All poems

清 Qing · 词 Ci lyric

木兰花·拟古决绝词柬友

Magnolia Flowers·Imitation of an Old Farewell Song to a Friend

纳兰性德

Nalan Xingde

爱情love 离别parting 清词Qing ci

人生若只如初见，何事秋风悲画扇。
等闲变却故人心，却道故心人易变。
骊山语罢清宵半，泪雨零铃终不怨。
何如薄幸锦衣郎，比翼连枝当日愿。

If life could be as when we first met,
Why would autumn wind grieve over the painted fan?
Lightly the old friend's heart has changed,
Yet you say the old heart is easy to change.
On Mount Li, words were spoken deep in the night,
Rain and bell sounds, yet no resentment.
How could that fickle, richly-clad lord compare?
He once vowed to be a pair of birds, branches twined.

Listen

Meaning

The poem begins with a deep sigh: if only relationships could stay as beautiful as the first meeting, then there would be no betrayal. But in reality, old friends change their hearts easily, and even blame the other. The second half uses the story of Emperor Xuanzong and Yang Guifei to contrast the faithless person who breaks their vows.

人生如果都像初相遇那般美好，又怎会生出秋风里悲叹画扇的哀怨。轻易改变了旧人的心意，却反倒推说故人的心本就容易改变。想那骊山私语直到清宵过半，纵是泪雨零铃终究无所怨恨。可又怎比得上那薄情的锦衣郎，当日里也曾许下比翼连枝的誓愿。

Appreciation

A famous sigh on the fading of love and friendship. The use of the fan metaphor and the Tang dynasty allusion creates a poignant contrast between deep love and fickleness.

【白话串讲】 “人生若只如初见”——纳兰性德这句，被后人用了一辈子：如果一切都能停在第一次见面时的美好。词人自己生于富贵，却把“诀别”写得比谁都透。【意象与手法】以情语起、以典语承，章法错落。起句"人生若只如初见"直抒慨叹，如当头一棒【情感与主旨】纳兰性德为清代满族词人，康熙朝权臣明珠之子，性淡泊而善愁【名句点睛】常考"人生若只如初见"的千古一叹及其所写人情由浓转淡的怅惘；用典（秋扇见捐、骊山盟誓）为高频考点

Background

Nalan Xingde, a Qing dynasty Manchu poet and son of a powerful official, wrote this in the style of ancient 'farewell songs' to express feelings about friendship and the fickleness of human relationships. It may allude to changes in his own friendships.

纳兰性德（一六五五—一六八五），原名成德，字容若，号楞伽山人，满洲正黄旗人，大学士明珠长子。康熙十五年成进士，选授三等侍卫，累迁一等侍卫，常随扈从巡幸塞外，三十一岁病卒。其词初刻名《侧帽词》，继与顾贞观辑为《饮水词》，后世通行者为《纳兰词》，别集则见《通志堂集》。此篇题作拟古决绝词柬友，题面已交代两重来路：一是拟古，所拟乃乐府旧题决绝词，唐人元稹有《古决绝词》三首，皆托弃妇之口作绝交语；二是柬友，柬即致书寄示，故词虽通篇作女子口吻，其实是借闺怨体式寄慨于友朋交谊。清人以来解此词者众说纷纭，或谓为友人代言，或谓借男女之情喻朋友之义，或牵合词人身世附会宫掖旧闻，后者证据薄弱，不宜轻信。就文本而言，全篇不着一具体事象，只以泛泛之情语与熟典成篇，正是其可作多解的根由。所用词调为木兰花，又名玉楼春，本唐教坊曲，双调五十六字，句式与七言近体极近。文字流传亦有小异，第四句故心人易变一作故人心易变，前者以词序倒错生出回环之致，历来选本多从之，后者较顺而少味。就文学脉络看，此词上承班婕妤《怨歌行》秋扇见捐之喻、元稹决绝之辞、白居易《长恨歌》骊山盟誓之事，下与清初悼亡、闺怨两派合流，是纳兰以旧典写新愁的典型之作。

Art

The poem starts with a direct emotional exclamation, then uses the fan allusion, then shifts to the Lishan story. The language is sad and beautiful, typical of Nalan's sincere style.

章法上此词最见错落。起句人生若只如初见凌空而下，是全篇总冒，不写事而写一个假设，一个逆挽，把无数具体的怨悔都收摄在若只二字里；次句何事秋风悲画扇立即以典语承接，由抽象的慨叹落到具体的物象，一虚一实，一放一收。三四句等闲变却故人心、却道故心人易变改用口语，写对方的推诿之辞，是全篇唯一有情节意味处，而恰以最平淡的语气道出最凉薄的世情。过片骊山语罢清宵半、泪雨零铃终不怨转用史事，由己身之怨扩至千古之恨，境界为之一开；末句何如薄幸锦衣郎，比翼连枝当日愿又以反跌收束，明明是怨极之语，偏说眼前人尚不如唐明皇之有情，于是怨意愈深而辞愈婉。全词四联皆有转折，转折处又皆不着痕迹，故读来一气流转而回味无穷。修辞上以设问、反问、对比为主：若只、何事、何如三层追问层层加码，而答案始终悬空，正合决绝词欲言又止之体。意象择取尤见匠心，画扇、秋风属寒素凄清一路，骊山、锦衣郎属繁华富贵一路，两组意象冷热相激，遂使盟誓之热与背弃之冷同时并现。语言则近于白话而不失典重，等闲、却道等口语虚词穿插典故之间，使典不板滞，情不浮滑，正是纳兰词清而不佻、丽而不腻的本色。

Allusions

'Autumn wind and painted fan' refers to Ban Jieyu's poem about a fan discarded in autumn, symbolizing abandonment. 'Lishan talk' refers to the love vow of Emperor Xuanzong and Yang Guifei from the 'Song of Everlasting Sorrow'. 'Two wings and intertwined branches' also from that poem. These allusions contrast the once deep love with the present fickleness.

本篇几乎句句有来历。何事秋风悲画扇用班婕妤事：《汉书·外戚传》载婕妤失宠退处长信宫，旧题其名之《怨歌行》有裁为合欢扇、团团似明月及弃捐箧笥中、恩情中道绝之语，后世遂以秋扇见捐为女子被弃之代称，唐人已惯用此喻，此处更以画扇之精美反衬弃置之无情。骊山语罢清宵半合用《长恨歌》七月七日长生殿、夜半无人私语时两句，骊山即华清宫所在，为唐玄宗与杨贵妃盟誓之地。泪雨零铃则并用两事：一为马嵬之变后玄宗入蜀，霖雨连日，闻栈道铃声而悼念贵妃，因作《雨霖铃》曲，见郑处诲《明皇杂录》；二为柳永《雨霖铃》一调之凄断声情，故泪雨零铃四字兼有故事与曲调双重意味。比翼连枝亦本《长恨歌》在天愿作比翼鸟、在地愿为连理枝，锦衣郎则以服饰暗指帝王之贵。训诂上有两处可议：等闲一词，或训作轻易随便，或训作平白无故，二义相通而以轻易为长，此字最见责怨之重；故心人易变句之句法历来聚讼，通行解为把故人心倒作故心人，是故意错置词序以见反复申说、无理可辩之态，亦有校本径改作故人心易变，则文从字顺而失其宛转，今多不取。

Commentary

Kuang Zhouyi said Nalan's ci are natural and pure. Wang Guowei praised him as the only one since Northern Song. This poem shows his ability to express universal feelings through classical references.

纳兰词在清初即负重名。顾贞观称其词哀感顽艳，有南唐二主遗意；陈维崧谓其《饮水词》如鱼水相忘，皆推为一代高格。近人王国维《人间词话》断言纳兰容若以自然之眼观物，以自然之舌言情，此由初入中原、未染汉人风气故，北宋以来一人而已，这一评语几乎决定了后世对纳兰词的基本定位，也间接抬高了本篇的地位。就本篇而言，历代选本多以其首句立目，谭献、况周颐一系词论家于此类小令颇有称许，谓其以浅语写深怨，不用力而力自足。传播史上，此词的经典化主要发生在二十世纪以后：民国以来各类词选屡加收录，五十年代以后又因其明白如话而广被普及读物采用，近三十年更因影视与流行歌词的反复引用，使人生若只如初见一句脱离原词语境，成为独立流传的警句，几近谚语。这种脱语境化的流播，一面使此词家喻户晓，一面也造成误读——读者多只赏其怅惋之美，而忽略题中柬友二字所指的朋友交道之义，以及全篇作决绝语的乐府旧体渊源。今日读此词，宜先还其拟古之体，再赏其警句之妙，方不至以今情尽掩古意。

Prosody

Form Ci to the tune of Magnolia Flower (56 characters, two stanzas, four lines each, three oblique rhymes, like seven-character quatrains but with oblique rhyme. Nalan's imitation of ancient style.词，木兰花（一名玉楼春），双调五十六字，上下片各四句、三仄韵

Rhyme Upper stanza: jian, shan, bian, bian; lower stanza: ban, yuan, lang, yuan. One rhyme throughout.全篇押仄声韵，韵脚为见、扇、变、半、怨、愿，同属词韵第七部去声（霰、翰、愿诸韵通押），上下片各三韵，一韵到底

Tone pattern All seven-character lines, parallelism in couplet. Structure uses allusions to support argument.句式全为七言，平仄大体依七言近体仄起格，如人生若只如初见为平平仄仄平平仄，何事秋风悲画扇为平仄平平平仄仄，每句末字皆仄，无平收之句

Reading note Borrowing the theme of 'farewell song' to express the lament of changing hearts. Dense allusions but sincere emotion.木兰花调八句皆七言，形貌近于七律而声情迥异，关键在于句句仄收、三韵密压。七言诗以平声韵为常，音节舒缓；此调改用仄韵，且每句结处皆以仄声下坠，遂使声情峭折沉抑，最宜写决绝、怨断一类题材。本篇六个韵脚见、扇、变、半、怨、愿皆为去声，去声之音由高而降，一字一顿，读之如叹如咽，与内容的层层追问、层层失望恰相表里。又因八句无一句用平收，全篇缺少可以喘息的舒缓处，情绪始终紧绷，直至末句仍以愿字仄收，怨意不得宣泄而愈显郁结。上下片各以两联相对，形式极整，而内部语气却由假设转质问、由质问转追叙、由追叙转反跌，整齐的外壳与跌宕的内里形成张力。第四句故心人易变故意错置词序，破坏了七言的常规节奏，造成一处拗折，反使声与情合。可见此词之感人，不独在字面之浅易，亦在声律安排之曲折用心。

Line by line

人生若只如初见，何事秋风悲画扇。

If life could be as when we first met, why would autumn wind grieve over the painted fan? — A famous line contrasting the beauty of first meeting with later betrayal. The fan alludes to Ban Jieyu's poem about abandonment.

人生如果都像初相遇那般美好，又怎会生出秋风里悲叹画扇的哀怨。

If life were only always as at the first meeting, why should the autumn wind make the painted fan mourn?

起句是一个永不能成立的假设，却是人情中最恒久的愿望。若只二字下得极重：只者，限定之词，意谓但求停在初见那一刻，此外皆不必有。这一愿望的荒谬正显出愿望的真诚，也预示了后文的必然失落。次句不作正面申说，而以秋扇见捐的旧喻答之，以何事发问，明知其故而故作不解，怨意遂由质问中透出。画扇之画字尤妙：越是精工可玩之物，弃置时越显人心之薄。上句纯是情语，下句纯是典语，一虚一实相衔，全篇的调子由此定下。

The opening is a supposition that can never hold, yet it is the most enduring wish of the human heart. The two words, if only, are laid with the greatest weight: only means a limiting word, meaning would that it might rest at the moment of first meeting, and nothing else need follow. The absurdity of the wish shows its sincerity, and foretells the inevitable loss to come. The second line does not argue directly, but answers with the old metaphor of the autumn fan cast aside, asking why, knowing the reason well and yet feigning not to, the resentment leaks through the questioning. The word painted in painted fan is especially exquisite: the more finely wrought and amusing the object, the thinner the human heart appears when it is cast aside. The upper line pure feeling, the lower pure allusion, one virtual and one real linked, and the tune of the whole is fixed.

等闲变却故人心，却道故心人易变。

Lightly the old friend's heart has changed, yet you say the old heart is easy to change. — The word 'lightly' criticizes the fickleness, and the reversal of blame is subtle and bitter.

轻易改变了旧人的心意，却反倒推说故人的心本就容易改变。

Lightly, you have changed the heart of old; yet you say that the heart of an old acquaintance is easily changed.

此联是全词最见世情处。等闲一词写尽负心者的轻慢：于我为断肠之事，于彼只是寻常。变却与易变同字而异序，将同一语料反复颠倒，如剖辩不已而终不能辩，正是含冤者语无次第之态。却道二字尤其锋利，先变心，再倒过来预先指控对方易变，是背弃之后又加一层诬罔，怨之深不在被弃，而在被弃之后连申辩之地亦无。词序的故意错置造成回环拗折的声情，读来如齿间反复咀嚼，正与内容之无理可诉相合，是以形式助成意蕴的绝好例证。

The couplet is where the ci shows most the ways of the world. The word lightly exhausts the lightness of the faithless: what is to me a heart-breaking thing, to him is but the ordinary. Changed and easily changed share the same characters in reversed order, turning the same material over and over, as if pleading without end and yet unable to plead, precisely the disordered speech of the wronged. The words yet you say are especially sharp: first the heart is changed, then, in reverse, the other is accused in advance of being easily changed — a layer of slander added after the betrayal; the depth of resentment lies not in being abandoned, but in having no ground even to defend oneself after the abandonment. The deliberate dislocation of word order produces a circling, broken rhythm, the reading like something chewed over and over between the teeth, answering the unreasonableness of the grievance — the finest example of form serving meaning.

骊山语罢清宵半，泪雨零铃终不怨。

On Mount Li, words were spoken deep in the night, rain and bell sounds, yet no resentment. — Alludes to the love vow of Tang Xuanzong and Yang Guifei, showing deep love without regret.

想那骊山私语直到清宵过半，纵是泪雨零铃终究无所怨恨。

When the whispering on Mount Li ended in the deep half of the night, the tears fell like rain and the bells chimed, yet to the end there was no resentment.

换头忽转，由眼前男女推及千古帝妃，境界一开。骊山语罢用长生殿私语事，写盟誓之笃；泪雨零铃用玄宗入蜀闻铃悼亡事，写生死之隔。两句一乐一悲，中间省去马嵬一段惨变，全凭读者自补，是极高明的留白。终不怨三字尤堪玩味：杨妃虽死而无怨，因其所遇者毕竟真有情；下文的怨遂显得更无着落。此联又暗合《雨霖铃》曲名与词调之凄断，故事、曲调、声情三者叠合，使史事不止于用典，而成为一种回响。

The turn of the second stanza suddenly moves from the man and woman before the eyes to the imperial pair of the ages, the realm opening. The whispering on Mount Li uses the tale of the midnight whispers in the Long Life Hall, writing the firmness of the vow; the tears like rain and the bells chimed uses the tale of Emperor Xuanzong entering Sichuan, hearing the bells and mourning the dead, writing the parting of life and death. Two lines, one joy, one grief, the catastrophe of Mawei between omitted entirely, to be supplied by the reader — the highest art of leaving blank. The three words to the end no resentment are especially to be savored: Yang Guifei died, yet without resentment, because what she met was, after all, true feeling; the resentment of what follows then appears the more groundless. The couplet also secretly answers the tune Rain of Bells in the Night, the story, the melody, and the feeling layered, so that the historical event is not merely an allusion, but an echo.

何如薄幸锦衣郎，比翼连枝当日愿。

How could that fickle, richly-clad lord compare? He once vowed to be a pair of birds, branches twined. — Uses the story of Tang Xuanzong to mock the faithless, ending with a sharp contrast.

可又怎比得上那薄情的锦衣郎，当日里也曾许下比翼连枝的誓愿。

How does he compare — the faithless man in embroidered robes, who made the vow of wing-to-wing, branch-to-branch that very day?

结句以反跌收束，笔法最曲。何如即怎比得上，明是贬语而用比较之辞，将眼前负心人置于唐明皇之下，是怨极而不肯直斥的写法。薄幸本用以责唐明皇，锦衣郎又状其贵盛，一贬一美，褒贬相激。末句忽然回到当日之誓，比翼连枝仍是《长恨歌》成语，然当日二字一出，今昔立判：誓言犹在耳，人心已两分。全篇不作骂语、不作哭语，只把旧誓轻轻提起，而决绝之意已尽，深得乐府决绝词欲绝而不忍绝之神理。

The close ends in reversal, the most tortuous brush. How does he compare means how can he compare, plainly a word of blame, yet cast in the form of comparison, setting the faithless man before the eyes below Tang Minghuang — the manner of resentment at the extreme that yet refuses direct accusation. Faithless is properly used to blame Tang Minghuang, and the man in embroidered robes pictures his splendor; one blame, one praise, praise and blame set off against each other. The last line suddenly returns to the vow of that day: wing-to-wing, branch-to-branch is still the idiom of the Song of Everlasting Sorrow, yet once the words that very day appear, past and present are divided at once — the vow still in the ear, and the hearts already two. The whole makes no words of abuse, no words of weeping, only lightly takes up the old vow, and the resolve to break is complete; it has grasped precisely the spirit of the yueyuan jueci — resolved, yet unable to resolve.

Study

Word focus

初见 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 初见是全词的支点。初者，未经消磨之时；见者，两心初交之际。词人不写相守、不写盟誓，独取初见，是因初见之美在其未展开：情意方生而未受试炼，期许未落而无从落空。故初见既是时间上的一点，也是心理上的一个理想态。用若只加以限定，则明知不可而偏欲如此，遂成千古一叹。此二字看似极浅，实则把人情由浓转淡的全过程压缩为一个反向的愿望，愈平淡愈有力，这正是纳兰以自然之舌言情的本领所在。

等闲 lightly, easily — suggests the heartless ease with which the old friend changed. 等闲是口语虚词，义为轻易、随便，亦可解作平白无故。此词全篇多用典语，独此二字纯是白话，遂如冷水浇背，格外刺人。其分量在于对照：一方视为性命交关，一方只作寻常处置，轻重悬殊，不平之气全从这一虚词中泄出。若易作轻易或忽地，则语气软而不峭；等闲二字自带一种漫不经心的神色，恰是负心者的口吻与情态。以极轻之词写极重之伤，是纳兰下字最见工处，也说明其词浅语深情并非无所锤炼。

薄幸 fickle, heartless — directly criticizes the 'richly-clad lord' (Tang Xuanzong), but implies a present faithless person. 薄幸即薄情，唐宋诗词中多为闺中人责怨情郎之常语，杜牧、柳永以下习用。此处妙在错位：薄幸所指者本是唐明皇，而全句用何如领起，遂使这一责语转为反衬——连薄幸之人尚且有比翼连枝之愿，则今之负心者更在其下。一个贬词被用来作比较的高标，褒贬两重意味叠压于二字之上，语意遂极曲折。锦衣郎与薄幸并置，又以富贵之相状凉薄之心，愈见其讽。此种以贬为褒、以褒行贬的手法，是决绝词欲直而故曲的典型笔路。