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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

满庭芳·夏日溧水无想山作

Courtyard Full of Fragrance: Written at Wuxiang Mountain in Lishui on a Summer Day

周邦彦

Zhou Bangyan

羁旅Travel and Exile 抒情Lyricism 山水Landscape

风老莺雏，雨肥梅子，午阴嘉树清圆。
地卑山近，衣润费炉烟。
人静乌鸢自乐，小桥外、新绿溅溅。
凭栏久，黄芦苦竹，拟泛九江船。
年年。
如社燕，飘流瀚海，来寄修椽。
且莫思身外，长近尊前。
憔悴江南倦客，不堪听、急管繁弦。
歌筵畔，先安簟枕，容我醉时眠。

The wind has aged the young orioles,
The rain has fattened the green plums,
At noon the fine trees cast a clear round shade.
The land is low, the hills are near;
Damp clothes consume much incense smoke.
In the quiet crows and kites delight themselves;
Beyond the little bridge,
The new green water gurgles on.
Leaning on the rail so long,
Amid yellow reeds and bitter bamboo,
I think of drifting on a Jiujiang boat.

Year after year,
Like the swallow of the spring shrine,
I drift across the vast sea,
And lodge beneath the long rafters.
Do not think of things beyond yourself,
But keep close to the wine cup.
A withered, weary traveler south of the Yangtze,
I cannot bear the urgent flutes and strings.
Beside the singing feast,
First spread my bamboo mat and pillow,
And let me sleep when I am drunk.

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Meaning

The poem expresses the poet's weariness and melancholy as an official stranded in a low, humid southern county. Through the summer scenery of Lishui, he compares himself to a migrating swallow lodging under another's eaves, and though he tries to dismiss worldly concerns with wine, he remains a withered wanderer who can only seek temporary oblivion in sleep.

风使莺雏长大，雨让梅子肥润，午间树荫清圆可爱。地势低卑山峦临近，衣衫润湿费却炉烟。人静时乌鸢自得其乐，小桥外新绿流水溅溅。凭栏久望，黄芦苦竹，想泛舟九江。年年如此。像社燕飘流瀚海，来寄身于修椽。且莫思身外之事，长近酒樽之前。憔悴江南倦客，不堪听急管繁弦。歌筵之畔，先安放簟枕，容我醉时安眠。

Appreciation

Zhou Bangyan, a master of the wanyue (subtle and restrained) style in the Northern Song, was deeply versed in prosody. Written during his term as magistrate of Lishui, this ci blends the fresh early-summer scene with a profound sense of drift and official fatigue. The first stanza depicts youthful orioles, plump plums, and round tree-shade, yet immediately turns to the discomfort of low, damp land and clothes needing incense smoke—joyous images masking inner gloom. The kites and crows at ease and the gurgling green water ironically set off the poet's loneliness; leaning on the railing, he longs for a boat to Jiujiang. The second stanza begins with 'year after year,' comparing himself to a shrine-swallow drifting over vast seas to lodge beneath long eaves. He tries to forget worldly cares by lingering near the wine cup, but the 'withered, weary traveler' cannot bear the urgent music. The final lines, spreading a bamboo mat for drunken sleep, offer a decadent release that only deepens the sorrow. The poem excels in blending scene and feeling, dense imagery, and meticulous structure, embodying Zhou's refined, ornate yet restrained style. The words 'aged' and 'fattened' are celebrated for their vivid vitality, making this a model of travel-and-exile ci that profoundly influenced Southern Song elegance.

【白话串讲】 “风老莺雏，雨肥梅子，午阴嘉树清圆”——周邦彦写夏日溧水：风老莺雏，雨肥梅子。“地卑山近，衣润费炉烟”——“年年。如社燕，飘流瀚海，来寄修椽”——“且莫思身外，长近尊前”——“憔悴江南倦客，不堪听急管繁弦”——他漂泊倦了。【意象与手法】上片写溧水风物，“风老莺雏，雨肥梅子，午阴嘉树清圆”以“老”“肥”炼字活化景物；“地卑山近、衣润费炉烟”显湿闷；“乌鸢自乐、新绿溅溅”反衬人之孤寂。下片以“年年”领起自比社燕飘流；“且莫思身外，长近尊前”故作放达；结句“先安簟枕，容我醉时眠”以颓放收束。情景交融、意象绵密。【情感与主旨】周邦彦任溧水知县时所作，借江南夏日之景抒发漂泊羁旅、倦于宦游的身世之感。将羁旅之悲写得温厚绵长，是宋词羁旅行役题材的典范，承柳永铺叙而益加雅密，下开南宋姜夔、吴文英一路。【名句点睛】常考“风老莺雏，雨肥梅子，午阴嘉树清圆”以老肥炼字写初夏物候；“憔悴江南倦客，不堪听急管繁弦”以倦客写羁旅之愁。

Background

Zhou Bangyan (courtesy name Meicheng, self-styled Qingzhen jushi) was a leading figure of Northern Song wanyue ci. He was renowned for his musical mastery and served at the Dasheng Music Bureau, standardizing ci prosody. After presenting the 'Bian Du Fu' to the emperor, he held various minor posts in local counties, drifting for years in the south. This poem was written while he was magistrate of Lishui (present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu). The low, damp terrain and his unfulfilled career weighed on him, and the discomfort of the humid climate became a trigger for his melancholy. The comparison to a swallow 'lodging beneath long rafters' and the 'withered, weary traveler' paint a self-portrait of one who is both physically and emotionally a guest, never at home. Zhou's mastery lies in wrapping this anguish in delicate scenery and tight structure, creating a restrained, warm sorrow rather than open complaint. This piece is a classic of travel-and-exile ci and best illustrates his 'rich and exquisite, deep and reserved' style, exerting great influence on later Southern Song elegant ci.

周邦彦字美成，号清真居士，北宋婉约词之集大成者，精通音律，曾提举大晟府，主持审订词调，对宋词格律的规范化贡献极大。他早年以献《汴都赋》得官，后辗转地方州县，屡任知县、教授之类闲曹，漂泊宦游，久滞江南。这首《满庭芳》作于其任溧水（今属江苏南京）知县时，借江南夏日风物，抒发身世漂泊、倦于宦游之慨。要理解此词，须先看周邦彦的位置。他一生多在地方任上流转，远离中枢，政治抱负难展，加之性情本非奔竞之徒，久处卑湿之地，难免生羁旅之悲。溧水地卑山近、气候润湿，与北方干燥疏朗的气候迥异，这种身体与环境的不适，恰好成了触发愁思的由头。词中「憔悴江南倦客」「如社燕，飘流瀚海，来寄修椽」，正是对这种处境的自画像：年年如燕，寄身他乡，身是客、心亦客。然而周邦彦毕竟是格律大家，他不把悲慨写得直露，而是融进清丽的初夏物色与细密的章法里，沉郁而不激烈，温厚而绵长。这首词因此是宋词羁旅行役题材的典范，亦最能见清真词「富艳精工」而「沉郁含蓄」的面目，对南宋雅词影响甚巨。

Art

This ci displays Zhou Bangyan's consummate skill in narrative expansion and structural density. The first stanza is scenic, the second emotional; the scene sets the mood and the emotion grows from the scene. The opening three lines—'The wind has aged the young orioles / The rain has fattened the green plums / At noon the fine trees cast a clear round shade'—appear fresh and delightful, but the following 'The land is low, the hills are near / Damp clothes consume much incense smoke' abruptly shifts to discomfort, hiding melancholy within a joyful scene. The self-satisfied crows and kites and the gurgling green water contrast with the poet's solitude; 'Leaning on the rail so long' introduces the reeds and bitter bamboo, foreshadowing a desire to sail away. The second stanza's 'year after year' leads to the swallow metaphor, and the forced detachment of 'Do not think of things beyond yourself' is punctured by 'I cannot bear the urgent flutes and strings,' revealing deeper grief. The closing lines, 'Spread my bamboo mat and pillow / And let me sleep when I am drunk,' end in decadent surrender. The poem is dense with images and crafted diction, merging personal sorrow into ordinary scenery without trace. Zhou excels at weaving his life's lament into beautiful objects, achieving a restrained melancholy. The transition from joy to grief is not a simple antithesis but pivots on 'leaning on the rail,' where the scenic beauty already carries the thread of sorrow. This 'sinking and reserved' quality, where grief circulates like an undercurrent beneath brilliant description, distinguishes Zhou from Liu Yong's flow and Yan Shu's elegance, making this small Lishui poem a paradigm of 'writing deep pain with ornate words' in the evolution of Northern Song slow ci.

这首词最见周邦彦铺叙之工与章法之密。上片写景，下片抒情，景为情设，情由景生，脉络极清而气脉流转。上片起三句「风老莺雏，雨肥梅子，午阴嘉树清圆」，写溧水初夏常景，本极清新可喜；随即「地卑山近，衣润费炉烟」一转，点出卑湿的不适，乐景中暗藏闷郁。乌鸢自乐、新绿溅溅，以物之得其所，反衬人之孤寂；「凭栏久」以下，黄芦苦竹，引出泛舟九江之想，景中已伏归意。下片以「年年」领起，自比社燕飘流、寄身修椽，叹身世如寄；「且莫思身外，长近尊前」故作放达，实则「憔悴江南倦客，不堪听急管繁弦」，愁苦更深；结句「先安簟枕，容我醉时眠」，以颓放语收束，抑郁难排。全词意象绵密，炼字精警，情景交融而无痕迹。周邦彦善于把身世之慨，化入寻常风物，沉郁含蓄，既得温飞卿之丽，又兼柳耆卿之铺，而法度更严，是北宋婉约词从「率意」走向「精严」的关键一座。尤当留意的是，此词上下片的「乐」与「哀」并非简单对位，而是以「凭栏久」为枢轴完成悄然转调：上片景虽清丽，已伏「地卑山近」之闷与「黄芦苦竹」之悲，乐景中早藏哀线；下片「且莫思身外」故作排遣，反被「不堪听急管繁弦」戳破，所谓放达只是强自宽解。周邦彦的「沉郁」，正在这种不肯让悲慨直泻、却让它如暗流般在丽景下回旋的写法。较之柳永的畅达、晏殊的闲雅，清真此词以密丽之笔写羁旅，景愈美而身世愈哀，法与情相生，遂使一首溧水初夏小词，成为北宋慢词雅化进程中「以绮语写沉痛」的范型。

Allusions

This poem uses few allusions, but two figures of lodging and exile are especially poignant. The first, 'Like the swallow of the spring shrine, / I drift across the vast sea, / And lodge beneath the long rafters.' The shrine-swallow arrives at the spring altar and departs at the autumn altar, traditionally symbolizing those who wander without a fixed home. 'Vast sea' (hanhai) here conveys the far distance of drifting; 'long rafters' simply means the eaves of a house. The poet compares himself to such a swallow, far-flung and temporarily lodging under another's roof—the pain lying in the word 'lodge' (ji), suggesting he is not the master but a guest, physically and mentally. The second allusion, 'I think of drifting on a Jiujiang boat,' evokes the Jiujiang of Bai Juyi's 'Pipa Xing,' where the exiled Sima of Jiangzhou was moved to tears. Zhou Bangyan, seeing yellow reeds and bitter bamboo in Lishui, recalls the same desolate exile. The phrase 'yellow reeds and bitter bamboo' directly echoes Bai Juyi's poem, pointing to a landscape of rejection and loneliness. Both allusions are woven naturally into the imagery, showing Zhou's ability to assimilate literary references without pedantry—classical allusions supply a ready shell for feelings that are otherwise unspeakable.

此词用典不多，却有两处寄身喻，尤见身世之悲，值得拈出。其一，「如社燕，飘流瀚海，来寄修椽」。社燕即春社来、秋社去之燕，古人以之喻漂泊无定之人；瀚海本指沙漠或大海，此处极言飘流之远；修椽是长椽，指屋檐。全句以燕自况：年年如社燕般远飘，暂寄身于他人屋檐之下。这一喻象，既写宦游之流转，又写寄人篱下、身非主人的卑抑，沉痛在「寄」字。其二，「拟泛九江船」。九江泛指江湖，暗用白居易《琵琶行》「江州司马青衫湿」之九江意象，亦关合迁谪失意之典。白居易于九江司马任上写出千古沦落之悲，周邦彦在溧水望着黄芦苦竹，想起的正是这同一份贬地孤寂。黄芦苦竹四字，更直接化用《琵琶行》「黄芦苦竹绕宅生」，点明自己所处的，正是一片贬所般的萧瑟。两处用典，一喻漂泊、一证贬寂，皆不著议论，只以物象与旧典轻轻带出，正见清真词「用事浑化」的本领——典故不是炫耀，而是替说不出的身世，找到了现成的壳。

Commentary

Zhou Bangyan was hailed as the 'Du Fu of ci' for his rigorous prosody and ornate refinement. This 'Courtyard Full of Fragrance' is a representative travel-and-exile piece. Song critic Chen Yu praised him as 'unrivaled in music for two hundred years.' The diction in 'The wind has aged the young orioles, / The rain has fattened the green plums' has been admired by generations of critics for its 'reborn transformation.' Wang Guowei, though critical of Zhou's 'lack of originality in conception,' acknowledged that his 'description of feelings and objects reaches the utmost skill,' which this poem perfectly demonstrates—it wins not through striking ideas but through delicate observation and dense structure. Compared with Liu Yong's straightforward flow, Zhou adds elegance and intricacy; compared with Jiang Kui and Wu Wenying, Zhou retains warmth and clarity. Standing between the two, this poem inherits Liu's narrative method and opens the path to Southern Song elegance. It is a crucial piece in the evolution of Song ci and is universally included in anthologies such as 'Three Hundred Song Ci,' as it reveals both Zhou's craftsmanship and the broader transition from short xiayin to slow ci.

周邦彦词在宋代即被推为「词中老杜」，其法度精严、富艳精工，为后世奉为楷式。这首《满庭芳》向来被视为清真羁旅词的代表。宋人陈郁《藏一话腴》称邦彦「二百年来，以乐府独步」，其炼字如「风老莺雏，雨肥梅子」之「老」「肥」，尤被历代评家激赏，以为「夺胎换骨」之妙。近人王国维《人间词话》论周词，虽微词其「创意之才少」，却也承认其「言情体物，穷极工巧」，此词正可作证：它不以立意奇绝取胜，而以体物之细、章法之密胜。上片写景如画，下片抒情如水，二者咬合无间，是「富艳精工」四字的最佳注脚。与柳永相较，柳词铺叙以畅达胜，清真则于畅达中加一层雅密；与南宋姜夔、吴文英相较，姜吴益趋隐晦，而清真尚留温厚。此词处其间，承柳而启姜吴，是宋词雅化链条上的关键一环。历来选本如《宋词三百首》多录此阕，正因其既能见清真之工，亦能见北宋令慢转型之大体，是研读宋词者不可绕过的一篇。

Prosody

Form Ci, double-stanza, 'Courtyard Full of Fragrance' (Mantingfang), 95 characters. The first stanza has ten lines with four level rhymes, the second has eleven lines with four level rhymes. A long slow-ci form suited for elaborate description.词，双调，《满庭芳》正体，上片十句四平韵，下片十一句四平韵，共九十五字，属长调慢词，宜于铺叙。

Rhyme A single level-rhyme scheme runs through the entire piece. The rhyme words—'yuan' (round), 'yan' (smoke), 'jian' (gurgle), 'chuan' (boat), 'chuan' (rafters), 'qian' (front), 'xian' (strings), 'mian' (sleep)—belong to the same Xian rhyme-category (with slight tonal accommodation for 'jian'). The consistent level rhymes create a harmonious yet slightly melancholy sound that matches the dejected, wandering mood.通押平声韵。上片「圆」「烟」「溅」「船」与下片「椽」「前」「弦」「眠」同属平声先韵（圆、烟、船、椽、前、弦、眠为先韵，溅属先韵或仄，此处依词调作平协），一韵贯穿，声情和婉而略带低回，与羁旅沉郁之怀相称。

Tone pattern This is a level-rhyme long ci with alternating four-, five-, and six-character lines. The opening three lines form a parallel structure of four, four, and six characters with rigorous tonal patterns. The two-character lead 'nian nian' (year after year) is a rhythmic pivot, followed by expansive phrasing. Zhou uses many departing-tone characters (e.g., 'cui' in 'qiaocui' and 'bu' in 'bukan') to invigorate the line and give sinew to the dense texture.《满庭芳》为平韵长调，句式长短错落，以四、五、六言相间。起三句「风老莺雏，雨肥梅子，午阴嘉树清圆」为四、四、六排比，平仄精严；过片「年年」二字短促领起，以下铺展，多用去声字振起情感，如「憔悴」「不堪」等，仄声重读处正见沉郁。

Reading note Mantingfang is one of Zhou Bangyan's favored slow-ci tunes, with a calm, measured cadence ideal for scenic description and subtle feeling. The first stanza moves from four-character parallel couplets to six-character lines, then to five- and four-character phrases, creating a rhythm that slowly unfolds like a summer landscape scroll. The second stanza's initial two-character 'nian nian' halts the flow, then proceeds in a conversational manner. The uniform level rhymes give a warm but slightly dark tone, echoing the 'withered traveler's' low spirits. Zhou was a master of prosody; his careful use of departing-tone words such as 'jiu' (long) and 'bu' (cannot) lifts the energy and prevents monotony. The sound scheme is not mere decoration but the very structure of emotion—it wraps the heavy sorrow of exile in a mellow rhythm, restraining grief from breaking out, a hallmark of Zhou's 'rich and exquisite' style.《满庭芳》是周邦彦最擅用的慢词调之一，音节从容，宜于铺陈景物、委婉抒情。此词上片写景，句法由四言对起，转六言，再入五、四言，节奏缓急相间，如一幅徐徐展开的江南夏日长卷；下片以两字「年年」顿住，以下如话家常般铺叙身世，多用平声先韵一贯到底，音色温润而微暗，恰合「憔悴」「倦客」的低回心绪。周邦彦精音律，此词平仄、句读、韵位皆极考究，尤其善用去声字（如「凭栏久」之「久」、「不堪听」之「不」）振起气脉，使绵密中自有筋骨。整体看，这首词的声律不是装饰，而是情感的结构——它用从容的韵律，把沉郁的羁旅之悲，包得温厚而不溃散，正是清真词「富艳精工」在格律层面的体现。

Line by line

风老莺雏，雨肥梅子

The wind and rain have matured the young orioles and fattened the plums; at noon, the fine trees cast a clear, round shade. This depicts the flourishing scene of early summer, where natural processes are presented as active forces.

风使莺雏长大，雨让梅子肥润

The wind matures the young orioles; the rain swells the plums.

这八个字是千古炼字的范本，妙在「老」与「肥」两个动词的错位使用。按常理，风只能吹、雨只能润，莺雏之长大、梅子之肥润，本是时序使然；可周邦彦偏说风「老」了莺雏、雨「肥」了梅子，把无形的风化成了有意的养育者，把自然过程写成了主动作为。这种「使动」的炼字法，让静景陡生动态与温度：风不是冷漠地吹过，而是参与了一场生命的成熟；雨不是无情地落下，而是催肥了一颗果实。二字之奇，在于把农事般的日常，写出了童话般的亲切。更要紧的是，这清新的初夏之景，恰恰反衬后文「地卑山近」的闷郁与「憔悴江南」的悲——以乐景写哀，哀更深。八字抵过一篇《夏日赋》。

These eight characters are the model of word-craft through the ages, the wonder lying in the displaced use of the two verbs mature and fat. By reason, the wind can only blow, the rain only moisten, the young orioles' growth and the plums' swelling by nature the season's doing; and Zhou Bangyan says the wind matured the orioles, the rain swelled the plums, turning the invisible wind into the intentional nourisher, the natural process into the active doing. This causative word-craft lets the still scene suddenly gain motion and warmth: the wind not coldly blowing past, but participating in the life's ripening; the rain not heartlessly falling, but swelling a fruit. The two characters' wonder lies in writing the farm-like daily life with the fairy-tale warmth. More important, this fresh early-summer scene precisely sets off the below low-land-and-near-mountain gloom and the haggard-southland grief — writing grief through delighted scene, the grief the deeper. Eight characters worth a whole Summer Rhapsody.

地卑山近，衣润费炉烟

The land is low and the hills are near; damp clothes consume much incense smoke. This shifts to the discomfort of the humid, low-lying terrain, a metaphor for the poet's stifled predicament.

地势低卑山峦临近，衣衫润湿费却炉烟

The ground is low and the mountains near; the clothes are damp, costing the brazier's smoke.

上句写尽江南卑湿之苦，是全词由乐转哀的关捩。「地卑山近」四字，既是溧水真实的地理——县城低洼、群山逼仄，也是词人心理的隐喻：置身于一种局促、压抑、不得舒展的处境。「衣润费炉烟」更以生活细节坐实这种不适：衣物终年润湿，非得燃炉熏烤不可，一个「费」字，写出了与环境的持久角力，也暗含岁月徒耗的叹惋。这一句看似平淡的记事，实则是身世之悲的第一个落脚点——一个本可立于庙堂的人，却困在烟熏衣润的卑湿小县。周邦彦不呼痛、不骂世，只把这润湿的衣衫与费尽的炉烟轻轻写出，沉郁之味，反从平淡里渗出，正是「沉郁含蓄」四字的最好示范。

The upper line exhausts the southland low-dampness grief, the ci's hinge from delight to grief. The four words the land is low and the mountains near, at once Lishui's real geography — the county seat low, the mountains pressing close — and the poet's psychological metaphor: dwelling in a cramped, oppressed, un-unfolding situation. The clothes are damp, costing the brazier's smoke further confirms this discomfort in the life detail: the garments damp all year, needing the brazier's smoking to dry, the one word cost writing the long tussle with the environment, and secretly the sigh at the years' waste. This seemingly plain record of fact is in truth the fate grief's first landing point — a man who might have stood in the court, trapped in the low damp county of smoke-dimmed clothes. Zhou Bangyan not crying out in pain, not cursing the age, only lightly writing the damp clothes and the costly brazier smoke, the somber flavor oozing from the plainness, precisely the best demonstration of the somber and restrained.

如社燕，飘流瀚海，来寄修椽

In the quiet, crows and kites amuse themselves; beyond the little bridge, the new green water gurgles. The self-contented birds and lively water contrast with the poet's inner loneliness.

像社燕飘流瀚海，来寄身于修椽

Like the altar swallow, drifting across the vast desert, I come to lodge beneath the long rafters.

下片这一喻，是全词身世之悲的核心意象。社燕春来秋去、依人檐下，本是古典诗词里现成的漂泊符号；周邦彦拿来自况，却加了「飘流瀚海」的遥远与「来寄修椽」的卑微，把寻常的「漂泊」写成了「远飘而暂寄」。最痛在一个「寄」字——他不是这方水土的主人，只是年年借住檐下的客燕，身是客，心亦是客。这与上片「凭栏久，黄芦苦竹，拟泛九江船」的归想一脉相承：因为「寄」，所以想着「泛」；因为无根，所以念归。这一句把前面所有的景语，都收束成一份寄身他乡的苍凉，也是全词从「写景」真正沉入「自伤」的深处，读来令人低回。

The second stanza's metaphor is the ci's core image of the fate grief. The altar swallow comes in spring and leaves in autumn, lodging beneath the eaves, by nature the ready drift symbol in classical poetry; Zhou Bangyan taking it as his own figure, and yet adding the drifting the vast desert's distance and the coming to lodge beneath the long rafter's lowliness, writing the ordinary drift as the far drift and the brief lodging. The most grief in the one word lodge — he is not this soil's master, only the yearly guest-swallow beneath the eaves, the body a guest, the heart a guest. This inherits the first stanza's long I lean on the rail, the yellow reeds and bitter bamboos, I think of sailing the Jiujian boat in one line: because the lodge, hence the thought of the sailing; because the rootless, hence the longing for return. This line gathers all the above scenic words into the bleakness of lodging in a strange land, and the ci's true sinking from scenic writing into self-grief, the reading lingering.

Study

Word focus

老 / 肥 A key expression in this poem; read it with the Chinese note below. 「风老莺雏，雨肥梅子」中的「老」与「肥」，是周邦彦炼字最耀眼的双璧。二字皆以形容词、名词活用作使动动词：风使莺雏「老」（长大成熟），雨使梅子「肥」（丰润饱满）。这种错位用法，打破了主谓的常轨，让风、雨成了有意志的养育者，把被动的自然时序写成主动的生命参与。其妙不仅在奇，更在准——「老」字状雏鸟长成，带一分时光沉淀的安稳；「肥」字状果实饱盈，带一分雨水滋润的丰沛，二字一静一动，恰好凑成初夏物候的完整呼吸。历来评家激赏此联，正因其「夺胎换骨」而自然无迹。它代表了清真词「下字运意，皆有法度」的铸语功夫：奇而不诡，工而不纤，是宋词炼字的标杆。

憔悴 A key expression in this poem; read it with the Chinese note below. 「憔悴江南倦客」的「憔悴」二字，是全词情感的总收口，也是词人自画像的眼睛。它本指面容枯槁、神色疲惫，这里用来形容一个漂泊江南、久宦不迁的「倦客」。妙在它既写形（容颜的损耗），更写神（心力的凋零）——江南的卑湿、年年的寄迹、身外的难思，层层加压，终于把一个人磨成了「憔悴」。这个词放在下片抒情的高潮处，与上文「风老莺雏」的鲜润形成刺眼的对照：外面的世界在生长，里面的人却在枯萎。周邦彦不铺陈悲哀，只以「憔悴」二字轻轻一顿，千言身世便都藏在这两个字的重量里，正是其「沉郁含蓄」本色：悲哀不说尽，说尽了反失含蓄。

且莫思身外 A key expression in this poem; read it with the Chinese note below. 「且莫思身外，长近尊前」一句，表面是放达的劝慰，实则是更深的无奈，而「且莫」二字正是这层反讽的锁钥。「且」是暂且、姑且，带一种明知道不行却偏要如此的自我宽解；「莫思身外」看似超脱，可一个久处卑湿、自比寄燕的人，真能不思身外吗？恰恰是不能思、不敢思，才要「且莫思」。这种以放达语写沉郁情的笔法，是周邦彦的拿手好戏：他不让悲慨破堤而出，而是用「长近尊前」的酒意把它暂时压住。读这句，要倒过来听——「莫思」二字背后，正是一片思而不能的苍茫。这也是全词「温厚绵长」的秘密：悲而不怒，怨而不露。