清平乐·年年雪里

Meaning

A lyric of old age and loss, written by Li Qingzhao in the years after the fall of the Northern Song, when she had lost her husband Zhao Mingcheng and was wandering as a refugee in the south. The lyric contrasts three times of looking at the plum: the first stanza recalls the happy years when she pinned plum blossoms in her hair, half drunk with joy; then a middle phase when she rubbed the blossoms away, winning only tears; and this year, at the corner of the earth, her temples gray, watching the evening wind rise and knowing that it will be hard indeed to look on the plum blossoms. The plum, once the flower of joy, has become the flower of loss: the wind rising at evening will blow the blossoms away, as it has blown away her world.

年年雪里。常插梅花醉。挼尽梅花无好意。赢得满衣清泪。今年海角天涯。萧萧两鬓生华。看取晚来风势，故应难看梅花。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] Year after year in the snow, I used to put plum blossoms in my hair and be drunk with joy. I have rubbed all the blossoms away, and there is nothing good in my heart — I have won only a robe full of clear tears. This year I am at the corner of the earth; my two temples are turning gray. I watch how the evening wind rises, and I know it will be hard indeed to look on the plum blossoms. [Structure and Thought] The lyric is built on a three-part autobiography in miniature: the happy past (plum blossoms in the hair), the sorrowing middle (the rubbed-away blossoms, the robe of tears), and the desolate present (the corner of the earth, the gray temples, the rising wind). [Key Technique] The poem's art is the movement of the plum through the speaker's life: from ornament to grief to a flower that can no longer be looked on — the constant object measuring the change of a life. The final lines join the two sorrows: the gray temples and the rising evening wind that will scatter the blossoms, as it has scattered her world. [Emotional Tone] Restrained and desolate: the grief of the widowed refugee is never stated, only measured against the plum blossoms and the wind.

【白话串讲】 李清照写《清平乐·年年雪里》：“年年雪里。常插梅花醉”——往年雪中插梅赏玩。“挼尽梅花无好意。赢得满衣清泪”——如今揉碎梅花，却是满衣清泪。“今年海角天涯。萧萧两鬓生华”——“看取晚来风势，故应难看梅花”——她流落天涯，无心赏梅。 【意象与手法】 此词是李清照写赏梅与身世的名篇，以三处赏梅的今昔对照写身世的变迁，是李清照词中「以咏梅写身世」的名篇。上片忆昔：「年年雪里，常插梅花醉」写年年雪里插梅而醉；「挼尽梅花无好意，赢得满衣清泪」写挼梅无好意的清泪。下片伤今：「今年海角天涯，萧萧两鬓生华」写今年天涯两鬓生华；「看取晚来风势，故应难看梅花」写晚来风势、难看梅花，是千古名句。全词以三处赏梅（昔日的醉梅、中年的挼梅、晚年的看梅）写身世的变迁，是李清照「以咏梅写身世」的名篇。 【情感与主旨】 此词约作于南宋建炎三年（1129）之后，时李清照夫赵明诚已卒（建炎三年八月卒于建康），李清照孤身漂泊于江南（海角天涯）。李清照前期生活优裕（与赵明诚金石书画、赏梅吟诗），后期（南渡后）夫死家破、孤身漂泊。此词即写其晚年（或南渡后）赏梅的今昔之感。词中「年年雪里，常插梅花醉」忆昔日的醉梅——年年雪里，常插梅花醉，写尽早年赏梅的欢愉（雪里插梅，插梅而醉）；「挼尽梅花无好意，赢得满衣清泪」忆中年的挼梅——挼尽梅花无好意（把梅花揉碎，没有好心情），赢得满衣清泪（落得满衣清泪），写尽中年赏梅的愁绪；「今年海角天涯，萧萧两鬓生华」写今年的天涯白发——今年海角天涯（漂泊到天涯海角），萧萧两鬓生华（两鬓萧萧，生了白发），写尽晚年的漂泊与衰老；「看取晚来风势，故应难看梅花」写晚来风势、难看梅花——看那晚来风势（傍晚的风势），故应难看梅花（所以应该难以看到梅花了），那「难看梅花」写尽晚年赏梅的无奈——不是不想看梅，而是风势太大（时局动荡），难以看梅了。全词以三处赏梅的今昔对照写身世的变迁，那「年年雪里，常插梅花醉」的欢愉与「难看梅花」的无奈，写尽李清照从欢愉到飘零的一生，是「以咏梅写身世」的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“年年雪里，常插梅花醉”写昔日赏梅之乐；“看取晚来风势，故应难看梅花”写晚来难看梅，以三处赏梅写身世变迁。

Allusions

The plum blossom is the flower of winter and of purity in Chinese poetry, the favorite of the Song aesthetic; for Li Qingzhao it was also the flower of her northern home and her happy marriage. 'The corner of the earth and the edge of the sea' (tianya haijiao) is the conventional hyperbole for the far south of exile, where the refugee finds herself. 'Rubbing the blossoms' (rou) is the gesture of fidgeting with the flower in the hand — the unconscious motion of a troubled heart.

此词的意象与用语深植于咏梅与身世传统。「年年雪里，常插梅花醉」忆昔日的醉梅——「年年雪里」写年年雪中（令人想到「踏雪寻梅」的雅事与「雪里」的咏梅传统），「常插梅花醉」写常插梅花而醉（「插梅花」令人想到「鬓边插梅」的雅事与「梅花插鬓」的传统，「醉」写赏梅的沉醉，也暗写早年生活的优裕），那「年年雪里，常插梅花醉」写尽早年赏梅的欢愉，令人想到「梅须逊雪三分白，雪却输梅一段香」（卢梅坡《雪梅》）的雪梅意象。「挼尽梅花无好意，赢得满衣清泪」忆中年的挼梅——「挼尽梅花」写把梅花揉碎（「挼」写揉搓，令人想到「揉碎」的动作与「挼花」的愁绪），「无好意」写没有好意（好心情），「赢得满衣清泪」写落得满衣清泪（「赢得」令人想到「赢得青楼薄幸名」（杜牧《遣怀》）的「赢得」用法，此处反用其意，写「赢得」满衣清泪的凄凉），那「挼尽梅花无好意，赢得满衣清泪」写尽中年的愁绪，令人想到「泪眼问花花不语」（欧阳修《蝶恋花》）的愁泪意象。「今年海角天涯，萧萧两鬓生华」写今年的天涯白发——「海角天涯」写天涯海角（令人想到「天涯地角有穷时，只有相思无尽处」（晏殊《玉楼春》）的天涯意象与「海角」的漂泊意象），「萧萧两鬓生华」写两鬓萧萧生华（「萧萧」写鬓发的萧疏，令人想到「萧萧白发」的衰老意象与「白了少年头」的白发传统——岳飞「莫等闲，白了少年头」），那「海角天涯」写尽南渡后的漂泊、「两鬓生华」写尽晚年的衰老。「看取晚来风势，故应难看梅花」写晚来风势、难看梅花——「看取晚来风势」写看那傍晚的风势（「看取」写察看，令人想到「试看」的观察），「难看梅花」写难以看梅（「难看」写难以观赏，令人想到「绿肥红瘦」（李清照《如梦令》）的惜花传统与「梅子黄时雨」的愁意象），那「晚来风势」既写傍晚的风，也暗写晚年的时局，令人想到「风雨如晦」的动荡意象——那「难看梅花」暗含「风雨催花」的惜花与「时局动荡」的无奈。全词化用杜牧、岳飞、晏殊（及李清照自己的《如梦令》）的意象与传统，以咏梅写身世，正是李清照「以咏物写身世」的本领。

Commentary

This lyric is one of Li Qingzhao's most famous works and one of the supreme lyrics of loss in the language, quoted for the compression of a whole life into three plum-blossom moments. The final couplet — the evening wind rising, the plum blossoms hard to look on — is often ranked among the finest closings of the ci, the natural wind that will scatter the blossoms carrying the whole weight of the destroyed world. Critics praise the lyric's restraint: the widow's grief is never named, only measured against the flower and the wind.

此词历来被推为李清照「以咏梅写身世」的名篇，也是「年年雪里，常插梅花醉」「看取晚来风势，故应难看梅花」等名句的出处。历代论者对此词评价极高：论者多指出此词以三处赏梅的今昔对照写身世的变迁，以「挼尽梅花无好意，赢得满衣清泪」写中年的愁绪，以「难看梅花」写晚年的无奈，是李清照晚年词中的代表作。在文学史上，此词的特殊价值在于：它以三处赏梅写出了李清照的一生——那「年年雪里，常插梅花醉」写早年的欢愉（与赵明诚赏梅吟诗、生活优裕），那「挼尽梅花无好意，赢得满衣清泪」写中年的愁绪（南渡前后的丧乱），那「今年海角天涯，萧萧两鬓生华」写晚年的飘零（夫死家破、孤身漂泊），那「看取晚来风势，故应难看梅花」写晚年赏梅的无奈——三处赏梅（醉梅、挼梅、看梅），写尽从欢愉到飘零的一生，正是「以咏梅写身世」的典范。词中「年年雪里，常插梅花醉」写早年的欢愉，是名句；「看取晚来风势，故应难看梅花」写晚年的无奈，更是千古名句——那「晚来风势」暗含时局的动荡，「难看梅花」暗含身世的飘零，那梅花，正是李清照一生的见证。此词与李清照的《声声慢》（「寻寻觅觅，冷冷清清」）一样，都是南渡后的名篇，一以咏梅写身世，一以叠字写愁绪。对于今日读者，此词是理解李清照「南渡后心境」与「以咏物写身世」手法的窗口，也是感受中国词「咏梅」传统的典范——那雪里插梅的醉、挼梅的清泪、天涯的两鬓、晚来风势中的梅花，穿越千年，仍在诉说着一个女词人从欢愉到飘零的一生。

Prosody

Line by line

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