All poems

唐 Tang · 文 Prose

祭十二郎文·节选

Sacrificial Elegy for the Twelfth Lang (Excerpt)

韩愈

Han Yu

名篇masterpiece 祭文elegiac address 至情profound affection

年、月、日，季父愈闻汝丧之七日，乃能衔哀致诚，使建中远具时羞之奠，告汝十二郎之灵。
呜呼！
吾少孤，及长，不省所怙，惟兄嫂是依。

On such a year, month, and day—seven days after your uncle Yu heard of your death—could he at last, holding back grief and offering sincere devotion, send Jianzhong on a far journey to prepare a timely offering of fresh delicacies, and announce it to the spirit of you, the Twelfth Lang.
Alas! I was orphaned when young; growing up, I never knew the face of my father, and had none to depend on but my elder brother and his wife.

Listen

Meaning

This excerpt opens Han Yu's famous elegy for his nephew, the Twelfth Lang, who died young. It first records the ritual of sacrifice—seven days after hearing the news, the grieving uncle offers a timely feast to the nephew's spirit. It then recalls Han Yu's own orphaned childhood and his sole reliance on his brother and sister-in-law, rooting the later outpouring of grief in a shared history of loss.

某年某月某日，叔父韩愈在听到你去世消息的第七天，才能怀着哀痛表达诚心，派建中远道备办应时的新鲜祭品，祭告你十二郎的在天之灵。唉！我幼年丧父成了孤儿，等到长大，也不知道父亲是什么模样，只能依靠哥哥嫂子。

Appreciation

Breaking the ornate parallel-prose conventions of traditional elegies, Han Yu writes in plain prose and a second-person address, as if weeping while speaking face to face with the dead. The restrained opening—marking the 'seven days' it took before he could even take up the brush—conveys a grief too deep for words. A single plain sentence about his orphanhood becomes one of the most moving lines in all Chinese literature.

【白话串讲】韩愈写《祭十二郎文》：十二郎是他兄嫂的孩子，两人从小相依。“呜呼！吾少孤，及长，不省所怙，惟兄嫂是依”——“一在天之涯，一在地之角，生而影不与吾形相依”——他哭道：“汝病吾不知时，汝殁吾不知日”——“死而有知，其几何离？其无知，悲不几时，而不悲者无穷期矣”——被称为“祭文中的千古绝调”。【意象与手法】此文打破祭文骈俪格套，纯用散体与家常语，以第二人称「汝」直呼亡灵，如对坐泣诉；先叙后情，层层逼出哀痛。【情感与主旨】借祭侄写自身孤苦身世与无常之痛，是至性至情的千古绝调。【名句点睛】「吾少孤，及长，不省所怙，惟兄嫂是依」以朴素数语写尽孤儿心境，后人读之无不泫然。

Background

Han Yu (768–824), styled Tuizhi, from Heyang in Henan, claimed Changli as his ancestral seat and is honored as Han of Changli; he was the leader of the Tang classical-prose movement and the foremost of the Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song, his writing said to have 'revived prose fallen for eight dynasties.' This elegy was written in 803, the nineteenth year of the Zhenyuan era, and stands as the most heartfelt masterpiece of his prose. The Twelfth Lang, named Laocheng, was the second son of Han Yu's elder brother Han Jie; adopted into the line of Han Yu's childless eldest brother Han Hui, he became Han Yu's 'Twelfth Lang.' Orphaned at three, Han Yu was raised by Han Hui and his wife, so that uncle and nephew, though of different generations, were as close as brothers. When the Twelfth Lang died in Xuanzhou at barely over twenty, Han Yu—then a Censorate official in Chang'an—was inconsolable and, 'only after seven days,' composed this piece. In mid-Tang, parallel prose still dominated while the classical-prose movement was rising; Han Yu's advocacy of 'writing to convey the Way' and 'supreme vital energy suiting the words' finds here its breakthrough in the lyrical sphere. The phrase 'timely offering of fresh delicacies' accords with the rites of sacrifice in the Book of Rites, and the thousand-li separation that prevented a final farewell only deepened his grief.

韩愈（768—824），字退之，河南河阳人，自谓郡望昌黎，世称韩昌黎，唐代古文运动领袖，唐宋八大家之首，其文「文起八代之衰」，其诗以文为诗、奇崛险怪。《祭十二郎文》作于贞元十九年（803），是韩愈散文的至情绝作。十二郎名老成，是韩愈二哥韩介的次子，因长兄韩会无子，过继为韩会之后，故韩愈称其为「十二郎」；韩愈三岁丧父，由长兄韩会、嫂嫂郑氏抚养，与十二郎自幼相依，名为叔侄、情同手足。贞元十九年，十二郎在宣州（今安徽宣城）病逝，年仅二十余岁，韩愈时在长安任监察御史，闻讣后痛不欲生，「七日乃能衔哀致诚」作此文。中唐时期，骈文盛行而古文运动方兴，韩愈倡「文以载道」「气盛言宜」，此文即以古文散体写至情，是古文运动在抒情领域的突破。祭礼方面，「时羞之奠」写四时鲜物为祭，正合《礼记》祭礼之制。又此文作于贞元十九年冬，韩愈时在长安任监察御史，叔侄一在长安、一在宣州，远隔千里，竟不得临丧一诀，「少孤」之身再失至亲，其哀痛尤倍于常人，故全篇以「哀」为血脉、以家常语写真，正是至性至情之作。

Art

Though an elegiac piece, its boldest artistic move is precisely its breach of the genre's conventions. Traditional elegies favored ornate four-six parallel prose extolling the dead's virtues, but Han Yu uses plain prose, homely detail, and a first-person address ('you') to voice the deepest feeling—hailed by Mao Kun as 'the unsurpassed tune of a thousand years.' In structure, this excerpt forms the opening: first it narrates the sacrifice—time, person, manner, envoy, offerings, object—one by one, like weeping speech; then it turns with an 'Alas!' to recall his orphaned state in a few words, building toward the later cascade of grief. The technique rests on plain words that pierce the heart, on details that move (the seven-day delay), and on empty words that convey feeling ('Alas,' 'at last,' 'only'), mimicking a choked voice.

此文为祭文体，而艺术上最大胆处恰在突破祭文格套。传统祭文以骈俪四六、铺陈死者功德为常式，韩愈此文则纯用散体，以家常琐语与第一人称呼告（汝）写至情，被誉为「祭文中千年绝调」（茅坤语）。结构上，节选部分为全篇开篇，分两层：先叙祭事——时间（年、月、日）、人物（季父愈）、情状（衔哀致诚）、使者（建中）、祭品（时羞之奠）、对象（十二郎之灵），一一交代，如泣如诉；后述身世——「呜呼」一转，追忆「少孤」「不省所怙」「惟兄嫂是依」，寥寥数语写尽孤儿心境，为后文层层铺叙叔侄相依、闻丧如失手足的情感蓄势。手法上：其一，以朴语写真，不用典故堆砌而字字椎心；其二，以细节动人，「七日乃能」写哀痛之深竟至不能早执笔；其三，以虚词传情，「呜呼」「乃」「惟」等字一唱三叹，模拟哽咽语气。就章法言，全篇以「祭」为纲、以「哀」为纬，节选部分先立「祭」之礼、后叙「哀」之源，为后文「生不能相养以共居，殁不能抚汝以尽哀」等痛语预伏情脉，层层逼进、一发而不可收，故茅坤以「千年绝调」许之。

Allusions

Though written in plain speech, the piece hides allusions seamlessly. 'Holding back grief and offering sincere devotion' extends the sacrificial ideal of the Book of Rites—that sacrifice rests on sincerity, grief without loss of rite. 'Timely offering of fresh delicacies' draws on the ritual of 'delicacies' in the rites. 'Never knew the face of my father' reworks the Luao ode of the Songs: 'Fatherless, whom to lean on?'—yet Han Yu goes further, for having lost his father at three he cannot even recall his face. 'Had none to depend on but my elder brother and his wife' is an object-fronting construction (only...), emphasizing that in all the world only this brother and sister-in-law could be relied upon. The whole passage, with 'orphan' as its soul, inherits the Songs' orphan imagery and opens the later tradition of 'prose of utmost feeling.'

此文虽以散语写真，用典却深藏于口语之下，皆化用无痕。「衔哀致诚」承《礼记·祭统》「诚信之谓尽」的祭礼观——祭以诚为本，哀而不失礼，四字并写哀情之深与祭礼之正；「时羞之奠」之「羞」为美食，《礼记》有「羞」之礼制，写以四时新物致祭的郑重；「不省所怙」用《诗经·小雅·蓼莪》「无父何怙？无母何恃」——「怙」即依靠，而韩愈翻进一层：不仅无父可怙，且因丧父太早（三岁），竟连父亲容貌也「不省」（不记得），孤儿之痛无以复加；「惟兄嫂是依」为宾语前置句式（惟……是……，即「惟依兄嫂」），语出《左传》「唯命是听」一类句式，以「惟」字强调唯一性——天地之间，唯此兄嫂可依，孤苦之状跃然纸上。整段以「孤」为魂，上承《诗经》孤儿意象，下开后世「至情古文」一脉。此外，「呜呼」之叹承《尚书》「呜呼」的发语传统，以感叹词入祭文，开后世祭文「呜呼哀哉」套语之先声；「时羞之奠」之「羞」又见《周礼》膳羞之制，以礼入情、情礼并见，足见此文虽为至情之文，而于礼制、经义皆有本据。

Commentary

The elegy is hailed as the unsurpassed masterpiece of its kind, esteemed through the ages. Mao Kun of the Ming remarked that 'the whole piece pierces to the bone with feeling, infinitely desolate—the peerless tune of a thousand years among elegies.' It is ranked with Li Mi's 'Memorial on the Feudal Lord' and Zhuge Liang's 'Memorial on Going Forth' as the three great works of utmost feeling in ancient prose, excelling through the bond of uncle and nephew. Its influence runs deep: later elegies by Gui Youguang and Yuan Mei all follow Han Yu's plain, homely manner. For the classical-prose movement, it proved that guwen could convey not only the Way but also the deepest affection, and it marked a victory of prose-style elegies over parallel-prose ones.

《祭十二郎文》被誉为祭文的千古绝调，历代评价极高。明人茅坤《唐宋八大家文钞》评：「通篇情意刺骨，无限凄切，祭文中千年绝调。」相传苏轼读后叹曰：「读韩退之《祭十二郎文》而不堕泪者，其人心必不仁。」此语虽未必出自苏轼，却道出此文感人至深的普世效应。文学史上，此文与李密《陈情表》、诸葛亮《出师表》并称古代至情文三大名篇，而《陈情表》以孝、《出师表》以忠，《祭十二郎文》则以叔侄之情独擅胜场。其影响深远：后世祭文如归有光《祭外姑文》、袁枚《祭妹文》，皆承韩愈以散语家常写真情的路数，至情文传统由唐迄清一脉不绝。就古文运动而言，此文证明古文不仅能载道立论，更能抒写至情，是韩愈「文以载道」之外的另一面，亦见其「气盛言宜」主张的实践。今仍入选各类语文教材，为「至情」主题的典范文本。就文体史言，此文以散体祭文取代骈体祭文，是古文运动在应用文体上的胜利——此后欧阳修《泷冈阡表》、明代归有光祭文皆承其以散语写真情的路数，祭文由「铺陈功德」转为「抒写真情」，中国散文抒情传统至此为一大转关。

Prosody

Form Tang classical prose (elegiac form)唐代古文（祭文体）

Rhyme Not rhymed; the emotional rhythm is modulated by empty words (at last, alas, only) and by varying sentence lengths—long opening sentences like weeping speech; the abrupt 'Alas!' like a choke; the closing 'had none to depend on but' lingering low.不押韵，以虚词（乃、呜呼、惟）与长短句调节声情。首句长句舒缓，如泣如诉；「呜呼」二字短促，如哽咽迸发；末句「惟兄嫂是依」以「依」字收束，余音低回。

Tone pattern Mostly loose sentences, with occasional neat four-character phrases (holding grief and offering sincerity, timely offering of fresh delicacies); the tone moves from calm narration of the rite, to a sudden turn into mourning at 'Alas!', then to the somber recollection of his childhood—first calm, then grieving, deepening.散句为主，间用整齐四字（衔哀致诚、时羞之奠）；语气由平静叙祭事，到「呜呼」陡转哀恸，再到追忆身世的沉郁，语调先平后哀、由缓入深。

Reading note The beauty of this piece lies not in rhyme but in its prose rhythm mimicking a choked, weeping voice. Han Yu held that 'when the vital energy is supreme, the length of words and the pitch of voice are all fitting'—and this piece is exactly that practice: the opening 'On such a year, month, day, seven days after your uncle Yu heard of your death' proceeds in long, slow sentences, like a forced, calm whisper; 'could at last hold back grief and offer sincerity' pauses in four-character beats, writing the restraint of grief; the standalone 'Alas!' bursts like a long sigh of pent-up sorrow, the turning point of the whole piece's sound; 'I was orphaned young... had none to depend on but my elder brother and his wife' steps down in three-, three-, four-, five-character phrases, each shorter and heavier, like sobs. Without parallel ornament yet with natural antithesis, without rhyme yet with innate rhythm, it is the extreme of guwen's 'commanding sound through vital energy.'此文的声韵之美不在押韵，而在以散文的节奏模拟哽咽的语气。韩愈主张「气盛，则言之短长与声之高下者皆宜」，此文正是「气盛言宜」的实践：起笔「年、月、日，季父愈闻汝丧之七日」以长句缓行，如强自镇定的低语；「乃能衔哀致诚」四字一顿，写哀痛之忍；「呜呼」二字独立成句，如积郁迸裂的一声长叹，是全篇声情的转折点；「吾少孤，及长，不省所怙，惟兄嫂是依」以三、三、四、五字句错落而下，句愈短而情愈沉，如泣不成声。通篇无骈俪之工而对偶自见（少孤对不省所怙），无韵脚之设而节奏天成，实为古文「以气驭声」的极致；与《陈情表》「臣密言」的开篇同调而更进一层，一为奏疏之庄，一为祭文之哀。

Line by line

年、月、日，季父愈闻汝丧之七日，乃能衔哀致诚，使建中远具时羞之奠，告汝十二郎之灵。

On such a year, month, and day, seven days after your uncle Yu heard of your death, could he at last, holding back grief and offering sincere devotion, send Jianzhong afar to prepare a timely offering of fresh delicacies and announce it to the spirit of you, the Twelfth Lang.

某年某月某日，叔父韩愈在听到你死讯的第七天，才能忍着哀痛表达诚意，派建中远道备办应时的新鲜祭品，告祭你十二郎的在天之灵。

On the day and month, your uncle Yu, on the seventh day after hearing of your death, is at last able to set aside grief and speak his sincerity, sending Jianzhong far to prepare the season's offerings, and address the spirit of you, Twelve-Lang.

此句为祭文起笔，处处见哀痛之深与礼数之正。「年、月、日」以虚位书时，是祭文惯例，含「不忍确记」之痛；「季父愈」自称，点明叔侄关系，「愈」字单名直书，谦卑而郑重；「闻汝丧之七日，乃能」是全句最沉痛处——「七日」「乃能」四字写哀痛之极，竟至七天后才勉强能动笔，以时间之迟写悲痛之深，何其含蓄，又何其椎心；「衔哀致诚」四字极炼，「衔」如衔枚、如含恨，哀在腹中不敢放声，正是强忍之态；「远具时羞之奠」写礼之备、情之切，远道备办四时鲜物，不因人之已亡而减一分诚意；「告汝十二郎之灵」点题，「汝」字直呼，定下全文呼告的基调，一开篇便如对亡灵絮语。

This line is the essay's opening, the depth of grief and the exactness of the rite visible in every word. The blank 'day and month' the conventional dating, holding the pain of 'not bearing to fix the date'; 'your uncle Yu' the self-designation, the humble yet solemn naming; 'on the seventh day after hearing of your death, is at last able' the bitterest place — 'seven days' and 'at last' the extreme of grief, seven days before the brush could move, the slowness of time writing the depth of pain, restrained yet piercing. 'Set aside grief and speak sincerity' the most compressed four words — 'set aside' like holding back a cry, grief within the belly not allowed to break out, the posture of forced composure. 'Sending Jianzhong far to prepare the season's offerings' the rite's fullness and the heart's urgency, far to bring the season's fare, not lessening the sincerity because the man is dead. 'Address the spirit of you, Twelve-Lang' the point, the direct 'you' setting the whole essay's tone of apostrophe, the opening already like murmuring to the departed spirit.

呜呼！吾少孤，及长，不省所怙，惟兄嫂是依。

Alas! I was orphaned when young; growing up, I never knew the face of my father, and had none to depend on but my elder brother and his wife.

唉！我幼年丧父成了孤儿，等到长大，也不知道父亲的样子，只能依靠哥哥嫂子生活。

Alas! I was orphaned young; when I grew up, I knew not my father — I depended only on my brother and his wife.

此句为全篇情感之根，以家常语写真，无一字雕琢而字字椎心。「呜呼」以感叹词领起，一声长叹，如积郁迸发，定下全文一唱三叹的声情基调；「吾少孤」三字写尽身世之惨——韩愈三岁丧父，孤儿之身，其孤苦非亲历者不能道；「及长，不省所怙」翻进一层，用《诗经·蓼莪》「无父何怙」之典而更甚：不仅无父可依，因丧父太早，竟连父亲容貌都不记得，「不省」二字，把无父之痛写到绝处——记忆里连父亲的影子都没有，这是比「失怙」更深的孤绝；「惟兄嫂是依」以宾语前置句收束，「惟」字斩钉截铁，强调唯一依靠，兄嫂（韩会夫妇）即全部的世界；此句是后文「嫂尝抚汝指吾而言曰」等追忆的源头，叔侄相依、闻丧如丧手足之情皆由此生出。

This line is the emotional root of the whole, plain words writing truth, not one polished word yet every word piercing. 'Alas!' the exclamation leading off, a long sigh as pent feeling bursts forth, tuning the whole essay's rhythm of repeated lament. 'I was orphaned young' three words writing the tragedy — Han Yu lost his father at three, orphaned, a grief none but the orphan knows. 'When I grew up, I knew not my father' goes one layer further, using the Book of Songs' 'without a father, on whom do I lean?' yet deeper: not only fatherless, but because the loss was so early, he cannot even remember his father's face; 'knew not' writes the fatherless grief to the utmost — not even the shadow of a father in memory, an isolation deeper than 'lost one's support'. 'I depended only on my brother and his wife' closes with the object-fronted sentence, the word 'only' decisive, stressing the sole reliance: his brother Han Hui and wife were his whole world. This line is the source of the later memories — the aunt stroking you and pointing to me — and from it grows all the feeling of uncle and nephew who leaned on each other, grieving as for a brother.

Study

Word focus

衔哀致诚 'Holding back grief and offering sincere devotion' precisely captures Han Yu's state of mind: 'holding' (as in holding a morsel) means containing and restraining grief within, not daring to wail aloud; 'offering sincere devotion' is sacrificial language for utmost reverent care, showing that even amid grief he prepares the rite with the deepest piety. The word 'holding'—not weeping but restraining weeping—writes pain through restraint, more somber than direct tears. 「乃能衔哀致诚」之「衔哀致诚」四字，是韩愈此时心境的精确写真。「衔」本指以口含物（如衔枚），引申为含忍、郁结于心，如「衔恨」；「衔哀」即把哀痛含在胸中、强自抑忍，不敢放声痛哭——因为还有祭礼要行、有文章要写，哀到极点反不能哭，只能「衔」着；「致诚」本为祭礼用语，意谓竭尽诚敬之心（《礼记》「祭必以诚」），写哀痛之中仍以最虔敬的态度备办祭礼。四字合观：哀是情，诚是礼，情礼兼备而哀尤深。妙在「衔」字——不写痛哭，而写忍哭，以忍写痛，比直写涕泣更沉郁；与下文「呜呼」的放声一叹恰成对照，先忍后放，情感的张力于此毕现。

不省所怙 'Never knew the face of my father' reworks the Songs' 'Fatherless, whom to lean on?' yet goes further: '怙' means to rely on, here the father relied upon; '所怙' is the father one depended on. Han Yu not only lacked a father to lean on, but having lost him at three, he could not even recall his face. This 'never knew' pushes the sorrow of fatherlessness to the extreme—not even a memory to mourn by—and exemplifies the piece's method of letting plain fact speak for itself. 「不省所怙」四字用《诗经·小雅·蓼莪》「无父何怙？无母何恃」之典而翻出新意。「怙」训依靠、依赖，本指父之可恃；「所怙」即所依靠的父亲。「不省」即不记得、不省识——韩愈不仅无父可怙，且因三岁丧父，连父亲的模样都不记得了。这一「不省」，把《蓼莪》的「失怙」之痛推进到「不识父容」的绝境：别人失去父亲，尚存记忆可凭吊，而韩愈连凭吊的对象都只能凭想象。「不省」二字以极平淡的口气说出极惨酷的事实，愈平淡愈椎心；这也是全篇「以朴语写真」的典范——不用「孤苦」「哀恸」等情感词，而让事实本身说话。

惟兄嫂是依 'Had none to depend on but my elder brother and his wife' is an ancient object-fronting construction (only the brother and sister-in-law to rely on), of a kind with 'only the command to obey.' The word 'only' is the eye of the sentence, emphasizing sole reliance: in his orphaned loneliness, the brother and his wife were his whole world. This sentence, following 'never knew the face of my father,' sets the emotional premise for all the later recollections of their nurturing bond. 「惟兄嫂是依」为古汉语宾语前置句式，即「惟依兄嫂」（只依靠兄嫂），与《左传》「唯命是听」「唯利是图」同类。「惟」字是全句之眼，强调唯一性：天地之间、孤苦之中，可以依靠的唯有哥哥嫂子——韩愈三岁丧父，长兄韩会夫妇即父即母，此「惟」字写尽孤儿唯一的依赖与全部的信任。「是」为结构助词，将宾语「兄嫂」提前，句式凝练而语气斩截。此句承「不省所怙」而来：无父可依，则兄嫂为依；其为后文追叙兄嫂抚育之恩、嫂氏「抚汝指吾而言」的细节作情感铺垫。以句式论，骈散相济中见工整；以情理论，一个「惟」字，道尽孤儿心中那一点温暖的凭恃。