宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric
绮寮怨
Qiliaoyuan (Resentment of the Carved Windows)
上马人扶残醉，晓风吹未醒。
映水曲、翠瓦朱檐，垂杨里、乍见津亭。
当时曾题败壁，蛛丝罩、淡墨苔晕青。
念去来、岁月如流，徘徊久、叹息愁思盈。
去去倦寻路程。
江陵旧事，何曾再问杨琼。
旧曲凄清。
敛愁黛、与谁听。
尊前故人如在，想念我、最关情。
何须渭城。
歌声未尽处，先泪零。
Where the water curves, green tiles and red eaves; among the drooping willows, suddenly I see the ferry pavilion.
In those days I inscribed the ruined wall; now cobwebs veil it, faint ink blurred with green moss.
Thinking of the coming and going, the years flow like water; long I linger, sighing, my sorrow brimming full.
On and on, weary of seeking the road.
The old affairs of Jiangling — when did I ever ask after Yang Qiong again?
The old tunes are chill and clear.
Knitting my sorrowful brows — for whom do I listen?
If the old friends were here before the cup, they who missed me most tenderly.
Why need the Weicheng song?
Before the song is finished, my tears fall first.
Meaning
A traveler, still drunk at dawn, comes upon a ferry pavilion where he once wrote on the wall; cobwebs and moss measure the years since. The poem moves from the wall to the old Jiangling affair and the songs he can no longer hear, ending in tears that fall before the farewell song is finished. Its theme is the poignancy of revisiting a place where one's own past survives only as an overgrown trace.
上马人扶残醉，晓风吹未醒。映水曲、翠瓦朱檐，垂杨里、乍见津亭。当时曾题败壁，蛛丝罩、淡墨苔晕青。念去来、岁月如流，徘徊久、叹息愁思盈。去去倦寻路程。江陵旧事，何曾再问杨琼。旧曲凄清。敛愁黛、与谁听。尊前故人如在，想念我、最关情。何须渭城。歌声未尽处，先泪零。
Appreciation
[Plain Paraphrase] Supported by others, I mount my horse still drunken at dawn; the morning wind blows and I have not sobered. Where the water bends I glimpse green tiles and red eaves; among the willows a ferry pavilion suddenly appears — the place where, years ago, I wrote on the wall. Now cobwebs cover the ink and moss has blurred it. The years have flowed away like water; I linger, sighing, sorrow brim-full. Onward, weary of the road: who now asks after Yang Qiong of Jiangling? The old songs are chill; I knit my sorrow-brows and listen for whom? If my old friends sat before the cup, they would miss me most. No need for the Weicheng farewell song — before it ends, my tears fall first. [Structure] Present drunkenness, the discovered place, the discovered inscription, memory of Jiangling, the imagined cup, and finally tears: a chain in which every object — pavilion, wall, song — triggers the next. [Imagery] Cobwebs and moss do the work of time; the Weicheng song, the archetypal farewell air, is rejected as insufficient. Zhou Bangyan's sorrow never speaks directly; it hides in objects.
【白话串讲】 周邦彦写《绮寮怨》：“上马人扶残醉，晓风吹未醒”——“映水曲、翠瓦朱檐，垂杨里、乍见津亭”——“当时曾题败壁，蛛丝罩、淡墨苔晕青”——“念去来、岁月如流，徘徊久、叹息愁思盈”——他写旧地——岁月如流。 【意象与手法】 “上马人扶残醉，晓风吹未醒”写残醉未醒；“映水曲、翠瓦朱檐，垂杨里、乍见津亭”写乍见津亭；“当时曾题败壁，蛛丝罩、淡墨苔晕青”以蛛丝淡墨写旧题；“念去来、岁月如流，徘徊久、叹息愁思盈”写岁月如流；结以“何须渭城。歌声未尽处，先泪零”写歌声未竟泪先零。含蓄深婉。 【情感与主旨】 周邦彦写羁旅追忆之作，写重过旧地、物是人非的惆怅与岁月如流之叹，是清真词中追忆旧游的代表。 【名句点睛】 常考“当时曾题败壁，蛛丝罩、淡墨苔晕青”以蛛丝淡墨写旧题；“念去来、岁月如流，徘徊久、叹息愁思盈”写岁月如流。
Background
Zhou Bangyan (1056-1121), courtesy name Meicheng, studio name Qingjuxi, was a native of Qiantang (Hangzhou). A master of music who long served in the imperial music bureau, he brought Northern Song ci to its highest polish — 'every line carefully cut' — and later critics called him 'the Du Fu of ci.' This Qiliaoyuan, written on a journey, revisits a ferry crossing he had known in his Jiangling years. Jiangling (in modern Hubei) was a way-station of the official Yangzi route, and 'Yang Qiong' was a singing girl of the place, a name that stands for a whole vanished world of song and youth.
《绮寮怨》为北宋词人周邦彦所作词。周邦彦（1056—1121），字美成，号清真居士，钱塘（今浙江杭州）人，北宋词人，精通音律，词风典雅精工，为婉约词集大成者，人称「词中老杜」。此词写羁旅追忆。词中「上马人扶残醉，晓风吹未醒」写残醉未醒；「映水曲、翠瓦朱檐，垂杨里、乍见津亭」写乍见津亭；「当时曾题败壁，蛛丝罩、淡墨苔晕青」写曾题败壁；「念去来、岁月如流，徘徊久、叹息愁思盈」写岁月如流；「去去倦寻路程。江陵旧事，何曾再问杨琼」写江陵旧事；「旧曲凄清。敛愁黛、与谁听」写旧曲凄清；「尊前故人如在，想念我、最关情」写故人如在；「何须渭城。歌声未尽处，先泪零」写先泪零。周邦彦此词以羁旅追忆、先泪零写其羁旅之情，含蓄深婉，是周邦彦词中的名篇。此篇《绮寮怨》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 poem's distinguishing craft is revealing feeling through objects and layers of time. The opening keeps the poet nearly unconscious — held up on his horse, unsobered by the wind — so the ferry pavilion strikes him with the force of an apparition ('suddenly I see'). The wall inscription is handled with microscopic exactness: cobwebs like a veil, faint ink blurred with green. The phrase 'the years flow like water' compresses the whole interval into one image. In the lower stanza, Jiangling and Yang Qiong arrive in a single breathless run-on, and the ending turns Wang Wei's most famous farewell into a paradox: the poet refuses the song, yet weeps before it could be finished — an overflow before the note, which is the song's real tribute.
此词艺术上以「含蓄深婉、今昔对照」见长。全词上片写残醉未醒与曾题败壁，下片写江陵旧事与先泪零。上片「上马人扶残醉，晓风吹未醒」写残醉未醒：上马人扶残醉，晓风吹未醒；「映水曲、翠瓦朱檐，垂杨里、乍见津亭」写乍见津亭：映水曲、翠瓦朱檐，垂杨里、乍见津亭；「当时曾题败壁，蛛丝罩、淡墨苔晕青」写曾题败壁：当时曾题败壁，蛛丝罩、淡墨苔晕青；「念去来、岁月如流，徘徊久、叹息愁思盈」写岁月如流：念去来、岁月如流，徘徊久、叹息愁思盈。下片「去去倦寻路程。江陵旧事，何曾再问杨琼」写江陵旧事：去去倦寻路程，江陵旧事，何曾再问杨琼；「旧曲凄清。敛愁黛、与谁听」写旧曲凄清：旧曲凄清，敛愁黛、与谁听；「尊前故人如在，想念我、最关情」写故人如在：尊前故人如在，想念我、最关情；「何须渭城。歌声未尽处，先泪零」写先泪零：何须渭城，歌声未尽处，先泪零。全词含蓄深婉，今昔对照，是周邦彦词中的名篇。
Allusions
'Yang Qiong' refers to a Tang singing girl of Jiangling, here standing for the poet's old pleasures there. 'Weicheng' is Wang Wei's 'Song of Yuan on a Mission to the West' ('Weicheng morning rain'), the most famous farewell song in the language; 'why need the Weicheng song' means the sorrow is already too deep for any farewell formula. 'Knitting the sorrow-brow' (lan chou dai) draws on the classical image of a woman's drawn, unhappy eyebrows, here turned on the male traveler's own face. 'Sighing sorrow brim-full' echoes older travel laments in which autumn journeys fill the cup of feeling to overflowing.
词中「残醉」「晓风」「映水曲」「翠瓦朱檐」「垂杨」「津亭」「败壁」「蛛丝」「淡墨」「苔晕」「岁月如流」「愁思盈」「江陵」「杨琼」「旧曲凄清」「敛愁黛」「尊前」「故人」「渭城」「歌声未尽」「泪零」等语，皆含典故故实。「残醉」写残余之醉；「晓风」写清晨之风；「映水曲」写映于水曲；「翠瓦朱檐」写翠瓦朱檐之美；「垂杨」写垂柳；「津亭」写渡口之亭；「败壁」写破败之壁；「蛛丝」写蛛丝；「淡墨」写淡墨之迹；「苔晕」写青苔之晕；「岁月如流」写岁月如流水；「愁思盈」写愁思充满；「江陵」为地名；「杨琼」用唐杨琼（歌女）之典，写旧时歌女；「旧曲凄清」写旧曲凄清；「敛愁黛」写蹙其愁眉；「尊前」写樽前；「故人」写旧友；「渭城」用王维《送元二使安西》（渭城曲）之典，「何须渭城」写何须唱渭城送别曲；「歌声未尽」「泪零」写歌声未竟而泪落。词人以津亭、败壁、岁月如流、杨琼、渭城等典入词，不着痕迹，而把羁旅追忆之情写得真切可感，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。
Commentary
Qiliaoyuan is a textbook example of what later critics called Zhou Bangyan's 'hidden sorrow and inexhaustible meaning' (han xu jin qian). The Qing critic Chen Tingzhuo singled out 'suddenly I see the ferry pavilion' for its jolt of recognition, and the closing paradox — tears before the song is done — for expressing ten parts of feeling in one part of words. Modern readers value the poem as a study in how memory attaches itself to surfaces: a wall, a coat of moss, a melody. Everything grand is omitted; what remains is a drunk man, a ruined wall, and a voice that breaks before the song ends.
这首《绮寮怨》，是周邦彦写羁旅追忆之作，写上马残醉、曾题败壁、先泪零之情，含蓄深婉。上片写残醉未醒与曾题败壁：「上马人扶残醉，晓风吹未醒」——上马人扶残醉，晓风吹未醒。写残醉未醒：上马时人扶残醉，晓风吹而未醒——残醉未醒，正写宿醉；「映水曲、翠瓦朱檐，垂杨里、乍见津亭」——映水曲、翠瓦朱檐，垂杨里、乍见津亭。写乍见津亭：映水曲、翠瓦朱檐，垂杨里、乍见津亭——映水翠瓦朱檐，垂杨中乍见津亭；「当时曾题败壁，蛛丝罩、淡墨苔晕青」——当时曾题败壁，蛛丝罩、淡墨苔晕青。写曾题败壁：当时曾题败壁，今蛛丝罩、淡墨苔晕青——当年题壁，今蛛丝苔晕；「念去来、岁月如流，徘徊久、叹息愁思盈」——念去来、岁月如流，徘徊久、叹息愁思盈。写岁月如流：念去来、岁月如流，徘徊久、叹息愁思盈——岁月如流，徘徊叹息。下片写江陵旧事与先泪零：「去去倦寻路程。江陵旧事，何曾再问杨琼」——去去倦寻路程，江陵旧事，何曾再问杨琼。写江陵旧事：去去倦寻路程，江陵旧事，何曾再问杨琼——以杨琼写旧时歌女，江陵旧事已不再问；「旧曲凄清。敛愁黛、与谁听」——旧曲凄清，敛愁黛、与谁听。写旧曲凄清：旧曲凄清，敛愁黛、与谁听——旧曲凄清，蹙眉与谁听；「尊前故人如在，想念我、最关情」——尊前故人如在，想念我、最关情。写故人如在：尊前故人如在，想念我、最关情——尊前故人，最是关情；「何须渭城。歌声未尽处，先泪零」——何须渭城，歌声未尽处，先泪零。写先泪零：何须唱渭城，歌声未尽处、先泪零——何须渭城送别曲，歌声未竟泪先落。这「何须渭城。歌声未尽处，先泪零」，是全词之结：以歌声未尽先泪零写其情之深。全词含蓄深婉，今昔对照，正是周邦彦词中的名篇。
Prosody
Line by line
上马人扶残醉，晓风吹未醒。
Mounting my horse, others support my lingering drunkenness; the dawn wind blows and I have not sobered.
上马人扶残醉，晓风吹未醒。
Mounting the horse, a man supports my lingering drunkenness; the dawn wind blows, and yet I am not awake.
首二句写残醉未醒，起笔即见其况。「上马人扶残醉」写上马人扶残醉，「上马」写上马、「人扶残醉」写人扶着残醉之人；「晓风吹未醒」写晓风吹未醒，「晓风」写晨风、「吹未醒」写吹而犹未醒。两句一写上马人扶残醉、一写晓风吹未醒，以人扶残醉写其醉之深、以晓风吹未醒写其宿醉，写尽晓起上马、残醉未醒之况。以况起兴，含蓄而真切，是「以况起兴」的妙笔。
The opening two lines write the lingering drunkenness not awake, the state present at the first stroke. Mounting the horse, a man supports my lingering drunkenness writes the mounting and the man's support of the drunk; the dawn wind blows, and yet I am not awake writes the dawn wind and the blowing-and-yet-not-awake. Two lines, one the mounted-supported drunk, one the dawn wind's non-waking, writing the drunkenness's depth and the hangover, exhausting the dawn-mounted and drunk-not-awake state. Rising on state, restrained and real, precisely the wondrous brush of rising on state.
当时曾题败壁，蛛丝罩、淡墨苔晕青。
In those days I inscribed the ruined wall; now cobwebs veil it, faint ink blurred with green moss.
当时曾题败壁，蛛丝罩、淡墨苔晕青。
In those days I inscribed the broken wall; now spiderwebs cover it, the pale ink and the moss-green halo.
此三句写曾题败壁，是全词写追忆的关键。「当时曾题败壁」写当时曾题败壁，「当时」写当年、「曾题败壁」写曾在破壁上题字；「蛛丝罩、淡墨苔晕青」写蛛丝罩、淡墨苔晕青，「蛛丝罩」写蛛丝覆盖、「淡墨苔晕青」写淡墨之迹与青苔之晕。三句一写当时曾题败壁、一写蛛丝罩淡墨苔晕青，以当时题壁写当年之迹、以蛛丝苔晕写今之荒废，写尽当年题壁、今已蛛丝苔晕之况。以壁写忆，含蓄而深挚，是「以物写忆」的点睛之笔。
These three lines write the once-inscribed broken wall, the ci's memory key. In those days I inscribed the broken wall writes the then and the inscription on the broken wall; spiderwebs cover it, the pale ink and the moss-green halo writes the spiderweb's covering and the pale-ink trace and green-moss halo. Three lines, one the then-inscribed wall, one the spiderweb-and-moss, writing the then's trace through the inscription, and the now's ruin through the web and moss, exhausting the then-inscribed and now-webbed. Writing memory through the wall, restrained and deep, precisely the telling stroke of memory-through-thing.
念去来、岁月如流，徘徊久、叹息愁思盈。
Thinking of the coming and going, the years flow like water; long I linger, sighing, my sorrow brimming full.
念去来、岁月如流，徘徊久、叹息愁思盈。
Thinking of the coming and going, the years flow like water; long I linger, sighing, and the grief fills my breast.
此四句写岁月如流，是全词写其感慨的关键。「念去来、岁月如流」写念去来、岁月如流，「念去来」写念其去来、「岁月如流」写岁月如流水般逝去；「徘徊久、叹息愁思盈」写徘徊久、叹息愁思盈，「徘徊久」写徘徊之久、「叹息愁思盈」写叹息而愁思充满。四句一写岁月如流、一写徘徊久叹息愁思盈，以岁月如流写时之速、以徘徊叹息写其愁，写尽岁月如流、徘徊叹息之慨。以慨写情，含蓄而深挚，是「以慨写情」的点睛之笔。
These four lines write the years flow like water, the ci's sigh key. Thinking of the coming and going, the years flow like water writes the coming-and-going thought and the years' flowing; long I linger, sighing, and the grief fills my breast writes the long lingering and the sighing-and-filled. Four lines, one the years' flowing, one the lingering-and-sighing, writing the time's speed through the years' flow, and the grief through the lingering sigh, exhausting the years' flow and the lingering sigh. Writing feeling through the sigh, restrained and deep, precisely the telling stroke of sigh-through-feeling.
歌声未尽处，先泪零。
Before the song is finished, my tears fall first.
何须渭城，歌声未尽处，先泪零。
Before the song has ended, my tears fall first.
尾三句写先泪零，是全词立意的落点。「何须渭城」写何须渭城，「何须」写何必、「渭城」用王维渭城曲之典，写送别之曲；「歌声未尽处」写歌声未尽处，「歌声未尽」写歌尚未唱完；「先泪零」写先泪零，「先泪零」写泪先零落。三句一写何须渭城、一写歌声未尽处、一写先泪零，以何须渭城写不必唱送别曲、以歌声未尽先泪零写其情之深，写尽何须唱渭城、歌声未竟而泪先落之情。以泪写情，含蓄而深挚，是全词最动人处，也是「以泪写情」的点睛之笔。
The last three lines write the tears falling first, the landing of the ci's theme. Why the Weicheng, the below means the needless, the Weicheng using Wang Wei's Weicheng song allusion, writing the farewell tune; before the song has ended writes the song's not-yet-finished; my tears fall first writes the tears' early falling. Three lines, one the needless Weicheng, one the song's unfinished, one the early tears, writing the farewell tune's needlessness through the Weicheng's needlessness, and the feeling's depth through the song's unfinished and tears' early fall, exhausting the why-sing-Weicheng and tears' early fall. Writing feeling through the tears, restrained and deep, the ci's most moving place, and the telling stroke of feeling-through-tears.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Liu Yong turns homeward from a tower and cannot bear to climb higher; Zhou Bangyan re-walks an old ferry crossing and finds his own inscription under cobwebs. Liu Yong's sorrow is direct and sweeping; Zhou's is polished, delayed, and revealed only through objects — the two poles of Northern Song travel lyric.
柳永《八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天》「叹年来踪迹，何事苦淹留」「不忍登高临远，望故乡渺邈，归思难收」，写羁旅淹留、望乡难归，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；周邦彦《绮寮怨》则以「念去来、岁月如流，徘徊久、叹息愁思盈」「何须渭城。歌声未尽处，先泪零」写岁月如流、歌声泪零。两词同写羁旅追忆、岁华之感：一写叹年来踪迹何事苦淹留、以淹留写愁，一写念去来岁月如流、以题壁写忆；一为柳永之婉约、一为周邦彦之精工，并读正可见宋词写「羁旅追忆」的两种笔法，皆于羁旅中见追忆之慨。
蝶恋花·庭院深深深几许 Dielianhua — 'How Deep the Courtyard Goes' 欧阳修 · 同写旧地重游、物是人非之感，一写泪眼问花花不语、一写当时曾题败壁蛛丝苔晕，皆于旧迹之中见物是人非 Both revisit a place where everything remains yet everything is lost — Ouyang Xiu asking the flowers that will not answer, Zhou Bangyan reading his own moss-grown wall inscription.Ouyang Xiu's woman questions blossoms that fly past the swing; Zhou's traveler questions his own faded ink. One asks the world, the other asks himself: two classic faces of 'the things are the same but the person is gone.'
欧阳修《蝶恋花·庭院深深深几许》「泪眼问花花不语，乱红飞过秋千去」，写深闺伤春、旧景无寻，是宋词写伤春的名篇；周邦彦《绮寮怨》则以「当时曾题败壁，蛛丝罩、淡墨苔晕青」「江陵旧事，何曾再问杨琼」写题壁苔晕、江陵旧事。两词同写旧地重游、物是人非之感：一写泪眼问花花不语、以问花写怨，一写当时曾题败壁蛛丝苔晕、以题壁写忆；一为欧阳修之深婉、一为周邦彦之精工，并读正可见宋词写「物是人非」的两种笔法，皆于旧迹之中见物是人非。