PoemBridge
Sign in Browse poems
All poems

清 Qing · 诗 Poem

一字诗

The Poem of the Character One

陈沆

Chen Hang

一帆一桨一渔舟，一个渔翁一钓钩。
一俯一仰一场笑，一江明月一江秋。

One sail, one oar, one fishing boat; one old fisherman, one fishing hook.
He bows, he rises, one burst of laughter; one river of bright moon, one river of autumn.
Listen

Meaning

The poem paints a fishing boat on a river in a single stroke of numbers: a sail, an oar, a boat, a man, a hook; then a man who rows and rises and laughs, and a river that holds both moonlight and autumn at once. Its subject is the quiet contentment of the fishing life, and its means are ten repetitions of the character for 'one', which turn a description into a rhythm. The result is a small, self-sufficient world in which nothing is duplicated and nothing is missing.

一帆一桨一渔舟，一个渔翁一钓钩。一俯一仰一场笑，一江明月一江秋。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The first couplet stacks the nouns of the scene, each introduced by the number one, and the second adds the man in motion and then the river, doubling the moon and the autumn. [Structure] The two couplets are parallel in shape — four nouns, then two verbs and a scene — so that the poem closes exactly as it opened. [Language] The whole poem is a deliberate exercise in the use of a single number: 一 functions as an indefinite article, as a quantifier and as a rhythm, so that the reader hears 'one' ten times and understands the poet's isolation and singleness of purpose at the same time. [Imagery] Almost no image in the ordinary sense is offered; instead the poem builds a picture out of计数 — boat, man, hook, moon, autumn — and the multiplication by one is what gives the verse its calm, unhurried pulse. The wonder of the last line is that 一江 (one river) is repeated for moon and for autumn, so the two have joined, and the water is at once luminous and season-struck.

【白话串讲】 陈沆写《一字诗》：“一帆一桨一渔舟，一个渔翁一钓钩”——“一俯一仰一场笑，一江明月一江秋”——他用十个一字写渔舟——一江明月一江秋。 【意象与手法】 “一帆一桨一渔舟，一个渔翁一钓钩”以连续十个“一”字写渔舟人物；“一俯一仰一场笑，一江明月一江秋”以“一”字铺写明月秋江。语言清新明快，以数字入诗别具匠心。 【情感与主旨】 以十个“一”字写渔舟垂钓、江月秋景，寥寥数笔勾勒一幅宁静的渔隐图，语言机巧而意境悠远。 【名句点睛】 常考“一江明月一江秋”以江月秋景写渔隐之境；“一帆一桨一渔舟，一个渔翁一钓钩”以一字叠用写渔舟。

Background

Chen Hang (1785–1826), courtesy name Taichu, so Qiufang, was from Qishui (modern Xishui, Hubei). Little is known of his official career; he is remembered now mainly as a poet of the so-called 'Jiangxi school' circle, and for the quiet, unforced qualities of his short verse. This quatrain is the best-known of his poems, and is muchused as an example of a poem built from a single repeated character, in the tradition of the 数字入诗 (numbers in poetry) that runs from Li Bai's 'Quiet Night' to the.common-place numbers of the folk quatrains.

《一字诗》为清代诗人陈沆所作诗。陈沆（1785—1826），字太初，号秋舫，蕲水（今湖北浠水）人，清代诗人。此诗写景田园，为咏渔舟之作。诗中「一帆一桨一渔舟，一个渔翁一钓钩」写一帆一桨一渔舟，一个渔翁一钓钩；「一俯一仰一场笑，一江明月一江秋」写一俯一仰一场笑，一江明月一江秋。陈沆此诗以写景田园、一江明月一江秋写其田园之情，清新明快，是陈沆诗中的名篇。此篇《一字诗》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。此篇《一字诗》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。此篇《一字诗》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。

Art

The poem is a technical exercise that succeeds because the technique disappears. Every noun carries 一 in front of it, which in Chinese serves at once as a numeral, as an adjective of uniqueness and as a near-substitute for the indefinite article — so that 'one sail, one oar, one boat' describes the smallest possible world and simultaneously gives each object its own importance. The second couplet repeats the device on the verb: 一俯一仰 (one bow, one rise) makes the fisherman's motion metronomic, and 一场笑 (one burst of laughter) counts an emotion the way one counts a thing. The climax is 一江明月一江秋, where the same measure is applied to two different realities: the moonlight and the autumn are each 'a whole river'. No other word in the poem is varied, and none needs to be.

此诗艺术上以「清新明快、以一字写景」见长。全诗共四句，由一帆一桨一渔舟而一个渔翁一钓钩而一俯一仰一场笑。起「一帆一桨一渔舟，一个渔翁一钓钩」写一帆一桨一渔舟：一帆一桨一渔舟，一个渔翁一钓钩；「一俯一仰一场笑，一江明月一江秋」写一江明月一江秋：一俯一仰一场笑，一江明月一江秋。全诗以一字写景，由一帆一桨一渔舟而一江明月一江秋，清新明快，是陈沆诗中的名篇。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。

Allusions

The poem belongs to the tradition of 数字诗, verse built on numerals, in which the number is both subject and ornament; the most famous examples are the 'One' quatrains of folk origin, where the counting device is the joke as well as the form. The figure of the old fisherman is a second inheritance: 渔翁 and 钓叟 have since the Tang stood for the man who has withdrawn from public life and made his peace with the water, from Zhang Zhihe's 'A fisherman to the tune of Yu Ge' to the Song paintings of riverine recluses. The poem draws on both traditions and uses neither: its numbers are dry, its fisherman is nameless, and neither the count nor the recluse is permitted to be impressive.

诗中「一帆一桨一渔舟一个渔翁一钓钩」「一俯一仰一场笑一江明月一江秋」等语，皆含典故故实。「一帆一桨一渔舟一个渔翁一钓钩」写一帆一桨一渔舟一个渔翁一钓钩；「一俯一仰一场笑一江明月一江秋」写一俯一仰一场笑一江明月一江秋。诗人以一帆一桨一钩等语入诗，不着痕迹，而把写景田园之情写得真切可感，是善于熔铸典故的体现。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。

Commentary

The quatrain is one of the most frequently reprinted of Qing short poems, usually quoted to illustrate how a single repeated character can structure a whole miniature. Commentators have pointed out that its effect depends on the Chinese numeral 一 itself: in English it must be scattered into different words, and the rhythm is lost. Within Chinese the poem is often cited with a wry recognition of its own artifice, and yet readers speak of its 清新 — its freshness — which is precisely what the counting device is supposed to prevent.

这首《一字诗》，是陈沆写景田园之作，写一帆一桨一渔舟、一个渔翁一钓钩、一江明月一江秋之情，清新明快。起「一帆一桨一渔舟，一个渔翁一钓钩」——一帆一桨一渔舟，一个渔翁一钓钩。写一帆一桨一渔舟：一帆一桨一渔舟、一个渔翁一钓钩——一帆一桨一渔舟、渔翁一钓钩；「一俯一仰一场笑，一江明月一江秋」——一俯一仰一场笑，一江明月一江秋。写一江明月一江秋：一俯一仰一场笑、一江明月一江秋——俯仰一场笑、明月一江秋。这「一俯一仰一场笑，一江明月一江秋」，是全诗之结：以一江明月一江秋写其田园。全诗清新明快，以一字写景，正是陈沆诗中的名篇。综观全诗，情真、景切、理深，三者浑融无迹，故能于短短数语之中寄无限深意，令人百读不厌。其含蓄蕴藉之处，正是中国古典诗歌以少总多、言有尽而意无穷的美学精神的生动体现。综观全诗，情真、景切、理深，三者浑融无迹，故能于短短数语之中寄无限深意，令人百读不厌。其含蓄蕴藉之处，正是中国古典诗歌以少总多、言有尽而意无穷的美学精神的生动体现。

Prosody

Form Poem — a seven-character quatrain (qi-yan jue-ju)诗（七言绝句）
Rhyme A seven-syllable jueju rhyming on the even-tone sound: 舟 (zhou), 钩 (gou) and 秋 (qiu) all fall in the 尤 group. Three rhyme-words in four lines, all closed on a long rounded vowel, which is what gives the poem its even, rocking pulse.此诗为七言绝句，共四句，两句一联。押平声韵：「舟」「钩」「秋」押尤部韵。诗体依绝句而定，句式整齐，音节随情起伏，正与写写景田园的清新明快相称，也见其以绝句写田园的自然。
Tone pattern The cadence is brisk and unhurried: the first line falls in even beats, the second pauses after the hook and resumes, the third changes direction on the laugh, and the fourth settles slowly. Because no line exceeds seven syllables, the verse moves like a rowing stroke — out, back, and then a long holding line. The even, repeated 一 at the head of each phrase creates the metronome.句式上，「一帆一桨一渔舟，一个渔翁一钓钩」写一帆一桨一渔舟，音节明快；「一俯一仰一场笑，一江明月一江秋」写一江明月一江秋，音节轻快。全诗音节随情起伏，由明快而轻快，正合绝句「含蓄」之妙，读来如写景田园、一江明月一江秋之音，清新而动人。
Reading note As a seven-character quatrain with three even-tone rimes, the form is unusually steady, and the poem uses that steadiness to its advantage: the metronome of the repeated numeral is heard in the rhyme, so the boat seems to keep time on the water. The verse should be read quickly and evenly, with the last line drawn out, since the fixed frame is what allows so tiny a picture to hold the reader's attention.此诗为七言绝句，是陈沆写景田园之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「清新明快、以一字写景」：「一帆一桨一渔舟，一个渔翁一钓钩」写一帆一桨一渔舟、「一俯一仰一场笑，一江明月一江秋」写一江明月一江秋。全诗清新明快，以一字写景。尤为精妙者，是「一帆一桨一渔舟，一个渔翁一钓钩」写尽渔舟之趣；而「一俯一仰一场笑，一江明月一江秋」以一字写景，正是陈沆诗「清新明快」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《一字诗》一诗之所以读来声情并茂，正在于诗人以声韵配合情思、以节奏烘托意境，音节之长短、平仄之起伏，皆与诗意相为表里，此亦可见中国古典诗歌声律之美与匠心之工。

Line by line

一帆一桨一渔舟，一个渔翁一钓钩。

One sail, one oar, one fishing boat; one old fisherman, one fishing hook.

一帆一桨一渔舟，一个渔翁一钓钩。

One sail, one oar, one fishing boat; one fisherman, one fishing hook.

首二句写一帆一桨一渔舟，起笔即见其舟。「一帆一桨一渔舟」写一帆一桨一渔舟，「一帆一桨」写一帆一桨、「一渔舟」写一渔舟；「一个渔翁一钓钩」写一个渔翁一钓钩，「一个渔翁」写一个渔翁、「一钓钩」写一钓钩。两句一写一帆一桨一渔舟、一写一个渔翁一钓钩，以一帆一桨一渔舟写帆桨渔舟、以一个渔翁一钓钩写渔翁钓钩，写尽一帆一桨一渔舟、一个渔翁一钓钩之情。以舟起兴，清新而明快，是「以舟起兴」的妙笔。

The opening two lines write one sail, one oar, one fishing boat, the boat visible from the first stroke. One sail, one oar, one fishing boat writes the sail, the oar, the boat. One fisherman, one fishing hook writes the fisherman and the hook. Two lines: one of sail, oar and fishing boat, one of fisherman and fishing hook. Writing the sail, oar and boat, writing the fisherman and the hook, exhausting the sail-oar-boat and the fisherman-hook. Raising on the boat, fresh and bright, the fine brush of raising feeling through the boat.

一俯一仰一场笑，一江明月一江秋。

He bows, he rises, one burst of laughter; one river of bright moon, one river of autumn.

一俯一仰一场笑，一江明月一江秋。

One bow, one lean back, one burst of laughter; one river of bright moon, one river of autumn.

尾二句写一江明月一江秋，是全诗立意的落点。「一俯一仰一场笑」写一俯一仰一场笑，「一俯一仰」写一俯一仰、「一场笑」写一场笑；「一江明月一江秋」写一江明月一江秋，「一江明月」写一江明月、「一江秋」写一江秋。两句一写一俯一仰一场笑、一写一江明月一江秋，以一俯一仰一场笑写俯仰一笑、以一江明月一江秋写明月一江秋，写尽一俯一仰一场笑、一江明月一江秋之情。以景写情，清新而明快，是全诗最动人处，也是「以景写情」的点睛之笔。

The closing two lines write one river of bright moon, one river of autumn, the landing point of the poem's intent. One bow, one lean back, one burst of laughter writes the bow and the lean, the single laughter. One river of bright moon, one river of autumn writes the moonlit river, the river of autumn. Two lines: one of the bow-lean and laughter, one of the moonlit river and autumn. Writing the bow and the lean in laughter, writing the moon over the autumn river, exhausting the bow-lean-laughter and the moonlit autumn river. Writing feeling through scene, fresh and bright, the most moving passage of the poem, and the pointed brush of writing feeling through scene.

Study

Word focus

一帆 One sail. The first of the counted objects; the sail is what makes the boat movable and, as the prefix 一 is repeated throughout, the sail becomes the emblem of a whole solitary life on the water. 「一帆」写一帆一桨一渔舟，是写一帆之态的关键。「一帆一桨一渔舟」着一「一帆」，写一帆——着一「一帆」，写一帆一桨一渔舟，见其帆之一。两字写尽一帆之态，是「以词写帆」的妙笔。「一帆」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
一钓钩 One fishing hook. The lightest and smallest of the poem's objects, and the one that gives the line its peculiar rhythm; the hook stands for the whole livelihood, and being counted last of the five things it is what the eye comes to rest on. 「一钓钩」写一个渔翁一钓钩，是写一钓钩之态的关键。「一个渔翁一钓钩」着一「一钓钩」，写一钓钩——着一「一钓钩」，写一个渔翁一钓钩，见其钩之一。三字写尽一钓钩之态，是「以词写钩」的点睛之词。「一钓钩」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
一场笑 One burst of laughter. A laugh counted as if it were an event with a measure; the phrase is what keeps the fisherman from being a quiet figure in a painting and makes him a man who is simply enjoying himself. 「一场笑」写一俯一仰一场笑，是写一场笑之态的关键。「一俯一仰一场笑」着一「一场笑」，写一场笑——着一「一场笑」，写一俯一仰一场笑，见其笑之畅。三字写尽一场笑之态，是「以词写笑」的点睛之词。「一场笑」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
一江秋 One river of autumn. The autumn counted as a whole riverful, so that the season is as wide as the water and is contained in the same measure as the moon; this is the line's invention and the poem's climax. 「一江秋」写一江明月一江秋，是写一江秋之态的关键。「一江明月一江秋」着一「一江秋」，写一江秋——着一「一江秋」，写一江明月一江秋，见其秋之满。三字写尽一江秋之态，是「以词写秋」的点睛之词。「一江秋」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。

Related Reading

浣溪沙·一曲新词酒一杯 Huan Xi Sha · A Tune of New Songs, One Cup of Wine 晏殊 · 同写田园写景、清新蕴藉，一写无可奈何花落去、一写一帆一桨一渔舟一个渔翁一钓钩，皆于田园之中见清新蕴藉 Both write of the summer landscape with a fresh, unforced clarity, the one at 'the flowers fall as I can only watch', the one at 'one sail, one oar, one fishing boat' — both find their calm in things counted one by one

Yan Shu's ci — 'a tune of new songs and one cup of wine, the time of year when the wind and the sun are gentle' — observes a small, perpetual scene and draws only a quiet regret from it. Chen Hang's quatrain takes the same patience with ordinary things and extracts none of the regret, because the repeated 一 keeps the eye on each object in turn. Both rely on restraint, but Yan Shu's restraint produces ache in the reader while Chen Hang's produces a kind of contentment, and that difference is the clearest measure of the two poets' temperaments.

晏殊《浣溪沙·一曲新词酒一杯》「无可奈何花落去，似曾相识燕归来」，写田园感怀，是宋词小令的名篇；陈沆《一字诗》则以「一帆一桨一渔舟，一个渔翁一钓钩」「一俯一仰一场笑，一江明月一江秋」写一帆一桨、一江明月一江秋。两诗同写田园写景、清新蕴藉：一写无可奈何花落去、以花落燕归写惜时，一写一帆一桨一渔舟一个渔翁一钓钩、以一字写渔舟；一为晏殊之温润、一为陈沆之明快，并读正可见诗写「田园写景」的两种笔法，皆于田园之中见清新蕴藉。

 山园小梅 Small Orchard of the Mountain Garden (Plum) 林逋 · 同写田园清雅、以景寄情，一写疏影横斜水清浅暗香浮动月黄昏、一写一帆一桨一渔舟一个渔翁一钓钩，皆于田园之中见清雅 Both write of a quiet outdoor scene and let feeling accumulate in it, the one for the plum's lingering fragrance, the one for the boat, the laugh and the moon — both pictures in which nothing happens and everything is meant

Lin Bu's famous couplet about the plum — 'its shadow crosses the shallow water, its faint scent drifts in the moonlit dusk' — makes the smallest possible details carry the whole verse, and is a standard example of 以景写情. Chen Hang's poem works the same way, but supplies no emotion at all beyond the single laugh, so the reader must supply the mood. The useful contrast is that Lin Bu's details are chosen for their suggestiveness while Chen Hang's are counted for their plainness.

林逋《山园小梅》「疏影横斜水清浅，暗香浮动月黄昏」，写梅之清雅、田园之趣，是宋诗咏物的绝唱；陈沆《一字诗》则以「一帆一桨一渔舟，一个渔翁一钓钩」「一江明月一江秋」写一帆一桨、明月一江秋。两诗同写田园清雅、以景寄情：一写疏影横斜水清浅暗香浮动月黄昏、以梅写清雅，一写一帆一桨一渔舟一个渔翁一钓钩、以渔舟写田园；一为林逋之清逸、一为陈沆之明快，并读正可见诗写「田园清雅」的两种笔法，皆于田园之中见清雅。