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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

定风波·重阳

Ding Feng Bo: The Double Ninth

苏轼

Su Shi

重阳Double Ninth Festival 旷达Philosophical Ease

与客携壶上翠微，江涵秋影雁初飞。
尘世难逢开口笑，年少，菊花须插满头归。
酩酊但酬佳节了，云峤，登临不用怨斜晖。
古往今来谁不老，多少，牛山何必更沾衣。

With guests I carried a jug up the green slope,
The river holding autumn's image, wild geese beginning to fly.
Hard is this world to find a moment of open laughter —
But young, and chrysanthemums must be stuck in the hair before going home.
Drunk, I have simply done my duty by the fine day;
High clouds, and no need on this climb to complain of the setting sun.
Who, in ages past and yet to come, does not grow old? —
And so: why weep at the Ox Mountain, and wet your clothes?

Listen

Meaning

Su Shi climbs a green hill with guests on the Double Ninth, the ninth day of the ninth month, when the old custom is to ascend and to drink chrysanthemum wine. He notes that in this world genuine laughter is rare, and answers the sadness of ageing by an act of defiance — chrysanthemums stuck in the hair. He then refuses the two conventional complaints of the season, the setting sun and the weeping at Ox Mountain, and treats old age as the one thing everyone shares.

与客携壶上翠微，江涵秋影雁初飞。尘世难逢开口笑，年少，菊花须插满头归。酩酊但酬佳节了，云峤，登临不用怨斜晖。古往今来谁不老，多少，牛山何必更沾衣。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The poem records a double ninth climb and turns the day's elegiac conventions into an argument about how to grow old. [Structure] Upper stanzas: the climb and the party. Lower stanzas: the argument that follows from it. [Imagery] The green slope, the river holding autumn, the first flight of the geese: the season is seen in its brightest state. [Turn] The word 'young' is the pivot — the party is not for the elderly, and the chrysanthemums in the hair pretend, absurdly and joyfully, to grace the drinker with youth. [Conclusion] The reasoning of the last stanzas is compressed into a single rhetorical question; the poem never states a comfort, only refuses two complaints, and this refusal is offered as its own kind of comfort. The origin of that refusal is Du Mu, and the poem's whole art is the distance it puts between itself and its source.

【白话串讲】苏轼写《定风波·重阳》：“与客携壶上翠微，江涵秋影雁初飞”——“尘世难逢开口笑，年少，菊花须插满头归”——“古往今来谁不老，多少，牛山何必更沾衣”——重阳登高——尘世难逢开口笑。【意象与手法】此词写重阳登高的旷达，以佳节写感慨，是苏轼的名篇。上阕写登高：「与客携壶上翠微，江涵秋影雁初飞」写与客携壶上翠微、江涵秋影雁初飞，「尘世难逢开口笑，年少，菊花须插满头归」写尘世难逢开口笑、年少、菊花须插满头归；下阕写感慨：「酩酊但酬佳节了，云峤，登临不用怨斜晖」写酩酊但酬佳节了、云峤、登临不用怨斜晖，「古往今来谁不老，多少，牛山何必更沾衣」写古往今来谁不老、多少、牛山何必更沾衣。全词以佳节写感慨，写尽重阳登高的旷达，是苏轼的代表作。【情感与主旨】此词写重阳登高的旷达，以佳节写感慨，是苏轼的名篇。此词是苏轼《定风波》咏重阳之作，写重阳与客登高饮宴的旷达。此词写登高：与客携壶上翠微，江涵秋影雁初飞——写与客携壶上翠微（青山）、江涵秋影雁初飞，写尽重阳登高；尘世难逢开口笑，年少，菊花须插满头归——写尘世难逢开口笑、年少、菊花须插满头归，写尽重阳的欢愉；酩酊但酬佳节了，云峤，登临不用怨斜晖——写酩酊但酬佳节了、云峤、登临不用怨斜晖，写尽登临的旷达；古往今来谁不老，多少，牛山何必更沾衣——写古往今来谁不老、多少、牛山何必更沾衣，用牛山之典写无须为衰老沾衣。全词以佳节写感慨——那「尘世难逢开口笑」写尽尘世的难得一笑，「古往今来谁不老」写尽谁不老的旷达，「牛山何必更沾衣」写尽无须沾衣的旷达，写尽重阳登高的旷达，是理解苏轼旷达词的重要篇章。【名句点睛】常考「尘世难逢开口笑，年少，菊花须插满头归」写重阳的欢愉；「古往今来谁不老，多少，牛山何必更沾衣」用牛山之典写旷达；以及全词以佳节写感慨、以旷达写衰老的手法。

Background

Su Shi (1037–1101), courtesy name Zizhan, styled Dongpo jushi, was the greatest writer of the Northern Song and the leading figure of the bold school of ci. The Double Ninth falls on the ninth day of the ninth month, a day whose doubled yang was thought dangerous, and the old customs were to climb a height and to drink wine made from chrysanthemums. This ci belongs to the group of Su Shi's poems on that festival, and it is the most famous of them, because in it the usual autumn melancholy is answered rather than expressed.

此词写重阳登高的旷达，以佳节写感慨，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，北宋伟大的文学家，是宋词豪放派的代表。此词是苏轼《定风波》咏重阳之作，写重阳与客登高饮宴的旷达。重阳为九月九日，古人有登高、饮菊花酒之俗。此词写登高：「与客携壶上翠微，江涵秋影雁初飞」写与客携壶上翠微（青山）、江涵秋影雁初飞——写尽重阳登高；「尘世难逢开口笑，年少，菊花须插满头归」写尘世难逢开口笑、年少、菊花须插满头归——写尽重阳的欢愉；「酩酊但酬佳节了，云峤，登临不用怨斜晖」写酩酊但酬佳节了、云峤、登临不用怨斜晖——写尽登临的旷达；「古往今来谁不老，多少，牛山何必更沾衣」写古往今来谁不老、多少、牛山何必更沾衣——用牛山之典（齐景公游牛山，北望国都而泣曰：若何滂滂去此而死乎）写无须为衰老沾衣。全词以佳节写感慨，写尽重阳登高的旷达，是理解苏轼旷达词的重要篇章。

Art

The poem's structure is that of an argument in two halves. The first half is pure description — jug, slope, river, geese, chrysanthemums — and it builds a mood of cheerful high spirits rather than of grief. The second half converts that mood into reasoning: 'Who, in ages past and yet to come, does not grow old?' is a rhetorical question that cannot be answered otherwise than by acceptance. The two complaints are dispatched almost off-hand, 'no need to complain of the setting sun' and 'why weep at the Ox Mountain,' and the effect is a poem that declines to be sad. Su Shi's habitual technique of allying himself with a predecessor only to surpass him is used twice: the chrysanthemum memory of Du Mu is kept, and the weeping of the Duke of Qi is dismissed.

此词的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以写景起兴。「与客携壶上翠微，江涵秋影雁初飞」以写景起兴——那「翠微」写尽青山的翠色、「江涵秋影」写尽江水涵纳秋影，以写景起兴写尽重阳秋景。其二，以直抒写欢愉。「尘世难逢开口笑，年少，菊花须插满头归」以直抒写欢愉——那「难逢开口笑」写尽尘世的难得一笑、「菊花须插满头归」写尽插菊满头的欢愉，以直抒写尽重阳的欢愉。其三，以旷达写衰老。「酩酊但酬佳节了，云峤，登临不用怨斜晖」以旷达写衰老——那「不用怨斜晖」写尽不怨斜晖的旷达，以旷达写尽登临的感慨；「古往今来谁不老」以议论写旷达——那「谁不老」写尽古往今来谁不老的旷达。其四，以典收束写旷达。「牛山何必更沾衣」以典收束写旷达——那牛山之典写尽无须沾衣的旷达，以典收束，写尽重阳登高的旷达。四重手法，使此词以佳节写感慨，写尽重阳登高的旷达，是苏轼的代表作。

Allusions

'Green slope' is an ordinary word for a green hillside, and 'the river holding autumn's image' is the poet's own invention, made into one of the most quoted lines of his work. 'Chrysanthemums stuck in the hair before going home' comes from Du Mu's 'Climbing the Terrace at Qian Mountain on the Ninth,' and Du Mu's line is itself the conclusion of his poem; here it is reduced to a single image and made the poem's emblem. 'Ox Mountain' is the northern hill of Linzi, from which the Duke of Qi once wept because he could not avoid growing old there; the story is told in the Zuo zhuan, and Su Shi's question — 'why weep at the Ox Mountain, and wet your clothes?' — is a direct quotation turned into an argument. The Double Ninth customs of climbing and of chrysanthemum wine provide the whole occasion.

此词的用语深植于重阳与旷达的传统。「与客携壶上翠微」令人想到「翠微」写青山的意象——「却顾所来径，苍苍横翠微」（李白），也令人想到「携壶」写携酒的意象——重阳携酒登高；「江涵秋影雁初飞」令人想到「江涵秋影」写江水涵纳秋影的意象——「江涵秋影雁初飞」正是苏轼的名句，也令人想到「雁初飞」写雁初飞的意象——「雁阵惊寒」；「尘世难逢开口笑」令人想到「尘世难逢开口笑」的意象——杜牧「尘世难逢开口笑，菊花须插满头归」（《九日齐山登高》），也令人想到「开口笑」写开口笑的意象；「年少，菊花须插满头归」令人想到「菊花须插满头归」的意象——化用杜牧《九日齐山登高》，也令人想到「插满头」写插菊满头的意象；「酩酊但酬佳节了」令人想到「酩酊」写大醉的意象——「酩酊大醉」，也令人想到「酬佳节」写酬答佳节的意象；「云峤」令人想到「云峤」写云山的意象——「峤」为尖山，也令人想到登高所见云山的意象；「登临不用怨斜晖」令人想到「登临」写登临的意象——「登临意」，也令人想到「怨斜晖」写怨夕阳的意象；「古往今来谁不老」令人想到「古往今来」写古今的意象——「古往今来只如此」，也令人想到「谁不老」写谁不老的意象；「多少」令人想到「多少」写多少的意象——「多少事，从来急」；「牛山何必更沾衣」用牛山之典——齐景公游牛山，北望国都而泣曰「若何滂滂去此而死乎」，晏子讽之，令人想到「牛山」写牛山的典故，也令人想到「沾衣」写落泪沾衣的意象。全词化用杜牧九日诗、牛山的典故与意象，以佳节写感慨，正是苏轼「豪放旷达」而善化用前人、承重阳旷达传统写感慨的本领。

Commentary

Long ranked among the finest of Su Shi's ci on the Double Ninth and as a representative song of the Festival. Qing readers commented on the poem's 'lofty and careless' ease. Modern readers single out 'the river holding autumn's image' and the closing question. The poem's special place is that it belongs to the tradition of autumn elegy and declines almost every one of its conventions; where the Double Ninth poem usually laments the passing of the year, this one treats old age as a fact shared by everyone and declines to be upset by it. Read beside Su Shi's 'Ding Feng Bo: Do not listen to the rain beating through the trees,' the two songs show the same faculty operating on the two great fears of the Chinese imagination — age and fortune — and in both the fear is met with a joke rather than with a consolation.

此词历来被推为苏轼重阳词的名篇，也是宋词写重阳的代表。历代论者对此词评价极高：清人评此词「以佳节写感慨，旷达超逸」；近人更指出「尘世难逢开口笑，年少，菊花须插满头归」写重阳的欢愉，「牛山何必更沾衣」写无须为衰老沾衣的旷达，是此词的名句。在词史上，此词的特殊价值在于：它以十一句的小令写尽重阳登高的旷达——那翠微的青山，那江涵的秋影，那初飞的雁，那难逢的开口笑，那插满头的菊花，那酩酊的酬节，那云峤，那不怨的斜晖，那谁不老，那牛山何必沾衣，都写尽了苏轼重阳登高的旷达；那「古往今来谁不老，多少，牛山何必更沾衣」更以牛山之典写尽无须为衰老沾衣的旷达。此词与杜牧《九日齐山登高》（「尘世难逢开口笑，菊花须插满头归」）同为重阳名篇，一写「尘世难逢开口笑」的旷达（杜牧），一写「牛山何必更沾衣」的旷达（苏轼）；又与齐景公牛山泣涕的典故一脉相承，可见苏轼以旷达消解悲秋的传统。对于今日读者，此词是理解苏轼旷达词风的窗口，也是中国词写重阳的经典——那牛山何必沾衣，穿越千年，仍在诉说着苏轼的旷达。

Prosody

Form Chinese ci — the tune Ding Feng Bo (a middle-length song)词·定风波（中调）

Rhyme Ding Feng Bo, on the 'Wei' rhyme (上平五微): wei, fei, gui, hui, yi — one rhyme maintained to the end, in the light, level tone of the song's ordinary voice定风波，押「微」「飞」「归」「晖」「衣」韵（上平五微、一作微灰），一韵到底，音节轻快

Tone pattern A middle-length ci in the tune Ding Feng Bo, double stanza, sixty-two characters, rhyming on the level 'Wei' rhyme throughout, in a quick and unhurried rhythm.此词为定风波，双调六十二字，押平声韵，一韵到底，音节轻快，正合旷达的轻快。

Reading note Two stanzas, rhyming on the Wei rhyme (wei, fei, gui, hui, yi) and holding the same rhyme in both, so the song keeps one bright, even colour from beginning to end. The tune uses short lines of three and four characters beside the normal seven, and those short lines carry the argument; they come like exclamations in the middle of the music. Read the climb in an easy tempo; read 'young, and chrysanthemums must be stuck in the hair' briskly; and let the closing question stop the song without a resolution, which is the poem's way of leaving the argument open.此词为定风波，双调，上阕「与客携壶上翠微，江涵秋影雁初飞。尘世难逢开口笑，年少，菊花须插满头归」，下阕「酩酊但酬佳节了，云峤，登临不用怨斜晖。古往今来谁不老，多少，牛山何必更沾衣」，押平声韵（微、飞、归、晖、衣），一韵到底，音节轻快。全词以佳节写感慨：上阕写登高与欢愉（与客携壶上翠微，江涵秋影雁初飞；尘世难逢开口笑，年少，菊花须插满头归），下阕写旷达（酩酊但酬佳节了，云峤，登临不用怨斜晖；古往今来谁不老，多少，牛山何必更沾衣）。诵读此词，宜以轻快的语调读「与客携壶上翠微」的登高，以旷达的语调读「古往今来谁不老」的感慨，结句「牛山何必更沾衣」要读得洒脱而有余韵，方能传达出苏轼的旷达超逸。苏轼词以「豪放旷达」著称，此词正是其重阳旷达中调的典范。

Line by line

尘世难逢开口笑，年少，菊花须插满头归

Hard is this world to find a moment of open laughter — but young, and chrysanthemums must be stuck in the hair before going home.

尘世间难得遇到开口笑，趁着年少，菊花须插满头而归。

In this dusty world it is rare to find a cause to laugh; while we are young, let us go home with chrysanthemum flowers stuck all over our hair.

此三句是全词写欢愉的核心，以难逢开口笑写尘世，以插满头写欢愉，写尽重阳的欢愉与旷达，是千古名句。「尘世难逢开口笑」写尘世间难得遇到开口笑——那「尘世」写尘世，「难逢开口笑」写难得遇到开口笑，写尽尘世的难得一笑；「年少，菊花须插满头归」写趁着年少、菊花须插满头而归——那「年少」写年少，「菊花须插满头归」写菊花须插满头而归，写尽重阳插菊的欢愉。这句的深意在于：它以「尘世难逢开口笑」的难得一笑与「菊花须插满头归」的插满满头，写尽重阳的欢愉与旷达——尘世间难得遇到开口笑，那「尘世难逢开口笑」写尽尘世的难得一笑——尘世多愁，难得开怀一笑，那「难逢开口笑」写尽尘世的难得欢愉；趁着年少、菊花须插满头而归，那「菊花须插满头归」写尽重阳插菊的欢愉——重阳插菊，须插满头而归，那「插满头」写尽重阳的尽兴欢愉；那「尘世难逢开口笑」写尽尘世的难得一笑，那「菊花须插满头归」写尽重阳的尽兴欢愉，一写难得，一写须插，写尽重阳的欢愉与旷达——尘世虽难得一笑，重阳却须插菊满头，正是苏轼「人生得意须尽欢」的旷达；此三句化用杜牧之句写尽重阳的欢愉与旷达，也让此三句成为全词写欢愉的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「重阳节要开心」，则失其文采；唯以「尘世难逢开口笑」写难得、「菊花须插满头归」写插满，写尽重阳的欢愉与旷达，也让此三句成为全词写欢愉的核心。

The Double Ninth poem is a carpe diem. In this dusty world it is rare to find a cause to laugh; while we are young, let us go home with chrysanthemum flowers stuck all over our hair. The first line borrows Du Mu's saying that open laughter is rare among men; the second refuses solemnity—at the festival of chrysanthemums, the correct gesture is to wear them, absurdly, all over the head. The contrast between the rarity of laughter and the absurd garland is Su Shi's gaiety. To have said we should be cheerful at the festival would be a sentiment; the chrysanthemums worn all over the head are the cheer.

古往今来谁不老，多少，牛山何必更沾衣

Who, in ages past and yet to come, does not grow old? — and so: why weep at the Ox Mountain, and wet your clothes?

古往今来谁不会老？多少这样的人，牛山何必更沾衣。

From olden days till now, who has not grown old? So many have—why should I, on Ox Mountain, wet my robes with tears?

此三句是全词写旷达的核心，以谁不老写衰老，以牛山何必写旷达，写尽无须为衰老沾衣的旷达，是千古名句。「古往今来谁不老」写古往今来谁不会老——那「古往今来」写古今，「谁不老」写谁不会老，写尽人皆有老的必然；「多少，牛山何必更沾衣」写多少这样的人、牛山何必更沾衣——那「多少」写多少，「牛山何必更沾衣」用牛山之典写牛山何必更沾衣，写尽无须为衰老沾衣的旷达。这句的深意在于：它以「古往今来谁不老」的谁不老与「牛山何必更沾衣」的何必，写尽无须为衰老沾衣的旷达——古往今来谁不会老？那「古往今来谁不老」写尽人皆有老的必然——古往今来，谁不会老？那「谁不老」以反问写尽人皆有老的必然；牛山何必更沾衣，那「牛山何必更沾衣」用牛山之典写尽无须为衰老沾衣的旷达——齐景公游牛山而泣，晏子讽之，苏轼正以此典写无须为衰老而泣，那「何必更沾衣」写尽无须沾衣的旷达；那「古往今来谁不老」写尽人皆有老的必然，那「牛山何必更沾衣」写尽无须沾衣的旷达，一写必然，一写何必，写尽无须为衰老沾衣的旷达——人皆有老，何必效牛山之泣？正是苏轼「谁道人生无再少」的旷达；此三句以谁不老、牛山何必收束，写尽无须为衰老沾衣的旷达，也让此三句成为全词写旷达的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「老了也不用难过」，则失其用典；唯以「古往今来谁不老」写必然、「牛山何必更沾衣」写何必，写尽无须为衰老沾衣的旷达，也让此三句成为全词写旷达的核心。

The closing is the famous defiance of old age. From olden days till now, who has not grown old? The question has only one answer—everybody—and so: why should I, on Ox Mountain, wet my robes with tears? The allusion is to the Duke of Qi who, climbing Ox Mountain, wept that he must leave the world; his ministers ridiculed him. Su Shi turns the old anecdote inside out: granted all men grow old, the ancient weeping is pointless. To have said growing old is natural, no use crying would be a proverb; the refusal to wet the robes at Ox Mountain is the defiance.

Study

Word focus

涵 In 'the river holding autumn's image,' han means to contain or hold inside, and gives the river a container's solidity, so the drifting season becomes something that can be carried; without it the river would only reflect, and the reflection would not keep what it holds. (About 30 words) 「江涵秋影雁初飞」之「涵」字是写秋景的关键字，一个「涵」字写尽江水涵纳秋影的澄澈。涵者，涵纳、包容也。苏轼以「江涵秋影」写江水，这个「涵」字至少有双重意味：其一，写江水之澄——那「江涵秋影雁初飞」写江水涵纳秋影、雁初飞，那「涵」字写尽江水的澄澈——江水澄澈，涵纳秋影（山影、雁影），那「涵」字写尽江水的澄澈如镜；其二，写秋景之全——那「涵」字更是写秋景——江涵秋影，写尽秋景尽收江中的完整，那「涵」字写尽秋景的涵纳。以「涵」字写江水，正是苏轼写秋景的枢纽——若换作「映」「照」等字，则或失其写江水涵纳的包容，或失其与「秋影雁初飞」的配合；唯「涵」字，以一字写尽江水涵纳秋影的澄澈与秋景的完整，与「雁初飞」的秋色相合，写尽重阳秋景，也让「江涵秋影雁初飞」成为全词写秋景的千古名句。

何必 In 'why weep at the Ox Mountain, and wet your clothes?' he bi is an emphatic question — why is it necessary at all — and it is the poem's whole argument compressed into one word; because it is a question and not a denial, the poet has to give the reader a reason, and that reason is the preceding line. (About 30 words) 「牛山何必更沾衣」之「何必」是写旷达的关键词，一个「何必」写尽无须沾衣的旷达。何必者，何须、不必也。苏轼以「牛山何必更沾衣」写牛山之泣，这个「何必」至少有双重意味：其一，写无须之旷——那「牛山何必更沾衣」写牛山何必更沾衣，那「何必」写尽无须沾衣的旷达——牛山之泣，何必效之，那「何必」写尽无须为衰老沾衣的旷达；其二，写劝解之深——那「何必」更是写劝解——何必更沾衣，正是对悲秋者的劝解，那「何必」写尽以旷达消解悲秋的深意。以「何必」写沾衣，正是苏轼写旷达的枢纽——若换作「无须」「不必」等词，则或失其与「牛山」典故的配合，或失其以反问写旷达的语气；唯「何必」二字，以反问写尽无须沾衣的旷达与对悲秋的消解，与「古往今来谁不老」的谁不老相合，写尽无须为衰老沾衣的旷达，也让「牛山何必更沾衣」成为全词写旷达的名句。