All poems

宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

忆王孙

Recalling the Prince (Yi Wang Sun)

无名氏

Anonymous

宋词Song lyric 民间词folk lyric 伤春lamenting spring 闺怨boudoir grief 怀远longing for the far-off

杨柳风前旗鼓闹。
正陌上、闲花芳草。
忍将愁眼覰芳菲，人未老。
春先老。
长安比日知多少。
日易见、长安难到。
无情苕水不西流，渐迤逦、仙舟小。

Before the willows in the wind, banners and drums make a din.
On the path, idle flowers and fragrant grass.
I force my sorrowful eyes to gaze on the blossoms, though not yet old;
Spring has aged first.
Chang'an—how many days compare?
The sun is easy to see, but Chang'an hard to reach.
The heartless Tiao Stream will not flow west; the immortal boat dwindles, winding away.

Listen

Meaning

A woman at a spring outing is surrounded by merry crowds yet lost in her own grief: though she has not aged, spring has aged before her. She laments that the one she longs for, symbolized by Chang'an, is as hard to reach as the sun is easy to see, and that the heartless stream and the receding boat leave her hope adrift. It is a folk lyric of spring-lament and distant longing.

杨柳春风之中，旗鼓喧阗，春游正热闹。强忍着以含愁的眼去看那芳菲春色，人还没有老。无情的苕溪水不肯向西流，那仙舟渐渐蜿蜒远去，越来越小。

Appreciation

The poem excels at writing grief through joy, its contrast running throughout. The opening 'banners and drums make a din' sets the noisy spring against the 'sorrowful eyes' of the next line—all rejoice in spring, only she is grieved by it, and the louder the crowd the lonelier her sorrow. 'Though not yet old; spring has aged first' sets youth against spring's decline in a startling, fresh contrast; the close, with the stream and far boat, ends on vagueness without a word of doctrine. In short lines it holds clear beginning, continuation, turn and close, the natural law of the folk song.

【白话串讲】无名氏写忆王孙：“杨柳风前旗鼓闹。正陌上、闲花芳草”。“忍将愁眼覰芳菲，人未老。春先老”——“长安比日知多少。日易见、长安难到”——他写长安难回。【意象与手法】以乐景写哀贯穿始终。「旗鼓闹」反衬愁眼之孤；「人未老，春先老」反常对比翻出新意；结以流水远舟写渺茫。【情感与主旨】写热闹春景中一人之孤愁，伤春兼怀远，语虽俚而情真切，存民间词天然去饰的本色。【名句点睛】「人未老。春先老」移情于物，奇警醒目；「无情苕水不西流，渐迤逦、仙舟小」以景结情，离恨自深。

Background

The author is unknown, a work of Song-dynasty pleasure-quarters or folk lyricists, included in the 'Anonymous' volume of Tang Guizhang's Complete Song Lyrics. 'Recalling the Prince' is a short lyric; this piece is longer, a variant or alternate name, common in Song singing books. It writes of a late-spring woman touring and longing: the opening 'banners and drums make a din' writes the outing's noise, then turns to 'I force my sorrowful eyes'—she has not aged, yet 'spring has aged first'; the Chang'an she longs for (standing for the far beloved or the capital) is hard to reach; it closes with 'the heartless Tiao Stream will not flow west; the immortal boat dwindles'—water and boat writing the block of letters and the faintness of the returning boat. A typical spring-lament and boudoir piece, it writes one woman's grief amid the merry scene, showing the Song anonymous lyrics' folk truth and rustic charm, unlike the courtly lyrics' elegance. The value of anonymous lyrics lies in this un-touched native color, more natural than the crafted work of the professional poets.

此词作者无考，当为宋时坊曲或民间词人之作，收入唐圭璋《全宋词》无名氏卷。《忆王孙》本为短调小令，此阕篇幅稍长，属其变体或传抄异名，多见于宋人乐府唱本。词写暮春女子游春而怀远：起笔「杨柳风前旗鼓闹」写春游之喧闹，随即折入「忍将愁眼覰芳菲」的孤愁，叹「人未老。春先老」，所念「长安」（借指远方所欢或京华）难到，终以「无情苕水不西流，渐迤逦、仙舟小」收束，以流水与远舟写音书阻隔、归舟渺茫。全词是典型伤春闺怨之作，于热闹春景中独写一人之愁，可见宋无名氏词多存民间真率在野之趣，与文人词之雅婉异趣，是词史中不可轻忽的一脉。无名氏词之价值，正在其未经文人染指的本色，较之同时代词匠之刻意求工，转多天然真趣。此词写春游而怀远，以旗鼓之闹反衬愁眼之孤，章法虽简而情致自深，足证民间词亦能于浅近中寓沉痛。今之治词史者，于温韦晏欧之外，亦当留意此等里巷之声，方见宋词生态之全，此即辑录无名氏词之意义所在。

Art

The poem is best at writing grief through joy, its contrast running throughout. The first line 'banners and drums make a din' opens with the thick spring noise of banners and crowds, stark against the next line's 'sorrowful eyes'—all view spring, only I am grieved by it; the merrier the scene, the lonelier the sorrow. 'Though not yet old; spring has aged first' sets the short lines opposite, contrasting human youth with spring's decline in a fresh way: not that I have aged, but that worry has aged spring first, a finely wrought prosopopoeia. 'The heartless Tiao Stream will not flow west; the immortal boat dwindles' ends in pure scene, no argument yet the parting grief shows; the smaller the boat the farther the man, the stream not west so the letter cannot be sent—writing despair by distance, endless in reserve, the short lyric's fine close by scene. It opens with one line of noise, continues with one line of lone grief, turns with the strange contrast, and closes with a far view; though in short length, the sequence is clear. The folk hand may not know the name of design, yet forms its own law in natural song.

此词最善以乐景写哀，反衬手法贯穿始终。起句「杨柳风前旗鼓闹」以旗鼓喧阗、游人如织的浓烈春闹起势，与下片「忍将愁眼覰芳菲」的愁眼形成强烈对照——众皆赏春，独我触景生愁，热闹愈甚，孤愁愈显。「人未老。春先老」以短句对举，将人之青春与春之迟暮作反常对比，翻出新意：不是人老，而是心愁使春先老，拟人之笔极炼。「无情苕水不西流，渐迤逦、仙舟小」则 pure 景语收束，不著议论而离恨自见，舟愈小则人愈远，水不西则信难寄，以空间之远写情之绝望，含蓄不尽，是小令以景结情之妙。全词以一句热闹起，以一句孤愁承，再以反常之对比转，终以远景收，起承转合虽在短幅之中，而脉络分明，步武不乱。民间词手虽未必知章法之名，而于自然歌咏中自成法度，此即天工与人工之辨证。其以「仙舟小」收束，不落议论而离恨自深，较之文人词之往往说破，转觉含蓄，亦可见民间抒情自有其高妙处。

Allusions

'Chang'an' since the Tang has stood for the heart's destination; Li Bai's 'over Chang'an the moon, ten thousand homes pounding cloth' and later poets often use Chang'an for the capital or the beloved, and this lyric's 'Chang'an—how many days compare' and 'the sun is easy to see, but Chang'an hard to reach' follows that tradition, using Chang'an for the place seen yet unreached. 'Tiao Stream' (Tiaoxi) rises in Tianmu Mountain in Zhejiang and flows east into Tai Lake, hence 'will not flow west'; the poet uses the irreversible flow to figure the block of letters and the returning boat, echoing the old sense of 'a hundred rivers east to the sea, when return west?' The 'immortal boat' transforms the Eastern Han tale of Li Ying and Guo Tai crossing the river together, whom onlookers took for immortals, here turned into the image of the awaited one's boat receding. The allusions are familiar yet, touched by the folk hand, fit the longing naturally. The poem sets 'Chang'an' and 'Tiao Stream' opposite—one the unreachable capital, one the east-flowing stream—whose spatial choice echoes the old memory of 'water flows east, heart turns to Chang'an,' deeply cultured though from the lanes.

「长安」自唐以来即为心之所向的代称，李白「长安一片月，万户捣衣声」、后世诗词每以长安指京华或所欢所在，此词「长安比日知多少」「日易见、长安难到」正沿此传统，以长安喻可望难即之地。「苕水」即苕溪，源出浙江天目山，东流注入太湖，故云「不西流」，词人借水流方向之不可逆，喻音书与归舟之阻隔，暗合「百川东到海，何时复西归」之古意。「仙舟」则化用东汉李膺、郭泰同舟济河、士宾望之以为神仙之典（《后汉书·郭太传》），此处转为所待之人乘舟渐远之象。数典皆熟，经民间词手点化，自然贴合怀远之旨。又此词以「长安」「苕水」对举，一为可望而不可即之京城，一为不西流之溪水，空间意象之选择，暗合古人「水向东流」「心向长安」之集体记忆，虽出里巷而文化积淀自深。民间词之用典，每在不自知处承传雅传统，此即所谓野处亦有文心。故读无名氏词，不当以无学识轻之，其用事之自然，正文人刻意摹拟而难得者，足证民间抒情自有其高妙处。

Commentary

Anonymous lyrics survive through Tang Guizhang's wide gathering in the Complete Song Lyrics, keeping much of the Song lanes' true face of song. Modern critics value folk lyrics beside the courtly; Long Yusheng's Outline of Ci Studies says the anonymous short lyrics 'are mostly natural and unadorned, with the遗留 of the yuefu.' This lyric writes the spring outing in the vulgar white description of 'banners and drums' and 'idle flowers,' and turns grief with the colloquial 'though not yet old; spring has aged first,' unlike Li Qingzhao's elegant 'Recalling the Prince' or Ouyang Xiu's gentle 'Huanxi sha,' carrying more market-place sincerity. Its 'heartless Tiao Stream will not flow west' shares the vein of Li Bai's 'ask the east-flowing water which is longer, parting or it.' Readers should hear, in the plain words, the folk lyric's special freshness and directness, not judge it by courtly standards. Though placed at the end of the collected lyrics, its documentary and aesthetic worth is not slight.

无名氏词赖唐圭璋《全宋词》广搜博采得传，其中多存宋时里巷歌谣与坊曲唱词之真面目。近人论词，于文人词外亦重民间词之价值，龙榆生《词学概论》即谓无名氏小令「多天然去饰，有乐府遗风」。此词以「旗鼓闹」「闲花芳草」的俚俗白描写春游，以「人未老。春先老」的口语翻案写愁，与李清照《怨王孙》「湖上风来波浩渺」之雅、欧阳修《浣溪沙》之婉皆不相同，更具市井真率之气。其「无情苕水不西流」与李白「请君试问东流水，别意与之谁短长」同一以水写恨之脉。今人读之，当于浅近语中见民间词特有的鲜活与直切，不当以文人雅词标准苛责。近人编纂总集，于无名氏词每附于卷末，然其文献与审美价值实未可轻。此词写伤春怀远，语虽俚而情自真，与文人词之雕琢恰成对照。今人读之，当于旗鼓闲花之热闹中，听出一人之孤愁，方不负作者留此一声。词之生命，本在能打动人心，不在作者之有无姓字，此亦无名氏词所以能传之久远之故也。

Prosody

Form Ci lyric, short form (variant of 'Recalling the Prince')词·小令（《忆王孙》变体）

Rhyme Throughout oblique-tone rhyme (nao, cao, lao, lao, shao, dao, xiao, in the eighth bu xiao/hao group of the Ci Rhyme Standard).通体仄韵（闹、草、老、老、少、到、小，词林正韵第八部萧豪/筱皓）

Tone pattern Short lines repeated, one rhyme sustained, closing on oblique tones.短句叠用，一韵到底，仄声收束

Reading note Though titled 'Recalling the Prince,' this piece is longer than the common thirty-one-character monostrophe, a variant or alternate name in Song singing, with uneven lines yet one sustained rhyme. All rhyme on oblique tones—nao (xiao group), cao, lao (hao group), shao (xiao group), dao (hao group), xiao (xiao group)—belonging to the eighth bu (xiao/hao) of the Ci Rhyme Standard, its voice clear and slightly pressing, matching the anxious heart of spring-lament and longing. The line lengths favor four-, five- and six-syllable short lines, with leading words like 'on the path,' 'the sun is easy to see,' 'dwindling' to turn the rhythm, skipping and colloquial, fitting the folk song's 'walking the tune by the law.' The close 'dwindling, the immortal boat small' with a virtual word leaves a far echo in the oblique rhyme's brooding, a short form with rise and fall, showing the folk lyric's natural gift for sound. Though titled 'Recalling the Prince,' its free lines show the lanes' singer setting words by sound, not bound to the courtly fixed pattern.此词虽题《忆王孙》，篇幅较常见单调三十一字者为长，属宋人传唱中的变体或异名，句法参差错落而一韵到底。全词以仄声收韵，闹（效韵）、草（皓韵）、老（皓韵）、少（筱韵）、到（号韵）、小（筱韵）诸韵脚同隶词林正韵第八部（萧豪、筱皓通押），声情清峭而略带促迫，与伤春怀远的急切心绪相表里。句式上多用四、五、六字短句，间以「正陌上、」「日易见、」「渐迤逦、」等领字斡旋，节奏跳宕而口语化，正合民间唱词「随律走腔」的特点。结句「渐迤逦、仙舟小」以虚字领起，于仄韵沉郁中留出悠远余音，短调而具起伏，足见民间词之于声情自有天然之妙。民间唱词本重声情自然，此词虽题《忆王孙》而句法自由，正见里巷歌者因声以度词之实况，不必尽合文人定格。其以口语虚字斡旋节奏，使短调具摇曳之致，尤足证民间词之天生音律感。学者论词律，若仅据文人词之格范，往往疑此词为变体，不知变体之先，本有活法在，此词正可补词律研究之一隅。

Line by line

杨柳风前旗鼓闹。

Before the willows in the wind, banners and drums make a din.

杨柳春风之中，旗鼓喧阗，春游正热闹。

Willows in the spring wind; banners and drums are in noisy uproar.

起句以浓墨写春游之喧闹，「旗鼓」点出游春行列的声势，「闹」字兼听觉与动态，将春风中游人熙攘、锣鼓喧天的节俗气氛一笔画出。此句看似闲笔，实则为全词布下反衬之局：外界愈热闹，内层之愁愈孤。以乐景起，正为哀情张本，是「以乐写哀，一倍其哀」的传统笔法。一个「闹」字，活化了整个春场，也使后文「愁眼」的冷寂对照更为触目，起势极有力量。

The opening writes the bustle of the spring outing in thick ink; banners and drums mark the pageantry of the spring procession, and the word uproar joins hearing and motion, drawing in one stroke the festival air of crowds and gongs in the spring wind. The line seems a casual touch, really setting the contrast of the ci: the noisier the outer world, the lonelier the inner grief. Rising in a joyous scene is preparation for grief, the traditional method of writing joy through grief and doubling the grief. The single word uproar brings the whole spring scene to life and makes the later grieving eyes' cold stillness all the more glaring; the opening is full of force.

忍将愁眼覰芳菲，人未老。

I force my sorrowful eyes to gaze on the blossoms, though not yet old.

强忍着以含愁的眼去看那芳菲春色，人还没有老。

Hardly can I bear to gaze with grieving eyes on the fragrant spring; the person is not yet old.

「忍将愁眼覰芳菲」一句，由外景折入内心，「忍」字极重——并非不愿看，而是不忍看、偏又不得不看，矛盾心理尽出。「覰」即看，用愁眼去看本应娱目的芳菲，物我相戾，春色遂成愁媒。紧接「人未老」短句顿住，为下片「春先老」蓄势。三句一气转折：旗鼓之闹、芳菲之丽，皆成愁人之累，而人犹未老，愁已先至，已暗伏「春先老」之奇语，章法绵密而情致婉曲。

The line turns from outer scene to inner feeling, and the word hardly is heavy - it is not that she will not look but that she cannot bear to look, yet must, and the contradiction is complete. To gaze means to look; using grieving eyes on the fragrant spring that should delight the eye sets thing against self, and the spring becomes the messenger of grief. Then the short line the person is not yet old stops short, gathering force for the lower stanza's spring grows old first. The three lines turn at a breath: the uproar of banners and drums, the beauty of the fragrant spring, all become the burden of the grieving person, who is not yet old though grief has come first, secretly foreshadowing the strange words spring grows old first; the structure is close-woven and the feeling winding.

无情苕水不西流，渐迤逦、仙舟小。

The heartless Tiao Stream will not flow west; the immortal boat dwindles, winding away.

无情的苕溪水不肯向西流，那仙舟渐渐蜿蜒远去，越来越小。

The heartless Tiao River will not flow west; the fairy boat winds away, growing small.

结句以景语收束全词，离恨尽在不言中。「无情苕水不西流」赋水以无情，反衬人之多情与无奈——水自东去，不向西流，则寄往长安（西方）的盼念终成虚愿。「渐迤逦、仙舟小」写所待之舟蜿蜒远逝，由大渐小，空间之远即心程之绝望。二句纯写景而情溢于景，与李白「唯见长江天际流」、柳永「忍凝眸，杳杳神京路」同一以远逝之物写渺茫之思，余韵悠长，是小令以景结情、含蓄见工的范例。

The closing ends in scenery, parting grief all in silence. The heartless Tiao River will not flow west endows the water with heartlessness, setting off the person's feeling and helplessness - the water goes east and will not flow west, so the longing sent toward Chang'an (the west) ends in vain. The fairy boat winds away, growing small writes the awaited boat winding into the distance, from large to small, and the spatial distance is the hopelessness of the heart's road. The two lines are pure scenery, yet feeling overflows it; sharing Li Bai's I only see the Yangtze flowing to the sky's edge and Liu Yong's enduring fixed gaze, the distant capital road, they use the receding object to write the dim longing, the aftertone long - a model of the short song ending feeling in scenery, restrained and finely wrought.

Study

Word focus

闹 'Nao' here means noisy, bustling; it figures sound as motion, writing the spring outing's banners and drums in full force. 'Nao' is a vulgar word; Song lyricists often use it for thick spring, as in Song Qi's 'red apricots on the branch—spring's meaning makes a din,' which became famous. Here 'banners and drums make a din' likewise brings the whole spring scene alive with one word, yet its purpose is to contrast the later line's lonely sorrowful eyes—the noise is the crowd's, the lone grief is mine. One word sets the whole poem's joy-versus-grief design, showing the folk hand's power even in common words. 「闹」字在此作喧阗、热闹解，以听觉拟动态，写春游旗鼓之盛。「闹」本为俗字，宋人词中每以「闹」写春意之浓，如宋祁「红杏枝头春意闹」即以「闹」字炼出满园生机，遂成名句。此词「旗鼓闹」之「闹」，同样以一字活出节俗喧腾，然其用意在反衬后文愁眼之寂——热闹属众，孤愁属我。一字之设，已定全词乐哀相激之局，可见民间词手于寻常字眼中亦具经营之力。

覰 'Qu' (same as 'qu') means to steal a look, to peer closely. 'I force my sorrowful eyes to gaze on the blossoms' uses 'qu' for a subtle state—daring not stare yet unable not to steal a glance—more layered than 'look' or 'gaze.' The sorrowful eyes are timid yet go to peer at the blossom that brings grief; one 'qu' writes the contradiction and fixation. Folk lyrics favor such live words, showing manner in plainness, as Wen Tingyun's 'mirror before and behind, flower and face reflect' uses 'reflect' for bearing—precise verbs conveying the mind, the wonder of wording without a screen. 「覰」（同「觑」）者，偷看、细看也。「忍将愁眼覰芳菲」以「覰」字写一种不敢直视又忍不住偷觑的微妙情态，较之「看」「望」更具心理层次。愁眼本怯，偏去覰那惹愁的芳菲，一「覰」字写出矛盾与执着。民间词好用此类活字，于浅近中见神态，恰如温庭筠「照花前后镜，花面交相映」之「映」字写容与，皆以精准动词传人物心理，炼字之妙在不隔。

老 The word 'lao' (old/age) turns fresh in two places: first 'though not yet old,' then 'spring has aged first,' an odd contrast with the same word. How can spring, unknowing, be old? The poet gives feeling to things, measuring spring by his own grief, feeling spring lose its freshness because of his sorrow, thus aging before his youth. This 'I view things, so things bear my color' prosopopoeia shares the spring-grief blood of Li Yu's 'the flowing water and fallen flowers, spring is gone.' The two words opposed wake the eye, the key to the short lyric's strange alarm in brief length, and show the folk lyric's freedom from the common mold. 「老」字在两处翻出新意：先有「人未老」，继有「春先老」，以同一「老」字作反常对比。春本无知，何言老？词人移情于物，以心愁度春色，觉春光因己之愁而顿失鲜润，遂先老于人之青春。此种「以我观物，故物皆著我之色彩」的拟物写法，与李煜「流水落花春去也」同一伤春血脉。二字对照，醒人耳目，是小令于短幅中见奇警的关键，亦见民间词不囿常格的鲜活。又此词以「长安」「苕水」对举，一为可望之京城，一为不西之流水，空间意象之选择，暗合古人「水向东流」「心向长安」之集体记忆，虽出里巷而文化积淀自深。民间词之用典，每在不自知处承传雅传统，此即所谓野处亦有文心。故读无名氏词，不当以无学识轻之，其用事之自然，正文人刻意摹拟而难得者。

忆王孙