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元 Yuan · 曲 Qu song

满庭芳·渔父词

Man Ting Fang: Words of a Fisherman

乔吉

Qiao Ji

秋江暮景，胭脂林障，翡翠山屏。
几年罢却青云兴，直泛沧溟。
卧御榻弯的腿疼，坐羊皮惯得身轻。
风初定，丝纶慢整，牵动一潭星。

Autumn river, evening scene:
Forests and ridges like rouge,
Mountains like a screen of emerald.
For years now I have given up the urge to climb the blue cloud,
And drift straight out upon the dark water.
On the imperial couch I lie - the knees are sore from kneeling;
On a goat-skin I sit - and the body grows light.
Now the wind has settled,
The silk line is slowly dressed,
And stirs a pool of stars.
Listen

Meaning

The song paints an autumn river at dusk, with forests reddened like rouge and hills as green as jade, and then moves to the speaker's own history: years spent renouncing ambition to drift on the open water. The contrast is drawn in a single couplet of bodies - the stiffened legs from kneeling on an imperial couch, the light body grown used to a goat-skin. It ends at ease, with the fishing line slow in a still wind and the water holding a pool of stars.

秋江暮景，胭脂林障，翡翠山屏。几年罢却青云兴，直泛沧溟。卧御榻弯的腿疼，坐羊皮惯得身轻。风初定，丝纶慢整，牵动一潭星。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The poem is an argument between two postures, both physical: the kneeling on a throne and the sitting on a hide. Everything before prepares the pair, because the whole poem is a setting in which both postures are still possible; everything after it is the leisure of the man who chose. [Structure] The first three lines are scenery, the next two state the conversion and its cost, the next two the contrast of bodies, and the last three the calm of the retired fisherman at his line. [Imagery] The colours are the poem's point: rouge for the woods, emerald for the mountains, and then, at the very end, stars reflected in water - three tiers of light and colour, moving from warm red and green to cold silver. [Art] The two lines about the body are the pivot and are built as a parallel with a wink: 'On the imperial couch I lie - the knees are sore'; 'On a goat-skin I sit - and the body grows light'. The joke is that comfort and pain change places, and the couplet is what makes the praise of fishing concrete instead of pious. The closing image of a pool of stars is the traditional beauty of the piece: a line cast into a still river, and the river holding the sky.

【白话串讲】 乔吉写《满庭芳·渔父词》：“秋江暮景，胭脂林障，翡翠山屏”——“几年罢却青云兴，直泛沧溟”——“卧御榻弯的腿疼，坐羊皮惯得身轻”——“风初定，丝纶慢整，牵动一潭星”——他写渔父词——牵动一潭星。 【意象与手法】 “秋江暮景、胭脂林障、翡翠山屏”写秋江暮景；“几年罢却青云兴、直泛沧溟”写几年罢却青云兴；“卧御榻弯的腿疼、坐羊皮惯得身轻”写卧御榻弯的腿疼；结以“风初定，丝纶慢整，牵动一潭星”写牵动一潭星。闲适隐逸。 【情感与主旨】 乔吉写渔父词之作，写秋江暮景与牵动一潭星的渔父之乐，是乔吉曲中的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“秋江暮景，胭脂林障，翡翠山屏”写秋江暮景；“风初定，丝纶慢整，牵动一潭星”写牵动一潭星。

Background

Qiao Ji (c. 1280-1345), courtesy name Mengfu, styled Shenghe Weng and the 'Xingxing Daoren', was a Yuan song-verse writer from Taiyuan who took no public office and lived by wandering between the capital and the southern lakes. He is one of the three great sanqu authors of the Yuan, ranked with Guan Yunshi and Zhang Kejiu, and his lyrics are notable for their humor, their concrete detail and their refusal to moralise. This piece in the Zhonglv mode, often titled 'Words of a Fisherman', is among the most anthologised of his small songs.

《满庭芳·渔父词》为元代散曲家乔吉所作曲。乔吉（约1280—1345），字梦符，号笙鹤翁，又号惺惺道人，太原人，元代散曲家。此曲写景隐逸，为咏渔父之作。曲中「秋江暮景，胭脂林障，翡翠山屏」写秋江暮景，胭脂林障，翡翠山屏；「几年罢却青云兴，直泛沧溟」写几年罢却青云兴，直泛沧溟；「卧御榻弯的腿疼，坐羊皮惯得身轻」写卧御榻弯的腿疼，坐羊皮惯得身轻；「风初定，丝纶慢整，牵动一潭星」写风初定，丝纶慢整，牵动一潭星。乔吉此曲以写景隐逸、牵动一潭星写其隐逸之情，闲适隐逸，是乔吉曲中的名篇。此篇《满庭芳·渔父词》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《满庭芳·渔父词》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 song's central technique is a reversal achieved by economy. Conventional retirement poetry praises the fisherman's life; here the poet earns it by putting his own body on the scale - sore knees against a light body - and the bargain is stated in plain, almost farcical language. The landscape lines at the opening are deliberately painted with pigment words rather than with brushwork: rouge, emerald, and later silver stars, so that the poem reads as a colour arrangement. The final three lines drop the parallel structure completely and use a slow, declarative cadence, which is precisely why they feel like a release of tension. Everything in the song is aimed at the last word: stars, and stillness.

此曲艺术上以「闲适隐逸、以钓写情」见长。全曲由秋江暮景而几年罢却青云兴而卧御榻弯的腿疼。起「秋江暮景，胭脂林障，翡翠山屏」写秋江暮景：秋江暮景，胭脂林障，翡翠山屏；「几年罢却青云兴，直泛沧溟」写几年罢却青云兴：几年罢却青云兴，直泛沧溟；「卧御榻弯的腿疼，坐羊皮惯得身轻」写卧御榻弯的腿疼：卧御榻弯的腿疼，坐羊皮惯得身轻；结「风初定，丝纶慢整，牵动一潭星」写牵动一潭星：风初定，丝纶慢整，牵动一潭星。全曲以钓写情，由秋江暮景而牵动一潭星，闲适隐逸，是乔吉曲中的名篇。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 'blue cloud' (qingyun) is the old figure for high official position, and 'giving up the urge to climb it' is the standard gesture of resignation, made concrete here by 'drifting out upon the dark water'. The imperial couch carries the memory of the Han figure of the recluse who was summoned and had to kneel before the throne - and the sore knees are the joke on that obedience. The goat-skin is the familiar attribute of the fisherman-recluse of the southern lakes. The 'silk line' (silken fishing line) is classical: the Zhuangzi story of the old fisherman who fishes without hooks, and a whole tradition of fishing poetry in which line, rod and water stand for a life not for sale.

曲中「秋江暮景胭脂林障翡翠山屏」「几年罢却青云兴直泛沧溟」「卧御榻弯的腿疼坐羊皮惯得身轻」「风初定丝纶慢整牵动一潭星」等语，皆含典故故实。「秋江暮景胭脂林障翡翠山屏」写秋江暮景胭脂林障翡翠山屏；「几年罢却青云兴直泛沧溟」用青云之典（青云写功名），写几年罢却青云兴直泛沧溟；「卧御榻弯的腿疼坐羊皮惯得身轻」用御榻、羊皮之典（御榻写仕途，羊皮写渔父），写卧御榻弯的腿疼坐羊皮惯得身轻；「风初定丝纶慢整牵动一潭星」用丝纶之典（丝纶写钓丝），写风初定丝纶慢整牵动一潭星。曲人用青云、羊皮、丝纶之典入曲，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。

Commentary

The song has been reprinted in nearly every Yuan anthology since the fourteenth century, and the closing image of the stirred pool of stars is perhaps the most quoted line after the opening colour triplets. Critics of the modern period were inclined to read in it a quiet protest - the poet who left the throne for the water - while later readers have noticed the comedy, without which the poem would be merely a genre exercise: the knees are the funniest part of it. Its lasting place is as a demonstration of how far the Yuan sanqu could travel away from the conventional vocabulary of reclusion inherited from the song lyrics into fresh concrete observation, and the last line is usually taken as proof that the form could still surprise.

这首《满庭芳·渔父词》，是乔吉写写景隐逸之作，写秋江暮景、几年罢却青云兴、风初定、牵动一潭星之情，闲适隐逸。起「秋江暮景，胭脂林障，翡翠山屏」——秋江暮景，胭脂林障，翡翠山屏。写秋江暮景：秋江暮景、胭脂林障、翡翠山屏——林障、山屏；「几年罢却青云兴，直泛沧溟」——几年罢却青云兴，直泛沧溟。写几年罢却青云兴：几年罢却青云兴、直泛沧溟——青云兴、泛沧溟；「卧御榻弯的腿疼，坐羊皮惯得身轻」——卧御榻弯的腿疼，坐羊皮惯得身轻。写卧御榻弯的腿疼：卧御榻弯的腿疼、坐羊皮惯得身轻——腿疼、身轻；结「风初定，丝纶慢整，牵动一潭星」——风初定，丝纶慢整，牵动一潭星。写牵动一潭星：风初定、丝纶慢整、牵动一潭星——丝纶慢整、一潭星。这「风初定，丝纶慢整，牵动一潭星」，是全曲之结：以牵动一潭星写其隐逸。全曲闲适隐逸，以钓写情，正是乔吉曲中的名篇。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 'Man Ting Fang', Zhonglv mode曲（散曲·中吕·满庭芳）
Rhyme The whole piece rhymes in the 'geng, qing' group: ping / ming / qing / xing - the dark nasal vowel that gives the Yuan and Ming retirement lyrics their cool, lingering tone. The single uninterrupted rhyme chain is what holds eleven short lines into a complete musical statement.此曲为散曲，属中吕宫【满庭芳】曲牌。押韵：「屏」「溟」「轻」「星」押庚青部韵。句式长短错落，衬字自然，正与写写景隐逸的闲适隐逸相称，也见其以散曲写隐逸的灵动。
Tone pattern Line lengths alternate between long descriptive clauses ('Mountains like a screen of emerald') and short declaratives ('Now the wind has settled'), and the melody's characteristic filler words allow the sentences to run across the notional bar lines. Recitation therefore slows toward the end, where the three closing lines are evenly paced and calm.句式上，「秋江暮景，胭脂林障，翡翠山屏」写秋江暮景，音节明丽；「几年罢却青云兴，直泛沧溟」写几年罢却青云兴，音节疏朗；「卧御榻弯的腿疼，坐羊皮惯得身轻」写卧御榻弯的腿疼，音节谐趣；结「风初定，丝纶慢整，牵动一潭星」写牵动一潭星，音节空灵。全曲音节随情起伏，由明丽而疏朗、由谐趣而空灵，正合散曲「灵动」之妙，读来如写景隐逸、牵动一潭星之音，闲适而动人。
Reading note In the Zhonglv mode this melody is among the freest of the Yuan song-verse tunes, and Qiao Ji uses that freedom to write something close to a prose paragraph in verse. The result is a piece with almost no metrical surface: what sounds is the rhyme, the balanced colour words, and the slow closing cadence. It is a good example for the learner of how little formal apparatus a Yuan song needs, and of how the choice of a nasal rhyme vowel can make even a bright scene sound cool.此曲为散曲，是乔吉写写景隐逸之作，也是其曲中的名篇。全曲的艺术特色在于「闲适隐逸、以钓写情」：「秋江暮景，胭脂林障，翡翠山屏」写秋江暮景、「几年罢却青云兴，直泛沧溟」写几年罢却青云兴、「卧御榻弯的腿疼，坐羊皮惯得身轻」写卧御榻弯的腿疼、「风初定，丝纶慢整，牵动一潭星」写牵动一潭星。全曲闲适隐逸，以钓写情。尤为精妙者，是「几年罢却青云兴」用青云之典；而「牵动一潭星」写尽一潭星，正是乔吉曲「闲适隐逸」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《满庭芳·渔父词》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

秋江暮景，胭脂林障，翡翠山屏。

Autumn river, evening scene: / forests and ridges like rouge, / mountains like a screen of emerald.

秋江暮景，胭脂林障，翡翠山屏。

Autumn river at dusk: forest barriers like rouge, mountain screens like jade.

起句写秋江暮景，起笔即见其秋江。「秋江暮景」写秋江暮景，「秋江」写秋江、「暮景」写暮景；「胭脂林障，翡翠山屏」写胭脂林障翡翠山屏，「胭脂林障」写胭脂林障、「翡翠山屏」写翡翠山屏。一句写秋江暮景胭脂林障翡翠山屏，以秋江暮景写暮景、以胭脂林障翡翠山屏写山屏，写尽秋江暮景、胭脂林障、翡翠山屏之情。以江起兴，闲适而隐逸，是「以江起兴」的妙笔。

The opening begins: 'autumn river at dusk,' then 'forest barriers like rouge, mountain screens like jade.' The river as springboard, leisure and recluse life — a fine stroke.

几年罢却青云兴，直泛沧溟。

For years now I have given up the urge to climb the blue cloud, / and drift straight out upon the dark water.

几年罢却青云兴，直泛沧溟。

For years I have laid aside the soaring ambition, sailing straight out on the vast sea.

此句写几年罢却青云兴，是全曲写青云之态的关键。「几年罢却青云兴」用青云之典写几年罢却青云兴，「几年罢却」写几年罢却、「青云兴」写青云兴；「直泛沧溟」写直泛沧溟，「直泛」写直泛、「沧溟」写沧溟。一句写几年罢却青云兴直泛沧溟，以几年罢却青云兴写青云兴、以直泛沧溟写沧溟，写尽几年罢却青云兴、直泛沧溟之情。以云写情，闲适而隐逸，是「以云写情」的点睛之笔。

This line writes the laying aside of high ambition: 'for years I have laid aside the soaring ambition' uses the allusion of 'blue clouds' for rising official fortune; 'sailing straight out on the vast sea' the open waters. Writing feeling through clouds, leisure and recluse life — the telling stroke.

卧御榻弯的腿疼，坐羊皮惯得身轻。

On the imperial couch I lie - the knees are sore from kneeling; / on a goat-skin I sit - and the body grows light.

卧御榻弯的腿疼，坐羊皮惯得身轻。

Lying on the imperial couch, one's joints ache with bending; seated on sheepskin, one grows used to a light body.

此句写卧御榻弯的腿疼，是全曲写御榻之态的关键。「卧御榻弯的腿疼」用御榻之典写卧御榻弯的腿疼，「卧御榻」写卧御榻、「弯的腿疼」写弯的腿疼；「坐羊皮惯得身轻」用羊皮之典写坐羊皮惯得身轻，「坐羊皮」写坐羊皮、「惯得身轻」写惯得身轻。一句写卧御榻弯的腿疼坐羊皮惯得身轻，以卧御榻弯的腿疼写腿疼、以坐羊皮惯得身轻写身轻，写尽卧御榻弯的腿疼、坐羊皮惯得身轻之情。以榻写情，闲适而隐逸，是「以榻写情」的点睛之笔。

This line writes the imperial couch: 'lying on the imperial couch, one's joints ache with bending' uses the allusion to the couch of state; 'seated on sheepskin, one grows used to a light body' uses the recluse's sheepskin seat. Writing feeling through the couch, leisure and recluse life — the telling stroke.

风初定，丝纶慢整，牵动一潭星。

Now the wind has settled, / the silk line is slowly dressed, / and stirs a pool of stars.

风初定，丝纶慢整，牵动一潭星。

The wind at last falls; slowly I straighten the silk line, and stir a pool of stars.

结句写牵动一潭星，是全曲立意的落点。「风初定」写风初定，「风初」写风初、「定」写定；「丝纶慢整」用丝纶之典写丝纶慢整，「丝纶」写丝纶、「慢整」写慢整；「牵动一潭星」写牵动一潭星，「牵动」写牵动、「一潭星」写一潭星。一句写风初定丝纶慢整牵动一潭星，以丝纶慢整写慢整、以牵动一潭星写一潭星，写尽风初定、丝纶慢整、牵动一潭星之情。以星写情，闲适而隐逸，是全曲最动人处，也是「以星写情」的点睛之笔。

The closing lands the song's meaning: 'the wind at last falls,' 'slowly I straighten the silk line,' 'and stir a pool of stars.' Writing feeling through stars, leisure and recluse life — the most moving point of the song, its finishing stroke.

Study

Word focus

秋江 'Qiu jiang', autumn river - the season and the water at once, and the conventional opening of the Chinese fisherman's poem. Here it is also the setting of the decision: the water that takes the poet out of official life is the same water that later holds the stars, so the first words of the poem and the last are the same place. 「秋江」写秋江暮景，是写秋江之态的关键。「秋江暮景」着一「秋江」，写秋江——着一「秋江」，写秋江暮景，见其江之秋。两字写尽秋江之态，是「以词写江」的妙笔。「秋江」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。
胭脂 'Yanzhi', the rouge or cinnabar-red of women's make-up, transferred to the autumn woods. The choice of a cosmetic word for a landscape is the poem's colour device: it makes the forest look painted rather than natural, and it introduces the warm red that the rest of the piece, ending in cold silver stars, quietly withdraws. 「胭脂」写胭脂林障，是写胭脂之态的关键。「胭脂林障」着一「胭脂」，写胭脂——着一「胭脂」，写胭脂林障，见其脂之胭。两字写尽胭脂之态，是「以词写色」的点睛之词。「胭脂」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。
沧溟 'Cangming', the dark blue water - the great sea, or any deep dark water. 'Drift straight out upon the dark water' uses it for the open river or sea of the recluse, and it is the term that contrasts with the blue cloud of ambition in the previous line: one is height, the other depth, and the poet chose depth. 「沧溟」写直泛沧溟，是写沧溟之态的关键。「直泛沧溟」着一「沧溟」，写沧溟——着一「沧溟」，写直泛沧溟，见其溟之沧。两字写尽沧溟之态，是「以词写海」的点睛之词。「沧溟」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。
丝纶 'Silu', the silk thread of a fishing line, the classical word for it from the Zhuangzi onward. 'The silk line is slowly dressed' gives the poem its still ending: a single thread moving through a mirror, and it is the one object in the song that acts. 「丝纶」写丝纶慢整，是写丝纶之态的关键。「丝纶慢整」着一「丝纶」，写丝纶——着一「丝纶」，写丝纶慢整，见其纶之丝。两字写尽丝纶之态，是「以词写丝」的点睛之词。「丝纶」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、闲适旷达，一写我欲乘风归去、一写几年罢却青云兴直泛沧溟，皆于隐逸之中见闲适 Both take the self's relation to water and height as the measure of freedom - Su Shi riding the wind upward, Qiao Ji drifting out upon the dark water - and both end by choosing what can be held

Su Shi rises (I wish to ride the wind and go back) and then stops himself, 'too high for me', and settles for a moonlit human rather than an immortal one. Qiao Ji moves in the opposite direction, from the blue cloud down to the water, and stays there. The two poems are useful together because they are the same question answered from above and from below, and because both endings refuse the transcendental: Su Shi keeps the moon shared by men, and Qiao Ji keeps the stars in a river he can touch with a line.

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、闲适旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；乔吉《满庭芳·渔父词》则以「几年罢却青云兴，直泛沧溟」「风初定，丝纶慢整，牵动一潭星」写泛沧溟、一潭星。两曲同写隐逸感怀、闲适旷达：一写我欲乘风归去、以乘风写超然，一写几年罢却青云兴直泛沧溟、以沧溟写隐逸；一为苏轼之旷达、一为乔吉之闲适，并读正可见诗曲写「隐逸感怀」的两种笔法，皆于隐逸之中见闲适。

 八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Ba Sheng Gan Zhou: Against the Drizzling Rain 柳永 · 同写江上凝望、闲适清丽，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写秋江暮景胭脂林障翡翠山屏，皆于江上之中见凝望 Both are built on a wide autumn landscape seen from a distance, and both use the colour of the season - Liu Yong's clear wash, Qiao Ji's rouge and emerald - to place a single figure within it

Liu Yong's opening 'against the drizzling rain over the river and sky, one washing makes clear autumn' establishes the same device of a huge painted horizon that encloses one solitary person; the difference is that in Liu Yong the figure is wrested by travel, and in Qiao Ji by choice. The comparison also shows how the Yuan sanqu took the Song ci's most famous decorative opening and reduced it to a couplet of plain clauses with two colour words left in.

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」，写江上凝望、闲适清丽，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；乔吉《满庭芳·渔父词》则以「秋江暮景，胭脂林障，翡翠山屏」「卧御榻弯的腿疼，坐羊皮惯得身轻」写翡翠山屏、惯得身轻。两曲同写江上凝望、闲适清丽：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写秋江暮景胭脂林障翡翠山屏、以秋江写隐逸；一为柳永之清丽、一为乔吉之闲适，并读正可见诗曲写「江上凝望」的两种笔法，皆于江上之中见凝望。