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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

永遇乐·元宵

Song of Everlasting Joy: The Lantern Festival

李清照

Li Qingzhao

元宵Lantern Festival 婉约Graceful and Subtle (Wan Yue)

落日熔金，暮云合璧，人在何处。
染柳烟浓，吹梅笛怨，春意知几许。
元宵佳节，融和天气，次第岂无风雨。
来相召、香车宝马，谢他酒朋诗侣。
中州盛日，闺门多暇，记得偏重三五。
铺翠冠儿，捻金雪柳，簇带争济楚。
如今憔悴，风鬟霜鬓，怕见夜间出去。
不如向、帘儿底下，听人笑语。

The setting sun melts into molten gold,
Evening clouds converge like seamless jade —
Ah, where am I now?
Mist thickens on the willows,
A plaintive flute plays "Plum Blossoms Fall" —
How much of spring can there be?
It is the Lantern Festival, with mild, harmonious weather,
Yet might wind and rain not follow in turn?
Friends come to summon me with fragrant carriages and precious steeds,
But I decline those companions of wine and verse.

In the glorious days of the Central State,
Women's chambers had much leisure,
I remember making much of the fifteenth night.
Wearing caps adorned with kingfisher feathers,
And snow-willow sprigs twisted with gold,
We all vied to be arrayed neatly and prettily.
Now I am withered and haggard,
Wind-blown hair and frost-streaked temples,
Afraid to go out at night.
Better to stay behind the curtain,
And listen to the laughter of others.

Listen

Meaning

A lonely, aging poet at the Lantern Festival contrasts her present desolation with the glorious festivals of her youth in the lost capital, finally hiding behind a curtain to listen to the joy of others.

落日像熔化的黄金般灿烂，暮云如碧玉般连成一片，我如今身在何处。新柳如绿烟笼罩，笛曲《梅花落》声声哀怨，春意究竟有多少。元宵佳节，天气和融，转眼间难道就没有风雨。朋友们驾着香车宝马前来相邀，我婉言谢绝了诗酒好友。想当年汴京繁盛时节，闺中颇多闲暇，最看重这正月十五。戴着嵌翠的冠儿，缀着捻金的雪柳，妆扮得整齐俏丽。如今形容憔悴，鬓发斑白蓬乱，怕在夜里出门。倒不如在帘子底下，听旁人说说笑笑。

Appreciation

This is one of the most celebrated Lantern Festival lyrics, admired for its poignant contrast between past grandeur and present ruin. The opening images of melting gold and jade-like clouds are breathtakingly beautiful, yet the sudden question "Where am I?" converts splendor into sorrow. The poet’s refusal of friends’ invitations and her retreat behind the curtain dramatize the inner gulf between herself and the festive world. With no explicit mention of national loss, the poem nonetheless conveys the era's trauma through personal experience, exemplifying Li Qingzhao's late style of implicit depth.

【白话串讲】 “落日熔金，暮云合璧，人在何处”——李清照写元宵：落日熔金。“中州盛日，闺门多暇，记得偏重三五”——她想起当年在汴京过元宵。“如今憔悴，风鬟霜鬓，怕见夜间出去”——如今她憔悴了，怕出门。“不如向、帘儿底下，听人笑语”——她只能躲在家里，听别人的欢笑。晚年李清照的苍凉。【意象与手法】上片以“落日熔金，暮云合璧”的秾丽之景起笔，陡然折出“人在何处”一问，乐景中生出飘零之哀；下片以“中州盛日”的繁华回忆反衬如今憔悴，“不如向、帘儿底下，听人笑语”以他人之热闹写自我之孤绝。全词不着一愁字而愁思满纸，全凭今昔、哀乐的强烈对照。【情感与主旨】李清照晚年流寓临安所作，是元宵词的绝唱。写尽家国变故后个人命运的无奈，以寻常语度入音律，于疏淡中见沉郁，体现易安词的艺术高度。【名句点睛】常考“落日熔金，暮云合璧，人在何处”以乐景写飘零之哀；“不如向、帘儿底下，听人笑语”以他人热闹反衬自我孤绝。

Background

Composed around 1150, after the fall of the Northern Song and Li Qingzhao's flight to the south, this ci reflects her life as a widow and exile in Lin'an (Hangzhou). The Lantern Festival had been a grand celebration in the old capital Bianjing, where the poet spent happy years. Now, amidst a similar festival in the south, she is old, lonely, and displaced. The poem transforms personal sorrow into a lament for a lost dynasty, capturing the epochal shift from prosperity to devastation.

李清照（1084—约1155）这首《永遇乐》约作于南宋绍兴二十年（1150）前后，时值北宋覆亡、宋室南渡之后十余年。词人晚年避难江南，寓居临安，丈夫赵明诚早已去世，故国汴京沦陷，亲友零落，孤身一人。元宵本是北宋都城市民最盛大的节庆，李清照少女与少妇时代在汴京度过无数热闹元宵；而南渡后临安虽亦张灯，词人却已是白发飘零、寄人篱下的流寓之身。此词即在这一巨大历史落差与个人身世剧变中写成。题中元宵，实为一面镜子，照见的是靖康之难后整个时代由盛世坠入离乱的创痛。词人借节俗之同、处境之异，把个人的身世之悲与家国之恨打成一片，故看似写闺情，实则写兴亡。南宋偏安、收复无望的时代气氛，更为结句听人笑语的孤寂添上一层难以言说的凄楚。易安此词又擅以寻常口语入律，帘儿底下、听人笑语皆市井常谈，经其熔铸便成绝唱。宋人谓其语虽浅淡而意极深远，盖以个人元夕之孤，写尽一代离乱之痛，足下开南宋家国词之先声，亦可见小令能承载兴亡之重。

Art

Structurally, the poem alternates between dazzling exterior scenes and inner desolation. The first stanza piles up beautiful images—molten gold, jade-like clouds, misty willows—only to puncture them with existential questions and a premonition of storms. The second stanza uses flashback to depict the well-dressed ladies of the capital, then sharply pivots to the poet's aged, haggard state. The colloquial ending "listening to others' laughter" is a masterstroke: the ordinary becomes a symbol of total alienation. Li Qingzhao's language is plain yet profound, achieving what critics call 'the expression of deep sorrow through light words.'

此词艺术上最突出者在于以乐景写哀、以今衬昔的对比结构。上片极写节物之丽：熔金、合璧、染柳、吹梅，色彩明丽，气氛和融；却在丽景中嵌入人在何处、次第岂无风雨、谢他酒朋诗侣数语，于热闹中透出疏离与忧惧，形成景暖情寒的反差。下片以中州盛日领起，铺陈铺翠冠儿、捻金雪柳、簇带争济楚的秾妆盛游，然后用如今憔悴、风鬟霜鬓陡转，以昔日之闹反逼今日之静，以昔日之华反逼今日之衰。这种今昔双线、哀乐对举的章法，使情感在跌宕中愈转愈深。语言上，易安用白描而少雕饰，熔金合璧虽丽却不堆砌，帘儿底下听人笑语纯用口语，却含不尽凄凉，正是她所倡易安体专主情致、主故实而又流转如珠的典范。全词语气似平实而内蕴沉郁，疏淡处见血泪。上片以丽景层层铺垫，至人在何处忽作顿挫；下片以盛妆极写，至如今憔悴陡然收束。其章法如卷舒，舒处极妍，卷处极痛，而一气贯注不见缝合之痕。此种舒卷之间见沉郁，正是小令具长调手段者，易安所以为婉约之宗。

Allusions

The poem draws on traditional imagery and lore: 'molten gold' and 'joined jade' are classic descriptions of sunset and evening clouds; 'Plum Blossoms Fall' is a famous flute tune evoking spring sadness. 'Zhongzhou' refers to the lost capital Bianjing, while 'snow-willow' and 'kingfisher caps' denote actual Song-dynasty festival fashions. The phrase 'fifteenth night' (三五) alludes to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Lantern Festival. These elements are not erudite references but vivid cultural memories that give the poem historical weight.

词中意象多有所本，又经词人融化而出以新意。落日熔金、暮云合璧写晚晴之丽，熔金本形容日光如金液流泻，合璧状云如玉璧相合，皆六朝以来形容天宇的熟语，至此化为元宵特有的秾丽底色。吹梅笛怨点出《梅花落》笛曲，以乐府横吹曲之哀声暗伏春怨。中州指汴京，代指沦陷的故土；三五用《礼记》正月十五之数，专指元宵，皆以简驭繁。铺翠冠儿、捻金雪柳、簇带、济楚皆北宋元宵妇人时妆与宋时方言，铺翠冠以翠羽为饰，雪柳以素绢银纸制成，簇带谓插戴繁密，济楚谓整齐俏丽，这些看似琐细的物象，因记载了真实的时代风习，遂成为追忆盛世最具体的凭依。及至帘儿底下，则以寻常帘幕象征自我与喧闹人间的阻隔。全词意象由丽转衰、由外转内，物象的华美与心境的憔悴互为衬托，渊源有自而自成易安家数。又三五本《礼记》正月十五之数，词人特举以见昔之郑重；中州代指汴京，与临安对举，遂成故国符号。凡此物象看似随手，实皆经拣择，故虽写闺帷而自有时代重量。铺翠、雪柳诸语，亦宋人节物小史的活材料。

Commentary

Opening with a gorgeous sunset and a sudden sense of dislocation, the ci immediately establishes a double perspective. The outer scene is festive; the inner state is wary and sorrowful. The middle section recalls the joyful, fashionable gatherings of Bianjing, only to collapse into the present image of haggard age and fear of night. The final lines are the most poignant: by choosing to remain behind the curtain and listen to others' laughter, the poet reveals that she is no longer part of the world's joy. The poem never mentions national ruin, yet the pain of exile and loss permeates every image. It is a supreme example of 'writing grief through joy' and marks Li Qingzhao's mature lyric art.

起三句落日熔金，暮云合璧，人在何处，先布秾丽之景，忽以一问截断，乐景中生哀，定下全篇飘零之调。染柳烟浓，吹梅笛怨，春意知几许，由视觉之柳烟入听觉之笛怨，点出初春而春意无多，反衬心境之寒。元宵佳节，融和天气，次第岂无风雨，于佳节天气中预忧风雨，既是实写天气难料，更喻时局动荡、乐极生悲。来相召、香车宝马，谢他酒朋诗侣，以谢邀写孤寂，外之热闹愈显内之凄凉。下片中州盛日，闺门多暇，记得偏重三五，转入回忆，偏重三五见昔日之郑重。铺翠冠儿，捻金雪柳，簇带争济楚，铺陈盛妆，是回忆中最鲜亮的画面。如今憔悴，风鬟霜鬓，怕见夜间出去，今昔陡接，憔悴怕出四字写尽衰老与畏避。不如向、帘儿底下，听人笑语，收于帘底听笑，以他人之乐写自我之凄，回应开篇人在何处，通体浑成，余悲不尽。全词无一句直写亡国之痛，而元夕之热闹愈显自身之伶仃。今昔对照之妙，正在以乐景写哀情，不言悲而悲自深。此即易安晚年沉郁之极致，亦宋词抒情一法之垂范，后之读者每于帘底听笑处，觉乱世孤寒扑面而来。

Prosody

Reading note The ci contains lines of 4, 5, and 6 characters. Phrases like '来相召' and '不如向' introduce extra short pauses, breaking the rhythm into choked, hesitant units that mirror the poet's reluctance and withdrawal.《永遇乐》为双调词牌，此词上、下片各十句，共一百零四字，押仄声韵。上片五仄韵，下片五仄韵，多用去声收韵，声情峭拔而暗含咽抑，最宜写沉郁不平之情。句式以四、五、六言交错，如落日熔金（四）、人在何处（四）、染柳烟浓（四）、春意知几许（五）、元宵佳节（四）、次第岂无风雨（六），长短句相生，读来吞吐跌宕。过片中州盛日（四）与换头句式相称，使今昔两段气脉不断。来相召、香车宝马与不如向、帘儿底下两处句中短顿（、），将骈俪长句从中勒断，形成欲连又断的哽咽节奏，正合谢绝、回避的吞吐心理。平仄上多拗怒之笔，与哀婉内容相发，故夏孙桐谓其句律精严而情韵跌宕，非仅丽语而已。

Line by line

落日熔金，暮云合璧，人在何处。

The dazzling sunset and flawless clouds are beautiful, but the abrupt question 'Where am I?' reveals the poet's dislocation and homelessness after the fall of the north.

The setting sun glows like molten gold, evening clouds close like a jade disc — but where am I?

此三句为全词之眼，以极丽之景反衬极哀之情。落日熔金写夕晖如金液流泻，暮云合璧写云霞如玉璧相合，本是元宵前夕最秾丽安恬的天宇，却紧接人在何处一问，顿使美景虚设。这一问表面问己身所在，实则是乱离之后无所归依的漂泊之感：故土已失，故人已殁，纵有良辰，不过羁旅。景愈丽而问愈冷，开篇即立对比之骨，以下今昔哀乐皆由此一问生出。易安不直说愁，而让丽景与孤问相撞，留白处尽是血泪，所谓不着一字尽得风流，正在此种以乐写哀、先扬后抑的顿挫之中。

These three phrases are the eye of the song, setting extreme loveliness against extreme sorrow. 'Molten gold' paints the sunset streaming like liquid metal; 'fitted jade disc' paints the clouds closing like jade — the richest, calmest sky on the eve of the Lantern Festival — and then the question 'where am I?' makes all the beauty vain. On the surface she asks where she stands; beneath, it is the rootless drift of one after chaos: native land lost, loved ones dead, and a fine hour now only the lot of a traveler. The lovelier the scene, the colder the question; the skeleton of contrast stands at the very opening, and all the past-versus-present joy and sorrow that follows grows out of this one ask. Yian does not speak her grief outright but lets splendid scenery collide with a lonely question; the blank left between them is filled with tears — the so-called 'grace that uses no word of its subject,' achieved through this joy-written-as-sorrow, this lift-then-drop cadence.

不如向、帘儿底下，听人笑语。

The poet chooses to stay hidden behind the curtain, listening to the laughter of others, a final image of isolation and poignant detachment.

Better to crouch behind the curtain and listen to others' laughter.

结拍三句收束全篇，由回忆跌回现实，最为凄绝。帘儿底下既是实写词人避居帘后、不欲出门，更是自我与喧闹人间的一道屏障；听人笑语则以外界之热闹反衬内心之死寂。当年中州盛日她是笑语中人，如今却只能隔帘旁听，物是人非至此极矣。一个听字含不尽凄凉：不是不能笑，而是不敢、不忍、亦不配笑。全词由人在何处起，至听人笑语终，首尾呼应，孤独贯穿始终。此语看似平淡，却将家国之恨、身世之悲、老来之孤一并压入帘底，语愈浅而情愈深，是易安晚年词风沉郁顿挫的代表。

The closing three phrases pull the whole song back from memory into reality and are the most desolate. 'Beneath the curtain' is at once literal — she shelters behind the screen, unwilling to go out — and a barrier between herself and the noisy world of men. 'Listen to others' laughter' sets the outer bustle against the inner stillness. In the prosperous Central Plain days she was one of those laughing; now she can only listen from behind the screen, and things are changed to the utmost. One word, 'listen,' holds endless desolation: it is not that she cannot laugh, but that she dares not, cannot bear to, and no longer feels entitled to. The song opens with 'where am I?' and closes with 'listen to others' laughter,' the two ends answering each other, solitude running through from first to last. Plain on the surface, it presses national hatred, the sorrow of a broken life, and the loneliness of old age beneath the curtain; the shallower the words, the deeper the feeling — a representative of the somber, restrained late style of Yian.

中州盛日，闺门多暇，记得偏重三五。

She recalls the prosperous years in the capital, when ladies of good families had leisure and attached special importance to the Lantern Festival.

In the Central Plain's prosperous days, with leisure in my chambers, I remember how the fifteenth night was specially cherished.

中州盛日四句转入回忆，是全词今昔对照的枢纽。中州本指中原，此代汴京，盛日写故都全盛；闺门多暇写当年身份之闲雅，偏重三五写对元宵之珍重。此数语看似平淡叙旧，实以昔日之闲雅繁华，反衬今日之憔悴伶仃。三五用《礼记》正月十五之数专指元夕，见记忆之切。由眼前帘底听笑，忽忆中州盛日，时空一跳，悲慨遂深。后半之憔悴怕出，正由此盛日之忆而生，今昔相形，衷肠更苦，是易安以乐写哀章法之关键一转。

These phrases turn to memory and are the hinge on which the past-present contrast of the whole song turns. 'Central Plain' means the middle lands, here standing for Bianjing; 'prosperous days' names the capital in its glory; 'much leisure in the chambers' paints the refined ease of her station; 'cherishing the fifteenth' marks her reverence for the Lantern Festival. Seeming plain recollections, they actually set the former elegance and splendor against the present haggard loneliness. 'The fifteenth' draws on the Record of Rites to denote the Shangyuan night, showing how precise the memory is. From listening to laughter behind the curtain she leaps in time to the prosperous Central Plain, and grief deepens with the jump. The later 'haggard' and 'dreading to go out' grow precisely from this memory of prosperity; set against the past, the heartache is bitterer still — the pivotal turn in Yian's craft of writing sorrow through joy.

Study

Word focus

熔金 Molten gold—a metaphor for the brilliant setting sun, suggesting its glowing, fluid light. 熔金形容落日之光如熔化的黄金流淌，本是六朝以来形容夕照的熟语，词人用以写元宵前夕的绚烂天色。二字之妙，在以色写光、以态写暖：金言其色之贵，熔言其光之动且柔，遂使静穆夕阳顿生活意。更重要的，它是全词乐景之始，与下句合璧构成秾丽对仗，先以极盛之景诱读者入彀，随即被人在何处一问击碎。熔金之暖愈盛，孤身之寒愈显，景情反差由此二字垫起。后人评易安如以寻常语度入音律，熔金正是一例：语出常见而经其驱遣，便成元宵词中不可移易的底色。

济楚 Neat and pretty—a Song-dynasty colloquialism describing the tidy, elegant dress of festive women. 济楚为宋代方言，意为整齐、俏丽、妥帖，多见于宋人笔记与词曲。词中簇带争济楚写汴京女子元宵盛妆，插戴丛密（簇带）而争比齐整俏丽（济楚），活画出当年闺门游赏的兴头与风习。此词连用铺翠冠儿、捻金雪柳、簇带争济楚一组具体物象，正因济楚二字带着真实的市井温度，回忆中的盛世才不空洞。至下片如今憔悴对照，济楚所代表的昔年齐整鲜亮，反成刺痛今衰的针。一词之微，既存时代风习之真，又成今昔反衬之锚，可见易安炼字不尚奇崛而尚真切。

三五 The fifteenth day of the first lunar month, i.e., the Lantern Festival; an allusion to its traditional date. 三五本《礼记·月令》正月十五之数，古以指元宵。词中记得偏重三五写当年闺中于元夕之郑重，与今日怕见夜间出去形成今昔之烈反差。此词不用元夕而用三五，取其古雅含蓄，且与前文元宵佳节之直称相映，一俗一雅，见用笔之活。三五一词以小见大：昔日偏重，今日畏避，同一节物而心境天渊，正是全词今昔对照的浓缩。易安用典轻巧，三五遂成元夕之雅代，后人或效之。