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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

武侯庙

The Temple of the Martial Marquis

杜甫

Du Fu

唐Theme 杜甫Theme 五绝Theme 诸葛亮Theme 怀古History

遗庙丹青落，空山草木长。
犹闻辞后主，不复卧南阳。

The old shrine's painted walls flake and fade; in the empty hills the grass and trees grow wild.
Still we seem to hear his parting words to the Later Lord - never again would he lie at ease in Nanyang.

Listen

Meaning

Before Zhuge Liang's deserted shrine, the poet mourns a loyalty that outlived the kingdom it served.

遗下的庙宇丹青已剥落，空山中草木自在生长。仿佛还听见他辞别后主出师，却再不能回到南阳草庐。

Appreciation

Two lines of ruin, two of remembered vow: Du Fu lets the deserted temple speak Zhuge Liang's enduring loyalty, and in doing so speaks his own.

【白话串讲】 “遗庙丹青落，空山草木长”——杜甫拜武侯庙：庙里的彩绘剥落。“犹闻辞后主，不复卧南阳”——他仿佛还能听到诸葛亮辞别后主的声音，他再也没回南阳。杜甫一生敬仰诸葛亮。【意象与手法】首联“遗庙丹青落，空山草木长”以破败之庙、荒寂之山烘托人亡政息的苍凉；后联“犹闻辞后主，不复卧南阳”追忆《出师表》“临表涕零”的忠诚与“鞠躬尽瘁”而终老军中的悲剧。语淡情浓，于寂寥中见崇敬。【情感与主旨】杜甫瞻仰武侯庙所作，短短二十字写尽对诸葛亮的追怀与惋惜，不以议论取胜而以身临其境的凭吊之语将一代名相的功业与遗憾凝为永恒的余叹。【名句点睛】常考“犹闻辞后主，不复卧南阳”以辞后主写诸葛亮鞠躬尽瘁；“遗庙丹青落，空山草木长”以遗庙荒山写人亡政息。

Background

Wu Hou, the Martial Marquis, is Zhuge Liang (181-234), chancellor of Shu Han who gave his life to the feeble Later Lord, Liu Shan. Du Fu, visiting the shrine, projected his own frustrated loyalty onto the sage and wrote this lapidary elegy.

杜甫此诗，写于他辗转西南、屡谒武侯祠庙之时。武侯庙即祭祀诸葛亮之庙，蜀地尤多，杜甫居夔州、成都间，所谒当为其中之一。诸葛亮是杜诗里反复出现的灵魂人物：《蜀相》「丞相祠堂何处寻」写成都草堂之谒，《咏怀古迹》写夔州之庙，此首短章则写荒山遗庙之吊。三诗同咏一人，而此篇最短、最淡、最寂。诸葛亮于杜甫，不只是一个历史英雄，更是「致君尧舜」理想的折射。杜甫一生以稷契自期，却沉沦下僚、流落西南，与诸葛亮「鞠躬尽瘁而功业不竟」的处境，精神上深深共振。他谒武侯庙，谒的也是自己的未竟之志。此诗尤其动人处，在它写的是「破败」：遗庙丹青剥落、空山草木自长，英雄的祭祀之所已无人看顾。这种荒寂，既是实写庙貌，也是隐喻——人亡政息，一代名相的功业，终究敌不过时间的荒草。杜甫不写辉煌，写荒凉，恰恰因为荒凉里才有最真的崇敬：他不在热闹处捧，而在冷落处惜。读懂这层，才知二十字的分量。

Art

Sparse and elegiac: the decaying shrine mirrors the neglect of true statesmanship, while the lone phrase 'still we hear' keeps Zhuge's voice alive against the silent hills.

此诗的艺术，在「以寂写崇、以景写情」，二十字里不见一个「悲」「敬」字样，情绪却满纸浮动。首联「遗庙丹青落，空山草木长」，纯写庙前景物：丹青（彩绘）剥落，是人工的消逝；草木自长，是自然的侵占。一「落」一「长」，人工退、自然进，把「人去庙空」写得不动声色。「遗」「空」二字尤重：遗庙之「遗」，是说它被人遗下；空山之「空」，是说四下无人。两个字把荒寂的调子定死，却不哀号，只平静地呈现。这种「不抒情之抒情」，是杜甫晚年诗法极境——他把最浓的情，压进最淡的景。后联「犹闻辞后主，不复卧南阳」，由景入人、由实入虚。「犹闻」是幻觉，是凭吊者把自己的追慕听成了武侯的声音；「辞后主」用《出师表》「临表涕零」的忠诚，「不复卧南阳」则用其「躬耕南阳」的出处。一辞一出，写尽诸葛亮「既已许国、便不归隐」的悲剧选择。全诗语淡情浓，于寂寥中见崇敬，是杜诗「沉郁」在短章里的浓缩。它不以议论取胜，而以身临其境的凭吊之语，将一代名相的功业与遗憾，凝为永恒的余叹。

Allusions

The Later Lord is Liu Shan, last ruler of Shu. Nanyang is where Zhuge Liang farmed in retirement before answering Liu Bei's three visits; his famous memorial records the parting vow referenced here.

诗中用典极简，却都压在诸葛亮的生平节点上。「丹青」本指庙中彩绘的君臣像，亦暗喻史册图画；「落」则其剥蚀，隐喻功业渐被遗忘。「辞后主」用《出师表》事：建兴五年，诸葛亮率军北驻汉中，临行上表后主刘禅，中有「临表涕零，不知所言」之句，写尽孤忠；杜甫以「犹闻」二字，把千年后读者对这篇表的共鸣，写成仿佛亲闻其声。「卧南阳」用诸葛亮「躬耕于南阳」的出处（《出师表》「臣本布衣，躬耕于南阳」）。南阳草庐是其未出仕时的隐居地，也是「苟全性命于乱世」的初心象征。「不复卧南阳」五字，道尽诸葛亮出山之后的宿命：既已许先帝、既已受托孤，便再无归隐之可能，直至死而后已。这两个典故一前一后，构成诸葛亮一生的「出」与「不归」：辞后主是出师的忠，不复卧南阳是不归的憾。杜甫不引其他三七二十四功，只抓这两点，正因它们最能写「鞠躬尽瘁」与「出师未捷」的两端。短章用典，贵在少而狠，此诗是范本。

Commentary

Du Fu, who never fulfilled his own political hopes, identifies with Zhuge Liang. The poem is less history than a lament for unrequited devotion, a vein that runs through his late work.

此诗虽仅二十字，却与《蜀相》同列杜甫孔明诗的代表。明人胡应麟《诗薮》论杜五绝，称其「语短意长，得风人之旨」，此诗「遗庙丹青落」一联，尤被许为「以寂景写孤忠」的绝调。清人浦起龙《读杜心解》解此诗，谓「落」「长」二字「写尽冷落」，而「犹闻」「不复」四字「写尽依依」。近人论杜，多以此诗为「沉郁」风格的微型标本：它不似《蜀相》有「长使英雄泪满襟」的直抒，而把悲慨全压进景物与幻觉，更见含蓄之致。也有论者指出，杜甫咏诸葛诸作中，此篇最「冷」——冷在庙貌、冷在空山，而冷底下的热，是读者自己读出来的。这种「冷写热」的笔法，恰是杜甫晚年区别于盛年自况的地方。还有一点：此诗与温庭筠《经五丈原》同咏武侯，杜以情胜（悲其不遇、敬其孤忠），温以识胜（讽其末路、讥谯周误国）。并读可见唐人咏同一英雄，既能写出沉郁的泪，也能写出冷峻的史眼；而杜甫这一首，以最短的篇幅，担起了最深的余叹。

Prosody

Form Five-character quatrain (wujue)五言绝句（五绝，怀古凭吊，仄起首句入韵式）

Rhyme Rhymes on 'wild' (chang) and 'Nanyang' (yang), level-tone yang register.押平声阳韵：长、阳（平水韵下平七阳）。首句末字「落」为入声药韵，首句不入韵（依古绝常格），与后二句阳韵相协；阳韵开口而长，与苍茫悠远的基调相称。

Tone pattern Regulated five-character form with tight tonal patterning.遗庙丹青落（平仄平平仄），空山草木长（平平仄仄平）；犹闻辞后主（平平平仄仄），不复卧南阳（仄仄仄平平）。后二句平仄合律，前二句「丹青落」平平仄、「草木长」仄仄平，大体近古绝本色，读来疏淡自然，正合凭吊的从容。

Reading note Economy of image carries great historical weight; a model of the 'shrine of the great' poem.五绝最短，最忌说尽。此诗二十字，前二句写景、后二句写人，景是冷景、人是孤魂，以极少字担极厚情，是五绝「小制大含」的典范。声律上，它近古绝而非严格律绝：首句不入韵，以入声「落」字顿住，像先让荒庙的剥蚀在声音里裂一下，再放开写「草木长」的悠远；后二句归到阳韵平声「长」「阳」，开口呼、收音长，把「不复卧南阳」的怅惘拖得很远，像一声叹到末尾才落。节奏上二三停顿（遗庙—丹青落，空山—草木长），每句先给地点、再给状态，稳如凭吊者的脚步。最见巧的是「犹闻」对「不复」：一虚一实、一闻一否，平仄相对而情意相生，把「仿佛听见」与「终究不回」的落差，压进最工整的十字里。五绝写到这般「语淡而脉厚」，正是杜甫晚年火候。

Line by line

遗庙丹青落，空山草木长。

The old shrine's painted walls flake and fade; in the empty hills the grass and trees grow wild.

遗下的庙宇丹青已剥落，空山中草木自在生长。

In the abandoned temple, the painted murals have peeled; in the empty hill, grass and weeds grow wild.

这一联是全诗的起手，也是荒寂基调的奠定。「遗庙」二字先定身份：这不是香火鼎盛的宫观，而是被人「遗」下的旧庙——英雄既殁，祭祀渐疏，连庙也成了多余。一个「遗」字，已含人亡政息的苍凉。「丹青落」写庙内壁画彩绘剥蚀：当年绘下的君臣像、勋业图，正一片片褪去颜色。丹青本是用来「留」功业的，落则意味着留不住；人工的记忆，敌不过时间的剥蚀。「空山草木长」转写户外：四下无人（空），只有草木自顾自地长。草木无知，不因英雄在而荣、因英雄去而枯，它们只是按自然节律生长，反倒衬出人世功名的虚无。一「落」一「长」，人工消、自然进，把「人去庙空」写得极平静，不哭不号。这种平静最杀人：它不说悲，悲却从剥落的彩绘与疯长的荒草里漫出来。读者初读只觉清冷，及至懂得「丹青」本是功业的象征，才知这两句写的是一代名相被时间慢慢抹去的整个过程。以景写情到这等地步，二十字便有了千钧。

This couplet is the poem's opening and the establishing of the desolate keynote. Abandoned temple first fixes its identity: this is not a flourishing shrine but a temple abandoned by men - the hero dead, sacrifices thinned, even the temple become superfluous. One word abandoned already holds the bleakness of life ended and influence gone. The painted murals have peeled writes the temple wall paintings flaking: the portraits of lord and minister, the deeds depicted, losing color sheet by sheet. Murals were meant to preserve achievement; peeling means preservation fails - artificial memory cannot withstand time's erosion. Empty hill, grass and weeds grow wild turns outdoors: no one about (empty), only grass growing on its own. Grass is mindless, not flourishing because the hero lived, withering because he left; it merely grows by natural rhythm, setting off the vanity of worldly fame. One peel, one grow: the artificial recedes, the natural advances, writing man gone, temple empty with perfect calm - no weeping. This calm kills most: it does not say grief, yet grief seeps from the peeling pigments and the rampant weeds. The reader at first feels only cold cleanness; only when he understands murals as the symbol of achievement does he know the two lines write the whole process of a generation's prime minister being slowly erased by time. Scenery writing feeling to this degree: twenty characters carry a thousand catties.

犹闻辞后主，不复卧南阳。

Still we seem to hear his parting words to the Later Lord - never again would he lie at ease in Nanyang.

仿佛还听见他辞别后主出师，却再不能回到南阳草庐。

I seem still to hear him take leave of the Later Lord, never again to lie hidden at Nanyang.

这一联是全诗的转深，由景及人、由实入虚。「犹闻辞后主」写凭吊者的幻觉：站在荒庙里，仿佛还能听见诸葛亮当年辞别后主、出师北伐时那篇《出师表》的声音。「犹闻」二字极妙，它不是真听见，而是追慕太深，把千年后读者的共鸣听成了亲闻——一种「魂兮归来」式的召唤。辞后主，是用《出师表》「临表涕零」的孤忠作注，一笔写出诸葛亮许国之心。「不复卧南阳」是沉痛的反面：南阳草庐是他未出仕时的隐居地，是「苟全性命」的初心。出山既已许先帝，便再无归隐之可能，直至五丈原殁于军中。一个「不复」，把「鞠躬尽瘁、死而后已」的宿命写得锥心——他不是不能归，是选择了不归。这两句以「犹闻」的虚，对「不复」的实；以辞后主的忠，对不卧南阳的憾。二十字里，诸葛亮一生的「出」与「不归」被一笔收尽。杜甫不评其功、不吊其死，只写出「仿佛还听见、却再不能回」的依依，崇敬与惋惜便都在其中。短章至此，余叹悠长。

This couplet deepens the poem, from scenery to person, from solid to void. I seem still to hear him take leave of the Later Lord writes the mourner's hallucination: standing in the ruined temple, as if still hearing the sound of Zhuge Liang's Memorial on Sending Out the Army when he took leave of the Later Lord for the northern expedition. Seems still to hear is exquisite: not really hearing, but admiration so deep that the reader's resonance a thousand years later is taken for presence - a soul-returning summons. Taking leave of the Later Lord is glossed by the Memorial's tears over the document, one stroke writing Zhuge's heart of devotion to the state. Never again to lie hidden at Nanyang is the painful reverse: the Nanyang thatched cottage was his retreat before office, the original wish to preserve his life. Once out, having promised the late emperor, there was no possibility of return to retreat, until he died in camp at Wuzhangyuan. One never again writes the destiny of bend the back till death with a piercing point: he was not unable to return, but chose not to. The two lines set the void of seems still to hear against the solid of never again; the loyalty of taking leave against the regret of not lying at Nanyang. In twenty characters, Zhuge's whole coming-out and not returning are gathered. Du Fu does not judge his achievement or mourn his death; he only writes the as if still hearing yet never returning - reverence and regret both within. The short poem ends, the sigh long.

Study

Word focus

遗 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「遗庙」的「遗」字，是全诗第一个情绪落点。它不作「古老」解，而作「被遗留、被弃置」解——英雄既殁，庙便成了多余，被人淡忘。这一个字把「人走茶凉」的苍凉直接楔入题目，比任何「荒」「废」都更沉：荒废尚可修，被遗则无人问。它定下全诗「冷写热」的基调，也暗含杜甫对功业易逝的深慨。若将「遗」与同咏孔明的《蜀相》「丞相祠堂」相较，更见其冷：「祠堂」尚存瞻礼之敬，而「遗庙」已近弃置之态，一字之间尊卑冷暖迥异。杜甫一生屡谒武侯，独于此篇标一「遗」字，正因他看清了英雄身后最真实的处境——功业再隆，也敌不过后人冷淡。这「遗」既是庙之被遗，也是己之自况：诗人以稷契自期而沉沦下僚，与武侯「人亡庙遗」同是「有用而被弃」的悲。一个字，把对历史无情的洞见与对自身不遇的隐痛，悄悄焊在了一起。

丹青落 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「丹青落」三字，是人工记忆被时间抹去的具象。丹青本指庙中彩绘的功业像，古人以丹青纪勋，意谓「留之后世」；一个「落」字，却让这「留」成了空——颜色一片片褪去，像功名一寸寸被忘。这个意象的妙，在把抽象的「历史遗忘」写成可见的剥蚀：你几乎看见墙皮簌簌下落。它与下句「草木长」对举，人工之消与自然之进，构成最安静也最无情的对照。

空山 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「空山」的「空」，是与「遗」呼应的空间词。它写四下无人、唯余自然，把凭吊的孤绝感铺开。空山不语，草木自长，恰反衬出人的渺小与功名的暂留。这个「空」不是虚无，而是一种「人去之后世界照旧」的苍茫——英雄填不满它，荒草填得满。杜甫以「空」字收束首联的空间，为后联「犹闻」的魂魄之声留出余地：山越空，那一声仿佛的辞表越显孤清。

不复卧南阳 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「不复卧南阳」五字，是尾联最沉的一笔，也是诸葛亮悲剧的凝结点。南阳草庐是其「躬耕」出处、是其未许国时的初心与退路；「不复」二字，写尽他出山之后「既已许先帝，便死而后已」的宿命——不是不能归，是选择了不归。这五个字，把《出师表》「臣本布衣，躬耕于南阳」与「临表涕零」之间的整个人生，压缩成一种无法回头的决绝。杜甫不写其死，而写其「不归」，余痛比直写更久。

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