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宋 Song · 赋 Fu rhapsody

前赤壁赋

The Red Cliff Rhapsody (The First, Opening Passage)

苏轼

Su Shi

名篇Theme 赋Theme 旷达Theme 哲理Philosophy

壬戌之秋，七月既望，苏子与客泛舟游于赤壁之下。
清风徐来，水波不兴。
举酒属客，诵明月之诗，歌窈窕之章。
少焉，月出于东山之上，徘徊于斗牛之间。
白露横江，水光接天。
纵一苇之所如，凌万顷之茫然。

In the autumn of the year Renxu, after the full moon of the seventh month, I, Master Su, was boating with my guests below the Red Cliff. The clear wind came slowly, and the water raised no waves. I raised the wine cup to my guests, recited the poem of the bright moon, and sang the chapter of the fair lady. After a little while, the moon rose above the eastern hill and lingered between the Winnowing Basket and the Dipper. White dew stretched across the river, and the water's light met the sky. We let the single reed go wherever it would, and rode over the boundless expanse of ten thousand acres.

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Meaning

The opening passage of Su Shi's most famous prose-rhapsody, 'The Red Cliff.' In the autumn of the year Renxu, after the full moon of the seventh month, Master Su and his guests are boating below the Red Cliff. The clear wind comes slowly and the water raises no waves; he raises the wine cup, recites the poem of the bright moon, and sings the chapter of the fair lady. The moon rises above the eastern hill and lingers between the stars; white dew stretches across the river and the water's light meets the sky. And the passage closes on the great image of the boating: they let the single reed go wherever it will, and ride over the boundless expanse of ten thousand acres. The passage is the serene, luminous opening of the meditation that follows — on the transience of human life and the eternity of the river and the moon.

壬戌年的秋天，七月十六日，苏子与客人在赤壁之下的江面上泛舟游玩。清风缓缓吹来，水面波澜不兴。举起酒杯劝客人共饮，吟诵《诗经》中咏明月的诗篇，歌唱那「窈窕」的章节。不一会儿，月亮从东山之上升起，在斗宿与牛宿之间徘徊移动。白色的雾气横亘江面，水光与天色相接。任凭一片苇叶似的小船随意漂荡，凌驾于茫茫万顷的江水之上。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] In the autumn of the year Renxu, after the full moon of the seventh month, Master Su was boating with his guests below the Red Cliff. The clear wind came slowly, and the water raised no waves. He raised the wine cup to his guests, recited the poem of the bright moon, and sang the chapter of the fair lady. After a little while, the moon rose above the eastern hill and lingered between the Winnowing Basket and the Dipper. White dew stretched across the river, and the water's light met the sky. They let the single reed go wherever it would, and rode over the boundless expanse of ten thousand acres. [Structure and Thought] The passage moves from the time and the place of the boating, through the wind and the water and the wine, to the rising moon and the dew and the light, and closes on the great image of the voyage — the single reed over the boundless expanse. [Key Technique] The prose-rhapsody's art is the serene accumulation of the elements: the wind, the water, the wine, the moon, the dew, the light — each added in its turn until the scene is complete, and the single reed of the close gathers the whole into the image of the free voyage. [Emotional Tone] Serene, luminous, and free: the opening is the perfect setting of the philosophical boat, the world at peace and the voyagers at ease on the boundless water.

【白话串讲】苏轼被贬黄州，游赤壁写《前赤壁赋》：“清风徐来，水波不兴”。“月出于东山之上，徘徊于斗牛之间”——“纵一苇之所如，凌万顷之茫然”——“寄蜉蝣于天地，渺沧海之一粟”——“惟江上之清风，与山间之明月”——他写豁达。【意象与手法】此赋以「赋」为体而脱去汉赋堆垛，用主客问答、即景生情之法，将叙事、写景、抒情、说理熔于一炉。开篇以时间为经（壬戌、七月、既望、少焉），以空间为纬（赤壁之下、东山之上、斗牛之间、万顷之上），层次井然；写景由近及远、由实入虚，月色由出而徘徊，江水由横而茫，景随目移。句式骈散相间，四六偶句（清风徐来，水波不兴）与散行（纵一苇之所如，凌万顷之茫然）交错，声情摇曳，为宋代文赋之典范。【情感与主旨】此篇作于苏轼贬谪黄州时期，乌台诗案之后，政治失意而胸次旷达。泛舟赤壁、对月临江，正是借自然之永恒与浩渺，化解人生之短暂与忧患。全文主旨即在「变与不变」的哲思：以江月清风为伴，于无限中安顿有限之我，遂将牢骚沉郁化为超然物外之旷达，是东坡人生哲学的诗意结晶。【名句点睛】「清风徐来，水波不兴」八字，写秋江之静美，点出全赋清旷的基调；「纵一苇之所如，凌万顷之茫然」以「一苇」对「万顷」，小大悬殊中见出放浪形骸之姿，最见东坡胸次，为千古传诵之名句。

Background

Su Shi (1037–1101) was the supreme literary figure of the Northern Song. In 1082, banished to Huangzhou after the 'Wutai poetry case,' he made two famous night visits to the Red Cliff on the Yangtze and wrote the two 'Red Cliff Rhapsodies'; this is the opening of the first. The rhapsody's meditation — the brevity of human life against the eternity of the river and the moon — is the great statement of Su Shi's philosophical ease in the years of his exile, and the opening passage, with its serene boat and its single reed, sets the mood of the whole.

苏轼（1037—1101），字子瞻，号东坡居士，眉州眉山人，北宋文坛领袖，诗、词、文、书、画皆称大家。此赋作于宋神宗元丰五年（1082）壬戌之秋七月十六日，时苏轼因「乌台诗案」被贬为黄州团练副使，已有三年。元丰二年（1079），苏轼因诗文讥讽新法被构陷入狱，几至丧命，出狱后谪居黄州（今湖北黄冈），名义上挂一闲职，实受监管，生活困顿，遂躬耕东坡、自号东坡居士，于山水佛老中寻求精神解脱。元丰五年七月，苏轼与友人夜游黄州赤壁矶（即今黄冈赤壁，非周瑜破曹之蒲圻赤壁，苏轼本人亦存疑惑，故文中只言「赤壁」而不坐实），触景生情，先后写下前后《赤壁赋》与《念奴娇·赤壁怀古》，成为其贬谪期创作之高峰。此赋以「壬戌之秋」起笔，纪年纪月纪日，实录其事，当夜「清风徐来，水波不兴」「月出东山之上」的澄明景致，正与诗人由惊悸转向旷达的心境相映。时代背景上，北宋中期新旧党争剧烈，文人命运随政潮起伏，苏轼此赋以逍遥山水消解政治忧患，既是个人遭际的抒写，也折射出宋代士大夫以庄禅自持、于逆境中安顿生命的精神传统，遂成为千古旷达之绝唱。

Art

The passage's art is the art of the serene accumulation. The time and the place are set with the plainest precision — the year Renxu, the seventh month, the full moon, the Red Cliff. Then the elements of the night are added one by one: the clear wind coming slowly, the water raising no waves, the wine cup raised, the poem of the bright moon recited, the chapter of the fair lady sung. The moon rises and lingers between the stars; the white dew stretches across the river; the water's light meets the sky. And the close gathers the whole into the great image: they let the single reed go wherever it will, and ride over the boundless expanse of ten thousand acres. The prose-rhapsody's art is this patient building of the scene to the point where the single reed and the boundless water carry the whole meaning of the free voyage.

此赋为宋代「文赋」之典型，体制上远承荀卿、屈原之赋，近变六朝骈赋、唐之律赋，破骈俪之藩篱而以散文笔法行之，句式骈散相间、长短错落，四六偶句与散行交错成文。全篇以「游」为线索，以「乐」为基调，章法上呈「写景—述怀—说理—超脱」的四段式：起笔以赋体常式记时、记事、写景，铺陈秋江月夜之澄明；继而借「诵明月之诗，歌窈窕之章」引发思古之幽情；再借主客问答转出「哀吾生之须臾，羡长江之无穷」的悲慨；终以「惟江上之清风，与山间之明月」的取之不尽作结，由悲转喜、由执转旷。其艺术手法最见功力者在「以景寓情、以物托理」：水波不兴、月徘徊、白露横江、水光接天，无不澄澈空明，正是诗人涤除忧患后心境的物化；「纵一苇之所如，凌万顷之茫然」以极小之舟凌极大之江，形象地写出放达自适的超然姿态。语言上善用虚字「之、而、也、矣」调节节奏，以「少焉」「于是」「纵」等词承接转换，行云流水而气脉贯通，一举洗尽汉赋之堆砌与骈赋之板滞，为苏轼散文赋「行云流水、姿态横生」的典范，明清以降被奉为文赋之圭臬。

Allusions

'The poem of the bright moon' and 'the chapter of the fair lady' (shuomingyue zhi shi, ge yaotiao zhi zhang) allude to the 'Moonrise' poem and the 'Guan Ju' ode of the 'Book of Songs' — the poems of the moon and the fair lady that Su Shi and his guests recite. 'The Winnowing Basket and the Dipper' are the constellations of the Chinese sky, between which the moon lingers. 'The single reed' (yiwei) is the boat — the 'reed' of the ancient image, the slight vessel on the vast water, the figure of the free and precarious voyage of the exile.

此赋用典熔铸经史，而能化用无痕、浑融于景。其一「诵明月之诗，歌窈窕之章」，语出《诗经·陈风·月出》：「月出皎兮，佼人僚兮，舒窈纠兮。」「窈纠」「窈窕」一声之转，苏轼径取以指咏月之诗章，既扣眼前之月，又暗含《月出》篇中怀人望月之情，为下文兴感伏笔。其二「徘徊于斗牛之间」，「斗牛」指二十八宿中的斗宿与牛宿，春秋战国时吴越分野在斗牛，古人以星宿分野对应地域，赤壁正在吴越之域，故月「徘徊于斗牛之间」既写实景，亦暗合古战场之地望，隐含对历史兴亡的遥想。其三「纵一苇之所如」，「一苇」出《诗经·卫风·河广》「谁谓河广？一苇杭之」，本以苇叶喻小舟，苏轼用之极言船之渺小，与「万顷之茫然」形成小大之对照，其意境则上承《庄子·逍遥游》「列子御风而行」之飘举、「茫然」二字又暗合《庄子·齐物论》「芒然彷徨乎尘垢之外」的超世之想。其四「凌万顷之茫然」，「凌」字暗含《楚辞》「凌大波而流风兮」的凌云之气。苏轼将《诗经》之雅、庄周之玄、楚辞之逸铸于一炉，而皆化入眼前江月，遂使一篇游记式之赋，承载起千年文化之积淀，这正是「无一字无来处」而「如出胸臆」的化境。

Commentary

The opening passage of 'The Red Cliff Rhapsody' is among the most famous prose in the Chinese language, quoted for its serene, luminous setting of the philosophical boat. The single reed over the boundless expanse of ten thousand acres is one of the great images of Chinese literature — the free voyage of the exile at once precarious and serene. The passage is studied in every school as the model of the Song prose-rhapsody's opening, and its place in Su Shi's work — the exile's night on the river that produced the meditation on the eternal moon — gives it its lasting fame.

《前赤壁赋》是中国赋史与散文史上的双璧之作，历代评家推重备至。南宋王若虚《滹南遗老集》谓东坡之文「纵横变化，不可端倪」，此赋正是其散文「行云流水」理想的自觉实践；明代茅坤编《唐宋八大家文钞》列此赋于苏文之首，以为「直与《离骚》并驱」；清代桐城派亦以之为例讲「义理、考据、辞章」合一。此赋的价值在其三端：一曰文体之革新，以散入骈、以文为赋，开启宋代文赋的成熟形态，其后《秋声赋》《赤壁赋》相继，遂成一代文体；二曰哲理之升华，将个人的迁谪之悲升华为「变与不变」「物我无尽」的宇宙观照，其「盖将自其变者而观之，则天地曾不能以一瞬；自其不变者而观之，则物与我皆无尽也」的思辨，成为中国人安顿生命的重要精神资源；三曰情感之旷达，哀而不伤、悲而能超，为历代失意文人提供了一种以山水自娱、以庄禅自解的生活方式。现代以来，此赋与《后赤壁赋》一并选入各类语文教材，其中的「纵一苇之所如，凌万顷之茫然」更成为国人习知的文学意象。林语堂《苏东坡传》特重东坡之旷达人格，而此赋正是这一人格最凝练的文本呈现，其影响远及散文、绘画、园林乃至日常审美，堪称「一篇赋写尽一个民族的达观」。

Prosody

Form Song dynasty prose-rhapsody (wen fu) — the opening passage of 'The Red Cliff Rhapsody'宋代文赋（以散文笔法作赋，骈散相间）

Rhyme The passage is prose in the new Song style, unrhymed, its art lying in the rhythm of the short and long clauses and the serene accumulation of the elements.此文赋韵散相间，句尾多押阳声韵：兴（庚青）、章（阳）、间（寒删）、天（先）、然（寒删），隔句押韵而韵位疏朗，读来悠扬绵长，有乐府歌行之余韵；至「诵明月之诗，歌窈窕之章」处，「诗」「章」对举，声调由平而仄、由短而长，如歌如咏。

Tone pattern The rhythm is that of the night voyage: the plain, level opening of the time and the place; the slow, even cadence of the wind and the water; the light turn of the wine and the poems; the rising of the moon; and the long, free cadence of the close — the single reed over the boundless expanse.句式以四六偶句与散行长句相间成文：「清风徐来，水波不兴」为工整四四对偶，「举酒属客，诵明月之诗，歌窈窕之章」则三三三七散行；「纵一苇之所如，凌万顷之茫然」以「之」字调节节奏，长短错落，如行云流水。虚字「而、之、也、矣」穿插其间，语调从容舒缓，正合秋夜泛舟之清旷情调。

Reading note The sound of the passage matches its serene mood: the plain, even clauses of the opening set the time and place without ornament; the wind and the water are given the slowest, most level cadence; the moon's lingering between the stars and the dew across the river lift the rhythm; and the close — 'zong yiwei zhi suoru, ling wanqing zhi mangran' — stretches into the long, free cadence of the boundless voyage. The prose itself performs the ease of the boat.此赋的声韵之美，在「散」而不「散」：它彻底摆脱了汉赋的铺排与六朝骈赋的雕琢，句法以散行为主，而于关键处嵌入整饬的偶句，形成「散中见整、整散相济」的节奏。开篇「壬戌之秋，七月既望」以四字短句起，顿挫有力；「清风徐来，水波不兴」转四字偶句，平稳清扬；「月出于东山之上，徘徊于斗牛之间」则以七字、八字的长句写出月行天空的悠缓；至「纵一苇之所如，凌万顷之茫然」两两相对而气韵流走，声情与辞情高度合一。韵脚上，此赋不严守平仄而取天然之韵，阳声韵（ang、an）的绵长悠扬正合秋江月夜的澄明浩渺；「徘徊」「茫然」等词双声叠韵，读来圆转流美。全文以「游—乐—悲—旷」的情感曲线驾驭声调，乐处声调轻快，悲处转为低回，旷处复归开阔，一韵一转、一情一声。后人诵此赋，常觉琅琅上口、满口生香，正在于苏轼以文为赋而又不失赋体之音乐美，其节奏之自由、韵律之自然，标志着宋代文赋在声律上的完全成熟，直接开启《秋声赋》《赤壁后赋》一脉，是中国散文中「气韵生动」的极致标本。

Line by line

壬戌之秋，七月既望，苏子与客泛舟游于赤壁之下。

In the autumn of the year Renxu, after the full moon of the seventh month, I, Master Su, was boating with my guests below the Red Cliff.

壬戌年的秋天，七月十六日，苏子与客人乘船在赤壁之下的江上游玩。

In the autumn of the renxu year, the sixteenth day of the seventh month, Master Su and his guests drifted a boat below the Red Cliff.

起句以史笔纪时，纪年、纪月、纪日，一笔不苟，实录元丰五年七月既望之游。三句之中，「壬戌之秋」点明岁在壬戌——苏轼贬黄州之第三年，乌台诗案之阴影犹在，而秋江之游已启；「七月既望」即七月十六日，月正圆而未亏，正是秋江月夜最宜之时，为下文「月出东山」预作时间铺垫；「苏子与客泛舟游于赤壁之下」则点出人物、事件、地点，一个「泛」字写舟之任情漂流、人之自在随性，与后文「纵一苇之所如」遥相呼应。赋体常以「某年月日，某与某游于某地」开篇，此句正合其体而气度从容。尤其值得注意的是「苏子」这一自称，兼有庄周寓言中「苏子」式的超然口吻，暗示下文主客问答、以理自解的结构将要展开。全句无一赘字，却把时间、人物、地点、情态一并交代，为全赋定下清旷悠远的基调，是散文赋开篇的典范笔墨。

The opening records the time in the historian's brush, the year, month, day, one stroke not careless, the true record of the fifth year of Yuanfeng's seventeenth-of-the-seventh-month outing. Within three lines, the renxu autumn names the year — Su Shi's third year of Huangzhou exile, the Wutai poem case's shadow still present, and the autumn-river outing begun; the seventeenth of the seventh month i.e. the sixteenth, the moon full and not yet waned, precisely the autumn-river moon night's most fit time, storing the time ground for the below's moon rising over the eastern hill; Master Su and his guests drifted a boat below the Red Cliff names the person, event, place, the one word drift writing the boat's carefree floating and the man's easy grace, echoing the below's letting the one reed go where it will. The rhapsody form often opens with the in such a year and month, such a man with such a man roams at such a place, this line matching the form and yet the bearing composed. Especially noteworthy is the self-name Master Su, carrying at once the Zhuang allegory's Master Su style detached tone, hinting the below's host-guest question and self-reasoned consolation structure to unfold. The whole line not one surplus character, and yet the time, person, place, mood all given, setting the whole rhapsody's clear distant tone, the prose rhapsody opening's model brush.

清风徐来，水波不兴。

The clear wind came slowly, and the water raised no waves.

清风缓缓吹来，江面平静如镜，波澜不兴，正是秋夜泛舟最宜之时。

The clear wind slowly rises, the water's waves do not stir.

八字写景，是全赋「乐」之起点，也是秋江月夜的第一幅画面。「清风徐来」着一「徐」字，写风之舒缓从容，非疾风、非烈风，正是秋夜江上宜人之风；「水波不兴」着一「不」字，写水面之平静，波平如镜，方见月影可鉴、倒影分明。「徐」与「不」两字对举，一写风之动而缓，一写水之静而平，动静相济，澄明空阔之境立现。这八个字不仅写自然之景，更写心境之态——贬谪黄州三年，诗人由惊惧、苦闷渐趋平静，此际清风徐来、水波不兴，正是忧患初定、心境澄澈的物化投影。清人评此八字「写尽江上秋夜之静美」，诚非虚语。它与后文「纵一苇之所如，凌万顷之茫然」的放达、客之「哀吾生之须臾」的悲慨，构成情调上的起落，而此静美之景正是全文由乐而悲、由悲而旷的情感原点，八字的份量，实在一篇之根基。

Eight characters writing scene, the whole rhapsody's joy starting point, and the autumn-river moon night's first picture. The clear wind slowly rises, the one word slowly writing the wind's gentle composure, not the gale, not the fierce wind, precisely the autumn night river's pleasant wind; the water's waves do not stir, the one word not writing the surface's calm, the wave-level as a mirror, hence the moon-shadow's reflecting and the reflection's clarity. The slowly and the not two words set against, one the wind's motion and gentleness, one the water's stillness and level, the motion and stillness feeding, the clear vast realm at once present. These eight characters not only writing the natural scene, but the heart's state — three years of Huangzhou exile, the poet from the fright and gloom gradually calm, at this time the clear wind slowly and the waves unstirred, precisely the hardship's first-settled and heart-clear materialized projection. The Qing critics judging these eight characters as exhausting the river autumn night's still beauty, truly no empty words. This and the below's letting the one reed go where it will, soaring above the boundless expanse's untrammeled, the guest's grieving my life's momentary's grief, forming the emotional rise and fall, and this still-beauty scene precisely the whole text's from-joy-to-grief and from-grief-to-detachment emotional origin, the eight characters' weight, truly one piece's foundation.

少焉，月出于东山之上，徘徊于斗牛之间。

After a little while, the moon rose above the eastern hill and lingered between the Winnowing Basket and the Dipper.

过了一会儿，月亮从东山之上升起，在斗宿与牛宿之间徘徊移动。

After a moment, the moon rises above the eastern hill, lingering between the Dipper and the Ox stars.

「少焉」二字承上启下，写时间之推移，月既望之夜，月出于东山，正是泛舟渐入佳境之时。「月出于东山之上」写月之初升，着一「出」字，月如跃出山巅，动态鲜明；「徘徊于斗牛之间」写月之渐行，着一「徘徊」二字，将无情之月写得有情——月行本缓，望之似徘徊，恰似不愿离去的流连，与下文「举酒属客」的从容、兴尽而返的依依形成情感的暗线。「斗牛之间」既写实（月行于斗牛二宿分野），又暗合赤壁所在的吴越地望，为客之兴「周郎赤壁」之叹埋下伏笔。此句在章法上是全赋的转关：此前清风、水波皆属地面之景，至此视线由江面升至天空，空间豁然开朗；月出则光照江上，遂有「白露横江，水光接天」的下文。以「徘徊」写月，承《诗经·月出》之怀人意绪，开苏轼一贯以月为友、与月对话的抒情传统，是赋中极富诗意的神来之笔。

The two words after a moment inherit above and open below, writing the time's passing, the full-moon night, the moon rising over the eastern hill, precisely the boat's drifting into the fair time. The moon rises above the eastern hill writes the moon's first rising, the one word rises, the moon as if leaping out of the hilltop, the motion vivid; lingering between the Dipper and the Ox stars writes the moon's slow moving, the two words lingering, writing the unfeeling moon as feeling — the moon's travel by nature slow, the seen seeming to linger, precisely the unwilling-to-leave lingering, forming the emotional undercurrent with the below's raising the cup to the guest's composure and the zest-ended-returning reluctance. Between the Dipper and the Ox stars at once the fact (the moon's travel in the two stars' division), and secretly matching the Red Cliff's Wu-Yue geography, storing the ground for the guest's Zhou Lang Red Cliff sigh. This line in craft the whole rhapsody's turning hinge: the above's clear wind and water waves all the ground scene, here the sight from the river surface rising to the sky, the space suddenly open; the moon's rising then the light on the river, hence the below's the white dew spans the river, the water light joins the heaven. Writing the moon through lingering, inheriting the Book of Songs' moon-rising's longing mood, opening Su Shi's consistent moon-as-friend and moon-conversation lyric tradition, the rhapsody's most poetic inspired stroke.

纵一苇之所如，凌万顷之茫然。

We let the single reed go wherever it would, and rode over the boundless expanse of ten thousand acres.

任凭一片苇叶似的小船随意漂向何方，凌驾于茫茫万顷的江水之上。

I let the one reed drift where it will, soaring above the boundless expanse of ten thousand qing.

此二句为全赋写景之极至，亦东坡精神之写照。「纵」字写放任、听任，与开篇「泛舟」之「泛」呼应，一叶小舟不系缆、不操楫，任其漂荡，正是「乘物以游心」的逍遥姿态；「一苇」用《诗经·卫风·河广》「谁谓河广？一苇杭之」之典，以苇叶喻小舟，极言其微；「万顷」极言江面之广，「茫然」写水天一色、无边无际之境。以「一苇」对「万顷」，小大悬殊、以微凌巨，而着一「凌」字，写小舟凌驾于茫茫大江之上，非逞强凌越，而是心境凌越——身在一苇，神游万顷，于无限之自然中安顿有限之自我，正是贬谪中苏子「此心安处是吾乡」的超然姿态。此二句对仗工整而气韵流走，「如」与「之」两个虚字一虚一实，化板滞为灵动，最见东坡以文为赋、行云流水的笔法。清人评其「飘然有御风凌云之想」，现代学者则视之为中国文人「物我同一」境界最凝练的诗意表达，与《后赤壁赋》「江流有声，断岸千尺」的峭拔异趣而同归，千古传诵，良有以也。

These two lines the whole rhapsody's scenic extreme, and Dongpo's spirit's portrait. The one word letting writes the letting-go and the leaving-to, echoing the opening's drifting's drift, the one-leaf boat untethered and unrowed, letting it drift, precisely the riding-the-things-and-roaming-the-mind carefree pose; the one reed uses the Book of Songs, Wei wind, the broad river, who says the river is broad? one reed crosses it's allusion, figuring the small boat through the reed leaf, the extreme minuteness; the ten thousand qing the extreme broadness of the river surface, the boundless writing the water-sky-one-color and the endlessness. The one reed against the ten thousand qing, the small-large disparity and the minuteness-soaring-the-vast, and the one word soaring, writing the small boat's soaring above the boundless great river, not the forcing-over-the-vast, but the mood's soaring — the body in the one reed, the spirit roaming the ten thousand qing, settling the finite self within the infinite nature, precisely the exiled Su Shi's this heart's peace is my home detached pose. These two lines in steady parallelism and the bearing's flow, the as and the of two empty words one void one real, turning the stiffness into the lively, the most showing Dongpo's prose-as-rhapsody and cloud-and-water brush. The Qing critics judging it as the floating air of riding the wind and soaring the clouds, the modern scholars seeing it as the Chinese scholar's thing-and-self-oneness realm's most condensed poetic expression, with the Later Rhapsody on the Red Cliff's the river flows with sound, the broken banks rise a thousand feet's steepness differing and yet returning together, recited through the ages, truly with reason.

Study

Word focus

属 'To raise the cup to, to invite' — the offering of the wine cup to the guests, the ceremony of the night's beginning. 「举酒属客」之「属」字，读zhǔ，意为劝酒、敬酒，是此赋中极见功力的动词。此字本义为「连属」，引申为「劝」，古文中「属客」即举杯劝客共饮，唐人王维「劝君更尽一杯酒」之「劝」即其白话对应，而「属」字更古雅、更含蓄，着一「属」字，主客间举杯相邀、情意相投的画面跃然纸上。「属」与「客」相配，点出这场赤壁之游非独游而是群游，有客相伴、有酒可举，正是「对酒当歌」的魏晋风度在宋代的延续；同时「属」又暗含「属和」「唱和」之意，举酒属客而后「诵明月之诗，歌窈窕之章」，饮酒与吟诗一气相承，见出文人游宴的风雅格调。苏轼炼此一字，既合赋体的古雅，又显宾主相得的融洽，且为下文「客有吹洞箫者」的主客问答预设人物。一字之微，而全赋的结构、情调、风度皆系于此，正见大家炼字之精。

徘徊 'To linger, to pace back and forth' — the moon lingering between the constellations, the unhurried motion of the night. 「徘徊于斗牛之间」之「徘徊」二字，是写月的传神之笔，亦是苏轼「以我观物、物皆着我之色彩」的绝佳例证。「徘徊」本写人行步往复、流连不去，此处移用于月，赋予月亮以人的情态——月出东山，缓缓行于星空，望去似在斗牛之间往复流连，不忍遽去。这一拟人手法的妙处在于：月亮本是无情之物，因望月之人心情闲适、兴味正浓，故觉月亦有情、亦相眷恋，物我之间达成一种亲切的默契。苏轼一生爱月，《水调歌头》「转朱阁，低绮户，照无眠」亦以「转」「低」写月之动态，与此处「徘徊」同一机杼，皆以人的眼光的移动来写月的移动，遂使冷月成为知己。就章法而言，「徘徊」二字还暗示时间在推移——月既徘徊，则夜渐深、兴渐浓，为下文「白露横江」的物候变化、「客」之乐极生悲的感慨蓄势。一字之用，情景相生，神韵俱出。

一苇 'The single reed' — the boat of the ancient image, the slight vessel on the vast water, the figure of the free voyage. 「纵一苇之所如」之「一苇」，是全赋以小见大、以微见宏的关键意象。此语出《诗经·卫风·河广》「谁谓河广？一苇杭之」，本义为「一束苇叶可以作筏渡河」，极言河之易渡；苏轼用之以指江上小舟，而意境迥异——河广尚可一苇而渡，万顷之江则一苇渺乎其微，故「一苇」在此不是写易，而是写「微」，与「万顷之茫然」形成悬殊的对照。但苏轼之意不在叹舟之微、江之大，而在「纵」之任之：纵一苇之所如，听任这只苇叶般的小舟随意漂向何方，正是庄子「乘物以游心」「彷徨乎无为其侧，逍遥乎寝卧其下」的物我两忘之境——身寄一苇，心游万顷，于无限之浩渺中体验「物与我皆无尽」的永恒。这一个词，将《诗经》之典、庄周之玄与东坡贬谪中的超然胸次熔于一炉，以最微之物写最宏之境，遂成中国文学中「以小舟渡大江」的经典意象，其影响及于后世「一叶扁舟」「孤舟蓑笠翁」等无数诗画，堪称一字传千古。