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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

清平乐·独宿博山王氏庵

Pure, Serene Music: Spending the Night Alone in Wang's Hut at Boshan

辛弃疾

Xin Qiji

感怀memory 闲适Leisure

绕床饥鼠。
蝙蝠翻灯舞。
屋上松风吹急雨。
破纸窗间自语。
平生塞北江南。
归来华发苍颜。
布被秋宵梦觉，眼前万里江山。

Hungry rats scurry round the bed.
Bats flit and wheel about the lamp.
On the roof the pines' wind whips the swift rain,
And the broken paper of the window talks to itself.
All my life — north of the frontier, south of the river;
Now I am come back, my hair gray, my face worn.
On a cloth quilt, in an autumn night, I wake from a dream —
And before my eyes lie ten thousand li of rivers and hills.

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Meaning

A lyric written by Xin Qiji when, dismissed from office, he spent a night alone in a poor mountain hut at Boshan. The scene is one of desolate poverty: hungry rats scurry round the bed, bats flit about the lamp, the wind whips the rain through the pines, and the broken window paper talks to itself. Then the poem turns to his life: all his life — the northern frontier where he fought as a youth, the south where he served — and now he is come back, hair gray, face worn, to this. On a cloth quilt in an autumn night he wakes from a dream — and before his eyes lie ten thousand li of rivers and hills. The poor hut and the broken window cannot contain the man: what he sees waking is the whole realm.

绕床饥鼠。蝙蝠翻灯舞。屋上松风吹急雨。破纸窗间自语。平生塞北江南。归来华发苍颜。布被秋宵梦觉，眼前万里江山。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] Hungry rats scurry round the bed. Bats flit about the lamp. On the roof the pines' wind whips the swift rain; the broken window paper talks to itself. All my life — beyond the frontier and south of the river; now I am returned, gray-haired, worn-faced. On a cloth quilt, in an autumn night, I wake from a dream — before my eyes, ten thousand li of rivers and hills. [Structure and Thought] The lyric is built on a double contrast: the squalid present (rats, bats, rain, torn paper) against the heroic past (the frontier, the campaigns), and the narrow hut against the vision that fills it — ten thousand li of rivers and hills. [Key Technique] The poem's art is the sudden expansion of the close: after six lines of poverty and desolation, the waking vision of the whole realm breaks the hut open — the last line is the whole lyric. [Emotional Tone] Desolate and heroic by turns: the poet's poverty is real, but so is the vision that transcends it; the lyric ends not in complaint but in the vast, unquenchable gaze at the rivers and hills.

【白话串讲】辛弃疾写《清平乐·独宿博山王氏庵》：“绕床饥鼠。蝙蝠翻灯舞”——“屋上松风吹急雨。破纸窗间自语”——“平生塞北江南。归来华发苍颜”——“布被秋宵梦觉，眼前万里江山”——他独宿荒庵，梦醒后眼前还是万里江山——他始终不忘北伐。【意象与手法】此词是辛弃疾写独宿荒庵、梦中念国的名篇，写博山王氏庵的荒凉与梦中的万里江山，是辛弃疾词中「以荒凉写壮怀」的名篇。上片写荒庵之景：「绕床饥鼠，蝙蝠翻灯舞」写饥鼠绕床、蝙蝠翻灯；「屋上松风吹急雨，破纸窗间自语」写松风急雨、破纸自语。下片写梦境与壮怀：「平生塞北江南，归来华发苍颜」写一生奔走、归来已老；「布被秋宵梦觉，眼前万里江山」写梦觉后的万里江山，是千古名句。全词以荒庵的破败写梦中的万里江山，以「布被秋宵梦觉，眼前万里江山」写至死不忘的收复之志，是辛弃疾「烈士暮年，壮心不已」的名篇。【情感与主旨】此词约作于宋孝宗淳熙年间（1181 年后），时辛弃疾罢官闲居上饶，游博山（今江西上饶境），独宿王氏庵，作此词。辛弃疾青年率众抗金南归，力主收复中原，却因主和派当政而屡遭排挤，四十二岁起长期闲居上饶，此词即写其独宿荒庵时的所见与所梦。词中「绕床饥鼠，蝙蝠翻灯舞」写荒庵的破败——绕床的饥鼠、翻灯的蝙蝠，写尽荒庵的荒凉；「屋上松风吹急雨，破纸窗间自语」写风雨破纸——屋上松风吹急雨，破纸窗间自语（破纸在窗间作响，如人自语），写尽荒庵的凄冷；「平生塞北江南，归来华发苍颜」写一生奔走——平生走遍塞北江南，归来已华发苍颜，写尽一生的奔波与衰老；「布被秋宵梦觉，眼前万里江山」写梦觉后的壮怀——布被秋宵梦觉（秋夜从梦中醒来），眼前却是万里江山，那「眼前万里江山」写尽至死不忘的收复之志——即使在破败的荒庵中、即使在梦里，眼前仍是那万里江山（中原故土）。全词以荒庵的破败写梦中的万里江山，以「布被秋宵梦觉，眼前万里江山」写辛弃疾「烈士暮年，壮心不已」的爱国之志，是理解其爱国词风的核心作品。【名句点睛】常考“绕床饥鼠，蝙蝠翻灯舞”写荒庵的破败；“布被秋宵梦觉，眼前万里江山”写梦觉后仍不忘万里江山，是千古名句。

Background

Xin Qiji (1140–1207), courtesy name You'an, styled himself the Recluse of Jiaxuan, was the greatest heroic (haofang) lyricist of the Song, a patriot who as a youth had fought the Jurchen (Jin) invaders in the north before serving in the south, and who spent the last decades of his life repeatedly dismissed from office. This lyric was written during one of his periods of forced retirement, when he lodged at Boshan (in present-day Jiangxi). The poem's great close — waking on a cloth quilt to see ten thousand li of rivers and hills — condenses his whole life and his whole patriotism into one image: the man whom poverty cannot diminish and whose vision is the realm itself.

此词约作于宋孝宗淳熙八年（1181）之后，是辛弃疾写独宿荒庵、梦中念国的词。淳熙八年（1181），辛弃疾被劾罢官，闲居上饶带湖（今江西上饶），此后二十余年，除短暂出任福建、浙东等地外，长期闲居。闲居期间，辛弃疾常游上饶附近的山水，博山（今江西上饶广丰区境）即其游历之地。此词即写其游博山、独宿王氏庵（博山中一座简陋的庵堂）时的所见与所梦。词中「绕床饥鼠，蝙蝠翻灯舞」写荒庵的破败——「绕床饥鼠」写饥鼠绕着床沿爬行，「蝙蝠翻灯舞」写蝙蝠在灯前翻飞起舞，那饥鼠绕床、蝙蝠翻灯，写尽荒庵的荒凉与无人；「屋上松风吹急雨，破纸窗间自语」写风雨破纸——「屋上松风吹急雨」写屋上松风吹着急雨（松风与急雨交加），「破纸窗间自语」写破纸在窗间作响如人自语（破纸被风吹动，窸窣如自语），那「破纸窗间自语」以拟人写尽荒庵的凄冷；「平生塞北江南，归来华发苍颜」写一生奔走——「平生塞北江南」写平生走遍塞北（北方的抗金前线）与江南（南渡后的任职之地），「归来华发苍颜」写归来时已华发苍颜（头发花白、容颜苍老），那「塞北江南」写尽一生的奔波，「华发苍颜」写尽归来的衰老；「布被秋宵梦觉，眼前万里江山」写梦觉后的壮怀——「布被秋宵梦觉」写布被秋宵梦觉（秋夜的布被中，从梦中醒来），「眼前万里江山」写眼前却是万里江山，那「眼前万里江山」写尽至死不忘的收复之志——即使在破败的荒庵中、即使在梦里，眼前仍是那万里江山（中原故土），那「眼前」写梦中的幻象（梦回战场、梦见江山），也写醒后的执着。此词是辛弃疾「以荒凉写壮怀」的名篇，那「布被秋宵梦觉，眼前万里江山」写尽「烈士暮年，壮心不已」的爱国之志，是理解其爱国词风的核心作品。

Art

The lyric's art is the art of the explosive close. The first two lines are a nightmare of poverty, set in short, jagged phrases: the hungry rats, the bats about the lamp. The third line adds the weather: the pines' wind whipping the rain. The fourth introduces the poem's first masterpiece of personification: 'the broken paper of the window talks to itself' — the torn paper flapping in the wind, given a voice, the only companion of the sleepless man. The fifth and sixth lines then swing from present to past: all his life — the northern frontier, the southern service — and now the return, gray and worn. The final two lines perform the lyric's miracle: on the cloth quilt, waking from a dream, the man sees ten thousand li of rivers and hills. The hut is broken open; the poverty is forgotten in the vision; the poem ends on the widest possible scale.

此词的艺术特色可从四个层面解析。其一，以荒凉写壮怀的构思。全词以荒庵的破败写梦中的万里江山——那「绕床饥鼠」「蝙蝠翻灯舞」「破纸窗间自语」的荒凉，正是「布被秋宵梦觉，眼前万里江山」的反衬——荒庵越破败，梦中的江山越壮丽；处境越凄凉，心中的壮志越炽热，以荒凉写壮怀、以凄凉写执着。其二，以拟人写荒凉。「破纸窗间自语」以「自语」写破纸在窗间作响如人自语，拟人而传神——那破纸的「自语」，正是一个独宿者在荒庵中的自语（无人说话，只有破纸作响），写尽荒庵的孤寂。其三，以对照写一生。「平生塞北江南，归来华发苍颜」以「塞北江南」的奔波与「华发苍颜」的衰老对照，写尽一生为国奔走、归来已老的悲凉。其四，以「眼前万里江山」写壮怀的收束。「布被秋宵梦觉，眼前万里江山」以「布被秋宵」的贫寒与「万里江山」的壮阔对照，以梦觉后的「眼前万里江山」写至死不忘的收复之志——那「眼前」既是梦中的幻象，也是醒后的执着，以壮怀收束，振起全篇。四重手法层层推进，使此词成为辛弃疾词中「以荒凉写壮怀」的名篇。

Allusions

'North of the frontier, south of the river' (Sai bei Jiang nan) compresses Xin Qiji's whole biography: the youth who fought the Jurchen in the north, the official who served in the south — the two poles of the patriot's life. 'Ten thousand li of rivers and hills' is the conventional phrase for the whole realm of China; that the waking man sees it from a cloth quilt in a broken hut is the poem's heroic paradox. The 'talking' broken paper continues the old personification of the desolate house — the window paper that speaks in the wind, the only voice of the abandoned dwelling.

此词的意象与用语深植于壮怀与梦境传统。「绕床饥鼠，蝙蝠翻灯舞」写荒庵的破败——「饥鼠」写饥饿的老鼠（令人想到「饥鼠走床」的荒凉意象与「寒衣针线密，家信墨痕新」的贫寒），「蝙蝠翻灯舞」写蝙蝠在灯前翻飞（蝙蝠是暗夜之物，令人想到「蝙蝠飞来」的荒废意象——荒废的房屋常有蝙蝠翻飞），那饥鼠绕床、蝙蝠翻灯，写尽荒庵的荒凉与无人。「屋上松风吹急雨，破纸窗间自语」写风雨破纸——「松风吹急雨」写松风与急雨（令人想到「秋风秋雨愁煞人」的风雨意象与「夜阑卧听风吹雨」（陆游《十一月四日风雨大作》）的风雨意象——陆游也写风雨中梦回铁马冰河），「破纸窗间自语」写破纸如人自语（「自语」令人想到「无人会、登临意」（辛弃疾《水龙吟》）的无人能会与「自语」的孤寂意象——杜甫「独宿」之「自语」传统），那「破纸窗间自语」以拟人写尽荒庵的孤寂。「平生塞北江南，归来华发苍颜」写一生奔走——「塞北江南」写北方的抗金前线与江南的任职之地（令人想到「塞北江南」的疆域意象与「壮岁旌旗拥万夫」的抗金经历），「华发苍颜」写头发花白、容颜苍老（令人想到「白发三千丈」（李白）的白发意象与「艰难苦恨繁霜鬓」（杜甫《登高》）的繁霜意象），那「塞北江南」写尽一生的奔波、「华发苍颜」写尽归来的衰老；「布被秋宵梦觉，眼前万里江山」写梦觉后的壮怀——「布被秋宵」写布被（贫寒的布被）与秋宵（秋夜，令人想到「布衾多年冷似铁」（杜甫《茅屋为秋风所破歌》）的布被意象与「秋宵」的孤寂），「梦觉」写梦醒（令人想到「铁马冰河入梦来」（陆游《十一月四日风雨大作》）的梦境传统——陆游在风雨夜梦见铁马冰河，辛弃疾在秋宵梦觉后眼前万里江山，都是烈士的梦境），「万里江山」写中原故土（令人想到「万里江山」的国土意象与「收拾旧山河」（岳飞《满江红》）的壮志），那「布被秋宵梦觉，眼前万里江山」写尽至死不忘的收复之志。全词化用杜甫、陆游、岳飞、李白（及辛弃疾自己的《水龙吟》）的意象与传统，以荒凉写壮怀、以梦境写执着，正是辛弃疾「以壮怀写悲愤」的本领。

Commentary

This lyric is one of Xin Qiji's most famous works and a classic of the heroic style, quoted for the explosive power of its final line. 'On a cloth quilt, in an autumn night, I wake from a dream — and before my eyes lie ten thousand li of rivers and hills' is often ranked among the greatest closings in the history of the ci, the vision of the whole realm bursting out of the poverty-stricken hut. Critics praise the contrast between the squalid present and the vast vision, and the personification of the talking window paper as one of the finest touches in the language.

此词历来被推为辛弃疾「以荒凉写壮怀」的名篇，也是「布被秋宵梦觉，眼前万里江山」这一千古名句的出处。历代论者对此词评价极高：论者多指出此词以荒庵的破败（饥鼠、蝙蝠、破纸）写独宿的孤寂，以「眼前万里江山」写至死不忘的收复之志，是辛弃疾爱国词中的代表作。在文学史上，此词的特殊价值在于：它以荒庵的破败写出了「烈士暮年，壮心不已」的壮怀——那「绕床饥鼠」「蝙蝠翻灯舞」「破纸窗间自语」的荒凉，写尽了一个被弃置的英雄独宿荒庵的孤寂；那「平生塞北江南，归来华发苍颜」的对照，写尽了一生为国奔走、归来已老的悲凉；而那「布被秋宵梦觉，眼前万里江山」更是千古名句——在破败的荒庵中、在贫寒的布被里、在凄冷的秋宵中，辛弃疾从梦中醒来，眼前仍是那万里江山（中原故土），那「眼前万里江山」写尽了至死不忘的收复之志——处境越凄凉，壮志越炽热，正是「烈士暮年，壮心不已」。词中「破纸窗间自语」写荒庵的孤寂，是名句；「布被秋宵梦觉，眼前万里江山」写梦中的壮怀，更是千古名句。此词与陆游《十一月四日风雨大作》（「夜阑卧听风吹雨，铁马冰河入梦来」）一样，都是南宋爱国志士「梦中念国」的名篇，一写「铁马冰河入梦来」，一写「眼前万里江山」。对于今日读者，此词是理解辛弃疾「至死不忘收复」的爱国情怀与南宋士人「国恨家仇」的窗口，也是感受中国词「以荒凉写壮怀」传统的典范——那绕床的饥鼠、自语的破纸、梦觉后的万里江山，穿越千年，仍在诉说着一个爱国英雄「处江湖之远」仍不忘「万里江山」的壮怀。

Prosody

Form Qingpingle (Pure, Serene Music), a short lyric of forty-six characters词（清平乐，双调四十六字）

Rhyme The level-tone rhymes wu, yu, nan and shan echo in the an rhyme group; the third line of each stanza shifts to oblique — yu and jue — in the tune's characteristic pattern.上片押仄声麌语韵（鼠、舞、雨、语），下片押平声覃寒韵（南、颜、山），上片仄韵短促，下片平韵悠长，仄平转换，正合其先写荒凉后写壮怀的风格。

Tone pattern The opening is jagged and broken with the rats and bats; the middle swings from the storm to the past; the final couplet expands suddenly into the long, open 'shan' (hills) — the cadence of the vision breaking the hut open.此词为「清平乐」词牌，双调四十六字，上片四仄韵、下片三平韵，仄平转换，以长短句的错落为抒情服务。全词按内容可分为两片：上片写荒庵之景（绕床饥鼠、蝙蝠翻灯舞、屋上松风吹急雨、破纸窗间自语）；下片写梦境与壮怀（平生塞北江南、归来华发苍颜、布被秋宵梦觉、眼前万里江山）。声调上，全词上片仄韵短促（鼠、舞、雨、语），写荒庵的急促与凄凉；下片平韵悠长（南、颜、山），写壮怀的悠长与沉郁，仄平转换，正合其先写荒凉后写壮怀的风格。

Reading note This is a Pure, Serene Music ci by Xin Qiji, written while spending the night alone in a hut at Boshan. The hungry rats and the bats open the desolate scene; the pines' wind whips the rain and the broken paper of the window talks to itself; and the close delivers the poem's vast turn — on the cloth quilt, in the autumn night, he wakes from the dream, and before his eyes lie ten thousand li of rivers and hills. The contrast of the ruined hut and the unconquered land is the whole art of the poem.此词是「清平乐」双调小令，以上片仄韵写荒凉、下片平韵写壮怀，正是辛弃疾「以词写怀」的本领。全词两片：上片写景（绕床饥鼠、蝙蝠翻灯舞、破纸窗间自语），下片写情（平生塞北江南、华发苍颜、眼前万里江山）。声调上，全词上片仄韵急促、下片平韵悠长，配合「破纸窗间自语」的凄凉与「眼前万里江山」的壮阔，全篇音节急促转悠长，正合其先抑后扬的壮怀。诵读此词，宜以低回的语调读上片的荒庵之景，以沉郁而壮烈的语调读下片的壮怀，尤其「布被秋宵梦觉，眼前万里江山」两句，要读得沉郁而有力，方能传达出辛弃疾「烈士暮年，壮心不已」的深意。辛弃疾词以「豪放悲壮」著称，此词正是其「以荒凉写壮怀」的经典。

Line by line

破纸窗间自语。

On the roof the pines' wind whips the swift rain, and the broken paper of the window talks to itself.

破纸在窗间作响，如人自语。

The torn paper in the window frames speaks to itself.

这句是写荒庵孤寂的名句，以「自语」写破纸在窗间作响如人自语，拟人而传神，写尽独宿的孤寂。「破纸窗间」写破纸的处境——那窗间的破纸（窗纸破败），「破纸」写窗纸的破旧（荒庵的窗纸破败），「窗间」写其在窗间，那破纸在窗间，写尽荒庵的破败；「自语」写破纸如人自语——那破纸被风吹动，窸窣作响，如人在自语，「自语」以拟人写破纸的声响——那「自语」的，岂是破纸？正是独宿荒庵、无人可语的辛弃疾——无人说话，只有破纸在窗间「自语」，那「自语」写尽荒庵的孤寂与英雄的孤独。这句的深意在于：它以「破纸窗间自语」写出了独宿荒庵的孤寂——那「破纸」的破败，是荒庵的写照；那「自语」的拟人，是孤独的写照——荒庵之中，无人相伴，只有破纸在窗间窸窣作响，如人在自语，正是「无人会、登临意」的孤寂；而那「自语」二字，更是辛弃疾的自况——被弃置的英雄，无处倾诉，只能与破纸「自语」。以「破纸」写破败、以「自语」写孤寂，正是辛弃疾「以拟人写荒凉」的本领，也让这句成为写荒庵孤寂的名句。

This line is a famous verse of the ruined hermitage's solitude, writing the torn paper's window rustle like the self's muttering through the self-speaking, personified and vivid, exhausting the lone-keeping solitude. The torn paper in the window frames writes the torn paper's state — the window's torn paper, the broken hermitage's window, in the window frame, exhausting the hermitage's ruin; the self-speaking writes the torn paper like the man's muttering — the torn paper stirred by the wind, the rustle, as if the man speaking to himself, the self-speaking personifying the torn paper's sound — what speaks the self-speaking? Precisely the lone-keeping-hermitage, no one to speak to, Xin Qiji — no one to talk with, only the torn paper in the window frame self-speaking, the self-speaking exhausting the hermitage's solitude and the hero's loneliness. This line's deep meaning lies in: the torn paper speaks to itself writing the lone-hermitage solitude — the torn paper's brokenness, the hermitage's portrait; the self-speaking's personification, the loneliness's portrait — within the ruined hermitage, no companion, only the torn paper's window rustle, as if the man's muttering, precisely the no one understands the climbing meaning's solitude; and the self-speaking two words, further Xin Qiji's self-figure — the discarded hero, nowhere to pour out, only the self-speaking with the torn paper. Writing the ruin through the torn paper, the solitude through the self-speaking, precisely Xin Qiji's craft of writing desolation through personification, making this line a famous verse of the ruined hermitage's solitude.

布被秋宵梦觉，眼前万里江山。

On a cloth quilt, in an autumn night, I wake from a dream — and before my eyes lie ten thousand li of rivers and hills.

秋夜的布被中，从梦中醒来，眼前却是万里江山。

In the quilt on the autumn night I wake from the dream; before my eyes, the mountains and rivers of ten thousand li.

这两句是全词的点睛之笔，也是千古名句，以「布被秋宵」的贫寒与「万里江山」的壮阔对照，以梦觉后的「眼前万里江山」写至死不忘的收复之志，沉郁而壮烈。「布被秋宵梦觉」写梦觉的处境——秋夜的布被中，从梦中醒来，「布被」写贫寒的布被（荒庵中的贫寒），「秋宵」写秋夜（凄冷的秋夜），「梦觉」写从梦中醒来，那「布被秋宵梦觉」写尽贫寒凄冷中的梦醒——在破败的荒庵中、在贫寒的布被里、在凄冷的秋宵中，辛弃疾从梦中醒来；「眼前万里江山」写梦觉后的壮怀——眼前却是万里江山，「眼前」写梦中的幻象（那梦中的江山，如眼前般清晰），也写醒后的执着（梦醒之后，眼前仍是那江山），「万里江山」写中原故土（那被金人占领的故土），那「眼前万里江山」写尽至死不忘的收复之志——即使在梦醒之后，眼前仍是那万里江山。这两句的深意在于：它以「布被秋宵」的贫寒与「万里江山」的壮阔对照，写出了辛弃疾「处江湖之远」仍不忘「万里江山」的壮怀——那「布被秋宵梦觉」是「处江湖之远」（被弃置荒庵的处境），那「眼前万里江山」是「忧其君」（至死不忘收复中原的执着）；而这正是「烈士暮年，壮心不已」——荒庵越破败，心中的江山越壮丽；处境越凄凉，收复的壮志越炽热，那「眼前万里江山」的「眼前」，写尽梦中的幻象与醒后的执着。以「布被秋宵」写贫寒、以「万里江山」写壮怀，正是辛弃疾「以荒凉写壮怀」的本领，也让这两句成为千古名句。

These two lines are the ci's telling stroke, and a famous line through the ages, setting the cotton-quilt autumn night's poverty against the ten thousand-li mountains and rivers' grandeur, writing the to-the-death-unforgotten recovery will through the waking-before-eyes ten thousand-li rivers, somber and stirring. In the quilt on the autumn night I wake from the dream writes the waking state — the autumn night's quilt, waking from the dream, the cotton quilt writing the poor quilt (the ruined hermitage's poverty), the autumn night writing the chill autumn night, the waking writing the dream's awakening, the poor-and-chill dream-waking exhausted — in the broken hermitage, in the poor quilt, in the chill autumn night, Xin Qiji waking from the dream; before my eyes, the mountains and rivers of ten thousand li writes the waking's grand will — before the eyes the ten thousand-li rivers, the before-eyes writing the dream's vision (the dream's rivers, clear as before the eyes), and the waking's clinging (after the dream's waking, before the eyes still the rivers), the ten thousand-li rivers writing the central plain homeland (the Jin-occupied homeland), the to-the-death-unforgotten recovery will exhausted — even after the dream's waking, before the eyes still the ten thousand-li rivers. This line's deep meaning lies in: the cotton-quilt autumn night's poverty and the ten thousand-li rivers' grandeur set against, writing Xin Qiji's at the court's distance yet not forgetting the ten thousand-li rivers' grand will — the quilt-and-autumn-night waking the at-the-court's-distance (the discarded-hermitage state), the before-eyes-ten-thousand-li-rivers the worrying-for-the-ruler (the to-the-death-unforgotten central-plain clinging); and this precisely the martyr in his late years, the brave heart not yet spent — the more broken the hermitage, the grander the rivers in the heart; the more bleak the plight, the hotter the recovery will, the before-eyes' before-eyes exhausting the dream's vision and the waking's clinging. Writing the poverty through the quilt-and-autumn-night, the grand will through the ten thousand-li rivers, precisely Xin Qiji's craft of writing the grand will through desolation, making these two lines a famous line through the ages.

Study

Word focus

自语 'Talks to itself' — the broken paper of the window speaking in the wind, the loneliness made audible. 「自语」二字是写荒庵孤寂的关键字，以拟人写破纸在窗间作响如人自语，传神而沉痛。自语，自己对自己说话。辛弃疾以「破纸窗间自语」写荒庵，一个「自语」，至少有双重意味：其一，写破纸之拟人——「自语」写那破纸被风吹动，窸窣作响，如人在自语，「自语」以拟人写破纸的声响——那无生命的破纸，竟如人般「自语」，写尽荒庵的破败与荒凉；其二，写独宿之孤寂——「自语」暗写独宿者的孤寂——荒庵之中，无人相伴，只有破纸在窗间「自语」，那「自语」的岂是破纸？正是独宿荒庵、无人可语的辛弃疾——无人说话，只能听破纸「自语」；无处倾诉，只能与破纸「自语」，那「自语」写尽英雄的孤独与被弃的悲凉。以「自语」写破纸，正是辛弃疾炼字的本领：一个「自语」，既是写破纸的拟人（窗间作响如自语），也是写独宿的孤寂（无人可语，只能听破纸自语），更是写英雄的自况（被弃置的英雄，无处倾诉，只能自语）——那「自语」二字，把荒庵的破败与英雄的孤独写得传神而沉痛。若换作「作响」「有声」等词，则或失其「拟人」的传神，或失其「孤寂」的深意；唯「自语」二字，以拟人写尽破纸的声响与独宿的孤寂，也让「破纸窗间自语」成为写荒庵孤寂的名句——那「自语」二字，正是被弃英雄的自况。

眼前 'Before my eyes' — the ten thousand li of rivers and hills before the waking man, the dream's vast possession. 「眼前」二字是写梦中壮怀的关键字，以「眼前」写梦中的幻象与醒后的执着，沉郁而壮烈。眼前，眼前所见、就在眼前也。辛弃疾以「布被秋宵梦觉，眼前万里江山」写梦觉，一个「眼前」，至少有双重意味：其一，写梦中之幻象——「眼前万里江山」写那万里江山如在眼前，「眼前」写梦中的幻象——在梦中，辛弃疾又回到了那万里江山（中原故土），那「眼前」写尽梦境的清晰——梦中的江山，如眼前般真切；其二，写醒后之执着——「眼前」不仅写梦中的幻象，也写醒后的执着——梦醒之后，那万里江山依然「眼前」，「眼前」写尽至死不忘的收复之志——那江山，不是梦醒就能放下的，而是永远在「眼前」（在心中），那「眼前」写尽英雄的执着。以「眼前」写万里江山，正是辛弃疾炼字的本领：一个「眼前」，既是写梦中的幻象（梦回江山、如在眼前），也是写醒后的执着（梦醒之后、江山仍在眼前），更是写「处江湖之远」仍不忘故土的壮怀——那「眼前万里江山」的「眼前」，把梦境与现实、幻象与执着融为一体，写尽「烈士暮年，壮心不已」。若换作「梦里」「心中」等词，则或失其「如眼前般真切」的幻象，或失其「醒后仍见」的执着；唯「眼前」二字，以两字写尽梦中的幻象与醒后的执着，也让「布被秋宵梦觉，眼前万里江山」成为千古名句——那「眼前」二字，正是英雄至死不忘的江山。