宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric
蝶恋花·庭院深深深几许
Butterflies in Love with Flowers: Deep, Deep the Courtyard
庭院深深深几许，杨柳堆烟，帘幕无重数。
玉勒雕鞍游冶处，楼高不见章台路。
雨横风狂三月暮，门掩黄昏，无计留春住。
泪眼问花花不语，乱红飞过秋千去。
Willows piled like mist, countless curtains.
Where jade-bridled, carved-saddled steeds go for pleasure,
The tower high, I cannot see the Zhangtai Road.
Rain rages, wind howls, in late March dusk,
Door shut against twilight, no way to keep spring.
Tearful eyes ask flowers, but flowers do not speak,
Fallen reds fly past the swing and away.
Meaning
The speaker, a woman confined in a deep, secluded courtyard, laments her isolation and the absence of her husband, who is wandering in pleasure quarters. In the late spring storm, she futilely attempts to keep spring from passing, and her tearful question to the flowers goes unanswered, as petals drift over an abandoned swing.
庭院幽深，究竟有多深？杨柳如烟似雾层层堆叠，帘幕一道又一道数不清。华美的马车停在歌楼妓馆，我登上高楼也望不见那章台游冶之路。暮春三月风雨交加，我在黄昏里掩上房门，却没法把春天留住。含泪问花，花也不语，只有零乱的落花飞过秋千而去。
Appreciation
The opening line's triple 'deep' vividly establishes the woman's oppressive isolation. The stormy spring scene symbolizes the destruction of youth and love. The final couplet personifies the flowers, intensifying the sorrow through their indifference, creating a layered and poignant effect that has been celebrated for centuries.
【白话串讲】 “庭院深深深几许”——三个“深”字，把欧阳修笔下的深宅大院写得层层叠叠。“泪眼问花花不语，乱红飞过秋千去”，写尽了一个被困住的女子的心事。 【意象与手法】 艺术上最妙在叠字与层递。开篇「庭院深深深几许」三「深」字叠用，极写幽闭之深；「帘幕无重数」再叠一层。下片「雨横风狂三月暮」以风雨摧花象征青春与爱情被践踏。结句「泪眼问花花不语」将人、花、我三者融为一体，以无情之花反衬有情之悲，余韵悠长。 【情感与主旨】 此词一般认为是欧阳修拟代闺怨之作（或托意），亦有李清照误收之说。词以传统闺怨题材写幽居女子之怨，具体本事已不可考，重在以景写情、以怨写心。 【名句点睛】 高频考点：①叠字「深深深」的炼字效果与层递手法；②「泪眼问花花不语」的拟人、以景结情；③「楼高不见章台路」的怨而不怒。
Background
Generally regarded as a persona lyric (or possible allegory) by Ouyang Xiu, it was also mistakenly attributed to Li Qingzhao. The poem uses traditional boudoir plaint conventions to convey deep loneliness, possibly reflecting the poet's own feelings of alienation or political frustration. The specific occasion is unknown.
此词旧题欧阳修作，亦有李清照误收之说，一般认为是欧阳修拟代闺怨之作（或有所托意）。北宋士大夫多作此类代言体词，借深闺女子的寂寞口吻，寄托自身的身世遭际或政治孤寂之感。欧阳修（1007—1072），字永叔，号醉翁、六一居士，北宋文坛领袖，诗文革新运动的主将，其散文、诗、词皆为大家，词与晏殊并称「晏欧」，为北宋前期小令大家，风格深婉含蓄。此词具体本事已不可考，然以「庭院深深」起笔、「泪眼问花」收束，通篇以景写情、以怨写心，当是借深闺怨妇之口抒写心中难言之隐——或暗含对朝局翻覆、知音难觅的感慨，或纯为拟闺情之作，历来说法不一而各成其趣。李清照《临江仙》序云「欧阳公作《蝶恋花》，有『庭院深深深几许』之句，予酷爱之」，并以之自拟作，足见此词在宋时已广传人口，其艺术魅力历久不衰，是宋词闺怨题材中影响最深远的作品之一。此词亦见录于《欧阳文忠公近体乐府》，为欧公词集中流传最广、拟作最多的一首。
Art
The artistry lies in the repetitive use of 'deep' and layered descriptions of willows and curtains to symbolize confinement. The contrast between the violent external storm and the quiet inner sorrow heightens emotion. The conclusion masterfully fuses human tears and flowers' silence, creating an enduring image of grief.
此词艺术上最妙在叠字与层递。开篇「庭院深深深几许」三「深」字叠用，极写幽闭之深——庭院既深，居其中者被锁之深亦可想见，一问「几许」更见无限幽怨；「杨柳堆烟，帘幕无重数」再叠一层：杨柳如烟、帘幕重重，视觉上层层阻隔，深闺与外界的距离由此拉大，闭锁之感层层加码。下片「雨横风狂三月暮」以风雨摧花象征青春与爱情被无情践踏；「门掩黄昏，无计留春住」以黄昏掩门、留春不住写年华迟暮之无奈。结句「泪眼问花花不语，乱红飞过秋千去」是千古名句：将人、花、我三者融为一体——含泪问花，花本无情，自然不语；而乱红飞过秋千，花亦凋零，同命相怜，物我同悲。全词以「深—堆—重数」写闭锁之景，以「横—狂—暮」写摧残之景，以「泪—问—不语—飞过」写绝望之情，层层递进、句句转深，章法上由外景（庭院）入内情（泪眼问花），由远及近、由景入心，是婉约词「层深而浑成」的典范。上片写景如摄影之推近，下片写情如剥茧之层深，全词以「深」起、以「去」结，一锁一放，章法浑然，无一处闲笔。
Allusions
'Zhangtai Road' alludes to a Han-dynasty street in Chang'an famous for brothels, symbolizing the husband's pleasure-seeking. 'Jade-bridled carved-saddle' implies luxury and wandering. 'Fallen reds' (petals) represent lost beauty and time, common in spring sorrow imagery.
「章台路」化用汉长安章台街典故。章台本为战国秦宫名，汉长安有章台街，位于繁华之地，唐代多妓馆集中于此，后人遂以「章台」「章台柳」代指歌楼妓馆与冶游之所（如韩翃「章台柳，章台柳，昔日青青今在否」即以章台柳喻歌姬）。「玉勒雕鞍」指饰玉的马衔与雕花的马鞍，皆为华贵马具，暗指丈夫走马章台的游冶生活——思妇在深闺独守，而丈夫却在外冶游，一静一动、一冷一热，反差顿生。「楼高不见章台路」写女子登楼远望，望不见那游冶之路，既写空间之阻隔（帘幕重重、楼高路远），亦写心理之绝望。下片「雨横风狂」写暮春风雨，暗用「风风雨雨」伤春传统，以风雨摧花喻岁月无情；「乱红」即落花，承惜花伤春意象。「秋千」为闺阁庭院之具，女子荡秋千本是欢乐之景，此处「乱红飞过秋千去」，以落花飞越秋千写欢乐之逝、青春之逝，物境与心境相叠。全词以传统闺怨意象（深院、帘幕、落花、秋千、黄昏）构筑，承唐人宫怨而自出新境，词境深婉，如怨如慕。
Commentary
Li Qingzhao admired this lyric and imitated it in her own poem. Wang Guowei in 'Renjian Cihua' praised the final couplet as a perfect example of 'state with self,' calling it the pinnacle of boudoir plaint poetry for its layered depth and graceful sorrow.
李清照《临江仙》序谓「欧阳公作《蝶恋花》，有『庭院深深深几许』之句，予酷爱之」，并屡拟其作，可见此词影响之深。王国维《人间词话》评「泪眼问花花不语，乱红飞过秋千去」为「有我之境」，谓「以我观物，故物皆著我之色彩」，更称其「层深而浑成」，誉为闺怨词中的绝唱。清代毛先舒则细析其「层深」之妙：泪眼问花一层，花不语一层，乱红飞过秋千去又一层，层层转深、愈转愈深，如剥蕉心，一层深似一层。从词史看，此词上承温庭筠、韦庄的闺怨传统，下启晏几道、秦观的婉约词风，是北宋小令由五代余韵走向士大夫词的关键一环。论其价值，一在叠字炼句之精（「深深深」「堆」「无重数」），二在情景交融之深，三在以怨写心的寄托之妙——无论作单纯闺怨读，抑或作托意之作读，皆成胜境，这正是经典的多义性所在，亦是此词千年传诵的根本原因。近人俞平伯亦盛赞「深深深」三字叠得奇、叠得妙，可见其艺术魅力历宋元明清而不衰，至今犹为词学研究之焦点。
Prosody
Line by line
庭院深深深几许，杨柳堆烟，帘幕无重数。
How deep is the courtyard? The triple 'deep' emphasizes oppressive seclusion. Willows piled like mist create a hazy, stifling atmosphere, and countless curtains further isolate the speaker.
庭院幽深，究竟有多深？杨柳如烟似雾层层堆叠，帘幕一道又一道数不清。
The courtyard, deep, deep — how deep? The willows piled with mist; the curtain upon curtain, past counting.
开篇一问「庭院深深深几许」，三「深」字叠用，是千古传诵的炼字名句：第一个「深」写庭院之幽邃，第二个「深」极言其深之程度，第三个「深」引出「几许」之问，将深推至无可度量，遂成层层递进之势；三「深」连读，音节绵长，如深闺中一声长长的叹息。「杨柳堆烟」之「堆」字，写杨柳繁茂如烟似雾、层层堆积，暮色朦胧中愈显压抑，以「堆」写「烟」，化无形为有形；「帘幕无重数」写帘幕重重、数之不清，以「无重数」三字将封闭之感推向极致。两句皆以景写情：庭深、柳密、幕重，皆为「闭锁」造境，女主人公被囚于深闺的画面由此立起，全词的寂寞基调在此奠定。起句不凡，先声夺人，正是欧阳修词「疏隽深婉」风格的典型开端。
The opening question the courtyard, deep, deep — how deep? triples the word deep, the immortal crafted line: the first deep writes the courtyard's remoteness, the second deep the degree of its depth, the third deep leading the question how deep, pushing the depth to the immeasurable, the advancing layer on layer; the three deeps read together, the cadence long, like a long sigh in the deep chamber. The word piled of the willows piled with mist writes the willows lush as mist, piled layer on layer, the dusk the more oppressive, the piled for the mist turning the formless into the formed; the curtain upon curtain, past counting writes the curtains piled, past number, the three words past counting pushing the sealed feeling to the extreme. Two lines all writing feeling through scene: the deep court, the dense willows, the piled curtains, all building the sealed realm, the imprisoned woman in the deep chamber's picture rising, the ci's lonely tone fixed here. The opening uncommon, striking first, precisely Ouyang Xiu's sparse, graceful, deep, restrained style's typical beginning.
玉勒雕鞍游冶处，楼高不见章台路。
The husband's jade-bridled, carved-saddle horse goes to pleasure quarters. Even from a high tower, she cannot see the road to those places, symbolizing her inability to connect with him.
华美的马车停在歌楼妓馆，我登上高楼也望不见那章台游冶之路。
The jade bridle and carved saddle at the pleasure quarter; high as the tower, I cannot see the Zhangtai road.
「玉勒雕鞍」以华贵马具代指乘马之人——女主人公的丈夫，点出他正驰骋于「游冶处」（歌楼妓馆），与深闺中独守的人形成鲜明对照：一在外冶游、一在内独守，冷热迥异，怨情已寓其中而不著一字。「楼高不见章台路」写女子登楼远望，却望不见章台路：楼愈高，望愈远，而章台路终不可见，空间的距离与心理的绝望由此同时写出——不是不望，是望而不见，愈望愈绝望。「不见」二字是全词情感的一个落点：帘幕重重遮不断视线，高楼巍巍望不见归人，那种欲见不得的焦灼与无奈跃然纸上。此句承上启下：上承深闺闭锁之境，下启「雨横风狂」的春逝之悲。章法上，上片由近及远（庭院—杨柳—帘幕—楼台），景物愈推愈远，而怨情愈积愈深。
The jade bridle and carved saddle stands for the rider — the woman's husband, marking his galloping at the pleasure quarter, set in sharp contrast against the one alone in the deep chamber: one out at play, one within alone, the cold and the warm far apart, the resentment already within without one word. High as the tower, I cannot see the Zhangtai road writes the woman climbing the tower and gazing, yet the Zhangtai road unseen: the higher the tower, the farther the gaze, and the Zhangtai road beyond sight, the spatial distance and the psychological despair written together — not that she does not gaze, but that she gazes and sees not, the more she gazes the more the despair. The two words cannot see are a landing of the ci's feeling: the piled curtains do not block the sight, the high tower and yet the husband unseen, the anguish and helplessness of the unseeable leaping onto the paper. The line carries above and leads below: above the sealed chamber, below the rain slanting and wind raging of spring's ending. In structure, the first stanza from near to far (courtyard — willows — curtains — tower), the scenery pushed farther, and the resentment gathered deeper.
雨横风狂三月暮，门掩黄昏，无计留春住。
In late March, fierce rain and wild wind mirror the violence of fate destroying youth. Shutting the door at dusk, she cannot retain spring, a metaphor for her lost youth and love.
暮春三月风雨交加，我在黄昏里掩上房门，却没法把春天留住。
Rain slanting, wind raging, the third month's dusk; the door shut on the twilight, no way to keep spring.
「雨横风狂三月暮」以「横」「狂」二字写风雨之暴烈——雨势纵横、风力狂暴，暮春的摧残之力尽在其中，暗喻青春与爱情被无情践踏；「三月暮」点明时令，春已将尽，与风雨合观，正是「东风无力百花残」的凋零之景，伤春之情油然而生。「门掩黄昏」写女子在黄昏中掩上房门：黄昏本已令人愁闷，掩门更写闭锁与孤寂，一「掩」字写尽与世隔绝的深闺生活，仿佛要将整个世界关在门外，也将自己的青春关在门内；「无计留春住」直抒无奈——留春无计，正如留人无计、留韶华无计，惜春即是自伤，伤春即是自怜，两个「留」字（留春、留人）暗中呼应。此三句由外景（风雨）到内景（掩门）再到心绪（无计），层层收拢，将春逝之悲、身世之叹融为一体，为结句的「泪眼问花」蓄足情感之势。
Rain slanting, wind raging writes the storm's violence through the two words slanting and raging — the rain's cross, the wind's rage, the late-spring destructive force all within, secretly figuring the youth and love trampled without mercy; the third month's dusk marks the season, spring at its end, read with the storm precisely the withered scene of the east wind powerless and the hundred flowers fallen, the spring grief rising of itself. The door shut on the twilight writes the woman shutting the door in the dusk: the dusk already mournful, the shutting writing the sealing and the loneliness, the single shut exhausting the deep-chamber life cut off from the world, as if shutting the whole world outside the door, and shutting her own youth within; no way to keep spring directly speaks the helplessness — no way to keep spring, as no way to keep the man, no way to keep the fair years, grieving spring is self-grief, grieving spring is self-pity, the two words keep (keep spring, keep the man) secretly answering. Three lines from the outer scene (the storm) to the inner scene (the shut door) to the heart (no way), gathered layer on layer, fusing the spring's ending grief and the life's sigh, storing emotional force for the closing's tearful asking of the flowers.
泪眼问花花不语，乱红飞过秋千去。
Tearful eyes question the flowers, but they remain silent. Fallen red petals fly past the abandoned swing, showing nature's indifference to human sorrow and the passing of beauty.
含泪问花，花也不语，只有零乱的落花飞过秋千而去。
Through tearful eyes I ask the flowers, and the flowers say not; the fallen red flies past the swing.
此句是千古名句，以「层深」笔法写尽绝望。第一层「泪眼问花」：女子含泪向花倾诉，将花引为知己，痴情之态可掬，悲极而问花，正是无人可诉的无奈；第二层「花不语」：花本无情，岂能作答？问而无答，痴情落空，绝望更深一层，连唯一可诉的对象也沉默无言；第三层「乱红飞过秋千去」：花不仅不语，反而零乱飞过秋千而去——花亦凋零，自顾不暇，连「知己」亦不可得，唯余满地残红与寂寂秋千，物我同悲，绝望达于顶点。王国维谓此句为「有我之境」，「以我观物，故物皆著我之色彩」：泪眼所对之花、飞过秋千之乱红，皆染着女主人公的悲戚。毛先舒析其「层深」：一句之中，层层转进、愈转愈深。此句以景结情，不着一字议论而怨情满纸，是婉约词「以景结情」手法的极致。
The line is the immortal line, writing the despair through the layered-depth brush. The first layer, through tearful eyes I ask the flowers: the woman, in tears, speaks to the flowers, taking them for confidants, the doting pitiable, grief at the extreme and yet asking the flowers, precisely the helplessness of none to speak to; the second layer, and the flowers say not: the flowers by nature feelingless, how can they answer? Asked and unanswered, the doting falling to the void, the despair deeper, even the only confidant silent; the third layer, the fallen red flies past the swing: the flowers not only silent, but the disordered red flying past the swing away — the flowers themselves withered, hard put to it, even the confidant not to be had, only the fallen red and the silent swing left, thing and self in the same grief, the despair at the peak. Wang Guowei calls the line the realm with the self, viewing things through the self, hence all things take the self's color: the flowers faced through tearful eyes, the disordered red flying past the swing, all dyed with the heroine's grief. Mao Xianshu analyzes its layered depth: within one line, advancing layer on layer, the deeper it turns. The line closes emotion in scene, without one word of comment and the resentment filling the page, the graceful ci's extreme of the closing-in-scene method.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Ouyang's poem uses deep courtyard isolation to lock in sorrow; Li Qingzhao's uses thin mist and west wind to depict emaciation. They represent two approaches to boudoir plaint in Song ci.
李清照《醉花阴》「薄雾浓云愁永昼，瑞脑消金兽……莫道不销魂，帘卷西风，人比黄花瘦」与欧词同写闺怨，同属婉约正宗，然一为男性拟代、一为女性自述，情感质地迥异。欧词以「庭院深深」层层写闭锁，愁在空间的困囿与青春的消逝，客观视角、含蓄深婉，如隔帘看月；李词以「人比黄花瘦」写相思之憔悴，愁在离别与独守，主观倾诉、真切细腻，如灯下自照。二词同以景物烘托（帘幕对西风、乱红对黄花），同以「瘦」「深」等炼字名世，可对照宋词闺怨的两种写法：欧阳修得其「深」，李清照得其「真」；一为男性词人代言体的集大成，一为女性词人自述体的开山作，合观可见宋词闺怨题材的全貌。
蝶恋花·泪湿罗衣脂粉满 Butterflies in Love with Flowers: Tears Wet Silk Dress 李清照 · 同词牌《蝶恋花》、同婉约 Same tune, both graceful and restrained, but different emotionsOuyang's poem is about deep boudoir confinement and solitude, while Li Qingzhao's is about parting and tears. The same tune conveys contrasting moods.
李清照《蝶恋花·泪湿罗衣脂粉满》「泪湿罗衣脂粉满，四叠阳关，唱到千千遍」与欧词同用《蝶恋花》词调，同写女子之泪，然情境不同：欧词写深闺锁闭、春去人留的幽怨，泪眼问花，怨在无计留春，愁怨深婉、层层转进；李词写送别姊妹、离情难舍的悲伤，泪湿罗衣，悲在行将远别，情辞真切、直抒胸臆。同调而异情，可见《蝶恋花》一调吞吐悲欢皆宜：欧以之写怨，哀婉蕴藉，如幽咽泉流；李以之写悲，真挚明快，如清溪直泻。二词合观，既见同一词调在不同词人笔下的表现力之丰富，亦见宋词闺怨题材在男女词人笔下的不同面貌——男子作闺音，重寄托之深；女子写己怀，重性情之真。