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清 Qing · 诗 Poem

潍县署中画竹呈年伯

Bamboo Painted in the Yamen at Weixian, Presented to a Year-Elder

郑燮

Zheng Xie

咏物object-chant 讽喻satire

衙斋卧听萧萧竹，疑是民间疾苦声。
些小吾曹州县吏，一枝一叶总关情。

In the yamen studio, lying, I hear the bamboo rustle, so sad;
I doubt it is the sound of the common folk's suffering.
We petty clerks of prefecture and county -
Every twig and leaf is bound to feeling.

Listen

Meaning

In the yamen's study I lie and listen to the wind-bamboo rustling sadly; in a trance I suspect it is the moan of the common people's suffering. We who are but petty prefecture and county clerks - every stroke of bamboo branch and leaf in our painting is also bound to the people's heart.

在衙门的书斋里卧听风吹竹叶萧萧作响，恍惚间疑心那是民间百姓疾苦的呻吟。我们这些地位卑微的州县小吏，画上竹枝竹叶的一笔一画，也都总关涉着百姓的情怀。

Appreciation

The whole poem lodges intent in an object, moving from the real to the imagined. The first line, 'In the yamen studio, lying, I hear the bamboo rustle, so sad', writes the real scene of listening to bamboo, 'rustle' picturing the wind-bamboo's sound; the second, 'I doubt it is the sound of the common folk's suffering', through synaesthesia turns the bamboo sound into the people's groan, from object to person, startling and moving. The last two lines, 'We petty clerks of prefecture and county; Every twig and leaf is bound to feeling', 'petty' humbly calls the office low, 'every twig and leaf' means both the painted bamboo and the people's minute affairs, a clever double meaning, condensing the love of people into the painting realm; the words end but the meaning is endless.

【白话串讲】 “衙斋卧听萧萧竹，疑是民间疾苦声”——郑板桥在衙门里听到风吹竹叶，想到的是老百姓的疾苦。“些小吾曹州县吏，一枝一叶总关情”——我们这些小官，百姓的一点小事都要放在心上。【意象与手法】全诗托物言志，由实入虚。首句「衙斋卧听萧萧竹」写听竹之实境，「萧萧」状风竹之声；次句「疑是民间疾苦声」以通感将竹声幻为百姓呻吟，由物及人，奇警动人。后两句「些小吾曹州县吏，一枝一叶总关情」，「些小」自谦官卑，「一枝一叶」既指画竹又喻民生细故，双关巧妙，将爱民之心凝于画境，言有尽而意无穷。【情感与主旨】郑燮（1693—1765），字克柔，号板桥，江苏兴化人，「扬州八怪」之一。乾隆元年进士，先后任山东范县、潍县知县，律己爱民，遇灾荒辄开仓赈贷。此诗作于潍县任上，题于墨竹画卷，呈同年包大中丞（名括，巡抚衔）。时值民生多艰，板桥以画竹寄意，借题画抒写州县官当念民瘼之旨，是其「一枝一叶总关情」名言所出。【名句点睛】常考「疑是民间疾苦声」的通感/联想手法及其情感；「一枝一叶总关情」的双关含义；托物言志与题画诗的结合；郑板桥爱民思想与画竹传统。

Background

Zheng Xie (1693-1765), style Kerou, name Banqiao, of Xinghua in Jiangsu, one of the 'Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou'. A jinshi of 1736, he served as magistrate of Fanxian and Weixian in Shandong, disciplined and loving the people, opening the granaries to relieve famine when disaster struck. This poem was written during his Weixian posting, inscribed on an ink-bamboo painting, presented to the same-year Grand Coordinator Bao (named Kuo, with the title of provincial governor). At a time of hard livelihood, Banqiao used painted bamboo to lodge meaning, borrowing the inscribed painting to voice the intent that prefecture clerks should mind the people's ills - the source of his famous saying 'every twig and leaf is bound to feeling'.

郑燮（1693—1765），字克柔，号板桥，江苏兴化人，清代著名书画家、文学家，「扬州八怪」之一。他乾隆元年（1736）中进士，先后任山东范县、潍县知县，为官清廉，律己爱民，遇灾荒辄开仓赈贷，救活无数百姓，然终因请赈忤上官而罢官，此后以卖画为生。此诗作于郑板桥任潍县（今山东潍坊）知县期间，题于一幅墨竹画卷之上，呈赠「年伯包大中丞括」——「年伯」是明清科举称谓，指与父同年登科的长辈；「包大中丞括」即山东巡抚包括，「中丞」为巡抚别称。时值潍县连年灾荒，民生困顿，板桥身为知县，目睹民间疾苦，遂以画竹寄意，借题画抒写「州县官当念民瘼」之旨。此诗后流传极广，「一枝一叶总关情」更成为官员关怀民生的千古名言，被后世无数为官者引为座右铭。诗画相彰：画中是疏疏落落的几竿墨竹，诗中是萧萧竹声与民间疾苦的联想，诗画合璧，正见板桥「以画入诗、以诗写政」的独特襟怀。

Art

The whole poem lodges intent in an object, moving from the real to the imagined. The first line writes the real scene of listening to bamboo; the second through synaesthesia turns the bamboo sound into the people's groan, from object to person, startling and moving. The last two lines, 'We petty clerks... Every twig and leaf is bound to feeling', 'petty' humbly calls the office low, 'every twig and leaf' both means the painted bamboo and figures the people's minute affairs, a clever pun, condensing the love of people into the painting realm; words end, meaning endless.

此诗四句，托物言志，由实入虚，章法谨严而意蕴深长。首句「衙斋卧听萧萧竹」写实境：在衙门的书斋里卧听风吹竹叶的萧萧之声——「衙斋」点明身份（县官）、「卧听」写姿态（闲卧而听）、「萧萧」状声音（风吹竹叶），三词写尽一个为官者在署中静听的场景，声音起于竹而情已暗伏。次句「疑是民间疾苦声」陡然翻空，奇警动人：那萧萧的竹声，在诗人听来，竟疑心是民间百姓疾苦的呻吟——「疑是」二字以通感将听觉的竹声幻为对民生疾苦的悬想，由物及人、由声及心，一个「疑」字，写尽仁者以民为念的敏感心怀。后两句「些小吾曹州县吏，一枝一叶总关情」由耳之所闻转入心之所感：「些小」自谦官卑职小，「吾曹」指我们这些州县小吏，「一枝一叶」双关——既指画上的竹枝竹叶，又喻百姓生活中的一桩桩细事；「总关情」写这竹枝竹叶的每一笔，都牵系着对百姓的关怀。全诗由听竹到疑民、由自谦到关情，层层深入，将爱民之心凝于画境，言有尽而意无穷，正是题画诗「借画言志」的典范。

Allusions

'Year-elder' is a Ming-Qing examination term for an elder who passed the exam the same year as one's father; the poem's 'year-elder Bao the Grand Coordinator Kuo' is the Shandong grand coordinator Bao Kuo, naming the recipient. 'Rustle' originally pictures wind and horse-neigh (as in the Songs 'the wind so chill' and Du Fu's 'the horses neigh sadly'), here shifted to the bamboo sound, inheriting the ancient phrase yet renewed. The whole poem uses allusion very lightly, only borrowing the term of address and the ancient onomatopoeia - a 'common words writing utmost feeling' manner.

此诗用典不多而皆化入意境，其「用事」主要体现在意象传统与科举称谓上。「萧萧」一词承古语而翻新：《诗经·小雅》「萧萧马鸣」写马鸣声，荆轲《易水歌》「风萧萧兮易水寒」写风声，杜甫《兵车行》「车辚辚，马萧萧」写车马之声，皆以「萧萧」状肃杀悲凉之声，郑板桥移以写风吹竹叶之声，承其悲音传统而注入新的内涵——竹声萧萧，本自清雅，听在仁者耳中却成了民间疾苦之声，古语的悲凉传统与诗中的仁者情怀交融无间。「一枝一叶」暗承画竹传统：苏轼有「宁可食无肉，不可居无竹」的咏竹之句，文人画竹向以「虚心有节」喻君子之德，郑板桥画竹写竹，本承此传统，却翻出新意——竹之「枝叶」不再只是君子之德的象征，而是民生细故的喻体，把画竹的文人雅事与官员的民生关怀合而为一。「年伯」为明清科举称谓，指与父同年登科的长辈，诗中「年伯包大中丞括」点明呈赠对象，属制度名物，亦见板桥为官场中人的身份。全诗用事不着痕迹，化典故为意境，正是「以常语写至情」的一格。

Commentary

Banqiao, speaking of painting bamboo, said 'In the yamen studio, lying, I hear the bamboo rustle, so sad; I doubt it is the sound of the common folk's suffering' - long praised by critics. The modern Fu Baoshi calls him 'bringing painting into poetry, writing politics through poetry', turning a literati's ink-play into a cry for the common folk. This poem, passed down with 'Bamboo and Stone' ('bite the green mountain'), one shows toughness, one shows benevolence - together showing the clarity and warmth beneath Zheng Xie's 'rarely muddled' surface.

此诗是郑板桥流传最广的诗作之一，历代评价极高。板桥论画竹尝谓「凡吾画竹，无所师承，多得于纸窗粉壁日光月影中耳」，又自题画竹「衙斋卧听萧萧竹，疑是民间疾苦声」，将画竹与民生联系，向为论者所称。近人傅抱石评板桥「以画入诗，以诗写政」，将文人墨戏化为苍生呼吁，正切中此诗的特点——画竹本是文人雅事，板桥却使之成为关怀民生的载体，诗画之中，仁者之心宛然。论者多将此诗与《竹石》「咬定青山不放松，立根原在破岩中。千磨万击还坚劲，任尔东西南北风」并称板桥咏竹双璧：一显韧劲、一显仁心，一写人格之坚、一写爱民之切，恰见板桥「难得糊涂」表象下的清醒与温情。此诗作为题画诗的精品，其「一枝一叶总关情」一句更成为超越时代的文化记忆——从清代的知县衙门到今天的基层干部，从灾荒赈济到扶贫济困，这句诗始终是「为官一任、造福一方」的最生动的注脚，足见其跨越时代的生命力。

Prosody

Form Seven-character quatrain七言绝句（平起首句入韵式）

Rhyme Ping-shui rhyme, lower-level eighth geng group (sound, feeling)押平水韵下平八庚韵：「声、情」相押，首句入韵，两句一韵。

Tone pattern First line enters rhyme, level-onset level-close首句「衙斋卧听萧萧竹」平起平收，为平起首句入韵式，格律平正，音节清朗。

Reading note A painting-inscription poem that also speaks of government; four lines from listening to bamboo to bound feeling, one breath flowing - a Banqiao masterpiece.此诗为七言绝句正格，平起首句入韵，押平水韵下平八庚韵，一、二、四句入韵，韵脚「声、情」皆平声庚韵，声调清亮开阔，正合全诗由竹声到民情、由听觉到心怀的明朗格调。庚韵在平水韵中属洪亮韵类，读来声情舒展，与「萧萧」「疾苦」「关情」等词义的深沉相映，恰是「以清亮之声写深沉之情」的声情对照。七绝四句的章法在此诗中运用得极为精妙：首句写「听」（衙斋卧听萧萧竹），次句写「疑」（疑是民间疾苦声），三句写「位」（些小吾曹州县吏），四句写「情」（一枝一叶总关情），由听而疑、由位而情，层层深入，一气流转——首二句是「物」与「声」的实写，后二句是「位」与「情」的虚写，实虚相生，正是题画诗「借画言志」的标准结构。全诗四句二十八字，语言平易如话而意蕴深远，诗与画、雅与俗、官与民交融无间，是清代题画诗与咏竹诗的典范之作，也是郑板桥「诗书画三绝」中以诗言志、以画传情的集中体现。

Line by line

衙斋卧听萧萧竹

In the yamen studio, lying, I hear the bamboo rustle, so sad;

在衙门的书斋里卧听风吹竹叶萧萧作响。

In the yamen study, lying down, I listen to the soughing bamboo.

首句写实境，是全诗的起兴，于平静中暗伏波澜。「衙斋」点明地点——衙门中的书斋，是县官理政之余的休息之所，身份已定；「卧听」写姿态——闲卧而听，本是一副悠闲的景致；「萧萧」写声音——风吹竹叶的萧萧之声，「萧萧」二字音感萧瑟，暗含秋意或风势，为全诗定下清冷肃然的声调。三词叠用，写尽一个为官者在署中静听竹声的场景：夜深人静（或风起之时），县官卧于书斋，窗外竹声萧萧入耳。此句的妙处在于「以闲笔蓄势」：竹声本是寻常的听觉享受，文人听竹，多是风雅之趣（如「不可居无竹」的雅致）；而诗人卧听萧萧竹声，听到的却不是风雅，而是下句的「民间疾苦声」——起句的「闲」正是为次句的「惊」蓄势，越是闲适的铺垫，越见仁者之心处处系民。

The opening line writes the real scene, the rising stroke of the poem, with hidden surges beneath the calm. The yamen study marks the place — the study within the yamen, the magistrate's resting place between governing; the standing is set. Lying and listening writes the posture — lying at ease and listening, properly an idle scene. The soughing writes the sound — the wind in the bamboo leaves; the two words soughing carry an autumn chill in their very sound, hinting autumn or wind's force, fixing the cold, grave tone of the poem. Three words layered, exhausting the scene of an official listening quietly to the bamboo in his office: night deep and still (or the wind rising), the magistrate lying in the study, the bamboo's soughing entering the ear outside the window. The line's beauty is in storing force through an idle brush: the bamboo sound is properly an ordinary auditory pleasure, the scholar's listening to bamboo usually a refined delight (as in no dwelling without bamboo); yet the poet, lying and listening to the soughing bamboo, hears not refinement, but the voice of the people's suffering and hardship in the next line — the idleness of the opening precisely stores force for the startlement of the second line; the more leisurely the preparation, the more the benevolent heart shows itself everywhere bound to the people.

疑是民间疾苦声

I doubt it is the sound of the common folk's suffering.

恍惚间疑心那是民间百姓疾苦的呻吟。

I suspect it is the voice of the people's suffering and hardship.

次句是全诗最奇警的一笔，以通感将竹声幻为民生疾苦之声，由物及人，动人心魄。「疑是」二字写诗人的心理活动：那萧萧的竹声，在一般人听来只是风声竹韵，在郑板桥听来，却疑心是民间百姓疾苦的呻吟——不是确指，而是「疑」，这「疑」字恰恰写出了仁者的敏感与多思：因为心中时刻牵念着民间疾苦，所以风声竹声都能听成百姓的呻吟。此句的艺术力量在于「以声写心」：不写诗人如何关心百姓，只写他如何「听」——耳朵里是竹声，心里是民瘼，声与心之间，一个仁者的形象已然立起。更深一层，此句还暗含对时局的隐忧：潍县灾荒连年，百姓啼饥号寒，诗人卧听竹声而疑为疾苦之声，正说明民间疾苦之重、之近，已到了风声鹤唳的地步——竹声如此，民生可知，言外之意深长。

The second line is the strangest, keenest stroke of the poem, turning the bamboo sound by synaesthesia into the voice of the people's hardship, moving from object to man, stirring the heart. The words I suspect write the poet's inner motion: that soughing bamboo sound, which ordinary ears take only for wind and bamboo's tune, to Zheng Banqiao's ear becomes the groan of the people's suffering — not certainly, but suspect; and this very suspicion writes the benevolent man's sensitivity and thoughtfulness: because his heart is constantly bound to the people's hardship, wind and bamboo alike can be heard as the people's groan. The line's artistic force lies in writing the heart through sound: not writing how the poet cares for the people, but only how he listens — bamboo sound in the ear, the people's suffering in the heart; between sound and heart, the figure of the benevolent man already stands. One layer deeper, the line carries a hidden care for the times: the Wei County had known years of famine, the people crying from hunger and cold; the poet lying and listening to the bamboo, suspecting it the voice of suffering, shows how heavy and near the people's hardship has grown, to the point of hearing armies in the wind — the bamboo sound so, and the people's lot may be imagined, the meaning beyond the words deep.

些小吾曹州县吏

We petty clerks of prefecture and county -

我们这些地位卑微的州县小吏。

We, the petty officials of the districts and counties,

此句以自谦之笔写官员的自我定位，是全诗由「听」到「情」的转折。「些小」即微小、卑微，写州县官吏位卑职小——明清州县官为七品，在官僚体系中确属微末之职；「吾曹」即我们，以复数自指，把诗人自己与同侪州县官一并纳入，见其非自命清高，而是与同僚共勉；「州县吏」点明身份，直承首句「衙斋」——衙斋之主，正是州县之吏。此句的深意在于「卑而不自弃」：「些小」是自谦，也是清醒——自知位卑，却不因此推诿责任；官职虽小，爱民之心不可少。正是这「些小」的自我定位，使下句「一枝一叶总关情」的关怀更显可贵：不是位高权重者的垂悯，而是位卑者发自本心的担当。此句以平实的口吻写官员的自觉，语似谦退而骨力内蕴，正是板桥为官人格的自我写照，也为结句的「关情」作了身份与心态的铺垫。

The line writes the official's self-placement in self-deprecating strokes, the turning of the poem from listening to feeling. Petty means tiny, lowly, writes the low rank of the district and county clerk — the county magistrate of Ming and Qing is of the seventh rank, in the bureaucracy a minor post indeed. We means us, self-reference in the plural, folding the poet together with his fellow county officials, showing he does not set himself above them, but shares the encouragement of his colleagues. District and county clerk names the standing, directly carrying the yamen study of the opening — the master of the yamen study is precisely the county clerk. The deep meaning lies in lowly yet not abandoned: petty is at once self-deprecation and clear-sightedness — knowing his low rank, yet not shifting responsibility for it; though the office is small, the heart that loves the people must not be lacking. Precisely this petty self-placement makes the next line's every branch and every leaf concerns our heart the more precious: not the compassion of the high and mighty, but the responsibility of the lowly, from the heart itself. The line writes the official's awareness in plain speech, the words seeming modest yet the sinew within, precisely the self-portrait of Banqiao the official, and the preparation of identity and temper for the closing concern.

一枝一叶总关情

Every twig and leaf is bound to feeling.

画上竹枝竹叶的一笔一画，也都总关涉着百姓的情怀。

every branch and every leaf concerns our heart.

结句是全诗的题眼，也是千古名言，以双关之笔收束全诗，言有尽而意无穷。「一枝一叶」双关两义：字面上指画上的竹枝竹叶——此诗题于墨竹画卷，竹枝竹叶正是画的内容；深一层喻百姓生活中的一桩桩细事——州县官所理，无非百姓的柴米油盐、婚丧嫁娶、讼狱赋税，皆如竹之枝叶般琐细，却件件关涉民生。「总关情」写这竹枝竹叶的每一笔，都牵系着对百姓的关怀——「总」字力重千钧，写关怀之无微不至：不是一枝一叶偶有关情，而是枝枝叶叶、无时无处不关情。此句将画竹与恤民合一：画竹是文人雅事，恤民是官员本分，板桥以「一枝一叶」将二者熔为一炉——画的每一笔，即是爱民的每一念；画境与心境，浑然一体。全诗至此收束，而「关情」二字余音袅袅，成为后世为官者「一枝一叶总关情」的精神标杆，正是题画诗言志的极致。

The closing line is the poetic eye, and an immortal phrase, closing the poem in double entendre, words ended and meaning unending. Every branch and every leaf carries two senses: on the surface the bamboo branches and leaves in the painting — the poem is inscribed on a scroll of ink bamboo, and the branches and leaves are the painting's subject; the deeper layer figures each small matter of the people's lives — what the county magistrate handles is nothing but the people's firewood and rice, weddings and burials, lawsuits and taxes, each as trifling as the bamboo's branches and leaves, yet each concerning the people's livelihood. Concerns our heart writes how every brushstroke of these branches and leaves is bound to the care for the people; the single word all is weighted like a thousand jun, writing the minuteness of the care: not now and then a branch or leaf that concerns, but branch by branch, leaf by leaf, at no time and no place without concern. The line fuses the painting of bamboo with the care for the people: painting bamboo is the scholar's elegant art, caring for the people the official's duty; Banqiao fuses the two with every branch and every leaf — each stroke of the painting, each thought of loving the people; the painted realm and the inner realm, one whole. The poem closes here, and the words concern our heart linger on, becoming the spiritual standard for officials of later ages, the extreme of the painting-poem's way of declaring resolve.

Study

Word focus

萧萧 'The bamboo rustle, so sad' - 'rustle' is the onomatopoeia of wind through bamboo, borrowed from the ancient 'wind so chill' and 'horses neigh'; shifted to bamboo, it opens the poem's lonely, sorrowful tone at the very sound. 「衙斋卧听萧萧竹」之「萧萧」，是全诗声景相生的关键词，承古语而翻新。「萧萧」本状风声马鸣等肃杀悲凉之声：《诗经》「萧萧马鸣」写马鸣，荆轲「风萧萧兮易水寒」写风声，杜甫「车辚辚，马萧萧」写车马声，皆有苍凉悲壮的意味；郑板桥移以写风吹竹叶之声，既承其「萧瑟」的音感传统——竹声萧萧，本自带清冷肃然之气，为全诗定下声调；又注入新的内涵——这萧萧的竹声，正是下句「民间疾苦声」的听觉来源，竹声越萧瑟，与疾苦之声的联想越自然。叠字「萧萧」音感绵长萧瑟，读来如闻竹声阵阵、风声飒飒，声情并茂。一词而兼具拟声、状景、传情三重功能，是郑板桥炼字的典范——以最古的叠词写最新的关怀，正是「以常语写至情」的注脚。

疑 'I doubt it is the sound of the common folk's suffering' - 'doubt' is the hinge of synaesthesia, turning the bamboo's rustle into the people's groan, the leap from object to person that makes the poem startling. 「疑是民间疾苦声」之「疑」字，是全诗由物及人的关捩，写尽仁者的敏感心怀。「疑」即疑心、恍惚觉得，诗人卧听萧萧竹声，不是断定那是疾苦声，而是「疑是」——这一个「疑」字，恰恰写出了仁者之心的精微：因为心中时刻牵念民间疾苦，所以风声、竹声、雨声，都能引起对民瘼的悬想，风声鹤唳，草木皆兵。若换作「听是」「知是」等字，则坐实其声，反而失了这份「疑」的敏感与张力；唯有「疑」字，既是听觉的恍惚，更是心灵的警觉——那疾苦之声不是实有的，却无时不在仁者心中。「疑」字还暗含对现实的隐忧：潍县灾荒连年，民间啼饥号寒，诗人的「疑」正因这疾苦之重已如风声竹声般无处不在——表面写听竹之疑，实写民生之艰，一字而含两层深意，正是板桥炼字的精微处。

总关情 'Every twig and leaf is bound to feeling' - 'bound to feeling' seals the whole, the painted bamboo and the people's livelihood fused in two words, the poet's love of people condensed into the painting. 「一枝一叶总关情」之「总关情」三字，是全诗的题眼，也是千古名言的灵魂。「总」字力重千钧：不是「有时关情」「偶有关情」，而是「总关情」——枝枝叶叶、时时刻刻、事事处处，无不关情，一个「总」字写尽关怀的无微不至、无时或忘。「关情」即牵系情怀，此处以「情」字点出全诗的核心——诗人所关之情，不是文人雅士的风花雪月，而是对百姓疾苦的深切关怀，一个「情」字，将画竹的雅事与恤民的仁心合而为一。「总关情」三字之所以成为千古名言，正在于它把「为官」的职责升华为「有情」的自觉：不是被迫的尽职，而是发自本心的牵挂；不是高高在上的恩赐，而是将百姓的一枝一叶都放在心上。三字凝练深沉，语浅而意深，正是板桥人格与诗格的结晶，也是中国官德文化中最动人的表达之一。