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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

蝶恋花·京口得乡书

Die Lian Hua: A Letter from Home Got at Jingkou

苏轼

Su Shi

思乡Homesickness 春景Spring Scenery

雨后春容清更丽，只有离人，幽恨终难洗。
北固山前三面水，碧琼梳拥青螺髻。
一纸乡书来万里，问我何年，真个成归计。
白首送春拚一醉，东风吹破千行泪。

After the rain the face of spring is clearer and more beautiful -
Only the parted man has a hidden grief his whole life cannot wash away.
Before Mount Beigu there are water on three sides,
An ivory comb set in a dark green hair-pinned crest.
A single sheet of a letter from home comes ten thousand miles,
Asking me in what year, at last, I will really make my plan to return.
White-haired, spending the last of spring in one drunkard's plunge,
The east wind blows apart a thousand lines of tears.

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Meaning

Written at Jingkou on the Yangtze, where Su Shi was passing on official business, this ci opens with the loveliness of spring after rain and confines that loveliness to other people - only the parted man carries a grief no washing can remove. The view from Mount Beigu is described as a beautiful woman's hair, and then a letter arrives from home ten thousand miles away, asking when he will really come back. He answers by getting drunk at the end of spring and letting the east wind scatter a thousand lines of tears. The whole poem is a spring that cannot be enjoyed by the man who is away from it.

雨后春容清更丽，只有离人，幽恨终难洗。北固山前三面水，碧琼梳拥青螺髻。一纸乡书来万里，问我何年，真个成归计。白首送春拚一醉，东风吹破千行泪。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The face of spring after rain is lovelier than ever, but only the parted man carries a grief that cannot be washed away; then a letter from home comes from ten thousand miles and asks when he will come back.

[Structure] The first stanza moves from the beauty of spring to one man's exclusion from it, and then from that exclusion to a local view of Mount Beigu, which is beautiful but indifferent. The second stanza takes up the letter and turns the whole thing into tears. The poem is built as a sequence of good things that the speaker cannot use.

[Imagery] The rain-washed spring, the water on three sides, the jade comb and the dark green crest: these are the images a man uses to describe a country he is not in, and their perfection is what makes them painful. The letter is the only thing in the poem that comes from another person, and the thousand lines of tears are the only violence.

[Feeling] The poem's feeling is not weeping but the effort not to weep; the drunken plunge is an attempt to end the day quickly, and the wind that breaks a thousand lines of tears only means the attempt failed.

【白话串讲】苏轼写《蝶恋花·京口得乡书》：“雨后春容清更丽，只有离人，幽恨终难洗”——“一纸乡书来万里，问我何年，真个成归计”——“白首送春拚一醉，东风吹破千行泪”——他收到家乡来信——东风吹破千行泪。【意象与手法】此词写思乡，以羁旅写思乡，是苏轼的名篇。上阕写春容：「雨后春容清更丽，只有离人，幽恨终难洗。北固山前三面水，碧琼梳拥青螺髻」写雨后春容清更丽、只有离人、幽恨终难洗——写尽终难洗的幽恨；下阕写乡书：「一纸乡书来万里，问我何年，真个成归计。白首送春拚一醉，东风吹破千行泪」写一纸乡书来万里、问我何年、真个成归计——写尽万里的乡书。全词以羁旅写思乡，写尽终难洗的幽恨与万里的乡书，是苏轼的代表作。【情感与主旨】此词写思乡，以羁旅写思乡，是苏轼的名篇。此词为苏轼在京口（今江苏镇江）收到家书而作，写其羁旅思乡之情。苏轼一生宦游，此词写其身在京口、心系眉山故乡。此词写雨后春容清更丽，只有离人，幽恨终难洗；北固山前三面水，碧琼梳拥青螺髻；一纸乡书来万里，问我何年，真个成归计；白首送春拚一醉，东风吹破千行泪。此词写春容：雨后春容清更丽，只有离人，幽恨终难洗——写雨后春容清更丽、只有离人、幽恨终难洗，写尽终难洗的幽恨；北固山前三面水，碧琼梳拥青螺髻——写北固山前三面水、碧琼梳拥青螺髻，写尽北固的三面水；一纸乡书来万里，问我何年，真个成归计——写一纸乡书来万里、问我何年、真个成归计，写尽万里的乡书；白首送春拚一醉，东风吹破千行泪——写白首送春拚一醉、东风吹破千行泪，写尽千行的泪。全词以羁旅写思乡——那「幽恨终难洗」写尽终难洗的幽恨，「东风吹破千行泪」写尽千行的泪，写尽终难洗的幽恨与万里的乡书，是理解苏轼思乡词的重要篇章。【名句点睛】常考「雨后春容清更丽，只有离人，幽恨终难洗」写终难洗的幽恨；「一纸乡书来万里，问我何年，真个成归计」写万里的乡书；以及全词以羁旅写思乡、以比喻写春容的手法。

Background

Su Shi (1037-1101), courtesy name Zizhan, styled Dongpo Jushi, was from Meishan in Sichuan. Son of the prose master Su Xun and elder brother of the minister Su Zhe, he was one of the eight great prose masters of the Tang and Song and the leading figure of the bold-heroic ci. He spent his life in offices that took him from Xichuan to the Yangtze and back, and he kept a home at Meishan throughout. Jingkou (today's Zhenjiang, Jiangsu) stands on the bank of the Yangtze below Mount Beigu, and this ci was written there when a letter from his family reached him.

此词写思乡，以羁旅写思乡，是苏轼的名篇。苏轼（1037—1101），字子瞻，号东坡居士，眉州眉山（今四川眉山）人，北宋文学家、书画家，与父苏洵、弟苏辙并称「三苏」，与黄庭坚并称「苏黄」，是豪放派词人的代表。此词为苏轼在京口（今江苏镇江）收到家书而作，写其羁旅思乡之情。苏轼一生宦游，此词写其身在京口、心系眉山故乡。此词写雨后春容清更丽，只有离人，幽恨终难洗；北固山前三面水，碧琼梳拥青螺髻；一纸乡书来万里，问我何年，真个成归计；白首送春拚一醉，东风吹破千行泪。此词写春容：「雨后春容清更丽，只有离人，幽恨终难洗」写雨后春容清更丽、只有离人、幽恨终难洗——写尽终难洗的幽恨（雨后春容清更丽，只有离人，幽恨终难洗）；「北固山前三面水，碧琼梳拥青螺髻」写北固山前三面水、碧琼梳拥青螺髻——写尽北固的三面水（北固山前三面水，碧琼梳拥青螺髻）；「一纸乡书来万里，问我何年，真个成归计」写一纸乡书来万里、问我何年、真个成归计——写尽万里的乡书（一纸乡书来万里，问我何年，真个成归计）；「白首送春拚一醉，东风吹破千行泪」写白首送春拚一醉、东风吹破千行泪——写尽千行的泪（白首送春拚一醉，东风吹破千行泪）。全词以羁旅写思乡，写尽终难洗的幽恨与万里的乡书，是理解苏轼思乡词的重要篇章。

Art

Four techniques hold the poem together. First, contrast to bring out the grief: the spring is at its best after the rain, and the very next breath says that only a parted man has a grief such a world cannot cleanse. Second, metaphor of the human body for the country: the water around Mount Beigu is an ivory comb held by a dark green hair crest, an image of tremendous beauty and complete coldness. Third, the letter's own words to carry the ask: when will you really make your plan to return is quoted almost verbatim, and its plainness is what makes the reply so heavy. Fourth, direct statement at the close: the east wind blows apart a thousand lines of tears leaves nothing imagistic between the feeling and the reader, and after four images of order the poem ends in disorder. The effect is that the poem's best lines are all beautiful, and its pain arrives from being unable to touch any of them.

此词的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以反衬写幽恨。「春容清更丽」以反衬写幽恨——那「只有离人」写尽离人的幽恨，以反衬写尽终难洗的幽恨。其二，以比喻写山水。「碧琼梳拥青螺髻」以比喻写山水——那「北固山前三面水」写尽北固的三面水，以比喻写尽北固的三面水。其三，以口吻写乡书。「问我何年，真个成归计」以口吻写乡书——那「一纸乡书来万里」写尽万里的乡书，以口吻写尽万里的乡书。其四，以直抒写泪。「东风吹破千行泪」以直抒写泪——那「白首送春拚一醉」写尽送春的一醉，以直抒写尽千行的泪。此外，此词上阕写终难洗的幽恨，下阕写万里的乡书，由景及情，正是思乡词「以恨写乡」的写法。四重手法，使此词以羁旅写思乡，写尽终难洗的幽恨与万里的乡书，是苏轼的代表作。此词还善于以「北固山前三面水」的「三面水」写北固之环水——那「北固山前」写尽北固的山前，正是以水写山，以「三面水」写尽北固的三面水。又善以「白首送春拚一醉」的「拚一醉」写送春之拚醉——白首送春拚一醉，正见送春拚醉的写照，以「拚一醉」写尽千行的泪。

Allusions

A hidden grief such as no washing can remove follows the line of pain hiding under beauty that runs through the Tang poets; it comes close to the line in Bai Juyi's Song of the Pipa where a hidden sorrow is born under the playing. Mount Beigu is the famous hill at Jingkou, where Xiang Yu once stood, and which later generations made the place to look south toward the frontier; Xin Qiji would climb the Beigu tower a century later and ask where the land of the inheritance could still be looked for. Water on three sides describes the shape of the hill, and the dark green hair-pinned crest recalls Liu Yuxi, who compared the lake to a silver plate holding one dark green conch. A letter from home has one great ancestor in the line asking where the letter from home will reach, blown by the wild geese toward Luoyang, and a thousand lines of tears answers the same tradition with a number instead of a messenger.

此词的用语深植于思乡与羁旅传统。「幽恨」令人想到「幽恨」写幽深怨恨的意象——也令人想到「别有幽愁暗恨生」（白居易）的意象；「北固山」令人想到「北固山」写北固山的意象——京口名胜，也令人想到「何处望神州？满眼风光北固楼」（辛弃疾）的意象；「三面水」令人想到「三面水」写三面环水的意象——也令人想到「江流宛转绕芳甸」的意象；「青螺髻」令人想到「青螺髻」写青山如髻的意象——也令人想到「白银盘里一青螺」（刘禹锡）的意象；「乡书」令人想到「乡书」写家书的意象——也令人想到「乡书何处达？归雁洛阳边」（王湾）的意象；「千行泪」令人想到「千行泪」写泪千行的意象——也令人想到「泪落沾我衣」的意象。全词化用幽恨、北固山、三面水、青螺髻、乡书、千行泪的意象典故，以羁旅写思乡，正是苏轼「旷达」而善比喻、承思乡传统写羁旅之本领。「幽恨」令人想到「幽恨」写幽深怨恨的意象——也令人想到「别有幽愁暗恨生」的意象；「千行泪」令人想到「千行泪」写泪千行的意象——也令人想到「泪千行」的意象，以泪写思乡。

Commentary

This ci is counted among Su Shi's finest poems of homesickness and among the best of the Song on Jingkou. Qing judges called it clear, lovely and deep; modern readers usually quote the line in which the letter asks when the return will really be planned as the poem's centre. Its place in literary history is beside Wang Wan's poem on the same hill a century earlier, which ended with the same question - where can the letter from home be sent, when the wild geese carry it to Luoyang - and Wang Wan's poem ends by handing the letter to a bird, while Su Shi's ends by handing the answer to the wind. The pair is the clearest example of the Jingkou tradition of homesickness.

此词历来被推为苏轼思乡词的名篇，也是宋词写京口思乡的代表。历代论者对此词评价极高：清人评此词「以羁旅写思乡，清丽深婉」；近人更指出「一纸乡书来万里，问我何年，真个成归计」写万里的乡书，是此词的名句。在诗歌史上，此词的特殊价值在于：它以长调写尽终难洗的幽恨与万里的乡书——那雨后，那春容，那清更丽，那只有离人，那幽恨，那终难洗，那北固山前，那三面水，那碧琼梳，那拥青螺髻，那一纸乡书，那来万里，那问我何年，那真个成归计，那白首送春，那拚一醉，那东风，那吹破，那千行泪，都写尽了苏轼笔下的京口得乡书；那「东风吹破千行泪」更以直抒写尽千行的泪。此词与王湾《次北固山下》「乡书何处达？归雁洛阳边」同为京口思乡名篇，一写「海日生残夜」的王湾（次北固山下），一写「东风吹破千行泪」的苏轼（京口得乡书）；一写唐，一写宋。两作对读，可见京口思乡的传统。对于今日读者，此词是理解苏轼思乡词的窗口，也是宋词写京口思乡的经典——那万里的乡书，穿越千年，仍在诉说着白首的千行泪。

Prosody

Form Ci, to the tune Die Lian Hua词·蝶恋花

Rhyme The whole poem holds one deflected-tone rhyme: beautiful, washed away, crest, plan, tears.蝶恋花，押「丽」「洗」「髻」「计」「泪」韵（仄声，去上通押），一韵到底

Tone pattern The Die Lian Hua is a short melody on the deflected tone, with one rhyme to the end; the cadence falls and lingers, which suits the low tone of the poem.此词为蝶恋花小令，押仄声韵，一韵到底，音节低回，正合思乡的低回。

Reading note This is the small Die Lian Hua in two stanzas: the first - after the rain the face of spring is clearer and more beautiful, only the parted man has a hidden grief his whole life cannot wash away; before Mount Beigu there is water on three sides, an ivory comb set in a dark green hair-pinned crest - and the second - a single sheet of a letter from home comes ten thousand miles, asking me in what year, at last, I will really make my plan to return; white-haired, spending the last of spring in one drunkard's plunge, the east wind blows apart a thousand lines of tears. It rhymes on the deflected tone throughout - beautiful, washed away, crest, plan, tears - and never changes, and the low prolonged rhythm matches the subject. In this short tune the first half sets a lovely scene and the second half breaks it with a letter and then with tears, and the close falls on the only violent word in the poem. In reading aloud, let the letter line be quiet, and give the last line no more force than the words will carry. Su Shi's small melodies are famous for their clarity, and this is the model of his poems of homesickness.此词为蝶恋花小令，上下两阕——上阕「雨后春容清更丽，只有离人，幽恨终难洗。北固山前三面水，碧琼梳拥青螺髻」，下阕「一纸乡书来万里，问我何年，真个成归计。白首送春拚一醉，东风吹破千行泪」，押仄声韵（丽、洗、髻、计、泪），一韵到底，音节低回。全词以羁旅写思乡：上阕写终难洗的幽恨（雨后春容清更丽、碧琼梳拥青螺髻），下阕写万里的乡书（一纸乡书来万里、东风吹破千行泪）。小令短章，前写春容，后写乡书，以「东风吹破千行泪」写尽千行的泪，正见苏轼「清丽」的本色。诵读此词，宜以低回的语调读「幽恨终难洗」的幽恨，以深情的语调读「一纸乡书来万里」的乡书，结句要读得低回而有余韵，方能传达出苏轼的清丽深婉。苏轼小令以「清丽」著称，此词正是其思乡词的典范。

Line by line

雨后春容清更丽，只有离人，幽恨终难洗

After the rain the face of spring is clearer and more beautiful; only the parted man has a hidden grief his whole life cannot wash away.

雨后春容清更丽，只有离人，幽恨终难洗。

After rain, spring's face is clearer and fairer; only for one who is parted from home, the hidden grief can never be washed clean.

此三句是全词写幽恨的核心，以雨后春容清更丽写清更丽，以只有离人写只有离人，以幽恨终难洗写终难洗，写尽终难洗的幽恨，是千古名句。「雨后春容清更丽」写雨后春容清更丽——那「雨后春容」写雨后春容，「清更丽」写清更丽，写尽春容的清丽；「只有离人」写只有离人——那「只有」写只有，「离人」写离人，写尽只有的离人；「幽恨终难洗」写幽恨终难洗——那「幽恨」写幽恨，「终难洗」写终难洗，写尽终难洗的幽恨。这句的深意在于：它以「雨后春容清更丽」的清更丽与「幽恨终难洗」的终难洗，写尽终难洗的幽恨——雨后春容清更丽，那「雨后春容清更丽」写尽春容的清丽——雨后春容清更丽，正是雨后春丽的写照，那「清更丽」写尽终难洗的幽恨；只有离人，那「只有离人」写尽只有的离人——只有离人，正是唯有离人的写照，那「离人」写尽终难洗的幽恨；幽恨终难洗，那「幽恨终难洗」写尽终难洗的幽恨——幽恨终难洗，正是幽恨难洗的写照，那「终难洗」写尽终难洗的幽恨；那「雨后春容清更丽」写尽春容的清丽，那「只有离人」写尽只有的离人，那「幽恨终难洗」写尽终难洗的幽恨，一写春容，一写离人，一写幽恨，写尽终难洗的幽恨——春丽而人独，正是思乡的写照；此三句以春容、离人、幽恨写尽终难洗的幽恨，也为下文的乡书作铺垫，也让此三句成为全词写幽恨的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「雨后的春色清新更美丽，只有离别的人，幽怨遗憾终究难洗去」，则失其深婉；唯以「雨后春容清更丽」写清更丽、「只有离人」写只有离人、「幽恨终难洗」写终难洗，写尽终难洗的幽恨，也让此三句成为全词写幽恨的核心。

The poem opens on spring after rain. After rain, spring's face is clearer and fairer than ever—the weather has washed the whole world, and the scenery is its most beautiful. But the very cleanness exposes what the rain cannot wash: only for one who is parted from home, the hidden grief can never be washed clean. The parallel is the whole structure—nature washed bright, the homesickness untouchable by water. The word only isolates the exile in a world of beauty. To have said the spring was lovely but I was homesick would be a statement; the washed world against the unwashed grief is the contrast.

一纸乡书来万里，问我何年，真个成归计

A single sheet of a letter from home comes ten thousand miles, asking me in what year, at last, I will really make my plan to return.

一纸乡书来万里，问我何年，真个成归计。

A single sheet of home letter has come from ten thousand li; it asks me in what year I shall truly make my plan to return.

此三句是全词写乡书的核心，以一纸乡书来万里写来万里，以问我何年写问我何年，以真个成归计写成归计，写尽万里的乡书，是千古名句。「一纸乡书来万里」写一纸乡书来万里——那「一纸乡书」写一纸乡书，「来万里」写来万里，写尽万里的乡书；「问我何年」写问我何年——那「问我」写问我，「何年」写何年，写尽何年的问我；「真个成归计」写真个成归计——那「真个」写真个，「成归计」写成归计，写尽成归计的归计。这句的深意在于：它以「一纸乡书来万里」的来万里、「问我何年」的问我与「真个成归计」的成归计，写尽万里的乡书——一纸乡书来万里，那「一纸乡书来万里」写尽万里的乡书——一纸乡书来万里，正是乡书万里的写照，那「来万里」写尽万里的乡书；问我何年，那「问我何年」写尽何年的问我——问我何年，正是何年归去的写照，那「何年」写尽万里的乡书；真个成归计，那「真个成归计」写尽成归计的归计——真个成归计，正是真成归计的写照，那「成归计」写尽万里的乡书；那「一纸乡书来万里」写尽万里的乡书，那「问我何年」写尽何年的问我，那「真个成归计」写尽成归计的归计，一写乡书，一写问我，一写归计，写尽万里的乡书——乡书万里而问何年，正是思乡的写照；此三句以乡书、问我、归计写尽万里的乡书，也为下文的千行泪作铺垫，也让此三句成为全词写乡书的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「一纸家书从万里之外寄来，问我哪一年，真的能定下归期」，则失其口吻；唯以「一纸乡书来万里」写来万里、「问我何年」写问我何年、「真个成归计」写成归计，写尽万里的乡书，也让此三句成为全词写乡书的核心。

Then the letter comes. A single sheet of home letter has traveled ten thousand li, and it asks me in what year I shall truly make my plan to return. The single sheet against ten thousand li measures the smallness and the distance; the question the letter asks is the one Su Shi cannot answer. The colloquial really makes the household inquiry sound like home. To have said I received a letter from home asking when I would return would be a fact; the one sheet from ten thousand li and the unanswered question are the longing.

Study

Word focus

洗 To wash, to cleanse. In a grief his whole life cannot wash away the verb carries the idea of a stain that only water can remove; the speaker is saying that no spring, no rain and no view has ever cleaned him, and no further one will. 「幽恨终难洗」之「洗」字是写幽恨关键词，一个「洗」字写尽终难洗的幽恨。洗者，洗涤、洗去也。苏轼以「幽恨终难洗」写幽恨，这个「洗」字至少有双重意味：其一，写恨之难洗——那「幽恨终难洗」写幽恨终难洗，那「洗」字写尽终难洗的幽恨——难洗，正是难以洗去的写照，那「洗」字写尽终难洗的幽恨；其二，写情之深——那「洗」字更是写深——洗，正见幽恨之深重难洗，那「洗」字写尽苏轼的思乡。以「洗」字写幽恨，正是苏轼写思乡的枢纽——若换作「消」「去」等字，则或失其与「幽恨」「终难洗」的配合，或失其写洗的意味；唯「洗」字，以幽恨终难洗写尽幽恨之难洗与情意之深重，与「雨后春容清更丽」的清丽相合，写尽终难洗的幽恨，也让「幽恨终难洗」成为全词写幽恨的名句。

破 To break, to blow apart. In the east wind blows apart a thousand lines of tears it describes the wind scattering tears that were already falling, so that the breaking is the last straw rather than the cause; the word is violent enough to end the poem. 「东风吹破千行泪」之「破」字是写泪关键词，一个「破」字写尽千行的泪。破者，吹破、冲破也。苏轼以「东风吹破千行泪」写泪，这个「破」字至少有双重意味：其一，写泪之破——那「东风吹破千行泪」写东风吹破千行泪，那「破」字写尽千行的泪——吹破，正是吹破泪水的写照，那「破」字写尽千行的泪；其二，写情之涌——那「破」字更是写涌——破，正见泪水奔涌的情状，那「破」字写尽苏轼的思乡。以「破」字写泪，正是苏轼写思乡的枢纽——若换作「落」「洒」等字，则或失其与「东风」「吹破千行泪」的配合，或失其写破的意味；唯「破」字，以东风吹破千行泪写尽泪水之奔涌与情意之涌动，与「白首送春拚一醉」的一醉相合，写尽千行的泪，也让「东风吹破千行泪」成为全词写泪的名句。