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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

点绛唇·闲倚胡床

Dian Jiang Chun: Leisurely Leaning on the Hu Bed

苏轼

Su Shi

闲适Easy Leisure 山水Landscape

闲倚胡床，庾公楼外峰千朵。
与谁同坐。
明月清风我。
别乘一来，有唱应须和。
还知么。
自从添个。
风月平分破。

Leisurely leaning on the hu-bed,
Outside the tower of Earl Yu a thousand peaks stand in bloom.
Sitting with whom?
The bright moon, the cool wind, and me.
When the deputy prefect (bie cheng) arrives,
Whatever is sung must be answered.
Do you know?
Ever since that one was added,
The wind and the moon are split evenly between us.

Listen

Meaning

Written while Su Shi was prefect of Hangzhou, this short ci describes an afternoon of ease: leaning on a folding chair outside the tower, a thousand peaks in view, and no one to sit with but the moon and the wind. When his assistant Yuan Gu comes, the poem opens into company - songs are exchanged, and Su Shi tells him the wind and the moon are now shared. The whole poem turns on a joke: adding a person does not halve the beauty, it simply refuses to let him enjoy it alone.

闲倚胡床，庾公楼外峰千朵。与谁同坐。明月清风我。别乘一来，有唱应须和。还知么。自从添个。风月平分破。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] Su Shi leans on his folding chair outside a tower and asks who he is sitting with; the answer is the moon, the wind and himself.

[Structure] The first stanza is a closed circle - leaning, peaks, question, answer - and the second stanza is the same circle opened by a visitor. The trick of the poem is that the visitor does not disturb the solitude: he joins it.

[Imagery] Only four things are named: the folding chair, a thousand peaks, the bright moon and the cool wind. There are no flowers, no birds, no water; the landscape is reduced to a single outlook and a pair of elements, and every other image in the poem is a word of speech - who, must be answered, do you know.

[Feeling] The mood is not loneliness but a kind of company that does not need human beings. The poem's real wit is in its last four characters, where the wind and the moon are counted as a thing that can be divided - and divided evenly - once one more person is admitted.

【白话串讲】苏轼写《点绛唇·闲倚胡床》：“闲倚胡床，庾公楼外峰千朵”——“与谁同坐。明月清风我”——“别乘一来，有唱应须和”——“还知么。自从添个。风月平分破”——他写闲坐——与谁同坐。明月清风我。【意象与手法】此词写闲适，以山水写闲适，是苏轼的名篇。上片写独坐：「闲倚胡床，庾公楼外峰千朵。与谁同坐。明月清风我」写闲倚胡床、庾公楼外峰千朵、与谁同坐——写尽独坐的闲适；下片写共赏：「别乘一来，有唱应须和。还知么。自从添个。风月平分破」写别乘一来、风月平分破——写尽共赏的闲适。全词以山水写闲适，写尽独坐的闲适与共赏的闲适，是苏轼的代表作。【情感与主旨】此词写闲适，以山水写闲适，是苏轼的名篇。此词写苏轼在杭州时的闲适心境。苏轼曾两任杭州，此词或作于第二次知杭州期间。词写闲倚胡床（交椅），望庾公楼外千峰，与明月清风同坐；别乘（郡守佐官，指袁毂）一来，两人唱和共赏，风月平分。全词以明月、清风、山水写闲适，正是苏轼豁达胸襟的流露。此词写独坐：闲倚胡床，庾公楼外峰千朵——写闲倚胡床、庾公楼外峰千朵，写尽独坐的闲适；与谁同坐。明月清风我——写与谁同坐、明月清风我，写尽独坐的闲适；别乘一来，有唱应须和——写别乘一来、有唱应须和，写尽共赏的唱和；还知么。自从添个。风月平分破——写还知么、自从添个、风月平分破，写尽共赏的闲适。全词以山水写闲适——那「与谁同坐。明月清风我」写尽独坐的闲适，「风月平分破」写尽共赏的闲适，写尽独坐的闲适与共赏的闲适，是理解苏轼闲适词的重要篇章。【名句点睛】常考「与谁同坐。明月清风我」写独坐的闲适；「自从添个。风月平分破」写共赏的闲适；以及全词以山水写闲适、以问答写独坐的手法。

Background

Su Shi (1037-1101), courtesy name Zizhan, styled Dongpo Jushi, was from Meishan in Sichuan. He was one of the great writers of the Northern Song, one of the eight prose masters, and the man who opened the bold-heroic school of ci. He served twice as prefect of Hangzhou, and this ci probably belongs to the second term, when his days were filled with inspecting the lakes and hills. The hu-bed was a folding chair brought in from the north; the tower of Earl Yu took its name from the Jin general Yu Liang, who was said to have looked out at the moon from a south tower there. Bie cheng was the title for a deputy prefect, and the visitor is generally taken to be Yuan Gu.

此词写闲适，以山水写闲适，是苏轼的名篇。苏轼（1037—1101），字子瞻，号东坡居士，眉山（今属四川）人，北宋文学家，与父苏洵、弟苏辙并称「三苏」，为唐宋八大家之一，词开豪放一派。此词写苏轼在杭州时的闲适心境。苏轼曾两任杭州，此词或作于第二次知杭州期间。词写闲倚胡床（交椅），望庾公楼外千峰，与明月清风同坐；别乘（郡守佐官，指袁毂）一来，两人唱和共赏，风月平分。全词以明月、清风、山水写闲适，正是苏轼豁达胸襟的流露。此词写独坐：「闲倚胡床，庾公楼外峰千朵」写闲倚胡床、庾公楼外峰千朵——写尽独坐的闲适（闲倚胡床，庾公楼外峰千朵）；「与谁同坐。明月清风我」写与谁同坐、明月清风我——写尽独坐的闲适（与谁同坐。明月清风我）；「别乘一来，有唱应须和」写别乘一来、有唱应须和——写尽共赏的唱和（别乘一来，有唱应须和）；「还知么。自从添个。风月平分破」写还知么、自从添个、风月平分破——写尽共赏的闲适（还知么。自从添个。风月平分破）。全词以山水写闲适，写尽独坐的闲适与共赏的闲适，是理解苏轼闲适词的重要篇章。苏轼知杭州时，政暇与僚属游赏山水，此词正是他「欲把西湖比西子」之外的又一处闲适心境。杭州的湖山、明月、清风，成为苏轼失意宦途中的慰藉。此词写与别乘袁毂唱和同赏的日常，可见苏轼不以贬谪为意、随处自得的旷达。

Art

Four techniques carry the poem. First, plain literal description for the opening: leaning on a folding chair and looking at a thousand peaks is a description of nothing but an afternoon, and that plainness is the source of the poem's charm. Second, a question and its answer for the heart of the tune: who is there to sit with, is asked and answered in four words, and the answer is deliberately a list of things and one person. Third, repetition and prompting for the second stanza: do you know is put in twice, and the added one is left deliberately odd - a visitor cannot be explained. Fourth, a strange verb for the close: to split the wind and the moon evenly is not elegant, but it is exactly right, because it treats beauty as an object that can be shared. The poem also moves from solitude to company without a trace of effort, so that the description reads as a mood rather than a scene.

此词的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以白描写闲倚。「闲倚胡床」以白描写闲倚——那「闲倚胡床」写尽倚床的闲态，以白描写尽独坐的闲适。其二，以问答写独坐。「与谁同坐。明月清风我」以问答写独坐——那「与谁同坐」写尽自问的独白，以问答写尽独坐的闲适。其三，以叠句写妙趣。「还知么。自从添个」以叠句写妙趣——那「还知么」写尽提醒的俏皮，以叠句写尽共赏的闲适。其四，以奇语写分享。「风月平分破」以奇语写分享——那「平分破」写尽分享的奇语，以奇语写尽共赏的闲适。此外，此词上片写独坐的闲适，下片写共赏的闲适，由独及共，正是闲适词「以独写达」的写法。四重手法，使此词以山水写闲适，写尽独坐的闲适与共赏的闲适，是苏轼的代表作。此词还善于以「闲倚胡床」的起句写日常的闲态——那「闲倚」写尽倚床的从容，正是政暇自得的写照，以日常写尽独坐的闲适。又善以「别乘一来，有唱应须和」的叙事写唱和之乐——别乘一来便有唱和，正是宾主相得的写照，以叙事写尽共赏的闲适。

Allusions

The hu-bed was the portable chair of the northern aristocracy and of the Jin scholars; to lean on it outside a tower is to imitate their easy posture. The tower of Earl Yu comes from the Xin Yu - A New Account of the Tales of the World - where Yu Liang, governing Wuchang, went up the south tower with his officers to look at the moon, and later generations named the place after him; Su Shi picks the allusion because it is precisely a story of officers and a moon. A thousand peaks is the conventional vast number, and the bright moon and cool wind gather the whole canon of poems that give a man the sky for his company, from Li Bai's line that the pure wind and bright moon cost not a penny, down through Ouyang Xiu's line that the wind and moon were never for sale. The wind and moon of the close, too, reach back to the Rhapsody on the Moon by Xie Zhuang, who wrote the wind and the moon as the two noblest things under heaven.

此词的用语深植于闲适与山水传统。「胡床」令人想到「胡床」写交椅的意象——也令人想到「倚胡床」的意象；「庾公楼」典出《世说新语·容止》——晋庾亮镇武昌时登南楼与僚属赏月，后世以庾公楼写赏月佳处，苏轼以之写杭州之楼；「峰千朵」令人想到「峰千朵」写群峰的意象——也令人想到「千峰」的意象；「明月清风」令人想到「明月清风」写风月的意象——也令人想到「清风明月不用一钱买」（李白）的意象；「别乘」令人想到「别乘」写郡丞的意象——也令人想到「佐郡」的意象。全词化用胡床、庾公楼、峰千朵、明月清风、别乘的意象典故，以山水写闲适，正是苏轼「旷达」而善写趣、承闲适传统写豁达之本领。「风月」令人想到南朝谢庄《月赋》「风月」的意象——也令人想到欧阳修「清风明月本无价」的意象；「平分」令人想到「平分秋色」的成语——也令人想到「二分明月」的意象，以风月平分写与友同赏的雅趣。「峰千朵」令人想到「千朵万朵压枝低」（杜甫）的以花喻峰之意——也令人想到「烟岚云岫」的山水画境；「胡床」令人想到魏晋名士「踞胡床」的风度——也令人想到庾亮南楼「老子于此处兴复不浅」的赏月佳话。

Commentary

This ci is esteemed as one of Su Shi's best poems of easy leisure and one of the finest of the Song on Hangzhou's hills. Qing readers called it calm and transcending; modern readers quote Sitting with whom? the bright moon, the cool wind, and me as the line that gives the whole poem its tone. In the history of the ci it sits in a chain of poems that make the sky a companion, and it closes beside Su Shi's own Shui Diao Ge Tou, which asks about the moon and turns out to be about a distance between people; the two are different in feeling, one prefect's noon and one man's festival night. The poem's special value is that it is four lines short and still manages both a landscape and a friendship.

此词历来被推为苏轼闲适词的名篇，也是宋词写杭州山水与闲适的代表。历代论者对此词评价极高：清人评此词「以山水写闲适，旷达超然」；近人更指出「与谁同坐。明月清风我」写独坐的闲适，是此词的名句。在词史上，此词的特殊价值在于：它以四十一字的词写尽独坐的闲适与共赏的闲适——那闲倚，那胡床，那庾公楼外，那峰千朵，那与谁同坐，那明月，那清风，那我，那别乘，那有唱应须和，那还知么，那自从添个，那风月平分破，都写尽了苏轼笔下的点绛唇；那「与谁同坐。明月清风我」更以问答写尽独坐的闲适。此词与苏轼《水调歌头》（「明月几时有」）同为写明月名篇，一写「把酒问青天」的怀远（水调歌头），一写「明月清风我」的闲适（点绛唇）；又与王维《终南别业》「行到水穷处，坐看云起时」的山水闲适传统一脉相承，可见宋词写闲适的传统。对于今日读者，此词是理解苏轼闲适词的窗口，也是宋词写杭州的经典——那风月平分的洒脱，穿越千年，仍在诉说着独坐的闲适。

Prosody

Form Ci, to the tune Dian Jiang Chun词·点绛唇

Rhyme The tune keeps one deflected-tone rhyme throughout: bloom, me, answered, added, split.词牌点绛唇，押「朵」「我」「和」「个」「破」等韵，仄韵一韵到底

Tone pattern The tune Dian Jiang Chun is on the deflected tone and holds a single rhyme; the cadence is light and quick, which suits the mood of leisure.此词为点绛唇，仄韵一韵到底，音节轻快，正合闲适的轻快。

Reading note This is the Dian Jiang Chun form: the first stanza of four lines - leisurely leaning on the hu-bed, outside the tower of Earl Yu a thousand peaks stand in bloom; sitting with whom? the bright moon, the cool wind, and me - and the second stanza of five lines - when the deputy prefect (bie cheng) arrives, whatever is sung must be answered; do you know? ever since that one was added, the wind and the moon are split evenly between us. The deflected-tone single rhyme (bloom, me, answered, added, split) is held to the end, and the light quick rhythm is the right envelope for a poem about an idle afternoon. In the short stanza form, the first half is solitude and the second half company, and the close turns on the verb that splits the wind and the moon, which is the most unmannerly and truest word in the poem. In reading aloud, keep the question short and the answer slower, and let the closing line sink. Su Shi's ci are famous for their transcendent ease, and this is the model of his poems of leisure.此词为《点绛唇》词牌，上片四句——「闲倚胡床，庾公楼外峰千朵。与谁同坐。明月清风我」，下片五句——「别乘一来，有唱应须和。还知么。自从添个。风月平分破」，押仄韵（朵、我、和、个、破），一韵到底，音节轻快。全词以山水写闲适：上片写独坐的闲适（闲倚胡床、明月清风我），下片写共赏的闲适（别乘一来、风月平分破）。词体短章，前写独坐，后写共赏，以「风月平分破」写尽共赏的洒脱，正见苏轼「旷达」的本色。诵读此词，宜以轻快的语调读「闲倚胡床」的闲态，以洒脱的语调读「风月平分破」的分享，结句要读得轻快而有余韵，方能传达出苏轼的旷达超然。苏轼词以「旷达」著称，此词正是其闲适词的典范。

Line by line

与谁同坐。明月清风我

Sitting with whom? The bright moon, the cool wind, and me.

与谁同坐。明月清风我。

With whom do I sit? With the bright moon, the clear wind, and me.

此二句是全词写独坐的核心，以与谁同坐写同坐，以明月清风我写清风我，写尽独坐的闲适，是千古名句。「与谁同坐」写与谁同坐——那「与谁」写与谁，「同坐」写同坐，写尽独坐的问答；「明月清风我」写明月清风我——那「明月清风」写明月清风，「我」写我，写尽风月的同坐。这句的深意在于：它以「与谁同坐」的同坐与「明月清风我」的清风我，写尽独坐的闲适——与谁同坐，那「与谁同坐」写尽独坐的问答——与谁同坐，正是无人共坐的写照，那「与谁」写尽独坐的闲适；明月清风我，那「明月清风我」写尽风月的同坐——明月清风我，正是与风月为伴的写照，那「我」写尽独坐的闲适；那「与谁同坐」写尽独坐的问答，那「明月清风我」写尽风月的同坐，一写问答，一写风月，写尽独坐的闲适——无人同坐而风月为伴，正是以造物为友的写照；此二句以同坐、风月写尽独坐的闲适，也为下文的别乘作铺垫，也让此二句成为全词写独坐的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「我一个人坐在楼上看风景」，则失其超然；唯以「与谁同坐」写同坐、「明月清风我」写清风我，写尽独坐的闲适，也让此二句成为全词写独坐的核心。

The question is the poem's famous turn. With whom do I sit? There is no one—so the answer supplies the company: the bright moon, the clear wind, and me. The three nouns piled up without a verb make a party of three: moon, wind, and the poet, enough. Su Shi claims the whole sky as companions, and the flat, unadorned listing is the whole point. To have said I sat alone with the moon and wind would be a sentence; the unanswered question answered by moon-wind-me is the transcendence.

闲倚胡床，庾公楼外峰千朵

Leisurely leaning on the hu-bed, outside the tower of Earl Yu a thousand peaks stand in bloom.

闲倚胡床，庾公楼外峰千朵。

Idly I lean on the folding couch; beyond Lord Yu's tower rise a thousand peaks, like blossoms.

此二句是全词写闲倚的核心，以闲倚胡床写胡床，以庾公楼外峰千朵写峰千朵，写尽独坐的闲适，是千古名句。「闲倚胡床」写闲倚胡床——那「闲倚」写闲倚，「胡床」写胡床，写尽倚床的闲态；「庾公楼外峰千朵」写庾公楼外峰千朵——那「庾公楼外」写庾公楼外，「峰千朵」写峰千朵，写尽楼外的千峰。这句的深意在于：它以「闲倚胡床」的胡床与「庾公楼外峰千朵」的峰千朵，写尽独坐的闲适——闲倚胡床，那「闲倚胡床」写尽倚床的闲态——闲倚胡床，正是倚床闲望的写照，那「闲倚」写尽独坐的闲适；庾公楼外峰千朵，那「庾公楼外峰千朵」写尽楼外的千峰——庾公楼外，正是登楼远望的写照，那「峰千朵」写尽山水的闲适；那「闲倚胡床」写尽倚床的闲态，那「庾公楼外峰千朵」写尽楼外的千峰，一写倚床，一写远望，写尽独坐的闲适——倚床闲望而千峰在目，正是山水为伴的写照；此二句以胡床、峰千朵写尽独坐的闲适，也为下文的同坐作铺垫，也让此二句成为全词写闲倚的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「我靠在椅子上看外面的山」，则失其雅致；唯以「闲倚胡床」写胡床、「庾公楼外峰千朵」写峰千朵，写尽独坐的闲适，也让此二句成为全词写闲倚的核心。

The opening sets the scene. Idly I lean on the folding couch—an officer's portable chair, then the mark of the leisured scholar—and beyond the tower, named after the Eastern Jin general Yu Liang who once climbed a tower in the moonlight, rise a thousand peaks like blossoms. The allusion to Yu Liang's moonlit night links Su Shi to a kindred gentleman. The thousand peaks compared to blossoms is the famous grace: mountains as flowers. To have said I leaned back and looked at the mountains would be ordinary; the thousand peaks like blossoms outside Lord Yu's tower are the grace.

Study

Word focus

闲 At ease, unhurried. In leisurely leaning on the hu-bed it describes both the body - leaning, not sitting upright - and the mind, which has nothing to attend to; the two meanings are the door by which the rest of the poem enters. 「闲倚胡床」之「闲」字是写闲适的关键词，一个「闲」字写尽闲倚的闲态。闲者，安闲、悠闲也。苏轼以「闲倚胡床」写闲适，这个「闲」字至少有双重意味：其一，写倚之闲——那「闲倚胡床」写闲倚胡床，那「闲」字写尽倚床的闲态——闲倚胡床，正是悠然倚坐的写照，那「闲」字写尽独坐的闲适；其二，写心之闲——那「闲」字更是写闲——闲，正见心境的安闲，那「闲」字写尽苏轼的旷达。以「闲」字写闲适，正是苏轼写闲适词的枢纽——若换作「斜」「独」等字，则或失其与「倚胡床」「庾公楼外峰千朵」的配合，或失其写闲的意味；唯「闲」字，以闲倚胡床写尽倚床之悠然与心境之安闲，与「与谁同坐。明月清风我」的明月清风相合，写尽独坐的闲适，也让「闲倚胡床」成为全词写闲适的名句。

平分 To divide evenly, to share equally. In the wind and the moon are split evenly between us it does not merely mean enjoying the view together; it counts the beauty as a portion that can be halved, and the roughness of the word split makes the joke land. 「风月平分破」之「平分」是写分享的关键词，一个「平分」写尽风月的分享。平分者，均分、同享也。苏轼以「风月平分破」写分享，这个「平分」至少有双重意味：其一，写月之平分——那「风月平分破」写风月平分破，那「平分」写尽风月的均分——风月平分，正是与友共赏的写照，那「平分」写尽共赏的闲适；其二，写情之达——那「平分」更是写达——平分，正见与友同乐的旷达，那「平分」写尽苏轼的豁达。以「平分」写分享，正是苏轼写闲适词的枢纽——若换作「同赏」「共享」等词，则或失其与「风月」「还知么」的配合，或失其写平分的意味；唯「平分」二字，以风月平分破写尽风月之均分与同乐之旷达，与「别乘一来，有唱应须和」的唱和相合，写尽共赏的闲适，也让「风月平分破」成为全词写分享的名句。