元 Yuan · 散曲 Sanqu song
殿前欢·次酸斋韵
Joy Before the Palace: Matching Suanzhai's Rhymes
钓鱼台，十年不上野鸥猜。
白云来往青山在，对酒开怀。
欠伊周济世才，犯刘阮贪杯戒，还李杜吟诗债。
酸斋笑我，我笑酸斋。
晚归来，西湖山上野猿哀。
二十年多少风流怪，花落花开。
望云霄拜将台。
袖星斗安邦策，破烟月迷魂寨。
酸斋笑我，我笑酸斋。
White clouds come and go, green hills remain; facing wine, I open my heart.
I lack the world-saving talent of Yi Yin and Zhou Gong,
I fall into the drinking habit of Liu Ling and Ruan Ji,
I still owe the poetry debts of Li Bai and Du Fu.
Suanzhai laughs at me, and I laugh at Suanzhai.
Returning late, on West Lake's hills the wild apes wail.
In twenty years, how many gallant oddities—flowers fall and bloom.
Gazing at the cloud-high General's Terrace,
My sleeve holds starry plans to pacify the realm,
To break the mist-moon fortress that bewitches souls.
Suanzhai laughs at me, and I laugh at Suanzhai.
Meaning
In this paired song, Zhang Kejiu reflects on his ten-year absence from the hermit's Fishing Terrace, mocks himself for lacking statesmanlike talent and being addicted to wine and poetry, and exchanges knowing laughter with his friend Suanzhai (Guan Yunshi). In the second stanza, he returns late to West Lake, hears the apes' wail, mourns the passing of twenty years of brilliant men, and still dreams of statecraft—only to end again in mutual mockery. The piece captures the Yuan-dynasty literatus's unresolved conflict between worldly ambition and reclusive longing.
严子陵的钓鱼台，我已十年不曾上去，连野鸥也在猜度我的行踪。白云来来往往，青山依旧在，我对着美酒开怀畅饮。我缺少伊尹、周公那样的济世之才，却犯了刘伶、阮籍贪杯的戒，又像李白、杜甫那样偿还着吟诗的旧债。酸斋笑我，我笑酸斋。 晚岁归来，西湖山上野猿哀哀啼唤。二十年间多少风流人物、异常豪杰，都随花落花开一去不返。遥望那高入云霄的拜将台，我袖藏满天星斗般的安邦良策，要攻破这烟花风月迷魂的寨子。酸斋笑我，我笑酸斋。
Appreciation
One of Zhang Kejiu's most accomplished sanqu, this work exemplifies his 'pure and elegant' style while revealing a deeper melancholy. The tripod antitheses—three parallel lines pairing Yi Yin & Zhou Gong, Liu Ling & Ruan Ji, and Li Bai & Du Fu—turn self-deprecation into a poignant confession of frustrated talent. The repeated refrain, 'Suanzhai laughs at me, and I laugh at Suanzhai,' creates a circular, ironic resonance that transforms bitterness into a wry smile, showing the masterful blend of form and feeling.
【白话串讲】 “钓鱼台，十年不上野鸥猜”——张可久和贯云石（酸斋）的韵：十年没去钓鱼台，野鸥都不认识他了。“白云来往青山在，对酒开怀”——“欠伊周济世才，犯刘阮贪杯戒，还李杜吟诗债”——“酸斋笑我，我笑酸斋”——两个文人互相打趣。 【意象与手法】 鼎足对运用精妙。“欠伊周济世才，犯刘阮贪杯戒，还李杜吟诗债”三句字数相同、结构相仿、一气贯下，把无才、贪杯、偿诗债三层意思并列排开，于自嘲中见磊落。用典密集而气脉流动，对仗精整。 【情感与主旨】 写尽元代失意文人的仕隐矛盾与自嘲。第一首从严子陵钓鱼台起笔，自愧失却隐者之真；第二首由隐转仕，分明有治国雄心却终归于烟月迷魂。两首皆以“酸斋笑我，我笑酸斋”收束，会心一笑中藏着难言的牢落。 【名句点睛】 常考“钓鱼台，十年不上野鸥猜”以野鸥不识写久违隐逸；“酸斋笑我，我笑酸斋”以唱和之笑写仕隐两难的辛酸。
Background
Zhang Kejiu (c. 1270–1348+), courtesy name Xiaoshan, was a native of Qingyuan (modern Ningbo) and one of the leading sanqu writers of the late Yuan dynasty. He spent his career in minor posts, such as an archive keeper in Tonglu, and never achieved high office; later he settled in Hangzhou. This song is a response (次韵) to a piece by the Uyghur writer Guan Yunshi (hao Suanzhai), another celebrated sanqu author. Following another's rhyme scheme is a demanding poetic exercise, and here Zhang uses it to voice the common Yuan-era dilemma of Han Chinese literati: torn between the desire to withdraw from the world and the lingering ambition for official success amid an alien regime.
张可久（约一二七〇—约一三四八以后），字小山，庆元（今浙江宁波）人，元代散曲后期大家，与乔吉并称，有《小山乐府》传世。他一生沉抑下僚，曾任桐庐典史等微职，足迹半天下而功名不遂，晚年居杭州。其散曲多写山水隐逸与怀才不遇，风格清丽典雅，与豪放派马致远异趣。酸斋即贯云石，维吾尔族文学家，号酸斋，亦擅散曲，与张可久相善。次酸斋韵意为依贯云石《殿前欢·畅幽哉》原韵唱和，原作畅幽哉，春风无处不楼台，末亦云酸斋笑我，我笑酸斋。和韵之作既要受原韵约束，又要另出新意，最见功力。此曲当作于张可久中年以后，时当屡困场屋、倦于奔走，故一面神往严子陵钓鱼台之隐，一面又难舍云台拜将之念，仕与隐的撕扯正是元代汉族文人普遍的精神困境，亦折射出异族政权下士大夫进既不能、退亦不甘的时代苦闷。张可久以清丽派著称，此作却于疏狂中藏身世之悲，读之耐人寻味。
Art
The artistry lies chiefly in the tripod antitheses. In the first stanza, three parallel lines undercut the speaker's self-image—lacking Yi Yin and Zhou Gong's ability, guilty of Liu Ling and Ruan Ji's drinking, owing poetic debts to Li Bai and Du Fu—compressing three sighs into one resonant breath. In the second stanza, three lines rise to a grand vision (the cloud-high Terrace, starry strategies, breaking the mist-moon fortress) before suddenly deflating in the mutual laughter. The refrain turns complaint into shared irony. Writing in a seemingly easy colloquial register with chenzi (extra syllables) to smooth rhythm, Zhang achieves a feeling of spontaneous talk while maintaining dense allusion and layered meaning.
此曲艺术之妙，首在鼎足对的运用。第一首欠伊周济世才，犯刘阮贪杯戒，还李杜吟诗债，三句字数相同、结构相仿、一气贯下，如三叠浪涌，把无才、贪杯、偿诗债三层意思并列排开，于自嘲中见磊落，是散曲鼎足对的典范。第二首望云霄拜将台。袖星斗安邦策，破烟月迷魂寨，亦以三句递进，由仰望功名到胸藏良策再到破除迷障，气象阔大。其次，两首皆以酸斋笑我，我笑酸斋收束，顶真般回环，既点明唱和之谊，又造成相视而笑、彼此心照的悠远余韵，把牢骚化为会心。再次，情感处理上以醉写醒、以笑写哭：表面开怀对酒、笑傲烟月，内里却是济世之志成空、二十年的风流尽付花落。这种以旷达包裹沉郁的笔法，最是元代小令的深层滋味。全曲以浅近语写沉痛意，对仗工稳而气脉流转，雅俗之间自见炉锤之妙；其句法参差错落，散曲之自由与诗词之凝练互为表里，疏朗而意厚。
Allusions
The 'Fishing Terrace' alludes to Yan Ziling of the Eastern Han, who retired to fish on the Fuchun River, symbolizing hermitage. 'The wild gulls guess' derives from a Liezi fable: a man who frequented sea gulls lost their trust when he planned to catch them, implying Zhang has lost his 'forget-the-world' innocence. 'Yi and Zhou' are Yi Yin and the Duke of Zhou, ideal ministers; 'Liu and Ruan' are Liu Ling and Ruan Ji, the heavy-drinking Bamboo Grove sages; 'Li and Du' are Li Bai and Du Fu, the supreme poets. 'The General's Terrace' refers to the Cloud Terrace where Emperor Ming of Han honored his twenty-eight generals. 'Star-like plans' means brilliant statecraft; 'mist-moon fortress' images the bewitching allurements of the pleasure quarters. The weeping apes recall the sad cries described in the Classic of Waters, adding a note of desolation.
首句钓鱼台用东汉严子陵隐居富春江垂钓之典，代指高洁的隐逸生活；十年不上野鸥猜化用《列子·黄帝》海上之人好鸥的寓言，言人无机心则鸥鸟相亲，今十年不至，连鸥鸟也猜疑，暗讽自己沾了世俗尘心。白云来往青山在以不变自然反衬人生无常。鼎足对中伊周指伊尹、周公，皆古代辅国良相；刘阮指刘伶、阮籍，竹林七贤中嗜酒者；李杜即李白、杜甫，诗之极则——三典分写功业、嗜酒、吟诗三重身份，自谦中见自负的错位。第二首拜将台用东汉显宗图画二十八将于云台之事，喻建功立业；袖星斗安邦策以星斗喻胸中韬略，想象奇丽；烟月迷魂寨则把声色繁华比为迷魂之阵，与安邦策对举，见出作者于风月与功名间的清醒与迷惘。野猿哀暗用郦道元《水经注》猿鸣三声泪沾裳的悲音，添苍凉。野猿之哀与云山酒债相映，化典无痕，足见作者驱遣故实、以故为新之工。
Commentary
The first stanza opens with the Fishing Terrace, a place of reclusion, but Zhang has not visited it for ten years, and even the wild gulls suspect him: a subtle confession that he has failed as a true hermit. Yet the enduring white clouds and green hills make his drifting life seem ephemeral, so he turns to wine. The tripod antitheses form the core: as a scholar he lacks statesmanship, but he cannot escape drinking and poetry—worldly success eludes him, while indulgence and art define him. The mutual laughter with Suanzhai is both consolation and self-reproach. In the second stanza, the poet returns late, hears the apes' wail, and reflects that twenty years of 'romantic oddities' have passed like flowers. He then soars briefly into ambition—gazing at the General's Terrace, sleeving starry strategies, intending to break the mist-moon fortress—but the same laughter closes the dream, exposing it as a scholar's futile fantasy. The two stanzas sway between withdrawal and worldly desire, capturing the tragicomic position of the Yuan literatus.
第一首起笔钓鱼台，十年不上野鸥猜，平平道来却自疚深：隐者本该与鸥鸟忘机，自己却为尘务十年不至，连鸥也疑我了。白云来往青山在，对酒开怀，以青山白云之永恒反衬自身漂泊，借酒自宽。核心在鼎足对三句：自认欠伊周之才，却犯刘阮之戒、还李杜之债，意谓治国无份，惟有贪杯与作诗，表面自嘲放达，实则是怀才不遇的反说。末酸斋笑我，我笑酸斋，与友人相视而笑，悲欣交集。第二首晚归来，西湖山上野猿哀，由隐入仕的回望；二十年多少风流怪，花落花开，以花开花落喻人事代谢、豪杰湮灭。望云霄拜将台以下三句陡起壮怀，袖藏星斗、欲破迷魂寨，俨然有宰相胸襟；然而结以酸斋笑我，我笑酸斋，壮怀终被一笑收束，可知安邦之策不过牢落书生之梦。两首一张一弛，写尽进退失据的文人悲欣。旷达其表而辛酸其里，正是元人小令写心之妙，亦一代士人进退失据之缩影。
Prosody
Line by line
欠伊周济世才，犯刘阮贪杯戒，还李杜吟诗债。
He admits lacking the world-saving talent of Yi Yin and Zhou Gong, has fallen into the drinking habits of Liu Ling and Ruan Ji, and must still pay the poetry debts of Li Bai and Du Fu—i.e., he is unfit for governing, yet hopelessly devoted to wine and verse.
I lack the statecraft of Yi Yin and the Duke of Zhou; I have fallen into Liu Ling and Ruan Ji's oath against wine; I have taken up Li Bai and Du Fu's lifelong debt of verse.
这三句鼎足对是全曲的脊骨，也是元散曲自嘲述怀的绝唱。伊周、刘阮、李杜三组典故，分别对应功业、嗜酒、吟诗三重人生坐标：作者自谦既没有伊尹周公那般匡世之才，却又沾了刘伶阮籍贪杯的毛病，更只能像李白杜甫那样一辈子偿还诗债。三层意思并列而下，表面是自贬，内里却藏着错位的不甘——本该经纬天下的士人，到头来只剩诗酒自遣。这种以缺憾为骄傲、以失意作潇洒的写法，正是失路文人典型的心理防御。三句对仗工稳而语势奔放，读来如三声叹息叠作一声长啸，把怀才不遇的辛酸说得举重若轻，最见张可久炼句之功。
These three balanced lines are the spine of the song, and one of Yuan sanqu's great self-mocking confessions. Three allusions — Yi-Yin and the Duke of Zhou, Liu Ling and Ruan Ji, Li Bai and Du Fu — map three coordinates of a life: achievement, drink, and poetry. The poet modestly declares he has neither the world-righting genius of the great statesmen, yet has caught the tipplers' vice, and must spend his life repaying the debt of verse like the two great poets. Layer after layer, seemingly self-disparagement, within lies displaced unwillingness: the scholar meant to order the world, left at last only with wine and verse. This way of turning defect into pride, failure into ease, is the characteristic self-defense of the scholar who has lost his road. Balanced lines, rushing cadence, three sighs folding into one long whistle — the bitterness of unrecognized talent spoken with weightless ease, showing Zhang Kejiu's mastery of the line.
酸斋笑我，我笑酸斋。
Suanzhai (Guan Yunshi) laughs at me, and I laugh back at him—their mutual mockery signals shared understanding and resignation.
Suanzhai laughs at me; I laugh at Suanzhai.
这六字是全曲的眼目与收煞，看似轻巧，实含深意。酸斋即贯云石，与作者唱和相知，彼此笑谑，既是朋友间的会心，也是两个失意文人的相濡以沫。我笑酸斋，笑其脱略形骸、归隐太早；酸斋笑我，笑我沉浮俗务、犹恋尘缘。一笑之中，仕与隐、醒与醉、达与穷的界限都被消解，剩下的只是两个看透世相的人互相解嘲。从章法看，两句顶真回环，余韵悠长，恰如两人相视而笑、不复多言的神情；从情感看，这笑声底下压着二十年的风流散尽与济世之志成空，是以笑写哭的至高境界。元曲小令能于结尾处宕开如此空灵的一笔，最见清空之致。
These six characters are the eye and close of the song, light on the surface, deep within. Suanzhai is Guan Yunshi, the poet's singing partner and friend, their mutual laughter the meeting of kindred spirits and the sustaining of two disappointed scholars. I laugh at Suanzhai — at his casting off the world's forms and retiring too soon; Suanzhai laughs at me — at my still struggling through mundane affairs, still tangled in the dust. In the laughter, the lines between office and retreat, waking and drunkenness, success and failure, dissolve, leaving two world-weary men mocking themselves through each other. Structurally the lines loop into each other, the aftertone long, like the two men's smiling glance, no more words; emotionally, beneath the laughter lie twenty years of scattered romance and the voided wish to save the world — crying through laughter, the highest reach. That a short song can close on so airy a stroke shows the very height of its limpid grace.
袖星斗安邦策，破烟月迷魂寨。
He carries in his sleeve star-like strategies to bring peace to the state, determined to break through the seductive 'smoke-and-moon' fortress that captivates souls—his unrealized ambition.
Within my sleeve, the starry constellation — the plan to secure the state; outside, to break through the bewitching fortress of mist and moon.
这两句骤起壮怀，是第二首的精神高地。袖星斗安邦策以满天星斗喻胸中韬略，想象奇绝，把文人袖里乾坤的自信写得气象磅礴；破烟月迷魂寨则以声色繁华比作迷魂之阵，自许有破解之力。表面看是豪言，细味却是悲语：拜将台只在云霄可望，安邦策只藏于袖中，烟月迷魂寨终未能真破，所谓雄心不过是书生逆旅中的白日梦。两句对仗精整，星斗对烟月，安邦策对迷魂寨，一正一反，一庄一谐，把功名念与风月缘的内在撕扯凝缩成一副对联。读懂这两句，便读懂了元代文人进既不能、退亦不甘的全部尴尬。
These two lines suddenly rise in boldness, the spiritual height of the second song. 'Within my sleeve, the starry constellation — the plan to secure the state' likens the strategy in the breast to the whole host of stars, an extraordinary imagination writing the scholar's sleeve-cosmos with grandeur; 'outside, to break through the bewitching fortress of mist and moon' pictures the bustling world of sound and splendor as an enchantress' stronghold, claiming the strength to storm it. On the surface, bold words; tasted closely, a lament: the terrace where generals are made is only reachable among the clouds, the state-securing plan lies hidden in the sleeve, the bewitching fortress never truly stormed — the so-called ambition is but a daydream of the scholar on his journey. The balanced couplet, stars against mist-moon, state-plan against enchantress-fortress, positive against negative, solemn against comic, condenses the inner tug between the pursuit of fame and the lure of romance. Read these two lines, and the whole embarrassment of the Yuan scholar — unable to advance, unable to withdraw in peace — is read.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Ma Zhiyuan's 'Autumn Thoughts' paints a desolate scene (withered vines, old trees, dusky crows) to project a broken-hearted traveler; Zhang Kejiu, in contrast, uses historical references and conversational laughter to convey his dilemma between office and hermitage. The former ends in poignant isolation, the latter in wry mutual mockery.
张可久此曲与马致远《天净沙·秋思》皆出自元代沦落文人之手，主题都绕不开仕途无望与精神归宿。马致远以枯藤老树昏鸦的意象并置，画出一幅羁旅断肠的秋景，结以夕阳西下，断肠人在天涯，沉郁悲凉；张可久则以钓鱼台、野鸥、拜将台、迷魂寨写仕隐两端，于自嘲中见牢落，结局是一笑收煞，较马氏更显清空旷达。二人都善用典型物象承载身世之感，但马以景胜、张以典胜，一为豪放派的秋思之祖，一为清丽派的小山乐府，正可互证元曲文人述怀的两种风调。
饮酒·结庐在人境 饮酒·结庐在人境 陶渊明 · 同写归隐之志，一为魏晋田园之真、一为元代文人自嘲之隐 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
张可久神往钓鱼台、对酒开怀，与陶渊明结庐在人境、心远地自偏的隐逸情怀一脉相承，皆要在尘嚣中守住一方心静。区别在于：陶诗是真正躬耕田园后的安然自得，境界浑朴；张曲则身在吏职、心羡严陵，十年不上钓鱼台已暗含不能真的归去，故其隐逸多带自嘲与无奈。陶之隐是自然流露，张之隐是被时代挤出的退路。对照二作，可见隐逸主题从魏晋的真淳到元代的苦笑，其间文人处境的变迁何其深远。