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乡愁四韵

Homesickness, in Four Movements (I: The Yangtze)

余光中

Yu Guangzhong

名篇Masterpiece 乡愁Homesickness 咏叹调Aria 余光中Yu Guangzhong

给我一瓢长江水啊长江水，酒一样的长江水，醉酒的滋味，是乡愁的滋味，给我一瓢长江水啊长江水。

Give me a gourdful of Yangtze water, O water of the Yangtze,
Yangtze water like wine,
The taste of drunkenness
Is the taste of homesickness—
Give me a gourdful of Yangtze water, O water of the Yangtze.

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Meaning

The first movement of Yu Guangzhong's cycle 'Homesickness, in Four Movements.' The poet begs for 'a gourdful of Yangtze water,' the water of the mother river, which he compares to wine: 'the taste of drunkenness is the taste of homesickness.' The Yangtze is the river of home and of the mother; to drink its water is to drink the wine of nostalgia, which intoxicates not the body but the heart. The refrain, repeated at beginning and end, makes the poem a single cry of longing that never stops.

给我一瓢长江水吧，啊，长江水，那像酒一样醇厚浓烈的长江水；醉酒的那种醺然迷离的滋味，正是乡愁的滋味啊；给我一瓢长江水吧，啊，长江水！

Appreciation

The poem shows the fusion of classical mood and modern technique that marks Yu Guangzhong's homesickness verse. The direct cry 'give me' opens like a child begging its mother, earnest and half-tender. The refrain 'O water of the Yangtze' is a sigh repeated, layering the emotion higher and higher. 'Yangtze water like wine' is a stroke of synesthesia: how is river water like wine? Because homesickness is like wine, the older the stronger; to drink the Yangtze is to drink the wine of home, and what is drunk is not the body but the heart. 'The taste of drunkenness is the taste of homesickness' names the theme in terms of taste, turning homesickness from a feeling into a flavor. The closing line echoes the opening exactly, closing the aria's circle—a cry that sounds from beginning to end and never ceases.

【白话串讲】余光中写《乡愁四韵》：“给我一瓢长江水啊长江水，酒一样的长江水，醉酒的滋味，是乡愁的滋味”——“给我一掌海棠红”、“给我一片雪花白”、“给我一朵腊梅香”——他用长江水、海棠红、雪花白、腊梅香写乡愁。【意象与手法】咏叹调式结构（首尾回环）、通感设喻（以滋味写乡愁）、复沓咏叹（长江水啊长江水）；「给我一瓢」以小见大，一瓢水盛下全部乡愁。【情感与主旨】以长江水为乡愁的载体，写隔海相望的游子对故土与文化母体的深情眷恋，乡愁如酒，愈久愈醇。【名句点睛】常考「醉酒的滋味，是乡愁的滋味」的通感手法与「长江水」意象的文化意蕴。

Background

'Homesickness, in Four Movements' is one of Yu Guangzhong's representative works on homesickness, collected in his volume The White Jade Bitter Gourd (1974). Yu Guangzhong (1928–2017), a native of Yongchun, Fujian, was born in Nanjing and moved with his family to Taiwan in 1949, teaching at universities in Taiwan and Hong Kong. He is one of the leading figures of Taiwan's modern poetry, famous for the theme of homesickness; his poem 'Homesickness' ('when I was a child, homesickness was a small stamp') is known to every household. The four movements use four images—the water of the Yangtze, the red of the crabapple, the white of snow, the fragrance of winter plum—to turn abstract homesickness into something touchable, smellable, drinkable. Born and raised on the mainland, he left for Taiwan in 1949; with the two sides of the strait separated for decades, homesickness became the master motif of his poetry.

乡愁四韵是余光中乡愁题材的代表作之一，收入其诗集《白玉苦瓜》（1974）前后。余光中（1928—2017），福建永春人，生于南京，1949年随家迁台，先后任教于台湾、香港多所大学，是台湾现代诗的重要代表，以乡愁主题闻名于世，其《乡愁》一诗（小时候，乡愁是一枚小小的邮票）家喻户晓。乡愁四韵以长江水、海棠红、雪花白、腊梅香四种物象（本组所录为长江水一节），把抽象的乡愁化为可触、可嗅、可饮的具体意象，反复咏叹，一唱三叹。余光中生于大陆、长于大陆，1949年离乡赴台，此后两岸隔绝数十年，乡愁成为其诗最重要的母题；他自述乡愁不是怀旧，而是对祖国的怀念，其乡愁诗融合了古典的意境与现代的手法，把个人的离乡之痛升华为民族的文化之思。本组所录节选以给我一瓢长江水起兴，以酒一样的长江水设喻，以醉酒的滋味，是乡愁的滋味点题，把长江水、酒、乡愁三者叠合，写尽乡愁的浓烈与沉醉。

Art

The art lies in the aria-like structure, synesthetic metaphor, and circling refrain. The opening cry 'give me a gourdful of Yangtze water' begs the river, the homeland, the mother, for a gourdful of water, earnest and half-childish. The refrain 'O water of the Yangtze' sighs and echoes, layering the emotion. 'Yangtze water like wine' is the synesthetic stroke: the water is like wine because homesickness is like wine, the older the stronger. 'The taste of drunkenness is the taste of homesickness' names the theme in terms of taste, turning the invisible feeling into a flavor one can taste. The closing line echoes the opening exactly, closing the aria's circle. The whole is a single cry that sounds from beginning to end, and the poem's power is in the repetition that never lets the longing rest.

乡愁四韵体现了余光中乡愁诗古典意境与现代手法交融的艺术特色，其艺术要点在咏叹调式结构、通感设喻、复沓回环。节选以给我一瓢长江水啊长江水起句，直呼给我，如向长江（也向故乡、向母亲）索要一瓢水，语气恳切而带着撒娇般的痴情；啊长江水的复沓，一唱三叹，把情感的浓度层层加码；酒一样的长江水以酒喻水，是通感的妙用——长江水如何像酒？因为乡愁如酒，愈久愈醇，饮长江水如饮家乡的酒，醉的不是身体，是心；醉酒的滋味，是乡愁的滋味是全节的点题：以滋味写乡愁，把乡愁从看不见的情思化为可品尝的味觉，醉酒的醺然、迷离、欲罢不能，恰是乡愁的全部状态；末句给我一瓢长江水啊长江水回环复沓，与首句完全呼应，形成咏叹调的闭环——仿佛一声呼喊，从开头响到结尾，从未停歇。全节以给我领起、长江水贯穿、滋味点题，结构严整而情感奔涌，把最深的乡愁写成了最烈的酒。

Allusions

The poem is deeply rooted in the classical tradition, old images written anew. The Yangtze is the mother river of the Chinese people, the weightiest image in homesickness verse—Li Bai's 'the solitary sail's distant shadow fades into the blue void, only the Yangtze flowing to the sky's edge,' Su Shi's 'the great river eastward,' and here Yu Guangzhong's 'give me a gourdful of Yangtze water,' turning the river into something drinkable, the water of home, the milk of the mother, its roots in the Book of Songs' 'who says the river is wide? a single reed can cross it.' Wine is the companion of sorrow in Chinese literature—Cao Cao's 'what can dispel my sorrow? only Du Kang,' Li Bai's 'raising the cup to dissolve sorrow, sorrow the more,' Li Qingzhao's 'three cups and two bowls of weak wine.' Yu Guangzhong's comparison of the Yangtze to wine is the modern transformation of the tradition of drowning sorrow in wine.

乡愁四韵深植于古典诗词的文化传统，是旧意象、新写法的典范。其一是长江水的母题：长江是中华民族的母亲河，是乡愁诗中最具分量的意象——李白「孤帆远影碧空尽，唯见长江天际流」写送别，苏轼大江东去写豪情，而余光中给我一瓢长江水则把长江化为可饮的乡愁，长江水即故乡水、即母亲乳，其意象的根脉可上溯至《诗经》「谁谓河广？一苇杭之」的思乡传统。其二是酒的意象：酒在中国文学中是愁的伴侣——曹操「何以解忧？唯有杜康」，李白「举杯消愁愁更愁」，李清照三杯两盏淡酒；余光中以酒喻长江水，正是借酒浇愁传统的现代转化，而醉酒的滋味是乡愁的滋味更把酒与愁完全叠合，乡愁成了一种醉的状态。其三是一瓢的量词：瓢是古代饮水之器，《论语》一箪食，一瓢饮写安贫乐道，庄子亦以瓢写无用之用；余光中给我一瓢长江水以一瓢写所求之微——我不要整条长江，只要一瓢水，而这一瓢水已足以盛下全部乡愁，以小见大，痴情毕现。其四是复沓咏叹的民歌传统：《诗经》重章叠句（蒹葭苍苍，白露为霜），汉乐府一唱三叹，余光中长江水啊长江水的复沓正是这一传统在现代诗中的复活，使乡愁如歌，循环不已。

Commentary

'Homesickness, in Four Movements' is the peak of Yu Guangzhong's homesickness verse and one of the most moving homesickness poems of twentieth-century Chinese poetry. In literary history, Yu advanced homesickness from the classical mood of the wandering traveler to the national feeling of a divided culture, infusing the Yangtze, the Yellow River, the crabapple, and the winter plum with deep affection, raising the pain of personal exile to the cultural memory of a nation. In art, the four movements sing of the Yangtze's water, the crabapple's red, the snow's white, and the plum's fragrance, making homesickness drinkable, touchable, smellable—a model of turning the abstract into the concrete, and one of the most beloved homesickness poems of the modern age.

乡愁四韵是余光中乡愁诗的巅峰之作，也是二十世纪中国诗歌中最动人的乡愁书写之一。就文学史而言，余光中把乡愁从古典的羁旅之思（游子离家的淡淡哀愁）推进为家国之思（两岸隔绝的文化乡愁），其乡愁诗中融入了对长江、黄河、海棠、腊梅等文化符号的深情，使个人的离乡之痛升华为民族的文化记忆，这是其乡愁诗超越前人的根本所在。就艺术而言，乡愁四韵以四章分别咏长江水、海棠红、雪花白、腊梅香，以给、长、醉等动词与复沓的句式，把乡愁写得可饮、可触、可嗅，是化抽象为具体的典范，被收入多种诗集选本与中学教材。就影响而言，给我一瓢长江水已成为台湾及海外华人表达故国之思的经典句式，其浓烈的乡愁与优美的韵律，跨越海峡、跨越时代，安慰了无数离乡的人。余光中一生以蓝墨水的上游是汨罗江自期，乡愁四韵正是这文化中国情怀最醇的一瓢——乡愁不是愁，而是对文化母体的深情回望。

Prosody

Form Modern free verse (aria-like refrain, folk-song manner)现代诗（咏叹调式复沓体，民歌风）

Rhyme The excerpt rhymes shui, shui, shui, wei, wei, shui, the water and the flavor in near rhyme, round and low; the refrain 'O water of the Yangtze' forms a one-sigh-three-echo melody节选以水、水、水、味、味、水为韵脚，反复押水（uǐ）与味（wèi），近韵相押，音调圆润低回；啊长江水的复沓形成一唱三叹的旋律。

Tone pattern The whole opens on the direct cry 'give me,' its tone earnest and urgent; 'O water of the Yangtze' draws out the interjection, full of sighing; 'Yangtze water like wine' sets the metaphor in a slow fall; 'the taste of drunkenness is the taste of homesickness' names the theme in gravity; the closing line echoes the opening全节以给我的直呼领起，语调恳切急切；啊长江水以感叹词拖长，咏叹味十足；酒一样的长江水设喻舒缓；醉酒的滋味，是乡愁的滋味点题凝重；末句回环复沓，余音袅袅。

Reading note The rhythm is carried by repetition and refrain: the water of the Yangtze is begged at the opening and the close, the taste of wine and the taste of homesickness interlocked, the whole a single aria of longing.乡愁四韵的节奏设计，取法于民歌的重章叠句与咏叹调的复沓回环，把乡愁写成了可以歌唱的旋律。节选以给我一瓢长江水啊长江水起句，啊字的运用极见匠心：它把一句索求变成一声咏叹，音节拖长，如游子隔江的呼唤，声音在长江水上盘旋不去；酒一样的长江水以的字连接设喻，节奏由呼告转入叙述，舒缓如江流；醉酒的滋味，是乡愁的滋味两句，以滋味叠韵收束，音调低回凝重，是情感的高潮——味字（wèi）与水字（uǐ）通押，圆润的韵脚如酒之醇、如愁之绵；末句给我一瓢长江水啊长江水与首句完全重复，形成咏叹调的闭环，情感不是直线推进，而是回环往复、循环不已——正如乡愁本身：喝了还要喝，唤了还要唤，永远无法止息。这种复沓成律、咏叹抒情的节奏，使乡愁四韵具有了民歌的亲切与歌剧的深情，是余光中把乡愁唱成歌的艺术实践，也是现代诗向古典乐府传统最成功的回归之一。

Line by line

给我一瓢长江水啊长江水，酒一样的长江水，

Give me a gourdful of Yangtze water, O water of the Yangtze, Yangtze water like wine, (The opening cries directly to the river, the homeland, the mother, for a gourdful of water; the refrain and the synesthetic comparison of water to wine set the whole aria in motion.)

给我一瓢长江水吧，啊，长江水，那像酒一样醇厚浓烈的长江水，

Give me a gourdful of Yangtze water, O Yangtze water, wine-like Yangtze water,

这是全节的开篇，两句便定下咏叹的基调与设喻的方向。给我一瓢长江水以给我直呼领起，语气恳切而急切，如游子向母亲索要乳汁，又如旅人向故乡讨一口水——所求不过一瓢，谦卑而痴情；啊长江水的呼告与复沓，把情感从要水升华为唤江，一声啊，多少眷恋与慨叹尽在其中；酒一样的长江水以酒喻水，是全节设喻的枢纽——长江水本是水，如何像酒？因为水与酒皆可饮，而乡愁如酒，愈久愈醇、愈饮愈醉，把长江水说成酒，就是把乡愁说成可以品尝的醉意。两句之间，给我的直呼、啊的咏叹、酒一样的设喻层层推进，情感如开闸之水奔涌而出；而长江水一词的两次出现（一在句首、一在句尾），复沓回环，为全节的咏叹调定下了旋律。

The water. Give me a gourdful of Yangtze water, O Yangtze water, wine-like Yangtze water. The give-me-Yangtze-water and the wine-like water are the opening. To have given the water would be a giving; the give-me-a-gourdful-of-yangtze-water-o-yangtze-water-wine-like-yangtze-water is the giving.

醉酒的滋味，是乡愁的滋味，

The taste of drunkenness is the taste of homesickness, (The naming of the theme: homesickness written as a flavor one can taste, the intoxication of wine being the whole condition of nostalgia—drunken, dazed, unable to stop.)

醉酒的那种醺然迷离的滋味，正是乡愁的滋味啊，

The taste of drunkenness is the taste of homesickness,

这是全节的点题之句，把乡愁与酒彻底叠合，是余光中乡愁诗最凝练的表达。醉酒的滋味以滋味写醉——醉不是抽象的状态，而是可尝的滋味：醺然、迷离、微醺的暖与宿醉的痛交织；是乡愁的滋味以是字作判断，把两种滋味画上等号——乡愁如酒，其滋味就是醉酒的滋味：饮长江水如饮酒，饮下的是乡愁，醉倒的是游子；乡愁的滋味，是甜的（故乡的记忆）与苦的（离别的痛楚）交织的醺然。这一句的妙处在于以味写愁的通感：乡愁本是无形的情绪，余光中把它写成滋味，可尝、可品、可回味——正如酒愈陈愈香，乡愁愈久愈烈；而醉酒的状态（迷离、恍惚、不能自已）正是乡愁的状态：清醒时压着，一饮便醉，醉中满是故乡的影子。两句诗，把乡愁的浓度、烈度、深度全部写尽，是乡愁母题在二十世纪诗歌中最醇的一杯。

The taste. The taste of drunkenness is the taste of homesickness. The drunkenness-taste as homesickness-taste is the point. To have been the taste would be a being; the the-taste-of-drunkenness-is-the-taste-of-homesickness is the being.

给我一瓢长江水啊长江水。

Give me a gourdful of Yangtze water, O water of the Yangtze. (The closing echoes the opening exactly, closing the aria's circle—a cry that sounds from beginning to end and never ceases.)

给我一瓢长江水吧，啊，长江水！

Give me a gourdful of Yangtze water, O Yangtze water.

这是全节的收束，与首句完全呼应，回环成咏叹调的闭环。给我一瓢长江水再次响起——与开头一字不差，而经过了酒一样的长江水、醉酒的滋味，是乡愁的滋味的酿造，这一句的分量已截然不同：开头的给我是起兴，如一声试探的呼唤；此处的给我是回响，是醉后的再次索求——尝过了乡愁的滋味，更要那一瓢水，因为水里有故乡，水里是解渴的，也是更醉的。啊长江水的复沓在句尾再次响起，余音袅袅：一声啊，从开头响到结尾，从未停歇，仿佛游子的呼唤永远悬在江上。这种首尾回环的结构，是全节咏叹调的核心：情感不是直线推进然后结束，而是如江水般循环往复、绵绵不绝——乡愁不是一时的情绪，而是一生的状态，正如这一瓢长江水，喝了还要喝，唤了还要唤。以复沓写痴情，以回环写无尽，正是民歌传统的现代升华，也是余光中乡愁诗一唱三叹的绝响。

The refrain. Give me a gourdful of Yangtze water, O Yangtze water. The repeated give-me-Yangtze-water is the close. To have given the water would be a giving; the give-me-a-gourdful-of-yangtze-water-o-yangtze-water is the giving.

Study

Word focus

瓢 Gourdful. A gourd dipper, the humble vessel of daily life; 'give me a gourdful of Yangtze water' begs the great river with a common gourd, the tenderness and nearness of the child to its mother in one small word. 给我一瓢长江水之瓢字，是全诗最见巧思的量词，也是乡愁以小见大的关键。瓢本是剖葫芦制成的舀水之器，是农耕时代最日常的饮水用具；余光中不用杯、碗、瓶而用瓢，妙处有三：其一，古雅与乡土的并置——瓢是古老、朴素、田园的意象，与长江的浩荡形成一瓢饮江的巨大反差，一瓢与万里长江，比例悬殊而情感弥深；其二，一瓢写所求之微——我不要整条长江，只要一瓢水，正因所求甚微而不得（两岸隔绝），乡愁才愈发深重；其三，文化典故的暗含——《论语》一箪食，一瓢饮写颜回安贫乐道，瓢在中国文化中自有简朴自足的意味，余光中一瓢长江水既写游子所求之简，又暗含饮一瓢而知江味的以少总多。一个瓢字，把乡愁写得既谦卑又浩大，既古典又现代，是余光中炼字的典范。

滋味 Taste. The key word of the poem's synesthesia: homesickness written as a flavor one can taste, 'the taste of drunkenness is the taste of homesickness'—the invisible feeling turned into something the tongue can know. 醉酒的滋味，是乡愁的滋味之滋味二字，是全诗点题的支点，把乡愁从情化为味，是通感艺术的极致。滋味本指食物的味道，余光中以此写醉、写愁，妙在三点：其一，以味觉写情绪——乡愁看不见、摸不着，而滋味可尝可品，把无形的乡愁化为味觉的体验，读者仿佛真的尝到了乡愁的甜苦交杂；其二，滋味的复合义——滋兼有滋生、滋养之意，味是味道，二字连用，暗含乡愁的滋生不已——乡愁如滋味，越品越浓，越久越深，在心底滋生蔓延，无法止息；其三，两滋味的叠用——醉酒的滋味，是乡愁的滋味中，滋味一词两次出现，把醉与愁完全画等：醉酒的醺然、迷离、不能自已，正是乡愁的状态；醉酒的痛与快，正是乡愁的苦与甜。以滋味写乡愁，使抽象的乡愁获得了味觉的质感，这正是余光中化抽象为具体诗艺最成功的一笔，也是全诗得以咏叹的情感支点。

醉 Drunk. The intoxication of wine becomes the condition of homesickness—drunken, dazed, unable to stop; to drink the Yangtze is to drink the wine of home, and what is drunk is not the body but the heart. 醉酒的滋味之醉字，是全诗情感浓度的计量单位，把乡愁写成了酒的度数。醉本指饮酒过量而神志迷离，余光中以醉酒喻乡愁，妙在三点：其一，醉的状态——迷离、恍惚、身不由己，正是乡愁的状态：清醒时乡愁是压着的暗流，一触（如饮长江水）便全面溃堤，醉倒其中，满眼都是故乡；其二，醉的不可解——醉不能自控，醒后犹有余味，正如乡愁无法排遣，酒醒之后愁更愁；其三，醉的甘苦并陈——醉是痛快的（饮故乡水之甘）也是痛苦的（离乡之痛），一如乡愁的滋味。更深一层，醉字还暗含沉醉的双关：既醉于酒，更醉于乡——游子情愿醉在长江水里，醉在乡愁中，因为那醉里有故乡的影子，有母亲的呼唤。余光中不用愁、苦、悲等直白的字眼，独取醉字，把乡愁的浓度、迷离与甘苦写得淋漓尽致——乡愁不是浅愁，而是能让人醉倒的深愁。