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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

欧阳修·生查子·元夕

Sheng Chazi · Lantern Festival

欧阳修

Ouyang Xiu

婉约graceful (wan-yue) 爱情love

去年元夜时，花市灯如昼。
月上柳梢头，人约黄昏后。
今年元夜时，月与灯依旧。
不见去年人，泪湿春衫袖。

Last year at the Lantern Festival, the flower market's lamps were bright as day.
The moon rose above the willow tips; we met after dusk.
This year at the Lantern Festival, the moon and lamps are as before.
But last year's one is not seen; tears wet the sleeves of my spring robe.

Listen

Meaning

Last year on the night of the Lantern Festival, the flower-lamp market was bright as daylight. The bright moon rose above the willow branches, and I met my love after dusk. This year on the Lantern Festival night, the moon and lamps are still the same. But last year's person is not to be seen; tears have wet the sleeves of my spring dress.

去年元宵之夜，花灯集市亮如白昼。明月升上柳树枝头，与佳人相约在黄昏之后。今年元宵之夜，月亮和灯火依旧。却不见去年那个人，泪水打湿了春衫的衣袖。

Appreciation

This lyric unfolds through the repeated pattern of 'Last year at the Lantern Festival' and 'This year at the Lantern Festival', a structure of past-and-present contrast that circles like a folk song. The upper part writes the sweetness of the moonlit tryst — the flower market bright as day, the moon above the willows, the meeting after dusk — bright and warm; the lower part writes the same moon and lamps but abruptly meets 'last year's one is not seen, tears wet the sleeve', writing sorrow through joy, the contrast stabs the heart. The language is plain as speech, unworked, yet deep in feeling, gaining the flavour of the southern dynastic yuefu and the folk tune — among Ouyang Xiu's lyrics a rare fresh, natural piece, winning by nature over artifice.

【白话串讲】 “去年元夜时，花市灯如昼。月上柳梢头，人约黄昏后”——去年元宵，月亮爬上柳梢，他们在黄昏约会。“今年元夜时，月与灯依旧。不见去年人，泪湿春衫袖”——今年灯月依旧，人却不见了。欧阳修写尽了“物是人非”。【意象与手法】全词以上下片"去年元夜时""今年元夜时"的重复句式展开今昔对照，结构回环如民歌【情感与主旨】此词作者向有争议，南宋曾慥《乐府雅词》定为欧阳修作，今多从之（亦有归于朱淑真者）。词写元夕今昔之慨，具体年份难考【名句点睛】中高考常考：一、今昔对比的结构与"以乐写哀"手法；二、"月上柳梢头，人约黄昏后"的意境与炼句

Background

The authorship of this lyric has long been disputed; Zeng Zao's Southern-Song 'Refined Lyrics of the Music Bureau' assigned it to Ouyang Xiu, and most follow him today (some attribute it to Zhu Shuzhen). It writes the Lantern-Festival lament of past against present, the exact year hard to fix. In the Northern Song the capital's Lantern Festival blazed all night and young men and women often met then; this lyric clips that folk background, writing in the first person last year's joy and this year's loss. Though cast as love, it secretly holds the common regret that human affairs are fickle and good scenes rarely return — the most folk-flavoured and beloved of Northern-Song Lantern-Festival lyrics, reflecting the age when city festival custom and the literati lyric mingled.

《生查子·元夕》为北宋欧阳修所作（一说朱淑真作），是写元夕怀人、今昔之悲的词。欧阳修（1007—1072），字永叔，号醉翁，庐陵人，北宋文学家。此词：去年元夜时，花市灯如昼。月上柳梢头，人约黄昏后。今年元夜时，月与灯依旧。不见去年人，泪湿春衫袖。全词写元夕怀人、今昔对比，是欧阳修词的名篇。

Art

The whole lyric unfolds through the repeated 'Last year...' 'This year...' to set a past-present contrast, its structure circling like a folk song. The upper part writes the sweetness of the moonlit tryst (the flower market bright as day, the moon above the willows, the meeting after dusk), bright and warm; the lower part writes the same moon and lamps yet abruptly meets 'last year's one is not seen, tears wet the spring sleeve', using joyous scene to write sorrow, the reversal piercing. The language is plain as talk, unornamented, yet deep in feeling, truly gaining the taste of the southern yuefu and folk ditties — a fresh, natural work rare among Ouyang Xiu's lyrics, winning by nature over artifice.

《生查子·元夕》艺术上以今昔对比的工巧与怀人之悲的深婉见长。全词八句，层层写来：前四句写去年元夜——“去年元夜时，花市灯如昼”写去年花市灯如昼，“月上柳梢头，人约黄昏后”写月人约黄昏；后四句写今年元夜——“今年元夜时，月与灯依旧”写今年月灯依旧，“不见去年人，泪湿春衫袖”写不见去年人。全词以今昔对比写怀人之悲，正是欧阳修词深婉的笔法。

Allusions

'Yuan Xi' is the fifteenth night of the first month, the Lantern Festival, when in the Song dynasty lamps burned all night and men and women went out — anciently called 'Shang Yuan'; this is a factual writing of a festival, not an obscure allusion. 'The flower market's lamps bright as day' derives from Su Weidao's Tang poem 'The night of the fifteenth' ('Fire trees and silver flowers join; star bridge and iron locks open'), the Lantern Festival lamp-market tradition. Overall no recondite allusion is used; it writes feeling in wholly ordinary language and folk tune, exactly showing the lyric's trait of 'making the common elegant, making the shallow deep'. Ouyang Xiu led the Northern-Song prose-poetry reform, advocating plain and natural language; this lyric is the representative of his also-popular side, running alongside his elegant lyrics.

《生查子·元夕》用典少而意象自明。“元夜”写正月十五元宵夜；“花市灯如昼”写花市灯火如昼；“柳梢头”写柳梢；“春衫袖”写春衫之袖。全词以这些意象写元夕怀人、今昔之悲，不用深典而深婉自见，正是欧阳修词的笔法。

Commentary

The modern Yu Pingbo said of this lyric 'like a folk song, natural and lovely, without artifice'. Tang Guizhang called 'The moon rose above the willow tips; we met after dusk' a 'timeless beautiful line'. Read alongside the Lantern-Festival lyrics of Zhu Shuzhen and Li Qingzhao, Ouyang Xiu's is bright, Li Qingzhao's brooding. Later critics often pair it with Cui Hu's 'Peach blossoms and the human face' as both writing the pain of things-changed-yet-the-person-gone, but Ouyang Xiu's gains the spirit of the folk song through repeated stanzas and spreads widest.

《生查子·元夕》是欧阳修词的名篇，也是宋词中写今昔之悲的代表作。此词写元夕怀人、今昔对比，向为论者称道。论者多赏其今昔对比的工巧——“去年元夜时，花市灯如昼。月上柳梢头，人约黄昏后”写去年之约，与“今年元夜时，月与灯依旧。不见去年人，泪湿春衫袖”写今年之悲相对，今昔之悲尽在其中。此词写元夕怀人，正以今昔对比写怀人之悲，是其深婉的笔法。

Prosody

Form Lyric, 'Sheng Chazi' double-tune forty characters (oblique-rhyme form)词·生查子

Rhyme Oblique rhyme, per Ci Lin Zheng Yun; upper and lower parts each two oblique rhymes (day/after-dusk; old/sleeve)《生查子·元夕》为双调词，押仄声韵。此词用韵：昼、后（宥部）、旧、袖（宥部），一韵到底，音节深婉。

Tone pattern Mostly five-character lines, like ancient yuefu, bright brisk rhythm生查子为双调词，音节深婉而明快。此词写元夕怀人、今昔之悲，音节深婉而明快。全词一韵到底，声调与今昔之悲的内容相合，是欧阳修词中深婉的一路。

Reading note Sheng Chazi is a Tang imperial-music-bureau tune; this piece writes the Lantern Festival in folk-song style, with repeated stanzas, fresh and natural.《生查子·元夕》为北宋欧阳修所作，是写元夕怀人、今昔之悲的词。此词以“去年元夜时，花市灯如昼。月上柳梢头，人约黄昏后”写去年之约，以“今年元夜时，月与灯依旧。不见去年人，泪湿春衫袖”写今年之悲。以今昔对比写怀人之悲，正是欧阳修词的名篇。

Line by line

去年元夜时，花市灯如昼。月上柳梢头，人约黄昏后。

Last Lantern Night, the flower market's lamps were bright as day. The moon rose above the willow's tip; we had our tryst after dusk.

去年元夜之时，花市灯火如昼。月上柳梢头，人约于黄昏之后。

Last Lantern Night, the flower market's lamps were bright as day. The moon rose above the willow's tip; we had our tryst after dusk.

前四句写去年元夜之约，是全词今昔对比之“昔”的起点。“去年元夜时，花市灯如昼”写去年元夜——“去年元夜时”写去年元夜之时，“花市灯如昼”写花市灯火如昼——去年元夜，花市灯如昼；“月上柳梢头，人约黄昏后”写月人约黄昏——“月上柳梢头”写月上柳梢头，“人约黄昏后”写人约于黄昏之后——月上柳梢，人约黄昏。四句写去年元夜之约：去年元夜时、花市灯如昼，月上柳梢头、人约黄昏后。以“去年元夜时，花市灯如昼”写去年元宵花市灯火如昼之盛，以“月上柳梢头，人约黄昏后”写月上柳梢、人约黄昏之约，正是欧阳修词写今昔对比之“昔”的起点——去年元夜，两情相约。

The first four lines write last year's Lantern Night tryst, the ci's present-past contrast's past starting point. Last Lantern Night, the flower market's lamps were bright as day writes last year's Lantern Night — the last Lantern Night's time, the flower market's lamps bright as day; the moon rose above the willow's tip; we had our tryst after dusk writes the moon and the tryst. Four lines writing last year's tryst: last Lantern Night, the lamps bright as day, the moon above the willow, the tryst after dusk. Writing last year's flower-market-lamp-splendor through the last Lantern Night and the lamps bright as day, writing the moon-willow-dusk tryst through the moon above the willow and the tryst after dusk, precisely Ouyang's ci's present-past contrast's past starting point — last Lantern Night, the two hearts' tryst.

今年元夜时，月与灯依旧。不见去年人，泪湿春衫袖。

This Lantern Night, the moon and the lamps are as before. But the person of last year is gone from sight; my tears wet the spring robe's sleeve.

今年元夜之时，月与灯依旧。不见去年的那人，泪湿春衫之袖。

This Lantern Night, the moon and the lamps are as before. I cannot see the person of last year; my tears wet the spring robe's sleeve.

后四句写今年元夜之悲，是全词今昔对比之“今”的归结。“今年元夜时，月与灯依旧”写今年月灯依旧——“今年元夜时”写今年元夜之时，“月与灯依旧”写月与灯依旧——今年元夜，月灯依旧；“不见去年人，泪湿春衫袖”写不见去年人——“不见去年人”写不见去年的那人，“泪湿春衫袖”写泪湿春衫之袖——不见去年人，泪湿春衫袖。四句写今年元夜之悲：今年元夜时、月与灯依旧，不见去年人、泪湿春衫袖。以“今年元夜时，月与灯依旧”写今年月灯依旧之景，以“不见去年人，泪湿春衫袖”写不见去年之人、泪湿春衫之袖，正是欧阳修词写今昔对比之“今”的归结——景犹是而人已非，泪落春衫。

The last four lines write this year's Lantern Night grief, the ci's present-past contrast's present close. This Lantern Night, the moon and the lamps are as before writes this year's moon and lamps unchanged — this Lantern Night's time, the moon and lamps as before; I cannot see the person of last year; my tears wet the spring robe's sleeve writes the person's absence. Four lines writing this year's grief: this Lantern Night, the moon and lamps as before, the person gone from sight, the tears wetting the sleeve. Writing this year's moon-and-lamps-unchanged scene through this Lantern Night, the moon and the lamps as before, writing the person's absence and the wet sleeve through the person gone and the tears wet, precisely Ouyang's ci's present-past contrast's present close — the scene as of old and the man no longer, the tears falling on the spring robe.

Study

Word focus

花市灯如昼 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “花市灯如昼”之“花市灯如昼”，写花市灯火如昼，是全词写元夕之盛的关键词。“花市”写花灯之市，“灯如昼”写灯火如白昼——花市灯火如昼。这一词写元夕之盛：不是寻常之灯，而如昼；不是微明之火，而灿如白昼。以“去年元夜时，花市灯如昼”写去年元夕之盛，正是欧阳修词写今昔对比之“昔”的笔法。

月上柳梢头 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “月上柳梢头”之“月上柳梢头”，写月上柳梢，是全词写约期之景的关键词。“月上”写月升起，“柳梢头”写柳梢之头——月上柳梢头。这一词写约时之景：不是白昼之时，而月上柳梢；不是寻常之约，而黄昏月升之期。以“月上柳梢头，人约黄昏后”写月上柳梢、人约黄昏，正是欧阳修词写元夕之约的笔法。

月与灯依旧 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “月与灯依旧”之“月与灯依旧”，写月与灯依旧，是全词写今昔对比之“今”的关键词。“月与灯”写月与灯，“依旧”写依旧如昔——月与灯依旧。这一词写景之不变：不是已变之景，而月与灯依旧；不是可易之物，而依旧如昔。以“今年元夜时，月与灯依旧”写今年月灯依旧、人已不同，正是欧阳修词写今昔之悲的笔法。

泪湿春衫袖 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “泪湿春衫袖”之“泪湿春衫袖”，写泪湿春衫之袖，是全词写怀人之悲的归结词。“泪湿”写泪落沾湿，“春衫袖”写春衫之袖——泪湿春衫之袖。这一词写怀人之悲：不是可止之悲，而泪湿衣袖；不是轻浅之伤，而泪落不止。以“不见去年人，泪湿春衫袖”写不见去年之人、泪湿春衫之袖，正是欧阳修词写今昔之悲的归结。