沁园春·叠嶂西驰

Meaning

A lyric of the mountains, written by Xin Qiji at his retreat near Boshan, where he had built a little lake called the Yan Lake. The folded peaks gallop westward like ten thousand wheeling horses, ready to turn east; the torrent plunges with leaping pearls, and a little bridge cuts across like a crescent moon. The aging poet, who should be idle, finds Heaven has given him tasks — inspecting the hundred thousand tall pines. His small hut stands outside the shadows of the pines, amid the sound of wind and rain. The peaks vie to show their faces; their morning air is clear and fresh, like the young men of the Xie family in their upright robes, like the stately court of Sima Xiangru. And among them the poet feels a greatness, depth, grace and vigor — as if facing the prose of the Grand Historian. The lyric closes with a question to the future: when will the Yan Lake be finished, its misty waters vast and dim? The poem is a celebration of the mountains as a landscape of heroes, art and history.

叠嶂西驰，万马回旋，众山欲东。正惊湍直下，跳珠倒溅，小桥横截，缺月初弓。老合投闲，天教多事，检校长身十万松。吾庐小，在龙蛇影外，风雨声中。争先见面重重。看爽气朝来三数峰。似谢家子弟，衣冠磊落，相如庭户，车骑雍容。我觉其间，雄深雅健，如对文章太史公。新堤路，问偃湖何日，烟水蒙蒙。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The folded peaks gallop westward, ten thousand horses wheeling, the host of mountains about to turn east. Just then the startled torrent plunges straight down, leaping pearls splash back, a little bridge cuts across — a crescent moon, a bent bow. Old as I am, I should be idle, but Heaven gives me tasks: I inspect the hundred thousand tall pines. My hut is small, outside the shadows of the dragons and serpents, amid the sound of wind and rain. The peaks vie to show their faces, layer on layer; I watch the morning air of two or three peaks, clear and fresh, like the Xie family's young men in upright robes, like Sima Xiangru's court with its stately carriages. I feel among them a greatness, depth, grace and vigor — as if facing the prose of the Grand Historian. On the new dike road I ask: when will the Yan Lake be finished, with its misty waters? [Structure and Thought] The lyric moves from the violent motion of the peaks (the galloping horses, the plunging torrent) through the poet's place among them (the small hut, the pines, the wind and rain) to the transformation of the mountains into art and history (the Xie family, Sima Xiangru, the Grand Historian), and closes with the question of the Yan Lake. [Key Technique] The poem's art is the successive transformation of the landscape: first the mountains are horses and dragons, then they are the young men of the Xie family and the court of Sima Xiangru, then they are the prose of the Grand Historian — the landscape read as a library of heroes. [Emotional Tone] Heroic, fond, and serene by turns: the aging poet inspects his pines with the eye of a general, reads his mountains like a historian, and dreams of the misty lake he is building.

【白话串讲】 辛弃疾写《沁园春·叠嶂西驰》：“叠嶂西驰，万马回旋，众山欲东”——群山如万马奔腾。“正惊湍直下，跳珠倒溅”——“老合投闲，天教多事，检校长身十万松”——他说自己闲居山中，把十万松树当成士兵检阅——他身在田园，心在战场。 【意象与手法】 此词是辛弃疾写灵山山色与咏松的名篇，以拟人写山的奔腾与松的雄姿，是辛弃疾词中「以拟人写景」的名篇。上片写山景：「叠嶂西驰，万马回旋，众山欲东」写群山如万马奔驰；「正惊湍直下，跳珠倒溅，小桥横截，缺月初弓」写惊湍跳珠、小桥如弓；「老合投闲，天教多事，检校长身十万松」写检点十万松；「吾庐小，在龙蛇影外，风雨声中」写吾庐在松影风雨中。下片写山色与文章：「争先见面重重，看爽气朝来三数峰」写朝来爽气、峰峦争见；「似谢家子弟，衣冠磊落，相如庭户，车骑雍容」写群山如谢家子弟、相如车骑；「我觉其间，雄深雅健，如对文章太史公」写群山如太史公文章；「新堤路，问偃湖何日，烟水蒙蒙」写问偃湖何日成湖。全词以「万马回旋」「谢家子弟」「太史公」的拟人写山色的雄姿，是辛弃疾「以拟人写景」的名篇。 【情感与主旨】 此词约作于宋孝宗淳熙年间（1181 年后）辛弃疾罢官闲居上饶、铅山期间，写其游铅山灵山（或博山一带）的所见。此词有小序：「灵山齐庵赋，时筑偃湖未成。」写其在灵山齐庵作词，时正在筑偃湖（灵山下的湖）尚未完成。词中「叠嶂西驰，万马回旋，众山欲东」写群山如万马奔驰——那叠嶂（重迭的山峰）西驰，如万马回旋，众山欲东，写尽群山的奔腾之势；「正惊湍直下，跳珠倒溅，小桥横截，缺月初弓」写惊湍小桥——正惊湍直下、跳珠倒溅，小桥横截、缺月初弓，写尽瀑布的惊湍与拱桥如弓；「老合投闲，天教多事，检校长身十万松」写检点十万松——老了合当投闲（退隐），天教多事，检点（检阅）那长身（高耸）的十万松，写尽以检点松树为乐的闲居；「吾庐小，在龙蛇影外，风雨声中」写吾庐在松影风雨中——吾庐（我的茅庐）小，在龙蛇影（松影如龙蛇）外、风雨声中，写尽茅庐在松林中的环境；下片「争先见面重重，看爽气朝来三数峰」写朝来爽气——那山峰争先见面（重重地抢着露面），看朝来爽气（清晨的爽气）的三数峰，写尽山峰的拟人；「似谢家子弟，衣冠磊落，相如庭户，车骑雍容」写群山如谢家子弟、相如车骑——那山峰如谢家子弟（谢安谢玄一族）衣冠磊落，如相如（司马相如）庭户车骑雍容，写尽山峰的拟人（如人物）；「我觉其间，雄深雅健，如对文章太史公」写群山如太史公文章——我觉其间，雄深雅健（雄浑深远、高雅刚健），如对文章太史公（司马迁的文章），写尽山峰如文章的雄深雅健；「新堤路，问偃湖何日，烟水蒙蒙」写问偃湖——新堤路，问偃湖何日成湖，烟水蒙蒙，写尽对偃湖的期待。全词以「万马回旋」「谢家子弟」「太史公」的拟人写山色的雄姿，是辛弃疾「以拟人写景、以文写山」的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“叠嶂西驰，万马回旋，众山欲东”以万马奔驰写群山的奔腾；“老合投闲，天教多事，检校长身十万松”写检点十万松的壮怀。

Allusions

'The dragons and serpents' (longshe) are the coiled forms of the pines, whose shadows surround the hut; the phrase also carries the sense of the heroic and the mighty. 'The young men of the Xie family' (Xie jia zidi) are the elegant youths of the great Jin dynasty Xie clan, famous for their upright bearing; 'the court of Sima Xiangru' is the stately procession of the Han poet, famous for his carriage and his style; 'the prose of the Grand Historian' is the writing of Sima Qian, whose 'Records of the Grand Historian' was the supreme model of the vigorous and profound style. The Yan Lake (Yan Hu) is the lake the poet was building; 'the misty waters' (yanshui) are the dream of the finished lake.

此词的意象与典故深植于写景与文章传统。「叠嶂西驰，万马回旋，众山欲东」写群山如万马奔驰——「叠嶂西驰」写重迭的山峰向西奔驰（令人想到「横看成岭侧成峰」（苏轼《题西林壁》）的峰峦意象），「万马回旋」写如万马回旋（令人想到「千骑卷平冈」（苏轼《江城子·密州出猎》）的马阵意象），那「万马回旋」以马写山，写尽群山的奔腾之势。「正惊湍直下，跳珠倒溅，小桥横截，缺月初弓」写惊湍小桥——「惊湍直下」写惊湍直下（令人想到「飞流直下三千尺」（李白《望庐山瀑布》）的瀑布意象），「跳珠倒溅」写跳珠倒溅（令人想到「大珠小珠落玉盘」（白居易《琵琶行》）的珠玉意象，「跳珠」令人想到「白雨跳珠乱入船」（苏轼《六月二十七日望湖楼醉书》）的跳珠意象），「缺月初弓」写拱桥如缺月初弓（令人想到「小桥流水人家」（马致远《天净沙·秋思》）的小桥意象），那「惊湍跳珠」「小桥如弓」写尽瀑布与拱桥。「老合投闲，天教多事，检校长身十万松」写检点十万松——「老合投闲」写老了合当投闲（令人想到「投闲置散」的退隐意象与「老骥伏枥」的老年意象），「检校长身十万松」写检阅十万松（「检校」写检阅，令人想到「检校」的官衔意象，「十万松」以松为兵，令人想到「八千子弟」的军旅意象），那「检校长身十万松」写尽武将闲居以松为兵的趣味。「吾庐小，在龙蛇影外，风雨声中」写吾庐在松影风雨中——「龙蛇影」写松影如龙蛇（令人想到「古松偃蹇如龙蛇」的松意象与「龙蛇」的比喻），「风雨声」写松涛如风雨（令人想到「松风」的意象与「夜阑卧听风吹雨」（陆游）的风雨意象），那「龙蛇影外，风雨声中」写尽松林的苍劲。「争先见面重重，看爽气朝来三数峰」写朝来爽气——「争先见面」写山峰争先露面（令人想到「争渡，争渡」（李清照《如梦令》）的「争」字用法与「六朝人」的「朝来爽气」——「爽气朝来」用《世说新语》王徽之「西山朝来致有爽气」之典），那「爽气朝来」暗用《世说新语》之典。「似谢家子弟，衣冠磊落，相如庭户，车骑雍容」写群山如谢家子弟、相如车骑——「谢家子弟」写谢安、谢玄一族（令人想到「芝兰玉树」的谢家意象与「谢家子弟」的风度），「衣冠磊落」写风度磊落（令人想到「衣冠楚楚」的意象），「相如庭户，车骑雍容」写司马相如的门庭、车骑雍容（令人想到「相如」的才子意象与「车骑雍容」的气度），那「谢家子弟」「相如车骑」以人物写山峰，写尽山峰的俊秀与雍容。「我觉其间，雄深雅健，如对文章太史公」写群山如太史公文章——「雄深雅健」本是韩愈评柳宗元文章之语（「雄深雅健，似司马子长」），「太史公」写司马迁（司马迁是太史令，著《史记》），那「如对文章太史公」以《史记》的雄深雅健写山峰，写尽山峰的雄浑深远；「新堤路，问偃湖何日，烟水蒙蒙」写问偃湖——「偃湖」写灵山下的湖（辛弃疾所筑），「烟水蒙蒙」写烟水迷蒙（令人想到「烟波江上」的烟水意象），那「问偃湖何日」写尽对偃湖的期待。全词化用李白、苏轼、韩愈、《世说新语》的意象与典故，以拟人写山、以文写山，正是辛弃疾「以文写景」的本领。

Commentary

This lyric is one of Xin Qiji's most admired mountain poems, quoted for its successive transformations of the landscape into art and history. The opening gallop of the folded peaks — ten thousand horses wheeling — is often cited as one of the most powerful openings in the history of the ci, and the reading of the mountains as the prose of the Grand Historian is the perfect expression of the patriot's imagination. Critics praise the lyric's union of the heroic and the serene, the general's eye and the historian's mind.

此词历来被推为辛弃疾「以拟人写景、以文写山」的名篇，也是「叠嶂西驰，万马回旋」「检校长身十万松」「如对文章太史公」等名句的出处。历代论者对此词评价较高：论者多指出此词以「万马回旋」写群山的奔腾，以「谢家子弟」「相如车骑」「太史公文章」写山峰的雄姿，是辛弃疾闲居期间写山的名篇。在文学史上，此词的特殊价值在于：它以拟人与用典写出了山的雄姿——那「叠嶂西驰，万马回旋，众山欲东」以万马奔驰写群山的奔腾之势，那「检校长身十万松」以检阅十万松写武将闲居的趣味（以松为兵），那「争先见面重重，看爽气朝来三数峰」写山峰如人争先露面，那「似谢家子弟，衣冠磊落，相如庭户，车骑雍容」以谢家子弟、相如车骑写山峰的俊秀雍容，那「我觉其间，雄深雅健，如对文章太史公」更以《史记》的雄深雅健写山峰——以文写山，把山峰写得如文章般雄浑深远，正是辛弃疾「以文写山」的奇想。词中「叠嶂西驰，万马回旋」写群山奔腾，是名句；「检校长身十万松」写以松为兵，是千古名句；「我觉其间，雄深雅健，如对文章太史公」以文章写山峰，更是千古名句。此词与辛弃疾的《沁园春·杯汝来前》（以酒杯为友）一样，都是其闲居期间「以拟人写物」的名篇。对于今日读者，此词是理解辛弃疾闲居期间「以山为乐」与「以文为趣」心境的窗口，也是感受中国词「以拟人写景、以文写山」传统的典范——那西驰的叠嶂、回旋的万马、长身的十万松、太史公的文章，穿越千年，仍在诉说着一个武将词人「投闲而不失雄深雅健」的气度。

Prosody

Line by line

Related Reading