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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

水龙吟·登建康赏心亭

Water Dragon Chant: Ascending the Appreciation Pavilion at Jiankang

辛弃疾

Xin Qiji

豪放Heroic and Unrestrained 壮志Lofty Ambitions 登临Ascending a Height

楚天千里清秋，水随天去秋无际。
遥岑远目，献愁供恨，玉簪螺髻。
落日楼头，断鸿声里，江南游子。
把吴钩看了，栏杆拍遍，无人会，登临意。
休说鲈鱼堪脍，尽西风，季鹰归未？
求田问舍，怕应羞见，刘郎才气。
可惜流年，忧愁风雨，树犹如此！
倩何人唤取，红巾翠袖，揾英雄泪？

A clear autumn sky stretches a thousand miles in the south,
The river flows with the sky, autumn boundless.
Distant peaks I gaze afar,
They offer sorrow and hate, like jade hairpins and spiral shells.
At sunset on the tower, in the cry of a lonely swan,
A wanderer from south of the River.
He looks at his Wu hook, pats the railings all over,
No one understands his feeling when ascending.

Do not speak of the perch being delicious,
Though the west wind blows, has Ji Ying returned?
To seek fields and ask for houses,
I fear being ashamed to see Liu Bei's talent.
What a pity that years flow by,
In sorrow and storm, even the trees grow old!
From whom can I call for
Red sleeves and green scarves to wipe a hero's tears?

Listen

Meaning

The poem expresses the poet's grief and indignation at having no way to serve his country and his unfulfilled ambitions, as he climbs the pavilion and surveys the autumn landscape.

南国楚天千里，一派清秋，江水随长天流去，秋意漫无边际。远望群山，仿佛献愁供恨的玉簪螺髻。落日楼头，孤雁哀鸣之中，伫立着江南游子。把吴钩宝剑看了又看，栏杆拍遍，却无人领会我登临的心意。休提鲈鱼堪脍，尽管西风起，季鹰归隐了没有？那些求田问舍的庸人，只怕羞见刘备的才气。可叹大好流年，在风雨忧患中虚度，树木尚且如此沧桑！请谁唤来歌女，替我揾去这英雄之泪？全词抒写报国无门、壮志难酬的悲愤。

Appreciation

The first stanza describes the autumn scene from the pavilion, with distant mountains seeming to offer sorrow, and the poet as a lonely wanderer. The second stanza uses allusions to express disdain for retreating to private life and lament over wasted years. The actions of looking at the sword and patting the railings vividly convey his frustration, while the soft ending with 'red sleeves and green scarves' adds a tender touch to the hero's tears.

【白话串讲】 “把吴钩看了，栏杆拍遍，无人会，登临意”——辛弃疾在南京赏心亭，拍遍了栏杆：我这把剑，到底什么时候能上战场？一个把栏杆拍遍都没人懂的人，是中国文学里最孤独的英雄。【意象与手法】上片写景由远及近、由物及人，以献愁供恨、断鸿、落日营造苍凉氛围，把吴钩看了，栏杆拍遍以细节动作外化内心愤懑，极富戏剧【情感与主旨】此词作于宋孝宗淳熙元年（1174）辛弃疾任江东安抚司参议官时，登建康（今南京）赏心亭而有感【名句点睛】默写易错：遥岑远目易误遥岑远日；玉簪螺髻勿误作螺髻漏玉簪；吴钩易误吴勾；揾易误愠、温；树犹如此易误树尤如此

Background

Written in 1174, when Xin Qiji was a staff officer in Jiankang (modern Nanjing). He had returned to the south for over a decade but was not entrusted with key military roles. Climbing the Appreciation Pavilion, he poured out his frustration at being unable to recover the lost northern territories.

此词作于宋孝宗淳熙元年（1174），辛弃疾任江东安抚司参议官，驻节建康（今江苏南京），登赏心亭有感而作。这一年辛弃疾三十五岁，南归已十二三年。绍兴三十二年（1162），二十三岁的辛弃疾率五十骑闯入金营、生擒叛徒张安国，渡江归宋，一时震动朝野；南归后，他先上《美芹十论》，再上《九议》，力陈恢复之策，却始终不被采纳，仅辗转于江阴签判、建康通判、司农寺主簿等闲职之间，报国之志无从施展。赏心亭在建康下水门城上，下临秦淮，为北宋丁谓所建，是当时著名的登临胜地。辛弃疾登亭北望，楚天千里，江流天际，而中原故土不可见，遂有此沉郁悲壮之作。此词与《菩萨蛮·书江西造口壁》《摸鱼儿》等同为辛弃疾南归初期「失路英雄」心境的写照，而此词写于建康——六朝故都、历来兵家必争之地，更添一层历史兴亡的厚重感。词中「江南游子」四字自道身分：他本是济南人，却做了江南的异乡客，北归无路，遂成永远的「游子」。需要说明的是，辛弃疾此词系年，邓广铭《稼轩词编年笺注》定为淳熙元年（1174），时辛弃疾任江东安抚司参议官，这一系年为学界普遍接受。建康为六朝故都，辛弃疾驻此，所触皆是「江山形胜」「兴亡旧迹」，其登临之感，遂由一己的失意，扩展为对历史兴亡的观照。赏心亭之名，本取「赏心乐事」之义，而辛弃疾登此，所赏非乐，反是悲，亭名与词情的反差，亦是一层深意。

Art

The first stanza uses distant-to-near scenery, personifying mountains as offering sorrow. The detailed actions of looking at the sword and patting the railings externalize inner turmoil. The second stanza uses three allusions (Zhang Han, Xu Si, Huan Wen) to contrast his own ambition, ending with a soft image of maidens wiping tears, blending strength and tenderness.

此词上片写景，下片言志，章法由远及近、由景入情，层层收束。起句「楚天千里清秋，水随天去秋无际」，以「楚天」「清秋」开篇，境界阔大；「水随天去」四字，写江水远流、水天相接，秋色无边无际。以下「遥岑远目，献愁供恨，玉簪螺髻」，远山如美人玉簪螺髻，本是无情之物，词人偏说它们「献愁供恨」，以我观物，物皆着我之色。「落日楼头，断鸿声里，江南游子」，落日、断鸿，皆是凄凉意象，烘托出游子的孤寂。「把吴钩看了，栏杆拍遍」，是两个极具张力的动作细节——看剑，是怀利器而无所用的悲愤；拍栏，是满腹孤愤无处宣泄的郁结。「无人会，登临意」，一笔收束上片，道尽知音难觅的孤独。下片连用三典：张翰思归、许汜求田、桓温树叹，正反相形，最后归到「可惜流年，忧愁风雨」，痛惜年华虚掷。「倩何人唤取，红巾翠袖，揾英雄泪」，以英雄之泪收束全篇，悲凉入骨。全词意象密集而层次分明，是辛词豪放沉郁的典范。此词章法上的一大特点是「以倒装与顿挫见奇」。如「遥岑远目」是「远目遥岑」的倒装，「献愁供恨」是移情，「把吴钩看了，栏杆拍遍」是以两个细节动作写尽内心，皆非常规语序而更见力度。下片三典正反相形，张翰之归、许汜之陋，皆是反衬，衬出自己「既不归隐、又不苟且」的孤忠；桓温之叹，则是正写，写出自己「年华虚度、壮志难酬」的深悲。正反相形，层层深入，章法极密。

Allusions

The perch allusion refers to Zhang Han, who resigned to go home for seasonal fish. The 'seek fields and houses' allusion refers to Xu Si, scorned by Liu Bei for his narrow concerns. 'The trees grow old' alludes to Huan Wen's sigh upon seeing old willows. The Wu hook is a sword symbolizing martial ambition.

此词用典密集，下片三典尤见匠心。其一，「休说鲈鱼堪脍，尽西风，季鹰归未」用张翰事，见《世说新语·识鉴》及《晋书·张翰传》：张翰字季鹰，见秋风起，思吴中菰菜、莼羹、鲈鱼脍，遂辞官归乡。辛弃疾反用此典——他不学张翰归隐，因国仇未报，归不得也。其二，「求田问舍，怕应羞见，刘郎才气」用许汜事，见《三国志·魏书·陈登传》：许汜与刘备共论天下，言及陈登「湖海之士，豪气不除」，刘备批评许汜「求田问舍，言无可采」。辛弃疾借此表明自己不屑作求田问舍的庸人，志在天下。其三，「树犹如此」用桓温事，见《世说新语·言语》：桓温北伐，见昔年所种柳树已十围，慨然叹曰「木犹如此，人何以堪」，泫然泪下。辛弃疾截取「树犹如此」，痛惜年华虚度、壮志未酬。此外，「吴钩」为吴地所产弯刀，见《吴越春秋》，后世以之代指利器。「断鸿」即失群孤雁，「落日」则暗含日暮途穷之悲。三典一斥一讥一叹，层层递进，把「登临意」的复杂内涵——既不归隐、又不苟且、唯痛时光之逝——表达得淋漓尽致。关于「吴钩」，或以为即吴地所产之刀，或以为专指春秋时吴王阖闾之剑，然其作为「利器」的象征义则无疑。「断鸿」即失群之雁，与「落日」「游子」相映，皆是日暮途穷、孤身无依的意象。「红巾翠袖」指歌女，结句「倩何人唤取，红巾翠袖，揾英雄泪」，以「英雄泪」与「红巾翠袖」并举，刚柔相济，是辛词中极富张力的一笔。

Commentary

Zhang Yan of the Song Dynasty praised Xin's poetry as 'heroic yet restrained.' Chen Tingzhuo of the Qing Dynasty said the line 'pats the railings all over' profoundly conveys the sorrow of a hero in distress.

此词为辛弃疾登临词的代表作，历代评价极高。陈廷焯《白雨斋词话》评稼轩词「悲而壮，是陈其年之祖」，又谓此词「裂竹之声，何尝不潜气内转」，可移评其声情。谭献《复堂词话》以「潜气内转」四字概括辛词沉郁顿挫的特质，此词「无人会，登临意」「揾英雄泪」诸句，正是「潜气内转」的典型。俞陛云《唐五代两宋词选释》评此词「以倒装见奇，以顿挫见力」，并指出「把吴钩看了，栏杆拍遍」二句「写英雄失意之状，声情激越」。就接受史而言，此词与《水龙吟·过南剑双溪楼》并为辛弃疾《水龙吟》调的双璧，是稼轩「豪放」风格最具代表性的文本之一。「可惜流年，忧愁风雨，树犹如此」一句，因兼有桓温之叹与自身之悲，尤为后世失意志士所激赏。凡论辛词之「英雄失路」，必举此词，可见其在稼轩词中的典范地位。还应指出，此词在稼轩词编年中的地位亦殊为特殊：它是辛弃疾南归后第一个仕宦高峰期（江东参议官）的作品，与《菩萨蛮·书江西造口壁》《摸鱼儿》等同为「少壮悲愤」的代表，而稍早于《南乡子》《永遇乐》等「暮年悲凉」之作。论者或以「慷慨纵横」评其声，或以「潜气内转」评其情，实则此词声情兼擅，豪放中见沉郁，正是稼轩词「以气为骨、以悲为髓」的典型。唐圭璋《唐宋词简释》析此词，特标「吴钩」「栏杆」二句的「动作传情」之妙，可与此相参。

Prosody

Form Ci: Water Dragon Chant (double stanza, 102 characters)水龙吟，双调一百零二字，上下片各四仄韵

Rhyme ji, ji, zi, yi, wei, qi, ci, lei (all oblique tones in the original)通押词韵第三部（支微齐灰），韵脚上片为际、髻、子、意，下片为未、气、此、泪，上去声通押

Tone pattern The first stanza describes scenery with emotion; the second uses allusions to express feelings. The entire poem uses oblique rhymes with varied line lengths.此调为仄韵长调，句式以四、六字为主，节奏沉郁顿挫。上片结句「无人会，登临意」为三字逗加三字，下片结句「揾英雄泪」为四字，收束各见峭劲。全词八韵脚中，际、髻、意、未、气、泪为去声，子、此为上声，去声为主，音色低沉，宜表悲愤。

Reading note The first stanza blends scene and sentiment; the second uses three allusions (Zhang Han, Liu Bei, Huan Wen). The style is heroic yet sorrowful, a representative work of Xin's ascension poetry.《水龙吟》属仄韵慢词，此调声情「激越而沉郁」，最宜抒写悲慨苍凉之怀，辛弃疾两首名作（此词与《过南剑双溪楼》）皆用此调，正是取其声情相合。此词通押词韵第三部（支微齐灰，上纸尾荠贿，去寘至志未霁祭泰队废），上去通叶，是词韵宽于诗韵之处。韵脚以去声字为主（际、髻、意、未、气、泪），去声字声调由高而低、收得沉实，恰合「悲壮」之声；间以「子」「此」两个上声字略寓抑扬，使沉郁中见顿挫，不致一味低沉。此词在句式上的特点是多处使用「四字句」，如「楚天千里清秋」「献愁供恨，玉簪螺髻」「落日楼头，断鸿声里」，四字句节奏紧凑，如鼓点般沉重有力，与「水随天去秋无际」等长句的舒缓相间，形成「紧—缓—紧」的节奏张力，正合词人悲愤难平、欲说还休的声口。末句「倩何人唤取，红巾翠袖，揾英雄泪」，于四字句的连环紧逼之后，以「揾英雄泪」四字戛然收束，如一声长叹，余韵不尽，是「以声结情」的典范。

Line by line

楚天千里清秋

A thousand li of southern sky in the clear autumn;

南国楚天千里，一派清秋

The southern sky stretches a thousand li, a single clear autumn.

起句六字，境界全出。「楚天」点明建康地处江南楚地，「千里」极言视野之辽阔，「清秋」既写节令，又写秋气之澄澈萧爽。六字连读，一个登高望远、极目千里的词人形象已跃然纸上。这辽阔的楚天，本是令人心胸开阔的景致，然而在辛弃疾笔下，阔大的境界反衬的却是内心的孤愤——天地愈阔，愈显中原沦陷之痛；秋色愈清，愈见游子飘零之悲。以景之「阔」写情之「郁」，正是此句的深意所在。辛弃疾登临词惯以「阔大之景」衬「郁结之情」，天地愈广，孤愤愈深，此句已开其端，其后「楚天千里」「举头西北」诸篇，皆由此生发。

The opening six characters, the realm fully out. The southern sky naming Jiankang's southern-Chu position, the thousand li the extreme stating the view's vastness, the clear autumn at once writing the season, and the autumn air's clearness-and-freshness. Six characters read together, a climbing-and-looking, thousand-li-gazing poet image already leaping from the paper. This vast southern sky, by nature the heart-opening scenery, and yet in Xin Qiji's brush, the grand realm's setting-off of the inner lone indignation — the heaven-and-earth the vaster, the Central-Plains-occupation grief the clearer; the autumn color the clearer, the wanderer's drifting grief the deeper. Using the scene's vastness for the feeling's gloom, precisely this line's deep meaning. Xin Qiji's climbing ci's habit of using the grand-scene for the gloomy-feeling setting-off, the heaven-and-earth the wider and the lone-indignation the deeper, this line already opening the way, the below's southern-sky-thousand-li and raise-the-head-northwest pieces, all from this sprouting.

遥岑远目

I gaze far at the distant peaks;

远望群山

I gaze far at the distant mountains.

「遥岑远目」是「远目遥岑」的倒装，意为极目远望那远处的山峦。倒装是为了突出「遥岑」——那层层叠叠、如玉簪螺髻般的远山，是词人视线所及、心事所寄的对象。这一望，望的是山，想的却是山那边的中原故土；群山本无情感，词人却觉其「献愁供恨」，仿佛那一片青山也在为沦陷的河山而愁恨。以倒装起，以移情续，四个字便把「望山」这一寻常动作，写成了「望国」的沉痛凝眸。「献愁供恨」四字尤其传神——山本无情，而词人觉其在向自己「献愁」「供恨」，实是「以我观物，物皆着我之色彩」的移情，远山的静穆，遂尽化为愁恨的载体。

The distant-peaks-far-gazing is the far-gazing-the-distant-peaks' inversion, meaning the extreme gazing at the far-off mountain ranges. The inversion for the emphasizing of the distant peaks — that layer-on-layer, like the jade hairpins and spiral shells' distant hills, the poet's sight-reaching and heart's-lodging object. This one gaze, gazing at the hills, and yet thinking of the hills'-beyond Central Plains homeland; the hills by nature feelingless, and yet the poet feeling their offering-grief-and-supplying-resentment, as if that stretch of green hills also grieves for the occupied rivers-and-mountains. Rising on the inversion, continuing on the empathy, four characters turning the gaze-at-the-hills ordinary action into the gaze-at-the-nation's grief-stricken stare. The offering-grief-and-supplying-resentment four characters the especially vivid — the hill by nature feelingless, and yet the poet feeling its offering-grief and supplying-resentment, in truth the using-my-eye-to-view-things-and-yet-things-all-wearing-my-color empathy, the distant hill's stillness, hence all turned into the grief-and-resentment's vehicle.

把吴钩看了

I have looked at my Wu hook sword,

把吴钩宝剑看了又看

I have looked and looked at my Wu hook sword.

「把吴钩看了」是全词最具画面感的细节。吴钩是锋利的弯刀，是杀敌报国的利器，词人把它「看了」——不是看一次，而是「看了」又看，反复摩挲。这个动作里，藏着多少不甘：利器在身，却无用武之地；杀敌之志，却无报国之门。看着手中的吴钩，就像看着自己的抱负一天天被搁置、被消磨。紧接着的「栏杆拍遍」，更是把这股无处宣泄的孤愤推向顶点——看剑不解恨，遂拍栏，拍遍栏杆而无人会意，一个失路英雄的悲愤形象，就此定格。

The I-have-looked-at-my-Wu-hook-sword is the whole ci's most pictorial detail. The Wu hook the sharp curved sword, the enemy-killing-and-country-serving weapon, the poet's looked-at it — not the one look, and yet the looked-and-looked, the repeated fondling. Within this action, hidden the how-much-no-acceptance: the sharp weapon at the waist, and yet the no-battle-field place; the enemy-killing will, and yet the no-country-service door. Looking at the hand's Wu hook, like looking at his own ambition's day-by-day's being-set-aside-and-worn-away. The immediately-following's beat-the-rails-through, the more pushing this nowhere-to-vent lone indignation to the peak — the sword-looking's grief's non-dispelling, hence the rail-beating, the beating-through-the-rails-and-yet-no-one's-understanding, a lost-road hero's grief-and-indignation image, here at once fixed.

树犹如此

Even the trees have come to this.

树木尚且如此沧桑

Even the trees have grown so old.

「树犹如此」四字，是全词情感最沉痛的一笔。典出桓温北伐见所种柳树已十围而叹「木犹如此，人何以堪」，辛弃疾截取前四字，而后四字「人何以堪」尽在不言中。树尚且有如此沧桑的变化，何况人呢？南归以来十二年，他由二十三岁的青年长成了三十五岁的中年，而恢复之志仍遥遥无期，年华就在这「忧愁风雨」中白白流去。「树犹如此」一叹，叹的是时光的无情，更是壮志未酬的绝望，四字千钧，力透纸背。辛弃疾截「木犹如此，人何以堪」为「树犹如此」四字，省去的后四字恰是「人何以堪」的锥心之问，留白之中，悲更深一层。

The even-the-trees-have-come-to-this four characters, the whole ci's emotional most grief-stricken stroke. The allusion from Huan Wen's northern expedition seeing his planted willows' ten-armed circumference and the sigh's the-trees-even-thus-how-much-the-person, Xin Qiji's taking the first four characters, and the last four characters the how-much-the-person all in the unspoken. The trees even having such a vicissitude change, how much more the person? Since the southern return twelve years, he from the twenty-three-year-old youth grown into the thirty-five-year-old middle age, and yet the recovery will still the far-off date, the years in this grief-and-worry's wind-and-rain frittered away. The even-the-trees sigh, the sigh of time's ruthlessness, and the unstirred-will's despair, four characters like a thousand jun, the force through the paper. Xin Qiji's cutting the trees-even-thus-how-much-the-person into the even-the-trees four characters, the omitted last four characters precisely the how-much-the-person's heart-piercing question, within the blankness, the grief one layer deeper.

Study

Word focus

献愁供恨 Personification: the mountains seem to offer sorrow and hate, using beautiful imagery to express sadness. 「献愁供恨」四字，写远山而无理而妙。山本无情，词人偏说远山「献」出了愁、「供」上了恨，仿佛那群山是有意把愁恨捧到游子面前。这是典型的移情手法，把主观的愁恨投射到客观的景物上，使无情之山皆着愁恨之色。「献」「供」二字，本是臣下对君上的恭敬之辞，用在这里，既写出群山环列如朝拜的形态，又写出愁恨如影随形、不容推拒的逼迫感。四字一出，远山的静穆顿成愁恨的载体，全词的悲凉基调由此坐实。

拍遍 Action detail: 'pat all over' conveys intense frustration and pacing. 「栏杆拍遍」的「拍遍」二字，写尽了孤愤无处宣泄的悲怆。拍栏本是古人宣泄郁结的动作，着一「遍」字，则不是拍一下，而是把栏杆从头拍到尾，一处不漏。这「遍」字里，是满腔悲愤的反复激荡，是「无人会」的绝望的多次碰壁——他拍栏问天，拍栏问地，拍遍栏杆，却始终无人领会他的登临之意。「拍」是动作的激烈，「遍」是时间的绵长，激烈而绵长的拍击声里，一个失路英雄的孤愤，力透纸背。「拍遍」二字，一「拍」一「遍」，前者写动作之激，后者写时间之长，激烈的动作与漫长的郁结叠加，孤愤之深，遂有千钧之力。

吴钩 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「吴钩」是此词的核心意象之一。吴钩本指春秋时吴地所产的弯刀，以锋利著称，见《吴越春秋》，后世遂以「吴钩」代指宝刀利器，更引申为杀敌报国的雄心与才具。辛弃疾「把吴钩看了」，看的是刀，想的是用刀之地——中原战场。吴钩在手而报国无门，利器与闲职的反差，正是他全部悲愤的根源。这一意象，与李白「拔剑四顾心茫然」的「剑」同一血脉，都是怀才不遇者的自况。一个「吴钩」，承载了词人杀敌之志与失路之悲的双重内涵。