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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

剑客

The Swordsman

贾岛

Jia Dao

十年磨一剑，霜刃未曾试。
今日把似君，谁为不平事。

Ten years I have ground a single sword;
The frost-bright blade has never been tested.
Today I hold it out to you:
Whose injustice shall it right?
Listen

Meaning

In the persona of a swordsman, Jia Dao compares himself to a blade ground for ten years and never yet tried. Holding the sword out, he asks who has suffered injustice: the sword stands for his own years of painstaking craft, waiting for the cause that will prove it. The poem is the manifesto of an obscure talent who has long prepared and now boldly offers himself to set the world right.

十年磨一剑，霜刃未曾试。今日把似君，谁为不平事。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] Ten years grinding one sword; the frost-bright blade is still untested; today I show it to you — whose wrong shall it right? [Imagery] A single image — the sword — carries the whole poem: the years of grinding are the years of preparation, the untested blade the unused talent, the outstretched sword the offer of service. [Technique] The poem's power is compression: no ornament, no scenery, just twenty characters in which grinding (time) meets testing (the moment), ending on a question that throws the poem open to the world — proud, urgent and challengingly brief.

【白话串讲】 贾岛写《剑客》：“十年磨一剑，霜刃未曾试”——“今日把似君，谁为不平事”——他写剑客——十年磨一剑。 【意象与手法】 “十年磨一剑，霜刃未曾试”写十年磨剑；“今日把似君”写把剑示君；结以“谁为不平事”以问句写报不平。慷慨明快。 【情感与主旨】 贾岛写剑客之作，以“十年磨一剑”喻多年苦读、蓄势待发，以“谁为不平事”写济世之志，是咏物言志的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“十年磨一剑，霜刃未曾试”以十年磨剑写蓄势；“今日把似君，谁为不平事”写济世之志。

Background

Jia Dao (779-843), courtesy name Langxian, a native of Fanyang (modern Zhuozhou, Hebei), was a mid-Tang poet famous for 'bitter chanting' — lines produced by immense labor. A Buddhist monk in his youth, he later returned to lay life but repeatedly failed the examinations and lived in poverty. The 'swordsman' is his self-portrait: years of grinding his verse like a blade, waiting for the recognition and the cause that would let him prove his worth — the poem is often read as the outcry of a long-starved talent.

《剑客》为中唐诗人贾岛所作诗。贾岛（779—843），字阆仙，范阳（今河北涿州）人，中唐诗人，以苦吟著称。此诗写咏怀言志，以剑客自喻。诗中「十年磨一剑，霜刃未曾试」写十年磨一剑，霜刃未曾试；「今日把似君，谁为不平事」写今日把似君，谁为不平事。贾岛此诗以咏怀言志、谁为不平事写其言志之情，慷慨明快，是贾岛诗中的名篇。此篇《剑客》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。此篇《剑客》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。此篇《剑客》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。

Art

The poem is twenty characters long, and every character is load-bearing. 'Ten years' states the time of preparation in the plainest terms; 'grinding one sword' fixes all that labor on a single object; 'frost-bright' gives the blade its cold edge in one image; 'never been tested' states the unused worth; 'today I hold it out to you' shifts from preparation to offer; and 'whose injustice shall it right?' closes with a question that is both challenge and appeal. The whole arc — grinding, untested, offering, challenging — maps the obscure talent's life: long cultivation, no chance, and the final bold offer to serve. For a poet famous for painstaking revision, the austerity of these lines is itself the proof of the craft.

此诗艺术上以「慷慨明快、以剑写志」见长。全诗共四句，由十年磨一剑而霜刃未曾试而今日把似君。起「十年磨一剑，霜刃未曾试」写十年磨一剑：十年磨一剑，霜刃未曾试；「今日把似君，谁为不平事」写今日把似君：今日把似君，谁为不平事。全诗以剑写志，由十年磨一剑而今日把似君，慷慨明快，是贾岛诗中的名篇。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。

Allusions

The 'sword' is the oldest metaphor in Chinese letters for the scholar's talent: Mencius speaks of the 'awl in the bag' that must pierce, and 'grinding a sword for ten years' is a proverbial image of long preparation. The 'swordsman' who rights wrongs belongs to the tradition of knight-errantry, and the closing question echoes the wandering knight's offer of his blade to whoever suffers injustice. Read as Jia Dao's self-portrait, the sword is his verse, polished for a lifetime and never yet given the test of recognition.

诗中「十年磨一剑霜刃未曾试」「今日把似君谁为不平事」等语，皆含典故故实。「十年磨一剑霜刃未曾试」写十年磨一剑霜刃未曾试；「今日把似君谁为不平事」写今日把似君谁为不平事。诗人以磨剑、不平事之语入诗，不着痕迹，而把咏怀言志之情写得真切可感，是善于熔铸典故的体现。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。

Commentary

Critics prize this poem for packing a whole life's ambition into twenty characters. It is unusual in Jia Dao's generally thin, cramped verse for its heroic breadth: 'ten years grinding one sword' has become a proverb for painstaking preparation, and the final question is quoted as the voice of the long-obscure talent suddenly asserting himself. Its plain force shows that Jia Dao, famous for bitter revision, could also strike once and draw blood.

这首《剑客》，是贾岛写咏怀言志之作，写十年磨一剑、今日把似君、谁为不平事之情，慷慨明快。起「十年磨一剑，霜刃未曾试」——十年磨一剑，霜刃未曾试。写十年磨一剑：十年磨一剑、霜刃未曾试——十年磨剑、霜刃未试；「今日把似君，谁为不平事」——今日把似君，谁为不平事。写今日把似君：今日把似君、谁为不平事——今日把似君、谁为不平事。这「今日把似君，谁为不平事」，是全诗之结：以谁为不平事写其言志。全诗慷慨明快，以剑写志，正是贾岛诗中的名篇。综观全诗，情真、景切、理深，三者浑融无迹，故能于短短数语之中寄无限深意，令人百读不厌。其含蓄蕴藉之处，正是中国古典诗歌以少总多、言有尽而意无穷的美学精神的生动体现。综观全诗，情真、景切、理深，三者浑融无迹，故能于短短数语之中寄无限深意，令人百读不厌。其含蓄蕴藉之处，正是中国古典诗歌以少总多、言有尽而意无穷的美学精神的生动体现。全诗以「十年磨一剑」起笔，写磨剑十年、霜刃未试；以「今日把似君，谁为不平事」作结，写今日献剑、愿为不平。两句由剑及人，以剑客自喻，含蓄而慷慨，正是咏怀言志、渴望一试的妙笔。全诗慷慨明快，以剑写志，寥寥二十字而豪气满怀，为历代选本所常收。

Prosody

Form A five-character quatrain (wujue) with an oblique (falling-tone) rhyme.诗（五言绝句）
Rhyme The rhyme falls on shi and shi, oblique-tone words of the traditional zhi rhyme group; the sharp, abrupt rhyme gives the poem a clipped, steely ring, like a blade leaving the scabbard.此诗为五言绝句，共四句，两句一联。押仄声韵：「试」「事」押寘部韵。诗体依绝句而定，句式整齐，音节随情起伏，正与写咏怀言志的慷慨明快相称，也见其以绝句写言志的自然。
Tone pattern The first couplet is slow and heavy, carrying the weight of 'ten years'; the second is quick and bright, the question snapping shut like a drawn sword. The contrast between the grinding first half and the sudden second half is the poem's whole rhythm.句式上，「十年磨一剑，霜刃未曾试」写十年磨一剑，音节明快；「今日把似君，谁为不平事」写今日把似君，音节慷慨。全诗音节随情起伏，由明快而慷慨，正合绝句「含蓄」之妙，读来如咏怀言志、谁为不平事之音，慷慨而动人。
Reading note A rare oblique-rhymed quatrain in Jia Dao's usually quiet verse: four lines that move from a decade of silence to a single ringing question. Read the first couplet slowly, letting 'ten years' bear its full weight, and the second quickly and firmly, so that 'whose injustice shall it right?' lands like a blade set on the table.此诗为五言绝句，是贾岛写咏怀言志之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「慷慨明快、以剑写志」：「十年磨一剑，霜刃未曾试」写十年磨一剑、「今日把似君，谁为不平事」写今日把似君。全诗慷慨明快，以剑写志。尤为精妙者，是「十年磨一剑」以磨剑写砺志；而「今日把似君，谁为不平事」以剑写志，正是贾岛诗「慷慨明快」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《剑客》一诗之所以读来声情并茂，正在于诗人以声韵配合情思、以节奏烘托意境，音节之长短、平仄之起伏，皆与诗意相为表里，此亦可见中国古典诗歌声律之美与匠心之工。

Line by line

十年磨一剑，霜刃未曾试。

Ten years I have ground a single sword; / The frost-bright blade has never been tested.

十年磨一剑，霜刃未曾试。

Ten years grinding one sword; its frost edge never yet tried.

首二句写十年磨一剑，起笔即见其志。「十年磨一剑」写十年磨一剑，「十年」写十年、「磨一剑」写磨一剑；「霜刃未曾试」写霜刃未曾试，「霜刃」写霜刃、「未曾试」写未曾试。两句一写十年磨一剑、一写霜刃未曾试，以十年磨一剑写磨剑之久、以霜刃未曾试写刃未试，写尽十年磨一剑、霜刃未曾试之情。以剑起兴，慷慨而明快，是「以剑起兴」的妙笔。

The first two lines write ten years grinding one sword, the start. 'Ten years grinding one sword' — the long forging; 'its frost edge never yet tried' — the gleaming edge untested. Rising through the sword, forthright and bright, the start of the knight's resolve.

今日把似君，谁为不平事。

Today I hold it out to you: / Whose injustice shall it right?

今日把似君，谁为不平事。

Today I show it to you — who has been wronged?

尾二句写今日把似君，是全诗立意的落点。「今日把似君」写今日把似君，「今日」写今日、「把似君」写献给你；「谁为不平事」写谁为不平事，「谁为」写谁为、「不平事」写不平之事。两句一写今日把似君、一写谁为不平事，以今日把似君写献剑、以谁为不平事写不平之事，写尽今日把似君、谁为不平事之情。以剑写志，慷慨而豪迈，是全诗最动人处，也是「以剑写志」的点睛之笔。

The last two lines write 'today I show it to you', the poem's landing. 'Today I show it to you' — holding the blade out to you; 'who has been wronged?' — where is the injustice to be righted? Through the sword it writes the will, forthright and bold, the poem's most moving point: the solitary, untested knight asking whom he may serve.

Study

Word focus

磨 To grind, to whet. One verb holds ten years of labor — the painstaking polishing of the blade, and by implication of the poet's own craft. 「磨」字写十年磨一剑，是写磨剑之态的关键。「十年磨一剑」着一「磨」，写磨砺——着一「磨」字，写十年磨一剑，见其磨之久。一字写尽磨剑之情，是「以一字写砺」的妙笔。「磨」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
霜 Frost. The blade is white and cold as frost: a single word gives the sword its color, its chill and its killing edge. 「霜」字写霜刃未曾试，是写刃如霜的关键。「霜刃未曾试」着一「霜」，写如霜——着一「霜」字，写霜刃未曾试，见其刃之利。一字写尽霜刃之态，是「以一字写刃」的点睛之词。「霜」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
未曾 'Has not yet' — never. The long-prepared blade has met no test: unused talent and wasted years in two quiet characters. 「未曾」写霜刃未曾试，是写未试之态的关键。「霜刃未曾试」着一「未曾」，写不曾——着一「未曾」，写霜刃未曾试，见其刃未试。两字写尽未曾之态，是「以词写未」的点睛之词。「未曾」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
不平 Injustice, wrong. The world's unrighted wrongs — the cause for which the sword (and the talent) exists, and the question that opens the poem to the world. 「不平」写谁为不平事，是写不平之事的关键。「谁为不平事」着一「不平」，写不平——着一「不平」，写谁为不平事，见其为不平而鸣。两字写尽不平之情，是「以词写志」的点睛之词。「不平」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。

Related Reading

浣溪沙·一曲新词酒一杯 Huanchai Sha — 'A Cup of New Wine to a New Song' 晏殊 · 同写言志抒怀、借物寄志，一写无可奈何花落去、一写十年磨一剑霜刃未曾试，皆于言志之中见寄志 Both voice the heart through things — one 'helplessly the flowers fall', the other 'ten years grinding one sword' — each lodging feeling in an object.

Yan Shu lodges melancholy about time in falling flowers and returning swallows; Jia Dao lodges a lifetime's ambition in an untested sword. One is the scholar's soft sigh, the other the knight's firm question — two ways of letting a thing speak for the poet.

晏殊《浣溪沙·一曲新词酒一杯》「无可奈何花落去，似曾相识燕归来」，写言志抒怀，是宋词小令的名篇；贾岛《剑客》则以「十年磨一剑，霜刃未曾试」「今日把似君，谁为不平事」写十年磨一剑、谁为不平事。两诗同写言志抒怀、借物寄志：一写无可奈何花落去、以花落燕归写惜时，一写十年磨一剑霜刃未曾试、以磨剑写砺志；一为晏殊之温润、一为贾岛之慷慨，并读正可见诗写「言志寄志」的两种笔法，皆于言志之中见寄志。

 山园小梅 The Small Plum Tree in the Mountain Garden 林逋 · 同写咏物寄志、以物喻人，一写疏影横斜水清浅暗香浮动月黄昏、一写十年磨一剑霜刃未曾试，皆于咏物之中见寄志 Both describe a thing in order to lodge the self — one 'slanting shadows, drifting fragrance', the other 'frost-bright blade' — each finding the person in the object.

Lin Bu's plum is the recluse's self-portrait in sparse shadows and hidden fragrance; Jia Dao's sword is the obscure talent's self-portrait in a cold edge. Where Lin Bu's object is serene and retired, Jia Dao's is tense and ready — the same 'object as self' method yielding opposite temperaments.

林逋《山园小梅》「疏影横斜水清浅，暗香浮动月黄昏」，写梅之清雅，是宋诗咏物的绝唱；贾岛《剑客》则以「十年磨一剑，霜刃未曾试」「今日把似君，谁为不平事」写十年磨一剑、谁为不平事。两诗同写咏物寄志、以物喻人：一写疏影横斜水清浅暗香浮动月黄昏、以梅写清雅，一写十年磨一剑霜刃未曾试、以剑写志；一为林逋之清逸、一为贾岛之慷慨，并读正可见诗写「咏物寄志」的两种笔法，皆于咏物之中见寄志。