宋 Song · 诗 Poem
谢韩仲文学士送白竹簟
Thanks to Academician Han Zhongwen for Sending a White Bamboo Mat
带粉裁疏节,凌霜剪翠筒。
鲸鳞铺海浪,鹏翅展天风。
暖恐春冰释,清宜晓魄融。
露华流沆瀣,寒色凛崆峒。
栩栩来庄蝶,{瞢目=羽}{瞢目=羽}失夏虫。
枕须松石碧,幌鄙雾绡红。
坐觉非尘境,魂如在月宫。
北窗聊寄傲,俗骨愧方瞳。
Whale scales spread the sea's waves; peng wings unfold the sky's wind.
Warm, it fears the spring ice melting; cool, it suits the dawn moon's melting light.
Dew's glory flows with the night vapour; cold hue stern as Kongtong.
Zhuangzi's butterfly came fluttering; the rare birds put the summer insect to shame.
For a pillow it needs pine-stone green; for a curtain it scorns rosy mist-silk.
Sitting, I feel no mortal realm; my soul as if in the moon palace.
By the north window I lodge my pride; my worldly bones shame before the square-pupiled one.
Meaning
Thanking his friend Han Zhongwen for a gift of a white bamboo mat, the poet describes its making and, through a cascade of comparisons, its coolness, clarity and otherworldly grace. He ends by saying that lying on it he feels transported from the mortal world to the moon palace, and compares himself, lodging pride by the north window, to the lofty hermits. The poem is a thank-you that also voices his wish to rise above the dusty world.
带着竹粉裁成稀疏的竹节,凌着霜剪下翠绿的竹筒。如鲸鳞铺展海上波浪,如鹏翅展开天上长风。温暖处恐似春冰消释,清冷恰宜晓月融光。露华流注沆瀣之气,寒色凛冽如崆峒山。栩栩然如庄周之蝶飞来,䳟䳟翔飞令夏虫失色。作枕须配松石之碧,为帷则鄙弃雾绡之红。坐卧间觉非尘世之境,魂魄如在月宫之中。北窗之下聊寄傲然之志,俗骨自愧面对方瞳仙人。
Appreciation
A pure object-poem, it describes the bamboo mat wholly through metaphor. The opening couplet writes its fine making; the middle spreads whale scales, peng wings, spring ice, dawn moon, night vapour, Kongtong, Zhuangzi's butterfly, the summer insect—all to write the mat's coolness, clarity and flight. The close gathers these into 'no mortal realm' and 'as if the moon palace,' then the north-window pride and the square-pupil contrast close in transcendence. Writing the void rather than the solid, it makes one mat seem a thing of immortals—the Song 'seize the spirit, leave the form' mode.
【白话串讲】 张方平感谢韩仲文送他白竹凉席:“带粉裁疏节,凌霜剪翠筒”。“鲸鳞铺海浪,鹏翅展天风”——“栩栩来庄蝶”——“坐觉清虚过”——他写凉席的清凉。 【意象与手法】诗为咏物,咏白竹簟而通篇设喻。首联写其取材之精,中幅连用鲸鳞、鹏翅、春冰、晓魄、沆瀣、崆峒、庄蝶、夏虫诸喻,极写簟之清凉、莹洁、飘逸;尾联以「非尘境」「如月宫」总括其仙逸之气,再以「北窗寄傲」的陶渊明自况、以「方瞳」仙人作衬,收得超然。全诗以虚写实,把一领竹席写得恍若仙物。 【情感与主旨】主旨是酬谢韩仲文学士所赠白竹簟,借咏物以见谢意,更借簟之清凉莹洁,寄托了作者超尘脱俗、傲然自适的襟怀,见其对清雅生活的向往。 【名句点睛】「坐觉非尘境,魂如在月宫」是全诗境界的最高处,以一席之凉写出一片清凉世界,把咏物提升为对超然心境的表达,虚实相生,最见匠心。
Background
Titled 'Thanks to Academician Han Zhongwen for Sending a White Bamboo Mat,' this is an object-depiction thank-you. Han Zhongwen's deeds are unknown, likely a friend of Zhang, 'Academician' being a clean library post. The white bamboo mat, a white woven bamboo summer cooler, was a refined gift among Tang-Song men of letters, often answered by verse. Mat-poems run from Bai Juyi's 'the di bamboo comes from Qichun, the frost knife splits the green' onward, and Song men loved to lodge coolness, purity and transcendence in the bamboo mat. Zhang, given the white bamboo mat by a friend, answered with this long pailü, praising the mat's clarity, in truth voicing his own wish to rise above the dust. Northern Song gentlemen prized refined play and pure taste; one bamboo mat in their brush was not a mere object but a cool world and a hermit's feeling. Knowing this material culture, one reads why the poem makes one mat so full of immortal air. To the Song mind, the mat's 'cool' answers the gentleman's 'cool'—one cool seat dispels both summer heat and dusty heart, so mat-poems are mostly self-expression; Zhang's is typical of this line.
此诗题作「谢韩仲文学士送白竹簟」,是一首咏物酬谢之作。韩仲文其人事迹无考,当为张方平的友人,「学士」是馆阁清职。白竹簟,即用竹篾编织成的白色凉席,是古人夏日消暑的雅物,唐宋文人常以之相互馈赠,并作诗酬答。竹簟之咏,自唐人白居易「笛竹出蕲春,霜刀劈翠筠」以降,代有佳作,宋人尤喜以竹簟寄寓清凉、高洁、超逸之趣。张方平此诗受友人所赠白竹簟,遂以长篇排律郑重酬谢,通篇赞簟之清莹,实则自抒超尘之怀。北宋士大夫重雅玩、尚清趣,一领竹席在文人笔下,早已不只是一件器物,而是清凉世界、隐逸情怀的载体。了解这一物文化背景,方能读懂此诗为何要把一领竹簟写得如此仙气缭绕。在宋人心中,竹簟之「清」,正与士人之「清」相通:一席清凉,既消暑气,亦涤尘心,故咏簟之作,实则多为自抒襟抱之作,张方平此诗正是这一传统的典型。
Art
This pentasyllabic pailü of eight couplets and sixteen lines depicts the object with utmost description, a typical 'embody the thing' work. The opening couplet writes its material: 'cut with powder, the sparse joints; pruned in frost, the green tubes,' from the mat's source, showing its pure quality; the next six couplets pile metaphor—whale scales and peng wings for its wide, flying grain; spring ice and dawn moon for its cool light; night vapour and Kongtong for its stern cold; Zhuangzi's butterfly and the summer insect for its flight and high cold; pine-stone and mist-silk for its pure matching—spreading one mat into a vast weather; the closing 'sitting, I feel no mortal realm; my soul as if in the moon palace' gathers its immortal air, then 'by the north window I lodge my pride; my worldly bones shame before the square-pupiled one' closes from thing to man, man to will. Writing the void rather than the solid, it dwells not on the mat's shape but on its cool, clear 'spirit'—the Song 'leave the form, seize the spirit' mode. Though piled, it never leaves the one word 'clear': powder joints and green tubes are the clear substance, spring ice and dawn moon the clear cool, night vapour and Kongtong the clear cold, pine-stone and moon palace the clear realm—the metaphors ring the one word 'clear' fully. One word as bone, ten thousand metaphors homing—the model of a well-closed pailü object-poem.
此诗是五言排律,共八联十六句,咏物而极尽形容之能事,是典型的「体物」之作。首联写其取材,「带粉裁疏节,凌霜剪翠筒」,从制簟的源头写起,见其质之精纯;以下六联连用比喻,鲸鳞、鹏翅状其纹理之阔大飞动,春冰、晓魄状其凉意与清光,沆瀣、崆峒状其寒色之凛冽,庄蝶、夏虫状其飘逸与高寒,松石、雾绡状其清雅之配,一路铺陈,把一领竹簟写得气象万千;尾联「坐觉非尘境,魂如在月宫」总括其仙逸,再以「北窗寄傲」「俗骨愧方瞳」收束,由物及人、由人及志。全诗以虚写实,妙在不执着于竹簟的形貌,而专力渲染其清凉莹洁的「神」,这正是宋人咏物「遗貌取神」的高明处。全诗虽极尽铺陈,却始终不离一个「清」字:粉节、翠筒是质之清,春冰、晓魄是凉之清,沆瀣、崆峒是寒之清,松石、月宫是境之清,诸喻环拱,把一个「清」字写得淋漓尽致。以一字立骨、万喻归宗,正是排律咏物收束有法的典范。
Allusions
The allusions and tropes are rich and must be told. First, 'whale scales' and 'peng wings' picture the mat's wide grain, from the Zhuangzi's great peng and the whale crossing the sea. Second, 'night vapour' (hangxie) is the midnight dew-vapour, from the Chu Ci's 'I eat the six breaths and drink the night vapour,' here for the mat's cool, soaking freshness. Third, 'Kongtong' is a famous northwest mountain, 'cold hue stern as Kongtong' for the mat's chill, from Kongtong's high cold. Fourth, 'Zhuangzi's butterfly' uses the Zhuangzi butterfly dream, 'Zhuangzi's butterfly came fluttering' for the transcendence of lying on the mat. Fifth, 'summer insect' from the Zhuangzi's 'you cannot speak of ice to a summer insect,' the insect's loss setting off the mat's cold beyond the insect's knowing. Sixth, 'north window' uses Tao Yuanming's 'by the north window I lie, when the cool wind comes, I take myself for a man before Fu Xi,' and 'lodge my pride' from Tao's 'lean on the south window to lodge my pride.' Seventh, 'square pupil' is the immortal's eye-shape; the Taoists say the attained have square pupils, here contrasting the mat's immortal air with the poet's worldly bones. All fit the cool, high, transcendent taste, not loosely set. The opposition of 'Zhuangzi's butterfly' and 'summer insect' is especially fine: one writes the transcendence of dreaming on the mat, one the summer insect's inability to know ice's cold—positive and negative, writing the mat's cool and hinting 'the transcendent realm is not known by the vulgar,' allusion that means beyond the words.
此诗用典取譬甚富,须逐一辨明。其一,「鲸鳞」「鹏翅」状簟纹之阔大,取《庄子·逍遥游》大鹏展翅、鲸鱼横海之意。其二,「沆瀣」是夜半的露气,《楚辞·远游》「餐六气而饮沆瀣」,此以状簟之清凉沁人。其三,「崆峒」是西北名山,以「寒色凛崆峒」状簟之寒冽,取崆峒山高寒之意。其四,「庄蝶」用《庄子·齐物论》庄周梦蝶之典,「栩栩来庄蝶」写卧簟之上,如庄周般栩栩然入梦。其五,「夏虫」出《庄子·秋水》「夏虫不可以语于冰」,以夏虫之失,反衬簟之寒凉已非夏虫所能知。其六,「北窗」用陶渊明《与子俨等疏》「北窗下卧,遇凉风暂至,自谓是羲皇上人」之典,「寄傲」即陶诗「倚南窗以寄傲」之意。其七,「方瞳」是仙人的眼相,道家谓得道者眼成方形,此以自惭俗骨反衬簟之仙逸。诸典皆切清凉高逸之趣,非泛设也。而「庄蝶」与「夏虫」二典的对举尤妙:一写卧簟入梦之超然,一写夏虫难知冰寒之浅陋,一正一反,既写簟之清凉,又暗寓「超然之境非俗所能知」的意味,用典而能言外见意,是此诗用典最深微处。
Commentary
The height of object-poems lies in not being stuck on the thing yet 'longing lodged deep.' Zhang's mat-poem never drops the word 'mat,' yet everywhere is the mat; and not only the mat, but through it the cool realm and the transcendent breast. This mode inherits the Tang object tradition and opens the Song 'lodge intent in the thing' line. Critics often set Bai Juyi's 'Sending a Qichun Mat to Yuan the Ninth' beside this; Bai's 'the di bamboo comes from Qichun, the frost knife splits the green' stresses the making and the deep friendship, while Zhang stresses the mat's spirit and the breast's freedom—one solid, one void, each wonderful. Especially 'sitting, I feel no mortal realm; my soul as if in the moon palace' lifts physical cool to spiritual cool, thing and self merged, the realm complete. Su Shi's 'cool mat, green gauze bed, a pillow of clear wind after the day's sleep' may be read with it. Zhang, with a long pailü for one bamboo mat, is grand in body and complete in spirit, showing his rich talent and a glimpse of Song refined taste. The poem depicts a 'thing' but writes a 'heart': one white bamboo mat becomes a cool world and a symbol of a transcendent life—thing and self merged, the highest realm of object-poetry.
咏物诗的高下,在于能否「不滞于物」而「寄托遥深」。张方平此诗咏白竹簟,通篇不着一「簟」字,而处处是簟;又不止于簟,而借簟写清凉之境、超逸之怀。这种写法上承唐人咏物传统,下开宋人「以物寓志」一路。论者常以白居易《寄蕲州簟与元九》与此诗并观,白诗「笛竹出蕲春,霜刀劈翠筠」重在写制簟之工与情谊之深,张诗则重在写簟之神与襟怀之逸,一实一虚,各极其妙。尤其「坐觉非尘境,魂如在月宫」一联,把物理之凉升华为精神之清凉,物我交融,境界全出。苏轼「凉簟碧纱厨,一枕清风昼睡余」写簟之闲适,可与张诗对读。张方平以长篇排律咏一领竹席,体大而神完,见其才力之富,亦见宋人雅趣之一斑。可以说,此诗咏的是「物」,写的是「心」:一席白竹簟,在作者笔下化作了一片清凉世界,也化作了一种超然人生态度的象征,物我交融,正是咏物诗的最高境界,令人叹赏。
Prosody
Line by line
鲸鳞铺海浪,鹏翅展天风。
Whale scales spread the sea's waves; peng wings unfold the sky's wind.
如鲸鳞铺展海上波浪,如鹏翅展开天上长风。
Whale scales spread like the sea's billows; the peng's wings unfold in the wind of heaven.
此联以宏阔的意象状簟纹,是通篇最见气魄的比喻。上句「鲸鳞铺海浪」,把竹簟细密的纹理比作鲸鱼之鳞铺展于海上,鳞次栉比、层层如浪;下句「鹏翅展天风」,又把展开的竹席比作大鹏张开的巨翅,乘风欲举、横绝长天。鲸鳞之细与海浪之大,鹏翅之展与天风之劲,构成了一组极富张力的意象,把一领静态的竹席写得飞动磅礴、气吞万里。此联之妙,在以「大」写「小」,以「动」写「静」,让读者从一席之间感受到海天之际的浩瀚。用《庄子》的鲸鹏意象咏竹簟,既见其纹理之美,更暗寓了作者胸中不羁的志气,是咏物而不滞于物的佳例。
This couplet describes the mat's pattern in vast imagery, the poem's most awe-striking metaphor. The first, whale scales spread like the sea's billows, compares the bamboo mat's fine weave to a whale's scales spread on the sea, scale upon scale, layer on layer like waves. The second, the peng's wings unfold in the wind of heaven, again compares the unrolled mat to the great peng spreading its giant wings, riding the wind as if to rise, sweeping across the long sky. The fineness of whale scales against the greatness of sea billows, the spread of peng wings against the strength of the heavenly wind, form a set of highly tense images, writing a static bamboo mat as flying and sweeping, swallowing ten thousand li. The couplet's beauty lies in writing the small through the great, the static through the moving, letting the reader feel the vastness between sea and sky from a single mat. Using Zhuangzi's whale and peng imagery to sing of the bamboo mat shows at once the beauty of its weave and secretly lodges the author's own untrammeled ambition, the fine example of singing of a thing without being bound by it.
坐觉非尘境,魂如在月宫。
Sitting, I feel no mortal realm; my soul as if in the moon palace.
坐卧间觉非尘世之境,魂魄如在月宫之中。
Sitting on it, I feel this is no dusty realm; my soul seems in the moon palace.
此联总括全诗,把对竹簟的咏叹推向了精神境界的最高处。上句「坐觉非尘境」,一个「觉」字写置身簟上的瞬间体悟:暑气全消、清凉满怀,仿佛已不在尘世之间。下句「魂如在月宫」更进一层,魂魄飘然,如置身于月宫之中——月宫是清冷、皎洁、高远的仙家之地,正与竹簟的清凉莹洁互为表里。此联之妙,在于把「凉」这种生理感受,升华成了「超尘脱俗」的精神体验,物我浑然、虚实相生。前六联的鲸鳞、春冰、沆瀣诸喻,至此方有了归宿——一切铺陈,都是为了托出这「非尘境」的超然。咏物而能臻此境界,正是全诗的灵魂所在。
This couplet gathers the whole poem, pushing the ode to the bamboo mat to the highest point of the spiritual realm. The first, sitting on it, I feel this is no dusty realm: the single word feel writes the instant realization of sitting on the mat - the heat dispelled, coolness filling the breast, as if no longer in the dusty world. The second, my soul seems in the moon palace, steps further: the soul floats, as if within the moon palace - the moon palace is the immortal place of cold purity, brightness and loftiness, exactly the outer and inner match of the bamboo mat's cool purity. The couplet's beauty lies in sublimating the physical feeling of cool into the spiritual experience of transcending the dust, the object and self blended, the void and solid feeding each other. The preceding couplets' metaphors of whale scales, spring ice, and dewy mist find their归宿 here; all the spread is to bring out the transcendence of no dusty realm. That singing of a thing can reach this realm is exactly the soul of the whole poem.
北窗聊寄傲,俗骨愧方瞳。
By the north window I lodge my pride; my worldly bones shame before the square-pupiled one.
北窗之下聊寄傲然之志,俗骨自愧面对方瞳仙人。
By the north window I casually lodge my pride; my vulgar bones are shamed before the square-pupiled immortal.
此联收束全诗,由物及人,寄托遥深。上句「北窗聊寄傲」用陶渊明「倚南窗以寄傲」「北窗下卧,自谓羲皇上人」之典,写自己卧于竹簟之上,如渊明般寄傲然之志、得羲皇上人之乐,一个「聊」字见其闲适自得。下句「俗骨愧方瞳」笔锋一转,以「方瞳」指代仙人,说自己俗骨未除,面对这清凉仙逸的竹簟,竟自惭形秽。此联以「自谦」反衬簟之超逸,把咏物最终落到「物我对照」上:簟是仙家之物,我乃尘世之身,一愧之间,既见对友人所赠的珍重,更见对超然境界的向往。结得含蓄而有余韵,是咏物诗「由物见志」的典范。
This couplet gathers the poem, moving from the object to the man, lodging a far-reaching thought. The first, by the north window I casually lodge my pride, uses Tao Yuanming's allusions of leaning on the south window to lodge my pride and lying under the north window, calling himself a man of the age of Fuxi, writing oneself lying on the bamboo mat, like Tao, lodging a proud will and winning the joy of a man of the age of Fuxi; the single word casually shows his leisured contentment. The second, my vulgar bones are shamed before the square-pupiled immortal, turns the brush: square-pupiled stands for the immortal, saying one's vulgar bones not yet removed, facing this cool and immortal bamboo mat, is ashamed of its own form. This couplet uses self-deprecation to set off the mat's transcendence, landing the ode at last on the contrast of object and self: the mat is an immortal thing, oneself a dusty body; between this shame, at once seen is the treasuring of the friend's gift, and the longing for the transcendent realm. Closing implicit with aftertone, the model of the thing-singing poem of seeing the will through the object.
Study
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Related Reading
Compare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
白居易《寄蕲州簟与元九》「笛竹出蕲春,霜刀劈翠筠」,写蕲州竹簟的制作与质地,末以「唯兹颜色好,千里寄知音」寄情,通篇重在写物之精工与友之深情,是唐人咏簟的名篇。张方平此诗咏白竹簟,则不重制作,而专力渲染簟的清凉莹洁与仙逸之气,以鲸鳞、鹏翅、沆瀣、庄蝶诸喻遗貌取神。二诗同咏竹簟,取径不同:白诗求「实」,写其工其情;张诗求「虚」,写其神其境。合观可见咏物诗的两大路数——或状物之工以寄情,或遗物之貌以写神。张方平以长篇排律写一领竹席的仙逸,正是宋人咏物「离形得似」的典型,与唐人「穷形尽相」恰成对照。
南乡子·凉簟碧纱厨 南乡子·凉簟碧纱厨 苏轼 · 同咏簟之清凉闲适,一淡远一瑰奇 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
苏轼《南乡子》「凉簟碧纱厨,一枕清风昼睡余」,写卧于凉簟、碧纱厨中的夏日闲适,笔致淡远自然,是宋人咏簟的清雅小品。张方平此诗咏白竹簟,则铺陈鲸鳞、鹏翅、沆瀣、崆峒、庄蝶、夏虫诸喻,极尽瑰奇,把一领竹簟写得气象万千。二诗同咏簟之清凉,风格迥异:苏词淡远,如清茶一盏,余味悠长;张诗瑰奇,如仙宫一座,气象恢宏。苏词以「闲」胜,张诗以「逸」胜。并读之,可见同一清凉之物,在宋人笔下或取淡泊之境,或取超逸之思,而张方平以排律之体、仙逸之笔咏簟,正是把「清凉」二字写到了超然物外的极致。