元 Yuan · 散曲 Sanqu song
碧玉箫·膝上琴横
Jade Flute · A Zither Laid Across the Knee
〔碧玉箫〕膝上琴横，哀怨不堪听。
指下风生，教人怨恨增。
一声似莺啼楚峡，一串似珠走金盘。
心暗猜，莫不是离魂倩女来也？
若不是曲中写出情千种，怎生般拨尽相思调未成。
Its mournful notes too sad to bear.
Beneath the fingers wind is stirred,
Breeding within me deeper care.
One note, an oriole in Gorge wailing,
One run, like pearls on golden plate trailing.
In heart I wonder, can this be
The ghostly maiden come to me?
If not for thousand feelings in the tune expressed,
How could the endless longing tune not be at rest?
Meaning
A woman listens to someone playing the zither, and the mournful music stirs her own longing and sorrow. She imagines the player might be a lovesick ghost, and laments that the music expresses endless passion yet never reaches a resolution.
琴横放在膝上，那哀怨的曲调叫人听不下去。指下风生，更教人怨恨渐增。一声声似黄莺啼于楚峡，一串串如明珠走落金盘。我心里暗自猜度：莫不是那离魂的倩女来了？若不是曲中写尽了千种情思，又怎会这般拨弹不尽、相思之调总也弹不成。
Appreciation
This short lyric describes the psychological journey of a listener as she is absorbed by the music. The poem uses vivid metaphors and an allusion to a popular play to heighten the emotional impact, showing Guan Hanqing's mastery of blending folk and refined elements.
【白话串讲】 关汉卿写听琴：“膝上琴横，哀怨不堪听”。“一声似莺啼楚峡，一串似珠走金盘”——琴声像莺啼，像珠落玉盘。“心暗猜，莫不是离魂倩女来也”——他猜：弹琴的莫不是倩女离魂？ 【意象与手法】 此曲写声之妙在博喻与心理层递。'膝上琴横，哀怨不堪听'点题；'指下风生'以触觉写指法 【情感与主旨】 关汉卿为元曲四大家之首，混迹勾栏瓦舍，深谙市井情味。〔碧玉箫〕多写男女情事。此曲当为观伎听琴、体察女性心理之作 【名句点睛】 可设四题。其一，写声：'一声似莺啼楚峡，一串似珠走金盘'的博喻及效果，联系《琵琶行》。其二，心理
Background
Guan Hanqing, the leading dramatist of the Yuan dynasty, was intimately familiar with the entertainment quarters. This piece reflects a common theme: a lady listening to a zither performance at a brothel or gathering. Yuan cities were bustling, and literati often mingled with courtesans. The allusion to 'the ghostly maiden' reveals not only the listener's absorption but also Guan's empathy for female psychology, typical of his natural and direct style.
《碧玉箫·膝上琴横》为元代关汉卿所作，是写女子抚琴怀人、相思之情的散曲。关汉卿（约1234—约1300），号已斋，大都人，元代杂剧家、散曲家。此曲：〔碧玉箫〕膝上琴横，哀怨不堪听。指下风生，教人怨恨增。一声似莺啼楚峡，一串似珠走金盘。心暗猜，莫不是鸿山远，黛眉锁，多应是薄情。全曲写女子抚琴怀人，是关汉卿散曲的名篇。
Art
The artistry lies in layering metaphors and psychological progression. The opening sets the mournful mood; 'wind beneath the fingers' uses touch to describe technique. The two metaphors—oriole wailing and pearls on a golden plate—depict mellowness and clarity. The most striking turn is 'the ghostly maiden comes'—a leap from hearing to fantasy. The ending loops back, fusing the zither's sound, the ghostly maiden, and the listener's longing, creating a piece that is both earthy and elegant.
《碧玉箫·膝上琴横》艺术上以抚琴的哀怨与怀人的深婉见长。全曲写女子抚琴：首写抚琴哀怨——“膝上琴横，哀怨不堪听”写膝上琴横、哀怨不堪听，“指下风生，教人怨恨增”写指下风生、怨恨增；中写琴音之美——“一声似莺啼楚峡，一串似珠走金盘”写一声莺啼、一串珠走；末写怀人之思——“心暗猜，莫不是鸿山远，黛眉锁，多应是薄情”写心暗猜、鸿山远、黛眉锁、多应薄情。全曲以抚琴写怀人，正是关汉卿散曲深婉的笔法。
Allusions
The 'ghostly maiden' refers to the character from Zheng Guangzu's play 'The Ghost of the Young Lady' (Qiannü Lihun), where a lady's soul leaves her body to follow her lover. Guan uses a contemporary drama in his own work, showing intertextuality among playwrights. 'Oriole wailing in the Gorge' adapts Bai Juyi's description of the pipa and the 'Gaotang Fu' allusion; 'pearls on a golden plate' is borrowed from Bai Juyi's poem on the pipa, transferred to the zither. These allusions are seamlessly integrated, showing the strength of Yuan song's use of classical references in a popular context.
《碧玉箫·膝上琴横》用典在“莺啼楚峡”“鸿山远”。“莺啼楚峡”写如莺啼于巫峡（楚地）之声；“鸿山远”写鸿雁山远（音书远）。全曲以这些意象写抚琴怀人，用典自然而深婉自见，正是关汉卿散曲的笔法。
Commentary
Guan Hanqing, as the pioneer of Yuan drama, is praised by Zang Maoxun for his personal involvement in performances, and by Wang Guowei for his originality. Although this piece is a short lyric, critics often admire its 'sound into fantasy, vulgar yet refined' quality, considering it a representative of Guan's amorous style, comparable with Bai Pu and Ma Zhiyuan.
《碧玉箫·膝上琴横》是关汉卿散曲的名篇，也是元曲中写女子相思的代表作。此曲写女子抚琴怀人，向为论者称道。论者多赏其抚琴的哀怨与怀人的深婉——“膝上琴横，哀怨不堪听”写膝上琴横、哀怨不堪听，深婉之极；“一声似莺啼楚峡，一串似珠走金盘”写琴音之美，更见其工；“心暗猜，莫不是鸿山远，黛眉锁，多应是薄情”写怀人之思，尤见其深。关汉卿以杂剧著称，其散曲亦以深婉著称，此曲正是其代表——以抚琴写怀人，正是其曲风。
Prosody
Line by line
膝上琴横，哀怨不堪听。指下风生，教人怨恨增。
The qin lies horizontal across my knee; its plaintive notes are almost too sad to bear. Wind rises beneath the fingers, stirring grief and resentment ever higher.
膝上琴横，哀怨不堪听。指下风生，教人怨恨增。
The zither rests across my lap; the mournful melody is unbearable to hear. As the fingers sweep swiftly, my sorrow and resentment grow.
首写抚琴哀怨，是全曲写女子抚琴的起点。“膝上琴横，哀怨不堪听”写膝上琴横——“膝上琴横”写膝上横琴，“哀怨不堪听”写哀怨之音不堪听——膝上琴横，哀怨不堪听；“指下风生，教人怨恨增”写指下风生——“指下风生”写指下生风（弹奏疾速），“教人怨恨增”写教人怨恨更增——指下风生，怨恨增。四句写抚琴哀怨：膝上琴横哀怨不堪听，指下风生教人怨恨增。以“膝上琴横，哀怨不堪听”写横琴而抚、哀怨之音不堪听，以“指下风生，教人怨恨增”写指下生风、怨恨更增，正是关汉卿散曲写女子抚琴怀人的起点——抚琴寄怨，哀不可闻。
The song opens with a woman playing the qin in sorrow. The instrument laid across the knee and the lament too painful to hear fix the emotional pitch at once; the 'wind rising beneath the fingers' describes the swiftness of her playing, and each note swells her accumulated grief. Music becomes the vessel of unspoken longing — plaintive, past hearing, the point from which the whole piece departs.
一声似莺啼楚峡，一串似珠走金盘。
One note is like an oriole's cry over the Chu gorges; a run of notes is like pearls rolling across a golden tray.
一声似莺啼楚峡，一串似珠走金盘。
Each note sounds like an oriole calling in the Chu gorges; each cluster flows like pearls rolling on a golden plate.
此二句写琴音之美，是全曲写抚琴之工的深化。“一声似莺啼楚峡”写一声莺啼——“一声似莺啼楚峡”用楚峡之语写一声如莺啼于楚峡——一声似莺啼楚峡；“一串似珠走金盘”写一串珠走——“一串似珠走金盘”写一串如珠走于金盘——一串似珠走金盘。二句写琴音之美：一声似莺啼楚峡，一串似珠走金盘。以“一声似莺啼楚峡”写一声如莺啼楚峡之清越，以“一串似珠走金盘”写一串如珠走金盘之圆转，正是关汉卿散曲写琴音之工的深化——琴音清圆，如莺如珠。
These two lines praise the beauty of the qin tone, deepening the portrait of her skill. A single note is compared to the clear call of an oriole echoing through the gorges of Chu; a connected passage to the round, unbroken sound of pearls rolling across a golden tray. The first captures crystalline clarity, the second fluency and roundedness — the music, at once liquid and brilliant, is rendered through two classic similes of sound.
心暗猜，莫不是鸿山远，黛眉锁，多应是薄情。
In my heart I wonder — could the wild geese's road be blocked by mountains? My painted brows knit; he has, most likely, been faithless.
心暗猜，莫不是鸿山远，黛眉锁，多应是薄情。
Secretly I suspect: perhaps the message-geese are barred by far mountains and no letter comes; my dark brows are locked — more likely, he has simply grown fickle.
末写怀人之思，是全曲写相思之情的归结。“心暗猜，莫不是鸿山远”写心猜鸿远——“心暗猜”写心中暗猜，“莫不是鸿山远”写莫不是鸿雁山远（音书远）——心暗猜，莫不是鸿山远；“黛眉锁，多应是薄情”写黛眉锁、多应薄情——“黛眉锁”写黛眉紧锁，“多应是薄情”写多半应是薄情——黛眉锁，多应薄情。四句写怀人之思：心暗猜莫不是鸿山远，黛眉锁多应是薄情。以“心暗猜，莫不是鸿山远”写暗猜音书远、情人无信，以“黛眉锁，多应是薄情”写黛眉紧锁、疑是薄情，正是关汉卿散曲写女子相思的归结——琴怨思人，疑郎薄情。
The closing lines resolve into lovesickness and suspicion. She guesses in silence: perhaps the message-birds are kept away by distant mountains and no letter arrives; her dark brows furrow, and the likelier explanation forms — he has turned faithless. From the music's grief the song moves inward to the woman's lonely conjecture: the qin lament is all about him, and she half believes her beloved's heart has gone cold.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Compare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
关汉卿《碧玉箫》另一曲写离别之情，与本首同为关汉卿碧玉箫曲。差异在主题：膝上琴横写抚琴怀人；碧玉箫写离别之情。一写“琴”之怨，一写“别”之悲。两者并读，可见关汉卿碧玉箫曲的多种主题。
大德歌·秋 Big Virtue Song: Autumn 关汉卿 · 同为关汉卿散曲写秋怀，一写抚琴怀人一写秋景思远，皆深婉 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
关汉卿《大德歌·秋》写秋景思远之情，与本首同为关汉卿散曲。差异在情境：膝上琴横写抚琴怀人；大德歌秋写秋景思远。一写“琴”之怨，一写“秋”之思。两者并读，可见关汉卿散曲写怀人的两种情境。
沉醉东风·赠妓 Drunk in the East Wind, To a Courtesan 关汉卿 · 与本首相关联的同类或同作者作品，供对比阅读 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
此处关联关汉卿《沉醉东风·赠妓》，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。