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五代 Five Dynasties · 词 Ci lyric

阮郎归·呈郑王十二弟

Tune: Ruan Lang Gui — Offered to Prince Zheng, the Twelfth Brother

李煜

Li Yu

春愁Spring Melancholy 怀人Longing for Someone

东风吹水日衔山，春来长是闲。
落花狼藉酒阑珊，笙歌醉梦间。
佩声悄，晚妆残，凭谁整翠鬟？
留连光景惜朱颜，黄昏独倚阑。

The east wind pushes the water, the sun takes hold of the mountain;
Since spring came, there has long been nothing to do.
Fallen flowers lie in disarray, the wine is spent;
The singing and the drinking go on in a drunken dream.

The sound of her sash grows quiet, the evening paint is unfinished.
For whom should she tidy her black hair?
Delaying in the lavish scene, grieving her red face,
At dusk she leans on the rail alone.

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Meaning

A short spring song in the two stanzas of the 'Ruan Lang Gui' tune. The first stanza sets a slow, luxurious decline — wind and sun holding the evening, flowers fallen, wine finished — and the second turns to an abandoned woman at her toilet and finally to her alone at the railing in the dusk. Its subject is not a separated lover but the cost of mere idleness: a beauty wasting the season in an empty round of drinking, which the poet watches as though it were his own ruin.

东风吹水日衔山，春来长是闲。落花狼藉酒阑珊，笙歌醉梦间。佩声悄，晚妆残，凭谁整翠鬟？留连光景惜朱颜，黄昏独倚阑。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The spring day declines with the wind and the setting sun, the flowers fall, the wine runs out, and the singing continues as if in a dream; then she abandons her evening toilet, asks who will comb her hair, and at dusk leans alone on the balcony rail. [Structure] The upper stanza is all landscape and decline, the lower all person and abandonment, and they are joined by the single word 'idle' (闲) which changes both. [Imagery] The falling flowers and the spent wine are conventional of the genre, but Li Yu makes them literal: the flowers have fallen into a mess and the wine is nearly gone, and both are offered to the reader as evidence of time going by. [Language] The lines are short and undramatic; the only question in the poem — 'For whom should she tidy her black hair?' — is asked without anyone being present to answer. [Effect] His late works are usually read as records of a captured king's grief; this poem belongs to his earlier, still luxurious period, and is valued because its sadness is interesting rather than raw: it is the sadness of a beautiful thing with no one to show it to.

【白话串讲】李煜写《阮郎归·呈郑王十二弟》：“东风吹水日衔山，春来长是闲”——“落花狼藉酒阑珊，笙歌醉梦间”——“佩声悄，晚妆残，凭谁整翠鬟”——“留连光景惜朱颜，黄昏独倚阑”——他写春日的闲愁。【意象与手法】此词写春暮，以伤春写惜别，是李煜的名篇。上阕写春暮：「东风吹水日衔山，春来长是闲」写东风吹水日衔山、春来长是闲——写尽春暮的闲愁；「落花狼藉酒阑珊，笙歌醉梦间」写落花狼藉酒阑珊、笙歌醉梦间——写尽春暮的醉梦；下阕写惜别：「佩声悄，晚妆残，凭谁整翠鬟」写佩声悄、晚妆残、凭谁整翠鬟——写尽慵懒的妆残；「留连光景惜朱颜，黄昏独倚阑」写留连光景惜朱颜、黄昏独倚阑——写尽惜别的孤独。全词以伤春写惜别，写尽春暮的醉梦与惜别的孤独，是李煜的代表作。【情感与主旨】此词写春暮，以伤春写惜别，是李煜的名篇。此词为李煜呈其弟郑王（李从善）之作，写春暮的闲愁与惜别。上阕写春暮：东风吹水日衔山，春来长是闲——写东风吹水日衔山、春来长是闲，写尽春暮的闲愁；落花狼藉酒阑珊，笙歌醉梦间——写落花狼藉酒阑珊、笙歌醉梦间，写尽春暮的醉梦；下阕写惜别：佩声悄，晚妆残，凭谁整翠鬟——写佩声悄、晚妆残、凭谁整翠鬟，写尽慵懒的妆残；留连光景惜朱颜，黄昏独倚阑——写留连光景惜朱颜、黄昏独倚阑，写尽惜别的孤独。全词以伤春写惜别——那「落花狼藉酒阑珊」写尽春暮的醉梦，「黄昏独倚阑」写尽惜别的孤独，写尽春暮的醉梦与惜别的孤独，是理解李煜词的重要篇章。【名句点睛】常考「东风吹水日衔山，春来长是闲」写春暮的闲愁；「落花狼藉酒阑珊，笙歌醉梦间」写春暮的醉梦；「留连光景惜朱颜，黄昏独倚阑」写惜别的孤独；以及全词以伤春写惜别、以景写愁的手法。

Background

Li Yu (937–978), the last ruler of the southern Tang, was taken to the Song capital Bianjing in 975 after his state fell, and a year later was sent with his family into captivity; he died in 978 at the age of forty-two, probably by order of the new emperor. His poetry divides sharply into these two periods: the early lyrics written as a young prince of an ebbing kingdom, and the later lyrics of a captive, which include the famous 'Yu Mei Ren' and 'Xiang Jian Huan'. This 'Ruan Lang Gui' is generally dated to the prince's years and is addressed to his younger brother Li Congshan, Prince of Zheng, who shared his circle of leisure.

此词写春暮，以伤春写惜别，是李煜的名篇。李煜（937—978），初名从嘉，字重光，南唐末代君主，世称李后主。此词为李煜呈其弟郑王（李从善）之作。李从善出使宋朝，被留汴京，李煜思弟而作此词。上阕写春暮：「东风吹水日衔山，春来长是闲」写东风吹水日衔山、春来长是闲——写尽春暮的闲愁（东风吹水日衔山，春来长是闲）；「落花狼藉酒阑珊，笙歌醉梦间」写落花狼藉酒阑珊、笙歌醉梦间——写尽春暮的醉梦（落花狼藉酒阑珊，笙歌醉梦间）。下阕写惜别：「佩声悄，晚妆残，凭谁整翠鬟」写佩声悄、晚妆残、凭谁整翠鬟——写尽慵懒的妆残（佩声悄，晚妆残，凭谁整翠鬟）；「留连光景惜朱颜，黄昏独倚阑」写留连光景惜朱颜、黄昏独倚阑——写尽惜别的孤独（留连光景惜朱颜，黄昏独倚阑）。全词以伤春写惜别，写尽春暮的醉梦与惜别的孤独，是理解李煜词的重要篇章。还应联系李煜思弟的具体情境：李从善（郑王）于宋太祖开宝四年（971）奉使入宋，被留汴京不得归，李煜思之，屡上表请放归而不得，遂有「凭谁整翠鬟」「黄昏独倚阑」之叹。此词虽以思妇口吻出之，实借闺怨写兄弟之思——「佩声悄，晚妆残」是女子之态，而「留连光景惜朱颜」正是李煜自惜岁月、自伤弟不在侧的托寓；以男女之情写手足之思，正是李煜「借题发挥」而情真意切的写法。

Art

The poem's central device is the compression of two time-scales into one line. In 'The east wind pushes the water, the sun takes hold of the mountain' the weather and the day are pushed to their ends at the same moment, so that a single slow afternoon stands for a whole season and, by implication, for a life. The stanza break then shifts from public scenery to private behaviour without any transition word, which is why the woman's listlessness reads as the consequence of what has just been described. The question 'For whom should she tidy her black hair?' is the pivot: it shows that she has already stopped performing the labor by which a woman's day is measured, and that the poem's idleness has become a fact about her rather than about the weather. The tune's requirement of four rhymes on the level tone keeps the whole piece on one sustained, downward current.

此词的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以景写闲。「东风吹水日衔山，春来长是闲」以景写闲——那「日衔山」写尽日暮，以景写尽春暮的闲愁。其二，以醉写梦。「落花狼藉酒阑珊，笙歌醉梦间」以醉写梦——那「醉梦间」写尽醉中梦，以醉写尽春暮的醉梦。其三，以妆残写懒。「佩声悄，晚妆残，凭谁整翠鬟」以妆残写懒——那「晚妆残」写尽妆残，以妆残写尽慵懒的无绪。其四，以倚阑写孤独。「黄昏独倚阑」以倚阑写孤独——那「独倚阑」写尽独倚的孤独，以倚阑写尽惜别的孤独。此外，此词上阕写春暮的醉梦，下阕写惜别的孤独，由景入情，正是李煜词「以景写情」的写法。四重手法，使此词以伤春写惜别，写尽春暮的醉梦与惜别的孤独，是李煜的代表作。此词尤可注意其「以闲写愁、以醉写醒」的笔致：起句「东风吹水日衔山，春来长是闲」，一「闲」字点出终日无事之无奈；次「落花狼藉酒阑珊，笙歌醉梦间」，以醉梦写消磨——醉则醉于酒，梦则梦于笙歌，愈见其沉溺之深、愁绪之重；下阕忽转「佩声悄，晚妆残」，由醉梦醒转，见其人之慵懒无绪；末以「黄昏独倚阑」收束——醉醒之间，皆是无凭，正见李煜以闲写愁、以醉写醒的深婉。

Allusions

The falling flowers and spent wine rework the standard properties of the late Tang lyric, but the sash and hairpin suggest the court dress of the southern capital, where such songs were written and performed. 'Qing Zhu Yan' (red face) is the conventional compound for a woman's cheeks, and 'Cui Huan' (black hair) for her tressed hair — so the poet is able to name a face and a head without ever naming a person. The setting of a palace garden at dusk also calls to mind the southern Tang capital of Jinling, whose fall is the context that would eventually make such lyrics into elegies.

此词的用语深植于伤春与惜别的传统。「日衔山」令人想到「日衔山」写日暮的意象——「东风吹水日衔山」正是李煜的名句，也令人想到「日薄西山」的意象；「落花狼藉」令人想到「落花狼藉」写落花的意象——「落花狼藉酒阑珊」正是李煜的名句，也令人想到「狼藉残红」的意象；「酒阑珊」令人想到「酒阑珊」写酒残的意象——「笙歌醉梦间」正是李煜的名句，也令人想到「酒阑歌罢」的意象；「翠鬟」令人想到「翠鬟」写发髻的意象——「凭谁整翠鬟」正是李煜的名句，也令人想到「云鬓花颜金步摇」（白居易）的意象；「朱颜」令人想到「朱颜」写红颜的意象——「留连光景惜朱颜」正是李煜的名句，也令人想到「朱颜辞镜花辞树」的意象；「独倚阑」令人想到「独倚阑」写倚栏的意象——也令人想到「独自莫凭栏」（李煜）的意象。全词化用日衔山、落花、朱颜、倚阑的意象，以伤春写惜别，正是李煜「哀感顽艳」而承伤春传统写惜别的本领。

Commentary

Traditional evaluations of Li Yu's lyrics often treat the frivolity of these early pieces as a symptom of the decay of the southern Tang court; the 'Xian Tang' biographies record that his palace was a place of song, dance and literature. Modern readers have preferred to describe the poem technically: its refusal to state a feeling, its reliance on objects to carry the sentiment, and its four-rhyme level-tone structure are all points on which it can be compared with the later captive lyrics. The couple 'For whom should she tidy her black hair?' with the closing image of lonely leaning continues a line of形象 in Chinese poetry running from the 'Shi Jing' to the 'Guo Feng' and well past Li Yu.

此词历来被推为李煜词的名篇，也是五代词写春暮惜别的代表。历代论者对此词评价极高：清人评此词「以伤春写惜别，深婉凄恻」；近人更指出「留连光景惜朱颜，黄昏独倚阑」写惜别的孤独，是此词的名句。在词史上，此词的特殊价值在于：它以六韵的短调写尽春暮的醉梦与惜别的孤独——那东风，那水，那日衔山，那落花，那狼藉，那酒阑珊，那笙歌，那醉梦，那佩声，那晚妆，那翠鬟，那光景，那朱颜，那黄昏，那阑，都写尽了李煜笔下的春暮；那「黄昏独倚阑」更以倚阑写尽惜别的孤独。此词与李煜《相见欢·林花谢了春红》（「胭脂泪，相留醉」）同为伤春名篇，一写「几时重」的春去（相见欢），一写「留连光景惜朱颜」的春暮（阮郎归）；又与冯延巳「日日花前常病酒」的伤春传统一脉相承，可见五代词写伤春的传统。对于今日读者，此词是理解李煜词的窗口，也是中国词写春暮的经典——那黄昏独倚阑的孤影，穿越千年，仍在诉说着惜别的孤独。

Prosody

Form Ci, tune of 'Ruan Lang Gui'词·阮郎归

Rhyme The tune 'Ruan Lang Gui' is a double stanza of forty-seven characters and rhymes throughout on the level tone; here the rhymes are xian (idle), jian (between), huan (hair) and lan (railing), all in the same flat, open sound. Because no rhymes change, the whole forty-seven characters move on a single undulating current, and the level tone forbids the falling cadence that of the late lyric otherwise uses for melancholy.《阮郎归》双调四十七字，押「闲」「间」「鬟」「阑」韵（平声），一韵到底，音节低回

Tone pattern The measured pattern is one long line of seven characters, a short line of five, another seven, a five-character line, then two three-character phrases, a seven-character question and a five-character close — so the rhythm is deliberately uneven, with short lines arriving like small shocks inside long ones. It is this irregularity, not the rhyme, that Li Yu exploits: the three-character phrases '佩声悄' and '晚妆残' come to a sudden stop where the longer lines have been running, and the question that follows them is left hanging in the same metre.此词为《阮郎归》调，押平声韵，一韵到底，音节低回，正合伤春的低回。

Reading note As a ci the poem is written to a fixed tune, which means the rhymes, line lengths and number of characters are pre-arranged; the poet's art is in making that fixed shape carry feeling. Here it does so by staying on one level rhyme so that nothing can close downwards, and by variety of line length so that the poem never settles. When reading aloud, the pauses after the three-character phrases should be held, since it is in these brief halts that the woman's withdrawal becomes audible.此词为《阮郎归》双调四十七字，上阕——「东风吹水日衔山，春来长是闲。落花狼藉酒阑珊，笙歌醉梦间」，下阕——「佩声悄，晚妆残，凭谁整翠鬟？留连光景惜朱颜，黄昏独倚阑」，押平声韵（闲、间、鬟、阑），一韵到底，音节低回。全词以伤春写惜别：上阕写春暮的醉梦（春来长是闲、笙歌醉梦间），下阕写惜别的孤独（凭谁整翠鬟、黄昏独倚阑）。两阕由景入情，层层写尽春暮的醉梦与惜别的孤独，正是李煜词以景写情的典型结构。诵读此词，宜以低回的语调读「落花狼藉酒阑珊」的醉梦，以凄恻的语调读「黄昏独倚阑」的孤独，结句要读得低回而有余韵，方能传达出李煜的深婉凄恻。李煜词以「哀感顽艳」著称，此词正是其伤春词的典范。

Line by line

留连光景惜朱颜，黄昏独倚阑

Delaying in the lavish scene, grieving her red face, at dusk she leans on the rail alone.

留连光景惜朱颜，黄昏独倚阑。

Lingering over the light, cherishing the rosy face; at dusk, leaning alone on the rail.

此二句是全词写惜别的核心，以留连光景惜朱颜写惜时，以黄昏独倚阑写孤独，写尽惜别的孤独，是千古名句。「留连光景惜朱颜」写留连光景惜朱颜——那「留连光景」写留连光景，「惜朱颜」写惜朱颜，写尽惜时的深情；「黄昏独倚阑」写黄昏独倚阑——那「黄昏」写黄昏，「独倚阑」写独倚阑，写尽黄昏的孤独。这句的深意在于：它以「留连光景惜朱颜」的惜时与「黄昏独倚阑」的孤独，写尽惜别的孤独——留连光景惜朱颜，那「留连光景惜朱颜」写尽惜时的深情——留连光景，惜朱颜，正是惜春惜己的写照，那「惜朱颜」写尽惜时的深情；黄昏独倚阑，那「黄昏独倚阑」写尽黄昏的孤独——黄昏独倚阑，正是无人相伴的写照，那「独倚阑」写尽黄昏的孤独；那「留连光景惜朱颜」写尽惜时的深情，那「黄昏独倚阑」写尽黄昏的孤独，一写惜时，一写孤独，写尽惜别的孤独——留连光景而黄昏独倚，正是惜别之愁；此二句以惜时、孤独写尽惜别的孤独，也让此二句成为全词写惜别的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「我很想念弟弟」，则失其含蓄；唯以「留连光景惜朱颜」写惜时、「黄昏独倚阑」写孤独，写尽惜别的孤独，也让此二句成为全词写惜别的核心。

The two lines are the core of the ci's reluctant parting, writing the cherishing of time through lingering over the light, cherishing the rosy face and the loneliness through at dusk, leaning alone on the rail, exhausting the loneliness of parting. Lingering over the light, cherishing the rosy face is precisely the picture of cherishing spring and cherishing the self; at dusk, leaning alone on the rail precisely the picture of no one at hand. One writes the cherishing of time, one the loneliness, exhausting the sorrow of parting. Were it said plainly I miss my brother greatly, the restraint would be lost; only through the cherishing of time and the lonely leaning is the parting's loneliness exhausted, making the lines the core of the ci.

落花狼藉酒阑珊，笙歌醉梦间

Fallen flowers lie in disarray, the wine is spent; the singing and the drinking go on in a drunken dream.

落花狼藉酒阑珊，笙歌醉梦间。

Fallen blossoms lie in disarray, the wine is nearly spent; the pipes and songs float between drunkenness and dream.

此二句是全词写醉梦的核心，以落花狼藉写落花，以酒阑珊笙歌醉梦间写醉梦，写尽春暮的醉梦，是千古名句。「落花狼藉酒阑珊」写落花狼藉酒阑珊——那「落花狼藉」写落花狼藉，「酒阑珊」写酒阑珊，写尽落花与酒残；「笙歌醉梦间」写笙歌醉梦间——那「笙歌」写笙歌，「醉梦间」写醉梦之间，写尽醉中的迷离。这句的深意在于：它以「落花狼藉酒阑珊」的落花与「笙歌醉梦间」的醉梦，写尽春暮的醉梦——落花狼藉酒阑珊，那「落花狼藉酒阑珊」写尽落花与酒残——落花狼藉，酒阑珊，正是春暮酒残的写照，那「狼藉」写尽落花的残乱；笙歌醉梦间，那「笙歌醉梦间」写尽醉中的迷离——笙歌渐歇，醉梦之间，正是醉生梦死的写照，那「醉梦间」写尽醉中的迷离；那「落花狼藉酒阑珊」写尽落花与酒残，那「笙歌醉梦间」写尽醉中的迷离，一写落花，一写醉梦，写尽春暮的醉梦——落花酒残而醉梦其间，正是消磨春光的写照；此二句以落花、醉梦写尽春暮的醉梦，也让此二句成为全词写醉梦的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「春天要完了，天天喝酒做梦」，则失其含蓄；唯以「落花狼藉酒阑珊」写落花、「笙歌醉梦间」写醉梦，写尽春暮的醉梦，也让此二句成为全词写醉梦的核心。

The two lines are the core of the ci's drunken dream, writing the fallen blossoms through fallen blossoms lie in disarray, the wine is nearly spent and the drunken dream through the pipes and songs float between drunkenness and dream, exhausting the late-spring drunken dream. Fallen blossoms lie in disarray, the wine is nearly spent is precisely the picture of the late spring's spent wine; the pipes and songs float between drunkenness and dream precisely the picture of the dreamlike drunkenness. One writes the blossoms, one the dream, exhausting the late-spring drunken dream. Were it said plainly spring is ending, drinking and dreaming every day, the restraint would be lost; only through the fallen blossoms and the drunken dream is the late-spring dream exhausted, making the lines the core of the ci.

Study

Word focus

闲 'Xian,' idle, at leisure; here it names both pleasure and its emptiness. In 'since spring came there has long been nothing to do' it describes the prince's leisure, but it is the word that licenses the poem's decline: where a season of occupation would have passed unremarked, a season of idleness makes the falling flowers legible as waste. Its repetition in the stanza about the woman's unfinished toilet shows the state of mind spread from the poet to the person he watches. 「春来长是闲」之「闲」字是写春暮的关键词，一个「闲」字写尽春暮的闲愁。闲者，清闲、无聊也。李煜以「春来长是闲」写春暮，这个「闲」字至少有双重意味：其一，写闲之无奈——那「春来长是闲」写春来长是闲，那「闲」字写尽闲愁的无奈——春来长是闲，正是无所事事的写照，那「闲」字写尽春暮的闲愁；其二，写愁之深藏——那「闲」字更是写愁——长是闲，正见愁深藏于闲，那「闲」字写尽闲中藏的愁。以「闲」字写春暮，正是李煜写闲愁的枢纽——若换作「空」「闷」等字，则或失其与「春来长是」的配合，或失其写闲的意味；唯「闲」字，以春来长是闲写尽闲愁的无奈与闲中藏的愁，与「东风吹水日衔山」的日衔山相合，写尽春暮的闲愁，也让「春来长是闲」成为全词写闲愁的名句。

独 'Du,' alone, by oneself; the word appears only in the final line and carries the whole poem. Before it there are no fewer than three descriptions of company that is not shared — the singing, the dream, the toilet for which there is no one — so when 'alone' arrives it reads as the summary of those. It also anchors the image of the railing (阑), which becomes the standard posture of Chinese lovers and exiles, and does so here without any further comment. 「黄昏独倚阑」之「独」字是写孤独的关键词，一个「独」字写尽黄昏的孤独。独者，独自也。李煜以「黄昏独倚阑」写孤独，这个「独」字至少有双重意味：其一，写倚阑之孤——那「黄昏独倚阑」写黄昏独倚阑，那「独」字写尽倚阑的孤独——黄昏独倚阑，正是无人相伴的写照，那「独」字写尽黄昏的孤独；其二，写思念之深——那「独」字更是写深——独倚，正见思念之深，那「独」字写尽惜别的孤独。以「独」字写孤独，正是李煜写惜别的枢纽——若换作「自」「空」等字，则或失其与「黄昏」「倚阑」的配合，或失其写独的意味；唯「独」字，以黄昏独倚阑写尽倚阑的孤独与思念的深挚，与「留连光景惜朱颜」的惜朱颜相合，写尽惜别的孤独，也让「黄昏独倚阑」成为全词写孤独的名句。