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宋 Song · 诗 Poem

苏舜钦·夏意

Summer Mood

苏舜钦

Su Shunqin

闲适leisure 写意freehand mood

夏意别院深深夏簟清，石榴开遍透帘明。
树阴满地日当午，梦觉流莺时一声。

A separate court, deep and still, the summer mat is cool; pomegranate blooms everywhere, through the curtain bright.
Tree-shade fills the ground at noon; from dream I wake, a passing oriole's single song.

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Meaning

In the secluded small court, the summer bamboo-mat is clear and cool; pomegranate flowers bloom everywhere, shining through the curtain a bright beauty. Tree-shade spreads over the ground, it is the noon hour; waking from dream, now and then comes a single oriole's call.

幽深的小院里，夏日的竹席清清凉凉；石榴花处处开遍，透帘映照得一片明丽。树荫铺满一地，正是正午时分；梦中醒来，时而传来一声黄莺的啼鸣。

Appreciation

All twenty-eight characters write summer yet the 'mood' shows itself. The first line 'A separate court, deep and still, the summer mat is cool' uses 'deep' and 'cool' to set a still scene; the second 'pomegranate blooms everywhere, through the curtain bright' uses the pomegranate's red and the curtain's bright to dot the colour, bright yet not vulgar; the third 'tree-shade fills the ground at noon' writes the noon's deep shade, still to the extreme; the fourth 'from dream I wake, a passing oriole's single song' uses a single oriole-call to break the still, using motion to set off still, the aftertaste pure and ultimate. The colouring is light and elegant, the layers clear; in leisure it most shows the poet's clear and bright heart.

【白话串讲】 “别院深深夏簟清，石榴开遍透帘明”——苏舜钦写夏天：别院清凉，石榴花透过帘子红。“树阴满地日当午，梦觉流莺时一声”——正午树荫满地，他醒来，听见一声莺啼。夏天的惬意。【意象与手法】全诗二十八字，句句写夏而「意」自出。首句「别院深深夏簟清」以「深深」「清」设静境【情感与主旨】苏舜钦，北宋诗文名家，与梅尧臣并称「苏梅」。曾任县令、集贤校理，因支持范仲淹新政遭劾，削职闲居苏州，筑沧浪亭以自适【名句点睛】中高考常考：①分析「梦觉流莺时一声」以动衬静的手法，须答出以一声莺啼反衬院中幽静

Background

Su Shunqin, a famous Northern-Song poet and prose master, paired with Mei Yaochen as 'Su and Mei'. He served as a county magistrate and a collator of the imperial library, but for supporting Fan Zhongyan's reforms was impeached, stripped of office, and lived in retirement at Suzhou, building the Canglang Pavilion for his ease. This 'Summer Mood' was likely written during his retirement at the Canglang Pavilion, capturing the pleasure of a summer day in a secluded court. Though demoted, he could savour the still scene among pomegranate, tree-shade, and the oriole's clear dream — exactly showing his broad breast that, though in adverse fortune, did not cling to demotion.

《夏意》为北宋苏舜钦所作，是写夏日闲适之意的七绝。苏舜钦（1008—1048），字子美，梓州铜山人，北宋诗人。此诗：别院深深夏簟清，石榴开遍透帘明。树阴满地日当午，梦觉流莺时一声。全诗写夏日庭院之清趣，是苏舜钦诗的名篇。

Art

All twenty-eight characters write summer yet the 'mood' shows itself. The first line 'A separate court, deep and still, the summer mat is cool' uses 'deep' and 'cool' to set a still scene; the second 'pomegranate blooms everywhere, through the curtain bright' uses the pomegranate fire's red and the curtain-shadow's bright to dot the colour, bright yet not vulgar; the third 'tree-shade fills the ground at noon' writes the noon's deep shade, still to the extreme; the fourth 'from dream I wake, a passing oriole's single song' uses a single oriole-call to break the still, using motion to set off still, the aftertaste pure and ultimate. The colouring is light and elegant, the layers clear; in leisure it most shows the poet's clear and bright heart.

《夏意》艺术上以夏日之景的清爽与闲适之意的深静见长。全诗四句，层层写来：前二句写夏院之清——“别院深深夏簟清，石榴开遍透帘明”写别院夏簟、石榴透帘；后二句写午梦之静——“树阴满地日当午，梦觉流莺时一声”写树阴日午、梦觉流莺。全诗以夏景写闲适，正是苏舜钦诗清丽的笔法。

Allusions

This poem purely writes the scene before the eye, with no clear allusion; yet 'separate court' 'summer mat' secretly inherits the Tang poets' leisure-dwelling tradition (as Wang Wei's 'Bamboo Lodge', Bai Juyi's 'Leisure Dwelling' mood), and 'a passing oriole's single song' also transforms Wei Yingwu's 'spring tide brings rain, late comes urgent; a wild ferry, none, a boat lies across' method of writing still through sound. Overall it wins by plain description, not borrowing classical allusion yet forming its own clear scene — exactly fitting the Song taste of 'in plainness the utmost flavour', the same breast as his 'Canglang Pavilion Record' ('turning to think of former bustle and honour').

《夏意》用典少而意象自明。“别院”写旁院、幽院；“夏簟”写夏日竹席；“石榴”写石榴花；“流莺”写飞鸣之莺。全诗以这些意象写夏日闲适，不用深典而清丽自见，正是苏舜钦诗的笔法。

Commentary

This poem and Wang Wei's 'Bird-Singing Stream' ('the moon rises, startles the mountain birds; now and then they sing in the spring ravine') share one mechanism. The modern praises it 'twenty-eight characters write the summer day's clear seclusion to the full; the last line closes still with sound, most gaining the Tang poets' three tastes'. Though Su Shunqin's poetry is mostly bold and strong, this quatrain alone is rich in leisure grace, enough to show his temperament whole, and is also a model of Song scene-writing small poems.

《夏意》是苏舜钦诗的名篇，也是宋代写夏日闲适的代表作。此诗写夏日庭院之清趣，向为论者称道。论者多赏其夏日之景的清爽与闲适之意的深静——“别院深深夏簟清，石榴开遍透帘明”写别院夏簟、石榴透帘，清爽之极；“树阴满地日当午，梦觉流莺时一声”写树阴日午、梦觉流莺，更见其静。苏舜钦为北宋诗人，其诗以清丽著称，此诗正是其代表——以夏景写闲适，正是其诗风。

Prosody

Form Seven-character quatrain七言绝句

Rhyme Rhymes geng-qing group (cool, bright, song)《夏意》为七言绝句，四句，押平声韵。此诗用韵：清、明、声（庚部），一韵到底，音节清丽。

Tone pattern First line enters rhyme, level-onset level-close七言绝句以音节清丽、情致深静见长。此诗写夏日庭院之清趣，音节清丽而深静。全诗以七言贯底，声调与闲适之意的内容相合，是苏舜钦诗中清丽的一路。

Reading note Seven-character quatrain, plain-description scene-writing, using motion to set off still; a model Song leisure small poem.《夏意》为北宋苏舜钦所作，是写夏日闲适之意的七绝。此诗以“别院深深夏簟清，石榴开遍透帘明”写夏院之清，以“树阴满地日当午，梦觉流莺时一声”写午梦之静。以夏景写闲适，正是苏舜钦诗的名篇。

Line by line

别院深深夏簟清，石榴开遍透帘明。

The inner courtyard is deep and still, the summer mat cool; pomegranates in full bloom shine bright through the curtains.

别院深深，夏日竹席清凉；石榴开遍，透过帘幕而明。

The side courtyard lies deep and quiet, the summer bamboo mat cool; pomegranates bloom everywhere, their light shining through the curtains.

前二句写夏院之清，是全诗闲适之意的起点。“别院深深夏簟清”写别院夏簟——“别院深深”写别院深深（幽深之旁院），“夏簟清”写夏日竹席清凉——别院深深，夏簟清；“石榴开遍透帘明”写石榴透帘——“石榴开遍”写石榴开遍，“透帘明”写透过帘幕而明——石榴开遍透帘明。二句写夏院之清：别院深深夏簟清，石榴开遍透帘明。以“别院深深夏簟清”写幽院深静、夏簟清凉，以“石榴开遍透帘明”写石榴花开、透帘而明，正是苏舜钦诗写夏日庭院之清、闲适之意的起点——深院清簟，榴花明帘。

The first two lines write the summer courtyard's coolness, the whole poem's leisured-meaning starting point. The inner-courtyard-is-deep-and-still-the-summer-mat-cool writing the deep side courtyard and the cool bamboo mat; the pomegranates-in-full-bloom-shine-bright-through-the-curtains writing the bloom and the curtain's light. Two lines writing the summer courtyard's cool: the deep still courtyard and the cool mat, the pomegranates shining through the curtains. Using the deep-courtyard-cool-mat for the quiet seclusion, and the pomegranates-curtain-light for the bloom's brightness, precisely Su Shunqin's summer-courtyard-coolness and leisured-meaning starting point — the deep court, the cool mat, the pomegranate light at the curtain.

树阴满地日当午，梦觉流莺时一声。

Tree shade covers the ground at noon; waking from my dream, a singing oriole calls now and then.

树阴满地，日正当午；梦醒时，流莺时闻一声。

Tree shade covers the ground, the sun at noon; waking from the dream, a moving oriole's song is heard now and then.

末二句写午梦之静、流莺一声，是全诗闲适之意的归结。“树阴满地日当午”写树阴日午——“树阴满地”写树阴满地，“日当午”写日正当午——树阴满地，日当午；“梦觉流莺时一声”写梦觉流莺——“梦觉”写梦醒，“流莺时一声”写流莺时闻一声——梦觉流莺时一声。二句写午梦之静、流莺一声：树阴满地日当午，梦觉流莺时一声。以“树阴满地日当午”写树阴满地、日当正午之静，以“梦觉流莺时一声”写梦醒时偶闻流莺一声、以动衬静，正是苏舜钦诗写夏日闲适的归结——日午静卧，偶闻莺声。

The last two lines write the noon dream's stillness and the oriole's single call, the whole poem's leisured-meaning close. The tree-shade-covers-the-ground-at-noon writing the shade and the midday sun; the waking-from-my-dream-a-singing-oriole-calls-now-and-then writing the dream's waking and the oriole's intermittent song. Two lines writing the noon-dream stillness and the oriole's one call: the full shade and the noon sun, the waking and the occasional oriole note. Using the full-shade-noon-sun for the stillness, and the waking-oriole-call's motion-for-stillness, precisely Su Shunqin's summer-leisure close — lying still at noon, now and then an oriole's note.

Study

Word focus

别院深深 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “别院深深夏簟清”之“别院深深”，写别院幽深，是全诗写夏日幽静的关键词。“别院”写旁院、幽院，“深深”写幽深——别院深深，夏日竹席清凉。这一词写院之幽：不是正庭之院，而别院；不是浅显之处，而深深幽院。以“别院深深夏簟清”写幽院深静、夏簟清凉，正是苏舜钦诗写夏日闲适的笔法。

夏簟清 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “别院深深夏簟清”之“夏簟清”，写夏日竹席清凉，是全诗写夏日之清的关键词。“夏簟”写夏日竹席，“清”写清凉——夏日竹席清凉。这一词写卧席之清：不是寻常之席，而夏簟；不是燥热之卧，而清凉之簟。以“别院深深夏簟清”写幽院深静、夏簟清凉，正是苏舜钦诗写夏日闲适的笔法。

透帘明 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “石榴开遍透帘明”之“透帘明”，写石榴透帘而明，是全诗写夏日榴花之丽的关键词。“透帘”写透过帘幕，“明”写明丽——石榴开遍透帘而明。这一词写榴花之明：不是暗淡之花，而透帘明；不是笼中之花，而明丽透帘。以“石榴开遍透帘明”写石榴花开、透帘而明，正是苏舜钦诗写夏日庭院之丽的笔法。

流莺 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “梦觉流莺时一声”之“流莺”，写飞鸣之莺，是全诗写夏日以动衬静的关键词。“流莺”写飞动鸣啭之莺——梦醒时流莺时闻一声。这一词写莺之声：不是喧闹之音，而流莺；不是断续之噪，而时闻一声之清。以“梦觉流莺时一声”写梦醒偶闻流莺一声、以动衬静，正是苏舜钦诗写夏日闲适的归结。