宋 Song · 诗 Poem
杨万里·稚子弄冰
A Small Child Plays with Ice
稚子弄冰稚子金盆脱晓冰，彩丝穿取当银钲。
敲成玉磬穿林响，忽作玻璃碎地声。
threads it on coloured silk and takes it for a silver gong.
Struck, it rings like a jade chime and carries through the wood;
then all at once it is the sound of glass shattering on the ground.
Meaning
Early in the morning a small child prises the frozen ice out of a metal basin, threads it on coloured silk and beats it as though it were a silver gong. The sound he strikes out is like a jade chime ringing clear through the trees, and then all at once it becomes the sound of glass smashing on the ground.
清晨，幼小的孩子从金属盆里剜出冻结的冰块，用彩色丝线穿起来，当作银钲敲打。敲出的声音如同玉磬一般清脆，穿越树林远远回荡，忽然之间，却变成了像琉璃砸碎在地上的声响。
Appreciation
The whole art of the poem lies in its liveliness. Four lines carry one complete little event: slipping out the dawn ice catches the lightness with which the ice is taken up, threading it on coloured silk to serve as a silver gong catches the ingenuity of a child's mind in making an instrument out of ice, striking it into a jade chime that carries through the wood catches both the clarity of the sound and the space it travels through, and the sudden turn to glass shattering on the ground catches the abruptness of the breaking and the crispness of the noise. Sight, sound and movement are woven together, and 'through the wood' and 'on the ground' set far against near and rising against falling, so that the rhythm rises and drops. Written when Yang Wanli was living quietly in the country and watching village children at their winter games, the poem uses nothing but everyday spoken language and yet strikes out a picture and a sound, with the delight of childhood and the pleasure of thought made one; nowhere is his living method more apparent.
【白话串讲】 “稚子金盆脱晓冰，彩丝穿取当银钲”——小孩早上从盆里取出冰块，用彩线穿起来当锣敲。“敲成玉磬穿林响，忽作玻璃碎地声”——正敲得开心，冰块碎了。杨万里写童年，写得妙趣横生。 【意象与手法】 此诗艺术之妙，全在一个「活」字。四句写一个完整的小事件：脱冰、穿丝、敲响、碎地，环环相扣，如一场微型戏剧。意象上以「银钲」「玉磬」「玻璃」三样宝物连环设喻，把寒冰的晶莹、清响与易碎写得可触可闻；听觉与视觉交织，「穿林响」写声音之清越悠远，「碎地声」写碎响之骤然而至，一扬一落、一远一近，节奏跌宕有致。语言全用口语白话，不事雕琢，却炼出画面与声响，童趣与理趣浑然一体，诚斋「活法」于此最为显豁。 【情感与主旨】 杨万里（1127—1206），字廷秀，号诚斋，南宋诗人，与陆游、范成大、尤袤并称「中兴四大诗人」。此诗写冬日村童以冰为戏的片刻，通篇无一字议论，却让读者看见一颗天真烂漫的童心：孩子把冰当乐器，是物我相忘的纯粹游戏；冰碎的一瞬，那由喜转惊、随即化为一笑的憨态跃然纸上。诗人在看似琐屑的日常中发现诗意，以平等的目光欣赏儿童的世界，正是诚斋「诗在山水之外，更在寻常日用之间」创作理念的体现。 【名句点睛】 常考「敲成玉磬穿林响，忽作玻璃碎地声」的写法：前句以「玉磬」喻冰声之清越，并以「穿林」写出声音在空间中的回荡；后句以「玻璃碎地」写冰碎的脆响，将欢快的乐章骤然打碎，戛然而止而余味无穷。两相对照，先扬后抑，正是全诗最富戏剧性的一笔。
Background
Yang Wanli, who lived from 1127 to 1206, styled Tingxiu and known as Chengzhai, was a poet of the Southern Song ranked with Lu You, Fan Chengda and You Mao as one of the four great poets of the restoration. This poem comes from his years of quiet country life, when he observed village children at play in winter, about the Shaoxi period of Emperor Guangzong, while he was living in retirement at Jishui in present-day Jiangxi. It was a common winter amusement in Song times to let a basin of water freeze and use the ice for a game, and village children would thread the ice on coloured silk and beat it for pleasure; the custom was ordinary enough. Yang Wanli catches the moment with a poet's eye and sets it down in pure plain description, which is exactly what his own manner meant by keeping a dead snake alive and lively in the hand.
杨万里（1127—1206），字廷秀，号诚斋，吉州吉水（今江西吉水）人，南宋中兴四大诗人之一。他绍兴二十四年（1154）中进士，历官赣州司户参军、国子博士、广东提点刑狱、秘书监等职，一生仕途起伏，晚年因忤权臣韩侂胄而家居十五年，直至病逝。此诗约作于光宗绍熙年间退居吉水之后，其时诗人年逾六十，息影田园，日日与乡野风物为伴，遂将儿童冬日戏冰的寻常一幕摄入诗中。宋人冬日以盆水结冰为戏，本是江南乡村常见的岁时之乐：天寒夜冻，铜盆中水凝成坚冰，晨起脱冰穿孔，系以彩丝，提之如钲，敲之作声，稚童乐此不疲。杨万里以诗人之眼捕捉这一瞬间，纯以白描写生，不着一字议论。其诗学历程颇可注意：早年学江西诗派，中年尽焚少作，转而师法自然，自谓「传派传宗我替羞，作家各自一风流」，遂创「诚斋体」，主张「活法」，以活泼泼的语言写活泼泼的物态，此诗正是其「死蛇解弄活泼泼」主张的绝佳例证。
Art
The art of the poem is all in the word 'alive'. Four lines carry a complete small event: slipping out the dawn ice gives the lightness of taking the ice up, threading it on coloured silk for a silver gong gives the ingenuity of a child's mind in turning ice into an instrument, striking it into a jade chime that carries through the wood gives the clarity of the sound and the space it fills, and the sudden turn to glass shattering on the ground gives the abruptness of the break and the crispness of the noise. Sight, sound and motion are interwoven, and through the wood against on the ground sets far against near and rising against falling, so the rhythm swings. The language is entirely colloquial, and out of it are wrought both a picture and a sound, with childlike delight and intellectual pleasure fused; the living method of Chengzhai is nowhere clearer.
此诗艺术之妙，全在一个「活」字，四句写一个完整的小事件，环环相扣，如一场微型的戏剧。首句「稚子金盆脱晓冰」以「脱」字起笔，写取冰之轻巧利落，一个动作便将孩子的急切与灵巧写出；次句「彩丝穿取当银钲」写童心之巧思，把寒冰幻想为军中号令之器，以冰代乐器，物象的错位正是童趣的源泉；三句「敲成玉磬穿林响」由动作转入声音，「穿林」二字赋予清响以空间的纵深感，声音穿越树林远远回荡，画面由近及远；末句「忽作玻璃碎地声」陡转，一声脆响，冰落而碎，由喜转惊，戛然而止。全诗以「脱、穿、敲、碎」四个动词为骨，一线贯穿，动态十足；又以「银钲、玉磬、玻璃」三样珍宝连环设喻，同一块冰随情境幻化出三种物象，比喻贴切而层层递进。视、听、动交织，「穿林」与「碎地」一远一近、一扬一落，节奏跌宕；前两句写拿冰之兴，后两句写敲冰之声，前扬后抑、先喜后惊，章法顿挫有致。语言全用口语白话，却炼出画面与声响，童趣与理趣浑然，诚斋「活法」于此最显。
Allusions
The poem is pure description from life and has no evident allusion. The silver gong, the jade chime and the glass are all everyday objects used as comparisons: the gong is an ancient bronze instrument, the chime an instrument of stone or jade, and glass, which anciently meant natural jade-stone or coloured glaze, figures the crystalline fragility of ice. The word for a small child appears in Mencius, in the passage on the ages of life, and afterwards came to mean any young child rather than pointing to a particular story. The poem borrows nothing from books, looking at things with an innocent eye, and so appears clumsy in its very great skill, which is precisely the aesthetic self-awareness of the Chengzhai manner in discarding stale phrases and seeking a living method.
此诗纯为写生，本不用典，然三处喻体皆各有来历，可视为「以物为典」的巧思。其一「银钲」：钲为古代军中乐器，形似钟而狭长，敲击以节止行伍，故有「鸣钲」「金钲」之说，唐人诗中以钲写行军之声者甚多，杨万里以银钲喻冰，取的是冰之晶亮与敲之有声；其二「玉磬」：磬为上古石玉之乐器，八音之一，《尚书·益稷》已有「击石拊石，百兽率舞」之说，儒家雅乐以磬为宗，杨万里以玉磬喻冰声之清越，将村童之戏升格为雅乐之境，庄谐之间自见风趣；其三「玻璃」：唐宋时玻璃多指天然宝石或琉璃，非今日之普通玻璃，以之喻冰，取其晶莹剔透、触之即碎的双重特性，与「玉磬」之坚固清越形成对照。至于「稚子」一词，陶渊明《归去来兮辞》有「僮仆欢迎，稚子候门」句，杜甫《江村》「稚子敲针作钓钩」亦写稚子之趣，杨万里此诗正承陶杜一脉，将稚子由家宅之景移至冬日野趣。全诗不假典实而以天真眼光照物，反显大巧若拙，恰是诚斋体去陈言、求活法的美学自觉。
Commentary
The poem has long been treated as a model of verse about the delight of childhood and appears in many primary-school language textbooks. Qian Zhongshu, in his Annotated Selection of Song Poems, described the Chengzhai manner as excelling in a clever, lively and concrete way of writing, and this poem brings the child to life through a chain of verbs for slipping, threading, striking and shattering. Zhou Ruchang remarked that in twenty-eight characters it stages a small drama, which shows how high Yang Wanli's powers of description from life could reach.
此诗向为童趣诗代表作，历代选家多予著录，今更入选多种小学语文教材，成为儿童感知古典诗意的入门之作。宋代诗论中，杨万里诚斋体的「活法」向受推重：吕本中首倡活法，谓「规矩备具，而能出于规矩之外；变化不测，而亦不背于规矩也」；严羽《沧浪诗话》虽对江西诗派多有批评，亦肯定杨万里「其初喜唐人，晚乃自成一家」。近人钱钟书《宋诗选注》评诚斋体「擅长用聪明、活泼、具体的写法」，又谓其不让过去的浮泛套语来束缚自己，此诗正以「脱、穿、敲、碎」一连串动词写活稚子，无一字浮泛。周汝昌评此诗「一首二十八字，写出一场小小的戏剧」，可谓得其神髓。从文学史看，此诗的价值在于：其一，将儿童游戏以如此专注的笔致写入诗中，与范成大《四时田园杂兴》的「童孙未解供耕织，也傍桑阴学种瓜」异曲同工，共同拓展了田园诗的题材疆域；其二，以口语白话入诗而音节浏亮，上承王维、白居易的平易，下开晚清宋诗派与白话诗的通俗一路；其三，以物喻物的连环设喻与戛然而止的章法，成为后世儿童题材诗歌反复取法的范型。
Prosody
Line by line
稚子金盆脱晓冰
A small child slips the ice that froze at dawn out of the bronze basin.
幼小的孩子从金属盆里剜出清晨冻结的冰块。
The little child lifts the morning ice from the golden basin.
「脱」字是全句的诗眼，写冰块自盆中脱出之轻巧利落，一个动词便把孩子的急切、灵巧与得意写得活灵活现。金盆盛水，经一夜严寒凝为整块坚冰，晨光中孩子小心翼翼地将其剜出，「脱」字既见动作之轻捷，又暗含冰块完整脱出的欣喜，仿佛那不是一块冰，而是一件刚出炉的宝物。「晓冰」二字点明时令与时刻——非夜冰、非午冰，而是清晓初凝之冰，晶莹剔透、寒气未散，恰与「金盆」的金色互为映照，色彩明丽。句中以「金盆」对「晓冰」，一暖一寒、一实一虚，已为下文以冰为乐器的童心巧思埋下伏笔，起笔即见童趣，亦见诗人观察之细。
The tuo word's the whole line's poetic eye, writing the ice-block's out-of-the-basin's lightness-and-neatness, one verb's turning the child's eagerness-and-dexterity-and-pride's vivid. The golden basin's water-filled, through the night's cold's frozen into the whole solid ice-block, the morning light's the child's carefully's the chipping-out, the tuo word's at once seeing the motion's agility, and yet secretly carrying the ice-block's complete-out's joy, as if that's not an ice-block, and yet a just-from-the-furnace treasure. The morning-ice two words' pointing out the season-and-hour — not the night-ice, not the noon-ice, and yet the dawn's just-frozen ice, crystal-clear and the cold's not-yet-dispersed, precisely with the golden-basin's gold's mutual-reflection, the color's bright. The line's within using the golden-basin to the morning-ice, one-warm-one-cold, one-solid-one-void, already storing the ground for the below's ice-as-instrument's childlike cleverness, the opening at once seeing the childlike, and seeing the poet's observation's fineness.
彩丝穿取当银钲
He threads it on coloured silk and beats it as though it were a silver gong.
用彩色丝线把冰块穿起来，当作银钲敲打。
He threads it on colored silk and holds it for a silver gong.
此句写童心之巧思，是全诗由「取冰」到「作乐」的枢纽。孩子不满足于只是玩一块冰，而是用彩丝穿孔、提系，郑重其事地把冰当作银钲来敲——「当」字最妙，写出一种角色扮演式的认真：在孩子的世界里，冰不再是冰，而是发号施令的军中之器，这种物象的错位与想象力的腾跃，正是童趣的核心。「彩丝」与「银钲」对举，色彩绚烂：彩丝是现实中的道具，银钲是幻想中的名物，一俗一雅、一近一远，孩子的世界在两者之间自由穿梭。句法与首句「稚子金盆脱晓冰」相衔接，动作连贯紧凑，无一丝闲笔；「穿取」二字写动作之细，可见孩子操作的专注，为下句敲出清响蓄势。
This line writes the childlike cleverness, the whole poem's from-the-ice-taking to the music-making hinge. The child's not-the-content-with-only-the-playing-one-ice, and yet using the colored silk's thread-through-and-tie, the earnest's treating-the-ice-as-silver-gong to strike — the dang word's the most wondrous, writing a role-play-like earnestness: in the child's world, the ice's no longer the ice, and yet the military-command's instrument, this object's dislocation and the imagination's leap, precisely the childlike's core. The colored silk and silver gong's parallel, the color's gorgeous: the colored silk's the real-world prop, the silver gong's the fantasy's object, one-vulgar-one-elegant, one-near-one-far, the child's world's between the two's free-shuttling. The syntax's with the opening's child-lifts-the-morning-ice-from-the-golden-basin's the connection, the motion's continuous-and-compact, not one idle stroke; the thread-through two words' writing the motion's fineness, seeing the child's operation's focus, storing the force for the below's struck-clear-sound.
敲成玉磬穿林响
He strikes out a sound like a jade chime ringing clear through the trees.
敲出的声音如同玉磬一般清脆，穿越树林远远回荡。
He strikes it; the jade-chime sound rings through the woods.
此句由动作转入听觉，是全诗声响的至高点，喻体由「银钲」升格为「玉磬」，声音也随之由凡入雅。敲冰之声本属平常，诗人却说它「敲成玉磬」——「成」字写出声音的完成与纯粹，仿佛冰真的化作了上古雅乐之器，清越悠扬；「穿林响」三字更见功力，声音本无形，诗人却赋予它穿越树林的动势与空间感，「穿」字写声音之远、之清、之不绝，画面由近及远、由实入虚，寒林深处回荡着玉磬般的清响，境界为之开阔。此句与下句「忽作玻璃碎地声」形成先扬后抑的对照：玉磬之声清越致远，玻璃之声清脆短促，一雅一俗、一长一短，戏剧性的转折正由此而生。诗人以听觉写视觉，又以空间写声音，通感之妙，令人称绝。
This line from the motion's turning to the hearing, the whole poem's sound's peak, the metaphor's from the silver-gong's elevation to the jade-chime, the sound's thus's from-the-common's entering-the-elegant. The ice-struck's sound's originally the ordinary, and yet the poet's saying it's the struck-into-jade-chime — the cheng word's writing the sound's completion-and-purity, as if the ice's truly's transformed into the ancient-elegant-music's instrument, the clear-and-far-reaching; the through-the-woods-resounds three words' the more seeing the craft, the sound's originally the shapeless, and yet the poet's granting it the through-the-woods motion-and-spatial-feeling, the chuan word's writing the sound's far-and-clear-and-unceasing, the picture's from-near-to-far and from-solid-to-void, the cold-woods' depths' echoing the jade-chime-like clear sound, the realm's opened. This line with the below's suddenly-it-is-the-sound-of-glass-shattered-on-the-ground's forming the first-lift-then-press contrast: the jade-chime's clear-and-far-reaching, the glass's sound's crisp-and-short, one-elegant-one-vulgar, one-long-one-short, the dramatic turn's precisely hence's born. The poet's using the hearing for the sight, and yet using the space for the sound, the synesthesia's wonder's the exclaim-worthy.
忽作玻璃碎地声
All at once it becomes the sound of glass shattering on the ground.
忽然之间，冰块却化作琉璃砸碎在地上的声响。
Suddenly it is the sound of glass shattered on the ground.
末句陡转，是全诗的「豹尾」，以一声脆响将欢乐的乐章骤然打碎，戛然而止而余味无穷。「忽」字是全句的枢纽，写冰碎之骤然，毫无预兆——前一瞬还是穿林而过的玉磬清响，这一瞬已是碎地之声，喜悦与惊愕在电光石火间完成转换，孩子由得意到愣怔、随即又破涕为笑的情态宛然在目。「作」字写声音的转化，冰不再鸣响，而是作出破碎之声，物态的变化被写得如在耳畔。「玻璃碎地」以琉璃之脆喻冰之碎，晶莹的碎片四溅的画面感极强，与「玉磬」的清越形成材质上的呼应——玉磬是完整之冰，玻璃是破碎之冰，同一物象的两副面孔在此完成对照。全诗至此收束，不写孩子的反应，只写声音，留白之妙，正是诚斋体「活而不滞」的体现。
The closing line's sudden turn, the whole poem's leopard's-tail, using one-crisp-sound's the joyful-movement's sudden-smashing, the abrupt-stop-and-yet-the-aftertone-endless. The hu word's the whole line's hinge, writing the ice's shattering's sudden, the no-warning — the previous instant's still's the through-the-woods jade-chime clear sound, this instant's already's the ground-shattering sound, the joy-and-stunned's within-the-lightning's the completion-of-turn, the child's from-the-pride's to-the-stunned and the instant's the tear-to-laughter's pose's vivid. The zuo word's writing the sound's transformation, the ice's no longer's the sounding, and yet the shattering-sound's made, the thing's form's change's written as-in-present-ear. The glass-shattered-on-the-ground's using the glass's crispness's metaphor for the ice's shattering, the crystal-fragments' splash picture's extreme, with the jade-chime's clarity's the material's echo — the jade-chime's the whole ice-block, the glass's the shattered ice, the same object's two faces's here's the completion-of-contrast. The whole poem to here's the close, not writing the child's reaction, only writing the sound, the blank-reserve's wonder, precisely the Chengzhai-style's living-and-not-static's embodiment.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Both write the delight of children and the small scenes of daily life in retirement, and both belong to the Chengzhai manner.
《闲居初夏午睡起》「梅子留酸软齿牙，芭蕉分绿与窗纱。日长睡起无情思，闲看儿童捉柳花」与《稚子弄冰》同出诚斋手笔，皆写闲居中的儿童游戏，皆以白描活笔摄取日常一瞬。差异在：前诗以「闲看」写旁观之趣，诗人静坐窗下，看儿童捉柳花，情境舒缓闲适，趣在看；后诗以「脱、穿、敲、碎」一线贯穿，诗人直接铺写取冰、穿丝、敲响、碎地的完整过程，情境紧张活泼，趣在动。二诗合观，可见诚斋体两种面目：一为静观中的闲趣，一为动写中的活趣，而以儿童目光看世界的平等视角一以贯之，皆以天真化解凡俗，正是诚斋「诗在寻常日用间」主张的互证。
杨万里·插秧歌 Rice-Planting Song 杨万里 · 同写乡村生活场景，白描手法相近 SameBoth write country labour in the fields with a lively plain hand, and they may be read against each other.
《插秧歌》「田夫抛秧田妇接，小儿拔秧大儿插」与《稚子弄冰》同写乡村生活，皆以一连串动词铺写动作，白描生动、口语活泼，可见诚斋体在劳动与游戏两种题材间的一贯作风。差异在：前诗写劳动之紧张，全家分工协作、雨中抢插，动词密集如鼓点，气氛热烈而含劝勉之意；后诗写游戏之天真，动作轻巧、声音清越，由喜转惊、戛然而止，纯以童趣动人。前者以人写事，落笔于生产秩序；后者以物写心，落笔于儿童想象。二诗并读，恰见杨万里既能以诗笔写农事之勤，亦能以诗笔写童心之真，题材之广、笔法之活俱臻上乘，是研究诚斋体「活法」的重要对照文本。
四时田园杂兴·其一 Four Seasons of Rural Life, I 范成大 · 同写村童与田园，南宋田园诗双璧 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
范成大《四时田园杂兴》中的「童孙未解供耕织，也傍桑阴学种瓜」与《稚子弄冰》同写乡村儿童，是南宋田园诗写童趣的双璧。差异在：范诗写村童学农，以「未解供耕织」点出孩子的天真与成人的劳作秩序，儿童是田园生产图景中的点缀，含教化之趣；杨诗写村童戏冰，冰只是纯粹的玩具，孩子以冰为乐器的想象完全出于自发的游戏精神，诗笔则追摹这种想象，含审美之趣。范诗以成人之眼看儿童，落笔于田园之乐；杨诗以儿童之眼看世界，落笔于童心本身。二诗并观，可见南宋田园诗由写农事向写童心演进的一线脉络，亦见诚斋体在题材开掘上的独到之功。