宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric
王观·浪淘沙·杨梅
Waves Wash the Sands · Bayberry
浪淘沙·杨梅素手不晶盘。
垒起仙丸。
红绡剪碎却成团。
逗得安排金粟遍，何似鸡冠。
味胜玉浆寒。
只被宜酸。
莫将荔子一般看。
色淡香消僝僽损，才到长安。
Red gauze cut to shreds yet gathers into a ball.
They tease and arrange it, gold-grain all over—how can it match the cockscomb?
Its taste surpasses cold jade nectar; it is only good for sour.
Do not regard it as the lychee's equal.
Its colour fades, its fragrance gone, worn and wan, and only then reaches Chang'an.
Meaning
Fair hands need not rest on a crystal tray; the bayberries are merely piled up like the pills of immortals. Their rind, like red gauze, is cut to shreds yet clumps together. Teasing and arranging them, dotted all over like golden grain—how can they match the cockscomb's red splendour? In taste they surpass the cold jade nectar, only they are by nature suited to sourness. Do not treat them as the equal of the lychee. Only when their colour pales and fragrance fades, worn and wan, are they at last carried to Chang'an.
素手不必托着晶亮的盘子。只把杨梅垒起，像仙家的丸药。那红绡般的外皮剪碎开来，却团作一处。逗弄着把它们排布得金粟般点点遍满，哪里比得上鸡冠花的红艳？滋味胜过冰冷的玉浆，只是生来合宜于酸。莫要把它和荔枝一般看待。待到色泽转淡、香气消损而憔悴受损时，才被运到了长安。
Appreciation
This object-chant is clever without being laboured. Its charm is the 'never cling, never leave' poise of the genre: it describes the fruit's form, colour, taste and rank in turn, yet keeps a playful distance, never glutting the subject. The tone is light and teasing, and the closing line turns the famous lychee-tribute allusion on its head, so that a humble berry gets the last word over the celebrated lychee. In manner it is exactly the 'Crown-the-Willow' wit—sharp, pretty, and free.
【白话串讲】 王观写杨梅：“味胜玉浆寒。只被宜酸”——味道胜过玉浆，就是有点酸。“莫将荔子一般看”——别把杨梅和荔枝相提并论。宋词里写水果，写得这么认真可爱的，少见。 【意象与手法】 此词咏物，妙在不即不离。上片纯写形：「素手不晶盘」反起，言不须华盘衬托；「垒起仙丸」状其圆；「红绡剪碎却成团」写皮破汁凝；「逗得安排金粟遍，何似鸡冠」以金粟、鸡冠比其色点，设喻层出尖新。下片写味与品第：「味胜玉浆寒」赞其清，「只被宜酸」补其性，「莫将荔子一般看」一笔翻案；结句「色淡香消僝僽损，才到长安」，以荔枝「一骑红尘」熟典反衬杨梅易损难贡，轻嘲含理趣。语言巧丽，「冠柳」俨然。 【情感与主旨】 王观，字通叟，海陵（今江苏泰州）人，嘉祐二年（1057）进士，曾官翰林学士，后因《清平乐》「黄金殿里」等句忤高太后旨被罢，自号「逐客」，词集名《冠柳集》，意在冠压柳永。此词咏杨梅，宋时荔枝名重常入贡，杨梅声名稍逊，词人作此欲使杨梅风头压过荔枝，实为一首逞才弄巧的咏物戏笔，亦见北宋市井品果之闲适风尚。 【名句点睛】 常考上片描写杨梅形态的比喻层叠（垒丸、红绡、金粟、鸡冠）；「莫将荔子一般看」的翻案之笔；结句「色淡香消僝僽损，才到长安」用荔枝贡典反衬的用意；王观「冠柳」一派的巧丽词风。
Background
Wang Guan, courtesy Tong Sou, was a native of Hailing (today's Taizhou, Jiangsu). A jinshi of 1057, he once served as a Hanlin academician, but was dismissed for offending Empress Dowager Gao with lines such as 'within the golden hall' in his 'Pure Peace Joy'. He styled himself 'the Exiled Guest', and his lyric collection is named 'Crown the Willow', meaning to outshine Liu Yong. This lyric chants the bayberry: in the Song, the lychee was famous and often sent as tribute, while the bayberry's name was lesser; the poet wrote to let the bayberry steal the lychee's thunder—in truth a clever, playful object-chant, and a glimpse of the easy, market-town fruit-tasting fashion of the Northern Song, light and mischievous, just suiting the Exiled Guest's free nature.
王观，字通叟，海陵（今江苏泰州）人，宋仁宗嘉祐二年（1057）进士，与苏轼同年。他曾官翰林学士，因作《清平乐》「黄金殿里，烛影双龙戏」等句，被认为语涉狎亵、冒犯朝廷，被高太后罢职，遂自号「逐客」，以示疏放不羁。王观词集名《冠柳集》，「冠柳」即「压过柳永」之意，可见其自负与好胜。北宋时荔枝名重，岭南闽中荔枝常作为贡品快马运入汴京，杜牧「一骑红尘妃子笑」的故事家喻户晓；而杨梅虽为江南佳果，声名远逊荔枝，北方人甚至不识此物。王观此词咏杨梅，处处与荔枝争衡：形之美、味之胜、名之贵，都要为杨梅争一席位。这虽是咏物戏笔，却折射出北宋城市经济繁荣、士人品果赏鲜的闲适风尚，也见王观「逐客」疏放的性格——身在江湖，心却不甘寂寞，偏要以一支生花妙笔，为家乡的杨梅扬名天下，逞才弄巧，趣味盎然。从词史背景看，王观此词作于北宋中期词坛百花齐放之时：柳永以慢词铺叙市井风情，苏轼以豪放词抒写胸襟抱负，秦观、黄庭坚各擅胜场，而王观独以「巧丽尖新」标榜，欲以咏物之巧压过柳永的言情之铺，其《冠柳集》之名的自负可见一斑。此词咏杨梅，正是其逞才之作：上片连用仙丸、红绡、金粟、鸡冠四喻写杨梅形色，设喻之新、之密，在两宋咏物词中罕见其匹；下片以玉浆、荔枝衬其味与品第，笔锋一转即为杨梅争名，机锋之巧、谐趣之浓，正是「冠柳」词风的集中体现，也折射出北宋都市文化繁荣、士人品果赏鲜的生活情趣。
Art
This lyric chants an object, and its wit lies in never clinging and never leaving. The upper stanza writes pure form: 'Fair hands need no crystal tray' opens by negation, saying no fine plate is needed; 'they pile the immortal pills' shapes its roundness; 'red gauze cut to shreds yet gathers into a ball' writes the broken rind and coagulated juice; 'they tease and arrange it, gold-grain all over—how can it match the cockscomb' compares colour and dots to gold-grain and cockscomb, tropes layered, sharp and fresh. The lower stanza writes taste and rank: 'its taste surpasses cold jade nectar' praises its coolness, 'it is only good for sour' adds its nature, and 'do not regard it as the lychee's equal' turns the table; the close 'its colour fades, its fragrance gone, worn and wan, and only then reaches Chang'an' reverses the well-known lychee-tribute allusion to set off the bayberry's fragility, a light mock with a playful sense. The language is clever and pretty, in the 'Crown-the-Willow' manner indeed.
此词咏物，妙在不即不离、体物入微。上片纯写形，层层设喻而尖新可爱：「素手不晶盘」反起——寻常写果必托以华盘，此处偏说不须晶盘衬托，素手垒果便是最好，先立杨梅本色之美；「垒起仙丸」状其圆润，如道家丹丸；「红绡剪碎却成团」写果皮之色与形，红绡喻其红艳，剪碎成团喻其粒粒抱团；「逗得安排金粟遍」以金粟喻果面细密的金色颗粒，「何似鸡冠」以鸡冠之红对比，设喻层出而不嫌堆垛，反成妙趣。下片写味与品第：「味胜玉浆寒」赞其清凉，「只被宜酸」补写其酸味本是天性，不必讳言；「莫将荔子一般看」一笔翻案，直为杨梅争席；结句「色淡香消僝僽损，才到长安」最见机锋：以荔枝「一骑红尘」的贡典反衬——杨梅娇嫩，运到长安早已色消香损，反讽荔枝不过是仗着远贡得名，杨梅本不必与争。全词由形入味、由味入品，层层递进，语言巧丽而尖新，正是「冠柳」一派的典型笔调。
Allusions
This lyric uses almost no allusion; only the close secretly touches the lychee-tribute story of the Tang. Du Mu's 'Passing Huaqing Palace'—'a single rider in red dust, the concubine smiles; none knew it was the lychee coming'—writes the lychee sent in tribute to Chang'an. The line 'its colour fades, its fragrance gone, worn and wan, and only then reaches Chang'an' reverses that: the bayberry is so delicate that by the time it reaches Chang'an it is pale and spent, quietly mocking the lychee's fame as won only by distant tribute, while the bayberry need not compete. 'Gold-grain' originally names osmanthus; here it borrows for the bayberry's fine golden dots; 'jade nectar' is a general term for sweet drinks. The whole poem compares common things to common things—clever yet clear.
此词用典极稀而化用极巧，最见功力的是结句暗用荔枝贡唐故实：杜牧《过华清宫》「一骑红尘妃子笑，无人知是荔枝来」，写唐玄宗为博杨贵妃一笑，命人快马飞送岭南荔枝入长安，荔枝因此名重天下。王观词云「色淡香消僝僽损，才到长安」，反用其意：杨梅娇嫩易损，若学荔枝远贡长安，只怕运到之时早已色淡香消、憔悴不堪，言下之意是——荔枝的赫赫名声不过仗着「远贡」二字，论本色之美，杨梅何须让与荔枝？这一反用，既点出杨梅之娇贵，又暗讽世人以远为贵、以名为贵的心理，轻嘲中含理趣。「金粟」本指桂花（桂花色黄如金粟），此处借指杨梅果面细密的金黄色颗粒，属借喻；「玉浆」泛称甘美如玉的饮品，赞杨梅汁液之清美；「僝僽」为唐宋俗语，本指愁苦憔悴，此处拟人写杨梅色香消损之态，新颖俏皮。全词以寻常物比寻常物，巧而可解，正见王观「弄巧而不伤雅」的本领。
Commentary
Wang Guan's collection is named 'Crown the Willow', known for clever prettiness that dares outshine Liu Yong. This bayberry piece is prized for its fresh figuration; the Qing editors included it in the collected 'Crown the Willow'. The modern scholar Zhao Wanli called it 'clever without wounding elegance'. Tang Guizhang's 'Complete Lyrics of the Song' records 'Fair hands need no crystal tray' with a variant 'Fair hands on a crystal tray', and notes the alternative title 'Waves Wash the Sands · Bayberry', proving its wide spread, and showing the clever prettiness of the 'Crown-the-Willow' line.
王观在北宋词坛以「冠柳」自许，虽未免自负，其巧丽尖新的词风却确有可观。近人赵万里辑其词为《冠柳集》，评其「弄巧而不伤雅」；唐圭璋《全宋词》据诸本录此词，首句一作「素手水晶盘」，可见此词在宋代流传之广、版本之多。论者多以王观与柳永比较：柳永词以铺叙白描写情，浑厚自然；王观词以尖新巧丽取胜，机智活泼，其「冠柳」之说，正见宋代词人争胜角奇的时代风气。此词咏杨梅，在宋词咏物中别开生面：不咏花、不咏月，专咏一颗颗普通的杨梅，且以戏谑之笔为杨梅争名，题材之新、笔调之活，在庄重典雅的主流咏物词之外自成一格。后世论咏物词，多推周邦彦、姜夔的寄托遥深，而王观此词以「不即不离」的巧思写世俗生活的闲趣，恰可补咏物词的另一种面向——咏物不必总是言志寄慨，也可以是一番活泼泼的生活雅趣。从接受史看，此词在宋代即已流传甚广，《全宋词》据多种版本收录，首句「素手不晶盘」一作「素手水晶盘」，异文之存正见其传抄之盛。近人论王观词，多以「弄巧而不伤雅」评之，谓其虽以尖新取胜而不失词之雅正，此词正是这一评价的注脚：咏杨梅而不落俗套，争名荔枝而不失风趣，设喻密集而不觉堆砌，正是「巧」与「雅」的平衡。与柳永以情胜、苏轼以气胜相比，王观以「巧」胜，虽格局稍小而自成一格，此词亦可视为北宋咏物词由唐五代的花间绮艳向两宋的体物精工演进的一个生动样本。
Prosody
Line by line
素手不晶盘。垒起仙丸
Fair hands need no crystal tray; they pile the immortal pills.
素手不必托着晶亮的盘子。只把杨梅垒起，像仙家的丸药。
No need for a crystal plate, the white hands heap them up like immortal pills.
起笔两句反起设喻，写杨梅的形态之美，先声夺人。「素手不晶盘」是反起：寻常写珍果，必以水晶盘、金盘衬托其贵，此处偏说素手不必晶盘——不借华器，素手垒果便是最美，先为杨梅立起「本色天成」的地位，也暗含对雕琢浮华的轻蔑。「垒起仙丸」设喻：杨梅圆润，垒在盘中如道家丹药的仙丸，「仙丸」之喻既写其形之圆，又添一分缥缈仙气，把市井果品写得超凡脱俗。「素手」与「仙丸」相映，一素一仙，笔致空灵；「垒起」二字又写出累累满盘、珠圆玉润的丰盛画面。两句设喻尖新而不失雅致，正是王观「弄巧而不伤雅」的开篇亮相，也为下文的层层设喻定下基调。
The opening two lines' reverse-start metaphor, writing the bayberry's form beauty, the sound's leading. The no-need-for-a-crystal-plate-the-white-hands-heap-them-up-like-immortal-pills the reverse-start: the usual precious-fruit writing's always the crystal plate and gold plate for the value's setting-off, here precisely saying the white hands' no-crystal-plate needed — the ornate vessel's no-borrowing, the white hands' heaping the fruit's already the most beautiful, first for the bayberry's establishing the native-perfection status, and secretly the carving-and-glitter's disdain. The heap-them-up-like-immortal-pills the metaphor: the bayberry's round, heaped in the plate like the Daoist elixir's immortal pills, the immortal-pills metaphor at once writing the form's roundness and adding one thread of ethereal immortal air, turning the market fruit's extraordinary-and-world-above. The white-hands and immortal-pills' mirror, one-plain-one-immortal, the brush's ethereal; the heap-them-up two words again writing the cluster's plate-full and the pearl-round-and-jade-smooth abundance picture. Two lines' metaphor's sharp-and-yet-elegant, precisely Wang Guan's clever-and-yet-ungarish opening appearance, and establishing the tone for the below's layer-on-layer metaphors.
红绡剪碎却成团
Red gauze cut to shreds yet gathers into a ball.
那红绡般的外皮剪碎开来，却团作一处。
The red silk is cut to shreds, and yet gathered into a ball.
此句以丝织品喻杨梅果皮，是上片设喻最精妙的一笔。「红绡」是红色的薄绸，写杨梅果皮的红艳与轻软；「剪碎」写杨梅果面凹凸不平、如碎绡拼缀的质感；「却成团」一转，写这碎绡般的果皮并非松散四散，而是粒粒抱团、聚作圆球，把杨梅「果肉由无数小颗粒聚合而成」的独特形态写得穷形尽相。一个「剪」字、一个「团」字，一碎一整、一散一聚，动静相生，写出杨梅果实的玲珑精巧。「红绡」之喻既见色，又见质，将杨梅的红艳轻软写得触手可及。此句与前句「垒起仙丸」一写整体之圆、一写细部之碎，由总到分，观察入微，正是咏物词「体物入微、穷形尽相」的笔法，也见王观设喻的尖新巧丽。
This line using the silk fabric for the bayberry's skin metaphor, the first stanza's metaphor's most exquisite stroke. The red-gauze the red thin silk, writing the bayberry skin's redness and softness; the cut-to-shreds writing the fruit surface's unevenness, like the shred-gauze's pieced texture; and-yet-gathered-into-a-ball's turn, writing this shred-gauze-like skin's not the loose-scattering, and yet the grain-by-grain's clustering into a round ball, writing the bayberry's flesh-formed-of-countless-small-particles' unique form's to-the-ultimate. The one jian word and one tuan word, one-shred-one-whole, one-scatter-one-gather, the motion-and-stillness's mutual birth, writing the bayberry fruit's exquisite craft. The red-gauze metaphor at once seeing the color and the substance, turning the bayberry's redness-and-softness's touchable. This line and the above's heap-up-immortal-pills one writing the whole's roundness and one the detail's shreds, from the total to the detail, the observation's fineness, precisely the thing-ode ci's thing-depiction's fineness and form-to-the-ultimate brush, and seeing Wang Guan's metaphor's sharp-and-beauty.
莫将荔子一般看
Do not regard it as the lychee's equal.
莫要把它和荔枝一般看待。
Do not rank it with the lychee.
此句是下片的翻案之笔，也是全词立意所在，一句喝断，为杨梅争席。「荔子」即荔枝，宋代名重天下，号为果中珍品；「莫将荔子一般看」意谓杨梅自有杨梅的好处，切莫把它与荔枝等量齐观——不是自认不如，而是不屑与争。这一句写得斩截利落，口气既似劝诫，又似宣告，词人对杨梅的偏爱与回护溢于言表。细味之，此句另有深意：荔枝之贵，贵在远贡得名，杜牧诗早已点破其「一骑红尘」的虚妄；杨梅之名不显，非其质不佳，而是世人不识。王观以「逐客」之身写杨梅，何尝没有借物自况之意——自己被贬江湖、声名不显，正如这深藏江南的杨梅，质美而人不之贵。「莫将荔子一般看」既是替杨梅鸣不平，也是替自己鸣不平，翻案之笔，语浅而味深。
This line is the second stanza's reversal stroke, and the whole ci's intention's place, one line's drinking-the-stop, contending for the bayberry's seat. The lychee i.e. the litchi, the Song's famous-under-heaven, the fruit's treasure rank; the do-not-rank-it-with-the-lychee meaning the bayberry's own bayberry's goodness, the litchi's no equal-ranking — not the self-confessed-inferior, and yet the disdain-to-contend. This line's written's decisive and neat, the tone's at once the admonition-like and the declaration-like, the poet's bayberry preference and championship's overflowing the words. The careful savor, this line's another deep meaning: the litchi's value, the value in the far-tribute's fame, Du Mu's poem's already broken through its one-rider-red-dust delusion; the bayberry's fame's not-known, not its quality's not-fine, and yet the world's not knowing. Wang Guan's using the exiled-body for the bayberry writing, how without the thing-self-comparison meaning — his own exile to the rivers-and-lakes and the fame's obscurity, precisely like this deep-hidden-Jiangnan bayberry, the quality's fine and yet the person's not-valuing. The do-not-rank-it-with-the-lychee at once for the bayberry's injustice's speaking, and for his own injustice's speaking, the reversal stroke, the words' shallow and yet the savor's deep.
色淡香消僝僽损，才到长安
Its colour fades, its fragrance gone, worn and wan, and only then reaches Chang'an.
待到色泽转淡、香气消损而憔悴受损时，才被运到了长安。
The color fades, the scent dies, it is worn and wasted, and only then does it reach Chang'an.
结句是全词最见机锋的一笔，暗用荔枝贡唐故实而反其意，轻嘲中含理趣。「色淡香消僝僽损」拟人写杨梅若远途运输的结局：色泽转淡、香气消损、憔悴受损——杨梅娇嫩，经不起长途颠簸，这三句层层写尽其娇贵易损，为结句蓄势；「才到长安」陡然一收：好不容易运到长安，却早已不是江南枝头那鲜活的杨梅了。此句暗用杜牧「一骑红尘妃子笑，无人知是荔枝来」的典故：荔枝之所以名重，全靠快马飞贡长安；而杨梅若也学荔枝远贡，只怕运到时早已色消香损，徒有虚名。言下之意——荔枝的赫赫声名不过仗着远贡，论本色之美，杨梅何须让与荔枝？结句以戏谑口吻收束，为杨梅扬名而不失风趣，正是王观「冠柳」一派尖新巧丽的收尾功夫。
The closing line is the whole ci's sharpest stroke, secretly using the Tang-tribute-lychee allusion and yet reversing the meaning, within the light mockery carrying the reason-delight. The color-fades-the-scent-dies-it-is-worn-and-wasted personifies the bayberry's long-transport ending: the color's fading, the scent's dying, the wear-and-waste — the bayberry's tender, the long-journey's bump's un-bearable, these three lines' layer-on-layer writing its tender-precious-and-fragile, storing the force for the close; and-only-then-does-it-reach-Chang'an's sharp close: the hard-won's reaching Chang'an, and yet already not the Jiangnan-branch fresh bayberry. This line's secretly using Du Mu's one-rider-red-dust-the-concubine-laughs-no-one-knows-it's-the-lychee's-arrival allusion: the litchi's fame's weight, all relying on the fast-horse's flying tribute to Chang'an; and yet the bayberry's if the litchi's long-tribute imitation, probably's transport's arriving's already the color-gone-and-scent-died, only the empty name. The unspoken meaning — the litchi's illustrious fame's merely relying on the far tribute, the native-beauty's comparison, the bayberry's why the yielding to the litchi? The closing line on the mocking tone, for the bayberry's fame's-raising and yet the humor's kept, precisely Wang Guan's crown-the-willow school's sharp-and-beauty closing craft.
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Both from Wang Guan's 'Crown the Willow' manner; one chants the bayberry, one records a spring outing—both skillful, sharp and fresh.
王观《庆清朝慢·踏青》与《浪淘沙·杨梅》同出「冠柳」词人之手，一写春日踏青、一咏江南杨梅，题材各异而巧丽尖新的词风一脉相承。《踏青》写「调雨为酥，催冰做水」的春景，把东君（春神）写成一个巧手安排的人物，想象灵动，语言俏皮；《杨梅》写垒丸、红绡、金粟的层层设喻，为杨梅与荔枝争名，机锋迭出。两词都善于以新巧的比喻与活泼的口语写寻常题材，都带着一种游戏人间的轻快笔调，正见王观「冠柳」之名的由来——他要在柳永的铺叙白描之外，另辟一条尖新巧丽的路子。两词并读，恰可窥见这位「逐客」词人巧思满腹、不落俗套的创作个性。
范成大·横塘 Hengtang 范成大 · 同写江南风物，一俏皮咏果一淡雅纪行，风格对照 Different (both write Jiangnan sights—one playful fruit-chant, one plain travel sketch, contrasting styles)Both write Jiangnan scenery; one playful in fruit-chant, one refined in travel-record—a stylistic contrast.
范成大《横塘》「南浦春来绿一川，石桥朱塔两依然」写江南春日水乡的明丽淡雅，与王观《浪淘沙·杨梅》同以江南风物入咏，风格却判然有别。范诗写景如画，石桥朱塔、年年送客，笔调冲淡含蓄，是南宋田园诗人「以淡雅写风物」的路数；王词咏物如戏，垒丸红绡、与荔争名，笔调俏皮尖新，是北宋「冠柳」一派「以巧丽写生活」的路数。一诗一词，一静一动，一淡一巧，恰见江南风物在诗词中的两种写法：既可以入画成诗，寄寓悠长的情思；也可以入词成戏，展现活泼的趣味。两作对照，可见同样面对江南的风物人情，诗人与词人、南宋与北宋，各有各的笔墨与心境。