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五代 Five Dynasties · 词 Ci lyric

子夜歌·人生愁恨何能免

Midnight Song: Whom Can the Sorrows of Life Escape?

李煜

Li Yu

故国The Lost State 悲慨Grief and Indignation

人生愁恨何能免，销魂独我情何限！
故国梦重归，觉来双泪垂。
高楼谁与上？
长记秋晴望。
往事已成空，还如一梦中。

Whom can the sorrows and the regrets of life escape?
For me alone the heart's agony knows no limit.
In a dream I return once more to my lost state; on waking, my two eyes let fall their tears.
Who would ascend that high tower with me?
I remember only the clear autumn day, and looking out from it.
What has passed has become empty — and yet it is exactly like one single dream.

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Meaning

A captured king asks who can escape the sorrows of life and answers that his own grief is boundless. He then records the single consolation he can still find: a dream in which he returns to his former state, and the tears that follow the waking. On the tower where he used to climb on clear autumn days to look out, he finds that the past is emptied out, and that emptiness is itself indistinguishable from a dream. The poem turns on the fact that the only way back to the lost country is through sleep.

人生愁恨何能免，销魂独我情何限！故国梦重归，觉来双泪垂。高楼谁与上？长记秋晴望。往事已成空，还如一梦中。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The speaker opens with a question about everyone and answers it for himself: no one escapes sorrow, and mine exceeds all measure. He then gives one concrete episode — a dream of the lost state, and waking tears — and one concrete place, the tower of happy autumn climbing. The last line folds the two together: the past is gone, and what remains of it is a dream.<br>[Structure] The poem is built on a hinge. The first couplet states the feeling generally and in the loudest possible words; the second couplet narrows to one dream and one waking; the third turns to the tower of memory and ends by returning to the word dream. The whole structure is a circle, and the closing word is the opening word in another form.<br>[Imagery] Two images carry the poem: the dream, which is the only route back to the lost state, and the autumn tower, which is where memory keeps its station. The question 'who would ascend with me?' is answerable only by silence — the towers of the fallen are climbed alone. The final simile (like one single dream) is not a new image but the return of the earlier one, and it is that echo rather than the language of grief that makes the ending so striking.

【白话串讲】李煜写《子夜歌·人生愁恨何能免》：“人生愁恨何能免，销魂独我情何限”——“故国梦重归，觉来双泪垂”——“高楼谁与上？长记秋晴望”——“往事已成空，还如一梦中”——他写故国之思。【意象与手法】此词写亡国，以愁恨写亡国，是李煜的名篇。上阕写愁恨：「人生愁恨何能免，销魂独我情何限！故国梦重归，觉来双泪垂」写人生愁恨何能免、销魂独我情何限——写尽觉来双泪的垂；下阕写往事：「高楼谁与上？长记秋晴望。往事已成空，还如一梦中」写高楼谁与上、长记秋晴望——写尽还如一梦的梦中。全词以愁恨写亡国，写尽觉来双泪的垂与还如一梦的梦中，是李煜的代表作。【情感与主旨】此词写亡国，以愁恨写亡国，是李煜的名篇。此词为李煜后期之作，写其亡国之恨与故国之思。李煜此词写其被俘后的愁恨。此词写人生愁恨何能免，销魂独我情何限；故国梦重归，觉来双泪垂；高楼谁与上？长记秋晴望；往事已成空，还如一梦中。此词写愁恨：人生愁恨何能免，销魂独我情何限——写人生愁恨何能免、销魂独我情何限，写尽销魂独我的情何限；故国梦重归，觉来双泪垂——写故国梦重归、觉来双泪垂，写尽觉来双泪的垂；高楼谁与上？长记秋晴望——写高楼谁与上、长记秋晴望，写尽长记秋晴的望；往事已成空，还如一梦中——写往事已成空、还如一梦中，写尽还如一梦的梦中。全词以愁恨写亡国——那「觉来双泪垂」写尽觉来双泪的垂，「还如一梦中」写尽还如一梦的梦中，写尽觉来双泪的垂与还如一梦的梦中，是理解李煜亡国词的重要篇章。【名句点睛】常考「人生愁恨何能免，销魂独我情何限」写销魂独我的情何限；「往事已成空，还如一梦中」写还如一梦的梦中；以及全词以愁恨写亡国、以直抒写愁恨的手法。

Background

Li Yu (937–978), styled Chongguang, was the last ruler of the Southern Tang and the brother who succeeded his elder brother Xuanyou. In 975 the state was taken by the Song, and Li Yu was carried to Bianjing, where he lived as an imprisoned ex-monarch under an infamous title; all his greatest verse was written after that capture, and he is said to have died in 978, probably poisoned. The tune Midnight Song belongs to the tradition of southern folk song, and this short piece is one of the small number of his ci that are read as direct autobiography rather than as a set piece. It is usually dated to his last two years in captivity.

此词写亡国，以愁恨写亡国，是李煜的名篇。李煜（937—978），初名从嘉，字重光，号钟隐、莲峰居士，南唐最后一位国君，世称「南唐后主」「李后主」，五代十国时期南唐词人，被俘后死于汴京。此词为李煜后期之作，写其亡国之恨与故国之思。李煜此词写其被俘后的愁恨。此词写人生愁恨何能免，销魂独我情何限；故国梦重归，觉来双泪垂；高楼谁与上？长记秋晴望；往事已成空，还如一梦中。此词写愁恨：「人生愁恨何能免，销魂独我情何限」写人生愁恨何能免、销魂独我情何限——写尽销魂独我的情何限（人生愁恨何能免，销魂独我情何限）；「故国梦重归，觉来双泪垂」写故国梦重归、觉来双泪垂——写尽觉来双泪的垂（故国梦重归，觉来双泪垂）；「高楼谁与上？长记秋晴望」写高楼谁与上、长记秋晴望——写尽长记秋晴的望（高楼谁与上？长记秋晴望）；「往事已成空，还如一梦中」写往事已成空、还如一梦中——写尽还如一梦的梦中（往事已成空，还如一梦中）。全词以愁恨写亡国，写尽觉来双泪的垂与还如一梦的梦中，是理解李煜亡国词的重要篇章。

Art

The poem's central device is the dream and its failure. Wanting to recover the lost state, the speaker does recover it — in sleep — and immediately loses it again by waking; the tears are not the price of the dream but its conclusion. There is no imagery of battle or pillage, and no mention of his capture; the ruin is felt entirely through a bedside detail. The second device is the turning of the pronoun: the general question about all men becomes 'for me alone', and then the 'I' withdraws again into the third person of 'his tears'. The structure of couplets also varies: two are declarative, one is a question, one is a memory, and the asymmetry keeps the piece from becoming a formal exercise. Above all, the poem refuses comfort — the tower of autumn was where happiness used to be, and it appears in the poem only as an empty place.

此词的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以直抒写愁恨。「人生愁恨何能免」以直抒写愁恨——那「销魂独我情何限」写尽销魂独我的情何限，以直抒写尽销魂独我的情何限。其二，以白描写梦醒。「故国梦重归」以白描写梦醒——那「觉来双泪垂」写尽觉来双泪的垂，以白描写尽觉来双泪的垂。其三，以设问写高楼。「高楼谁与上」以设问写高楼——那「长记秋晴望」写尽长记秋晴的望，以设问写尽长记秋晴的望。其四，以比喻写往事。「往事已成空」以比喻写往事——那「还如一梦中」写尽还如一梦的梦中，以比喻写尽还如一梦的梦中。此外，此词上阕写觉来双泪的垂，下阕写还如一梦的梦中，由恨及梦，正是亡国词「以梦写恨」的写法。四重手法，使此词以愁恨写亡国，写尽觉来双泪的垂与还如一梦的梦中，是李煜的代表作。又，此词开篇「人生愁恨何能免」以普遍性起笔，人人皆不免愁恨，而「销魂独我情何限」一转，独我之情尤深，在普遍中凸出自我，一层深过一层；「故国梦重归，觉来双泪垂」以梦写归、以泪写真，梦中归国与醒来垂泪对照，乐极悲生；下阕「高楼谁与上」设问无人，「长记秋晴望」追忆往昔登高；末以「往事已成空，还如一梦中」总收，由恨入空、由空入梦，全词层层递进，以直白语写极深痛，正是李煜后期词「以血泪为词、不假雕饰」的本色。

Allusions

The language is drawm from the whole vocabulary of parting and ruin. 'The heart consumed' traces back to the description of the soul's dissolution at a farewell, where nothing else in the world can be named so completely; 'the lost state' is the plain word for a dynasty that has fallen, and it recurs in his best-known lines about a country he cannot bear to remember under a bright moon. 'Who would ascend with me?' recalls the long line of poems about climbing a high tower alone; 'the clear autumn day' is the season in which memory is sharpest and coldest. The last line, 'like one single dream', belongs to a habit of comparing life and dream that runs from the Taoist classics through the Tang poets to Su Shi. None of these is cited in the poem; they are simply the language in which a fallen king could say what he had to say.

此词的用语深植于亡国与愁恨传统。「愁恨」令人想到「愁恨」写愁恨的意象——也令人想到「此恨绵绵无绝期」（白居易）的意象；「何能免」令人想到「何能免」写难免的意象——也令人想到「人生愁恨何能免」（李煜）的意象；「销魂」令人想到「销魂」写销魂的意象——也令人想到「黯然销魂者，唯别而已矣」（江淹）的意象；「独我」令人想到「独我」写独我的意象——也令人想到「独自莫凭栏」（李煜）的意象；「情何限」令人想到「情何限」写无限的意象——也令人想到「问君能有几多愁」（李煜）的意象；「故国」令人想到「故国」写故国的意象——也令人想到「故国不堪回首月明中」（李煜）的意象；「梦重归」令人想到「梦重归」写梦归的意象——也令人想到「梦里不知身是客」（李煜）的意象；「双泪垂」令人想到「双泪垂」写垂泪的意象——也令人想到「垂泪对宫娥」（李煜）的意象；「高楼」令人想到「高楼」写高楼的意象——也令人想到「无言独上西楼」（李煜）的意象；「谁与上」令人想到「谁与上」写谁与的意象——也令人想到「独上高楼，望尽天涯路」（晏殊）的意象；「秋晴」令人想到「秋晴」写秋晴的意象——也令人想到「秋高气爽」的意象；「往事」令人想到「往事」写往事的意象——也令人想到「往事知多少」（李煜）的意象；「已成空」令人想到「已成空」写成空的意象——也令人想到「万事成空」的意象；「一梦中」令人想到「一梦中」写梦中的意象——也令人想到「人生如梦」（苏轼）的意象。全词化用愁恨、何能免、销魂、独我、情何限、故国、梦重归、双泪垂、高楼、谁与上、秋晴、往事、已成空、一梦中的意象，以愁恨写亡国，正是李煜「哀婉」而善直抒、承南唐传统写亡国之本领。

Commentary

The piece is counted among the small masterpieces of the ci of the fallen, and among the clearest evidence for the reading of Li Yu as a poet who wrote only after his capture. Its reputation rests on the refusal of consolation: where his other poems of the same period reach for memory, wine or the moon as remedies, this one ends with the admission that the past is empty and that emptiness is a dream. Critics have also noted how little it depends on convention — there is no court, no palace, no enemy on stage, only a bed, a tower and a season. It is regularly printed beside 'The Beautiful Lady Yu' and 'Tower of the West at Dusk', and among the three it is the shortest and the most austere; read together, they show the two faces of his late style — the one that floods, and the one that withdraws into a single admission.

此词历来被推为李煜亡国词的名篇，也是五代词写愁恨梦回的清刚之作。历代论者对此词评价极高：清人评此词「以愁恨写亡国，直而多怨」；近人更指出「人生愁恨何能免，销魂独我情何限」写销魂独我的情何限，是此词的名句。在词史上，此词的特殊价值在于：它以小令写尽觉来双泪的垂与还如一梦的梦中——那人生，那愁恨，那何能免，那销魂，那独我，那情何限，那故国，那梦重归，那觉来，那双泪垂，那高楼，那谁与上，那长记，那秋晴望，那往事，那已成空，那还如，那一梦中，都写尽了李煜笔下的子夜歌人生愁恨何能免；那「往事已成空，还如一梦中」更以比喻写尽还如一梦的梦中。此词与李煜《虞美人·春花秋月何时了》「春花秋月何时了」同为亡国名篇，一写「问君能有几多愁」的虞美人，一写「人生愁恨何能免」的子夜歌；一写长调，一写小令。两词对读，可见李煜亡国词的两面。对于今日读者，此词是理解李煜亡国词的窗口，也是五代词写愁恨梦回的经典——那还如一梦的梦中，穿越千年，仍在诉说着觉来双泪的垂。

Prosody

Form Ci in the tune Midnight Song词·子夜歌

Rhyme The upper stanza rhymes on the oblique tone — escape and limit — and the lower stanza moves to the level tone, wept-flowed, gazed, dream. The change of rhyme from the stopped oblique to the sustained level mirrors the poem's own movement from a shout into a long drawing-out.子夜歌，上阕押「免」「限」「垂」，下阕押「望」「中」（平仄换韵，仄韵转平韵）

Tone pattern The opening is loud and interrogative; the dream couplet drops to the intimacy of a bedside; the question about the tower is short and cold; and the final couplet says its weight in the shortest words of the poem. The pitch falls steadily from the first line to the last.此词为子夜歌小令，上阕仄韵、下阕平韵，换韵转承，音节清刚，正合亡国的清刚。

Reading note The tune allows two rhymes and the poet uses the change of rhyme as a structural break: an oblique pair that stops the breath, then a level pair that lets it out. This fits the poem, whose energy comes from trying to say something extreme and then having to go on saying it more quietly. In recitation the first line should be asked rather than sung — the interrogative is the engine of the piece — and the last four characters should be given slowly, since the whole argument of the poem rests on the difference between 'has become empty' and 'is like one dream'. Nothing in the poem is ornamented; the music is entirely in the rhymes and in the falling tone.此词为子夜歌小令，上下两阕——上阕「人生愁恨何能免，销魂独我情何限！故国梦重归，觉来双泪垂」，下阕「高楼谁与上？长记秋晴望。往事已成空，还如一梦中」，上阕押仄韵（免、限），下阕转平韵（垂、望、中），换韵转承，音节清刚。全词以愁恨写亡国：上阕写觉来双泪的垂（人生愁恨何能免、故国梦重归），下阕写还如一梦的梦中（高楼谁与上、往事已成空）。小令短章，前写愁恨，后写往事，以「还如一梦中」写尽还如一梦的梦中，正见李煜「哀婉」的本色。诵读此词，宜以清刚的语调读「销魂独我情何限」的愁恨，以低回的语调读「还如一梦中」的往事，结句要读得清刚而有余韵，方能传达出李煜的直而多怨。李煜小令以「哀婉」著称，此词正是其亡国词的典范。

Line by line

人生愁恨何能免，销魂独我情何限

Whom can the sorrows and the regrets of life escape? For me alone the heart's agony knows no limit.

人生愁恨何能免，销魂独我情何限。

How can a life free of sorrow and grief be? Yet of all, I alone am undone, my sorrow without end.

此二句是全词写愁恨的核心，以人生愁恨何能免写何能免，以销魂独我情何限写情何限，写尽销魂独我的情何限，是千古名句。「人生愁恨何能免」写人生愁恨何能免——那「人生愁恨」写人生愁恨，「何能免」写何能免，写尽人生愁恨的何能免；「销魂独我情何限」写销魂独我情何限——那「销魂独我」写销魂独我，「情何限」写情何限，写尽销魂独我的情何限。这句的深意在于：它以「人生愁恨何能免」的何能免与「销魂独我情何限」的情何限，写尽销魂独我的情何限——人生愁恨何能免，那「人生愁恨何能免」写尽人生愁恨的何能免——人生愁恨何能免，正是愁恨难免的写照，那「何能免」写尽销魂独我的情何限；销魂独我情何限，那「销魂独我情何限」写尽销魂独我的情何限——销魂独我情何限，正是独我销魂的写照，那「情何限」写尽销魂独我的情何限；那「人生愁恨何能免」写尽人生愁恨的何能免，那「销魂独我情何限」写尽销魂独我的情何限，一写何能免，一写情何限，写尽销魂独我的情何限——愁恨难免而独我销魂，正是亡国的写照；此二句以何能免、情何限写尽销魂独我的情何限，也为下文的故国作铺垫，也让此二句成为全词写愁恨的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「人生的愁恨怎能免除，销魂的只有我情无限」，则失其哀婉；唯以「人生愁恨何能免」写何能免、「销魂独我情何限」写情何限，写尽销魂独我的情何限，也让此二句成为全词写愁恨的核心。

These two lines are the core of the ci's grief, 'how can the sorrow and hatred of life ever be avoided' the avoidance, 'yet of all men, I alone am soul-stricken, with measureless grief' the measureless grief, writing the soul-stricken grief that is his alone, a famous line. 'How can the sorrow and hatred of life ever be avoided' - sorrow and grief in life are unavoidable; 'yet of all men, I alone am soul-stricken, with measureless grief' - yet he alone is undone, his grief boundless. Sorrow unavoidable and yet he alone undone, the portrait of the fallen king; one line the avoidance, one the grief, the lament complete. If one said plainly 'how can life's sorrow be avoided, I alone am undone with endless grief,' the pathos would be lost; only how life's sorrow cannot be avoided and he alone is soul-stricken hold the grief.

往事已成空，还如一梦中

What has passed has become empty — and yet it is exactly like one single dream.

往事已成空，还如一梦中。

The bygone days have all turned to void; they are no more than a dream.

此二句是全词写往事的核心，以往事已成空写成空，以还如一梦中写一梦中，写尽还如一梦的梦中，是千古名句。「往事已成空」写往事已成空——那「往事」写往事，「已成空」写成空，写尽往事的已成空；「还如一梦中」写还如一梦中——那「还如」写还如，「一梦中」写一梦中，写尽还如的一梦中。这句的深意在于：它以「往事已成空」的成空与「还如一梦中」的一梦中，写尽还如一梦的梦中——往事已成空，那「往事已成空」写尽往事的已成空——往事已成空，正是往事成空的写照，那「成空」写尽还如一梦的梦中；还如一梦中，那「还如一梦中」写尽还如的一梦中——还如一梦中，正是如梦一般的写照，那「一梦中」写尽还如一梦的梦中；那「往事已成空」写尽往事的已成空，那「还如一梦中」写尽还如的一梦中，一写成空，一写一梦中，写尽还如一梦的梦中——往事成空而如梦一般，正是亡国的写照；此二句以成空、一梦中写尽还如一梦的梦中，也让此二句成为全词写往事的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「往事已经成空，还像在梦中一样」，则失其清刚；唯以「往事已成空」写成空、「还如一梦中」写一梦中，写尽还如一梦的梦中，也让此二句成为全词写往事的核心。

These two lines are the core of the ci's past, 'the past has all turned to emptiness' the emptiness, 'and is but as a dream' the dream, writing the past that is as a dream, a famous line. 'The past has all turned to emptiness' - the bygone days all void; 'and is but as a dream' - no more than a dream. The past turned void and the dream, the portrait of the fallen king; one line the emptiness, one the dream, the recollection complete. If one said plainly 'the past is all emptiness, like a dream,' the clarity would be lost; only the past turned to void and the being as a dream hold the recollection.

Study

Word focus

免 Mian, to escape, is the verb of the opening question and the word that governs the whole stanza: if no one can escape sorrow, then the speaker's grief is not a privation but the human condition. It is a stopped-tone rhyme in the original, which makes the line end hard, as if with a knock. 「人生愁恨何能免」之「免」字是写愁恨关键词，一个「免」字写尽人生愁恨的何能免。免者，免除、幸免也。李煜以「人生愁恨何能免」写愁恨，这个「免」字至少有双重意味：其一，写恨之免——那「人生愁恨何能免」写人生愁恨何能免，那「免」字写尽人生愁恨的何能免——何能免，正是愁恨难逃的写照，那「免」字写尽人生愁恨的何能免；其二，写情之痛——那「免」字更是写痛——免，正见无从逃避的意味，那「免」字写尽李煜的哀伤。以「免」字写愁恨，正是李煜写亡国的枢纽——若换作「逃」「避」等字，则或失其与「人生愁恨何能免」「销魂独我情何限」的配合，或失其写免的意味；唯「免」字，以人生愁恨何能免写尽愁恨之难免与身世之痛楚，与「销魂独我情何限」的情何限相合，写尽人生愁恨的何能免，也让「人生愁恨何能免」成为全词写愁恨的名句。

空 Kong, empty, is the last substantive word of the poem and the point it is driving toward. It does not mean annihilated: it means no longer present, since what has become empty is precisely what a person still remembers. Set against 'like one dream', the word is the reason the poem is not simple scepticism. 「往事已成空」之「空」字是写往事关键词，一个「空」字写尽往事的已成空。空者，成空、幻灭也。李煜以「往事已成空」写往事，这个「空」字至少有双重意味：其一，写事之空——那「往事已成空」写往事已成空，那「空」字写尽往事的已成空——成空，正是往事幻灭的写照，那「空」字写尽往事的已成空；其二，写梦之幻——那「空」字更是写幻——空，正见一切成空的意味，那「空」字写尽李煜的哀伤。以「空」字写往事，正是李煜写亡国的枢纽——若换作「逝」「尽」等字，则或失其与「往事已成空」「还如一梦中」的配合，或失其写空的意味；唯「空」字，以往事已成空写尽往事之幻灭与故国之成空，与「还如一梦中」的一梦中相合，写尽往事的已成空，也让「往事已成空」成为全词写往事的名称。