宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric
水调歌头·落日绣帘卷
Prelude to Water Melody: The Setting Sun, the Rolled-Up Embroidered Curtain
落日绣帘卷，亭下水连空。
知君为我，新作窗户湿青红。
长记平山堂上，敧枕江南烟雨，渺渺没孤鸿。
认得醉翁语，山色有无中。
一千顷，都镜净，倒碧峰。
忽然浪起，掀舞一叶白头翁。
堪笑兰台公子，未解庄生天籁，刚道有雌雄。
一点浩然气，千里快哉风。
Below the pavilion the water joins the sky.
I long remember, at the Pingshan Hall,
Resting my head, the misty rain of the south of the River,
The dim, the faint, the lone wild goose lost in it.
I recognize the words of the Drunkard Old Man:
"The mountains are there, and the color, or is it not?"
Suddenly the waves rise,
And dance and toss a white-headed old man in a single leaf boat.
I cannot but laugh at the gentleman of the Lantai —
He never understood Zhuangzi's music of Heaven,
And insisted there were a male and a female note.
A little of the upright spirit —
And a thousand li of the joyous wind.
Meaning
A lyric of the Kuaizai Pavilion, written by Su Shi for his friend Zhang Huaijia at Huangzhou. The setting sun and the rolled-up embroidered curtain open the scene; below the pavilion the water joins the sky. He remembers the Pingshan Hall of his teacher Ouyang Xiu — resting his head, the misty rain of the south of the River, the lone wild goose lost in the dimness — and recognizes the Drunkard Old Man's words: the mountains there, and the color, or is it not? Suddenly the waves rise and toss a white-headed old man in a single leaf boat. He laughs at the gentleman of the Lantai — the rhetorical master Song Yu, who never understood Zhuangzi's music of Heaven and insisted on the male and the female notes of the wind. And the close: a little of the upright spirit, and a thousand li of the joyous wind — the whole lyric resolved in the free wind of the upright heart. The lyric is the joy of the upright: the pavilion, the wind, and the spirit.
落日映照下绣帘卷起，快哉亭下江水与天空连成一片。知道你为我把亭子建成，新涂的窗棂油漆青红湿润鲜明。我常记起扬州平山堂上，靠着枕头闲卧，看江南烟雨，渺渺茫茫中一只孤鸿消失在天际。这才认得醉翁欧阳修的词句，原来就是「山色有无中」。千顷碧波如镜面般明净，倒映着碧绿的山峰。忽然浪涛涌起，掀舞着一叶扁舟，舟上站着白发老翁。可笑那兰台公子宋玉，不懂庄子的天籁之说，硬把风分成雌雄。其实只要胸中有一点浩然正气，就能千里乘风，何等快哉。
Appreciation
[Plain Paraphrase] The setting sun, the rolled-up embroidered curtain — below the pavilion the water joins the sky. I long remember, at the Pingshan Hall, resting my head, the misty rain of the south of the River, the dim, the faint, the lone wild goose lost in it. I recognize the words of the Drunkard Old Man: 'the mountains are there, and the color, or is it not?' Suddenly the waves rise, and dance and toss a white-headed old man in a single leaf boat. I cannot but laugh at the gentleman of the Lantai — he never understood Zhuangzi's music of Heaven, and insisted there were a male and a female note. A little of the upright spirit — and a thousand li of the joyous wind. [Structure and Thought] The lyric moves from the scene of the pavilion through the memory of the teacher and the sudden waves, to the argument against Song Yu and the close's resolution in the upright spirit and the joyous wind. [Key Technique] The poem's art is the gathering of the philosophical into the scene: the wind that the rhetorician explained as the male and the female notes is resolved by Zhuangzi's music of Heaven — the music of the natural world itself — and the close gives the answer in the spirit and the wind. [Emotional Tone] Free, joyous, and lofty: the lyric is the joy of the upright heart in the wind, the pavilion of the friend, and the spirit of the whole.
【白话串讲】 苏轼写水调歌头，赞快哉亭：“落日绣帘卷，亭下水连空”。“长记平山堂上，敧枕江南烟雨”——“认得醉翁语，山色有无中”——“忽然浪起，掀舞一叶白头翁”——“一点浩然气，千里快哉风”——他写快哉亭的豪气。 【意象与手法】 全词写景如画而议论精警：以落日、江水、孤鸿、碧峰构成开阔的山水长卷，动静相生；由眼前亭转入回忆中堂，时空交错；又以庄生天籁驳宋玉雌雄，以议论入词、情理交融，最终落在浩然之气与快哉之风的境界上。 【情感与主旨】 苏轼因乌台诗案贬居黄州，此词借快哉亭抒怀：不因境遇而戚戚，反以浩气御风、以旷达处之，将个人的挫折升华为对天地正气的体认，是苏词旷达精神的标志性篇章。 【名句点睛】 常考「一点浩然气，千里快哉风」的哲理境界，以及「一千顷，都镜净，倒碧峰」的写景之工、「堪笑兰台公子」以议论入词的写法。
Background
Su Shi (1037–1101), the greatest of the Song poets, wrote this lyric at Huangzhou, in his exile, for the Kuaizai Pavilion — the 'Joyous Pavilion' — built by his friend Zhang Huaijia. The lyric is a declaration of the upright spirit: against the rhetorical explanation of the wind by Song Yu, Su Shi sets Zhuangzi's music of Heaven — the wind of the natural world, heard by the upright heart. 'The Drunkard Old Man' is Ouyang Xiu, his teacher; the Pingshan Hall is the hall of the memory. The close — a little of the upright spirit, and a thousand li of the joyous wind — is among the most famous couplets of the Song lyric.
此词作于元丰六年（1083），苏轼贬居黄州期间。元丰二年，苏轼因乌台诗案下御史台狱，几死；次年贬为黄州团练副使，本州安置，不得签书公事。元丰六年，友人张怀民（字偓佺）亦谪居黄州，于长江之滨筑亭，苏轼为之题名「快哉亭」，并作此词相赠。快哉之名取自宋玉《风赋》「有风飒然而至，王乃披襟而当之，曰：快哉此风」；亭建在长江边，可以凭栏眺望江南诸峰。苏轼在黄州完成了人生最重要的思想转变：由仕途失意的愤郁走向「一蓑烟雨任平生」的旷达，此词正是这一心境的结晶。词中「知君为我，新作窗户湿青红」写张怀民筑亭之谊；「长记平山堂上」「认得醉翁语」追忆恩师欧阳修——苏轼中进士时主考官即欧阳修，欧阳修为扬州太守时筑平山堂，其《朝中措》有「平山栏槛倚晴空，山色有无中」之句，苏轼登快哉亭而忆平山堂，由眼前亭想到恩师堂，师承之谊与身世之感交织。贬谪中的苏轼以快哉亭为精神据点，观江水、养浩气，此词遂成其旷达人格的艺术宣言。
Art
The lyric's art is the art of the philosophical scene. The scene is given first — the setting sun, the rolled-up curtain, the water joining the sky below the pavilion — the open, joyous view. The memory follows: the Pingshan Hall, resting his head in the misty rain, the lone wild goose lost in the dimness — the teacher's world, and the teacher's words recognized in the view. Suddenly the waves rise and toss the white-headed old man in the single leaf boat — the scene turned to the wild. Then the argument: he laughs at Song Yu, who never understood Zhuangzi's music of Heaven and insisted on the male and the female notes — the wind explained by the rhetorician against the wind heard by the philosopher. And the close gathers the whole: a little of the upright spirit, and a thousand li of the joyous wind — the answer to the argument in the single couplet, the upright heart and the free wind.
此词的艺术匠心在虚实相生、动静相济与以议论入词的融会贯通。上片由眼前实景写起：落日卷帘、亭下水连空，境界开阔；随即笔锋一转，插入回忆——「长记平山堂上，敧枕江南烟雨，渺渺没孤鸿」，由快哉亭想到平山堂，由眼前长江想到江南烟雨，时空交叠，虚实互映，最后以「认得醉翁语，山色有无中」把今昔两亭绾合，写景中暗含师承之思。下片先写静景：「一千顷，都镜净，倒碧峰」，千顷澄江平如镜面，倒映碧峰，画面明净如画；忽而「浪起」，静景顿破，「掀舞一叶白头翁」，动静之间写出江水的生命力。景中陡然翻出议论：「堪笑兰台公子，未解庄生天籁，刚道有雌雄」，以庄子天籁之说驳宋玉雌雄之分，嬉笑之间见哲思；末二句「一点浩然气，千里快哉风」以孟子浩气入词，点破全篇主旨。全词写景、叙事、议论、抒情熔于一炉，以理语收束而不觉枯燥，反觉气象万千，是苏轼「以诗为词」「以议论为词」的典型成就。
Allusions
'The Drunkard Old Man' (Zuiweng) is Ouyang Xiu, who called himself the Drunkard Old Man and wrote 'the mountains are there, and the color, or is it not' in his poem to the Pingshan Hall. 'The gentleman of the Lantai' (Lantai gongzi) is Song Yu, the Han rhetorician, whose 'Wind Fu' divided the wind into the male and the female notes — the noble and the common wind. 'Zhuangzi's music of Heaven' (Zhuang sheng tianlai) is the music of the natural world itself, the 'music of Heaven' of the Zhuangzi, as against the human music. 'The upright spirit' (haoran qi) is the 'flood-like spirit' of Mencius — the upright, filling spirit of the noble heart.
此词用典密集而浑然无迹，须逐层解会。其一是快哉之典：宋玉《风赋》写楚襄王游于兰台之宫，有风飒然而至，襄王披襟当之，曰「快哉此风」，快哉亭之名即出于此。其二是雌雄之辩：宋玉在《风赋》中将风分为「大王之雄风」与「庶人之雌风」，苏轼笑其「未解庄生天籁」——庄子《齐物论》谓「人籁」「地籁」「天籁」之别，天籁乃自然之声，发于天而不假人为，无贵无贱、无雌无雄，苏轼以天籁之公驳雌雄之分，正是借古人酒杯浇自家块垒。其三是醉翁语：欧阳修号醉翁，其《朝中措》「平山栏槛倚晴空，山色有无中」写平山堂远眺之景，「山色有无中」又本于王维《汉江临泛》「江流天地外，山色有无中」，苏轼登快哉亭而忆恩师，一典双关，师承与山水共在。其四是浩然气：语出《孟子·公孙丑上》「我善养吾浩然之气，至大至刚，以直养而无害，则塞于天地之间」，苏轼以之点题，谓胸有正气则风波不足惧。四典环环相扣，由风而气、由气而人，正是全词由景入理的内在脉络。
Commentary
This lyric is one of Su Shi's most famous works of the exile, quoted for its philosophical freedom and its joyous close. The argument against Song Yu and the answer of the upright spirit are among the most admired passages of the Song lyric; the close — 'a little of the upright spirit, and a thousand li of the joyous wind' — is one of the most quoted couplets of the tradition. Critics praise the lyric's art: the scene, the memory, and the philosophy gathered into the free wind.
此词是苏轼豪放旷达词风的代表作，与《念奴娇·赤壁怀古》《定风波·莫听穿林打叶声》同为黄州时期的巅峰之作。全词以快哉亭为支点，把眼前之景、往昔之忆、古今之辨、胸中之气融成一片，末句「一点浩然气，千里快哉风」以理语入词而气象浑成，成为苏轼人格的经典写照——身处贬谪而不失其正，视风波为快意之风景，这正是中国文化中「达观」精神的最高形态。清人评此词「雄奇排奡，是坡仙本色」；郑文焯谓其「横放杰出」。文学史上，此词体现了苏轼「以诗为词」的革新：以文入词、以议论入词、以哲理入词，把词从酒边花间的艳科提升为抒写人生哲思的文体，开南宋辛弃疾「以文为词」之先声。在思想史上，「浩然气」与「快哉风」的联结，把孟子的道德之勇转化为审美之境的潇洒，为中国士大夫提供了一种超越困境的精神范式，影响深远，至今仍是汉语中旷达精神的标志性表达。
Prosody
Line by line
落日绣帘卷，亭下水连空。
The setting sun, the rolled-up embroidered curtain — below the pavilion the water joins the sky.
落日余晖中绣帘卷起，快哉亭下江水浩渺，与天空连成一片。
The setting sun; the broidered curtain rolled up; below the pavilion the river joins the sky.
起拍两句写快哉亭的登临之景，是全词境界的起点。落日绣帘卷，写黄昏时分的亭阁：夕阳斜照，绣帘卷起，一派明丽安详；亭下水连空，笔势骤开，江水横无际涯，与天空连成一片，以「连空」写江天之阔，境界顿显苍茫浩大。两句一收一放：帘卷是近景、是静观，水连空是远景、是极目，由亭而江、由近而远，登高望远的开阔气象扑面而来。此二句纯用白描而画面完整，落日、绣帘、江水、长空四组意象构成一幅黄昏江亭图，为全词定下雄浑而不失清丽的基调。水连空的境界也与下片「一千顷」的镜面江景遥相呼应，可见苏轼写景举重若轻、首尾照应的功力。
The opening two lines writing the Kuaiji Pavilion's climbing scene, the whole ci's realm starting point. The-setting-sun-the-broidered-curtain-rolled-up writing the dusk-time pavilion: the slanting sun, the rolled broidered curtain, one bright and peaceful scene; below-the-pavilion-the-river-joins-the-sky, the brush's sudden opening, the river's boundlessness and the sky's joining, using the joins-the-sky for the river-and-sky's vastness, the realm at once showing the vast grandeur. Two lines, one gathering one releasing: the rolled curtain the near scene and the still viewing, the river-joins-sky the far scene and the extreme gazing, from the pavilion to the river, from near to far, the climb-and-look's open grandeur rushing the face. These two lines purely plain drawing and yet the picture complete, the setting sun, broidered curtain, river, and long sky four imagery groups forming a dusk-river-pavilion picture, setting the whole ci's vigorous-and-yet-fair tone. The river-joins-sky realm also echoing the second stanza's the-thousand-qing mirror-like river scene, seeing Su Shi's scene-writing's heavy-held-light and the head-tail's mutual-reflecting craft.
长记平山堂上，敧枕江南烟雨，渺渺没孤鸿。
I long remember, at the Pingshan Hall, resting my head, the misty rain of the south of the River, the dim, the faint, the lone wild goose lost in it.
我常常记起扬州平山堂上，靠着枕头闲卧，看江南烟雨迷蒙，渺渺茫茫中一只孤鸿消失在天际。
I still remember the Pingshan Hall, leaning on my pillow through the Jiangnan misty rain, as a lone wild goose fades into the distance.
此三句由眼前快哉亭转入回忆中的平山堂，是全词虚实相生的枢纽。长记二字领起回忆：苏轼曾随恩师欧阳修登平山堂，如今亭在人非，记忆却历久弥新。「敧枕江南烟雨」写当年闲卧堂中、凭栏看雨的悠闲情态，「敧枕」二字见出当时的疏放自适；「渺渺没孤鸿」以孤鸿没入烟雨写远眺之景，烟雨迷蒙中一点孤鸿渐飞渐远，终于消失于天际，境界空阔而略带苍茫。三句以敧枕写静、以没写远、以渺渺写茫，画面流动而意境悠远。回忆中的平山堂与眼前的快哉亭两两对照：同是凭栏望远，同有江南山水，而一为承平日之闲适，一为贬谪中之登临，今昔之感、师恩之念尽在不言中，为下句认得醉翁语作了情感的铺垫。
These three lines from the present Kuaiji Pavilion turning to the memory's Pingshan Hall, the whole ci's void-and-real-interweaving hinge. The still-remember two words leading the memory: Su Shi once following his teacher Ouyang Xiu to climb Pingshan Hall, now the pavilion remains and the person gone, and yet the memory's fresh through the years. The leaning-on-my-pillow-through-the-Jiangnan-misty-rain writing that year's idle lying in the hall and the rail-leaning rain-watching ease, the leaning-on-pillow two words seeing the then's free self-ease; as-a-lone-wild-goose-fades-into-the-distance writing the far-view scene through the lone goose's vanishing into the misty rain, within the misty rain one lone goose's flying farther and farther, finally vanishing into the sky's edge, the realm open and yet the slight vastness. Three lines, the leaning-pillow for the stillness, the fading for the distance, the dimness for the boundlessness, the picture's flowing and the mood's far-reaching. The memory's Pingshan Hall and the present Kuaiji Pavilion's mutual contrast: both the rail-leaning far gazing, both the Jiangnan mountains-and-waters, and yet one the peaceful-time leisure, one the demotion-time climb, the present-past feeling and the teacher-grace remembrance all in the unspoken, storing the emotional ground for the below's the recognized-Drunkard's-words.
认得醉翁语，山色有无中。
I recognize the words of the Drunkard Old Man: 'the mountains are there, and the color, or is it not?'
这才真正懂得醉翁欧阳修的词句，原来就是「山色有无中」的意境。
Now I understand the Old Drunkard's words: the mountain color, half-seen, half-hidden.
此二句由回忆转出议论，是全词今昔绾合的关键。醉翁即欧阳修，其《朝中措》有「平山栏槛倚晴空，山色有无中」之句，苏轼当年在平山堂亲闻此语，如今登快哉亭，远眺江南诸峰在烟雨夕照中若隐若现，正是「山色有无中」的实景，于是恍然大悟——认得二字写尽从听闻到亲证的会心之乐。此二句的妙处在于：一是以景证句，把前人词句在眼前景中落实，师承与山水合而为一；二是借醉翁语暗写自己与欧阳修的师生之谊，平山堂、快哉亭两亭由此一线贯穿；三是「有无中」三字写出山色在烟雨夕照中的虚实变幻，意境朦胧而悠远，与上片「渺渺没孤鸿」的苍茫相映成趣。由写景而忆人、由忆人而会心，笔致疏宕，正是苏轼以议论入词而能不损意境的本领。
These two lines from memory turning to argument, the whole ci's present-past-binding key. The Old Drunkard i.e. Ouyang Xiu, his Court-Council-Order having the Pingshan's-rails-leaning-on-the-clear-sky, the-mountain-color-half-seen-half-hidden line, Su Shi that year at Pingshan Hall personally hearing these words, now climbing Kuaiji Pavilion, far viewing the Jiangnan peaks' within-the-misty-rain-and-sunset's half-visible, precisely the mountain-color-half-seen-half-hidden real scene, hence the sudden comprehension — the recognized two words exhausting the from-hearing-to-personal-verification's understanding joy. These two lines' wonder: one, using the scene to prove the line, grounding the predecessor's words in the present scene, the teaching lineage and the mountains-and-waters fusing into one; two, borrowing the Drunkard's words to secretly write his own Ouyang Xiu teacher-student friendship, the Pingshan Hall and Kuaiji Pavilion two pavilions hence joined by one thread; three, the half-seen-half-hidden three characters writing the mountain color's within-misty-rain-and-sunset's void-real transformation, the mood's dimness and far-reaching, setting off the first stanza's lone-goose-fading vastness. From scene-writing to person-memory, from person-memory to understanding, the brushwork's free and easy, precisely Su Shi's argument-enters-ci-and-yet-the-mood's-unharmed craft.
忽然浪起，掀舞一叶白头翁。
Suddenly the waves rise, and dance and toss a white-headed old man in a single leaf boat.
忽然江上浪涛涌起，掀舞着那一叶小舟，舟上站着一位白发老翁。
Suddenly the waves rise, tossing and dancing a small boat with a white-haired old man.
此二句是全词由静入动、由景入人的转折，写得惊心动魄。上句「一千顷，都镜净，倒碧峰」写江面如镜、碧峰倒映的静态奇观，忽然浪起四字如晴天霹雳，静境顿破，江面由镜平一变而为涛涌，动与静的转换只在转瞬之间，章法上险峭峻急。「掀舞一叶白头翁」写浪涛掀舞着驾舟的白发老翁：一叶小舟在浪尖起伏，如被巨手掀舞，老翁却安然其中。白头翁与巨浪的对照极富张力——风浪愈猛，老翁愈显从容，这分明是苏轼的自况：贬谪之浪不正如眼前风浪？而能于风浪中泰然处之者，正是胸有浩气之人。此二句以景寓理，为下文的议论预埋伏笔，写景之奇、寄意之深，都是苏词本色。
These two lines are the whole ci's still-to-motion and scene-to-person turn, written as the soul-stirring. The above's the-thousand-qing-all-mirror-clear-reflecting-the-emerald-peaks writing the river-surface-like-mirror and the emerald-peak-reflected still wonder, the suddenly-the-waves-rise four characters like the clear-sky thunder, the still realm's sudden breaking, the river-surface from mirror-flat at once to the surging billows, the motion-and-stillness's transition within the instant, the craft's steep precipitousness. Tossing-and-dancing-a-small-boat-with-a-white-haired-old-man writing the waves' tossing of the boat's white-haired old man: the one leaf small boat's rising-and-falling on the wave crest, like the giant hand's tossing, the old man yet at ease within. The white-haired-old-man and the great wave's contrast the tension extreme — the wind-and-waves the fiercer, the old man the more composed, this clearly Su Shi's self-portrait: are the demotion-waves not precisely the present wind-and-waves? And the able-amid-the-waves'-composure, precisely the breast's-vast-air person. These two lines' scene-carries-reason, storing the ground for the below's argument, the scene-writing's wonder and the meaning's depth, both Su ci's true color.
堪笑兰台公子，未解庄生天籁，刚道有雌雄。
I cannot but laugh at the gentleman of the Lantai — he never understood Zhuangzi's music of Heaven, and insisted there were a male and a female note.
可笑那兰台公子宋玉，不懂得庄子所说的天籁，硬要分出什么雌风雄风。
How laughable, the Lord of Lantai, who understood not Zhuangzi's heavenly music, yet insisted on dividing the wind into male and female.
此三句是全词的议论核心，嬉笑怒骂之间寄寓哲理。兰台公子指宋玉，其《风赋》把风分为「大王之雄风」与「庶人之雌风」，苏轼笑他不解庄生天籁——庄子《齐物论》认为天籁是自然之声，发于天地而不假人为，无贵贱、无雌雄；风就是风，何来雄雌之分？刚道有雌雄，一个「刚」字（硬是、偏偏）写尽宋玉强作分辨的可笑，语带调侃，举重若轻。此三句的深意在于借古讽今、借风喻人：宋玉以风的雌雄区分王与庶人，正是势利之见；而苏轼身处江湖之远，却能视风波为平常，正因他懂得天籁之公、浩气之正。以议论入词而妙趣横生，把哲思化入嬉笑之中，毫无说教之气，是苏轼「以议论为词」的最高境界，也是本词由写景转入言志的桥梁。
These three lines are the whole ci's argument core, within the laughter-and-rebuke entrusting the philosophy. The Lord of Lantai i.e. Song Yu, his Rhapsody on the Wind dividing the wind into the king's male wind and the commoner's female wind, Su Shi laughing at his not-understanding Zhuangzi's heavenly music — Zhuangzi's Discussion on Making All Things Equal holding the heavenly music the natural sound, issuing from heaven-and-earth and yet not relying on the human, no noble-base, no male-female; the wind is the wind, where's the male-female division? The insisted-on-dividing-into-male-and-female, the one word insisted (the perversely, the precisely-insisting) exhausting Song Yu's forced-distinction's laughableness, the tone carrying the teasing, the heavy-held-light. These three lines' deep meaning: using the ancients' mockery for the present and the wind-for-the-person metaphor: Song Yu's dividing the king and commoner through the wind's male-female, precisely the snobbish view; and Su Shi's position in the distant rivers-and-lakes, and yet able to treat the storm as the ordinary, precisely because of his understanding the heavenly-music's impartiality and the vast-air's righteousness. Argument-enters-ci-and-yet-the-wit's-overflow, turning the philosophical thought into the laughter, no preaching air, Su Shi's argument-as-ci highest realm, and this ci's scene-writing-to-will-uttering bridge.
一点浩然气，千里快哉风。
A little of the upright spirit — and a thousand li of the joyous wind.
只要胸中存有一点浩然正气，就能驾驭千里长风，何等畅快。
One spark of vast, righteous spirit, and a thousand li of the joyful wind.
煞拍两句是全词的灵魂，以哲语收束而气象万千。浩然气出于《孟子》「我善养吾浩然之气，至大至刚……塞于天地之间」，快哉风出于宋玉《风赋》「快哉此风」，苏轼把二者绾合：胸中有一点浩然之气，则无往而不快，即使身历风波，亦能乘风千里、坦然自适。一点与千里的对照极有力度：正气虽只一点，却能充盈天地、御风千里，以少胜多、以弱胜强，正是孟子「其为气也，至大至刚」的注脚。此二句把全词的哲理推向顶点：雌雄之辩、风浪之惊，至此皆化为乌有，唯有浩气与长风相对。以对句收束，音节铿锵，意境开阔，成为千古名句。此二句也完成了苏轼人格的自我塑造——贬谪不是困境，而是养气御风的道场；快哉不在亭中，而在胸中。
The closing beat two lines are the whole ci's soul, closing on the philosophical words and yet the grandeur ten thousand. The vast-righteous-spring from the Mencius's I-am-good-at-nurturing-my-vast-righteous-spirit, to-the-ultimate-large-and-to-the-ultimate-strong... filling heaven-and-earth-between, the joyful-wind from Song Yu's Rhapsody on the Wind's joyful-indeed-this-wind, Su Shi's binding the two: the breast's one spark of vast righteous air, then the nowhere's-not-joyful, even though the body's experiencing the storm, and yet able to ride the wind a thousand li and be at ease. The one-spark and the thousand-li contrast the force extreme: the righteous air though only one spark, and yet able to fill heaven-and-earth and ride the wind a thousand li, the few-overcoming-many and the weak-overcoming-strong, precisely the Mencius's this-its-qi-to-the-ultimate-large-and-to-the-ultimate-strong footnote. These two lines pushing the whole ci's philosophy to the peak: the male-female debate and the storm's fright, here all turned into nothing, only the vast air and the long wind's facing. Closing on the couplet, the rhythm sonorous, the mood open, becoming a through-the-ages famous line. These two lines also completing Su Shi's personality's self-shaping — the demotion not the plight, and yet the qi-nurturing-and-wind-riding dojo; the joy's place not in the pavilion, and yet in the breast.
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Su Shi's 'Prelude to Water Melody' — 'when did the bright moon begin' — is resolved in the moon, 'people have joys and sorrows, partings and reunions' — the philosophical ease of the Mid-Autumn; this lyric of the same tune is resolved in the wind — 'a little of the upright spirit, and a thousand li of the joyous wind.' The two are the poles of Su Shi's philosophy: the moon of the human feeling, and the wind of the upright spirit.
《水调歌头·明月几时有》与此词同为苏轼水调歌头名篇，且都以哲思化解人生之忧。差异在：明月几时有写中秋对月，由「人有悲欢离合，月有阴晴圆缺」的辩证悟出「此事古难全」的豁达，落点在天上的明月与人间的情怀，境界清旷；此词写快哉亭观江，由「堪笑兰台公子」的议论悟出「一点浩然气，千里快哉风」的豪迈，落点在心间的正气与天地的长风，境界雄放。前者以情驭理，温润蕴藉；后者以气驭理，雄奇排奡。月之词近于儒者的温厚，风之词近于道家的逍遥，合观可见苏轼旷达精神的两个面向，也可见同一词牌在他笔下气象各异的创造力。
念奴娇·赤壁怀古 Charm of the Nian Nu: Recalling the Past at the Red Cliff 苏轼 · 同为黄州贬居时期之作，一怀古一写景，同归于旷达 Both are the lyrics of Su Shi's Huangzhou exile — the Red Cliff of the heroic past, the Kuaizai Pavilion of the upright wind.Su Shi's 'Charm of the Nian Nu' — 'the great river flows eastward' — is the exile's meditation on the heroic past at the Red Cliff; this lyric of the Kuaizai Pavilion is the exile's joy — the upright spirit and the joyous wind, the same Huangzhou years shown in the two moods, the heroic memory and the philosophical freedom.
《念奴娇·赤壁怀古》与此词皆作于苏轼贬居黄州时期，是苏词豪放风格的双峰。差异在：赤壁怀古写大江东去、浪淘尽千古风流人物，借周瑜的功业反照自己的失意，以「人生如梦，一樽还酹江月」作结，悲慨而达观，是怀古词，情感底色苍凉；此词写快哉亭上落日江天、浩气御风，借宋玉雌雄之辩翻出「一点浩然气，千里快哉风」，是写景言志词，情感底色明快。一伤今而慕古，一御风而凌波；赤壁词于历史中看破，快哉词于自然中超越。两词并读，可见苏轼在黄州如何把个人的悲剧升华为哲学的达观，是中国士大夫精神史上最动人的一页。
水龙吟·登建康赏心亭 Water Dragon Song: Matching Rhymes of Zhang Zhifu's Willow Catkins 辛弃疾 · 同为登临亭阁之词，一旷达一悲郁，豪放词的两副面孔 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
辛弃疾《水龙吟·登建康赏心亭》与此词同为登亭抒怀的豪放名篇，亭名亦相映成趣：快哉亭与赏心亭。差异在：辛词写「把吴钩看了，栏杆拍遍，无人会、登临意」，登高而无人领会其收复之志，愁极而悲，以「倩何人唤取，红巾翠袖，揾英雄泪」收束，悲郁苍凉；苏词写「一点浩然气，千里快哉风」，登高而自得天地正气，快极而旷，以御风千里收束，超脱豪迈。同是亭台登临，辛弃疾愁家国之痛，苏轼超个人之困；一郁一旷，正是豪放词的两副面孔。二词对读，可见从北宋到南宋，登临词的抒情重心如何由个体哲思转向家国忧患。