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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

朝中措·平山堂

Praising the Ruby: Pingshan Hall

欧阳修

Ouyang Xiu

送别Farewell 写景Scenery 豪放词风Theme

平山阑槛倚晴空，山色有无中。
手种堂前垂柳，别来几度春风。
文章太守，挥毫万字，一饮千钟。
行乐直须年少，尊前看取老仙翁。

Leaning on the rails of Pingshan Hall against the clear sky, the hills' color is now there, now gone.
The drooping willow before the hall I planted with my own hands - how many springs have passed since we parted?
A governor who writes, he wields his brush for ten thousand words and drains a thousand cups.
One must seize pleasure while young - yet before the cup behold the old immortal.

Listen

Meaning

Ouyang Xiu toasts a literary friend at Pingshan Hall, mixing springtime loss with bachelor bravado.

平山堂的栏杆倚着晴朗的天空，江南山色隐约有无之中。亲手种在堂前的垂柳，别后过了几度春风。文章太守，挥毫写就万字，一饮便是千钟。行乐正该在年少之时，酒樽前且看取我这老仙翁。

Appreciation

From a misty hillside to a willow planted years before, Ouyang Xiu arrives at his own legend: the magistrate who writes ten thousand words and drains a thousand cups, urging joy while young - and already the 'old immortal' smiling at the cup.

【白话串讲】 “平山阑槛倚晴空，山色有无中”——欧阳修写平山堂：倚着晴空，山色若有若无。“手种堂前垂柳，别来几度春风”——“文章太守，挥毫万字，一饮千钟”——“行乐直须年少，尊前看取老仙翁”——他说要趁年少行乐。【意象与手法】上片“平山阑槛倚晴空，山色有无中”化用王维“江流天地外，山色有无中”写凭栏远眺之景；“手种堂前垂柳，别来几度春风”由景及情。下片“文章太守，挥毫万字，一饮千钟”以三句排比写文才酒兴；“行乐直须年少，尊前看取老仙翁”以老仙翁自况。上片清丽下片豪放。【情感与主旨】送友人刘敞出守扬州时所作，融景物、交情与豪兴于一炉。于送别中不见哀婉反见昂扬，以诗为词、气象开阔的写法对苏轼豪放词风颇有先导之意。【名句点睛】常考“平山阑槛倚晴空，山色有无中”化用王维句写江南山色；“文章太守，挥毫万字，一饮千钟”以排比写文才酒兴。

Background

Written for Liu Chang (a friend and fellow official) at Pingshan Hall in Yangzhou, which Ouyang had built. It celebrates the 'literary governor' ideal of the Northern Song.

欧阳修《朝中措·平山堂》作于送友人刘敞出守扬州时。平山堂为欧公守扬州时所建，据载其于堂前手植垂柳，江南诸山拱列檐下，故名平山。此词既写堂前胜景，亦借以称许友人，融景物、交情与豪兴于一炉。欧阳修为北宋文坛宗主，诗文词兼擅，其词风疏宕明快，开北宋豪放词风先声。刘敞（字原父）亦北宋名臣、学者，与欧公交厚。欧公此词不以离愁别绪为调，而写平山壮观、友人豪情与及时行乐之劝，洒脱旷达，异于传统送别词的婉弱。北宋中叶，士大夫优游文酒、以文章相尚，此词正折射出彼时儒臣雍容闲雅的精神风貌，亦见欧公作为达官文人从容自信的胸襟，在宋词由晚唐五代绮靡向疏朗豪放转型中，具先导意义。欧公为北宋文宗，其词虽不多作，而每有开派之力，此送别一词，即可见其破体开路之功。守扬州而建斯堂，堂以人传，词亦以堂传，二者相得益彰。

Art

Opens on a vista (hills 'there and not there'), moves to the planted willow as a measure of time, then bursts into the rollicking self-portrait of the writing, drinking magistrate.

此词上片写平山堂壮观与别后之思，下片赞赏刘敞豪兴并劝以行乐，格调疏宕，气象开阔。起二句平山阑槛倚晴空，山色有无中，化用王维江流天地外，山色有无中之句，写凭栏远眺、江南山色隐约之景，开阔明朗；阑槛倚晴空以夸张写堂之高峻，山色有无中以虚实写远山之缥缈。手种堂前垂柳，别来几度春风，由景及情，垂柳乃欧公手植，几度春风暗含别后岁月，亲切有味，亦见主人与堂之深情。下片文章太守，挥毫万字，一饮千钟，以三句排比写刘敞文才酒兴，豪气干云，呼应欧公自身风神；行乐直须年少，尊前看取老仙翁，劝友人及时行乐，而以老仙翁自况，洒脱旷达。全词上片清丽下片豪放，于送别中不见哀婉，反见昂扬，以诗为词、气象开阔，对后来苏轼豪放词风颇有先导。疏宕开朗，无一毫晚唐五季绮靡之气，于赠别题中别立旷达一格，是其可贵处。

Allusions

Pingshan Hall, a Yangzhou belvedere Ouyang Xiu erected in 1048. 'Old immortal' is a playful self-designation.

此词用典化句，皆贴切自然。山色有无中直用王维《汉江临泛》江流天地外，山色有无中，原写汉江两岸山色若隐若现的空蒙，欧公移以写平山堂远眺江南诸山，既状景之缥缈，亦见取法盛唐的从容。文章太守一称，本指有文章之美的州郡长官，欧公用以称刘敞，兼以自许，暗含对友人文采风流、政事文章兼茂的推许；挥毫万字、一饮千钟写其才思敏捷、酒量过人，是北宋儒臣风流的剪影。老仙翁是欧公自谓，以仙翁状其旷达忘机、超然物外之态，近于李白谪仙、苏轼坡仙一脉的仙风道骨意象。垂柳则承袭折柳赠别与庭院植柳的诗歌传统，手种二字更添一份主人对平山堂的亲手经营之爱。诸典融而无痕，恰见欧词疏朗自然的大家气象。融化王维唐诗如自己出，可见宋人善学古人之法，转益多师而能自成面目。山色有无中一语，移用无痕，唐人之境，遂成宋词之格。

Commentary

A centerpiece of the Song 'poem on a hall' tradition; its confidence and ease define the era's civic-poetic culture.

欧阳修此词在宋词史上别具英爽之气，历来评家多以疏宕称之。其价值首在破送别之格：传统送别词多写离愁别恨、长亭折柳之哀（如柳永雨霖铃），欧公此词却写平山壮观、友人豪兴与及时行乐，于赠别中不见哀婉，反见昂扬旷达，是北宋词风由婉约向疏朗转型的重要标志。其次在以诗为词：山色有无中直接用王维诗句，文章太守三句排比近散文句法，皆见其以诗文笔法入词的开阔。清人冯煦《宋六十一家词选》序称欧阳修疏隽开子瞻（苏轼），此词正可证其先导之功——苏轼豪放词中的旷达与英爽，实承欧公此等作品而来。平山堂一景亦因欧公此词与后人追和而名垂千古，足见其影响之深广。欧公以达官之笔写旷达之怀，豪而不粗、婉而不弱，于北宋词坛独标一格，足见其诗文词兼擅的大家气象与从容心境。苏门诸子得其疏宕，遂成豪放一脉，渊源有自，论词史者于此不可不辨。

Prosody

Form Lyric in Chao Zhong Cuo (Praising the Ruby) tune朝中措，双调四十八字，平韵体，小令，欧阳修此词格调疏朗，近令词之旷达体

Rhyme Rhymes on 'sky' (kong), 'among' (zhong), 'wind' (feng), 'cup' (zhong), 'immortal' (weng) - level-tone dong group.全词押平声韵，空、中、风、钟、翁，大致属东钟等平韵，一韵到底，声情舒畅开朗，与旷达昂扬之情相协。

Tone pattern Song lyric; short lines with a swelling close.朝中措为固定词调，平仄依谱，此词句式以七言、四言、三言错落，如文章太守为四三读，挥毫万字为一四读，节奏明快。

Reading note Breezy and confident; a signature of Ouyang Xiu's mature style.朝中措为北宋通行小令，宜写即事赠答，欧阳修此词正得其体。全词以平声一韵到底，空、中、风、钟、翁皆平收，发音舒展开朗，恰配平山壮观、友人豪兴与及时行乐的昂扬语调，绝无婉约词的低回。句式上，此词长短句错落有致：起二句七言写远眺，接七言写手种柳，过片四言文章太守领起，继以三言挥毫万字、一饮千钟的排比，节奏由缓入急，如由远山收回酒席，场景转换自然。尤为可注意者，欧公以诗笔入词——山色有无中直接用王维诗，文章太守三句近散文句法，这种以诗为词的做法，打破晚唐五代令词绮靡，开北宋疏宕词风，苏轼豪放一词实受其沾溉。小令而能气象开阔、英爽洒脱，正是欧词导夫先路的价值所在。

Line by line

平山阑槛倚晴空，山色有无中。

Leaning on the rails of Pingshan Hall against the clear sky, the hills' color is now there, now gone.

平山堂的栏杆倚着晴朗的天空，江南山色隐约有无之中。

The railings of Pingshan Tower lean on the clear sky; the mountain colors are, and are not.

这一联写平山堂的壮观与远眺之景，是全词开阔气象的起手。平山阑槛倚晴空，以倚字写栏杆仿佛凭靠在晴朗的天空之上，夸张中见堂之高峻、天之寥廓，气度已然不凡；山色有无中化用王维诗句，写江南远山在晴空下若隐若现、虚实相生，既有景物的空蒙之美，也透出盛唐以来文人远眺的从容气韵。二句一实一虚、一近一远，由堂及天、由栏及山，视野层层推开。尤为可味者，倚晴空之倚带出人与堂、与天的亲近，山色有无之有无写尽远山的缥缈，起笔便立起一种明朗洒脱的基调，为下片文章太守的豪兴预作铺垫，亦见欧公以诗笔写词的开阔手段。

The couplet writes the grandeur of Pingshan Tower and the distant view, the opening of the ci's broad atmosphere. The railings of Pingshan Tower lean on the clear sky uses the word lean to write the railings as if resting on the clear sky, the hyperbole showing the tower's height and the sky's vastness, the bearing already uncommon; the mountain colors are, and are not transforms Wang Wei's line, writing the southern mountains seen and unseen beneath the clear sky, the real and the virtual engendering each other, at once the hazy beauty of the scene and the easy air of the High Tang scholar gazing far. Two lines, one real one virtual, one near one far, from the hall to the sky, from the railing to the hills, the view opening layer on layer. Especially to be tasted: the lean of leaning on the clear sky brings the nearness of man, hall, and sky; the are-and-are-not of the mountain colors exhausts the distant hills' remoteness, fixing at the opening a bright, free tone, preparing for the second stanza's the lord of letters' boldness, and showing Ouyang Xiu's broad craft of writing ci with the poet's brush.

手种堂前垂柳，别来几度春风。

The drooping willow before the hall I planted with my own hands - how many springs have passed since we parted?

亲手种在堂前的垂柳，别后过了几度春风。

The weeping willow I planted by the hall — since parting, how many spring winds have passed?

此二句由景及情，于壮阔中转入亲切的人事之思。手种堂前垂柳，写平山堂前垂柳乃欧公当年守扬州时亲手所植，一个手种，见主人对堂之深情与亲手经营之意，平淡中见珍重；别来几度春风，以春风次数暗计别后岁月，不言相思而言几度春风，举重若轻，把离情写得温润而不伤。垂柳本有折柳赠别之传统，此处却是手种之柳，更添一层主客双关——柳在堂前，人已远去，柳愈青而人愈隔。欧公于此不写凄楚，只以春风度数淡淡点出时光流转与故人之思，亲切有味，正是其疏隽词风的典型：情深而语淡，怨而不怒，哀而不伤。

The two lines move from scene to feeling, from the grandeur to the warm human thought. The weeping willow I planted by the hall writes the willow before Pingshan Tower, planted by Ouyang Xiu's own hand when he governed Yangzhou; the single hand-planted shows the host's deep feeling for the hall and the meaning of his own tending, the treasure in the plain; since parting, how many spring winds have passed? counts the years since the parting through the number of spring winds, not speaking longing and yet the spring winds spoken, the weight handled with ease, the parting grief warm without harm. The willow, by tradition the broken-willow farewell, is here the hand-planted willow, adding the host-guest double meaning — the willow before the hall, the man far gone, the greener the willow the more parted the man. Ouyang Xiu here writes no desolation, only the passage of time and the thought of the old friend in the spring winds' number, warm and flavored, precisely the model of his sparse, graceful ci style: deep feeling and plain words, grievance without anger, sorrow without harm.

文章太守，挥毫万字，一饮千钟。

A governor who writes, he wields his brush for ten thousand words and drains a thousand cups.

文章太守，挥毫写就万字，一饮便是千钟。

The lord of letters, waving the brush for ten thousand words, draining a thousand cups at one drinking.

此三句为下片华彩，以排比之笔写刘敞之豪，是全词英爽之气的集中处。文章太守是对刘敞的推许，亦暗含欧公自况——北宋儒臣以文章名世，出守一方而文采风流；挥毫万字写其才思敏捷、运笔如飞，一饮千钟写其酒量过人、豪气干云。三字句排比（挥毫万字、一饮千钟），节奏短促有力，与上文山色有无中的舒缓形成张力，恰似由远眺转入把酒言欢的场面切换。欧公以夸张写友人，不落谀词而风神毕肖，既称许刘敞，也张扬了北宋士大夫挥文饮酒、从容自得的群体风度。这三句把一首送别词，写出了建安风骨般的英爽，是欧词导夫苏轼豪放先路的关键一笔。

The three lines are the splendor of the second stanza, writing Liu Chang's boldness through parallel brush, the gathered place of the ci's bright spirit. The lord of letters is the esteem of Liu Chang, and secretly Ouyang Xiu's self-figuring — the Northern Song Confucian minister famous by his writings, governing a region with literary grace; waving the brush for ten thousand words writes the quickness of his thought and the flying brush; draining a thousand cups at one drinking writes his surpassing capacity and his lofty spirit. The three-character parallel (ten thousand words, a thousand cups), the rhythm short and forceful, set in tension against the first stanza's the mountain colors are, and are not, precisely the scene-switch from the distant gaze to the wine and the joy. Ouyang Xiu writes the friend through hyperbole, not falling into flattery and yet the spirit fully caught, at once praising Liu Chang and displaying the group bearing of the Northern Song scholar-officials waving the brush and drinking wine, composed and at ease. The three lines give a farewell ci the bright spirit of the Jian'an vigor, the key stroke leading the way to Su Shi's bold ci.

行乐直须年少，尊前看取老仙翁。

One must seize pleasure while young - yet before the cup behold the old immortal.

行乐正该在年少之时，酒樽前且看取我这老仙翁。

Pursue pleasure while you are young; before the cup, look at this old immortal of mine.

结句是全词的余韵与旷达之旨的归处。行乐直须年少，劝友人趁年少及时行乐，语似疏放，实含对生命短暂的达观省思，与唐诗劝君惜取少年时的惜时一脉相通，而语气更见洒脱；尊前看取老仙翁，欧公以老仙翁自谓，在酒樽前让友人看取自己这般旷达忘机的老者姿态。仙翁意象近李白谪仙、苏轼坡仙，写其超然物外、不以离别为念的从容。一个看取，把劝诫化为现身说法，亲切而风趣。全词至此由壮丽（平山）、由深情（手种柳）、由英爽（文章太守），终归于一种通透的老境智慧：离别不足悲，行乐当及时，豪情与达观在此合流，足见欧公作为文坛宗主从容自信的胸襟。

The closing is the aftertone of the ci and the home of its broad-minded theme. Pursue pleasure while you are young exhorts the friend to seize the pleasure in his youth, the words seemingly free and in truth carrying the wise reflection on life's brevity, of a piece with the Tang verse exhort to value your youth, and the tone the more free; before the cup, look at this old immortal of mine, Ouyang Xiu naming himself the old immortal, letting the friend see before the wine this broad-minded, carefree old man's bearing. The immortal image near to Li Bai's banished immortal and Su Shi's slope immortal, writing his transcendence of things and his ease in not counting the parting. The single look turns the exhortation into the example, warm and witty. The ci here, from the grand (Pingshan), the deep feeling (the hand-planted willow), the bright spirit (the lord of letters), ends at last in a lucid old-age wisdom: the parting is not grief, the pleasure must be seized, the boldness and the broad-minded flow together, showing the composed, confident breast of Ouyang Xiu as the literary leader.

Study

Word focus

倚 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 平山阑槛倚晴空的倚字，是全词气象的起手键。阑槛本静物，着一倚字便有了动作与姿态，仿佛栏杆主动凭靠在晴朗的天空之上，既写堂之高峻（高到与天相接），也写人与天、与景的亲近无间。这一拟人化的动词，较之临、对、望等字更见从容与豪宕——不是人俯瞰，而是栏与天相偎，物我相得。倚字带着一种不大用力气的潇洒，正合欧公疏隽的词风。它与下句山色有无中的虚写相配，一实一虚，把平山堂的开阔与空灵同时立起。一个倚字，已预兆了全词不写离愁而写旷达的基调。

有无 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 山色有无中的有无二字，直取王维诗句，是此词最具盛唐气韵的一处。有与无本是对立，此处用以写远山在晴空下若隐若现、似有似无的缥缈状态，把视觉的不确定性化为审美的空蒙。这一虚写较之实写山形更见悠远，也暗合中国艺术虚实相生之理：山未必真无，而是烟岚吞吐间看不真切，恰如人生聚散之难期。欧公移用唐诗写平山远眺，既状景之真，也显其取法高古的从容。有无二字，以最少的字写出最远的景与最淡的愁，是清空词境与盛唐气象在宋词中的一次优雅重逢。

手种 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 手种堂前垂柳的手种二字，是下片最见性情处。平山堂前垂柳，非寻常官署点缀，而是欧公守扬州时亲自所植，一个手种，把一方名胜与一个人牢牢系住，见其亲手经营、视如家物的深情。这二字平淡如话，却分量极重：它使垂柳不再是泛泛景物，而成了主人宦游岁月与故园之思的物证。别来几度春风的离情，正由此手种之柳牵出——柳在而人去，物是人非之慨藏于二字。欧公以白描写深情，不事雕琢而亲切有味，正是其疏隽词风的典型：以最寻常的动词，担起最 personal 的记忆。

老仙翁 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 尊前看取老仙翁的老仙翁，是欧公于此词中的自我画像，亦全词旷达主旨的落点。仙翁意象承李白谪仙、苏轼坡仙一脉，写一种超然物外、忘机享乐的老者风神；老字点明年齿，仙字写出脱略形骸的从容。欧公以之自谓，在送别友人之际，不以老迈为嗟，反以仙翁自况，把离愁化为酒樽前的风趣劝勉。这一自称，既见其达官文人的自信与幽默，也折射北宋儒臣优游文酒、不以迁谪聚散萦怀的时代精神。老仙翁三字，使全词的英爽之气终归于一种通透的老境智慧，豪而不粗，旷而不空。