All poems

宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

如梦令·遥夜沉沉如水

As If in a Dream: The Long Night Lies Heavy as Water

秦观

Qin Guan

羁旅Life on the road 孤寂Loneliness

遥夜沉沉如水，风紧驿亭深闭。
梦破鼠窥灯，霜送晓寒侵被。
无寐，无寐，门外马嘶人起。

The long night lies heavy as water;
the wind blows hard; the post-house is tightly shut.
My dream breaks — a rat is peering at the lamp;
frost sends the chill of dawn into my quilt.
I cannot sleep, I cannot sleep —
outside the gate, horses neigh and men are astir.

Listen

Meaning

A traveler spends a winter night in a roadside post-house. The long night lies on him heavy as water, the wind beats hard and the door is shut tight; his dream breaks and he sees a rat peering at the dying lamp, while frost carries the dawn's chill into his quilt. He cannot sleep, he cannot sleep — and outside the gate horses are neighing and men stirring for departure. The poem conveys the cold, sleepless loneliness of a life spent forever on the road, without ever naming sorrow.

漫长的黑夜沉沉如水，寒风劲吹，驿亭的门深深紧闭。一觉醒来，只见老鼠偷窥着油灯；霜华送来晓寒，侵入被中。睡不着，睡不着，门外已传来马嘶声，原来旅人又要启程了。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The traveler wakes in a post-house on a winter night. The long night lies heavy as water, the wind beats hard and the door is shut tight; his dream breaks and he sees a mouse peering at the dying lamp, while frost carries the dawn's chill into his quilt. He cannot sleep, he cannot sleep — and outside the gate horses are neighing and men stirring for departure. [Structure] The thirty-three characters trace a whole night in three movements: the sleepless night itself, the cold details of waking, and the final sound of departure; each movement narrows from the immense (night as water) to the tiny (mouse at the lamp) to the instant (a horse's neigh). [Imagery] The famous opening metaphor makes the night both heavy and endless, as if time itself were a black stream; the mouse at the guttering lamp and the frost 'invading' the quilt make the cold an active enemy; the closing neighing converts silence into the noise of the road. [Feeling] Nowhere does the word 'sorrow' appear, yet sorrow fills every image; Qin Guan's method is to let objects — water, wind, lamp, mouse, frost, horse — carry the traveler's loneliness, which is the essence of his wan-yue (graceful and restrained) style.

【白话串讲】秦观写《如梦令·遥夜沉沉如水》：“遥夜沉沉如水，风紧驿亭深闭”——“梦破鼠窥灯，霜送晓寒侵被”——“无寐，无寐，门外马嘶人起”——他夜宿驿亭，长夜难眠。【意象与手法】此词写驿亭夜宿的孤寂，最见秦观以小令写愁的本领。起句「遥夜沉沉如水」以水喻夜，化时间感为空间感，写尽长夜漫漫；「风紧驿亭深闭」以「紧」「深」二字写风声之烈、门闭之深，点出驿亭的孤寒。中段「梦破鼠窥灯，霜送晓寒侵被」以细节写真景——鼠窥残灯、霜侵薄被，物与景皆透着清冷，是写羁旅之苦的名句。结句「无寐，无寐，门外马嘶人起」以叠句写辗转反侧，以马嘶人起写旅人又将启程，不直说愁而愁在言外。全词意象密而清冷，以实景写虚愁，正是秦观「婉约凄清」词风的典型。【情感与主旨】此词当为秦观羁旅行役之作。秦观一生仕途坎坷，屡遭贬谪，常奔走于道途之间，驿亭、孤馆、旅店是其词中常见意象。此词以驿亭夜宿为场景，写长夜无眠、晓寒侵被的孤寂，正寄寓了词人宦游漂泊的凄凉心境。那「无寐，无寐」的叠语，既是长夜难眠的自白，也是漂泊无依的哀叹；那「门外马嘶人起」的结尾，更写尽旅人不得安顿、又将启程的无奈。词人将身世之感融入驿亭夜宿的寻常场景，以小见大，于短短三十三字中写尽羁旅之苦与人生之飘零。【名句点睛】常考「遥夜沉沉如水」以水喻夜的炼字与比喻之妙，如何化时间为空间；「梦破鼠窥灯，霜送晓寒侵被」的细节白描所营造的清冷意境；「无寐，无寐」叠句对愁绪的强化；以及结句「门外马嘶人起」以景结情、不道破愁的含蓄手法——全词以小令写深愁，正是秦观婉约词风的代表。

Background

Qin Guan (1049-1100), courtesy name Shaoyou and sobriquet Huaihai Jushi, from Gaoyou in Jiangsu, was one of the 'Four Scholars of Su's Door' and the finest wan-yue ('graceful and restrained') lyricist of the Northern Song. His career was ruined by the factional wars between the old and new parties: from 1094 he was demoted again and again — Hangzhou, Chuzhou, Chenzhou, Hengzhou, Leizhou — and he died on the journey back north in 1100. He spent half his life on the road, and post-houses, lonely inns and cold nights fill his lyrics. This Ru Meng Ling, from one such night in a roadside post station, is his most perfect small song of travel sorrow.

此词为秦观羁旅行役之作，具体作年已不可确考，当系词人某次旅途夜宿驿亭时所作。秦观（1049—1100），字少游，一字太虚，号淮海居士，高邮（今江苏高邮）人，北宋婉约词的代表词人，与黄庭坚、晁补之、张耒并称「苏门四学士」。秦观早年屡试不第，直到元丰八年（1085）三十七岁方中进士，仕途并不顺畅；绍圣元年（1094）起，他因新旧党争牵连，接连被贬杭州、处州、郴州、横州、雷州等地，最后卒于北归途中。词人一生大半奔波于贬谪与调任的道途之间，驿亭、孤馆、客舍、旅途因此成为其词中反复出现的意象背景。此词所写的「驿亭」，正是古代官道旁供过往官员旅客歇宿的处所，常设在荒郊僻野，夜宿其中，风寒门闭，最易勾起行旅之人的愁思。词中「风紧驿亭深闭」「霜送晓寒侵被」诸语，皆写冬夜驿亭的实境，当是词人亲历的旅途体验。结合秦观一生「少游屡遭贬谪，常奔走道途」的经历来看，此词所写的长夜难眠、孤寂无依，正寄托了词人宦游漂泊的深沉感慨；那「门外马嘶人起」的结尾，更写出旅人一夜未眠、又将披星戴月启程的劳顿。全词虽为小令，篇幅极短，却是理解秦观羁旅词与婉约词风的重要篇章。

Art

Qin Guan's art here is the art of cold. The opening metaphor — 'the long night lies heavy as water' — converts invisible time into a dark stream one can feel pressing and flowing, the single most famous night image in Song lyric. Then come two perfectly chosen words of weather: the wind 'tight,' the door 'deep' shut, so that the post-house becomes a sealed box of cold; and in the middle couplet, 'frost sends' and 'invades' personify the cold as an active enemy, while the mouse 'peering' at the lamp supplies the famous white-detail sketch of a deserted inn. The doubled 'I cannot sleep' breaks the six-character meter into sobs. Finally the poem ends in sound: horses neighing, men rising — a closing-in-the-scene that never names sorrow and therefore never exhausts it. In thirty-three characters the whole night is present.

此词的艺术特色可从四个方面解析。其一，以水喻夜的妙喻。起句「遥夜沉沉如水」以水喻长夜，把看不见的时间之流化为可感的空间之象——「沉沉」写夜之深重，如沉沉之水；「如水」写夜之悠长无尽，把抽象的时间具象化，是千古名句。其二，炼字精严。「风紧驿亭深闭」之「紧」写风之劲烈、「深」写门之严闭，两字写尽驿亭冬夜的孤寒；「霜送晓寒侵被」之「送」「侵」两字，把霜寒写得仿佛有主动之势，寒气逼人，炼字极见功力。其三，细节白描。「梦破鼠窥灯」以鼠窥残灯的细节写破晓前的清冷孤寂——夜将尽时，油灯将熄，老鼠探头，写尽驿亭的荒寒与人心的落寞，是唐宋词中写羁旅孤寂的名句。其四，以动写静、以景结情。结句「无寐，无寐，门外马嘶人起」先以叠句直抒无眠，再以「马嘶人起」的动景收束——马嘶打破寂静，旅人又将启程，一夜的辗转与孤寂尽在这一声马嘶与行色匆匆之中，不直说愁而愁意自深。四重手法，使此词于三十三字的小令中写尽羁旅之苦，正是秦观婉约词以小见大的本领。

Allusions

The lyric draws on the whole tradition of night and travel without naming it. 'The long night' belongs to the old songs — 'distant, distant, the Herd-boy star' from the Nineteen Old Poems, and Xie Lingyun's 'who will share the long, cold night' — and the comparison of sorrow to water goes back to Li Yu's 'a whole river of spring sorrow flowing east.' The mouse at the guttering lamp is the stock scene of the lonely inn, found in Du Fu's 'from tonight the dew is white' and in Gao Shi's New Year's Eve 'in the cold inn the lone lamp never lets me sleep.' 'Frost' answers Wen Tingyun's 'cockcrow, moon over the thatched inn; footprints on the plank bridge' — frost as the signature of the traveler's road. The closing 'horses neigh' carries the whole classical world of departure and long roads, and turns the smallest sound of dawn into the noise of a lifetime of exile.

此词用典不多，而以意象的化用见长。「遥夜沉沉如水」一句，上承写长夜的诗歌传统——「遥夜」令人想到《古诗十九首》「迢迢牵牛星，皎皎河汉女」的遥夜之思，也令人想到谢灵运「长夜苦寒谁为侣」的羁旅之苦；以「水」喻夜，更令人想到李煜「问君能有几多愁，恰似一江春水向东流」以水写愁的传统，词人反其意而用之，以水喻夜之悠长。「梦破鼠窥灯」的意象，则承写羁旅孤馆的传统——古驿孤馆中，油灯残、鼠窥灯，是羁旅诗中常见的清冷画面，令人想到杜甫「露从今夜白，月是故乡明」的夜思，也令人想到「旅馆寒灯独不眠」（高适《除夜作》）的客愁。「霜送晓寒侵被」以霜写寒，令人想到「鸡声茅店月，人迹板桥霜」（温庭筠《商山早行》）以霜写羁旅的经典意象，也令人想到「霜叶红于二月花」的霜意象。「门外马嘶人起」更以马嘶写启程，令人想到「马萧萧」的征途意象，也令人想到「鸡鸣驿外」的早行传统。全词化用羁旅、孤馆、长夜、霜寒等传统意象，以实景写虚愁，正是秦观小令的本领。

Commentary

This little Ru Meng Ling is generally ranked as Qin Guan's finest short lyric and the crown of Song travel sorrow. Critics have singled out 'the long night lies heavy as water' for turning abstract time into tangible weight, and 'a rat is peering at the lamp' for the vividness of its single detail; the ending — 'outside the gate, horses neigh and men are astir' — is the textbook example of 'ending in scene,' praised for implying the sorrow it never states. Read beside Qin Guan's 'To the Tune of Ta Sha Xing: Chenzhou Lodging' ('towers lost in mist, the ford lost in moonlight') it shows his two manners: the desolate vastness of exile, and the microscopic cold of one night in a post-house. It stands in the direct line from Li Yu's loneliness and Wen Tingyun's journeying, and it remains the first poem to give students of the wan-yue style.

此词历来被推为秦观写羁旅孤寂的小令名篇，也是其婉约词风的典型代表。历代论者对此词评价甚高：清人评此词「以水喻夜，以景结情，凄清婉约」；近人更指出「遥夜沉沉如水」「梦破鼠窥灯」诸句写羁旅之苦，是秦观小令中的上乘之作。在词史上，此词的特殊价值在于：它以短短三十三字的小令，写尽驿亭夜宿的孤寂与漂泊无依的凄凉——那「遥夜沉沉如水」的长夜之叹，那「梦破鼠窥灯」的清冷细节，那「无寐，无寐」的辗转之愁，那「门外马嘶人起」的将行未行之苦，都写尽了这位「婉约之宗」羁旅中的心境。此词与秦观的《踏莎行·郴州旅舍》（「雾失楼台，月迷津渡」）同为写羁旅的名篇，一写驿亭孤馆的夜寒，一写郴州旅舍的迷惘；又与李煜《相见欢》（「无言独上西楼」）的寂寞、温庭筠《商山早行》的羁旅一脉相承。对于今日读者，此词是理解秦观羁旅词与婉约词风的窗口，也是中国词写羁旅孤寂的经典——那沉沉的长夜、窥灯的老鼠、侵被的晓寒，穿越千年，仍在诉说着一位行旅之人长夜无眠的孤寂。

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 seven lines词·《如梦令》单调小令（三十三字）

Rhyme shui, bi, bei, mei and qi are all falling-tone rhymes, one rhyme throughout; the clipped oblique rhymes cut off short, suiting the poem's chill, sleepless urgency.全词押仄声韵（水、闭、被、寐、起），一韵到底，仄韵急促，正合羁旅的凄清

Tone pattern The tune's six-character lines give a steady, tramping measure, broken by the doubled two-character 'I cannot sleep,' so the even gait suddenly stumbles — the sound itself wakes from sleep. The poem opens long and low ('the long night lies heavy as water'), piles up cold detail in the middle, and ends in a rush of neighing and rising men, so the rhythm enacts a whole night's misery in thirty-three characters.此词为「如梦令」词牌，单调三十三字，七句，五仄韵，一叠句。句式以六言为主，间以二言叠句「无寐，无寐」，节奏于整饬中见顿挫。

Reading note Qin Guan takes a tune usually used for light moods and fills it with travel sorrow — a Song extension of the form's range. Every device serves coldness: the water metaphor, the hard wind and shut door, the mouse at the lamp, the frost in the quilt; and the ending, closing in sound and motion rather than in statement, is a classic example of 'closing the feeling in the scene.'《如梦令》为单调小令，全词三十三字，七句，押仄声韵。此调句式以六言为主（遥夜沉沉如水、风紧驿亭深闭、梦破鼠窥灯、霜送晓寒侵被、门外马嘶人起），间以两处二言叠句（无寐，无寐），形成「六言—二言」的长短错落。秦观填此调，于六言的平稳中插入「无寐，无寐」的短促叠句，声情顿时急促，正与长夜难眠的焦躁相合；韵脚「水、闭、被、寐、起」皆仄声，短促有力，写出羁旅的凄清。全词节奏先以「遥夜沉沉如水」的悠长起，中段以「梦破鼠窥灯，霜送晓寒侵被」的实景铺陈，结处以「无寐，无寐，门外马嘶人起」的叠句与动景收束，声随情转，跌宕有致。诵读此词，宜以低回的语调读长夜之叹，以短促的语调读「无寐，无寐」的叠句，结句「门外马嘶人起」要读得急促而有余响，方能传达出羁旅之人长夜无眠的孤寂。此调在宋代多用于写闺情闲愁，秦观以之写羁旅之苦，自出新意，正见其小令的本领。

Line by line

遥夜沉沉如水

The long night lies heavy as water

漫长的黑夜沉沉如水。

The long night, deep as water.

此句是全词写愁的起句，也是千古名句，以水喻夜，化时间为空间。「遥夜」写夜之漫长——「遥」字写夜长得没有尽头，令人想到长夜漫漫；「沉沉如水」以水喻夜——「沉沉」写夜之深重，如沉沉之水，「如水」写夜之悠长无尽。这句的深意在于：它以水喻夜，把看不见、摸不着的时间之流，化为可感的、沉重悠长的空间之象——夜如水，沉沉地压着旅人；夜如水，悠悠地流不尽；那「遥夜沉沉」写尽长夜难熬的苦楚，那「如水」写尽时间流逝的无奈。若换作「长夜漫漫」之类的直说，则流于平直；唯以「水」喻夜，既见长夜之悠长，又见长夜之沉重，与下文「风紧驿亭深闭」的孤寒之境相合，写尽羁旅之人对长夜的恐惧与无奈，也让此句成为写长夜的名句。这句以「沉沉」写夜色之重、「如水」写长夜之漫，将无形之长夜化为可视可感的沉沉流水，化抽象为具象，是写长夜的千古妙喻；也为全词笼罩上沉郁悲凉的氛围。

The line is the opening of the ci's grief, an immortal line, writing the night through water, turning time into space. The long night writes the night's length — the word long writes the night without end; deep as water writes the night's heaviness, like deep water, and the night's long endlessness. The deep meaning: the water metaphor turns the invisible, intangible flow of time into a sensible, heavy, long spatial image — the night like water, pressing heavily on the traveler; the night like water, flowing on and on. Were it said plainly the long night is endless, it would be flat; only through the water metaphor, showing both the length and the weight of the long night, fitting the lone cold of the wind-tightened post station below, is the traveler's dread and helplessness exhausted, making the line the famous writing of the long night. The word deep writes the night's weight, like water the night's length, turning the invisible long night into the visible, sensible deep-flowing water, the abstract into the concrete, the immortal metaphor of the long night, and wrapping the whole ci in a somber, desolate mood.

梦破鼠窥灯，霜送晓寒侵被

My dream breaks — a rat is peering at the lamp; frost sends the chill of dawn into my quilt

一觉醒来，只见老鼠偷窥着油灯；霜华送来晓寒，侵入被中。

My dream broken, a mouse peers at the lamp; frost brings the dawn chill, creeping into the quilt.

此二句是全词写羁旅清冷的点睛之笔，也是千古名句，以细节白描写孤寂。「梦破鼠窥灯」写梦醒见鼠——「梦破」写梦被惊醒，那「鼠窥灯」写老鼠偷窥着将残的油灯，以鼠窥残灯的细节写驿亭的荒寒——夜将尽时，油灯将熄，老鼠探头，写尽驿亭的孤清与人心之落寞；「霜送晓寒侵被」写晓寒侵被——那「霜送」写霜华仿佛有主动之势，「晓寒侵被」写寒气侵入被中，那「侵」字写尽寒气的逼人。这两句的深意在于：它以两个清冷的细节写尽驿亭夜宿的孤寂——鼠窥灯写物之窥伺，晓寒侵被写寒之逼人，物寒、天寒、心寒三寒并写，层层逼出羁旅之人的孤苦；那「梦破」写睡不稳，那「侵被」写寒难耐，写尽长夜难眠的苦楚。若换作「窗外风声紧，被中晓寒多」之类的直说，则失其细节的鲜活；唯以「鼠窥灯」「霜侵被」的实景白描，写尽驿亭的清冷与羁旅的孤寂，也让这两句成为写羁旅之苦的名句。

The two lines are the pointed brush of the ci's cold travel, an immortal line, writing the solitude through plain detail. My dream broken, a mouse peers at the lamp writes waking and the mouse — the dream broken, the mouse peering at the fading oil lamp; the detail of the mouse at the dying lamp writes the post station's desolation — night near its end, the lamp fading, the mouse peeping, exhausting the station's loneliness and the heart's desolation. Frost brings the dawn chill, creeping into the quilt writes the frost's seeming will and the chill's creeping into the quilt; the word creeping writes the chill's pressing. The deep meaning: the two cold details exhaust the post-station night's solitude — the mouse peering writes the creature's spying, the dawn chill creeping into the quilt writes the cold's pressing; creature-cold, sky-cold, heart-cold, three colds together, layer by layer pressing out the traveler's loneliness. Were it said plainly the wind outside the window is strong and the dawn chill in the quilt, the detail's vividness would be lost; only through the mouse at the lamp and the frost creeping into the quilt is the station's cold and the travel's solitude exhausted, making the lines the famous writing of the traveler's hardship.

无寐，无寐，门外马嘶人起

I cannot sleep, I cannot sleep — outside the gate, horses neigh and men are astir

睡不着，睡不着，门外已传来马嘶声，原来旅人又要启程了。

No sleep, no sleep — outside the gate, horses neigh; the traveler rises.

此三句是全词的高潮与收束，以叠句直抒无眠，以景结情。「无寐，无寐」以叠句写辗转反侧——两次「无寐」，写尽长夜难眠的焦躁与孤寂；「门外马嘶人起」以动景收束——马嘶打破寂静，旅人又将启程。这句的深意在于：它以「无寐」的叠语与「马嘶人起」的动景对照，写尽羁旅之人不得安顿的无奈——一夜辗转未眠，天刚破晓，门外马嘶，又得起身赶路；那「无寐」写尽长夜的煎熬，那「马嘶人起」写尽旅途的劳顿，一夜的孤寂与苦楚，尽在这一声马嘶与行色匆匆之中。尤其「马嘶人起」以景结情，不直说愁而愁在言外——马嘶是动，人起是行，动静之间，写尽旅人永无宁日的漂泊。若换作直说「此愁何日休」，则失其含蓄；唯以「马嘶人起」的实景收束，让读者于词外想见旅人披星戴月的身影，写尽羁旅之苦，也让此三句成为全词最有力的一笔。「无寐」叠用，写尽长夜难眠的焦灼；「门外马嘶人起」更以听觉写天明将至、又该启程，声声催人。

The three lines are the climax and close of the ci, speaking the sleeplessness directly through the repetition and ending emotion in scene. No sleep, no sleep writes the tossing through the repeated phrase — two no sleep, exhausting the long night's tossing anxiety and solitude. Outside the gate, horses neigh; the traveler rises closes in moving scene — the horse's neigh breaking the silence, the traveler setting out again. The deep meaning: the repeated no sleep set against the moving scene of the horse's neigh and the rising, exhausting the traveler's unrested helplessness — a night of tossing, dawn just breaking, the horse's neigh outside, and again the road; the no sleep writes the long night's ordeal, the horse's neigh and rising the journey's toil, the night's loneliness and grief all within that neigh and the hurried departure. Especially the horse's neigh and rising ends emotion in scene: the grief not spoken, yet the grief beyond the words — the neigh the motion, the rising the going; between motion and stillness, the traveler's never-at-peace drifting. Were it said plainly when will this grief end, the restraint would be lost; only through the real scene of the neigh and the rising does the reader imagine the traveler's star-and-moon journey beyond the ci, exhausting the travel's hardship, making the three lines the most powerful brush of the ci. No sleep repeated writes the long night's tossing anxiety; outside the gate, horses neigh; the traveler rises further writes, by sound, the dawn's coming and the departure's due, sound urging sound.

Study

Word focus

沉沉 'Heavy, deep' — describes the night's weight, like dark water pressing down; it doubles as the weight on the traveler's heart, fusing outer darkness and inner gloom. 「遥夜沉沉如水」之「沉沉」是写长夜的关键字，一个「沉沉」写尽夜之深重。沉沉者，深重、浓重也。秦观以「沉沉如水」写长夜，这个「沉沉」至少有双重意味：其一，写夜之深——那「沉沉」写夜色浓重，如沉沉之水压将下来，写尽长夜的深不可测；其二，写愁之重——那「沉沉」更是写人的心境——旅人孤宿驿亭，长夜难眠，那「沉沉」既是夜色，也是心头的重压，写尽羁旅之愁的沉甸甸。以「沉沉」写夜，正是秦观写长夜的枢纽——若换作「漫漫」「迢迢」等字，则或失其沉重，或失其压抑；唯「沉沉」二字，以一字写尽长夜之深重与愁绪之沉甸，与「如水」的悠长相合，写尽长夜难熬的苦楚，也让「遥夜沉沉如水」成为写长夜的千古名句。

窥 'To peer, to peep' — the mouse stealthily eyeing the dying lamp; one verb makes the deserted post-house vivid and mirrors the traveler's own sleepless watching. 「梦破鼠窥灯」之「窥」字是写驿亭清冷的关键字，一个「窥」字写尽夜的荒寒与人的孤寂。窥者，偷看、窥伺也。杜甫以「鼠窥灯」写驿亭破晓前的景象，这个「窥」字至少有双重意味：其一，写鼠之态——那「窥」写老鼠探头探脑、偷偷张望油灯的样子，活画出驿亭夜宿的荒寒——夜将尽时，油灯将熄，老鼠出没，正是荒驿孤馆的实景；其二，写人之孤——那「窥」字更暗写人的处境——旅人独宿驿亭，四周寂静，唯有老鼠窥灯相伴，那「窥」字写尽驿亭的冷清与人的孤寂。以「窥」字写鼠，正是秦观白描的妙笔——若换作「扑」「吹」等字，则或失其生动，或失其清冷；唯「窥」字，以一字写尽鼠窥残灯的荒寒与羁旅之人的孤寂，与「梦破」相合，写尽长夜难眠的落寞，也让「梦破鼠窥灯」成为写羁旅孤寂的名句。