贺新郎·同父见和再用韵答之

Meaning

Xin Qiji, in his late forties and out of favour, answers the patriot Chen Liang, who had come to visit him at Pengshan with a poem in the same rhyme. He recalls the night they spent together drinking and shouting until the snow on the tower top was scattered, and their shared contempt for wealth and rank. Then he turns to the state: the Central Plain, split and joined for centuries, whose capable men are buried the way a salt-hauling horse is abandoned or a thousand li of horse bones bought in vain. He praises Chen's iron-hearted resolve and ends on a single image — that they should try their hand at mending the rift in the sky, that is, at recovering the lost territory.

老大那堪说。似而今、元龙臭味，孟公瓜葛。我病君来高歌饮，惊散楼头飞雪。笑富贵千钧如发。硬语盘空谁来听？记当时、只有西窗月。重进酒，换鸣瑟。事无两样人心别。问渠侬：神州毕竟，几番离合？汗血盐车无人顾，千里空收骏骨。正目断关河路绝。我最怜君中宵舞，道男儿、到死心如铁。看试手，补天裂。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] Two patriots in their forties, drinking together, and the first man answering the second in the same rhyme. <br>[Structure] The poem has two clearly divided halves: the friendship in the upper stanza, the politics in the lower, joined by the single line 'Things are not different; it is hearts that differ'. <br>[Imagery] The remembered evening is physical — illness, singing, drinking, snow on a tower, a zither changed for another, and above all the moon at the western window, the only man who heard them. <br>[The Close] 'See but that we try our hand — and mend the great rift in the sky' lifts the private grief of the stanza before it into a public task, and does so with the image of Nüwa mending heaven. The poem's force comes from its refusal to console: after 'a thousand li spent in vain on the bones of a steed', there is nothing to do but act.

【白话串讲】 辛弃疾写《贺新郎·同父见和再用韵答之》：“老大那堪说”——“我病君来高歌饮，惊散楼头飞雪”——“笑富贵千钧如发”——“硬语盘空谁来听？记当时、只有西窗月”——“问渠侬：神州毕竟，几番离合”——他写与陈亮的友情。 【意象与手法】 此词写与陈亮的知己之情与收复中原的壮志，以豪语写壮志，是辛弃疾的名篇。上阕写知己的相聚：「老大那堪说」写老大那堪说，「似而今、元龙臭味，孟公瓜葛」写似而今元龙臭味孟公瓜葛，「我病君来高歌饮」写我病君来高歌饮，「惊散楼头飞雪」写惊散楼头飞雪，「笑富贵千钧如发」写笑富贵千钧如发，「硬语盘空谁来听」写硬语盘空谁来听，「记当时、只有西窗月」写记当时只有西窗月，「重进酒，换鸣瑟」写重进酒换鸣瑟；下阕写国家的感慨与壮志：「事无两样人心别」写事无两样人心别，「问渠侬：神州毕竟，几番离合」写问渠侬神州毕竟几番离合，「汗血盐车无人顾」写汗血盐车无人顾，「千里空收骏骨」写千里空收骏骨，「正目断关河路绝」写正目断关河路绝，「我最怜君中宵舞」写我最怜君中宵舞，「道男儿、到死心如铁」写道男儿到死心如铁，「看试手，补天裂」写看试手补天裂。全词以知己之情写爱国壮志，写尽收复中原的壮志，是辛弃疾的代表作。 【情感与主旨】 此词写与陈亮的知己之情与收复中原的壮志，以豪语写壮志，是辛弃疾的名篇。此词作于淳熙十五年（1188）冬，辛弃疾在铅山瓢泉会晤友人陈亮（字同甫），纵谈国事，陈亮走后，辛弃疾寄此词。此词写知己与壮志：老大那堪说——写年已老大、不堪说起；似而今、元龙臭味，孟公瓜葛——用陈登（元龙）、陈遵（孟公）之典，写与陈亮意气相投（臭味相投）、如陈登陈遵般交谊；我病君来高歌饮，惊散楼头飞雪——写我病中君来高歌痛饮，惊散楼头飞雪；笑富贵千钧如发——写笑富贵千钧重如发丝之轻；硬语盘空谁来听？记当时、只有西窗月——写硬语（豪言壮语）盘空谁来听，只记当时西窗明月；重进酒，换鸣瑟——写重进酒、换鸣瑟；事无两样人心别——写事无两样而人心有别；问渠侬：神州毕竟，几番离合——写问神州毕竟几番分合；汗血盐车无人顾，千里空收骏骨——写汗血马（名马）拉盐车无人顾惜，千里空收骏马之骨（用千金市骨之典），写人才被埋没；正目断关河路绝——写正目断关河、道路断绝；我最怜君中宵舞——用祖逖闻鸡起舞之典，写我最怜君中宵起舞；道男儿、到死心如铁——写道男儿到死心如铁；看试手，补天裂——写看试身手，补天之裂（收复山河）。全词以知己之情写爱国壮志，写尽收复中原的壮志，是理解辛弃疾爱国词与知己之交的重要篇章。 【名句点睛】 常考「我最怜君中宵舞，道男儿、到死心如铁」写报国壮志；「看试手，补天裂」写收复山河的壮志；「汗血盐车无人顾，千里空收骏骨」写人才被埋没；「笑富贵千钧如发」写轻视富贵；以及全词以知己之情写爱国壮志、豪放悲壮的手法。

Allusions

Yuan Long is Chen Deng of the late Han, famous for his proud, unsentimental house and for refusing to acknowledge an unimportant visitor; Meng Gong is Chen Zun of the Western Han, who kept his guests all night by breaking the axle of their carriages. 'Hard words that circle in mid-air' reworks the famous line 'a hard phrase hanging in mid-air' from the classical prose style, and the 'western window' is the usual figure for lonely talk. The salt cart is the old image of a steed dragging a cart of salt up the mountain of a king's fault; the purchase of horse bones is the story of the king who paid a thousand pieces of gold for the bones of a steed from a foreign state to draw men out. The midnight dance is Zu Ti's practice of rising at cockcrow to train, and 'mending the great rift' is the story of Nüwa who repaired heaven.

此词的用语深植于爱国与知己的传统。「老大那堪说」令人想到「老大」写年老的意象——「老大徒伤悲」，也令人想到「那堪说」写不堪言说的意象；「元龙臭味」用陈登之典——陈登字元龙，三国名士，豪气凌云，也令人想到「元龙豪气」写豪气的典故，更令人想到「臭味相投」写意气相投；「孟公瓜葛」用陈遵之典——陈遵字孟公，西汉人，嗜酒好客，也令人想到「陈遵投辖」写留客的典故，更令人想到「瓜葛」写牵连交谊的意象；「我病君来高歌饮」令人想到「高歌」写高声歌唱的意象——「高歌猛进」，也令人想到「痛饮」写畅饮的意象；「惊散楼头飞雪」令人想到「惊散」写惊散的意象，也令人想到「楼头飞雪」写楼头飞雪的意象——以豪情惊散飞雪；「笑富贵千钧如发」令人想到「千钧」写极重的意象——「千钧一发」，也令人想到「如发」写如发之轻的意象——笑富贵千钧重如发轻；「硬语盘空」令人想到「硬语」写豪言壮语的意象——韩愈「横空盘硬语」，也令人想到「盘空」写盘旋空中的意象；「西窗月」令人想到「西窗」写西窗的意象——「何当共剪西窗烛」（李商隐），也令人想到「月」写明月的意象；「重进酒，换鸣瑟」令人想到「进酒」写劝酒的意象——「将进酒，杯莫停」，也令人想到「鸣瑟」写瑟的意象；「神州毕竟，几番离合」令人想到「神州」写中原大地的意象——「神州陆沉」，也令人想到「离合」写分合的意象；「汗血盐车无人顾」令人想到「汗血」写汗血宝马的意象——大宛汗血马，也令人想到「盐车」写拉盐车的意象——「骐骥服盐车」写良马拉盐车、人才被埋没，更令人想到「骥伏盐车」的典故；「千里空收骏骨」用千金市骨之典——《战国策》郭隗以千金买千里马骨之喻劝燕昭王求贤，令人想到「千金市骨」写求贤的典故，也令人想到「骏骨」写骏马之骨；「目断关河路绝」令人想到「目断」写望断的意象，也令人想到「关河」写关山河川的意象——「关河冷落」；「中宵舞」用祖逖闻鸡起舞之典——祖逖与刘琨闻鸡起舞、立志收复中原，令人想到「闻鸡起舞」写报国的典故，也令人想到「中宵起舞」写壮志；「心如铁」令人想到「心如铁石」写坚贞的意象——「男儿到死心如铁」正是辛弃疾的名句；「补天裂」令人想到「补天」写女娲补天的意象——「女娲炼石补天处」，也令人想到「补天裂」写收复山河、弥补分裂的意象——「看试手，补天裂」正是辛弃疾的名句。全词化用元龙、孟公、汗血盐车、千金市骨、闻鸡起舞、补天的典故与意象，以知己之情写爱国壮志，正是辛弃疾「豪放悲壮」而善用典、承爱国传统写壮志的本领。

Commentary

This is counted among the very greatest of Xin Qiji's songs, and it has been much discussed as a document of his friendship with Chen Liang, whose own reply was even more defiant. Qing critics praised its swell of feeling; modern readers have noted how unusual it is that the poet can describe his own powerlessness in the same voice that describes his friend's resolve. It is usually read with the earlier 'Hexin Lang' of the same exchange, which ends on a separate note, and with Yue Fei's 'Man Jiang Hong' as the other great Southern Song song of the same purpose.

此词历来被推为辛弃疾爱国词的名篇，也是南宋词的代表作。历代论者对此词评价极高：清人评此词「以知己之情写爱国壮志，豪放悲壮」；近人更指出「我最怜君中宵舞，道男儿、到死心如铁」「看试手，补天裂」写报国壮志，是此词的名句。在词史上，此词的特殊价值在于：它以十七句的长调写尽与陈亮的知己之情与收复中原的壮志——那老大那堪说的感慨，那元龙臭味孟公瓜葛的知己，那病中高歌痛饮的相聚，那惊散楼头飞雪的豪情，那笑富贵千钧如发的轻视，那硬语盘空无人听的孤独，那只有西窗月的记忆，那重进酒换鸣瑟的豪饮，那事无两样人心别的感慨，那神州几番离合的追问，那汗血盐车无人顾的埋没，那千里空收骏骨的悲愤，那目断关河路绝的失望，那中宵舞的怜惜，那到死心如铁的坚贞，那补天裂的壮志，都写尽了辛弃疾与陈亮的知己之情与收复中原的壮志；那「看试手，补天裂」更写尽收复山河的凌云壮志。此词与辛弃疾《贺新郎·把酒长亭说》（与陈亮唱和的第一首）同为与陈亮唱和的名篇，一写离别，一写壮志；又与祖逖「闻鸡起舞」的报国传统一脉相承，可见中国爱国词写收复中原的传统。对于今日读者，此词是理解辛弃疾爱国词与知己之交的窗口，也是中国词写报国壮志的经典——那补天裂的豪情，穿越千年，仍在诉说着到死心如铁的壮志。

Prosody

Line by line

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