宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric
浪淘沙令·伊吕两衰翁
Lang Tao Sha Ling: The Two Old Men Yi and Lü
伊吕两衰翁。
历遍穷通。
一为钓叟一耕佣。
若使当时身不遇，老了英雄。
汤武偶相逢。
风虎云龙。
兴王祗在笑谈中。
直至如今千载后，谁与争功。
knew both poverty and success.
One was a fisherman, the other a hired plowman.
Had they not met their lords in time, they would have grown old unknown — these heroes.
Then Tang and Wu came upon them by chance,
wind rising for the tiger, clouds gathering for the dragon.
Founding a dynasty took no more than a laugh and a word;
and even now, a thousand years on, who could dispute their merit?
Meaning
The lyric celebrates Yi Yin and Lü Wang: one a fisherman, the other a farmhand, both might have died in obscurity had chance not brought them to Tang of Shang and Wu of Zhou — yet once they met, founding dynasties took no more than a laugh. The poem argues that opportunity decides a hero's fate, and its closing question — who could dispute their merit a thousand years on — voices Wang Anshi's own ambition to match their achievement.
伊尹和吕望，是两位年老（而晚达）的贤人，一生历尽了穷困与显达。一个曾是渭水垂钓的钓叟，一个曾是田间耕作的佣人。假使当时遇不到明主，英雄也只能老死于草野之中。商汤与周武王偶然与他们相逢，于是如虎生风、龙腾云般风云际会。兴王定国的大事，只在谈笑之间便已成就。直到千年之后的今天，又有谁能与他们争功业之高下？
Appreciation
[Plain Paraphrase] Yi Yin and Lü Wang, the two old men, knew both poverty and success: one had been a fisherman, the other a hired plowman. Had they not met their lords in time, they would have grown old unknown — these heroes. Then Tang and Wu came upon them by chance, wind rising for the tiger and clouds gathering for the dragon; founding a dynasty took no more than a laugh and a word, and even now, a thousand years on, who could dispute their merit? [Structure] The upper stanza writes poverty, the lower stanza success, with the hypothetical — had they not met their lords — as the hinge between them. The argument moves from what might have been lost to what was won, and the closing rhetorical question lands the boast. [Imagery and Diction] There is little landscape; the images are historical ones — the fisherman, the plowman, wind and cloud, tiger and dragon — pressed into short, hard sentences. The words for by chance and merely form the pair on which the whole argument turns: the meeting was accidental, the success effortless, and the merit unassailable.
【白话串讲】 王安石写浪淘沙令：“伊吕两衰翁。历遍穷通”——伊尹、吕尚两个老翁。“一为钓叟一耕佣”——“若使当时身不遇，老了英雄”——“汤武偶相逢。风虎云龙”——“兴王祗在笑谈中”——他写英雄遇时。 【意象与手法】 以议论写史、借史言志：「若使当时身不遇，老了英雄」以假设立论，写机遇之重；「风虎云龙」用《周易》之典，气象雄阔；「兴王祗在笑谈中」以夸张写建功之易；「谁与争功」以反问收束，豪气干云。章法上片写穷、下片写通，先分后合，语言简劲，多用短句，节奏铿锵。 【情感与主旨】 咏伊尹、吕望晚遇明主、成就王业之事，寄寓王安石以伊吕自比的襟怀：既叹机遇之难逢，复见功业之自信。「老了英雄」之叹与「谁与争功」之豪，正是这位政治家「拗相公」胸襟抱负的直接写照。 【名句点睛】 「若使当时身不遇，老了英雄」为千古警策：以假设句将英雄成败系于机遇，议论精警，情理兼胜，既咏古人之幸，亦自期自励。
Background
Wang Anshi (1021–1086), courtesy name Jiefu and studio name Banshan, was a native of Linchuan in Fuzhou (present-day Jiangxi). A statesman, thinker and writer of the Northern Song, he twice served as chancellor under Emperor Shenzong and led the Xining Reforms; late in life he retired to Jinling and was enfeoffed as Duke of Jing. One of the Eight Masters of Tang-and-Song prose, he is also a major ci poet. This lyric on Yi Yin and Lü Wang is read as a self-portrait: like those ancient ministers, Wang rose to serve a sovereign who would entrust him with reform, and the poem's lament for unrecognized heroes and its boast of unsurpassed merit both echo his own reforming ambition.
王安石（1021—1086），字介甫，号半山，抚州临川（今江西抚州）人，北宋政治家、思想家、文学家，神宗朝两度拜相，主持熙宁变法，晚年罢相退居金陵，封荆国公，世称王荆公，为「唐宋八大家」之一。这首《浪淘沙令》咏历史人物伊尹与吕望（姜太公），借咏史以抒怀。伊尹本为有莘氏之陪嫁臣仆（一说为庖人、耕奴），后佐商汤灭夏建商，为商初一代贤相；吕望年老时垂钓于渭水之滨，周文王出猎相遇，载与俱归，后辅佐武王灭商，封于齐。二人皆出身微贱而晚年得遇明主，成就不世之功，故词称「伊吕两衰翁，历遍穷通」。王安石以伊吕自比，正因其一生亦以「致君尧舜」自期、以变法图强自任：他主持熙宁变法，欲行「大有为」之政，与伊吕辈同其怀抱。此词具体作年不可确考，或作于熙宁年间身居相位、推行新政之时，或作于罢相退隐金陵之后——无论何时，词中「若使当时身不遇，老了英雄」的机遇之叹与「直至如今千载后，谁与争功」的功业之豪，皆是这位「拗相公」胸襟抱负的直接写照。
Art
The lyric's art is discursive: it argues rather than describes, making it a model of the historical lyric used to voice personal ambition. The upper stanza establishes poverty, the lower stanza success, with the hypothetical — had they not met their lords — as the hinge between them. Diction is hard and short — old men, fisherman, farmhand, by chance, a laugh and a word — each phrase landing like a hammer blow. Exaggeration (founding a dynasty took no more than a laugh) and the closing rhetorical question give the poem its sweeping, heroic momentum, and the short, punchy lines make it read like a proof in verse.
此词咏史而不滞于史，以议论写史、以史事明志，是词中「咏史言志」的典范。上片分写伊吕二人之「穷」：「伊吕两衰翁，历遍穷通」总起，点出二人一生穷通之境；「一为钓叟一耕佣」分写其微贱出身——一个渭水钓叟，一个田间耕佣，如画如见。下片转写其「通」与功业：「汤武偶相逢」点出遇合之关键，着一「偶」字，机遇之偶然尽在其中；「风虎云龙」四字用《周易》「云从龙，风从虎」之典，写明君贤臣风云际会，气象阔大；「兴王祗在笑谈中」以夸张之笔写建功之易——既遇明主，则兴王定国不过谈笑之间，举重若轻；「直至如今千载后，谁与争功」以反问收束，豪气干云。结构上，上片写穷、下片写通，先分后合，对照鲜明；其间「若使当时身不遇，老了英雄」以假设句插入，是全词机杼所在：若无汤武之遇，则英雄老死草野——机遇之于英雄，其重如此。全词语言简劲明快，多用短句，节奏铿锵，议论纵横，正是王安石「拗相公」以词言志的本色。
Allusions
Every allusion is historical and exact. Yi Yin served Tang, the founder of the Shang, rising — according to Mencius — from plowing in the wilderness of Youshen; Lü Wang, or Jiang Taigong, fished by the Wei River in old age until King Wen of Zhou met him and took him home, and later aided King Wu in overthrowing the Shang. Tang and Wu are those two founding kings. Wind for the tiger, cloud for the dragon comes from the Book of Changes, where clouds follow the dragon and wind follows the tiger — the natural resonance between sage ruler and worthy minister. Raising a kingly mandate means establishing a dynasty. Six layers of history compressed into sixty characters — every word grounded, every line an argument: the hallmark of Wang Anshi's scholarly precision.
此词用典皆关史事，精确而有力。其一，「伊吕」：伊尹名挚，商初贤相，相传为有莘氏媵臣，曾耕于有莘之野（《孟子》「伊尹耕于有莘之野，而乐尧舜之道焉」），后佐商汤灭夏；吕望即姜尚、姜太公，年老钓于渭水，周文王出猎遇之，载与俱归（《史记·齐太公世家》），后辅武王灭商。二人一商一周，皆起于微贱、成于晚遇，故并称。其二，「钓叟耕佣」：「钓叟」用渭水垂钓之典，相传姜太公钓于渭滨，「以渔钓奸周西伯」；「耕佣」用伊尹耕于有莘之野或为庖人之典。其三，「汤武」：商汤与周武王，伊尹之遇商汤、吕望之遇文武，皆君臣相得的典范。其四，「风虎云龙」：《周易·乾·文言》「云从龙，风从虎，圣人作而万物睹」，以龙虎风云喻圣主贤臣之感应相从，此词用之，气象雄阔。其五，「兴王」：兴起王业之意，指伊吕辅佐汤武建立王业。其六，「浪淘沙令」为词牌，唐教坊曲《浪淘沙》之变体。六重故实，熔铸于六十字中，字字有据而语语见志，正是荆公「用事精严」的学人本色。
Commentary
This lyric is Wang Anshi's masterpiece of historical verse, twinned with his Gui Zhi Xiang (Climbing the Terrace at Jinling) as the two jewels of his ci. The couplet — had they not met their lords in time, they would have grown old unknown — has been quoted ever since: it ties a hero's fate to opportunity, and readers have heard in it the poet's own reckoning — he met his Shenzong and attempted his reforms, and founding a dynasty in a laugh and a word is the confidence of that attempt echoing in verse. In the history of the genre, its discursive, argumentative manner descends from Fan Zhongyan's boldness and opens the way for Su Shi's and Xin Qiji's historical lyrics. Liu Xizai's verdict in the Yigai — lean and hard, penetrating to the spirit — fits it like a glove.
此词是王安石咏史词的代表作，与《桂枝香·金陵怀古》并为荆公词双璧。《桂枝香》以登临怀古写六朝兴亡，悲慨沉雄，是「豪放」之先声；此词则以咏史自况写君臣际遇，明快豪健，是「言志」之绝唱。词中「若使当时身不遇，老了英雄」一联，历来为人传诵：它把英雄成败系于机遇，既是对伊吕身世的概括，更是王安石对自身际遇的体认——他一生得遇神宗，行其变法，虽终遭挫折，然「兴王祗在笑谈中」的自信与「谁与争功」的豪气，正是其「三不足畏」（天变不足畏、祖宗不足法、人言不足恤）精神在词中的回响。就词史而言，此词以议论入词、以史事言志，上承范仲淹《渔家傲》之悲壮，下开苏轼《念奴娇》、辛弃疾《永遇乐》之咏史怀古一脉，是词体由婉约向豪放转变过程中的重要一环。读此词，可见一个政治家的胸襟如何在词中化为风雷之声。清人刘熙载《艺概》评荆公词「瘦硬通神」，此词议论如铁、声情如雷，正是「瘦硬通神」四字的绝佳注脚。
Prosody
Line by line
伊吕两衰翁。
Yi Yin and Lü Wang, the two old men.
伊尹和吕望，是两位年老的贤人。
Yi Yin and Lü Wang, two aging old men.
起句五字，点出全词所咏的两位人物，而以「衰翁」称之，颇具匠心。伊尹、吕望皆商周开国元勋，功业彪炳，然王安石不称其「圣」「贤」，而称「衰翁」——衰者，老也。二人得遇明主时皆已年老：伊尹佐汤，年已不轻；吕望遇文王，相传已八十余岁，故有「太公八十遇文王」之说。以「衰翁」起笔，正为后文「若使当时身不遇，老了英雄」张本：英雄之「衰」，恰见机遇之珍贵——若无汤武之遇，这两位衰翁便只能老死于钓竿、耕犁之间。且「两」字将伊吕并提，一商一周、相隔数百年，而遭遇相同，正见「穷通」之数非一人独有，为下句「历遍穷通」作注。起句平实而含机锋，是荆公「以议论为词」的开篇。
The opening five characters name the two men the ci sings of, and call them aging old men with craft. Yi Yin and Lü Wang both the founding pillars of Shang and Zhou, their achievements brilliant, and yet Wang Anshi does not call them sage or worthy, but aging old men — old means aged. The two were already old when they met their wise lords: Yi Yin assisting Tang was no longer young; Lü Wang meeting King Wen was said to be over eighty, hence the saying of the Grand Duke meeting King Wen at eighty. The opening on the aging old men precisely stores ground for the if in those times they had not met below: the heroes' aging precisely shows the rarity of opportunity — without the meeting with Tang and Wu, these two old men would have died old between fishing rod and plow. Moreover, the two words set Yi and Lü side by side, one Shang one Zhou, centuries apart, and the same lot, showing that the rule of fortune and ruin is not one man's alone, annotating the below having known the extremes of fortune and ruin. The opening plain and yet hiding the stroke, the model of Wang Anshi's opening argument-as-ci.
若使当时身不遇，老了英雄。
Had they not met their lords in time, they would have grown old unknown — these heroes.
假使当时遇不到明主，英雄也只能老死于草野之中。
If in those times they had not met the right lord, the heroes would have grown old in vain.
此为全词机杼所在，亦是咏史之警策。两句以假设立论：假使伊尹、吕望当时不遇商汤、周武，那么纵是英雄，也只能默默老死于钓竿耕犁之间——「老了英雄」四字，如一声长叹，写尽英雄不得其时之悲。「老了」二字最是沉痛：不是「老死」，不是「埋没」，而是眼睁睁看着英雄在岁月中老去，才华与抱负一同消磨——老，是英雄最残酷的敌人。此语既是对伊吕的庆幸之论（幸其得遇），更是王安石的自期自励：他一生以伊吕自比，正因深知情逢明主之难、英雄迟暮之悲。两句以假设翻进一层，将「机遇」二字提到决定英雄成败的高度，议论精警，情理兼胜，遂成千古名句。
This is the ci's loom, and the aphorism of the historical ode. The two lines argue on the hypothesis: if Yi Yin and Lü Wang in those times had not met Tang of Shang and King Wu of Zhou, then heroes though they were, they would have grown old in silence between the fishing rod and the plow — the four words grown old in vain like a long sigh, exhausting the grief of the hero born out of his time. The two words grown old are the most grief-stricken: not died of age, not buried away, but watching the hero grow old in the years, the talent and the ambition worn away together — old age, the hero's cruelest enemy. The words are at once the congratulation on Yi and Lü's meeting, and the self-expectation and self-exhortation of Wang Anshi: he took Yi and Lü for himself all his life, precisely because he knew how hard it is to meet the wise lord, and the grief of the hero's twilight. The two lines advance one layer on the hypothesis, raising opportunity to the height of deciding the hero's success or failure, the argument incisive, reason and feeling together, hence the famous line through the ages.
汤武偶相逢。
By chance Tang and Wu came upon them.
（他们）偶然与商汤、周武王相逢。
By chance they met with Tang of Shang and King Wu of Zhou.
「汤武偶相逢」五字，是全词转捩之关键，亦是咏史的题眼。「汤武」指商汤与周武王，伊尹逢汤、吕望逢武，君臣遇合，遂成王业；「偶」字最见深意——遇合之「偶」，写尽历史机遇的偶然性：汤未必非遇伊尹，武未必非遇吕望，然既遇之，则君臣相得、风云际会，天下之势遂定。王安石于「偶」字上用力，正见其历史观：英雄之成，半由才志，半由机遇；「偶相逢」三字，是对「若使当时身不遇」假设的正面回答——幸而相逢，故英雄不「老」；若不逢，则老矣。五字承接上片之「穷」、开启下片之「通」，如关锁然，一开一合，章法谨严。而「偶」字背后，亦隐然有荆公自幸得遇神宗、行其新政的庆幸在焉。
The five characters met by chance with Tang of Shang and King Wu of Zhou are the ci's key turn, and the eye of the historical ode. Tang Wu means Tang of Shang and King Wu of Zhou, Yi Yin met Tang, Lü Wang met Wu, lord and minister meeting, and the royal achievement done; the word by chance is the deepest — the meeting's chance, writing the accident of historical opportunity: Tang need not have met Yi Yin, Wu need not have met Lü Wang, and yet once met, the lord and minister matched, the wind and clouds gathered, the realm's fate settled. Wang Anshi works on the word chance, precisely showing his view of history: the hero's making, half talent and will, half opportunity; the three words met by chance are the positive answer to the hypothesis if they had not met — fortunately they met, hence the heroes did not grow old; if not met, they would have aged. The five characters inherit the ruin above and open the fortune below, like a lock and key, opening and closing, the craft tight. And behind the word chance, there also hides Wang's own gladness at meeting Emperor Shenzong and carrying out the new policies.
风虎云龙。
Wind rose for the tiger, clouds gathered for the dragon.
如虎生风、龙腾云起（明君贤臣风云际会）。
Wind with the tiger, cloud with the dragon.
「风虎云龙」四字，用《周易·乾·文言》「云从龙，风从虎，圣人作而万物睹」之典，写明君贤臣的感应相从，是全词气象最阔大处。虎啸生风，龙腾从云——以虎龙喻英雄，以风云喻际会，汤武与伊吕之遇合，遂如天地自然之感应，非人力可强，亦非偶然可轻。四字独立成句，音节铿锵，如金石相击，气象雄阔，正与「兴王」之业相称。较之「君臣遇合」的直说，「风虎云龙」以自然意象写人事，将历史之必然（圣主贤臣相须）寓于自然之象（风云龙虎相从），理趣与气象兼得，是荆公以经传之语入词而能浑化无痕的典范。四字一出，上片「衰翁」「钓叟」「耕佣」的贫贱气象，至此一扫而空，英雄得志的堂堂之概，如在目前。
The four characters wind with the tiger, cloud with the dragon borrow the Book of Changes' the cloud follows the dragon, the wind follows the tiger, the sage arises and all eyes are upon him, writing the response and following of the wise lord and the able minister, the ci's vastest bearing. The tiger's roar breeds wind, the dragon's flight draws cloud — the tiger and dragon for the heroes, the wind and cloud for the meeting, and the meeting of Tang-Wu and Yi-Lü becomes the natural response of heaven and earth, not to be forced by man, not to be dismissed as chance. The four words standing as a line, the syllables ringing like metal and stone struck, the bearing vast, matching the founding achievement. Compared with the plain saying of lord and minister meeting, wind-tiger-cloud-dragon writes human affairs through natural images, lodging the historical necessity (wise lord and able minister requiring each other) in the natural image (cloud and wind following dragon and tiger), reason and bearing together, the model of Wang Anshi's turning the classics into the ci without a trace. Once the four words appear, the first stanza's poor images of the old man, the angler, the plowman are swept away, and the grand bearing of the hero in his prime stands as before the eyes.
兴王祗在笑谈中。
Founding a dynasty took no more than a laugh and a word.
兴王定国的大事，只在谈笑之间便已成就。
The founding of the royal house lay only in a jest and a chat.
「兴王祗在笑谈中」七字，写伊吕建功之易，是全词最豪迈处。兴王者，兴起王业、奠定天下也；「祗在笑谈中」言其不过谈笑之间便已成就——既遇明主、风云际会，则运筹帷幄、决胜千里，皆如等闲。以「笑谈」写军国大事，举重若轻，正见英雄之从容：诸葛孔明「谈笑间，樯橹灰飞烟灭」同此豪情。然细味之，「祗在」二字亦含深意：功业之成，似易实难——难在遇，不在为；一旦得遇明主，则平天下如探囊取物。王安石自任变法，其推行新政、富国强兵之志，正与此「笑谈」气概相通；而「祗」字（只）的口语化，亦见荆公词「以文为词」的平易风致。七字豪而不夸、快而不浮，是咏史词中难得的「得意之笔」。
The seven characters the founding of the royal house lay only in a jest and a chat write the ease of Yi and Lü's achievement, the ci's boldest place. The founding means raising the royal house and settling the realm; the words only in a jest and a chat mean it was done in the space of a chat — once the wise lord met, the wind and clouds gathered, and the planning in the tent and the victory a thousand li away were all as nothing. Writing the affairs of state through the jest and the chat, the weight borne lightly, precisely showing the hero's ease: Zhuge Liang's the oars and sails burned to ash amid the jests and songs the same ardor. And savor it: the two words only also carry depth — the achievement's seeming ease and real difficulty, the difficulty in the meeting, not in the doing; once the wise lord is met, the pacifying of the realm is like taking a thing from the pocket. Wang Anshi taking the reforms on himself, his will for the new policies and the rich and strong army is precisely of this jest-and-chat temper; and the colloquial only shows the plain grace of Wang's ci in prose. Seven characters bold without boast, quick without frivolity, the rare achieved stroke among historical odes.
直至如今千载后，谁与争功。
Even now, a thousand years later, who could dispute their merit?
直到千年之后的今天，又有谁能与他们争功业之高下。
Even now, a thousand years later, who can contest their achievement?
结拍以反问收束，是全词豪气之极处。「直至如今千载后」写时间之绵长：伊吕之业，历经千载而弥新；「谁与争功」以反问作结，无人能争——伊吕辅佐汤武、奠定商周八百载基业，其功之高，千载之下无人可及。这一问，问得斩钉截铁，气吞古今，正是王安石「拗相公」的口气：他有伊吕之志、行伊吕之事，故敢为伊吕作此断言——与其说是咏史，不如说是自许。然「直至如今」四字，亦暗含一丝历史的苍凉：千载之下，谁还记得当年钓叟耕佣？幸而有汤武之遇，故英雄不朽；设若身不遇，则「老了英雄」而已。上片的假设与下片的断言，至此遥相呼应，全词咏史言志之意，尽在「谁与争功」一问之中，戛然而止，余响不绝。
The close ends in the rhetorical question, the ci's extreme boldness. Even now, a thousand years later writes the length of time: Yi and Lü's achievement, the thousand years passing and yet the fresher; who can contest their achievement? closes in the question, no one can contest — Yi and Lü assisting Tang and Wu, laying the eight-hundred-year foundation of Shang and Zhou, their achievement's height beyond the reach of a thousand years. The question decisive, the breath swallowing past and present, precisely the tone of Wang Anshi the stubborn minister: he has Yi and Lü's will and does Yi and Lü's deeds, hence he dares pronounce this verdict for Yi and Lü — it is less an ode of history than a self-claim. And the four words even now also hide a thread of historical bleakness: a thousand years on, who remembers the angler and the plowman? Fortunately the meeting with Tang and Wu, hence the heroes immortal; if unmet, then only grown old in vain. The first stanza's hypothesis and the second's verdict here echo each other, and the ci's ode-of-history and self-assertion all lie within the question who can contest their achievement, ending abruptly, the afternote winding.
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Gui Zhi Xiang, written on a climb at Jinling, surveys the ruins of the Six Dynasties and ends in somber reflection on the law of decline — the old affairs of the Six Dynasties flow away with the current, and the cold mist and sad grass linger. This lyric turns instead to personal aspiration, closing with a thousand years on, who could dispute their merit?. One writes the universal law of rise and fall, the other the individual's resolve; together they show the two brushes of Wang's ci.
《桂枝香·金陵怀古》与《浪淘沙令·伊吕两衰翁》同出王安石之手，而境界有别：《桂枝香》作于金陵（南京）登临怀古之时，以「六朝旧事随流水」「至今商女，时时犹唱，后庭遗曲」写兴亡之悲，悲慨沉雄，登高望远而寄慨遥深，是咏史怀古之正宗；《浪淘沙令》作意则在咏史言志，以伊吕自比，写「若使当时身不遇，老了英雄」的机遇之叹与「谁与争功」的功业之豪，明快豪健。一写「兴亡」之普遍规律，一写「遇合」之个人怀抱；一悲慨、一豪迈。合观二词，可见王安石词的两副笔墨，亦见其「咏史」一体从怀古伤今到言志自许的深化。
念奴娇·赤壁怀古 Nian Nu Jiao: Reminiscing on the Red Cliff 苏轼 · 咏史怀古的两种气象 Both write heroes and merit through historical meditation, but one ends in emptiness, the other in assertion.Su Shi remembers Zhou Yu — amid laughter and talk, the enemy towers and masts turned to smoke and ash — and dissolves heroic glory into life is like a dream; a cup poured to the moon on the river. Wang Anshi remembers Yi Yin and Lü Wang and fixes their merit as unassailable: a thousand years on, who could dispute it?. One is the onlooker's sigh, the other the statesman's pledge — the two poles of Song historical lyric.
苏轼《念奴娇·赤壁怀古》「大江东去，浪淘尽，千古风流人物……谈笑间，樯橹灰飞烟灭」与王安石《浪淘沙令》同写英雄功业，而气象迥异：苏轼怀周郎，以「人生如梦，一尊还酹江月」作结，于功业之雄豪中归于历史的苍凉与人生的虚幻，旷达而悲慨；王安石咏伊吕，以「谁与争功」断言，于英雄之遇合中归于功业的不朽与自信，明快而豪健。一以江水之流逝写英雄之淘尽，一以千载之不朽写功业之难争；一为词人之怀古（旁观者之叹），一为政治家之咏史（当事人之志）。二词同以议论入词、同写历史人物，而一虚一实、一悲一豪，恰见宋词咏史的两大走向。
赤壁 Red Cliff 杜牧 · 机遇与功业的咏史母题 Both use counterfactual history to show how much chance decides success or failure.Du Mu writes Had the east wind not favored the Young Lord, the two Qiao sisters would have been locked away in the Bronze Bird Tower — a witty, understated Tang-style conjecture about chance. Wang Anshi writes Had they not met their lords in time, they would have grown old unknown — a direct, argumentative Song-style proposition. One is suggestive and oblique, the other analytical and declarative; together they show the difference between Tang and Song historical verse on the same theme of chance.
杜牧《赤壁》「折戟沉沙铁未销，自将磨洗认前朝。东风不与周郎便，铜雀春深锁二乔」与王安石《浪淘沙令》同以假设写机遇之于成败的关键，而旨趣有别：杜牧以「东风不与周郎便」设问，言赤壁之战若无东风之便，则二乔将锁于铜雀台——以小见大，以闺中事写军国事，机警含蓄；王安石以「若使当时身不遇，老了英雄」立论，言伊吕若无汤武之遇则英雄终老——以议论直说，以人生事写君臣事，明快警策。一为唐人咏史之含蓄（借物兴叹），一为宋人咏史之理趣（以议立骨）；一婉一直，恰可见唐宋咏史诗风之别，而「机遇决定成败」的母题，则一以贯之。