宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric
八声甘州·记玉关踏雪事清游
Eight Beats of Ganzhou: Remembering a Clear Journey through Snow at the Jade Pass
记玉关、踏雪事清游，寒气脆貂裘。
傍枯林古道，长河饮马，此意悠悠。
短梦依然江表，老泪洒西州。
一字无题处，落叶都愁。
载取白云归去，问谁留楚佩，弄影中洲。
折芦花赠远，零落一身秋。
向寻常、野桥流水，待招来、不是旧沙鸥。
空怀感，有斜阳处，却怕登楼。
the cold snaps marten furs brittle.
By withered groves and an old road,
watering horses in the long river,
that feeling lingers endlessly.
A short dream—still here in Jiangnan;
old tears fall on Western Isle.
Not one word can be written down:
even the falling leaves are sorrow.
You carried white clouds and went home.
Ask who left the Chu girdle-jade,
trailing a shadow on the mid-river isle.
I fold a reed flower to send far away—
scattered, one whole body of autumn.
Toward the ordinary wild bridge and flowing stream,
the gulls I call are no longer the old ones.
Hollowly I hold my feelings;
wherever the setting sun is,
I am afraid to climb the tower.
Meaning
The poet recalls a snowy border journey shared with a friend, but the dreamlike memory dissolves as he wakes still in Jiangnan, weeping over the lost capital. Even fallen leaves seem full of grief. In the present, he sends a reed blossom to a distant friend, yet feels himself shrunken into autumn; by an ordinary bridge and stream, the gulls he once knew have vanished. At sunset he cannot bring himself to climb a tower, afraid of what the view might reawaken.
记得在玉门关外踏雪清雅遨游，严寒之气冻得貂裘也变脆。沿着枯林古道，在长河之畔饮马，那份情意悠悠绵长。北游如同一场短梦，梦醒此身仍在江南，老泪洒落故都西州。想借红叶题诗，却一字也无从下笔，飘落的叶片都写满了愁。 你载着一船白云归去，试问谁将玉佩相留，在中洲顾影徘徊。折一枝芦花寄赠远方故人，零落间一身秋意。走向寻常的野桥流水，待招来的却已不是旧日熟识的沙鸥。空自满怀感慨，每到斜阳时分，却偏偏害怕登楼。
Appreciation
Zhang Yan's signature 'clear-ethereal' qingkong style is on full display: sparse wintry imagery, meticulously chosen words, and a restrained but piercing grief. The poem moves from memory to waking, from shared travel to solitary parting, and finishes with the famous 'fear of climbing the tower,' which turns Wang Can's longing into an elegy for a fallen dynasty. The brittle marten furs, the sorrowful leaves, and the 'one body of autumn' are all means of giving emotional weight to things.
【白话串讲】 “记玉关、踏雪事清游，寒气脆貂裘”——张炎回忆当年在边关踏雪。“傍枯林古道，长河饮马”——“短梦依然江表，老泪洒西州”——“一字无题处，落叶都愁”——“折芦花赠远，零落一身秋”——如今他流落江南，一身秋意。南宋遗民的苍凉。 【意象与手法】 上片忆昔，“记玉关、踏雪事清游”写北地清游的严寒豪情，“傍枯林古道、长河饮马”意境苍茫；“一字无题处、落叶都愁”以红叶题诗无着写满腹愁绪。下片伤今，“折芦花赠远、零落一身秋”寄赠故人而自伤零落；“空怀感、有斜阳处、却怕登楼”以王粲登楼之典收束，“怕”字极妙。炼字精严、清空骚雅，层层转折而气脉不断。 【情感与主旨】 张炎与友人同游北地后南归、又逢友人离去时寄赠之作，故国之思与身世之悲交织笔端，道尽亡国遗民无可排遣的悲怀，集中体现其“清空”词论，对后世格律派词影响甚深。 【名句点睛】 常考“折芦花赠远，零落一身秋”以芦花赠远写一身秋意；“空怀感、有斜阳处、却怕登楼”以怕登楼写遗民之悲。
Background
Zhang Yan (1248–c.1320), styled Shuxia, was a descendant of the Southern Song general Zhang Jun. After the Mongol conquest, his noble family collapsed and he wandered through Jiangnan; he even made an unwilling journey to the northern Yuan capital region. In 1291, together with Shen Yaodao, he traveled north; a year later Shen came to visit for a few days and then left, prompting Zhang to send this ci to Zhao Xuezhou, another friend. The 'Jade Pass' is symbolic of northern borders. The snowy journey was not adventure but displacement, and 'old tears on Western Isle' conveys grief for the lost capital, Lin'an, framing the poem as a classic expression of loyalist sorrow.
《八声甘州·记玉关踏雪事清游》是宋末元初词人张炎的代表作之一。词有小序交代本事：辛卯岁（1291），张炎与友人沈尧道同游北地（燕京一带）后南归，越年沈尧道来相聚数日又别，张炎因赋此曲寄赵学舟（学舟即沈尧道之号）。要读懂它，得先认识张炎是谁，以及他站在什么样的废墟上。 张炎（1248—约1320），字叔夏，号玉田，出身南宋勋贵世家，先祖张俊为南渡名将，家中藏书文物之富甲于东南。宋亡时他三十余岁，世家骤败，祖父被戮，自己落魄江湖，以卖卜为生。他的词，因此是「亡国遗民」的词——不是写旁观的兴衰，而是写自己被连根拔起的痛。这首词上片忆北游，下片伤聚散，通篇是一种「清空中见沉郁」的悲凉。 更具体的背景是那次北游。宋亡后，元廷曾征召南士赴大都写经、纂修，张炎与沈尧道大约因此北行，于玉门关外（词中玉关泛指北地边塞）踏雪清游。对遗民而言，北游是屈辱与无奈的混合物；归来后江南已非故国，故都西州（代指临安）只剩老泪。所以「记玉关踏雪」表面是雅游记忆，内里是身不由己的飘零。读懂这点，才明白词中「寒气脆貂裘」的冷，不止是天寒，更是亡国后人心之寒；「老泪洒西州」的泪，是一个时代浇在个人身上的雨。一首寄友词，写成了遗民心灵的缩影。
Art
Zhang Yan's art here is 'clear-ethereal yet deeply melancholy': sparse imagery, precise diction, and a structure that keeps turning, from cold travel to dream-awakening, then to parting and fear. 'The cold snaps marten furs brittle' is a synaesthetic marvel; 'falling leaves are all sorrow' personifies grief; 'scattered, one body of autumn' compresses the whole season into the self. The second stanza reframes departure through allusions and closes with a single word, 'fear,' that is more devastating than any loud lament. The entire ci is a model of Zhang Yan's theory of qingkong: emotion not shouted but distilled into pure, distant images.
此词的艺术，在「清空骚雅」四字——意象疏淡、气味清远，而悲郁从淡处渗出，是张炎论词所谓「清空」之境的模范。上片忆昔，起笔记玉关、踏雪事清游，寒气脆貂裘，以「记」字领起，把北游写成一段清冷记忆；寒气脆貂裘极警——严寒竟把貂裘冻脆，是通感式的奇句，冷得有了质感。傍枯林古道，长河饮马，此意悠悠，铺写北地苍茫，枯林、古道、长河，三个词排出一幅荒寒行旅图，悠悠二字把豪情拉成绵长。 随即笔锋陡转：短梦依然江表，老泪洒西州，北游如短梦，梦醒仍在江南，而故都已失，唯余老泪——「短梦」与「老泪」对举，把身世飘零写得惊心；一字无题处，落叶都愁，以红叶题诗无着的意象收上片，连落叶都写满愁，愁已溢出物外。下片伤今，载取白云归去遥想友人，问谁留楚佩、弄影中洲，用湘夫人的典写离别之怅；折芦花赠远，零落一身秋，寄赠故人而自伤零落；向寻常野桥流水，待招来、不是旧沙鸥，叹故交零落、物是人非；空怀感，有斜阳处，却怕登楼，以王粲登楼之典收束，怕字极妙。 全词层层转折而气脉不断，由清游之寒，到故国之泪，到离别之零，到登楼之怕，清空之中沉郁悲凉，是张炎身世之慨的集中体现，也最见格律派词「炼字精严、骚雅含蓄」的本领。
Allusions
The poem is woven through classical codes. 'Chu girdle-jade' and 'mid-river isle' recall the Songs of Chu's 'Xiangjun,' where a neglected deity is asked who remains on the islet—here transfigured into friendship and parting. 'Not one word can be written' alludes to the palace-lady red-leaf love story, but reverses it: inscription is impossible because sorrow is total. 'Sand gulls' hints at Du Fu's solitary gull and the Daoist trope of seagull innocence, now changed because old companions are lost. Most importantly, 'afraid to climb the tower' inverts Wang Can's 'Fu on Climbing the Tower': instead of climbing to express homesickness, the speaker avoids climbing, a perfect emblem of a survivor's trauma.
此词用典幽微而贴切，核心是「楚佩」「中洲」「沙鸥」「登楼」几个传统意象。楚佩、中洲化用《楚辞·湘君》「捐余袂兮江中，遗余褋兮醴浦」「蹇谁留兮中洲」，原写湘君与湘夫人的等候与失落，张炎用以写与友人的聚散——「问谁留楚佩，弄影中洲」，是把离别写成一场湘水般的怅惘，骚雅之致由此而来。 一字无题处暗用红叶题诗故实（唐人御沟题叶、寄情宫女），本是风雅乐事，此处却「无题处」，连风雅都无从着笔，愁之重可见。落叶都愁则以物写愁，落叶本无情，却「都愁」，是移情入物的清空笔法。沙鸥用杜甫「飘飘何所似，天地一沙鸥」及鸥鹭忘机意，指旧日熟识的隐逸之交；「不是旧沙鸥」叹故交零落、物是人非，暗含易代之痛——旧友或殁或降，招来的已非当年人。 结拍却怕登楼是词眼，用王粲《登楼赋》典：王粲避乱荆州，登楼作赋，抒去国怀乡之悲。张炎偏写「怕」登楼，比王粲的「登」更深一层——不是不想望，而是望了更痛，所以怕。这一个「怕」字，把遗民「不敢触碰故国记忆」的心理写绝，也呼应全词的「清愁」：愁到极致，是连愁都不敢认，只敢说「怕」。
Commentary
From the Qing-dynasty Zhexi school to modern critics, this ci has been read as a central statement of Zhang Yan's poetics of emptiness and exile. Unlike Xin Qiji's open outrage, Zhang places grief in what the speaker cannot do: he cannot write, cannot recall the old gulls, cannot climb the tower. Some scholars stress that his aristocratic background keeps the sorrow 'refined' even in decline; the white clouds, the Chu pendant, and the reed blossom become delicate bandages over a deep wound. The final 'fear' is widely praised as the poem's most poignant word—a gesture of self-protective blindness before unbearable memories.
《八声甘州·记玉关踏雪事清游》在张炎词里，是与《高阳台·西湖春感》《解连环·孤雁》并列的遗民悲音，也是其「清空」词论的范本。清代浙西词派朱彝尊、厉鹗推尊张炎，正看中此词一类「清空骚雅」——不靠浓墨重彩写亡国之痛，而靠疏淡意象与精炼字法，把悲郁焐在清冷里。近人论张炎，多以此词说明「亡国词」的另一种写法：不像辛弃疾那样呼喊，而像张炎这样低回；悲不在声高，在那种「却怕登楼」的退缩里。 值得分辨的是张炎的身份决定的词境。他不是寒士，而是败落的贵胄，所以词中「载取白云归去」「弄影中洲」仍带几分世家清雅，愁也愁得讲究；但这清雅恰是伤口上的绸——越雅，越显出失去的贵与痛。清人邓廷桢论词，称张炎「生香真色，返虚入浑」，以此词观之，其「虚」正在清空，「浑」正在悲郁之不可分。 也有论者指出，此词下片「空怀感，有斜阳处，却怕登楼」，以「怕」字收，是清空词最见力度的落点：它不结在一个「愁」字，而结在一个「怕」字，把遗民心理写到无声处。与叶梦得《八声甘州》的「独听桓筝」并读，可见同调两词：一在南宋初期伤时，一在宋末伤身；一「独听」之孤，一「却怕」之怯，都是时代压在词人身上的影子。张炎此词，足为格律派词家之圭臬，也对后世「以淡写哀」一脉影响甚深。
Prosody
Line by line
记玉关、踏雪事清游，寒气脆貂裘。
Recalling the snowy journey beyond the Jade Pass and its pristine 'clear travel,' the cold snaps even marten furs—a synaesthetic detail that registers both physical cold and the inner chill of a fallen loyalist.
记得在玉门关外踏雪清雅遨游，严寒之气冻得貂裘也变脆。
I remember beyond the Jade Gate, treading snow on that clear excursion; the cold had made the sable robe brittle.
起笔以「记」字领起，把全词放进回忆的框里——记的不是欢游，是一场「清游」：清是清冷，也是遗民无奈北行的清寒。玉关泛指北地边塞，踏雪点出时地与节候；寒气脆貂裘是全词第一警句，也是张炎炼字的标本——严寒竟把厚暖的貂裘冻得发脆，冷被写成一种能破坏物质的力，通感奇绝。这一个「脆」字，不止写天寒，更写亡国后人心之寒：身为故宋贵胄，北行踏雪是屈辱与身不由己，貂裘虽贵也挡不住那种冷。清游与脆裘对举，雅与外冷内苦对举，起笔便把身世之悲藏在清雅里。张炎论词主「清空」，这一句正是清空——不喊痛，只说裘脆，而痛已从脆里透出来。
The opening frames the whole ci in memory through the word remember — remembered is not a joyous outing, but a clear excursion: clear is cold, and also the cold of the loyalist's reluctant northward journey. Jade Gate means the northern frontier generally; treading snow marks the time and the season. The cold had made the sable robe brittle is the ci's first pointed stroke, and a specimen of Zhang Yan's word-forging: the bitter cold frozen thick warm sable till it turned brittle, cold written as a force that destroys matter, the synesthesia extraordinary. This single brittle writes not only the weather's cold, but the heart's cold after the fall: as a scion of the old Song, the northern snow-treading was humiliation and constraint; the sable, costly as it is, could not keep out that cold. The clear excursion and the brittle robe set together, elegance and outer cold inner bitterness set together, the opening hiding the life-grief within the elegance. Zhang Yan's theory of ci prizes emptiness and clarity; this line is exactly that — no cry of pain, only the brittle robe, and the pain showing through the brittleness.
傍枯林古道，长河饮马，此意悠悠。
By withered groves and an old road, he waters his horse in the long river; the mood stretches without end, matching the vast border scene and the unsettled wandering of the speaker.
沿着枯林古道，在长河之畔饮马，那份情意悠悠绵长。
Along the withered woods and the old road, watering the horse at the long river — this feeling, long-drawn, long-drawn.
这三句铺写北游途中的苍茫行旅，是上片由「寒」入「境」的延展。傍枯林古道，长河饮马，排出一幅荒寒的北地画卷：枯林、古道、长河，三个意象都偏疏淡苍老，没有一丝江南的明丽，恰是遗民眼中的北地——荒而不亲。此意悠悠的「意」，指北游清游的情意，也指身世飘零的寥落，悠悠二字把豪情与怅惘一起拉长，像长河一样没有尽头。张炎写北地，不写雄阔而写枯寒，是因为他本非慕北，而是被迫羁旅；景的疏淡，正合物之清与心之孤。这三句表面写景，实写「人在异乡、意落悠悠」的悬浮感，为下片「短梦依然江表」的梦醒伏笔——北地再悠悠，到底不是江南。
The three lines unfold the vast travel of the northern journey, the extension of the first stanza from cold to realm. Along the withered woods and the old road, watering the horse at the long river lays out a bleak northern scroll: withered woods, old road, long river, three images all spare and aged, no touch of the Jiangnan brightness, precisely the north as seen by the loyalist — desolate and unhomelike. The feeling in this feeling, long-drawn, long-drawn means at once the feeling of the clear excursion and the loneliness of the drifting life; the long-drawn stretches out the boldness and the wistfulness together, like the long river without end. Zhang Yan writes the north not in grandeur but in withered cold, because he did not admire the north, but was forced into exile; the scenery's plainness fits the thing's clarity and the heart's loneliness. The three lines write surface scenery and the floating sense of the man in a strange land, feeling set long-drawn, planting the foreshadowing for the second stanza's short dream, still Jiangnan — the north, however long-drawn, is not Jiangnan.
短梦依然江表，老泪洒西州。
The northern trip is only a short dream; waking, he is still in Jiangnan. 'Old tears' fall on the Western Isle, a coded name for the lost capital, turning the memory into elegy.
北游如同一场短梦，梦醒此身仍在江南，老泪洒落故都西州。
A short dream, and still Jiangnan; old tears spilled on the western city.
这是上片的转折与高潮，把北游的记忆猛地拉回现实。短梦依然江表，写北行如一场短梦，梦醒此身仍在江南——「短梦」既指北游之暂，也暗喻故国繁华原是一梦；依然江表是无奈的清醒：人回到了江南，可江南已非宋土。老泪洒西州是痛的落点：西州代指故都临安，老泪不只是年老之泪，更是亡国之泪、无家之泪。短梦对老泪，一虚一实，把身世飘零写得惊心——北游是梦，故国也是梦，醒来只剩老泪。张炎写「老泪」，比写「痛哭」更沉：一个「老」字，是岁月、是沧桑、是被时代碾过的痕迹。这两句由忆转伤，清空之中突然沉郁，是全词第一次把「亡国」二字点出（虽未明说），也定下下片「落叶都愁」的基调。
This is the turning and the climax of the first stanza, pulling the memory of the north journey sharply back to the present. A short dream, and still Jiangnan writes the north journey as a short dream, waking and the body still in the south — the short dream means at once the brevity of the northern journey, and secretly that the old country's glory was a dream; still Jiangnan is the helpless waking: the man returned to the south, yet the south is no more Song soil. Old tears spilled on the western city is the landing of the pain: the western city means the old capital Lin'an, the old tears not only the tears of age, but the tears of the lost country, the tears of the homeless. The short dream against the old tears, one virtual one real, writing the drifting life shockingly — the north journey a dream, the old country also a dream, waking only to old tears. Zhang Yan's old tears are deeper than the bitter cry: the single old is the years, the erosion, the marks of being crushed by the age. The two lines turn from memory to grief, the empty-and-clear suddenly somber, the first time the whole ci points (though not says) the word lost country, fixing the tone of the second stanza's the very leaves grieve.
一字无题处，落叶都愁。
Not a single line can be written—the red-leaf inscription trope is reversed—because even the falling leaves are burdened with a universal sorrow.
想借红叶题诗，却一字也无从下笔，飘落的叶片都写满了愁。
No word left to write; the falling leaves are all sorrow.
上片以这八字收束，是「清空」笔法的极致。一字无题处暗用红叶题诗故实——本是风雅乐事，此处却「无题处」，连风雅都无从着笔，极言愁之重、心之塞；落叶都愁则更奇：落叶本无情，却「都愁」，是移情入物，把不可说的亡国之悲，分包给每一片落叶。这一个「都」字极重，写尽满目萧然、触处皆愁。张炎论词主「骚雅」，此句正骚雅——不直说「我愁」，而说「落叶都愁」，愁从物上溢出，人反隐了。这种「以物写愁、以虚写实」的写法，是格律派词的看家本领，也最见清空之境：字面越淡，悲郁越深。上片到此，由清游之寒、江表之泪，收到落叶之愁，气脉一气贯下，为下片伤今蓄足了势。
The first stanza closes on these eight characters, the extremity of the empty-and-clear brush. No word left to write secretly uses the red-leaf poem allusion — itself an elegant delight, and here there is no place to write, even the elegance cannot set down, pressing the weight of grief, the clogging of the heart; the falling leaves are all sorrow is stranger still: the leaves by nature without feeling, and yet all sorrow, the feeling transferred to the thing, dividing the unspeakable grief of the lost country among every leaf. The single all is heavy, writing the desolation on every side, the sorrow at every touch. Zhang Yan's theory of ci prizes the elegiac and refined; this line is exactly that — not saying I grieve, but the leaves all grieve, the grief overflowing from the things, the man hidden. This writing of grief through the thing and the real through the virtual is the house-skill of the metrical school, and shows best the empty-and-clear realm: the sparer the surface, the deeper the sorrow. The first stanza here, from the cold of the clear excursion, to the Jiangnan tears, closing on the leaves' sorrow, the breath running through, storing force for the second stanza's grief over the present.
折芦花赠远，零落一身秋。
He folds a reed flower to send far away, and in that gesture his own scattered self becomes autumn—the season is not outside scenery but an inner affliction.
折一枝芦花寄赠远方故人，零落间一身秋意。
I pluck a reed flower to send far away; scattered, I am one whole body of autumn.
下片过片这两句，由忆昔转入伤今，写与友人沈尧道聚后又别。折芦花赠远，化用折柳赠别之意而换作芦花——芦花清白而易零，恰合遗民身世；赠远是寄赠远方故人，风雅中见深情。零落一身秋则是全句的诗眼：零落写故交凋零、自身飘零，一身秋写满身秋意、满身萧瑟。秋不止是节候，更是亡国后的心境季候——年年秋至，年年零落。张炎写「一身秋」，比写「满目秋」更痛，因为秋不是外面的景，是身上的病。这两句把上片的「落叶都愁」收进人身：落叶之愁，原是「一身」之秋；故人虽赠远，自己仍零落。清空之中，悲郁又深一层，也引出下片「不是旧沙鸥」的物是人非。
The second stanza's opening two lines turn from the memory of the past to the grief over the present, writing the parting from the friend Shen Yaodao after the meeting. I pluck a reed flower to send far away transforms the breaking-willow farewell into the reed flower — the reed flower white and easily scattered, precisely the loyalist's lot; sending far means sending to the distant old friend, elegance within which the deep feeling. Scattered, I am one whole body of autumn is the poem's eye: scattered writes the old friends falling and the self drifting; one whole body of autumn writes the autumn feeling over all the body, the desolation over all the body. Autumn is not only the season, but the season of the mind after the fall — every year autumn comes, every year the scattering. Zhang Yan's one whole body of autumn is deeper than the autumn filling the eyes, because the autumn is not the scenery outside, but the illness on the body. The two lines gather the first stanza's the leaves all sorrow into the person: the leaves' sorrow was originally the body's autumn; the old friend sent far, the self still scattered. Within the empty-and-clear, the grief one layer deeper, leading to the second stanza's no longer the old sand gull.
空怀感，有斜阳处，却怕登楼。
Hollowly he holds his feelings; wherever the setting sun falls, he fears climbing the tower—this inverts Wang Can's ascent into a survivor's avoidance. The word 'fear' supplies the poem's deepest wound.
空自满怀感慨，每到斜阳时分，却偏偏害怕登楼。
Vainly full of feeling, where the setting sun hangs, I fear to climb the tower.
结拍三句，是全词的词眼与余音，把遗民心理写到无声处。空怀感写满腔感慨无处安放；有斜阳处点出登楼的典型时分——斜阳最易惹故国之思；却怕登楼则用王粲《登楼赋》典，却偏写「怕」：王粲是「登」楼作赋抒悲，张炎是「怕」登楼——不是不想望，而是望了更痛，所以怕。这一个「怕」字，是全词最重的落点，比任何「愁」「泣」都深：它写出遗民「不敢触碰故国记忆」的本能退缩，悲到极致，连悲都不敢认，只敢说怕。空怀感与却怕登楼对举，一放一收，把满怀的感慨，最后收进一个不敢抬头的动作里。张炎以「怕」字收清空之词，哀而不伤其哀、怯而愈见其怯，是格律派「以淡写哀」的巅峰，也开了后世遗民词「不敢望」一脉的心理深度。
The closing three lines are the ci's eye and aftertone, writing the loyalist's psychology to the wordless place. Vainly full of feeling writes the breast of feeling with nowhere to rest; where the setting sun hangs marks the typical hour of the tower-climbing — the setting sun most easily stirring the thought of the old country; I fear to climb the tower uses Wang Can's Tower-Climbing Rhapsody, yet writes the fear: Wang Can climbed the tower to write the grief, Zhang Yan fears to climb — not that he does not long to gaze, but that gazing hurts the more, hence the fear. This single fear is the heaviest landing of the ci, deeper than any grief or weeping: it writes the loyalist's instinctive shrinking from touching the memory of the old country, the grief at its extreme not daring even to own the grief, daring only to say fear. Vainly full of feeling and I fear to climb the tower set in contrast, one released one gathered, gathering the breast full of feeling at last into one action of not daring to raise the head. Zhang Yan closes the empty-and-clear ci on the fear, sorrowful yet not lessening the sorrow, timid yet the timidity the more evident, the peak of the metrical school's writing grief through the spare, opening the psychological depth of the later loyalist ci's not daring to gaze.
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Ye Mengde's ci in the same tune is vigorous with hopes of restoration, closing with a solitary zheng; Zhang Yan's is ethereal and introverted, closing with a fear of climbing the tower. Together they show two modes of Song ci: one as national outcry, the other as survivor's elegy.
同是八声甘州，叶梦得写寿阳楼怀古，气雄而志在恢复；张炎写玉关踏雪，清空而意在身世。叶词是主战派的伤时孤愤（独听桓筝），张词是遗民的伤身悲凉（却怕登楼）——一在「天下事」里沉郁，一在「个人愁」里婉转。并读可见南宋词两种典型：一种把词当恢复之呼，一种把词当亡国之泪。同调异怀，恰是时代把词人的笔，从「城」引向「愁」。
《高阳台·西湖春感》 Gao Yang Tai: Spring Feelings at West Lake 张炎 · 同出张炎遗民词，一写北游一写西湖，皆清空之境 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
《高阳台·西湖春感》「接叶巢莺，平波卷絮」写临安西湖的春残，叹故国风光犹在而人事已非；《八声甘州》写玉关踏雪的北游与聚散，叹身世零落。二者同是张炎清空词论的范本，同以疏淡意象写沉郁之悲，同结于「怕」与「愁」的退缩。并读可见张炎遗民词的一贯面目：不呼喊、不浓抹，而以清冷之笔写亡国之痛，把悲郁焐在淡处，正是格律派「清空骚雅」的极致。
《于潜僧绿筠轩》 Green Bamboo Studio of a Monk in Yuqian 苏轼 · 同出宋人，一清空悲凉一诙谐旷达，见宋调两极 Polar temperaments within Song literati culture.Su Shi jokes with bamboo as a dear companion in a time of ease; Zhang Yan turns fallen leaves and reed flowers into carriers of universal sorrow. One opens the world with wit, the other shields himself from it with fear—both testify to the expressive range of Song dynasty lyric.
张炎此词清空悲凉，苏轼《于潜僧绿筠轩》诙谐旷达，同是宋人笔墨，气象却一悲一谐。张在亡国后把身世写成清愁，苏在顺境中把竹聊成知己——一个向内收着痛，一个向外放着趣。并读可见宋人精神的两极：顺境中以理趣化解，离乱中以清空写哀；同是文人，一个把竹写成知己，一个把落叶写成愁，物我关系一诙一清，恰是宋诗宋词「尚意」传统的两种面孔。