宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric
踏莎行·候馆梅残
Tasuo-xing: At the Wayside Inn the Plums Fade
候馆梅残，溪桥柳细，草薰风暖摇征辔。
离愁渐远渐无穷，迢迢不断如春水。
寸寸柔肠，盈盈粉泪，楼高莫近危阑倚。
平芜尽处是春山，行人更在春山外。
Grass fragrant, wind warm, the traveler's bridle sways.
Parting sorrow grows with distance, without end,
Stretching far, unbroken, like the spring stream.
Inch by inch the tender heart; brimming, the powdered tears.
Do not climb near the high rail of the tower.
At the end of the level plain rise the spring hills;
The traveler is beyond the spring hills.
Meaning
The lyric interweaves the traveler's roadside parting sorrow with the beloved's longing at home, using spring water and spring hills to measure a grief that stretches ever farther — a quintessential soft (wan-yue) lyric by Ouyang Xiu.
候馆梅花已残，溪桥柳色初细，草香风暖中摇动远行的马辔。离愁越走越远越无穷尽，迢迢如春水不绝。寸寸柔肠，盈盈粉泪，楼高莫要靠近危阑倚望。平旷草地的尽头是春山，行人更在春山之外。
Appreciation
The first part follows the traveler: fading plums, slender willows, warm fragrant grass, and a bridle swaying on the road, until parting sorrow 'grows with distance like the spring stream'. The second shifts to the woman at home — tender heart, powdered tears, told not to lean on the high rail — and ends by pushing the scene outward: beyond the level plain the spring hills rise, and the traveler is beyond them still. Layer upon layer the vista recedes, and the farther it goes the deeper the feeling grows. Beautiful scene, deep feeling, it opened the Northern-Song method of 'writing emotion through distance'.
【白话串讲】 “候馆梅残，溪桥柳细，草薰风暖摇征辔”——欧阳修写离别。“离愁渐远渐无穷，迢迢不断如春水”——“平芜尽处是春山，行人更在春山外”——走得再远，还在春山之外。离愁越写越深。 【意象与手法】 “草薰风暖”写春融；“离愁如春水”以喻写愁之绵延；“春山外”层递推远，景愈远而情愈深。 【情感与主旨】 写离人思妇的双向愁怨，景丽情深，是欧阳修婉约词的代表，亦启北宋“以远写情”之法。 【名句点睛】 “离愁渐远渐无穷，迢迢不断如春水”“行人更在春山外”——以春水之绵、春山之远写离愁之无尽，遂成千古名句。
Background
Ouyang Xiu was the leading figure of the Northern-Song literary world. This lyric was likely written in his early official travels, treating parting sorrow and boudoir longing, belonging to his soft (wan-yue) vein.
《踏莎行·候馆梅残》为宋代欧阳修所作，是写羁旅离愁、行人思归之情的词。欧阳修（1007—1072），字永叔，号醉翁、六一居士，吉州永丰人，宋代文学家。此词：候馆梅残，溪桥柳细，草薰风暖摇征辔。离愁渐远渐无穷，迢迢不断如春水。寸寸柔肠，盈盈粉泪，楼高莫近危阑倚。平芜尽处是春山，行人更在春山外。全词写羁旅离愁、行人思归之情，是欧阳修词的名篇。
Art
A tasuo-xing in double tune: the first part the traveler, the second the boudoir, the two threads woven together. The images of 'spring stream' and 'spring hills' advance in steps, writing feeling through distance, deepening without end.
《踏莎行·候馆梅残》艺术上以羁旅离愁的描摹与行人思归的深婉见长。全词分两片：上片写羁旅离愁——“候馆梅残，溪桥柳细，草薰风暖摇征辔”写候馆梅残、溪桥柳细、草薰风暖摇征辔，“离愁渐远渐无穷，迢迢不断如春水”写离愁渐远渐无穷、迢迢不断如春水；下片写行人思归——“寸寸柔肠，盈盈粉泪，楼高莫近危阑倚”写寸寸柔肠、盈盈粉泪、楼高莫近危阑倚，“平芜尽处是春山，行人更在春山外”写平芜尽处是春山、行人更在春山外。全词以羁旅离愁写行人思归之情，正是欧阳修词深婉的笔法。
Allusions
The 'wayside inn' is a lodging for receiving guests. 'Traveler's bridle' is the rein of the departing horse. 'Grass fragrant, wind warm' adapts Jiang Yan's 'Lament of Separation'. 'High rail' is the railing of a tall tower. 'Level plain' is open grassland. 'Beyond the spring hills' means even farther away.
《踏莎行·候馆梅残》用典在“候馆”“草薰风暖”“征辔”“春水”“危阑”。“候馆”写候馆（驿馆，周礼候馆）；“草薰风暖”写草薰风暖（江淹“闺中风暖，陌上草薰”）；“征辔”写征辔（马缰）；“春水”写春水（喻愁，李煜“一江春水”）；“危阑”写危阑（高楼阑干）。全词以这些意象写羁旅离愁、行人思归之情，用典自然而深婉自见，正是欧阳修词的笔法。
Commentary
The Qing scholar Huang Su said the three words 'beyond the spring hills' 'never weary of a hundred rereadings'. This lyric, with his 'Yulouchun: Before the Cup', shows the excellence of Ouyang's love lyrics.
《踏莎行·候馆梅残》是欧阳修词的名篇，也是宋词中写羁旅离愁的代表作。此词写羁旅离愁、行人思归之情，向为论者称道。论者多赏其羁旅离愁的描摹与行人思归的深婉——“候馆梅残，溪桥柳细，草薰风暖摇征辔”用草薰风暖之典写候馆梅残、溪桥柳细、草薰风暖摇征辔，深婉之极；“离愁渐远渐无穷，迢迢不断如春水”用春水之典写离愁渐远渐无穷、迢迢不断如春水，更见其愁；“平芜尽处是春山，行人更在春山外”写平芜尽处是春山、行人更在春山外，尤见其深。欧阳修为北宋文宗，其词以深婉著称，此词正是其代表——以羁旅离愁写行人思归之情，正是其词风。
Prosody
Line by line
候馆梅残，溪桥柳细，草薰风暖摇征辔。
At the wayside inn the plums are fading; by the stream bridge the willows are slender; grass fragrant, wind warm, the traveler's bridle sways.
候馆梅残，溪桥柳细，草薰风暖摇征辔。
By the inn the plum blooms fade; by the stream bridge the willow twigs are slender; the grass breathes fragrance, the wind is warm, and the traveler's reins sway.
首用候馆草薰之典写候馆梅残、溪桥柳细、草薰风暖摇征辔，是全词写羁旅之景的起点。“候馆梅残，溪桥柳细”用候馆之典写候馆梅残、溪桥柳细——“候馆梅残”用周礼候馆之典写驿馆梅花已残，“溪桥柳细”写溪桥柳丝细细——候馆梅残，溪桥柳细；“草薰风暖摇征辔”用草薰风暖之典写草薰风暖摇征辔——“草薰风暖摇征辔”用江淹闺中草薰之典写草薰风暖、摇动征辔——草薰风暖摇征辔。三句写候馆梅残、溪桥柳细：候馆梅残，溪桥柳细，草薰风暖摇征辔。以“候馆梅残”用候馆之典写驿馆梅残、行色匆匆，以“溪桥柳细”写溪桥柳细、春色初临，以“草薰风暖摇征辔”用草薰风暖之典写草薰风暖、征辔摇动，正是欧阳修词写羁旅之景的起点——候馆梅残，征辔摇行。
The opening using the inn-and-grass-fragrance allusion for the inn-plum-fade, stream-bridge-willow-slender, and grass-fragrance-warm-wind-swaying-reins, the whole ci's travel-scene start. The inn-plum-fade-and-stream-bridge-willow-slender using the inn allusion for the posthouse's faded plum and the slender willow threads; the grass-fragrance-warm-wind-swaying-reins using Jiang Yan's boudoir-grass-fragrance allusion for the fragrant grass, warm wind, and swaying bridle. Three lines writing the early-spring travel scene: the posthouse, the stream bridge, the swaying reins. Using the inn allusion for the road's hurry, the stream bridge for the spring's arrival, the grass-fragrance allusion for the warm wind, precisely Ouyang's travel-scene start — the faded plum and the swaying rein.
离愁渐远渐无穷，迢迢不断如春水。
Parting sorrow grows with distance, without end, stretching far, unbroken, like the spring stream.
离愁渐远渐无穷，迢迢不断如春水。
Parting grief grows boundless the farther one goes, long and unbroken as spring river water.
此二句用春水之典写离愁渐远渐无穷、迢迢不断如春水，是全词写离愁之深的深化。“离愁渐远渐无穷”写离愁渐远渐无穷——“离愁渐远渐无穷”写离愁越远越无穷——离愁渐远渐无穷；“迢迢不断如春水”用春水之典写迢迢不断如春水——“迢迢不断如春水”用李煜一江春水之意写迢迢不断、如春水长流——迢迢不断如春水。二句写离愁渐远渐无穷、迢迢不断如春水：离愁渐远渐无穷，迢迢不断如春水。以“离愁渐远渐无穷”写离愁渐远、无穷无尽，以“迢迢不断如春水”用春水之典写愁如春水、迢迢不断，正是欧阳修词写离愁之深的深化——离愁无穷，愁如春水。
These two lines using the spring-water allusion for the parting grief's growing boundless and the long unbroken as spring water, the whole ci's parting-grief-deepening. The grows-boundless-the-farther-one-goes writing the grief's distance; the long-and-unbroken-as-spring-river-water using Li Yu's a-river-of-spring-water meaning for the long flow. Two lines writing the grief's boundlessness: the grief grows with the distance, long as the spring flood. Using the grief's growth and the spring-water metaphor, precisely Ouyang's parting-grief-deepening — the grief boundless, long as the spring water.
寸寸柔肠，盈盈粉泪，楼高莫近危阑倚。
Inch by inch the soft heart, brimming the powdered tears; the tower is high — lean not on the perilous rail.
寸寸柔肠，盈盈粉泪，楼高莫近危阑倚。
Inch by inch the soft heart, brimming the powdered tears; the tower is high — lean not on the perilous rail.
此三句写寸寸柔肠、盈盈粉泪、楼高莫近危阑倚，是全词写闺中思妇的深化。“寸寸柔肠，盈盈粉泪”写寸寸柔肠、盈盈粉泪——“寸寸柔肠”写寸寸柔肠、愁肠百结，“盈盈粉泪”写盈盈粉泪、泪满妆面——寸寸柔肠，盈盈粉泪；“楼高莫近危阑倚”用危阑之典写楼高莫近危阑倚——“楼高莫近危阑倚”用危阑（高楼阑干）之典写楼高莫近危阑倚望——楼高莫近危阑倚。三句写寸寸柔肠、盈盈粉泪、楼高莫近危阑倚：寸寸柔肠，盈盈粉泪，楼高莫近危阑倚。以“寸寸柔肠”写寸寸柔肠、肠断九回，以“盈盈粉泪”写盈盈粉泪、泪痕满颊，以“楼高莫近危阑倚”用危阑之典写楼高莫倚危阑、恐添离愁，正是欧阳修词写闺中思妇的深化——柔肠粉泪，莫倚危阑。
These three lines write the inch-by-inch soft heart, brimming powdered tears, and the high-tower-perilous-rail warning, the whole ci's boudoir-longing-wife deepening. The inch-by-inch-soft-heart and brimming-powdered-tears writing the hundred-knot grief and the tear-filled face; the tower-is-high-lean-not-on-the-perilous-rail using the perilous-rail allusion for the high-tower leaning's warning. Three lines writing the grief and the warning: the broken heart, the brimming tears, the no-leaning. Using the inch-by-inch heart for the nine-broken bowels, the brimming tears for the tear-stained cheeks, the perilous-rail warning for the grief's addition, precisely Ouyang's boudoir-wife deepening — the soft heart and powdered tears, the no-perilous-rail leaning.
平芜尽处是春山，行人更在春山外。
At the end of the level plain rise the spring hills; the traveler is beyond the spring hills.
平芜尽处是春山，行人更在春山外。
Where the level plain ends are the spring hills; and the traveler is even beyond the spring hills.
末写平芜尽处是春山、行人更在春山外，是全词写行人思归之情的归结。“平芜尽处是春山”写平芜尽处是春山——“平芜尽处是春山”写平旷草地尽头是春山——平芜尽处是春山；“行人更在春山外”写行人更在春山外——“行人更在春山外”写行人更在春山之外——行人更在春山外。二句写平芜尽处是春山、行人更在春山外：平芜尽处是春山，行人更在春山外。以“平芜尽处是春山”写平芜尽处、春山遥隔，以“行人更在春山外”写行人更在春山之外、远不可及，正是欧阳修词写行人思归之情的归结——春山望断，行人更远。
The last writing the level-plain-ends-and-spring-hills and the traveler-beyond-the-hills, the whole ci's traveler-longing-for-return close. The where-the-level-plain-ends-are-the-spring-hills writing the plain's end and the spring hills; and-the-traveler-is-even-beyond-the-spring-hills writing the traveler's beyond. Two lines writing the sight's end: the hills bar the plain, the traveler's even farther. Using the plain's end for the distant hills and the traveler's beyond for the unreachable, precisely Ouyang's traveler-return-longing close — the spring hills gazed through, the traveler farther.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
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