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自题小像

Inscribed on My Own Portrait (Ziti Xiaoxiang)

鲁迅

Lu Xun

名篇Masterpiece 爱国Patriotism 言志Declaring the Will

灵台无计逃神矢，风雨如磐暗故园。
寄意寒星荃不察，我以我血荐轩辕。

My spirit has no way to escape the arrow of the god;
The wind and the rain, heavy as a boulder, darken my native garden.
I entrust my meaning to the cold star, but the fragrant herb does not perceive it;
I offer my blood to Xuanyuan.

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Meaning

Lu Xun's most famous early poem, written in 1903 when he was twenty-two, studying at the Hongwen Academy in Japan. Having cut off his queue, he had his photograph taken and wrote this poem on its back. 'My spirit has no way to escape the arrow of the god' writes the love of the country that cannot be escaped, with the Western allusion of Cupid's arrow; 'the wind and the rain, heavy as a boulder, darken my native garden' the heavy oppression of the times and the sinking of the homeland, the 'dark' at once the real darkness and the symbol of the fading national fortune; 'I entrust my meaning to the cold star, but the fragrant herb does not perceive it' the meaning entrusted to the distant star and the sovereign's unperceiving, the lonely feeling of the patriot; and 'I offer my blood to Xuanyuan' the resolve of the dedication—the blood offered to the Yellow Emperor, the ancestral source of the Chinese nation, the declaration of the whole poem: to dedicate the life to the salvation of the country.

我的心灵无法躲避爱神射来的神箭，风雨如磐石般压在黑暗的故园之上。我把心意寄托给寒星，苍天却不察觉，我将用我的热血，奉献给轩辕——我们的祖国。

Appreciation

The whole poem, four lines and twenty-eight characters, is a seven-character quatrain, its art the 'fusion of the allusions and the advance layer on layer.' The first line, 'my spirit has no way to escape the arrow of the god,' sets the 'spirit' (the heart) against the 'arrow of the god' (the arrow of Cupid), the Chinese and the Western allusions joined, writing the love of the country like the arrow piercing the heart, from which there is no escape; the 'no way to escape' writes its irresistibility, setting the 'passively commanded' starting point of the whole poem. The second line, 'the wind and the rain, heavy as a boulder, darken my native garden,' turns from the heart to the scene: the 'boulder' for the heavy oppression of the wind and the rain, the 'dark' for the sinking of the native garden, the single 'dark' at once the real scene of the darkness of the sky and the symbol of the fading national fortune, the pain of the country and the home in it. The third line, 'I entrust my meaning to the cold star, but the fragrant herb does not perceive it,' turns from the scene to the feeling: the meaning entrusted to the distant star, the fragrant herb unperceiving, the loneliness of the patriot in the midst of the darkness. And the fourth line, 'I offer my blood to Xuanyuan,' the resolve of the dedication, the blood offered to the Yellow Emperor, the whole poem's will gathered in the seven characters.

【白话串讲】鲁迅写《自题小像》：“灵台无计逃神矢，风雨如磐暗故园”。“寄意寒星荃不察，我以我血荐轩辕”——“我以我血荐轩辕”——他说要把热血献给祖国。【意象与手法】全诗四句全用典：神矢（丘比特之箭）、风雨如磐、荃（《楚辞》）、轩辕（黄帝），古典意象熔铸现代忧愤；「灵台」对「故园」、「寒星」对「轩辕」，对仗工整而境界宏阔；由「逃」到「荐」，动词的转换写尽从被动到主动的心路。【情感与主旨】这是鲁迅青年时代的爱国宣言：承认爱国的「箭」已射中自己的心，宣告无论祖国如何黑暗、无人理解，也愿以生命献祭，是「我以我血荐轩辕」的赤子誓言。【名句点睛】「我以我血荐轩辕」是传诵百年的名句，以最朴素的语言说出最决绝的献身，成为一代代中国知识分子爱国精神的座右铭。

Background

The poem was written in 1903, when Lu Xun was twenty-two, studying at the Hongwen Academy in Japan. In 1902 Lu Xun went to Japan to study medicine, determined to save the country with medicine; in 1903 he cut off his queue, had his photograph taken, and wrote this poem on its back (according to Xu Shoushang's recollection, the poem was originally written on the back of the photograph, and later written out as a gift to a friend in 1931). It was after the Sino-Japanese War and the Boxer Rebellion, the Qing government corrupt and incompetent, the great powers carving up the land, and the revolutionary tide surging among the students in Japan; Lu Xun, newly arrived in Japan, saw at first hand the strength of the Japanese after the Meiji Restoration and the weakness of his own country, and his spirit was deeply shaken, the 'no way to escape the arrow of the god' writing this inescapable love of the country. The 'arrow of the god' uses the Western allusion of Cupid's arrow, likening the love of the country to the arrow of the god of love piercing the heart, from which there is no escape—the rare use of the Chinese and the Western allusions together in Lu Xun's poetry, showing the influence of both the Chinese and the Western culture on his early years.

《自题小像》作于1903年，鲁迅时年二十二岁，正在日本弘文学院留学。1902年，鲁迅赴日学医，立志以医学救国；1903年，他剪去辫子，拍照留念，并于照片背面题下此诗（据许寿裳回忆，此诗原题于照片背面，后于1931年书赠友人）。时值甲午战争、庚子国变之后，清政府腐败无能，列强瓜分豆剖，留日学生中革命思潮汹涌；鲁迅初到日本，亲见日人维新之强与祖国之弱，心灵受到强烈震撼，「灵台无计逃神矢」即写这种无法逃避的爱国之情。诗中「神矢」用西洋爱神丘比特之箭的典故，喻爱国之情如爱神之箭射中人心，无法逃避——这是鲁迅诗中少见的中西典故并用，正见其早年所受的中西文化影响。「寄意寒星」两句，化用《楚辞》香草美人的比兴，写报国无门、知音难觅的孤独；结句「我以我血荐轩辕」则直陈献身之志，以黄帝（轩辕）代指祖国，是近代民族主义觉醒的标志性宣言。此诗作于鲁迅弃医从文之前夕，可视为其一生「横眉冷对千夫指，俯首甘为孺子牛」精神的最初源头。

Art

The art is the 'fusion of the allusions and the advance layer on layer.' The first line, the Chinese and the Western allusions joined, the love of the country like the arrow piercing the heart, the 'no way to escape' the irresistibility, setting the starting point; the second line, the 'boulder' for the oppression and the 'dark' for the sinking, the scene and the symbol in one; the third line, the meaning entrusted to the star and the herb unperceiving, the loneliness of the patriot; and the fourth line, the resolve of the dedication, the blood offered to Xuanyuan. The whole poem, from the heart to the scene to the feeling to the will, the advance layer on layer, the declaration of the patriot's will in the twenty-eight characters.

全诗四句二十八字，是一首七言绝句，艺术上以「用典熔铸、层层递进」见长。首句「灵台无计逃神矢」以「灵台」（心）与「神矢」（爱神之箭）对举，中西典故合璧，写爱国之情如箭中矢，无从逃避；「无计逃」三字写其无可抗拒，为全诗定下「被动受命」的起点。次句「风雨如磐暗故园」由心转境：以「磐」喻风雨之重压，以「暗」写故园之沉沦，一个「暗」字，既是天昏地暗的实景，也是国运黯淡的象征，家国之痛尽在其中。三句「寄意寒星荃不察」由境转情：托寒星寄意，暗用《楚辞》「荃不察余之中情」，写报国之志无人理解、苍天不察的孤独，情绪由痛转怨。结句「我以我血荐轩辕」由怨转决：一个「荐」字，是祭献、是奉献，以血荐国，决绝而庄严，全诗由「逃无可逃」到「主动献身」，完成情感的巨大跃升。四句一环扣一环：心—境—情—志，起承转合，井然有序；对仗（灵台／故园、寒星／轩辕）工整，而气势贯注，是旧体诗写现代爱国精神的典范。

Allusions

The twenty-eight characters of the poem almost all use allusions, the representative of Lu Xun's 'the allusions forging the feeling' in his old-style poetry. The first line's 'arrow of the god' uses the Western allusion—the gold arrow of Cupid of the Roman myth piercing the heart, and the man falls into the net of love, from which there is no escape; Lu Xun uses it for the love of the country like the arrow of the god piercing the heart, the Chinese feeling written with the Western allusion, the Chinese and the Western joined, fresh and original. The second line's 'the wind and the rain, heavy as a boulder' covertly uses the 'the wind and the rain darken' of the 'Wind and Rain' of the Book of Songs and the 'the boulder does not move' of the 'Peacock Flies Southeast,' the wind and the rain for the situation of the times and the boulder for the heavy oppression. The third line's 'the fragrant herb' (quan) comes from the Elegies of Chu's 'the sovereign does not examine my inmost feeling,' the fragrant herb for the sovereign, the 'unperceiving' the unexaminable. And the 'Xuanyuan' of the close is the Yellow Emperor, the ancestral source of the Chinese nation, the blood offered to Xuanyuan the dedication of the whole life to the Chinese nation.

此诗二十八字，几乎句句用典，是鲁迅旧体诗「以典铸情」的代表。首句「神矢」用西洋典故——罗马神话中丘比特（爱神）的金箭射中人心，人便坠入情网，无可逃避；鲁迅借以喻爱国之情如神矢贯心，虽欲逃避而不能，以西方之典写中国之情，中西合璧，新颖别致。次句「风雨如磐」暗用《诗经·风雨》「风雨如晦」与《孔雀东南飞》「磐石无转移」之意，风雨喻时局之动荡，磐喻重压之沉重，写尽故国沉沦之暗。三句「荃不察」直用《楚辞·离骚》「荃不察余之中情兮，反信谗而齌怒」——「荃」本为香草，屈原以喻君王，鲁迅借以写苍天不察、知音难觅，继承屈子「香草美人」的比兴传统，孤愤之气直逼灵均。结句「轩辕」用中华民族始祖黄帝之号，《史记》称黄帝「生于轩辕之丘」，故称轩辕氏；近代民族危亡之际，革命志士多以「轩辕」代指祖国，鲁迅以「血荐轩辕」，把个人生命与民族始祖联结，完成「献身祖国」的庄严宣誓。四句之中，中西典故、诗骚传统、民族意识熔于一炉，正是鲁迅「拿来主义」精神的诗化体现。

Commentary

'Inscribed on My Own Portrait' is the most famous of Lu Xun's early poems and a classic of modern Chinese patriotic poetry. The line 'I offer my blood to Xuanyuan,' since it was written on the back of the photograph in 1903, has been recited for a hundred years with the fame of Lu Xun and become the motto of the patriotic spirit of generations of Chinese intellectuals and youth—Lu Xun himself urged himself with this line, and his whole life of 'frowning coldly at the thousand pointing fingers, bowing the head willingly as the willing ox' is the practice of the 'offering the blood to Xuanyuan,' the poem the beginning of the will of his whole life.

《自题小像》是鲁迅早年诗作中最著名的一首，也是中国近代爱国诗歌的经典。「我以我血荐轩辕」一句，自1903年题于照片之背，便随鲁迅的声名传诵百年，成为一代代中国知识分子与青年爱国精神的座右铭——鲁迅自己亦以此句自励，其一生「横眉冷对千夫指，俯首甘为孺子牛」，正是「荐轩辕」三字的实践。在思想史上，此诗的意义有三：其一，它是近代民族觉醒的标本——以黄帝（轩辕）为祖国的象征，标志着以文化认同为核心的民族主义在知识青年中的觉醒，与孙中山「驱除鞑虏，恢复中华」、邹容《革命军》同属一个时代的精神洪流；其二，它是鲁迅「立人」思想的先声——「寄意寒星荃不察」的孤独，预示了他一生「荷戟独彷徨」的战士姿态；其三，它是旧体诗写新精神的典范——四句二十八字，熔中西典故于一炉，而情感全无旧套，证明旧形式可以承载现代精神。1931年，鲁迅五十一岁时书赠此诗于友人（时值柔石等左联五烈士遇害），题跋「二十一岁时作，五十一岁时写之」，其中深意，令人动容。此诗与《自嘲》并称鲁迅旧体诗双璧，永远激励着后人在风雨如磐之际，以热血荐轩辕。

Prosody

Form Seven-character quatrain (regulated, the tones according to the meter)七言绝句（近体诗，平仄依格律）

Rhyme The whole rhymes on the 'an' rhyme, the second and the fourth lines entering the rhyme: yuan (yuan), yuan (yuan), one rhyme to the end, the rhyme-sounds loud and deep; the 'arrow of the god / the native garden' and the 'cold star / the fragrant herb' answering全诗押「an」韵，二、四句入韵：园（yuán）、辕（yuán），一韵到底，韵脚响亮而沉雄；「神矢／故园」「寒星／轩辕」于句中形成对偶，音节相称，铿锵有致。

Tone pattern The first line is abrupt, the second heavy, the third turns deep, and the fourth rises high—the whole from the pierced heart to the dark garden to the unperceiving to the offering of the blood, the advance layer on layer carried by the deep rhyme句式整齐，四句皆七言，起承转合分明：首句「灵台无计逃神矢」仄起促收，如矢在弦；次句「风雨如磐暗故园」平缓沉重，如磐压顶；三句「寄意寒星荃不察」低回婉转，如叹如诉；结句「我以我血荐轩辕」直起直落，如锤定音。全诗由促而沉、由沉而怨、由怨而决，语调节奏与情感起伏严丝合缝。

Reading note The deep 'an' rhyme and the four lines advancing from the heart to the will carry the declaration of the patriot, the blood offered to the ancestral source.此诗为七言绝句，严守近体格律，而其音乐性不止于平仄韵脚，更在「以声写情」的匠心。韵脚「an」韵（园、辕）音色开阔沉雄，恰合家国之思的庄重；首句「灵台无计逃神矢」连用「灵台」「神矢」两个双音节意象，一雅一奇，音节上「台」「矢」俱短促，如矢离弦；次句「风雨如磐暗故园」七字皆阳平与去声相间，「磐」「暗」二字尤其重浊，读来如闻磐石压顶之声；三句「寄意寒星荃不察」以「荃」字收中段，齿音绵长，如长叹低回；结句「我以我血荐轩辕」以「我」字平起、「血」字仄入、「荐」字去声、「辕」字平收，一声一顿，字字千钧，如誓言落地。四句的声情变化——促、沉、怨、决——正是全诗情感的声化：被神矢射中的惊、见故园沉沦的痛、寄意不察的怨、以血荐国的决，皆由音节直接传达。故虽为旧体，而气韵之新、情感之烈，直追屈子，开近代爱国诗之先声。

Line by line

灵台无计逃神矢，

My spirit has no way to escape the arrow of the god; (The first line: the spirit against the arrow of the god, the Chinese and the Western allusions joined, the love of the country like the arrow piercing the heart, from which there is no escape.)

我的心灵无法躲避爱神射来的神箭。

My heart has no way to flee the god's arrow,

首句写爱国之情如神箭贯心，无法逃避。「灵台」出《庄子·庚桑楚》「不可内于灵台」，指心灵，鲁迅以此雅词写「心」，古意盎然；「神矢」用西方丘比特之箭的典故，喻爱国之情——情之为物，如箭入心，无从闪避。「无计逃」三字是全句的题眼：不是不愿逃，而是「无计」——无可设法、无处躲避，写尽爱国之情作为「命中注定」的不可抗拒性。此句的妙处在中西合璧：以西方爱神之箭写中国志士之情，新颖而贴切；而「神矢」所射的「情」，不是儿女之情，而是家国之情，被「神」命中的不是恋人，而是祖国的儿子。一句起笔，全诗的基调——被迫而庄严的爱国——已定。

The arrow. My heart has no way to flee the god's arrow. The heart-that-cannot-flee-the-god's-arrow is the opening. To have fled the arrow would be a fleeing; the my-heart-has-no-way-to-flee-the-god's-arrow is the fleeing.

风雨如磐暗故园。

The wind and the rain, heavy as a boulder, darken my native garden. (The second line: the boulder for the heavy oppression, the dark for the sinking of the native garden, at once the real scene and the symbol of the fading national fortune.)

风雨如磐石般压在黑暗的故园之上。

Wind and rain like a millstone darken my homeland.

次句由心转境，写祖国在重压下的沉沦。「风雨如磐」连用两喻：风雨喻时局之动荡（清廷腐败、列强入侵），磐喻重压之沉重（磐石压顶，不可摇动），风雨之飘摇与磐石之凝重合为一体，写尽故园所受的压迫之重；「暗故园」三字尤精：「暗」字兼写天昏地暗之景与国运黯淡之象，一个「暗」字，把视觉的黑暗与历史的黑暗叠印在一起。故园——祖国——在风雨如磐中沉入黑暗，正是1903年前后中国的写照：庚子国变方过，辛丑条约新签，神州陆沉。此句以最重的笔触写最沉痛的事实，是爱国诗中最有力的「祖国受难」意象，为结句「血荐轩辕」的献身预作铺垫。

The millstone. Wind and rain like a millstone darken my homeland. The wind-and-rain-millstone darkening the homeland is the scene. To have darkened the homeland would be a darkening; the wind-and-rain-like-a-millstone-darken-my-homeland is the darkening.

寄意寒星荃不察，

I entrust my meaning to the cold star, but the fragrant herb does not perceive it; (The third line: the meaning entrusted to the distant star, the fragrant herb unperceiving, the loneliness of the patriot in the midst of the darkness.)

我把心意寄托给寒星，苍天却不察觉。

I send my longing to the cold stars, yet the fragrance herb is unaware,

三句写报国无门、知音难觅的孤独。「寄意寒星」——把心事托付给寒夜的星星，寒星高远而寒冷，正如报国者所处的孤立无援之境；「荃不察」直用《离骚》「荃不察余之中情兮」，屈原以「荃」喻君王，鲁迅借以写苍天不察、世人不解，孤愤之气直逼屈子。两句之间，「寄」与「不察」构成强烈的落差：我殷殷寄意，而天不我察；我拳拳报国，而人不知我。「寒星」与「荃」并举，一为孤绝的宇宙意象，一为古典的比兴意象，把近代志士「心事浩茫连广宇」的孤独写尽。此句情绪由痛转怨，是全诗唯一的低回处；然而低回正是为了下一句的爆发——孤独愈深，献身愈决。

The stars. I send my longing to the cold stars, yet the fragrance herb is unaware. The sent-longing-to-cold-stars and the fragrance-herb-unaware are the lament. To have sent the longing would be a sending; the i-send-my-longing-to-the-cold-stars-yet-the-fragrance-herb-is-unaware is the sending.

我以我血荐轩辕。

I offer my blood to Xuanyuan. (The fourth line, the resolve of the dedication: the blood offered to the Yellow Emperor, the ancestral source of the Chinese nation, the whole poem's will gathered in the seven characters.)

我将用我的热血，奉献给轩辕——我们的祖国。

I offer my blood to Xuanyuan.

结句是全诗的高潮，也是中国近代爱国诗中最著名的宣言之一。「我以我血荐轩辕」——「我」字起笔，斩钉截铁，是主体的自觉担当；「以我血」三字，把奉献具体到「血」，不是身外之物，而是生命的本体；「荐」字是祭献、是奉献，古有「荐牲」「荐新」之礼，以血荐国，如祭坛上最庄严的牺牲；「轩辕」以黄帝代祖国，把个人的热血与民族的始祖联结，赋予献身以历史与血脉的庄严。四句之中，由「逃无可逃」（首句）到「献身无憾」（结句），情感完成巨大的跃升——爱国的「神矢」虽无法逃避，诗人却从被迫的承受转为主动的献祭，这正是鲁迅一生「横眉冷对千夫指，俯首甘为孺子牛」精神的最初宣言。此句七字，字字千钧，百年传诵，激励了无数后来者。

The blood. I offer my blood to Xuanyuan. The my-blood-offered-to-Xuanyuan is the close. To have offered the blood would be an offering; the i-offer-my-blood-to-xuanyuan is the offering.

Study

Word focus

神矢 The arrow of the god. The Western allusion of Cupid's arrow: the love of the country like the arrow of the god of love piercing the heart, from which there is no escape—the Chinese feeling written with the Western allusion, the Chinese and the Western joined. 「神矢」是首句的关键意象，用西方丘比特之箭的典故，喻爱国之情如神箭贯心。「神」字见其力量之超验——不是凡间之箭，而是神之所射，无可抗拒；「矢」字见其速度与锋利——箭已离弦，贯心而入，不容闪避。「无计逃」正承「神矢」而来：神矢所射，人岂能逃？鲁迅以西方之典写中国之情，是近代中西文化碰撞在诗歌语言上的缩影。更重要的是「神矢」所射之「情」的内涵：丘比特之箭本射爱情，鲁迅移以写爱国，把「祖国之爱」提升为一种神性的、命定的情感——不是选择，而是宿命；不是义务，而是中箭般的不可救药。一词之妙，全诗的宿命感与庄严感顿生。

磐 Boulder. The word of the oppression: 'the wind and the rain, heavy as a boulder, darken my native garden'—the boulder for the heavy oppression of the times, the dark for the sinking of the national fortune, the weight and the darkness in one character. 「风雨如磐」之「磐」，是大石，喻重压之沉重，是次句的诗眼。「磐」出《周易》「磐桓」与《孔雀东南飞》「磐石无转移」，本义为厚重坚固的大石；鲁迅以「风雨如磐」连喻，风雨之飘摇与磐石之凝重合为一体——风雨本是流动的，磐石本是静止的，以「如磐」写风雨，便使风雨有了「压顶」的重量，仿佛整个天空都压了下来。与「暗故园」相配，「磐」写重，「暗」写黑，重与黑交织，正是旧中国「长夜难明赤县天」的写照。此词的妙处在于把抽象的时局之险恶化为可感的物理之重压，读者几乎能感到那磐石压在胸口的分量——故园之痛，痛在重压；重压愈重，献身愈决。

荐 Offer (dedicate). The word of the will: 'I offer my blood to Xuanyuan'—the blood offered to the Yellow Emperor, the dedication of the whole life to the Chinese nation, the whole poem's will gathered in the one character. 「我以我血荐轩辕」之「荐」，是结句的诗眼，也是全诗最重的动词。「荐」本义为祭献——古代祭祀以牲、以玉、以酒荐于神前，谓之「荐」；鲁迅以「血」为「荐」，把生命献于祖国之坛，庄严如祭，决绝如誓。与「献」「奉」相比，「荐」更带仪式感与神圣性：不是普通的给予，而是如祭品般最郑重的奉献。「我以我血荐轩辕」七字，「以」字引出祭物（血），「荐」字完成祭礼，一以贯之，密不透风；而祭的对象「轩辕」（黄帝）是民族的始祖，以血荐于始祖之前，便是以生命确认血脉的归属——你是黄帝的子孙，你的血当归于轩辕。一词收束全诗，把被迫的爱国升华为主动的献祭，鲁迅的战士形象，自此屹立。