清 Qing · 词 Ci lyric
采桑子·谁翻乐府凄凉曲
Song of Picking Mulberries: Who Turns Over the Sad Tunes of the Music Bureau?
谁翻乐府凄凉曲,风也萧萧。
雨也萧萧,瘦尽灯花又一宵。
不知何事萦怀抱,醒也无聊。
醉也无聊,梦也何曾到谢桥。
The wind also soughs, the rain also soughs,
The lamp flower burns thin, another night is gone.
I know not what troubles my heart,
Sober, I’m bored; drunk, I’m bored.
In dreams, have I ever reached the Xie Bridge?
Meaning
The poet spends a lonely night listening to sad music, with wind and rain outside. He feels restless and bored whether awake or drunk, and even his dreams fail to bring him to his beloved, symbolized by the Xie Bridge.
是谁在翻奏那乐府中凄凉的曲调?风声萧萧,雨声萧萧,灯花燃尽又挨过了一个长夜。不知是何事萦绕心头,醒来也觉无聊,醉了也觉无聊,梦境里又何曾到过那谢桥。
Appreciation
The poem uses repeated phrases ('feng ye xiaoxiao, yu ye xiaoxiao'; 'xing ye wuliao, zui ye wuliao') to create a rhythmic, melancholic atmosphere. The image of a burnt-out lamp flower symbolizes a sleepless night. The allusion to Xie Bridge deepens the longing and despair.
【白话串讲】 “谁翻乐府凄凉曲,风也萧萧。雨也萧萧,瘦尽灯花又一宵”——纳兰性德在风雨之夜听凄凉曲,“醒也无聊。醉也无聊”——醒着无聊,醉了也无聊。“梦也何曾到谢桥”——连梦都到不了想去的地方。 【意象与手法】 上片三、四句'风也萧萧。雨也萧萧'以叠句摹风雨交加,复以'瘦尽灯花又一宵'将时间凝于灯烬,写尽长夜难眠 【情感与主旨】 纳兰性德,原名成德,字容若,清初词人,出身相门而性耽闲雅,词风哀感顽艳,与朱彝尊、陈维崧并称'清词三大家' 【名句点睛】 考点一:叠句手法——'风也萧萧。雨也萧萧''醒也无聊。醉也无聊'回环复沓,既增音节流转,又强化孤寂无聊之情。考点二
Background
Nalan Xingde (1655–1685), a Manchu poet of the Qing dynasty, was a master of ci poetry and the son of Grand Secretary Mingzhu. After his wife Lu's early death, he wrote many poems expressing grief. This piece may be a lament for her, written on a rainy night.
这首《采桑子》是纳兰性德抒写愁绪的小令名篇,具体作年无确考,但就词中「谢桥」一语及通篇凄婉的情调看,学界多将其系于纳兰性德成年以后的感怀之作。纳兰性德(1655—1685),字容若,满洲正黄旗人,大学士明珠之子。其词以「哀感顽艳」著称,题材多涉爱情、悼亡与身世之感。此词所怀之人,旧说多以为指亡妻卢氏——卢氏卒于康熙十六年(1677),纳兰此后悼亡之词不绝;然「谢桥」在古典诗词中向指歌女或所恋女子的居处,不专指亡妻,故亦有论者以为此词写的是对某一早年所恋女子的思念,或仅是泛写一种无所依傍的愁绪。就文本言,词中并无明确的悼亡标识,唯「凄凉曲」「萧萧风雨」「谢桥」诸意象,层层渲染出一种长夜难眠、醒醉无聊的深愁,其情不落言筌而弥漫字里行间。纳兰身居禁近、贵为近侍,词中却常流露出一种与其身份极不相称的孤寂与哀伤,此词正是这种「锦衣玉食中的哀愁」的典型——乐府凄凉、风雨萧萧、灯花瘦尽,无一不是其内心荒凉的物化。此种「贵而不乐」的心绪,与李煜「梦里不知身是客」的错位之悲、晏几道「落花人独立」的落寞之感,同属「繁华中的孤独」一系,而纳兰以其特有的清冷,写出了属于自己的那一份无着无落的深愁。此词之所以动人,正在它把一种「说不清、道不明」的愁绪写得可感可触——它不指明愁之所由,只以风雨、灯花、谢桥诸象,让读者自己去感受那份弥漫的悲凉。
Art
The upper stanza uses parallelism and reduplication to depict the bleak night; the lower stanza directly expresses boredom and unfulfilled longing. The final line reverses Yan Jidao's line to show the impossibility of reunion.
此词的艺术,最见功力处在其叠句的运用与意象的凝炼。上片「风也萧萧。雨也萧萧」,以两个三字叠句摹写风雨交加之夜,「萧萧」一词叠用,既状风声雨声之凄清,又以声感的绵延写愁绪的缠绵,声与情同振。继以「瘦尽灯花又一宵」七字收束上片,「瘦尽」二字以拟人写灯花燃残之态,「又一宵」三字点出时间之流逝,一个「又」字见出这种长夜难眠的重复与无望。下片「醒也无聊。醉也无聊」与上片叠句遥相呼应,以「醒」「醉」两种状态的并置,写愁绪的无可逃避——醒时愁、醉时亦愁,进退失据,四顾茫然。末句「梦也何曾到谢桥」以否定句作结,将最后的寄托(梦)也一并否定,愁绪遂臻于绝望。全词上片写景、下片抒情,景语皆情语,情语皆愁语,而「萧萧」「无聊」的复沓,又赋予全词一种回环往复的旋律,恰似那首「凄凉曲」在风雨中反复萦绕。这种以叠句强化情绪、以否定句收束情感的笔法,正是纳兰小令「语浅情深」的典型表现。全词无一典丽之辞、无一奇崛之句,纯以口语入词,而愁绪之弥漫、之无解,反因这口语的平易而愈显真切,正如古人论词所谓「淡语皆有味,浅语皆有致」,此词足以当之。纳兰小令之妙,正在其能以「风也萧萧」「醒也无聊」这等几近口语的重复,写出愁绪「才下眉头,却上心头」的往复纠缠,看似信手,实则字字皆经锤炼,其「自然」正是雕琢至极后的返朴。
Allusions
Xie Bridge originates from Yan Jidao's ci poems, where it symbolizes a place where lovers meet. Nalan's line 'In dreams, have I ever reached the Xie Bridge?' implies that even in dreams, he cannot reunite with his beloved, deepening the sense of despair.
此词用典不多而皆有深意。「乐府」本汉代音乐机构,后泛指入乐之歌诗,此处「翻乐府凄凉曲」之「翻」,有弹奏、演绎之意,以乐府之古调写今人之哀愁,暗含一种「借他人酒杯,浇自己块垒」的意味。「谢桥」是全词唯一的典故,也是情感的关键落点。谢桥,指谢娘所居之桥。谢娘在诗词中多指代歌女或所恋女子,唐代有名妓谢秋娘,后以谢娘泛称;晏几道《鹧鸪天》「梦魂惯得无拘检,又踏杨花过谢桥」,以谢桥写对情人的魂牵梦萦,最为著名。纳兰化用小山此句而反其意——小山是「梦魂又到谢桥」,纳兰却是「梦也何曾到谢桥」,一个「何曾」的否定,把连梦中相会都不可得的绝望写得入骨。「萧萧」一词亦有其源,《诗经·小雅·车攻》「萧萧马鸣」状马鸣,后世转为风雨草木之声,如杜甫「无边落木萧萧下」,纳兰以「风也萧萧,雨也萧萧」叠用,正承此以声写愁的传统。学界对此词「谢桥」所指素有歧说,或指亡妻,或指旧情,然皆认为其为纳兰情感深处一段不可企及的追念。无论其所指为何,「谢桥」在词中都是一个「可望而不可即」的符号,纳兰以「何曾到」三字,把这份追念的绝望推到极致,遂使全词的愁绪有了一个坚实的、指向明确的落点。又「翻乐府」之「翻」,与「瘦尽灯花」之「瘦」,一写听曲、一写看灯,皆以极寻常的动作写极不寻常的愁,此种「以常写非常」的笔法,正是纳兰小令深婉处的根由。
Commentary
This poem is praised for its simplicity and deep emotion. Wang Guowei called Nalan 'the only great ci poet after the Northern Song.' The poem's repetition and straightforward language convey profound loneliness.
这首《采桑子》历来被视为纳兰愁绪词的代表,其「风也萧萧,雨也萧萧」「醒也无聊,醉也无聊」两组叠句,尤为后世称道。王国维《人间词话》论纳兰「以自然之眼观物,以自然之舌言情」,此词正以极自然的口语写极深沉的愁绪,无一字雕琢而情味自足。况周颐《蕙风词话》谓词贵「重拙大」,纳兰此词虽为小令,而其愁绪之真、之情之厚,正有沉著之处。在选本收录方面,此词常入《近三百年名家词选》《清词选》等总集,且因篇幅短小、情韵凄婉,成为纳兰词在近现代最广为传诵的小令之一。论者多以此词与纳兰《浣溪沙·谁念西风独自凉》《长相思·山一程》并举,视为其「哀感顽艳」词风的代表。关于其艺术评价,历来集中在叠句的声情效果与「瘦尽灯花又一宵」「梦也何曾到谢桥」两句的炼字与用典上,学者如龙榆生、缪钺等均有论及。此词的传播,还因「谢桥」一典而与小山词发生关联,成为考察纳兰词「承北宋而化之」的重要例证,其在词史上的地位,正在于以极短小的体制,承载了极深广的愁绪,示范了「小令写大愁」的艺术可能。此词之传诵,还因其「风也萧萧,雨也萧萧」的叠句,已成为汉语中摹写风雨愁绪的经典句式,后人写雨夜愁思,往往脱胎于此,足见其语言魅力的持久渗透。
Prosody
Line by line
谁翻乐府凄凉曲
Who is playing through that most plaintive of the old yuefus?
是谁在翻奏那乐府中凄凉的曲调
Who is playing that desolate old air of the Music Bureau?
此句以问句起,先声夺人。「谁」字问得突兀,那弹奏凄凉曲调的人是谁?词人其实并不关心弹者为何人,他真正被触动的,是这曲调的「凄凉」二字。乐府古调本就多哀怨之音,再冠以「凄凉」二字,愁绪已先曲声而至。「翻」字有拨弄、演绎之意,暗示这曲子是被人有意弹奏出来的,而词人在深夜听之,遂觉这凄凉非曲中所有,乃是自己心中所固有——所谓「以我观物,物皆着我之色彩」。首句以听曲起兴,却不着意于曲,而着意于曲所唤起的内心凄凉,为全词定下愁的基调。
The opening rises on a question, arresting before a word is heard. The word who asks abruptly: who is playing this plaintive air? The poet does not really care who the player is; what has truly moved him is the word desolate in the tune. The old yuefu airs are already for the most part mournful; crowned here with desolate, the grief arrives before the music. The word fan means to play and interpret, hinting that the air is being played on purpose; the poet, hearing it in the deep night, feels that this desolation is not in the tune but already in his own heart: seeing things with my own feelings, all things take my color. The opening rises on the hearing of music, yet fixes not on the tune but on the inner desolation it calls up, setting the grief-tone of the whole ci.
风也萧萧。雨也萧萧
The wind soughs, sighing; the rain soughs, sighing.
风声萧萧,雨声萧萧
The wind whistles, the rain whistles.
此二句以叠句写风雨,是全词声情最浓处。「萧萧」是拟声叠词,既状风声、又状雨声,声义相协;而「也」字的重复,如叹息般拖长声气,把风雨之凄清与听者之愁苦勾连为一。风雨与乐府曲调交织,声与声相和,愁与愁相叠,构成一个被凄清之声充塞的听觉世界。这种「风也……雨也……」的句式,本于口语,朴素无华,却因叠用而生出回环往复的旋律,恰似那凄凉之曲在风雨中反复萦绕,令人无计回避。纳兰以极简的笔法,写出了愁绪在声境中的弥漫与渗透。
The two lines write wind and rain in repeated phrases, the most sonorous passage of the ci. Xiaoxiao is an onomatopoeic reduplicative, fitting both wind and rain, sound and sense in harmony; the repetition of the word ye draws the cadence long, like a sigh, joining the bleakness of wind and rain to the listener's grief. Wind, rain, and the yuefu air interweave, sound answering sound, grief piling on grief, filling an auditory world choked with bleak sound. The pattern wind ye, rain ye, drawn from speech, plain as can be, yet through repetition grows a circling, lingering melody, exactly like that desolate air winding again and again through the storm, impossible to escape. Nalan writes, in the fewest strokes, the diffusion and seepage of grief through the world of sound.
瘦尽灯花又一宵
{'paraphrase': 'The lamp flower burns thin, another night passes.', 'insight': "'Burns thin' personifies the lamp and implies the poet's own wasting away in sleeplessness."}
灯花燃尽又挨过了一个长夜
The lamp flower has burned thin and away; another long night is spent.
此句是上片的收束,也是炼字最精妙处。「瘦尽」二字以拟人写灯花,灯花本无肥瘦,词人却赋之以「瘦」,写其油尽芯残、花形萎谢之态,一个「瘦」字,既是灯之瘦,也是人之瘦——长夜不寐、愁损形容者,正是灯下的自己。「尽」字写灯花燃至尽头,暗示夜已极深;「又一宵」三字,则以一个「又」字点出这种孤坐听雨的夜晚并非头一回,而是日复一日的重复,愁绪遂由一时之感升为无尽之恒。灯花之瘦、长夜之尽、愁人之老,皆凝于这七字之中。
The line closes the first stanza, and is the most exquisite in diction. Burn thin and away gives the lamp flower a person, for lamp flowers have no fat or thin; the poet endows it with thinness, writing the wick spent, the oil gone, the flower withered; the one word thin is at once the lamp's thinness and the person's, for the one sitting up all night, worn with grief, is himself beneath the lamp. The word away writes the lamp flower burned to its end, hinting that night is far gone; another long night, the word again points out that these nights of sitting alone listening to rain are not the first, but repeated day after day, so grief rises from a moment's feeling to endless constancy. The thin lamp flower, the spent long night, the aging grieving man, are all condensed into these seven characters.
梦也何曾到谢桥
{'paraphrase': 'In dreams, have I ever reached the Xie Bridge?', 'insight': "Using Yan Jidao's allusion, the rhetorical question emphasizes the impossibility of reunion even in dreams."}
梦境里又何曾到过那谢桥
And has my dream ever once reached the bridge of Xie?
此句以否定句作结,把愁绪推向极致。「谢桥」用晏几道「又踏杨花过谢桥」之典,指所恋之人的居处。小山词中,梦魂尚能踏杨花、过谢桥,与所思之人相会;纳兰却反其意而用之,说自己的梦「何曾」到过谢桥——连梦境都不肯成全这一场相会。醒也无聊,醉也无聊,已是进退失据;而梦也难至,则是连最后的慰藉也被剥夺,愁绪至此臻于绝望。此句以「何曾」二字作斩截之否定,语气沉痛而余韵悠长,是全词情感的最后落点,也是纳兰「以否定写绝望」的典型笔法。
The line closes in a negation, pushing grief to the extreme. The bridge of Xie uses the allusion to Yan Jidao's again I cross the Yang flowers past the Xie bridge, naming the dwelling of the beloved. In Yan's little songs, the dream soul can still tread the Yang flowers and cross the Xie bridge to meet the longed-for one; Nalan turns the meaning against itself, saying his dream has never once reached the Xie bridge, that even dreams will not grant this meeting. Awake, there is no relief; drunk, no relief; already he can neither advance nor retreat; and now even dreams cannot arrive, the last consolation stripped away, grief reaching despair. The word never cuts the negation short, the tone deep in sorrow with a long aftertone; it is the final landing of the ci's feeling, and the typical Nalan stroke of writing despair through negation.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Compare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
晏几道《鹧鸪天》「梦魂惯得无拘检,又踏杨花过谢桥」,是「谢桥」一典的著名出处,写梦魂无拘、踏花过桥去会所爱之人,情感是明快的、自由的。纳兰《采桑子》化用此典而反其意,谓「梦也何曾到谢桥」,连梦境都无法抵达谢桥,情感由小山的浪漫转入深沉的绝望。小山以梦写「能」,纳兰以梦写「不能」,同一谢桥,一写相聚之欢,一写隔绝之痛,正可见纳兰词承北宋而能翻新的艺术功力,亦见其于前人成句处另辟新境的机杼。
声声慢 Slow Slow Song 李清照 · 叠字叠句写愁的手法对照 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
李清照《声声慢》以「寻寻觅觅,冷冷清清,凄凄惨惨戚戚」七组叠字开篇,写尽愁绪之弥漫,是词史叠字之冠。纳兰此词以「风也萧萧。雨也萧萧」「醒也无聊。醉也无聊」两组叠句写愁,手法与之相通而形态不同——易安是字字相叠,密如雨点;纳兰是句句相叠,缓如叹息。易安之愁在国破家亡、晚景凄凉,情感沉痛而急促;纳兰之愁在身世孤寂、情感无着,情感缠绵而低迷。二者皆以声音的复沓写情绪的萦绕,异曲而同工。
虞美人·听雨 Beautiful Lady Yu: Listening to Rain 蒋捷 · 以「听雨」写愁绪与人生况味的映照 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
蒋捷《虞美人·听雨》以「少年听雨歌楼上」「壮年听雨客舟中」「而今听雨僧庐下」三个听雨场景,写尽一生的悲欢离合,是词史「听雨」主题的绝唱。纳兰此词虽非专写听雨,然「风也萧萧,雨也萧萧」的深夜风雨,同样是愁绪的触媒。所异者,蒋捷以时空的展开写人生况味,情感阔大而苍凉;纳兰以一夜的风雨写愁绪的弥漫,情感集中而深婉。一以雨写「一生」,一以雨写「一宵」,同是听雨,而取境大小、情感深浅各异,可资对照。