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元 Yuan · 曲 Qu song

长亭送别（碧云天，黄花地）

Farewell at the Long Pavilion (Azure Sky, Yellow Petals)

王实甫

Wang Shifu

离别Parting 西厢记The Romance of the Western Chamber 杂剧套曲Zaju Song-Suite 爱情Romance

【正宫·端正好】碧云天，黄花地，西风紧，北雁南飞。
晓来谁染霜林醉？
总是离人泪。
【滚绣球】恨相见得迟，怨归去得疾。
柳丝长玉骢难系，恨不倩疏林挂住斜晖。
马儿迍迍的行，车儿快快的随，却告了相思回避，破题儿又早别离。
听得道一声去也，松了金钏；
遥望见十里长亭，减了玉肌：此恨谁知？

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【正宫·端正好】碧云天，黄花地，西风紧，北雁南飞。
晓来谁染霜林醉？
总是离人泪。
【滚绣球】恨相见得迟，怨归去得疾。
柳丝长玉骢难系，恨不倩疏林挂住斜晖。
马儿迍迍的行，车儿快快的随，却告了相思回避，破题儿又早别离。
听得道一声去也，松了金钏；
遥望见十里长亭，减了玉肌：此恨谁知？
【叨叨令】见安排着车儿、马儿，不由人熬熬煎煎的气；
有甚么心情花儿、靥儿，打扮得娇娇滴滴的媚；
准备着被儿、枕儿，则索昏昏沉沉的睡；
从今后衫儿、袖儿，都揾做重重叠叠的泪。
兀的不闷杀人也么哥！
兀的不闷杀人也么哥！
久已后书儿、信儿，索与我凄凄惶惶的寄。
【脱布衫】下西风黄叶纷飞，染寒烟衰草萋迷。
酒席上斜签着坐的，蹙愁眉死临侵地。
【小梁州】我见他阁泪汪汪不敢垂，恐怕人知；
猛然见了把头低，长吁气，推整素罗衣。
【幺篇】虽然久后成佳配，奈时间怎不悲啼。
意似痴，心如醉，昨宵今日，清减了小腰围。
【上小楼】合欢未已，离愁相继。
想着俺前暮私情，昨夜成亲，今日别离。
我谂知这几日相思滋味，却原来此别离情更增十倍。
【幺篇】年少呵轻远别，情薄呵易弃掷。
全不想腿儿相挨，脸儿相偎，手儿相携。
你与俺崔相国做女婿，妻荣夫贵，但得个并头莲，煞强如状元及第。
【满庭芳】供食太急，须臾对面，顷刻别离。
若不是酒席间子母每当回避，有心待与他举案齐眉。
虽然是厮守得一时半刻，也合着俺夫妻每共桌而食。
眼底空留意，寻思起就里，险化做望夫石。
【快活三】将来的酒共食，尝着似土和泥。
假若便是土和泥，也有些土气息、泥滋味。
【朝天子】暖溶溶玉醅，白泠泠似水，多半是相思泪。
眼面前茶饭怕不待要吃，恨塞满愁肠胃。
蜗角虚名，蝇头微利，拆鸳鸯在两下里。
一个这壁，一个那壁，一递一声长吁气。
【四边静】霎时间杯盘狼藉，车儿投东，马儿向西。
两意徘徊，落日山横翠。
知他今宵宿在那里？
有梦也难寻觅。
【耍孩儿】淋漓襟袖啼红泪，比司马青衫更湿。
伯劳东去燕西飞，未登程先问归期。
虽然眼底人千里，且尽生前酒一杯。
未饮心先醉，眼中流血，心内成灰。
【五煞】到京师服水土，趁程途节饮食，顺时自保揣身体。
荒村雨露宜眠早，野店风霜要起迟！
鞍马秋风里，最难调护，最要扶持。
【四煞】这忧愁诉与谁？
相思只自知，老天不管人憔悴。
泪添九曲黄河溢，恨压三峰华岳低。
到晚来闷把西楼倚，见了些夕阳古道，衰柳长堤。
【三煞】笑吟吟一处来，哭啼啼独自归。
归家若到罗帏里，昨宵个绣衾香暖留春住，今夜个翠被生寒有梦知。
留恋你别无意，见据鞍上马，阁不住泪眼愁眉。
【二煞】你休忧文齐福不齐，我则怕你停妻再娶妻。
休要一春鱼雁无消息！
我这里青鸾有信频须寄，你却休金榜无名誓不归。
君须记：若见了那异乡花草，再休似此处栖迟。
【一煞】青山隔送行，疏林不做美，淡烟暮霭相遮蔽。
夕阳古道无人语，禾黍秋风听马嘶。
我为甚么懒上车儿内，来时甚急，去后何迟？
【收尾】四围山色中，一鞭残照里。
遍人间烦恼填胸臆，量这些大小车儿如何载得起？

【Zheng Gong · Duan Zheng Hao】
Azure sky, yellow petals spread,
West wind fierce, wild geese fly south overhead.
At dawn who dyed the frosted woods in drunken red?
Always the parting tears are shed.

【Gun Xiu Qiu】
I regret we met so late,
And grieve you must depart so soon.
Though willow threads are long, they cannot tie your jade-white steed;
Would that the sparse woods could hang the slanting sun.
Your horse moves slowly on its way,
My carriage hastens to follow close behind.
Just freed from lovesickness, we now must face
The first bitter trial of separation.
Hearing the word “go,” my golden bracelet loosens;
Gazing at the distant Long Pavilion, I waste away—
Who knows this grief?

【Dao Dao Ling】
Seeing the carriage and horse prepared,
I cannot help but fret and fume with ire;
What heart have I for flowers or for rouge,
To deck myself in charms so delicate and fair?
I only ready quilt and pillow,
To sink in drowsy, heavy sleep;
From now on, robe and sleeves
Will be soaked with layer upon layer of tears.
Does this not vex one to death? Ah!
Does this not vex one to death? Ah!
Hereafter, letter after letter,
Send to me in haste, with sorrow fraught.

【Tuo Bu Shan】
In west wind yellow leaves whirl down,
Chilled mist steeps withered grass in gloom.
At the banquet, sitting aslant,
He knits his brow, deathly still and mute.

【Xiao Liang Zhou】
I see him hold back glistening tears, not daring to let them fall,
Afraid that others might perceive;
When suddenly our eyes meet, he lowers his head,
Heaves a long sigh, and pretends to adjust his plain silk robe.

【Yao Pian】
Though in the end we shall be paired,
How can I keep from weeping now?
My mind is dazed, my heart is drunk;
Since last night to today,
My slender waist has wasted away.

【Shang Xiao Lou】
Our joy of union not yet spent,
Grief of parting comes anew.
I think how the night before last we met in secret love,
Last night we were wed, and now today we part.
I knew well these days the taste of lovesickness,
But this parting grief is ten times stronger still.

【Yao Pian】
Youth so lightly treats distant farewell,
And shallow love easily casts aside.
You never think of pressed thigh against thigh,
Cheek against cheek, hand in hand.
For you, to be Prime Minister Cui's son-in-law,
Wife honored, husband noble—
If only we could be twin lotus blooms,
That far surpasses ranking first in the imperial exam.

【Man Ting Fang】
The serving of food is all too quick;
Face to face but a moment, and then we part.
Were it not for the mothers and elders who keep us apart at the feast,
I would truly lift the tray to my brow in conjugal respect.
Even if we could stay together but a short while,
It would be fitting for us as husband and wife to share a meal.
My eyes leave only lingering looks in vain;
Thinking of what lies behind,
I nearly turn into the Waiting-for-Husband Stone.

【Kuai Huo San】
The wine and food they bring,
Taste to me like earth and mud.
And even if they were earth and mud,
They would still have some scent of earth, some flavor of mud.

【Chao Tian Zi】
The warm jade brew,
Chill and clear as water,
Is mostly made of lovesick tears.
The tea and rice before me, I cannot bear to eat,
For grief has filled my sorrowing stomach and bowels.
Empty fame as tiny as a snail's horn,
Trivial profit as slight as a fly's head—
They split the mandarin ducks apart.
One on this side, one on that side,
Each heave long sighs in turn.

【Si Bian Jing】
In an instant, cups and dishes lie in disarray;
The carriage goes east, the horse heads west.
Both hearts linger in hesitation,
The setting sun halts over green hills.
Who knows where he will lodge tonight?
Even in dreams it is hard to find him.

【Shua Hai Er】
My sleeves are drenched with crimson tears,
Wetter than the blue robe of the River Sima.
The shrike flies east, the swallow west;
Before the journey starts, I ask when he will return.
Though the one before my eyes is a thousand miles away,
Let us drink one cup of wine while alive.
Before drinking, my heart is already drunk;
My eyes shed blood, my heart turns to ashes.

【Wu Sha】
When you reach the capital, adapt to its climate;
Along the road, be moderate in food and drink;
In due season, take care of your health.
In desolate villages with dew, sleep early;
In wild inns with wind and frost, rise late!
On horseback in autumn wind,
The hardest to look after, the most in need of support.

【Si Sha】
To whom can I tell this sorrow?
Lovesickness only I know;
Heaven does not care if one withers away.
Tears add to the Nine-Bend Yellow River until it overflows,
Grief weighs down the Three Peaks of Mount Hua.
At evening, in melancholy, I lean on the western tower,
And see the sunset on the ancient road,
Withered willows along the long embankment.

【San Sha】
We came here smiling together,
And I return alone weeping.
If I go home and enter the gauze bed-curtain,
Last night the embroidered quilt was fragrant and warm, keeping the spring;
Tonight the green coverlet grows cold, and only dreams know.
When I linger over you, it means nothing else—
Seeing you take the saddle and mount,
I cannot hold back my tearful eyes and grieving brow.

【Er Sha】
Do not worry that your literary talent may not match your fortune;
I only fear you will set aside your wife and marry another.
Do not be like a spring without news from fish or goose!
Here, I will send messages often by the blue phoenix;
But you must not swear not to return unless your name is on the golden list.
You must remember: if you see exotic flowers in a strange land,
Do not linger there as you did here.

【Yi Sha】
Green mountains block the farewell scene,
Sparse woods do not help,
Thin mist and evening haze conceal all.
On the ancient road in the setting sun, no one speaks;
Amidst the autumn wind over millet, I hear the horse neigh.
Why am I so reluctant to board my carriage?
I came in haste, but why is leaving so slow?

【Shou Wei】
Within the surrounding hues of hills,
One whip under the fading light.
The world's sorrows fill my breast—
How could these carriages, great or small, bear the load away?

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Meaning

This is the parting scene from *The Romance of the Western Chamber*, in which Cui Yingying bids farewell to Zhang Sheng at the Long Pavilion as he leaves for the capital to take the civil service examination. The whole piece is a torrent of grief, resentment, and anxiety, interweaving the beauty of late autumn with the agony of forced separation, and ultimately mocking the vanity of fame that tears lovers apart.

【端正好】碧蓝的天空，金黄的菊花满地，西风凄紧，北雁向南飞去。清晨是谁把霜染的树林染得如醉？总归是离别人的眼泪。【滚绣球】恨相见得太迟，怨离别得太快。柳丝虽长却难系住玉骢马，恨不能请疏林挂住西斜的阳光。马儿慢吞吞地走，车儿急匆匆地随，刚结束了相思却又回避，开头便又是早早的别离。听得一声去也，手上的金钏都松了；遥望十里长亭，消瘦了玉肌：这恨有谁知道？【叨叨令】见安排下车儿、马儿，不由人熬熬煎煎地生气；有什么心情把花儿、靥儿，打扮得娇娇滴滴的媚；准备着被儿、枕儿，只索昏昏沉沉地睡；从今后衫儿、袖儿，都揾成重重叠叠的泪。这岂不闷杀人么哥！这岂不闷杀人么哥！日后书儿、信儿，须与我凄凄惶惶地寄。【脱布衫】吹下西风黄叶纷飞，染上寒烟衰草迷离。酒席上斜签着坐的人，皱着愁眉死气沉沉地。【小梁州】我见他含泪汪汪不敢垂落，怕被人知；猛然见了把头低，长叹气，推说整理素罗衣。【幺篇】虽然久后终成佳配，怎奈眼前怎不悲啼。意似痴，心如醉，昨宵到今日，清减了小腰围。【上小楼】合欢未尽，离愁又继。想着俺前日私情，昨夜成亲，今日别离。我深知这几日相思滋味，却原来这别离之情更增十倍。【幺篇】年少呵轻看远别，情薄呵容易弃掷。全不想腿儿相挨，脸儿相偎，手儿相携。你与俺崔相国做女婿，妻荣夫贵，但得个并头莲，强似那状元及第。【满庭芳】供食太急，须臾相对，顷刻别离。若不是酒席间母子每须回避，有心待与他举案齐眉。虽然是厮守得一时半刻，也合着俺夫妻每共桌而食。眼底空留意，寻思起其中缘由，险些化做望夫石。【快活三】将来的酒和食，尝着似土和泥。假若便是土和泥，也有些土气息、泥滋味。【朝天子】暖溶溶的玉醅，白泠泠似水，多半是相思泪。眼面前茶饭怕不要吃，恨塞满了愁肠胃。蜗角虚名，蝇头微利，拆鸳鸯在两下里。一个这壁，一个那壁，一递一声长吁气。【四边静】霎时间杯盘狼藉，车儿投东，马儿向西。两意徘徊，落日山横翠。知他今宵宿在那里？有梦也难寻觅。【耍孩儿】淋漓襟袖啼红泪，比司马青衫更湿。伯劳东去燕西飞，未登程先问归期。虽然眼底人千里，且尽生前酒一杯。未饮心先醉，眼中流血，心内成灰。【五煞】到京师服水土，趁程途节饮食，顺时自保揣身体。荒村雨露宜眠早，野店风霜要起迟！鞍马秋风里，最难调护，最要扶持。【四煞】这忧愁诉与谁？相思只自知，老天不管人憔悴。泪添九曲黄河溢，恨压三峰华岳低。到晚来闷把西楼倚，见了些夕阳古道，衰柳长堤。【三煞】笑吟吟一处来，哭啼啼独自归。归家若到罗帏里，昨宵个绣衾香暖留春住，今夜个翠被生寒有梦知。留恋你别无意，见据鞍上马，阁不住泪眼愁眉。【二煞】你休忧文齐福不齐，我则怕你停妻再娶妻。休要一春鱼雁无消息！我这里青鸾有信频须寄，你却休金榜无名誓不归。君须记：若见了那异乡花草，再休似此处栖迟。【一煞】青山隔送行，疏林不做美，淡烟暮霭相遮蔽。夕阳古道无人语，禾黍秋风听马嘶。我为甚么懒上车儿内，来时甚急，去后何迟？【收尾】四围山色中，一鞭残照里。遍人间烦恼填胸臆，量这些大小车儿如何载得起？

Appreciation

This is the fourth act's third scene in Wang Shifu's *Romance of the Western Chamber*, famed as one of the most intensely lyrical passages in Chinese drama. The full scene consists of a suite of nineteen songs in the *zheng gong* mode, sung entirely by Yingying, using the late-autumn scenery to embody parting sorrow. The opening song, with its 'azure sky, yellow petals, west wind, and southward-flying geese,' transforms Fan Zhongyan's poetic imagery into a vast mournful tableau; the famous question 'who dyed the frosted woods in drunken red?—always the parting tears' blends scene and feeling to an extraordinary degree. The songs that follow build wave after wave of regret, tears, and longing, reaching a climax in 'before drinking, my heart is already drunk; eyes bleed, heart turns to ash,' and closing with the image of carriages unable to bear the weight of human sorrow, leaving an enduring resonance. The whole piece merges scenery and emotion, brilliant in language yet true to raw feeling, making it a high point of classical Chinese theatrical lyricism.

【白话串讲】 “碧云天，黄花地，西风紧，北雁南飞”——王实甫写《西厢记》长亭送别。“晓来谁染霜林醉？总是离人泪”——满山的霜林，是谁染红的？都是离人的眼泪。“恨相见得迟，怨归去得疾”——中国戏曲最美的离别。【意象与手法】情景交融、以景写情。起首【端正好】“碧云天，黄花地，西风紧，北雁南飞”化用范仲淹词意，以辽阔秋景布悲凉；“晓来谁染霜林醉？总是离人泪”以设问将霜林之红归于离人之泪，奇绝动人。全折由十九支曲组成，辞采华美而不失本色，层层写恨、写泪、写痴。【情感与主旨】此折写崔莺莺在十里长亭为赴考张生饯别，是元杂剧中抒情性最强的片断之一。从“恨相见得迟，怨归去得疾”到“未饮心先醉，眼中流血，心内成灰”，把少女的依依、痴怨、担忧写得缠绵悱恻，是古典戏曲抒情写意的高峰。【名句点睛】常考“晓来谁染霜林醉？总是离人泪”化景为情的奇问；“遍人间烦恼填胸臆，量这些大小车儿如何载得起”以车儿载不动烦恼作结，余韵悠长。

Background

*The Romance of the Western Chamber* (*Cui Yingying's Romance in the Western Chamber*) was adapted by the Yuan-dynasty playwright Wang Shifu from Tang poet Yuan Zhen's tale *Yingying's Biography* and the Jin-dynasty *Master Dong's Western Chamber Ballad*. The 'Farewell at the Long Pavilion' scene is the third scene of the fourth book: Zhang Sheng, now secretly married to Yingying, is forced by Old Madam Cui to leave immediately for the capital to win official rank before the marriage can be formally recognized. In the Yuan dynasty, the civil examination was intermittently suspended, and literati struggled for advancement; the play's mockery of 'snail-horn fame, fly-head profit' subtly critiques the way official ambition shackles human feeling. This scene has little dramatic action and is almost pure sung lyricism, showing Wang Shifu's mastery in merging poetic techniques with operatic form. Since the Ming dynasty it has been anthologized widely and continues to be celebrated as the lyrical crown of Yuan drama.

《西厢记》全名《崔莺莺待月西厢记》，元代王实甫据唐元稹《莺莺传》及金董解元《西厢记诸宫调》改编而成，是中国戏曲史上最杰出的爱情剧。《长亭送别》出自第四本第三折，写张生赴京应试、莺莺与红娘送别于十里长亭。故事背景是：崔、张在红娘帮助下私自结合，老夫人虽被迫承认婚事，却以门第之见逼张生立即上京考取功名，否则不允正式完婚。于是才有了这长亭一幕。王实甫生活的元代，科举时行时废，文人仕进艰难，而剧中借莺莺之口讥蜗角虚名，蝇头微利，拆鸳鸯在两下里，实寓对功名羁勒人性的批判。这一折没有复杂的戏剧冲突，几乎全以歌唱抒情，是王实甫将诗词抒情手法融入戏曲的典范，也是《西厢记》最具文学独立价值的片断，自明以来即被选入各类戏曲与文学读本，影响深远。西厢记本自元稹莺莺传与董解元诸宫调改编长亭送别写老夫人逼张生应试莺莺长亭饯别。元代科举时行时废文人进身维艰剧中蜗角虚名之讥实寓对功名羁勒人性之批判。此折几无冲突纯以歌唱抒情最见王实甫融诗词入曲之能，亦为元剧抒情之冠。

Art

The scene's greatest artistic achievement lies in its fusion of scenery and emotion and its deep psychological portraiture, achieved through a perfect marriage of *shi* and *ci* poetic techniques with operatic structure. The opening 'azure sky, yellow petals' derives from Fan Zhongyan's *Su Mu Zhe* (whose original line is 'azure sky, yellow leaves'), while the apostrophe 'who dyed the frosted woods in drunken red?—always the parting tears' makes the red of autumn leaves the product of the lover's tears, wholly internalizing the external landscape. Psychological states are rendered in exquisite gradation: from the regret and resentment of *Gun Xiu Qiu* to the rapid-fire diminutives and reduplications of *Dao Dao Ling* (carriage, horse, flower, rouge—all piled up), capturing the girl's restlessness, coyness, and pain. The hyperbolic 'before drinking, my heart is already drunk; eyes bleed, heart turns to ash' strikes the peak of sorrow. The language is both elegant and plain: literary refinements mingle with colloquial outcries such as 'does this not vex one to death? Ah!', demonstrating Wang Shifu's ability to combine the 'literary' and 'natural' styles in a seamless, vital whole.

此折在艺术上最突出的成就是情景交融与心理刻画的深度，以及诗词手法与戏曲形式的完美结合。首先是以景写情、情景互化：【端正好】碧云天，黄花地，西风紧，北雁南飞，由范仲淹《苏幕遮》碧云天，黄叶地脱化而来，以寥廓秋景先布悲凉；紧接着晓来谁染霜林醉？总是离人泪，把自然之红解释为离人之泪，使外景完全内化为情感之色，是为情景合一的至高笔法。其次是心理描写的细腻层递：从【滚绣球】的恨相见迟、怨归去疾，到【叨叨令】的叠词排比（车儿、马儿、花儿、靥儿……），把少女的焦躁、娇痴、悲苦写得声口毕肖；【耍孩儿】未饮心先醉，眼中流血，心内成灰，则以夸张写悲之深。再次是语言上雅俗共赏：既有晓来谁染霜林醉的诗词雅句，又有兀的不闷杀人也么哥的市井口语，辞采斐然而生气淋漓，充分体现王实甫文采派兼擅本色的大家手段。情景交融与心理刻画为此折双璧，端正好以碧云黄花生悲晓来谁染霜林醉以问将秋色归为离泪情景合一，滚绣球写留郎之痴叨叨令以叠词写怨耍孩儿至未饮心先醉之悲极。语言雅俗共赏既有诗词雅句亦有市井口语文采与本色兼擅，浑然天成。

Allusions

The scene is rich with allusions and deft borrowings. 'Azure sky, yellow petals' directly reworks Fan Zhongyan's *Su Mu Zhe* ('azure sky, yellow leaves'), retaining the autumn melancholy. 'Wetter than the blue robe of the River Sima' refers to Bai Juyi's *Pipa Song*, where the exiled 'River Sima' weeps until his blue robe is soaked—here Yingying's tears surpass even his. 'The shrike flies east, the swallow west' comes from the old *Song of the Eastern Flying Shrike* and symbolizes lovers flying apart. 'Lift the tray to my brow' alludes to the devoted couple Liang Hong and Meng Guang. 'The blue phoenix' refers to the mythical bird that carried messages for the Queen Mother of the West. The closing image of sorrows that carriages cannot carry looks forward to Li Qingzhao's 'Awaited by a boat on Twin Creek that could not carry so much grief.' The phrases 'snail-horn fame' and 'fly-head profit' come from Su Shi's *Full Court Fragrance*. Wang Shifu so assimilates these allusions that they deepen grief, sharpen satire, and blend flawlessly with the drama.

本折用典与化用极富层次。【端正好】碧云天，黄花地直接化用范仲淹《苏幕遮》碧云天，黄叶地，西风紧、北雁南飞亦承其秋思意境，而黄花易黄叶，更显秋光烂漫中的凄清。【耍孩儿】比司马青衫更湿，用白居易《琵琶行》座中泣下谁最多，江州司马青衫湿典，以莺莺之泪多于迁谪之司马，极言悲深；伯劳东去燕西飞化用《东飞伯劳歌》东飞伯劳西飞燕，喻情人分飞。【满庭芳】举案齐眉用梁鸿孟光典，写夫妻恩爱；【二煞】青鸾有信用西王母青鸟传信典，嘱张生寄书；【收尾】车儿载不动烦恼，则遥启李清照《武陵春》只恐双溪舴艋舟，载不动许多愁的意象。蜗角虚名，蝇头微利出自苏轼《满庭芳》，王实甫借以讥功名之微末。这些典故经王实甫点化，或增悲、或助讽，皆与剧情水乳交融，显示了深厚的诗学修养。碧云天黄花地化用范仲淹苏幕遮，比司马青衫更湿用白居易琵琶行，伯劳东去燕西飞出东飞伯劳歌，举案齐眉用梁鸿孟光，青鸾用西王母青鸟，车儿载不动烦恼启李清照武陵春。蜗角虚名出苏轼。诸典点化皆与剧情水乳交融，不见堆垛之痕。

Commentary

The nineteen songs form an emotional river with countless bends. The opening *Duan Zheng Hao* sets the autumnal tone and the keynote of 'parting tears.' *Gun Xiu Qiu* builds resentment and regret with the fantastic wish that willow threads could tie the horse and sparse woods could hang the sun; the loosening bracelet and wasting body render feeling through physical form. *Dao Dao Ling* uses a cascade of reduplicative, childlike diction to voice frantic grief. *Tuo Bu Shan* and *Xiao Liang Zhou* turn to Zhang Sheng's hidden tears and his slight, self-conscious movements. The two *Yao Pian* and *Man Ting Fang* recall the previous night's union and today's rupture, valuing the 'twin lotus' above the scholar's laurels. *Kuai Huo San* and *Chao Tian Zi* scorn the food as mud and dismiss fame as 'snail horn and fly head,' directly indicting the forces that split the lovers. *Si Bian Jing* marks the moment of physical parting. *Shua Hai Er* reaches the extreme of grief, then *Wu Sha* through *Er Sha* shift to practical, loving advice—to protect his health and constancy. The final *Yi Sha* and *Shou Wei* close with landscape: green hills, sparse woods, evening mist, and a whip in the fading sun, ending on the unanswerable question of whether any carriage can carry away such sorrow. No line is without feeling, no song without scenery; this is the apex of lyrical expressiveness in classical drama.

全折十九支曲，以莺莺主唱，情绪如江流九曲，层层推进。【端正好】总起，以秋景定调，末句离人泪提挈全篇之悲；【滚绣球】恨怨交织，柳丝难系、疏林挂晖的奇想，写尽留郎不住的痴愿，松了金钏、减了玉肌以形写神；【叨叨令】以一串叠词排比，如闻呜咽，也么哥的呼告极尽散曲本色；【脱布衫】【小梁州】转写张生情状，阁泪汪汪不敢垂写男子的隐忍；【幺篇】【上小楼】【满庭芳】回味昨夜成亲、今日别离的戏剧性转折，并头莲煞强如状元及第道出莺莺重情轻名；【快活三】【朝天子】讥酒食如泥、功名如蜗角，直斥拆散鸳鸯的虚名；【四边静】写席散车分；【耍孩儿】至悲极处，眼中流血，心内成灰；【五煞】至【二煞】转为临别叮咛，既忧其病、又防其变心，痴情中见理智；【一煞】【收尾】以景结情，青山疏林、残照车儿，烦恼载不动，余味无穷。通折无一句不关情，无一支不写景，是古典戏曲抒情写意的巅峰之作。十九支曲以莺莺主唱情绪如江流九曲，由端正好之秋景至滚绣球之恨怨叨叨令之娇痴耍孩儿之悲极二煞之叮咛一煞收尾之以景结情。通折无一句不关情无一支不写景把少女依依娇痴忧惧写得回肠荡气，是古典戏曲抒情写意之巅峰。

Prosody

Reading note The whole suite is composed for a single leading singer (Yingying), a defining feature of *zaju*. The *Zheng Gong* mode is traditionally associated with a melancholy, grand expressive quality, perfectly suiting the parting grief. The use of *yao pian* (repeated tunes) after *Xiao Liang Zhou* and *Shang Xiao Lou* provides variation while maintaining structural cohesion. Word-heavy and music-light lines, reduplicative phrases, and colloquial insertions are characteristic of the Northern *qu* style.《长亭送别》为【正宫】套曲，依北曲宫调，由【端正好】领起，依次衔接【滚绣球】【叨叨令】【脱布衫】【小梁州】及【幺篇】【上小楼】及【幺篇】【满庭芳】【快活三】【朝天子】【四边静】【耍孩儿】及【五煞】【四煞】【三煞】【二煞】【一煞】【收尾】，共十九支，一宫到底，韵律严整。北曲套数讲究宫调声情与内容相配，正宫调声情惆怅雄壮，恰合离愁别恨。句式上，【端正好】为短句组合（碧云天，黄花地），节拍促紧如泣；【滚绣球】【叨叨令】多用对仗与叠字（车儿、马儿，熬熬煎煎，重重叠叠），节奏回环，宜于铺写缠绵；【煞】尾诸曲多以数字递降（五煞至一煞）形成层层收束的韵律张力；【收尾】以散句收，余韵悠长。全折用韵依《中原音韵》皆来、齐微等韵部，平仄递换，宜歌宜叹，充分体现了北曲套数宫调统摄、联曲抒情、声情与剧情相生的音乐文学特质。

Line by line

晓来谁染霜林醉？总是离人泪。

Waking at dawn, the speaker asks who has dyed the frost-covered woods a drunken red; the answer is that it is always the tears of those who part, turning external scenery into a projection of inner grief.

At dawn, who dyed the frosted woods crimson as wine? It must be the tears of those who part.

这是《长亭送别》中最奇绝、最动人的警句，也是中国古典戏曲情景交融的典范之笔。霜林醉本指经霜枫林红艳如醉，是秋日实境；词人却以设问翻出新境：清晨是谁把树林染得这般醉红？答案不是天工，而是离人的眼泪。如此一来，外在的秋色红艳被完全内化为人物情感的投射，仿佛满林红叶皆是莺莺泣血所染。这一问一答，把无情的草木与有情的离人打成一片，既解释了前面碧云天，黄花地的秋景，又为全折的离恨定了最浓的色调。其想象之奇、用情之深，直追杜甫林花著雨胭脂湿，却更见戏剧性的惊心动魄，历来被推为《西厢记》第一名句，也是王实甫点铁成金、以景写情的最高体现。

This is the most startling and moving line in the Parting at the Pavilion, a model of fused scene and feeling in Chinese verse drama. Frosted woods 'drunk' is, literally, autumn maples reddened by frost; but the lyricist turns it with a question: at dawn, who painted the forest this drunken red? Not heaven's hand — the parting lover's tears. The outer autumn red is thus wholly internalized as projection of emotion, as if every crimson leaf were dyed by Oriole's weeping blood. Question and answer weld feelingless plants to feeling people, explaining the opening sky of azure and ground of yellow flowers, and setting the parting's deepest color for the whole act. Its daring imagination and depth of passion rank it with Du Fu's rain-wet rose, yet more dramatic and heart-stopping — long acclaimed the finest line of the Western Chamber, the highest example of Wang Shifu turning scene into grief.

遍人间烦恼填胸臆，量这些大小车儿如何载得起？

All the world's sorrows fill her breast; she asks how these carriages, great or small, could possibly carry such a load—turning grief into a weight that cannot be moved.

The sorrows of the whole world fill my breast — judge: could these little carts of theirs ever carry the load?

这是全折的收束句，也是把抽象情感具象化的神来之笔。前文写尽离愁，至此以遍人间烦恼填胸臆总束，言其愁恨非一人一时之私，而是普天下离人共有之烦恼，境界由小我扩及大千；继而量这些大小车儿如何载得起，以车儿之小反衬烦恼之大，把无形之愁化为有重量、需车载之物。这一喻象遥启李清照只恐双溪舴艋舟，载不动许多愁，而王实甫以车儿入曲，更切合送别场景，浑成自然。全折由碧云天起、以车儿止，景起景结，中间万转千回，终以一句诘问收束，余音摇漾，既写出莺莺临去频回首的痴态，也把离愁写到无可承载的极致，是元曲结尾以景结情、含蓄不尽的绝佳范例。

The closing line of the act is the stroke that makes abstract feeling concrete. After all the grief of parting, 'the sorrows of all the world fill my breast' gathers it up: this is no one's private grief of one hour, but the common trouble of all who part, the small self expanding to the wide world; then 'judge whether these little carts could carry it' uses the carts' smallness against the grief's size, weighing the invisible sorrow into cargo that needs wheels. The image foreshadows Li Qingzhao's fear that the little boats of Shuangxi could not carry so much grief — Wang Shifu's carts, however, fit the parting scene, seamless and natural. The act opens under azure sky and ends at the carts; scenery opens, scenery closes, and through a thousand turns ends in one question, its echoes lingering — Oriole's backward glances at leaving, and parting weighed beyond all carrying.

Study

Word focus

染霜林醉 A key expression in this poem; read it with the Chinese note below. 染霜林醉四字是全折景物内化的关键。霜林指经霜的树林，醉本形容人之酣醉，此处移用于林，写枫叶红艳如醉；染字尤妙，既写秋霜渲染林色之自然过程，又被后文离人泪反转为主语——原来是离人之泪染红了霜林。一个染字连通了天工与人情，使景物成为情感的载体。醉字则以人态写物态，赋予秋林以生命与情绪，仿佛树林也因离愁而沉醉伤心。这四字承范仲淹碧云天，黄叶地而来，易黄叶为霜林醉，更见绚烂中的凄楚。王实甫炼此寻常景语，却因后文一问而顿生奇境，足见其善以一字盘活全篇、以景语藏情语的炼字功力，是文采派点化自然的高明之处。

蜗角虚名 Fame as tiny as a snail's horn, from *Zhuangzi*; insignificant worldly glory. 蜗角虚名，蝇头微利出自苏轼《满庭芳》，王实甫借莺莺之口用以讥讽拆散鸳鸯的功名利禄。蜗角喻极小，语本《庄子·则阳》蜗角之争；蝇头喻微末。莺莺在此直斥张生所赴求的功名不过是蜗角蝇头般的虚妄，正是它拆鸳鸯在两下里，造成眼前生离。这一个词集中体现了《西厢记》反礼教、重情爱的思想内核：在少女眼中，状元及第远不如并头莲般的两情相守。王实甫以雅词入曲，让莺莺这一人物既有市井的真率、又有文人的识见，蜗角虚名四字看似掉书袋，实则是全剧批判科举功名、张扬至情的理论支点，也是元代文人仕进无门、鄙弃虚名的时代情绪的曲折流露。