齐天乐

Meaning

A lyric of the Clear Brightness festival and the passing of years, written by the late Southern Song poet Zhou Mi. The palace incense scatters at dawn, the spring is like mist; the willows' color first divides, the malt candy's fragrance is not yet cold — it is the hundred and fifth day, Clear Brightness, the festival of spring and of the dead. By the stream there is laughter and talk, mirrored in the twelve railings, the green frowns and the red jealousies of the spring flowers. The poet, in his short cap and light saddle, has ranged the Broken Bridge road everywhere. Then the reflection: the east wind makes itself charming — for whom? The years suddenly move him to sighs; what of his two temples? He who came before, Liu Lang, and Du Mu of the three lives — what they won was only the dust on their traveling clothes. He counts in secret the loneliness of those years, the wine-counters and the flower-registers, and gives them all to the spring sorrow — in the small tower, tonight's rain. The lyric is the classic reflection of the aging wanderer at the spring festival.

宫烟晓散春如雾。参差护晴窗户。柳色初分，饧香未冷，正是清明百五。临流笑语。映十二阑干，翠嚬红妒。短帽轻鞍，倦游曾遍断桥路。东风为谁媚妩。岁华顿感慨，双鬓何许。前度刘郎，三生杜牧，赢得征衫尘土。心期暗数。总寂寞当年，酒筹花谱。付与春愁，小楼今夜雨。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The palace incense scatters at dawn, the spring like mist; jagged and level, it guards the sunny windows. The willows' color first divides; the malt candy's fragrance not yet cold — it is the hundred and fifth day, Clear Brightness. By the stream, laughter and talk, mirrored in the twelve railings — the green frowns, the red jealousies. With short cap and light saddle, weary of wandering, I have ranged the Broken Bridge road everywhere. The east wind — for whom does it make itself charming? The years suddenly move me to sighs; and what of my two temples? He who came before, Liu Lang; the three-lives Du Mu — what they won was only the dust on their traveling clothes. In my heart I count in secret the loneliness of those years, the wine-counters and the flower-registers — all given over to the spring sorrow; in the small tower, tonight's rain. [Structure and Thought] The lyric moves from the festival scene (the incense, the willows, the candy, the laughter at the stream) through the poet's place in it (the weary wanderer of the Broken Bridge) to the reflection on time (the east wind, the temples, Liu Lang and Du Mu) and the close in the small tower with the rain. [Key Technique] The poem's art is the contrast of the festival's public joy and the poet's private age: the laughter by the stream, the green frowns and red jealousies of the spring, set against the weary wanderer and his secret counting of the lonely years. [Emotional Tone] Refined, weary, and melancholy: the spring festival is seen through the eyes of the aging wanderer, and the close — the small tower, tonight's rain — gathers the whole reflection into one image of solitude.

【白话串讲】 周密写《齐天乐》：“宫烟晓散春如雾。参差护晴窗户”——“柳色初分，饧香未冷，正是清明百五”——“临流笑语。映十二阑干，翠嚬红妒”——“短帽轻鞍，倦游曾遍断桥路”——他写清明——正是清明百五。 【意象与手法】 “宫烟晓散春如雾。参差护晴窗户”写宫烟晓散；“柳色初分，饧香未冷，正是清明百五”写清明；“临流笑语。映十二阑干，翠嚬红妒”写临流笑语；结以“付与春愁，小楼今夜雨”以小楼夜雨写春愁。含蓄深婉。 【情感与主旨】 周密写清明春愁之作，写清明时节春景与春愁，以“小楼今夜雨”写春愁之深，是周密词中清丽婉约的代表。 【名句点睛】 常考“柳色初分，饧香未冷，正是清明百五”以清明写时令；“付与春愁，小楼今夜雨”以小楼夜雨写春愁。

Allusions

'Clear Brightness' (Qingming) is the spring festival of the hundred and fifth day after the winter solstice, the day of tomb-visiting and spring outings. 'The Broken Bridge' (Duanqiao) is the famous bridge of the West Lake, the emblem of the wanderer's road. 'Liu Lang' is the poet Liu Yuxi, who returned to the capital after long exile and found the peach trees of the mysterious site grown — the figure of the returning wanderer; 'Du Mu of the three lives' is the Tang poet Du Mu, whose 'three lives' — past, present and future — were a byword for the romantic wanderer. 'The wine-counters and the flower-registers' are the pleasures of the youthful years, counted and found lonely in the memory.

词中「宫烟晓散春如雾」「参差护晴窗户」「柳色初分」「饧香未冷」「正是清明百五」「临流笑语」「映十二阑干翠嚬红妒」「短帽轻鞍倦游曾遍断桥路」「东风为谁媚妩」「岁华顿感慨双鬓何许」「前度刘郎」「三生杜牧」「赢得征衫尘土」「心期暗数」「总寂寞当年酒筹花谱」「付与春愁小楼今夜雨」等语，皆含典故故实。「宫烟晓散春如雾」写宫烟晓散春如雾；「参差护晴窗户」写参差护晴窗户；「柳色初分」写柳色初分；「饧香未冷」写饧香未冷（饧为糖，清明卖饧之俗）；「正是清明百五」写正是清明百五（清明在冬至后一百零五日）；「临流笑语」写临流笑语；「映十二阑干翠嚬红妒」写映十二阑干翠嚬红妒；「短帽轻鞍倦游曾遍断桥路」写短帽轻鞍倦游曾遍断桥路；「东风为谁媚妩」写东风为谁媚妩；「岁华顿感慨双鬓何许」写岁华顿感慨双鬓何许；「前度刘郎」用刘禹锡「前度刘郎今又来」之典（亦用刘晨入天台遇仙之典），写前度刘郎；「三生杜牧」用杜牧之典（杜牧三生），写三生杜牧；「赢得征衫尘土」写赢得征衫尘土；「心期暗数」写心期暗数；「总寂寞当年酒筹花谱」写总寂寞当年酒筹花谱；「付与春愁小楼今夜雨」写付与春愁小楼今夜雨。词人以清明百五、前度刘郎、三生杜牧等典入词，不着痕迹，而把清明春愁之情写得真切可感，是善于熔铸典故的体现。

Commentary

This lyric is one of Zhou Mi's most admired works, quoted for the contrast of the spring festival and the aging heart. The allusions to Liu Lang and Du Mu — the great wanderers whose winnings were only the dust on their clothes — are often cited as the perfect expression of the roving life's irony, and the close in the small tower with tonight's rain is ranked among the finest endings of the late Song. Critics praise the lyric's refinement: the festival's brightness and the reflection's melancholy held in perfect balance.

这首《齐天乐》，是周密写清明春愁之作，写宫烟晓散、临流笑语、小楼今夜雨之情，含蓄深婉。上片写宫烟晓散与临流笑语：「宫烟晓散春如雾。参差护晴窗户」——宫烟晓散春如雾，参差护晴窗户。写宫烟晓散：宫烟晓散春如雾、参差护晴窗户——宫烟晓散、春如雾、参差护晴窗；「柳色初分，饧香未冷，正是清明百五」——柳色初分，饧香未冷，正是清明百五。写清明百五：柳色初分、饧香未冷，正是清明百五——柳色初分、饧香未冷、清明百五；「临流笑语。映十二阑干，翠嚬红妒」——临流笑语，映十二阑干，翠嚬红妒。写临流笑语：临流笑语、映十二阑干，翠嚬红妒——临流笑语、十二阑干、翠嚬红妒；「短帽轻鞍，倦游曾遍断桥路」——短帽轻鞍，倦游曾遍断桥路。写倦游断桥：短帽轻鞍、倦游曾遍断桥路——短帽轻鞍、倦游遍断桥路。下片写岁华感慨与小楼今夜雨：「东风为谁媚妩。岁华顿感慨，双鬓何许」——东风为谁媚妩，岁华顿感慨，双鬓何许。写岁华感慨：东风为谁媚妩、岁华顿感慨，双鬓何许——东风媚妩、岁华感慨、双鬓何许；「前度刘郎，三生杜牧，赢得征衫尘土」——前度刘郎（用刘郎之典），三生杜牧（用杜牧之典），赢得征衫尘土。写前度刘郎：前度刘郎、三生杜牧，赢得征衫尘土——前度刘郎、三生杜牧、征衫尘土；「心期暗数。总寂寞当年，酒筹花谱」——心期暗数，总寂寞当年，酒筹花谱。写酒筹花谱：心期暗数、总寂寞当年，酒筹花谱——心期暗数、寂寞当年酒筹花谱；「付与春愁，小楼今夜雨」——付与春愁，小楼今夜雨。写小楼今夜雨：付与春愁、小楼今夜雨——付与春愁、小楼今夜雨。这「付与春愁，小楼今夜雨」，是全词之结：以小楼今夜雨写其春愁。全词含蓄深婉，以景写情，正是周密词中的名篇。

Prosody

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