元 Yuan · 散曲 Sanqu song
普天乐·西山夕照
Heavenly Bliss · Sunset Glow at West Mountain
晚云收，夕阳挂，一川枫叶，两岸芦花。
鸥鹭栖，牛羊下。
万顷波光天图画，水晶宫冷浸红霞。
凝烟暮景，转晖老树，背影昏鸦。
A river of maple leaves, reed-down on both banks.
Gulls and herons settle; oxen and sheep descend.
Ten thousand acres of wave-light, a picture by heaven; the crystal palace coldly steeped in red haze.
Settled smoke, the dusk scene; turning radiance, the old tree; a dark crow with the glow upon its back.
Meaning
Evening clouds slowly gather, the slanting sun hangs at the sky's edge; the whole river of maple leaves is dyed, reed-down on both banks like snow. Gulls and herons rest among the reeds, oxen and sheep return from the woods. Ten thousand acres of wave-light are a natural picture; red haze mirrored in the water seems to steep the crystal palace cold. Dusk smoke settles, afterglow moves among the old trees, and a crow bears the sun's last light upon its back as it flies far.
晚云渐渐收拢，夕阳斜挂天边，漫山枫叶如染，两岸芦花似雪。鸥鹭在芦花中栖息，牛羊从林间归来。万顷波光如一幅天然图画，红霞倒映水中，仿佛浸冷了水晶宫。暮霭凝聚，余晖在老树间流转，乌鸦背负着落日余晖向远方飞去。
Appreciation
The whole song keeps the man outside the picture, pure scene, yet feeling lodges in the scene. The opening four lines 'Evening clouds gather in; the slanting sun hangs; a river of maple leaves, reed-down on both banks' use two coupled short lines, each word a scene, from sky to earth, the red of maple against the white of reed, strong contrast; 'Gulls and herons settle; oxen and sheep descend' with 'settle' and 'descend' writes the return to stillness; 'Ten thousand acres of wave-light, a picture by heaven; the crystal palace coldly steeped in red haze' opens a vast, phantom prospect; it closes with 'Settled smoke, the dusk scene; turning radiance, the old tree; a dark crow with the glow upon its back', fine touches. The whole is ethereal and pale, colour laid with right measure.
【白话串讲】 晚云收，夕阳挂，一川枫叶两岸芦花。鸥鹭栖，牛羊下。徐再思写西山夕照：“万顷波光天图画”——万顷波光，像天上挂的画。 【意象与手法】 全曲人在画外，纯以写景，却情寓景中。起四句「晚云收，夕阳挂，一川枫叶，两岸芦花」以两联短句每字一景，从天写到地，取枫之红与芦之白相映，对比强烈；「鸥鹭栖，牛羊下」以「栖」「下」写归静；「万顷波光天图画，水晶宫冷浸红霞」展开阔大幻境；结以「凝烟暮景，转晖老树，背影昏鸦」，工笔点染。整体空灵平淡，设色浓淡得宜。 【情感与主旨】 徐再思，字德可，号甜斋，嘉兴（今属浙江）人，元代后期散曲家，与贯云石（酸斋）齐名，后人合辑其作为《酸甜乐府》。他一生流转于江浙苏杭一带，飘泊十年。此曲为其客旅吴江时所作，为《吴江八景》组曲之末章，写太湖流域西山夕照，于江南晚景中流露出对自然与闲适生活的热爱。 【名句点睛】 本曲为元散曲写景名篇，中高考可考：一、画面概括，描述西山夕照由天及地、由动入静的层次；二、「水晶宫冷浸红霞」通感、比喻手法的赏析；三、曲中「人在画外、情寓景中」的抒情特点与元曲小令「清丽典雅」的风格。
Background
Xu Zaisi, style Deke, name Tianzhai, of Jiaxing (today's Zhejiang), a late-Yuan sanqu writer, famed alongside Guan Yunshi (Su'an) as the 'Sweet and Sour Yuefu'. He drifted about Jiang-Zhe and Suzhou-Hangzhou for ten years. This song was written when, as a traveller at Wujiang (today's Jiangsu), it is the last of his 'Eight Scenes of Wujiang' group, writing the West-Mountain sunset over the Taihu basin, in the Jiangnan evening scene revealing his love of nature and the leisurely life.
徐再思（约1280—约1330），字德可，号甜斋，嘉兴（今属浙江）人，元代后期著名散曲家，与贯云石（号酸斋）齐名，后人合辑二人作品为《酸甜乐府》。徐再思一生流转于江浙苏杭一带，飘泊近十年，足迹遍及江南水乡，其散曲以清丽典雅著称，多写江南山水与羁旅情怀。此曲为其客旅吴江（今属江苏）时所作，是《吴江八景》组曲中的末章，写太湖流域西山一带的夕照晚景。吴江地处太湖之滨，水网密布，芦花枫叶、鸥鹭牛羊，是典型的江南水乡风光；诗人客居于此，于黄昏时分远眺西山，眼见晚云、夕阳、枫叶、芦花、波光、红霞次第入画，遂以此曲记之。全曲纯以写景，不着一个情字，而流连山水、恬然自适的情怀自在其中，正是元代散曲「清丽派」写景小令的代表。元代散曲兴起于市井，多写隐逸闲适与风花雪月，徐再思与贯云石齐名，一酸一甜，正见元曲风格的多样。徐再思客旅吴江十年，足迹遍历江南水乡，其曲多写江南的风物人情，如《水仙子·夜雨》《蟾宫曲·春情》等，皆以清丽见长。此曲为《吴江八景》组曲之一，写西山夕照，正是其客中览胜之作：诗人于江南水乡的黄昏中，看云收霞涌、鸥栖羊归，一腔羁旅的疲惫与闲适的欢喜，都化入了这明丽的晚景之中，故全曲虽纯写景，而诗人的心境自在景中。
Art
The whole song keeps the man outside the picture, pure scene, yet feeling lodges in the scene. The opening four lines 'Evening clouds gather in; the slanting sun hangs; a river of maple leaves, reed-down on both banks' use two coupled short lines, each word a scene, from sky to earth, the red of maple against the white of reed, strong contrast; 'Gulls and herons settle; oxen and sheep descend' with 'settle' and 'descend' writes the return to stillness; 'Ten thousand acres of wave-light, a picture by heaven; the crystal palace coldly steeped in red haze' opens a vast, phantom prospect; it closes with 'Settled smoke, the dusk scene; turning radiance, the old tree; a dark crow with the glow upon its back', fine touches. The whole is ethereal and pale, colour laid with right measure.
全曲以「夕照」为轴，由天及地、由动入静，层层展开一幅江南晚景图。起句「晚云收，夕阳挂」先写天空：晚云渐收，夕阳斜挂，点出「夕照」的题目；「一川枫叶，两岸芦花」转写地面，枫叶之红与芦花之白相映，色彩对比鲜明，如画师泼彩。「鸥鹭栖，牛羊下」以「栖」「下」二字写禽鸟归巢、牛羊归牧，天地间渐归于静，为暮景铺垫。「万顷波光天图画，水晶宫冷浸红霞」是全景式的渲染：万顷湖波，霞光倒映，如一幅天然的图画，又如水晶宫中浸着红霞，想象奇丽。「凝烟暮景，转晖老树，背影昏鸦」以工笔收束：暮霭凝聚，余晖在古树间流转，昏鸦背负着落日余晖飞去，画面由开阔转入幽深。全曲人在画外，纯以白描与设色写景，而情寓景中，空灵平淡，浓淡得宜，是元曲小令写景的上乘之作。此曲在构图上还讲究浓淡虚实的调配：枫叶芦花是浓，晚云夕阳是淡；波光红霞是虚（倒影），鸥鹭牛羊是实（实景）；凝烟是淡，老树昏鸦是浓——浓淡相间、虚实相生，恰如一幅水墨设色的画卷。而全曲以『收、挂、栖、下、冷浸、凝、转、背』等动词串联景物，使静止的画面充满流动的光影，由云的收拢到鸦的背影，一步一景，步步推移，正是元曲以曲写画的上乘功夫，也可见甜斋对光与色的敏锐感受。
Allusions
The allusion here is natural, without a seam. 'Crystal palace' originally names the dragon-king's underwater dwelling, from the Transmission of the Lamp and later fiction; here it figures the clear river surface, writing the red haze mirrored as if steeped in the dragon palace, adding a misty, fairy glow. 'A dark crow with the glow upon its back' may take a hint from Wang Changling's 'Song of Long Faith Autumn' ('her jade face worse than the cold crow's colour, yet bearing the Zhao-yang sun's reflection'), closing with the crow's backlit afterglow, an endless aftertaste. The whole blends poetic diction into the song, showing Tianzhai's 'clear and elegant' school.
本曲用典极少而自然无痕。「水晶宫」本指神话中龙王所居的水府，语出《景德传灯录》及唐宋以来的小说笔记，此处借以比喻清澈的江面：红霞倒映水中，霞光透水，仿佛整个水晶宫都被红霞浸透、浸冷，把寻常的倒影写得朦胧仙幻，平添一层神话的瑰丽。「背影昏鸦」或受王昌龄《长信秋词》「玉颜不及寒鸦色，犹带昭阳日影来」的启发：寒鸦背上犹带昭阳宫的日影，写被弃宫人的怨望；徐再思反取其画面，以「背影昏鸦」写乌鸦背负落日余晖飞去，化宫怨之语为自然之景，余味悠长。此外「枫叶」「芦花」「鸥鹭」「牛羊」皆江南即目之景，无僻典，全曲融诗词语汇入曲，正是甜斋「清丽典雅」一派的本色。『牛羊下』化用《诗经·王风·君子于役》『日之夕矣，羊牛下来』：原诗写黄昏时分牛羊归栏而征夫未归的相思，徐再思取其黄昏归牧的画面，却一洗原诗的愁怨，纯写田园的安宁，正是点铁成金的化用。『万顷波光天图画』则暗含王勃《滕王阁序》『落霞与孤鹜齐飞，秋水共长天一色』的意象传统，以波光霞影写江南水乡的壮美，虽未用其句而神韵暗通。全曲熔《诗经》、初唐诗、神话意象于一炉，皆化入即目之景，见出甜斋融贯古今的功力。
Commentary
The Yuan Sanqu Appreciation Dictionary says this song 'is like a tranquil genre-painting, written ethereal and pale, as if with no subjective colour', and praises its 'both full, dripping splash and fine, delicate touches'. Modern talk of Tianzhai calls him 'clear and lovely, soft and trailing'; this piece writing Jiangnan evening scene for leisure is a representative small lyric.
《元曲鉴赏辞典》评此曲「宛如一幅恬淡的风情画，写得空灵平淡，仿佛不带任何主观色彩」，又赞其「既有酣畅淋漓的泼墨，又有精巧细致的点缀刻画」，拈出此曲兼具大写意与小写意的画境之美。近人论甜斋散曲，称其「清丽芊绵」，此篇以江南晚景写闲适之趣，设色明丽、意境空灵，足为其小令代表作。元曲写景小令，马致远以《天净沙·秋思》写羁旅之悲，张养浩以《山坡羊·潼关怀古》写兴亡之叹，而徐再思此曲独写山水之美与闲适之趣，纯任自然，不假寄托，正见元曲「清丽派」与「豪放派」「疏淡派」的不同取向。全曲以画法为曲法，浓淡得宜、动静相生，是元代江南山水散曲中的精品，也是理解元曲小令多样风格的样本。近人选元曲，多以马致远《天净沙·秋思》为写景小令之首，而徐再思此曲正可与之对读：同写黄昏，马曲以枯藤老树写天涯羁旅之悲，徐曲以枫叶芦花写江南山水之美；一疏淡悲凉、一清丽明快，正见元曲写景的两极。论者谓甜斋曲『清丽芊绵，为元曲清丽派之冠』，此曲足为其证：全曲无一字言情，而流连光景的闲适之情、客居江南的恬淡之趣，皆在画面之外，是元人小令以景写情的典范，也是江南山水文学的精品。
Prosody
Line by line
晚云收，夕阳挂，一川枫叶，两岸芦花
Evening clouds gather in; the slanting sun hangs; a river of maple leaves, reed-down on both banks
晚云渐渐收拢，夕阳斜挂天边，漫山枫叶如染，两岸芦花似雪。
Evening clouds gather; the setting sun hangs. A whole stream of maple leaves; two banks of reed catkins.
起四句为全曲定下「夕照」的画幅与色调。「晚云收，夕阳挂」先写天空：晚云渐渐收拢，夕阳斜挂天边，一「收」一「挂」，云之动与日之静相映，点出黄昏的时分；「一川枫叶，两岸芦花」转写地面：满川的枫叶红艳如染，两岸的芦花洁白似雪，一红一白，对比强烈，色彩鲜明。四句两联，每字一景，由天到地、由远到近，以极简省的笔触铺开一幅开阔的江南晚景图。枫叶与芦花点出时令正在深秋，而红白相映的画面明丽而不萧瑟，正是江南秋色特有的明净；「一川」「两岸」写出水乡的开阔，为下文「万顷波光」的浩渺蓄势。
The opening four characters fix the 'sunset' picture and its hues. 'Evening clouds gather; the setting sun hangs' first writes the sky: evening clouds drawing together, the sun hanging aslant on the horizon — 'gather' and 'hang,' cloud's motion and sun's stillness answering, marking the dusk hour; 'a whole stream of maple leaves; two banks of reed catkins' turns to the ground: maple leaves crimson as dyed along the stream, reed catkins white as snow on both banks, red against white, stark and vivid. Four lines in two couplets, each word a scene, sky to ground, far to near, spreading in the fewest words a wide picture of the southern evening. Maple and reed mark the deep of autumn, yet the red-white picture is bright, not bleak — the peculiar clarity of southern autumn; 'a whole stream' and 'two banks' write the water country's openness, priming the vastness of the 'ten thousand acres of light' to come.
鸥鹭栖，牛羊下
Gulls and herons settle; oxen and sheep descend
鸥鹭在芦花中栖息，牛羊从林间归来。
Gulls and egrets settle among the reed flowers; cattle and sheep come home from the woods.
此二句写禽畜归栖，是全曲由动入静的转折。「鸥鹭栖」写白鸥沙鹭收翅栖于芦花之畔，「牛羊下」写牛羊自山坡林间缓缓归来，一鸟一畜、一水一陆，以「栖」「下」二字写出黄昏时分万物归巢的景象。「栖」字写鸟之安闲，「下」字写牛羊下山之从容，两字皆平实而传神，把暮色渐浓、天地渐归宁静的过程写得如在目前。此二句暗用《诗经·王风·君子于役》「日之夕矣，羊牛下来」的意象，而不露痕迹：黄昏是归家的时刻，鸥鹭归栖、牛羊归栏，万物各得其所，天地一片和宁。此处的「归静」正是为下文的「万顷波光」「凝烟暮景」铺垫，也暗含诗人客居中的安闲心境。
These two lines write the creatures returning to roost, the turning of the song from motion to stillness. 'Gulls and egrets roost' — white gulls and shore egrets folding their wings by the reed flowers; 'cattle and sheep come down' — the herds coming slowly from the wooded slopes; bird and beast, water and land, the words 'roost' and 'come down' writing all things returning to their nests at dusk. 'Roost' the bird's ease, 'come down' the herds' unhurried descent, both plain and vivid, rendering the deepening dusk and the world's settling into silence as if before the eyes. The lines quietly use the image of the Book of Songs — 'the day declines, sheep and cattle come down' — without a trace: dusk is the hour of home, gulls roosting, cattle folding in, all things in their place, a heaven and earth at peace. This 'return to stillness' prepares the 'ten thousand acres of light' and the 'mist of dusk' below, and darkly holds the poet's own ease amid his travels.
万顷波光天图画，水晶宫冷浸红霞
Ten thousand acres of wave-light, a picture by heaven; the crystal palace coldly steeped in red haze
万顷波光如一幅天然图画，红霞倒映水中，仿佛浸冷了水晶宫。
Ten thousand acres of wavering light, a picture made by heaven; the crimson glow reflected in the water, as if soaking cold the crystal palace.
此二句是全曲最奇丽的想象，由写实转入幻境。「万顷波光天图画」写浩渺的湖面波光粼粼，仿佛天公绘就的一幅天然图画，「万顷」极言水面之广，「天图画」以天工比人工，写出波光之美非人力所能及；「水晶宫冷浸红霞」更进一层：红霞倒映水中，霞光透波而下，仿佛把水晶宫都浸透了、浸冷了。「水晶宫」以神话中的龙宫喻清澈的江水，想象瑰丽；「冷」字尤妙，以触觉写视觉——霞光本是暖色，映在水中却生出清冷之感，通感精妙，既状水之清澈，又添龙宫般的幽幻。「万顷」的开阔与「水晶宫」的幽深相映，波光与红霞交织，把夕照下的湖面写得如梦如幻，是全曲想象力的高峰。
These two lines are the song's strangest, richest imagination, turning from realism to fantasy. 'Ten thousand acres of rippling light, a painting of heaven' — the vast lake gleaming, as if a painting wrought by heaven itself, 'ten thousand acres' heaping the breadth of water, 'a painting of heaven' setting heaven's craft above man's, the beauty beyond human hand; 'the crystal palace soaked cold in the crimson glow' goes further: the red glow reflected in the water, light filtering down through the waves, as if soaking through the crystal palace, chilling it. 'The crystal palace' likens the clear river to the dragon palace of myth, gorgeous in conception; the word 'cold' is the finest — touch writing sight: glow is warm, yet mirrored in water it turns chill, a synesthesia exquisite, writing at once the water's clarity and the dragon palace's haunted chill. The vastness of 'ten thousand acres' answers the depth of the 'crystal palace,' light and glow interwoven, writing the sunset lake as dreamlike — the peak of the song's imagination.
凝烟暮景，转晖老树，背影昏鸦
Settled smoke, the dusk scene; turning radiance, the old tree; a dark crow with the glow upon its back
暮霭凝聚，余晖在老树间流转，乌鸦背负着落日余晖向远方飞去。
Mist congeals at dusk; turning light on old trees; the dark crows flying away, their backs to the dying glow.
结三句以工笔收束全曲，由阔大的波光转入幽深的近景。「凝烟暮景」写暮霭凝聚，烟霭与暮色融为一体，天地渐入朦胧；「转晖老树」写夕阳的余晖在苍老的树木间流转，光影斑驳，「转」字写光的移动，极细腻；「背影昏鸦」写乌鸦背负着落日余晖向远方飞去，「背影」二字最见功力——不是写鸦身，而是写鸦背上的那一抹落日余光，正如王昌龄「玉颜不及寒鸦色，犹带昭阳日影来」的写法，以背上余晖写暮色将尽。三句由烟而树而鸦，由远而近、由静而微动，画面由明转暗，恰似一首乐曲的尾声，在昏鸦的背影里缓缓落幕，余味悠长，令人想见曲终人静的黄昏。
The closing three lines finish the song in fine brushwork, turning from the vast ripples to the deep, near view. 'Mist congeals at dusk' — the evening haze gathering, mist fused with the dusk, heaven and earth growing dim; 'turning light on old trees' — the sunset's afterglow playing among the aged trees, light and shadow flecked, the word 'turning' rendering the light's movement, exquisitely fine; 'the dark crows flying away, their backs to the dying glow' — crows flying off, bearing the afterglow on their backs, the words 'their backs' the most crafted — not the crow's body, but the touch of sunset on the crow's back, as Wang Changling wrote 'her jade face cannot match the dark crow's hue, which still carries the sunlight of Zhaoyang' — writing the dusk's end through the glow on a back. Three lines, mist to tree to crow, far to near, still to slight motion, the picture turning from bright to dark, like the coda of a piece, slowly ending in the crows' backs, long in aftertone, evoking the dusk of music ended and the world at peace.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Both by Tianzhai, same Heavenly Bliss; compare the composition and colour of the two Jiangnan scenes, West Lake and West Mountain.
《普天乐·西湖即事》与《普天乐·西山夕照》同出甜斋之手、同用《普天乐》曲牌，同写江南水乡景致，可以互证其写景小令的一贯作风：西湖即事写「远山晴翠，近水摇红」的西湖风光，西山夕照写「一川枫叶，两岸芦花」的太湖晚景，皆以清丽的设色、空灵的意境写江南之美。二曲的区别在构图与情调：西湖是静态的园林之美，写其晴翠摇红的明丽；西山是动态的时序之美，写其由明入暗的黄昏。比较二曲，正可看出甜斋写景曲在题材相近时如何以不同的取景、设色与节奏各造其境，是理解元曲清丽派写景手法的绝佳对读。
天净沙·秋思 Sunny Sand · Autumn Thoughts 马致远 · 同属元人写景小令，风格一工丽一疏淡 Same (theme: Yuan sanqu scene)Both famed Yuan small-lyric scene pieces; compare Tianzhai's ethereal fineness with Dongli's sparse sorrow.
马致远《天净沙·秋思》「枯藤老树昏鸦，小桥流水人家，古道西风瘦马」与徐再思此曲同为元人写景小令，同为「昏鸦」「老树」「夕阳」的意象，而情调迥异：马曲以九个名词意象罗列羁旅之景，末以「断肠人在天涯」直抒悲怀，疏淡悲凉，是元曲「豪放疏淡派」的代表；徐曲以枫叶芦花、波光红霞写江南晚景，末以「背影昏鸦」含蓄点染，空灵工丽，是「清丽派」的代表。同是写秋暮，一写天涯游子的苍凉，一写江南水乡的闲适；同用昏鸦意象，一为断肠之景，一为画境之缀。比较二曲，正可看出元曲小令写景的两种风格、两种心境，是理解元曲多元面貌的经典对读。