清 Qing · 诗 Poem
壬戌清明作
Written on Qingming, the Renxu Year
朝作轻云暮作阴，愁中不觉已春深。
落花风里数声笛，芳草烟中一寸心。
故国江山徒梦寐，中华人物又销沉。
龙蛇四海归无所，寒食年年怆客心。
In sorrow I unknowingly find deep spring has come.
In the wind of falling flowers a few notes of a flute,
In the mist of fragrant grass a single inch of heart.
The old kingdom's rivers and hills are but in dream;
The men of the central realm fade and sink again.
Dragons and serpents all over the seas have no place to return;
Year after year at Cold Food my guest-heart is wounded.
Meaning
On Qingming the poet grieves for the lost Ming: the old kingdom lives only in dreams, worthy men fade away, and loyalists wander with no home, their exiled hearts wounded year after year.
早晨是轻云傍晚转阴沉，愁苦中不觉已是春深。落花风里传来几声笛音，芳草烟中是一寸相思之心。故国江山空留梦寐，中华人物又渐销沉。豪杰四海漂泊无处归依，寒食时节年年伤客子之心。
Appreciation
At Qingming, dawn clouds and dusk overcast, the poet in sorrow unknowingly finds deep spring has come. In the wind of falling flowers a few notes of a flute, in the mist of fragrant grass a single inch of heart. 'Dawn clouds, dusk overcast' uses weather to mirror a mind never clear; 'wind of falling flowers' and 'mist of fragrant grass' use desolate images for the grief of Qingming; 'a single inch of heart' uses the tiny to write deep sorrow. The neck couplet directly voices the pain of the lost kingdom; the tail couplet closes on 'dragons and serpents all over the seas' with no place to return, deep, grave, desolate. Qu Dajun was a Ming loyalist; the poem fuses the sorrow of the season with the hatred of a lost state, ending 'year after year my guest-heart is wounded' — grieving yet clinging.
【白话串讲】 屈大均写清明：“朝作轻云暮作阴，愁中不觉已春深”。“故国江山徒梦寐，中华人物又销沉”——他梦着故国江山。“龙蛇四海归无所，寒食年年怆客心”——他是明遗民，亡国之痛，年年寒食。 【意象与手法】“朝云暮阴”以天气喻心境阴晴难定；“落花风”“芳草烟”以凄迷意象写清明之悲；“一寸心”以微观写深愁。颈联“故国”“中华”直抒亡国之痛，尾联“龙蛇四海”以漂泊无归收束，沉郁苍凉。 【情感与主旨】借清明伤春，深寓故国沦亡、人物销沉之痛。屈大均为明末遗民，诗多故国之思；此首将节候之悲与家国之恨打成一片，结以“年年怆客心”，哀婉而执着。 【名句点睛】“故国江山徒梦寐，中华人物又销沉。”——上句写故国空余梦寐，下句写人物渐次销沉，对仗沉痛。十字写尽遗民回望的绝望与执念，是屈诗故国之思的凝练表达。
Background
Qu Dajun (1630-1696), courtesy Wengshan, was a poet of the late Ming and early Qing, ranked with Chen Gongyin and Liang Peilan as the 'Three Masters of Lingnan.' After the Ming fell he joined the resistance and all his life lived as a loyalist. This poem was written in 1682 (Kangxi 21), using Qingming to voice grief for the lost state.
《壬戌清明作》为清代屈大均所作，是写清明寒食、故国之思的诗。屈大均（1630—1696），字翁山、介子，番禺人，清代诗人。此诗：朝作轻云暮作阴，愁中不觉已春深。落花风里数声笛，芳草烟中一寸心。故国江山徒梦寐，中华人物又销沉。龙蛇四海归无所，寒食年年怆客心。全诗写清明寒食、故国之思，是屈大均诗的名篇。
Art
'Dawn clouds, dusk overcast' uses weather to mirror the mind; 'wind of falling flowers' and 'mist of fragrant grass' set a desolate realm; 'a single inch of heart' uses the tiny to write deep sorrow. The neck couplet directly voices the pain of 'old kingdom' and 'central realm'; the tail couplet's 'dragons and serpents all over the seas' writes wandering with no return — deep, grave, desolate, the backbone of Wengshan's loyalist poetry.
《壬戌清明作》艺术上以清明寒食的描摹与故国之思的沉痛见长。全诗八句：首写春深之愁——“朝作轻云暮作阴，愁中不觉已春深”写朝作轻云暮作阴、愁中不觉已春深，“落花风里数声笛，芳草烟中一寸心”写落花风里数声笛、芳草烟中一寸心；中写故国销沉——“故国江山徒梦寐，中华人物又销沉”写故国江山徒梦寐、中华人物又销沉，“龙蛇四海归无所，寒食年年怆客心”用龙蛇之典写龙蛇四海归无所、寒食年年怆客心。全诗以清明寒食写故国之思，正是屈大均诗沉痛的笔法。
Allusions
'Old kingdom' means the fallen Ming's rivers and hills. 'Men of the central realm' means the worthies of the lost state. 'Dragons and serpents' uses the Zhouyi ('the dormant dragon and serpent' and 'dragons and serpents mixed') to mean heroic men. 'Cold Food' is the day before Qingming, when ancients forbade fire and ate cold food, often stirring thoughts of the lost. 'Guest-heart' is the heart of a wandering loyalist.
《壬戌清明作》用典在“故国”“中华人物”“龙蛇”“寒食”。“故国”写故国；“中华人物”写中华人物；“龙蛇”用龙蛇之典（龙蛇起陆，指乱世）；“寒食”用寒食之典（寒食禁火，悼亡）。全诗以这些典故写清明寒食、故国之思，用典自然而沉痛自见，正是屈大均诗的笔法。
Commentary
Wengshan's poetry wins by backbone, preserving the pain of the lost state's records. This piece fuses Qingming's natural signs with hatred of a lost family-state; a Qing reader said it is 'deep and restrained, with the leftover meaning of Shaoling (Du Fu)' — a superior work of Qing loyalist poetry.
《壬戌清明作》是屈大均诗的名篇，也是清诗中写故国之思的代表作。此诗写清明寒食、故国之思，向为论者称道。论者多赏其清明寒食的描摹与故国之思的沉痛——“朝作轻云暮作阴，愁中不觉已春深”写朝作轻云暮作阴、愁中不觉已春深，沉痛之极；“落花风里数声笛，芳草烟中一寸心”写落花风里数声笛、芳草烟中一寸心，更见其愁；“故国江山徒梦寐，中华人物又销沉”写故国江山徒梦寐、中华人物又销沉，尤见其痛；“龙蛇四海归无所，寒食年年怆客心”用龙蛇之典写龙蛇四海归无所、寒食年年怆客心，尤见其怆。屈大均为明末遗民，其诗多寄故国之思，此诗正是其代表——以清明寒食写故国之思，正是其诗风。
Prosody
Line by line
朝作轻云暮作阴，愁中不觉已春深。
Morning brings light clouds, evening brings overcast; in my grief I have not noticed the spring grown deep.
朝作轻云暮作阴，愁中不觉已春深。
Morning rises as light cloud, evening turns to gloom; amid my grief I have not noticed that the spring is already deep.
首写朝作轻云暮作阴、愁中不觉已春深，是全诗写春深之愁的起点。“朝作轻云暮作阴”写朝作轻云暮作阴——“朝作轻云暮作阴”写早晨作轻云、傍晚作阴——朝作轻云暮作阴；“愁中不觉已春深”写愁中不觉已春深——“愁中不觉已春深”写在愁中不知不觉春已深——愁中不觉已春深。二句写朝作轻云暮作阴、愁中不觉已春深：朝作轻云暮作阴，愁中不觉已春深。以“朝作轻云暮作阴”写朝云暮阴、天气阴沉，以“愁中不觉已春深”写在愁中不觉春已深，正是屈大均诗写春深之愁的起点——朝云暮阴，愁中春深。
The opening writes morning light clouds and evening overcast, grief unnoting the spring's deepening, the starting point of the poem's grief at the deep spring. Morning brings light clouds, evening brings overcast says morning making light cloud, evening making gloom. In my grief I have not noticed the spring grown deep says that in grief the spring's depth goes unnoticed. Two lines: light cloud at morning, gloom at evening; grief unnoting the deep spring. Writing the morning cloud and evening gloom, the overcast sky; writing the unnoticed deep spring in grief, exactly the starting point of Qu Dajun's grief at the deep spring — morning cloud and evening gloom, grief and deep spring.
故国江山徒梦寐，中华人物又销沉。
The hills and rivers of the old kingdom come only in dreams; the men of China have sunk again into silence.
故国江山徒梦寐，中华人物又销沉。
The land of the former dynasty comes only in vain to my dreams; the heroes of China have once more sunk into oblivion.
中写故国江山徒梦寐、中华人物又销沉，是全诗写故国之思的深化。“故国江山徒梦寐”写故国江山徒梦寐——“故国江山徒梦寐”写故国江山、徒然入于梦寐——故国江山徒梦寐；“中华人物又销沉”写中华人物又销沉——“中华人物又销沉”写中华人物又已销沉——中华人物又销沉。二句写故国江山徒梦寐、中华人物又销沉：故国江山徒梦寐，中华人物又销沉。以“故国江山徒梦寐”写故国江山、只在梦寐，以“中华人物又销沉”写中华人物、又已销沉，正是屈大均诗写故国之思的深化——故国梦寐，人物销沉。
The middle writes the old kingdom's hills and rivers vain in dreams, China's men sunk again, the deepening of the longing for the fallen kingdom. The hills and rivers of the old kingdom come only in dreams says the old kingdom's land and rivers entering dreams in vain. The men of China have sunk again into silence says the men of the Central Kingdom once more sunk in silence. Two lines: the old kingdom's land only in dreams, the men of China sunk again. Writing the old land and rivers, dreams alone; writing China's men, again fallen silent, exactly the deepening of the longing — the old kingdom in dreams, the men sunk in silence.
龙蛇四海归无所，寒食年年怆客心。
Dragon and snake of the wide world have nowhere to return; the Cold Food Festival, year after year, grieves the traveler's heart.
龙蛇四海归无所，寒食年年怆客心。
Dragon and snake across the four seas have nowhere to return; every year the Cold Food Festival saddens the traveler's heart.
末用龙蛇之典写龙蛇四海归无所、寒食年年怆客心，是全诗写故国之怆的归结。“龙蛇四海归无所”用龙蛇之典写龙蛇四海归无所——“龙蛇四海归无所”用龙蛇起陆之典写龙蛇四海、归无其所——龙蛇四海归无所；“寒食年年怆客心”用寒食之典写寒食年年怆客心——“寒食年年怆客心”用寒食禁火悼亡之典写年年寒食、怆然客心——寒食年年怆客心。二句写龙蛇四海归无所、寒食年年怆客心：龙蛇四海归无所，寒食年年怆客心。以“龙蛇四海归无所”用龙蛇之典写龙蛇四海、归无其所，以“寒食年年怆客心”用寒食之典写年年寒食、怆然客心，正是屈大均诗写故国之怆的归结——龙蛇无归，寒食怆心。
The close uses the dragon-snake allusion for the dragon and snake of the wide world nowhere to return, the Cold Food Festival grieving the traveler, the resolution of the grief for the fallen kingdom. Dragon and snake of the wide world have nowhere to return uses the allusion of dragons and snakes rising from the earth, writes the dragon and snake of the four seas with no place to return to. The Cold Food Festival, year after year, grieves the traveler's heart uses the Cold Food Festival's fire-ban and mourning, writes the yearly festival grieving the guest's heart. Two lines: dragon and snake of the wide world without a home, the yearly Cold Food Festival grieving. Writing through the allusion the dragon-snake without a return, writing through the festival the yearly grief of the traveler, exactly the resolution of the grief — dragon and snake without a home, the Cold Food Festival grieving the heart.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Compare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
屈大均《秣陵》写秣陵怀古、故国之悲，与本首同为屈大均诗写故国之思。差异在情境：壬戌清明作写清明寒食；秣陵写金陵怀古。一写“节”之怆，一写“都”之慨。两者并读，可见屈大均诗写故国之思的两种情境。
广州吊古 Mourning the Past at Guangzhou 屈大均 · 同为屈大均诗写吊古伤今，一写清明故国一写广州吊古，皆沉痛 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
屈大均《广州吊古》写广州吊古、故国之悲，与本首同为屈大均诗写吊古伤今。差异在情境：壬戌清明作写清明寒食；广州吊古写吊古伤今。一写“节”之怆，一写“古”之慨。两者并读，可见屈大均诗写吊古伤今的两种情境。
乌衣巷 The Black Clothes Lane 刘禹锡 · 同为诗写故国兴亡，一写清明寒食一写乌衣巷口，一怆一慨 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
刘禹锡《乌衣巷》写乌衣巷口、旧时王谢，与本首同为诗写故国兴亡。差异在朝代：屈大均写清初遗民之思；刘禹锡写金陵兴亡。一写“怆”之痛，一写“慨”之叹。两者并读，可见诗写故国兴亡的两种情境。