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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

玉楼春·东风又作无情计

Spring in the Jade Pavilion: The East Wind, Again, Made, the Unfeeling, the Plan

晏几道

Yan Jidao

宋词Theme 婉约Refined style 人生感慨Theme 旷达Theme 伤春spring

雕鞍好为莺花住。
占取东城南陌路。
尽教春思乱如云，莫管世情轻似絮。
古来多被虚名误。
宁负虚名身莫负。
劝君频入醉乡来，此是无愁无恨处。

The carved saddle, good, for, the orioles and the flowers, to stay.
Taking, the east, south of the city, the road.
All, teaching, the spring thoughts, disordered, like, the clouds,
Not, minding, the worldly feelings, light, like, the catkins.
From the ancient, mostly, by, the empty fame, mistaken.
Rather, bearing, the empty fame, the body, not, mistaken.
Advising, the lord, frequently, entering, the drunken country, coming,
This, is, the place, without, the sorrow, without, the grief.

Listen

Meaning

A lyric of the wine and the advice, written by Yan Jidao. The carved saddle good for the orioles and the flowers to stay, taking the east and the south of the city the road — the spring of the opening. All teaching the spring thoughts disordered like the clouds, not minding the worldly feelings light like the catkins — the spring thoughts of the poet. From the ancient mostly by the empty fame mistaken, rather bearing the empty fame the body not mistaken — the empty fame of the middle. And the close's advising the lord frequently entering the drunken country, this is the place without the sorrow without the grief — the drunken country of the close. The lyric is the wine and the advice: the spring, the empty fame, and the close's drunken country.

任凭春日的愁思纷乱如云，且莫去管那世态人情轻薄似絮。自古以来，多少人都是被那虚浮的声名给耽误了。宁可辜负那虚名，也绝不要辜负了自己的身子与性命。劝你频频进入那醉乡之中，那里正是无愁无恨的所在。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The carved saddle, good, for, the orioles and the flowers, to stay. Taking, the east, south of the city, the road. All, teaching, the spring thoughts, disordered, like, the clouds, not, minding, the worldly feelings, light, like, the catkins. From the ancient, mostly, by, the empty fame, mistaken. Rather, bearing, the empty fame, the body, not, mistaken. Advising, the lord, frequently, entering, the drunken country, coming, this, is, the place, without, the sorrow, without, the grief. [Structure and Thought] The lyric moves from the spring of the saddle and the road, through the spring thoughts and the empty fame, to the close's advising the entering the drunken country, the place without the sorrow. [Key Technique] The lyric's art is the close of the drunken country: the empty fame of the middle, and the close's drunken country without the sorrow — the advice gathered in the fame and the close's drunken country. [Emotional Tone] Light, resigned, and advising: the lyric is the spring, the empty fame and the close's drunken country.

【白话串讲】晏几道写玉楼春：“雕鞍好为莺花住。占取东城南陌路”。“古来多被虚名误。宁负虚名身莫负”——“劝君频入醉乡来，此是无愁无恨处”——他说宁负虚名，不负自己。【意象与手法】以春喻世、以醉写醒双层结构。「乱如云」「轻似絮」两组明喻具象可掬；「古来多被虚名误」以史家口吻直下断语，由婉约翻作沉郁。【情感与主旨】表面伤春，实是久历宦海、看透世情的中年反省，劝人弃虚名、惜此身，旷达里藏着沉痛。【名句点睛】「宁负虚名身莫负」斩钉截铁，是倦宦者的自我护惜；「劝君频入醉乡来」以旷语收场，却是清醒者的自欺。

Background

Yan Jidao (1038-1110), the poet of the lyrics of the Song, wrote this 'Spring in the Jade Pavilion: The East Wind, Again, Made, the Unfeeling, the Plan' of the wine and the advice — the resignation of the poet. The spring of the saddle and the road, the empty fame of the middle, and the close's advising the entering the drunken country, the place without the sorrow — the lyric gathers the resignation of the poet, the advice of the wine. The lyric is one of the famous works of the poet's lyrics of the advice.

晏几道，字叔原，号小山，抚州临川人，北宋宰相晏殊之幼子，世称「二晏」，父子俱以词名。小山虽生于钟鸣鼎食之家，然晏殊殁后家道中落，其一生仕宦偃蹇，仅历颍昌府许田镇监、乾宁军通判、开封府判官等冷官，晚年退居京师，落拓困顿。黄庭坚《小山词序》称其「磊隗权奇，疏于顾忌，文章翰墨，自立规模」，又言其「仕宦连蹇，而不能一傍贵人之门」，可见其性情傲兀、不谐流俗。此词为《小山词》中抒写人生感慨之代表作，约作于中年以后，久历宦海风波、看透世情凉薄之后。词以「东风又作无情计」兴起，表面伤春，实则伤己；上片写春思之乱、世情之轻，下片直揭「古来多被虚名误」之悟，劝人沉醉以避愁恨。北宋中叶，党争渐起，士人于功名场中往往身不由己，小山此作虽托于艳科，实含对平生蹭蹬的反省与对世俗名利的轻蔑，是其「痴」人说出的一番「醒」语，在晏氏词中自具沉郁顿挫之别调，与乃父晏殊雍容闲雅的《珠玉词》气象迥异。

Art

The lyric's art is the art of the advice. The spring opens: the carved saddle, good, for, the orioles and the flowers, to stay — the carved saddle of the orioles and the flowers; taking, the east, south of the city, the road — the road of the east and the south; all, teaching, the spring thoughts, disordered, like, the clouds — the spring thoughts disordered like the clouds; not, minding, the worldly feelings, light, like, the catkins — the worldly feelings light like the catkins. The fame follows: from the ancient, mostly, by, the empty fame, mistaken — the mistaken of the empty fame; rather, bearing, the empty fame, the body, not, mistaken — the bearing of the empty fame. And the close gathers the advice: advising, the lord, frequently, entering, the drunken country, coming — the entering of the drunken country; this, is, the place, without, the sorrow, without, the grief — the without the sorrow of the close — the spring, the fame and the close's advice, gathered in the lyric.

此词艺术之妙，首在「以春喻世、以醉写醒」的表里双层结构。起句「东风又作无情计」，以「又」字领起，暗示东风催老芳菲乃年年如是之无情算计，已暗将自然之春与人生之春叠合为一。上片「尽教春思乱如云，莫管世情轻似絮」，以「乱如云」「轻似絮」两组比喻，将抽象之春愁与世态写得具象可掬：春思之纷乱如云，世情之轻薄如絮，一虚一实，皆以叠喻出之，深得花间遗韵而更见疏快。下片笔锋陡转，由景入理，「古来多被虚名误，宁负虚名身莫负」，以斩截之对句直抒胸臆，将婉约之春情翻作旷达之人生宣言，语气决绝，有类箴铭。结拍「劝君频入醉乡来，此是无愁无恨处」，化用王绩、白居易「醉乡」之典，以醉为逃愁之方，表面旷达，内里沉痛。全词由景及情、由情入理、由理归醉，章法如剥笋，层层递进；语言则疏朗俊健，不事雕琢而情韵自远，在晏几道惯写儿女柔情的小山词中，别开一痛快决绝之境，足见其词境之开阔不独在「艳」一端。

Allusions

'The carved saddle' (diao an) is the carved saddle — the saddle of the carved, the staying of the orioles and the flowers; 'the empty fame' (xu ming) is the empty fame — the fame of the empty, the mistaken; 'the drunken country' (zui xiang) is the drunken country — the country of the drunken, the place without the sorrow; 'the east wind' (dong feng) is the east wind — the wind of the spring, the unfeeling plan.

此词用典虽不多，而「醉乡」一典源流甚古，须加疏证。「醉乡」之说，起于晋唐之间。唐王绩《醉乡记》云其地「去中国不知其几千里」，「其气和平一揆，无晦明寒暑；其俗大同」，以乌托邦式笔法写沉醉之境，谓其中之民「无怀氏之民欤，葛天氏之民欤」，乃避世忘忧之理想国。白居易诗中屡用此意，如「吾尝终日醉，世人唤作醉乡侯」「醉乡路稳宜频到，他处移人为引入」，《小山词》此结正与此一脉相承，皆以醉为解脱尘累之方。又，「虚名」之叹，亦非小山首创：嵇康《与山巨源绝交书》已云「机务缠其心，世故繁其虑」，陶渊明「立善常所欣，谁当为汝誉」亦薄虚名，至苏轼「长恨此身非我有，何时忘却营营」，同一机杼。小山以「古来多被虚名误」一句，将个人蹭蹬纳入千古士人命运之共名，使艳词而具历史之厚度。「莺花」「东城南陌」则化用唐宋都市游冶之常语，暗承杜牧「春风十里扬州路」之繁华意象；「南陌」更与乐府「南陌采桑」、晏殊「南陌朱门」诸语遥接，是宋人写冶游的熟典，小山信手拈来，自然浑成。

Commentary

This lyric is one of the famous works of Yan Jidao's lyrics of the advice, quoted for the resignation of its fame and the advice of its close. The spring thoughts like the clouds, and the drunken country without the sorrow, are among the admired passages of the poet's lyrics. Critics praise the lyric's resignation: the fame gathered in the advice, to the close's drunken country.

晏几道《小山词》在北宋词坛别树一帜，此首《玉楼春》虽非其最著称之作，然历来论者多许其「沉郁」与「旷达」兼得。黄庭坚《小山词序》评小山词「清壮顿挫，动摇人心」，虽统论全集，而此词「古来多被虚名误」之顿挫正合其评。近人唐圭璋《唐宋词简释》释此词，以为上片写春思世情之纷乱轻浮，下片「忽作旷语，劝人沉醉，实乃无可奈何之至言」，点出其旷达背后的沉痛。夏承焘《唐宋词论丛》论晏几道，谓其词「华赡中见沉郁」，此词由艳情翻作人生感慨，正见小山不独工于儿女私情，亦能于酒边花下寄身世之慨。又，此词「宁负虚名身莫负」一句，与苏轼「醉乡」词、黄庭坚「桃李春风一杯酒」之旷，时代精神相通，可视为北宋中叶士人于党争夹缝中自我排遣之一斑。综之，诸家虽未专章详评，而其共识在：此词以疏快之笔写沉郁之怀，于《小山词》中自具一种「醒后的醉」之张力，是理解晏几道人格与词境不可忽视的一篇，亦可见北宋小令由「艳」而「理」的微妙转关。

Prosody

Form A short ci lyric of the advice (ci diao)词·玉楼春（双调五十六字，七言八句）

Rhyme The lyric rhymes on the level and the oblique of the group — the cadence of the short ci that carries the light resignation.押仄声韵，上片住、路、絮，下片误、负、处，一韵到底

Tone pattern The cadence is that of the advice: the level opening with the spring, the turning with the fame, and the close's fall with the drunken country.仄韵体，上下片各四句于第一、二、四句押韵，第三句不押，句式以七言为主

Reading note The lyric's sound matches its resignation: the cadences of the short ci, and the close — 'ci shi wu chou wu hen chu' — falls with the no grief, the sound of the drunken country of the poet.《玉楼春》本唐教坊曲，又名《木兰花》《惜春容》，双调五十六字，上下片各四句、三仄韵，是宋人常用的七言令词体。此词上片「雕鞍好为莺花住。占取东城南陌路。尽教春思乱如云，莫管世情轻似絮」，于首句「住」、次句「路」、四句「絮」押韵；下片「古来多被虚名误。宁负虚名身莫负。劝君频入醉乡来，此是无愁无恨处」，于首句「误」、次句「负」、四句「处」押韵，共六仄韵，一韵到底，声情急促而带决绝之意，正与「宁负虚名身莫负」的峻洁口吻相称。其韵字住、路、絮、误、负、处，在词韵中近属第四部（御、遇、暮诸韵）及相通之去声韵，北宋词人于令词中往往上去通押、邻韵相借，此词即其一例。句式上，玉楼春虽全为七言，然句法错落，上片前二句叙事、后二句以「尽教」「莫管」领起的流水对收束，下片前二句以「古来」「宁负」构成格言式对仗，后二句以「劝君」「此是」作呼告式收煞，平仄虽依七言律句之常（仄起仄收、平起平收交错），而读来疏快骏爽，不类律诗之整严，足见令词「以诗为词」而又自具词体声情的特点。

Line by line

尽教春思乱如云，莫管世情轻似絮。

Let spring thoughts tangle like cloud; care not that the world's ways are light as catkins.

任凭春日的愁思纷乱如云，且莫去管那世态人情轻薄似絮。

Let the spring grief tangle like drifting cloud; pay no heed to worldly affections light as catkins.

此二句为上片之警策，亦全词由景入世的关键。「尽教」二字有放任、随它去之意，透出一种被春愁裹挟而无力自拔的恍惚；「春思乱如云」以云之聚散无常喻心绪之紊乱，是视觉化的内心素描。「莫管世情轻似絮」则笔锋转向外部世界，以飞絮之轻贱无根比喻人情之薄幸善变，柳絮本就是古典诗词中「飘零」「薄幸」的固定能指（如「颠狂柳絮随风去」），小山拈来，恰切无比。两句一内一外、一虚一实，构成「心乱」与「世轻」的对称，而「乱如云」与「轻似絮」皆用明喻，句法整练，颇近俳句之对。值得注意的是，这里已把「伤春」悄然置换为「伤世」，春思与世情并置，暗示词人愁苦的根源不在花落，而在人情凉薄、仕途坎坷，为下片「虚名误」的直揭埋下伏线，是全词情景交融的枢纽所在。

These two lines are the upper stanza's sharpest strokes, the ci's turn from scene to the world. Let spring thoughts tangle like cloud carries a sense of abandonment, of being swept by spring sorrow and powerless to escape; cloud's wayward gathering writes the inner disorder as a visual sketch. Care not that the world's ways are light as catkins turns to the outer world, comparing fickle human feeling to the cheap, rootless drifting of catkins, the fixed poetic sign of rootlessness and betrayal. One line inner, one outer; one void, one solid, a symmetry of a disordered heart and a frivolous world, both similes - tangled like cloud, light as catkins - tightly shaped. Notably, spring-sorrow has here quietly become world-sorrow; spring thoughts set beside the world's ways hint that the poet's grief roots not in fallen flowers but in cold human feeling and official hardship, laying the thread for the lower stanza's direct naming of empty fame - the ci's hinge where feeling and scene merge.

古来多被虚名误。

From olden times men have often been misled by empty fame.

自古以来，多少人都是被那虚浮的声名给耽误了。

From of old, how many have been led astray by hollow reputation.

此句为下片之眼，也是全词由婉约翻作沉郁的转捩点。「古来」二字将一时之感拉长为千古之叹，使个人遭际获得历史纵深；「虚名」则点出词人半生偃蹇的病根——出身相门而蹭蹬下僚，所求者名位，所累者亦名位。「误」字极重，它不是「累」、不是「苦」，而是「耽误」「断送」，带有悔悟与控诉的双重意味，仿佛一声长叹。小山此处不再借景遮掩，而是以史家口吻直下断语，语气之决绝迥异于上片的缠绵。这一句之所以动人，正在于它道出了中国士大夫共同的命运悖论：读书入仕本为「名」，而一旦执着于名，反为所误，身与名竟成两难。词人将一己牢骚升格为对士人价值的普遍反思，使此词跳出艳科小境，跻身人生感慨之作的行列，与苏轼「人生到处知何似」同一苍凉。

This line is the lower stanza's eye, the turning where the ci shifts from tenderness to gravity. From olden times stretches a moment's feeling into a sigh across the ages, giving personal fate historical depth. Empty fame names the root of the poet's lifelong frustration - born to a chief minister's house yet stuck in low office, seeking rank, and burdened by rank. The word misled is heavy: not burdened, not pained, but misled, ruined, carrying both regret and accusation, like a long sigh. Here Yan no longer hides behind scenery but pronounces like a historian, the tone utterly decisive, unlike the lingering tenderness above. What moves is that it voices the common paradox of Chinese scholars: study and office are entered for fame, yet clinging to fame undoes them, so that self and fame become a dilemma. The poet raises his own grievance into a universal reflection on scholar's values, lifting this ci out of the boudoir into the ranks of life-reflection, sharing the desolation of Su Shi's wherever in life do we resemble.

宁负虚名身莫负。

Better fail the empty fame than fail this body of mine.

宁可辜负那虚名，也绝不要辜负了自己的身子与性命。

I would rather betray the hollow fame than betray my own self.

此句紧承上句，以斩钉截铁的对仗将「虚名」与「身」对举，提出一种近乎决绝的生命态度。「宁负」与「莫负」构成反向呼应，一舍一取，态度鲜明：虚名可弃，而此身不可负。这里的「身」，既是血肉之躯的安顿，也是本真性情的保全，暗含道家「贵生」「全性」之意（嵇康《养生论》即主「修性以保神，安心以全身」）。小山身为宰相之子却沦落微官，此语实含对父亲所代表的功名路线的温和反叛。「莫负」二字用得尤其沉痛而警策，它不像「宁负」那般轻松，而是带着一种自我叮咛、自我护惜的体温。两句「古来多被虚名误，宁负虚名身莫负」连读，犹如格言，将词意由感慨推向行动指引，章法上由情入理、由理立身，是小山词中少见的峻洁之笔，亦见其傲兀性情之底里。

This line follows the last, setting empty fame and the self in a stark antithesis and proposing an almost absolute attitude to life. Rather betray the empty fame than betray this self forms a reverse echo, one renounced and one kept, the position clear: fame may be cast off, but this self must not be betrayed. The self here is both the settling of the fleshly body and the keeping of one's true nature, carrying the Daoist meaning of valuing life and whole nature (Ji Kang's essay on nourishing life argues cultivating nature to guard the spirit, quieting the heart to keep the whole body). Yan, a chief minister's son fallen to petty office, quietly rebels against the career path his father represented. The words not betray are written with peculiar, aching care, carrying the warmth of self-admonition and self-protection. Read together, from olden times men have often been misled by empty fame, better to fail the fame than fail the self, it sounds like a maxim, pushing the meaning from grief to a rule of action - among Yan's poems a rare, austere stroke, revealing the proud core of his character.

劝君频入醉乡来，此是无愁无恨处。

Advising, the lord, frequently, entering, the drunken country, coming, this, is, the place, without, the sorrow, without, the grief.

劝你频频进入那醉乡之中，那里正是无愁无恨的所在。

I urge you to enter often into the land of drunkenness; that is the place where there is no sorrow and no regret.

结拍以「劝君」直呼，由自诉转为劝世，将个人之悟普遍化，仿佛对世间一切为虚名所苦者作最后的点化。「频入」的「频」字，道出醉非一时之计，而是需要反复沉溺方能暂忘的麻醉，隐隐透出愁恨之深、非一醉可了。「醉乡」用王绩《醉乡记》、白居易诗典，已见前文；此处妙在「无愁无恨处」五字作结，以「无」收束全篇的「乱」「轻」「误」「负」诸苦，形成强烈反差——既然尘世处处是愁恨，唯有醉中可得片刻清净。然「无愁无恨」究竟是真无，还是以醉掩痛？读者细味，自知这是「以乐写哀」的反说，是清醒者的自欺。小山以旷达语收场，却把最深的沉痛留在语外，这种「结于醉而痛在心」的手法，正合黄庭坚所评「清壮顿挫」，也使此词在宋人旷达词中别具一种含泪的笑。

The closing turns from self-accusation to exhortation, universalizing the personal insight as if addressing all in the world tormented by empty fame. Often enter - the word often shows drunkenness is not a moment's remedy but an anesthesia to be sunk into again and again before one can forget, quietly revealing how deep the sorrow, beyond one cup. The land of drunkenness borrows Wang Ji's Record of the Land of Drunkenness and Bai Juyi's verse; here the beauty lies in closing with the place where there is no sorrow and no regret, using no to gather up all the earlier hardships - tangled, frivolous, misled, betrayed - into a sharp contrast: since the mortal world is everywhere sorrow, only in drunkenness comes a moment's cleanness. But is no sorrow and no regret truly no sorrow, or pain hidden by wine? A close reader feels this is a reverse saying, writing grief through joy, the self-deception of a clear-headed man. Yan ends on broad words yet leaves the deepest pain beyond them - the method of ending in drunkenness with pain in the heart, which fits Huang Tingjian's praise of clean, strong, pliant pause, and gives this ci a smile through tears.

Study

Word focus

又 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 开篇「东风又作无情计」之「又」字，是全词情绪的总开关，炼字之妙在极寻常处见深沉。东风 annually 催花落，本是自然常理，「又」字点出其年年如此、无可逃遁的重复性，遂将一次伤春升格为永恒的宿命感——词人不是今年才愁，而是年年如此、愁上加愁。更巧妙的是，「又」暗含今昔对照：往年的东风或许还带慰藉，今年的东风「又作无情计」，则连旧日的温柔也不再，人情物态一并凉薄。这一个虚字，既绾合自然之春与人生之春，又奠定了全词「无可奈何」的基调。若易「又」为「却」「总」「偏」，意味皆减：「却」偏于转折，「总」偏于绝对，「偏」偏于逆意，唯「又」字于平淡中藏累积之痛，最得小令吞吐之致，是所谓「极炼如不炼」的大家手眼。

轻似絮 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「莫管世情轻似絮」中，「轻似絮」三字以柳絮为喻写世情之薄，是炼象而非炼字，而其妙处正在于选象之精。柳絮者，春风一吹便飘零无定、落地沾泥、为人践踏，本就是古典诗歌中「薄命」「轻浮」「无根」的经典能指（谢道韫咏雪以「柳絮」拟才，至晏殊「春风不解禁杨花，蒙蒙乱扑行人面」则已转向轻薄）。小山取「轻」字形容世情，直指人情之不可恃、交游之易翻覆，与上文「春思乱如云」的「乱」字虚实相配。尤为精到者，是「轻似絮」与「乱如云」对举，云之「乱」在天上、絮之「轻」在地上，一高一低、一内一外，把「心之乱」与「世之轻」织成一张无处逃遁的网。若易「絮」为「毛」「尘」，则失其文化积淀；唯「絮」字自带飘零身世的悲感，与小山自身「贵家子而沦落」的身世暗通，炼字即炼命。

醉乡 'The drunken country' — the country of the drunken, the close. 「劝君频入醉乡来」之「醉乡」，是结拍的诗眼，亦是一则被反复书写的文化符号的当朝回响。王绩《醉乡记》以乌托邦笔法虚构一「无怀氏、葛天氏之民」的醉乐之境，白居易「醉乡路稳宜频到」将其坐实为避世之方，至小山此词，「醉乡」已成为宋人精神逃亡的熟径。炼字之要，在「乡」字拟人——醉不是动作，而是一处可「入」可「归」的故土，暗示清醒的尘世反是异乡，唯醉中才是本真归宿，这种空间隐喻道尽词人对现实的无归属感。加之「频入」的叠用，使「乡」不止于一次性避难所，而是需要常常返回的疗伤地，反衬愁恨之绵长。「醉乡」二字，以小见大，把个人借酒浇愁升格为士大夫共通的存在策略，是此词由艳入理、由个入群的关键词，亦见宋词用典「化熟为生」的腕力。