宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric
蝶恋花
Butterflies Love Flowers
几许伤春春复暮。
杨柳清阴，偏碍游丝度。
天际小山桃叶步。
白苹花满湔裙处。
竟日微吟长短句。
帘影灯昏，心寄胡琴语。
数点雨声风约住。
朦胧淡月云来去。
The willows' cool green shade only hinders the drifting gossamer's passage.
At the sky's edge, the little hill where Tao Ye once walked,
white duckweed flowers crowding the skirt-washing place.
All day long I softly chant my lines long and short;
curtain shadows, the lamp grown dim —
my heart entrusts its words to the barbarian lute.
A few specks of rain, held off by the wind;
a hazy pale moon, clouds coming and going.
Meaning
He Zhu gathers the last signs of spring — willow shade that tangles the drifting gossamer, duckweed at the washing place where a beloved once went, rain checked by the wind, a pale moon veiled by moving clouds — and sets against them a day spent murmuring verse and confiding his heart to the lute. The sorrow for spring and for an absent woman never speaks its name; it is carried entirely by objects and by the hushed, hazy weather of the closing lines.
几许伤春春复暮。杨柳清阴，偏碍游丝度。天际小山桃叶步。白苹花满湔裙处。竟日微吟长短句。帘影灯昏，心寄胡琴语。数点雨声风约住。朦胧淡月云来去。
Appreciation
[Plain Paraphrase] How much sorrow at spring, and spring now deepens again into dusk; the willows' cool shade only hinders the gossamer's drifting. At the sky's edge is the little hill where Tao Ye walked, white duckweed crowding the skirt-washing place. All day the poet softly chants his verses; in curtain shadows and a dim lamp he entrusts his heart's words to the barbarian lute. A few specks of rain are held off by the wind; a hazy pale moon, clouds coming and going. [Imagery] Every image is half-lit and half-blocked: shade hinders, the hill is at the sky's edge, the lamp is dim, the moon hazy — a world of obstructions that mirrors obstructed feeling. [Technique] The lyric names the beloved only through places she passed, and the heart speaks only to an instrument; the closing weather — rain that will not fall, moon that will not shine — finishes the poem in suspended, unspoken grief.
【白话串讲】 贺铸写《蝶恋花》：“几许伤春春复暮”——“杨柳清阴，偏碍游丝度”——“竟日微吟长短句”——“数点雨声风约住。朦胧淡月云来去”——他写伤春——数点雨声风约住。 【意象与手法】 “几许伤春春复暮”以伤春起笔；“杨柳清阴，偏碍游丝度”以杨柳游丝写春景；“竟日微吟长短句”写日吟；“数点雨声风约住。朦胧淡月云来去”以雨声淡月写暮景。含蓄深婉、以景写情。 【情感与主旨】 贺铸伤春怀人之作，写春暮伤怀、微吟寄情与对旧日情人的追忆，含蓄深婉，体现贺铸词“深婉丽密”的风格。 【名句点睛】 常考“数点雨声风约住。朦胧淡月云来去”以雨声淡月写暮景；“竟日微吟长短句”以微吟写伤春之情。
Background
He Zhu (1052–1125), courtesy name Fanghui and sobriquet the Old Survivor of Qinghu, was a native of Weizhou (modern Weihui, Henan) who spent much of his life in minor official posts in the provinces. His ci range from the bold and heroic to the delicate and sorrowful; contemporaries nicknamed him 'He the Plum Blossom' after a famous line, and later anthologists placed him among the four great masters of Northern Song ci. This lyric is a late-spring piece of the 'sorrow for spring and longing for a person' type, written in the small Die Lian Hua tune, where his dense, understated style is at its most compressed.
《蝶恋花》为北宋词人贺铸所作词。贺铸（1052—1125），字方回，号庆湖遗老，卫州（今河南卫辉）人，北宋词人，词风兼婉约豪放，人称「贺梅子」。此词写伤春怀人。词中「几许伤春春复暮。杨柳清阴，偏碍游丝度」写伤春之景；「天际小山桃叶步。白苹花满湔裙处」写桃叶旧处；「竟日微吟长短句。帘影灯昏，心寄胡琴语」写心寄胡琴；「数点雨声风约住。朦胧淡月云来去」写淡月云去。贺铸此词以几许伤春、桃叶旧处、心寄胡琴写其伤春怀人之情，含蓄深婉，是贺铸词中的名篇。此篇《蝶恋花》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《蝶恋花》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 lyric's method is indirection. The woman is never named or described; she is present only through the places associated with her — the hill 'where Tao Ye walked', the skirt-washing place crowded with duckweed — so that memory does the work of portraiture. The verbs are chosen for obstruction rather than action: the shade 'hinders', and the heart 'entrusts' its words to a lute because speech has no object. The closing couplet is a masterpiece of withheld weather: rain is reduced to 'a few specks' and held off by the wind, the moon is hazy and the clouds keep crossing it, so the scene ends neither in storm nor in light but in suspension. This deep, reserved manner — feeling always one step behind the image — is what later critics meant by the densely wrought quality of He Zhu's style.
此词艺术上以「含蓄深婉、以景写情」见长。全词上下片各四句，上片写伤春之景与桃叶旧处，下片写心寄胡琴与淡月云去。上片「几许伤春春复暮。杨柳清阴，偏碍游丝度」写伤春之景：几许伤春春复暮；杨柳清阴，偏碍游丝度。「天际小山桃叶步。白苹花满湔裙处」写桃叶旧处：天际小山桃叶步；白苹花满湔裙处。下片「竟日微吟长短句。帘影灯昏，心寄胡琴语」写心寄胡琴：竟日微吟长短句；帘影灯昏，心寄胡琴语。「数点雨声风约住。朦胧淡月云来去」写淡月云去：数点雨声风约住；朦胧淡月云来去。全词含蓄深婉，以景写情，是贺铸词中的名篇。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
Tao Ye was the beloved concubine of the calligrapher Wang Xianzhi (344–386), celebrated in his song 'Tao ye fu Tao ye — crossing the river, no need of oars'; by Tang and Song convention her name stood for a lost or absent beloved, and 'the hill where Tao Ye walked' marks a place of past meetings. 'Washing skirts' (jian qun) refers to the spring festival of the third month, when women washed their skirts in the stream, a rite of courtship and cleansing associated with love; the duckweed crowding the washing place keeps the memory of her presence at the water's edge. 'Lines long and short' (chang duan ju) is simply the ci lyric itself, the form he chants all day. The 'barbarian lute' (hu qin), a western string instrument, belonged to the evening's indoor music, the instrument to which private words are entrusted when there is no one to hear them.
词中「游丝」「桃叶步」「白苹」「湔裙」「长短句」「胡琴」「雨声」「淡月云来去」等语，皆含典故故实。「游丝」写春日飘荡之虫丝，「杨柳清阴，偏碍游丝度」写杨柳清阴碍游丝之度；「桃叶步」用王献之《桃叶歌》「桃叶复桃叶，渡江不用楫」之典，桃叶为王献之爱妾，以桃叶步写其行处；「白苹」写水中白苹，「湔裙」写浣裙（古代上巳浣裙之俗）；「长短句」即词（词的别称）；「胡琴」写胡琴之乐（此指琵琶类乐器）；「数点雨声风约住」写数点雨声为风约住；「淡月云来去」写淡月与流云。词人以游丝、桃叶、白苹、湔裙、胡琴等语入词，不着痕迹，而把伤春怀人之情写得真切可感，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。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
He Zhu's ci were prized for exactly the qualities on display here: compression, indirection, and a cool musical finish. Anthologists from the Song onward placed this lyric among his finest, and the last two lines — 'a few specks of rain, held off by the wind; a hazy pale moon, clouds coming and going' — have been quoted as a perfect example of the 'ending in scenery' technique, where the poem closes on an image instead of a statement, leaving the emotion unresolved. Later critics of the 'dense' school of ci cited the lyric's texture of shade, dim lamps, and veiled moonlight as its ideal, while some readers have found it too slight in narrative; but its restraint is precisely its subject, a day of unspoken longing, withheld even in its weather.
这首《蝶恋花》，是贺铸写伤春怀人之作，写几许伤春、桃叶旧处、帘影灯昏之情，含蓄深婉。上片写伤春之景与桃叶旧处：「几许伤春春复暮。杨柳清阴，偏碍游丝度」——几许伤春春复暮；杨柳清阴，偏碍游丝度。写伤春之景：几许伤春，春又暮——春复暮，一年春又尽，其伤春可知；杨柳清阴，偏碍游丝之度——柳阴浓处，游丝难度，正写暮春之景；「天际小山桃叶步。白苹花满湔裙处」——天际小山桃叶步；白苹花满湔裙处。写桃叶旧处：天际小山，是其桃叶行步之处；白苹花满，是其湔裙之处——以桃叶之典写旧时行处，白苹花满、湔裙之处，皆旧日同游之地。下片写心寄胡琴与淡月云去：「竟日微吟长短句。帘影灯昏，心寄胡琴语」——竟日微吟长短句；帘影灯昏，心寄胡琴语。写心寄胡琴：竟日微吟长短句，帘影灯昏之际，心寄于胡琴之语——竟日吟词、帘影灯昏，唯以胡琴寄其心；「数点雨声风约住。朦胧淡月云来去」——数点雨声风约住；朦胧淡月云来去。写淡月云去：数点雨声，为风约住；朦胧淡月，云来云去——雨住云来，淡月朦胧，正写黄昏薄暮之景，其境更幽。这「朦胧淡月云来去」，是全词之结：以淡月云去写其伤春怀人之境。全词含蓄深婉，以景写情，正是贺铸词中的名篇。
Prosody
Line by line
几许伤春春复暮。
How much sorrow for spring — and now spring deepens once more into dusk.
几许伤春春复暮。
How much grief for spring, and spring is again at its dusk.
首句写伤春之深，起笔即见其情。「几许伤春春复暮」写几许伤春春复暮，「几许伤春」写几多伤春之情，「春复暮」写春又到暮。一句以「几许」写伤春之多、以「春复暮」写春又暮，写尽伤春之情深、春去之无奈——几许伤春，而春复暮。起笔写情，为全词写伤春怀人作铺垫，是「以情起兴」的妙笔。此句以寥寥数语写尽深意，情韵兼胜，正是全诗点睛之笔。其于字句之间暗藏波澜，于平易之中寄寓曲折，尤当反复涵泳，方能得其三昧。
The opening line writes the depth of the spring grief, the feeling at the first stroke. How much grief for spring, and spring is again at its dusk: the how much grief for spring writes the amount of the spring grief, the spring again at its dusk writes the spring once more at its eve. One line, the how much for the grief's abundance, the again at its dusk for the spring's return to dusk, exhausting the depth of the spring grief and the helplessness of spring's going — how much grief, and spring again at its dusk. Opening in feeling, preparing the ci's grief for spring and longing for the person, the fine brush of rising on feeling. The line writes the depth in scant words, the feeling and flavor both fine, the pointed stroke. Its hidden undercurrents call for repeated brooding.
天际小山桃叶步。
At the sky's edge, the little hill where Tao Ye once walked.
天际小山桃叶步。
The small hills at the sky's edge, the steps of Peach Leaf.
此句写桃叶旧处，是全词写怀人的关键。「天际小山桃叶步」写天际小山桃叶步，「天际小山」写天边之小山，「桃叶步」用王献之桃叶之典，写其行步之处。一句以「天际小山」写其处之远、以「桃叶步」写其人旧日行处，写尽天际小山之下、桃叶旧日行步之处——旧日同游之地，今在何处。以典写旧，含蓄而深挚，是「以典写忆」的点睛之笔。
The line writes the old place of Peach Leaf, the key of the ci's longing. The small hills at the sky's edge, the steps of Peach Leaf: the sky's-edge small hills writes the distant small hills, the steps of Peach Leaf uses the Wang Xianzhi Peach Leaf allusion for the place where she walked. One line, the sky's-edge hills for the place's distance, the Peach Leaf steps for her old walking place, exhausting the old wandering place now at the sky's edge — the place of the old wanderings, where now. Writing the old through allusion, restrained and deep, the pointed brush.
竟日微吟长短句。
All day long I softly chant my lines long and short.
竟日微吟长短句。
All day I softly chant the long and short lines.
此句写竟日微吟，是全词写其无聊的关键。「竟日微吟长短句」写竟日微吟长短句，「竟日」写整日，「微吟」写低声吟咏，「长短句」即词。一句以「竟日」写其吟之之久、以「微吟长短句」写其吟词，写尽其整日低吟长短句以遣怀之情——伤春怀人，唯以吟词遣之。以吟写情，含蓄而深挚，是「以吟写情」的点睛之笔。此句以寥寥数语写尽深意，情韵兼胜，正是全诗点睛之笔。其于字句之间暗藏波澜，于平易之中寄寓曲折，尤当反复涵泳，方能得其三昧。
The line writes the all-day soft chanting, the key of the ci's boredom. All day I softly chant the long and short lines: the all day writes the whole day, the soft chant the low humming, the long and short lines the ci itself. One line, the all day for the chant's length, the soft chant of the long and short lines for the chanting of ci, exhausting the all-day low chanting of the long and short lines to unburden the heart — the grief for spring and the longing for the person, only unburdened through chanting. Writing feeling through the chant, restrained and deep, the pointed brush. The line writes the depth in scant words, the feeling and flavor both fine, the pointed stroke. Its hidden undercurrents call for repeated brooding.
朦胧淡月云来去。
A hazy pale moon, clouds coming and going.
朦胧淡月云来去。
The dim pale moon, the clouds drifting to and fro.
尾句写淡月云去，是全词立意的落点。「朦胧淡月云来去」写朦胧淡月云来去，「朦胧淡月」写月色朦胧，「云来去」写流云来去。一句以「朦胧淡月」写月色之朦胧、以「云来去」写云之来去，写尽黄昏薄暮、淡月流云之境——雨住云来，淡月朦胧，其境幽远。以景写情，含蓄而幽深，是全词最动人处，也是「以景写情」的点睛之笔。
The closing line writes the dim pale moon and the drifting clouds, the landing point of the ci. The dim pale moon, the clouds drifting to and fro: the dim pale moon writes the moonlight's dimness, the clouds drifting to and fro writes the passing clouds. One line, the dim pale moon for the moonlight's dimness, the clouds drifting for the clouds' coming and going, exhausting the dusk and thin moon and drifting clouds — the rain ceased and the clouds come, the pale moon dim, the realm remote. Writing feeling through scene, restrained and remote, the most moving place, the pointed brush.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Ouyang Xiu's lyric — 'tearful eyes ask the flower, the flower does not speak; a swirl of red petals flies past the swing' — writes the deep boudoir's sorrow through flowers that will not answer; He Zhu's writes the wanderer's sorrow through hills, duckweed, and lute. Ouyang Xiu's grief is enclosed in a courtyard, He Zhu's moves through open country to a dim interior; the one is a woman's voice, the other a man's. Read together, they show how the same tune can hold two different kinds of silence.
欧阳修《蝶恋花·庭院深深深几许》「庭院深深深几许」「泪眼问花花不语，乱红飞过秋千去」，写深闺伤春，是宋词写伤春的名篇；贺铸《蝶恋花》则以「几许伤春春复暮」「天际小山桃叶步」「朦胧淡月云来去」写伤春怀人。两词同用蝶恋花词牌写伤春怀人之情：一写庭院深深深几许、以泪眼问花写伤春，一写几许伤春春复暮、以桃叶旧处写怀人；一为欧阳修之深婉、一为贺铸之含蓄，并读正可见宋词写「伤春」的两种笔法，皆以问语写伤春之深。
晏殊·蝶恋花·槛菊愁烟兰泣露 Die Lian Hua (Butterflies Love Flowers): 'Chrysanthemums by the rail grieve in the mist, the orchids weep with dew' 晏殊 · 同用蝶恋花词牌写秋日离恨，一写槛菊愁烟兰泣露、一写几许伤春春复暮，皆于景物中见怀人之情 Both write the thoughts of an absent beloved within the Die Lian Hua tune; one writes autumn's parting sorrow, the other late-spring longing — each finds the feeling in the scene.Yan Shu's lyric — 'the light chill of the gauze curtain, a pair of swallows fly away' and 'alone I climb the high tower, gaze to the end of the horizon road' — writes autumn longing on a grand, open scale; He Zhu's lyric writes late-spring longing in a small, hushed register of shade, duckweed, and lamp. Yan Shu's sorrow expands to the horizon, He Zhu's contracts to a lute and a hazy moon; the one is warm and broad, the other deep and narrow. Together they show the two classic emotional scales of the Song ci.
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」「独上高楼，望尽天涯路」，写秋日离恨、望尽天涯，是宋词写离愁的名篇；贺铸《蝶恋花》则以「几许伤春春复暮」「竟日微吟长短句」「心寄胡琴语」写伤春怀人。两词同用蝶恋花词牌写怀人之情：一写秋日离恨、独上高楼望尽天涯，一写伤春怀人、竟日微吟心寄胡琴；一为晏殊之温润、一为贺铸之深婉，并读正可见宋词写「怀人」的两种情致，皆于景物中见怀人之情。