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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

浣溪沙

Huanxisha: A Beauty Recalled

贺铸

He Zhu

浮动花钗影鬓烟。
浅妆浓笑有馀妍。
酒醺檀点语凭肩。
留不住时分钿镜，旧曾行处失金莲。
碧云芳草恨年年。

Her flowered hairpin sways, its shadow like mist over her temples.
In light makeup, with a full smile, she has beauty to spare.
Flushed with wine, lips rouged with sandal red, she leans on my shoulder as she speaks.
When the moment could be kept no longer we split the jeweled mirror; where she once walked, her golden-lotus traces are lost.
Green clouds, fragrant grass — my sorrow, year after year.
Listen

Meaning

A forty-two-character memory: in three strokes He Zhu paints a woman at her most alluring — swaying hairpin, light makeup, wine-warm whisper at his shoulder — then, in two, records the parting (the split mirror, the vanished footsteps) and the yearly return of sorrow with the green clouds and spring grass. The whole arc of a love, from meeting to loss, is compressed into one small lyric.

浮动花钗影鬓烟。浅妆浓笑有馀妍。酒醺檀点语凭肩。留不住时分钿镜，旧曾行处失金莲。碧云芳草恨年年。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] Her hairpin trembles, casting a shadow like smoke across her temples; lightly made up, smiling richly, she is beautiful beyond need. Flushed with wine, her lips a sandal red, she speaks leaning on his shoulder. Then: the moment could not be kept; the mirror was divided; where she walked, her traces are gone. Every year now, when the clouds turn green and the grass grows fragrant, the sorrow returns. [Structure] The lyric is a time machine. Three lines of warm present — a scene that must be a memory, since it ends in parting — and two lines of cold aftermath; the whole second half hangs on two objects, the split mirror and the lost footprints, which do the work of a hundred words of grief. [Imagery] Every image is feminine and tactile: hairpin, temples, makeup, wine, shoulder. Even the closing landscape — green clouds, fragrant grass — is drawn from the classical vocabulary of the absent woman. No emotion is named; the objects, and the word hen ('sorrow'), carry it.

【白话串讲】 贺铸写《浣溪沙》：“浮动花钗影鬓烟。浅妆浓笑有馀妍”——“酒醺檀点语凭肩”——“留不住时分钿镜，旧曾行处失金莲”——“碧云芳草恨年年”——他写离别——碧云芳草恨年年。 【意象与手法】 “浮动花钗影鬓烟。浅妆浓笑有馀妍”写女子之态；“酒醺檀点语凭肩”写凭肩私语；“留不住时分钿镜，旧曾行处失金莲”写留不住；结以“碧云芳草恨年年”写年年之恨。含蓄深婉、以景写情。 【情感与主旨】 贺铸写春日怀人之作，写与女子的相遇相悦与别后年年相思之恨，含蓄深婉，体现贺铸词深情婉转的风格。 【名句点睛】 常考“酒醺檀点语凭肩”以凭肩私语写亲昵；“碧云芳草恨年年”以碧云芳草写年年之恨。

Background

He Zhu (1052–1125), courtesy name Fanghui, hao Qinghu yilao, came from Weizhou (modern Weihui, Henan). A Northern Song poet of wide temperament — his lyrics range from the tender to the heroic, and he is nicknamed 'He Meizi' for one famous plum-blossom line — he spent much of his life in minor office. Love lyrics of this kind, probably written for or about singing girls, form a large part of his collection; this Huanxisha is among the most anthologized. It represents the Northern Song wanyue (delicate-restraint) manner at its most economical.

《浣溪沙》为北宋词人贺铸所作词。贺铸（1052—1125），字方回，号庆湖遗老，卫州（今河南卫辉）人，北宋词人，词风兼婉约豪放，人称「贺梅子」。此词写春日怀人。词中「浮动花钗影鬓烟。浅妆浓笑有馀妍」写女子之态；「酒醺檀点语凭肩」写凭肩私语；「留不住时分钿镜，旧曾行处失金莲」写留不住；「碧云芳草恨年年」写年年之恨。贺铸此词以春日怀人、碧云芳草写其怀人之情，含蓄深婉，是贺铸词中的名篇。此篇《浣溪沙》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。此篇《浣溪沙》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。

Art

The chief technique is compression: three lines of sensual detail achieve a whole portrait, and the second stanza's two objects — the divided jeweled mirror, the lost golden-lotus footprints — stand for the entire history of the affair. The second technique is the warm-to-cold swing: the upper stanza glows with wine and color, the lower stanza is all absence, and the contrast itself produces the grief. Third, the closing line hands emotion over to landscape: 'green clouds, fragrant grass' are the eternal scenery of spring, and only the word hen admits that for the poet spring has become an anniversary of loss. Nothing is explained; the reader must supply the story.

此词艺术上以「含蓄深婉、以景写恨」见长。全词上片写女子之态与凭肩私语，下片写留不住与年年之恨。上片「浮动花钗影鬓烟。浅妆浓笑有馀妍」写女子之态：浮动花钗影鬓烟；浅妆浓笑有馀妍。「酒醺檀点语凭肩」写凭肩私语：酒醺檀点语凭肩。下片「留不住时分钿镜，旧曾行处失金莲」写留不住：留不住时分钿镜，旧曾行处失金莲。「碧云芳草恨年年」写年年之恨：碧云芳草恨年年。全词含蓄深婉，以景写恨，是贺铸词中的名篇。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。

Allusions

Golden lotus (jin lian): from the biography of Pan Fei in the History of the Southern Dynasties — the favorite of the Marquis of Donghun, who had lotus patterns inlaid in gold for her to step on; hence 'golden lotus' is a classic allusion to a woman's small feet and her traces. Green clouds (bi yun): from Jiang Yan's 'Imitation of the Monk Xiuzhi's Lament for Parting' — 'at sunset the green clouds gather, the fair one has still not come.' Fragrant grass (fang cao) belongs to the oldest vocabulary of longing. The divided mirror echoes the Tang story of Xu Dexian and Princess Lechang, who broke a mirror on parting and were reunited by its halves — a pledge of return that, in this lyric, remains unredeemed.

词中「花钗」「鬓烟」「浅妆浓笑」「檀点」「凭肩」「钿镜」「金莲」「碧云」「芳草」等语，皆含典故故实。「花钗」写花形之钗，「浮动花钗影鬓烟」写花钗浮动、影于鬓发如烟；「浅妆浓笑」写淡淡妆、浓浓笑；「檀点」写唇间檀红之点（檀为浅绛色）；「凭肩」写并肩相倚；「钿镜」写嵌钿之镜；「金莲」用《南史》潘妃步步生莲之典，以金莲写女子之足，「旧曾行处失金莲」写旧曾行处已失其金莲足迹；「碧云」用江淹《拟休上人怨别》「日暮碧云合，佳人殊未来」之意；「芳草」写芳草萋萋，暗含怀人之意。词人以花钗、鬓烟、檀点、钿镜、金莲、碧云、芳草等语入词，不着痕迹，而把春日怀人之情写得真切可感，是善于熔铸意象的体现。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。

Commentary

The lyric has been continuously anthologized since the Song and is often cited as proof that the Huanxisha tune, usually reserved for rustic charm, can bear a complete love tragedy. Critics single out 'when the moment could be kept no longer we split the jeweled mirror; where she once walked, her golden-lotus traces are lost' as one of the most economical farewells in Chinese lyric: two objects — one kept, one gone — contain the whole before and after. Later critics have noted the courtesan-world setting of He Zhu's love lyrics while praising their sincerity. Either way, the piece survives on its surfaces: the reader remembers the hairpin's shadow long before any of the sorrow arrives.

这首《浣溪沙》，是贺铸写春日怀人之作，写花钗鬓影、酒醺凭肩、留不住之恨，含蓄深婉。上片写女子之态与凭肩私语：「浮动花钗影鬓烟。浅妆浓笑有馀妍」——浮动花钗影鬓烟；浅妆浓笑有馀妍。写女子之态：花钗浮动、影于鬓发如烟，淡妆浓笑、别有余妍——写尽女子之娇媚动人；「酒醺檀点语凭肩」——酒醺檀点语凭肩。写凭肩私语：酒醺之际、唇间檀点，语而凭肩——写尽酒醺凭肩私语之亲昵。下片写留不住与年年之恨：「留不住时分钿镜，旧曾行处失金莲」——留不住时分钿镜，旧曾行处失金莲。写留不住：留不住之时、分钿镜为证，旧曾行处、已失其金莲足迹——分钿镜写其别时，失金莲写其人去，人既去而旧处犹寻其迹；「碧云芳草恨年年」——碧云芳草恨年年。写年年之恨：碧云芳草之间，恨年年——以碧云芳草写年年之恨，春去春来、恨亦年年。这「碧云芳草恨年年」，是全词之结：以碧云芳草写年年之恨，含蓄深婉。全词含蓄深婉，以景写恨，正是贺铸词中的名篇。

Prosody

Form Ci lyric in the tune Huanxisha, a double-stanza form of 42 characters, three lines per stanza, with level-tone rhymes.词（浣溪沙，双调）
Rhyme Rhymed on level (ping) tones: yan, yan, jian, lian, nian — all in the xian rhyme group. The bright, level rhymes keep the lyric singing even over grief, as if memory itself must move in smooth cadence.此词为《浣溪沙》调，双调四十二字，上片三句三平韵，下片三句两平韵。押平声韵：「烟」「妍」「肩」「莲」「年」押先部韵。词体依词谱而定，句式整齐（七言），音节流丽，正与写春日怀人的含蓄深婉相称，也见其以七言句写怀人的自然。
Tone pattern All six lines are heptasyllabic, three to a stanza, giving the tune its famous even, flowing gait — the least jagged of the short ci forms. In recitation the first stanza should glide (each line ending on a level-tone rhyme that lets the voice stay up), while the fourth line's couplet structure — 'liu bu zhu shi fen dian jing, / jiu ceng xing chu shi jin lian' — introduces a subtle pause before its second half, the first small stumble in the poem's smoothness, marking where memory breaks.句式上，上片「浮动花钗影鬓烟。浅妆浓笑有馀妍」写女子之态，音节流丽；「酒醺檀点语凭肩」写凭肩私语，音节缠绵；下片「留不住时分钿镜，旧曾行处失金莲」写留不住，音节怅惘；「碧云芳草恨年年」写年年之恨，音节悠长。全词音节由流丽而缠绵、由怅惘而悠长，句式整齐、音韵流丽，读来如春日怀人、碧云芳草之音，含蓄而动人。
Reading note Huanxisha, 'Silk-Washing Sands,' is one of the oldest and most widely used ci tunes, originally a drinking-game song, which is why its forty-two even characters suit brief, luminous impressions. He Zhu uses the tune's innate smoothness against its content: the surface never stumbles, even when reporting that the mirror is split and the traces lost. Recited at a moderate pace with the rhymes allowed to ring, the lyric sounds like someone telling a happy story whose ending they already know.此词为《浣溪沙》调，是贺铸写春日怀人之作，也是其词中的名篇。全词的艺术特色在于「含蓄深婉、以景写恨」：上片「浮动花钗影鬓烟。浅妆浓笑有馀妍」写女子之态、「酒醺檀点语凭肩」写凭肩私语；下片「留不住时分钿镜，旧曾行处失金莲」写留不住、「碧云芳草恨年年」写年年之恨。全词含蓄深婉，以景写恨。尤为精妙者，是「留不住时分钿镜，旧曾行处失金莲」以分钿镜、失金莲写别离，含蓄深婉；而「碧云芳草恨年年」以碧云芳草写年年之恨，正是贺铸词「含蓄深婉」的典范，为历代词选所常收。《浣溪沙》一诗之所以读来声情并茂，正在于诗人以声韵配合情思、以节奏烘托意境，音节之长短、平仄之起伏，皆与诗意相为表里，此亦可见中国古典诗歌声律之美与匠心之工。

Line by line

浮动花钗影鬓烟。

Her flowered hairpin sways, its shadow like mist over her temples.

浮动花钗影鬓烟。

The flowered hairpin trembles and floats; its shadow lies on the mist of her temples.

首句写女子之态，起笔即见其人。「浮动花钗影鬓烟」写浮动花钗影鬓烟，「浮动」写花钗之摇动，「花钗」写花形之钗，「影鬓烟」写其影于鬓发如烟。一句以「浮动」写花钗之摇动、以「影鬓烟」写其影于鬓发，写尽女子鬓边花钗浮动、如烟之态。起笔写其人，为全词写怀人作铺垫，是「以人起兴」的妙笔。此句以寥寥数语写尽深意，情韵兼胜，正是全诗点睛之笔。其于字句之间暗藏波澜，于平易之中寄寓曲折，尤当反复涵泳，方能得其三昧。

The opening writes the woman, the figure rising at the first stroke. The flowered hairpin trembles and floats: the trembles the pin's motion; its shadow lies on the mist of her temples writes the shadow on the misty hair. One line: the trembling pin and the shadow on the misty temples — the flowered pin floating at her temples, mist-soft. Rising on the person, the method of writing longing through her image, the pointed stroke.

浅妆浓笑有馀妍。

In light makeup, with a full smile, she has beauty to spare.

浅妆浓笑有馀妍。

Lightly made up, she laughs aloud, her charm lingering.

此句写女子之妍，是全词写其娇态的关键。「浅妆浓笑有馀妍」写浅妆浓笑有馀妍，「浅妆」写淡淡妆、「浓笑」写浓浓笑、「有馀妍」写别有余妍。一句以「浅妆浓笑」写其妆笑相映、以「有馀妍」写其妍态有余，写尽女子淡妆浓笑间别有余妍之态。以妆笑写妍，含蓄而传神，是「以态写妍」的点睛之笔。此句以寥寥数语写尽深意，情韵兼胜，正是全诗点睛之笔。其于字句之间暗藏波澜，于平易之中寄寓曲折，尤当反复涵泳，方能得其三昧。

This line writes her beauty, the key to the ci's charm. Lightly made up, she laughs aloud, her charm lingering: the light makeup, the rich laughter, the lingering charm. One line: the light makeup and the full laugh, the charm lingering — beauty in the makeup and the laughter. Writing beauty through bearing, the pointed stroke.

留不住时分钿镜，旧曾行处失金莲。

When the moment could be kept no longer we split the jeweled mirror; where she once walked, her golden-lotus traces are lost.

留不住时分钿镜，旧曾行处失金莲。

When she could not be kept, they divided the jeweled mirror; where she once walked, the golden lotus steps are gone.

此二句写留不住，是全词写别离的关键。「留不住时分钿镜」写留不住之时分钿镜，「留不住」写其人留不住，「分钿镜」写别时以钿镜分执为证；「旧曾行处失金莲」写旧曾行处失金莲，「旧曾行处」写旧日曾行之处，「失金莲」写已失其足迹。两句一写留不住时分钿镜、一写旧曾行处失金莲，以分钿镜写其别、以失金莲写其人去，写尽留不住其人、旧处犹寻其迹之情。以物写别，含蓄而深挚，是「以物写别」的点睛之笔。

These two lines write the parting, the key of the ci's separation. When she could not be kept, they divided the jeweled mirror writes the divided mirror as the token of parting; where she once walked, the golden lotus steps are gone writes the vanished footprints. Two lines: the divided mirror at the parting, the lost lotus steps where she walked — the parting, the vanished trace. Writing parting through objects, the pointed stroke.

碧云芳草恨年年。

Green clouds, fragrant grass — my sorrow, year after year.

碧云芳草恨年年。

Beneath the blue clouds and fragrant grass, grief, year after year.

尾句写年年之恨，是全词立意的落点。「碧云芳草恨年年」写碧云芳草恨年年，「碧云」用江淹日暮碧云之意，写碧云，「芳草」写芳草萋萋，「恨年年」写恨之年年。一句以碧云芳草写景、以恨年年写恨，写尽碧云芳草之间、恨年复一年——春去春来，恨亦年年。以景写恨，含蓄而深挚，是全词最动人处，也是「以景写恨」的点睛之笔。

The close writes the yearly grief, the landing point of the ci. Beneath the blue clouds and fragrant grass, grief, year after year: the blue clouds using Jiang Yan's blue clouds at dusk, the fragrant grass, the grief year after year. One line: the blue clouds and fragrant grass, the grief returning each year — spring goes and comes, and the grief goes on. Writing grief through scene, the most moving place of the ci.

Study

Word focus

浮动 fu dong: 'swaying,' 'trembling.' It puts the hairpin, and the whole scene, in motion at the poem's first word — a shimmering, unsteady light, as if the memory itself were moving. 「浮动」写花钗摇动，是写女子之态的关键。「浮动花钗影鬓烟」着一「浮动」，写花钗之摇动——着一「浮动」，写鬓边花钗摇动、影如烟，见女子之态。两字写尽花钗之态，是「以词写态」的妙笔。「浮动」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
妍 yan: 'beauty,' 'loveliness.' 'Beauty to spare' (you yu yan) praises not a fixed face but an overflow of charm; one word measures an excess that cannot be spent. 「妍」字写有馀妍，是写女子娇妍的关键。「浅妆浓笑有馀妍」着一「妍」，写其妍丽——着一「妍」字，写淡妆浓笑间别有余妍，见其娇妍之态。一字写尽女子之娇妍，是「以一字写妍」的点睛之词。「妍」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
凭肩 ping jian: 'shoulder to shoulder,' 'leaning on the shoulder.' A single gesture contains the whole intimacy of the affair — closeness, whisper, wine-warmth — the warmest point of the memory. 「凭肩」写语凭肩，是写亲昵之态的关键。「酒醺檀点语凭肩」着一「凭肩」，写并肩相倚——着一「凭肩」，写酒醺之际凭肩私语，见其亲昵。两字写尽亲昵之态，是「以词写态」的点睛之词。「凭肩」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
失 shi: 'lost,' 'gone.' In 'her golden-lotus traces are lost' the verb converts a place into an absence: she is not merely departed, her very prints have been erased from the old paths, so no search can succeed. 「失」字写失金莲，是写其人已去的关键。「旧曾行处失金莲」着一「失」，写已失其足迹——着一「失」字，写旧处已失其足迹，见其人已去、不可复寻。一字写尽人去之憾，是「以一字写别」的点睛之词。「失」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。

Related Reading

浣溪沙·一曲新词酒一杯 Huanxisha: A New Song over a Cup of Wine 晏殊 · 同用浣溪沙词牌写惜春怀人之情，一写无可奈何花落去、一写碧云芳草恨年年，皆于景物变迁中见年年之恨 Both use the Huanxisha tune to write of spring's passing and longing for a person; one writes 'nothing to be done as the flowers fall away,' the other 'green clouds, fragrant grass — my sorrow, year after year.'

Yan Shu's famous lyric watches flowers fall and swallows return with a philosopher's calm — sorrow is acknowledged, then balanced by cosmic recurrence. He Zhu's lyric stays inside one personal loss: the same spring scenery returns, but for him recurrence is the wound, not the consolation. Together they map the two poles of the Song lyric of time — Yan Shu's tranquil acceptance and He Zhu's intimate, unresolved grief.

晏殊《浣溪沙·一曲新词酒一杯》「无可奈何花落去，似曾相识燕归来。小园香径独徘徊」，写春逝之无可奈何，是宋词写惜时的名篇；贺铸《浣溪沙》则以「留不住时分钿镜，旧曾行处失金莲」「碧云芳草恨年年」写留不住、恨年年。两词同用浣溪沙词牌写惜春怀人之情：一写无可奈何花落去、以花落燕归写惜时，一写碧云芳草恨年年、以春去写恨；一为晏殊之温润、一为贺铸之深婉，并读正可见宋词写「惜春怀人」的两种笔法，皆于景物变迁中见年年之恨。

 晏殊·蝶恋花·槛菊愁烟兰泣露 Dielianhua: Chrysanthemums by the Railing Worry over Mist, Orchids Weep Dew 晏殊 · 同写离别怀人、独处之恨，一写独上高楼望尽天涯路、一写旧曾行处失金莲，皆于离别之后见怀人之恨 Both write of separation and the solitary longing that follows; one writes 'alone I climb the high tower and gaze to the end of the sky-road,' the other 'where she once walked, her golden-lotus traces are lost.'

Yan Shu seeks the absent person by looking outward — climbing the tower, scanning the horizon — a grand, open gesture. He Zhu seeks by revisiting old places and finding them erased, a small, private gesture. The comparison shows the delicate-restraint school's range: the same wanyue manner can expand into panoramic longing or contract to a footprint in the dust.

晏殊《蝶恋花·槛菊愁烟兰泣露》「明月不谙离恨苦，斜光到晓穿朱户」「昨夜西风凋碧树，独上高楼，望尽天涯路」，写秋日离恨、望尽天涯，是宋词写离愁的名篇；贺铸《浣溪沙》则以「留不住时分钿镜，旧曾行处失金莲」「碧云芳草恨年年」写留不住、恨年年。两词同写离别怀人、独处之恨：一写独上高楼望尽天涯路、以望远写恨，一写旧曾行处失金莲、以旧处寻迹写恨；一为晏殊之温润、一为贺铸之深婉，并读正可见宋词写「离别之恨」的两种笔法，皆于离别之后见怀人之恨。