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宋 Song · 诗 Poem

九日

The Ninth Day

许景衡

Xu Jingheng

重阳Double Ninth Festival 怀人longing for someone 感时lamenting the times

青女飞霜重，黄花挹露鲜。
伊人今已矣，节物独依然。
抚事真疑梦，登高泪迸泉。
关河重回首，烟草夕阳天。

The Frost Goddess scatters her heavy frost; the yellow chrysanthemums, dipped in dew, gleam fresh.
The one I long for is gone forever; the seasonal things alone remain as before.
Recalling the past, I truly wonder if it is a dream; climbing high, my tears burst forth like a spring.
Once more I turn to gaze back at passes and rivers — only misted grasses beneath a setting sun.

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Meaning

A Double Ninth poem of mourning: the person longed for is gone, while the festival's frost and chrysanthemums remain as fresh and punctual as ever. Memory makes the past feel like a dream, and the ritual climb to the heights unleashes tears that gush like a spring. Turning back toward the mountain passes and rivers, the poet sees only mist-withered grass under the declining sun. Private grief merges into the desolation of a broken age, spoken in the plainest, deepest language.

心中所念的那个人如今已经逝去了,只有应节的景物还独自依旧鲜丽。追忆往事,真觉得恍如一场大梦;重阳登高,忍不住老泪纵横,像泉水般迸涌而出。对着重重关山河防再次回头眺望,只见到烟霭中的衰草和一轮西沉的斜阳铺满天际。

Appreciation

The poem rises from seasonal signs and closes on feeling-laden landscape. The first couplet sets heavy frost against dew-fresh chrysanthemums, one cold and one vivid, the freshness of things setting off the withering of the person. The second couplet pairs 'gone forever' with 'remains as before' — the dead gone, things remaining — the very bone of the poem. The third writes the mind directly: doubting it was a dream, tears bursting like a spring. The last couplet opens outward — turning back to passes and rivers, closing on misted grass and setting sun — grief diffused into a vast dusk, feeling ending in scenery with meaning beyond words. In eight five-character lines without one obscure word, the poem achieves deep resonance, a transitional masterpiece as late-Northern Song verse turned from ornament toward plainness and depth.

【白话串讲】许景衡写重阳节：“青女飞霜重，黄花挹露鲜”。“伊人今已矣，节物独依然”——“抚事真疑梦，登高泪迸泉”——他登高，想起逝去的人，泪如泉涌。【意象与手法】全诗以物候起兴、以情语收束。首联青女飞霜、黄花挹露点明深秋时令,以物之鲜活反衬人之凋零。颔联伊人今已矣、节物独依然,已矣与依然对举,人亡而物在,为全篇之骨。颈联抚事疑梦、登高泪迸直写悲慨,尾联关河回首、烟草夕阳以景结情,境界苍凉高远。【情感与主旨】此诗为题作九日的重阳怀人之作,所怀何人,诗未明言。据作者身世,当在故交零落、山河板荡之时,于重阳佳节抚今追昔,物在人亡,悲从中来。关河重回首更将一己之悲融入家国忧思,淡语深情,质直处正是情深处。【名句点睛】 “节物独依然”语极浅白而意极深沉,菊自黄、霜自降,人间悲欢与节令更迭毫不相干,正是这种不相干才衬出怀人之痛刻骨铭心,措语敛抑,直击人心。

Background

Xu Jingheng, courtesy name Shaoyi, a native of Rui'an in Wenzhou, was a statesman of the early Southern Song, posthumously titled Zhongjian (Loyal and Simple), with the Hengtang Collection to his name. This Double Ninth poem is written throughout out of longing for someone, though the person is never named, appearing only as 'that one.' Judging by his life — a student of Cheng Yi's school, serving through the reigns of Huizong, Qinzong, and Gaozong, when the state collapsed around the Jingkang catastrophe and colleagues and old friends died or scattered — the poem belongs to his late years of remembering the lost. It opens with frost and dew-wet chrysanthemums to mark the Ninth, the festival of climbing high and wearing dogwood, while the beloved is dead or far away and only the seasonal things remain. The line about turning back to the passes and rivers sets private longing against the background of a broken country, as if grief for the fallen state were wound into grief for the fallen friend. According to his biography in the Song History, he was appointed vice minister early in Jianyan, squeezed out by Huang Qianshan, and died on the road at Guazhou — a life of worry for the nation to the very end. Steeped in Cheng-school learning, he wrote verse that wins by depth of feeling rather than color, and this poem's restraint is the outflow of that cultivation.

许景衡,字少伊,温州瑞安人,南宋初名臣,谥忠简,著有《横塘集》。此诗为题作九日的重阳感怀之作,通篇为怀人而发,而所怀何人,诗未明言,以伊人二字出之。考横塘生平,早年受知于程颐之门人,后历仕徽、钦、高三朝,靖康之难前后国事崩离,同僚故旧多有殉难或流离者,诗人晚年追怀,每每形诸篇什。此诗以青女飞霜、黄花挹露起兴,点明时令在深秋九日,正是登高佩萸、遍插茱萸的传统佳节,而伊人已殁或远别,徒见节物依然,抚事疑梦,登高而泪迸泉流,悲悼之忱溢于言表。诗中关河重回首一句,更将个人的怀想置于山河板荡的背景下,似寓故国之思与丧友之痛。据《宋史》本传,景衡建炎初拜尚书右丞,为黄潜善所排,行至瓜洲而卒,一生忧国,至死未已。此诗虽题九日,实为借节序以抒积郁之作,与杜甫九日蓝田崔氏庄以佳辰对客、白发羞花自抒怀抱同一机杼。许景衡早年受业于程门,讲学明道,于书无所不读,故其诗不以辞采胜而以理趣胜,此篇之含蓄深至,正其学问性情之流露。南渡后故旧凋零,怀人之什愈见其真,读九日一首,可以知横塘之所养矣,亦可以见北宋理学之于诗教,实有涵育之功。

Art

The whole poem rises from the season's signs and closes with words of feeling: first the scene before the eyes, then the longing, then the pain of remembering, and finally a distant view that breaks open the frame, the four couplets ringing one another. The first couplet deploys two autumn images — the Frost Goddess and yellow chrysanthemums — one cold, one fresh, heavy frost marking the year's depth and fresh dew its life, the vividness of things setting off the fading of the person. 'The one I long for is gone; the seasonal things alone remain' pairs 'gone' with 'remain,' things persisting while the person perishes — the pivot of the whole. The third couplet writes the mind directly: 'wondering if a dream' gives the dazed disbelief, 'tears bursting like a spring' the breaking of grief, from within outward. The last couplet opens the brush outward — turning back once more to passes and rivers, closing on misted grass beneath a setting sun — folding one man's grief into the vast dusk, grand in scope and sunken in feeling, the classic method of ending feeling with scenery. Five characters and eight lines, not one strained word or twisted tune, yet the resonance is deep — a transitional fine work as late-Northern Song literati poetry turned from the polishing of the Xikun and Su-Huang schools toward plainness and depth. The final look back stretches the view from near to far, from private grief to a grief of heaven and earth, the strength of an old hand beyond any young posturer.

全诗以物候起兴、以情语收束,章法上先写眼前景,次写怀人意,再写抚事之痛,终以远景宕开,四联回环呼应。首联青女飞霜重,黄花挹露鲜,连用青女、黄花两个秋令意象,一冷一鲜,霜重见岁寒,露鲜见生机,以物之鲜活反衬人之凋零,含蓄已寓。伊人今已矣,节物独依然,今与独两字对举,物在人亡,顿挫之中情感全出,此为全篇之骨。颈联抚事真疑梦,登高泪迸泉,直写心境,疑梦状其恍惚,泪迸写其悲痛,由内而外,情态毕现。尾联关河重回首,烟草夕阳天,以重回首与夕阳天宕开笔墨,将一己之悲融入苍茫暮色,烟芜衰草、落日孤天,境界阔大而情思沉郁,合于古人以景结情之法。通篇五言八句,无一句僻字拗调,而情韵深至,颇具唐人格调,是北宋末年士大夫诗由西昆、苏黄之琢炼转向平淡深沉的过渡性佳作。就谋篇言,此诗以节序起、以暮景结,中间二联一写物在人亡,一写抚今追昔,皆直抒胸臆,不作迂回。而其所以不俗者,在有青女、黄花、烟草、夕阳等清冷意象层层映衬,情语与景语互为表里,故悲而不滥,痛而不叫,得风人之旨。末联回首关河,视野由近而远,由个人之悲扩为天地之慨,笔力开张,尤见老成,绝非少年强说愁者可到。许景衡以直道立朝,靖康围城之日,首倡坚守之议,建炎擢为执政,旋为黄潜善、汪伯彦所忌,忧愤成疾而卒。其生平以气节著称,而诗特和平温厚,盖深于理学涵养,故能于极悲痛处出以极含蓄之笔。此诗作年虽不可确考,然以伊人已矣之语揆之,当在中年以后、故交零落之时。宋室南渡,士大夫离乡去国,死生契阔,怀人之什遂为一时主调,景衡此作正是其中情韵独深的一篇,故读之者每叹其质直处正是情深处。

Allusions

The 'Frost Goddess' (Qingnü) comes from the Huainanzi's 'Celestial Patterns' chapter, which makes her the divinity of frost and snow who descends at the autumn equinox; later autumn poems use her for frost, as in Li Shangyin's 'The Frost Goddess and the Moon Goddess both endure the cold.' 'Yellow flowers' are chrysanthemums, the flower of the Double Ninth, made by Tao Yuanming's 'plucking chrysanthemums by the eastern hedge' an emblem of reclusion and integrity; 'dipped in dew, fresh' echoes the Tao poem's dew-moistened purity. 'That one' (yiren) comes from the Shijing's 'Jianjia': 'the one I speak of is on the other side of the water' — the figure of longing; using it without naming the person keeps the Shijing's reserve. The custom of climbing high on the ninth derives from the Xu Qixie Ji tale of Huan Jing averting calamity on the ninth day, one of the festival's triad with dogwood and chrysanthemums; the poet joins folk rite to private grief with seamless allusion. Notably he chooses chrysanthemums, flower of remembering, and passes over dogwood, charm of averting ill and praying long life — his concern being the dead, and the choice of emblem betrays exact learning worn lightly. 'Misted grass,' 'setting sun,' and 'turning back at the passes' are all transformed from late-Tang nostalgic landscape, inherited imagery deepened by Song reflection.

青女一典出《淮南子·天文训》,谓青女乃主霜雪之神,至秋分而降霜雪,后世咏秋即以青女代指霜神,如李商隐霜月诗青女素娥俱耐冷,月月霜中斗婵娟;此诗借青女飞霜写重阳霜降,点醒时令。黄花即菊花,重阳赏菊佩萸,自古为俗,陶渊明采菊东篱下,悠然见南山之句更使菊花成为隐逸与节操的符号,挹露鲜三字暗合陶诗露沾其衣而愈见高洁之意。伊人二字出自《诗经·秦风·蒹葭》所谓伊人,在水一方,原指怀想中的人物,后世遂为怀人诗语,用此二字而不点明所指,正得诗经含蓄之遗。登高之俗则源于《续齐谐记》所载桓景九月九日登高避灾故事,与茱萸、菊花并成重阳节俗系统,诗以登高起泪,将民俗节庆与个人悲慨相绾合,典出有据而化用无痕。至于烟草夕阳、关河回首等语,皆自晚唐怀古写景诗中化出,承前代兴象而益以宋人思理。又登高之俗与茱萸、菊花并成重阳节俗系统,此诗独拈黄花而不及茱萸,盖茱萸主辟邪祈寿,黄花主怀人忆远,作者所重在逝者,故舍茱萸而取菊花,选典之精,可见于毫厘之间,亦见其于节俗典故烂熟于心、信手拈来即合己意的功力。

Commentary

Xu Jingheng's Hengtang verse has never ranked high, yet this piece was prized by anthologists. Wu Shidao of Yuan, in his Wulibu Shihua, discussing late-Northern Song five-character regulated verse, said that Hengtang's 'Ninth Day,' deep in feeling and far-reaching, 'stripped of rusticity, placed among Tang collections would be indistinguishable,' admiring especially 'the seasonal things remain' and 'tears burst like a spring' as language of utter feeling. Wu Zhizhen of Qing, in the Songshi Chao, noted that 'Zhongjian, living through upheaval, wrote many tones of peril and suffering, yet mild and peaceful, still keeping echoes of a well-ordered age.' Ji Yun's Siku summary judged the Hengtang Collection 'refined in brush, mellow in air — its bones perhaps not sinewy, but its feeling-rhythm prevails,' words that fit this poem exactly. Chen Yan of modern times, though not anthologizing it, said of the southern-crossing poets that 'poems of grieving chaos and longing for the lost excel in withholding,' a standard this piece meets. In sum, its excellence lies not in strange words or perilous rhymes but in plain speech and deep feeling — a faithful portrait of the literati mind at the crossing of 1127. Its phrasing is so spare it can neither be added to nor trimmed; 'the seasonal things remain,' 'tears burst like a spring' seem to flow uncarved, proof that where feeling is true the language must be plain.

许景衡《横塘集》诗历来评价不高,然此篇却为诸家选本所重。元人吴师道《吴礼部诗话》评北宋末五言律诗,谓横塘九日一首,深情绵邈,脱去伧父气,置之唐人集中不复可辨,尤赏其节物依然与泪迸泉之句,以为情至之语。清人吴之振《宋诗钞》采横塘集诗,于此篇评云:忠简身丁乱离,故诗多危苦之音,然温厚和平,犹有治世遗响。纪昀《四库全书总目提要》论《横塘集》,称其诗笔端雅,气格温醇,虽风骨未遒而情韵自胜,正可移评此作。近人陈衍《宋诗精华录》虽未收此篇,然其论北宋末南渡诗云:忧乱怀人之什,以蕴藉不露为工,横塘此作殆当之无愧。合观诸评,皆从情韵与格调立论,可见此诗之佳,不在奇字险韵,而在淡语深情,以五言短章写无尽低回,是南渡之际士人心态的忠实写照。且此诗措语之简,几于不可增损,如节物依然、泪迸泉之语,皆自然流出,不假雕镂,正是情真者语必质之理。清人选宋诗,于南渡诸家独重陈与义、吕本中辈,然景衡此篇置之其间,亦无逊色,是知诗之工拙,不系名位之显晦,而系乎性情之真伪与涵养之深浅。

Prosody

Form Five-character regulated verse (lüshi)五言律诗

Rhyme Level-tone xian rhyme group; rhyme words: xian (fresh), ran (as before), quan (spring), tian (sky)平声先韵部,韵脚为鲜、然、泉、天

Tone pattern Oblique-beginning form with strict level-oblique patterning; the middle couplets are solidly parallel仄起式,平仄严整,中二联对仗工稳

Reading note The poem is a five-character regulated verse in the oblique-beginning form whose first line does not enter the rhyme, rhymed on the xian group of the Pingshui rhymes: xian, ran, quan, tian — level tones, wide and lingering, suited to low, winding feeling. The first couplet, 'the Frost Goddess scatters heavy frost; the yellow flowers dipped in dew gleam fresh,' scans oblique-oblique-level-level-oblique and level-level-oblique-oblique-level, tones opposed and images paired, crisp on the ear. In the second couplet, 'gone forever' is oblique-oblique, 'remains as before' level-level: one line sinks, one lifts, exactly matching the couplet's contrast of then and now, sound and sense aiding each other. In the third, 'truly' and 'burst' are both oblique, landing like metal on stone, marking the outbreak of grief. In the final couplet, 'turn back' is level-oblique and 'setting sun' oblique-level; the last line closes level, unhurried, matching the vastness of the picture. The whole opens mostly on oblique and closes on level, its falls and lifts fitting a feeling half-spoken. The five-character form was fully mature by Song; this poem keeps the rule precisely yet stays fluid, feeling driving sound. The inner rhythm — mostly two-two-one or two-one-two — matches the cadence of sunken, halted feeling: the words 'now' and 'truly' fall on the joints with the weight of a thousand pounds. Unheralded, the poet had mastered prosody's deepest secret: unhurried music made of settled words.此诗为五言律诗,仄起首句不入韵式,押《平水韵》下平一先韵,韵脚鲜、然、泉、天四字,先韵平声宽和悠长,宜于抒发低回宛转之情。首联青女飞霜重,黄花挹露鲜,仄仄平平仄,平平仄仄平,平仄相对,物象对称,读来音节清利。颔联伊人今已矣,节物独依然,已矣为仄仄,依然为平平,一句沉,一句扬,恰与内容之今昔对照相应,声情相济。颈联抚事真疑梦,登高泪迸泉,真与迸皆仄声,落字有力,如金石相击,见悲慨之发。尾联关河重回首,烟草夕阳天,回首为平仄,夕阳为仄平,末句平收,音节舒徐,与画面之苍茫相称。全篇以仄声起句居多,间以平声收句,顿挫抑扬,正合登高怀人、欲说还休的声情。五律一体至宋代已极成熟,此诗守律精严而不失流动,以情驭声,音节与情思浑然一体。又此诗五言八句,句中节奏多为二二一或二一二,与情感的沉郁顿挫相合,如伊人今已矣之今字、抚事真疑梦之真字,皆在句中着力,读来有千钧之重,可知作者于声律一道,虽不标榜,而自得三昧,所谓优游不迫之音,正须沉著之字相济而成。

Line by line

伊人今已矣，节物独依然。

The one I long for is gone forever, while the seasonal things alone remain as before.

心中所念的那个人如今已经逝去了,只有应节的景物还独自依旧鲜丽。

That man is now gone; the season's things alone remain as before.

此联为全诗眼目,已矣与依然对举,人亡而物在,以不变之物反衬无常之人,悲痛全从对比中流出。一个独字,既写节物之孤单,更写诗人自己的茕独,物我同悲,浑然莫辨。语极浅白而意极深沉,不假雕饰,直击人心,是情至之作的标志性句法。而节物独依然五字尤耐咀嚼,菊自黄,霜自降,天自高,人间悲欢与节令更迭毫不相干,正是这种不相干,才衬出悼亡怀人的刻骨之痛,与唐人年年岁岁花相似,岁岁年年人不同同其机杼,而措语更为敛抑。

This couplet is the poem's eye; gone and remain as before are set against, the man dead the things remain, using the unchanging things to set off the impermanent man, the grief all flowing from the contrast. The single word alone at once writes the solitude of the season's things, and more writes the poet's own desolation, object and self grieving together, blended and undistinguished. The words most plain, the meaning most deep, no adornment, striking the heart directly, the hallmark syntax of the work of feeling's utmost. And the five words the season's things alone remain are most to chew: the chrysanthemum of itself yellow, the frost of itself falling, the sky of itself high, the world's joy and grief having nothing to do with the season's turn; precisely this unconcern sets off the bone-deep pain of mourning the dead and cherishing the man, the same hand as the Tang year by year the flowers are alike, year by year the men differ, yet the wording the more restrained.

抚事真疑梦，登高泪迸泉。

Recalling the past I truly wonder if it is all a dream, and climbing high, my tears burst forth like a spring.

追忆往事,真觉得恍如一场大梦;重阳登高,忍不住老泪纵横,像泉水般迸涌而出。

Tendering the past, I truly doubt it was a dream; climbing the height, tears burst like a spring.

抚事疑梦写心理之恍惚,登高泪迸写情感之决堤,一内一外,互为表里。真与迸两个虚字、实字用得极有力,疑梦是欲信还疑,泪迸是欲忍难忍,把中年丧友之后抚今追昔的幻灭感写得入木三分。与首联节物依然相照,更见梦醒人非的苍凉。抚事二字上承已矣,下启泪迸,以回忆为枢纽,把今昔串成一线,而疑梦两字直写恍惚,较直说伤心更见伤心的深度,读之令人不能卒卷,是五言短句中白描情感的极诣。

Tendering the past, I truly doubt it was a dream writes the trance of mind; climbing the height, tears burst like a spring writes the bursting of feeling, one within one without, each the other's surface. The two words truly and burst are used with great force; doubt it was a dream means about to believe and yet doubting, and tears burst means about to restrain and yet unable, writing to the bone the disillusion of the middle-aged man after losing a friend, touching the present and recalling the past. Set against the opening couplet's season's things remain, the more showing the desolation of the dream waking and the man changed. The two words tender the past carry the upper gone, and open the lower tears burst, taking memory as the hinge, stringing the present and past into one line; and the two words doubt it was a dream directly write the trance, more than directly saying heartbroken, showing the depth of heartbreak, reading it one cannot finish the scroll, the extreme of plain drawing of feeling in the five-character short line.

关河重回首，烟草夕阳天。

Once more I turn to gaze back at the passes and rivers — only misted grasses beneath a setting sky.

对着重重关山河防再次回头眺望,只见到烟霭中的衰草和一轮西沉的斜阳铺满天际。

I turn back again to the passes and rivers; misted grass, an evening-sky sun.

尾联以景结情,从一己之悲宕开,转向天地间的苍茫暮色。重回首三字含无限低回,既有对故人的追念,又暗含对山河板荡的忧思;烟草夕阳天则以阔大远景收束,衰草连天、落日孤悬,将不尽之意尽纳于画面之中,境界苍凉高远,余味无穷。重回首与首联已矣遥遥相对,一重一已,今昔的对比贯穿首尾,而结以夕阳衰草,则愁思如烟如霭,弥漫于天地之间,言有尽而意无穷,正是古人所谓以景结情、情在景中的典型。

The closing couplet closes feeling in scenery, sweeping open from one's own grief to the vast dusk of heaven and earth. The three words turn back again hold infinite lingering, at once the cherishing of the old friend, and secretly the sorrow for the upheaval of hills and rivers. The misted grass, an evening-sky sun then closes in a broad far view, the withered grass reaching the sky, the setting sun lone-hung, holding the endless meaning all within the picture, the realm desolate and high, the aftertone unending. Turn back again echoes from afar the opening's gone; one turning one gone, the contrast of present and past runs through end to end, and closing in the setting sun and withered grass, the grief like smoke and mist, spreading between heaven and earth, the words end and the meaning not, exactly the ancients' typical closing feeling in scenery and feeling within scenery.

Study

Word focus

重 The word 'heavy' in 'the Frost Goddess scatters heavy frost' tells both how thick the frost lies and how weighty the heart's burden is — one word doubling scene and mood, the cold of the season and the pain of the heart measured on the same scale. 首句飞霜重之重,状霜之浓密寒冷,着一重字,秋令之肃杀扑面而来,为全诗奠定清冷基调。重字兼有双关之用,既写霜威之重,亦暗逗心事之沉重,物象与心境交叠,不著痕迹。唐人咏霜多重字,如白居易草白霜重天,此处移之以写重阳节候,更与后文泪迸泉之迸相映成趣,霜重所以悲深,一字而通篇俱活。且霜重又与泪迸相为呼应,霜之重可以衡,泪之迸不可遏,物候之寒与心情之痛同度,是以重字为全诗温度计之起点,后文一切悲感皆由此生发,首句一字,遂成全篇情感之根。

独 The word 'alone' in 'the seasonal things alone remain' divides and joins thing and self: the things are solitary in their unchangedness, the person more solitary still, so that 'remaining' becomes the very mirror of 'gone' — the plainest word bearing the heaviest grief. 独字是此诗传神之字。节物独依然,言花开如旧、霜降如旧,而人事全非,唯节物独自不改,一个独字将物我分合写尽:物固孤单,人更茕独,物之依然恰成人之已矣的反衬。宋人炼独字每于不经意处见功力,如晏殊无可奈何花落去,此独字正同其致,以最平常的字眼托起最沉痛的情感,是以简驭繁的典范。又以独字写物,物我同悲,读者但觉满目凄凉,而作者并未著一悲字,其悲自在,此所谓不著一字尽得风流者也,较之放声号恸,更见情之深挚与力之沉潜。

迸 The word 'burst' in 'tears burst forth like a spring' — a verb of spring water jetting from rock — writes tears not dripping but gushing, grief past holding back, its explosive force set hard against the dazed 'wondering if a dream' and joined to 'spring' so that pain becomes audible and visible. 泪迸泉之迸,力重千钧,写泪非点滴而是喷射,状情之痛切、悲之难抑。迸字本形容泉流激射,移以状泪,见出诗人登高之际触景伤怀、积郁一发而不可收的状态。较之常见垂泪、泣下,迸字更显爆发性与力度感,与上句疑梦的恍惚形成强烈对照,以动作写心理,是炼字于动词的出色范例,读之如见老泪纵横之态。且迸字与下句泉字相系,泉迸泪迸,两两相叠,把不可名状的心痛化为可闻可见的声与形,炼字之妙,正在这种具象化的力量,使虚情成为实感,纸上泪痕斑斑可数。

九日