」「浅浅的」，皆以小写大、以浅写深——「浅浅的海峡」却隔着最深的乡愁，反衬之力无穷。全诗语言洗尽铅华，几近口语，而意象之精、结构之严，又尽显诗人功力，是「深入浅出」的极致。
Allusions
The poem carries the thousand-year nostalgia with the four daily images, deeply rooted in the tradition of the 'the feeling written with the object' of the Chinese poetry. First, the motif of the nostalgia has a long history: the 'Small Elegance: Picking the Bracken' of the Book of Songs, 'when I went away, the willows were soft and hanging; now I come back, the snow and the rain are falling,' already opening the homesickness of the soldier; the 'Sad Song' of the Han yuefu, 'the sad song may take the place of the weeping, the gazing far may take the place of the return,' directly writing the gazing home; and Du Fu's 'the moon is bright tonight in the home, I wonder where my brother watches it' the longing of the moon. The poem, with the stamp, the boat ticket, the grave, and the strait, the four images of the modern life, the modern expression of this ancient motif. Second, the mother, the bride, and the Mainland, the three 'that side,' the family and the country in one, the deep meaning of the nostalgia of the Chinese.
此诗以四个日常意象承载千年乡愁，深得中国诗歌「以物写情」的传统神髓。其一，「乡愁」母题源远流长：《诗经·小雅·采薇》「昔我往矣，杨柳依依；今我来思，雨雪霏霏」已开征人思乡之先；汉乐府《悲歌》「悲歌可以当泣，远望可以当归」直写望乡之情；唐代李白《静夜思》「举头望明月，低头思故乡」、杜甫《月夜忆舍弟》「露从今夜白，月是故乡明」，皆以最寻常之物写最深沉之愁。余光中承此传统，而化「明月」为「邮票」「船票」，以现代生活之物（邮票、船票）写千古之情，是「旧愁新写」的典范。其二，「坟墓」一节的生死之隔，暗承《古诗十九首》「去者日以疏，来者日以亲」与苏轼《江城子》「十年生死两茫茫」的悼亡传统，把乡愁从空间之隔推向生死之隔，情感愈深。其三，末节「海峡」意象，是此诗超越前人的独创：以地理的「浅浅」反衬历史的「深深」，把个人乡愁接入民族记忆（1949年以来两岸隔绝），使全诗由「小家」升华为「大我」。此外，诗中「这头／那头」的空间句式，又暗合《诗经》「所谓伊人，在水一方」的隔水相望，一脉相承的「隔」之叹，至此有了海峡的具体形态。全诗以白话写旧愁，是现代诗承古开新的典范。
Commentary
The poem is the most widely circulated work of Yu Guangzhong and one of the most widely read and influential pieces of the contemporary Chinese-language poetry. Since its publication in 1971, it has been translated into various languages and selected into the textbooks of the two sides of the strait and the overseas Chinese education, becoming the literary synonym of the 'nostalgia.' Its artistic achievement, as the critics say, lies in the harmony of the great and the small: the four daily images of the stamp, the boat ticket, the grave, and the strait, with the plain and the true, carrying the great nostalgia of the individual, the family, and the nation, and the last stanza 'and now, nostalgia is a shallow shallow strait, I on this side, the Mainland on that side' the era's grief, the personal nostalgia and the home-country nostalgia in one, the eternal voice of the contemporary Chinese poetry.
《乡愁》是余光中流传最广的诗作，也是当代华语诗歌中读者最多、影响最大的篇章之一。自1971年发表以来，它被译成多种文字，入选海峡两岸及海外华文教材，成为「乡愁」的文学代名词。其艺术成就，评论家多从三点论之：一是「以小见大」——四个日常意象写尽一生的乡愁，又从个人之愁升华为民族之愁，容量极大而笔触极轻；二是「以简驭繁」——十六行诗，句式复沓、语言洗练，几近民歌而意蕴无穷，是「深入浅出」的典范；三是「以浅写深」——「浅浅的海峡」四字，把最深的历史与政治之隔写得举重若轻，含蓄而有力。在文学史上，此诗标志着台湾现代诗由西化实验向民族传统回归的转向：余光中自谓「右手写诗，左手写散文」，其诗兼采古典意境与西方技巧（意象派、现代主义），而《乡愁》正是这一「中西合璧」路线的成熟果实。更重要的是，此诗在海峡两岸隔绝的年代，以艺术的力量沟通了两岸同胞的情感——许多大陆读者正是通过这首诗认识余光中，并通过「乡愁」理解台湾同胞的思念。1980年代后，两岸开放探亲，「乡愁」从诗走进现实；2017年余光中逝世，此诗更成为一代人的集体记忆。一首小诗，见证了一段历史，这正是《乡愁》不朽的力量。
Prosody
Line by line
小时候，乡愁是一枚小小的邮票，我在这头，母亲在那头。
When I was little, nostalgia was a small small postage stamp, I on this side, mother on that side. (The first stanza: the nostalgia of the childhood, the separation of the mother and the son maintained by the letter.)
小时候，乡愁是一枚小小的邮票，我在这头，母亲在那头。
In childhood, homesickness was a tiny stamp; I on this end, mother on that.
第一节写童年乡愁，意象是「邮票」。四个成分层层展开：「小时候」点明人生阶段；「乡愁是一枚小小的邮票」首次立喻——乡愁本无形，诗人以「邮票」为喻，把抽象之情化为可触之物，且「小小的」三字暗含稚子视角，童年的乡愁如邮票般轻小；「我在这头，母亲在那头」以「这头／那头」的空间句式，写母子被邮票隔开又由邮票相连——「这头」是寄信的孩子，「那头」是收信的母亲，一枚邮票，两头牵挂。此节妙在「小小的」与「乡愁」的反差：邮票虽小，乡愁已生；空间之隔虽只「这头那头」，思念已从此开始。全诗由这一枚小小的邮票起笔，为后文乡愁的层层扩大定了基调。
The stamp. In childhood, homesickness was a tiny stamp; I on this end, mother on that. The tiny stamp and the this-end-that-end mother are the first stanza. To have been the tiny stamp would be a being; the in-childhood-homesickness-was-a-tiny-stamp-i-on-this-end-mother-on-that is the being.
长大后，乡愁是一张窄窄的船票，我在这头，新娘在那头。
When I grew up, nostalgia was a narrow narrow boat ticket, I on this side, my bride on that side. (The second stanza: the nostalgia of the youth, the parting of the husband and the wife crossed by the boat.)
长大后，乡愁是一张窄窄的船票，我在这头，新娘在那头。
Grown up, homesickness was a narrow ferry ticket; I on this end, my bride on that.
第二节写青年乡愁，意象由「邮票」变为「船票」。「长大后」紧承「小时候」，时间推进；「一张窄窄的船票」——由「枚」而「张」，由「小小」而「窄窄」，量词与叠词的更换，暗示乡愁的形态随人生阶段而变：童年的乡愁靠信维系，青年的乡愁靠舟往来；「我在这头，新娘在那头」——「母亲」换成「新娘」，思念的对象由血缘转为爱情，乡愁的内容由母子亲情变为夫妻别离。此节与前节句式全同而对象全换，如民歌的对句，一唱三叹；「窄窄的」船票载不动离愁，正是「物轻情重」的反衬。值得注意的是，从「邮票」到「船票」，乡愁从「可以寄达」变为「可以渡达」，空间之隔似在缩小，而「新娘」的加入，使乡愁多了一层爱情的浓度。
The ticket. Grown up, homesickness was a narrow ferry ticket; I on this end, my bride on that. The narrow ticket and the this-end-that-end bride are the second stanza. To have been the narrow ticket would be a being; the grown-up-homesickness-was-a-narrow-ferry-ticket-i-on-this-end-my-bride-on-that is the being.
后来啊，乡愁是一方矮矮的坟墓，我在外头，母亲在里头。
Later, nostalgia was a low low grave, I outside, mother inside. (The third stanza: the nostalgia of the middle age, the separation of the life and the death never to be crossed, the grief of the poem.)
后来啊，乡愁是一方矮矮的坟墓，我在外头，母亲在里头。
Later, ah, homesickness was a low grave; I outside, mother inside.
第三节写中年乡愁，是全诗最沉痛的一节，意象由「船票」变为「坟墓」。「后来啊」的「啊」字，是叹息的拖长，为全诗第一次也是唯一一次的语气词，如一声长叹，把岁月之逝、母亲之亡轻轻带出；「一方矮矮的坟墓」——「方」与「矮矮」写坟墓之小之矮，而正是这小小的坟墓，成了永隔的天堑；「我在外头，母亲在里头」——前两节的「这头／那头」是空间的遥隔，尚可凭邮票、船票往来，此节改为「外头／里头」，是生死的永隔，再也无法通邮、无法渡航。句式与前两节一字不易，而「那头」变「里头」，一字之变，天翻地覆——母亲从「那头」到了「里头」，乡愁从「可寄」「可渡」变为「永不可达」。此节不着一悲字，而悲已至深，是全诗情感的最低点，也是升华前的蓄势。
The grave. Later, ah, homesickness was a low grave; I outside, mother inside. The low grave and the outside-inside mother are the third stanza. To have been the low grave would be a being; the later-ah-homesickness-was-a-low-grave-i-outside-mother-inside is the being.
而现在，乡愁是一湾浅浅的海峡，我在这头，大陆在那头。
And now, nostalgia is a shallow shallow strait, I on this side, the Mainland on that side. (The fourth stanza: the nostalgia of the present, the separation of the home and the country cut by the strait, the personal elevated to the national.)
而现在，乡愁是一湾浅浅的海峡，我在这头，大陆在那头。
And now, homesickness is a shallow strait; I on this end, the mainland on that.
末节写现在的乡愁，是全诗的点睛之笔，意象由「坟墓」变为「海峡」。「而现在」把时间收束到当下；「一湾浅浅的海峡」——海峡本是地理上的小隔（台湾海峡平均水深不过数十米、宽不过百余公里），诗人偏以「浅浅」写之，以「浅」反衬「深」：海峡虽浅，隔断的却是整整一个民族、四十年的光阴、亿万人的思念；「我在这头，大陆在那头」——「母亲」「新娘」换成「大陆」，乡愁由个人之愁升华为民族之愁，由思念亲人升华为思念故土。此节句式仍与前两节同构，而内涵已发生质的飞跃：前面的乡愁是「小家」之愁，此节的乡愁是「大我」之愁；「浅浅的」三字举重若轻，把最深的隔绝写得最轻，含蓄蕴藉而力量千钧。全诗至此，由一枚邮票写到一个民族，乡愁的容量达到顶点，余韵悠长，成为当代华人共同的精神写照。
The strait. And now, homesickness is a shallow strait; I on this end, the mainland on that. The shallow strait and the this-end-that-end mainland are the close. To have been the shallow strait would be a being; the and-now-homesickness-is-a-shallow-strait-i-on-this-end-the-mainland-on-that is the being.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Ai Qing's 'I Love This Land'—'if I were a bird, I should sing with my hoarse throat... why do my eyes always contain the tears? Because I love this land deeply'—writes the love of the land with the vehemence, the tears of the love. Yu Guangzhong's 'Nostalgia'—'when I was little, nostalgia was a small small postage stamp... and now, nostalgia is a shallow shallow strait, I on this side, the Mainland on that side'—writes the home-country thought with the implicit, the plain and the true of the daily images. One the vehemence of the tears and one the implicit of the stamp; one the love and one the nostalgia—the two modern masterpieces of the home-country thought, the two faces of the home-country feeling of the contemporary Chinese poetry.
艾青《我爱这土地》「为什么我的眼里常含泪水？因为我对这土地爱得深沉」，与《乡愁》同为现代诗中写家国之思的经典。差异在：艾青写于1938年抗战初期，以「鸟」自喻，「嘶哑的喉咙」歌唱被暴风雨打击的土地，是激越而悲怆的献身之歌；余光中写于1971年，以「邮票」「海峡」为喻，是平静而绵长的思念之曲。一为「爱」的嘶鸣，一为「愁」的低回；一写土地（大陆），一写乡愁（两岸）。而「对土地爱得深沉」与「大陆在那头」的牵挂，正是同一份家国之情的两种表达，合观之，可见现当代诗歌中「乡国之思」的完整光谱。
祖国啊，我亲爱的祖国 My Country, My Dear Country 舒婷 · 同为当代爱国诗名篇，一代人的祖国之恋 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
舒婷《祖国啊，我亲爱的祖国》「我是你河边上破旧的老水车……那就从我的血肉之躯上去取得你的富饶、你的荣光、你的自由」，与《乡愁》同为当代诗人写祖国的名篇。差异在：舒婷写于1979年，以「我」与「祖国」血肉相融的意象群（老水车、矿灯、稻穗）写深沉的爱，是「我」化入祖国的献身；余光中写于1971年，以「这头／那头」的隔海相望写乡愁，是「我」隔海思念的眺望。一为融入（我在你之中），一为隔望（我在你之外），而献身的热望与「大陆在那头」的眺望，正是海峡两岸同胞对祖国之爱的两种姿态，两诗并读，动人心魄。