唐 Tang · 诗 Poem
在狱咏蝉
On the Cicada, Written in Prison
西陆蝉声唱，南冠客思深。
那堪玄鬓影，来对白头吟。
露重飞难进，风多响易沉。
无人信高洁，谁为表予心。
the southern-capped prisoner's longing runs deep.
How can I bear those dark-winged shadows
coming to face a white-haired man's lament?
The dew is heavy: it can hardly fly forward;
the wind is strong: its voice is easily drowned.
No one believes in its purity—
who will speak out my heart for me?
Meaning
In autumn the cicadas sing on and on, and the prisoner's longing lies deep in him. How can I bear to face your black, translucent wings while you listen to the lament of a white-haired man? The dew hangs heavy and you can hardly beat your way forward; the wind is loud and your song is easily lost and unheard. No one believes in your purity, or in mine—who then will speak out this heart of mine?
秋天里蝉声阵阵歌唱，身陷囹圄的客子愁思深沉。怎堪对着你乌黑透明的蝉翼，来聆听我这白发人的悲吟。露水浓重，你难以振翅飞进；风声太多，你的鸣响容易沉没不闻。没有人相信你（我）的高洁，谁又能替我表白这一片真心。
Appreciation
In this poem the treatment of an object and the pouring out of feeling are one and the same: every line writes the cicada and every line writes the poet. The opening pair begins with 'the cicada sings in the western reaches of autumn' and names his plight at once with 'the southern-capped prisoner'. In the second pair 'dark wings' plays on both the thin, translucent wing of the insect and the black hair of a young man, while the 'white-haired lament' is at once the cicada's cry and the old song of grief, so that the poet mourns his own age. The third pair uses the insect's plight—heavy dew, strong wind—for the weight of political oppression and the ease with which slander drowns the truth. The last pair cries out directly that no one believes in his purity, and object and self become one. Metaphor and double meaning throughout make the poem bitter and deeply moving.
【白话串讲】 骆宾王被诬下狱，听着蝉叫，写下《在狱咏蝉》：“露重飞难进，风多响易沉”——露水重，飞不动；风声大，叫声被淹没。“无人信高洁，谁为表予心”——他借蝉说：我是清白的。 【意象与手法】 全诗咏物与抒怀浑然一体，句句写蝉、句句写己。首联「西陆蝉声」起兴，「南冠客思」直点处境；颔联「玄鬓」「白头」双关蝉与己；颈联「露重」「风多」借蝉之境喻政治压迫；尾联「无人信高洁」直接喊出，物我合一。 【情感与主旨】 唐高宗仪凤三年（678），骆宾王任侍御史，因上疏论事触忤武则天，遭诬下狱。狱中闻秋蝉鸣唱，感物伤怀，作此以蝉自况，抒发蒙冤难白之愤。 【名句点睛】 本诗为咏物诗经典。考点：①托物言志、比兴双关的手法；②「露重飞难进，风多响易沉」的侧面烘托；③「玄鬓」「白头」的双关之妙。
Background
In 678, the third year of the Yifeng era under Emperor Gaozong, Luo Binwang was serving as an attending censor when a memorial of his offended Empress Wu Zetian; he was falsely accused and thrown into prison. In prison he heard the autumn cicadas sing, was moved by the creature to grieve for himself, and wrote this poem taking the cicada for his image. The 'southern cap' declares that he is a prisoner, and the 'white head' laments that he is old and slandered. The poem is ranked with Yu Shinan's Cicada and Li Shangyin's Cicada as one of the 'three masterpieces on the cicada'; because Luo wrote his behind bars, its indignation runs deepest, and it is a masterwork of lodging one's purpose in an object among early Tang poems.
此诗作于唐高宗仪凤三年（678）秋，作者骆宾王（约619—约687），字观光，婺州义乌（今浙江义乌）人，与王勃、杨炯、卢照邻并称「初唐四杰」。骆宾王少负才名，七岁作《咏鹅》诗，然一生仕途偃蹇，仅任过县主簿、侍御史等小官。仪凤三年，骆宾王任侍御史，因上书论事触忤武后（一说为谏阻武后宠用僧人、广开告密之风），遭人诬陷以赃罪下狱。狱中，诗人面对西风秋蝉，感物伤怀，遂作此诗并附长序，序中明言「庶情沿物应，哀弱羽之飘零；道寄人知，悯余声之寂寞」，以蝉自况。出狱后，骆宾王又因事贬临海丞，怏怏失志，弃官而去；武后光宅元年（684），徐敬业起兵讨武，骆宾王为其幕僚，作《讨武曌檄》，兵败后下落不明，或云被杀，或云亡命为僧。此诗正是其人生低谷——身陷囹圄时的血泪之作，是初唐咏物诗中托物明志的杰作，与虞世南《蝉》、李商隐《蝉》并称「咏蝉三绝」。又，骆宾王一生刚直，屡以直言贾祸，此诗正是其性格与命运的写照——狱中不写哀乞之词，而以蝉之高洁自明，足见其骨气；其后来为徐敬业作《讨武曌檄》，兵败不知所终，正是这种刚烈性格的延续。故此诗不仅是一己之悲鸣，更是初唐士人「直道事人」而罹祸的缩影，具有典型的时代意义。
Art
Object and feeling are wholly fused: every line writes the cicada and every line writes the poet. The first couplet begins with the autumn cicada's song and names his plight with the 'southern-capped prisoner'. In the second couplet 'dark wings' plays at once on the insect's thin wing and on a young man's black hair, while 'white-haired lament' both renders the cicada's cry as a chant and hints at the old song of a wife cast off, so that the poet grieves at growing old. The third couplet borrows the insect's condition—heavy dew, much wind—to figure the weight of political oppression and the ease with which honest words are drowned. The last couplet cries straight out that no one believes in his purity, and object and self are one. Metaphor and double meaning make the poem bitter, tangled and deeply moving.
此诗艺术上最大的特点是咏物与抒怀浑然一体，句句写蝉、句句写己，比兴双关，沉痛悱恻。首联「西陆蝉声唱，南冠客思深」以「西陆」（秋天）蝉声起兴，点出时令与处境：「南冠」用楚囚钟仪之典，直揭囚徒身份，「客思深」写狱中愁思之重，蝉鸣与客思相激，物我并起。颔联「那堪玄鬓影，来对白头吟」双关最妙：「玄鬓」既指蝉之黑翼，又指人之青春黑发，如今鬓已成霜；「白头吟」既指白发人吟诗，又暗用卓文君《白头吟》决绝之曲，自伤老大遭弃。颈联「露重飞难进，风多响易沉」借蝉之处境写己之遭际：露重则蝉难飞，风多则蝉声易沉，喻政治压迫之重、谗言蔽听之甚，咏物而寄托极深。尾联「无人信高洁，谁为表予心」物我合一，直喊出蒙冤难白之愤，是全诗情感的高潮。全诗由起兴、双关、烘托到直抒，层层递进，蝉即我、我即蝉。再就结构言，首联蝉与客并起，颔联蝉影对白首，颈联借蝉境写己境，尾联物我合一，四联由物及人、由人及物、终至人我不分，环环相扣，无一联游离于「蝉」与「己」之外，正是咏物诗「不离不即」的极致——既句句咏蝉，不脱蝉之形貌习性（鸣声、玄翼、饮露、畏露畏风），又句句写己，不离己之遭际怀抱（系狱、老大、遭谗、蒙冤），形神兼备而寄托遥深。
Allusions
The allusions are exact and full of double meaning. The 'southern cap' comes from the Zuo Commentary, where the captive of Chu, Zhong Yi, is bound while still wearing the cap of the south, and it came to stand for a prisoner. 'Dark hair' properly means a woman's black tresses, and here figures the insect's translucent wing while lamenting that the poet's own black hair is gone. The 'white-haired lament' is both the autumn cicada's mournful cry and the old song of parting attributed to Zhuo Wenjun, so that a note of rejection sounds beneath it. 'Purity' describes the cicada that lives on dew and also the poet's clean name. The allusions interlock, giving a poem on an object a deep and delicate political burden.
此诗用典精切而多双关，是其咏物所以深婉的关键。「西陆」出《隋书·天文志》「日循黄道东行……行西陆谓之秋」，指秋天，取典雅而切时令。「南冠」出《左传·成公九年》：楚人钟仪被晋所俘，仍「南冠而絷」（戴着楚国的帽子被拘禁），晋侯问之，曰「南冠而絷者谁也」，后世遂以「南冠」代指囚徒，此处直揭身陷囹圄。「玄鬓」本指女子乌黑鬓发，此处双关蝉翼之薄黑与己之青丝已逝；「白头吟」兼指秋蝉哀鸣与卓文君《白头吟》——卓文君闻司马相如欲纳妾，作《白头吟》以诀，诗人用此典暗含遭弃之怨、知音之叹。「高洁」既写蝉性饮露而洁，亦喻己之清白，双关而寄托遥深。诸典环环相扣，使咏物诗具有深婉的政治寄托，无一字空设。此外，「露重飞难进」化用《荀子》「玉在山而草木润，渊生珠而崖不枯」的比兴传统，以物之艰难写人之困厄；「飞难进」「响易沉」对仗工稳，兼写蝉翅沾露、蝉声为风所掩的物理实情与诗人进退维谷、声名难彰的政治处境，物性、人事、声律三者合一，正是初唐咏物诗由「体物」进于「寓意」的标志。
Commentary
The poem is ranked with those of Yu Shinan and Li Shangyin as one of the Tang 'three masterpieces on the cicada'. The Ming critic Hu Yinglin praised it as 'deep, brooding and delicate, a giant of the early Tang'. Written in prison, it keeps a stern integrity, and the two lines 'no one believes in its purity, who will speak out my heart for me' still show, a thousand years later, the lonely loyalty of a banished official; the Ming anthology Graded Compendium of Tang Poetry set it among the sounds of a right beginning, which shows how firm its bearing was held to be.
此诗与虞世南《蝉》、李商隐《蝉》并称唐人「咏蝉三绝」，历来评价极高。三诗同咏蝉而寄意各别：虞世南「居高声自远，非是藉秋风」写立身高洁、不假外求，是儒者的自励；李商隐「本以高难饱，徒劳恨费声」写薄宦羁穷、举家清贫，是寒士的自伤；骆宾王此诗写蒙冤下狱、无人信洁，是逐臣的孤愤，愤慨尤深。明人胡应麟《诗薮》推此诗为「沉郁深婉，初唐巨擘」，谓其于咏物中注入身世之感，开有唐咏物诗以物寓志的先河。清人沈德潜《唐诗别裁》亦录此诗。近人论初唐四杰，多称骆宾王「才高而命蹇」，此诗正是其才情与遭际碰撞的结晶——狱中之作而风骨凛然，「无人信高洁，谁为表予心」二语，千载之下犹见逐臣孤忠，足见其以咏物写怀抱的典范意义。又，骆宾王此诗附有长序，序中「感而缀诗，贻诸知己」「庶情沿物应，哀弱羽之飘零」等语，直把作诗动机与蝉之命运、己之遭际联成一体，诗序合观，更见其用心之深。后世如杜甫《促织》、苏轼《水龙吟·次韵章质夫杨花词》等咏物名作，皆承此「物我交融、比兴寄托」之法而来，可见此诗在咏物诗史上的开山地位。
Prosody
Line by line
西陆蝉声唱，南冠客思深。
Autumn: the cicada sings; in the southern cap, the exile's grief is deep.
秋天里蝉声阵阵歌唱，身陷囹圄的客子愁思深沉。
In autumn the cicada sings; in the southern cap, the exile's homesickness is deep.
首联起兴点题，以秋蝉鸣唱引出囚客之愁。「西陆」指秋天，取典雅而切时令——秋蝉本已含悲，何况狱中闻之；「蝉声唱」写蝉之鸣叫，一个「唱」字反见其欢，蝉愈欢而人愈悲，以乐景写哀情，倍增其哀。「南冠」用《左传》楚囚钟仪「南冠而絷」之典，以囚徒自指，直揭身处囹圄的处境；「客思深」的「深」字写愁思之重——身陷狱中，家国难问，前程未卜，愁思岂能不深。两句蝉与人并起：蝉声为引，客思为体，物我相激，为全诗定下「咏物即抒怀」的基调，起笔即见沉郁。
The opening couplet opens in bi-xing and names the theme, using the autumn cicada's song to introduce the imprisoned exile's grief. Western land means autumn, chosen for elegance and fitting the season - the autumn cicada already holds grief, how much more hearing it in prison. The cicada sings writes the cicada's cry; one sings by contrast shows its joy - the more joyful the cicada, the sadder the man; using fair scenery to write grief doubles the grief. Southern cap uses the Zuo Tradition's Chu prisoner Zhong Yi, southern-capped and bound allusion, referring to the prisoner himself, directly revealing his jail condition; the deep in exile's grief is deep writes the sorrow's weight - jailed, the family unaskable, the future uncertain; how could grief not be deep? The two lines cicada and man together: the cicada song as lead, the exile grief as body; thing and self stimulating each other, setting the poem's keynote of thing-praising as self-expression; the opening at once shows somberness.
那堪玄鬓影，来对白头吟。
How can I bear that black-templed image facing this white-headed song?
怎堪对着你乌黑透明的蝉翼，来聆听我这白发人的悲吟。
How can I bear your dark-winged image facing my white-headed chant?
颔联双关最妙，是「咏蝉三绝」中炼意最深的句子。「玄鬓」双关：既指蝉之黑色薄翼——蝉翼如乌鬓，形影分明；又指人之乌黑鬓发——昔日青春黑发，如今已成白头。「来对」写蝉之影与人之身相对，物我相看；「白头吟」再作双关：既指白发之人吟咏，又暗用卓文君《白头吟》的典故——那首写「愿得一心人，白头不相离」的决绝之曲，正合诗人遭弃被诬的怨愤。一句之中，蝉与己、影与身、今与昔层层对照，写尽年华老去、身处困境的悲凉，「那堪」二字更以反问加强，如泣如诉。
The second couplet's double meaning is most subtle, the deepest-refined line among the three great cicada poems. Black temples is double: at once the cicada's black thin wings - the wings like black temples, form and shadow clear; and the man's black hair - once youthful black, now white-headed. Come facing writes the cicada's shadow and the man's body facing each other, thing and self looking; white-headed song is again double: at once the white-headed man chanting, and secretly using Zhuo Wenjun's White-Haired Song allusion - that decisive song of wishing for one true heart, white-headed yet not parting, precisely fitting the poet's wronged, discarded resentment. Within one line, cicada and self, shadow and body, present and past layer upon layer, exhausting the aging and the straitened lot's desolation; how can I bear further strengthens by rhetorical question, as if weeping.
露重飞难进，风多响易沉。
Dew heavy - with difficulty it flies on; wind loud - its cry is easily drowned.
露水浓重，难以振翅飞进；风声太多，鸣响容易沉没不闻。
Heavy dew makes flight hard; loud winds drown the cry.
颈联是全诗托物言志最深的句子，句句写蝉、句句写己。「露重」则蝉翅沾湿，难以飞进——喻环境险恶、寸步难行，正如诗人身陷囹圄、申诉无门；「风多」则蝉声被风声淹没，容易沉没——喻谗言蔽听、正声难闻，正如诗人的辩白被诬陷之声吞没。「飞难进」「响易沉」六字，把蝉的困境写得具体可感，而诗人的政治处境——遭人构陷、言路壅塞——也尽在其中。此联以实写虚、以物寓人，不着一「我」字而「我」之遭际毕现，是咏物诗「不即不离」手法的典范，含蓄深婉，为尾联的直抒蓄势。
The third couplet is the poem's deepest thing-praising, will-declaring line; every sentence writes the cicada, every sentence writes the self. Heavy dew then the cicada's wings are wet, hard to fly onward - metaphorizing the treacherous environment, the inch-hard step, precisely as the poet imprisoned, with no door to appeal; loud wind then the cicada's cry is submerged in the wind, easily drowned - metaphorizing slander blocking hearing, the upright voice hard to hear, precisely as the poet's defense swallowed by the accusing voices. Hard to fly on, easily drowned: six characters, writing the cicada's plight concretely and sensibly, and the poet's political condition - framed by men, the voice's road blocked - all within. This couplet uses the solid to write the void, the thing to寓 the man; not one word of I, yet the I's lot fully present; the model of thing-praising's neither-too-close-nor-too-far method, reserved and deep, storing force for the closing's direct speech.
无人信高洁，谁为表予心。
No one believes in its purity—who will speak out my heart for me?
没有人相信你（我）的高洁，谁又能替我表白这一片真心。
No one believes in its purity; who will speak my heart for me?
尾联物我合一，直抒胸臆，是全诗情感的高潮。「无人信高洁」一句，蝉饮风露、本自高洁，却无人相信——诗人的清白，同样无人信从；「谁为表予心」以问作结，谁能为我表白这颗蒙冤的赤心？两句一反前文的含蓄，把压抑已久的情感喷薄而出：不是不要辩，而是无人可诉、无人可证，问天无门，悲愤至极。此联之妙，在于把咏物推到极致——蝉即我，我即蝉，蝉之高洁无人信，即我之清白无人明，物我界限完全消融。以问句收束，言尽而情不尽，千载之下，犹闻狱中诗人的悲愤之声。
The closing couplet fuses thing and self, speaks the heart directly, the poem's emotional climax. No one believes in its purity: the cicada drinks wind and dew, pure by nature, yet no one believes - the poet's innocence likewise untrusted. Who will speak my heart for me closes in question: who can declare this wronged red heart for me? The two lines reverse the previous reserve, bursting forth the long-suppressed emotion: not unwilling to defend, but no one to appeal to, no witness; heaven asked, no door, grief and anger to the utmost. This couplet's subtlety lies in pushing thing-praising to the extreme - the cicada is I, I am the cicada; the cicada's pure belief by none is my innocence understood by none; the thing-self boundary wholly dissolved. Closing in question, words ended yet feeling endless; a thousand years on, still heard is the imprisoned poet's voice of grief and anger.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
The boy's ode to the goose writes the innocent delight of a creature, the man's prison cicada the purity of one behind bars; together they show how Luo Binwang's object poems moved from brightness to brooding depth.
骆宾王《咏鹅》作于七岁，「鹅，鹅，鹅，曲项向天歌」写物趣天真，纯以童眼观物，明快清新；《在狱咏蝉》作于中年入狱之时，以蝉自况，写身陷囹圄之高洁，沉郁愤慨。同出骆宾王之手，一为童年的游戏之作、一为成年的血泪之作，恰可见骆宾王咏物诗由清丽到沉郁的演变轨迹，也可见咏物一体既可写物趣、亦可写怀抱的两种境界。两诗并读，对理解骆宾王「才高而命蹇」的一生，以及咏物诗「或咏物、或咏怀」的功能差异，皆有直观的认识。
蝉 The Cicada 李商隐 · 同，并列为唐人「咏蝉三绝」 Same (ranked together among the Tang 'three masterpieces on the cicada')Luo's cicada speaks the anger of a wrong unredressed, Li's the straits of a minor official; both may be compared for the different burdens carried in the union of cicada and man.
李商隐《蝉》「本以高难饱，徒劳恨费声」与骆宾王此诗同咏秋蝉，同以蝉自况，并称「咏蝉三绝」，而寄意有别：骆蝉写蒙冤之愤——「无人信高洁，谁为表予心」是逐臣的呼喊，悲愤激切；李蝉写薄宦之困——「五更疏欲断，一树碧无情」是寒士的哀吟，幽怨深婉。同是托物言志，骆宾王身在狱中，故其蝉「飞难进」「响易沉」，愤而直呼；李商隐身在幕府，故其蝉「高难饱」「恨费声」，怨而不怒。两诗对照，可见「蝉人合一」的寄托艺术在不同境遇下的不同面貌，亦可比较初唐与晚唐咏物诗的情感基调之别。