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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

菩萨蛮

Pusaman (To the Tune 'Bodhisattva-Barbarian')

张先

Zhang Xian

哀筝一弄湘江曲。
声声写尽湘波绿。
纤指十三弦。
细将幽恨传。
当筵秋水慢。
玉柱斜飞雁。
弹到断肠时。
春山眉黛低。

A mournful zither strikes up a tune of the Xiang River,
note after note pouring out all the green of the Xiang waves.
Slender fingers on thirteen strings
pass on her hidden sorrow, fine and slow.
Before the feast her autumn-water eyes drift slow;
on the jade bridges, wild geese fly slanting.
When the playing reaches the heartbroken passage,
her spring-mountain eyebrows droop low.

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Meaning

The poem is a portrait of a woman playing the mournful zither at a feast. The Xiang River tune, note by note, pours out the green of the Xiang waves; slender fingers on thirteen strings pass on her hidden sorrow. Her autumn-water eyes drift slow as the jade bridges of the instrument slant like flying geese — and when the playing reaches the heartbroken passage, her spring-mountain eyebrows droop low. Sorrow is never spoken; it lives entirely in sound, gesture, and face.

哀怨的筝声，一弄便是湘江之曲。声声写尽湘水的绿意。纤细的手指，拨动十三弦。细细地将幽恨传遍。当筵之秋波，缓缓流淌。玉柱之上，斜飞的大雁。弹到断肠之时。春山般的眉黛，低垂下来。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] A mournful zither strikes up a Xiang River tune; note after note seems to write out all the green of the Xiang's waves. Slender fingers move on thirteen strings, passing on a hidden sorrow fine as silk. Before the feast her autumn-water eyes drift slowly; the jade bridges of the instrument stand like geese slanting in flight. When the playing reaches the heartbroken passage, her spring-mountain eyebrows droop low. [Structure] The upper stanza runs from sound to feeling — tune, notes, fingers, strings, sorrow; the lower stanza from instrument and player to the moment of heartbreak. [Imagery] Not one direct word of emotion: the Xiang waves' green, the geese-like bridges, the drooping eyebrows carry the grief — an early model of Song ci's restrained, suggestive portraiture of music and woman.

【白话串讲】张先写《菩萨蛮》：“哀筝一弄湘江曲。声声写尽湘波绿”——“纤指十三弦。细将幽恨传”——“当筵秋水慢。玉柱斜飞雁”——“弹到断肠时。春山眉黛低”——他写听筝——弹到断肠时。【意象与手法】 “哀筝一弄湘江曲。声声写尽湘波绿”以湘江曲写筝声之哀；“纤指十三弦。细将幽恨传”写弹筝之态；“当筵秋水慢。玉柱斜飞雁”写弹筝之姿；结以“弹到断肠时。春山眉黛低”写弹至断肠眉黛低垂。含蓄婉转。【情感与主旨】张先写女子弹筝之作，以细腻笔触写弹筝之态与筝声之哀，以“弹到断肠时”写筝声感人，是宋初词中的名篇。【名句点睛】常考“哀筝一弄湘江曲。声声写尽湘波绿”以湘江曲写筝声之哀；“弹到断肠时。春山眉黛低”以断肠眉黛低写弹筝感人。

Background

Zhang Xian (990–1078), courtesy name Ziyie, came from Wucheng (modern Huzhou, Zhejiang). The leading ci poet of the early Northern Song, he was famous for writing 'what is in the heart, what is in the eye, the person in the thought'; his celebrated 'three shadows' lines — 'clouds break, the moon comes, flowers play with their shadows' and the like — earned him the nickname Zhang Sanjing, 'Zhang of the Three Shadows.' He served in modest posts, wrote song lyrics for the singing girls of his circle, and lived to ninety, outliving three reigns. This Pusaman belongs to the 'music and woman' vein of early Northern Song ci, before Su Shi expanded the lyric's range.

《菩萨蛮》为北宋词人张先所作词。张先（990—1078），字子野，乌程（今浙江湖州）人，北宋前期词人，以善写「心中事、眼中泪、意中人」著称，人称「张三影」（因「云破月来花弄影」「娇柔懒起，帘幕卷花影」「柳径无人，堕絮飞无影」三句得名）。此词写女子弹筝。词中「哀筝一弄湘江曲，声声写尽湘波绿」写筝声之哀怨；「纤指十三弦，细将幽恨传」写弹筝之态；「当筵秋水慢，玉柱斜飞雁」写弹筝之姿；「弹到断肠时，春山眉黛低」写弹至断肠眉黛低垂。古筝十三弦，湘江曲为哀怨之曲。张先此词以筝写闺中幽恨，含蓄婉转，是宋初词中的名篇，也是「张三影」写闺情婉约之风的典型体现。此篇《菩萨蛮》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。此篇《菩萨蛮》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。

Art

The lyric's craft is suggestion by object. It opens with sound — 'a mournful zither strikes up a Xiang River tune' — then makes the sound visible: 'note after note writing out all the green of the Xiang waves,' turning melody into color. 'Slender fingers on thirteen strings pass on a hidden sorrow, fine and slow' turns to the player, the word 'fine' making the sorrow itself delicate. The lower stanza alternates eye and instrument: 'before the feast her autumn-water eyes drift slow' (the player's gaze) against 'the jade bridges like geese slanting in flight' (the bridges of the zither) — one woman, one instrument, each mirrored in the other. The ending lifts sound and player to the same peak: 'when the playing reaches the heartbroken passage, her spring-mountain eyebrows droop low' — the music's heartbreak and the woman's heartbreak fall together, and the poem ends without a word of comment. Eight lines, oblique rhymes alternating with level, the music itself seems to slow and droop.

此词艺术上以「含蓄婉转、以物写情」见长。全词上下片各四句，上片写筝声之哀怨与弹筝之态，下片写弹筝之姿与弹至断肠之情。上片「哀筝一弄湘江曲，声声写尽湘波绿」写筝声之哀怨：哀怨的筝声，一弄便是湘江之曲，声声写尽湘水的绿意；「纤指十三弦，细将幽恨传」写弹筝之态：纤细的手指，拨动十三弦，细细地将幽恨传遍。下片「当筵秋水慢，玉柱斜飞雁」写弹筝之姿：当筵之秋波缓缓流淌，玉柱之上斜飞的大雁；「弹到断肠时，春山眉黛低」写弹至断肠之情：弹到断肠之时，春山般的眉黛低垂下来。全词含蓄婉转，以筝写幽恨，是宋初词中的名篇。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。

Allusions

The images stand on old resonances. The 'Xiang River tune' refers to the music of the Xiang goddesses — in Qu Yuan's 'Distant Wandering' the Xiang spirits play the se, and their music is mournful, so the tune names the zither's sorrow at the outset. 'Thirteen strings' is the string-number of the ancient zheng, a concrete token of the instrument. 'Autumn water' is the classic metaphor for a beauty's eyes (Bai Juyi's 'autumn waves'), here writing the player's drifting gaze. 'Jade bridges' are the zheng's fretting bridges; 'geese slanting in flight' describes their diagonal arrangement, and by a natural turn the geese in flight carry the longing of the letter-bearing wild goose. 'Spring-mountain eyebrows' compare a woman's brows to distant mountains and her darkened brows to mountain mist; 'drooping low' lets the brows carry the heartbreak the sound has reached.

词中「湘江曲」「十三弦」「秋水」「玉柱」「春山眉黛」等语，皆含典故故实。「湘江曲」指湘灵（湘水之神）鼓瑟之曲，屈原《远游》「使湘灵鼓瑟兮」，其声哀怨，故以湘江曲写筝声之哀怨；「十三弦」为古筝之弦数，故「纤指十三弦」写弹筝；「秋水」以秋水喻女子眼波（白居易「秋波」），「当筵秋水慢」写其眼波缓缓；「玉柱」为筝上架弦之柱，「玉柱斜飞雁」写筝柱斜列如飞雁；「春山眉黛」以春山喻女子之眉（黛眉），「春山眉黛低」写其眉黛低垂。词人以湘江曲、十三弦、秋水、玉柱、春山眉黛等意象入词，不着痕迹，而把弹筝之态与筝声之哀写得真切可感，是善于熔铸意象的体现。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。

Commentary

This small lyric is a model of early Northern Song 'boudoir music' ci, prized for its restraint. Later anthologists have most praised 'a mournful zither strikes up a Xiang River tune — note after note writing out all the green of the Xiang waves,' where sound becomes color, and the ending 'when the playing reaches the heartbroken passage, her spring-mountain eyebrows droop low,' where music and face break together and the poem stops exactly at the peak of feeling. Wang Guowei's Renjian Cihua speaks of ci's 'realm' — this poem's realm is built wholly of sound, gaze, and instrument, with the feeling left between the lines. As the work of 'Zhang of the Three Shadows,' it also shows the early Song mastery of the suggestive line that his 'three shadows' lines would make famous.

这首《菩萨蛮》，是张先写女子弹筝之作，写弹筝之态与筝声之哀，含蓄婉转。上片写筝声之哀怨与弹筝之态：「哀筝一弄湘江曲，声声写尽湘波绿」——哀怨的筝声，一弄便是湘江之曲，声声写尽湘水的绿意。以湘江曲写筝声之哀怨（湘灵鼓瑟，其声哀怨），以「写尽湘波绿」写筝声之绵长动人，仿佛声声都写尽了湘水的绿意；「纤指十三弦，细将幽恨传」——纤细的手指，拨动十三弦，细细地将幽恨传遍。纤指十三弦，写其弹筝之态；「细将幽恨传」，点出这筝声所传者，正是幽恨。上片由筝声而及幽恨，为下片写弹至断肠作铺垫。下片写弹筝之姿与弹至断肠之情：「当筵秋水慢，玉柱斜飞雁」——当筵之秋波缓缓流淌，玉柱之上斜飞的大雁。以秋水写其眼波、以斜飞雁写筝柱，写其弹筝时眼波缓流、筝柱斜列之姿，美而动人；「弹到断肠时，春山眉黛低」——弹到断肠之时，春山般的眉黛低垂下来。弹到断肠之处，其眉黛低垂，正是情之至极——筝声传幽恨，弹到断肠，眉黛低垂，其人其情，宛然在目。全词含蓄婉转，以筝写幽恨，正是「张三影」写闺情婉约之风的典型，也是宋初词中的名篇。

Prosody

Form Ci (song lyric) in the tune Pusaman, a double-tune (shuangdiao) form of forty-four characters, four lines in each of the two stanzas, with alternating oblique and level rhymes.词（菩萨蛮，双调）

Rhyme The upper stanza rhymes first in the oblique group (words in pinyin: qu, lü), then shifts to level rhyme (xian, chuan); the lower stanza again rhymes oblique (man, yan), then shifts to level (shi, di). The Pusaman tune is defined by this oblique-then-level rhyme alternation, and the two sound-changes follow the poem's turn from mournful sound to drooping sorrow.此词为《菩萨蛮》调，双调四十四字，上片下片各四句。押仄声韵（菩萨蛮为平仄转韵）：上片「曲」「绿」押沃部韵，「弦」「传」转平声；下片「慢」「雁」押翰部韵，「时」「低」转平声。词体依词谱而定，平仄转韵，句式长短错落，音节随情起伏，正与写弹筝幽恨的含蓄婉转相称，也见其以词写闺情的自然。

Tone pattern The lines are short and even, seven characters to five, and the syntax is spare: 'ai zheng yi nong xiang jiang qu' runs long and plaintive, 'xian zhi shi san xian' is clipped and clear; the second stanza's 'dang yan qiu shui man' drifts slow, 'chun shan mei dai di' sinks low. The music itself performs the slowing and drooping of the closing gesture.句式上，上片「哀筝一弄湘江曲，声声写尽湘波绿」写筝声，音节哀婉；「纤指十三弦，细将幽恨传」写弹筝传恨，音节宛转；下片「当筵秋水慢，玉柱斜飞雁」写弹筝之姿，音节柔婉；「弹到断肠时，春山眉黛低」写断肠低眉，音节低回。全词音节随情起伏，由哀婉而宛转、由柔婉而低回，正合词体「长短句」之妙，读来如闻哀筝、见低眉之态，含蓄而动人。

Reading note As a small tune, the Pusaman's alternating rhymes suit the poem's turn from zither sound to the player's face: the oblique rhymes of the first half give the mournful opening its clipped pain, the level rhymes of each stanza's close open a brief release, and the final level couplet lets the heartbreak settle into the drooping brows. The repeated obliques keep the sorrow from sprawling; the level rhymes keep it from breaking — the prosody performs the very restraint the poem displays.此词为《菩萨蛮》调，是张先写女子弹筝之作，也是宋初词中的名篇。全词的艺术特色在于「含蓄婉转、以物写情」：上片「哀筝一弄湘江曲，声声写尽湘波绿」以湘江曲写筝声之哀、「纤指十三弦，细将幽恨传」由筝声而及幽恨；下片「当筵秋水慢，玉柱斜飞雁」以秋水、飞雁写弹筝之姿、「弹到断肠时，春山眉黛低」以眉黛低写弹至断肠之情。全词含蓄婉转，以筝写幽恨。尤为精妙者，是「纤指十三弦，细将幽恨传」以纤指十三弦写弹筝之态、以细将幽恨传点出全词之旨，而「弹到断肠时，春山眉黛低」以眉黛低垂写断肠之情，不着一字言情而其情自见，正是「张三影」写闺情婉约的典范，为历代词选所常收。

Line by line

哀筝一弄湘江曲。

A mournful zither strikes up a tune of the Xiang River.

哀怨的筝声，一弄便是湘江之曲；声声写尽湘水的绿意。

The plaintive zheng plays the Xiang River air; every sound writes out the green of the Xiang waters.

首二句写筝声之哀怨，起笔即见其哀。「哀筝一弄湘江曲」写哀怨的筝声一弄便是湘江之曲，「哀筝」写筝声之哀，「湘江曲」以湘灵鼓瑟之哀曲写其声之哀怨；「声声写尽湘波绿」写声声写尽湘水的绿意，「写尽」写其筝声之绵长，「湘波绿」写其声如湘水之绿、绵长不尽。两句以湘江曲写筝声之哀、以湘波绿写其声之绵长，写尽筝声之哀怨动人，起笔即定下哀怨之调，为后文写幽恨作铺垫，是「以曲写声」的妙笔。

The opening two lines write the zheng sound's plaintiveness, the grief present at the first stroke. The plaintive zheng plays the Xiang River air writes the plaintive zheng's one playing, the plaintive zheng writing the sound's grief, the Xiang River air using the Xiang goddess's plaintive tune for the sound's plaintiveness; every sound writes out the green of the Xiang waters writes the sound's length, the writing-out exhausting the sound's lingering, the Xiang-wave-green writing the sound like the green Xiang water's endless. Two lines, the Xiang River air for the zheng's grief, the Xiang wave green for the sound's lingering, exhausting the zheng's plaintive moving, the opening setting the plaintive tone, storing the ground for the below's hidden grief, precisely the wondrous brush of writing sound through tune.

纤指十三弦。

Slender fingers on thirteen strings.

纤细的手指，拨动十三弦；细细地将幽恨传遍。

Slender fingers pluck the thirteen strings, softly sending the hidden grief through.

此二句写弹筝之态与筝声所传之情，是全词由声入情的转折。「纤指十三弦」写纤细的手指拨动十三弦，「纤指」写其手指之纤细，「十三弦」写筝之弦数，写其弹筝之态之美；「细将幽恨传」写细细地将幽恨传遍，「细将」写其传之细致，「幽恨传」点出这筝声所传者正是幽恨。两句一写弹筝之态、一写所传之情，由筝声而及幽恨，以「细将幽恨传」点出全词之旨，是「由声入情」的转折之笔，也是全词抒情的枢纽。

These two lines write the zheng-playing pose and the zheng sound's transmitted feeling, the ci's sound-to-feeling turn. Slender fingers pluck the thirteen strings writes the slender fingers on the thirteen strings, the slender fingers writing the fingers' slimness, the thirteen strings writing the zheng's string count, writing the playing's beauty; softly sending the hidden grief through writes the hidden grief's transmitted, the softly writing the transmission's delicacy, the hidden grief's transmission naming precisely the zheng sound's transmitted thing the hidden grief. Two lines, one the playing pose, one the transmitted feeling, from the zheng sound to the hidden grief, using the softly-sending-the-hidden-grief to name the ci's theme, the sound-to-feeling turn brush, and the ci's lyric hinge.

当筵秋水慢。

Before the feast her autumn-water eyes drift slow.

当筵的秋波，缓缓流淌；玉柱之上，斜飞的大雁。

At the feast, her autumn eyes move slowly; on the jade bridges, the geese fly slanting.

此二句写弹筝之姿，是全词写人的关键。「当筵秋水慢」写当筵之秋波缓缓流淌，「秋水」以秋水喻女子之眼波，「慢」写其眼波缓缓，写其弹筝时目光流转之姿；「玉柱斜飞雁」写玉柱之上斜飞的大雁，「玉柱」为筝上架弦之柱，「斜飞雁」写筝柱斜列如飞雁。两句以秋水写其眼波、以飞雁写筝柱，一写人、一写器，写其弹筝时眼波缓流、筝柱斜列之姿，美而动人，以物写人、以静写动，是「以物写姿」的妙笔。

These two lines write the zheng-playing pose, the ci's key of the person writing. At the feast, her autumn eyes move slowly writes the feast's autumn eyes slowly flowing, the autumn eyes figuring the woman's eye light through the autumn water, the slowly writing the eye's slow flow, writing the playing gaze's movement; on the jade bridges, the geese fly slanting writes the jade bridges' slanting geese, the jade bridges the zheng's string bridges, the slanting-flying-geese writing the bridges' slanting row like flying geese. Two lines, the autumn eyes for the eye light, the flying geese for the bridges, one the person one the instrument, writing the playing's slow eye flow and the bridges' slanting row, beautiful and moving, writing the person through the thing and the motion through the still, precisely the wondrous brush of writing pose through thing.

弹到断肠时。

When the playing reaches the heartbroken passage.

弹到断肠之时，春山般的眉黛低垂下来。

When the playing reaches the gut-breaking point, her spring-mountain brows bend low.

尾二句写弹至断肠之情，是全词立意的落点。「弹到断肠时」写弹到断肠之时，「断肠」写筝声之哀已至极点；「春山眉黛低」写春山般的眉黛低垂下来，「春山眉黛」以春山喻其黛眉，「低」写其眉黛低垂。两句一写弹到断肠、一写眉黛低垂，以「眉黛低」写其情之至极——弹筝传幽恨，弹到断肠之处，其人亦不胜其情，眉黛低垂。以眉写情，含蓄深婉，是全词最动人处，也是「以姿写情」的点睛之笔。

The last two lines write the playing-to-the-gut-breaking feeling, the landing of the ci's theme. When the playing reaches the gut-breaking point writes the gut-breaking, the gut-breaking writing the zheng sound's grief to the extreme; her spring-mountain brows bend low writes the brows' lowering, the spring-mountain brows figuring the painted brows through the spring mountains, the low writing the brows' droop. Two lines, one the gut-breaking playing, one the lowered brows, writing the feeling's extreme through the lowered brows — the zheng playing transmits the hidden grief, playing to the gut-breaking point, the person also beyond the feeling, the brows lowered. Writing feeling through the brows, restrained and deep, the ci's most moving place, and the telling stroke of feeling writing through pose.

Study

Word focus

哀 'Mournful': the word that sets the poem's key. It tunes the zither's sound at the first line, so that the tune, the notes, the fingers, and finally the brows all move within this one mournful color — a single word tuning the whole lyric. 「哀」字写筝声之哀怨，是全词之基调。「哀筝一弄湘江曲」着一「哀」，写筝声之哀怨——着一「哀」字，定下全词哀怨之调，这筝声、这幽恨，皆以哀为底色。一字写尽筝声之哀，为全词写幽恨作了基调的铺垫，是「以字定调」的点睛之词。「哀」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。

细 'Fine': the manner of passing the sorrow. The slender fingers transmit the hidden hate note by note, slowly and finely; 'fine' writes both the delicacy of the touch and the fineness of the sorrow itself — not a cry but a thread drawn taut. 「细」字写幽恨传之细致，是写幽恨之传的关键。「细将幽恨传」着一「细」，写细细地将幽恨传遍——着一「细」字，写其传恨之细致入微，纤指轻拨，幽恨寸寸传出。一字写尽弹筝传恨之细腻，是「以一字写情」的妙笔。「细」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。

慢 'Slow': the drift of the autumn-water eyes. The player's gaze moves lingeringly as she plays, a slowness that is both absorption in the music and the listless gravity of sorrow — one word writing her posture and her mood at once. 「慢」字写秋波之缓流，是写弹筝之姿的关键。「当筵秋水慢」着一「慢」，写当筵之秋波缓缓流淌——着一「慢」字，写其眼波之缓缓流转，见其弹筝时之凝神专注、柔婉动人。一字写尽弹筝人之姿，是「以一字写人」的点睛之词。「慢」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。

低 'Low': the final droop of the spring-mountain brows. When the playing reaches heartbreak, the brows sink with it; 'low' ends the poem on a falling gesture, the whole sorrow resting in that downward tilt, wordless and complete. 「低」字写眉黛低垂，是写弹至断肠之情的点睛之词。「春山眉黛低」着一「低」，写春山般的眉黛低垂——着一「低」字，写其弹到断肠时眉黛低垂之态，见其情之不胜。一字写尽弹筝人断肠低眉之态，是「以一字写情」的妙笔。「低」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。

菩萨蛮