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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

浣溪沙·麻叶层层苘叶光

Huan Xi Sha: Hemp Leaves in Layers, Glinting Abutilon Leaves

苏轼

Su Shi

田园Pastoral 农事Farming and sericulture

麻叶层层苘叶光，谁家煮茧一村香。
隔篱娇语络丝娘。
垂白杖藜抬醉眼，捋青捣麨软饥肠。
问言豆叶几时黄。

Hemp leaves in layer upon layer, and the abutilon leaves all glisten;
Whose household is boiling cocoons until the whole village smells sweet.
A reed-winding woman by the hedge speaks soft and bright.
His hair already white, he raises drunken eyes above his staff;
He strips the green and pounds it into parched flour to ease his hungry belly.
Ask him: when will the bean leaves turn yellow?

Listen

Meaning

A corner of the farming year seen from the road: the hemp and abutilon are lush, the village is boiling cocoons and the whole place smells of silk, and a woman by the hedge is winding thread. Below, an old man with white hair grows drunk on the gleanings and pounds half-ripe wheat into parched flour to take the edge off his hunger; the speaker asks him when the beans will ripen. The poem is Su Shi's most direct record of rural hardship, and also of his habit of treating a peasant as a person who can be spoken to.

麻叶层层苘叶光，谁家煮茧一村香。隔篱娇语络丝娘。垂白杖藜抬醉眼，捋青捣麨软饥肠。问言豆叶几时黄。

Appreciation

[Structure] The upper stanza is a scene of plenty observed from outside; the lower stanza descends to one old man and to the gap between the smell of boiling cocoons and the food that is actually available. The shift is the poem's whole point, and it happens almost at random, as it would in life. [Detail] Nothing here is described abstractly. We are given the sheen of leaves, the smell crossing a village, a voice at a hedge, a white head lifting over a staff, the labour of stripping and pounding. The hunger is not named until the last line asks about beans. [Mood] The tone is warm rather than sentimental: the old man is drunk, and the speaker's question is casual, but the casualness is what makes the poverty legible. This is pastoral writing used as reportage, and Su Shi's humility about his own position — he is the one travelling, not the one working — is part of its charm.

【白话串讲】苏轼写《浣溪沙·麻叶层层苘叶光》：“麻叶层层苘叶光，谁家煮茧一村香”——“隔篱娇语络丝娘”——“垂白杖藜抬醉眼，捋青捣麨软饥肠”——“问言豆叶几时黄”——他写徐州乡村。【意象与手法】此词写田园，以民生写田园，是苏轼的名篇。上片写村景：「麻叶层层苘叶光，谁家煮茧一村香。隔篱娇语络丝娘」写麻叶层层苘叶光、谁家煮茧一村香、隔篱娇语络丝娘——写尽村中的蚕事；下片写民生：「垂白杖藜抬醉眼，捋青捣麨软饥肠。问言豆叶几时黄」写垂白杖藜抬醉眼、捋青捣麨软饥肠、问言豆叶几时黄——写尽民生的关切。全词以民生写田园，写尽村中的蚕事与民生的关切，是苏轼的代表作。【情感与主旨】此词写田园，以民生写田园，是苏轼的名篇。此词为苏轼《浣溪沙》组词之一，写其在徐州任上乡村所见。苏轼知徐州时，曾下乡劝农，见乡村蚕事繁忙、民生疾苦，作此组词。此词写村景：麻叶层层苘叶光，谁家煮茧一村香——写麻叶层层苘叶光、谁家煮茧一村香，写尽村中的蚕事；隔篱娇语络丝娘——写隔篱娇语络丝娘，写尽缫丝的女子；垂白杖藜抬醉眼，捋青捣麨软饥肠——写垂白杖藜抬醉眼、捋青捣麨软饥肠，写尽民生的疾苦；问言豆叶几时黄——写问言豆叶几时黄，写尽民生的关切。全词以民生写田园——那「谁家煮茧一村香」写尽村中的蚕事，「捋青捣麨软饥肠」写尽民生的疾苦，写尽村中的蚕事与民生的关切，是理解苏轼田园词的重要篇章。【名句点睛】常考「麻叶层层苘叶光，谁家煮茧一村香」写村中的蚕事；「捋青捣麨软饥肠」写民生的疾苦；以及全词以民生写田园、以细节写民生的手法。

Background

Su Shi was prefect of Xuzhou (Peng Cheng) in 1078, the first year of Yuanfeng, when a spring drought was followed by welcome rain. He rode out several times to thank the rain and urge the farmers on, and wrote a group of five 'Huan Xi Sha' about what he saw along the roads outside the city. This is one of them. Poems of this kind belong to the tradition of the prefect who writes about his own district, and they are valuable documents of northern Song rural life — the mingling of sericulture with grain, and the practice of pounding unripened wheat to stretch the food supply.

此词写田园，以民生写田园，是苏轼的名篇。苏轼（1037—1101），字子瞻，号东坡居士，眉州眉山（今属四川）人，北宋文学家，唐宋八大家之一。此词为苏轼《浣溪沙》组词之一，写其在徐州任上乡村所见。苏轼知徐州时，曾下乡劝农，见乡村蚕事繁忙、民生疾苦，作此组词。此词写村景：「麻叶层层苘叶光，谁家煮茧一村香」写麻叶层层苘叶光、谁家煮茧一村香——写尽村中的蚕事（麻叶层层苘叶光，谁家煮茧一村香）；「隔篱娇语络丝娘」写隔篱娇语络丝娘——写尽缫丝的女子（隔篱娇语络丝娘）；「垂白杖藜抬醉眼，捋青捣麨软饥肠」写垂白杖藜抬醉眼、捋青捣麨软饥肠——写尽民生的疾苦（垂白杖藜抬醉眼，捋青捣麨软饥肠）；「问言豆叶几时黄」写问言豆叶几时黄——写尽民生的关切（问言豆叶几时黄）。全词以民生写田园，写尽村中的蚕事与民生的关切，是理解苏轼田园词的重要篇章。此词为苏轼徐州《浣溪沙》五首组词之一。宋神宗元丰元年（1078）苏轼知徐州，时值春旱，后又得雨，苏轼多次下乡谢雨劝农，沿途见乡村景物，作此组词，描写徐州农村的蚕事、麦事与民情。此词写麻苘、煮茧、缫丝、捣麨、问豆，正是春末夏初乡村蚕麦两忙的真实图景，也见苏轼关心民瘼、与民同乐的情怀。

Art

The poem is almost pure white brushwork (bai miao). Its first line stacks adjectives — 'layer upon layer' and 'all glisten' — so that the field reads as a surface of light before any statement is made; the second line then finds the cause of that light in a smell, which is the cheapest and most effective trick in the poem. The lower stanza replaces sight with physical detail: the white head, the lifted eyes, the stripping and the pounding, and finally the spoken question, which is the only sound in the poem with a listener. The closing question does what no summary could: it declines to say whether the beans will come, and so leaves the hunger open-ended.

此词的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以白描写蚕事。「麻叶层层苘叶光，谁家煮茧一村香」以白描写蚕事——那「层层」「一村香」写尽麻叶与煮茧的香，以白描写尽村中的蚕事。其二，以声写人物。「隔篱娇语络丝娘」以声写人物——那「娇语」写尽女子的语声，以声写尽缫丝的女子。其三，以细节写疾苦。「捋青捣麨软饥肠」以细节写疾苦——那「捋青捣麨」写尽捣麨的细节，以细节写尽民生的疾苦。其四，以问写关切。「问言豆叶几时黄」以问写关切——那「问言」「几时黄」写尽对收成的询问，以问写尽民生的关切。此外，此词上片写村中的蚕事，下片写民生的关切，由景及情，正是田园词「即事写意」的写法。四重手法，使此词以民生写田园，写尽村中的蚕事与民生的关切，是苏轼的代表作。此词还善于以「问言豆叶几时黄」收束全篇——不写收成如何，而写问豆叶几时黄，以问句写盼收之情，正见稼轩「以问写情」之妙，也见苏轼对农事的关切之深。又善以声写人，那「隔篱娇语络丝娘」以娇语之声写缫丝女，只闻其声不见其人，正见白描的含蓄，使乡村画面更富生活气息。

Allusions

Hemp and abutilon are the fibres used for cloth, and the phrase recalls the line 'at dawn I weed, at night I twist hemp' from the Song of the South Field. 'Boiling cocoons' belongs to the whole silk tradition that also produced 'the silk-winders are not among those wearing robe and satin'. 'Reed-winding woman' — luosizhiniang — is literally a name for a caterpillar, borrowed to mean the woman at the wheel, a folk figure that shows how a court poem pick up its words from the fields. 'Stripping the green and pounding it' records a real famine measure in the northern Song: unripe wheat is picked and pounded into a coarse flour. And 'when will the bean leaves turn yellow' joins the long line of poems that ask about ripeness and so about survival.

此词的用语深植于田园与民生的传统。「麻叶」「苘叶」令人想到「麻叶苘叶」写农作物的意象——麻为纺织之料，苘为纤维之草，也令人想到「昼出耘田夜绩麻」（范成大）的意象；「煮茧」令人想到「煮茧」写缫丝的意象——蚕茧需煮而后缫丝，也令人想到「遍身罗绮者，不是养蚕人」（张俞）的意象；「络丝娘」令人想到「络丝娘」写缫丝女的意象——也令人想到「黄四娘家花满蹊」（杜甫）的意象；「捋青捣麨」令人想到「捋青捣麨」写青麦捣粉的意象——青麦未熟时捣为麨食，正见民食的艰难，也令人想到「足蒸暑土气，背灼炎天光」（白居易）的意象；「豆叶几时黄」令人想到「豆叶黄」写豆熟待收的意象——也令人想到「锄禾日当午」（李绅）的意象。全词化用麻叶、煮茧、络丝娘、捋青捣麨的意象，以民生写田园，正是苏轼「以诗为词」而关心民瘼、承田园传统写民生的本领。「络丝娘」本为一种纺织虫名，苏轼借以指缫丝的女子，以虫名喻人，正是民歌常用的手法。又「捋青捣麨」写青黄不接时捋取未熟的青麦捣粉充饥，是宋代乡村真实的救荒之法，正见苏轼写实的笔触。而「豆叶几时黄」暗含对秋收的期盼，与「稻花香里说丰年」（辛弃疾）同写农人的盼收之心，可见宋人对农事的共同关切。

Commentary

This has always been read as one of the finest of the Xuzhou group, and Qing readers called the whole set 'fresh and true to life'; modern anthologists quote 'he strips the green and pounds it to ease his hungry belly' as the line that carries the poem. Its value is double — as a picture of country labour in the Northern Song, and as evidence of the manner in which Su Shi, unlike many of his contemporaries, made poor peasants into the subjects of a poem rather than its decoration. It is often paired with the other Xuzhou poem about the same district, and with Chinese genre poetry on harvest hardship.

此词历来被推为苏轼田园词的名篇，也是宋词写乡村民生的代表。历代论者对此词评价极高：清人评此词「以民生写田园，真切自然」；近人更指出「捋青捣麨软饥肠」写民生的疾苦，是此词的名句。在词史上，此词的特殊价值在于：它以双调的浣溪沙写尽村中的蚕事与民生的关切——那麻叶，那苘叶，那煮茧，那一村香，那络丝娘，那垂白杖藜，那捋青捣麨，那软饥肠，那豆叶，都写尽了苏轼笔下的徐州乡村；那「问言豆叶几时黄」更以问写尽民生的关切。此词与苏轼《浣溪沙·簌簌衣巾落枣花》（「日高人渴漫思茶」）同为徐州田园组词，一写「牛衣古柳卖黄瓜」的村行（浣溪沙），一写「捋青捣麨软饥肠」的民生（浣溪沙）；又与范成大《四时田园杂兴》的田园传统一脉相承，可见宋词写乡村的传统。对于今日读者，此词是理解苏轼田园词的窗口，也是中国词写民生的经典——那捋青捣麨的饥肠，穿越千年，仍在诉说着乡村的民生。

Prosody

Form Ci to the tune 'Huan Xi Sha' (浣溪沙), a double stanza of forty-two characters词·浣溪沙

Rhyme One level-tone chain in the -ang group: guang (bright), xiang (fragrant), niang (woman), chang (bowels), huang (yellow) — held throughout押「光」「香」「娘」「肠」「黄」韵（下平七阳），一韵到底，音节轻快

Tone pattern Level, open, unhurried vowels; the rhymes are wide and legato, which is why the poem sounds brisk and report-like rather than lyric.此词为浣溪沙词牌，押平声韵，一韵到底，音节轻快，正合田园的轻快。

Reading note The tune has two stanzas of three lines each; here the first line of each stanza is seven characters and the rest are shorter, a shape that gives the poem its jogging, walking pace — appropriate for a poem about travelling on foot through the fields. The rhyme on -ang, a wide resonant sound, keeps the mood level while the content descends. Read 'whose household is boiling cocoons until the whole village smells sweet' briskly, and let 'ask him: when will the bean leaves turn yellow' arrive as a question without any emphasis: Su Shi's ordinary tone is the poem's main stylistic fact.此词为《浣溪沙》双调，上片三句、下片三句，共四十二字——「麻叶层层苘叶光，谁家煮茧一村香。隔篱娇语络丝娘。垂白杖藜抬醉眼，捋青捣麨软饥肠。问言豆叶几时黄」，押「阳」韵（光、香、娘、肠、黄），一韵到底，音节轻快。全词以民生写田园：上片写村中的蚕事（麻叶层层苘叶光、隔篱娇语络丝娘），下片写民生的关切（捋青捣麨软饥肠、问言豆叶几时黄）。双调短章，上写蚕事，下写民生，以「问言豆叶几时黄」写尽民生的关切，正见苏轼「以诗为词」的本色。诵读此词，宜以轻快的语调读「谁家煮茧一村香」的村景，以关切的语调读「问言豆叶几时黄」的民生，结句要读得轻快而有余韵，方能传达出苏轼的真切自然。苏轼词以「豪放旷达」著称，此词正是其田园词的典范。

Line by line

垂白杖藜抬醉眼，捋青捣麨软饥肠

His hair already white, he raises drunken eyes above his staff, and strips the green and pounds it into parched flour to ease his hungry belly.

垂白杖藜抬醉眼，捋青捣麨软饥肠。

White-haired, leaning on thorn staff, he lifts bleary eyes; plucking green wheat, pounding it for coarse meal to soften hungry guts.

此二句是全词写疾苦的核心，以垂白杖藜抬醉眼写老人，以捋青捣麨软饥肠写捣麨，写尽民生的疾苦，是千古名句。「垂白杖藜抬醉眼」写垂白杖藜抬醉眼——那「垂白杖藜」写垂白杖藜，「抬醉眼」写抬醉眼，写尽老人的醉态；「捋青捣麨软饥肠」写捋青捣麨软饥肠——那「捋青捣麨」写捋青捣麨，「软饥肠」写软饥肠，写尽捣麨的艰难。这句的深意在于：它以「垂白杖藜抬醉眼」的老人与「捋青捣麨软饥肠」的捣麨，写尽民生的疾苦——垂白杖藜抬醉眼，那「垂白杖藜抬醉眼」写尽老人的醉态——垂白老人，杖藜抬醉眼，正是老农醉后的写照，那「垂白」写尽农人的衰老；捋青捣麨软饥肠，那「捋青捣麨软饥肠」写尽捣麨的艰难——捋青捣麨，以饱饥肠，正是青黄不接的写照，那「软饥肠」写尽民食的艰难；那「垂白杖藜抬醉眼」写尽老人的醉态，那「捋青捣麨软饥肠」写尽捣麨的艰难，一写人，一写食，写尽民生的疾苦——老农醉眼而青麦充饥，正是乡村民生的写照；此二句以老人、捣麨写尽民生的疾苦，也让此二句成为全词写疾苦的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「农民很辛苦」，则失其细节；唯以「垂白杖藜抬醉眼」写老人、「捋青捣麨软饥肠」写捣麨，写尽民生的疾苦，也让此二句成为全词写疾苦的核心。

The old farmer. White-haired, leaning on thorn staff, he lifts bleary eyes; plucking green wheat, pounding it for coarse meal to soften hungry guts. The white-haired drunk-lidded farmer and the green-wheat chaff for empty stomachs are the hunger before the harvest. To have described a starving farmer would be a scene; the white-haired-thorn-staff-bleary-eyes against the plucked-green-wheat-pounded-for-hungry-guts is the scene.

麻叶层层苘叶光，谁家煮茧一村香

Hemp leaves in layer upon layer, and the abutilon leaves all glisten; whose household is boiling cocoons until the whole village smells sweet.

麻叶层层苘叶光，谁家煮茧一村香。

Hemp leaves in layers, abutilon leaves shining; who boils cocoons so that the whole village smells of fragrance?

此二句是全词写蚕事的核心，以麻叶层层苘叶光写麻叶，以谁家煮茧一村香写煮茧，写尽村中的蚕事，是千古名句。「麻叶层层苘叶光」写麻叶层层苘叶光——那「麻叶层层」写麻叶层层，「苘叶光」写苘叶光，写尽麻叶的光润；「谁家煮茧一村香」写谁家煮茧一村香——那「谁家煮茧」写谁家煮茧，「一村香」写一村香，写尽煮茧的香气。这句的深意在于：它以「麻叶层层苘叶光」的麻叶与「谁家煮茧一村香」的煮茧，写尽村中的蚕事——麻叶层层苘叶光，那「麻叶层层苘叶光」写尽麻叶的光润——层层麻叶，苘叶生光，正是田间的写照，那「层层」写尽麻叶的繁茂；谁家煮茧一村香，那「谁家煮茧一村香」写尽煮茧的香气——谁家煮茧，香飘一村，正是蚕事的写照，那「一村香」写尽煮茧的香气；那「麻叶层层苘叶光」写尽麻叶的光润，那「谁家煮茧一村香」写尽煮茧的香气，一写田，一写村，写尽村中的蚕事——田间麻苘而村中煮茧，正是乡村蚕忙的写照；此二句以麻叶、煮茧写尽村中的蚕事，也为下片的民生作铺垫，也让此二句成为全词写蚕事的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「村里在养蚕」，则失其画面；唯以「麻叶层层苘叶光」写麻叶、「谁家煮茧一村香」写煮茧，写尽村中的蚕事，也让此二句成为全词写蚕事的核心。

The boiling cocoons. Hemp leaves in layers, abutilon leaves shining; who boils cocoons so that the whole village smells of fragrance? The lush fields and the village-wide cocoon-boiling fragrance are the silkworm season. To have described the silk village would be a scene; the layered-hemp-and-shining-abutilon against the who-boils-cocoons-with-the-whole-village-fragrant is the scene.

Study

Word focus

香 In 谁家煮茧一村香 the word 香 is not a smell alone but a smell that has taken over a village. One syllable carries the whole scene of sericulture: somebody's family is boiling cocoons, the scent crosses the fields, and the labour is shared by everyone. It also sharpens the contrast that follows, since the village smells of silk while the old man eats green flour. 「谁家煮茧一村香」之「香」字是写蚕事的关键词，一个「香」字写尽煮茧的香气。香者，香气、芬芳也。苏轼以「谁家煮茧一村香」写蚕事，这个「香」字至少有双重意味：其一，写茧之香——那「谁家煮茧一村香」写谁家煮茧一村香，那「香」字写尽煮茧的香气——煮茧的香气飘满一村，正是蚕事的写照，那「香」字写尽村中的蚕事；其二，写民之劳——那「香」字更是写劳——一村香，正见一村蚕忙，那「香」字写尽民生的忙碌。以「香」字写蚕事，正是苏轼写田园的枢纽——若换作「浓」「远」等字，则或失其与「煮茧」「一村」的配合，或失其写香的意味；唯「香」字，以谁家煮茧一村香写尽煮茧的香气与一村的蚕忙，与「麻叶层层苘叶光」的麻叶相合，写尽村中的蚕事，也让「谁家煮茧一村香」成为全词写蚕事的名句。

软 In 捋青捣麨软饥肠, 软 means 'to make soft, to relieve' — the pounded meal is softened so it can be swallowed. The choice of 软 rather than 饱 (filled) is deliberate: the food does not satisfy hunger, it only makes it bearable, and the verb quietly admits that the hunger is still there. 「捋青捣麨软饥肠」之「软」字是写疾苦的关键词，一个「软」字写尽民食的艰难。软者，使软、聊以充饥也。苏轼以「捋青捣麨软饥肠」写疾苦，这个「软」字至少有双重意味：其一，写麨之食——那「捋青捣麨软饥肠」写捋青捣麨软饥肠，那「软」字写尽捣麨的充饥——捋青捣麨，聊软饥肠，正是青黄不接的写照，那「软」字写尽捣麨的艰难；其二，写食之艰——那「软」字更是写艰——软饥肠，正见充饥之勉强，那「软」字写尽民生的疾苦。以「软」字写疾苦，正是苏轼写民生的枢纽——若换作「饱」「充」等字，则或失其与「捋青捣麨」「饥肠」的配合，或失其写软的意味；唯「软」字，以捋青捣麨软饥肠写尽捣麨的充饥与充饥的勉强，与「垂白杖藜抬醉眼」的垂白相合，写尽民生的疾苦，也让「捋青捣麨软饥肠」成为全词写疾苦的名句。