Yuan Dynasty
沉醉东风 · 秋景
卢挚
挂绝壁松枯倒倚，
落残霞孤鹜齐飞。
四围不尽山，
一望无穷水，
散西风满天秋意。
夜静云帆月影低，
载我在潇湘画里。
Translation
On sheer cliffs, withered pines hang and lean backward; in the fading sunset, a lone wild duck flies level with the last clouds. All around are endless mountains; at one glance, boundless waters stretch away. The west wind scatters autumn feeling across the whole sky. At night, all is still; cloud, sail, and moon shadows sink low over the water. The boat carries me as if into a painting of Xiao and Xiang.
Analysis
Drunk in the East Wind · Autumn Scene is one of Lu Zhi's finest landscape sanqu. It presents an autumn scene in the Xiao-Xiang region, moving from dusk to night and from rugged cliffs to wide waters and moonlit stillness. The opening image is steep and austere. A withered pine hangs against a sheer cliff. This is not a soft autumn landscape; it is high, sparse, and slightly cold. "The fading sunset and lone wild duck fly together" echoes the famous line from Wang Bo's "Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng." By adapting that classical image into sanqu, Lu Zhi gives the scene both openness and literary resonance. "All around are endless mountains; at one glance, boundless waters" expands the visual field. The language is direct, but the effect is spacious. Mountains enclose the view, while water opens it outward. "The west wind scatters autumn feeling across the whole sky" unifies the scene emotionally. Autumn is no longer just a season marked by separate objects. It becomes an atmosphere spread everywhere by the wind. The final two lines shift into night. Cloud, sail, and moon shadows lie low on the water, suggesting stillness and reflection. The speaker then feels himself carried into a Xiao-Xiang painting. Xiao-Xiang was a major landscape theme in Chinese art, especially through the tradition of the "Eight Views of Xiao and Xiang." The line fuses real travel with painted landscape. The song's beauty lies in its clarity and distance. It does not force heavy emotion, yet through withered pines, fading clouds, a lone bird, west wind, and moonlit water, it conveys the spare elegance of autumn.
About the Author
Lu Zhi, courtesy name Chudao, also known as Xinlao, and literary name Shuzhai, was a Yuan dynasty writer and sanqu poet from Zhuojun. He served in high literary office, including as Hanlin Academician-in-Chief, and was one of the important literati of the early Yuan. His sanqu are numerous and cover landscape, historical reflection, object poems, reclusion, social exchange, and meditations on life. His style is clear, elegant, and open, combining literati refinement with the natural movement of Yuan song.