All poems

宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

暗香·旧时月色

Dark Fragrance · Old-Time Moonlight

姜夔

Jiang Kui

咏物Object-Chanting 梅花Plum Blossom 自度曲Self-Composed Tune

旧时月色，算几番照我，梅边吹笛。
唤起玉人，不管清寒与攀摘。
何逊而今渐老，都忘却、春风词笔。
但怪得、竹外疏花，香冷入瑶席。
江国，正寂寂，叹寄与路遥，夜雪初积。
翠尊易泣，红萼无言耿相忆。
长记曾携手处，千树压、西湖寒碧。
又片片、吹尽也，几时见得。

Old-time moonlight, how many times has it shone on me,
by plum blossoms, playing a flute?
I awakened the jade beauty,
heedless of cold, to pick branches with me.
Now He Xun is growing old,
forgotten is the spring-breeze poetic brush.
Yet strangely, beyond bamboo, sparse blossoms
send cold fragrance into my jade mat.

In the river country, all is hushed,
I sigh: the road to send them is long,
night snow just newly piled.
The green wine cup is quick to weep,
the red calyx mute, burning with remembrance.
I long recall the place where we held hands:
a thousand trees pressing on West Lake's cold green.
Again petal on petal they are blown away—
when, oh when, shall I see them again?

Listen

Meaning

On a moonlit night, the poet remembers playing a flute beside plum blossoms and picking them with a beautiful companion. Now he is old and has lost his youthful inspiration, yet the cold fragrance of plum still intrudes upon him. In the quiet river country, he longs to send a plum branch but the road is long; he weeps over wine, and the red blossoms seem to share his memory. He recalls the magnificent sight of a thousand plum trees on West Lake, then grieves as the petals are blown away, wondering when he will see that beauty—or that person—again.

旧时的月色，算来曾几次照着我，在梅边吹笛。唤起佳人，不管清寒一同攀折。何逊如今渐渐老去，都忘却了春风中的词笔。只怪那竹外疏淡的梅花，冷香飘入华美的坐席。江南水乡，正是一片寂寂，叹折梅寄远路途遥遥，夜雪刚刚积起。翠绿的酒杯容易令人落泪，红梅无言耿耿相忆。长记得曾携手的地方，千树梅花压着西湖寒碧。又片片被风吹尽，几时才能再见。

Appreciation

This song, written in 1191 during Jiang Kui's visit to Fan Chengda at Shihu, is a sister piece to 'Shuying' and one of the supreme achievements in the 'clear and empty' (qingkong) style. It blends the plum blossom with human affairs, interweaving past and present, personal loss and a lifelong sense of drifting. The upper stanza moves from a warm memory of moonlit flute-playing and flower-picking to the poet's aging and the sudden cold fragrance that pierces the present. The lower stanza shifts to a lonely present, the impossibility of sending a branch, and the painful recollection of West Lake's plum groves, ending with the petals gone and an unanswerable question. The word choice is sparse yet exact, and the entire piece achieves an extraordinary fusion of object and self, making it a model for later object-chanting lyrics.

【白话串讲】 “旧时月色，算几番照我，梅边吹笛”——姜夔写暗香：旧时月色照着我吹笛。“唤起玉人，不管清寒与攀摘”——“何逊而今渐老，都忘却、春风词笔”——“叹寄与路遥，夜雪初积”——“翠尊易泣，红萼无言耿相忆”——他写梅，写思念。【意象与手法】上片由“旧时月色”忆起，“几番照我梅边吹笛”写往昔携友赏梅之雅；“何逊而今渐老”以梁代何逊自比叹年老才尽。下片“叹寄与路遥夜雪初积”化用折梅寄远典；“翠尊易泣，红萼无言耿相忆”以酒与梅拟人；结以“又片片吹尽也，几时见得”花落人远。清空劲峭，今昔对照。【情感与主旨】与《疏影》为姊妹篇同咏梅花，将梅花与人事交融，寄托今昔之慨与身世之悲。以梅喻人，将身世飘零与孤高情怀寄于骚雅之笔，是白石咏物词“清空”一派的代表，对后世咏物词影响深远。【名句点睛】常考“旧时月色，算几番照我，梅边吹笛”以旧时月色忆往昔；“何逊而今渐老，都忘却、春风词笔”以何逊自比写年老才尽。

Background

In the winter of 1191 (Chunxi xinyou), Jiang Kui visited Fan Chengda at his estate, Shihu. He composed two new songs, 'Anxiang' and 'Shuying', both on plum blossoms. According to the poet's preface, he arrived in the snow, and Fan Chengda, delighted, named the tunes after Lin Bu's famous couplet about 'dark fragrance' and 'sparse shadows'. Jiang Kui, a lifelong commoner who depended on patrons and drifted through the Jiangnan region, poured his personal grief and rootlessness into the poem. The poem also reflects the quiet desolation of the Southern Song era, though it never touches politics directly. This song is considered the epitome of Jiang Kui's clear, elevated, and elegant style, influencing later ci poets such as Zhang Yan and Wang Yisun.

姜夔《暗香》为淳熙辛亥（1191）冬访范成大石湖时自度新声，与《疏影》为姊妹篇，同咏梅花。据小序记载，白石冒雪诣石湖，授简索句，范成大把玩不已，名之曰暗香疏影，二句皆出林逋疏影横斜水清浅，暗香浮动月黄昏。此词咏梅，却将梅花与人事交融，寄托今昔之慨与身世之悲。姜夔一生布衣，依人作客，漂泊江湖，其词多清空骚雅之致，以梅喻人、以今昔对照写孤高情怀与飘零身世。南宋偏安，士人多有恢复无望的幽忧，白石词虽不直写时政，而清冷孤寂之境，亦时代心理之投影。此词遂成白石咏物词清空一派的代表，王国维谓其写景在隔与不隔之间，足见其清空含蓄之妙，对后世咏物词影响深远。白石以布衣终老，其词之清，实其生平境遇与孤高人格的写照，非徒模拟古人之可得。访石湖而制新声，值冬日，梅雪相映，宜其词之清绝如此。故其词清而不薄，怨而不怒，兼具词人骚客之致与隐士之高。

Art

The poem is structured on a sharp contrast between past and present. The opening evokes a luminous past with moon, plum, and flute; then the phrase 'He Xun now grows old' marks a painful turn. The cold fragrance that steals into the 'jade mat' bridges memory and reality. The lower stanza opens with a bleak 'river country, all hushed', then develops through allusions to sending a branch, personifying the wine cup and red blooms, and culminates in the magnificent but painful image of 'a thousand trees pressing on West Lake's cold green'. The final question, 'When shall I see them again?', leaves a resonance of endless longing. Jiang Kui's language is deliberately economical, yet he deploys a heavily charged word like 'pressing' to give the plum grove weight and intensity, showing how the 'clear and empty' style can still accommodate depth of feeling.

此词上片由旧时月色忆起，下片写相思与花落，通篇以梅喻人、今昔对照，清空劲峭。起三句旧时月色，算几番照我，梅边吹笛，以月色、梅、笛三象并立，唤起往昔携友赏梅之雅；唤起玉人，不管清寒与攀摘，写佳人同攀梅枝，不顾清寒，是温馨的昔日片段。何逊而今渐老，都忘却春风词笔，以梁代何逊自比，叹年老才尽，笔力顿挫；但怪得竹外疏花，香冷入瑶席，转写眼前梅香浸席，清冷逼人。下片江国寂寂，叹寄与路遥夜雪初积，化用折梅寄远典，路遥雪积难寄幽情；翠尊易泣，红萼无言耿相忆，以酒与梅拟人，凄然相忆；长记曾携手处，千树压西湖寒碧，追忆西湖梅林之盛。结以又片片吹尽也，几时见得，花落人远，怅惘无尽。全词疏淡处见浓情，清劲中藏沉郁。以梅写人，不即不离，物我交融而归于清空，此种境界，至白石而造其极。今昔对照，以乐景写哀，清空而深挚，非白石不能道。

Allusions

The poem is enriched by allusions that all relate to plum and remembrance. The title itself comes from Lin Bu's 'Plum in the Mountain Garden': 'Sparse shadows slant across clear shallow water / Dark fragrance floats in moonlit dusk.' The poet compares himself to He Xun, a Liang-dynasty poet famous for an early plum poem, and laments that he has lost the 'spring-breeze' literary talent of his youth. The longing to send a plum branch recalls Lu Kai's verse to Fan Ye: 'When I meet a courier, I send a branch to the man in Longtou; there is nothing in the south, so I offer a spring in a branch.' The personified 'green cup' and 'red calyx' echo the xiangcao-meiren (fragrant plant and beautiful woman) tradition of the Songs of Chu. These allusions are fused so seamlessly into the imagery that they never feel like displays of learning, but rather deepen the mood of loneliness and memory.

此词用典使事，皆与梅、与离别相思相关。暗香疏影二名出自林逋《山园小梅》疏影横斜水清浅，暗香浮动月黄昏，林逋以梅为妻，写尽梅之清幽，白石取之二句名其词，正承其孤高之格。何逊事：梁代诗人何逊有《咏早梅》诗，杜甫忆梅诗云东阁官梅动诗兴，还如何逊在扬州，后世遂以何逊为咏梅才子。白石何逊而今渐老，都忘却春风词笔，以何逊自况，叹才情衰减、不复少年咏梅之兴，是才士迟暮之喟。折梅寄远用陆凯《赠范晔》折梅逢驿使，寄与陇头人，江南无所有，聊赠一枝春，喻相思难寄；江国寂寂、夜雪初积，正写寄远之阻。翠尊（绿酒杯）、红萼（红梅）拟人相忆，是自《楚辞》香草美人传统一脉。诸典经白石熔裁，皆不着痕迹而情韵自远。使事用典皆若己出，林逋何逊陆凯诸事，经其熔裁，了无堆垛之迹，是炼意之深所致。何逊陆凯林逋诸典，各适其用，如众星拱月，不见堆垛之痕。

Commentary

Zhang Yan, in his Ciyuan (Origins of Ci), praised Jiang Kui as the master of 'clear, empty, refined, and elegant' ci, and 'Dark Fragrance' is often cited as the perfect example. It does not cling to the plum blossom as a physical object; instead, the plum becomes a vehicle for the poet's own memories and feelings. Wang Guowei later remarked that Jiang Kui's scene-writing lies somewhere between 'veiled' and 'unveiled', capturing precisely this quality of indirect yet evocative imagery. The poem expresses profound loneliness without a single word of direct complaint, and its structural technique—past against present, exuberance against desolation—had a lasting influence on Southern Song lyricists and beyond.

暗香在姜夔词中地位崇高，与疏影并为清空词派双璧，历来评家奉为咏物之极则。张炎《词源》标举清空骚雅，以白石为宗，此词正是范本：不黏不脱，写梅而不滞于梅，借梅写人，物我交融。其妙在将身世飘零、今昔之慨寄于梅香月色之间，无一字直说苦况，而孤寂沉郁自见，是所谓不隔而隔、隔而不隔之境。清人邓廷桢、近人王国维皆称其清空，王氏谓白石写景在隔与不隔之间，此词尤见其含蓄之妙。较之苏轼红梅、陆游咏梅之直抒，白石更重虚处传神，以疏淡之笔写浓挚之情。其以梅边吹笛、西湖寒碧等清冷意象构筑的审美空间，影响及于张炎、王沂孙等格律词人，成为南宋雅词的主流范式。今读此词，犹能于香冷入瑶席、几时见得数语中，感到一份清绝而绵长的怅惘，足证白石炼意之深。张炎标举清空，以此词为范本，信不诬也，其对南宋雅词一派的影响，实深远难量。

Prosody

Form Anxiang, a self-composed tune by Jiang Kui; double stanza, 97 characters, oblique rhymes, primarily in the entering tone.暗香，姜夔自度曲，双调九十七字，仄韵体（入声韵），属白石自创之清空雅词

Rhyme The entire song uses oblique rhymes in the entering tone: 笛, 摘, 笔, 席, 积, 忆, 碧, 得, producing a clipped, snapping sound that matches the cold, melancholy mood.全词押仄声韵（多入声），笛、摘、笔、席、积、忆、碧、得等，一韵到底，声情凄清峭拔，与孤冷怅惘之情相协。

Tone pattern As a self-composed tune, the tonal pattern follows Jiang Kui's own musical setting. The lines are irregular, with lead characters and pauses that create a fractured, flute-like rhythm.自度曲平仄依白石审定工尺，句式参差错落，如旧时月色为四三读，又片片吹尽也为三四读，节奏如笛声断续。

Reading note The prosody of this song is extremely meticulous. Jiang Kui deliberately employs the short, jarring entering tone to reinforce the sense of coldness and loss, setting it apart from smoother, level-tone lyrics. The frequent use of lead words (算, 但, 叹, 长, 又) creates a rhythmic tension that mirrors the poet's shifting emotions, and the whole piece is a prime example of the 'clear and empty' school's attention to sound.暗香是姜夔自度曲的巅峰之作，其声律之考究冠绝南宋。词前小序详载创作本事，足见白石对音律的自信与自负。全词以仄声（多入声）一韵到底，笛、摘、笔、席、积、忆、碧、得皆仄收，入声短促戛然，恰配清冷孤绝、欲说还休的语调，与《扬州慢》的平声舒徐形成鲜明对照——一悲而咽，一悲而叹，各有其声。句式上，白石善以领字与顿挫造境，如算几番、但怪得、叹寄与、长记曾、又片片，读来如笛声忽断忽续，与梅边吹笛的意象暗合。这种音律、意象、情感的三重统一，使暗香既是可歌之曲，又是空灵之诗。较之杨柳依依的浑成，白石以人工胜天然，格律之严反成就其清空之格，对张炎以降的雅词派影响极为深远。

Line by line

旧时月色，算几番照我，梅边吹笛。

The moon of old—how many times has it shone on me, by the plum blossoms playing a flute? This opening calls up a past scene of refined companionship, establishing the theme of memory and setting a wistful, elegant tone.

旧时的月色，算来曾几次照着我，在梅边吹笛。

The moonlight of old — how many times has it shone on me, playing the flute by the plum tree?

这一句是全词的引子，亦清空美学的开篇示范。旧时月色四字，以时间（旧时）与物象（月色）并置，瞬间把读者拉入回忆的幽光里；算几番照我，以问句轻点数度，写出月与人之久长相伴；梅边吹笛则添入梅与笛，月、梅、笛三象并列，构成白石词典型的清冷雅境。此句妙在不写今而写旧，不写悲而写乐（吹笛之雅），为下片的寂寂、相忆、吹尽预布反差。几番二字尤见匠心：既是实写往昔次数，也暗含对美好时光的珍重追数。起笔如此疏淡而情韵已远，正是白石以虚驭实、举重若轻的本领，寥寥十三字，已立起全词今昔对照的骨架。

The line is the introduction of the ci, and the opening demonstration of the empty-and-clear aesthetic. The moonlight of old sets the time (old times) and the object (moonlight) side by side, instantly drawing the reader into the pale light of memory; how many times has it shone on me lightly counts the number of times, writing the long companionship of moon and man; playing the flute by the plum tree adds the plum and the flute, moon, plum, flute three images side by side, forming the classic cold, elegant realm of Jiang Kui's ci. The beauty lies in writing the old, not the present, writing the joy (the elegant flute) not the grief, preparing the contrast for the lonely memory and the blown-away below. The how many times is the craft: at once the real count of the past, and the treasured recounting of the good hours. The opening so sparse, yet the feeling already far, precisely Jiang Kui's mastery of leading the virtual to control the real, the weight handled lightly; a scant thirteen characters have already set up the skeleton of present-against-past.

何逊而今渐老，都忘却、春风词笔。

Now, like He Xun, I am gradually aging and have forgotten the spring-breeze poetic brush. Jiang Kui compares himself to the Liang poet He Xun, lamenting that age and wandering have taken away his youthful literary gifts.

何逊如今渐渐老去，都忘却了春风中的词笔。

He Xun, now growing old, has quite forgotten the spring-breeze's pen of song.

此二句是上片的情感转折，亦白石身世之喟的直露处。何逊是梁代咏梅才子，白石以之自比，而今渐老写年华流逝、漂泊无成；都忘却春风词笔，叹少年咏梅的才情与兴致已消磨殆尽。春风词笔四字，既是实写才思，也象征往昔生命的温润与创作的春风得意。一个忘却，道尽才士迟暮、江湖漂泊的无力感。此句承前幅梅边吹笛的雅兴而来，由乐转哀，笔力顿挫，是清空词中难得的一抹沉郁。它使全词由泛写忆旧，落实为词人自我的生命感慨，为下片耿相忆、几时见得的深愁埋下根脉，亦见宋词以才学（何逊典）入情的深厚传统。

The two lines are the emotional turning of the first stanza, and the direct place of Jiang Kui's self-grief. He Xun was the Liang-dynasty poet of plum songs; Jiang Kui takes him for his self, now growing old writing the passing of years and the drifting to no end; has quite forgotten the spring-breeze's pen of song grieving the dissipation of the young plum-song's talent and zest. The spring-breeze's pen is at once the real poetic gift and the symbol of the warm, flourishing life of the past; the single forgotten speaks the powerlessness of the talented man's late years and his wandering life. The line follows the elegance of the flute by the plum above, turning from joy to grief, the brush restrained and broken, a rare touch of somberness in the empty-and-clear ci. It lands the ci from the general reminiscence into the poet's own life-grief, planting the root for the deep sorrow below, and shows the deep tradition of Song ci's entering feeling through learning (the He Xun allusion).

长记曾携手处，千树压、西湖寒碧。

I long remember the place where we held hands—a thousand plum trees pressing on the cold green of West Lake. This is the emotional climax, a vivid memory of grand plum groves and shared happiness, made all the more painful by the 'pressing' weight of the blossoms.

长记得曾携手的地方，千树梅花压着西湖寒碧。

Long I remember the place we walked hand in hand: a thousand trees weighing down the cold green of West Lake.

此二句是下片的华彩，亦全词最秾丽处。长记曾携手处，以长记领起，写对往昔同游的深情追忆，携手二字见人与梅、与人的亲密无间；千树压西湖寒碧，写西湖梅林繁盛，千树梅花压向寒碧水面，压字极有重量与生机，寒碧写水色之冷而净。此句以浓墨写盛景，与篇首梅边吹笛呼应，构成完整的昔日之乐。然盛景愈明，对照下句又片片吹尽的零落愈痛——美好的记忆在此成了反衬当下孤寂的利器。白石于此展露其炼字功力：以压字写梅之繁密沉甸，以寒碧写境之清空，疏淡与秾丽在此奇妙相生，是清空词中不可多得的饱满之笔。

The two lines are the splendor of the second stanza and the richest place of the ci. Long I remember the place we walked hand in hand opens on long remember, writing the deep recall of the old shared wander; hand in hand shows the closeness of man and plum, man and woman; a thousand trees weighing down the cold green of West Lake writes the luxuriant West Lake plum grove, a thousand plum branches bending to the cold green water; the word weighing carries weight and life, the cold green writes the water's cold purity. The line writes the glorious scene in rich ink, answering the flute by the plum at the opening, forming the complete joy of the old. The brighter the glory, the sharper the contrast with the blown-away-to-nothing below; the beautiful memory becomes the knife against the present solitude. Jiang Kui shows his word-forging: the weighing writes the dense, heavy plum; the cold green writes the empty-clear realm, sparse and rich strangely engendering each other, a rare full stroke in the empty-and-clear ci.

又片片、吹尽也，几时见得。

Again the petals are blown away one by one—when shall I see them again? The final line returns to the present, grieving that flowers and people alike scatter and vanish, leaving only an unanswered question of reunion.

又片片被风吹尽，几时才能再见。

Again, petal by petal, blown away to nothing — when shall I see them again?

结句是全词的余音，亦怅惘的归处。又片片吹尽也，写梅花一片片被风吹落、终归于尽，片片叠字写出凋零之细碎与不可挽回；几时见得以问收束，问梅亦问人——花落人远，重逢无期。此句回应上片香冷入瑶席的清冷，把物（梅）的零落与情（相思）的难继合而为一。一个又字极沉：它暗示这般吹尽、这般离别，已非第一次，而是生命的常态，透出对无常的苍茫认命。白石不写恸哭，只以吹尽、见得二语淡淡收住，而言外之悲如寒碧之水，浩渺不尽。全词至此由月色梅笛的雅，归于花落人散的空，清空之境终成清空之憾。

The closing is the aftertone of the ci and the home of the wistfulness. Again, petal by petal, blown away to nothing writes the plum petals falling one by one and ending in nothing, the repeated petal-by-petal writing the fragility and irreversibility of the fall; when shall I see them again? closes in a question, asking the plum and asking the person — the flowers fallen and the person far, the meeting without date. The line answers the cold fragrance entering the jade mat above, fusing the thing's (plum's) falling and the feeling's (longing's) non-continuance. The word again is heavy: it hints that this blown-away, this parting, is not the first time, but the norm of life, showing the vast resignation to impermanence. Jiang Kui writes no wailing, only the blown away and the see again closing lightly, and the grief beyond the words is like the cold green water, vast and unending. The ci here turns from the elegance of moonlight and flute to the emptiness of flowers fallen and people scattered, the empty-and-clear realm ending in the empty-and-clear regret.

Study

Word focus

怪得 A key expression in this poem; read it with the Chinese note below. 但怪得竹外疏花，香冷入瑶席的怪得，是上片由忆转实的关捩。怪得犹言难怪、只怪，本带嗔怪之意，此处却用以写梅香之不期而至——词人正自伤老去才尽，却忽被竹外疏梅的冷香侵入华席，这香气来得无声却逼人，故以怪得二字轻轻嗔怪，仿佛是梅花多事、偏来撩动愁绪。这一虚词使客观写景顿生主观情致，足见白石体物之细与运笔之活。香冷二字尤要：香是梅之魂，冷是境之骨，冷香入席，清极而愁生。怪得把无可奈何的心动写得极淡极真，是清空词以虚字斡旋情感的妙例。

压 A key expression in this poem; read it with the Chinese note below. 千树压西湖寒碧的压字，是全词炼字最见重量处。千树梅花临湖绽放，花枝低垂似要将寒碧水面压下，压既写梅之繁密沉甸，也写出花色之浓与春意之重。此字与林逋疏影横斜的疏淡恰成对照：白石写梅不取一枝独秀，而取千树如盖的盛景，压字便担起这份饱满。更妙在，压的是寒碧——冷而净的湖水，以暖（花）压冷（水），以重压轻，画面顿生质感与张力。一个压字，使静态的西湖梅林有了重量与呼吸，是清空词中难得的秾丽之笔，亦见白石虽主疏淡，亦能于紧要处下重字。

寂寂 A key expression in this poem; read it with the Chinese note below. 江国，正寂寂的寂寂，是下片氛围的基调词，亦全词孤冷之境的浓缩。江国指江南水乡，正寂寂写其一片死静——无人、无信、无喧，唯有雪与梅相伴。叠字寂寂较之单用寂，更见空阔与绵长，仿佛寂静本身在蔓延。此词上片尚有月色梅笛、玉人攀摘的温馨记忆，至此忽入江国寂寂的现实，今昔之隔、人我之疏，尽在此二字中。它承上启下：因寂寂而叹寄与路遥，因寂寂而翠尊易泣。白石以寂寂二字立起全词最冷的场景，使前面的所有温暖回忆，都成了照见此刻孤独的镜子。

耿 A key expression in this poem; read it with the Chinese note below. 红萼无言耿相忆的耿字，是下片最痴绝的一个字。耿本义为光明、刚直，此处引申为萦绕不去、耿耿于怀，写红梅（红萼）虽无言，却对远人怀着一份割舍不下的相思。以花之耿写人之念，是香草美人传统的现代转写：梅花成了词人痴情的化身，默默相忆而不可说。无言与耿相映，一静一动（内心的动荡），把物我交融写到极致。较之翠尊易泣的直写落泪，红萼无言更见含蓄深婉——花不泣而人泣，花无言而情长。一个耿字，使无知的红梅有了最固执的深情，是白石清空词中情韵最浓的落点之一。