All poems

宋 Song · 诗 Poem

宋屯田归湖南

Seeing Off Mr. Song of the State Farms Bureau on His Return to Hunan

张方平

Zhang Fangping

田园pastoral 哲理philosophical reflection 时序seasonal order 咏物odes to objects

旧学孙明复，春秋助发微。
倦游惊白首，知已失缁衣。
乞了朝鸡去，南随社燕归。
衡湘多隐逸，道侣未应稀。

His early learning was under Sun Mingfu, helping to unfold the Spring and Autumn's hidden subtleties.
Weary of office, startled at white hair; the black-robe patrons who prized him are lost.
Having begged release from the dawn court-cock, he departs; southward he follows the altar-swallow home.
The Heng and Xiang hold many a recluse; companions of the Way should not be few.

Listen

Meaning

A farewell poem for an elderly official surnamed Song, a former State Farms director and a pupil of the great Spring-and-Autumn scholar Sun Fu, retiring to Hunan. The poem traces his lineage of learning, the chill of his late official years, his timely petition to retire, and the companions awaiting him between Hengshan and the Xiang. It is less a parting than a respectful settling of a Confucian scholar's whole life — learned in lineage, weary in office, companioned in retreat.

旧日所学出自孙明复门下，于《春秋》最能助其阐发幽微。倦于游宦惊觉已是白发，知己凋零、再无人如缁衣之好贤。乞得休致，辞了那催朝的鸡唱而去；随社燕南飞，归向湖南。衡山湘水之间本多隐逸，同道的伴侣想必不会稀少。

Appreciation

Each couplet does one job — learning, career, departure, destination — so the poem reads like a miniature biography with learning as its source, chill office as its present, retirement as its road, and welcome as its end. The craft lies in the balances: solid old learning against thin white hair; patrons lost at court against companions gained in the mountains, two reversals that turn loss into gain and an old man's retirement into a retreat with company. The third couplet is the finest cut: the noisy cock-crow of morning court against the quiet swallows that return with the altar season, fourteen characters covering the whole act of retirement with perfect decorum. No line wanders off the subject; its unassuming sureness is the very texture of Zhang Fangping's verse.

【白话串讲】张方平送宋屯田归湖南：“旧学孙明复，春秋助发微”——他跟孙明复学过春秋。“倦游惊白首，知已失缁衣”——“衡湘多隐逸，道侣未应稀”——他写朋友归隐。【意象与手法】诗中以孙明复、春秋立其学统，以白首、缁衣写身世之凉，以朝鸡、社燕写去就之节，以衡湘、道侣写归处之宽，意象皆贴切宋屯田其人，无一句泛设。手法上多用对照：旧学之厚对白首之薄，知己之失对道侣之得，朝鸡之喧对社燕之静。宋人送归诗每就人身世下笔，此诗是其例。【情感与主旨】主旨不在离愁，而在惜其老退、慰其归隐。倦游惊白首、知已失缁衣，是对一位老于宦途、又失推挽之人的深切同情；衡湘多隐逸、道侣未应稀，则以湖湘隐逸之盛宽之，暗含朝中无尔之知己、山中自有尔之道侣的安慰。是送归，也是对一个学有本源而遇不遇的儒者的敬重。【名句点睛】「乞了朝鸡去，南随社燕归」以朝鸡之喧对社燕之静，写乞休归隐如燕之知时，干净利落，是全诗最见归趣的两句；「知已失缁衣」用《缁衣》好贤之典翻出失贤之悲，较直写知己零落厚得多。

Background

Zhang Fangping (1007–1091), courtesy name Andao, of Songcheng in Songzhou, served through the reigns of Renzong to Shenzong up to vice grand councilor, with the posthumous title Wending and the collected Lean Quan Ji in forty volumes. The subject is an otherwise unrecorded poet surnamed Song who held the office of director in the Bureau of State Farms and, as the first couplet shows, studied under Sun Fu (992–1057) — one of the three early Song masters, who taught at Mount Tai, specialized in the Spring and Autumn Annals, and wrote the Chunqiu Zunwang Fawei that opened the Song moral reading of that classic. The poem was written while Zhang was at court, seeing off a white-haired friend petitioning to retire to Hunan — the Hengshan-Xiang region, since Qu Yuan and Du Fu a land of exiles and recluses, in Song times a thriving home of scholarship. Understanding Sun Fu's place in early Song classical studies is the key to the weight of the phrase 'old learning': it is not just a master's gate but the badge of a whole Confucian lineage, which is why this seemingly plain poem should not be read lightly.

张方平（一〇〇七至一〇九一），字安道，宋州宋城人，历仕仁宗至神宗三朝，官至参知政事，谥文定，有《乐全集》四十卷。此首送宋屯田归湖南，宋屯田者，姓宋而尝为屯田郎官（屯田掌屯垦之政）之诗人，名不详。由首联旧学孙明复，知其为宋初大儒孙复之门人。孙复（九九二至一〇五七），字明复，与胡瑗、石介并称宋初三先生，主讲泰山，专治《春秋》，著《春秋尊王发微》，开宋儒义理《春秋》之先河。其门人多名臣，宋屯田从学《春秋》，故云春秋助发微。北宋前期，经术复兴，《春秋》学尤重尊王发凡，孙氏之学正是其时显学。诗当作于方平在朝时。宋屯田倦游白首、乞休南归湖南，方平以同朝之谊送之。湖南在宋为荆湖南路，衡山湘水，自屈原、杜甫以来即为迁客隐逸之乡。读懂此诗，须先识孙复在宋初经学中之位置，方知旧学二字的分量——它不只是师门，更是一代儒统的标记。方平与孙复虽非同门，然同倡儒术、同重《春秋》，于宋屯田而推及其师，诗中亦含一份同气之谊。一首送归小诗，竟牵动宋初经学的一缕统绪，这是它看似平实却不宜轻读的原因。

Art

The structure moves from learning to career to retirement to consolation — four couplets, four layers, like a short biography: the first couplet sets his scholarly lineage, where he came from; the second, the chill of his official life, where he stands; the third, his petition to retire, where he is going; the fourth, the welcome of his destination, where he lands. Layer turns to layer without digression, the Song way of fitting a farewell poem to its man. Contrast governs the whole: the depth of old learning under Sun Mingfu against the thinness of weary office and white hair; the loneliness of losing the black-robe patrons against the breadth of many recluses in Heng and Xiang, companions of the Way not few — two reversals that turn loss into gain and an old man's retirement into a retreat with company, giving the consolation weight. The third couplet cuts best: the court cock is the bird that drags one to dawn audience, the altar swallow the bird that departs with the season; one noisy, one quiet, one official, one hidden, fourteen characters for the entire decorum of retirement. The swallow is especially apt — swallows come and go by the altar days, so to liken his going home to the swallow's timely return turns a melancholy retirement into an ease in accordance with nature. Nothing strays; the opening and close are steady, each couplet does its office while the breath runs on — a model of the Song manner of easy, unastonished regular verse; read it not for startling lines but for the sureness in which the depth of the friendship shows itself.

此诗章法，由学而仕、由仕而退、由退而慰，四联四层，如一篇小传。首联立其学统，是来路；颔联写其仕途之凉，是当下；颈联写其乞归，是去路；尾联慰其归处，是归处。层层递转，不枝不蔓，是宋人送归诗切其人的常法。对照手法贯穿全篇。旧学孙明复之厚，对照倦游惊白首之薄——学有本源而年已老；知已失缁衣之孤，对照衡湘多隐逸、道侣未应稀之宽——朝中失贤，山中得侣。两重对照，把失翻成得，把老退翻成归隐有伴，慰语便有了重量。颈联最见剪裁。乞了朝鸡去，南随社燕归，朝鸡是早朝催起之物，社燕是随社而去之禽，一喧一静，一官一隐，仅十四字便写尽乞休全节。社燕用得尤巧：燕知社而还，喻归之得其时，不写告老而写随燕，把一件伤感的退休写成顺应天时的悠然。宋诗善以小物缩大节，此联是其例。通篇无一字离题，起结皆稳，各联各司其职而气脉不断，正是宋人七律中文从字顺、不尚奇险的范本。读它不必求惊人之句，而求其稳妥处自见交情之厚——这也是方平诗一贯的体段。

Allusions

Sun Mingfu is Sun Fu, one of the three early Song masters, founder of the Mount Tai school, specialist in the Spring and Autumn, author of the Chunqiu Zunwang Fawei; 'old learning under Sun Mingfu' marks both whence Song's classics came and the respect due his line. 'Unfolding the subtle' plays directly on the title of Sun's book, double-reading the man's learning and his master's work, and is a plain record of his attainment. 'Black robes' is the Ziyi ode of the Airs of Zheng, traditionally praise of Duke Wu of Zheng for loving worthies and giving them office and lodging; later ages made black robes the emblem of the patron who advances worthy men, so 'having lost the black robes' says his champions are gone. The 'court cock' is the cock whose crow calls to dawn audience, standing for court service: 'begged release from the court cock and gone' is to retire from the hardship of early audience. The 'altar swallow' comes at the spring and autumn altar days and departs with them, the emblem of returning in season — the same import as Tao Qian's 'the caged bird longs for its old forest, the pool fish for its old depths,' but Zhang's swallow adds the sense of timeliness, showing the aptness of Song image-making. 'Heng-Xiang' is Hengshan and the Xiang, that is, Hunan, where the Song era was rich in recluses and scholars (Zhou Dunyi and the Hu family among them), hence 'many recluses'; 'companions of the Way' are the like-minded friends among them, here the recluses of Confucian bent.

孙明复：即孙复，宋初三先生之一，泰山学派宗师，专治《春秋》，著《春秋尊王发微》。诗中旧学孙明复，明宋屯田经学所自，亦含敬其师承之意。春秋发微：发微谓阐发幽微，正对孙复《春秋尊王发微》之书名，双关其学与孙氏之书。言宋屯田于《春秋》能助成发微之学，是实写其造诣。缁衣：《诗经·郑风·缁衣》，旧说美郑武公好贤，能授之以政、授之以馆；后世以缁衣代指好贤、推挽之士。诗云知已失缁衣，谓宋屯田失去如缁衣般推己的好贤之友（或指举主、知己凋零）。朝鸡：早朝报晓之鸡，代指朝班。乞了朝鸡去，即乞休出朝，辞去早朝之苦。社燕：春社、秋社时来之燕，随节候去来，喻知时归隐。南随社燕归，写其归湖南如燕之顺时。社燕之喻与陶渊明「羁鸟恋旧林，池鱼思故渊」同一归趣，而方平以燕写知时，更见宋人取象的妥帖。衡湘：衡山、湘水，泛指湖南。宋时湖湘多隐逸（如周敦颐、胡安国之徒皆湘中讲学者），故云多隐逸。道侣：同道、同志之友，此处指隐逸中的儒道之侣。

Commentary

Zhang Fangping wrote many such poems of seeing men off, and this one shows best his attitude toward the Confucian's retirement. Tang poets seeing a hermit off wrote the pleasures of immortal seclusion — white clouds, fern-picking; Zhang instead begins from old learning under Sun Mingfu, first restoring the recluse to a scholar with a lineage, then seeing him off. It is the Song way of sending a man off by his identity: he will not let Song be a generic hermit but a disciple of Sun Fu and a scholar of the Spring and Autumn. Set beside his other farewells it is more telling still: seeing Li Zhi off east he grieves a talent ruined by illness; presenting Zhao Baoyi he honors his holding-to-one simplicity; here he reveres a learning with a source grown old in office — three sendings-off that fall respectively on talent, the Way, and learning, and together sketch the three kinds of person in his circle: the value of Song poems of friendship lies in this fitting of the poem to the man. The final couplet is no empty comfort either: since Zhou Dunyi had opened the Neo-Confucian line in Hunan and the Hu father and son taught at Hengshan, recluses and scholars of the Way truly clustered there, so 'companions of the Way not few' is grounded in the day, not merely a softening word — reading it, one sees a senior court official taking note of the rise of provincial Confucian learning. In sum, the poem's goodness lies in making a farewell into the summary and settling of a scholar's life: something inherited in learning, something wearied in office, something awaiting in retreat — plain words, but the respect shows by itself.

张方平送归之作甚多，而此首最见其对儒者老退的态度。唐人送隐，多写卧白云、采薇蕨的仙隐之趣；方平此诗却从旧学孙明复落笔，把一个归隐者先还原成一位有本源的儒者，再送其归。这是宋人送别重身份的一例——他不肯把宋屯田写成泛泛隐士，而写成孙复门人、春秋学者。与同组送别并观尤有意思。送李芝东归惜其才盛而病废，赠赵抱一道其抱一守拙，此首送宋屯田则敬其学有本源而老于宦途。三诗同出送归，却分别落在才、道、学三字上，恰好拼出方平交游圈的三种人格。宋人交游诗的价值，正在这因人而异的切。尾联道侣未应稀，亦非泛慰。北宋湖湘自周敦颐开理学之绪，胡安国、胡宏父子讲学家于衡山，隐逸与理学之士云集，方平以道侣称之，实有时代依据，非徒作宽语。读此诗，可见一位台阁老臣对地方儒学之兴的瞩目。要之，此诗之好，在它把一首送归写成对一位儒者一生的总结与安顿：学有所承，仕有所倦，归有所侣。文字平实，而敬意自见。

Prosody

Form Seven-character regulated verse (lüshi)七言律诗

Rhyme Level-tone Wei rhyme with first line rhyming: wei, yi, gui, xi all in the upper-level fifth Wei rhyme, one rhyme throughout, no departures; its tone-color is faint and far-reaching, fitting the thin mood of retirement押平声微韵，首句入韵：微、衣、归、稀皆属上平五微，一韵到底，无出韵。微韵音色清微悠远，与老退归隐的疏淡意绪相称。

Tone pattern Both middle couplets parallel — the second couplet pairs weary office with lost patrons, the third pairs the court cock with the altar swallow; oblique-start with first-line rhyme, generally regular throughout七言律诗，中二联对仗。颔联倦游惊白首对知已失缁衣，以倦游对知已、白首对缁衣，身世 pairwise；颈联乞了朝鸡去对南随社燕归，以朝鸡对社燕、去对归，官隐相对，最为警策。平仄依仄起首句入韵式（微为平，首句旧学孙明复为仄仄平平仄，次句春秋助发微为平平仄仄平），各联大体合律。

Reading note The tonal scheme is clear and steady, one Wei rhyme carried to the end, best suited to the unhurried, neither sharp nor strident voice of retirement. The four rhymes wei, yi, gui, xi all close on light labial sounds, reading like a sigh — pitched exactly with the bleakness of 'weary of office, startled white-haired' and the consolation of 'companions of the Way not few'; the close on 'return' opens the sound slightly, like the swallow spreading wings southward, the echo receding with it. The middle couplets pair — the second couplet on the man, the chill of his career; the third on his going, the decorum of his leaving — one inward, one outward. The pairing of 'begged release from the court cock and gone' with 'southward follows the altar swallow home' sets bird against court-drum, its surface plain and its opposition alive — the upper line breaking after two characters (begged release), the lower after two (southward follows), so that they read like two little scenes side by side: one the official laying down the dawn cock, one the swallow flying toward Hunan. This narration through parallelism is a Song norm. The seven-character caesura falls four-three — the first four characters setting the matter, the last three delivering the judgment or direction — and the final couplet, unrhymed-parallel and conversational, closes like the last warm sentence of a parting, gently let down. Sound, word, and feeling are one throughout; among Song farewell regulated verse this is a piece one can recite with confidence.此诗声律清稳，以微韵一脉到底，最宜写老退之际那种不激不厉的语气。微、衣、归、稀四韵皆收在轻唇微音，读来如叹息般低回，与「倦游惊白首」的苍凉、「道侣未应稀」的宽慰，声情全相凑泊；到归字收音，声稍开展，恰如社燕展翅南去，余音亦随之远引。中二联对仗，颔联写人（身世之凉），颈联写归（去就之节），一内一外。尤其颈联乞了朝鸡去对南随社燕归，以禽虫对朝鼓，字面平淡而对意极活——上句五字一断（乞了），下句五字一断（南随），读来如两幅小景并置：一边是卸下朝鸡的官身，一边是随燕飞向湖南。这种「以对为叙」的句法，是宋律常格。节奏上七言之顿在四三：旧学孙明复—春秋助发微，乞了朝鸡—去，前四字立学或立事，后三字落判或落向。唯尾联衡湘多隐逸、道侣未应稀以散句收，不对仗，声亦随之内敛，如话别时最后一句温语，徐徐落下。通篇声、字、情如一，是宋人送归七律中妥帖可诵的一首。

Line by line

旧学孙明复，春秋助发微。

His early learning came from Sun Mingfu, and in the Spring and Autumn Annals he helped unfold the hidden subtleties.

学出孙复，春秋发微。

Your old learning came from Sun Mingfu; in the Spring and Autumn Annals you helped reveal the subtle.

这是起手一联，先为宋屯田立定身份与学统。上句旧学孙明复，旧学二字极重——不是新学，不是俗学，而是渊源有自的孙复之门；孙明复即宋初三先生之一的孙复，泰山讲学、专治《春秋》，是宋初经术复兴的关键人物。一个旧字，把宋屯田放进北宋儒统的脉络里，使人知其学有本源。下句春秋助发微，发微正扣孙复名著《春秋尊王发微》，既点出所治之经，又实写其造诣：于《春秋》能相助阐发幽微之义。两句合看，是把一个即将归隐的庸官，先还原成一位有师承、有学问的儒者——这正是方平送别不肯泛写的用心。后面写其白首、写其归隐，都因这「旧学」二字而有了分量：他不是失意退场，而是儒者功成身退。

The opening couplet first establishes Song Tuntian's identity and scholarly lineage. The first line's old learning is most weighty - not new learning, not vulgar learning, but the school of Sun Fu with a proven source; Sun Mingfu is Sun Fu, one of the three early Northern Song masters, who taught at Mount Tai and specialized in the Spring and Autumn Annals, the key figure in the early Song revival of classical learning. The single word old places Song Tuntian within the current of the Northern Song Confucian lineage, so that one knows his learning has a root. The second line, in the Spring and Autumn Annals you helped reveal the subtle, the revealing the subtle exactly matches Sun Fu's famous work The Spring and Autumn Annals Honoring the King Reveals the Subtle, at once naming the classic he studied and writing his attainment: in the Annals he could help expound the hidden meaning. The two lines together first restore an ordinary official about to retire to a Confucian with a master and learning - exactly Fangping's care not to write the farewell in general terms. The later writing of his white head and his retirement all carry weight because of this word old: he is not withdrawing in disappointment, but a Confucian withdrawing when his work is done.

倦游惊白首，知已失缁衣。

Weary of long official wanderings, he starts to find his head grown white, and the black-robe patrons who prized worth have fallen away.

倦游白首，失却知己。

Weary of wandering, you start at the white head; the friend who knew you is gone, like the lost dark robe.

这是全诗的凉笔，也是最能见交情的一联。上句倦游惊白首，倦游是久游宦海之倦，惊白首是猛然照见自己已老——一个惊字，写出仕途消磨、岁月忽晚的恍然。下句知已失缁衣，用《诗经·缁衣》好贤之典：缁衣本美郑武公能好贤授政，此处以失缁衣写推挽自己的贤友（或举主、知己）凋零。把「知己零落」写成「失缁衣」，便不止于私谊之悲，而带上一种「世不复好贤」的怅惘。一己之老、一世之凉，两句并写，沉甸甸压在送别之前。尤其可味在「失」字：旧学是有，白首是得而复失其壮，缁衣是失其助——由首联的「有」到这里层层写「失」，为颈联的「归」作了最充分的理由。不是不想留，是学无所用、友无所依、年无所待，这才乞归。

This is the poem's cool stroke and the couplet that most shows the friendship. The first, weary of wandering, you start at the white head: weary of wandering is the fatigue of long drifting in official seas; start at the white head is suddenly seeing that one is old; the word start writes the shock of official wear and the years grown late. The second, the friend who knew you is gone, like the lost dark robe, uses the Book of Songs dark robe allusion to loving worthies: the dark robe originally praised Duke Wu of Zheng for loving worthies and entrusting government; here the lost dark robe writes the withering of the worthy friend (or patron, or confidant) who had drawn him forward. Writing the withering of the confidant as the lost dark robe makes it more than private grief, carrying a wistfulness that the age no longer loves worthies. One man's old age, one age's coolness, the two lines written together, pressing heavy before the farewell. What is most to taste is the word lost: old learning is having, white head is regaining yet losing the vigor, dark robe is losing the help - from the opening's having, the lines layer by layer write losing, making the fullest reason for the neck couplet's return. It is not that he does not want to stay, but that learning has no use, friends no support, years no expectation; only then he begs to return.

乞了朝鸡去，南随社燕归。

Having begged leave, he quits the cock-crow of morning court and departs, following the altar-season swallows southward home.

乞休辞朝，随燕南归。

You have begged leave, and the court cock is left behind; southward, you follow the altar swallows home.

这是全诗的归趣所在，也是宋诗以小物缩大节的好例。上句乞了朝鸡去，乞了是求得、辞去，朝鸡是早朝报晓之鸡，代指朝班晨趋；一个去字，把多年晨钟催起的官身干脆卸下。下句南随社燕归，社燕是知时而还的燕，春社来、秋社去，从不滞留；以燕喻归，妙在「随」字——不是被迫，不是狼狈，而是像燕子顺着节候自然飞回旧巢，归得其时。朝鸡之喧与社燕之静，一官一隐，仅十四字写尽乞休全节。更可玩者，燕在古诗中本多写漂泊（如社燕秋鸿），此处偏写它「归」，把通常的飘零意象翻成安顿的意象，正合宋屯田「归有定处」的实情。一首送归诗，结于这对禽虫之喻，比直说「告老还乡」有味十倍。

This is the poem's bent, and a fine example of Song poetry contracting a great turn in a small thing. The first, you have begged leave, and the court cock is left behind: begged leave means sought and resigned; the court cock is the cock that announces the dawn of audience, standing for the morning rush to court; the single word left behind takes off, once and for all, the official body that the morning bell roused for years. The second, southward, you follow the altar swallows home: altar swallows are swallows that return with the season, coming at the spring altar and leaving at the autumn altar, never lingering; the beauty of using the swallow for return is the word follow - not forced, not wretched, but like the swallow naturally flying back to the old nest with the season, returning in its time. The court cock's clamor and the altar swallow's stillness, one office one retirement, in only fourteen characters writing the whole act of begging leave. What is more to taste is that swallows in old poetry usually write drifting (like altar swallows and autumn geese), yet here it writes return, turning the usual image of scattering into an image of settlement, exactly suiting Song Tuntian's truth of returning to a fixed place. A poem of seeing a man home, closing on this pair of bird metaphors, is ten times more flavorful than a direct saying of retiring to one's native place.

Study

Word focus

微 'The subtle' — the single scholarly eye of the first couplet, naming the buried praise-and-blame of the Spring and Autumn Annals that Sun Fu's book was written to unfold, so the word marks scripture, method, and master all at once, and cannot be swapped for a plainer or vaguer one. 旧学孙明复，春秋助发微，全联的学眼在一个微字。微谓幽微、隐曲，《春秋》之学的难处，正在其褒贬寄于字里、义例藏于事中，非平铺直叙可得，故治《春秋》者贵能「发微」（孙复书名即《春秋尊王发微》）。这个字所以不可换，在于它标出宋屯田学问的质地：不是记诵章句，而是抉发圣人笔削之幽意。若作「明」，便成明白晓畅，失了《春秋》学「微言大义」的特质；若作「义」，又太泛，笼不到孙复之学的独家面目。微字一立，既点经（《春秋》重微言），又点法（发微），还暗点人（孙复以发微名家），一字而三关。更妙在它承首句旧学而来——旧学之「旧」正因其能发千古之微，不是陈腐，而是深微。一字之间，把师承、经旨、造诣都收住了。

乞 'To petition' — the proper Song word for requesting retirement, carrying none of the bitterness of dismissal or the finality of resignation, but the composed gesture of an official who, with learning behind him and age upon him, returns his post by due form. 乞了朝鸡去，全句的骨在一个乞字。乞本谓求取（如乞浆、乞身），此处用得极有分寸：宋人致仕曰「乞休」「乞身」，是向朝廷请求退休，非黜非弃，而是主动、合礼地交还官身。这个字所以好，在于它写出宋屯田退归的姿态——不是被罢，不是弃官而走，而是「乞了」：明明白白递上一纸，从容卸下。与首联旧学、颔联白首呼应，更见其退之有本、退之有名：学既厚、年既老，方堪言乞。若作「辞」，便带决绝；作「弃」，便带负气；作「谢」，又偏疏淡；皆不如乞字那般合于宋臣致仕的礼数，也暗含一种「我本不求去，今不得已而求」的委婉。朝鸡是早朝所赖，乞了朝鸡，便是连这最后的官身羁绊也一并辞去，干净利落，而归意于是真足。