《故都的秋》藴含深沉的故都之戀、故國之愛，喚起人們對美的追求，對祖國的熱愛。中國現代著名小説家、散文家、詩人、革命烈士郁達夫的散文名篇《故都的秋》將悲秋與頌秋結合起來，秋中有情的眷戀，情中有秋的落寞——這情是故鄉情、愛國情;這落寞之秋是作者當時心境的寫照，是對國運衰微的喟歎。
郁達夫 《故都的秋》
秋天，無論在什麼地方的秋天，總是好的;可是啊，北國的秋，卻特別地來得清，來得靜，來得悲涼。我的不遠千里，要從杭州趕上青島，更要從青島趕上北平來的理由，也不過想飽嘗一嘗這“秋”，這故都的秋味。
江南，秋當然也是有的;但草木凋得慢，空氣來得潤，天的顏色顯得淡，並且又時常多雨而少風;一個人夾在蘇州上海杭州，或廈門香港廣州的市民中間，渾渾沌沌地過去，只能感到一點點清涼，秋的味，秋的色，秋的意境與姿態，總看不飽，嘗不透，賞玩不到十足。秋並不是名花，也並不是美酒，那一種半開，半醉的狀態，在領略秋的過程上，是不合適的。
不逢北國之秋，已將近十餘年了。在南方每年到了秋天，總要想起陶然亭的蘆花，釣魚台的柳影，西山的蟲唱，玉泉的夜月，潭柘寺的鐘聲。在北平即使不出門去罷，就是在皇城人海之中，租人家一椽破屋來住着，早晨起來，泡一碗濃茶，向院子一坐，你也能看得到很高很高的碧綠的天色，聽得到青天下馴鴿的飛聲。從槐樹葉底，朝東細數着一絲一絲漏下來的日光，或在破壁腰中，靜對着像喇叭似的牽牛花(朝榮)的藍朵，自然而然地也能夠感覺到十分的秋意。説到了牽牛花，我以為以藍色或白色者為佳，紫黑色次之，淡紅色最下。最好，還要在牽牛花底，教長着幾根疏疏落落的尖細且長的秋草，使作陪襯。
北國的槐樹，也是一種能使人聯想起秋來的.點綴。像花而又不是花的那一種落蕊，早晨起來，會鋪得滿地。腳踏上去，聲音也沒有，氣味也沒有，只能感出一點點極微細極柔軟的觸覺。掃街的在樹影下一陣掃後，灰土上留下來的一條條掃帚的絲紋，看起來既覺得細膩，又覺得清閒，潛意識下並且還覺得有點兒落寞，古人所説的梧桐一葉而天下知秋的遙想，大約也就在這些深沉的地方。
秋蟬的衰弱的殘聲，更是北國的特產;因為北平處處全長着樹，屋子又低，所以無論在什麼地方，都聽得見它們的啼唱。在南方是非要上郊外或山上去才聽得到的。這秋蟬的嘶叫，在北平可和蟋蟀耗子一樣，簡直像是家家户户都養在家裏的家蟲。
還有秋雨哩，北方的秋雨，也似乎比南方的下得奇，下得有味，下得更像樣。
在灰沉沉的天底下，忽而來一陣涼風，便息列索落地下起雨來了。一層雨過，雲漸漸地卷向了西去，天又青了，太陽又露出臉來了;著着很厚的青布單衣或夾襖的都市閒人，咬着煙管，在雨後的斜橋影裏，上橋頭樹底下去一立，遇見熟人，便會用了緩慢悠閒的聲調，微歎着互答着的説：
“唉，天可真涼了——”
“可不是麼?一層秋雨一層涼了!”
北方的果樹，到秋來，也是一種奇景。第一是棗子樹;屋角，牆頭，茅房邊上，灶房門口，它都會一株株地長大起來。像橄欖又像鴿蛋似的這棗子顆兒，在小橢圓形的細葉中間，顯出淡綠微黃的顏色的時候，正是秋的全盛時期;等棗樹葉落，棗子紅完，西北風就要起來了，北方便是塵沙灰土的世界，只有這棗子、柿子、葡萄，成熟到八九分的七八月之交，是北國的清秋的佳日，是一年之中最好也沒有的golden days。
有些批評家説，中國的文人學士，尤其是詩人，都帶着很濃厚的頹廢色彩，所以中國的詩文裏，頌讚秋的文字特別的多。但外國的詩人，又何嘗不然?我雖則外國詩文念得不多，也不想開出賬來，做一篇秋的詩歌散文鈔，但你若去一翻英德法意等詩人的集子，或各國的詩文的Anthology來，總能夠看到許多關於秋的歌頌與悲啼。各著名的大詩人的長篇田園詩或四季詩裏，也總以關於秋的部分，寫得最出色而最有味。足見有感覺的動物，有情趣的人類，對於秋，總是一樣的能特別引起深沉，幽遠，嚴厲，蕭索的感觸來的。不單是詩人，就是被關閉在牢獄裏的囚犯，到了秋天，我想也一定會感到一種不能自已的深情;秋之於人，何嘗有國別，更何嘗有人種階級的區別呢?不過在中國，文字裏有一個“秋士”的成語，讀本里又有着很普遍的歐陽子的秋聲與蘇東坡的《赤壁賦》等，就覺得中國的文人，與秋的關係特別深了。可是這秋的深味，尤其是中國的秋的深味，非要在北方，才感受得到底。
南國之秋，當然是也有它的特異的地方的，比如廿四橋的明月，錢塘江的秋潮，普陀山的涼霧，荔枝灣的殘荷等等，可是色彩不濃，回味不永。比起北國的秋來，正像是黃酒之與白乾，稀飯之與饃饃，鱸魚之與大蟹，黃犬之與駱駝。
秋天，這北國的秋天，若留得住的話，我願把壽命的三分之二折去，換得一個三分之一的零頭。
Autumn in Peiping
Yu Dafu
Autumn, wherever it is,always has something to recommend itself. In North China, however, it isparticularly limpid, serene and melancholy. To enjoy its atmosphere to the fullin the onetime capital, I have, therefore, made light of travelling a longdistance from Hangzhou to Qingdao, and thence to Peiping.
Thereis of course autumn in the South too, but over there plants wither slowly, theair is moist, the sky pallid, and it is more often rainy than windy. Whilemuddling along all by myself among the urban dwellers of Suzhou, Shanghai,Xiamen, Hong Kong or Guangzhou, I feel nothing but a little chill in the air,without ever relishing to my heart's content the flavour, colour, mood andstyle of the season. Unlike famous flowers which are most attractive when halfopening, good wine which is most tempting when one is half drunk, autumn,however, is best appreciated in its entirety.
Itis more than a decade since I last saw autumn in North. When I am in the South,the arrival of each autumn will put me in mind of Peiping's Tao Ran Ting withits reed catkins, Diao Yu Tai with its shady willow trees, Western Hills withtheir chirping insects, Yu Quan Shan Mountain on a moonlight evening and TanZhe Si with its reverbrating bell. Suppose you put up in a humble rented houseinside the bustling imperial city, you can, on getting up at dawn, sit in yourcourtyard sipping a cup of strong tea, leisurely watch the high azure skies andlisten to pigeons circling overhead. Saunter eastward under locust trees toclosely observe streaks of sunlight filtering through their foliage, or quietlywatch the trumpet-shaped blue flowers of morning glories climbing half way up adilapidated wall, and an intense feeling of autumn will of itself well up insideyou. As to morning glories, I like their blue or white flowers best, darkpurple ones second best, and pink ones third best. It will be most desirable tohave them set off by some tall thin grass planted underneath here and there.
Locusttrees in the North, as a decorative embellishment of nature, also associate uswith autumn. On getting up early in the morning, you will find the groundstrewn all over with flower-like pistils fallen from locust trees. Quiet andsmelless, they feel tiny and soft underfoot. After a street cleaner has donethe sweeping under the shade of the trees, you will discover countless linesleft by his broom in the dust, which look so fine and quiet that somehow afeeling of forlornness will begin to creep up on you. The same depth ofimplication is found in the ancient saying that a single fallen leaf from thewutong tree is more than enough to inform the world of autumn's presence.
Thesporadic feeble chirping of cicadas is especially characteristic of autumn inthe North. Due to the abundance of trees and the low altitude of dwellings inPeiping, cicadas are audible in every nook and cranny of the city. In theSouth, however, one cannot hear them unless in suburbs or hills. Because oftheir ubiquitous shrill noise, these insects in Peiping seem to be living offevery household like crickets or mice.
Asfor autumn rains in the North, they also seem to differ from those in theSouth, being more appealing, more temperate.
Asudden gust of cool wind under the slaty sky, and raindrops will startpitter-pattering. Soon when the rain is over, the clouds begin gradually toroll towards the west and the sun comes out in the blue sky. Some idletownsfolk, wearing lined or unlined clothing made of thick cloth, will come outpipe in mouth and, loitering under a tree by the end of a bridge, exchangeleisurely conversation with acquaintances with a slight touch of regret at thepassing of time:
"Oh,real nice and cool—"
"Sure!Getting cooler with each autumn shower!"
Fruittrees in the North also make a wonderful sight in autumn. Take jujube tree forexample. They grow everywhere—around the corner of a house, at the foot of awall, by the side of a latrine or outside a kitchen door. It is at the heightof autumn that jujubes, shaped like dates or pigeon eggs, make their appearancein a light yellowish-green amongst tiny elliptic leaves. By the time when theyhave turned ruddy and the leaves fallen, the north-westerly wind will begin toreign supreme and make a dusty world of the North. Only at the turn of July andAugust when jujubes, persimmons, grapes are 80-90 percent ripe will the Northhave the best of autumn—the golden days in a year.
Someliterary critics say that Chinese literati, especially poets, are mostlydisposed to be decadent, which accounts for predominance of Chinese workssinging the praises of autumn. Well, the same is true of foreign poets, isn'tit? I haven't read much of foreign poetry and prose, nor do I want to enumerateautumn-related poems and essays in foreign literature. But, if you browsethrough collected works of English, German, French or Italian poets, or variouscountries' anthologies of poetry or prose, you can always come across a greatmany literary pieces eulogizing or lamenting autumn. Long pastoral poems orsongs about the four seasons by renowned poets are mostly distinguished bybeautiful moving lines on autumn. All that goes to show that all live creaturesand sensitive humans alike are prone to the feeling of depth, remoteness,severity and bleakness. Not only poets, even convicts in prison, I suppose,have deep sentiments in autumn in spite of themselves. Autumn treats all humansalike, regardless of nationality, race or class. However, judging from Chineseidiom qiushi (autumn scholar, meaning and aged scholar grieving overfrustrations in his life) and frequent selection in textbooks of Ouyang Xiu'sOn the Autumn Sough and Su Dongpo's On the Red Cliff, Chinese men of lettersseem to be particularly autumn-minded. But, to know the real flavour of autumn,especially China's autumn, one has to visit the North.
Autumnin the South also has its unique features, such as the moon-lit Ershisi Bridgein Yangzhou, the flowing sea tide at the Qiantangjiang River, the mist-shroudedPutuo Mountain and lotuses at the Lizhiwan Bay. But they all lack strong colourand lingering flavour. Southern autumn is to Northern autumn what yellow ricewine is to kaoliang wine, congee to steamed buns, perches to crabs, yellow dogsto camels.
Autumn,I mean Northern autumn, if only it could be made to last forever! I would bemore than willing to keep but one-third of my life-span and have two-thirds ofit bartered for the prolonged stay of the season.
