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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

清平乐·留人不住

Pure, Serene Music: The One I Kept Would Not Stay

晏几道

Yan Jidao

送别Farewell 爱情Love 愁思sorrow

留人不住。
醉解兰舟去。
一棹碧涛春水路。
过尽晓莺啼处。
渡头杨柳青青。
枝枝叶叶离情。
此后锦书休寄，画楼云雨无凭。

The one I kept would not stay —
Drunk, he loosed the orchid boat and went.
One stroke of the oar on the green spring waves,
Past all the places where the dawn orioles sing.
At the ferry the willows are green, green,
Branch and leaf, every one of them, parting grief.
After this, send no more brocade letters —
The cloud and rain of the painted tower have no warrant.

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Meaning

A lyric of parting, written by the Northern Song master of the love lyric, Yan Jidao. The one he kept would not stay: drunk, the traveler loosed his orchid boat and went, one stroke of the oar on the green spring waves, past all the places where the dawn orioles sing — the boat receding through the bright spring landscape. At the ferry the willows are green, green, and every branch and leaf is parting grief. Then the close, famous for its coldness: after this, send no more brocade letters — the cloud and rain of the painted tower have no warrant. The lyric moves from the helpless keeping to the bright departure to the green grief to the final, bitter renunciation.

留不住人，他在醉意中解开兰舟离去。一桨划开碧绿的春水，行舟沿着春水之路远去，驶过处处晓莺啼鸣的地方。渡头的杨柳青青，枝枝叶叶都像是离情。此后再也不必寄什么锦书了，画楼里的云雨欢情，终究是无可凭据的。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The one I kept would not stay — drunk, he loosed the orchid boat and went. One stroke of the oar on the green spring waves, past all the places where the dawn orioles sing. At the ferry the willows are green, green; branch and leaf, every one, is parting grief. After this, send no more brocade letters — the cloud and rain of the painted tower have no warrant. [Structure and Thought] The lyric moves through four stages of the parting: the helpless keeping, the bright departure, the green grief of the willows, and the bitter renunciation of the close. Each stage is shorter and colder than the last. [Key Technique] The poem's art is the contrast of the bright journey and the bitter close: the traveler sails through the green spring world of the dawn orioles, while the speaker is left with the willows' green grief — and the renunciation of the final couplet turns the whole lyric from tenderness to coldness. [Emotional Tone] Tender, bright, and finally bitter: the first three-quarters of the lyric are soft with parting grief, and the last two lines cut through them with the cold resolve of the heart that renounces what it cannot keep.

【白话串讲】晏几道写清平乐：“留人不住。醉解兰舟去”——留不住，他醉着解开船走了。“渡头杨柳青青。枝枝叶叶离情”——“此后锦书休寄，画楼云雨无凭”——他写决绝的离别。【意象与手法】全词上片写送别之景，下片写别后之情，由实入虚、由景入心。「留人不住」四字直起，如一声叹息；「醉解兰舟去」以醉写难舍；「一棹碧涛春水路，过尽晓莺啼处」以春水、晓莺的明丽反衬离情，是乐景写哀。下片「渡头杨柳青青，枝枝叶叶离情」以柳写情，叠字见情之细密绵长；结句「此后锦书休寄，画楼云雨无凭」以决绝语收束深情，怨极之语而痴情自见。【情感与主旨】此词写送别情人（或友人），由「留」到「去」、由「景」到「情」、由「怨」到「痴」，层折而下。「锦书休寄」「云雨无凭」的决绝语下，是难以割舍的痴情——越是说放下，越见难忘，是晏几道「痴语」的典型。【名句点睛】常考「枝枝叶叶离情」的以柳写情与「此后锦书休寄，画楼云雨无凭」的痴语收束——以四十六字写尽留、送、望、怨、痴五层心绪，是宋词小令以少胜多的典范。

Background

Yan Jidao (c. 1038–1110), courtesy name Shuyuan, styled himself the Recluse of Xiaoshan, was the son of the grand councilor Yan Shu and the greatest master of the love lyric in the Northern Song. Where his father's lyrics are restrained and elegant, Yan Jidao's are more intense, more personal and more melancholy, and this lyric is one of his most famous. The 'brocade letters' and 'the cloud and rain of the painted tower' carry the conventional vocabulary of the love lyric — the letter, the tryst — and the final renunciation, 'after this, send no more,' is the classic gesture of the heart that gives up on love it cannot hold.

晏几道（1038—1110），字叔原，号小山，晏殊第七子，北宋词人。晏几道生于贵胄之家，然家道中落，仕途偃蹇，一生只做过监颍昌许田镇等小官，晚年更贫无所依。其词多写男女之情、离别之思与旧日繁华的追忆，尤以写「情」见长，黄庭坚称其「清壮顿挫，能动摇人心」，《小山词》自序中自言「往者浮沉酒中，病世之歌词不足以析酲解愠，试续南部诸贤绪余，作五七字语，期以自娱」。此词写送别——留人不住，醉解兰舟，人去后以决绝语收束深情。晏几道一生与歌儿舞女相知相惜，他的词多为那些曾与之相知的女子而作，此词或即写与某位相知者（歌女或友人）的离别，其「痴」情于此可见——越是说「休寄」「无凭」，越见难忘，是《小山词》「痴语」的典型，也是北宋小令抒情艺术的巅峰之作。晏几道晚年贫病交加，然其词不涉饥寒，只写情痴，黄庭坚谓其「仕宦连蹇，而不能一傍贵人之门」，此词中的决绝与痴情，正是这位「痴人」人格的写照。

Art

The lyric's art is the art of the controlled fall. The opening is helpless and tender: 'the one I kept would not stay' — the very syntax confessing the failure of the keeping. The second and third lines turn bright: the drunk traveler, the orchid boat, the single stroke of the oar on the green spring waves, past the dawn orioles — the departure rendered as a beautiful journey, not a grief. The fourth and fifth lines return to the speaker: the ferry willows, green, green, every branch and leaf parting grief — the green of the spring world turned to sorrow. The final couplet then performs the lyric's signature turn: 'after this, send no more brocade letters — the cloud and rain of the painted tower have no warrant.' The renunciation is cold, decisive, and final; the soft grief of the first stanza is cut through by the bitter resolve of the last.

全词上片写送别之景，下片写别后之情，由实入虚、由景入心，四十六字写尽五层心绪，章法极见功力。上片四句一气而下：「留人不住」四字直起，如一声叹息，是留不住的事实，也是留不住的无奈，全词之怨、之痴皆由此生发；「醉解兰舟去」写人去——醉中解缆，可见临别之饮、之醉，以醉写难舍，醉中而去，恰见行者并非无情；「一棹碧涛春水路，过尽晓莺啼处」写舟行——桨划碧波，一路春水，穿过晓莺啼处，以春水、晓莺的明丽反衬离情，是「乐景写哀」；「过尽」二字写舟行之速、相望之久。下片转写渡头柳色与别后心事：「渡头杨柳青青，枝枝叶叶离情」以柳写情——折柳送别，柳枝柳叶无不含情，叠字「枝枝叶叶」写情之细密绵长；「此后锦书休寄，画楼云雨无凭」以决绝语收束——此后不必再寄锦书，云雨欢情终无凭据，怨极之语而痴情自见。全词由「留」到「去」、由「景」到「情」、由「怨」到「痴」，层折而下，含蓄深婉，正是晏几道「淡语皆有味，浅语皆有致」的本色。

Allusions

'The orchid boat' (lanzhou) is the elegant name for the boat, a stock property of the Tang and Song parting poem. 'The brocade letter' (jinshu) is the letter carried in the legend of Su Hui's brocade — the love letter written on brocade, the most precious form of correspondence. 'The cloud and rain of the painted tower' (yunyu) alludes to the tryst of the goddess of Wu Mountain with the king of Chu in Song Yu's 'Gaotang fu' — the phrase standing for the love-meeting of the painted chamber; to say it 'has no warrant' is to declare the whole love affair groundless, the bitterest possible renunciation.

此词用典不多而皆含深意。「兰舟」用木兰舟之典——《楚辞》「桂棹兮兰枻」以香木名舟，后「兰舟」遂为舟之美称，此处「醉解兰舟」写解缆放舟，兰舟的雅称与醉别的情境相映，见出离别对象的身份与情调，亦见晏几道词的贵族气息。「晓莺」写春晨莺啼，暗含「打起黄莺儿，莫教枝上啼」的闺怨传统，莺啼愈欢，离情愈苦。「杨柳」用《诗经·小雅·采薇》「昔我往矣，杨柳依依」及折柳送别的习俗——柳者留也，折柳赠别，愿人留也，而人终不可留，柳色愈青，离情愈重，「枝枝叶叶」写柳之繁密亦即情之繁密。「锦书」用前秦窦滔妻苏蕙织锦回文《璇玑图》寄夫的典故——苏蕙以五色锦织回文诗寄远人，后「锦书」遂成书信的美称，此处说「锦书休寄」，是怨极之语：既已无凭，何必再寄？「画楼云雨」用宋玉《高唐赋》「旦为朝云，暮为行雨」的巫山神女典故——云雨本指男女欢会，此处言「无凭」，说往日的欢情终究如梦如幻、不可依凭，是看破之语亦是难舍之语。

Commentary

This lyric is one of Yan Jidao's most famous works and one of the most admired parting lyrics of the Song, quoted for the perfect balance of its tenderness and its bitterness. The final couplet — 'after this, send no more brocade letters — the cloud and rain of the painted tower have no warrant' — is often ranked among the finest closings in the history of the ci, the cold renunciation that follows the green grief. Critics note how the lyric moves from the helpless 'would not stay' to the decisive 'send no more,' the whole arc of a heart's giving up.

晏几道词以「情」名世，冯煦《宋六十一家词选例言》谓其「淡语皆有味，浅语皆有致」，此词正是这一评语的绝佳注脚。全词不用「泪」字、「悲」字，离情全从「醉解兰舟」「过尽晓莺」「枝枝叶叶」等寻常语中传出；结句「此后锦书休寄，画楼云雨无凭」以决绝语写难舍情，怨而实痴，是「痴语」的极致——越说休寄，越见其盼；越说无凭，越见其执。晏几道与晏殊父子并称「二晏」，然晏殊词温润、小山词深婉，此词可见小山「清壮顿挫」之一斑。历代选本（如《词综》《宋词三百首》）皆录此词；今人论晏几道，多以其与秦观并称「古之伤心人」，此词写别情之深婉，正见「伤心人」本色。以四十六字写尽留、送、望、怨、痴五层心绪，是宋词小令以少胜多的典范，亦可见小令这一体裁在晏几道手中达到的抒情高度。今人论小令，多以晏几道为北宋小令的集大成者，此词写离别而含蓄深婉，正是其「梦魂惯得无拘检，又踏杨花过谢桥」一类痴语的姊妹篇，可见小山词一以贯之的深情。

Prosody

Form Qingpingle (Pure, Serene Music), a short lyric of forty-six characters词牌《清平乐》，双调四十六字，上片四仄韵，下片三平韵，平仄换韵

Rhyme The level-tone rhymes zhu, lu and qing echo in the qi rhyme group; the third line of each stanza shifts to oblique — chu and ping — in the tune's characteristic pattern.上片押仄韵，韵脚「住、去、路、处」（词韵第四部，上去通押）；下片换押平韵，韵脚「青、情、凭」（词韵第十一部，庚青蒸通押）。

Tone pattern The opening is soft and helpless; the departure is bright and quick with the oar's single stroke; the willows slow into the green grief; the final couplet hardens into the cold, clipped resolve of the renunciation.上片仄韵短促，写送别之急促；下片平韵舒徐，写别后之绵长——平仄换韵与情感转折同步，是《清平乐》词牌声情兼美的典型。

Reading note This is a Pure, Serene Music ci by Yan Jidao. The one he kept would not stay; drunk, he loosed the orchid boat and went — past all the places where the dawn orioles sing; the willows at the ferry are green, and branch and leaf are parting grief. The close is the lyric's bitter refusal: after this, send no more brocade letters — the cloud and rain of the painted tower have no warrant.《清平乐》为唐教坊曲名，后衍为词牌，双调四十六字，上片四句四仄韵，下片四句三平韵，是宋词中「平仄换韵」的著名词牌。此词严格依格：上片「留人不住（平平仄仄），醉解兰舟去（仄仄平平仄），一棹碧涛春水路（仄仄仄平平仄仄），过尽晓莺啼处（仄仄仄平平仄）」，押仄韵「住、去、路、处」（上去声通押），韵脚短促，声情紧促，正与「留不住」「解舟去」的仓促离别相应——四仄韵如四声催促，船未行而韵已急；下片换平韵「渡头杨柳青青（仄平平仄平平），枝枝叶叶离情（平仄仄仄平平），此后锦书休寄（仄仄仄平平仄），画楼云雨无凭（仄平平仄平平）」，韵脚「青、情、凭」舒徐绵长，声情转缓，正与「枝枝叶叶」「休寄」「无凭」的绵长怨思相应——三平韵如三声长叹，人去而韵不绝。上片仄韵写「去」之急促，下片平韵写「思」之绵长，平仄换韵与情感转折同步，声情相济，是《清平乐》词牌最擅长的抒情手法，也是此词格律上最大的特色。全词虽短，而平仄、换韵、句法（上片七言句「一棹碧涛春水路」领起、下片六言句「渡头杨柳青青」铺陈）皆精严自然，毫无雕琢之痕，可见晏几道小令「格高韵远」的功力——宋人论词以「小令」为难，晏几道正是小令圣手，此词即其明证。

Line by line

留人不住。

The one I kept would not stay —

留不住这个人，他还是要走，怎么也留不住。

I cannot keep him; he will go, and keep him I cannot.

起句四字直起，是全词的定调之句，如一声无可奈何的叹息。「留人不住」四字看似寻常，实含三重张力：一、「留」与「不住」的对抗——留是意愿，不住是现实，意愿与现实的冲突在第一句就正面撞上，没有铺垫、没有修饰，决绝而惨淡；二、留而不成，则送者之痴、行者之决，尽在四字之中——为什么留不住？是不肯留，还是不能留？词人不答，只留下「不住」这个残酷的事实，留白处尽是难言；三、「留人不住」四字以口语入词，音节短促，两字一顿，如心碎之声，一开口便是结局。全词之「怨」（锦书休寄）、之「痴」（枝枝叶叶）、之「痛」（云雨无凭），皆由此四字生发，是「以四字立全篇」的典范起笔，也是晏几道小令开门见山、不事铺陈的本色。

The opening four characters direct rise, the whole ci's tone-setting line, like one helpless sigh. The four words I cannot keep him, though ordinary, in truth carrying triple tension: one, the keep and the cannot-keep tug-of-war — the keep the will, the cannot-keep the reality, the will-and-reality conflict in the first line's direct collision, no buildup, no ornament, decisive and bleak; two, the keeping's failure, then the sender's craziness and the goer's resolve, all within the four characters — why cannot keep? The refusing to stay, or the inability to stay? The poet not answering, only leaving the cruel fact of the cannot keep, the blank the unutterable; three, the four words I cannot keep him in the colloquial ci, the syllables short, two words a beat, like the heart's breaking sound, one opening and already the ending. The whole ci's resentment (send no brocade letter), craziness (every branch every leaf), pain (the cloud-rain beyond pledge), all grown from these four characters, the four-words-establish-the-whole-piece model opening, and Yan Jidao's short stanza's direct-opening and unadorned natural manner.

醉解兰舟去。

Drunk, he loosed the orchid boat and went.

在醉意中解开兰舟，离去了。

Drunk, he unties the orchid boat and is gone.

此句写人去，一个「醉」字含无限意味。「醉解兰舟」——是临别对饮，饮至微醺，方才解缆；醉，是借酒浇愁，也是不忍清醒面对离别，醉中解舟，恰见行者并非无情，只是决意要走，醉是给离别找的台阶，也是给彼此留的体面；「兰舟」为舟之美称，兰舟雅致，见离别者身份之不俗，也见送者眼中那人一如往昔的风姿；「去」字轻落，船已离岸，一个「去」字写尽决绝与不舍的交织。妙在「醉」字不写悲而悲自见——若清醒而去，尚可说是洒脱；醉中而去，则是以醉掩悲，行者之难舍、送者之目送，皆在「醉」字之外。与上句「留人不住」连读，留不住的无奈、醉去的决绝，两句之间张力顿生，全词的情感浓度于此奠定。

This line writes the man's going, the one word drunk carrying infinite meaning. Drunk, he unties the orchid boat — the parting drinking, drinking to the slight tipsiness, then untying the rope; the drunk, the wine-for-grief, and the unwillingness to face the parting soberly, the drunk boat-untying precisely showing the goer's not the heartless, only the resolve to go, the drunk the step found for the parting, and the face left to each; the orchid boat the boat's beautiful name, the elegant boat, showing the parting man's uncommonness, and the sender's eyes the man as of old; the one word go lightly falling, the boat already off the shore, the one word go exhausting the resolve-and-reluctance interwoven. The wonder in the one word drunk's writing-grief-and-yet-grief-self-seen — if the sober going, one could say the ease; the drunk going, then the grief's masking through drunkenness, the goer's hard parting and the sender's gaze, all beyond the one word drunk. Read with the above's I cannot keep him, the cannot-keep helplessness and the drunk-goings resolve, the tension at once born between the two lines, the whole ci's emotional concentration hence set.

过尽晓莺啼处。

Past all the places where the dawn orioles sing.

行舟驶过了处处晓莺啼鸣的地方。

The boat has passed all the places where the dawn orioles sing.

此句写舟行渐远，是全词「乐景写哀」的妙笔。「过尽」二字写舟行之速——一桨一桨，两岸春色与莺声都被抛在身后，「尽」字见船行已远、相望已久，目送的目光终于追不上船影；「晓莺啼处」写春晨之景——晓莺啼啭，本是欢快明丽的春光，而离人却在这莺声中远去，莺啼愈欢，离情愈苦，是典型的「以乐景写哀，一倍增其哀乐」（王夫之语）。且「晓」字点出送别在清晨——一夜未眠（或彻夜饯别），天明解缆，晓莺初啼，更添凄清：春晨如此美好，离别却如此仓皇。行舟过尽莺啼处，而送者仍立在渡头，莺声渐远、船影渐没，其情可知。一句写尽「目送」的整个过程，以明丽写凄清，含蓄而深婉，是小山词炼句的妙笔。

This line writes the boat's gradual distance, the ci's delighted-scene-writing-grief wondrous brush. The two words all-through writing the boat's speed — one oar after another, the banks' spring and the oriole songs all left behind, the one word all showing the boat's far and the gaze's long, the sent-off gaze finally unable to match the boat's shadow; the dawn orioles' singing places writing the spring morning scene — the dawn oriole's chirping, by nature the bright spring, and the parting man going in this oriole song, the oriole's song the merrier and the parting grief the bitterer, the typical writing-grief-through-delighted-scene, the grief doubled (Wang Fuzhi's words). And the one word dawn naming the morning parting — the sleepless night (or the all-night farewell feast), the dawn's rope untied, the dawn oriole's first chirp, the more the bleakness: the spring morning so fair, and the parting so hasty. The boat passed all the oriole-singing places, and the sender still standing at the ferry, the oriole sound fading and the boat's shadow vanishing, the feeling known. One line exhausting the gaze-off whole process, writing the bleakness through the brightness, restrained and deep, Xiaoshan's ci-word craft's wondrous brush.

枝枝叶叶离情。

Branch and leaf, every one of them, parting grief.

渡头杨柳的枝枝叶叶，一叶一枝都像是离情别绪。

Every branch and every leaf of the willow is a parting grief.

此句以柳写情，是全词最见巧思处。「渡头杨柳青青」先写景——送别之地，杨柳依依，青青如旧，「青青」叠用，音节柔婉，柳色之浓与离情之重相映；「枝枝叶叶离情」由景入情——柳枝柳叶，一一皆是离情，折柳送别本是传统（柳者留也），此处却说柳枝柳叶「都是」离情，物我合一，柳即情、情即柳，见出离情之弥漫——眼前所见，无物不是离情，连春风都成了愁绪的载体。妙在「枝枝叶叶」的叠字：一叶一叶数过去，离情一点一滴地积累，细密绵长，如柳丝之乱、如愁绪之繁；「离情」二字直揭题旨，而全词自此由景入情，转入结句的决绝语。两句由「渡头」到「杨柳」到「离情」，层层收拢，以最柔婉的笔写最沉重的别绪，是晏几道「浅语皆有致」的典型，亦是「以柳写情」的千古佳句。

This line writing feeling through the willow, the ci's most ingenious place. The ferryhead willows green first writing the scene — the farewell place, the willows gently, green as of old, the green repeated, the rhythm soft, the willow's lushness and the grief's weight answering; every branch and every leaf of the willow is a parting grief turning from scene to feeling — the willow branches and leaves, each and all the parting grief, the willow-breaking farewell by nature the tradition (the willow means the staying), and here saying the willow branches and leaves all the parting grief, the thing-and-self oneness, the willow i.e. grief, the grief i.e. willow, showing the parting grief's filling — the seen before the eyes, no thing not the parting grief, even the spring wind become the grief's vehicle. The wonder in the branch-by-branch leaf-by-leaf's repeated words: leaf after leaf counted, the parting grief drop by drop accumulated, fine and long, like the willow threads' tangle, like the grief's density; the two words parting grief directly revealing the theme, and the whole ci hence from scene to feeling, turning to the close's decisive words. Two lines from the ferryhead to the willow to the parting grief, gathering layer by layer, writing the heaviest parting feeling with the softest brush, Yan Jidao's plain-words-all-with-charm typical, and the willow-writing-feeling's famous line through the ages.

此后锦书休寄，画楼云雨无凭。

After this, send no more brocade letters — the cloud and rain of the painted tower have no warrant.

此后再也不必寄锦书了，画楼里的云雨欢情，终究是无可凭据的。

From now on, send no brocade letter; the cloud-rain in the painted tower is beyond all pledge.

结句以决绝语收束，是全词情感的高潮与反转。「锦书休寄」用苏蕙织锦回文之典——锦书即情书，说「休寄」，是决绝：既然人去，何必再传书？可越是这样说，越见难忘——真要忘，何须郑重宣告「休寄」？「画楼云雨无凭」用巫山云雨之典——云雨指欢会，说「无凭」，是看破：往日的欢情如梦如幻，终究没有凭据、无法依恃，聚散离合原是一场空。两句连读，是怨极之语：怨人、怨情、怨自己放不下；然怨之深处正是痴——说休寄，是因为还盼着信来；说无凭，是因为还念着旧情；决绝的姿态下，是放不下的心。全词由「留」到「去」到「望」到「怨」到「痴」，五层心绪层层递进，而以决绝语收深情，言尽而情不尽，正是晏几道「痴语」的最高境界，也是小令以少胜多的典范收束——四十六字，字字含情。

The close closing in the decisive words, the ci's emotional climax and reversal. Send no brocade letter uses Su Hui's brocade palindrome allusion — the brocade letter i.e. the love letter, saying the no-send, the decisiveness: since the man is gone, why send the letter again? And the more this is said, the more the unforgettable — the truly forgetting, why the solemn declaration of the no-send? The cloud-rain in the painted tower is beyond all pledge uses the Wushan cloud-rain allusion — the cloud-rain means the love meeting, saying the beyond-pledge, the seeing-through: the past joy like the dream and the illusion, in the end no pledge and no reliance, the meeting and parting by nature a void. Two lines read together, the resentment-extreme words: resenting the man, resenting the feeling, resenting the self's non-letting-go; and yet the resentment's depth precisely the craziness — the no-send said, because still hoping for the letter's coming; the no-pledge said, because still remembering the old feeling; beneath the decisive pose, the non-letting-go heart. The whole ci from the keep to the go to the gaze to the resentment to the craziness, five layers of mood layer on layer, and closing the deep feeling in the decisive words, the words ended and the feeling not, precisely Yan Jidao's crazed-words highest realm, and the short stanza's few-beats-many model close — forty-six characters, every character feeling.

Study

Word focus

住 'To stay, to keep' — the one who would not be kept, the failure of the first line. 「留人不住」之「住」字，是全词立骨的字眼。「住」写停留、留下，与「留」相对：留是动作，住是结果——留而不成，则「不住」二字写尽徒劳。妙在：一、「不住」以否定出之，不留余地——不是「难住」，而是「不住」，事实斩钉截铁，送者的绝望与无奈尽在其中，连一丝回旋的余地都没有；二、「住」字为全词情感的总机关——正因为「不住」，才有「醉解兰舟」的无奈、「过尽」的目送、「休寄」的怨语、「无凭」的看破，一切情事皆由「不住」二字生发，是「一字立骨」的典范；三、「留人不住」以口语入词，音节短促（平平仄仄），两字一顿，如心碎之声，读来先声夺人。一个「住」字，把留不住的现实、放不下的痴情、怨极的决绝，尽数收拢，是晏几道炼字的惊人处，亦是此词能够「四字立篇」的根本。

过尽 'Past all' — passing through all the places of the dawn orioles, the whole journey of the departure. 「过尽晓莺啼处」之「过尽」二字，写舟行之速与目送之久，是上片的时间枢纽。「过」写船行——一桨一桨地驶过；「尽」写穷尽——把两岸的莺啼声都抛在了身后。妙在：一、「过尽」写时间之流动——晓莺啼处本是一个个地点，被「过尽」连成一串，船行之速、春光之逝、离别之迫，尽在二字之中，仿佛一段春光被船头犁开又合拢；二、「过尽」暗含目送的过程——送者站在渡头，看着船影一个接一个地穿过莺啼之处，直到「尽」了、看不见了，目送的目光至此才收回，其痴可叹，一个「尽」字写尽目送的尽头与心事的尽头；三、「过尽」与温庭筠《望江南》「过尽千帆皆不是」句式相近，而温词写「等待」，此词写「目送」，同用「过尽」而情境各别——一盼归、一送别，正见晏几道对前人句法的借鉴与翻新。两字写尽一段目送的时光，含蓄而有力。

无凭 'Without warrant' — the cloud and rain of the painted tower without warrant, the love's promises void. 「画楼云雨无凭」之「无凭」二字，是结句的着眼点，亦全词情感的最终落点。「无凭」写无可凭据、无法依恃——画楼中的云雨欢情，终究如梦幻泡影，没有实在的凭据。妙在：一、「无凭」是看破之语——历尽离别，终于明白欢情如梦、聚散无凭，这是伤心人的透彻，是对「情」的清醒认识；二、「无凭」是怨极之语——既然无凭，则「锦书休寄」便有了理由，决绝的背后是失望的累积，怨的不是人，是这无常的聚散；三、「无凭」又是痴心之语——真要放下，何须郑重宣布「无凭」？说无凭，正因为心里还有凭据的执念，还想抓住点什么，一个「无」字，写尽「求不得、放不下」的痴。二字收束全词，由怨转痴、由痴转空，而空中有情，正是《小山词》「痴语」的至高境界，亦见小令以二字收束万钧之力的功力——决绝与深情，尽在此二字之间。