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元 Yuan · 曲 Qu song

殿前欢·畅幽哉

Dian Qian Huan: How Carefree

贯云石

Guan Yunshi

畅幽哉，春风无处不楼台。
一时怀抱俱无奈，总对天开。
就渊明归去来，怕鹤怨山禽怪，问甚功名在？
酸斋是我，我是酸斋。

How carefree I am -
Wherever the spring wind blows, there are towers and terraces.
For a time my heart is utterly helpless,
And can only open itself to heaven.
Better to follow Yuanming home,
Only I fear the cranes will murmur and the mountain birds take offence.
So what is this thing called fame and office?
Suanzhai is me, and I am Suanzhai.
Listen

Meaning

The song declares a released, careless spirit: everywhere the spring wind blows there are towers to enjoy, and the speaker's only trouble is that his heart cannot open freely. Better, he decides, to follow the retired poets home - except that he dreads the birds of the mountain taking it ill - and at the end he simply asserts his own name twice. The poem is a compact profession of withdrawal from public ambition, closed on a signature.

畅幽哉，春风无处不楼台。一时怀抱俱无奈，总对天开。就渊明归去来，怕鹤怨山禽怪，问甚功名在？酸斋是我，我是酸斋。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The whole piece is a decision reported in eight lines: give up the world, follow the hermit poet home, dismiss fame, and confirm, by repeating it, that he is the man called Suanzhai. [Structure] The movement is quick and unadorned - an opening praise of spring, a resigned admission, a resolved retreat, and a concluding identification. Nothing is developed; each couplet replaces the last. [Imagery] The images are few and ordinary - wind, towers, heaven, the crane, the mountain bird - and their plainness is the point: this is not a vision of nature but a life plainly available. [Art] The poem's wit is its last line. Instead of concluding with a poet's name or a lesson, it names itself: 'Suanzhai is me, and I am Suanzhai'. The repetition is not emphasis but recognition - the poet's identity is reduced to the nickname he gave himself, offered back as an answer to the question 'who is content?' That structural joke is what keeps the piece alive in the anthologies.

【白话串讲】 贯云石写《殿前欢·畅幽哉》：“畅幽哉，春风无处不楼台”——“一时怀抱俱无奈，总对天开”——“就渊明归去来，怕鹤怨山禽怪”——“酸斋是我，我是酸斋”——他写殿前欢——酸斋是我，我是酸斋。 【意象与手法】 “畅幽哉、春风无处不楼台”写畅幽哉；“一时怀抱俱无奈、总对天开”写一时怀抱俱无奈；“就渊明归去来、怕鹤怨山禽怪”写就渊明归去来；结以“酸斋是我，我是酸斋”写我是酸斋。疏放隐逸。 【情感与主旨】 贯云石写景隐逸之作，写畅幽哉、就渊明归去来与酸斋是我的疏放，是贯云石曲中的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“畅幽哉，春风无处不楼台”写畅幽哉；“就渊明归去来，怕鹤怨山禽怪”写归隐之志。

Background

Guan Yunshi (1286-1324), originally Xiao Yunshi Haiya, styled Suanzhai and later known as the 'Lu Hua Dao Ren', was a Uyghur lyricist who served in the Hanlin Academy and held the post of Academician Attendant Reader. Given his minority status and his early death, historians have read his turn from office to wandering retirement as both a personal temperament and a response to the position of non-Han officials under the Mongol court. His sanqu, written in the natural spoken style of the day, are among the most freely fluent of the Yuan repertoire; this piece in the Shuangdiao mode is his best-known song.

《殿前欢·畅幽哉》为元代散曲家贯云石所作曲。贯云石（1286—1324），本名小云石海涯，号酸斋，又号芦花道人，维吾尔族，元代散曲家，曾任翰林侍读学士。此曲写景隐逸，为咏怀之作。曲中「畅幽哉，春风无处不楼台」写畅幽哉，春风无处不楼台；「一时怀抱俱无奈，总对天开」写一时怀抱俱无奈，总对天开；「就渊明归去来，怕鹤怨山禽怪，问甚功名在」写就渊明归去来，怕鹤怨山禽怪，问甚功名在；「酸斋是我，我是酸斋」写酸斋是我，我是酸斋。贯云石此曲以写景隐逸、我是酸斋写其隐逸之情，疏放隐逸，是贯云石曲中的名篇。此篇《殿前欢·畅幽哉》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。此篇《殿前欢·畅幽哉》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。

Art

The dominant device is the plain assertion. Chinese song-verse normally builds nested parallelism and elaborate imagery; here lines are short, unadorned and often single-clause ('Suanzhai is me, and I am Suanzhai'), and the rhythm is that of speech. The couplet form does the argument's work: the first line of each pair states, the second corrects - 'better to follow Yuanming home' / 'only I fear the cranes complain'; 'what is this thing called fame' / 'Suanzhai is me'. The repeated 'me... me' at the close is the final rhetorical move, converting a lyric of complaint into a statement of identity. Such economy - a whole stance in eight short lines - is the characteristic beauty of the sanqu form.

此曲艺术上以「疏放隐逸、以归写情」见长。全曲由畅幽哉而一时怀抱俱无奈而就渊明归去来。起「畅幽哉，春风无处不楼台」写畅幽哉：畅幽哉，春风无处不楼台；「一时怀抱俱无奈，总对天开」写一时怀抱俱无奈：一时怀抱俱无奈，总对天开；「就渊明归去来，怕鹤怨山禽怪，问甚功名在」写就渊明归去来：就渊明归去来，怕鹤怨山禽怪，问甚功名在；结「酸斋是我，我是酸斋」写我是酸斋：酸斋是我，我是酸斋。全曲以归写情，由畅幽哉而我是酸斋，疏放隐逸，是贯云石曲中的名篇。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。

Allusions

The dominant reference is Tao Yuanming (Yuanming), the Eastern Jin poet who 'returned' in 405 after three days of office by taking off his seal; 'gui qu lai' (come home) is the refrain of his 'Return to the Field': 'I came home'. To follow him is to resign, and the poet uses this so familiarly that the allusion costs nothing. The cranes and mountain birds echo the ancient figure of the hermit whose cottage the crane visitants grieve at ('condor and crane grieved'), and 'fame and office' is the conventional pairing of 'gongming' sold in the world. There is even a wink at the poet's own taste in naming himself Suanzhai (Sour-Character Hut), which the closing line turns into the poem's signature.

曲中「畅幽哉春风无处不楼台」「一时怀抱俱无奈总对天开」「就渊明归去来怕鹤怨山禽怪问甚功名在」「酸斋是我我是酸斋」等语，皆含典故故实。「畅幽哉春风无处不楼台」写畅幽哉春风无处不楼台；「一时怀抱俱无奈总对天开」写一时怀抱俱无奈总对天开；「就渊明归去来怕鹤怨山禽怪问甚功名在」用渊明之典（渊明即陶渊明归去来兮），写就渊明归去来怕鹤怨山禽怪问甚功名在；「酸斋是我我是酸斋」写酸斋是我我是酸斋。曲人用渊明之典入曲，不着痕迹，而把写景隐逸之情写得真切可感，是善于熔铸典故的体现。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。

Commentary

This little song has been in almost every Yuan anthology since 'Yang Chun Xiu' and the 'Yue Fu Zheng Zong', and it is frequently used as an introduction to the natural, unpolished style of Guan Yunshi's sanqu. Its appeal is unusual for its period: the poet offers no moral grandeur for his retreat, only mild inconvenience and a nickname. Later readers, especially those living in their own times of official disappointment, have recognised in it the plainest Chinese solution to the problem of a public career - to describe the choice without defending it. That the ending is a name rather than a conclusion is why it can still be read as a joke at the expense of the reader as well as of the world.

这首《殿前欢·畅幽哉》，是贯云石写写景隐逸之作，写畅幽哉、一时怀抱俱无奈、问甚功名在、我是酸斋之情，疏放隐逸。起「畅幽哉，春风无处不楼台」——畅幽哉，春风无处不楼台。写畅幽哉：畅幽哉、春风无处不楼台——幽哉、楼台；「一时怀抱俱无奈，总对天开」——一时怀抱俱无奈，总对天开。写一时怀抱俱无奈：一时怀抱俱无奈、总对天开——俱无奈、对天开；「就渊明归去来，怕鹤怨山禽怪，问甚功名在」——就渊明归去来，怕鹤怨山禽怪，问甚功名在。写就渊明归去来：就渊明归去来、怕鹤怨山禽怪、问甚功名在——归去来、功名在；结「酸斋是我，我是酸斋」——酸斋是我，我是酸斋。写我是酸斋：酸斋是我、我是酸斋——是我、酸斋。这「酸斋是我，我是酸斋」，是全曲之结：以我是酸斋写其隐逸。全曲疏放隐逸，以归写情，正是贯云石曲中的名篇。综观全诗，情真、景切、理深，三者浑融无迹，故能于短短数语之中寄无限深意，令人百读不厌。其含蓄蕴藉之处，正是中国古典诗歌以少总多、言有尽而意无穷的美学精神的生动体现。

Prosody

Form Yuan sanqu song-verse, melody 'Dian Qian Huan', Shuangdiao mode曲（散曲·双调·殿前欢）
Rhyme The song rhymes in the 'jie lai' group (the -ai vowel), rhyming on zai, tai, kai, lai, guai, zai, zhai - so the whole piece is tied together by one long open vowel, which is unusual even for the form. This single repeated sound is what makes the lines sound like a recitation carried along by the wind in the first line.此曲为散曲，属双调【殿前欢】曲牌。押韵：「哉」「台」「开」「来」「怪」「在」「斋」押皆来部韵。句式长短错落，衬字自然，正与写写景隐逸的疏放隐逸相称，也见其以散曲写隐逸的灵动。
Tone pattern The line lengths are deliberately uneven: the three-character 'How carefree I am' bursts out, then a long nine-character clause, then the short punch of 'So what'. This irregularity is the sanqu merit called 'adding the filler words' (chenzi), where extra syllables are inserted freely to fit speech. The recitation therefore moves from quick declaration to unhurried answer.句式上，「畅幽哉，春风无处不楼台」写畅幽哉，音节疏朗；「一时怀抱俱无奈，总对天开」写一时怀抱俱无奈，音节起伏；「就渊明归去来，怕鹤怨山禽怪，问甚功名在」写就渊明归去来，音节激宕；结「酸斋是我，我是酸斋」写我是酸斋，音节回环。全曲音节随情起伏，由疏朗而起伏、由激宕而回环，正合散曲「灵动」之妙，读来如写景隐逸、我是酸斋之音，疏放而动人。
Reading note In the Yuan repertory the melodic pattern of 'Dian Qian Huan' permits very free construction, and this song is a good example of the plainest manner: no bracketed set-phrase, no allusive parallelism, no rhyme-distance trickery. The result is a small verse whose music comes almost entirely from the single rhyme vowel and from the abrupt changes of line length. For a learner, this is the best kind of Yuan song to read aloud because the rhythm is simply the rhythm of talking, and nothing needs to be added to make it sound.此曲为散曲，是贯云石写写景隐逸之作，也是其曲中的名篇。全曲的艺术特色在于「疏放隐逸、以归写情」：「畅幽哉，春风无处不楼台」写畅幽哉、「一时怀抱俱无奈，总对天开」写一时怀抱俱无奈、「就渊明归去来，怕鹤怨山禽怪，问甚功名在」写就渊明归去来、「酸斋是我，我是酸斋」写我是酸斋。全曲疏放隐逸，以归写情。尤为精妙者，是「就渊明归去来」用渊明之典；而「酸斋是我，我是酸斋」写尽酸斋，正是贯云石曲「疏放隐逸」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《殿前欢·畅幽哉》一诗之所以读来声情并茂，正在于诗人以声韵配合情思、以节奏烘托意境，音节之长短、平仄之起伏，皆与诗意相为表里，此亦可见中国古典诗歌声律之美与匠心之工。

Line by line

畅幽哉，春风无处不楼台。

How carefree I am - / Wherever the spring wind blows, there are towers and terraces.

畅幽哉，春风无处不楼台。

How deep the quiet! Spring breeze is everywhere on towers and terraces.

起句写畅幽哉，起笔即见其幽。「畅幽哉」写畅幽哉，「畅」写畅、「幽哉」写幽哉；「春风无处不楼台」写春风无处不楼台，「春风无处」写春风无处、「不楼台」写不楼台。一句写畅幽哉春风无处不楼台，以畅幽哉写幽哉、以春风无处不楼台写楼台，写尽畅幽哉、春风无处不楼台之情。以春起兴，疏放而隐逸，是「以春起兴」的妙笔。

The opening strikes the quiet at once: 'how deep the quiet,' then 'spring breeze is everywhere on towers and terraces.' Spring as the springboard, loose and recluse — a fine stroke of making spring the opening mood.

一时怀抱俱无奈，总对天开。

For a time my heart is utterly helpless, / And can only open itself to heaven.

一时怀抱俱无奈，总对天开。

For a moment my heart is all helplessness, always opening itself to the sky.

此句写一时怀抱俱无奈，是全曲写怀抱之态的关键。「一时怀抱俱无奈」写一时怀抱俱无奈，「一时怀抱」写一时怀抱、「俱无奈」写俱无奈；「总对天开」写总对天开，「总对」写总对、「天开」写天开。一句写一时怀抱俱无奈总对天开，以一时怀抱俱无奈写俱无奈、以总对天开写天开，写尽一时怀抱俱无奈、总对天开之情。以怀写情，疏放而隐逸，是「以怀写情」的点睛之笔。

This line writes the mood of the breast: 'for a moment my heart is all helplessness, always opening itself to the sky.' Helplessness, yet open to heaven — feeling written through the heart, loose and recluse, the telling stroke of the song.

就渊明归去来，怕鹤怨山禽怪，问甚功名在？

Better to follow Yuanming home, / Only I fear the cranes will murmur and the mountain birds take offence. / So what is this thing called fame and office?

就渊明归去来，怕鹤怨山禽怪，问甚功名在？

Follow Yuanming back home — away; what fear the cranes resent and mountain birds reproach? What need to ask where fame and rank are?

此句写就渊明归去来，是全曲写渊明之态的关键。「就渊明归去来」用渊明之典写就渊明归去来，「就渊明」写就渊明、「归去来」写归去来；「怕鹤怨山禽怪」写怕鹤怨山禽怪，「怕鹤怨」写怕鹤怨、「山禽怪」写山禽怪；「问甚功名在」写问甚功名在，「问甚」写问甚、「功名在」写功名在。一句写就渊明归去来怕鹤怨山禽怪问甚功名在，以就渊明归去来写归去来、以问甚功名在写功名在，写尽就渊明归去来、怕鹤怨山禽怪、问甚功名在之情。以归写情，疏放而隐逸，是「以归写情」的点睛之笔。

This line writes the following of Tao Yuanming, the key to the song's reclusive bearing. 'Follow Yuanming back home' uses Tao Qian's allusion; 'what fear the cranes resent and mountain birds reproach?' — as if fearing the creatures of the hills might grudge his return; 'what need to ask where fame and rank are?' — fame and rank dismissed. Return as the springboard of feeling, loose and recluse — the telling stroke.

酸斋是我，我是酸斋。

Suanzhai is me, and I am Suanzhai.

酸斋是我，我是酸斋。

Suanzhai is I; I am Suanzhai.

结句写我是酸斋，是全曲立意的落点。「酸斋是我」写酸斋是我，「酸斋」写酸斋、「是我」写是我；「我是酸斋」写我是酸斋，「我是」写我是、「酸斋」写酸斋。一句写酸斋是我我是酸斋，以酸斋是我写是我、以我是酸斋写酸斋，写尽酸斋是我、我是酸斋之情。以己写情，疏放而隐逸，是全曲最动人处，也是「以己写情」的点睛之笔。此句以寥寥数语写尽深意，情韵兼胜，正是全诗点睛之笔。其于字句之间暗藏波澜，于平易之中寄寓曲折，尤当反复涵泳，方能得其三昧。

The closing lands the song's meaning: 'Suanzhai is I; I am Suanzhai' — the poet's own sobriquet (Suanzhai, meaning Sour Studio, the hao of Guan Yunshi), the self declared as the recluse. Writing feeling through the self, loose and recluse, the most moving point of the song, its finishing stroke. A few words hold deep meaning, feeling and cadence together; beneath the plainness lie undercurrents, and only slow, fond savoring brings out the inner meaning.

Study

Word focus

幽哉 'You zai' - a soft exclamation of tranquil delight, the particle 'zai' softening the adjective 'you'. In 'How carefree I am' it sets the tone of the whole song: not ecstasy but an easy, unhurried ease, which is why the retreat it announces needs no argument. 「幽哉」写畅幽哉，是写幽哉之态的关键。「畅幽哉」着一「幽哉」，写幽哉——着一「幽哉」，写畅幽哉，见其哉之幽。两字写尽幽哉之态，是「以词写幽」的妙笔。「幽哉」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
楼台 'Lou tai' - towers and terraces, any tall building on a height; here just pleasant places to stand in the spring. Their ubiquity ('wherever the spring wind blows') is the poem's only complaint about the world, and their plainness is characteristic of the sanqu, which prefers easy, worldly things to lofty ones. 「楼台」写春风无处不楼台，是写楼台之态的关键。「春风无处不楼台」着一「楼台」，写楼台——着一「楼台」，写春风无处不楼台，见其台之楼。两字写尽楼台之态，是「以词写台」的点睛之词。「楼台」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
怀抱 'Huai bao' - the breast, and by extension the heart's holdings and aspirations. 'My heart is utterly helpless' uses it for the emotional whole: the springs of the world will not open in him, which is the reason for the ensuing resignation rather than any abuse of the world. 「怀抱」写一时怀抱俱无奈，是写怀抱之态的关键。「一时怀抱俱无奈」着一「怀抱」，写怀抱——着一「怀抱」，写一时怀抱俱无奈，见其抱之怀。两字写尽怀抱之态，是「以词写怀」的点睛之词。「怀抱」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
功名 'Gong ming' - official rank and fame, the conventional pair for a public career, and the target of the closing dismissive question. To 'ask what fame is' in a sanqu is a stock movement, but here it works because it comes immediately before the poet names himself instead of offering any alternative career. 「功名」写问甚功名在，是写功名之态的关键。「问甚功名在」着一「功名」，写功名——着一「功名」，写问甚功名在，见其名之功。两字写尽功名之态，是「以词写名」的点睛之词。「功名」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。

Related Reading

水调歌头·明月几时有 Shui Diao Ge Tou: How Long, Fair Moon 苏轼 · 同写隐逸感怀、疏放旷达，一写我欲乘风归去、一写就渊明归去来怕鹤怨山禽怪，皆于隐逸之中见疏放 Both seek relief from an aching public self in an escape upward and outward - Su Shi toward the moon and the immaterial, Guan Yunshi toward a tower in the spring wind

Su Shi's lyric says 'I wish to ride the wind and go back, yet fear the jade pavilion and crystal hall, too high for me' - an escape that the poet immediately distrusts. Guan Yunshi's escape is smaller and more ordinary: towers in the spring wind, and finally his own name. The contrast is between a Song lyricist who argues with himself through layers of imagery and a Yuan songwriter who states and dismisses in a few plain clauses. Both end by turning the escape into a self-definition, which is what links the two poems across the dynasties.

苏轼《水调歌头·明月几时有》「我欲乘风归去，又恐琼楼玉宇，高处不胜寒」，写隐逸感怀、疏放旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；贯云石《殿前欢·畅幽哉》则以「就渊明归去来，怕鹤怨山禽怪，问甚功名在」「畅幽哉，春风无处不楼台」写归去来、不楼台。两曲同写隐逸感怀、疏放旷达：一写我欲乘风归去、以乘风写超然，一写就渊明归去来怕鹤怨山禽怪、以归去写隐逸；一为苏轼之旷达、一为贯云石之疏放，并读正可见诗曲写「隐逸感怀」的两种笔法，皆于隐逸之中见疏放。

 八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Ba Sheng Gan Zhou: Against the Drizzling Rain 柳永 · 同写楼台凝望、疏放清丽，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写畅幽哉春风无处不楼台，皆于楼台之中见凝望 Both poems take a high place - a tower, a river bank - as the point from which the poet looks down on his own ambition

Liu Yong stands on a riverside tower after a rain and surveys the autumn world, only to find the skyline an image of his own wandering. Guan Yunshi stands in spring among towers and finds them merely convenient. The same device - a height, a wide view, and the reduction of public life to a small thing - produces in Liu Yong a melancholy that has to be explained, and in Guan Yunshi a shrug that needs none. Read together they show how the Yuan sanqu inherited the Song lyric's scenery and stripped it of its elaboration.

柳永《八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天》「对潇潇暮雨洒江天，一番洗清秋」，写楼台凝望、疏放清丽，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；贯云石《殿前欢·畅幽哉》则以「畅幽哉，春风无处不楼台」「一时怀抱俱无奈，总对天开」写不楼台、对天开。两曲同写楼台凝望、疏放清丽：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写畅幽哉春风无处不楼台、以春风写隐逸；一为柳永之清丽、一为贯云石之疏放，并读正可见诗曲写「楼台凝望」的两种笔法，皆于楼台之中见凝望。