曲游春

Meaning

A lyric of the spring excursion on the West Lake, written by the late Southern Song poet Zhou Mi. The warm silk-threads and love-tangled catkins weave the spring thoughts; the swallow-trysts and oriole-dates torment the fragrant feeling, lodged in the deep green and the gaps of the red. The vast fragrant dust is screened apart; for ten li the tangled strings and clustered flutes seethe. The painted boats all enter the Xiling bridge, and half the spring color of the lake is left idle. The willow paths, the new mist congealed to green, the palace brows beneath the curtains, the riders on the dike. The light dusk wraps the chill; he fears the pear-blossom dreams turn cold and the apricot fragrance is veiled in sorrow. Songs and pipes make offering to the Cold Food day, but the butterflies complain — the fair night is so still. The whole lake is full of broken moonlight rocking the flowers — how can one bear to leave? The lyric is a celebration and a farewell of the spring excursion, the West Lake at its fullest beauty and the night that closes it.

楚苑东风外，暖丝情絮，春思如织。燕约莺期，恼芳情偏在，翠深红隙。漠漠香尘隔。沸十里、乱弦丛笛。看画船，尽入西泠，闲却半湖春色。柳陌。新烟凝碧。映帘底宫眉，堤上游勒。轻暝笼寒，怕梨云梦冷，杏香愁幂。歌管酬寒食。奈蝶怨、良宵岑寂。正满湖、碎月摇花，怎生去得。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] East of the Chu garden's wall, the warm silk-threads and love-tangled catkins — spring thoughts are woven like silk. The swallow-trysts and the oriole-dates torment the fragrant feeling, lodged in the deep green and the gaps of the red. The vast fragrant dust is screened apart; for ten li the tangled strings and clustered flutes seethe. I watch the painted boats all entering the Xiling bridge — half the spring color of the lake is left idle. The willow paths, the new mist congealed to green, mirrored beneath the curtain the palace brows, on the dike the riders at the reins. The light dusk wraps the chill; I fear the pear-blossom dreams turn cold, the apricot fragrance veiled in sorrow. Songs and pipes make offering to the Cold Food day; but the butterflies complain — the fair night is so still. The whole lake is full of broken moonlight rocking the flowers — how can one bear to leave? [Structure and Thought] The lyric moves from the woven spring thoughts, through the seething excursion of the ten li and the painted boats, to the gathering dusk and the fear of the cold dreams, and closes on the lake full of broken moonlight — the beauty and the farewell together. [Key Technique] The poem's art is the accumulation of the spring's particulars — the catkins, the trysts, the strings, the boats, the brows, the riders, the pear and apricot — until the whole lake is one woven fabric of spring, and the closing moonlight rocks the flowers as the final stroke of the beauty that cannot be left. [Emotional Tone] Refined, sensuous, and gently mournful: the spring excursion is enjoyed to its fullest, and the dusk and the broken moonlight carry the quiet note of the passing.

【白话串讲】 周密写《曲游春》：“楚苑东风外，暖丝情絮，春思如织”——“燕约莺期，恼芳情偏在，翠深红隙”——“看画船，尽入西泠，闲却半湖春色”——“柳陌。新烟凝碧”——他写春游西湖——闲却半湖春色。 【意象与手法】 “楚苑东风外，暖丝情絮，春思如织”写春思如织；“燕约莺期，恼芳情偏在，翠深红隙”写燕约莺期；“看画船，尽入西泠，闲却半湖春色”写画船入西泠；结以“正满湖、碎月摇花，怎生去得”写满湖碎月。含蓄深婉。 【情感与主旨】 周密写春游西湖之作，写西湖春色之美与春游之乐，以“闲却半湖春色”写湖景之静美，是周密词中写西湖风光的代表作。 【名句点睛】 常考“看画船，尽入西泠，闲却半湖春色”以画船入西泠写西湖春色；“正满湖、碎月摇花，怎生去得”以碎月摇花写春夜之美。

Allusions

'The Chu garden' is the old name of the West Lake region, from the Chu kingdom of the Spring and Autumn period. 'The Cold Food day' (Hanshi) is the festival of the hundred and fifth day, the eve of Clear Brightness, the great spring outing of the calendar. 'The palace brows' are the eyebrows of the court ladies, mirrored beneath the curtains — the beauties of the excursion. 'The pear-blossom dreams' and 'the apricot fragrance' are the flowers of the spring night, whose coldness and veiled sorrow carry the poem's elegiac undertone.

词中「楚苑东风外」「暖丝情絮」「春思如织」「燕约莺期」「恼芳情偏在翠深红隙」「漠漠香尘隔」「沸十里乱弦丛笛」「看画船尽入西泠」「闲却半湖春色」「柳陌」「新烟凝碧」「映帘底宫眉堤上游勒」「轻暝笼寒」「怕梨云梦冷杏香愁幂」「歌管酬寒食」「奈蝶怨良宵岑寂」「正满湖碎月摇花」「怎生去得」等语，皆含典故故实。「楚苑东风外」写楚苑东风外；「暖丝情絮」写暖丝情絮；「春思如织」写春思如织；「燕约莺期」写燕约莺期；「恼芳情偏在翠深红隙」写恼芳情偏在翠深红隙；「漠漠香尘隔」写漠漠香尘隔；「沸十里乱弦丛笛」写沸十里乱弦丛笛；「看画船尽入西泠」写看画船尽入西泠（西泠为西湖桥名）；「闲却半湖春色」写闲却半湖春色；「柳陌」写柳陌；「新烟凝碧」写新烟凝碧；「映帘底宫眉堤上游勒」写映帘底宫眉堤上游勒（宫眉写女子之眉）；「轻暝笼寒」写轻暝笼寒；「怕梨云梦冷杏香愁幂」写怕梨云梦冷杏香愁幂（梨云用梨花如云之意）；「歌管酬寒食」写歌管酬寒食（寒食为节令）；「奈蝶怨良宵岑寂」写奈蝶怨良宵岑寂；「正满湖碎月摇花」写正满湖碎月摇花；「怎生去得」写怎生去得。词人以西泠、梨云、寒食等语入词，不着痕迹，而把春游西湖之情写得真切可感，是善于熔铸意象的体现。

Commentary

This lyric is one of Zhou Mi's most admired works, quoted for the richness of its spring weaving and the beauty of its close. The final image — the whole lake full of broken moonlight rocking the flowers, and the question of how one can bear to leave — is often ranked among the finest closings of the late Song, the beauty gathered into the rocking light. Critics praise the lyric's sensuous particularity and its quiet elegiac undertone, the excursion of the spring and the farewell of the years.

这首《曲游春》，是周密写春游西湖之作，写春思如织、看画船、怎生去得之情，含蓄深婉。上片写春思如织与看画船：「楚苑东风外，暖丝情絮，春思如织」——楚苑东风外，暖丝情絮，春思如织。写春思如织：楚苑东风外、暖丝情絮，春思如织——东风之外、暖丝情絮、春思如织；「燕约莺期，恼芳情偏在，翠深红隙」——燕约莺期，恼芳情偏在，翠深红隙。写燕约莺期：燕约莺期、恼芳情偏在，翠深红隙——燕约莺期、芳情在翠深红隙；「漠漠香尘隔。沸十里、乱弦丛笛」——漠漠香尘隔，沸十里、乱弦丛笛。写香尘隔：漠漠香尘隔、沸十里乱弦丛笛——香尘漠漠隔、十里乱弦丛笛；「看画船，尽入西泠，闲却半湖春色」——看画船，尽入西泠，闲却半湖春色。写看画船：看画船尽入西泠、闲却半湖春色——画船尽入西泠、闲却半湖春色。下片写新烟凝碧与怎生去得：「柳陌。新烟凝碧。映帘底宫眉，堤上游勒」——柳陌，新烟凝碧，映帘底宫眉，堤上游勒。写新烟凝碧：柳陌、新烟凝碧，映帘底宫眉，堤上游勒——柳陌新烟凝碧、宫眉游勒；「轻暝笼寒，怕梨云梦冷，杏香愁幂」——轻暝笼寒，怕梨云梦冷，杏香愁幂。写梨云梦冷：轻暝笼寒、怕梨云梦冷，杏香愁幂——轻暝笼寒、梨云梦冷、杏香愁幂；「歌管酬寒食。奈蝶怨、良宵岑寂」——歌管酬寒食，奈蝶怨、良宵岑寂。写蝶怨岑寂：歌管酬寒食、奈蝶怨良宵岑寂——歌管酬寒食、蝶怨良宵岑寂；「正满湖、碎月摇花，怎生去得」——正满湖、碎月摇花，怎生去得。写怎生去得：正满湖碎月摇花、怎生去得——满湖碎月摇花、怎生去得。这「正满湖、碎月摇花，怎生去得」，是全词之结：以怎生去得写其留连。全词含蓄深婉，以景写情，正是周密词中的名篇。

Prosody

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