宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric
王安石·桂枝香·金陵怀古
Fragrance of Cassia Boughs - Meditations on the Past at Jinling
桂枝香·金陵怀古登临送目，正故国晚秋，天气初肃。
千里澄江似练，翠峰如簇。
归帆去棹残阳里，背西风，酒旗斜矗。
彩舟云淡，星河鹭起，画图难足。
念往昔，繁华竞逐。
叹门外楼头，悲恨相续。
千古凭高对此，谩嗟荣辱。
六朝旧事随流水，但寒烟衰草凝绿。
至今商女，时时犹唱，后庭遗曲。
late autumn over the old capital, the weather turning stern.
A thousand li of clear river like a length of white silk,
green peaks massed like arrowheads.
Homing sails and departing oars within the last of the sun;
backs to the west wind, the wine-shop banners slant and stand.
Painted boats under thin cloud, egrets rising from the starry stream:
no picture could hold it all.
I think of the past, of splendour chased after in rivalry.
Alas for the general at the gate and the beauty in the tower,
where sorrow and rancour followed one upon another.
A thousand ages have leaned on this height and faced this scene,
sighing in vain over glory and disgrace.
The affairs of the Six Dynasties have gone with the flowing water;
only cold mist and withered grass congeal into green.
Even now the singing girls,
time and again, still sing
the lingering tune of the Back Court.
Meaning
He climbs high and looks far out over the late autumn of Jinling, the old capital, as the weather begins to turn stern. A thousand li of clear Yangzi run like a length of white silk, and the green peaks are massed like arrowheads. Homing sails and departing oars move in the last of the sun; backs to the west wind, the wine-shop banners stand slanting. Painted boats float under thin cloud, white egrets rise from the starry river, and no picture could set it all down. He thinks back on the past, when splendour was chased after in rivalry. He sighs for Han Qinhu at the gate and Zhang Lihua in the tower, and for the sorrow and rancour that followed one after another. For a thousand ages men have leaned on this height and faced this scene, sighing in vain over glory and disgrace. The affairs of the Six Dynasties have gone away with the flowing water, and only cold mist and withered grass gather their green. Even today the singing girls still sing, again and again, the lingering tune of the Back Court.
登高临远纵目远望，正对着故都金陵的晚秋，天气开始萧肃。千里澄澈长江如白练，青翠山峰如箭簇。归帆去桨在残阳里，背对西风，酒旗斜斜竖起。彩船在淡云间，白鹭从星河上飞起，画图也难以尽述。回想往昔，繁华竞相追逐。可叹门外韩擒虎楼头张丽华，悲恨相继不绝。千古以来登高对此，空自嗟叹荣辱。六朝旧事随流水而去，只剩寒烟衰草凝聚着绿意。直到如今歌女，还时时唱着《后庭》遗曲。
Appreciation
The first stanza is pure autumn landscape at Jinling, and its air is wide open: the clear river like white silk reworks Xie Tiao, and silk and arrowheads make scenery as sharp as painting; homing sails, departing oars and slanting wine-shop banners give the life of the town; painted boats under thin cloud and egrets rising from the starry stream fuse water and sky into one clear, lofty expanse, and 'no picture could hold it all' closes with a certain pride. The second stanza turns on the words 'I think of the past', where splendour chased in rivalry sums up the extravagance of the Six Dynasties, the general at the gate and the beauty in the tower compress the fall of Chen into one instant of Du Mu's poetry, and the sighing in vain over glory and disgrace pushes the thought a stage further. Written when Wang Anshi had left the chancellorship and was living quietly at Zhongshan, watching a Northern Song that was outwardly at peace and inwardly troubled, the piece closes on singing girls still performing the tune of a fallen court, and its warning to the present carries far.
【白话串讲】 “千里澄江似练，翠峰如簇”——王安石登金陵城楼：千里澄江像白练，翠峰簇拥。“六朝旧事随流水，但寒烟衰草凝绿”——六朝旧事随水流走，只剩下寒烟衰草。这首词，被推为金陵怀古之冠。 【意象与手法】 上片纯写金陵秋景，气象开阔：点化谢朓「澄江静如练」，「练」「簇」炼景如画；「归帆去棹」「酒旗斜矗」写市井生机；「彩舟云淡，星河鹭起」将水面天际打成一片，清空高远，「画图难足」收束见自负。下片「念往昔」一转，「繁华竞逐」总括六朝奢靡，「门外楼头」以杜牧诗意浓缩陈亡一瞬，「谩嗟荣辱」翻进一层，结以商女后庭遗曲，寄慨遥深。全词景壮情深论警，境界宏大。 【情感与主旨】 此词约作于王安石晚年退居金陵（今南京）时期（元丰、元祐间）。时王安石已罢相，闲居钟山，目睹北宋表面承平而隐忧四伏（边患、新政争议、朝政因循），借六朝相继覆亡的历史，暗寓对当朝不思振作、耽于逸乐的忧惧。词中「至今商女，时时犹唱，后庭遗曲」明显针对时弊而发，是其政治家词作的典范，亦标志着宋词由婉约向豪放怀古一脉的重要转折。 【名句点睛】 中高考要点：①炼字——「似练」「如簇」写江山的明净与险峻；「斜矗」写酒旗；「澄」「翠」设色；②用典——「门外楼头」化杜牧《台城曲》，「后庭遗曲」指《玉树后庭花》；③结构——上片写景下片怀古，景壮情深的章法。
Background
This lyric was written around the Yuanfeng and Yuanyou years, when Wang Anshi had retired in his later life to Jinling, present-day Nanjing. Jinling had been the capital of the Six Dynasties and was always a subject for meditation on the past. By then Wang Anshi had been dismissed from the chancellorship and was living in retirement at Zhongshan, watching a Northern Song that was outwardly at peace while trouble gathered beneath the surface, with frontier threats, disputes over the new policies, and a court content to drift. Using the successive collapses of the Six Dynasties, he hints at his fear that his own dynasty would not rouse itself and would sink into pleasure. The closing lines, on singing girls who still perform the lingering tune of the Back Court, are plainly aimed at the ills of the present. The piece is a model of the statesman's lyric, and it marks an important turn in the Song lyric from the graceful manner toward the bold meditation on history.
此词约作于王安石晚年退居金陵时期（元丰、元祐年间，约1078—1093）。王安石（1021—1086），字介甫，号半山，抚州临川人，北宋政治家、文学家。他两度拜相，推行变法，然新政阻力重重，熙宁九年（1076）罢相，此后退居金陵钟山，自号半山老人。金陵为六朝古都，东吴、东晋、宋、齐、梁、陈相继建都于此，历来是怀古题材的渊薮。此时北宋表面上承平无事，实则边患日亟（辽、夏虎视眈眈）、财政困乏、朝政因循，而达官贵人依然耽于逸乐。王安石以政治家的敏锐，登高怀古，借六朝相继覆亡的历史教训，暗寓对当朝不思振作、重蹈覆辙的忧惧。词中「至今商女，时时犹唱，后庭遗曲」明显针对时弊而发，是「借古讽今」的典型。此词在当时即享盛名，传苏轼读后叹赏「此老乃野狐精也」，自谦「不敢作怀古词」，可见其艺术成就之高。此词以政治家之笔入词，将怀古、议论、写景熔于一炉，标志着宋词由婉约艳科向豪放怀古一脉的重要转折。
Art
The first stanza is given wholly to the autumn scene at Jinling and its atmosphere is broad: it reworks Xie Tiao's line about a clear river still as white silk, and the words for silk and for massed arrowheads make the landscape as sharp as a painting; homing sails and departing oars and the slanting wine-shop banners bring in the life of the streets; painted boats under thin cloud and egrets rising from the starry stream weld the surface of the water to the edge of the sky, clear and lofty, while 'no picture could hold it all' closes the stanza with a note of self-assurance. The second stanza turns at 'I think of the past': splendour chased in rivalry sums up the luxury of the Six Dynasties, the general at the gate and the beauty in the tower compress the fall of Chen into a single moment out of Du Mu, and the vain sighing over glory and disgrace carries the argument one stage deeper, before the close, with its singing girls and the lingering tune of the Back Court, sends its resonance far. Scene, feeling and argument are all commanding, and the world of the poem is vast.
此词艺术上以「景壮情深论警」为最大特色，章法谨严。上片纯写金陵秋景，气象开阔：「登临送目，正故国晚秋，天气初肃」以「登临送目」点题，以「晚秋」「初肃」定下苍凉的基调；「千里澄江似练，翠峰如簇」点化谢朓「澄江静如练」，「练」喻江之澄净洁白，「簇」喻峰之峻拔攒聚，炼景如画；「归帆去棹残阳里，背西风，酒旗斜矗」由远而近，写市井生机与落日苍茫；「彩舟云淡，星河鹭起」将水面天际打成一片，清空高远，以「画图难足」收束，见其自负。下片「念往昔」一转，「繁华竞逐」总括六朝奢靡，「叹门外楼头，悲恨相续」以杜牧诗意浓缩陈亡一瞬，「千古凭高对此，谩嗟荣辱」翻进一层——空嗟叹不如思振作；结以「至今商女，时时犹唱，后庭遗曲」，以歌女唱亡国之音作结，寄慨遥深，讽喻当世。全词由景入情、由情入论，景壮情深论警，境界宏大，是怀古词的典范。又此词上片以「画图难足」收景、下片以「后庭遗曲」结情，一收一放，大开大阖，正是政治家词章「收放自如」的大家气象。
Allusions
The allusions are dense and exactly placed. The clear river like white silk reworks Xie Tiao of the Southern Qi, 'the last glow scatters into brocade, the clear river is still as white silk'. The general at the gate and the beauty in the tower compress Du Mu's Song of Taicheng, 'Han Qinhu outside the gate, Zhang Lihua up in the tower', in which the Sui general has already brought his troops to the walls while the last ruler of Chen is still amusing himself in the tower with Zhang Lihua, a figure for a dynasty destroyed by debauchery. The lingering tune of the Back Court is the Jade Tree Flower of the Back Court composed by the last ruler of Chen, known in history as the music of a fallen state. The line on singing girls inverts Du Mu's Mooring at Qinhuai, 'the singing girls do not know the grief of a fallen state, across the river they still sing the Flower of the Back Court', to reproach his contemporaries for their pleasure-seeking. Every allusion serves the theme of grieving over the present through the past, weighty and grave.
此词用典密集而精切，皆扣「怀古伤今」主旨。「澄江似练」化用南齐谢朓《晚登三山还望京邑》「余霞散成绮，澄江静如练」，以白练喻澄江，写出长江之明净。「门外楼头」浓缩杜牧《台城曲》「门外韩擒虎，楼头张丽华」——隋将韩擒虎率兵已至陈朝宫门之外，陈后主却还与宠妃张丽华在楼头寻欢作乐，此典以宫门外的敌军与楼头上的歌舞对照，写荒淫误国、亡国在即而不自知，最为警策。「后庭遗曲」指陈后主所作《玉树后庭花》，史称「亡国之音」，见《隋书·乐志》。《玉树后庭花》本为艳曲，因陈后主沉溺其中而亡国，遂成亡国之音的代名词。「商女」句反用杜牧《泊秦淮》「商女不知亡国恨，隔江犹唱后庭花」，杜牧讥讽歌女不知亡国之恨，王安石更进一步，写「至今」歌女仍唱后庭遗曲，讽喻当世醉生梦死者，数典熔铸，沉著厚重。且「繁华竞逐」四字亦暗用《史记·货殖列传》「天下熙熙，皆为利来」之意，写六朝追逐繁华、终归覆灭的循环，其讽今之意，正藏在追古之笔中。
Commentary
This is the supreme Song lyric of meditation on the past. Su Shi, on seeing it, exclaimed that the old man was a very wizard, and modestly said that he himself dared not write lyrics on history. Zhang Huiyan of the Qing placed it first in his Selection of Lyrics and held it up as the orthodox model for meditations at Jinling. Modern critics generally praise it for the great scale of its structure and the loftiness of its argument, holding that it broke with the amorous tradition of the late Tang and Five Dynasties by writing lyric as verse and admitting argument into song, and that it truly opened the way for the bold school of Su Shi and Xin Qiji.
此词为宋词怀古绝调，历代评价极高。苏轼读后叹曰「此老乃野狐精也」，又自谦「不敢作怀古词」，见《能改斋漫录》所载，足见此词在当时的影响。清代张惠言《词选》列此词于卷首，推为「金陵怀古」正格。近人论者多以「堂庑特大，议论高远」许之，谓其打破晚唐五代艳科传统，以诗为词、以论入词，实开苏辛豪放一派之先声。王国维《人间词话》虽不喜「以议论为词」，然于王安石此作亦不能废。此词的文学史意义有三：其一，以政治家的识见入词，将怀古词由个人感慨提升到国家兴亡的高度；其二，以铺叙写景、议论言志，上承范仲淹《渔家傲》之开阔，下启苏轼、辛弃疾豪放词的议论传统；其三，「至今商女，时时犹唱，后庭遗曲」的讽喻精神，直承杜牧《泊秦淮》，为宋词中「借古讽今」的典范。此词在宋词由婉约向豪放转折的进程中具有里程碑意义。此词之不朽，正在于将政治家的忧患与诗人的深情熔为一炉，以怀古之笔写时代之思。
Prosody
Line by line
登临送目，正故国晚秋，天气初肃。
I climb and gaze afar: it is late autumn in the old capital, the weather just turning austere.
登高临远纵目远望，正对着故都金陵的晚秋，天气开始萧肃。
Climbing the height, I gaze afar; it is late autumn in the old capital, the weather just turning austere.
「登临送目，正故国晚秋，天气初肃」为全词起笔，定下苍凉开阔的基调。「登临送目」四字点明词人登高望远之举，「送目」写纵目远眺，目光随江山延伸，视野无限开阔；「正故国晚秋」点明地点与时令——故国指六朝故都金陵，晚秋写季节之肃杀；「天气初肃」写秋气初起，万物开始萧瑟。三句由人到景、由地到时，层层铺开，将读者带入一个苍茫秋日的金陵画面。「故国」二字已暗含怀古之意，「晚秋」「初肃」则渲染出苍凉的氛围。此起笔气象宏大，为全词「景壮」奠定基调，也预示着下文怀古伤今的主题。
The climb-and-gaze-it-is-late-autumn-in-the-old-capital-the-weather-just-turning-austere is the whole ci's opening, establishing the vast bleak tone. The climb-and-gaze four words pointing out the poet's high-climb-and-far-gaze act, the gaze word writing the far gaze, the sight following the mountains-and-rivers' extension, the view's infinite openness; it-is-late-autumn-in-the-old-capital pointing out the place and season — the old capital meaning the Six Dynasties' Jinling, the late autumn writing the season's bleakness; the weather-just-turning-austere writing the autumn air's first rising and the ten-thousand-things' desolation's beginning. Three lines from the person to the scene, from the place to the season, layer on layer's unfolding, leading the reader into a vast autumn Jinling picture. The old-capital two words already carrying the ancient-gazing meaning, the late-autumn and just-turning-austere's rendering the bleak atmosphere. This opening's grand air, establishing the whole ci's scene-grand foundation, and foreshadowing the below's ancient-gazing-and-present-grief theme.
千里澄江似练，翠峰如簇。
The thousand-li clear river like white silk; the emerald peaks like clustered arrowheads.
千里澄澈长江如白练，青翠山峰如箭簇。
The thousand-li clear river flows like white silk; the emerald peaks stand like clustered arrowheads.
「千里澄江似练，翠峰如簇」为全词写景的警句，炼字设色俱佳。「千里」极言长江之绵长；「澄江似练」化用谢朓「澄江静如练」，「练」即白绢，以白绢喻澄澈的江水，写出长江的明净如镜、蜿蜒如带；「翠峰如簇」写群山，「簇」本指箭簇，喻山峰的峻拔攒聚，如箭般直指青天，写出金陵群山的险峻之势。两句一写水一写出，「练」之柔与「簇」之刚相映，「澄」之明净与「翠」之青翠相衬，化静为活，将金陵江山写得既明净又壮阔。此联设色清丽、比喻精切，为千古传诵的名句，也是全词「景壮」的核心，为下片怀古蓄势。
The thousand-li-clear-river-like-white-silk-and-emerald-peaks-like-clustered-arrowheads are the whole ci's scene-line alert, the character-refining-and-color-setting both fine. The thousand-li word's extreme of the Yangtze's length; the clear-river-like-white-silk adapting Xie Tiao's the clear river's stillness like white silk, the silk i.e. the white pongee, using the pongee for the clear river-water, writing the Yangtze's mirror-like clearness and ribbon-like winding; the emerald-peaks-like-clustered-arrowheads writing the mountains, the cu originally the arrowhead, the metaphor for the peaks' steep and crowded, like arrows' straight-pointing-the-blue, writing Jinling's mountains' perilous momentum. Two lines one writing the water and one the hills, the silk's soft and the cluster's firm's mirror, the clear's brightness and the emerald's green's setting-off, the static-to-living, writing Jinling's mountains-and-rivers' both clear and grand. This couplet's color clear and the metaphor precise, the through-the-ages famed line, and the whole ci's scene-grand core, storing the force for the second stanza's ancient gazing.
彩舟云淡，星河鹭起，画图难足。
Painted boats in pale clouds; egrises rise from the starry river; even a painting cannot suffice.
彩船在淡云间，白鹭从星河上飞起，画图也难以尽述。
Painted boats drift in pale clouds; egrets rise from the starry river; a painting could never capture it all.
「彩舟云淡，星河鹭起，画图难足」为全词上片收束，将金陵秋景写到极处。「彩舟云淡」写江上彩船在淡云间缓缓行驶，彩舟与淡云相映，色调轻柔；「星河鹭起」写白鹭从水中惊起，飞向天际，与星河相接——古人称长江为「天河」，白鹭飞起处波光粼粼，如从星河中飞起。两句一写舟之缓行，一写鹭之惊飞，动静相生，将水面与天际打成一片，境界清空高远。如此美景，画家也画不出来，故以「画图难足」四字收束，既是赞美，更见自负。此三句承「澄江翠峰」而来，由大景写到细景，由静景写到动景，把金陵秋色写到了极致，上片写景至此戛然而止，为下片「念往昔」的怀古转折蓄足情势。
The painted-boats-in-pale-clouds-egrises-rise-from-the-starry-river-a-painting-could-never-capture-it-all is the whole ci's first-stanza close, writing the Jinling autumn scene to the extreme. The painted-boats-in-pale-clouds writing the river's painted boats' slow going in the pale clouds, the painted boat and pale cloud's mirror, the tone soft; the egrets-rise-from-the-starry-river writing the white egrets' startled rising from the water, flying to the horizon, meeting the starry river — the ancients calling the Yangtze the heavenly river, the egret's rising place's wave-glittering, as if from the starry river's rising. Two lines one writing the boat's slow going and one the egret's startled flight, the motion-and-stillness's mutual birth, turning the water's surface and horizon into one, the realm clear-and-high. Such beauty, the painter's also unable to paint, hence closing on the a-painting-could-never-capture-it-all four words, at once the praise and the self-confidence's clearer. These three lines inheriting the clear-river-emerald-peaks, from the great scene to the fine scene, from the static scene to the motion scene, writing Jinling's autumn colors to the extreme, the first stanza's scene-writing's abrupt stop, storing the full force for the below's remember-the-past ancient-gazing turn.
叹门外楼头，悲恨相续。
Alas, the gate without and the tower within; grief on grief, unbroken.
可叹门外韩擒虎、楼头张丽华，悲恨相继不绝。
I sigh at the gate without and the tower within; grief and resentment follow one another without end.
「叹门外楼头，悲恨相续」为全词下片怀古的枢纽，用典精警。「门外楼头」浓缩杜牧《台城曲》「门外韩擒虎，楼头张丽华」：隋将韩擒虎已兵临陈朝宫门之外，陈后主却还与宠妃张丽华在楼头寻欢作乐，敌军门外而歌舞楼头，亡国之祸迫在眉睫而君王浑不自知。一个「叹」字领起，写尽词人对这历史一幕的慨叹；「悲恨相续」四字力重千钧，写六朝一个个王朝在歌舞中灭亡、悲恨一代代相续不断——不是一朝之痛，而是历史循环的悲剧。「门外」与「楼头」的空间对照、「叹」的抒情与「相续」的概括，将六朝兴亡的教训浓缩于四字之中，警策动人，是全词由写景转入怀古议论的枢纽。
The I-sigh-at-the-gate-without-and-the-tower-within-grief-and-resentment-follow-one-another-without-end is the whole ci's second-stanza ancient-gazing hinge, the allusion's alert. The gate-without-and-the-tower-within condensing Du Mu's Terrace City song's the gate-without-Han-Qinhu-and-the-tower-within-Zhang-Lihua: the Sui general Han Qinhu's troops at the Chen palace gate, and the Chen lord's still with the favorite Zhang Lihua on the tower's revelry, the enemy at the gate and the dance on the tower, the subjugation's imminent and the ruler's unknowing. The one tan word's lead, exhausting the poet's historical-scene sigh; the grief-and-resentment-follow-one-another-without-end four words' weight's thousand jun, writing the Six Dynasties' one-by-one dynasties' dancing-and-singing fall and the grief-and-resentment's generation-after-generation's succession — not the one-dynasty's pain, and yet the historical-cycle's tragedy. The gate-without and tower-within's spatial contrast, the sigh's utterance and the succession's summary, condensing the Six Dynasties' rise-and-fall lesson into four characters, alert and moving, the whole ci's scene-to-ancient-gazing-argument hinge.
至今商女，时时犹唱，后庭遗曲。
Even now the singing girls still, from time to time, sing the leftover tune of the Rear Courtyard.
直到如今歌女，还时时唱着《后庭》遗曲。
Even to this day the singing girls still sing from time to time the legacy of the Rear Courtyard tune.
「至今商女，时时犹唱，后庭遗曲」为全词结句，是「借古讽今」的点睛之笔。「商女」即歌女，「后庭遗曲」指陈后主所作《玉树后庭花》，史称「亡国之音」。「至今」二字由古及今，将六朝旧事拉回当下；「时时犹唱」写歌女至今仍时时唱着这亡国之音，表面写歌女不知亡国恨，实则讽刺当世醉生梦死的达官贵人——他们听着后庭遗曲，正如当年的陈后主一样耽于逸乐。此句反用杜牧「商女不知亡国恨，隔江犹唱后庭花」，而讽意更深：杜牧写「隔江」，王安石写「至今」，一写空间之隔，一写时间之久，皆寓「亡国之音不绝」之慨。结句以歌女唱曲收束，含蓄而警策，寄慨遥深，余味无穷，为全词画上沉痛的句号。
The even-to-this-day-the-singing-girls-still-sing-from-time-to-time-the-legacy-of-the-Rear-Courtyard-tune is the whole ci's closing line, the borrow-the-old-for-the-present-satire telling stroke. The singing-girl i.e. the songstress, the Rear-Courtyard legacy tune meaning Chen lord's Jade Tree Rear Courtyard Flower, history's called the subjugation music. The even-to-this-day two words from the ancient to the present, pulling the Six Dynasties' old affair back to the present; the still-sings-from-time-to-time writing the songstress's even-now's singing this subjugation music, the surface's writing the songstress's not-knowing-the-subjugation-grief, and yet actually satirizing the present's drunk-and-dreaming dignitaries — their listening to the Rear Courtyard tune, precisely like that year's Chen lord's indulgence in pleasure. This line's reverse-using Du Mu's the-songstress-not-knowing-the-subjugation-grief-and-across-the-river-still-sings-the-Rear-Courtyard-Flower, and yet the satire the deeper: Du Mu writes the across-the-river, Wang Anshi writes the even-to-this-day, one writing the space's separation and one the time's length, both carrying the subjugation-music's-unceasing sigh. The closing line on the songstress's tune, reserved and alert, the sigh far, the aftertaste endless, the whole ci's drawn grief-stricken full stop.
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Both climb high and look far while lodging their feeling in history, and they allow comparison of Northern and Southern Song lyrics on the past.
辛弃疾《水龙吟·登建康赏心亭》「楚天千里清秋，水随天去秋无际……把吴钩看了，栏杆拍遍，无人会、登临意」写登建康赏心亭远眺，楚天秋色、落日断鸿，尽写其报国无门、壮志难酬的悲愤，「栏杆拍遍」的激越与「无人会」的孤独感人至深；王安石《桂枝香》写登金陵高处怀古，澄江翠峰、商女后庭，尽写其借古讽今、忧国忧时的思虑。二词同为登临怀古的豪放之作，然辛词以个人身世之悲为主，慷慨激越；王词以国家兴亡之忧为主，沉著冷峻。比较可见北宋与南宋怀古词之异同：皆以壮景写深忧，而辛词多个人之慨，王词多政治之思。
姜夔·扬州慢·淮左名都 Yangzhou Slow - The Famed City East of the Huai 姜夔 · 同写名城兴废之慨，一金陵一扬州 Same (grief at the present through the past / the rise and ruin of famous cities)Both lament the rise and ruin of a famous city, one the Six Dynasties at Jinling and the other the ravages of war at Yangzhou, which allows comparison of what each entrusts to its subject.
姜夔《扬州慢》「淮左名都，竹西佳处，解鞍少驻初程……过春风十里，尽荠麦青青」写金兵南侵后扬州的萧条，废池乔木、清角吹寒，「杜郎俊赏，算而今重到须惊」的今昔对比，凄清哀婉；王安石《桂枝香》写金陵晚秋，澄江翠峰依旧而六朝繁华尽逝，「至今商女」的讽喻，沉著冷峻。二词同为怀古伤今的名城兴废之作，然姜词写扬州之兵燹，以今昔对照写哀，情调凄清；王词写金陵之兴亡，以借古讽今写警，情调苍凉。比较可见宋词怀古的两种取向：一以「哀」写之（扬州慢），一以「警」写之（桂枝香），而皆以名城为镜，寄托深沉的兴亡之慨。
王安石·江上 On the River 王安石 · 同作者，皆写景寄慨，可见政治家诗风 Same (author / feeling lodged in landscape)Both are works in which Wang Anshi lodges his purposes in a scene, and they allow comparison of the poetic manner of a statesman.
王安石《江上》「江水漾西风，江花脱晚红。离情被横笛，吹过乱山东」以江上秋风、晚红江花写离情，横笛声中别意悠长，笔致清丽含蓄；《桂枝香·金陵怀古》以澄江翠峰、商女后庭写兴亡，议论沉著、讽喻深切。二诗一词同为王安石之作，可见其文学面貌的两面：既有《江上》式的清丽婉转，也有《桂枝香》式的豪放沉著。然细究之，二作皆含政治家的胸襟：《江上》之离情是士人的细腻，《桂枝香》之兴亡是政治家的忧思。比较二作，可全面理解王安石由「文学之士」到「政治改革家」的丰富人格及其诗风的多样性。