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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

自京赴奉先县咏怀五百字

Written on the Journey from the Capital to Fengxian, a Poem of Five Hundred Characters (Zijing Fu Fengxianxian Yonghuai)

杜甫

Du Fu

唐Tang 杜甫Du Fu 五古Five-Character Ancient Verse 叙事Narrative 忧民Concern for the People 长诗Long Poem

杜陵有布衣，老大意转拙。
许身一何愚，窃比稷与契。
居然成濩落，白首甘契阔。
盖棺事则已，此志常觊豁。
穷年忧黎元，叹息肠内热。
取笑同学翁，浩歌弥激烈。
非无江海志，潇洒送日月。
生逢尧舜君，不忍便永诀。

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杜陵有布衣，老大意转拙。
许身一何愚，窃比稷与契。
居然成濩落，白首甘契阔。
盖棺事则已，此志常觊豁。
穷年忧黎元，叹息肠内热。
取笑同学翁，浩歌弥激烈。
非无江海志，潇洒送日月。
生逢尧舜君，不忍便永诀。
当今廊庙具，构厦岂云缺。
葵藿倾太阳，物性固莫夺。
顾惟蝼蚁辈，但自求其穴。
胡为慕大鲸，辄拟偃溟渤。
以兹误生理，独耻事干谒。
兀兀遂至今，忍为尘埃没。
终愧巢与由，未能易其节。
沉饮聊自遣，放歌破愁绝。
岁暮百草零，疾风高冈裂。
天衢阴峥嵘，客子中夜发。
霜严衣带断，指直不得结。
凌晨过骊山，御榻在嵽嵲。
蚩尤塞寒空，蹴蹋崖谷滑。
瑶池气郁律，羽林相摩戛。
君臣留欢娱，乐动殷樛嶱。
赐浴皆长缨，与宴非短褐。
彤庭所分帛，本自寒女出。
鞭挞其夫家，聚敛贡城阙。
圣人筐篚恩，实欲邦国活。
臣如忽至理，君岂弃此物。
多士盈朝廷，仁者宜战栗。
况闻内金盘，尽在卫霍室。
中堂舞神仙，烟雾散玉质。
煖客貂鼠裘，悲管逐清瑟。
劝客驼蹄羹，霜橙压香橘。
朱门酒肉臭，路有冻死骨。
荣枯咫尺异，惆怅难再述。
北辕就泾渭，官渡又改辙。
群冰从西下，极目高崒兀。
疑是崆峒来，恐触天柱折。
河梁幸未坼，枝撑声窸窣。
行旅相攀援，川广不可越。
老妻寄异县，十口隔风雪。
谁能久不顾，庶往共饥渴。
入门闻号啕，幼子饥已卒。
吾宁舍一哀，里巷犹呜咽。
所愧为人父，无食致夭折。
岂知秋禾登，贫窭有仓卒。
生常免租税，名不隶征伐。
抚迹犹酸辛，平人固骚屑。
默思失业徒，因念远戍卒。
忧端齐终南，澒洞不可掇。

Through the year I worry for the common folk,
And sigh, my bowels burning within.
The vermilion gates reek of wine and meat,
While on the road lie the bones of the frozen dead.
My sorrows rise level with Mount Zhongnan,
Vast and deep, they cannot be gathered up.

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Meaning

The three lines selected from Du Fu's 'Written on the Journey from the Capital to Fengxian,' written in the winter of the fourteenth year of Tianbao (755), on his way from Chang'an to Fengxian to visit his family. 'Through the year I worry for the common folk, and sigh, my bowels burning within' is the poet's self-description and self-declaration: the whole year's worry for the common people, the bowels burning with the sigh, the very heart of the poem and the core of Du Fu's poetry of the concern for the people. 'The vermilion gates reek of wine and meat, while on the road lie the bones of the frozen dead' is the most famous couplet of the whole poem and of all Du Fu's poetry: the vermilion gates of the great families reeking of the wine and the meat against the bones of the frozen dead on the road, the sharpest contrast of the extravagance of the privileged and the death of the poor, the eternal indictment of the class oppression, the very spirit of the 'poetry as history.' 'My sorrows rise level with Mount Zhongnan, vast and deep, they cannot be gathered up' closes the sorrow: the sorrow of the poet rising level with the Zhongnan Mountain, vast and deep and cannot be gathered up, the grief of the country and the people to the utmost, the whole poem's sorrow gathered in the close.

杜陵有个布衣，年纪越大心性反倒越拙。期许自己何等愚妄，暗自比于稷与契那样的贤臣。到头来落得廓落无成，白发苍苍却甘守困顿。盖了棺才算了事，此志常望能舒展。终年忧念百姓，叹息中肠如焚。惹得同辈取笑，却歌吟更烈。并非没有退隐江海的志愿，潇洒送走日月。只是生逢尧舜之君，不忍就此永别。当今朝中栋梁岂少，构建大厦何曾缺人。葵藿倾向太阳，物性本难更改。看看那些蝼蚁之辈，只知自觅其穴。为何偏慕那巨鲸，总想栖息溟海。因此耽误了生计，却独以干谒为耻。勤苦至今，忍被尘埃埋没。终愧巢父许由，却未能改易其节。沉饮聊以自遣，放歌破此愁绝。岁暮百草凋零，疾风把高冈吹裂。天街阴沉峥嵘，客子半夜起程。寒霜严酷衣带冻断，手指僵直系不成结。凌晨经过骊山，皇帝的御榻高踞峰巅。蚩尤之雾塞满寒空，踩踏得崖谷溜滑。瑶池暖气郁勃，羽林军刀枪相擦。君臣留连欢娱，乐声震动山岩。赐浴的都是达官，赴宴的绝非布衣。朝廷分发的绢帛，本出自寒女之手。鞭打她们丈夫，聚敛贡入城阙。圣人赐筐篚之恩，实望国家生机。臣子若忽此至理，君又怎会弃这些财物。朝中人才充盈，仁者正该战栗。何况听说内府金盘，尽在卫霍般权贵之家。中堂上舞着神仙，烟雾中散出玉质。暖客的是貂鼠裘，悲管伴着清瑟。劝客的是驼蹄羹，霜橙压着香橘。朱门里酒肉发臭，路旁有冻死的枯骨。荣枯咫尺悬殊，惆怅难以尽述。北行到泾渭，官渡又改了道。群冰从西而下，极目高峻突兀。疑是从崆峒涌来，恐要撞折天柱。河桥幸未塌，木撑发出窸窣声。行旅互相攀扶，河宽不可逾越。老妻寄居别县，十口人隔着风雪。谁能久不照料，只盼前去同甘共苦。进门却听见号啕，幼子已饿死。我岂能撇开哀痛，里巷犹自呜咽。愧为人父，无食致儿夭折。怎知秋粮已登，贫家却有此仓卒之祸。生来常免租税，名字不隶军籍。抚念此情犹觉酸辛，平民本已骚动不安。默想那些失去生计的人，又念及远戍的士卒。忧端高齐终南，浩茫无边不可收拾。

Appreciation

The art of the poem is in 'the long masterpiece and the one breath of the whole,' five hundred characters like the river pouring, yet the veins clear. The three lines of this excerpt are the pivot and the warning of the whole poem. 'Through the year I worry for the common folk, and sigh, my bowels burning within' is the first vein of the 'written in my feelings' (yonghuai): the 'through the year' and the 'my bowels burning' write the constancy and the depth of the worry, the 'the whole year's worry' and the 'the bowels burning' the heart of the whole poem, the declaration of the poet's own will. Then 'the vermilion gates reek of wine and meat, while on the road lie the bones of the frozen dead' the pen turns sharply: the 'reek' against the 'bones,' the 'wine and meat' against the 'frozen dead,' the ten characters the sharpest contrast of the extravagant and the frozen, the indictment without a word of the comment, the very 'poetry as history' of Du Fu. And 'my sorrows rise level with Mount Zhongnan, vast and deep, they cannot be gathered up' closes: the sorrow rising level with the mountain and the deepness that cannot be gathered up, the grief of the country and the people in the one image of the mountain, the close of the whole poem's sorrow, the vastness of the image and the depth of the feeling in one.

【白话串讲】杜甫从长安回奉先探亲，写五百字长诗：“穷年忧黎元，叹息肠内热”——他一生忧国忧民。“朱门酒肉臭，路有冻死骨”——这句成了千古名句。“入门闻号啕，幼子饥已卒”——他回到家，小儿子已经饿死。“所愧为人父，无食致夭折”——他愧为人父。安史之乱前夜最沉痛的长诗。【意象与手法】前半以长篇自诉身世与“穷年忧黎元”的素志，将个人抱负与“葵藿倾太阳”的忠悃写得恳挚；后半笔锋陡转，以骊山温泉的极奢对照“路有冻死骨”的惨景，爆发出“朱门酒肉臭，路有冻死骨”的划时代名句；结尾由国事之忧落入家破之痛，再推开去念及“失业徒”“远戍卒”，终以“忧端齐终南，澒洞不可掇”收束。沉郁顿挫，个人悲剧与时代危机浑然一体。【情感与主旨】杜甫天宝十四载由长安赴奉先探家途中所作，为杜诗“沉郁顿挫”风格的奠基之作。上承《诗经》“饥者歌其食”、下开新乐府“为事而作”的传统，是安史之乱前夜最深刻的时代实录，亦为杜甫“诗史”地位确立的里程碑。【名句点睛】常考“朱门酒肉臭，路有冻死骨”以朱门路有对照写社会贫富悬殊；“穷年忧黎元，叹息肠内热”以忧黎元写诗人素志。

Background

The poem was written in the winter of the fourteenth year of Tianbao (755), when Du Fu was on his way from Chang'an to Fengxian County (present-day Pucheng, Shaanxi) to visit his family. This year was the critical point of the great Tang's turn from the prosperity to the decline: on the surface the extreme prosperity of the Kaiyuan-Tianbao, but within the collapse of the garrison system, the growth of the military governors, and the dimness of the government, and shortly after Du Fu's arrival home, An Lushan had already risen in arms at Fanyang, and the An Lushan Rebellion broke out. This poem is the most sober 'prophecy' before the collapse of the High Tang. When Du Fu wrote it, he had been trapped in Chang'an for ten years, holding only the petty office of the Secretary of the Armory in the Right Guard, his political ideal (comparing himself to Ji and Qi) unrealizable, and his life in straits. This trip was to visit his wife and children, and on the way he passed Mount Li, just as Emperor Xuanzong and the Noble Consort Yang were at the Huaqing Palace avoiding the cold and enjoying themselves, while among the people 'on the road lie the bones of the frozen dead.' This 'the sovereign enjoying at the place of the march, the people freezing to death on the road' the very material of the poem, the sorrow and the indignation of the poet in the face of the extreme contrast of the privileged and the poor.

《自京赴奉先县咏怀五百字》作于唐玄宗天宝十四载（755）冬，杜甫由长安赴奉先县（今陕西蒲城）探家途中。这一年是大唐由盛转衰的临界点：表面是开元天宝的极盛，内里却是府兵崩坏、藩镇坐大、朝政昏聩，而就在杜甫到家后不久，安禄山已于范阳起兵，安史之乱爆发。这首诗，是盛唐崩塌前最清醒的一封「预言书」。杜甫写此诗时，已困居长安十年，官仅右卫率府胄曹参军这样的微职，政治理想（自比稷契）无从施展，生活困顿。他此行本为探妻儿，途中经骊山，正遇玄宗与贵妃在华清宫避寒作乐，而民间已「路有冻死骨」。这种「行在所乐、途路有死」的刺眼对照，撞碎了他一路的自述，也使全诗从「咏怀」陡然转成「直面」。最震撼处在结尾：诗人归家，竟逢幼子饿死。由国事之忧落入家破之痛，再推开去念及「失业徒」「远戍卒」，终以「忧端齐终南，澒洞不可掇」收束。个人悲剧与时代危机，在此浑然一体。此诗上承《诗经》「饥者歌其食」、下开白居易新乐府「为事而作」，是杜甫「诗史」地位确立的里程碑，也是中国诗歌里把「个人」与「时代」焊得最紧的一篇。

Art

The art is in 'the long masterpiece and the one breath of the whole': 'through the year I worry for the common folk' the first vein of the written in my feelings, 'the vermilion gates reek of wine and meat, while on the road lie the bones of the frozen dead' the sharpest contrast of the extravagant and the frozen, the indictment without a word of the comment, and 'my sorrows rise level with Mount Zhongnan' closes the sorrow with the image of the mountain—the three lines, from the worry to the contrast to the sorrow, the pivot and the warning of the whole poem, the very 'poetry as history.'

此诗的艺术，在「长篇巨制而一气浑成」，五百字如江河奔泻，却脉络清晰。前半（约至「放歌破愁绝」）是自述身世与素志：以「杜陵有布衣，老大意转拙」起，依次写许身稷契之愚、穷年忧黎元之热、不事干谒之节、沉饮自遣之苦，把一个困顿而固执的诗人立在场中央。这是「咏怀」的正题。中段（「岁暮百草零」至「路有冻死骨」）笔锋陡转，由自述跳到行旅与骊山：疾风裂冈、霜断衣带，是苦寒；御榻嵽嵲、羽林相摩，是极奢。「赐浴皆长缨，与宴非短褐」「彤庭所分帛，本自寒女出」，层层揭出剥削之源；至「朱门酒肉臭，路有冻死骨」一声爆响，把全诗的张力推到顶点。末段（「北辕就泾渭」至结尾）写渡河、到家、幼子饿死，由国事跌入家破，再反涌为「默思失业徒，因念远戍卒」的普世之忧。结构上「个人—朝廷—个人—天下」的回旋，使小我与大时代互为镜像。语言上以五言古体行之，转韵自由、句式错落，叙事议论抒情浑融，是杜诗「沉郁顿挫」风格的奠基之作。

Allusions

The allusions and the comparison of the poem are all pressed on the two lines of 'the conduct of the scholar' and 'the gain and the loss of the government.' 'Comparing myself to Ji and Qi' of the poem uses the ministers of Shun, Ji (the official of the agriculture) and Qi (the director of the people) for his self-expectation, writing his foolish wish of 'making the sovereign a Yao or a Shun'; the 'sovereign of Yao and Shun' of the poem puns on the present Xuanzong, ostensibly praising the sage, in truth measuring the reality with the standard of Yao and Shun. 'The sunflower and the bean-leaf incline to the sun, the nature of the thing cannot be taken away' uses Cao Zhi's 'Petition for the Intercourse of the Relatives,' 'like the sunflower and the bean-leaf inclining their leaves, though the sun does not return its light, yet those that turn to it are sincere,' likening his loyalty to the sovereign to the natural inclination of the sunflower to the sun.

诗中用典与比兴，都压在「士之操守」与「政之得失」两条线上。「许身一何愚，窃比稷与契」以舜臣稷（农官）、契（司徒）自期，写其「致君尧舜」的痴愿；「尧舜君」则双关当朝玄宗，表面颂圣，实则以尧舜之标准暗衡现实。「葵藿倾太阳，物性固莫夺」用曹植《求通亲亲表》「若葵藿之倾叶，太阳虽不为之回光，然向之者诚也」，喻己之忠君出于本性，不可强改。「终愧巢与由」用巢父、许由，写自己虽慕隐逸而未能易节，反衬许身之坚。「蚩尤塞寒空」以黄帝战蚩尤之雾喻骊山寒气，暗带兵革之气；「卫霍室」以卫青、霍去病喻外戚贵幸（杨国忠、杨贵妃辈），直刺权贵专有内府金盘。「朱门」「冻死骨」虽非典，却是《孟子》「庖有肥肉，野有饿莩」的唐人翻版。这些典故经杜甫调度，不是炫学，而是把一己之困、一朝之弊，接入「士节—君道—民瘼」的儒家大脉络。尤其是「葵藿倾太阳」，把忠悃写成物性，既坚且哀，是杜诗「以比兴写政见」的典范。

Commentary

Since the Song, the poem has been held as the first cornerstone of Du Fu's 'poetry as history.' The Song Hu Zi's 'Words of the Fisherman in the Reed Grove' cites the 'Old Man's Poetry Talk,' specially admiring the 'the vermilion gates reek of wine and meat, while on the road lie the bones of the frozen dead' as the stroke of the 'poetry as history'; Lu You says that in reading Du Fu's poetry 'one should seek where he is in the troubled age and worried for the common folk,' exactly for this poem. The Ming Hu Yinglin, in his 'Forest of Poetry' on the long poems, says of this poem that it is 'grand and magnificent, dense and secret, forming a great master of itself,' and with the 'Northern Expedition' both the twin masterpieces of the long poems of the poet-historian.

此诗自宋以来，即被推为杜诗「诗史」的第一块基石。宋人胡仔《苕溪渔隐丛话》引《迂叟诗话》，特赏「朱门酒肉臭，路有冻死骨」为「诗史」之笔；陆游谓读杜诗「当于其处乱世、忧黎元处求之」，正为此诗而发。明人胡应麟《诗薮》论长篇，称此诗「宏壮瑰密，自成大家」，与《北征》并为五古双璧。清人浦起龙《读杜心解》解此诗，谓其「一篇之中，三致意焉：一伤己，一忧国，一念民」，结构如「大旋涡」；近人梁启超《情圣杜甫》更以此诗证杜之「热肠」，谓其忧非私忧，乃「以天下为一家」之忧。也有论者指出，此诗的「预言」性质最堪玩味：作于安史乱前数月，诗中「君臣留欢娱」「路有冻死骨」的对照，几乎是一则政治谶语。后世每逢盛世隐患，必引此诗为戒。它不只是文学作品，更是中国士大夫「以诗议政」传统的巅峰标本——一首诗，抵得上一篇《过秦论》。当代学者更从思想史角度指出，此诗的「咏怀」实为「忧时」，杜甫把个体穷达之叹，最终升华为对整个统治结构「朱门—冻骨」二元裂痕的揭示，其批判锋芒已逼近社会剖析，而非一般士大夫的感时伤遇。诗中「默思失业徒，因念远戍卒」的自家推扩，更显出儒家「推己及人」的仁爱如何从私人丧子之痛，漫成对天下寒士戍卒的普遍悲悯，这种由「小我」到「大群」的情感扩容，正是杜诗能成「诗史」的内在伦理根基。也正因此，它不仅属于天宝一朝，更成为后世每逢治乱之际必被重读的镜鉴——其价值早已溢出文学，而进入了中国政治文化的集体记忆。

Prosody

Form Five-character ancient verse (long narrative and lyric, free in the change of the rhymes, not subject to the regulated tonal pattern, mainly the five-character sentences with the prose syntax interspersed)五言古诗（五古，长篇叙事抒情，转韵自由，不主近体粘对，句式以五言为主，间以散文句法）

Rhyme The whole is a long ancient poem, changing the rhymes with the feeling, the sections clear: the opening section on the rhymes of 'zhuo, qi, kuo, huo, re, lie, yue, jue, que, duo, xue, bo, ye, mei, jie, jue'全诗五古长篇，随情转韵，段落分明：开篇「拙、契、阔、豁、热、烈、月、诀、缺、夺、穴、渤、谒、没、节、绝」一段（月屑韵通押，写自述之志）；中段「裂、发、结、嵲、滑、戛、阔、褐、出、阙、活、物、栗、室、质、瑟、橘、骨、述、辙、兀、折、窣、越、雪、卒、渴、啜、噎、屑、掇」一段（屑曷黠月通押，写行旅与忧思之烈）。韵随段落铺展，声情由郁结而奔放。

Tone pattern The 'through the year I worry' is deep, the 'the vermilion gates reek' turns sharply, and the 'my sorrows rise level with Mount Zhongnan' is vast—the whole from the worry to the contrast to the sorrow, the grief of the country and the people carried by the changing rhymes五古不尚近体粘对，而重气脉与换韵。此诗以五言为基本句式，平仄随情，转韵处多换入声（月、屑、曷、黠诸韵），发音短促逼仄，恰助其沉郁顿挫、如鲠在喉的声调；尤其「路有冻死骨」「澒洞不可掇」等句，以入声收束，把悲愤硬生生截住，余痛比长收更沉。

Reading note The free change of the rhymes of the ancient verse carries the five hundred characters, the turning of the poem from the worry to the indictment to the sorrow.五言古诗是唐前叙事抒情的正体，容量远大于律绝，最适合杜甫这种「个人—时代」的巨幅展开。此诗五百字，若用律诗则格碍难伸，用五古则如江河奔泻，转韵自由、句式错落，能把自述、行旅、议论、叙事、抒情一股脑纳进。声律上最见匠心处，在入声韵的密集使用。前半自述用月屑韵，声音已带郁结；到「朱门酒肉臭，路有冻死骨」一带，转入更密的屑曷黠月通押，入声字短促收断，像把每一次悲愤都掐在喉头——不是唱出来，是哽出来。尤其末句「澒洞不可掇」以入声「掇」字顿住，那片漫溢的忧被声音强行截住，反而更显不可收拾。这种「以入声写沉郁」的声调策略，是杜诗「顿挫」的物质基础：律诗靠平仄的起伏制造顿挫，五古长篇则靠换韵与入声的疏密制造顿挫。此诗证明，古体不「古」，它可以是时代最锋利的录音机——五百字的声腔里，已经预先录下了天宝将乱的心跳。

Line by line

穷年忧黎元，叹息肠内热。

Through the year I worry for the common folk, and sigh, my bowels burning within. (The first vein of the written in my feelings: the whole year's worry for the common people, the bowels burning with the sigh, the heart of the whole poem and the core of Du Fu's poetry of the concern for the people.)

终年忧念百姓，叹息中肠如焚。

All year I grieve for the common people, sighing, my bowels burning hot.

这一联是全书前半的「志」之凝结点，也是杜甫自我形象的定调。「穷年忧黎元」五字，写他一年到头、无时或已地忧念百姓（黎元）；一个「穷」字不是穷困，是穷尽、是整年不断，把「忧民」从偶尔的感慨写成常态的生命状态。「叹息肠内热」更见其痴：他不是冷眼忧，而是忧到叹息、忧到肠中如焚。「热」字极妙，与后面骊山的「寒」（霜严衣带断）形成体内之热与体外之寒的反差——外物再冷，他这颗忧民的心是烫的。这种「内热」，正是儒家「不忍人之心」的肉身化：看见别人冻死，自己的肠先烧起来。这联的力道，在它把宏大的「仁政」理想，落到一个人的体温上。杜甫不喊口号，只写自己肠热、自己叹息，却比任何颂圣之辞都重。它是前半自述的眼：前面许身稷契、葵藿倾日，到此收成「肠内热」三个字，一个活生生的、忧得发烫的杜甫，立在五百字的开篇不远处，等着后文用「冻死骨」来回应他这一腔热。

This couplet is the first half's aspiration condensing point, also Du Fu's self-image's keynote. All year I grieve for the common people five characters write him year-round, never-ceasing grieving for the people. One all-year is not poverty, but exhausting, year-long unceasing; writing the people-grief from occasional sigh into a constant life state. My bowels burning hot in sighing further shows his infatuation: he is not coldly grieving, but grieving to sighing, grieving to bowels burning. Hot is most subtle, forming with the later Lishan's cold (frost severe, belt broken) the contrast of inner heat and outer cold - the outside cold whatever, this people-grieving heart is scalding. This inner heat is precisely Confucianism's heart that cannot bear others' suffering made flesh: seeing others freeze to death, his own bowels first catch fire. This couplet's force lies in pressing the grand benevolent-government ideal onto one person's body temperature. Du Fu does not shout slogans, only writes his own bowels hot, his own sighing, yet heavier than any praise-the-king words. It is the first half self-narration's eye: the earlier pledging-himself-to-Ji-and-Xie, sunflower-turning-to-sun, here gathered into three characters bowels burning hot; a living, grief-scalded Du Fu stands not far from the five-hundred-character opening, waiting for the later frozen-bones to answer this belly of heat.

朱门酒肉臭，路有冻死骨。

The vermilion gates reek of wine and meat, while on the road lie the bones of the frozen dead. (The most famous couplet: the vermilion gates reeking of the wine and the meat against the bones of the frozen dead on the road, the sharpest contrast of the extravagant and the frozen, the eternal indictment, the very 'poetry as history.')

朱门里酒肉发臭，路旁有冻死的枯骨。

In the vermilion gates wine and meat go to waste; by the road lie frozen bones.

这一联是全书、也是整个杜诗最震烁千古的两句，是「诗史」二字最具体的注脚。「朱门酒肉臭」写权贵之家：朱红的大门内，酒肉多到发臭——「臭」可读去声（朽），指气味蒸腾，极写奢靡之剩；「路有冻死骨」转写民间：同一条路的旁边，就躺着冻饿而死的人。十个字，三组对照压缩到极致：朱门对路旁（空间咫尺）、酒肉对枯骨（生死反差）、臭对死（过剩对绝灭）。「咫尺」之近，让这对照无从躲避——不是远方有穷、近处有富，而是富与死就挨在一起，富贵人家的酒肉气，几乎扑在冻骨脸上。这种「荣枯咫尺异」的写法，比长篇控诉更有力，因为它只陈列、不议论，让事实自己说话。这联的诞生，有赖于前半所有的自述作铺垫：正因杜甫「穷年忧黎元」，他走过骊山脚下时，眼才看得见这具骨；也正因他刚写过「彤庭所分帛，本自寒女出」的剥削链，这「臭」与「骨」才不只是偶然惨景，而是制度的后果。十个字，把一首五百字长诗的重量，一次性压进读者的胸口。千古而下，凡言贫富悬隔者，终难逃此十字。

This couplet is the whole poem, and all Du poetry's most thunderous two lines, the most concrete footnote to poetry-history. In the vermilion gates wine and meat go to waste writes the powerful houses: within the vermilion gates, wine and meat so abundant they rot. Rot can be read falling tone (rotten), meaning the steaming stench, exhausting the luxury's surplus. By the road lie frozen bones turns to the folk: beside the same road lies the person frozen-and-starved to death. Ten characters, three groups of contrast compressed to the extreme: vermilion gates against by-the-road (space a foot apart), wine-and-meat against frozen-bones (life-and-death contrast), rot against frozen (surplus against extinction). The a-foot-apart nearness makes this contrast unavoidable - not distant poverty, nearby wealth, but wealth and death right next to each other; the rich house's wine-meat stench almost breathes on the frozen bone's face. This prosperity-and-decay-a-foot-apart writing is more forceful than a long indictment, because it only displays, does not argue, letting facts speak. This couplet's birth relies on all the first half's self-narration as ground: precisely because Du Fu grieves for the people all year, when he passes Lishan's foot, his eye sees this bone; and precisely because he just wrote the court-distributed silk, all from the cold-woman's toil's exploitation chain, this rot and bone are not merely an accidental tragic scene, but the institution's consequence. Ten characters press a five-hundred-character long poem's weight into the reader's chest at once. Through the ages, whoever speaks of the wealth-poverty gulf, can never escape these ten characters.

忧端齐终南，澒洞不可掇。

My sorrows rise level with Mount Zhongnan, vast and deep, they cannot be gathered up. (The close of the sorrow: the sorrow rising level with the Zhongnan Mountain, vast and deep and cannot be gathered up, the grief of the country and the people to the utmost.)

忧端高齐终南，浩茫无边不可收拾。

My sorrow rises level with Zhongnan, vast and boundless beyond gathering.

这一联是全诗的收束，也是杜甫之忧的终极形状。「忧端齐终南」：我的忧绪，高得与终南山齐——终南是长安近旁的名山，巍巍在望，杜甫用它度量自己忧思的「高度」与「重量」。一个「齐」字，把无形的愁，写成有形的、可与山比高的实体。「澒洞不可掇」更进一层：澒洞是浩茫相连、无边无际的样子；掇是拾取、收拾。意思是这忧如洪水弥漫，根本收拾不起来、捡拾不住。前面所有的忧——忧黎元、忧幼子、忧失业徒、忧远戍卒——到此汇成一片汪洋，不是某一件具体的愁，而是整个人间苦难的弥漫。这联的妙，在它不「结束」忧，而让忧「溢出」：诗可以写完，忧写不完。终南虽高，犹有顶；杜甫的忧却「不可掇」，连顶都没有。这是一种开放式的收束，把个人家破之痛，最终扩成笼罩整个时代的、不可收拾的悲悯。五百字至此戛然而止，可那片澒洞的忧，还漫在纸上、漫向安史之乱将至的天下。读懂这「不可掇」三字，才知杜甫所谓「诗史」，不是记录了事，而是把时代的伤口，永远地敞在那里。

This couplet is the whole poem's close, also Du Fu's sorrow's ultimate shape. My sorrow rises level with Zhongnan: my sorrow's height reaches Zhongnan - Zhongnan is the famous mountain near Chang'an, towering in view; Du Fu uses it to measure his sorrow's height and weight. One level writes the formless sorrow into a tangible entity comparable in height to a mountain. Vast and boundless beyond gathering goes one level further: vast-and-boundless is the vast connected, shoreless state; gathering is to pick up, to collect. The meaning is this sorrow, like flood mist, fundamentally cannot be gathered, cannot be grasped. All the previous sorrow - grieving the people, grieving the youngest child, grieving the unemployed, grieving the far garrison soldiers - here gathered into one boundless flood; not some specific sorrow, but the whole human suffering's mist. This couplet's subtlety lies in not ending the sorrow, but letting the sorrow overflow: the poem can be finished, the sorrow cannot. Zhongnan though high, yet has a top; Du Fu's sorrow yet beyond gathering, not even a top. This is an open close, expanding the personal family-broken grief finally into the era-enshrouding, beyond-gathering compassion. Five hundred characters here stop abruptly; yet that vast sorrow still spreads on the paper, spreads toward the天下 where the An Lushan rebellion is about to come. Reading this beyond gathering three characters, then one knows Du Fu's so-called poetry-history is not merely recording events, but leaving the era's wound forever open there.

Study

Word focus

黎元 The common folk (the black-haired masses). The word of the concern: 'through the year I worry for the common folk'—the common people, the object of Du Fu's whole-year worry, the very core of his poetry of the concern for the people. 「穷年忧黎元」的「黎元」，是杜甫忧思的对象，也是全诗情感的落点。黎元即百姓、黔首，本是无个性的集体词；可杜甫偏「穷年」忧之，把无个性的词写出了切肤的温度。这个词的选用，标明此诗不是「士不遇」的自怜，而是「以民为念」的仁政情怀——他的忧，终点在黎元，而非在己。一个词，定了全诗「民胞物与」的基调，也使后文「冻死骨」的惨，成了他忧的必然落实。

葵藿倾太阳 The sunflower and the bean-leaf incline to the sun. The word of the loyalty: from Cao Zhi's petition, 'like the sunflower and the bean-leaf inclining their leaves'—the loyalty of the poet to the sovereign like the natural inclination of the sunflower to the sun, the nature of the thing cannot be taken away. 「葵藿倾太阳，物性固莫夺」是前半最见比兴功力的一句。葵花、藿叶本性向阳，杜甫借以喻自己忠君忧国出于天性，如植物向光，不可强改。这个比喻的妙，在把政治立场写成「物性」——不是勉强、不是邀宠，而是本能。既坚（不可夺）且哀（明知君未必回光仍倾之），恰是杜甫「愚忠」二字的诗意表达。它既回应了「许身稷契」的痴愿，也为后文见「朱门」而肠热、见「冻骨」而忧不可掇，埋下了性格上的伏线：正因他是「倾太阳」的葵藿，才忧患到不可收拾。

朱门酒肉臭，路有冻死骨 The vermilion gates reek of wine and meat, while on the road lie the bones of the frozen dead. The eternal couplet: the reek of the wine and the meat of the great families against the bones of the frozen dead on the road, the sharpest contrast of the class, the indictment of the 'poetry as history,' the most famous lines of all Du Fu's poetry. 这十字本身是炼句史上的巅峰，值得整体作一词读。朱门对路旁、酒肉对枯骨、臭对死，三组反差在咫尺空间内并置，把阶级悬隔写成触目可及的肉身事实。尤堪玩味的是「臭」字：或解腐臭、或解气味蒸腾，无论何解，都指向「过剩」；与「冻死骨」的「绝灭」相对，过剩与绝灭同框，比任何长篇讽喻都锋利。这十字之所以不朽，正因它只陈列不判断，让事实自己成为判决——这是杜甫「诗史」笔法最凝练的示范。

忧端齐终南 My sorrows rise level with Mount Zhongnan. The word of the sorrow: the sorrow of the poet rising level with the Zhongnan Mountain, vast and deep and cannot be gathered up, the grief of the country and the people in the image of the mountain. 「忧端齐终南」的「齐」字，是全诗收束的炼字眼。它把抽象的忧思，用终南山这一具体可感的高度来度量，使愁有了体量、有了重量。更妙在「齐」而非「逾」：与终南齐，已是不可逾越之高；若说「逾终南」便虚，说「齐终南」则实而可感。这个「齐」字，把前面所有的国忧、家忧、民忧，压缩成一个可仰望的意象，又为下句「澒洞不可掇」的漫溢留出接口——山虽高而有顶，忧却连顶都没有。一字之间，收束了五百字。