Tang poem · seven-character quatrain唐诗 · 七言绝句

xì戏wéi为liù六jué绝jù句（qí其èr二）

dù杜fǔ甫Du Fu · Tang唐

Six Playful Quatrains, No. 2

wáng王yáng杨lú卢luò骆dāng当shí时tǐ体

qīng轻bó薄wéi为wén文shěn哂wèi未xiū休

ěr尔cáo曹shēn身yǔ与míng名jù俱miè灭

bú不fèi废jiāng江hé河wàn万gǔ古liú流

Underlined words have notes: tap one. The Pinyin button below shows or hides all pinyin. 一 and 不 are marked with the tone you actually say.字下有虚线的，点开有注释。下方的“拼音”按钮可以显示或隐藏全部拼音。“一”“不”标的是实际读出来的变调。

The corpus begins with the names in the order Yang, Wang, Lu, Luo. Common editions have Wang, Yang, Lu, Luo, the usual order for the Four Great Poets of the Early Tang, which is used here.

资料库原文第一句作“杨王卢骆”。通行本多作“王杨卢骆”，这是“初唐四杰”的通常排法，这里用通行本。

Line by line逐句翻译

王杨卢骆当时体Wang, Yang, Lu and Luo wrote in the style of their own time,王勃、杨炯、卢照邻、骆宾王的诗文，是他们那个时代的风格，
轻薄为文哂未休yet shallow people today write pieces that sneer at them without end.可如今有些轻薄的人写文章，总是没完没了地讥笑他们。
尔曹身与名俱灭When you and your names have all vanished,等你们这些人连同名字都消失了，
不废江河万古流their work will still flow on like the great rivers, for all time.他们的作品仍会像长江黄河一样，万古长流。

Words字词注释

王杨卢骆wáng yáng lú luò: wáng yáng lú luò: Wang Bo, Yang Jiong, Lu Zhaolin and Luo Binwang, called the Four Great Poets of the Early Tang.王杨卢骆：王勃、杨炯、卢照邻、骆宾王，四位初唐诗人，合称“初唐四杰”。
当时体dāng shí tǐ: dāng shí tǐ: the style of writing of their own time.当时体：那个时代流行的写法和风格。
轻薄qīng bó: qīng bó: shallow, sneering people.轻薄：说话刻薄、不尊重别人的人。
哂shěn: shěn: to sneer at, to laugh at.哂：讥笑。
未休wèi xiū: wèi xiū: without stopping.未休：没完没了。
尔曹ěr cáo: ěr cáo: you people. Ěr means you; cáo means a group of people.尔曹：你们这些人。尔，你；曹，一类人。
俱灭jù miè: jù miè: all gone, all wiped out.俱灭：都消失了。
不废bú fèi: bù fèi: cannot stop or harm.不废：不会影响，挡不住。
万古wàn gǔ: wàn gǔ: for all ages, forever.万古：千秋万代，永远。

How to read it读音

为wéi: Here the character is read wéi, meaning to write; wéi wén means writing essays or poems.为：读 wéi，意思是写、作。“为文”就是写文章。

Background创作背景

"Six Playful Quatrains" is a set of six short poems in which Du Fu talks about poetry. It is usually dated to around 761, when he lived in Chengdu. At the time, some people looked down on the Four Great Poets of the Early Tang and thought their style was old-fashioned. Du Fu disagreed and wrote this poem to stand up for them. The title says "playful", but he means it seriously.

《戏为六绝句》是杜甫用六首绝句来谈诗歌的组诗，一般认为写于唐肃宗上元二年（761年）前后，那时他住在成都。当时有些人看不起初唐四杰，嫌他们的文风过时。杜甫不同意，写了这首诗为四杰说话。题目说“戏为”，是开玩笑地写，其实态度很认真。

The poet作者

Du Fu (712–770) was a great Tang poet, called the Sage of Poetry. He read widely and respected the writers who came before him, and he believed in learning from them. "Six Playful Quatrains" is his key work on poetry. Using poems to judge poems was something few had done before him.

杜甫（712—770），唐代大诗人，被称为“诗圣”。他读书很多，对前人的作品很尊重，主张向古人和前辈好好学习。《戏为六绝句》是他谈诗的重要作品，用诗的形式来评论诗，在他之前很少有人这样做。

The mood意境

The first two lines state the facts: the Four Poets wrote in the style of their age, but some people keep mocking them. The last two lines are Du Fu's answer, and it is strong. You people, your bodies and your names will vanish, and no one will remember you. The work of the Four Poets will flow on forever, like the Yangtze and the Yellow River. Truly good work is a great river that never stops, and the mockery cannot hold it back. The last line later became a famous saying: what has real value will never be buried.

前两句摆出事实：四杰的风格属于他们的时代，有些人却一直嘲笑他们。后两句是杜甫的回答，非常有力：你们这些人，身体和名字都会消失，没人记得；四杰的作品却像长江黄河，永远流下去。这里用江河作比，把真正的好作品比成永不停歇的大河，把那些嘲笑比成挡不住大河的小东西。“不废江河万古流”后来成了成语一样的名句，用来说真正有价值的东西不会被埋没。