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宋 Song · 诗 Poem

送宋秘丞赴任鄱阳

Seeing Off Secretary Song on His Posting to Poyang

张方平

Zhang Fangping

田园Fields and Gardens 咏史On History 哲理Philosophy

萧洒武夷秀，兹人美且偲。
治经通古学，应务富时材。
盍在修书选，行须造币回。
更研轻重术，归奏阜民财。

The Wuyi range is clean and lovely in its beauty;
This man is handsome and gifted.
He masters the classics, well versed in the ancient learning,
And in affairs he has abundant talent for the times.
Why is he not in the selection for revising books?
He must go, and return after coining money.
Let him study more the art of light and heavy,
And return to report the wealth of the people.

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Meaning

Zhang Fangping sees off Secretary Song to the prefecture of Poyang (Rao prefecture). The poet praises his friend: the beauty of the Wuyi range answers the beauty of the man, who is handsome and gifted, master of the classics and the ancient learning, with abundant talent for the affairs of the age. His post, however, is not the quiet library work of collating books but the practical task of minting coin; and so the poet exhorts him: study the art of light and heavy (the classic theory of regulating goods and money) and return to report a plan for enriching the people. A farewell turned into a miniature treatise on state finance—the Song ideal of applying learning to the world.

潇洒的武夷山秀色，这人既美且才。研治经学通晓古学，应付事务富有当世之材。何不就在修书的遴选之中，赴任还须造币而回。更钻研轻重之术（财政），归来奏上使民财富足。

Appreciation

The poem's most distinctive quality is that it is almost a miniature memorial of recommendation rather than a traditional farewell poem. The opening, the Wuyi range is clean and lovely in its beauty; this man is handsome and gifted, rises on the beauty of the Wuyi mountains and falls on the beauty and talent of the man, from scene to person, still holding poetic charm. From the third couplet it turns to official affairs: he masters the classics, well versed in the ancient learning, and in affairs he has abundant talent for the times, writing his inner sageliness and outer kingliness in parallel: the mastery of the classics is learning, the abundance in affairs is talent. The fifth and sixth lines, why is he not in the selection for revising books? He must go, and return after coining money, use the two offices (revising books, coining money) to point out the reason for the journey, the concern showing through the narrative. The closing couplet, let him study more the art of light and heavy, and return to report the wealth of the people, falls on the concrete political wish: study the art of the Guanzi's light and heavy, and return to memorialize a plan for enriching the people. The whole advances through scene, person, learning, affairs, and government, its images all the vocabulary of government (classics, affairs, books, coin, light and heavy, enriching the people), with hardly a trace of parting sorrow.

【白话串讲】张方平送宋秘丞去鄱阳：“萧洒武夷秀，兹人美且偲”。“治经通古学，应务富时材”——“更研轻重术，归奏阜民财”——他劝朋友研究理财，回来为国富民。【意象与手法】诗以「武夷秀」起兴，以「治经」「应务」「修书」「造币」「轻重术」「阜民财」一串政务意象递进，由称美到嘱政，结构如一篇微型荐劄，是宋人「以政入诗」的送任之作。【情感与主旨】称美宋秘丞才学兼茂，并勉励其赴任鄱阳后研理财用、以阜民财为务，体现北宋士大夫「经世济民」的政治关切与对理财之学的正视。【名句点睛】「治经通古学，应务富时材」以二语写才学兼备，精警扼要；「更研轻重术，归奏阜民财」收以政愿，切实而不浮。

Background

This poem sees off Secretary Song to Poyang. Secretary is the rank of the Scribe's Office, which handled books and collation, hence the poem's why is he not in the selection for revising books? He was of the collating staff. But this time he was posted out to Poyang (present-day Poyang, Jiangxi, in the Song part of Rao prefecture, near the profit of copper and lead and the mints), and he must go, and return after coining money suggests the task concerned minting and finance. In the mid-Northern Song, swollen armies and offices drained the treasury, and the learning of finance was especially valued between the Qingli and Xining years, when Fan Zhongyan and Wang Anshi both held that one skilled in finance makes the state's revenue sufficient without raising taxes. Zhang Fangping himself was attentive to finance (his collected works have many memorials on coinage, tea, and salt), and so the poem's closing exhortation to study the art of light and heavy and enrich the people is no empty phrase but a real political trust. Poyang, the seat of Rao prefecture, had the Yongping mint, the chief mint of the copper coin in the south of the Yangtze.

此诗送宋秘丞赴任鄱阳。宋秘丞其人今已难详，「秘丞」为秘书省丞之衔，多掌图籍校理，故诗中言「盍在修书选」——本在修书（校勘典籍）的班子里。然此番却外任鄱阳（今江西鄱阳，宋属饶州，近铜铅之利、铸务所关），且「行须造币回」，暗示其任务或与铸钱、理财相关。北宋中叶，冗兵冗官导致财政日绌，庆历、熙宁间尤重「理财之学」，范仲淹、王安石皆主张「善理财者，不加赋而国用足」。张方平本人亦留心财用（其文集多有论钱法、茶盐之奏），故诗末勉以「轻重术」（语出《管子·轻重》，讲国家调控物资、平衡财用的学说）、「阜民财」，并非泛语，而是实打实的政治嘱托。此诗背景，折射出北宋士大夫对「经世」的普遍自觉：赴任一地，不止吟咏，更要理财安民。张方平以诗为劄，把送别写成一篇微型政事叮嘱，时代特征极鲜明。再考「造币」一语，或非虚写——北宋于饶州永平监设铸钱之所，鄱阳（饶州治所）正是江南铜钱的铸造要地，宋秘丞此行与铸务、财计确有实际关联，故诗中方有「轻重术」「阜民财」之嘱。由此可知，此诗并非泛泛的「以政入诗」，而是针对友人所任的具体职事、具体地望而发的有的之矢。张方平本人历任三司使、深知钱法利弊，其以「轻重」相勉，实是经验之谈。明了这一层，诗中「造币」「阜民」便不再是抽象的经济概念，而是落在饶州永平监这一具体时空里的政事实指，背景遂由虚入实。

Art

The art lies in writing a miniature memorial in the form of a farewell poem. The opening rises on the beauty of the Wuyi mountains and falls on the beauty and talent of the man, from scene to person, still holding poetic charm. From the third couplet it turns to official affairs: the mastery of the classics against the abundance in affairs, writing inner sageliness and outer kingliness in parallel. The fifth and sixth lines point out the reason for the journey with the two offices of revising books and coining money, the concern showing through the narrative. The closing falls on the concrete political wish, the art of light and heavy and the plan for enriching the people. The whole advances through scene, person, learning, affairs, and government, the images all the vocabulary of government, with hardly a trace of parting sorrow—the Song poem's taking government into poetry, the true Song flavor that distinguishes it from the Tang sound.

此诗艺术上最特殊者，在于它几乎是一篇「微型荐劄」而非传统送别诗。起手「萧洒武夷秀，兹人美且偲」，以武夷山水之秀起兴，落到「兹人」之美且才（偲，强也、才也），由景及人，尚存诗趣。自颔联起，便转入政务叙事：「治经通古学，应务富时材」，以对仗写其「内圣外王」——通经是学养，应务是干才。颈联「盍在修书选，行须造币回」，用两处官事（修书、造币）点出此行缘由，叙事中见关切。尾联「更研轻重术，归奏阜民财」，落到具体的政愿：研习《管子》轻重之术，归来奏上富民之策。全诗由「景—人—学—务—政」层层递进，意象全是政务语汇（经、务、书、币、轻重、阜民），几无离愁。这种「以政入诗」的写法，在唐人送别中少见，却是宋诗「以意为主、无事不可入诗」的典型。其「不诗化离情」本身，就是一种宋调的自觉。再就诗法细看，此篇以「赋」法为主而不废「比兴」：首联以武夷秀色起兴是「兴」，末联「阜民财」以政愿收束是「赋」，中间「治经」「应务」的对举则近「比」，三种诗法交叠而不杂。对仗上，「治经」对「应务」、「通古学」对「富时材」，一动一名、一学一务，工整中见事理；「盍在修书选」对「行须造币回」，则以两处官事对举，以「盍在」（何不在）的设问带出「行须」（此行须）的实情，语气在商略与断定之间，关切自见。这种以「官事」为诗料、以「对仗」见器识的写法，最能见宋人送别诗「重实迹、有定式」而能各随其人的本色。

Allusions

The allusions and borrowings, three in number, all concern learning and government. First, the Wuyi: the Wuyi range in northern Fujian was in the Song a famous beauty spot and a source of Neo-Confucian learning (the Wuyi Academy later where Zhu Xi lectured); the poem rises on the beauty of Wuyi and at once praises the excellence of the place and the worth of its man. Second, handsome and gifted (mei qie cai): borrows from the Book of Songs, Airs of Qi, Ringing Bells of Lu—the man is handsome and gifted—calling the Secretary handsome and talented, the classic brought into the poem, elegant and natural. Third, the art of light and heavy: from the Guanzi's light and heavy chapters, the theory of regulating grain, coin, and prices to enrich the state and quiet the people, one of the most important theories of finance from the pre-Qin to the Han-Tang; enrich the people (fumin) comes from the Book of Songs, Lesser Odes, the meaning of things abundant and the people at peace.

诗中用典与化用凡三处，皆关「学」与「政」。一、武夷：武夷山在闽北，宋时为名胜与理学渊源之地（后朱熹讲学的武夷精舍在焉），诗中以「武夷秀」起兴兼称其地灵人杰。二、美且偲：化用《诗经·齐风·卢令》「其人美且偲」（偲，材也），称宋秘丞才貌兼美，引《诗》入诗，雅训自然。三、轻重术：语出《管子》「轻重」诸篇，讲国家通过调控粮食、货币、物价以富国安民之学说，是先秦至汉唐重要的理财理论；「阜民财」本于《诗经·小雅》「物阜民安」之意。三处由「地灵」（武夷）到「人杰」（美偲）到「政术」（轻重、阜民），构成「山川—才性—治道」的完整链。张方平引《管子》轻重之学入送任诗，极为大胆而贴切——唐人送别绝少正面称理财，宋人则坦然以「经世」相勉，正见时代学术重心之迁移。用典不僻，而每处皆扣「才—政」主旨。更应补出「造币」与「轻重」的典实背景：饶州在宋为铸钱重镇，永平监岁铸铜钱以千万计，「造币」即指此；而「轻重」之学，自《管子》以下，经西汉桑弘羊、唐代刘晏的理财实践，至北宋王安石、张方平辈又重加发挥，成为「不加赋而国用足」的理论依据。张方平把这两处「理财」故实写入送任诗，非为炫博，而是以友人所任之地（饶州）与所职（财计）为归，使典故与本事严丝合缝。至若「阜民财」之「阜」，《诗经》「物阜民安」之意，则又为这一串理财术语托出一个「藏富于民」的儒家底色，使「轻重」「造币」的功利性最终升华为「阜民」的道义关怀，用典之旨趣于是更进一层。

Commentary

Zhang Fangping's poem may be read with Wang Anshi's Seeing Off Chen Jing and Su Shi's Seeing Off Qian Zao—all Song poems of encouraging with government when sending a friend to a post. Li E's Record of Song Poetry of the Qing, though it gathers Zhang's poems only sparsely, marks such poems taking government into poetry as exactly what distinguishes the Song tone from the Tang sound. Modern critics hold that Song poetry wins by sinew and thought, and this piece is a small proof: in forty characters it contains the rise, the praise of talent, the narrative of affairs, and the political exhortation, and it introduces the Guanzi's light and heavy learning directly, without avoiding the so-called vulgarity of finance. The poem's value lies not in its diction but in its faithful record of the Song scholar-official's spirit of applying learning to the world—a farewell poem that is at the same time a lesson in statecraft.

张方平此诗，可与王安石《送陈靖中舍归武陵》及苏轼《送钱藻出守婺州》并观，皆宋人送任「以政相勉」之作。清人厉鹗《宋诗纪事》辑录张氏诗，虽零散，然此类「以政务入诗」的篇章，恰是宋调区别于唐音的标志。近人论宋诗「以筋骨思理见胜」，张方平此篇即小中见大者：四十言中，起兴、称才、叙务、嘱政四义俱备，且正面引入《管子》轻重之学，毫不避「理财」之「俗」。要之，此诗的价值不在辞采，而在它如实记录了北宋士大夫「经世」的政治自觉——赴任一方，所念在阜民之财、轻重之术，而非亭皋木叶之悲。这种把送别诗写成「政事叮嘱」的写法，正是宋诗「以文为诗、以政入诗」极有代表性的标本，亦张方平「文以载道」诗学的切实体现。若与同时诸公相较，此诗可视为庆历士风在诗中的投影：范仲淹「先忧后乐」、王安石「经世致用」的政治理想，落到送别这一最私人化的场合，便化为对友人「阜民」「理财」的殷殷嘱托。可见在北宋士大夫那里，公私之界并不如后世分明——送别既是私谊的流露，也是共同政治信念的确认。张方平此诗因而兼具「私人书简」与「公共宣言」的双重性质，其文学价值正在于把这两者缝得如此熨帖。明乎此，方知此诗之「不近人情」（通篇不言离愁）恰是最深的人情——以政事相期，正是彼时士人最高的交谊方式。

Prosody

Form Five-character quatrain五言绝句

Rhyme Rhymes on the level-tone hui rhyme: cai, cai, hui, cai; the first line does not enter the rhyme, the remaining four lines all in the hui rhyme, one rhyme through押平声灰韵（平水韵上平十灰）：偲、材、回、财；首句不入韵（秀字宥韵去声），余四句入灰韵，一韵贯通。

Tone pattern Five-character quatrain beginning on an oblique tone without the first line in rhyme; the first line the Wuyi range is clean and lovely in its beauty runs level-oblique-oblique-level-oblique, the second this man is handsome and gifted level-level-oblique-oblique-level, the tones of the whole fitting the form五绝仄起首句不入韵体。首句「萧洒武夷秀」平仄仄平仄，次句「兹人美且偲」平平仄仄平，三句「治经通古学」仄平平仄仄，四句「应务富时材」平仄仄平平，大体合律而略宽。

Reading note A five-character quatrain whose four couplets advance through scene, person, learning, affairs, and government, its parallel couplets each a stage of the praise and the political trust.此诗为五言绝句，体制短小而章法完整，由「景—人—学—务—政」五层递进展开，读来如一篇微型荐劄。用韵上，偲、材、回、财同属平水韵上平十灰，灰韵韵母开口舒朗，宜于表达端重恳切的嘱政语气；首句「秀」以宥韵去声起，不入韵而先作一顿，随后四句灰韵而出，声情愈转愈实。平仄方面，张方平大体守五绝仄起式，唯「轻重术」「阜民财」等政术语汇处平仄随义，宋人作诗重意不重律，此类宽假正见其以文驭辞的倾向。整体声律朴质凝练，无唐绝之清空，而有宋调之醇实，恰配诗中「以政入诗、以经世相勉」的命意，是宋人五绝中「简而能该」的标本，其灰韵之端重尤与嘱政语气相得益彰，读来端凝而不板滞。

Line by line

萧洒武夷秀，兹人美且偲。

The Wuyi range is clean and lovely in its beauty; this man is handsome and gifted. (The opening rises on the beauty of the Wuyi mountains and falls on the beauty and talent of the man, from scene to person, still holding poetic charm.)

潇洒的武夷山秀色，这人既美且才。

The free beauty of the Wuyi Hills; this man is fair and gifted.

首联是全诗仅有的「诗趣」所在，由景及人，轻轻起笔。「萧洒武夷秀」以武夷山水之秀起兴，既点出宋秘丞的地理渊源（或籍贯、或赴任途经），也以「地灵」暗引「人杰」。「兹人美且偲」用《诗经》「其人美且偲」成句，称其才貌兼美（偲，材也）。这一联是全诗最「像诗」的两句——有兴象、有典雅、有称美，温润而不谀。值得注意的是，张方平把最传统的送别起法（山水称人）只用了一联便收住，随即转入政务叙事，可见其重心本不在离情，而在后文的政事叮嘱。起笔的「秀」与「美偲」，恰为后文的「通古学」「富时材」作了人格上的铺垫：如此美才之人，方堪付以理财之任。

The opening couplet is the poem's only touch of poetic charm, rising lightly from scenery to man. The free beauty of the Wuyi Hills rises on the elegance of Wuyi's waters, at once pointing out the secretary's geographic origin (native place, or the road he travels) and using the spirit of the place to lead to the hero of the place. This man is fair and gifted uses the Book of Songs phrase fair and gifted, praising his beauty and talent together. This couplet is the most poetic in the poem - imagery, elegance and praise, warm without fawning. Worth noting is that Fangping uses the most traditional farewell opening (praising the man through landscape) for only one couplet and then closes it, turning at once to the narrative of office, showing his weight lay not in parting feeling but in the later administrative charge. The opening's beauty and gifted lay the personal ground for the later knows the ancient learning and abounds in the talent of the age: only such a fair and gifted man is fit for the charge of managing finances.

治经通古学，应务富时材。

He masters the classics, well versed in the ancient learning, and in affairs he has abundant talent for the times. (The second couplet writes his inner sageliness and outer kingliness in parallel: the mastery of the classics is learning, the abundance in affairs is talent.)

研治经学通晓古学，应付事务富有当世之材。

He studies the classics and knows the ancient learning; he handles affairs and abounds in the talent of the age.

这一联是全诗的才学定评，以对仗写宋秘丞「内圣外王」的两面。「治经通古学」写其学养：研治经籍、通晓古道，是士大夫的根底；「应务富时材」写其干才：应付世务、富有当世之材，是吏干的能力。一「古」一「时」，一学一务，对举极精，把「通儒」与「能吏」合于一身。在北宋「须是儒者方知义理、须是能吏方了事功」的士风里，这种「古学+时材」的复合评价，正是最高的称许。张方平不写「文采风流」而写「治经应务」，可见其衡量人才的标准向来务实——诗末的理财之嘱，正是由此联的「富时材」自然引出。十四字抵得一篇小传，是宋人使事入妙的范例。

This couplet is the settled verdict on the secretary's learning and ability, writing the two sides of the inner sage and outer king in parallel. He studies the classics and knows the ancient learning writes his scholarship: researching the classics and knowing the ancient way, the root of the scholar-official. He handles affairs and abounds in the talent of the age writes his practical ability: managing the world's business, rich in the talent of the age, the competence of the administrator. One ancient, one timely; one learning, one affairs; the parallel most precise, joining the comprehensive scholar and the capable official in one person. In the Northern Song ethos that only the scholar knows principle and only the capable official accomplishes affairs, this composite verdict of ancient learning and timely talent is the highest praise. Fangping does not write literary grace and charm but studies the classics and handles affairs, showing his practical standard for judging talent; the later charge of managing finances grows naturally from this couplet's abounds in the talent of the age. Fourteen characters are worth a short biography, a model of the Song art of turning allusions to the hair.

更研轻重术，归奏阜民财。

Let him study more the art of light and heavy, and return to report the wealth of the people. (The closing falls on the concrete political wish: study the Guanzi's art of regulating goods and money, and return to memorialize a plan for enriching the people—the poem's political trust.)

更钻研轻重之术（财政），归来奏上使民财富足。

Study further the art of balancing wealth; return and report the policy that enriches the people.

尾联收束，是全诗最「宋」的一笔，把送别写成政事叮嘱。「更研轻重术」用《管子》轻重之学，勉其钻研国家调控财用的学说——在唐人送别诗中绝难见到如此正面称理财的句子，宋人却坦然以「经世」相勉。「归奏阜民财」更落实：此去鄱阳（近铸务、财利），研习既深，归来当奏上富民之策。一个「阜」字（使民富）点出终极目的在民，而非在国帑，见儒家「藏富于民」的底色。张方平以诗为劄，把离情彻底转化为政愿，这种「以政入诗」的写法，正是宋调自觉的标志。读此二句，可知北宋士大夫赴任，所念在轻重之术、阜民之财，而非亭皋木叶之悲——时代精神，于此毕露。

The closing gathers the poem, its most Song stroke, writing the farewell as an administrative charge. Study further the art of balancing wealth uses the Guanzi art of light and heavy, urging him to study the doctrine of state regulation of revenue - a line hardly found in Tang farewell poems yet used openly by the Song as urging statecraft. Return and report the policy that enriches the people is more concrete: this going to Poyang (near the coinage and revenue offices), when his study is deep, he should return and report the policy of enriching the people. The word enrich (make the people rich) points out that the ultimate end lies in the people, not the state treasury, showing the Confucian ground of storing wealth among the people. Fangping uses the poem as a memorial, turning parting feeling entirely into political will; this way of entering politics into poetry is the very sign of the conscious Song tone. Reading these two lines, one sees that the Northern Song official, going to his post, thought of the art of balancing and the wealth of the people, not of the sad leaves by the riverbank - the age's spirit is fully revealed.

Study

Word focus

偲 Gifted. From the Book of Songs, Airs of Qi, the man is handsome and gifted—calling the Secretary handsome and talented, the classic brought into the poem, elegant and natural. 偲字在「兹人美且偲」中是称美的关键，极见典雅。它出自《诗经·齐风·卢令》「其人美且偲」，毛传训「偲，材也」，指人多才。张方平引《诗》入诗，既称宋秘丞才貌兼美，又带出经典的光晕，比直说「才」字雅驯十倍。这个字还暗含「美」与「才」的并置——不仅好看，更有用，为后文「治经通古学、应务富时材」的才学定评埋下伏笔。若易以「才」「能」，便成常语；用「偲」，则古意盎然，且显诗人「引经据典」的学养。小字见真赏，是宋诗「以学入诗」的微妙一笔。

富 Abundant. In affairs he has abundant talent for the times—the fullness of the talent for practical affairs, the parallel against the mastery of the classics, writing the inner sageliness and outer kingliness of the friend. 富字在「应务富时材」中是才性评价的着力点。它本形容财物丰足，此处移来说「时材」——应付世务时，当世之材极为丰沛。这个「富」字，把抽象的「有才干」写成可量度的「充盈」，既见其才之多，也见其用之不竭，暗合北宋「能吏」的标准。在「治经通古学」的对句中，富与通相对，一务一学，一今一古，张力恰好处。张方平炼此一字，不写「长」「优」而写「富」，是宋诗以实字写虚德的典型——把品德才具「物化」为可感知的丰盈。若换他字，皆不如「富」字那般带出「经世待用」的充实感。

轻重 Light and heavy. From the Guanzi's chapters on regulating goods, coin, and prices to enrich the state and quiet the people—the classic theory of finance, the poem's political trust to the friend posted to the mint. 轻重二字在「更研轻重术」中是全诗政愿的凝结点，分量极重。它特指《管子》「轻重」诸篇的理财学说——国家通过调控粮食、货币、物价以富国安民之术，是先秦至汉唐重要的经济理论。张方平把这两个字放进送任诗，极为大胆：唐人送别绝少正面称理财，宋人则坦然以「经世」相勉。轻重二字，既点出宋秘丞此行（近铸务、鄱阳）的实际政务，也显出诗人自己对财用之学的正视与推重（其文集多有论钱法之奏）。这两字收束全篇，使送别诗从「称才」落到「嘱政」，是宋诗「以政入诗」最醒目的标志。一字之典，见一代学术重心之迁移。