宋 Song · 诗 Poem
明妃曲
Song of the Lament of the Bright Consort
胡人以鞍马为家，射猎为俗。
泉甘草美无常处，鸟惊兽骇争驰逐。
谁将汉女嫁胡儿，风沙无情面如玉。
身行不遇中国人，马上自作思归曲。
推手为琵却手琶，胡人共听亦咨嗟。
玉颜流落死天涯，琵琶却传来汉家。
汉宫争按新声谱，遗恨已深声更苦。
纤纤女手生洞房，学得琵琶不下堂。
不识黄云出塞路，岂知此声能断肠。
Sweet springs and fine grass, with no fixed place; startled birds and beasts race in pursuit.
Who sent a Han maiden to marry a Hu lad? Wind and sand are ruthless, yet her face is like jade.
On the road she meets no one from the Central Plains; on horseback she composes a song of longing for home.
The pushing hand makes pi, the drawing hand makes pa; even the Hu people listen and sigh.
A jade face drifts away to die at the edge of heaven; yet the pipa tune is passed back to the Han household.
Han palaces compete to follow the new score; the regret is already deep, and the sound grows more bitter.
Delicate, delicate maidens' hands born in inner chambers, having learned the pipa, they never leave the hall.
Not knowing the yellow-cloud road that crosses the frontier, how could they know this sound can break a heart?
Meaning
The poem laments the fate of Wang Zhaojun, a Han palace lady married to a northern nomad. It contrasts the vast, unstable nomadic world with the fragility of a Han beauty, traces her making a homesick pipa tune, and ends with the irony that Han palace women who have never left the palace imitate the sorrowful music without understanding its true grief.
胡人把鞍马当作家园，以射猎为习俗。 泉水甘甜草色鲜美却没有固定居处，鸟惊兽骇争相驰逐。 是谁把汉家女子嫁给胡人儿郎，风沙无情脸面却如玉。 身行塞外遇不到中原故人，在马上自作思归的乐曲。 推手为琵却手为琶，胡人一同聆听也嗟叹不已。 如玉容颜流落死在天涯，琵琶曲却传回了汉家。 汉宫争相按谱弹奏新声，遗恨已深声调更苦。 纤纤素手生在深宫洞房，学着弹琵琶不出厅堂。 不识黄云漫卷的出塞之路，又怎知这声调能令人断肠。
Appreciation
Ouyang Xiu's 'Song of the Lament of the Bright Consort' is a companion piece to Wang Anshi's poem of the same title. In the Northern Song, the theme of Wang Zhaojun was popular, and Ouyang and Wang exchanged verses, using Zhaojun's fate to express personal and political feelings. The poem opens with the Hu people's nomadic life, depicting vast frontiers. It then turns to Zhaojun: her jade face exposed to merciless wind and sand, her solitude on the road, and her composing a homesick tune on horseback. The pipa's sorrow moves even the Hu listeners. After her death, the tune returns to the Han palace, where palace women compete to play it, yet they have never experienced the frontier. The final lines contrast their sheltered ignorance with Zhaojun's real suffering. The poem uses the pipa as a thread, moving layer by layer, in plain language that carries profound feeling. It stands apart from traditional laments, showing Ouyang's mastery of historical reflection and satire, and the Song preference for intellectual subtlety.
【白话串讲】 欧阳修写王昭君：“胡人以鞍马为家，射猎为俗”——“谁将汉女嫁胡儿，风沙无情面如玉”——“玉颜流落死天涯”——她流落匈奴。欧阳修和王安石都写过《明妃曲》，一时传诵。 【意象与手法】 以胡人视角起笔，“胡人以鞍马为家、射猎为俗”勾勒塞外苍茫；中段“推手为琵却手琶，胡人共听亦咨嗟”点出琵琶声调的悲怨；“玉颜流落死天涯，琵琶却传来汉家”写昭君身死而哀音流传；末段“汉宫纤纤女手生洞房……岂知此声能断肠”以深宫女子学弹悲曲作结反衬。以琵琶为线索，层层递转。 【情感与主旨】 欧阳修和王安石《明妃曲》之作，借王昭君命运抒写身世与政治感慨。不落历来明妃怨的窠臼，转从胡汉两端着笔，于平淡叙述中藏深沉悲悯，体现宋诗以意取胜的特色。 【名句点睛】 常考“玉颜流落死天涯，琵琶却传来汉家”以琵琶传声写昭君遗恨；“岂知此声能断肠”以深宫学弹反衬明妃真苦。
Background
Ouyang Xiu wrote this poem in response to Wang Anshi's 'Song of the Lament of the Bright Consort', probably during the Jiayou period. The story of Wang Zhaojun appears in the Hanshu and the Xijing Zaji: because she refused to bribe the painter Mao Yanshou, her portrait was made ugly, and she was eventually married to a Xiongnu chieftain. Earlier poets often used her fate to express personal grief. Ouyang's poem breaks new ground by not focusing on Emperor Yuan or Mao, but by writing from both the Hu and Han perspectives. He depicts the desolate nomadic world and the irony of Han palace women learning the sorrowful tune without ever crossing the frontier. This companion poem demonstrates Ouyang's late style—vigorous unregulated verse with plain words and deep resonance, embodying the Song poetic ideal of meaning over ornament.
欧阳修《明妃曲》乃和王安石之作，约作于嘉祐年间。北宋时明妃（王昭君）题材盛行，欧王二人唱和，借王昭君远嫁匈奴的命运，抒写身世之感与政治感慨，一时传为文坛佳话。王昭君事见《汉书·元帝纪》与《西京杂记》：元帝宫人既多，使画工图形，按图召幸，昭君不肯行贿，画工毛延寿遂丑其貌，终远嫁匈奴。历代诗人多作明妃怨，托其不幸以自伤。欧阳修此诗则别开生面，不以汉元帝或毛延寿为主角，而从胡汉两端着笔，既写塞外游牧之苍茫，又写汉宫女子从未出塞却学弹悲曲的意味，于和作中翻出新意。欧公晚年为诗，七古老健，此诗语言平易而寄慨遥深，足见其咏史讽世之功力，亦体现宋诗以意取胜、不落甜熟的特色。欧公以文章宗主之尊，为明妃写此和篇，足见其于寻常题材中亦不肯落人窠臼的匠心与识力。和作之难，在能不袭原唱，欧公此篇，别出手眼，正见其大家手段。
Art
The poem uses the pipa as a thread, moving layer by layer. It begins with the Hu people's mobile life, then shifts to Zhaojun's fate: the contrast between the jade face and ruthless wind and sand, and her solitude in exile. The pipa's sound moves the Hu people, bridging both cultures. After her death, the tune returns to Han, creating a sharp reversal. The final section contrasts sheltered palace women with Zhaojun's real suffering. The structure progresses from outside to inside, from reality to irony. Ouyang's language is plain yet carries deep compassion. The pipa connects Hu and Han, past and present, making this one of his finest later compositions.
此诗以琵琶为线索，层层递转，结构精巧。起二句胡人以鞍马为家，射猎为俗，以胡人视角起笔，写其游牧生活之流动不居；泉甘草美无常处，鸟惊兽骇争驰逐，勾勒塞外苍茫、逐水草而居的野性世界。中段转入明妃：谁将汉女嫁胡儿，风沙无情面如玉，以如玉之面对照无情风沙，写远嫁之残酷；身行不遇中国人，马上自作思归曲，写塞外孤苦、无人理解的悲怨。推手为琵却手琶，胡人共听亦咨嗟，点出琵琶声调的悲怨能动胡人；玉颜流落死天涯，琵琶却传来汉家，身死而哀音流传，对照强烈。末段意味深长：汉宫纤纤女手生洞房，学得琵琶不下堂，不识黄云出塞路，岂知此声能断肠，以深宫女子从未出塞却学弹悲曲作结，反衬明妃真苦难言。全诗由胡而汉、由外而内、由实而虚，平易中藏深沉悲悯。以琵琶一线贯穿全篇，由胡而汉、由外而内，结构之密，在欧公诗中亦属上乘之作。
Allusions
The poem draws on the legend of Wang Zhaojun and the pipa. Zhaojun, a palace lady of Emperor Yuan, was married to the Xiongnu chieftain Huhanye in 33 BCE. The story of Mao Yanshou's bribery appears in Xijing Zaji and became a common allusion in later poems. The pipa is the key image: according to tradition, Zhaojun played a pipa on horseback to express her homesickness, a motif found already in Shi Chong's 'Wang Mingjun Ci'. The 'yellow-cloud road' evokes the dusty frontier imagery of Tang border poems. Ouyang transforms these allusions to create a new dimension, showing his skill in using tradition without being bound by it.
此诗用事虽不密集，却根植于昭君传说与琵琶意象。明妃即王昭君，名嫱，汉元帝宫人，竟宁元年远嫁匈奴呼韩邪单于，见《汉书》。毛延寿索贿丑图之事出《西京杂记》，虽为小说家言，却成后世明妃诗常见故实；欧阳修与王安石唱和，皆及毛延寿（王诗径言枉杀毛延寿），可见宋人对此典的活用。琵琶为诗眼线索：相传昭君琵琶马上作思归之曲，晋石崇《王明君辞序》已言昭君怨恚，殊不悟己之被弃，后人多衍为琵琶出塞之悲。黄云出塞路化用边塞诗意象，黄云指边地风沙昏黄之云，如高适黄云白日昏。欧公以琵琶贯穿全篇，将昭君身世、胡汉风物、汉宫反衬熔为一炉，使一首和作获得独立于原题的厚度。昭君故事流传既久，欧公点化入诗，善于述故事而不为故事所拘，可谓善学古者。昭君故事，唐人写尽，欧公独取胡汉两端，翻空出奇，是宋调善翻案之先声。其于典故，能活用之而不为所囿，最见宋人咏史之巧。
Commentary
This poem stands out among works on Zhaojun for its fresh perspective. Unlike Tang poets who wrote in Zhaojun's voice, blaming the emperor or painter, Ouyang writes from both Hu and Han sides. He portrays the Hu world without demonization and uses sheltered palace women as a foil to highlight Zhaojun's unsharable pain. The pipa thread unifies the poem: Hu listeners sigh, Han listeners play the tune but remain ignorant of its true sorrow. The final four lines exemplify Song poetic reasoning—using ignorance to underscore compassion. This poem, along with Wang Anshi's version, marks the maturity of Song style. Ouyang's unadorned yet profound language proves his late vigor and the Song emphasis on meaning and argument.
欧阳修此诗在明妃题材中自成一格，价值首在视角之新。唐人明妃诗多代昭君立言，写其怨君王、恨画工、悲远嫁；欧公则不落窠臼，转从胡汉两端着笔，既写胡人游牧之真，又写汉宫女子学弹悲曲之反讽，于平淡叙述中藏深沉悲悯。苏轼所谓欧诗如春容舒适的气象，此诗平易而味永，正其典型。其次在结构：以琵琶一线贯穿，胡人听琶而咨嗟，汉宫按谱而声苦，前后映照，余韵悠长。末四句尤见宋诗理趣——深宫女子不识出塞路却弹断肠声，以无知衬有情，以安逸衬苦难，是宋诗以意取胜的范例。清人编宋诗，多取欧王明妃唱和并观，以为宋调成熟之标志。此诗不事雕琢而寄慨遥深，足证欧公晚年七古之老健，亦见宋诗善翻案、重理趣的时代风气。宋诗之不同于唐，正在此等以意运事、以理入情处，欧公实开其端，宜乎为后世所重。与荆公唱和并观，一婉一峭，宋诗面目，于此最分明。
Prosody
Line by line
谁将汉女嫁胡儿，风沙无情面如玉。
With a rhetorical question, the poet asks who sent a Han woman to marry a Hu man; the contrast between ruthless wind and sand and her jade-like face emphasizes the cruelty of her exile.
是谁把汉家女子嫁给胡人儿郎，风沙无情脸面却如玉。
Who married the Han maid to the barbarian lad? The wind and sand are ruthless, and her face is like jade.
这一联以强烈的反差写尽远嫁之残酷。谁将汉女嫁胡儿，以诘问起，暗含对和亲政策的质疑与对昭君命运的痛惜；风沙无情面如玉，则以自然之无情对照容颜之娇美——塞外风沙何等粗粝暴虐，而昭君之面却如玉温润，二者并置，愈显其身处异域的脆弱与无辜。无情与如玉，一刚一柔、一丑一美，构成刺痛的对照。欧公于此不着一字怨愤，只以白描呈现事实，而悲悯自见。这种以物象反差代抒情议论的手法，正得宋诗含蓄不尽之妙，也为下句身行不遇中国人、马上自作思归曲蓄足了孤苦之情。
This couplet exhausts the cruelty of the far marriage in the sharp contrast. Who married the Han maid to the barbarian lad? opens in the question, secretly carrying the questioning of the heqin policy and the grief for Zhaojun's fate; the wind and sand are ruthless, and her face is like jade sets nature's heartlessness against the face's beauty — the frontier's wind and sand so rough and violent, and Zhaojun's face so warm as jade, the two set together, the more her fragility and innocence in the alien land. The heartless and the jade-like, one hard one soft, one ugly one beautiful, forming the stabbing contrast. Ouyang Xiu here not one word of resentment, only the plain drawing of the fact, and the compassion self-seen. This way of writing the lyric argument through the object's contrast precisely captures the Song poetry's aftertone, and stores the lonely ground for the below's body walking and yet not meeting the Chinese, the self-composed homesickness tune.
玉颜流落死天涯，琵琶却传来汉家。
Her jade beauty drifts and dies at the edge of the world, yet the pipa tune is transmitted back to the Han court—a stark contrast between physical death and enduring sound, highlighting the irony of fate.
如玉容颜流落死在天涯，琵琶曲却传回了汉家。
The jade face drifted and died at world's end; the pipa tune, however, was sent back to the Han house.
此二句以生死与声音的错位，写尽悲剧的荒诞与绵长。玉颜流落死天涯，写昭君香消玉殒于万里之外，身归绝域，再不能返；琵琶却传来汉家，写其魂魄所化的哀音却逆着流放的方向，传回故国。一死一生、一流一传，人身与乐声背道而驰，构成极具张力的对照：肉体被放逐到天涯，哀怨却穿透时空回到原点。却字是转折的关节，写出命运的反讽——人回不来，只有悲曲回来了。这一句既收束了昭君本传的悲剧，又开启了汉宫争按新声谱的下一层反讽，是全诗由实转虚的枢纽。
These two lines write the tragedy's absurdity and length in the life-death and sound displacement. The jade face drifted and died at world's end writes Zhaojun's fragrance consumed ten thousand li away, the body returned to the far realm, never to return; the pipa tune, however, was sent back to the Han house writes the wail her soul transformed into, and yet against the direction of the exile, sent back to the old country. One death one life, one exile one transmission, the body and the music going opposite ways, forming the tension-filled contrast: the body exiled to the world's edge, the grief piercing time and space back to the origin. The one word however is the turning's hinge, writing fate's irony — the man cannot return, only the grief tune returned. This line at once closes the tragedy of Zhaojun's own biography, and opens the next layer's irony of the Han palace's contesting the new tunes, the poem's hinge from the real to the imagined.
纤纤女手生洞房，学得琵琶不下堂。
Delicate hands born in inner chambers easily learn the pipa and never leave the hall, contrasting sharply with Zhaojun's forced journey across the frontier.
纤纤素手生在深宫洞房，学着弹琵琶不出厅堂。
Slender maiden hands, born in the deep chamber; learning the pipa, they never leave the hall.
此二句转入汉宫女子的对照写法，是欧公翻案用笔的妙处。纤纤女手生洞房，写汉宫女子养尊处优，手如柔荑，生于深宫；学得琵琶不下堂，则写她们足不出户便能学会弹奏那支悲曲。不下堂与昭君远嫁天涯形成刺心对照：一个困于深宫弹别人断肠之曲，一个埋骨荒漠作自己断肠之曲。欧公以汉宫女子的安逸反衬明妃的苦难，手法近乎冷峻的旁观。她们学的是技艺，明妃付的是性命，同样一支琵琶，分量天差地别。这一对照使昭君之悲更显孤绝，也令全诗跳出单纯的怜昭君，而上升为对命运不公的普遍悲悯。
These two lines turn to the Han palace women's contrast writing, the wonder of Ouyang Xiu's reversal brush. Slender maiden hands, born in the deep chamber writes the Han palace women's pampered ease, the hands soft as the sprouted grass, born in the deep palace; learning the pipa, they never leave the hall writes their learning the playing of that grief tune without stepping out of the hall. Never-leave-the-hall and Zhaojun's far marriage form the heart-stabbing contrast: one trapped in the deep palace playing another's heart-break tune, one buried in the desert making her own. Ouyang Xiu setting the Han women's ease against the Bright Consort's suffering, the method almost the cold onlooking. They learn the craft, and the Bright Consort pays with her life, the same pipa, the weight worlds apart. This contrast makes Zhaojun's grief the more solitary, and raises the poem from the simple pity of Zhaojun to the universal compassion for fate's injustice.
不识黄云出塞路，岂知此声能断肠。
These sheltered women have never seen the yellow-clouded road beyond the border, so how can they possibly know that this sound can break one's heart? The rhetorical question underscores the gap between aesthetic imitation and lived suffering.
不识黄云漫卷的出塞之路，又怎知这声调能令人断肠。
They never knew the yellow-cloud road out the pass; how should they know this sound can break the heart?
结句以反问收束，把全诗的悲悯推向顶点。不识黄云出塞路，写汉宫女子从未踏上边塞风沙之路，黄云指边地昏黄的风云，是她们想象之外的世界；岂知此声能断肠，则以反问点破：她们弹着这支曲子，却根本不知其中的血泪分量。岂知二字是反讽的利刃，既写深宫女子的无知，也写世间多少安稳者，对苦难者的痛毫无体认。欧公以此作结，余味无穷——明妃的真苦难言，而听曲者茫然，这种沟通的断裂，比远嫁本身更令人心碎。全诗至此由具体的史事，化为对人情隔膜、对苦难被轻忽的深沉慨叹。
The close closes in the question, pushing the poem's compassion to the peak. They never knew the yellow-cloud road out the pass writes the Han women never treading the frontier wind-and-sand road, the yellow cloud the border's dusk-yellow wind and cloud, the world outside their imagination; how should they know this sound can break the heart? breaks through in the question: they play this tune, and yet by nature not knowing the blood-and-tear weight within. The two words how should know are the irony's blade, writing at once the deep palace women's ignorance, and the world's many secure ones' total unknowing of the suffering man's pain. Ouyang Xiu closing thus, the aftertone infinite — the Bright Consort's true grief unspeakable, and the tune's listener blank, this break in communication more heart-breaking than the far marriage itself. The poem here turning from the concrete history to the deep sigh at human estrangement and the suffering's being lightly treated.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Wang's poem innovates by blaming the painter rather than the emperor and concludes that 'disappointment is nothing compared to the south and north'—a pointed argument. Ouyang's poem writes from both Hu and Han perspectives, using palace women's ignorance to highlight Zhaojun's true suffering. Wang wins through argument, Ouyang through emotion. Together they demonstrate the Song talent for turning old stories into new insights.
欧王明妃唱和，并名当时。王诗翻新史识，不怨君王而咎画师，结以人生失意无南北的翻案之论，峭拔精警；欧诗则从胡汉两端着笔，以汉宫女子学弹悲曲反衬明妃真苦难言，婉而多悲悯。王以论胜，欧以情胜；王如利刃破题，欧如长歌当哭。二者皆脱唐人怜昭君之窠臼，而路径不同：王把悲剧归为普遍的人生失意，欧把悲剧还原为具体的身世隔膜。并读二作，可见宋诗善翻案、重理趣的时代风气，亦见欧王二人性格与笔力的鲜明对照。
明妃曲（唐） 明妃曲（唐） 白居易 · 同写昭君之悲，唐人哀婉宋人理趣 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
唐人咏明妃多代昭君立言，如白居易写明妃怨，写满面胡沙满鬓风，眉销残黛脸销红，重在描摹远嫁的凄楚与容颜摧损，哀婉缠绵；欧公此作则跳出代言之体，转以旁观者视角、以胡汉对照与汉宫反讽写之，语言平易而寄慨遥深。唐调重情之悲，宋调重意之远；唐人把昭君写成哭的主角，宋人把昭君写成被理解的客体。欧诗不识黄云出塞路，岂知此声能断肠，正是宋诗以理趣代哀婉的典型——悲在言外，意在题中。
王明君辞（并序） 王明君辞（并序） 石崇 · 同为琵琶出塞题材的远祖，一晋赋一宋诗 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
晋石崇《王明君辞序》谓昭君以公主之礼嫁匈奴，昭君怨恚，殊不悟己之被弃，遂作琵琶马上之乐，从此琵琶与明妃绑定，成为出塞悲音的符号。欧阳修此诗以琵琶为线索贯穿全篇，胡人听琶而咨嗟、汉宫按谱而声苦，正承石崇所定之象。不同在，石崇重在铺陈昭君之怨，欧公重在以琵琶勾连胡汉、反衬身世，结构更幻、寄慨更深。二者相隔千年，而琵琶一声，串起了中国诗人对明妃命运一脉相承的怅惘。