魏晋 Wei-Jin · 诗 Poem
赠徐干
To Xu Gan
惊风飘白日，忽然归西山。
圆景光未满，众星粲以繁。
志士营世业，小人亦不闲。
聊且夜行游，游彼双阙间。
文昌郁云兴，迎风高中天。
春鸠鸣飞栋，流猋激棂轩。
顾念蓬室士，贫贱诚足怜。
薇藿弗充虚，皮褐犹不全。
慷慨有悲心，兴文自成篇。
宝弃怨何人，和氏有其愆。
弹冠俟知己，知己谁不然。
良田无晚岁，膏泽多丰年。
亮怀玙璠美，积久德愈宣。
亲交义在敦，申章复何言。
The round moon's light not yet full; the many stars bright and thick.
The aspiring man builds his life's work; even I, a small man, am not idle.
I roam a while by night, between the paired palace towers.
The Wenchang hall's clouds rise dense; the Yingfeng tower soars to mid-sky.
Spring doves cry on the flying eaves; the roaming gale strikes the lattice windows.
I turn to think of the thatched-cottage scholar; his poor estate is truly pitiable.
Wild herbs cannot fill his hunger; his coarse hide-cloth is still not whole.
With generous, grieving heart, he writes and makes fine chapters of his own.
A cast-aside jewel — whom to blame? Even He Shi had his fault.
He flicks his cap, awaiting the knowing friend; yet who of the knowing is not thus?
Good fields know no late harvest; rich moisture brings many fruitful years.
Surely he holds the beauty of jade; the longer kept, the more his virtue shines.
The duty of close friends is to urge each other on; I send this poem — what more to say?
Meaning
Cao Zhi writes to his poor, reclusive friend Xu Gan, sympathizing with his want yet consoling him that his jade-like virtue only grows with time, and urging him to wait for his hour.
疾风卷着白日疾速西驰，转眼间它便沉入西山。 月亮还未圆满，满天繁星却已灿烂纷繁。 有志之士经营着传世的功业，我这样的小人也不得清闲。 姑且趁着夜色出游，就在那宫前的双阙之间徜徉。 文昌殿云气蓊郁如兴，迎风观高耸直插半天。 春天的斑鸠在高高的屋梁上鸣叫，旋风拍打着窗棂与长廊。 转念想起那蓬门陋室中的寒士，贫贱的处境实在令人怜惜。 野菜豆叶填不饱肚子，粗皮短褐也破旧不全。 你满怀慷慨悲愤之心，一动笔便自成佳篇。 美玉被弃又能怨谁呢？当年卞和不早献璞也有他的过失。 弹去冠上的尘土只等知己援引，可称得上知己的人谁不如此呢。 肥美的良田不会误了收成，膏腴之地自然多有丰年。 你确实怀抱着美玉一般的品德，日子越久德行越发彰显。 亲密的朋友贵在互相敦勉，赠你这一篇诗，此外还有什么可说的呢。
Appreciation
The opening stacks four images — startled wind, white sun, crescent moon, thick stars — using heaven's quick change to write time's swift passing, a vast and sudden mood. The middle sets the magnificence of Wenchang and Yingfeng against the poverty of thatched cottage, wild herbs, and ragged cloth, the gap between high and low showing itself without a word of praise or blame. The latter part strings together the He Shi jade, the flicked cap, good fields and rich moisture, the jade — using jewel for talent, rich soil for virtue — layer upon layer of parable, turning comfort and urging gentle and earnest.
【白话串讲】 曹植赠朋友徐干：“惊风飘白日，忽然归西山”——时光飞逝。“圆景光未满，众星粲以繁”——“顾念蓬室士，贫贱诚足怜”——他想起还在贫贱中的朋友徐干。 【意象与手法】 开篇以惊风、白日、缺月、繁星四象叠出，以天象的疾变写时光之促，气象苍茫，先声夺人。中段以文昌、迎风的巍峨华美与蓬室、薇藿、皮褐的贫窭寒素两相对照，贵贱悬殊不着一字褒贬而是非自见。后段连用和氏献璧、弹冠、良田膏泽、玙璠诸喻，以宝玉喻才、以沃土喻德，层层譬解，把安慰与勉励说得婉转而恳切。 【情感与主旨】 此诗当作于建安末年，徐干贫居不仕之时。曹植对这位建安七子中恬淡寡欲、怀文抱质的挚友，既深致同情，又自愧援引无力，故不作空泛慰藉，而是劝其守德待时。诗中宝弃怨何人的诘问，表面为卞和开脱，实则暗含对世无识宝者的不平；曹植其时亦渐失意，惜友之中未尝没有自伤，故语语真挚，情深意长。 【名句点睛】 惊风飘白日，忽然归西山。沈德潜《说诗晬语》称陈思极工起调，此二句正是范例。风前著一惊字，凌厉迅疾；风后再著一飘字，连光芒万丈的白日也被吹得如落叶西坠，时光之促、人生之短，一举成象，令人惊心动魄，为全篇定下苍凉基调。
Background
Cao Zhi, style name Zijian, was the great synthesizer of Jian'an literature. Xu Gan, style name Weichang, of Beihai, one of the Seven Masters of Jian'an, author of the Zhong Lun, a man of calm, few desires, who in old age lived poor and withdrew from office. The Records of the Three Kingdoms has Xu Gan dying in 217, so this poem was written a year or two before, Cao Zhi's work to comfort and urge his close friend.
曹植（公元一九二至二三二年），字子建，曹操第三子，建安文学的集大成者，才高八斗之称即源于他。徐干（公元一七零至二一七年），字伟长，北海人，建安七子之一，著《中论》，为人恬淡寡欲、怀文抱质，晚年贫居不仕。《三国志》载徐干卒于建安二十二年（公元二一七年），此诗当作于其前一二年间的邺城时期，是曹植慰勉挚友之作。其时曹操为魏王，邺城为政治文化中心，铜雀台、文昌殿、迎风观等宫观巍峨，文士云集。曹植身为贵介公子，出入宫阙，而徐干却贫居蓬室，薇藿不充、皮褐不全。诗中由宫阙夜游之盛骤然折入对友人贫寒的顾念，正折射出建安文人圈中处境悬殊的现实。理解此诗，须置于建安文学尚气骋辞、又多悲凉之音的大背景下：即便在邺下风流最盛之时，怀才不遇、贫贱自守的文人依然所在多有，曹植此赠，既是惜友，也暗含对自身渐失父宠、前途未卜的隐忧。
Art
Four layers: first heaven's images as opening to write time's flight; next the night roaming among palace towers in splendor; then a turn to the friend's thatched-cottage poverty, a sharp contrast; last a chain of parables to comfort and close. From scene to feeling, from that to this, the turns are natural and the layers clear.
全诗十四句，可析为四层，章法井然而情致宛转。首四句以天象起兴：惊风飘白日、圆景光未满，以白日西沉、缺月繁星写时光之倏忽，气象苍茫，先声夺人，为全篇定下迟暮与珍惜的基调。次四句写夜游宫阙：文昌郁云兴、迎风高中天，春鸠鸣飞栋、流猋激棂轩，以宫观之巍峨、楼阁之生姿铺陈盛世之盛。第三层陡然转折：顾念蓬室士，由眼前繁华折入对友人寒室的悬想，薇藿弗充虚、皮褐犹不全，与前述宫阙形成强烈反差，贵贱悬殊不着一字褒贬而是非自见。末六句以连环设喻劝慰：以和氏献璧喻才之见弃、以弹冠喻待知己、以良田膏泽喻德不误时、以玙璠美玉喻友人之德，层层譬解，把安慰与勉励说得婉转而恳切。由景入情、由彼及此、由盛及衰、由悲及勉，转折自然，层次分明，是子建赠答诗中深挚者。综而言之，《赠徐干》正是以如此艺术匠心，于尺幅之间见千里之势，言有尽而意无穷，足见作者驾驭语言、熔铸意境之深厚功力，故能历久而不失其动人之处。
Allusions
He Shi had his fault uses the Han Feizi tale of Bian He presenting unworked jade and twice losing his feet; here it is said, reversed, that Bian He too had a fault, to console the friend on his not-being-employed. Flicks his cap, awaiting the knowing friend comes from the Han History 'Wang Yang in office, Gong flicks his cap' — flicking the dust from one's cap to await employment, meaning a knowing friend's recommendation. Yu-fan is a beautiful jade, a metaphor for fine virtue. Wild herbs are wild plants and bean leaves, standing for coarse food. Wenchang and Yingfeng are the names of a main hall and a tower in the Ye palace.
诗中用典密集而贴切。和氏有其愆，用《韩非子·和氏》卞和献璞、两遭刖足之故事，此处反说卞和亦有过失，是为宽解友人不遇之辞——若卞和不早献璞而稍待其时，何至于抱玉见弃，暗喻徐干之贫非才之罪，乃时命使然。弹冠俟知己，语出《汉书·王吉传》王阳在位、贡公弹冠，谓弹去冠上尘土以待出仕，指知己援引；曹植反用其意，言知己谁不然，叹知音之难逢。玙璠，美玉名，出自《左传》，此处喻徐干之美德。薇藿，野菜与豆叶，代指粗食，典出《诗经》与《韩非子》所谓糟糠之食。文昌、迎风，皆邺宫正殿与观名，《水经注》与《邺中记》可征。诸典或出诸子、或出史传、或出宫室，皆信手拈来而各得其所，既见学养，又助劝说，是建安用典渐趋圆融的代表。观《赠徐干》用典使事之妙，正在于不泥于古而能化用无痕，信手拈来皆成佳境，既增诗境之厚重，又不失自然浑成之趣，非徒摭拾故实以炫博者也。
Commentary
Shen Deqian's Remarks on Poetry says Chen Si was supreme at opening lines, as in 'the startled wind sweeps the white sun, suddenly it sinks into the western hills' — all high-sung lines; this opening has long been prized by poets.
《赠徐干》历来以起调高华、用意深婉见称。沈德潜《说诗晬语》谓陈思极工起调，如惊风飘白日，忽然归西山，皆高唱也，可见此诗开篇历来为诗家推重，被视为建安诗歌苍凉高迈风格的范本。钟嵘《诗品》列曹植为上品，称其骨气奇高、词采华茂、情兼雅怨、体被文质，此诗正可印证——宫阙之华与蓬室之寒并陈，正是雅怨兼济。后世论者多注意到诗中由盛及衰的转折与以譬喻代直说的含蓄，认为它代表了曹植前期赠答诗中最见情真之作。相较于《白马篇》的豪宕、《美女篇》的寓言，《赠徐干》以平实见深挚，在以气胜的建安诗风中别开温厚一途，对后世酬赠诗以比兴寓劝勉的写法影响深远。由古及今，评骘《赠徐干》者代不乏人，或赏其辞章，或味其情志，虽各有侧重而皆许为名篇，其艺术生命之活跃、在文学史上地位之重要，于此可见一斑。再就此诗与同题诸作对读：建安赠答，多陈慷慨之志，此篇独致缠绵之情，一刚一柔，恰见邺下文人风轨之全。后人拟赠答体者，于规劝中求温情一路，大抵溯源于此，其沾溉之远，又不止一时一地而已。
Prosody
Line by line
惊风飘白日，忽然归西山。
The startled wind sweeps the white sun; suddenly it sinks into the western hills.
疾风卷着白日疾速西驰，转眼间它便沉入西山。
The startled wind drifts the bright sun, and in an instant it returns to the western hills.
惊风飘白日，忽然归西山，是建安诗歌中极负盛名的起调。惊字使风有凌厉之势，飘字使万丈光芒的白日竟如落叶般被吹得西坠，二字相激，写尽时光之猝不及防。忽然二字更添一层仓皇——白日的沉落本是一日之常，诗人却以见所未见的惊心写出，那是因心中本有惜时之忧。以日沉起笔，实则以光阴之速喻人生之短、功业之迫，为后文劝勉徐干守德待时埋下伏笔。沈德潜推为陈思极工起调之例，正在于它以极寻常的天象写出极不寻常的苍凉，先声夺人而余味悠长，奠定了全篇高唱入云的基调。
The line is one of the most famous openings in Jian'an poetry. The word 'startled' gives the wind a fierce edge; 'drifts' makes the blazing sun seem blown westward like a falling leaf, and the two words, provoking each other, write all the unpreparedness of time. 'In an instant' adds a note of panic—the sun's setting is the daily order, yet the poet writes it with a wonder he has never known, because his heart already carries the care of treasuring time. Opening on the sinking sun, he in fact uses the speed of light to image the shortness of life and the pressure of achievement, planting the seed for the later admonition to Xu Gan to keep his virtue and wait for his time. Shen Deqian praised it as the finest example of Cao Zhi's openings, precisely because it writes an extraordinary desolation through the most ordinary sky, seizing the ear at once and leaving a long echo, establishing the lofty keynote of the whole poem.
顾念蓬室士，贫贱诚足怜。
I turn to think of the thatched-cottage scholar; his poor estate is truly pitiable.
转念想起那蓬门陋室中的寒士，贫贱的处境实在令人怜惜。
I turn and think of the scholar in his cottage of reeds; his poverty and low station are truly pitiable.
顾念二字是全诗的结构枢纽，它把前文宫阙夜游的繁华一笔拽回人间，镜头从文昌殿、迎风观的高处猛然落到蓬门陋室之中。蓬室士即徐干，以蓬室称其居，既写其贫，也暗含隐逸之高洁——蓬蒿之所，正是不与浊世同流者的栖身地。贫贱诚足怜的诚字，见曹植同情之真、语气之恳，不是居高临下的施舍，而是平等相待的痛惜。尤为重要的是，此句将前面宫观之盛与后面薇藿弗充虚、皮褐犹不全之贫并置，形成全诗最强烈的反差。这种由盛及衰、由彼及此的转折，正是曹植情兼雅怨之怨的集中体现：他怜友之贫，也借友之贫照见乱世才士普遍的困顿，故语语真挚，情深意长。
The words 'I turn and think' are the structural hinge of the poem, dragging the splendor of the night tour of the palaces back to the human world at a stroke, the camera falling from the heights of the Wenchang Hall and Yingfeng Pavilion to the cottage of reeds. The 'scholar in his cottage' is Xu Gan; calling his home a cottage writes at once his poverty and the purity of the recluse—the place of reeds being where those who will not join the turbid world dwell. The word 'truly' in 'truly pitiable' shows the truth of Cao Zhi's sympathy and the earnestness of his tone, not condescending alms but equal and grieving regard. More important, the line sets the splendor of the palaces against the later poverty of 'vetch and bean leaves not filling the hollow, hemp and coarse garments not whole,' forming the poem's sharpest contrast. This turning from splendor to decline, from the other to this, is the concentrated expression of Cao Zhi's 'grievance'—he pities his friend's poverty, and through it sees the common hardship of talented men in the chaotic age, so that every word is true and deep.
宝弃怨何人，和氏有其愆。
A cast-aside jewel — whom to blame? Even He Shi had his fault.
美玉被弃又能怨谁呢？当年卞和不早献璞也有他的过失。
The treasure is cast aside—whom can it blame? Even He Shi, the jade man, bore some fault.
宝弃怨何人，和氏有其愆，是全诗最见巧思的一联。卞和献璞、两遭刖足，本是怀才见弃的千古悲剧，诗人却反其意而用之：宝玉被弃，又能怨谁？卞和自己也有过失——若他当初不急于献璞、而待明主出现，又何至于抱玉受刑。此说表面为卞和开脱，实则是一种更深的宽慰策略：曹植借此告诉徐干，你的不遇并非才不如人，而是如同卞和未遇明时，是时命而非德行之过。这种反用典故的手法，把原本沉痛的悲剧转化为委婉的劝勉，既承认了友人的委屈，又轻轻将其化解。更可玩味的是，曹植其时亦渐失父宠、前途未卜，宝弃之叹未尝没有自伤，故慰藉友人之际，亦是在安顿自己。一联之中，劝友、自况、用典、翻案，浑然无迹。
The couplet is the most ingenious in the poem. He Shi presented the uncut jade and suffered his feet cut off twice, the age-old tragedy of talent rejected, yet the poet turns its meaning: the jade is cast aside—whom can it blame? He Shi himself was at fault: had he not rushed to present the jade but waited for a wise lord, how would he have come to hold the jade and suffer the knife? On the surface this excuses He Shi, but in truth it is a deeper strategy of comfort: Cao Zhi tells Xu Gan that his rejection is not because his talent is inferior but because, like He Shi, he met no wise age—it is fortune, not virtue. This reversal of the allusion turns a bitter tragedy into a tactful admonition, at once acknowledging the friend's grievance and gently dissolving it. What is more intriguing is that Cao Zhi himself was gradually losing his father's favor and faced an uncertain future, and the sigh at the cast-aside treasure is not without self-pity; in consoling his friend he is also settling himself. In one couplet, admonishing the friend, comparing himself, using an allusion, and reversing it, all melt without a seam.
亮怀玙璠美，积久德愈宣。
Surely he holds the beauty of jade; the longer kept, the more his virtue shines.
你确实怀抱着美玉一般的品德，日子越久德行越发彰显。
Truly he bears the beauty of the jade; with time stored up, his virtue shines the brighter.
亮怀玙璠美，积久德愈宣，是全诗的收束与提振。亮，信也、明也，是曹植对友人德性毫不犹疑的肯认；玙璠，美玉，以玉喻德，自《诗经》《左传》以来即是君子之象征。最要紧的是积久德愈宣一句：它把前面所有的不遇之悲、贫贱之怜，都转化为对时间的信任——美德如玉，不因一时之埋没而损其光，反因岁月之沉积而愈显温润。这既是对徐干恬淡守志的褒扬，也是对怀才不遇者最温暖的期许。曹植在此将儒家藏器于身、待时而动的理念，化为诗意的慰藉，不作空泛的祝福，而以玉之久而弥彰作结，余韵深长。与前文良田无晚岁、膏泽多丰年之农喻相呼应，全诗劝勉之意至此圆满，而情致不流于说教，正是子建赠答之深挚处。
The closing couplet is the poem's resolution and its lift. 'Truly' means truly, plainly, an unhesitating affirmation of the friend's character. 'Jade' is a fine stone, and using jade for virtue has been the symbol of the gentleman since the Book of Songs and the Zuo Commentary. What matters most is 'with time stored up, his virtue shines the brighter': it turns all the earlier grief of rejection and pity at poverty into trust in time—virtue, like jade, loses none of its light through temporary burial, but grows warmer and brighter with the deposit of the years. It is at once praise of Xu Gan's quiet keeping of his purpose and the warmest expectation for those whose talent is unused. Here Cao Zhi turns the Confucian ideal of hiding one's talent and awaiting its time into poetic comfort, offering no empty blessing but closing on the jade that shines more with age, the afterecho long. Answering the earlier agricultural metaphors of 'good fields have no late harvest' and 'rich rains bring abundant years,' the admonition is now complete, and the feeling does not fall into preaching—the deep earnestness of Cao Zhi's gift verse.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Both are Cao Zhi's early works. The White Horse sings aloud the young wanderer's defiance of death; this poem lingers low over a friend's unrecognized talent — one uplifted, one restrained, showing Zijian's two sides: bone-spirit lofty yet feeling both elegant and grieving.
同为曹植前期作品。《白马篇》高唱少年游侠视死如归的豪情，捐躯赴国难、视死忽如归，气吞万里；此诗则低回于友人怀才不遇的悲慨，以宫阙之盛反衬蓬室之贫，以譬喻代直说。一扬一抑、一豪一婉，恰可见子建骨气奇高而情兼雅怨的两面。比较二者，既能看清曹植诗歌风格的丰富性，也能体会建安文人既向往功业、又深慨不遇的普遍心境。
拟行路难·其四 Imitating Walking the Hard Way, No. 4 鲍照 · 同主题 Same themeBoth write the pain of the poor scholar unrecognized. Bao's poem bursts straight out with 'is the heart not wood or stone, can it feel nothing'; Cao's speaks it circuitously through parables of cast jade and flicked cap — one vehement, one restrained, both portraits of talent sunk in an age of rank.
同写寒士不遇之痛。鲍照心非木石岂无感、吞声踯躅不敢言，直吐愤激，是门第时代才士沉沦的爆发式书写；曹植则以宝弃、弹冠、玙璠诸喻曲折道出，含蓄温厚。一激越一蕴藉，同为才士不遇的写照，而时代语境各异：曹植虽失宠犹是贵介，鲍照则出身寒微、沉沦下僚。二诗对读，可见六朝寒士主题由建安的温厚劝勉，到南朝的愤懑直陈，情感表达渐趋尖锐的历史轨迹。
静夜思 Quiet Night Thought 李白 · 同写夜中怀思 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
曹植此诗以夜游宫阙起、顾念蓬室收，李白《静夜思》以床前明月、低头思乡收，二者皆于静夜展开思念，而一为念友、一为思乡，一富丽一清空。曹植的夜是宫阙云气与蓬室贫寒的对照，李白的夜是明月与故乡的遥望。比较阅读，可见中国诗歌夜思传统的两种面向：建安的丰赡寄托与盛唐的天然明净，皆可溯源于对漫漫长夜中人情冷暖的敏感。