燕子楼·满窗明月满帘霜

Meaning

One of Bai Juyi's famous poems on the Pavilion of Swallows, the tower in Xuzhou where the beautiful widow Guan Panpan kept her solitary vigil after the death of her husband, the military governor Zhang Yin. On a frosty moonlit night, the window is full of moonlight and the screen of frost; the quilt is cold, the lamp burns low, and she smooths the empty bed. In the Pavilion of Swallows, on such a night, since autumn came, the night is long only for one person. The poem is the quintessence of the widow's solitude: the empty bed, the cold quilt, and the night that stretches endlessly for the one left behind.

满窗明月满帘霜，被冷灯残拂卧床。燕子楼中霜月夜，秋来只为一人长。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The window is full of bright moon, the curtain full of frost; the quilt is cold, the lamp is faint, and I brush and smooth the bed. In the Pavilion of Swallows, on this night of frost and moon, since autumn came, it has grown long only for one person. [Structure and Thought] The quatrain moves from the room's cold brightness (moon, frost) through the gestures of the solitary widow (the smoothing of the empty bed) to the final statement of her condition: the night is long only for one person. [Key Technique] The poem's art is the compression of widowhood into a few concrete facts: the cold quilt, the failing lamp, the bed smoothed for a sleeper who will never come, and the night that is long 'only for one person' — the 'only' carrying the whole weight of her solitude. [Emotional Tone] Cold, still, and deeply mournful: the poem never names the grief, but the smoothed empty bed and the endless night say everything.

【白话串讲】 白居易写《燕子楼·满窗明月满帘霜》：“满窗明月满帘霜，被冷灯残拂卧床”——“燕子楼中霜月夜，秋来只为一人长”——他写燕子楼——秋来只为一人长。 【意象与手法】 “满窗明月满帘霜，被冷灯残拂卧床”写满窗明月满帘霜；“燕子楼中霜月夜”写燕子楼霜月夜；结以“秋来只为一人长”以秋来只为一人长写怀人。清冷深婉。 【情感与主旨】 白居易写燕子楼之作，写满窗明月满帘霜、秋来只为一人长的怀人之情，是白居易写燕子楼的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“满窗明月满帘霜，被冷灯残拂卧床”写清冷孤寂；“燕子楼中霜月夜，秋来只为一人长”写怀人。

Allusions

'The Pavilion of Swallows' (Yanzi Lou) is the tower in Xuzhou where Guan Panpan kept her vigil, so named for the swallows that nested there; by Bai Juyi's poem it became the very symbol of the faithful widow. 'The cold quilt and the fading lamp' are the stock furniture of the widow's chamber in Tang verse. 'The night long only for one person' — the phrase became proverbial for the widow's sleepless endurance, and the whole poem was quoted for centuries as the classic treatment of the theme.

诗中「满窗明月满帘霜被冷灯残拂卧床」「燕子楼中霜月夜秋来只为一人长」等语，皆含典故故实。「满窗明月满帘霜被冷灯残拂卧床」写满窗明月满帘霜被冷灯残拂卧床；「燕子楼中霜月夜秋来只为一人长」用燕子楼之典（燕子楼为关盼盼所居），写燕子楼中霜月夜秋来只为一人长。诗人以燕子楼之典入诗，不着痕迹，而把怀人之情写得真切可感，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

This poem is the most famous of Bai Juyi's Pavilion of Swallows series and one of the best loved poems of widowhood in the language. The image of the woman smoothing the empty bed by the failing lamp has been quoted for twelve centuries as the very type of the faithful widow's solitude, and the final line — 'since autumn came, it is long only for one person' — is often ranked among the most economical statements of grief ever written.

这首《燕子楼·满窗明月满帘霜》，是白居易写怀人之作，写满窗明月满帘霜、燕子楼中霜月夜、秋来只为一人长之情，清冷深婉。起「满窗明月满帘霜，被冷灯残拂卧床」——满窗明月满帘霜，被冷灯残拂卧床。写满窗明月满帘霜：满窗明月满帘霜、被冷灯残拂卧床——满帘霜、拂卧床；结「燕子楼中霜月夜，秋来只为一人长」——燕子楼中霜月夜，秋来只为一人长。写燕子楼中霜月夜：燕子楼中霜月夜、秋来只为一人长——霜月夜、一人长。这「燕子楼中霜月夜，秋来只为一人长」，是全诗之结：以秋来只为一人长写其怀人。全诗清冷深婉，以楼写情，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

Line by line

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