宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric
江城子·江景
Jiangchengzi: A River Scene
凤凰山下雨初晴。
水风清。
晚霞明。
一朵芙蕖，开过尚盈盈。
何处飞来双白鹭，如有意，慕娉婷。
忽闻江上弄哀筝。
苦含情，遣谁听。
烟敛云收，依约是湘灵。
欲待曲终寻问取，人不见，数峰青。
The wind on the water is cool,
the sunset glow is bright.
A single lotus, past its flowering, still stands full and fair.
Where have this pair of white egrets flown from — as if on purpose, admiring her graceful form?
Suddenly I hear a mournful zheng on the river.
Bitter with feeling — for whose ears is it played?
Mist draws in, clouds close up — faintly, it must be the Xiang fairy.
I wait for the tune to end to ask after her — but the person is gone; only the blue-green peaks remain.
Meaning
After rain below Phoenix Mountain, West Lake is all light: cool wind, bright sunset, a lotus past its prime still full of beauty, and a pair of egrets that seem to admire her. Then a mournful zheng drifts from the water; when the poet would find the player, she has vanished like the Xiang fairy, leaving only blue-green peaks. The lyric turns a perfect evening into a meditation on beauty glimpsed and lost.
凤凰山下，雨过初晴。水风清，晚霞明。一朵芙蕖，开过尚盈盈。何处飞来双白鹭，如有意，慕娉婷。忽闻江上弄哀筝。苦含情，遣谁听。烟敛云收，依约是湘灵。欲待曲终寻问取，人不见，数峰青。
Appreciation
[Plain Paraphrase] Below Phoenix Mountain the rain has just cleared; the wind on the water is cool, the sunset bright. One lotus, past flowering, is still full and fair. Where did the pair of white egrets come from — as if on purpose, to admire her grace? Suddenly a mournful zheng on the river, bitter with feeling, played for no one. Mist and clouds close in; it must be the Xiang fairy. I wait for the tune's end to ask after her — the person is gone; only the blue-green peaks. [Structure] Two movements, like the two sides of an evening: the upper stanza is pure bright scene — mountain, water, wind, sunset, lotus, egrets — each line a fresh color; the lower stanza introduces sound, and sound introduces absence. The lyric's turn comes at one phrase: hu wen ('suddenly I hear'). Everything after is the slow dissolving of that music into silence and then into mountains. [Imagery] The upper stanza's brightness is deliberate: the brighter the lotus and the egrets' play, the deeper the chill when the zheng begins — the classic technique of writing grief in the midst of joy. The egrets are given desire ('as if on purpose, admiring her graceful form'), so even the birds fall in love with the scene; then the musician turns out to be a goddess who cannot be found, and the final color — the green of the peaks — holds the whole lyric's longing in one word.
【白话串讲】 苏轼写《江城子·江景》：“凤凰山下雨初晴”——“一朵芙蕖，开过尚盈盈”——“何处飞来双白鹭，如有意，慕娉婷”——“忽闻江上弄哀筝”——“欲待曲终寻问取，人不见，数峰青”——他在西湖听筝。 【意象与手法】 此词是苏轼写西湖景致与江上筝声的名篇，写凤凰山下的湖山胜景与江上弄筝的哀音，是苏轼词中「以景写情」的名篇。上片写景：「凤凰山下雨初晴，水风清，晚霞明」写雨后的湖山；「一朵芙蕖，开过尚盈盈」写湖中的荷花；「何处飞来双白鹭，如有意，慕娉婷」写白鹭慕花的生趣。下片写筝声：「忽闻江上弄哀筝，苦含情，遣谁听」写江上哀筝的凄清；「烟敛云收，依约是湘灵」写筝声如湘灵；「欲待曲终寻问取，人不见，数峰青」写曲终人杳、唯有数峰青，是千古名句。全词以湖山胜景与哀筝写「人不见，数峰青」的怅惘，是苏轼「以景写情」的名篇。 【情感与主旨】 此词约作于宋神宗熙宁五年（1072）前后，时苏轼任杭州通判，游西湖。据记载，此词写于西湖凤凰山（今杭州凤凰山）下的湖上，写雨后湖山与江上筝声。词中「凤凰山下雨初晴，水风清，晚霞明」写雨后的湖山——凤凰山下，雨过初晴，水风清、晚霞明，写尽湖山的明丽；「一朵芙蕖，开过尚盈盈」写湖中的荷花——一朵芙蕖（荷花），开过尚盈盈（丰盈），写尽荷花的明丽；「何处飞来双白鹭，如有意，慕娉婷」写白鹭慕花——何处飞来一双白鹭，如有所意，慕那娉婷（荷花），写尽白鹭慕花的生趣；「忽闻江上弄哀筝，苦含情，遣谁听」写江上哀筝——忽闻江上有人弄哀筝，苦含情（筝声饱含深情），遣谁听（弹给谁听），写尽筝声的凄清；「烟敛云收，依约是湘灵」写筝声如湘灵——烟敛云收，那筝声依约（隐约）是湘灵（湘水女神，善鼓瑟），写尽筝声的哀婉；「欲待曲终寻问取，人不见，数峰青」写曲终人杳——欲待曲终寻问那弄筝人，却人不见，唯有数峰青，那「人不见，数峰青」写尽曲终人杳的怅惘。全词以「芙蕖」「白鹭」的湖山胜景与「哀筝」「湘灵」的哀音对照，以「人不见，数峰青」写可望而不可即的怅惘，是苏轼「以景写情」的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“欲待曲终寻问取，人不见，数峰青”写曲终人杳、唯有数峰青的怅惘，是千古名句；“一朵芙蕖，开过尚盈盈”写湖中荷花的绰约。
Background
Written around 1072, when Su Shi (1037–1101), having requested a provincial posting to escape the factional struggles of the Wang Anshi reforms, was serving as assistant prefect of Hangzhou. His Hangzhou years (1071–1074) produced his greatest poems on West Lake, of which this is the most lyrical. The setting is the lake below Phoenix Mountain, south-east of Hangzhou, and the closing lines adapt the most famous ending in Tang examination poetry — Qian Qi's 'the tune ends, the person is not seen; on the river, several peaks blue-green.'
此词约作于宋神宗熙宁五年（1072）前后，是苏轼写西湖景致与江上筝声的词。熙宁四年（1071），苏轼因与王安石政见不合，自请外任，通判杭州。在杭州，苏轼常游西湖，写了许多咏西湖的名篇。此词写于西湖凤凰山（今杭州凤凰山，在西湖东南）下的湖上：雨过初晴，苏轼泛舟湖上，见凤凰山下的湖山胜景，又闻江上（湖上）弄筝的哀音，有感而作。词中「凤凰山下雨初晴，水风清，晚霞明」写雨后的湖山——「凤凰山下」写西湖凤凰山，「雨初晴」写雨过初晴，「水风清」写水面的风清，「晚霞明」写晚霞的明丽，那雨后初晴的湖山，写尽西湖的明丽；「一朵芙蕖，开过尚盈盈」写湖中的荷花——「一朵芙蕖」写一朵荷花，「开过尚盈盈」写其开过之后依然丰盈（盈盈写姿态丰盈、亭亭玉立），那「开过尚盈盈」写尽荷花的明丽与生机；「何处飞来双白鹭，如有意，慕娉婷」写白鹭慕花——「何处飞来」写白鹭的忽然飞来，「如有意」写其如有所意，「慕娉婷」写其慕那娉婷的荷花（娉婷写荷花亭亭的姿态），那白鹭慕花，写尽湖上的生趣；「忽闻江上弄哀筝，苦含情，遣谁听」写江上哀筝——「忽闻」写筝声的忽然传来，「弄哀筝」写弹奏哀筝，「苦含情」写筝声饱含深情（苦写极力、深情），「遣谁听」写弹给谁听（那哀筝无人能解），写尽筝声的凄清；「烟敛云收，依约是湘灵」写筝声如湘灵——「烟敛云收」写烟云收敛（筝声起时，烟云都为之收敛），「依约是湘灵」写那筝声依约（隐约）是湘灵（湘水女神，舜之二妃娥皇女英，善鼓瑟），写尽筝声的哀婉（湘灵鼓瑟是哀怨的典故）；「欲待曲终寻问取，人不见，数峰青」写曲终人杳——「欲待曲终寻问取」写欲待曲终去寻找那弄筝人，「人不见，数峰青」写其人不见，唯有数峰青青，那「人不见，数峰青」化用钱起《省试湘灵鼓瑟》「曲终人不见，江上数峰青」，写尽曲终人杳的怅惘。此词是苏轼写西湖胜景与湖上哀音的名篇，那「人不见，数峰青」的怅惘，正是「可望而不可即」的深情，也是理解苏轼杭州时期词风（由豪放渐入清丽）的关键作品。
Art
Four devices carry the lyric. First, the movement from scene to sound: a visual paradise is suddenly pierced by music, and the mood pivots on one verb of hearing. Second, 'writing grief in joy': lotus, egrets, and sunset glow are made as bright as possible so that the mournful zheng lands as a wound; the contrast does the emotional work. Third, personification and divinity: the egrets 'admire' the lotus as if she were a woman, and the unseen player is guessed to be the Xiang fairy — the whole lake is quietly eroticized, beauty everywhere and graspable nowhere. Fourth, the ending: Su Shi compresses Qian Qi's two lines into three clauses — 'the person is gone; only the blue-green peaks' — handing the feeling to landscape, the classic 'ending with scene' that Chinese criticism counts as the hardest and highest close.
此词的艺术特色可从四个层面解析。其一，由景入声的构思。全词以湖山胜景写江上筝声——那「凤凰山下雨初晴」「一朵芙蕖」「双白鹭」的明丽湖景，正是哀筝声起的背景；那「忽闻江上弄哀筝」的筝声，正是湖景中的怅惘，由景入声、情景交融。其二，色彩的明丽与对照。上片「水风清，晚霞明」「一朵芙蕖」「双白鹭」写湖山的明丽——晚霞、芙蕖、白鹭，色彩明丽；下片「弄哀筝」「湘灵」写筝声的哀婉，那明丽的湖景与哀婉的筝声对照，正是「以乐景写哀情」的笔法。其三，以白鹭写生趣。「何处飞来双白鹭，如有意，慕娉婷」以「如有意，慕娉婷」写白鹭慕花的生趣——那白鹭如有所意地慕着娉婷的荷花，拟人而生动，写尽湖上的生趣。其四，以「人不见，数峰青」写怅惘的收束。「欲待曲终寻问取，人不见，数峰青」化用钱起「曲终人不见，江上数峰青」，以「人不见」写弄筝人的杳然，以「数峰青」写湖山的永恒，那「人不见」与「数峰青」的对照，写尽曲终人杳的怅惘，余味悠长。四重手法层层推进，使此词成为苏轼词中「以景写情」的名篇。
Allusions
Furong (lotus) descends from the Chu-ci's 'I gather lotus leaves to make my garment' and the whole Tang tradition of the lotus as purity and beauty; 'ying ying' ('full and fair') echoes the 'Nineteen Old Poems' ('across the slender stream, wordlessly, we cannot speak'), where the word praises a woman's abundance. White egrets recall Du Fu's famous line 'a row of white egrets mounts the clear sky.' Pingting ('graceful') is the standard epithet for a beautiful woman, here transferred to the lotus. The Xiang fairy (Xiang ling) is Ehuang and Nüying, daughters of Yao and wives of Shun, who drowned in the Xiang river and appear on its banks playing the se-zither; Qian Qi's Tang examination poem 'The Xiang Fairy Plays the Se' made her the most famous invisible musician in the language, ending 'the tune ends, the person is not seen; on the river, several peaks blue-green.' Phoenix Mountain carries faint echoes of Li Bai's 'phoenixes roam the phoenix tower' — a mountain whose very name suggests vanished glory.
此词的意象与典故深植于湘灵与湖山传统。「凤凰山下雨初晴，水风清，晚霞明」写雨后的湖山——「凤凰山」写西湖凤凰山（杭州凤凰山，山形如凤，令人想到「凤凰台上凤凰游」（李白《登金陵凤凰台》）的凤凰意象），「雨初晴」写雨过初晴，「水风清」写水面的风清，「晚霞明」写晚霞的明丽，那雨后初晴的湖山，令人想到「水光潋滟晴方好，山色空蒙雨亦奇」（苏轼《饮湖上初晴后雨》）的西湖意象。「一朵芙蕖，开过尚盈盈」写湖中的荷花——「芙蕖」写荷花（《楚辞》「集芙蓉以为裳」，芙蕖是荷的别名），「盈盈」写荷花的丰盈（令人想到「盈盈一水间」的盈盈意象），那「开过尚盈盈」写尽荷花的明丽，令人想到「接天莲叶无穷碧，映日荷花别样红」（杨万里）的荷花意象。「何处飞来双白鹭，如有意，慕娉婷」写白鹭慕花——「白鹭」写白色的水鸟（令人想到「两个黄鹂鸣翠柳，一行白鹭上青天」（杜甫）的白鹭意象），「如有意」写其如有所意，「慕娉婷」写其慕荷花的娉婷（娉婷写女子/荷花的姿态，令人想到「娉婷」的美人意象），那白鹭慕花，正是「物亦有情」的拟人。「忽闻江上弄哀筝，苦含情，遣谁听」写江上哀筝——「弄哀筝」写弹奏哀筝（筝是弦乐器，令人想到「弦弦掩抑声声思」的写筝传统），「苦含情」写筝声饱含深情，那「遣谁听」写无人能解，令人想到「知音少，弦断有谁听」（岳飞《小重山》）的知音意象；「烟敛云收，依约是湘灵」写筝声如湘灵——「湘灵」写湘水女神（舜之二妃娥皇女英，溺于湘水为湘灵，善鼓瑟，令人想到「湘灵鼓瑟」的典故与钱起《省试湘灵鼓瑟》「善鼓云和瑟，常闻帝子灵」），「烟敛云收」写筝声起时烟云收敛，令人想到「曲终收拨当心画」的写乐传统；「欲待曲终寻问取，人不见，数峰青」化用钱起《省试湘灵鼓瑟》「曲终人不见，江上数峰青」——钱起写湘灵鼓瑟曲终人不见、唯江上数峰青青，苏轼以「人不见，数峰青」写弄筝人的杳然与湖山的永恒，那「数峰青」令人想到「青山依旧在」的永恒意象。全词化用《楚辞》、钱起、杜甫、李白的意象与传统，以湖景写筝声、以湘灵写哀音，正是苏轼「以景写情」的本领。
Commentary
The closing three words — 'the person is gone; only the blue-green peaks' — are among the most quoted in Chinese lyric, and the piece is a standard exhibit for the technique of 'ending with scene' (yi jing jie qing). Critics from the Song onward have compared it with Qian Qi's original, agreeing that Su Shi's compression is the greater achievement: where Qian Qi ends a narrative examination poem, Su Shi folds the same perception into a single evening on West Lake. The lyric is often set beside his quatrain 'Drinking on the Lake, After the Rain Clears' ('if West Lake were Xi Shi...') as the two essential Su Shi statements about the lake — one summarizing, one lingering. Modern anthologies print it as the finest short landscape-lyric of his Hangzhou period.
此词历来被推为苏轼写西湖胜景与湖上哀音的名篇，也是「欲待曲终寻问取，人不见，数峰青」这一千古名句的出处。历代论者对此词评价较高：论者多指出此词以凤凰山下的湖山胜景写江上哀筝，以「人不见，数峰青」写曲终人杳的怅惘，是苏轼杭州时期「以景写情」的佳作。在文学史上，此词的特殊价值在于：它以湖山胜景写出了「可望而不可即」的怅惘——那「凤凰山下雨初晴」「一朵芙蕖」「双白鹭」的明丽湖景，写尽了西湖的美好；那「忽闻江上弄哀筝」「依约是湘灵」的哀音，写尽了江上弄筝人的深情；而那「欲待曲终寻问取，人不见，数峰青」更是千古名句——欲待曲终去寻那弄筝人，却人不见，唯有数峰青青，那「人不见」与「数峰青」的对照，写尽了「可望而不可即」的怅惘，正是中国诗歌「以景结情」的最高典范（曲终人不见，江上数峰青）。词中「一朵芙蕖，开过尚盈盈」「何处飞来双白鹭，如有意，慕娉婷」写湖山生趣，是名句；「欲待曲终寻问取，人不见，数峰青」化用钱起诗，更是千古名句。此词与苏轼的《饮湖上初晴后雨》（「欲把西湖比西子」）一样，都是写西湖的名篇，一写湖山胜景、一写湖上哀音。对于今日读者，此词是理解苏轼杭州时期词风与「以景结情」手法的窗口，也是感受中国词「可望而不可即」美学的典范——那盈盈的芙蕖、慕花的白鹭、弄筝的湘灵、青翠的数峰，穿越千年，仍在诉说着一个「人不见」的怅惘与「数峰青」的永恒。
Prosody
Line by line
一朵芙蕖，开过尚盈盈。
A single lotus, past its flowering, still stands full and fair.
一朵荷花，开过之后依然丰盈。
A single lotus, past its full bloom, is still graceful.
这两句是写荷花的名句，以「一朵」写荷花的孤芳，以「开过尚盈盈」写其明丽，画面清新。「一朵芙蕖」写湖中的荷花——那湖中有一朵荷花，「一朵」写其孤芳（万绿丛中一朵荷花，更显其明丽），「芙蕖」是荷花的别名，写尽荷的雅称；「开过尚盈盈」写其开过之后的丰盈——那荷花开过之后，依然盈盈（丰盈、亭亭玉立），「开过」写其已开（不是含苞，而是盛开之后），「尚盈盈」写其依然丰盈——那开过的荷花，不减其盈盈之态，写尽荷花的明丽与生机。这两句的深意在于：它以「一朵」「尚盈盈」写荷花的风姿——那万绿丛中的一朵芙蕖，开过之后依然盈盈，正是西湖夏日最美的景致；而那「开过尚盈盈」更暗含「盛极而衰仍自持」的韵味——荷花虽开过（盛期将过），却依然盈盈，正是「不减风姿」的从容；这「一朵芙蕖，开过尚盈盈」，既是写实（西湖的荷花），也是写那「慕娉婷」的白鹭所慕的对象，更是后文「弄哀筝」的湘灵所对应的美好——那盈盈的荷花，正是湖上美好的象征。以「一朵」写孤芳、以「尚盈盈」写明丽，正是苏轼「以景写情」的本领，也让这两句成为写荷花的名句。
These two lines are the famous writing of the lotus, the single writing the flower's lonely grace, past its full bloom and still graceful, the picture fresh. A single lotus writes the lotus on the lake — the single its lonely charm (one lotus among the green, the more vivid), the hibiscus the lotus's elegant name; past its full bloom, is still graceful writes its fullness after the flowering — the once-flowered the bloom done (not the bud, but the past prime), the still graceful the remaining fullness, the once-open lotus not losing its graceful bearing, writing the flower's brightness and life. The deep meaning: the single and the still graceful write the lotus's charm — the one hibiscus among the green, still graceful after the bloom, precisely the West Lake's fairest summer; the past its full bloom and still graceful further carries the temper of holding oneself even when the prime has passed — the lotus though past bloom still graceful, precisely the unhurried poise. The two lines are at once the real (the West Lake lotus), the object the admiring egret admires, and the beauty answering the Xiang spirit playing the mournful zither below — the graceful lotus is the symbol of the lake's beauty. Writing lonely grace through the single, brightness through the still graceful, Su Shi's way of writing feeling through scene, and the famous lotus lines.
欲待曲终寻问取，人不见，数峰青。
I wait for the tune to end to ask after her — but the person is gone; only the blue-green peaks remain.
欲待曲终去寻找那弄筝人，人却不见，唯有数峰青青。
I would wait for the tune's end and seek the player; she is gone, and only a few peaks stand green.
这三句是全词的点睛之笔，也是千古名句，化用钱起「曲终人不见，江上数峰青」，以「人不见」写弄筝人的杳然，以「数峰青」写湖山的永恒，写尽曲终人杳的怅惘。「欲待曲终寻问取」写寻问的意愿——欲待那曲终之时，去寻找那弄筝之人、问个究竟，「欲待」写其想寻问的意愿，「寻问取」写其要寻问那弄筝人——那哀筝的主人是谁？为何苦含情？那「欲待曲终寻问取」写尽对弄筝人的好奇与追寻；「人不见，数峰青」写曲终人杳——曲终之时，人却不见了，唯有数峰青青，「人不见」写弄筝人的杳然（那弄筝人如湘灵般缥缈，曲终而人杳），「数峰青」写湖山的永恒（那青翠的峰峦依旧），那「人不见」与「数峰青」的对照，写尽怅惘——弄筝人杳然而去，唯有湖山依旧。这三句的深意在于：它以「欲待曲终寻问取」写追寻的热切，以「人不见，数峰青」写追寻的落空——那弄筝人如湘灵般可望而不可即，曲终人杳，唯有数峰青青；那「人不见」与「数峰青」的对照，正是「可望而不可即」的怅惘，也是「以景结情」的最高笔法——不写如何惆怅，而以「数峰青」的永恒收束，让怅惘在青翠的峰峦间绵延。以「寻问取」写追寻、以「数峰青」写落空，正是苏轼「以景结情」的本领，也让这三句成为千古名句。
These three lines are the telling stroke of the ci, the famous couplet, borrowing Qian Qi's the tune ends, the person gone; on the river, a few peaks are green, writing the zither player's vanishing through the person gone, the lake's eternity through the green peaks, the grief of the tune's end and the player's departure. I would wait for the tune's end and seek the player writes the will to seek — at the tune's end, to seek the zither player and ask who she is; the would-wait the will, the seek-the-player the seeking. She is gone, and only a few peaks stand green writes the player's vanishing — at the tune's end, the person gone, only the green peaks; the person gone the player's vanishing (like the Xiang spirit, ethereal, the tune ended and the person gone), the few peaks green the lake's eternity (the green ridges unchanged). The contrast of the person gone and the peaks green exhausts the wistfulness — the player vanished, only the lake unchanged. The deep meaning: the would-wait for the tune's end writes the warmth of the pursuit, the person gone and peaks green the pursuit's emptiness — the player like the Xiang spirit, to be seen and not reached, the tune ended and the person gone, only the green peaks; the contrast of the person gone and the green peaks is precisely the wistfulness of the seen and not reached, and the highest brush of ending feeling in scene — not writing how the grief, but closing in the eternity of the green peaks, letting the wistfulness stretch among the green ridges. Writing the pursuit through the seek, the emptiness through the green peaks, Su Shi's way of ending feeling in scene, and the famous lines.
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The quatrain compares the whole lake to the beauty Xi Shi — light or heavy makeup, always becoming — and captures the lake in a single equivalence. The lyric paints details instead: one lotus, two egrets, and adds sound and loss. Read together they show Su Shi's two registers on the lake: the poem's sweeping, playful generality and the lyric's minute, wistful lingering.
《饮湖上初晴后雨》「水光潋滟晴方好，山色空蒙雨亦奇。欲把西湖比西子，淡妆浓抹总相宜」以「西子」比西湖，写尽西湖的晴雨之美，是苏轼咏西湖的名篇。此词《江城子·江景》则「凤凰山下雨初晴」「一朵芙蕖，开过尚盈盈」，写凤凰山下的湖山胜景与江上哀筝，是苏轼咏西湖的名篇。同为写西湖，一以「欲把西湖比西子」写西湖的总体之美（饮湖上初晴后雨），一以「一朵芙蕖」「双白鹭」写西湖的细部之景（江城子）；一写晴雨的西湖，一写雨后的湖山与哀筝。诗与词对读，可见苏轼咏西湖的两种笔法——诗的概括与词的细腻。
省试湘灵鼓瑟 The Xiang Fairy Plays the Se (examination poem) 钱起 · 同写湘灵鼓瑟曲终人不见 Both write of the Xiang fairy's music ending with the player unseen.Qian Qi's Tang poem ends 'the tune ends, the person is not seen; on the river, several peaks blue-green' — the most famous close of Tang examination poetry. Su Shi transplants the move into a lake evening and compresses it to 'the person is gone; only the blue-green peaks,' relocating eternity from the river to West Lake. The pair is the textbook case of a Tang line reborn inside a Song lyric.
钱起《省试湘灵鼓瑟》「善鼓云和瑟，常闻帝子灵」「曲终人不见，江上数峰青」写湘灵鼓瑟的哀音与曲终人不见的怅惘，是唐人咏湘灵的名篇。此词《江城子·江景》则「烟敛云收，依约是湘灵」「欲待曲终寻问取，人不见，数峰青」，写江上弄筝的哀音与曲终人不见的怅惘，直接化用钱起「曲终人不见，江上数峰青」。同为写「曲终人不见」的怅惘，钱起写湘灵鼓瑟，苏轼写江上弄筝；一以「江上数峰青」写怅惘，一以「数峰青」写怅惘。两诗对读，可见苏轼对钱起名句的化用与再造——从「湘灵鼓瑟」到「江上弄筝」，从「江上数峰青」到「数峰青」，苏轼把钱的「曲终人杳」融入西湖的湖山，写尽「可望而不可即」的怅惘。
水调歌头·明月几时有 Shuidiaogetou: How Long Will the Full Moon Show 苏轼 · 同词人写月写怅惘，一写中秋一写湖上 Both write of moonlit water and longing — one at Mid-Autumn, one on a lake at dusk.Shuidiaogetou answers longing with philosophy — 'men have sorrow and joy, parting and meeting; the moon has its dark and clear' — and closes in transcendence: 'may we be long-enduring, though a thousand li apart, sharing this fine moonlight.' The river-scene lyric lets longing stand unresolved in 'the person is gone; only the blue-green peaks.' The two together show Su Shi's twin modes: the consoling and the inconsolable.
《水调歌头·明月几时有》「人有悲欢离合，月有阴晴圆缺，此事古难全」「但愿人长久，千里共婵娟」写中秋问月的感慨与旷达，是苏轼词中「以哲理写旷达」的名篇。此词《江城子·江景》则「欲待曲终寻问取，人不见，数峰青」，写湖上弄筝的怅惘与「可望而不可即」的深情，是苏轼词中「以景写情」的名篇。同为写月下/湖上的怅惘，一写对「离合」的看破（但愿人长久），一写对「人不见」的怅惘（数峰青）；一以「千里共婵娟」写旷达，一以「数峰青」写绵延。两词对读，可见苏轼抒情词的两种境界——旷达的哲理与深情的怅惘。