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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

临江仙·庭院深深

Courtyard Deep, Deep — to the tune of Linjiang Xian

李清照

Li Qingzhao

愁思melancholy 抒情lyricism

庭院深深深几许，云窗雾阁常扃。
柳梢梅萼渐分明。
春归秣陵树，人客远安城。
感月吟风多少事，如今老去无成。
谁怜憔悴更凋零。
试灯无意思，踏雪没心情。

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Meaning

The poet depicts a secluded, deep courtyard where misty windows and pavilions stay shut while spring slowly returns to the trees. Exiled far from home after the fall of the Northern Song, she reflects on a life spent chanting of moon and wind, now old and unfulfilled. The closing lines — no heart for lantern trials, no mood for treading snow — capture the utter desolation of a once-delightsome spirit.

庭院幽深，深得不知有多少重；云雾缭绕的窗阁，常常紧闭着。柳梢头、梅萼上，春意渐渐分明起来。春天回到秣陵的树梢，而我却客居在遥远的安城。感月吟风，曾经有多少往事，如今人已老去，却一事无成。有谁来怜惜我的憔悴与凋零。试灯时节全无兴致，踏雪寻梅也没有心情。

Appreciation

The opening stacks three 'deep' (深) characters to layer space, isolation, and pent-up sorrow in a single breath, setting a hushed, enclosing mood. The piece moves from outer scene to inner confession, ending with two parallel negatives that say everything by saying nothing. Its power lies in plain speech charged with grief — the hallmark of Li Qingzhao's later, deeper style.

【白话串讲】李清照写临江仙：“庭院深深深几许，云窗雾阁常扃”——她借欧阳修的句子。“春归秣陵树，人客远安城”——“感月吟风多少事，如今老去无成”——“试灯无意思，踏雪没心情”——她写老去的萧条。【意象与手法】首句以三个深字叠出庭院之深，极写居处之幽闭；云窗雾阁常扃以云雾与扃闭渲染与世隔绝之感；柳梢梅萼渐分明写春意渐浓，反衬人之憔悴；下片感月吟风多少事、如今老去无成，直抒胸臆；试灯无意思、踏雪没心情，以两个否定句排比收束，把万般心事尽收于无意思、没心情六字之中。全词情景相生、直抒与含蓄兼用。【情感与主旨】此词为李清照南渡后客居江宁时所作，自序谓酷爱欧阳修《蝶恋花》庭院深深深几许之句，用其语作庭院深深数阕。词中春归树而人客远、老去无成、憔悴凋零，写尽国破家亡、身世飘零的中年悲凉；试灯踏雪，本是旧时元宵、冬日的赏心乐事，如今皆无心情，以乐事写哀情，倍见其哀。【名句点睛】庭院深深深几许，连用三深字，以叠字写庭院之深与心绪之深，一唱三叹，为千古名句；试灯无意思，踏雪没心情，以平淡口语写尽繁华过后的灰心，尤为人称道。

Background

This lyric was written by Li Qingzhao after she crossed south and lived in Jiangning (present-day Nanjing, ancient Moling) following the Jin invasion and the fall of the Northern Song around 1129. In her own preface she says she adored Ouyang Xiu's line 'Courtyard deep, how deep?' and reused its phrasing to compose several pieces in the old Linjiang Xian tune. At the time her husband Zhao Mingcheng served as prefect of Jiangning, while she remained alone in the deep compound, grieving the times and her wandering life. 'Moling' is another name for Jiangning, and 'Ancheng' (variously read) conveys the sense of sojourning far from home. The first half paints the deep court and returning spring; the second half voices regret at growing old unfulfilled and wasting away — a faithful record of the intertwined pain of lost country and personal fate in her early southern period. Stylistically it marks the turning point in her work, from the bright clarity of her youth toward the bone-deep sorrow of 'Slow, Slow Song,' and is key to understanding that transition.

此词为李清照南渡后居江宁时所作。李清照自序云：欧阳公作《蝶恋花》，有深深深几许之句，予酷爱之，用其语作庭院深深数阕，其声即旧临江仙也。建炎三年（1129）前后，金兵南侵，北宋沦亡，李清照随夫赵明诚南下，居江宁（今南京，古称秣陵、金陵）。其时明诚任江宁知府，易安独处深院，春归而人不归，感时伤事，遂有此作。秣陵即江宁之别称，安城一作远安城，诸本有异：或作人客远安城，或作人远客安城，皆言客居他乡之意。此词上片写庭院之深与春归之景，下片写老去无成、憔悴凋零之慨，正是易安南渡初期家国之痛与个人身世之悲交织的实录。就词史而言，李清照以词名世，其词以南渡为界，前期清丽明快（如梦令），后期沉哀入骨（声声慢），此词正处于由前向后转变的关捩，庭院深、老去无成之语，已开声声慢寻寻觅觅之先声，是理解易安词风转变的关键之作。

Art

The poem's chief artistry lies in stacked characters and plain sketching. The opening 'Courtyard deep, how deep?' repeats 深 three times — spatial depth, secluded depth, and the depth of a knotted heart, each layer pressing deeper, matched by 'misty windows, foggy pavilions often barred' to seal off the world. 'Willow tips, plum calyces grow clear by degrees' uses one 渐 (gradually) to trace spring's slow emergence, mirroring the poet's slow aging; outer nature and inner mood become mutual mirrors. The lower half turns to human affairs: 'How many things of moon-feeling and wind-chanting' sweeps the past away in three words, then 'now grown old, nothing achieved' lands with plain, crushing weight. The final two lines 'no interest in trying the lanterns, no mood for treading snow' set two negatives side by side — former pleasures now void — writing grief through joy, depth through flatness, with not a word of sorrow yet sorrow filling the page.

此词艺术上最见功力处在叠字与白描。首句庭院深深深几许，三深字叠用，一写庭院空间之幽深，二写居处隔绝之深，三写心绪郁结之深，一字三层，层层递进，与云窗雾阁常扃相配，深院闭阁，几与世绝，境界全出。柳梢梅萼渐分明，一个渐字，写春意由隐到显的细微过程，以春之渐明反衬人之渐老，物候与心境互为镜鉴。下片转写人事：感月吟风多少事，感月吟风本是文人雅事，多少事三字一笔抹过，往事如烟；如今老去无成，六个字直白如话，而分量极重，是半生家国飘零的总结。谁怜憔悴更凋零，憔悴与凋零同义复沓，兼写形貌与际遇之双重飘零，谁怜一问，孤寂之情溢于言表。末二句试灯无意思，踏雪没心情，以两个否定句对举排比：试灯是元宵张灯之乐，踏雪是冬日赏雪之雅，皆昔日所好，今皆无意思、没心情，以乐事写哀情，以淡语写深悲，无一字言愁而愁已满纸，正是易安后期词深入浅出、举重若轻的本色。

Allusions

The poem uses few direct allusions but refashions them with precision. The opening line directly borrows Ouyang Xiu's 'Courtyard deep, how deep?' from his 'Die Lian Hua'; Li states she loved it and reused its phrasing, yet here the mood turns even more enclosed, advancing the scene beyond the original. 'Cloud windows, foggy pavilions' traditionally described immortal abodes, here used with 'barred' to make the fair court a cage. 'Spring returns to Moling's trees' — Moling, the old capital of six dynasties — sets spring's return against the poet's sojourn, echoing Du Fu's device of nature's feeling against human parting. 'Feeling the moon, chanting the wind' recalls the refined pastimes she shared with Zhao Mingcheng appraising inscriptions; 'trying lanterns' refers to the pre-Lantern-Festival custom recorded in 'Dongjing Menghua Lu,' and 'treading snow' evokes Xie Daoyun's snow couplet and Meng Haoran's plum-seeking, all once her joys, now turned to ash.

此词用典不多而化用甚精。首句庭院深深深几许，直接化用欧阳修《蝶恋花》庭院深深深几许，杨柳堆烟，帘幕无重数，李清照自序明言酷爱欧句而用其语，然易安此处作临江仙，虽同用三深字，而意境更趋幽闭（云窗雾阁常扃比杨柳堆烟、帘幕无重数更见隔绝），是为借语而进于境。云窗雾阁，本指仙家楼阁，唐人诗词多用之写高华幽邃之境，此处以云雾写窗阁，与扃字相合，深院如仙境而实同牢笼，语丽而情哀。春归秣陵树，秣陵即金陵，六朝故都，王谢风流之地，春归故都之树，而人客远安城，以春之归树反衬人之客居，物是而人非，暗用杜甫感时花溅泪、恨别鸟惊心的物我对照之法。感月吟风，化用吟风弄月之语，兼指当年与明诚诗词唱和、品评金石的清欢，多少事三字将故国、故家、故人尽括其中。试灯，指元宵前张灯试灯之俗，宋人上元前数日即试灯，孟元老《东京梦华录》备记其盛；踏雪，兼用谢道韫咏絮之才与孟浩然踏雪寻梅之雅，皆昔日易安所乐，如今尽付无心，繁华旧梦，尽成灰冷。

Commentary

This is a major work of Li Qingzhao's early southern period, highly esteemed in the lyric tradition. Ming critic Yang Shen praised her for 'shallow words, deep feeling,' and this piece exemplifies it: the stacked-character opening carries immense weight, and the flat closing 'no interest… no mood' is grief to the bone — the supreme state of writing deep passion in plain language. Sharing Ouyang Xiu's line, the two differ in subject: his is a boudoir complaint, hers a learned woman's lament over a broken age, so her 'deep' is not merely of the courtyard but of turmoil and old age. In her overall development this lyric bridges the bright early manner and the anguish of 'Slow, Slow Song' and 'Wuling Spring,' already showing the germ of 'seeking, seeking.' Its paired constructions became models for later writers on exile and loss.

此词是李清照南渡初期的重要作品，词史上评价甚高。明人杨慎《词品》评易安词语浅情深，此词正是其例：庭院深深深几许以口语叠字起笔，而含蕴极深；试灯无意思，踏雪没心情以平常话收束，而悲凉入骨，所谓以淡语写深情，此为绝境。此词与欧阳修《蝶恋花》同用庭院深深深几许之句，而欧词写闺怨，此词写身世，同中有异：欧词是传统的深闺女怨，易安此词则是家国飘零的知识女性之悲，故其深，不止庭院之深，更是乱世之深、老去之深。就易安词的整体发展而言，此词上承前期词的清丽，下启后期《声声慢》《武陵春》的沉痛，庭院深深已见寻寻觅觅的雏形，老去无成已露凄凄惨惨的先声，是理解李清照词风转变的关键之作，在词史上自有其重要的地位。词中春归秣陵树，人客远安城的物我对举，试灯无意思，踏雪没心情的以乐写哀，皆成为后人写乱世飘零的典范句式。

Prosody

Form Lyric to the tune Linjiang Xian (临江仙), double-toned, 58 (or 60) characters, three level-rhymes in each half.词牌《临江仙》，双调五十八字（或六十字），上下片各三平韵

Rhyme Upper half rhymes on jiong, ming, cheng; lower half on cheng, ling, qing — all level-tone Geng/Qing rhymes, sustained throughout, the long level tone suiting the lingering melancholy of the deep court.上片押扃、明、城，下片押成、零、情，皆属平声庚青韵，一韵到底，平声韵舒缓绵长，与深院低回的愁思相合。

Tone pattern Lines of uneven length alternate seven-, five-, seven-, five-character phrases with a low, returning rhythm; each half ends on a five-character level-toned line, its sound drawn out in endless resonance.句式长短错落，七、五、七、五言相间，节奏低回；上下片末句皆五字平收，声情悠长，余韵不尽。

Reading note Linjiang Xian was originally the name of a Tang-dynasty entertainments-bureau tune, later a lyric meter, double-toned, five lines per half; this is the 58-character form with three level rhymes in each half. Li Qingzhao's preface states plainly 'its tune is the old Linjiang Xian,' meaning she used the Linjiang Xian tune to fill in the 'courtyard deep' phrasing, so although it shares Ouyang Xiu's three 深 characters, the tune differs and so does the musical affect. The poem rhymes in the level-tone Geng/Qing category (jiong, ming, cheng, cheng, ling, qing), sustained throughout; the level tone is long and low, exactly matching the sealed deep court and knotted sorrow — every rhyme word closes on a level tone, read like a drawn-out sigh. In structure, each half opens with a seven-character line ('Courtyard deep, how deep?' / 'How many things of moon and wind'), followed by a seven- or five-character line, ending on a five-character level-toned line ('guest in far Ancheng' / 'now grown old, nothing achieved'). The whole uses stacked characters (deep, deep, deep), antithesis ('no interest in lanterns, no mood for snow'), and colloquialism ('no mood') within the regulated form without losing its polish, achieving the wonder of making the vulgar elegant. In recitation, the three 深 should be read one per beat, lower and lower, to convey both the courtyard's depth and the heart's; the last two lines should close in a flat, even tone, letting the desolation show itself.《临江仙》本为唐代教坊曲名，后为词调，双调，上下片各五句，此词为五十八字体，上下片各三平韵。李清照自序明言其声即旧临江仙也，即用临江仙之调而填庭院深深之语，故虽与欧阳修《蝶恋花》同用三深字，而词调不同，声情亦别。此词押平声庚青韵（扃、明、城、成、零、情），一韵到底，平声韵绵长低回，正与深院幽闭、愁绪郁结之情境相谐；韵脚扃、明、城、成、零、情皆以平声收，读来如叹息声之绵延。句式上，上下片首句七字（庭院深深深几许／感月吟风多少事），次句七字或五字，末句五字（人客远安城／如今老去无成）平收，声情徐缓。全词以叠字（深深深）、对仗（试灯无意思，踏雪没心情）、口语（没心情）入律而不失工稳，深得以俗为雅之妙。诵读时，首句三深字宜一叠一顿，愈读愈低，方能传出庭院之深与心绪之深；末二句宜以平淡语气徐徐收住，悲凉自见。

Line by line

庭院深深深几许，云窗雾阁常扃。

How deep the courtyard — how deep? Cloud-framed windows, mist-wreathed towers, forever barred.

庭院幽深，深得不知有多少重；云雾缭绕的窗阁楼台，常常紧闭着门扉，与世隔绝。

The courtyard is deep, deep — how many layers? The cloud-wreathed windows and misty chambers are always shut.

首句连用三深字，一唱三叹，是千古名句。三个深字各有侧重：一写庭院空间的幽深，层院叠户，不知几重；二写居处的隔绝，深居简出，与世相远；三写心绪的郁结，愁深似海，无可名状。深几许以问出之，愈问愈深，深不可测。云窗雾阁常扃接得极紧：云雾写窗阁之高华幽邃，常扃写门扉常年紧闭，深院闭阁，几与世绝，与三个深字互为表里，环境之幽闭与心境之孤寂交融一体。此句化用欧阳修庭院深深深几许而进于境，以叠字开篇，定下全词幽深悲凉的基调，也可见易安炼字之精、用情之深。

The opening repeats the word deep three times, one chant of three notes, the famous line through the ages. The three deep words each bear a shade: one the courtyard's spatial depth, layered courts and doors, how many unknown; two the dwelling's seclusion, the deep residence and the rare going out, far from the world; three the mind's knotting, grief deep as the sea, unnameable. How many layers? in the question, the more asked the deeper, the depth unmeasurable. The cloud-wreathed windows and misty chambers are always shut follows tight: the clouds and mist write the windows' and chambers' splendor and seclusion, always shut writes the doors closed all the year, the deep court and the closed chamber, almost cut from the world, answering the three deep words inside and out, the environment's seclusion and the mind's loneliness fused. This line borrows Ouyang Xiu's courtyard deep, deep, how many layers? and yet advances the realm, opening on the repeated word, setting the ci's deep, desolate tone, and showing Yi'an's word-craft and the depth of her feeling.

春归秣陵树，人客远安城。

Spring returns to Moling's trees, while I, a sojourner, lodge in distant Ancheng.

春天回到秣陵的树梢，草木欣欣向荣，而我却客居在遥远的安城，不能归去。

Spring returns to the trees of Moling, while I, a guest, am in the far city of Yuan'an.

此句是全词物我对举的枢纽，春归与人客相对，物是而人非。秣陵即金陵，六朝故都，王谢风流之地，春归秣陵树，写春天如期回到故都的树梢，柳绿梅开，生机依旧；人客远安城，写诗人却客居在遥远的安城，有家难归，飘零异地。一归一客，一近一远，春的归与人的不归形成尖锐对照，以无情之春的准时反衬有情之人的失所，物候愈是分明，身世愈是凄凉，家国之痛与个人飘零在这一联中一并托出。客字是全联之眼，客居者，非其本乡也，一个客字，写尽南渡后寄人篱下、如萍漂泊的处境，是易安中年心境最沉痛的自白。

This line is the hinge of the ci's thing-and-self contrast, spring's return set against the man's guest-stay, the thing is and the man is not. Moling is Jinling, the old capital of the Six Dynasties, the place of the Wang-Xie elegance; spring returns to the trees of Moling writes spring returning on time to the old capital's trees, the willows green and the plums blooming, the life as before; while I, a guest, am in the far city of Yuan'an writes the poet lodging in the distant Yuan'an, homeward impossible, drifting in a strange land. One return one guest, one near one far, spring's return and the man's non-return set in sharp contrast, the unfeeling spring's punctuality set against the feeling man's displacement, the phenology the clearer, the fate the bleaker, the national grief and the personal drift in this couplet borne together. The one word guest is the eye of the couplet: the guest, not one's own home, the one word writing the post-south-fleeance state of sheltering under another's roof and drifting like duckweed, the most grief-stricken confession of Yi'an's middle-aged mood.

感月吟风多少事，如今老去无成。

How many things of moon-felt, wind-chanted verse — and now grown old, I have achieved nothing.

感月吟风，曾经有过多少往事，如今人已老去，却一事无成，徒留怅恨，不堪回首。

So many affairs of moon-feeling and wind-chant; now, old, I have achieved nothing.

感月吟风本是文人雅事，月下对酌、风中吟咏，是易安与明诚当年诗词唱和、品评金石的清欢岁月；多少事三字一笔抹过，不细说、不铺陈，往事如烟，尽在不言之中。如今老去无成，六个字直白如话，而分量极重：老去写年华已逝，无成写家国飘零、金石散佚、夫君新丧，半生经营尽付流水，这是对整个生命意义的自我追问。上句追昔，下句伤今，一盛一衰的落差，在一句之间完成，昔日的多少事越是繁盛，如今的无成越是沉痛。此句由写景转入直抒，是全词情感的高潮，也是易安后期词由清丽转沉痛的标志性句子。

Moon-feeling and wind-chant by nature the scholar's elegance, the drinking under the moon, the chanting in the wind, the clear joy years of Yi'an and Mingcheng's verse exchange and the connoisseurship of bronzes and stone; the three words how many affairs brush past, not told, not elaborated, the past like smoke, all within the unspoken. Now, old, I have achieved nothing: six words plain as speech, and the weight enormous — old the years gone, achieved nothing the broken country, the scattered bronzes, the newly lost husband, half a life's labor poured into the flowing water, the self-questioning of the whole life's meaning. The upper line recalls the past, the lower wounds the present, the rise and fall's gap completed within one line, the more splendid the how many affairs of old, the more grief-stricken the present achieved nothing. The line turns from scene to direct utterance, the emotional peak of the ci, and the landmark stroke of Yi'an's later ci turning from clarity to grief.

试灯无意思，踏雪没心情。

No zest for trying the lanterns, no mood for treading the snow.

试灯时节全无兴致，踏雪寻梅的雅事也没有了心情，一切都提不起劲来，百无聊赖。

Trying the lanterns holds no interest; treading the snow, no mood at all.

此二句以两个否定句排比收束，是全词最沉痛处，也是以乐事写哀情的典范。试灯，指元宵前张灯试灯之俗，宋人上元前数日即试灯，届时满城灯火，游人如织，是旧日易安最爱的热闹节令；踏雪，则兼指踏雪寻梅之雅与咏絮之才，皆昔日所乐。而今试灯无意思，踏雪没心情，一切赏心乐事都提不起兴致，两句各以三个字收束，无意思、没心情，语极平淡，情极深挚，无一字言愁而愁已满纸。以昔日的乐事写今日的灰心，乐事愈明，灰心愈甚，繁华旧梦尽成冷灰，正是易安后期词举重若轻、深入浅出的本色，读之令人低回不已。

These two lines close in the two negative sentences ranged side by side, the ci's grief-stricken point, the model of writing grief through delighted affairs. Trying the lanterns means the custom of hanging trial lanterns before the Lantern Festival, the Song days before the festival testing the lamps, the whole city's lights, the throngs, the bustling season Yi'an once loved best; treading the snow means both the elegant treading of snow to seek the plum and the talent of chanting willow catkins, both old delights. Now, the trial lanterns hold no interest; treading the snow, no mood at all, all the heart's delights gone, the two lines each closing in three words, no interest, no mood at all, the words plainest and the feeling deepest, not one word of grief and the grief filling the page. Writing today's heart-loss through yesterday's delights, the delights the clearer, the heart-loss the deeper, the old splendor's dream all turned to cold ash, precisely Yi'an's later quality of bearing the weight lightly and the deep through the simple, the reading lingering.

Study

Word focus

深 The character 深 (deep) in 'courtyard deep, how deep' is the bone of the whole lyric, tripled: first the spatial depth of layered courts, second the depth of seclusion from the world, third the fathomless depth of a knotted heart — hence the questioning 'how deep,' deeper the more it is asked. 庭院深深深几许之深，是全词立骨之字，三字叠用，一字三层。第一层写庭院空间的幽深，层院叠户、曲径回廊，深不见底；第二层写居处隔绝之深，深院闭阁，与世相远，人迹罕至；第三层写心绪郁结之深，愁深似海，无可名状，深到连自己都难以测度，故以几许问之，愈问愈深。三个深字一叠一顿，音节低回，如重门次第而开，直入人心。此句化用欧阳修庭院深深深几许而进于境，欧词之深写帘幕杨柳，是视觉之深；易安之深写云窗雾阁常扃，是隔绝之深、身世之深，深字遂由景语化为情语、由闺怨化为乱世之悲，可见易安炼字之精、化用之功。

扃扃 (bar/close) in 'cloud windows, foggy pavilions often barred' means a door-bolt or to shut; in one cold, precise character it renders the court's year-round closure and separation from the world, turning a fairy-like dwelling into a lonely cage. 云窗雾阁常扃之扃，本义为门闩、关闭，是全词写环境最冷僻而最准确的字。扃字以极简的笔法写尽深院常年紧闭、与世隔绝之状：云窗雾阁本是仙家般华美幽邃的居所，而常扃二字，使华屋顿成冷宫，琼楼玉宇化作寂寞的牢笼，愈华美愈见冷清。扃字与三个深字互为表里：庭院之深是空间上的层叠，常扃则是时间上的恒定，深院日日紧闭，从春到秋，人与世绝。此字还为下文憔悴凋零、试灯踏雪无心绪作环境铺垫，门扉常扃，则灯节的热闹、踏雪的雅兴自然都被关在门外，环境的封闭与心境的封闭在扃字中合而为一，是易安以冷字写冷境、以境写情的典范。

客客 (guest/sojourn) in 'I, a sojourner, lodge in distant Ancheng' carries both noun and verb senses, capturing the rootless, homeless drifting after the southward crossing — spring returns but the person is a guest, underscoring the pain of a broken country. 人客远安城之客，兼有名动两义，是全词身世之感的关键。客作名词，指客居异乡之人；客又作动词，即客于他乡，一字写出南渡后寄人篱下、有家难归的飘零处境。与上句春归秣陵树相对：春是归，人是客，春归故都之树，人客远方之城，一归一客，以春之准时归来反衬人之欲归不得，物候愈分明，身世愈凄凉。客字还暗含故国之思：秣陵是六朝故都，是春归之地，而诗人客居的安城再繁华也不是故乡，客居者，终非其本乡也。一个客字，把国破家亡、流离失所的乱世之痛尽收其中，是易安中年心境最凝练的自白，与后来声声慢中守着窗儿的孤独遥遥相应。