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魏晋 Wei-Jin · 诗 Poem

泰山梁甫行

The People of Taishan and Liangfu — On the Coastal Frontier

曹植

Cao Zhi

民生The Common People's Lot 边海The Coastal Frontier

八方各异气，千里殊风雨。
剧哉边海民，寄身于草墅。
妻子象禽兽，行止依林阻。
柴门何萧条，狐兔翔我宇。

The eight regions hold eight different kinds of air;
A thousand li apart, the wind and rain differ utterly.
Alas, the people of the border sea —
They make their home in grass-built huts.
Wife and children are like beasts of the field;
Their going and coming cling to the forests' shade.
How desolate the thorn-gate hut;
Foxes and hares run free beneath my eaves.

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Meaning

Cao Zhi paints the lot of the families who live along the storm-battered coast: their dwellings are grass huts, their clothes and habits barely human, and their movement is confined to the forest cover. The poem closes on the empty hut gate, where foxes and hares makes their home. It is a short, plain poem in which, behind the description of hardship, one can hear the poet's compassion for those who bear the cost of a broken world.

八方各异气，千里殊风雨。剧哉边海民，寄身于草墅。妻子象禽兽，行止依林阻。柴门何萧条，狐兔翔我宇。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The poem contrasts the varied climates of the world with the single, unshared suffering of the coast-dwellers. [Structure] Eight lines in four couplets: the first makes the world vast and various, the second names the people and their huts, the third describes wife and children, the fourth closes on the empty gate. [Imagery] 'Grass-built huts' and 'the thorn-gate hut' fix the dwelling; 'like beasts of the field' and 'cling to the forests' fix the life. [Evaluation] The final image — foxes and hares running beneath the eaves — is the poem's quiet blow: it says the family has left, without ever saying so. Because the poem offers no comment, no consolation and no remedy, the reader supplies the pity, and that is where the poem's power lies.

【白话串讲】曹植写《泰山梁甫行》：“八方各异气，千里殊风雨”——“剧哉边海民，寄身于草墅”——“妻子象禽兽，行止依林阻”——“柴门何萧条，狐兔翔我宇”——他写边海百姓的苦难。【意象与手法】此诗写民生，以边海写民生，是曹植的名篇。前四句写边海：「八方各异气，千里殊风雨。剧哉边海民，寄身于草墅」写八方各异气、千里殊风雨——写尽寄身于草墅的边海民；后四句写萧索：「妻子象禽兽，行止依林阻。柴门何萧条，狐兔翔我宇」写妻子象禽兽、行止依林阻——写尽狐兔翔我宇的柴门。全诗以边海写民生，写尽寄身于草墅的边海民与狐兔翔我宇的柴门，是曹植的代表作。【情感与主旨】此诗写民生，以边海写民生，是曹植的名篇。此诗为曹植写其所见边海之民，写其民生之叹。曹植此诗写边海人民生活的艰难。此诗写八方各异气，千里殊风雨；剧哉边海民，寄身于草墅；妻子象禽兽，行止依林阻；柴门何萧条，狐兔翔我宇。此诗写边海：八方各异气，千里殊风雨——写八方各异气、千里殊风雨，写尽千里殊的风雨；剧哉边海民，寄身于草墅——写剧哉边海民、寄身于草墅，写尽寄身于草墅的边海民；妻子象禽兽，行止依林阻——写妻子象禽兽、行止依林阻，写尽行止依林阻的妻子；柴门何萧条，狐兔翔我宇——写柴门何萧条、狐兔翔我宇，写尽狐兔翔我宇的柴门。全诗以边海写民生——那「寄身于草墅」写尽寄身于草墅的边海民，「狐兔翔我宇」写尽狐兔翔我宇的柴门，写尽寄身于草墅的边海民与狐兔翔我宇的柴门，是理解曹植民生诗的重要篇章。【名句点睛】常考「剧哉边海民，寄身于草墅」写寄身于草墅的边海民；「柴门何萧条，狐兔翔我宇」写狐兔翔我宇的柴门；以及全诗以边海写民生、以写实写民生的手法。

Background

Cao Zhi (192–232), courtesy name Zijian, was born of Cao Cao's house; with his father and brother he is known as the 'Three Cao,' and he was called the finest poet of his day. The poem draws on what he is said to have seen of the coastal dwellers and sets down his concern for them. To read it aright one must hear the voice of a man who has retired from public office and turned to the lives of ordinary people; it belongs with the poem-cycle 'Taishan Liangfu,' on the sacrifices of Mount Tai, from which it takes its title.

此诗写民生，以边海写民生，是曹植的名篇。曹植（192—232），字子建，沛国谯县（今安徽亳州）人，曹操之子，三国魏著名诗人，与父曹操、兄曹丕合称「三曹」，有「天下才共一石，曹子建独占八斗」之誉。此诗为曹植写其亲见边海之民生活的艰苦，写其对民生的关切与悲悯。曹植此诗写边海人民生活的艰难。此诗写八方各异气，千里殊风雨；剧哉边海民，寄身于草墅；妻子象禽兽，行止依林阻；柴门何萧条，狐兔翔我宇。此诗写边海：「八方各异气，千里殊风雨」写八方各异气、千里殊风雨——写尽千里殊的风雨（八方各异气，千里殊风雨）；「剧哉边海民，寄身于草墅」写剧哉边海民、寄身于草墅——写尽寄身于草墅的边海民（剧哉边海民，寄身于草墅）；「妻子象禽兽，行止依林阻」写妻子象禽兽、行止依林阻——写尽行止依林阻的妻子（妻子象禽兽，行止依林阻）；「柴门何萧条，狐兔翔我宇」写柴门何萧条、狐兔翔我宇——写尽狐兔翔我宇的柴门（柴门何萧条，狐兔翔我宇）。全诗以边海写民生，写尽寄身于草墅的边海民与狐兔翔我宇的柴门，是理解曹植民生诗的重要篇章。

Art

Four points. The poem opens with a natural image — 'The eight regions hold eight different kinds of air; a thousand li apart, the wind and rain differ' — and the variety of that opening only sharpens the singleness of what follows. Then it states its subject plainly: 'Alas, the people of the coast.' Then it describes with almost documentary plainness — 'They make their home in grass-built huts,' 'Wife and children are like beasts of the field' — and closes with a scene rather than a judgement: 'Foxes and hares run free beneath my eaves.' The movement is from heaven to man and from man to home; the last image, which seems merely descriptive, is in fact the poet's judgement, and the poem's economy is that it never says a word of pity aloud.

此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以起兴写异气。「八方各异气」以起兴写异气——那「千里殊风雨」写尽千里殊的风雨，以起兴写尽千里殊的风雨。其二，以直抒写民生。「剧哉边海民」以直抒写民生——那「寄身于草墅」写尽寄身于草墅的边海民，以直抒写尽寄身于草墅的边海民。其三，以白描写困苦。「妻子象禽兽」以白描写困苦——那「行止依林阻」写尽行止依林阻的妻子，以白描写尽行止依林阻的妻子。其四，以景结写萧索。「柴门何萧条」以景结写萧索——那「狐兔翔我宇」写尽狐兔翔我宇的柴门，以景结写尽狐兔翔我宇的柴门。此外，此诗前写寄身于草墅的边海民，后写狐兔翔我宇的柴门，由民及景，正是民生诗「以实写悲」的写法。四重手法，使此诗以边海写民生，写尽寄身于草墅的边海民与狐兔翔我宇的柴门，是曹植的代表作。又，此诗以「八方各异气，千里殊风雨」起兴天地之异，以「妻子象禽兽」直写民生之艰，由天及人、由人及家，层层递进，正是曹植乐府「缘事而发」的笔法。

Allusions

The diction belongs to the tradition of the yuefu songs and of poetry written for the people. 'The eight regions' carries the old world-image of the eight compass points under heaven; 'a thousand li apart, the wind and rain differ' turns the familiar proverb that the wind does not blow alike over a thousand li into a line of verse. 'Grass-built huts' answers to the plainest description of a poor dwelling, 'huts of thatch and mud.' 'Beasts of the field' recalls the old phrasing of people no better clothed than beasts. 'The thorn-gate hut' passes into the later tradition of the poor scholar's gate — 'At my wooden gate a dog barks' of Liu Changqing. 'Foxes and hares' carries the old image of a house left to the animals. The poem's whole vocabulary, therefore, belongs not to the élite but to the yuefu tradition of writing down the condition of the common people.

此诗的用语深植于民生与乐府传统。「八方」令人想到「八方」写八方的意象——也令人想到「八荒之内」的意象；「异气」令人想到「异气」写异气的意象——也令人想到「天地异气」的意象；「千里」令人想到「千里」写千里的意象——也令人想到「千里不同风」的意象；「风雨」令人想到「风雨」写风雨的意象——也令人想到「风雨凄凄」的意象；「边海」令人想到「边海」写边海的意象——也令人想到「海边之民」的意象；「草墅」令人想到「草墅」写草屋的意象——也令人想到「茅茨草墅」的意象；「禽兽」令人想到「禽兽」写禽兽的意象——也令人想到「衣不蔽体」的意象；「林阻」令人想到「林阻」写山林阻隔的意象——也令人想到「依林阻」的意象；「柴门」令人想到「柴门」写柴门的意象——也令人想到「柴门闻犬吠」（刘长卿）的意象；「狐兔」令人想到「狐兔」写狐兔的意象——也令人想到「狐兔之所游」的意象。全诗化用八方、异气、千里、风雨、边海、草墅、禽兽、林阻、柴门、狐兔的意象，以边海写民生，正是曹植「沉郁」而善写实、承乐府传统写民生之本领。

Commentary

This is reckoned among the best of Cao Zhi's poems on the common people and among the yuefu of the Han and Wei on the coastal population. Later critics judge it plain and direct in its concern for the people; modern readers single out 'They make their home in grass-built huts' as the poem's line at once the most precise and the hardest to forget. Its special place is that with only eight short lines it reaches from the weather of the eight regions down to a single empty room with animals in it, and never once breaks the plainness of its tone. Set beside Cao Cao's 'Song of Haoli' — 'Bones exposed in the fields' — the father and the son each write the age in their own way, and the later poem shows the current passing from one generation to the next. It remains a classic of the yuefu on the people of the coast.

此诗历来被推为曹植民生诗的名篇，也是汉魏乐府写边海人民的代表。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人评此诗「以边海写民生，直切沉痛」；近人更指出「剧哉边海民，寄身于草墅」写寄身于草墅的边海民，是此诗的名句。在诗歌史上，此诗的特殊价值在于：它以短篇写尽寄身于草墅的边海民与狐兔翔我宇的柴门——那八方，那各异气，那千里，那殊风雨，那剧哉，那边海民，那寄身，那于草墅，那妻子，那象禽兽，那行止，那依林阻，那柴门，那何萧条，那狐兔，那翔我宇，都写尽了曹植笔下的泰山梁甫行；那「狐兔翔我宇」更以景结写尽狐兔翔我宇的柴门。此诗与曹操《蒿里行》「白骨露于野」同为民生名篇，一写「白骨露于野」的蒿里行，一写「寄身于草墅」的泰山梁甫行；一写父，一写子。两诗对读，可见建安风骨的代代相传。对于今日读者，此诗是理解曹植民生诗的窗口，也是汉魏乐府写边海人民的经典——那狐兔翔我宇的柴门，穿越千年，仍在诉说着寄身于草墅的边海民。

Prosody

Form Yuefu — Five-Syllable Ancient Verse乐府·五言古诗

Rhyme Each couplet rhymes within itself, on the falling-tone words rain / huts / shade / eaves (a strict oblique-rhyme scheme in the yu–fu rhymes group)全诗押「雨」「墅」「阻」「宇」（仄韵遇虞韵），隔句押韵

Tone pattern A five-syllable yuefu of eight lines, rhyming on oblique tones and on alternate lines; the cadence is heavy and pitiful, fitting the lament for the people.此诗为乐府五言古诗，押仄声韵，隔句押韵，音节沉痛，正合民生的沉痛。

Reading note Yuefu in five-syllable lines, rhyming on the oblique tones — rain, huts, shade, eaves — with the rhymes falling at the close of each couplet. The shortness of the stanzas and the harshness of the rhymes give the poem its tone of compressed grief. The structure runs from the weather, to the people, to the family, to the empty house; and the last of these is the most damning. Read 'Alas, the people of the coast' with a downward, heavy stress, and the closing couplet slowly; the final line should sink into the plainness of report. Cao Zhi's yuefu is famous for its gravity; this poem, in eight lines, is his plainest answer to the lot of the poor.此诗为乐府五言古诗——「八方各异气，千里殊风雨。剧哉边海民，寄身于草墅。妻子象禽兽，行止依林阻。柴门何萧条，狐兔翔我宇」，押仄韵（雨、墅、阻、宇），隔句押韵，音节沉痛。全诗以边海写民生：前写寄身于草墅的边海民（八方各异气、妻子象禽兽），后写狐兔翔我宇的柴门（柴门何萧条）。短章八句，前写民生，后写荒凉，以「狐兔翔我宇」写尽狐兔翔我宇的柴门，正见曹植「沉郁」的本色。诵读此诗，宜以沉痛的语调读「剧哉边海民」的民生，以萧索的语调读「狐兔翔我宇」的柴门，结句要读得沉痛而有余韵，方能传达出曹植的沉郁悲悯。曹植乐府以「沉郁」著称，此诗正是其民生诗的典范。

Line by line

剧哉边海民，寄身于草墅

Alas, the people of the coastal frontier — they make their home in grass-built huts.

剧哉边海民，寄身于草墅。

How hard the lot of the people by the border sea; they dwell in thatched huts.

此二句是全诗写民生的核心，以剧哉边海民写边海民，以寄身于草墅写草墅，写尽寄身于草墅的边海民，是千古名句。「剧哉边海民」写剧哉边海民——那「剧哉」写剧哉，「边海民」写边海民，写尽剧哉的边海民；「寄身于草墅」写寄身于草墅——那「寄身」写寄身，「于草墅」写于草墅，写尽寄身的草墅。这句的深意在于：它以「剧哉边海民」的边海民与「寄身于草墅」的草墅，写尽寄身于草墅的边海民——剧哉边海民，那「剧哉边海民」写尽剧哉的边海民——剧哉边海民，正是边海之民艰难困苦的写照，那「剧哉」写尽寄身于草墅的边海民；寄身于草墅，那「寄身于草墅」写尽寄身的草墅——寄身于草墅，正是栖身草屋的写照，那「草墅」写尽寄身于草墅的边海民；那「剧哉边海民」写尽剧哉的边海民，那「寄身于草墅」写尽寄身的草墅，一写边海民，一写草墅，写尽寄身于草墅的边海民——边海之民而栖身草屋，正是民生的写照；此二句以边海民、草墅写尽寄身于草墅的边海民，也为下文的妻子作铺垫，也让此二句成为全诗写民生的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「边海的百姓多么艰难，栖身在草屋里」，则失其沉痛；唯以「剧哉边海民」写边海民、「寄身于草墅」写草墅，写尽寄身于草墅的边海民，也让此二句成为全诗写民生的核心。

These two lines are the core of the whole's writing the people's lot, using how hard the lot of the people by the border sea for the border people and they dwell in thatched huts for the thatched hut, writing to the full the border people dwelling in thatched huts, the famous line of a thousand ages. The deep meaning lies in that it uses the border people of how hard the lot of the people by the border sea and the thatched hut of they dwell in thatched huts to write to the full the border people dwelling in thatched huts - the border people sheltering in grass huts, exactly the picture of the people's hardship. One writing the border people, one writing the thatched hut, writing to the full the border people dwelling in thatched huts. These two lines write to the full the border people dwelling in thatched huts through the border people and the thatched hut, lay a ground for the later wife and children, and make them the core of the whole's people's lot and a famous line of a thousand ages. If one instead directly said how hard the border people's lot, dwelling in thatched huts, one would lose the pain; only writing the border people through how hard the lot of the people by the border sea and the thatched hut through they dwell in thatched huts, writing to the full the border people dwelling in thatched huts, makes these two lines the core of the whole's people's lot.

柴门何萧条，狐兔翔我宇

How desolate the thorn-gate hut; foxes and hares run free beneath my eaves.

柴门何萧条，狐兔翔我宇。

How desolate the thorn gate; foxes and hares course through my eaves.

此二句是全诗写萧索的核心，以柴门何萧条写萧条，以狐兔翔我宇写翔我宇，写尽狐兔翔我宇的柴门，是千古名句。「柴门何萧条」写柴门何萧条——那「柴门」写柴门，「何萧条」写何萧条，写尽柴门的何萧条；「狐兔翔我宇」写狐兔翔我宇——那「狐兔」写狐兔，「翔我宇」写翔我宇，写尽狐兔的翔我宇。这句的深意在于：它以「柴门何萧条」的萧条与「狐兔翔我宇」的翔我宇，写尽狐兔翔我宇的柴门——柴门何萧条，那「柴门何萧条」写尽柴门的何萧条——柴门何萧条，正是柴门冷落的写照，那「萧条」写尽狐兔翔我宇的柴门；狐兔翔我宇，那「狐兔翔我宇」写尽狐兔的翔我宇——狐兔翔我宇，正是狐兔横行的写照，那「翔我宇」写尽狐兔翔我宇的柴门；那「柴门何萧条」写尽柴门的何萧条，那「狐兔翔我宇」写尽狐兔的翔我宇，一写萧条，一写翔我宇，写尽狐兔翔我宇的柴门——柴门冷落而狐兔横行，正是荒凉的写照；此二句以萧条、翔我宇写尽狐兔翔我宇的柴门，也让此二句成为全诗写萧索的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「柴门多么萧条，狐狸兔子在我屋里乱跑」，则失其含蓄；唯以「柴门何萧条」写萧条、「狐兔翔我宇」写翔我宇，写尽狐兔翔我宇的柴门，也让此二句成为全诗写萧索的核心。

These two lines are the core of the whole's writing desolation, using how desolate the thorn gate for the desolation and foxes and hares course through my eaves for the coursing, writing to the full the thorn gate where foxes and hares course, the famous line of a thousand ages. The deep meaning lies in that it uses the desolation of how desolate the thorn gate and the coursing of foxes and hares course through my eaves to write to the full the thorn gate where foxes and hares course - the thorn gate cold and the foxes and hares running wild, exactly the picture of desolation. One writing desolation, one writing the coursing through my eaves, writing to the full the thorn gate where foxes and hares course. These two lines write to the full the thorn gate where foxes and hares course through desolation and the coursing through my eaves, and make them the core of the whole's desolation and a famous line of a thousand ages. If one instead directly said how desolate the thorn gate, foxes and hares running wild in my house, one would lose the reserve; only writing desolation through how desolate the thorn gate and the coursing through my eaves through foxes and hares course through my eaves, writing to the full the thorn gate where foxes and hares course, makes these two lines the core of the whole's desolation.

Study

Word focus

剧 In 'Alas, the people of the coastal frontier' the character 剧 is the weight of the whole poem. It means extreme, hard, a thing done to excess — the suffering is not sad but unrelieved. It carries both the fact of the hardship and the poet's pity for it in a single exclamation, and it prepares the plain report of the couplet that follows. 「剧哉边海民」之「剧」字是写民生关键词，一个「剧」字写尽剧哉的边海民。剧者，剧甚、艰难也。曹植以「剧哉边海民」写民生，这个「剧」字至少有双重意味：其一，写难之剧——那「剧哉边海民」写剧哉边海民，那「剧」字写尽剧哉的边海民——剧哉，正是艰难困苦的写照，那「剧」字写尽剧哉的边海民；其二，写情之痛——那「剧」字更是写痛——剧，正见悯民之痛的深切，那「剧」字写尽曹植的悲悯。以「剧」字写民生，正是曹植写边海的枢纽——若换作「苦」「困」等字，则或失其与「剧哉边海民」「寄身于草墅」的配合，或失其写剧的意味；唯「剧」字，以剧哉边海民写尽边海之艰难与悯民之痛切，与「寄身于草墅」的草墅相合，写尽剧哉的边海民，也让「剧哉边海民」成为全诗写民生的名句。

翔 In 'foxes and hares run free beneath my eaves' the character 翔 — to fly, to circle at will — is the poem's furthest image. The animals are not merely present but at home and unhurried. The word carries the absence of the family rather than the presence of the beasts, and it is the closing line's whole cruelty compressed into one verb. 「狐兔翔我宇」之「翔」字是写萧索关键词，一个「翔」字写尽狐兔的翔我宇。翔者，飞翔、游翔也。曹植以「狐兔翔我宇」写萧索，这个「翔」字至少有双重意味：其一，写兽之翔——那「狐兔翔我宇」写狐兔翔我宇，那「翔」字写尽狐兔的翔我宇——翔，正是狐兔横行的写照，那「翔」字写尽狐兔的翔我宇；其二，写人之去——那「翔」字更是写去——翔，正见人去屋空的荒凉，那「翔」字写尽曹植的悲悯。以「翔」字写萧索，正是曹植写民生的枢纽——若换作「游」「窜」等字，则或失其与「狐兔翔我宇」「柴门何萧条」的配合，或失其写翔的意味；唯「翔」字，以狐兔翔我宇写尽狐兔之横行与屋宇之荒凉，与「柴门何萧条」的萧条相合，写尽狐兔的翔我宇，也让「狐兔翔我宇」成为全诗写萧索的名句。