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清 Qing · 词 Ci lyric

浣溪沙·谁念西风独自凉

Silk-Washing Stream · Who Thinks of Me in the West Wind, Alone and Cold

纳兰性德

Nalan Xingde

婉约Graceful and Restrained 悼亡Elegy for the Deceased 伤秋Autumn Melancholy

谁念西风独自凉，萧萧黄叶闭疏窗，沉思往事立残阳。
被酒莫惊春睡重，赌书消得泼茶香，当时只道是寻常。

Who thinks of me in the west wind, alone and cold?
The rustling yellow leaves shut the sparse window,
I ponder past events, standing in the setting sun.

Don't disturb my spring sleep, heavy with wine;
The book-betting game left tea fragrance behind.
At that time, I thought it was but ordinary.

Listen

Meaning

The poet stands alone in the autumn wind, watching yellow leaves close the window, lost in memories of his deceased wife. He recalls her gentle concern not to disturb his sleep after wine, and their playful book-matching game that ended with spilled tea. He now realizes too late that these ordinary moments were precious.

有谁挂念我在西风中独自凄凉？萧萧飘落的黄叶掩闭了疏朗的窗，我沉思着往事伫立在残阳里。醉酒之后莫要惊扰我春日里浓沉的睡梦，那时我们赌书品茶、消受泼茶的余香——可当时的点点滴滴，只以为是平平常常。

Appreciation

The first stanza paints a bleak autumn scene of west wind, yellow leaves, and setting sun to convey solitude. The second stanza recalls happy memories of marital life, using the contrast between past joy and present sorrow to deepen the elegy. The final line 'At that time, I thought it was but ordinary' delivers a poignant realization of loss.

【白话串讲】 “当时只道是寻常”——纳兰性德悼念亡妻：以前和你赌书泼茶的平常日子，如今再也回不去了。这七个字，让多少失去的人红了眼眶。【意象与手法】上片三句皆景语而句句含情：“谁念”设问起势，孤寂立见【情感与主旨】纳兰性德（1655—1685），清初满族词人，原名成德，字容若【名句点睛】此诗为清纳兰性德之作，精要赏析详见下方深度赏析。

Background

Nalan Xingde (1655–1685), a Manchu poet of the early Qing, lost his wife Lu after three years of marriage. This poem is a famous elegy for her. The line about 'book-betting and spilling tea' alludes to the scholarly couple Li Qingzhao and Zhao Mingcheng, showing the depth of their love. The regret of taking happiness for granted resonates universally.

纳兰性德（一六五五—一六八五），初名成德，字容若，号楞伽山人，满洲正黄旗人，大学士明珠长子，官一等侍卫。康熙十三年，他与两广总督卢兴祖之女卢氏成婚，夫妻情笃；十六年五月，卢氏产后病逝，年仅二十一。此后八年间，纳兰写下大量悼亡之作，据后人统计，明确可系于悼亡的词作有数十首之多，在中国词史上是继苏轼《江城子》之后最集中、最深挚的一组悼亡词。本篇历来被视为悼亡之作的代表，其根据主要在下片赌书泼茶一事：此事出自李清照《金石录后序》所记与赵明诚共同校书赌胜的旧事，纳兰用来指代自己与亡妻昔日闲居时的雅趣，故末句当时只道是寻常，正是丧偶之后回望旧日的语气。亦有学者以为此词未必确指悼亡，或为泛写伤秋怀旧，然从上下片今昔对照的结构看，悼亡之解最为妥帖。所用词调浣溪沙本唐教坊曲名，一作浣沙溪，双调四十二字，上片三句三平韵，下片三句两平韵，句皆七言，是唐宋以来最通行的小令之一。文字流传上有小异，闭疏窗一作掩疏窗，闭字较重而与全篇的封闭感相合，故通行本多作闭。此词初见《饮水词》，后收入《纳兰词》，是纳兰集中传诵最广的篇章之一。

Art

The first three lines are all scenery but filled with emotion: the rhetorical question 'Who thinks of me' establishes solitude; the character 'close' (闭) vividly seals the window, mirroring the poet's inner seclusion; 'standing in the setting sun' freezes him in time. The second stanza jumps to past scenes, with 'Don't disturb' and 'book-betting' capturing tender intimacy. The final line shifts back to present, shattering the illusion with the weight of 'ordinary'.

全词六句皆七言，形貌极整，而内部结构却是一个大对照。上片三句纯是眼前之景与眼前之身：西风、黄叶、疏窗、残阳，皆萧瑟衰飒之物；下片三句则尽是往日之事：被酒、春睡、赌书、泼茶，皆温软闲适之境。一秋一春，一冷一暖，一独一双，两片之间不设一句过渡的议论，只凭物象自身的冷暖相激，今昔之判便判然分明，这是此词章法上最高明处。上片的写法是层层收紧：谁念一问，先立起孤身；黄叶闭窗，是把外界关在窗外，也把自己封在屋内；沉思往事立残阳，则连时间也停住，人如塑像。三句由问到景到人，境愈来愈窄，情愈来愈沉。下片忽然放开，写往日两人之事，语气竟是轻快的——莫惊、消得皆带体贴的暖意，仿佛亡者犹在。至末句当时只道是寻常，笔锋一转，把方才所有的暖都变成了刺：当日不以为异，今日才知已是绝境。此句纯用白话，无一字修饰，而力量最大，正因它说出了人类共通的悔——幸福总在失去之后才被认出。修辞上，上片以设问领起、以景物排比推进，下片以事象对偶铺陈，末句以议论收束，情、景、事、理四者层次分明而气机流转，毫无凑合之迹。

Allusions

The 'book-betting game' refers to Li Qingzhao and Zhao Mingcheng's practice of testing each other's memory of book passages, with the winner drinking tea. Once, Li laughed so hard she spilled tea, as recorded in her 'Postscript to Records of Metal and Stone'. Nalan uses this allusion to compare his marital happiness to that of the famous Song couple.

本篇用事不多而极精。赌书消得泼茶香一句，出自李清照《金石录后序》：李清照与赵明诚居青州时，饭后烹茶，指堆积的书史，互相说某事在某书某卷第几页第几行，以中否定胜负，胜者先饮茶，得意时举杯大笑，以至茶倾覆怀中。纳兰以此事指代自己与卢氏昔日的闲居之乐，用得极妙：一是李、赵为文史上著名的伉俪，且赵明诚先卒、李清照孤居撰序，故此典自带丧偶的底色，暗示不必明言；二是赌书为文人夫妇特有的雅戏，非寻常闺房之欢，正见二人情谊在知识与趣味上的相契；三是泼茶之香是嗅觉细节，越细微越真切，越真切越不可复得。被酒莫惊春睡重一句无确切典源，被酒即带酒、酒后之意，古人用语习见，如苏轼有《被酒独行遍至子云威徽先觉四黎之舍》诗题；此句写酒后浓睡而恐人惊扰，语意亲昵，历来注家或以为写亡妻当日情态，或以为写词人自身，两说皆通，而以前解更能与下句成对。字词训诂上有二处可辨：消得一词，或训作消受、享受，或训作值得、禁得，此处以消受为长，谓那泼茶之香尚可消受、犹在唇齿；萧萧本状草木摇落之声，此处兼写黄叶之声与之状，声形并出。全篇仅一典而能撑起下片，可见择典之要不在多而在切。

Commentary

Kuang Zhouyi in 'Huifeng Ci Hua' praised Nalan's lyrics as 'true, poignant, and natural'. Wang Guowei in 'Renjian Cihua' said Nalan 'sees things with natural eyes and expresses feelings with natural tongue'. The line 'At that time, I thought it was but ordinary' exemplifies this natural, sincere style.

纳兰词在清初词坛已与陈维崧、朱彝尊并称。陈廷焯《白雨斋词话》评其《饮水词》在清初亦推作手，较陈其年、朱竹垞究竟高一筹，长处在气机流转，此语最能说明纳兰词的特质：不以字面之工取胜，而以情脉之贯注见长，本篇上下片一冷一暖之间毫无衔接的痕迹，正是气机流转的具体表现。顾贞观称纳兰词哀感顽艳，得南唐二主之遗；王国维《人间词话》更断言纳兰以自然之眼观物、以自然之舌言情，北宋以来一人而已。以此三家之评衡量本篇，哀感顽艳可指其上片，自然之舌可指其末句，气机流转可指其全体，可谓无一不合。传播史上，此词在清代随《饮水词》流布于词人之间，评者多着眼于其悼亡的真挚；至二十世纪，王国维的推许使纳兰词声名大盛，本篇因文字浅显、情感普遍而被广泛选录；近三十年，末句当时只道是寻常更脱离原词，成为流行语与书名、歌词的常用语，几乎人人能道。这种传播固然扩大了此词的影响，也带来两点遮蔽：一是读者往往只记末句而忽略上片三句的层层铺垫，不知末句之重全由前文之寒衬出；二是赌书泼茶的李清照旧典常被忽略，于是词中那层以伉俪之典写伉俪之痛的深意，反而在最流行的诵读中被抹平了。

Prosody

Form Ci · Silk-Washing Stream (42 characters)词，浣溪沙（一名浣沙溪、小庭花），双调四十二字，上下片各三句、句皆七言

Rhyme Ping tone Yang rhyme (凉, 窗, 阳, 香, 常)押平声韵，韵脚为凉、窗、阳、香、常，同属词韵第二部（江阳韵）；上片三句连押三韵，下片首句被酒莫惊春睡重不入韵，后二句押韵，为浣溪沙调之常格

Tone pattern First stanza three lines three rhymes, second stanza three lines two rhymes (重不押), parallelism natural (被酒对赌书)六句皆七言，上片三句一气连韵，节奏平缓；下片首句不入韵而作转，第四、五句多用对偶，末句独立收束，全篇平仄依浣溪沙常格，句末除下片首句作仄收外，余皆平收

Reading note Elegy for wife Lu, plain language for deep emotion, contrast between present loneliness and past joy.浣溪沙一调之妙，在于上片三句连韵而下片首句忽然不押。上片三韵相接，音节如水平流，最宜铺陈景物、酝酿情绪；至下片首句脱韵，声情便出现一个明显的断口，恰是转换时空、由今入昔的天然关节。本篇正把这一格律特征用到了极处：上片凉、窗、阳三韵连下，秋声秋色一路铺来，读者随韵而入；换头被酒莫惊春睡重脱韵而仄收，声气一顿，境遂由秋换春、由独换双；此后香、常两韵再度归平，而所写已是隔世之事。故格律上的断，正成为内容上的隔。押韵所取江阳部，字音开口宏亮、收鼻音而余响长，凉、阳、香、常四字读来皆悠悠不尽，与全词绵长难绝的追念之情极为相称；若换用入声或短促之韵，末句便压不住。又此调六句皆七言，形式整齐无变化，故词家多在句意的疏密上求变：本篇上片三句层层收紧，下片二句并列铺开而末句单收，于整齐之中自见跌宕，是善用常调者。

Line by line

谁念西风独自凉，

Who now remembers me, cold and alone in the west wind?

有谁挂念我在西风中独自凄凉？

Who is there to remember me, cold and forlorn in the west wind?

开篇以问句起势，而这一问是无人可答的。谁念二字并非真在寻人，而是先行确认了无人可念的事实，故问语即是断语。西风为秋令之风，自古与衰飒、离别相联，而独自二字紧贴其后，把外界的凉转成了身心的凉——凉本可共受，唯独自受之才成苦。念字尤须细看：不说谁问、谁伴，而说谁念，念是心里牵挂，是无形的相与，恰恰是亡者才能给而今已不能给的东西。七字之中，天时、身境、心事三层俱备，全词的孤寂基调一句立定。

The opening rises on a question, and the question has no one to answer it. The words who remembers are not truly seeking anyone, but confirming beforehand the fact that no one is left to remember; the question is thus already a verdict. The west wind is the wind of autumn, linked since old times with desolation and parting; and the words alone, close upon it, turn the outer chill into the chill of body and mind — cold may be shared, but borne alone, it becomes grief. The word remember deserves a close look: he does not say who asks, who accompanies, but who remembers; remember is the heart's attachment, the invisible communion, precisely the thing the dead could once give and can give no longer. Within seven characters, the season, the bodily state, and the heart's matter are all complete, and the solitary tone of the whole ci is fixed in one line.

萧萧黄叶闭疏窗，沉思往事立残阳。

Rustling yellow leaves close the latticed window; lost in thought on the past, I stand in the setting sun.

萧萧飘落的黄叶掩闭了疏朗的窗，我沉思着往事伫立在残阳里。

The rustling yellow leaves have closed the latticed window; lost in thought on the past, I stand in the evening glow.

此二句是上片的推进。萧萧兼写落叶之声与之状，黄叶为衰败之色，二者合成满目满耳的秋声秋色；闭疏窗之闭字最重，窗本疏朗可通，如今被落叶掩闭，遂由通而塞，外境的封闭正是内心的封闭。次句转写人，沉思往事点明全词的时间指向——由今转昔的枢机在此；立残阳三字尤见工力：不说看残阳、对残阳，而说立，人立而不动，久久不去，形骸如塑，其失神之状全在一字。残阳又是一日之尽，与西风之秋令、黄叶之衰败相叠，时序、光景、身心三重衰暮层层压下。

The two lines advance the first stanza. Rustling writes at once the sound and the state of falling leaves; yellow leaves is the color of decay; the two together make an autumn that fills the eyes and the ears. The word close in close the latticed window is the heaviest: the window was open to the light, yet now the fallen leaves seal it, passing from openness to stoppage; the closing of the outer world is precisely the closing of the inner. The next line turns to the person: lost in thought on the past marks the temporal direction of the whole ci — the pivot turning from the present to the past lies here. The three words I stand in the setting sun show the craft best: he does not say watch the setting sun, face the setting sun, but stand; the man stands and does not move, lingering long, his frame like carved wood, his distracted state all in one word. The setting sun is also the day's end, layering with the autumn of the west wind and the decay of the yellow leaves; season, light, and body-soul, threefold twilight, press down layer by layer.

被酒莫惊春睡重，赌书消得泼茶香，

Heavy with wine, do not disturb my deep spring sleep; over our guessing-games on books, we laughed away the tea's spilt fragrance,

醉酒之后莫要惊扰我春日里浓沉的睡梦，那时我们赌书品茶、消受泼茶的余香

Heavy with wine, let no one wake me from my deep spring sleep; those days when we gambled on books and delighted in the fragrance of the spilt tea,

换头忽入往事，且不作追忆之语气，径以当时口吻写来，如在目前。被酒春睡是闲适之极的情态，莫惊二字带着一种体贴的叮咛，可见当日相处之亲昵；赌书泼茶用李清照与赵明诚校书赌胜之典，写夫妇间以学问为戏的雅趣，是精神层面的相契，非寻常闺房之乐可比。上片满是秋声，此处忽然春光满纸；上片是独自，此处是两人；上片是残阳，此处是浓睡与茶香。两片对照之烈，全靠这两句的暖色撑起。而正因写得如此和暖真切，读者才会在下一句被迎面击中。

The second stanza suddenly enters the past, and not in the tone of reminiscence, but directly in the voice of that time, as if before the eyes. Heavy with wine, do not disturb my deep spring sleep is the utmost of ease; the words do not disturb carry a considerate charge, showing the closeness of those days together. Over our guessing-games on books, we laughed away the tea's spilt fragrance uses the allusion to Li Qingzhao and Zhao Mingyi, who checked books against each other over tea, writing the elegance of a couple who made a game of learning, a spiritual communion beyond the ordinary joys of the chamber. The first stanza is full of autumn sounds; here, suddenly, spring fills the page. The first stanza is alone; here there are two. The first stanza is the setting sun; here are deep sleep and tea fragrance. The fierceness of the contrast between the two stanzas is borne entirely by the warmth of these two lines. And precisely because it is written so warmly and truly, the reader is struck full in the face by the next line.

当时只道是寻常。

And at the time, we thought it all mere ordinary things.

可当时的点点滴滴，只以为是平平常常。

Yet at the time, I took all of it for ordinary, everyday things.

全词的重量尽压在这七个字上。它不写景、不用典、不作修饰，纯是一句大白话，然而力量最大。只道二字含着一层自责的追悔：当日之所以不觉其可贵，正因以为来日尚长、此乐可以无尽；寻常二字更狠，把最珍贵的东西还原为最不起眼的日常，而人间至痛往往正在于此——所失者非奇珍异宝，只是那些以为随时可得的寻常光景。此句由往事的暖骤然回落到当下的空，与上片的西风、残阳遥相接合，全词遂成一个闭环。以极浅之语道出人所共有而不能自言的悔意，这是此句得以脱离原词、独立流传的根由。

The whole weight of the ci presses on these seven characters. It writes no scene, uses no allusion, adorns nothing, a plain sentence of speech; yet it has the greatest force. The words at the time carries a layer of self-reproachful regret: the reason I did not feel its preciousness then was precisely that I thought the days ahead were long, this joy unending. The word ordinary is still harsher, reducing what was most precious to the most unremarkable daily life; and the deepest human grief often lies exactly here — what is lost is not some rare treasure, but those ordinary scenes we thought always within reach. The line falls abruptly from the warmth of the past back to the emptiness of the present, joining the west wind and setting sun of the first stanza at a distance, and the ci becomes a closed ring. Speaking in the shallowest words the regret all men share yet cannot say, this is why the line has outlived its ci and passed into independent circulation.

Study

Word focus

念 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 念字是上片的关键。若作谁问、谁伴、谁怜，语意皆浅一层：问是言语上的关切，伴是形迹上的相随，怜带俯视之意，唯念是心中不断的牵挂，无声无形而最深。词人所缺的恰是这一份无形的相与——亡者不能再念他，生者亦无人可念。故念字既写出所失之物的性质，也解释了何以满室之人仍是独自。此外念字为去声，音沉而短，置于谁字之后，一顿一沉，读来已带气力不足之态，声与情合。以一常见动词承载全篇的孤绝，是纳兰以自然之舌言情的典型。

疏窗 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 疏窗指窗棂稀疏、透光通气之窗，本是明快之物，与庭院、竹影、月色相配最宜。此处偏说它被黄叶所闭，一疏一闭构成尖锐的矛盾：本当通者今被塞，本当明者今转暗。这一层反差是全句的力量所在，若作重窗、朱窗，则闭字只是常态，无从生波。且窗为内外之界，窗闭则内外隔绝，人被封在一室之内，与外界的秋声只隔一层落叶——听得见而不能出，正是丧偶者的处境。疏字又暗与独自相应：窗之疏而室之空，物象与心境彼此照映，写景处处是写人。

寻常 ordinary, common; the word carries heavy emotional weight as the poet regrets taking happiness for granted 寻常是全词最平淡也最沉重的两个字。寻、常本皆古代长度单位，八尺为寻，倍寻为常，因是常用尺度，遂引申为平常、普通。词人以此二字总括昔日的被酒春睡、赌书泼茶，是有意把最难得的相守说成最不足道的日常，于是失去之后的痛便获得了一种普遍性：读者未必有赌书之雅，却人人都有过自以为寻常而后不可复得的光景。只道二字与寻常相扣，构成一个完整的认识错误——当时的判断错了，而这个错已无从更正。以最不带感情色彩的词收束一首悼亡之作，反使情感的余波无穷，此即所谓不着一字而尽得风流。