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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

红牡丹

Red Peony

王维

Wang Wei

咏物Object Poetry 牡丹Peony

绿艳闲且静，红衣浅复深。
花心愁欲断，春色岂知心。

Green gloss, at once idle and still;
Her red robe, pale and deep by turns.
The heart of the flower is wellnigh rent with sorrow;
Can the spring know what is in my heart?

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Meaning

Wang Wei looks at a red peony: the leaves are green, glossy, composed; the petals are red, changing from pale to deep. Then the flower's heart is said to be ready to break with grief, and the poet asks whether the spring knows anything of what he feels. The poem is short enough that the flower's heart and the poet's are one.

绿艳闲且静，红衣浅复深。花心愁欲断，春色岂知心。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] Wang Wei describes the red peony — glossy green leaves, calm; red petals, pale then deep — and then says the flower's heart is wellnigh broken with sorrow, and asks whether the spring could know it.
[Structure] A five-character quatrain in which line 2 describes appearance and line 3 turns to feeling; the question in line 4 leaves the two hearts unseparated.
[Imagery] The two couplets give the same object in two registers: lüyàn and hóngyī are colour, while huāxīn, chóu and chūnse are feeling; the last couplet joins them.
[Tone] The poem's power comes from the smallness of its subject and the refusal to explain: no reason is given for the flower's grief or the poet's, and the question is never answered. The lines are plain enough that the implication is left literal — the flower is grieving, and so is the man.

【白话串讲】王维写《红牡丹》：“绿艳闲且静，红衣浅复深”——“花心愁欲断，春色岂知心”——他写红牡丹——花心愁欲断，春色岂知心。【意象与手法】此诗写红牡丹，以咏物写红牡丹，是王维的名篇。前二句写花容：「绿艳闲且静，红衣浅复深」写绿艳闲且静、红衣浅复深——写尽牡丹的花容；后二句写花心：「花心愁欲断，春色岂知心」写花心愁欲断、春色岂知心——写尽牡丹的花心。全诗以咏物写红牡丹，写尽牡丹的花容与牡丹的花心，是王维的代表作。【情感与主旨】此诗写红牡丹，以咏物写红牡丹，是王维的名篇。此诗咏红牡丹而寄寓情怀。王维晚年半官半隐，心境恬淡而时有孤寂，此诗咏红牡丹的花容与花心，正是以花自况、借花写心之作。此诗写花容：绿艳闲且静，红衣浅复深——写绿艳闲且静、红衣浅复深，写尽牡丹的花容；花心愁欲断，春色岂知心——写花心愁欲断、春色岂知心，写尽牡丹的花心。全诗以咏物写红牡丹——那「红衣浅复深」写尽牡丹的花容，「花心愁欲断」写尽牡丹的花心，写尽牡丹的花容与牡丹的花心，是理解王维咏物诗的重要篇章。【名句点睛】常考「绿艳闲且静，红衣浅复深」写牡丹的花容；「花心愁欲断，春色岂知心」写牡丹的花心；以及全诗以咏物写红牡丹、以拟人写花心的手法。

Background

Wang Wei (c. 701–761), courtesy name Moji, ranks with Meng Haoran as the leader of the Tang landscape school, and Su Shi said of him that he had painting in his poetry and poetry in his painting. In later life he held office while living at his estate at Wangchuan, and he was a devout Buddhist whose verse grew quieter and more elliptical. This poem is one of his few surviving works on a garden flower; dated to his middle or late years, it is usually read as a piece of self-portraiture — a man who appears composed, red and layered, and whose inner life is otherwise unaccountable. It is one of the earliest and shortest of the Chinese poems on the peony.

此诗写红牡丹，以咏物写红牡丹，是王维的名篇。王维（701—761），字摩诘，号摩诘居士，蒲州（今山西永济）人，唐代诗人，与孟浩然并称「王孟」，为山水田园诗派代表，苏轼评其「诗中有画，画中有诗」。此诗咏红牡丹而寄寓情怀。王维晚年半官半隐，心境恬淡而时有孤寂，此诗咏红牡丹的花容与花心，正是以花自况、借花写心之作。此诗写花容：「绿艳闲且静，红衣浅复深」写绿艳闲且静、红衣浅复深——写尽牡丹的花容（绿艳闲且静，红衣浅复深）；「花心愁欲断，春色岂知心」写花心愁欲断、春色岂知心——写尽牡丹的花心（花心愁欲断，春色岂知心）。全诗以咏物写红牡丹，写尽牡丹的花容与牡丹的花心，是理解王维咏物诗的重要篇章。王维晚年居于长安附近的辋川别业，过着「晚年惟好静，万事不关心」的隐逸生活，然其内心并非全然恬淡，诗中常有孤寂之感。此诗咏红牡丹，正值牡丹盛开的春暮，王维见花之绚烂而感己之迟暮，遂以花心之愁写己心之愁，是「以我观物，故物皆著我之色彩」的典型。

Art

The poem's first couplet is almost a dry botanical note: lǜyàn xián qiě jìng (green gloss, idle and still) against hóngyī qiǎn fù shēn (her red robe, pale and deep) — an effective pair in which the colour-words do the work and the two characters xián and jìng make the leaves read as calm. Everything changes in the third line, which replaces description with chou yu duan ('sorrow, on the point of breaking') — the flower's heart is about to break — and the fourth line turns the flower's grief into the poet's by asking whether the spring could know it. The poem thus stages the classic movement of object-poetry in two lines: the thing is observed, and then the observation becomes a self. Its final question is a device Wang Wei uses often — not a request for an answer but a way of withdrawing the comfort that an answer would give. The rhyme, on shen ('deep') and xin ('heart'), closes both hearts on the same vowel.

此诗的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以对照写花容。「绿艳闲且静」以对照写花容——那「绿艳」「闲且静」写尽绿叶的衬托，以对照写尽牡丹的花容。其二，以色彩写花瓣。「红衣浅复深」以色彩写花瓣——那「浅复深」写尽红衣的深浅，以色彩写尽牡丹的花容。其三，以拟人写花心。「花心愁欲断」以拟人写花心——那「愁欲断」写尽花心的忧愁，以拟人写尽牡丹的花心。其四，以发问写孤寂。「春色岂知心」以发问写孤寂——那「岂知心」写尽春色的不知，以发问写尽王维的孤寂。此外，此诗前二句写牡丹的花容，后二句写牡丹的花心，由形及心，正是咏物诗「以花写心」的写法。四重手法，使此诗以咏物写红牡丹，写尽牡丹的花容与牡丹的花心，是王维的代表作。此诗还善于以「绿艳闲且静，红衣浅复深」的色彩对仗写牡丹的华贵——那「绿艳」写叶之鲜，「红衣」写花之艳，「闲且静」写其端庄，「浅复深」写其层叠，正是工稳的咏物对句。又善以「春色岂知心」的悬问作结，将花心之愁与春色之无情对照，见出无人能解的深愁。

Allusions

The poem borrows nothing from books and instead draws on two long-standing conventions. Huaxin, the heart of the flower, belongs to the tradition that assigns feeling to flowers, and the phrase chóuyùduàn measures grief by the breaking of something. Chūnse, the colour of spring, is used here as the opposite of feeling: the season is beautiful and indifferent, and the poem's rhetorical question rests on that indifference. The word hongyi is recalled in later verse — for example in He Zhu's line on a lotus shedding its red robe — and chūnse is the phrase of Wang Anshi's 'the colour of spring torments me and I cannot sleep'. The nearest model for this kind of poem is Wang Wei's own 'Magnolia Village', where a flower opens and falls in a valley nobody visits, and the contrast is instructive: there the flower is alone and content, here it is alone and grieving.

此诗的用语深植于咏物与孤寂传统。「绿艳」令人想到「绿艳」写绿叶的意象——也令人想到「绿叶成阴」的意象；「红衣」令人想到「红衣」写红花的意象——也令人想到「红衣脱尽芳心苦」（贺铸）的意象；「浅复深」令人想到「浅复深」写深浅的意象——也令人想到「枝间新绿一重重」的意象；「花心」令人想到「花心」写花蕊的意象——也令人想到「芳心」的意象；「春色」令人想到「春色」写春光的意象——也令人想到「春色满园关不住」（叶绍翁）的意象。全诗化用绿艳、红衣、浅复深、花心、春色的意象，以咏物写红牡丹，正是王维「冲淡」而善咏物、承孤寂传统写花心之本领。「红衣」令人想到贺铸《踏莎行》「红衣脱尽芳心苦」之句，以红衣写荷花的凋零，而「红衣浅复深」正是以红衣写牡丹花色的深浅；「春色」令人想到「春色恼人眠不得」（王安石）之句，春色本无情，而「岂知心」正以春色之无情反衬花心之愁，是咏物中「借物写心」的手法。

Commentary

This quatrain is counted among Wang Wei's best object-poems and is often quoted in histories of the peony in Chinese poetry. Qing critics describe it as 'writing the red peony, restrained and lingering'; modern readers cite the couplet 'The heart of the flower is wellnigh rent with sorrow; / can the spring know what is in my heart?' as the poem's key line, since it converts a botanical observation into a lyric doubt in three characters. Its interest for readers of Wang Wei is that it shows his habit of leaving a gap: the flower's grief has no stated cause, and the poet's has no stated source, so both stand as fact. It is regularly set beside his 'Magnolia Village', with which it shares a setting and a temperature, and beside Du Fu's poems on flowers, where the same grief is spoken of more openly. The poem's brevity is its conclusion — four lines and no consolation.

此诗历来被推为王维咏物诗的名篇，也是唐人写红牡丹的代表。历代论者对此诗评价极高：清人评此诗「以咏物写红牡丹，含蓄隽永」；近人更指出「花心愁欲断，春色岂知心」写牡丹的花心，是此诗的名句。在诗歌史上，此诗的特殊价值在于：它以四句的绝句写尽牡丹的花容与牡丹的花心——那绿艳，那闲且静，那红衣，那浅复深，那花心，那愁欲断，那春色，那岂知心，都写尽了王维笔下的红牡丹；那「春色岂知心」更以发问写尽王维的孤寂。此诗与王维《辛夷坞》（「木末芙蓉花」）同为咏花名篇，一写「涧户寂无人」的辛夷（辛夷坞），一写「花心愁欲断」的红牡丹（红牡丹）；又与杜甫《江畔独步寻花》「嫩蕊商量细细开」的咏花传统一脉相承，可见中国诗写牡丹的传统。对于今日读者，此诗是理解王维咏物诗的窗口，也是中国诗写红牡丹的经典——那愁欲断的花心，穿越千年，仍在诉说着春色的孤寂。

Prosody

Form Five-character quatrain (wuyan jueju)诗·五言绝句

Rhyme Rhymes on shēn ('deep') and xīn ('heart'), the 'qin' rhyme (lower level, rhyme 12); one key throughout, closing both the flower's heart and the poet's on the same vowel.五绝，押「深」「心」韵（下平十二侵），一韵到底，音节含蓄

Tone pattern A level-tone quatrain, single key, on the second and fourth lines; the nasal, closed rhyme gives the short verse a low, held, almost breathless close.此诗为五言绝句，押平声韵，一韵到底，音节含蓄，正合咏物的含蓄。

Reading note A five-character quatrain rhyming on the 'qin' rhyme — shēn ('deep') and xīn ('heart') — one key, level tone, held to the end. The rhyme-vowel is close and nasal, and it settles in the throat rather than opening out; since both rhymes are also the poem's two emotional words, the form itself keeps the flower's heart and the poet's together. Read lines 1 and 2 as plain description, without stress, and let line 3 be spoken, and line 4 asked — the question should be delivered flat, with no modulation, so that its answer is already contained in its own tone. This is the ordinary Wang Wei effect: plain words, a narrowed vowel, and a feeling left unaccounted for.此诗为五言绝句，四句——「绿艳闲且静，红衣浅复深。花心愁欲断，春色岂知心」，押「侵」韵（深、心），一韵到底，音节含蓄。全诗以咏物写红牡丹：前二句写牡丹的花容（绿艳闲且静、红衣浅复深），后二句写牡丹的花心（花心愁欲断、春色岂知心）。四句短章，前写花容，后写花心，以「春色岂知心」写尽牡丹的花心，正见王维「冲淡」的本色。诵读此诗，宜以含蓄的语调读「红衣浅复深」的花容，以低回的语调读「花心愁欲断」的花心，结句要读得含蓄而有余韵，方能传达出王维的含蓄隽永。王维绝句以「冲淡」著称，此诗正是其咏物绝句的典范。

Line by line

花心愁欲断，春色岂知心

The heart of the flower is wellnigh rent with sorrow; can the spring know what is in my heart?

花心愁欲断，春色岂知心。

The flower's heart is nearly breaking with grief; how should spring's colors know the heart?

此二句是全诗写花心的核心，以花心愁欲断写愁欲断，以春色岂知心写岂知心，写尽牡丹的花心，是千古名句。「花心愁欲断」写花心愁欲断——那「花心」写花心，「愁欲断」写愁欲断，写尽花心的忧愁；「春色岂知心」写春色岂知心——那「春色」写春色，「岂知心」写岂知心，写尽春色的不知。这句的深意在于：它以「花心愁欲断」的愁与「春色岂知心」的不知，写尽牡丹的花心——花心愁欲断，那「花心愁欲断」写尽花心的忧愁——花心愁断，正是以花写愁的写照，那「愁欲断」写尽王维的孤寂；春色岂知心，那「春色岂知心」写尽春色的不知——春色岂知心，正是无人知心的写照，那「岂知心」写尽王维的孤寂；那「花心愁欲断」写尽花心的忧愁，那「春色岂知心」写尽春色的不知，一写花心，一写春色，写尽牡丹的花心——花心愁断而春色不知，正是以花自况的写照；此二句以愁、不知写尽牡丹的花心，也让此二句成为全诗写花心的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「我心里很愁，没人懂我」，则失其含蓄；唯以「花心愁欲断」写愁欲断、「春色岂知心」写岂知心，写尽牡丹的花心，也让此二句成为全诗写花心的核心。

The flower's grief. The flower's heart is nearly breaking with grief; how should spring's colors know the heart? The peony's breaking heart against the spring's unknowing is Wang Wei's own loneliness. To have said the flower grieved for no one would be a personification; the flower's-nearly-breaking-grief against the spring-colors-how-should-they-know-the-heart is the personification.

绿艳闲且静，红衣浅复深

Green gloss, at once idle and still; her red robe, pale and deep by turns.

绿艳闲且静，红衣浅复深。

Green leaves, graceful and still; red robes, now light, now deep.

此二句是全诗写花容的核心，以绿艳闲且静写绿艳，以红衣浅复深写红衣，写尽牡丹的花容，是千古名句。「绿艳闲且静」写绿艳闲且静——那「绿艳」写绿艳，「闲且静」写闲且静，写尽绿叶的闲静；「红衣浅复深」写红衣浅复深——那「红衣」写红衣，「浅复深」写浅复深，写尽红衣的深浅。这句的深意在于：它以「绿艳闲且静」的绿叶与「红衣浅复深」的红花，写尽牡丹的花容——绿艳闲且静，那「绿艳闲且静」写尽绿叶的闲静——绿艳闲静，正是绿叶映衬的写照，那「闲且静」写尽牡丹的花容；红衣浅复深，那「红衣浅复深」写尽红衣的深浅——红衣浅深，正是花瓣层叠的写照，那「浅复深」写尽牡丹的花容；那「绿艳闲且静」写尽绿叶的闲静，那「红衣浅复深」写尽红衣的深浅，一写绿，一写红，写尽牡丹的花容——绿艳闲静而红衣浅深，正是红牡丹的写照；此二句以绿叶、红花写尽牡丹的花容，也为下文的愁断作铺垫，也让此二句成为全诗写花容的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「牡丹花很好看」，则失其色彩；唯以「绿艳闲且静」写绿艳、「红衣浅复深」写红衣，写尽牡丹的花容，也让此二句成为全诗写花容的核心。

The bloom. Green leaves, graceful and still; red robes, now light, now deep. The still green and the layered red are the peony's portrait. To have described the peony would be a description; the green-graceful-and-still against the red-robes-now-light-now-deep is the description.

Study

Word focus

愁愁 (chóu) means sorrow, and in 花心愁欲断 it is not a feeling attributed to the flower so much as an action suffered by it: the heart is 欲断, almost cut through. The character is what turns a botanical description into a lyric statement, and it is the pivot of the whole poem. 「花心愁欲断」之「愁」字是写花心的关键词，一个「愁」字写尽花心的忧愁。愁者，忧愁、惆怅也。王维以「花心愁欲断」写花心，这个「愁」字至少有双重意味：其一，写花之愁——那「花心愁欲断」写花心愁欲断，那「愁」字写尽花心的忧愁——花心愁断，正是以花写愁的写照，那「愁」字写尽王维的孤寂；其二，写情之深——那「愁」字更是写深——愁，正见忧愁的深重，那「愁」字写尽牡丹的花心。以「愁」字写花心，正是王维写咏物的枢纽——若换作「忧」「怅」等字，则或失其与「花心」「欲断」的配合，或失其写愁的意味；唯「愁」字，以花心愁欲断写尽花心的忧愁与忧愁的深重，与「春色岂知心」的岂知心相合，写尽牡丹的花心，也让「花心愁欲断」成为全诗写花心的名句。

岂岂 (qǐ) introduces a rhetorical question with a negative answer already implied; in 春色岂知心 the poet asks whether the spring could possibly know, and the expected answer is no. The character gives the close its edge and its hopelessness in one syllable. 「春色岂知心」之「岂」字是写孤寂的关键词，一个「岂」字写尽春色的不知。岂者，岂非、哪里也。王维以「春色岂知心」写孤寂，这个「岂」字至少有双重意味：其一，写不知之问——那「春色岂知心」写春色岂知心，那「岂」字写尽春色的不知——岂知心，正是无人知心的写照，那「岂」字写尽王维的孤寂；其二，写问之切——那「岂」字更是写切——岂，正见发问的深切，那「岂」字写尽牡丹的花心。以「岂」字写孤寂，正是王维写咏物的枢纽——若换作「不」「难」等字，则或失其与「春色」「知心」的配合，或失其写岂的意味；唯「岂」字，以春色岂知心写尽春色的不知与发问的深切，与「花心愁欲断」的愁欲断相合，写尽王维的孤寂，也让「春色岂知心」成为全诗写孤寂的名句。

红牡丹