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元 Yuan · 曲 Qu song

驻马听·吹

Zhu Ma Ting - On the Flute

白朴

Bai Pu

裂石穿云，玉管宜横清更洁。
霜天沙漠，鹧鸪风里欲偏斜。
凤凰台上暮云遮，梅花惊作黄昏雪。
人静也，一声吹落江楼月。

Rock-splitting, cloud-piercing:
A jade pipe held sideways is pure beyond compare.
Frost-bound sky, desert sand,
In the wind the partridge calls, leaning awry.
At the Terrace of Phoenixes, evening cloud covers all,
And plum blossom starts, and becomes the snow of dusk.
All is still:
At one breath the flute drops the moon from the river-tower.
Listen

Meaning

Bai Pu's song on a flute describes the instrument through the things it disturbs: a note splits rock and pierces cloud; in frost-bound desert the partridge calls in a wind that leans; at the Terrace of Phoenixes evening cloud gathers and plum blossom turns, startled, into snow. The final line, with all quiet restored, says that a single breath of the pipe let fall the moon from the river-tower. The song is a classic Chinese description of music, in which sound is shown as a power over nature rather than as an emotion.

裂石穿云，玉管宜横清更洁。霜天沙漠，鹧鸪风里欲偏斜。凤凰台上暮云遮，梅花惊作黄昏雪。人静也，一声吹落江楼月。

Appreciation

【Plain Paraphrase】The flute's sound splits rock and enters cloud; a pipe of jade held sideways is pure beyond compare. In a frost-bound sky over desert sand the partridge cries in a wind that leans awry. At the Terrace of Phoenixes the evening cloud closes over everything, and the plum blossom starts, and becomes the snow of dusk. Then all is still, and one breath of the pipe drops the moon from the river-tower.
【Structure】Two stanzas of uneven length, the first built on the sound's effects, the second on the stillness it leaves behind.
【Imagery】Rock, cloud, desert, partridge, phoenix terrace, plum blossom, snow, moon - every image is an effect of the music rather than a description of it.

【白话串讲】 白朴写《驻马听·吹》：“裂石穿云，玉管宜横清更洁”——“霜天沙漠，鹧鸪风里欲偏斜”——“凤凰台上暮云遮，梅花惊作黄昏雪”——“人静也，一声吹落江楼月”——他写吹——一声吹落江楼月。 【意象与手法】 “裂石穿云、玉管宜横清更洁”写裂石穿云；“霜天沙漠、鹧鸪风里欲偏斜”写霜天沙漠；“凤凰台上暮云遮、梅花惊作黄昏雪”写凤凰台上暮云遮；结以“人静也，一声吹落江楼月”写一声吹落江楼月。含蓄深婉。 【情感与主旨】 白朴写咏笛之作，写裂石穿云、一声吹落江楼月的笛声，是白朴曲中的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“裂石穿云，玉管宜横清更洁”写笛声裂石穿云；“人静也，一声吹落江楼月”写吹落江楼月。

Background

Bai Pu (1226-c. 1306), courtesy name Taisu, was from Yaozhou (present-day Hequ, Shanxi); in childhood he lost his family in the wars that ended the Jin and was raised by patrons of some standing, a biography that made him sympathetic to the new Yuan order. He wrote more than ten chuanqi plays, above all 'Waking from a Dream on the Phoenix Terrace', and is counted one of the four great Yuan dramatists. 'Zhu Ma Ting: On the Flute' belongs to his sanqu and is the most famous Chinese song on music.

《驻马听·吹》为元代戏曲家、散曲家白朴所作散曲。白朴（1226—约1306），字太素，号兰谷，隩州（今山西河曲）人，元代散曲家、杂剧家，与关汉卿、马致远、郑光祖并称「元曲四大家」。此曲写咏物写景，为咏笛之作。曲中「裂石穿云，玉管宜横清更洁」写裂石穿云，玉管宜横清更洁；「霜天沙漠，鹧鸪风里欲偏斜」写霜天沙漠，鹧鸪风里欲偏斜；「凤凰台上暮云遮，梅花惊作黄昏雪」写凤凰台上暮云遮，梅花惊作黄昏雪；「人静也，一声吹落江楼月」写人静也，一声吹落江楼月。白朴此曲以咏物写景、一声吹落江楼月写其咏物之情，含蓄深婉，是白朴曲中的名篇。此篇《驻马听·吹》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《驻马听·吹》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 describes a sound by its effects rather than by its qualities. Each image is a correspondence: the flute splits stone and enters the clouds because it is loud; the wind-leaning partridge because it is piercing; the plum turning to snow because the note is sudden and cold; the moon falling from the tower because the music is overwhelming. The middle couplet carries the allusions that let the sound be heard as history and legend rather than as noise. The close reverses everything: after all that cosmic motion, all is still again, and one ordinary note sheds the moon - the ordinary world resumes, changed.

此曲艺术上以「含蓄深婉、以声写景」见长。全曲由裂石穿云而霜天沙漠而凤凰台上暮云遮。起「裂石穿云，玉管宜横清更洁」写裂石穿云：裂石穿云，玉管宜横清更洁；「霜天沙漠，鹧鸪风里欲偏斜」写霜天沙漠：霜天沙漠，鹧鸪风里欲偏斜；「凤凰台上暮云遮，梅花惊作黄昏雪」写凤凰台上暮云遮：凤凰台上暮云遮，梅花惊作黄昏雪；结「人静也，一声吹落江楼月」写一声吹落江楼月：人静也，一声吹落江楼月。全曲以声写景，由裂石穿云而一声吹落江楼月，含蓄深婉，是白朴曲中的名篇。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 Terrace of Phoenixes is the famous site on Qinghua hill at Nanjing, where the legendary Nong Yu, daughter of the ruler of Qin, is said to have played a pipe and drawn a phoenix, ascending with her husband Xiao Shi. That legend makes the terrace the natural setting for a flute and explains why the evening cloud gathers there. The plum blossom startled into snow of dusk draws on the same theatre of legend, so that the music is heard inside a story rather than in a room.

曲中「裂石穿云玉管宜横清更洁」「霜天沙漠鹧鸪风里欲偏斜」「凤凰台上暮云遮梅花惊作黄昏雪」「人静也一声吹落江楼月」等语，皆含典故故实。「裂石穿云玉管宜横清更洁」写裂石穿云玉管宜横清更洁；「霜天沙漠鹧鸪风里欲偏斜」用鹧鸪之典，写霜天沙漠鹧鸪风里欲偏斜；「凤凰台上暮云遮梅花惊作黄昏雪」用凤凰台之典（凤凰台写弄玉吹箫事），写凤凰台上暮云遮梅花惊作黄昏雪；「人静也一声吹落江楼月」写人静也一声吹落江楼月。曲人以鹧鸪、凤凰台等典入曲，不着痕迹，而把咏物写景之情写得真切可感，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

The song is among the most anthologised of all Yuan sanqu and is standard reading for the description of music in Chinese literature, set beside such pieces as 'Hearing a Tang flute played at Luo Yang' and Li Bai's song of the harp. Critics praise its economy: eight lines, and the sound is never described directly. Its lasting popularity has also rested on the two famous allusions - the phoenix terrace and the falling moon - which allow each reader to supply as much background as they like.

这首《驻马听·吹》，是白朴写咏物写景之作，写裂石穿云、霜天沙漠、凤凰台上暮云遮、一声吹落江楼月之情，含蓄深婉。起「裂石穿云，玉管宜横清更洁」——裂石穿云，玉管宜横清更洁。写裂石穿云：裂石穿云、玉管宜横清更洁——裂石穿云、玉管清更洁；「霜天沙漠，鹧鸪风里欲偏斜」——霜天沙漠（用鹧鸪之典），鹧鸪风里欲偏斜。写霜天沙漠：霜天沙漠、鹧鸪风里欲偏斜——霜天沙漠、鹧鸪欲偏斜；「凤凰台上暮云遮，梅花惊作黄昏雪」——凤凰台上暮云遮（用凤凰台弄玉吹箫之典），梅花惊作黄昏雪。写凤凰台上暮云遮：凤凰台上暮云遮、梅花惊作黄昏雪——暮云遮、梅花惊作黄昏雪；结「人静也，一声吹落江楼月」——人静也，一声吹落江楼月。写一声吹落江楼月：人静也、一声吹落江楼月——人静、一声吹落江楼月。这「人静也，一声吹落江楼月」，是全曲之结：以一声吹落江楼月写其咏物。全曲含蓄深婉，以声写景，正是白朴曲中的名篇。

Prosody

Form Song (Sanqu, tune: Zhu Ma Ting)曲（散曲·驻马听）
Rhyme A sanqu song of eight lines in the Zhu Ma Ting tune. Rimes in the Che-Zhe group - jie, xie, zhe, xue, yue - fall at the phrase-ends and give the song its one sustained sound.此曲为散曲，调名《驻马听》，共八句。押韵：「洁」「斜」「遮」「雪」「月」押车遮部韵。曲体依散曲而定，句式长短错落，音节随情起伏，正与写咏物写景的含蓄深婉相称，也见其以散曲写咏物的自然。
Tone pattern Sound: the opening is sharp and high; the middle lines fall and widen; the close lengthens slowly. The tune's pattern supports the irregular line lengths, and the short pause after 'All is still' is what gives the ending its weight.句式上，「裂石穿云，玉管宜横清更洁」写裂石穿云，音节清越；「霜天沙漠，鹧鸪风里欲偏斜」写霜天沙漠，音节低回；「凤凰台上暮云遮，梅花惊作黄昏雪」写凤凰台上暮云遮，音节婉转；结「人静也，一声吹落江楼月」写一声吹落江楼月，音节绵长。全曲音节随情起伏，由清越而低回、由婉转而绵长，正合散曲「自然」之妙，读来如咏物写景、一声吹落江楼月之音，含蓄而动人。
Reading note Note: a song about music, and a demonstration of how sanqu prosody works: a fixed tune, a clear rime chain, and lines whose length is set by the music. What varies - and what makes the song memorable - is the imagery, not the metre. The two long lines of the middle against the short close are the whole of the poem's music apart from its sense.此曲为散曲，是白朴写咏物写景之作，也是其曲中的名篇。全曲的艺术特色在于「含蓄深婉、以声写景」：「裂石穿云，玉管宜横清更洁」写裂石穿云、「霜天沙漠，鹧鸪风里欲偏斜」写霜天沙漠、「凤凰台上暮云遮，梅花惊作黄昏雪」写凤凰台上暮云遮、「人静也，一声吹落江楼月」写一声吹落江楼月。全曲含蓄深婉，以声写景。尤为精妙者，是「霜天沙漠，鹧鸪风里欲偏斜」用鹧鸪之典；而「凤凰台上暮云遮」用凤凰台弄玉吹箫之典，正是白朴曲「含蓄深婉」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《驻马听·吹》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

裂石穿云，玉管宜横清更洁。

Rock-splitting, cloud-piercing: / A jade pipe held sideways is pure beyond compare.

裂石穿云，玉管宜横清更洁。

Splitting stone, piercing cloud - the jade pipe laid across, clear and pure.

起句写裂石穿云，起笔即见其声。「裂石穿云」写裂石穿云，「裂石」写裂石、「穿云」写穿云；「玉管宜横清更洁」写玉管宜横清更洁，「玉管宜横」写玉管宜横、「清更洁」写清更洁。两句一写裂石穿云、一写玉管宜横清更洁，以裂石穿云写声裂石、以玉管宜横清更洁写笛声清，写尽裂石穿云、玉管宜横清更洁之情。以声起兴，含蓄而深婉，是「以声起兴」的妙笔。

The opening writes the sound at once. 'Splitting stone, piercing cloud' - the music's force; 'the jade pipe laid across, clear and pure' - the flute's clarity. Sound as springboard, reserved and deep - a fine stroke.

凤凰台上暮云遮，梅花惊作黄昏雪。

At the Terrace of Phoenixes, evening cloud covers all, / And plum blossom starts, and becomes the snow of dusk.

凤凰台上暮云遮，梅花惊作黄昏雪。

On the Phoenix Terrace, evening clouds veil it; the plum blossoms, startled, turn to dusk snow.

此二句写凤凰台上暮云遮，是全曲以典写声的关键。「凤凰台上暮云遮」用凤凰台弄玉吹箫之典写凤凰台上暮云遮，「凤凰台上」写凤凰台上、「暮云遮」写暮云遮；「梅花惊作黄昏雪」写梅花惊作黄昏雪，「梅花惊作」写梅花惊作、「黄昏雪」写黄昏雪。两句一写凤凰台上暮云遮、一写梅花惊作黄昏雪，以凤凰台上暮云遮写暮云、以梅花惊作黄昏雪写梅花作雪，写尽凤凰台上暮云遮、梅花惊作黄昏雪之情。以典写声，含蓄而深婉，是「以典写声」的点睛之笔。

These two lines write the allusion for the sound: 'on the Phoenix Terrace, evening clouds veil it' uses the allusion of Nong Yu playing the flute on the Phoenix Terrace; 'the plum blossoms, startled, turn to dusk snow' - the plum-blossom tune. Writing sound through allusion, reserved and deep - the telling stroke.

人静也，一声吹落江楼月。

All is still: / At one breath the flute drops the moon from the river-tower.

人静也，一声吹落江楼月。

All is still; one note blows down the moon over the river tower.

结句写一声吹落江楼月，是全曲立意的落点。「人静也」写人静也，「人静」写人静、「也」写也；「一声吹落江楼月」写一声吹落江楼月，「一声」写一声、「吹落江楼月」写吹落江楼月。两句一写人静也、一写一声吹落江楼月，以人静也写人静、以一声吹落江楼月写吹落江楼月，写尽人静也、一声吹落江楼月之情。以声写景，含蓄而深婉，是全曲最动人处，也是「以声写景」的点睛之笔。

The closing lands the song's meaning: 'all is still'; 'one note blows down the moon over the river tower.' Writing scenery through sound, reserved and deep - the most moving point, the finishing stroke.

Study

Word focus

裂石 splitting rock; the flute's first and most violent effect, which establishes the sound as a physical force. 「裂石」写裂石穿云，是写声裂石之态的关键。「裂石穿云」着一「裂石」，写裂石——着一「裂石」，写裂石穿云，见其声之劲。两字写尽裂石之态，是「以词写声」的妙笔。「裂石」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。
穿云 piercing the cloud; the note rising further than the eye can follow, so height and loudness are the same thing. 「穿云」写裂石穿云，是写声穿云之态的关键。「裂石穿云」着一「穿云」，写穿云——着一「穿云」，写裂石穿云，见其声之高。两字写尽穿云之态，是「以词写高」的点睛之词。「穿云」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。
惊作 startled into becoming; the word that turns a blossom into snow by surprise, so that the music seems to startle rather than to play. 「惊作」写梅花惊作黄昏雪，是写惊作之态的关键。「梅花惊作黄昏雪」着一「惊作」，写惊作——着一「惊作」，写梅花惊作黄昏雪，见其声惊梅。两字写尽惊作之态，是「以词写惊」的点睛之词。「惊作」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。
吹落 to blow down; the verb that lets the moon be shed from a tower as though the flute had merely breathed. 「吹落」写一声吹落江楼月，是写吹落之态的关键。「一声吹落江楼月」着一「吹落」，写吹落——着一「吹落」，写一声吹落江楼月，见其声落月。两字写尽吹落之态，是「以词写落」的点睛之词。「吹落」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

浣溪沙·一曲新词酒一杯 Huanxisha - A Tune of the Western Stream: A New Song, a Cup of Wine 晏殊 · 同写写景感怀、无可奈何，一写无可奈何花落去、一写人静也一声吹落江楼月，皆于写景之中见感怀 Both write of a scene become quiet after a sound - Yan Shu's new song and returning swallows, Bai Pu's single note and the falling moon - and both treat time's passing as something to be observed rather than argued with.

Yan Shu's 'Huanxisha', "nothing can be done about fallen flowers, and swallows return as though they knew", watches the day turn over a cup of wine and finds a small consolation in that which returns; Bai Pu's 'Zhu Ma Ting: On the Flute' watches the same turning and finds instead that one breath of music can move the moon. The two songs differ in scale - a garden and a river-tower - and in what they think sound can do. Read together they show the range of the Chinese song on listening.

晏殊《浣溪沙·一曲新词酒一杯》「无可奈何花落去，似曾相识燕归来」，写景感怀，是宋词小令的名篇；白朴《驻马听·吹》则以「人静也，一声吹落江楼月」「凤凰台上暮云遮，梅花惊作黄昏雪」写一声吹落江楼月、梅花惊作黄昏雪。两曲同写写景感怀、无可奈何：一写无可奈何花落去、以花落燕归写惜时，一写人静也一声吹落江楼月、以笛声写感怀；一为晏殊之温润、一为白朴之清婉，并读正可见曲写「写景感怀」的两种笔法，皆于写景之中见感怀。

 山园小梅 Small Garden, Little Plum 林逋 · 同写咏物清雅、以物寄情，一写疏影横斜水清浅暗香浮动月黄昏、一写梅花惊作黄昏雪，皆于咏物之中见清雅 Both write of plum and of the quiet of dusk - Lin Bu's blossom in clear water under the moon, Bai Pu's blossom startled into snow - and both make light, colour and fragrance carry the whole poem.

Lin Bu's 'Small Garden, Little Plum', "sparse shadows slanting in clear shallow water, a hidden scent drifting in the moon of dusk", is the celebrated verse on plum, with its shadow in water and its hidden scent under the evening moon; Bai Pu's line about plum blossom startled into the snow of dusk takes the same flower and turns it white in an instant, so that the music is heard in the blossom rather than in the air. Different in kind - one a still picture, the other an event - they share a taste for the pale and the still, and for poetry that shows rather than tells about beauty.

林逋《山园小梅》「疏影横斜水清浅，暗香浮动月黄昏」，写梅之清雅，是宋诗咏物的绝唱；白朴《驻马听·吹》则以「梅花惊作黄昏雪」「凤凰台上暮云遮」写梅花惊作黄昏雪、凤凰台暮云遮。两曲同写咏物清雅、以物寄情：一写疏影横斜水清浅暗香浮动月黄昏、以梅写清雅，一写梅花惊作黄昏雪、以梅写笛声；一为林逋之清逸、一为白朴之清婉，并读正可见曲写「咏物清雅」的两种笔法，皆于咏物之中见清雅。