宋 Song · 诗 Poem
三衢道中
On the Way Through Sanqu
梅子黄时日日晴，小溪泛尽却山行。
绿阴不减来时路，添得黄鹂四五声。
Having sailed the little stream to its end, I go on by the mountain path.
The green shade is no less than on the road I came,
And the yellow orioles add four or five more notes.
Meaning
A quatrain of the summer journey, written by the Southern Song poet Zeng Ji. The plums are yellow — the rainy season of the plum rains — and yet every day is clear; having sailed the little stream to its end, the traveler goes on by the mountain path. The green shade of the mountain road is no less than on the road he came, and the yellow orioles add four or five more notes. The quatrain catches the pure delight of the summer walk: the clear days after the plums, the boat exchanged for the mountain path, and the orioles adding their notes to the unchanged green shade.
梅子黄熟的初夏时节，难得一连几日都是晴好的天气。乘着小船沿小溪行到尽头，再改走山路继续前行。山路两旁的绿树浓荫，与来时路上一样葱郁丰茂，更平添了几声黄鹂清脆悦耳的啼鸣。
Appreciation
[Plain Paraphrase] The plums are yellow, and every day is clear — having sailed the little stream to its end, I go on by the mountain path. The green shade is no less than on the road I came, and the yellow orioles add four or five more notes. [Structure and Thought] The quatrain follows the journey in time: the clear days of the plum season, the boat taken to the stream's end, the mountain path taken up, and the close on the unchanged green shade with the added notes of the orioles. [Key Technique] The poem's art is the quiet addition: the green shade is 'no less' than on the road he came — the constancy of the summer — and the orioles 'add' four or five notes — the small increment that makes the journey new. [Emotional Tone] Clear, light, and delighted: the quatrain is the record of the summer walk's pure pleasure, the traveler's ease on the mountain path among the green shade and the orioles.
【白话串讲】 曾几写《三衢道中》：“梅子黄时日日晴，小溪泛尽却山行”——“绿阴不减来时路，添得黄鹂四五声”——梅子黄时连日晴，他沿溪泛舟再改走山路——绿荫不减，多了几声黄鹂——他写初夏出游。 【意象与手法】 诗人以梅子、小溪、绿阴、黄鹂四个意象，点染出初夏山间明丽清幽的画面。日日晴、泛尽、却山行写行旅之趣，不减、添得写景物之变，笔调轻快，句句透出悠然自得的心情。 【情感与主旨】 全诗无一字写情，而喜悦自见。梅雨遇晴本已难得，绿阴不减更添惊喜，黄鹂一声把整幅画面点活。诗人捕捉的是初夏山行中最寻常也最动人的瞬间，于平淡处见清新，正是南宋小诗清新圆熟一路的典范，读来仿佛也跟着走过一段绿荫夹道的山径，心旷神怡。 【名句点睛】 常考“梅子黄时日日晴，小溪泛尽却山行”写初夏出游的行旅之趣；“绿阴不减来时路，添得黄鹂四五声”写归途景物之变，笔调轻快明丽。
Background
Zeng Ji (1084–1166) was a Southern Song poet and official, known for his clear and natural style; he was one of the teachers of Lu You. This quatrain, written on the way through Sanqu in present-day Zhejiang, is his most famous poem, quoted for its plain delight in the summer journey. The poem is a model of the quatrain of the travel: the plum season, the boat, the mountain path, and the orioles, caught in twenty-eight characters of pure clarity.
曾几，字吉甫，号茶山居士，南宋前期著名诗人，江西诗派后期的重要作家。他出生于赣州，后长期寓居浙东，官至礼部侍郎，为官清正，敢于直言，晚年忧国忧民，对陆游等后辈诗人多有奖掖，陆游尊他为师。曾几的诗早年受江西诗派影响，讲究句法锻炼，中年以后转趋平淡自然，尤工于写景纪行，风格清新明快，人称其诗清于月白风清之夜。三衢道中大约作于他晚年游赏浙西衢州一带山水之时。三衢即衢州，因境内有三衢山而得名，宋代属两浙东路，境内山清水秀，溪流纵横。此诗写的是一次初夏出游：先泛舟溪上，再舍舟登岸，穿行于山间绿阴之中。诗中无一字言欢，而游兴之浓、心境之佳溢于言表，正是曾几后期诗风洗尽铅华、归于平淡的代表。此诗历来被选入各种选本，是南宋绝句清新一路的典范之作，也为后世写初夏山行提供了最明净的画面。
Art
The quatrain's art is the art of the plain journey made new by the small addition. The first line sets the season and the weather — the plums yellow, every day clear, the traveler's good fortune in the rainy season. The second line follows the journey — the little stream sailed to its end, the mountain path taken up. The third line states the constancy — the green shade no less than on the road he came. And the fourth delivers the small increment: the yellow orioles add four or five more notes. The whole quatrain is the journey's pleasure, and the pleasure is concentrated in that final addition — the orioles' notes added to the unchanged green shade.
此诗在艺术上最见特色处，是以轻快笔触写寻常景物，于不动声色中见出游赏之趣。全诗四句，句句是纪行的推进：梅子黄时日日晴，先写时令天气，点出出游的由头；小溪泛尽却山行，写行旅的转换，一个却字，见出舍舟登岸的转折，也见出行程的从容不迫；绿阴不减来时路，写归途所见与来时一致，不减二字暗含一路风景之美始终如一；添得黄鹂四五声，写声音的点缀，添得二字让画面由静转动，平添生意。诗人不写山如何高、水如何秀，只撷取梅子、溪水、绿阴、黄鹂几个最平常的意象，以行迹为线索串起，便把初夏山行的清新明丽写得如在目前。全诗无一字直接抒情，而字里行间满是怡然自得之情，所谓不着欢喜二字而喜气洋溢，正是南宋绝句以淡写浓、以景见情的高明处。尤其结句添得黄鹂四五声，以声收尾，让整幅画面余音袅袅，是画龙点睛之笔。
Allusions
The quatrain carries no learned allusion. 'The plums are yellow' (meizi huangshi) names the plum-rain season of the south — the wet season of late spring and early summer, here turned to the traveler's clear days. 'The yellow orioles' (huangli) are the orioles of the summer, whose notes close the poem with the natural music of the mountain path.
此诗用典极淡，却有数处可寻渊源。梅子黄时日日晴一句，暗含江南黄梅时节的物候常识。江南五月梅熟之时，阴雨连绵，人称黄梅雨，宋人诗词中咏梅雨者甚多，如赵师秀约客有黄梅时节家家雨之句。曾几却偏写梅子黄时日日晴，以晴对雨，翻出新意，在熟悉的物候背景上写出难得的晴明，正是对梅雨意象的反用。小溪泛尽却山行，泛字用舟行水上的本义，暗合泛舟五湖的闲逸传统，却字则有山重水复、柳暗花明的意趣，令人想起陆游游山西村的境界。绿阴不减来时路，不减二字写景物前后一致，暗含一路上风景之美不曾稍减的欣悦。添得黄鹂四五声，黄鹂啼鸣本是中国诗歌中春意与生机的象征，从诗经的仓庚于飞到杜甫的两个黄鹂鸣翠柳，再到此处，黄鹂一声便让整幅画面活了起来。诗人把传统的物候、行旅与鸣禽意象一一化入，不露痕迹，读来只觉清新自然，而其中暗含的文化积淀，正是此诗耐人寻味之处。
Commentary
This quatrain is Zeng Ji's most famous poem, quoted for its plain delight in the summer journey. The orioles' added notes — the small increment that makes the walk new — are the poem's signature. Critics praise the quatrain's clarity: the plum season, the boat, the mountain path, and the green shade with the orioles, caught in twenty-eight characters of pure summer ease.
历代评家于此诗，最赏其清新自然、不着痕迹。宋人论诗重江西句法，而曾几此诗却洗尽雕琢，纯任自然，正体现他晚年由江西诗派而入平淡的转变。清人编选宋诗，多采此诗，以为南宋绝句清新圆熟的代表。近人评曾几诗，以为其长处在于善于捕捉生活中的小景小趣，把寻常纪行写得情趣盎然，三衢道中即是明证：全诗没有深奥的典故，没有激昂的议论，只有梅子、小溪、绿阴、黄鹂几个意象的轻巧组合，却把初夏山行的明丽与诗人的闲适写得栩栩如生。更有论者将此诗与杨万里小池、晓出净慈寺送林子方等并观，以为同是南宋中兴之际写景纪行的小诗，都善于以白描写活寻常景物，都带着一股清新扑面而来的生活气息，共同代表南宋绝句摆脱江西束缚、回归自然的审美趋向。要之，此诗以淡墨写景，以轻笔写情，平易而不浅俗，清丽而不秾艳，在宋人绝句中自具一格，数百年来一直为人所爱读。
Prosody
Line by line
梅子黄时日日晴，
The plums are yellow, and every day is clear —
梅子黄熟的时节，难得一连几日都是晴好的天气。
In the plum-yellow season, day after day of fine weather,
起句写时令与天气，是全诗的引子，也是诗眼所在。梅子黄时本是江南五月梅雨绵绵的时节，诗人却偏偏遇到日日晴，这难得的一晴，便是出游的契机，也是全诗明快基调的由来。日日晴三字看似平淡，实则暗含欣喜：连日的放晴，在黄梅时节格外可贵，也格外让人心情开朗。诗人不写自己如何高兴，只把这一份难得的晴明轻轻点出，喜悦之情已跃然纸上。这一句还暗用了黄梅雨的物候常识，以晴对雨，翻出新意，让熟悉江南风物的读者会心一笑。起句平平写来，却已把天时、地利、人情一并带出，为后文的小溪泛舟、山行听莺作了最好的铺垫，可谓善起。
The opening writes the season and the weather, the poem's introduction, and the poetic eye. The plum-yellow season by nature the Jiangnan fifth-month plum-rain continuous time, and the poet precisely meeting the day-after-day fine, this rare fine, the outing's opportunity, and the whole poem's bright tone's origin. The day-after-day fine three characters though plain, in truth secretly carrying joy: the consecutive fine, in the yellow-plum season the extra precious, and the extra heart-opening. The poet not writing his own joy's how, only lightly pointing out this rare clearness, the joy's feeling already leaping from the paper. This line also secretly using the plum-rain phenology common sense, the fine set against the rain, turning out the novelty, making the reader familiar with Jiangnan sights smile with understanding. The opening written plain, and already bringing out the weather, the ground, and the human feeling together, storing the best ground for the below's little-stream boating and mountain-walking orioles, truly the good opening.
小溪泛尽却山行。
Having sailed the little stream to its end, I go on by the mountain path.
乘着小船沿小溪行到尽头，再改走山路继续前行。
I sail the little stream to its end, then take to the mountain path.
次句写行旅的转换，一个却字是句中之眼。泛尽写乘舟沿溪而行，直到水路的尽头；却山行写舍舟登岸，改从山路继续进发。这个却字，写出行程的转折与从容：不因水路已尽而兴尽，反而兴致勃勃地换一种走法，继续游赏。小溪泛尽是水行的清幽，山行是登览的开阔，一水一山，一低一高，行程因转换而丰富，景物因转换而多变。两句连读，可以看出诗人游兴之浓、步履之健，仿佛那山间的绿阴正等着他去穿行。这一句在纪行中暗含转折的趣味，也暗示此次出游非止一处，前路还有看不完的风景，为后文绿阴不减、黄鹂添声作了自然的过渡。
The second line writes the journey's turn, the one word and-yet the line's eye. The sail-to-the-end writing the boat's drifting along the stream, to the waterway's end; and-yet-the-mountain-walking writing the leaving-the-boat-landing and the taking-to-the-mountain-path's advance. This one word and-yet, writing the journey's turn and composure: not the waterway's-end-and-joy's-ending, but the joyfully changing the way, continuing the roam. The little-stream-sail-to-end the water-travel's seclusion, the mountain walking the climb's openness, one water one hill, one low one high, the journey through the turn rich, the scenery through the turn varied. Two lines read together, seeing the poet's outing joy's intensity and the step's vigor, as if the mountain shade awaits his passing. This line within the record-of-travel secretly carrying the turn's charm, also hinting this outing's not-one-place, the road ahead's endless scenery, the natural transition for the below's shade-no-less and oriole-added-sound.
绿阴不减来时路，添得黄鹂四五声。
The green shade is no less than on the road I came, and the yellow orioles add four or five more notes.
山路两旁的绿树浓荫与来时一样葱郁，更添了几声黄鹂清脆的啼鸣。
The green shade is no less than on the coming road, and the orioles add their four or five notes.
结句二句写归途所见所闻，是全诗最富情味的收束。绿阴不减来时路，写归途的绿荫与来时一样浓密，不减二字，既是眼前景，也是心中情：一路走来，风景之美始终如一，不曾使人失望，这份始终如一本身就是一种喜悦。添得黄鹂四五声，写归途还多了几声黄鹂的鸣叫，添得二字最妙，仿佛这趟山行非但没有走重样的路，反而多赚了一份惊喜。绿阴是视觉，黄鹂声是听觉，一静一动，一色一声，画面顿时活了起来。诗人没有写自己走了多远、多么尽兴，只以不减与添得两处轻微的分别，写出归途不减来时的美、更添意外的趣，把初夏山行的清新明丽与内心的怡然自得，尽数收在这淡淡的两句之中，余韵悠长，令人读之忘倦。
The closing two lines write the return road's seen and heard, the whole poem's most charming close. The green shade is no less than on the coming road, writing the return shade's density as on the coming way, the no-less two words, at once the present scene, and the heart's feeling: along the road, the scenery's beauty ever the same, not once disappointing, this ever-sameness itself a joy. And the orioles add their four or five notes, writing the return road's yet more oriole calls, the add-the-most wondrous, as if this mountain walk not only not the repeated road, but instead earning an extra surprise. The green shade the sight, the oriole sound the hearing, one still one motion, one color one sound, the picture at once alive. The poet not writing how far he walked or how full the joy, only through the no-less and the add's two light differences, writing the return road's no-less-beauty and the extra surprise, gathering the early-summer mountain walk's fresh brightness and the heart's ease, all within these two plain lines, the aftertone long, making the reader forget the weariness.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Yang Wanli's 'Little Pool' — 'a tiny spring trickles silently' — catches the small summer scene with the dragonfly standing on the pointed bud; Zeng Ji's quatrain catches the summer walk with the orioles adding their notes — the two poets of the plain, delighted observation.
杨万里小池写泉眼无声惜细流、树阴照水爱晴柔，与小荷才露尖尖角、早有蜻蜓立上头，与三衢道中同是南宋初夏写景的绝句名篇。两诗都以白描写寻常小景：曾几写梅雨初晴、泛舟山行、绿阴黄鹂，杨万里写清泉细流、树阴晴柔、小荷蜻蜓，都是一两个意象的轻巧组合，都带着一股清新扑面而来的生活气息。所不同者，三衢道中以纪行为线索，镜头随人行进而推移，是一路的流动风景；小池则静观一处，镜头定格在一方池塘，是凝神的一瞬。一动一静，各极其妙，并读可见南宋绝句如何把日常所见写得生意盎然，也可体会曾几与杨万里师生之间诗风的传承与新变。
山行 Walking in the Mountains 杜牧 · 同为山行纪游之诗，一写秋山枫林一写初夏绿阴，时节有别而情韵各具 Both are the quatrains of the walk in the mountains — Du Mu's autumn maple with the frost, Zeng Ji's summer shade with the orioles.Du Mu's 'Walking in the Mountains' — 'I stop the carriage and sit, loving the maple wood of the evening' — is the Tang model of the mountain walk's delight; Zeng Ji's quatrain is the Song version — the summer shade and the orioles, the same walk and the same pure pleasure.
杜牧山行写远上寒山石径斜、白云生处有人家，停车坐爱枫林晚、霜叶红于二月花，与三衢道中同以山行为题，而一在秋、一在夏，景致情韵迥然不同。杜牧笔下的山行，是寒山石径、白云人家、枫林霜叶，色彩浓烈，意境清冷而热烈，带着秋日登高远眺的开阔与沉静；曾几笔下的山行，是梅雨初晴、溪尽登岸、绿阴黄鹂，色调明净，意境清新而愉悦，带着初夏穿行山间的轻快与闲适。两诗都以白描取胜，都善于以最经济的笔墨画出最动人的画面，而一浓一淡、一冷一暖，恰可见唐人绝句的凝练与宋人绝句的清新各有千秋，并读更觉山行之乐，四时不同。
晓出净慈寺送林子方 Leaving the Temple of Pure Mercy at Dawn, to See Off Lin Zifang 杨万里 · 同为杨万里之外南宋夏景绝唱，一写西湖接天莲叶一写三衢绿阴黄鹂，皆以夏景见性情 Both are the Southern Song poems of the summer scene at its purest — Yang Wanli's West Lake lotus, Zeng Ji's mountain shade and orioles.Yang Wanli's 'Leaving the Temple of Pure Mercy at Dawn' — 'the lotus leaves touching the sky, infinitely green' — is the grand summer scene; Zeng Ji's quatrain is the small version — the green shade and the orioles of the mountain path, the same summer at its purest.
杨万里晓出净慈寺送林子方以接天莲叶无穷碧、映日荷花别样红写西湖六月之景，气象阔大，色彩鲜明；曾几三衢道中以绿阴不减来时路、添得黄鹂四五声写山间初夏之景，笔致细腻，情韵悠长。两诗同是南宋写夏景的绝句名篇，一写湖，一写山，一宏大，一清幽，恰成对照。杨万里之诗，是夏日晨光中的满湖莲荷，热烈而灿烂；曾几之诗，是午后山道上的浓阴莺啼，清静而怡人。并读两诗，可见南宋诗人对夏天的感受何其丰富：既可以写得那样开阔明亮，也可以写得这样清新含蓄，同一季节，两种心境，都是南宋绝句清新圆熟风格下盛开的不同花朵。