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宋 Song · 诗 Poem

淮上遇便风

Encountering a Fair Wind on the Huai River

苏舜钦

Su Shunqin

行旅Travel 江湖Rivers and Lakes 抒怀Expression of Feelings

浩荡清淮天共流，长风万里送归舟。
应愁晚泊喧卑地，吹入沧溟始自由。

The vast clear Huai flows together with the sky;
A wind from ten thousand li sends my homebound boat.
Should I worry about a dusk mooring in a noisy, lowly place?
Blown into the vast azure sea—only then am I free.

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Meaning

Sailing on the clear Huai River with a favorable wind, the poet speeds homeward. Instead of fearing a noisy, lowly mooring at dusk, he wishes the wind would carry him all the way into the vast sea, where he would at last find true freedom.

浩荡清淮与天相接共流，长风万里推送归舟。应愁傍晚泊于喧闹卑湿之地，唯愿吹入沧海方得自由。

Appreciation

Su Shunqin, a Northern Song poet known for bold, forceful verse, was paired with Mei Yaochen as 'Su and Mei'. This quatrain records a small event—meeting a favorable wind on the Huai—but uses it to express a restless spirit that longs to break free. The first couplet opens with a sweeping scene: the clear Huai merges with the sky, and a wind from ten thousand li sends the returning boat onward. Words like 'vast' and 'ten thousand li' expand space, while 'send' gives the wind a humane warmth. The second couplet turns from what is seen to what is imagined: the poet would only worry if he had to moor at dusk in a noisy, lowly place; he wants the wind to blow him into the vast blue sea, where he can be truly free. 'Should worry' sets up a contrast, and 'only then am I free' turns the joy of a fair wind into a spiritual aspiration. In twenty-eight characters, scene, feeling, and principle merge, revealing Su Shunqin's broad-minded, unrestrained character and his refusal to accept confinement.

【白话串讲】 “浩荡清淮天共流，长风万里送归舟”——苏舜钦写淮上遇顺风：清淮与天共流。“应愁晚泊喧卑地，吹入沧溟始自由”——他怕傍晚泊在喧闹的地方，愿乘风入海，才算自由。被贬的苏舜钦，向往自由。【意象与手法】前两句“浩荡清淮天共流，长风万里送归舟”以“浩荡”“万里”极写空间之广、“送归舟”点出顺风之畅；后两句“应愁晚泊喧卑地，吹入沧溟始自由”由实转虚，以“应愁”反衬自由之可贵。以景起兴、因风寄意，语言明快、胸襟洒脱。【情感与主旨】写舟行淮河遇顺风之事，借便风抒写挣脱束缚、向往自由的心怀。“吹入沧溟始自由”可见其不甘局促、追求舒展的心志，与李白“长风破浪”之慨异曲同工。【名句点睛】常考“浩荡清淮天共流，长风万里送归舟”以浩荡万里写境界开阔；“吹入沧溟始自由”以入海写自由之向往。

Background

Su Shunqin, courtesy name Zimei, was a Northern Song poet known for his forceful, bold style, often paired with Mei Yaochen as 'Su and Mei'. He was outspoken, supported Fan Zhongyan's reforms, and was attacked by political enemies. Eventually, after the so-called 'Jinzouyuan incident' at the Court of Palace Publications, he was stripped of office. This poem was written while traveling on the Huai River when a favorable wind filled his sails. The wind becomes a symbol of liberation: a man long repressed, longing to return home, reads a natural breeze as an unexpected release from fate. The 'return' in 'returning boat' is not only a physical return but also a return to his true self after political disappointment. Instead of writing the hardships of travel, he writes the joy of riding the wind; instead of lamenting his fate, he dreams of the vast sea. This quatrain is a miniature of his noble, unyielding personality and shows a rare, near-High-Tang soaring spirit in Northern Song poetry.

苏舜钦字子美，北宋诗人，与梅尧臣并称「苏梅」，是宋初诗坛豪健一派的健将。他为人刚直敢言，支持范仲淹新政，因岳父杜衍为相而遭政敌攻讦，最终以「进奏院案」被削职为民， lifelong 郁郁。这首诗写于他舟行淮河、遇顺风鼓帆之时，借自然之便风，抒胸中挣脱束缚、向往自由之怀。要理解此诗，须先明白苏舜钦的处境。他本是慷慨任气、以天下为己任的士大夫，却因直言遭贬，政治生命骤然中断。那种不甘局促、渴望舒展的心志，在他的诗文里屡屡流露。淮上遇风，本是一件极小的行旅小事，可对一个久被压抑、正盼归去的人来说，长风送舟的畅快，恰恰成了精神自由的象征。诗中的「归舟」之「归」，既是舟行之归，也暗含诗人政治失意后回归本真、回归自在生命的愿望。他把自然界的顺风，读成了命运偶然赐予的一次放行，于是不写羁旅之苦，而写乘风之喜；不写身世之悲，而写沧溟之想。这首七绝虽短，却字字带着一股不肯伏枥的豪气，是苏舜钦「胸次浩然」人格的缩影，也让我们看见北宋诗中少有的、近于盛唐的飞扬风神。

Art

The poem's power lies in making a trivial event yield a grand vision. The first couplet is realistic, the second imaginative, moving from scene to idea, from the concrete to the abstract, within a tiny frame. The opening uses 'vast' and 'ten thousand li' to open up an immense picture of water meeting sky and wind speeding the boat. The word 'send' personifies the wind, as if heaven and earth were assisting the journey. Then the poet turns sharply: 'Should I grieve over a dusk mooring in some noisy, lowly place?'—a hypothetical worry that sets off his longing for freedom—'Blown into the vast azure sea—only then am I free.' The phrase 'only then' is firm and decisive, elevating the joy of a fair wind to a vision of spiritual boundlessness. The language is bright, the mind is free-spirited, and the short form carries enormous force. A further subtlety is the structural reversal: the first couplet expands outward into space; the second turns inward to the tension between confinement and release. The wider the outward scene, the sharper the inner sense of confinement—this contrast is the key to the poem's hidden depth beneath its bold surface.

这首诗的艺术力量，来自它把一件小事写出了大境界。前两句实写舟行遇风，后两句虚写心中所想，由景入理，由实转虚，尺幅之中见千里之势。浩荡清淮天共流，长风万里送归舟，起笔即以「浩荡」「万里」两个阔大之词，撑开淮水与天相接、长风送舟万里的壮阔画面，气象奔放，毫无宋初西昆体的纤巧气。一个「送」字，把风写得有情，仿佛天地都来成全这趟归程，喜悦之意溢于言外。后两句笔锋一转：应愁晚泊喧卑地，吹入沧溟始自由。诗人由眼前的畅快，联想到若晚泊于喧闹卑湿之地当生愁绪，进而发出「吹入沧溟始自由」的浩叹。这里用「应愁」作反衬，以假设的愁，反托出对自由的渴慕；「始自由」三字，斩钉截铁，把遇风之喜升华成对精神无垠之境的向往。全诗以景起兴，因风寄意，语言明快，胸襟洒脱，短章而有巨力，正是苏舜钦豪宕诗风的典型面目。进一步看，此诗的章法是一组巧妙的「反转」：前两句以「浩荡」「长风」把空间撑到极阔，写的是顺风之喜；后两句却以「应愁」「始自由」把视线收向内心的拘与脱，由外境之畅翻入内境之渴。外之愈阔，愈显内之愈局，这种「以景之放开，衬心之收不住」的对照，正是全诗豪中藏郁的关捩。苏舜钦不以沉郁语写沉郁，而借一阵风把胸中块垒痛快吐出，表面飞扬，底里仍是久贬不遇的郁勃；「吹入沧溟」四字，既是对自由的向往，也是对现实牢笼的暗指。短章能有此内外张力，足证其虽为七绝而骨力足以抗衡长篇。

Allusions

The poem uses very few allusions, but one key image deserves attention: 'vast azure sea' (cang ming) and its connection to the Zhuangzi tradition. 'Cangming' originally refers to the sea and recalls the 'Northern Darkness' (北冥) in Zhuangzi's 'Free and Easy Wandering', where the giant Kun transforms into the Peng bird and flies across the vast waters. For Su Shunqin, the wind is not just a natural phenomenon but a means to escape the confining shore and fly into the boundless, exactly matching Zhuangzi's image of the Peng soaring on the whirlwind. The word 'free' (ziyou), though not coined by the poet, carries a modern sense of spiritual release when used in a Song poem. 'Only then am I free' raises the poem from travel pleasure to the height of spiritual liberation. The 'long wind of ten thousand li' also echoes Li Bai's 'When the wind breaks the waves, there will be a time; / hang the sail straight and cross the blue sea.' Thus, this seemingly plain short poem is spiritually linked to Zhuangzi, Li Bai, and the grand manner of the High Tang.

此诗用典极省，却有一处关键的意象承袭，值得拈出，即「沧溟」与「自由」所依托的庄骚传统。「沧溟」本指大海，语出《庄子·逍遥游》「北冥有鱼」之「冥」（后通作溟），那是鲲鹏展翅、水击三千里的无垠之境；苏舜钦以「吹入沧溟」收束，实则是把庄子的逍遥之想，凝缩进一阵顺风里。风在此不只是自然现象，而是助人挣脱岸渚束缚、飞向浩瀚的凭借，与庄子笔下「抟扶摇而上者九万里」的意象一脉相承。「自由」一词，虽非苏舜钦首创，但在宋人诗中用以写精神解脱，已具近世意味；他以「始自由」三字收煞，把遇风之喜落到精神解放的高度，使全诗的格局从「行旅畅快」跃升为「生命舒展」。此外，长风万里的意象，显然遥接李白「长风破浪会有时」「万里随风去」的盛唐气脉。苏舜钦诗风近唐，此诗尤得李太白行旅之作的飞扬神理。由此可见，看似白描的小诗，其精神谱系却上接庄骚、远绍李杜，是北宋诗中少有的能接续盛唐风骨的佳作。

Commentary

Su Shunqin's poetry is renowned for bold vigor, standing opposite Mei Yaochen's plainness, and together they opened a new phase for Song poetry. This quatrain has been valued by anthologists for its 'strong bones and Tang manner'. Curiously, most of Su's poems are brooding and depressed about political exile; this one is all high-spirited. This is not a contradiction. He transmutes his grievance into a wish to ride the wind—he does have complaints, but he will not let them crush him. Instead, by borrowing a gust of wind, he releases pent-up energy in one outpouring. This way of 'expressing depression through boldness' reveals the hardness of his character. Compared with Li Bai's 'The Hard Road', the spiritual kinship is clear: the same images of great rivers, long winds, and blue seas, the same longing for release in difficulty. The difference is that Li Bai encourages himself with heroic words, while Su Shunqin responds to a scene; one releases outward, the other gathers inward, marking a shift in poetic temperament between Tang and Song. In short, these twenty-eight characters capture Su Shunqin's unbridled spirit and prove that Song poetry was not merely intellectual but could also achieve ancient vigor.

苏舜钦诗以豪健著称，与梅尧臣之平淡并立，共开宋诗新局面。这首《淮上遇便风》虽为七绝短章，却被历来选家看重，正因其「骨力遒劲，有唐人风神」。近人论宋诗，每言「苏梅」为欧、苏之前驱，此诗即其豪宕一面的标本。值得玩味的是，苏舜钦多数诗作沉郁顿挫，多写贬谪之慨；此诗却一反常调，通篇昂扬。这并非矛盾，而是因为他把身世之郁，化作了乘风之愿——他不是没有牢骚，而是不愿让牢骚压垮自己，于是借一阵风，把积压的意气痛快吐出。这种「以豪写郁」的写法，恰见其人格硬度。与李白《行路难》「长风破浪会有时，直挂云帆济沧海」并读，更可见二者的精神血缘：同样是大江、长风、沧海的意象，同样是困顿中对舒展的渴望。所不同者，李白是豪语自勉，苏舜钦是即景生慨，一放一敛之间，时代风气已悄然置换。总之，这首小诗以二十八字写尽襟怀浩荡，是理解苏舜钦「豪宕不羁」诗风不可绕过的一篇，亦足证宋诗并非一味以理胜，亦能得风骨之雄。

Prosody

Form 七言绝句 (seven-character quatrain), four lines, twenty-eight characters; regular 'qi-jue' pattern, with the first two lines writing scenery and the last two expressing feeling and thought.七言绝句，四句二十八字，前两句写景、后两句抒情说理，章法典型，属七绝中气格近唐之作。

Rhyme Even-tone 'you' rhyme (平声尤韵); lines 1, 2, and 4 rhyme: 流 (liú), 舟 (zhōu), 由 (yóu), all in the eleventh 'you' rhyme group of the level tone. The long, open vowel suits the far-reaching mood.押平声尤韵。首句「流」、次句「舟」、末句「由」同属下平十一尤韵，一韵到底。尤韵音色悠远，与长风万里、吹入沧溟的阔远意境相称。

Tone pattern The tonal pattern is basically regular: 仄仄平平平仄平 / 平平仄仄仄平平 / 平平仄仄平平仄 / 平仄平平仄仄平. The overall flow is vigorous and smooth.首句「浩荡清淮天共流」仄仄平平平仄平，次句「长风万里送归舟」平平仄仄仄平平，三句「应愁晚泊喧卑地」平平仄仄平平仄，末句「吹入沧溟始自由」平仄平平仄仄平，大体合七绝平仄，气势流转。

Reading note The sound of this quatrain fits its 'bold yet free' mood. The first two lines use broad words and the lingering 'you' rhyme, like a long wind rolling waves forward. The last two shift to inner feeling; 'should worry' turns, 'only then' rises, creating a natural cadence. Although written in the Song dynasty, the style is close to High Tang, with bright, sonorous syllables. This is one of the few Northern Song quatrains that truly inherits Tang spirit—sound and meaning are seamlessly joined.这首七绝的声律，最宜于它「雄健而畅」的基调。前两句一写水、一写风，皆用阔词、皆押尤韵，声音悠远，像长风鼓浪一路铺开；后两句转入心理，「应愁」一转、「唯愿」一扬，虽不在韵脚，却因虚字重读而自带顿挫，使情感有了起伏。押尤韵三字，韵母悠长，正合「万里」「沧溟」的辽远——若换收口之韵，气象立减。整体看，此诗虽为宋人七绝，格调却近盛唐，音节朗畅而有力，不似某些宋绝以议论伤韵。苏舜钦诗风本近唐，此篇尤得李太白行旅之作的飞扬神理，是北宋七绝中少有的能接续唐人风骨者，声律与辞意贴合无间，读来有一股扑面的浩然之气。

Line by line

浩荡清淮天共流

The line opens with immense scale: the clear Huai merges with the sky, as if earth and heaven flow together. The word 'co-flow' (gong liu) enlarges the river into a cosmic image, matching the poet's broad mind.

浩荡清淮与天相接共流

The vast, clear Huai flows on, mingling with the sky.

起句一落笔便是大开大合的气势。「浩荡」写淮水之广、之盛、之无可阻挡；「清淮」点明所行的水道；「天共流」三字最见手笔——水与天相接，浑然一气，仿佛淮河不是在地上流，而是与天同流。这一个「共」字，把有限的舟行空间，拓展成天地相吞的壮阔，也为后文「长风万里」埋下气象的伏笔。苏舜钦写水，不取婉曲细脉，而取奔涌浩茫，正合他豪健的诗格。读这一句，要先感受那种水天一色、人在其中渺小又舒展的尺度感，这是全诗的基调，也是诗人胸怀的外化：他不写愁水、不写险水，而写与天共流之水，其心志之高已不言自明。

The opening line strikes at once with a grand, sweeping force. The vast writes the Huai's breadth, its abundance, its irresistible flow; the clear Huai names the waterway traveled; mingling with the sky, three characters most telling — water and sky meeting, fused into one breath, as if the Huai flowed not on the earth but with the sky. The one word together expands the limited boat journey into the vastness where heaven and earth swallow each other, and plants the meteorological foreshadowing of the long wind of ten thousand li below. Su Shunqin writing water takes not the winding veins, but the rushing vastness, matching his bold, robust verse. Reading the line, one first feels the scale — water and sky one, the man within it small and yet released, the base tone of the poem, the outward form of the poet's breast: he writes not the sorrowful water, not the perilous water, but the water flowing with the sky, and the loftiness of his mind is plain without words.

长风万里送归舟

A fair wind from ten thousand li 'sends' the homebound boat. The word 'sends' personifies the wind, making heaven seem to favor the journey; 'return' also hints at the poet's wish to return to his true self after political failure.

长风万里推送归舟

The long wind of ten thousand li speeds the homecoming boat.

承句紧承上句的气势，把「天共流」的阔大，收束成一艘被风推送的归舟。「长风万里」是空间之远，也是畅快之深；一个「送」字，是全诗最温情的炼字——风本无情，此刻却像一位成全者的手，把舟、把人、把归愿一并推送向前。喜悦从「送」字里漫出来：不是人在划水挣扎，而是天地借一阵风替他放行。这不仅写了顺风之利，更写了诗人久被压抑后，忽然感到被成全的释然。「归舟」的「归」，既是舟回，也是心回，暗含他政治失意后渴望回归本真生命的愿望。七个字，景、情、愿俱在其中，是盛唐行旅句法在北宋的一次漂亮回响。

The second line takes up the opening's force, gathering the sky-flowing vastness into one boat sped by the wind. The long wind of ten thousand li is the distance of space, and the depth of the joy; the one word speeds is the poem's warmest polished stroke — the wind by nature feelingless, and now like the hand of one who grants the wish, pushing the boat, the man, the homecoming vow all forward. The joy spills from the word speeds: not the man rowing in struggle, but heaven and earth lending a wind to give him passage. It writes not only the favor of the following wind, but the poet's long-suppressed, sudden release of being favored. The homecoming boat's home is at once the boat's return and the heart's return, carrying his wish, after the political disappointment, to return to the true life. Seven characters, scene, feeling, and vow all within, a fine echo of the high Tang travel line in the Northern Song.

吹入沧溟始自由

The conclusion leaps to the boundless sea. 'Only then am I free' is decisive: freedom is conditional on escaping every confining shore and reaching the infinite. The wind is both real and a symbol of spiritual release.

唯愿吹入沧海方得自由

Only when it blows me into the dark sea am I free.

这是全诗的结穴，也是精神腾跃的最高点。前两句写眼前的顺风之喜，这一句却把喜意推向无穷——「应愁」晚泊喧卑，「唯愿」吹入沧溟。一个「应愁」作反衬，以假设的拘束，反托出对自由的渴慕；「始自由」三字斩钉截铁，把遇风之乐升华为对精神无垠之境的向往。沧溟是大海，更是庄子笔下鲲鹏所托的逍遥之境；「始」字表明，唯有挣脱岸渚、驶入浩瀚，人才算真正自由。这已不只是写行旅，而是借一阵风，说出久被束缚者共同的心声。二十八字到此收住，而那阵把人吹向沧海的长风，却久久不散，是苏舜钦不肯伏枥的豪气最凝练的宣言。

This is the close of the poem, and the highest leap of the spirit. The first two lines write the present joy of the following wind, and this line pushes the joy to the infinite: I would fear the noisy shallow landing at dusk, and wish only to be blown into the dark sea. The one word would-fear sets the contrast, the imagined restraint set against the thirst for freedom; the three characters only-am-I-free are decisive, raising the joy of meeting the wind into the longing for the boundless spiritual realm. The dark sea is the great ocean, and more, the roc's carefree realm of Zhuangzi; the word only shows that only when one breaks from the shore and enters the vastness is the man truly free. This is no longer writing travel, but borrowing a gust of wind to speak the common voice of the long-bound. Twenty-eight characters close, and yet that long wind blowing the man to the dark sea does not disperse, the most compressed declaration of Su Shunqin's refusal to be stabled.

Study

Word focus

浩荡 Vast, surging; describes water in full flood. Here it establishes the poem's broad, powerful scale and mirrors the poet's expansive spirit. 起句「浩荡清淮天共流」的「浩荡」二字，是奠定全篇气象的基石。它形容水势之盛大、之奔涌、之不可拘束，本常用于写江河湖海，苏舜钦用来写淮河，立刻把一条寻常水道写出了吞吐天地的气魄。这个词的份量，在于它不只是一种视觉的阔，更是一种精神的阔——「浩荡」与诗人「胸次浩然」的人格同构，水之浩荡即是人之浩荡。若换作「漫漫」「汤汤」，要么失之平淡，要么流于古奥，都难有「浩荡」这种既雄且畅、带着一股意气往外冲的力道。一词落定，全诗基调便雄健起来，也为后文「长风万里」「吹入沧溟」的层层放大，铺下了第一个、也是最根本的尺度。

送 A key expression in this poem; read it with the Chinese note below. 「长风万里送归舟」的「送」字，是全诗最温润的一个炼字。风本无情之物，吹拂而已；诗人却着一「送」字，顿时赋予长风以人意——它不是冷漠地刮过，而是像一位成全者，殷勤地把舟、把人、把那桩归愿一并往前推送。这个字把客观的行旅之利，写成了天地对困顿者的眷顾，喜悦与释然便从字里渗出来。更妙的是，「送」与下文的「自由」形成因果链条：因为风「送」，所以能脱离岸渚拘束、驶向沧溟；一个温情的动词，悄悄把物理的顺风，转换成了精神的放行。苏舜钦写豪健，却不粗豪，「送」字正见其刚中有柔、气中有情的一面。

始 A key expression in this poem; read it with the Chinese note below. 结句「吹入沧溟始自由」的「始」字，是全诗逻辑与情感的最后落点，分量极重。它表示「才、方才」，意味着自由的获得是有条件的、是排他性的——唯有驶入那片浩瀚的沧溟，人才算真正自由；在此之前，无论晚泊何处，都仍是「喧卑地」的拘束。这个字把全诗的渴望收紧成一道门槛：不是一般的畅快就算自由，而是必须挣脱一切岸渚、抵达无垠，才配称自由。它与前面的「应愁」构成对照，一反一正，把「自由」二字抬到精神解脱的高度。一字之决，使这首小诗从「遇风之喜」跃升为「生命之问」，是苏舜钦以豪写郁、以景写理的关键一笔。