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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

丑奴儿·书博山道中壁

Ugly Slave (Chounu Er) — Inscribed on a Wall along the Boshan Road

辛弃疾

Xin Qiji

愁思melancholy 哲理philosophy 名篇masterpiece

少年不识愁滋味，爱上层楼。
爱上层楼。
为赋新词强说愁。
而今识尽愁滋味，欲说还休。
欲说还休。
却道天凉好个秋。

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Meaning

The lyric contrasts two stages of life: in youth the poet 'knew not the taste of sorrow' and forced a melancholy to grace his verses; now, having tasted it fully, he falls silent. The famous closing — 'and only says, what a fine cool autumn' — masks bottomless grief behind the plainest small talk. It is a universal portrait of how real suffering, past bearing, turns into wordless silence.

年轻时不懂得忧愁的真正滋味，喜欢登上高楼。喜欢登上高楼，为了赋写新词，勉强说自己有愁。如今尝尽了忧愁的真正滋味，想说却又不说了。想说却又不说了，只淡淡地说一句：好一个凉爽的秋天啊。

Appreciation

Built on a youth-now contrast with looping repetition, the piece achieves great depth in a tiny form. The repeated 'loved to climb the tower' and 'would speak yet hold back' create a sighing, circling rhythm, while 'forced a sorrow' against 'would speak yet hold back' forms a perfect ironic reversal. Its genius is 'writing the heavy in the light': not a word of anguish, yet anguish overflows.

【白话串讲】辛弃疾写丑奴儿：“少年不识愁滋味，爱上层楼。为赋新词强说愁”。“而今识尽愁滋味，欲说还休。却道天凉好个秋”——少年强说愁，中年愁到说不出。【意象与手法】此词为辛弃疾闲居带湖时期题于博山道中墙壁之作，是「愁」主题的千古名篇。全词以「少年」与「而今」两段人生对照成篇：上片写少年不识愁而强说愁，下片写而今识尽愁而欲说还休，一扬一抑、一浅一深，在重复回环的句式里写出对「愁」认识的深化。词中「爱上层楼」「欲说还休」两句各重复一次，形成回环跌宕的节奏；「强说愁」与「欲说还休」恰成对照，前者以有为无，后者以无为有，写尽人生的讽刺与沉痛。末句「却道天凉好个秋」以淡语写浓愁，言在此而意在彼，是「以轻写重」的典范。【情感与主旨】此词写辛弃疾对「愁」的深刻体验：少年之愁是「为赋新词强说愁」的无病呻吟，中年之愁是「识尽愁滋味」后的欲说还休。所谓「识尽愁滋味」，正是他南归以来抗金抱负屡遭挫折、遭谗被黜、壮志难酬的人生况味；真正的愁到极处，反而无话可说，只能以「天凉好个秋」的闲话遮掩。词中不见一字家国之痛，而家国之痛尽在言外，以淡写浓、以轻写重，是辛词「沉郁」风格的典型体现，也道出了所有历经沧桑者对苦难的普遍体验。【名句点睛】「却道天凉好个秋」为千古名句：以最平淡的闲话写最深沉的无言之愁，言外之意无穷，历来被视为「以淡语写浓愁」的极致，也是中国文学中「欲说还休」式抒情的经典。

Background

Xin Qiji (1140–1207), style name You'an, pen name Jiaxuan, was the greatest bold-and-unrestrained (hao fang) lyricist of the Southern Song. Born in Jin-occupied Shandong, at twenty-two he rallied men against the Jin, seized the traitor Zhang Anguo from their camp with fifty riders, and returned south full of hope to recover the central plains. But his hawkish stance clashed with the peace faction; from 1181 he was impeached and dismissed, living in seclusion at Daihu in Jiangxi for over ten years. This lyric was written during that retirement. Boshan, in Guangfeng county, Jiangxi, named for its censer-like shape, was a favorite haunt; passing it on the road, moved by the times and his own fate, he inscribed this on a wall. Near fifty, more than twenty years after going south, with recovery hopeless and talent unspent, his pent fury found voice in the word 'sorrow.' The youth-now contrast hides a life's upheaval: the boy who 'knew no sorrow' was a vigorous hero; the man who 'knows it fully' is a frustrated patriot. Not one character names the country, yet the country's pain and his own are all within — a representative work of his later 'deep and halted' manner and among the most moving Songs on sorrow.

辛弃疾（一一四零—一二零七），字幼安，号稼轩，南宋最伟大的豪放派词人。他生于金人统治下的山东济南，二十二岁聚众抗金，率五十骑突入金营擒叛徒张安国，南归宋朝，满怀恢复中原之志。然而南归后，他力主北伐的抗金主张与朝廷主和派相左，屡遭排挤，淳熙八年（一一八一）起被劾落职，闲居江西上饶带湖长达十余年。此词即作于闲居带湖期间。博山在江西广丰县西南，因山形似博山炉而得名，辛弃疾常往游历，路经博山道中，感于时局与自身遭遇，题此词于墙壁之上。此时诗人年近半百，南归已逾二十年，恢复无望、壮志难酬，满腹忧愤无处倾诉，遂借「愁」字写出对人生的深刻体味。全词以「少年」与「而今」对照，暗含其半生经历的巨变：少年时「不识愁」，是意气风发的豪杰；而今「识尽愁」，是报国无门的失意者。词中没有一字直写家国，而家国之痛、身世之悲尽在其中，是辛弃疾后期「沉郁顿挫」词风的代表作，也是宋词中写「愁」最深刻动人的篇章之一。

Art

The art lies in 'past-now contrast, circling and undulating' — a model of Xin writing grand feeling in a small tune. Structurally the two halves oppose: youth 'knew not sorrow' yet 'forced' it; now 'knows it fully' yet 'would speak and hold back' — one shallow, one deep, the repetition of 'loved to climb' and 'would speak yet hold back' making a round, sighing rhythm. 'Forced a sorrow' against 'would speak yet hold back' is a perfect mirror: the former makes much of nothing, the latter makes nothing of much. In language it is plain as talk yet piercing in stillness; the closing 'and only says, what a fine cool autumn' ends in flat speech, sorrow deeper for its absence — the classic 'heavy in the light.' The two halves share identical line counts and lengths, exploiting the tune's symmetric build so the contrast lands with structural force. The whole conceit 'drives the heavy with the light': not a word of affairs, yet 'the taste of sorrow' compresses a life barred from serving the state — the hero who 'swallowed ten thousand miles like a tiger' silenced into 'would speak yet hold back,' the idle talk of 'fine cool autumn' the loneliness of 'all drunk but I alone awake.'

此词在艺术上以「今昔对照、回环跌宕」见长，是辛词以小令写大感慨的典范。结构上，全词分上下两片，上片写少年「不识愁」而「强说愁」，下片写而今「识尽愁」而「欲说还休」，今昔两个时段、两种心境形成鲜明的对照：少年之愁是虚的、浮的，为赋新词而强作；而今之愁是实的、深的，深到无话可说。手法上，「爱上层楼」「欲说还休」各重复一次，形成回环咏叹的节奏，如泉涌复止，写出情感的纠缠与吞吐；「强说愁」与「欲说还休」恰成反照，前者以有为无、后者以无为有，把人生的讽刺写尽。语言上，全词明白如话，无一生僻字，而于平淡中见沉痛；末句「却道天凉好个秋」更以淡语作结，不言愁而愁愈深，是「以轻写重」「以淡写浓」的经典笔法。全词上下片句数、字数完全相同，正是《丑奴儿》词牌「上下片同构」的特点，辛弃疾利用这一体制，使今昔对照在结构上更为工整有力。此外，此词之妙还在「以轻驭重」的整体构思：全词不着一字写时事，而「愁滋味」三字正是其半生报国无门之痛的浓缩——少年时「气吞万里如虎」的豪情，与而今「欲说还休」的沉默，恰是同一英雄的两个阶段；「天凉好个秋」的闲话，实是「众人皆醉我独醒」的悲凉。辛弃疾以白描写至情，以小令写大痛，于平淡处见波澜，正是其词「于豪放之外别具沉郁」的明证。

Allusions

The poem uses almost no set allusions, yet hides depth in the unalluded. 'Youth knew not the taste of sorrow' echoes the common experience that the young, unsoiled by the world, feign grief — the Book of Songs has 'not yet seen the gentleman, anxious the heart,' while the boy's sorrow is mostly affectation. 'Loved to climb the tower' draws on the old link between tower-climbing and melancholy — Wang Can's 'Rhapsody on Climbing the Tower' — here reversed in spirit. 'Forced a new word's sorrow' frankly mocks the literati habit of 'making feeling for the writing,' even confessing the young Xin was not guiltless of it. 'Would speak yet hold back' borrows from Li Qingzhao's 'Phoenix Terrace: Remembering the Flute' ('fearing parting's bitter pain, so many things — would speak yet hold back'), repurposed for the inexpressible depth of true sorrow; 'and only says, what a fine cool autumn' uses weather-talk to veil a thousand words, in the spirit of 'words cannot exhaust meaning' from the Shishuo Xinyu. Not one allusion-word appears, yet 'climb,' 'speak sorrow,' 'hold back' all carry traditional resonance — the highest art of 'alluding invisibly.'

此词几乎不用故实，而于无典处暗藏深意，最见辛弃疾「以白描见功力」的本色。其一，「少年不识愁滋味」：暗含古来「少年不识愁」的普遍经验，《诗经》有「未见君子，忧心忡忡」，而少年涉世未深，其所谓愁多是矫饰；辛弃疾此句写尽少年之愁的浮浅。其二，「爱上层楼」：古人登楼多与愁思相连，王粲《登楼赋》登楼而怀乡，「层楼」即高楼；少年「爱上层楼」，正是登高望远、触景生情而强说新愁的寻常情态，暗用登楼怀愁的传统而反其意。其三，「为赋新词强说愁」：此句直言少年作词时的矫情，道破文人「为文造情」的普遍现象，亦暗讽自己早年词作中未尝无此痕迹，自嘲之中见清醒。其四，「欲说还休」：语本李清照《凤凰台上忆吹箫》「生怕离怀别苦，多少事、欲说还休」，辛弃疾化用此语，写尽深愁难言、欲言又止的复杂心理；「却道天凉好个秋」更以天气闲话遮掩万语千言，如《世说新语》中「言不尽意」之旨。全词不用一个典故字面，而「登楼」「说愁」「休」等字皆含传统情韵，是「用典于无形」的极高境界。

Commentary

This is among the most famed Songs on sorrow, praised for 'writing deep grief in flat words.' Qing critic Chen Tingzhuo, in 'Baiyu Zhai Ci Hua,' calls Xin 'deep and halted,' and this lyric is the proof: not a tear on the page, yet all fury rests in 'what a fine cool autumn,' the plainer the more crushing. Against Li Yu's 'can you tell how much sorrow? like a spring river flowing east,' Xin swallows and holds; against Li Qingzhao's 'this and that — how can one word sorrow exhaust it,' Xin won't even utter 'sorrow,' deeper still. Its value is showing sorrow's two realms in minimal ink: youth's is groundless sighing, middle age's is pain beyond speech — real suffering, at its extreme, leaves one speechless, fobbing it off with small talk. This 'would speak yet hold back' transcends personal fate to voice a universal human response to great affliction, which is why it still moves readers across centuries. Later critics pair it with Xin's 'lamp-lit, I pick up the sword and look' — one released, one withheld — the two faces of Jiaxuan; the 'hold back' here is the wisdom of weathering storms: not speechless but knowing speech is useless, keeping silence as self-defense and small talk as self-mockery. That 'great grief without words' cuts deeper than weeping and outlasts fervor, the root of its eight-hundred-year vintage.

此词是宋词中写「愁」最负盛名的篇章之一，历代评家叹赏其「以淡语写浓愁」的功力。清代陈廷焯《白雨斋词话》谓辛词「沉郁顿挫」，此词正是注脚：通篇无一字痛哭流涕，而满腔悲愤尽在「却道天凉好个秋」的闲话中，愈平淡愈沉痛。与李煜「问君能有几多愁，恰似一江春水向东流」的直泻相比，辛词写愁是吞吞吐吐、欲说还休，一放一收，各极其致；与李清照「这次第，怎一个愁字了得」的感叹相比，辛词连「愁」字都不肯说出，更见其深。此词的价值，在于以极简的笔墨写出了「愁」的两重境界：少年之愁是无病呻吟，中年之愁是言不及痛——真正的苦难深到极处，反而失语，只能以闲话搪塞。这种「欲说还休」的体验超越了个人的身世之悲，道出了人类面对巨大苦难时的普遍心理，故能跨越时空，引起历代读者的共鸣，是宋词中以小见大、以轻写重的典范之作。后世论者每将此词与辛弃疾「醉里挑灯看剑」的激昂对举，以为一放一收、一明一隐，恰是稼轩词的两副笔墨；而此词之「休」字，正是他历尽风波后的智慧——不是无话可说，而是深知说亦无用，遂以沉默自守，以闲话自嘲。这种「大悲无言」的境界，比痛哭流涕更深一层，也比慷慨激昂更耐咀嚼，正是此词历八百年而愈见其醇的根由。

Prosody

Form Lyric (Chounu Er, i.e. Caisang Zi), double-toned 44 characters, four lines per half, three level rhymes.词（《丑奴儿》即《采桑子》，双调四十四字，上下片各四句三平韵）

Rhyme Rhymes in the level-tone You category: lou, chou, xiu, qiu, two rhyme-points per half, sustained; the low, long rhymes suit the far-reaching melancholy.押平声「尤」韵：楼（lóu）、愁（chóu）、休（xiū）、秋（qiū），上下片各两处韵脚，一韵到底，韵脚低沉悠长，声情与愁思绵邈之境相称。

Tone pattern Both halves identical in form, 'seven, four, four, five' characters per half, neat yet circling; the repeated four-character lines 'loved to climb' and 'would speak yet hold back' make a chanting, returning rhythm; the closing seven-character 'and only says, what a fine cool autumn' closes level and drawn-out.上下片句式完全相同，每片「七、四、四、五」字句，节奏整齐而回环。「爱上层楼」「欲说还休」两句重复，形成咏叹往复的节律，如愁思之缠绵不休；末句「却道天凉好个秋」以七言收束，声调平缓，余音袅袅。

Reading note Chounu Er is another name for Caisang Zi, a double-toned short tune of 44 characters, four lines per half with three level rhymes, the form 'seven, four, four, five' in each half — among the most regular Song tunes. Xin exploits this repetition: the identical halves echo the 'youth' and 'now' contrast, form and content perfectly united. The craft shows in repeating the four-character lines 'loved to climb the tower' and 'would speak yet hold back' — by the tune they are two four-character lines, which Xin writes as the same phrase twice, lawful yet musically circling like a spring welling and stopping, a sigh returning, singing both the falseness of 'forced sorrow' and the depth of 'would speak yet hold back.' The rhyme is level-tone You, with lou, chou, xiu, qiu all low and long, matching the far melancholy; and lou with chou, xiu with qiu answer in pairs. The language is plain as talk yet the prosody exact and circling — a model of 'sound writing feeling' in the short tune, showing that though famed for boldness, Xin's small-tune craft rivals the gentle masters.《丑奴儿》即《采桑子》，为双调小令，四十四字，上下片各四句三平韵，句式皆为「七、四、四、五」，是宋词中结构最整齐的词牌之一。辛弃疾此词充分利用了这一体制的重复性：上下片句式相同，恰与「少年」「而今」两段人生的对照相呼应，形式与内容达到高度的统一。此词在声律上最见匠心的是「爱上层楼」「欲说还休」两个四字句的重复：按词谱，上下片第二、三句为两个四字句，辛弃疾将其写成同一句的反复，既合词律，又形成回环咏叹的音乐效果，如泉涌而复止、如叹息之往复，把「强说愁」的浮与「欲说还休」的深都唱了出来。用韵上，押平声尤韵，韵脚「楼」「愁」「休」「秋」皆低回悠长，与愁思绵邈的情调相合；且四韵之中，「楼」与「愁」、「休」与「秋」两两呼应，声情跌宕。全词语言明白如话，而声律精工、节奏回环，是宋词小令中「以声写情」的典范，可见辛弃疾虽以豪放名世，其小令声律之细亦不让婉约诸家。

Line by line

少年不识愁滋味，爱上层楼。

In youth I knew not the taste of sorrow, and loved to climb the high tower.

年轻时不懂得忧愁的真正滋味，喜欢登上高楼。

In youth I knew not the true taste of sorrow, and loved climbing the high towers.

上片起笔写少年之愁，是全词对照结构的第一层。「少年不识愁滋味」直说其本：年轻时阅历尚浅，未经世事沧桑，并不真正懂得什么是愁；「爱上层楼」写其行为：登楼望远本是雅事，少年人兴之所至，最爱登高。此二句妙在「不识愁」与「爱上层楼」的因果暗含——正因为不识愁，才把登楼当作风雅，才把无病呻吟当作情怀。辛弃疾写少年，既是对自身往昔的回望，也是对所有年轻人的普遍写照：涉世未深的愁，多是「为赋新词」的矫饰。词人于平淡叙述中暗藏自省与怅惘，为下片「而今识尽愁滋味」的巨大反差蓄势，一浅一深，对照分明，为全词的情感转折埋下伏笔。

The first stanza opens writing the youth's grief, the first layer of the ci's contrast structure. In youth I knew not the taste of grief directly says its nature: the young man's experience shallow, not yet through the world's changes, not truly knowing what grief is; loved to climb the high towers writes his behavior: the tower's distant gaze an elegant thing, the young man's impulse, loving the high climb. The beauty of the two lines lies in the hidden cause and effect of the knew-not and the loved-to-climb — precisely because he knew not grief, he took the tower for elegance, took the ailment without illness for feeling. Xin Qiji writing the youth is at once the looking back on his own past, and the universal portrait of all young men: the grief of the world-unversed is mostly the ornament of grieving to order new verses. The poet, in the plain narration, secretly carries the self-examination and the wistfulness, storing force for the second stanza's now I have tasted the full taste of sorrow, one shallow one deep, the contrast clear, planting the foreshadowing of the ci's emotional turning.

而今识尽愁滋味，欲说还休。

Now I have tasted sorrow's full flavor, yet would speak and hold back.

如今尝尽了忧愁的真正滋味，想说却又不说了。

Now I have tasted the true taste of sorrow, and would speak, and stop.

下片起笔是全词情感转折的关键，与上片「不识愁」形成强烈对照。「而今」二字承上启下，把时间从少年拉到中年，其间省略了二十余年的人生跌宕——抗金报国、遭谗落职、闲居野老，尽在这一词的跳跃里；「识尽愁滋味」着一「尽」字，写愁已尝遍、无复可加，人生的苦难与失意都尝透了。然而「识尽」之后不是痛诉，而是「欲说还休」——想说，却又不说了。这四字写尽深愁难言的复杂心理：愁到极处，反而无话可说；说了无人懂，不如不说；说了也无力改变，只能沉默。辛弃疾以吞吐之笔写吞吐之情，一个「休」字，把千言万语都咽回肚中，其沉痛远胜直抒胸臆，正是「此时无声胜有声」的典范。

The second stanza's opening is the key of the ci's emotional turning, set in strong contrast against the first stanza's knew-not. The two words now carry above and lead below, pulling the time from youth to middle age, omitting between the twenty-some years of life's ups and downs — the resistance to Jin, the slander and the dismissal, the idle old age, all within the ci's leap; tasted the full taste of grief puts the word all, writing the grief already tasted through, no more to add, the life's hardship and disappointment all savored. And after the tasted-all, not the bitter outpouring, but would speak, and stop — would speak, and yet not speak. The four words exhaust the complex psychology of the deep grief beyond telling: the grief at the extreme turns wordless; spoken and none understands, better not spoken; spoken and powerless to change, only the silence. Xin Qiji, with the swallowing brush, writes the swallowing feeling; the single word stop swallows back ten thousand words into the breast, its grief far beyond the direct outpouring, precisely the model of the silence more eloquent than sound.

却道天凉好个秋。

And only say: what a fine, cool autumn.

只淡淡地说一句：好一个凉爽的秋天啊。

And only say lightly: what a cool autumn.

末句是全词的点睛之笔，以最平淡的闲话收束最深沉的悲慨。「欲说还休」之后，诗人终究什么也没说，只淡淡地说了句「天凉好个秋」——表面是闲谈天气的应景话，骨子里却是千言万语无从说起的自嘲与无奈。此句之妙在于「以轻写重」：一个「好」字，看似赞美秋凉，实则暗藏多少家国之忧、身世之悲；「天凉」二字点出节候，秋深天凉，正与词人悲凉的心境暗合，所谓「却道」，正是言不由衷、语不及意的吞吐。辛弃疾把满腔愁绪都压在这句闲话之下，读者越品越觉其重。这句词之所以成为千古名句，正因为道出了所有历经沧桑者的共同体验：真正的苦难说不出、说不得，只能化作一句无关痛痒的闲话，让识者会心，让闻者黯然。

The closing is the pointed stroke of the ci, closing the deepest grief in the plainest idle talk. After would speak, and hold my tongue, the poet after all says nothing, only says lightly what a cool autumn day — on the surface the polite weather remark, in the bones the self-mockery and helplessness of ten thousand words beyond telling. The beauty lies in writing the heavy through the light: the single word good, seemingly praising the autumn cool, in truth hiding how much care for country, how much grief of lot; the two words cool mark the season, the deep autumn and the cool, secretly matching the poet's bleak mind, the so-and-said precisely the swallowing of words against the heart. Xin Qiji presses the breast's grief under this idle remark, and the reader the more tastes the weight. The line becomes the immortal line precisely because it speaks the common experience of all who have lived through the world's changes: the true suffering is unspeakable, not to be spoken, only turned into an irrelevant idle remark, making the knowing nod, and the hearer's dimness.

Study

Word focus

强强 (force/feign) in 'forced a new word's sorrow' captures the young affectation of making grief — he did not know sorrow yet forced one for the verse; the character shows the grief was manufactured, performed, with self-mockery and pity. It contrasts with the later 'would speak yet hold back': youth forces sorrow, age hides it — one word bridging the two life-realms. 「为赋新词强说愁」之「强」（qiǎng）字，写尽少年作愁的矫情之态，是全词上片的神眼。「强」即勉强、硬要，少年本不识愁，却为了赋写新词，硬是说自己有愁——一个「强」字，把无中生有、刻意为之的少年心性写得活灵活现，既有自嘲，又有悯惜。此字之妙在于分寸：若写「爱说愁」，便只是直陈；一个「强」字，则写出「愁」是被造作的、是表演给世人看的，暗含对「为文造情」的清醒认识。同时，「强」与下片「欲说还休」相对：少年强说愁，是有愁装愁；而今识尽愁，是有愁不言，一强一休，恰成人生两境的反照。一个「强」字，既写出了青春的浮浅可爱，也为下文的深沉转折埋下伏笔，是全词炼字的枢纽。

尽尽 (exhaust/fully) in 'now I have tasted sorrow's full flavor' is the key to the poem's depth — 'fully' means every variety tasted, the limit reached: twenty years of barred ambition and rootless retirement all swallowed. It contrasts with youth's 'knew not,' one negation one fulfillment, tracing life from shallow to deep; it also prepares 'would speak yet hold back' — having tasted all, one knows speech is useless, so one holds back. 'Fully' writes limit grief with limit-words, piercing the page. 「而今识尽愁滋味」之「尽」字，是全词情感深度的关键，亦是上下片对照的支点。「尽」即尝遍、历尽，着一个「尽」字，写愁已无复可加：二十余年的人生沧桑，报国无门、遭谗落职、闲居野老，种种滋味都已尝透，愁到了顶点、绝境。此字之妙，在于把「识愁」从浅层的理解推向深层的痛感——少年「不识」愁，是没尝过；而今「识尽」愁，是尝到尽头，一「不识」一「识尽」，两字遥遥相对，写尽人生由浅入深的全部过程。同时，「尽」字为「欲说还休」作了铺垫：愁既尝尽，便深知说也无用、说也无人懂，故只能欲说还休。若换作「识得」「识遍」，皆不及「尽」字之彻底、之沉痛；唯「尽」字以极限之词写极限之悲，力透纸背，是辛词炼字「沉郁」风格的典型。