All poems

元 Yuan · 散曲 Sanqu song

清江引·秋居

Qingjiang Yin: Autumn Dwelling

吴西逸

Wu Xiyi

隐居Reclusion 秋景Autumn Scene 元曲Yuan Qu

白雁乱飞秋似雪，清露生凉夜。
扫却石边云，醉踏松根月。
星斗满天人睡也。

White wild geese scatter madly—autumn seems like snow;
Clear dew brings coolness to the night.
I sweep away the clouds beside the rocks,
And drunk, tread the moon among the pine roots.
When stars fill the sky, I fall asleep.

Listen

Meaning

A recluse's autumn night unfolds in five brushstrokes: white geese burst across the sky like snow, dew chills the dark, and the poet—lightly drunk—brushes away clouds by the rocks, steps through moonlight under the pines, and finally sleeps beneath a sky dense with stars. The poem describes a state of mind washed clean of worldly dust and dissolved into nature.

白色的雁群在空中纷乱飞翔，秋意竟像飞雪一般迷蒙；清冷的露珠在凉夜中悄然凝结。醉意中拂去石边的浮云，踏着松根旁的月影蹒跚而行。待到满天星斗低垂，我便在这山间安然睡去。

Appreciation

In only five lines and twenty-seven characters, Wu Xiyi paints a pure and lofty picture of autumn reclusion. The opening simile of white geese as snow is startlingly original, while the second line conveys the cold through touch. The middle lines shift from stillness to movement: the verbs 'sweep' and 'tread' reveal a carefree spirit playing with clouds and moonlight. The closing line dissolves the self into the cosmos. Not a single word speaks of sorrow, yet a breath of purity fills the whole piece. Among Yuan sanqu on eremitism, this work stands out for its lucid, restrained grace.

【白话串讲】 “白雁乱飞秋似雪，清露生凉夜”——吴西逸写秋居：白雁乱飞，清露生凉。“扫却石边云，醉踏松根月”——“星斗满天人睡也”——他醉倒在星光下。元代文人的逍遥。【意象与手法】尺幅之中具见远势。首句“白雁乱飞秋似雪”以雁阵比雪，视听互通，出手便奇；“清露生凉夜”由视觉转触觉；“扫却石边云，醉踏松根月”以扫、踏两个疏放动词写醉后拂云踏月的潇洒。全曲无一字写愁，却自有一段洗尽尘嚣的清气。【情感与主旨】仅五句二十七字勾勒出清绝高远的秋夜隐居图，结句“星斗满天人睡也”把人物交付浩渺宇宙，物我两忘、悠然入眠，写出作者不慕荣利的高洁襟怀，在元散曲写隐逸之作中独标一格。【名句点睛】常考“白雁乱飞秋似雪”以雁喻雪的奇警设色；“扫却石边云，醉踏松根月”以疏放动作写隐者风神。

Background

Wu Xiyi's dates and birthplace are unknown. He was roughly contemporary with Guan Yunshi and Qiao Ji, and forty-seven of his xiaoling survive in the Complete Yuan Sanqu (Quan Yuan Sanqu). His lyrics often celebrate natural scenes, parting sorrow, and quiet leisure, in a style frequently compared to Li Bai for its pure, unfettered quality. In the Yuan dynasty, many literati—oppressed under Mongol rule and influenced by Quanzhen Daoist otherworldliness—sought refuge in landscape, which explains the abundance of reclusive themes in sanqu. Qingjiang Yin, also called Jiang'er Shui, began as a popular tune and developed into a light form for depicting small idyllic scenes. 'Autumn Dwelling' is less a real house than a spiritual home, like Liu Ling who took heaven and earth as his roof. It probably dates from the author's wanderings in the south and embodies the late-Yuan choice to preserve one's inner spirit amid a chaotic world.

吴西逸，生卒年里不详，约与贯云石、乔吉同时，元代后期散曲作家，《全元散曲》收其小令四十七首。其作品多写自然景物、离愁闲适，风格清丽疏淡，时人比之李白之清逸。元代文人受异族政权压抑，又受全真道隐逸之风浸染，借山水以避世者众，散曲中隐居题材因此而盛。清江引（又名江儿水）本为俚曲，入文人手后渐成写闲适小景的轻巧体制。题作秋居，似写秋日山居，实则是作者精神栖息之所的写照——既非真有华屋，亦非实指一地，而是效刘伶以天地为栋宇的旷达。此曲大约作于作者漫游江南、寄情泉石之际，与其余写隐逸的小令气息相通，代表了元末文人于乱世中保全性灵的一种选择。其冷逸出尘的趣味，与元末士人苟全乱世、寄怀泉石之取向正相契合，亦足考见当时隐逸文学之盛。吴西逸生平不详，其散曲多写隐逸闲适，此作可为代表，清远可诵。

Art

The art lies in projecting a vast perspective within a tiny frame. The first line, with its whirling white geese and snow simile, seizes both color and motion; 'clear dew brings coolness' shifts from vision to touch. The middle couplet is the soul of the poem: 'sweep' and 'tread' are unconstrained yet weightless, capturing the drunken recluse's ease. The line about sweeping clouds plays on the ancient belief that clouds are rooted in rocks, while treading moonlight among pine roots is both real and dreamlike; the couplet is artfully parallel yet natural. The closing line turns from movement to stillness, merging the person with the universe. Every scene is feeling, and not one word of grief is spoken—a model of turning landscape into state of mind through economy and suggestion.

此曲艺术之妙，在尺幅之中具见远势。首句白雁乱飞秋似雪，以白雁之纷飞喻秋雪之迷蒙，既是色彩（白）的抓取，也是形态（乱、似雪）的联想，视听互通，出手便奇；清露生凉夜由视觉转触觉，凉字点醒秋夜。三、四句扫却石边云，醉踏松根月，是全篇魂魄：扫、踏两个动词疏狂而轻盈，把隐者醉后拂云踏月的潇洒写得活灵活现；石边云用石为云根的古意，松根月以月落松间写实，对仗工巧而自然。结句星斗满天人睡也，忽由动归静，以天地为衾、星斗为伴，把人融入宇宙，物我两忘。通篇景语皆情语，不著一愁字而清气逼人，正是化景为境、以少胜多的典范。五句之间由飞雁而凉夜、由拂云踏月而星下安眠，层次宛然，尺幅具千里之势，最见小令含蓄不露之长。全曲由远及近、由动入静，白描而不加渲染，淡墨写尽幽人清况；其章法疏密相生，结以安眠星下，悠然有意，最得小令含蓄之致。

Allusions

The white wild goose is a familiar autumn sign in Yuan qu, and its whiteness contributes to the poem's cool palette. 'Clouds beside the rocks' alludes to Jia Dao's couplet 'Crossing the bridge, the wild colors part; / Moving stones stir the cloud roots' from his poem 'Visiting Li Ning's Secluded Dwelling,' for ancients believed clouds were born from stone. The pine and the moon are ancient emblems of the recluse and of purity. The final scene of sleeping under a sky full of stars recalls Tang Wenru's 'Drunk, I did not know the sky was in the water; / my whole boat of clear dreams pressed on the Milky Way,' and it shares Li Bai's untrammeled spirit. All the images—white geese, clear dew, stone clouds, pine moonlight, stars—form a spotless universe far from the red dust, typical of Yuan eremitic sanqu.

白雁指秋季南飞的白色雁群，于元曲中常作秋景符码，此处乱飞如雪，既点秋意又造空灵。石边云暗用贾岛过桥分野色，移石动云根句意，古人以为云自石中生，故云有根，作者扫却石边云便带出与云相戏的仙气。松根月写月光洒落松下，松为隐逸之树，月为清高之象，二者叠加见出幽人品格。星斗满天人睡也，其境近唐温如《题龙阳县青草湖》醉后不知天在水，满船清梦压星河，皆写人于星斗之下、物我俱忘的泠然之境；又暗合李白举杯邀明月、李白桃李春风的疏狂。全曲意象皆取清物（白雁、清露、石云、松月、星斗），构成一个远离红尘的纯净宇宙，是元代隐逸散曲以象喻志的典型。白雁清露、石云松月、满天星斗，皆清物也，以清物写清心，方是真正之隐，而非形似之隐居图。以清物写清怀，托物言志而不落理障，隐逸之趣自在言外，淡而有味，诚隐曲之佳构。

Commentary

The first line bursts open with a startling image: white geese tumbling through the air, autumn spread out like snow. The second line makes the cold felt on the skin. The third and fourth lines show the recluse in action—brushing clouds and treading moonlight—with 'drunk' as the hinge: not intoxication in wine, but intoxication with nature. The final line completes the arc: beneath a sky full of stars, the person sleeps, needing neither roof nor quilt. Five lines move from flying geese to cold night, from brushing clouds and treading moonlight to sleeping under the stars, each layer distinct yet all one breathing whole. The poem draws a recluse who has transcended the world's net and leaves an endlessly refreshing aftertaste.

首句白雁乱飞秋似雪，破空而来，以雪喻雁、以雁写秋，七字写尽秋空之高寒空明；清露生凉夜紧承，露本无声，生凉二字却把秋夜的寒意写得可触可感，一远一近，景已立。三句扫却石边云，醉踏松根月，由景及人：隐者带微醺，拂开石边浮云，踏着松下月影，扫与踏两个动作疏放不羁，尽显与造化相嬉的潇洒；醉字是关键，非真烂醉，而是沉醉于山月云石之境。末句星斗满天人睡也，收束全篇——当满天星斗低垂，人便在天地的怀抱中安然睡去，不须屋宇，不须衾枕。五句由飞雁到凉夜，由拂云踏月到星下安眠，层次分明而一气浑成，把一个超越尘网、与宇宙同卧的隐者形象，淡淡写出，余味不尽。通篇由动入静、由景归人，淡淡写来而清气满纸，可谓元散曲小景清绝之冠，非徒模山范水者所能到。通篇无一句说隐，而隐趣盎然，此即不黏不脱之高境，足堪讽咏。清远之境，可咏可风。

Prosody

Reading note The tune's long-short form (7,5,5,5,5) with colloquial cushion words (衬字) creates a singing, spoken rhythm. The final particle 也 makes the last line a gentle sigh, exactly fitting the dazed, carefree recluse. The middle couplet is a natural paired sentence: 扫却 pairs with 醉踏, and 石边云 with 松根月.《清江引》属双调，句式定格为七、五、五、五、五，共五句，音节轻俏，最宜写小景闲情。此曲首句白雁乱飞秋似雪为七言，平仄大体合律，以雪字押韵；以下清露生凉夜、扫却石边云、醉踏松根月、星斗满天人睡也皆五言带衬，一韵到底（多押车遮、家麻等开口韵），声情清越。值得注意的是散曲小令虽短，却善用衬字以畅气，如扫却、醉踏、人也皆可作衬，使板滞的五言生出说话般的摇曳。对仗上，三、四句扫却石边云对醉踏松根月，扫对醉、石边云对松根月，工整自然，是清江引常用的扇面对。末句以也字收，带Determiner般悠然的口吻，唱来如一声轻叹，恰合隐者陶然忘机的神态。整体格律服务于清境，宁疏勿密，最见小令以简驭繁之妙。

Line by line

白雁乱飞秋似雪，清露生凉夜。

White geese scatter wildly in flight, making autumn look like falling snow; clear dew brings a chill to the night. The opening creates a vast, cold, luminous scene through the color of the geese and the physical sensation of cold.

White geese fly wild; autumn is like snow. Clear dew is born; the night turns cool.

这两句是全篇的起手与底色，气象清奇。白雁乱飞秋似雪，以纷飞的白色雁群比况秋空飘雪，既是色彩的抓取（白），也是形态的联想（乱、似雪），把江南秋日那种空明寒凉、雁阵掠天的景象一笔写出，奇警而不堆砌。清露生凉夜紧承以触觉：露本无形，生凉二字却让秋夜的寒意有了生长的动态，读来肌肤生凉。两句一写天上飞雁、一写地下清露，一远一近、一视觉一触觉，共同织出一幅澄澈高寒的秋夜图。更妙在无一字写人而人的清寂已在景中——唯其心地空明，方能如此敏感于雁白露凉。此二句实已定下全曲洗尽尘嚣的基调。

These two lines are the opening and ground-color of the whole, strange in their clarity. 'White geese fly wild; autumn is like snow' likens the swirling white geese to snow in the autumn sky — a capture of color (white) and of form (wild, like snow), writing the southern autumn's void chill and the flights across the sky in one stroke, startling without ornament. 'Clear dew is born; the night turns cool' follows in touch: dew is formless, yet 'is born' gives the autumn night's chill a growing motion, the reader's skin turning cool. One line the geese above, one the dew below, far and near, sight and touch, weaving together a limpid, high, cold autumn night. Best of all, not one word of the person, yet the man's clarity is in the scene: only a void, clear heart could be so sensitive to goose and dew. These two lines already fix the song's tone, washed clean of the world's dust.

扫却石边云，醉踏松根月。

The drunk recluse sweeps away the clouds beside the rocks and treads on the moonlight among the pine roots. These two unconstrained movements reveal his playful, intimate companionship with nature.

I sweep away the cloud by the stone; drunk, I tread the moon beneath the pine roots.

这两句是全曲的魂魄，把一个醉意山行的隐者写得飘然欲仙。扫却石边云，写隐者衣袖轻拂，拨开石畔浮云——云本无根可扫，此处却真个去扫，便见出人与云相戏的痴态与仙气；醉踏松根月，写他带着微醺，踏着松树下斑驳的月影蹒跚而行，醉非真醉，是沉醉于林泉月色。扫与踏两个动词疏狂轻盈，一向上拂云、一向下踏月，动作大开大合，尽显放达。石边云暗用石为云根的古意，松根月以松月衬清高，对仗工而自然。这两句之妙，在于把抽象的隐逸之乐化为具体可感的形体动作，使读者如见其人、如临其境，是元散曲以动写静、以俗写雅的范例。

These two lines are the soul of the song, writing a drunken mountain traveler who seems about to rise to the immortals. 'I sweep away the cloud by the stone' — the recluse waving his sleeve, brushing aside the cloud beside the rock: cloud has no root to sweep, yet here he truly sweeps, showing the folly and fairy-air of a man at play with clouds; 'drunk, I tread the moon beneath the pine roots' — treading, slightly fuddled, on the flecked moonlight beneath the pines; the drunkenness no real intoxication, but a deep-drinking in of forest spring and moonlight. The two verbs 'sweep' and 'tread' are wild and light, one brushing upward at the cloud, one treading downward on the moon, large and free in gesture, writing abandon. The cloud by the stone quietly uses the old sense of stone as the cloud's root; the moon beneath the pines sets pine and moon for purity, the couplet balanced and natural. The genius lies in turning the abstract joy of retreat into concrete, palpable acts — the reader sees the man, stands in the place — a model of Yuan sanqu writing stillness through motion, the elegant through the vernacular.

星斗满天人睡也。

With stars filling the sky, he falls asleep—taking heaven and earth as his chamber, utterly forgetful of self and world.

Stars fill the sky; the man falls asleep.

这收束一句，仅七字却境界全出。星斗满天写宇宙之浩渺，人睡也写隐者之安然——他不须屋宇衾枕，便以天地为庐、星斗为伴，在苍穹之下陶然入眠。一个也字，带着悠然自得的口吻，仿佛这般睡法本属平常，愈见其物我两忘的透彻。此句与唐温如醉后不知天在水，满船清梦压星河同一机杼，皆写人于星斗之下、超然物外的泠然之境；而吴西逸更以五字小令出之，较温诗更见疏淡。结句不写归隐之乐而言人睡，以最平常的动作收最不平常的胸怀，余韵悠长，是全篇清气的最终落点，也是元代隐逸散曲高出形似隐居图的所在。

The closing, seven characters, and the whole realm is there. 'Stars fill the sky' the vastness of the cosmos; 'the man falls asleep' the recluse's peace — needing no roof or pillow, he takes heaven and earth for his lodge, the stars for company, and sleeps content beneath the dome. The closing particle carries the tone of self-satisfaction, as if such sleeping were the most ordinary thing, the more showing his thorough forgetfulness of self and world. The line shares the spring of Tang Wenru's 'drunk, I knew not that heaven was in the water; my clear dream, a boatful pressing on the starry river' — both writing the man beneath the stars, detached and limpid; yet Wu Xiyi gives it in five short characters, more sparse than the Tang poem. The close writes not the joy of retreat but the man asleep, closing the most unusual heart on the most ordinary act, the aftertone long — the final landing of the piece's pure air, and the point where Yuan recluse sanqu rises above the mere picture of a hermit's hut.

Study

Word focus

白雁 White wild goose; a traditional sign of autumn, chosen here for its pure white color and untamed flight. 白雁即秋季南迁的白色雁群，于元人散曲中常作秋景的醒目符码。作者独取一白字领起，既写雁羽之色，也定下全篇清冷高洁的色调；乱飞二字状其翔集无定，恰与秋似雪的迷蒙相生。白雁之于本曲，不只是物候点染，更是隐者精神的投射——雁群排空、不恋人间，正暗合作者离尘避世的襟怀。元曲家善用色彩造境，此处白雁与后文清露、石云、松月、星斗连成一派素净宇宙，白字实为这清净世界的眼目。一个寻常鸟名，经此安排，便承载了全部的秋心与隐意。

扫却、醉踏 A key expression in this poem; read it with the Chinese note below. 扫却与醉踏是篇中仅有的两个动词，却担起全曲的动势与性情。扫却石边云，云本不可扫，偏去扫，写出隐者与云相戏的娇痴与仙气；醉踏松根月，月本不可踏，偏去踏，写出沉醉山月、步履蹁跹的放达。两词皆以反常之动写至真之情：扫是向上的拂，踏是向下的履，一扬一抑间，一个不问尘事、唯与造化往还的醉翁形象呼之欲出。更重要的是醉字点明这不是真个狂醉，而是对林泉的沉醉，遂使疏狂归于清雅。两个动词对仗而灵动，是小令以少少许胜多许的炼字典范。

人睡也 'The man sleeps'—the particle 也 gives a casual, satisfied, lightly self-mocking tone, closing the poem with natural ease. 人睡也是全曲最后三字，看似平淡，实含深意。睡本是最日常的动作，作者却置于星斗满天之后，使寻常睡眠陡成天地为庐的壮语——隐者不须华屋，便在宇宙星辰的怀抱中安眠。也字为语气词，带一种理所当然、悠然自得的口吻，仿佛以星斗为衾原是分内之事，把超脱写得毫不费力。这个收束之妙，在以极平易的动作收极宏阔的境界，举重若轻；同时它也呼应题面秋居——居不在屋而在天地，方是真正的隐居。三个字收住前面所有景语，余韵如星斗般漫溢不尽。