唐 Tang · 诗 Poem
北征
The Northern Expedition
皇帝二载秋，闰八月初吉。
杜子将北征，苍茫问家室。
维时遭艰虞，朝野少暇日。
顾惭恩私被，诏许归蓬荜。
拜辞诣阙下，怵惕久未出。
虽乏谏诤姿，恐君有遗失。
君诚中兴主，经纬固密勿。
东胡反未已，臣甫愤所切。
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皇帝二载秋，闰八月初吉。
杜子将北征，苍茫问家室。
维时遭艰虞，朝野少暇日。
顾惭恩私被，诏许归蓬荜。
拜辞诣阙下，怵惕久未出。
虽乏谏诤姿，恐君有遗失。
君诚中兴主，经纬固密勿。
东胡反未已，臣甫愤所切。
挥涕恋行在，道途犹恍惚。
乾坤含疮痍，忧虞何时毕。
靡靡逾阡陌，人烟眇萧瑟。
所遇多被伤，呻吟更流血。
回首凤翔县，旌旗晚明灭。
前登寒山重，屡得饮马窟。
邠郊入地底，泾水中荡潏。
猛虎立我前，苍崖吼时裂。
菊垂今秋花，石戴古车辙。
青云动高兴，幽事亦可悦。
山果多琐细，罗生杂橡栗。
或红如丹砂，或黑如点漆。
雨露之所濡，甘苦齐结实。
缅思桃源内，益叹身世拙。
坡陀望鄜畤，岩谷互出没。
我行已水滨，我仆犹木末。
鸱鸟鸣黄桑，野鼠拱乱穴。
夜深经战场，寒月照白骨。
潼关百万师，往者散何卒。
遂令半秦民，残害为异物。
况我堕胡尘，及归尽华发。
经年至茅屋，妻子衣百结。
恸哭松声回，悲泉共幽咽。
平生所娇儿，颜色白胜雪。
见耶背面啼，垢腻脚不袜。
床前两小女，补绽才过膝。
海图坼波涛，旧绣移曲折。
天吴及紫凤，颠倒在裋褐。
老夫情怀恶，呕泄卧数日。
那无囊中帛，救汝寒凛栗。
粉黛亦解苞，衾裯稍罗列。
瘦妻面复光，痴女头自栉。
学母无不为，晓妆随手抹。
移时施朱铅，狼藉画眉阔。
生还对童稚，似欲忘饥渴。
问事竞挽须，谁能即嗔喝。
翻思在贼愁，甘受杂乱聒。
新归且慰意，生理焉能说。
至尊尚蒙尘，几日休练卒。
仰观天色改，坐觉祆氛豁。
阴风西北来，惨澹随回鹘。
其王愿助顺，其俗善驰突。
送兵五千人，驱马一万匹。
此辈少为贵，四方服勇决。
所用皆鹰腾，破敌过箭疾。
圣心颇虚伫，时议气欲夺。
伊洛指掌收，西京不足拔。
官军请深入，蓄锐何俱发。
此举开青徐，旋瞻略恒碣。
昊天积霜露，正气有肃杀。
祸转亡胡岁，势成擒胡月。
胡命其能久，皇纲未宜绝。
忆昨狼狈初，事与古先别。
奸臣竟菹醢，同恶随荡析。
不闻夏殷衰，中自诛褒妲。
周汉获再兴，宣光果明哲。
桓桓陈将军，仗钺奋忠烈。
微尔人尽非，于今国犹活。
凄凉大同殿，寂寞白兽闼。
都人望翠华，佳气向金阙。
园陵固有神，扫洒数不缺。
煌煌太宗业，树立甚宏达。
At that time the realm suffered hardship and peril; court and country had little leisure. Ashamed of the private grace bestowed on me, I was granted an edict to return to my thatched door.
I bowed farewell and went to the palace gate, trembling and lingering, long unwilling to leave. Though I lack the bearing of a remonstrator, I feared the sovereign might miss something.
You are truly a ruler of restoration, ordering affairs with close diligence. But the eastern Hu rebels are not yet quelled; your servant Fu burns with that grievance.
Wiping tears, I lingered at the temporary court; on the road I was still in a daze. Heaven and earth are full of wounds; when will this sorrow and care come to an end?
Slowly I crossed the fields; sparse was the human smoke, desolate the scene. Most I met were wounded, groaning and still bleeding.
Looking back at Fengxiang county, banners flickered in the dusk. Ahead I climbed the cold, layered mountains, often finding holes where horses had drunk.
The outskirts of Bin sink into the earth's depths; the Jing River churns and surges within. A tiger stood before me; on the grey cliff its roar seemed to split the stone.
Chrysanthemums droop with this autumn's flowers; stones bear old cart ruts. The blue clouds stirred my high spirits; the secluded sights too could delight.
Mountain fruits are many and tiny, scattered among acorns and chestnuts. Some red as cinnabar, some black as dotted lacquer.
Watered by rain and dew, sweet and bitter alike bear fruit. Thinking far of the Peach Blossom Spring, I sigh the more at my own clumsy fate.
Over the sloping hills I gazed toward Fu; cliffs and valleys appeared and vanished. I had reached the waterside, but my servant was still atop the trees.
An owl cried in the yellow mulberry; wild rats arched before tangled burrows. Deep at night I passed the battlefield; the cold moon lit the white bones.
The million-strong army at Tong Pass — how swiftly it scattered before! Thus half the people of Qin were slaughtered, turned to alien things.
Moreover I fell into the Hu dust, and returned with all-white hair. After a year I reached the thatched hut; wife and children wore clothes of a hundred patches.
We wept bitterly, the pines echoing; the sad spring joined in muffled sobs. My son, most cherished in life, was paler than snow.
Seeing his father, he turned away and cried, filthy, barefoot without socks. The two little girls by the bed wore patched clothes barely past the knee.
The sea chart's waves were torn, the old embroidery shifted awry. The sky-wu and purple phoenix, upside down, on a coarse short coat.
My old heart was sick; I vomited and lay for days. Have I no silk in my pack to save you from cold shivering?
Powder and paint I also untied from their wrappers; quilts were somewhat laid out. My thin wife's face regained its glow; my simple daughter combed her own hair.
She imitated her mother in all things, smearing on morning makeup at will. After a while she dabbed red lead, a mess, with brows painted broad.
Returned alive to my children, I seemed to forget hunger and thirst. They competed to tug my beard with questions; who could at once scold them?
Turning to think of the sorrow among the rebels, I gladly bear the clamor. Newly home, let me comfort my heart; how can livelihood be spoken of?
The August One still suffers the dust of exile; how many days till drilling ceases? Looking up, I see the sky's change; I feel the evil miasma clearing.
A gloomy wind came from the northwest, bleak, with the Uighurs. Their khan wishes to aid the rightful cause; their custom excels at charging and breaking through.
They sent five thousand soldiers, driving ten thousand horses. Few of these are precious; all quarters admire their bravery and resolve.
Those employed all soar like eagles; they break the enemy faster than an arrow. The sage's heart awaits them with modest hope; court opinion's spirit would be seized.
The Yi and Luo are taken as in the palm; the western capital is not hard to seize. The royal army asks to press deep; storing strength, why not all strike at once?
This move would open Qing and Xu; soon we look to sweep Heng and Jie. Vast heaven gathers frost and dew; the righteous air has its stern killing.
Misfortune turns to the year of the Hu's fall; the moment forms the month of capturing the Hu. How long can the Hu's fate endure? The imperial order should not be cut off.
Recall the first, flurried days; affairs differed from antiquity. The traitorous ministers were finally minced to paste; their accomplices were scattered and dissolved.
We have not heard, in Xia and Yin's decline, of slaying Bao Si and Da Ji from within. Zhou and Han won revival; King Xuan and Guangwu were indeed wise.
The martial General Chen, bearing the ax, rose in loyal fervor. Without you all men would be lost; to this day the state still lives.
The Desolate Great Unity Hall, the lonely White Beast Gate. The capital's people look for the emerald banners; auspicious air turns toward the golden palace.
The imperial tombs have their spirits; their sweeping is never lacking. The resplendent enterprise of Taizong was established with grand breadth.
Meaning
'The Northern Expedition' is Du Fu's longest narrative poem, recording his northward journey from the temporary court at Fengxiang to his family in Fu, the horrors of the An Lushan rebellion witnessed on the road and at home, and his hopes for the Tang restoration.
唐肃宗至德二年秋天，闰八月初一。我杜甫将北上归家，在茫茫战乱中探问妻儿的消息。正逢国家遭难之时，朝野上下没有片刻闲暇。自愧蒙受皇恩特许，令我回到草屋探望家人。我在宫阙之下拜辞天子，心中惶恐、久久未能离去。虽没有直谏的风骨，还是担心君王有所疏失。当今皇上确实是中兴之主，治国理政周密勤勉。但安史叛军尚未平灭，我杜甫为此切齿愤恨。洒泪告别行在，路途上心神恍惚。天下到处是战火疮痍，这种忧患何时才能结束。 我缓缓越过田间小路，人烟稀少、满目萧条。沿途遇到的多是伤兵，呻吟之声不绝于耳，血还在流。回头远望凤翔城头，旌旗在暮色中明灭闪烁。往前攀上层层寒山，屡屡见到战马饮水的窟穴。邠州城郊低洼如入地底，泾水在其中激荡湍急。猛虎仿佛立在面前，苍崖间仿佛听到虎吼裂石。菊花在秋日绽放，古道上还留着旧时的车辙。仰望青云，心胸为之开阔，幽静的山景也有怡人之处。山间的野果细小繁多，杂生在橡栗丛中，有的红如丹砂，有的黑如点漆。雨露滋润之下，甘也好苦也好全都结出了果实。我遥想世外桃源，越发感叹自己在乱世中处境的笨拙。 远远望见鄜州城外的山丘，岩谷交错出没。我已走到水边，仆人还在树梢之上。猫头鹰在枯黄桑树上悲鸣，野鼠拱立在乱穴之间。深夜经过旧日战场，寒月照着惨白的人骨。潼关那百万大军，溃败之时是何等仓猝？致使半个秦地的百姓惨遭屠戮。 况且我也曾陷身贼中，直到归来时头发尽白。历经一年才回到破败的茅屋，妻子穿着打满补丁的衣裳。全家抱头痛哭，松风回响、山泉幽咽与之应和。我平日最疼爱的小儿子，脸色饿得比雪还白。见到父亲竟背过脸去啼哭，满身污垢，光着脚没袜子可穿。床前两个小女儿，穿着的补丁衣裳才刚过膝盖。旧绣品上波涛裂了，天吴和紫凤都颠倒着缝在粗布短衣上。我心情难受到了极点，上吐下泻卧床数日。行囊中岂无布帛，来解救你们的寒冷战栗？打开包裹取出粉黛脂粉，被褥也稍微铺排了一些。瘦弱的妻子面容恢复了光泽，小女儿自己梳起头来。学着母亲的样子什么事都做，早晨胡乱涂抹脂粉，不一会就狼藉一片把眉毛画得又粗又长。战乱中活着回来见到孩子们，几乎忘记了饥渴。孩子们争着问这问那、扯我的胡须，哪能忍心呵斥她们。回想陷贼时的愁苦，宁可忍受眼前这纷乱的聒噪。刚刚回家且自宽慰，活路的事慢慢再说。 皇帝还在外漂流蒙尘，何时才能停止练兵？仰观天色已有变化，觉得邪气将要消散。西北吹来阴风，回纥大军在惨淡中随之而至。他们的可汗愿帮助朝廷平叛，他们的骑兵善于奔袭驰突。遣来精兵五千人，赶良马一万匹。这些胡兵少用为贵，四方都佩服他们的勇猛决断。所用战士皆如鹰飞，破敌胜似飞箭。皇上之意确实虚心以待，但朝臣议论中颇有不敢苟同者。伊水洛水一带指日可收，长安城更不在话下。官军请一鼓作气深入，蓄锐待发、众军齐举。此举将打开青州徐州，再挥师北略恒山碣石。皇天积满霜露，正气自有一股肃杀之威。胡虏之祸将转为灭亡之年月。胡人的命运岂能长久，大唐皇纲不应断绝。 回忆当初狼狈奔逃之时，事态与前代大不相同。奸臣最终被剁成肉酱，同党也都随之扫除。没听说过夏朝殷朝衰败时，曾自己诛杀了褒姒妲己——而大唐自己铲除了奸臣。周朝汉朝得以中兴再起，周宣王与汉光武帝果然是明哲之君。威武的陈玄礼将军，手持大斧奋起忠烈之志。没有你，人们早都沦为异族的奴隶；而到今天国家仍得以存活。凄凉的大同殿，寂寞的白兽门，都城百姓盼望皇帝的车驾回来，吉祥之气向着宫阙汇集。皇家的陵园本有神灵庇佑，洒扫之礼从来没有缺少。先帝太宗开创的煌煌基业，树立得何其宏伟茂达。
Appreciation
This is one of Du Fu's longest and most complex narrative poems, 140 lines of 700 characters in five sections: leave-taking, the journey, reunion with family, the current situation, and a closing argument. It is the supreme embodiment of Du Fu's 'poetic history' spirit, weaving personal family suffering together with the fate of the nation. The household details — a wife in rags, children who dare not recognize their father, a phoenix embroidered upside down on a rough coat — are 'the dignity of the poor' unprecedented in Tang poetry. Du Fu's greatness lies not in writing the great age but in illuminating the great age through a small family.
【白话串讲】 杜甫在安史之乱中北行省亲，写《北征》：“皇帝二载秋，闰八月初吉”——“苍茫问家室”。“东胡反未已，臣甫愤所切”——他一路写所见所感。“乾坤含疮痍，忧虞何时毕”——国家满目疮痍。这是杜甫最长的诗之一，一部乱世的实录。 【意象与手法】 此诗是杜甫诗史精神的最高代表——它不是一般的叙事诗，而是把个人家庭的苦难与国家民族的命运编织成同一匹布。“妻子衣百结”与“乾坤含疮痍”互文；“床前两小女，补绽才过膝”与“遂令半秦民，残害为异物”并置。“海图坼波涛，旧绣移曲折。天吴及紫凤，颠倒在裋褐”——这四句写女儿破烂的衣服里面绣着颠倒的图案，以极精细的刺绣意象来写极破败的现实，是杜甫写穷的最高艺术。 【情感与主旨】 全诗情感起伏极大：辞阙时的忐忑、沿途的悲愤、到家的悲喜交集、对时局的忧思，以及最后对大唐中兴的坚信。杜甫把个人家庭与国家命运两层叙事完美缝合——“经年至茅屋”与“至尊尚蒙尘”是同一块镜子的两面。此诗证明：杜甫的伟大不在于写了大时代，而在于他用小家庭照见了大时代。 【名句点睛】 “夜深经战场，寒月照白骨”——十个字，没有形容词，没有抒情，只有一个动词“照”。最冷静的笔触写出最残酷的画面。“床前两小女，补绽才过膝”——不写穷，只写补丁；不写冷，只写过膝。杜甫写苦难从不呼天抢地，他只如实记下：补丁刚好过膝。
Background
In the second year of Zhide (757), Du Fu angered Emperor Suzong by a memorial pleading for Fang Guan, and was sent home to Fu (present-day Fuxian, Shaanxi) to visit his family. He traveled north from Fengxiang (then the temporary court), via Bin and Yijun, some 600 li. This poem was written after reaching home; it is his longest five-character ancient poem, paired with 'From the Capital to Fengxian, Five Hundred Words of Reflection' as the twin peaks of Du Fu.
唐肃宗至德二年（公元七五七年），唐军收复长安、洛阳两京的战事正胶着于安史之乱的腥风之中。杜甫此前因上疏救援宰相房琯，触怒肃宗，被恩准放还鄜州（今陕西富县）探视家小。是年闰八月初，他自朝廷行在凤翔辞行北上，跋涉数百里，沿途目睹战乱疮痍，直至深秋方抵家中，此诗即作于到家之后。全诗一百四十句、七百字，是杜甫生平最长的五言古诗，与早年的《自京赴奉先县咏怀五百字》并称杜诗双璧。它既非单纯的纪行，也非单纯的述怀，而是把个人家庭的离散与国家民族的危亡编织为同一幅织锦。读懂此诗，须先明白杜甫当时的处境：他身为左拾遗，本在中枢，却因直言被外放，内心既有对君王的歉疚，又有对社稷的焦灼；他归家不是避祸，而是在乱世中履行一个丈夫、父亲的义务。这种公与私、国与家两重身份的撕扯，构成了全诗最深沉的情感底色，也奠定了它作为诗史典范的地位。
Art
All 140 lines use the fu (descriptive exposition) mode to lay out the journey and the home scene; structurally it strings time and space on the thread of going home, rotating the three blocks of journey, family, and situation around the axis of feeling. Its outstanding achievement is writing the vast through the minute — the embroidery details of sea-chart and sky-wu set against the military catastrophe of Tong Pass and the fall of Chang'an create enormous tension.
《北征》在结构上以归家为经、以情感为纬，将旅途见闻、家庭离散、时局议论三大板块旋转于同一轴心，开创了长篇叙事诗的最高范式。其最突出的艺术成就，在于以极琐细写极宏大：诗中既有潼关溃败、长安沦陷的军国大事，也有海图坼波涛、天吴及紫凤颠倒缝在破衣上的闺阁细节，两种尺度之间张力极大，却因同出于一个饱经离乱的家庭而浑然一体。杜甫采用赋体铺陈，却并非平铺直叙，而是以情感节奏驱动段落转换——辞阙时的忐忑、途中的悲愤、到家的悲喜、对时局的忧思、对中兴的信念，如江河之奔涌起伏。尤其到家一段，他以工笔白描写小儿女的饥色与补丁，不著一字哀号，却比痛哭更摧人心肝。这种将史笔、赋笔、画笔熔于一炉的写法，使《北征》既是个人家庭的实录，也是整个时代的缩影。尤为难得的是，杜甫在如此宏大的篇幅中始终保持着情感的节制，他不滥用直白的议论，而是让事实自身说话，这使得全诗虽长而不冗、虽详而不碎，叙事的节奏完全服从于情感的起伏。后世元稹、白居易的新乐府长篇、乃至宋代以史入诗的写实之作，皆可视为此诗精神的延伸与回响。
Allusions
The martial General Chen refers to Chen Xuanli, leader of the Mawei mutiny. History records Chen leading the imperial guard to kill Yang Guozhong and force Yang Guifei's suicide. Du Fu here praises his 'bearing the ax in loyal fervor,' an orthodox, official-position narrative.
诗中用典与史实交织，最著者数处。其一，桓桓陈将军，指陈玄礼，马嵬兵变中他率禁军诛杀杨国忠、逼缢杨贵妃，杜甫在此赞其仗钺奋忠烈，是站在唐室正统立场的官方叙述，借以肯定肃宗朝拨乱反正的合法性。其二，奸臣竟菹醢，指被诛的杨国忠辈；不闻夏殷衰，中自诛褒妲，以夏桀之妹喜、殷纣之妲己反衬唐室能自除奸佞，暗含对肃宗的期许。其三，周汉获再兴，宣光果明哲，周宣王、汉光武帝皆为中兴之主，杜甫以此寄望肃宗为中兴之君。其四，园陵固有神，扫洒数不缺，指唐历代帝陵的祭祀不绝，暗示天命未改、皇纲不绝。这些典故并非掉书袋，而是把眼前的乱离嵌入一部王朝兴衰的历史脉络，使个人的归来具有了天下兴亡的象征意义。值得注意的是，这些典故多为正史可征的当代之事，而非僻奥的古事堆砌，杜甫以此表明他的史诗并非向壁虚构，而是建立在真实兴亡之上。这种以史证诗、以诗续史的做法，正是诗史精神的核心，也使《北征》超越了个人抒情的范畴，成为一代丧乱的文献。读者在千载之下重读，仍能从那些典雅的典故中触摸到公元八世纪大唐肌肤上的创痕。
Commentary
The Song critic Su Shi said the 'Northern Expedition' shows understanding of the great bonds of ruler and minister, its loyal spirit contending in height with the autumn. The Southern Song Ye Mengde, in 'Shilin's Remarks on Poetry,' said it exhausts brush-power like Grand Historian Sima Qian's biographies. The Qing Pu Qilong, in 'Reading Du with Heart Unlocked,' calls it Du's great essay, where the old Du's lifeblood and tears are all spent.
《北征》自问世便被视为杜诗第一大篇，历代评点极夥。北宋苏轼谓其识君臣大体，忠义之气与秋色争高，推重其议论得体。南宋叶梦得《石林诗话》称其穷极笔力，如太史公纪传，以司马迁的史传笔法相拟，点出它以人物命运为轴心展开叙事的特质。明人胡应麟《诗薮》以它为古今七言（实当为五言）叙事之冠。清人浦起龙《读杜心解》更断言北征为杜集大文章，老杜一生血泪尽于此矣，将其地位抬至全集之首。仇兆鳌《杜诗详注》则逐段疏解，尤重其以家事见国事的互文之法。这些评语共同勾勒出一条接受线索：从宋人重其忠义议论，到明清人重其史笔结构与情感深度，《北征》始终被奉为诗史精神的标杆，是理解杜甫如何以一人一家照见一代的关键文本。今人读《北征》，已不独重其忠爱之忱，更重其以微观细节承载宏观历史的叙事天才，它为中国诗歌开辟了一条以家庭视角书写时代苦难的道路，其影响直到近代的纪实性长诗仍清晰可辨。一部《北征》，既是杜诗的总纲，也是大唐由盛转衰最沉痛的证词。
Prosody
Line by line
皇帝二载秋，闰八月初吉。杜子将北征，苍茫问家室。
In the autumn of the second regnal year, first day of the intercalary eighth month, I, Du, was to march north, asking after my family in a troubled world.
唐肃宗至德二年秋天，闰八月初一。我杜甫将北上归家，在茫茫战乱中探问妻儿的消息。
In the second year of the emperor's reign, autumn, the first day of the intercalary eighth month. I, Du Fu, was about to journey north, through the vast chaos, to inquire after my family.
开篇四句看似平实的纪年与自述，实则暗藏极深的史笔匠心。以皇帝二载秋起笔，是史传编年的口吻，把个人行迹纳入王朝纪年之中，表明此行虽为家事，却发生在天下板荡的大背景下。闰八月初吉点明具体时日，至德二年闰八月，史书可考，这种精确本身就是诗史意识的体现。最为奇妙的是杜子将北征一句，杜甫以第三人称自称杜子，仿佛在为自己写传记的起首——他不是抒情主人公，而是历史的记录者兼当事人。苍茫二字尤为沉痛：它既是归途上暮色与战尘交织的实景，更是内心对家人存亡未卜的迷茫。一句问家室，把公与私的撕裂和盘托出：身为朝官本应忧国，此刻却只能茫然而问妻儿，这种无奈正是乱世士人最真实的处境。四句读完，已见全诗以家映国、以史证诗的宏大规模。
The opening four lines seem plain chronology and self-narration, yet hide the deepest art of historical brush. Starting in the second year of the emperor's reign, autumn is the tone of the chronicle, placing the personal journey within the dynasty's reign, showing that though this journey is family matter, it occurs against the vast backdrop of the age's upheaval. The first day of the intercalary eighth month points the exact date, the intercalary eighth month of Zhide II, verifiable in the histories; this precision itself is the showing of poetry-as-history. What is most marvelous is the line I, Du Fu, was about to journey north: Du Fu calls himself Du Fu in the third person, as if writing the opening of his own biography - he is not the lyric hero, but the recorder and the man in the event. The two words vast are most painful: they are at once the real scene of dusk and war-dust weaving on the home road, and the inner bewilderment at the unknown fate of the family. The line to inquire after my family lays bare the tearing of public and private: as a court official he should grieve for the state, yet at this moment can only wildly ask after wife and child, this helplessness exactly the truest plight of the scholar in the disordered age. After four lines, the whole's grand scale of mirroring the state through the family and verifying the poem through history is already evident.
夜深经战场，寒月照白骨。
Deep at night I passed the old battlefield; the cold moon shone on the white bones.
深夜路过旧日战场，寒冷的月光照在惨白的人骨上。
Late at night I passed an old battlefield; the cold moon shone on white bones.
十个字，是杜诗中最令人窒息的画面之一，也是中国诗歌白描艺术的巅峰。它没有用一个形容词，没有一个抒情字眼，只有一个静默的动词照。然而正是这种极度的冷静，反而释放出最酷烈的悲怆。夜深二字先布下时间——不是白昼，而是万籁俱寂、人鬼同途的子夜；经战场三字轻描淡写，实则脚下尽是未埋的尸骨。寒月照白骨，月光本是无情之物，它平等地照耀一切，包括那些再不能言语的枯骨。一个照字，把天地的冷漠与人事的惨烈并置：月亮依旧圆满清冷，而人间已成修罗场。杜甫在此继承了《古诗十九首》与汉乐府写死亡的传统，却以更凝练的意象将其推向极致。后世无数写战乱惨状的诗，都未能超越这十字的分量，原因正在于它不渲染、不呼号，只把事实摆在月光下，让读者自己去承受那刺骨的寒。
These ten characters are one of the most suffocating pictures in Du's verse, and the peak of Chinese poetry's plain drawing. It uses no adjective, no lyrical word, only one silent verb shines. Yet precisely this extreme calm releases the fiercest grief. The words late at night first lay the time - not daytime, but the midnight when all sounds are still and men and ghosts share the road; passed an old battlefield is lightly drawn, yet underfoot are the unburied bones. The cold moon shone on white bones: moonlight is originally passionless, shining equally on all, including those bones that can speak no more. The single word shines sets side by side the coldness of heaven and earth and the horror of human affairs: the moon still round and cold, while the world has become a field of slaughter. Du Fu here inherits the tradition of the Nineteen Old Poems and the Han yuefu in writing death, yet pushes it to the utmost through the more condensed image. The countless later poems on war's horrors have not surpassed the weight of these ten characters, precisely because it does not render or cry out, only lays the fact in the moonlight and lets the reader himself bear the biting cold.
床前两小女，补绽才过膝。
The two little girls by the bed wore patches that barely passed the knee.
床前两个小女儿，身上的补丁衣服才刚能遮过膝盖。
Before the bed, my two little daughters, their patched clothes barely passing the knee.
杜甫写贫困，从不直说穷苦二字，而是把苦难凝结为可触可感的细节。床前两小女，补绽才过膝，写的不是衣不蔽体，而是补丁刚好遮过膝盖——这五个字里藏着三层信息：其一，衣服是补了又补的，补绽即补丁；其二，衣服太短，只勉强盖住膝盖，暗示孩子长高了而父母无力添置新衣，或衣物因反复缝补而缩水变形；其三，这是两个幼女，尚不懂掩饰，赤脚立于床前。这种写法的力量在于克制：它不写啼饥号寒，不写母亲流泪，只让那截过膝的补丁自己说话。在唐诗乃至整个古典诗歌中，以如此俭省的笔墨写尽民间疾苦者，除杜甫外罕有其匹。更重要的是，此句与前面遂令半秦民，残害为异物形成互文——国家的灾难最终落在了两个小女孩过膝的破衣上，宏大叙事与微观细节在此严丝合缝，这正是杜甫诗史精神的要义。
Du Fu writing poverty never directly says poor, but condenses suffering into a tangible detail. Before the bed, my two little daughters, their patched clothes barely passing the knee does not write nakedness, but the patch just covering the knee - within these five characters are three layers: first, the clothes are patched again and again, 补绽 meaning patches; second, the clothes are too short, barely covering the knee, hinting the children have grown while the parents cannot afford new clothes, or the garments shrunk from repeated mending; third, these are two little girls, not yet knowing how to hide, standing barefoot before the bed. The power of this way lies in restraint: it does not write hunger and cold crying out, nor the mother's tears, only lets that patch below the knee speak for itself. In Tang poetry and all of classical poetry, few besides Du Fu write the people's hardship in so sparing a brush. More importantly, this line forms a cross-reference with the earlier making half the people of Qin maimed things - the state's disaster at last falls on the torn patches over two little girls' knees, the grand narrative and the microscopic detail fitting seamlessly, exactly the essence of Du's poetry-as-history spirit.
乾坤含疮痍，忧虞何时毕。
Heaven and earth bear their wounds; when will grief and anxiety end?
天下到处是战火疮痍，这种忧患何时才能结束。
Heaven and earth bear their wounds; when will grief and anxiety end?
乾坤含疮痍一句，把视野从个人的归途猛然拉升到整个天地之间。疮痍本指创伤，此处用来形容山河破碎、生灵涂炭，是安史之乱最凝练的概括。含字尤妙，仿佛天地本身也在忍受创伤，把无情的宇宙赋予了痛感。忧虞何时毕则是全诗情感的总发问：个人的忧可以因到家而暂歇，天下的忧却遥遥无期。这一问，把前面所有的旅途悲愤、家庭辛酸都收束为一声对时局的浩叹，也为后文写回纥援军、写中兴有望埋下伏笔。从章法看，它在第一段末尾，既是辞阙北征的收束，又是全诗情感基调的定音——杜甫的归家从来不是逃避，而是带着满目疮痍上路，带着对乾坤的忧虞前行。这种以天下之忧为个人之忧的胸怀，正是杜诗之所以为诗史的根本。
The line heaven and earth bear their wounds suddenly pulls the view from the personal home road up to all heaven and earth. The word wounds originally means injuries, here used to describe the broken mountains and rivers and the suffering people, the most condensed summary of the An Lushan chaos. The word bear is most fine, as if heaven and earth themselves endure the wound, giving the passionless universe a sense of pain. And when will grief and anxiety end? is the whole's total question: the personal grief may briefly rest on reaching home, yet the world's grief is endless. This question gathers all the earlier journey's indignation and the family's bitterness into one long sigh at the times, and lays a ground for the later writing of the Uighur relief and the hope of restoration. In structure, at the end of the first section, it is at once the close of the departure from the court and the fixing of the whole's emotional key - Du Fu's returning home is never escape, but setting out with wounds on every side and advancing with anxiety for heaven and earth. This breast that takes the world's grief as one's own is exactly the root of Du's verse being poetry-as-history.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
'Spring View' condenses state-ruin and family-sorrow in forty characters; 'Northern Expedition' spreads the situation and life in seven hundred — short and long revealing each other, comparing Du Fu's two scales on the same subject.
《春望》以四十字浓缩国破家亡之痛，感时花溅泪、恨别鸟惊心，是绝句体量的凝练抒情；《北征》则以七百字铺陈时局身世，从辞阙到到家到议论，是长篇体制的史诗叙事。二者同作于安史之乱期间，一短一长、一情一史，恰好呈现杜甫处理同一题材的两种极致体量。比较二者，可见杜甫既能以最经济的笔墨写尽乱离，也能以最繁富的铺排写透时代，而其以家映国、以私见公的核心手法是一以贯之的。
石壕吏 The Old Man of Shihao 杜甫 · 同为纪行纪实之作 Both are recording-journey, fact-recording works'The Old Man of Shihao' takes one night's hearing, seeing the great through the small; 'Northern Expedition' narrates the whole journey, containing the small through the great — both poetic history yet structurally opposite.
《石壕吏》截取一夜投宿的见闻，以小见大，全用对话与白描写尽兵燹中民间的横征暴敛；《北征》则通篇纪程，以大含小，把旅途、家庭、朝局并置为一幅全景。二者同属诗史，而结构迥异：一为横截面式的短章，一为长卷式的巨制。若将《石壕吏》中老妇的致词与《北征》中妻子衣百结、小儿女补绽才过膝对照阅读，更可看出杜甫写民间疾苦一贯的克制笔法——他从不替人物呼号，只让事实自己站立在读者面前。
自京赴奉先县咏怀五百字 Written on the Journey from the Capital to Fengxian, a Poem of Five Hundred Characters (Zijing Fu Fengxianxian Yonghuai) 杜甫 · 同属长篇五古双璧 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
此诗与《北征》并称杜诗长篇五古双璧，皆作于安史之乱前后，皆以归家探视为线索，皆在个人行迹中见出天下忧患。所不同者，《奉先咏怀》写于乱前，以朱门酒肉臭、路有冻死骨的尖锐对比直斥社会不公，议论锋芒更露；而《北征》写于乱中，以海图坼波涛、天吴及紫凤的细腻细节写家庭离散，情感更见沉郁。两诗并读，可见杜甫长篇艺术的成熟轨迹，亦可窥见一个诗人在时代剧变中从愤慨走向悲悯的精神深化。