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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

扬州慢

Yangzhou Slow

姜夔

Jiang Kui

自度曲Theme 怀古伤乱memory 南宋Theme

淳熙丙申至日，予过维扬。
夜雪初霁，荠麦弥望。
入其城，则四顾萧条，寒水自碧，暮色渐起，戍角悲吟。
予怀怆然，感慨今昔，因自度此曲。
千岩老人以为有黍离之悲也。
淮左名都，竹西佳处，解鞍少驻初程。
过春风十里，尽荠麦青青。
自胡马窥江去后，废池乔木，犹厌言兵。
渐黄昏，清角吹寒，都在空城。
杜郎俊赏，算而今、重到须惊。
纵豆蔻词工，青楼梦好，难赋深情。
二十四桥仍在，波心荡、冷月无声。
念桥边红药，年年知为谁生。

淳熙丙申至日，予过维扬。夜雪初霁，荠麦弥望。入其城，则四顾萧条，寒水自碧，暮色渐起，戍角悲吟。予怀怆然，感慨今昔，因自度此曲。千岩老人以为有黍离之悲也。

淮左名都，竹西佳处，解鞍少驻初程。过春风十里，尽荠麦青青。自胡马窥江去后，废池乔木，犹厌言兵。渐黄昏，清角吹寒，都在空城。
杜郎俊赏，算而今、重到须惊。纵豆蔻词工，青楼梦好，难赋深情。二十四桥仍在，波心荡、冷月无声。念桥边红药，年年知为谁生。

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Meaning

A song of mourning over Yangzhou, once a prosperous city ravaged by war; the poet walks its ruins and finds only desolation and cold moonlight.

淳熙丙申年冬至日，我经过扬州。夜雪刚放晴，满眼荠菜麦苗。进入城中，四顾萧条，寒水自呈碧色，暮色渐起，军中号角悲凉。我心中凄怆，感慨今昔之变，于是自创此曲。千岩老人认为它有《黍离》的悲凉。淮左的名城，竹西的佳处，解鞍稍作停留初段行程。走过春风十里的旧地，全是荠麦青青。自从胡骑窥伺长江离去之后，废池乔木，仍厌恶说起兵事。渐到黄昏，凄清号角吹寒，都在空城之中。杜牧善于游赏，算来如今重到也定会吃惊。纵然豆蔻词工，青楼梦好，也难赋深情。二十四桥仍在，波心荡漾着冷月无声。想那桥边红芍药，年年知为谁而生。

Appreciation

Jiang Kui's 'Yangzhou Slow' is a self-composed tune (zidu qu) and a landmark of Southern Song lyric poetry, written in 1176 after he found the once-glorious city of Yangzhou reduced to ruins by the Jin invasions. Its artistry lies in a 'clear and ethereal' (qingkong) manner that fuses scene and feeling without overt lament: the poet opens with a spatial survey of the empty city, then lets desolation speak through contrast--'ten li of spring breeze' now overgrown with shepherd's-purse and wheat, against the remembered splendor of Du Mu's earlier Yangzhou poems. Personification sharpens the grief ('the ruined ponds and old trees still shrink from speaking of war'), while the cold, soundless moon on the Twenty-Four Bridges turns silence itself into mourning. The closing image of red peonies blooming year after year 'for whom?' writes sorrow through a seemingly joyful scene. Praised by Qianyan the Old Man as bearing the grief of 'Shu Li' (the fallen capital), the lyric transmutes national trauma into restrained, luminous lines and stands as Jiang Kui's supreme meditation on history's ruins.

【白话串讲】姜夔路过扬州，写《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”——当年的繁华，如今长满荠麦。“自胡马窥江去后，废池乔木，犹厌言兵”——“二十四桥仍在，波心荡、冷月无声”——“念桥边红药，年年知为谁生”——他写扬州的萧条。千岩老人评它有“黍离之悲”。【意象与手法】上片写战后扬州萧条，“过春风十里尽荠麦青青”以昔日繁华对照今日荒凉；“废池乔木犹厌言兵”拟人写尽创痛，“清角吹寒都在空城”以声衬寂。下片借杜牧衬托，“纵豆蔻词工青楼梦好亦难赋深情”翻进一层写哀；“二十四桥仍在，冷月无声”“念桥边红药，年年知为谁生”以乐景写哀。清空骚雅、情景交融。【情感与主旨】姜夔路过扬州目睹战乱后名城残破而作，千岩老人萧德藻许其有《黍离》之悲。将家国之痛寄于清劲空灵之笔，是白石自度曲的代表作，亦宋词中怀古伤乱的绝唱。【名句点睛】常考“废池乔木，犹厌言兵”以无情之物写有情之痛；“念桥边红药，年年知为谁生”以红药不知为谁生写荒凉。

Background

Written in 1176 when Jiang Kui (then 21) visited Yangzhou twelve years after the Jin invasion (1161) that devastated the city. The preface sets the scene of snow, ruins, and mournful military horns.

姜夔，字尧章，号白石道人，南宋婉约词大家，开清空词派。此词作于淳熙三年冬至（至日即冬至），姜夔二十余岁，路过扬州，目睹战乱后名城残破，满目荠麦，戍角悲吟，怆然写下此自度曲。扬州自隋代以来为繁华都会，杜牧诗中春风十里、二十四桥，皆是盛世剪影；至南宋初，金兵两度南侵，建炎三年与绍兴三十一年，扬州惨遭劫掠，繁华化为废墟。姜夔过此，正值劫后数十年，而创伤未愈，遂成凭吊之题。小序自述创作缘起，并引千岩老人萧德藻评语，以为有《黍离》之悲。《黍离》为《诗经·王风》篇，写周大夫行役至宗周，见故都荒废，禾黍离离，悲不自胜。白石以自度曲写今昔之慨，将家国之痛寄于清劲空灵之笔，在宋词怀古伤乱之作中独标清空一格，足称绝唱。白石虽为一布衣词人，而此词所寄，实乃一代之悲，非个人身世之叹而已，其沉郁由此而来。过扬州而伤盛衰，本是常题，白石之异，在能以清空之笔写沉痛，不落悲号。

Art

A self-composed tune (自度曲); the lyric moves from a spatial survey (city, bridges) to a chilling stillness — the cold, silent moon replaces human life. It invokes Du Mu's earlier poems of Yangzhou's glory to sharpen the contrast.

此词上片写战后扬州萧条，下片借杜牧翻进一层，通篇以乐景写哀、以虚衬实，清空骚雅。起三句淮左名都，竹西佳处，解鞍少驻初程，以美誉点题，却只解鞍少驻，暗含不敢久留的怅惘。过春风十里，尽荠麦青青，以杜牧春风十里之繁华盛景，对比如今满城荠麦，今昔反差触目惊心。自胡马窥江去后数句，废池乔木，犹厌言兵，赋无情之物以人性，连废池乔木都厌恶提及兵祸，创痛之深可见；渐黄昏，清角吹寒，都在空城，以声（号角）写寂，以寒写冷，空城二字收束上片凄凉。下片杜郎俊赏，算而今重到须惊，借杜牧之眼反观今之残破；纵豆蔻词工，青楼梦好，难赋深情，翻进一层：纵有杜牧之才，也写不尽此哀。末以二十四桥仍在，冷月无声，桥边红药年年为谁生收束，以物之无情反衬人之伤痛。全词情景交融，层层递进，于空灵中见沉郁。清空之中藏沉郁，以虚写实，以冷写热，正是此词所以能成怀古伤乱绝唱的根本缘故。

Allusions

黍离之悲 (sorrow of the Millet) — from the 'Shu Li' poem of the Book of Songs, mourning a fallen capital; 杜郎 (Master Du) = Du Mu, whose Tang poems glorified Yangzhou; 二十四桥 (Twenty-Four Bridges), a famous Yangzhou landmark; 豆蔻 / 青楼梦 echo Du Mu's lines.

此词用典使事，皆贴切沉痛。首引《诗经·王风·黍离》之悲，小序明言千岩老人以为有黍离之悲，黍离写故都荒废，禾黍油油，正合扬州劫后之象，定下家国兴亡的悲调。杜牧事与句凡数见：春风十里出自杜牧《赠别》春风十里扬州路；豆蔻词工用其《赠别》娉娉袅袅十三余，豆蔻梢头二月初；青楼梦好用其《遣怀》十年一觉扬州梦，赢得青楼薄幸名；二十四桥用其《寄扬州韩绰判官》二十四桥明月夜。白石罗列杜牧咏扬州的繁华语汇，却一一以今日残破否定之，是以古之丽句衬今之荒凉，翻案手法极见匠心。胡马窥江指金兵渡江之祸。诸典串联起扬州由盛转衰的记忆，使一首小词承载了整部城市兴亡史。以古人之丽句写今日之残破，翻案手法之妙，于此可见一斑，亦见白石点化故实的高明。杜牧诸句，原是盛唐余韵，白石一一拈来，反作今日凄凉之反衬，命意良苦。

Commentary

The genius is negative space: what is absent (people, music, prosperity) is evoked by what remains (bridges, moon, peonies). The closing peony question turns the whole city's loss into a single, unanswerable plaint.

扬州慢在姜夔词中地位极高，历来推为清空词派代表作，亦宋词怀古伤乱之绝唱。张炎《词源》标举清空，以白石为宗，此词正是清空之范：不堆垛、不质实，以虚写实，以冷写热。其废池乔木，犹厌言兵一语，以无情之物写有情之痛，拟人入妙，为后世评家激赏，谓其炼字已至不犯正位之境。上片写实景之哀，下片借杜牧虚写，虚实相生，冷月无声、红药为谁生，皆于无声处见惊心动魄。清人评白石词，多以骚雅目之，此词小序自道自度此曲，又借千岩老人之口定调，足见其自矜。较之柳永铺叙繁华、东坡旷达豪放，白石另辟清空一途，影响及于张炎、王沂孙等格律词人。今读此词，犹能于冷月无声四字中，听见一座名城千年的叹息，其艺术张力历久而不衰。千载之下读之，犹觉冷月无声四字，足抵一篇《芜城赋》，其艺术张力之强，信不诬也。自石湖许以黍离之悲，后世遂定其调，清空词派亦自此一阕而立。

Prosody

Form English explanation is being prepared.扬州慢，姜夔自度曲，双调九十八字，平韵体，属白石自创之清雅慢词

Rhyme English explanation is being prepared.全词押平声韵，程、青、兵、城、惊、情、生、声（及生重出），大致属庚青等平韵，一韵到底，声情舒徐低回，与怆然悲凉之情相协。

Tone pattern English explanation is being prepared.自度曲平仄多依白石审定工尺，句式长短错落，如过春风十里为四三读，渐黄昏为三二读，节奏舒缓如诉。

Reading note Slow, long tune (慢词) 'Yangzhou Man'; the prefixed prose note is itself a miniature of the ruined scene; tonal patterns are slowed to convey grief.扬州慢是姜夔自度曲的代表，其声律之讲究在宋词中首屈一指。词前小序不仅交代缘起，更明言自度此曲，足见白石于音律的自信。全词以平声一韵到底，程、青、兵、城、惊、情、生、声皆平收，发音舒徐悠长，恰配怆然感慨、低回不尽的语调，绝无激越豪宕之音，正合清空词派温润而沉郁的气质。句式上，白石善用领字与顿挫，如过春风十里、纵豆蔻词工、念桥边红药，读来如歌如叹。尤其过片以杜郎俊赏另起一意，虚实切换自然。这种音律与情感的高度统一，使扬州慢既是文学作品，也是可歌之曲，体现了姜夔作为音乐家兼词人的独特造诣，对后世格律词影响极为深远。

Line by line

过春风十里，尽荠麦青青。

I walk the ten-li stretch of spring breeze, all overgrown with green shepherd's-purse and wheat.

走过春风十里的旧地，全是荠麦青青。

I cross the spring-breeze's ten-li road; everywhere wild greens and barley are green.

这一句是全词今昔对比的枢纽。春风十里本出自杜牧诗句，写扬州昔日烟花繁盛、歌吹连天；白石偏接以尽荠麦青青，昔日十里珠帘、宝马香车，如今只剩满城野荠麦苗。一盛一衰，不着议论而断肠已见。尽字力重千钧，写尽繁华扫地、生机尽失的荒凉；青青写野草之色，本是春意，在此却成荒芜之象，以乐景写哀，倍觉凄凉。更妙在暗用杜牧旧典，使读者先在脑中唤起扬州盛世，再被眼前的荠麦击碎，这种以历史记忆反衬现实残破的笔法，正是白石怀古之精髓。

This line is the whole ci's past-present contrast hinge. The spring-breeze-long's originally from Du Mu's line, writing Yangzhou's bygone fireworks'-prosperity and song-sound's sky-reaching; Baishi's precisely's followed by all-is-wild-greens-and-barley-green-and-green, the year's ten-li-pearl-curtains-and-gilded-cars' now's only's the city-full wild-greens-and-barley. One-prosperity-one-decline, no-argument-and-yet-the-bowels'-breaking's seen. The jin word's the weight-of-a-thousand-jun, exhausting the prosperity's swept-clean-and-the-vitality's lost desolation; the green-green writing the wild-grass's color, originally's the spring-feeling, here's and yet's the desolation's image, using the joy-scene for the grief-writing, the more's the bleakness. The wonder's the secret use of Du Mu's old allusion, making the reader's first's the mind's eye's summoning Yangzhou's golden age, and yet the present wild-greens' shattering, this using the historical-memory's setting-off-the-reality's-ruin brush, precisely Baishi's nostalgia's essence.

自胡马窥江去后，废池乔木，犹厌言兵。

Since the barbarian horses peered across the river and withdrew, the ruined ponds and old trees still shrink from speaking of war.

自从胡骑窥伺长江离去之后，废池乔木，仍厌恶说起兵事。

Since the barbarian horse peered at the river and left, ruined pools and tall trees still hate to speak of war.

此三句由景入情，将残破之态升华为创痛之深。胡马窥江指金兵南侵，是扬州浩劫的总根；废池乔木写劫后遗迹——池苑荒废、乔木残存，是静默的物证。最奇在犹厌言兵四字：连无知无情的废池乔木，都厌恶、回避提起兵祸，则人之伤痛更何如？白石于此以拟人赋物以情，避开了直写血泪的笨重，反以物之厌衬人之悲，举重若轻。厌字极含蓄又极沉痛，写出创伤之深已非言语可道。此句历来为评家称赏，正因其于清空之中藏着最炽热的家国之痛。

These three lines from the scene's to the feeling, elevating the ruin's appearance to the wound's depth. The barbarian-horse-peered-at-the-river meaning the Jin's southward invasion, Yangzhou's catastrophe's total-root; the ruined-pools-and-tall-trees writing the post-disaster traces — the pool-garden's waste and the tall-tree's survival, the silent evidence. The wonder's in the still-hate-to-speak-of-war four words: even the ignorant-and-feelingless ruined-pool-and-old-tree's the hating-and-avoiding-the-war's mention, then the person's pain's the more's what? Baishi here's using the personification's granting-the-thing's-feeling, avoiding the direct-tear-blood's clumsiness, and yet using the thing's-hate's setting-off-the-person's-grief, the heavy's handled-as-light. The yan word's the most reserved and yet the most grief-stricken, writing the wound's depth's no-longer's the words'-speakable. This line's through-the-ages's the critics' praised, precisely because of its's the empty's within's hiding the hottest country-and-household pain.

二十四桥仍在，波心荡、冷月无声。

The Twenty-Four Bridges are still there; on the ripple's heart a cold moon quivers, soundless.

二十四桥仍在，波心荡漾着冷月无声。

The Twenty-Four Bridges remain; in the wave's center the cold moon trembles, silent.

此句为下片眼目，亦全词最空灵之笔。二十四桥仍在，桥是杜牧诗中的名桥，依然横跨，而桥边之人、之梦、之歌吹皆已不在，仅余一仍在，道尽物是人非。波心荡、冷月无声，写桥下波光摇荡，一轮冷月浸于水中悄然无声。冷字兼写月色之寒与心境之寒；无声则写尽死寂——连月亮都沉默了，仿佛不忍出声惊破这废墟的安宁。以景语结情，不著一哀字而哀思弥漫。二十四桥与冷月，一实一虚，一古一今，构成时空交错的苍凉画面，是白石清空美学的最高体现。

This line's the second stanza's eye, and the whole ci's most ethereal brush. The Twenty-Four-Bridges-remain, the bridge's Du Mu's poem's famous bridge, as-ever spanning, and yet the bridge's person's, dream's, and song's all's gone, only's the one still-there's, exhausting the thing's-as-ever-and-the-person's-different. The in-the-wave's-center-the-cold-moon-trembles-silent writing the bridge's below's wave's light's tremor, one-cold-moon's immersed-in-the-water's quiet-silent. The leng word's the dual-writing of the moonlight's coldness and the mind's coldness; the soundless's exhausting the death-stillness — even the moon's silent, as if's the unwilling's the sound's breaking-the-ruins'-peace. Using the scene-words' feeling-close, not-landing-one-grief-word and yet the grief's permeating. The Twenty-Four-Bridges and the cold moon, one-solid-one-void, one-old-one-present, forming the time-space's interwoven bleak picture, Baishi's empty aesthetics' highest embodiment.

念桥边红药，年年知为谁生。

I think of the red peonies by the bridge — year after year, for whom do they bloom?

想那桥边红芍药，年年知为谁而生。

Think of the red peonies by the bridge — year by year, for whom do they bloom?

结句宕开一笔，以问作收，余味无穷。桥边红药，仍用杜牧扬州意象（红药即芍药，扬州名花）；年年知为谁生，以花之无知反衬人之有情：芍药年年自开，却再无人欣赏，它究竟为谁而开？这一问把前面的空城、冷月、废池，统统收束为一种绵长的怅惘。花无情而开，城有情而毁，物之生生不息反显人之飘零无依。白石不答为谁生，留白给读者，恰合清空词言有尽而意无穷之妙。一首怀古伤乱之作，至此由具体的历史悲慨，化为对生命无常的普遍叹息。

The closing line's the open-stroke, using the question's close, the aftertone endless. The bridge's red peonies, still using Du Mu's Yangzhou image (the red-yao i.e. the peony, Yangzhou's famous flower); the year-by-year-for-whom-do-they-bloom, using the flower's ignorance's setting-off-the-person's-feeling: the peony's year-after-year's self-blooming, and yet the no-one's admiring, it's precisely-for-whom's blooming? This one question's the above's empty-city, cold-moon, ruined-pool, all's gathered into one long-drawn wistfulness. The flower's feelingless-and-yet-blooming, the city's feelingful-and-yet-ruined, the thing's life's endless's instead's revealing the person's drifting's no-support. Baishi's not-answering-for-whom-blooms, the blank-reserve to the reader, precisely matching the empty-ci's words'-limited-and-yet-meaning's-endless wonder. One nostalgic-war-sorrow work, to here's from the concrete historical grief, transformed into the life's impermanence's universal sigh.

Study

Word focus

厌 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 犹厌言兵的厌字，是全词炼字最令人叫绝处。废池乔木本无情识，白石却赋予其厌弃、回避的情感，说它们仍厌恶提起兵祸。这一拟人，使无情之物成了创伤的见证者：连草木池台都不忍回首，何况亲历其痛的人？厌字较之怕、恨、悲等字更含蓄蕴藉，以物的被动回避，折射出人的主动创痛，举重若轻。它避开了直写血泪的质实，归于清空，却把家国之痛压得更深。此一字，足证白石炼字已入不犯正位之化境。

空 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 都在空城的空字，是上片收束之眼，亦全词之骨。空城二字，上承荠麦青青、废池乔木，下启冷月无声、红药为谁生，是贯穿全词的荒凉底色。空不仅写城池无人、市廛寂灭的物理之空，更写繁华消逝、记忆无处安放的精神之空。清角吹寒都在空城，以声（角）入空，以寒（触觉）写空，使空可闻可感。白石以空字统摄全篇，与杜牧笔下的满城笙歌形成最刺心的对照——昔日之满，正是今日之空的注脚。

冷 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 冷月无声的冷字，是下片炼字之魂。冷兼写月色之清寒与词人心境之凄寒，一字双关，物我同此凉薄。月本是无温之物，着一冷字更显孤绝；而冷与无声相配，写尽死寂——连月光都冷得寂然，则人间之悲已非言语可状。白石善用冷字（如暗香香冷入瑶席），以此铸成清空词派的体温。冷月对热忆（昔日繁华），构成今昔的温度反差，使怀古之哀有了可触的寒意，是清空美学中极见匠心的字眼。

仍 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 二十四桥仍在的仍字，看似平常，却是今昔对照的支点。桥是杜牧诗里的名桥，千百年伫立如故；而桥边的人、事、歌吹早已灰飞烟灭。仍字写出物的恒常反衬人的无常——繁华来去，桥自岿然，它冷眼见证了几度兴亡。这一个仍字，把具体的扬州劫后之悲，延伸为对历史循环的苍茫之感。它与下句冷月无声、末句年年知为谁生遥相呼应，共同构成一种物是人非、天地不语的沉郁基调，是白石以虚字担起全篇情感重量的范例。

扬州慢