宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric
范成大·霜天晓角·梅
Frosty Dawn • Plum Blossom
霜天晓角晚晴风歇，一夜春威折。
脉脉花疏天淡，云来去、数枝雪。
胜绝，愁亦绝，此情谁共说。
惟有两行低雁，知人倚、画楼月。
Evening clear, wind has ceased, the spring's harsh force overnight released.
Tender blossoms sparse, sky pale, clouds come and go, a few twigs like snow.
Supreme beauty, supreme sorrow too—with whom can I tell this mood?
Only two rows of low geese know that I lean on the painted tower in moonlight.
Meaning
Clearing at dusk, the wind stops, the chill of spring recedes. Plum blossoms appear tenderly sparse against the pale sky; clouds drift, revealing a few snow-like branches. The scene is supremely beautiful, but so is the sorrow—no one to share this feeling. Only two lines of low-flying geese know that someone is leaning on the painted tower, watching the moon.
傍晚放晴，风也停了，一夜之间春寒的威势消退了些。梅花脉脉含情、花影稀疏、天色淡远，云朵来来去去，掩映着数枝如雪的白梅。景致美到极点，愁绪也到了极点，这般心情能与谁诉说。只有那两行低飞的大雁，知道有人正倚着画楼、望着明月。
Appreciation
Fan Chengda, one of the Four Great Poets of the Southern Song, wrote this short lyric on plum blossoms, likely in his later years. The upper stanza depicts a clear evening after snow: plum blossoms sparse, sky pale, clouds drifting. The lower stanza turns to intense sorrow, contrasting the beauty of the scene with solitude. The poem ends with low-flying geese and the moon over a painted tower, conveying melancholy implicitly. Its style is graceful and restrained, mixing floral elegance with the poet's own purity.
【白话串讲】 雪后初晴，梅花疏疏朗朗，像几枝雪。范成大说：“胜绝，愁亦绝”——美到极致，愁也到极致。只有两行低飞的雁，知道有人倚在画楼上看月。 【意象与手法】 上片全写梅边清景：『晚晴风歇』『春威折』写气候，『脉脉花疏天淡』写梅之神与天之远，『云来去、数枝雪』以云影衬数枝如雪白梅，设色清冷如画。下片『胜绝，愁亦绝』六字直摄心曲，却以『惟有两行低雁，知人倚、画楼月』景语收束，以雁知人、以月伴孤，情寓景中，清空婉约。 【情感与主旨】 范成大（石湖居士）与杨万里、陆游、尤袤并称『中兴四大诗人』，诗以田园组诗著称，词亦婉约清雅。此《霜天晓角·梅》约作于其晚年退居苏州石湖或使金归后闲居时，时值春寒初退、梅蕊将残，词人月夜倚楼，对梅生愁，写清景中之孤怀。 【名句点睛】 中高考常考：①画面鉴赏——上片清冷梅月之景的层次（风歇、花疏、云去、雪枝）；②『胜绝，愁亦绝』以乐景写哀情、以简驭繁的手法。
Background
Fan Chengda (also known as Shihu) was one of the Four Great Poets of the Southern Song, famous for his pastoral poems, and his ci poems are graceful and elegant. This piece 'Frosty Dawn • Plum Blossom' was likely written in his later years when he retired to Shihu in Suzhou or after returning from a mission to the Jin. At the time, the spring chill was receding, plum blossoms were fading. The poet leans on a tower on a moonlit night, facing plum blossoms and feeling melancholy. The poem conveys solitary feelings through a clear scene, restrained and subtle, reflecting Fan's distant and pure style.
范成大（1126—1193），字至能，号石湖居士，吴郡（今江苏苏州）人，与杨万里、陆游、尤袤并称南宋『中兴四大诗人』。其诗以田园组诗《四时田园杂兴》六十首著称，词作虽不多而婉约清雅，有《石湖词》传世。此《霜天晓角·梅》约作于其晚年退居苏州石湖或使金归后闲居之时。范成大一生经历高宗、孝宗两朝，曾出使金国，不辱使命，名重一时；晚年退居石湖，纵情山水，诗词多写林泉闲适之趣。然身当南宋偏安之际，国势日蹙，诗人于清景之中每生孤怀远思。此词写春寒初退、梅蕊将残的月夜，词人倚楼对梅，见花开将谢而生愁，遂成此清冷婉约之作。词中梅、月、雁、楼诸象，皆承传统意象而自成清空之境，正见石湖词淡远含蓄之风。范成大身当南宋偏安之际，其清景孤怀之作，实为时代忧患的曲折投影，此词亦不例外，读之可窥南宋文人于乱世中借咏物寄怀的普遍心态。其词虽少而皆精，正以少胜多，此首即其明证。
Art
The upper stanza purely depicts a clear scene: 'Evening clear, wind ceased' describes the weather; 'tender blossoms sparse, sky pale' shows the plum's spirit and distant sky; 'clouds come and go, a few snowy twigs' uses cloud shadows to contrast the snow-white blossoms, painting a cold and clear picture. The lower stanza uses the six words 'Supreme beauty, supreme sorrow too' to directly express emotion, but ends with the scenic line 'Only two rows of low geese know that I lean on the painted tower in moonlight'—using geese to acknowledge the poet and the moon to accompany solitude, feelings embedded in landscape. The style is ethereal and graceful, conveying vast emotion in a small format.
此词艺术上以清空婉约见长，上片写景、下片抒情，章法分明而情意浑融。上片全写梅边清景：『晚晴风歇，一夜春威折』先写气候由寒转暖，风歇春回，为梅花出场铺设背景；『脉脉花疏天淡』七字写梅之神与天之远，『脉脉』拟人写梅含情不语，『疏』写花影稀疏，『淡』写天色淡远，句短而意密；『云来去、数枝雪』以云影之流动衬数枝白梅之静美，设色清冷如画。下片陡转抒情：『胜绝，愁亦绝』六字直摄心曲，景之美与愁之深同时推向极点，以乐景反衬哀情，简劲有力；『此情谁共说』一问，点出孤怀无人可诉；结以『惟有两行低雁，知人倚、画楼月』，不答所问而以景结情——两行低飞的雁，仿佛知道有人倚楼望月，以雁知人、以月伴孤，含蓄不尽，正是『以景结情』的典范。全词上片写景、下片抒情，而景中含情、情寓景中，尤以结句以景结情、含蓄不尽的笔法最为后世称道，正是石湖词清空婉约风格的集中体现。
Allusions
This poem does not use specific historical allusions but relies on traditional imagery: 'a few snowy twigs' uses snow as a metaphor for plum blossoms, following Song dynasty practice (e.g., Lu Meipo: 'Snow loses to plum for fragrance'); 'low geese' are a common image for sending messages or knowing sorrow (e.g., Li Qingzhao: 'Who sent a brocade letter from the clouds? When the geese return'); 'painted tower moon' hints at longing for the distance. These images are used directly without specific references, showing Fan's skill in conveying emotion through scene.
此词无明显事典，而取传统意象成境，清空无痕。『数枝雪』以雪喻梅，承宋人咏梅以雪相映的惯习，如卢梅坡『梅须逊雪三分白，雪却输梅一段香』即以梅雪并举，王安石『遥知不是雪，为有暗香来』更以雪反衬梅，范词以『数枝雪』写白梅，正是这一咏梅传统的延续；『云来去』暗含『白云苍狗』之意象流变，写云天变幻衬花之静。『低雁』为古典诗词传书、知愁的常见意象，李清照『云中谁寄锦书来，雁字回时，月满西楼』即以雁写相思，范词以低雁知人倚楼，取其有情知愁之意；『画楼月』则点望月怀远之境，谢庄《月赋》『隔千里兮共明月』以来，月即为相思怀远之媒。全词即用成象而非用事，不事雕琢而意象清空，正是石湖以景运情、化典为境的妙处。全词即用成象而非用事，梅、云、雁、月诸意象皆承传统而自具清空之境，正见石湖以景运情、化典为境的妙处，不事雕琢而意韵自远。
Commentary
Fan Chengda's ci poems are few in number but pure in style. Modern critics say his short lyrics 'possess the grace of Huajian and the clarity of Su Dongpo'. The lines 'Supreme beauty, supreme sorrow too' are praised for their simplicity and dual perfection of scene and emotion. Commentators believe this plum-blossom lyric, without artificial polish, has lasting flavor, worthy of being passed down alongside Jiang Kui's 'Dark Fragrance' and 'Sparse Shadows'.
范成大词存世不多而格清调雅，历代论者多推其小令。近人谓石湖小令『得花间之婉、兼东坡之清』，此词正是代表：上片写景清冷如画，下片抒情含蓄蕴藉，兼有花间词的婉约与东坡词的清旷。词中『胜绝，愁亦绝』二句，向被推为以简驭繁、情景双绝的典范——六字写尽景之极美与愁之极深，对照鲜明而含蕴无穷。论者以为石湖咏梅小令，不事雕琢而味永，足与姜夔《暗香》《疏影》并传：姜词以清刚写梅之幽独，范词以清空写梅之孤愁，皆南宋咏梅词的上乘之作。此词在文学史上的价值，既在其艺术之精妙，亦在可见南宋文人于偏安乱世中借咏梅寄托孤怀的普遍心态，是研究南宋咏物词的重要文本。此词篇幅虽短，而意境之清空、手法之精妙，足与南宋咏梅词诸名作并传，是范成大词中最具代表性的一首，也是研究南宋咏物词与石湖词风的重要文本，历来选本多录之。
Prosody
Line by line
晚晴风歇，一夜春威折
The evening clears, the wind has stopped; in one night the spring's fierce power is broken.
傍晚放晴，风也停了，一夜之间春寒的威势消退了些。
The evening clears, the wind falls; in one night the harsh might of the spring chill has abated.
起拍先写气候，为梅花出场铺设清冷而转暖的背景。『晚晴风歇』四字写傍晚时分天色放晴、风力停歇，一个『晚』字点明时令时辰，暗示词人日暮凭栏；『风歇』写风之止息，天地由动转静，为后文梅花的静态描绘定下基调。『一夜春威折』写一夜之间春寒的威势折减消退，『春威』将春寒拟人化，仿佛春寒也有威势，而今这威势被一夜东风摧折，天气转暖，梅开将谢。两句一写当下之景、一写时间之变，由暮及夜，由寒转暖，既点出梅花所处的时令——春寒初退、梅蕊将残，又暗含时光流转、好景难久的怅惘，为全词『愁亦绝』的抒情埋下伏笔，起笔从容而情意暗含。
The opening writes the weather first, spreading the cold-turning-warm background for the plum's entrance. The four words the evening clears, the wind has stopped write the evening's clearing and the wind's ceasing, the single evening marking the season's hour, hinting the poet leaning on the rail at dusk; the wind has stopped writes the wind's ceasing, heaven and earth turning from motion to stillness, fixing the tone for the static plum below. In one night the spring's fierce power is broken writes the spring chill's might abated in one night, the spring's fierce power personified, as if the spring chill had a might, and now this might broken by the one night's east wind, the weather warming, the plum at its end. Two lines, one the present scene, one the time's change, from dusk to night, from cold to warm, at once marking the plum's season — the spring chill first abated, the plum buds almost gone, and secretly carrying the wistfulness of the time's flow and the fair scene's hard endurance, planting the foreshadowing for the ci's the grief at its utmost, the opening composed and the feeling hidden.
脉脉花疏天淡
Plum blossoms are tender and sparse, the sky is pale. The word 'momo' (tenderly) personifies the plum, giving it a gentle and lonely quality, already hinting at the poet's solitude.
梅花脉脉含情、花影稀疏、天色淡远。
The plum, tender and silent; sparse the blossoms, pale the sky.
此七字是全词写景的枢纽，兼写梅之神、花之态、天之远。『脉脉』本形容含情不语之态，移写梅花，赋予无情之花以人的情意，梅似脉脉含情、欲语还休，见其温婉孤洁之姿；『花疏』写花影稀疏，点出梅蕊将残、花事将了的时令，疏落之中自有一种清瘦之美；『天淡』写天色淡远，暮色苍茫、云气轻淡，为梅的疏影提供一片淡远的背景。三组意象层层铺开：由梅之神到花之形再到天之境，由近及远，画面清冷疏朗。此句之妙，在句短而意密：七字写尽梅与天的关系，花疏天淡之间，正见梅之孤清与天地之寥廓，景中已暗含孤意，为下片『胜绝，愁亦绝』的抒情张本，是咏物词中善状物神的典型笔法。
The seven characters are the hinge of the ci's scene, writing at once the plum's spirit, the blossoms' bearing, the sky's distance. Tender and silent by nature the bearing of feeling without words, transferred to the plum, endowing the feelingless flower with the human feeling, the plum as if tender and silent, wanting to speak and holding back, showing its gentle, lofty purity; the sparse blossoms writes the sparse flower shadows, marking the season of the plum buds almost gone, the flower affair at its end, the sparse with a lean beauty of itself; the pale sky writes the sky's paleness, the dusk vast, the cloud air thin, providing a pale, distant background for the plum's sparse shadow. Three images layered: from the plum's spirit to the flower's form to the sky's realm, from near to far, the picture cold and sparse. The beauty lies in the short line and the dense meaning: seven characters writing the relation of the plum and the sky, between the sparse blossoms and the pale sky, precisely the plum's lonely purity and the heaven and earth's vastness, the scene already carrying the lonely meaning, preparing for the second stanza's the beauty at its utmost, and the grief at its utmost, the typical brush of the object-singing ci's skill in the thing's spirit.
云来去、数枝雪
Clouds come and go, screening a few snowy branches. The snow metaphor for plum blossoms creates a cold, clear image, with the interplay of clouds and blossoms enhancing the ethereal mood.
云朵来来去去，掩映着数枝如雪的白梅。
The clouds drift to and fro, veiling a few branches of snow.
此句以云衬梅，是全词最见画意的一笔。『云来去』写天上云朵舒卷往来，以动写静，为画面注入流动的气韵；『数枝雪』以雪喻梅，写稀疏的数枝白梅，如雪般莹洁。云之流动与梅之静立、云之广大与梅之疏落，形成动静与大小的双重对照：白云飘过，掩映之间，数枝白梅时隐时现，清冷如画。『雪』字尤妙，既写梅花之色白如雪，又暗含春寒未退的时令，梅雪相映，更见其清绝之姿。此句上承『花疏天淡』的淡远之境，下启下片抒情：如此清绝的景致，正是『胜绝』二字的具体呈现，而云来云去、花事将了，又暗含好景无常的怅惘，为『愁亦绝』埋下情感伏笔，写景之中层层含情。
The line sets the plum against the clouds, the ci's most pictorial stroke. The clouds drift to and fro writes the heaven's clouds unrolling and rolling, writing the stillness through the motion, injecting the flowing breath into the picture; a few branches of snow compares the plum to snow, writing the sparse few branches of white plum, bright as snow. The clouds' flowing and the plum's standing, the clouds' vastness and the plum's sparseness, forming the double contrast of motion and stillness, size: the white clouds drifting, veiling and unveiling, the few white plum branches now hidden now seen, cold and pictorial. The single word snow is especially fine, at once writing the plum's white as snow, and secretly carrying the season of the spring chill not yet gone, the plum and the snow set off, the clear-absolute bearing the deeper. The line follows the above's sparse blossoms, pale sky, leading the second stanza's lyric: such a clear-absolute scene is precisely the concrete presentment of the beauty at its utmost, and the clouds' coming and going, the flower affair at its end, secretly carrying the wistfulness of the fair scene's impermanence, planting the emotional foreshadowing for the grief at its utmost, the scene writing feeling layer on layer.
胜绝，愁亦绝
The beauty at its utmost, and the grief at its utmost too.
景致美到极点，愁绪也到了极点。
The scene is beautiful to the utmost; the sorrow is also at its utmost.
此六字是全词抒情的核心，以极简之笔写极深之情。『胜绝』总结上片：晚晴风歇、花疏天淡、云来数枝雪，此景之美已到极点；『愁亦绝』陡转写情：景愈美而愁愈深，此愁之深亦到极点。两个『绝』字对举，一写景之极美，一写愁之极深，以乐景反衬哀情，对照强烈而含蕴无穷。其妙有三：其一，以简驭繁，六字收尽上片全部景物与下片全部情感，笔力千钧；其二，以『亦』字勾连，点明美与愁并非并列，而是因果——正因为景致美到极点，才更觉孤身无伴之愁深到极点，美是愁的触媒；其三，短句顿挫，两个三字句如两声长叹，声情与辞情相谐，为下句『此情谁共说』的孤怀蓄势，是宋词中以短句写深情的典范。
The six characters are the core of the ci's lyric, writing the deepest feeling in the sparsest brush. The beauty at its utmost sums the first stanza: the evening clearing and wind stopped, the sparse blossoms and pale sky, the clouds and the few branches of snow, this scene's beauty already at the extreme; and the grief at its utmost suddenly turning to feeling: the scene the fairer and the grief the deeper, this grief's depth also at the extreme. The two words at its utmost set in contrast, one writing the scene's extreme beauty, one the grief's extreme depth, setting off the grief through the joyous scene, the contrast strong and the implication endless. The beauty is threefold: one controlling the many through the few, six characters gathering the first stanza's whole scenery and the second stanza's whole feeling, the force a thousand jun; two linking through the word also, marking that beauty and grief are not parallel, but cause and effect — precisely because the scene's beauty is at the extreme, the grief of the lone, companionless self the deeper, beauty the grief's touchstone; three the short lines' restrained turning, the two three-character lines like two long sighs, the sound and the feeling in harmony, storing force for the below's with whom can I speak this feeling?, the model of Song ci's short lines writing deep feeling.
惟有两行低雁，知人倚、画楼月
Only two rows of low-flying geese know that I lean on the painted tower in moonlight. The geese and moon accompany the solitary figure, conveying emotion implicitly and ending the poem with a lingering melancholy.
只有那两行低飞的大雁，知道有人正倚着画楼、望着明月。
Only two lines of low-flying geese know that someone leans by the painted tower in the moon.
结拍以景结情，是全词余韵最悠长的一笔。上句『此情谁共说』问孤怀无人可诉，此处不正面作答，而以『惟有两行低雁』轻轻接住：没有人知道我的愁绪，只有那两行低飞的雁，仿佛懂得有人正倚着画楼、望着明月。『低雁』写雁飞之低，仿佛依人低语、通人情意；『知人倚、画楼月』以雁之知反衬人之孤：连雁都知道有人倚楼望月，而人间的知己却一个也无，愈写雁之有情，愈见人之孤寂。全句以景语收束：雁、楼、月构成清冷的画面，倚楼望月之人的身影与低飞的大雁相映，愁而不露，含蓄不尽。此结句脱胎于『雁字回时』的相思传统，而以『知人』二字翻出新意，正是石湖词以景运情、词尽而意不尽的典范收尾。
The closing closes emotion in scene, the ci's longest aftertone. The above's with whom can I speak this feeling? asks the lonely heart's none to tell, and here, not answering directly, gently catching on only two lines of low-flying geese: no one knows my grief, only the two lines of low-flying geese, as if knowing someone leans by the painted tower, watching the moon. The low geese writes the geese flying low, as if leaning to whisper, understanding the human feeling; knows that someone leans by the painted tower, in the moon sets the human loneliness against the geese' knowing: even the geese know of the man leaning on the tower and watching the moon, and the human confidants not one, the geese the more feelingful and the human the more lonely. The whole line closes in the scenic words: the geese, the tower, the moon form the cold picture, the leaning-on-the-tower moon-watching figure set off against the low-flying geese, the grief without exposure, restrained and unending. The closing is born from the geese-returning-letter longing tradition, and yet turning the new meaning through the word knows, precisely Shihu ci's model close of moving feeling through scene, the words ended and the meaning not ended.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Both praise plum blossoms; Jiang uses a beautiful woman as a metaphor, Fan expresses solitary sorrow. Both are ethereal and refined, representing the Southern Song lyric style.
姜夔《疏影·苔枝缀玉》与范成大《霜天晓角·梅》同咏梅花，同属南宋咏梅词清空一脉，而取径各异。姜词以美人拟梅，写『苔枝缀玉，有翠禽小小，枝上同宿』的幽独，又借昭君、寿阳公主等典故层层拓开，寄慨遥深，清刚峭拔，是长调咏物的极致；范词则纯以清景写孤愁，不涉典故，只写风歇花疏、云来雪枝的月夜之梅，下片以『胜绝，愁亦绝』直抒，短小含蓄。姜词以典运情，辞采清空而意脉曲折；范词以景运情，笔墨省净而余味悠长。一长一短、一密一疏，合观可见南宋咏梅词的两条路径，亦可比较白石之清刚与石湖之清婉的不同风神。
卢梅坡·雪梅·其二 Lu Meipo's 'Snow and Plum: Part Two' 卢梅坡 · 同以雪、梅入咏，一论理一抒情 Same subject (plum and snow)Lu's poem discusses the relationship between snow and plum, while Fan's lyric focuses on plum under moonlight. One is philosophical, the other emotional.
卢梅坡《雪梅》与范成大此词皆以雪与梅并举入咏，而取径一理一情。卢诗『梅须逊雪三分白，雪却输梅一段香』以梅雪互比，论其长短优劣，得出『骚人阁笔费评章』的哲趣，是宋诗以议论为诗、理趣盎然的代表；范词『云来去、数枝雪』则以雪喻梅，纯写月夜白梅的清冷之美，不着议论，只以景语传情，下片转入孤愁，是词以情胜的典型。卢诗以梅雪之辨寄理趣，范词以梅雪之景写孤怀；一尚理、一尚情，一以议论见长、一以意境取胜。二作对读，正可见诗与词两种文体在题材处理上的不同倾向，亦可比较宋诗之理趣与宋词之情韵。
王安石·梅花 Wang Anshi's 'Plum Blossom' 王安石 · 同咏梅重孤洁，一写品格一写孤愁 Same subject (plum blossom)Wang's poem emphasizes the solitary purity of plum blossoms and its symbolic meaning; Fan's lyric centers on the melancholy beauty of the scene. Both highlight the lonely aspect of plum.
王安石《梅花》『墙角数枝梅，凌寒独自开。遥知不是雪，为有暗香来』与范成大此词同咏梅之孤洁，而寄托各异。王诗写墙角数枝梅凌寒独开，以『不是雪』『暗香来』写其色香之辨，赞美梅花不惧严寒、孤高自守的品格，是借咏梅言志之作，气象清刚；范词写月夜疏梅，脉脉含情、云掩数枝，以『胜绝，愁亦绝』写对梅生愁的孤怀，是借咏梅抒愁之作，情致幽婉。王诗之梅是品格象征，独立而自信；范词之梅是情感寄托，疏淡而含愁。一咏梅之志，一咏梅之情，可见宋人咏梅的两种心态，亦可比较五绝之凝练与词调之婉转的不同艺术。