宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric
贺新郎
Hexinlang (Congratulate the Bridegroom)
老去相如倦。
向文君说似，而今怎生消遣。
衣袂京尘曾染处，空有香红尚软。
料彼此、魂销肠断。
一枕新凉眠客舍，听梧桐、疏雨秋声颤。
灯晕冷，记初见。
楼低不放珠帘卷。
晚妆残、翠钿狼藉，泪痕凝面。
人道愁来须𣨼酒，无奈愁深酒浅。
但寄兴、焦琴纨扇。
莫鼓琵琶江上曲，怕荻花、枫叶俱凄怨。
云万叠，寸心远。
to Wenjun I would say: how shall I while away my days now?
Where my sleeves once brushed the dust of the capital,
only the soft fragrance of her rouge remains.
I imagine that, on both sides, the soul is numbed and the bowels torn apart.
On a pillow of new-cool autumn I sleep in a traveler's lodging,
listening to sparse rain on the plane trees, the autumn sounds trembling.
The halo of the lamp is cold — I remember our first meeting.
The loft is too low for its pearl curtain to be rolled up;
her evening toilet is spoiled, the kingfisher pins lie scattered,
tear-stains congealed on her face.
They say when sorrow comes one must steep it in wine;
helpless — my sorrow is deep and the wine is shallow.
I can only lodge my feelings in the charred zither and the silk fan.
Play no pipa melody of the river strand,
lest the reed flowers and maple leaves all turn plaintive.
Clouds in ten thousand folds; a heart of one inch, gone far.
Meaning
A weary, aging traveler, casting himself as Sima Xiangru, confesses to his distant beloved that life has lost its savor: the capital has stained his sleeves, and wine is too weak to drown his sorrow. In a cold inn he hears autumn rain tremble on the plane trees and remembers their first meeting. He dares not even hear a riverbank pipa song, lest the reeds and maples should grieve with him.
老去相如倦。向文君说似，而今怎生消遣。衣袂京尘曾染处，空有香红尚软。料彼此、魂销肠断。一枕新凉眠客舍，听梧桐、疏雨秋声颤。灯晕冷，记初见。楼低不放珠帘卷。晚妆残、翠钿狼藉，泪痕凝面。人道愁来须𣨼酒，无奈愁深酒浅。但寄兴、焦琴纨扇。莫鼓琵琶江上曲，怕荻花、枫叶俱凄怨。云万叠，寸心远。
Appreciation
[Plain Paraphrase] The speaker, grown old and weary, speaks to his beloved as if he were Sima Xiangru addressing Zhuo Wenjun: how shall he now while away his days? Where his sleeves once caught the capital's dust, only the soft scent of rouge remains. He imagines her, too, heart-broken at the thought of him. Sleeping in a cold inn, he hears sparse rain tremble on the plane trees, and the halo of a lamp recalls their first meeting. [Structure] The upper stanza moves from the public weariness of a failed traveler to the private memory of first love; the lower stanza turns to the beloved's imagined decline — ruined toilet, scattered hairpins, tear-stains — and then to the poet's own consolation in music. The lyric ends not in resolution but in an act of refusal: play no riverbank song. [Imagery] Every image is turned inward: capital dust on a sleeve, cold lamplight, dew-soft rouge, plane-tree rain, scattered kingfisher pins, reed flowers and maple leaves. The closing 'clouds in ten thousand folds; a heart of one inch' measures vast space against a shrunken heart, and the refusal to hear music suggests a grief too deep to be voiced.
【白话串讲】 刘过写《贺新郎》：“老去相如倦。向文君说似，而今怎生消遣”——“衣袂京尘曾染处，空有香红尚软”——“一枕新凉眠客舍，听梧桐、疏雨秋声颤”——“灯晕冷，记初见”——他写倦客与初见。 【意象与手法】 “老去相如倦。向文君说似”以相如文君典写倦客；“衣袂京尘曾染处，空有香红尚软”以京尘香红写旧情；“一枕新凉眠客舍，听梧桐、疏雨秋声颤”以梧桐疏雨写客愁；结以“莫鼓琵琶江上曲，怕荻花、枫叶俱凄怨”以荻花枫叶写凄怨。用典贴切、含蓄深婉。 【情感与主旨】 刘过写羁旅怀人之作，以相如文君自况写倦游与旧情，以客舍秋声写羁愁，是刘过词中婉约一类的代表。 【名句点睛】 常考“老去相如倦。向文君说似”以相如文君写倦客；“莫鼓琵琶江上曲，怕荻花、枫叶俱凄怨”以荻花枫叶写凄怨。
Background
Liu Guo (1154-1206), courtesy name Gaizhi, sobriquet Longzhou Daoren, was a native of Taihe in Jizhou (modern Taihe, Jiangxi). A bold, ambitious man who repeatedly failed the imperial examinations, he wandered among ministers and generals and became a close friend of Xin Qiji and his circle. His ci blend heroic abandon with genuine tenderness; this 'Hexinlang' belongs to the graceful (wanyue) vein and was likely written during his years of drifting in the capital region, where the persona of the aging, travel-worn Sima Xiangru becomes a half-serious self-portrait of a failed scholar.
《贺新郎》为南宋词人刘过所作词。刘过（1154—1206），字改之，号龙洲道人，吉州太和（今江西泰和）人，南宋词人，词风豪放而兼深婉。此词写羁旅怀人。词中「老去相如倦。向文君说似，而今怎生消遣」写相如倦客；「衣袂京尘曾染处，空有香红尚软」写京尘香红；「料彼此、魂销肠断。一枕新凉眠客舍，听梧桐、疏雨秋声颤」写客舍秋声；「灯晕冷，记初见。楼低不放珠帘卷」写记初见；「晚妆残、翠钿狼藉，泪痕凝面。人道愁来须𣨼酒，无奈愁深酒浅」写愁深酒浅；「但寄兴、焦琴纨扇。莫鼓琵琶江上曲，怕荻花、枫叶俱凄怨」写荻花枫叶；「云万叠，寸心远」写寸心远。刘过此词以羁旅怀人、荻花枫叶写其怀人之情，含蓄深婉，是刘过词中的名篇。此篇《贺新郎》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。
Art
The lyric's craft lies in what Song critics called 'subtle indirection, writing feeling through scene.' Its first move is impersonation: by casting himself and his beloved as Sima Xiangru and Zhuo Wenjun, Liu Guo speaks of private longing behind a literary mask, gaining both archetypal romance and gentle self-caricature. The upper stanza alternates address and memory — 'to Wenjun I would say,' then the sleeve's capital dust, then the imagined mutual heartbreak — so grief is distributed between two people who never meet. Sound is made to carry feeling: sparse rain trembling on the plane trees converts sorrow into vibration, and the cold halo of the lamp shrinks the first meeting into a circle of light. The lower stanza's turn, 'Play no riverbank song,' is the lyric's hinge: the poet refuses music because the landscape itself has already become a song of parting. The closing couplet measures boundless space (clouds in ten thousand folds) against 'a heart of one inch,' expanding the world and contracting the self in a single gesture.
此词艺术上以「含蓄深婉、以景写情」见长。全词上片写相如倦客与客舍秋声，下片写愁深酒浅与荻花枫叶。上片「老去相如倦。向文君说似，而今怎生消遣」写相如倦客：老去相如倦，向文君说似，而今怎生消遣；「衣袂京尘曾染处，空有香红尚软」写京尘香红：衣袂京尘曾染处，空有香红尚软；「料彼此、魂销肠断。一枕新凉眠客舍，听梧桐、疏雨秋声颤」写客舍秋声：料彼此、魂销肠断，一枕新凉眠客舍，听梧桐、疏雨秋声颤；「灯晕冷，记初见」写记初见：灯晕冷，记初见。下片「楼低不放珠帘卷。晚妆残、翠钿狼藉，泪痕凝面」写泪痕凝面：楼低不放珠帘卷，晚妆残、翠钿狼藉，泪痕凝面；「人道愁来须𣨼酒，无奈愁深酒浅。但寄兴、焦琴纨扇」写愁深酒浅：人道愁来须𣨼酒，无奈愁深酒浅，但寄兴、焦琴纨扇；「莫鼓琵琶江上曲，怕荻花、枫叶俱凄怨。云万叠，寸心远」写荻花枫叶：莫鼓琵琶江上曲，怕荻花、枫叶俱凄怨，云万叠，寸心远。全词含蓄深婉，以景写情，是刘过词中的名篇。
Allusions
Xiangru and Wenjun refer to Sima Xiangru and Zhuo Wenjun, whose elopement and wine-shop episode is told in the 'Biography of Sima Xiangru'; the poet's impersonation makes his own wandering a sequel to theirs. 'Capital dust' echoes Lu Ji's line 'the capital is windy and dusty; white robes turn black' — the stain of a career in the metropolis. 'Soul numbed, bowels torn' derives from Jiang Yan's famous 'the parting heart is overcome' (his 'Bie fu'). The 'charred zither' is the jiaowei qin that Cai Yong saved from a fire; the 'silk fan' alludes to Ban Jieyu's fan poem of abandoned favor. The 'pipa song of the river strand' and the 'reed flowers and maple leaves' come from Bai Juyi's 'Song of the Pipa' ('maple leaves and reed flowers rustle, autumn shivers'). Liu Guo welds all of these into a single texture without display.
词中「相如」「文君」「衣袂京尘」「香红」「魂销肠断」「新凉」「客舍」「梧桐」「疏雨秋声」「灯晕」「珠帘」「晚妆残」「翠钿」「泪痕凝面」「愁深酒浅」「焦琴」「纨扇」「琵琶江上曲」「荻花枫叶」「云万叠」「寸心远」等语，皆含典故故实。「相如」用司马相如之典，写自己如相如之倦客；「文君」用卓文君之典，写所怀之人如文君；「衣袂京尘」用陆机「京洛多风尘，素衣化为缁」之意，写京洛风尘染衣；「香红」写脂粉之香红；「魂销肠断」用江淹黯然销魂之意，写魂销肠断；「新凉」写新秋之凉；「客舍」写客舍；「梧桐」写梧桐（写秋声）；「疏雨秋声」写疏雨秋声；「灯晕」写灯光之晕；「珠帘」写珠帘；「晚妆残」写晚妆残损；「翠钿」写翠钿（首饰）；「泪痕凝面」写泪痕凝于面；「愁深酒浅」写愁深而酒浅；「焦琴」写焦尾琴（蔡邕焦尾琴之典）；「纨扇」用班婕妤团扇之典，写纨扇；「琵琶江上曲」用白居易《琵琶行》「浔阳江头夜送客」之意，写琵琶江上之曲；「荻花枫叶」用白居易《琵琶行》「枫叶荻花秋瑟瑟」之意；「云万叠」写云叠万重；「寸心远」写寸心之远。词人以相如文君、京尘、焦琴、纨扇、琵琶江上曲、荻花枫叶等典入词，不着痕迹，而把羁旅怀人之情写得真切可感，是善于熔铸典故的体现。
Commentary
Although Liu Guo is remembered chiefly as a heroic-style poet and a sworn friend of Xin Qiji, this 'Hexinlang' was prized by anthologists for its tenderness and indirection. The couplet 'Mo gu pi pa jiang shang qu, pa di hua, feng ye ju qi yuan' became a stock example of 'writing feeling through things one refuses to hear' and of fusing Bai Juyi's riverbank mood into a personal voice. Later critics ranked it among the finest Song lyrics of travel-longing; its restraint — never naming the beloved's decline directly, forbidding the song instead of singing the grief — set a model for the graceful lyrics of the late Song.
这首《贺新郎》，是刘过写羁旅怀人之作，写相如文君、衣袂京尘、寸心远之情，含蓄深婉。上片写相如倦客与客舍秋声：「老去相如倦。向文君说似，而今怎生消遣」——老去相如倦，向文君说似，而今怎生消遣。写相如倦客：老去相如倦、向文君说似，而今怎生消遣（以司马相如自况，以文君喻所怀之人）——老去如相如之倦、怎生消遣；「衣袂京尘曾染处，空有香红尚软」——衣袂京尘曾染处，空有香红尚软。写京尘香红：衣袂京尘曾染处、空有香红尚软——衣袂染京尘、香红尚软；「料彼此、魂销肠断。一枕新凉眠客舍，听梧桐、疏雨秋声颤」——料彼此、魂销肠断，一枕新凉眠客舍，听梧桐、疏雨秋声颤。写客舍秋声：料彼此魂销肠断，一枕新凉眠客舍，听梧桐疏雨秋声颤——彼此魂销肠断、客舍闻秋声；「灯晕冷，记初见」——灯晕冷，记初见。写记初见：灯晕冷、记初见——灯晕清冷、忆初见。下片写愁深酒浅与荻花枫叶：「楼低不放珠帘卷。晚妆残、翠钿狼藉，泪痕凝面」——楼低不放珠帘卷，晚妆残、翠钿狼藉，泪痕凝面。写泪痕凝面：楼低不放珠帘卷，晚妆残、翠钿狼藉，泪痕凝面——珠帘不卷、翠钿狼藉、泪痕凝面；「人道愁来须𣨼酒，无奈愁深酒浅。但寄兴、焦琴纨扇」——人道愁来须𣨼酒，无奈愁深酒浅，但寄兴、焦琴纨扇。写愁深酒浅：人道愁来须饮酒，无奈愁深酒浅，但寄兴、焦琴纨扇——愁深酒浅、寄兴焦琴纨扇；「莫鼓琵琶江上曲，怕荻花、枫叶俱凄怨。云万叠，寸心远」——莫鼓琵琶江上曲，怕荻花、枫叶俱凄怨，云万叠，寸心远。写荻花枫叶：莫鼓琵琶江上曲（用琵琶行之意），怕荻花枫叶俱凄怨，云万叠、寸心远——莫弹琵琶江上曲、怕荻花枫叶凄怨。这「莫鼓琵琶江上曲，怕荻花、枫叶俱凄怨」，是全词之结：以荻花枫叶写其凄怨。全词含蓄深婉，以景写情，正是刘过词中的名篇。
Prosody
Line by line
老去相如倦。
Grown old, I am weary, like Xiangru.
老去相如倦。
Grown old, I am like Sima Xiangru, weary of wandering.
首句写相如倦客，起笔即见其慨。「老去相如倦」写老去相如倦，「老去」写老去、「相如倦」以司马相如自况写其倦。一句以「老去」写其年衰、以「相如倦」用相如倦游之典写其倦游，写尽老去如相如之倦之情。以典起兴，含蓄而深沉，是「以典起兴」的妙笔。此句以寥寥数语写尽深意，情韵兼胜，正是全诗点睛之笔。其于字句之间暗藏波澜，于平易之中寄寓曲折，尤当反复涵泳，方能得其三昧。
The opening writes the weary Xiangru, the grief rising at the first stroke. Grown old, I am like Sima Xiangru, weary of wandering: the grown-old the years' decline, the Xiangru-weary the self-figured through Sima Xiangru's weary travels. One line writes the age through the grown old, and the weary wandering through the Xiangru allusion — old and weary as Xiangru. Rising on allusion, restrained and deep, the pointed brush. The few words carry a deep meaning, the pointed stroke of the ci.
料彼此、魂销肠断。
I imagine that, on both sides, the soul is numbed and the bowels torn apart.
料彼此、魂销肠断。
I think of us both, souls undone and bowels broken.
此句写彼此销魂，是全词写其相思的关键。「料彼此、魂销肠断」写料彼此魂销肠断，「料彼此」写料想彼此、「魂销肠断」用江淹黯然销魂之意写魂销肠断。一句以「料彼此」写其料想双方、以「魂销肠断」写其销魂断肠，写尽料想彼此皆魂销肠断之情。以想写情，含蓄而深挚，是「以想写情」的点睛之笔。此句以寥寥数语写尽深意，情韵兼胜，正是全诗点睛之笔。其于字句之间暗藏波澜，于平易之中寄寓曲折，尤当反复涵泳，方能得其三昧。
The line writes the mutual undoing, the key of the ci's longing. I think of us both, souls undone and bowels broken: the think-of-us-both the imagining of the pair, the souls-undone-bowels-broken drawing on Jiang Yan's the soul sinks with grief. One line writes the imagining of the two through the think of us both, and the grief through the soul undone — both of us, souls undone. Writing feeling through imagining, restrained and deep, the pointed stroke. The few words carry a deep meaning, the pointed stroke of the ci.
一枕新凉眠客舍，听梧桐、疏雨秋声颤。
On a pillow of new-cool autumn I sleep in a traveler's lodging, listening to sparse rain on the plane trees, the autumn sounds trembling.
一枕新凉眠客舍，听梧桐、疏雨秋声颤。
On a pillow of new cool I sleep in the inn; I hear the sparse rain on the paulownias, the autumn sound trembling.
此二句写客舍秋声，是全词写羁旅的关键。「一枕新凉眠客舍」写一枕新凉眠客舍，「一枕新凉」写一枕新秋之凉、「眠客舍」写眠于客舍；「听梧桐、疏雨秋声颤」写听梧桐疏雨秋声颤，「听梧桐」写听梧桐、「疏雨秋声颤」写疏雨秋声颤抖。两句一写一枕新凉眠客舍、一写听梧桐疏雨秋声颤，以一枕新凉写秋凉、以眠客舍写羁旅、以梧桐疏雨写秋声，写尽客舍新凉、梧桐疏雨秋声之情。以声写愁，含蓄而深挚，是「以声写愁」的点睛之笔。
The two phrases write the inn's autumn sound, the key of the ci's wandering. On a pillow of new cool I sleep in the inn: the new-cool-pillow the first autumn cool, the sleep-in-the-inn the lodging; I hear the sparse rain on the paulownias, the autumn sound trembling: the hear-the-paulownias the listening, the sparse-rain-autumn-sound-trembling the rain and the trembling air. Two phrases, the cool pillow in the inn and the trembling rain on the paulownias — the autumn cool, the wandering, the autumn sound. Writing grief through sound, restrained and deep, the pointed stroke.
莫鼓琵琶江上曲，怕荻花、枫叶俱凄怨。
Play no pipa melody of the river strand, lest the reed flowers and maple leaves all turn plaintive.
莫鼓琵琶江上曲，怕荻花、枫叶俱凄怨。
Do not strike the river piball tune; I fear the reed flowers and maple leaves would all turn desolate and grieving.
尾二句写荻花枫叶，是全词立意的落点。「莫鼓琵琶江上曲」写莫鼓琵琶江上曲，「莫鼓」写不要弹、「琵琶江上曲」用白居易琵琶行之意写江上琵琶曲；「怕荻花、枫叶俱凄怨」写怕荻花枫叶俱凄怨，「怕」写怕、「荻花枫叶」用枫叶荻花秋瑟瑟之意、「俱凄怨」写都凄怨。两句一写莫鼓琵琶江上曲、一写怕荻花枫叶俱凄怨，以莫鼓琵琶写其不敢闻、以怕荻花枫叶凄怨写其不堪闻，写尽怕闻江上琵琶、荻花枫叶俱凄怨之情。以怕写情，含蓄而深挚，是全词最动人处，也是「以怕写情」的点睛之笔。
The closing two phrases write the reed flowers and maple leaves, the landing point of the ci's intention. Do not strike the river piball tune: the do-not-strike the request to refrain, the river-piball-tune drawing on Bai Juyi's piba song; I fear the reed flowers and maple leaves would all turn desolate and grieving: the fear the dread, the reed-flowers-maple-leaves drawing on the maple leaves and reed flowers, autumn's rustling, the all-desolate-and-grieving the shared sorrow. Two phrases, the request not to strike the piball and the dread of the grieving flowers and leaves — the dread of the tune, the unbearable sight. Writing feeling through dread, restrained and deep, the most moving place of the ci, the pointed stroke.
Study
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Su Shi's 'Rising to dance with my clear shadow — how could life be like being in the heavens?' writes a sublime detachment; Liu Guo's 'They say sorrow must be steeped in wine; helpless, sorrow is deep and wine is shallow' writes a grief music cannot cure. Read together, they show the Song lyric's two ways of consoling a wanderer: Su Shi's transcendence and Liu Guo's tender dwelling in sorrow.
苏轼《水调歌头·明月几时有》「起舞弄清影，何似在人间」，写把酒起舞、自得其乐，是宋词写旷达的名篇；刘过《贺新郎》则以「人道愁来须𣨼酒，无奈愁深酒浅。但寄兴、焦琴纨扇」写愁深酒浅、寄兴焦琴纨扇。两词同写羁旅自遣、寄兴清歌：一写起舞弄清影何似在人间、以起舞写旷，一写但寄兴焦琴纨扇、以琴扇写遣；一为苏轼之超旷、一为刘过之深婉，并读正可见宋词写「自遣」的两种情致，皆于清歌琴扇之中见自遣之情。
临江仙·夜归临皋 Linjiangxian (Immortal by the River): Returning to Linggao at Night 苏轼 · 同写客舍羁旅、夜阑静卧，一写长恨此身非我有何时忘却营营、一写一枕新凉眠客舍听梧桐疏雨秋声，皆于客舍之中见羁旅之慨 Both describe a traveler lodging in an inn at night: Su Shi's 'Long I have hated that this body is not my own; when shall I forget the scramble?' voices self-reproach on the road, while Liu Guo's 'On a pillow of new-cool autumn I sleep in a traveler's lodging' hears autumn rain in the night. Both turn the inn into a place of reckoning — one philosophical, one emotional.Su Shi in his night inn forgets the world amid the sound of the river; Liu Guo in his inn hears the plane-tree rain tremble. The same setting yields philosophical release in Su Shi and deepened sorrow in Liu Guo — two faces of the Song traveler's night.
苏轼《临江仙·夜归临皋》「长恨此身非我有，何时忘却营营」，写客中自省、身不由己，是苏轼写旷达的名篇；刘过《贺新郎》则以「一枕新凉眠客舍，听梧桐、疏雨秋声颤」「老去相如倦」写客舍秋声、相如倦客。两词同写客舍羁旅、夜阑静卧：一写长恨此身非我有何时忘却营营、以自省写慨，一写一枕新凉眠客舍听梧桐疏雨秋声、以秋声写愁；一为苏轼之超旷、一为刘过之深婉，并读正可见宋词写「客舍羁旅」的两种情致，皆于客舍之中见羁旅之慨。