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清 Qing · 诗 Poem

渡黄河

Crossing the Yellow River

宋琬

Song Wan

山水Landscape 羁旅Traveler's Sentiment

倒泻银河事有无，掀天浊浪只须臾。
人间更有风涛险，翻说黄河是畏途。

Does the pouring of the Milky Way exist or not?
In a moment, sky-lifting muddy waves arise.
Among humans there are even more dangerous storms;
Yet folks say the Yellow River is the fearful path.

Listen

Meaning

The poet questions the legendary Milky Way pouring, describes the sudden fierce waves of the Yellow River, then contrasts it with the dangers of the human world, ironically noting that people still call the Yellow River a terrifying road.

那倒泻银河的事究竟是有是无？眨眼间就掀起了掀天的浊浪。人间更有比这更险恶的风涛，反过来却说黄河才是令人畏惧的难关。

Appreciation

The poem uses contrast and irony to highlight that human treachery and political storms are more dangerous than natural perils. The three turns in thought—from fantasy to reality to bitter contrast—create a compact yet profound critique.

【白话串讲】宋琬渡黄河：浊浪掀天，人们都说黄河凶险。可他说：“人间更有风涛险，翻说黄河是畏途”——人世的险恶，比黄河还可怕。【意象与手法】诗凡四句而三转：首句'倒泻银河事有无'以奇想起，疑黄河之汹涌如银河倾泻；次句'掀天浊浪只须臾'坐实水势之险【情感与主旨】宋琬为清初诗坛名家，然一生坎坷：顺治间遭族子诬告下狱，后复因事流寓。此诗当作于其渡黄河时【名句点睛】常考：（1）'倒泻银河'的修辞手法与表达效果；（2）末句'翻说黄河是畏途'的'翻'字妙处（反衬、跌宕）

Background

Song Wan was a Qing poet who suffered false accusations, imprisonment, and exile. This poem, likely written while crossing the Yellow River, uses the river's legendary danger as a metaphor for the even more perilous human world of political intrigue and betrayal.

宋琬（1614—1674），字玉叔，号荔裳，山东莱阳人，清初著名诗人，顺治四年进士，官至浙江按察使，与施闰章齐名，时称「南施北宋」，又与丁澎、张谯明等并称「燕台七子」。宋琬一生坎坷，两次下狱，多次被诬陷流离：顺治年间遭族子诬告，以「谋逆」之罪下狱，几死；康熙初复因事牵连，流寓江南，晚景凄凉。此诗当作于其渡黄河之际，具体年份难以确考，然其借黄河之险以写人生之险的用意，与诗人饱经宦海风波、屡遭诬陷的切身经历密切相关。黄河自中游以下浊浪滔天、险滩相接，渡河之难，古人视为畏途；然宋琬历经仕途的倾轧、人心的险恶，深知人间的风波远比自然的黄河更为凶险。此诗即以此反衬之法，写黄河风涛虽险，「只须臾」即过；而人间风涛之险，却无时无之、无路可避。版本方面，此诗见《安雅堂集》，文字诸本基本一致，无重大异文。全诗四句，层层翻转，将个人的身世之感升华为对世态人心的深刻洞察，是宋琬诗中感慨深沉的佳作。

Art

The quatrain has three abrupt turns: first a fantastic question, then the startling reality of waves, then a shift to human storms, ending with an ironic reversal. The language is forceful, using exaggeration and contrast to deepen the theme.

此诗凡四句而三转，跌宕起伏，是七绝中以少胜多的典型。首句「倒泻银河事有无」以奇想发端——黄河之水汹涌澎湃，仿佛天上的银河倒泻而下，诗人却以「事有无」三字设问：这银河倒泻的景象，究竟是真是幻？一个疑问，既写出了黄河水势的惊人，又带出一种似真似幻的恍惚。次句「掀天浊浪只须臾」坐实水势之险：掀天的浊浪，不过「只须臾」便起，写黄河风涛的骤然而至、来势凶猛。然「只须臾」三字又暗藏转机——风涛虽险，却转瞬即逝。第三句「人间更有风涛险」笔锋陡转，由自然之险翻出人间之险：黄河的风涛再险，终有时限，而人间的风波却更为险恶。末句「翻说黄河是畏途」再作翻转——世人只说黄河是畏途，却不道人心的风涛远胜于此，「翻」字点出这种颠倒。全诗以「黄河之险」为宾，以「人间之险」为主，先扬后抑、先实后虚，层层递进，把对世态人情的冷峻洞察，写得力透纸背，是「以景寓理」而情思俱深的佳作。

Allusions

'倒泻银河' alludes to Li Bai's 'the Milky Way falling from the sky' (from 'Viewing the Waterfall at Mount Lu'), while '畏途' (fearful path) comes from Zhuangzi's 'Da Sheng' chapter, referring to dangerous roads. The poet inverts the latter to suggest that the human world is even more treacherous.

首句「倒泻银河」明显化用李白诗——李白《望庐山瀑布》「飞流直下三千尺，疑是银河落九天」以银河喻瀑布，李白《将进酒》「君不见黄河之水天上来，奔流到海不复回」又以天上之水喻黄河，宋琬合此二意，以「倒泻银河」写黄河水势，是对李白意象的承接与浓缩。「事有无」的设问，则带出「似真似幻」的况味，暗含对自然奇观之真实性的怀疑，为下文「人间之险」的翻转张本。「畏途」一词出《庄子·达生》：「夫畏涂者，十杀一人，则父子兄弟相戒也。」本指盗贼出没、令人畏惧的险路，后世遂以「畏途」指艰险可怕之途，李白《蜀道难》「畏途巉岩不可攀」即其用例。宋琬以「畏途」称黄河，复以「翻说」反拨，谓真正的畏途不在自然、而在人间，正承庄子「人间世」之忧。至于「风涛」喻人间祸患，唐人已多用之，如「宦海风波」「世路风波」之喻，宋琬此诗「人间更有风涛险」即承此传统，而将「风波」与「黄河」直接对举，愈见新警。

Commentary

Song Wan's style is vigorous and desolate, often reflecting his troubled life. This poem is praised for its compact structure and ironic depth, typical of his ability to turn a natural scene into a profound social critique.

宋琬为清初诗坛大家，与施闰章并称「南施北宋」，王士禛《渔洋诗话》称其诗「气格沉雄，得杜陵之遗」。此诗虽短，却颇能见其风格：以黄河之险写人间之险，感慨深沉，有杜甫「感时伤事」的遗风。清人评宋琬诗，多着眼于其「身世之感、家国之痛」的寄托，此诗正是其晚年历经冤狱、饱尝世情后的心声。历代选本中，清诗选如《清诗别裁集》（沈德潜编）、《国朝诗别裁》等多选宋琬之作，此诗因其「以险喻险、翻进一层」的构思，颇为选家所重。从接受史看，此诗的价值在于其「翻案」笔法——前人多写黄河之险，宋琬却反过来说「人间更有风涛险」，将咏物与抒怀、写景与说理融为一体，开启了清人以自然风物寄寓人生感慨的路数。其末句「翻说黄河是畏途」的「翻」字，尤为后世论者所称道，被视为全诗点睛之处。此诗亦常被选入教材与清诗选本，作为「反衬」「翻案」手法的经典范例。由明清以迄近世，评点家多着眼其以虚写实、以疑写信的笔法，认为此诗虽题作渡河，却终不写河之实状，而惟写渡河人心理之起伏，在纪行诗中别开一格。

Prosody

Form Seven-character quatrain七言绝句

Rhyme Level tone, upper level rhyme group 7 (wu, yu, tu)押平水韵上平七虞韵，韵脚为「无」「臾」「途」，首句入韵

Tone pattern Level-tone start with first line rhyming平起平收式七绝，首句入韵，全诗平仄合律，声调流转而见顿挫。

Reading note Four lines with three shifts in thought, the syncopated rhythm matching the abrupt contrasts in meaning.此诗为七言绝句，平起平收式，首句入韵。用韵上，韵脚「无」「臾」「途」同属平水韵上平七虞韵，虞韵为合口呼的平声韵，音色圆润而稍带沉郁，与全诗「以险喻险」的深沉感慨声情相合。首句「有无」之「无」即入韵，起句便奠定了全诗的声韵基调，与「倒泻银河」的雄奇相配，读来音节浏亮。平仄上，此诗严格合律，四句之中平仄交替、粘对工整，属七绝正格。值得注意的是，此诗的声律节奏与文意的转折高度配合：首句以平声韵的舒展写「倒泻银河」的雄奇，次句「只须臾」三字的短促顿挫写浪涛之骤，第三句「更有风涛险」的抑扬写语意的翻转，末句「翻说」二字的从容收束写反讽之深。声调的一收一放、一顿一挫，恰与全诗「先扬后抑、先实后虚」的结构相表里，达到了「声情并茂」的效果。宋琬于清初以诗名世，其七绝深得唐人法度，此诗声律之工、声情之合，正可见其学唐而能自成一格的本领。

Line by line

倒泻银河事有无

Does the pouring of the Milky Way exist or not? — A fantastic opening questioning the truth of a grand image.

那倒泻银河的事究竟是有是无

That story of the Silver River pouring upside down — is it fact, or fiction?

首句以「倒泻银河」四字，极写黄河水势的磅礴——不是普通的波涛，而是如银河从天上倒倾而下的奇观，气势先声夺人。然诗人不就此展开，反以「事有无」三字设问，把这一惊人景象悬置起来：这倒泻的银河，究竟是实有还是虚幻？这一问，妙在两层：其一，黄河水势之大，令人难以置信，故有「有无」之疑；其二，这一「疑」字又暗含诗人的冷眼——自然奇观固然惊人，然与下文的人间风波相比，又算得了什么？起句的雄奇与设问的冷峻相映，为全诗先扬后抑的结构定下了基调，也让「银河倒泻」的壮景，成为反衬「人间风涛」的陪衬。

The opening takes the four words, the Silver River pouring upside down, to write the grandeur of the Yellow River's rush: no ordinary waves, but the spectacle of the Milky Way tilting and pouring from the sky, the momentum arresting before a word. Yet the poet does not expand on it, but sets the startling scene aside with the question fact or fiction? — this pouring Silver River, is it really so, or illusion? The question is exquisite in two layers: first, the Yellow River's rush is so great it strains belief, hence the doubt of whether; second, the doubt secretly holds the poet's cold eye: natural spectacles may be astonishing, yet weighed against the human storms below, what are they worth? The grandeur of the opening and the coldness of the question set the poem's structure of first lifting then pressing down, and make the grand spectacle of the inverted Silver River the foil to the human storm.

掀天浊浪只须臾

In a moment, sky-lifting muddy waves arise. — The reality of sudden, violent waves hits immediately.

眨眼间就掀起了掀天的浊浪

Yet the sky-upheaving turbid waves last but a moment.

次句承接首句，把「倒泻银河」的奇想坐实为具体的景象：「掀天浊浪」四字，写出黄河浪涛的冲天之势，一个「掀」字，仿佛浪涛被人凭空掀起，凶猛而突兀。然此句的关键在「只须臾」三字——如此掀天的浊浪，竟只是「须臾」之间的事，转瞬即起、转瞬即逝。这三字既是实写（黄河风涛虽猛，然渡河不过片刻，其险有限），又暗藏深意（自然的凶险，无论多么骇人，总有过去的时候）。「须臾」二字，把黄河之险限定在一个短暂的时间之内，与下文「人间风涛」的无时不在、无休无止形成对照，是全诗由「扬」转「抑」的关键一笔。

The second line follows the opening, giving the fantasy of the inverted Silver River concrete shape: the sky-upheaving turbid waves write the heaven-storming surge of the Yellow River; the word upheave is as if the waves were heaved up by an unseen hand, fierce and abrupt. Yet the key of the line lies in the three words but a moment: such heaven-upheaving turbid waves are the work of but a moment, rising in an instant and gone in an instant. The three words are at once the truth (however fierce the Yellow River's gales, crossing takes but a moment, its danger finite) and a hidden depth (natural danger, however appalling, always has its ending). The word moment bounds the Yellow River's peril within a brief time, setting it against the human storms below that have no end and no rest; it is the turning point of the poem's lift and press.

人间更有风涛险

Among humans there are even more dangerous storms. — A shift from natural to human dangers.

人间更有比这更险恶的风涛

In the human world there are storm-waves far more dangerous than these.

此句是全诗的转折，也是主旨所在。前三句写黄河风涛之险，此句却一笔翻出「人间更有风涛险」——人间的风波，比黄河的风涛更为险恶。「更有」二字，是程度上的递进，把前面极力铺陈的「掀天浊浪」一下子比了下去。黄河的风涛，看得见、躲得开、过得去；人间的风涛，看不见、躲不开、无止境——官场的倾轧、人心的险恶、诬陷与冤狱，这些才是真正令人防不胜防的「畏途」。宋琬一生两度下狱、屡遭诬陷，此句正是其切肤之痛的沉痛吐露，也是全诗由写景转向抒怀、由咏物转入说理的枢纽。

The line is the turning of the poem, and its theme. The first three lines write the danger of the Yellow River's waves; this line overturns it: in the human world there are storm-waves far more dangerous than these — the storms of human affairs are worse than the Yellow River's. The words far more advance the degree, setting down at once the heaven-upheaving turbid waves so lavishly described before. The Yellow River's waves are visible, dodged, crossed; the human storms are invisible, inescapable, endless: the intrigues of office, the wickedness of hearts, the frame-ups and wrongful prisons — these are the truly dreaded road that cannot be guarded against. Song Wan was twice imprisoned in his life, again and again framed; this line is the painful utterance of his own deep wound, and the pivot where the poem turns from landscape to feeling, from object to argument.

翻说黄河是畏途

Yet folks say the Yellow River is the fearful path. — Ironic reversal: people call the river dangerous, but it's nothing compared to human storms.

反过来却说黄河才是令人畏惧的难关

And yet people say, in reverse, that the Yellow River is the dreadful pass.

末句再作翻转，收束全篇。「翻说」二字，点出世人的颠倒——人们只知黄河凶险，称其为「畏途」，却不知人间的风涛远比黄河险恶。「翻」字是全诗的诗眼，它既是语意的转折（由黄河之险翻出人间之险），又是一种反讽（世人避重就轻、知其一不知其二）。此句以「畏途」收束，与首句「倒泻银河」的雄奇遥相呼应：银河倒泻的奇观，掀天浊浪的凶险，最终都不过反衬出「人间」这一真正畏途的可怖。全诗到此戛然而止，言已尽而意无穷——人间的风涛究竟险到何种地步，诗人不加细说，只让读者自己去体会，愈见含蓄深沉。

The last line turns once more, closing the poem. The words in reverse point out the inversion of the world: people know only that the Yellow River is dangerous and call it the dreaded road, yet do not know that the human storms are far more perilous than the river. The word in reverse is the poetic eye: at once the turn of meaning (from the river's danger to the human danger) and an irony (the world shuns the great and fears the small, knowing one and not the other). The line closes on dreaded road, echoing the grandeur of the inverted Silver River: the spectacle of the inverted river, the peril of the upheaving waves, all at last but set off the terror of the human road that is the true dreaded pass. The poem stops short: to what depth the human storms actually reach, the poet does not detail, leaving the reader to feel it for himself; the more so, the more restrained and profound.

Study

Word focus

须臾 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「须臾」二字是次句的转折之笔，也是全诗反衬的关键。「掀天浊浪」本已极言黄河之险，然加「只须臾」三字，气势陡然一收——如此凶猛的浪涛，不过是片刻之间的事。这二字至少有三层妙用：其一，实写黄河风涛的骤起骤落，其险虽大，为时却短；其二，暗与下文「人间更有风涛险」形成时间上的对照——黄河之险是「须臾」的，人间之险却是长久的，一短一长，愈见人间风涛之可畏；其三，「须臾」二字带有一种超然的冷峻，仿佛诗人对自然的凶险早已看透，故能于掀天浊浪面前，从容说出「只须臾」三字，此正是历经沧桑者的口吻。

翻 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「翻」字用在末句「翻说黄河是畏途」，是全诗的诗眼。「翻」有翻转、反过来的意思，它承担着全诗最重要的逻辑转折——把「黄河是畏途」的常理，翻转为「人间才是畏途」的新解。「翻」字一出，前三句对黄河之险的铺陈，便统统成了反衬：黄河越险，反衬出人间越险，因为连黄河这样的「畏途」，在人间风波面前都不算畏途。一个「翻」字，还暗含反讽的意味，讽刺世人只见自然之险、不知人心之险的浅陋。此字以最经济的方式，完成了全诗由「咏物」到「说理」的升华，是宋琬炼字功力的集中体现。

险 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「险」字在全诗出现两次——「人间更有风涛险」与「畏途」之「畏」相呼应，是全诗的情感焦点。前一个「险」字直接点题，把「黄河之险」与「人间之险」并置比较，是主旨的正面宣示；「险」字本身又与前文「掀天浊浪」的视觉之险形成虚实对照——黄河的「险」是看得见的浪涛，人间的「险」是看不见的祸患，可见之险尚可防，不可见之险才真正可畏。宋琬以「险」字概括其一生的遭际，把抽象的「仕途凶险、人心险恶」凝练为一个可感的字眼，使全诗的说理不落空洞，而有了切身的沉痛作底。一词之微，牵动全篇，正是「诗眼」的作用。

渡黄河