All poems

宋 Song · 诗 Poem

惠崇春江晚景

Evening View of the Spring River for Huichong

苏轼

Su Shi

题画Painting inscription 早春Early spring 桃花Peach blossoms

竹外桃花三两枝，春江水暖鸭先知。
蒌蒿满地芦芽短，正是河豚欲上时。

Beyond bamboo, two or three peach branches in bloom.
Ducks are the first to feel the spring river warm.
Artemisia covers the ground, reed shoots are short.
It's exactly the time when pufferfish swim upstream.

Listen

Meaning

The poem describes a painting of early spring: outside a bamboo grove, a few peach blossoms have opened; ducks playing in the river sense the warming water. On the shore, artemisia covers the ground and reed shoots are just sprouting—this is the season when pufferfish are about to swim upstream. The poet uses vivid imagination to supplement the painted scene, capturing the vitality of early spring.

竹林外绽放着两三枝桃花，春江的水变得温暖，鸭子最先感知。满地蒌蒿生机萌发，芦苇的嫩芽尚短，这正是河豚将要逆江而上的时节。全诗为题咏惠崇画作而作，以灵动想象补足画意，写出早春江边的勃勃生机。

Appreciation

The first two lines depict the foreground: peach blossoms beyond bamboo and ducks in the river. 'Ducks first to know' personifies the animals, giving nature a spiritual quality. The phrases 'two or three branches' and 'reed shoots short' precisely capture early spring characteristics. The last line adds an olfactory and dynamic dimension by imagining pufferfish, turning stillness into motion and blending the real with the imagined. The poem expresses keen observation and love for early spring's vitality, with a joyful, relaxed tone.

【白话串讲】 “竹外桃花三两枝，春江水暖鸭先知”——苏轼给朋友惠崇的画题诗，鸭子下水就猜到春天来了。最妙的是最后一句：正是河豚欲上时。他连吃都想好了。【意象与手法】题画诗妙在不离画又不泥画：前两句实写画中竹、桃、鸭、水，「水暖鸭先知」则由形入神，以鸭之感知写春之将至，灵动传神；后两句由画中蒌蒿芦芽联想到河豚欲上的时令，以味觉、动态补画之静，虚实相生，拓展意境。【情感与主旨】惠崇为北宋九僧之一，工诗善画，其《春江晚景》为鸭戏图。此诗约作于神宗元丰八年（1085）苏轼在汴京时，为题惠崇所绘春江鸭戏图而作。诗人不囿于画面，以「鸭先知」「河豚欲上」的想象补足画外之趣，体现题画诗诗传画外意的匠心，亦见东坡对早春物候的敏锐感知与豁达心境。【名句点睛】默写易错：「蒌蒿」易误作「楼蒿」，「芦芽」易误作「芦牙」，「河豚」教材多作「豚」，「欲上」易误作「欲尚」。赏析常考：①「先知」的拟人理趣；②题画诗不离画又不泥画的虚实手法。

Background

Huichong was a monk-poet and painter of the Northern Song. Su Shi wrote this poem around 1085 in Kaifeng as an inscription on Huichong's painting 'Spring River Evening Scene' (a duck-playing scene). Instead of being confined to the painted image, Su Shi uses imaginative leaps—like the ducks sensing warmth and pufferfish about to ascend—to convey the spirit beyond the canvas, showcasing his skill at painting-inscription poetry.

惠崇为北宋初年「九诗僧」之一，建阳（今属福建）人，工诗善画，尤擅绘水禽小景，其画清新淡远，为时人所重，《春江晚景》即其所绘春江鸭戏图，苏轼为之题诗。此诗约作于宋神宗元丰八年（1085），时苏轼经乌台诗案贬谪黄州之后复起，量移汝州，途经汴京（今河南开封），为惠崇此画题咏。这一年春，神宗去世，哲宗继位，高太后垂帘听政，起用旧党，苏轼政治处境开始好转，诗中洋溢的早春生机与明快气息，正与其心境相合。宋人好以诗题画，苏轼尤擅此体，主张诗画本一律、天工与清新，其题画诗讲究以诗笔补足画境。此诗不囿于画面，以「鸭先知」「河豚欲上」的想象补足画外之趣，将静止的画面写活，正是其题画诗诗传画外意理论的实践。全诗四句写尽早春江畔的生机，亦可窥见东坡于仕途转机之际的欣悦心境，是宋人题画诗中影响最大、流传最广的名篇之一。惠崇之画今已不传，赖苏轼此诗与《惠崇春江晚景》其二（「两两归鸿欲破群」）存其画意，诗存画亡而画因诗传，正是诗画相济的千古佳话，亦可见苏轼题画诗对画作传播的莫大之功。

Art

This painting-inscription poem skillfully stays with the painting yet transcends it: the first two lines depict real elements (bamboo, peach blossoms, ducks, water), but 'ducks first to know' moves from form to spirit, animating the scene. The last two lines, inspired by the painted artemisia and reed shoots, link to the seasonal emergence of pufferfish, adding taste and motion. This interplay of the concrete and the imaginative expands the artistic conception, full of Su Shi's associative richness.

题画诗妙在不离画又不泥画，全诗四句，前实后虚、由静入动，章法谨严而意趣横生。前两句实写画中景物：「竹外桃花三两枝」以疏淡笔墨点出早春，竹之青翠与桃之粉红相映，三两枝不写繁而春意已透；「春江水暖鸭先知」由形入神，鸭子浮游江上，戏水之感觉写出水温之回暖，以感知写季节，将不可画的「暖」画了出来，是谓画外意，妙绝千古。后两句由岸边景物生发联想：「蒌蒿满地芦芽短」实写画中蒌蒿芦芽，点出时令特征；「正是河豚欲上时」则由蒌蒿、芦芽皆是河豚佐料与河豚产卵期溯江的物候常识，联想到河豚将上，以味觉与动态补画之静，虚写一笔，使画面由平面变立体、由静止变生动。全诗虚实相生、由实入虚，将画境、时令、想象、理趣熔于一炉：竹桃是色，鸭水是动，蒌芦是形，河豚是味，色、动、形、味兼备，尽显东坡联想之富与题画手段之高，是宋人题画诗中最脍炙人口的名篇。题画诗最忌复述画面，此诗却能于四句中完成写形、传神、补意、生趣四个层次：一二句写形传神，三四句由实生虚，末句更以味觉接通时令，层层翻进，遂使尺幅画境包含整个春天。

Allusions

'Ducks first to know warm water' echoes the idea of knowing fish's joy from Zhuangzi's 'Autumn Floods' and also stems from folk knowledge. Artemisia and reed shoots are traditional spring vegetables mentioned in the Book of Songs and Chu Ci. Pufferfish was a seasonal delicacy in the Song dynasty; Su Shi himself noted its peak in spring. The poem follows the tradition of using seasonal phenomena as in the 'Seventh Month' ode.

「春江水暖鸭先知」化用《庄子·秋水》濠梁观鱼之知鱼之乐，以物我相通之理写鸭知水暖，又本于民间「春江水暖鸭先知」的物候谚语，将哲思与常理融为一体，故富理趣。「蒌蒿」「芦芽」皆为春蔬，自《诗经》《楚辞》以来即为诗人笔下的春令意象，蒌蒿满地、芦芽初短，正是早春江岸的典型物候。「河豚」为长江下游名贵江鲜，宋人好食之，苏轼亦于《河豚说》记其春月最盛，河豚于春暮溯江产卵，正与蒌蒿芦芽同季。诗人以物候链条（蒌蒿、芦芽、河豚）入诗，承《诗经·豳风·七月》按月令物候叙事的传统，以时令物产写早春，别开生面；且「鸭先知」的理趣与「河豚欲上」的物候相扣，自然常识与哲学妙悟打成一片，兼有生活情趣与知识趣味。「河豚欲上」还暗含宋人「拼死吃河豚」的生活典故与东坡自身好食河豚的趣闻，诗中的欣悦既来自春景，也来自食趣，正是东坡「人间有味是清欢」的性情流露。

Commentary

Ji Yun of the Qing dynasty commented: 'This poem is not constrained by the painting; it writes beyond the painting—this is Su Shi's skill.' Modern scholar Qian Zhongshu in his 'Annotated Selection of Song Poetry' noted that the word 'first to know' paints the warmth that cannot be drawn.

清·纪昀评此诗：「不为题画所拘，写出画外意，的是坡公手段。」一语道破其以想象补足画境的特点。近人钱钟书《宋诗选注》谓：「「鸭先知」三字，把不能画的「暖」画出来了。」点出此诗以感觉写季节、化无形为有形的艺术奥秘。此诗与惠崇画作相得益彰，画以形胜，诗以神胜，是诗画结合的典范；「春江水暖鸭先知」一句，更以其理趣与生机成为千古名句，后世凡言早春、言先知，多引此语。苏轼题画诗甚多，而此篇以小见大、以俗为雅，将题画、写景、说理、抒情打成一片，正是东坡以诗为画、以画为诗审美理想的生动体现，也是宋诗理趣精神的代表作，其影响远及后世题画诗的创作。此诗历代入选小学、初中教材，为全民熟读的经典，「春江水暖鸭先知」更成为汉语中「先行者」「敏锐者」的代称，其影响已溢出文学而进入日常语言，足证优秀题画诗的生命力。此外，此诗以二十八字融画理、物候、哲思、食趣于一炉而浑然不觉其杂，正是苏轼「出新意于法度之中」的典型，题画至此，可谓尽善尽美。

Prosody

Form Seven-character quatrain (painting-inscription poem)七言绝句（七绝，题画诗）

Rhyme zhi, zhi, shi (level tone, upper level four zhi rhyme group)「枝、知、时」押平声韵，属《平水韵》上平四支韵，首句入韵

Tone pattern Level-tone initial, with rhyme on first line.平起首句入韵式，四句皆合律

Reading note Written for Huichong's painting 'Spring River Evening Scene,' the poem both follows the image and extends imagination, blending reason and pictorial charm.此诗为七言绝句，为惠崇和尚《春江晚景》画所作题画诗，属近体诗中最短小之体，四句二十八字而画境、时令、理趣俱全。首句入韵，押「支」韵，韵腹细而绵长，正合早春轻灵明快的声情。平仄为平起首句入韵式，全篇合律，音节浏亮；四句一实一虚、两两相生：前两句实写画中竹桃鸭水，后两句由实入虚、由画入时，章法上不离画又不泥画。绝句体贵含蓄，此诗以「先知」「欲上」两个虚灵之笔写尽早春，正是以少少许胜多多许；「先」「欲」两个表示时序的词前后呼应，使二十八字如一条流动的春水，声情轻快明亮，与题画诗清新疏朗的画境相谐，是宋人题画绝句中声情并美的典范。此诗声情轻快，宜以明朗的语调诵读，末句「欲上」二字可稍作延宕，以传达春意将满未满的期待感。

Line by line

竹外桃花三两枝

Beyond the bamboo grove, two or three peach branches are blooming—a sparse, early-spring scene, fresh and vivid.

翠竹之外，桃花绽开两三枝。

Beyond the bamboo, two or three sprigs of peach blossoms open.

起笔以疏淡笔墨点出早春。「竹外」写桃花为翠竹掩映，一青一红，色彩相映成趣；「三两枝」不写繁花满树，而取初绽两三枝，正合早春春色尚浅的时令特征——不写多而写少，以少胜多，疏落有致的构图恰是画意所在，清新之气扑面而来。竹与桃、青与红的搭配，也暗含宋人岁寒三友的审美趣味，为全诗定下明快疏朗的基调。此句以少写春、以疏写境，一「外」一「两」，早春气象全出。

The opening sets early spring in the spare, light brush. Beyond the bamboo writes the peach blossoms screened by the green bamboo, one green one red, the colors answering; two or three sprigs writes not the full tree, but the first two or three blooms, precisely the early spring's faintness — not writing much, writing little, the sparse composition the very essence of the painting, the freshness striking the face. Bamboo and peach, green and red, also carry the Song taste for the winter-hardy friends, setting the poem's bright, spare tone. The line writes spring through the few, the realm through the sparse, the beyond and the two or three exhausting the early-spring air.

春江水暖鸭先知

The spring river water is warm, and ducks are the first to know—personified, implying that those directly experiencing perceive subtle changes.

春江的水变得温暖，鸭子最先感知。

The spring river grows warm; the ducks know it first.

千古名句，题画诗画外意的典范。「水暖」是不可见的抽象感受，「鸭先知」以鸭之戏水写水温回暖，将触觉化为知觉，由形入神；「先知」拟人，赋予鸭以感知冷暖的灵性，既合物理（鸭常浮水，最先感知水温），又富理趣（敏感者先觉变化），后世遂以此喻先行者。此句由画中鸭戏水之态生发，补足画外之意，是以我观物、故物皆著我之色彩的绝好注脚，也是全诗由实入虚的关键一笔。

The famous line, the model of the beyond-the-painting meaning in the poem on a picture. The warm water is the invisible, abstract feeling; the ducks know it first writes the water's warming through the ducks' playing, turning touch into perception, from form to spirit; know it first personifies, endowing the duck with the sense for warmth, true to nature (the duck floats the water, first feeling the temperature) and rich in thought (the sensitive first perceive change), later taken as the metaphor for the pioneer. The line grows from the painted ducks at play, supplementing the meaning beyond the painting, the perfect note of the object colored by the observer's feeling, and the key stroke of the poem's turn from the real to the imagined.

蒌蒿满地芦芽短

Artemisia covers the ground; reed shoots are still short—plants sprouting along the bank, further depicting early spring's growth.

蒌蒿遍地萌生，芦苇的嫩芽尚短。

Wormwood herbs cover the ground; the reed shoots are still short.

由水面写到岸边，进一步渲染早春生机。蒌蒿是江边野菜，满地皆是，芦芽初生尚短，「满地」写其繁茂，「短」写其稚嫩，一繁一嫩，恰是早春草木初萌的典型特征；且蒌蒿、芦芽皆河豚佐味之物，暗为末句「河豚欲上」伏笔，物候之间环环相扣，见出诗人观察之细、联想之密。此句以岸边之景补足画面纵深，使春江图由水面扩展到江岸，于写景中暗藏时令逻辑。此句以「满地」「短」写物候之萌，为末句河豚伏笔，针线极密。

This turns from the water surface to the bank, further rendering the early-spring life. The wormwood herb is the riverbank vegetable, covering the ground; the reed shoot newly born and still short; covering writes the abundance, short the tender green, one lush one tender, precisely the typical mark of early-spring plants; moreover, wormwood and reed shoots both season the pufferfish, secretly foreshadowing the closing pufferfish about to rise, the phenology linked ring on ring, showing the poet's minute observation and dense association. The line supplements the picture's depth with the bank scene, expanding the spring river from the surface to the shore, hiding the logic of the season within the description. Covered and short write the sprouting phenology, foreshadowing the pufferfish, the stitchery dense.

正是河豚欲上时

This is exactly the time when pufferfish are about to swim upstream—a seasonal association from the scene, blending real and imaginary, adding interest.

这正是河豚将要逆江而上的时节。

It is the very season when the pufferfish is about to swim up.

由眼前景联想到时令物产，虚实结合，余味悠长。河豚春暮溯江产卵，与蒌蒿、芦芽同季，诗人由画中可见的蒌蒿芦芽，联想到画外不可见的河豚将上，以味觉、动态补画之静，使画面由平面变立体、由早春扩展为整个江乡的生机。「欲上」写将上未上，正见早春将至未至的时令特点；以画外之景补画内之景，正是题画诗补画外意的精髓，虚笔收束，意趣盎然，是绝妙的一笔。

This associates from the present scene to the seasonal produce, the real and the imagined fused, the aftertone long. The pufferfish swims upriver late in spring to spawn, the same season as the wormwood and reed shoots; the poet, from the visible wormwood and reed shoots in the painting, associates the invisible pufferfish about to rise, supplementing the painting's stillness with taste and motion, making the picture from plane to solid, from early spring to the whole river village's life. The about-to-rise writes the not-yet-up, precisely the season's before-and-after of early spring; supplementing the inner scene with the outer is the essence of the poem-on-picture's beyond-the-painting meaning, the closing in the empty brush, the thought alive, a wondrous stroke.

Study

Word focus

三两 a few; sparse (two or three) 「三两枝」之「三两」，数量词极见匠心。不写千万枝而写三两枝，正是早春桃花初放、疏落有致的实况，以少写多、以疏写春，春意未盛而春信已至；且「三两」口语化，亲切自然，与全诗明快通俗的风格相合。若写繁花满枝，则非早春之景，也失却题画诗留白的韵味，一数词而时令、构图、情韵俱见。数词入诗而含画理，足见东坡以画法为诗法的功力。

先知 first to know; personified perception 「鸭先知」之「先知」，拟人而富理趣。鸭常浮水，春江水暖，鸭最先感知，合于物理；先知将感知力赋予动物，则含哲理——最先感知春意者，正是最贴近自然者。一字兼写物性、理趣与诗趣，使此句成为千古名句，后世遂以春江水暖鸭先知喻先行者之敏锐，其理趣与《庄子》知鱼之乐一脉相通，见宋诗以理入诗而不失诗味的特色。二字将物理、哲理、诗趣打成一片，是宋人「理趣」诗学的最佳注脚。

欲 about to; indicating imminent action 「河豚欲上时」之「欲」，写将上未上之际，最见早春将至未至的时令分寸。河豚将随春潮逆江而上，而此刻只是欲上，春意将满未满，生机欲动未动，以虚写实、以动补静，将画中静止的早春扩展为整个江乡流动的生机。「欲」字虚灵不滞，正是题画诗由画入时、由静入动的枢纽，一字而境界全出，余味悠长。一「欲」字写尽将满未满的早春分寸，炼字之妙不可言传。