Listen to this article周而复 行书：杜甫《漫兴九首》（其五）
【释文】肠断江春（春江）欲尽头，杖藜徐步立芳洲。颠狂柳絮随风去，轻薄桃花逐水流。
【款识】杜甫漫兴，癸酉夏月日于北京，周而复。
【注释】漫兴：随兴所至，信笔写来。芳洲：长满花草的水中陆地。癫狂：本指精神失常，引申为放荡不羁。
【简析】
这组绝句写在杜甫寓居成都草堂的第二年，即代宗上元二年（ 761）。题作“漫兴”，有兴之所到随手写出之意。不求写尽，不求写全，也不是同一时成之。从九首诗的内容看，当为由春至夏相率写出，亦有次第可寻。
杜甫草堂周围的景色很秀丽，他在那儿的生活也比较安定。然而饱尝乱离之苦的诗人并没有忘记国难未除，故园难归；尽管眼前繁花簇簇，家国的愁思还时时萦绕在心头。其本意是写景抒情，并未有批判女子作风的意思，但因为其中两句所用意象“柳”“桃花”也用来形容女子，所谓残花败柳，面若桃花等。且诗中极尽其轻浮的状态，所有常被后人用来暗指女子作风的轻佻，不羁。
【Simple Translation】
This group of stanzas was written in the second year of Du Fu’s residence in Chengdu’s Cao Tang, the second year of Emperor Daizong’s Shang Yuan reign (761). It is entitled “Manxing”, meaning that it was written at the spur of the moment. The poem is not intended to be exhaustive, nor is it intended to be complete, nor was it written at the same time. From the content of the nine poems, it seems that they were written in succession from spring to summer, and there is a sequence to be found.
The scenery around Du Fu’s Cao Tang is very beautiful, and his life there was relatively stable. However, the poet, who has suffered from chaos and separation, has not forgotten that the national tragedy has not yet been removed and that it is difficult to return to his homeland; despite the cluster of flowers in front of him, the sorrow of home and country still haunts him at all times. The poem is meant to be an expression of emotion, not a criticism of women’s style, but because the imagery used in two lines, “willow” and “peach blossom”, is also used to describe women, the so-called broken willow, face like a peach blossom. And the poem is extremely frivolous state, so it is often used by later generations to allude to the frivolous and unrestrained style of women.
