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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

减字木兰花

Jianzi Mulanhua

朱淑真

Zhu Shuzhen

新秋霁夜有清境，穷襜病容无佳期。
生公把经向石说，而我对月须人为。
独行独坐亦独酌，独玩独吟还独悲。
古称独坐与独立，若比群居终校奇。

A night just cleared after rain in early autumn holds a pure realm;
ragged-clad and sick of face, I have no happy tryst to expect.
Master Sheng held the sutra and preached to the stones,
while I face the moon and must have a human companion.
Alone I walk, alone I sit, and alone I drink;
alone I play, alone I chant, and still alone I grieve.
The ancients praised sitting alone and standing alone;
set against a life among crowds, such solitude is rarer after all.

Listen

Meaning

On a fresh autumn night after the rain the poet, poor, ill and without prospects, confronts her solitude. Recalling the monk Daosheng, who preached until the stones nodded, she mocks herself: even the stones understood him, yet she needs a human ear for her song to the moon. Walking, sitting, drinking, playing, chanting — every act is alone, and every aloneness ends in grief. Yet the last couplet turns: the ancients praised solitude, and set against the noise of crowds it proves rarer after all. The poem moves from self-pity to a proud, wry self-sufficiency.

新秋雨霁的夜晚，自有一片清幽之境；而我身处穷途、带病容身，却没有什么佳期可言。想那生公对着顽石讲经，顽石尚且点头；而我对月长吟，却须要人来相伴，方能排遣。我独自行走、独自静坐，也独自酌饮；独自玩赏、独自吟咏，还独自悲叹。古人称道那独坐与独处的乐趣，若与这群居扰攘相比，终究觉得独处更为奇特有趣。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] A clear night after rain in early autumn — a pure realm — yet the poet, ragged and ill, has no happy tryst. The monk Sheng preached to stones until they nodded; she, chanting to the moon, needs a human companion. Walking, sitting, drinking, playing, chanting: six alone-words pile up, and all of them end in grief. But the final couplet turns — the ancients praised solitude, and against the noise of crowds it is rarer after all. [Structure] Environment, then person, then allusion, then the alone-climax, then the turn: five waves in eight lines. [Imagery] The pure realm is set against the ragged, sick body: the night's clarity is open to all, but she, poor and ill, cannot enjoy it, so beauty itself becomes an instrument of pain. The stones that nodded at the monk's preaching mock her need for a human ear. [Feeling] The self-pity is real, but the ending converts it into a proud, wry self-sufficiency — grief and self-respect held in a single breath.

【白话串讲】朱淑真写《减字木兰花》：“新秋霁夜有清境，穷襜病容无佳期”——“独行独坐亦独酌，独玩独吟还独悲”——“古称独坐与独立，若比群居终校奇”——她写孤独——独行独坐亦独酌。【意象与手法】题作词牌而文本实为七言诗，写新秋霁夜独处之况味。前二句以“清境”与“病容”“无佳期”对照；中二句以生公说法、顽石点头之典写独对明月；后二句连用六个“独”字写尽独行独坐独酌独玩独吟独悲的况味。于寂寞中见自得。【情感与主旨】写新秋霁夜独处之况味，以六个“独”字写尽孤独，却于孤独之中自寻乐趣、于清境中寄幽怀，是朱淑真后期身世飘零之作中的别调。【名句点睛】常考“独行独坐亦独酌，独玩独吟还独悲”以连用独字写孤独；“古称独坐与独立，若比群居终校奇”以独坐独立写自得。

Background

Zhu Shuzhen (c. 1135-c. 1180), styled Youqi Jushi, was from Qiantang (modern Hangzhou) in the Southern Song and is traditionally paired with Li Qingzhao as one of the two great women poets of the Song. Born into an official's family, she was married against her wishes to a petty merchant; the marriage was unhappy, and her verse is largely a record of boudoir sorrow and a drifting life. This poem — a seven-syllable quatrain sequence preserved under the ci tune title Jianzi Mulanhua, a sign of the mixed formats found in transmitted Song texts — was written on a clear autumn night just after the rain, when, poor, ill and companionless, she found both torment and pride in her solitude.

此诗为宋代女词人朱淑真的七言诗作，题作《减字木兰花》而文本为七言，系古籍传抄中体例混杂之现象。朱淑真（约1135—约1180），自号幽栖居士，南宋钱塘（今浙江杭州）人，与李清照并称宋代两大女词人。她出身仕宦之家，嫁与商人为妇，婚姻不幸，一生郁郁，其诗词多写闺阁幽怨与身世飘零，情致缠绵，凄婉动人。此诗写新秋霁夜独处之况：雨后初霁的秋夜，自是一番清幽之境，而诗人带病容身、穷困落寞，既无佳期可待，又无人可与共语；于是想到生公说法、顽石点头的故事——据说高僧竺道生（生公）在苏州虎丘山讲经，顽石为之点头，诗人自嘲：生公对石说法，石尚能解，而我对月长吟，却须有人相伴才行。全诗以「独」字为眼，独行独坐、独酌独玩、独吟独悲，六个「独」字连排，写尽深闺独处的况味；而结句「古称独坐与独立，若比群居终校奇」，又于孤独之中翻出一层自得——独处虽寂，终比群居之扰攘为奇。此诗既见其婚姻不幸、孤寂无侣的身世之感，又见其于寂寞中自守、于清境中自娱的孤高性情，是朱淑真诗中别具一格之作。

Art

The poem's spine is the word alone, and its craft lies in how that word is earned. The opening couplet plants a contrast — the pure realm of the night against the ragged, sick body: the night's clarity is open to all while the poet, poor and ill, has no happy tryst, so beauty itself becomes an instrument of pain. The middle couplet turns to the monk Sheng, who preached until the stones nodded; the stones' very dullness shames her need for a human companion. The third couplet then stacks six alone-words in two lines — walking, sitting, drinking, playing, chanting — every action swallowed by solitude, every solitude ending in grief; the rhythm gallops like beads down a string. The closing couplet breaks the momentum with a single turn: the ancients praised solitude, and against the noise of crowds it is rarer after all. From environment to person, from allusion to climax, from grief to pride, the poem moves in five waves within eight lines.

此诗艺术上以「独」字为骨，层层铺写独处之况味。前二句先立「清境」与「身世」的对照：「新秋霁夜有清境」，写雨后新秋、霁夜澄明，一片清幽之境；「穷襜病容无佳期」，写自己衣衫褴褛、面带病容，既无佳期可待，也无欢会可期。一清一困、一境一人，以环境的清幽反衬身世的困顿，开篇便见其寂寞之根。中二句转入典故：「生公把经向石说」，写生公说法、顽石点头的传说，以石之能解衬人之难通；「而我对月须人为」，以「而我」转折，写自己独对明月、却须人来相伴的孤独——生公尚有石为听者，而我一无所有，孤寂之甚，于对照中见出。后二句是全诗的高潮：「独行独坐亦独酌，独玩独吟还独悲」，六个「独」字连排而下，把独处的生活写尽——行也独、坐也独、酌也独、玩也独、吟也独，而这一切独处，归结于一个「悲」字；「古称独坐与独立，若比群居终校奇」，忽作一转，以古人所称道的独坐独处作结，翻出「终校奇」的自得之趣。全诗由清境而身世、由典故而独字、由独悲而自得，层层推进而波澜起伏，于寂寞中见性情，于自嘲中见孤高，是朱淑真诗中构思精巧、意蕴丰厚的一首。

Allusions

The core allusion is Master Sheng preached, and the stones nodded. Sheng Gong is the Eastern Jin monk Zhu Daosheng, who is said to have gathered stones as his disciples on Huqiu Hill in Suzhou and expounded the Nirvana Sutra until the stones nodded in assent. The poet turns the tale on herself: if even stones could grasp the monk's teaching, she, chanting to the moon, still needs a human listener — the stones' dullness shames her solitude. The language of sitting alone and standing alone echoes the Confucian tradition of vigilance in solitude, when a gentleman guards himself even unobserved; the closing praise of solitude is a poet's version of that tradition. The pure realm and the moon descend from the recluse-poetry line of Xie Lingyun and Wang Wei (bright moon shining among the pines), giving a boudoir poem a scholar-recluse's austere tinge.

此诗的核心典故为「生公说法，顽石点头」。「生公」指东晋高僧竺道生，相传他在苏州虎丘山聚石为徒、讲《涅槃经》，讲到妙处，顽石皆为之点头，故有「生公说法，顽石点头」之说。诗人引此典，自嘲自况：生公对石说法，顽石尚能解悟、为之点头，而自己对月长吟，却须要人来相伴，才不寂寞——以石之能解，反衬人之难逢，孤寂之情愈见深切。「独行独坐」「独坐与独立」的意象，则暗含中国士人「慎独」的传统：儒家讲「君子慎其独」，谓独处时亦须谨慎自守；而此诗末句「古称独坐与独立，若比群居终校奇」，正是对「慎独」之乐的一种诗化发挥——独处虽寂，却能自守自得，比群居的扰攘更为奇特。「清境」「月」等意象，又承古代隐逸诗的传统：谢灵运的山水清晖、王维的「明月松间照」，皆以清景写幽独之情。朱淑真引生公之典、取慎独之义、寄清境于月下，使这首写闺中独处的诗，带上了一层士大夫式的孤高自守的色彩，正是其才情与境遇相激的产物。

Commentary

Critics have always noticed the work this poem does on the word alone. Six alone-words roll down like beads on a string — walking, sitting, drinking, playing, chanting, grieving — so that solitude is not a mood but the whole texture of existence; the words even and still sharpen it, the one adding solitude upon solitude, the other driving all of them down into grief. This is Zhu Shuzhen's life, not merely her mood: married against her wishes, she lived most of her years in loneliness, and the poem is the miniature of her heart. Yet the poem's greatest merit is the final turn — solitude is rarer than the crowd — which lifts self-pity into self-possession. A woman of the inner chambers who could turn boundless loneliness into a proud rarer after all is what sets Zhu Shuzhen above the ordinary boudoir poet.

读此诗，最值得注意的是它在「独」字上所做的文章。全诗以「独」字为眼，独行独坐、独酌独玩、独吟独悲，六个「独」字如连珠般滚下，把深闺独处的生活写得淋漓尽致——不是某一时的孤独，而是一种铺天盖地、无处不在的孤独，行止坐卧、玩赏吟咏，无一处不是独自一人。而「亦」「还」二字的运用更见匠心：「独行独坐亦独酌」，一个「亦」字，写独处的常态与叠加，行也独、坐也独，连酌也独；「独玩独吟还独悲」，一个「还」字，写独处之悲的层层加深，玩也独、吟也独，最终归于一个「悲」字。这一串「独」字，既是身世的实录，也是心境的写照——朱淑真婚姻不幸，所嫁非偶，一生多在孤寂中度过，此诗正是其孤寂心境的缩影。然而此诗的妙处，尤在末句的一转：「古称独坐与独立，若比群居终校奇」——独处固然寂寞，但若与那群居的扰攘相比，终究觉得独处更为奇特有趣。这一转，把全诗的孤独从自伤提升为自得：不是无可奈何地承受孤独，而是主动地认可、甚至欣赏孤独，于寂寞之中见出孤高自守的性情。一个深闺女子，能于无边的孤独中翻出「终校奇」的旷达与自赏，正是朱淑真超越一般闺怨诗人的地方。

Prosody

Form Seven-syllable ancient-style verse (gu ti): eight lines in four couplets, preserved under a ci tune title (Jianzi Mulanhua)七言古诗（四联八句，题名与文体混录）

Rhyme The rhymes fall on qi, wei, bei and qi. Bei and qi belong to the level-tone zhi group, wei to the wei group, and qi again to zhi — adjacent level-tone rhymes kept uniform throughout. The opening line ends on jing, a falling-tone oblique word, so the poem begins on an oblique close before settling into its level-tone rhyme endings.此诗为七言古诗，押平声韵，「期」「为」「悲」「奇」皆属下平四支、五微、六鱼韵（「为」「悲」「奇」属支微韵，「期」属支韵），韵脚整齐而自然，读来朗朗上口。全诗四联，前两联写景叙事、后两联抒情议论，韵脚的统一使全诗浑然一体，正合七古「一韵到底、气势流转」的特点。首句「新秋霁夜有清境」的「境」字为去声仄收，不入韵，使起句由仄收转入平收的韵脚，形成「仄起平收」的节奏变化，读来平稳而有力。

Tone pattern Every line is seven syllables, but the syntax varies: the first two couplets oppose have against lack, and the ancient anecdote against the present self; the third couplet's six alone-words roll on like linked beads, quickening the rhythm to match the surge of grief; the final couplet returns to a measured, discursive pace.句式上，全诗皆为七言，而句法灵活多变：首联「新秋霁夜有清境，穷襜病容无佳期」，以「有」「无」对举，一扬一抑，起句从容；颔联「生公把经向石说，而我对月须人为」，以「生公」「而我」对举，一古一今，转句峭拔；颈联「独行独坐亦独酌，独玩独吟还独悲」，六个「独」字连排，如连珠滚下，节奏急促而情思奔涌；尾联「古称独坐与独立，若比群居终校奇」，以议论作结，节奏复归平稳。全诗由缓而疾、由疾而缓，声调起伏与情思的层层推进相谐，是七言诗中「以声写情」的佳构。

Reading note The poem's beauty lies in its seven-syllable regularity varied by flexible syntax: a pure realm against joyless fate, the monk's stones against the poet's moon, six alone-words climaxing, then the closing comment easing back — a rise and fall of sound that tracks the feeling from grief to wry self-sufficiency.作为七言古诗，此诗虽题作《减字木兰花》而实为七言，其声律之美在于七言的整饬与句法的变化。全诗八句，前四句写景叙事，后四句抒情议论，结构整饬而层次分明。首联以「清境」与「无佳期」对举，一扬一抑；颔联以生公之典与自身之境对举，一古一今；颈联六个「独」字连排，是全诗声情的高潮——六「独」连用，如连珠滚落，声调急促而情思奔涌，把独处之悲写得淋漓尽致；尾联以「终校奇」的议论收束，声调复归平稳，于寂寞中翻出旷达。全诗以七言的整饬为骨架，以句法的变化为血脉，声调起伏与情思流转相谐。就全诗而言，此诗于「独」字上做足文章，把深闺独处的况味写得既痛切又自得，既见其身世之困，又见其性情之孤高，是朱淑真诗中别具一格之作，也可见这位宋代女词人不让须眉的才情与气骨。

Line by line

穷襜病容无佳期。

Ragged-clad and sick of face, I have no happy tryst to expect.

我身处穷途、面带病容，没有什么佳期可以期待。

My ragged robe and sickly face — there is no fair hour to hope for.

这一句写诗人身世的困顿，是全诗「悲」字的源头。「穷襜」写衣衫之破旧，「病容」写面容之憔悴，一衣一貌，尽写其生活的困顿与身心的愁苦；「无佳期」三字，写希望之渺茫——新秋霁夜，本是良辰美景，而诗人既穷且病，更无佳期可待，美景反而成了愁绪的对照。此句与上句「新秋霁夜有清境」对举：清境是自然所予，人人可得；而佳期是人世所求，诗人独无。以「有清境」衬「无佳期」，一有一无之间，见出诗人与世界的隔膜——世界自有其清幽之美，而诗人被困于穷病之中，无福消受，也无心消受。这「穷襜病容」四字，正是朱淑真晚年身世飘零、贫病交加的实录，也是全诗孤独情怀的物质根源，读来令人恻然。

This line writes the poet's plight, the source of the poem's grief. The ragged robe writes the worn clothing; the sickly face the haggard face, one robe one face, exhausting the hardship of life and the misery of body and mind; no fair hour the three words writing the hope's thinness — the new autumn's clear night, by nature a fair season, and the poet at once poor and sick, with no fair hour to await, the fair scene turned instead to the foil of grief. The line sets against the upper clear night has its pure realm: the pure realm given by nature, all men may have; the fair hour sought by the world, and the poet alone lacks it. Setting the has-its-pure-realm against the no-fair-hour, between the having and the not-having, shows the poet's estrangement from the world — the world has its quiet beauty, and the poet, trapped in poverty and sickness, cannot enjoy it, has no heart to enjoy it. These four words ragged robe and sickly face are the record of Zhu Shuzhen's late years of drifting, poverty and sickness together, and the material root of the poem's lonely feeling, the reading pitiful.

而我对月须人为。

While I face the moon and must have a human companion.

而我对月长吟，却须要有人相伴，才能排遣这孤寂。

And I, facing the moon, must have someone at my side.

这一句是全诗由典故翻出的自嘲与自伤，也是孤独之情的点睛之笔。上句写「生公把经向石说」——生公对顽石讲经，顽石尚且为之点头，石虽无知，而能感于讲经之妙；「而我对月须人为」以「而我」转折：我独对明月，吟咏抒怀，却须要有人相伴，才能不寂寞。以生公之石尚能解人，反衬我之无人可语，孤寂之情愈见深切——不是我不愿独处，而是独处得太久、太深，连对月的吟咏都无人可赏，须要人来相伴。「须人为」三字，写得既自嘲又自伤：堂堂才女，竟沦落到须要人来相伴的境地，其间有多少知己难逢、知音难觅的慨叹。此句以典起兴、以情作结，是朱淑真写孤独最深刻的一笔。

This line is the poem's self-mockery and self-wound through the allusion, and the telling stroke of the loneliness. The upper line wrote Master Sheng preaching the sutra to the stone — the stone nodded at the preaching; the stone though mindless could be moved by the preaching's wonder; and I, facing the moon, must have someone at my side turns with the and I: I alone facing the bright moon, chanting to unburden the heart, and yet must have someone at my side not to be lonely. Setting the master's stone that could understand against my having no one to speak with, the loneliness the deeper — not that I will not be alone, but that the solitude has lasted too long, too deep, until even the moonlit chant has no one to appreciate, and one must have a companion. The three words must have someone write at once the self-mockery and the self-wound: the talented lady fallen to the pass of needing someone beside her, and within it how many sighs for the hard meeting of kindred spirits. The line rising on the allusion and closing in feeling, the deepest stroke of Zhu Shuzhen's writing loneliness.

独行独坐亦独酌，独玩独吟还独悲。

Alone I walk, alone I sit, and alone I drink; alone I play, alone I chant, and still alone I grieve.

我独自行走、独自静坐，也独自酌饮；独自玩赏、独自吟咏，还独自悲叹。

I walk alone, sit alone, and drink alone; I gaze alone, chant alone, and grieve alone.

这两句是全诗情感的高潮，六个「独」字连排而下，把独处的生活写到了极致。「独行独坐亦独酌」，写独处的常态：行走是独自一人，静坐是独自一人，连饮酒也是独自一人；「独玩独吟还独悲」，写独处的深化：玩赏是独自一人，吟咏是独自一人，而这一切，最终都归结于「独悲」——独自悲伤。两个「亦」与「还」字，写尽孤独的层层叠加：不是某一时的孤独，而是铺天盖地、无处不在的孤独，行止坐卧、玩赏吟咏，无一处不是独自一人。而「独悲」二字，更是全诗的魂：这许多的「独」，并不是自得其乐的独，而是无可奈何的独——独到深处，便是悲。朱淑真以一串「独」字写尽深闺独处的况味，字字见血，令人不忍卒读，是古代女性诗人写孤独最痛切的篇章之一。

These two lines are the emotional peak of the poem, six alone words ranged in succession, writing the solitary life to the extreme. I walk alone, sit alone, and drink alone writes the normal state of solitude: walking alone, sitting alone, even drinking alone; I gaze alone, chant alone, and grieve alone writes the deepening of solitude: gazing alone, chanting alone, and all of it gathering at last into the grieve alone — grieving by oneself. The two words also and the word still write the layering of loneliness: not the loneliness of one hour, but the heaven-and-earth covering, everywhere loneliness, walking, sitting, lying, gazing, chanting, no place not alone. And the two words grieve alone are the poem's soul: these many alones are not the alone of self-delight, but the alone of helplessness — solitude to the depth becomes grief. Zhu Shuzhen, with a string of alone words, exhausts the taste of the inner chamber's solitude, every word to the blood, the reading unbearable, one of the most piercing pages by an ancient woman poet writing loneliness.

Study

Word focus

清境 A realm of purity: the clear, cool air after rain in early autumn. In Chinese aesthetics qing blends clear, cool and pure, and jing raises a scene into a state of mind — the night's clarity mirrors, and intensifies, the poet's own solitude. 「新秋霁夜有清境」之「清境」，写雨后新秋之夜的清幽之境，是全诗起笔处的意境之眼。「清」字在中国古典美学中，兼有清澈、清幽、清冷诸义，是王维、谢灵运一派山水诗所追求的审美境界；「境」字则把自然之景提升为心灵之境，境由景生，境随心生。以「清境」写霁夜，既是写雨后初晴、天地澄澈的实景，也暗含诗人对此境的感受——清境固然清幽，而诗人身在其中，反而更觉自身的孤清。「清境」与下句「穷襜病容」相对，一清一浊、一境一人，以景之清反衬身之困，开篇便见其匠心。朱淑真以「清境」二字立骨，正是她虽处困顿而心向清幽的性情的流露。

须人为 To require human company: singing to the moon should be the joy of solitude, yet she must have someone with her — a self-mocking way of saying her loneliness is unbearable and a true friend impossible to find. 「而我对月须人为」之「须人为」，是此诗自嘲自伤的核心语，写孤独之深、知音之难。「须」者，必须也、需要也；「人为」即有人相伴。诗人对月吟咏，本应是独处的自得，却偏说「须人为」——必须有人相伴才行，可见独处之不堪承受，也见知音之难逢难觅。以「须人为」写孤独，比直说「无人相伴」更为深婉：不是无人，而是必须有人的那种孤单，正是深闺女子寂寞心境的最真切写照。此语与上句「生公把经向石说」的顽石点头相对照：生公对石，石尚能解；而我对月，却须人为——以石之易感反衬人之难通，孤寂之情愈见深切。「须人为」三字，平淡而酸楚，是朱淑真炼字的精到处。

校奇 Jiao means to compare and qi means rare or strange, so jiao qi is in the end it compares as rarer. The word is the poem's turning point: solitude is not merely grief but a rare excellence prized above the noise of crowds. 「若比群居终校奇」之「校奇」，是全诗结穴处的一词之炼。「校」读如「较」，比较之意；「奇」者，奇特、特异也。「终校奇」即终究还是比较奇特的——诗人以独处与群居相较，认为独处虽寂，终比群居的扰攘更为奇特有趣。这一「奇」字，是全文的转折与升华：前面六个「独」字写尽孤独之悲，末句却以一「奇」字翻出转来——孤独不只是悲，还有它的奇特与自得。以「校奇」作结，既见诗人对群居扰攘的厌弃，又见其对独处自守的认可，是朱淑真于无边的孤独中翻出的一点自得与孤高。「校奇」二字下得奇峭，正是朱淑真在深闺寂寞中不肯向命运低头、于孤独中自寻乐趣的性情的写照。