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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

姜夔·鹧鸪天·元夕有所梦

Partridge Sky · A Dream on Lantern Festival Night

姜夔

Jiang Kui

婉约graceful and restrained 爱情love 愁思sorrow

鹧鸪天·元夕有所梦肥水东流无尽期，当初不合种相思。
梦中未比丹青见，暗里忽惊山鸟啼。
春未绿，鬓先丝，人间别久不成悲。
谁教岁岁红莲夜，两处沉吟各自知。

The Fei River flows east without end;
I should not have planted this longing in the first place.
In the dream you were not clearer than in the portrait;
In the dark I started—the mountain bird cried.

Spring not yet green, my temples first turn to silk;
In the human world, long apart, one feels no more grief.
Who bids the yearly red-lotus night
That in two places we brood, each knowing our own?

Listen

Meaning

The Fei River flows east without end; I should not have planted this longing in the first place. In the dream you were not clearer than in the portrait; in the dark I started—the mountain bird cried. Spring not yet green, my temples first turn to silk; in the human world, long apart, one feels no more grief. Who bids the yearly red-lotus night that in two places we brood, each knowing our own?

肥水滚滚向东流去，没有尽头，我当初真不该与你种下这段相思。梦里的你竟还不如画像中清晰真切，正暗自伤情，忽然被山鸟的啼声惊醒。春光尚未染绿草木，我的双鬓却已先斑白如丝；人世间别离太久，连悲苦也似乎淡了。是谁让年年元宵灯火（红莲）之夜，你我天各一方，各自低声沉吟，心里的思念只有彼此知晓。

Appreciation

This lyric is known for its 'clear emptiness' and 'refined elegance'. The opening 'the Fei River flows east without end' uses flowing water to figure the unending longing, rising with both metaphor and comparison. 'I should not have planted this longing' uses a word of utter regret to write a love to the point of infatuation. The lower part 'spring not yet green, my temples first turn to silk' contrasts the scene's not-yet-warm with the man's already-old. 'In the human world, long apart, one feels no more grief' is a line that turns back—long apart seems to forget grief, yet the grief is deeper. The closing two lines use the 'red-lotus night' festive scene to set off loneliness, writing 'in two places we brood'—space far apart yet the heart-souls keep each other, implicit and deep, typically showing Baishi's 'supremely high resonance' manner.

【白话串讲】姜夔在元宵夜梦见旧日恋人：“肥水东流无尽期，当初不合种相思”——当初就不该种下这相思。“春未绿，鬓先丝，人间别久不成悲”——离别久了，连悲伤都变淡了，只剩下习惯。【意象与手法】此词艺术上以「清空」见长而兼「骚雅」之致。起句「肥水东流无尽期」以流水喻相思不绝，兴中有比；「不合种相思」用悔极之辞写痴绝之情。过片「春未绿，鬓先丝」以景之未暖对人之已老，对照强烈。「人间别久不成悲」是反跌之笔，久别似忘悲而实悲愈深。结二句以「红莲夜」乐景衬哀，分写「两处沉吟」，空间遥隔而心魂相守，含蓄深婉。【情感与主旨】此词作于宋宁宗庆元三年（1197）元宵。姜夔年轻时在合肥与一位善弹琵琶的歌女相恋，后被迫分离，终其一生未能忘情。是年元夕，词人梦见旧人，醒后凄然命笔，将数十年的相思压缩于一宵。【名句点睛】常考「肥水东流无尽期」的兴寄手法与以流水喻情之绵长；「人间别久不成悲」的反语之妙；「红莲夜」乐景写哀与「两处沉吟」的空间对照。

Background

This lyric was written on the Lantern Festival night of the third year of Qingyuan (1197) of Emperor Ningzong. In his youth Jiang Kui loved a lute-playing singing girl by the Red-Rail Bridge in Hefei; later forced apart, he could never forget her all his life, and recalled her many times in his lyrics. That year on the festival night he dreamed of the old one, and woke to write in desolation. 'The Fei River' is the Hefei Fei River, darkly pointing to the Hefei love affair. The whole writes dream as truth, truth as dream, compressing decades of longing into one night—a famous love lyric in the Baishi collection, to be read with his Treading the Grass · From Mian East and others.

姜夔（约1155—1221），字尧章，号白石道人，鄱阳人，南宋格律词派代表词人，其词以「清空骚雅」著称。此词作于宋宁宗庆元三年（1197）元宵。姜夔年轻时客居合肥，在赤栏桥边与一位善弹琵琶的歌女相恋，后被迫分离，终其一生未能忘情，曾多次于词中追忆（《淡黄柳》《凄凉犯》等皆涉合肥情事）。是年元夕，词人梦见旧人，醒后凄然命笔，成此词。「肥水」即流经合肥的肥水（今东淝河），暗指合肥情事。全词以梦写真、以真写梦，将数十年的相思压缩于一宵，是白石集中恋情词的名篇，与《踏莎行·自沔东来》诸作可相参证。此时姜夔漂泊江湖，依人作客，家国之痛与身世之悲交织，故元夕一梦，百感交集，词虽写恋情而境界深沉。姜夔一生布衣，依人作客，漂泊于江淮湘鄂之间，其恋情与身世皆融于词中。合肥情事始于其二十余岁客居合肥之时，此后数十年间，白石屡于词中追忆，如《踏莎行》「淮南皓月冷千山，冥冥归去无人管」、《淡黄柳》「怕梨花落尽成秋色」，皆涉此情。此词作于庆元三年元夕，距合肥情事已逾二十年，而一梦犹新，正见其用情之深、难忘之久。又宋宁宗庆元间，韩侂胄当国，时局扰攘，白石漂泊愈甚，元夕一梦，情与境俱哀，故全词于相思之中时见身世之感，为白石恋情词中最沉痛的一首。

Art

This lyric is known for its 'clear emptiness' and 'refined elegance'. The opening 'the Fei River flows east without end' uses flowing water to figure the unending longing, rising with both metaphor and comparison; 'I should not have planted this longing' uses a word of utter regret to write a love to the point of infatuation. The second stanza 'spring not yet green, my temples first turn to silk' contrasts the scene's not-yet-warm with the man's already-old, sharp. 'In the human world, long apart, one feels no more grief' is a line that turns back—long apart seems to forget grief, yet the grief is deeper. The closing two lines use the 'red-lotus night' festive scene to set off loneliness, writing 'in two places we brood'—space far apart yet the heart-souls keep each other, implicit and deep, typically showing Baishi's 'supremely high resonance' manner.

此词艺术上以「清空」见长而兼「骚雅」之致。起句「肥水东流无尽期」以流水喻相思不绝，兴中有比，一开篇即以空间的永恒写情之无尽；「当初不合种相思」用悔极之辞写痴绝之情——说不该种，正是种得太深，悔语即痴语，看似轻巧实沉痛。过片「春未绿，鬓先丝」以景之未暖对人之已老，春回而人老，对照强烈，苍凉入骨；「人间别久不成悲」是反跌之笔，久别似忘悲而实悲愈深，以淡语写至哀，是白石词「以清空写沉郁」的典型。结二句「谁教岁岁红莲夜，两处沉吟各自知」，以「红莲夜」乐景衬哀，分写「两处沉吟」，空间遥隔而心魂相守，含蓄深婉，余味不尽。全词虚实相生、淡浓相济，典型体现白石词「韵高绝」的格调。又此词章法之妙在「时空对照」：上片由「肥水东流」之永恒，写相思之无尽；由「当初」之种因，写今日之追悔，时间由远及近；下片由「春未绿，鬓先丝」之年华老去，写「别久不成悲」之麻木，再以「岁岁红莲夜」之年年重复，写「两处沉吟」之年年相思，时间循环往复，而情意愈久愈深。空间上，「肥水」之东流、「两处」之遥隔，皆写相思之无涯与相隔之无期，时空交织，遂成清空而沉郁的极致，为白石词「以虚写实」的最高表现。

Allusions

This lyric uses no obscure allusion, but lodges feeling in everyday images. 'Red lotus' refers to the lotus-shaped coloured lanterns hung at the Lantern Festival (or river lamps); the Song Lantern Festival had the 'red-lotus fire-tree' custom—here the festive object marks the festival night, and also figures the lanterns like lotus, the bustle contrasting the loneliness. 'Portrait' originally means painting pigment, extended to a portrait; 'in the dream not clearer than the portrait' says the dream-shadow is fuzzy, not as clear as the portrait, darkly using the 'recognize in the painting' tradition of missing an old one. The whole's allusions are extremely faint, relying wholly on plain description and bi-xing to win—exactly fitting Baishi's creed of 'not occupying the right position', writing the void with the real.

本词无明显僻典，而以日常意象寄情，正合白石「不犯正位」、以虚写实的主张。「红莲」指元宵节所悬莲花状彩灯（或指河灯），宋代元宵有「红莲火树」之俗，此处以节令之物点明元夕，兼喻灯火如莲、热闹反衬孤寂。「丹青」本指绘画颜料，引申为画像，「梦中未比丹青见」言梦影模糊不如画像真切，暗用「画图省识」一类思念故人的传统意象——画犹可辨，梦更模糊，相思之深由此见出。「肥水」一词双关：既是地名，又暗含「肥水东流」之「水」与「相思」之「绵长」的比兴。整体用典极淡，全凭白描与比兴取胜，将一段刻骨铭心的旧情，写得既空灵又沉挚，正是白石恋情词的独得之境。又「红莲」之灯，宋人词中多见，如辛弃疾《青玉案》「一夜鱼龙舞」写元宵灯火之盛，皆以元宵之热闹写人间之欢乐；白石独以「红莲夜」反衬「两处沉吟」，乐景哀情，倍增其哀。又「丹青」本指绘画，古人有「画图省识春风面」（杜甫《咏怀古迹》）之句，以画像之可识反衬真人之难见，白石「梦中未比丹青见」正承此意而更进一层——连画像都不如，则相思之久、记忆之淡可知，化用古诗而不着痕迹，正是白石以淡笔写深情的本领。

Commentary

The Qing Chen Tingzhuo, in his White Rain Studio Lyric Remarks, judged Baishi's lyrics 'clear, empty, refined, elegant'—this work is exactly such a verdict. The modern Xia Chengtao, in his Chronological Notes on Jiang Baishi's Lyrics, dated this lyric to the third year of Qingyuan and pointed out the Hefei love affair as the heart of Baishi's life-long lyric. Tang Guizhang, in his Brief Explanation of Tang-Song Lyrics, said: 'The Fei River flows east, the longing endless; planting the cause in the first place, the regret runs deep.' Yu Pingbo, in his Selected Explanation of Tang-Song Lyrics, also said the closing 'in two places we brood' echoes 'started in the dark', the structure fine. All weigh its writing of thick feeling in plain words, showing sinking within clear emptiness.

清人陈廷焯《白雨斋词话》评白石词「清虚骚雅」，此作可谓的评：清空处不落俗套，骚雅处不堕艳情。近人夏承焘《姜白石词编年笺校》系此词于庆元三年，并指出合肥情事为白石一生词心所系，为解此词提供了确凿背景。唐圭璋《唐宋词简释》云：「肥水东流，相思无尽；不合种因，悔意深长。」俞平伯《唐宋词选释》谓结处「两处沉吟」遥应「暗里惊啼」，章法细密。诸家皆重其以淡语写浓情、于清空见沉郁之妙。姜夔一生依人作客，漂泊无定，其恋情词多含身世之感，此词以元夕一梦写数十载相思，语淡而情浓，境空而意厚，为白石恋情词中「清空骚雅」之极致，亦是南宋婉约词的巅峰之作。又此词与白石《扬州慢》「念桥边红药，年年知为谁生」、《暗香》「何逊而今渐老」诸作并观，可见其「以清空之笔写沧桑之感」的一贯风格：恋情之词而含身世之悲，咏物之词而含家国之思，皆以淡语写浓情、以清空见沉郁。近人夏承焘编《姜白石词编年笺校》，谓白石词「清刚」「骚雅」，此词正是「骚雅」之代表——不涉艳语而情致绵邈，不事雕琢而韵致高绝，为南宋婉约词的巅峰之一，亦为后世词家宗法白石的典范，其影响及于朱彝尊、厉鹗一脉的浙西词派。

Prosody

Form Lyric, 'Partridge Sky' (Zhe Gu Tian), double-tune 55 characters词·《鹧鸪天》双调五十五字

Rhyme Ping-shui rhyme, upper-level four zhi group (end, longing, cried, silk, grief, know)期、思、啼、丝、悲、知，押平声四支韵（平水韵上平四支），首句入韵。

Tone pattern First line enters rhyme, level-onset, level-close首句入韵，平起平收；上片三平韵、下片三平韵，音节和婉，宜写深情。

Reading note Upper part three level rhymes, lower part three level rhymes; gentle syllables, fit for deep feeling.此词为《鹧鸪天》双调五十五字，上片四句三平韵，下片五句三平韵，押平水韵上平四支韵（期、思、啼、丝、悲、知），首句「期」字入韵，一韵到底。平声支韵音调悠长和婉，正合词中所写深长绵邈的相思之情，声情与辞情高度统一。《鹧鸪天》句式以七言为主，间以三字句：「春未绿，鬓先丝」两个三字句短促有力，与前后七言句的长音形成顿挫对比，恰如其分地写出春回人老的苍凉。全词音节和婉而不流于软媚：起句「肥水东流无尽期」七字舒展，如流水之悠悠；过片「春未绿，鬓先丝」顿挫，如老之将至；结句「谁教岁岁红莲夜，两处沉吟各自知」低回往复，如沉吟之态。姜夔精于音律，自度曲十七支，此词用习见之调而声情相得，是其「音节文采兼胜」主张的体现，亦为《鹧鸪天》调中写深情的典范之作。

Line by line

肥水东流无尽期，当初不合种相思

The Fei River flows east without end; I should not have planted this longing in the first place.

肥水东流没有尽头，当初真不该种下这段相思。

The Feishui flows east without end; I should never have planted this longing in the beginning.

起句以流水起兴喻情之不绝，一开篇即定哀婉基调。「肥水东流无尽期」写肥水滚滚东流、永无尽期，以水之无尽喻相思之无涯，兴中有比，将抽象的情感化为具象的流水，空间感与永恒感兼得；「肥水」又暗指合肥旧地，一语双关，往事与流水俱来。「当初不合种相思」以悔极之辞写痴绝之情：「不合」谓不该，说不该种相思，正因相思种得太深、太苦，悔语之下是刻骨的痴情，看似轻巧，实则沉痛。一兴一比，一比一悔，起笔两句即把数十年的相思与追悔全部托出，为全词奠定了深情而凄婉的基调，是白石词「清空而有骨」的开篇典范。

The opening rises on the flowing water for the unending feeling, setting the plaintive tone at once. The Feishui flows east without end writes the rolling Feishui flowing east, never ending, using the water's endlessness to figure the longing's shorelessness, rising on the image and yet comparing, turning the abstract feeling into the concrete flowing water, the sense of space and eternity together; the Feishui also secretly names the old Hefei place, one phrase double-edged, the past and the water coming together. I should never have planted this longing in the beginning writes the infatuation through the utmost regret: the should-not means ought not, saying the longing should never have been planted, precisely because the longing was planted too deep, too bitter, and beneath the regret lies the bone-cut devotion, seeming light and in truth grief-stricken. One rising, one comparison, one regret, the opening two lines holding out the decades of longing and remorse, laying the ci's deep, plaintive tone, the model opening of Jiang Kui's lucid-with-backbone.

梦中未比丹青见，暗里忽惊山鸟啼

In the dream you were not clearer than in the portrait; in the dark I started—the mountain bird cried.

梦里的你不如画像清晰，暗自伤神却被山鸟啼声惊醒。

In the dream you are not as clear as the painted portrait; in the dark I am suddenly startled awake by a mountain bird's cry.

此二句写梦真交错，虚实相生。「梦中未比丹青见」写梦中之人竟不如画像清晰——画像尚有形貌可辨，而梦影模糊，愈见相思之久、记忆之淡，久别的惆怅于此深一层；「暗里忽惊山鸟啼」写正在梦中伤情，忽被山鸟啼声惊醒，「暗里」写夜之深、境之寂，「忽惊」写梦之猝断、幻灭之痛。梦短而情长，惊醒之后，唯余空寂，虚实之间，相思的悲凉层层加深。此二句是全词的转折：上片由流水相思、追悔种因，转入梦境的模糊与惊醒的幻灭，把情感由「绵长」推向「破碎」，为下片「别久不成悲」的沉痛蓄势。

These two lines write the dream and the waking crossed, the real and the imagined feeding each other. In the dream you are not as clear as the painted portrait writes the dream figure even less clear than the painted image — the portrait still has form to discern, and the dream shadow is blurred, the more it shows the length of longing and the fading of memory, the melancholy of long parting deepening a layer; in the dark I am suddenly startled awake by a mountain bird's cry writes the grief within the dream, and the sudden start at the bird's cry, the in-the-dark the deep night and the silent place, the suddenly-startled the dream's abrupt breaking, the disillusion's pain. The dream short and the feeling long, and after the waking only the void, the grief of longing deepening layer on layer between the real and the imagined. These two lines are the ci's turning: the first stanza, from the flowing-water longing and the regret for planting, turns to the dream's blur and the waking's disillusion, pushing the emotion from the long-stretched to the broken, storing force for the second stanza's parting long endured grows past grief.

春未绿，鬓先丝，人间别久不成悲

Spring not yet green, my temples first turn to silk; in the human world, long apart, one feels no more grief.

春光尚未染绿，双鬓却已先斑白；久别之后，连悲苦也似乎淡了。

Spring has not yet greened, and the temples are already silk-white; in the world, parting long endured grows past grief.

过片三句是全词的沉痛之笔。「春未绿，鬓先丝」以景之未暖对人之已老：春回大地尚在酝酿，草木未绿，而人的双鬓已斑白如丝，春来而人老，对照强烈，苍凉入骨；「人间别久不成悲」是反跌之笔——别离太久，悲伤似乎已经麻木、淡去，不再时时作痛，然「不成悲」三字实为至哀之语：不是不悲，而是悲得太久、太深，已无从悲起。以淡语写至哀，以麻木写深痛，正是白石「清空见沉郁」的典型笔法。三句由景入人、由外入内，将数十年的别离之痛浓缩于十字之中，读之令人窒闷，为结句的「两处沉吟」作了最深的情感铺垫。

The three lines over the course are the ci's grief-stricken stroke. Spring has not yet greened, and the temples are already silk-white sets the season's un-warm against the man's already-aged: spring's return still brewing, the grass not green, and the temples already white as silk, spring coming and the man aged, the contrast sharp, the bleakness bone-deep; in the world, parting long endured grows past grief is the reversed stroke — parting too long, and the grief seems numb, faded, no longer aching at every hour, and yet the three words past grief are in truth the saddest: not that there is no grief, but that the grief has lasted too long, sunk too deep, until there is no grief left to grieve with. Writing the utmost grief in the plain words, the deep pain through the numbness, precisely the typical brush of Jiang Kui's lucid showing of melancholy. Three lines from scene to man, from outer to inner, condensing the decades of parting's pain into ten words, the reading choking, storing the deepest emotional ground for the closing two places brood.

谁教岁岁红莲夜，两处沉吟各自知

Who bids the yearly red-lotus night that in two places we brood, each knowing our own?

是谁让年年元宵灯火之夜，你我天各一方，各自沉吟，只有彼此知晓。

Who ordains that every year, on the red-lantern night, in two places we brood, each knowing alone?

结二句以乐景写哀，空间遥隔而情意相通，含蓄作结。「谁教岁岁红莲夜」写年年元宵、红莲灯火的团圆热闹之夜，词人却只能独对灯火、追怀旧人，「岁岁」写年年如此、岁岁难逃，热闹的节令反衬孤独的处境，乐景哀情相生；「两处沉吟各自知」写两人天各一方，各自沉吟，而彼此的心意只有对方知晓——空间虽然隔绝，心魂却遥相呼应，痴情至于如此。此二句以「谁教」发问而不答，怅惘之情余于言外；以「红莲夜」的年年重复与「两处沉吟」的年年相对，写尽相思的无奈与永恒，收束全词，余味不尽，是白石恋情词中以淡语结浓情的经典结尾。

The closing two lines write grief through the delighted scene, the space far apart and the feeling still joined, ending in restraint. Who ordains that every year, on the red-lantern night writes every year's Lantern Festival, the reunion's bustling night, and the poet alone facing the lamps, recalling the old beloved, the every year the recurring, year after year's escape, the bustling season set against the solitary lot, delight and grief feeding each other; in two places we brood, each knowing alone writes the two places far apart, each brooding, and yet the heart's meaning known only to the other — though space divides, the spirits answer from afar, the devotion reaching this far. The two lines end in the who ordains question without answer, the wistfulness lingering beyond the words; with the recurring red-lantern night against the yearly two-place brooding, they exhaust the helplessness and eternity of longing, closing the ci, the aftertone unending, the classic close of Jiang Kui's love lyrics, ending deep feeling in the plain words.

Study

Word focus

不合 'Should not have' (buhe, ought not): on the surface regrets planting the longing, but in truth it is an infatuated word born of love to the extreme; seems light yet is deeply painful. 「当初不合种相思」之「不合」，训不该、不应，是全词情感的第一个爆发点。此词之妙在于以悔语写痴情：表面说当初不该种下相思，实则是相思种得太深、太苦，悔之无及，悔语之下是刻骨的痴情与无边的追悔。「不合」二字看似轻巧，实沉痛无比——唯有真爱至深，方有悔之太切之语。若直说「相思苦」「相思深」，则落于言筌；「不合」以否定之辞写肯定之情，欲盖弥彰，愈悔愈痴。此词起笔即以「不合」定调，将数十年的相思追悔浓缩于二字之中，为全词「悔极而痴」的情感基调奠定了基础，是白石炼字炼意的典范。

红莲 'Red lotus' refers to the Lantern Festival lotus lanterns; using the festive object contrasts the loneliness, with festive scene and grieving feeling breeding. 「谁教岁岁红莲夜」之「红莲」，指元宵节所悬莲花状彩灯（或河灯），是节令之物的借代。此词之妙在于以「红莲」之热闹反衬「沉吟」之孤寂：红莲灯火，万民同乐，是元宵夜最喧腾的景色；而词人独对此景，追怀旧人，热闹愈甚，孤寂愈深，乐景哀情相生。且「红莲」之色红，与「鬓先丝」之白、相思之凄清对照，色彩的强烈反差强化了情感的张力。「红莲夜」又暗含「年年」之重复——岁岁元宵，岁岁红莲，而人天各一方，热闹是他们的，孤独是我的，以此收束全词，含蓄而深沉，是乐景写哀的典范用字。

丝 Figures white hair. 'My temples first turn to silk' contrasts with 'spring not yet green', writing the man aged before spring's return—desolate to the bone. 「鬓先丝」之「丝」，喻白发，是全词以景写人的关键一字。「丝」本指蚕丝，色白而细，此处借以形容斑白的鬓发，形象鲜明；「春未绿，鬓先丝」以春之未绿对鬓之已丝，春回大地尚有期，而人老不可回，对照之下，苍凉入骨。此字之妙有三：一是以物喻人，白发如丝，纤细而多，写尽老态；二是以「丝」谐「思」，白发之丝正是相思之丝——相思使人老，鬓丝即情丝，一语双关，含蓄深婉；三是与「春未绿」相对，人老于春回之前，时光之无情与相思之摧人，皆由此字托出，是白石词「炼字而兼炼意」的典范。