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宋 Song · 诗 Poem

叠题乌江亭

Written Again at the Wujiang Pavilion

王安石

Wang Anshi

咏史History 怀古History 议论Theme

百战疲劳壮士哀，中原一败势难回。
江东子弟今虽在，肯与君王卷土来？

After a hundred battles the warriors are spent and grieved; one defeat in the heartland, and the cause could not turn back.
The sons of Jiangdong live still today - but would they follow their lord to rise again from the earth?

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Meaning

A cool rejoinder to those who pitied Xiang Yu: his men were spent, and none would follow him back.

上百次征战使壮士疲惫士气低落，中原一战失利败局已难以挽回。江东子弟如今虽然还在，可谁还肯追随君王卷土重来？

Appreciation

Where Du Mu sighed for a second chance, Wang Anshi sees the arithmetic: the soldiers were exhausted and the people unwilling. History, not heroism, has the last word.

【白话串讲】 “百战疲劳壮士哀，中原一败势难回”——王安石写乌江亭：项羽百战，一败难回。“江东子弟今虽在，肯与君王卷土来”——就算江东子弟还在，他们还肯跟你卷土重来吗？他反问杜牧“卷土重来未可知”的观点。【意象与手法】开篇“百战疲劳壮士哀、中原一败势难回”直指项羽败局已定；后两句“江东子弟今虽在、肯与君王卷土来”以辛辣的反问点明人心向背乃胜负关键。全诗议论精警、独具只眼，语气冷峻而力透纸背。【情感与主旨】针对杜牧《题乌江亭》“卷土重来未可知”翻案之作，从政治家冷静客观的角度审时度势，将变法者的革新精神带入咏史，是宋人史论史评诗化的典范，开宋人议论诗之先声。【名句点睛】常考“江东子弟今虽在，肯与君王卷土来”以反问写人心向背；“百战疲劳壮士哀，中原一败势难回”以壮士哀写败局难回。

Background

Wang Anshi (1021-1086) rewrites Du Mu's famous 'Wujiang Pavilion' poem, which wished Xiang Yu had returned to fight again. Wang, the reformer, argues the defeat was final.

《叠题乌江亭》一作《乌江亭》，是北宋政治家、文学家王安石的一首七言绝句。乌江亭在今安徽和县东北，是项羽自刎之处；亭以「乌江」名，自唐以来便成咏史地标。要读懂王安石这一首，必须先读它的「前文本」——杜牧的《题乌江亭》。唐人杜牧曾写：「胜败兵家事不期，包羞忍耻是男儿。江东子弟多才俊，卷土重来未可知。」那是典型的唐人态度：同情项羽，赞赏其豪气，认为大丈夫能屈能伸，江东根基尚在，卷土重来并非不可能。杜牧写于会昌年间，带着晚唐文人「惋惜英雄」的浪漫。宋仁宗至和元年秋，王安石赴京途经和州（乌江亭所在地），针对杜牧之论，写下这首「叠题」——叠，是叠在杜牧题诗的原意上再题，明摆着要翻案。彼时王安石正值壮年，锐意变法的前奏已经响起，他看历史，不是看英雄的浪漫，而是看政治的理性：项羽败，败在人心、败在战略，不是一次忍耻就能翻盘的。所以这首绝句，是政治家以冷峻目光重审一段往事，也是宋人「以议论为诗」的早期标本。更深的背景是北宋的史学风气。宋人重史识、尚议论，欧阳修《新唐书》、司马光《资治通鉴》都带着强烈的「垂训」意识；王安石作为改革家，更习惯用历史为现实立法。他写乌江亭，表面翻杜牧，实则是借项羽说一个道理：胜负不靠个人意气，而靠人心向背与时势。这种「以史论政」的笔法，开了宋人咏史绝句「翻案」一脉的先声，对苏轼、陆游乃至后世议论诗影响极深。读懂这点，才明白它为何短短二十八字，却被奉为宋诗史论诗化的典范。

Art

A 'reversal' poem: it accepts Du Mu's premise (the men survive) but denies the conclusion (they would fight), turning sentiment into hard political realism.

此诗的艺术，在「翻案」二字——先立一个流行偏见（杜牧的「卷土重来未可知」），再以冷峻的判断推翻，语气斩截，力透纸背。全诗四句，前两句写「势」，后两句写「人」，由客观形势逼入主观人心，逻辑像一篇微型史论。百战疲劳壮士哀，中原一败势难回，起笔即破杜牧的「包羞忍耻」论：项羽不是败在一次、输在一时，而是百战疲劳、壮士已哀——士卒疲敝、士气低落，这是长期消耗的结果；中原一败（垓下之败）则是压垮骆驼的最后一根稻草，势难回三字断得干脆，把「卷土重来」的可能性直接抹去。这两句不抒情，只摆事实，像一位史官在写判决书。江东子弟今虽在，肯与君王卷土来，后两句由势转人，以辛辣的反问收束：即便江东子弟还在（杜牧的论据），可谁还肯为这个屡败之君卖命？一个「肯」字，把胜负的关键从「有没有兵」扭到「人愿不愿跟」——这才是政治家看历史的毒辣处。全诗不发感慨，只下两个判断（势难回、不肯来），却比任何叹惋都重。这种「以议论为诗、以判断代抒情」的写法，是宋诗区别于唐诗的关键特征，而王安石此首，是其中最早、最利落的一首。

Allusions

Xiang Yu, the defeated contender against Liu Bang, died at Wujiang. Jiangdong is his home region whose youth formed his army. Du Mu's original urged 'rise again from the earth.'

此诗的「典」不在僻事，而在与杜牧的互文。乌江亭、项羽、江东子弟，都是楚汉旧事：项羽兵败垓下，突围至乌江，亭长劝其渡江回江东、卷土重来，项羽以「无颜见江东父老」自刎。这一段《史记·项羽本纪》的著名结尾，是千古咏史的原型。杜牧《题乌江亭》「江东子弟多才俊，卷土重来未可知」，是以同情与浪漫立论；王安石叠题，正对着这两句翻：他承认「江东子弟今虽在」（接过杜牧的论据），却用「肯与君王卷土来」反问，把杜牧的「未可知」翻成「必不来」。这种「借敌论之论据、反其结论」的翻案法，是宋人咏史最爱的机巧——不另起炉灶，而在原论上做减法。更深一层，诗中暗含对「人心向背」这一史学传统的呼应。《孟子》言「得道者多助，失道者寡助」，项羽坑降卒、烧咸阳、失民心，王安石以「肯与」二字点出其失助之由，是把孟子的民本史观，压进二十八字里。所以此诗看似翻杜牧，实则立的是一条更古的史训：胜负在民心，不在地势。这也是宋人「以史为鉴」精神的浓缩——它不吊古，而用法家的冷眼、儒家的民本，重写楚汉的结局。

Commentary

Wang Anshi uses history as policy: a lost cause cannot be revived by will alone. The poem reflects his own embattled reformist stance.

《叠题乌江亭》在王荆公诗里，是与《明妃曲》《贾生》并列的翻案名篇，也是宋诗「以议论为诗」的早期典范。自宋以来，论者多激赏其「翻案之笔」：杜牧叹英雄，王诗断形势，一浪漫一冷峻，恰见唐音与宋调之分。清人贺裳《载酒园诗话》谓荆公咏史「高出唐人」，正指这种不蹈袭、敢立论的胆识；近人论宋诗，也常以它说明北宋诗人如何把「史论」写进「绝句」，开苏轼、陆游咏史之先声。值得分辨的是，此诗的「冷」不是无情，而是另一种深刻。杜牧的同情固然动人，却把胜负简化为个人气节；王安石看到的是结构性的败因——百战疲劳是消耗，中原一败是总溃，肯与不肯是人心。这种看法，与他后来变法的思路一致：他相信制度与人心比个人英雄更重要。所以读此诗，要读出一位改革家的「史识」：他翻的不是杜牧，而是「以意气论英雄」的流行病。也有人替杜牧辩护，认为「卷土重来」本就是浪漫的假设，不必以史实苛责。但王安石的翻案，本就不为纠错，而为立论——他要借乌江亭说一句话：审时度势者胜，泥于意气者败。这句话，放在北宋积弱、亟待革新的语境里，别有重量。它与《资治通鉴》「鉴前世之兴衰，考当今之得失」的精神同调，是政治家把历史变成方法论的一例。宋人咏史之「独步」，于此可见一斑。

Prosody

Form Seven-character quatrain (qijue)七言绝句（咏史七绝，四句，近体七绝，首句入韵）

Rhyme Rhymes on 'grieved' (ai), 'back' (hui), 'earth' (lai), level/oblique mix in the hai group.哀、回、来，平声灰哈韵相押（哀回属灰韵，来属哈韵，宋人灰哈多通押），一韵到底，韵部开朗而带慨叹，与翻案斩截之语气相称。

Tone pattern Seven-character regulated form.百战疲劳壮士哀，仄仄平平仄仄平；中原一败势难回，平平仄仄仄平平；江东子弟今虽在，平平仄仄平平仄；肯与君王卷土来，仄仄平平仄仄平。平仄合七绝常格，二四句押平韵，声调爽利。

Reading note A classic 'reply' poem; cold logic against romantic pity.此诗押灰哈韵，哀、回、来同韵相押，元音开阔而能远送，读来有一声断然的慨叹，与「势难回」「肯与来」的斩截语气正相凑泊；若换收束的窄韵，这股翻案的力道便泄了。七绝的骨架在顿挫，此诗前两句「百战疲劳壮士哀，中原一败势难回」以平叙铺势，后两句「江东子弟今虽在，肯与君王卷土来」以反问收束，由叙到问，节奏一顿一放，像一篇史论收在最后一个反问号上。更妙在声情与逻辑的互文：前两句仄起平收，稳如判词；后两句以「虽在」缓一缓，再以「肯与」陡然逼问，声到「肯」处忽然一沉，像史官抬眼看你。王安石此诗不靠景语、不靠情语，而靠判断与反问撑起全诗，声律不喧哗，理却透纸——这正是宋诗「以议论为诗」在七绝里的最早范本：它证明绝句不只能写情写景，也能载一篇微型史论，且载得比长篇更利落。

Line by line

百战疲劳壮士哀，中原一败势难回。

After a hundred battles the warriors are spent and grieved; one defeat in the heartland, and the cause could not turn back.

上百次征战使壮士疲惫士气低落，中原一战失利败局已难以挽回。

A hundred battles have worn the strong men out; their spirits low. One defeat on the central plain, and the tide is past recall.

前两句是翻案的逻辑起点，先破杜牧「包羞忍耻是男儿」的浪漫。百战疲劳写的是长期消耗——项羽不是输在一时意气，而是连年征战把壮士拖到疲惫、士气拖到低落，这是结构性的衰败，不是一次忍耻能挽回；壮士哀的「哀」字极重，写士气已死，比写「败」更沉。中原一败指垓下之败，是压垮全局的最后一步；势难回三字断得斩截，把「卷土重来未可知」的可能性直接抹去。这两句的高明，在不抒情、只摆事实，像史官写判决书：我先告诉你，败局是「百战」堆出来的、「一败」定的，不是面子问题。一个「势」字，把个人英雄拉回历史规律——这正是政治家看战争的冷眼。读它要品那个「难」字：不是「不」回，是「难」回，留一丝客观，却更显绝望，因为「难」比「不」更近事实。

The first two lines are the logical starting point of the reversal, first breaking Du Mu's romantic shame-endured-is-the-man. A hundred battles have worn the strong men out writes the long attrition — Xiang Yu lost not in a moment's heat, but the years of campaigning dragging the strong men to exhaustion, the morale to low, the structural decline, not one shame-enduring the can repair; the single word grief of the strong men's grief extremely heavy, writing the morale already dead, deeper than writing the defeat. One defeat on the central plain means the defeat at Gaixia, the last step crushing the whole; the three words tide past recall decisive as cut metal, wiping out Du Mu's the unknowable possibility of the return. The brilliance of the two lines lies in not lyricizing, only laying out the facts, like the historian's verdict: I first tell you, the defeat is piled up by the hundred battles, decided by the one defeat, not a question of face. The single word tide pulls the personal hero back to the historical law — precisely the cold eye of the statesman on war. Read it to taste the word hard: not cannot return, but hard to return, keeping a thread of the objective, and yet the despair the deeper, because hard is nearer the fact than cannot.

江东子弟今虽在，肯与君王卷土来？

The sons of Jiangdong live still today - but would they follow their lord to rise again from the earth?

江东子弟如今虽然还在，可谁还肯追随君王卷土重来？

The sons of Jiangdong live on today — yet would they, for the lord, turn back and fight again?

后两句是翻案的顶点，也是全诗的「诗眼」，以辛辣反问收束。江东子弟今虽在，先爽快地接过杜牧的论据——杜牧说「江东子弟多才俊」，王安石不否认「今虽在」，显得理直；随即「肯与君王卷土来」一转，把问题从「有没有兵」扭到「人愿不愿跟」：子弟虽在，可谁还肯为这个屡败、失心、自刎的君王卷土重来？一个「肯」字，是全文最利的刀——它点出胜负的关键在人心向背，不在地势兵员。这个反问，彻底翻了杜牧的「未可知」：不是「未可知」，而是「必不肯」。语气冷峻却力透纸背，因为王安石看的不是项羽的面子，而是士卒的意愿。这两句把一首咏史诗写成一篇微型政论：前半断「势」，后半断「人」，由客观形势逼入主观人心，逻辑严密如刀。它最见宋诗「以议论为诗」的本领——二十八字，不写景、不抒情，只下一个反问，却比千言史论更让人脊背一凉。

The last two lines are the peak of the reversal, and the poem's eye, closing in the biting rhetorical question. The sons of Jiangdong live on today first readily taking Du Mu's premise — Du Mu says the sons of Jiangdong are many and talented, Wang Anshi not denying the live on today, seeming in the right; then would they, for the lord, turn back and fight again? suddenly turning the question from whether there are soldiers to whether the men would follow: the sons though live, and who would for this repeatedly defeated, heart-lost, self-slain lord turn back and fight? The single word would, the sharpest knife of the whole — it points out that the crux of victory and defeat lies in the people's hearts, not the terrain and the troops. The question thoroughly reverses Du Mu's unknowable: not unknowable, but surely would not. The tone cold and yet the force through the paper, because Wang Anshi looks not at Xiang Yu's face, but at the soldiers' will. The two lines write a historical-rhyme poem as a miniature political essay: the first half judges the tide, the second half judges the men, pressing from the objective situation into the subjective heart, the logic tight as a knife. It most shows Song poetry's craft of argument-as-poem — twenty-eight characters, no scene, no lyric, only one rhetorical question, and yet more chilling to the spine than a thousand words of historical essay.

Study

Word focus

百战 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 百战疲劳的「百战」，是翻案的事实底座。它不写「一战」，而写连年征战，把项羽的败因从「偶然」拉成「必然」——消耗战打光了底气。一个「百」字是虚数也是实写，极言其久、其疲，直接瓦解杜牧「包羞忍耻」可翻盘的浪漫。王安石用这两个字，先给结论垫了史实的地基：不是不肯忍，是早已打不动了。「百战」是翻案的事实底座，不写一战而写连年征战，把败因从偶然拉成必然——消耗战打光了底气。一个「百」字极言其久其疲，直接瓦解杜牧「包羞忍耻可翻盘」的浪漫。王安石先给结论垫了史实地基：不是不肯忍，是早已打不动了。

疲劳 / 哀 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 疲劳写体力之竭，哀写士气之死，二字对举，把「败」写成由外而内的溃散。壮士哀的「哀」比「败」更沉——败是结果，哀是人心已散；人心散，则虽有其地亦不可为。这两个词是政治家看军队的毒辣处：他不算兵力，而算士气。一首绝句，写出「兵败如山倒」的心理机制。「疲劳」写体力之竭，「哀」写士气之死，二字对举把败写成由外而内的溃散。壮士哀比败更沉——败是结果，哀是人心已散；人心散则虽有其地亦不可为。这是政治家看军队的毒辣处：他不算兵力，而算士气，一首绝句写出兵败如山倒的心理机制。

势难回 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 势难回是全诗第一个斩截判断。势指客观形势、历史大势；难回不是「不回」，而是「难以挽回」，留一丝客观却更显绝望。这三个字把「卷土重来」的可能性直接抹去，是翻案的核心一刀。它代表的是史家（而非诗人）的眼光：胜负在天时地利人和之大势，不在个人之忍。一个「势」字，把咏史从抒情拉回规律。「势难回」是全诗第一个斩截判断，势指客观形势与历史大势，难回不是不回而是难以挽回，留一丝客观却更显绝望。这三个字抹去卷土重来的可能，是翻案的核心一刀，代表的是史家而非诗人的眼光：胜负在大势，不在个人之忍。

虽在 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 江东子弟今虽在的「虽在」，是翻案的逻辑巧劲。它先爽快承认杜牧的论据（子弟还在），用一个「虽」字让出一步，显得理直气壮；然后「肯与」一转，把让出的这一步又收回来——在又如何？不肯跟，便白在。这一个「虽」字，是王安石辩论术的缩影：不蛮驳，先认再翻，翻得对手无话可说。宋人咏史爱用此法，荆公此首是其早慧。

肯 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 肯与君王卷土来的「肯」字，是全诗最重的落点，也是诗眼。它把胜负的关键从「有没有兵」扭到「人愿不愿跟」——子弟虽在，肯不肯跟才是要害。这一个字点出人心向背决定成败的史训，比「势难回」更进一层：势已难回，人亦不肯，双重锁死。王安石以「肯」字收反问，冷峻如刀，把一首咏史写成一篇民心论。宋诗「以议为诗」之力，全在此一字。