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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

蒋捷·声声慢·秋声

Sheng Sheng Man · Autumn Sound

蒋捷

Jiang Jie

婉约graceful (wan-yue) 秋思autumn longing

声声慢·秋声黄花深巷,红叶低窗,凄凉一片秋声。
豆雨声来,中间夹带风声。
疏疏二十五点,丽谯门、不锁更声。
故人远,问谁摇玉佩,檐底铃声。
彩角声吹月坠,渐连营马动,四起笳声。
闪烁邻灯,灯前尚有砧声。
知他诉愁到晓,碎哝哝、多少蛩声。
诉未了,把一半、分与雁声。

Yellow blooms in the deep lane, red leaves by the low window — desolate, a whole sheet of autumn sound. Bean-like rain comes, with the wind's sound mixed in between. Sparse, twenty-five strokes — the gate-tower does not lock the watch-drum's sound. The old friend is far; who is shaking the jade pendant — the eave-bell's sound beneath the eaves.
The painted horn's sound blows the moon down; gradually the linked camps' horses stir, bugle-sound rises on all sides. Neighbouring lamps flicker; before the lamp still the fulling-block's sound. I know he complains of sorrow to dawn — how many cricket-sounds, in fine broken murmur. The complaint not done, he gives half — to the wild-goose's sound.
Listen

Meaning

Chrysanthemums bloom in the deep lane, red leaves low by the window — desolate, a whole sheet of autumn sound. Bean-like rain (raindrops like beans) comes, with the wind's sound in between. The watch-drum sounds sparse, twenty-five strokes; the gate-tower does not lock the watch sound. The old friend is far; who is shaking the jade pendant — it is the eave-bell's sound beneath the eaves. The painted horn's sound blows the moon down; gradually the linked camps' horses stir, bugle-sound rises everywhere. Neighbouring lamps flicker; before the lamps still the fulling-block's sound. I think he (the cricket) complains of sorrow to dawn — how many cricket-sounds in fine broken murmur. The complaint not finished, he gives half of it to the wild-goose's sound.

菊花开在深巷,红叶低映窗前,一片凄凉的秋声。豆雨(雨点如豆)声传来,中间夹着风声。更鼓疏疏二十五下,丽谯门上更声不锁。故人遥远,试问是谁摇响玉佩,是檐底风铃之声。画角声吹落了明月,渐渐连营中马匹骚动,四面笳声四起。邻家灯火闪烁,灯前还传来捣衣声。想他(秋虫)诉愁到天明,唧唧哝哝多少蟋蟀声。诉说未尽,把一半分给那雁声。

Appreciation

This lyric breaks new ground, building its whole mood from 'sound', almost a 'rhyme-prose on listening to sound'. The upper part enters from the visual 'yellow blooms in the deep lane', then turns to the sounds of bean-rain, wind, watch-drum, bell. The focus is the conception of 'writing sound throughout': it strings together about ten kinds of autumn sound, using sound to write sorrow, combining sight and sound. The whole hides not one 'sorrow' word, yet sorrow fills the page — most showing Jiang Jie's deep grace.

【白话串讲】 蒋捷写秋天所有的声音:“黄花深巷,红叶低窗,凄凉一片秋声”。“豆雨声来,中间夹带风声”——雨声、风声、更声、铃声。“疏疏二十五点,丽谯门、不锁更声”——他把一场秋夜,写成了一部声音的交响。 【意象与手法】 此词别开生面,通篇以「声」构筑意境,几成「听声赋」。上片由「黄花深巷」的视觉切入,旋即转入豆雨、风、更、铃诸声 【情感与主旨】 蒋捷,宋末元初词人,咸淳十年(1274)进士,宋亡后遁迹不仕,隐居竹山,抱节以终 【名句点睛】 中高考赏析要点:①分析「通篇写声」的构思,须指出连用十种秋声、以声写哀、视听结合

Background

Jiang Jie, a poet between the falling Song and rising Yuan, a Xianchun-era graduate, after the fall of Song withdrew and would not serve, living in retreat at Bamboo Mountain, keeping his integrity to the end. His lyrics often hold thought of the former country and lament of his own fate, a style between Jiang Kui and Xin Qiji yet his own. 'Sheng Sheng Man · Autumn Sound' was likely written after the dynastic change; alone at night, amid the rise and fall of autumn sound, he recalls the old friend and secretly grieves his drift — between the lines hides the pain of a loyalist. The whole writes not one 'sorrow' word, yet sorrow surges, most showing Jiang Jie's deep and graceful side.

《声声慢·秋声》为南宋蒋捷所作,是写秋声之凄的清词。蒋捷(约1245—约1310),字胜欲,号竹山,阳羡人,南宋词人。此词:黄花深巷,红叶低窗,凄凉一片秋声。豆雨声来,中间夹带风声。疏疏二十五点,丽谯门、不锁更声。故人远,问谁摇玉佩,檐底铃声。……这是一首以秋声为题、写尽风声雨声更声铃声明月声之凄凉的词,是蒋捷词的名篇。

Art

This lyric breaks new ground, building its whole mood from 'sound', almost a 'rhyme-prose on listening to sound'. The upper part enters from the visual 'yellow blooms in the deep lane', then turns to the sounds of bean-rain, wind, watch-drum, bell; the lower part continues with horn, horse, bugle, fulling-block, cricket, wild-goose — about ten kinds of sound layered and spread. It lists by fu-method yet the thread secretly connects, from far to near, from thing to person, closing on 'gives half to the wild-goose's sound', turning formless sorrow into audible sound. Sight-sound synesthesia, using clamour to write stillness, using sound to write sorrow — a marvellous structure.

《声声慢·秋声》艺术上以秋声的铺陈与凄凉的深沉见长。全词写秋声:首写秋声之起——“黄花深巷,红叶低窗,凄凉一片秋声”写黄花红叶、秋声起;“豆雨声来,中间夹带风声”写豆雨风声,“疏疏二十五点,丽谯门、不锁更声”写更声;后写秋声之终——“故人远,问谁摇玉佩,檐底铃声”写玉佩铃声。全词以秋声写凄凉,正是蒋捷词深婉凄清的笔法。

Allusions

This lyric uses few allusions, winning purely by sound-images; yet 'gate-tower' has a source: Zhuangzi, 'You must not array the crane-ranks between the fine towers' — the gate-tower means a fine city-gate tower, later broadly the gate's watch-tower. 'Twenty-five strokes' means the watch-drum count, secretly marking the hour near dawn. 'Jade pendant' 'eave-bell' transforms the Tang poets' 'jade-pendant sound' image for wind moving the bell. Overall it spreads sound in plain description, not borrowing classical allusion yet forming its own kind — exactly Jiang Jie's clever 'making sound into lyric'.

《声声慢·秋声》用典在“豆雨”“丽谯门”“玉佩”。“豆雨”写豆花之雨(江南秋雨);“丽谯门”写城上楼门;“玉佩”写玉佩之声。全词以这些秋声之象写凄凉,不用深典而凄清自见,正是蒋捷词的笔法。

Commentary

Qing lyric critics called Jiang Jie's lyrics 'among the sad and brooding, self-sufficiently graceful and moist'. This piece writes sorrow through sound; predecessors compared it to a 'rhyme-prose on listening to autumn'. The modern Tang Guizhang praised it as 'one breath turning and pressing, layer on layer advancing, settling on the wild-goose's sound — how desolate and strange'. Liu Xizai's Art Outline calls Jiang's lyrics 'refined and close', seen here in part.

《声声慢·秋声》是蒋捷词的名篇,也是南宋词中写秋声的代表作。此词写秋声之凄,向为论者称道。论者多赏其秋声的铺陈与凄凉的深沉——“黄花深巷,红叶低窗,凄凉一片秋声”写黄花红叶、秋声一片,凄清之极;“疏疏二十五点,丽谯门、不锁更声”写更声点点,更见凄凉。蒋捷为南宋词人,其词以深婉凄清著称,此词正是其代表——以秋声写凄凉,正是其词风。

Prosody

Form Lyric, 'Sheng Sheng Man' double-tune ninety-seven characters (oblique-rhyme form)词·声声慢
Rhyme Oblique rhyme (sound, bell, sound, sound, block, sound, sound, sound, etc., matched by entering/oblique tone)《声声慢·秋声》为双调词,押仄声韵。此词用韵:声、声、声(庚部)、声(庚部),一韵到底,音节凄清。
Tone pattern Strict level-oblique, slow tune声声慢为双调词,音节凄清而深婉。此词写秋声之凄,音节凄清而深婉。全词一韵到底,声调与秋声凄凉的内容相合,是蒋捷词中凄清的一路。
Reading note Jiang Jie uses the oblique-rhyme Sheng Sheng Man for autumn sound, unlike Li Qingzhao's level-rhyme form; purely spreads sound-images.《声声慢·秋声》为南宋蒋捷所作,是写秋声之凄的词。此词以“黄花深巷,红叶低窗,凄凉一片秋声”写秋声之起,以“豆雨声来,中间夹带风声”写豆雨风声,以“疏疏二十五点,丽谯门、不锁更声”写更声,以“问谁摇玉佩,檐底铃声”写檐铃之声。以秋声写凄凉,正是蒋捷词的名篇。

Line by line

黄花深巷,红叶低窗,凄凉一片秋声。豆雨声来,中间夹带风声。

Yellow chrysanthemums in the deep lane, red leaves at the low window; a desolation of autumn sounds. The rain of beans comes, and mingled with it the sound of wind.

黄花深巷,红叶低窗,凄凉一片秋声。豆雨之声来,中间夹带风声。

Yellow chrysanthemums in the deep alley, red leaves by the low window; a whole stretch of desolate autumn sounds. The bean-rain comes, and through it the sound of wind.

上片首写秋声之起,是全词写秋声的起点。“黄花深巷,红叶低窗,凄凉一片秋声”写秋声起——“黄花深巷”写黄花深巷,“红叶低窗”写红叶低窗,“凄凉一片秋声”写凄凉一片秋声——黄花深巷,秋声一片;“豆雨声来,中间夹带风声”写豆雨风声——“豆雨声来”写豆雨之声来,“中间夹带风声”写中间夹带风声——豆雨声来,夹带风声。五句写秋声之起:黄花深巷、红叶低窗、凄凉一片秋声,豆雨声来、中间夹带风声。以“黄花深巷,红叶低窗,凄凉一片秋声”写深巷低窗、黄花红叶、秋声一片,以“豆雨声来,中间夹带风声”写豆雨之声、夹带风声,正是蒋捷词写秋声之起、凄凉一片的起点——秋声已起,凄清满耳。

The first stanza opens on the autumn sounds, the starting point of the ci's writing of autumn. Yellow chrysanthemums in the deep lane, red leaves at the low window, a whole stretch of desolate autumn sounds writes the sounds' rising — the deep lane of yellow flowers, the low window of red leaves, the desolation of autumn sound; the bean-rain comes, and through it the sound of wind writes the rain and wind — the bean-rain coming, the wind-sound mingled. Five lines: the deep lane and low window, the yellow flowers and red leaves, the autumn sound all around; the bean rain's coming, the mingled wind. Precisely the starting point of Jiang Jie's autumn sounds: the autumn sounds risen, the desolation filling the ear.

疏疏二十五点,丽谯门、不锁更声。故人远,问谁摇玉佩,檐底铃声。

Scant, the twenty-five watches; the high tower's gate does not lock the watchman's cry. The old friend is far; who, I wonder, shakes the jade pendants? It is the bell under the eaves.

疏疏二十五点,丽谯门、不锁更声。故人已远,问谁摇玉佩,檐底铃声。

Scant, the twenty-five watch beats; the tower gate does not lock the night watchman's cry. The old friend is far away; I ask who shakes the jade pendants — it is the bell sound beneath the eaves.

下片写更声铃声明月声,是全词写秋声的归结。“疏疏二十五点,丽谯门、不锁更声”写更声——“疏疏二十五点”写疏疏二十五点(更声),“丽谯门、不锁更声”写丽谯门不锁更声——二十五点,更声不锁;“故人远,问谁摇玉佩,檐底铃声”写玉佩铃声——“故人远”写故人已远,“问谁摇玉佩”写问谁摇玉佩,“檐底铃声”写檐底铃声——故人远,谁摇玉佩檐铃声。五句写更声铃声明月声:疏疏二十五点、丽谯门不锁更声,故人远、问谁摇玉佩、檐底铃声。以“疏疏二十五点,丽谯门、不锁更声”写城楼更声点点、夜不能锁,以“故人远,问谁摇玉佩,檐底铃声”写故人已远、檐底铃声如玉佩之摇,正是蒋捷词写秋声之凄的归结——更声铃声,皆秋声之凄。

The second stanza writes the watchman's cry and the bell, the gathering of the ci's autumn sound. Scant, the twenty-five watch beats; the tower gate does not lock the night watchman's cry writes the watch sound — the scant twenty-five points (the night watches), the high tower's gate not locking the cry; the old friend is far away; I ask who shakes the jade pendants — it is the bell sound beneath the eaves writes the jade and bell — the old friend far, the asking who shakes the pendants, the eave bell. Five lines: the scant twenty-five points, the tower gate not locking the cry; the old friend far, the shaking pendants, the eave bell. Precisely the gathering of Jiang Jie's desolate autumn sounds: the watch cry and the bell, all the desolation of autumn.

Study

Word focus

秋声 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “凄凉一片秋声”之“秋声”,写秋之声,是全词写秋日凄凉的总题词。“秋声”写秋日之声(风、雨、更、铃等)——凄凉一片秋声。这一词写秋日之音:不是寻常之声,而秋声;不是一物之响,而一片凄清之秋声。以“黄花深巷,红叶低窗,凄凉一片秋声”写秋声一片、凄凉满耳,正是蒋捷词写秋声的总起。
豆雨 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “豆雨声来”之“豆雨”,写豆花之雨,是全词写江南秋雨的关键词。“豆雨”写豆花时节的雨——豆雨之声来。这一词写秋雨之时:不是寻常之雨,而豆雨;不是他时之霖,而江南秋雨。以“豆雨声来,中间夹带风声”写豆雨风声相杂,正是蒋捷词写秋声的笔法。
丽谯门 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “丽谯门、不锁更声”之“丽谯门”,写城上楼门,是全词写更声的关键词。“丽谯门”写华美的城楼(谯楼)——丽谯门不锁更声。这一词写城楼之筑:不是寻常之门,而丽谯门;不是可锁之声,而楼门难锁更声。以“疏疏二十五点,丽谯门、不锁更声”写更声点点、楼门不锁,正是蒋捷词写秋声之凄的笔法。
檐底铃声 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “檐底铃声”之“檐底铃声”,写檐底之铃声,是全词写秋声之凄的归结词。“檐底”写屋檐之下,“铃声”写铃声——问谁摇玉佩、檐底铃声。这一词写檐铃之声:不是寻常之响,而檐底铃声;不是可辨之音,而疑为玉佩之摇。以“故人远,问谁摇玉佩,檐底铃声”写故人已远、檐铃疑为玉佩声,正是蒋捷词写秋声之凄的归结。

Related Reading

虞美人·听雨 Beautiful Lady Yu: Listening to Rain 蒋捷 · 同为蒋捷词写雨声与人生,一写秋声之凄一写听雨三境,皆深婉 Related reading

Compare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.

蒋捷《虞美人·听雨》“少年听雨歌楼上”写一生听雨三境,与本首同为蒋捷词。差异在主题:声声慢·秋声写秋声之凄;虞美人·听雨写人生三境。一写“声”之凄,一写“生”之慨。两者并读,可见蒋捷词写声写情的两种主题。

梅花引·荆溪阻雪 Plum-Blossom Tone · Jing Creek Blocks the Snow 蒋捷 · 同为蒋捷词写羁旅凄清,一写秋声一写阻雪,皆深婉凄清 Same

Same author, both works of exile and reflection after the fallen country — mutually proving the loyalist lyric heart.

蒋捷《梅花引·荆溪阻雪》写荆溪阻雪之羁旅,与本首同为蒋捷词。差异在情境:声声慢·秋声写秋声之凄;梅花引写阻雪之羁旅。一写“声”之凄,一写“雪”之阻。两者并读,可见蒋捷词写凄清羁旅的两种情境。

蒋捷·一剪梅·舟过吴江 A Cut of Plum · The Boat Passes Wu River 蒋捷 · 与本首相关联的同类或同作者作品,供对比阅读 Same

Same author, both write drifting autumn sorrow and lost-country longing, one vein of style.

此处关联蒋捷《蒋捷·一剪梅·舟过吴江》,与本首在主题、体裁或作者上相关联,可对比阅读以见其同异。