宋 Song · 诗 Poem
浪淘沙慢
Lang Tao Sha Man (The Slow Tune of Waves Washing Sand)
梦觉、透窗风一线，寒灯吹息。
那堪酒醒，又闻空阶，夜雨频滴。
嗟因循、久作天涯客。
负佳人、几许盟言，便忍把、从前欢会，陡顿翻成忧戚。
愁极。
再三追思，洞房深处，几度饮散歌阑，香暖鸳鸯被，岂暂时疏散，费伊心力。
𣨼云尤雨，有万般千种，相怜相惜。
恰到如今，天长漏永，无端自家疏隔。
知何时、却拥秦云态，愿低帏昵枕，轻轻细说与，江乡夜夜，数寒更思忆。
How can I bear it — sobering from wine, I hear again on the empty steps the night rain dripping and dripping.
I sigh: through drift and delay I have long been a wanderer at the sky's edge.
I failed my fair one and her many vows; how could I let our former happiness suddenly turn to grief?
Sorrow at its uttermost.
Again and again I recall: deep in the bridal chamber, feast after feast ended, song after song finished, the mandarin-duck quilt warm with fragrance — that was no passing dalliance; it cost her all her heart.
Clinging cloud and pressing rain — ten thousand kinds, a thousand ways of tenderness and pity.
And now, at this very moment: the nights are long, the water-clock drips on and on, and for no reason we have grown estranged.
When shall I hold her close again in her cloud-like grace — lower the curtain, press the pillow, and whisper to her softly, softly, of my nights in this river land, counting the cold watches, remembering?
Meaning
Waking at midnight to a thread of wind, a dying lamp and rain dripping on the empty steps, a wanderer far from home is overwhelmed by grief: he has failed his beloved's vows through years of drift. Memory carries him back to the warmth of the bridal chamber, and the poem ends with a wish — that some day, holding her close again, he may whisper to her of these nights spent counting the cold watches in a distant river land. Sleepless longing is answered by the hope of a future telling.
梦觉，透窗风一线，寒灯吹息。那堪酒醒，又闻空阶，夜雨频滴。嗟因循、久作天涯客。负佳人、几许盟言，便忍把、从前欢会，陡顿翻成忧戚。愁极。再三追思，洞房深处，几度饮散歌阑，香暖鸳鸯被，岂暂时疏散，费伊心力。𣨼云尤雨，有万般千种，相怜相惜。恰到如今，天长漏永，无端自家疏隔。知何时、却拥秦云态，愿低帏昵枕，轻轻细说与，江乡夜夜，数寒更思忆。
Appreciation
[Plain Paraphrase] Waking from a dream, the traveler feels a thread of wind through the window and sees the cold lamp blown out; how can he bear it, sobering from wine, to hear the night rain dripping on the empty steps? He sighs at his own drift — long a wanderer at the sky's edge, he has failed his beloved's vows. Sorrow at its uttermost, he recalls the bridal chamber's warmth: feasts ended, songs finished, the fragrant mandarin-duck quilt — no passing dalliance, but tenderness that cost her all her heart. And now the nights are long, the water-clock drips on, and for no reason they have grown estranged; when shall he hold her close again and whisper to her of these river-land nights spent counting the cold watches? [Structure] Three stanzas — the cold present, the warm past, the wished-for future — and the contrast between them is the frame of the whole. [Imagery] Small sounds do the work: wind, rain, the water-clock. Loneliness becomes audible, and the warm interior of memory makes the cold exterior of exile the more biting. The ending folds hope into sorrow — grief reserved for a future telling — which is the poem's most admired turn.
【白话串讲】 柳永写《浪淘沙慢》：“梦觉、透窗风一线，寒灯吹息”——“那堪酒醒，又闻空阶，夜雨频滴”——“嗟因循、久作天涯客”——“负佳人、几许盟言”——他写天涯客愁——久作天涯客。 【意象与手法】 “梦觉、透窗风一线，寒灯吹息”写梦觉之景；“那堪酒醒，又闻空阶，夜雨频滴”写酒醒之悲；“嗟因循、久作天涯客”写天涯客愁；“再三追思、洞房深处几度饮散歌阑”追忆往昔；结以“愿低帏昵枕，轻轻细说与，江乡夜夜，数寒更思忆”写盼再会而细诉衷肠。铺叙婉转、以情写景。 【情感与主旨】 柳永写羁旅怀人之作，写梦觉酒醒、天涯客愁与对佳人的追思，层层铺叙、婉转深挚，是柳永羁旅词的代表。 【名句点睛】 常考“那堪酒醒，又闻空阶，夜雨频滴”以空阶夜雨写酒醒之悲；“嗟因循、久作天涯客”以天涯客写羁旅之愁。
Background
Liu Yong (c. 987–c. 1053), courtesy name Qiqing and original name Sanbian, was a native of Chong'an (present-day Fujian). The most celebrated ci poet of the Northern Song, he wrote above all of the traveler's life and of city romance, and his lyrics were sung everywhere — it was said that wherever there was well water, there were people singing Liu Yong's songs. This slow-tune Lang Tao Sha lyric belongs to his great body of travel-and-longing verse: a wanderer wakes at midnight in a strange place, and the rain on the empty steps carries him back to the woman he left behind. It is a classic of his unhurried, elaborate manner.
《浪淘沙慢》为北宋词人柳永所作词。柳永（约987—约1053），字耆卿，原名三变，崇安（今福建武夷山）人，北宋著名词人，多写羁旅行役与市井生活，词风婉约，长于铺叙，人称「凡有井水处，即能歌柳词」。此词写羁旅怀人。词中「梦觉、透窗风一线，寒灯吹息」写梦觉之景；「那堪酒醒，又闻空阶，夜雨频滴」写酒醒之悲；「嗟因循、久作天涯客」写久客天涯之叹；「负佳人、几许盟言，便忍把、从前欢会，陡顿翻成忧戚」写负约之恨；「再三追思，洞房深处，几度饮散歌阑，香暖鸳鸯被」写追忆往昔；「知何时、却拥秦云态，愿低帏昵枕，轻轻细说与，江乡夜夜，数寒更思忆」写盼再会而细诉衷肠。柳永多写羁旅行役，此词以梦觉酒醒、追思佳人之情写羁旅之愁，铺叙婉转，是柳永羁旅词中的名篇，也是其「婉约铺叙」词风的典型体现。此篇《浪淘沙慢》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 art is Liu Yong's signature unhurried elaboration, here organized in three stanzas: the present scene of waking, the memory of the bridal chamber, and the wish for reunion. Small sounds do the work — wind through the window, rain on the empty steps, the water-clock's drip — so that loneliness becomes audible. The cold exterior (wind, rain, long nights) is set against the warm interior (fragrant quilt, songs ending, tenderness shared), and the past-present contrast is the frame of the whole. Most admired is the ending: instead of despair, the poet reserves tonight's grief to be whispered at a future reunion, so the poem closes on a hope that makes the longing more, not less, painful.
此词艺术上以「铺叙婉转、今昔对照」见长。全词三片，上片写梦觉酒醒之景，中片写追思往昔，下片写盼再会之情。上片「梦觉、透窗风一线，寒灯吹息。那堪酒醒，又闻空阶，夜雨频滴」写梦觉酒醒之景：梦觉，透窗风一线，寒灯吹息；那堪酒醒，又闻空阶，夜雨频滴。「嗟因循、久作天涯客。负佳人、几许盟言，便忍把、从前欢会，陡顿翻成忧戚」写久客天涯之叹。中片「愁极。再三追思，洞房深处，几度饮散歌阑，香暖鸳鸯被，岂暂时疏散，费伊心力」写追忆往昔；「𣨼云尤雨，有万般千种，相怜相惜」写往日之欢。下片「恰到如今，天长漏永，无端自家疏隔」写今日之况；「知何时、却拥秦云态，愿低帏昵枕，轻轻细说与，江乡夜夜，数寒更思忆」写盼再会之情。全词铺叙婉转，今昔对照，是柳永羁旅词中的名篇。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。
Allusions
The rain dripping on the empty steps echoes Wen Tingyun's lyric — leaf by leaf, sound by sound, on the empty steps it drips till dawn — the same image of a sleepless night. The mandarin-duck quilt, embroidered with paired birds, is the standard emblem of conjugal warmth. The cloud-like grace of the closing lines invokes the goddess of Mount Wu, who appeared to King Xiang of Chu in a dream and took her leave as morning cloud; Song Yu's Gaotang fu made cloud and rain the classic language of love, and the closing wish to hold her in her cloud-like grace draws on that tradition. The cold watches are the night watches of the water-clock in the freezing hours before dawn.
词中「空阶」「鸳鸯被」「秦云」「低帏昵枕」「寒更」等语，皆含典故故实。「空阶」写空寂之台阶，古诗词多以空阶夜雨写羁旅孤寂（温庭筠「一叶叶，一声声，空阶滴到明」）；「鸳鸯被」为绣鸳鸯之被，写夫妇同寝之暖；「秦云」用楚襄王梦遇巫山神女「旦为朝云」之典（宋玉《高唐赋》），以秦云写所怀之佳人，「却拥秦云态」写再拥佳人；「低帏昵枕」写低垂帏帐、亲近枕席；「寒更」写寒夜更声。词人以空阶、鸳鸯被、秦云、寒更等意象入词，不着痕迹，而把羁旅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
The lyric is a model of Liu Yong's travel-and-longing verse, valued for its unhurried elaboration and its sincerity. Critics have especially praised the way the three stanzas alternate cold and warm — the rain on the empty steps against the fragrant mandarin-duck quilt — so that memory itself becomes the wanderer's shelter. Its ending, reserving tonight's grief for a future whispered telling, has been called the most moving turn in the whole piece: sorrow is not resolved but deferred, and the deferral is the longing. Read together with Yu Lin Ling and Ba Sheng Gan Zhou, it shows the three great faces of Liu Yong's art of separation — the cry at parting, the view from the height, and the long night of counting the watches.
这首《浪淘沙慢》，是柳永写羁旅怀人之作，写梦觉酒醒、追思佳人之情，铺叙婉转。上片写梦觉酒醒之景：「梦觉、透窗风一线，寒灯吹息。那堪酒醒，又闻空阶，夜雨频滴」——梦觉，透窗风一线，寒灯吹息；那堪酒醒，又闻空阶，夜雨频滴。写梦觉酒醒：透窗风一线，吹息寒灯；酒醒之后，又闻空阶夜雨频滴。这梦觉酒醒、空阶夜雨之境，正是羁旅孤寂之写照；「嗟因循、久作天涯客。负佳人、几许盟言，便忍把、从前欢会，陡顿翻成忧戚」——嗟因循、久作天涯客；负佳人几许盟言，便忍把从前欢会，陡顿翻成忧戚。写久客天涯之叹：嗟叹因循，久作天涯客，辜负了佳人几许盟言，把从前欢会，陡顿翻成忧戚。中片写追忆往昔：「愁极。再三追思，洞房深处，几度饮散歌阑，香暖鸳鸯被，岂暂时疏散，费伊心力」——愁极。再三追思，洞房深处，几度饮散歌阑、香暖鸳鸯被，岂暂时疏散，费伊心力。追忆往昔洞房深处之欢：饮散歌阑、香暖鸳鸯被，那岂是暂时疏散，费尽伊的心力；「𣨼云尤雨，有万般千种，相怜相惜」——𣨼云尤雨，有万般千种相怜相惜。写往日云雨相怜相惜之欢。下片写今日之况与盼再会之情：「恰到如今，天长漏永，无端自家疏隔」——恰到如今，天长漏永，无端自家疏隔。写今日之况：天长漏永，无端自家疏隔；「知何时、却拥秦云态，愿低帏昵枕，轻轻细说与，江乡夜夜，数寒更思忆」——知何时却拥秦云态，愿低帏昵枕，轻轻细说与，江乡夜夜，数寒更思忆。写盼再会之情：不知何时再拥佳人，愿低帏昵枕，轻轻细说与她，我在江乡夜夜、数着寒更思念回忆。这「轻轻细说与，江乡夜夜，数寒更思忆」，是全词最动人处：把今日之思忆，留待来日细说，正是羁旅之人最深之愿。全词铺叙婉转，今昔对照，正是柳永「婉约铺叙」词风的典型，也是其羁旅词中的名篇。
Prosody
Line by line
那堪酒醒，又闻空阶，夜雨频滴。
How can I bear it — sobering from wine, I hear again on the empty steps the night rain dripping and dripping.
那堪酒醒，又闻空阶，夜雨频滴。
How to bear it — waking from wine, and again hearing, on the empty steps, the night rain dripping, drip after drip.
此三句写酒醒之悲，是全词写境的关键。「那堪酒醒」写那堪酒醒，「那堪」写其不堪，「酒醒」写其从醉中醒来；「又闻空阶，夜雨频滴」写又闻空阶夜雨频滴，「空阶」写阶之空寂，「夜雨频滴」写夜雨一声声滴在空阶。三句一写酒醒之不堪、一写空阶、一写夜雨频滴，以「那堪」写其不堪酒醒、以「空阶夜雨频滴」写酒醒后之所闻，写尽羁旅孤寂之境——酒醒之后，唯闻空阶夜雨，声声滴在心上。以声写寂，含蓄而有力，是「以景写情」的点睛之笔。
These three lines write the grief of waking from wine, the key of the ci's setting. How to bear it — waking from wine writes the unbearable waking; and again hearing, on the empty steps, the night rain dripping, drip after drip writes the empty steps and the repeated dripping, the empty steps the stillness of the stair, the dripping the rain's fall on the empty stone. Three lines, one the unbearable waking, one the empty steps, one the dripping rain, the how to bear writing the unbearable waking, the empty steps and dripping rain writing what is heard after waking, exhausting the travel solitude — after the waking, only the empty steps' night rain, every drip falling on the heart. Writing stillness through sound, restrained and forceful, the telling stroke of writing feeling through scene.
嗟因循、久作天涯客。
I sigh: through drift and delay I have long been a wanderer at the sky's edge.
嗟叹因循，久作天涯客。
I sigh that, drifting on, I have so long been a traveler at the world's edge.
此句写久客天涯之叹，是全词写叹的关键。「嗟因循、久作天涯客」写嗟叹因循、久作天涯客，「嗟」写其叹，「因循」写其因循迁延、久留未归，「久作天涯客」写其久为天涯之客。一句以「嗟」起叹，写其因循而久客天涯，点出羁旅之叹——不是不想归，而是因循迁延，久作天涯客。以短句写叹，含蓄而深沉，是「以短句写叹」的妙笔，也是全词由写景转入写情的枢纽。
This line writes the sigh of the long travel, the key of the ci's lament. I sigh that, drifting on, I have so long been a traveler at the world's edge: the sigh the breath, the drifting-on the lingering delay and the non-return, the long-traveler the long sojourn at the edge. One line rising on the sigh, writing the delayed long travel, naming the travel sigh — not that one will not return, but that the delay has made the long guest. Writing the sigh in the short line, restrained and deep, the wondrous stroke, and the hinge of the ci's turn from scene to feeling.
再三追思，洞房深处，几度饮散歌阑，香暖鸳鸯被，岂暂时疏散，费伊心力。
Again and again I recall: deep in the bridal chamber, feast after feast ended, song after song finished, the mandarin-duck quilt warm with fragrance — that was no passing dalliance; it cost her all her heart.
再三追思，洞房深处，几度饮散歌阑、香暖鸳鸯被，岂是暂时疏散，费尽伊的心力。
Again and again I recall, deep in the bridal chamber, the times when the drinking ended and the songs died, the fragrance warm in the mandarin-duck quilt — was it only a brief lightness that cost you so much care?
此数句写追忆往昔，是全词写忆的关键。「再三追思」写再三追思，「再三」写其追思之频；「洞房深处」写洞房深处，「几度饮散歌阑」写几度饮散歌阑，「香暖鸳鸯被」写香暖鸳鸯被，写往日之欢；「岂暂时疏散，费伊心力」写岂是暂时疏散、费尽伊的心力。数句以洞房深处、饮散歌阑、香暖鸳鸯被写往日之欢，以「再三追思」写其追思之频，把昔日之欢与今日之思对照写出，写尽追忆往昔之情。以昔衬今，含蓄深挚，是「以昔衬今」的妙笔。
These lines write the recollection of the past, the key of the ci's memory. Again and again I recall writes the frequency of the remembering; deep in the bridal chamber, the times when the drinking ended and the songs died, the fragrance warm in the mandarin-duck quilt writes the old joy; was it only a brief lightness that cost you so much care? writes the brief parting and the spent care. Several lines, the bridal chamber, the ended drinking, the warm quilt writing the old joy, the again-and-again writing the memory's frequency, writing the old joy and the present thought side by side, exhausting the recollection of the past. Setting the present against the past, restrained and deep, the wondrous stroke of setting the past against the present.
知何时、却拥秦云态，愿低帏昵枕，轻轻细说与，江乡夜夜，数寒更思忆。
When shall I hold her close again in her cloud-like grace — lower the curtain, press the pillow, and whisper to her softly, softly, of my nights in this river land, counting the cold watches, remembering?
知何时却拥秦云态，愿低帏昵枕，轻轻细说与她，我在江乡夜夜、数着寒更思念回忆。
I know not when I may hold again your cloud-like grace; I would, by the low curtain and the intimate pillow, tell you softly, night after night in the river town, how I counted the cold watches, missing you.
尾数句写盼再会之情，是全词立意的落点。「知何时、却拥秦云态」写不知何时再拥佳人，「知何时」写其不知何时，「却拥秦云态」写再拥佳人；「愿低帏昵枕」写愿低帏昵枕，「轻轻细说与」写轻轻细说与她，「江乡夜夜，数寒更思忆」写我在江乡夜夜数寒更思念。数句以「知何时」写其盼再会之殷切，以「愿低帏昵枕，轻轻细说与」写其愿再会时细诉衷肠，以「江乡夜夜，数寒更思忆」写其今日之思忆——把今日之思忆，留待来日细说，正是羁旅之人最深之愿。以愿写情，含蓄深挚，是全词最动人处，也是「以愿写情」的点睛之笔。
The closing lines write the hope of meeting again, the landing point of the ci. I know not when I may hold again your cloud-like grace writes the unknown time of the embrace; I would, by the low curtain and the intimate pillow, tell you softly writes the soft telling at the meeting; night after night in the river town, how I counted the cold watches, missing you writes the present nightly remembering. Several lines, the I-know-not-when writing the urgency of the hope, the low curtain and soft telling writing the wish to pour out the heart at the meeting, the river town's cold watches writing the present remembering — leaving the present's longing for the future's soft telling, precisely the traveler's deepest wish. Writing feeling through the wish, restrained and deep, the most moving place of the ci, the telling stroke of writing feeling through the wish.
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Yu Lin Ling's Where shall I wake from wine tonight? — the willow bank, the dawn wind, the setting moon writes the first night of separation in a single scene of dawn; this slow lyric writes years of wandering through night rain, warm quilts and the counting of cold watches. One is the cry at the moment of leaving, the other the long sigh of one who never stopped wandering — together they show two registers of Liu Yong's art of longing.
柳永《雨霖铃·寒蝉凄切》「今宵酒醒何处？杨柳岸，晓风残月」「便纵有千种风情，更与何人说」，写别后酒醒、晓风残月之思，是宋词写离别的名篇；《浪淘沙慢》则以「那堪酒醒，又闻空阶，夜雨频滴」「嗟因循、久作天涯客」写梦觉酒醒、空阶夜雨之悲，「知何时、却拥秦云态」写盼再会之情。两词同出柳永之手、同写别后羁旅思人：一写酒醒晓风残月之思、以景写情，一写酒醒空阶夜雨之悲、以忆写情；一为别后之思、一为久客之忆，并读正可见柳永「婉约铺叙」词风写别后情的两种情致，皆婉约深挚。
八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Ba Sheng Gan Zhou: To the Dusk Rain Falling on the River Sky 柳永 · 同出柳永之手，同写羁旅怀人思归，一写登高临远之景、一写梦觉酒醒之忆，皆以羁旅之愁写怀人 Both by Liu Yong, both on the traveler's homesickness and longing — one seen from a height in broad daylight, one in a chamber at midnight.Ba Sheng Gan Zhou's I cannot bear to climb and gaze far; the homeland is distant, and the thoughts of return cannot be gathered in writes exile against a vast sunlit landscape of river and sky. This lyric writes it through the small sounds of a sleepless night — wind in the window, rain on the empty steps, the water-clock's drip. One magnifies grief through distance, the other through tiny sounds — the two poles of Liu Yong's travel lyrics.
柳永《八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天》「不忍登高临远，望故乡渺邈，归思难收」，写登高望远、怀人思归，是柳永羁旅词最著名者；《浪淘沙慢》则以「那堪酒醒，又闻空阶，夜雨频滴」「嗟因循、久作天涯客」写梦觉酒醒、久客天涯之叹，「知何时、却拥秦云态」写盼再会之情。两词同出柳永之手、同写羁旅怀人思归：一写登高临远之景、以壮阔写愁，一写梦觉酒醒之忆、以细碎写愁；一为白日之登临、一为寒夜之思忆，并读正可见柳永羁旅词「登高望远」与「寒夜思忆」两种情景，皆以羁旅之愁写怀人。