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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

周邦彦·蝶恋花·早行

Butterfly Loves Flower - Setting Out Early

周邦彦

Zhou Bangyan

婉约graceful and restrained 行旅travel

蝶恋花·早行月皎惊乌栖不定，更漏将残，辘轳牵金井。
唤起两眸清炯炯，泪花落枕红棉冷。
执手霜风吹鬓影，去意徊徨，别语愁难听。
楼上阑干横斗柄，露寒人远鸡相应。

The moon is so bright it startles the crows, who cannot settle;
the water-clock is running out,
the windlass draws at the golden well.
Roused, her two eyes are clear and shining;
tear-flowers fall on the pillow, and the red silk floss turns cold.
Hands joined, the frosty wind blows the shadow of her hair;
my will to go wavers and hesitates,
the words of parting are too sad to hear.
Above the railing of the upper room the Dipper's handle lies aslant;
the dew is cold, the traveller far, and cock answers cock.

Listen

Meaning

The moon shines so brightly that the startled crows cannot settle on their branches; the water-clock is nearly spent, and the windlass creaks at the golden well. She is roused, and her two eyes are clear and shining; tear-flowers fall on the pillow and the red silk floss grows cold. They join hands while the frosty wind blows the shadow of her hair astray; his will to go wavers and hesitates, and the words of parting are too sorrowful to bear hearing. Above the railing of the upper room the handle of the Dipper lies aslant; the dew is cold, the traveller is already far away, and only the cocks answer one another.

月色皎洁惊得乌鸦栖不安定，更漏将尽，辘轳在金井边牵动。唤醒她一双眼睛清亮炯炯，泪花落在枕上，红棉枕一片清冷。执手相看霜风吹乱鬓影，去意徘徊惶惑，临别言语愁得听不分明。楼上栏杆横着北斗柄，露水寒冷人已远去，只有鸡声相应。

Appreciation

The first stanza lays out sight and sound to build the daybreak: a moon so bright it startles the crows announces the coming light, and the failing water-clock with the windlass at the golden well fixes the hour of early morning. Then comes the close-up of waking, in which her clear, shining eyes hold the brightness of tears while the cold of the red floss pillow measures the cold of the heart. The second stanza gives the reluctance of the parting itself, hands joined in a frosty wind, a will to go that wavers, words too sad to hear. The close ends with a scene: the Dipper's handle slanting above the railing, dew cold, the traveller gone, cocks answering one another across the emptiness. Zhou Bangyan spent much of his life moving between provincial posts, and his lyrics are full of travel and longing, worked out in a meticulous hand; here he takes a single cross-section of an early departure and shades in feeling and gesture layer by layer, never once stating emotion directly, which is exactly the substantial, harmonious and finely outlined quality for which his work is known.

【白话串讲】周邦彦写清晨送别：月亮照着惊鸟，更漏将尽，辘轳响。“执手霜风吹鬓影”——握着手，霜风吹动鬓影。“楼上阑干横斗柄，露寒人远鸡相应”——人走远了，只剩鸡鸣。【意象与手法】上片视听铺叙破晓：「月皎惊乌栖不定」以月明惊乌写将晓，「更漏将残，辘轳牵金井」以更声井轳声点出清晨；「唤起两眸清炯炯，泪花落枕红棉冷」工笔特写，以枕冷衬心寒。下片「执手霜风吹鬓影」写临别留恋，结以「楼上阑干横斗柄，露寒人远鸡相应」以景结情。【情感与主旨】此词为周邦彦（号清真）行役羁旅之作，写清晨与所爱之人仓促离别的情景。邦彦一生辗转州县、漂泊无定，其词多写羁旅相思，善以工笔铺叙时空与细节。【名句点睛】要点：①炼字，「惊」字写月明扰乌、亦扰人心；「牵」字炼井轳动态；「清炯炯」写泪眼、「红棉冷」以枕冷衬心寒；②以景结情的手法。

Background

This lyric belongs to Zhou Bangyan's poems of travel and enforced service, and it describes a hurried parting at dawn from the woman he loved. He spent much of his life moving between prefectures and counties with no settled home, and his lyrics are largely of travel and longing, worked in a meticulous hand that lays out time, space and detail with care. Here he takes a single cross-section of an early departure, running from the setting moon and the failing water-clock and the sound of water drawn at the well, through the waking, the joined hands, and on to the traveller already far off and the crowing of cocks. Not one line states feeling outright: the sorrow of parting is carried entirely by scene and by detail, which shows the substantial, harmonious quality and the fine outlining that distinguish his work and that influenced the elegant lyric of the Southern Song deeply.

此词为周邦彦行役羁旅之作，写清晨与所爱之人仓促离别的情景。周邦彦（1056—1121），字美成，号清真居士，钱塘（今浙江杭州）人，北宋词坛集大成者，被后人尊为「词中老杜」。其一生虽以词名世，然仕途并不得意：早年献《汴都赋》得神宗赏识，任太学正；后历官州县，浮沉于溧水、睦州、顺昌等处，晚年复提举大晟府，掌朝廷音乐机构。一生长期辗转漂泊、行役无定，其词多写羁旅行役与相思离愁，善以工笔铺叙时空与细节，语言精工典雅，章法回环吞吐，对南宋雅词（姜夔、吴文英等）影响深远。此篇《蝶恋花·早行》即其羁旅词的代表：截取「早行」一个横断面，从月落更残、井边汲水声起，到唤醒、执手、人远鸡啼止，将离人心理与动作层层皴染，写尽清晨离别之凄恻。全词无一句直接抒情，全借景物与细节传离愁，体现了清真词「浑厚和雅、钩勒精工」的特质，是宋词中写「早行离别」的绝唱。

Art

The first stanza builds the daybreak out of sight and sound: a moon bright enough to startle the crows announces the coming light, and the failing water-clock with the windlass at the golden well marks the early hour. Then the close-up of waking: her eyes clear and shining with the brightness of tears, and the cold of the red floss pillow standing in for the cold of the heart. In the second stanza, hands joined in a frosty wind that blows the shadow of her hair conveys the reluctance of the last moment, while a wavering will to go and words too sad to hear convey hesitation and a tongue that fails. The close ends the feeling with a scene: the Dipper's handle slanting above the railing, cold dew, the traveller already far, cocks answering one another, and the emptiness of the scene after his going leaves a flavour without end.

此词艺术上最突出之处，是以工笔铺叙写一个完整的时间过程，声光细节俱臻精妙。上片写破晓：以「月皎惊乌栖不定」写月明惊乌、天将破晓——乌栖不定既是月明所惊，亦暗喻离人一夜未眠；「更漏将残，辘轳牵金井」以更声、井轳声点出清晨将临，听觉细节层层递进；「唤起两眸清炯炯，泪花落枕红棉冷」特写唤醒神态——「清炯炯」写泪眼晶莹、一夜未眠，「红棉冷」以枕冷衬心寒，红与冷对照，色彩鲜明而情味凄清。下片写离别：「执手霜风吹鬓影」写执手相看、霜风吹鬓，「去意徊徨，别语愁难听」写徘徊语塞、言不成句；结句「楼上阑干横斗柄，露寒人远鸡相应」以景结情——斗柄横斜、露寒鸡啼、人已远去，一切归于寂静，余味无穷。全词以时间为序、以细节为骨，从夜到晓、从室内到室外，层层皴染，无一字直说「愁」而离愁满纸。再就结构言，全词以「月—更漏—井轳—唤醒—执手—楼上」一线贯穿，由室外到室内再到室外，视点随离人移动，时间则由夜半推进到破晓，叙事完整而层次分明；上片重「写景铺叙」，下片重「写情点染」，前实后虚，末以景语收束，把离愁推入无边的晨曦之中，正见清真「钩勒」之妙与「以景结情」之工。

Allusions

The lyric has no evident obscure reference and wins its effect by plain description and by details of sound and light, which is precisely Zhou Bangyan's ability to be finished without borrowing from books. The windlass drawing at the golden well reworks the tradition of well-side imagery in Tang palace-plaint poetry, such as the golden well where the paulownia leaves turn yellow in autumn and the windlass that draws its plain rope for a jade-like face, so that the creak of the well-rope at dawn quietly marks the hour of parting, rich in colour and cold in feeling. The clear, shining eyes carry on the ancient way of describing the light of the eyes, from the sleepless brightness of the Airs of Bei in the Book of Songs to the old poems on eyes wet with tears. The slanting Dipper handle uses the pointing of the seven stars to tell the time and quietly marks the break of day. Every reference is absorbed into the language of scene and leaves no seam behind.

此词无明显僻典，以白描与声光细节取胜，正见清真「不借典故而自工」的本领，然亦暗承文学传统。「辘轳牵金井」化用唐人宫怨诗中井边汲水的意象传统——如王昌龄《长信秋词》「金井梧桐秋叶黄」、李商隐「辘轳玉容牵素绠」等，以清晨井轳声暗示离别时辰，秾丽中见凄清。「清炯炯」写目神，承《诗经·邶风·柏舟》「耿耿不寐」及古诗写泪眼之传统，以目光写一夜未眠之苦。「横斗柄」用北斗七星柄斜指以记时——斗柄东指则天下皆春，此处斗柄横斜暗点破晓时分（北斗将落），以星象写时间，含蓄典雅。全词虽不用僻典，而将宫怨、诗经、星象的意象传统融入景语，浑然无迹，正是清真「浑厚和雅」之所在。此外，「泪花落枕」承六朝闺怨诗「泪痕在枕」的意象传统，「霜风吹鬓」暗合《古诗十九首》「思君令人老，岁月忽已晚」的岁月之感；「鸡相应」更承《诗经》「鸡既鸣矣」的送别原型——古人以鸡鸣为行役之号，鸡声相应，正写离别时辰之迫。全词虽少显典，而意象皆有渊源，正见清真「浑厚」之处。

Commentary

Zhou Bangyan's lyrics have always been called substantial and harmonious, and this piece shows his mastery of outline especially well. Chen Yu of the Song, in Rich Talk from a Single Store, said that for two hundred years his songs had stood alone. Wang Guowei, though he faulted him for having more talent in devising tunes than in devising ideas, could not help admiring the finish of his descriptive writing. Modern readers commonly call him the great synthesizer of the Northern Song lyric, and say that this piece writes the feeling of parting through meticulous detail, modelling the forms of things and exhausting their subtlety, and that it opened the way for the dense, ornate manner of Southern Song poets such as Wu Wenying.

清真词向以「浑厚和雅」称，此篇尤见其「钩勒之妙」（即层层勾勒、精细铺叙的笔法）。宋人陈郁《藏一话腴》谓邦彦词「二百年来以乐府独步」，虽或过誉，然可见其在宋词史上的崇高地位。近人王国维《人间词话》虽贬其「创调之才多，创意之才少」，然于其铺叙精工亦不能不服，尝谓「美成深远之致，不及欧秦，唯言情体物，穷极工巧，故不失为第一流之作者」。今人多以「北宋词之集大成者」许之，谓此词以工笔细节写离情，「模写物态，曲尽其妙」——从月、乌、更漏、井轳到泪眼、红棉、霜风、斗柄、鸡声，一物一景皆不离离别，开南宋吴文英等密丽词风之先。在宋词写离别的篇章中，此词以「早行」的特定时空取胜，与柳永《雨霖铃》之「都门帐饮」、晏殊《蝶恋花》之「槛菊愁烟」各擅胜场，是清真词「言情体物，穷极工巧」的典范。在宋词写离别的谱系中，此词与柳永《雨霖铃》「寒蝉凄切」、晏殊《蝶恋花》「槛菊愁烟」并称三绝，而各擅胜场：柳词以铺叙见长，写「执手相看泪眼」的缠绵；晏词以意境见长，写「望尽天涯路」的怅惘；清真此词以细节见长，写「早行」一瞬的光影声色。三词并观，可见宋词离别之作由疏朗到密丽、由情语到景语的演进轨迹，亦见清真集北宋词学之大成的历史地位。

Prosody

Form Lyric to the tune Butterfly Loves Flower, double form of sixty characters词·《蝶恋花》双调六十字，上下片各四仄韵。

Rhyme Oblique-tone rhyme, four oblique rhymes in each stanza according to the tune pattern押仄声韵，依《蝶恋花》词谱上下片各四仄韵，韵脚如「定」「井」「炯」「冷」「影」「徨」「听」「应」等（仄声韵脚，间用平声相叶，属词韵宽通）。

Tone pattern The two stanzas share one pattern, laid out in lines of seven, four, five and seven characters《蝶恋花》上下片同式，句式以七、四、五、七字为主：「月皎惊乌栖不定，更漏将残，辘轳牵金井」为七四五十字句式，参差错落，声情于整饬中见起伏。

Reading note A famous travel piece by Zhou Bangyan, dense and skilful and gifted at extended detail, representative of the great synthesizer of the Northern Song lyric.此词为《蝶恋花》词牌，双调六十字，上下片同式，各四句、四仄韵，以七、四、五、七字句错落铺叙。《蝶恋花》源于唐教坊曲，句式长短相间、声情婉转，最宜写婉约缠绵之情，清真取以写早行离别，正合其「密丽婉转」之需。上片以「月皎惊乌」七字领起，四字句「更漏将残」顿挫，五字句「辘轳牵金井」承转，七字句「唤起两眸清炯炯，泪花落枕红棉冷」铺陈细节，音节疏密相间；下片句式相同，而情致由外景转入内心，结以景语，声情渐趋悠远。全词用韵仄声，音节短促低回，与离别之悲相配。周邦彦精通音律，此词声情相济、铺叙精工，是《蝶恋花》词牌中写离情的名篇，亦见清真词「浑厚和雅、钩勒精工」的特质，开南宋雅词之先声。

Line by line

月皎惊乌栖不定，更漏将残，辘轳牵金井。

The bright moon startles the crows; they cannot settle. The night-clock is nearly spent; the windlass creaks at the golden well.

月色皎洁惊得乌鸦栖不安定，更漏将尽，辘轳在金井边牵动。

The bright moon startles the crows so they cannot settle; the night-clock is nearly out; the windlass turns at the golden well.

起笔以声光写破晓，连用三个听觉与视觉细节铺叙将晓时分。「月皎惊乌栖不定」：月明如昼，惊得乌鸦栖不安定——以乌之惊写月之明，更暗喻离人一夜不眠，人如乌鹊，心绪难安；「更漏将残」写更声将尽，夜深将晓，时间之迫已见；「辘轳牵金井」写清晨汲水之声，井轳转动，人将起行。三句由天上到人间、由静到动，层层铺写破晓之景，而「惊」「残」「牵」三字皆炼：月惊乌、漏将残、轳牵井，无不透出离别前的紧张与不舍。上片一开，离别时辰已至，情在景中，含蓄而动人。

The opening writes dawn through sound and light, using three auditory and visual details to lay out the hour before day. 'The bright moon startles the crows; they cannot settle': moonlight bright as day startles the crows so they cannot rest — writing the moon's brightness through the crows' fright, and secretly figuring the parting traveler's sleepless night, man like the magpie, his mind restless. 'The night-clock is nearly spent' writes the watch nearing its end, the deep night turning to dawn, the time's pressure already visible. 'The windlass creaks at the golden well' writes the morning water-drawing, the well windlass turning, the man about to rise and go. Three lines from sky to earth, stillness to motion, layering the breaking of day; the words 'startles,' 'nearly spent,' 'creaks' are all refined: moon startling crows, clock nearly out, windlass at the well, each leaking the tension and reluctance before parting. As the upper stanza opens, the hour of parting has come, feeling within scenery, restrained and moving.

唤起两眸清炯炯，泪花落枕红棉冷。

I wake her — two eyes, bright and glistening. Tears fall on the pillow; the red wadding is cold.

唤醒她一双眼睛清亮炯炯，泪花落在枕上，红棉枕一片清冷。

Waking her, I see two bright, glistening eyes; tears fall on the pillow, and the red wadding lies cold.

两句工笔特写，写被唤醒的女子之泪眼与冷枕，是全词最动人的细节。「唤起两眸清炯炯」：被唤醒的她，一双眼睛清亮炯炯——「清炯炯」写泪光莹莹、目光清亮，可知她一夜未眠、泪已满眶，醒来强打精神，眸光却藏不住心事；「泪花落枕红棉冷」：泪珠落在枕上，红棉枕一片清冷——「红棉」指红丝绵的枕芯，以暖色写冷感，红与冷对照，色彩愈艳而情味愈凄。「冷」字既写枕席之冷，亦写心之寒：泪已落枕，枕冷心更冷。两句以目写情、以枕写心，工笔传神，是清真「言情体物，穷极工巧」的典型。

These two are a fine close-up, writing the woken woman's tearful eyes and the cold pillow, the ci's most moving detail. 'I wake her — two eyes, bright and glistening': woken, her two eyes bright and glistening — 'bright and glistening' the tears shining, the gaze clear, showing she has not slept all night, tears filling her eyes, waking and forcing herself up, yet the light of her eyes cannot hide her heart. 'Tears fall on the pillow; the red wadding is cold': tears falling on the pillow, the red-wadded pillow cold — 'red wadding' the red silk pillow filling, writing coldness through a warm color; red and cold set off, the brighter the color the more desolate the feeling. The word 'cold' writes both the cold pillow and the cold heart: tears already fallen on the pillow, the pillow cold and the heart colder. Two lines write feeling through the eyes and heart through the pillow, fine brush传神, typical of Qingzhen's 'writing feeling and objects with the utmost skill.'

执手霜风吹鬓影，去意徊徨，别语愁难听。

Holding hands, the frosty wind stirs our hair; the will to go hesitates and wanders; farewell words, sorrowful, are hard to hear.

执手相看霜风吹乱鬓影，去意徘徊惶惑，临别言语愁得听不分明。

Holding hands, the frosty wind blows through our hair; the wish to leave wavers and is lost; the farewell words, heavy with sorrow, are hard to catch.

过片写临别之际，动作与心理并写，凄楚动人。「执手霜风吹鬓影」：执手相看，霜风拂动鬓影——「执手」写不忍分别之态，如柳永「执手相看泪眼」；「霜风吹鬓影」以风写人，鬓影凌乱，人亦零乱。「去意徊徨」写去留两难、徘徊不定，「徊徨」即彷徨，见离人内心之矛盾挣扎；「别语愁难听」写临别言语因愁而听不分明——不是话听不清，而是愁太重，字字锥心，不忍卒听。三句由动作到心理，层层深入：执手是难舍，徊徨是犹豫，愁难听是悲极，把离别的瞬间写得如在目前，是清真词中写离别的神来之笔。

The head-turning writes the moment of parting, action and mind together, mournful and moving. 'Holding hands, the frosty wind stirs our hair': holding hands and gazing, the frosty wind stirring the hair's shadow — 'holding hands' the unwillingness to part, like Liu Yong's 'holding hands, gazing through tearful eyes'; 'frosty wind stirring the hair' writes the person through wind, the hair disheveled, the man disheveled too. 'The will to go hesitates and wanders' writes the两难 of going or staying, wavering and uncertain; 'wavers' means hesitant, showing the traveler's inner conflict. 'Farewell words, sorrowful, are hard to hear' writes the parting words indistinct through grief — not that the words are unclear but the sorrow too heavy, each word piercing the heart, unbearable to hear. Three lines from action to mind, deepening layer by layer: holding hands is reluctance, wavering is hesitation, hard-to-hear sorrow is grief at its extreme, writing the instant of parting as if before the eyes, a divine brush in Qingzhen's farewell ci.

楼上阑干横斗柄，露寒人远鸡相应。

On the tower railing the Dipper's handle slants; dew is cold, the man is far, and answering cocks crow.

楼上栏杆横着北斗柄，露水寒冷人已远去，只有鸡声相应。

At the tower railing the Dipper's handle lies slanted; the dew is cold, the traveler far, and answering cocks crow.

结句以景结情，写人去楼空后的寂静，余味无穷。「楼上阑干横斗柄」：楼上栏杆边，北斗的斗柄横斜——斗柄横斜，天将破晓，人已踏上行程，以星象写时间，含蓄典雅；「露寒人远鸡相应」：露水寒冷，人已远去，唯有鸡声相应——「人远」二字点出离别已成事实，人去楼空，唯余寒露与鸡声。「鸡相应」以声写寂：雄鸡此起彼伏地啼叫，更衬出人去之后的空旷寂寥，正是「鸟鸣山更幽」的反衬手法。两句一静一动、一星一声，把离别后的孤清写得余韵悠长。全词以景语收束，不言愁而愁在景中，是「以景结情」的典范。

The close ends in scenery, writing the silence after the man has gone, the aftertone long. 'At the tower railing the Dipper's handle lies slanted': by the tower railing the Dipper's handle slants — handle slanting, dawn near, the man already on the road; writing time through star signs, restrained and elegant. 'The dew is cold, the traveler far, and answering cocks crow': dew cold, man gone, only cocks answering — 'traveler far' marks parting as accomplished, man gone, tower empty, only cold dew and cocks. 'Answering cocks' writes silence through sound: cocks crowing one after another all the more set off the emptiness and solitude after the man's departure, precisely the contrast method of 'birdsong makes the hill seem more still.' Two lines, one still one moving, one star one sound, writing the loneliness after parting with long aftertone. The ci closes in scenic words, not naming grief yet grief within scenery, a model of 'closing feeling through scenery.'

Study

Word focus

惊 In 'the moon is so bright it startles the crows', the verb both describes the moonlight disturbing the roosting birds and hints at the unease of the parting couple in the moment before waking; a single word carries two senses, wrought upon the scene yet exactly fitted to the feeling. 「月皎惊乌栖不定」之「惊」字，是全词第一个字眼，既写月明扰乌，亦暗喻离人心绪，一字双关，炼于景而切于情。「惊」本写乌鹊：月明如昼，乌鹊惊飞，栖不安定——以乌之惊写月之明，先声夺人；而乌之「惊」，正暗合离人之「惊」：破晓将至，离别在即，一夜未眠之人，心亦如乌鹊般栖皇不安。「惊」字又为全词定调：后文更漏将残、井轳牵动、唤醒泪眼，皆由此「惊」生发——惊于将别，故一夜无眠；惊于将别，故泪眼清炯。以一字写景写人，双关见意，正是清真炼字的精妙所在。

清炯炯 The phrase paints the woman's look as she is roused, her eyes clear and shining with the glisten of tears; the doubled syllables render the light of the eyes with the precision of a fine brush, and the effect is desolate and moving. 「唤起两眸清炯炯」之「清炯炯」三字，以叠字状目神，写女子被唤醒后泪光莹莹、双眸清亮的神态，是全词最见工笔的用字。「炯炯」本形容目光明亮，冠以「清」字，则明而不浊、亮中含悲——不是精神焕发的明，而是哭过一夜、强自清醒的亮，泪光与眸光相映，心事尽在眼底。此三字妙在只写目光，不写其他，而一夜未眠之苦、强忍离别之悲，皆从目光中透出，正是「传神写照，正在阿堵中」的本领。与下句「红棉冷」相配，目光之「清炯炯」与枕席之「冷」一明一暗、一活一死，工笔写尽离别前的无声之悲。

冷 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「泪花落枕红棉冷」之「冷」字，以枕冷衬心寒，是全词情味最浓的用字。「红棉」指红丝绵的枕芯，本为暖色暖质，词人偏以「冷」字状之，红与冷对照，色彩愈艳而情味愈凄——枕非真冷，是人心已冷；泪落枕上，泪亦渐冷，一夜悲泣之后，连枕席都浸透了凄凉。「冷」字又暗承「清炯炯」：泪眼清亮是情之未绝，枕席清冷是情之将绝，一明一暗，把离别前夜的悲凉写到极处。以暖色写冷感，以物之冷写心之寒，正是清真「体物入微」的典范，一字而境界全出。