All poems

宋 Song · 诗 Poem

题中阳里高祖庙

On the Gaozu Temple at Zhongyangli

张方平

Zhang Fangping

田园pastoral

纵酒疏狂不治生，中阳有土倚兄耕。
晚遭乱世成功业，更向公前与仲争。

Given to wine and wild abandon, he cared nothing for a livelihood; in Zhongyang there was land, tilled by his brother's hand.
Late he met a troubled age and built his great career; still he vies with his brother Zhong before his father the Duke.

Listen

Meaning

The poem sketches Liu Bang's youth—dissolute, wine-loving, leaving the fields to his brother—and then his late rise to empire, yet still bickering with that same brother before their father. Zhang Fangping thus deflates the founding emperor into a relatable, unpretentious villager. It is a Song-era 'de-sanctifying' historical poem that values human warmth over grandeur.

纵酒疏狂，不理生计；中阳乡里自有土地，靠着兄长耕作。晚年遭逢乱世，竟成就功业；做了皇帝，还要向太公面前与二哥刘仲争个高低。

Appreciation

The art lies in a 'two-phase contrast' and 'making the common refined': youth's idleness versus imperial rivalry, woven from homely details like 'lean on brother' and 'vie with Zhong.' The diction is utterly everyday—no ornate allusion—yet it pulls an emperor back into a farmer's family, a witty reversal. Between mockery and admiration, the poem neither deifies nor defames, presenting a human Gaozu.

【白话串讲】张方平题刘邦庙：“纵酒疏狂不治生，中阳有土倚兄耕”——刘邦年轻时游手好闲。“晚遭乱世成功业，更向公前与仲争”——他写刘邦的出身。【意象与手法】诗以白描写刘邦少年与称帝两截，用中阳、兄耕、与仲争等家常细节翻案，以俗为雅，于谐谑中寄史评。【情感与主旨】不写高祖之威，而写其疏狂本色与「与仲争」的村气，既讽其少无赖，亦赏其真率不装的性情，寓翻案之趣。【名句点睛】晚遭乱世成功业，更向公前与仲争以「晚成」对「争功」，把开国帝业写得如农家闲话，翻案最妙。

Background

This is Zhang Fangping's poem composed at the Gaozu Temple in Zhongyangli, Liu Bang's birthplace in Pei County. Liu's elder brother was Liu Zhong; in youth Liu loved wine and neglected the estate, and his father the Taigong often scolded him as inferior to Zhong. After Liu became emperor he asked his father at the Nangong feast, 'whose estate is greater, mine or Zhong's?'—the 'vie with Zhong' allusion. The Northern Song honored Han and such temples abounded; Zhang, passing the temple, wrote not of glories but of the emperor's rustic, unchanging nature, showing the Song taste for 'de-sacralized, human' history. Knowing Liu's youth and the 'vie' anecdote unlocks the poem's jest-within-gravity.

此诗为张方平题刘邦故里中阳里高祖庙之作。中阳里为沛县丰邑中阳里，刘邦（汉高祖）出生地；其兄名刘仲（后封代王），刘邦少时好酒色、不治产业，父太公每责其不如仲力田治生。及刘邦称帝，尝置酒洛阳南宫，从容问父：「始大人常以臣无赖，不能治产业，不如仲力。今某之业所就，孰与仲多？」太公愧笑——诗中「更向公前与仲争」即用此故实。张方平（1007—1091）咏史好作翻案与白描，此首尤喜以家常细节写帝王。北宋尊汉，高祖庙祀遍天下，张方平过庙题诗，不写云台麟阁之勋，而写少年疏狂与称帝争功的村气，正见宋人咏史「去神圣化、重人情」的趣味。了解刘邦少时事与「与仲争」典，方能读懂此诗以谐写庄的匠心。汉高祖庙自汉世已遍立天下，至宋犹存，士大夫过而题咏者不绝。中阳里为沛县丰邑故里，刘邦微时居此，其「纵酒」「不治产业」的旧事，皆见《史记·高祖本纪》与《汉书·高帝纪》。张方平过庙而不写云台麟阁之勋，独拈「与仲争」一桩家常旧话，正见宋人咏史「去神圣化」的自觉：他不把高祖当作受命之符的神主，而还原为一个有血有肉、至老不改村气的凡人。这种眼光，与其「乐全」之名所蕴含的通达相表里。

Art

The poem wins by 'two-phase contrast' and 'making the common refined.' The first two lines write the young Liu—wild, idle, relying on his brother—in plain description; the last two write the emperor—late success, yet still vying with brother and father—banteringly unchanged. The structure moves youth to maturity, failure to success, closing on 'vie' to pull the founder into the brother context, a brilliant reversal. The words are thoroughly homely (wine, lean, vie), unadorned, the Song trick of 'shallow words for deep meaning.' Its merit sits between mockery and admiration: laughing at the youth's idleness, yet prizing the emperor's retained sincerity.

此诗艺术上以「两截对照」与「以俗为雅」取胜。前两句纵酒疏狂不治生，中阳有土倚兄耕，写刘邦少年：一纵一赖、不治生而靠兄耕，是白描其无赖本色；后两句晚遭乱世成功业，更向公前与仲争，写其称帝：一晚一成、竟建帝业，却仍向父兄争比，是谐谑其不忘旧态。章法上由少及壮、由败及成，而结以「争」字，把开国之君拉回农家兄弟的语境里，翻案极妙。用字极家常（纵酒、倚兄、与仲争），不事典丽，以俗笔写大人物，正是宋人「以浅语写深意」的惯技。其佳处在讽与赏之间：既笑其少时无赖，亦赏其称帝后仍存真率，不神化、不丑化，写出了一个「人」的高祖。此诗虽仅二十八字，却以「两截对照」撑起全篇骨架：前二句写少年之「赖」（纵酒、倚兄），后二句写称帝之「争」（成功业、与仲争），赖与争一脉相承，写尽刘邦「无赖习性」之一贯。用字极家常，「纵」「倚」「更」「争」皆口语化动词，不事典丽，而以白描胜。最妙在结句的戏剧性反转：堂堂开国之君，竟仍要与兄争比，神圣与村俗骤然并置，遂生谐趣。这种「以俗为雅、以谐写庄」的手段，正是宋人咏史区别于唐人苍茫怀古的鲜明标记，亦是张方平咏史诗中翻案最俏皮的一首。

Allusions

The allusions all come from the Shi Ji 'Gaozu Benji.' 'Given to wine and wild abandon, cared nothing for a livelihood' records Liu's 'loving wine and women' and 'not managing the family estate,' his father preferring Zhong; 'in Zhongyang there was land, tilled by his brother' notes the hometown fields worked by Liu Zhong; 'late met troubled age, built career' refers to his rising from pavilion chief to found Han; 'still vies with Zhong before the Duke' uses the Nangong story of asking the Taigong whose estate was greater. Zhang picks the most human anecdotes, condensing Han's founding into a family chat—a supreme reversal.

诗中用典皆出史记高祖本纪。纵酒疏狂不治生：史记载刘邦「好酒及色」「不事家人生产作业」，其父太公以为不如仲（刘仲）力田，诗中纵酒疏狂不治生即写此少年无赖状。中阳有土倚兄耕：中阳里其故里，有土指有田产，倚兄耕谓赖兄刘仲耕种养家。晚遭乱世成功业：秦末乱起，刘邦亭长起兵，卒灭项兴汉，晚年（相对少年言）遭乱而成帝业。更向公前与仲争：用洛阳南宫故事，刘邦称帝后问太公「今某之业所就，孰与仲多」，向公（太公）前与仲（刘仲）争比功劳。诸典皆出正史，张方平撷其最富人情者入诗，把一部汉兴史浓缩为农家父子兄弟的一席闲话，翻案手段极高。「与仲争」一典，是理解全诗的关键，须详其本事：《史记·高祖本纪》载，高祖九年，未央宫成，刘邦置酒前殿，奉玉卮为太上皇寿，曰：「始大人常以臣无赖，不能治产业，不如仲力。今某之业所就，孰与仲多？」殿上群臣皆呼万岁，大笑为乐。此典之妙，在刘邦以帝王之尊，仍念念不忘少年时被父责「不如仲力」的旧事，竟当着满朝群臣与父亲「算账」。张方平撷此入诗，不写未央宫的辉煌，而写这一场父子兄弟间的戏谑，恰把「汉兴」这部宏大的开国史，收束为一则充满人情味与喜剧感的家庭闲话，翻案之力正在于此。

Commentary

Zhang Fangping liked plain-description reversals in historical poetry; this can be read with his Temple of Weizi—one solemn, one playful, showing his two hands. Against Tang writers on Han (Li Bai's 'great wind' grandeur, or Zhang Jie's 'bamboo and silk' sigh), Song men preferred to draw out the emperor's 'human flavor'; 'vie with Zhong' is representative. Modern scholars call Song poetry 'making the common refined, making the old new'—this poem proves it, turning a family anecdote into the poem's eye without the Tang's vast nostalgia yet with a historian's clarity. In all, the poem writes Gaozu's two phases in twenty-eight characters, jest within gravity, common within grand—a rare 'human' piece among Song historical quatrains, and a glimpse of Zhang's playful side beyond the solemn.

张方平咏史好以白描翻案，此诗可与题中阳里高祖庙同题材的宋人作品并观，亦宜与其微子庙合读——微子庙庄重断制，高祖庙谐谑白描，一庄一谐，见其咏史两手。方回瀛奎律髓咏史类虽多选七律，然张此绝句以二十八字写尽高祖一生两截，正合「以少总多」。较之唐人咏汉（如李白「大风起兮云飞扬」之雄，或章碣「竹帛烟销帝业虚」之慨），宋人更喜抉发帝王的「人味」，此诗「与仲争」正是这种趣味的代表。近人论宋诗「以俗为雅、以故为新」，此诗可为其一证：把史书中一桩家常闲话点化为翻案诗眼，既不落唐人怀古的苍茫，亦自有史学家的清醒。要之，此诗之佳在以谐写庄、以俗写大。宋人咏汉祖，多取「大风歌」的雄怀或「约法三章」的仁政，张方平独取「与仲争」的村气，识见自异。较之李商隐《题汉祖庙》「乘运应须宅八荒」的雄论、邵雍题咏式的史评，张方平此诗更重「人情」的抉发。这种取向，实承司马迁「实录」精神——《史记》写刘邦本就不避其「好酒及色」「不事家人生产」，张方平以诗笔重现之，正是对史迁笔法的致敬。要之，此诗以二十八字写尽高祖一生两截，以谐写庄、以俗写大，是宋人咏史绝句中难得的「人味」之作，亦可见张方平于庄重之外别具诙谐一面的诗才。

Prosody

Form Seven-character quatrain (qijue)七言绝句

Rhyme Rhymes in the geng rhyme (lower-level eighth geng): sheng, geng, zheng, one rhyme throughout; the geng rhyme is open and clear, suited to plain, humorous description.押下平八庚韵：生、耕、争。一韵到底，庚韵开口呼舒朗，宜于白描谐谑之体。

Tone pattern Seven-character quatrain, level-tone opening with first line taking the rhyme. Generally follows the qijue level-opening pattern, with occasional irregularity governed by sense.七言绝句平起首句入韵体。首句纵酒疏狂不治生（仄仄平平仄仄平）对次句中阳有土倚兄耕（平平仄仄仄平平），三句晚遭乱世成功业（仄平仄仄平平仄）对四句更向公前与仲争（仄仄平平仄仄平），大体合七绝平起式，偶有拗处而以意驭之。

Reading note This is a seven-character quatrain of only four lines and twenty-eight characters, yet it captures Gaozu's whole life through a 'two-phase contrast.' In structure it moves from youth to maturity: the first two lines write his young recklessness relying on his brother, the last two write his imperial sincerity vying for credit, and it closes with the word 'vie,' pulling the founding emperor back into the farmer's-family context—a brilliant reversal. The rhyme alone takes the geng category, its voice open and relaxed, matching the plain, bantering tone; the three rhymes run through, read like an old villager telling of the past. Though a short piece, its level and oblique tones keep the law at the main joints, with occasional irregularity redeemed without harming sense. Overall the sound is playful and limpid, without the Tang grandeur of Han-related verse, but with the Song-mode flavor of 'making the common refined, making the old new'—not deifying the emperor, only writing his rustic air and sincerity, showing historical insight and temperament within twenty-eight characters, a fine specimen of Song quatrains on history.此诗为七言绝句，仅四句二十八字，却以「两截对照」写尽高祖一生。章法上由少及壮：前两句纵酒倚兄写少年无赖，后两句晚成争功写称帝真率，而结以「争」字把开国之君拉回农家语境，翻案极妙。用韵独取庚部，声气舒朗，与白描谐谑相协；三韵相贯，读来如听乡老说古。平仄虽短章而大关节守律，偶以拗救（如晚遭乱世）而不害意。整体声情诙谐清浅，无唐人咏汉之雄慨，而有宋调「以俗为雅、以故为新」的翻案趣味——不神化帝王，单写其村气与真率，于二十八字中见史识与性情，是宋人绝句咏史的小品佳作。庚韵属梗摄开口二等，声气舒朗而带清浅，与「纵酒」「与仲争」的白描口吻相协，读来如乡老说古，不见颂圣之重。三韵相贯，短章而气足，正是宋人咏史绝句「以谐笔写大题目」在声律上的相应。

Line by line

纵酒疏狂不治生，中阳有土倚兄耕。

Given to wine and wild abandon, he cared nothing for a livelihood; in Zhongyang there was land, tilled by his brother's hand.

纵酒疏狂，不理生计；中阳乡里自有土地，靠着兄长耕作。

Drunken and reckless, he would not tend his livelihood; the fields of Zhongyang tilled by his elder brother.

首句写刘邦少年本色。纵酒疏狂不治生以白描直斥其少时好酒使气、不理家业，纵酒二字状其放，疏狂二字状其诞，不治生三字定其无赖，字字平实却力重——张方平不神化高祖，径以史笔写其「无赖」旧态，正见宋人咏史「去神圣化」的清醒。次句中阳有土倚兄耕紧承，点故里中阳里有田，却靠兄刘仲耕种，一个「倚」字写尽少年刘邦之赖兄、之父责之所由。两句合看，画出一位典型的乡里浪荡子，与后来开国帝王形成巨大反差。张方平落笔极家常，不堆典饰，以俗笔写大人物，正是「以俗为雅」的宋调手法。起手便把高祖拉回农家，为后文「与仲争」的翻案埋下伏笔。

The first line writes Liu Bang's youthful nature. Drunken and reckless, he would not tend his livelihood, in plain outline, directly charging his young days with loving wine and hot temper and neglecting the family affairs; the word drunken writes his abandon, reckless his wildness, not tending his livelihood fixes his ne'er-do-well, every word plain yet weighty - Fangping does not deify the founder, but writes his ne'er-do-well past in the historian's brush, exactly the clear-eyed desacralization of the Song historical poem. The second, the fields of Zhongyang tilled by his elder brother, follows at once, naming the native Zhongyang village had fields, yet relied on the elder brother Liu Zhong to till; the word relied writes to the full the young Liu Bang's leaning on his brother and the source of the father's reproach. The two lines together draw a typical village wastrel, set in vast contrast with the later founding emperor. Fangping's brush is most homely, no piled allusions, writing a great man in the vulgar, exactly the Song way of making the vulgar elegant. The opening pulls the founder back to the farm, planting the thread for the later reversal of contesting with Zhong.

晚遭乱世成功业，更向公前与仲争。

Late he met a troubled age and built his great career; still he vies with his brother Zhong before his father the Duke.

晚年遭逢乱世，竟成就功业；做了皇帝，还要向太公面前与二哥刘仲争个高低。

In his later years he met the disorder and won achievement; and before his father, he still contests the prize with Zhong.

末句为全诗翻案之眼，亦全诗最耐味处。晚遭乱世成功业一笔由少转壮，写刘邦逢秦末之乱竟成帝业，「晚」字妙——相对少年不治生，其成功来得迟却大，暗含「乱世造英雄」的史识；更向公前与仲争紧接，写其称帝后犹向父亲太公、与兄刘仲争比产业功劳（用史记洛阳南宫故事），一个「更」字把开国帝业拉回农家兄弟斗嘴的语境，谐谑万分。张方平于此不写高祖之威、之智、之仁，单拈这桩「与仲争」的村气，既讽其少无赖的习性难改，亦赏其称帝后仍存真率、不装圣明的性情。以二十八字写尽一生两截，把一部汉兴史点化为农家闲话，翻案手段极高，是宋人咏史「以谐写庄」的范本。

The closing is the poem's reversal eye and its most to-taste place. In his later years he met the disorder and won achievement moves from youth to prime, writing Liu Bang, meeting the late Qin disorder, at last winning the imperial cause; the word later is artful - against the youth who would not tend his livelihood, his success came late yet great, secretly holding the historical discernment that disorder makes heroes. And before his father, he still contests the prize with Zhong follows at once, writing that after becoming emperor he still, before his father the Taigong, contested the reward and fame with his brother Liu Zhong (using the Shiji story of the Southern Palace at Luoyang); the single word and turns the founding imperial cause back into the context of farm brothers squabbling, most humorous. Fangping here does not write the founder's majesty, wisdom or benevolence, but picks out only this village air of contesting with Zhong, at once satirizing his young ne'er-do-well habit hard to change and appreciating his after-becoming-emperor truthfulness, not posing as a sage. In twenty-eight characters he writes the two halves of a life, turning a history of Han's rise into a farm chat, the reversal most masterly, a model of the Song historical poem writing the solemn through the humorous.

Study

Word focus

倚 In 'in Zhongyang there was land, tilled by his brother,' yi (lean/rely) is the eye that writes young Liu Bang's dependence: though the family had fields, the young Liu Bang 'leaned' on his brother Liu Zhong to till them, one word laying bare his idle reliance on his brother. 倚字在「中阳有土倚兄耕」中为写刘邦少年之赖的句眼。倚本义靠、仗，此处写中阳里虽有田土，少年刘邦却「倚」着兄长刘仲去耕种，一字写尽其不治生而赖兄养的浪荡相。张方平用「倚」而非「令」「使」，更显其被动与心安理得——不是兄被迫，而是己安然倚之，无赖之态毕露。此字与首句「不治生」呼应：正因为不治生，所以才倚兄耕，因果链条由一「倚」字绾合。更妙在它与末句「与仲争」对照：少时倚仲耕，后来与仲争，同一位刘仲，一倚一争，写尽刘邦由赖兄到胜兄的一生反转，是炼字见世态处。

更 In 'still he vies with his brother Zhong before his father,' geng (still/again/rather) is the pivot of the reversal: used after 'built his great career,' it means 'still he even…', producing an unexpected contrast—the founding emperor, like in his youth, still vies with his father and brother, breaking the line between sacred and rustic. 更字在「更向公前与仲争」中为翻案转捩之眼。更本义再、又、反倒，此处用在「成功业」之后，作「反倒还」解，写出一种出人意表的反差：堂堂开国皇帝，竟还像少时一样向父亲、与兄长争比，神圣与村俗的界限由此打破。张方平以「更」字制造喜剧张力，把宏大的汉兴史收束为一句农家闲话。宋人作诗重虚字斡旋，此字正见其以文法运章法——一个虚字，使前文的「成功业」不走向颂圣，而转向调侃，全诗基调由庄入谐。若删此字，则「向公前与仲争」直而乏味；有「更」字，翻案之力全出。

争 In 'vies with his brother Zhong,' zheng (vie/contend) is the focal word of the whole poem's humor: it writes Liu Bang, even as emperor, still contending with his brother over wealth and merit, pulling the emperor back into sibling squabbling—both mocking his unrepentant rakishness and appreciating his unfeigned sincerity. 争字是末句「与仲争」的题眼，亦全诗幽默所聚。争本义竞、较，此处写刘邦称帝后仍与兄刘仲争比产业功劳（史记洛阳南宫「今某之业所就，孰与仲多」），把帝王拉回兄弟斗气的语境。张方平撷此一字入诗，用意极深：它既写刘邦「无赖习性难改」的讽意，亦写其「真率不装」的赏意——一个敢在父兄面前争功的皇帝，比被神化的圣主更像一个「人」。若作「比」「较」，则失其动态与情态；「争」字自带孩子气的执拗，最宜此境。一字之选，使全诗于谐谑中见史评，是炼字见性情处。