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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

蝶恋花·伫倚危楼

Butterflies Lingering over Flowers: Leaning on the High Tower

柳永

Liu Yong

爱情Love 愁思Longing and sorrow

伫倚危楼风细细。
望极春愁，黯黯生天际。
草色烟光残照里。
无言谁会凭阑意。
拟把疏狂图一醉。
对酒当歌，强乐还无味。
衣带渐宽终不悔。
为伊消得人憔悴。

I stand long leaning on the high tower, where a slender wind blows fine.
Gazing to the far edge, spring sorrow darkly rises at the sky's rim.
Meadow hues and misty light within the setting sun's glow.
Wordless—who can know the thought of one leaning on the rail?
I would take to reckless abandon to win a single drunk.
Facing wine and singing, forced mirth still has no savour.
My sash grows slowly loose, yet to the end I do not rue.
For her I am willing to fade, worn and wan.

Listen

Meaning

The poet climbs a tower and leans on the rail, watching spring sorrow rise from the horizon; before meadow hues and the setting sun none can read his lonely heart. He tries to drown the sorrow in wine and wild abandon, yet forced mirth tastes of nothing. In the end he declares he will grow thin for his loved one and never regret it.

我久久地伫立在高楼上，微风细细吹拂。极目远望，春日的愁绪黯黯地从天边升起。草色烟光笼罩在夕阳残照里，我默默无言，谁能领会我独自凭栏的心意。我打算放纵疏狂，图求一醉；对酒当歌，勉强作乐却毫无滋味。衣带渐宽，我始终不悔；为了思念的人，甘愿消瘦憔悴。

Appreciation

The lyric threads climbing-and-gazing into deepening spring longing: wind, meadow, mist, sunset all write feeling through scene, beauty deepening the sorrow. Its chief devices are contrast and progression—reckless abandon against tasteless forced joy, growing thin against unflagging resolve—rising from outer scene to inner feeling to vow, until the last two lines burst like a peak, lifting spring sorrow into a love oath unto death.

【白话串讲】柳永写蝶恋花：“伫倚危楼风细细。望极春愁，黯黯生天际”。“拟把疏狂图一醉。对酒当歌，强乐还无味”——“衣带渐宽终不悔。为伊消得人憔悴”——他写相思瘦。【意象与手法】全词以登高望远为线索，层层递进地写春愁：风、草色、烟光、残照，皆以景写情，景物愈美而愁绪愈深。手法上最突出的是对比与递进：拟把疏狂图一醉的放纵，与强乐还无味的无奈相对；衣带渐宽的消瘦，与终不悔的坚定相对。词境由外而内、由景而情、由情而志，层层深入，至末二句如奇峰突起，把春愁升华为至死不渝的爱情誓言。【情感与主旨】词写春日的离愁与对爱情的执着，主旨在一痴字：为思念而消瘦憔悴，却始终不悔。柳永词长于写情，此词以登高望远起兴，以酒乐消愁作衬，层层烘托，把一种刻骨铭心的相思写得既缠绵又刚烈，是爱情词的千古绝唱。【名句点睛】衣带渐宽终不悔，为伊消得人憔悴二句，以消瘦写深情，以不悔写执着，是千古传诵的爱情名句，王国维更引之以喻治学求道的执着境界，可见其影响之深远。

Background

'Butterflies Lingering over Flowers: Leaning on the High Tower' is a famous lyric by Liu Yong, likely written in his youth while wandering Bianjing (Kaifeng) or on a journey. Liu Yong, original name Sanbian, came from an official family, went to the capital for the exam but failed repeatedly, then haunted the pleasure quarters, writing lyrics for musicians; his songs spread so wide it was said 'wherever there is a well, there Liu's lyrics are sung.' This lyric of tower-gazing and unsoothed spring sorrow was written when, on a spring day, he climbed alone and looked to the horizon, missing someone far away. Liu's official life was thwarted; he drifted long through Bianjing, Hangzhou, Suzhou, with many love affairs with singing girls, and parting sorrow often haunted him. The line 'my sash grows loose, yet I do not rue; for her I fade, worn and wan' is his very portrait of lifelong devotion; Wang Guowei cited it in his Poetic Remarks as the second of the three realms of great achievement, showing its lofty standing.

《蝶恋花·伫倚危楼》是柳永词中的名篇，约作于词人青年时期漫游汴京（今开封）或羁旅行役途中。柳永原名三变，出身官宦世家，早年赴京应进士试，屡试不第，遂流连于秦楼楚馆，与歌妓乐工为伍，为教坊乐工填词，其词传唱极广，有凡有井水处，即能歌柳词之说。此词写登高望远、春愁难遣之情，当是词人于暮春时节独登高楼，远望天涯，思念远方之人而作。柳永一生仕途偃蹇，长期漂泊于汴京、杭州、苏州等地，与歌妓舞女多有恋情，分别后相思之情时时萦绕心头。此词所写，正是这种羁旅漂泊中的离愁别绪。词中危楼、春愁、草色烟光、残照等意象，皆江南暮春特有的景物，暗含时序推移、春去人远之叹。衣带渐宽终不悔，为伊消得人憔悴二句，更是柳永一生痴情的写照，王国维在《人间词话》中将其引为古今之成大事业、大学问者必经之第二境界，可见此词在文学史上的崇高地位。

Art

The lyric's chief art is the deft use of progression and reverse-contrast. It opens on tower-gazing; 'I stand long leaning' writes the duration of leaning and the fineness of wind; 'gazing to the far edge, spring sorrow darkly rises' makes formless sorrow rise darkly from the rim, turning void into substance; 'meadow hues and misty light' writes feeling through scene, beauty deepening the gloom; 'wordless—who can know' points the loneliness none understands. The lower stanza writes the effort to dispel sorrow: 'I would take to reckless abandon to win a drunk; facing wine and singing, forced mirth still has no savour' uses indulgence to set off the depth of sorrow—wanting drunk yet not, wanting joy yet tasteless, showing sorrow's undispellable; 'my sash grows loose, yet I do not rue; for her I fade' turns sharply down to name the root—for her—and ends on thinning without regret, pushing feeling to its height. In plan it moves scene to feeling to vow, layer on layer, until the last two lines dot the dragon's eyes and the realm opens. In language it is clear and tender, unworked yet moving, typical of Liu's gentle style. Note how it ends on 'sash grows loose,' turning grief into vow, lifting the spring-sorrow theme to the height of love's constancy—a stroke of thousand-catty force none but the deep-feeling could utter.

此词在艺术上最显著的特点是层递手法与反衬手法的巧妙运用。全词以登高望远开篇，伫倚危楼风细细，写出凭栏之久与风之微；望极春愁，黯黯生天际，把无形的春愁写得自天边黯黯升起，化虚为实；草色烟光残照里，以景写情，景物愈美而愁绪愈深；无言谁会凭阑意，点出孤独无人解。下阕写消愁之努力：拟把疏狂图一醉，对酒当歌，强乐还无味，以放纵反衬愁之深——想醉而不得醉，想乐而无味，可见愁绪之无可排遣；衣带渐宽终不悔，为伊消得人憔悴，陡转直下，道出春愁之根源是为伊，并以消瘦而不悔作结，把情感推向高潮。章法上由景而情、由情而志，层层递进，至末二句如画龙点睛，全词境界顿开。语言上清丽婉转，不事雕琢而自然动人，是柳永婉约词风的典型体现。尤可注意者，全词以衣带渐宽收束，化哀愁为誓言，将春愁题材提升至爱情坚贞的高度，笔力千钧，非深于情者不能道。

Allusions

The lyric's allusions are few yet seamless. 'Facing wine and singing' comes from Cao Cao's 'Short Song': 'facing wine and singing, how long is life'—meant as a sigh at life's brevity and carpe diem; the poet reverses it: even facing wine and singing, forced joy has no savour, writing the depth of sorrow and the folly of love by the old phrase in reverse. 'Standing long leaning on the high tower' melts the old tradition of climbing towers to write longing, from the Nineteen Old Poems and Wang Can's 'Climb the Tower' onward, here adding his loneliness. 'Gazing to the far edge, spring sorrow darkly rises' faintly uses Xie Tiao's and Jiang Yan's moods—'darkly' writes sorrow's dimness, natural in tongue. 'My sash grows loose' uses the Nineteen Old Poems' 'the days grow far, the sash daily looser' for lovesickness wasting the body, but Liu goes further: not only thin but unrepentant, raising the old poem's plaint to a firm vow—using the allusion yet not bound by it, his unique skill.

此词用典不多而皆化用无痕。对酒当歌，语出曹操《短歌行》对酒当歌，人生几何，本为感慨人生短暂、及时行乐之意，词人此处反其意而用之：纵使对酒当歌、强作欢乐，也毫无滋味，正写愁之深、情之痴，以古语反衬今愁，愈见其悲。伫倚危楼风细细，化用古诗登楼望远以写相思的传统，自《古诗十九首》涉江采芙蓉、王粲《登楼赋》以来，登楼怀远已成相思的经典情境，词人承此传统而更写其孤独。望极春愁，黯黯生天际，暗用谢朓之馀霞散成绮、江淹黯然销魂者唯别而已矣之意境，以黯黯写愁之黯然，语出自然。衣带渐宽，用《古诗十九首》相去日已远，衣带日已缓之典，写相思使人消瘦，而词人更进一层：不仅消瘦，而且不悔，把古诗的哀怨升华为坚定的誓言，用典而不囿于典，推陈出新，是柳永用典的独到之处。此外，词中危楼凭栏之姿，遥承王粲登楼怀乡之传统，以登高写相思，古意盎然。

Commentary

'Butterflies Lingering over Flowers' is among Liu Yong's widest-spread and highest-praised love lyrics. It rises on tower-gazing, spreads spring sorrow layer by layer, then bursts at the last two lines into a firm, clinging vow, moving readers for a thousand years. Wang Guowei, in his Poetic Remarks, names the three realms of great achievement, taking these two lines as the second: 'my sash grows loose, yet I do not rue; for her I fade'—as the spirit of striving for an ideal unto death, giving the lyric a philosophical reach beyond love. Critics prize its plan: climb, gaze, sorrow, think of wine, tasteless, thin, unrepentant—peeling like a banana heart to the true feeling at the end. For Liu himself, the lyric marks his gentle style's maturity; his gift of true feeling in plain language and citizen sentiment here reaches perfection, directly influencing Yan Jidao, Qin Guan, Li Qingzhao.

《蝶恋花·伫倚危楼》是柳永词中流传最广、评价最高的爱情词之一。词以登高望远起兴，层层铺写春愁，至末二句衣带渐宽终不悔，为伊消得人憔悴，陡然振起，把一种缠绵悱恻的相思升华为坚定执着的誓言，千百年来感动了无数读者。王国维在《人间诗话》中论古今之成大事业、大学问者必经过三种境界，以此二句为第二境界：衣带渐宽终不悔，为伊消得人憔悴，喻为实现理想而执着追求、虽九死其犹未悔的精神，赋予此词超越爱情的哲理内涵，足见此词影响之深远。历代词论家多推重此词章法之妙：由登楼而望远，由望远而生愁，由愁而思酒，由酒而无味，由无味而瘦，由瘦而不悔，层层递进，如剥蕉心，至末句方见真情。就柳永个人而言，此词标志其婉约词风的成熟，其以通俗语言写真挚情感、以市民情怀入词的特色，在此词中已臻化境，直接影响了晏几道、秦观、李清照等后世词人。

Prosody

Form Double-tune short lyric (Die Lian Hua)双调小令（蝶恋花）

Rhyme Two stanzas, each five lines, rhyming in the 'zhi/wei' oblique category: fine (细), rim (际), glow (里), thought (意), drunk (醉), savour (味), rue (悔), wan (悴), one oblique rhyme throughout, low and lingering.全词两阕，上下片各五句，押寘未韵：细、际、里、意、醉、味、悔、悴相协，仄声韵一韵到底，声调低回。

Tone pattern The tune is mostly seven-character with mixed lengths, its rhythm relaxed and low, fitting clinging sorrow. The whole uses oblique rhyme, dense, like pearls rolling, one chant and three sighs; the last line ends on a departing tone, sinking, with endless remainder.蝶恋花词牌句式以七言为主，长短相间，节奏舒展而低回，正合写缠绵悱恻的愁绪。全词押仄声韵，韵脚密集，读来如珠玉滚落，一唱三叹；末句为伊消得人憔悴，以去声收尾，声调沉落，余韵不尽。

Reading note Die Lian Hua, originally 'Magpie on the Branch,' a Tang banquet tune popular in the Northern Song, double-tune sixty characters, four oblique rhymes per stanza. This lyric is a short double-tune, each stanza five lines on oblique rhyme: fine, rim, glow, thought, drunk, savour, rue, wan are all departing or rising tones; the short, sinking oblique rhyme fits the clinging, unsoothed sorrow. In form, both stanzas are mainly seven-character with four- and five-character lines mixed, varied and cadenced. Its clearest trait is the oppressive single oblique rhyme throughout—not one level-foot rhyme, the short sinking of oblique exactly matching the pent gloom; the last line ends on the departing 'wan,' like a long sigh. Liu Yong mastered music; this lyric is a model of sound writing feeling, the oblique rhyme and clinging sorrow enhancing each other, a sound-law gem of the gentle school.《蝶恋花》本名《鹊踏枝》，为唐教坊曲，北宋时流行，双调六十字，上下片各四仄韵。此词为双调小令，上下片各五句，押仄声韵：细、际、里、意、醉、味、悔、悴诸韵脚皆为去声或上声，仄声韵短促低回，正与写愁绪的缠绵悱恻相合。句式上，上下片皆以七言句为主，间以四言、五言句，长短相间，节奏舒展而有顿挫：伫倚危楼风细细是七言，望极春愁，黯黯生天际是四五言相间，对酒当歌，强乐还无味是四六言相间，句式变化丰富，读来宛转有致。此词最显著的声律特点是仄韵一韵到底的压抑感：全词无一平声韵脚，仄声的短促沉落正合愁绪的郁结难舒；至末句为伊消得人憔悴，以去声憔悴收尾，声调沉落，如一声长叹，余韵不尽。柳永精通音律，其词声情并茂，此词正是以声写情的典范之作，仄声韵的运用与缠绵的愁绪相得益彰，堪称婉约词的声律杰作。

Line by line

伫倚危楼风细细。

Translation: 'I stand long leaning on the high tower, where a slender wind blows fine.' Note: The opening line sets the scene and tone. 'Stand long' writes the duration of standing and the folly of waiting; 'high tower' the height, hinting at gazing far and a drifting life; 'slender wind' the soft breeze, its gentleness against the tower's steepness deepening the loneliness aloft. In seven characters the figure, the tower, the wind are all before us—a lone shape standing long in the fine wind, preparing the 'gazing to the far edge, spring sorrow darkly rises' below. Plain words yet sorrow already born, Liu's typical scene-opening.

我久久地伫立在高楼之上，凭栏而望，微风细细地吹拂着我的衣衫。

Long I stand leaning on the high tower; the fine breeze stirs my robe.

开篇一句写登楼起兴，是全词的场景与基调。伫倚危楼，写词人久久地站立在危楼之上、凭栏而望，伫字见其站立之久、等待之痴，危楼写楼之高，暗含登高远望、身世飘零之意；风细细三字，写微风轻柔吹拂，细风与危楼相对，一柔一峻，愈见高处的孤独。七个字中，人物姿态、楼之高峻、风之轻柔俱在眼前，一个孤独的身影在细风中久久伫立，为下文的望极春愁、黯黯生天际作了情境上的铺垫。此句以平淡语写深挚情，不着一愁字而愁意已生，正是柳永以景启情的典型笔法。

The opening line writes the tower-climb rising, the scene and tone of the ci. Long I stand leaning on the high tower writes the poet standing long on the high tower, leaning and gazing; the single long shows the standing's length, the waiting's doting; the high tower writes the tower's height, secretly carrying the high gaze and the drifting lot; the three words fine breeze write the gentle stirring, the fine wind set against the high tower, one soft one steep, the loneliness of the height the deeper. Within seven characters, the person's bearing, the tower's height, the wind's softness all before the eyes, a lone figure standing long in the fine breeze, preparing the scene for the below's gaze to the end — the spring grief rising dimly from the sky's edge. The line writes the deep feeling in the plain words, not one word of grief and the grief born of itself, precisely Liu Yong's typical brush of rising feeling through scene.

望极春愁，黯黯生天际。

Translation: 'Gazing to the far edge, spring sorrow darkly rises at the sky's rim.' Note: These two lines, gazing to the far edge and birthing spring sorrow, are the hinge from scene to feeling. 'To the far edge' means looking to the utmost horizon, meant to dispel sorrow yet only seeing spring sorrow rise darkly from the rim; spring sorrow formless is written as rising darkly from the sky's edge, turning void to substance, as if filling heaven and earth—Jiang Yan's 'to be parted is the soul's dim dying' mood. 'Darkly' is doubly fine: it writes the dim horizon and the dim heart, scene and feeling one. The wider the gaze, the more sorrow, the open space setting off its depth, preparing the meadow and the wordless rail below.

我极目远望，直到天边，那春天的愁绪便黯黯地自天际升起，弥漫开来。

Gazing to the end, the spring grief rises dimly from the sky's edge, spreading wide.

此二句写极目远望而生春愁，是全词由景入情的枢纽。望极言望到极远之处，极目天涯，本为排遣愁绪，却只见春愁黯黯自天边升起；春愁本是无形之情，词人却写其从天际黯黯生起，化虚为实，仿佛这愁绪弥漫天地、无边无际，正是江淹黯然销魂者唯别而已矣的意境。黯黯二字尤为精妙，既写暮色天边的暗淡，又写心境的黯然，一语双关，景与情合而为一。这一句把登高望远与愁绪生成结合起来，望得愈远，愁生愈多，空间的开阔反衬出愁绪的深广，为下文草色烟光、无言凭阑作了情感的铺垫，是全词意境最苍茫的笔墨。

The two lines write the spring grief born of the distant gaze, the hinge of the ci's turning from scene to feeling. Gaze to the end writes the gaze to the farthest place, gazing to the world's edge, by nature to unburden the grief, and yet seeing only the spring grief rising dimly from the sky's edge; the spring grief by nature the formless feeling, and the poet writes its rising dimly from the sky's edge, turning the virtual into the real, as if the grief fills heaven and earth, boundless, precisely Jiang Yan's the heart-broken and the soul-spirited is only the parting. The two words dim are especially exquisite, at once writing the dusk's dimness on the sky's edge and the mind's dimness, one word double meaning, scene and feeling one. The line joins the high distant gaze and the grief's rising, the farther the gaze the more the grief born, the openness of space setting off the depth of grief, preparing the emotional ground for the below's grass-green and mist-light, the wordless leaning on the rail, the most vast desolate brush of the ci.

草色烟光残照里。

Translation: 'Meadow hues and misty light within the setting sun's glow.' Note: This line writes the tower-view scene, a famous feeling-through-scene line. Meadow hues (spring grass to the horizon), misty light (dusk haze), setting glow (sun westward)—three images stack into a dim late-spring picture: bright grass set in mist and glow takes a dim colour; thriving spring at the setting glow gains a waning air. The 'setting glow' tints the whole in ending light, matching the endless-unended sorrow within. The skill is writing feeling's key through scene's tone: not saying sorrow yet sorrow in the scene; the more beautiful the meadow-mist, the darker the glow, the deeper the sorrow, self and scene one. It takes the sky's sorrow into the eye's scene, the most pictorial line.

只见春草连天、烟光迷蒙，一切都笼罩在夕阳残照之中，凄迷而暗淡。

I see the spring grass to the sky, the misty light, all wrapped in the setting sun's afterglow, desolate and dim.

此句写登楼所见之景，是全词以景写情的名句。草色写春草连天，烟光写暮霭迷蒙，残照写夕阳西下，三种景物叠加，构成一幅凄迷的暮春图景：春草本应明丽，置于烟光残照之中，便染上了暗淡的色彩；春日本应蓬勃，时至残照，便有了衰飒的气象。词人着意以残照二字点染，使整个画面笼罩在将尽的日光里，正与心中将尽难尽的愁绪相合。此句妙在以景语的色调写情语的基调：不说愁而愁在景中，草色烟光愈美，残照愈暗，愁绪愈深，物我交融，浑然一体。此句承接望极春愁而来，把天际之愁落实到眼前之景，是全词画面感最强的一句。

The line writes the tower's scene, the famous line of the ci's writing feeling through scene. The grass-green writes the spring grass to the sky, the misty light the hazy evening mist, the setting sun the sun's descent, three scenes layered, forming a desolate late-spring picture: the spring grass by nature bright, set in the misty light and setting sun, dyed with the dim color; the spring by nature lush, at the setting sun's hour, the withered air. The poet deliberately dyes the picture through the two words setting sun, wrapping the whole image in the sun's light about to end, precisely matching the heart's grief about to end and yet not ended. The beauty lies in writing the tone of the feeling through the scene's color: not speaking grief and the grief within the scene, the grass-green and mist-light the fairer, the setting sun the dimmer, the grief the deeper, thing and self fused, one whole. The line follows the gaze-to-the-end spring grief, grounding the sky's grief in the present scene, the ci's most pictorial line.

衣带渐宽终不悔。

Translation: 'My sash grows slowly loose, yet to the end I do not rue.' Note: This line is the emotional peak, writing lovesickness wasting yet never regretting. 'Sash grows loose' uses the Nineteen Old Poems' 'the sash daily looser' for thinning from longing: not saying thin but the sash, writing the man by the thing,含蓄 yet vivid; 'yet I do not rue' suddenly lifts—though wasted and wan, never rue, the word 'to the end' writing the constancy and thoroughness of that steadfastness. Its skill is writing love by thinness, writing chastity by rue: the price greater, the vow firmer, gathering all the spread spring sorrow, wine, tastelessness into this, naming that all sorrow rises for her, lifting feeling from plaint to firm. With the next line it is a timeless love couplet.

因相思而日渐消瘦，衣带越来越宽松，可是我始终无怨无悔。

For longing, I grow daily thinner, the belt ever looser; yet I never repent.

此句是全词情感的高潮，写相思使人消瘦而始终无悔。衣带渐宽，用《古诗十九首》相去日已远，衣带日已缓之典，写因思念而日渐消瘦：衣带渐宽即人渐瘦，不言瘦而言衣带，以物写人，含蓄而形象；终不悔三字，陡然振起，写尽管消瘦憔悴，却始终无怨无悔，一个终字，写尽这种坚贞的一贯与彻底。此句之妙在于以瘦写情、以悔写贞：消瘦是相思的代价，不悔是爱情的誓言，代价愈大而誓言愈坚，把前面层层铺写的春愁、酒乐、无味，全部收束于此，点明一切愁绪皆因伊人而起，也使全词的情感由哀怨升华为坚定。此句与下句为伊消得人憔悴连读，是千古传诵的爱情名句。

The line is the climax of the ci's feeling, writing the longing's wasting and yet the never regret. The belt ever looser uses the Nineteen Old Poems' the farther the day, the looser the belt allusion, writing the thinning with the longing: the belt loosening is the man thinning, not speaking of thinness and speaking of the belt, writing the person through the thing, restrained and vivid; the three words never regret suddenly rising, writing the wasted and haggard and yet never regret, the single ever exhausting the constancy and the thoroughness of this loyalty. The beauty lies in writing feeling through the wasting, writing loyalty through the not-regret: the wasting the price of the longing, the not-regret the vow of love, the price the heavier and the vow the firmer, gathering the before-layered spring grief, the wine-joy, the tastelessness all here, marking all the grief rising from the one, and raising the ci's feeling from the plaint to the firm. The line read with the below's for the one I long for, I am willing to waste to this haggardness, is the immortal famous line of love.

为伊消得人憔悴。

Translation: 'For her I am willing to fade, worn and wan.' Note: This line, with the previous, closes the lyric. 'For her' names the cause—that person alone; 'willing' in Song colloquial means 'worth it, gladly,' here 'for her, gladly waste and wan, worth it, no regret.' Its skill is the plainest six characters for the fiercest feeling: not helplessly thin but gladly thin; not passively bearing longing's pain but actively giving the self to love's chastity. Wang Guowei cited it for the realm of devoted striving, showing its reach beyond love.

为了思念的那个人，我甘愿这般消瘦憔悴，也心甘情愿、绝不后悔。

For the one I long for, I am willing to waste to this haggardness, and never regret.

此句是千古传诵的爱情名句，与上句衣带渐宽终不悔合成全词的收束。为伊，点明消瘦的原因是为了那个人，伊字写尽所念之人的唯一；消得，在宋人口语中有值得、甘愿之意，此处写为了伊人，甘愿消瘦憔悴，瘦得值得，瘦得无悔；人憔悴，写消瘦的结果，形容枯槁、为伊而瘦之状如在目前。此句之妙在于以最朴素的六个字写最炽烈的情感：不是无可奈何地瘦，而是心甘情愿地瘦；不是被动承受相思之苦，而是主动献身爱情之贞。衣带渐宽终不悔，为伊消得人憔悴，两句连读，把相思写到了极致，也把痴情写到了极致，王国维引之以喻治学求道之境，足见其超越爱情的普遍价值。

The line is the immortal famous line of love, joined with the above's the belt ever looser, and yet I never repent as the close of the ci. For the one marks the cause of the thinning as the one, the single one exhausting the singleness of the longed-for; willing, in Song colloquialism, means worth, willingly, here writing for the one, willing to waste to the haggardness, the thinning worth it, the thinning unregretted; the haggard writes the result of the wasting, the withered form, the thinning for the one as before the eyes. The beauty lies in writing the most fervent feeling in the plainest six words: not the helpless thinning, but the willing thinning; not the passive bearing of the longing's pain, but the active devotion to love's loyalty. The belt ever looser, and yet I never repent; for the one I long for, I am willing to waste to this haggardness, read together, writing the longing to the extreme, and the doting to the extreme; Wang Guowei cites it to figure the realm of learning and pursuing the way, showing its universal value beyond love.

Study

Word focus

黯黯 Meaning: 'dimly,' 'darkly.' Analysis: 'Darkly' in 'spring sorrow darkly rises' is the most spirited diction. It means dim, lightless; here modifying spring sorrow rising from the rim, it is double: it writes the dim horizon and the dim soul. Jiang Yan's 'soul's dim dying' is its source; 'darkly' melts the abstract spring sorrow into colour and light—it rises from the rim, spreading, dimming all heaven and earth. The reduplicative has a low, returning tone, like a sigh, fitting sorrow's lingering. 'Vastly rises' would only write space, 'wispingly rises' too soft; 'darkly' fuses scene's dim and heart's dim, Liu's model stacked-word feeling, setting the low, clinging key. 黯黯生天际之黯黯二字，是全词炼字最见神韵之处。黯黯本形容昏暗无光，此处写春愁自天边升起，用黯黯修饰，一语双关：既写暮色天边的暗淡，又写心境的黯然销魂。江淹《别赋》有黯然销魂者，唯别而已矣之语，黯黯正承此意，把抽象的春愁写得有了色彩、有了明暗——它从天边升起，弥漫而来，整个天地都为之暗淡。此二字叠用，音调低回，读来如一声叹息，正合愁绪绵延之态。若作茫茫生天际，便只写空间的广阔，少了心境的黯然；若作袅袅生天际，又偏于轻柔，不足以承载春愁之重。黯黯二字，熔景物之暗与心境之黯然于一炉，是柳永以叠字写情的典范，为全词定下了低沉悱恻的基调。

伫 Meaning: 'to stand long,' 'to linger.' Analysis: 'Stand' in 'I stand long leaning' is the finest word for the figure's posture. 'Stand' means to stand a long while; with 'lean' it writes the poet standing long on the high tower, leaning the rail. One 'stand' writes the duration and the folly of waiting: not a chance climb, not a glance, but long standing, the fine wind on his face unheeded; this long stand is the mark of one who waits, one whose heart is tied. 'Stand' with 'lean'—one the fixed stance, one the rail pose—a lone, firm shape before us. 'Alone leaning' would write loneliness yet lose the longness; 'stand' injects time's length, preparing 'gaze to the far edge' and 'sash grows loose'—precisely because he stands long he gazes far; because he longs deep he thins unrepentant. Seeming ordinary, it is the eye of the figure. 伫倚危楼风细细之伫字，是全词写人物姿态最精炼的炼字。伫有久立、长站之意，与倚字连用，写词人久久地站立在危楼之上、凭栏远望。一个伫字，写尽站立的久与等待的痴：他不是偶尔登楼，不是匆匆一瞥，而是长久的伫立，任细风拂面而不动；这份久立，正是心有所待、情有所系的表现。伫与倚相连，一写立姿之定，一写凭栏之态，两字配合，一个孤独而坚定的身影便立在读者眼前。若作独倚危楼，虽也写孤独，却少了这份长久与执着；伫字一出，时间的长度便注入了画面，为下文望极春愁、衣带渐宽作了铺垫——正因伫立之久，才望得极远；正因思念之深，才消瘦不悔。此字看似寻常，实为全词人物刻画的点睛之笔。

消得 Meaning: 'worth it,' 'gladly' (also 'to bear'). Analysis: 'Willing' in 'for her I am willing to fade' is the most chewed word. In Song speech it means 'worth it, gladly,' also 'to bear, to endure'; here both: for her, gladly waste and wan, worth the wasting. Its skill is turning passive wasting into active gladness: not helplessly thin but gladly thin for her, worth it, no regret. With this word all the spread spring sorrow, wine, tastelessness gather, naming all rises for her, and footing the 'yet I do not rue'—precisely because 'worth it,' therefore no rue. 'For her I grow thin' would be passive telling; 'willing' gives the deep feeling active force, the foolish love firm posture. Common in Song colloquial yet by Liu's touch a timeless love vow, proof of his diction. 为伊消得人憔悴之消得二字，是此词最耐咀嚼的炼字。消得在宋人口语中有值得、甘愿之意，亦有禁受、承受之意，此处兼含二义：为伊消得人憔悴，即为了那个人，甘愿憔悴消瘦，值得憔悴消瘦。消得二字之妙，在于把一种被动的消瘦写成了主动的甘愿：不是无可奈何地瘦下去，而是心甘情愿地为伊而瘦，瘦得值得，瘦得无悔。这一个词，把前面铺写的春愁、酒乐、无味全部收束，点明一切愁绪皆因伊人，也为衣带渐宽终不悔作了注脚——正因为消得（值得），所以才不悔。若作为伊瘦得人憔悴，便只是被动的叙述；消得一出，深情便有了主动的力度，痴情便有了坚定的姿态。此词在宋人口语词中本极寻常，一经柳永点化，便成为千古传诵的爱情誓言，可见其炼词之妙。