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魏晋 Wei-Jin · 诗 Poem

善哉行

Shan Zai Xing (O How Fine!)

曹丕

Cao Pi

愁思sorrow 哲理Philosophy

上山采薇，薄暮苦饥。
溪谷多风，霜露沾衣。
野雉群雊，猿猴相追。
还望故乡，郁何垒垒。
高山有崖，林木有枝。
忧来无方，人莫之知。
人生如寄，多忧何为？
今我不乐，岁月如驰。
汤汤川流，中有行舟。
随波回转，有似客游。
策我良马，被我轻裘。
载驰载驱，聊以忘忧。

Up the hill I gather ferns; at dusk I suffer hunger and cold.
The gullies are full of wind; frost and dew wet my clothes.
Wild pheasants cry in flocks; apes and monkeys chase one another.
I look back toward my home—how heavy, how piled, the gloom.
High mountains have cliffs; trees and woods have branches.
Sorrow comes without cause; no one can know it.
Life is like a sojourn; why should I harbor so many cares?
If I take no joy now, the years will fly like a steed.
The great river flows on and on; a boat moves within it.
Turning with the waves, it is like a traveler abroad.
I urge my fine horse; I wrap myself in my light fur.
Now galloping, now driving—just to forget my sorrow.

Listen

Meaning

Shan Zai Xing is an old yuefu tune (Xiang He songs, se melody). Cao Pi wrote this piece on the tune. The lines 'up the hill to gather ferns' and 'looking back to my home' write the hardship of travel and longing for home; 'life is like a sojourn' and 'just to forget my sorrow' lean toward the late-Han ease and the xian / metaphysical musing. Cao Pi, Emperor Wen of Wei, was known for a gentle, graceful style; this piece blends grievance and pleasure, exactly the temperament of the Ye literati who cherished the wind and moon yet often mourned the falling leaf.

上山采摘野菜，近暮时分饥寒交迫。溪谷里多风，霜露沾湿了衣襟。野雉成群啼叫，猿猴相互追逐。回头眺望故乡，愁云郁郁、重重叠叠。高山有崖，林木有枝。忧思袭来没有缘由，旁人无从知晓。人生如寄居世上，多忧又所为何来？今我若不行乐，岁月便如奔马飞驰。汤汤大河奔流，其中有行舟。随波回转，恰似客中游子。鞭策我的骏马，披上我的轻裘。且驰且驱，暂借此忘却忧愁。

Appreciation

The whole is in four-character lines, warm and antique-elegant. The first six lines write gathering ferns, cold wind, crying pheasants, chasing apes, looking home—spreading the desolation of travel. 'High mountains have cliffs; trees have branches' secretly borrows the Yue Ren song, using 'have' to set off the namelessness of 'sorrow comes without cause.' The latter part—'life is like a sojourn,' 'the years fly like a steed'—turns from grief to ease; 'I urge my fine horse, wrap in light fur' writes forgetting sorrow through action. The structure moves from scene to feeling, from gloom to openness, composed and measured.

【白话串讲】 “上山采薇，薄暮苦饥”——曹丕写远行的人：上山采野菜，傍晚又饿又冷。“忧来无方，人莫之知”——忧伤没有来由，没人知道。一个皇帝，写出了人间的苦。【意象与手法】全篇以四言为体，温润古雅。起六句写采薇、风寒、雉雊、猿追、望乡，铺排羁旅萧瑟；「高山有崖，林木有枝」暗袭《越人歌》「山有木兮木有枝，心悦君兮君不知」，以「有」字反衬「忧来无方」之无可名状。后幅「人生如寄」「岁月如驰」由悲转旷，「策我良马，被我轻裘」以行动写忘忧。【情感与主旨】《善哉行》为汉乐府「相和歌·瑟调曲」题，曹丕依题作此篇。诗中「上山采薇」「还望故乡」写行役羁旅与思归，「人生如寄」「聊以忘忧」则近汉末旷达与游仙玄思，融合怨旷与行乐，正见邺下文人「怜风月、狎池苑」而又时伤摇落的时代心境。【名句点睛】中考可取「高山有崖，林木有枝」考查化用古诗的妙处，或分析「人生如寄，多忧何为」包含的旷达与无奈。

Background

Shan Zai Xing is an old yuefu tune (Xiang He songs, se melody); Cao Pi wrote this piece on the tune (another chapter, 'The morning sun, how joyful,' also survives). 'Up the hill to gather ferns' and 'looking back to my home' write travel and homesickness; 'life is like a sojourn' and 'just to forget my sorrow' lean toward late-Han ease and xian / metaphysical thought. Cao Pi was Emperor Wen of Wei; his poetry is called gentle and graceful. This piece blends grievance and pleasure, showing the Ye literati's mood of cherishing wind and moon while still grieving the falling leaf.

《善哉行》为汉乐府「相和歌·瑟调曲」旧题，曹丕依题作此篇（另存「朝日乐相乐」等章）。曹丕（187—226），字子桓，曹操长子，三国魏的开国皇帝，即魏文帝，亦为建安文学的代表作家，与父曹操、弟曹植并称「三曹」。此诗以「上山采薇」「还望故乡」写行役羁旅与思归之情，以「人生如寄」「聊以忘忧」写人生感慨与自我排遣，融合怨旷与行乐、忧生与旷达，正是汉末魏初动乱时代文人普遍的生命意识的体现——建安年间战乱频仍、疫病流行，士人深感人生短促，遂生「及时行乐」与「忧生念乱」并存的心态，曹丕此诗即是这种时代心境的典型样本，亦见其「便娟婉约」的诗风在乐府旧题中的运用。曹丕此诗作于汉末魏初，其时战乱频仍、疫病流行，士人「生年不满百，常怀千岁忧」，及时行乐与忧生念乱并存；曹丕身为世子，其忧不止于个人羁旅，更关乎天下苍生与家族基业，此诗以「采薇」「望乡」「如寄」写行役之忧，又以「策马」「忘忧」作排遣，正是建安时代「人的觉醒」中生命意识的典型表达。

Art

The whole in four-character lines, warm and elegant. First six lines spread travel's desolation; 'high mountains have cliffs, trees have branches' secretly echoes the Yue Ren song, using 'have' to set off the nameless sorrow. Later 'life is like a sojourn,' 'years fly like a steed' turn grief to ease; 'urge my fine horse, wrap in light fur' writes forgetting sorrow by action—scene to feeling, gloom to openness, composed.

全篇以四言为体，温润古雅，章法由沉郁转疏朗。起六句写采薇、风寒、雉雊、猿追、望乡，铺排羁旅萧瑟之景：采薇薄暮、溪谷霜露，是行役之苦；野雉群雊、猿猴相追，是山野之荒；「还望故乡，郁何垒垒」以「垒垒」叠字写愁云之浓重，望乡之悲毕现。中段「高山有崖，林木有枝」暗袭《越人歌》「山有木兮木有枝，心悦君兮君不知」，以「有」字反衬「忧来无方，人莫之知」之无可名状——山有崖、木有枝，皆有其定，而忧之来去无方、无人知晓，翻古语而见新意。后幅「人生如寄，多忧何为」「今我不乐，岁月如驰」由悲转旷，以理遣情；「汤汤川流，中有行舟。随波回转，有似客游」以舟行喻客游，再写漂泊之叹；结以「策我良马，被我轻裘。载驰载驱，聊以忘忧」，以行动写忘忧，强作排遣，章法由景入情、由沉郁转疏朗，从容有致。此外，全诗以「忧」字贯穿而章法多变：前段以景写忧（采薇、霜露、雉雊、望乡），中段以理遣忧（高山有崖、人生如寄），后段以行解忧（策马、驰驱），忧之来去如环，章法亦如环之无端；「高山有崖，林木有枝」一联，更以物之有定反衬忧之无方，翻用古语而自成机杼，正是此诗艺术上最见匠心处。

Allusions

'Gather ferns' uses the tale of Bo Yi and Shu Qi hiding on Shouyang and gathering ferns, carrying both travel and reclusion; 'high mountains have cliffs, trees have branches' openly transforms the Yue Ren song from the Shuo Yuan, turning it to new effect; 'life is like a sojourn' comes from the Nineteen Old Poems; 'now galloping, now driving' is from the Shi Jing. Allusions natural, as if his own.

「采薇」用伯夷、叔齐隐于首阳山采薇而食之典（《史记·伯夷列传》），兼写行役与隐逸双重意味：采薇本为隐者清操的象征，此处却写「薄暮苦饥」的困顿，隐逸之想与现实之苦交织；「高山有崖，林木有枝」明化《说苑·善说》所载《越人歌》「山有木兮木有枝，心悦君兮君不知」，翻案见新——越人歌以「有枝」引出「君不知」的恋情，曹丕则转以「有崖」「有枝」反衬「忧来无方」的无可名状；「人生如寄」本《古诗十九首》「人生忽如寄，寿无金石固」，叹生命如寄居；「汤汤川流」化用《论语》「子在川上曰：逝者如斯夫」，暗含时光流逝之意；「载驰载驱」语出《诗经·鄘风·载驰》。用典自然，若出己口，是曹丕以博学化入乐府的体现。「汤汤川流，中有行舟。随波回转，有似客游」四句，又暗承《论语》「逝者如斯夫，不舍昼夜」之川流意象：川流既是客游之喻，亦是时光之喻，行舟随波回转，正如人生随世浮沉，一喻双关，把漂泊之感与流年之叹合而写之，用典之妙，在于不着痕迹。

Commentary

The Yue Fu Collection vol. 36 records several chapters of Cao Pi's Shan Zai Xing. Ming's Wang Shizhen called the emperor's poetry gentle and graceful, able to move the heart; this piece writes the sigh of travel and life, then returns to pleasure—different from Cao Zhi's sigh of anxious life, and seen by moderns as opening the ease branch of the Wei-Jin awakening of the self.

《乐府诗集》卷三十六录曹丕《善哉行》数章。明·王世贞《艺苑卮言》称文帝诗「便娟婉约，能移人情」，此篇写羁旅忧生之嗟而复归行乐，正是其「婉约能移人情」的例证。近人论曹丕诗，多谓其以「怨而不怒、哀而不伤」见长，此诗「忧来无方，人莫之知」写忧之深，「载驰载驱，聊以忘忧」写遣忧之难，忧而不沉、旷而不薄，与曹植「忧生之嗟」的慷慨激烈异趣，已开魏晋「人的觉醒」中旷达一脉——以理性与行动消解忧患，正见建安文人在乱世中寻求精神安顿的自觉。此诗虽为拟乐府旧题，而能融入自身行役羁旅的真切体验与时代的人生感喟，是曹丕乐府诗中「拟古而自出新意」的代表，也是研究建安文学生命意识的重要文本。此诗在曹丕乐府中地位独特：其「拟古而自出新意」的写法，与曹操《短歌行》「对酒当歌」一脉相承，而情感更为内敛婉约，正见父子诗风之别；刘勰《文心雕龙》称「文帝以位尊减才」，此诗却以情真动人，足证曹丕「便娟婉约，能移人情」之评，亦为研究建安乐府由古题到新声的演变提供了范本。

Prosody

Form Han yuefu old title · four-character poem (Cao Pi's yuefu)汉乐府旧题·四言诗（曹丕拟乐府）

Rhyme Ji, yi, zhui, lei, zhi, zhi, wei, chi, zhou, you, qiu, you—zhi and wei groups mixed; four-character follows rhyme押「饥、衣、追、垒、枝、知、为、驰、舟、游、裘、忧」等，支、微、尤等部交押，四言随韵转，不拘一格。

Tone pattern four-character ancient form, level-oblique not strict四言古体，平仄未严，两句一韵、随韵而转，音节整饬中有变化，前段沉郁、后段疏朗，声情随情感转折。

Reading note Emperor Wen's graceful style; clever use of the Yue Ren song此诗为曹丕拟汉乐府《善哉行》旧题之作，体制上属四言古诗。四言诗自《诗经》之后，汉魏间以曹操、曹丕父子最为擅长，此诗正见四言诗在汉魏的复兴。用韵上，全诗十二句六韵（「饥、衣、追、垒、枝、知、为、驰、舟、游、裘、忧」），支、微、尤等韵部交押，两句一韵、随韵而转，是乐府「随韵转韵」的典型——韵随情转，前段写羁旅之苦用支微韵（细密低回），后段写行乐忘忧转尤韵（开阔悠长），声情与辞情相生。句法上全为四言，两句一意、偶句押韵，「高山有崖，林木有枝」「汤汤川流，中有行舟」等句于整饬中见变化，四言句式的庄重典丽与乐府旧题的古朴相得益彰。此诗代表了三曹父子对四言乐府体的继承与创新：以四言写行役羁旅与人生感慨，既有《诗经》的典雅，又有乐府的本色，为四言诗在魏晋的最后一轮辉煌贡献了重要篇章。

Line by line

上山采薇，薄暮苦饥

I climb the hill to gather ferns; at dusk I am hungry and weary.

上山采摘野菜，近暮时分饥寒交迫。

I climb the hill to gather wild herbs; at dusk I suffer hunger.

起笔写行役之苦，用「采薇」之典而翻出新意，是全诗情感的开端。「上山采薇」化用伯夷叔齐采薇首阳之典，本有隐逸清操的意味，此处却写实笔法：上山采野菜充饥，是行役途中的实际困顿；「薄暮苦饥」更以「薄暮」（近晚）与「苦饥」相叠，写天色将暮而饥肠辘辘，行役之艰、旅途之惨尽在其中。此句的深意在于「苦」字：采薇本可自标高洁，而饥寒交迫的「苦」却消解了隐逸的诗意，露出生活的本相——这正是汉末乱世中士人行役的真实处境。以四言两句写尽一天的奔波与饥饿，起笔即定全诗羁旅萧瑟的基调，为后文的望乡、忧来、忘忧层层铺垫，是曹丕乐府「以简笔写深苦」的典范。

The opening writes service-travel toil, using the fern-gathering allusion yet turning new meaning, the poem's emotional start. I-climb-the-hill-to-gather-ferns transforms Boyi and Shuqi gathering ferns on Shouyang allusion, originally meaning reclusion's pure integrity; here it uses a realistic brush: climbing the hill to gather wild herbs for food, the actual hardship of service travel. At-dusk-I-suffer-hunger further stacks dusk and bitter hunger, writing the day darkening and the stomach empty; service-travel's hardship, journey's misery are all in it. The line's deep meaning is the suffer character: gathering ferns could have marked lofty purity, yet the cold-hunger suffer dissolves the reclusive poetry, revealing life's original face - exactly the late-Han troubled age's literati service-travel real situation. Using four-character two lines to exhaust a day's traveling and hunger, the opening already sets the poem's wanderer desolate tone, preparing the later longing-home, sorrow-coming, forget-sorrow layers; this is Cao Pi's yuefu model of using simple brush for deep suffering.

还望故乡，郁何垒垒

I look back toward my home—how heavy, how piled, the gloom.

回头眺望故乡，愁云郁郁、重重叠叠。

I look back toward my home; sorrows pile, how they pile!

写望乡之悲，「垒垒」叠字状愁云层叠，是全诗情感由苦转悲的枢纽。「还望故乡」四字，写行役途中蓦然回首，眺望来路与故乡，一个「还」字见其频频回望、恋恋不舍的动态，思归之情油然而生；「郁何垒垒」以「郁」写愁绪之浓重，「垒垒」是叠字，本形容坟墓或山丘层叠之貌，此处移以写愁云：望乡而见山云层叠，愁亦如山云般重重叠叠、堆积胸中，音情相生，形象极妙。「垒垒」以重浊之音写堆积之愁，声与情合，正是汉魏诗叠字的典范用法。此句由景入情，以愁云写愁心，把羁旅之苦升华为思乡之悲，为下文「忧来无方，人莫之知」的深忧张本，是全诗情感的第一层高潮。

This writes longing-home grief; the reduplicated pile describes sorrow clouds stacked, the poem's pivot from hardship to grief. I-look-back-toward-my-home four characters write service travel's sudden looking back toward the road and home; one look-back character writes the frequent turning, reluctant movement; the longing rises naturally. Sorrows-pile-how-they-pile! uses郁 for sorrow's heaviness; pile is a reduplicative, originally describing graves or mounds stacked, here moved to write sorrow clouds: looking home sees mountain clouds stacked, sorrow also like mountain clouds piled in the breast; sound and feeling compose, the image fine. Pile uses heavy sound for piled sorrow, sound meets feeling; this is the Han-Wei poetry reduplicative model. This line moves from scenery to feeling, using sorrow clouds for sorrow heart, elevating wanderer hardship to homesickness grief, preparing the later sorrow-coming-nowhere-man-knows deep sorrow; this is the poem's first emotional peak.

高山有崖，林木有枝

High mountains have cliffs; trees and woods have branches.

高山有崖，林木有枝。

The high mountains have cliffs; the forest trees have branches.

化用《越人歌》之句而翻出新意，以「有」字反衬「忧来无方」，是全诗最见巧思的一联。「高山有崖」写高山必有崖壁，「林木有枝」写林木必有枝条，两句以「有」字立骨，写万物皆有定形、皆有所止；而紧接的「忧来无方，人莫之知」正以此反衬：山有崖可攀、木有枝可依，忧思却来去无方、无可捉摸，且无人知晓——万物有定而忧无定，此联以「有」衬「无」，翻《越人歌》「山有木兮木有枝，心悦君兮君不知」的恋情为忧思，古语翻新，贴切自然。此联的妙处还在于以景语写情语：不直言忧之深，而说山木皆有枝崖而我忧无所寄，借物之实有写忧之虚渺，含蓄蕴藉，正是曹丕「便娟婉约」诗风的体现。

This transforms the Yue Ren Ge line yet turns new meaning, using the have character to set off sorrow-coming-nowhere, the poem's most ingenious couplet. High-mountains-have-cliffs writes high mountains must have cliffs; forest-trees-have-branches writes forest trees must have branches. The two lines use have as the bone, writing all things having fixed form, all having a resting place. The immediately following sorrow-coming-nowhere, man-knows-it-not uses this as contrast: mountains have cliffs to climb, trees have branches to lean on, yet sorrow comes and goes nowhere, untouchable, and no one knows. All things fixed yet sorrow unfixed; this couplet uses have to set off no-where, turning the Yue Ren Ge's mountain-has-trees-trees-have-branches-heart-delights-in-you-yet-you-do-not-know love song into sorrow; the old words made new, apt and natural. The couplet's beauty is also using scenery words for feeling words: not directly saying sorrow's depth, but saying mountains and trees have branches and cliffs yet my sorrow has no resting place; borrowing thing's solid for sorrow's void, reserved and pregnant, exactly showing Cao Pi's graceful-delicate style.

人生如寄，多忧何为

Life is like a sojourn; why should I harbor so many cares?

人生如寄居世上，多忧又所为何来？

Life is like a sojourn; why grieve so much?

由悲转旷，以理遣情，是全诗情感转折的关键，亦汉末生命意识之回响。「人生如寄」本《古诗十九首》「人生忽如寄」：生命如寄居旅舍，短暂而无常，这是汉末乱世中士人最普遍的生命感喟；「多忧何为」紧承其上，以反问出之：人生如此短促，多忧又多何益处呢？——既然生命如寄，忧亦无益，不如放下。此句的妙处在于「以理遣情」：不是没有忧，而是以人生短促之理自我宽解，把「忧」与「命」相对照，用旷达消解悲哀；而「何为」的反问又透着无奈——多忧确实无益，可忧又岂是说放就放得下？旷达之中暗含沉痛，正是建安文人「忧生」与「行乐」并存心态的典型表达，为结句「聊以忘忧」作了情感与逻辑的双重铺垫。

This turns from grief to openness, using reason to dispatch feeling, the poem's emotional turn key, also the late-Han life-consciousness echo. Life-is-like-a-sojourn comes from the Nineteen Old Poems' life suddenly like a sojourn: life is like lodging in an inn, short and impermanent; this is the late-Han troubled age's most common literati life sigh. Why-grieve-so-much? carries on, in a rhetorical question: life so short, what benefit in much sorrow? - since life is like a sojourn, sorrow is useless, better to put it down. The line's beauty is using-reason-to-dispatch-feeling: not having no sorrow, but using life's shortness for self-consolation, setting sorrow against destiny, using openness to dissolve grief. Yet why's question also carries helplessness - much sorrow is indeed useless, but is sorrow so easily put down? Openness with inner grief, exactly the Jian'an literati's worry-of-life and pleasure-seeking coexistent state; preparing the closing's forget-sorrow with double emotional and logical ground.

载驰载驱，聊以忘忧

Now galloping, now driving—just to forget my sorrow.

且驰且驱，暂借此忘却忧愁。

I spur the chariot on, to forget my sorrow a while.

以行动写忘忧收束全诗，强作排遣，余味怅然，是「旷达」的最终落脚。「载驰载驱」语出《诗经·鄘风·载驰》，意为驰马驱车，此处写策良马、披轻裘、纵马奔驰的行动——既是写实，更是一种姿态：既然忧来无方、人生如寄，不如策马奔驰，以行动的酣畅排遣心头的郁结；「聊以忘忧」的「聊」字最见深意：聊且、暂且，承认这忘忧只是暂时的、自我安慰的，并非真正解脱。「忘忧」与全篇的「苦饥」「垒垒」「忧来无方」相对，愈是用力忘忧，愈见忧之深重；愈说「聊以」，愈见无奈之深。此句以骏马轻裘的英姿写强作旷达，表面疏朗而内里怅然，正是「以乐景写哀」的变体，全诗在驰驱的背影中收束，忧未忘而诗已尽，余韵悠长。

This closes the poem with action writing forget-sorrow, forced relief, wistful aftertaste, the openness's final landing. I-spur-the-chariot-on comes from Book of Songs Yongfeng's Zai Chi, meaning spurring horse and driving chariot; here writes the action of spurring fine horse, wearing light fur, galloping - both realistic and a posture: since sorrow comes nowhere and life is like a sojourn, better to spur the horse and use action's zest to dispel the breast's knot. To-forget-my-sorrow-a-while's a-while character shows deepest meaning: a-while is temporary, admitting this forget-sorrow is only temporary, self-consolation, not true release. Forget-sorrow set against the whole's bitter-hunger, piled, sorrow-coming-nowhere: the more forcefully one tries to forget, the deeper the sorrow; the more one says a-while, the deeper the helplessness. This line uses fine horse and light fur's martial bearing to write forced openness, surface open yet inside wistful, exactly the variant of using joy-scenery-for-grief; the poem closes in the galloping back, sorrow not forgotten yet the poem ended, the aftertaste long.

Study

Word focus

垒垒 'Yu he lei lei' uses the reduplicative to picture the piled gloom; sound and feeling born together, writing the gloom of homesickness vividly. 「郁何垒垒」以叠字状愁云层叠，是全诗炼字的典范。「垒垒」本形容坟墓、山丘等层叠相连之貌（如《古诗十九首》「垒垒丘与坟」），此处移以形容愁云：望乡而见天边云气郁结、层层堆积，愁绪亦如山云般堆积心头、不可排解。此字的妙处有三：一是以实写虚，以云之层叠写愁之堆积，愁有了可视的形态；二是音情相生，「垒」为来母重浊之音，叠用后更显沉滞压抑，正合愁绪之凝重；三是与「郁」字相配，「郁」写其浓、「垒垒」写其重，二字合力，把「望故乡」的愁绪写得沉重如山。以叠字传情、以声写心，正是汉魏诗人「音情相生」的典型手法，一字之妙，为全诗望乡之悲立骨。

寄 In 'life is like a sojourn,' 'ji' says one dwells in the world as a temporary guest—one word speaks the whole Wei-Jin sense of life adrift. 「人生如寄」之「寄」字，言人居世如暂寓旅舍，一字道尽魏晋生命飘泊感。「寄」本指寄居、托身，此处以「人生如寄」写生命之短促无常：人活在世上，不过是暂时寄居于天地之间，如旅客寄宿旅店，终有一日要离去。此字承《古诗十九首》「人生忽如寄」而来，而曹丕以四言出之，更为凝练；其深意在于「寄」的被动性与临时性——人生不是自己的永久居所，而是暂借的、终将归还的，这种「寄居感」正是乱世中人对生命无常的深刻体认。此字与「多忧何为」相连，构成全诗由忧转旷的逻辑支点：正因为人生如寄、终须一别，执着于忧便显得徒劳，故不妨行乐忘忧。一字之立，牵动全篇的情感走向，是理解曹丕「旷达」诗学观的关键。

善哉行