宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric
江城子
Jiangchengzi
华灯高宴水精宫。
浪花中。
意无穷。
十载江湖，重绾汉符铜。
应有青藜存往事，人缥缈，佩丁东。
卧听萧寺响疏钟。
渡溪风。
转空蒙。
月上孤窗，邻唱有渔翁。
追念使君清坐久，歌一发，恨千重。
Amid the spray of the waves.
My thoughts know no end.
Ten years on rivers and lakes; again I gird the Han bronze tally.
There should be the green torch recalling past things—the figure dim, a jade pendant tinkling.
Lying, I hear the distant bell in the Xiao temple.
The wind across the creek.
Turns misty and vague.
The moon climbs the lonely window; a fisherman's song next door.
I muse on the governor, sitting long in quiet; one note of song, and a thousandfold regret.
Meaning
The lyric opens with a brilliant feast by the river, then turns to the poet's ten years of wandering official life and his reappointment to a provincial post. A lonely night of temple bells and a fisherman's song leads to recollection of an old friend, where one note of song evokes a thousandfold regret. Beneath the splendor lies the exile-scholar's loneliness and longing for lost companions and a troubled age.
华灯之下,盛宴设在临江的水精宫里;人在浪花之中,意兴却绵延没有尽头。漂泊江湖已有十年,如今又重佩铜符,出守州郡。卧在床榻,静听萧寺传来疏落的钟声。追想故交使君清坐良久,歌喉一启,便牵动起千重离恨。
Appreciation
The structure opens with 'feast' and closes with 'bell,' moving from outward splendor to inward solitude, with a circular echo between stanzas. Short three-character lines and leading words ('there should be,' 'musing') modulate the breath; scene and feeling alternate like a flute, sound broken yet meaning connected. The close 'one note of song, a thousandfold regret' condenses all into a single heavy word, lingering long after.
【白话串讲】 沈与求写江城子：“华灯高宴水精宫。浪花中。意无穷”。“十载江湖，重绾汉符铜”——“卧听萧寺响疏钟”——“月上孤窗，邻唱有渔翁”——他写江上旧梦。 【意象与手法】 此词以「宴」起、以「钟」结,上片华灯水精、浪花无穷,铺陈繁华;下片疏钟空蒙、孤窗渔唱,转写清寂,上下片句式遥相回环。词中善用三字短句与「应有」「追念」等领字斡旋气脉,虚实相间。「重绾汉符铜」以铜符代郡守之任,「青藜」「萧寺」诸典融入情景,如盐著水,由乐景转孤景,层次分明。 【情感与主旨】 此词是南渡士人沈与求宦游心影的写照。「十载江湖」写尽靖康南渡以来漂泊流转之劳,「重绾汉符铜」则透出身不由己、宦海难脱的无奈。一场高宴,终究难掩「歌一发,恨千重」的孤恨——这千重之恨,兼含知己零落、时局飘摇与身世浮沉,繁华是表,孤寂是里,清远含蓄之中,别有一种蕴藉苍凉。 【名句点睛】 「歌一发,恨千重」:以极小的「一发」触发极大的「千重」,歌声方起而离恨并至,反差强烈,力重千钧;十个字收束全篇,繁华、追念、孤清凝于一处,戛然而止,余恨无穷。
Background
Shen Yuqiu, styled Bixian, was a Deqing man of Huzhou, a Zhenghe-era jinshi who after the southern crossing rose to Participant in Affairs of State, posthumously titled Zhongmin, with the Guixi Collection. His memorials were famed for blunt candor. This Jiangchengzi was likely written in the Shaoxing years amid his travels between rivers and lakes and provincial posts. 'Ten years on rivers and lakes; again I gird the Han bronze tally' points directly to his life: a decade of drifting since the Jingkang crossing, then reappointed to govern a prefecture—the sigh of official ups and downs. 'Bright lanterns, lofty feast' and 'lying, I hear the sparse bell' write his present of feasting and quiet contemplation. In the early southern crossing, the polity was turbulent; scholars wavered between retreat and service, and Shen, though honored, was often sent out—this lyric is the portrait of his official-wandering heart: splendor above, solitude within, a clear, distant, contained grief.
沈与求,字必先,湖州德清人,北宋政和五年进士,南渡后历官御史中丞、吏部尚书,官至参知政事,卒谥忠敏,有《龟溪集》传世。其奏议剀切敢言,为一时所重,《四库全书总目》著录其集即称其「奏疏最为剀切」,足见其人风骨。此首《江城子》当作于绍兴年间其往来江湖、出守外郡之际。词中「十载江湖,重绾汉符铜」一句,直点身世:自靖康南渡至绍兴初,奔波十年,复又佩符典郡,宦海浮沉之慨溢于言表。「华灯高宴水精宫」「卧听萧寺响疏钟」则写其宴饮清游、听钟悟静的当下生涯。南渡之初,政局扰攘,士大夫于出处进退之间多有低徊,沈与求身负时望而屡更外任,此词正是其宦游心影的写真:上半写高宴上的往事追怀,下半写卧听疏钟的孤清况味,华丽之中见萧散,热闹之中藏孤寂,足见其虽居显位而未失林泉之思。此词语意深婉,不作激楚之音,而十年宦迹、一夕清游,皆于寥寥数语中映现,是南渡词中写士人心态不可多得的佳篇。
Art
The composition opens with 'feast' and closes with 'bell,' turning from outward brilliance to inward solitude, well opened and closed, finely circular. The first stanza's three short lines push the lens near then far; 'ten years… again gird the tally' binds his life in a couplet; 'there should be the green torch…' moves from real to void, most ethereal. The second stanza echoes the first's structure, turning from bell to moonlit fisher-song, the scene quieter and farther. The close condenses all in 'one note, a thousandfold regret,' stopping short with long resonance. Leading words and short lines weave the breath; feeling turns with scene, read like a flute, sound broken yet meaning linked.
此词章法以「宴」起、以「钟」结,由外景之绚烂转入内心之孤寂,开合有度,回环有致。上片「华灯高宴水精宫。浪花中。意无穷」三句,以短句铺排,如镜头层层推近,先示灯宴之盛,次及江浪之渺,再点意绪之远,节奏跳宕而气脉不断。「十载江湖,重绾汉符铜」以对句绾合身世,一笔兜住十年漂泊;「应有青藜存往事,人缥缈,佩丁东」则由实入虚,于想象中追念故人,缥缈之笔最见空灵。下片「卧听萧寺响疏钟。渡溪风。转空蒙」与上片句式遥相呼应,形成回环结构;「月上孤窗,邻唱有渔翁」由听钟转写月夜渔唱,画面愈静而意境愈远。「追念使君清坐久,歌一发,恨千重」以结句收束万端,一声歌发而恨意千重,戛然而止,余味悠长。全词善用三字短句与领字斡旋气脉,「应有」「追念」两处领字,实字虚字,错落有致,疏密相间,情随景转,读之如听洞箫,声断而意连,是宋词讲究结构浑成、以章法见长之作。
Allusions
'Again I gird the Han bronze tally' adapts the Han system of bronze tiger tallies for commandery prefects, later meaning the prefect's office; 'again gird' writes his reappointment, with a 'Han official majesty' wistfulness. 'Green torch' comes from the Sanfu Huangtu: Liu Xiang collating books by a torch-bearing old man (Taiyi's spirit), later meaning scholarly lamps and literary friendship—here recalling old ties with a friend. 'Xiao temple' names Buddhist monasteries after Liang Wudi's piety, hinting all dust is void and official zeal fading. 'Crystal Palace' was a Tang term for a fine waterside dwelling, used here with water-and-moon clarity to set the poem's limpid tone. Allusions blend in unnoticed, like salt in water.
词中用典虽简,却皆有来历,且暗含身世之感,正见宋人「用事不使人觉」之妙。「重绾汉符铜」化用汉代郡守佩铜虎符之制,《汉书》记文帝二年初与郡守为铜虎符、竹使符,后世遂以「铜符」代指郡守之任;词人言「重绾」,写自己再典州郡、重佩官符,既状写实职,亦带出「汉官威仪」般的沧桑意味,十年宦海,尽在此四字之中。「青藜」典出《三辅黄图》:刘向校书天禄阁,夜有老人燃藜杖照之,自云太乙之精,后遂以「青藜」指寒窗灯火与文苑清缘,词人追念故交昔日灯下交契,典雅而情长。「萧寺」则因梁武帝萧衍笃好佛教、广造伽蓝而得名,唐宋诗词多以「萧寺」泛称佛寺,词人卧听寺钟,暗寓万缘皆空、宦情渐淡之思。又「水精宫」一名,唐人诗中已多用于指华美临水之居,宋人词中亦习见,此处用之,兼含水月交辉、清莹透澈之意,为全词定下清丽格调。诸典皆不着痕迹地融入情景,既不生僻,亦不堆垛,如水中着盐,味在咸酸之外。
Commentary
The poem's wonder is contrasting the splendid feast with a limpid breast, seeing solitude within sound and color. The first stanza is bustle, the second quiet; between runs the weariness of 'ten years on rivers and lakes' and the deep bond of 'musing on the governor.' The History says Shen was upright and pure; such a man, though at a grand feast, still minds the groves—'again gird the tally' holds helplessness, 'one note, a thousandfold regret' holds the loss of friends and the drifting age. This 'regret' is heavy: not mere love-sorrow, but the southern-exile scholar's intersection of age, fate, and separation. The lyric writes grief in joy, solitude in feast, deep yet not defeated, a clear, distant realm besides Su and Xin's boldness. Its feeling is true not excessive, words plain yet meaning deep.
此词之妙,在于以极丽之筵席反衬极清之襟怀,于声色中见孤迥。上片华灯水精、浪花人意,是热闹;下片疏钟空蒙、孤窗渔唱,是清寂;而贯穿其间的,是「十载江湖」的宦游倦意与「追念使君」的故人深怀。《四库全书总目》称沈与求「生平立身大节,刚正不阿」,其人既刚且清,故虽处华筵,亦心系林泉,「重绾汉符铜」中自有身不由己之叹,「歌一发,恨千重」中自含知交零落与时世飘摇之恨。此「恨」字极重,千重之恨,岂独儿女情长,实兼南渡士人对时局、对身世、对离散的百端交集。全词以乐景写哀、以盛筵写孤,情致深婉而不颓丧,格调在苏辛的雄放之外,别成一种清远含蓄之境。其词情真而不滥,语淡而旨深,较之同时诸家多写悲愤激楚者,别具一种蕴藉从容之美,置于南渡初期词坛,可与向子諲、陈与义诸家并观而无愧色。要之,此词以「恨」为眼,以「清」为骨,繁华是其表,孤寂是其里,正是宦海有涯而心期难遣的士大夫心影。
Prosody
Line by line
华灯高宴水精宫。 浪花中。 意无穷。
Bright lanterns and a lofty feast in the Crystal Palace, amid the spray of waves, my thoughts know no end.
华灯之下,盛宴设在临江的水精宫里;人在浪花之中,意兴却绵延没有尽头。
Bright lamps, a grand feast in the crystal palace; amid the spray of waves, the feeling is endless.
起三句以短促句式营造场景,如镜头由远及近复又及远。「华灯高宴水精宫」先立繁华之象,水精宫既指临水的华美厅堂,亦暗含水精宫阙般的清冷意味,见宴之豪而兼之以清;「浪花中」一笔荡开,把宴席从堂皇的内景拉回江天浩渺的外景,境界顿生空阔;「意无穷」则点出主人公心绪之绵邈,为此词定下「乐而不淫、盛中有远」的基调。三句句断意连,以三字句斡旋气脉,正是《江城子》特有的顿挫之法。看似写景铺陈,实已埋下「意无穷」的伏线,后文所有追念与孤恨,皆自此「无穷」之意蔓延而出,起手便见大家章法。
The opening three lines build the scene in short, abrupt phrases, like a camera moving from far to near and back to far. Bright lamps, a grand feast in the crystal palace first sets the splendor; the crystal palace means the waterside hall and carries a touch of cold clarity, so the feast is grand yet refined. Amid the spray of waves sweeps the brush wide, pulling the feast from the stately interior back to the vast river and sky, and the realm suddenly opens. Feeling is endless points to the protagonist's far-reaching mood, fixing the ci's key of joy without excess, distance within splendor. The lines break yet connect, the three-character phrases turning the breath - the characteristic pausing method of the River City melody. Seeming to describe scenery, they lay the thread of endless feeling, from which all the later remembrance and lonely regret spread; the master's structure shows from the first stroke.
十载江湖，重绾汉符铜。
Ten years on rivers and lakes; again I gird the Han bronze tally.
漂泊江湖已有十年,如今又重佩铜符,出守州郡。
Ten years on the rivers and lakes; again I tie on the Han bronze tally of office.
此二句是全词身世之感最集中的一笔。「十载江湖」以时间与空间的并举,写尽南渡以来辗转漂流的十年;「重绾汉符铜」以「重」字写再度佩符典郡,字面是写实职之任,骨子里却透出身不由己、宦海难脱的无奈。「绾」字用得好,系结之意,写出符节随身、如绳索缠身的意味。「江湖」与「汉符」对举,一隐一仕,一散一拘,中间的张力正是词人内心的矛盾:既已倦于风尘,又不得不重蹈仕途。此二句由前文的宴景转入身世,是全词由外入内、由景入情的枢纽,下文对故人的追念,正由此十年之累引出。
These two lines concentrate the ci's sense of exile. Ten years on the rivers and lakes pairs time and space, writing the ten years of drifting since the southward crossing. Again I tie on the Han bronze tally uses the word again to write taking up office once more - on the surface a post, in the bone the helplessness of being unable to leave official seas. The word tie is well used, binding, writing how the tally clings to the person like a cord. Rivers and lakes and Han tally are set against each other, the recluse and the official, the loose and the bound, and the tension between them is the poet's inner contradiction: weary of dust yet forced back into office. These two lines turn from the feast above to one's lot, the hinge from outside in, from scenery to feeling, and the later remembrance of old friends grows from this ten years' burden.
卧听萧寺响疏钟。
Lying, I hear the sparse bell sounding from the Xiao temple.
卧在床榻,静听萧寺传来疏落的钟声。
Lying abed, I listen to the scattered bells from the temple of pines.
此句是全词由热闹转入孤清的关键,一字一境。「卧」字写其静,「听」字写其专,「疏钟」则状钟声之稀而远;卧而听钟,钟入静中,万籁俱寂而唯此清音在耳,一种淡远的出世之感油然而生。「萧寺」用梁武帝建寺之典,为佛门之代称,钟声正是佛门警示尘梦之声,卧听疏钟,不啻自警自省。此句与上片「华灯高宴」的喧闹恰成对照,同一人之身,前一刻还在华灯浪花之中,此刻已卧听疏钟,繁华与空寂的转换如此之快,愈发显出宴饮之乐原非其心之所安。此句在结构上亦与上片句式遥相呼应,形成上下片回环的枢纽。
This line is the key turn from splendor to solitude, one word one mood. Lying writes the stillness; listen writes the intentness; scattered bells describes the rare, far sound. Lying and listening to the bell, the bell entering the stillness, all sounds hushed and only this clear note in the ear, a faint, faraway sense of leaving the world rising of itself. The temple of pines borrows the Liangwu Emperor temple allusion, standing for the Buddhist cloister, whose bells are the Buddhist warning against worldly dreams; lying and listening to the scattered bell is not unlike self-warning. The line contrasts with the upper stanza's bright lamps and grand feast: the same person, a moment ago amid lamps and waves, now lies listening to sparse bells, and the conversion from splendor to void so swiftly shows the feast's joy was never his heart's ease. Structurally it echoes the upper stanza's phrasing, forming the hinge between the two parts.
追念使君清坐久，歌一发，恨千重。
Musing on the governor sitting long in quiet; one note of song, and a thousandfold regret arises.
追想故交使君清坐良久,歌喉一启,便牵动起千重离恨。
I recall the prefect sitting long in quiet; as soon as the song rises, a thousandfold regret wells up.
结三句收束全篇,将前文所有繁华、追念、孤清凝为一「恨」字,是全词感情的总爆发。「清坐久」写使君静坐之久,静中念起,往事一幕幕涌上心头;「歌一发」写歌声方起,而千重之恨并至,以极小的「一发」对极大的「千重」,反差强烈,力重千钧。此「恨」非等闲闲愁,乃南渡士人于江湖宦游之中,对知己零落、时局飘摇、身世浮沉的百端交集,千重之恨,层层叠叠,不可名状。以歌声触发,戛然住笔,留白处余恨无穷,与起句「意无穷」遥相映照,首尾圆合。全词至此,由宴乐之表遁入孤恨之里,读者方悟前文繁华皆是铺垫,真味正在这千重之恨中。
The closing three lines gather the whole piece, condensing all the splendor, remembrance and solitude into the single word regret, the total outburst of feeling. Sitting long in quiet writes the prefect's long stillness, the quiet in which old memories rise scene by scene. As soon as the song rises, a thousandfold regret wells up sets the tiny as soon as against the enormous thousandfold, the contrast sharp, the force a thousandweight. This regret is no ordinary sorrow: it is the Southern Crossing scholar's tangle, amid rivers-and-lakes office, of fallen friends, the drifting times and his own shifting lot - a thousandfold regret, layer on layer, beyond naming. Triggered by the song, the brush stops short, and the blankness holds endless regret, answering the opening's feeling is endless and rounding head to tail. At this point the ci has slipped from the surface of feast and joy into the depths of lonely regret, and the reader sees that all the splendor above was preparation, the true flavor lying in this thousandfold regret.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Compare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
苏轼《江城子·乙卯正月二十日夜记梦》以「十年生死两茫茫」记梦悼亡,与此词「十载江湖」「追念使君」同用《江城子》调,皆以十载长岁月为背景写深挚追怀,且皆在结处凝聚巨大情感:苏以「料得年年肠断处,明月夜,短松冈」作结,沈以「歌一发,恨千重」作结。所不同者,苏词悲而决绝,以死生为隔,情之所钟在幽冥;沈词清而绵远,以宦游为累,情之所系在故人。并读可见同调而异趣:填《江城子》,或沉痛如苏,或清远如沈,皆能因情立体,不为调式所拘,是词体声情灵活的最好证明。
临江仙·夜登小阁忆洛中旧游 Riverside Daffodils: Remembering My Old Trip in Luozhong While Climbing a Small Pavilion at Night 陈与义 · 同出南渡士人笔下,皆于清夜孤景中寄寓家国之恨与身世之感 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
陈与义《临江仙》「二十余年成一梦,此身虽在堪惊」「古今多少事,渔唱起三更」,与此词「十载江湖」「邻唱有渔翁」「歌一发,恨千重」机杼极似:皆以长岁月、清夜景、渔唱声收束家国之恨与身世之感。陈以「渔唱起三更」作超旷语,把古今兴亡付之渔唱;沈以「恨千重」作沉郁语,把十年漂泊凝于一声歌发。同写南渡流离孤寂之心,一旷一郁,各极其致。并读二词,最可见那个时代士人共有的「清夜孤恨」母题,沈词之「恨千重」,正可作陈词「古今多少事」的沉痛注脚,两位南渡词人隔空相应,情味相通。
水调歌头·游览 水调歌头·游览 黄庭坚 · 同写宦游清赏与江湖之思,皆融典故于清空之境 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
黄庭坚《水调歌头·游览》「瑶草一何碧,春入武陵溪」「我欲穿花寻路,直入白云深处」,写贬谪中的仙境想象与孤高自守,与沈词「水精宫」「青藜」「萧寺」同一清远路数,皆以典雅之典点缀江湖之思。黄词更旷放,欲入白云深处而达天境;沈词更沉静,卧听疏钟而知世味。黄以「谁共泛霞浆」写孤,沈以「邻唱有渔翁」写孤,而沈之孤中含着「恨千重」的时世之感,较黄之超脱更多一层人间的重量。二作并观,可想见北宋末至南渡初士大夫清赏词风的流转,一为北宋的旷,一为南渡的郁,时代之影,隐然可辨。