元 Yuan · 散曲 Sanqu song
沉醉东风·闲居
Dead Drunk in the East Wind · Living at Leisure
恰离了绿水青山那答，早来到竹篱茅舍人家。
野花路畔开，村酒槽头榨。
直吃的欠欠答答。
醉了山童不劝咱，白发上黄花乱插。
and already come to a house of bamboo fence and thatch.
Wild flowers open beside the road,
village wine is pressed fresh at the vat.
I drink until I sway and stagger.
I am drunk, and the hill-boy does not urge me to stop;
yellow chrysanthemums go into my white hair all anyhow.
Meaning
I have only just left that place of green waters and blue hills, and already I have come to a farmhouse with a bamboo fence and a thatched roof. Wild flowers are blooming along the road and village wine is being pressed fresh at the vat. I drink until I lurch and stagger. I am drunk, and the hill-boy does not come to check me; yellow chrysanthemums go into my white hair every which way.
刚离开了那绿水青山的所在，早就来到了竹篱茅舍的村家。野花在路旁盛开，村酒在槽头新榨。直喝得醉态歪斜、脚步趔趄。醉了那山童也不来劝我，反把黄菊花乱插在白发上。
Appreciation
The delight of this song lies in its plain sketching and its picture of drunkenness. 'Just gone from that place of green waters and blue hills, and already come to a house of bamboo fence and thatch': the words 'just' and 'already' answer each other and give a light, quick movement, while the colloquial 'that place' adds a rustic flavour. 'Wild flowers open beside the road, village wine is pressed fresh at the vat' is a neat parallel pair with the real taste of country life in it. The staggering of the drinker is caught in pure speech, and the close, with the chrysanthemums stuck anyhow in white hair, is bluntly and cheerfully free.
【白话串讲】 卢挚写闲居：“恰离了绿水青山那答，早来到竹篱茅舍人家”。“野花路畔开，村酒槽头榨”——野花路旁开，村酒槽头酿。“直吃的欠欠答答。醉了山童不劝咱，白发上黄花乱插”——他喝醉了，把黄花往白发上插。 【意象与手法】 此曲写闲居之趣在白描与醉态。'恰离了绿水青山那答，早来到竹篱茅舍人家'，'恰''早'呼应显轻快，'那答'俚词添野趣 【情感与主旨】 卢挚为元初散曲名家，与姚燧并称'姚卢'，官至翰林学士。元初文人多仕隐之间，卢挚晚年渐耽林泉，散曲多写闲居隐逸 【名句点睛】 卢挚闲适小令设题。其一，对比：'离'与'来'、'绿水青山'与'竹篱茅舍'对照，体会弃官归隐轻快。其二，口语
Background
Lu Zhi was a famous sanqu writer of the early Yuan, coupled with Yao Sui as 'Yao and Lu', and rose to be a Hanlin academician. Early Yuan scholars lived between office and retirement, and Lu Zhi in his later years grew more and more attached to woods and streams, so that most of his songs are about country leisure. The short lines of the Dead Drunk in the East Wind tune suit a free and easy manner. This song describes the move from the green waters and blue hills of official travel to a village of bamboo fence and thatch, and by its drunkenness and its flowers in the hair reflects the early Yuan gentleman's creed that a man out of office should at least perfect himself.
《沉醉东风·闲居》为元代卢挚所作，是写闲居之乐、田园之趣的散曲。卢挚（约1242—约1314），字处道，涿郡人，元代散曲家。此曲：恰离了绿水青山那答，早来到竹篱茅舍人家。野花路畔开，村酒槽头榨。直吃的欠欠答答。醉了山童不劝咱，白发上黄花乱插。全曲写闲居之乐、田园之趣，是卢挚散曲的名篇。
Art
The pleasure of this song is in its plain description and in its drunken figure. In 'Just gone from that place of green waters and blue hills, and already come to a house of bamboo fence and thatch', the words 'just' and 'already' answer one another for a light, swift turn, and the colloquial 'that place' adds a country flavour. 'Wild flowers open beside the road, village wine is pressed fresh at the vat' is a parallel couplet with the genuine savour of village life. 'I drink until I sway and stagger' paints the drunkard. The closing lines, in which nobody checks the drinker and chrysanthemums are stuck anyhow into white hair, are blunt and free, and through the drunkenness a proud independence shows; here the song catches the very soul of sanqu abandon.
《沉醉东风·闲居》艺术上以闲居之乐的质朴与田园之趣的活泼见长。全曲写闲居：首写绿水青山、竹篱茅舍——“恰离了绿水青山那答，早来到竹篱茅舍人家”写绿水青山、竹篱茅舍；中写野花村酒——“野花路畔开，村酒槽头榨”写野花路畔、村酒槽头，“直吃的欠欠答答”写直吃得欠欠答答；末写醉后之趣——“醉了山童不劝咱，白发上黄花乱插”写山童不劝、白发插花。全曲以闲居写田园之趣，正是卢挚散曲质朴活泼的笔法。
Allusions
The song describes what lies before it and uses allusion lightly. The green waters and blue hills transform an image from Xie Tiao and the Tang poets and stand generally for a career of official travel; set against the bamboo fence and the thatched hut, they hint at giving up office for retirement. Chrysanthemums stuck in white hair continue Tao Yuanming's picking of chrysanthemums at the Double Ninth and Su Shi's habit of wearing flowers, using white hair against yellow blossom to write the wildness of age. The name of the tune itself, being drunk in the east wind, suits the content exactly. Nothing is piled up from the books: common speech carries ordinary feeling.
《沉醉东风·闲居》用典少而取景自然。“沉醉东风”为曲牌名；“那答”写那处（口语）；“槽头榨”写槽头榨酒。全曲以这些意象写闲居之乐，不用深典而质朴自见，正是卢挚散曲的笔法。
Commentary
Lu Zhi is coupled with Yao Sui as 'Yao and Lu', and the Ming prince Zhu Quan, in his Correct Sounds of Great Harmony, said his songs were 'like glass and polished jade', clear, fresh and pleasing. Modern critics of Yuan song generally treat Lu Zhi as the representative of the leisure school, and this Dead Drunk in the East Wind is especially admired for 'writing the drunken pleasure of village life, plain and unpolished as a picture'. Wang Guowei, though he valued ci above all, said of Yuan song that 'in describing scenery it goes to the heart, and in telling a thing it is as if the man himself spoke'; this song answers the description exactly.
《沉醉东风·闲居》是卢挚散曲的名篇，也是元曲中写闲居之乐的代表作。此曲写闲居之乐、田园之趣，向为论者称道。论者多赏其闲居之乐的质朴与田园之趣的活泼——“恰离了绿水青山那答，早来到竹篱茅舍人家”写绿水青山、竹篱茅舍，质朴之极；“野花路畔开，村酒槽头榨”写野花村酒，更见其趣；“醉了山童不劝咱，白发上黄花乱插”写醉后插花，尤见其乐。卢挚以散曲著称，其曲以清雅质朴著称，此曲正是其代表——以闲居写田园之趣，正是其曲风。
Prosody
Line by line
恰离了绿水青山那答，早来到竹篱茅舍人家。
Scarcely have I left that place of green mountains and clear waters, when I arrive at a home of bamboo fence and thatched cottage.
恰离了绿水青山那答（那处），早来到竹篱茅舍人家。
Barely have I left the green mountains and clear waters, when I come to a cottage of bamboo fence and thatch.
首写绿水青山、竹篱茅舍，是全曲写闲居的起点。“恰离了绿水青山那答”写绿水青山——“恰离了绿水青山那答”写恰离开了绿水青山那处——恰离了绿水青山那答；“早来到竹篱茅舍人家”写竹篱茅舍——“早来到竹篱茅舍人家”写早来到了竹篱茅舍的人家——早来到竹篱茅舍人家。二句写绿水青山、竹篱茅舍：恰离了绿水青山那答，早来到竹篱茅舍人家。以“恰离了绿水青山那答”写离开山水之景，以“早来到竹篱茅舍人家”写来到竹篱茅舍之家，正是卢挚散曲写闲居、田园之景的起点——山水而外，茅舍幽居。
The opening — green mountains, clear waters, bamboo fence, thatched cottage — is the starting point of the song's idyll. 'Scarcely have I left that place of green mountains and clear waters' writes the leaving of the landscape; 'when I arrive at a home of bamboo fence and thatched cottage' the coming to the cottage dwelling. Beyond the hills and waters, the secluded cottage — the point from which Lu Zhi's sanqu begins its idyll of country life.
野花路畔开，村酒槽头榨。直吃的欠欠答答。
Wildflowers bloom by the road; village wine is pressed at the vat — I drink on and on, tipsy and muddled.
野花路畔开，村酒槽头榨。直吃的欠欠答答。
Wildflowers bloom by the roadside; village wine runs from the press; I drink until I am utterly tipsy.
此三句写野花村酒、吃得痛快，是全曲写闲居之乐的深化。“野花路畔开，村酒槽头榨”写野花村酒——“野花路畔开”写野花在路畔开放，“村酒槽头榨”写村酒在槽头榨出——野花路畔，村酒槽头；“直吃的欠欠答答”写吃得欠欠答答——“直吃的欠欠答答”写直吃得醉醺醺的——直吃的欠欠答答。三句写野花村酒、吃得痛快：野花路畔开，村酒槽头榨，直吃的欠欠答答。以“野花路畔开，村酒槽头榨”写野花村酒之田园，以“直吃的欠欠答答”写醉醺醺之痛快，正是卢挚散曲写闲居之乐的深化——村酒野花，醉而自适。
These three lines deepen the joy of the idyll: wild flowers, village wine, drinking to one's heart's content. 'Wildflowers bloom by the road; village wine is pressed at the vat' paints the pastoral of wayside blooms and fresh-pressed wine; 'I drink on and on, tipsy and muddled' the drunken thoroughness. Village wine and wild flowers, drunk at ease — the deepened pleasure of rustic life.
醉了山童不劝咱，白发上黄花乱插。
Drunk, the mountain boy does not chide me on; yellow chrysanthemums I stick at random in my white hair.
醉了山童不劝咱，白发上黄花乱插。
Drunk as I am, the mountain lad does not urge me to stop; yellow blossoms I stick at random into my white hair.
末写醉后插花，是全曲写闲居之趣的归结。“醉了山童不劝咱”写山童不劝——“醉了山童不劝咱”写醉了山童也不劝咱（任我醉）——醉了山童不劝咱；“白发上黄花乱插”写白发插花——“白发上黄花乱插”写白发上乱插黄花——白发上黄花乱插。二句写醉后插花：醉了山童不劝咱，白发上黄花乱插。以“醉了山童不劝咱”写醉后山童不劝之自在，以“白发上黄花乱插”写白发上乱插黄花之狂态，正是卢挚散曲写闲居之趣的归结——醉后自得，插花自乐。
The closing, flowers stuck in after drinking, resolves the song's idyll into delight. 'Drunk, the mountain boy does not chide me on' writes the freedom of being left to one's drunkenness; 'yellow chrysanthemums I stick at random in my white hair' the wildness of plucking blooms for white hair. Drunk and self-possessed, flowers plucked for joy — the resolution of the retired life's delight.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
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