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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

点绛唇·蹴罢秋千

Rouged Lips: Done with the Swing

李清照

Li Qingzhao

闺情Boudoir Sentiments 少女Maiden 生活Daily Life

蹴罢秋千,起来慵整纤纤手。
露浓花瘦,薄汗轻衣透。
见客入来,袜刬金钗溜。
和羞走,倚门回首,却把青梅嗅。

Done with the swing, she rises, languidly tidies her tender hands.
Dewy flowers slender, light sweat soaks through her thin dress.
Seeing a guest enter, she flees in socks, gold hairpin slips.
Shyly she runs, leans on the door and looks back, then sniffs a green plum.
Listen

Meaning

After swinging, the maiden lazily adjusts her hands. Heavy dew and slender flowers, light sweat soaks through her dress. Startled by a visitor, she hurries away in socks with hairpin falling, but then leans at the door and pretends to sniff a green plum.

荡完秋千,起身懒懒地整理一下纤细的双手。露水正浓,花枝清瘦,微微的汗珠浸透了轻薄的衣衫。忽然看见有客人进来,慌张得连鞋子都来不及穿,只穿着袜子跑开,金钗也滑落下来。含羞跑走,却又倚在门边回过头来,顺手把一枝青梅放到鼻尖嗅了嗅。

Appreciation

The upper stanza depicts the girl's languid grace; the lower stanza captures her flustered encounter. The final action of sniffing a plum while looking back is a masterstroke of psychological portraiture, full of subtle charm.

【白话串讲】 少女李清照荡完秋千,汗湿衣衫,忽然看见客人来了,鞋都来不及穿就溜走,却又忍不住倚着门回头,假装闻青梅。这首词里,藏着李清照最少女的一面。 【意象与手法】 全词纯用动作与细节白描:上片「慵整纤纤手」「薄汗轻衣透」写静中娇慵;下片「袜刬金钗溜」写猝然惊羞之态,连用「走」「倚」「回」「嗅」四个动词一气流转。「露浓花瘦」以景拟人,比兴暗含。 【情感与主旨】 此词为李清照少女时代的代表作,约作于汴京待字闺中之时。彼时她生于书香门第,生活优裕,性情聪慧烂漫。词以白描捕捉日常生活一角,写无忧少女的娇憨与初识人事的羞涩,正见早年易安词清丽真率、贴近生活的风貌,与后来飘零之作情调迥异。 【名句点睛】 考点多为:一、分析「倚门回首,却把青梅嗅」如何以动作写心理;二、上片「露浓花瘦」的景物描写对人物塑造的作用。

Background

This early work from Li Qingzhao's maiden days reflects her carefree youth, contrasting sharply with her later melancholy poems.

李清照(1084—约1155),号易安居士,济南人,宋代婉约词之集大成者。其父李格非为「苏门后四学士」之一,母王氏亦善文翰,家学渊源深厚。此词为李清照少女时代的代表作,约作于汴京待字闺中之时。彼时她生于书香门第,生活优裕,又聪慧烂漫、见识不凡,词中所写正是其无忧岁月的真实投影。北宋词坛写少女,多从旁观者角度描摹形貌,易安却以当事者口吻自述情态,以白描捕捉日常生活中最鲜活的一角——荡罢秋千、骤见来客的刹那娇羞。这种贴近生活、清丽真率的笔调,正是早年易安词的独特风貌,与南渡后「寻寻觅觅」的飘零之作情调迥异。词牌《点绛唇》本写女子点唇之态,双调四十一字,短小轻灵,恰合少女情事的灵动韵致。北宋汴京为当时最繁华的都市,贵族少女虽居深闺,仍有秋千、斗草、踏青诸般游乐之趣,词中所写正是此种生活的真实投影。易安以少女自述口吻写闺中生活,不作旁观描摹,在词史上别开生面,其清丽真率处,正是婉约词中最富生活气息的一支。

Art

Pure white-sketch technique with vivid actions: the four verbs 'walks, leans, turns, sniffs' create a dynamic portrait. The imagery 'dewy flowers slender' metaphorically suggests the girl's delicate beauty.

全词纯用动作与细节白描,不事雕饰而情态毕现。上片写静中娇慵:「慵整纤纤手」以一「慵」字立起少女慵憨之态,「薄汗轻衣透」则以汗湿轻衣的细节写荡罢秋千的微倦与适意;「露浓花瘦」一句以景衬人,以花之清瘦暗喻少女之清丽。下片笔锋急转,写猝然惊羞:「袜刬金钗溜」六字写尽仓皇——鞋未及穿、钗滑发间,狼狈中透着天真;「和羞走」一顿,「倚门回首」一转,「却把青梅嗅」一收,连用「走」「倚」「回」「嗅」四个动词,把欲走还留、欲藏还看的少女心理层层剥出。末句以「嗅青梅」的动作掩回望之态,含蓄至极。全词由静到动、由内到外,镜头如电影般连缀,不着一字写情而情自见,是白描艺术的极致。全词四十余字而写尽一个完整的情境:时间由清晨的露浓花瘦推进到客至的刹那,人物由独处的慵懒转入见客的娇羞,情感由闲适变为慌乱复归含蓄,小令之体而容量之大,正见易安以少总多的艺术能量;其白描手法不事藻饰,而人物神态、心理纤毫毕现,为后世闺情词树立了生活化的典范。

Allusions

The green plum alludes to Li Bai's 'riding a bamboo horse, playing with green plums', hinting at budding romance. The 'slender' flower prefigures Li's later famous 'Thinner than yellow chrysanthemums'.

「却把青梅嗅」暗承李白《长干行》「郎骑竹马来,绕床弄青梅」的青梅意象,以青梅点缀少女情怀,含蓄不尽——青梅本为稚气游戏之物,少女借此掩饰回首偷看的心思,稚气与情窦初开交织,妙不可言。「花瘦」之「瘦」则呼应易安日后「人比黄花瘦」的瘦字审美,可见其以瘦为美的意象偏好自早年已然,一以贯之。此外,「秋千」是唐宋词中常见的少女意象,韦庄、晏殊笔下多有;「倚门」在《史记》本有倚门望子之意,此处却转出少女娇憨之态,用旧语而赋新意。全词用典无痕,皆融化于生活画面之中,不故作深奥,正合少女题材的清浅本色。就传统言,秋千为唐宋词中写少女的习见意象,王建《秋千词》、冯延巳、欧阳修词中皆有之,易安承此传统而更见生活气息;「青梅」意象则自李白《长干行》后屡见于闺情之作,易安取以点缀少女情怀,使稚气与情思交融,含蓄而隽永,为旧意象注入了新生命,无怪乎词论家每举此句为用典无痕的范例。

Commentary

Critics praise the vivid depiction of a maiden's shyness. The line 'Blushing, she walks away...' is considered a masterstroke.

此词历来备受推崇。明人沈际飞赞其「片时意态,形容殆尽」;清人贺裳《皱水轩词筌》称「予最爱其『和羞走,倚门回首,却把青梅嗅』,尽态极妍」,皆叹其以白描传神的高超手腕。此词被推为易安早期闺情小令的典范,以寻常小事写活少女心神,足见其「词别是一家」主张下对情韵细节的精微把控。与《如梦令·常记溪亭日暮》并读,可见易安早年词以生活入词、以真率动人的共同风貌;与《一剪梅》《声声慢》对照,则见同一词人由天真烂漫到沉郁凄婉的完整流变。在中国词史上,此词以短短四十一字写尽少女情态,为闺情词开辟了自述体、生活化的新路。近人俞平伯《唐宋词选释》、唐圭璋《唐宋词简释》皆录此词,赏析者尤爱其少女情态的生动传真;今人选本、教材亦多以之代表易安早年词风。与《如梦令》「争渡」之豪兴对读,一静一动、一羞一放,恰见少女情怀的完整光谱,亦见易安笔下人物塑造的立体与丰满。

Prosody

Form Ci tune 'Rouged Lips', 41 characters, upper stanza 4 lines, lower stanza 5 lines, oblique rhymes.词牌《点绛唇》,双调四十一字,上片四句三仄韵,下片五句四仄韵
Rhyme Oblique rhymes in the 12th rhyme group (you/you/you).依《词林正韵》第十二部(尤、有、宥)仄韵,韵脚:手、透(上片);溜、走、首、嗅(下片)
Tone pattern Short oblique rhymes suit the maiden's lively shyness.仄韵短促,声情与少女灵动娇羞的情调相合;下片动作镜头连缀,节奏由缓转急再归于含蓄。
Reading note Famous for white-sketch technique and subtle characterization.《点绛唇》本为五代以来流行的短调,双调四十一字,句式长短错落:上片七五、四五,下片四五、七四、五,音节轻灵跳脱,最宜写少女情事。此词通押《词林正韵》第十二部仄韵(尤、有、宥),韵脚「手、透、溜、走、首、嗅」多为上声、去声,收声短促劲切,正与少女动作的灵巧、情态的娇羞相谐,形成一种轻快的节奏感。词中多用对偶与虚字:「纤纤手」对「轻衣透」以写形,「和羞走」对「倚门回首」以写动,末句「却把青梅嗅」以「却」字领起,轻轻一宕,收束于含蓄。全词以白描动作写少女初见来客的娇羞,末句「倚门回首,却把青梅嗅」成为写少女神情的千古名句,其以动作传神、以细节见性的手法,正是易安词「别是一家」主张的生动体现。

Line by line

蹴罢秋千,起来慵整纤纤手。

After swinging, she rises and lazily tidies her slender hands. The word 'lazy' shows her languid charm.

荡完秋千,起身懒懒地整理一下纤细的双手。

The swing done, she rises, languidly arranging her slender hands.

开篇即是一幅少女嬉戏后的生活小景。「蹴罢秋千」点明动作刚刚结束,为下文写慵态蓄势;「慵整纤纤手」以「慵」字立骨,写少女荡罢秋千后的娇懒之态——不是疲惫,而是舒畅闲适中的慵散。「纤纤」二字出自《古诗十九首》「纤纤擢素手」,以柔美的叠字写手的纤细,暗示人物的娇弱美好。短短九字,动作、神态、情致俱全,一个无忧无虑、娇憨可爱的少女形象已呼之欲出,开篇即活。

The opening is a small living scene of the girl after play. The swing done marks the action just ended, storing force for the lazy bearing below; languidly arranging her slender hands takes the word languid as the bone, writing the girl's delicate laziness after the swing — not weariness, but the languor of ease and comfort. The two words slender come from the Nineteen Old Poems' slender hands raised fair, using the soft doubled word for the hands' delicacy, hinting the person's tender loveliness. Nine brief characters, action, bearing, and charm all within, the carefree, dainty, lovable girl already ready to leap out, the opening alive at once.

露浓花瘦,薄汗轻衣透。

Heavy dew and slender flowers, light sweat soaks through her thin dress. The scene mirrors her delicate beauty.

露水正浓,花枝清瘦,微汗浸透了轻衣。

The dew heavy, the flower slender; a light sweat soaks through her thin dress.

此句由景及人,以景衬人。「露浓花瘦」写清晨园中景致:露水浓重,花枝清瘦——浓与瘦对照,花之清瘦暗喻少女之清丽纤弱,物我交融,比兴暗含;「薄汗轻衣透」则写少女荡罢秋千后的微汗浸透衣衫,「透」字精确传神,汗湿而不觉,正是青春活力与娇慵并存的写照。两句一景一人,景中含情,人融于景,「瘦」字更暗伏易安日后「人比黄花瘦」的审美基因,含蓄蕴藉,为全词定了清丽明快的基调。

The line moves from scene to person, setting the person against the scene. The dew heavy, the flower slender writes the morning garden scene: the dew thick, the flower branch lean — the heavy and the lean set in contrast, the flower's leanness secretly figuring the girl's clear delicacy, thing and self fused, the bixing within; a light sweat soaks through her thin dress writes the girl's light sweat soaking the dress after the swing, the word through precise and vivid, the sweat-wetness unfelt, precisely the picture of youth's vigor and delicate languor together. Two lines, one scene one person, the feeling within the scene, the person fused in the scene; the word lean secretly plants the aesthetic seed of Li Qingzhao's later thinner than the yellow flower, restrained and rich, fixing the ci's clear, bright tone.

见客入来,袜刬金钗溜。

Seeing a visitor enter, she flees in her socks, gold hairpin slips. The detail of socks captures her fluster.

见客进来,慌张得袜子跑掉、金钗滑落。

Seeing a guest enter, she runs on her stockings, the gold hairpin slipping.

笔锋陡转,写猝然见客的仓皇之态。「袜刬」指来不及穿鞋,只着袜子奔走,是宋人惊惶时的典型情状;「金钗溜」写发间金钗滑落,狼狈中见可爱。五个字三个意象——见客、袜刬、钗溜,节奏急促,如镜头快切,把少女骤见生人时的慌乱描摹得栩栩如生。更妙的是,「袜刬金钗溜」不是正面写少女如何慌乱,而是通过衣饰细节的失序,侧面透出她内心的慌张,这正是白描高手的高明处:不写情而情自见。

The brush turns sharply, writing the panic of the sudden guest. On her stockings means the running in the stockings for want of time to put on shoes, the typical bearing of the Song sudden fright; the gold hairpin slipping writes the hairpin sliding from her hair, the loveliness within the disarray. Five characters, three images — the guest seen, the stockings, the slipping pin — the rhythm urgent, like a quick cut of the lens, drawing the girl's fluster at the sudden stranger to the life. The beauty lies in the stockings and the slipping pin not directly writing the girl's fluster, but through the disorder of the dress details showing the inner panic, precisely the master plain sketch's high art: not writing feeling and the feeling shows of itself.

和羞走,倚门回首,却把青梅嗅。

Blushing, she runs away, leans at the door and looks back, then pretends to sniff a green plum. Three actions depict shy curiosity; sniffing masks her longing to look back.

含羞跑开,却又倚在门边回过头来,顺手把一枝青梅嗅了嗅。

She runs off in shame, leans in the doorway, looks back, and yet feigns to sniff a green plum.

全词最精彩处,三组动作写尽少女微妙心理。「和羞走」写含羞逃走的本能反应;「倚门回首」一顿,写逃到门边又忍不住回头偷看的好奇与眷恋;「却把青梅嗅」以嗅梅的动作掩饰回望的心思——明明想看来客,偏要装作嗅青梅,欲盖弥彰,娇羞毕现。连用「走」「倚」「回」「嗅」四个动词,一气流转而层次分明,把少女情窦初开时的羞怯、好奇、聪慧与娇憨熔于一炉,如定格特写,活画出一位青春少女初见异性时的万种情态,是写少女神情的千古名句。

The finest place of the ci, three groups of actions writing the girl's subtle psychology. She runs off in shame writes the instinct of the flight in bashfulness; leans in the doorway, looks back is a pause, writing the curiosity and clinging of the escape to the door and the stolen backward glance; and yet feigns to sniff a green plum uses the plum-sniffing to mask the looking-back — plainly wanting to see the guest, and yet pretending to sniff the plum, the more hidden the more exposed, the bashfulness to the full. Chaining the four verbs runs, leans, looks back, sniffs, flowing in one breath and yet layered, fusing the girl's first-awakened bashfulness, curiosity, wit, and daintiness, like a freeze-frame close-up, drawing the thousand bearings of a youth at the first sight of the other sex, the immortal line writing the girl's expression.

Study

Word focus

慵 The character 'yong' (lazy) captures the maiden's languor from the start. 「起来慵整纤纤手」之「慵」字,是全词上片的神韵所在。此字本写懒散倦怠,此处却毫无贬义,反以娇懒写少女荡罢秋千后的舒畅闲适——不是疲惫不堪,而是心满意足后的慵散自得。「慵」与「整」连用,慵散之中又带着爱美的自觉,少女的娇憨可爱尽在其中。一字立起人物情态,与后文「袜刬金钗溜」的慌乱形成静与动的对照,可见炼字之精、立意之巧。
瘦 'Shou' (slender) describes both flower and girl, implying delicate beauty. 「露浓花瘦」之「瘦」字,是全词的词眼之一。此字本写花枝清瘦,妙在双关:既写清晨花带露而显清瘦的实景,又暗喻少女纤细清丽的身姿,物我交融,含蓄蕴藉。「浓」与「瘦」对举,一浓一淡、一丰一清,视觉反差鲜明;且「瘦」字暗伏易安日后「人比黄花瘦」「绿肥红瘦」的瘦字审美,说明以瘦为美的意象偏好自少女时代已然。一个「瘦」字,景、人、审美偏好三义兼赅,足见易安炼字的天才。
刬 'Chan' (socks only) vividly depicts her hurried, embarrassed state. 「袜刬金钗溜」之「刬」字,是写仓皇情态的关键。「袜刬」指只穿着袜子、不及穿鞋而行,是古代女子猝然惊起时的狼狈写照。此字用得极险而极活:一「刬」字,把少女见客时的惊慌失措、来不及反应的狼狈之态和盘托出,比直写「惊慌」「仓皇」高明百倍——全凭细节说话,让读者自行想象那幅慌乱的画面。与「金钗溜」的「溜」字配合,一写足下一写发间,上下呼应,狼狈中不失天真,是白描传神的神来之笔。
却把 'Que ba' (then pretends to) marks a turn, using the sniffing action to hide her looking back, showing shyness. 「却把青梅嗅」之「却」字,是下片心理描写的关键转折词。「却」表转折,写出少女行为的两重性:明明害羞逃走,却又忍不住回头;回头本为看人,偏要借嗅青梅来掩饰。「却」字轻轻一转,把欲藏还露、欲盖弥彰的少女心机点染得纤毫毕现——若直写「倚门回首看客」,便失之直露;加一「却把……嗅」,则回望的心思被青梅的稚气动作包裹起来,娇羞中透着聪慧,含蓄不尽,尽态极妍。

Related Reading

如梦令·常记溪亭日暮 Dreamlike Song: Often Remember the Sunset by the Creek Pavilion 李清照 · 同出李清照、同写少女情态 Both by Li Qingzhao, both depict maiden life

The two poems can be read together to appreciate Li's early style.

「和羞走,倚门回首」与「争渡,争渡,惊起一滩鸥鹭」皆以一连串动作活画少女神情:一写初见异性的娇羞,一写酒醉溪亭的豪兴,皆白描传神、真率动人。两词同属易安早年,可见其以生活入词、以动作写人的共同笔法,也共同展示了少女时代易安开朗烂漫的性情,是理解其早期词风的两把钥匙。进一步看,《如梦令》以「争渡」的问答写尽少女豪兴,《点绛唇》以「嗅青梅」的动作写尽少女娇羞,一放一收,两两相映,正见同一支笔写情的千变万化。

一剪梅·红藕香残玉簟秋 A Twig of Mume Blossoms 李清照 · 同出李清照、写不同人生阶段 Both by Li Qingzhao, different life stages

The former shows a naive girl, the latter a lovesick woman, showing the evolution of Li's emotions.

《点绛唇》写天真烂漫的少女,情致明快;《一剪梅》写婚后相思的少妇,「一种相思,两处闲愁」缠绵深婉。两词对照,可见易安词由天真到沉婉、由生活化到情感化的流变轨迹:少女时代以白描写情态,婚后以工笔写心绪,而贯穿其中的始终是那份对生命本真的敏感与热爱。同一词人,两样人生,恰成一部微缩的易安词史。