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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

鹧鸪天

Tune: Partridge Sky

严仁

Yan Ren

宋词Song lyric (ci) 婉约graceful style 送别farewell 离恨parting sorrow 江湖rivers and lakes

一曲危弦断客肠。
津桥捩柂转牙樯。
江心云带蒲帆重，楼上风吹粉泪香。
瑶草碧，柳芽黄。
载将离恨过潇湘。
请君看取东流水，方识人间别意长。

One strained string snaps the traveler's heart in two.
At the ferry bridge the rudder turns, the ivory prow swings round.
Above the river's heart, clouds weigh the reed sail down;
Up in the tower the wind blows — powder, tears, and fragrance.
Jade grasses green, willow buds yellow.
It carries our parting grief past Xiao and Xiang.
Pray look upon the eastward-flowing stream,
And know how long the parting sorrow of this world.

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Meaning

A riverside farewell lyric: a strained string breaks the traveler's heart, the boat turns at the ferry, and the sender's powder-tears ride the tower wind. Fresh spring colors only heighten the parting grief, which is loaded onto the boat past Xiao and Xiang and measured against the eastward stream. The poem captures the archetypal Song farewell mood of lingering sorrow beneath ornate grace.

一曲急切高亢的弦乐，便把客中人的愁肠寸寸折断。江心云气低垂，带着蒲草帆影显得沉重；楼上风起，吹送着脂粉与泪的幽香。请您看看那滔滔东流的江水，才能知道人间的离别之意有多么悠长。

Appreciation

The lyric opens by sound, then spreads a spatially layered scene of river and tower before contrasting bright spring with parting grief. The conceit of 'carrying parting grief' on the boat and figuring feeling with flowing water transforms familiar allusions into fresh, tangible emotion. Blending scene and feeling with elegant diction, it is a fine example of late-Song little-tune craft.

【白话串讲】严仁写鹧鸪天：“一曲危弦断客肠。津桥捩柂转牙樯”。“江心云带蒲帆重，楼上风吹粉泪香”——“请君看取东流水，方识人间别意长”——他写离别的绵长。【意象与手法】上片由声入景、由景入舟，空间错落；「载将离恨过潇湘」化虚为实，把离恨付与舟载；结以流水喻情，以乐景衬哀。【情感与主旨】写古人津渡分襟的典型离恨，于绮丽设色中见沉挚，是宋人送别词情景交融的佳作。【名句点睛】「载将离恨过潇湘」点化郑文宝，以舟载愁奇想生新；「请君看取东流水」遥承李白，把别意付与江水。

Background

Yan Ren, styled Cishan, was a late-Song lyricist with the collection Qingjiang Ainai Ji; his lyrics mostly write parting feeling, graceful and beautiful. This 'Partridge Sky' is a riverside farewell piece, likely written in spring at a ferry, seeing off a friend (or beloved) boarding a boat down to Xiao and Xiang. The first part writes the farewell scene and the heart-breaking song: once the strained string is played, the traveler's heart is already broken; on the ferry bridge the boatman turns the rudder and raises the prow, departure imminent; above the river's heart clouds weigh and the sail is slow, up in the tower the wind rises and the sender's powder-tears ride the breeze. The second part uses 'jade grasses green, willow buds yellow' fresh spring color to contrast the parting grief, ending with 'it carries our parting grief past Xiao and Xiang' and 'parting meaning long as the eastward stream,' turning formless grief into a carryable thing, comparable to water. The whole writes the archetypal parting-at-ferry scene of the ancients, a fine Song farewell lyric blending scene and feeling, also showing Yan Ren's little tune style 'profound feeling within ornate color.' Though less famed than the masters, Yan Ren forms his own pure-clear manner among late-Song little tunes; his parting lyrics often show profound feeling within ornate color, and this one represents it. In the Song's end, war raged and parting at ferries was a common pain of scholars; the lyricist wrote scene and intent without deep artifice yet sorrow is deep. Modern readers should pair it with the dense beauty of Wu Wenying and Zhou Mi of the same period, to see the diversity of late-Song tune styles and know Yan Ren's line has its undeniable place in lyric history.

严仁，字次山，宋末词人，有《清江欸乃集》，其词多写离情别绪，情致婉丽。此阕《鹧鸪天》为一首江边送别之作，约作于春日津渡，送友人（或所欢）乘舟远下潇湘之时。上片写送别之景与断肠之曲：危弦既奏，客肠已断；津桥之上，船工转柂扬樯，启程在即；江心云重帆迟，楼上风起，送者粉泪随风。下片以「瑶草碧，柳芽黄」的清新春色反衬离恨，结以「载将离恨过潇湘」「别意长如东流水」，将无形之恨化为可载之物、可比之水。全词写尽古人津渡分襟的典型情境，是宋人送别词中情景交融的佳作，亦见严仁小令「于绮丽中见沉挚」的一格。严仁词风虽不如名家显赫，然于宋末小令中自成一清切之格，其写离情每能于绮丽设色中见沉挚，此词可为代表。宋季战乱频仍，津渡分襟为士人常有之痛，词人即景写意，不必深文周纳而悲自深。今人读其词，宜与同期吴文英、周密之密丽对看，方见宋末令曲风格之多元，亦知严仁一脉在词史中自有其不容忽视之位置。

Art

This lyric spreads the farewell scene in the first part and closes with feeling through scene in the second, well-ordered yet with lingering affection. The opening 'One strained string snaps the traveler's heart in two' seizes by sound, writing parting sorrow's destruction through the music's intensity before any person is drawn. 'At the ferry bridge the rudder turns, the ivory prow swings round' writes departure through action; 'Above the river's heart, clouds weigh the reed sail down; up in the tower the wind blows — powder, tears, and fragrance' sets river and tower, boat and person opposite, a picture rich in spatial layers. The transition 'Jade grasses green, willow buds yellow' opens with six characters of fresh spring, exactly contrasting the earlier sorrow — joyous scene setting off sad feeling. 'It carries our parting grief past Xiao and Xiang' turns the void into the solid, committing abstract grief to the boat's load, a fresh and strange conceit. The closing 'Pray look upon the eastward-flowing stream, and know how long the parting sorrow of this world' figures feeling with flowing water, gathering the whole. The lyric moves from sound to scene, scene to feeling, feeling to water, layer by layer, with waves within the short span. Throughout, from sound to scene to boat to water, the imagery shifts like flowing clouds and water, yet one thread of parting grief runs through — fine craft of the little tune. It writes sending in the first part and grief in the second, dense and sparse complementing, fitting in brevity yet with the force of a thousand miles in a foot. Yan Ren shows here a little-tune skill of winning by plain sketch rather than piling-up, different yet equal to the long tune's elaborate narration, worthy of study.

此词上片铺陈送别场景，下片以景结情，章法井然而情致绵长。起句「一曲危弦断客肠」先声夺人，以乐声之激越写离愁之摧折，未写人已写情；「津桥捩柂转牙樯」以动作写启程，「江心云带蒲帆重，楼上风吹粉泪香」一江一楼、一舟一人对举，画面极富空间层次。过片「瑶草碧，柳芽黄」以六字清新春景顿开，恰与上文之悲形成跌宕，是以乐景衬哀情；「载将离恨过潇湘」化虚为实，将抽象离恨付与舟载，奇想生新；结句「请君看取东流水，方识人间别意长」以流水喻情，收束全篇。全词由声而景、由景而情、由情而水，层层递进，短幅之中具见波澜。通篇由声而景、由景而舟、由舟而水，意象转换如行云流水，而一线离恨贯注其中，是为小令章法之善者。其于上片写送、下片写恨，疏密相济，繁简得宜，虽只五十五字而具尺幅千里之势。严仁于此词中展示的，正是一种不事堆垛、以白描取胜的令曲本领，与长调铺叙之工异曲而同工，足供学词者揣摩。

Allusions

'One strained string snaps the traveler's heart' transforms Jiang Yan's 'Lament for Departure' ('making the mind lose spirit, the heart break and bones startle') and the ancient yuefu 'broken heart' image, writing parting pain's extremity through strained string. 'It carries our parting grief past Xiao and Xiang' clearly transforms Zheng Wenbao's 'Willow Branch Lyric' ('regardless of mist-waves and wind-rain, it carries our parting grief past Jiangnan'), figuring grief as a carryable thing, becoming the archetype of famous Song lyric lines; Yan Ren changes 'Jiangnan' to 'Xiao and Xiang' — Xiao and Xiang originally mean the Xiang river region, since Qu Yuan's 'Lady of the Xiang' a land of distant exile and parting, adding vastness. 'Pray look upon the eastward-flowing stream' echoes Li Bai's 'At Jinling tavern seeing off' ('pray ask the eastward stream, with whom is the parting meaning short or long'), figuring parting feeling's length with eastward water. The allusions are all familiar, yet fused by the lyricist into natural wholeness, showing Song lyric's skill of using lore lies in transformation. Moreover its method of loading sorrow on a boat and figuring feeling with water gathers the Tang-Song farewell tradition's sum — before it Zheng Wenbao and Li Bai, after it Li Qingzhao and Zhang Yan, all follow this vein. The value of Yan Ren's lyric lies in turning predecessors' established allusions and methods into his own true parting grief — transformation not plagiarism — so it still reads fresh; thus the wonder of using lore ultimately lies in being able to transform. Throughout the lyric, the wonder of using lore lies not only in cited basis but in adapting to the topic and turning the allusion with feeling. Within one lyric, from the Lament's broken heart, to Zheng Wenbao's loaded sorrow, to Taibai's flowing water — three eras spanning Qi-Liang, Northern Song, and High Tang — are fused by the lyricist in a glance at the ferry, fully showing the Song so-called 'turning iron to gold, stealing a womb to change the bone' practice. Former critics often weight Su and Xin's boldness, Qingzhen's fullness, while Yan Ren's little tunes use shallow brush with deep-steady allusion, showing the craft of using lore in an unstudied place — a different mode of late-Song little tunes. Later readers who only enjoy its ornate diction without tracing its allusive vein see but the surface. So good lyric readers should follow the thread of its allusions beyond the words, to know a work must have traceable origins and followable rules; though Yan Ren's name is not eminent, he was deeply accomplished in this way — his loading grief on the boat and figuring feeling with water is ultimately a warm and true echo of predecessors' established methods.

「危弦断客肠」化用江淹《别赋》「使人意夺神骇，心折骨惊」及古乐府「断肠」意象，以急弦写离伤之酷。「载将离恨过潇湘」显化用郑文宝《柳枝词》「不管烟波与风雨，载将离恨过江南」，将离恨拟为可载之物，遂成宋词名句之祖型，严仁易「江南」为「潇湘」，潇湘本指湘水流域，自屈原《湘夫人》以来即为远谪与离别之地，更增苍茫。「请君看取东流水」则呼应李白《金陵酒肆留别》「请君试问东流水，别意与之谁短长」，以东流水喻别情之悠长。数典皆熟，经词人熔铸，自然浑成，可见宋词用事之妙在脱化。又其以舟载愁、以水喻情之法，实汇唐宋送别传统之大成，前则郑文宝、李白，后则李清照、张炎，皆沿此脉。严仁此词之价值，正在于将前贤已成之典与法，化为己身一段真切离恨，所谓脱化而非蹈袭，故读来仍有新意，可知用事之妙，终在能化。纵观全词，其用事之妙不仅在于征引有据，更在于能因题制宜、随情转典。一阕之内，自《别赋》之断肠，到郑文宝之载愁，再到太白之流水，三者时序虽跨越齐梁、北宋与盛唐，却被词人于津渡一瞥中熔为一炉，足见宋人所谓点铁成金、夺胎换骨之说的实践底色。前人论词每重苏辛之豪、清真之浑，而严仁此等小令，以浅切之笔运深稳之典，于不经意处见出用事之工，实为宋末令曲之别调。后之读者若仅赏其辞丽，而不究其典脉所自，则未免于皮相。故善读词者，当于字句之外循其用事之绪，方知一篇之成必有渊源可溯、有法度可循，严仁虽名不显而于此道固已深造，其以离恨付舟、以流水喻情，终究是对前贤成法的一次温润而真切的回响。

Commentary

Yan Ren's lyrics survive through Tang Guizhang's 'Complete Song Lyrics' compilation; his group of 'Partridge Sky' mostly write parting feeling, clear and lingering. Modern scholars on late-Song little tunes, beyond Wu Wenying and Zhou Mi, also esteem Yan Ren, Lu Zugao and the 'pure-clear graceful' line (see Xue Lifang's 'Song Lyric Treatise' relevant judgments). This lyric's line 'it carries our parting grief past Xiao and Xiang' directly inherits Zheng Wenbao yet brings new meaning, belonging with Su Shi's 'only load a boat of parting grief toward Xizhou' and Li Qingzhao's 'I fear the double-stream little boat cannot carry so much sorrow' in the imagery谱系 of 'loading sorrow on a boat,' showing Song poets' fondness for concretizing sorrow. Its three characters 'powder, tears, fragrance' show the seductive within the sad, exactly the Song lyric's 'delicate and fitting' nature. Modern readers should see true parting pain within the ornate words, not merely enjoy its diction's beauty. Modern discussions of late-Song lyrics focus on Wu Wenying, Wang Yisun, Zhang Yan and few others, often omitting Yan Ren, Lu Zugao, Huang Sheng — a loss of full picture. This lyric writes deep feeling with shallow brush, exactly another direction of late-Song little tunes. Tang Guizhang's wide collection preserves such pieces from oblivion, merit immense. Reading Yan Ren, seek the profound within the clear, not lightly dismiss for lesser fame than masters — also showing lyric's power to move does not depend on the author's name.

严仁词赖唐圭璋《全宋词》辑录得传，其《鹧鸪天》一组多写离情，清丽绵邈。近人论宋末小令，于吴文英、周密之外，亦重严仁、卢祖皋等「清切婉丽」一脉（参薛砺若《宋词通论》相关评骘）。此词「载将离恨过潇湘」一句，直承郑文宝而能自出新意，与苏轼「只载一船离恨向西州」、李清照「只恐双溪舴艋舟，载不动许多愁」同属「以舟载愁」的意象谱系，可见宋人写愁之喜于具象化。其「粉泪香」三字，于悲中见艳，恰是宋词「要眇宜修」本色。今人读之，当于绮语中见真离别之痛，不当仅赏其辞藻之丽。近人论宋末词，目光多集中于吴文英、王沂孙、张炎数家，于严仁、卢祖皋、黄升之俦每略而不详，实则有失全貌。此词以浅切之笔写深至之情，正见宋末令词另一路向。唐圭璋《全宋词》广搜博采，使此类篇章不至湮没，功不可没。读严仁词，当于清丽中求其沉挚，不当以才力不及名家而轻之，亦可见词之动人，初不系于作者之名位也。

Prosody

Form Ci · little tune (double-tune 'Partridge Sky')词·小令（双调《鹧鸪天》）

Rhyme Flat rhyme to the end (chang 肠, qiang 樯, xiang 香, huang 黄, xiang 湘, chang 长 — all in Cilin Zhengyun second division, yang-tang).平韵到底（肠、樯、香、黄、湘、长，词林正韵第二部阳唐）

Tone pattern The flat rhyme is gentle; first part three flat rhymes, second part three flat rhymes; the sentence patterns alternate odd and even.平韵和婉，上片三平韵、下片三平韵，句式奇偶相生

Reading note 'Partridge Sky' is a double-tune little tune of 55 characters, four lines in the first part and five in the second, three flat rhymes each, one of the Song poets' favorite little tunes. Yan Ren's lyric rhymes 'chang, qiang, xiang' in the first part and 'huang, xiang, chang' in the second, all in Cilin Zhengyun second division yang-tang, one rhyme to the end, gentle and melodious in sound-feeling, generating with the lingering parting affection. In sentence pattern, sevens and sevens, sevens and sevens alternate with threes and threes; the transition 'Jade grasses green, willow buds yellow' lifts with a three-character parallel pair, brisk as spring suddenly opening, contrasting the earlier river-tower sorrow. The closing 'Pray look upon the eastward-flowing stream, and know how long the parting sorrow of this world' gathers in a seven-character parallel pair, landing on the flat rhyme, lingering aftertaste. Overall the level-oblique is steady, showing ease within the graceful, proving the lyricist's familiarity with the little tune's sound-feeling, also showing 'Partridge Sky's' fitness for writing parting. The flat-rhyme style is gentle, most fit for writing lingering parting; this lyric keeps one rhyme to the end without monotony, relying on the sentence patterns' odd-even alternation and leading characters' mediation. The transition's three-three two-character lines suddenly slow the rhythm, like the boat pausing, matching the river's ease — the fine craft of structure visible. Scholars often weight the long tune's rules yet neglect the little tune's sound-feeling; they should know such flat-rhyme short pieces as 'Partridge Sky' show plaintiveness within composure — a fine example of Song little-tune sound-feeling fitness, worthy of emulation.《鹧鸪天》为双调小令，五十五字，上片四句、下片五句，上下片各三平韵，是宋人最喜用的令曲之一。严仁此词上片押「肠」「樯」「香」，下片押「黄」「湘」「长」，皆隶词林正韵第二部阳唐韵，一韵到底，声情和婉悠扬，与送别之绵绵情意相生。句式上七、七、七、七与三、三、七、七错落，过片「瑶草碧，柳芽黄」以三字对句拎起，节奏明快如春色乍开，与上文江楼之悲形成跌宕。结句「请君看取东流水，方识人间别意长」以七言对收，平韵落脚，余味悠然。整体平仄工稳，于婉丽中见疏宕，足证词人于令曲声情之熟稔，亦见《鹧鸪天》宜于写离情的体性。平韵体和婉，最宜写绵邈离情，此词一韵到底而不觉单调，正赖句式之奇偶相生与领字之斡旋。过片三、三两字句，节奏忽缓，如行舟暂歇，与江上之悠然相称，章法之细可见。学者每重长调之格律，而忽小令之声情，不知《鹧鸪天》此等平韵短章，于从容中见悱恻，正宋人令曲声情体性之佳例，足供填词者取法。

Line by line

一曲危弦断客肠。

One strained string snaps the traveler's heart in two.

一曲急切高亢的弦乐，便把客中人的愁肠寸寸折断。

One tune on the urgent high strings breaks the traveler's heart.

起句破空而来，以听觉领起全篇。「危弦」即急弦、高弦，其声凄厉，故能「断客肠」，化《别赋》心折骨惊之意为可感之声。「客」字点送别双方之身份——行者与送者皆客中，离愁加倍。一句之中，未写舟、未写泪，先以乐声写断肠，先声夺人，恰如戏曲之催场鼓，将读者骤然推入悲境。此即小令「起句便见主意」之法，简劲而力重，为全词定下哀婉基调。

The opening comes from the void, leading the whole ci through sound. The urgent strings means the rapid, high strings, whose sound is shrill enough to break the traveler's heart, turning the thought of the Farewell Ode's heart-breaking into audible sound. The word traveler marks both sides - the departing and the seeing-off are both away from home, so the parting grief is doubled. In one line, no boat, no tears yet; the music breaks the heart first, seizing the reader like a opera's opening drum and plunging him into grief at once. This is the short-song method of the opening line showing the theme at once, spare and weighty, fixing the ci's plaintive key.

江心云带蒲帆重，楼上风吹粉泪香。

Above the river's heart, clouds weigh the reed sail down; up in the tower the wind blows — powder, tears, and fragrance.

江心云气低垂，带着蒲草帆影显得沉重；楼上风起，吹送着脂粉与泪的幽香。

At the river's heart the clouds weigh down the rush-sail; on the tower the wind carries the scent of powdered tears.

此联一江一楼、一舟一人，对举成境，是全词最富画面感的一笔。「云带蒲帆重」以云之浓写帆之滞，似天亦留人；「风吹粉泪香」以风送泪香写送者之凄艳，泪而称香，悲中见媚，恰是宋词「要眇」本色。上下句空间错落：江心是远去之舟，楼上是凝望之人，江楼相望而终隔烟水，离恨之形已具。两句对仗工稳而情致摇曳，于壮阔中藏婉细，可见严仁布景之能。

This couplet pairs the river and the tower, the boat and the person, into one scene, the most pictorial stroke of the ci. Clouds weigh down the rush-sail writes the dense cloud making the sail drag, as if the sky too would keep the man; the wind carries the scent of powdered tears writes the send-off woman's poignant beauty, tears called fragrant, so that amid grief there is charm - the very refinement of Song ci. The two lines stand apart in space: at the river's heart the boat goes off, on the tower the woman watches, river and tower facing yet divided by misty water, the shape of parting already complete. The couplet is balanced yet graceful, hiding delicacy within breadth, showing Yan Ren's skill at setting a scene.

请君看取东流水，方识人间别意长。

Pray look upon the eastward-flowing stream, and know how long the parting sorrow of this world.

请您看看那滔滔东流的江水，才能知道人间的离别之意有多么悠长。

Pray, look at the eastward-flowing water; then you will know how long human parting is.

结句以议论收束，却以「看取东流水」的意象出之，不落枯槁。「东流水」自孔子「逝者如斯」、李白「古来万事东流水」以来即为时光与离恨之喻，词人请君「看取」，是将抽象别意付与具象江水，使情可得而量。「方识」二字尤有深意——必临别、必望水，方知别意之长，暗含「不遇离别不知情重」的人生体味。全词至此由声、景、舟一路收束于水，情与景、古与今浑成一气，余韵悠长，是小令以景（水）结情、以理（识）点睛的范例。

The closing ends in reflection, yet voiced through the image of the eastward-flowing water, avoiding dryness. The eastward-flowing water has, since Confucius what passes like this and Li Bai all things since olden times flow east, been the metaphor of time and parting grief; the poet asks you to look, handing the abstract grief to the concrete river, making feeling measurable. The words then you will know carry depth - only at parting, only watching the water, does one learn how long parting is, hinting that one never knows how heavy love is until one is parted. The whole ci, gathering from sound and scene and boat to the water, fuses feeling and scenery, old and new, with a long aftertaste - a model of the short song ending feeling in scenery (water) and pointing the moral (knowing).

Study

Word focus

危弦 A strained (high, tense) string (weixian) — its shrill, urgent sound embodies the traveler's taut, fearful heart on the eve of parting. 「危」在此作高峻、急迫解，「危弦」即绷紧之急弦，其声凄清激越。古诗文中「危」每有此义，如「危楼」「危坐」。词人不用「急弦」而用「危弦」，既状弦之紧绷，亦暗透心之危惧——离别在即，心神如不宁之弦。一字双关，声情与心情同其紧张。以乐声写哀，本是古典抒情常法，而「危」字之炼，使起句便具峻急之力，为后文「断肠」作势，可见小令起笔炼字之要。

载将 Carries (zaijiang) — 'jiang' is a particle meaning 'along/away'; together they turn formless parting grief into a tangible cargo borne by the boat, a fresh Song conceit. 「载将离恨过潇湘」中「载将」二字，是将抽象离恨化为可舟载之实物的关键。「将」为语助（带、持之意），「载将」即载着、载了去。此二字点化郑文宝「载将离恨过江南」，使离恨由无形之情一变而为舟中所负之重，奇想生新。宋人好以「载愁」为法，苏轼「载一船离恨」、李清照「载不动许多愁」皆沿此脉，而「载将」之口语化表达，更见宋词「以俗为雅」之趣，于轻巧中见沉痛。

粉泪 Powder-tears (fenlei) — tears mingled with face powder, figuring the sender's tearful makeup; the 'fragrance' makes sorrow seductive, the quintessential graceful ci diction. 「粉泪」即和着脂粉的泪，写女子（送者）泣妆之态。粉本饰面，泪本伤情，二者相和，悲艳交集，恰如温庭筠「玉钗头上风」之秾丽笔法。此词「楼上风吹粉泪香」以「香」字收束泪意，使凄楚中透出微香，正是花间、北宋小令「要眇宜修」的典型设色。一词之炼，不在奇僻，而在以艳写哀、以香写苦，于送别题中别开一种婉媚风神，足见严仁小令的丽笔功底。

鹧鸪天