元 Yuan · 曲 Qu song
折桂令·客窗清明
Zhe Gui Ling — The Traveler's Window at Qingming
风风雨雨梨花，窄索帘栊，巧小窗纱。
甚情绪灯前，客怀枕畔，心事天涯。
三千丈清愁鬓发，五十年春梦繁华。
蓦见人家，杨柳分烟，扶上檐牙。
What mood before the lamp, a traveler's heart by the pillow, worries reaching the ends of the earth.
Three thousand yards of clear sorrow in my hair; fifty years of spring-dream splendor.
Suddenly I see a household where willows part the mist, climbing to the eaves' edge.
Meaning
A Qingming lyric of a traveler lodged far from home, weaving rain on pear blossoms, lonely lamp, white hair, and fifty years of vanished splendor into a quiet melancholy deepened by the sight of a neighbor's willows.
风雨摧残着梨花，帘栊窄小，窗纱精巧。灯前是何等心绪，枕畔是旅客情怀，心事却远在天涯。三千丈清愁染白了鬓发，五十年的春梦般繁华已成过往。猛然望见人家，杨柳笼着轻烟，攀上了檐牙。
Appreciation
The first part opens with 'wind and rain on pear blossoms,' then layers the narrow curtain and small window to set a cramped, desolate lodging; the three parallel lines on lamp, pillow, and the ends of earth build emotion in three rising steps. The lower part transforms Li Bai's 'three thousand yards of white hair' into 'clear sorrow,' using hyperbole for the depth of grief; the closing sight of a neighbor's willows in mist, a happy scene, only sharpens the loneliness. The whole piece fuses seasonal sorrow, wandering sorrow, and the sorrow of passing years, ending by mirroring the poet's drift against another's hearth-fire, leaving a long aftertaste.
【白话串讲】 “风风雨雨梨花，窄索帘栊，巧小窗纱”——乔吉写客居清明：风雨梨花。“三千丈清愁鬓发，五十年春梦繁华”——他的清愁像三千丈白发。“蓦见人家，杨柳分烟，扶上檐牙”——忽然看见人家，杨柳含烟。 【意象与手法】上片以“风风雨雨梨花”起兴，风雨、梨花、窄帘、小窗层层铺垫客居的逼仄与凄凉；“甚情绪灯前”三句鼎足对，将情绪、客怀、心事三层叠进。下片“三千丈清愁鬓发”化用李白“白发三千丈”，以夸张写愁之深；“蓦见人家”三句以乐景（杨柳扶檐）反衬哀情，于无声处更显孤独。 【情感与主旨】这首小令写清明客居的孤寂与身世之慨。风雨梨花是节候之悲，天涯客怀是漂泊之悲，五十年春梦是岁月之悲，三层悲感交融，末以邻家烟火反照自身飘零，余味悠长。 【名句点睛】“三千丈清愁鬓发，五十年春梦繁华。”——上句夺胎李白“白发三千丈”而变“清愁”，下句以“春梦繁华”总括半生，对仗工稳，时空交错，将身世之悲写得既清空又沉厚，是乔吉清丽派散曲的警策之笔。
Background
Qiao Ji (c. 1280–1345), styled Mengfu, also known as Sheng He Weng, was a leading late-Yuan sanqu writer, paired with Zhang Kejiu and known for a clear-and-elegant style. This lyric was written during the Qingming season while lodging away from home, probably during his wandering years in the Jiangnan region, unsuccessful and adrift.
《折桂令·客窗清明》为元代乔吉所作，是写客窗清明、客怀枕畔的散曲。乔吉（约1280—1345），字梦符，号笙鹤翁、惺惺道人，太原人，元代散曲家。此曲：风风雨雨梨花，窄索帘栊，巧小窗纱。甚情绪灯前，客怀枕畔，心事天涯。三千丈清愁鬓发，五十年春梦繁华。蓦见人家，杨柳分烟，扶上檐牙。全曲写客窗清明、客怀枕畔，是乔吉曲的名篇。
Art
The whole piece belongs to the clear-elegant school. The upper part uses a three-legged parallelism with staggered phrasing; the lower part transforms Li Bai's line into new meaning with 'clear sorrow,' and ends with the three lines 'suddenly I see a household' using scene to close the feeling, leaving an endless resonance—showing Qiao Ji's craft of sharp freshness and graceful intent.
《折桂令·客窗清明》艺术上以客窗清明的描摹与客怀之愁的深婉见长。全曲一气贯下：首写客窗之景——“风风雨雨梨花，窄索帘栊，巧小窗纱”写风风雨雨梨花、窄索帘栊、巧小窗纱，“甚情绪灯前，客怀枕畔，心事天涯”写甚情绪灯前、客怀枕畔、心事天涯；中用清愁繁华——“三千丈清愁鬓发，五十年春梦繁华”用三千丈清愁之语写三千丈清愁鬓发、五十年春梦繁华；末写蓦见人家——“蓦见人家，杨柳分烟，扶上檐牙”写蓦见人家、杨柳分烟、扶上檐牙。全曲以客窗清明写客怀之愁，正是乔吉曲深婉的笔法。
Allusions
'Three thousand yards of clear sorrow in my hair' transforms Li Bai's 'White hair three thousand yards, for sorrow is so long,' using hyperbole for deep grief. 'Spring-dream splendor' hints at the sense that half a life's wandering is like a dream. 'Willows part the mist' depicts Qingming sights; the ancients had customs of planting and breaking willows at Qingming.
《折桂令·客窗清明》用典在“梨花”“窄索帘栊”“三千丈”“五十年春梦”“杨柳分烟”。“梨花”写梨花；“窄索帘栊”写窄索帘栊（帘栊）；“三千丈”用李白白发三千丈之典；“五十年春梦”写五十年春梦（人生如梦）；“杨柳分烟”写杨柳分烟。全曲以这些典故写客窗清明、客怀之愁，用典自然而深婉自见，正是乔吉曲的笔法。
Commentary
Qiao Ji's sanqu mostly write of rivers-and-lakes failure and romantic longing, with careful wording; Wang Jide's Qu Lü praised his 'lingering feeling against scene, flickering phrasing.' This piece takes the Qingming traveler's window as its realm, dissolving life's regrets into the season's objects—a fine short lyric of the clear-elegant school.
《折桂令·客窗清明》是乔吉曲的名篇，也是元代散曲中写客愁的代表作。此曲写客窗清明、客怀枕畔，向为论者称道。论者多赏其客窗清明的描摹与客怀之愁的深婉——“风风雨雨梨花，窄索帘栊，巧小窗纱”写风风雨雨梨花、窄索帘栊、巧小窗纱，深婉之极；“甚情绪灯前，客怀枕畔，心事天涯”写甚情绪灯前、客怀枕畔、心事天涯，更见其愁；“三千丈清愁鬓发，五十年春梦繁华”用三千丈之典写三千丈清愁鬓发、五十年春梦繁华，尤见其慨；“蓦见人家，杨柳分烟，扶上檐牙”写蓦见人家、杨柳分烟、扶上檐牙，尤见其怅。乔吉与张可久并称元代散曲两大家，此曲正是其代表——以客窗清明写客怀之愁，正是其曲风。
Prosody
Line by line
风风雨雨梨花，窄索帘栊，巧小窗纱。
Wind after wind, rain after rain, on the pear blossoms; the narrow window lattice, the delicate gauze panes.
风风雨雨梨花，窄索帘栊，巧小窗纱。
Wind and rain beat the pear blossoms; narrow the curtained lattice, dainty the window gauze.
首写风风雨雨梨花、窄索帘栊、巧小窗纱，是全曲写客窗之景的起点。“风风雨雨梨花”写风风雨雨梨花——“风风雨雨梨花”写风风雨雨中梨花——风风雨雨梨花；“窄索帘栊，巧小窗纱”写窄索帘栊、巧小窗纱——“窄索帘栊”写窄索的帘栊，“巧小窗纱”写小巧的窗纱——窄索帘栊，巧小窗纱。三句写风风雨雨梨花、窄索帘栊、巧小窗纱：风风雨雨梨花，窄索帘栊，巧小窗纱。以“风风雨雨梨花”写风雨梨花、客窗凄清，以“窄索帘栊”写窄索帘栊、羁旅之居，以“巧小窗纱”写巧小窗纱、客舍之景，正是乔吉曲写客窗之景的起点——风雨梨花，窄窗小纱。
The opening writes wind-rain on pear blossoms, the narrow lattice, the dainty gauze — the starting point of the song's traveler's-window scene. 'Wind after wind, rain after rain, on the pear blossoms' the blossoms in wind and rain; 'the narrow window lattice, the delicate gauze panes' the narrow rail, the dainty pane. Wind-rain on pear blossoms, the traveler's chill window; the narrow lattice, his lodging; the dainty gauze, the inn's view — the point from which Qiao Ji begins.
三千丈清愁鬓发，五十年春梦繁华。
Three thousand fathoms of clear grief in my hair; fifty years of spring dreams of splendor.
三千丈清愁鬓发，五十年春梦繁华。
Three thousand fathoms of pale grief in my graying hair; fifty years of spring dreams of vanished splendor.
中用三千丈之典写三千丈清愁鬓发、五十年春梦繁华，是全曲写客怀之慨的深化。“三千丈清愁鬓发”用李白白发三千丈之典写三千丈清愁鬓发——“三千丈清愁鬓发”用李白白发三千丈之典写三千丈的清愁、染白鬓发——三千丈清愁鬓发；“五十年春梦繁华”写五十年春梦繁华——“五十年春梦繁华”写五十年春梦、繁华已逝——五十年春梦繁华。二句写三千丈清愁鬓发、五十年春梦繁华：三千丈清愁鬓发，五十年春梦繁华。以“三千丈清愁鬓发”用李白之典写清愁如三千丈、白发苍苍，以“五十年春梦繁华”写五十年春梦、繁华成空，正是乔吉曲写客怀之慨的深化——清愁三千丈，春梦五十年。
The middle uses the allusion of three thousand fathoms to deepen the traveler's lament. 'Three thousand fathoms of clear grief in my hair' adapts Li Bai's 'my white hair is three thousand fathoms long' — three thousand fathoms of pale grief, dyeing the temples; 'fifty years of spring dreams of splendor' — fifty years of spring dreams, the splendor gone. Pale grief three thousand fathoms, white hair; spring dreams fifty years, splendor turned to void — the deepened lament.
蓦见人家，杨柳分烟，扶上檐牙。
Suddenly I see a home: willows dividing the mist, climbing to the eaves' corners.
蓦见人家，杨柳分烟，扶上檐牙。
Suddenly I catch sight of a home; willows part the mist, climbing the eaves' teeth.
末写蓦见人家、杨柳分烟、扶上檐牙，是全曲写客愁之怅的归结。“蓦见人家”写蓦见人家——“蓦见人家”写猛然看见人家——蓦见人家；“杨柳分烟，扶上檐牙”写杨柳分烟、扶上檐牙——“杨柳分烟”写杨柳分开烟雾，“扶上檐牙”写柳色扶上檐牙——杨柳分烟，扶上檐牙。三句写蓦见人家、杨柳分烟、扶上檐牙：蓦见人家，杨柳分烟，扶上檐牙。以“蓦见人家”写蓦见人家、客愁忽动，以“杨柳分烟”写杨柳分烟、春色依稀，以“扶上檐牙”写柳色扶上檐牙、人家之乐，正是乔吉曲写客愁之怅的归结——蓦见人家，柳上檐牙。
The closing resolves the song's traveler's ache: 'suddenly I see a home,' 'willows dividing the mist,' 'climbing to the eaves' corners.' 'Suddenly I see a home' — the traveler's grief stirred at the sight; 'willows dividing the mist' the spring color faint among the haze; 'climbing to the eaves' corners' the willow green mounting the eaves, the warmth of another's home. Suddenly a home, willow on the eaves — the resolution of the traveler's wistfulness.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Compare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
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