宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric
辛弃疾·太常引·建康中秋夜为吕叔潜赋
Tai Chang Yin · Written for Lü Shuqian on a Mid-Autumn Night in Jiankang
太常引·建康中秋夜为吕叔潜赋一轮秋影转金波，飞镜又重磨。
把酒问姮娥：被白发、欺人奈何？
乘风好去，长空万里，直下看山河。
斫去桂婆娑，人道是、清光更多。
The flying mirror is burnished once again.
Wine cup in hand I ask the Lady of the Moon:
White hairs betray me—what can be done?
Ride the wind and be gone, ten thousand li of clear sky,
To look straight down upon the hills and rivers.
Hew away the swaying cassia tree,
And men say the pure light would be the fuller for it.
Meaning
A round autumn moon pours down golden waves; the bright mirror of the moon is burnished once again. Raising my wine cup I ask the moon goddess Chang'e: what can be done that white hairs betray me? I would ride the wind straight up ten thousand li of the long sky and look down upon the fair hills and rivers. Hew away the swaying cassia in the moon, and men say the pure radiance would be brighter still.
一轮秋月洒下金波，飞镜般的明月又经重磨。举起酒杯问嫦娥：可奈白发欺人何？乘风直上万里长空，俯瞰大好山河。砍去月中婆娑的桂树，人说清辉会更明亮。
Appreciation
This lyric was written on a mid-autumn night and turns from moon-scene to a sigh over the years. 'A round autumn shadow turns in golden waves; the flying mirror is burnished once again' compares the moon to a newly polished bronze mirror, fresh and bright. 'Wine cup in hand I ask the Lady of the Moon' transforms Li Bai's questioning of the moon, then shifts into the anxious 'white hairs betray me—what can be done'. The lower part's imagination soars: 'ride the wind... look straight down upon the hills and rivers' opens a vast space; 'hew away the swaying cassia' uses the moon's cassia shade to figure the petty men who cloud the throne, a fanciful yet grievous image. Romantic and bold, it is a famous mid-autumn piece of Xin's.
【白话串讲】 中秋夜，辛弃疾举杯问嫦娥：“被白发、欺人奈何”——白发欺负人，怎么办？他想乘风飞上长空，“斫去桂婆娑”——砍掉月中的桂树，让清光更多。他想砍掉的，是挡路的小人。 【意象与手法】上片写月景而陡入人生之叹，「飞镜又重磨」以新磨铜镜喻月之皎洁；「把酒问姮娥」化用李白问月，接入「白发欺人」的焦灼。下片奇想飞动，「乘风直下看山河」展开壮阔空间；「斫去桂婆娑」以月中桂影喻朝中奸蔽，想象瑰奇而寄托沉痛。浪漫豪宕，是稼轩中秋词的名篇。 【情感与主旨】此词作于宋孝宗淳熙元年（1174）中秋，稼轩在建康（今南京）帅幕，为友人吕叔潜（名大虬）赋。时南归已十二年，屡陈恢复大计皆不被用，壮志空老。中秋对月，借问嫦娥、斫桂之想，抒壮志难酬、欲澄清天下之愤，亦含对当朝壅蔽的不满。 【名句点睛】常作豪放词与浪漫主义赏析篇目。考点：①「飞镜又重磨」的比喻与炼字；②「被白发、欺人奈何」的岁月之叹；③「斫去桂婆娑」的象征意义与浪漫想象。
Background
This lyric was written on the mid-autumn night of the first year of Chunxi (1174), when Xin Qiji, in the military staff at Jiankang (today's Nanjing), composed it for his friend Lü Shuqian (named Daqiu). Twelve years had passed since his return to the south, and his repeated memorials for the recovery of the north had all been ignored, his great ambition left to age in vain. Facing the moon on mid-autumn, through the thoughts of asking Chang'e and hewing the cassia he gave voice to his anger that his ambition was unfulfilled and to his wish to cleanse the world, also holding a discontent with the obstruction of the court.
此词作于宋孝宗淳熙元年（1174）中秋，辛弃疾在建康（今江苏南京）任江东安抚司参议官（一说在建康帅幕），为友人吕叔潜（名大虬）所作。辛弃疾绍兴三十二年（1162）南归，至此时已十二年，其间屡上奏疏陈恢复大计（如《美芹十论》《九议》），然朝廷苟安和议，其议多不被用，只在地方与帅幕间沉浮。词人年届三十五岁，壮志未酬而白发早生，值中秋对月，遂借问嫦娥、斫桂之想，抒壮志难酬之愤与澄清天下之志。「斫去桂婆娑」暗以月中桂影喻蔽日之小人、朝中之奸佞，欲斫之使清光尽照山河，是其一生「整顿乾坤」之志在词中的浪漫化表达。此词与同年所作《水龙吟·登建康赏心亭》同写建康秋日之悲愤，可互相参看。词人南归之后，先任江阴签判、建康通判等职，辗转地方，壮志难伸；此词写于建康帅幕之中，正值其「可惜流年，忧愁风雨，树犹如此」的愤懑时期，中秋对月，一抒胸臆，遂成豪放词中的奇作。吕叔潜与稼轩为挚友，词题点明为友人而赋，实则借月抒怀，自写怀抱。
Art
The upper part writes the moon-scene then suddenly enters a sigh over life: 'the flying mirror is burnished once again' compares the bright moon to a newly polished bronze mirror; 'wine cup in hand I ask the Lady of the Moon' transforms Li Bai's questioning of the moon, leading into the anxious 'white hairs betray me'. The lower part's fancy takes flight: 'ride the wind... look straight down upon the hills and rivers' unfolds a vast space; 'hew away the swaying cassia' uses the cassia shade in the moon to figure the petty men obstructing the throne, a fanciful imagination yet carrying deep pain. Romantic and bold, it is among Xin's famous mid-autumn lyrics.
上片写月景而陡入人生之叹，章法跌宕：「一轮秋影转金波」写月光流转，化静为动；「飞镜又重磨」以新磨铜镜喻月之皎洁，设喻新颖，「又」字暗含年复一年之意；「把酒问姮娥」化用李白「青天有月来几时，我今停杯一问之」的问月传统，接入「被白发、欺人奈何」的焦灼，浪漫中陡转沉郁。下片奇想飞动，境界大开：「乘风好去，长空万里，直下看山河」以李白式的大胆想象展开壮阔空间，俯视江山，胸怀万古；「斫去桂婆娑，人道是、清光更多」再以月中斫桂的奇想收束，以桂影喻奸蔽，寄铲奸澄清之志。全词上片问月、下片斫桂，想象瑰奇而寄托沉痛，浪漫豪宕，是稼轩中秋词的翘楚。此词妙在由实入虚、由问入想：上片由月之皎洁写到白发之叹，是实中见虚；下片由乘风之想写到斫桂之愿，是虚中见志。全词以问月、乘风、斫桂三个奇想贯穿，想象一次比一次大胆，情感一层比一层深沉，把壮志难酬的悲愤与澄清天下的抱负写得淋漓酣畅。
Allusions
'The Lady of the Moon' (Heng'e, i.e. Chang'e) comes from the Huainanzi tale of Yi's wife fleeing to the moon; the poet uses questioning the moon to write his lone wrath. 'The swaying cassia' uses the legend of the cassia tree in the moon (Duan Chengshi's Youyang Zazu), the cassia shade blocking the moonlight darkly figuring the petty men who cloud the throne. 'Ride the wind' transforms the Liezi 'ride the wind and return' and Su Shi's 'I would ride the wind and go home'. The allusions all serve the will to 'uproot the treacherous and cleanse the world'; within the romantic there is an edge.
「姮娥」即嫦娥，本《淮南子·览冥训》羿妻窃药奔月之神话，词人举杯问之，既承屈原《天问》问天、李白问月的传统，又出新意：问的不是天道，而是白发欺人、壮志难酬的人生之慨。「飞镜」以铜镜喻月，本自梁元帝《咏月》「轮随列宿动，弓逐桂星流」与李白「月下飞天镜」，此处加「重磨」二字，写月之新洁如镜新磨。「桂婆娑」用月中桂树传说（段成式《酉阳杂俎》载吴刚伐桂），以桂影婆娑遮蔽月光暗喻小人壅蔽君侧、蔽塞贤路；「乘风」化用《列子·黄帝》「乘风而归」及苏轼「我欲乘风归去」。诸典皆服务于「铲奸澄清」之志，浪漫中见棱角，是稼轩以典寄意的典型手法。姮娥、桂树、乘风的典故本皆神仙之谈，稼轩却一一赋予现实的寓意：问姮娥是问苍天，斫桂树是除奸佞，乘风是欲澄清宇内，神话世界在他的笔下成为政治理想的象征系统，浪漫而不虚浮，瑰奇而见棱角，正是辛词用典以我驭典的典范。
Commentary
The modern Liang Qichao judged: 'Xin's mid-autumn works all carry the air of frost and wind.' Of the thought of 'hewing the cassia' he said 'within the romantic it lodges political wrath, showing the scholar will not yield'. Tang Guizhang said 'the upper part sinks and grieves, the lower soars; the closing meaning lies beyond the words, true to Xin's nature'. In its strange imagination and deep lodging it stands alone among Song mid-autumn lyrics.
近人梁启超评稼轩「中秋诸作，皆挟风霜之气」，此词「斫桂」之想尤见其「于浪漫中寓政治之愤」的措大本色。唐圭璋谓此词「上片沉郁，下片飞扬，结句意在言外，是辛词本色」。词史上咏中秋者，苏轼《水调歌头》以旷达胜，辛词以豪宕胜：苏词「人有悲欢离合」归于哲理之通脱，辛词「斫去桂婆娑」寄于政治之愤激，一为词人之旷，一为志士之愤。此词想象之奇、寄托之深，在宋人中秋词中独树一帜，与《水龙吟·过南剑双溪楼》等作同为其政治词的代表，亦见稼轩「以词为陶写之具」的创作观念——豪放之体，尽写胸中块垒。历代词论家评此词，皆赏其奇想与豪气；与苏轼《水调歌头》并读，可见宋人中秋词的两座高峰：东坡以哲思胜，稼轩以志气胜；东坡归于通脱，稼轩归于激愤。此词在豪放词史上的地位，正由其想象之奇、寄托之深、声情之壮三者兼备而来，是中国词史上咏中秋的绝唱之一。
Prosody
Line by line
一轮秋影转金波，飞镜又重磨。
The autumn moon turns its golden ripples; the flying mirror has been polished again.
一轮秋月洒下金波，飞镜般的明月又经重磨。
A round autumn moon turns in golden waves; the flying mirror has been freshly polished again.
起笔写月，两句皆妙：「转」字写月光流转，化静为动，一轮秋月仿佛在转动中洒下金波，生意盎然；「飞镜又重磨」以新磨铜镜喻月之皎洁明净，飞字写月行天宇之迅疾，重磨写其光洁如新。一个「又」字更含深意——月又圆了，年又过了，光阴流转中，人亦老去，为下句「白发欺人」的焦灼暗中蓄势。两句写月而情已寓，是咏物与抒情交融的开篇。
The opening writes the moon, two lines both wondrous: the zhuan word's writing the moonlight's flowing, turning the static to the motion, a round autumn moon as if in the turning's scattering the golden waves, the life's abundant; the flying-mirror-has-been-freshly-polished-again using the newly-polished bronze mirror for the moon's crystal clarity, the flying word's writing the moon's heaven-path's swiftness, the re-polished's writing its brightness-as-new. The one you word's the more carrying the deep meaning — the moon's round again, the year's passed again, the time's flowing, the person's also old, secretly storing the force for the below's white-hairs-mock-the-man's anguish. Two lines writing the moon and yet the feeling's already lodged, the object-ode-and-lyric's fusion opening.
把酒问姮娥：被白发、欺人奈何？
Wine cup in hand I ask the Lady of the Moon: white hairs betray me—what can be done?
举起酒杯问嫦娥：可奈白发欺人何？
I raise my cup and ask Chang'e: what can be done when white hairs mock the man?
由月景陡入人生之叹，是全词的转折枢纽。举杯问嫦娥，承李白「青天有月来几时，我今停杯一问之」的问月传统，而所问非天非道，而是「被白发、欺人奈何」——白发欺人，壮志未酬而年光已老，这是稼轩南归十二年的真实处境。一问之间，浪漫的举杯化为沉郁的浩叹，明月不老而人易老，嫦娥无语而愁绪满怀，将个人的焦灼置于宇宙的对照之中，情感张力极强。
From the moon-scene's sudden entry into the life's sigh, the whole ci's turning hinge. The cup-raised-and-ask-Chang'e, inheriting Li Bai's the-blue-sky's-moon-when-did-it-come-and-I-now-stop-my-cup-and-ask-it's moon-asking tradition, and yet the asked's not the heaven-and-not-the-way, and yet the what-can-be-done-when-white-hairs-mock-the-man — the white hairs' mocking the man, the lofty-ambition's unfulfilled and yet the years' already old, this's the Jiaxuan's southward-return's twelve years' real condition. Within one question, the romantic cup-raised's turned into the somber long sigh, the bright moon's not-old and yet the person's easy-old, Chang'e's wordless and yet the grief's breast-full, placing the individual's anguish within the universe's contrast, the emotional tension's extreme.
乘风好去，长空万里，直下看山河。
Ride the wind away, up through ten thousand li of vast sky, and look straight down on the hills and rivers.
乘风直上万里长空，俯瞰大好山河。
Ride the wind away through the vast ten-thousand-li sky, and gaze straight down on the rivers and hills.
下片陡转，境界豁然开朗：「乘风好去」以李白式的豪情直上九天，「长空万里」拓开无限空间，「直下看山河」俯视九州，目光由月及地、由己及国。三句一气贯注，音节短促有力，豪气干云。然而「看山河」三字暗含深意：山河破碎、中原未复，词人俯瞰之下，岂止风景之赏？更有恢复之志、失地之痛交织其中。壮阔的空间想象之下，是志士沉甸甸的家国之思。
The second stanza's sudden turn, the realm's suddenly open: the ride-the-wind-away using the Li-Bai-style boldness's straight-up-the-nine-heavens, the vast-ten-thousand-li-sky's expanding the infinite space, the look-straight-down-on-the-hills-and-rivers's overlooking the nine provinces, the gaze from the moon's to the earth's, from the self's to the country's. Three lines' one-breath-through, the rhythm short-and-forceful, the boldness's cloud-reaching. And yet the look-down-on-the-hills-and-rivers three words' secretly carrying the deep meaning: the hills-and-rivers' broken and the Central Plains' unrecovered, the poet's overlooking below, how's it only the scenery's admiration? The more's the recovery-will, the lost-land's grief's interweaving within. Beneath the grand spatial imagination, the patriot's heavy country-thought.
斫去桂婆娑，人道是、清光更多。
Cut away the shadowy cassia; men say the clear light would then be more.
砍去月中婆娑的桂树，人说清辉会更明亮。
Chop down the shadowy cassia tree; men say the clear light would be the brighter.
结句奇想飞动而寄托沉痛：月中桂影婆娑，遮蔽清光，斫去之则月华更明——此以桂影喻朝中奸佞壅蔽，欲铲除之使清光普照山河，寄澄清天下之志。「人道是」三字以他人之口道出，似商量、似确信，更见其志之坚。传说中吴刚伐桂而不辍，词人则愿一斫而尽，浪漫的想象中藏着志士的决绝。结句意在言外，戛然而止，而「清光更多」的期望与现实中清光难明的愤懑相激荡，余味苍凉。
The closing line's wondrous-imagination's flying and yet the entrustment's grief: the moon's cassia-shadow's waving, veiling the clear light, the chop-it-away's then the moon's brightness's the clearer — this using the cassia-shadow for the court's sycophants' obstruction, the wanting-to-uproot-them's making the clear light's shine on the hills-and-rivers, entrusting the order-the-world's-will. The men-say three words' using the other's mouth's utterance, as if consulting and as if certain, the more seeing his will's firmness. In the legend Wu Gang's chopping the cassia's unceasing, and yet the poet's willing one-chop-to-the-end, the romantic imagination's hiding the patriot's resoluteness. The closing line's meaning-beyond-the-words, abrupt stop, and yet the clear-light-would-be-more's expectation and the reality's clear-light's-hard-to-brighten's indignation's mutual stirring, the aftertaste bleak.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Written the same year; both use a strange sight to voice the will to recover the north and the grief of a hero with no road; compare them.
辛弃疾《水龙吟·过南剑双溪楼》「举头西北浮云，倚天万里须长剑……峡束苍江对起，过危楼，欲飞还敛」，与《太常引》同年（或稍后）所作，皆借山川奇观抒恢复之志与失路之悲。太常引以月中斫桂喻铲奸，水龙吟以倚天长剑喻复国，一虚一实、一浪漫一沉郁，而「整顿乾坤」之志一以贯之。两词合观，可见稼轩豪放词中政治寄托的多样表达，及其在词中反复书写同一份壮志难酬之愤的执著。
苏轼·念奴娇·中秋 Su Shi · Nian Nu Jiao · Mid-Autumn 苏轼 · 异代同写中秋豪宕问月 DifferentBoth write a bold mid-autumn questioning of the moon; Su's lyric is transcendent, Xin's sinking—a sharp contrast in manner.
苏轼《念奴娇·中秋》「凭高眺远，见长空万里，云无留迹……便欲乘风，翻然归去，何用骑鹏翼」，与辛词同写中秋对月、乘风归去之想，意象颇近（长空万里、乘风）。差异在：苏词归趋于「水晶宫里，一声吹断横笛」的逍遥旷达，是对尘世的超越；辛词归趋于「斫去桂婆娑」的澄清之志，是对现实的介入。一旷达一沉郁、一超然一愤激，风格对照鲜明，正可见苏轼与辛弃疾虽同属豪放而精神旨趣迥异。
念奴娇·过洞庭 Niannujiao: Crossing Lake Dongting 张孝祥 · 同写月夜壮阔之境与孤高襟怀 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
张孝祥《念奴娇·过洞庭》「素月分辉，明河共影，表里俱澄澈……尽挹西江，细斟北斗，万象为宾客」，写洞庭月夜之澄澈与胸襟之磊落；辛词写中秋明月之皎洁与壮志之激愤。差异在：张词以「表里俱澄澈」写人格之光明，物我两忘，归于空明之境；辛词以「斫去桂婆娑」写政治之愤激，托月寄志，归于澄清之愿。同为南宋词人写月，一主清旷、一主豪宕，可见南宋词坛对「月」这一意象的两种寄托方式。