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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

木兰花·池塘水绿风微暖

Mulan Hua: Green Water in the Pond, a Gentle Warm Breeze

晏殊

Yan Shu

怀旧Nostalgia 感慨Lament on transience

池塘水绿风微暖，记得玉真初见面。
重头歌韵响铮琮，入破舞腰红乱旋。
玉钩阑下香阶畔，醉后不知斜日晚。
当时共我赏花人，点检如今无一半。

Green water in the pond, a faint warm breeze — I remember the day I first beheld Jade True.
The song in its opening strain rings out sharp and jade-bright; at the breaking passage the dancer's waist whirls in flurries of red.
Beneath the jade hook rail, beside the perfumed stair, drunk, I knew not that the slanting sun was already low.
Those who once shared the flowers with me — count them now, and less than half are left.

Listen

Meaning

The poet recalls an evening from his youth when he first met the singing girl Jade True beside a green pond, in the midst of song, dance and wine. The first half paints that glory; the last half turns to the present, where the company of flower-lovers has dwindled to less than half. The poem is a meditation on memory and mortality: what was once full and brilliant is now thinned and gone, and the poet registers the loss in a quiet, measured voice rather than with noisy grief.

池塘水绿风微暖，记得玉真初见面。重头歌韵响铮琮，入破舞腰红乱旋。玉钩阑下香阶畔，醉后不知斜日晚。当时共我赏花人，点检如今无一半。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The whole ci turns on a single movement, from a green pond and a gentle breeze to a half-empty company. The opening two lines freeze the scene of first meeting; the next two fill it with sound and motion; the last couplet lets the glass run and the sun go down, and only then asks the terrible question of the roster of friends. [Structure] The upper half is pure possession — the pond, the girl, the song, the dance. The lower half begins in the middle of pleasure (drunkenness that ignores the setting sun) and then closes with a single cold act of arithmetic: counting the people and finding half missing. The structure is thus a descent from scene to memory, and from memory to an inventory. [Imagery] Three images carry the poem. The green water and faint warm wind are the mild, domestic images of spring; 'sharp and jade-bright' (zhengcong) renders the music as something almost audible in the teeth; and 'flurries of red' turns the dancer's sash into a shimmer. Against these, the closing image is not visual at all but numerical — a half. The refusal to name a single death, and to state instead an arithmetic remainder, is what makes the grief modern in its restraint.

【白话串讲】晏殊写《木兰花·池塘水绿风微暖》：“池塘水绿风微暖，记得玉真初见面”——“重头歌韵响铮琮，入破舞腰红乱旋”——“玉钩阑下香阶畔，醉后不知斜日晚”——“当时共我赏花人，点检如今无一半”——当年的赏花人，如今一半不在了——他写怀旧。【意象与手法】此词写忆旧，以伤逝写忆旧，是晏殊的名篇。上阕写初见：「池塘水绿风微暖，记得玉真初见面」写池塘水绿风微暖、记得玉真初见面——写尽初见的场景；「重头歌韵响铮琮，入破舞腰红乱旋」写重头歌韵响铮琮、入破舞腰红乱旋——写尽歌舞的盛况；下阕写伤逝：「玉钩阑下香阶畔，醉后不知斜日晚」写玉钩阑下香阶畔、醉后不知斜日晚——写尽沉醉的时光；「当时共我赏花人，点检如今无一半」写当时共我赏花人、点检如今无一半——写尽人事的凋零。全词以伤逝写忆旧，写尽初见的盛况与人事的凋零，是晏殊的代表作。【情感与主旨】此词写忆旧，以伤逝写忆旧，是晏殊的名篇。此词回忆昔年与玉真初见及赏花之乐，写尽今日人事凋零之悲。上阕写初见：池塘水绿风微暖，记得玉真初见面——写池塘水绿风微暖、记得玉真初见面，写尽初见的场景；重头歌韵响铮琮，入破舞腰红乱旋——写重头歌韵响铮琮、入破舞腰红乱旋，写尽歌舞的盛况；下阕写伤逝：玉钩阑下香阶畔，醉后不知斜日晚——写玉钩阑下香阶畔、醉后不知斜日晚，写尽沉醉的时光；当时共我赏花人，点检如今无一半——写当时共我赏花人、点检如今无一半，写尽人事的凋零。全词以伤逝写忆旧——那「重头歌韵响铮琮」写尽歌舞的盛况，「点检如今无一半」写尽人事的凋零，写尽初见的盛况与人事的凋零，是理解晏殊词的重要篇章。【名句点睛】常考「池塘水绿风微暖，记得玉真初见面」写初见的场景；「重头歌韵响铮琮，入破舞腰红乱旋」写歌舞的盛况；「当时共我赏花人，点检如今无一半」写人事的凋零；以及全词以伤逝写忆旧、以今昔对照写伤逝的手法。

Background

Yan Shu (991–1055), courtesy name Tongsbu, was from Linchuan in Fuzhou (modern Jiangxi). He was a statesman of the Northern Song who rose to the rank of grand chancellor and was posthumously titled Yuanxian, yet he is remembered chiefly as a lyric poet, one of the founders of the elegant, restrained manner that later critics call the 'Northern Song ci'. His famous line 'unable to drink a cup of wine when the wind and blossoms meet' sets the tone of his work. This ci belongs to a small group of his pieces on remembrance and loss, written at a time when he looked back over a lifetime spent among songs and feasts. 'Jade True' (Yuzhen) is presumably the name of a singing girl; the poem looks back on a single evening with her as though it were the whole of a vanished world.

此词写忆旧，以伤逝写忆旧，是晏殊的名篇。晏殊（991—1055），字同叔，抚州临川（今属江西）人，北宋政治家、词人，官至宰相，谥元献。此词回忆昔年与玉真初见及赏花之乐，写尽今日人事凋零之悲。玉真，当为歌女之名。上阕写初见：「池塘水绿风微暖，记得玉真初见面」写池塘水绿风微暖、记得玉真初见面——写尽初见的场景（池塘水绿风微暖，记得玉真初见面）；「重头歌韵响铮琮，入破舞腰红乱旋」写重头歌韵响铮琮、入破舞腰红乱旋——写尽歌舞的盛况（重头歌韵响铮琮，入破舞腰红乱旋）。下阕写伤逝：「玉钩阑下香阶畔，醉后不知斜日晚」写玉钩阑下香阶畔、醉后不知斜日晚——写尽沉醉的时光（玉钩阑下香阶畔，醉后不知斜日晚）；「当时共我赏花人，点检如今无一半」写当时共我赏花人、点检如今无一半——写尽人事的凋零（当时共我赏花人，点检如今无一半）。全词以伤逝写忆旧，写尽初见的盛况与人事的凋零，是理解晏殊词的重要篇章。

Art

The craft of the piece lies in its economy of contrast. Yan Shu never says 'I am sad'; he shows a pond, then shows half a company. The first four lines are almost decorative — colour, sound, motion, silk and jade — and yet they exist only to be paid for by the last line. The verb 'count' (dianjian) is brilliantly chosen: it is a mundane action, the act of a clerk ticking a roll, and by making the climax an act of bookkeeping rather than elegy, the poet keeps his dignity and deepens the pain. Another device is the use of musical terminology — 'opening strain' (chongtou) and 'breaking passage' (rupo), the point in a daqu suite where the rhythm quickens — which allows the dancer's swift whirling to be suggested through the structure of the music itself. The final couplet is delivered in plain speech, almost colloquial ('count them now'), which is precisely why it cuts.

此词的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以景写初见。「池塘水绿风微暖」以景写初见——那「水绿」「风微暖」写尽春景，以景写尽初见的氛围。其二，以声写歌舞。「重头歌韵响铮琮，入破舞腰红乱旋」以声写歌舞——那「响铮琮」「红乱旋」写尽歌韵舞腰，以声写尽歌舞的盛况。其三，以醉写时光。「醉后不知斜日晚」以醉写时光——那「不知斜日晚」写尽沉醉忘时，以醉写尽欢愉的时光。其四，以今昔对照写伤逝。「当时共我赏花人，点检如今无一半」以今昔对照写伤逝——那「当时」「如今」写尽今昔的对照，以对照写尽人事的凋零。此外，此词上阕写昔年之盛，下阕写今日之悲，由盛入衰，正是晏殊词「以乐景写哀」的写法。四重手法，使此词以伤逝写忆旧，写尽初见的盛况与人事的凋零，是晏殊的代表作。此外，此词尤可注意其「以乐写哀」的对照张力：全词前半极写昔年之盛——池塘水绿、玉真初见、重头歌韵、入破舞腰，声色并陈，繁华极矣；后半忽以「玉钩阑下香阶畔，醉后不知斜日晚」写沉醉忘时，再以「当时共我赏花人，点检如今无一半」陡然收束——繁华之极处，正是凋零之开端，而「无一半」三字更以数字写尽人事之半亡，不着一悲字而悲已透骨，正是晏殊「于极盛处写极衰」的深婉。

Allusions

The diction sits inside a long tradition of remembrance. 'Jade True' recalls the immortal Yuzhen of Tang lore, by which poets designate a beautiful woman of another world, so that the remembered girl is already half-mythic. 'Breaking passage' (rupo) refers to the third section of a tang daqu suite, after the slow middle part; when the dance enters the 'po' the tempo becomes quick, and Yan Shu uses a technical musical term to make the whirling skirt feel sudden. 'Slanting sun' draws on the familiar closing image of the day's decline, and 'counting' beside a stream recalls the line of poets who count plum blossoms by the brook. Most importantly, the whole poem descends from the established topos of 'rising to the top of the hill and thinking of one's deceased friends' into a private, domestic register: instead of a statesman mourning peers, a middle-aged man counts the faces of a former gathering. That shift from public elegy to private reminiscence is Yan Shu's contribution.

此词的用语深植于忆旧与伤逝的传统。「玉真」令人想到「玉真」写美人的典故——玉真为道教仙人名，唐人诗词多以玉真指仙女，也令人想到「玉真之仙人」的意象；「重头」令人想到「重头」写词曲的术语——词曲中后阕与前阕首句相同谓之重头，也令人想到「叠句」的意象；「入破」令人想到「入破」写曲乐的术语——大曲中段入破，节奏转急，也令人想到「入破舞腰」的意象；「斜日」令人想到「斜日」写日暮的意象——「醉后不知斜日晚」正是晏殊的名句，也令人想到「夕阳无限好」（李商隐）的意象；「点检」令人想到「点检」写查点的意象——「点检如今无一半」正是晏殊的名句，也令人想到「点检溪头梅」的意象。全词化用玉真、入破、斜日的意象典故，以伤逝写忆旧，正是晏殊「温润秀洁」而承忆旧传统写伤逝的本领。又「入破」可联系唐代大曲之制：大曲有散序、中序、破三部分，入破即进入急促的破段，白居易《霓裳羽衣舞歌》「繁音急节十二遍，跳珠撼玉何铿铮」正写此境，晏殊以「入破舞腰红乱旋」写舞入破段之飞旋，正是以音乐术语写舞姿，愈见其富贵雍容的底子。

Commentary

This ci has long been counted among Yan Shu's finest short lyrics and as a representative Northern Song piece on remembrance. Later critics praised its softness and restraint — a 'warm and pure' temper that never rises to a cry. Modern readers especially value the closing couplet, 'Those who shared the flowers with me — count them now, and less than half remain', because it converts personal loss into a form that every reader recognises. In the history of the ci, the poem marks the point where the medium stops being an occasional entertainment for a banquet and becomes a vehicle for genuine reflection on time; Yan Shu is often credited with raising the ci to the level of the shi. Critics also pair it with his 'Huan Xia Sha: Since the year's light has a limited span', one mourning the passing of spring, this one mourning the passing of people. Together they show the two directions of his sorrow: the season and the friend.

此词历来被推为晏殊词的名篇，也是北宋词写忆旧伤逝的代表。历代论者对此词评价极高：清人评此词「以伤逝写忆旧，温婉悱恻」；近人更指出「当时共我赏花人，点检如今无一半」写人事的凋零，是此词的名句。在词史上，此词的特殊价值在于：它以八句的短调写尽初见的盛况与人事的凋零——那池塘，那水绿，那风微暖，那玉真，那重头，那歌韵，那铮琮，那入破，那舞腰，那红乱旋，那玉钩，那阑下，那香阶，那斜日，那赏花人，都写尽了晏殊笔下的回忆；那「点检如今无一半」更以今昔对照写尽人事的凋零。此词与晏殊《浣溪沙·一向年光有限身》（「满目山河空念远」）同为伤逝名篇，一写「落花风雨更伤春」的伤逝（浣溪沙），一写「点检如今无一半」的伤逝（木兰花）；又与杜甫「访旧半为鬼」的伤逝传统一脉相承，可见中国词写忆旧伤逝的传统。对于今日读者，此词是理解晏殊词的窗口，也是中国词写忆旧的经典——那无一半的赏花人，穿越千年，仍在诉说着人事的凋零。

Prosody

Form Ci in themelody 'Mulan Hua' (The Wooden Flower), double tune, fifty-six characters词·木兰花

Rhyme The fifty-six character 'Mulan Hua' is rhymed on the oblique tones; here the rhymes are nuan (warm), mian (face), xuan (whirling), wan (evening) and ban (half). One rhyme runs through the whole piece, and the smooth, gliding sound suits the memory of pleasure.《木兰花》双调五十六字，押「暖」「面」「旋」「晚」「半」韵（上声/去声），一韵到底，音节流丽

Tone pattern Since the rhyme lies entirely in the oblique tones, the verse has no free, open closing notes; every phrase settles downward, which is why the piece sounds 'flowing yet drooping' (liuli). The rhythm therefore fits a meditation on remembrance: the first half glides, the second droops.此词为《木兰花》调，押仄声韵，一韵到底，音节流丽，正合忆旧的流丽。

Reading note The piece has two halves. The upper half — 'green water in the pond, a faint warm breeze — I remember the day I first beheld Jade True / the song in its opening strain rings out sharp and jade-bright; at the breaking passage the dancer's waist whirls in flurries of red' — sings of the past. The lower half — 'beneath the jade hook rail, beside the perfumed stair, drunk, I knew not that the slanting sun was already low / those who once shared the flowers with me — count them now, and less than half are left' — sings of loss. The oblique rhymes hold both halves to a single key, so that pleasure and sorrow sound like the same music. In recitation the first half should be read fluently and smoothly; the closing line should be read slowly and heavily, so that the silence after 'half' carries the rest. Yan Shu's style is conventionally described as 'warm and pure'; this lyric is its model.此词为《木兰花》双调五十六字，上阕——「池塘水绿风微暖，记得玉真初见面。重头歌韵响铮琮，入破舞腰红乱旋」，下阕——「玉钩阑下香阶畔，醉后不知斜日晚。当时共我赏花人，点检如今无一半」，押仄声韵（暖、面、旋、晚、半），一韵到底，音节流丽。全词以伤逝写忆旧：上阕写昔年初见的盛况（记得玉真初见面、入破舞腰红乱旋），下阕写今日人事的凋零（醉后不知斜日晚、点检如今无一半）。两阕由盛入衰，层层写尽初见的盛况与人事的凋零，正是晏殊词以乐景写哀的典型结构。诵读此词，宜以流丽的语调读「重头歌韵响铮琮」的盛况，以低回的语调读「点检如今无一半」的凋零，结句要读得沉痛而有余韵，方能传达出晏殊的温婉悱恻。晏殊词以「温润秀洁」著称，此词正是其忆旧词的典范。

Line by line

当时共我赏花人，点检如今无一半

Those who once shared the flowers with me — count them now, and less than half are left: the whole poem's sorrow is gathered here, in a tally rather than a lament.

当时共我赏花人，点检如今无一半。

Of those who once shared my flower viewing, not half are left when I count them now.

此二句是全词写伤逝的核心，以当时共我赏花人写当时，以点检如今无一半写如今，写尽人事的凋零，是千古名句。「当时共我赏花人」写当时共我赏花人——那「当时」写当时，「共我赏花人」写共我赏花之人，写尽昔年的盛况；「点检如今无一半」写点检如今无一半——那「点检」写点检，「如今无一半」写如今无一半，写尽今日的凋零。这句的深意在于：它以「当时共我赏花人」的当时与「点检如今无一半」的如今，写尽人事的凋零——当时共我赏花人，那「当时共我赏花人」写尽昔年的盛况——当时共我赏花之人，正是昔年之盛，那「当时」写尽昔年的繁华；点检如今无一半，那「点检如今无一半」写尽今日的凋零——点检如今，已无一半，正是人事凋零的写照，那「无一半」写尽人事的凋零；那「当时共我赏花人」写尽昔年的盛况，那「点检如今无一半」写尽今日的凋零，一写当时，一写如今，写尽人事的凋零——当时之盛而今已半亡，正是伤逝的写照；此二句以当时、如今写尽人事的凋零，也让此二句成为全词写伤逝的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「当年的人很多都不在了」，则失其深婉；唯以「当时共我赏花人」写当时、「点检如今无一半」写如今，写尽人事的凋零，也让此二句成为全词写伤逝的核心。

The count. Of those who once shared my flower viewing, not half are left when I count them now. The once-shared-flower-viewers and the now-not-half-left are the contrast. To have counted them would be a counting; the of-those-who-once-shared-my-flower-viewing-not-half-are-left-when-i-count-them-now is the counting.

重头歌韵响铮琮，入破舞腰红乱旋

The song in its opening strain rings out sharp and jade-bright; at the breaking passage the dancer's waist whirls in flurries of red — music and movement at the height of the banquet.

重头歌韵响铮琮，入破舞腰红乱旋。

The refrain's song rings clear and bright; at the rhapsodic break the red dance waist whirls wildly.

此二句是全词写歌舞的核心，以重头歌韵写歌，以入破舞腰写舞，写尽歌舞的盛况，是千古名句。「重头歌韵响铮琮」写重头歌韵响铮琮——那「重头歌韵」写重头歌韵，「响铮琮」写响铮琮，写尽歌韵的清脆；「入破舞腰红乱旋」写入破舞腰红乱旋——那「入破舞腰」写入破舞腰，「红乱旋」写红乱旋，写尽舞腰的飞旋。这句的深意在于：它以「重头歌韵响铮琮」的歌与「入破舞腰红乱旋」的舞，写尽歌舞的盛况——重头歌韵响铮琮，那「重头歌韵响铮琮」写尽歌韵的清脆——重头歌韵，响铮琮，正是歌声的清脆，那「铮琮」写尽歌韵的清脆；入破舞腰红乱旋，那「入破舞腰红乱旋」写尽舞腰的飞旋——入破舞腰，红乱旋，正是舞姿的飞旋，那「红乱旋」写尽舞腰的飞旋；那「重头歌韵响铮琮」写尽歌韵的清脆，那「入破舞腰红乱旋」写尽舞腰的飞旋，一写歌，一写舞，写尽歌舞的盛况——歌声清脆而舞腰飞旋，正是昔年之盛；此二句以歌、舞写尽歌舞的盛况，也为全词写伤逝作铺垫，也让此二句成为全词写歌舞的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「她们唱歌跳舞很开心」，则失其声情；唯以「重头歌韵响铮琮」写歌、「入破舞腰红乱旋」写舞，写尽歌舞的盛况，也让此二句成为全词写歌舞的核心。

The whirl. The refrain's song rings clear and bright; at the rhapsodic break the red dance waist whirls wildly. The refrain song ringing and the red-dance-waist-whirling are the close. To have whirled wildly would be a whirling; the the-refrain's-song-rings-clear-and-bright-at-the-rhapsodic-break-the-red-dance-waist-whirls-wildly is the whirling.

Study

Word focus

乱 In 'the dancer's waist whirls in flurries of red', the character for 'tangled' does double duty: it gives the swift unsteady spinning of the skirt, and it suggests the sheer abundance of the dance. Set against 'sharp and jade-bright' for the singing, the two words together make one whole banquet — a clear sound and a confused, dazzling sight. 「入破舞腰红乱旋」之「乱」字是写舞腰的关键词，一个「乱」字写尽舞腰的飞旋。乱者，纷乱、急速也。晏殊以「入破舞腰红乱旋」写舞，这个「乱」字至少有双重意味：其一，写舞腰之疾——那「入破舞腰红乱旋」写入破舞腰红乱旋，那「乱」字写尽舞腰的急速——红乱旋，正是舞姿飞旋的写照，那「乱」字写尽舞腰的飞旋；其二，写舞姿之盛——那「乱」字更是写盛——乱旋，正见舞姿之繁盛，那「乱」字写尽歌舞的盛况。以「乱」字写舞腰，正是晏殊写盛况的枢纽——若换作「疾」「急」等字，则或失其与「入破舞腰」「红」的配合，或失其写乱的意味；唯「乱」字，以入破舞腰红乱旋写尽舞腰的急速与舞姿的繁盛，与「重头歌韵响铮琮」的铮琮相合，写尽歌舞的盛况，也让「入破舞腰红乱旋」成为全词写歌舞的名句。

点检 In 'count them now', the word means to go through a list item by item. The poet uses it as a clerk would, and the banality of the word is the point: grief is expressed not by weeping but by the quiet business of checking a roster, which makes the missing half all the more unbearable. 「点检如今无一半」之「点检」是写伤逝的关键词，一个「点检」写尽今昔的对照。点检者，一一查点也。晏殊以「点检如今无一半」写伤逝，这个「点检」至少有双重意味：其一，写查点之细——那「点检如今无一半」写点检如今无一半，那「点检」写尽查点的仔细——点检如今，正是一一查点的写照，那「点检」写尽今昔的对照；其二，写凋零之痛——那「点检」更是写痛——点检而少一半，正是凋零之痛，那「点检」写尽人事的凋零。以「点检」写伤逝，正是晏殊写对照的枢纽——若换作「数」「算」等字，则或失其与「如今」「无一半」的配合，或失其写点检的意味；唯「点检」二字，以点检如今无一半写尽查点的仔细与凋零的沉痛，与「当时共我赏花人」的当时相合，写尽人事的凋零，也让「点检如今无一半」成为全词写伤逝的名句。