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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

闾门即事

Written at the Gate of Wu

张继

Zhang Ji

耕夫召募逐楼船，春草青青万顷田。
试上吴门窥郡郭，清明几处有新烟。

The farmers have been conscripted to chase the tower ships,
and spring grass grows green over ten thousand acres of fields.
I climb the gate of Wu and look over the city walls—
at Qingming, how few hearths rise with new smoke!
Listen

Meaning

Conscription has taken the farmers to the war fleets, leaving ten thousand acres to grow over with spring grass. Climbing the city gate at Qingming, when every hearth should be kindling new fire after the Cold Food festival, the poet sees almost no smoke. The poem mourns the land laid waste and the villages emptied by war.

耕夫召募逐楼船，春草青青万顷田。试上吴门窥郡郭，清明几处有新烟。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The farmers were drafted to chase the war boats, and the fields they left are green with grass. I climb the gate of Wu and look over the walls; at Qingming, how few households are kindling new fire? [Structure] The first couplet gives the cause—conscription—and its effect—empty fields; the second gives the witness and the measure of desolation. [Imagery] The green spring grass is the poem's terrible color: vitality itself becomes proof of death and departure, and the absent smoke at Qingming counts the missing households.

【白话串讲】 张继写《闾门即事》：“耕夫召募逐楼船，春草青青万顷田”——“试上吴门窥郡郭，清明几处有新烟”——他写闾门即事——清明几处有新烟。 【意象与手法】 “耕夫召募逐楼船，春草青青万顷田”写耕夫被募、田亩荒芜；“试上吴门窥郡郭”写登门窥城；结以“清明几处有新烟”以新烟少写民生凋敝。苍凉悯农。 【情感与主旨】 张继写闾门即事之作，写耕夫被征募、万顷田荒芜而清明几处新烟的人烟萧条，是写战乱后民生凋敝的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“耕夫召募逐楼船，春草青青万顷田”写田亩荒芜；“试上吴门窥郡郭，清明几处有新烟”写民生凋敝。

Background

Zhang Ji (c. 715-c. 779) of Xiangzhou, a Middle Tang poet best known for 'Night Mooring at Maple Bridge,' wrote this poem in the Suzhou region, probably in the aftermath of the An Lushan Rebellion, when the south too was ravaged by wars and conscription. The title means 'seen at the gate'—a poem of immediate witness, the kind of record a traveler scratches down on arriving in a town. The custom behind the last line: during the Cold Food festival fires were extinguished, and at Qingming new fire was kindled, the 'new smoke' rising from every chimney—so to see almost no smoke was to see almost no households left.

《闾门即事》为唐代诗人张继所作诗。张继（约715—约779），字懿孙，襄州人，唐代诗人。此诗写即事悯农，为登闾门即事之作。诗中「耕夫召募逐楼船，春草青青万顷田」写耕夫召募逐楼船，春草青青万顷田；「试上吴门窥郡郭，清明几处有新烟」写试上吴门窥郡郭，清明几处有新烟。张继此诗以即事悯农、清明几处有新烟写其悯农之情，苍凉悯农，是张继诗中的名篇。此篇《闾门即事》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《闾门即事》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《闾门即事》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 art is witness rather than ornament. The first couplet sets a devastating paradox: the greener the spring grass, the emptier the fields—growth itself becomes the measure of loss, since only where men are gone does grass run wild over ten thousand acres. The second couplet narrows the lens from landscape to hearths: the poet climbs the gate, looks, and counts. The question 'how few rise with new smoke?' turns a count into a cry, and the Qingming custom makes it precise—every surviving household should have smoke that day. The poem's power is in what it refuses to say: no battle is described, no corpse shown; the smoke that is not there does all the mourning.

此诗艺术上以「苍凉悯农、以烟写情」见长。全诗共四句两联，由耕夫召募逐楼船而试上吴门窥郡郭。起「耕夫召募逐楼船，春草青青万顷田」写耕夫召募逐楼船：耕夫召募逐楼船，春草青青万顷田；结「试上吴门窥郡郭，清明几处有新烟」写试上吴门窥郡郭：试上吴门窥郡郭，清明几处有新烟。全诗以烟写情，由耕夫召募逐楼船而清明几处有新烟，苍凉悯农，是张继诗中的名篇。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 poem's force lies in social custom rather than literary allusion. 'Tower ships' were great war vessels, and 'chasing' them means the farmers have been conscripted to war fleets. 'New smoke' refers to the Qingming custom: after the Cold Food festival, when fires were put out for three days, new fire was ceremonially kindled at Qingming, and smoke rising anew from every chimney marked the return of life to the village. The poem reverses that ritual into a census of the dead and fled. 'The gate of Wu' is the gate of Suzhou, the Wu region, the richest land of the south; choosing it as the vantage point makes the emptiness of the whole Jiangnan plain visible at a glance. There is no bookish allusion—the allusion is to the calendar and the hearth.

诗中「耕夫召募逐楼船春草青青万顷田」「试上吴门窥郡郭清明几处有新烟」等语，皆含典故故实。「耕夫召募逐楼船春草青青万顷田」用楼船之典（楼船写战船），写耕夫召募逐楼船春草青青万顷田；「试上吴门窥郡郭清明几处有新烟」用清明之典（清明写寒食清明），写试上吴门窥郡郭清明几处有新烟。诗人用楼船、清明之典入诗，不着痕迹，而把即事悯农之情写得真切可感，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

The poem is Zhang Ji's most substantial short piece and one of the few Middle Tang poems to look directly at the cost of war on the countryside. Critics have long singled out the closing question: to ask, at Qingming, how few chimneys smoke, is to let the festival of the dead count the dead. Its particular achievement is indirection—no indictment of the government, no battle scene, only green fields and missing smoke, which makes the grief harder to shake. In the tradition of 'lamenting the people' poetry it stands beside Du Fu's war poems, and for modern readers it is a compact lesson in how a quatrain can record history: twenty-eight characters that let us hear the silence of a hundred empty villages.

这首《闾门即事》，是张继写即事悯农之作，写耕夫召募逐楼船、试上吴门窥郡郭、清明几处有新烟之情，苍凉悯农。起「耕夫召募逐楼船，春草青青万顷田」——耕夫召募逐楼船，春草青青万顷田。写耕夫召募逐楼船：耕夫召募逐楼船、春草青青万顷田——逐楼船、万顷田；结「试上吴门窥郡郭，清明几处有新烟」——试上吴门窥郡郭，清明几处有新烟。写试上吴门窥郡郭：试上吴门窥郡郭、清明几处有新烟——窥郡郭、有新烟。这「试上吴门窥郡郭，清明几处有新烟」，是全诗之结：以清明几处有新烟写其悯农。全诗苍凉悯农，以烟写情，正是张继诗中的名篇。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。

Prosody

Form A seven-character quatrain (qijue).诗（七言绝句）
Rhyme Four lines in two couplets, rhyming on 'field' (tian) and 'smoke' (yan) in the Xian group; the tones alternate level and oblique, the compact quatrain form suiting a poem of immediate witness.此诗为七言绝句，共四句两联。押韵：「田」「烟」押先部韵。前两句起、后两句转合，平仄相间，正与写即事悯农的苍凉悯农相称，也见其以七绝写悯农的凝练。
Tone pattern The first couplet opens with the harsh facts of conscription and closes on the soft green of the fields; the second couplet rises with the climb to the gate and ends on the falling question of 'how few.' The music moves from blunt statement to a sigh.句式上，「耕夫召募逐楼船，春草青青万顷田」写耕夫召募逐楼船，音节苍凉；结「试上吴门窥郡郭，清明几处有新烟」写试上吴门窥郡郭，音节悠长。全诗音节随情起伏，由苍凉而悠长，正合七绝「凝练」之妙，读来如即事悯农、清明几处有新烟之音，苍凉而动人。
Reading note A compact quatrain of witness: the first couplet states cause (conscription) and effect (empty fields), the second records the poet's climb and the question he asks. The contrast between the green of the fields and the silence of the hearths carries the poem's grief. Read the first couplet flatly, like a report; slow the second, so the final question hangs in the air like the smoke that is not there.此诗为七言绝句，是张继写即事悯农之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「苍凉悯农、以烟写情」：「耕夫召募逐楼船，春草青青万顷田」写耕夫召募逐楼船、「试上吴门窥郡郭，清明几处有新烟」写试上吴门窥郡郭。全诗苍凉悯农，以烟写情。尤为精妙者，是「耕夫召募逐楼船」用楼船之典；而「清明几处有新烟」用清明之典，正是张继诗「苍凉悯农」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《闾门即事》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

耕夫召募逐楼船，春草青青万顷田。

The farmers have been conscripted to chase the tower ships, and spring grass grows green over ten thousand acres of fields.

耕夫召募逐楼船，春草青青万顷田。

The plowmen are levied and follow the tower-ships; spring grass is green on the ten-thousand-qing fields.

起句写耕夫召募逐楼船，起笔即见其耕夫。「耕夫召募逐楼船」用楼船之典写耕夫召募逐楼船，「耕夫召募」写耕夫召募、「逐楼船」写逐楼船；「春草青青万顷田」写春草青青万顷田，「春草青青」写春草青青、「万顷田」写万顷田。一句写耕夫召募逐楼船春草青青万顷田，以耕夫召募逐楼船写逐楼船、以春草青青万顷田写万顷田，写尽耕夫召募逐楼船、春草青青万顷田之情。以夫起兴，苍凉而悯农，是「以夫起兴」的妙笔。

The opening line writes the plowmen levied to follow the tower-ships, the start. 'The plowmen are levied and follow the tower-ships' uses the tower-ship allusion — the farmers conscripted, following the warships; 'spring grass is green on the ten-thousand-qing fields' — the green spring grass on the vast untilled fields. Rising through the farmer, desolate and compassionate, the start of the pity for agriculture.

试上吴门窥郡郭，

I climb the gate of Wu and look over the city walls—

试上吴门窥郡郭，

I climb the Wu gate to peer at the walls of the commandery.

此句写试上吴门窥郡郭，是全诗写吴门之态的关键。「试上吴门」写试上吴门，「试上」写试上、「吴门」写吴门；「窥郡郭」写窥郡郭，「窥」写窥、「郡郭」写郡郭。一句写试上吴门窥郡郭，以试上吴门写吴门、以窥郡郭写窥郡郭，写尽试上吴门窥郡郭之情。以门写景，苍凉而悯农，是「以门写景」的点睛之笔。此句以寥寥数语写尽深意，情韵兼胜，正是全诗点睛之笔。其于字句之间暗藏波澜，于平易之中寄寓曲折，尤当反复涵泳，方能得其三昧。

This line writes 'I climb the Wu gate to peer at the walls', the key image. 'I climb the Wu gate' the ascent; 'peer at the walls' the gaze over the town. Through the gate it writes the scene, desolate and compassionate, the lonely survey of the deserted countryside.

清明几处有新烟。

at Qingming, how few hearths rise with new smoke!

清明几处有新烟。

At the Qingming festival, in how many homes is there new smoke?

结句写清明几处有新烟，是全诗立意的落点。「清明几处」用清明之典写清明几处，「清明」写清明、「几处」写几处；「有新烟」写有新烟，「有」写有、「新烟」写新烟。一句写清明几处有新烟，以清明几处写几处、以有新烟写有新烟，写尽清明几处有新烟之情。以烟写情，苍凉而悯农，是全诗最动人处，也是「以烟写情」的点睛之笔。

The closing line writes 'at the Qingming festival, in how many homes is there new smoke?', the poem's landing. 'At the Qingming festival' uses the festival allusion — the Cold Food just past, when households should light new fires; 'in how many homes is there new smoke?' the bitter question. Through the smoke it writes the feeling, desolate and compassionate, the poem's most moving point: on the very day when every home should kindle new fire, how many hearths are cold — the farmers gone to war, the fields untilled, the families scattered.

Study

Word focus

耕夫 'The plowman.' The word makes the conscripted a farmer first and a soldier second: he was turning soil before the fleet took him. His absence from the fields is what the next line's grass measures, so the plain word carries the whole indictment of war. 「耕夫」写耕夫召募逐楼船，是写耕夫之态的关键。「耕夫召募逐楼船」着一「耕夫」，写耕夫——着一「耕夫」，写耕夫召募逐楼船，见其夫之耕。两字写尽耕夫之态，是「以词写夫」的妙笔。「耕夫」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。
楼船 'Tower ships'—great multi-decked war vessels. Their towering decks give the war a scale that dwarfs the farmer, and 'chasing' them shows men running after a force they cannot resist. The word marks the shift from village to campaign, from plow to fleet. 「楼船」写耕夫召募逐楼船，是写楼船之态的关键。「耕夫召募逐楼船」着一「楼船」，写楼船——着一「楼船」，写耕夫召募逐楼船，见其船之楼。两字写尽楼船之态，是「以词写船」的点睛之词。「楼船」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。
吴门 'The gate of Wu'—the gate of Suzhou, the richest region of the south. Climbing it gives the poet a vantage over the whole Jiangnan plain; that the view reveals emptiness is the point—if even here the land is silent, nowhere is spared. 「吴门」写试上吴门窥郡郭，是写吴门之态的关键。「试上吴门窥郡郭」着一「吴门」，写吴门——着一「吴门」，写试上吴门窥郡郭，见其门之吴。两字写尽吴门之态，是「以词写吴」的点睛之词。「吴门」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。
清明 'Qingming'—the spring festival when, after the Cold Food days of extinguished fires, new fire was kindled in every household. The word turns a date into a test: on this day smoke should rise from every chimney, so to find almost none is to count the households that no longer exist. 「清明」写清明几处有新烟，是写清明之态的关键。「清明几处有新烟」着一「清明」，写清明——着一「清明」，写清明几处有新烟，见其明之清。两字写尽清明之态，是「以词写明」的点睛之词。「清明」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

水调歌头·明月几时有 Prelude to Water Melody: When Will the Moon Be Clear? 苏轼 · 同写悯农感怀、苍凉旷达，一写人有悲欢离合、一写耕夫召募逐楼船春草青青万顷田，皆于悯农之中见苍凉 Both face a broken world with candor and breadth

Su Shi's 'Prelude to Water Melody' grieves parting under a shared moon and consoles itself that perfection was never human ('men have sorrow and joy, as the moon has its dark and cloud'); Zhang Ji's quatrain grieves a ravaged countryside and offers no consolation, only the count of smoking chimneys. One finds peace in philosophy, the other in witness; together they show two ways the Chinese lyric carries historical pain.

苏轼《水调歌头·明月几时有》「人有悲欢离合，月有阴晴圆缺，此事古难全」，写悯农感怀、苍凉旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；张继《闾门即事》则以「耕夫召募逐楼船，春草青青万顷田」「清明几处有新烟」写万顷田、有新烟。两诗同写悯农感怀、苍凉旷达：一写人有悲欢离合、以悲欢写离合，一写耕夫召募逐楼船春草青青万顷田、以耕夫写悯农；一为苏轼之旷达、一为张继之苍凉，并读正可见诗写「悯农感怀」的两种笔法，皆于悯农之中见苍凉。

 八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Eight Beats of Ganzhou Song: To the Evening Rain 柳永 · 同写郡郭凝望、苍凉清丽，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写试上吴门窥郡郭清明几处有新烟，皆于郡郭之中见凝望 Both write the wanderer gazing over the city

Liu Yong's 'Eight Beats of Ganzhou Song' looks over towers and rivers at dusk and grieves his own wandering; Zhang Ji climbs the gate of Wu and grieves a whole region's disappearance. Both poems make a height the vantage of sorrow—one man's homesickness against a land's emptiness.

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」，写郡郭凝望、苍凉清丽，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；张继《闾门即事》则以「试上吴门窥郡郭，清明几处有新烟」「春草青青万顷田」写有新烟、万顷田。两诗同写郡郭凝望、苍凉清丽：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写试上吴门窥郡郭清明几处有新烟、以新烟写悯农；一为柳永之清丽、一为张继之苍凉，并读正可见诗写「郡郭凝望」的两种笔法，皆于郡郭之中见凝望。