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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

贺新郎·赋琵琶

He Xin Lang: On the Pipa

辛弃疾

Xin Qiji

咏物On an Object 怀古Meditations on the Past

凤尾龙香拨，自开元、《霓裳》曲罢，几番风月。
最苦浔阳江头客，画舸亭亭待发。
记出塞、黄云堆雪。
马上离愁三万里，望昭阳、宫殿孤鸿没。
弦解语，恨难说。
辽阳驿使音尘绝，琐窗寒、轻拢慢捻，泪珠盈睫。
推手含情还却手，一抹《梁州》哀彻。
千古事、云飞烟灭。
贺老定场无消息，想沉香亭北繁华歇。
弹到此，为呜咽。

A phoenix-tail lute of dragon-fragrance, since the Kaiyuan era, since the Rainbow Skirt dance ended, how many times the wind and moon have passed.
Most bitter of all is the guest at the head of the Xunyang river, his painted barge standing straight and ready to move.
Remember the march out past the frontier, yellow clouds piled with snow.
Parting sorrow three thousand li away on horseback, looking toward Zhaoyang palace until a lone wild goose has vanished.
The strings understand language, but the hatred cannot be told.
No word comes from the post-station in Liaoyang; at the cold lattice-window, light stroking and slow plucking, tears fill the eyes.
Push the strings with feeling, then draw the hand back; one sweep of the Liangzhou song, mournful to the very core.
All the affairs of a thousand years fly away like clouds, are put out like smoke.
No news of the old master He to keep the listeners in order; the glory of the pavilion north of the incense terrace must long since have ended.
Played to this point, it becomes a sobbing breath.

Listen

Meaning

Xin Qiji writes on a pipa, but the instrument is only an occasion. The lute of phoenix tail and dragon incense recalls the splendour of the Kaiyuan age, when the Rainbow Skirt was still danced; the tears shed over it descend in turn through the exiled musician at Xunyang, the envoy who rode out beyond the passes, and the woman waiting by a cold window in Liaoyang. Then the music itself becomes the speaker: the strings seem to speak, yet the grievance of a thousand years cannot be spoken at all, and the piece ends in a sobbing that no one can explain. The object played is thus also the history that played itself out.

凤尾龙香拨，自开元、《霓裳》曲罢，几番风月。最苦浔阳江头客，画舸亭亭待发。记出塞、黄云堆雪。马上离愁三万里，望昭阳、宫殿孤鸿没。弦解语，恨难说。辽阳驿使音尘绝，琐窗寒、轻拢慢捻，泪珠盈睫。推手含情还却手，一抹《梁州》哀彻。千古事、云飞烟灭。贺老定场无消息，想沉香亭北繁华歇。弹到此，为呜咽。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The poem takes up a lute and lets its history pass through it: the court of Kaiyuan, an exiled musician by the Xunyang river, a wife waiting for news from the frontier, and finally the ruined glory of the northern capital.[Structure] The first stanza works from the object outward — the instrument, its age, the sorrows it has carried since. The second stanza works from the playing inward — the tears, the sweep of the string, the vanishing of a thousand years, and a last sob.[Imagery] The images are deliberately small and concrete: a cup of snow on the clouds of a frontier march, a goose gone past a palace roof, one thin sheet of tears at a lattice-window. Each is a fragment of a larger ruin.[Sentiment] What makes the poem more than an elegant imitation is the refusal of consolation. Where a song about the past might end in a sigh over change, this one ends in a sob made material: the music itself hurts, and the hurt cannot be explained away. The lyric voice, normally so controlled in these long tunes, is heard cracking at the very last word.

【白话串讲】辛弃疾写《贺新郎·赋琵琶》：“凤尾龙香拨，自开元、《霓裳》曲罢，几番风月”——“最苦浔阳江头客，画舸亭亭待发”——“马上离愁三万里，望昭阳、宫殿孤鸿没”——“弦解语，恨难说”——他赋琵琶——弦解语，恨难说。【意象与手法】此词写咏物，以怀古写咏物，是辛弃疾的名篇。上片写琵琶：「凤尾龙香拨，自开元、《霓裳》曲罢，几番风月。最苦浔阳江头客，画舸亭亭待发。记出塞、黄云堆雪」写凤尾龙香拨、自开元、《霓裳》曲罢——写尽琵琶的凤尾；下片写感慨：「千古事、云飞烟灭。贺老定场无消息，想沉香亭北繁华歇。弹到此，为呜咽」写千古事、云飞烟灭——写尽飞烟的千古。全词以怀古写咏物，写尽琵琶的凤尾与飞烟的千古，是辛弃疾的代表作。【情感与主旨】此词写咏物，以怀古写咏物，是辛弃疾的名篇。此词咏琵琶，借琵琶的历史典故写兴亡之感。辛弃疾借琵琶写尽开元盛世、浔阳沦落、昭君出塞等历史，感慨「千古事、云飞烟灭」。此词写凤尾龙香拨，自开元、《霓裳》曲罢，几番风月；最苦浔阳江头客，画舸亭亭待发；记出塞、黄云堆雪；马上离愁三万里，望昭阳、宫殿孤鸿没；弦解语，恨难说；辽阳驿使音尘绝，琐窗寒、轻拢慢捻，泪珠盈睫；推手含情还却手，一抹《梁州》哀彻；千古事、云飞烟灭；贺老定场无消息，想沉香亭北繁华歇；弹到此，为呜咽。此词写琵琶：凤尾龙香拨，自开元、《霓裳》曲罢，几番风月——写凤尾龙香拨、自开元、《霓裳》曲罢，写尽琵琶的凤尾；最苦浔阳江头客，画舸亭亭待发——写最苦浔阳江头客、画舸亭亭待发，写尽浔阳的江头；记出塞、黄云堆雪——写记出塞、黄云堆雪，写尽黄云的堆雪；马上离愁三万里，望昭阳、宫殿孤鸿没——写马上离愁三万里、望昭阳、宫殿孤鸿没，写尽孤鸿的昭阳；弦解语，恨难说——写弦解语、恨难说，写尽解语的弦声；辽阳驿使音尘绝，琐窗寒、轻拢慢捻，泪珠盈睫——写辽阳驿使音尘绝、琐窗寒、轻拢慢捻，泪珠盈睫，写尽盈睫的泪珠；推手含情还却手，一抹《梁州》哀彻——写推手含情还却手、一抹《梁州》哀彻，写尽哀彻的梁州；千古事、云飞烟灭——写千古事、云飞烟灭，写尽飞烟的千古；贺老定场无消息，想沉香亭北繁华歇——写贺老定场无消息、想沉香亭北繁华歇，写尽沉香的繁华；弹到此，为呜咽——写弹到此、为呜咽，写尽呜咽的琵琶。全词以怀古写咏物——那「弦解语，恨难说」写尽解语的弦声，「弹到此，为呜咽」写尽呜咽的琵琶，写尽琵琶的凤尾与飞烟的千古，是理解辛弃疾咏物词的重要篇章。【名句点睛】常考「凤尾龙香拨，自开元、《霓裳》曲罢，几番风月」写琵琶的凤尾；「千古事、云飞烟灭。贺老定场无消息，想沉香亭北繁华歇」写飞烟的千古；以及全词以怀古写咏物、以用典写兴亡的手法。

Background

Xin Qiji (1140–1207) lived most of his adult life in the southern Song capital at Lin'an, far from the northern lands he believed should be recoverable, and his ci are full of the gap between an inherited ambition and a settled reality. Among his many He Xin Lang tunes, 'On the Pipa' is the one on which he writes about an object rather than about himself directly — a tournament of the Ts'ao family paintings, in which the pipa was a subject, is usually proposed as its occasion. The poem belongs to that branch of his work in which history is handled not as grief but as something that can be poured into a musical instrument and left there as a sound.

此词写咏物，以怀古写咏物，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，南宋豪放派词人，与苏轼并称「苏辛」。此词咏琵琶，借琵琶的历史典故写兴亡之感。辛弃疾借琵琶写尽开元盛世、浔阳沦落、昭君出塞等历史，感慨「千古事、云飞烟灭」。此词写凤尾龙香拨，自开元、《霓裳》曲罢，几番风月；最苦浔阳江头客，画舸亭亭待发；记出塞、黄云堆雪；马上离愁三万里，望昭阳、宫殿孤鸿没；弦解语，恨难说；辽阳驿使音尘绝，琐窗寒、轻拢慢捻，泪珠盈睫；推手含情还却手，一抹《梁州》哀彻；千古事、云飞烟灭；贺老定场无消息，想沉香亭北繁华歇；弹到此，为呜咽。此词写琵琶：「凤尾龙香拨，自开元、《霓裳》曲罢，几番风月」写凤尾龙香拨、自开元、《霓裳》曲罢——写尽琵琶的凤尾（凤尾龙香拨，自开元、《霓裳》曲罢，几番风月）；「最苦浔阳江头客，画舸亭亭待发」写最苦浔阳江头客、画舸亭亭待发——写尽浔阳的江头（最苦浔阳江头客，画舸亭亭待发）；「记出塞、黄云堆雪」写记出塞、黄云堆雪——写尽黄云的堆雪（记出塞、黄云堆雪）；「马上离愁三万里，望昭阳、宫殿孤鸿没」写马上离愁三万里、望昭阳、宫殿孤鸿没——写尽孤鸿的昭阳（马上离愁三万里，望昭阳、宫殿孤鸿没）；「弦解语，恨难说」写弦解语、恨难说——写尽解语的弦声（弦解语，恨难说）；「辽阳驿使音尘绝，琐窗寒、轻拢慢捻，泪珠盈睫」写辽阳驿使音尘绝、琐窗寒、轻拢慢捻，泪珠盈睫——写尽盈睫的泪珠（辽阳驿使音尘绝，琐窗寒、轻拢慢捻，泪珠盈睫）；「推手含情还却手，一抹《梁州》哀彻」写推手含情还却手、一抹《梁州》哀彻——写尽哀彻的梁州（推手含情还却手，一抹《梁州》哀彻）；「千古事、云飞烟灭」写千古事、云飞烟灭——写尽飞烟的千古（千古事、云飞烟灭）；「贺老定场无消息，想沉香亭北繁华歇」写贺老定场无消息、想沉香亭北繁华歇——写尽沉香的繁华（贺老定场无消息，想沉香亭北繁华歇）；「弹到此，为呜咽」写弹到此、为呜咽——写尽呜咽的琵琶（弹到此，为呜咽）。全词以怀古写咏物，写尽琵琶的凤尾与飞烟的千古，是理解辛弃疾咏物词的重要篇章。

Art

The poem's central figure is personification: the pipa 'understands language' (弦解语), and its playing becomes a sobbing (呜咽). Everywhere else it uses accumulation rather than comparison. The lists of places — Xunyang, Zhaoyang, Liaoyang,沉香亭 — are chosen not for their scenery but for the losses attached to each; the reader assembles the fall of a dynasty from four names. The diction is unusually plain for a tune of this length: 'light stroking, slow plucking' says only what a player's hands do, and the effect of that plainness is to make the subsequent flood of feeling more sudden. The last movement is the most studied: three short clauses in a row ('play to this point, become a sob') collapse the distance between music and emotion until the two cannot be told apart.

此词的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以用典写琵琶。「凤尾龙香拨」以用典写琵琶——那「开元」「霓裳」用开元盛世典写琵琶，以用典写尽琵琶的凤尾。其二，以怀古写沦落。「最苦浔阳江头客」以怀古写沦落——那「浔阳江头」用白居易《琵琶行》典写沦落，以怀古写尽浔阳的江头。其三，以通感写弦声。「弦解语，恨难说」以通感写弦声——那「解语」写尽解语的弦声，以通感写尽解语的弦声。其四，以感叹写兴亡。「千古事、云飞烟灭」以感叹写兴亡——那「云飞烟灭」写尽飞烟的千古，以感叹写尽飞烟的千古。此外，此词上片写琵琶的凤尾，下片写飞烟的千古，由物及史，正是咏物词「以史写物」的写法。四重手法，使此词以怀古写咏物，写尽琵琶的凤尾与飞烟的千古，是辛弃疾的代表作。此词还善于以「最苦浔阳江头客」的「最苦」写浔阳之最苦——那「最苦浔阳江头客」写尽浔阳的江头，正是以最写苦，以「最苦」写尽浔阳的江头。又善以「马上离愁三万里」的「三万里」写离愁之绵长——马上离愁三万里，正见离愁无边的写照，以「三万里」写尽孤鸿的昭阳。

Allusions

The 'Rainbow Skirt' (霓裳) is the Rainbow Skirt Feathered Garment, composed in the Tang court, danced in the heyday of Emperor Xuanzong and never danced again after the An Lushan rebellion; its ending marks the end of an age. Xunyang is the river where Bai Juyi wrote his 'Pipa Xing' after being exiled, and this 'guest at the head of the river' is that poem's own figure of a fallen musician. Zhaoyang palace was the residence of the Han emperor in the north from which Wang Zhaojun was sent outward to the Xiongnu; the lone goose disappearing over it is the letter-carrier her story is built on. The 'old master He' is the celebrated pipa player of the earlier court, once able to hold an audience with a single piece; no news of him means that even the authority of performance has disappeared.

此词的用语深植于咏物与怀古传统。「凤尾」令人想到「凤尾」写凤尾琴槽的意象——琵琶尾端饰以凤尾，也令人想到「凤尾竹」的意象；「龙香拨」令人想到「龙香拨」写龙香木拨子的意象——也令人想到「拨子」的意象；「霓裳」令人想到「霓裳」写《霓裳羽衣曲》的意象——唐玄宗时宫廷乐舞，也令人想到「霓裳羽衣」的意象；「浔阳江头」令人想到「浔阳江头」写浔阳江的意象——白居易《琵琶行》，也令人想到「同是天涯沦落人」的意象；「出塞」令人想到「出塞」写昭君出塞的意象——也令人想到「昭君出塞」的意象；「梁州」令人想到「梁州」写《梁州曲》的意象——也令人想到「凉州词」的意象；「沉香亭」令人想到「沉香亭」写沉香亭的意象——唐宫中亭名，也令人想到「沉香亭北倚阑干」（李白）的意象。全词化用凤尾、龙香拨、霓裳、浔阳江头、出塞、梁州、沉香亭的意象典故，以怀古写咏物，正是辛弃疾「豪放」而善用典、承咏物传统写兴亡之本领。「龙香拨」令人想到「龙香拨」写龙香木拨子的意象——也令人想到「绿沈弦」的意象；「昭阳」令人想到「昭阳」写昭阳宫的意象——汉宫殿名，也令人想到「昭阳殿」的意象，以昭阳写宫怨。

Commentary

Critics have long treated 'On the Pipa' as the most accomplished of Xin's object-poems and as proof that the heroic style could handle delicacy without losing force. Qing anthologists prized its compression; modern readings tend to stress the way the poem quietly converts a musical instrument into a monument to a destroyed age. The line most often quoted is 'the strings understand language, but the hatred cannot be told' — a paradox about expression that also describes the poet's own relation to the history he has inherited. The closing 'play to this point, become a sob' is the detail that keeps the poem from being merely an exercise in memory: the past is not recalled, it is sounded.

此词历来被推为辛弃疾咏物词的名篇，也是宋词写琵琶怀古的代表。历代论者对此词评价极高：清人评此词「以怀古写咏物，苍凉悲壮」；近人更指出「千古事、云飞烟灭。贺老定场无消息，想沉香亭北繁华歇」写飞烟的千古，是此词的名句。在词史上，此词的特殊价值在于：它以两片的长调写尽琵琶的凤尾与飞烟的千古——那凤尾，那龙香拨，那自开元，那霓裳曲罢，那几番风月，那最苦，那浔阳江头客，那画舸，那亭亭待发，那记出塞，那黄云堆雪，那马上离愁，那三万里，那望昭阳，那宫殿孤鸿没，那弦解语，那恨难说，那辽阳驿使，那音尘绝，那琐窗寒，那轻拢慢捻，那泪珠盈睫，那推手含情，那还却手，那一抹梁州，那哀彻，那千古事，那云飞烟灭，那贺老，那定场无消息，那想沉香亭北，那繁华歇，那弹到此，那为呜咽，都写尽了辛弃疾笔下的贺新郎；那「弹到此，为呜咽」更以感叹写尽呜咽的琵琶。此词与白居易《琵琶行》「同是天涯沦落人」的琵琶传统一脉相承，可见中国词写琵琶怀古的传统。对于今日读者，此词是理解辛弃疾咏物词的窗口，也是宋词写琵琶怀古的经典——那呜咽的琵琶，穿越千年，仍在诉说着飞烟的千古。

Prosody

Form Ci in the 'He Xin Lang' tune, written on the pipa itself.词·贺新郎

Rhyme The whole tune rhymes on entering tones kept to the end: bo, yue, fa, xue, mo, shuo, jie, che, mie, xie, yan.贺新郎，押「拨」「月」「发」「雪」「没」「说」「睫」「彻」「灭」「歇」「咽」韵（入声），仄韵到底

Tone pattern One rhyme throughout, on shortest syllables, keeps the voice clipped and urgent for the whole length. The music never has room to relax, which is the point: this poem is about a loss that cannot be comforted.此词为贺新郎词调，押入声仄韵，一韵到底，音节激越，正合咏物的激越。

Reading note The tune is laid out in two stanzas of nearly equal length. The first runs from the instrument outwards to the frontier: phoenix tail, Kaiyuan, the rainbow skirt ended, the guest at Xunyang, the march past the passes, the goose gone past Zhaoyang. The second returns from the playing inwards to the self: the empty post-station, the cold window, the sweep of the Liangzhou song, the thousand years gone like smoke, and finally the sob. Because every rhyme is an entering-tone word — bo, yue, fa, xue, mo, shuo, jie, che, mie, xie, yan — each line stops dead instead of fading; the sound of the tune is the sound of a string that has been struck and will not vibrate again. Read the 'the strings understand language' line slowly, and the closing three clauses almost in one breath, and the abrupt cadence becomes the poet's own self-control breaking.此词为贺新郎词调，两片——上片「凤尾龙香拨，自开元、《霓裳》曲罢，几番风月。最苦浔阳江头客，画舸亭亭待发。记出塞、黄云堆雪。马上离愁三万里，望昭阳、宫殿孤鸿没。弦解语，恨难说」；下片「辽阳驿使音尘绝，琐窗寒、轻拢慢捻，泪珠盈睫。推手含情还却手，一抹《梁州》哀彻。千古事、云飞烟灭。贺老定场无消息，想沉香亭北繁华歇。弹到此，为呜咽」，押入声仄韵（拨、月、发、雪、没、说、睫、彻、灭、歇、咽），一韵到底，音节激越。全词以怀古写咏物：上片写琵琶的凤尾（凤尾龙香拨、弦解语恨难说），下片写飞烟的千古（千古事云飞烟灭、弹到此为呜咽）。两片短章，前写琵琶，后写兴亡，以「弹到此，为呜咽」写尽呜咽的琵琶，正见辛弃疾「豪放」的本色。诵读此词，宜以激越的语调读「弦解语，恨难说」的弦声，以苍凉的语调读「弹到此，为呜咽」的呜咽，结句要读得激越而有余韵，方能传达出辛弃疾的苍凉悲壮。辛弃疾词以「豪放」著称，此词正是其咏物词的典范。

Line by line

千古事、云飞烟灭

All the affairs of a thousand years fly away like clouds and are put out like smoke.

千古事、云飞烟灭。

A thousand years of events—clouds flown, smoke gone.

此句是全词写兴亡的核心，以千古事写千古，以云飞烟灭写烟灭，写尽飞烟的千古，是千古名句。「千古事、云飞烟灭」写千古事、云飞烟灭——那「千古事」写千古事，「云飞烟灭」写云飞烟灭，写尽飞烟的千古。这句的深意在于：它以「千古事」的千古与「云飞烟灭」的烟灭，写尽飞烟的千古——千古事、云飞烟灭，那「千古事、云飞烟灭」写尽飞烟的千古——千古事，正是千古旧事的写照，那「千古」写尽飞烟的千古；云飞烟灭，那「云飞烟灭」写尽飞烟的烟灭——云飞烟灭，正是云散烟消的写照，那「烟灭」写尽飞烟的千古；那「千古事」写尽千古的旧事，那「云飞烟灭」写尽飞烟的烟灭，一写千古，一写烟灭，写尽飞烟的千古——千古旧事而云飞烟灭，正是兴亡的写照；此句以千古、烟灭写尽飞烟的千古，也为下文的呜咽作铺垫，也让此句成为全词写兴亡的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「千古的往事，都像云飞烟灭一样消散了」，则失其苍凉；唯以「千古事」写千古、「云飞烟灭」写烟灭，写尽飞烟的千古，也让此句成为全词写兴亡的核心。

The ages. A thousand years of events—clouds flown, smoke gone. The dynasties' rise and fall, gone like cloud and smoke, are the prelude to the pipa's music. To have said the past vanished would be a summary; the thousand-years-of-events against the clouds-flown-and-smoke-gone is the summary.

弦解语，恨难说

The strings understand language, but the hatred cannot be told.

弦解语，恨难说。

The strings can speak, but the grief is hard to tell.

此句是全词写弦声的核心，以弦解语写解语，以恨难说写难说，写尽解语的弦声，是千古名句。「弦解语，恨难说」写弦解语、恨难说——那「弦解语」写弦解语，「恨难说」写恨难说，写尽解语的弦声。这句的深意在于：它以「弦解语」的解语与「恨难说」的难说，写尽解语的弦声——弦解语，那「弦解语」写尽解语的弦声——弦解语，正是弦能解语的写照，那「解语」写尽解语的弦声；恨难说，那「恨难说」写尽难说的恨意——恨难说，正是幽恨难言的写照，那「难说」写尽解语的弦声；那「弦解语」写尽解语的弦声，那「恨难说」写尽难说的恨意，一写解语，一写难说，写尽解语的弦声——弦能解语而恨却难说，正是琵琶的写照；此句以解语、难说写尽解语的弦声，也为下文的泪珠作铺垫，也让此句成为全词写弦声的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「琵琶弦能懂得话语，恨意却难以说出」，则失其悲凉；唯以「弦解语」写解语、「恨难说」写难说，写尽解语的弦声，也让此句成为全词写弦声的核心。

The strings. The strings can speak, but the grief is hard to tell. The strings' eloquence against the grief's inarticulacy is the pipa's limit. To have said the pipa expressed but could not express would be a statement; the strings-can-speak against the grief-hard-to-tell is the statement.

Study

Word focus

冷 Cold (冷), here the cool of a lattice-window. In 'at the cold lattice-window, light stroking and slow plucking,' the word does double duty: the window is chilled by the season, and the playing that follows is chilled in the heart — a cold that has nothing to do with the weather and everything to do with a waiting that has gone on too long. 「琐窗寒、轻拢慢捻」之「寒」字是写琵琶的关键词，一个「寒」字写尽琐窗的清寒。寒者，寒冷、清寒也。辛弃疾以「琐窗寒、轻拢慢捻」写琵琶，这个「寒」字至少有双重意味：其一，写窗之寒——那「琐窗寒、轻拢慢捻」写琐窗寒、轻拢慢捻，那「寒」字写尽琐窗的清寒——琐窗寒，正是琐窗清寒的写照，那「寒」字写尽解语的弦声；其二，写情之悲——那「寒」字更是写悲——寒，正见幽怨凄清的悲绪，那「寒」字写尽辛弃疾的苍凉。以「寒」字写琵琶，正是辛弃疾写咏物的枢纽——若换作「冷」「凉」等字，则或失其与「琐窗」「轻拢慢捻」的配合，或失其写寒的意味；唯「寒」字，以琐窗寒、轻拢慢捻写尽琐窗之清寒与幽怨之悲绪，与「泪珠盈睫」的泪珠相合，写尽解语的弦声，也让「琐窗寒、轻拢慢捻」成为全词写琵琶的名句。

咽 To choke, to sob (咽). In 'played to this point, it becomes a sobbing breath' it names the sound at the end of a held note, when the voice turns over in the throat. It is also the exact word for a grief too large to be voiced, so the music that 'becomes' a sob is not describing an emotion but admitting its limits. 「弹到此，为呜咽」之「咽」字是写琵琶的关键词，一个「咽」字写尽呜咽的琵琶。咽者，呜咽、幽咽也。辛弃疾以「弹到此，为呜咽」写琵琶，这个「咽」字至少有双重意味：其一，写弦之咽——那「弹到此，为呜咽」写弹到此、为呜咽，那「咽」字写尽呜咽的琵琶——为呜咽，正是琵琶呜咽的写照，那「咽」字写尽飞烟的千古；其二，写情之痛——那「咽」字更是写痛——咽，正见兴亡感慨的痛楚，那「咽」字写尽辛弃疾的悲壮。以「咽」字写琵琶，正是辛弃疾写咏物的枢纽——若换作「泣」「啼」等字，则或失其与「弹到此」「为呜咽」的配合，或失其写咽的意味；唯「咽」字，以弹到此、为呜咽写尽琵琶之呜咽与兴亡之痛楚，与「千古事、云飞烟灭」的烟灭相合，写尽飞烟的千古，也让「弹到此，为呜咽」成为全词写琵琶的名句。