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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

采桑子·润州多景楼与孙巨源相遇

Tune: 'Cai Sang Zi' — Meeting Sun Juyuan at the Duojing Tower in Runzhou

苏轼

Su Shi

相逢Meeting 感慨Reflection

多情多感仍多病,多景楼中。
尊酒相逢,乐事回头一笑空。
停杯且听琵琶语,细捻轻拢。
醉脸春融,斜照江天一抹红。

So full of feeling, so full of sorrow, and still so full of sickness — here in the Duojing Tower.
Cups of wine, a chance meeting; the joy turns to nothing in a single smile glancing back.
I set down my cup and listen to the pipa's speech — fingers pluck and stroke so light.
A drunken face, spring-like and warm; the slanting light on river and sky, a stroke of red.
Listen

Meaning

The lyric records a chance reunion with a friend at the Duojing Tower in Runzhou. Though the poet is beset by feeling, sorrow, and illness, the encounter with wine and music brings brief joy that dissolves into emptiness. The closing image of a flushed, spring-warm face beneath a streak of red light over river and sky captures the bittersweet sweetness of the moment.

多情多感仍多病,多景楼中。 尊酒相逢,乐事回头一笑空。 停杯且听琵琶语,细捻轻拢。 醉脸春融,斜照江天一抹红。

Appreciation

At the Duojing Tower the poet meets an old friend, and the little tune turns on the word 'many' (duo): many feelings, many sorrows, many sicknesses. The overflowing heart is the very thing that makes the meeting precious and painful at once. [Structure] The upper stanza stays with the meeting itself — wine, laughter, and the sudden vanishing of joy 'in a smile glancing back,' where the pinnacle of happiness already contains its own disappearance. The lower stanza shifts to sound and sight: he sets down his cup to hear the pipa, its strings plucked and stroked, and then looks up to a drunken, spring-warm face under a single streak of red light on the river and sky. [Imagery] The poem moves from the crowded inner life ('many feelings, many sorrows, many sicknesses') to the open outer scene (river, sky, a brush of red), so that the small human gathering is framed by vast, indifferent nature. The repeated 'many' gives the line its breathless music, while 'a stroke of red' freezes the evening into a perfect, fading picture.

【白话串讲】 苏轼写《采桑子·润州多景楼与孙巨源相遇》:“多情多感仍多病,多景楼中”——“尊酒相逢,乐事回头一笑空”——“停杯且听琵琶语,细捻轻拢”——“醉脸春融,斜照江天一抹红”——他在多景楼与友人相逢。 【意象与手法】 此词写怀人,以感慨写怀人,是苏轼的名篇。上阕写相逢:「多情多感仍多病,多景楼中。尊酒相逢,乐事回头一笑空」写多情多感仍多病、多景楼中——写尽多景楼的相逢;下阕写琵琶:「停杯且听琵琶语,细捻轻拢。醉脸春融,斜照江天一抹红」写停杯且听琵琶语、细捻轻拢——写尽细捻的琵琶。全词以感慨写怀人,写尽多景楼的相逢与细捻的琵琶,是苏轼的代表作。 【情感与主旨】 此词写怀人,以感慨写怀人,是苏轼的名篇。此词为苏轼在润州(今江苏镇江)多景楼与孙巨源相遇而作,写其相逢之乐与感慨。苏轼与孙巨源同僚,此词写其多景楼把酒相逢。此词写多情多感仍多病,多景楼中;尊酒相逢,乐事回头一笑空;停杯且听琵琶语,细捻轻拢;醉脸春融,斜照江天一抹红。此词写相逢:多情多感仍多病,多景楼中——写多情多感仍多病、多景楼中,写尽多景楼的相逢;尊酒相逢,乐事回头一笑空——写尊酒相逢、乐事回头一笑空,写尽回头的一笑空;停杯且听琵琶语,细捻轻拢——写停杯且听琵琶语、细捻轻拢,写尽细捻的琵琶;醉脸春融,斜照江天一抹红——写醉脸春融、斜照江天一抹红,写尽江天的一抹红。全词以感慨写怀人——那「多景楼中」写尽多景楼的相逢,「斜照江天一抹红」写尽江天的一抹红,写尽多景楼的相逢与细捻的琵琶,是理解苏轼怀人词的重要篇章。 【名句点睛】 常考「多情多感仍多病,多景楼中」写多景楼的相逢;「尊酒相逢,乐事回头一笑空」写回头的一笑空;以及全词以感慨写怀人、以叠字写多情的手法。

Background

Su Shi (1037–1101), courtesy name Zizhan, art name Dongpo Jushi, was born in Meishan, Sichuan. A polymath of the Northern Song — poet, prose master, calligrapher, and painter — he stands with his father Su Xun and brother Su Che as the 'Three Sus,' and with Huang Tingjian as 'Su-Huang.' A leading figure of the豪放 (haofang, 'bold and unconstrained') school of lyric, he suffered repeated political exile yet remained irrepressibly humane. This lyric was written when he met his colleague Sun Juyuan at the Duojing Tower in Runzhou (modern Zhenjiang, Jiangsu); beneath its light surface of wine and music runs the characteristic note of a man who meets the world with too much feeling for his own peace.

此词写怀人,以感慨写怀人,是苏轼的名篇。苏轼(1037—1101),字子瞻,号东坡居士,眉州眉山(今四川眉山)人,北宋文学家、书画家,与父苏洵、弟苏辙并称「三苏」,与黄庭坚并称「苏黄」,是豪放派词人的代表。此词为苏轼在润州(今江苏镇江)多景楼与孙巨源相遇而作,写其相逢之乐与感慨。苏轼与孙巨源同僚,此词写其多景楼把酒相逢。此词写多情多感仍多病,多景楼中;尊酒相逢,乐事回头一笑空;停杯且听琵琶语,细捻轻拢;醉脸春融,斜照江天一抹红。此词写相逢:「多情多感仍多病,多景楼中」写多情多感仍多病、多景楼中——写尽多景楼的相逢(多情多感仍多病,多景楼中);「尊酒相逢,乐事回头一笑空」写尊酒相逢、乐事回头一笑空——写尽回头的一笑空(尊酒相逢,乐事回头一笑空);「停杯且听琵琶语,细捻轻拢」写停杯且听琵琶语、细捻轻拢——写尽细捻的琵琶(停杯且听琵琶语,细捻轻拢);「醉脸春融,斜照江天一抹红」写醉脸春融、斜照江天一抹红——写尽江天的一抹红(醉脸春融,斜照江天一抹红)。全词以感慨写怀人,写尽多景楼的相逢与细捻的琵琶,是理解苏轼怀人词的重要篇章。

Art

The craft turns on three devices. First, the stacking (diezi) of 'many' (duo): 'many feelings, many sorrows, still many sicknesses' opens the poem with a breathless accumulation that names the speaker's condition before anything else, so the whole meeting is colored by excess. Second, plain sketching (baixie) for the encounter: 'cups of wine, a chance meeting' and 'the joy turns to nothing in a smile glancing back' render happiness and its evaporation in unadorned phrases, letting the paradox speak for itself. Third, minute sensory detail for the music: 'fingers pluck and stroke so light' dramatizes the physical act of playing, while 'a drunken face, spring-like' and 'a stroke of red' close on a visual chord. The upper stanza is all human meeting, the lower all sound and afterglow; from person to scene, the poem exemplifies the 'write feeling through the tower' mode of parting lyrics, its clarity masking deep tenderness.

此词的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一,以叠字写多情。「多情多感仍多病」以叠字写多情——那「多景楼中」写尽多景的楼中,以叠字写尽多景楼的相逢。其二,以白描写相逢。「尊酒相逢」以白描写相逢——那「乐事回头一笑空」写尽回头的一笑空,以白描写尽回头的一笑空。其三,以细节写琵琶。「停杯且听琵琶语」以细节写琵琶——那「细捻轻拢」写尽细捻的琵琶,以细节写尽细捻的琵琶。其四,以写景写醉脸。「斜照江天一抹红」以写景写醉脸——那「醉脸春融」写尽醉脸的春融,以写景写尽江天的一抹红。此外,此词上阕写多景楼的相逢,下阕写细捻的琵琶,由人及景,正是怀人词「以楼写情」的写法。四重手法,使此词以感慨写怀人,写尽多景楼的相逢与细捻的琵琶,是苏轼的代表作。此外,此词还善于以「尊酒相逢」的「相逢」写相逢之尊酒——那「尊酒」写尽尊酒的相逢,正是以酒写情,以「乐事回头一笑空」写尽回头的一笑空。又善以「停杯且听琵琶语」的「停杯」写停杯之听——停杯且听,正见停杯谛听的写照,以「细捻轻拢」写尽细捻的琵琶。

Allusions

The diction is steeped in the Chinese traditions of parting and lament. 'Many feelings' echoes Su Shi's own 'so much feeling, yet troubled by the heartless' (duoqing que bei wuqing nao), while 'many sicknesses' recalls Meng Haoran's 'many illnesses, old friends grow distant.' The 'Duojing Tower' is a famed Runzhou landmark, and 'cups of wine' summons the lone toast offered to the river moon in Su's own lyrics. 'Pipa's speech' and 'fingers pluck and stroke' consciously echo Bai Juyi's 'Pipa Xing,' especially 'lightly gather, slowly pluck, wipe and flick.' Drawing on this reservoir of images, Su Shi writes parting through reflection — his trademark openness and plain sketching transmuting a conventional theme into something personal and fresh.

此词的用语深植于怀人与感慨传统。「多情」令人想到「多情」写多情的意象——也令人想到「多情却被无情恼」(苏轼)的意象;「多病」令人想到「多病」写多病的意象——也令人想到「多病故人疏」(孟浩然)的意象;「多景楼」令人想到「多景楼」写多景楼的意象——润州名胜,也令人想到「多景楼头」的意象;「尊酒」令人想到「尊酒」写杯酒的意象——也令人想到「一尊还酹江月」(苏轼)的意象;「琵琶语」令人想到「琵琶语」写琵琶声的意象——也令人想到「大弦嘈嘈如急雨」(白居易)的意象;「细捻轻拢」令人想到「细捻轻拢」写琵琶指法的意象——也令人想到「轻拢慢捻抹复挑」(白居易)的意象。全词化用多情、多病、多景楼、尊酒、琵琶语、细捻轻拢的意象典故,以感慨写怀人,正是苏轼「旷达」而善白描、承怀人传统写感慨之本领。「一笑空」令人想到「一笑空」写一笑的意象——也令人想到「相逢一笑」的意象;「醉脸春融」令人想到「醉脸春融」写醉脸的意象——也令人想到「春融花笑」的意象,以春融写醉脸。

Commentary

Long esteemed as a gem of Su Shi's parting lyrics and a representative Song treatment of meeting at the Duojing Tower, the piece has drawn high praise: Qing critics noted its 'reflection through meeting, fresh and lingering,' and modern readers single out 'many feelings... here in the Duojing Tower' as its famous line. Notably, it pairs with Su's 'Jiang Cheng Zi · Hunting at Mizhou': one roars with 'an old man's boyish madness,' the other sighs with 'many feelings, many sorrows'; one is heroic, the other reflective — together they show the two faces of Su Shi's lyric art. For today's reader it is a window onto his parting verse, and that 'stroke of red on river and sky' still speaks across the centuries of a meeting at the tower.

此词历来被推为苏轼怀人词的名篇,也是宋词写多景楼相逢的代表。历代论者对此词评价极高:清人评此词「以感慨写怀人,清新隽永」;近人更指出「多情多感仍多病,多景楼中」写多景楼的相逢,是此词的名句。在诗歌史上,此词的特殊价值在于:它以小令写尽多景楼的相逢与细捻的琵琶——那多情,那多感,那仍多病,那多景楼中,那尊酒相逢,那乐事,那回头,那一笑空,那停杯,那且听,那琵琶语,那细捻,那轻拢,那醉脸,那春融,那斜照,那江天,那一抹红,都写尽了苏轼笔下的采桑子润州多景楼与孙巨源相遇;那「斜照江天一抹红」更以写景写尽江天的一抹红。此词与苏轼《江城子·密州出猎》同为豪放词名篇,一写「老夫聊发少年狂」的出猎(江城子·密州出猎),一写「多情多感仍多病」的相逢(采桑子·多景楼);一写雄豪,一写感慨。两词对读,可见苏轼词的两面。对于今日读者,此词是理解苏轼怀人词的窗口,也是宋词写多景楼相逢的经典——那江天的一抹红,穿越千年,仍在诉说着多景楼的相逢。

Prosody

Form Lyric (ci) — tune 'Cai Sang Zi' (Picking Mulberries)词·采桑子
Rhyme The tune rhymes on the -ong/-eng (Dong) rhyme: upper stanza '中' (zhong) and '空' (kong); lower stanza '拢' (long) and '红' (hong); one rhyme sustained throughout.采桑子,上阕押「中」「空」,下阕押「拢」「红」(东韵),一韵到底
Tone pattern A short lyric in level-tone rhyme sustained throughout, with a bright, brisk cadence that suits the poem's mingled reflection and lightness.此词为采桑子小令,押平声韵,一韵到底,音节明快,正合感慨的明快。
Reading note This is a short 'Cai Sang Zi' lyric in two stanzas — the upper: 'So full of feeling... here in the Duojing Tower. Cups of wine, a chance meeting...'; the lower: 'I set down my cup... a stroke of red.' It rhymes on the Dong rhyme (zhong, kong, long, hong) throughout, lively in rhythm. The upper stanza dwells on the meeting at the tower, the lower on the pipa and the afterglow. Short as it is, it moves from reunion to music and closes on 'a stroke of red,' revealing Su Shi's characteristic openness. Read the meeting briskly, the closing line with feeling and a lingering close.此词为采桑子小令,上下两阕——上阕「多情多感仍多病,多景楼中。尊酒相逢,乐事回头一笑空」,下阕「停杯且听琵琶语,细捻轻拢。醉脸春融,斜照江天一抹红」,押东韵(中、空、拢、红),一韵到底,音节明快。全词以感慨写怀人:上阕写多景楼的相逢(多情多感仍多病、乐事回头一笑空),下阕写细捻的琵琶(停杯且听琵琶语、斜照江天一抹红)。小令短章,前写相逢,后写琵琶,以「斜照江天一抹红」写尽江天的一抹红,正见苏轼「旷达」的本色。诵读此词,宜以明快的语调读「多景楼中」的相逢,以深情的语调读「斜照江天一抹红」的一抹红,结句要读得明快而有余韵,方能传达出苏轼的清新隽永。苏轼小令以「清丽」著称,此词正是其怀人词的典范。

Line by line

多情多感仍多病,多景楼中

So full of feeling, so full of sorrow, and still so full of sickness — here in the Duojing Tower.

多情多感仍多病,多景楼中。

Full of feeling, full of emotion, and still full of illness—here in the Duojing Tower.

此二句是全词写相逢的核心,以多情多感仍多病写多病,以多景楼中写多景楼,写尽多景楼的相逢,是千古名句。「多情多感仍多病」写多情多感仍多病——那「多情多感」写多情多感,「仍多病」写仍多病,写尽多情多感的病;「多景楼中」写多景楼中——那「多景楼」写多景楼,「中」写中,写尽多景楼的相逢。这句的深意在于:它以「多情多感仍多病」的多病与「多景楼中」的多景楼,写尽多景楼的相逢——多情多感仍多病,那「多情多感仍多病」写尽多情多感的病——多情多感仍多病,正是多情多病的写照,那「多病」写尽多景楼的相逢;多景楼中,那「多景楼中」写尽多景楼的相逢——多景楼中,正是楼中相逢的写照,那「多景楼」写尽多景楼的相逢;那「多情多感仍多病」写尽多情多感的病,那「多景楼中」写尽多景楼的相逢,一写多病,一写多景,写尽多景楼的相逢——多情多病而多景楼中,正是相逢的写照;此二句以多病、多景写尽多景楼的相逢,也为下文的尊酒作铺垫,也让此二句成为全词写相逢的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「多情多感又常多病,在多景楼中」,则失其叠字;唯以「多情多感仍多病」写多病、「多景楼中」写多景楼,写尽多景楼的相逢,也让此二句成为全词写相逢的核心。

Su Shi packs a whole temperament into three repeated words. Full of feeling, over-sensitive, and—still—full of illness: the three multitudes stack the man against himself, and then the name of the tower, Duojing, the tower of many views, adds a fourth multitudinous thing—the vast prospect below. The wit is the match between the man's inner crowd of feelings and the crowded riverscape outside the window; every multitudinous word is doubled by the view. The line sets up the warm drinking that follows. To have said I am sentimental and often ill at the tower would lose the verbal music; the piled repeated word is the music.

醉脸春融,斜照江天一抹红

A drunken face, spring-like and warm; the slanting light on river and sky, a stroke of red.

醉脸春融,斜照江天一抹红。

Drunken faces warm as spring; the slanting sun lays a brushstroke of red over river and sky.

此二句是全词写醉脸的核心,以醉脸春融写春融,以斜照江天一抹红写一抹红,写尽江天的一抹红,是千古名句。「醉脸春融」写醉脸春融——那「醉脸」写醉脸,「春融」写春融,写尽醉脸的春融;「斜照江天一抹红」写斜照江天一抹红——那「斜照江天」写斜照江天,「一抹红」写一抹红,写尽江天的一抹红。这句的深意在于:它以「醉脸春融」的春融与「斜照江天一抹红」的一抹红,写尽江天的一抹红——醉脸春融,那「醉脸春融」写尽醉脸的春融——醉脸春融,正是醉脸如春的写照,那「春融」写尽江天的一抹红;斜照江天一抹红,那「斜照江天一抹红」写尽江天的一抹红——斜照江天一抹红,正是江天红照的写照,那「一抹红」写尽江天的一抹红;那「醉脸春融」写尽醉脸的春融,那「斜照江天一抹红」写尽江天的一抹红,一写醉脸,一写江天,写尽江天的一抹红——醉脸如春而江天一红,正是醉景的写照;此二句以醉脸、江天写尽江天的一抹红,也让此二句成为全词写醉脸的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「醉脸像春色融和,斜阳照着江天一抹红」,则失其画面;唯以「醉脸春融」写春融、「斜照江天一抹红」写一抹红,写尽江天的一抹红,也让此二句成为全词写醉脸的核心。

The closing merges two reds. The drinkers' flushed faces are warm as spring; the slanting evening sun lays a single brushstroke of red across river and sky. The comparison works both ways: the faces look like sunset, the sunset looks like flushed cheeks, and the single brushstroke—that exact painterly phrase—turns the whole wide sky into one light stroke of color. Drunkenness and dusk become indistinguishable. It is the famous image of this ci. To have said their faces were red and the sunset was red would be flat; the single brushstroke unifies them.

Study

Word focus

多 多 (duo, 'many / much'): The key word of the opening line, repeated to evoke the speaker's overflowing feelings, sorrows, and sicknesses. It signals a heart of excess — both abundance of feeling and abundance of grief — that colors the whole reunion and marks the poem as a lyric of reflection. 「多情多感仍多病」之「多」字是写相逢关键词,一个「多」字写尽多景楼的相逢。多者,多情、众多也。苏轼以「多情多感仍多病」写相逢,这个「多」字至少有双重意味:其一,写情之多——那「多情多感仍多病」写多情多感仍多病,那「多」字写尽多景楼的相逢——多情,正是情之众多的写照,那「多」字写尽多景楼的相逢;其二,写愁之多——那「多」字更是写愁——多,正见多情多愁的感慨,那「多」字写尽苏轼的感慨。以「多」字写相逢,正是苏轼写怀人的枢纽——若换作「深」「重」等字,则或失其与「多情多感」「多病」的配合,或失其写多的意味;唯「多」字,以多情多感仍多病写尽情之多感与病之多愁,与「多景楼中」的多景相合,写尽多景楼的相逢,也让「多情多感仍多病」成为全词写相逢的名句。
融 融 (rong, 'melt / warm, harmonious'): Describes the drunken face as 'spring-like and warm.' It conveys both the flushed softness of the cheek and the mellow ease of intoxication, linking the human glow to the mild spring light and to the streak of red in the closing sky. 「醉脸春融」之「融」字是写醉脸关键词,一个「融」字写尽醉脸的春融。融者,融和、和煦也。苏轼以「醉脸春融」写醉脸,这个「融」字至少有双重意味:其一,写脸之融——那「醉脸春融」写醉脸春融,那「融」字写尽醉脸的春融——春融,正是如春融和的写照,那「融」字写尽醉脸的春融;其二,写醉之酣——那「融」字更是写酣——融,正见醉意酣然的融融,那「融」字写尽苏轼的感慨。以「融」字写醉脸,正是苏轼写怀人的枢纽——若换作「和」「暖」等字,则或失其与「醉脸」「春融」的配合,或失其写融的意味;唯「融」字,以醉脸春融写尽醉脸之如春与醉意之酣然,与「斜照江天一抹红」的一抹红相合,写尽醉脸的春融,也让「醉脸春融」成为全词写醉脸的名句。

Related Reading

蝶恋花·春景 Tune: 'Die Lian Hua' — Spring Scene 苏轼 · 同苏轼感慨词,一多情却被无情恼一多情多感仍多病 Both are Su Shi's reflective lyrics: one laments 'so much feeling troubled by the heartless,' the other 'many feelings, many sorrows.'

Su Shi's 'Die Lian Hua · Spring Scene' ('the fading red of flowers, small green apricots') is a famous reflective lyric. This 'Cai Sang Zi' meets a friend at the Duojing Tower with 'many feelings, many sorrows.' Both are Su Shi's reflective lyrics — one cries 'so much feeling troubled by the heartless' (Die Lian Hua), the other ends 'a stroke of red on river and sky' (Cai Sang Zi); one on spring, one on meeting. Read together they reveal two faces of his reflective verse.

苏轼《蝶恋花·春景》「花褪残红青杏小」写感慨,是苏轼的名篇。此词《采桑子·润州多景楼与孙巨源相遇》则「多情多感仍多病」写感慨。同为苏轼感慨词,一写「多情却被无情恼」的蝶恋花,一写「斜照江天一抹红」的采桑子;一写春景,一写相逢。两词对读,可见苏轼感慨词的两面。

江城子·密州出猎 Tune: 'Jiang Cheng Zi' — Hunting at Mizhou 苏轼 · 同苏轼词,一老夫聊发少年狂一多情多感仍多病 Both are Su Shi lyrics: one roars 'an old man's boyish madness,' the other sighs 'many feelings, many sorrows.'

Su Shi's 'Jiang Cheng Zi · Hunting at Mizhou' ('an old man's boyish madness, left hand on the yellow hound, right on the eagle') is a heroic lyric. This 'Cai Sang Zi' meets a friend with 'many feelings, many sorrows.' Both are his lyrics — one draws the bow 'like the full moon' (Jiang Cheng Zi), the other closes on 'a stroke of red' (Cai Sang Zi); one heroic, one reflective. Read together they show the two faces of his art.

苏轼《江城子·密州出猎》「老夫聊发少年狂,左牵黄,右擎苍」写豪情,是苏轼的名篇。此词《采桑子·润州多景楼与孙巨源相遇》则「多情多感仍多病」写感慨。同为苏轼词,一写「会挽雕弓如满月」的出猎(江城子·密州出猎),一写「斜照江天一抹红」的相逢(采桑子·多景楼);一写雄豪,一写感慨。两词对读,可见苏轼词的两面。