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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

李清照·添字丑奴儿·窗前谁种芭蕉树

Added-Line Ugly Slave: Who Planted the Banana Tree by the Window

李清照

Li Qingzhao

婉约Refined style 愁绪Sorrow 羁旅Theme

添字丑奴儿·窗前谁种芭蕉树窗前谁种芭蕉树，阴满中庭。
阴满中庭，叶叶心心，舒卷有余情。
伤心枕上三更雨，点滴霖霪。
点滴霖霪，愁损北人，不惯起来听。

Who planted the banana tree by the window? Shade fills the central court. Shade fills the central court; leaf on leaf, core on core, unfolding and rolling hold surplus feeling.
On the pillow, grieving, the third-watch rain, drop by drop continuous. Drop by drop continuous; the rain grieves the northerner, unaccustomed, rises to listen.

Listen

Meaning

Written in Li Qingzhao's late years after crossing south, the poem takes the banana tree and night rain by her window to pour out the homesickness of a 'northerner' exiled south — the grief of a lost country and a lone, drifting life, far beyond the idle sorrow of her early period.

窗前是谁种下了芭蕉树？绿荫铺满了庭院。绿荫铺满庭院，片片蕉叶、卷卷蕉心，舒展收卷都含着情意。伤心的人枕上听着三更冷雨，一点一滴连绵不停。一点一滴连绵不停，这雨愁坏了南渡的北人，不习惯这凄清，索性起身去听。

Appreciation

Skilled in repeated lines: 'shade fills the central court' twice, 'drop by drop continuous' twice, two refrains like rain on banana leaves, echoing, the rhythm tender and the sorrow rising layer by layer. The banana 'leaf on leaf, core on core, unfolding and rolling hold surplus feeling' is personified, making the heartless plant full of feeling; the lower stanza's 'continuous' rain counters the 'northerner's' broken heart. From scene to feeling, thing to person, the words seem plain yet stifled and desolate.

【白话串讲】 “窗前谁种芭蕉树，阴满中庭”——李清照问是谁种的芭蕉，长得满院子都是。三更雨打芭蕉，她说：“愁损北人，不惯起来听”——她是北方人，听不惯这南方雨打芭蕉的愁。【意象与手法】善用重句叠唱：「阴满中庭」「阴满中庭」、「点滴霖霪」「点滴霖霪」两次复沓，如雨滴蕉叶、声声相应，节奏缠绵而愁绪递进；以芭蕉「叶叶心心，舒卷有余情」拟人，将无情草木写得多情；下片以「霖霪」绵绵反衬「北人」心碎。由景及情、由物及人，语似平易而抑塞悲凉。【情感与主旨】此词系李清照晚年南渡以后所作。靖康之变后她仓皇渡江，葬夫明诚，飘零浙中，词中自呼「北人」，正指征鸿失侣、暂寓江南的漂泊身份，借窗前芭蕉夜雨，写尽故国不堪回首、孤身难耐凄清的身世之悲。【名句点睛】常考叠句「阴满中庭」「点滴霖霪」的修辞与情感效果、芭蕉夜雨意象的愁苦内涵、「北人」二字所寓的南渡身世之痛，以及「不惯起来听」的细节点睛。

Background

Written in Li Qingzhao's late years after crossing south. After the Jingkang catastrophe she fled across the river, buried her husband Mingcheng, and drifted in Zhejiang. She calls herself 'northerner,' exactly the drifting identity of one who has lost the swan and lodges in the south. Borrowing the window banana and night rain, she writes the unbearable looking-back at the lost country and the lone, hard, desolate life — no longer comparable to the idle sorrow of 'green fat, red thin.' One rain, one banana, all become tears.

此词系李清照晚年南渡以后所作，约在宋高宗建炎、绍兴年间（1127年以后）。靖康之变，北宋灭亡，李清照仓皇渡江，辗转于江南，途中又逢丈夫赵明诚病逝建康，国破家亡、夫死财散，一身飘零。词中自呼「北人」，正指这位原籍济南、生长北方的词人暂寓江南的漂泊身份——北人南来，水土不服，心绪更不堪。窗前芭蕉，本是南方庭院常见之物，在北方少见的蕉叶雨声中，词人听出了故国之思与身世之痛。此词与《声声慢》《永遇乐》等同为南渡后的作品，此时的李清照，词风已由前期的清新婉丽转为后期的沉郁悲凉，一雨一蕉皆成泪点，与「绿肥红瘦」时代的闲愁已不可同日而语，正是「以寻常语写国破家亡之痛」的晚期代表作。值得注意的是，易安南渡后多借南方风物写故国之思——芭蕉、梧桐、梅花等皆入其词，此词之芭蕉夜雨正是其『客居江南、心系北方』心态的典型物象，与《声声慢》之梧桐细雨同属『南渡物象』系列，可见其以物写心的连贯匠心。

Art

Skilled in repeated lines: 'shade fills the central court' twice, 'drop by drop continuous' twice, refrains like rain on banana leaves, the rhythm tender and the sorrow rising. The banana personified makes the heartless plant full of feeling; the lower 'continuous' rain counters the 'northerner's' broken heart. From scene to feeling, thing to person, plain yet stifled and desolate.

此词艺术上最擅重句叠唱与物我交融。上片「阴满中庭」连用两次，如绿荫层层铺展，营造出幽闷压抑的氛围；下片「点滴霖霪」再作复沓，如雨滴蕉叶、声声相应，节奏缠绵而愁绪递进——两次叠句，把蕉荫之「满」与雨声之「密」写得如在目前，听在耳畔。又以「叶叶心心，舒卷有余情」拟人，把蕉叶之舒卷写得多情含愁——叶叶心心，字面写蕉叶蕉心，骨子里是「心心」双关心绪，蕉心即愁心，无情草木被写得有情，反衬有情人更愁。下片「愁损北人」四字点破身世，「不惯起来听」以细节作结——北人不惯南方的雨夜，索性起身倾听，这个「听」字写尽辗转难眠、无可奈何，比直说愁更见沉痛。全词由景及情、由物及人，语似平易而抑塞悲凉，是「以浅语写深悲」的典范。又上下片以『阴满中庭』与『点滴霖霪』两次叠句为轴，一写昼景之闷、一写夜声之愁，叠句复沓处正是愁绪递进处，形式与内容严丝合缝，是易安『以寻常语度入音律』而声情一体的明证。

Allusions

The banana in classical poetry is often a rain-sorrow image; since Du Mu 'the banana moved for rain' and Li Shangyin 'the banana does not unfold, lilac knots,' mostly lodging longing and sorrow. Yi'an renews it: 'leaf on leaf, core on core' puns the 'core' (心) character, making banana-core the sorrow-core; 'northerner' points her south-crossing refugee identity, expanding the traditional boudoir sorrow into a country-and-life grief, using allusion yet with her own fresh machine. Old image, new life, turning the old tune into a broken-heart sound.

芭蕉在古典诗词中常作愁雨意象：自唐·杜牧「芭蕉为雨移，故向窗前种」、李商隐「芭蕉不展丁香结，同向春风各自愁」以降，芭蕉多与雨、与愁相连，寓相思愁恨。李清照此词翻新其意：以「叶叶心心」双关「心」字，使蕉心即愁心，把传统芭蕉意象的闺阁相思扩大为家国身世之痛——芭蕉本是南方风物，北人见之已觉生疏，雨打芭蕉更是南方夜雨之常，词人以「北人」听芭蕉雨，便在这一寻常物象中注入了故国北望、客居南方的时代悲感。所谓旧意象、新身世，翻古调而成断肠之声，正是易安南渡后「以寻常语度入音律」而自出机杼的功力所在，较前人芭蕉诗，格局与沉痛皆过之。词人以『北人』自居，遂使芭蕉这一南方风物成为南北之隔的象征——北人见蕉而思乡，听雨而断肠，物之南方属性正是人之北方身世的镜像，旧物象与新身世相激相生，正是易安后期词『以物写心』的高境。

Commentary

Qing scholar Kuang Zhouyi's Huifeng Ci Talks said Yi'an 'measures ordinary words into the tune; refining a sentence is easy, plain into tune is hard' — this ci is it. Its repeated lines best catch the folk-ci true flavor. Modern readers say 'grieves the northerner' four characters voice the collective trauma of south-crossing poets. Plain words deep sorrow, every character blood, exactly Yi'an's ci-heart after crossing south.

清·况周颐《蕙风词话》评易安词「以寻常语度入音律，炼句精巧则易，平淡入调者难」，此词正是「平淡入调」的极致——无一奇字险句，全用口语家常语，而情韵之深、音节之美，反在雕琢之上。其重句叠唱，最得民间词真味，与《采桑子》「庭院深深深几许」的叠字用法一脉相通。近人论此词，尤重「愁损北人」四字，以为道尽南渡词人的集体创伤——北人南渡，失土之痛、流离之苦、乡音之隔，尽在「不惯」二字之中。此词与《声声慢》「寻寻觅觅」同写南渡后深愁：一借芭蕉夜雨，一借梧桐细雨，皆以叠字重句见悲，而此词更以「北人」的独特视角，把个人之愁升华为一代人的飘零之痛，浅语深悲，字字皆血，正易安南渡后词心之所在。此词篇幅虽短而容量极大，由一蕉一雨写尽一代人的飘零之痛，其『以浅语写深悲』的手法，对后世词家（如蒋捷《虞美人·听雨》）影响深远，是宋词由闺情走向家国之痛的转折性作品，也是理解李清照晚期词风的关键文本。

Prosody

Form Ci lyric Added-Line Ugly Slave (Tianzi Chounuer), double tune forty-six characters (Ugly Slave with added lines)词·《添字丑奴儿》双调四十六字（丑奴儿令添字）

Rhyme Rhymes level turning oblique (Ci Lin Zheng Yun eleventh group: 庭, 情, 霪, 听)押平韵，韵脚为庭、情、霪、听，属《词林正韵》第十一部（庚青蒸韵），「庭」「情」平收，上下片各两韵，重句处音节回环。

Tone pattern Level and oblique alternate; repeated lines loop the rhythm平仄递转，重句处节奏回环；上片「阴满中庭。阴满中庭」与下片「点滴霖霪。点滴霖霪」两次复沓，是声情一体的叠句艺术。

Reading note Added lines and refrains to the Ugly Slave; Yi'an's created form, fit for deep sorrow此词为《丑奴儿》（即《采桑子》）的添字变格：原调双调四十四字，上下片各四句三平韵，李清照于上下片第二句后各添一句，成「阴满中庭。阴满中庭」「点滴霖霪。点滴霖霪」的叠句格式，故称「添字丑奴儿」。这一添字创格，是易安对词体的发展，其妙在声情合一：叠句的复沓，正模拟雨滴蕉叶的声声相应，也暗合愁绪的一层深似一层，形式与内容浑然一体。全词双调，上片写昼——蕉荫满庭之闷，下片写夜——三更雨声之愁，昼与夜、视觉与听觉、景与情，层层递进，章法谨严。平仄上以平声韵为主，音节低回缠绵，正合写深愁；「阴满中庭」「点滴霖霪」的叠句处，节奏回环往复，如愁丝缕缕，是易安「以寻常语度入音律」而自创声情一体的典范，足为揣摩词体格律与叠句艺术之范本。

Line by line

窗前谁种芭蕉树，阴满中庭。

Who planted the banana tree by the window? Its shade fills the courtyard.

窗前是谁种下了芭蕉树？绿荫铺满了庭院。

Who planted the banana tree before the window? Its shade fills the courtyard.

起笔以设问领起，如暮色四合，把幽闷的氛围一下子罩满全词。「窗前谁种芭蕉树」——「谁种」一问，问得突兀而茫然：种蕉之人早已不可考，蕉树却已亭亭如盖，这一问既写蕉荫之盛、岁月之久，又暗含词人初到南方的陌生之感；「阴满中庭」写绿荫铺满庭院——「满」字极写蕉叶之繁茂、荫影之浓重，如愁绪之堆积无隙。庭中本应开朗，却被蕉荫罩得幽闷，景物之「满」实是心绪之「闷」的外化。两句一问一景，已定下全词压抑凄清的基调，为下文「叶叶心心」的愁绪与「三更雨」的凄凉层层蓄势，起笔即见易安运思之深。

The opening leads in the question, like the dusk gathering, covering the whole ci in the stifling mood at once. Who planted the banana tree by the window? the one word who asks, abrupt and blank: the planter of the banana long unknowable, and the tree already tall as a canopy, this question writing at once the abundance of the banana shade and the length of the years, and secretly carrying the poet's strangeness on first arriving in the south; its shade fills the courtyard writes the green shade covering the court — the word full exhausting the leaves' lushness and the shade's density, like the grief's piling without gap. The court by nature open, and yet covered by the banana shade into the stifling, the thing's fullness in truth the outward projection of the mind's oppression. Two lines, one question one scene, already setting the ci's oppressive, cold tone, storing layer on layer for the below leaf-leaf heart-heart grief and the third-watch rain's desolation, the opening at once showing the depth of Yi'an's thought.

叶叶心心，舒卷有余情。

Leaf after leaf, heart after heart, in unfurling and curling, there is leftover feeling.

片片蕉叶、卷卷蕉心，舒展收卷都含着情意。

Leaf on leaf, heart on heart, unfurling or curling, all bearing lingering feeling.

此句是全词最见巧思之处，以拟人写蕉，蕉心即愁心。「叶叶心心」四字，字面写芭蕉的片片蕉叶与卷卷蕉心，叠词连用，音节如叶叶相叠、心心相叩；骨子里「心心」双关心绪——蕉心未展，正如愁心未舒，蕉叶舒展，又如愁绪翻卷，物我难分。「舒卷有余情」把蕉叶之舒卷写得多情含态：舒展也好，收卷也罢，都似含着不尽的情意——这情意本是词人自己的，移之于蕉，则无情草木皆有情，反衬有情之人更愁。以蕉拟人、以人观蕉，物我交融，正是易安「以我观物，故物皆着我之色彩」的婉约本色，也为下片雨打芭蕉的愁苦作了铺垫。

This line is the ci's most ingenious point, personifying the banana, the banana heart being the grief heart. The four characters leaf after leaf, heart after heart, on the surface the banana's leaves and the curling heart, the repeated words used, the syllables like leaves overlying leaves and hearts knocking hearts; the heart of hearts on the second reading doubles on the mind's mood — the banana heart un unfurled, as the grief heart not yet opened, the banana leaf unfurled, as the grief's turning, thing and self hard to part. In unfurling and curling, there is leftover feeling writes the banana's unfurling and curling as rich with feeling: whether unfurling or curling, all seems to carry endless feeling — this feeling by nature the poet's own, transferred to the banana, and the feelingless plants all feeling, setting off the feeling man's deeper grief. Personifying the banana and gazing at the banana through the man, thing and self fused, precisely Yi'an's graceful quality of gazing at the object, so the object takes my color, and storing ground for the second stanza's rain-on-banana grief.

伤心枕上三更雨，点滴霖霪。

Grief-stricken on the pillow, the third-watch rain, drip after endless drip.

伤心的人枕上听着三更冷雨，一点一滴连绵不停。

Heartbroken on the pillow, the third-watch rain, dripping, endless.

此句由蕉转雨，是词境由静入动、由昼入夜的转折。「伤心枕上」点出失眠之人——伤心人本难成眠，偏又逢三更夜雨；「三更雨」写夜半之雨，万籁俱寂而雨声独响，最是搅人愁肠。「点滴霖霪」四字写雨声之连绵不绝——「霖霪」本指久雨不止，连用则如雨滴点点、声声入耳，写尽雨的绵密与夜的漫长。此句的妙处在一「听」字上的铺垫：枕上听雨，点滴到天明，每一声都敲在愁人心上。雨打芭蕉、雨滴檐前，声声催人泪下，与上片「阴满中庭」的闷相呼应——白日蕉荫满庭之闷，入夜化作雨打芭蕉之愁，由视觉之闷转听觉之愁，愁绪步步加深，正是叠句递进的章法之力。

This line turns from the banana to the rain, the ci's realm turning from stillness to motion, from day to night. Grief-stricken on the pillow names the sleepless man — the grief man by nature hard to sleep, and precisely meeting the third-watch night rain; the third-watch rain writes the midnight rain, all sound hushed and the rain's sound alone ringing, most stirring the grief gut. The four characters drip after endless drip write the rain's ceaselessness: endless rain by nature the long unbroken rain, and used together as if the raindrops point by point, sound by sound, entering the ear, exhausting the rain's density and the night's length. The line's beauty lies in the groundwork of the listening: on the pillow listening to the rain, drip by drip until dawn, every knock on the sorrow man's heart. Rain beating the banana, dripping at the eaves, sound on sound driving the tears, answering the above shade fills the courtyard's oppression — the daytime banana shade over the court's oppression, turning at night into the rain-on-banana grief, the visual oppression turning into the auditory grief, the grief deepening step by step, precisely the force of the repeated-line advancing craft.

愁损北人，不惯起来听。

The northerner is grieved to the bone, unaccustomed, and rises to listen.

这雨愁坏了南渡的北人，不习惯这凄清，索性起身去听。

It has grieved this northerner to the bone; unused to it, I rise and listen.

结句点破身世，是全词的词眼，也是理解全词的钥匙。「愁损北人」四字，字字千钧——「北人」是词人的自我定位，靖康之变后自北南渡的遗民身份，尽在此二字之中：北方人听南方夜雨，水土生疏，乡音隔绝，故国已远，孤身无依，这雨声不止是雨声，更是家国之痛的象征；「不惯」二字写出南北之隔——不惯南方的雨，不惯南方的夜，不惯这飘零的人生，浅语之中见出深悲。「不惯起来听」以细节收束：愁得睡不着，索性起身去听雨——「听」字写尽无可奈何的清醒，比蒙头大睡更见煎熬。个人闲愁至此升华为家国飘零之痛，全词以浅语收深悲，余味不尽，正是易安后期词心之所在。

The close points out the fate, the eye of the ci, and the key to understanding it. The four words the northerner is grieved to the bone, every word a thousand jun: the northerner the poet's self-definition, the loyalist identity after the Jingkang change, fleeing south from the north, all within these two words — the northern man listening to the southern night rain, the soil and water strange, the native speech cut off, the lost land far, alone and unfriended, this rain not only rain, but the symbol of the national grief; the two words unaccustomed write the north-south divide — unaccustomed to the southern rain, unaccustomed to the southern night, unaccustomed to this drifting life, the deep grief within the plain words. Unused to it, I rise and to listen. closes in the detail: grieved beyond sleep, and simply rising to listen to the rain — the word listen exhausting the helpless lucidity, more tormenting than covering the head to sleep. The personal idle grief here elevated into the national drifting grief, the ci closing the deep grief in the plain words, the aftertone unending, precisely the heart of Yi'an's later ci.

Study

Word focus

北人 The poet's self-name for the south-crossing refugee; two characters weigh a thousand; turns the boudoir banana rain into the lost-country drift's lament. 「愁损北人」之「北人」二字，是全词的词眼，也是理解李清照南渡词的关键。字面上「北人」指北方人，是词人对自己客居江南身份的简单自称；骨子里却负载着整整一代人的创伤——靖康之变，山河破碎，大批北方士民南渡，李清照正是其中之一，中原故土、旧日家园、亡夫赵明诚，一切都在北方，也一切都在失去。一个「北」字，写尽空间之隔——身在江南而心在北方；一个「人」字，写尽身份之变——由北方的书香贵妇沦为南方的漂泊孤客。此二字看似寻常，实则重逾千钧：北人听南雨，雨雨皆乡愁；北人看蕉树，叶叶皆故园。正因「北人」二字点破了时代背景，这首小令的蕉雨之愁才超越了个人闲愁，成为南渡词人集体心声的写照。

余情 Writes the banana's unfolding as if holding feeling, countering the feeling person who is more sorrowful;含蓄 wording. 「舒卷有余情」之「余情」二字，是拟人手法的点睛之笔。「余」有剩余、不尽之意，「余情」即不尽的情意——蕉叶舒展收卷，仿佛含着说不尽、道不完的情愫。此二字之妙有三：一是以「余」写情之绵长，情非一时一瞬，而是绵绵不尽、有余而未尽，正似词人辗转不眠的愁绪；二是以「余」写物之含蕴，蕉之舒卷本是无心之态，着一「余情」，则无情草木皆有情，物我界限泯然，是典型的移情笔法；三是与「叶叶心心」呼应，「心」字双关心绪，「余情」深化情思，蕉心即愁心，蕉情即人情，层层递进。以「余情」写无情之物，反衬有情之人更见其愁，炼字蕴藉，正是易安「以淡语写深情」的本色。

霖霪 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「点滴霖霪」之「霖霪」二字，是写雨声雨势的传神之笔。「霖」本指久雨，《尔雅》「久雨谓之淫，淫谓之霖」；「霪」通「淫」，亦指久雨不止，二字连用，极言雨之连绵不断、没完没了。词人以「点滴」冠于其前，「点滴」写雨声之疏落清响，「霖霪」写雨势之绵延不断，一疏一密、一短一长，把三更夜雨的声态写得如在耳畔。而此二字之妙更在声情相谐：霖霪叠韵，读来如雨声淅沥、绵延不绝，音节本身即是雨声的模拟，与上片「阴满中庭」的叠句相呼应，形成全词回环往复的音乐美。久雨不晴，正如愁绪难遣；雨声不止，正如心事难平，以霖霪写愁绪之连绵，正是易安炼字的深意所在。