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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

醉桃源・阮郎归

Drunk in the Peach Spring (Return of Ruan Lang)

方千里

Fang Qianli

写景scenery 感时sensing the times 怀旧nostalgia

鸳鸯浓睡碧溪沙。
荷花深处家。
快风收电掣金蛇。
凉波流素华。
吴国艳，楚宫娃。
红潮连翠霞。
坐来忽忽烛光斜。
城头闻乱鸦。

Mandarin ducks sleep deep upon the green creek's sand;
Amid the lotus depths their home is found.
A sudden gale gathers; lightning whips like golden snakes;
Cool waves drift with their pure, pale sheen.
Beauties of Wu, maidens of Chu's palace;
Red tides meet the emerald rosy clouds.
Sitting, time slips by; the candle's light slants low;
From the city wall comes the cry of startled crows.

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Meaning

The lyric pictures a summer garden revel: ducks asleep on the sand, lotus-hidden homes, a sudden storm of golden lightning, then cool waves; below, beauties of Wu and Chu glow like red and emerald clouds. As the reveler sits, time slips away, the candle slants, and crows cry on the wall — the joy revealed as fleeting, the prosperity already turning to desolation.

一阵疾风掠过,电光如金蛇般在云中腾掣蜿蜒。不知不觉间晏坐已久,烛光已经西斜,这时城头传来了纷乱的鸦鸣。

Appreciation

Fang Qianli unfolds the scene like a fan — four shifts of stillness, motion, splendor, silence — bound by one thread of feeling. The striking 'lightning whips like golden snakes' breaks the calm with sudden energy, while the close 'candle slants, crows cry' retrieves all in sound, writing sorrow beneath the splendor typical of Southern Song lyrics.

【白话串讲】方千里写醉桃源：“鸳鸯浓睡碧溪沙。荷花深处家”。“快风收电掣金蛇。凉波流素华”——“坐来忽忽烛光斜。城头闻乱鸦”——他写夏日的闲情。【意象与手法】上阕写景如画,鸳鸯浓睡与快风掣电一静一动,静者愈静,动者愈烈;凉波素华复以清冷调剂秾艳。下阕由景入人,吴娃楚艳、红潮翠霞设色秾丽,结拍烛斜鸦乱以声收束,繁华落尽。景凡四变:静、动、艳、寂,如四幅连屏而以情脉贯之。【情感与主旨】词以夏日园林欢会为背景,由昼入夜,由热闹转入寂寥。坐来忽忽、烛斜鸦乱,隐然有欢会难常、华年易逝之慨。字面始终清丽,不见悲苦之形,而于繁华处见荒凉的哀感自于言外流露,正是南宋词人以艳写哀、以婉约写沉痛的典型。【名句点睛】 “快风收电掣金蛇”设想奇绝,收字见风云骤聚,掣字状电光迸裂,金蛇之喻设色奇警,于静谧铺陈中如石破天惊,以动破静,使全词节奏骤然提起。

Background

Fang Qianli of Xin'an was a Southern Song lyricist (Xiaozong–Guangzong era), magistrate of Fuyang, skilled at tuning, who fully matched Zhou Bangyan's 'Qingzhen Lyrics,' an important follower of the Southern Song metrical school, author of 'Lyrics Harmonizing Qingzhen.' 'Drunk in the Peach Spring' is also 'Return of Ruan Lang,' its tune rooted in the Liu Ruan meeting immortals at Tiantai, gentle in air, fit for soft parting feeling. Fang's lyric sets a summer garden: upper stanza day scene — ducks asleep on the green creek sand, lotus depths hiding homes, then a sudden gale, lightning like golden snakes, cool waves drifting pale light; lower stanza turns to people — beauties of Wu, maidens of Chu, red tides meeting emerald clouds, yet sitting long the candle slants, night deep, wine sober, crows cry on the wall, prosperity and cold in a instant's swap. The realm moves day to night, bustle to lonely, hinting the revel's brevity and youth's passing. Fang, famed for strict metrical matching, though this is free lyric, still weighs each word, scenic and skillful, feeling far — typical of mid-late Southern Song 'harmony of law and feeling, scene holding feeling.' In lyric history, Fang with Yang Zemin and Chen Yuping are the three who matched Zhou; only Fang matched the whole collection unchanged, hardest working, so metrical scholars take him as the rule. Though not a step-match to Qingzhen, its scene-thinking inherits Qingzhen's 'heat within cold, sorrow within splendor.' Summer should be merry, yet the lyric closes with candle-slant and crows — the revel is the dispersal; amid the revel the author holds a sober sorrow. Such 'desolation within splendor' is the Southern Song mid-late poet's common age-feeling; Fang conveys it in a small tune, showing rare craft.

方千里,信安人,南宋孝宗、光宗年间词人,官至富阳令,工于度曲,尝尽和周邦彦《清真词》,为南宋格律派词人的重要追随者,著有《和清真词》。《醉桃源》即《阮郎归》,词调本于刘阮遇仙天台山的故事,声情婉转,宜于写柔情别绪。方千里此词以夏日园林为背景,上阕写昼景:碧溪沙上鸳鸯浓睡,荷花深处人家掩映,忽而快风骤起,闪电如金蛇掣空,凉波荡漾,流泻素光;下阕转写人事:吴国艳女、楚宫娇娃,红潮翠霞相映生辉,然而坐久烛斜、夜阑酒醒,城头鸦噪,繁华与清冷刹那交替。词境由昼入夜,由热闹转入寂寥,隐然有欢会难常、华年易逝之慨。方千里和清真词以严守声律著称,此作虽为自度抒情之作,亦字斟句酌,写景工丽,而情韵悠远,是南宋中后期词坛以律谐情、以景含情的典型风貌。词史上,方千里与杨泽民、陈允平并称周邦彦词的和韵三家,而唯千里一人尽和全编、一字不易,用力最勤,故论声律者每以千里为度曲之矩矱,考其本末,乃一时风气使然。此作虽非步和清真,而其写景运思,实承清真寓热于冷、以艳写哀的家法。夏景本宜欢愉,词中偏以烛斜鸦乱收煞,则知欢场即是散场,作者于纸醉金迷之中,自有一份清醒的悲哀。此种于繁华处见荒凉的笔致,正是南宋中叶以后词人普遍的时代感受,千里以小小令传之,尤见匠心。

Art

The upper stanza paints like a picture, the lower turns scene to people, closing on dusk crows, a fan-like spread tightening layer by layer. Upper opens 'mandarin ducks sleep deep upon the green creek's sand; amid the lotus depths their home is found' — deep sleep writes the ducks' stillness, depths the lotus's seclusion, a summer afternoon quiet. 'A sudden gale gathers; lightning whips like golden snakes' like thunder from clear sky, breaks the still; 'gathers' and 'whips' write the coming storm's motion, golden snake for lightning, strange in color. 'Cool waves drift with their pure, pale sheen' with 'cool' and 'pure' echoes the after-rain wave's clarity, returns to calm. The turn 'beauties of Wu, maidens of Chu; red tides meet the emerald rosy clouds' rises again, Wu-Chu beauties with red-branch green shadows answering the lotus's emerald clouds, people and scene merged. Close 'sitting, time slips by; the candle's light slants low; from the city wall comes the cry of startled crows' suddenly turns night, candle-slant writes the long sitting, time's shift, wall-crows in sound close, prosperity gone, only dusk vast. The scene shifts four times: still, move, splendor, silence, like four linked screens with one feeling-thread, fine layout. In method: upper four lines four scenes, still and move born of each other — ducks' deep sleep and gale's whip, one extreme still one extreme move, still stiller, move moverer, the summer's lethargy and violence together, the very weather's nature, only a master catches its spirit. 'Cool waves drift with their pure, pale sheen' with cool-pure tempers the rich, prepares the lower turn to people, color from thick to thin, temperature warm to cool, rhythm eased. Lower three-word shorts 'beauties of Wu, maidens of Chu' rapid beats like a song's sudden rise, 'red tides meet the emerald rosy clouds' color splashed, face and cloud merged. Close 'sitting, time slips by' then knows the good scene is short, candle slants, crows rise, between prosperity and emptiness but a instant. Small yet great, in forty-seven characters writes a day's rise and fall, words always clear, no grief's shape, yet the desolation beyond words — exactly the lyric's valued 'imply, write sorrow in grace.'

此词上阕写景如画,下阕由景入人,结以暮色鸦声,章法上呈扇面展开之势,层层收紧。上阕起拍鸳鸯浓睡碧溪沙,荷花深处家,以浓睡写鸳鸯之静,以深处写荷塘之幽,一幅夏日午后静谧图。快风收电掣金蛇一句,如平地惊雷,静景忽破,快风与电掣迭用,写出骤雨将至的动感,金蛇喻闪电,设色奇警。凉波流素华,以凉字与素字呼应,写雨后波光之清,复归宁静。过片吴国艳,楚宫娃,红潮连翠霞,笔势又起,以吴娃楚艳写红妆翠影,与荷塘翠霞相映,人景交融。结拍坐来忽忽烛光斜,城头闻乱鸦,忽而转夜,烛光斜写晏坐之久、时光之移,城头乱鸦以声收束,繁华落尽,只剩暮色苍茫。全词景凡四变:静、动、艳、寂,如四幅连屏,而以情脉贯之,布局精妙。细论其法,上阕四句凡写四景,而静动相生:鸳鸯浓睡与快风掣电,一极静一极动,静者愈静,动者愈烈,两相映衬,夏日的慵倦与暴烈并存,正是物候本色,非高手不能摄其神。凉波流素华一句,复以清冷之笔调剂秾艳,为下阕转入人事作势,色阶由浓入淡,温度由暖入凉,节奏为之一舒。下阕三言短句吴国艳,楚宫娃,音节促迫,如歌拍骤起,红潮连翠霞则色彩泼面,人面与霞光浑融,难分彼此。结拍坐来忽忽,方知好景不长,烛光斜移,鸦声四起,繁华与空寂之间,只隔一瞬。全词小中见大,以四十七字写尽一日之兴衰,而字面始终清丽,不见悲苦之形,哀感只于言外流露,此正词贵含蓄、以婉约写沉痛之境。

Allusions

‘Beauties of Wu, maidens of Chu’ both have sources. 'Beauties of Wu' may use Xi Shi — born at Zhuluo, favored by King Fuchai of Wu, whose Guanwa Palace was built for her; 'maidens of Chu' uses the 'Hou Hanshu' tale of Chu king loving a slim waist, or the Wu Mountain goddess, Chu palace's slim beauties — together writing singing girls' splendor, with hint of time's passing, splendor as illusion. 'Red tide' common in Tang verse, Bai Juyi 'after wine a red tide on the face' for drink's flush; 'emerald clouds' for water-light hill-color's green, the pair writing face and scene reflecting. 'Candle's light slants' faintly uses Du Mu's 'autumn candle's cold light on the painted screen' chill, or near Wen Tingyun's 'behind the red candle' for deep-night stillness. 'Wall crows' since old are desolation — Li Bai's 'on Gusu terrace the crows roost, in Wu palace they drank drunk with Xi Shi,' using crow-cry to wake vanity's void; this lyric closes with wall-crows, exactly echoing Li Bai, retrieving all the red tides and emerald clouds. 'Mandarin ducks sleep deep' roots in Tang palace verse 'mandarin-tile cold, frost heavy,' turned to summer ease. The allusions blend unseen, writing sorrow in splendor, deep in Wen-Wei's method. The 'red tides meet emerald clouds' coloring also comes from Tang dance-and-makeup verse, as Wen Tingyun's 'emerald hairpin of gold, butterflies dance in pair' writing beauty with gold-green — Fang inherits yet more splendid. The worth: within splendor not losing clear-cold, so the close can open desolation. And 'mandarin ducks sleep deep upon the green creek's sand' with the birds' paired rest contrasts the man's lone perch, though unstated, loneliness shows — the lyricist's hidden-write method.

吴国艳,楚宫娃,两语皆有所本。吴国艳,或用西施之典,西子出于苎萝,吴王夫差宠之,馆娃宫即为其所筑;楚宫娃,则用《后汉书·马援传》楚王好细腰之典,或指巫山神女、楚宫腰细之美人,两典合言,极写歌姬舞女之艳冶,兼有时光易逝、繁华如幻的暗示。红潮二字,唐人诗中习见,白居易醉后红潮面,以红潮状酒后红晕;翠霞则状水光山色之翠,两语相对,写人面与景光交映。烛光斜,暗用杜牧《秋夕》银烛秋光冷画屏之冷寂意,或近温庭筠《更漏子》红烛背之语,写夜深人静之态。城头鸦,自古即为荒凉之象,李白《乌栖曲》姑苏台上乌栖时,吴王宫里醉西施,以乌啼点醒繁华虚妄,此词结以城头乱鸦,正暗含李白笔意,把前面的红潮翠霞一笔收尽。至于鸳鸯浓睡,则本唐人宫词鸳鸯瓦冷霜华重之意象,而翻为夏日闲适之境。全词用典化用无痕,以艳语写哀情,深得温韦遗法。至于红潮连翠霞之设色,亦自唐人咏舞咏妆诗中化出,如温庭筠翠钗金作股,钗上蝶双舞之句,皆以金翠色相写美人仪态,千里承之而益加绚烂。所贵者,绚烂之中不失清冷,方能于末句荡开荒凉之境。又鸳鸯浓睡碧溪沙,以禽鸟之双宿反衬人意之孤栖,虽不明言,而孤寂自见,是词家所谓暗写之法。

Commentary

Though Fang Qianli is known for harmonizing Qingzhen, his own lyrics have merits, often cited by critics. The late-Song Shen Yifu's 'Yuefu Finger Guide' on Southern Song law said Fang matched Zhou character by character, with measure to spare; for his own small tunes he allowed graceful tune. The Qing Chen Tingzhuo's 'White Rain Studio Lyric Talks' on Southern Song lyricists said Fang's talent fell short of Qingzhen, yet his wording had occasional brilliance — lines like 'a sudden gale gathers; lightning whips like golden snakes' and 'red tides meet the emerald rosy clouds' are strangely conceived, not mere piling. Zhou Ji's 'Huifeng Lyric Talks' on the harmonizers also said: though Fang followed Zhou's law, his own brush is clear and readable, proving law and feeling can both excel. Modern lyric scholars, speaking of the Southern Song metrical school, name Fang, Yang, Chen together, granting deepest effort in law; this lyric's worth is exactly strict law without losing liveliness. The judgments show this work writes scene with skill, carries hate in sound-feeling, proof that Southern Song lyrics in standardizing could keep image and feeling. Further, its scenic skill and rich color near Wen Tingyun and Wei Zhuang; its strict law fully inherits Qingzhen — showing Southern Song lyricists both followed Tang-Five's images and kept the metrical school's rule, lyric art then at fused mastery. Later anthologists attach Fang to Qingzhen, yet on this piece alone his own talent is no small thing, not needing the harmonies to spread.

方千里虽以和清真词见称,然其自度之作亦有佳处,历代论家时有称引。宋末沈义父《乐府指迷》论南宋词律,谓方千里和清真词,字字依韵,不失分寸,其为律之严,可为矜式,然于其自度小令,则许以风调宛转。清人陈廷焯《白雨斋词话》评南宋词人,谓方千里词才虽不逮清真,而琢句炼字,时有警策,如此词快风收电掣金蛇、红潮连翠霞等句,设想奇绝,非徒事堆砌者。况周颐《蕙风词话》论和词诸家,亦云:千里虽依周生律,然其自运笔墨,清丽可诵,是知律与情固可兼善。近人词学界论南宋格律派,每以方千里、杨泽民、陈允平并称,许其于声律一道致力最深,而此词之佳,正在严律之中不失灵动。合观诸评,可见此作以工丽写景、以声情传恨,是南宋词在规范化进程中仍能保持兴象与情韵的明证。进一步看,此词写景之工丽,设色之秾艳,近温庭筠、韦庄一路;而声律之谨严,用韵之精审,则全承清真家法,可见南宋词人一方面追步唐五代词的兴象,一方面又严守格律派的矩矱,词学至此,已入融会贯通之境。后世选词者多以千里附清真之后,然单就此篇论,其自度之才亦自不凡,不必借和作以传也。

Prosody

Form Lyric, short tune 'Drunk in the Peach Spring,' also named 'Return of Ruan Lang'词,小令《醉桃源》,又名《阮郎归》

Rhyme Level-tone 麻 and 佳 blended; rhyme words are sand, home, snake, sheen, maid, clouds, slant, crows.平声麻、佳韵通押,韵脚为沙、家、蛇、华、娃、霞、斜、鸦

Tone pattern Double mode forty-seven characters; upper stanza four level rhymes, lower five level rhymes; pitch after Wen Tingyun's tune.双调四十七字,上阕四平韵,下阕五平韵,平仄以温庭筠词为谱

Reading note 'Return of Ruan Lang' is a double short tune, forty-seven characters, front four lines four level rhymes, back five lines five level rhymes. This lyric's upper sand, home, snake, sheen and lower maid, clouds, slant, crows — eight rhyme words all in Ci Forest rhymes part ten (jia-ma), level tone throughout, bright and spreading, fit for both feeling and scene. In syntax, upper is seven-five-seven-five, lower three-three-seven-five, long-short alterned, uneven sound. Opening 'mandarin ducks sleep deep upon the green creek's sand' seven-character level-opening, ease; three-word pair 'beauties of Wu, maidens of Chu' (oblique-oblique-oblique, oblique-level-level) rapid like pearls, contrasting the seven's length; close 'from the city wall comes the cry of startled crows' five-character oblique-close, sound depressed. In pitch it keeps Wen Tingyun's original; the optional level-oblique has care — 'whips' (掣) uses oblique for a staccato matching lightning, sound and sense aiding. Southern Song lyricists prized strict law; Fang excelled, the word-pitches dense, sung rising-falling, showing his tuning skill — a fine union of law and feeling. The tune is named for Liu Ruan's immortal meeting, holding the regret of meeting and parting in a instant; the poet uses it for candle-slant and crows, tune-name and feeling secretly meet, showing fine tune-choice. Mostly level rhymes, sound long; only the close oblique, abruptly stops, like a sigh as the feast scatters, sound ended yet feeling not, echo in the ear.《阮郎归》为双调小令,共四十七字,前段四句四平韵,后段五句五平韵。此词上阕沙、家、蛇、华,下阕娃、霞、斜、鸦,八字韵脚同属《词林正韵》第十部家麻韵,平声一韵到底,声调响亮舒展,宜于抒情写景兼长。句法上,上阕为七、五、七、五句式,下阕为三、三、七、五句式,长短相间,音节错落。起拍鸳鸯浓睡碧溪沙,七言平起,舒缓;三字对句吴国艳,楚宫娃,仄仄仄、仄平平,急促的短句如珠玉落盘,与上句七言的舒长形成节奏对比;结拍城头闻乱鸦,五言仄收,以仄声鸦字收束,声情沉郁。就平仄言,此词严守温庭筠原调,句中可平可仄处多有讲究,如掣金蛇之掣字用仄,以顿挫之音配合闪电之象,声义相济。南宋词家以严守词律为尚,方千里尤精此道,此词字声配合绵密,唱来抑扬宛转,足见其度曲功力,是词律与词情高度统一的佳作。且此调本自刘阮天台遇仙故事得名,调名即含人仙邂逅、倏忽而别之怅,词人借此调写烛斜鸦乱之景,调名与词情暗相凑泊,愈见选调之工。全词以平声韵字居多,音节舒长,惟结句以仄声收束,戛然收住,恰似欢宴散尽时的一声叹息,声尽而情不尽,余响在耳。

Line by line

快风收电掣金蛇。

A sudden gale gathers; lightning whips like golden snakes.

一阵疾风掠过,电光如金蛇般在云中腾掣蜿蜒。

A swift wind rises, and lightning darts like a golden serpent across the clouds.

此句写夏日骤变之景,快风收电一气呵成,收字将风起电至的迅疾写得如在目前,掣字则状闪电横空之态,金蛇喻电,设色奇丽,光感强烈。在鸳鸯浓睡、荷花深处的静谧铺陈之后,此句如石破天惊,以动破静,让全词的节奏骤然提起,而凉波流素华又随之回落,一涨一消,正是夏日天气阴晴瞬变的神韵。更妙在收字与掣字相衔,风力与电光浑然一气,读之但觉风云奔会、眉睫生光,一刹那间天地变色,而作者的笔却依然从容,不慌不忙地以凉波素华轻轻按下,可见其经营画境的分寸感与节奏意识。

This line writes the sudden change of a summer day, swift wind and lightning moving in one breath. The word rises writes the speed of wind and lightning as if present; darts describes the lightning streaking the sky, and the golden serpent compares the flash, its coloring strange and its light intense. After the stillness of mandarin ducks sleeping deep among the lotuses, this line comes like a stone splitting the sky, breaking stillness with motion and suddenly lifting the ci's rhythm, before the cool waves and pure glow ease it again - a rise and fall that is the very spirit of summer weather changing in an instant. The beauty lies in the words rises and darts joining, wind and lightning fused into one, so that reading it one feels the clouds and wind rush together and light flash at the brows, the heavens changing in an instant, yet the pen remains unhurried, gently pressing the scene down with cool waves - showing the poet's sense of measure and rhythm in composing his picture.

坐来忽忽烛光斜。

Sitting, time slips by; the candle's light slants low.

不知不觉间晏坐已久,烛光已经西斜,这时城头传来了纷乱的鸦鸣。

Before I knew it, sitting long, the candle flame had slanted westward, and crows clamored by the city wall.

结拍以忽忽二字写时光流逝之快,坐来是毫无察觉,烛光斜是既成事实,晏坐之久、欢会之短,尽在烛影摇曳之间。烛光本系室内之物,城鸦本系城头之声,词人却以坐来二字将二者绾结,时间上的一瞬与空间上的倏忽,同归于暮色苍茫,大有旧时王谢堂前燕的盛衰之感,虽只十字,而感慨万千。此所以后世读之者,每觉其字面秾丽而骨子里却是清冷,繁华背后的苍凉,皆由此一结托出,是词家所谓以乐景写哀、倍增其哀者也。

The closing uses the word unknowingly to write how fast time has passed: sitting without noticing, the candle flame slanting west is the accomplished fact, and the long sitting and the short delight both live in the wavering candle light. The candle is an indoor thing, the crows by the city wall a sound from the battlements, yet the poet binds them with the word sitting, so that the instant of time and the suddenness of space both resolve into the gathering dusk, holding the feeling of rise and fall attached to the old halls of Wang and Xie. Though only ten words, the feeling is boundless; this is why later readers always find the surface rich yet the bone cold, and the desolation behind splendor rests on this ending - the ci-house method of writing grief through joy, doubling the grief.

Study

Word focus

掣 The word 'whips' (掣) depicts lightning's speed — lightning whips like a rope sharply pulled, spent in one flash, writing the sudden, decisive bolt. Against common 'flash,' 'fly,' 'cut,' 'whips' carries more force and burst, joining the upper 'gathers' — 'a sudden gale gathers' then lightning whips, wind's sweep and bolt's burst both seen, as if all heaven's light completes in an instant. The 'golden snake' metaphor writes the lightning's coiling form with snake-motion, sound and color fierce, the most colorful stroke of the lyric. 'Whips' with the upper 'gathers' are inside each other: 'gathers' sees clouds sudden, 'whips' sees bolt burst; the two words unfold a coming-storm scroll in a breath, the word-rhythm and scene-motion seamless — showing Fang's wording seeks not oddness alone but sound following thing, word answering scene. 掣字状闪电之疾速,电掣者,如绳索被猛力牵拽,一挥而尽,极写电光之迅疾果决。较之常见之闪、飞、划,掣字更带力量感与突发性,与上字收相衔,快风收电,一收一掣,风的席卷与电的迸射俱见,仿佛天地之间的光影都在刹那之间完成。金蛇之喻,更以蛇行蜿蜒之态写出电光屈曲之形,声色俱厉,是全词最见设色功力的一笔。且掣字与上句快风收电之收相为表里,收字见风云骤聚,掣字见电光迸裂,两字连用,一幅骤雨将至的画卷便在呼吸之间铺展于读者眼前,用字的节奏感与景物的动势严丝合缝,可见千里炼字,非徒求奇,实以声随物转、字应景迁为的。

素 The word 'pure' (素) in 'cool waves drift with their pure, pale sheen' means the water-light's white purity; one 'pure' writes both the after-rain clear wave's mirror-brightness and hints the pure heart's clarity, injecting a cool tone into the busy scene. 'Pure sheen' is white moonlight; 'cool waves' with 'pure sheen' drop both temperature and color, preparing the lower 'red tides meet emerald clouds' rich color's contrast. One word joining light, color, feeling — typical Southern Song care on a single word, seeming plain yet finely thought. 'Pure sheen' against 'red tides' — one pure one red, one cool one warm — the color's warm-cold contrast hints feeling's temperature gap; the poet's relish and warning both show through this one 'pure,' the word that governs the whole's tint. 凉波流素华之素,言水光之洁白纯净,着一素字,既写出雨后清波明净如练的光感,又暗含素心、素怀之清雅,于热闹的景物中注入一缕冷调。素华即白月光,凉波与素华相配,温度与色度同降,为下阕红潮翠霞的艳色蓄足映衬。一字而兼光、色、情三者,是南宋词人于单字上见功夫的典型,看似平常,实则精思入微。素华与红潮相对,一素一红,一冷一热,色彩的冷暖对比暗含情感的温度差,词人的赏玩之情与警醒之意,皆由这一个素字隐隐透出,是以一字而统摄全篇色调的用心所在。

乱 The word 'startled' (乱) for crows' cry writes the noise and clutter, more the heart's disordered, unquiet mood. Wall-crow cry is a dusk constant; with 'startled,' the dusk, crow-sound, and human shadow all turn chaotic, the empty fall after prosperity poured out through this word. 'Startled' also sharply contrasts the earlier 'deep sleep,' 'depths,' 'quiet sitting' stillness — closing with 'startled' is the total rebound on the whole lyric's calm splendor, writing stillness through sound, emptiness through clutter, a clean yet desolate close. 'Startled' also hints the poet's inner stir: splendor before the eyes only felt splendid, splendor gone only felt startled, same wall-crows, different heart, different sound-feeling — this word is the key from bustle falling to emptiness, which readers should savor in such function words to repay the author's deep wording. 乱鸦之乱,状鸦声之嘈杂纷沓,更写心境之烦乱无绪。城头鸦噪本是黄昏恒景,着一乱字,则暮色、鸦声、人影一时俱乱,繁华散尽的空落感借这乱字倾泻而出。乱字又与前文浓睡、深处、清坐的静境形成强烈反差,结以乱,正是对全词宁静艳冶的一次总反拨,以声写寂,以乱衬空,收束得干脆而余味苍凉。乱字又暗含词人内心的波动:繁华在目时但觉其艳,繁华散后但觉其乱,同一城鸦,心境异而声情异,此字正是从热闹跌入空寂的一把钥匙,读词者当于此等虚字处细加寻味,方不负作者下字之深心。