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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

登高

On the Height

杜甫

Du Fu

悲秋Autumn Sorrow 羁旅Traveler's Hardship 七言律诗Seven-Character Regulated Verse

风急天高猿啸哀，渚清沙白鸟飞回。
无边落木萧萧下，不尽长江滚滚来。
万里悲秋常作客，百年多病独登台。
艰难苦恨繁霜鬓，潦倒新停浊酒杯。

Wind swift, sky high, apes wail with grief.
Islet clear, sand white, birds circle and return.
Boundless falling leaves rustle down,
Endless Yangtze River rolls in.
A thousand miles of sad autumn, always a traveler,
A hundred years of many ills, alone I climb the height.
Hardships and bitter regrets have frosted my temples,
Down and out, I've just stopped my cup of muddy wine.

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Meaning

The poet faces a bleak autumn landscape: swift wind, high sky, wailing apes, clear islet, white sand, and circling birds. Boundless leaves fall, the Yangtze rolls endlessly. He laments his long exile, illness, and old age, culminating in stopping his wine cup due to poverty or illness.

风急天高，猿猴的啸声悲凉凄哀；水清沙白的洲渚上，飞鸟盘旋而下。无边无际的落叶萧萧飘落，奔流不尽的长江滚滚而来。漂泊万里，悲对秋色，我常是他乡之客；一生多病，今日独自登上高台。世事艰难，可恨白发已布满双鬓；穷困潦倒，又偏偏新近停下了手中这浊酒一杯。

Appreciation

The poem combines grand natural imagery with deep personal sorrow. The opening couplet paints a vivid scene with six images. The second couplet uses expansive terms and onomatopoeia to convey vastness. The final couplet layers personal and historical grief, ending on a note of utter desolation.

【白话串讲】 56岁的杜甫，多病、潦倒、独在异乡，爬上高台看滚滚长江，写下这首被后人推为“古今七律第一”的登高。风急天高，无边落木——一个人把一生的苦都写进了秋天。【意象与手法】八句皆对却无板滞，首联宽对、中两联严对，声律极严而气势奔放。前四句写景，后四句抒情，景、情、身、世四层递进【情感与主旨】大历二年（767）重阳节，杜甫流寓夔州（今重庆奉节），贫病交加，独自登高而作【名句点睛】高频考点：①八句皆对，被誉为“古今七律第一”（明·胡应麟《诗薮》）

Background

Written in 767 AD on the Double Ninth Festival while Du Fu was living in Kuizhou (now Fengjie, Chongqing). He was old, ill, and impoverished. Though the An Lushan Rebellion had ended, the country was still unstable. This poem is considered the greatest seven-character regulated verse.

此诗作于大历二年（767年）秋，杜甫五十六岁，流寓夔州（今重庆奉节）。当时安史之乱虽已平定四年，但藩镇割据、吐蕃入侵，国势依然动荡。杜甫自永泰元年（765年）辞去严武幕府职务后，携家离开成都，沿江东下，一路漂泊至夔州，依好友夔州都督柏茂琳暂居。此时杜甫已步入暮年，疾病缠身——肺病、风痹、糖尿病并发，左耳渐聋，右臂偏枯，牙齿脱落，白发如霜。他独登白帝城外高台，面对萧瑟秋景，将身世之悲、家国之痛、暮年之叹一并倾入此诗。夔州时期是杜甫创作的高峰期，两年间作诗四百余首，占其传世诗作近三分之一，《登高》《秋兴八首》《咏怀古迹五首》等代表作皆出于此。值得一提的是，杜甫在夔州生活相对稳定，有公田耕种、茅屋栖身，并非困顿至极，但精神上的孤独与对国事的忧虑才是此诗悲凉的根源。从创作背景看，此诗与《秋兴八首》同期，同写夔州秋景，同抒家国之悲，但《登高》更为凝练浓缩，被胡应麟誉为「古今七律第一」。

Art

All eight lines are antithetical, yet the poem flows naturally. The first two couplets describe the scene, the last two express emotions. Using terms like 'boundless' and 'endless' expands time and space, while reduplicatives like 'rustle' and 'roll' create auditory effects. The structure is layered and perfectly balanced.

此诗被誉为「古今七言律诗第一」（胡应麟《诗薮》），其艺术成就集中体现在「章法精严而气象浑成」。全诗八句皆对，首联以六种意象密集叠加（风、天、猿、渚、沙、鸟），视听交感，色彩冷暖对照（清、白），构建出萧瑟而辽阔的秋日画卷。颔联「无边落木萧萧下，不尽长江滚滚来」是千古名句，「无边」「不尽」将时空推向无限，「萧萧」「滚滚」叠词既拟声又状势，落木之沉坠与长江之奔涌构成上下对冲，在一句之内完成了时间流逝与空间苍茫的双重表达。颈联从写景转为抒情，「万里」对「百年」，空间之远对时间之长，「悲秋」对「多病」，自然节候对个人身世，「常作客」对「独登台」，漂泊之频对孤独之极——十四字含八层对仗，密度之高在全部杜诗中亦属罕见。尾联「艰难苦恨繁霜鬓，潦倒新停浊酒杯」收束全篇，将家国之忧、身世之苦、衰老之恨浓缩于「霜鬓」二字，又以「新停浊酒杯」作结——因病戒酒，连消愁之途亦被断绝，悲凉至极。全诗四联，由景入情，由阔到收，起承转合严丝合缝，而通篇浑然一体，不见对仗痕迹，这正是杜甫晚年律诗「晚节渐于诗律细」的极致体现。

Allusions

The line '万里悲秋常作客' alludes to Song Yu's 'Nine Arguments' on autumn sadness. '潦倒新停浊酒杯' suggests double hardship: poverty and giving up drinking due to illness or mourning, deepening the sorrow.

此诗无显性用典，但意象链可追溯多处文学源流。「悲秋」传统始于宋玉《九辩》「悲哉秋之为气也！萧瑟兮草木摇落而变衰」，自此秋与悲感在中国诗歌中形成稳定的情感关联，杜甫「万里悲秋」正承此脉。「猿啸哀」可溯至《水经注·江水》所引渔歌「巴东三峡巫峡长，猿鸣三声泪沾裳」，夔州地处三峡，猿啼本为实地所闻，但经文学传统的浸润，猿啸已成为羁旅悲愁的经典听觉意象。「落木」一词出自《楚辞·九歌·湘夫人》「袅袅兮秋风，洞庭波兮木叶下」，屈原以木叶飘零写秋意，杜甫化为「落木萧萧」，更为凝练有力。「登高」主题本身亦有渊源，重阳登高的民俗传统赋予「独登台」以节令意味——秋日登高本为避灾祈福，杜甫反用其意，登台非但无欢，反添悲凉。至于「浊酒」，在杜诗中反复出现，如《客至》「樽酒家贫只旧醅」、《登岳阳楼》「老病有孤舟」，浊酒几乎成为杜甫困顿生活的标志物，而「新停」二字更将病中戒酒的无奈刻画入骨。

Commentary

Ming critic Hu Yinglin called it 'the number one seven-character regulated verse of all time'. Qing scholar Yang Lun praised its 'grand spirit and perfect form'. It is the pinnacle of Du Fu's art.

历代评家对此诗推崇备至。胡应麟《诗薮》称其为「古今七言律第一」，谓「一篇之中，句句皆律，一句之中，字字皆律，而实一意贯串，一气呵成」。杨伦《杜诗镜铨》评：「高浑一气，古今独步，当为杜集七言律诗第一。」王嗣奭《杜臆》云：「余谓此诗不止为七言律第一，其即谓古今诗第一，可也。」方回《瀛奎律髓》选此诗入「悲秋类」，批曰：「此诗悲不在秋，而在万里常客、百年多病，故其悲深。」到了现代，叶嘉莹认为此诗的伟大在于将个人悲剧与时代悲剧、自然节候三者完美融合——「风急天高」是自然，「万里悲秋」是空间，「百年多病」是时间，三者交织构成一个无法逃脱的悲剧结构。在传播史上，此诗几乎见于所有重要唐诗选本，《唐诗三百首》列为七律压卷。值得注意的是，「无边落木萧萧下」一句常与黄庭坚「落木千山天远大」并称，被视为写秋木飘落的双璧；而「不尽长江滚滚来」则被后世化为成语「滚滚长江东逝水」，进入《三国演义》开篇词，其影响力已超出诗学范畴。

Prosody

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

Rhyme Entering tone, rhymes with ai, hui, lai, tai, bei (up-level ten-hui rhyme)平水韵上平十灰韵，押「哀」「回」「来」「台」「杯」五韵，首句入韵

Tone pattern First line: pingze pingping pingze ping. All four couplets are antithetical.全诗基本遵循「仄仄平平仄仄平」与「平平仄仄仄平平」交替的正格。唯「渚清沙白鸟飞回」一句中「渚」「白」二字略有拗救，但不影响整体声律的严整。全篇四联八句，句句对仗，字字工稳，在全部杜诗中亦属极罕。

Reading note Widely regarded as the peak of regulated verse; every couplet is a perfect couplet.此诗最令人惊叹的是「全篇皆对」——四联八句，句句对仗，且字字工稳。首联「风急天高猿啸哀」对「渚清沙白鸟飞回」，以六组意象对举，天与地、上与下、声与色一一对应。颔联「无边」对「不尽」、「落木」对「长江」、「萧萧」对「滚滚」、「下」对「来」，不仅词性相对，运动方向亦相反，对仗中见动态。颈联「万里」对「百年」（空间对时间）、「悲秋」对「多病」（环境对身体）、「常」对「独」（频率对状态）、「作客」对「登台」（行为对行为），密度极高。尾联「艰难」对「潦倒」、「苦恨」对「新停」、「繁霜鬓」对「浊酒杯」，以工整对仗收束全篇。胡应麟称其「句句皆律，一句之中字字皆律」，并非虚誉。七律至杜甫而极，此诗又为杜甫七律之极，堪称中国古典诗歌格律艺术的巅峰之作。

Line by line

风急天高猿啸哀，渚清沙白鸟飞回

The wind is sharp, the sky vast, the apes' cries mournful; the islets clear, the sand white, the birds wheel back.

秋风猛烈天空高远猿猴啼叫声悲凉，水清沙白鸟儿在空中盘旋飞舞

The wind is swift, the sky high, the apes cry mournfully; the islets are clear, the sand white, the birds wheel in the wind.

首联以六种意象密集叠加，在十四字中构建出立体的秋日图景。「风急」是触觉，「天高」是视觉，「猿啸哀」是听觉，「渚清」「沙白」是视觉中的色彩，「鸟飞回」是动态。六种意象分三层：天（风、天、猿）在上，地（渚、沙）在下，空（鸟飞回）在中间，构成完整的立体空间。「急」「高」「哀」「清」「白」「回」六个修饰词各有情感色调——急者凛冽，高者空旷，哀者悲凉，清者冷寂，白者萧素，回者盘旋无依。「鸟飞回」的「回」字尤可玩味：鸟尚有盘旋之所，人却漂泊无定，以鸟之有所归反衬人之无所归。这一联全写景，无一字议论，却已为全诗的悲凉定调。

The opening couplet densely overlays six images, building a three-dimensional autumn picture in fourteen characters. The wind is sharp is touch, the sky vast is sight, the apes' cries mournful is hearing, the islets clear and the sand white are the colors in sight, the birds wheel back is motion. The six images are in three layers: heaven (wind, sky, ape) above, earth (islet, sand) below, the void (birds wheeling) in the middle, forming a complete solid space. The six modifiers sharp, vast, mournful, clear, white, and wheeling each carry an emotional tone - sharp the biting, vast the emptiness, mournful the grief, clear the cold stillness, white the bleak plain, wheeling the circling without foothold. The word wheeling in the birds wheel back is especially to enjoy: the bird has still a place to wheel, yet the man drifts without a settled course, setting the bird's having a place to return against the man's having none. This couplet wholly writes scenery, not one word of argument, yet already fixes the whole's grief-stricken key.

无边落木萧萧下，不尽长江滚滚来

Endless the falling trees shower down their leaves; the ceaseless Yangtze rolls on, surging.

无边无际的落叶萧萧飘落，无穷无尽的长江滚滚奔涌而来

Boundless forest beyond boundless forest, leaves rustling down; the endless Yangtze rolls on, surging.

颔联是千古名句，以两个「无边」「不尽」将个体感知推向无限。「落木萧萧下」是自上而下的垂直运动，写时间流逝——落叶是生命终结的象征，每一片飘落都是一次消亡；「长江滚滚来」是自远而近的水平运动，写空间苍茫——江水奔涌不息，个体的愁苦在大自然永恒的运动面前更显渺小。「萧萧」拟落叶之声，「滚滚」拟江水之势，叠词的运用使声态兼备。更妙的是上下句的运动方向相反——落叶向下坠落，江水向前奔涌——一降一进，在一句之内完成了时间与空间、消亡与永恒的双重对照。王夫之《姜斋诗话》评此联「以景寓情，情景交融」，正点出其写景而不离抒情、抒情而不废写景的浑然之境。

The jaw couplet is a famous line through the ages, pushing the individual perception to the infinite through the two words endless and ceaseless. The falling trees shower down their leaves is the vertical motion from above to below, writing time's flow - the falling leaves the symbol of life's end, each falling a dying. The ceaseless Yangtze rolls on, surging is the horizontal motion from far to near, writing the vast space - the river surging without cease, the individual's sorrow the smaller before nature's eternal motion. The word rustling mimics the leaves' sound, the word surging mimics the river's force, the reduplicated words giving both sound and shape. The beauty further lies in the opposite directions of the upper and lower - the leaves falling downward, the river surging forward - one falling one advancing, within one couplet completing the double contrast of time and space, decay and eternity. Wang Fuzhi's Jiangzhai Poetry Talks says of this couplet lodging feeling in scenery, the fusion of feeling and scenery, exactly pointing the fused realm of writing scenery without leaving feeling, and feeling without abandoning scenery.

万里悲秋常作客，百年多病独登台

Ten thousand li from home, grieving autumn, a lifelong wanderer; lifelong in sickness, I climb the terrace alone.

离家万里在这悲凉秋天常常作客他乡，一生多病独自登上高台远望

A thousand miles from home, saddened by autumn, forever a wanderer; in failing health all my years, I climb the height alone.

颈联由景入情，是全诗情感的核心。「万里」写空间之远——离乡万里，漂泊无归；「百年」写时间之长——一生多病，垂垂老矣。「悲秋」是自然节候引发的情感，「多病」是身体状态，「常作客」是生活处境，「独登台」是此刻行为。十四字中，「万里」对「百年」（空间对时间），「悲秋」对「多病」（外在环境对内在身体），「常」对「独」（频率对状态），对仗密度极高。「常」字尤痛——不是偶尔作客，是常常作客，漂泊已成常态；「独」字尤悲——重阳登高本应携友同游，如今独登，反衬孤寂。此联将个人命运嵌入时空坐标：万里的空间阻隔与百年的时间流逝交汇于一个多病的老人独登高台的瞬间，悲剧感由此达到顶峰。

The neck couplet moves from scenery to feeling, the emotional core of the whole. Ten thousand li writes the distance of space - ten thousand li from home, drifting without return; lifelong writes the length of time - lifelong in sickness, nearing old age. Grieving autumn is the feeling roused by the season, lifelong in sickness the bodily state, forever a wanderer the life lot, climb the terrace alone the present act. Within fourteen characters, ten thousand li against lifelong (space against time), grieving autumn against lifelong in sickness (outer circumstance against inner body), forever against alone (frequency against state), the parallelism density very high. The word forever is especially bitter - not occasionally a wanderer, but forever, drifting become the norm; the word alone is especially grievous - the Double-Ninth climb should be with friends, yet now alone, setting off the solitude. This couplet embeds the personal fate in the space-time coordinates: the spatial barrier of ten thousand li and the time's flow of a lifetime meeting in the instant of a sick old man climbing the terrace alone, the tragic sense reaching its peak.

艰难苦恨繁霜鬓，潦倒新停浊酒杯

Hardship and bitter regret have thickened the frost on my temples; down and out, I have just stopped even the cup of muddy wine.

一生艰难困苦遗恨深重白发如霜日益增多，困顿潦倒新近又因病停了浊酒一杯

Through hard times and bitter grief, my frosted temples grow thick; in poverty and distress, I have just stopped my wine cup.

尾联收束全篇，将所有情感凝缩于个人身体。「艰难苦恨」四字概括一生——国事艰难，生计困苦，壮志未酬之恨。「繁霜鬓」写外在衰老，白发如霜不断增多，是时间刻在身体上的痕迹。「潦倒新停浊酒杯」是全诗最痛的一笔：杜甫一生好酒，酒是其消愁之途，如今因病不得不戒酒（「新停」即新近停止），连最后的慰藉也被剥夺。「浊酒」一词尤为凄凉——清酒尚且难得，何况浊酒；而连浊酒也不得不停，可见病之重。全诗由大景（风急天高、落木长江）收束到小物（一杯浊酒），由无限时空收束到个人身体，这种从大到小、从远到近的收束方式，使全诗有一种无法挣脱的逼仄感——天地虽大，却无处可逃。

The tail couplet closes the whole, condensing all the feeling into the personal body. The four words hardship and bitter regret sum the lifetime - the state's hardship, the livelihood's distress, the regret of the unfulfilled will. The frost on my temples writes the outer aging, the white hair like frost daily thickening, the trace time has carved on the body. Down and out, I have just stopped even the cup of muddy wine is the whole's most painful stroke: Du Fu loved wine all his life, wine the way to drown his grief, now because of illness forced to give it up (just stopped means recently stopped), even the last solace taken away. The word muddy wine is especially desolate - the clear wine already hard to come by, how much more the muddy; yet even the muddy wine must be stopped, showing the illness's weight. The whole from the great scenery (sharp wind, vast sky, falling trees, the long river) closes to the small thing (one cup of muddy wine), from the infinite space-time closes to the personal body, this way of closing from great to small and far to near giving the whole an inescapable crampedness - though heaven and earth are vast, there is nowhere to flee.

Study

Word focus

萧萧 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「萧萧」是拟声兼状势的叠词，既写落叶飘零之声（风吹枯叶的沙沙声），又写落叶纷纷之态（如雨而下，连绵不绝）。在杜诗中「萧萧」多次出现——《兵车行》「车辚辚，马萧萧」写战马嘶鸣，此处写落木飘零，同一叠词因语境不同而声态各异。「萧萧」与下句「滚滚」构成精确对仗：一为秋风落叶之轻声，一为江水奔涌之重响；一自上而下，一由远而近；一写生命凋零，一写自然永恒。在声韵上，「萧」属平声开口呼，音色清扬而略带萧索，与落叶飘零的视觉意象完美契合。叠词的使用在中国古典诗歌中有悠长传统，《诗经》「杨柳依依」「雨雪霏霏」即开其端，杜甫此处化用无痕。

滚滚 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「滚滚」状长江奔涌之势，既是视觉（波浪翻滚）又是听觉（涛声轰鸣），其力度与上句「萧萧」的轻柔形成强烈对比。此词的选择极具匠心：若用「浩浩」则过于平稳，若用「滔滔」则只写水面而缺力度，若用「奔奔」则失其沉重。「滚滚」兼具重量感与运动感，恰合长江中游水势之壮。更深层地看，「滚滚」暗含时间隐喻——孔子「逝者如斯夫，不舍昼夜」以江水喻时间流逝，杜甫「不尽长江滚滚来」亦此意：江水永不停歇地涌来，时间亦永不停歇地流逝，而个体生命在这永恒运动中显得格外短暂。后世「滚滚长江东逝水」（《三国演义》开篇词）正是从此句化出。

常 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「常作客」的「常」字看似平常，实则是全诗最痛的一字。不是偶作客、暂作客，而是「常」作客——漂泊已成为生活常态，故乡已成遥不可及的回忆。杜甫自安史之乱爆发（755年）至此诗写作（767年），已漂泊十二年，其间辗转长安、鄜州、彭衙、同谷、成都、梓州、阆州、夔州等地，几乎无一年安居。「常」字将这些年的颠沛流离浓缩为一字之重。在修辞上，「常」与下句「独」构成对照：「常」写时间之长（频繁漂泊），「独」写空间之孤（无人陪伴）——漂泊已是常态，孤独更是常态中的常态，两重常态叠加，悲凉倍增。

新停 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「新停」二字是全诗收束最妙的一笔。「新」字暗示刚刚发生——此前尚能饮酒，如今病势加重不得不戒，变化之近令人措手不及。「停」字写的是主动放弃——不是无酒可饮，而是有酒不能饮，这种「可望而不可即」的痛苦比「无」更甚。杜甫一生好酒，「李白一斗诗百篇」虽写李白，杜甫自己亦是「酒债寻常行处有」。酒对杜甫而言不仅是消愁之物，更是诗意生发的触媒。如今因病新停浊酒，不仅断了消愁之途，更断了诗兴之源——身体的衰病已开始侵蚀精神生活。这种由身体困顿到精神剥夺的递进，使全诗的悲剧感不停留在壮志未酬的宏大叙事，而落实在连一杯酒都喝不了的日常微末之中。

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