All poems

宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

满庭芳·山抹微云

Courtyard Full of Fragrance: Hills Veiled by Thin Clouds

秦观

Qin Guan

婉约Graceful and Subtle 离别Parting 离愁Separation Sorrow 赠妓To a Courtesan

山抹微云，天连衰草，画角声断谯门。
暂停征棹，聊共引离尊。
多少蓬莱旧事，空回首、烟霭纷纷。
斜阳外，寒鸦万点，流水绕孤村。
销魂，当此际，香囊暗解，罗带轻分。
谩赢得、青楼薄幸名存。
此去何时见也，襟袖上、空惹啼痕。
伤情处，高城望断，灯火已黄昏。

Hills veiled by thin clouds,
Sky linked with withered grass,
The painted horn’s sound breaks at the watchtower gate.
We stop our departing boat,
And drink a farewell cup, but only for a while.
How many love tales of the fairy isle,
In vain I look back,
Seen only in misty piles.
Beyond the setting sun,
Thousands of dots of chilly crows,
Around a lonely village water flows.

My soul dissolves
In this adverse hour.
I take off secretly her fragrant purse,
And she unties my silk belt with a sigh.
All that I’ve won’s the fickle name
In the Mansion of Green Willows.
When I come back from my long roam,
Could I meet you again?
On my sleeves I can only find your tear-stain.
In my grief
I gaze on the town wall in vain,
Now lit by lamps in twilight’s veil.

Listen

Meaning

The poet bids farewell to a courtesan at a city gate, recalling past joys and lamenting separation. The desolate autumn landscape mirrors his sorrow, and he self-mockingly refers to his reputation as a faithless lover.

山色如淡墨轻抹微云，天边连接着衰败的枯草，谯门上的画角声渐渐停歇。暂停离船，姑且共饮离别的酒樽。多少蓬莱旧日的欢情，空自回首，只见烟霭纷纷。斜阳之外，寒鸦万点，流水环绕着孤村。销魂啊，正当此刻！暗地里解下香囊相赠，轻轻分开罗带，就此离别。徒然赢得了青楼薄幸的名声留存。这一去何时才能相见？襟袖上只空自惹满啼痕。正伤心之处，回望高城已望不见，只见灯火已是黄昏。

Appreciation

The poem masterfully blends scene and emotion. The opening couplet is praised for its refined diction, especially the characters 'smear' (抹) and 'link' (连). The imagery of cold crows and a solitary village by the river creates a poignant atmosphere of loneliness and parting.

【白话串讲】 “山抹微云，天连衰草”——秦观送别恋人，一开口就是千古名句。他因此被苏轼戏称为“山抹微云君”。宋词里的离别，没有比这更凄美的。【意象与手法】起句「山抹微云，天连衰草」炼字精工，「抹」「连」二字以淡墨轻涂、遥接天际，极炼而似不炼。「斜阳外，寒鸦万点，流水绕孤村」以疏密相生之景写离愁，意境凄美。「销魂」三句以短句振起，由景入情；「香囊暗解，罗带轻分」以动作写赠别之缠绵；结拍「高城望断，灯火已黄昏」以景结情，回环呼应起拍。全词情景交融，柔婉深永，开北宋婉约一脉。【情感与主旨】此词为秦观元丰年间游会稽时所作，写与一位歌妓的离别。秦观早年游幕，屡试不第，漂泊四方，词中「蓬莱旧事」「青楼薄幸」既写儿女之情，亦自伤沦落、功名未立，婉约中寓身世之感，是其早年代表作。【名句点睛】重点考查「山抹微云，天连衰草」的炼字之妙及苏轼何以戏称秦观为「山抹微云君」；考查「寒鸦万点，流水绕孤村」的意境特点；理解「谩赢得、青楼薄幸名存」化用杜牧诗的自嘲深意。

Background

Qin Guan wrote this lyric during his travels in Kuaiji (present-day Shaoxing) around 1079, bidding farewell to a courtesan. The poet, frustrated in his official career and wandering from place to place, projects his own feelings of drift and unfulfilled ambition onto the scene of parting.

秦观（1049—1100），字少游，一字太虚，号淮海居士，扬州高邮人，北宋婉约词派代表作家，「苏门四学士」之一。此词约作于元丰二年（1079）前后秦观游越（今浙江绍兴一带）时。其时秦观尚未登第，游幕寄食，漂泊四方，功名未就。相传他在会稽与一位歌妓相恋，临别时作此词以赠。词中「蓬莱旧事」即指这段会稽欢会；「青楼薄幸名存」化用杜牧诗自嘲，既写儿女离别之情，亦暗含自伤沦落、年华虚度、功名无成之意。苏轼见「山抹微云」句，戏称秦观为「山抹微云君」；又戏问「销魂当此际，非柳七（柳永）词句法乎」，可见此词在当时即负盛名。全词以柔婉之笔写尽离别之恨，而身世之感暗藏其中，是秦观早年的代表作，也是北宋婉约词「以情致胜」的典范。秦观与柳永同以长调写离情，然此词炼字之雅、意境之远，远非柳词艳俗可及，故后人以「秦七黄九」并称苏门词人，而独推少游为婉约正宗。此词之作，正值少游风华盛年，情致与才思俱臻妙境。

Art

The opening line uses 'smear' like a painter's brush, making cloud and hill an ink-wash painting. The line 'thousands of dots of chilly crows, around a lonely village water flows' contrasts dense dots with the solitary village, evoking a vast, desolate mood. The poem’s structure shifts from scene to emotion, with short exclamatory phrases like 'my soul dissolves' intensifying the feeling.

此词章法井然，上片写景、下片写情，景情交融，层层推进。起拍「山抹微云，天连衰草」炼字精工：「抹」字以画师运笔写云痕，「连」字写衰草与天相接，一「抹」一「连」，淡墨轻涂、遥接天际，极炼而似不炼，为全词定下苍茫黯淡的基调。「画角声断谯门」以声写静，点出黄昏戍楼、离船待发之境。接着「暂停征棹，聊共引离尊」由景及事，「多少蓬莱旧事，空回首、烟霭纷纷」由事及情，往事如烟霭般纷乱迷离。「斜阳外，寒鸦万点，流水绕孤村」以疏密相生的画境收束上片，被誉为「天生好言语」。过片「销魂」二字短句振起，直抒别情；「香囊暗解，罗带轻分」以动作写赠别之缠绵；「谩赢得、青楼薄幸名存」自嘲自解，沉痛在诙谐之外；结拍「伤情处，高城望断，灯火已黄昏」以景结情，回环呼应起拍，离愁在灯火昏黄中愈杳愈深，余韵不尽。全词以「销魂」为中轴，上片蓄景、下片放情，一收一放之间，离愁如烟霭般弥漫开来，章法之妙，直可作长调楷模。

Allusions

'The fairy isle' refers to Mount Penglai, a legendary paradise, alluding to the lost pleasures of love. 'The Mansion of Green Willows' (青楼) references a poem by Du Mu, 'waking from a ten-year dream in Yangzhou, I won only a fickle name in the Mansion of Green Willows,' where the poet self-mockingly calls himself a heartless lover.

「蓬莱旧事」以蓬莱仙岛喻欢会之地，蓬莱本是海上仙山，此处暗指会稽名胜（会稽有蓬莱阁），更以仙境之缥缈喻往日情缘之美好而难再，故曰「空回首」。「青楼薄幸」化用杜牧《遣怀》「十年一觉扬州梦，赢得青楼薄幸名」，杜牧以「薄幸」自嘲风流落魄、一事无成，秦观移以自况，把「负心」之名说成「赢得」，自嘲中见沉痛——表面说自己薄情负心，实则是深情无着、身不由己的悲叹，故沈际飞谓此句「尤妙在『谩』字」。「画角声断谯门」点送别之地，谯门即城楼，画角为军中乐器，其声呜咽，唐宋诗词中多以画角写黄昏戍楼、苍凉别绪。「寒鸦万点」则暗承隋炀帝「寒鸦飞数点，流水绕孤村」句，秦观以「万点」易「数点」，更见暮色苍茫、愁绪纷乱，是化用前人而能出新的例子。又「暂停征棹」「空惹啼痕」等语，皆以寻常口语写深挚情感，不着典故而情韵自胜，可见秦观用典「化而不滞」的特点。通篇融典入景、融景入情，读之浑然不觉有典，正是用典之最高境界。

Commentary

Su Shi once teased Qin Guan for imitating Liu Yong’s style, but he admired the opening line so much that he nicknamed Qin ‘the scholar of hills veiled by thin clouds.’ The poem was widely popular in the Huai-Chu region, and the line about cold crows was especially celebrated.

此词在当时即享盛名。苏轼尝戏谓秦观「不意别后，公却学柳七作词」，又问「销魂当此际，非柳词句法乎」，虽是戏谑，亦见其影响；然苏轼终不能不赏其「山抹微云」之工，遂有「山抹微云君」之戏称，后世遂以「山抹微云秦学士」称少游。叶梦得《避暑录话》载：此词「盛行于淮楚」，「寒鸦万点，流水绕孤村」尤为时人所称。清人周济《宋四家词选》谓秦观「将身世之感打并入艳情」，此词正是典型——儿女之情与身世之感融为一体，柔婉中见沉郁。近人论婉约词，多以秦观与柳永并称，谓「柳词俗而秦词雅」，此词以「山抹微云」的雅炼、「销魂当此际」的深情，为北宋婉约词树立了以雅为宗、以情致胜的典范，影响及于周邦彦、李清照一脉，是宋词史上承前启后的名篇。此词自问世以来，历代词话家多有品评，清人冯煦《蒿庵论词》谓「少游词寄慨身世，闲雅有情思」，正可为此词作注脚，其文学史地位遂历久弥坚。

Prosody

Form Lyric to the tune 'Courtyard Full of Fragrance' (满庭芳), double stanza, 95 characters, level rhyme词牌《满庭芳》（双调九十五字，上片十句四平韵，下片十一句五平韵）

Rhyme Rhymes in the Sixth Rhyme Group (元寒删先): 门, 尊, 纷, 村, 分, 痕, 昏押平声韵（词林正韵第七部，平水韵元寒删先）：门、尊、纷、村、分、痕、昏。

Tone pattern The first stanza describes the scene of parting, the second the emotion. The short exclamation 'my soul dissolves' at the start of the second stanza provides a forceful transition.上片「山抹微云」为平仄平平，「天连衰草」为平平平仄，「画角声断谯门」为仄仄平仄平平；过片「销魂」二字仄平平，短促振起。

Reading note The opening line 'Hills veiled by thin clouds' was so famous that Su Shi called Qin Guan 'Scholar of Hills Veiled by Thin Clouds'.《满庭芳》为双调长调，上片十句四平韵、下片十一句五平韵，共九十五字，句式参差（三七七四、四五四五等），宜于铺叙展衍。此词押平声韵，韵脚「门、尊、纷、村、分、痕、昏」皆阳声韵（以-n收尾）的平声字，音色低沉绵长，与全词婉约悱恻的情调相合。章法上，上片以写景为主，由「山抹微云」的远景写到「画角声断」的近景，再由「暂停征棹」的眼前事转入「蓬莱旧事」的回忆，结于「斜阳外」的苍茫暮景，层层收缩又层层拓开；下片以抒情为主，过片「销魂」二字独句，以短促的节奏振起全篇，是长调过片的经典笔法，其后「当此际」以下四句两两相对，「暗解」「轻分」动作连缀，节奏由急趋缓；结拍「伤情处，高城望断，灯火已黄昏」以「三三六」的句式收束，音节顿挫，如断还续。全词平仄谐婉，四声配合精妙，尤其「抹」「断」「绕」「分」等字皆精择声调，诵读时抑扬有致，充分体现长调「以韵为骨、以声传情」的特点，是《满庭芳》词牌的名篇。

Line by line

山抹微云，天连衰草，画角声断谯门。

The hills are painted with thin clouds, the sky touches the withered grass; the painted horn's sound ceases at the watchtower gate. The verbs 'smear' and 'link' are painterly, setting a bleak tone.

山色如淡墨轻抹微云，天边连接着衰败的枯草，谯门（城楼）上的画角声渐渐停歇。

The hills are brushed with faint clouds; the sky meets the withered grass; the painted horn's sound breaks off at the watchtower gate.

起拍三句写送别之地的暮景，炼字精工，为全词定调。「山抹微云」之「抹」字最是千古奇笔：不说云绕山、云横山，而说山「抹」微云——以画师运笔的动作写云痕，仿佛淡墨在山头轻轻一抹，化静为动、以画入诗，既见云之轻薄，又见山之苍秀。「天连衰草」之「连」字写衰草与天相接，极言旷野之远、暮色之合，「衰」字点出时令，暗含离别之衰飒。「画角声断谯门」以听觉收束：城楼画角呜咽，其声渐断，正是黄昏将尽、离船待发之时。三句由远及近、由色到声，写尽苍茫黯淡的送别背景，为下文「蓬莱旧事」「寒鸦孤村」的离愁铺陈气氛。

The opening three lines write the evening scene of the farewell place, the word-craft exquisite, setting the ci's tone. The hills are brushed with faint clouds: the word brushed is the wonder through the ages — not the clouds winding the hills or crossing them, but the hills brushing the faint clouds, using the painter's brush stroke for the cloud's trace, as if the pale ink lightly brushed the hilltop, turning the still into motion, bringing painting into verse, at once the cloud's lightness and the hill's grace. The sky meets the withered grass: the word meets writes the withered grass's joining the sky, the plain's far distance and the dusk's gathering, the word withered naming the season, secretly the farewell's bleakness. The painted horn's sound breaks off at the watchtower gate closes in hearing: the tower's painted horn wails, its sound fading, precisely the dusk's end and the farewell boat's moment. Three lines, from far to near, from color to sound, exhausting the vast dim farewell background, preparing the atmosphere for the below Penglai memories and the jackdaws and lonely village.

斜阳外，寒鸦万点，流水绕孤村。

Beyond the setting sun, thousands of cold crows, water circling a lonely village. The dense dots of crows contrast with the solitary village, creating a vast, desolate scene.

斜阳之外，寒鸦万点，流水环绕着孤村。

Beyond the setting sun, ten thousand points of winter crows; the flowing water winds around the lonely village.

此三句是上片的结穴，也是全词最著名的写景句，以疏密相生之笔写尽离愁的苍茫。「斜阳外」三字先拓开一层空间：斜阳已在视线尽头，而愁绪更在斜阳之外，以「外」字把目光与心绪推向无尽的远方。「寒鸦万点」写暮色中归巢的鸦群，密密麻麻，点点飞动，以「万点」极言其多而乱，暗喻愁绪之纷繁无绪；「流水绕孤村」则转写静景：一湾流水静静地绕着孤村，村之「孤」与人之独相映，水之绕与愁之萦相通。三句一远一近、一动一静、一多一少，疏密相生，构成一幅苍茫凄美的黄昏送别图。宋人晁补之谓此三句「虽不识字人，亦知是天生好言语」，正以其不加雕琢而意境天成，被后世视为「以景写愁」的典范。

These three lines are the first stanza's knot, and the ci's most famous scenic line, writing the farewell's vastness through the dense-and-sparse brush. Beyond the setting sun first opens one layer of space: the setting sun already at the sight's end, and the grief beyond the setting sun, the word beyond pushing the gaze and the mood to the distant infinite. Ten thousand points of winter crows writes the roosting crows in the dusk, thick and dotted, flying, the ten thousand points the extreme of number and disorder, secretly figuring the grief's tangle; the flowing water winds around the lonely village turns to the still scene: a bend of water quietly winding the lonely village, the village's loneliness answering the man's singleness, the water's winding answering the grief's clinging. Three lines, one far one near, one motion one still, one many one few, dense and sparse feeding each other, composing a vast, beautiful dusk farewell picture. The Song critic Chao Buzhi said of these three lines that even the illiterate know they are heaven-born words, precisely because of the uncarved realm, later ages taking it as the model of writing grief through scene.

销魂，当此际，香囊暗解，罗带轻分。

My soul dissolves at this moment: I secretly untie her fragrant purse, she gently loosens my silk belt. The intimate gestures of parting are rendered with delicacy.

销魂啊，正当此际！暗地里解下香囊相赠，轻轻分开罗带，就此离别。

Heart-broken, at this moment, the perfume pouch quietly untied, the silk sash lightly parted.

过片「销魂」二字短句振起，直揭离别之痛。「销魂」语出江淹《别赋》「黯然销魂者，唯别而已矣」，以二字独句，声情并茂，把上片蓄积的景中之情一总倾出。「当此际」三字点明当下：正是此刻、正是此地、正是此别。「香囊暗解，罗带轻分」写离别时的赠物与分手：「暗解」写解下佩带的香囊相赠，一个「暗」字写出依依难舍、不欲人知的隐忍；「罗带轻分」写解下罗带（古时以罗带系物，亦为定情之物）相分，「轻」字写动作之轻柔，愈轻愈见珍重。两句以四个动词写尽赠别之态，艳而不佻、柔而见骨，把深挚的情意凝于细微的动作之中，是婉约词「于细微处见深情」的典范。

The course opens on the two words heart-broken, a short line that vibrates, directly revealing the parting pain. Heart-broken from Jiang Yan's Rhapsody on Parting, the heart-broken, it is only parting, the two words a single line, voice and feeling together, pouring out the first stanza's stored scene feeling. At this moment names the present: precisely this moment, this place, this parting. The perfume pouch quietly untied, the silk sash lightly parted writes the parting gift and the separation: quietly untied writes the unfastening of the worn perfume pouch as a gift, the one word quiet writing the reluctant, the unspoken restraint; the silk sash lightly parted writes the untying of the silk sash (in old times the silk sash tied things, and was the love token), the word lightly writing the action's gentleness, the lighter the more treasured. Two lines, four verbs exhausting the parting gift's bearing, the sensuous without the frivolity, the tenderness with backbone, gathering the deep feeling in the minute action, precisely the graceful ci's model of deep feeling in the detail.

谩赢得、青楼薄幸名存。

All I have won is the fickle name in the Mansion of Green Willows. Self-mockery for his reputation as a heartless lover, but with underlying regret.

徒然赢得了青楼薄幸的名声留存。

In vain I have won, at the singing houses, the name of the faithless lover.

此句以自嘲口吻写落拓，是下片情感的一次跌宕。「谩」即徒然、空自，「赢得」本是得意之词，偏与「薄幸名」相连，成为自嘲——我在这青楼歌馆之间，到头来只落得个薄情负心的名声。「薄幸」化用杜牧「十年一觉扬州梦，赢得青楼薄幸名」，杜牧以「薄幸」自嘲风流半生、一事无成，秦观移以自况，其意更深一层：明明情深难舍，偏偏落个「薄幸」之名，这「负心」实是深情的反说，沉痛在诙谐之外。「谩」字尤妙，写出一种「无可奈何」的认命之感——既已至此，只当是「赢得」虚名，自嘲之中，身世之悲与儿女之情打成一片，正是周济所谓「将身世之感打并入艳情」的注脚。

This line writes the down-and-out in the self-mockery, a fall in the second stanza's feeling. In vain means the empty, in vain; won by nature the proud word, and yet joined with the name of the faithless lover, turned to self-mockery — I, between the singing houses, have ended only with the faithless, heartless name. The faithless borrows Du Mu's ten years a dream of Yangzhou, I won at the singing houses the faithless name, Du Mu self-mocking the romantic half-life's achievement of nothing, Qin Guan transferring it to himself, the meaning one layer deeper: clearly the deep feeling hard to part, and yet ending with the faithless name, this heartlessness in truth the reverse saying of deep feeling, the grief beyond the wit. The word in vain the better, writing the resignation of the helpless — since it has come to this, only counting it as the won empty name, within the self-mockery the fate grief and the love feeling fused, precisely Zhou Ji's note of the fate feeling beaten into the sensuous.

伤情处，高城望断，灯火已黄昏。

In the heartbreaking moment, I gaze at the high city wall until it disappears; lamps are lit in the dusk. The scene closes with twilight lamps, deepening the melancholy.

正伤心之处，回望高城已望不见，只见灯火已是黄昏。

At the grieving moment, the high city gazed out of sight; the lanterns already lit, it is dusk.

结拍以景结情，回环呼应起拍，是下片情感的最终收束。「伤情处」三字直点主题，似断还续；「高城望断」写船已远去、回望城楼，越望越远，直至「望断」——望到看不见为止，一个「断」字写尽目光的尽头与心绪的断绝，与起拍「画角声断谯门」的「断」字遥相呼应，章法上首尾环合。「灯火已黄昏」写望断之后所见：城中万家灯火，已是黄昏时分。灯火是温暖的人间烟火，却正照见离人的孤独；「黄昏」二字把离别的时间定格，愁绪在灯火的明灭与暮色的四合中愈杳愈深。全词以景起、以景结，中间直抒胸臆，情景交融，柔婉深永，正是秦观「情韵兼胜」词风的绝佳体现。

The close ends feeling in scene, circling the opening, the second stanza's final gathering. At the grieving moment names the theme directly, seeming broken and yet continuing; the high city gazed out of sight writes the boat gone far, the city tower looked back, the farther the gaze, until the gaze broken — gazing to the invisible, the one word broken exhausting the gaze's end and the mood's cutting, echoing the opening's painted horn's sound breaks off at the watchtower gate, the head and tail fused in craft. The lanterns already lit, it is dusk writes the sight after the gaze's end: the city's ten thousand lanterns, the dusk hour. The lanterns are the warm human fires, and yet precisely shining on the traveler's loneliness; the two words dusk freezing the parting's time, the grief in the lanterns' flicker and the dusk's gathering the more distant and deep. The whole ci rising on scene, closing on scene, the middle direct utterance, scene and feeling fused, tender and deep, precisely the best showing of Qin Guan's matched feeling-and-charm style.

Study

Word focus

抹 The word 'smear' suggests light brushwork like an ink-wash painting, transforming static cloud into dynamic painterly stroke. 「山抹微云」之「抹」字，是北宋词史上有名的炼字佳话，苏轼因此戏称秦观为「山抹微云君」。「抹」本指涂抹、擦拭，是画师的运笔动作，此处移以写山与云的关系：不说云绕山、云遮山，而说山「抹」微云——仿佛远山伸出画笔，在云际轻轻一抹，留下一痕淡淡的云影。此字之妙有三：一是化静为动，把静止的云山写出运笔般的动态；二是以画入词，把语言变成丹青，淡墨轻涂，意境空灵；三是「抹」字自带「轻」意，写云之薄、山之远，不着痕迹，极炼而似不炼。清人评此句谓「抹」字「以诗家之笔为词家之句」，正见少游炼字「高雅典丽」的本色，一字之工，遂成千古名句。

暗 / 轻 A key expression in this poem; read it with the Chinese note below. 「香囊暗解，罗带轻分」之「暗」「轻」二字，是婉约词炼字的精微处，写离别赠物之隐忍与珍重。「暗解」的「暗」字写解下香囊相赠的动作在暗中进行——不欲人见、不欲人知，一个「暗」字写出依依难舍、情到深处反无言的心绪，也暗示离别之匆匆、相聚之短暂；「轻分」的「轻」字写分罗带的动作极轻极缓——罗带本为定情信物，轻轻一分，即是诀别，「轻」字愈轻，愈见不忍、愈见情深。二字皆为寻常字眼，一经点染，离别时欲语还休、百转千回的缠绵情态便宛然在目。与「暗解」「轻分」相对，「销魂」之痛反藏于轻描淡写之中，于艳语中见深情分寸，正是秦观词「淡语皆有味，浅语皆有致」的注脚。

断 The two occurrences of 'break'—the horn-sound breaks (声断) and the gaze breaks (望断)—echo each other, indicating both the cessation of sound and the end of sight, with sorrow unbroken. 全词两用「断」字：「画角声断谯门」与「高城望断」，一在起拍、一在结拍，章法遥应，含意各深。「声断」写画角之声渐渐停歇，以声之断写黄昏之深、离愁之起，是听之断；「望断」写回望高城、望到目光尽头，以望之断写别后之远、情思之绝，是视之断。一听一望，一收一放，两「断」字把送别前与别后的两个时空绾合起来，愁绪断而不断、不绝如缕。苏轼戏问「销魂当此际，非柳词句法乎」，正因这种以字眼呼应贯穿全篇的章法，最见词人经营之密。两「断」字皆置于「谯门」「高城」之后，城楼意象复现，更添苍茫，一字之复而全篇生色，是炼字与章法结合的典范。