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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

范成大·蝶恋花·春涨一篙添水面

Butterflies in Love with Flowers: Spring Tides Add a Pole's Depth to the Water's Face

范成大

Fan Chengda

田园Pastoral 写景Scenery 农事Theme 婉约Graceful and Restrained

蝶恋花·春涨一篙添水面春涨一篙添水面。
芳草鹅儿，绿满微风岸。
画舫夷犹湾百转。
横塘塔近依前远。
江国多寒农事晚。
村北村南，谷雨才耕遍。
秀麦连冈桑叶贱。
看看尝面收新茧。

Spring tides add a pole's depth to the water's face.
Along the grassy bank, goslings in fragrant grass,
Green fills the breezy shore.
The painted boat lingers through a hundred turns of the bay.
Cross Pond Pagoda seems near, but still far away.

In river country, cold lingers, farm work is late.
From south to north of the village,
Only after Grain Rain are fields fully tilled.
Fine wheat stretches over hills, mulberry leaves are cheap.
Soon we'll taste new flour and gather fresh cocoons.

Listen

Meaning

The poem depicts the spring scenery and agricultural activities in the Jiangnan water town. The first stanza focuses on the beautiful landscape of rising spring water, green grass, goslings, and a leisurely boat ride. The second stanza shifts to the farming season, noting the late spring cold and the work of plowing and planting, ending with the anticipation of harvesting wheat and silkworm cocoons.

春水上涨，一篙深浅之间水面又添了几分。芳草间雏鹅游走，微风拂岸，绿意弥漫。画船从容缓行，在河湾里百转千回。横塘的塔看似近了，却依然遥远。江南水乡春寒，农事来得迟晚。村北村南，直到谷雨时节才把田耕遍。秀美的麦子连绵山冈，桑叶价钱便宜。眼看着就要尝新麦做的面食、收今年的新茧了。

Appreciation

This poem is one of Fan Chengda's series 'Butterflies in Love with Flowers: Spring Tides' written during his retirement in Shihu (Suzhou). It portrays the pastoral spring scenery and farming life of Jiangnan. The first stanza paints a clear, elegant picture of water town sights; the second stanza describes the delayed farm work and the hopeful prospect of new wheat and silk. The language is plain yet evocative, revealing the poet's concern for rural life.

【白话串讲】范成大写江南春耕：“春涨一篙添水面。芳草鹅儿，绿满微风岸”。“谷雨才耕遍。秀麦连冈桑叶贱”——谷雨刚耕完田，麦子秀穗，桑叶便宜。一首词，写活了一个农家的春天。【意象与手法】此词章法上景下事。上片纯写水乡春景：「春涨一篙添水面」以「一篙」量水，新颖准确；「芳草鹅儿，绿满微风岸」设色淡雅，动静结合；「画舫夷犹湾百转。横塘塔近依前远」以舟行纡回与塔近实远写空间悠远。下片转写农事：「江国多寒」领起，「村北村南，谷雨才耕遍」铺排写实，结以「秀麦连冈桑叶贱。看看尝面收新茧」，由麦及桑及茧，写农家殷实期盼，语近情遥。【情感与主旨】范成大（1126—1193），字致能，号石湖居士，南宋诗人，晚年退居苏州石湖。此词写江南水乡春景与农事节候，宋时江南春耕较晚，「江国多寒农事晚」「谷雨才耕遍」正记其实。词以闲适之笔写农家生计，于淡雅中见对农事的关切与丰收的期盼，与其《四时田园杂兴》同一关怀，是宋代田园词中的佳作。【名句点睛】常考「春涨一篙添水面」以篙量水的炼字与「横塘塔近依前远」的空间写法；下片「谷雨才耕遍」「看看尝面收新茧」的农事描写是把握全词田园主题的关键。须答出上片写景、下片写事的章法，以及淡雅闲适、语近情遥的风格。

Background

Fan Chengda (1126–1193), courtesy name Zhineng, also known as Shihu Jushi, was a Southern Song poet. He retired to Shihu in Suzhou in his later years. This poem is one of his five ci poems under the title 'Butterflies in Love with Flowers: Spring Tides,' depicting the spring scenery and farming season of the Jiangnan region. In the Song dynasty, spring plowing in Jiangnan was relatively late, as reflected in 'river country cold lingers, farm work is late.' Fan was known for his compassion for farmers, having written the famous series 'Four Seasons Rural Excitements' in sixty poems, pioneering a new realm of pastoral poetry. This ci poem, in the same vein, shows his care for rural life.

范成大（1126—1193），字致能，号石湖居士，平江吴县（今江苏苏州）人，南宋中兴四大诗人之一。绍兴二十四年（1154）进士，历官处州知州、静江知府、四川制置使等，乾道六年（1170）曾奉命使金，大义凛然，全节而归。晚年退居苏州石湖，自号石湖居士，作《四时田园杂兴》六十首，把田园诗从闲适隐逸引向农事劳作，开田园诗的新境界。此词为其春日词作之一，写苏州水乡春景与农事节候。江南地气温润而春寒犹存，故「江国多寒农事晚」，谷雨前后方耕遍田亩，词中记实与关怀兼具。范成大既有使金纪行的悲慨，又有退居田园的闲适，此词正是其晚年田园情怀在词体中的体现，与《田园杂兴》同一关怀，而以词之清丽出之。南宋词坛以词写田园者本少，范成大此词与其《田园杂兴》诗相呼应，显示其田园书写由诗向词的延伸。苏州石湖一带水网密布、桑稻相望，正是「江国」农事的典型环境，词人以退居之身亲历耕织节候，故写来亲切如画，与一般文人泛咏田园的隔膜迥异。此词亦见南宋士大夫「仕而优则隐」的人生选择与田园关怀的结合。

Art

The poem is structured with scenery in the first stanza and human affairs in the second. The first stanza purely depicts water-town spring scenery: 'Spring tides add a pole's depth to the water's face' uses 'a pole' to measure water depth, novel and precise; 'Fragrant grass and goslings, green fills the breezy shore' is lightly colored; 'The painted boat lingers through a hundred turns of the bay. Cross Pond Pagoda seems near, but still far away' uses the boat's movement and the pagoda's illusory nearness to create spatial depth, seemingly light yet profound. The second stanza shifts to farming: 'In river country, cold lingers' sets the tone; 'From south to north of the village, only after Grain Rain are fields fully tilled' spreads out the scene; it ends with 'Fine wheat stretches over hills, mulberry leaves are cheap. Soon we'll taste new flour and gather fresh cocoons,' moving from wheat to mulberry to cocoons, depicting the farmers' honest expectations. Scenery and affairs merge, the language is close to daily life yet evocative.

此词章法上景下事，过片自然转接。上片纯写水乡春景：「春涨一篙添水面」以「一篙」量水，把抽象的水涨写成可测的具体深度，新颖准确，起笔即活；「芳草鹅儿，绿满微风岸」设色淡雅，鹅儿游动、绿意满岸，动静相生，如一幅清丽的水彩；「画舫夷犹湾百转」写船行之纡回，以动写水乡河道之曲折；「横塘塔近依前远」妙写空间错觉——船行渐进而塔似愈远，近而实远，淡笔含远韵。下片转写农事：「江国多寒农事晚」以气候领起，解释农事之迟；「村北村南，谷雨才耕遍」以方位铺排写耕作的普及；「秀麦连冈桑叶贱」写麦盛桑繁；结句「看看尝面收新茧」以口语写丰收在望的期盼，真切可喜。全词景事相生、语近情遥，是石湖田园词的典型笔法。全词以「春涨」起、「新茧」收，暗含由春水到蚕事的时序流转，物候之线贯串全篇；上片之画舫、横塘塔与下片之村田、麦桑，一为游赏之景，一为生计之事，而词人以同一副闲适而关切的目光统摄之，遂使全词于结构转换之间气脉不断。语言上「一篙」「看看」等口语与「夷犹」之雅语并用，雅俗相济，正是石湖词「淡而腴」的体现。

Allusions

This poem uses few allusions, close to plain description. Only the word 'lingers' (yiyou) has a source: in the 'Nine Songs: The Lady of the Xiang' from the Chu Ci, 'The lord does not come, he lingers,' originally meaning hesitant, here extended to leisurely movement, describing the painted boat's ease, elegant and accurate. 'Taste new flour' refers to eating noodles made from new wheat; 'fresh cocoons' refers to silkworm work—both are local customs of Jiangnan, not classical allusions. 'Cross Pond' (Hengtang) is a place name in Suzhou (He Zhu's poem 'Green Jade Cup' mentions 'the lord lives at Cross Pond'), pinpointing the Shihu area. The whole poem uses everyday language to depict the water town, plain yet flavorful.

此词几乎不用事典，纯以白描写生，唯「夷犹」一词有出处：《楚辞·九歌·湘君》「君不行兮夷犹」，本指迟疑不前，此处引申为从容缓行，写画船悠然之态，雅驯而准确，见出石湖以学问入词而不露痕迹。「横塘」为苏州地名，贺铸《青玉案》「凌波不过横塘路」即指此地，词人点明石湖一带地望，暗含乡土之情。「谷雨」为二十四节气之一，在清明后十五日，正合江南晚春播种之时；「尝面」指尝新麦所制面食，「新茧」指新收蚕茧，皆为江南农俗，非典实而自具风土意味。「芳草鹅儿」之「鹅儿」指雏鹅，鹅黄与草绿相映，天然画境。全词以家常语写水乡，不用典而自有典外之意，正是范成大田园诗「清新妩媚」一路在词中的延续。「鹅儿」一词，宋人诗词中亦指酒名（如陆游「鹅儿黄似酒」），此处与「芳草」并举，写雏鹅之形色，取景鲜活；「绿满微风岸」之「满」字，写春风中绿意铺展之盛，有苏轼「春江水暖」之写生精神。「横塘」既为地名，又暗含贺铸「凌波不过横塘路」的怅惘余韵，词人以之写水乡风物，乡土之情自在其中，皆以常语含深味。

Commentary

This poem is elegant and leisurely, often compared with Fan's 'Four Seasons Rural Excitements.' Modern scholar Yu Pingbo in his 'Selected Annotations of Tang and Song Ci' praised the first stanza for 'painting water-town scenery like a picture.' Tang Guizhang remarked that the line 'Cross Pond Pagoda seems near, but still far away' with a 'far' character makes the flavor long-lasting, capturing the essence of Shihu ci's distant elegance. The whole poem, within leisure, depicts the real livelihood of farmers, showing his unique achievement in pastoral ci, with the distant quality revealing the true nature of Shihu.

近人俞平伯《唐宋词选释》评此词上片「写水乡风物如画」，确是的评；唐圭璋则特赏「横塘塔近依前远」一句，谓「着一远字，便觉滋味悠长」，点出石湖词淡远之致的精髓。范成大以诗写田园称雄一代，《四时田园杂兴》被钱锺书誉为「中国古代田园诗的集大成」，此词以词体写田园农事，与《杂兴》同一关怀，而更见清丽闲雅。清人宋长白《柳亭诗话》评石湖诗「清新妩媚，奄有韦柳」，此词淡而有味、语近情遥，正合此评。在宋代词坛上，以田园农事入词者不多，范成大此词上承苏轼《浣溪沙》农村词的尝试，下开后世田园词一路，是词史中别具风神的一篇，也是理解石湖「田园」题材跨诗、词两体的重要作品。宋人论词每以「婉约」「豪放」为纲，范成大此词却难以简单归类，正见南宋词题材与风格之拓展。清代词论家或以「清丽」目之，或以「田园」许之，近人编选宋词选本多收此篇，以其为「以词写田园」的代表。此词的价值在于为词体开辟了农事题材的新境，与辛弃疾的农村词相互辉映，共同丰富了宋代词史的田园书写，也是研究范成大「四时田园」关怀在词中延续的关键文本。

Prosody

Form Ci·Butterflies in Love with Flowers, 60 characters in double stanzas词·《蝶恋花》双调六十字

Rhyme Oblique rhyme, four oblique rhymes per stanza (mian/an/zhuan/yuan; wan/bian/jian/jian)押仄声韵：面、岸、转、远、晚、遍、贱、茧，上下片各四仄韵。

Tone pattern Each stanza has five lines with four oblique rhymes, even structure上下片各五句四仄韵，句式以七言为主，间以四言，声情轻快。

Reading note Shihu uses ci to write pastoral scenes, elegant and close to his 'Rural Excitements.'《蝶恋花》本名《鹊踏枝》，为唐教坊曲，晏殊改今名，双调六十字，上下片各五句四仄韵，是北宋后期至南宋最常用的小令词调之一。此词韵脚面、岸、转、远、晚、遍、贱、茧皆属《词林正韵》第七部（铣阮旱潸、霰翰谏等通押），一韵到底，声情由清丽转欢快。句式上上下片皆以七言领起（春涨一篙添水面／江国多寒农事晚），继以四言、七言相间，末以七言收束，长短错落而节奏匀整，正合「蝶恋花」曲调婉转流丽之体。词中「村北村南」「看看」等口语入调，虽以白话行之而格律无碍，可见石湖驾驭词律的纯熟。此调宜写春景闲情，范成大此篇以词写田园农事，别开生面，是南宋田园词中格律与题材结合得最为自然的一首。

Line by line

春涨一篙添水面

Spring tides add a pole's depth to the water's face.

春水上涨，一篙深浅之间水面又添了几分

The spring floods rise; a pole's depth adds to the water's face.

起句以「一篙」量水，是全词最见炼字功力之处。春水上涨本是抽象的现象，诗人不直说涨了多少，而以船篙入水的深浅来测度：篙插入水中，原来的深度标记已被春水淹没，可见水又添了几分。「一篙」既是量水的器具，又是水深的尺度，把不可见的水涨化为可见可测的具体意象，新颖准确，起笔即活。同时「添」字写出水面渐涨的动态过程，与「春涨」呼应，暗示春雨润泽、生机勃发。此句以舟行者的视角写水涨，人未出场而画船已在，为下文「画舫夷犹」作了铺垫，是石湖善于从细微处捕捉水乡生机的明证。

The opening measures the water rise by the pole, the ci's most word-crafted place. The spring floods rise by nature an abstract phenomenon, and the poet not saying how much it rose directly, but measuring by the depth the boat-pole enters: the pole thrust into the water, the old depth mark already submerged by the spring floods, showing the water has risen again. The pole at once the water-measuring tool and the measure of the water's depth, turning the invisible water rise into the visible, measurable image, novel and exact, the opening alive. At the same time the word adds writes the dynamic process of the water's gradual rising, answering the spring floods, hinting the spring rain's moisture and the life's stirring. The line writes the water rise through the boatman's view, the person not yet out and the painted boat already within, preparing the ground for the painted boat's drifting below, the proof of Shihu's craft of catching the water-town's life from the minutest.

芳草鹅儿，绿满微风岸

Fragrant grass, goslings, green fills the breezy shore.

芳草间雏鹅游走，微风拂岸，绿意弥漫

The fragrant grass, the goslings; green fills the breeze-ruffled bank.

此句写岸边春色，设色淡雅而生机盎然。「芳草」与「鹅儿」并举，雏鹅在芳草间游走，鹅黄与草绿相映，色彩的清丽如一幅水彩小品；「绿满微风岸」以「绿满」写绿意之盛，弥漫整个微风拂拂的河岸，「满」字把春色的铺展写到极致。句法上「芳草鹅儿」是静中见动（鹅儿游走），「绿满微风岸」是动中见静（风动而绿满），动静相生，画境天成。鹅儿是江南水乡的寻常风物，入词而愈见亲切，正是石湖「以俗为雅」、于家常景物中见诗意的本色，与「春江水暖鸭先知」的写生精神一脉相通。

The line writes the bank's spring colors, the color set fresh and the life abundant. The fragrant grass and the goslings set together, the goslings wandering among the fragrant grass, the gosling-yellow and the grass-green set off, the fresh color like a small watercolor; green fills the breeze-ruffled bank writes the green's abundance through the word fills, spreading over the whole breeze-ruffled bank, the word fills writing the spring's spreading to the extreme. In syntax, the fragrant grass and the goslings the motion seen within the still (the goslings wandering), the green fills the breeze-ruffled bank the still seen within the motion (the wind moving and the green filling), the motion and the still engendering each other, the picture born of itself. The goslings the common thing of the Jiangnan water town, the more the affection entering the ci, precisely Shihu's turning-the-vulgar-to-the-elegant native, seeing poetry in the homely things, of a piece with the spring river warm, the ducks know first.

横塘塔近依前远

Cross Pond Pagoda seems near, but still far away.

横塘的塔看似近了，却依然遥远

The Heng Pagoda seems near, and yet as far as before.

此句妙写舟行中的空间错觉，是上片写景的收束。「依前」意为依旧、照旧，画船在河湾里百转千回，横塘的塔时隐时现，看似越来越近，却依旧那么远——以「近」写「远」，把水乡河道曲折、望山跑死马的体验写得真切如画。此句之妙有三：一是以舟行之缓写河道之曲，「湾百转」的纡回至此落实；二是以塔之近实远写空间的悠远，暗含行旅的怅惘，淡笔含远韵；三是以景结情，不写愁而一种「似近实远」的人生况味自在其中。唐圭璋谓「着一远字，便觉滋味悠长」，正指这种以近写远、言近旨远的笔法。

The line writes the spatial illusion of the boat journey, the close of the first stanza's scene. As far as before means as of old, as usual; the painted boat winding in the river bend, the Heng Pagoda now hidden now seen, seeming nearer and nearer, and yet as far as before — writing the far through the near, drawing the water town's winding channels and the running-after-the-mountain's exhaustion as real as a picture. The beauty is threefold: one writing the channel's winding through the boat's slowness, the bend's hundred turns here grounded; two writing the space's distance through the pagoda's seeming-near-and-yet-far, secretly carrying the travel's wistfulness, the light brush with the far aftertone; three closing emotion in scene, not writing grief and yet the life-taste of seeming-near-and-yet-far within. Tang Guizhang says the single word far makes the flavor long, precisely this brush of writing the far through the near, the words near and the meaning far.

看看尝面收新茧

Soon we'll taste new flour and gather fresh cocoons.

眼看着就要尝新麦做的面食、收今年的新茧了

Soon, soon, we taste the new flour, and gather the new cocoons.

结句以口语写农家丰收在望的期盼，是全词由景入事、由闲适入农家的点睛之笔。「看看」为宋代口语，意为眼看着、转瞬间，写节候将临的迫切；「尝面」指尝新麦做的面食，「收新茧」指收今年的新蚕茧，麦与蚕是江南农家两大生计，一句写尽丰收的两大喜事。此句的妙处在以期盼写实景：谷雨才耕遍，麦正秀、桑正繁，而「看看」已把收获的喜悦提前唤出，语浅而情真，农家殷实的生计与词人的欣慰跃然纸上。以口语入词而不损雅致，正是石湖「以俗为雅」的本色，也为全词画上一个充满希望的收束。

The closing writes the farmhouse's hope of the coming harvest in colloquial words, the pointed stroke of the ci's turning from scene to affair, from the ease to the farmhouse. The word soon is Song colloquialism, meaning before the eyes, in a moment, writing the season's approaching urgency; taste the new flour means tasting the noodles of the new wheat, gather the new cocoons means gathering this year's new cocoons, the wheat and the silkworm the two great livelihoods of the Jiangnan farm, one line exhausting the two joys of the coming harvest. The beauty lies in writing the real scene through the hope: the Guyu just plowed, the wheat heading, the mulberry lush, and the soon already calling the harvest's joy beforehand, the words light and the feeling true, the farm's solid livelihood and the poet's relief leaping onto the paper. Entering the colloquial into the ci without harming the elegance, precisely Shihu's turning-the-vulgar-to-the-elegant native, and closing the ci in the fullness of hope.

Study

Word focus

一篙 a pole's depth (measure for water depth using a boat pole) 「春涨一篙添水面」之「一篙」以篙量水，化抽象为具体，是全词最见巧思的炼字。春水上涨难以言状，诗人借船篙入水的深度写出水涨的分量：一篙之深，水添几分，历历可测。「一篙」既是名词（船篙）又是量词（一篙深的水），虚实兼用，新颖准确，令人过目不忘。这种以器物量景的写法，源于诗人对水乡生活的熟稔——只有长年行船的人，才会以篙测水。同时「一篙」与「添」相配，写出水涨的渐进过程，暗示春雨连朝、生机萌动，为全词春意盎然的基调定下起点。后人写水涨多袭用此式，正见石湖造语之深入人心。

夷犹 lingers (leisurely, from Chu Ci) 「画舫夷犹湾百转」之「夷犹」出《楚辞·九歌·湘君》「君不行兮夷犹」，本义为迟疑不进，此处反用其意，引申为从容缓行，写画船在水湾中悠然游弋之态，雅驯而准确。此词之妙在于以古语写闲情：夷犹的从容，正合画舫观景的闲适心境，也暗合水乡河道纡回、舟行徐缓的实际节奏。用典而不觉其典，古语入词而自然流利，正是石湖以学问为诗、以学问为词的功底所在。与「湾百转」相配，夷犹写船行之缓，百转写河道之曲，一缓一曲，水乡行舟的画面如在目前，是炼字与写景结合的典范。

看看 soon (colloquial, expressing anticipation) 「看看尝面收新茧」之「看看」是宋代口语，意为眼看着、转瞬之间，写丰收节候将临的急切期盼，平易而传神。此词之妙在以口语入词：不看、看看，两字叠用，仿佛农人扳着手指算计尝面收茧的日子，急切中带着喜悦，亲切中透着满足。与「谷雨才耕遍」呼应，耕遍才罢，收获已在眼前，农事节候的紧凑感跃然纸上。以口语叠词写农家的期盼，比典雅的书面语更见真情，正是石湖田园诗「语近情遥」的本色。全词以这样的口语收束，如乡谈絮语，亲切自然，把上片画船游赏的闲适拉回农家的实在生计，结构上亦收得稳稳当当。