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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

定风波·暮春漫兴

Calming the Waves: Casual Musings in Late Spring

辛弃疾

Xin Qiji

暮春late spring 感慨lament and reflection

少日春怀似酒浓，插花走马醉千钟。
老去逢春如病酒，唯有，茶瓯香篆小帘栊。
卷尽残花风未定，休恨，花开元自要春风。
试问春归谁得见？
飞燕，来时相遇夕阳中。

In youth my springtime feelings were strong as wine: flowers in my hair, galloping on horseback, drunk on a thousand cups.
Old now, I meet spring as if sick from drink; there is only—tea bowl, incense seal, and a small curtained window.
The wind, still not settled, sweeps up the last withered petals—do not grieve: blossoms have always needed the spring wind to open.
Ask, then: when spring departs, who may see it go? The flying swallow—coming, it met me in the setting sun.

Listen

Meaning

Xin Qiji contrasts his youth, when spring moods were intoxicating and he rode and drank wildly, with his old age, when spring feels like a hangover and he sits with tea and incense behind a small curtain. Watching wind strip the last petals, he consoles himself—flowers needed that same wind to open—and asks who has ever seen spring leave; only the swallow, arriving, met him in the setting sun. An old man's late-spring melancholy resolved into philosophical ease.

少日春怀似酒浓，插花走马醉千钟。老去逢春如病酒，唯有，茶瓯香篆小帘栊。卷尽残花风未定，休恨，花开元自要春风。试问春归谁得见？飞燕，来时相遇夕阳中。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] In youth, spring feelings were heady as wine—I wore flowers, galloped, drank a thousand cups. Old, I meet spring like one sick from drink; only a tea bowl, incense smoke, a small curtained window remain. The wind sweeps up the last petals and is not yet still—do not grieve: flowers always needed the spring wind to bloom. Ask who has seen spring go: the flying swallow, coming, met me in the setting sun. [Structure] The first stanza sets youth against age; the second turns from regret to a reasoning consolation and ends on an image. [Imagery] The wine of youth against the tea of age, three linked actions against three still objects, wind that both destroys and creates, and finally the swallow crossing the sunset—the only witness of spring's going. [Insight] The central turn, 'do not grieve: flowers have always needed the spring wind to open,' converts loss into understanding: the wind that strips the petals is the same wind that opened them. Grief relaxes into acceptance, and the closing scene, light and airborne, leaves the sorrow unresolved but transfigured.

【白话串讲】辛弃疾写《定风波·暮春漫兴》：“少日春怀似酒浓，插花走马醉千钟”——“老去逢春如病酒，唯有，茶瓯香篆小帘栊”——“卷尽残花风未定，休恨，花开元自要春风”——“试问春归谁得见？飞燕，来时相遇夕阳中”——他写暮春——少日春怀似酒浓。【意象与手法】此词写暮春，以感怀写暮春，是辛弃疾的名篇。上片写今昔：「少日春怀似酒浓，插花走马醉千钟。老去逢春如病酒，唯有，茶瓯香篆小帘栊」写少日春怀似酒浓、插花走马醉千钟、老去逢春如病酒——写尽今昔的对照；下片写悟理：「卷尽残花风未定，休恨，花开元自要春风。试问春归谁得见？飞燕，来时相遇夕阳中」写卷尽残花风未定、花开元自要春风——写尽春归的悟理。全词以感怀写暮春，写尽今昔的对照与春归的悟理，是辛弃疾的代表作。【情感与主旨】此词写暮春，以感怀写暮春，是辛弃疾的名篇。此词写辛弃疾暮春时节的感怀。辛弃疾为南宋抗金名将、词人，一生以恢复中原为志而壮志难酬，晚年闲居带湖、瓢泉。此词写少日与老去对暮春的不同感受：少日逢春如酒浓而插花走马，老去逢春如病酒而独坐帘栊，正是年华老去的感伤。下片由「卷尽残花」悟出「花开元自要春风」之理，又以飞燕问春归何处，是闲居中自我宽解的旷达。此词写今昔：少日春怀似酒浓，插花走马醉千钟——写少日春怀似酒浓、插花走马醉千钟，写尽少日的豪兴；老去逢春如病酒，唯有，茶瓯香篆小帘栊——写老去逢春如病酒、茶瓯香篆小帘栊，写尽老去的消沉；卷尽残花风未定，休恨，花开元自要春风——写卷尽残花风未定、花开元自要春风，写尽春归的悟理；试问春归谁得见？飞燕，来时相遇夕阳中——写试问春归谁得见、飞燕来时相遇夕阳中，写尽春归的追问。全词以感怀写暮春——那「老去逢春如病酒」写尽老去的消沉，「花开元自要春风」写尽春归的悟理，写尽今昔的对照与春归的悟理，是理解辛弃疾闲适词的重要篇章。【名句点睛】常考「少日春怀似酒浓，插花走马醉千钟」写少日的豪兴；「老去逢春如病酒」写老去的消沉；以及全词以感怀写暮春、以今昔对照写年华的写法。

Background

Xin Qiji (1140–1207), courtesy name You'an, sobriquet Jiaxuan, a native of Licheng (modern Jinan, Shandong), was the greatest ci master of the Southern Song, ranked with Su Shi as one of the 'Su–Xin' bold school. A general's son in occupied territory, he crossed south at twenty-two and fought for the recovery of the Central Plain, but was repeatedly sidelined and spent long years in forced retirement at Lake Dai and Piaoquan. This ci, a 'casual musing' (manxing) of late spring, comes from such leisure: the old fighter who once 'wore flowers and galloped' now sits with tea and incense, and the poem's acceptance of falling blossoms is the acceptance of a man whose great cause, like spring, is passing beyond his reach.

此词写暮春，以感怀写暮春，是辛弃疾的名篇。辛弃疾（1140—1207），字幼安，号稼轩，历城（今山东济南）人，南宋词人，与苏轼并称「苏辛」，为豪放词代表。此词写辛弃疾暮春时节的感怀。辛弃疾为南宋抗金名将、词人，一生以恢复中原为志而壮志难酬，晚年闲居带湖、瓢泉。此词写少日与老去对暮春的不同感受：少日逢春如酒浓而插花走马，老去逢春如病酒而独坐帘栊，正是年华老去的感伤。下片由「卷尽残花」悟出「花开元自要春风」之理，又以飞燕问春归何处，是闲居中自我宽解的旷达。此词写今昔：「少日春怀似酒浓，插花走马醉千钟」写少日春怀似酒浓、插花走马醉千钟——写尽少日的豪兴（少日春怀似酒浓，插花走马醉千钟）；「老去逢春如病酒，唯有，茶瓯香篆小帘栊」写老去逢春如病酒、茶瓯香篆小帘栊——写尽老去的消沉（老去逢春如病酒，唯有，茶瓯香篆小帘栊）；「卷尽残花风未定，休恨，花开元自要春风」写卷尽残花风未定、花开元自要春风——写尽春归的悟理（卷尽残花风未定，休恨，花开元自要春风）；「试问春归谁得见？飞燕，来时相遇夕阳中」写试问春归谁得见、飞燕来时相遇夕阳中——写尽春归的追问（试问春归谁得见？飞燕，来时相遇夕阳中）。全词以感怀写暮春，写尽今昔的对照与春归的悟理，是理解辛弃疾闲适词的重要篇章。

Art

Four devices shape the ci. First, simile marks the ages: youth's spring mood 'strong as wine,' age's spring 'like sickness from wine'—one simile turned inside out. Second, contrast built from objects: the three linked actions of youth (wearing flowers, galloping, drinking a thousand cups) against the three still things of age (tea bowl, incense seal, small curtained window)—motion against stillness, extraversion against withdrawal. Third, a reasoning turn: 'do not grieve—flowers have always needed the spring wind to open' answers the falling petals with a paradox that reconciles bloom and fall, wind as both creator and destroyer; the colloquial interjections 'do not grieve' give the reasoning its spoken ease. Fourth, an imagistic close: to the question 'who has seen spring depart?' the answer is not an argument but a scene—the swallow crossing the sunset—leaving the thought airborne. Colloquial, self-interrupting syntax ('there is only—', 'ask, then—') shows Xin Qiji's prose-in-ci manner at its most relaxed.

此词的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以比喻写今昔。「少日春怀似酒浓」以比喻写今昔——那「似酒浓」写尽春怀的浓烈，以比喻写尽少日的豪兴。其二，以对照写年华。「老去逢春如病酒」以对照写年华——那「如病酒」写尽老去的消沉，以对照写尽今昔的对照。其三，以问句写春归。「试问春归谁得见」以问句写春归——那「试问」写尽春归的追问，以问句写尽春归的悟理。其四，以景结写余韵。「飞燕，来时相遇夕阳中」以景结写余韵——那「飞燕」「夕阳」写尽相遇的意象，以景结写尽春归的余韵。此外，此词上片写今昔的对照，下片写春归的悟理，由感及悟，正是闲适词「以理遣怀」的写法。四重手法，使此词以感怀写暮春，写尽今昔的对照与春归的悟理，是辛弃疾的代表作。此词还善于以「插花走马醉千钟」的连贯动作写少日的豪兴——插花、走马、醉千钟，三事相连，正是少年豪纵的写照，以动作写尽少日的豪兴。又善以「茶瓯香篆小帘栊」的静物写老去的闲寂——茶瓯、香篆、小帘栊，三物并列，正是独坐帘栊的写照，以静物写尽老去的消沉。

Allusions

The images are drawn from a long tradition of spring-and-wine poetry. 'Flowers in the hair, galloping' recalls Meng Jiao's 'proud in spring, my horse's hooves fly'; 'drunk on a thousand cups' echoes Li Bai's 'one must drink three hundred cups'; 'sick from wine' is the standard idiom for hangover weariness, familiar from Li Qingzhao's 'deep sleep did not dispel the wine.' The 'incense seal' names coiled incense burning like seal script; the withered petals swept by wind follow Meng Haoran's 'flowers fallen—how many, who can tell?'; the returning swallow recalls Yan Shu's 'a swallow I seemed to know comes back.' The setting sun behind it hints at Li Shangyin's 'the setting sun is infinitely fair—only dusk is near.' Out of these borrowed lights Xin Qiji builds his own resolution: the wind that fells the flowers is the wind that opened them.

此词的用语深植于暮春与感怀传统。「插花走马」令人想到「插花走马」写春游的意象——也令人想到「春风得意马蹄疾」（孟郊）的意象；「醉千钟」令人想到「醉千钟」写醉饮的意象——也令人想到「会须一饮三百杯」（李白）的意象；「病酒」令人想到「病酒」写宿醉的意象——也令人想到「昨夜雨疏风骤，浓睡不消残酒」（李清照）的意象；「香篆」令人想到「香篆」写盘香的意象——也令人想到「篆香」的意象；「残花」令人想到「残花」写残花的意象——也令人想到「夜来风雨声，花落知多少」（孟浩然）的意象；「飞燕」令人想到「飞燕」写飞燕的意象——也令人想到「似曾相识燕归来」（晏殊）的意象。全词化用插花走马、醉千钟、病酒、香篆、残花、飞燕的意象，以感怀写暮春，正是辛弃疾「以文为词」而善写情、承暮春传统写感怀之本领。「春怀似酒浓」令人想到李白《将进酒》「人生得意须尽欢，莫使金樽空对月」的纵酒意象；「夕阳」令人想到李商隐《登乐游原》「夕阳无限好，只是近黄昏」的夕阳意象，以飞燕相遇夕阳写春归的怅惘。

Commentary

This ci has long been admired as a masterpiece of Xin Qiji's leisure-period verse and a representative Song meditation on late spring. Qing critics praised its 'natural ease' in writing lament through feeling; modern readers prize 'old, I meet spring like one sick from wine' as the poem's signature line. Its special value in ci history is the combination of colloquial freedom with philosophical poise: a sixty-one-character lyric that moves from the bravado of 'a thousand cups' to the reasoning of 'flowers have always needed the spring wind' to the aerial close of the swallow in the sunset. Read beside his 'Ugly Slave: Inscribed on a Wall on the Boshan Road' ('in youth I did not know the taste of sorrow'), it shows two moods of his self-reflection; beside Yan Shu's 'helplessly, the flowers fall,' it shows how a Song poet could turn the same falling petals from grief into understanding. The swallow that met him in the sunset still tells, after eight centuries, of spring's going.

此词历来被推为辛弃疾闲适词的名篇，也是宋词写暮春感怀的代表。历代论者对此词评价极高：清人评此词「以感怀写暮春，旷达自然」；近人更指出「老去逢春如病酒」写老去的消沉，是此词的名句。在词史上，此词的特殊价值在于：它以六十一字的词写尽今昔的对照与春归的悟理——那少日，那春怀，那似酒浓，那插花，那走马，那醉千钟，那老去，那逢春，那如病酒，那茶瓯，那香篆，那小帘栊，那残花，那风未定，那春风，那飞燕，那夕阳，都写尽了辛弃疾笔下的暮春漫兴；那「花开元自要春风」更以悟理写尽春归的旷达。此词与辛弃疾《丑奴儿·书博山道中壁》（「少年不识愁滋味」）同为感怀名篇，一写「为赋新词强说愁」的识愁（丑奴儿），一写「老去逢春如病酒」的感怀（定风波）；又与晏殊《浣溪沙》「无可奈何花落去」的暮春传统一脉相承，可见宋词写暮春感怀的传统。对于今日读者，此词是理解辛弃疾闲适词的窗口，也是宋词写暮春的经典——那夕阳中相遇的飞燕，穿越千年，仍在诉说着春归的悟理。

Prosody

Form Ci to the tune 'Calming the Waves' (Ding Feng Bo)词·定风波

Rhyme Mixed level and oblique rhymes from the 'east' group—nong (浓), zhong (钟), long (栊), feng (风), zhong (中)—with the two-character interjections 唯有, 休恨 set off between rhymes词牌定风波，押「浓」「钟」「栊」「风」「中」等韵，平仄互押

Tone pattern Level and oblique rhymes alternate, giving the lines a spoke-and-rest cadence—firm steps loosening into colloquial ease, matching a poem that reasons its way from regret to acceptance此词为定风波，平仄互押，音节顿挫，正合感怀的顿挫。

Reading note The Ding Feng Bo pattern interleaves rhymed lines with unrhymed two-character interjections ('there is only—', 'do not grieve'), which here work like spoken asides and are the tune's chief charm. Read the youth lines with brisk, galloping energy, slow for the tea and incense of age, let the colloquial interjections fall naturally as speech, and lift the final question lightly—'the flying swallow—coming, it met me in the setting sun' should end airy and unforced, carrying Xin Qiji's relaxed self-command.此词为《定风波》词牌，上片五句——「少日春怀似酒浓，插花走马醉千钟。老去逢春如病酒，唯有，茶瓯香篆小帘栊」，下片六句——「卷尽残花风未定，休恨，花开元自要春风。试问春归谁得见？飞燕，来时相遇夕阳中」，押「东」部韵（浓、钟、栊、风、中）而平仄互押，音节顿挫。全词以感怀写暮春：上片写今昔的对照（少日春怀似酒浓、老去逢春如病酒），下片写春归的悟理（花开元自要春风、飞燕来时相遇夕阳中）。词体短章，前写今昔，后写悟理，以「飞燕，来时相遇夕阳中」写尽春归的余韵，正见辛弃疾「以文为词」的本色。诵读此词，宜以豪迈的语调读「插花走马醉千钟」的少日，以低回的语调读「老去逢春如病酒」的老去，结句要读得轻灵而有余韵，方能传达出辛弃疾的旷达自然。辛弃疾词以「豪放」著称，此词正是其闲适词的典范。

Line by line

老去逢春如病酒，唯有，茶瓯香篆小帘栊

Old now, I meet spring as one sick from wine; there is only—tea bowl, incense smoke, a small curtained window.

老去逢春如病酒，唯有，茶瓯香篆小帘栊。

Now that I am old, meeting spring is like being drunk and ailing; all I have is a teacup, a spiral of incense, and a small lattice window.

此三句是全词写老去的核心，以老去逢春如病酒写病酒，以茶瓯香篆小帘栊写帘栊，写尽老去的消沉，是千古名句。「老去逢春如病酒」写老去逢春如病酒——那「老去逢春」写老去逢春，「如病酒」写如病酒，写尽老去的病酒；「唯有，茶瓯香篆小帘栊」写唯有茶瓯香篆小帘栊——那「茶瓯香篆」写茶瓯香篆，「小帘栊」写小帘栊，写尽唯有的帘栊。这句的深意在于：它以「老去逢春如病酒」的病酒与「茶瓯香篆小帘栊」的帘栊，写尽老去的消沉——老去逢春如病酒，那「老去逢春如病酒」写尽老去的病酒——老去逢春，正是年华老去的写照，那「如病酒」写尽老去的消沉；茶瓯香篆小帘栊，那「茶瓯香篆小帘栊」写尽唯有的帘栊——茶瓯香篆，正是独坐品茶的写照，那「小帘栊」写尽老去的消沉；那「老去逢春如病酒」写尽老去的病酒，那「茶瓯香篆小帘栊」写尽唯有的帘栊，一写病酒，一写帘栊，写尽老去的消沉——老去逢春而独坐帘栊，正是壮志消磨的写照；此三句以病酒、帘栊写尽老去的消沉，也为下文的悟理作铺垫，也让此三句成为全词写老去的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「老了以后春天来了也没什么兴致」，则失其画面；唯以「老去逢春如病酒」写病酒、「茶瓯香篆小帘栊」写帘栊，写尽老去的消沉，也让此三句成为全词写老去的核心。

Xin Qiji opens the ci on old age. Now that I am old, meeting spring is like being drunk and ailing—where the young revel in the season, the old man merely feels unwell. All he has left is a teacup, a spiral of incense, and a small lattice window: the minimum apparatus of a quiet evening. The contrast with the spring outside is the poem's complaint. To have said old age makes spring tiresome would be a statement; the sick-drunk feeling with only tea, incense, and a small window is the old age.

卷尽残花风未定，休恨，花开元自要春风

The wind, still not settled, sweeps up the last withered petals—do not grieve: blossoms have always needed the spring wind to open.

卷尽残花风未定，休恨，花开元自要春风。

The wind has rolled away the last petals and is not yet stilled; do not grieve—after all, the flowers needed the spring wind to open in the first place.

此三句是全词写悟理的核心，以卷尽残花风未定写残花，以花开元自要春风写春风，写尽春归的悟理，是千古名句。「卷尽残花风未定」写卷尽残花风未定——那「卷尽残花」写卷尽残花，「风未定」写风未定，写尽残花的卷尽；「休恨，花开元自要春风」写休恨花开元自要春风——那「休恨」写休恨，「花开元自要春风」写花开元自要春风，写尽春风的必然。这句的深意在于：它以「卷尽残花风未定」的残花与「花开元自要春风」的春风，写尽春归的悟理——卷尽残花风未定，那「卷尽残花风未定」写尽残花的卷尽——卷尽残花，正是风吹花落的写照，那「风未定」写尽春归的必然；花开元自要春风，那「花开元自要春风」写尽春风的必然——花开要春风，正是花开与春风相因的写照，那「元自要」写尽春归的悟理；那「卷尽残花风未定」写尽残花的卷尽，那「花开元自要春风」写尽春风的必然，一写落，一写开，写尽春归的悟理——花开要风而花落亦因风，正是天道自然的写照；此三句以残花、春风写尽春归的悟理，也为下文的飞燕作铺垫，也让此三句成为全词写悟理的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「花开花落都是自然规律，不用太伤心」，则失其词情；唯以「卷尽残花风未定」写残花、「花开元自要春风」写春风，写尽春归的悟理，也让此三句成为全词写悟理的核心。

Then comes the stoical turn. The wind has rolled away the last petals and is not yet stilled; do not grieve—after all, the flowers needed the spring wind to open in the first place. The logic is Xin Qiji's philosophy: the same wind that blows the petals off was the wind that opened them. To resent the wind for scattering is to resent it for having given the bloom. The admonition do not grieve is the poem's wisdom. To have said flowers open and fall by the same wind, so no use grieving would be a moral; the unfinished wind and the opening-required wind are the philosophy.

Study

Word focus

病酒 'Bìng jiǔ' (sick from wine): the misery of a hangover. Meeting spring no longer brings wine-bright excitement but the dull ache of 'sickness from drink'—an image at once of the aging body and of a heart whose ambitions have dulled; against the 'strong as wine' of youth, one phrase marks a whole lifetime's change. 「老去逢春如病酒」之「病酒」是写消沉的关键词，一个「病酒」写尽老去的消沉。病酒者，因酒醉而困顿也。辛弃疾以「老去逢春如病酒」写消沉，这个「病酒」至少有双重意味：其一，写身之困——那「老去逢春如病酒」写老去逢春如病酒，那「病酒」写尽老去的困顿——如病酒，正是逢春而困的写照，那「病酒」写尽老去的消沉；其二，写心之倦——那「病酒」更是写倦——病酒，正见逢春的倦意，那「病酒」写尽壮志的消磨。以「病酒」写消沉，正是辛弃疾写感怀的枢纽——若换作「倦游」「愁病」等词，则或失其与「老去逢春」「如病酒」的配合，或失其写病酒的意味；唯「病酒」二字，以老去逢春如病酒写尽老去的困顿与逢春的倦意，与「茶瓯香篆小帘栊」的帘栊相合，写尽老去的消沉，也让「老去逢春如病酒」成为全词写消沉的名句。

休 'Xiū' (cease, do not): in 'do not grieve,' the poet checks himself mid-lament. The word marks the hinge of the second stanza—sorrow halted by reasoning—and carries the self-consolation of a man in retirement who has learned to let the spring go. 「休恨，花开元自要春风」之「休」字是写旷达的关键词，一个「休」字写尽休恨的旷达。休者，停止、不必也。辛弃疾以「休恨，花开元自要春风」写旷达，这个「休」字至少有双重意味：其一，写恨之休——那「休恨，花开元自要春风」写休恨花开元自要春风，那「休」字写尽休恨的旷达——休恨，正是劝己莫恨的写照，那「休」字写尽春归的悟理；其二，写情之达——那「休」字更是写达——休，正见自我宽解的旷达，那「休」字写尽闲居的达观。以「休」字写旷达，正是辛弃疾写感怀的枢纽——若换作「莫」「勿」等字，则或失其与「恨」「花开元自要春风」的配合，或失其写休的意味；唯「休」字，以休恨花开元自要春风写尽恨之休止与宽解之旷达，与「试问春归谁得见」的试问相合，写尽春归的悟理，也让「休恨」成为全词写旷达的名句。