All poems

宋 Song · 诗 Poem

陆游·冬夜读书示子聿

Reading on a Winter Night, Shown to My Son Yu

陆游

Lu You

哲理philosophy 劝学exhortation to study

冬夜读书示子聿古人学问无遗力，少壮工夫老始成。
纸上得来终觉浅，绝知此事要躬行。

The ancients spared no strength in the pursuit of learning;
the labour of youth and prime bears fruit only in age.
What comes to us from paper is felt at last to be shallow;
to know a thing through and through you must do it yourself.

Listen

Meaning

The ancients never held back any part of their strength in matters of learning, working at it from youth and prime until only in old age did they come to any real achievement. Knowledge obtained from books is felt in the end to be shallow, and to understand a matter thoroughly one must go and practise it in person.

古人在学问上总是不遗余力，从少壮时下功夫，到老来方才有所成就。从书本上得来的知识终究觉得浅薄，要彻底明白这道理，还必须亲身去实践。

Appreciation

The poem argues its case in verse yet never turns dry, because image and reasoning work together. The opening couplet, with its sparing of no strength and its fruit that comes only in age, sums up in the broadest terms both the diligence that learning requires and the slowness with which it ripens, plain in wording and deep in sense. At the turn, 'what comes to us from paper is felt at last to be shallow' touches lightly on the limits of book knowledge with a single word, and 'to know a thing through and through you must do it yourself' states the positive claim. Paper and personal practice are set against each other as two places and two methods, so that an abstract question about how we know becomes an experience anyone can feel. The language runs like ordinary household talk and yet every line goes straight to the point, which is exactly the Song poet's high skill in making verse out of reasoning and still moving the reader. Written for his young son Lu Yu on a winter night of reading, the poem is a family instruction that manages to teach without falling into any of the old grooves.

【白话串讲】 “古人学问无遗力，少壮工夫老始成。纸上得来终觉浅，绝知此事要躬行”——陆游在冬夜教儿子读书：纸上得来的终究浅，真要懂，得亲自去做。这是父亲送给儿子最好的话。【意象与手法】全诗以议论入诗而能免于枯淡，端在形象与理趣结合。首联『无遗力』『老始成』以高度概括写治学之勤与成学之迟，语平意深；后两句『纸上得来终觉浅，绝知此事要躬行』以『纸上』与『躬行』对举，将抽象的认识论化为可感的生活经验。【情感与主旨】此诗为陆游晚年闲居山阴时，于冬夜读书有感写给幼子陆聿（yù）的教子诗。陆游一生嗜学，至老不辍，又重实用，主张知行合一，诗中既总结古人治学经验，更针对当时士人空谈书本、不务实践的流弊，强调『躬行』，亦折射出宋代理学重格物践履的时代思潮。【名句点睛】中高考要点：①名句赏析，『纸上得来终觉浅，绝知此事要躬行』强调实践（知行合一）的重要性，常作默写与理解名句；②『无遗力』『老始成』的治学启示。

Background

This poem was written for his youngest son Lu Yu, out of thoughts prompted by reading on a winter night, when Lu You was living quietly in old age at Shanyin. Lu You was a lifelong lover of study who never gave it up even in age, and he also valued the practical, holding that knowing and doing must be one. The poem sums up the experience of the ancients in learning, and beyond that it is aimed at a fault of the scholars of his own day, who talked emptily about books and words and neglected practice, so that it insists on doing things in person. As a father he uses it to pass on to his son the root of all study, and it also reflects the intellectual current of the Song, with its Neo-Confucian stress on investigating things and putting them into practice. Among the didactic family poems of the tradition it is an outstanding piece, natural in its reasoning and free of stock formulas.

此诗为陆游晚年闲居山阴（今浙江绍兴）时，于冬夜读书有感，写给幼子陆聿（yù）的教子诗。陆游生于南宋初年，亲历靖康之变、山河破碎，一生以恢复中原为志，然壮志难酬，晚年退居山阴故里，以读书著述自遣。其藏书之富、用功之勤，为宋代文人中少有，至老手不释卷，尝自题书巢以记其癖。此诗作于一个冬夜，诗人灯下读书，有所感悟，遂写下这首七绝示儿，既总结古人治学经验，更针对当时士人空谈书本文辞、不务实际的流弊，强调知行合一、躬行实践。陆游教育子女极重务实，另有《示儿》《冬夜读书示子聿》等篇，皆以切身经验谆谆教诲。此诗亦折射出宋代理学重格物致知、身体力行的时代思潮，是古代家训诗中说理自然、不落窠臼的佳作，至今仍是治学格言。此诗以切身经验教训子孙，字字恳切，可见陆游作为父亲与学者的双重用心，也是宋代家训诗中情理兼胜的典型，为后世所重。

Art

The poem argues in verse and yet escapes dryness, and the reason lies in the union of concrete image with intellectual pleasure. The first couplet, with its sparing of no strength and its achievement that comes only late, condenses the diligence of study and the slowness of its ripening into a few plain words with a deep sense behind them. At the turn, the word 'shallow' touches lightly on the limitation of what books can give, and 'to know a thing through and through you must do it yourself' sets out the positive thesis. Paper on one side and personal practice on the other form an opposition of place and of method, turning an abstract theory of knowledge into ordinary lived experience. The language is like household conversation, and yet every line cuts to the principle, which shows the high accomplishment of Song verse in taking reasoning as its material while remaining naturally moving.

全诗以议论入诗而能免于枯淡，端在形象与理趣的结合。首联『古人学问无遗力，少壮工夫老始成』以高度概括写治学之勤与成学之迟：『无遗力』三字写尽古人倾尽全力之态，『老始成』三字道破学问积累之艰，两句语平意深，以时间跨度写学问的厚重。后两句是全诗的精髓：『纸上得来终觉浅』以『浅』字轻点书本知识的局限，『绝知此事要躬行』以『躬行』二字正面立论，指出真知的来源在于实践。『纸上』与『躬行』形成方式与空间的对举：纸上之知是间接的、静态的，躬行之知是直接的、动态的；一浅一深，一虚一实，对比鲜明。全诗四句，前两句立论，后两句递进，由治学之道到认知之理，层层深入，语言如话家常，却句句切理，体现了宋诗『以理为诗』而能自然动人的高超本领，是哲理诗与教子诗结合的典范。全诗以议论为骨而以家常语出之，浅而不俗、深而不晦，正是陆游晚年诗歌炉火纯青的标志，也是宋诗说理艺术趋于成熟的明证。

Allusions

The poem uses no evident allusion, winning its effect purely through argument and plain description, which is characteristic of the Song preference for reasoning in verse. Sparing no strength draws on the old idiom of unstinting effort in study, paper stands for book learning, and doing a thing in person derives from the Analects, where Confucius speaks of the gentleman who acts in person, and from the Doctrine of the Mean, where vigorous practice is said to come close to humaneness. By closing on personal practice, Lu You takes up the Confucian tradition that puts weight on carrying out what one learns. The poem heaps up no learned references at all, reaching the highest principle through ordinary speech, and in that very restraint one sees the hand of a master.

本诗无明显用典，纯以说理与白描取胜，体现宋诗尚理特征，然字里行间暗承儒家传统。『无遗力』化用『不遗余力』的成语传统，写尽古人治学倾其全力的态度；『纸上』代指书本知识，古人谓读书所得为『纸上功夫』；『躬行』语出《论语·述而》『躬行君子，则吾未之有得』，意为亲身实践，又承《中庸》『力行近乎仁』的践履思想，陆游以『躬行』收束全诗，正承儒家重身体力行的为学传统。此外，诗中治学须勤、成学在久的观念，亦与《荀子·劝学》『学不可以已』、韩愈《进学解》『业精于勤』一脉相承。全诗不事堆典，以常语达至理，反见大家手笔，正是陆游晚年诗返璞归真、炉火纯青的体现。全诗不事堆典而以常语达至理，反见大家手笔，其治学须勤、成学在久、真知在行的思想，与儒家一脉相承而又切于日用，正是宋诗尚理而不失亲切的特色，也是陆游以诗传家的家风体现。足见其学有本原、语皆从学问中来，非空疏者可及。

Commentary

The poem is a classic of the exhortation-to-study tradition, and its second couplet on the shallowness of paper knowledge and the need to act in person has been recited for centuries. It was included in the Qing anthology Selected Song Poems, and modern discussions of Song verse regularly treat it as a model of intellectual pleasure in poetry. Readers today praise it as the poetic expression of the idea that true knowledge comes from practice; it appears constantly in school textbooks and examinations, and it is ranked with Zhu Xi's line about the clarity of the stream as one of the two great philosophical poems of the Song.

此诗为古代劝学名篇，『纸上得来终觉浅，绝知此事要躬行』两句历为传诵，几乎成为中国读书人的共同座右铭。清人编《宋诗别裁》收之，近人论宋诗多以之为理趣的典范：以浅近语讲深邃理，而不失诗味，正是宋诗说理的最高境界。今人誉之为『实践出真知』的诗化表达，常入中小学教材与试题，与朱熹《观书有感》『问渠那得清如许，为有源头活水来』并列为宋代读书诗的双璧：朱熹以活水喻新知，陆游以躬行求真知，一重读书得新，一重实践得真，合观可见宋代士人对读书与治学之道的系统思考。此诗在文学史上地位虽不及其爱国诗篇之崇高，然其以教子为旨、以哲理为骨、以家常语出之的写法，正是陆游晚年诗歌风格的代表，也是研究宋代教育思想与家训传统的珍贵材料。此诗流传之广、影响之深，已超出文学而成为民族教育传统的组成部分，历代父兄教子弟者多引以为训，其价值历久弥新。

Prosody

Form Verse: seven-character quatrain七言绝句

Rhyme Pingshui rhyme, lower level tone, the geng group, rhyming on the words for achievement and for practice成、行押韵，属平水韵下平八庚部，首句不入韵。

Tone pattern The first line enters the rhyme; level-onset form with the first line rhyming平起首句不入韵式：首句『仄平平仄平平仄』，二句『仄仄平平仄仄平』，三句『仄仄平平平仄仄』，四句『仄平仄仄仄平平』，平仄大体合律。

Reading note A Song argumentative quatrain, plain and natural yet full of intellectual pleasure, and a famous exhortation to study.此诗为七言绝句，四句二十八字，属平起首句不入韵的格式。韵脚『成、行』属平水韵下平八庚部，庚韵字音明亮开阔，正与全诗说理的明朗气象相合，诵读时音节畅朗。平仄上首句『古人学问无遗力』为仄平平仄平平仄，不入韵而以仄收；第二句『少壮工夫老始成』为仄仄平平仄仄平，与首句相对；第三句『纸上得来终觉浅』为仄仄平平平仄仄，亦以仄收；第四句『绝知此事要躬行』为仄平仄仄仄平平，与第三句相粘，大体合律。全诗以议论为骨而以诗语出之，四句两层：前两句讲治学之勤与成学之迟，后两句讲纸上之浅与躬行之要，由表及里、层层递进。语言平易自然，几乎不事雕琢，如老父灯下与幼子话家常，正是陆游晚年诗返璞归真的风格。声情上，全诗音节平稳，而『终觉浅』三字仄声收束一顿，『要躬行』以平声缓收，恰与说理的一抑一扬相应，是宋人说理七绝中声情与理趣兼备的典范。

Line by line

古人学问无遗力，少壮工夫老始成

The ancients spared no strength in the pursuit of learning, working at it in youth and prime and coming to achievement only in age.

古人在学问上总是不遗余力，从少壮时下功夫，到老来方才有所成就。

The ancients left no effort unused in learning; the labors of youth bear fruit only in old age.

首联立论，以高度概括之笔写治学之勤与成学之迟。上句『古人学问无遗力』写古人治学倾尽全力：『无遗力』三字斩钉截铁，写尽学问之道须全力以赴、不留余力的态度，也为下句的『老始成』提供了前提；下句『少壮工夫老始成』写学问成就之艰难：从少壮年下功夫，到老来才有所成就，『少壮』与『老』相对，中间隔着数十年的光阴，学问之厚重正在于这漫长的积累。两句一问一答式的因果结构，把治学的勤与成学的迟一并道出，语平意深。此联之妙，在以时间的跨度写学问的分量：学问不是一朝一夕之功，而是终身的修持，诗人以切身体验告诫儿子，为下文『纸上得来终觉浅』的进一层议论铺垫，起笔稳实而思理清明。

The first couplet states the case, writing the study's diligence and the learning's slowness in the grand summary. The ancients left no effort unused in learning writes the ancients' study with all their strength: the three words no effort unused decisive, exhausting the truth that learning demands the whole strength, reserving nothing, and providing the premise for the below bore fruit only in old age; the labors of youth bear fruit only in old age writes the learning's difficulty: from youth's labors to old age's achievement, youth set against old, the decades between, the learning's weight precisely in this long accumulation. Two lines in a question-and-answer causal structure, saying at once the study's diligence and the learning's slowness, the words plain and the meaning deep. The couplet's beauty lies in writing learning's weight through the time's span: learning not the work of a morning, but the lifelong cultivation, the poet warning his son from personal experience, storing ground for the below learned on paper always shallow's further argument, the opening steady and the thought clear.

纸上得来终觉浅

Knowledge that comes to us from paper is felt in the end to be shallow.

从书本上得来的知识终究觉得浅薄。

What is gained on paper always feels shallow.

此句由治学之道转入认知之理，是全诗思理最精进的一笔。『纸上』代指书本知识，『终觉浅』以『浅』字轻点其局限：书本上的道理，无论读得如何烂熟，终究只是间接的、抽象的，未经实践的检验与体认，便总觉得隔了一层，不够深切。一个『浅』字下得极准：不是否定读书，而是指出读书所得之知的有限性，为下句『绝知此事要躬行』张本。此句之妙，在以家常语说深邃理：读书人最熟悉的『纸上得来』四字，一经拈出，便成为全诗立论的关键，把抽象的认识论化为具体的读书体验，人人心中所有而笔下所无。诗人一生读书万卷，至老犹以此为诫，正见其治学之真，此句既是教子，亦是自警。

This line turns from the way of study to the truth of knowing, the poem's most advanced thought. On paper stands for the book knowledge, always feels shallow lightly touching the limitation with the word shallow: the book's truth, however thoroughly read, after all indirect and abstract, untested and unapprehended by practice, always feels a layer apart, not deep enough. The one word shallow laid with precision: not denying reading, but pointing out the limitedness of the knowledge from books, storing ground for the below to know this thing truly, one must practice it oneself. The line's beauty lies in saying the deep truth in the homely words: the four characters learned on paper, the bookman's most familiar, once brought out, become the key of the poem's argument, turning the abstract epistemology into the concrete reading experience, what every heart has and no brush has said. The poet reading ten thousand books through life, and still warning himself in old age, precisely showing the genuineness of his learning; this line at once teaches the son and warns the self.

绝知此事要躬行

To understand a matter through and through, you must go and practise it in person.

要彻底明白这道理，还必须亲身去实践。

To know this thing truly, one must practice it oneself.

结句正面立论，是全诗的诗眼所在。『绝知』即彻底明白、深知，与前句『终觉浅』相对：纸上之知终觉其浅，唯有躬行实践方能彻底明白；『此事』紧承上句，指天下一切学问事理；『躬行』即亲身实践，语出《论语》『躬行君子』，承儒家身体力行的为学传统。此句之妙，在以『绝知』与『躬行』对举，道出知行合一的至理：知而不行，则知终浅；行而后知，则知乃深。全诗由治学之勤到认知之深，层层递进，至此豁然开朗，如灯下读书的诗人忽然悟道，把多年读书与用世的经验凝为一句格言。此句以口语出之，亲切自然，而内涵极深，历千年而不失其锋芒，正是所谓『看似寻常最奇崛，成如容易却艰辛』，为千古劝学之名句。

The close states the case positively, the poem's eye. To know truly means the thorough understanding, the deep knowing, set against the above always feels shallow: the paper knowledge always felt shallow, only the personal practice bringing the thorough knowing; this thing inherits the above, meaning all the world's learning and affairs; practice oneself means the personal practice, from the Analects' the gentleman who practices, inheriting the Confucian learning tradition of the body's doing. The line's beauty lies in setting to know truly against practice oneself, speaking the highest truth of the unity of knowing and doing: knowing without doing, the knowing always shallow; doing then knowing, the knowing then deep. The whole poem, from the study's diligence to the knowing's depth, advancing layer on layer, here suddenly clear, like the poet reading under the lamp suddenly enlightened, fusing the years of reading and service into one maxim. The line in the colloquial, warm and natural, and yet the meaning deep, losing none of its edge through the centuries, precisely the so-called the seemingly ordinary and yet the most extraordinary, the achievement seeming easy and yet hard, the famous exhortation-to-learning line through the ages.

Study

Word focus

无遗力 The phrase conveys completely the way the ancients threw the whole of their strength into study; terse and comprehensive, it sets the diligent key of the entire poem. 『古人学问无遗力』之『无遗力』，写尽古人治学倾尽全力之态，是全诗立论的基石。『遗』为遗留、保留，『无遗力』即不保留一丝力气，倾其所有，全力以赴，三字斩钉截铁，写出学问之道最根本的态度——不遗余力。此词之妙，在以否定语写肯定义：不说『尽全力』而说『无遗力』，语意更决绝，仿佛把力气一笔一笔盘算过，确认毫无保留，正见治学须全身心投入的道理。同时，『无遗力』也为下句『老始成』作了逻辑的铺垫：正因为不遗余力地积累，才需要漫长的时间方能成就，勤与久互为因果。诗人一生嗜学，至老不辍，此三字正是其自身写照，教子之语字字从切身经验中流出，凝练概括，奠定全诗勤勉庄重的基调，一字千钧。

躬行 To act in person, a phrase rooted in the Confucian emphasis on practice, is the eye of the poem, stating in the fewest words the great principle that knowing and doing are one. 『绝知此事要躬行』之『躬行』，是全诗的诗眼，道出知行合一的至理。『躬』为亲身、亲自，『行』为实践、实行，『躬行』即亲身实践，语出《论语·述而》『躬行君子』，承儒家重身体力行的为学传统。此词之妙，在把抽象的实践概念化为可感的身体动作：不是泛言『实践』，而是强调『躬』——亲自去做，身体力行，正与纸上得来的间接之知形成对照。诗中前句言纸上之知『终觉浅』，此句以『躬行』正面立论，一虚一实、一间接一直接，知行合一的道理由此豁然。陆游一生读书万卷而志在恢复中原，尝亲临军旅、躬耕陇亩，此二字正是其人生哲学的核心，以此训子，字字千钧，成为千古劝学的座右铭，其思想光辉历千年而不减。