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先秦 Pre-Qin · 文 Prose

大言赋

Rhapsody on Grand Words

宋玉

Song Yu

宋玉Song Yu 辞赋Rhapsody 散文Prose 游宴Court Outing

楚襄王与唐勒、景差、宋玉游于阳云之台。
王曰：“能为寡人大言者上座。
”王因唫曰：“操是太阿剥一世，流血冲天，车不可以厉。
”至唐勒曰：“壮士愤兮绝天维，北斗戾兮太山夷。
”至景差曰：“校士猛毅皋陶嘻，大笑至兮摧覆思。
锯牙云，晞甚大，吐舌万里唾一世。
”至宋玉曰：“方地为舆，圆天为盖。
长剑耿介，倚天之外。
”王曰：“未也。
”玉曰：“并吞四夷，饮枯河海。
跋越九州，无所容止。
身大四塞，愁不可长。
据地分天，迫不得仰。
”

King Xiang of Chu, with Tang Le, Jing Chai, and Song Yu, roamed on the Terrace of Yangyun.
The King said: “Whoever can utter a grand word shall have the highest seat.”
The King then intoned: “Grasping this Grand Sword, I flay a whole generation; blood spurts to heaven, chariots cannot cross.”
Then Tang Le said: “The brave man's rage snaps the cords of heaven; the Northern Dipper tilts, Mount Tai is flattened.”
Then Jing Chai said: “The stalwart soldier, fierce and stern, makes Gao Yao laugh; his great laughter topples all thought. His saw-toothed jaws are vast as clouds; his tongue extends ten thousand leagues and spits upon a generation.”
Then Song Yu said: “The square earth is my carriage; the round heaven is my canopy. My long sword, upright and bright, leans beyond the sky.”
The King said: “Not enough.”
Song Yu said: “I swallow up the four barbarian lands; I drink dry the rivers and seas. I stride across the Nine Provinces; nowhere can contain me. My body fills the four quarters; even sorrow cannot grow long. I press upon the earth and split the heavens; I force them so they cannot look up.”

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Meaning

A courtly game of one-upmanship in which King Xiang of Chu and his retainers trade increasingly colossal boasts. Song Yu triumphs by imagining a body so vast that heaven and earth become his chariot and canopy, his sword resting beyond the sky—an ultimate flight of hyperbole.

楚襄王与唐勒、景差、宋玉同游阳云之台。襄王说：“能说大话的人坐上座。”襄王便吟道：“操起这太阿宝剑斩尽一世，流血冲天，兵车不能过。”轮到唐勒说：“壮士愤慨崩断天纲，北斗歪斜泰山平。”轮到景差说：“武士勇猛皋陶惊叹，大笑到来摧垮思虑。锯牙如云，张开甚大，吐舌万里唾弃一世。”轮到宋玉说：“大地为车，圆天为盖。长剑高直，倚在天外。”襄王说：“还不够。”宋玉说：“吞并四方蛮夷，饮干河海。踏遍九州，无处容身。身躯充满四方，愁也不能久长。据地分天，逼得不能仰望。”

Appreciation

This short rhapsody is a landmark of Chinese poetic hyperbole. Its layered structure—from the king's sword stroke to Tang Le's cosmic rupture and Jing Chai's monstrous giant—climaxes in Song Yu's cosmic body. By turning earth into a vehicle and heaven into a shade, Song Yu expands human scale to the limits of the universe, blending playful wit with sublime audacity. The work marks a pivotal shift from the lyrical Chuci to the grand descriptive style of Han fu, celebrating the sheer power of the imagination.

【白话串讲】楚襄王和宋玉等人玩“大言”游戏：“楚襄王与唐勒、景差、宋玉游于阳云之台”。王说：“操是太阿剥一世，流血冲天”。唐勒说：“壮士愤兮绝天维，北斗戾兮太山夷”。轮到宋玉……这是一场夸口大赛。【意象与手法】以铺张扬厉的夸张见长。唐勒、景差所言尚限于壮士绝天维，至宋玉则极尽夸张：“方地为舆，圆天为盖”喻车盖之巨，“长剑耿介，倚天之外”写剑之长，“并吞四夷，饮枯河海”想象横绝宇宙。以“大言”游戏的形式逞才弄巧。【情感与主旨】相传宋玉所作，记述楚襄王与唐勒、景差、宋玉同游阳云之台各言“大言”的故事。开了汉赋“夸大”之风的先声，展现战国纵横家式的雄辩气派，与《小言赋》并称而见宋玉逞才弄巧的赋家本色。【名句点睛】常考“方地为舆，圆天为盖”以天地为车盖写夸大之极；“长剑耿介，倚天之外”以倚天长剑写想象之奇。

Background

Traditionally attributed to Song Yu, a Warring States rhapsodist from Chu, 'Rhapsody on Grand Words' survives in the *Guwen Yuan* (Garden of Ancient Prose). It records a verbal contest at the Terrace of Yangyun, where King Xiang and his courtiers vie in 'great words.' This genre of 'da yan' (grand speech) grew out of the Warring States culture of bravado and oratorical display. While the authorship is debated, the piece is considered an early example of the hyperbolical, extravagantly descriptive style that would flourish in Han dynasty fu. It is paired with Song Yu's 'Rhapsody on Small Words,' together showcasing the rhapsodist's virtuosity.

《大言赋》相传为战国楚辞赋家宋玉所作，见载于《古文苑》。文章记述楚襄王与唐勒、景差、宋玉同游阳云之台，王命众人各言大言者上座。这并非一首诗，而是一篇带有游戏性质的辞赋，但它在中国文学史上意义重大——它是大言体（夸饰之言）的雏形，开了汉赋铺张扬厉、夸大奇伟之风的先声。理解大言赋，先要明白战国游士好言大、尚奇的风气：纵横家论辩务为恢诡，说客以气势慑人，宋玉身处其世，自然染此习气。阳云之台上的这场大言竞赛，本质上是一次逞才斗智的文学游戏：唐勒、景差所言尚限于壮士绝天维、武士吐舌万里，至宋玉则极尽夸张，以方地为舆、圆天为盖写车盖之巨，以长剑耿介、倚天之外写剑之长，更言并吞四夷、饮枯河海、据地分天、迫不得仰，想象横绝宇宙，气魄压倒众人，终得襄王叹服。这种以极端夸张取胜的文字游戏，看似玩笑，实则关乎文学想象力的解放——它告诉后人，文字可以不受现实尺度束缚，向着无穷大肆意张扬。宋玉因此不仅是个赋家，更是中国文学夸张美学的开创者之一。战国的空气里本就弥漫着说大话、逞雄辩的风尚，大言赋不过是把这种风尚，变成了一场有规则的文学竞赛。它的价值，正在于用最轻松的游戏，撬动了最重大的文学命题——想象的边界在哪里。

Art

The art of this piece centers on escalating hyperbole. Each speaker tries to outdo the previous one, and Song Yu wins by collapsing cosmic scale into the human body. Key techniques include: (1) extreme spatial expansion—earth as chariot, heaven as canopy, sword leaning beyond the sky; (2) violent verbs—'swallow,' 'drink dry,' 'press and split'—that make magnitude dynamic; (3) tight four-character parallelisms that build rhythm and force; and (4) a culminating image of a body so vast it fills the universe and prevents others from looking up. The piece demonstrates how economy of language can generate maximum imaginative power.

《大言赋》的艺术，核心在一个夸字，但它夸得有层次、有章法。首先是递进式夸张：从楚王的自言，到唐勒、景差，再到宋玉，一层比一层大，如登山逐级而上，最后宋玉独占峰顶，襄王亦叹未也，逼出更惊人的据地分天。这种层层加码的竞赛结构，本身就是一种修辞艺术——它让夸张在对比中显出力量。其次是空间尺度的极致化：宋玉把天当盖、地当车，把河海当饮料，把九州当脚下，彻底打破了人间的度量衡，使文字获得一种宇宙级的壮阔。第三是动词的暴力感：并吞、饮枯、跋越、据、分、迫，这些动词带着吞天吐地的气势，把静态的宏大变成动态的冲击。第四是短句排比造成的节奏紧张：方地为舆，圆天为盖。长剑耿介，倚天之外。并吞四夷，饮枯河海。句句四言对仗，如连珠炮发，读来气势逼人。大言赋之妙，正在于它用最经济的句式，炸出最大的想象空间。更妙的是，全赋的夸张始终服务于一个看不见的巨人形象——天为车、剑倚天、吞四夷、分天地，所有的大，最终都汇聚成一个撑满宇宙的身体。夸而有物，是大言赋比一般俳谐高明之处。

Allusions

The rhapsody draws on Warring States rhetorical exuberance, echoing the grandiloquence of political persuaders and philosophers like Zhuangzi. It also anticipates the elaborate descriptive sets of Han fu, such as Sima Xiangru's *Zixu* and *Shanglin* fu. Song Yu's 'sword leaning beyond the sky' became a famous motif, later inspiring Tang poets like Li Bai, whose knight-errant imagery carries a similar cosmic audacity. The pairing with the 'Rhapsody on Small Words' established a tradition of 'large and small' word games, influencing later humorous and occasional fu.

《大言赋》的文学渊源与影响，集中在夸张铺写这一脉。其大言体式，上承战国纵横家恢诡恣肆的论辩气派（如《庄子》之大言炎炎、《孟子》之浩然），下启汉赋的铺张扬厉。司马相如《子虚》《上林》极写苑囿之巨、田猎之盛、物产之富，正与本篇方地为舆、圆天为盖的夸饰一脉相承；扬雄、班固之大赋，更把这种夸大推向体制化的极至。值得注意的是，宋玉另有《小言赋》与之配对，一大一小、一夸张一精微，并称而见赋家逞才弄巧的本领，这种大小言相配的俳谐传统，后世沿为游戏笔墨。此外，长剑倚天之外一句，直接预告了李白仗剑去国、侠客行中剑的浪漫想象，乃至武侠文学里剑气的意象——一句大言，竟成为中国文化里剑之豪情的远祖。大言赋虽短、虽托名、虽为游戏，却是辞赋由楚骚向汉大赋转关的关键一环，其夸张美学影响中国文学两千年。从纵横家到汉大赋，再到李白的剑，大言赋像一粒种子，在后世文学里长成了好几片不同的林子。

Commentary

Critically, 'Rhapsody on Grand Words' is less philosophical than playful, yet it holds a crucial place in literary history. Liu Xie, in *The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons*, discusses hyperbole (*kuashi*) as needing restraint, but this piece deliberately refuses restraint, turning excess into an aesthetic in itself. Scholars see it as a bridge from the lyricism of Chu ci to the ornamental objectivity of Han fu. Though its authenticity as a Song Yu work is uncertain, its influence on later hyperbolic writing is unquestionable. The piece reveals the Warring States fascination with verbal prowess and anticipates the 'grand' imagination that would define imperial Chinese literature.

《大言赋》在文学史上的地位，不在其思想深度，而在其文体开创意义。旧说以为宋玉所作，真伪虽存争议（见《古文苑》收录，年代晚出），但其大言体式对汉赋的开启之功，论者无异辞。刘勰《文心雕龙·夸饰》篇论夸张之义，虽未明引此赋，其所倡夸而有节、饰而不诬，正可反过来照见大言赋的极端——它夸到毫无节制，却正因毫无节制，才把夸张本身变成了一种纯粹的审美游戏。历代论赋者多指出，汉大赋的铺采摛文、体物写志，其想象力解放的源头，正在宋玉这类逞才之赋。近世学者更把它与《风赋》《高唐赋》《登徒子好色赋》并观，视宋玉为战国辞赋由抒情（楚骚）转向体物（汉赋）的关键人物。大言赋虽只言游戏，却不经意间为大赋准备好了最重要的两件东西：一是敢把世界放到无穷大去写的胆量，二是用排比短句制造气势节奏的法门。读懂大言赋，便知汉赋之巨，原是从阳云台上一场大话竞赛里，一点点长出来的。大言赋的文学史意义，恰如它的内容一样——看似一场玩笑，却撑开了一个时代想象的天花板。

Prosody

Form Warring States Chu rhapsody (prose-fu style, mostly four-character parallel phrases, neither strict poetry nor formal parallel prose)战国楚赋（散文赋体，以四言对句为主，介于楚辞与汉赋之间，非诗非骈）

Rhyme The piece is written in prose-verse form and does not follow a strict rhyme scheme, but Song Yu's larger lines use parallel couplets (square earth / round heaven; long sword / leaning sky; swallow / drink dry; press / force) that create a cadence and anticipate Han fu parallelism.本篇为散体赋，不严格押韵，然宋玉大言数句多用偶俪句式（方地—圆天，长剑—倚天，并吞—饮枯，据地—迫不），读来朗朗上口，已开汉赋骈俪之先。

Tone pattern No fixed tonal pattern; rhythm relies on the symmetry and accumulation of four-character phrases, producing a compressed, drum-like effect rather than musical prosody.以四言短句为主，平仄不拘，靠句式的对称与排比造势，节奏紧促如连珠，非诗律所能范围，重在气势而非声韵。

Reading note Since this is a prose rhapsody, it should not be scanned like regulated verse. Its rhythm arises from three devices: the dense antithesis of four-character clauses, the progressive escalation of boasts from the king to Song Yu, and the final, almost suffocating climax in 'I press upon the earth and split the heavens.' The piece already beats the drum of the grand Han fu style.大言赋的声律，和它所属的文体一样特殊——它不是诗，而是一篇散体赋，所以不能用诗词的平仄押韵去要求它。它的节奏感来自别处：一是四言对句的密集排比，方地为舆，圆天为盖；长剑耿介，倚天之外；并吞四夷，饮枯河海，句句两两相对，像一连串重拳；二是句式的逐级加码，从王到唐勒到景差到宋玉，夸张一轮比一轮大，读者的紧张感也跟着升级；三是结尾据地分天，迫不得仰的收束，把节奏推到最紧。这种靠对仗和递进制造气势的写法，正是汉大赋铺张扬厉的雏形。若用诗的耳朵去听它，会觉得不规整；但用赋的耳朵去听，它已然在咚咚擂响大赋的鼓点。大言赋的格律，是力量的格律。

Line by line

方地为舆，圆天为盖。

Setting the scene: King Xiang of Chu and his courtiers roam on the Terrace of Yangyun, the occasion for a verbal contest.

大地为车，圆天为盖。

The square earth as my chariot, the round sky as my canopy.

这是宋玉大言的第一炸，也是最凝练的一句。方地为舆，把大地当作车舆（车厢）；圆天为盖，把苍天当作车盖。两句以天地为车，瞬间把人的尺度放大到宇宙级——人不再立于地上，而是坐在天地这辆巨车里。这种想象之大胆，在于它彻底颠覆了天覆地载的常识：天不再是高不可及的穹顶，而是随手可掀的车盖；地不再是厚载万物的大块，而是足下的车厢。宋玉用两个最平常的名词（舆、盖）和最平常的判断句，写出了最不平常的尺度感。它不事修饰，只把天地重新分配了角色，夸张便自然而生。这两句也是全赋的基石，后面长剑倚天、据地分天，都由这天地为车的格局推演出来。

This is Song Yu's first explosion of 'great speech,' and the most condensed. 'The square earth as my chariot' takes the earth as the carriage; 'the round sky as my canopy' takes the heaven as the car-cover. Two lines use heaven and earth as a chariot, instantly scaling human measure to the cosmic—the person stands no longer on the ground but sits within the great chariot of heaven and earth. The boldness lies in overturning the common sense of heaven covering and earth bearing: heaven is no distant dome but a car-cover that may be lifted at a touch; earth no broad mass bearing all things but the carriage floor beneath the feet. Song Yu uses two common nouns and a plain judgment to write the most uncommon sense of scale. Unadorned, he reassigns heaven and earth their roles, and hyperbole rises of itself. These lines are the foundation of the whole rhapsody, from which the later 'long sword leaning on heaven' and 'parting the sky' are derived.

长剑耿介，倚天之外。

The king proposes a competition: whoever can produce a 'great word' earns the highest seat.

长剑高直，倚在天外。

The long sword stands stark, propped beyond the edge of heaven.

这一句写剑，是宋玉大言里最英气的一笔。长剑耿介，耿介是高直、特立之貌，写剑之修长挺拔；倚天之外，说剑倚靠在天之外——剑身之长，竟越过天际。请注意这个倚字：剑不是刺天，而是倚天，像一个人把长剑往天边随手一靠，那份从容与豪迈，比奋力刺击更显气度。倚天之外四字，把兵器写出了神仙气，直接预告了后世侠客文学中剑的浪漫想象。这一句与前句天地为车相配：车是天地，剑倚天外，人坐其中，宇宙尽在掌握。宋玉用最少的字，立起一个顶天立地的巨人形象。

This line writes the sword, the most heroic stroke of Song Yu's 'great speech.' 'The long sword stands stark'—'stark' means tall, upright, set apart, writing the sword's length and poise; 'propped beyond the edge of heaven' says the sword leans beyond the sky, its blade so long it passes the horizon. Note the word 'leans': the sword does not pierce heaven but leans on it, like a man resting his long sword casually at the edge of the sky—that ease and dash outdo a thrust. 'Beyond the edge of heaven' gives the weapon an immortal air, directly foreshadowing the romantic imagination of the sword in later chivalric literature. Paired with the foregoing 'heaven and earth as chariot': the chariot is heaven and earth, the sword leans beyond heaven, the person sits between, the whole universe in hand. Song Yu, in the fewest words, erects a giant standing between heaven and earth.

并吞四夷，饮枯河海。

The king begins: wielding the Grand Sword, he flays a generation, blood spurting to heaven, so that chariots can no longer ford the streams.

吞并四方蛮夷，饮干河海。

Swallowing the four barbarian lands at a gulp, drinking dry the rivers and seas.

这一句由静物之巨，转向身体的动作之巨，是全赋气势的再升级。并吞四夷，说身躯或气势把四方蛮夷一口吞下；饮枯河海，说把江河湖海当饮料一饮而干。两个动词（并吞、饮枯）带着吞天吐地的暴力感，把前面天地为车的空间宏大，转成身体能量的宏大。尤其饮枯二字极狠——不是饮一口，是饮到河海枯干，夸张到不讲理的地步，却正因不讲理，才显出大言的本色。这两句把宋玉的想象从物推到人，从静态推到动态，让读者感到一个巨人的存在正填满宇宙。它也是后面据地分天的铺垫：既然能吞四夷、饮河海，那撑破天地也就顺理成章。

This line turns from the vastness of still things to the vastness of the body's action, a further escalation of the rhapsody's force. 'Swallowing the four barbarian lands at a gulp' says the body or aura devours the four quarters whole; 'drinking dry the rivers and seas' says draining the rivers and lakes like a draught. The two verbs—'swallowing,' 'drinking dry'—carry the violence of swallowing heaven and spitting out earth, turning the spatial grandeur of the heaven-and-earth chariot into the grandeur of bodily energy. The two words 'drinking dry' are most ruthless—not a sip but drinking till the rivers run dry, hyperbole to the point of unreason, yet precisely the unreason that reveals the nature of 'great speech.' The line pushes Song Yu's imagination from object to person, from still to moving, making the reader feel a giant filling the cosmos. It prepares the way for the later 'parting the sky': since he can swallow the quarters and drain the seas, bursting heaven and earth follows of itself.

据地分天，迫不得仰。

Tang Le responds: a heroic warrior's rage severs the cords of heaven, tilts the Dipper, and levels Mount Tai.

据地分天，逼得不能仰望。

He plants his hands on earth and splits the sky, pressing men so they cannot look up.

这是宋玉大言的顶峰，也是襄王叹未也之后逼出的终极一击。据地分天，说以手据地、分开天穹——巨人一伸手，便把天地掰开；迫不得仰，说（因身躯充塞天地）逼得人无法仰望。这一句把前面所有夸张收束为一个身体的绝对充盈：人大到撑满宇宙，天地都被他用手分开，旁人连抬头看天都做不到。它既是空间的极致，也是压迫感的极致，把大言从壮阔推向荒诞的边界，却荒诞得气势磅礴。值得注意的是，这一句正好呼应开篇王与群臣的小打小闹，形成一个由人言到大言、由小大到无限的完整弧线。宋玉以此终局，赢得上座，也赢得中国夸张美学的一座里程碑。

This is the peak of Song Yu's 'great speech,' the ultimate stroke forced out after the king's sigh. 'He plants his hands on earth and splits the sky' says he supports himself on the ground and parts the dome of heaven—the giant reaches out and wrenches heaven and earth apart. 'Pressing men so they cannot look up' says that (his body filling heaven and earth) others are forced to look no longer upward. The line gathers all the foregoing hyperbole into an absolute fullness of the body: the man is so vast he fills the universe, heaven and earth are split apart by his hand, others cannot even raise their heads to see. It is the extreme of space and the extreme of oppression, pushing 'great speech' from grandeur to the edge of absurdity, yet absurd with imposing force. Notably, the line answers the opening small doings of the king and his court, completing the arc from human speech to great speech, from small to boundless. Song Yu wins the seat of honor with this close, and wins for Chinese hyperbolic aesthetics a milestone.

Study

Word focus

舆 chariot box; here, the earth as a carriage 舆本指车箱，方地为舆即把方形大地当作车舆。这个字选得巧：它把宏阔静止的地，变成了可乘坐、可驱动的车，瞬间激活了天地的动感。一个器物名词的移用，让夸饰有了具体的依托——不是空说地大，而是说地是辆车。舆字是小词大用，正是大言赋以常语写奇想的秘诀，没有它，天地为车就只是一句空话。

耿介 upright and bright; noble and straight, describing the long sword 耿介本指光明正直、特立不群，宋玉用来形容长剑的高直之态。以形容人的品格之词写剑，是拟人化的妙笔——剑于是有了士人的骨气。耿介二字，既写剑形之直，又暗喻持剑者（或宋玉自况）的刚正，使一句夸饰里藏着作者的自我标榜。小词见风骨，是大言赋意外的文心，也是它游戏之中不失品格的证据。

并吞 to swallow up, annex; used here to describe the giant body devouring the four barbarian lands 并吞即兼并吞灭，本多用于国事（如秦并吞六国），宋玉移以写巨人之身吞噬四夷，把政治词汇化为身体夸张。这个动词的暴力感，正是大言气势的来源——它不写大，而写吞，让大有了动作、有了压迫。并吞二字，是大言赋把静态宏大转为动态冲击的关键，也是全赋节奏由静转动的枢纽。并吞本属战国策士的常用语，宋玉移来写巨人之身，恰把纵横家兼并天下的气势，化作了身体夸张的燃料。大言赋以并吞起势，后面饮枯、据分便顺势而来，全赋的想象于是从无形的大，推进到有形的吞。一个并吞，是政治词汇的一次华丽出走，也是夸张美学的发力点。

迫 to press upon, force; in the climax, compressing heaven and earth so people cannot look up 迫是逼迫、挤压。迫不得仰写巨人充塞天地，逼得旁人无法仰头。一个迫字，把前面所有的巨（天地为车、剑倚天外、吞四夷、饮河海）收束为一种压迫性的存在感，让夸张从视觉的壮，转为身体的闷。它既是全赋气势的收束音，也暗含大言压人的竞赛本质——宋玉之大，大到让对手（及读者）喘不过气。迫字在古汉语里自带一种逼仄的紧张，宋玉用它收束全赋，正把前面所有天地为车、剑倚天外的巨，压成一个让人喘不过气的存在。据地分天之后，唯余一个迫字，把大言从壮阔推到荒诞的边缘，却荒诞得不失气势。它也是这场大言竞赛的潜台词：宋玉之大，大到让对手连抬头都做不到。

大言赋