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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

破阵子

Breaking the Ranks (Po Zhen Zi)

晏殊

Yan Shu

离别parting 相思longing 婉约graceful restraint

海上蟠桃易熟，人间好月长圆。
惟有掰钗分钿侣，离别常多会面难。
此情须问天。
蜡烛到明垂泪，熏炉尽日生烟。
一点凄凉愁绝意，谩道秦筝有剩弦。
何曾为细传。

On the sea, the immortal peach ripens with ease; in the human world, the fair moon is oft full and round.
Yet only we who snapped the hairpin and split the inlaid locket must ever part — meetings few, partings many.
Of this sorrow, heaven alone must be asked.
The candle weeps its tears till dawn; the censer breathes its smoke all day.
One thread of desolation, grief at its very utmost — say not the Qin zither still has strings to spare.
When did they ever convey it in full?

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Meaning

The poem opens by observing that even the rarest fruits of immortals ripen easily and the moon is often full, yet only parted lovers find reunion hard. The poet then turns to the objects of the night — a candle dripping until daybreak, a censer smoking all day long — as images of sorrow that never rests. Finally he sighs that even the spare strings of the zither cannot carry such grief; only heaven, if anything, could answer for it. It is a tender complaint against the universal misfortune that lovers part so often and meet so seldom.

海上的仙桃尚且容易成熟，人间的明月也常常圆满。蜡烛一直燃到天明，垂着惜别的泪痕；熏炉整日升着袅袅的轻烟。这一丝凄凉到极处的愁意，莫要说那秦筝还有未尽的弦音可以寄托。

Appreciation

The upper stanza sets the fullness of immortal and celestial things against the brokenness of human attachment, raising the theme before turning to smother it — a grand, expansive opening. The lower stanza humanizes candle wax and censer smoke, pairing tears that fall all night with smoke that rises all day, so that longing seems to stretch across unbroken time. The closing reversal — strings remain, yet grief cannot be fully played out — pushes the emotion deeper with each turn, winding on without end. Throughout, Yan Shu keeps his grief within the measure of 'sorrow without injury,' elegant even in desolation.

【白话串讲】晏殊写破阵子：“海上蟠桃易熟，人间好月长圆”——“惟有掰钗分钿侣，离别常多会面难”——“蜡烛到明垂泪，熏炉尽日生烟”——“一点凄凉愁绝意”——他写离别之苦。【意象与手法】起笔以仙家蟠桃与人间明月之圆满反衬人情之离多会少，欲抑先扬，气象阔大。下片以烛泪、炉烟拟人化写愁，彻夜垂泪与终日生烟对举，时间绵延无尽。结以秦筝剩弦反跌，弦有余而愁难传，层层推进，缠绵不尽。【情感与主旨】词由仙凡对举起兴，直陈「离别常多会面难」的普遍人生憾恨，又以烛烟、筝弦诸物象渲染愁之深重，抒写情人之离分之苦与情思之执着，感慨深沉而不失温雅，正是晏殊「哀而不伤」的分寸。【名句点睛】「蜡烛到明垂泪，熏炉尽日生烟」以无情之物写有情之愁，烛泪炉烟，彻夜终日，物我浑融，工丽蕴藉，是宋词中借器物写深情的典范。

Background

Yan Shu, courtesy name Tongshu, was a native of Linchuan in Fuzhou and a chancellor under Emperor Renzong of the Northern Song; his collection Zhuyu Ci (Pearls and Jade) is famed for its warm, polished grace. This ci, on separation and longing, opens with the immortal peach of legend and the full human moon to voice the pain of parted lovers. The phrase 'snapped the hairpin and split the inlaid locket' draws on Bai Juyi's Song of Everlasting Sorrow, where hairpin and casket serve as tokens of divided love, showing how deep the attachment must be. Though Yan Shu spent his life at court and mostly wrote of idle feelings and parting sorrows, this piece injects a chill of desolation into his leisurely elegance. Rather than a private grievance, it rises into a meditation on the impermanence of human reunion shared by all. The tune Po Zhen Zi rarely survives in his collection; this piece may have been written for a singer at a banquet or as a personal utterance, and has seldom been dated. It closes with an appeal to heaven, deep in feeling yet gentle in tone, and stands among the more sombre of Yan Shu's ci, kindred to his Ta Suo Xing and Die Lian Hua on longing for the distant beloved.

晏殊字同叔，抚州临川人，北宋仁宗朝宰相，位极人臣，有《珠玉词》传世，其词以温润秀洁著称。此首《破阵子·海上蟠桃易熟》为其咏离别相思之作，以仙家之蟠桃、人间之明月起兴，写情人离散之苦。词中「掰钗分钿」云云，化用白居易《长恨歌》钗钿寄情之典，可知其所咏情事本属深挚。晏殊身居台阁，词多写闲情与离愁，此词却于闲雅中注入悲凉，写「离别常多会面难」的普遍人生憾恨，不作个人愁怨之状，而上升为对人间情事的哲思。就词题而言，晏殊《珠玉词》中《破阵子》一调存世甚少，此首或为宴席歌筵之间代歌者立言，或为自抒怀抱之作，历来少有系年，今人多就词意论之。全词以问天作结，情深而气婉，可视为晏殊词中较有沉郁之致的篇章，与《踏莎行·细草愁烟》《蝶恋花·槛菊愁烟兰泣露》同属其闺情念远之作，而此篇取象独多仙家物事，尤见奇思别调。晏殊此词于仙凡对举之中寄寓的，实是士大夫对人间欢会无常的普遍悲感，其「富贵语中见凄凉」的特质，在《珠玉词》中别具一格，后世论者每谓其词「于富贵中见气象，于闲雅中见深情」，此作可当之而无愧。

Art

The ci is built on a contrast of immortal and mortal from the very first line: 'the peach of the sea ripens easily, the fair moon of the world is long full' stresses how easily things reach completeness, only to set off how seldom lovers meet. The third line turns sharply — 'only we who snapped the hairpin and split the locket part so often, meet so rarely' — where the word 'only' locks the whole poem: that humans are less fortunate than things, love less favored than immortals, is all contained there. The single line 'of this sorrow, heaven alone must be asked' hurls one private grievance at the sky, resentment so deep it turns into interrogation. The lower stanza animates household objects: candle tears and censer smoke, weeping all night and smoking all day, write a longing that never pauses, echoing Du Mu's candle that 'has a heart and grieves at parting, dropping tears for me till dawn.' 'One thread of desolate, uttermost grief — say not the Qin zither has strings to spare' measures boundless sorrow against unfinished strings, a brilliant counter-fall, and the closing sigh 'when did they ever convey it in full' ends with strings remaining but grief untransmittable. Notably, both halves close on futility: heaven is asked but does not answer; strings remain but cannot convey — two sighs echoing each other, wrapping the whole in helpless melancholy while the diction never loses its warmth. That is Yan Shu's measure of sorrow without injury.

此词立意以仙凡对举开篇：「海上蟠桃易熟，人间好月长圆」两句，极言仙家之物易得、人间之月长圆，反衬人情之离多会少，欲擒故纵，气势阔大。第三句急转，「惟有掰钗分钿侣，离别常多会面难」，点出钗钿之侣偏多离别，「惟有」二字锁住全篇，所谓人不如物、情不如仙者尽在其中。「此情须问天」五字单句，直问苍天，将一己之怨托之于天，怨之至深转而出以诘问之口。下片转写器物生情：「蜡烛到明垂泪，熏炉尽日生烟」，烛泪熏烟，皆拟人化之物象，彻夜垂泪与终日生烟对举，写相思之无时或已，颇具杜牧「蜡烛有心还惜别，替人垂泪到天明」之致。「一点凄凉愁绝意，谩道秦筝有剩弦」以筝弦未尽写愁绪无穷，反跌之笔尤妙。结句「何曾为细传」一叹收束，弦虽剩而愁终难传，层层推进，缠绵不尽。全词上片直陈离恨，下片借物传情，结以冷然一问，章法整饬而情韵深长，是晏殊词中「以雅笔写至情」的又一佳构。尤可注意者，全词两次以「徒劳」之意收束：上片「此情须问天」，问天而天不答，是徒劳之叹；下片「谩道秦筝有剩弦」，有弦而传不尽，亦是徒劳之叹。两叹遥相呼应，遂使全词笼罩在无可奈何的怅惘之中，而措语终不失温雅，此即晏殊「哀而不伤」的分寸。

Allusions

'The peach of the sea' invokes the Queen Mother of the West's immortal peach: the Han Wudi Neizhuan records her presenting such a peach to Emperor Wu, fruit that 'ripens once in three thousand years,' so the peach became an emblem of long life and completeness — and Yan Shu wryly calls it 'easy to ripen,' borrowing the length of fairy time to mock the shortness of human time. 'Snapping the hairpin and splitting the locket' transforms Bai Juyi's Song of Everlasting Sorrow — 'I send you the casket and the golden hairpin... one strand of the hairpin, one half of the casket' — where lovers divided hold matching tokens; Yan Shu's verbs 'snap' and 'split' sharpen the pain of sundering. 'The candle weeps till dawn' silently borrows Du Mu's 'the candle has a heart and grieves at parting, dropping tears for me till dawn,' while the censer's endless smoke belongs to the same lineage as Li Shangyin's 'silkworms spin silk until they die; the candle's tears dry only when it turns to ash.' The 'Qin zither' names the music of Qin — Li Si's 'Petition against the Expulsion of Guest Officers' mentions 'striking jars, tapping pots, strumming the zither' — and its melodies being largely plaintive, later poets made it the voice of resentment; Yan Shu's 'say not the zither has strings to spare' uses exactly this. 'Heaven alone must be asked' reaches back to Qu Yuan's Heavenly Questions and the tradition of pouring grievance into questions of the sky, here tinged with lovers' sorrows. And 'the fair moon of the human world is long full' reverses Xie Zhuang's 'Rhapsody on the Moon' — 'a thousand li apart, yet sharing the bright moon' — using the moon's fullness to set off man's incompleteness. Throughout, Yan Shu deploys his allusions unstubbornly, turning the familiar inside out with surprising effect.

「海上蟠桃」用西王母仙桃典故。《汉武帝内传》载西王母以仙桃赠汉武帝，云此桃「三千年一生实」，《博物志》亦载其事，仙桃遂为长生圆满之象征，晏殊反言其「易熟」，正是借仙家之长反衬人间之短。「掰钗分钿」化用白居易《长恨歌》「唯将旧物表深情，钿合金钗寄将去。钗留一股合一扇，钗擘黄金合分钿」之典，写男女以钗钿为信物而人各一方，晏殊以「掰」「分」入词，更见拆分之痛。「蜡烛到明垂泪」暗用杜牧《赠别二首》其二「蜡烛有心还惜别，替人垂泪到天明」句意。「熏炉尽日生烟」则以炉烟袅袅拟愁思绵延，与李商隐《无题》「春蚕到死丝方尽，蜡炬成灰泪始干」的「灰」「泪」意象同属一脉。「秦筝」谓秦地之声，李斯《谏逐客书》有「夫击瓮叩缶弹筝搏髀」之语，秦筝曲调多悲，后世遂以「秦筝」写怨，晏殊「谩道秦筝有剩弦」正用其意。「此情须问天」则遥承屈原《天问》以问泄愤的传统，而别添儿女之情。又「人间好月长圆」一句，翻用谢庄《月赋》「隔千里兮共明月」之思，月之常圆本为团聚之象征，而晏殊以「长圆」反写「难会」，以月之圆衬人之缺，物色与人事对照之下，更觉怅惘难言。凡此数端，皆可见晏殊用典不主故常、翻空出奇的手段。

Commentary

Wang Zhuo's Biji Manzhi praised Yan Shu as 'unmatched in charm and restraint, without equal in warmth and polish,' and this ci's gentle diction in writing sorrow, resentful yet not bitter, fits that verdict. Liu Xizai's Yigai observed that 'Yan Tongshu obtained the jun — the grace — of Feng Yansi's ci': Yan's strength lies in refinement of thought and surface, as in the paired lines of candle tears and censer smoke, where object and self merge — that is precisely 'jun.' Wu Zeng's Nenggai Zhai Manlu records Yan Shu and Song Qi admiring the couplet 'helplessly, flowers fall; as if we had met, swallows return,' showing his painstaking craft in couplets; the words 'snapped hairpin,' 'spare strings' here show equal care in diction. The modern scholar Wu Mei said Yan Shu 'washed away the sensuousness of the Huajian school,' and this poem's imagery — peach, bright moon, candle, censer — is pure and elegant, never perfumed. In sum, the poem's craft lies in writing persistent passion with a clean and graceful brush, feeling and refinement held in balance, unusually sombre among Yan's works. Its imagery moves from immortal to mortal, from far to near, with easy command of opening and closing; readers must savor the words 'easy' and 'spare' to catch the depth of its intention.

王灼《碧鸡漫志》评晏殊「风流蕴藉，一时莫及，温润秀洁，亦无其比」，此词写离愁而措语温润，怨而不怒，正合其评。刘熙载《艺概·词曲概》谓「冯延巳词，晏同叔得其俊」，晏词之长在「俊」，即思致与字面之精妙，如「蜡烛到明垂泪，熏炉尽日生烟」之对，物我交融，即「俊」之所在。吴曾《能改斋漫录》卷十一载，晏殊与宋祁相与论词，至「无可奈何花落去，似曾相识燕归来」一联，宋祁以为佳，晏殊自谓系于词中难得之对，可见其炼句之精；此词「掰钗分钿」「剩弦」等字，亦足见其于字面斟酌之细。近人吴梅《词学通论》谓晏殊词「一洗花间之秾艳」，此词以「蟠桃」「明月」「蜡烛」「熏炉」入词，取象清雅而不涉香艳，正合此评。综合数家之说，此词之工在能以清雅之笔写执着之情，深情与雅致兼得，于晏词中别具沉郁之致。又此词以「蟠桃」「明月」开篇而结于秦筝，取象由仙入凡、由远及近，章法开阖自如，宋人评词所谓「有气象、有骨力」者，于晏词中实不多见。要之，晏殊此作以温润之笔写执著之情，看似平平，实则于字面之外藏无限波澜，读者须于「易熟」「剩弦」诸处细加玩味，方能领略其措意之深。

Prosody

Form Ci (song lyric): double-stanza short form, sixty-two characters词（双调小令，六十二字）

Rhyme Level-tone rhymes, all from Division Seven of the Cilin Zhengyun (the han, shan, and xian rhyme groups)押平声韵，韵字属《词林正韵》第七部（上平十四寒、十五删、一先）

Tone pattern Five lines with three level-tone rhymes in each stanza; line endings alternate between level and oblique前后段各五句三平韵，句脚平仄相间

Reading note Po Zhen Zi is a double-stanza form of sixty-two characters, five lines with three level-tone rhymes in each stanza. This poem's rhymes — yuan (round), nan (hard), tian (heaven), yan (smoke), xian (strings), chuan (convey) — belong to the level-tone Division Seven of the Cilin Zhengyun, where the han, shan, and xian rhymes may be used together; the level-tone rhymes, slow and lingering, suit the low, repeated cadences of parting grief. The poem alternates six-character and seven-character lines: 'the sea's peach ripens easily; the world's fair moon is long full' opens with balanced six-character lines in even rhythm; 'only we who snapped the hairpin and split the locket, parting so many, meeting so seldom' shifts to seven characters and quickens the tempo; the transition 'the candle weeps till dawn; the censer smokes all day' returns to paired six-character lines, firm and rounded; and the close 'one thread of desolate grief — say not the zither has strings to spare; when did they ever convey it in full' moves from seven characters down to five, ending with unhurried ease, exactly fitting the tone of a closing sigh. The tune itself derives from military music — the Tang conservatory piece Po Zhen Le — and in Song ci is usually filled with stirring, heroic sound; that Yan Shu set it to such gentle words shows that the emotional color of a tune is never fixed, and that he was adept at fitting sound to feeling and feeling to sound. Moreover, the six rhyme words — yuan, nan, tian, yan, xian, chuan — are all clear and rounded in sound, rolling like pearls on a plate, matching the poem's warm, polished texture: the harmony of sound and sentiment is plainly visible here.《破阵子》双调六十二字，前段五句三平韵，后段五句三平韵。此词韵字「圆、难、天、烟、弦、传」，于《词林正韵》分属第七部平声（寒、删、先三韵通押），平声韵舒缓悠长，正合咏叹离愁、低回往复之情。全词以六言句与七言句相间，「海上蟠桃易熟，人间好月长圆」六言对起，节奏匀整；「惟有掰钗分钿侣，离别常多会面难」转七言而音调渐促；过片「蜡烛到明垂泪，熏炉尽日生烟」复归六言对，工稳圆转；结拍「一点凄凉愁绝意，谩道秦筝有剩弦。何曾为细传」由七言收至五言，收势从容，正合「一叹收束」的语气。此调本出于军乐，唐教坊曲名《破阵乐》，宋词中多作激昂慷慨之声，晏殊独以温婉之语填之，可见词调声情固非一成不变，而晏殊亦善以声就情、以情定声。且「圆、难、天、烟、弦、传」六韵，音皆清圆流转，读之如珠走盘，正与全词「温润」之质相表里，声与情之谐合，于此可见一斑。

Line by line

海上蟠桃易熟，人间好月长圆。

The immortal peach of the sea ripens with ease, and the fair moon of the human world is often full and round.

海上的仙桃尚且容易成熟，人间的明月也常常圆满。

The peaches of the gods on the sea ripen easily, and the lovely moon of the human world is often full.

起笔两句以仙凡对举，大开大合。「蟠桃易熟」翻用西王母仙桃三千年一熟之说，反说其「易」，与「好月长圆」并置，极言天地间圆满之物本不稀奇；而正因万物易得圆满，人间情事之离多会少便格外刺目。此二句故作宽解之语，实为「离别常多会面难」蓄势，欲抑先扬，笔力雄阔。将神话传说信手拈入词中而能自然流转，晏殊以宰相词人之笔写离愁，气象自与寻常闺怨不同，起调即见其胸襟。此等以神话反衬人事的写法，尤见宰相词人取象之宏，非徒作闺阁软语者可比。

The opening two lines set the immortal against the mortal in a grand sweep. The peach of the gods ripening easily reverses the tale of the Queen Mother's peach ripening once every three thousand years, saying it is easy; set beside the lovely moon often full, it argues that perfect things in heaven and earth are nothing rare. Precisely because all things so easily reach fullness, human life's many partings and few meetings stand out all the more. The two lines offer pretended comfort, really gathering force for parting is often, meeting is hard, suppressing before rising, a bold brush. Drawing myth into the ci as if at random and letting it flow naturally - Yan Shu, a chief-minister poet writing parting grief, has a scale no boudoir lament can match; the opening shows his breadth, and the way of using myth to set off human affairs reveals the grand imagery of the minister-poet.

蜡烛到明垂泪，熏炉尽日生烟。

The candle weeps its tears till dawn, and the censer breathes its smoke all day long.

蜡烛一直燃到天明，垂着惜别的泪痕；熏炉整日升着袅袅的轻烟。

The candle weeps until dawn; the censer breathes smoke the whole day long.

此联以拟人笔法写相思无时或已。烛有芯而成泪，炉有火而生烟，本是物理之常，诗人却以「垂泪」「生烟」赋予其情：烛泪是替人垂泪，炉烟是愁绪绵延。「到明」与「尽日」对举，把彻夜至昼的时间尽数覆盖，正见离愁之无间昼夜。全联字面工丽、对仗精整，而无斧凿之痕，与杜牧「蜡烛有心还惜别，替人垂泪到天明」一脉相承，而更见晏殊温润本色，是宋词中借器物写深情的典型范例。

This couplet uses personification to write love that never rests. The candle has a wick and weeps; the censer has fire and breathes smoke - physical facts, yet the poet gives them feeling: the candle's tears are wept on behalf of the person, the censer's smoke is the lingering grief. Until dawn pairs with the whole day, covering the time from night to day, showing grief without distinction of light or dark. The couplet's surface is crafted and its parallelism exact, yet without a chiseled trace; it follows Du Mu's the candle has a heart and grieves our parting, weeping for us until dawn, and shows Yan Shu's warm, refined nature - a typical instance of Song verse using objects to write deep feeling.

一点凄凉愁绝意，谩道秦筝有剩弦。

One thread of desolate, uttermost grief — say not the Qin zither still has strings to spare to carry it.

这一丝凄凉到极处的愁意，莫要说那秦筝还有未尽的弦音可以寄托。

One thread of desolation, grief at its height - say not the Qin zither has strings enough to utter it.

结拍以反语自嘲，愁极而转见豁达之假象。「一点」言其微，而「愁绝」言其至极，微与至极相反而相成，正是愁之愈深愈难以名状。筝有剩弦，本可再弹以泄愁，诗人却言「谩道」，谓纵有剩弦亦不能传此愁意，弦有余而愁无涯，反跌一层，愁之深重愈见。此种写法与「只恐双溪舴艋舟，载不动许多愁」同一机杼，皆以不可能之事状愁之分量，而晏殊出之以更蕴藉的叹息，怨而不激，正是其本色。读者于此当知，词人所谓「剩弦」之叹，非怨筝弦之不足，实恨情思之难尽也。

The closing turns to self-mockery in reverse, grief at its height wearing a mask of broad-mindedness. One thread says how slight, grief at its height says how extreme, the slight and the extreme contradict yet complete each other, for the deeper the grief the less nameable it is. The zither has strings left, and one might play them to vent grief; the poet says say not - even with strings left they cannot carry this grief, strings have a remainder while grief has no shore, a reverse plunge that shows the weight of sorrow. This shares the method of only I fear the little zhe boat on the Shuangxi cannot carry all this grief, using the impossible to measure grief's weight; yet Yan delivers it as a more reserved sigh, grieving without anger, his true nature. The reader should know that the poet's sigh over the strings left is not a complaint that the strings are too few but a grief that longing cannot be exhausted.

Study

Word focus

剩 The word 'spare' in 'say not the Qin zither has strings to spare' is exquisitely chosen: strings remain after the song ends, yet even the leftover strings cannot convey a grief so complete — strings may be spare, but sorrow never is. 「谩道秦筝有剩弦」之「剩」字，下得极巧。筝弦本有定数，一曲既罢，弦犹未断，是谓「剩弦」，即剩余之弦、未用之弦。诗人却说纵有剩弦也无济于事，愁到绝处，非弦声所能尽传。一个「剩」字，既写乐器之态，更写愁之有余：弦有剩而愁无剩，弦可尽而愁不可尽，以有限之物反衬无限之情，言简而意丰。此字又暗含「多此一举」之慨，与「谩道」呼应，愈转愈深，是晏殊炼字见功力处，全句之妙皆系此一字。

垂泪 'Dropping tears' in 'the candle weeps till dawn' is the poem's most personifying touch: the wax that trickles down becomes silent weeping on the candle's part, tears falling without sound through the whole night, so that candle tears and human tears can no longer be told apart. 「蜡烛到明垂泪」以「垂泪」写烛，是全词拟人化最浓的一笔。烛油受热下淌，本是物理现象，著「垂泪」二字，则烛成为有情之体，替离人垂泪终宵。「垂」字尤见神态：泪非迸流，而是无声下垂，正合闺中幽怨泣诉之态，与「到明」相连，写尽一夜之长、愁之不断。此句与「替人垂泪到天明」异文而同妙，而晏殊不用「替人」直说，出语更见含蓄，烛泪与人泪两两莫辨，物我浑融，遂使无情之物成为离愁的化身。

熟 The word 'ripen' in 'the sea's peach ripens easily' works by inversion: the peach that bears fruit once in three thousand years is declared 'easy to ripen,' so that immortal time sets off the shortness of human time and sets up the theme that 'partings are many, meetings few.' 「海上蟠桃易熟」之「熟」，是从反面用力的一字。西王母蟠桃「三千年一生实」，本为难得之物，晏殊却言其「易熟」，以仙家日月之长反衬人间光阴之促：仙桃尚易成熟，人间明月亦常圆满，独有情人之会面至难。一个「熟」字，把神话时间与人世时间并置，引出「离别常多会面难」的主旨，看似寻常，实为全篇立骨之字。以「熟」对下文「难」，一易一难，呼应紧凑，可见构思之密，非止字面之工。

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