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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

寒闺怨

Grievance in a Cold Chamber

白居易

Bai Juyi

寒月沉沉洞房静，真珠帘外梧桐影。
秋霜欲下手先知，灯底裁缝剪刀冷。

The cold moon sinks deep; the bridal chamber is still; beyond the pearl curtain, the shadow of the plane tree.
Before the autumn frost descends, her hand knows it first,
sewing by the lamplight, the shears are cold.
Listen

Meaning

In a moonlit bridal chamber a woman sews by the lamplight. The frost has not yet fallen, but her hand knows it first, in the cold shears. Bai Juyi's quatrain writes a wife's longing entirely through temperature: the chill she feels while making garments for an absent husband is the chill of separation itself.

寒月沉沉洞房静，真珠帘外梧桐影。秋霜欲下手先知，灯底裁缝剪刀冷。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The cold moon hangs low, the chamber is silent, and beyond the pearl curtain stands the plane tree's shadow. Autumn frost is about to come, and before it falls her hand has already felt it, for the shears she sews with by the lamplight are cold. [Imagery] Every image is cold and still: the sinking moon, the silent chamber, the motionless shadow, the frosted shears. The woman never speaks; the poem writes her loneliness entirely through temperature. [Technique] The masterstroke is that her hand knows it first: the body feels the season before it arrives, and the sewing she does becomes an act of care conducted in cold. Bai Juyi's plain style achieves the clear, cold, subtle tone for which the poem is famous.

【白话串讲】 白居易写《寒闺怨》：“寒月沉沉洞房静，真珠帘外梧桐影”——“秋霜欲下手先知，灯底裁缝剪刀冷”——他写寒闺——灯底裁缝剪刀冷。 【意象与手法】 “寒月沉沉洞房静，真珠帘外梧桐影”写寒月洞房；“秋霜欲下手先知”写手先知秋霜；结以“灯底裁缝剪刀冷”以剪刀冷写闺怨。清冷深婉。 【情感与主旨】 白居易写寒闺怨之作，写寒月洞房、灯底裁缝而剪刀先觉秋霜之冷，以物候写思妇之忧，是写闺怨的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“寒月沉沉洞房静，真珠帘外梧桐影”写寒月洞房；“秋霜欲下手先知，灯底裁缝剪刀冷”以剪刀冷写闺怨。

Background

Bai Juyi (772-846), courtesy name Letian, was the leading poet of the mid-Tang period and the chief advocate of the New Yuefu movement, though he also excelled in short lyric forms. Born in Xinzheng, Henan, he served in and out of office and wrote in a famously plain, communicative style. This quatrain belongs to his boudoir-lament poems, verse written in the voice of a lonely wife. The cold chamber of the title and the autumnal setting place the poem in the long tradition of wife's-longing verse, but Bai Juyi's restraint, with no direct statement of feeling, gives it a crystalline chill all its own.

《寒闺怨》为唐代诗人白居易所作诗。白居易（772—846），字乐天，号香山居士，又号醉吟先生，祖籍太原，生于河南新郑，中唐诗人，新乐府运动倡导者。此诗写闺怨，为咏寒闺之作。诗中「寒月沉沉洞房静，真珠帘外梧桐影」写寒月沉沉洞房静，真珠帘外梧桐影；「秋霜欲下手先知，灯底裁缝剪刀冷」写秋霜欲下手先知，灯底裁缝剪刀冷。白居易此诗以闺怨、灯底裁缝剪刀冷写其闺怨之情，清冷深婉，是白居易诗中的名篇。此篇《寒闺怨》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。此篇《寒闺怨》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。

Art

Bai Juyi's quatrain works by temperature, not statement. The first couplet builds a still, cold interior: sinking moon, silent chamber, pearl curtain, plane-tree shadow, a scene of suspended time. The second couplet introduces the body: before the autumn frost descends, her hand knows it first. The hand, not the heart, registers the season, and the cold shears turn her task into a measure of her solitude, since she is making, presumably, garments for an absent man. The genius is indirection: Bai Juyi never says that she misses him; he says the shears are cold, and the reader feels the whole emotional weather of a lonely marriage. This is the clear and subtle manner that made Bai Juyi's short poems famous.

此诗艺术上以「清冷深婉、以月写情」见长。全诗共四句两联，由寒月沉沉洞房静而秋霜欲下手先知。起「寒月沉沉洞房静，真珠帘外梧桐影」写寒月沉沉洞房静：寒月沉沉洞房静，真珠帘外梧桐影；结「秋霜欲下手先知，灯底裁缝剪刀冷」写秋霜欲下手先知：秋霜欲下手先知，灯底裁缝剪刀冷。全诗以月写情，由寒月沉沉洞房静而灯底裁缝剪刀冷，清冷深婉，是白居易诗中的名篇。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。

Allusions

The poem's references are embedded in its imagery rather than named. The plane tree is the classic autumn tree of Chinese poetry, associated with loneliness and cooling seasons. The bridal chamber is the traditional space of the young wife, and the pearl curtain marks a wealthy household, so the poem's cold is the cold of a well-appointed but loveless room. The autumn frost about to fall echoes the old custom of preparing winter clothes: the wife sewing ahead of the cold is preparing for a husband who may never return, an unstated allusion to the entire prepare-winter-garments theme of parting poetry. Bai Juyi the plain stylist is on display; no allusion is paraded, every reference works through things.

诗中「寒月沉沉洞房静真珠帘外梧桐影」「秋霜欲下手先知灯底裁缝剪刀冷」等语，皆含典故故实。「寒月沉沉洞房静真珠帘外梧桐影」写寒月沉沉洞房静真珠帘外梧桐影；「秋霜欲下手先知灯底裁缝剪刀冷」写秋霜欲下手先知灯底裁缝剪刀冷。诗人以梧桐、秋霜等语入诗，不着痕迹，而把闺怨之情写得真切可感，是善于熔铸典故的体现。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。

Commentary

Grievance in a Cold Chamber is one of Bai Juyi's most anthologized quatrains, prized for its crystalline restraint. Critics have long admired the closing line, in which the shears are cold, as a perfect fusion of object and feeling: the coldness is the shears', yet it is also the woman's, the whole emotional weather of the poem concentrated in one household tool. Later commentators read the poem against the grander social concerns of Bai Juyi's New Yuefu poems, noting that his minor lyrics can be just as precise in their psychology. For learners, the poem is a model of how Chinese quatrains write feeling through things: no I, no she, no word for sadness, only a cold moon, a shadow, and a pair of cold shears.

这首《寒闺怨》，是白居易写闺怨之作，写寒月沉沉洞房静、秋霜欲下手先知、灯底裁缝剪刀冷之情，清冷深婉。起「寒月沉沉洞房静，真珠帘外梧桐影」——寒月沉沉洞房静，真珠帘外梧桐影。写寒月沉沉洞房静：寒月沉沉洞房静、真珠帘外梧桐影——洞房静、梧桐影；结「秋霜欲下手先知，灯底裁缝剪刀冷」——秋霜欲下手先知，灯底裁缝剪刀冷。写秋霜欲下手先知：秋霜欲下手先知、灯底裁缝剪刀冷——手先知、剪刀冷。这「秋霜欲下手先知，灯底裁缝剪刀冷」，是全诗之结：以灯底裁缝剪刀冷写其闺怨。全诗清冷深婉，以月写情，正是白居易诗中的名篇。综观全诗，情真、景切、理深，三者浑融无迹，故能于短短数语之中寄无限深意，令人百读不厌。其含蓄蕴藉之处，正是中国古典诗歌以少总多、言有尽而意无穷的美学精神的生动体现。综观全诗，情真、景切、理深，三者浑融无迹，故能于短短数语之中寄无限深意，令人百读不厌。其含蓄蕴藉之处，正是中国古典诗歌以少总多、言有尽而意无穷的美学精神的生动体现。

Prosody

Form Seven-character quatrain (qijue)诗（七言绝句）
Rhyme A four-line seven-character quatrain rhyming on the geng-qing group, with shadow and cold: a clear, thin rhyme whose level, echoing sound matches the poem's hushed coldness.此诗为七言绝句，共四句两联。押韵：「影」「冷」押庚青部韵。前两句起、后两句转合，平仄相间，正与写闺怨的清冷深婉相称，也见其以七绝写闺怨的凝练。
Tone pattern Two couplets, perfectly parallel in structure: the first paints the exterior scene of moon, chamber, curtain, and shadow; the second turns to the interior body of hand, frost, lamplight, and shears. The lines are smooth and unhurried, their even measure like the slow hours of a sleepless night.句式上，「寒月沉沉洞房静，真珠帘外梧桐影」写寒月沉沉洞房静，音节清冷；结「秋霜欲下手先知，灯底裁缝剪刀冷」写秋霜欲下手先知，音节深婉。全诗音节随情起伏，由清冷而深婉，正合七绝「凝练」之妙，读来如闺怨、灯底裁缝剪刀冷之音，清冷而动人。
Reading note Bai Juyi's quatrain is a masterpiece of tonal stillness: a seven-character quatrain whose level rhyme and smooth measure hold the poem in a single frozen mood. The first couplet is all seeing, the second all touch, and the turn from eye to hand is the turn from scene to feeling. To recite it, let the voice cool through the first couplet, then let the shears are cold fall like a small, final chill.此诗为七言绝句，是白居易写闺怨之作，也是其诗中的名篇。全诗的艺术特色在于「清冷深婉、以月写情」：「寒月沉沉洞房静，真珠帘外梧桐影」写寒月沉沉洞房静、「秋霜欲下手先知，灯底裁缝剪刀冷」写秋霜欲下手先知。全诗清冷深婉，以月写情。尤为精妙者，是「寒月沉沉洞房静」写尽洞房静；而「灯底裁缝剪刀冷」写尽剪刀冷之情，正是白居易诗「清冷深婉」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《寒闺怨》一诗之所以读来声情并茂，正在于诗人以声韵配合情思、以节奏烘托意境，音节之长短、平仄之起伏，皆与诗意相为表里，此亦可见中国古典诗歌声律之美与匠心之工。

Line by line

寒月沉沉洞房静，真珠帘外梧桐影。

The cold moon sinks deep; the bridal chamber is still; beyond the pearl curtain, the shadow of the plane tree.

寒月沉沉洞房静，真珠帘外梧桐影。

The cold moon hangs heavy; the bridal chamber is still; beyond the pearl curtain, the wutong casts its shadow.

起句写寒月沉沉洞房静，起笔即见其寒月。「寒月沉沉洞房静」写寒月沉沉洞房静，「寒月沉沉」写寒月沉沉、「洞房静」写洞房静；「真珠帘外梧桐影」写真珠帘外梧桐影，「真珠帘外」写真珠帘外、「梧桐影」写梧桐影。一句写寒月沉沉洞房静真珠帘外梧桐影，以寒月沉沉洞房静写洞房静、以真珠帘外梧桐影写梧桐影，写尽寒月沉沉洞房静、真珠帘外梧桐影之情。以月起兴，清冷而深婉，是「以月起兴」的妙笔。

The opening line writes the heavy cold moon and the quiet chamber, the wutong shadow beyond the pearl curtain; rising through the moon, it is cool and tender, setting the lonely autumn mood.

秋霜欲下手先知，

Before the autumn frost descends, her hand knows it first,

秋霜欲下手先知，

Autumn frost is about to fall; my hands know it first.

此句写秋霜欲下手先知，是全诗写秋霜之态的关键。「秋霜欲下」写秋霜欲下，「秋霜」写秋霜、「欲下」写欲下；「手先知」写手先知，「手先」写手先、「知」写知。一句写秋霜欲下手先知，以秋霜欲下写欲下、以手先知写先知，写尽秋霜欲下手先知之情。以霜写情，清冷而深婉，是「以霜写情」的点睛之笔。此句以寥寥数语写尽深意，情韵兼胜，正是全诗点睛之笔。其于字句之间暗藏波澜，于平易之中寄寓曲折，尤当反复涵泳，方能得其三昧。

This line writes that autumn frost is about to fall and the hands know it first; through the frost it writes the wife's sensitive solitude, the cold felt before it arrives.

灯底裁缝剪刀冷。

Sewing by the lamplight, the shears are cold.

灯底裁缝剪刀冷。

Beneath the lamp, sewing — the scissors are cold.

结句写灯底裁缝剪刀冷，是全诗立意的落点。「灯底裁缝」写灯底裁缝，「灯底」写灯底、「裁缝」写裁缝；「剪刀冷」写剪刀冷，「剪刀」写剪刀、「冷」写冷。一句写灯底裁缝剪刀冷，以灯底裁缝写裁缝、以剪刀冷写剪刀冷，写尽灯底裁缝剪刀冷之情。以剪写情，清冷而深婉，是全诗最动人处，也是「以剪写情」的点睛之笔。此句以寥寥数语写尽深意，情韵兼胜，正是全诗点睛之笔。其于字句之间暗藏波澜，于平易之中寄寓曲折，尤当反复涵泳，方能得其三昧。

The closing line writes sewing beneath the lamp, the scissors cold; through the scissors it lands the feeling — the cold of the metal matched to the cold of the sleepless chamber, the poem's most moving point.

Study

Word focus

寒月 Cold moon: the autumn moon, named for the chill it sheds. It opens the poem and sets its emotional temperature; everything that follows is seen in moonlight that is itself cold. 「寒月」写寒月沉沉洞房静，是写寒月之态的关键。「寒月沉沉洞房静」着一「寒月」，写寒月——着一「寒月」，写寒月沉沉洞房静，见其月之寒。两字写尽寒月之态，是「以词写月」的妙笔。「寒月」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
梧桐 Plane tree (Firmiana): the classic autumn tree of Chinese poetry, associated with cooling seasons and solitude. Its shadow outside the curtain is motionless, doubling the silence inside the chamber. 「梧桐」写真珠帘外梧桐影，是写梧桐之态的关键。「真珠帘外梧桐影」着一「梧桐」，写梧桐——着一「梧桐」，写真珠帘外梧桐影，见其桐之梧。两字写尽梧桐之态，是「以词写树」的点睛之词。「梧桐」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
秋霜 Autumn frost: the season's first killing cold, still to come. That the woman's hand knows it before it falls shows her body is already attuned to loneliness. 「秋霜」写秋霜欲下手先知，是写秋霜之态的关键。「秋霜欲下手先知」着一「秋霜」，写秋霜——着一「秋霜」，写秋霜欲下手先知，见其霜之秋。两字写尽秋霜之态，是「以词写霜」的点睛之词。「秋霜」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
剪刀 Shears: the tool of her sewing. Their coldness is the poem's fusion of object and feeling, for the implements of care for an absent husband register the chill of separation. 「剪刀」写灯底裁缝剪刀冷，是写剪刀之态的关键。「灯底裁缝剪刀冷」着一「剪刀」，写剪刀——着一「剪刀」，写灯底裁缝剪刀冷，见其刀之剪。两字写尽剪刀之态，是「以词写刀」的点睛之词。「剪刀」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。

Related Reading

水调歌头·明月几时有 Prelude to Water Melody: When Will the Moon Be Bright? 苏轼 · 同写月夜感怀、清冷旷达，一写转朱阁低绮户、一写寒月沉沉洞房静真珠帘外梧桐影，皆于月夜之中见清冷 Two moonlit nights: the philosopher's cosmic consolation and the seamstress's small cold room.

Su Shi's raising of the cup to ask the bright moon turns a lonely night into universal philosophy; Bai Juyi's cold moon keeps the night small, still, and personal, a chamber, a curtain, a shadow, cold shears. Both are night poems of longing, but Su Shi looks up and away while Bai Juyi looks down at the work in the woman's hands.

苏轼《水调歌头·明月几时有》「转朱阁，低绮户，照无眠」，写月夜感怀、清冷旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；白居易《寒闺怨》则以「寒月沉沉洞房静，真珠帘外梧桐影」「灯底裁缝剪刀冷」写洞房静、剪刀冷。两诗同写月夜感怀、清冷旷达：一写转朱阁低绮户、以朱阁写无眠，一写寒月沉沉洞房静真珠帘外梧桐影、以梧桐写闺怨；一为苏轼之旷达、一为白居易之清冷，并读正可见诗写「月夜感怀」的两种笔法，皆于月夜之中见清冷。

 八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Eight Beats of Ganzhou: Facing the Evening Rain Sweeping the River Sky 柳永 · 同写帘外凝望、清冷清丽，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写秋霜欲下手先知灯底裁缝剪刀冷，皆于帘外之中见凝望 Two curtain-side gazes: the traveler's vast autumn and the wife's contained chamber.

Liu Yong's traveler looks out at the evening rain sweeping the river sky and grieves for home across a landscape; Bai Juyi's wife looks out only as far as a plane-tree shadow beyond a curtain. Both poems write longing through what is seen from indoors, one at continental scale and one at the scale of a single room, each perfect in its proportions.

柳永《八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天》「对潇潇暮雨洒江天，一番洗清秋」，写帘外凝望、清冷清丽，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；白居易《寒闺怨》则以「秋霜欲下手先知，灯底裁缝剪刀冷」「真珠帘外梧桐影」写剪刀冷、梧桐影。两诗同写帘外凝望、清冷清丽：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写秋霜欲下手先知灯底裁缝剪刀冷、以秋霜写闺怨；一为柳永之清丽、一为白居易之清冷，并读正可见诗写「帘外凝望」的两种笔法，皆于帘外之中见凝望。