宝鼎现

Meaning

Beginning as a dazzling lantern-festival pageant — rouge-cheeked riders, banners, song and dance, moonlight on ten li of river — the lyric turns into an elegy when 'the old folk still recall the days of Xuanhe' and weep like the bronze immortal of Han. Liu Chenweng, a loyalist of the fallen Song, uses the festival's splendor to mourn the lost Northern Song: its music survives now only in memory and dreams.

红妆春骑。踏月影、竿旗穿市。望不尽、楼台歌舞，习习香尘莲步底。箫声断、约彩鸾归去，未怕金吾呵醉。甚辇路、喧阗且止。听得念奴歌起。父老犹记宣和事。抱铜仙、清泪如水。还转盼、沙河多丽。滉漾明光连邸第。帘影冻、散红光成绮。月浸葡萄十里。看往来、神仙才子。肯把菱花扑碎。肠断竹马儿童，空见说、三千乐指。等多时春不归来，到春时欲睡。又说向、灯前拥髻。暗滴鲛珠坠。便当日、亲见霓裳，天上人间梦里。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The lyric opens in full festival splendor: rouge-cheeked riders, banners threading the market, endless pavilions of song and dance, flutes, promises of return, and the famous singer Nian's song rising over the stilled imperial road. Then, abruptly, 'the old folk still recall the days of Xuanhe' — the Xuanhe era of the lost Northern Song — and the tears fall like those of the bronze immortal carried from Han. The second half turns to moonlight on ten li of river, gifted youths who would not shatter the mirror, children who only hear tell of three thousand musicians, and a woman by the lamp dropping tears like flood-dragon pearls. It ends: even the Rainbow Skirt dance the poet saw with his own eyes is now heaven, earth, and dream. [Structure] The poem is built on a double vision: within the same lantern night, the present festival and the remembered Xuanhe festival coexist. The turning point is the single line 'the old folk still recall the days of Xuanhe,' after which every image doubles — the same moon lights a living festival and a dead dynasty. [Allusion and Tone] Liu Chenweng, writing after the Song fell, loads the poem with dynastic echoes: the bronze immortal's tears, the broken mirror, the Rainbow Skirt. The tone is subtle and deep: no direct cry of grief, yet the whole pageant becomes a funeral rite for a lost world.

【白话串讲】 刘辰翁写《宝鼎现》：“红妆春骑。踏月影、竿旗穿市”——“望不尽、楼台歌舞，习习香尘莲步底”——“父老犹记宣和事。抱铜仙、清泪如水”——他写元夕与故国之思。 【意象与手法】 “红妆春骑。踏月影、竿旗穿市”以春骑红妆写元夕之盛；“望不尽、楼台歌舞”写歌舞升平；“父老犹记宣和事。抱铜仙、清泪如水”以铜仙铅泪写故国之思；结以“便当日、亲见霓裳，天上人间梦里”以天上人间写盛衰。三叠铺叙、今昔对照。 【情感与主旨】 刘辰翁写元夕怀旧之作，追忆北宋汴京元夕之盛而叹南宋已衰，寄托故国之思，是宋末遗民词中以节序写亡国之痛的代表。 【名句点睛】 常考“父老犹记宣和事。抱铜仙、清泪如水”以铜仙铅泪写故国之思；“便当日、亲见霓裳，天上人间梦里”以天上人间写盛衰之变。

Allusions

'Nian' was the celebrated singing girl of Emperor Xuanzong's court, evoked through the famous line about her sullen, resentful singing. 'Xuanhe' was the last reign era of the Northern Song under Huizong, remembered as the capital's golden age. 'Embracing the bronze immortal' echoes Li He's lament that the golden bronze immortal wept as it was carried away from Han — by analogy, the fall of Bianjing. 'Shattering the bronze mirror' recalls Xu Deyan and Princess Lechang, who broke a mirror in halves at parting, each keeping one half. 'Three thousand musicians' fingers' recalls the imperial music bureau of the fallen capital. 'Hair pinned up before the lamp' borrows the story of Ling Xuan and his consort talking by lamplight from the Feiyan Waizhuan. 'Flood-dragon pearls' are the tears of the jiao dragon, i.e. human tears. 'Rainbow Skirt' is the famous Rainbow and Feathered Robe dance of Xuanzong's court, a byword for lost splendor.

词中「红妆春骑」「踏月影竿旗穿市」「望不尽楼台歌舞习习香尘莲步底」「箫声断约彩鸾归去未怕金吾呵醉」「甚辇路喧阗且止听得念奴歌起」「父老犹记宣和事抱铜仙清泪如水」「还转盼沙河多丽滉漾明光连邸第」「帘影冻散红光成绮月浸葡萄十里」「看往来神仙才子肯把菱花扑碎」「肠断竹马儿童空见说三千乐指」「等多时春不归来到春时欲睡又说向灯前拥髻」「暗滴鲛珠坠便当日亲见霓裳天上人间梦里」等语，皆含典故故实。「红妆春骑」写红妆春骑；「踏月影竿旗穿市」写踏月影竿旗穿市；「望不尽楼台歌舞习习香尘莲步底」写望不尽楼台歌舞习习香尘莲步底（莲步写女子足迹）；「箫声断约彩鸾归去未怕金吾呵醉」写箫声断约彩鸾归去未怕金吾呵醉（金吾为京城禁卫，写元夕不禁夜）；「甚辇路喧阗且止听得念奴歌起」写甚辇路喧阗且止听得念奴歌起（念奴为唐玄宗时歌者）；「父老犹记宣和事抱铜仙清泪如水」用铜仙铅泪之典（金铜仙人辞汉清泪如水），写父老犹记宣和事抱铜仙清泪如水；「还转盼沙河多丽滉漾明光连邸第」写还转盼沙河多丽滉漾明光连邸第；「帘影冻散红光成绮月浸葡萄十里」写帘影冻散红光成绮月浸葡萄十里；「看往来神仙才子肯把菱花扑碎」写看往来神仙才子肯把菱花扑碎（菱花为镜）；「肠断竹马儿童空见说三千乐指」写肠断竹马儿童空见说三千乐指（三千乐指写乐工之众）；「等多时春不归来到春时欲睡又说向灯前拥髻」写等多时春不归来到春时欲睡又说向灯前拥髻（拥髻写灯前拥髻而谈，用《飞燕外传》伶玄买妾拥髻之典）；「暗滴鲛珠坠便当日亲见霓裳天上人间梦里」写暗滴鲛珠坠便当日亲见霓裳天上人间梦里（鲛珠为泪、霓裳为霓裳羽衣曲）。词人以金吾不禁夜、铜仙铅泪、念奴、霓裳、灯前拥髻等典入词，不着痕迹，而把元夕怀旧之情写得真切可感，是善于熔铸典故的体现。

Commentary

This lyric has been read since the Yuan as the most concentrated expression of Song loyalist grief. Liu Chenweng's contemporaries and later critics praised the way a festival night is made to carry dynastic lament without a single direct outcry. It is frequently set beside Li Yu's 'Yu Meiren' as one of the two great 'heaven-and-earth' elegies of Chinese lyric poetry. Modern criticism values its double-vision technique and its restraint: grief is never announced but accumulated through allusion and image, so that the final 'heaven, earth, and dream' lands as the whole dynasty's epitaph.

这首《宝鼎现》，是刘辰翁写元夕怀旧之作，写红妆春骑、父老犹记宣和事、天上人间梦里之情，含蓄深婉。上片写红妆春骑与父老犹记宣和事：「红妆春骑。踏月影、竿旗穿市」——红妆春骑，踏月影、竿旗穿市。写红妆春骑：红妆春骑、踏月影竿旗穿市——红妆春骑、踏月穿市；「望不尽、楼台歌舞，习习香尘莲步底」——望不尽、楼台歌舞，习习香尘莲步底。写楼台歌舞：望不尽楼台歌舞、习习香尘莲步底——楼台歌舞、香尘莲步底；「箫声断、约彩鸾归去，未怕金吾呵醉」——箫声断、约彩鸾归去，未怕金吾呵醉（写元夕不禁夜）。写约彩鸾：箫声断约彩鸾归去、未怕金吾呵醉——约彩鸾归去、不惧金吾呵醉；「甚辇路、喧阗且止。听得念奴歌起」——甚辇路、喧阗且止，听得念奴歌起（用念奴之典）。写念奴歌起：甚辇路喧阗且止、听得念奴歌起——辇路喧阗且止、念奴歌起；「父老犹记宣和事。抱铜仙、清泪如水」——父老犹记宣和事，抱铜仙（用铜仙铅泪之典）、清泪如水。写父老犹记宣和事：父老犹记宣和事、抱铜仙清泪如水——父老犹记宣和事、铜仙清泪如水；「还转盼、沙河多丽。滉漾明光连邸第」——还转盼、沙河多丽，滉漾明光连邸第。写沙河多丽：还转盼沙河多丽、滉漾明光连邸第——沙河多丽、明光连邸第。下片写月浸葡萄十里与天上人间梦里：「帘影冻、散红光成绮。月浸葡萄十里」——帘影冻、散红光成绮，月浸葡萄十里。写月浸葡萄十里：帘影冻散红光成绮、月浸葡萄十里——红光成绮、月浸葡萄十里；「看往来、神仙才子。肯把菱花扑碎」——看往来、神仙才子，肯把菱花扑碎。写神仙才子：看往来神仙才子、肯把菱花扑碎——神仙才子、肯把菱花扑碎；「肠断竹马儿童，空见说、三千乐指」——肠断竹马儿童，空见说、三千乐指。写三千乐指：肠断竹马儿童、空见说三千乐指——竹马儿童、空见说三千乐指；「等多时春不归来，到春时欲睡。又说向、灯前拥髻」——等多时春不归来，到春时欲睡，又说向、灯前拥髻（用灯前拥髻之典）。写灯前拥髻：等多时春不归来、到春时欲睡，又说向灯前拥髻——春不归来、灯前拥髻；「暗滴鲛珠坠。便当日、亲见霓裳，天上人间梦里」——暗滴鲛珠坠，便当日、亲见霓裳（写霓裳羽衣曲），天上人间梦里。写天上人间梦里：暗滴鲛珠坠、便当日亲见霓裳，天上人间梦里——鲛珠暗滴、亲见霓裳、天上人间梦里。这「暗滴鲛珠坠。便当日、亲见霓裳，天上人间梦里」，是全词之结：以天上人间梦里写其故国之思。全词含蓄深婉，以典写情，正是刘辰翁词中的名篇。

Prosody

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