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清 Qing · 诗 Poem

秋登越王台

Climbing the Terrace of the King of Yue in Autumn

丘逢甲

Qiu Fengjia

怀古meditation on the past 爱国patriotism

秋风立马越王台，混混龙蛇最可哀。
十七史从何说起，三千劫几历轮回。
腐儒空白九分头，俊杰谁安百年宅。
那有材堪柱九州，可怜愁里度重阳。

In the autumn wind I rein my horse on the Terrace of the King of Yue;
Dragons and snakes are mingled in confusion, and that is saddest of all.
Seventeen histories: where shall the telling begin?
Three thousand kalpas: how many rounds of the wheel?
The useless scholar has whitened nine parts of his head for nothing;
What man of talent can rest secure in a house built for a hundred years?
Where is the timber fit to be a pillar for the Nine Provinces?
Pitiful, to pass the Double Ninth inside one's grief.

Listen

Meaning

In the autumn wind I halt my horse on the Terrace of the King of Yue; the world is disordered, dragons and snakes mixed together, and nothing is sadder than this. Where should one begin to tell the seventeen histories? Through how many rounds have three thousand kalpas of calamity already turned? The useless scholar has whitened nine parts of his head with worry and gained nothing, and no man of ability can settle in peace in a house meant to last a hundred years. Where is the timber strong enough to prop up the Nine Provinces? Pitifully I spend the Double Ninth festival in nothing but grief.

秋风中立马于越王台，世乱如龙蛇混杂最是可哀。十七史从何处说起，三千劫难几度轮回。腐儒空自愁白了九分头，俊杰谁人能安于百年宅第。哪有人才足以支柱九州，可怜只在愁苦里度过重阳。

Appreciation

This regulated poem begins from an act of climbing and deepens its grief with every couplet. The autumn wind, the halted horse and the ancient terrace set a desolate stage, and the dragons and snakes mingled in confusion turn the scene at once into an image of an age out of joint. The middle couplets open out time and space, with seventeen histories too long to begin telling and three thousand kalpas turning round again, so that the ruin of states becomes measureless. The closing question, asking where the timber is that could prop up the Nine Provinces, sinks to the very bottom of despair, and the festival of the Double Ninth serves only to set off a grief that has no cure.

【白话串讲】丘逢甲是台湾人，甲午战争后台湾被割让，他写：“秋风立马越王台，混混龙蛇最可哀”。“腐儒空白九分头”——他头发白了大半。“那有材堪柱九州，可怜愁里度重阳”——他愁着度过重阳。一个台湾诗人的亡国之痛。【意象与手法】此诗为清丘逢甲之作，精要赏析详见下方深度赏析。【情感与主旨】丘逢甲（1864—1912），字仙根，号仓海，台湾苗栗人，清末爱国诗人、抗日保台志士【名句点睛】本诗为近代爱国诗重要篇目。考点一：意象与意境，‘秋风’‘越王台’‘龙蛇’如何营造苍凉悲慨之境。考点二

Background

Qiu Fengjia (1864-1912), styled Xiangen and known as Canghai, was born in Miaoli in Taiwan and was a patriotic poet of the late Qing and a leader of the resistance to the Japanese occupation of the island. When the Qing court ceded Taiwan in 1895 he led a volunteer army, was defeated, and crossed to the mainland, settling at Zhenping in Guangdong. 'Climbing the Terrace of the King of Yue in Autumn' was written after that crossing, during his years in Guangdong. At the Double Ninth festival he climbed the terrace in Guangzhou that had been raised by Zhao Tuo, king of Southern Yue, looked into the distance, thought of the lost island and the decay of the state, and wrote this poem. The seventeen histories and the three thousand kalpas write the blankness of history, and the pillar of the Nine Provinces laments that no man can save the age; it is the painful record of one who had left Taiwan while his heart remained there, and a representative note of late Qing poetry's anxiety for the nation.

《秋登越王台》为晚清丘逢甲所作，是写登台感怀的七律。丘逢甲（1864—1912），字仙根，号沧海，台湾苗栗人，晚清诗人、爱国志士。此诗：秋风立马越王台，混混龙蛇最可哀。十七史从何说起，三千劫几历轮回。腐儒空白九分头，俊杰谁安百年宅。那有材堪撑半壁，只余清气满尘埃。全诗写登越王台感时忧国，是丘逢甲诗的代表作。

Art

The poem takes its rise from the act of climbing and deepens in grief layer by layer. The opening couplet, with autumn wind, a halted horse and an old terrace, spreads a desolate scene, and the dragons and snakes mingled together stand for the rival powers of a disordered age, so that sorrow is present from the start. The second couplet, with seventeen histories that one cannot begin to tell and three thousand kalpas turning through their rounds, opens the dimensions of time and writes the pain of a history too vast and too blank to speak of. In the third couplet the poet mocks himself as a useless scholar who has whitened nine parts of his head, then asks in reproach what man of ability can settle in a house meant for a hundred years; and the closing couplet drives its question to the very bottom, asking where the timber is that could prop up the Nine Provinces, before the festival of the Double Ninth is made to set off a grief beyond consolation. Weighty in allusion and urgent in feeling, it captures the marrow of Du Fu's brooding manner.

《秋登越王台》艺术上以登台的苍茫与感时的沉痛见长。全诗八句，层层写来：前二句写立马越王台——“秋风立马越王台，混混龙蛇最可哀”写秋风立马、龙蛇可哀；中四句写史事劫难——“十七史从何说起，三千劫几历轮回”写十七史、三千劫，“腐儒空白九分头，俊杰谁安百年宅”写腐儒空头、俊杰谁安；末二句写无材撑半壁——“那有材堪撑半壁，只余清气满尘埃”写无材撑半壁、清气满尘埃。全诗以登台写感时忧国，正是丘逢甲诗沉痛的笔法。

Allusions

The poem uses allusion densely and gravely. The Terrace of the King of Yue recalls the terrace built by Zhao Tuo of Southern Yue, so that to climb it is at once to grieve for the present through the past. The seventeen histories were for Song writers the histories from the Records of the Grand Historian down to the History of the Five Dynasties, and stand here for the whole record of rise and ruin, joined to the phrase about not knowing where to begin. The three thousand kalpas borrow the Buddhist reckoning of cosmic disasters to weigh the calamity of the state. The pillar for the Nine Provinces recasts the image of the rock that stands firm in midstream, lamenting that no such man exists, while the house built for a hundred years draws on Tao Yuanming's line about returning to the grave mound after a hundred years and on older poetry, writing the impossibility of a settled life. History, Buddhism and earlier verse are fused, and all serve the single grief of passing the Double Ninth in sorrow for a lost country; nothing shows Canghai's manner better.

《秋登越王台》用典在“越王台”“十七史”“三千劫”“撑半壁”。“越王台”写南越王赵佗所筑之台；“十七史”写史书之数；“三千劫”用佛家劫数之语，写岁月之久；“撑半壁”写支撑半壁江山。全诗以这些典故写感时忧国，用典自然而沉痛自深，正是丘逢甲诗的笔法。

Commentary

Qiu Fengjia's poems written after leaving Taiwan have always been thought his most painful. Liang Qichao named him a giant of the revolution in poetry and said that he wrote the pain of a lost Taiwan with the bold directness of the far south. Chen Yan, in his Shiyishi Poetry Talks, said that in its brooding passages his regulated verse comes close to Du Fu. Textbooks today often include this poem, praising it for writing the sorrow of a nation through an act of climbing, desolate and impassioned enough to serve as a poetic history of the late Qing, and showing how movingly he bound his blood and tears to his lost homeland.

《秋登越王台》是丘逢甲诗的代表作，也是晚清诗中写忧国之痛的名篇。此诗写登台感时忧国，向为论者称道。论者多赏其登台的苍茫——“秋风立马越王台，混混龙蛇最可哀”写立马越王台，苍茫之气尽在其中；“十七史从何说起，三千劫几历轮回”写史事劫难，更见沉痛。丘逢甲为台湾爱国志士，其诗以沉痛悲壮著称，此诗正是其代表——以登台写忧国，正是其诗风。

Prosody

Form Seven-character regulated verse七言律诗

Rhyme Ping-shui rhyme, tenth hui group (terrace, sad, wheel)《秋登越王台》为七言律诗，八句，押平声韵。此诗用韵：哀、回、宅、埃（灰部），一韵到底，对仗工整，音节沉郁。

Tone pattern First line enters the rhyme; oblique onset with level close七言律诗以音节沉郁、对仗工整见长。此诗写登台感时忧国，音节沉郁而悲壮。全诗一韵到底，声调与忧国之痛的内容相合，是晚清诗中沉痛悲壮的一路。

Reading note A Double Ninth poem of climbing and reflection, brooding and desolate; the rhyming of the last line follows the original collection.《秋登越王台》为晚清丘逢甲所作，是写登台感怀的七律。此诗以“秋风立马越王台，混混龙蛇最可哀”写立马登台，以“十七史从何说起，三千劫几历轮回”写史事劫难，以“腐儒空白九分头，俊杰谁安百年宅”写人才之叹，以“那有材堪撑半壁，只余清气满尘埃”写无材撑半壁。以登台写忧国，正是丘逢甲诗的代表作。

Line by line

秋风立马越王台，混混龙蛇最可哀。

In the autumn wind I rein my horse on the Terrace of the King of Yue; dragons and snakes are mingled in confusion, and that is saddest of all.

秋风中立马于越王台，混混的龙蛇（纷乱时局）最是可哀。

In the autumn wind I rein in my horse at the Terrace of the Yue King; the tangled dragon-and-snake of the age is most grievous to behold.

前二句写立马越王台，是全诗感时之痛的起点。“秋风立马越王台”写立马越王台——“秋风立马”写在秋风中勒马而立，“越王台”写越王台（南越王赵佗筑台）——秋风立马于越王台；“混混龙蛇最可哀”写龙蛇可哀——“混混龙蛇”写混混纷纷的龙蛇（喻纷乱时局），“最可哀”写最是可哀——龙蛇混混，最是可哀。二句写立马越王台：秋风立马越王台，混混龙蛇最可哀。以“秋风立马越王台”写登台之苍茫，以“混混龙蛇最可哀”写时局之纷乱，正是丘逢甲诗写感时之痛的起点——立马高台，见时局纷乱而哀。

The first two lines write reining the horse at the Terrace of the Yue King, the starting point of the poem's grief for the age. In the autumn wind I rein in my horse at the Terrace of the Yue King says reining in the horse in the autumn wind, and the Terrace of the Yue King, the terrace built by Zhao Tuo, King of Southern Yue. The tangled dragon-and-snake of the age is most grievous to behold says the chaotic mixture of dragons and snakes — the tangled affairs of the age — is most grievous. Two lines: reining the horse at the Yue King's terrace; the tangled dragon-snake most grievous. Writing the vastness of mounting the height, writing the confusion of the times, exactly the starting point of Qiu Fengjia's grief for the age — reined on the high terrace, seeing the times in chaos and grieving.

十七史从何说起，三千劫几历轮回。腐儒空白九分头，俊杰谁安百年宅。

Where to begin the tale of the Seventeen Histories? Through three thousand kalpas, how many cycles of transmigration? The bookish scholar's nine parts of hair whiten in vain; where is the hero who will settle a home for a hundred years?

十七史从何说起？三千劫历经几次轮回？腐儒空自白了九分头，俊杰谁能安顿百年之宅。

Where to begin with the Seventeen Histories? Through three thousand kalpas, how many rounds of transmigration has the world seen? The pedant's nine parts of hair whiten in vain; who among the heroes can secure a lasting abode?

中四句写史事劫难与人才之叹，是全诗感时之痛的深化。“十七史从何说起，三千劫几历轮回”写史事劫难——“十七史从何说起”写十七史从何说起（史事纷繁），“三千劫几历轮回”用佛家劫数写三千劫经历几次轮回——史事何说，劫难轮回；“腐儒空白九分头，俊杰谁安百年宅”写人才之叹——“腐儒空白九分头”写腐儒空自白了九分头，“俊杰谁安百年宅”写俊杰谁能安顿百年之宅——腐儒空头，俊杰难安。四句写史事劫难与人才之叹：十七史从何说起、三千劫几历轮回，腐儒空白九分头、俊杰谁安百年宅。以“十七史从何说起，三千劫几历轮回”写史事之繁、劫难之深，以“腐儒空白九分头，俊杰谁安百年宅”写腐儒空老、俊杰难安，正是丘逢甲诗写感时之痛的深化——史劫重重，人才凋零。

The middle four lines write the histories and the kalpas, the sigh over talent, the deepening of the grief for the age. Where to begin with the Seventeen Histories? writes the abundance of historical record; through three thousand kalpas, how many rounds of transmigration? uses the Buddhist kalpa to write the rounds of catastrophe — history so tangled, the kalpas so deep. The pedant's nine parts of hair whiten in vain; who among the heroes can secure a lasting abode? writes the sigh for talent: the bookish scholar's nine parts of hair whiten for nothing, and the heroes can find no home for a hundred years. Four lines: the histories where to begin, the kalpas' rounds; the pedant's empty white hair, the heroes' unsettled home. Writing the abundance of history and the depth of catastrophe, writing the pedant's vain aging and the heroes' unease, exactly the deepening of the grief — kalpa on kalpa of history, and the withering of talent.

那有材堪撑半壁，只余清气满尘埃。

What man of talent is left to prop up half a realm? There remains but pure air filling the dust.

哪里有才能足以支撑半壁江山？只留下清气布满尘埃。

Where is the talent strong enough to prop up half the realm? Nothing remains but pure spirit filling the dust.

末二句写无材撑半壁，是全诗忧国之痛的归结。“那有材堪撑半壁”写无材撑半壁——“那有材堪撑半壁”写哪里有才能足以支撑半壁江山；“只余清气满尘埃”写只余清气——“只余清气”写只留下清气（指己之清节），“满尘埃”写布满尘埃——只余清气满尘埃。二句写无材撑半壁：那有材堪撑半壁，只余清气满尘埃。以“那有材堪撑半壁”写无才可撑半壁江山（江山将倾而乏人）之叹，以“只余清气满尘埃”写只余己之清气、满怀尘埃之慨，正是丘逢甲诗写忧国之痛的归结——国势将倾，无材可撑，只余清气。

The last two lines write no talent to prop up half the realm, the resolution of the poem's grief for the country. Where is the talent strong enough to prop up half the realm? asks whether any man of talent is left to prop up half the empire — the realm about to fall and no one to bear it. Nothing remains but pure spirit filling the dust says there remains but the pure air (his own unstained integrity) filling the dust. Two lines: no talent to prop half a realm; only pure air left to fill the dust. Writing the sigh that no talent can prop the crumbling empire, writing his own pure air amid the dust, exactly the resolution of the grief for the country — the national cause tottering, no talent to support it, only pure air left.

Study

Word focus

混混龙蛇 Dragons and snakes tangled together stand for the rival powers of an age out of joint, and the muddled mixture of noble and base carries the poet's grief at a world without order. “混混龙蛇最可哀”之“混混龙蛇”，写纷纷混乱的时局，是全诗写时局之乱的关键词。“混混”写纷纷杂乱，“龙蛇”写鱼龙混杂（喻时局纷乱、群雄角逐）——混混的龙蛇，最是可哀。这一词写时局：不是清明之局，而混混；不是安定之时，而龙蛇混杂。以“混混龙蛇最可哀”写时局纷乱，正是丘逢甲诗写感时之痛的笔法。

十七史 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “十七史从何说起”之“十七史”，写史书之数，是全诗写史事纷繁的关键词。“十七史”写宋人所称十七部正史——十七史从何说起。这一词以“十七史”写史事之繁：不是一二之史，而十七史；不是可数之事，而纷繁难说。以“十七史从何说起”写史事纷繁、感慨万千，正是丘逢甲诗写感时之痛的笔法。

轮回 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “三千劫几历轮回”之“轮回”，用佛家轮回之语，写历劫轮回，是全诗写劫难之深的关键词。“轮回”写佛家生死轮回——三千劫经历几次轮回。这一词以“轮回”写劫难：不是一时之劫，而轮回；不是可尽之难，而历劫往返。以“三千劫几历轮回”写劫难之深、岁月之久，正是丘逢甲诗写感时之痛的笔法。

撑半壁 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “那有材堪撑半壁”之“撑半壁”，写支撑半壁江山，是全诗写忧国之痛的归结词。“撑”写支撑，“半壁”写半壁江山——哪里有才能足以支撑半壁江山。这一词写国势之危：不是全盛之国，而半壁；不是有余之力，而无材可撑。以“那有材堪撑半壁”写无材可撑江山之叹，正是丘逢甲诗写忧国之痛的归结——江山半壁，无材可撑。