緑萼承趺玉蘂輕：姜夔《疏影》詞旨新論

“On Green Calyx Gently Rest Jade-white Stamens”: A New Study of Jiang Kui’s “Dappled Shadows”

Abstract

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.

《疏影》的詞旨向無定解，較爲主流的政治説仍有缺陷。本文指出《疏影》所詠的梅花品種，並非前人研究所舉引的古梅而是緑萼梅，故詞中著重渲染和緑色相關的事物。修建於宣和四年（1122）的艮嶽是北宋最大型的皇家園林，其萼緑華堂種植了數以萬計的緑萼梅，象徵了北宋的記憶和命脈，以姜夔《疏影》爲首的詠緑萼梅之作，無不以緑萼梅塑造宋室偏安的孤寂情態。本文從緑萼梅出發，重新討論《疏影》與徽欽二帝的關係，並指出緑袖佳人與王昭君的典故，又見於姜夔和范成大圈子的詩人；姜夔藉緑萼梅象徵宋室命脈，並呼籲時人努力維護南宋。《疏影》所用的典故成爲了後人詠緑萼梅的固定意象，然而緑萼梅與宋皇朝的關係卻逐漸被人遺忘。

The theme of “Dappled Shadows” (“Shuying”), a ci-poem by Jiang Kui (1155-1221), has long been the subject of dispute in relevant scholarship. This paper contends that the relatively mainstream political readings have not satisfactorily addressed the complexity of the theme. By pinpointing the specific species of green calyx plum mentioned in the poem, rather than any unspecified “ancient plum” as accepted by previous scholarship, one can feel the lyrics’ emphasis on green imagery and motifs. Constructed in 1122 CE, the largest Northern Song imperial garden, the Northeast Marchmount, had a plantation named Hall of Green Calyx Plums (Yuelühua Hall) where ten thousand trees of green calyx plums were planted. These trees may be seen as symbols of the memory and lineage of the Northern Song dynasty. Poetic works on the green calyx plums, such as Jiang Kui’s pioneering poem “Dappled Shadows,” all convey a sense of solitude of a court-in-exile through the imagery of the plum trees. In this regard, this paper presents a renewed assessment of the relationship between “Dappled Shadows” and Emperors Huizong and Qinzong by taking the image of the green calyx plum as a point of departure. It also discusses the allusions the “green-sleeved beauty” and Wang Zhaojun (b. ca. 50 BCE) in “Dappled Shadows,” which are found in the works by Jiang Kui, Fan Chengda (1126-1193) and their circle of poets. In this light, Jiang Kui’s adoption of the image of the green calyx plum as a lingering motif of the memory and lineage of the Northern Song may be read as a rally call to his contemporaries for the protection of the Southern Song court-in-exile. The references alluded to in “Dappled Shadows” became fixed allusions for later generations who wrote on the green calyx plum, although its connection with the Song imperial court was no longer addressed until this present study.