宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric
晏殊·玉楼春·绿杨芳草长亭路
Jade Tower Spring · The Long-Ting Road by Green Willows and Sweet Grass
玉楼春·绿杨芳草长亭路绿杨芳草长亭路，年少抛人容易去。
楼头残梦五更钟，花底离情三月雨。
无情不似多情苦，一寸还成千万缕。
天涯地角有穷时，只有相思无尽处。
In youth he cast me off and went easily.
Atop the tower, the five-watch bell breaks the fading dream;
Beneath the flowers, parting sorrow in the third-month rain.
The heartless are not as the passionate are grieved;
One inch becomes a thousand threads.
The world's end and earth's corner have their limit,
Only longing has no end.
Meaning
By green willows and sweet grass, the long-ting road; in youth he cast me off and went easily. Atop the tower, the five-watch bell breaks the fading dream; beneath the flowers, parting sorrow in the third-month rain. The heartless are not as the passionate are grieved; one inch becomes a thousand threads. The world's end and earth's corner have their limit; only longing has no end.
绿杨芳草的长亭路上，年少的人轻易地抛下我离去。楼头残梦被五更的钟声惊破，花底的离情如三月的冷雨。无情的人总不似多情的人痛苦，一寸芳心竟化作千万缕愁丝。天涯地角尚有穷尽的时候，只有相思永无尽头。
Appreciation
This is Yan Shu's chamber-complaint on parting. Though Yan Shu is known for 'leisurely and graceful, with feeling', this piece speaks from a woman's voice, perhaps a persona or an imitation yuefu. The upper part sets the scene on 'the long-ting road by green willows and sweet grass', and 'in youth he cast me off' directly states the parting. 'Atop the tower, the five-watch bell breaks the fading dream; beneath the flowers, parting sorrow in the third-month rain' is neatly antithetical, writing the delicate chamber thought through scene. The lower part turns from scene to reason: 'the heartless are not as the passionate are grieved' advances by argument; 'one inch becomes a thousand threads' turns the void into the solid; the closing 'the world's end and earth's corner have their limit; only longing has no end' contrasts space against time, feeling and reasoned interest blended.
【白话串讲】 “无情不似多情苦，一寸还成千万缕”——晏殊说：无情的人不像多情的人苦，一寸相思能变成千万缕。“天涯地角有穷时，只有相思无尽处”——天涯有尽头，相思没有。 【意象与手法】 上片以长亭、绿杨、芳草设送别之境，「年少抛人」直点别离；「楼头残梦五更钟，花底离情三月雨」工对精绝，以钟声破梦、春雨添愁写闺思之细腻。下片翻进一层，以「无情不似多情苦」发议论，「一寸还成千万缕」化虚为实，结以「天涯地角有穷时，只有相思无尽处」，以空间反衬时间，理趣与深情交融。 【情感与主旨】 此为晏殊闺怨伤别之作，从女性口吻写离情别恨。词中既有被弃之怨，更有相思之痴，于「闲雅有情思」之外别见深婉一途，而结句以理写情，正是晏殊词「情中有思」的本色。 【名句点睛】 「天涯地角有穷时，只有相思无尽处」以天地之有限反衬相思之无穷，无理而妙，为千古写相思的名句。
Background
This is Yan Shu's chamber-complaint on parting. Though Yan Shu is known for 'leisurely and graceful, with feeling', this piece speaks from a woman's voice, perhaps a persona or an imitation yuefu. The upper part writes the long-ting send-off, the fading dream and the parting rain; the lower part advances with 'the heartless are not as the passionate are grieved', closing with 'longing has no end'—among his Pearl-Jade Lyrics it is the deep, graceful vein, sharing the reasoned interest of his line 'helplessly the flowers fall, as it were knowing'.
晏殊（991—1055），字同叔，抚州临川（今江西抚州）人，十四岁以神童召试，赐同进士出身，官至同中书门下平章事兼枢密使，北宋前期名相，谥元献，世称晏元献。他位极人臣而雅好词章，有《珠玉词》传世，与欧阳修并称「晏欧」，是北宋词由五代花间、南唐余绪走向士大夫雅化的关键人物。晏殊词以「闲雅有情思」著称，多写富贵闲愁、时序感怀与人生体悟，「无可奈何花落去，似曾相识燕归来」即其名句；此阕《玉楼春》却是其词中少见的深情直写之作，从女性口吻抒写离情别恨，疑为代言之作或拟乐府体。词作年不详，然从内容与风格看，当属其词集中情致深婉一路。北宋前期承平百年，士大夫于政事之余寄情小词，词体尚以小令为主，篇幅短小而蕴藉深厚；晏殊以宰相之尊染翰，将个人情思与人生哲理融入小令，遂使词由「艳科」渐趋「雅正」。此词写别后相思，由景入情、由情入理，结以「天涯地角有穷时，只有相思无尽处」的哲思，正是晏殊「情中有思」的典型体现，也是五代北宋小令由言情走向言理的标志性作品。
Art
The upper part sets the scene on 'the long-ting road by green willows and sweet grass', and 'in youth he cast me off' directly states the parting; 'atop the tower, the five-watch bell breaks the fading dream; beneath the flowers, parting sorrow in the third-month rain' is neatly antithetical, writing the delicate chamber thought through bell breaking dream and spring rain aiding sorrow. The lower part turns from scene to reason: 'the heartless are not as the passionate are grieved' advances by argument; 'one inch becomes a thousand threads' turns the void into the solid; the closing 'the world's end and earth's corner have their limit; only longing has no end' contrasts space against time, feeling and reasoned interest blended.
此词章法精妙，上片写别时别后之景，下片写相思之情与理，由实入虚、层层翻进。上片四句，先以「绿杨芳草长亭路」一句设境——长亭、绿杨、芳草，皆是古人送别的经典意象，组合于一句之中，送别之地宛然在目；「年少抛人容易去」以「抛」字直点别离，写对方之决绝轻率，「容易」二字尤为刺目，暗含被弃之怨。三、四句「楼头残梦五更钟，花底离情三月雨」为全词最工之对：楼头对花底、残梦对离情、五更钟对三月雨，时空交错，以钟声破梦、春雨添愁，写尽闺中独守的孤寂与春愁的绵长。下片由景入理，「无情不似多情苦」一句翻进，以议论直揭主旨——无情者不知情之滋味，多情者方受苦之煎熬；「一寸还成千万缕」化虚为实，将抽象的相思具象为千万缕丝，如李煜「剪不断，理还乱」之遗意；结句「天涯地角有穷时，只有相思无尽处」以天地之有限反衬相思之无穷，由空间之极反推情感之极，无理而妙，理趣与深情交融为一。全词前实后虚、前景后理，工于对仗而归于自然，正是五代北宋小令蕴藉深厚的典范。
Allusions
This lyric's allusions are restrained. 'The long-ting' uses the ancient post-road farewell tradition (Yu Xin's Lament for the South: 'ten li or five li, long-ting and short-ting'). 'One inch' transforms 'the heart' (fangcun, one inch) and Li Yu's 'a heart of a thousand threads', measuring longing by the inch. The closing 'world's end and earth's corner' and 'no end' darkly use Bai Juyi's kindred imagery. The language is all household yet the meaning extremely deep, showing reasoned interest within the graceful.
此词用典含蓄，融化于家常语中，不见斧凿之痕。「长亭」出于庾信《哀江南赋》「十里五里，长亭短亭」，本为驿路上供行人歇脚之所，自六朝以来成为送别之地的代称，后世《西厢记》「长亭送别」更使其定型为离别的符号；「绿杨芳草」则承《楚辞·招隐士》「王孙游兮不归，春草生兮萋萋」的相思传统，绿杨可折柳送别，芳草萋萋如愁思绵延，皆以春景写离情。「五更钟」写长夜将尽、残梦难续，「三月雨」暗合杜牧「清明时节雨纷纷」的断魂意象，钟声与雨声交织，皆成为催愁之物。「一寸还成千万缕」化用李煜「一片芳心千万绪」之句，兼取「方寸」（心）之说，以「寸」量心、以「缕」量愁，将一分为万，愈见愁之多且细；「天涯地角」出韩愈《祭十二郎文》「一在天之涯，一在地之角」，本写兄弟离散，此处借以极言相思所及之远；结句「有穷时」「无尽处」的对举，又暗通白居易《长恨歌》「天长地久有时尽，此恨绵绵无绝期」的以有限衬无限之法。晏殊熔炼前人名句，语皆家常而意极深远，正是「无一字无来历」而「不露来历」的化用高境。
Commentary
The Qing Wang Shizhen, in his Flowers and Grass Misc Picking, judged: 'Yan Tongshu's two lines "the world's end and earth's corner" are most unreasonable yet most feeling.' The modern Yu Pingbo said of them 'writing deep sorrow in plain words, full of reasoned interest, no less than the charm of "helplessly the flowers fall"'. The whole moves from scene to reason, from feeling to argument, fully gaining the implicit wonder of Five-Dynasties and Northern-Song short tunes.
此词为晏殊《珠玉词》中情致深婉的一路，历代评家多赏其结句之理趣。清代王士禛《花草蒙拾》评「天涯地角」二句「极无理而极有情」，正指出其以空间之有限反衬相思之无穷的妙处——天涯地角本已极远，然较之相思，仍有穷尽，故无理；正因无理，方见情之痴绝，故极有情，此即古人所谓「无理而妙」之旨。近人俞平伯谓其「以浅语写深愁，理趣盎然，不减『无可奈何花落去』之致」，将其与晏殊最著之名句并提，足见此词在其全集中的地位。王国维《人间词话》论词境，以晏殊「昨夜西风凋碧树，独上高楼，望尽天涯路」为「古今之成大事业、大学问者」必经之第一境，可见晏殊词之「望尽天涯」意象早已为论者所重；此词「天涯地角」云云，正与之同出一源，皆以极远的空间写极深的情思。叶嘉莹论晏殊词，特标其「圆融的观照」——于悲欢离合中见出理性的通达，此词下片「无情不似多情苦」的翻进与「有穷时」「无尽处」的对照，正是这种情中有思、以理节情的体现。就词史而言，此词由五代「花间」之秾艳转为北宋士大夫之雅正，由纯言情转为情理兼胜，是词体雅化进程中的一篇标志性作品。
Prosody
Line by line
绿杨芳草长亭路，年少抛人容易去
Green willows and fragrant grass on the long-pavilion road; the young ones leave us so easily.
绿杨芳草的长亭路上，年少的人轻易地抛下我离去了。
Green willows and fragrant grass on the long-pavilion road; the young easily cast me aside and go.
起句设境，以「绿杨」「芳草」「长亭」三个送别意象并置，春色越是明媚，离别越是可伤——绿杨可折以赠别，芳草萋萋如愁思绵延，长亭正是饯行之地，一句之中已将「春暮送别」的场景、时令、地点和盘托出。「年少抛人容易去」笔锋一转，直点别离：「抛」字写对方之决绝，如弃敝屣，不留余地；「容易」二字尤为刺目，极言其去之轻率、无情，愈见留守者之痴与怨。值得注意的是「年少」二字——去者正当年少，前路广阔，故去得容易；留者独守空闺，青春空耗，故等得艰难。一易一难，两相对照，别后的孤寂与不平已暗寓其中，为下片「多情苦」的议论伏脉。
The opening line's scene-establishment, using the green-willow, fragrant-grass, long-pavilion three farewell images' juxtaposition, the spring-color's the more bright, the parting's the more grief — the green-willow's breakable-for-the-farewell gift, the fragrant-grass's lush like the grief's stretch, the long-pavilion's precisely the farewell-feast place, one line's within's already the spring-dusk-farewell scene, season, and place's the full-laid. The young-easily-cast-me-aside-and-go's brush's sudden-turn, directly's pointing out the parting: the pao word's writing the other's resoluteness, like the thrown-away shoe, no-room-left; the easily two words' the especially eye-pricking, extreme-of-the-going's rashness-and-heartlessness, the more's seeing the stayer's infatuation-and-resentment. The noteworthy's the young two words — the goer's precisely the young, the road's-ahead's broad, hence the going's easy; the stayer's lone-keeping-the-empty-boudoir, the youth's empty-wasted, hence the waiting's hard. One-easy-one-hard's the mutual contrast, the post-parting's loneliness-and-unfairness's secretly-entrusted within, storing the ground for the second stanza's loving-hearted-grief argument.
楼头残梦五更钟，花底离情三月雨
Atop the tower, the five-watch bell breaks the fading dream; beneath the flowers, parting sorrow in the third-month rain.
五更的钟声惊破了楼头的残梦，三月的细雨更添花底离情。
The tower's broken dream shattered by the fifth-watch bell; beneath the flowers, parting grief in the third-month rain.
此联为全词对仗最工、意境最密之句，十四字写尽别后闺中一夜之况味。「楼头残梦五更钟」：夜深梦浅，独宿楼头，好梦方残，五更钟声已破晓而来，惊破残梦，也惊破那一点侥幸的团圆之念——梦是「残」的，钟是催人的，声与梦相激，孤独与怅惘立现；「花底离情三月雨」：春花烂漫的三月，本是好时节，却偏偏细雨连绵，花在雨中零落，情在雨中郁结，离情与冷雨交融，化不开、收不住。两句一写听觉（钟声），一写视觉与触觉（花雨），楼头与花底、五更与三月、残梦与离情，时空错落而浑然一体，以景写情、情在景中，正是婉约词「一切景语皆情语」的典范。
This couplet's the whole ci's parallel's firmest and mood's densest line, fourteen characters' exhausting the post-parting boudoir's one-night condition. The tower's-broken-dream-shattered-by-the-fifth-watch-bell: the night's deep and the dream's shallow, the lone-lodging tower, the good dream's just-broken, the fifth-watch bell's already's dawn-coming, shattering the broken dream, and shattering that one-thread lucky-reunion thought — the dream's broken, the bell's the urging-person, the sound-and-dream's mutual-stirring, the loneliness-and-wistfulness's instant-seen; beneath-the-flowers-parting-grief-in-the-third-month-rain: the spring-flower's brilliant March, originally's the good season, and yet precisely's the fine-rain's lingering, the flower's in-the-rain's scattering, the feeling's in-the-rain's knotting, the parting-grief-and-cold-rain's fusion, the no-dissolving-and-no-gathering. Two lines one writing the hearing (bell) and one the sight-and-touch (flower-rain), the tower-to-flower-bottom, the fifth-watch-to-March, the broken-dream-to-parting-grief, the time-space's scattered-and-yet-seamless, using the scene's feeling-writing and the feeling's within-scene, precisely the graceful-soft ci's all-scene-words-are-feeling-words model.
无情不似多情苦，一寸还成千万缕
The heartless are not as the passionate are grieved; one inch becomes a thousand threads.
无情的人总不似多情的人那样痛苦，一寸芳心竟化作千万缕愁丝。
The heartless know not the pain of the loving; one inch of heart becomes ten thousand threads of grief.
下片起拍由景入理，是全词由写境转入写心的枢纽。「无情不似多情苦」以议论直揭主旨：无情者不知情之滋味，故无苦可言；多情者识得情之深挚，故苦不堪言——一个「苦」字是全篇之情眼，而「不似」二字又带着几分痴语般的无奈，明知多情之苦而终不能无情，正是情之深者无可逃遁的宿命。此句以「无情」与「多情」对举，先翻进一层，逼出下句「一寸还成千万缕」：心本「一寸」方寸之地，而相思竟化作千万缕愁丝，以寸量心、以缕量愁，一与万的悬殊对比，将抽象的相思具象化、数量化，愈见其繁密无尽。化用李煜「一片芳心千万绪」而更进一层，由「千万绪」翻为「千万缕」，愁丝如织，剪不断、理还乱，正见晏殊于前人句法上的点铁成金。
The second stanza's opening from the scene's to the reason, the whole ci's scene-writing-to-mind-writing hinge. The heartless-know-not-the-pain-of-the-loving using the argument's directly-pointing-out-the-thesis: the heartless's not-knowing-the-feeling's-taste, hence the no-grief-speakable; the loving's knowing-the-feeling's deep-earnest, hence the grief's unspeakable — the one ku word's the whole-piece's feeling-eye, and the not-like two words' the more's carrying a trace of the infatuated-words' helplessness, the knowing-the-loving-grief-and-yet-the-ultimate-no-heartlessness, precisely the feeling's deep's no-escape fate. This line using the heartless and loving's parallel, first's the one-layer-further, forcing-out the below's one-inch-becomes-ten-thousand-threads: the heart's originally's one-inch square, and yet the longing's actually's turned-into-ten-thousand-threads-of-grief, using-the-inch-to-measure-the-heart and the thread-to-measure-the-grief, the one-and-ten-thousand's disparity-contrast, turning the abstract longing's the concrete-and-quantified, the more's seeing its dense-endless. Adapting Li Yu's one-heart-ten-thousand-threads's and yet the one-layer-further, from the ten-thousand-thoughts's turning-to-the-ten-thousand-threads, the grief-threads' like-the-woven, the cut-no-and-the-sort-no, precisely seeing Yan Shu's on-the-predecessor-syntax's point-iron-into-gold.
天涯地角有穷时，只有相思无尽处
The world's end and earth's corner have their limit; only longing has no end.
天涯地角尚有穷尽的时候，只有相思永无尽头。
Earth's corners and heaven's ends have their bounds; only longing has no end.
结句为千古名句，以天地之有限反衬相思之无穷，无理而妙。天涯地角，本已极言其远、极言其极，是空间所能达到的尽头；然诗人偏说它有「穷时」——天涯有尽而相思无尽，以空间之极限反推情感之无涯，将不可度量的相思置于可度量的天地之上，愈见其深、愈见其长。王士禛评此二句「极无理而极有情」：说天涯地角有穷尽，在常理上固无可验证，是无理；然正因这无理的假设，相思之无穷才被推到极致，情之痴绝、思之绵长宛然在目，故极有情。且此句以「有穷时」「无尽处」对举，前句否定式的让步，更衬出后句肯定式的斩截，音节上「时」「处」皆仄声收束，顿挫有力，如誓言般戛然而止，余韵却如相思本身一样没有尽头。
The closing line's the through-the-ages famed line, using the heaven-and-earth's limitedness's setting-off-the-longing's infinity, the unreasonable-and-yet-wondrous. The heaven's-corner-and-earth's-end, originally's the extreme-of-the-far-and-extreme-of-the-extreme, the space's attainable's end; and yet the poet's precisely's saying-it-has-the-bounded-time — the heaven's-corner's bounded and yet the longing's endless, using-the-space's-limit's reverse-inferring-the-feeling's-vastness, placing-the-unmeasurable-longing's upon-the-measurable-heaven-and-earth, the more's seeing its depth-and-length. Wang Shizhen's reviewing-these-two-lines'-the-most-unreasonable-and-yet-the-most-feelingful: saying-the-heaven's-corner's-bounded, in-common-sense's originally's no-verification, the unreasonable; and yet-precisely-because-of-this-unreasonable-assumption, the longing's infinity's pushed-to-the-extreme, the feeling's infatuation-extreme and the longing's stretch's vivid, hence the most-feelingful. And this line using the bounded-time and endless-place's parallel, the previous-line's negative-concession's the more's setting-off-the-below-line's affirmative-decisiveness, the rhythm's the shi and chu both's oblique-tone-close, the pause-and-turn's forceful, like-the-oath's abrupt-stop, and yet the aftertone's like-the-longing-itself's no-end.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Both from the Pearl-Jade Lyrics; both deep and restrained—compare their leisurely and graceful feeling.
二词皆晏殊写别情之作，而取径不同。《蝶恋花》「槛菊愁烟兰泣露，罗幕轻寒，燕子双飞去」以菊愁兰泣、双燕飞去写秋日独处之孤寂，后转「昨夜西风凋碧树，独上高楼，望尽天涯路」的名句，以登高望远写思念之无着，意象高远、境界开阔，为王国维所称「第一境」；《玉楼春》则以「绿杨芳草长亭路」写春日送别，「年少抛人容易去」直写被弃之怨，后以「无情不似多情苦」「只有相思无尽处」的议论与反衬收束，情理兼胜。一写秋之孤寂、一写春之离愁，一以景写情、一以理写情，而皆归于闲雅深婉、含蓄蕴藉，正见晏殊词「情中有思」的一贯面目，合观可窥《珠玉词》写情之全貌。
欧阳修·玉楼春·尊前拟把归期说 Ouyang Xiu · Jade Tower Spring · Before the Cup I Mean to Speak of the Return Date 欧阳修 · 同调同题写离情，欧词深挚激切、晏词理趣深婉，可作婉约对读 SameSame tune, both write parting; Ou's lyric is deep and sincere, Yan's reasoned—kindred in manner.
欧阳修《玉楼春》「尊前拟把归期说，未语春容先惨咽」以樽前欲说归期而先自哽咽写临别之痛，「人生自是有情痴，此恨不关风与月」翻进一层，直指情痴乃人之本性，与风月无涉，议论沉痛而通透；结句「直须看尽洛城花，始共春风容易别」以看尽繁花方忍离别，痴语中见豪宕。晏殊此词则以「年少抛人容易去」的怨语开篇，以「天涯地角有穷时，只有相思无尽处」的哲理收束，怨而不怒、悲而不伤，圆融通达。二词同调、同写离情，而欧词深挚激切、近于热泪，晏词理趣深婉、近于长叹，恰成五代北宋小令言情风格的两种极致，对读最见「晏欧」之异同。