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宋 Song · 赋 Fu rhapsody

前赤壁赋·版本二

The Red Cliff Rhapsody (The Second Version: The Meditation)

苏轼

Su Shi

文赋Theme 哲理Philosophy 旷达Theme

寄蜉蝣于天地，渺沧海之一粟。
哀吾生之须臾，羡长江之无穷。
挟飞仙以遨游，抱明月而长终。

We lodge like the mayfly in the heaven and earth,
And are as a single grain on the vast sea.
We grieve that our life is but a moment,
And envy the long river that has no end.
I would clasp the flying immortals and wander with them,
And embrace the bright moon, to end with it forever.

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Meaning

The great meditation of Su Shi's 'Red Cliff Rhapsody.' The voyagers on the river confront the eternity of the world: they lodge like the mayfly in the heaven and earth — the mayfly that lives for a single day — and are as a single grain on the vast sea. They grieve that their life is but a moment and envy the long river that has no end. And the close voices the longing of the exile: he would clasp the flying immortals and wander with them, and embrace the bright moon, to end with it forever. The passage is the emotional climax of the rhapsody — the anguish of the brief life against the eternal river, and the longing for the transcendent escape.

把自己像蜉蝣一样寄托在天地之间，渺小得如同沧海中的一粒米粟。哀叹我这一生如此短暂，羡慕长江那样无穷无尽。幻想携同飞仙一同遨游，怀抱明月与它一起长存到终了。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] We lodge like the mayfly in the heaven and earth, and are as a single grain on the vast sea. We grieve that our life is but a moment, and envy the long river that has no end. I would clasp the flying immortals and wander with them, and embrace the bright moon, to end with it forever. [Structure and Thought] The passage moves from the two images of the human smallness (the mayfly, the single grain), through the two statements of the human brevity (the moment, the endless river), to the longing for the escape (the flying immortals, the bright moon). [Key Technique] The prose-rhapsody's art is the pairing of the images: the mayfly and the grain, the moment and the river, the immortals and the moon — each pair setting the human smallness and brevity against the world's vastness and eternity. [Emotional Tone] At once anguished and aspiring: the grief of the brief life is stated with perfect clarity, and the close reaches for the transcendence — the flying immortals and the eternal moon — that the river and the exile both promise and withhold.

【白话串讲】苏轼写《前赤壁赋》的名句：“寄蜉蝣于天地，渺沧海之一粟”——人在天地间如蜉蝣般渺小。“哀吾生之须臾，羡长江之无穷”——他叹生命短暂、长江永恒。“挟飞仙以遨游，抱明月而长终”——他幻想与神仙遨游——他把渺小与永恒都写尽了。【意象与手法】四句两联、对仗精工：「寄蜉蝣于天地，渺沧海之一粟」以两个极小的意象反衬天地沧海之浩大；「哀吾生之须臾，羡长江之无穷」以「哀」「羡」对举直陈心绪；「挟飞仙以遨游，抱明月而长终」由悲转幻，层层递进，由实入虚。【情感与主旨】写贬谪黄州之际对人生短暂的深沉体认，而「哀」「羡」之中已含超越之机，为下文「物与我皆无尽」的旷达作势，体现苏轼于绝境中自我安顿的生命智慧。【名句点睛】「寄蜉蝣于天地，渺沧海之一粟」已成汉语中表达人生渺小、宇宙浩大的最著名句子；「哀吾生之须臾，羡长江之无穷」的对照，道尽古来文人面对时间的最深感慨。

Background

Su Shi wrote the first 'Red Cliff Rhapsody' in 1082 during his banishment to Huangzhou, after the 'Wutai poetry case' that nearly cost him his life. The rhapsody voyages below the Red Cliff with his guests and meditates on the eternity of the river and the moon against the brevity of human life. This passage is the emotional heart of the rhapsody: the mayfly and the grain of the human condition, the grief for the moment, the envy of the endless river, and the longing for the flying immortals and the bright moon. The passage is answered in the rhapsody by the famous consolation — the river flows but never goes, the moon wanes but never grows, and the changing and the unchanging are one.

《前赤壁赋》作于宋神宗元丰五年（1082）七月，时苏轼因「乌台诗案」贬谪黄州（今湖北黄冈）任团练副使已两年有余。政治失意、处境险恶之际，苏轼游赤壁（实为黄州赤鼻矶），借江水明月之景，发宇宙人生之思。此赋前段写「清风徐来，水波不兴」之乐与「扣舷而歌」之哀，中间借客之洞箫声引出人生短暂之叹——「寄蜉蝣于天地，渺沧海之一粟。哀吾生之须臾，羡长江之无穷」即客之所叹，为全赋情感之低谷；后段苏轼以「变与不变」之辨开解，终归于「物与我皆无尽」的旷达。节选所录即客之悲叹的核心四句，集中体现了苏轼贬谪时期对生命有限与自然无限的深沉体验。苏轼（1037—1101），字子瞻，号东坡居士，眉山人，北宋文坛领袖，「唐宋八大家」之一，诗、词、文、书、画皆臻极境，其散文尤以自然流畅、情理交融著称。此赋与《后赤壁赋》并称「前后赤壁赋」，是中国文赋的巅峰之作，历代传诵不衰。此赋元丰五年问世后即广为流传，历代评家推为「古今文赋第一」，其影响及于散文、书法、绘画各域。

Art

The passage's art is the art of the paired images. The human condition is given its two figures of smallness: the mayfly lodging in the heaven and earth — the insect of a single day in the boundless world — and the single grain on the vast sea. The human brevity is given its two figures of contrast: the moment of the life against the endless river. And the longing for the escape is given its two figures of transcendence: the flying immortals with whom the poet would wander, and the bright moon with which he would end forever. Each pair is a complete statement, and the three pairs build the passage from the anguish of the small and the brief to the aspiration of the immortal and the eternal.

此节四句，艺术上以「对仗精工、意境宏阔」著称。「寄蜉蝣于天地，渺沧海之一粟」两句，一写生命之短（蜉蝣朝生暮死），一写个体之微（沧海一粟），以两个极度缩小的意象反衬天地的永恒与沧海的浩大，时空并举、小大对照；「哀吾生之须臾，羡长江之无穷」两句，以「哀」「羡」对举，将情绪直接道出，情感由景入心，一悲一羡，正见生命与自然的悬殊；「挟飞仙以遨游，抱明月而长终」两句，由悲转幻，欲借飞仙、明月超越短暂，以想象中逍遥反衬现实的无奈，幻中有痛。章法上四句层层递进：短（时间）→微（空间）→哀（生命）→羡（自然）→幻（超脱），由实入虚、由哀入幻，是典型的情感的波浪式推进。写法上「以物写人」：蜉蝣、一粟、须臾、无穷，皆是「小大之辨」的具象化，暗承庄子《逍遥游》「小知不及大知」的哲思框架；对仗则严整中见流动，「寄」「渺」「哀」「羡」「挟」「抱」六个动词一气贯注，音节铿锵而情思婉转，足见苏轼以文为赋、骈散相济的高超功力。

Allusions

'The mayfly' (fuyou) is the insect that lives for a single day — the classic figure of the brief life, used in the 'Book of Songs' ('the mayfly has wings') and in the Daoist tradition. 'The single grain on the vast sea' is the grain of millet in the ocean — the figure of the human smallness. 'The flying immortals' (feixian) are the Daoist immortals who ride the wind; 'the bright moon' is the moon of the Red Cliff night — the eternal object with which the poet would end. The passage's longing echoes the Daoist aspiration of the 'Free Wandering' of Zhuangzi and the immortals of the Daoist tradition.

此节用典与化用极为密集，是中国古典文学「无一字无来处」的典范。其一，「蜉蝣」：《诗经·曹风·蜉蝣》「蜉蝣之羽，衣裳楚楚」以蜉蝣兴人生短促，苏轼借其「朝生暮死」之意写人生如寄。其二，「沧海一粟」：语本《庄子·秋水》「计四海之在天地之间也，不似礨空之在大泽乎？计中国之在海内，不似稊米之在大仓乎」，苏轼化「稊米大仓」为「沧海一粟」，更见个体之微。其三，「长江之无穷」：承孔子「逝者如斯夫，不舍昼夜」的流水之叹，与张若虚「江月年年望相似」的江月之思一脉相通，以自然之恒对照人生之暂。其四，「挟飞仙以遨游」：本于《楚辞·远游》「载营魄而登霞兮，掩浮云而上征」的游仙传统，欲以精神逍遥超越形体拘限。其五，「抱明月而长终」：化用李白「举杯邀明月」之痴与谢庄「隔千里兮共明月」之思，以明月为永恒之象征。苏轼将这些典故熔于一炉而不露痕迹，正是「以故为新」「点铁成金」的化用典范，也是贬谪文人借古典安顿自我的典型方式。

Commentary

This passage is the emotional heart of 'The Red Cliff Rhapsody,' quoted for its perfect statement of the human condition and its longing for the transcendence. The mayfly and the single grain, the moment and the endless river, the flying immortals and the bright moon — the pairs are among the most famous images in Chinese prose. The passage is answered in the rhapsody by the consolation of the changing and the unchanging, and the two together form the great meditation of the exiled Su Shi.

此节及《前赤壁赋》整体在中国文学史、思想史上地位极高。就文学史而言，此赋是宋代文赋的最高成就，前代赋体至此完成散文化改造，句式自由、议论纵横、情理交融，明人王世贞、清人姚鼐皆以《前赤壁赋》为文赋正宗。就思想史而言，客之「哀吾生之须臾」与主之「物与我皆无尽」的辩难，是苏轼儒道释三家思想融合的结晶——他既承庄子「齐物」「逍遥」之达观，又融佛家「空」「不执」之智慧，更存儒家「知其不可而为之」的入世底色，遂能在贬谪绝境中开出「也无风雨也无晴」的境界。就接受史而言，「寄蜉蝣于天地，渺沧海之一粟」已成为汉语中表达人生渺小、宇宙浩大的最著名句子，历代书家（如赵孟頫）屡书赤壁赋，后世诗文引用不绝；此赋入选各级语文教材，与《岳阳楼记》《醉翁亭记》并列为宋代散文必读名篇。就艺术影响而言，其「主客问答」的结构、情理交融的笔法、以赋载道的文体意识，深刻影响了后世游记散文与哲理散文的写作。苏轼以一场江上夜游，将个体生命的有限之哀升华为与天地共在的无限之悟，遂使这篇赋成为中国人安顿生命的精神文本。

Prosody

Form Song dynasty prose-rhapsody (wen fu) — the meditation passage of 'The Red Cliff Rhapsody'文赋（散文赋）中的骈句段落，四句两联、对仗精工

Rhyme The passage is prose in the new Song style, unrhymed, its art lying in the parallel of the paired images and the rhythm of the long and short clauses.此节不押韵，以对仗与虚词调节声律：「寄蜉蝣于天地，渺沧海之一粟」两句对仗，「哀吾生之须臾，羡长江之无穷」两句对仗，「挟飞仙以遨游，抱明月而长终」两句对仗，三组对句音节整齐、顿挫分明。

Tone pattern The rhythm is that of the meditation: the two images of the smallness fall in even, balanced clauses; the two statements of the brevity turn with the grief; and the close reaches upward with the immortals and the moon — the cadence of the aspiration.六字对句为主，以「寄」「渺」「哀」「羡」「挟」「抱」六个动词领起，气势连贯而下，情感由叹而哀、由哀而幻，层层推进；末句「而长终」以平声收束，余韵悠长，如长叹渐远。

Reading note The sound of the passage matches its meditation: the balanced parallel of the mayfly and the grain, the turning of the grief in the moment and the river, and the rising cadence of the close — 'xie feixian yi aoyou, bao mingyue er changzhong' — the long, aspiring fall of the longing for the eternal.此节声情之美，在于以严整的对仗写出跌宕的情感。三组对句皆为六字，音节整齐如律诗，而情感却层层推进：首联「寄蜉蝣于天地，渺沧海之一粟」写小大之辨，语调低沉舒缓，如哲人之思；颔联「哀吾生之须臾，羡长江之无穷」以「哀」「羡」对举，语调沉痛而含渴慕，如失意者之叹；颈联「挟飞仙以遨游，抱明月而长终」以「挟」「抱」领起，语调由沉转幻，如痴人幻想。三组对句一以贯之，情感由哲思而哀叹而幻想，节节升高，至「长终」而达顶点，又戛然而止，余韵袅袅。苏轼以赋体之对仗写骈俪之音律，却不受其束缚，虚词（于、之、以、而）穿插其间，使整饬中见流动，骈俪中见散逸，正是文赋「以骈入散、骈散相济」的典范。诵读此节，宜首联沉、颔联痛、颈联幻，方能体会客之悲叹由哲理到情感、由现实到幻想的完整过程，也为下文主客问答的豁然开解蓄足张力。

Line by line

寄蜉蝣于天地，渺沧海之一粟。

We lodge like the mayfly in the heaven and earth, and are as a single grain on the vast sea.

把自己像蜉蝣一样寄托在天地之间，渺小得如同沧海中的一粒米粟。

I entrust myself like the mayfly to heaven and earth, tiny as a single grain of rice on the vast sea.

此两句是客之悲叹的起笔，以两个意象写尽人生之短与个体之微，是全节哲思的基石。「寄蜉蝣于天地」写时间之短：蜉蝣朝生暮死，生命不过一日，而「天地」永恒，以蜉蝣之短对天地之长，人生之须臾立现；「渺沧海之一粟」写空间之微：沧海浩瀚，一粟渺不可察，以粟之微对海之大，个体之渺小立现。「寄」「渺」两字皆动词，一写生命之寄居（如蜉蝣寄于天地，转瞬即逝），一写存在之渺小（如一粟没于沧海，无足轻重），两个动词领起两句，语势连贯而下。此两句化用《诗经》蜉蝣之兴与《庄子》稊米大仓之喻，而意象更精、对仗更工：蜉蝣对沧海、天地对一粟，小大悬殊，对比鲜明。人生天地间，忽如远行客——此两句正是对「人生如寄」这一古老命题最凝练的诗化表达。

These two lines are the guest's grief sigh's opening, using two images to exhaust life's brevity and the individual's minuteness, the whole section's philosophical foundation. Entrusted like the mayfly to heaven and earth writes the time's brevity: the mayfly born at dawn and dying at dusk, the life of a single day, and heaven and earth eternal, the mayfly's short against heaven-and-earth's long, life's momentariness at once present; tiny as a single grain of rice on the vast sea writes the space's minuteness: the vast sea, one grain imperceptible, the grain's minuteness against the sea's vastness, the individual's smallness at once present. The entrust and the tiny two words both verbs, one writing the life's lodging (like the mayfly entrusted to heaven and earth, gone in a flash), one writing the existence's smallness (like a grain lost in the vast sea, weightless), the two verbs leading the two lines, the breath flowing on. These two lines borrow the Book of Songs' mayfly xing and Zhuangzi's the grain of rice in the great granary metaphor, and yet the image finer and the parallelism craftier: the mayfly against the vast sea, heaven-and-earth against the one grain, the small-large disparity, the contrast sharp. Life between heaven and earth, suddenly like the far-roaming traveler — these two lines precisely the ancient life-is-like-a-lodging proposition's most condensed poetic expression.

哀吾生之须臾，羡长江之无穷。

We grieve that our life is but a moment, and envy the long river that has no end.

哀叹我这一生如此短暂，羡慕长江那样无穷无尽。

I grieve my life's momentary span, and envy the Long River's endless flow.

此两句是全节情感的顶点，「哀」「羡」二字直陈心绪，将前两句的意象之叹转为直白的生命之叹。「哀吾生之须臾」承「寄蜉蝣于天地」而来：蜉蝣之短即吾生之短，「须臾」极言其暂，一刻一瞬，转瞬即逝，一「哀」字见其沉痛；「羡长江之无穷」承「沧海之一粟」而来：沧海之浩即长江之恒，「无穷」极言其久，万古长流，不舍昼夜，一「羡」字见其渴慕。两句对仗精工：「哀」对「羡」，一悲一慕；「吾生」对「长江」，一己一物；「须臾」对「无穷」，一短一长——情感与哲思皆在对仗中展开。尤妙在「哀」「羡」二字，哀而不绝，羡而不妒，沉痛中已含超越之机：正因为羡长江之无穷，才有下文「挟飞仙以遨游，抱明月而长终」的幻想，也才有「物与我皆无尽」的豁然。此两句承孔子「逝者如斯」、张若虚「江月年年望相似」的流水之叹，而情感更切、对照更明，是古来写人生短暂与自然永恒的最著名对句。

These two lines are the whole section's emotional peak, the grieve and the envy two words directly stating the mood, turning the above two lines' image sigh into the direct life sigh. I grieve my life's momentary span inherits the entrusted mayfly: the mayfly's shortness i.e. my life's shortness, the momentary the extreme brevity, one moment one instant, gone in a flash, the one word grieve showing the grief; and envy the Long River's endless flow inherits the one grain on the vast sea: the vast sea's vastness i.e. the Long River's constancy, the endless the extreme length, the eternal flow, never resting day or night, the one word envy showing the longing. Two lines in crafted parallelism: the grieve against the envy, one grief one longing; my life against the Long River, one self one thing; the momentary against the endless, one short one long — the emotion and the philosophy both unfolding within the parallelism. The further wonder in the grieve and the envy: the grief without the cessation, the envy without the jealousy, the grief's depth already containing the transcendence's chance: precisely because of the envy of the Long River's endlessness, hence the below's clasp the flying immortals to wander and embrace the bright moon's fantasy, and hence the thing-and-I-both-endless's enlightenment. These two lines inheriting Confucius' the flowing water passes on, and Zhang Ruoxu's the river moon year after year the similar's flowing-water sigh, and yet the emotion the keener and the contrast the clearer, the ages' most famous couplet of life's brevity and nature's eternity.

挟飞仙以遨游，抱明月而长终。

I would clasp the flying immortals and wander with them, and embrace the bright moon, to end with it forever.

幻想携同飞仙一同遨游，怀抱明月与它一起长存到终了。

I would clasp the flying immortals to wander, and embrace the bright moon to endure to the end.

此两句是全节的转折，由「哀」「羡」的现实之痛转入「遨游」「长终」的超越之想，情感由悲转幻、由实入虚。「挟飞仙以遨游」写欲与仙人同游：飞仙无拘无束、凌空遨游，是摆脱形体拘限、超越时间束缚的象征，一「挟」字见其急切，欲挟飞仙而游，实为欲逃离须臾之生；「抱明月而长终」写欲与明月共存：明月万古常明，抱明月而终，即与永恒同在，一「抱」字见其痴情，如抱一永恒之理想。两句皆以幻想写现实的无奈：挟飞仙、抱明月，本不可能，愈是痴想，愈见须臾之悲的深重，幻境之中暗藏现实的痛楚。此两句上承《楚辞·远游》的游仙传统，下启「起舞弄清影，何似在人间」的月下之思，苏轼于绝望中生出超脱之想，虽明知不可得，而幻想本身已是一种精神自救。也正因有此幻想之悲，下文苏轼「客亦知夫水与月乎」的开解才水到渠成，全赋由悲入旷的结构至此完成。

These two lines are the whole section's turn, from the grieve-and-envy's reality pain turning into the wander-and-end's transcendence thought, the emotion from grief to fantasy and from real to void. I would clasp the flying immortals to wander writes the wish to roam with the immortals: the flying immortals untrammeled and soaring above, the symbol of the form's bondage's breaking and the time's bond's transcendence, the one word clasping showing the eagerness, wishing to clasp the flying immortals and roam, in truth wishing to escape the momentary life; embrace the bright moon to endure to the end writes the wish to abide with the bright moon: the bright moon eternally bright, embracing the moon to the end, i.e. abiding with the eternal, the one word embrace showing the craziness, as if embracing one eternal ideal. Two lines both writing the reality's helplessness through fantasy: clasping the flying immortals and embracing the moon, by nature impossible, the crazier the wish, the deeper the momentary-life grief, the fantasy world secretly hiding the reality's pain. These two lines inheriting the Chu Elegies' Far Roaming immortal-roaming tradition, opening the below's rising to dance with the clear shadow, how is it in the human world moon-night thought, Su Shi in despair giving birth to the transcendence thought, though knowing the unattainable, and yet the fantasy itself already a spiritual self-rescue. Precisely because of this fantasy's grief, the below Su Shi's do you know the water and the moon? consolation hence smooth, the whole rhapsody's grief-to-detachment structure here completed.

Study

Word focus

蜉蝣 'The mayfly' — the insect of a single day, the classic figure of the brief human life. 「寄蜉蝣于天地」之「蜉蝣」，是全节最核心的生命意象，一字而兼「短」与「微」两义。「蜉蝣」为昆虫名，成虫朝生暮死，生命不过一日，《诗经·曹风·蜉蝣》「蜉蝣之羽，衣裳楚楚」已以之兴人生短促。苏轼取此意象，妙在双关：其一，写「短」——蜉蝣朝生暮死，正合「吾生之须臾」，人生虽比蜉蝣为长，较之天地则同为须臾；其二，写「微」——蜉蝣形体渺小，如尘如埃，正合「沧海之一粟」，个体在天地间渺不可察。一物而兼时间之短与空间之微，故「寄蜉蝣于天地」一句，已将人生的全部局限写尽。若用「朝菌」「蟪蛄」（庄子《逍遥游》「朝菌不知晦朔，蟪蛄不知春秋」）则过于冷僻，若用「浮生」「白驹」则流于俗套，唯「蜉蝣」雅俗共赏、意象鲜明。后世「蜉蝣人生」遂成文学常用语，其源头正在此句。

须臾 'A moment, an instant' — the brevity of the life, measured against the endless river. 「哀吾生之须臾」之「须臾」，极言时间之短，是「哀」字的情感支点。「须臾」为佛典译词，本指极短之时分，《维摩诘经》「念须臾间」即其例，后入汉语常语，与「刹那」「瞬间」同义。苏轼取此词，妙在其「短」之极致：人生不过数十寒暑，较之天地已短，较之「须臾」则更见其短——哀吾生之须臾，非哀数十年之短，而哀人生在永恒面前连「须臾」都不如。此词与「无穷」对举，一短一长、一瞬一永，对仗之中已见悬殊；而与「长江之无穷」并置，更见「逝者如斯」的流水之喻——江水不舍昼夜，人生却在须臾间老去。若用「短暂」「片刻」等词，则直白无味；「须臾」古雅凝练，既承佛典之思，又合六朝骈俪之韵，正宜于赋体。后世「人生须臾」遂成常用语，此句正是其最著名的出处。

挟 'To clasp, to carry under the arm' — clasping the flying immortals, the image of the transcendent companionship. 「挟飞仙以遨游」之「挟」字，是此句的炼字，写欲与飞仙同游的姿态，一字见急切与痴情。「挟」本义为夹持、携带，引申为挟持、挟带，此处写「挟飞仙」——不是「随飞仙」「从飞仙」，而是「挟飞仙」，欲挟持仙人而游，主动、急切、甚至带些霸道，恰写尽诗人对超越的渴望之切：明知飞仙不可挟，而偏欲挟之，痴态可掬，正见其悲。若用「从」「随」等字，则失主动；若用「乘」「驾」，又失「挟」字那种「不甘独行、欲携伴而逃」的执拗。且「挟」与下句「抱」对举：挟飞仙是向外求侣，抱明月是向内守恒，一挟一抱，超越之想的两条路径俱备，而对仗精工、动作鲜明。苏轼炼字之妙，正在于以最平常的字写最不平常的情态，「挟」字看似寻常，细味之则痴情毕现，与「抱明月」的「抱」字相映成趣，为全节由哀转幻的转折点睛。