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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

欧阳修·玉楼春·尊前拟把归期说

Jade Tower Spring - Before the Wine Cup I Meant to Name the Day of Return

欧阳修

Ouyang Xiu

婉约graceful and restrained 离愁parting sorrow

玉楼春·尊前拟把归期说尊前拟把归期说，欲语春容先惨咽。
人生自是有情痴，此恨不关风与月。
离歌且莫翻新阕，一曲能教肠寸结。
直须看尽洛城花，始共春风容易别。

Before the wine cup I meant to name the day of my return;
before I could speak, her spring-fresh face was choked with grief.
Life of itself holds those who are foolish with feeling;
this regret has nothing to do with the wind and the moon.
Let no new stanza be turned into the parting song:
one air alone can knot the heart inch by inch.
Only when we have looked our fill on all the flowers of Luoyang
shall we part easily, and with the spring wind.

Listen

Meaning

Before the wine cup he was about to speak of the day of his return, and before the words could come her lovely face was already choked with grief. Life of itself holds people who are foolish with feeling, and this regret of parting has nothing to do with the spring wind or the autumn moon. Let no new stanza be added to the parting song, for one air alone is enough to knot the heart inch by inch. Only when they have looked their fill on all the flowers of Luoyang will they be willing to take an easy leave along with the spring wind.

酒樽前正打算把归期说出，想要开口，美丽的容颜却已先自凄然哽咽。人生本来就自有痴情的人，这离恨与春风秋月并无关涉。离别的歌且莫再翻新曲，一支已能教人愁肠寸断。定要赏尽洛阳城的花，才肯随着春风从容话别。

Appreciation

The lyric opens at the wine cup with an intention to speak of return, and then sets a spring-fresh face against a choked voice, so that beauty and grief clash in a single line. Immediately the thought lifts: life of itself holds those who are foolish with feeling, and this regret has nothing to do with the wind and the moon, which raises parting sorrow into a recognition about the nature of feeling itself and shakes off the old formulas of mourning spring and grieving over autumn by turning the case on its head. In the second stanza, asking that no new stanza be turned to the parting song is a consolation that betrays how much he minds, and one air that can knot the heart states the depth of feeling at full stretch. The close, in which they must look their fill on all the flowers of Luoyang before parting easily with the spring wind, converts grief into composure. Written during or after Ouyang Xiu's years as an official at Luoyang, the piece keeps the tenderness of the Flowers Among the Blossoms tradition while showing the rational openness of a Song mind, and it stands among the finest of his short lyrics.

【白话串讲】 “人生自是有情痴，此恨不关风与月”——欧阳修说：人天生就是情痴，这恨与风月无关。“直须看尽洛城花，始共春风容易别”——看尽洛阳的花，才能和春风好好告别。【意象与手法】上片起句「尊前拟把归期说」直写樽前欲言归期之事，「拟把」二字写欲说未说之迟疑；次句「欲语春容先惨咽」以「春容」衬「惨咽」，美丽的容颜与哽咽之态形成强烈反差，未语先悲，情致顿出。第三四句「人生自是有情痴，此恨不关风与月」陡然拔高，由儿女离愁翻入哲理顿悟，以「不关」二字斩截撇去传统伤春悲秋之套语，翻案见奇。下片「离歌且莫翻新阕」以劝止语气写深惜，「一曲能教肠寸结」以「寸结」极写情之深挚；结句「直须看尽洛城花，始共春风容易别」以尽兴赏花方肯作别收束，化哀愁为从容达观，疏隽有味。全词四句一折，层层转折，由实入虚、由情入理，章法曲折而气脉一贯。【情感与主旨】此词约作于欧阳修任西京留守推官或其后居洛阳期间（天圣、明道间），写洛阳宴席上与歌伎（或友人）的离别。上片写欲语归期而先自哽咽的深情，下片写强作宽解的达观，然「人生自是有情痴」一句将离愁提升为对「情痴」本质的体认，见出宋人理性通达的襟怀。全词哀而不伤、深婉疏隽，是欧公小令中由情入理、以理节情的代表作。【名句点睛】中高考要点：一、名句赏析，「人生自是有情痴，此恨不关风与月」为哲理名句，常考其「翻案」手法与情感哲理，即把离恨归因于人之痴情而非风月外物，超越传统伤春悲秋之套语；二、结句「直须看尽洛城花，始共春风容易别」常考其以赏花尽兴写离别的达观笔法；三、炼字如「惨咽」「不关」等亦为鉴赏常考点，须能结合全词情境作答。

Background

This lyric was written about the time when Ouyang Xiu served as judicial assistant to the regent of the western capital, or during his later residence at Luoyang, in the Tiansheng and Mingdao years, and it describes a parting at a Luoyang banquet from a singing girl or a friend. Luoyang in the Northern Song was a favourite resort for the feasting and excursions of men of letters, and Ouyang Xiu's early lyrics often write the feelings of parting at such gatherings. What is remarkable here is that although the subject is private affection, at the very moment of choked grief the poem turns up a philosophical insight, that life of itself holds those who are foolish with feeling and that this regret has nothing to do with the wind and the moon, so that an ordinary sorrow of parting is raised into a recognition of what it is to be foolish with feeling. The piece inherits the graceful manner of the Flowers Among the Blossoms school and at the same time shows the rational breadth of the Song mind, and it is representative of his deep yet unhurried short lyrics.

此词约作于欧阳修任西京留守推官或其后居洛阳期间，即宋仁宗天圣、明道年间。北宋洛阳为文人宴游胜地，留守府中幕僚词客云集，樽俎之间多有歌伎侑酒，宴席赠别之词遂成风气。欧阳修早年仕于洛阳，与尹洙、梅尧臣、谢绛等人交游酬唱，其词多写宴饮离情，风格承花间、南唐之绪而加以清疏。此词所写正是樽前话别的当场情景：歌伎（或友人）欲闻归期而先自哽咽，词人遂以「人生自是有情痴，此恨不关风与月」一语翻出顿悟，将寻常儿女离愁提升为对「情痴」本性的哲学体认。这种由情入理、以理节情的写法，既承花间婉约之脉，又见宋人理性通达之思，是欧阳修小令中深婉疏隽的代表作。后人论欧词，多谓其于晏殊、柳永之外别开深婉一格，此篇即其明证；而「洛城花」所指洛阳牡丹之盛，亦为北宋洛阳文化的一个侧影，可从中想见当日名园宴赏、众香国里的时代氛围。

Art

The first stanza opens at the wine cup with the intention of naming a date of return, and 'before I could speak, her spring-fresh face was choked with grief' sets a lovely face against a choked voice so that the two clash. Then 'life of itself holds those who are foolish with feeling, this regret has nothing to do with the wind and the moon' lifts the poem suddenly, raising the sorrow of parting into a philosophical recognition of the nature of feeling, scouring away the traditional formulas of mourning spring and grieving over autumn, and finding its power in the reversal of the received case. In the second stanza, the plea that no new stanza be turned to the parting song is a consolation that reveals how deeply he cares, and the line that one air alone can knot the heart states the depth of feeling completely. The close, requiring that they look their fill on all the flowers before consenting to part, transforms grief into composure and leaves a spare, easy flavour behind.

上片起句「尊前拟把归期说」以「拟把」写归期欲说未说之际的迟疑，次句「欲语春容先惨咽」翻进一层：容颜本应如春花般明媚，却「先惨咽」，以「春容」衬「惨咽」，美与悲并置，形成强烈反差，未语先悲，情致深婉。第三四句「人生自是有情痴，此恨不关风与月」陡然拔高，由眼前儿女之愁翻入人生哲理的顿悟，以「不关」斩截地撇开传统悲莫悲兮生别离、伤春悲秋的套语，将离恨归因于人之情痴本性，翻案见奇，遂成千古名句。下片「离歌且莫翻新阕」以劝止语气出之，「且莫」二字含深惜之意——旧曲已足断肠，何忍再添新声；「一曲能教肠寸结」以「寸结」极写情之深挚，肠一寸一寸皆因情而结。结句「直须看尽洛城花，始共春风容易别」更转一层：不急着作别，定要赏尽洛阳牡丹，方肯随春风从容离去，以赏花之尽兴写离别之从容，化哀为达，疏隽有味。全词四句一折，层层转折：由欲说还休，到惨咽难言，到哲理翻案，到劝止新曲，再到看花方别，章法曲折而气脉一贯，正见欧公小令深婉不迫的功力。

Allusions

The lyric uses allusion very lightly and works instead by reversing an accepted idea. The line that this regret has nothing to do with the wind and the moon overturns the standard poetic formulas of nothing being sadder than parting in life and of mourning spring and grieving over autumn, entering into quiet dialogue with Ouyang Xiu's own contemporaries and with a tradition running back to Li Bai's line that the spring wind knows the bitterness of parting, in which grief is always written through wind and moon; against all that it proposes that the regret of parting arises from a temperament foolish with feeling and not from anything outside, which is the mark of the Song mind becoming conscious of its own reason. The flowers of Luoyang, with their famous peonies, stand for a full and unstinted enjoyment of the season; there is no obscure reference, yet the image is vivid, and it shows Ouyang Xiu's gift for absorbing material into a manner that is deep and unhurried.

本词用典极淡，重在情理翻案。「此恨不关风与月」是针对传统诗词以风月写愁的套语所作的反拨：自《楚辞·九歌》「悲莫悲兮生别离」以来，伤春悲秋、风月关情几乎成了离别诗的固定话语，李白《劳劳亭》「春风知别苦，不遣柳条青」亦以风月拟写离愁；欧阳修却反其道而行，直言离恨与春风秋月无关，乃源于人之情痴本性，这一翻案洗脱了千百年来借物抒情的惯性，将离愁的根源从外物移向内心，体现了宋人理性自觉与哲思兴味，开宋词理趣一脉。「洛城花」以洛阳牡丹之盛代指尽兴游赏，洛阳自唐以来牡丹甲天下，花字无僻典而意象鲜明，寓看尽之尽兴与容易别之从容于一体，体现了欧词深婉不迫的化用本领。此外，「尊前」即樽前，承唐人宴饮饯别之习；「春容」写歌伎如春之容颜，暗用花容月貌之常语而更显凄美；「肠寸结」化用愁肠百结、肠一日而九回之语，极写愁之盘结。全词用典如盐入水，不见痕迹而意蕴丰厚，正是大家手笔。

Commentary

Wang Guowei, in Poetic Remarks in the Human World, did not treat this piece specifically, yet he described Ouyang Xiu's lyrics as deep and unhurried; the line that life of itself holds those who are foolish with feeling has been recited ever since, and modern readers commonly praise it for governing feeling by reason. Yu Pingbo remarked that Ouyang Xiu's short lyrics resemble Su Shi in their spare ease, and this piece, which finds an open composure in the midst of choked grief, shows precisely how he lifted the private affections of the Flowers Among the Blossoms tradition to the height of an insight into life, opening the vein of intellectual pleasure in the Song lyric.

清人王国维《人间词话》虽未专评此篇，然论欧词尝以「深婉不迫」许之，此词正是其注脚：深者，情之深入骨髓；婉者，语之含蓄低回；不迫者，不迫促、不直露，于惨咽翻案之间自有从容。宋人已多传诵「人生自是有情痴」之句，后世论者常以「以理节情」称之，谓其以哲思节制哀情，哀而不伤，愁而有度。俞平伯谓欧公小令「疏隽处似坡（苏轼）」，此篇于惨咽中翻出达观，正见其将花间儿女情提升至人生领悟的高处，开宋词理趣一脉；下开东坡「人有悲欢离合，月有阴晴圆缺」之旷达，亦影响晏几道、秦观诸家的婉约深致。就词史而言，此词上承花间、南唐的宴饮离情传统，下启宋人「以理入词」的新变，是婉约词由唐入宋、由情入理过程中的一座里程碑。今人读此词，既能体味儿女离别的低回哽咽，又能感悟「情痴」二字的人生况味，故历代选本多录之，成为欧阳修小令中的代表篇章，其哲理名句至今仍被广泛征引。

Prosody

Form Lyric to the tune Jade Tower Spring, double form of fifty-six characters词·《玉楼春》双调五十六字

Rhyme Oblique-tone rhyme, three oblique rhymes in each stanza according to the tune pattern仄韵（依词谱，上下片各三仄韵，全篇一韵到底）

Tone pattern Eight seven-character lines with oblique rhyme throughout, the line lengths as regular as a variant of the seven-character quatrain七言八句，上下片各四句，句式齐整如七绝变体，仄韵到底，声情低回顿挫

Reading note A graceful short lyric by Ouyang Xiu, moving from feeling into thought, deep in tenderness and spare in manner.《玉楼春》为双调五十六字小令，上下片各四句、各七言，句式齐整，形如两首仄韵七绝相叠，故词论家多谓其似七绝而加一叠。此调押仄韵，上下片各三仄韵，一韵到底，仄声韵脚如「说」「咽」「月」「阕」「结」「别」音调短促低抑，正与离愁别绪的声情相合——仄韵的顿挫感使词情低回，宜于写哽咽欲语、肠寸百结的深情。全词七言八句，无领字、无衬字，句句齐整，节奏上以四三为主，如「尊前／拟把归期说」，读来平缓中见顿挫，与内容之欲说还休互为表里。欧阳修此词虽用小令短调，却能于有限篇幅内完成「惨咽—翻案—劝止—达观」的层层转折，正见其以格律驭情的功力；后人按谱唱之，仄韵顿挫与「容易别」的悠然收束相映，尤觉深婉疏隽、余韵不尽，是小令声情与词情高度统一的典范。

Line by line

尊前拟把归期说，欲语春容先惨咽

Before the wine cup he meant to name the day of his return, and before he could speak her face was already choked with grief.

酒樽前正打算把归期说出，想要开口，美丽的容颜却已先自凄然哽咽。

Before the cup, I mean to speak of the return date; words half-formed, the spring face already turns to choked sobs.

「尊前拟把归期说」直写樽前话别的当场情景，「拟把」二字极有分寸：归期不是不说，而是拟说而未说，欲言又止之间已见离情之重。次句「欲语春容先惨咽」翻进一层，以「春容」衬「惨咽」：容颜本如春花般明艳，此刻却先自哽咽失声，「先」字写悲情之不可抑制，未及开口而泪已先流，美与悲同框，反差强烈，情致深婉。两句以「拟」「欲」两个虚字写心理之迟回，以「春容」「惨咽」写神色之变化，由言而色、由外而内，将离别的沉重写得层层逼近。此联不写离别本身，只写离别前的一瞬，却比直写更见情真，是典型的以少总多之笔，也为下文「人生自是有情痴」的哲理翻案预作铺垫。

Before the cup, I mean to speak of the return date directly writes the before-the-cup parting scene, the two words mean to the extreme of measure: the return date not unspoken, but meant and yet unspoken, the would-speak-and-stopped already showing the parting feeling's weight. The next line words half-formed, the spring face already turns to choked sobs turns one layer further, setting the spring face against the choked sobs: the face by nature bright as the spring flower, and now the choked voicelessness first, the one word first writing the grief's irrepressibility, the words not yet out and the tears already flowing, the beauty and the grief in one frame, the contrast sharp, the grace deep. Two lines using the two empty words mean and would-speak to write the mind's lingering, using the spring face and the choked sobs to write the countenance's change, from words to color, from without to within, writing the parting's heaviness layer by layer. This couplet not writing the parting itself, only the moment before the parting, and yet the more feeling-true than the direct writing, precisely the typical few-words-gathering-the-whole brush, and storing the ground for the below's life-is-by-nature-the-love's-obsession philosophical reversal.

人生自是有情痴，此恨不关风与月

Life of itself holds those who are foolish with feeling; this regret has nothing to do with the wind and the moon.

人生本来就自有痴情的人，这离恨与春风秋月并无关涉。

Life is by nature endowed with the love's obsession; this parting grief has nothing to do with wind or moon.

这是全词的哲理核心与千古名句。前两句写樽前惨咽，已把离情写到极致，此联却陡然拔高，不写愁而写愁之根源：人生本是痴情之物，离别之恨乃出于情痴本性，与风月等外物无涉。「不关」二字斩截有力，一笔撇去千百年来伤春悲秋、风月关情的套语——自《楚辞》「悲莫悲兮生别离」到李白「春风知别苦」，诗人惯以风月写愁，欧公却反其道而行，将离恨的根源从外物移向人的内心，翻案见奇，正见宋人理性自觉与哲思兴味。这两句以议论入词而不损其情，反使小令的境界由儿女私情上升到对人生本质的体认，故历来传诵不衰，中高考亦常以其翻案手法与情感哲理设题，是理解全词由情入理、以理节情之关键。

This is the ci's philosophical core and a famous line through the ages. The two above lines writing the before-the-cup choked sobs, already writing the parting feeling to the extreme, this couplet suddenly rising, not writing the grief but the grief's root: life by nature the love-obsessed thing, the parting grief born of the love-obsession nature, having nothing to do with the wind and moon and the outer things. The two words nothing-to-do, decisive and forceful, one stroke clearing away the thousand-year spring-grief-and-autumn-sadness, wind-and-moon-connected set phrases — from the Chu Elegies' grief-is-grief-to-be-parted to Li Bai's the spring wind knows the parting grief, the poets using the wind and moon for the grief, and Ouyang going the reverse, moving the parting grief's root from the outer thing to the human heart, the reversal's wonder, precisely showing the Song people's rational consciousness and philosophical charm. These two lines' argument in the ci and yet no loss of the feeling, instead raising the short stanza's realm from the lovers' private feeling to the life's essence's understanding, hence recited through the ages, precisely the key to understanding the ci's feeling-to-reason and reason-reining-feeling turn.

离歌且莫翻新阕，一曲能教肠寸结

Let no new stanza be turned into the parting song, for one air alone can break the heart.

离别的歌且莫再翻新曲，一支已能教人愁肠寸断。

Farewell song, pray do not tune a new verse; one verse enough to knot the bowels inch by inch.

下片以劝止语气起笔：「且莫」二字是深情的劝告——离歌一曲已足断肠，何忍再翻新阕、再添新愁？「翻新阕」指另谱新曲，旧曲尚不能堪，新声更何以当？此句表面劝歌伎莫再唱新曲，实则以退为进，愈见离情之深重。「一曲能教肠寸结」以「寸结」极写愁之盘结：肠本有形，寸寸皆结，喻愁之深、之密、之无可排解。「一曲」与「寸结」对照，以少写多，一支曲子便教人愁肠百结，则情之挚、别之难，尽在不言中。两句一劝一叹，语气低回而情致深婉，为结句「直须看尽洛城花」的达观翻案预作铺垫——正因为愁深难遣，才更须以尽兴赏花来排解，情感的转折由此自然引出。

The second stanza opens in the advising tone: the two words pray do not the deep feeling's counsel — one farewell song enough to break the bowels, how could one bear the new verse and the new grief? The new verse means the new tune, the old tune yet unendurable, the new sound how to bear? This line on the surface advising the songstress not to sing the new tune, in truth the retreat-as-advance, the more the parting feeling's depth. One verse enough to knot the bowels inch by inch uses the inch-by-inch knot to write the grief's coiling: the bowels by nature the form, inch by inch knotted, figuring the grief's depth, density, un-unravelability. The one verse and the inch-by-inch knot's contrast, writing much through the little, one song making the bowels' hundred knots, the love's depth and the parting's hardness all within the unsaid. Two lines, one counsel one sigh, the tone low and the grace deep, storing the ground for the close's must-see-out-every-flower detached reversal — precisely because the grief deep and hard to dispel, the more the must-see-out-the-flowers to dispel it, the emotional turn hence naturally led.

直须看尽洛城花，始共春风容易别

Only when they have looked their fill on all the flowers of Luoyang will they part easily, along with the spring wind.

定要赏尽洛阳城的花，才肯随着春风从容话别。

I must see out every flower of Luoyang; only then, with the spring wind, take my easy leave.

结句是全词情感的最高转折，也是「疏隽」一格的集中体现。「直须」与「始共」两个虚词呼应，构成「必先……然后才……」的条件句式：定要赏尽洛阳牡丹，才肯随春风从容作别。其意有三层：其一，以赏花尽兴挽留相聚的时光，将离别推迟到把春光看尽之后，是痴情之极的自我宽解；其二，「洛城花」指洛阳牡丹，北宋洛阳牡丹甲天下，看尽名花即享尽人生美好，暗含今生须尽欢的旷达；其三，「容易别」三字轻轻收束，把前文的惨咽、断肠一齐化开，离愁至此转为从容达观，哀而不伤。王国维《人间词话》所谓「深婉不迫」，正于此处见之：愁到极处反能自我开解，化悲为达，疏隽有味，为全词画上一个含不尽之意于言外的句号。

The close is the ci's emotional highest turn, and the sparse-fresh style's concentrated showing. The two words must and the only-then echo each other, forming the condition structure the first must ... and then: must see out every Luoyang peony, only then taking the easy leave with the spring wind. The meaning three layers: first, using the flower-seeing's thoroughness to detain the gathering time, postponing the parting until the spring's seen-out, the love-crazed self-consolation's extreme; second, the Luoyang flowers means the Luoyang peony, the Northern Song's Luoyang peony the world's first, the seeing-out of the famous flowers the life's beauty enjoyed, secretly carrying the this-life's-joy-to-the-full detachment; third, the three words easy-leaving lightly closing, dissolving all the above's choked sobs and broken bowels, the grief hence turning to the calm detachment, the grief without the hurt. Wang Guowei's Human Words and Verses' the deep grace without the pressure precisely seen here: the grief to the extreme and yet the self-unraveling, turning grief to detachment, the sparse-fresh flavor, closing the ci with the endless meaning beyond the words.

Study

Word focus

惨咽 The first word paints a stricken look and the second a voice stopped in the throat; grief comes before any word is spoken, and the strangeness of both face and voice conveys the depth of parting feeling in diction of great precision. 「惨咽」二字是全词上片最传神的炼字。「惨」写神色，指面容凄楚、黯淡无光；「咽」写声气，指哽咽失声、语不成句。二字合看，以颜与声两面写离别之悲：容颜之惨是可见的，声气之咽是可闻的，一色一声，将欲语而先悲的刹那情态写得如在目前。妙处在「先」字配合：归期未及说出，春容已先惨咽，悲情之不可抑制、不可等待，尽在这「先」字之中。以「春容」衬「惨咽」，明媚的容颜与凄楚的哽咽同框，反差愈大，悲伤愈深，正是「以乐景写哀」的变体。后人论欧词炼字，多举此二字，谓其字字从肺腑流出，盖非泛写愁容，而是把歌伎（或友人）闻归期而悲、未语而咽的心理，压缩进两个寻常字眼，故能传神千古，与「欲语」二字相生，遂成离愁词中写情态的名笔。

不关 In 'this regret has nothing to do with the wind and the moon', the flat denial cuts the case clean across, assigning the sorrow of parting to a nature foolish with feeling rather than to anything outside, which shows the Song mind becoming conscious of its own reason. 「此恨不关风与月」之「不关」二字，是全词翻案立意的关键。「不关」即无关、不涉，以斩截的口吻一笔撇去传统诗词以风月写愁的套语：自《楚辞》「悲莫悲兮生别离」以来，诗人惯把离愁归之于春风秋月、落花飞絮，欧阳修却直言此恨与风月无涉，根源在于人之情痴本性。二字的力量在于「反」与「断」：反者，反其道而行，把千百年的抒情惯性一举翻案；断者，论断斩钉截铁，不容分说，正是宋人理性自觉与议论入词的标志。有此二字，全词的境界便由儿女私情升华为对「情痴」本质的哲学体认，小令遂有思致之深，词体亦由单纯的抒情走向情理交融。故论者谓此词「以理节情」，而「不关」正是那节情的刀口、翻案的支点，也是全词由情入理的关键字眼。

直须/始共 The phrase meaning 'only when' answers to the phrase meaning 'then and only then': they will part only after looking their fill on the flowers, so that the sorrow of leave-taking is converted into composure, spare and open in spirit. 「直须」（定要）与「始共」（才同、才肯）两词遥相呼应，构成「必先……然后才……」的条件句式，是结句达观意趣的语法支点。「直须」语气坚定，写赏花的决心，定要看尽洛城花方肯罢休；「始共」语气从容，写话别的时机，看尽名花之后才肯随春风离别。二字一前一后，把「离别」推延到「看尽春光」之后，实则以尽兴游赏来稀释离愁、以纵情欢乐来排解悲情，化哀为达，正是「疏隽」一格的妙处。若直说「莫要悲伤」，便嫌说教；用「直须」「始共」这组虚词，则把强作宽解的心理写得含蓄曲折、余味不尽，使人于低回中见旷达，于婉约中见理趣。虚词之用如此精妙，是欧公炼字炼句的得意之笔，亦可见其小令于平淡处见奇警的功夫。