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先秦 Pre-Qin · 诗经 Classic of Poetry

狡童

That Handsome Lad

诗经

Book of Songs

爱情/相思love / longing 隐逸/忧愤reclusion / indignation

彼狡童兮，不与我言兮。
维子之故，使我不能餐兮。
彼狡童兮，不与我食兮。
维子之故，使我不能息兮。

That handsome lad—
he will not speak with me.
All because of you
I can eat no food.
That handsome lad—
he will not eat with me.
All because of you
I can find no rest.

Listen

Meaning

That clever, handsome boy will not say a word to me. All because of you I have no appetite for food or drink. That clever, handsome boy will not even share a meal with me. All because of you I cannot lie down and sleep in peace.

那个狡黠的少年啊，不肯和我说话啊。只因你的缘故，害得我茶饭不思啊。那个狡黠的少年啊，不肯和我共食啊。只因你的缘故，害得我寝卧不宁啊。

Appreciation

This is one of the twenty-one pieces of the Airs of Zheng. The Mao preface read it as a political satire, but later readers have mostly set that aside; Zhu Xi called it the teasing words of a woman who has been cast off, and modern scholars such as Wen Yiduo and Yu Guanying, taking their cue from 'he will not speak with me' and 'I can eat no food', read it as the pretty scolding of a village girl whose sweetheart has suddenly turned cold. Only eight lines long, it draws the whole situation like a picture. The opening address, calling the boy by name to his face, uses a word that here means clever and good-looking rather than sly, and catches exactly the tone of a woman who is at once fond and vexed. The two stanzas are identical but for a few words, and as the boy moves from not speaking to not eating with her, and she from being unable to eat to being unable to sleep, the longing deepens step by step while the reproach stays soft with love.

【白话串讲】 “彼狡童兮，不与我言兮”——那个坏小子，不跟我说话了。“维子之故，使我不能餐兮”——都是因为你，我吃不下饭。一个姑娘的赌气：你不理我，我气得吃不下。【意象与手法】诗仅两章八句，而情态如画。起句“彼狡童兮”直呼其人，“狡”在此为聪明俊俏之昵称，非贬辞，恰见女子又爱又恼的口吻【情感与主旨】《狡童》属《诗经·郑风》二十一篇之一【名句点睛】本诗中高考命题要点有：一、“狡童”词义辨析，须指出此处为昵称、聪慧俊美之意，不可误作贬义

Background

This piece is one of the twenty-one poems of the Airs of Zheng. The Mao preface says it 'satirizes Duke Zhao Hu, who could not plan affairs with worthy men, so that powerful ministers seized the mandate', taking the handsome lad as a figure for Duke Zhao of Zheng and the poem as political criticism; but the reading forces the poem onto historical events and later scholars mostly reject it. Zhu Xi, in his Collected Commentaries on the Songs, says bluntly that it is 'the teasing language of a wanton woman who has been rejected', and even under his moralizing framework he still recognizes it as a love poem. Modern scholars such as Wen Yiduo and Yu Guanying, relying on the poem's own words, judge it to be the pretty scolding of an ordinary woman whose lover has suddenly grown distant, and this reading best fits the poem.

《狡童》为《诗经·郑风》篇，是写女子为爱所苦之诗。此诗：彼狡童兮，不与我言兮。维子之故，使我不能餐兮。彼狡童兮，不与我食兮。维子之故，使我不能息兮。全诗两章写女子为情所苦、不能餐息，是《诗经》的名篇。

Art

The poem has only two stanzas and eight lines, yet the feeling is drawn as clearly as a picture. The opening address calls the boy directly by name; the word used of him here means clever and good-looking, a term of endearment rather than abuse, and it catches exactly the tone of a woman who is at once fond and vexed. The two stanzas are identical in structure and change only a few words, speaking for eating and eating for resting, so that they form a repeated pattern: from refusing to talk to refusing to share a meal, and from being unable to eat to being unable to sleep, the longing deepens by degrees. The four words that lay the blame gently on the beloved carry a whole heart's worth of grievance, and the reproach is full of love.

《狡童》艺术上以两章的重叠与相思之苦的深婉见长。全诗两章，层层写来：一章写不与我言、不能餐——“彼狡童兮，不与我言兮。维子之故，使我不能餐兮”写狡童不与我言、不能餐；二章写不与我食、不能息——“彼狡童兮，不与我食兮。维子之故，使我不能息兮”写狡童不与我食、不能息。全诗写相思之苦，正是《诗经》重章叠句的笔法。

Allusions

The poem contains no historical allusion and is purely a short lyric. The word applied to the boy should be read, following the ancient dialect glossaries, as meaning clever and handsome, quite unlike the pejorative sense the same character carries in later usage; it is an affectionate name for a young man in pre-Qin love poetry. The words for speaking, eating, dining and resting are all ordinary daily terms with no recondite source. In appreciating the poem there is no need to hunt for hidden political meaning; what matters is to feel the folk-song quality of plain, spoken language used to convey lovesick complaint, which is exactly what makes the Airs of Zheng so rich in bold and direct love poetry, and which stands in clear contrast to the moralizing reading of the Mao preface.

《狡童》用典少而意象自明。“狡童”写狡黠的少年（昵称）；“维子之故”写因为你的缘故；“不能餐”“不能息”写不能进食、不能安息。全诗以这些意象写相思之苦，不用深典而深婉自见，正是《诗经》的笔法。

Commentary

Zhu Xi wrote in his Collected Commentaries on the Songs: 'This is the teasing language of a wanton woman who has been rejected.' Though he speaks in the tones of a moral philosopher, he still recognizes it as a love poem. Fang Yurun, in his Original Meaning of the Book of Songs, judged it 'wonderfully phrased, painting resentment as though one saw it'. Chen Zizhan, in his Direct Explanation of the Book of Songs, says that the phrase 'is as much as to say a handsome young fellow, the words of a woman who loves him'. Yu Guanying, in his Selections from the Book of Songs, renders the opening as 'that good-looking young man will not talk to me', and settles the poem as a folk love song.

《狡童》是《诗经·郑风》的名篇，也是中国诗歌中写相思之苦的代表作。此诗写女子为情所苦、不能餐息，向为论者称道。论者多赏其两章的重叠与相思之苦的深婉——“彼狡童兮，不与我言兮。维子之故，使我不能餐兮”写不能餐，其苦之深；“彼狡童兮，不与我食兮。维子之故，使我不能息兮”写不能息，更见其苦。此诗写相思之苦，正以重章叠句写之，正是《诗经》写情之笔法。

Prosody

Form Book of Songs, Airs of Zheng (four-character lines)四言诗（诗经体）

Rhyme In the first stanza the rhyme words fall in the yuan group (speak, eat); in the second in the zhi group (dine, rest); each stanza rhymes on its own《狡童》为四言诗，二章，每章四句。此诗用韵：言、餐（元部），食、息（职部），随章换韵，音节深婉。

Tone pattern Four-character lines with none of the later level and oblique rules; the rhyme changes with the repeated stanza四言诗经体以音节深婉、重章叠句见长。此诗写相思之苦，音节深婉而缠绵。全诗两章重章叠句，声调与相思之苦的内容相合，是《诗经》中深婉的一路。

Reading note The Airs of Zheng are rich in love poetry, mainly in four-character lines and built on repeated stanzas.《狡童》为《诗经·郑风》篇，是写女子为爱所苦之诗。此诗以“彼狡童兮，不与我言兮。维子之故，使我不能餐兮”写不能餐，以“不与我食兮……使我不能息兮”写不能息。写相思之苦，正是《诗经》的名篇。

Line by line

彼狡童兮，不与我言兮。维子之故，使我不能餐兮。

That sly lad of mine—he will not speak to me. Because of you, I cannot eat.

那个狡黠的少年啊，不与我言语啊。因为你的缘故，使我不能进食啊。

That sly lad of mine will not speak with me. Because of you, he has made me unable to eat.

一章写不与我言、不能餐，是全诗相思之苦的起点。“彼狡童兮，不与我言兮”写狡童不与我言——“彼狡童兮”写那个狡黠的少年，“不与我言兮”写不与我言语——狡童不与我言；“维子之故，使我不能餐兮”写不能餐——“维子之故”写因为你的缘故，“使我不能餐兮”写使我不能进食——维子之故，不能餐。三句写一章之苦：彼狡童兮、不与我言兮，维子之故、使我不能餐兮。以“彼狡童兮，不与我言兮”写狡童不与己言，以“维子之故，使我不能餐兮”写因为你的缘故、茶饭不思，正是《诗经》写相思之苦的起点——狡童不言，忧不能餐。

The sly lad. That sly lad of mine—he will not speak to me. Because of you, I cannot eat. The sly-lad-will-not-speak and the because-of-you-cannot-eat are the opening. To have willed not to speak would be a not-speaking; the that-sly-lad-of-mine-he-will-not-speak-to-me-because-of-you-i-cannot-eat is the not-speaking.

彼狡童兮，不与我食兮。维子之故，使我不能息兮。

That sly lad of mine—he will not eat with me. Because of you, I cannot rest.

那个狡黠的少年啊，不与我共食啊。因为你的缘故，使我不能安息啊。

That sly lad of mine will not eat with me. Because of you, he has made me unable to rest.

二章写不与我食、不能息，是全诗相思之苦的归结。“彼狡童兮，不与我食兮”写狡童不与我食——“彼狡童兮”写那个狡黠的少年，“不与我食兮”写不与我共食——狡童不与我食；“维子之故，使我不能息兮”写不能息——“维子之故”写因为你的缘故，“使我不能息兮”写使我不能安息——维子之故，不能息。三句写二章之苦：彼狡童兮、不与我食兮，维子之故、使我不能息兮。以“彼狡童兮，不与我食兮”写狡童不与己共食，以“维子之故，使我不能息兮”写因为你的缘故、夜不能寐，正是《诗经》写相思之苦的归结——狡童不食，忧不能息。

The sleepless. That sly lad of mine—he will not eat with me. Because of you, I cannot rest. The sly-lad-will-not-eat and the because-of-you-cannot-rest are the close. To have willed not to eat would be a not-eating; the that-sly-lad-of-mine-he-will-not-eat-with-me-because-of-you-i-cannot-rest is the not-eating.

Study

Word focus

狡童 The first word means clever and good-looking, not sly, and the second means a young man; together they form an affectionate name rather than a term of abuse. “彼狡童兮”之“狡童”，写狡黠的少年，是全诗称谓情郎的昵称词。“狡”写狡黠（亦为昵称），“童”写少年——那个狡黠的少年。这一词称谓情郎：不是疏远之称，而狡童；不是无情之呼，而嗔怨爱称。以“彼狡童兮，不与我言兮”写嗔怨情郎不与己言，正是《诗经》写相思之苦、以昵称写嗔的笔法。

不与我言 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “不与我言兮”之“不与我言”，写不与己言语，是全词写情郎疏远的关键词。“不与我言”写不与自己言语——不与我言语啊。这一词写情郎之疏：不是常与之言，而不与我言；不是可解之隔，而故意相疏。以“彼狡童兮，不与我言兮”写情郎不与己言、己心忧思，正是《诗经》写相思之苦的笔法。

维子之故 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “维子之故，使我不能餐兮”之“维子之故”，写因为你的缘故，是全诗写情之所系的归结词。“维子之故”写因为你的缘故——因为你的缘故。这一词写情之所系：不是他因之故，而维子之故；不是可解之由，而全因于子。以“维子之故，使我不能餐兮”写因为你的缘故、茶饭不思，正是《诗经》写相思之苦的笔法。

不能息 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “使我不能息兮”之“不能息”，写不能安息，是全诗写相思之苦的归结词。“不能息”写不能安寝休息——使我不能安息。这一词写忧之深：不是可安之眠，而不能息；不是轻浅之忧，而夜不能寐。以“维子之故，使我不能息兮”写因为你的缘故、夜不能寐，正是《诗经》写相思之苦的归结。

狡童