清 Qing · 诗 Poem
画堂春·一生一代一双人
Hua Tang Chun · One Lifetime, One Generation, One Pair of Souls
一生一代一双人，争教两处销魂。
相思相望不相亲，天为谁春。
浆向蓝桥易乞，药成碧海难奔。
若容相访饮牛津，相对忘贫。
They long for each other and gaze from afar, yet may not draw near; for whom does Heaven bring forth the spring?
The potion at the Blue Bridge is easy to beg for; the elixir made, I cannot flee to the azure sea.
If I were suffered to visit you and drink at the Ox Ford, we would sit facing one another and forget our poverty.
Meaning
The lyric mourns a fated pair kept apart by circumstance, contrasting the ideal of one devoted couple with the pain of separation. Through classical allusions the speaker voices a wish to be reunited with the beloved, counting love above wealth.
一生一代一双人，争教两处销魂。相思相望不相亲，天为谁春。浆向蓝桥易乞，药成碧海难奔。若容相访饮牛津，相对忘贫。
Appreciation
[Plain Paraphrase] The poem opens with the ideal of 'one lifetime, one generation, one pair of souls,' then asks why such a couple must languish apart. The lovers yearn and gaze yet cannot meet; spring itself seems wasted. The middle couplet turns to allusion: the draught at Blue Bridge is easy to obtain, but the elixir that would let one cross the sea is impossible to reach. The close expresses a humble wish—if only I could visit you at the Ox Ford, we would forget our poverty together. [Structure] The piece moves from statement of the ideal, to the ache of distance, to mythological impossibility, and finally to a wistful conditional. Each turn tightens the emotional knot. [Imagery] 'A pair of souls' sets destiny against parting; 'Heaven makes the spring for whom' personifies nature as indifferent; Blue Bridge and the azure sea evoke unreachable realms. The diction is spare yet charged, typical of Nalan's 'aching beauty.' The song is a lament of love denied, cloaked in exquisite restraint.
【白话串讲】 纳兰性德写《画堂春·一生一代一双人》：“一生一代一双人，争教两处销魂”——“相思相望不相亲，天为谁春”——“浆向蓝桥易乞，药成碧海难奔”——“若容相访饮牛津，相对忘贫”——他写相思——天为谁春。 【意象与手法】 “一生一代一双人，争教两处销魂”以“一生一代一双人”写天生佳偶；“相思相望不相亲，天为谁春”以设问写相思之苦；“浆向蓝桥易乞，药成碧海难奔”用蓝桥、嫦娥典写情路难通；结以“若容相访饮牛津，相对忘贫”以牛郎织女典写愿望。用典贴切、深情婉转。 【情感与主旨】 写有情人天各一方、相思不得相亲的痛苦，是纳兰悼亡相思词的代表，体现其“哀感顽艳”的词风。 【名句点睛】 常考“一生一代一双人，争教两处销魂”以一双人写天生佳偶；“相思相望不相亲，天为谁春”以天为谁春写相思之苦。
Background
Nalan Xingde (1655–1685), original name Chengde, courtesy name Rongruo, was a Manchu lyric poet of the early Qing, a member of the Plain Yellow Banner and author of the collection Yin Shui Ci. A child prodigy and palace guard, he moved in the highest circles yet remained haunted by personal loss. This lyric, built on the tune Hua Tang Chun, belongs to his elegiac love songs written for a departed or unattainable beloved. Though only thirty when he died, he became the most celebrated ci poet of the Qing, admired for a style at once refined and desolate.
《画堂春·一生一代一双人》为清代词人纳兰性德所作词。纳兰性德（1655—1685），原名成德，字容若，号楞伽山人，满洲正黄旗人，清代词人，著有《饮水词》。此词写爱情感怀。词中「一生一代一双人，争教两处销魂」写一生一代一双人，争教两处销魂；「相思相望不相亲，天为谁春」写相思相望不相亲，天为谁春；「浆向蓝桥易乞，药成碧海难奔」写浆向蓝桥易乞，药成碧海难奔；「若容相访饮牛津，相对忘贫」写若容相访饮牛津，相对忘贫。纳兰性德此词以爱情感怀、相对忘贫写其感怀之情，含蓄深婉，是纳兰性德词中的名篇。此篇《画堂春·一生一代一双人》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《画堂春·一生一代一双人》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 art lies in 'veiled depth and tender feeling carried through allusion.' Eight lines pass from the destined pair to separation, from yearning to mythological impossibility, closing on a quiet wish. The opening couplet states the ideal and its frustration in a single breath. The middle couplet deploys the Blue Bridge and the moon-elixir legends to figure the road of love as barred. The closing line answers with the Ox Ford myth, a humble fantasy of reunion. The whole is economical yet dense, its structure strict and its intent oblique. Images are compressed and the emotional resonance long; the more one reads, the more one admires its craft—an exemplary achievement among ci of its kind, showing the poet's matured mastery.
此词艺术上以「含蓄深婉、以典写情」见长。全词共八句，由一生一代一双人而相思相望不相亲而浆向蓝桥易乞。起「一生一代一双人，争教两处销魂」写一生一代一双人：一生一代一双人，争教两处销魂；「相思相望不相亲，天为谁春」写相思相望不相亲：相思相望不相亲，天为谁春；「浆向蓝桥易乞，药成碧海难奔」写浆向蓝桥易乞：浆向蓝桥易乞，药成碧海难奔；结「若容相访饮牛津，相对忘贫」写相对忘贫：若容相访饮牛津，相对忘贫。全词以典写情，由一生一代一双人而相对忘贫，含蓄深婉，是纳兰性德词中的名篇。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
Several lines carry classical reference. 'One lifetime, one generation, one pair of souls' states the ideal of a fated match. 'Heaven makes the spring for whom' echoes the tropes of the Chu Ci in framing unrequited longing. 'The potion at the Blue Bridge' alludes to Pei Hang meeting Yunying at Blue Bridge; 'the elixir made, I cannot flee to the azure sea' alludes to Chang'e fleeing to the moon. 'Drink at the Ox Ford' evokes the Cowherd and Weaver Girl. The poet weaves Blue Bridge, the azure sea, and the Ox Ford into the verse without trace, making the grief of love palpably real—a model of assimilating allusion without pedantry.
词中「一生一代一双人争教两处销魂」「相思相望不相亲天为谁春」「浆向蓝桥易乞药成碧海难奔」「若容相访饮牛津相对忘贫」等语，皆含典故故实。「一生一代一双人争教两处销魂」写一生一代一双人争教两处销魂；「相思相望不相亲天为谁春」用《楚辞》之典，写相思相望不相亲天为谁春；「浆向蓝桥易乞药成碧海难奔」用蓝桥、碧海之典（蓝桥写裴航遇云英、碧海写嫦娥奔月），写浆向蓝桥易乞药成碧海难奔；「若容相访饮牛津相对忘贫」用饮牛津之典（饮牛津写牛郎织女），写若容相访饮牛津相对忘贫。词人以蓝桥、碧海、饮牛津等典入词，不着痕迹，而把爱情感怀之情写得真切可感，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。
Commentary
This Hua Tang Chun is a love lament by Nalan Xingde, voicing the pain of a fated pair kept apart and the wish to forget poverty together. It opens with the destined pair and their parting; the second line borrows the Chu Ci to frame unmet longing. The middle couplet uses Pei Hang at Blue Bridge and Chang'e's moon-flight. The close turns on the Cowherd-Weaver myth. The phrase 'if I might visit you at the Ox Ford and forget our poverty' is the lyric's resting point, figuring the whole feeling as reunion. Veiled and tender, carried by allusion, it is a celebrated piece in Nalan's corpus.
这首《画堂春·一生一代一双人》，是纳兰性德写爱情感怀之作，写一生一代一双人、相思相望不相亲、药成碧海难奔、相对忘贫之情，含蓄深婉。起「一生一代一双人，争教两处销魂」——一生一代一双人，争教两处销魂。写一生一代一双人：一生一代一双人、争教两处销魂——一代一双人、两处销魂；「相思相望不相亲，天为谁春」——相思相望不相亲（用《楚辞》之典），天为谁春。写相思相望不相亲：相思相望不相亲、天为谁春——相思不相亲、天为谁春；「浆向蓝桥易乞，药成碧海难奔」——浆向蓝桥易乞（用裴航遇云英之典），药成碧海难奔（用嫦娥奔月之典）。写浆向蓝桥易乞：浆向蓝桥易乞、药成碧海难奔——蓝桥易乞、碧海难奔；结「若容相访饮牛津，相对忘贫」——若容相访饮牛津（用牛郎织女之典），相对忘贫。写相对忘贫：若容相访饮牛津、相对忘贫——相访饮牛津、相对忘贫。这「若容相访饮牛津，相对忘贫」，是全词之结：以相对忘贫写其感怀。全词含蓄深婉，以典写情，正是纳兰性德词中的名篇。
Prosody
Line by line
一生一代一双人，争教两处销魂。
A pair of lovers for one lifetime and one generation—why must they be parted to languish in two places?
一生一代一双人，争教两处销魂。
One life, one age, a matched pair of two — how are they to be wasted, souls undone in two different places?
起句写一生一代一双人，起笔即见其情。「一生一代一双人」写一生一代一双人，「一生一代」写一生一代、「一双人」写一双人；「争教两处销魂」写争教两处销魂，「争教」写怎教、「两处销魂」写两处销魂。两句一写一生一代一双人、一写争教两处销魂，以一生一代一双人写一代一双人、以争教两处销魂写两处销魂，写尽一生一代一双人、争教两处销魂之情。以人起兴，含蓄而深婉，是「以人起兴」的妙笔。
The opening writes one life, one age, a matched pair of two, the feeling visible from the first stroke. One life, one age, a matched pair of two writes the matched pair of a lifetime; how are they to be wasted, souls undone in two different places writes the hearts undone apart. Two lines: the matched pair of the age, the souls undone in two places. Writing the matched pair of one lifetime, and the spirits wasted in two places, exhausts the feeling: the pair made for each other, yet undone apart. Rising on the person, restrained and deep, the finest stroke of rising on the beloved.
浆向蓝桥易乞，药成碧海难奔。
The potion at the Blue Bridge is easy to beg for; the elixir made, I cannot flee to the azure sea.
浆向蓝桥易乞，药成碧海难奔。
The potion to beg at the Blue Bridge is easy; the elixir that won her flight across the blue sea is hard to come by.
此二句写浆向蓝桥易乞，是全词以典写情的关键。「浆向蓝桥易乞」用裴航遇云英之典写浆向蓝桥易乞，「浆向蓝桥」写浆向蓝桥、「易乞」写易乞；「药成碧海难奔」用嫦娥奔月之典写药成碧海难奔，「药成碧海」写药成碧海、「难奔」写难奔。两句一写浆向蓝桥易乞、一写药成碧海难奔，以浆向蓝桥易乞写蓝桥易乞、以药成碧海难奔写碧海难奔，写尽浆向蓝桥易乞、药成碧海难奔之情。以典写情，含蓄而深婉，是「以典写情」的点睛之笔。
The two lines write the potion to beg at the Blue Bridge, the key to the ci's writing of feeling through allusion. The potion to beg at the Blue Bridge uses the allusion to Pei Hang meeting Yunying at the Blue Bridge, where begging a draught of water won him the bride; easy to beg writes how easily won that meeting. The elixir that won her flight across the blue sea is hard to come by uses the allusion to Chang'e, who swallowed the elixir and fled to the moon; hard to come by writes how impossible. Two lines: easy at the Blue Bridge, hard across the blue sea. Writing the easy meeting at the bridge and the impossible flight across the sea, exhausts the feeling: the first love won easily, the other beyond reach. Writing feeling through allusion, restrained and deep, the crowning stroke of writing emotion through the classical tale.
若容相访饮牛津，相对忘贫。
If I were suffered to visit you and drink at the Ox Ford, we would sit facing one another and forget our poverty.
若容相访饮牛津，相对忘贫。
If I may but visit her where the Oxherd drinks, we would face each other and forget our poverty.
结句写相对忘贫，是全词立意的落点。「若容相访饮牛津」用牛郎织女之典写若容相访饮牛津，「若容相访」写若容相访、「饮牛津」写饮牛津；「相对忘贫」写相对忘贫，「相对」写相对、「忘贫」写忘贫。两句一写若容相访饮牛津、一写相对忘贫，以若容相访饮牛津写相访饮牛津、以相对忘贫写相对忘贫，写尽若容相访饮牛津、相对忘贫之情。以典写情，含蓄而深婉，是全词最动人处，也是「以典写情」的点睛之笔。
The close writes facing each other and forgetting poverty, where the ci's meaning comes to rest. If I may but visit her where the Oxherd drinks uses the allusion to the Cowherd and Weaver Girl at the Oxherd's ford; facing each other and forget our poverty writes the two together, forgetting want. Two lines: the visit at the Oxherd's ford, and facing each other in poverty forgotten. Writing the hoped-for meeting at the heavenly ford, and the two forgetting their need, exhausts the feeling: if only the visit were granted, and they could sit face to face, forgetful of poverty. Writing feeling through allusion, restrained and deep, the most moving passage of the ci, the crowning stroke of writing emotion through the tale.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Yan Shu's Die Lian Hua, 'chrysanthemums in the haze, orchids weeping dew… swallows flit off in the cool screen,' is a Song masterpiece of mournful longing. Nalan's Hua Tang Chun answers with 'one pair of souls, why languish apart' and 'long yet cannot be near.' Both voice parted grief through longing—Yan warm and restrained, Nalan tender and desolate—showing two manners of writing 'longing that consumes the soul.'
晏殊《蝶恋花·槛菊愁烟兰泣露》「槛菊愁烟兰泣露。罗幕轻寒，燕子双飞去」，写相思凝愁、独上高楼，是宋词写愁的名篇；纳兰性德《画堂春·一生一代一双人》则以「一生一代一双人，争教两处销魂」「相思相望不相亲，天为谁春」写一代一双人、相思不相亲。两词同写相思凝愁、两地销魂：一写罗幕轻寒燕子双飞去、以燕去写愁，一写一生一代一双人争教两处销魂、以一双人写相思；一为晏殊之温润、一为纳兰之婉丽，并读正可见词写「相思销魂」的两种笔法，皆于相思之中见销魂。
浣溪沙·一曲新词酒一杯 Huan Xi Sha · A New Song, a Cup of Wine 晏殊 · 同写感怀言志、无可奈何，一写无可奈何花落去、一写若容相访饮牛津相对忘贫，皆于感怀之中见无可奈何 Both voice reflective feeling and helplessness: one with 'what can be done, the flowers fall,' the other with 'if I might visit the Ox Ford and forget our poverty'—helplessness within reflection.Yan Shu's Huan Xi Sha, 'what can be done, the flowers fall; familiar swallows return,' is a famous Song lyric of reflection. Nalan's close, 'if I might visit the Ox Ford and forget our poverty,' answers with a wistful conditional. Both turn on helpless resignation—Yan warm, Nalan tender—revealing two ways of writing 'helpless reflection.'
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」，写感怀言志，是宋词小令的名篇；纳兰性德《画堂春·一生一代一双人》则以「若容相访饮牛津，相对忘贫」「药成碧海难奔」写相访饮牛津、碧海难奔。两词同写感怀言志、无可奈何：一写无可奈何花落去、以花落燕归写惜时，一写若容相访饮牛津相对忘贫、以饮牛津写感怀；一为晏殊之温润、一为纳兰之婉丽，并读正可见词写「感怀无可奈何」的两种笔法，皆于感怀之中见无可奈何。