招魂

Meaning

The speaker declares that from childhood he was pure and upright and has never let his sense of right decay, yet the dust of the world has entangled and spoiled him, no power above has weighed his virtue, and he has long suffered disaster and grief. The God on High tells the Shaman Yang that a man below is to be helped, since his soul and spirit have scattered, and orders her to divine and call them back. She protests that this is the office of the Master of Dreams and that by the time she has finished divining it may be too late. Then she descends and utters the summons. She warns the soul away from the east, where giants a thousand fathoms tall hunt for souls and ten suns melt metal and stone; from the south, where men with tattooed brows and blackened teeth eat human flesh and nine-headed serpents swallow men; from the west, with its thousand li of drifting sand, its Thunder Abyss, its ants like elephants and wasps like gourds, its scorching earth and want of water; from the north, with its towering ice and flying snow; from heaven above, where tigers and leopards guard the nine gates and wolves hurl men into the abyss; and from the City of Darkness below, where the horned Earl of the Earth and his three-eyed, tiger-headed servants relish human flesh. Then she calls the soul home to the capital, where the summoning gear is ready and the invoker walks backwards before it, and she spreads out the delights of home: high halls and tiered terraces, warm rooms in winter and cool in summer, winding streams and orchid scents, kingfisher-and-pearl coverlets and gauze curtains, chambers full of rare things and beautiful attendants, painted rafters and lotus pools, feasts of rice and millet and roast kid and honey-cakes, iced wine in winged cups, women musicians with new songs, dances of Zheng and airs of Chu, and games of liubo that consume the whole day. The envoi turns to the poet's own journey: spring breaks out and he travels south, past the Lu River and the marshes, with a thousand chariots and blazing torches, hunting with the king in Yunmeng; the day is bright and time cannot be stayed; orchids cover the path, the river runs deep with maples above it, and as his gaze reaches a thousand li his heart is wounded by spring. O soul, come back, he cries; alas for the south of the river.

我自幼清白廉洁，身行道义而德泽未灭。持守这盛德，却被世俗牵累而荒芜。上天无以考察此德，使我长遭祸殃而愁苦。 天帝对巫阳说：“有人在下方，我欲辅佐他。他的魂魄离散，你占卜招还他。” 巫阳答道：“这是掌梦之官的事！上帝之命难以遵从。若定要占卜招还，只怕已迟延误事，不能再起作用。” 巫阳于是下界招魂说： “魂啊归来！离开你的躯体，为何飘向四方？舍弃你的乐土，而遭那不祥。 魂啊归来！东方不可托身。巨人千仞，专索人魂。十日轮出，销金化石。他们习以为常，魂往必被销释。归来吧！不可托身。 魂啊归来！南方不可停留。雕额黑齿，食人以祭，以骨为酱。蝮蛇丛生，大狐千里。雄虺九头，倏忽往来，吞人以快其心。归来吧！不可久留。 魂啊归来！西方之害，流沙千里。卷入雷渊，碎散不止。侥幸脱身，外是旷野。赤蚁如象，黑蜂如壶。五谷不生，唯食茅菅。其土灼人，求水不得。彷徨无依，广大无极。归来吧！恐自取害。 魂啊归来！北方不可停留。层冰巍峨，飞雪千里。归来吧！不可久留。 魂啊归来！你莫上天。虎豹守九关，啄害下人。一夫九首，拔木九千。豺狼竖目，往来成群。悬人以嬉，投之深渊。复命于帝，方得瞑目。归来吧！前往恐危身。 魂啊归来！你莫下这幽都。土伯九曲，其角尖利。肥背血指，追人奔奔。三目虎首，其身如牛。这些都好吃人。归来吧！恐自招灾。 魂啊归来！进入郢都修门。工祝招你，背身先行。秦篝齐缕，郑绵缠绕。招具齐备，长啸呼魂。魂啊归来！返回故居。 天地四方，多藏奸贼。画像设你居室，静闲而安。高堂深宇，栏槛层轩。层台累榭，面临高山。网户朱缀，刻纹方连。冬有暖厦，夏室清凉。川谷萦回，流水潺湲。光风转蕙，泛崇兰香。经堂入奥，朱尘铺筵。砥石之室翠羽翘，挂曲玉。翡翠珠被，烂然齐光。弱绢拂壁，罗帐张悬。纂组绮缟，结琦璜。 室中所观，多珍奇。兰膏明烛，华容齐备。十六女侍宿，更递相代。九侯淑女，众多迅疾。盛鬋各异，实满后宫。容态相好，绝代难逾。弱颜贞静，确有情意。姱容修态，充溢洞房。蛾眉曼目，目光腾光。靡颜腻理，遗视绵邈。离榭长幕，侍君之闲。 翡帷翠帐，饰高堂。红壁沙版，玄玉为梁。仰观刻桷，画龙与蛇。坐堂凭槛，临曲池。芙蓉初发，杂芰荷。紫茎屏风，纹缘清波。文彩豹饰，侍立陂陀。轩辌既降，步骑罗列。兰丛户植，琼木为篱。魂啊归来！何须远去。 室家聚宗，食味多方。稻粢麦麦，杂黄粱。大苦咸酸，辛甘并行。肥牛之腱，软烂芳香。调酸兼苦，陈吴地羹。炖鳖烤羔，有蔗浆。鹄酸臇凫，煎鸿鸧。露鸡臛蠵，浓烈不伤。粔籹蜜饵，有餦餭。瑶浆蜜勺，满羽觞。滤糟冰饮，醇酒清凉。华酌既陈，有琼浆。归返故室，敬而无妨。 肴馐未遍，女乐列陈。陈钟按鼓，谱新歌。涉江采菱，歌扬荷。美人既醉，朱颜酡红。流光眇视，目转秋波。披文衣纤，丽而不奇。长发曼鬋，艳色陆离。十六齐容，起郑舞。衣襟交竿，抚案而降。竿瑟狂会，搥击鸣鼓。宫庭震惊，发激楚之声。吴歈蔡讴，奏大吕律。 士女杂坐，乱而不分。解下组缨，班驳相纷。郑卫妖玩，杂然并陈。激楚之结，独秀领先。 菎蔽象棋，有六簙之戏。分曹并进，紧相逼迫。成枭而牟，呼五白。晋制犀比，费白日。铿钟摇簴，揳梓瑟。娱酒不废，沉溺日夜。兰膏明发，华灯交错。结撰至思，借兰芳。人有所极，同心赋诗。醇饮尽欢，乐念先故。魂啊归来！返故居。” 乱辞曰：岁首开春，我南行。绿蘋齐叶，白芷生。路贯庐江，左傍长林。倚沼畦瀛，遥望广阔。青骊驾驷，齐列千乘。悬火延起，玄颜蒸腾。步及骤处，诱骋领先。抑骛若通，引车右还。与王趋梦泽，课先后。君王亲射，惮青兕。朱明继夜，时不可淹。皋兰覆径，此路渐没。湛湛江水，上有丹枫。目极千里，伤春之心。魂啊归来，哀江南！

Appreciation

The greatest features of this piece are its enormous descriptive sweep and its violent contrast. Structurally it falls into two halves. In the first the Shaman Yang sets out the evils of the four quarters, of heaven above and of the world below, filling east and west, south and north with monsters and dangers, the soul-hunting giants, the ten suns, the nine-headed serpent, the horned Earl of the Earth, the tigers and leopards at the gates of heaven, until the reader is thoroughly frightened. Then the poem turns suddenly and spreads out the pleasures of home, moving from the buildings, the high halls and stacked pavilions, to the treasures, the kingfisher-and-pearl coverlets and braided silks, to the food, the ribs of fat beef and the stewed turtle and roast kid, to the music of the women singers and the dances of Zheng, and at last to the gaming board, each layer richer than the last. Terror and delight are set against each other, and out of that contrast comes the urgency of the repeated cry to come back. The envoi turns from all this splendour to a wounded quiet, and the closing lament for the south of the river carries the poem's deepest feeling, a longing for a homeland that can never be entered again.

【白话串讲】 《招魂》是屈原为楚怀王招魂：“朕幼清以廉洁兮，身服义而未沫”。“魂兮归来！去君之恒干，何为四方些”——魂啊，回来吧！不要飘在四方。“湛湛江水兮上有枫，目极千里兮伤春心”——他望着千里江山，伤心。楚辞里最震撼的呼唤。 【意象与手法】 《招魂》艺术上的最大特色是“巨丽铺陈”与“强烈对比”。结构上分两半 【情感与主旨】 《招魂》作者与主旨，历来有两说 【名句点睛】 本诗中高考要点：一、“些”字的楚辞特征与巫俗来源；二、对比结构——“外陈四方之恶”与“内陈故居之乐”的作用

Allusions

The piece fuses the shamanic customs of Chu with mythology. The Shaman Yang is the spirit medium charged with summoning souls in myth, known from the tradition of the Classic of Mountains and Seas, and the God is the God on High. The exclamatory syllable that closes each line of the summons is the tail-sound of the Chu shaman's calling formula; Shen Kuo, in his Dream Pool Essays, showed it to be 'an old custom of the men of Chu', the incantatory sound of the medium. The Earl of the Earth is the lord of the City of Darkness, the marquis of the earth god, and the doubled word describing him tells how sharp his horns are; the City of Darkness is the world below. The broth of Wu is the thick soup of the Wu region, and Dalu is the first of the six pitch-pipes; the dances of Zheng, the wild airs of Chu, and the songs of Wu and Cai are the music of different regions, showing how the Chu court gathered in the arts of many states.

《招魂》用典在“巫阳”“魂魄离散”“筮予之”。“巫阳”写天帝之巫（名阳）；“魂魄离散”写魂魄分离（病者之象）；“筮予之”写用筮占而招之。全篇以这些意象写招魂之事，用典自然而深沉自见，正是楚辞的笔法。

Commentary

Sima Qian, in the Records of the Grand Historian, sets the Summons of the Soul beside Encountering Sorrow, Heavenly Questions and Lament for Ying, grieving for Qu Yuan's purpose, and treats it as a summons for King Huai. Wang Yi, in his Chapter and Verse of the Songs of Chu, ascribes it to Song Yu, who out of pity for Qu Yuan called back his soul. Zhu Xi, in his Collected Commentaries on the Songs of Chu, follows Wang Yi and adds that 'the language of it is wrought to the highest pitch'. Lin Yunming, in his Lamp of the Songs of Chu, judged that 'setting out the evils of the four quarters without and the pleasures of the old home within, it opens and closes on a grand scale, a marvel of all time'. In modern times You Guo'en, in his Introduction to the Songs of Chu, says that 'the abundance of its descriptive spreading opens the way for the rhapsodies of the Han', and praises the design of its structure.

《招魂》是楚辞的名篇，也是中国文学中招魂体的代表作。此篇写招魂之辞、哀魂之作，向为论者称道。论者多赏其招魂之辞的铺陈与哀思的深沉——“朕幼清以廉洁兮，身服义而未沫”写己之清高、服义未沫，深沉之极；“帝告巫阳曰……魂魄离散，汝筮予之”写帝命巫阳招魂，更见其哀。屈原以忠而见放，其《招魂》正以招魂之辞寄哀思，正是楚辞铺陈深沉的笔法。

Prosody

Line by line

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