宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric
花犯
Hua Fan: Ode to the Narcissus
楚江湄，湘娥乍见，无言洒清泪。
淡然春意。
空独倚东风，芳思谁寄。
凌波路冷秋无际。
香云随步起。
谩记得，汉宫仙掌，亭亭明月底。
冰弦写怨更多情，骚人恨，枉赋芳兰幽芷。
春思远，谁叹赏、国香风味。
相将共、岁寒伴侣。
小窗净、沈烟熏翠袂。
幽梦觉，涓涓清露，一枝灯影里。
A faint, detached breath of spring.
She leans alone against the east wind in vain — to whom can she send her fragrant thoughts?
Cold is the road of rippling steps, the autumn boundless.
A fragrant cloud of perfume rises with her steps.
Vainly I recall the immortal's palm-stand in the Han palace, tall and slender in the bright moonlight.
Icy strings voice their resentment all the more tenderly; the Sao poet's sorrow was wasted in his praise of fragrant orchids and hidden angelica.
Spring thoughts drift far away — who will savor the national fragrance now?
Let us be companions through the cold of the year.
A clean small window, dark incense perfuming her emerald sleeves.
Waking from her quiet dream: trickling clear dew — one branch in the lamplight.
Meaning
A song of the narcissus, the 'water fairy flower.' Zhou Mi addresses the blossom as the goddess of the Xiang, then the Luo-shen, then a Han-palace immortal, watching it pass from spring to autumn until, waking from a dream, he finds one branch standing in lamplight and dew. Beneath the shifting guises runs one thought: a fragrant, jade-pure beauty that no one any longer appreciates — and the poet's wish simply to keep it company through the cold.
楚江湄，湘娥乍见，无言洒清泪。淡然春意。空独倚东风，芳思谁寄。凌波路冷秋无际。香云随步起。谩记得，汉宫仙掌，亭亭明月底。冰弦写怨更多情，骚人恨，枉赋芳兰幽芷。春思远，谁叹赏、国香风味。相将共、岁寒伴侣。小窗净、沈烟熏翠袂。幽梦觉，涓涓清露，一枝灯影里。
Appreciation
[Plain Paraphrase] On the Chu riverbank a fairy appears and weeps without a word; in the thin spring air she leans against the east wind with no one to send her thoughts to. The poet recalls, vainly, the Han palace's dew-catching palm; then come icy strings, the Sao poet's wasted songs of orchids and angelica, and finally, waking, one branch of narcissus in lamplight and dew. [Structure] The lyric never names the flower until the end: eleven lines shift among goddess-view, memory, music, and a room, as if the object were glimpsed through veils. The upper stanza moves from sight to memory; the lower stanza from music to touch; the close is a single visual note. [Imagery] Tears become the flower's white cups; 'walking on ripples' bends the Luo-shen's steps to the narcissus's leaves; 'national fragrance' is the plant's classic epithet. The final image — dew, lamplight, one branch — turns description into a held breath. Restrained, allusive, the very model of the late-Song yongwu.
【白话串讲】 周密写《花犯》：“楚江湄，湘娥乍见，无言洒清泪”——“淡然春意。空独倚东风，芳思谁寄”——“凌波路冷秋无际。香云随步起”——他写水仙——无言洒清泪。 【意象与手法】 “楚江湄，湘娥乍见，无言洒清泪”以湘娥写水仙之清泪；“淡然春意。空独倚东风，芳思谁寄”写水仙之孤芳；“凌波路冷秋无际。香云随步起”以凌波写水仙之姿；结以“幽梦觉，涓涓清露，一枝灯影里”以灯影清露写水仙幽姿。咏物工细、比兴深婉。 【情感与主旨】 周密咏水仙之作，以湘娥、凌波等典故写水仙的清丽幽独，寄寓孤芳自赏之情，是南宋咏物词中以物写情的代表。 【名句点睛】 常考“楚江湄，湘娥乍见，无言洒清泪”以湘娥写水仙清泪；“幽梦觉，涓涓清露，一枝灯影里”以灯影清露写水仙幽姿。
Background
Zhou Mi (1232–1298), courtesy name Gongjin, hao Caochuang, traced his family to Jinan but lived in Wuxing (modern Huzhou, Zhejiang). A poet and noted anthologist, he mourned the fall of the Song in retirement, refusing office under the Yuan. Together with Wu Wenying he is known as one of the 'Two Windows' of late-Song lyric. This yongwu on the narcissus, most likely written in his later reclusive years, belongs to the late-Song fashion of object-poems in which every beautiful thing could carry a hidden, unspoken grief. It has remained a standard anthology piece, the best known of his ci.
《花犯》为南宋词人周密所作词。周密（1232—1298），字公谨，号草窗，先世济南人，后居吴兴（今浙江湖州），南宋词人，与吴文英并称「二窗」。此词咏水仙，为咏物之作。词中「楚江湄，湘娥乍见，无言洒清泪」写湘娥乍见；「淡然春意。空独倚东风，芳思谁寄」写空独倚东风；「凌波路冷秋无际。香云随步起」写凌波路冷；「谩记得，汉宫仙掌，亭亭明月底」写汉宫仙掌；「冰弦写怨更多情，骚人恨，枉赋芳兰幽芷」写冰弦写怨；「春思远，谁叹赏、国香风味」写国香风味；「相将共、岁寒伴侣。小窗净、沈烟熏翠袂」写岁寒伴侣；「幽梦觉，涓涓清露，一枝灯影里」写一枝灯影里。周密此词以咏水仙、一枝灯影里写其惜花之情，含蓄深婉，是周密词中的名篇。此篇《花犯》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 governing technique is personification through allusion: the flower is successively the weeping Xiang fairy, the Luo-shen crossing ripples, and the Han palace's jade stand catching dew, so that one plant is seen in three mythological mirrors. The second device is the 'wasted praise' argument — 'in vain did the Sao poet sing of orchids and angelica' — which uses Qu Yuan's authority to prove that true fragrance goes unrecognized. Third, perspective keeps shifting (viewer, remembered object, musician, dreamer), preventing the description from settling; and finally the close is deliberately anticlimactic: after music and memory, only a branch, some dew, and lamplight. No emotion is stated; the coldness of things carries it.
此词艺术上以「含蓄深婉、以典咏物」见长。全词上片写湘娥乍见与凌波路冷，下片写冰弦写怨与一枝灯影里。上片「楚江湄，湘娥乍见，无言洒清泪」写湘娥乍见：楚江湄，湘娥乍见，无言洒清泪；「淡然春意。空独倚东风，芳思谁寄」写空独倚东风：淡然春意，空独倚东风，芳思谁寄；「凌波路冷秋无际。香云随步起」写凌波路冷：凌波路冷秋无际，香云随步起；「谩记得，汉宫仙掌，亭亭明月底」写汉宫仙掌：谩记得，汉宫仙掌，亭亭明月底。下片「冰弦写怨更多情，骚人恨，枉赋芳兰幽芷」写冰弦写怨：冰弦写怨更多情，骚人恨，枉赋芳兰幽芷；「春思远，谁叹赏、国香风味」写国香风味：春思远，谁叹赏、国香风味；「相将共、岁寒伴侣。小窗净、沈烟熏翠袂」写岁寒伴侣：相将共、岁寒伴侣，小窗净、沈烟熏翠袂；「幽梦觉，涓涓清露，一枝灯影里」写一枝灯影里：幽梦觉，涓涓清露，一枝灯影里。全词含蓄深婉，以典咏物，是周密词中的名篇。
Allusions
Xiang E: the daughters of Yao, wives of Shun, who drowned in the Xiang and weep on its banks until their tears speckle the bamboo — their wordless tears match the narcissus's white drooping cups. 'Walking on ripples' (ling bo) comes from Cao Zhi's 'Rhapsody on the Luo Goddess': 'she steps over ripples, her silk stockings raise dust.' The 'immortal's palm' is the Han dynasty bronze figure holding a plate to catch dew, a symbol of vanished imperial glory. The 'Sao poet' is Qu Yuan, whose Li Sao praises orchids and angelica as emblems of virtue. 'National fragrance' (guo xiang) is a classical epithet for the narcissus, also applied to the orchid. 'Companions of the cold' alludes to the Three Friends of Winter — pine, bamboo, and plum — the narcissus here claiming a place among them.
词中「楚江湄」「湘娥乍见」「无言洒清泪」「淡然春意」「空独倚东风」「芳思谁寄」「凌波路冷秋无际」「香云随步起」「谩记得汉宫仙掌」「亭亭明月底」「冰弦写怨更多情」「骚人恨枉赋芳兰幽芷」「春思远谁叹赏国香风味」「相将共岁寒伴侣」「小窗净沈烟熏翠袂」「幽梦觉涓涓清露一枝灯影里」等语，皆含典故故实。「楚江湄」写楚江湄（湄为水边）；「湘娥乍见」用湘妃之典（湘娥为湘水之神），写湘娥乍见；「无言洒清泪」写无言洒清泪；「淡然春意」写淡然春意；「空独倚东风」写空独倚东风；「芳思谁寄」写芳思谁寄；「凌波路冷秋无际」用曹植「凌波微步，罗袜生尘」之意（洛神凌波），写凌波路冷；「香云随步起」写香云随步起；「谩记得汉宫仙掌」用汉宫承露盘之典（仙人掌承露），写汉宫仙掌；「亭亭明月底」写亭亭明月底；「冰弦写怨更多情」写冰弦写怨更多情；「骚人恨枉赋芳兰幽芷」写骚人恨枉赋芳兰幽芷（用离骚兰芷之意）；「春思远谁叹赏国香风味」写春思远谁叹赏国香风味（国香为水仙别名）；「相将共岁寒伴侣」写相将共岁寒伴侣（岁寒三友之意）；「小窗净沈烟熏翠袂」写小窗净沈烟熏翠袂；「幽梦觉涓涓清露一枝灯影里」写幽梦觉涓涓清露一枝灯影里。词人以湘妃、洛神、汉宫承露、离骚兰芷等典入词，不着痕迹，而把咏水仙之情写得真切可感，是善于熔铸典故的体现。
Commentary
Anthologized almost continuously since the Song, this lyric is the standard example of Zhou Mi's deep, restrained manner. Critics have especially praised the close — 'waking from her quiet dream: trickling clear dew, one branch in the lamplight' — for compressing an entire evening of veiled longing into a single lamp-lit image. The poem is often paired with Lin Bu's plum and Lu You's plum lyric in discussions of Song object-poetry: where Lin Bu stands back in pure contemplation and Lu You speaks in his own aggrieved voice, Zhou Mi dissolves the poet into the object. Modern readers value it as the finest narcissus lyric in the language, and as evidence that the late-Song yongwu could carry elegy for a lost world without naming it.
这首《花犯》，是周密写咏物咏水仙之作，写湘娥乍见、凌波路冷、一枝灯影里之情，含蓄深婉。上片写湘娥乍见与凌波路冷：「楚江湄，湘娥乍见，无言洒清泪」——楚江湄，湘娥乍见（用湘妃之典），无言洒清泪。写湘娥乍见：楚江湄、湘娥乍见，无言洒清泪——楚江之湄、湘娥乍见、无言洒泪；「淡然春意。空独倚东风，芳思谁寄」——淡然春意，空独倚东风，芳思谁寄。写空独倚东风：淡然春意、空独倚东风，芳思谁寄——淡然春意、空倚东风、芳思谁寄；「凌波路冷秋无际。香云随步起」——凌波路冷秋无际（用洛神凌波之意），香云随步起。写凌波路冷：凌波路冷秋无际、香云随步起——凌波路冷、香云随步起；「谩记得，汉宫仙掌，亭亭明月底」——谩记得，汉宫仙掌（用承露盘之典），亭亭明月底。写汉宫仙掌：谩记得汉宫仙掌、亭亭明月底——汉宫仙掌、亭亭明月底。下片写冰弦写怨与一枝灯影里：「冰弦写怨更多情，骚人恨，枉赋芳兰幽芷」——冰弦写怨更多情，骚人恨，枉赋芳兰幽芷。写冰弦写怨：冰弦写怨更多情、骚人恨枉赋芳兰幽芷——冰弦写怨、骚人枉赋兰芷；「春思远，谁叹赏、国香风味」——春思远，谁叹赏、国香风味。写国香风味：春思远、谁叹赏国香风味——春思远、谁叹赏国香；「相将共、岁寒伴侣。小窗净、沈烟熏翠袂」——相将共、岁寒伴侣，小窗净、沈烟熏翠袂。写岁寒伴侣：相将共岁寒伴侣、小窗净沈烟熏翠袂——岁寒伴侣、小窗沈烟熏翠袂；「幽梦觉，涓涓清露，一枝灯影里」——幽梦觉，涓涓清露，一枝灯影里。写一枝灯影里：幽梦觉、涓涓清露，一枝灯影里——幽梦觉、涓涓清露、一枝灯影里。这「幽梦觉，涓涓清露，一枝灯影里」，是全词之结：以一枝灯影里写其惜花。全词含蓄深婉，以典咏物，正是周密词中的名篇。
Prosody
Line by line
楚江湄，湘娥乍见，无言洒清泪。
On the banks of the Chu River the Xiang fairy comes into view, wordless, shedding clear tears.
楚江湄，湘娥乍见，无言洒清泪。
On the Chu river's brink, the Xiang goddesses are suddenly seen, speechless, shedding clear tears.
首三句写湘娥乍见，起笔即见其花。「楚江湄」写楚江湄，「楚江」写楚江、「湄」写水边；「湘娥乍见」写湘娥乍见，用湘妃之典写湘娥乍见；「无言洒清泪」写无言洒清泪，「无言」写无言、「洒清泪」写洒清泪。三句一写楚江湄、一写湘娥乍见、一写无言洒清泪，以楚江湄写水边、以湘娥乍见写其如湘妃、以无言洒清泪写其洒泪，写尽楚江湄、湘娥乍见、无言洒清泪之情。以典起兴，含蓄而清丽，是「以典起兴」的妙笔。
The opening three phrases write the sudden sight of the Xiang goddess, the flower rising at the first stroke. On the Chu river's brink: the Chu river the Chu water, the brink the water's edge; the Xiang goddesses are suddenly seen uses the Xiang consorts allusion for the sudden sight; speechless, shedding clear tears: the speechless the silence, the shedding-clear-tears the falling tears. Three phrases, the water's edge and the goddess and the silent tears — the river brink, the flower like the Xiang consort, the tears falling. Rising on allusion, restrained and fresh, the pointed brush.
空独倚东风，芳思谁寄。
She leans alone against the east wind in vain — to whom can she send her fragrant thoughts?
空独倚东风，芳思谁寄。
Vainly I lean alone on the east wind; to whom can I send the fragrant thought?
此二句写空独倚东风，是全词写芳思的关键。「空独倚东风」写空独倚东风，「空独」写空自独自、「倚东风」写倚着东风；「芳思谁寄」写芳思谁寄，「芳思」写芬芳之思、「谁寄」写寄给谁。两句一写空独倚东风、一写芳思谁寄，以空独倚东风写其独倚、以芳思谁寄写其思无所寄，写尽空独倚东风、芳思谁寄之情。以问写思，含蓄而深婉，是「以问写思」的点睛之笔。
The two phrases write the vainly leaning on the east wind, the key of the ci's fragrant longing. Vainly I lean alone on the east wind: the vainly-alone the empty solitude, the leaning-on-the-east-wind the leaning on the spring breeze; to whom can I send the fragrant thought?: the fragrant thought the fragrant longing, the to-whom-send the recipient's absence. Two phrases, the vain lone leaning and the longing's nowhere to send — the solitary leaning, the thought's no road. Writing longing through the question, restrained and deep, the pointed stroke.
凌波路冷秋无际。
Cold is the road where she walked the ripples, the autumn boundless.
凌波路冷秋无际。
The wave-treading road is cold, autumn without bound.
此句写凌波路冷，是全词以洛神写花的关键。「凌波路冷秋无际」写凌波路冷秋无际，用洛神凌波微步之意写凌波路冷秋无际。一句以「凌波」用洛神之典、「路冷秋无际」写路冷秋无际，写尽凌波路冷、秋色无际之情。以典写花，含蓄而清远，是「以典写花」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 cold wave-treading road, the key of the ci's writing the flower through the river goddess. The wave-treading road is cold, autumn without bound: the wave-treading uses the Luo River goddess allusion for the light steps, the road-cold-autumn-without-bound the road's cold and autumn's reach. One line writes the goddess through the allusion, and the road's cold through the autumn's bound — the wave-treading road, the boundless autumn chill. Writing the flower through allusion, restrained and clear, the pointed stroke. The few words carry a deep meaning, the pointed stroke of the ci.
冰弦写怨更多情，骚人恨，枉赋芳兰幽芷。
Icy strings voice their resentment all the more tenderly; the Sao poet's sorrow was wasted in his praise of fragrant orchids and hidden angelica.
冰弦写怨更多情，骚人恨，枉赋芳兰幽芷。
The ice strings write the grievance, the more for their feeling; the poet's grief has vainly sung the fragrant orchid and the quiet angelica.
此三句写冰弦写怨，是全词以骚人写花的关键。「冰弦写怨更多情」写冰弦写怨更多情，「冰弦」写冰弦、「写怨更多情」写写怨更多情；「骚人恨」写骚人恨，「骚人」写诗人、「恨」写怨恨；「枉赋芳兰幽芷」写枉赋芳兰幽芷，用离骚兰芷之意写枉赋芳兰幽芷。三句一写冰弦写怨更多情、一写骚人恨、一写枉赋芳兰幽芷，以冰弦写怨写其怨、以骚人恨写其恨、以枉赋兰芷写其枉赋，写尽冰弦写怨更多情、骚人恨枉赋芳兰幽芷之情。以骚写花，含蓄而深婉，是「以骚写花」的点睛之笔。
The three phrases write the ice strings' grievance, the key of the ci's writing the flower through the poet. The ice strings write the grievance, the more for their feeling: the ice strings the frozen strings, the write-grievance-the-more-feeling the plaint the more feeling; the poet's grief: the poet the exile-singer, the grief the resentment; has vainly sung the fragrant orchid and the quiet angelica uses the Li Sao orchid-and-angelica allusion for the vain song. Three phrases, the strings' plaint and the poet's grief and the vain orchid song — the grievance, the resentment, the wasted song. Writing the flower through the Sao tradition, restrained and deep, the pointed stroke.
幽梦觉，涓涓清露，一枝灯影里。
Waking from her quiet dream: trickling clear dew — one branch in the lamplight.
幽梦觉，涓涓清露，一枝灯影里。
From the dim dream I wake; the clear drips of dew, one spray within the lamp's shadow.
尾三句写一枝灯影里，是全词立意的落点。「幽梦觉」写幽梦觉，「幽梦」写幽深之梦、「觉」写醒来；「涓涓清露」写涓涓清露，「涓涓」写涓涓、「清露」写清露；「一枝灯影里」写一枝灯影里，「一枝」写一枝、「灯影里」写灯影之中。三句一写幽梦觉、一写涓涓清露、一写一枝灯影里，以幽梦觉写梦醒、以涓涓清露写露之清、以一枝灯影里写花在灯影，写尽幽梦觉、涓涓清露、一枝灯影里之情。以梦写花，含蓄而深挚，是全词最动人处，也是「以梦写花」的点睛之笔。
The closing three phrases write the one spray within the lamp's shadow, the landing point of the ci's intention. From the dim dream I wake: the dim dream the deep dream, the wake the waking; the clear drips of dew: the trickling the fine dripping, the clear dew the pure dew; one spray within the lamp's shadow: the one spray the single branch, the lamp's-shadow the lamplight. Three phrases, the waking from the dream and the trickling dew and the spray in the lamp's shadow — the waking, the dew's purity, the flower in the lamplight. Writing the flower through the dream, restrained and deep, the most moving place of the ci, the pointed stroke.
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Lin Bu's quatrain, the most famous plum poem of the Song, stands in pure contemplation — no poet appears in it. Zhou Mi's lyric, equally pure in diction, still moves through memory, music, and a waking room, so its purity is warmer and more personal. Read side by side, they show the two poles of Song flower-poetry: Lin Bu's crystalline stillness and Zhou Mi's veiled, allusive tenderness.
林逋《山园小梅》「疏影横斜水清浅，暗香浮动月黄昏」，写梅之清雅，是宋诗咏物的绝唱；周密《花犯》则以「楚江湄，湘娥乍见，无言洒清泪」「凌波路冷秋无际。香云随步起」写湘娥乍见、凌波路冷。两词同写咏花清雅、以仙写花：一写疏影横斜水清浅暗香浮动月黄昏、以疏影暗香写梅，一写湘娥乍见无言洒清泪、以湘妃写水仙；一为林逋之清逸、一为周密之清婉，并读正可见宋代写「咏花清雅」的两种笔法，皆于咏花之中见清雅。
卜算子·咏梅 Bu Suan Zi: Ode to the Plum 陆游 · 同写咏花孤寂、芳思谁寄，一写驿外断桥边寂寞开无主、一写空独倚东风芳思谁寄，皆于孤寂之中见芳思 Both sing of a lone flower's solitude and unspoken longing; one writes 'beside the post road, over the broken bridge, blooming alone with no master,' the other 'leaning alone against the east wind in vain — to whom can she send her fragrant thoughts?'Lu You's plum is a self-portrait of unyielding integrity wronged at court; Zhou Mi's narcissus dissolves the self into the flower, and the grief it carries is never explained. Both turn a blossom into an unappreciated worth, but Lu You protests while Zhou Mi only keeps vigil — the difference between the heroic and the elegiac voices of the Song.
陆游《卜算子·咏梅》「驿外断桥边，寂寞开无主」，写梅之孤寂，是宋词咏梅的名篇；周密《花犯》则以「淡然春意。空独倚东风，芳思谁寄」「春思远，谁叹赏、国香风味」写空独倚东风、谁叹赏国香。两词同写咏花孤寂、芳思谁寄：一写驿外断桥边寂寞开无主、以断桥写孤寂，一写空独倚东风芳思谁寄、以东风写孤寂；一为陆游之孤高、一为周密之清婉，并读正可见宋词写「咏花孤寂」的两种笔法，皆于孤寂之中见芳思。