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满庭芳·山抹微云

Courtyard Full of Fragrance: The Mountains Wipe Away the Thin Clouds (Mantingfang)

秦观

Qin Guan

送别Farewell 爱情Love 愁思Melancholy

山抹微云，天连衰草，画角声断谯门。
暂停征棹，聊共引离尊。
多少蓬莱旧事，空回首、烟霭纷纷。
斜阳外，寒鸦万点，流水绕孤村。
销魂。
当此际，香囊暗解，罗带轻分。
谩赢得、青楼薄幸名存。
此去何时见也，襟袖上、空惹啼痕。
伤情处，高城望断，灯火已黄昏。

The mountains wipe away the thin clouds, the sky joins the withered grass, and the painted horn's sound breaks off at the watchtower gate.
Pausing for a while the journeying oar, we briefly share the parting cup.
How many bygone affairs of Penglai, in vain I look back, the mists and the haze in a heap.
Beyond the setting sun, ten thousand points of the cold crows, the flowing water circles the lonely village.
It breaks the soul.
At this moment, the perfume pouch secretly untied, the silk girdle gently loosed.
In vain I have won, in the green towers, the name of the fickle one that remains.
This parting, when shall I see her again? On the lapels and the sleeves, in vain the traces of the tears are drawn.
In the place of the grief, the high city is gazed to the end, and the lamps and the fires are already the dusk.

Listen

Meaning

Written in the late spring of the second year of Yuanfeng (1079), when Qin Guan was about to go to Kuaiji (present-day Shaoxing, Zhejiang), a farewell to the singing girl he loved. The whole is threaded with the twilight as the bone: the opening, 'the mountains wipe away the thin clouds, the sky joins the withered grass, and the painted horn's sound breaks off at the watchtower gate,' writes the scene of the dusk, and the 'beyond the setting sun... the lamps and the fires are already the dusk' of the close, a farewell beginning at the dusk and ending at the night. 'Pausing for a while the journeying oar, we briefly share the parting cup. How many bygone affairs of Penglai, in vain I look back, the mists and the haze in a heap. Beyond the setting sun, ten thousand points of the cold crows, the flowing water circles the lonely village'—the parting at the river, the recollection of the bygone affairs, the scene of the dusk. The second half: 'it breaks the soul. At this moment, the perfume pouch secretly untied, the silk girdle gently loosed. In vain I have won, in the green towers, the name of the fickle one that remains. This parting, when shall I see her again? On the lapels and the sleeves, in vain the traces of the tears are drawn. In the place of the grief, the high city is gazed to the end, and the lamps and the fires are already the dusk'—the untying of the perfume pouch and the loosing of the silk girdle, the intimacy of the parting, the 'the name of the fickle one' the self-pity of the talent unrecognized, and the 'gazed to the end' the last gaze at the high city, the grief of the parting to the utmost.

远山轻轻抹着一缕微云，天边连着无边的衰草，城楼上的画角声凄厉地吹响又中断。暂且停住远行的船桨，姑且共饮一杯送别的酒。多少蓬莱仙山般的旧日情事，空自回首，只见烟霭纷纷。斜阳之外，寒鸦万点，一弯流水环绕着孤零零的村落。令人黯然销魂。正当此际，香囊暗暗解下，罗带轻轻分开。徒然在青楼之中落下一个薄情负心的名声。这一去不知何时再见，襟袖上，空自沾满啼痕。最伤情处，回望高城，望断了城门，只看见万家灯火已亮起在黄昏之中。

Appreciation

The most striking feature of the art of the ci is the implicit and the reserved and the close with the scene. The whole is threaded with the twilight as the bone: the opening 'the mountains wipe away the thin clouds, the sky joins the withered grass' writes the scene of the dusk, 'the painted horn's sound breaks off at the watchtower gate' adds the sound of the dusk, and the 'beyond the setting sun' to the 'the lamps and the fires are already the dusk,' a farewell beginning at the dusk and ending at the night, the line of the time running through the whole, the scene following the process of the parting from the vast to the bleak to the lonely. In the handling of the feeling, the first half writes the scene and the narration with the reservation, and the two characters of the 'it breaks the soul' stand alone as a sentence, like the breaking of the dyke and the surging of the water, the depth and the intensity of the feeling suddenly rising; the second half, 'the perfume pouch secretly untied, the silk girdle gently loosed' writes the intimacy with the details, and the 'in vain I have won, in the green towers, the name of the fickle one' the self-pity of the talent unrecognized, and the close, 'in the place of the grief, the high city is gazed to the end, and the lamps and the fires are already the dusk,' the scene closing the feeling, the dusk of the lamps and the fires the endless of the grief—the implicit and the reserved of the whole ci, the most representative of the gentle style of Qin Guan.

【白话串讲】秦观写满庭芳：“山抹微云，天连衰草，画角声断谯门”。“斜阳外，寒鸦万点，流水绕孤村”——“销魂。当此际，香囊暗解，罗带轻分”——“谩赢得、青楼薄幸名存”——他写得苏轼都说“山抹微云秦学士”。【意象与手法】全词以暮色为骨，山抹微云、天连衰草起，至灯火已黄昏结，时间线索贯穿全篇；上片写景叙事含而不露，销魂二字独立成句如堤决水涌；下片香囊罗带写缱绻，谩赢得写自伤，结拍复以高城灯火之景收束，以景结情，不着愁字而愁满画面，正是秦观情韵兼胜的典范。【情感与主旨】此词写秦观与恋人的离别，兼有身世飘零之悲：寒鸦有巢可归而人将远行，多情之人反落薄幸之名，此去何时再见的渺茫，皆汇于一腔销魂之痛；结拍高城灯火，热闹与孤寂对照，离愁愈结愈深。【名句点睛】山抹微云的抹字以画笔写云，苏轼因之称其为山抹微云君；斜阳外，寒鸦万点，流水绕孤村，晁补之誉为天生好言语；销魂当此际，以二字短句写尽离别之痛，千古传诵。

Background

The ci was written in the late spring of the second year of Yuanfeng (1079), when Qin Guan was about to go to Kuaiji (present-day Shaoxing, Zhejiang), a farewell to the singing girl he loved (some say a singing girl of Yuezhou). In his early years Qin Guan traveled in the region of Bianjing and Yangzhou, and was close to the singing girls, and the perfume pouch secretly untied, the silk girdle gently loosed, and the name of the fickle one of the ci are all the portrayal of this love affair. At that time Qin Guan had not yet passed the examination, wandering in the world as a commoner, brilliant yet without the success of the fame, and hence the parting also carried the grief of the drifting of the life. The ci was sung in the capital as soon as it was written, and the scholar-officials all recited it, and Su Shi, Huang Tingjian, Chao Buzhi, and others all admired it, and Su Shi even jokingly called him 'the Lord of the Mountains Wiping Away the Thin Clouds.'

《满庭芳·山抹微云》作于北宋元丰二年（1079）暮春，秦观将赴会稽（今浙江绍兴）时，与所恋歌妓（一说是越州歌女）临别赠别之作。秦观早年客游汴京、扬州一带，与歌妓交往甚密，词中香囊暗解、罗带轻分、青楼薄幸名皆此段情事的写照。其时秦观尚未登第，以布衣之身流转江湖，才华横溢而功名无成，故离别之中更含身世飘零之悲。此词作于其游历期间，抒写与恋人的离别，兼有自伤身世之意。词成即传唱京师，士大夫莫不传诵，苏轼、黄庭坚、晁补之等皆赏之，苏轼更戏称其为山抹微云君。此词是秦观婉约词风的代表作，也是宋词中写离别最著名的篇章之一，其销魂、斜阳外寒鸦万点流水绕孤村等句，千古传诵。词中蓬莱旧事或即指其在京洛间的一段情缘，以此入词，愈见其用情之深、落笔之婉。此词既写一时之别，又写一生之漂泊，时空交织，尤见其容量之大。

Art

The art is the implicit and the reserved and the close with the scene: the twilight as the bone runs through the whole, the 'it breaks the soul' stands alone as a sentence, and the scene of the close, 'the high city is gazed to the end, and the lamps and the fires are already the dusk,' the dusk of the lamps and the fires the endless of the grief—the implicit and the reserved of the whole ci, the most representative of the gentle style.

此词艺术上最突出的特点是含蓄蕴藉与以景结情。全词以暮色为骨：起拍山抹微云、天连衰草写黄昏之景，画角声断谯门添黄昏之声，斜阳外至灯火已黄昏，一场离别自黄昏始、至入夜终，时间线索贯穿全篇，景物随离别的进程由苍茫而萧瑟而孤寂。情感处理上，上片写景叙事含而不露，至销魂二字独立成句，如堤决水涌，情感的深度与强度骤然提升；下片香囊暗解、罗带轻分以细节写缱绻，谩赢得、青楼薄幸名存以反语写自伤，此去何时见也、襟袖上空惹啼痕以问句写渺茫，结拍伤情处、高城望断、灯火已黄昏复以景收，把一腔离愁尽化入暮色灯火之中。手法上兼用化用（寒鸦流水化隋炀帝句、青楼薄幸化杜牧句）、反语（谩赢得）、问句（何时见也），而皆融化无迹，正是秦观词情韵兼胜的体现。全词上下片一景一情、一收一放，针线极密而浑然天成，正是少游词虽婉约而自有骨力的所在。

Allusions

The allusions of the ci are few yet all turned into the flesh and the blood. 'Beyond the setting sun, ten thousand points of the cold crows, the flowing water circles the lonely village' uses the 'Wild Gaze' of Emperor Yang of Sui, 'the cold crows fly a few points, the flowing water circles the lonely village,' and the transformation into the ci: the original lines are the plain description of the scene, and Qin Guan places them after the 'beyond the setting sun,' the crows returning to the nest and the flowing water circling the village, against the going far of the parting, the bleak and the vast doubled, hence Chao Buzhi sighed that even one who does not know the characters knows it is the naturally fine words. The 'it breaks the soul' uses the 'the soul-broken, desolate' of Jiang Yan's 'Rhapsody on the Parting'—the parting the most painful of all the things in the world—the most painful of the parting, the two characters of the 'it breaks the soul' the very core of the grief of the parting.

此词用典不多而皆化为血肉。斜阳外、寒鸦万点、流水绕孤村化用隋炀帝杨广《野望》寒鸦飞数点、流水绕孤村之句，而点化入词：原句是即景的白描，秦观置于斜阳外之后，寒鸦归巢、流水绕村，与离人的远行对照，萧瑟苍茫之意倍出，故晁补之叹为虽不识字人、亦知是天生好言语。销魂用江淹《别赋》黯然销魂者、唯别而已矣，将别情的经典语码植入词中，一字一顿，直击人心。谩赢得、青楼薄幸名存化用杜牧《遣怀》十年一觉扬州梦、赢得青楼薄幸名，而改赢得为谩赢得，由自嘲改为自伤，翻出新意。香囊暗解、罗带轻分则承晚唐五代词写男女幽会的传统意象（香囊、罗带皆贴身之物），写临别的缱绻。全词用典皆化于叙述与景物之中，不着痕迹，正是宋词用典如己出的上乘境界。此外，此去何时见也之问句，亦暗承唐人离别诗中何日归来的话头，融汇无痕。全词以暮色贯穿，典故亦皆染暮色之苍茫。

Commentary

This ci is the representative work of Qin Guan's ci and one of the most famous chapters of the farewell of the Song ci. As soon as it was written it was sung in the capital, and Su Shi, Chao Buzhi, and Huang Tingjian all highly admired it; Su Shi jokingly called Qin Guan 'the Lord of the Mountains Wiping Away the Thin Clouds,' and Chao Buzhi said that the line of the 'beyond the setting sun, ten thousand points of the cold crows, the flowing water circles the lonely village' is known by even one who does not know the characters to be the naturally fine words, showing its sensation in the ci world of the time. In the significance of the history of the ci, this ci consolidates the gentle style of Qin Guan's ci, and the scene of the 'the mountains wipe away the thin clouds' and the 'the high city is gazed to the end' has become the eternal image of the farewell of the Song ci, the most gentle of the gentle ci.

此词是秦观词的代表作，也是宋词中写离别最负盛名的篇章之一。词成即传唱京师，苏轼、晁补之、黄庭坚皆极赏之；苏轼戏称秦观为山抹微云君，晁补之谓斜阳外、寒鸦万点、流水绕孤村一句虽不识字人、亦知是天生好言语，可见其在当时词坛的轰动。就词史意义言，此词体现了秦观情韵兼胜的核心成就：其一，以景结情，不着愁字而愁满画面，开宋词写离别含蓄一派的先声；其二，炼字精妙，抹、连二字以画笔写景，为后世词人争相效仿；其三，以淡语写深情，销魂二字之顿挫、谩赢得之反语，皆以最简省的笔墨写最深沉的情感。秦观被后人推为婉约词宗，此词正是其婉约词风的最高体现。历代评家（张炎《词源》、陈廷焯《白雨斋词话》等）论少游词，无不首举此篇，其艺术生命力，历千年而不衰。其以淡语写深情、以景物化愁绪的词法，亦开后来姜夔清空一派的先声。

Prosody

Form Tune 'Courtyard Full of Fragrance,' double, ninety-five characters词牌《满庭芳》（双调九十五字）

Rhyme On the level rhymes: men, zun, fen, cun, hun, fen, cun, hen, hun, of the sixth part of the Ci Rhymes (the level tones of the zhen-wen-yuan-hun-hen), one rhyme to the end押平声韵，韵脚依次为门、尊、纷、村、魂、分、存、痕、昏，属词林正韵第六部（真文元魂痕）平声，一韵到底。

Tone pattern The 'the mountains wipe away the thin clouds' is clear, the 'the painted horn's sound breaks off' is bleak, the 'it breaks the soul' is abrupt, and the 'the lamps and the fires are already the dusk' is deep—the whole from the dusk to the night, the grief of the parting carried by the level rhymes上片以四字句起，舒缓苍茫；销魂二字短句陡转，音节由铺叙转为顿挫；结拍以七字句收束，余韵悠长。

Reading note The level rhymes and the implicit tone carry the twilight of the parting, the grief of the farewell of the gentle style.《满庭芳》为双调九十五字长调，上片十句四平韵，下片十一句五平韵。秦观此词押第六部平声韵，门、尊、纷、村、魂、分、存、痕、昏九韵一韵到底，音调和婉低回，正合离别伤情之境。章法上最著者为顿挫二字：上片一路写景叙事，至销魂二字独立成句，猛然一顿，把斜阳寒鸦的苍茫、蓬莱旧事的怅惘尽数收拢，再以当此际三字转出香囊罗带的现场，一收一放，顿挫有致。此词当时即传唱京师，士大夫莫不传诵，苏轼、晁补之、黄庭坚皆有评赏；而词中句式长短相间，四字句（山抹微云／天连衰草）、三字句（斜阳外／当此际）、七字句（此去何时见也）错落有致，长句舒徐、短句急促，声情与辞情相得。秦观词以婉约清丽著称，而于此调中特见其章法之工，后人评少游词情韵兼胜，观此词之顿挫用韵，信然。

Line by line

山抹微云，天连衰草，画角声断谯门。

The mountains wipe away the thin clouds, the sky joins the withered grass, and the painted horn's sound breaks off at the watchtower gate. (The opening scene of the dusk: the thin clouds wiped on the mountains, the withered grass joined to the sky, and the sound of the horn breaking off, the vast and the bleak of the dusk.)

远山轻轻抹着一缕微云，天边连着无边的衰草，城楼上的画角声凄厉地吹响又中断。

The distant hills are lightly brushed with faint clouds; the sky joins the boundless withered grass; the painted horn's shrill sound on the tower blows and dies away.

起拍三句，以一幅苍茫的暮色图奠定全词基调。山抹微云写薄云如轻抹在山顶，一个抹字，以画笔写云，极细腻婉约；天连衰草写衰草与天相连，一个连字写视野之远、秋色之阔；画角声断谯门则于静景中添一凄厉的角声，断字写角声时断时续，如断肠之音。三句由远山而天边而城楼，由视觉而听觉，层层收紧，把离别置于秋暮城郊的苍茫背景之中。此三句一出，当时即传诵京师，苏轼尝戏称秦观为山抹微云君，可见其艺术感染力。

The opening three lines set the ci's tone in a vast dusk picture. The hills are brushed with faint clouds writes the pale clouds lightly brushed on the hilltops, the word brushed painting the cloud, most delicate and graceful; the sky joins the withered grass writes the withered grass meeting the sky, the word meets writing the view's distance and the autumn's breadth; the painted horn's sound breaks off at the watchtower gate adds one shrill horn to the still scene, the word broken writing the horn's intermittent sound, like the grief-cut note. Three lines, from the distant hills to the sky edge to the tower, from sight to hearing, gathering tight, placing the parting in the vast autumn-dusk outskirts. These three lines once out, were at once recited in the capital, and Su Shi once playfully styled Qin Guan the Lord of the Hills Brushed with Faint Clouds, showing the artistic power.

暂停征棹，聊共引离尊。

Pausing for a while the journeying oar, we briefly share the parting cup. (The parting at the river: the pausing of the journeying oar and the sharing of the parting cup, the beginning of the farewell.)

暂且停住将要远行的船桨，姑且与恋人共饮一杯送别的酒。

Briefly staying the traveling oar, let us share one parting cup.

此两句由景入事，写离别之宴。征棹即远行之舟，暂停写舟行将发而暂泊，离别的时刻迫在眉睫；聊共引离尊写姑且共饮一杯离酒，聊字见出无奈——酒能留人于一时，终不能留人于长久。一个停字、一个引字，动作从容而心情仓皇，正写出离别前相对无言、借酒延时的情景。两句对仗工稳而不露痕迹，征棹与离尊，一舟一酒，皆是离别的道具，而离情已从字缝中渗出。此两句承上启下：上承画角声断的萧瑟，下启蓬莱旧事的追忆，是叙事转抒情的枢纽。

These two lines turn from scene to event, writing the farewell feast. The traveling oar means the going boat, briefly staying writes the boat about to leave and yet moored, the parting moment pressing; let us share one parting cup writes the shared cup, the word the sharing writing the helplessness — the wine can keep the man for a moment, and cannot keep him long. The one word stay and the one word raise, the action composed and the mood panicked, precisely writing the speechless facing and the wine-borrowed delay before the parting. Two lines in steady parallelism without a trace, the traveling oar and the parting cup, one boat one wine, both the parting's props, and the parting feeling already seeping from between the words. These two lines inherit above and open below: inheriting the horn's bleakness, opening the Penglai memories, the hinge of narrative turning to lyric.

斜阳外，寒鸦万点，流水绕孤村。

Beyond the setting sun, ten thousand points of the cold crows, the flowing water circles the lonely village. (The famous line: the cold crows and the flowing water of the setting sun, the crows returning to the nest against the going far of the parting, the bleak and the vast doubled.)

斜阳之外，寒鸦点点飞向远方，一弯流水环绕着孤零零的村落。

Beyond the setting sun, the winter crows fly in scattered dots; a bend of water winds around the lonely village.

此三句是传诵千古的写景名句，晁补之以为虽不识字人、亦知是天生好言语。斜阳、寒鸦、流水、孤村，四个意象并置，无一字言情，而离别的萧瑟、前程的渺茫、身世的孤寂尽在其中。斜阳外写时间的迟暮，寒鸦万点写归巢的乌鸦（鸦尚有巢可归，人却将远行），流水绕孤村写流水无情、绕村而去，恰似行舟载人远行。此三句之妙在以景结情：不着一个愁字，而愁已漫溢画面。其源或出于隋炀帝寒鸦飞数点、流水绕孤村之句，而秦观点化入词，意境更为苍茫浑成，成为宋词中写景的典范。

These three lines are the famous scenic verse through the ages, Chao Buzhi saying that even the illiterate know they are heaven-born words. The setting sun, the winter crows, the flowing water, the lonely village, four images set side by side, not one word of feeling, and the parting's bleakness, the road ahead's blur, the fate's solitude all within. Beyond the setting sun writes the time's lateness, the winter crows flying in scattered dots writes the roosting crows (the crows have a nest to return to, and the man about to travel), the flowing water winds around the lonely village writes the water's heartless winding past the village, like the boat carrying the man far. The beauty of these three lines lies in closing feeling in scene: not one word of grief, and the grief already overflowing the picture. The source perhaps in the Sui emperor's the winter crows fly in a few dots, the flowing water winds the lonely village, and Qin Guan transforming it into the ci, the realm vaster and more fused, becoming the model of scenic writing in Song ci.

销魂。

It breaks the soul. (The two characters standing alone: like the breaking of the dyke and the surging of the water, the depth and the intensity of the feeling suddenly rising, the very core of the grief of the parting.)

此情此景，真令人黯然销魂，离愁别绪实在难以排遣。

This scene, this moment, truly breaks the heart; the parting grief is past all relief.

销魂二字独立成句，是全词的词眼，也是情感的爆发点。江淹《别赋》黯然销魂者、唯别而已矣，销魂二字本就与离别血脉相连；秦观于此二字一顿，把前三句铺写的景、前文追忆的情，尽数收拢于一声低叹。二字音节短促，如叹息出口，其下当此际三字再一顿，把时间定格在离别的刹那——正是这一刹那，香囊暗解，罗带轻分。此二字之妙在以顿挫写情至深处：长句铺叙已足，短句一点，情思如决堤之水，一发不可收。后来周邦彦《满庭芳·夏日溧水》之年年二字，正是同此章法，可见此词影响之深。

The two words heart-broken a line of their own, the ci's eye and the emotional outbreak. Jiang Yan's Rhapsody on Parting, the heart-broken, it is only parting, the two words by nature tied to parting; Qin Guan here pauses on the two words, gathering the first three lines' scene and the above recollection into one low sigh. The two words' short syllables, like a sigh uttered, and the below at this moment three words pause again, freezing the time in the parting instant — precisely this instant, the perfume pouch quietly untied, the silk sash lightly parted. The beauty of these two words lies in writing feeling to the depth through the pause: the long lines' narrative sufficient, the short line one touch, the feeling like the broken dike's water, once loosed and not gathered. Later Zhou Bangyan's Man ting fang, Summer at Lishui's the two words year after year, precisely the same craft, showing this ci's deep influence.

谩赢得、青楼薄幸名存。

In vain I have won, in the green towers, the name of the fickle one that remains. (The self-pity: the name of the fickle one of the green towers, the self-pity of the talent unrecognized, the grief of the drifting of the life.)

到头来徒然在青楼之中，落下一个薄情负心的名声。

In the end, in vain, among the singing houses, I have left the name of a faithless lover.

此句化用杜牧《遣怀》十年一觉扬州梦、赢得青楼薄幸名之句而更进一层：杜牧是赢得，自嘲中含自负；秦观是谩赢得，谩即徒然、空自，全是懊悔与无奈——多情的人反落得薄幸之名，这真是情场最深的讽刺。此句之妙在反语：秦观与恋人依依惜别，深情如此，却因长年羁旅、聚少离多，被人目为薄幸，谩字一字千钧，把多情却被无情恼的委屈、自伤、无奈尽数道出。由香囊暗解、罗带轻分的缱绻，到此句的自嘲自伤，情感的落差如悬崖瀑布，离别之痛愈见深沉。

This line borrows Du Mu's Sending Off, the ten years a dream of Yangzhou, I won at the singing houses the faithless name, and yet one layer further: Du Mu's won carries self-regard within the self-mockery; Qin Guan's in vain won, the in vain means the empty, the wholly the regret and the helpless — the feeling man ending with the faithless name, truly the love world's deepest satire. The line's beauty lies in the reverse: Qin Guan and the beloved lingering at the parting, the feeling so deep, and yet through the years of travel and the rare meeting, seen by others as the faithless, the one word in vain the weight of a thousand jun, exhausting the feeling-man-wounded-by-the-heartless-man grievance, the self-hurt, the helpless. From the perfume pouch's untying and the silk sash's parting closeness, to this line's self-mockery, the emotional fall like the cliff waterfall, the parting pain the deeper.

伤情处，高城望断，灯火已黄昏。

In the place of the grief, the high city is gazed to the end, and the lamps and the fires are already the dusk. (The close with the scene: the last gaze at the high city, the lamps and the fires of the dusk, the dusk of the lamps and the fires the endless of the grief.)

最伤情的地方是，回望高城，望断了城门，只看见万家灯火已亮起在黄昏之中。

The grieving point: I look back at the high city until sight fails; only the ten thousand lanterns already lit in the dusk.

结拍以景结情，是全词余韵最长的收束。行舟已远，回望城中，城楼高耸，灯火已上，黄昏降临——人已远行，而城中的灯火依旧，热闹与孤寂的对照，令离愁愈结愈深。高城望断写回首凝望之痴，望断二字写望到城影模糊也不肯收回目光；灯火已黄昏则以时间的推移写离别之久，由日暮（画角声断谯门）到黄昏（灯火已黄昏），一场离别在光影变换中完成。此三句不用一个情字，而情在景中：灯火是离人眼中最后的温暖，也是再也回不去的旧日。全词由山抹微云的日暮起，至灯火已黄昏的夜临收，首尾皆以暮色为骨，浑然一体。

The close ends feeling in scene, the ci's longest aftertone. The traveling boat already far, looking back at the city, the tower high, the lanterns lit, the dusk fallen — the man gone far, and the city lanterns as before, the bustle and solitude's contrast, the grief the more knotted. The high city gazed out of sight writes the look-back's obsession, the gaze-out-of-sight writing the refusal to lower the eyes even when the city's form blurs; the lanterns already dusk writes the parting's length through the time's turning, from the dusk (the horn's break at the tower) to the dusk (the lanterns at dusk), one parting completed in the light's changing. These three lines not one word of feeling, and the feeling in the scene: the lanterns the traveler's last warmth, and the old days no longer returnable. The whole ci rising on the hills-brushed-with-faint-clouds dusk, closing on the lanterns'-lit dusk, the head and tail both boned on the dusk, one piece.

Study

Word focus

抹 To wipe. The word of the scene: 'the mountains wipe away the thin clouds'—the thin clouds wiped on the mountains like the painting, the one 'wipe' character the painting in the scene, and Su Shi's joke of 'the Lord of the Mountains Wiping Away the Thin Clouds.' 山抹微云之抹字，是秦观炼字最著名的一例，也是全词的词眼之一。云本自然之物，而着一抹字，仿佛一位画师以笔轻轻涂抹，把薄云画在山顶——抹字既写云之薄、之淡（如轻抹一笔），又写山之远、之静（静待云来），还暗含作画之意（以画笔状云），虚实之间，境界全出。此字之妙在轻：若易为罩、笼，则云太重、太密；抹字一出，云的轻盈缥缈、山的苍茫静穆，如在目前。苏轼见此句，戏呼秦观为山抹微云君，可见此字当时即已倾倒京师词坛。后代词人争相效仿，而终不能过，正因抹字之妙在情境相合、无可替代。

连 To join. The word of the grass: 'the sky joins the withered grass'—the withered grass joined to the sky, the vastness of the dusk, the bleakness of the scene of the parting. 天连衰草之连字，写衰草与天相接之景。秋深草衰，远望如与天际相连，一个连字，把视野推向无穷，也把离愁引向无边——草连天，正如愁无涯。此字与抹相对：抹是近景之轻抹，连是远景之绵延，一近一远、一虚一实，构出全词的画面纵深。宋人亦作天粘衰草，粘字写草与天粘连之态，极工细；而秦观原作连字，写草与天相连之势，更苍茫。两字之争，正见宋人炼字之讲究：粘主形态，连主气象，而秦观之连更合衰草的绵延之势。一句之内，天连与山抹对举，一纵一横，画面顿生层次。

销魂 It breaks the soul. The word of the grief: from Jiang Yan's 'Rhapsody on the Parting,' 'the soul-broken, desolate'—the two characters standing alone, the depth and the intensity of the feeling suddenly rising, the very core of the grief of the parting. 销魂二字，是全词情感的凝结点，亦是中国文学中最著名的别情语码。此语出于江淹《别赋》黯然销魂者、唯别而已矣，本指魂魄离散，移以形容离别之痛；秦观于上片铺写秋暮之景、追忆旧事之后，以此二字独立成句，如一声压抑已久的叹息，把全部离愁猛然道破。二字之妙在以直写曲：前文写景皆含蓄，至此忽然直说销魂，情感的堤坝一溃而不可收；又因二字独立成句，音节短促，恰如话到嘴边又咽下的呜咽。后代词人写别情，无不援引销魂，而秦观此处的用法，实为词中短句顿挫的典范。

谩 In vain. The word of the self-pity: 'in vain I have won, in the green towers, the name of the fickle one that remains'—the in vain winning of the name of the fickle one, the self-pity of the talent unrecognized, the grief of the drifting of the life. 谩赢得、青楼薄幸名存之谩字，义为徒然、空自，是全句的情感关键。杜牧原句赢得青楼薄幸名，有自嘲亦有自得；秦观易赢得为谩赢得，一字之改，境界迥异：谩字一出，自得全消，只剩下徒然的懊悔与委屈——多情之人，反被目为薄幸，这一字写尽情场与命运的错位。此字下得极沉：若作空、枉，皆不如谩之含蓄而有力；谩字既有徒然之义，又暗含岂料之叹，把无可奈何的心情揉进一个字里。由谩到空惹啼痕之空，两个虚字前后呼应，全词的自伤自怜之气，皆由此二字生发。