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五代 Five Dynasties · 词 Ci lyric

女冠子

Nü Guan Zi

韦庄

Wei Zhuang

爱情Love 相思Longing 离愁Parting Grief 记梦Dream

四月十七，正是去年今日，别君时。
忍泪佯低面，含羞半敛眉。
不知魂已断，空有梦相随。
除却天边月，没人知。
昨夜夜半，枕上分明梦见。
语多时，依旧桃花面，频低柳叶眉。
半羞还半喜，欲去又依依。
觉来知是梦，不胜悲。

On the seventeenth of April,
Exactly this day last year, when I parted from you.
Hiding tears, I feigned to lower my face;
Bashful, I half-knit my brows.
I did not know my soul was already severed,
Only in dreams could it follow you.
Except for the moon at the sky's edge,
No one knew.
Last night, at midnight,
On my pillow I clearly dreamed of you.
We talked for a long while,
Your face was still the peach-blossom face,
Your willow-leaf brows often lowered.
Half shy, half glad,
Wishing to go, yet lingering.
When I awoke, I knew it was a dream,
And grief was more than I could bear.

Listen

Meaning

The poem opens with the exact date of a painful parting, then dwells on the speaker's solitary longing. In the second stanza, a midnight dream brings the beloved vividly back, but waking reveals the dream's emptiness, deepening the grief.

四月十七日，正是去年今日的那一天，与你分别的时刻。强忍眼泪假装低下头，含羞带怯微微蹙起双眉。不知道魂魄已经断碎，只有在梦里才能与你相随。除了那天边的明月，再没有人知道我的孤寂。昨夜夜半时分，在枕上分明地梦见了你。说了许久的话，你依旧是桃花般的容颜，不时低下柳叶般的双眉。一半含羞一半欢喜，想离去又恋恋不舍。醒来才知道是一场梦，禁不住悲痛万分。

Appreciation

Wei Zhuang writes with plain, unadorned language that carries overwhelming emotion. The precise date gives the memory an unbearable immediacy; the dream scene is rendered with tender bodily details—the furrowed brows, the lowered face, the peach-blossom cheeks—so that the final awakening strikes with devastating force. The two stanzas balance reality and dream, past and present, love and loss.

【白话串讲】 “四月十七，正是去年今日，别君时”——韦庄写女冠子：记得去年四月十七，与君分别。“忍泪佯低面，含羞半敛眉”——“除却天边月，没人知”——“昨夜夜半，枕上分明梦见”——他梦见她。“依旧桃花面”——她还是那么美。【意象与手法】以白描写实、以细节传神，上下段虚实相生。上段劈空记“四月十七”的确切日期，朴拙中见深情；“忍泪佯低面，含羞半敛眉”以两个细微动作写临别女子的隐忍与娇羞。下段写梦：“依旧桃花面，频低柳叶眉”“半羞还半喜，欲去又依依”，由实入虚；结句“觉来知是梦，不胜悲”跌回现实。【情感与主旨】此词为联章二首合观，写男子对离去爱人的刻骨相思。上段记去年今日之别，下段写昨夜梦中重逢，以日期、梦境皆从实处落笔，把乱世中一份无力把握的爱写得唯美而感人。【名句点睛】常考“四月十七，正是去年今日，别君时”以确切日期起笔的独创；“觉来知是梦，不胜悲”由梦醒跌回现实，悲不可抑。

Background

These paired lyrics were probably composed during the turbulent late Tang period, when Wei Zhuang, after wandering through civil wars, served the kingdom of Former Shu. A famous anecdote claims that his beloved concubine was taken by the ruler Wang Jian, and that Wei wrote this song in inconsolable longing. Whether factual or not, the poem reflects a world where beauty and love are fleeting and impossible to hold. The unusually specific date 'the seventeenth of April' testifies to a wound that time has not blurred.

韦庄《女冠子》二首约作于唐末乱世，相传与他被前蜀王建强占的宠姬有关。据宋人笔记《古今词话》载，韦庄有宠姬，聪慧艳丽，后为王建所夺，韦庄追念不已，作《荷叶杯》《女冠子》诸词，情意凄婉，姬人闻之竟不食而卒。此说虽未必尽实，却点出词中深情的政治与时代底色：韦庄一生历黄巢之乱、中原板荡，晚年入蜀，身世飘零，对美好事物之易逝、所爱之难守，自有切肤之痛。词中四月十七，正是去年今日，别君时，以确切日期起笔，在文人词中极为罕见，正说明这一别在词人心中刻骨铭心，非泛泛伤离之作。上段记去年别时与别后相思，下段记昨夜梦遇与醒后之悲，由实入虚再跌回实，完整呈现了一段求而不得、梦而终空的痴情，是晚唐五代写情词中气象最真、最动人的作品之一。韦庄女冠子本为联章二首于此合观写男子对离去爱人的刻骨相思。相传与词人被王建夺去宠姬之事有关虽未必尽实却足见乱世文人于美好易逝所爱难守之深悲。四月十七之确切日期在全唐五代词中极罕见正见其铭心刻骨，非泛泛伤离之作可比。

Art

The art lies in stark realism and subtle physical details. The opening date is a jolt of authenticity rarely seen in literati verse. Phrases like 'hiding tears, I feigned to lower my face' and 'your willow-leaf brows often lowered' capture emotions through the body. The structure moves from memory to dream and back to waking, creating a double cycle of hope and disillusion. Allusiveness is absorbed into colloquial speech, so the poem seems effortless yet is steeped in literary tradition.

此词艺术上最动人处在于以白描写实、以细节传神，且上下段构成虚实相生之妙。上段起笔四月十七，正是去年今日，别君时，劈空记一确切日子，朴拙中见深情，在历来文人词中别具一格；忍泪佯低面，含羞半敛眉，以两个细微动作写女子临别时的隐忍与娇羞，形神兼备。下段换写梦境：昨夜夜半，枕上分明梦见，由实入虚；语多时，依旧桃花面，频低柳叶眉，以桃花面、柳叶眉喻貌，梦中伊人音容宛然；半羞还半喜，欲去又依依，写梦中心理的缠绵摇摆，细腻如见。结句觉来知是梦，不胜悲，一句破梦，由极乐跌入极悲，反差强烈。全词不用典故、不事藻绘，纯以日常语言与真切细节写情，却因真实而具摧人心肝的力量，体现了韦庄淡妆词风在言情领域的至高成就。上段记去年别时与别后相思下段记昨夜梦遇与醒后之悲由实入虚再归于实结构如双璧。忍泪佯低面频低柳叶眉皆以细微体态传神觉来知是梦不胜悲则以梦醒之空虚收束反差强烈。全词不用典不藻绘纯以日常语言写至情故能动人千载，是白描言情之极则。

Allusions

The title 'Nü Guan Zi' originally referred to Taoist nuns, and this melody was once used for Daoist themes, but Wei Zhuang turns it into a vehicle for human love. The peach-flower face and willow-leaf brows continue a tradition from Han yuefu and Du Fu's 'The Beautiful Woman,' while the severed soul and dream-following recall the Chu Ci and the 'Nineteen Old Poems.' The moon as the sole confidant echoes Li Bai's lonely moon communion. Thus, despite its plainness, the language is deeply literary.

《女冠子》本为道教乐曲，女冠即女道士，唐时贵族女子入道者众，文人多以之咏女道情态或男女相思，韦庄此题虽沿旧调，内容已纯写人间情爱，是词调题材由道情向艳情、深情转化的例证。词中桃花面、柳叶眉之喻，承汉乐府与杜甫《佳人》以及韦庄同时代温庭筠词中常用的花柳喻貌传统，桃花写色、柳写眉，清新而不艳俗；魂已断、梦相随则遥接《楚辞》魂魄离散与《古诗十九首》梦寐见之的相思母题，又启后世晏几道梦魂惯得无拘检，又踏杨花过谢桥之句。天边月作为唯一知己的意象，则暗含张若虚、李白以月喻情、月知人心的孤寂传统。全词虽似白描无典，实则意象皆有渊源，于常语中见深厚的诗学血脉。桃花面柳叶眉承汉乐府及杜甫佳人以花柳喻貌之传统，魂已断梦相随遥接楚辞魂魄离散与古诗梦寐见之的相思母题亦启晏几道梦魂惯得无拘检之句。天边月为唯一知己则暗含张若虚李白以月喻情之孤寂传统意象皆有渊源而自然如话，殊不见斧凿。

Commentary

The two stanzas are one continuous pulse of longing. First, the speaker faces the anniversary of parting, vividly recalling the beloved's suppressed tears and furrowed brows. The declaration that no one but the moon knows his pain establishes utter solitude. The second stanza enters a dream where the familiar face and eyebrows return, and the beloved hovers between shy and glad, between staying and leaving—a perfect microcosm of their separation. The final line, 'waking, I knew it was a dream,' collapses the entire dream world and leaves a pain too vast to be held. Wei Zhuang's plain diction paradoxically intensifies the feeling, making this one of the most moving love lyrics of the Five Dynasties.

全词分上下两段，一段记实、一段记梦，结构如双璧。上段六月十七起笔，直叙去年今日之别：忍泪佯低面写强忍，含羞半敛眉写娇怯，两句中藏多少不舍与无奈；不知魂已断，空有梦相随，别后魂销，唯余梦魂相逐，空字道尽现实之孤；除却天边月，没人知，以明月收束上段，孤怀深沉。下段转写昨夜梦：枕上分明梦见，语多时写梦中絮语之亲，依旧桃花面，频低柳叶眉写伊人如昨，半羞还半喜，欲去又依依写梦中心态之缠绵，笔致极婉；末句觉来知是梦，不胜悲，以梦醒之悲收束，与上段梦相随遥应。两段一写别后相思、一写梦中重逢，由实到虚再归于实，把求而不得、得而复失的循环悲剧写得丝丝入扣，语言愈朴，情愈深挚，是韦庄言情词中不可多得的至情之作。两段一写别后一写梦中情感互补而成循环，别后唯梦可慰梦中乍聚又醒醒后更悲。这种求而不得得而复失的悲剧被词人写得丝丝入扣。语言愈朴而情愈挚正是韦庄言情高于流辈之处亦为后世婉约词写梦醒之悲的远祖，影响及于北宋诸家。

Prosody

Reading note This tune is in the double-stanza form of about 41 characters. Wei Zhuang favors sparse, uneven sentence lengths, with abrupt shifts that match the emotional turns. The opening 'April seventeenth' (si yue shi qi) is metrically unusual, but its awkwardness lends authenticity.《女冠子》为唐教坊曲，双调，韦庄此词上下片句式相近，约四十一字，以平韵为主，间用仄收。上片：四月十七（仄仄平仄），正是去年今日（平仄仄平平仄），别君时（仄平平），三句以散句起，记时叙事，不拘常格，故声情朴拙而近口语；忍泪佯低面（仄仄平平仄），含羞半敛眉（平平仄仄平），对仗工整，平仄相协。下片：昨夜夜半（仄仄仄仄），枕上分明梦见（仄仄平平仄仄），语多时（仄平平），依旧桃花面（平仄平平仄），频低柳叶眉（平平平仄平），半羞还半喜（仄平平仄仄），欲去又依依（仄仄仄平平），觉来知是梦（仄平平仄仄），不胜悲（仄平平）。全词于令词常格中多作散句破偶，故读来如话、如诉，声情与内容之真率相称。韦庄此调不以音律炫巧，而以求情之真，故虽有破格之处，反更见天然，是花间词中声随心转的范例。通首于令词常格中多作散句破偶故读来如话如诉声情与内容之真率相称，韦庄此调不以音律炫巧而以求情之真故虽有破格之处反更见天然，是花间词中声随心转之范例，足资取法。

Line by line

四月十七，正是去年今日，别君时。

The poet sets the date with factual precision, saying that this is the exact anniversary of parting from the beloved. The unusual date is a sign of unforgettably painful memory.

The seventeenth day of the fourth moon—this very day last year, when I parted from you.

这开篇三句在历代词中极为特殊：词人竟以确切的日历日期起笔，直记去年今日之别。在文人词多写模糊时空、泛泛伤离的传统里，这种朴拙的记日法反而最具震撼力，因为它说明这一别在词人生命中刻骨铭心，非同寻常的离愁。四月十七是分别之日，正是去年今日则将时间折叠，使眼前的追忆与一年前的现场重叠，读来如亲历。别君时三字收束，平淡中藏着巨大的不舍。韦庄敢于以如此直白甚至笨拙的开头写情，正因其情之真已不需任何修饰，这种以实破巧的笔法，恰是此词能动人千载的根本，也预示了下段记梦同样从实处落笔的写法。

The opening three lines are most unusual among lyrics of all ages: the poet begins with an exact calendar date, directly recording the parting on this day last year. In the tradition of literary lyrics, which mostly write vague time and place and generalized sorrow, this plain, artless method of dating is the most striking, because it shows that this parting was engraved on the poet's life, no ordinary grief. The seventeenth of the fourth moon is the day of parting, and 'this very day last year' folds the time, superimposing the present memory on the scene of a year ago, so that one reads as if present at it. The words 'when I parted from you' close, and beneath the plainness lies a great unwillingness to part. Wei Zhuang dares to open with such direct, even clumsy speech, precisely because his feeling is so true it needs no adornment, and this method of breaking cleverness through fact is the very root of the lyric's power to move across the ages, foreshadowing the same concrete method of recording the dream in the next stanza.

觉来知是梦，不胜悲。

On waking, he realizes it was only a dream, and he is overcome by grief beyond endurance. The abrupt shift from dream to reality creates the poem's climax.

Waking, I knew it was a dream; the grief was more than I could bear.

这是全词的终拍，也是情感跌至谷底的一句。上段写别后魂断、唯梦相随，下段写昨夜分明梦见伊人，语多时、桃花面、半羞半喜、欲去依依，梦境愈是真切欢洽，这一句觉来知是梦的破灭就愈显残酷。不胜悲三字，悲而至不可胜、不可抑，把梦醒后的虚空与现实的孤寂写到极致。梦与醒的对照，是全词虚实结构的收束：梦中片刻的依偎，反衬出长夜无边的凄凉；明知是梦却仍贪恋，更见痴情之深。韦庄以极简五字收束全篇，不赘一词，却余痛无穷，正如后来晏几道梦后楼台高锁所承继的这种梦醒之悲，皆以少胜多，以虚写实，尽得言情三昧。

This is the closing beat of the lyric, and the line where feeling falls to its lowest point. The upper stanza wrote that after parting the heart was broken and only the dream kept him company; the lower writes that last night he plainly dreamed of the beloved—long talk, the peach-blossom face, half shy and half glad, reluctant to leave. The more real and warm the dream, the more cruel the shattering of this line's 'waking, I knew it was a dream.' The words 'more than I could bear' write grief beyond bearing, beyond restraint, rendering the void after waking and the loneliness of reality to the utmost. The contrast of dream and waking is the resolution of the lyric's virtual-real structure: the brief embrace in the dream sets off the boundless desolation of the long night; knowing it is a dream yet still clinging to it shows the depth of devotion. Wei Zhuang closes the whole in five spare characters, adding not one word, yet the lingering grief is endless, just as Yan Jidao's later 'after the dream, the terrace is locked high' inherits this grief of waking from the dream—all using the small to achieve the great, the virtual to write the real, and fully mastering the art of love.

Study

Word focus

佯低面 'Feigned to lower the face' — the beloved hides her tears by pretending to look down, revealing restrained grief and modesty. 佯意为假装，佯低面写女子强忍眼泪、故意低下头去，是一个极具包孕性的细微动作。临别之际，泪已至眼眶，却不愿让对方或旁人看见自己的脆弱，于是低头遮掩，这一个佯字写尽了隐忍：不是无泪，而是不敢任泪；不是不悲，而是把悲咽回心底。它与下句含羞半敛眉相映，一低头、一蹙眉，形神兼备地画出女子娇羞、怯弱而又深情难舍的复杂情态。韦庄炼此一字，以动作写心理，较之正面描摹哭泣更含蓄、更动人，体现了花间词人善于通过体态细节传神的白描功力，也为全词哀婉的基调定下最初的伏线。

空有 'Only empty' — the dream is present but futile, a comfort that cannot compensate for real absence. 空有二字是全词上段情感的关键，不知魂已断，空有梦相随，魂已断写别后精神之溃散，空有梦相随则写唯一慰藉竟只是虚幻的梦。空字最堪玩味：梦虽相随，终究非真，于现实无补，于相见无益，故曰空有——有而实无，慰而更悲。这一个字把词人深知梦境虚妄、却仍须藉梦以求片刻相见的矛盾与无奈写得入骨。它与下段觉来知是梦的破灭遥相呼应，上段空有是梦前之寄，下段知是梦是梦后之碎，同一梦字，一虚悬、一幻灭，皆由一个空字与一句悲语点醒。韦庄以寻常虚字承载沉痛，正见其淡语深悲的词心。

女冠子