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宋 Song · 诗 Poem

于潜僧绿筠轩

Inscribed on the Green Bamboo Studio of the Yuqian Monk

苏轼

Su Shi

咏物Object-Chanting 竹子Bamboo 哲理Philosophical Insight

可使食无肉，不可居无竹。
无肉令人瘦，无竹令人俗。
人瘦尚可肥，士俗不可医。
旁人笑此言，似高还似痴。
若对此君仍大嚼，世间那有扬州鹤。

One may eat without meat,
But one cannot dwell without bamboo.
No meat makes a man thin,
No bamboo makes a man vulgar.
A thin man may still grow fat,
But a vulgar scholar cannot be cured.
Others laugh at these words—
They seem lofty, or else demented.
If, facing this lord, you still munch meat,
Where in this world is there a Yangzhou crane?

Listen

Meaning

Su Shi argues that bamboo is not a luxury but a spiritual necessity. One can give up meat and only grow thin, but giving up bamboo makes the spirit vulgar—and vulgarity, unlike thinness, is incurable. He ends with a witty allusion reminding us that we cannot enjoy both high-minded purity and worldly indulgence at once.

宁肯吃饭没有肉，也不能居住没有竹。没有肉不过使人消瘦，没有竹却会使人庸俗。人瘦了还可以再长胖，士人庸俗了却无药可医。旁人笑我这番话，像是清高又像是痴愚。倘若对着这竹子仍然大口嚼肉，世间哪有既得竹又得鹤的便宜事。

Appreciation

This is one of Su Shi's most famous poems on bamboo and a perfect specimen of Song-dynasty poetry that turns philosophy into wit. The opening contrast between meat and bamboo frames a moral choice in everyday language. The middle lines build a logical ladder: thinness is temporary, vulgarity is terminal. Then Su Shi lets imagined bystanders laugh at him, puncturing his own lofty tone, and closes with the 'Yangzhou crane' allusion, which turns a sermon into a smile. The whole poem reads like a lively conversation, mixing syllogism, self-mockery, and a deep faith in spiritual elegance.

【白话串讲】 “可使食无肉，不可居无竹”——苏轼写于潜僧的绿筠轩：宁可不吃肉，不能没竹子。“无肉令人瘦，无竹令人俗”——“人瘦尚可肥，士俗不可医”——人瘦能补，人俗没法医。“若对此君仍大嚼，世间那有扬州鹤”——他调侃那些贪吃的人。【意象与手法】开篇“可使食无肉，不可居无竹”以对比立论；“无肉令人瘦，无竹令人俗”“人瘦尚可肥，士俗不可医”句式对仗而理趣横生；末句“若对此君仍大嚼、世间那有扬州鹤”化用扬州鹤典故调侃既想清高又难舍肉食的矛盾。以口语化的五言写成，议论风生。【情感与主旨】题赠于潜僧人的咏竹诗，借竹言志，表明重精神轻物质的人生态度，体现了苏轼旷达超脱的胸襟与亦庄亦谐的诗风，折射出宋诗以理入诗、尚意趣的时代风貌。【名句点睛】常考“可使食无肉，不可居无竹”以对比立论写竹之品格；“人瘦尚可肥，士俗不可医”以瘦俗对举写精神之贵。

Background

Yuqian, west of modern Lin'an in Zhejiang, was home to a monk whose studio was called Lüyun Xuan, 'Green Bamboo Studio' — yun meaning bamboo. Su Shi wrote this poem for the occasion, using the bamboo-filled courtyard as a starting point for reflections on character and the good life. Written before the worst storms of his career, the poem already shows the lightness, humor, and philosophical detachment that later made him a symbol of resilience. It also reflects the Song-dynasty vogue for 'putting argument into poetry' — treating verse as a medium for witty reasoning rather than only for imagery and feeling.

《于潜僧绿筠轩》是苏轼题赠于潜僧人的一首咏竹诗。于潜（今浙江临安西）有位僧人，居处名「绿筠轩」，筠即竹，轩外竹色满庭，苏轼借题发挥，畅言竹与人之关系。要读懂它，得先认识此时的苏轼，以及宋诗「以理入诗」的风气。苏轼写此诗时年纪尚轻，却已显露出后来「坡仙」的旷达与诙谐。他一生屡遭贬谪，却始终以精神之富傲视物质之穷，竹子正是这种人生态度最恰切的图腾。此诗表面写僧轩之竹，实则是夫子自道。宋人咏物，与唐人不同：唐人重兴象、重情韵，宋人重理趣、重议论。苏轼身处北宋诗文革新之后，诗风尚意趣、以俗为雅，最擅长把一篇说理文写成一首活泼的诗。他把「可居无竹否」这个看似生活化的选择题，做成了一次关于「精神与物质孰重」的哲学辩论，还带着几分自我调侃的幽默。更妙的是它的身份设定：说话人是苏轼，听话的「旁人」是调侃者，被说的「此君」是竹。三个人（物）一台戏，苏轼在中间又立论又自嘲，把一个本可板正的道理，说得亦庄亦谐、摇曳生姿。这也正是宋诗最迷人处——它不端着，它跟你聊天，聊着聊着，道理就进来了。读懂这点，才明白此诗为何被称为「理趣结合」的佳构，也才明白苏轼为何成为中国文人精神史里那个「怎么都打不垮」的符号。

Art

The art of this poem lies in making an argument feel alive. The opening gives a stark, memorable choice: no meat versus no bamboo. The second couplet turns that choice into a cost-benefit comparison: no meat costs you flesh; no bamboo costs you dignity. The third pushes to a logical climax: flesh can be recovered, character cannot. Then Su Shi introduces 'others' laughter,' deflating his own seriousness, and finishes with a comic allusion that exposes the greed in wanting incompatible goods. The colloquial five-character lines, the crisp parallelisms, and the sudden turn to self-irony combine to make a moral essay dance. This is Song poetry's 'interest in principle' at its most charming.

此诗的艺术，在「以议论为诗」却议论得活泼不枯燥，靠的是对比、递推与自嘲三种手法交织。前四句是一个层层递进的「轻重辩」：可使食无肉，不可居无竹，起笔即以对比立论，把竹从植物抬升为精神必需；无肉令人瘦，无竹令人俗，申说物质之亏可补、精神之俗难医；人瘦尚可肥，士俗不可医，句式对仗而理趣横生，把「瘦」与「俗」的可逆性做成了数学题——一个能肥，一个无药。这种把价值判断写成「可逆性比较」的写法，是宋诗说理的典型机巧。后三句则由立论转入自嘲。旁人笑此言，似高还似痴，引入一个调侃的旁观者，用「似高还似痴」的反问，把前面的大道理先打一个折扣——你苏轼这话，听着像清高，又像傻。这一笔极聪明：它不回避世俗的嘲笑，反而替世俗把话说出来，反倒显得苏轼的痴里见真。末句若对此君仍大嚼，世间那有扬州鹤，化用「扬州鹤」典故做结，调侃既想居竹清高、又难舍肉食之矛盾，把全诗的诙谐推到顶点。整首诗以口语化的五言写成，节奏明快，议论风生，将咏物、说理与诙谐融为一体。它不靠意象堆砌，而靠逻辑的推演与幽默的反转取胜，是宋诗「尚意趣」的标本，也最见苏轼「以俗为雅、以谐写正」的看家本领。

Allusions

Two allusions are crucial. 'This lord' is bamboo, from the Jin-dynasty connoisseur Wang Ziyou, who, when lodging in someone's home, insisted on having bamboo planted and declared, 'How can one live a single day without this lord?' From then on, 'this lord' became an elegant name for bamboo. The 'Yangzhou crane' condenses the old joke about wanting to be 'girded with a hundred thousand strings of cash and ride a crane up to Yangzhou' — an image of wishing to possess wealth, transcendence, and pleasure all at once. Su Shi reverses the joke: if you stand before elegant bamboo while still chewing meat, you are asking for the impossible. The allusion transforms a moral rebuke into a delightful punchline.

此诗用典不多却极巧，核心在「此君」与「扬州鹤」两个典。此君指竹，出自《世说新语》：东晋王徽之（王子猷）爱竹，暂寄人家，便令种竹，人问其故，他啸咏良久说「何可一日无此君」——从此「此君」成了竹的专称。苏轼写「若对此君仍大嚼」，是当着竹的面啃肉，既呼竹为君，又调侃自己对肉的贪，痴得可爱。扬州鹤则化用「腰缠十万贯，骑鹤上扬州」的南朝笑话：世人贪心，既要钱、又要仙、又要官，谚语把它们捏成「骑鹤上扬州」兼「腰缠十万贯」的便宜事，讽人哪能好处占尽。苏轼反用其意：你想对着竹（清高）还大嚼肉（世俗），世间哪有既得竹又得鹤的便宜事？意思是清高与口腹之欲难两全，你既爱竹之清，便该舍肉之俗，别想两头占。这一典用得极俏，把说教变成了玩笑。更深的典故脉络在「竹」本身。竹自王维「独坐幽篁里」、白居易「竹似贤」、《礼记》「君子比德于竹」（竹有节、中空、耐寒），早成君子人格的象征。苏轼把这套比德传统，化入一首打油式的五言，让严肃的「君子之竹」变得可亲可哂。这便是宋诗的本事：把千年的道德符号，写成朋友间的一句俏皮话，而道理半点没少。

Commentary

This poem has become one of the most quoted declarations of the Chinese literati's love of bamboo. Its first four lines — 'no meat' versus 'no bamboo' — were often cited as the quintessential statement of spiritual over material value. Later critics praised it as a model of Song poetry's argumentative mode, in which logic itself turns lyrical. What makes it unforgettable is not only the clever reasoning but the voice: Su Shi lets us hear a friend who can laugh at his own high-mindedness. That buoyant self-awareness, later refined through exile and hardship, became the hallmark of 'Su the Immortal' and one of the most beloved personalities in Chinese poetry.

《于潜僧绿筠轩》在苏诗里不算沉郁厚重之作，却是「坡仙本色」最集中的一小幅——诙谐、旷达、以理趣胜。自宋以来，论者多爱其「可使食无肉，不可居无竹」的率真，这两句几乎成了中国文人爱竹的宣言，与王维竹里馆、郑燮竹石并传。清人论宋诗，常拈此首说明苏诗「以文为诗、以理为趣」而不枯窘的本领；近人钱钟书《谈艺录》论宋诗理趣，亦以苏诗此类为「戏笔成趣」的范例。值得分辨的是，此诗的「高」不是端着的。旁人笑此言，似高还似痴，苏轼自己先承认这话听着像痴，这种「自嘲」恰恰是宋诗区别于说理散文的关键：它不训人，而跟人聊天，聊到尽头还自己挠挠头。所以它能流传，不只因道理对，更因态度可爱——一个宁可不吃肉也要看竹的人，还坦然承认自己有点傻，谁忍心反驳他？也有人微词，嫌苏诗「以议论为诗」伤了兴象。但此诗恰恰证明：议论未必伤诗，伤诗的是议论得枯燥。苏轼把逻辑写成节奏、把道理写成幽默，竹与肉的轻重，被他说得像一段相声。这正是宋诗对唐诗「情景兴象」传统的一次突围：它用「理趣」补「情韵」之不足，开出另一重诗意。后世咏竹之作，多有效法其立意者，而能得其诙谐风骨者寥寥——因为诙谐易学，通透难学，而苏轼的通透，是贬了一次又一次还笑得出来修来的。

Prosody

Form Five-character ancient verse (wuyan gushi), ten lines; not regulated verse五言古诗（咏物说理五古，十句，非严格近体，属宋诗古调）

Rhyme The poem shifts rhymes. The opening cluster uses clipped entering-tone words (zhu, su, yi), then moves to the level-tone zhi rhyme (chi) and closes with he. The movement from abrupt, pressing sounds to a relaxed, drawn-out ending matches the shift from stern argument to amused self-mockery.竹、俗、医、痴、鹤，古体换韵自由，此诗以入声质陌与平声支韵交错，竹俗医为入声促节，痴鹤为平声舒调，声情由峻急而悠忽，与诙谐自嘲相宜。

Tone pattern As an ancient-style poem, it does not follow regulated tonal patterns. The syntax is colloquial and prose-like, with the rhythm following the natural flow of speech — a hallmark of Su Shi's 'poetry as argument.'五古不拘粘对，此诗句式口语化，平仄随语意流转，不取近体之整饬，恰合「以文为诗」的宋调。

Reading note Su Shi deliberately chose the ancient verse form rather than a regulated quatrain. This gives him room to argue, jest, and change register without being bound by strict tonal parallelism. The short, clipped rhymes of the opening feel like hammered nails; the final level-tone rhymes allow the voice to trail off in a witty shrug. Read aloud, the poem sounds like a brilliant dinner-table monologue.《于潜僧绿筠轩》是五古而非律绝，所以苏轼不用对仗框住自己，而让逻辑像说话一样自然推进——从「可使无肉」一路辩到「扬州鹤」，是一段完整的俏皮议论，若做成律诗，这股摇曳的辩论气就散了。它的声韵也随情绪走：前段写瘦俗医，用入声字（竹俗医）收束，入声短促急收，像在斩钉截铁地下判断；到「旁人笑此言，似高还似痴」，转入平声支韵，语气一松，变成自嘲的讪笑；末句扬州鹤以平收悠忽作结，像玩笑说完还挑一下眉。这种「以声写态度」的细密，正合宋诗的需要。它不靠平仄的铿锵取胜，而靠节奏的口语化与韵的转折，把一篇说理文写成可诵的歌。读它宜像听人聊天：前几句是你以为他在说教，后几句他忽然自己笑了——声律的忽峻忽舒，正是那一笑的节拍。这也证明五古在宋人手里，成了承载理趣的最佳容器。

Line by line

可使食无肉，不可居无竹。

One may go without meat, but one cannot dwell without bamboo. The poem begins with an uncompromising choice: meat stands for material comfort, bamboo for spiritual grace. The grammar itself — 'may' versus 'cannot' — lays down a belief about how to live.

宁肯吃饭没有肉，也不能居住没有竹。

I can bear a meal without meat, but I cannot dwell without bamboo.

开篇即是一个「二选一」的极端立论，把竹从观赏植物一举抬升为精神刚需。可使食无肉，是退一步的让步——肉代表口腹之欲、物质之享，我可以不要；不可居无竹，是一步不让的底线——竹代表清雅之趣、精神之依，绝不能没有。两个「可／不可」对举，语气决绝，像在宣布一种生活信仰。妙在它用最生活化的「吃肉住竹」来承载最形而上的「精神重于物质」，不引经据典，只抛一个选择题，便把道理说到人心坎上。这一联后来成了中国文人爱竹的总宣言，正因它把一项君子操守，说成了人人能懂的取舍。读它要品那个「居」字：不是「看竹」而是「居竹」，竹是日日相与的邻居，不是偶尔赏玩的风景——这份亲密，才是苏轼真把它当精神之家的原因。

The opening is an extreme either-or proposition, lifting bamboo from an ornamental plant to a spiritual necessity. 'I can bear a meal without meat' is a step of concession — meat represents appetite and material enjoyment, which I can forgo; 'but I cannot dwell without bamboo' is an unyielding bottom line — bamboo represents elegance and spiritual reliance, which I cannot lack. The two 'can' and 'cannot' stand opposed in a decisive tone, like the declaration of a life creed. The genius is that it carries the most metaphysical claim — spirit above matter — through the most everyday terms, eating meat and dwelling among bamboo; no classics are cited, only a choice offered, and yet the reasoning reaches the heart. This couplet later became the manifesto of Chinese literati love for bamboo, precisely because it turns a gentleman's integrity into a choice anyone can understand. Taste the word 'dwell': not 'looking at bamboo' but 'dwelling with bamboo' — bamboo is a daily neighbor, not an occasional view; this closeness is why Su Shi truly made it his spiritual home.

无肉令人瘦，无竹令人俗。

No meat makes one thin; no bamboo makes one vulgar. The second couplet turns the choice into a diagnosis: the body suffers mildly without meat, but the spirit suffers irreparably without bamboo. 'Thin' is physical, 'vulgar' is moral.

没有肉不过使人消瘦，没有竹却会使人庸俗。

Without meat one grows thin; without bamboo one grows vulgar.

这一联把首联的立论往前推一步，做成「损益对照」：无肉的代价是瘦，无竹的代价是俗。瘦是身体的亏，俗是精神的败——一轻一重，高下立判。最巧在「令人」二字的对称：肉令人瘦，是常识；竹令人俗（无则俗），是把竹写成「免俗之药」。苏轼不直说「有竹则雅」，而说「无竹则俗」，从反面立论，语气更俏，也更戳人——谁愿意被说俗呢？这一联是宋诗说理的典型机巧：它把价值判断写成因果句式，像在摆证据，却摆得妙趣横生。瘦与俗，一可补一难医，已经在为下联的「可逆性比较」铺路。读它可见苏轼怎么把一篇《君子比德论》，压缩成十个字的生活格言。

This couplet pushes the opening thesis a step further into a contrast of gain and loss: the cost of no meat is thinness, the cost of no bamboo is vulgarity. Thinness is a loss of the body, vulgarity a defeat of the spirit — one light, one heavy, the superiority settled at once. Most clever is the symmetry of 'make one': meat makes one thin is common sense; bamboo makes one vulgar (without it) is to write bamboo as the cure for vulgarity. Su Shi does not say directly 'with bamboo one is elegant' but 'without bamboo one is vulgar,' arguing from the negative, the tone wittier and more piercing — who wants to be called vulgar? This couplet is a typical ingenuity of Song reasoning verse: it writes a value judgment as a causal sentence, like presenting evidence, yet presenting it delightfully. Thinness and vulgarity, one remediable and one hard to heal, already pave the way for the next line's comparison of reversibility. One sees how Su compressed a whole treatise on the gentleman's moral analogy into a ten-character life maxim.

人瘦尚可肥，士俗不可医。

A thin person may grow fat again, but a vulgar scholar cannot be cured. This is the logical climax: thinness is reversible, vulgarity is terminal. By using the word 'scholar,' Su Shi sharpens the warning for the educated class, who should know better.

人瘦了还可以再长胖，士人庸俗了却无药可医。

A thin man can still grow fat, but a scholar who is vulgar is beyond cure.

这是全诗的逻辑高潮，也是「轻重辩」的收束。它把上联的对照做成「可逆性比较」：人瘦了，还能再吃肥，是可逆的、有解的；士人庸俗了，却无药可医，是不可逆的、无救的。尚可对不可医，一松一紧，把「俗」的不可赦写得斩钉截铁。这一个判断极见宋人理趣：它不像唐诗那样叹「俗」、鄙「俗」，而是冷静地告诉你「俗」的病理——它是精神的绝症，比身体的瘦可怕万倍。士字尤重，它把对象限定在「读书人」，暗含对士大夫阶层的警醒：你可以是穷瘦的士，不能是庸俗的士。这一联对仗工稳，理趣横生，是苏轼「以议论为诗」最漂亮的标本——十四个字，像一段微型议论文，却读来比诗还顺口。

This is the logical climax of the poem and the close of the 'weighing of light and heavy.' It turns the last contrast into a comparison of reversibility: a man grown thin can eat back to fatness — reversible, solvable; a scholar grown vulgar is beyond cure — irreversible, hopeless. 'Can still' set against 'beyond cure,' one loose and one tight, writes the unforgivability of 'vulgarity' decisively. This judgment shows the philosophic wit of Song verse: it does not, like Tang verse, sigh over or disdain 'vulgarity,' but coolly tells you the pathology of it — it is the terminal illness of the spirit, a thousand times more terrible than thinness. The word 'scholar' is especially weighty: it limits the object to the educated, carrying a warning to the scholar-official class — you may be a poor, thin scholar, but never a vulgar one. The couplet is tightly parallel and rich in reason, the finest specimen of Su Shi's 'poetry through argumentation' — fourteen characters like a miniature essay, yet reading more fluently than verse.

若对此君仍大嚼，世间那有扬州鹤。

If, facing this lord, you still munch meat, where in the world is there a Yangzhou crane? The punchline: calling bamboo 'this lord' is courteous; 'munching meat' is crude. The collision of the two exposes the wish to enjoy both purity and indulgence. The 'Yangzhou crane' allusion dismisses that wish as fantasy.

倘若对着这竹子仍然大口嚼肉，世间哪有既得竹又得鹤的便宜事。

If, facing this gentleman, I still gorge on meat, where in the world is there such luck as the Yangzhou crane?

尾联是全诗的诙谐顶点，也是自嘲的落点。此君呼竹为君，典出王子猷「何可一日无此君」，是极雅的称呼；大嚼却是极俗的动作——对着竹君还大口吃肉，雅俗当场打架，画面感十足，苏轼把自己爱竹又馋肉的矛盾摊开给人笑。扬州鹤化用「腰缠十万贯，骑鹤上扬州」的南朝笑话，讽人哪能好处占尽；苏轼反用：你既对着竹（清高）还大嚼肉（世俗），世间哪有既得竹又得鹤的便宜事？意思是清高与口腹难两全，别想两头占。这一结把前面正经的道理，用一个玩笑轻轻兜住，亦庄亦谐，痴得可爱。它最见坡仙本色：道理我立了，漏洞我也认了，然后笑着戳自己一下。宋诗的「活」，全在这一戳里。

The closing couplet is the humorous peak of the poem and the landing of its self-mockery. 'This gentleman' addresses bamboo as a lord, from Wang Huzi's 'how can a day pass without this gentleman?' — a most elegant address; yet 'gorge on meat' is a most vulgar action — facing Lord Bamboo and still wolfing down meat, elegance and vulgarity fight on the spot, the picture vivid; Su exposes the contradiction of loving bamboo yet craving meat for laughter. 'The Yangzhou crane' adapts the southern-dynasty joke of 'ten thousand strings at the waist, riding a crane to Yangzhou,' mocking those who want every advantage; Su reverses it: if, facing bamboo (purity), you still gorge on meat (worldliness), where in the world is the luck of having both bamboo and crane? The meaning is that purity and appetite cannot both be had; do not think to occupy both ends. This close catches up the earnest reasoning above with a single joke, at once solemn and playful, endearingly doting. It most shows the nature of the Immortal Su: I have laid down the principle, I admit the loophole, and then I poke myself with a smile. The 'liveliness' of Song verse lies entirely in this poke.

Study

Word focus

可使 / 不可 'may' / 'cannot' — the syntactic hinge of the poem. Su Shi yields on meat but refuses to budge on bamboo, making his priority unmistakable. 可使与不可对举，是全诗立论的语法骨架。可使是退让（肉可无），不可是底线（竹不可无），一松一紧，把「精神重于物质」写成一道不容商量的取舍。这种「先让一步再守一步」的句式，让立论既决绝又从容，是宋人论说诗常用的起手式，也见苏轼辩论的从容。这种「可／不可」的二元对举，在修辞上属让步式对比，先让出物质（无肉）再死守精神（有竹），把取舍轻重写得毫不含糊。苏轼下笔带着市井幽默，像精明账房重列人生开支，砍肉留竹，算得又利落又俏皮，正是宋诗「以俗为雅」的看家本领。

俗 'vulgar; common' — the opposite of the cultivated literatus. Su Shi treats it as the gravest spiritual disease, worse than physical emaciation. 俗是此诗的靶心字。它不是一般意义上的庸俗，而是指精神无格、趣味低下，是士大夫最怕的「病」。苏轼把无竹的后果定为「俗」，且定为「不可医」，等于把竹写成免俗之药、把居竹写成士大夫的精神疫苗。一个俗字，承载了全部君子比德的传统，也被他写得像绝症诊断书一样吓人——这正是宋诗以重笔写常理的机巧。

此君 'this lord' — a classical epithet for bamboo, coined from Wang Ziyou's saying, 'How can one live a day without this lord?' It personifies bamboo as a respected companion. 此君呼竹，典出王子猷「何可一日无此君」，是竹的雅称，也暗含苏轼以竹为友、为君的亲昵。妙在尾联「若对此君仍大嚼」——对着「君」还大口吃肉，雅俗同框，幽默顿生。这一个词把竹从植物变成对话对象，也让全诗的自我调侃有了落点：苏轼不是在说竹，是在跟竹（和读诗的人）开玩笑。「此君」之称从王子猷的啸咏到苏轼的调侃，竹已不纯是自然之物，而成了可与人对坐、可与之玩笑的「人」。尤其尾联把雅称与「大嚼」并置，雅俗在一句中碰撞，足见宋人咏物不避谐趣，宁可让竹子听见自己被调侃，也要把道理说得活。

大嚼 'to chew loudly; to munch' — a deliberately coarse, vivid action placed next to refined bamboo, creating comic collision. 大嚼是极俗极生动的动作，与「此君」的雅形成滑稽反差。它写的是苏轼自己（或一切爱竹又馋肉的人）的矛盾：嘴上标榜居竹清高，筷子却伸向肉盘。一个「大」字把馋态写足，也让自嘲更狠——不是浅尝，是「大嚼」。这一个词是全诗诙谐的发动机，把道理从神坛拽回饭桌。「大嚼」之俗，正衬「此君」之雅，二者同在一句，构成全诗最轻快的喜剧张力。苏轼以俗笔写雅怀，不把清高写死，而让清高的人当着竹面馋肉，反而显得真率可爱。这种自曝其短的幽默，是坡仙区别于后世「端着」咏物诗的关键。

扬州鹤 'the Yangzhou crane' — from the old saying 'ride a crane to Yangzhou,' symbolic of greedily wanting every pleasure at once. Su Shi uses it to mock the impossible dream of having both elegance and indulgence. 扬州鹤化用「腰缠十万贯，骑鹤上扬州」的贪心笑话，讽人好处占尽。苏轼反用其意，说世间没有既得竹（清高）又得鹤（成仙得肉之喻）的便宜事，点明清高与世俗难两全。这一典用得极俏：它把说教变成玩笑，把「你太贪」的批评，包进一个南朝老梗里。宋诗以典为趣，此是一例——典不僻，趣却深。扬州鹤之典本写世人贪心，苏轼反用为「好处不能占尽」的自嘲，把道德说教包进一个南朝老梗里。典不僻而趣深，恰是宋诗以典为戏的妙处——读者不必熟典，只听「既得竹又得鹤」的便宜话落空，便已会心一笑。