五代 Five Dynasties · 词 Ci lyric
乌夜啼·昨夜风兼雨
Crows Cry at Night · Last Night the Wind Came with Rain
昨夜风兼雨，帘帏飒飒秋声。
烛残漏断频欹枕，起坐不能平。
世事漫随流水，算来一梦浮生。
醉乡路稳宜频到，此外不堪行。
and through the curtains the rustling sound of autumn.
The candle gutters, the water-clock has stopped; again and again I lean on the pillow,
then sit up, and cannot be at peace.
The affairs of the world drift idly away with the water;
reckoned up, this floating life is one dream.
The road to the land of wine is level and worth taking often;
beyond it there is nowhere I can bear to go.
Meaning
Last night wind and rain came together, and from the curtains came the rustling sound of autumn. The candle burned low and the water-clock fell silent while I turned again and again on my pillow, then sat up with a heart that would not settle. The affairs of the world have drifted vainly away like running water; reckoned up, this floating life of ours is only a dream. The road into drunkenness at least is level and may be taken often; beyond it there is nowhere left that I can bear to go.
昨夜风雨交加，帘幕间传来飒飒的秋声。烛火将残、更漏声断，我频频欹枕难眠，起身独坐，心绪难平。世事徒然随流水而去，想来人生不过一梦浮生。醉乡的路倒还安稳，不妨频频前往，除此之外，再没有可以安身行处。
Appreciation
The upper stanza is pure plain description. Wind and rain and the rustling of autumn seize the ear before anything is seen, and the word for the hanging curtains draws the whole storm into the narrow room of a captive. The guttering candle, the stopped water-clock and the pillow leant on again and again pile three images together to convey a sleeplessness that will not end. The lower stanza turns sharply to water, dream and the land of wine, three figures that gather up a whole judgement on life. There is no heaping of fine words, yet the movement is deep and broken; the words saying that he cannot be at peace are the bone of the piece, and the close, which says the opposite of what it means, is the more desolate for it.
【白话串讲】 “昨夜风兼雨，帘帏飒飒秋声”——李煜在被囚的夜晚：风雨大作。“烛残漏断频欹枕，起坐不能平”——他翻来覆去睡不着。“世事漫随流水，算来一梦浮生”——世事如流水，浮生一场梦。“醉乡路稳宜频到，此外不堪行”——只有醉乡，还能去。 【意象与手法】 上片纯用白描，风兼雨、飒飒秋声先声夺人，帘帏二字将风雨收束于咫尺囚居 【情感与主旨】 《乌夜啼》即《相见欢》别体，此词或题作《锦堂春》。多数学者系于李煜降宋囚居汴京之时（约976年后） 【名句点睛】 本词常考情景关系与关键字词赏析。多命烛残漏断频欹枕，起坐不能平如何写愁，要求答出以景衬情、动作细节传神
Background
The tune Crows Cry at Night is another form of Meeting Together, and this lyric is sometimes given a different tune name. Most scholars date it to the years after Li Yu's surrender to the Song and his captivity at Bianjing, after 976. Once lord of the Southern Tang, he was now a marquis titled for disobedience, and the night rain and the sounds of autumn touched the grief of a lost country. The guttering candle, the stopped clock and the sitting up that cannot be calmed give the long sleepless night, while the level road into drunkenness is in truth a flight with nowhere else to go. Set beside his lines about becoming a subject and a captive overnight, and about waist and hair wasting away, the piece is written in blood and tears and is no ordinary autumn lament over passing years.
《乌夜啼·昨夜风兼雨》为五代南唐李煜所作，是写秋夜愁思、人生如梦的词。李煜（937—978），字重光，南唐后主。此词：昨夜风兼雨，帘帏飒飒秋声。烛残漏断频欹枕，起坐不能平。世事漫随流水，算来一梦浮生。醉乡路稳宜频到，此外不堪行。全词写秋夜愁思、人生如梦，是李煜词的名篇。
Art
The upper stanza is entirely plain description. The wind together with rain and the rustling of autumn take the ear first, and the single word for curtain and hanging shuts the whole storm into the small space of a prison house; the guttering candle, the stopped clock and the pillow leant on again and again lay three images one upon another to render a sleeplessness that has no cure, while the word for repetition shows the turning body. The lower stanza breaks off with the affairs of the world drifting idly away, and gathers a whole judgement of life into three figures: running water, a dream and the land of wine. The lyric heaps up no ornament, yet it is deep and full of check and turn; the words that say he cannot be at peace are the bone of the whole piece, and the close, spoken in the teeth of its own meaning, is the more desolate for that.
《乌夜啼·昨夜风兼雨》艺术上以秋夜的愁思与人生如梦的深慨见长。全词分两片：上片写秋夜愁思——“昨夜风兼雨，帘帏飒飒秋声”写昨夜风雨、帘帏秋声，“烛残漏断频欹枕，起坐不能平”写烛残漏断、起坐不能平；下片写人生如梦——“世事漫随流水，算来一梦浮生”写世事随水、一梦浮生，“醉乡路稳宜频到，此外不堪行”写醉乡路稳、此外不堪行。全词以秋夜愁思写人生如梦，正是李煜词深慨的笔法。
Allusions
The lyric uses very little allusion and melts what it uses into the scene. The clock of the poem is the old bronze water-clock, often used in Tang and Song verse to write the long night, as in Su Shi's line about the clock stopping when men have just grown still. The floating life comes from the Zhuangzi, 'his life is a floating, his death a rest', and became a common phrase for a drifting existence. The land of wine comes from the biography of Wang Ji in the New History of the Tang, where the drunken country is said to lie no one knows how many thousand miles from the Middle Kingdom, and means a place where sorrow is forgotten. All are familiar phrases, but recast by the last lord of the Southern Tang they turn into a new sound of pain.
《乌夜啼·昨夜风兼雨》用典在“乌夜啼”“浮生”“醉乡”。“乌夜啼”为词牌名（本为乐府旧题）；“一梦浮生”用《庄子》浮生若梦之意写人生如梦；“醉乡”用醉乡之语写醉中之地。全词以这些意象写秋夜愁思、人生如梦，用典自然而深慨自见，正是李煜词的笔法。
Commentary
Wang Guowei, in Remarks on Ci, did not judge this lyric in particular, but his saying that the last lord's ci are truly written in blood may be transferred to it. Shen Xiong, in Discussions of Ci Ancient and Modern, called it deep and direct. Later readers usually set it beside The Beautiful Lady Yu, since both show the sorrow of the last lord's final years. Tang Guizhang said that it moves from scene to feeling and unrolls in a single breath, which may stand as the settled judgement. Among the lyrics of Li Yu's captivity, the brooding depth of this piece is truly of a kind with The Beautiful Lady Yu.
《乌夜啼·昨夜风兼雨》是李煜词的名篇，也是其后期词写愁的代表作。此词写秋夜愁思、人生如梦，向为论者称道。论者多赏其秋夜的愁思与人生如梦的深慨——“昨夜风兼雨，帘帏飒飒秋声”写秋夜风雨，深慨之极；“世事漫随流水，算来一梦浮生”写世事随水、一梦浮生，更见其悲；“醉乡路稳宜频到，此外不堪行”写醉乡避世，尤见其痛。李煜后期词以愁思著称，此词正是其代表——以秋夜愁思写人生如梦，正是其词风。
Prosody
Line by line
昨夜风兼雨，帘帏飒飒秋声。
Last night, wind together with rain; the curtains rustled with the autumn sound.
昨夜风兼雨，帘帏飒飒秋声。
Last night the wind and rain together beat down; the curtains and screens sighed with the autumn sound.
首写昨夜风雨、帘帏秋声，是全词写秋夜愁思的起点。“昨夜风兼雨”写昨夜风雨——“昨夜风兼雨”写昨夜风兼雨（风雨交加）——昨夜风兼雨；“帘帏飒飒秋声”写帘帏秋声——“帘帏飒飒秋声”写帘帏飒飒作响是秋声——帘帏飒飒秋声。二句写昨夜风雨、帘帏秋声：昨夜风兼雨，帘帏飒飒秋声。以“昨夜风兼雨”写昨夜风雨交加，以“帘帏飒飒秋声”写帘帏飒飒、秋声入耳，正是李煜词写秋夜愁思的起点——风雨秋夜，愁思暗生。
The opening writes last night's wind and rain and the autumn sound in the curtains, the starting point of the lyric's autumn-night grief. 'Last night the wind and rain together' writes the storm of wind and rain. 'The curtains rustled with the autumn sound' writes the curtains' rustling as the autumn noise. Two lines write the night storm and the curtain sound—the wind and rain beating, the curtains sighing, grief secretly sprung in the autumn night.
烛残漏断频欹枕，起坐不能平。
The candle dies, the water clock runs out; again and again I turn upon my pillow, rising and sitting, the heart still not at peace.
烛残漏断频欹枕，起坐不能平。
The candle burns low, the water-clock dries up; again and again I shift upon the pillow. Rise or sit, my heart will not be still.
此二句写烛残漏断、起坐不能平，是全词写愁思难安的深化。“烛残漏断频欹枕”写烛残漏断——“烛残漏断频欹枕”写烛残漏断（烛将尽漏将止）、频频欹枕——烛残漏断频欹枕；“起坐不能平”写起坐不能平——“起坐不能平”写起坐之间心境不能平静——起坐不能平。二句写烛残漏断、起坐不能平：烛残漏断频欹枕，起坐不能平。以“烛残漏断频欹枕”写烛残漏断、欹枕难眠之深夜，以“起坐不能平”写起坐不安、心绪难平，正是李煜词写秋夜愁思、愁难自抑的深化——长夜难眠，起坐难平。
These two lines write the dying candle and restless rising, the deepening of the sleepless grief. 'The candle dies, the water clock runs out; again and again I turn upon my pillow' writes the spent candle and stopped clepsydra, the repeated tossing on the pillow. 'Rising and sitting, the heart still not at peace' writes that between rising and sitting the mood will not settle. Two lines write the late night and the restless heart—the candle dying, the pillow tossed, the heart unquiet, the deepening of Li Yu's grief that cannot be stilled.
世事漫随流水，算来一梦浮生。
The affairs of the world drift away with the flowing stream; reckoned up, this floating life is a dream.
世事漫随流水，算来一梦浮生。
The world's concerns drift on with the running water; when all is reckoned, floating life is but a dream.
此二句写世事随水、一梦浮生，是全词写人生如梦的核心。“世事漫随流水”写世事随水——“世事漫随流水”写世事漫漫随流水而去——世事漫随流水；“算来一梦浮生”写一梦浮生——“算来一梦浮生”用《庄子》浮生若梦之意写算来人生如一场梦——算来一梦浮生。二句写世事随水、一梦浮生：世事漫随流水，算来一梦浮生。以“世事漫随流水”写世事如水东流、不可挽回，以“算来一梦浮生”用浮生若梦之意写人生如梦，正是李煜词写人生如梦的核心——世事如流，浮生若梦。
These two lines write affairs drifting with water and life as a dream, the core of the lyric's 'life is a dream.' 'The affairs of the world drift away with the flowing stream' writes worldly matters flowing east with the water, irrecoverable. 'Reckoned up, this floating life is a dream' uses Zhuangzi's 'floating life like a dream' to write that life, reckoned, is but a dream. Two lines write the flowing affairs and the dreamlike life—the world like the stream, floating life like a dream, the core of Li Yu's 'life is a dream.'
醉乡路稳宜频到，此外不堪行。
The land of drunkenness has a steady road—best to visit often; beyond it, no road is passable.
醉乡路稳宜频到，此外不堪行。
The road to the land of drunkenness is smooth and safe; often must I travel it. Every other road is unfit to walk.
末写醉乡路稳、此外不堪行，是全词写愁痛之深的归结。“醉乡路稳宜频到”写醉乡路稳——“醉乡路稳宜频到”写醉乡之路安稳宜频频到（借醉避愁）——醉乡路稳宜频到；“此外不堪行”写此外不堪行——“此外不堪行”写除此之外无处可去——此外不堪行。二句写醉乡路稳、此外不堪行：醉乡路稳宜频到，此外不堪行。以“醉乡路稳宜频到”写唯有醉乡之路安稳、宜频频到，以“此外不堪行”写除此之外别无去处，正是李煜词写愁痛之深的归结——天地虽大，唯醉乡可避。
The closing writes the steady road to drunkenness and no other way, the conclusion of the lyric's deep pain. 'The land of drunkenness has a steady road—best to visit often' writes that the road of drunkenness is safe and fit for frequent travel (escaping grief through wine). 'Beyond it, no road is passable' writes that there is nowhere else to go. Two lines write the drunkard's land and the closed roads—only the way of wine is steady, beyond it no refuge, the conclusion of Li Yu's pain: wide though heaven and earth may be, only the land of drunkenness offers shelter.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Compare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
李煜《乌夜啼·林花谢了春红》“林花谢了春红，太匆匆”写春逝之悲，与本首同为李煜乌夜啼词。差异在情境：昨夜风兼雨写秋夜愁思；林花谢了春红写春逝之悲。一写“秋”之愁，一写“春”之悲。两者并读，可见李煜乌夜啼词的两种情境。
相见欢·无言独上西楼 Joy of Meeting · Silent and Alone I Climb the West Tower 李煜 · 同为李煜词写愁，一写秋夜之愁一写离愁之深，皆深慨 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
李煜《相见欢·无言独上西楼》“剪不断，理还乱，是离愁”写离愁，与本首同为李煜词写愁。差异在情境：昨夜风兼雨写秋夜人生之愁；无言独上西楼写离愁。一写“夜”之愁，一写“愁”之乱。两者并读，可见李煜词写愁的多种情境。
浪淘沙·帘外雨潺潺 Waves Wash the Sands · Outside the Blind the Rain Patters 李煜 · 与本首相关联的同类或同作者作品，供对比阅读 Same (rain at night, memory, the grief of waking from a dream)Both begin from a night of rain and write the unbearable memory of a lost country; read them together for their plain description.
此处关联李煜《浪淘沙·帘外雨潺潺》，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。