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如梦令·常记溪亭

Dreamlike Song: I Often Remember the Pavilion by the Stream

李清照

Li Qingzhao

山水Landscape 抒情Emotion

常记溪亭日暮。
沈醉不知归路。
兴尽晚回舟，误入藕花深处。
争渡。
争渡。
惊起一滩鸥鹭。

I often remember the pavilion by the stream at sunset,
Deep in wine, not knowing the way home.
When the pleasure was done, late, I turned the boat back —
And strayed into the deep place of the lotus flowers.
Fight to cross!
Fight to cross!
I startled up a whole bank of gulls and herons.

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Meaning

One of the most famous short lyrics in the Chinese language, written by the young Li Qingzhao. She remembers the pavilion by the stream at sunset: deep in wine, she did not know the way home; when the pleasure was done, late, she turned the boat back and strayed into the deep place of the lotus flowers. 'Fight to cross! Fight to cross!' — the cry of the rowers startled up a whole bank of gulls and herons. The lyric is the memory of the girlhood's pleasure — the wine, the lotus, the startled birds — caught in thirty-three characters, the purest expression of the joy of the young life.

常常记起那年在溪边亭台游玩，直到日暮时分。喝得沉醉，竟忘了回去的路。游兴尽了，天色已晚才划船回去，却误把船划进了荷花深处。争着划船，争着划船，惊得沙滩上一群鸥鹭扑棱棱飞起。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] I often remember the pavilion by the stream at sunset; deep in wine, not knowing the way home. When the pleasure was done, late, I turned the boat back — and strayed into the deep place of the lotus flowers. Fight to cross! Fight to cross! I startled up a whole bank of gulls and herons. [Structure and Thought] The lyric moves from the memory of the setting — the pavilion at sunset — through the deep wine and the lost way, to the straying into the lotus and the cry of the crossing, and closes on the startled birds of the bank. [Key Technique] The poem's art is the compression and the repetition: the whole memory is caught in a few strokes, and the repeated 'fight to cross! fight to cross!' — the only direct sound of the lyric — carries the commotion of the moment. [Emotional Tone] Joyful, free, and luminous: the lyric is the record of the young life's purest pleasure — the wine, the lotus, the cry, and the startled birds of the bank.

【白话串讲】李清照回忆少女时：“常记溪亭日暮。沈醉不知归路”。“兴尽晚回舟，误入藕花深处。争渡。争渡。惊起一滩鸥鹭”——她年轻时醉倒在荷花里。【意象与手法】全词三十三字，以常记领起回忆，白描叙事：日暮、沈醉、误入、争渡、惊鸥，一个误字引出全词中心场景，叠句争渡制造声情高潮，结句以飞鸟定格，起承转合俱全，是小令以少总多的典范。【情感与主旨】此词写少女时代泛舟游溪的欢愉，沉醉忘归、误入花丛、争渡惊鸥，字里行间是未经雕琢的天真与豪放，正是李清照早期词清水出芙蓉般烂漫风格的写照。【名句点睛】争渡，争渡，惊起一滩鸥鹭以叠句的急促与飞鸟的明丽收束全篇，如闻桨声、如见白羽，是宋词小令中传唱最广的收笔之一。

Background

Li Qingzhao (1084–c. 1155) was the greatest woman poet of the Chinese tradition. This lyric belongs to her early years, before her marriage and her later ruin — the memory of the girlhood's outings on the stream, the wine and the lotus and the startled birds. It is one of the most famous short lyrics in the language, studied in every school as the model of the compressed lyric: the whole joy of the young life caught in thirty-three characters. The 'Dreamlike Song' tune is one of Li Qingzhao's favorites, and this lyric is its most famous example.

《如梦令·常记溪亭》是李清照早期（约十六七岁，婚前居济南时期）的词作，写少女时代与伙伴泛舟游溪的一段回忆。李清照生于书香门第，父李格非为苏门后学，母王氏亦善文，早年生活优裕自由，常与闺中伴侣出游饮酒，此词即其少年生活的写真。词中溪亭一说在济南大明湖畔，一说即词人旧居附近的溪边亭台，具体地点已难确考，然全词洋溢的天真欢快之气，正见其闺阁生活之无拘无束。李清照早年词多写自然之趣与少女情态（《如梦令·昨夜雨疏风骤》《点绛唇·蹴罢秋千》等），此词以其明快生动、情味隽永，成为其早期词的代表作，也是宋词中写少女游乐最著名的篇章之一。词作于李清照一生中最无忧无虑的岁月，与晚年《声声慢》等作对照，可见其词风由清丽转向沉郁的全过程。此词一出，溪亭、藕花、鸥鹭遂成少女游乐的经典意象，为后世词家所不断追摹。

Art

The lyric's art is the art of the compressed memory. The opening names the place and the time — the pavilion by the stream at sunset — and the state — deep in wine, not knowing the way home. The pleasure done, the boat turned, the straying into the deep place of the lotus flowers: each stroke adds a stage of the little adventure. Then the lyric's masterstroke: the repeated cry, 'fight to cross! fight to cross!' — the only sound of the poem, the urgent, laughing commotion of the rowers. And the close delivers the reward of the cry: the startled up of a whole bank of gulls and herons. The whole memory is built in six strokes, and the repetition of the cry gives the compression its one moment of full sound.

此词虽仅三十三字，而叙事完整、章法精妙，起承转合俱全。起句常记溪亭日暮以回忆领起，定下全词追怀的基调；次句沈醉不知归路承写游兴之酣，并为下文设伏；第三句兴尽晚回舟、误入藕花深处转出波澜，以误字引出全词的中心场景；末三句争渡，争渡，惊起一滩鸥鹭以叠句加速、以飞鸟定格，将高潮置于结尾，戛然而止而余味无穷。手法上以白描为主，不着一字议论，而少女的天真、欢快、慌乱、惊喜，皆从动作与场景中自然流出；时间线索（日暮→晚归）与空间转换（溪亭→藕花深处→滩边）清晰如画。尤可注意者，是词中误与惊的连锁反应：一误而入藕花深处，一惊而鸥鹭齐飞，叙事如行云流水，层层推进，正是小令以少总多的典范。尤可注意者，词中无一字写情，而欢愉之情溢于言表：醉是乐，误是趣，争是急，惊是喜，皆从动作与声态中自然流出，正是小令不写情而情自深的本领。

Allusions

The lyric carries no learned allusion; its art is the direct memory of the young life. 'The pavilion by the stream' (xiting) is the pavilion of the outings; 'the deep place of the lotus flowers' (ouhua shenchu) is the deep lotus of the stream; and 'the gulls and herons' (oulu) are the birds of the water, startled up by the cry of the crossing — the natural world's answer to the young commotion.

此词不用典故，纯以白描与生活实景取胜，然其意象自有深远的文化渊源。溪亭临水之亭，是唐宋文人游赏雅集的常景；藕花即荷花，自《楚辞》制芰荷以为衣以来，荷一向是高洁与美人的象征，而此处不取其高洁，专取其繁盛——藕花深处写荷花之密、之盛，如置身花海，是少女眼中纯粹的景致，无涉比兴。鸥鹭意象尤为可味：《列子·黄帝》载海上之人与鸥鸟相狎而不惊，遂有鸥鹭忘机之说，谓无机心者鸟亦亲之；词中惊起一滩鸥鹭，鸥鹭本与人相忘，却被争渡之声惊起，正反用忘机之典——不是人与鸟相忘，而是人声惊破了鸟的栖息，反而更见少女闯入自然的喧闹与生机。全词不用一个典故，而鸥鹭二字自含古典的回响，足见李清照以俗为雅、化典于无痕的本领。而溪亭、藕花、鸥鹭诸意象，又皆为宋词写游赏的习见语码，词人信手拈来，浑然天成。词以天然之趣写天然之景，其得于古典者，正在神而不在迹。

Commentary

This lyric is one of the most famous short poems in the Chinese language, quoted in every school as the model of the compressed lyric. The repeated cry — 'fight to cross! fight to cross!' — and the startled bank of gulls and herons are among the most beloved images of the tradition. Critics praise the lyric's economy: the whole joy of the young life caught in thirty-three characters, with the single sound of the cry and the single motion of the startled birds.

此词是李清照早期词的代表作，也是宋词小令中传唱最广的名篇之一。历代评家于此词虽着墨不多，然其地位无可争议：全词三十三字，写一次游溪的完整经历，起承转合、声情并茂，是以少胜多的典范。词中争渡，争渡，惊起一滩鸥鹭尤为点睛之笔，叠句的急促与飞鸟的明丽，将少女的慌乱与自然的生机一并定格，读之如闻桨声、如见白羽，千百年来为读者所激赏。从词史看，此词的意义有三：其一，它确立了李清照以生活细节入词的本色——不写闺怨、不写身世，专写少女游乐，开宋词写女性日常生活的先声；其二，它以白描与叠句写刹那情事，展示了小令在极短篇幅内叙事抒情的高超能力；其三，它与《如梦令·昨夜雨疏风骤》等篇共同奠定了李清照易安体清丽自然、明白如话的基本风格。后世女子词多受其影响，而天真烂漫之气终莫能及。此词以白描写真情、以短章传神韵的成就，实为小令一体的极致。

Prosody

Form Rumengling (Dreamlike Song), a short lyric of thirty-three characters词牌《如梦令》（单调小令，三十三字）

Rhyme The lyric rhymes on the oblique-tone words mu, lu, chu, du, du and lu — the dense, short rhyme of the compressed form, carrying the haste and the commotion.押仄声韵，七句五仄韵，一叠句：暮、路、处、渡（叠）、鹭，属词林正韵第四部（语麌遇御）上去通押。

Tone pattern The cadence is that of the memory and the cry: the opening is level with the remembrance, the middle quickens with the straying, the repetition of the cry breaks the rhythm with the urgent sound, and the close settles on the startled birds.句式六、六、五、六、二、二、六，长短相间；争渡，争渡之叠句音节急促，如桨声人声，是全词节奏的高潮。

Reading note The lyric's sound matches its compression: the short oblique rhymes of the six lines carry the whole adventure in the briefest cadence, and the repeated cry — 'zheng du, zheng du' — breaks the even flow with the two urgent, identical beats, the sound of the haste that startles the birds.《如梦令》本名《忆仙姿》，后唐庄宗李存勖创调，因词中如梦，如梦，残月落花烟重之句改今名，单调三十三字，七句，五仄韵，一叠韵。此调短小，最宜写即兴的、刹那的情事，李清照此词正是以小令写生活片段的典范。格律上，全词五处押韵，韵脚皆仄声（暮、路、处、渡、鹭），且以去声为主，音节清越；句式上，前六句以六、六、五、六字句为主，舒缓悠长，至争渡，争渡二字短句陡转，如人在慌乱中脱口而出的呼声，急促而响亮，继以六字句惊起一滩鸥鹭收束，由急转缓，余音袅袅。这种以叠句制造节奏高潮的手法，正是小令特有的声情艺术：三十三字虽短，而叙事有起承转合，声情有张弛缓急，非大手笔不能为。李清照深谙音律，此词与《如梦令·昨夜雨疏风骤》同为词史上传唱最广的小令，其声律之美，是重要原因之一。

Line by line

常记溪亭日暮。

I often remember the pavilion by the stream at sunset,

常常记起那年和伙伴们在溪边亭台游玩嬉戏，一直玩到日暮时分。

Often I remember that evening at the stream pavilion, playing with my companions till dusk.

起句以常记领起，点明这是回忆之词——常字见其印象之深，往事历久弥新，时时浮现心头。溪亭是溪边临水的亭台，日暮是夕阳西下之时，六个字交代时间、地点，纯用白描，而少女时代泛舟游溪、兴尽忘归的画面已呼之欲出。此句之妙在平淡中见深情：不写如何欢乐，而常记二字已将欢乐的分量尽数托出——正因为当年玩得尽兴，才会常记不忘。全词以回忆开篇，以回忆统摄全篇，简洁的六字为后文误入藕花、惊起鸥鹭的戏剧性场面作了最自然的铺垫。

The opening led by often-remembered, naming this a recollection ci — the often word seeing the impression's depth, the old affair fresh through the years, ever rising in the heart. The stream pavilion the water-side pavilion, the evening the sunset hour, six characters naming time and place, pure plain drawing, and the girlhood's boat-roaming and joy-spent-forgetting-return picture already at hand. This line's wonder in the plainness's deep feeling: not writing the joy's how, and the often-remembered two words already bearing the joy's weight — precisely because that year's play to the full, hence the often-remembered. The whole ci opening on recollection, recalling governing the whole piece, the six brief characters storing the most natural ground for the below's straying-into-lotus and startling-egrets dramatic scene.

沈醉不知归路。

Deep in wine, not knowing the way home.

大家喝得沉醉尽兴，天色已晚，竟忘了回去的路该怎么走。

We drank to the full; the day grew late, and we forgot the way home.

沈醉即沉醉，写游兴之酣、酒意之浓；不知归路写沉醉之极、忘乎所以。此句承上日暮而来：天色已晚而人犹沉醉，醉到连归路也辨不清了，足见当日之纵情。值得玩味的是不知归路四字：既写酒醉之态，也暗写心醉之态——溪山之美令人流连，沉醉其中者又岂止于酒？李清照写少女生活，不写闺阁之态，而写泛舟饮酒、兴尽忘归，正是其早期词清水出芙蓉般天真烂漫的体现。此句与下句误入藕花深处相扣，不知归路正是误入的由来，一环扣一环，叙事绵密。

Deep-drunk i.e. the drunken, writing the outing's fullness and the wine's strength; knowing-not-the-road-home writing the drunkenness's extreme and the self's forgetting. This line inherits the above's evening: the day late and the person yet drunk, drunk to the road-home's indistinguishability, seeing that day's indulgence to the full. The tasteful in the knowing-not-the-road-home four characters: at once writing the wine state, and secretly the heart's drunkenness — the stream-and-hills' beauty's lingering, the drunken-in-it's far more than the wine. Li Qingzhao writing the girlhood life, not the boudoir state, but the boat-roaming and wine-drinking and joy-spent-forgetting-return, precisely her early ci's water-lily-new-from-the-fountain naive vividness's embodiment. This line and the below's strayed-into-the-lotus-deep-midst interlocked, the knowing-not-the-road-home precisely the straying's cause, ring within ring, the narrative's fine texture.

兴尽晚回舟，误入藕花深处。

When the pleasure was done, late, I turned the boat back — and strayed into the deep place of the lotus flowers.

游兴尽了，天晚才划船回去，却误把船划进了荷花深处。

When the joy was spent, late we rowed back, and strayed into the deep midst of the lotus.

此两句是全词叙事的核心，写归途之误。兴尽与上句沈醉呼应：兴尽了，该回去了；晚回舟点出归时已晚。然而就在归途之中，却误入藕花深处——一个误字是全句的文眼：不是有意探荷，而是无意闯入，正是这误，使词境由平淡转入奇趣。藕花深处，四面荷花，小船被围在花丛之中，进退不得，一幅少女泛舟迷路的画面跃然纸上。此句之妙在误字的无心之得：正因为是误入，才更见藕花之盛、兴致之浓；也正因为误入，才引出下文争渡、惊起鸥鹭的妙趣。叙事至此，波澜已起。

These two lines are the whole ci's narrative core, writing the return-way's straying. The joy-spent echoing the above's deep-drunk: the joy spent, the returning due; the late-returned boat naming the return's lateness. And yet just in the return way, strayed into the lotus's deep midst — the one word strayed the whole line's literary eye: not the intentional lotus-seeking, but the unthinking entering, precisely this straying, turning the ci's realm from plain to wondrous. The lotus deep midst, the lotus on every side, the small boat surrounded within the flower clump, the advance and retreat's impossibility, a girl's boat-lost picture before the eyes. This line's wonder in the strayed-word's unthinking gain: precisely because of the straying, hence the lotus's lushness and the joy's intensity the clearer; and precisely because of the straying, hence the below's row-across and startled-egrets charm. The narrative here, the waves already risen.

争渡。

Fight to cross!

大家争着划船，急急忙忙地想要赶快把船划出去。

We raced the boat, hurrying to row it out.

争渡二字叠用，是词牌的定格，也是全词最富戏剧性的瞬间。争，即抢、赶快；争渡写少女们慌乱中奋力划桨、争相把船划出荷花丛的样子。二字短促，音节急促，恰如急促的桨声与惊呼声交织，紧张而又欢快。此句之妙在以短写乱：不铺叙如何慌乱，而两个短句一叠，慌乱之态自见；且争渡的声音仿佛就在耳畔，呼之欲出。李清照以叠句写动作，声情并茂，正是小令以少胜多的本领。二字与下句惊起一滩鸥鹭相衔，桨声、人声惊动水鸟，画面由静转动，全词在最高潮处戛然而止。

The row-across two words reduplicated, the tune's fixed form, and the whole ci's most dramatic instant. The race i.e. the snatch and the haste; row-across writing the girls' flustered oar-strokes and the boat's racing-out of the lotus clump. Two characters short, the rhythm urgent, precisely like the urgent oar-sound and the startled cry interwoven, tense and yet joyful. This line's wonder in the short-writes-disorder: not narrating the fluster's how, and the two short lines' reduplication, the fluster's state self-seen; and the row-across sound as if at the ear, at hand. Li Qingzhao using the reduplicated line for action, voice and feeling together, precisely the short stanza's few-beats-many craft. Two characters joining the below's startled-a-whole-sandbar-of-gulls-and-egrets, the oar-sound and voices' startling of the water birds, the picture from still to motion, the whole ci at the highest climax's sudden stop.

惊起一滩鸥鹭。

I startled up a whole bank of gulls and herons.

桨声人声惊动了栖息的水鸟，惊得沙滩上一大群鸥鹭扑棱棱飞起。

The oar-sound and voices startled the roosting birds, and a whole sandbar of gulls and egrets fluttered up.

结句以动景收束全篇，是神来的收笔。桨声、人声惊起栖息的鸥鹭，一滩水鸟振翅飞起，白羽翻飞，划破暮色——少女的慌乱、水鸟的惊飞、暮色中的生机，一并定格。此句之妙有三：其一，以一滩写鸥鹭之多，群鸟齐飞的场面壮阔而明丽；其二，惊起二字由人及鸟，过渡自然，人惊鸟、鸟亦惊人，物我相忘的欢愉尽在其中；其三，全词由静（日暮、沉醉）而动（误入、争渡），至此以飞鸟划破画面的动态收束，余韵悠长，仿佛还能看见鸥鹭的翅膀在暮色中远去。李清照小令以三十三字写尽一次游溪的完整经历，而以最富生机的一笔收尾，正是其短小精悍、情味隽永的典范。

The close closing on the motion scene, the inspired close. The oar-sound and voices' startling of the roosting gulls and egrets, the whole sandbar's birds' wing-rising flight, the white feathers fluttering, cutting the dusk — the girls' fluster, the birds' startled flight, the dusk's vitality, all frozen at once. This line's wonder threefold: one, writing the gulls-and-egrets' number through the whole sandbar, the flock's flight scene grand and bright; two, the startled-up two words from the person to the bird, the transition natural, the person startling the bird and the bird startling the person, the thing-and-self-forgetting joy all within; three, the whole ci from stillness (evening, deep drunk) to motion (straying, row-across), here closing on the flying-birds-cutting-the-picture motion, the aftertone long, as if still seeing the gulls' wings fading in the dusk. Li Qingzhao's short stanza writing the whole stream-roaming experience in thirty-three characters, and closing on the most vital stroke, precisely her brief-and-vivid and deep-taste model.

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Word focus

常记 'I often remember' — the opening of the memory, the whole lyric as the repeated remembrance. 常记溪亭日暮之常记，义为常常记起。以常记起句，一开篇便将全词纳入回忆的框架：不是当下之景，而是记忆之景；正因常记，可知当日之乐刻骨铭心。此二字之妙，在分量与分寸：若作偶记、曾记，则不过一次寻常游玩；常字一出，反复回味的深情便从字缝里渗出来。李清照晚年词（如《武陵春》《声声慢》）亦多用记字追怀往事，而此词作于早年，写少女之乐，语气轻快明朗，与晚年之沉痛迥异，同是回忆，而哀乐悬殊，正见词人一生心境的变迁。

沈醉 'Deep in wine' — the deep drunkenness of the pleasure, the state that lost the way. 沈醉不知归路之沈醉，即沉醉，写酒意之深、游兴之浓。沈字下得极重：不是微醺，不是半酣，而是喝到深沉忘我之境，连归路都辨不清了。此字既写酒，亦写心——溪亭山水之美令人沉醉，青春年华之乐令人沉醉，沈醉二字实兼酒醉与心醉双重意蕴。若易为痛饮、畅饮，则止于酒；沈醉一出，人与景、酒与兴浑然一体。李清照以女子之身而坦率写出饮酒沉醉之态，正是其性格中豪放不羁的一面，与东篱把酒黄昏后的闲雅、浓睡不消残酒的慵懒，共同构成其词中酒意象的多重面貌。

误 'To stray, to err' — the fortunate straying into the deep lotus, the accident of the adventure. 误入藕花深处之误字，是全词叙事的关键，也是情趣的源泉。因沉醉不知归路，故误入藕花深处——一个误字，把无心之失写成无心之得：若不是这误，便没有四围荷花、无路可出的奇境，也没有争渡的慌乱与惊起鸥鹭的妙趣。此字之妙在真：少女泛舟，本无目的，一误一入，天然凑泊，正是未经雕琢的生活真趣。若改为闯入则着意，改为偶入则平淡，误字既见事实之偶然，又见行文之自然。李清照写误而不以为憾，反以为趣，少女天真烂漫的情态，尽在一误之中。

惊 'To startle' — the startling up of the gulls and herons, the close's commotion. 惊起一滩鸥鹭之惊字，是全词唯一写声音与动态的字，却使全篇皆活。桨声、人声、惊呼声，惊动了栖息的水鸟，鸥鹭振翅飞起——一个惊字，写尽动静转换的刹那：由静（日暮、沉醉、误入）而乱（争渡），由乱而飞（鸥鹭），画面在一瞬间爆发出全部生机。此字之妙在及物：人不惊鸥，而人为自惊（慌乱划桨），鸥因人之惊而惊，惊与惊相撞，趣味横生。且惊起的一滩鸥鹭，数量之多、场面之盛，反衬少女闯入的动静之大。李清照以三十三字小令收束于这一惊字，如画龙点睛，全词自此生动。