唐 Tang · 诗 Poem
骄儿诗
My Proud Son
衮师我骄儿，美秀乃无匹。
文葆未周晬，固已知六七。
四岁知名姓，眼不视棃栗。
交朋颇窥观，谓是丹穴物。
前朝尚器貌，流品方第一。
不然神仙姿，不尔燕鹤骨。
安得此相谓，欲慰衰朽质。
青春妍和月，朋戏浑甥姪。
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衮师我骄儿，美秀乃无匹。
文葆未周晬，固已知六七。
四岁知名姓，眼不视棃栗。
交朋颇窥观，谓是丹穴物。
前朝尚器貌，流品方第一。
不然神仙姿，不尔燕鹤骨。
安得此相谓，欲慰衰朽质。
青春妍和月，朋戏浑甥姪。
绕堂复穿林，沸若金鼎溢。
门有长者来，造次请先出。
客前问所须，含意下吐实。
归来学客面，䦱败秉爷笏。
或谑张飞胡，或笑邓艾吃。
豪鹰毛崱屴，猛马气佶傈。
截得青筼筜，骑走恣唐突。
忽复学参军，按声唤苍鹘。
又复纱灯旁，稽首礼夜佛。
仰鞭罥蛛网，俯首饮花蜜。
欲争蛱蝶轻，未谢柳絮疾。
阶前逢阿姊，六甲颇输失。
凝走弄香奁，拔脱金屈[戌]。
抱持多反侧，威怒不可律。
曲躬牵牕网，衉唾拭琴漆。
有时看临书，挺立不动膝。
古锦请裁衣，玉轴亦欲乞。
请爷书春胜，春胜宜春日。
芭蕉斜卷笺，辛夷低过笔。
爷昔好读书，恳苦自著述。
顦顇欲四十，无肉畏蚤虱。
儿慎勿学爷，读书求甲乙。
穰苴司马法，张良黄石术。
便为帝王师，不假更纤悉。
况今西与北，羌戎正狂悖。
诛赦两未成，将养如痼疾。
儿当速成大，探雏入虎穴。
当为万户侯，勿守一经帙。
Still wrapped in swaddling clothes, not yet a full year old, he already knew six or seven things.
At four he knew his own name, and his eyes never turned to pears or chestnuts.
Friends who came to visit peered at him closely, calling him a creature from the Cinnabar Cave.
The former age prized dignified bearing, and in rank and grade he comes first.
If not the air of an immortal, then at least the frame of a swallow or a crane.
How have I deserved such praise? It can only comfort my decaying body.
In a mild, lovely month of bright spring, he plays with nephews and nieces all mixed together.
Round the hall and through the grove they race, as loud as a golden cauldron boiling over.
When an elder comes to the door, he hurries out first to greet him.
Before the guest he asks what is needed; his meaning is veiled, yet he speaks his mind.
Back inside he copies the guest's manner, kicking the door open and waving his father's hu tablet.
Now he mocks Zhang Fei's bristling beard, now he laughs at Deng Ai's stammer.
Like a fierce hawk with ruffled plumes, like a mettlesome horse snorting with spirit.
He cuts a green bamboo stalk, mounts it, and charges about as he pleases.
Then he plays the comic official, calling out in character for his canggu fool.
Then beside the gauze lantern he bows his head and worships the night Buddha.
Looking up, he lashes at spider webs; bending down, he sips the nectar of flowers.
He would vie with the butterfly's lightness and will not concede to the willow catkins' speed.
Meeting his elder sister on the steps, he often loses at the game of liujia.
He darts off to play with her perfume casket, pulling off its golden hinge.
When he is held he twists and turns; his rages cannot be calmed by threats.
Bending low he tugs at the window net; spitting, he wipes the lacquer of the qin.
Sometimes, watching his father trace calligraphy, he stands straight and still, knees unbent.
He begs for old brocade to cut a coat, and covets the jade scroll-roller too.
Father, write me a spring banner; a spring banner suits a spring day.
The banana leaves curl like sheets of paper; the magnolia droops low over the brush.
His father once loved to read, toiling hard to write his own works.
Haggard now, nearing forty, so thin he barely feels the fleas and lice.
My son, take care not to follow your father, poring over books to top the examinations.
Study Sima Rangju's art of war and Zhang Liang's secret from the Yellow Stone.
Then you can be a teacher of emperors, without fussing over trifling details.
Besides, to the west and north the Qiang and Rong are raging in rebellion.
Neither punishment nor pardon has worked; appeasement festers like a chronic disease.
Grow up quickly, my son; reach into the tiger's den to seize its cub.
Be a marquis of ten thousand households; do not cling to the covers of one classic.
Meaning
Li Shangyin paints a full-length portrait of his little son Gunshi: a prodigy in the nursery and a whirlwind of mischief in the courtyard, watched with unfailing tenderness by a father who is anything but a stern Confucian. The poem turns at the end, when the worn-out scholar reverses himself and urges the boy to seek military greatness rather than bookish honors. Its theme is the love of a parent, shadowed by a father's disappointment in his own career.
衮师我骄儿，美秀乃无匹。文葆未周晬，固已知六七。四岁知名姓，眼不视棃栗。交朋颇窥观，谓是丹穴物。前朝尚器貌，流品方第一。不然神仙姿，不尔燕鹤骨。安得此相谓，欲慰衰朽质。青春妍和月，朋戏浑甥姪。绕堂复穿林，沸若金鼎溢。门有长者来，造次请先出。客前问所须，含意下吐实。归来学客面，䦱败秉爷笏。或谑张飞胡，或笑邓艾吃。豪鹰毛崱屴，猛马气佶傈。截得青筼筜，骑走恣唐突。忽复学参军，按声唤苍鹘。又复纱灯旁，稽首礼夜佛。仰鞭罥蛛网，俯首饮花蜜。欲争蛱蝶轻，未谢柳絮疾。阶前逢阿姊，六甲颇输失。凝走弄香奁，拔脱金屈戌。抱持多反侧，威怒不可律。曲躬牵牕网，衉唾拭琴漆。有时看临书，挺立不动膝。古锦请裁衣，玉轴亦欲乞。请爷书春胜，春胜宜春日。芭蕉斜卷笺，辛夷低过笔。爷昔好读书，恳苦自著述。顦顇欲四十，无肉畏蚤虱。儿慎勿学爷，读书求甲乙。穰苴司马法，张良黄石术。便为帝王师，不假更纤悉。况今西与北，羌戎正狂悖。诛赦两未成，将养如痼疾。儿当速成大，探雏入虎穴。当为万户侯，勿守一经帙。
Appreciation
[Plain Paraphrase] Li Shangyin opens by boasting of his son's beauty and precocity, then follows the child through a day of games: greeting guests, mimicking adults, riding a bamboo horse, worshipping the night Buddha, quarreling with his sister. At the close the mood deepens, as the father confesses his own failures and begs the boy to make his name in war rather than in the examination hall. [Structure] The poem moves in three waves: pride (the opening couplets), play (the long middle), and exhortation (the end). The pivot is the father's self-portrait, haggard, thin, and flea-bitten, after which the boy's future replaces the boy's present. [Imagery] The details are documentary: a toddler waving his father's hu tablet, spitting on the qin's lacquer, begging for a calligrapher's spring banner. Nothing is idealized, and that is the source of the poem's charm. [Emotion] Beneath the humor runs the melancholy of a late-Tang scholar who has failed in public life and transfers his ambitions to his son, undercutting even that transfer with self-mockery.
【白话串讲】 李商隐写《骄儿诗》：“衮师我骄儿，美秀乃无匹”——“文葆未周晬，固已知六七”——“四岁知名姓，眼不视棃栗”——“交朋颇窥观，谓是丹穴物”——他写爱子衮师——衮师我骄儿。 【意象与手法】 “衮师我骄儿，美秀乃无匹”写爱子美秀；“四岁知名姓、眼不视棃栗”写四岁知名姓；“或谑张飞胡、或笑邓艾吃”写天真之态；结以“儿当速成大，探雏入虎穴。当为万户侯，勿守一经帙”写望子成才。真率动人。 【情感与主旨】 李商隐写爱子衮师之作，写儿子美秀聪慧、天真活泼之态与望子成才的期望，是唐代写亲子之情的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“衮师我骄儿，美秀乃无匹”写爱子美秀；“或谑张飞胡、或笑邓艾吃”写天真之态。
Background
Li Shangyin (c. 813-858) was the most densely allusive and emotionally elusive poet of the late Tang. This poem belongs to his later years, a period of disappointment, illness, and wandering between petty posts. Gunshi, his son by Lady Wang, was still a small child when it was written. The piece stands almost alone in the tradition, for classical poetry rarely gave sustained, unsentimental attention to a child's daily life. Its domestic frankness anticipates Song poets such as Su Shi, who half-jokingly prayed that his own son might be dull, lest talent bring sorrow.
《骄儿诗》为唐代诗人李商隐所作诗。李商隐（约813—约858），字义山，号玉溪生，又号樊南生，怀州河内（今河南沁阳）人，晚唐诗人。此诗写咏怀亲情，为咏其骄儿衮师之作。诗中「衮师我骄儿，美秀乃无匹」写衮师我骄儿，美秀乃无匹；「四岁知名姓，眼不视棃栗」写四岁知名姓，眼不视棃栗；「或谑张飞胡，或笑邓艾吃」写或谑张飞胡，或笑邓艾吃；「儿当速成大，探雏入虎穴。当为万户侯，勿守一经帙」写儿当速成大，探雏入虎穴，当为万户侯，勿守一经帙。李商隐此诗以咏怀亲情、当为万户侯写其亲情之情，真率动人，是李商隐诗中的名篇。此篇《骄儿诗》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《骄儿诗》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's craft lies in its double register. The play scenes use quick, concrete verbs: the child darts, twists, kicks, lashes, sips. This documentary realism makes the boy physically present in every line. Against it, the poet sets adult history as toys: Zhang Fei's beard and Deng Ai's stammer become children's jokes, while Sima Rangju's military treatise and the Yellow Stone's strategy become the boy's proper curriculum. The final couplet lands the whole poem's weight with aphoristic neatness, warning the son not to cling to the covers of a single classic. Tone is everything: the father mocks himself before he instructs his son, and that humility keeps the poem warm rather than preachy.
此诗艺术上以「真率动人、以孩写情」见长。全诗共六十句，由衮师我骄儿而四岁知名姓而或谑张飞胡。起「衮师我骄儿，美秀乃无匹」写衮师我骄儿：衮师我骄儿，美秀乃无匹；「四岁知名姓，眼不视棃栗」写四岁知名姓：四岁知名姓，眼不视棃栗；「或谑张飞胡，或笑邓艾吃」写或谑张飞胡：或谑张飞胡，或笑邓艾吃；结「儿当速成大，探雏入虎穴。当为万户侯，勿守一经帙」写当为万户侯：儿当速成大，探雏入虎穴，当为万户侯，勿守一经帙。全诗以孩写情，由衮师我骄儿而当为万户侯，真率动人，是李商隐诗中的名篇。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。
Allusions
The Cinnabar Cave is the mythical home of the phoenix, so to call the child a creature of that cave is to call him a phoenix's son. Swallow and crane bones denote an immortal frame. Zhang Fei, the bristle-bearded general of the Three Kingdoms, and Deng Ai, the stammering general of Wei, supply the comedy. The canjun and canggu were a comic duo in Tang puppet drama, the canjun being the straight man who calls for his buffoon. Sima Rangju wrote a classic treatise on war, and the Yellow Stone old man gave Zhang Liang the secret teaching on Mount Huang. The tiger's den echoes the Han proverb that you must enter it to seize its cub. The marquis of ten thousand households was the highest secular ambition.
诗中「衮师我骄儿美秀乃无匹」「文葆未周晬固已知六七」「四岁知名姓眼不视棃栗」「交朋颇窥观谓是丹穴物」「前朝尚器貌流品方第一」「不然神仙姿不尔燕鹤骨」「安得此相谓欲慰衰朽质」「青春妍和月朋戏浑甥姪」「绕堂复穿林沸若金鼎溢」「门有长者来造次请先出」「客前问所须含意下吐实」「归来学客面䦱败秉爷笏」「或谑张飞胡或笑邓艾吃」「豪鹰毛崱屴猛马气佶傈」「截得青筼筜骑走恣唐突」「忽复学参军按声唤苍鹘」「又复纱灯旁稽首礼夜佛」「仰鞭罥蛛网俯首饮花蜜」「欲争蛱蝶轻未谢柳絮疾」「阶前逢阿姊六甲颇输失」「凝走弄香奁拔脱金屈戌」「抱持多反侧威怒不可律」「曲躬牵牕网衉唾拭琴漆」「有时看临书挺立不动膝」「古锦请裁衣玉轴亦欲乞」「请爷书春胜春胜宜春日」「芭蕉斜卷笺辛夷低过笔」「爷昔好读书恳苦自著述」「顦顇欲四十无肉畏蚤虱」「儿慎勿学爷读书求甲乙」「穰苴司马法张良黄石术」「便为帝王师不假更纤悉」「况今西与北羌戎正狂悖」「诛赦两未成将养如痼疾」「儿当速成大探雏入虎穴」「当为万户侯勿守一经帙」等语，皆含典故故实。「衮师我骄儿美秀乃无匹」写衮师我骄儿美秀乃无匹；「四岁知名姓眼不视棃栗」写四岁知名姓眼不视棃栗；「或谑张飞胡或笑邓艾吃」用张飞、邓艾之典（张飞虬髯、邓艾口吃，皆写戏谑），写或谑张飞胡或笑邓艾吃；「穰苴司马法张良黄石术」用穰苴、张良黄石之典（司马穰苴兵法、黄石公授张良），写穰苴司马法张良黄石术；「儿当速成大探雏入虎穴」用虎穴之典（不入虎穴焉得虎子），写儿当速成大探雏入虎穴；「当为万户侯勿守一经帙」用万户侯之典（封侯万户），写当为万户侯勿守一经帙。诗人以张飞、邓艾、穰苴、黄石、虎穴、万户侯之典入诗，不着痕迹，而把咏怀亲情之情写得真切可感，是善于熔铸典故的体现。
Commentary
Jiaoershi has been treasured since the Song dynasty as the warmest portrait of a child in Chinese poetry. Anthologists praise its frankness: a father who admits his own failure before his toddler is a figure almost without parallel in the classical tradition. The poem is also read as a document of late-Tang frustration, its closing exhortation to win a marquisate speaking for an age of failed examinations and frontier wars. Modern readers have paired it with Western writing on childhood; whatever such comparisons are worth, the poem's domestic vitality keeps it far from the usual grandeur of Tang verse.
这首《骄儿诗》，是李商隐写咏怀亲情之作，写衮师我骄儿、四岁知名姓、或谑张飞胡、当为万户侯之情，真率动人。起「衮师我骄儿，美秀乃无匹」——衮师我骄儿，美秀乃无匹。写衮师我骄儿：衮师我骄儿、美秀乃无匹——我骄儿、乃无匹；「四岁知名姓，眼不视棃栗」——四岁知名姓，眼不视棃栗。写四岁知名姓：四岁知名姓、眼不视棃栗——知名姓、不视棃栗；「或谑张飞胡，或笑邓艾吃」——或谑张飞胡，或笑邓艾吃。写或谑张飞胡：或谑张飞胡、或笑邓艾吃——张飞胡、邓艾吃；结「儿当速成大，探雏入虎穴。当为万户侯，勿守一经帙」——儿当速成大，探雏入虎穴，当为万户侯，勿守一经帙。写当为万户侯：儿当速成大、探雏入虎穴、当为万户侯、勿守一经帙——速成大、入虎穴、万户侯、一经帙。这「儿当速成大，探雏入虎穴。当为万户侯，勿守一经帙」，是全诗之结：以当为万户侯写其亲情。全诗真率动人，以孩写情，正是李商隐诗中的名篇。
Prosody
Line by line
衮师我骄儿，美秀乃无匹。
Gunshi, my proud son, so fair and fine, has no equal.
衮师我骄儿，美秀乃无匹。
Gun Shi, my cherished son, his beauty and grace beyond compare.
起句写衮师我骄儿，起笔即见其骄。「衮师我骄儿」写衮师我骄儿，「衮师」写衮师、「我骄儿」写我骄儿；「美秀乃无匹」写美秀乃无匹，「美秀」写美秀、「乃无匹」写乃无匹。一句写衮师我骄儿美秀乃无匹，以衮师我骄儿写我骄儿、以美秀乃无匹写乃无匹，写尽衮师我骄儿、美秀乃无匹之情。以骄起兴，真率而动人，是「以骄起兴」的妙笔。
The opening line writes Gun Shi, my cherished son, the start. 'Gun Shi, my cherished son' — the fond father naming his boy; 'his beauty and grace beyond compare' — the child's looks and spirit matchless. Rising through fondness, frank and moving, the start of the portrait.
四岁知名姓，眼不视棃栗。
At four he knew his own name, and his eyes never turned to pears or chestnuts.
四岁知名姓，眼不视棃栗。
At four he knew his family name; his eyes would not look at pears and chestnuts.
此句写四岁知名姓，是全诗写四岁之态的关键。「四岁知名姓」写四岁知名姓，「四岁」写四岁、「知名姓」写知名姓；「眼不视棃栗」写眼不视棃栗，「眼不视」写眼不视、「棃栗」写棃栗。一句写四岁知名姓眼不视棃栗，以四岁知名姓写知名姓、以眼不视棃栗写不视棃栗，写尽四岁知名姓、眼不视棃栗之情。以岁写孩，真率而动人，是「以岁写孩」的点睛之笔。
This line writes that at four he knew his family name, the key trait. 'At four he knew his family name' — precocious; 'his eyes would not look at pears and chestnuts' — the boy who would not reach for fruit, alluding to the young Kong Rong's courtesy. Through years it writes the child, frank and moving.
或谑张飞胡，或笑邓艾吃。
Now he mocks Zhang Fei's bristling beard, now he laughs at Deng Ai's stammer.
或谑张飞胡，或笑邓艾吃。
Now he mocks Zhang Fei's beard, now he laughs at Deng Ai's stutter.
此句写或谑张飞胡，是全诗写张飞之态的关键。「或谑张飞胡」用张飞之典写或谑张飞胡，「或谑」写或谑、「张飞胡」写张飞胡；「或笑邓艾吃」用邓艾之典写或笑邓艾吃，「或笑」写或笑、「邓艾吃」写邓艾吃。一句写或谑张飞胡或笑邓艾吃，以或谑张飞胡写张飞胡、以或笑邓艾吃写邓艾吃，写尽或谑张飞胡、或笑邓艾吃之情。以戏写孩，真率而动人，是「以戏写孩」的点睛之笔。
This line writes that now he mocks Zhang Fei's beard, now laughs at Deng Ai's stutter, the play scene. It alludes to Zhang Fei, the bearded warrior, and Deng Ai, the stuttering general — the child mimicking them in play, showing his quick wit and comic mimicry. Through play it writes the child, frank and moving.
儿当速成大，探雏入虎穴。
Grow up quickly, my son; reach into the tiger's den to seize its cub.
儿当速成大，探雏入虎穴。
My son, grow up soon; dive into the tiger's den for its cubs.
此句写儿当速成大，是全诗写成大之态的关键。「儿当速成大」写儿当速成大，「儿当」写儿当、「速成大」写速成大；「探雏入虎穴」用虎穴之典写探雏入虎穴，「探雏」写探雏、「入虎穴」写入虎穴。一句写儿当速成大探雏入虎穴，以儿当速成大写速成大、以探雏入虎穴写虎穴，写尽儿当速成大、探雏入虎穴之情。以穴写情，真率而动人，是「以穴写情」的点睛之笔。
This line writes 'my son, grow up soon', the father's hope. 'Grow up soon' — the eager wish; 'dive into the tiger's den for its cubs' uses the saying that to catch the cub you must enter the tiger's den, daring. Through the den it writes the father's ambition for the boy, frank and moving.
当为万户侯，勿守一经帙。
Be a marquis of ten thousand households; do not cling to the covers of one classic.
当为万户侯，勿守一经帙。
Be a lord of ten thousand households; do not cling to one roll of classics.
结句写当为万户侯，是全诗立意的落点。「当为万户侯」用万户侯之典写当为万户侯，「当为」写当为、「万户侯」写万户侯；「勿守一经帙」写勿守一经帙，「勿守」写勿守、「一经帙」写一经帙。一句写当为万户侯勿守一经帙，以当为万户侯写万户侯、以勿守一经帙写一经帙，写尽当为万户侯、勿守一经帙之情。以侯写情，真率而动人，是全诗最动人处，也是「以侯写情」的点睛之笔。
The closing line writes 'be a lord of ten thousand households', the poem's landing. It alludes to the lordship of ten thousand households, the height of rank; 'do not cling to one roll of classics' — not a bookish life. Through the lordship it writes the hope, the poem's most moving point: the father's rejection of the narrow scholar's road for his son, born of his own lifelong frustration.
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Su Shi's lyric, wishing that men might share one bright moon though a thousand miles apart, turns familial longing into cosmic consolation. Li Shangyin turns a father's daily watching into a treasury of detail. Su Shi consoles; Li Shangyin delights. Read together, they show two modes of family affection in classical verse: the lyric of longing and the poem of presence.
苏轼《水调歌头·明月几时有》「但愿人长久，千里共婵娟」，写亲情感怀、真率旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；李商隐《骄儿诗》则以「衮师我骄儿，美秀乃无匹」「当为万户侯，勿守一经帙」写我骄儿、万户侯。两诗同写亲情感怀、真率旷达：一写但愿人长久、以千里共婵娟写思亲，一写衮师我骄儿美秀乃无匹、以骄儿写亲情；一为苏轼之旷达、一为李商隐之真率，并读正可见诗写「亲情感怀」的两种笔法，皆于亲情之中见真率。
八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Eight Tones of Ganzhou: To the Tune of the Evening Rain 柳永 · 同写思亲凝望、真率清丽，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写儿当速成大探雏入虎穴，皆于思亲之中见凝望 Both gaze across a distance with tender, clear-eyed sincerity, one at autumn rain over the river, the other into a child's future.Liu Yong's opening, set against the rushing evening rain over the river sky, is the widest gaze of a traveler; Li Shangyin's closing lines open a father's gaze into a child's future. Liu Yong looks outward at the fleeing autumn, Li Shangyin inward at the nursery. One is the clarity of exile, the other the frankness of paternity.
柳永《八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天》「对潇潇暮雨洒江天，一番洗清秋」，写思亲凝望、真率清丽，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；李商隐《骄儿诗》则以「儿当速成大，探雏入虎穴」「四岁知名姓，眼不视棃栗」写入虎穴、知名姓。两诗同写思亲凝望、真率清丽：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写儿当速成大探雏入虎穴、以骄儿写亲情；一为柳永之清丽、一为李商隐之真率，并读正可见诗写「思亲凝望」的两种笔法，皆于思亲之中见凝望。