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南北朝 Northern and Southern Dynasties · 诗 Poem

杨白花

Yang Bai Hua (The Poplar Flowers)

北朝民歌

Anonymous (Northern Dynasties Folk Song)

阳春二三月，杨柳齐作花。
春风一夜入闺闼，杨花飘荡落南家。
含情出户脚无力，拾得杨花泪沾臆。
秋去春还双燕子，愿衔杨花入窠里。

In the second and third months of spring,
the willows all bear flowers.
Overnight the wind entered the boudoir;
the poplar blossoms drifted away into the south.
Full of feeling, I went out of the door — my feet would not carry me;
I picked up a poplar blossom, and my tears wet my breast.
The swallows come and go in autumn and return in spring;
I would carry the poplar flower into the nest.
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Meaning

In the second and third months of spring the willows are all in flower, and a wind that came overnight carries the poplar blossoms away to the south. The speaker, full of feeling, goes out but is too weak to move, picks up a poplar blossom and weeps. The poem closes on the swallows that return every year, and on the wish to carry the poplar flower into the nest with them.

阳春二三月，杨柳齐作花。春风一夜入闺闼，杨花飘荡落南家。含情出户脚无力，拾得杨花泪沾臆。秋去春还双燕子，愿衔杨花入窠里。

Appreciation

[Structure] The eight lines fall into three movements: the season, then the speaker's attempt to act, and then the wish. The season is described twice, once at the opening and once in the last couplet, and the second description is the same event seen from a different point — from the flowers' side and from the nest's side. [Imagery] Every image is familiar and small: the willows, the wind at the boudoir door, the drifting blossom, the woman's weak feet, the tears, the returning swallows, the nest. The poem's effect comes not from anything unusual but from the way the ordinary is made to mean more than it says. [Dictcion] 含情出户脚无力 is the poem's finest line, because it joins feeling and body in a single clause: to go out the door in love means feet that will not carry one. The last line, 愿衔杨花入窠里, is addressed to a bird, and the impossibility of the wish is what gives the poem its pathos. [Feeling] The poem is a song of love, but the love is never described. What is described is a woman's weakness, her tears and a peck at the swallows' nest. This is typical of the northern folk song, and it is what makes the poem so direct.

【白话串讲】 北朝民歌《杨白花》：“阳春二三月，杨柳齐作花”——“春风一夜入闺闼，杨花飘荡落南家”——“含情出户脚无力，拾得杨花泪沾臆”——“秋去春还双燕子，愿衔杨花入窠里”——她写对杨白花的思念。 【意象与手法】 “阳春二三月，杨柳齐作花”以杨花起兴；“春风一夜入闺闼，杨花飘荡落南家”以杨花飘荡写情郎离去；“含情出户脚无力，拾得杨花泪沾臆”以拾花泪沾写思念；结以“秋去春还双燕子，愿衔杨花入窠里”以燕子衔花写盼归。以杨花双关人名，比兴深婉。 【情感与主旨】 相传为北魏胡太后思念情人杨白花而作的民间情歌，以杨花之飘荡写思念之情，含蓄深婉，是北朝民歌中以物寄情的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“春风一夜入闺闼，杨花飘荡落南家”以杨花飘荡写情郎离去；“秋去春还双燕子，愿衔杨花入窠里”以燕子衔花写盼归。

Background

Yang Bai Hua is a folk song of the northern dynasties, that is of the period when the north of China was ruled in succession by the Xianbei and other non-Han houses, and the songs of that period were collected in the 乐府 catalogue of the Liang court. The song is said to have been written by the Dowager Empress Hu of the Wei, in her longing for Yang Bai Hua, who had gone south and refused to return; the love in the poem is thus thought to be a double love, the poet's for a man and the poet's for a country. The short lines and the directness of the verse belong to the manner of the northern songs, which were in part the songs that accompanied the cavalry music of the period. The poem has been widely reprinted since the earliest anthologies, and its worth and popularity show its position among works of the same kind.

《杨白花》为北朝民歌，是南北朝时期北朝乐府民歌。此诗写感怀爱情，为咏杨白花之作，相传为北魏胡太后思念杨白花之作。诗中「阳春二三月，杨柳齐作花」写阳春二三月，杨柳齐作花；「春风一夜入闺闼，杨花飘荡落南家」写春风一夜入闺闼，杨花飘荡落南家；「含情出户脚无力，拾得杨花泪沾臆」写含情出户脚无力，拾得杨花泪沾臆；「秋去春还双燕子，愿衔杨花入窠里」写秋去春还双燕子，愿衔杨花入窠里。北朝民歌此诗以感怀爱情、愿衔杨花入窠里写其爱情之情，含蓄深婉，是北朝民歌中的名篇。此篇《杨白花》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。此篇《杨白花》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。

Art

The poem is valued for plainness and restraint, and for the way feeling is given through a flower. It is eight lines in three movements — the season, the speaker's act, the wish — and the movement from the flower to the self to the nest is exactly the poem's logic. The central device is the use of 杨花, the poplar blossom, which is at once the season's product, the object in the speaker's hand and the thing she wants carried home. Because the flower can be neither kept nor abandoned, it does the work of the feeling without ever being said to be the feeling. The lines 含情出户脚无力 and 拾得杨花泪沾臆 belong together: the first joins love to weakness, the second lets the flower become the reason for tears that have no cause to be given. The last couplet is the poem's craft at its highest. The swallows that come in autumn and return in spring are the one thing in the poem that does what the speaker cannot; and the wish 愿衔杨花入窠里 asks a bird to do a human being's errand, which the reader understands at once to be impossible. The poem therefore ends on a wish that cannot be fulfilled and never pretends otherwise, and this is what makes the song so moving.

此诗艺术上以「含蓄深婉、以花写情」见长。全诗共八句，由阳春二三月而春风一夜入闺闼而含情出户脚无力。起「阳春二三月，杨柳齐作花」写阳春二三月：阳春二三月，杨柳齐作花；「春风一夜入闺闼，杨花飘荡落南家」写春风一夜入闺闼：春风一夜入闺闼，杨花飘荡落南家；「含情出户脚无力，拾得杨花泪沾臆」写含情出户脚无力：含情出户脚无力，拾得杨花泪沾臆；结「秋去春还双燕子，愿衔杨花入窠里」写秋去春还双燕子：秋去春还双燕子，愿衔杨花入窠里。全诗以花写情，由阳春二三月而愿衔杨花入窠里，含蓄深婉，是北朝民歌中的名篇。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。

Allusions

The lines carry the inherited weight of the classics. 阳春二三月, the second and third months of spring, is the season of the willow and the season of the farewell, since willows were given away at parting in the old custom. 杨花, the poplar blossom, is not the willow catkin of later poems but the flower of the poplar, and it is used here for that which drifts without any will of its own. 闺闼, the inner door, is the women's quarter, and its appearance here is what makes the poem's speaker a woman rather than a general. 燕, the swallow, is the bird that returns with the seasons, and the bird of the famous line of Yan Shu about swallows that return as though they had known one; 窠, the nest, gives the poem its final plain and, for a reader of folk song, unmistakably domestic image. Nothing is quoted and nothing is named as a quotation, which is the manner of the folk song.

诗中「阳春二三月杨柳齐作花」「春风一夜入闺闼杨花飘荡落南家」「含情出户脚无力拾得杨花泪沾臆」「秋去春还双燕子愿衔杨花入窠里」等语，皆含典故故实。「阳春二三月杨柳齐作花」写阳春二三月杨柳齐作花；「春风一夜入闺闼杨花飘荡落南家」写春风一夜入闺闼杨花飘荡落南家；「含情出户脚无力拾得杨花泪沾臆」写含情出户脚无力拾得杨花泪沾臆；「秋去春还双燕子愿衔杨花入窠里」写秋去春还双燕子愿衔杨花入窠里。诗人以杨柳、杨花等语入诗，不着痕迹，而把感怀爱情之情写得真切可感，是善于熔铸典故的体现。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。

Commentary

This poem, a folk song of the northern dynasties, is a work of writing on the occasion and of love, and it has been widely reprinted. Later readers have valued it for its plainness and for the way feeling is left in a flower. Its place rests on three things. In theme, the poem is one of the few northern songs in which the feeling of love is expressed without a single word of the boudoir's vocabulary; instead the poem gives a will that will not hold, feet that will not carry, and tears on a flower. In language, the short lines and the rhymes on the 麻 and 支部 sounds give the verse the directness of the 横吹 songs of the northern cavalry, which is the manner of the folk song of the period. In feeling, the ending on the swallows is what makes the poem more than a complaint: the bird can do what she cannot, and the poem asks it to. For a modern reader this is one of the most accessible of the folk songs.

这首《杨白花》，是北朝民歌写感怀爱情之作，写阳春二三月、春风一夜入闺闼、含情出户脚无力、愿衔杨花入窠里之情，含蓄深婉。起「阳春二三月，杨柳齐作花」——阳春二三月，杨柳齐作花。写阳春二三月：阳春二三月、杨柳齐作花——二三月、杨柳作花；「春风一夜入闺闼，杨花飘荡落南家」——春风一夜入闺闼，杨花飘荡落南家。写春风一夜入闺闼：春风一夜入闺闼、杨花飘荡落南家——入闺闼、落南家；「含情出户脚无力，拾得杨花泪沾臆」——含情出户脚无力，拾得杨花泪沾臆。写含情出户脚无力：含情出户脚无力、拾得杨花泪沾臆——出户脚无力、泪沾臆；结「秋去春还双燕子，愿衔杨花入窠里」——秋去春还双燕子，愿衔杨花入窠里。写秋去春还双燕子：秋去春还双燕子、愿衔杨花入窠里——双燕子、入窠里。这「秋去春还双燕子，愿衔杨花入窠里」，是全诗之结：以愿衔杨花入窠里写其爱情。全诗含蓄深婉，以花写情，正是北朝民歌中的名篇。

Prosody

Form Poem · seven-character old verse (folk song of the northern dynasties)诗（七言古体·乐府）
Rhyme A seven-character old verse in eight lines, rhyming 花, 家, 臆 and 里 in the 麻 group and the 支部 group.此诗为七言古体，共八句。押韵：「花」「家」「臆」「里」押麻部韵与支部韵。诗体依乐府而定，音节随情起伏，正与写感怀爱情的含蓄深婉相称，也见其以乐府写爱情的自然。
Tone pattern In line-length the verse is that of the old form of the period; the opening line is bright and quick, the second lowered, the third deep and slow, and the closing line long. The sound rises and falls with the feeling, from brightness to a lowered note, from slowness to a long close, which is the manner of the folk song and suits the poem's plainness.句式上，「阳春二三月，杨柳齐作花」写阳春二三月，音节明丽；「春风一夜入闺闼，杨花飘荡落南家」写春风一夜入闺闼，音节低回；「含情出户脚无力，拾得杨花泪沾臆」写含情出户脚无力，音节深婉；结「秋去春还双燕子，愿衔杨花入窠里」写秋去春还双燕子，音节悠长。全诗音节随情起伏，由明丽而低回、由深婉而悠长，正合古体「自然」之妙，读来如感怀爱情、愿衔杨花入窠里之音，含蓄而动人。
Reading note This is a seven-character old verse of eight lines, a folk song of the northern dynasties and a song of love, in the manner of the 横吹 of the northern cavalry. Its manner is plain and its feeling is given through a flower. The most accomplished detail is the line on the wind entering the boudoir and the blossoms going south; the lines on weak feet and tears on the blossom give the poem its plain core; and the closing couplet, where the swallows carry the blossom into the nest, is the poem's answer, plain and direct, in the manner of the folk song, and one of the most reprinted of the collection. The reason this poem sounds so full is that the poet matched the sound to the feeling and the rhythm to the scene; the length of the lines and the rise and fall of the tones agree with the sense, so that reading it is like hearing a voice singing. In this one may also see the beauty of the sound-system of classical Chinese poetry and the labour of its craft.此诗为七言古体，是北朝民歌写感怀爱情之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「含蓄深婉、以花写情」：「阳春二三月，杨柳齐作花」写阳春二三月、「春风一夜入闺闼，杨花飘荡落南家」写春风一夜入闺闼、「含情出户脚无力，拾得杨花泪沾臆」写含情出户脚无力、「秋去春还双燕子，愿衔杨花入窠里」写秋去春还双燕子。全诗含蓄深婉，以花写情。尤为精妙者，是「春风一夜入闺闼，杨花飘荡落南家」写尽杨花之飘；而「秋去春还双燕子，愿衔杨花入窠里」写尽衔花之愿，正是北朝民歌「含蓄深婉」的典范，为历代选本所常收。

Line by line

阳春二三月，杨柳齐作花。

In the second and third months of spring, the willows all bear flowers.

阳春二三月，杨柳齐作花。

In the second and third months of bright spring, the willows all burst into flower.

首二句写阳春二三月，起笔即见其景。「阳春二三月」写阳春二三月，「阳春」写阳春、「二三月」写二三月；「杨柳齐作花」写杨柳齐作花，「杨柳齐」写杨柳齐、「作花」写作花。两句一写阳春二三月、一写杨柳齐作花，以阳春二三月写二三月、以杨柳齐作花写杨柳作花，写尽阳春二三月、杨柳齐作花之情。以春起兴，含蓄而深婉，是「以春起兴」的妙笔。

The willows. In the second and third months of bright spring, the willows all burst into flower. The bright-spring-second-third-months and the willows-all-in-flower are the opening. To have burst into flower would be a bursting; the in-the-second-and-third-months-of-bright-spring-the-willows-all-burst-into-flower is the bursting.

春风一夜入闺闼，杨花飘荡落南家。

Overnight the wind entered the boudoir; the poplar blossoms drifted away into the south.

春风一夜入闺闼，杨花飘荡落南家。

One night the spring wind entered the inner chambers; the poplar blossoms drifted down to the southern house.

此二句写春风一夜入闺闼，是全诗写杨花之态的关键。「春风一夜入闺闼」写春风一夜入闺闼，「春风一夜」写春风一夜、「入闺闼」写入闺闼；「杨花飘荡落南家」写杨花飘荡落南家，「杨花飘荡」写杨花飘荡、「落南家」写落南家。两句一写春风一夜入闺闼、一写杨花飘荡落南家，以春风一夜入闺闼写春风入闺、以杨花飘荡落南家写落南家，写尽春风一夜入闺闼、杨花飘荡落南家之情。以花写情，含蓄而深婉，是「以花写情」的点睛之笔。

The blossoms. One night the spring wind entered the inner chambers; the poplar blossoms drifted down to the southern house. The spring-wind-entered-chambers and the poplar-blossoms-drifted-south are the turn. To have drifted south would be a drifting; the one-night-the-spring-wind-entered-the-inner-chambers-the-poplar-blossoms-drifted-down-to-the-southern-house is the drifting.

含情出户脚无力，拾得杨花泪沾臆。

Full of feeling, I went out of the door — my feet would not carry me; I picked up a poplar blossom, and my tears wet my breast.

含情出户脚无力，拾得杨花泪沾臆。

Filled with longing she steps out, her legs weak; she picks up a poplar blossom, tears wet her breast.

此二句写含情出户脚无力，是全诗写含情之态的关键。「含情出户脚无力」写含情出户脚无力，「含情出户」写含情出户、「脚无力」写脚无力；「拾得杨花泪沾臆」写拾得杨花泪沾臆，「拾得杨花」写拾得杨花、「泪沾臆」写泪沾臆。两句一写含情出户脚无力、一写拾得杨花泪沾臆，以含情出户脚无力写出户无力、以拾得杨花泪沾臆写泪沾臆，写尽含情出户脚无力、拾得杨花泪沾臆之情。以泪写情，含蓄而深婉，是「以泪写情」的点睛之笔。

The tears. Filled with longing she steps out, her legs weak; she picks up a poplar blossom, tears wet her breast. The longing-stepping-out-weak-legged and the picked-blossom-tears-on-breast are the grief. To have stepped out weakly would be a stepping-out; the filled-with-longing-she-steps-out-her-legs-weak-she-picks-up-a-poplar-blossom-tears-wet-her-breast is the stepping-out.

秋去春还双燕子，愿衔杨花入窠里。

The swallows come in autumn and return in spring; I would carry the poplar flower into the nest.

秋去春还双燕子，愿衔杨花入窠里。

When autumn goes and spring returns, the paired swallows—may they carry the poplar blossom into the nest.

结句写秋去春还双燕子，是全诗立意的落点。「秋去春还双燕子」写秋去春还双燕子，「秋去春还」写秋去春还、「双燕子」写双燕子；「愿衔杨花入窠里」写愿衔杨花入窠里，「愿衔杨花」写愿衔杨花、「入窠里」写入窠里。两句一写秋去春还双燕子、一写愿衔杨花入窠里，以秋去春还双燕子写双燕子、以愿衔杨花入窠里写杨花入窠，写尽秋去春还双燕子、愿衔杨花入窠里之情。以愿写情，含蓄而深婉，是全诗最动人处，也是「以愿写情」的点睛之笔。

The swallows. When autumn goes and spring returns, the paired swallows—may they carry the poplar blossom into the nest. The autumn-goes-spring-returns-paired-swallows and the may-they-carry-the-blossom-to-the-nest are the close. To have carried the blossom would be a carrying; the when-autumn-goes-and-spring-returns-the-paired-swallows-may-they-carry-the-poplar-blossom-into-the-nest is the carrying.

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阳春 Spring of the sun, that is real spring: it is the season named at the opening, and it is also the season of the 阳春白雪, the song of the spring that few can follow, which gives the poem's bright opening a note of being out of reach. 「阳春」写阳春二三月，是写阳春之态的关键。「阳春二三月」着一「阳春」，写阳春——着一「阳春」，写阳春二三月，见其春之阳。两字写尽阳春之态，是「以词写春」的妙笔。「阳春」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
杨花 The blossom of the poplar, light and carried by the wind: it is at once the season's product, the thing in the speaker's hand and the thing she wants carried home, so the poem's whole feeling is folded into it. 「杨花」写杨花飘荡落南家，是写杨花之态的关键。「杨花飘荡落南家」着一「杨花」，写杨花——着一「杨花」，写杨花飘荡落南家，见其花之杨。两字写尽杨花之态，是「以词写花」的点睛之词。「杨花」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
含情 To hold feeling in the heart: it opens the speaker's line, and because the feeling is not described, 含情 serves only to make what follows — feet that will not carry, tears on the flower — the evidence of its depth. 「含情」写含情出户脚无力，是写含情之态的关键。「含情出户脚无力」着一「含情」，写含情——着一「含情」，写含情出户脚无力，见其情之含。两字写尽含情之态，是「以词写情」的点睛之词。「含情」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
泪沾臆 Tears wetting the breast: 臆 is the chest, so the grief is described as dress and body rather than as weeping, which is what keeps the Song from becoming sentimental. 「泪沾臆」写拾得杨花泪沾臆，是写泪沾臆之态的关键。「拾得杨花泪沾臆」着一「泪沾臆」，写泪沾臆——着一「泪沾臆」，写拾得杨花泪沾臆，见其泪之沾臆。三字写尽泪沾臆之态，是「以词写泪」的点睛之词。「泪沾臆」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。

Related Reading

浣溪沙·一曲新词酒一杯 Xiao Huan Sha · A new song from a cup of wine (浣溪沙·一曲新词酒一杯) 晏殊 · 同写春景感怀、无可奈何，一写无可奈何花落去、一写阳春二三月杨柳齐作花，皆于春景之中见感怀 Both write of spring and feeling; one writes of the flowers falling as they will, the other of the willows in flower and the blossoms carried off.

Yan Shu's《Xiao Huan Sha》is famous for the line "The flowers fall as they will, and there is nothing to be done; the swallows return as though they had known me," which is a song-writer's complaint about the passing of time in a garden. This northern folk song has the same complaint, but its flowers are poplar blossoms on the wind and its complaint is about a person rather than a season; the swallows, the one creature that does return, are here asked to carry a blossom into a nest instead of being a comfort. Read together, the two show the difference between the scholar's and the folk singer's way of feeling the same spring.

晏殊《浣溪沙·一曲新词酒一杯》「无可奈何花落去，似曾相识燕归来」，写春景感怀，是宋词小令的名篇；北朝民歌《杨白花》则以「阳春二三月，杨柳齐作花」「含情出户脚无力，拾得杨花泪沾臆」写杨柳齐作花、拾得杨花泪沾臆。两诗同写春景感怀、无可奈何：一写无可奈何花落去、以花落燕归写惜时，一写阳春二三月杨柳齐作花、以杨花写爱情；一为晏殊之温润、一为北朝民歌之深婉，并读正可见诗写「春景感怀」的两种笔法，皆于春景之中见感怀。

 山园小梅 The Small Plum Garden (山园小梅) 林逋 · 同写咏花清雅、以物寄情，一写疏影横斜水清浅暗香浮动月黄昏、一写阳春二三月杨柳齐作花，皆于咏花之中见清雅 Both write of a flower and give feeling through it; one writes of the plum's shadow and fragrance in the moonlight, the other of the poplar blossom and the wind.

Lin Bu's《Small Plum Garden》is famous for the line "Its shadow leans slantwise in the clear shallow water; its faint fragrance floats in the dark of the moon," which is a poem about a flower kept in a garden and measured closely. This folk song is also about a flower, but the flower is not looked at: it is picked up, wept over, and handed to a bird. Where Lin Bu's poem is a poem of appreciation, this one is a poem of loss, and the contrast between the two is the difference between a recluse who can afford to admire and a woman who cannot afford to keep anything.

林逋《山园小梅》「疏影横斜水清浅，暗香浮动月黄昏」，写梅之清雅、咏花，是宋诗咏物的绝唱；北朝民歌《杨白花》则以「阳春二三月，杨柳齐作花」「含情出户脚无力，拾得杨花泪沾臆」写杨柳齐作花、拾得杨花泪沾臆。两诗同写咏花清雅、以物寄情：一写疏影横斜水清浅暗香浮动月黄昏、以梅写清雅，一写阳春二三月杨柳齐作花、以杨花写爱情；一为林逋之清逸、一为北朝民歌之深婉，并读正可见诗写「咏花清雅」的两种笔法，皆于咏花之中见清雅。