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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

辛弃疾·汉宫春·立春日

Han Gong Chun · The Start of Spring

辛弃疾

Xin Qiji

婉约graceful 节令seasonal festival

汉宫春·立春日春已归来，看美人头上，袅袅春幡。
无端风雨，未肯收尽余寒。
年时燕子，料今宵、梦到西园。
浑未辨、黄柑荐酒，更传青韭堆盘。
却笑东风，从此便、薰梅染柳，更没些闲。
闲时又来镜里，转变朱颜。
清愁不断，问何人、会解连环？
生怕见、花开花落，朝来塞雁先还。

Spring has come back; see on the beauty's hair the slender spring streamers sway.
For no reason wind and rain will not gather the lingering cold away.
The swallows of last year, I guess tonight dream of the Western Garden.
Hardly can I tell the yellow tangerines served with wine, and the green chives piled on the plate.
Yet I laugh at the east wind, that from now perfumes the plum and dyes the willow, with never a moment free.
In idle time it comes again to the mirror, changing my crimson face.
A clear sorrow unceasing—who, I ask, can untie the linked rings?
I dread most to see the flowers open and fall, while at dawn the frontier geese have already returned north.

Listen

Meaning

Spring has already returned; on the ladies' hair sway the gentle spring streamers. Yet wind and rain for no reason refuse to take away the lingering cold. The swallows of last year, I expect, dream tonight of the Western Garden. One can hardly tell apart the yellow tangerines offered with wine and the green chives heaped on the plate at this festival. Yet I laugh at the east wind, which from now on busies itself perfuming and dyeing the plum and willow, with no leisure at all. In its idle moments it comes again into the mirror, quietly changing one's youthful face. A clear sorrow runs on and on; who, I ask, can undo the linked-ring knot? What I fear most is to see the flowers open and fall, while at dawn the frontier geese have already gone north.

春天已经归来，看仕女头上摇曳着袅袅的春幡。偏又无端风雨，不肯收尽残余的寒意。去年此时的燕子，料想今夜会梦回西园。还分不清黄柑荐酒，更传来青韭堆盘的节令风味。却笑那东风，从此便忙着熏染梅柳，再没些空闲。闲时又来镜中，暗暗改变人的容颜。清愁绵绵不断，试问有谁能解得连环？最怕见到花开花落，清晨里塞雁已先北还。

Appreciation

This lyric takes the sights of the Start of Spring as its warp and the poet's life-feeling as its weft. The first part paints spring streamers, wind and rain, swallows, yellow tangerines and green chives, delicate as a picture; the second part turns with a sudden flip, where 'Yet I laugh at the east wind' personifies spring's busyness, then drops into the lament of 'changing my crimson face' and 'a clear sorrow unceasing'. The joy of the festival sets off the sorrow of home and state, happy scene breeding sad feeling, strength and softness assisting each other, gaining the profundity and arrest of Xin's art.

【白话串讲】 “春已归来，看美人头上，袅袅春幡”——辛弃疾写立春：春天回来了，美人头上插着春幡。“无端风雨，未肯收尽余寒”——可风雨还不肯收尽寒意。“闲时又来镜里，转变朱颜”——他照镜子，看见自己老了。【意象与手法】全词以立春风物为经，以身世之感为纬。上片写春幡、风雨、燕子、黄柑青韭，细腻如画【情感与主旨】此词约作于辛弃疾中年闲居江西带湖、瓢泉一带时。他一生以恢复中原为志，却屡遭猜忌投闲【名句点睛】考点：一、上片节令意象的铺排与作用；二、“却笑东风”的拟人手法与情感转折；三、“解连环”典故的深层寓意

Background

This lyric was likely written in Xin Qiji's middle years, when he lived in retirement around Dai Lake and Gourd Spring in Jiangxi. All his life he aimed to recover the Central Plains, yet was repeatedly suspected and set aside. The Start of Spring is a farming festival that should be joyous; facing the turning of the light, the poet thinks of his fading chance to serve the country and the dim hope of the northern expedition, and so uses the spring custom to voice, gently and indirectly, his sorrow for home and state and his sigh over his own fate. The tone is depressed yet the language much oblique.

《汉宫春·立春日》为南宋词人辛弃疾所作。辛弃疾（1140—1207），字幼安，号稼轩，历城人，南宋豪放词派的代表，与苏轼并称“苏辛”。此词写立春日的感怀：春已归来，看美人头上袅袅春幡；无端风雨，未肯收尽余寒；年时燕子，料今宵梦到西园；浑未辨黄柑荐酒，更传青韭堆盘。下片却笑东风，从此便薰梅染柳；更没些闲，闲时又来镜里，转变朱颜；清愁不断，问何人会解连环？生怕见花开花落，朝来塞雁先还。全词以立春起兴，写时光流逝与清愁难解，寄寓身世之感，是辛弃疾感怀词的代表作。

Art

The whole lyric weaves the Start-of-Spring sights as its warp and the poet's life-feeling as its weft. The first part writes spring streamers, wind and rain, swallows, yellow tangerines and green chives, delicate as a painting; the second part suddenly turns, where 'Yet I laugh at the east wind' and the following lines personify spring's busyness, then plunge into the grief of 'changing the crimson face' and 'a clear sorrow unceasing'. Using the festival's joy to set off the sorrow of home and state, happy scene and sad feeling generate each other, hardness and softness balanced, the piece deeply attains the profundity and arrest of Xin's manner.

《汉宫春·立春日》艺术上以节令起兴与身世之感见长。全词结构分明：上片写立春之景——“春已归来，看美人头上袅袅春幡”写春归之象，“无端风雨，未肯收尽余寒”写余寒未消，“年时燕子，料今宵梦到西园”写燕子忆归，“浑未辨黄柑荐酒，更传青韭堆盘”写立春之俗；下片写时光之叹——“却笑东风，从此便薰梅染柳”写东风送春，“闲时又来镜里，转变朱颜”写时光催老，“清愁不断，问何人会解连环”写清愁难解，“生怕见花开花落，朝来塞雁先还”写伤春之感。全词以立春写时光之流转，以清愁写身世之感，正是辛弃疾词“沉郁顿挫”的风格。

Allusions

'Untie the linked rings' comes from the Strategies of the Warring States, Qi policy: Qin showed Qi a jade linked-ring, and the Queen Mother broke it with a hammer, saying 'Hereby it is undone', a figure for solving a difficulty. Here it is reversed, sighing that no one can undo the dead knot of recovering the Central Plains. 'The frontier geese return first' transforms the traveller's longing to go home. Both allusions concern the word 'return', darkly implying the deep sorrow that the old capital cannot be regained and none is left to recover it; the allusion is used without being clogged, oblique yet often satirical.

《汉宫春·立春日》用典在“解连环”。“解连环”出《战国策·齐策》，秦昭王遣使遗齐君王后玉连环，曰“齐多智，而解此环不”，君王后引锥椎破之，曰“谨以解矣”；此处以“解连环”写清愁之难解。另有“春幡”写立春剪彩为幡之俗，“黄柑荐酒”“青韭堆盘”写立春日以黄柑青韭荐酒堆盘之俗，“塞雁先还”写塞雁春归。全词以这些立春之俗与典故写时光流转，以“解连环”写愁之难解，正是辛弃疾“以典入词”的风格。

Commentary

Zhou Ji, in his Song Four Masters of Lyrics, said of Jiaxuan that 'he gathered his bold ambition, raised a high tune, changed the gentle into the desolate'—this lyric is exactly his gentle and desolate work. Later readers hold that he used the small topic of the Start of Spring to write the great hatred of recovery, with subtle comparison-and-eloquence, more soul-stirring than his bold style, a representative of Xin's alternative manner.

《汉宫春·立春日》是辛弃疾感怀词的代表作，也是其立春词中的名篇。此词以立春起兴，写时光流逝与清愁难解，向为论者称道。论者多赏其“春已归来，看美人头上袅袅春幡”的起笔——以美人春幡写春归之象，明丽中含深意；“清愁不断，问何人会解连环”以解连环写清愁之难解，更见深婉。辛弃疾一生力主抗金而壮志难酬，其词多写壮志与悲愤，此词以立春写时光之叹，正是其“沉郁顿挫”风格的体现。

Prosody

Form Lyric, 'Han Gong Chun' double-tune ninety-six characters词牌·汉宫春

Rhyme Level rhyme, by Ci Lin Zheng Yun, upper and lower parts shift and carry rhyme《汉宫春》为双调，上下片各十句，押平声韵。此词用韵：幡、寒、园、盘（元部）、闲、颜、环、还（删部），上下片同韵，音节流转。

Tone pattern Long and short lines, level-oblique strict; at the turn the tone shifts and falls《汉宫春》句式以四、五、七言相间，音节流转。此词上片写立春之景，音节明丽，如春幡袅袅；下片写时光之叹，音节沉郁，如清愁不断。全词以平韵贯底，声调随立春写怀的内容起伏，是宋词中沉郁顿挫的一路。

Reading note 'Han Gong Chun' suits depressed low-returning feeling; Xin uses it for Start-of-Spring sorrow, sound and feeling matching.《汉宫春·立春日》为词牌《汉宫春》，是辛弃疾感怀词的代表作。此词以立春起兴：上片写春归之象与余寒未消，下片写东风送春与清愁难解，以节令写时光流转，以清愁写身世之感。辛弃疾一生力主抗金而壮志难酬，其词多写壮志与悲愤，此词以立春写时光之叹、清愁之难解，正是其“沉郁顿挫”风格的体现。

Line by line

春已归来，看美人头上，袅袅春幡。无端风雨，未肯收尽余寒。

Spring has returned; look on the ladies' heads, the spring banners flutter. Unreasoning wind and rain will not yet gather up the lingering chill.

春天已经归来，看美人头上，袅袅飘动着春幡。无端的风雨，还不肯收尽残冬的余寒。

Spring has come back; see the spring banners, fluttering on the beauties' heads. The unprovoked wind and rain refuse to gather up the winter's lingering chill.

上片起写立春之景与余寒未消。“春已归来”写春归之象——立春之日，春已归来；“看美人头上，袅袅春幡”写春幡之象——美人头上，袅袅飘动春幡，写立春之俗；“无端风雨，未肯收尽余寒”写余寒未消——“无端”写风雨之无端，“未肯收尽余寒”写残冬余寒未消。四句由春归写到春幡，再写到余寒：春虽归来，而风雨无端、余寒未消。以“袅袅春幡”写春归之象，以“未肯收尽余寒”写冬意未消，正是辛弃疾以节令写身世之感——春归而余寒未消，正如其壮志虽存而时局未转。

The first stanza opens writing the beginning-of-spring scene and the lingering chill. The spring-has-returned writing the spring's-return sign — the lichun day, spring's returned; look-on-the-ladies'-heads-the-spring-banners-flutter writing the spring-banner sign — on the beauties' heads the spring banners flutter, writing the lichun custom; the unprovoked-wind-and-rain-refuse-to-gather-up-the-winter's-lingering-chill writing the lingering chill's not-gone. Four lines from the spring's return to the spring banners, then to the lingering chill: spring's returned, and yet the wind-rain's unreasoning and the lingering chill's not-gone. Using the fluttering banners for the spring's return, and the lingering chill's refusal for the winter's feeling's not-gone, precisely Xin Qiji's season-writes-lot's-feeling brush — spring's returned and yet the lingering chill's not-gone, precisely like his lofty will's yet-there and yet the time's not-turning.

年时燕子，料今宵、梦到西园。浑未辨、黄柑荐酒，更传青韭堆盘。

Last year's swallows — I guess tonight they will dream of the West Garden. I have scarce savored the yellow tangerines offered in wine, and now the green chives are piled on the dishes.

去年的燕子，料想今宵会梦到西园。还未辨清黄柑荐酒之俗，又传来青韭堆盘之举。

Last year's swallows — I expect tonight they will dream of the West Garden. Hardly have I tasted the yellow-citron wine offering, when the green-chive piled plates are passed around.

此数句写立春之俗与燕归之思。“年时燕子，料今宵、梦到西园”写燕子忆归——“年时燕子”写去年之燕，“料今宵梦到西园”写其料想今宵梦回西园，写燕之忆归，亦写己之忆北；“浑未辨、黄柑荐酒，更传青韭堆盘”写立春之俗——“黄柑荐酒”写以黄柑荐酒，“青韭堆盘”写以青韭堆盘，皆立春日之俗。四句以燕子写忆归，以黄柑青韭写立春之俗：燕梦西园，是乡思；黄柑青韭，是节令。以“年时燕子”写忆归，正是辛弃疾写北望故国之思的笔法——燕子忆归西园，正如其忆归中原。

These several lines write the lichun customs and the swallow-return longing. Last-year's-swallows-I-expect-tonight-they-will-dream-of-the-West-Garden writing the swallow's remembered return — last year's swallows, the expecting tonight's dream back to the West Garden, writing the swallow's remembered return, and also writing his own remembered north; the hardly-tasted-yellow-citron-wine-offering-when-the-green-chive-piled-plates-are-passed-around writing the lichun custom — the yellow citron offered in wine and the green chives piled on dishes, both the lichun customs. Four lines using the swallows for the remembered return, and the citron-and-chives for the lichun custom: the swallows' dreaming the West Garden, the homesickness; the citron-and-chives, the season. Using the year's swallows for the remembered return, precisely Xin Qiji's northward-old-country-longing brush — the swallow's remembering the West Garden, precisely like his remembering the Central Plains.

却笑东风，从此便、薰梅染柳。更没些闲，闲时又来镜里，转变朱颜。

I laugh at the east wind: from now on it will perfume the plum and dye the willow. It has no leisure at all; and when it is free, it comes to the mirror and alters my rosy face.

却笑那东风，从此便要薰梅染柳。它更没些闲暇，闲时却又来到镜里，转变我的朱颜。

Yet I smile at the east wind, which from now on will perfume the plum and dye the willow. It has no idle moment; and when idle, it comes to the mirror and changes my young face.

此数句写东风送春与时光催老。“却笑东风，从此便、薰梅染柳”写东风送春——“却笑”写其嘲笑，“薰梅染柳”写东风薰梅染柳、催春；“更没些闲，闲时又来镜里，转变朱颜”写时光催老——“更没些闲”写其无闲，“闲时又来镜里，转变朱颜”写东风闲时又来镜中，转变人的朱颜。四句以“却笑”写其看透，以“薰梅染柳”写东风催春，以“转变朱颜”写时光催老。以“笑东风”写其看透时光，以“转变朱颜”写岁月无情，正是辛弃疾写时光流逝的笔法——东风催梅柳，亦催人老。

These several lines write the east wind's sending spring and the time's urging old. Yet-I-smile-at-the-east-wind-which-from-now-on-will-perfume-the-plum-and-dye-the-willow writing the east wind's sending spring — the yet-smile writing his laughing at it, the perfume-plum-and-dye-willow writing the east wind's urging spring; the it-has-no-idle-moment-and-when-idle-it-comes-to-the-mirror-and-changes-my-young-face writing the time's urging old. Four lines using the yet-smile for his seeing-through, the perfume-plum-and-dye-willow for the east wind's urging spring, and the change-my-young-face for the time's urging old. Using the laughing-at-the-east-wind for his seeing-through-the-time, and the changed face for the years' ruthlessness, precisely Xin Qiji's time's-passing brush — the east wind's urging the plum-and-willow, and also urging the person's old.

清愁不断，问何人会解连环？生怕见花开花落，朝来塞雁先还。

Clear grief runs unbroken — ask who can unloose the linked rings? I dread to see flowers open and fall, when morning after morning the frontier geese return before me.

清愁不断，问谁能解得开这连环般的愁绪？最怕见花开花落，早晨塞雁先已飞还。

Clear grief is unbroken; who can unfasten these linked rings? I dread to see flowers bloom and fall, and the frontier geese returning home before me at dawn.

末数句写清愁难解与伤春之感，是全词的归结。“清愁不断”写清愁连绵——“清愁”写其愁绪，“不断”写其绵延；“问何人会解连环”写愁之难解——“解连环”用典，写清愁如连环难解；“生怕见花开花落，朝来塞雁先还”写伤春之感——“生怕见”写其不忍见，“花开花落”写春之流转，“朝来塞雁先还”写塞雁春归而人未归。四句以“清愁不断”写愁之连绵，以“解连环”写愁之难解，以“塞雁先还”写其望归而不得。以“生怕见花开花落”写伤春，以“塞雁先还”写望归，正是辛弃疾词“沉郁顿挫”的归结——清愁难解，春归而人未归。

The closing several lines write the grief's hard-to-unloose and the spring-grief, the whole ci's close. The clear-grief-is-unbroken writing the grief's continuity; the ask-who-can-unfasten-these-linked-rings writing the grief's hard-to-unloose — the unfasten-the-linked-rings allusion, writing the grief like linked rings; the I-dread-to-see-flowers-bloom-and-fall-and-the-frontier-geese-returning-home-before-me-at-dawn writing the spring-grief. Four lines using the unbroken grief for the continuity, the linked-rings for the unloose-impossible, and the geese' return before me for the no-homeward. Using the dread-to-see for the spring-grief, and the geese' return for the no-homeward, precisely Xin ci's somber-and-uneven close — the grief's hard-to-unloose, spring's returned and yet the person's not.

Study

Word focus

袅袅 Slender: depicts the spring streamers swaying in the wind, beautiful in sound and form; a soft brush writes the season, setting a graceful tone. “袅袅春幡”之“袅袅”，写春幡飘动之态，是全词写春归之象的关键词。“袅袅”写其轻柔飘动——美人头上，春幡袅袅飘动。这一词写春幡之态，亦写春意之柔：春幡袅袅，正是春归的象征。以“袅袅”写春幡，正是辛弃疾以明丽之象写春归的笔法——春归之象，如在目前。

无端 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “无端风雨”之“无端”，写风雨之无端而至，是全词写余寒未消的关键词。“无端”即没来由，着一词，风雨便带上了莫名的恶意——春归之际，无端风雨，未肯收尽余寒。这一词写春之受阻：不是应时而退的寒冬，而是无端的风雨。以“无端”写风雨，正是辛弃疾以节令写时局、以余寒写时势的笔法。

解连环 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “问何人会解连环”之“解连环”，用《战国策》玉连环之典写愁之难解，是全词写清愁的关键词。“连环”写相连之环，“解”写解开——清愁如连环，问谁能解。这一词以连环喻愁之难解：不是一时之愁，而是连环般解不开的愁。以“解连环”写愁，正是辛弃疾“以典入词”的笔法——以连环之典写清愁之难解。

生怕 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “生怕见花开花落”之“生怕”，写最怕见到，是全词写伤春之感的关键词。“生怕”即最怕，着一词，伤春之情便写得深切——最怕见花开花落。这一词写其不忍见春之流转：不是不怕，而是生怕；不是寻常的怕，而是深切的怕。以“生怕”写伤春，正是辛弃疾写时光流逝之叹的笔法——生怕见春去，正见其惜春情深。