Tang poem · five-character regulated verse唐诗 · 五言律诗

zài在yù狱yǒng咏chán蝉

luò骆bīn宾wáng王Luo Binwang · Tang唐

Ode to the Cicada, Written in Prison

xī西lù陆chán蝉shēng声chàng唱

nán南guān冠kè客sī思shēn深

bù不kān堪xuán玄bìn鬓yǐng影

lái来duì对bái白tóu头yín吟

lù露zhòng重fēi飞nán难jìn进

fēng风duō多xiǎng响yì易chén沉

wú无rén人xìn信gāo高jié洁

shuí谁wèi为biǎo表yú予xīn心

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 title has a wrong character for yù (prison), a conversion slip. The corpus, like Three Hundred Tang Poems, ends the second line with qīn (creep in), begins the third with nǎ kān, and writes the sixth line's chén in an old form. This page follows today's common text, with shēn (deep), bù kān and the standard form of chén. Nǎ kān and bù kān mean the same: cannot bear.

语料题目作“在岳咏蝉”，“岳”是“狱”的转换错字。语料第二句作“南冠客思侵”，第三句作“那堪玄鬓影”，第六句作“响易沈”，《唐诗三百首》也是这样。这里用现在常见的通行本“客思深”“不堪”“沉”。“沈”是“沉”的旧写法，“那堪”和“不堪”意思一样。

Line by line逐句翻译

西陆蝉声唱In autumn the cicada sings on and on.秋天里，蝉在不停地鸣叫，
南冠客思深In my prison cell, my sorrow grows deeper.我这个囚犯的愁思更深了。
不堪玄鬓影How can I bear to see this cicada with its black wings我怎么受得了，这黑翅膀的蝉，
来对白头吟come and sing its sad song to me, a white-haired man?对着我这白头人唱着悲歌。
露重飞难进The dew is heavy, and it can hardly fly forward.露水太重，它想飞也飞不远；
风多响易沉The wind is strong, and its song is easily drowned out.风太大，它的叫声很容易被淹没。
无人信高洁No one believes it is pure,没有人相信它是高洁的，
谁为表予心so who will speak out for my true heart?谁能替我说明我的一片真心？

Words字词注释

西陆xī lù: xī lù: autumn. The ancients said that when the sun moved through the western part of the sky, it was autumn.西陆：指秋天。古人说太阳运行到天空的西边一段时，就是秋天。
声唱shēng chàng: shēng chàng: singing on and on.声唱：叫个不停。
南冠nán guān: nán guān: a southern cap, meaning a prisoner. In the Spring and Autumn period, Zhong Yi of Chu was held prisoner in Jin and still wore the cap of Chu in the south. The poet means he is a prisoner too.南冠：囚犯的代称。春秋时楚国人钟仪被晋国关起来，仍戴着南方楚国的帽子。这里诗人说自己是囚犯。
客思kè sī: kè sī: the sad thoughts of someone far from home.客思：在外的人的愁思。
不堪bù kān: bù kān: cannot bear.不堪：受不了。
玄鬓xuán bìn: xuán bìn: black hair at the temples, here meaning the cicada. Women in old times combed their temple hair as thin as cicada wings, called cicada locks, so black locks came to stand for the cicada's dark shiny wings.玄鬓：黑色的鬓发，这里指蝉。古代女子把鬓发梳得像蝉翼一样薄，叫“蝉鬓”，所以用玄鬓代指黑亮的蝉翼。
白头吟bái tóu yín: bái tóu yín: "Song of White Hair", the name of an old ballad tune, usually about the sorrow of being wronged or abandoned. It also hints that the poet's own hair has turned white.白头吟：一首古代乐府曲子的名字，多写受冤屈、被抛弃的悲伤。这里也暗指自己已经头发花白。
露重lù zhòng: lù zhòng: the dew is heavy and soaks the wings.露重：露水很浓，打湿了翅膀。
难进nán jìn: nán jìn: hard to fly forward.难进：很难往前飞。
响易沉xiǎng yì chén: xiǎng yì chén: its song is easily drowned out by the wind. Chén means to sink or be covered.响易沉：叫声容易被风声淹没。沉，沉没、被盖住。
高洁gāo jié: gāo jié: noble and pure. People long ago believed the cicada lived high in trees and drank only dew, so it stood for purity.高洁：高尚纯洁。古人认为蝉住在高树上，只喝露水，是高洁的象征。
表biǎo: biǎo: to make clear, to declare.表：表白，说明。
予心yú xīn: yú xīn: my heart.予心：我的心。

How to read it读音

思sī: In kè sī the character sī is a noun meaning sad thoughts. Today it is usually read sī. In old times the noun was read sì.“客思”的“思”是名词，指心思、愁绪。现在一般读 sī；古时候作名词读 sì。
为wèi: Shuí wèi means "who will, on my behalf", so the character is read wèi.“谁为”是“谁替（我）”，“为”读 wèi。
予yú: Here the character means I or me and is read yú, not yǔ (to give).“予”在这里是“我”的意思，读 yú，不读 yǔ（给予）。

Background创作背景

In 678, under Emperor Gaozong, Luo Binwang was an imperial censor, an official who checked on other officials. He sent many letters to the throne giving advice, offended powerful people, was falsely accused and thrown into prison. One account says the charge was taking bribes. That autumn, in prison, he heard cicadas singing in an old locust tree outside the wall, and wrote this poem, with a preface explaining why. The next year he was freed in a general pardon.

唐高宗仪凤三年（678年），骆宾王在朝廷做侍御史（负责监督官员的官）。他多次上书提意见，得罪了当权的人，被人诬陷，关进了监狱。一说罪名是贪污。秋天，他在狱中听到墙外古槐树上的蝉叫，写下了这首诗，前面还有一篇序，说明写诗的缘由。第二年，他遇到大赦，才被放出来。

The poet作者

Luo Binwang came from Yiwu in Wuzhou, today's Yiwu in Zhejiang. He was an early Tang poet, one of the Four Talents of the Early Tang, with Wang Bo, Yang Jiong and Lu Zhaolin. Legend says he wrote the famous "Ode to the Goose" at the age of seven. In 684 he joined Xu Jingye's uprising against Empress Wu Zetian and wrote a famous call to arms against her. After the uprising failed, no one knows what became of him. Some say he was killed, others that he became a Buddhist monk.

骆宾王，婺州义乌（今浙江义乌）人，初唐诗人，和王勃、杨炯、卢照邻并称“初唐四杰”。传说他七岁就写出了《咏鹅》。684年，他跟随徐敬业起兵反对武则天，写了有名的讨伐檄文（声讨敌人的文章）。兵败以后，他下落不明，一说被杀，一说出家做了和尚。

The mood意境

On the surface this poem is about a cicada, but really it is about the poet. The cicada's song in autumn is sad, and it reaches a man in prison, sorrow on top of sorrow. The cicada's wings are shiny black, while the poet's hair has gone white. Black against white makes it even sadder. Lines five and six are the heart of the poem. The dew is so heavy the cicada cannot fly. The wind is so strong its song is drowned out. That is the cicada's situation, and the poet's too. Under so much pressure, he cannot speak of the wrong done to him, and when he does, no one listens. The last two lines cry out plainly: no one believes I am innocent, so who will speak for my true heart? People long ago thought the cicada drank only dew and was pure, so the poet uses it to declare his own innocence. Writing about one thing to express your own feelings and ideals this way is a classic technique in Chinese poetry.

这首诗表面写蝉，其实写自己。秋天的蝉叫声悲凉，正好碰上一个坐牢的人，愁上加愁。蝉的翅膀乌黑发亮，诗人却已经头发花白，一黑一白，让人更伤心。第五、六句是全诗的关键：露水太重，蝉飞不动；风太大，蝉声被盖住。这既是蝉的处境，也是诗人的处境：压力太大，他有冤说不出，说了也没人听。最后两句直接喊出来：没人相信我是清白的，谁能替我说明真心？古人认为蝉只喝露水，很高洁，诗人借蝉表白自己的清白。这种借一样东西说自己的写法，叫“托物言志”。