唐 Tang · 诗 Poem
听颖师弹琴
Listening to Master Ying Play the Qin
昵昵儿女语，恩怨相尔汝。
划然变轩昂，勇士赴敌场。
浮云柳絮无根蒂，天地阔远随飞扬。
喧啾百鸟群，忽见孤凤凰。
跻攀分寸不可上，失势一落千丈强。
嗟余有两耳，未省听丝篁。
自闻颖师弹，起坐在一旁。
推手遽止之，湿衣泪滂滂。
颖乎尔诚能，无以冰炭置我肠！
Abruptly it turns high and proud, like warriors rushing to the battle-field.
Like drifting clouds and willow-down with no root, borne far across the vast sky on the wind;
Among a clamouring flock of hundred birds, suddenly a lone phoenix appears.
Climbing inch by inch, scarce able to rise; losing hold, it drops a thousand fathoms down.
Alas, I who have two ears knew not how to hear the strings and pipes.
Since I heard Master Ying play, I start up and sit beside him.
I push his hands and hastily stop him; my robe is wet, my tears pour down.
O Ying, truly you are skilled—place no more ice and coal within my heart!
Meaning
The music begins like a girl and boy whispering, intimate yet with love and grievance, calling each other 'thou' and 'thee.' Suddenly it changes, turning high and grand, like warriors rushing to the battlefield. Then it is like drifting clouds and willow-down, rootless, borne up and away across the vast heaven. Next, among a clamouring flock of birds, a lone proud phoenix appears. Sometimes it climbs hard, inch by inch, scarce able to rise; sometimes it loses hold and falls a thousand fathoms. Alas, though I have two ears, I had never truly understood string music. Since I heard Master Ying play, I cannot but rise and sit beside him, push his hands to make him stop, my clothes soaked with pouring tears. O Master Ying, you are truly skilled—place no more ice and coal within my bowels!
乐声初起如儿女细语，亲昵中带着恩怨、你我相呼。忽然划然一变，转为高昂雄壮，宛如勇士奔赴战场。又似浮云柳絮飘忽无根，在阔远天地间随风云飞扬。继而如百鸟喧闹，忽地跳出一只孤傲的凤凰。时而艰难攀登，分寸难上；时而失势跌落，一落千丈。可叹我虽有两耳，却不曾真正听懂弦管。自从听了颖师弹奏，我不禁起坐一旁，推开他的手急忙止住，衣衫已被泪水浸湿。颖师啊你实在高明，莫再把冰炭交替置于我肝肠！
Appreciation
This poem excels above all at synesthesia and a chain of metaphors. The first ten lines describe hearing purely through visual and kinetic images: 'whispering like a girl and boy' gives its softness, 'warriors to the battle-field' its martial strength, 'drifting clouds and willow-down' its floating drift, 'lone phoenix' its lofty purity, 'climbing' and 'losing hold' its rise and fall. The metaphors link and breed like a sky-wind and sea-rain, irresistible. The last four lines close abruptly on the listener 'robe wet, tears pour down,' and with the startling metaphor 'ice and coal within my heart' write the music's power to shake the soul—form and spirit both, the crown of Tang music poetry.
【白话串讲】 韩愈听颖师弹琴：一会儿像小儿女说悄悄话，一会儿像勇士上战场，一会儿像百鸟齐鸣。“跻攀分寸不可上，失势一落千丈强”——琴声高得不能再高，忽然一落千丈。“推手遽止之，湿衣泪滂滂”——他感动得泪流满面。 【意象与手法】 此诗艺术上最擅通感与博喻。前十句纯以视觉、动象写听觉 【情感与主旨】 颖师是唐宪宗元和年间活跃于长安的琴僧，据李贺《听颖师弹琴歌》可知其来自天竺，琴艺绝妙 【名句点睛】 中高考常考比喻（通感）与情感。考点一：本诗如何描写琴声？答
Background
Master Ying was a qin monk active in Chang'an during the Yuanhe reign of Tang; according to Li He's poem of the same title he came from Tianzhu (India) and played superbly. Han Yu's poem, too, belongs to the Yuanhe period, roughly contemporary with Li He's same-titled work. The poet was not good at the qin, yet was shaken by one performance, rose and wept, and recorded his listening. The whole poem uses a string of novel metaphors to depict the music's thousand changes—both a music poem and a sigh that a true listener is hard to meet; long ranked with Bai Juyi's 'Pipa Xing' and Li He's 'Li Ping Konghou Yin' as the three wonders of Tang music poetry.
此诗作于唐宪宗元和年间（约元和十年后）。颖师是宪宗时期活跃于长安的一位琴僧，据李贺《听颖师弹琴歌》可知其来自天竺（一说西域），以琴艺名动京师，公卿名士争相听其弹奏。韩愈此诗即写一次听颖师弹琴的感受。韩愈一生以儒者自任，倡古文、斥佛老，然于音乐艺术却一往情深。此诗写听琴，最特别处在于：不是客观描摹琴声之妙，而是写琴声如何撼动自己的心——从“起坐在一旁”到“推手遽止之，湿衣泪滂滂”，直至“无以冰炭置我肠”，把听者的失态写得淋漓尽致。这既是对颖师琴艺的极言推崇，也是韩愈“不平则鸣”文艺观的实践：好音乐正是那激荡人心、发为歌哭的力量。诗中“嗟余有两耳，未省听丝篁”的自谦，更反衬出琴声感人至深、使人忘其拙。
Art
This poem excels above all at synesthesia and a chain of metaphors. The first ten lines describe hearing purely through visual and kinetic images: 'whispering like a girl and boy' gives its softness, 'warriors to the battle-field' its martial strength, 'drifting clouds and willow-down' its floating drift, 'lone phoenix' its lofty purity, 'climbing' and 'losing hold' its rise and fall. The metaphors link and breed like a sky-wind and sea-rain, irresistible. The last four lines close abruptly on the listener 'robe wet, tears pour down,' and with the startling metaphor 'ice and coal within my heart' write the music's power to shake the soul, form and spirit both—crown of Tang music poetry.
此诗最卓绝处，在以通感与博喻写无形之声。前十句纯写琴声，不用一个“声”字，而全以视觉、触觉、动象呈现：“昵昵儿女语”以人声写琴声之柔婉，“划然变轩昂，勇士赴敌场”以战场意象写其雄壮，是听觉向视觉的转化；“浮云柳絮无根蒂，天地阔远随飞扬”以云絮之飘忽写琴音之悠远轻扬，“喧啾百鸟群，忽见孤凤凰”以鸟鸣之杂写乐声之繁、以凤鸣之孤写主调之清；“跻攀分寸不可上，失势一落千丈强”以登山攀陟、失足坠落写旋律的攀升与跌落，高低起伏、惊心动魄。连续六组比喻，层层递进、刚柔相济，把抽象的琴声写成了一幅跌宕起伏的听觉画卷。后六句笔锋一转，写听者的反应：起坐不安、推手止之、湿衣泪下，以“冰炭置肠”喻乐声忽冷忽热、令人肠为之断。前写声、后写情，声情相激，正是“以实写虚”的极致。全诗气势奔放、想象奇崛，是韩愈以文为诗、以奇取胜的典型篇章。
Allusions
The phrase 'ice and coal' comes from Zhuangzi and the Huainanzi, metaphors for things wholly opposite that attack the heart. Han Yu writes the music's grief and joy mingled, cold and warm pressing, breaking the heart, turning abstract musical feeling into a concrete, tangible pain; the allusion is seamless yet weighty.
此诗用典少而化境深。“丝篁”指弦管之乐，“篁”本竹，代指管乐器，是传统语汇；“冰炭置我肠”取《庄子》“冰炭不相容”之意，喻乐声冷热交替、令听者内心交战，是取义而不取事的用典。“儿女语”“勇士赴敌场”“孤凤凰”等皆为取象设喻，非拘于典故。全诗真正的渊源在音乐描写的传统：自《列子·汤问》写伯牙鼓琴“志在高山”“志在流水”，至白居易《琵琶行》以“大珠小珠落玉盘”写弦声，中国诗以喻写声、以象传声的技法源远流长。韩愈此诗在此基础上更推奇崛——比喻之新、想象之奇、气势之盛，均超越前人，把“听琴诗”从描摹推向了震撼人心的境界。
Commentary
Ouyang Xiu's 'Six-One Poetry Talk' records Mei Yaochen's words, praising 'whispering like a girl and boy' down to 'losing hold it drops a thousand fathoms' as the model of writing the qin's wonder. Su Shi once wrote a matching poem to its rhyme and said 'this poem is strange and lovely, yet it is not a qin but a pipa'—though faulted for misreading, it proves how lifelike the sound-painting is. Modern scholars hail it as one of the three wonders of Tang music poetry.
此诗向与李贺《李凭箜篌引》、白居易《琵琶行》并称唐诗三大音乐诗，而风格各异。李贺以神异瑰丽胜，白居易以叙事铺陈胜，韩愈则以气势奔放、比喻奇崛胜。方东树《昭昧詹言》评此诗“雄奇”而“似全神贯注”，正指其写声之穷形尽相、写情之淋漓酣畅。诗中“昵昵儿女语，恩怨相尔汝”二句，苏轼尝以为“琴诗”写情之至；而“跻攀分寸不可上，失势一落千丈强”更以险象写声，见出韩愈“以丑为美”“以奇为美”的审美追求。清人评韩诗“横空盘硬语”，此诗正是“硬语”写“柔情”的奇妙结合——以最硬的语言写最柔的琴声，反差之中见张力。后世学韩者多，然能臻此听琴之境者绝少，可见此诗在中国音乐诗史上的独特地位。
Prosody
Line by line
昵昵儿女语，恩怨相尔汝。 划然变轩昂，勇士赴敌场。
Soft, soft, like lovers' murmuring, quarrels and endearments addressed between you and me; then suddenly it changes, soaring and grand, as a brave warrior charges the enemy field.
乐声初起如小儿女喁喁细语，亲昵中带着恩怨、你我相呼；忽然划然一变，转为高昂雄壮，仿佛勇士奔赴战场。
At first the sound is soft, like young lovers whispering, tenderness edged with fond quarrels, each calling the other by name; then it suddenly changes to something grand and uplifted, like a warrior charging onto the battlefield.
开篇两句以两组截然相反的意象写琴声的初起与骤变。“昵昵儿女语”以人声写琴声的柔婉亲昵，如小儿女灯下絮语；“恩怨相尔汝”更深入一层，写这细语中竟含着恩怨情仇，缠绵中有波澜。正当读者沉浸于这柔情之时，笔锋“划然”一转——“变轩昂，勇士赴敌场”，琴声忽而雄壮激越，如勇士执戈赴敌。一个“划然”写转折之突兀有力，把琴声的高低刚柔、瞬间换境写得如在目前。四句以柔起、以刚承，一柔一刚、一密一疏，为全诗的跌宕奠定了基调。
The opening two lines write the qin's beginning and abrupt change through two opposite sets of imagery. Soft, soft, like lovers' murmuring writes the music's tenderness through human voices, like girl and boy whispering by lamplight; quarrels and endearments addressed between you and me goes deeper: within the murmuring there runs love and grievance, eddies beneath the fondness. Just as the reader sinks into this softness, the brush suddenly turns - then suddenly it changes, soaring and grand, as a brave warrior charges the enemy field: the music turns majestic and impassioned at once, like a warrior bearing arms against the foe. One word suddenly writes the abrupt, forceful turn - the music's high and low, hard and soft, instant change of scene, made present. Four lines rise in softness, continue in hardness: one soft one hard, one dense one sparse, laying the keynote of the poem's rises and falls.
浮云柳絮无根蒂，天地阔远随飞扬。 喧啾百鸟群，忽见孤凤凰。
Like drifting clouds and willow catkins with no root, flying free across the vast, far-reaching heaven and earth; then a clamor of a hundred birds, and suddenly a lone phoenix appears.
琴声又似浮云柳絮般飘忽无根，在阔远的天地间随风飞扬；继而如百鸟喧鸣，忽地现出一只孤傲的凤凰。
The music is next as drifting clouds and willow catkins, rootless, flying across the vast expanse of heaven and earth; then, like a clamor of a hundred birds, suddenly a solitary phoenix appears.
此联由刚转柔、由密转疏，写琴声的悠远与清越。“浮云柳絮无根蒂”以云絮的飘忽写琴音的轻扬流转，“天地阔远随飞扬”更以空间的阔大写乐声的邈远无垠——琴声至此已非耳闻之响，而化作天地间自由舒卷的物象。“喧啾百鸟群，忽见孤凤凰”再一转：先以百鸟齐鸣写乐声的繁复喧闹，忽地一声清越，如孤凤长鸣，卓然独立于群鸟之上。“忽见”二字写主调之脱颖而出，繁中见简、众中见孤。这六句由柔而刚、由刚而柔、由繁而孤，把琴声的万千变化写得层出不穷，见出韩愈设喻之富、想象之奇。
This couplet turns from hard back to soft, from dense to sparse, writing the music's remoteness and clarity. Like drifting clouds and willow catkins with no root writes the light, flowing tone through the drifting cloud and catkin; flying free across the vast, far-reaching heaven and earth writes the boundlessness of the sound through the vastness of space - the music is no longer a heard sound but a thing rolling free between heaven and earth. Then a clamor of a hundred birds, and suddenly a lone phoenix appears: first the music's richness and noise through a hundred birds in chorus; then one clear note, like a lone phoenix's cry, standing above the flock. Suddenly appears writes the main theme emerging from the multitudes: simplicity within complexity, solitude within the crowd. These six lines pass soft to hard, hard to soft, crowded to lone, rendering the music's ten thousand changes in endless succession - Han Yu's wealth of metaphor and wildness of imagination.
跻攀分寸不可上，失势一落千丈强。
It climbs, struggles up an inch, cannot rise a fraction; then, losing hold, it plunges more than a thousand fathoms down.
琴声时而如艰难登山，分寸难以上攀；时而如失足坠落，一落千丈。
At times it climbs like a steep ascent, an inch or a fraction impossible; at times it tumbles like a fall from height, dropping a thousand fathoms.
此联以登山坠谷的险象写旋律的起落，是全诗最惊心动魄的写声之笔。“跻攀分寸不可上”写乐声攀至绝高处，再难进一分——“分寸”极言其艰难，“不可上”写音高之极与张力之满，如登山者临于绝顶、气力将尽；“失势一落千丈强”则笔势陡然跌落，音高一泻千里，如失足坠崖、无可挽回。两句一上一下、一张一弛，把音乐的高低起伏、紧张松弛写到极致。韩愈以险峻的意象写声，正见其“以奇为美”的审美——不是从容描摹，而是以惊心动魄的画面让人如亲历其声。此联向为论者激赏，是“硬语”写“至情”的典范。
This couplet writes the melody's rises and falls through the perils of climbing and falling - the poem's most hair-raising writing of sound. It climbs, struggles up an inch, cannot rise a fraction: the music climbs to the utmost height, another inch impossible - an inch and a fraction writes the extreme difficulty; cannot rise writes the pitch's peak and the tension's fullness, like a climber at the summit, strength spent. Then, losing hold, it plunges more than a thousand fathoms down: the brush suddenly tumbles, the pitch cascading like a fall from the cliff, beyond recall. One line up, one down; one tension, one release - the music's rises and falls, strain and relaxation, written to the utmost. Han Yu's perilous imagery shows his beauty in the strange: not calm description, but hair-raising pictures that make the reader live the sound. The couplet has always been praised by critics - a model of hard words writing the deepest feeling.
嗟余有两耳，未省听丝篁。 自闻颖师弹，起坐在一旁。 推手遽止之，湿衣泪滂滂。 颖乎尔诚能，无以冰炭置我肠！
Alas, I have two ears, yet never knew how to listen to strings and bamboo. Since hearing Ying play, I have started up and sat down again beside him. I push his hand away and beg him to stop, my garments soaked with rushing tears. Ying, you are truly marvelous - do not set ice and fire by turns in my bowels!
可叹我虽有两耳，却不曾真正听懂弦管；自从听了颖师弹奏，我不禁在旁起坐不安；推开他的手急忙止住，衣衫已被泪水浸湿。颖师啊你实在高明，莫再把冰炭交替置于我的肝肠！
Alas, though I have two ears, I never truly understood music; since hearing Ying Shi play, I have been restless beside him, rising and sitting again; I push his hand away and beg him to stop, my robe soaked with tears. Ying Shi, you are truly masterful - do not set ice and fire by turns in my gut!
后六句由写声转入写情，是听琴感受的升华。“嗟余有两耳，未省听丝篁”以自谦作垫——我本不懂音乐，尚且如此，何况知音？“起坐在一旁”写听者的坐立不安，琴声已牵动其身心；“推手遽止之，湿衣泪滂滂”更写失态——不忍卒听、泪下沾衣，琴声之感人至此。“颖乎尔诚能，无以冰炭置我肠”以呼告作结：冰炭本不相容，琴声却令我肠中冷热交战，痛不可当。这既是对颖师琴艺的极致推崇，也是音乐撼动人心的极致呈现。前写声之奇，后写情之真，声情相激，全诗因此有了撼人的力量。
The last six lines turn from writing sound to writing feeling, the sublimation of the experience of listening. Alas, I have two ears, yet never knew how to listen to strings and bamboo opens in self-deprecation: if I, who know nothing of music, am moved thus, what of a connoisseur? Restless beside him, rising and sitting again writes the listener's agitation - the music has seized his body and mind. I push his hand away and beg him to stop, my robe soaked with rushing writes loss of composure: unbearable to hear more, tears wetting the garments - the music's moving power reaches this. Ying, you are truly marvelous - do not set ice and fire by turns in my bowels! closes in apostrophe: ice and fire are incompatible, yet the music makes hot and cold battle within the gut, past bearing. This is at once the highest praise of Ying Shi's art and the utmost presentation of music shaking the heart. Before, the strangeness of sound; after, the truth of feeling; sound and feeling strike each other, giving the poem its overwhelming power.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Li He writes the konghou with splendid odd fancy; Han Yu writes the qin with linked multiple metaphors; both admired in their age—read together to see Tang mastery at depicting music.
李贺《李凭箜篌引》“昆山玉碎凤凰叫，芙蓉泣露香兰笑”与韩愈此诗同写乐声，并称唐代音乐诗双绝。差异在风格与手法：韩愈以博喻写声，取象于人间战场、云絮、百鸟、登山坠谷，气势雄奇，写的是“声”与“情”的激荡；李贺以瑰丽写声，取象于昆山玉碎、芙蓉泣露、女娲补天、老鱼跳波，想象神异，写的是“声”与“幻”的迷离。一为儒者之情，一为诗鬼之思。合观二诗，可见唐诗写乐声的两条极致路径：韩愈以实写虚、以险写奇，李贺以幻写真、以瑰写妙。
琵琶行 Pipa Xing 白居易 · 同为音乐名篇，一写琴一写琵琶，一浓缩一铺陈 Same (same music theme · indirect heightening)Bai's poem writes the moved listener 'the military advisor of Jiangzhou wets his blue robe' with tears; Han's writes 'robe wet, tears pour'—both use the listener's weeping to heighten indirectly the wonder of the music.
白居易《琵琶行》“大珠小珠落玉盘”以比喻写琵琶声，与韩愈此诗同为写乐名篇，然体制与写法迥异：韩愈为七古短章，浓缩写琴声的几次跌宕与听者的失态，气势奔放；白居易为长篇叙事，铺陈写琵琶女的技艺与身世，并借“同是天涯沦落人”寄托迁谪之悲。韩愈重在“听声”，白诗重在“听人”。两诗一奇一婉、一刚一柔，恰成对照。后世学写音乐诗者，多从此二家取径。
听蜀僧濬弹琴 Listening to Monk Jun of Shu Play the Qin 李白 · 同为听僧人弹琴之作，一写琴音之清一写琴声之烈 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
李白《听蜀僧濬弹琴》“蜀僧抱绿绮，西下峨眉峰。为我一挥手，如听万壑松”与本首同为听僧弹琴之作，而风格迥异：李白写琴声如万壑松风、霜钟余响，又借“客心洗流水，余响入霜钟”写琴声洗心涤虑，空灵超逸；韩愈写琴声如勇士赴敌、跻攀坠谷，又写听者泪下沾衣，激越震撼。一写“清”一写“烈”，一写超然一写投入，恰见唐代两大诗人对音乐的不同感受。合观二诗，可见“听琴”题材在盛唐与中唐的不同风貌。