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近现代近现代 · 诗 Poem

教我如何不想她

How Can I Not Think of Her?

刘半农

Liu Bannong

抒情诗Lyric Poetry 乡愁Nostalgia 名篇Masterpiece

天上飘着些微云，地上吹着些微风。
啊！
微风吹动了我头发，教我如何不想她？

A few thin clouds drift in the sky, a few light breezes blow on the ground. Ah! The breeze stirred my hair - how can I not think of her?

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Meaning

Written in England in 1920, the poem sets a pale scene of sky and earth against a sudden burst within: a breeze touches the poet's hair, and the thought of her will not be held back. The she is at once an absent loved one and the homeland itself, so a personal longing becomes the patriotism of an exile. Its closing rhetorical question is the most famous line in the history of the vernacular poem.

天上飘着几片淡淡的微云，地上吹着几阵轻轻的风。啊！微风吹动了我头发，叫我怎么能不想她呢？

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] A few thin clouds float above, a few soft breezes blow below. Ah - the breeze moved my hair; how can I not think of her?
[Structure] Two lines of setting, then the exclamation, then the touch, then the question. The whole movement is from outside in: sky, ground, body, heart.
[Imagery] Weiyun and weifeng are deliberately as faint as the Chinese will allow - the two xie and two wei make the scenery almost insubstantial - and the paleness is what makes the emotion within it read as heavy.
[Device] The breeze, not the cloud, does the work: clouds can only be looked at, wind can be felt on the skin, and the touch of wind on hair is what turns scenery into memory. The line jiao wo ru he bu xiang ta then makes the longing not a choice but something that has taken hold of him.
[Tone] The language is colloquial, almost unlettered, and that plainness is the achievement: it proved that the spoken language could carry a feeling as quietly as any classical line.

【白话串讲】刘半农写《教我如何不想她》：“天上飘着些微云，地上吹着些微风。啊！微风吹动了我头发，教我如何不想她”——“月光恋爱着海洋，海洋恋爱着月光”——他写思念。【意象与手法】这是新诗史上最著名的抒情短章之一：以「微云」「微风」的轻淡意象起兴，全凭「微风动发」的一瞬触发思念，「教我如何不想她」的反问收束全诗；语言自然如白话口语，节奏柔缓如风，又经赵元任谱曲而传唱百年，是「诗乐合一」的典范。【情感与主旨】诗写游子怀人之思：身在异邦（刘半农作此诗时留学伦敦），见天光云影、感微风拂发，万般乡愁一时涌起——「她」既是所思之人，更是故国之思的化身，个人的怀人升华为家国的眷恋。【名句点睛】「教我如何不想她」一句以反问写深情，委婉而决绝，是白话新诗中最深入人心的名句，1926年由赵元任谱曲后传唱至今。

Background

Liu Bannong (1891-1934), born Liu Fu in Jiangyin, was a poet, a linguist and one of the fighters of the May Fourth movement; he wrote for New Youth, appeared in the famous double-letter hoax with Qian Xuantong, and is the man who promoted the modern Chinese third-person feminine pronoun ta, a pronoun he is generally credited with introducing. In 1920 he went with his wife and daughter to study in London, and this poem, later collected in Yang Bian Ji, was written there. It was set to music in 1926 by the linguist and composer Zhao Yuanren and has been sung ever since, so the poem is not only a milestone of the new verse but one of the earliest and most successful marriages of Chinese poetry and Chinese song.

《教我如何不想她》写于1920年，是刘半农留学伦敦期间的作品，后收入诗集《扬鞭集》。刘半农（1891—1934），名复，江苏江阴人，现代诗人、语言学家，五四新文化运动的骁将——他是《新青年》的重要撰稿人，与钱玄同演过著名的「双簧信」，率先提倡白话文与「她」字的使用（现代汉语第三人称女性代词「她」即由刘半农首创并推广），又留学英法研究语言学，著有《中国文法通论》等。1920年，刘半农携妻女赴英国伦敦大学留学，客居异邦，乡愁日深；此诗即写于此时：天上微云、地上微风，本是异国的寻常风景，而一阵风吹动头发，乡思便不可遏制地涌上心头。诗中反复咏叹的「她」，据考兼有双重所指：字面是思慕的女性（亦有研究者认为包含对恋人、亲人的思念），深层则暗含对故国的眷恋——诗人在英国感受到的不仅是离乡之愁，更是弱国子民在异邦的孤寂与对祖国的挂念，「她」字正由刘半农首创，此诗恰以「她」字入诗，为新诗的情感世界增添了一个意味深长的称谓。1926年，语言学家、音乐家赵元任为此诗谱曲，遂传唱大江南北，成为新诗与音乐结合的经典，也见证了新文化运动在文学与音乐两翼的成果。

Art

The craft of the poem can be put in three phrases: scenery to stir, wind as medium, question to close. The opening couplet is symmetrical white drawing, sky above and ground below, drifting clouds above and blowing wind below, with xie and wei repeated until everything is as thin as possible; the paler the scenery, the heavier the feeling it must carry. The wind is what does the stir, because it is the only one of the two that crosses from the eye to the skin: wei feng chui dong le wo tou fa gives the invisible something a visible object could never give. From that single touch the poet slides into jiao wo, which makes the longing not a decision but a force that has hold of him, as if it were ordered rather than felt. Then comes the question. A statement would be flat, an exclamation too forced, and a question confines nothing: the reader is left holding the feeling. Every word is a vernacular word and none of them is decorative.

此诗的艺术特色可括为「以景起兴、以风为媒、以问收束」三端。就「以景起兴」言，开篇「天上飘着些微云，地上吹着些微风」以两组对称的白描起兴：天上—地上、微云—微风，两个「些」字写其轻淡，两个「微」字写其柔和——诗人不写浓云疾风，偏写微云微风，正是「以轻景衬浓情」：风景愈淡，思念愈深；景物的轻淡与心绪的浓烈形成反差，为下文的爆发蓄势。就「以风为媒」言，全诗的转折在「啊！微风吹动了我头发」——微云只是背景，微风才是触媒：云在天上、可望不可即，风却吹动头发、直接触到身体，「吹动了我头发」六个字把无形之风写成可感之触，风一拂发，思念便如泉涌——这是「触景生情」最精微的描写：不是看见什么想起她，而是风拂肌肤的一瞬，思念不请自来，真切而自然。就「以问收束」言，「教我如何不想她」以反问作结，把全部的思念凝于一问：不是陈述「我很想她」（太直白），不是感叹「我多么想她」（太用力），而是反问「教我如何不想她」——思念是自然到无法抗拒的，你教我如何不想？委婉而决绝，余味无穷；「教我」二字更妙——仿佛思念不是我的选择，而是命运的指派，把被动与深情写到了极致。全诗由景入情、由外入内、由铺陈到收束，结构完整而情感层层递进，是「以少胜多」的抒情短章典范。

Allusions

The poem inherits the old Chinese habit of opening on external scenery and letting feeling follow. The wind as the medium of love is especially old - the spring wind, asks Li Bai, does not know me, why does it enter my curtains - as is the use of wind in the Odes, where the word feng means both wind and the songs of the states. Clouds carry the same freight as in the line floating clouds, a wanderer's intent, or a white cloud drifting on and on: a cloud is the passenger's emblem. The closing question follows the classical practice of asking instead of declaring, as in Li Shangyin's line about cutting the candle at the west window by and by, except that Liu Bannong puts his question into the spoken vernacular, jiao wo, so an ancient manner comes out of a modern mouth. The pronoun ta is the newest element of all, and the argument over it belongs to the history of language rather than of poetry.

此诗的文化意蕴，深植于中国诗歌「触景生情」与「风月怀人」的悠久传统。其一是「以风起兴」的传统：《诗经》开篇「关关雎鸠，在河之洲」以鸟起兴，而「风」更是《诗经》「风雅颂」之「风」的本义——十五国风皆以风土人情起兴；后世「春风不相识，何事入罗帏」（李白）、「夜来南风起，小麦覆陇黄」，皆以风为情的触媒；刘半农「微风吹动了我头发」正承此「风起兴情」的古老笔法，而把它从古体诗的意象转为白话诗的直写。其二是「云」的怀人传统：古诗多以云写离思——「浮云游子意，落日故人情」（李白）、「白云一片去悠悠」（张若虚），云是漂泊的象征，也是望乡的寄托；刘半农「天上飘着些微云」以云起笔，暗合游子望云思乡的传统，云的飘忽正如游子的漂泊。其三是「反问怀人」的传统：古诗怀人常用反诘——「明月几时有？把酒问青天」（苏轼）、「何当共剪西窗烛，却话巴山夜雨时」（李商隐），以问写情，情深而含蓄；「教我如何不想她」正承此传统，而把文言的反问化为白话的口吻（教我……），既得古意又具新声。其四是「她」字的现代意味：作为刘半农首创的第三人称女性代词，「她」入诗是新诗语言现代化的一步——一个「她」字，使白话新诗获得了一个全新的抒情对象，此诗正是「她」字进入诗歌的里程碑，其文化意义早已超出诗歌本身。

Commentary

This four-line poem is among the best-loved short poems of modern China, and its standing rests on three grounds. As a literary historical fact it settled an argument: written in 1920 in the vernacular, it showed that the spoken language could produce a poem as restrained and memorable as any classical one, and helped answer the doubters of the baihua fei shi period. As art it is a model of proportion - the pale scene, the single touch, the unanswerable question - and Zhu Ziqing praised it as among the best of the new verse. As song it is unique: Zhao Yuanren's setting has kept it in circulation for a century, so poem and melody have become one. Readers have also heard something larger than love in it, for a poet writing in England as a subject of a weak nation could let one word carry the homeland too.

《教我如何不想她》是中国新诗史上传播最广、影响最深的短章之一，其价值有三重意义。就文学史地位言，此诗写于白话新诗草创期（1920年），是新诗由「尝试」走向「成熟」的标志性作品：它证明白话不仅能写诗，而且能写出含蓄隽永、堪与古诗比美的抒情诗——全诗语言自然如话而意境深远，韵律舒缓而情感充沛，一扫早期新诗「白话非诗」的质疑，与胡适《尝试集》、郭沫若《女神》共同奠定了新诗的合法性；刘半农也因此诗与《相隔一层纸》等，确立了白话诗人中「以白描见长」的一脉。就艺术成就言，此诗「以景起兴、以问收束」的结构与「轻淡的景物—浓烈的思念」的反差处理，成为新诗抒情短章的典范，被朱自清誉为新诗中的「上品」；「教我如何不想她」一句更以白话的婉转深情，写尽游子怀人的普遍心绪，成为新诗中最著名的诗句之一。就音乐价值言，1926年赵元任为此诗谱曲，旋律与诗情水乳交融（曲中反复出现的乐句正对应诗中「教我如何不想她」的咏叹），歌曲传唱百年，成为艺术歌曲的经典，也证明新诗与音乐结合的无限可能——诗因曲而家喻户晓，曲因诗而意境悠远，是中国现代「诗乐合一」最成功的范例。就思想价值言，此诗由个人怀人而暗含故国之思，在留学青年中引起广泛共鸣，成为一代游子寄托乡愁的载体，其「她」字的使用更在语言史上留下印记，其文化影响历百年而不衰。

Prosody

Form Modern free verse (vernacular lyric in a four-line stanza)现代自由诗（白话抒情诗，四句一节的小诗体）

Rhyme No end rhyme. The rhythm comes from the symmetry of the lines and the lingering pitch of the voice: the first two lines are built on one and the same nine-syllable shape, cloud above and wind below, like a string doubled; a single ah stands alone as a cry; the line about the hair runs through in one breath; and the closing seven syllables fall softly on ta. Open vowels, tian, piao, yun, feng, alternate with closed ones, tou, fa, ta.不押韵，而以句式的对称与声调的柔缓营造节奏：「天上飘着些微云，地上吹着些微风」两句句式完全对称，音节齐整如对偶；「啊！」一字顿出，如一声惊叹；「微风吹动了我头发」九字一气，如风拂而过；「教我如何不想她」七字收束，以「她」字轻轻落音。全诗声调柔和低回，开口音（天、飘、云、风）与闭口音（头、发、她）相间，读来如微风拂面。

Tone pattern The manner moves from level and even, to exclamatory, to asking. The first two lines are flat and unhurried; ah lifts the pitch sharply, as if a head were lifted from reverie; the breeze line returns to the even; and the closing question draws out low and slow, so that the poem sounds like a long exhalation.句式以短句为主，语气由平缓而惊叹而咏叹：开篇两句以陈述口吻平铺，语调轻淡；「啊！」以叹词独立成句，语调骤扬，如思绪触动；「微风吹动了我头发」复归叙述，语调柔缓；「教我如何不想她」以反问收束，语调缠绵低回，一问一叹，余音袅袅。

Reading note The sound of this poem is the softest possible setting for the deepest feeling. The opening line, a few thin clouds drifting, begins on a level tone, the word piao rising slightly, so that the line seems to float; xie wei yun then stops on a light pause, as thin as the cloud itself. The answer, a few light breezes blowing, repeats the nine-syllable shape exactly, like a string answered on the other side, with chui rising as the wind comes. Up to this point the voice is even and the reader is at rest. The single syllable a breaks that: it is a rest and a lift at once, a stone dropped into still water, and it gathers everything that follows. The line about the hair returns to calm, the four characters for the breeze moving together as lightly as the wind does, then slowing as the eye follows wherever the air might be carrying the thought. The last seven syllables are the centre of the whole poem: jiao wo begins the question softly, as if spoken to oneself; ru he lifts it slightly; bu xiang pauses, as if the thought were checked; and ta closes on a quiet, held note that carries the rest. There is no rhyme to fall back on, so the melody is carried entirely by the symmetry of the two opening lines, the exclamation, and the drawn-out question - which is why the poem turned out to be a song.此诗的声情之美，在于「以最柔和的声调唱最深的思念」。全诗四句，如一首小夜曲。起句「天上飘着些微云」九字平起，音节舒缓，「飘着」二字轻扬，如云之徐行；「些微云」三字收束，「微」字轻轻一顿，如云之淡薄。对句「地上吹着些微风」九字承之，句式与上句完全对称，如琴弦的双音——「吹着」二字再扬，如风之徐来；两句一上一下、一云一风，音节对称而柔和，如两片轻云相对飘浮，画面与声音同时铺开。「啊！」一字独成一句，是声情的关键转折——此前两拍平缓，至此忽然一顿、一扬，如平静的水面投入一粒石子、如沉思者忽然抬头，这一声「啊」既是情感的触动，也是音乐上休止后的重音，为下文的咏叹蓄足了势。「微风吹动了我头发」九字复归平缓，「微风吹动」四字轻轻连读，如风拂过发梢的声音；「了我头发」四字渐慢，如目光随风吹散的方向远去。「教我如何不想她」七字是全诗的咏叹核心——「教我」二字轻柔起问，如低语；「如何」二字稍扬，如疑问；「不想」二字一顿，如沉吟；「她」字轻轻落音，拖出余韵——整句如一声悠长的叹息，把思念的缠绕写进声音的波纹里。全诗无韵而自有旋律：靠句式的对称（两句同构）、叹词的点缀（啊）、反问的拖腔（如何不想她）构成起伏，声调始终柔缓低回，恰如微云微风，又似思念本身——看不见、抓不住，却无处不在。这正是此诗经赵元任谱曲后能传唱百年的声学根基：诗本身即是一支旋律。

Line by line

天上飘着些微云，地上吹着些微风。

A few thin clouds drift in the sky, a few light breezes blow on the ground.

天上飘着几片淡淡的微云，地上吹着几阵轻轻的风。

A few faint clouds drift in the sky; a few faint breezes blow on the ground.

开篇两句是全诗的起兴，以两组对称的白描奠定全诗轻淡的基调。「天上飘着些微云」写天上：「飘着」写云的动态——云不是凝滞的，而是轻轻飘动，如思绪的游移；「些」字写云的轻淡——不是浓云蔽日，只是几缕微云，若有若无；「微云」二字更以「微」字点出云的淡薄，天光透云、明净而含情。「地上吹着些微风」写地上：「吹着」写风的流动，「微风」写风的柔和——不是狂风，只是轻轻拂面的风；「些」字与前句呼应，云亦「些」、风亦「些」，轻上加轻、淡中更淡。两句天上对地下、微云对微风，句式对称而音节柔缓，如两笔淡墨勾勒出一幅云淡风轻的图画；诗人不写别的，偏写这最寻常、最轻淡的风景，正是「以轻景衬浓情」的匠心——风景愈淡，愈显心绪的空白与思念的潜伏，为下文「微风吹动了我头发」的触发与「教我如何不想她」的爆发，铺设了最自然的情感底色。

The clouds. A few faint clouds drift in the sky; a few faint breezes blow on the ground. The faint clouds and faint breezes are the opening. To have drifted faintly would be a drifting; the a-few-faint-clouds-drift-in-the-sky-a-few-faint-breezes-blow-on-the-ground is the drifting.

啊！微风吹动了我头发，教我如何不想她？

Ah! The breeze stirred my hair - how can I not think of her?

啊！一阵微风轻轻拂动了我头发，触动了我的心弦，叫我怎么能不想她呢？

Ah, the faint wind stirs my hair—how can I help thinking of her?

此两句是全诗的转折与收束，由景入情、由铺陈到爆发，是整首诗情感的完成。「啊！」以一声叹词独立成句，是全诗的转折点——此前是平静的白描，此后是情感的爆发，一声「啊」，如思绪忽然被触动、如心弦忽然被拨响，把读者的注意力从风景猛然拉回诗人自身；「微风吹动了我头发」写触媒的降临——云在天上、只是可望的背景，风却拂动头发、直接触到身体，「吹动了」三字把无形之风写成可感之触，风拂发梢的一瞬，思念不请自来，这是「触景生情」最精微的瞬间——不是看见什么而想她，而是肌肤的一颤牵动心弦，真切而自然；「教我如何不想她」以反问收束全诗——「教我」二字写思念之身不由己（不是我想，是你教我），「如何不想」写思念之不可抗拒，反问的语气比陈述更委婉、比感叹更决绝，把全部的深情凝于一问，言尽而意不尽。两句由景入情、由「啊」的惊叹到反问的咏叹，情感层层推进，最终以最朴素也最深情的白话名句收束，余韵悠长。

The hair. Ah, the faint wind stirs my hair—how can I help thinking of her? The wind-stirred hair and the how-can-I-help-thinking question are the close. To have stirred the hair would be a stirring; the ah-the-faint-wind-stirs-my-hair-how-can-i-help-thinking-of-her is the stirring.

Study

Word focus

微云 Weiyun, thin clouds, is the first image of the poem and the start of its pale tone. Wei, small and slight, does the work: the poet speaks not of white clouds, heavy clouds or black clouds but of clouds so thin they are barely there. The choice does three things. It fixes the key, for thin clouds answer thin winds below, and the palest scenery makes the darkest feeling stand out. It figures the wanderer, since a drifting cloud has long stood in Chinese verse for someone away from home, and a cloud so slight answers a self so slight. And it opens the structure, for the poem moves from faint to intense, so the characteristic has to be in the first word. 「天上飘着些微云」之「微云」，是全诗第一个意象，也是全诗轻淡基调的起点。「微」训为细小、轻微，「微云」即淡淡的、若有若无的云——诗人不写白云、浓云、乌云，偏写「微云」，一字之选，见其匠心。其妙有三：其一，以「微」定基调——微云与下句「微风」相配，云微风微，景物轻淡到极点，正是「以轻景衬浓情」：风景愈淡，思念愈显浓烈，如素纸上一点浓墨，愈见其深；其二，以「微云」写游子——云在中国诗中常喻游子（「浮云游子意」），微云飘忽无定，正似诗人客居伦敦的漂泊之身，云之「微」亦心之「微」（微渺、孤寂），意象与心境天然相契；其三，以「微」启全诗——全诗情感由淡入浓（微云微风—拂发—不想她），「微」字正是这由淡入浓的起点：越是轻微的景物触发，越显思念的深刻与不由自主。一个「微」字，定基调、喻游子、启结构，是炼字的典范，也是刘半农白话诗「以寻常字写深微情」的代表。

微风 Weifeng, a light wind, is the second image and the true hinge of the poem. Wei softens it, the opposite of a gale or a north wind, but what matters more is that a cloud is met by the eye and a wind by the skin, so weifeng is the word that carries the poem from sight to sensation. That shift is what makes the poem work: the memory is not awakened by looking at anything, but by an air passing over the face and hands. The word also connects the poem to the oldest habit of the Chinese Odes, where feng names both the wind and the songs of the states, and to Li Bai's line asking why the spring wind, who does not know him, enters his curtains. 「地上吹着些微风」之「微风」，是全诗的第二个意象，也是全诗真正的「触媒」。「微」写风的柔和——不是狂风、朔风，只是轻轻拂面的风；「微风」与「微云」相对成趣，天上微云、地上微风，景物对称而轻淡如一。其妙有三：其一，以「微风」写触觉——云只能看，风却能感，「微风」是全诗从视觉转入触觉的枢纽：云在天上、可望不可即，风却拂面而来、直触肌肤，正是这「触」的一瞬，才引出下文「吹动了我头发」的切身之感，思念的爆发才有了身体的依据；其二，以「微风」写自然——微风是自然界最平常的动静，诗人以最平常的风触发最深的思念，正是「触景生情」的最高境界：深情不必奇景，一阵微风足矣；其三，以「微风」暗含古典——「风」在《诗经》中即起兴之本（国风），「春风不相识，何事入罗帏」以风写思，刘半农「微风」正承此传统而化为白话的直写。一个「微」字，使风成为全诗由景入情的关键机关，微风的「轻」反衬思念的「重」，正是此诗最精妙的设计。

教我如何不想她 Jiao wo ru he bu xiang ta is the eye of the poem and one of the most famous lines in modern Chinese verse. Jiao wo makes the feeling passive: it is not that she is on my mind, but that something has ordered me to think of her, and that turns a wish into a fate. Ru he bu, how could I not, is a rhetorical question that answers itself, and it is gentler than any exclamation would be. Ta, the new feminine pronoun introduced by the poet himself, keeps the line colloquial and modern at the same time that it carries both a loved woman and, for many readers, a homeland. In seven syllables the line states the whole case of the poem. 「教我如何不想她」是全诗的诗眼，也是新诗史上最著名的诗句之一。「教我」写被动——不是「我很想她」的自白，而是「你教我这样」的指认，仿佛思念不是自己的选择，而是天意与风情的指派，把深情写到了身不由己的地步；「如何不想」写不可抗拒——「如何」是反问，答案是「没有办法不想」，思念之深、之自然，尽在这看似无奈的反问之中；「她」字更见深意——这是刘半农首创的第三人称女性代词，「她」字的入诗，使白话诗获得了一个全新的抒情对象，「她」既是所思之人，也是故国的化身，一字双关，意味深长。其妙有三：其一，以反问代直陈——陈述「我想她」太直白，感叹「我多么想她」太用力，反问「教我如何不想她」却把深情化为绕指柔，委婉而决绝，正是中国诗歌「含蓄」美学的白话表达；其二，以「教我」写身不由己——把主动的思念写成被动的指派，深情反而更深，如「问君能有几多愁」的婉转；其三，以口语入诗——全句是地道的白话口吻（教我……），却字字含情、经得起反复吟咏，证明白话完全可以写出含蓄隽永的诗句。七字一句，写尽游子怀人的千古深情，是新诗语言的最高成就之一。