魏晋 Wei-Jin · 诗 Poem
怨诗楚调
Song of Complaint in Chu Mode
天道幽且远，鬼神茫昧然。
结发念善事，黾勉六九年。
弱冠逢世阻，始室丧其偏。
炎火屡焚如，螟蜮恣中田。
风雨纵横至，收敛不盈廛。
夏日长抱饥，寒夜无被眠。
造夕思鸡鸣，及晨愿乌迁。
在己何怨天，离忧凄目前。
吁嗟身后名，于我若浮烟。
慷慨独悲歌，钟期信为贤。
Since I bound my hair I have minded good deeds, striving for six times nine years.
At twenty I met the world's bar; at thirty I lost my mate.
Flame and fire oft burned like this; locusts and worms ran riot in the mid-field.
Wind and rain came in crisscross; my harvest did not fill a hut.
Long summer days I bore hunger; cold nights I slept with no quilt.
At dusk I longed for the cock's crow; at dawn I wished the sun would move on.
What have I to blame heaven for? The grief of parting is before me.
Alas, fame after death — to me it is like floating smoke.
With passion I sing my lone song; Zhong Zi-qi was truly a worthy.
Meaning
Heaven's way is deep and far; the matter of ghosts and spirits is dim and hard to know. Since binding my hair in youth I have minded good deeds, striving diligently for six times nine years. At twenty I met the world's obstruction; at thirty I lost my wife. Flames oft burned like this; locusts and worms ran riot in the fields. Wind and rain came crisscross; my harvest did not fill a hut. Long summer days I bore hunger; cold nights I slept with no quilt. At dusk I longed for the cock's crow; at dawn I wished the sun-bird would hasten away. What have I to blame heaven for? The grief of separation is before me now. Alas, fame after death — to me it is like floating smoke. With passion I sing my lone song; Zhong Zi-qi was truly a worthy man.
天道幽深而且遥远，鬼神之事渺茫难明。从束发之年便念行善事，勤勉努力已六九年。二十岁便逢世道阻难，三十岁又丧其妻室。旱火屡屡如焚，螟虫蜮害恣意在田中。风雨交加横来，收成不满一廛之屋。夏日长受饥饿，寒夜无被难眠。到了傍晚盼鸡鸣天亮，及至清晨又愿日乌速迁。在自己又有何可怨天，离乱之忧凄切在目前。可叹那身后之名，于我犹如浮烟。慷慨独自发悲歌，钟子期诚可谓贤。
Appreciation
The full title is 'Song of Complaint in Chu Mode, Shown to Clerk Pang and Deng the Magistrate'; it is a late-life self-lament of Yuanming. The title 'Chu mode' means the sad song of Chu, shown to friends Pang and Deng to reveal his intent. Yuanming was born into the turmoil at the end of Jin; he suffered drought and locusts, his home was poor and often empty, and he lived through the dynastic upheaval. The lines 'at twenty I met the world's bar', 'at thirty I lost my mate', 'flame oft burned' are all his own experience. Unlike the calm of Drinking Wine, this poem states its half-life of poverty and anger directly, representing his 'angry Vajra' face, and also shows the survival plight of scholars across the change of dynasties.
【白话串讲】 陶渊明写自己的苦日子：“弱冠逢世阻，始室丧其偏”——年轻时逢乱世，刚成家妻子就去世。“夏日长抱饥，寒夜无被眠”——夏天常挨饿，冬天没被子。“造夕思鸡鸣，及晨愿乌迁”——晚上盼天亮，早上盼天黑。一个诗人的贫穷与坚韧。 【意象与手法】 全诗以赋笔顺时序直叙身世，不假比兴而沉痛自见。‘炎火屡焚如，螟蜮恣中田’以旱蝗写天灾 【情感与主旨】 此题全名《怨诗楚调示庞主簿邓治中》，为渊明晚年自伤之作。诗题‘楚调’指楚声悲歌，示庞、邓二友以见志 【名句点睛】 本诗宜从‘直叙身世与沉痛情感’角度命题。考点一：概括诗中列举的哪些人生坎坷（逢阻、丧偶、旱蝗、寒饥）；考点二
Background
The full title is 'Song of Complaint in Chu Mode, Shown to Clerk Pang and Deng the Magistrate'; it is a late-life self-lament of Yuanming. The title 'Chu mode' means the sad song of Chu, shown to friends Pang and Deng to reveal his intent. Yuanming was born into the turmoil at the end of Jin; he often suffered drought and locusts, his home was poor and often empty, and he lived through the dynastic upheaval. The lines 'at twenty I met the world's bar', 'at thirty I lost my mate', 'flame oft burned' are all his own experience. Unlike the calm of Drinking Wine, this poem states its half-life of poverty and anger directly, representing his 'angry Vajra' face, and also shows the survival plight of scholars across the change of dynasties.
《怨诗楚调》为东晋陶渊明所作，是写身世之悲、人生之忧的诗。陶渊明（365—427），字元亮，号五柳先生，浔阳柴桑人，东晋诗人。此诗：天道幽且远，鬼神茫昧然。结发念善事，黾勉六九年。弱冠逢世阻，始室丧其偏。炎火屡焚如，螟蜮恣中田。风雨纵横至，收敛不盈廛。夏日长抱饥，寒夜无被眠。……全诗写身世之悲、生事之忧，是陶渊明诗的名篇。
Art
The whole poem states his life in chronological order by fu method, without metaphor yet with grief self-evident. 'Flame oft burned... locusts and worms in the mid-field' writes heaven's disaster by drought and locust; 'long summer days I bore hunger; cold nights I slept with no quilt' writes his plight by the two poles of wealth and poverty; 'at dusk I longed for the cock's crow; at dawn I wished the sun would move on' writes the long night unendurable, longing for day and for night by turns — psychological portraiture to the fine point. It closes on 'what have I to blame heaven for' as a turn, and 'fame after death like floating smoke' as transcendence, from complaint to release; plain and pale yet holding passion — most showing Tao's 'ornament fallen away, true purity seen'.
《怨诗楚调》艺术上以身世之悲的沉痛与生事之忧的深婉见长。全诗写身世之悲：首写天道鬼神——“天道幽且远，鬼神茫昧然”写天道幽远、鬼神茫昧，“结发念善事，黾勉六九年”写结发念善、黾勉六九年；中写世路之艰——“弱冠逢世阻，始室丧其偏”写弱冠逢世阻、始室丧偏，“炎火屡焚如，螟蜮恣中田”写炎火焚如、螟蜮恣田，“风雨纵横至，收敛不盈廛”写风雨纵横、收敛不盈廛；末写饥寒之忧——“夏日长抱饥，寒夜无被眠”写夏日抱饥、寒夜无被。全诗以身世之悲写生事之忧，正是陶渊明诗沉痛的笔法。
Allusions
The allusions mostly bear on the poor scholar and the kindred spirit. 'At thirty' (start-chamber) comes from the Record of Rites' 'at thirty one is strong, has a chamber', meaning losing one's mate at thirty; 'locusts and worms' comes from the Shi Jing's 'remove the locusts... and the thieves' and the harm of 'worms', a figure for field harm; 'Zhong Zi-qi' is Zhong Zi-qi of the Liezi, the tale of Bo-ya playing the qin and Zi-qi listening well, taking the worthy kindred spirit as Pang and Deng who understand his grief; 'Chu mode' inherits the Chu Ci's tradition of sad song. The allusions are plain and intelligible, matching the direct statement of his life — an example of Tao's 'allusion without trace'.
《怨诗楚调》用典在“怨诗楚调”“黾勉”。“怨诗楚调”写楚调之怨诗（乐府古题）；“黾勉”写勉力（《诗经》“黾勉同心”）；“螟蜮”写螟、蜮之虫（害禾）。全诗以这些意象写身世之悲，用典自然而沉痛自见，正是陶渊明诗的笔法。
Commentary
The Song critic Zhu Xi says of Tao's poetry 'plainness comes of nature', yet this piece 'grief and anger run deep'. The Qing commentator Shen De-qian in Source of Ancient Poetry says the two lines 'at dusk I longed for the cock's crow' 'write the poor scholar's suffering, every word a tear'. The modern Gong Wang holds this poem 'seems to complain of heaven, but is in truth pitying the world' — enough to show how it writes the poor plight of scholars across the dynastic change in Chu-mode sad song, deep in grief yet able to transcend.
《怨诗楚调》是陶渊明诗的名篇，也是东晋诗中写身世之悲的代表作。此诗写身世之悲、生事之忧，向为论者称道。论者多赏其身世之悲的沉痛与生事之忧的深婉——“天道幽且远，鬼神茫昧然”写天道幽远、鬼神茫昧，沉痛之极；“夏日长抱饥，寒夜无被眠”写夏日抱饥、寒夜无被，更见生事之忧。陶渊明以田园诗著称，然其写饥寒之忧者亦多，此诗正是其代表——以身世之悲写生事之忧，正是其诗风。
Prosody
Line by line
天道幽且远，鬼神茫昧然。结发念善事，黾勉六九年。
The Way of Heaven is dark and far; the spirits are vague and dim. Since I first bound my hair I have thought of doing good, and strove at it for sixty and nine years.
天道幽且远，鬼神茫昧然。结发念善事，黾勉（勉力）六九年。
The way of heaven is dark and remote, the spirits blurred and uncertain. From the time I bound my hair I thought of doing good, and strove hard for sixty-nine years.
首写天道鬼神、黾勉行善，是全诗身世之悲的起点。“天道幽且远，鬼神茫昧然”写天道鬼神——“天道幽且远”写天道幽且远，“鬼神茫昧然”写鬼神茫昧然——天道幽远，鬼神茫昧；“结发念善事，黾勉六九年”写结发念善、黾勉六九年——“结发念善事”写结发之时即念善事，“黾勉六九年”用《诗经》“黾勉”之意写勉力六十九年——结发念善，黾勉六九年。四句写天道鬼神、黾勉行善：天道幽且远鬼神茫昧然，结发念善事黾勉六九年。以“天道幽且远，鬼神茫昧然”写天道幽远、鬼神难知，以“结发念善事，黾勉六九年”写自幼念善、勉力数十年，正是陶渊明诗写身世之悲的起点——行善而天道茫昧，其悲已伏。
The first lines write the dark way of heaven and the lifelong effort at goodness, the starting point of the poem's grief over his lot. 'The Way of Heaven is dark and far; the spirits are vague and dim' states the unknowability of heaven and the ghosts. 'Since I first bound my hair I have thought of doing good, and strove at it for sixty and nine years' uses the Book of Songs' word for earnest effort to write striving since youth across decades. The lines write the distance of heaven, the vague gods, and the lifelong effort at good—the beginning of Tao's grief: doing good while heaven remains dark, the sorrow already latent.
弱冠逢世阻，始室丧其偏。炎火屡焚如，螟蜮恣中田。
At coming of age I met the world's obstacles; when I first set up house I lost my mate. Fires repeatedly burned my home, and blight wreaked havoc in my fields.
弱冠逢世阻，始室丧其偏。炎火屡焚如，螟蜮恣中田。
At twenty I met the troubles of the age; when I first married, I lost my wife. Fires repeatedly burned, and insect pests ran wild in the fields.
此四句写世路之艰、天灾之烈，是全诗身世之悲的深化。“弱冠逢世阻，始室丧其偏”写世阻丧偏——“弱冠逢世阻”写弱冠逢世道之阻，“始室丧其偏”写始室（成家）丧其偏（失妻）——弱冠逢世阻，始室丧偏；“炎火屡焚如，螟蜮恣中田”写炎火螟蜮——“炎火屡焚如”写炎火屡次焚烧，“螟蜮恣中田”写螟蜮恣害田中——炎火屡焚，螟蜮恣田。四句写世路之艰、天灾之烈：弱冠逢世阻始室丧其偏，炎火屡焚如螟蜮恣中田。以“弱冠逢世阻，始室丧其偏”写弱冠逢乱、成家丧偶，以“炎火屡焚如，螟蜮恣中田”写炎火屡焚、螟虫害田，正是陶渊明诗写身世之悲、生事之艰的深化——世乱家丧，天灾又至。
The four lines write the hardships of the age and the violence of natural disaster, deepening the grief over his lot. 'At coming of age I met the world's obstacles; when I first set up house I lost my mate' means, in early manhood he encountered strife and, upon marrying, lost his wife. 'Fires repeatedly burned my home, and blight wreaked havoc in my fields' means repeated conflagrations and insects ravaging the fields. The lines write the chaos of the times and the loss of his family, fires and blight—the deepening of his lot: disorder and bereavement, and now natural disaster besides.
风雨纵横至，收敛不盈廛。夏日长抱饥，寒夜无被眠。
Wind and rain come lashing down, and the harvest does not fill even a single plot. In summer days I go long hungry; on cold nights I sleep without a quilt.
风雨纵横而至，收敛不盈廛（一廛之田）。夏日长抱饥，寒夜无被而眠。
Wind and rain beat down from all sides, and the harvest did not fill even one homestead. On summer days I went long hungry; on cold nights I slept without a coverlet.
末四句写风雨不盈、饥寒交迫，是全诗生事之忧的归结。“风雨纵横至，收敛不盈廛”写风雨不盈——“风雨纵横至”写风雨纵横而至，“收敛不盈廛”写收敛不盈一廛之田——风雨纵横，收敛不盈；“夏日长抱饥，寒夜无被眠”写饥寒交迫——“夏日长抱饥”写夏日长抱饥，“寒夜无被眠”写寒夜无被而眠——夏日抱饥，寒夜无被。四句写风雨不盈、饥寒交迫：风雨纵横至收敛不盈廛，夏日长抱饥寒夜无被眠。以“风雨纵横至，收敛不盈廛”写风雨纵横、收成不盈，以“夏日长抱饥，寒夜无被眠”写夏日抱饥、寒夜无被之贫苦，正是陶渊明诗写生事之忧的归结——衣食不继，饥寒交迫。
The last four lines write the failing harvest and the grip of hunger and cold, the resolution of the poem's anxiety over livelihood. 'Wind and rain come lashing down, and the harvest does not fill even a single plot' means the storms and a harvest insufficient to fill a single holding. 'In summer days I go long hungry; on cold nights I sleep without a quilt' means hunger in summer and sleeping without cover in winter. The lines write wind and rain, a barren harvest, hunger and cold—the conclusion of Tao's anxiety over livelihood: food and clothing failing, hunger and cold pressing in.
Study
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Related Reading
Compare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
陶渊明《饮酒·其五》“结庐在人境，而无车马喧”写隐逸之乐，与本首同为陶渊明诗。差异在情致：怨诗楚调写身世之悲、生事之忧；饮酒写隐逸之乐、悠然自得。一写“忧”之深，一写“乐”之逸。两者并读，可见陶渊明诗忧乐交织的两种情致。
归园田居·其一 Returning to Garden and Field 陶渊明 · 同为陶渊明诗写田园生活，一写饥寒之忧一写归田之乐，一忧一乐 Same (author / theme: both by Tao Yuanming, writing countryside and poverty/prosperity)Returning to Garden writes the calm of retirement; Song of Complaint writes the anger of poverty — compare Tao's calm and deep faces.
陶渊明《归园田居·其一》“开荒南野际，守拙归园田”写归田之乐，与本首同为陶渊明诗写田园。差异在情致：怨诗楚调写田园饥寒之忧；归园田居写归田自适之乐。一写“忧”之实，一写“乐”之情。两者并读，可见陶渊明诗写田园的两种情致。
杂诗·白日沦西河 Miscellaneous Poems · The White Sun Sinks in the West River 陶渊明 · 与本首相关联的同类或同作者作品，供对比阅读 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
此处关联陶渊明《杂诗·白日沦西河》，与本首在主题、体裁或作者上相关联，可对比阅读以见其同异。