唐 Tang · 诗 Poem
春怨
A Complaint in Spring
打起黄莺儿，莫教枝上啼。
啼时惊妾梦，不得到辽西。
Do not let it sing upon the branch.
Its singing wakes me from my dream—
And I cannot reach Liaoxi.
Meaning
A woman drives off the oriole whose song would break the dream in which she journeys to Liaoxi to meet her soldier husband, revealing the depth of a wartime separation.
赶走那黄莺儿，别让它在枝头啼叫。它一啼叫就惊醒了我的梦，叫我没法在梦里赶到辽西去见丈夫。
Appreciation
The whole poem shows a woman shooing away the oriole on the branch, for its song would shatter the dream in which she travels to Liaoxi to meet her husband at the frontier. The four lines unfold in one breath, from 'driving the bird' to 'the dream breaks' to 'cannot reach Liaoxi,' voicing a longing wife's devotion with the utmost delicacy. The word Liaoxi names the war, giving her private grief the weight of an era. It seems a mere coquettish complaint, yet it is the shared sorrow of countless women married to conscripts.
【白话串讲】 “打起黄莺儿，莫教枝上啼”——金昌绪写春怨：她要把黄莺赶走。“啼时惊妾梦，不得到辽西”——原来黄莺会惊醒她的梦，她正在梦里见边关的丈夫。二十个字，一个婉转的悬念。 【意象与手法】 不写思念而写“驱莺”，以反常举动写深挚之情。“辽西”一词点出征戍背景，全诗的闺怨遂有了时代厚度。 【情感与主旨】 看似写小儿女娇嗔，实则是千百万征人妇的共同悲苦。战争让夫妻天各一方，连梦中相聚都被鸟啼剥夺，怨而不怒，哀婉动人。 【名句点睛】 “啼时惊妾梦，不得到辽西”——以梦被惊破写聚首之难，短短十字，痴情与辛酸俱足。
Background
Frontier troubles were frequent in the Tang, and many were conscripted to Liaoxi; the longing wife's complaint became a common theme. In just a few words this poem conveys the deepest feeling, a model of 'small form, great meaning' among Tang five-character quatrains.
《春怨》为唐代金昌绪所作，是写思妇闺怨、恨莺惊梦之情的诗。金昌绪（生卒年不详），余杭人，唐代诗人。此诗：打起黄莺儿，莫教枝上啼。啼时惊妾梦，不得到辽西。全诗写思妇闺怨、恨莺惊梦之情，是金昌绪诗的名篇。
Art
Twenty characters yet a complete little plot: the impulse (drive the bird), the reason (do not sing), the cause (dream broken), the aim (reach Liaoxi). It builds backward to its point, revealing the theme only in the last line, with an endless aftertaste.
《春怨》艺术上以恨莺惊梦的描摹与思妇闺怨的深婉见长。全诗四句，层层写来：首写打起黄莺儿——“打起黄莺儿，莫教枝上啼”写打起黄莺儿、莫教枝上啼；末写惊梦辽西——“啼时惊妾梦，不得到辽西”写啼时惊妾梦、不得到辽西。全诗以恨莺惊梦写思妇闺怨，正是金昌绪诗深婉的笔法。
Allusions
Liaoxi refers to the land west of the Liao River, often a Tang garrison region; 'qie' (I, your servant) was an ancient woman's humble self-address.
《春怨》用典在“辽西”“黄莺”。“辽西”写辽西（征夫戍地，唐军戍守之处）；“黄莺”写黄莺（报春之鸟）。全诗以这些意象写思妇闺怨、恨莺惊梦，用典自然而深婉自见，正是金昌绪诗的笔法。
Commentary
Zhong Xing of Tang Shi Gui remarked: 'The idea is wonderfully strange, the tone artlessly direct—this is why it is a Tang masterpiece.'
《春怨》是金昌绪诗的名篇，也是唐代思妇诗中写闺怨的代表作。此诗写思妇闺怨、恨莺惊梦之情，向为论者称道。论者多赏其恨莺惊梦的描摹与思妇闺怨的深婉——“打起黄莺儿，莫教枝上啼”写打起黄莺、莫教枝上啼，深婉之极；“啼时惊妾梦，不得到辽西”写啼时惊妾梦、不得到辽西，更见其怨。金昌绪仅存此诗，却是唐诗名篇——以恨莺惊梦写思妇闺怨，正是其诗风。
Prosody
Line by line
打起黄莺儿，莫教枝上啼。
Drive away the yellow oriole; do not let it cry upon the branch.
打起黄莺儿，莫教枝上啼。
Drive away the oriole, I tell you; let it not sing upon the bough.
首写打起黄莺儿、莫教枝上啼，是全诗写恨莺之情的起点。“打起黄莺儿”写打起黄莺儿——“打起黄莺儿”写赶走那黄莺儿——打起黄莺儿；“莫教枝上啼”写莫教枝上啼——“莫教枝上啼”写别让它在枝头啼叫——莫教枝上啼。二句写打起黄莺儿、莫教枝上啼：打起黄莺儿，莫教枝上啼。以“打起黄莺儿”写赶走黄莺、驱之使去，以“莫教枝上啼”写莫教枝啼、恐惊好梦，正是金昌绪诗写恨莺之情的起点——打起黄莺，莫教枝啼。
The opening writes drive away the oriole, I tell you; let it not sing upon the bough, the starting point of the whole's writing the grievance at the oriole. The first line writes driving off the bird; the second writes not letting it sing on the branch. The two lines write the chasing of the oriole and the forbidding of its song, exactly Jin Changxu's starting point of writing the grievance at the bird - drive off the oriole, let it not sing on the bough, fearing it will startle the sweet dream.
啼时惊妾梦，不得到辽西。
When it cries it startles my dream, and I cannot reach Liaoxi.
啼时惊妾梦，不得到辽西。
When it sings, it startles my dream, and I cannot reach Liaoxi.
末用辽西之典写啼时惊妾梦、不得到辽西，是全诗写思妇闺怨的归结。“啼时惊妾梦”写啼时惊妾梦——“啼时惊妾梦”写它一啼就惊醒了我的梦——啼时惊妾梦；“不得到辽西”用辽西之典写不得到辽西——“不得到辽西”用辽西为征夫戍地写没法在梦里到辽西见夫——不得到辽西。二句写啼时惊妾梦、不得到辽西：啼时惊妾梦，不得到辽西。以“啼时惊妾梦”写莺啼惊梦、好梦中断，以“不得到辽西”用辽西之典写梦断辽西、难见征夫，正是金昌绪诗写思妇闺怨的归结——惊梦辽西，怨在心头。
The close uses the Liaoxi allusion to write when it sings, it startles my dream, and I cannot reach Liaoxi, the landing of the whole's writing the chamber grievance. The first line writes that its singing startles my dream; the second uses the Liaoxi allusion, Liaoxi being the conscript's garrison, to write that she cannot in the dream reach Liaoxi to see her husband. The two lines write the oriole's song breaking the dream, and the dream cut short before Liaoxi, the conscript hard to see, exactly Jin Changxu's landing of the longing wife's grievance - the dream startled at Liaoxi, the grief within the heart.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
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此处关联韦庄《菩萨蛮·其二》，与本首在主题、体裁或作者上相关联，可对比阅读以见其同异。