“Man Jiang Hong: The Night Rain is Very Cool and Suddenly I Want to Join the Army” is one of the representative works of Liu Kezhuang, a patriotic poet in the late Southern Song Dynasty. The first part describes the past, with a positive style and a heroic and vigorous style; the second part describes the present, with a purely negative style and a suppressed and gloomy style. The use of contrast is very contagious. The author of this poem said in his own note that “suddenly I want to join the army”, which means that the author suddenly had the idea of joining the army to fight against the Jin Dynasty. The situation is like this: Liu Kezhuang was once dismissed because of the “Jianghu Poetry Case”. In the sixth year of Shaoding (1233 AD), when the Mongols destroyed the Jin Dynasty, the Song army went north to seek recovery and return to Henan, and Liu Kezhuang was still idle at home. The war between the Song and Jin Dynasties aroused the poet’s idea of joining the army to fight against the Jin Dynasty. This is the background for the author to write this poem.
《满江红·夜雨凉甚忽动从戎之兴》是南宋后期爱国词人刘克庄的代表作之一。上片写过去，正面着笔，风格豪迈雄健；下片写今日，纯用反笔，风格掩抑沉郁。运用对比手法，极富感染力。这首词作者在自注中说“忽动从戎之兴”，即作者忽然产生从军抗金的念头。情况是这样：刘克庄曾因“江湖诗案”遭难被黜。到绍定六年（公元1233）蒙古灭金之际，宋师北上谋复回河南，刘克庄尚闲置在家。宋金之间的这场战争引起了诗人从军抗金的念头。这是作者写作此词的背景。
《满江红·夜雨凉甚 忽动从戎之兴》 刘克庄
金甲雕戈，
记当日、
辕门初立。
磨盾鼻、
一挥千纸，
龙蛇犹湿。
铁马晓嘶营壁冷，
楼船夜渡风涛急。
有谁怜、
猿臂故将军，
无功级。
平戎策，
从军什。
零落尽，
慵收拾。
把茶经香传，
时时温习。
生怕客谈榆塞事，
且教儿诵花间集。
叹臣之壮也不如人，
今何及。
Man Jianghong
—The cold night rain kindles my passion for enlisting in the army.
Liu Kezhuang
I remember at the entrance of the general’s tent
Wearing golden plate and holding carved spear I stand.
On the back of the shield I grind the ink-stick,
Thousand sheets I fill with characters
That like dragons and serpents sprawl.
In the morning cold the iron-clad horses neigh,
At night the giant galleons plough the stormy waves.
Yet who pities the ex-general with arms like ape’s
Not guerdoned e’en the lowest honours?
My writings on strategy,
My songs sung in the army,
Are all strewn in dusty oblivion.
My Book of Tea I oft review
And my Book of Incense.
Oft I learn my sons Poems Amid Flowers.
As a youth I even fell behind,
An old man now how can I cope
With the human strife?
