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清 Qing · 词 Ci lyric

虞美人·无聊

Yu Mei Ren: Listless

纳兰性德

Nalan Xingde

闲愁idle melancholy 抒情lyric feeling 纳兰Nalan Xingde

无聊笑拈花枝说，处处鹃啼血。
好花偏占一阳生，比似个人消瘦、更堪怜。
怜他并蒂浑无语，第一东风苦。
禁烟时节落花天，犹忆旧时庭院、月明边。

Listless, smiling, I hold a flowering branch and talk to it;
everywhere the cuckoos cry until they bleed.
The finest flowers open just as the year's first warmth returns,
and set beside that person's wasted form they are the more to be pitied.
I pity the twinned blossoms that have nothing at all to say;
of all winds the first east wind is the bitterest.
In the cold-food season, under a sky of falling petals,
I remember still the old courtyard, there at the edge of the bright moon.

Listen

Meaning

In a mood of aimless sadness the poet handles a flowering branch while cuckoos cry outside, and finds the blossoms thinner and more pitiable than a person he has lost. The second stanza turns from paired flowers and a bitter spring wind to the memory of a moonlit courtyard from years before.

无聊中含笑拈着花枝说，处处鹃鸟啼血。好花偏在阳极初生时（春来），比起那人儿的消瘦，更堪怜惜。怜那并蒂花竟默默无语，第一阵东风最苦。禁烟（寒食）时节落花满天，还忆着旧时庭院、明月那边。

Appreciation

Both stanzas begin with flowers and end in memory, and the repetition of that movement is what gives the lyric its circling quality. The comparison in the first stanza is deliberately strange: the poet pities the flowers not for their own sake but because they remind him how thin someone else had grown. Twinned blossoms in the second stanza work by contrast, since a pair on one stem measures exactly what the speaker no longer has. The cuckoos, the east wind and the falling petals are all conventional signs of a spring going wrong, and Nalan uses them without apology because they are true to the mood. The ending refuses any resolution and simply places a courtyard under a moon, which is why the lyric goes on resonating after it stops.

【白话串讲】 “无聊笑拈花枝说，处处鹃啼血”——纳兰写无聊：笑着拈花，处处鹃啼。“好花偏占一阳生，比似个人消瘦、更堪怜”——“禁烟时节落花天，犹忆旧时庭院、月明边”——他想起旧时的庭院。【意象与手法】以花（好花、并蒂）与鹃啼、东风、落花层层烘托无聊与忆旧。语言哀婉，比况精微（花瘦比人瘦），是纳兰'哀感顽艳'的典型。【情感与主旨】抒写深闺无聊与对逝去（或远人）的忆念，于闲愁中藏悼亡之悲。纳兰词多以花月写相思，此首尤绵邈。【名句点睛】好花偏占一阳生，比似个人消瘦、更堪怜——以花之瘦反衬人之瘦，痴语见深哀。

Background

Nalan Xingde is generally regarded as the finest lyricist of the early Qing, and his manner is consistently mournful. This lyric on listlessness and remembrance is often connected with his grief for his wife of the Lu family, and it appears to belong to his middle years. Flowers and moonlight are his habitual vehicles for longing.

纳兰性德，原名成德，字容若，号楞伽山人，满洲正黄旗人，大学士明珠之子，清康熙十五年进士，授三等侍卫，旋晋一等，深得圣祖宠遇。他虽生居华屋、位列簪缨，性却厌弃繁华，笃于情、工于词，与朱彝尊、陈维崧并称清词三大家，王国维《人间词话》推其为「北宋以来，一人而已」。《虞美人·无聊》写深闺无聊、拈花忆旧之情，约作于其妻卢氏卒后，纳兰中年丧偶，悼亡之痛深镌词中，此词虽题为无聊，实以花写人、以闲愁藏悼亡之哀。虞美人为唐教坊曲，双调小令，多写幽怨，正宜纳兰哀感顽艳之笔。康熙朝满汉文化交融，纳兰浸淫汉文学极深，词风婉约清丽而情致绵邈，此词即其以花月写相思、于闲处见深悲的代表作。更须留意者，纳兰以贵公子之身写闺阁之怨，却无绮靡之习，反见一片天真痴绝，这正是其词超越身份局限、直抵人情深处的根本原因，亦可见清初词坛由阳羡豪宕、浙西清空转向重情一路的嬗变。

Art

Each stanza opens on flowers and closes on recollection, and the comparisons are worked out with unusual precision. The crying cuckoo, the east wind and the falling petals give the piece a coloring that is beautiful and grieving at once. The final image of the old courtyard under a bright moon is left unexplained, so that the feeling extends past the last line. The restraint is what keeps a conventional set of images from going slack.

此词双调五十六字，上片由无聊拈花起，下片由怜花忆旧收，章法以花为经、以忆为纬，层层烘托无聊与悼亡之痛。起句「无聊笑拈花枝说，处处鹃啼血」以笑拈写强作从容，鹃啼血则暗藏悲切，笑与啼对举，表面闲适而内里凄伤。次句「好花偏占一阳生，比似个人消瘦、更堪怜」以花之瘦反衬人之瘦，比况精微，偏字见造化弄人之憾。过片「怜他并蒂浑无语，第一东风苦」由单花转到并蒂，并蒂本喻成双，浑无语写孤身之寂，东风苦写春来之痛。结句「禁烟时节落花天，犹忆旧时庭院、月明边」以寒食落花收束，犹忆旧庭院月明，将无聊之绪归于对亡妻（或远人）的深忆。全词以花月为喻，比兴深婉，哀感顽艳。其结构由拈花而怜花、由怜花而忆人，如剥茧抽丝，层层递转，于短章中具长调之回环，是纳兰小令以浅语写深哀的章法典范，亦见其将悼亡之痛化入闲愁之中的含蓄笔力。

Allusions

The cuckoo crying until it bleeds is an old figure for extreme grief, drawn from the legend of a king transformed into that bird. The phrase for the first return of warmth refers to the moment after the winter solstice when the light begins to grow again, used here for the coming of spring. Twinned blossoms are two flowers on one stem, a standing emblem of a devoted couple. The smoke ban names the Cold Food festival, when fires were not lit, a season closely associated with mourning at the graves.

词中用典与意象多本诗词传统与节令。「鹃啼血」典出望帝杜宇化鹃、啼血乃止的传说，李白有「又闻子规啼夜月，愁空山」，李商隐「望帝春心托杜鹃」，皆以杜鹃啼血写悲极之痛，纳兰取之以暗藏丧偶之哀。「一阳生」本《周易》冬至一阳生之说，指阳气初动、春回之时，此处写好花生于阳生之际，暗喻生机与孤瘦并存。「并蒂」即并蒂莲，古以喻夫妻成双，纳兰怜并蒂无语，正写丧偶后的形单影只。「禁烟」即寒食节，禁火冷食，正值落花时节，与悼亡伤春之传统相接，如苏轼《寒食帖》之悲。月明边则与李白「床前明月光」、杜甫「月是故乡明」的望月怀远一脉相承，将个人忆旧纳入千古明月情结。如此以神话、经籍、节俗、唐诗交织为典，使一首闲愁小令获得厚重的文化纵深，是纳兰虽写侧艳而根柢深厚的明证。其以闺阁闲愁为表、以悼亡深哀为里，故用典虽熟而情自崭新，非寻常艳词可及。

Commentary

Nalan's short lyrics are unmatched in the early Qing for plaintiveness. Read together with his lyric asking who thinks of the west wind and the cold, this piece shows his habit of entrusting deep grief to flowers and moonlight. The seeming lightness of the surface is what makes the sorrow beneath it credible.

纳兰性德词以哀感顽艳、情致天然称，此词可为小令代表。王国维《人间词话》谓「纳兰容若以自然之眼观物，以自然之舌言情」，正指此类不假雕饰而情深一往之作。与朱彝尊之醇雅、陈维崧之豪宕并峙，纳兰独以性灵胜，清初词坛由陈维崧阳羡派豪宕、朱彝尊浙西派清空，至纳兰而重情一路蔚为大观。就虞美人词牌言，自李煜「春花秋月何时了」写亡国之痛，至纳兰写闺阁悼亡，同以虞美人写彻骨之悲，而纳兰以花月闲笔出之，更见含蓄。近人龙榆生《词学概论》论纳兰小令「如清水芙蓉，天然而不琢」，此词以无聊统篇、以落花忆旧收束，淡语中藏深哀，足证其以浅写深、以闲写痛的至高词境。要之，此词虽短，却是纳兰悼亡词群中别调，以无聊二字统摄一切无法明言的丧失之痛，读来令人低回不已，足见清初小令以情胜、以韵胜的至高成就。其以无聊统摄丧偶之痛，于婉约体中别开沉哀一路，在清词史上足与朱陈并峙而独以性灵胜。

Prosody

Form Tune Yu Mei Ren, double stanza of fifty-six characters词·《虞美人》双调五十六字（清词）

Rhyme The source records no detailed rhyme note; the piece follows the rhyme pattern of the tune.上下片各两仄韵两平韵转押，血、生、怜、语、苦、天、边依次交错（词林正韵）

Tone pattern The movement is soft and winding.依词谱填就，平仄参错，过片另起

Reading note A short lyric that moves from idle sorrow over flowers to the poet's own circumstances; the thin flower against the thin person and the paired blossoms against the solitary self build the loneliness by stages, closing on an old courtyard. Delicate and bleak, it is Nalan's characteristic melancholy.虞美人双调五十六字，上下片各四句，两仄韵两平韵，仄平交替，声情回环。此词上片无聊笑拈花枝说，处处鹃啼血以血押仄韵，好花偏占一阳生，比似个人消瘦更堪怜以怜押平韵；下片怜他并蒂浑无语，第一东风苦以苦押仄韵，禁烟时节落花天，犹忆旧时庭院月明边以边押平韵。仄起平收、往复转韵，恰宜写幽咽往复之情，与纳兰哀感顽艳之旨相得。句式以七字句为主，间以豆句式如比似个人消瘦更堪怜、犹忆旧时庭院月明边，参差错落，诵读如低回独语。整体音律清婉而微抑，转韵处如哽咽难言，是清词小令中以声写情、以转韵见幽怀的声律范本，其声情之抑扬正与悼亡之痛同构。

Line by line

好花偏占一阳生，比似个人消瘦、更堪怜。

The best flowers open just as warmth returns, yet next to that person's thinness they are the more pitiable; pity for the flower is pity for himself.

好花偏在阳极初生时（春来），比起那人儿的消瘦，更堪怜惜。

The fair flower chooses to bloom when the first yang returns; compared with my beloved's thinness, it is the more pitiable.

此句为全词比况最精微处。一阳生指春回阳动之时，好花生于此时本应繁盛，却偏以消瘦之姿示人，偏字写出造化弄人、美而不荣的缺憾。下句以花之瘦比人之瘦，更堪怜三字将怜花之情移于怜人，花人互映，痴语见深哀。纳兰最工以花写人、以物拟人，此处不直写丧偶之痛，而借好花之瘦曲曲传出人之孤瘦，含蓄蕴藉而痛入骨髓，是其哀感顽艳词风的典型笔法，亦使无聊之题获得切实的情感内核。尤为动人者，偏字所含的冤抑与无奈，把一个贵公子面对命运剥夺时的无告之悲，轻轻搁在一朵春花之上，举重若轻而力透纸背。

The line is the subtlest point of the ci's comparison. The first yang return means the season when spring returns and the yang stirs; the fair flower blooming now should be in its fullest, yet it shows itself in a wasted form, and the single word precisely writes the sportive cruelty of heaven, the defect of beauty not flourishing. The lower line compares the flower's leanness to the person's; the three words the more pitiable transfer the pity for the flower to pity for the person, flower and person reflected, fond words showing deep grief. Nalan is most skilled in writing the person through the flower and figuring the object; here he does not directly write the pain of widowhood, but transmits the lonely thinness of the person circuitously through the leanness of the fair flower, restrained and rich, yet grief bone-deep, the typical brush of his sad, gorgeous ci, and the real emotional core given to the title of listlessness. Most moving is the grievance and helplessness held in the word precisely: the grief without appeal of a young noble facing fate's deprivation, lightly laid on a single spring flower, the weight handled lightly and the force piercing the paper.

禁烟时节落花天，犹忆旧时庭院、月明边。

In the Cold Food season under falling petals he still remembers the old courtyard beside the bright moon; the lyric closes on memory rather than statement.

禁烟（寒食）时节落花满天，还忆着旧时庭院、明月那边。

In the Cold-Fog season, on the day of falling blossoms, I still recall the old courtyard, beside the bright moon.

结句以节令与景物收束全篇的无聊与忆旧。禁烟即寒食，落花满天写春残之景，亦喻美好之易逝、人事之难留；犹忆二字将眼前落花拉向旧时庭院月明，空间由当下转到记忆，时间由春残转到往昔。月明边以景结情，明月依旧而人已非，不言悼亡而悼亡之痛自深。纳兰善用收束处的淡景藏浓情，此句不著一哭字而低回不尽，将一首题为无聊的小令升华为对逝去温情的深长追忆，余韵渺渺。最见功力处，在于以眼前景收束心中事，落花与明月一实一虚，将无从排遣的忆旧之痛化作一片可望不可即的清辉，是纳兰小令以景结情、以闲笔写沉哀的至高妙境。

The closing line ends the piece's listlessness and old remembrance in the season and the scene. The Cold-Fog season means the Cold Food Festival; the day of falling blossoms writes the scene of spring's end, and figures the easiness of the fair and the hard keeping of human things. The two words I still recall pull the present falling blossoms toward the old courtyard and the bright moon; space turns from the present to memory, time from spring's end to the bygone. Beside the bright moon ends emotion in scene: the moon as of old and the person no more, not speaking of widowhood and the grief of widowhood deep of itself. Nalan is skilled at hiding thick feeling in the spare scene of the close; the line writes not one word of weeping, and lingers on without end, raising a short song titled listlessness into the long remembrance of a departed tenderness, the aftertone faint. The mastery lies in closing the matter of the heart with the scene before the eyes — the falling blossoms and the bright moon, one real, one virtual, turning the unassuageable pain of old remembrance into a clear radiance to be gazed on yet never reached, the highest realm of Nalan's short songs ending emotion in scene and writing deep grief through an idle brush.

Study

Word focus

无聊 'Listless' names an emptiness of mind, and it is the condition from which everything else in the lyric follows. 无聊为全词词眼与统摄之题，本指无可聊赖、精神无所寄托的空虚，纳兰却以笑拈花枝、比花消瘦、怜并蒂、忆庭院等一系列具体情事填充其间，使抽象的无聊化为可感的行为与心绪。表面写闲，内里写痛，无聊二字实为悼亡深哀的遮掩与出口，举重若轻，是纳兰以浅语写深愁的典型方略。更妙在无聊虽是泛称，却因下文的鹃啼、花瘦、并蒂、落花而层层坐实为一种具体的丧失之痛，由虚到实、由泛到切，使二字从寻常情绪升格为全词的情感总纲，可见纳兰炼意之细。

偏占 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 偏字极有力量，写好花生于阳生春回之吉时却偏以消瘦示人，暗含造化不公、美中不足之憾。占字写花之主动争得这一季生机，却愈显其孤瘦可悯。二字以看似平常的副词与动词，道出命运弄人、欢少恨多的深慨，与下句比似个人消瘦呼应，使花人同悲，含蓄而沉痛。尤为可取者，偏字所流露的怨悱，恰是纳兰词中少有的不平之气，但它不指向外物而指向命运本身，故仍保持其哀婉底色，是婉约词中怨而不怒、悲而能厚的范例，亦见二字在淡语中所凝的沉重分量。

犹忆 'Remembers still' ends the lyric on an unfinished action, which is why the closing image seems to keep going. 犹忆即仍旧思念、未能或忘，置于结句，将全词的闲愁无聊最终落定于对旧时庭院月明的深忆。犹字写出忆念之持久与无可摆脱，与眼前禁烟落花形成今昔对照；忆字收束全篇情感，使无聊、拈花、怜花种种皆归于这一往情深。二字淡而力重，以景结情，余味悠长，是纳兰小令收束处最擅长的含蓄笔法。更可玩味者，犹忆所忆非具体人事而只庭院月明，以景代情、以地代心，恰是悼亡词最高的含蓄——不说思谁，而思念自在明月庭院之间弥漫，足见纳兰以少总多的收束功力。