明 Ming · 曲 Qu song
朝天子·咏喇叭
Chao Tian Zi: On the Trumpet
喇叭，唢呐，曲儿小腔儿大。
官船来往乱如麻，全仗你抬声价。
军听了军愁，民听了民怕。
哪里去辨甚么真共假？
眼见的吹翻了这家，吹伤了那家，只吹的水尽鹅飞罢！
Official boats come and go in tangled throngs, all leaning on you to raise their worth.
Soldiers hear and soldiers grieve; common folk hear and common folk fear.
How can one tell what is true from what is false?
Before your eyes they blow one house to ruin, blow another house to hurt;
They only blow till the water is gone and the geese have flown away!
Meaning
Using the trumpet and suona as a mask, the lyric exposes how Ming eunuchs abused their power to oppress soldiers and common folk, bitter and sharp.
喇叭，唢呐，曲子虽小腔调却大。官船来来往往乱如麻，全仗着你们抬高声价。当兵的听了发愁，百姓听了害怕。哪里还分辨得出什么是真、什么是假？眼睁睁吹得这家破了产，吹得那家受了伤，只把这水也干、鹅也飞，一切都吹光罢了！
Appreciation
The piece borrows the trumpet to satirize men, opening with the punning line 'small tunes but mighty blare.' Colloquial words like 'blare,' 'blow to ruin,' and 'blow to hurt' build step by step toward total devastation. The mood is mocking and fierce, a pointed attack on corrupt power. Its strength lies in plain speech turned into a sharp weapon.
【白话串讲】 “喇叭，唢呐，曲儿小腔儿大”——王磐写《咏喇叭》：喇叭声小腔大。“官船来往乱如麻，全仗你抬声价”——“军听了军愁，民听了民怕”——“只吹的水尽鹅飞罢”——他讽刺宦官作威作福，吹得民不聊生。 【意象与手法】以“喇叭唢呐”借物讽人，口语化的“腔儿大”“吹翻”“吹伤”层层递进，讽刺宦官扰民。 【情感与主旨】借咏喇叭揭露明代宦官借权势鱼肉百姓、搅得民不聊生的现实，辛辣犀利。 【名句点睛】“军听了军愁，民听了民怕”——以军民反应写尽权宦之威虐，入木三分。
Background
Wang Pan was a Ming-dynasty sanqu writer; this lyric uses the trumpet to satirize the eunuchs who, during the Zhengde reign, leaned on imperial favor to bully the people.
《朝天子·咏喇叭》为明代王磐所作，是写喇叭唢呐、讽刺官船的散曲。王磐（约1470—约1530），字鸿渐，号西楼，高邮人，明代散曲家。此曲：喇叭，唢呐，曲儿小腔儿大。官船来往乱如麻，全仗你抬声价。军听了军愁，民听了民怕。哪里去辨甚么真共假？眼见的吹翻了这家，吹伤了那家，只吹的水尽鹅飞罢！全曲写喇叭唢呐、讽刺官船，是王磐散曲的名篇。
Art
It borrows one thing to mock another, uses plain colloquial speech, and builds through parallel and cumulative phrasing—bitter and incisive.
《朝天子·咏喇叭》艺术上以喇叭唢呐的描摹与讽刺官船的辛辣见长。全曲数句：首写喇叭曲腔——“喇叭，唢呐，曲儿小腔儿大”写喇叭、唢呐、曲儿小腔儿大；次写官船声价——“官船来往乱如麻，全仗你抬声价。军听了军愁，民听了民怕”写官船来往乱如麻、全仗你抬声价、军听了军愁、民听了民怕；末写吹翻吹伤——“哪里去辨甚么真共假？眼见的吹翻了这家，吹伤了那家，只吹的水尽鹅飞罢”写哪里去辨甚么真共假、眼见的吹翻了这家、吹伤了那家、只吹的水尽鹅飞罢。全曲以喇叭唢呐写讽刺官船，正是王磐散曲辛辣的笔法。
Allusions
Allusions in 'Court Song - Playing the Trumpet' run through 'the trumpet and the suona,' 'a small tune with a big blare,' 'the official boats,' 'in a tangle like hemp,' 'inflating one's prestige,' 'the soldiers grieve and the people fear,' 'the true and the false,' 'blowing this house over,' and 'water gone and geese flown.' 'In a tangle like hemp' draws on the classical image of things jumbled as flax, and 'water gone and geese flown' on the idiom for a scene broken up and dispersed. The whole song satirizes the blaring of official boats, its allusions natural and its pungency self-evident -- the manner of Wang Pan's sanqu.
《朝天子·咏喇叭》用典在“喇叭”“唢呐”“曲儿小腔儿大”“官船”“乱如麻”“抬声价”“军愁民怕”“真共假”“吹翻了这家”“水尽鹅飞”。“喇叭”“唢呐”写喇叭唢呐；“曲儿小腔儿大”写曲儿小腔儿大；“官船”写官船；“乱如麻”用乱如麻之典（纷纷如麻）；“抬声价”写抬声价；“军愁民怕”写军愁民怕；“真共假”写真共假；“吹翻了这家”写吹翻了这家；“水尽鹅飞”用水尽鹅飞之典（曲终人散）。全曲以这些意象写喇叭唢呐、讽刺官船，用典自然而辛辣自见，正是王磐散曲的笔法。
Commentary
Critics say it turns 'laughter and rage alike into fine writing.'
《朝天子·咏喇叭》是王磐散曲的名篇，也是明散曲中讽刺世情的代表作。此曲写喇叭唢呐、讽刺官船，向为论者称道。论者多赏其喇叭唢呐的描摹与讽刺官船的辛辣——“喇叭，唢呐，曲儿小腔儿大”写喇叭、唢呐、曲儿小腔儿大，辛辣之极；“官船来往乱如麻，全仗你抬声价。军听了军愁，民听了民怕”写官船来往乱如麻、全仗你抬声价、军听了军愁、民听了民怕，更见其讽；“眼见的吹翻了这家，吹伤了那家，只吹的水尽鹅飞罢”用水尽鹅飞之典写眼见的吹翻了这家、吹伤了那家、只吹的水尽鹅飞罢，尤见其痛。王磐此曲借喇叭讽刺宦官作威作福，正是其代表——以喇叭唢呐写讽刺官船，正是其曲风。
Prosody
Line by line
喇叭，唢呐，曲儿小腔儿大。官船来往乱如麻，全仗你抬声价。
Trumpet, shawm—the tune is small, the blare is big. Official boats come and go as tangled as hemp; it is all on you they ride to lift their prestige.
喇叭，唢呐，曲儿小腔儿大。官船来往乱如麻，全仗你抬声价。
Trumpet, shawm—the tune is little, the bray is loud. Official boats pass back and forth tangled as hemp; it is all on you that their prestige is boosted.
首写喇叭、唢呐、曲儿小腔儿大、官船来往乱如麻、全仗你抬声价，是全曲写喇叭唢呐的起点。“喇叭，唢呐，曲儿小腔儿大”写喇叭、唢呐、曲儿小腔儿大——“喇叭，唢呐”写喇叭与唢呐——“曲儿小腔儿大”写曲儿小、腔儿大——喇叭，唢呐，曲儿小腔儿大；“官船来往乱如麻，全仗你抬声价”用乱如麻之典写官船来往乱如麻、全仗你抬声价——“官船来往乱如麻”用乱如麻之典写官船来往、乱如麻——“全仗你抬声价”写全仗喇叭抬高声价。此数句写喇叭唢呐、官船声价：喇叭，唢呐，曲儿小腔儿大。官船来往乱如麻，全仗你抬声价。以“曲儿小腔儿大”写曲儿小、腔儿大、装腔作势，以“官船来往乱如麻”用乱如麻之典写官船来往、纷乱如麻，正是王磐散曲写喇叭唢呐的起点——曲小腔大，官船抬价。
The shawm. Trumpet, shawm—the tune is small, the blare is big. Official boats come and go as tangled as hemp; it is all on you they ride to lift their prestige. The small tune and the big blare and the official boats are the satire. To have blown the prestige of the eunuch boats would be a satire; the trumpet-shawm-the-tune-is-small-the-blay-is-big-official-boats-come-and-go-as-tangled-as-hemp-it-is-all-on-you-they-ride-to-lift-their-prestige is the satire.
军听了军愁，民听了民怕。哪里去辨甚么真共假？眼见的吹翻了这家，吹伤了那家，只吹的水尽鹅飞罢！
The army hears and the army grieves; the people hear and the people fear. Where can one tell the true from the false? With one's own eyes one sees this house blown over, that house blown down, until the blowing has blown the water dry and the geese flown off!
军听了军愁，民听了民怕。哪里去辨甚么真共假？眼见的吹翻了这家，吹伤了那家，只吹的水尽鹅飞罢！
The soldiers hear and grieve; the people hear and fear. Where can you tell what is true and what is false? Before your eyes it blows over this house, blows down that house, until the water is gone and the geese have flown!
末用水尽鹅飞之典写军听了军愁、民听了民怕、哪里去辨甚么真共假、眼见的吹翻了这家、吹伤了那家、只吹的水尽鹅飞罢，是全曲写讽刺官船的归结。“军听了军愁，民听了民怕”写军听了军愁、民听了民怕——“军听了军愁”写军队听了发愁——“民听了民怕”写百姓听了害怕——军听了军愁，民听了民怕；“哪里去辨甚么真共假？眼见的吹翻了这家，吹伤了那家，只吹的水尽鹅飞罢”用水尽鹅飞之典写哪里去辨、眼见的吹翻了这家、只吹的水尽鹅飞罢——“哪里去辨甚么真共假”写哪里辨得清真与假——“眼见的吹翻了这家，吹伤了那家”写眼见吹翻了这家、吹伤了那家——“只吹的水尽鹅飞罢”用水尽鹅飞之典写只吹得水尽鹅飞。此数句写军愁民怕、吹翻吹伤：军听了军愁，民听了民怕。哪里去辨甚么真共假？眼见的吹翻了这家，吹伤了那家，只吹的水尽鹅飞罢！以“军听了军愁，民听了民怕”写军愁民怕、苦难深重，以“只吹的水尽鹅飞罢”用水尽鹅飞之典写水尽鹅飞、家破人散，正是王磐散曲写讽刺官船的归结——军愁民怕，水尽鹅飞。
The blowing. The army hears and the army grieves; the people hear and the people fear. Where can one tell the true from the false? With one's own eyes one sees this house blown over, that house blown down, until the blowing has blown the water dry and the geese flown off! The grieving army and fearing people and the water-dry-geese-gone are the close. To have blown the water dry would be a ruin; the army-hears-and-the-army-grieves-the-people-hears-and-the-people-fear-where-can-one-tell-the-true-from-the-false-with-one's-own-eyes-one-sees-this-house-blown-over-that-house-blown-down-until-the-blowing-has-blown-the-water-dry-and-the-geese-flown-off is the ruin.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
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