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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

如梦令·为向东坡传语

As If in a Dream: Send Word to Dongpo

苏轼

Su Shi

思乡Homesickness 田园Pastoral life

为向东坡传语，人在玉堂深处。
别后有谁来，雪压小桥无路。
归去，归去，江上一犁春雨。

Send word to Dongpo for me, would you —
I am deep in the Jade Hall.
Since I left, who has come to visit?
Snow weighs down the little bridge; there is no path.
Go home, go home —
on the river, one ploughshare of spring rain.

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Meaning

Written while Su Shi served in the Hanlin Academy in the capital, this little lyric is a message sent in the heart to Dongpo — the slope at Huangzhou he once farmed. He asks a friend to carry word to the place, wonders who has visited since he left, and imagines snow lying heavy on the little bridge with no path across. Then he breaks into a double command — go home, go home — ending on the image of spring rain over the river, deep enough for one ploughing. The longing is not for a city or a house but for a field.

为向东坡传语，人在玉堂深处。别后有谁来，雪压小桥无路。归去，归去，江上一犁春雨。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] Su Shi, serving in the Hanlin Academy, asks a friend to carry a message to Dongpo — the slope at Huangzhou he once farmed — and says he is buried deep in the Jade Hall. He wonders who has visited the place since he left, and imagines the snow lying heavy on the little bridge with no path across. Then he breaks into a double command: go home, go home — to the river and its one ploughshare of spring rain. [Structure] The six lines divide into question and answer: four lines of inquiry about Dongpo, then the three-line coda of longing. The snow of the middle anticipates the spring rain of the end, so the little song completes a hidden cycle from winter to the ploughing season. [Imagery] 'Jade Hall' and 'snowed bridge' are the poem's two poles — court honor against rustic loneliness — and the snow weighing the bridge makes neglect itself visible. 'One ploughshare of spring rain' uses a farmer's measure of rainfall as the unit of desire: all he wants is the moment when the fields are ready for the plough. [Feeling] The poem's charm is its conversational ease; the doubled 'go home' turns politeness into urgent command, echoing Tao Yuanming's 'Return, return' and showing that for Su Shi the true home was a field, not a palace.

【白话串讲】苏轼写《如梦令·为向东坡传语》：“为向东坡传语，人在玉堂深处”——“别后有谁来，雪压小桥无路”——“归去，归去，江上一犁春雨”——他托人给东坡传话——归去，江上一犁春雨。【意象与手法】此词写思乡，以田园写思乡，是苏轼的名篇。上片写问讯：「为向东坡传语，人在玉堂深处。别后有谁来，雪压小桥无路」写为向东坡传语、人在玉堂深处、别后有谁来——写尽对东坡的问讯；下片写归去：「归去，归去，江上一犁春雨」写归去、归去、江上一犁春雨——写尽归去的向往。全词以田园写思乡，写尽对东坡的问讯与归去的向往，是苏轼的代表作。【情感与主旨】此词写思乡，以田园写思乡，是苏轼的名篇。此词写苏轼身在翰林院（玉堂）而心系黄州东坡的思归之情。元祐年间苏轼被召还朝，任翰林学士，身处玉堂深院，却时时忆念黄州躬耕的东坡——那里有他亲手垦种的坡地、雪压的小桥。此词写问讯：为向东坡传语，人在玉堂深处——写为向东坡传语、人在玉堂深处，写尽对东坡的问讯；别后有谁来，雪压小桥无路——写别后有谁来、雪压小桥无路，写尽对东坡的牵挂；归去，归去，江上一犁春雨——写归去、归去、江上一犁春雨，写尽归去的向往。全词以田园写思乡——那「雪压小桥无路」写尽对东坡的牵挂，「江上一犁春雨」写尽归去的向往，写尽对东坡的问讯与归去的向往，是理解苏轼田园词的重要篇章。【名句点睛】常考「为向东坡传语，人在玉堂深处」写对东坡的问讯；「归去，归去，江上一犁春雨」写归去的向往；以及全词以田园写思乡、以叠句写归去的手法。

Background

Su Shi (1037-1101), courtesy name Zizhan and sobriquet Dongpo Jushi, came from Meishan in Sichuan and is the most versatile figure of Northern Song literature — poet, essayist, calligrapher, statesman. In 1079 he was imprisoned in the Crow Terrace case and exiled to Huangzhou, where he farmed a slope east of the city; from it he took the name Dongpo ('Eastern Slope'). Recalled to court in the Yuanyou era (1086 onward), he served as a Hanlin Academician — the 'Jade Hall' of the poem — yet he never felt at home in the capital. This little lyric, written while he was deep in official chambers, is a message sent in the heart back to the Huangzhou fields: the snowed bridge, the spring rain and the plough are the world he missed.

此词写思乡，以田园写思乡，是苏轼的名篇。苏轼（1037—1101），字子瞻，号东坡居士，眉州眉山（今四川眉山）人，北宋文学家，与父苏洵、弟苏辙合称「三苏」，为唐宋八大家之一，词开豪放一派。此词写苏轼身在翰林院（玉堂）而心系黄州东坡的思归之情。元祐年间苏轼被召还朝，任翰林学士，身处玉堂深院，却时时忆念黄州躬耕的东坡——那里有他亲手垦种的坡地、雪压的小桥。此词写问讯：「为向东坡传语，人在玉堂深处」写为向东坡传语、人在玉堂深处——写尽对东坡的问讯（为向东坡传语，人在玉堂深处）；「别后有谁来，雪压小桥无路」写别后有谁来、雪压小桥无路——写尽对东坡的牵挂（别后有谁来，雪压小桥无路）；「归去，归去，江上一犁春雨」写归去、归去、江上一犁春雨——写尽归去的向往（归去，归去，江上一犁春雨）。全词以田园写思乡，写尽对东坡的问讯与归去的向往，是理解苏轼田园词的重要篇章。

Art

Four techniques carry the little song. First, direct address: the poem opens with a message to a third party ('send word to Dongpo'), which gives it the ease of speech and lets Su Shi speak of himself in the third person — 'I am deep in the Jade Hall' — with an irony no first-person complaint could achieve. Second, contrast: the Jade Hall's honor against the snowed bridge's loneliness, the two poles of his life set face to face. Third, imagination: the question 'who has come since I left?' and the snow-weighed bridge are seen in the mind's eye from the capital, so distance itself becomes image. Fourth, repetition: 'go home, go home' breaks the six-character gait and turns a wish into command. The closing 'one ploughshare of spring rain' is the touch of genius — a farmer's measure of rainfall becomes the very picture of the life he longs for, answering the snow with the ploughing season.

此词的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以直抒写问讯。「为向东坡传语」以直抒写问讯——那「传语」写尽托人带话的亲切，以直抒写尽对东坡的问讯。其二，以对照写处境。「人在玉堂深处」以对照写处境——那「玉堂深处」写尽京华的深院，以对照写尽对东坡的怀念。其三，以想象写牵挂。「雪压小桥无路」以想象写牵挂——那「雪压小桥」写尽东坡的雪景，以想象写尽对东坡的牵挂。其四，以叠句写归去。「归去，归去」以叠句写归去——那「归去」写尽归去的呼唤，以叠句写尽归去的向往。此外，此词上片写对东坡的问讯，下片写归去的向往，由问及归，正是思乡词「先问后归」的写法。四重手法，使此词以田园写思乡，写尽对东坡的问讯与归去的向往，是苏轼的代表作。此词还善于以「人在玉堂深处」与「雪压小桥无路」的对照写身与心的分裂——那「玉堂深处」写身处京华的荣显，「雪压小桥」写心系东坡的清寂，一荣一寂，正是「身在朝堂，心在田园」的写照。又善以「为向东坡传语」的托语起笔，以「传语」二字见出两地相隔、唯有托言传情的无奈。

Allusions

The allusions are light but exact. 'Jade Hall' was the Han-dynasty hall later used for the Hanlin Academy; Emperor Taizong of Song inscribed its gate 'Jade Hall,' so for Su Shi as a Hanlin academician 'deep in the Jade Hall' means at the very center of imperial honor. 'Dongpo' is the slope east of Huangzhou city that Su Shi farmed in exile and from which he took his sobriquet — the name carries the whole memory of those years. 'Send word' answers Cen Shen's famous line from 'Meeting an Envoy Bound for the Capital' — 'with no paper on horseback, I must ask you to carry a message that I am safe' — the classic Chinese idiom of entrusted greeting. 'One ploughshare' is a farmer's measure: rain that soaks the soil to the depth one ploughing turns, just enough for spring work; the phrase has since become proverbial for well-timed spring rain.

此词的用语深植于思乡与田园传统。「东坡」令人想到「东坡」写苏轼躬耕之地的意象——黄州城东之坡，苏轼自号东坡，也令人想到「东坡肉」的意象；「玉堂」令人想到「玉堂」写翰林院的意象——唐宋以翰林院为玉堂，也令人想到「玉堂金马」的意象；「传语」令人想到「传语」写带话的意象——也令人想到「凭君传语报平安」（岑参）的意象；「雪压小桥」令人想到「雪压小桥」写雪景的意象——也令人想到「独钓寒江雪」的意象；「犁」令人想到「犁」写耕犁的意象——也令人想到「一犁春雨」的意象。全词化用东坡、玉堂、传语、雪压小桥、犁的意象，以田园写思乡，正是苏轼「旷达」而善写实、承田园传统写归去之本领。「玉堂」典出汉代，汉末央宫有玉堂殿，后世遂以玉堂指翰林院或宫殿；宋太宗曾赐翰林院「玉堂之署」四字，故苏轼任翰林学士时称「玉堂深处」。又「一犁春雨」令人想到李贺《南园》「春水初生乳燕飞」的春耕意象，以「一犁」写雨量恰好润土宜耕。

Commentary

The lyric has been treasured as the most graceful statement of Su Shi's attachment to farming life. Qing critics called it 'pastoral homesickness, deep feeling within magnanimity,' and the final line 'go home, go home — on the river, one ploughshare of spring rain' has become proverbial for the longing to return to the fields in spring. Its deeper place is in the long tradition of 'returning home' writing that begins with Tao Yuanming's 'Return, Return!': Su Shi's return is not to a hut and chrysanthemums but to a slope and a plough, which is what makes it distinctively his own. For readers today the little song is the clearest window into a paradox of Su Shi — the most courtly genius of the Northern Song who, at the height of honor, could only dream of rain on his river fields.

此词历来被推为苏轼田园思乡词的名篇，也是宋词写东坡归思的代表。历代论者对此词评价极高：清人评此词「以田园写思乡，旷达中见深情」；近人更指出「归去，归去，江上一犁春雨」写归去的向往，是此词的名句。在词史上，此词的特殊价值在于：它以双调的小令写尽对东坡的问讯与归去的向往——那东坡，那传语，那玉堂深处，那别后，那有谁来，那雪压，那小桥，那无路，那归去，那江上，那一犁春雨，都写尽了苏轼笔下的东坡；那「江上一犁春雨」更以白描写尽归去的向往。此词与苏轼《如梦令·有寄》（「江上何人清笛」）同为如梦令名篇，一写「归去，归去，江上一犁春雨」的东坡（为向东坡传语），一写「江上何人清笛」的有寄；又与陶渊明《归去来兮辞》「归去来兮」的归隐传统一脉相承，可见中国词写思归的传统。对于今日读者，此词是理解苏轼田园词的窗口，也是中国词写东坡的经典——那一犁春雨的江上，穿越千年，仍在诉说着归去的向往。

Prosody

Form Ci lyric to the tune Ru Meng Ling ('As If in a Dream'): a short single-stanza song of thirty-three characters in six lines词·如梦令

Rhyme yu, chu, lu and yu all rhyme in the falling-tone 'yu' rhyme group, a single rhyme to the end; the brisk falling-tone rhymes give the little song its quick, song-like lift.押「语」「处」「路」「雨」韵（去声六御），一韵到底，音节轻快

Tone pattern The Ru Meng Ling pattern runs on six-character lines with a short coda; here the two-character repetition 'go home, go home' breaks the even six-character gait with a sudden stutter of longing. The rhythm moves from the casual 'send word to Dongpo' through the hushed question and the snowed bridge to the repeated command and the wide final image, so the metre itself performs the quickening of homesickness.此词为如梦令词牌，押仄声韵，一韵到底，音节轻快，正合归去的轻快。

Reading note Su Shi's Ru Meng Ling songs are models of speaking as if in conversation: no ornament, no heavy allusion, yet every line carries feeling. The poem's power lies in its two contrasts — Jade Hall against snowed bridge, spoken message against imagined scene — and in the closing image of spring rain, which answers the snow that opened the middle of the poem and turns longing into a picture.此词为《如梦令》单调小令，六句——「为向东坡传语，人在玉堂深处。别后有谁来，雪压小桥无路。归去，归去，江上一犁春雨」，押「御」韵（语、处、路、雨），一韵到底，音节轻快。全词以田园写思乡：前四句写对东坡的问讯（为向东坡传语、雪压小桥无路），后二句写归去的向往（归去，归去，江上一犁春雨）。六句短章，前写问讯，后写归去，以「江上一犁春雨」写尽归去的向往，正见苏轼「旷达」的本色。诵读此词，宜以轻快的语调读「为向东坡传语」的问讯，以旷达的语调读「归去，归去，江上一犁春雨」的归去，结句要读得轻快而有余韵，方能传达出苏轼的旷达深情。苏轼词以「旷达」著称，此词正是其田园小令的典范。

Line by line

归去，归去，江上一犁春雨

Go home, go home — on the river, one ploughshare of spring rain

归去，归去，江上一犁春雨。

Home, oh home! — on the river, one plough's depth of spring rain.

此三句是全词写归去的核心，以归去写归去，以江上一犁春雨写春雨，写尽归去的向往，是千古名句。「归去，归去」写归去、归去——那「归去」写归去，重复「归去」，写尽归去的呼唤；「江上一犁春雨」写江上一犁春雨——那「江上」写江上，「一犁春雨」写一犁春雨，写尽江上的春雨。这句的深意在于：它以「归去，归去」的呼唤与「江上一犁春雨」的春雨，写尽归去的向往——归去，归去，那「归去，归去」写尽归去的呼唤——归去归去，正是急欲归去的写照，那「归去」写尽归去的向往；江上一犁春雨，那「江上一犁春雨」写尽江上的春雨——一犁春雨，正是春耕时节的写照，那「一犁」写尽归去耕种的向往；那「归去，归去」写尽归去的呼唤，那「江上一犁春雨」写尽江上的春雨，一写归去，一写春雨，写尽归去的向往——归去而归去，正是归心似箭的写照，而江上一犁春雨正是归去的去处；此三句以归去、春雨写尽归去的向往，也让此三句成为全词写归去的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「我想回东坡种地」，则失其词情；唯以「归去，归去」写归去、「江上一犁春雨」写春雨，写尽归去的向往，也让此三句成为全词写归去的核心。

The three lines are the core of the ci's return, writing the return through home, oh home! and the spring rain through on the river, one plough's depth of spring rain, exhausting the longing to return. Home, oh home! is precisely the picture of the eager return; on the river, one plough's depth of spring rain precisely the picture of the spring ploughing season. One writes the return, one the rain, exhausting the longing. Were it said plainly I want to go back to the Eastern Slope to farm, the ci's feeling would be lost; only through the repeated return and the plough's rain is the longing exhausted, making the lines the core of the ci.

别后有谁来，雪压小桥无路

Since I left, who has come to visit? Snow weighs down the little bridge; there is no path

别后有谁来，雪压小桥无路。

Since I left, who has come? The snow weighs on the small bridge, and the road is gone.

此二句是全词写牵挂的核心，以别后有谁来写有谁来，以雪压小桥无路写无路，写尽对东坡的牵挂，是千古名句。「别后有谁来」写别后有谁来——那「别后」写别后，「有谁来」写有谁来，写尽别后的问讯；「雪压小桥无路」写雪压小桥无路——那「雪压小桥」写雪压小桥，「无路」写无路，写尽雪压的无路。这句的深意在于：它以「别后有谁来」的谁人与「雪压小桥无路」的无路，写尽对东坡的牵挂——别后有谁来，那「别后有谁来」写尽别后的问讯——别后有谁来，正是无人探访的写照，那「有谁来」写尽对东坡的牵挂；雪压小桥无路，那「雪压小桥无路」写尽雪压的无路——雪压小桥，正是大雪封路的写照，那「无路」写尽对东坡的牵挂；那「别后有谁来」写尽别后的问讯，那「雪压小桥无路」写尽雪压的无路，一写问讯，一写无路，写尽对东坡的牵挂——别后无人而来雪压无路，正是东坡冷落的写照；此二句以谁人、无路写尽对东坡的牵挂，也为下文的归去作铺垫，也让此二句成为全词写牵挂的核心与千古名句。若换作直说「东坡那边好久没人去看了」，则失其画面；唯以「别后有谁来」写有谁来、「雪压小桥无路」写无路，写尽对东坡的牵挂，也让此二句成为全词写牵挂的核心。

The two lines are the core of the ci's concern, writing the who since I left? through since I left, who has come? and the no road through the snow weighs on the small bridge, and the road is gone, exhausting the concern for the Eastern Slope. Since I left, who has come? is precisely the picture of no visitors; the snow weighs on the small bridge, and the road is gone precisely the picture of the snow blocking the road. One writes the inquiry, one the no-road, exhausting the concern. Were it said plainly no one has visited the Eastern Slope for a long time, the picture would be lost; only through the who and the no-road is the concern exhausted, preparing the return below and making the lines the core of the ci.

Study

Word focus

归 'Return' — the key verb of the poem; repeated as 'go home, go home,' it echoes Tao Yuanming's 'Return, Return!' and expresses the wish to leave office for the farm. 「归去，归去」之「归」字是写归去的关键词，一个「归」字写尽归去的向往。归者，回归、归去也。苏轼以「归去，归去」写归去，这个「归」字至少有双重意味：其一，写归之念——那「归去，归去」写归去、归去，那「归」字写尽归去的呼唤——归去归去，正是急欲归去的写照，那「归」字写尽归去的向往；其二，写情之切——那「归」字更是写切——归，正见归心的迫切，那「归」字写尽苏轼的思乡。以「归」字写归去，正是苏轼写思乡的枢纽——若换作「回」「返」等字，则或失其与「去」「江上一犁春雨」的配合，或失其写归的意味；唯「归」字，以归去、归去写尽归去的呼唤与归心的迫切，与「江上一犁春雨」的一犁相合，写尽归去的向往，也让「归去，归去」成为全词写归去的名句。

犁 'Plough' — used as a measure of rainfall: 'one ploughshare' of spring rain is the depth of moisture one ploughing turns; it conjures the season and labor of spring ploughing on the riverbank. 「江上一犁春雨」之「犁」字是写田园的关键词，一个「犁」字写尽春耕的意象。犁者，耕犁、犁田也。苏轼以「江上一犁春雨」写归去，这个「犁」字至少有双重意味：其一，写耕之具——那「江上一犁春雨」写江上一犁春雨，那「犁」字写尽春耕的意象——一犁春雨，正是春耕时节的写照，那「犁」字写尽归去耕种的向往；其二，写量之词——那「犁」字更是写量——犁，正见雨量之宜，那「犁」字写尽田园的清新。以「犁」字写田园，正是苏轼写思乡的枢纽——若换作「场」「阵」等字，则或失其与「江上」「春雨」的配合，或失其写犁的意味；唯「犁」字，以江上一犁春雨写尽春耕的意象与雨量之宜，与「归去，归去」的归去相合，写尽归去的向往，也让「江上一犁春雨」成为全词写田园的名句。