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五代 Five Dynasties · 词 Ci lyric

应天长·一钩初月

Responding to Heaven Forever: A Hook of New Moon

李璟

Li Jing

爱情love 感怀reflection

一钩初月临妆镜，蝉鬓凤钗慵不整。
重帘静，层楼迥，惆怅落花风不定。
柳堤芳草径，梦断辘轳金井。
昨夜更阑酒醒，春愁过却病。

A hook of new moon leans over the dressing mirror;
cicada-wing tresses, phoenix pin, too listless to be set right.
The layered curtains are still, the tiered tower remote;
what grieves her is the falling blossom on a wind that will not settle.
A willow embankment, a path through fragrant grass;
the dream breaks at the windlass and the gilded well.
Last night, when the watches ran out and the wine wore off,
spring sorrow proved worse than illness.

Listen

Meaning

A crescent of new moon shines down upon her dressing mirror; her hair hangs loose at the temples and her phoenix pin is askew, and she is too listless to put either right. The layered curtains hang in silence, the tiered tower stretches far away, and what grieves her most is the blossom falling on a wind that never settles. There is the willow embankment and the little path through fragrant grass, and her dream breaks beside the windlass and the gilded well. Late last night, when the watches had run out and the wine wore off, she found that her spring sorrow was heavier than sickness itself.

一弯初月照临妆镜，她蝉鬓蓬松、凤钗歪斜，慵懒地无心整理。重重帘幕寂静，层楼深远，最是那落花随风飘零、风势不定，惹人惆怅。柳堤芳草的小径，梦断于辘轳金井之畔。昨夜夜深酒醒之后，这春愁竟胜过了病痛。

Appreciation

This is a lyric of spring sorrow, clear in surface and deepening as it goes. The first half moves from outside inward, from a crescent moon over a mirror to a woman with no heart to dress, then out again to still curtains and a tower that seems very far off, and finally to blossom on an unsettled wind, which is the finest stroke in the piece and makes the petals an image of a mind adrift. The second half shifts scene and time without effort, and ends by measuring grief against sickness: the wine has worn off, the night is spent, and spring sorrow turns out to be the worse of the two. Nothing is exaggerated, and everything is felt.

【白话串讲】 “一钩初月临妆镜，蝉鬓凤钗慵不整”——南唐中主李璟写一个女子：一弯初月照着镜子，她连妆都懒得整。“昨夜更阑酒醒，春愁过却病”——春愁，比病还难受。【意象与手法】此词写春愁，清丽含蓄而层次深婉。上片由外而内【情感与主旨】李璟（916—961），字伯玉，彭城人，南唐中主，存世词仅数首，清婉含蓄，与其子李煜并称“南唐二主” 【名句点睛】本词适合考查：一、“落花风不定”的象征意蕴——以风中之落花暗喻心绪飘摇、命运无定

Background

Li Jing (916 to 961), styled Boyu, a native of Pengcheng, was the middle ruler of the Southern Tang; only a handful of his lyrics survive, clear, tender and reserved, and with his son Li Yu he is spoken of as one of the two rulers of the Southern Tang. This Responding to Heaven Forever was written about the Baoda years and describes a woman grieving for spring before her mirror, her dream of the absent man broken. Though cast as a love lyric, the falling blossom on an unsettled wind and the spring sorrow worse than illness are so reserved and so deeply felt that the piece turns from ornate richness toward the clear, tender lyric of the scholar-official, anticipating the short songs of Yan Shu and Ouyang Xiu in the Northern Song.

此词为南唐中主李璟所作，是《应天长》词牌之作。李璟（916—961），字伯玉，南唐中主，词风清丽，与其子后主李煜并称“南唐二主”。此词写闺中女子春日的情思：一钩初月映照妆镜，女子蝉鬓凤钗慵懒不整；重帘静掩、层楼高耸，惆怅看落花随风不定。下片写春梦断于辘轳金井，昨夜酒醒更阑，春愁胜过疾病。全词以初月、落花、辘轳等意象，写闺中女子的慵懒与春愁，是五代闺怨词中的名篇。李璟词存世极少，而此词可见其词风——清丽中含深婉，为李煜词之先声。

Art

The lyric writes spring sorrow with clarity, reserve and a deepening structure. The first half moves from outside inward: the hook of new moon leaning over the dressing mirror opens with a scene, and the cicada-wing tresses and phoenix pin too listless to be set right show a woman with no heart for her mirror, listlessness with grief inside it. The still layered curtains and the remote tiered tower use depth of space to set off her state of mind, and the falling blossom on a wind that will not settle makes wind-blown petals a quiet image of a mind adrift, the most striking stroke in the piece. In the second half the willow embankment and the grassy path, with the dream breaking at the windlass and the gilded well, shift time and place without effort; and the ending, in which the watches run out, the wine wears off and spring sorrow proves worse than illness, shows wine failing to drown grief and grief outweighing sickness, carrying feeling to its extreme and then closing with restraint.

此词艺术上以意象的清丽与情思的含蓄见长。上片写晨起之慵懒：“一钩初月临妆镜”以初月照镜写晓妆之景——一弯新月映在妆镜中，天将晓而未晓；“蝉鬓凤钗慵不整”写女子慵懒——鬓钗不整，见其无心妆饰；“重帘静，层楼迥”以重帘静掩、层楼高迥写环境的幽深与闺中的孤寂；“惆怅落花风不定”以落花随风写春之将尽与心之不定。下片写春愁之深：“柳堤芳草径”以春日堤径写回忆中的美好，“梦断辘轳金井”以辘轳之声写梦之惊醒——“梦断”写美梦被辘轳声打断；“昨夜更阑酒醒，春愁过却病”写夜阑酒醒、春愁更甚于病。全词以初月、落花、辘轳、更阑等意象，写闺中女子由晨至夜的春愁，情致深婉而意象清丽，正是李璟词的风格。

Allusions

The images are mostly inherited from Tang poetry and made new. Cicada tresses are a woman's hairstyle, and Cui Bao's Gujin Zhu records that palace women of the Wei devised it; the phoenix pin is a phoenix-shaped ornament; both are ordinary words of boudoir toilette. The new moon quietly invokes the old comparison of a crescent to an eyebrow. The windlass and the gilded well rework a Tang image of boudoir longing, as in Li Bai's white jade railing and gilded well-frame, the well and its winch being where water is drawn and, by convention, where a dream of a lover breaks. Falling blossom on an unsettled wind continues the long tradition of grieving for spring. All are familiar, but strung on the words listless, still and grieved they yield a clear surface with deep sorrow beneath.

此词用典少而意象皆有传统。“蝉鬓”出晋崔豹《古今注》“魏文帝宫人莫琼树始制为蝉鬓”，指如蝉翼般的鬓发，为女子妆饰之典；“凤钗”指凤形头钗，为古代女子头饰；“辘轳金井”以辘轳（汲水器具）与金井（雕饰的井栏）写庭园之景，承汉魏乐府写闺中井栏的传统；“更阑”指更深夜尽。全词以这些传统的妆饰与庭院意象写闺情，不事用典而情致自深。李璟词与李煜词一脉相承，皆以清丽的意象写深婉的情思，正是南唐词“缘情绮靡”的风格。

Commentary

Later critics discussing the two rulers of the Southern Tang regularly set the middle ruler's clarity and reserve beside his son's piercing brilliance. Modern readers say that the five words about falling blossom on an unsettled wind hold feeling within the scene, restless and unquiet, and show the greatest craft in the piece; and that spring sorrow proving worse than illness measures grief by sickness and so raises it a further degree, already sounding the note of Yan Shu's 'nothing to be done about it' and Ouyang Xiu's 'deep, deep the courtyard lies'. Wang Guowei's remark that with the Southern Tang the field of vision first widened and the feeling grew deep may fairly be applied to the middle ruler's clear and searching manner.

《应天长·一钩初月》是李璟仅存的几首词之一，也是五代闺怨词的名篇。李璟词存世极少，然此词可见其“清丽深婉”的词风。论者多赏其“昨夜更阑酒醒，春愁过却病”二句——以“春愁过却病”写愁之甚于病，遂成传诵之句；而“惆怅落花风不定”以落花写心之不定，亦见含蓄。李璟为南唐中主，国势日蹙而无力回天，其词之春愁，或亦寓身世之感。此词与其子李煜词风一脉相承，是五代词由西蜀花间向江南词发展的见证。

Prosody

Form Ci lyric to the tune Responding to Heaven Forever, double form of fifty characters (short lyric)词牌·应天长

Rhyme Cilin Zhengyun, the jing and jiong rhyme groups (mirror, right, still, remote, settle, path, well, illness), oblique tones rhymed together《应天长》为双调，上片五句、下片四句，押仄声韵。此词用韵：镜、整、迥、定（径部）、径、并、醒、病（敬部），上下片换韵，音节流转。仄声韵写闺愁，声情低回。

Tone pattern Double form, four lines in each half, with lines of uneven length《应天长》句式以七、三、五为主，长短相间。此词上片以“一钩初月临妆镜”的七言起，接以“重帘静，层楼迥”的三字短句，音节顿挫；下片以“柳堤芳草径”起，至“春愁过却病”收，声情由回忆之柔转愁绪之重。全词以仄韵贯底，音节与闺怨的内容相合，是五代词中清丽深婉一路的代表。

Reading note Responding to Heaven Forever was a Tang Music Academy tune; this piece is the short-lyric form used by the middle ruler of the Southern Tang.《应天长》为唐五代流行的词牌，李璟此词是其代表作。此词双调九句，上片写晨起之慵懒，下片写梦断之春愁，由晨至夜、由醒而梦，层层写来，情致深婉。李璟词存世极少（今存四首），而此词可见其“清丽深婉”的词风——以初月、落花、辘轳、更阑等清丽意象，写闺中女子含蓄的春愁。李璟为南唐中主，国势日蹙，其词之春愁或寓身世之感，正为李煜词之先声。此词与李煜《相见欢》等词并读，可见南唐词一脉相承的深婉风格。

Line by line

一钩初月临妆镜，蝉鬓凤钗慵不整。重帘静，层楼迥，惆怅落花风不定。

A hook of new moon gleams on the dressing mirror; cicada-wing temples and phoenix pin I leave unkempt. Heavy curtains are still, the layered towers remote; I grieve for the blossoms blown restless in the wind.

一弯新月映照妆镜，蝉鬓凤钗慵懒地不肯整理。重重帘幕静掩，层层楼阁高迥，惆怅地看着落花在风中飘摇不定。

A slender new moon gleams above the mirror; cicada-wing hair and phoenix hairpin lie untended, for I am too languid. Heavy curtains hang quiet, the storied tower stands far; melancholy, I watch the blossoms drifting in the restless wind.

上片写晨起之慵懒与春愁之起。“一钩初月临妆镜”以初月照镜写晓妆之景——一弯新月临于妆镜，天色将晓，光影清冷；“蝉鬓凤钗慵不整”写女子慵懒——“慵”字写其无心妆饰，鬓钗不整见其意绪阑珊；“重帘静，层楼迥”以重帘、层楼写环境之幽深——帘幕静掩、楼阁高迥，闺中愈深，孤寂愈甚；“惆怅落花风不定”以落花随风写春之将尽——落花飘摇不定，正是春愁撩乱的心象。五句由晓妆之景到慵懒之态，再到落花之愁，层层写来，把闺中女子春日的慵懒与惆怅写得含蓄深婉。

The first stanza writes the languor of rising and the sprouting of spring grief. 'A hook of new moon gleams on the dressing mirror' uses the new moon at the mirror to write the dawn toilet, the crescent on the dressing glass, dawn near, the light cold. 'Cicada-wing temples and phoenix pin I leave unkempt' writes the woman's laziness, the word 'languid' her disinclination to adorn, the unarranged temples and pin showing her low spirits. 'Heavy curtains are still, the layered towers remote' uses the heavy curtains and layered towers to write the seclusion—curtains hanging still, towers high and far, the deeper the chamber, the deeper the solitude. 'I grieve for the blossoms blown restless in the wind' uses the wind-blown blossoms to write spring's end, the wavering petals the very image of the disordered spring grief. Five lines move from the dawn toilet to the languor, then to the grief of fallen blossoms, writing the spring languor and melancholy of the chamber woman, reserved and deeply tender.

柳堤芳草径，梦断辘轳金井。昨夜更阑酒醒，春愁过却病。

On the willow embankment, the fragrant-grass path; the dream breaks at the windlass of the golden well. Last night, as the watches ran out, I woke from wine; spring grief was worse than sickness.

柳堤边芳草萋萋的小径，梦被辘轳金井的声响惊断。昨夜更阑时酒醒，这春愁竟比病还重。

The willow-causeway, the path of sweet grass—my dream is broken by the creaking windlass at the golden well. Last night, as the night watches faded, I woke from wine; my spring sorrow was worse than any illness.

下片写梦断与春愁之深。“柳堤芳草径”写梦中或回忆中的春日美景——柳堤芳草，本是踏青游春的所在；“梦断辘轳金井”写梦被惊断——辘轳汲水之声响起，美梦戛然而止，回到孤寂的现实；“昨夜更阑酒醒”写夜阑酒醒之况味——借酒消愁，而更阑酒醒，愁绪复来；“春愁过却病”以愁比病——“过却”即胜过，春愁竟比疾病更折磨人。四句由梦断到酒醒，由酒醒到愁深，把春愁写到“过却病”的程度，正是李璟词含蓄而深婉的笔致。以“春愁过却病”作结，字少而情重，遂成五代词中的名句。

The lower stanza writes the broken dream and the depth of spring grief. 'On the willow embankment, the fragrant-grass path' writes the spring beauty in dream or memory—the willow embankment and fragrant grass, the very place of spring outings. 'The dream breaks at the windlass of the golden well' writes the dream cut off—the creaking of the well windlass starts the dream, and the fair dream stops short, returning to the lonely reality. 'Last night, as the watches ran out, I woke from wine' writes the waking at night's end—drowning grief in wine, yet as the watches run out the wine clears and the grief returns. 'Spring grief was worse than sickness' compares grief to illness—the words 'worse than' meaning surpassing, spring grief more tormenting than disease. Four lines move from the broken dream to the waking, from the waking to the deep grief, writing spring grief to the point of 'worse than sickness,' Li Jing's reserved and deeply tender brush; closing on 'spring grief was worse than sickness,' few words yet heavy feeling, it became a celebrated line of Five Dynasties verse.

Study

Word focus

慵 The word means 'listless'. She sits before the mirror with no heart to dress, and this single word captures the whole posture of grief in a woman's chamber. “蝉鬓凤钗慵不整”之“慵”，写女子无心妆饰的慵懒之态，是全词写情态的关键字。“慵”即懒，着一字，蝉鬓凤钗便都带上了懒意——不是不会妆，而是无心妆；“不整”更写其意绪阑珊。这一字把闺中女子春日的情思写得含蓄：慵懒的背后，是无人共赏的孤寂与春去难留的惆怅。以“慵”写情，正是五代词“以态写情”的笔法，与温庭筠词“懒起画蛾眉”同一机杼。

迥 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “层楼迥”之“迥”，写楼阁之高远，是全词环境描写的关纽。“迥”即远、高，着一字，层楼便不只是高，而是高远孤峭——楼愈高，与尘世愈隔绝；闺愈深，与欢乐愈疏远。这一字为全词营造了幽深孤寂的空间感：重帘静掩、层楼高迥，女子被锁在这高远幽深的楼中，春愁无处可逃。以“迥”写楼，正是五代词善以空间写心境的笔法。

梦断 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “梦断辘轳金井”之“梦断”，写美梦被辘轳之声惊醒，是全词情感的转折点。“断”字写梦之中断——辘轳声响，美梦戛然而止。这“梦断”既是写实（被声音惊醒），更是写意（美好之梦难续、现实孤寂依旧）。着一“断”字，把梦与醒、乐与愁的转换写得干脆而无奈。以“梦断”写愁，正见李璟词含蓄深婉的笔致——不写愁之深，而写梦之断，愁自见。

过却 The phrase means 'to exceed, to outdo'. Spring sorrow outweighs the pain of sickness, and by measuring grief against illness the poet shows how heavy that grief is. “春愁过却病”之“过却”，写春愁胜过疾病，是全词的警策之语。“过却”即超过，以病为参照写愁之重——病尚可忍，春愁竟比病更折磨人。这一词把抽象的“愁”量化到可比较的程度，以“病”作衬，更见愁之深重。古人有“因病废诗”“愁多病多”之说，李璟反其道而行，写“愁过病”，正是以反常之语写极至之情。二字警策，遂成五代词中的名句。