宋 Song · 诗 Poem
陆游·剑门道中遇微雨
Encountering Light Rain on the Road at Sword Gate
衣上征尘杂酒痕，远游无处不消魂。
此身合是诗人未？
细雨骑驴入剑门。
In every place I wander, my soul is consumed.
Am I not indeed a poet by fate?
In fine rain, on a donkey, I enter Sword Gate.
Meaning
Travel-stained and wine-soaked, the poet feels a deep melancholy everywhere he roams. He wryly asks whether he is destined to be a poet, as he rides a donkey through Sword Gate in the drizzle, hinting at unfulfilled ambitions.
衣衫上沾满了旅途的风尘，又混杂着酒渍的痕迹；远行四方，处处都让人黯然销魂。我这身子，莫非本就该是个诗人么？在濛濛细雨中，骑着毛驴走进了剑门关。
Appreciation
Written in winter 1172, when Lu You was reassigned from the front lines to Chengdu, passing Sword Gate in rain. The first two lines depict travel stains and wine marks, implying frustration with his thwarted military ambitions. The final couplet uses self-mockery ('Am I a poet?') and the classic scene of a poet on a donkey to turn personal sorrow into poetic grace, subtle and profound.
【白话串讲】 “此身合是诗人未？细雨骑驴入剑门”——陆游从军入蜀的路上遇雨，自问：我这一辈子，难道就只能当个诗人吗？一个想打仗的人，骑着驴在细雨里穿过剑门。 【意象与手法】 全诗仅四句而层次分明：首句「征尘杂酒痕」以衣上痕迹写尽漂泊，次句「无处不消魂」拓开远游之悲；三、四句忽作诙谐自问「此身合是诗人未」，以细雨骑驴入剑门的画面临结。以问句收束，似旷达实沉痛，用典无痕而将身世之悲升华为诗家意象，含蓄蕴藉，耐人寻味。 【情感与主旨】 此诗作于南宋孝宗乾道八年（1172）冬。陆游此前在四川宣抚使王炎幕中于南郑前线参与抗金筹划，旋即幕府解散，改调成都府路安抚司参议官。自南郑赴成都途经剑门关遇微雨，抚今追昔，遂成此绝。从军报国之志受挫、转作羁旅行客，是此诗悲慨所由。 【名句点睛】 常考：一、「征尘杂酒痕」的细节意蕴；二、「合是诗人未」的自嘲与深层悲慨；三、「骑驴入剑门」用典之妙与身世错位的喟叹。
Background
In the eighth year of Qiandao (1172), Lu You served in the southern前线 under Wang Yan, planning to recover the north. When the幕府 disbanded, he was transferred to a civil post in Chengdu. On the journey through Sword Gate in light rain, he wrote this绝句, expressing the grief of a frustrated patriot turned itinerant traveler.
此诗作于南宋孝宗乾道八年（1172）冬，是陆游行旅诗的绝唱。乾道六年（1170）陆游入蜀，乾道八年三月受四川宣抚使王炎之聘，任干办公事，驻守抗金前线南郑（今陕西汉中），参与策划收复中原的军事行动，度过了他一生中最接近报国理想的日子；然而同年九月，王炎被调回临安，幕府解散，陆游的从军之梦随之破灭，被迫改调成都府路安抚司参议官。自南郑赴成都，须经剑门关——剑门是蜀道天险，两崖相峙如剑，是入蜀的咽喉。诗人于冬日出剑门，恰逢微雨，衣上征尘未洗，酒痕犹在，抚今追昔，百感交集，遂成此绝。这四句诗写的是行旅的一个瞬间，折射的却是陆游一生的矛盾：他自许「上马击狂胡，下马草军书」，志在报国杀敌，而现实却只让他做一个「细雨骑驴」的诗客。从军之志与诗人身份的错位，报国无门与身世飘零的感慨，尽在这四句看似潇洒的诗中，是以小见大、以轻写重的典范。
Art
The quatrain has clear layers: the first line uses stains on clothes to evoke wandering, the second expands to universal melancholy. The third line asks a seemingly humorous question, and the fourth closes with a vivid image of riding a donkey in rain. The rhetorical question suggests detachment but reveals deep pain; the allusion to poets on donkeys transforms personal loss into a timeless poetic image.
此诗艺术之妙，在「以四句写一生」的凝练与「以自嘲写沉痛」的反讽。首句「衣上征尘杂酒痕」是全诗的起笔，也是全诗的细节之眼：征尘写行役之苦，酒痕写借酒浇愁，尘与酒杂于衣上，漂泊与颓唐并见，十个字写尽一个天涯倦客的形貌。次句「远游无处不消魂」拓开一笔，「无处不」以双重否定写普泛之悲——不是某一处令人销魂，而是处处皆然，个人的羁旅之悲由此扩为普天之下的远游之叹，语意跌宕。第三句「此身合是诗人未」是全诗的灵魂：一个「合」字（应当、本该），以反诘语气自问——我这身子，莫非生来就该做个诗人？看似自嘲自解，实则暗含不甘：我本志在沙场，为何只能行吟？诘问之中，报国无门之痛、身世错位之悲，皆在不言中。末句「细雨骑驴入剑门」不答而答，以一幅细雨骑驴的图画收束——风神潇洒的画面下，是英雄失路的苍凉。四句由实到虚、由叙到问、由问到画，层层转深，以诙谐写沉痛，含蓄蕴藉，余味无穷。
Allusions
The donkey alludes to Tang poet Zheng Qi's saying that poetic inspiration comes on a donkey in the snow, and to Li Bai's image as a wandering poet. Thus Lu You implies his identity as a poet is both destiny and consolation for failing as a soldier. 'Sword Gate' also hints at entering a region of political retreat, deepening the sense of loss.
此诗用典精切而自然，最见陆游「以学问为诗」而能化入无痕的本领。「骑驴」暗用两个典故：一是唐代诗人郑綮的故事——有人问他诗思何在，答曰「诗思在灞桥风雪中驴子背上」，骑驴遂成为诗人行吟的经典意象；二是传说李白曾骑驴过华阴县，傲然对县令曰「曾用龙巾拭吐，御手调羹」，骑驴又是诗人狂放的标志。陆游于细雨中骑驴入剑门，正是以这两个典故自况：我的身份，原来终究是个骑驴行吟的诗人——这既是自嘲，也是自认，把报国无门的无奈升华为诗家意象。「剑门」为蜀道雄关，古来诗人入蜀多经此地（如李白《蜀道难》「剑阁峥嵘而崔嵬」），陆游入剑门，既是行旅实写，也暗含身入偏安之地、离前线愈远之意——出剑门而赴成都，意味着离抗金前线越来越远，报国之路彻底断绝。此诗不着一典之名而用典于无形，正是陆游晚年「炉火纯青」的诗境。全诗用典虽隐而可寻，正是陆游『无一字无来处』而能化入无痕的体现。
Commentary
This is a famous seven-character quatrain by Lu You. Critics note that 'grief makes a poet'—here the breezy scene of fine rain and a donkey masks the pain of unfulfilled ambition. The question 'Am I not a poet?' has been praised as 'seeming carefree but containing infinite bitterness.' It stands as a masterpiece of road lament.
此诗为陆游七绝名篇，历代选家必录，论者多拈出其「自嘲」中的深悲。清人方东树《昭昧詹言》评放翁诗「沉着郁勃」，此作正可当之——「细雨骑驴入剑门」的潇洒画面下，是「上马击狂胡」之志无由施展的沉痛，是「以轻写重」的典范。近人论此诗，多谓「此身合是诗人未」一问，「看似闲适，实含无限辛酸」：诗人不是不想做诗人，而是不甘只做诗人——他的理想是「拥马横戈」，现实却只给他「骑驴行吟」的余地，这一问问出了古今多少失意士人的心声。钱钟书《宋诗选注》评陆游「悲愤激烈」与「闲适细腻」两种风格并存，此诗正处两端的交汇处：以闲适之笔写悲愤之情。此诗在文学史上的价值，在于它以二十八字完成了「英雄失路」母题的诗意表达——此后「细雨骑驴」成为失意诗人的经典形象，对后世（如郁达夫「细雨骑驴过剑门」的化用）影响深远，是陆游诗歌中最具个人标识度的名篇之一。
Prosody
Line by line
衣上征尘杂酒痕
On my robe, dust of travel mingled with wine stains. This detail vividly captures the weariness of wandering and implies drinking to drown sorrow.
衣衫上沾满了旅途的风尘，又混杂着酒渍的痕迹。
Travel dust on my robe, mixed with wine stains.
首句以衣上痕迹写尽漂泊，是全诗的细节之眼。「征尘」写行役之苦——鞍马劳顿，风尘仆仆，衣上积满了旅途的尘土；「酒痕」写借酒浇愁——远游之人，以酒遣怀，酒渍留在衣上。尘与酒「杂」于衣上，看似随手一写，实则意味深长：征尘是「仕」的痕迹，酒痕是「隐」的颓唐，两者混杂，正是陆游此刻身份的矛盾写照——他既不是纯粹的征人，也不是纯粹的诗人，而是两者皆非的漂泊客。「杂」字尤其传神：尘与酒不是分开的，而是交织在一起，如人生的悲欢搅成一团。十个字，不写人的形貌而人的形貌毕现，不写人的心情而人的颓唐自见，是白描中见神韵的典范，为全诗定下了苍凉而颓放的基调。
The opening writes the drift through the stains on the robe, the detail's eye of the poem. The travel dust writes the service's hardship — saddle and harness, the dust-covered way, the robe layered with the road's dirt; the wine stains writes the grief drowned in wine — the far wanderer, sending off the mood in wine, the wine marks on the robe. The dust and the wine mixed on the robe, seeming a casual stroke, and yet the meaning deep: the travel dust the mark of office, the wine stains the recluse's debauch, the two mixed precisely the portrait of Lu You's identity contradiction at this moment — neither the pure soldier nor the pure poet, but the drifter who is neither. The word mixed the most telling: the dust and the wine not separate, but interwoven, like life's joy and grief stirred into one mass. Ten characters, not writing the man's form and the form fully present, not writing the man's mood and the debauch self-seen, precisely the model of the plain drawing's spirit, setting the poem's bleak, free tone.
远游无处不消魂
In every place I wander, my soul is consumed. The phrase 'nowhere not' expands the grief from individual to universal.
远行四方，处处都让人黯然销魂。
On the far road, every place wounds the spirit.
次句拓开一笔，把个人的羁旅之悲扩为普泛的远游之叹。「消魂」即黯然销魂，语出江淹《别赋》「黯然销魂者，唯别而已矣」，写离别时神魂俱失的悲感；「无处不」是双重否定，语气强烈——不是某处令消魂，而是处处皆然，走到哪里都逃不开这销魂的悲哀。此句的妙处在于「以小拓大」：首句还是写「衣上」的细节，此句已写到「无处不」的普泛，由实入虚、由近及远，空间忽然打开，个人的行旅之悲与古往今来所有远游者的悲哀接通了。「远游」二字亦含深意：陆游之远游，本为报国（南郑前线），今则转为赴成都的闲职，同一远游，前有壮志后有悲凉，故「无处不消魂」既是写景，更是写心。此句为第三句的诘问蓄势，是全诗由叙入问的过渡。
The second line opens one stroke, raising the personal travel grief to the universal far-roaming sigh. The wound the spirit means the heart-wounding, from Jiang Yan's Rhapsody on Parting, the heart-wounding, it is only parting, writing the grief of the parting when the soul is lost; nowhere is the double negation, the tone strong — not that one place wounds, but that everywhere so, wherever one goes the grief cannot be escaped. The line's beauty lies in the small opening to the large: the first line still the detail of the robe, this line already the universal nowhere, from the real to the imagined, from near to far, the space suddenly opening, the personal travel grief joined to the grief of all far wanderers through the ages. The two words far roving also carry deep meaning: Lu You's far roving, by nature to serve the country (the Nanzheng front), now turned to the minor post on the way to Chengdu, the same far roving, the old ambition and the present bleakness, hence the everywhere wounds the spirit at once scene and heart. This line stores ground for the third line's question, the poem's transition from narration to question.
此身合是诗人未
Am I not indeed a poet by fate? This seemingly joking rhetorical question reveals deep pain—his true ambition was military, but he is left only with poetry.
我这身子，莫非本就该是个诗人么？
Is this body of mine, after all, meant to be a poet?
第三句是全诗的灵魂，一个诘问把满腔的悲慨翻出。「合是」即「应当、本该是」，「未」是疑问语气词——我这身子，莫非生来就该做个诗人么？此问的妙处在于「以问写怨」：表面是自我开解的诙谐——算了罢，我天生就是个写诗的料；内里却是深沉的怨愤——我本志在「上马击狂胡」，为何偏偏只能「下马草军书」？这身，应是杀敌之身，为何成了行吟之身？一个「合」字写尽身世错位的不甘：命运的安排，与我本来的抱负，到底谁错了？此问不答而答，把报国无门的痛苦、诗人身份的无奈、英雄失路的苍凉，尽藏于一句自嘲之中，是全诗情感最浓处，也是全诗最耐人寻味处。后世读者读此句，无不为之低回，正因其问出了天下失意士人的共同心曲。
The third line is the poem's soul, one question turning out the whole breast of grief. Is meant to be means ought, born to be, the word not the question particle — is this body of mine, after all, born to be a poet? The question's beauty lies in writing grievance through the question: on the surface the self-mocking wit — well, I was born a writer of verses; within, the deep resentment — I meant to mount the horse and smite the fierce Hu, why must I only dismount and draft the army's dispatches? This body, the body to kill the foe, why turned into the body of the chanting? The one word meant exhausts the unwillingness of the fate's displacement: the fate's arrangement and my original ambition, whose fault is it? The question unanswered and yet answered, hiding the pain of the no-road-to-serve, the helplessness of the poet's identity, the bleakness of the hero's lost road, all within one line of self-mockery, the poem's most concentrated feeling, and its most enduring flavor. The later reader reading this, never failing to linger, precisely because the question speaks the common heart of the world's frustrated scholars.
细雨骑驴入剑门
In fine rain, on a donkey, I enter Sword Gate. The scene alludes to traditional poet imagery, transforming personal tragedy into a classic poetic moment.
在濛濛细雨中，骑着毛驴走进了剑门关。
In the fine rain, riding the donkey into the Sword Gate.
末句以画面临结，是全诗风神所在。「细雨」写天气之濛濛，「骑驴」写行旅之缓慢从容，「入剑门」写身入蜀道雄关——三个意象叠加，构成一幅极有韵味的行旅图：细雨迷蒙中，诗人骑着毛驴，缓缓走入剑门关的峡谷。此句的妙处有二：一是「以画面答诘问」——第三句问「此身合是诗人未」，此句不答，而以一幅细雨骑驴图作答：看，这不就是诗人的样子么？自嘲之意，尽在画中；二是「以闲适写沉痛」——骑驴本是悠闲的、诗意的形象（用郑綮「诗思在驴子背上」之典），而陆游此行实为壮志受挫后的转徙，越是写得潇洒，越见内心的苍凉。细雨迷蒙，前路茫茫，孤身入关，与首句的「征尘酒痕」遥相呼应，完成了全诗由实到虚、由叙到画的完整结构。
The close ends in the picture, the poem's spirit. The fine rain writes the weather's drizzle, riding the donkey the travel's slow ease, into the Sword Gate the body entering the Shu road's mighty pass — three images overlaid, composing a most flavorful travel picture: in the drizzle, the poet riding the donkey, slowly entering the Sword Gate gorge. The line's beauty twofold: first, answering the question with the picture — the third line asks is this body meant to be a poet? this line not answering, and yet answering with a picture of fine rain and the donkey: see, is this not the poet's look? the self-mockery all within the picture; second, writing the deep grief through the ease — riding the donkey by nature the leisured, poetic image (using Zheng Qi's the poetic thought on the donkey's back allusion), and Lu You's journey by nature the transfer after the thwarted ambition, the more the free and easy the more the inner bleakness. The drizzle blurred, the road ahead vague, the solitary entering the pass, echoing the opening's travel dust and wine stains, completing the poem's structure from the real to the imagined, from narration to picture.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Both poems express grief over thwarted ambition. 'Encountering Light Rain' does so through self-mockery and a serene scene, while 'Moon over the Mountain Pass' uses direct lament and battle imagery. Compare their different tones and approaches.
《关山月》「和戎诏下十五年，将军不战空临边」与《剑门道中遇微雨》同写陆游的报国之志与报国无门的悲愤，而笔法迥异。《关山月》作于淳熙四年（1177），以乐府古题的铺陈笔法，从将军、戍卒、遗民三个视角直写「和戎」政策下的苟安之痛，情感外放，悲愤淋漓，是「直抒胸臆」的一路；《剑门道中遇微雨》作于乾道八年（1172），以七绝的自嘲笔法，从衣上尘酒、细雨骑驴的细节写身世错位之悲，情感内敛，含蓄蕴藉，是「以轻写重」的一路。两诗一放一收、一直一曲，恰是陆游爱国诗的两副笔墨：激昂时如火山喷薄，沉郁时如寒潭凝碧，并读可见其「悲愤」与「沉郁」并存的全貌。
陆游·诉衷情·当年万里觅封侯 Lu You: Telling Innermost Feeling – In those years I sought high office 陆游 · 同写壮志难酬之慨，一为诗之诙谐沉痛、一为词之苍凉追忆 same author, similar theme of unfulfilled ambitionBoth works convey the pain of a wasted life. The poem uses quiet melancholy and allusion, while the ci (lyric) is more direct and nostalgic. Comparing them reveals how Lu You adapts his grief to different poetic forms.
《诉衷情·当年万里觅封侯》「当年万里觅封侯，匹马戍梁州。关河梦断何处，尘暗旧貂裘」与《剑门道中遇微雨》同为陆游晚年追忆从军岁月、感叹壮志难酬之作，而文体与情调有别。词以「当年」与「如今」对照：当年匹马戍梁州，如今尘暗旧貂裘，梦断关河，泪流胡未灭、鬓先秋，是苍凉的追忆与直白的悲叹；诗以「此身合是诗人未」的自嘲出之，把悲慨藏在诙谐的诘问和细雨骑驴的画境中，是含蓄的反讽。一词一诗，一悲直一悲婉，可见陆游于诗于词皆能写壮志难酬之痛，而文体风格各异——词之苍凉近于放翁晚年的「铁马冰河入梦来」，诗之诙谐则见其「疏放」的一面，并读可全面把握放翁的悲愤底色。