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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

浪淘沙·把酒祝东风

Lang Tao Sha: A Toast to the East Wind

欧阳修

Ouyang Xiu

时序The Passage of Seasons 愁思Melancholy

把酒祝东风。
且共从容。
垂杨紫陌洛城东。
总是当时携手处，游遍芳丛。
聚散苦匆匆。
此恨无穷。
今年花胜去年红。
可惜明年花更好，知与谁同。

Cup in hand, I toast the east wind,
and beg it to linger with me, unhurried.
Trailing willows line the purple avenue east of Luoyang —
always the place where we walked hand in hand, roaming through every fragrant thicket.
Meetings and partings are bitterly hurried,
and this regret knows no end.
This year the flowers are redder than last year's —
but next year the flowers will be finer still; who will be there to enjoy them with me?

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Meaning

A toast to the east wind opens the poem and quietly becomes a lament. Standing amid the willow-lined roads east of Luoyang where he once roamed hand in hand with friends, the poet feels the bitterness of parting; and the yearly promise of ever-finer flowers only deepens the sorrow, since next year's splendor will have no one to share it. The poem moves from a feast of spring color to the loneliness ahead, cherishing time and friendship by anticipating their loss.

端起酒杯，祝愿东风，且让我们从容相伴，不要匆匆离去。垂杨依依的紫陌大道尽头，是洛阳城东；那里总是当年我们携手同游之处，一同游遍了芬芳的花丛。人生聚散本就苦于太匆匆，这离别之恨无穷无尽。今年的花开得比去年还红艳，可惜明年的花会开得更好，却不知将和谁一同观赏了。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] Cup in hand, the poet toasts the east wind and begs it to linger unhurried; the willows along the purple avenue east of Luoyang were always the place where he and his friends walked hand in hand through the fragrant groves. Then the mood turns: meetings and partings are bitterly brief, and the regret is endless. This year's flowers outred last year's — yet next year's will be finer still, and who will be there to enjoy them with him? [Structure] Time moves in three layers — the present toast, the memory of roaming, the imagined loneliness of next year — and feeling deepens with each turn. The bright spring colors are made to carry the sorrow of parting, so that the more beautiful the scene, the keener the grief. [Imagery] East wind, trailing willows, the purple avenue, fragrant thickets and red flowers give the poem its luminous surface; underneath runs the current of loss. The closing question, left unanswered, is the source of the lyric's endless resonance.

【白话串讲】欧阳修写浪淘沙：“把酒祝东风。且共从容。垂杨紫陌洛城东”。“聚散苦匆匆。此恨无穷”——“今年花胜去年红。可惜明年花更好，知与谁同”——他叹聚散匆匆。【意象与手法】全词以春日游赏为线索，选取东风、垂杨、紫陌、芳丛、红花等意象，色彩明丽而情调怅惘。手法上最突出的是对比与层递：今年花胜去年红，明年花更好，一年胜似一年，而携手同游之人却越来越少，花事愈盛而人事愈衰，以乐景写哀情，愈见其悲。【情感与主旨】词写春日与友人游赏后的惜别之情，主旨在于伤春怀人、感叹聚散无常。欧阳修与友人曾于洛阳东郊同游，如今又将分别，词人借东风与花事，抒发对相聚时光的留恋与对来日孤寂的预想，语浅情深，余韵悠长。【名句点睛】聚散苦匆匆，此恨无穷写人生聚散之无奈，感慨深沉；可惜明年花更好，知与谁同以花事之盛反衬人事之衰，是千古传诵的名句，王国维评其深得人生哀乐之至理。

Background

Ouyang Xiu (1007–1072) wrote this lyric in his youth, around 1031, when he was serving as a junior official in Luoyang, the Northern Song's Western Capital. There he formed close friendships with Yin Zhu, Mei Yaochen, Su Shunqin and other literary men, and they often roamed the famous scenic spots of Luoyang together, drinking and exchanging poems. Luoyang was renowned throughout the empire for its peonies, and spring outings with wine among the flowers were a fixture of literati life. The poem was written on just such an occasion — a spring excursion east of the city with friends, amid the willows and blossoms, as the poet sensed how soon the company must part.

《浪淘沙·把酒祝东风》是欧阳修早年之作，约作于宋仁宗天圣九年（1031年）至景祐年间，词人初仕洛阳时期。欧阳修天圣八年中进士，次年任西京（洛阳）留守推官，与尹洙、梅尧臣、苏舜钦等文士交游，常结伴游赏洛阳名胜，诗酒唱和，过从甚密。洛阳是北宋的西京，牡丹花事极盛，春日游赏、把酒赏花是当时文士的常事。此词当是词人与友人春日同游洛阳东郊、把酒赏花之际，感于聚散无常而作。洛阳城东的紫陌（郊野大道）垂杨依依，芳草丛生，是当时著名的游赏之地。词中今年花胜去年红，可惜明年花更好，知与谁同的感叹，既写花事的年年更新，更写人事的聚散无常——去年的同游者或已离散，明年的同游者又不知是谁，伤春怀人之情，溢于言表。此词是欧阳修早期的婉约词名篇，与其后来的《蝶恋花·庭院深深》《生查子·元夕》等同为宋词中的经典，可见其青年时代即已展现的填词才华。

Art

The lyric's chief technique is layering joined to contrast. Time moves in three steps — last year, this year, next year — each year's flowers finer than the last, while the company dwindles year by year; the joy of the scene is made to carry the sorrow of parting, writing grief through a joyful landscape. Structurally it runs from the present toast, through memory of roaming hand in hand, into the lament for partings, and finally into imagined future loneliness. The language is plain and domestic, yet the closing question leaves an endless resonance, and the whole piece hides deep melancholy inside bright spring color.

此词在艺术上最显著的特点是层递手法与以乐景写哀情的巧妙结合。全词以把酒祝东风开篇，且共从容，祝愿春色留驻，流露出对春光与相聚的留恋；垂杨紫陌洛城东，总是当时携手处，游遍芳丛，回忆当年与友人同游洛阳东郊的欢愉，色彩明丽，气象欢畅；聚散苦匆匆，此恨无穷，陡转直下，由欢愉转入感叹，写聚散无常之恨；今年花胜去年红，可惜明年花更好，知与谁同，以花事的年年更盛反衬人事的渐次凋零，把伤春与怀人融为一体。章法上由今而昔、由昔而叹、由叹而及未来，时间在三层之间流转，情感的层次极为丰富。语言上清丽自然，不事雕琢，把酒祝东风、且共从容，语出家常而情韵深长；可惜明年花更好，知与谁同，以反问收束，含蓄不尽。全词于明丽的春景中暗藏深沉的怅惘，是欧阳修婉约词风的典型体现。全词于小令中寄深沉之慨，尺幅之内，波澜自生，非大手笔不能为。

Allusions

The poem uses few allusions, and dissolves them into scene. Toasting the east wind continues the old tradition of cherishing spring and begging it to stay — the gesture is a ritualized refusal to let the season pass. The purple avenue comes from Liu Yuxi's line about the capital's great road with red dust brushing the face, and here denotes the grand excursion road east of Luoyang. Luoyang itself, the Western Capital, was famous throughout the empire for its peonies, and naming it fixes the scene of the remembered outings. The lament that meetings and partings are bitterly hurried belongs to the ancient line of songs on life's brevity and the pain of parting. None of this is displayed: as with salt dissolved in water, only the feeling is tasted.

此词用典不多而皆融化于写景抒情之中。把酒祝东风，化用李白《清平调》东风夜放花千树之句意，或更直接地承六朝以来惜春留春的诗歌传统，把酒祝愿东风，希望春光不要匆匆离去，人与春俱从容相守，暗含惜春之情。紫陌指郊野大道，语出唐代刘禹锡《元和十年自朗州至京戏赠看花诸君子》紫陌红尘拂面来，无人不道看花回，本为京城大道之称，词人用以写洛阳城东的郊野游赏之路，垂杨紫陌四字，画出春日的明丽。洛城即洛阳，北宋西京，牡丹甲天下，词人以此点明游赏之地，为回忆当年的携手同游提供了具体的时空背景。聚散苦匆匆，化用汉乐府《薤露》人生忽如寄以及古诗中人生聚散之叹，写聚散无常之理。全词用典皆不着痕迹，如盐溶于水，只见其情而不见其典，是欧阳修以学识入词而能浑然天成的表现。全词用典皆从春日游赏中信手拈来，不见斧凿之痕，正是大家手笔。

Commentary

The lyric is one of Ouyang Xiu's most celebrated and most widely anthologized works. Chen Tingzhuo, in the Baiyu Zhai Cihua, praised it as true in feeling and sincere in speech, lingering and mournful — precisely its power to move. The most admired lines are the closing three: this year's flowers outred last year's, next year's will be finer still, yet who will be there to share them? The yearly increase of beauty set against the yearly decrease of company has made the poem a byword for the sadness of partings. In the history of the genre, its bright, easy manner carrying deep feeling stands between Yan Shu's elegance and Su Shi's breadth.

《浪淘沙·把酒祝东风》是欧阳修词中流传最广的名篇之一，历代评价极高。清人陈廷焯《白雨斋词话》评此词谓其情真语挚，缠绵悱恻，正是点出其以情动人的特色。此词最动人处在末三句：今年花胜去年红，可惜明年花更好，知与谁同，以花事的年年更盛反衬人事的渐次凋零，一年胜似一年的花开，对照一年少似一年的同游之人，把伤春怀人之情写得层层深入，余韵不尽。王国维在《人间词话》中引此数句，谓其深得人生哀乐之至理，可见此词在文学史上的地位。就欧阳修个人而言，此词作于其青年时期，已显示出将唐诗的意境与词体的声情融合的才华，为其后来的词风奠定了基础。就词史而言，此词以疏朗明快的笔致写深沉的人生感慨，上承晏殊的典雅，下启苏轼的旷达，在北宋词由南唐词风向士大夫词风转变的过程中，具有承上启下的意义。此词亦常被选入各种诗词选本，与《生查子·元夕》同为欧阳修爱情词的经典。

Prosody

Form A double-tune (shuang diao) short lyric of fifty-four characters on the tune Lang Tao Sha, five lines in each of the two stanzas.双调小令（浪淘沙）

Rhyme One rhyme throughout, the level-tone dong rhyme group: rong, dong, cong, cong, qiong, hong, tong (in pinyin) — broad and resonant, carrying the open spring mood.全词两阕，上下片各五句，押东韵：容、东、丛、匆、穷、红、同相协，平声韵一韵到底，声调悠扬。

Tone pattern Short lines with closely set rhymes give a bright yet lingering rhythm: the upper stanza on roaming flows easily (five, four, seven, six, five characters), while the lower stanza on parting sinks as the rhymes crowd toward the close, sound following feeling from brightness into dejection.浪淘沙词牌句短韵密，节奏明快而宛转，正合写惜春怀人之情。全词押平声东韵，韵脚开阔响亮，声调悠扬舒缓；上片写游赏之乐，声情明快，下片写聚散之叹，声情低回，声随情转，一唱三叹。

Reading note Lang Tao Sha began as a Tang court tune of seven-character quatrain shape; Li Yu of the Southern Tang recast it as a double-tune short lyric, and it became a favorite for lamenting spring and partings. Ouyang Xiu's mastery shows in how the single open rhyme carries feeling from feasting to loneliness without a break.《浪淘沙》本为唐教坊曲名，原为七言绝句体，五代时演为长短句双调小令，北宋时流行。此词为双调五十四字，上下片各五句，句式整齐：首句五字、次句四字、第三句七字、第四句六字、第五句五字，句短韵密，节奏明快而宛转。押韵上，全词一韵到底，押平声东韵，容、东、丛、匆、穷、红、同等韵脚皆为平声，韵部开阔响亮，声调悠扬舒缓，正与春日游赏的明丽情景相合。此词最显著的声律特点是声随情转：上片写把酒祝东风、携手游芳丛的欢愉，韵脚从容、洛城东、游遍芳丛，声调明快舒展，如春水初涨；下片写聚散苦匆匆、知与谁同的怅惘，韵脚匆匆、无穷、红、同，声调渐转低回，如秋云渐凝。同一韵部之中，声情由欢转悲，可见欧阳修驾驭声律以表情的功力。全词声情与辞情高度统一，是宋词小令中声律与意境俱佳的典范之作。

Line by line

把酒祝东风。

Cup in hand, I toast the east wind.

我端起酒杯，向东风祝祷，愿春光长驻、相聚长久。

I raise the cup and make my wish to the east wind.

开篇一句以把酒祝愿东风起笔，是全词惜春留春之情的起点。把酒祝东风，写词人端起酒杯，向东风祝祷：东风是春天的使者，把酒祝东风，既是借酒迎春，更是借酒留春，希望春光长驻；此句之下，且共从容，是对东风的叮咛：且让我们从容相伴，不要匆匆而去，从容二字，写词人希望与春光、与友人从容相守，不要被时间催促着离散。这两句把惜春之情写得既庄重又亲切：以把酒祝祷的仪式感，写对春光的珍重；以且共从容的口语，写对相聚的留恋。东风吹拂，把酒相祝，人与春光相对，画面明丽而情意深长，为下文回忆当年同游、感叹聚散匆匆作了情感的铺垫。

The opening line rises on the raised cup's wish to the east wind, the starting point of the ci's spring-regret and spring-keeping. I raise the cup and make my wish to the east wind writes the poet lifting the cup and wishing to the east wind: the east wind the spring's messenger, the raised cup the wish at once the wine welcoming spring and the wine keeping spring, the wish that the spring light stay. Below, the two words at ease write the charge to the wind: let us linger at ease, not go in haste, the ease writing the poet's wish to stay with the spring light and the friends, unhurried by time. The two lines write the spring-regret at once grave and intimate: the ritual of the raised cup writing the treasuring of the spring; the colloquial ease writing the clinging to the gathering. The east wind blowing, the cup raised, the man and the spring facing each other, the picture bright and the feeling long, storing the emotional ground for the later memory of the old outing and the sigh of the hurried meeting and parting.

总是当时携手处，游遍芳丛。

It was always the place where we walked hand in hand, roaming through every fragrant thicket.

那里总是当年我们携手同游之处，一同游遍了芬芳的花丛。

Always it was the place where we walked hand in hand, roaming through all the fragrant thickets.

此二句写当年与友人同游洛阳东郊的欢愉，是全词回忆的中心。总是，写洛阳城东那片垂杨紫陌总（向来）是我们携手同游的地方，一个总是，表明不是偶尔一次，而是年年如此、向来如此，写出了同游之频繁、交情之深厚；游遍芳丛，写当年遍赏春花的尽兴，一个遍字，写出游踪之广、兴致之高，也暗含对美好时光的深深留恋。前一句垂杨紫陌洛城东，写游赏之地，垂杨依依、紫陌明丽，画出春日的优美环境。这三句以明丽的色彩写欢乐的回忆，读来春意盎然；而回忆越美好，越反衬出今日的孤单与聚散的伤感，这种以乐写哀的手法，为下文的聚散苦匆匆作了强烈的反差铺垫，欢愉写得越充分，怅惘便越深沉。

These two lines write the old joy of roaming Luoyang's eastern suburbs with the friend, the center of the ci's memory. Always writes the willow-draped eastern road of Luoyang east, always the place we walked hand in hand, the always showing not an occasional outing but year after year, the frequency of the roaming and the depth of the friendship; roaming through all the fragrant thickets writes the thorough enjoyment of the spring flowers, the through the breadth of the wandering and the height of the zest, secretly carrying the deep clinging to the fair time. The upper line, the willow-draped purple road east of Luoyang, writes the place of the outing, the drooping willows and the bright road, drawing the spring's fair setting. These three lines write the joyful memory in bright color, the reading alive with spring; and the fairer the memory, the more it sets off the present loneliness and the sorrow of meeting and parting, this way of writing grief through joy storing the sharp contrast for the coming bitter haste of meeting and parting, the joy written the fuller, the wistfulness the deeper.

聚散苦匆匆。

Meetings and partings are bitterly hurried.

人生聚散本就苦于太过匆匆，相聚何其短暂，离散又何其匆忙。

Meeting and parting — how bitter their haste.

此句是全词情感的转折，由回忆的欢愉陡转入聚散的感叹。聚散苦匆匆，写人生聚散之苦：相聚何其短暂，离散何其匆忙，一个苦字，直揭聚散无常的无奈；苦匆匆三字，把时间流逝的无情与人事变迁的无奈压缩在一起，感慨深沉。此句之下，此恨无穷，写离别之恨的无穷无尽：此恨指聚散之恨，也指时光流逝、人事凋零之恨，无穷二字，写其绵延不绝、无法排遣。这两句是全词情感最沉痛处，也是全词由欢转悲的枢纽：前文写把酒祝东风、携手游芳丛的欢愉，至此陡然跌落，如春水遇寒而结冰；后文写今年明年花事，正是此恨的具体展开。两句以极简的语言写极深的感慨，为全词定下了怅惘的基调。

This line is the emotional turn of the ci, turning sharply from the joy of memory to the sigh of meeting and parting. Meeting and parting — how bitter their haste writes the bitterness of meeting and parting: the meeting so brief, the parting so hurried, the one word bitter directly exposing the helplessness of meeting-and-parting's mutability; the three words bitter haste compressing time's ruthless flow and the helplessness of human change into one, the sigh deep. Below, the hatred has no end writes the parting grief's endlessness: the hatred the grief of meeting and parting, and the grief of time's flow and human decline, the two words no end writing the unbroken, the undischargeable. These two lines are the ci's grief-stricken peak, and the hinge of the turn from joy to grief: the writing above of the raised cup and the hand-in-hand roaming, here suddenly falling, like the spring water meeting the cold and icing; the later writing of this year's and next year's flowers is the concrete unfolding of this hatred. Two lines in the plainest words write the deepest sigh, laying the ci's wistful tone.

今年花胜去年红。

This year's flowers are redder than last year's.

今年的花开得比去年更加红艳美好，花事一年盛似一年。

This year's flowers are redder than last year's.

此句写眼前的花事，是全词以乐景写哀情的关键一笔。今年花胜去年红，写今年的花开得比去年更红艳，花开一年胜似一年，本应是可喜之事，词人却以此引出深深的怅惘。此句之妙在于花事与人事的对照：花是愈开愈好，人是愈聚愈少，花事的更盛与人事的凋零形成尖锐对比。去年同游之人或已离散，今年共赏之人亦将远行，花却一年红似一年，无情而有情，愈见人事之可哀。此句为下句可惜明年花更好，知与谁同蓄势：正因为今年已胜去年，明年的更胜今年才更令人心痛，层层递进，把伤春怀人之情推向高潮。以最明丽的春景写最沉痛的别情，正是此词最见功力之处。

This line writes the present flowers, the key stroke of the ci's writing grief through delighted scene. This year's flowers are redder than last year's writes this year's bloom fairer than last, the flowers year by year better, by rights a delight, and the poet uses it to draw the deep wistfulness. The line's beauty lies in the contrast of the flowers and the human affairs: the flowers blooming better and better, the men gathering fewer and fewer, the flowers' fuller bloom against the men's decline the sharp contrast. Last year's roaming companions may already be parted, this year's sharers of the view will soon travel far, and the flowers redder year by year, the unfeeling and yet the feeling, the more the grief for human affairs. The line stores force for the coming pity that next year's flowers will be fairer: precisely because this year already surpasses last, next year's surpassing this year is the more heartaching, advancing layer on layer, pushing the spring-grief and the longing for the man to the peak. Writing the most grief-stricken parting through the brightest spring scene, precisely the most crafted place of this ci.

可惜明年花更好，知与谁同。

Next year the flowers will be finer still — but who will be there to enjoy them with me?

可惜明年的花会开得更好，却不知将和谁一同观赏了。

Pity that next year's flowers will be fairer, and I know not with whom I shall see them.

末二句是全词的高潮，也是千古传诵的名句。可惜明年花更好，写明年花事将更盛，一个更字，把花事的美好推向极致；知与谁同，陡然一问：可惜明年的花会开得更好，却不知将和谁一同观赏了。此二句以花事的年年更盛，反衬人事的渐次凋零：花一年比一年好，而赏花的人却一年比一年少，去年的同游者或已离散，明年的同游者又不知是谁，知与谁同一问，写尽聚散无常、人事苍茫的悲哀。以乐景写哀情，花事愈盛而哀情愈深，是本词最见功力之处。这三句将伤春与怀人融为一体，由眼前的春色想到来年的孤寂，时间在去年、今年、明年之间流转，情感的层次极为丰富，读来余韵悠长，令人低回不已。

The last two lines are the ci's peak, the famous couplet through the ages. Pity that next year's flowers will be fairer writes next year's bloom yet fuller, the word fairer pushing the flowers' beauty to the extreme; I know not with whom I shall see them rises suddenly in the question: pity next year's flowers will be fairer, and I know not with whom I shall view them. These two lines set the yearly fuller flowers against the gradual decline of human affairs: the flowers better year by year, and the viewers fewer year by year, last year's companions parted, next year's sharers unknown, the question with whom exhausting the grief of meeting-and-parting's mutability and the human vastness. Writing grief through delighted scene, the fuller the flowers the deeper the grief, the most crafted place of this ci. These three lines fuse the spring-grief and the longing for the man, from the present spring to the coming year's solitude, the time flowing between last year, this year, next year, the emotional layers rich, the aftertone long, the reading lingering.

Study

Word focus

从容 Unhurried, at ease — a plea to the east wind to linger, turning an abstract wish for time to slow into an intimate, almost conversational request. 且共从容之从容二字，是全词惜春留春之情的关键词。从容本指舒缓不迫、安然自得，此处写词人对东风的叮咛：且让我们从容相伴，不要匆匆离去。此二字之妙，在于把抽象的时光具象为可商量的对象：东风本是无情之物，词人却祝愿它从容不迫，仿佛春光可以挽留、相聚可以延长。从容既是对东风的期望，更是对人生的期许——词人何尝不知春去必然、聚散难免，却仍要以这从容二字，表达对美好时光的深深留恋。更妙的是，从容二字与下文的苦匆匆形成对照：词人愿从容而光阴苦匆匆，愿望愈美好，现实愈无奈，惜春之情便愈深沉。此二字语出家常，不事雕琢，却含不尽之意于言外，是全词情感的起点，也是全词基调的定音之笔。

总是 Always, invariably — a colloquial Song-dynasty adverb; always the place where we walked hand in hand implies years of repeated visits, giving the memory warmth and depth. 总是当时携手处之总是二字，写回忆的频繁与情感的深挚，是此词炼字最见功力之处。总是一词在宋人口语中意为经常、每每、向来如此，此处写洛阳城东那片垂杨紫陌，总（向来）是我们当年携手同游的地方。此二字之妙，在于以时间副词写空间的记忆：一个总是，表明不是偶尔一次，而是年年如此、向来如此，写出了同游之频繁、交情之深厚；也暗示那片芳丛承载着无数次欢聚的记忆，每次游赏都历历在目。若作犹是当时携手处或正是当时携手处，便只写一次的记忆；总是一出，便有了岁月的厚度与情感的温度。更妙的是，总是与下文的苦匆匆相映：正因为总是同游、习以为常，才更觉聚散之匆匆难忍。此二字看似平淡，实为全词回忆部分的情感支柱。

更 Even more, still finer — pushes the flowers' splendor one step further, the pivot of the poem's layering: the better the flowers, the sharper the loneliness of having no one to share them. 可惜明年花更好之更字，是此词层递手法的关键一字。更作更加、愈益解，此处写明年的花会比今年开得更好，一个更字，把花事的美好推向极致：今年已胜去年，明年更胜今年，花开一年胜似一年，红艳一年胜过一年。此字之妙，在于以花事的递进反衬人事的衰减：花是愈开愈好，人是愈聚愈少，花事的更盛与人事的凋零形成尖锐对照，乐景愈乐而哀情愈哀。若作可惜明年花又好，便只是平叙；更字一出，花事的美好便有了递进的力度，而这份美好无人共赏的悲哀也随之加重。此字与前句胜字相承，今年花胜去年红，明年花更胜今年，层层的递进把伤春怀人之情推向高潮，也为知与谁同的一问蓄足了势。一个寻常的副词，在欧阳修笔下竟有如此丰富的表现力，可见其炼字之精。