唐 Tang · 词 Ci lyric
菩萨蛮
Buddhist Dancers (Pusa Man)
小山重叠金明灭，鬓云欲度香腮雪。
\n懒起画蛾眉，弄妆梳洗迟。
\n照花前后镜，花面交相映。
\n新帖绣罗襦，双双金鹧鸪。
Cloud-like hair drifts over her snow-white fragrant cheek.
Languidly she rises to paint her moth eyebrows,
Slowly she dallys at her toilet, reluctant to comb her hair.
Before and behind mirrors she sets flowers in her hair;
Flowers and her face shine, reflecting each other.
She puts on a newly embroidered silk jacket—
On it, paired golden partridges in twos.
Meaning
A noble lady wakes at dawn and lazily begins her toilet: painting her eyebrows, arranging her hair, and placing flowers before twin mirrors. Finally, she puts on a new embroidered jacket decorated with paired golden partridges, a detail that quietly reveals her solitary loneliness beneath the luxury.
屏风上小山重重叠叠，晨光中金碧忽明忽暗；如云的发鬓似要遮过那香腮边的雪白。她懒懒地起身描画细长弯眉，摆弄妆容，梳洗的动作也迟缓。对着前镜后镜插上花朵，容颜与红花交相辉映。刚刚穿上的崭新绫罗短衣上，绣着一双双金色的鹧鸪。
Appreciation
This is the first of Wen Tingyun's celebrated series of 'Pusa Man' lyrics and a masterpiece of the Huajian school. The entire piece follows a noble lady's morning toilet, from the lingering traces of last night's makeup to her languid rising, mirroring herself with flowers, and finally putting on her embroidered jacket. The language is richly colored, like an exquisite Tang-dynasty painting of a beauties. No word of complaint appears, yet 'languid' and 'slow' already betray the emptiness and solitude of a woman living alone in a deep boudoir. The closing couplet, with its paired golden partridges, uses the paired birds to contrast with her singleness, creating a subtle and restrained poignancy. This is Wen Tingyun's signature style: dense, ornate, hiding sadness within beauty, and profoundly influential on later graceful and restrained lyrics.
【白话串讲】 “小山重叠金明灭，鬓云欲度香腮雪”——温庭筠写闺中女子：发髻如山。“懒起画蛾眉，弄妆梳洗迟”——她懒得起床化妆。“照花前后镜，花面交相映”——“新帖绣罗襦，双双金鹧鸪”——衣服上绣着成双的鹧鸪。花间词的鼻祖。 【意象与手法】 写贵族女子晨起梳妆全过程，从宿妆残褪、懒起画眉到照镜簪花、穿上绣罗襦，动作连贯细腻；设色秾丽如展唐代仕女图。通篇不着一“怨”字，而“懒”“迟”二字隐隐透出深闺空虚寂寞；结句“双双金鹧鸪”以成双之鸟反衬孤单。 【情感与主旨】 花间词代表作，写女子独处深闺的寂寞。温词密丽隐秀、以艳写哀的典型风格，对后世婉约词影响深远，开五代北宋闺情词之先声。 【名句点睛】 常考“懒起画蛾眉，弄妆梳洗迟”以“懒”“迟”写闺中寂寞；“新帖绣罗襦，双双金鹧鸪”以成双之鸟反衬孤单。
Background
Wen Tingyun (c. 812–870), courtesy name Feiqing, was a native of Qi, Taiyuan, and a late-Tang ci poet. Famous for his brilliant ornate language and especially skilled in music-bureau songs, he is regarded as the founding master of the Huajian school. This 'Pusa Man' depicts a young boudoir lady at her morning toilet; some interpret it as palace grief, others as a general boudoir sentiment. Wen's own career was frustrated—he failed the examinations repeatedly and lived in poverty—and his lyrics often focus on women's appearance and moods, written in gorgeous and dense diction. In the late Tang, when society was turning from revival to decline and the ci form was emerging in banquet entertainments, Wen established a school through his ornate style. The poem unfolds entirely through the lady's morning grooming: screens, cloudlike hair, moth eyebrows, flowers, mirrors, and embroidered jacket, assembling a languid, magnificent, expectant figure. Readers have compared Wen's lyrics to brocade—dazzling, thick-woven—and this piece is the epitome of that manner, a model for the Huajian circle and an important influence on lyric writing in the Five Dynasties and Song.
温庭筠，本名岐，字飞卿，太原祁人，晚唐词人，才思艳丽，尤长乐府，为花间派之鼻祖。此《菩萨蛮》写闺中少妇晨起梳妆，一说是宫怨，一说代写闺情，历来众说不一。飞卿仕途坎坷，屡举不第，一生潦倒，其词多绮靡浓艳，善写女性容饰与心绪。晚唐社会由中兴转衰，士风浮靡，词体初兴于酒筵歌席，飞卿以密丽之笔开宗立派。此词纯写女子晨起弄妆之态，不着情字而情自见，设色极工，意象绵密，於屏风、鬓云、蛾眉、花镜、绣襦之间，铺排一位慵懒华贵而若有所待的佳人。后人谓飞卿词如纂组绮绣，眩眼缛丽，此篇最足代表其密丽风格，亦为花间尊前之范式，影响五代两宋闺情词甚巨。飞卿词虽多绮罗香泽，而刻画之工、设色之妙，实为词体脱离乐府而独立之关键一步；此篇以屏风鬓影写尽闺中晨景，开五代花间之先声，于词史演进功不可没。温李之后，闺情一脉皆受其沾溉，所谓词中之有画面、有肌理，自飞卿始具雏形。其以丽笔写心，虽未脱晚唐气习，而已开宋词铺叙之先声，不可仅以侧艳目之。温庭筠此词为花间派闺怨之代表，约作于晚唐。彼时词体初盛，多应歌筵而作，内容集中于闺阁脂粉。温氏才高而科场蹭蹬，其词精丽密致，开香奁一脉。小山重叠金明灭写破晓之妆镜光影，全篇以女子晨起梳妆为线索，于富贵闲雅中藏幽独之怨。研究者或谓此即写闺中少妇之无聊，或谓有托喻身世之旨，然其意象之精致、设色之浓艳，已足为《花间集》之冠冕。
Art
The lyric excels in narrative sequence, using dense sensuous images to portray the woman without stating a single emotion, yet the emotional current flows throughout. The opening couplet describes her waking by the pillow: the 'folded hills' are the mountains painted on the screen, glimmering in the dawn; 'cloud-like hair' and 'snow-white cheeks' use cloud and snow as metaphors, while the word 'drift' (du) captures the delicious laziness of hair about to cover her cheek. The third and fourth lines, 'Languidly she rises...' and 'Slowly she dallys,' reveal through the words 'languid' and 'slow' her reluctance to dress, hinting at hidden melancholy. The fifth and sixth lines, with front-and-back mirrors and flowers mingling with her face, are exquisitely pictorial. The final couplet suddenly touches 'paired' golden partridges, using the paired birds to contrast with her solitude; the poem's meaning surfaces at the end, leaving a lingering aftertaste. The entire piece is like an unfolded, finely painted portrait of a lady—brilliant, meticulous, and quintessentially Huajian in texture, moving from exterior to interior, from toilet to the heart.
此词工于铺叙，纯以丽字密象写人，通篇无一情语而情韵自流。起二句写枕畔初醒：小山重叠指屏风山峦重叠，晨光中金碧明灭；鬓云欲度香腮雪，以云喻发，以雪喻肤，度字写出散发将覆腮边之娇慵。三四句懒起画蛾眉，弄妆梳洗迟，一懒一迟，写尽无心梳裹又不得不妆之态，含蓄多少幽怨。五六句照花前后镜，花面交相映，以镜中花、花中人互映，工笔如画。结二句新帖绣罗襦，双双金鹧鸪，忽点双双，以成双鹧鸪反衬人之独处，篇终露意，余味转深。全词如展开一卷设色仕女图，密丽精巧，恰是花间本色，章法由外而内、由妆而心。全词以视觉为中心层层展开，由屏而人、由妆而衣，如工笔重彩徐徐渲染；结处忽以双双反挑孤寂，于绵密中露出空灵。章法细入毫发而气韵仍贯，前三层写容、写懒、写妆皆极妍，至结句方泄孤寂，如画卷收束处一点空白。最见温词体物之精微与布景之匠心，丽而不浊，密而能疏，花间词心全在此一转之间。全篇如工笔仕女图，由景及人、由外而内。小山重叠金明灭写屏山与烛光之闪动，鬓云欲度香腮雪以云雪喻发肤，设色极丽。懒起画蛾眉弄妆梳洗迟以动作写慵懒之态，照花前后镜花面交相映以镜中花面写顾影自怜。结以新帖绣罗襦双双金鹧鸪，于成双之物反衬独处之孤。意象绵密，色泽秾丽，脉络以梳妆次第展开，是花间词客观铺叙、以艳写怨之范型。
Allusions
'Pusa Man' is the name of a Tang-era teaching-court tune. Tradition says that during the Dazhong reign of Emperor Xuanzong, the kingdom of Nvman paid tribute, with performers wearing high coiled hair, gold crowns, and necklaces of jewels—called 'Buddhist dancers' (Pusa Man)—and the tune was named after them. The term 'folded hills' (xiao shan) may refer to the mountain designs on the screen, or to the 'small-hill' eyebrow makeup fashionable in the boudoir; both are common images in Wen Tingyun's lyrics. 'Golden gleams' describes the sparkle of gold ornaments in the morning light. The partridge has long been used in poetry as a symbol of paired love or separation; the paired golden partridges here ironically highlight the lady's solitude. 'Moth eyebrows' comes from the Book of Songs and Chu ci, standing for a beautiful woman. Wen melts together cosmetics, ornaments, and bird imagery without heavy allusion, but the images themselves carry a cumulative poetic force, becoming classic vocabulary in boudoir lyrics and influencing later poets from Zhou Bangyan to Li Qingzhao.
菩萨蛮为唐教坊曲名，相传唐宣宗大中初，女蛮国入贡，危髻金冠，璎珞被体，号菩萨蛮，后人制曲因以名之。小山一语，或谓屏山，即屏风上所画重峦；或谓眉额之妆（小山眉），温词中屡见。金明灭状朝阳映屏风金钿之光。鹧鸪在诗词中多喻成双或离别，李群玉以鹧鸪为偶禽；双双金鹧鸪，以绣纹成双反挑人的孤单一面。蛾眉本出《诗经》与《楚辞》，代指美女。飞卿熔妆饰、器物、禽鸟诸象于一炉，虽少使事，而意象皆有词脉可寻，遂成闺情词之经典范型，后世周邦彦、李清照皆受其泽。屏山、蛾眉、鹧鸪诸象，后世词人反复沿用，遂成闺情词之固定语汇；飞卿以其创调之功，使这些物象自带相思孤寂之暗示，读者不必明言而情已暗通。菩萨蛮本唐教坊曲，至飞卿而定其绮靡之格，意象之经典化实自温庭筠始，影响直至宋词。其熔妆饰、器物、禽鸟于一炉而不露堆垛，最见令词取象之法。小山或谓屏风上之山形装饰，或谓眉妆之小山眉，皆晚唐闺阁习见之象。蛾眉本《诗经》螓首蛾眉，亦暗用屈原众女嫉蛾眉之典，含自伤之意。鹧鸪双双自古为雌雄相偶之鸟，李白诗已以鹧鸪怨别，此处反用其成双以衬孤。金明灭状烛光，亦有点染富贵之效。此类意象皆承宫体余风而加以锤炼，用事不深而意自远，最见温助教熔裁香艳之手段。
Commentary
The genius of this lyric lies in its refusal to name any grievance while the grievance permeates everything. The first three levels—appearance, laziness, toilet—are all described with great beauty; then the final couplet, with the 'paired golden partridges' on the new embroidered jacket, lightly sets off the contrast, and suddenly the magnificence turns desolate. The 'languid' rising, the 'slow' toilet, already hint at a reluctance; when she sees the paired partridges, the grief of sleeping alone becomes tasteable. Writing joy to express sorrow, hiding emptiness within ornament—this is the very heart of Huajian lyricism. Some critics accuse Wen of piling up ornate phrases without substance, yet precisely the external richness forces out the internal desolation; extreme luxury becomes sadness. Reading this poem, beyond the gold and perfume, one should imagine the woman before her mirror, who dresses up but sees only paired partridges and no returning loved one—the quiet resentment lies beyond the words. The bright exterior encloses a grieving interior, colorful without being licentious, skillful without being frivolous; this is Wen's high realm, a standard model of using beauty to convey sorrow.
飞卿此词，妙在终篇不著一怨字，而怨意自深。前三层写容、写懒、写妆，皆极妍尽态；至结句新帖绣罗襦，双双金鹧鸪，方以成双之鸟轻轻一衬，满纸华贵中忽见凄凉。懒起、弄妆迟，已露心绪之慵；待双双鹧鸪入目，则孤眠独处之恨悠然可味。这种以乐景写哀、以密丽藏空寂之法，最是花间词心。前人或讥其堆砌无骨，然正因其极写外在之富丽，反逼出内在之落寞，浓至处即是悲凉。读此词当于金碧香艳之外，想见那位对镜无人、双双成恨的女子——妆成只见鹧鸪双，不见良人归，幽怨自在言外。丽而有骨、密而能疏，是温词之高境；此篇外表极妍而内里极哀，繁华写尽处正是寂寞生处，故能艳而不淫、巧而不佻。前人或讥其无骨，不知正因其极写外在之富丽，反逼出内在之落寞，浓至处即是悲凉。足与《玉台》宫体拉开距离，确立花间词以丽写怨之正宗范式，读之当于金碧外想见孤影。要之，飞卿以丽笔写怨，以密象藏空寂，开花间一派之体貌；其词虽止于闺帏，而体物之细、布景之工，实为大晏、清真之前驱，词史地位不可轻量。金碧满纸正为反衬双双之恨，能于绵丽中识其萧散，方许言知温飞卿，此篇最宜反复吟味，于设色重彩处见清空之骨，丽密之中自有萧散在。世人读温词，每喜其香艳而忽其孤寂，不知繁华写尽处即是寂寞生处；此篇外表极妍而内里极哀，艳而不淫、巧而不佻。反复吟味，当于设色仕女图外，想见那位对镜无人、成双成恨的女子，方会其言外之旨与花间词心之真，知丽密之中有空寂在，方不负飞卿运笔之深心与寄托之遥深。飞卿词中之女子，多丽而寡欢，殆亦其身世潦倒之投射；以富贵写寂寞，以稠丽写清孤，此种反衬之法，非深于情者不能道，故温词虽侧艳，而骨子里自有一段清凉。读之令人于金碧之外别生遐想，知花间之丽原是孤寂之衣，繁华写尽处正是寂寞生处，此即温词三昧。要之，飞卿以丽笔写怨，以密象藏空寂，开花间一派之体貌；其词虽止于闺帏，而体物之细、布景之工，实为大晏、清真之前驱，词史地位不可轻量。金碧满纸正为反衬双双之恨，能于绵丽中识其萧散，方许言知温飞卿，此篇最宜反复吟味，于设色重彩处见清空之骨，丽密之中自有萧散在。世人读温词，每喜其香艳而忽其孤寂，不知繁华写尽处即是寂寞生处；此篇外表极妍而内里极哀，艳而不淫、巧而不佻。反复吟味，当于设色仕女图外，想见那位对镜无人、成双成恨的女子，方会其言外之旨与花间词心之真，知丽密之中有空寂在，方不负飞卿运笔之深心与寄托之遥深。飞卿词中之女子，多丽而寡欢，殆亦其身世潦倒之投射；以富贵写寂寞，以稠丽写清孤，此种反衬之法，非深于情者不能道，故温词虽侧艳，而骨子里自有一段清凉。读之令人于金碧之外别生遐想，知花间之丽原是孤寂之衣，繁华写尽处正是寂寞生处，此即温词三昧。此词之妙在艳而不淫、怨而不露。通篇写女子晨妆，无一字及情而情自溢于懒起弄妆之迟、双双鹧鸪之刺。封建闺阁之寂寞，被收摄于富丽光影之中，愈丽愈哀。或谓鹧鸪成双暗喻所欢不在，孤寂遂深。温庭筠以客观冷静之笔写深闺幽绪，色彩愈秾而情绪愈冷，是为花间词以景裹情、含蓄不尽之极致。千古而下，犹可想见那镜前花面与襟上鸳禽之寂寥对照。
Prosody
Line by line
懒起画蛾眉，弄妆梳洗迟。
The overlapping hill-like screens gleam with gold, now bright, now dim.
Lazily rising, she paints the moth brows; long at her toilette, the combing and dressing slow.
此句写女子晨起之态，懒起二字传神，非力不能起，乃心不愿起，慵惰中藏着无人欣赏、梳妆为谁的无聊。画蛾眉、弄妆、梳洗，本是每日功课，偏着一迟字，动作拖沓，愈显意兴阑珊。两句无一怨语，而深闺寂寞、良人未归之恨已隐隐透出。飞卿以极细之笔写极淡之情，于寻常晨妆中见出人生空落，正是花间词以景写心之妙，不著力而力自深。懒起弄妆之迟，写尽深闺之无聊与幽独，富贵光影愈丽而情绪愈冷。
This line writes the woman's morning rising, the word 'lazily' capturing it — not that she cannot rise, but that her heart will not; beneath the languor lies the emptiness of no one to admire, no one for whom to dress. Painting the moth brows, the toilette, the combing and washing, the daily task, yet the one word 'slow' drags the movements out, the more for the low spirits. Not one word of complaint, yet the loneliness of the deep boudoir, the grief of the husband not returned, already shows through. Wen Tingyun, with the finest brush, writes the lightest feeling, seeing the emptiness of life in the ordinary morning toilette — the art of the Huajian school writing heart through scene, force without effort. The laziness of rising, the slowness of the dressing, write to the full the boudoir's boredom and solitude; the richer the splendor of light and shade, the colder the feeling.
新帖绣罗襦，双双金鹧鸪。
Cloudlike hair seems about to drift over her snow-white fragrant cheeks.
Newly sewn, the brocade jacket; on it, pair on pair, the golden partridges.
结句笔锋一转，由镜前移到衣上：新穿的绫罗短袄，绣着一双双金色鹧鸪。帖通贴，指刺绣纹样。双双二字是全词眼目，前文极写丽容华饰，至此忽以成双之鸟一点，反衬人的形单影只。鹧鸪本为偶禽，成双正喻团圆，而人却独对，以乐衬哀，篇终露意，余味悠长。通篇富丽，独此二语泄出孤寂，最见温词绵里藏针之致，章法至结处乃显其真。双双鹧鸪反衬独处之孤，艳而不淫、怨而不露，含蓄不尽。
The closing line turns the brush, moving from the mirror to the robe: the newly worn brocade jacket, embroidered with pair on pair of golden partridges. 'Newly sewn' the embroidery pattern. The word 'pair on pair' is the eye of the whole ci — the preceding lines have written the beauty and adornment to the full, and here, suddenly, the paired birds strike, setting off the woman's single, solitary figure. The partridge is a paired bird; the pair figures reunion, yet she sits alone, writing grief through a joyous scene, the feeling surfacing at the end, the aftertaste long. The whole piece is sumptuous, and only these two words let out the loneliness — the very needle hidden in the silk of Wen's ci, the craft showing only at the close. The paired partridges set off the solitude of her single seat, splendid without being licentious, grieving without exposing it, restrained to the end.
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Related Reading
Compare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
飞卿《菩萨蛮》组词多章，此首写晨起弄妆，另首如水晶帘里颇黎枕则写午憩，皆以密丽笔写闺情，章法一脉。同调互参，可见飞卿以屏风、鬓发、蛾眉、香炉、绣衣为固定意象群，反复皴染女性世界。相较而言，此首以双双作结，怨意稍露；彼首纯写慵眠，怨更深藏。并读方知花间之富丽原是一脉孤寂，可与此批所收其他温词合观。菩萨蛮小山重叠即此篇，别本异文可互校，足见花间词传播之态。
洛阳女儿行 Song of a Daughter of the Luo Family 王维 · 同写女性而一绮艳一白描 Both depict aristocratic women, but one is ornate and introspective, the other narrative and plain.Wang Wei's 'Luoyang Daughter' describes a noble lady's luxurious life with narrative and white sketches, ending with a contrast to a humble washerwoman to suggest social inequality. Wen Tingyun's lyric, by contrast, paints only the lady's appearance and mood, implying inner grief through sensual imagery. The comparison shows the shift from High Tang poetry to late Tang lyric: Wang's social critique is explicit, Wen's psychological depth is hidden; one is sparse and clear, the other dense and delicate.
王维《洛阳女儿行》亦写贵族女子，却以叙事白描铺排繁华，末以越女浣纱反结，见门第之不平；温词则纯写容饰心绪，不涉叙事。同写女性命运，王以社会对照显讽谕，温以肌理密丽藏幽怨。一疏一密，一显一隐，恰见盛唐与晚唐词笔之异趣，亦可见闺情一题之两种典型写法，并读可觇诗笔与词笔之分。洛阳女儿行同写闺阁，一贵一怨，可观盛唐至晚唐闺情之嬗变。