宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric
辛弃疾·永遇乐·戏赋辛字
Song of Everlasting Joy: In Play, on the Character Xin
永遇乐·戏赋辛字烈日秋霜，忠肝义胆，千载家谱。
得姓何年，细参辛字，一笑君听取。
艰辛做就，悲辛滋味，总是辛酸辛苦。
更十分、向人辛辣，椒桂捣残堪吐。
世间应有，芳甘浓美，不到吾家门户。
比著儿曹，累累却有，金印光垂组。
付君此事，从今只可，佳苗闲看平楚。
教儿且覆掌中杯，做个五湖归去。
What year the surname was got, ponder the character Xin, and listen, amused, to my words.
It was wrought of hardship, the taste of grief, always sour toil and pain.
And further, toward men, pungent, as pepper and cinnamon crushed, fit to spit out.
The world should have, sweet richness and beauty, but they reach not my family's gate.
Compared with the youths, they in strings have gold seals, shining, with pendent tassels.
I leave this matter to you; from now only may you, at leisure, watch the level plain's fine shoots.
Teach the son to tip the cup in hand; be one who goes to the Five Lakes and returns.
Meaning
Around 1185 (Chunxi 12), early in Xin Qiji's retirement at Daihu near Shangrao, the poet, long rebuffed after returning south, makes a jest of his surname 'Xin' (which means 'bitter/hot'). On the surface playful, he unpacks the character into hardship, grief, sour toil, pungency — a painful self-portrait and a veiled satire of the Southern Song's complacency and rejection of talent, 'a laughing anger fiercer than glaring rage.'
（像）烈日秋霜般严酷，一片忠肝义胆，写在家谱上千载流传。得姓于何年，细品这「辛」字，且听我一笑说来。是艰辛铸成，是悲辛的滋味，总归是辛酸辛苦。更那十分、对人辛辣，如同椒桂捣碎也堪吐出。世间断有芳甘浓美之物，却不到我家的门户。比起那般儿郎，累累却挂着金印、垂着组绶。把这事交付于你，从今只可闲看平楚佳苗。教儿且倾覆掌中杯，做个五湖归去的人。
Appreciation
A singular conception: the whole lyric centers on the character 'Xin,' with 'hardship,' 'grief,' 'sour toil,' 'pungent' layered in parallelism, turning the surname symbol into a metaphor of fate. The lower stanza sets 'sweet richness' against 'sour,' then contrasts the gold-seal tasseled youths with himself, rising and falling. The close 'go to the Five Lakes and return' pretends ease, countering pent-up anger. The discursive fu-style enters the ci; jest and rage alike become prose.
【白话串讲】 辛弃疾拿自己的姓氏开玩笑：“艰辛做就，悲辛滋味，总是辛酸辛苦”——他姓辛，人生也真是辛。一个将军的自嘲里，全是心酸。 【意象与手法】 构思奇绝：全篇紧扣「辛」字做文章，以「艰辛」「悲辛」「辛酸辛苦」「辛辣」层层排比，将姓氏符号化为命运隐喻。下片以「芳甘浓美」与「辛酸」对举，再以「金印垂组」的儿曹反衬自身，跌宕生姿。结句「五湖归去」故作旷达，反衬郁愤。议论化的赋体入词，嬉笑怒骂皆成文章。 【情感与主旨】 此词约作于淳熙十二年（1185）前后，辛弃疾退居上饶带湖之初。词人南归多年屡遭排挤，壮志难酬，乃借姓氏之「辛」嬉笑成文，表面游戏笔墨，实为对平生遭际的沉痛自剖与对英才见弃的委婉讽刺。 【名句点睛】 常考「以字为词」的构思与情感：词如何围绕「辛」字展开、叠词排比的表达效果；「五湖归去」用典的反讽意味；辛词「刚拙」本色与嬉笑怒骂的风格。
Background
Around 1185 (Chunxi 12), early in Xin Qiji's retirement at Daihu near Shangrao. After returning south the poet was repeatedly squeezed out, his great aim unmet, and so makes a jest of his surname 'Xin.' On the surface playful ink, unpacking 'Xin' into sweetness and bitterness, it is truly a painful self-dissection of his life and a veiled satire of the Southern Song's complacency and rejection of talent — 'a laughing anger fiercer than glaring rage.'
辛弃疾（1140—1207），字幼安，号稼轩，历城人，南宋最杰出的词人，豪放词派的集大成者。此词约作于淳熙十二年（1185）前后，辛弃疾被劾落职、退居上饶带湖之初。词人南归二十余年，屡遭排挤，虽满怀恢复之志而不得一展，遂于闲居中借姓氏之「辛」嬉笑成文。表面是游戏笔墨，拆解「辛」字铺陈甘苦，实为对平生遭际的沉痛自剖：其家世忠义（祖父辛赞尝言「投衅而起，以纾君父所不共戴天之愤」），其人生艰辛（起义南归、宦海浮沉、罢职闲居），其性情刚烈（直言敢谏、嫉恶如仇），皆聚于一个「辛」字。词人更以「辛酸」对「芳甘」之世间、以「辛辣」对「金印」之儿曹，寄寓对南宋苟安、英才见弃的委婉讽刺，所谓「嬉笑之怒甚于裂眦」，是辛词「刚拙」本色的典型之作。辛弃疾生于金人统治下的山东，二十一岁即聚众起义，南归后力主抗金恢复，然不为朝廷所用，先后被劾落职，闲居上饶带湖、铅山瓢泉凡二十年。此词作于带湖初居之时，词人英雄失路，壮怀难伸，乃以「戏赋辛字」自嘲自解。其于「辛」字之中翻检艰辛、悲辛、辛酸、辛辣，实为一生际遇之写照；而嬉笑之怒甚于裂眦，其诙谐愈甚，沉痛愈深，正是辛词「以谐写郁」的独得之境，亦为研究稼轩闲居时期心态的重要作品。
Art
A singular conception: the whole centers on 'Xin,' with 'hardship,' 'grief,' 'sour toil,' 'pungent' layered in parallelism, turning the surname into a fate metaphor. The lower stanza sets 'sweet richness' against 'sour,' then contrasts the gold-seal youths with himself. The close pretends ease, countering pent-up anger. The discursive fu-style enters the ci; jest and rage alike become prose.
构思奇绝，全篇紧扣「辛」字做文章：上片从「得姓何年」起笔，细参「辛」字，以「艰辛」「悲辛」「辛酸辛苦」「辛辣」层层排比，将姓氏符号化为命运的隐喻，一字贯穿，淋漓酣畅。下片笔锋一转，以「芳甘浓美」与「辛酸」对举——世间之甘美从不入我门，再以「金印垂组」的儿曹反衬自身之清贫，跌宕生姿。结句「教儿且覆掌中杯，做个五湖归去」，以范蠡泛舟五湖之典故作旷达，实为英雄失路的反语，旷达愈甚，郁愤愈深。全词以议论化的赋体入词，铺陈排比，纵横捭阖，嬉笑怒骂皆成文章：上片之谐谑，下片之沉痛，一庄一谐，相反相成，是辛词「以文为词」「以议论为词」手法的极致，也是其「刚拙」本色最酣畅的展现。又此词下片之构思尤见匠心：以「芳甘浓美」与「辛酸」对举，写世间之甘美不入吾门，正见其甘于清苦、不慕荣利之节；以「金印光垂组」之儿曹反衬自身，写富贵者之得意与己之落寞，一正一反，跌宕生姿；结以「佳苗闲看平楚」「五湖归去」，故作闲适之语，而其下暗藏英雄失路之悲。全词上谐下庄、由笑入叹，嬉笑怒骂皆成文章，正见稼轩以文为词、以议论为词的开拓之功，亦为词中前所未有的创格。
Allusions
'Pepper and cinnamon crushed, fit to spit' uses the Chu Ci 'offer cassia wine, pepper broth' and the pungent nature of xinyi, pepper, cinnamon, figuring his straight, hot speech unacceptable to the world. 'Five Lakes and return' echoes Fan Li of Spring and Autumn boating the Five Lakes, an image of retirement. 'Gold seal shining with pendent tassels' uses the Han system of the prime minister's seal with tassel, mocking the wealthy youths. The allusions all fit 'Xin's' pungency and retirement double-meaning, seamless. The whole uses several allusions all clinging to 'Xin,' fitting name and affair, no heaping trace.
此词用典皆紧扣「辛」字，切姓切事，了无堆垛之痕。「椒桂捣残堪吐」用《楚辞·九歌·东皇太一》「奠桂酒兮椒浆」之意，椒、桂皆辛烈芳香之物，古人以之佐酒，此处反用其意，谓己之言辛辣如椒桂，捣碎亦堪吐弃，喻直言敢谏而不容于世，暗含屈原「忠而被谤」之悲。「五湖归去」化用春秋范蠡佐越灭吴后功成身退、泛舟五湖之典，表退隐之志，然稼轩志在恢复而被迫归隐，与范蠡之主动身退正成对照，故作旷达而愈见无奈。「金印光垂组」用汉制相印垂绶之制，讥富贵儿曹之得意，正与自家之落寞相对。数典皆融于谐谑之笔，化重为轻，举重若轻，足见稼轩学养之富与驾驭典故之娴。又「艰辛做就，悲辛滋味」诸语，暗用《楚辞》「长太息以掩涕兮，哀民生之多艰」的悲慨传统，稼轩以「辛」字绾合家国与身世，其「辛酸辛苦」之叹，实兼个人之遭际与国事之艰危；「向人辛辣」又以椒桂自比，椒桂虽辛而用以敬神（《楚辞》「奠桂酒兮椒浆」），其辛辣非为世所容，正是忠直之士不容于朝的写照。全词用典皆由「辛」字生发，切姓切事切情，浑然无迹，足见稼轩熔铸典故的高超本领，亦见其于词体上的大胆开拓。
Commentary
Ming scholar Zhuo Renyue's Ci Compendium said this ci 'funny words delight the cheek, yet the loyal-rage air is there.' Modern Liang Qichao praised Xin: 'such play works come from a vast, pent-up air; the shallow cannot fake them.' Modern readers see this ci as jest writing deep pain, one side of Xin's 'firm-awkward' true nature. Jest and rage in one line, exactly the un-dissolvable lump in the poet's breast.
明人卓人月《古今词统》评此词「趣语解颐，而忠愤之气自在」，一语道破其外谐内庄之妙。近人梁启超论稼轩：「此类游戏之作，乃以磅礴郁积之气出之，非浅人所能伪为。」正见其嬉笑背后是满腹块垒。刘熙载《艺概》谓辛词「豪放之中有沉著之致」，此词以游戏笔墨写沉痛身世，正是「沉著」的表征。今人论辛词，多许其「刚拙」本色：刚者，其志不可夺；拙者，其性不可圆。此词借一字之姓铺陈一生之概，是「以字为词」的独创，后世鲜有继者，正见稼轩于词体上的大胆开拓——举凡家国身世、嬉笑怒骂，无不可入词，遂使词之疆域为之大开，此其所以为词中之龙也。又此词之「戏」，非轻佻之戏，乃沉痛之戏：稼轩以游戏之笔写血泪之痛，其外愈谐，其内愈哀，正是笑中含泪的极致。近人论稼轩「刚拙」本色，谓其刚者不屈、拙者不圆，此词嬉笑怒骂之中，正见其刚拙不移之性。又稼轩以「辛」字为词，开「以姓为词」之先例，后世鲜有继者，其构思之奇、用情之深，皆足为词史之独创，亦见词至稼轩，凡可入诗者皆可入词，词之疆域为之大开，遂为词中之龙，此词正是其龙性之显露。
Prosody
Line by line
忠肝义胆，千载家谱
Loyal liver and righteous gall, a thousand years' family register.
赤诚肝胆，写入自家千载谱牒。
Loyal heart and righteous guts, inscribed in the family genealogy of a thousand years.
起笔以家谱立骨，将个人品格系于家风，庄重而不失诙谐。「忠肝义胆」写辛氏家传之忠义：其祖父辛赞仕金而心系故国，常以恢复之志勉励子孙，稼轩承此家训，故以肝胆自许；「千载家谱」写家声之远，将「忠义」二字写入族谱，流传千载。此二句为全词定下基调：谐谑之中有庄重，游戏笔墨却以家国忠义为底色。稼轩先说家世，再说姓氏，后说生平，层层递进，将一个「辛」字放在忠义家风的背景上审视，则下文「艰辛」「悲辛」之慨，皆有了更深厚的依托，起笔即见匠心。
The opening using the family-genealogy's bone-establishing, tying the personal character to the family tradition, solemn and yet not losing the wit. The loyal-heart-and-righteous-guts writing the Xin clan's family-handed-down loyalty-and-righteousness: his grandfather Xin Zan's serving the Jin and yet the heart's toward the old country, often using the recovery-will's encouraging the descendants, the Jiaxuan's inheriting this family instruction, hence using the loyal-guts' self-praise; the a-thousand-years-genealogy writing the family-renown's distance, writing the loyalty-and-righteousness two words' into-the-clan-genealogy's, the thousand-years' circulation. These two lines establishing the whole ci's tone: the wit's within the solemn, the playful brush and yet the country-household-loyalty as the ground. The Jiaxuan's first the family-origin, then the surname, then the life, layer-on-layer's advance, placing one xin character's on the loyal-family-tradition's background's examination, then the below's hardship and bitter-sigh's, all's the deeper backing, the opening at once seeing the craft.
艰辛做就，悲辛滋味，总是辛酸辛苦
It was wrought of hardship, the taste of grief, always sour toil and pain.
一生由艰辛铸成，满含悲辛辛酸，总归是辛酸辛苦。
Wrought through hardship, steeped in bitter grief, it is all sour toil and bitter labor.
此句是上片的核心，三「辛」排比，将姓氏化作命运注脚，奇绝横生。「艰辛」写其生平之艰——起义南归、孤军奋战、宦海浮沉，步步皆艰；「悲辛」写其心境之悲——壮志成灰、报国无门、谗毁交加，事事可悲；「辛酸辛苦」总括之，酸苦交加，穷而后工。四组辛字层层递进，如连珠炮发，将「辛」字的每一种含义都翻检出来，与自己的一生一一对应，读来字字血泪，却以游戏笔法出之，愈是说得轻松，愈见其沉痛。此句是「以字为词」的典型示范：姓氏本为标记，稼轩却将其写成一部个人命运的悲辛史，构思之奇、用情之深，皆臻极致。
This line is the first stanza's core, three xin's parallel, turning the surname's into the fate's footnote, the wonder's extreme. The hardship-wrought writing the life's hardship — the uprising-southward-return, the lone-army's battle, the official-sea's ups-and-downs, the step's all-hard; the bitter-grief-steeped writing the mind's grief — the lofty-ambition's ash, the country-serving's no-door, the slander's piling, the affair's all-grievous; the sour-toil-and-bitter-labor's total-inclusion, the sour-and-bitter's mutual, the poverty-then-finish. Four groups of xin characters layer-on-layer's advance, like the linked-cannon's fire, turning the xin character's every meaning's the inspection-out, with his own life's one-to-one correspondence, reading it's every-word-blood-and-tears, and yet using the playful brush's utterance, the more the light-talking, the more the grief. This line's the word-as-ci's typical demonstration: the surname's originally the mark, and yet the Jiaxuan's turning it's into a personal fate's bitter-grief history, the conception's wonder and the feeling's depth, both reaching the extreme.
更十分、向人辛辣，椒桂捣残堪吐
And all the more, to men he is pungent: like crushed pepper and cassia, fit to be spat out.
更那十分、对人辛辣，如同椒桂捣碎也堪吐出。
And more than a little, he is pungent toward others: like pounded pepper and cassia, fit to be spat out.
此句由「辛」之酸苦转向「辛」之辛辣，写词人之性情。「更十分、向人辛辣」写其为人刚直辛辣、锋芒毕露，不肯随人俯仰；「椒桂捣残堪吐」用《楚辞》椒桂之典，谓己之言如椒桂之辛烈，捣碎亦不堪入口——既是自嘲，亦是自许：辛辣者不为世所容，恰证明其不与世同污。此句是全词的转折，由写命运之「辛」转入写性情之「辛」，词人不再是被动承受辛酸，而是主动以辛辣示人，傲骨铮铮，掷地有声。自嘲之中有自负，谐谑之下有刚烈，正是稼轩「刚拙」本色最集中的体现，也是全词嬉笑怒骂风格的极致。
This line from the xin's sour-bitter's turning to the xin's pungent, writing the poet's temperament. The and-all-the-more-to-men-he-is-pungent writing his being's upright-and-pungent, the edge's exposed, the no-following-people's-bending; the like-crushed-pepper-and-cassia-fit-to-be-spat-out using the Li-Sao's pepper-cassia allusion, meaning his words like the pepper-cassia's pungent, the pounded and yet's no-entry-able — at once the self-mockery, and yet the self-praise: the pungent's not the world's tolerating, precisely proving his no-world's-shared-dirt. This line's the whole ci's turning, from the fate's xin's writing to the temperament's xin's writing, the poet's no longer the passively-bearing-the-sour-grief, and yet the actively-showing-the-pungency, the proud-bone's rigid, the word's weighty. The self-mockery's within the self-praise, the wit's beneath the stern, precisely the Jiaxuan's upright-awkward nature's most concentrated embodiment, and the whole ci's laughing-and-scolding style's extreme.
教儿且覆掌中杯，做个五湖归去
Teach the son to tip the cup in hand; be one who goes to the Five Lakes and returns.
教儿且倾覆掌中杯，做个归隐五湖的人。
Tell my son to drain the cup in his palm; let me be the man who returns to the Five Lakes.
结句故作旷达，反衬英雄失路之郁愤。「教儿」写示儿以志，稼轩《示儿》诗「王师北定中原日，家祭无忘告乃翁」是含泪之嘱，此处「教儿且覆掌中杯」却是劝饮之语，一悲一放，皆英雄末路之态；「覆掌中杯」写倾杯痛饮，豪迈中见苍凉；「做个五湖归去」化用范蠡泛舟五湖之典，谓从此归隐江湖。然稼轩志在恢复中原，非如范蠡功成身退，「五湖归去」四字愈是说得洒脱，愈见其不得已——归隐是失路的退路，旷达是郁愤的伪装。此句以谐语收束全词，而块垒自见，嬉笑之怒甚于裂眦，正是辛词「刚拙」与「沉郁」的完美统一。
The closing line's the fake-openness, setting-off-the-hero's-lost-road indignation. The tell-my-son writing the son-instruction, the Jiaxuan's Show-the-Son poem's the royal-army's-northern-fixing-the-Central-Plains-day's family-sacrifice's-no-forget-tell-your-father's the tearful injunction, here's the tell-my-son-to-drain-the-cup-in-his-palm's and yet the drinking-admonition words, one-grief-one-release, both the hero's end-of-road pose; the drain-the-palm-cup writing the cup-inclined's deep-drinking, the boldness's within the bleakness; the let-me-be-the-man-who-returns-to-the-Five-Lakes adapting Fan Li's Five-Lakes-boat allusion, meaning from now's the hermitage-and-lakes-rivers. And yet the Jiaxuan's will's the Central-Plains' recovery, not like Fan Li's achievement-retreat, the Five-Lakes'-return four words' the more the free-easy's the more seeing the forced — the hermitage's the lost-road's retreat, the openness's the indignation's disguise. This line using the witty words for the whole ci's close, and yet the pent-up's self-seen, the laughter's anger's more than the glaring eye, precisely the Xin-ci's upright-awkward and somber's perfect unity.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Both Xin exile works; one plays on the surname, one ascends a tower to pour feeling; both firm-awkward and pent-up.
《水龙吟·过南剑双溪楼》写词人登楼远眺，见双溪楼头、剑光剑气，感恢复无期而壮志难酬，沉郁悲壮，是稼轩英雄词的正格；《永遇乐·戏赋辛字》写词人闲居解字，借「辛」字铺陈生平，谐谑自嘲，是稼轩游戏词之奇格。一登楼抒怀，悲歌慷慨；一赋字自剖，嬉笑怒骂。然二词实为同源：皆写英雄失路之郁愤，皆见稼轩「刚拙」之本色，只是正笔与侧笔之别。并读可见稼轩词的两副笔墨——慷慨激昂者如长剑出鞘，诙谐沉痛者如匕首藏锋，皆为胸中块垒之不同出口。
陆游·金错刀行 Lu You: Golden-Spindle Knife Song 陆游 · 同属南宋爱国诗词，豪宕之气可相伯仲 Same theme, patriotic aspirationBoth Southern Song patriotic ci; Xin writes pent-up in jest, Lu writes rage in boldness; compare the bold air.
陆游《金错刀行》以「黄金错刀白玉装，夜穿窗扉出光芒」起笔，写丈夫五十功未立、提刀独立顾八荒的慷慨，直抒爱国之志，悲壮豪宕；辛弃疾《永遇乐·戏赋辛字》以「忠肝义胆，千载家谱」立骨，借姓氏谐谑写身世之慨，沉痛中含幽默。二作同为南宋爱国文学之精品，皆写壮志难酬之悲，而陆游以慷慨写愤，如烈火燎原；稼轩以诙谐写郁，如冷铁凝霜。一明一暗，一放一敛，正见南宋爱国诗人词人的不同个性：放翁之愤，喷薄而出；稼轩之郁，盘郁入骨，皆为时代之悲音。
辛弃疾·太常引·建康中秋夜为吕叔潜赋 Xin Qiji: Tai Chang Yin 辛弃疾 · 同借节序抒怀抱，同见英雄失路之叹 Same poet, reflectionBoth lodge feeling by season; one on 'Xin,' one asks the moon; both show the hero's thwarted sigh.
《太常引·建康中秋夜为吕叔潜赋》写中秋之夜对月抒怀，「斫去桂婆娑，人道是、清光更多」，借伐月中桂影暗喻铲除奸佞、廓清朝廷之志，想象奇崛；《永遇乐·戏赋辛字》写闲居之日解字自嘲，「艰辛做就，悲辛滋味，总是辛酸辛苦」，借姓氏铺陈写一生之慨。二词同借一事之题（节序、姓氏）抒怀抱，皆以奇思写郁愤：一问月，一问姓，皆见稼轩「别开生面」的构思本领，亦皆见英雄失路之叹。一壮阔，一诙谐；一激昂，一沉痛，合观足见稼轩词想象与情感的双重张力。