Listen to this article吴建贤 行书：杜甫《堂成》
【释文】背郭堂成荫白茅，缘江路熟俯青郊。桤林碍日吟风叶，笼竹和烟滴露梢。暂止飞乌将数子，频来语燕定新巢。旁人错比扬雄宅，懒惰无心作解嘲。
【款识】杜子美诗一首，戊寅秋月，海上吴建贤。
【简析】
杜甫于唐肃宗乾元二年（759）年底来到成都，在百花潭北、万里桥边营建一所草堂。经过两三个月时间，到第二年春末，草堂落成了。这诗便是那时所作。
诗以“草堂”为题，写的主要是草堂景物和定居草堂的心情。堂用白茅盖成，背向城郭，邻近锦江，座落在沿江大路的高地上。从草堂可以俯瞰郊野青葱的景色。诗的开头两句，从环境背景勾勒出草堂的方位。中间四句写草堂本身之景，通过自然景色的描写，把自己历尽兵燹之后新居初定时的生活和心情，细致而生动地表现了出来。
“桤林碍日”、“笼竹和烟”，写出草堂的清幽。它隐在丛林修篁深处，透不进强烈的阳光，好象有一层漠漠轻烟笼罩着。“吟风叶”，“滴露梢”，是“叶吟风”，“梢滴露”的倒文。说“吟”，说“滴”，则声响极微。连这微细的声响都能察觉出，可见诗人生活得多么的宁静；他领略、欣赏这草堂景物，心情和草堂景物完全融合在一起。因此，在他的眼里，乌飞燕语，各有深情。“暂止飞乌将数子，频来乳燕定新巢”，罗大经《鹤林玉露》说这两句“盖因乌飞燕语而类己之携雏卜居，其乐与之相似。此比也，亦兴也”。诗人正是以自己的欢欣，来体会禽鸟的动态的。在这之前，他象那“绕树三匝，无枝可栖”的乌鹊一样，带着孩子们奔波于关陇之间，后来才飘流到这里。草堂营成，不但一家人有了个安身之处，连禽鸟也都各得其所。那么，翔集的飞乌，营巢的燕子，不正是与自己同其喜悦，莫逆于心吗？在写景状物的诗句中往往寓有比兴之意，这是杜诗的特点之一。然而杜甫之卜居草堂，毕竟不同于陶渊明之归隐田园，杜甫为了避乱才来到成都，他初来成都时，就怀着“信美无与适，侧身望川梁。鸟雀各夜归，中原杳茫茫”（《成都府》）的羁旅之思；直到后来，他还是说：“此身那老蜀，不死会归秦。”因而草堂的营建，对他只不过是颠沛流离的辛苦途程中息肩之地，而终非投老之乡。从这个意义来说，尽管新居初定，景物怡人，而在宁静喜悦的心情中，总不免有彷徨忧伤之感。“以我观物，故物皆着我之色彩。”（王国维《人间词话》）这种复杂而微妙的矛盾心理状态，通过“暂止飞乌”的“暂”字微微地透露了出来。
尾联“旁人错比扬雄宅，懒惰无心作《解嘲》”，有两层涵意。扬雄宅又名草玄堂，故址在成都少城西南角，和杜甫的浣花草堂有着地理上的联系。杜甫在浣花草堂吟诗作赋，幽静而落寞的生活，有些和左思《咏史》诗里说的“寂寂扬子宅，门无卿相舆”的情况相类似。扬雄曾闭门着书，写他那模拟《周易》的《太玄》，草玄堂因而得名。当杜甫初到成都，寓居浣花溪寺时，高适寄给他的诗说：“传道招提客，诗书自讨论。……草《玄》今已毕，此后更何言？”（《赠杜二拾遗》）就拿他和扬雄草《玄》相比；可是他的答复却是：“草《玄》吾岂敢，赋或似相如。”（《酬高使君相赠》）这诗说草堂不能比拟扬雄宅，也是表示自己并没有象扬雄那样，写《太玄》之类的鸿篇巨着。这意思是可以从上述答高适诗里得到印证的。此其一。扬雄在《解嘲》里，高自标榜，说自己闭门草《玄》，阐明圣贤之道，无意于富贵功名。实际上，他之所以写这篇《解嘲》，正是发泄宦途不得意的愤懑之情。而杜甫只不过把这草堂作为避乱偷生之所，和草玄堂里的扬雄心情是不同的，因而也就懒于发那《解嘲》式的牢骚了。这是第二层意思。
诗从草堂营成说起；中间写景，用“语燕新巢”作为过脉；最后由物到人，仍然回到草堂，点出身世感慨。“背郭堂成”的“堂”，和“错比扬雄宅”的“宅”遥相呼应。关合之妙，不见痕迹。
【Simple Translation】
Du Fu came to Chengdu at the end of the second year of Emperor Su’s reign (759) and built a cottage in the north of Baihuatan, by the Wanli Bridge. After two or three months, the cottage was completed in late spring of the following year. This poem was written at that time.
The poem is titled “Cao Tang” and is mainly about the scenery of the cottage and the mood of settling in the cottage. The hall is built with white thatch, with its back to the city and near the Jinjiang River, and is located on the high ground along the river road. From the hall, one can overlook the lush scenery of the countryside. The first two lines of the poem outline the location of the hall from the environmental background. In the middle four lines, the poem describes the scene of the cottage itself. Through the description of the natural scenery, the poem expresses in detail and vividly the life and mood of his new residence at the beginning of his life after the war.
The “alder forest hinders the sun” and the “caged bamboo and smoke” describe the tranquility of the Cao Tang. It is hidden in the depths of the jungle, not penetrating into the strong sunlight, as if there is a layer of indifferent light smoke shrouded. The phrase “ging wind and leaves” and “dew-dripping tips” is a reverse of “leaves ging wind” and “dew-dripping tips”. If you say “gin” and “drip”, the sound is very small. The poet’s ability to perceive even this slight sound shows how quietly he lived; he appreciated the scenery of the cottage, and his mood was completely integrated with it. Therefore, in his eyes, the crows fly and the swallows speak, each with deep feelings. These two lines are similar to those in Luo Dajing’s “Yulu of the Crane Forest”: “Because of the words of the flying swallows, the two lines are similar to his own dwelling with the chicks. This is also a comparison, but also a rise”. The poet is using his own joy to experience the dynamics of birds. Before this, he was like the magpie that “circled the tree three times, but had no branch to perch on”, running around with his children between Guanlong, and only later drifted to here. The grass hall is completed, not only the family has a place to live, even the birds are also in their place. So, the flying crows and the nesting swallows are not the same as their own joy, and they are more than happy. It is one of the characteristics of Du’s poetry that there is often a sense of simile in his poems about scenery and objects. However, Du Fu’s residence in the Cao Tang is different from Tao Yuanming’s return to his idyllic garden. He came to Chengdu to avoid the turmoil, and when he first came to Chengdu, he had the feeling of “believing that there is no beauty to fit in, and looking sideways at the river and the beam. When he first came to Chengdu, he thought of his sojourn, “The birds return at night, and the Central Plains are nowhere to be seen” (“Chengdu Palace”); until later, he said, “This body is old in Shu, and will return to Qin until I die.” Thus, the construction of the cottage was only a place for him to rest his shoulders during the hard journey of his displacement, but not a place for his old age. In this sense, even though the new residence was settled and the scenery was pleasant, there was always a sense of uncertainty and sadness in the midst of the tranquil and joyful mood. “I see things as I see them, so they all have my colors.” (Wang Guowei, “Words on Earth”) This complex and subtle state of ambivalence is faintly revealed by the word “temporarily” in “temporarily stopping the flying crows”.
The last couplet, “The people are wrongly compared to Yang Xiong’s house, lazy and unmotivated to make “The Explanation of Mockery””, has two meanings. Yang Xiong’s house, also known as Cao Xuan Tang, is located in the southwest corner of Chengdu, which is geographically related to Du Fu’s Ruanhua Cao Tang. The quiet and lonely life of Du Fu, who wrote poems and composed poems in Rong Hua Cao Tang, is somewhat similar to the situation described in Zuo Si’s poem “Winging History”, in which he says, “The house of Yangzi is silent, and there is no official at the door. Yang Xiong used to write his book “Tai Xuan” behind closed doors, simulating the Zhou Yi, hence the name of Cao Xuan Tang. When Du Fu first arrived in Chengdu and lived in the Ruanhuaxi Temple, Gao Shi sent him a poem that said, “Preach the Way and recruit the guest, and discuss the poems and books since. …… The Xuan has now been completed, what more can be said after that?” (“A gift to Du Erzhu”), comparing him with Yang Xiong’s “Xuan”; but his reply was: “I dare not draft “Xuan”, but I may be like Xiangru.” （This poem says that Cao Tang cannot be compared with Yang Xiong’s house, and it also means that he did not write a great work like Yang Xiong, such as “Tai Xuan”. This meaning can be confirmed by the above poem in reply to Gao Shi. This is one of them. In the poem, Yang Xiong boasted that he had written “Xuan” behind closed doors to elucidate the way of the sages and had no intention to be rich and famous. In fact, the reason why he wrote this piece is to give vent to his resentment of his unfulfilled career. The reason why he wrote this piece is to give vent to his unhappy feelings about his eunuch career, but Du Fu only used this cottage as a place to escape from the chaos and steal his life, which is different from Yang Xiong’s mood in the cottage. This is the second layer of meaning.
The poem starts from the completion of the Cao Xuan Tang camp; in the middle of the poem, the poet writes about the scenery, using “the new nest of the whispering swallows” as the next line; at the end, the poem moves from objects to people, still returning to the Cao Xuan Tang, pointing out the feelings of his life. The “Hall” in “Back Guo Tang Cheng” and “Residence” in “Wrongly Compared to Yang Xiong’s Residence” echo each other. The beauty of the combination is not visible.
