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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

菩萨蛮·书江西造口壁

Buddhist Dancers · Inscribed on the Wall at Zaokou, Jiangxi

辛弃疾

Xin Qiji

爱国Patriotic 忧愤Grief and Indignation 山水Landscape

郁孤台下清江水，中间多少行人泪。
西北望长安，可怜无数山。
青山遮不住，毕竟东流去。
江晚正愁余，山深闻鹧鸪。

Below the Terrace of Solitary Grief flows the River Qing,
How many tears of refugees have mingled in its stream?
I look northwest towards the capital Chang’an,
But alas, countless mountains block my view.
Green hills can’t stop the river’s flow—
After all, it will eastward go.
At dusk the river grieves me still,
From deep mountains I hear partridges’ trill.

Listen

Meaning

The poet climbs the Terrace of Solitary Grief and gazes at the Qing River, recalling the tears of refugees from the Jin invasion forty years earlier. He looks northwest toward the lost capital but is blocked by countless mountains. The river’s eastward flow symbolizes an unstoppable force, while the partridge’s cry deep in the mountains evokes his sorrow at being unable to recover the lost lands.

郁孤台下奔腾的清江水啊，中间流淌着多少逃难行人的眼泪。我向西北眺望故都长安，可惜被无数青山遮挡。但青山终究挡不住江水，它毕竟要向东奔流而去。傍晚江上正让我满怀愁绪，深山中又传来鹧鸪的啼声。

Appreciation

The poem blends landscape with political grief. The river and tears merge, personifying sorrow. The mountains blocking the view of Chang’an represent obstacles to recovery. The line 'Green hills can’t stop the river’s flow' uses the river as a metaphor for an irresistible will to restore the nation, while the partridge’s cry at the end deepens the sense of helplessness. The poem is a masterful expression of patriotic anguish and personal despair.

【白话串讲】辛弃疾路过造口，想起当年金兵南侵的惨状，看着郁孤台下的江水，说这江里流着多少行人的泪。“青山遮不住，毕竟东流去”——写的是江水，也是他收复河山的心。【意象与手法】全词以比兴寄托见长，尺幅而有千里之势。“郁孤台下清江水，中间多少行人泪”融情入水，哀感动人【情感与主旨】此词约作于宋孝宗淳熙二三年间（1176），辛弃疾任江西提点刑狱，途经造口【名句点睛】高频考点为“青山遮不住，毕竟东流去”的象征义（抗金力量不可阻挡、正义必胜）；“行人泪”“望长安”的用典与情感指向

Background

Written around 1176 when Xin Qiji was serving as a judicial official in Jiangxi, passing through Zaokou. Forty years earlier, when Jin troops invaded, Empress Longyou fled south in panic, and countless refugees were slaughtered. The poet looks north from the terrace, using landscape to express grief over the unrecovered Central Plains and anger at the court’s appeasement policy.

此词作于宋孝宗淳熙二三年间（1176），辛弃疾任江西提点刑狱，驻节赣州，行经造口（在今江西万安县西南六十里）时所书。造口一名皂口，是赣江边的一处渡口。词中所写「行人泪」，有其确切的历史本事：建炎三年（1129），金兵大举南侵，一路追击南逃的隆祐太后（宋哲宗孟皇后、高宗伯母）至太和县，隆祐太后舍舟登陆，逃至虔州（今赣州）方得脱险，随行官民死伤逃散者无数。辛弃疾行经造口，抚今追昔，想到四十余年前那场国难中沿江奔逃的行人，遂以「行人泪」写之。罗大经《鹤林玉露》明确记载：「南渡之初，虏人追隆祐太后御舟至造口，不及而还。幼安自此起兴。」此词题「书江西造口壁」，是题壁词，题壁即写于驿舍、渡口墙壁之上，可见其本为即景抒怀、有意传世之作。辛弃疾自绍兴三十二年（1162）南归，至此已十四五年，历任江阴签判、建康通判、司农寺主簿等职，一直郁郁不得志，抗金之志无从施展，登临之际，遂将家国之恨熔铸于赣江山水之间。造口地处赣江上游，地僻而水险，本非名胜，因这一段国难史而永留词史。辛弃疾至此，非为游观，实为凭吊——他所凭吊的，是四十余年前那场家国巨变中无数无名百姓的苦难，也是自己南归以来始终难酬的恢复之志。题壁以书，正是要借这方墙壁，把一己之悲化作可传之久远的家国之思。

Art

The poem excels in metaphorical expression. It uses the Qing River to embody tears, mountains to symbolize obstacles, the eastward river to represent an unstoppable righteous force, and the partridge’s cry to heighten melancholy. Every scenic detail carries deep emotion, achieving conciseness with vast implications.

此词以比兴寄托见长，尺幅之中有千里之势。起句「郁孤台下清江水」，点明地点，一个「清」字写江水澄澈，却反衬下句血泪之重。「中间多少行人泪」，把奔流不息的江水与逃难行人的血泪叠合，融情入水，哀感动人——江水滔滔，其中几多是当年逃难者的眼泪？这一问不待回答，悲怆已足。接着「西北望长安，可怜无数山」，从赣州遥望故都汴京（以长安代汴京），视线被重重青山遮断，「可怜」二字，怜的是山河阻隔，更是中原沦陷。下片「青山遮不住，毕竟东流去」，是全词的转折与升华：青山能遮断望眼，却遮不住东流的江水，以此暗喻抗金的民心与正义终不可阻挡，在沉痛中透出坚定。结句「江晚正愁余，山深闻鹧鸪」，收束于暮色中的鹧鸪啼鸣，鹧鸪声「行不得也哥哥」的谐音，又暗示恢复之事受阻的隐痛。全词由水及泪、由泪及山、由山及水、由水及鸟，意象环环相扣，比兴层层深入，于婉约中含沉郁，于哀怨中见刚健，是辛词「潜气内转」一格的典型。更可留意其「以山水的自然规律写历史的必然信念」的笔法——青山遮不住江水，本是地理常识，辛弃疾却从中提炼出「正义终不可阻」的哲理，把眼前的自然景观升华为对历史趋势的坚信。这种由景入理、理中含情的手法，使全词在哀怨之外别有一股刚健之气，哀而不伤，怨而不怒，正是辛词高出于一般婉约词之处。

Allusions

'Looking toward Chang’an' alludes to Li Bai’s line 'Always floating clouds can hide the sun; not seeing Chang’an makes me sad.' Chang’an here stands for the lost capital Kaifeng. The partridge’s cry is traditionally interpreted as 'you can’t go, brother,' symbolizing the hopelessness of recovering the lost land.

此词用典与意象皆有深厚源流。其一，「行人泪」暗用建炎三年金兵追隆祐太后之事，这是词的本事，非一般用典，而是一种以时事入词的纪实笔法。其二，「西北望长安」化用杜甫《小寒食舟中作》「云白山青万余里，愁看直北是长安」，杜甫漂泊湘江而遥念长安，辛弃疾驻节赣州而北望故都，同是天涯孤臣的故国之思，情脉相通。以「长安」代「汴京」，是唐宋人习用的借代，既避直露，又添一层汉唐故都的厚重。其三，鹧鸪啼声「行不得也哥哥」，本是民间对鹧鸪鸣声的谐音附会，宋人诗词多用以写羁愁别恨，辛弃疾用之，则赋予「恢复之事行不得也」的政治寓意，罗大经《鹤林玉露》即如此解。其四，「清江水」之「清」，既是写实，又可使人联想到屈子「沧浪之水清兮」的洁身自守，以及杜诗「清江一曲抱村流」的意象传统。全词无一字直说恢复，而家国之痛尽在比兴之中，正是《诗经》以来「兴寄」传统的发扬。学界对此词「长安」是否实指汴京亦有讨论，然以「长安」代指故都，是唐人习例，辛弃疾承之，既避直露，又借汉唐故都的厚重以增其悲。至于「清江水」之「清」，或解为赣江本名清江，或解为状水之澄澈，二说皆通，然「清」与「泪」的对举，无疑强化了「以清衬浊、以景衬情」的艺术效果。全词无一字直说恢复，而家国之痛尽在比兴之中，正是「兴寄」传统在词中的典范。

Commentary

Liang Qichao praised: 'Such a loud and clear voice in a short lyric is unprecedented.' Modern critics call it 'high in style and rich in color,' fusing personal sorrow with national trauma, leaving an inexhaustible aftertaste.

此词为辛词婉约沉郁一格的压卷之作，历代选本几无遗漏。罗大经《鹤林玉露》乙编卷三最早记载其本事并加评点，谓此词「闻鹧鸪之句，谓恢复之事行不得也」，是宋人评此词最重要的一条。陈廷焯《白雨斋词话》卷一评曰：「稼轩《菩萨蛮·书江西造口壁》一章，用意用笔，洗脱温韦殆尽，然大旨大见之。」陈氏之意，谓此词虽用《菩萨蛮》这一花间习用之调，却能洗净温庭筠、韦庄的绮罗香泽，而将家国大义写入其中，是「以香草美人之笔，寄家国兴亡之恨」。谭献《复堂词话》赞此词「裂竹之声，何尝不潜气内转」，谓其表面平和、内里激荡。此词与《摸鱼儿》《祝英台近》等并为辛弃疾「摧刚为柔」的代表作，词论家常以之说明辛词并非一味粗豪，而是豪放与婉约兼备。在传播上，「青山遮不住，毕竟东流去」一句，因其所含的「历史潮流不可阻挡」之义，在近现代更被广泛引用，成为这首小词最广为人知的警句。此外，此词在近世影响尤大，「青山遮不住，毕竟东流去」因其所寓「大势所趋、不可阻挡」之义，在民族危亡与现代革命语境中被反复征引，几已成为成语，其传播之广，在宋词中罕有其匹。凡论辛词之「以比兴写家国」者，无不举此词为证，可见其典范地位。此词以小令之体，写家国之悲，尺幅之中见千里之势，正见辛弃疾「以少许胜多许」的艺术概括力。

Prosody

Form Cipai 'Buddhist Dancers' (Pusa Man), double stanza of 44 characters, each stanza four lines with alternating oblique and level rhymes.菩萨蛮，双调四十四字，上下片各两仄韵两平韵，四换韵

Rhyme First stanza oblique: 'shui', 'lei' (paper/ended rhyme); level: 'an', 'shan' (cold rhyme). Second stanza oblique: 'zhu', 'qu' (meet rhyme); level: 'yu', 'gu' (fish/Yu rhyme).四换韵：上片起二句押仄韵水、泪（词韵第三部），后二句换平韵安、山（词韵第七部）；下片起二句换仄韵去、住（词韵第四部），后二句换平韵余、鸪（词韵第四部）

Tone pattern Alternating oblique and level tones create a fluctuating rhythm, matching the poet’s agitated yet constrained emotions.此调四换韵，仄平相间，声情起伏跌宕。上片先仄后平，下片再仄再平，韵脚的平仄转换与情感的抑扬相配合。全词句式为七、七、五、五，上片与下片各四句，长短错落。仄韵字水、泪、去、住声调峭劲，平韵字安、山、余、鸪声调悠远，交替出现，形成「顿挫—舒展—顿挫—舒展」的声情节奏。

Reading note A short lyric carrying the weight of national trauma, using concrete scenery to convey abstract grief, ending with the partridge’s cry for lingering effect.《菩萨蛮》本为唐教坊曲，后为词调，双调四十四字，其最大的声律特征是「四换韵」——上下片各四句，两句一韵，仄韵平韵交替。辛弃疾此词严守此格：上片「水」「泪」押词韵第三部（支微齐灰）的上去声，音色细促，宜表哀婉；换平韵「安」「山」入词韵第七部（元寒删先），开口呼平声，音色开阔悠长，恰合「西北望长安，可怜无数山」的怅望之情。下片再换仄韵「去」「住」入词韵第四部（鱼虞模），去声字声调下行，写江水东去之决绝；末换平韵「余」「鸪」复归第四部平声，音渐低回，收束于鹧鸪啼鸣的苍茫。四换韵造成的韵脚音色与调性的四次转折，使这首四十四字的小词读来跌宕顿挫，情感在「哀—望—决—愁」之间往复流转，正是「潜气内转」在声律上的体现。这种以换韵写情的手法，苏轼《菩萨蛮》诸作亦有之，而辛弃疾用得尤为沉郁，可见词牌声律与词人情感的深度契合。

Line by line

中间多少行人泪

How many traveler's tears have flowed through it.

中间流淌着多少逃难行人的眼泪

How many refugees' tears flow down it.

此句是全词情感最浓重处。「行人」不是泛泛的过客，而是建炎三年金兵南侵时沿江奔逃的难民，是有具体本事的历史群像。「多少」二字，以问代叹，写泪之多、苦之深，而答案只有滔滔江水知道。「行人泪」与「清江水」相叠，水与泪在视觉上都是流动的液体，故能浑然莫辨——到底是江水，还是眼泪？这一问，把赣江从自然景观改写成了民族苦难的见证，一江清水，顿时有了血泪的分量。辛弃疾不写「多少行人」而写「多少行人泪」，一字之转，江水的客观景物便化作了主观的血泪记忆，景与情、水与泪，就此难解难分。

This line is the ci's densest emotional point. The traveler means not the casual passerby, but the refugees fleeing south along the river in the third year of Jianyan's Jin invasion, a historical group portrait with a concrete event. The two words how many, using the question for the sigh, write the tears' number and the grief's depth, and only the rolling river knows the answer. The traveler's tears and the clear river water overlap — water and tears both flowing liquids in the sight, hence inseparable — is it the river, or the tears? This question turning the Gan River from the natural scene into the witness of the national suffering, one river of clear water suddenly bearing the weight of blood and tears. Xin Qiji writing not how many travelers but how many traveler's tears, one character's turn, the river's objective scenery turned into the subjective blood-tear memory, scene and feeling, water and tears, hence hard to part.

西北望长安

I gaze northwest toward Chang'an.

我向西北眺望故都长安

I gaze northwest toward the old capital.

「长安」指北宋故都汴京，是沦陷于金人手中已四十余年的中原象征。「西北望」一个动作，写尽词人对故国的深情凝望；而「长安」不可见，为下句「可怜无数山」蓄势。这一「望」，是辛弃疾平生反复出现的姿势——从「登建康赏心亭」的「把吴钩看了」，到「京口北固亭」的「何处望神州」，望的始终是那回不去的中原。化用杜甫「愁看直北是长安」，杜诗漂泊中的故国之思，与辛词沦陷下的恢复之志，隔代相应，愈见其深。杜甫望长安是忠君恋阙，辛弃疾望长安是故国之思，一为乱离中的盼望，一为沦陷下的执念，情脉相通而时势已异。

Chang'an means the Northern Song's old capital Bianjing, the symbol of the central plain fallen to the Jin for forty-odd years. The northwest-gaze one motion, exhausting the poet's deep gaze at the old country; and Chang'an invisible, storing the force for the below's pity the countless mountains. This gaze is the pose recurring through Xin Qiji's life — from the Health-pavilion's gazing at the Wu hook, to the Jingkou Beigu pavilion's where can I gaze toward the Divine Land, the gazed thing always the central plain not returnable. Borrowing Du Fu's grief-stricken gazing straight north is Chang'an, Du's exile homesickness and Xin's subjugation recovery will, answering across the ages, the deeper the more. Du gazing at Chang'an the ruler-loyalty and palace-longing, Xin gazing at Chang'an the old-country thought, one the troubled times' hoping, one the subjugation's obsession, the emotional vein shared and the times different.

青山遮不住

But the green hills cannot block it.

但青山终究挡不住江水

But the green hills cannot block the river's flow.

此句是全词的精神转折点。前面的「可怜无数山」，是望眼被青山遮断的无奈；此句却陡转——青山能遮断视线，却遮不住滚滚东流的江水。「遮不住」三字，掷地有声，既写赣江冲破青山阻隔的自然之势，更暗喻抗金复国的民心与正义终究不可阻挡。以山水的自然规律，写出历史的必然信念，这是辛弃疾在绝望中不肯绝望的倔强，也是全词由哀怨转入刚健的关键一笔。「遮不住」三字，以否定的斩截口吻，写出了江水不可阻挡的必然之势，语气之决绝，正见词人虽处绝望而不肯绝望的倔强。

This line is the ci's spiritual turning point. The above's pity the countless mountains, the gaze cut off by the green hills' helplessness; this line suddenly turning — the green hills can cut the sight, and cannot block the rolling eastward river. The three words cannot block, the sound striking the ground, at once writing the Gan River's breaking through the green hills' natural force, and secretly figuring the anti-Jin recovery people's will and justice's inevitable unblockableness. Writing the historical inevitable faith through the mountains-and-waters' natural law, this is Xin Qiji's refusal-to-despair stubbornness within despair, and the ci's key stroke of turning from plaint to strength. The three words cannot block, in the decisive negation tone, writing the river's unstoppable inevitable force, the tone's resoluteness, precisely showing the poet's though-in-despair-and-yet-refusing-to-despair stubbornness.

江晚正愁余

The river dusk is grieving me now.

傍晚江上正让我满怀愁绪

The evening river fills me with grief.

「江晚」点出时间，暮色苍茫，江上生愁，为全词的悲剧氛围再添一笔。「愁余」是倒装，即「愁我」，暮色江景令词人愁绪满怀。这个「愁」，是国难之愁、恢复无望之愁、身世飘零之愁的汇总。结句「山深闻鹧鸪」，鹧鸪的啼声「行不得也哥哥」自深山中传来，更添一层「恢复之事行不得也」的隐痛。以景结情，余韵悠悠，把前面积蓄的悲慨都收进这一声鹧鸪啼里，言有尽而意无穷。鹧鸪啼于深山，其声凄切，与「愁余」的心境相呼应，而「行不得也」的谐音又暗指恢复受阻，一鸟之啼，遂兼写景、抒情、隐喻三重意蕴。

The river dusk names the time, the dusk vast, the river-born grief, adding one stroke to the ci's tragic atmosphere. The grieving-me the inverted order, i.e. the grieving me, the dusk river scene filling the poet with grief. This grief, the national-disaster grief, the recovery-hopelessness grief, the fate-drifting grief's sum. The close the deep mountains hear the partridge, the partridge's cry like better-not-to-go, brother coming from the deep mountains, adding one layer of the recovery's better-not-to-go hidden pain. Closing feeling in scene, the aftertone leisurely, gathering the stored grief into this one partridge cry, the words ended and the meaning endless. The partridge crying in the deep mountains, its sound plaintive, echoing the grieving-me mood, and the better-not-to-go homophone secretly pointing at the recovery's obstruction, one bird's cry, hence at once scenic writing, lyric, and metaphor triple meaning.

Study

Word focus

郁孤 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「郁孤」是台名，又暗含词人的心境。郁孤台在赣州西北贺兰山顶，唐代李勉为赣州刺史时登台北望长安，改名「望阙」，故「郁孤台」本身即带有北望故都、孤忠自守的历史意蕴。辛弃疾选用此台入词，既写实景，又借「郁孤」二字的字面义——郁郁孤愤——暗写自己南归以来报国无门的孤愤。台名与心境两相叠合，起句便奠定了全词沉郁的基调，而「望阙」的旧典又与下句「西北望长安」遥相呼应，一字一典，皆有来历。起句以「郁孤」二字兼摄地名与心境，实为全词定调之笔，其后「行人泪」「望长安」皆由此生发。

行人泪 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「行人泪」三字是此词的词眼，也是最具悲剧力量的一组意象。「行人」本指行旅之人，此处特指建炎年间金兵南侵时仓皇南逃的难民，他们扶老携幼、沿江奔命，其泪尽洒赣江。「泪」字是全词唯一直接写「情」的字，其余皆写景，而一切景语皆为此一字服务——江水因「行人泪」而有了哀愁，青山因「行人泪」而显得无情。辛弃疾以「多少」问之，泪与江俱不可量，问句的余音里，是无数无名百姓的苦难，也是词人对沦陷区遗民的深切悲悯。

鹧鸪 Partridge (its call is interpreted as 'you can’t go, brother,' symbolizing frustration) 「鹧鸪」是收束全词的意象，看似写实，实则双关。鹧鸪的啼声在民间被谐作「行不得也哥哥」，宋人诗词中常以之写羁旅之愁、归期之阻。辛弃疾在「江晚正愁余」之后特写「山深闻鹧鸪」，暮色深山中的这一声啼鸣，既烘托了孤寂愁苦的氛围，又暗用谐音双关，道出「恢复之事行不得也」的政治隐痛——这正是罗大经《鹤林玉露》点破的深意。一个寻常禽鸟之名，在辛弃疾笔下化作了家国之悲的象征，见出词人以微物写大义的笔力。