宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric
晏几道·鹧鸪天·醉拍春衫惜旧香
To the Tune 'Zhe Gu Tian' — Drunk I Pat the Spring Shirt, Cherish the Old Scent
鹧鸪天醉拍春衫惜旧香，天将离恨恼疏狂。
年年陌上生秋草，日日楼中到夕阳。
云渺渺，水茫茫，征人归路许多长。
相思本是无凭语，莫向花笺费泪行。
Year by year by the path the autumn grass grows; day by day in the tower I reach the setting sun.
Clouds far, waters vast; the traveler's homeward road is so long.
Love's longing is after all words without proof—do not spend tear-lines on the flower note.
Meaning
A drunk man cherishes the scent on an old shirt; parting grief returns with the seasons. He tells himself love's longing is groundless, yet cannot stop the tears.
醉中拍着春衫，怜惜衣上旧日的余香，上天偏要将离别的愁恨来困扰我这疏狂之人。年年郊野小路上生出秋草，日日独倚楼中直到夕阳。云烟渺渺，流水茫茫，远行人的归途那样漫长。相思本就是没有凭据的空话，不要再向花笺上枉自耗费泪行的墨痕。
Appreciation
Opens with 'drunk I pat the spring shirt, cherish the old scent'—action shows the obsession. 'Heaven sends parting grief to trouble my wild heart' blames heaven for helplessness. The close reverses to 'do not spend tear-lines,' deeper for the denial.
【白话串讲】 晏几道醉着拍打春衫，上面还留着旧日的香。“相思本是无凭语，莫向花笺费泪行”——相思说不出口，也别在纸上费眼泪了。 【意象与手法】 上片以「醉拍春衫惜旧香」破题，动作细节传痴情；「天将离恨恼疏狂」以怨天之语写无奈。「年年陌上生秋草，日日楼中到夕阳」用流水对与复沓，将相思延展为时空中的绵长循环。下片云水渺茫衬归路，结句「莫向花笺费泪行」以反语收束，愈抑愈深，疏淡中见沉挚。 【情感与主旨】 晏几道（约1038—1110），字叔原，号小山，临川人，北宋词人，晏殊第七子。其词多写与莲、鸿、苹、云等歌妓的离合悲欢，情致凄婉，为婉约词大家。此《鹧鸪天》约作于中年漂泊、忆旧伤离之际，借「征人归路」「醉拍春衫」写对旧情人的相思，并暗寓身世零落之叹。黄庭坚序其词谓「寓以诗人句法，清壮顿挫」，正合此篇。 【名句点睛】 中高考常见考点：①情感把握——离恨相思与身世之慨的交织；②「年年陌上生秋草，日日楼中到夕阳」的流水对与时空对举；③「莫向花笺费泪行」以反语写痴情的收束之妙。
Background
Yan Jidao, son of Yan Shu, fell poor after the family declined. His ci often record partings with singing girls (Lian, Hong, Ping, Yun). This 'Zhe Gu Tian' from middle-age drifting, remembering an old love, also hints his fallen estate.
晏几道（约1038—1110），字叔原，号小山，临川（今江西抚州）人，北宋宰相晏殊第七子，与其父并称「二晏」。晏几道生于富贵之家，年少时锦衣玉食、珠围翠绕，与家中歌妓莲、鸿、苹、云等朝夕相处，结下深情；然晏殊死后，家道中落，晏几道又生性孤高，不肯趋附权贵，遂潦倒终身，「陆沉于下位」，晚年甚至衣食不继。他的词多写对往昔歌妓的追忆与相思，把身世的零落与爱情的失落融为一体。此《鹧鸪天》约作于其中年漂泊、忆旧伤离之际：醉中拍着旧日的春衫，衣上余香犹在，而伊人已渺；年年秋草生于陌上，日日夕阳落于楼中，相思在时空的循环中绵延无尽。黄庭坚《小山词序》称其词「寓以诗人句法，清壮顿挫，能动摇人心」，又谓晏几道「磊隗权奇，疏于顾忌」，此篇正是其「痴情」与「疏狂」的结晶——以疏狂之人的口吻，写痴情之深，于落魄中见高贵，于淡语中见沉挚，是晏几道词风的典型体现，也是北宋婉约词从「娱宾遣兴」走向「自抒身世」的转折之作。
Art
Opens with the shirt-pat action; 'heaven sends grief' blames heaven. 'Year by year grass, day by day sun' uses parallel and repetition to stretch longing into a long cycle of time and space. Lower stanza clouds and water set off the road; the close 'do not spend tear-lines' reverses to deepen, restrained yet deep.
此词艺术之妙，在「动作传情」与「时空对举」的双重经营。上片起句「醉拍春衫惜旧香」以三个连续动作破题：醉、拍、惜——酒醉之人，拍着旧日的春衫，怜惜衣上残留的旧香，一个「惜」字写尽睹物思人之痴：衣是旧衣，香是旧香，人是旧人，唯有物证长存。次句「天将离恨恼疏狂」以怨天之语写无奈——上天偏要将离恨来困扰我这个疏狂之人，一个「恼」字将离恨拟人化，怨天实是自嘲，疏狂的外表下是深沉的苦痛。三、四句「年年陌上生秋草，日日楼中到夕阳」是全词的警策：以「年年」对「日日」、「陌上」对「楼中」、「秋草」对「夕阳」，构成流水对兼复沓，把相思写成时空中的永恒循环——秋草年年生，是岁岁的等待；夕阳日日到，是朝朝的凝望，等待与凝望皆无结果，而相思在循环中愈积愈深。下片「云渺渺，水茫茫」以三字句写归途之远，过片如烟波顿起；「征人归路许多长」以口语写路长，更见无奈。结句「相思本是无凭语，莫向花笺费泪行」以反语收束：相思本是无凭无据的话，何必再向花笺上浪费泪墨——表面劝己莫悲，实乃深情难抑，愈抑愈深，淡语之中，沉痛自见。
Allusions
This ci uses allusion with extreme lightness, writing feeling in plain language and colloquial speech -- the mark of Yan Jidao's 'flavor in plain words.' 'The traveler' (zheng ren) has been the common term for a man far from home since the yuefu ('alas for us, the men on the march' in the Book of Songs, 'the traveler' in the Han 'Drinking Horse by the Great Wall'); here it means the absent lover, not a soldier. 'The old fragrance' carries the tradition of 'Xun Ling's scent' -- the Han statesman Xun Yu whose robes were fragrant, so that 'old fragrance' evokes the lingering scent of past days on one's clothes and the ache of things changed and people gone. 'The patterned note-paper' (hua jian) is the fine letter-paper of Tang-Song verse, paired with 'brocade words' and 'a foot of plain silk' -- the token by which love is sent across distance. 'Autumn grass' and 'the setting sun' are the classic images of waiting: Wang Wei's 'when spring grass turns green next year, will the prince return?' measures the uncertainty of return by the grass's renewal, and Li Shangyin's 'the setting sun is boundless in beauty, only that it nears dusk' gives the sinking sun its note of lateness. Yan Jidao fuses these inherited images without a seam, and the whole piece, without piling up allusion, layers its feeling through such gestures and lover's words as 'drunkenly patting the spring robe,' 'grudging the old fragrance,' 'vexed,' and 'spending tears line by line' -- proof that his art works without borrowed matter.
此词用典极淡，纯以白描与口语写情，正见小山词「淡语有味」的本色。「征人」为乐府以来泛指远行游子的常语（如《诗经·小雅·何草不黄》「哀我征夫」、汉乐府《饮马长城窟行》「征客」），此处指远去的情人，非专指从军之人；「旧香」暗含「荀令香」一类香气的典故传统——东汉荀彧衣带生香，人称「荀令香」，晏几道借「旧香」写衣上残留的旧日气息，物是人非的怅惘尽在其中；「花笺」即精美的信笺，唐宋诗词中常与「锦字」「尺素」并提（如「鱼笺雁书」），是传递相思的信物意象；「秋草」「夕阳」更是古诗词写相思等待的经典意象——「春草明年绿，王孙归不归」（王维）以草之荣枯写归期之渺，「夕阳无限好，只是近黄昏」（李商隐）以日之西沉写迟暮之感，晏几道融会这些传统意象而不着痕迹，全篇不假典故堆砌，唯凭「醉拍」「惜旧香」「恼」「费泪行」等动作与痴语层层递情，正见其「不借典而自工」的功力。全篇以寻常语写痴情，正合小山词『淡语有味』之评，是其不借典而自工的明证。
Commentary
Huang Tingjian's preface calls Yan Jidao 'lofty and strange, careless of taboo,' his ci 'clear-strong and checked, able to move the heart.' Modern readers say 'plain words all flavor.' The 'year by year grass' couplet is a model of scene-writing feeling with time-space opposition.
此词历代评家多予激赏，被视为小山词婉约深挚的代表。黄庭坚《小山词序》称晏几道「磊隗权奇，疏于顾忌」，其词「清壮顿挫，能动摇人心」；近人论小山词，谓其「淡语皆有味，浅语皆有致」，此篇即是明证。「年年陌上生秋草，日日楼中到夕阳」一联，向为论者所称：以时空对举写相思之绵长，句法流丽而情感深挚，被誉为「婉约词中写相思的经典联句」。陈廷焯《白雨斋词话》评晏几道「工于言情」，其词「情真意切，沉着痛快处，不让温韦」，此词「莫向花笺费泪行」的收束，正是「以反语写痴情」的典范——劝自己不要写信，正说明信写了又写、泪流了又流，情深到极处反以淡语出之。此词在文学史上的价值，在于它以寻常口语写深挚痴情，把宋初小令的「深婉不迫」推向了极致，对后来秦观、李清照等婉约词人有直接的影响。其「身世之感，打并入艳情」的特点，更是中国词史上「以词写心」传统的重要一环。
Prosody
Line by line
醉拍春衫惜旧香
Drunk I pat the spring shirt, cherish the old scent.
醉中拍着春衫，怜惜衣上旧日的余香。
Drunk, I pat my spring robe, cherishing its old scent.
起句以动作细节写痴情，是全词的破题之笔。「醉」字写心绪——须借酒方能遣怀，而醉后非但不能忘情，反被旧物勾起旧情；「拍」字写动作——醉中拍衣，是无意识的、下意识的举动，正见其思念之深已入骨髓；「惜旧香」写所惜——衣上残留的旧日香气，是旧情人的印记，物在人去，唯香可证。三个字层层递进：醉是因，拍是态，惜是情。一个「旧」字尤其关键：香是旧的，衣是旧的，情也是旧的，旧物旧香之中，藏着多少往日的欢爱，而今只剩下醉中一拍的怅惘。此句不写「思念」二字，而思念之深已透过动作毕现，正是小山词「以动作传情」的典范，起笔即摄魂夺魄，为全词奠定了痴情的基调。
The opening line uses an action detail for the infatuated feeling, the whole ci's problem-breaking stroke. The zui word writes the mind — the wine's needed to discharge the heart, and yet the drunken's not-the-forgetting, and yet's the old-things' arising-the-old-love; the pai word writes the action — the drunken's patting-the-robe, the unconscious-and-subconscious gesture, precisely seeing the longing's depth's entered-the-bone; the cherishing-the-old-scent writing the cherished — the robe's left-behind old scent, the old lover's mark, the thing's-as-ever and the person's-gone, only's the scent's the witness. Three characters layer-on-layer's advance: the drunken's the cause, the pat's the pose, the cherishing's the feeling. The one old word's the especially key: the scent's old, the robe's old, the feeling's old, the old-things-and-old-scent's within's hiding how-much's the bygone joy, and now's only's the drunken-pat's wistfulness. This line's not writing the longing two words, and yet the longing's depth's already through-the-action fully seen, precisely the Xiaoshan ci's action-transmits-feeling model, the opening at once seeing the soul, establishing the whole ci's infatuated tone.
天将离恨恼疏狂
Heaven itself sends parting grief to tease my free and wild heart.
上天偏要将离别的愁恨来困扰我这疏狂之人。
Heaven chooses to send parting grief to trouble my free and wild self.
次句以怨天之语写无奈，是全词由「动作」转入「心声」的关键。「天将离恨恼疏狂」——上天偏要将离恨来「恼」我这疏狂之人，一个「恼」字兼有「困扰」与「惹恼」之意，将离恨拟人化：离恨不是自找的，而是上天强加的，怨天之中实含自怜。而「疏狂」二字是晏几道的自我写照：疏放不羁、狂傲孤高，不屑趋附，也正因如此，他注定与世俗的幸福无缘——离恨偏要来恼这个疏狂之人，仿佛上天专门与痴情者作对。「恼」字与上句「惜」字相生：正因为痴情（惜），才更易被离恨所恼；正因为疏狂，才不肯放下这份痴情。此句以诙谐之语写无奈，怨天实是自嘲，为下文的「年年」「日日」的绵长等待蓄势，是全词由起承转合的关键一环。
The second line uses the heaven's-complaint words for the helplessness, the whole ci's action-to-heart-voice key. The heaven-sends-parting-grief-to-tease-my-free-and-wild-heart — heaven's precisely's sending the parting grief's to tease my free-wild self, the one nao word's both the trouble-and-tease meanings, the parting grief's personified: the parting grief's not the self-sought, and yet heaven's imposed, the heaven-complaint's within's actually the self-pity. And the free-wild two words' the Yan Jidao's self-portrait: the free-untrammeled-and-wildly-lonely, the no-currying-favor, and precisely therefore's he's doomed to the worldly happiness's no-share — the parting grief's precisely's teasing this free-wild person, as if heaven's specifically's the infatuated-ones'-opponent. The nao word and the above's cherishing word's mutual birth: precisely because of the infatuation (cherishing), the more's the parted-grief's the easy-teased; precisely because of the free-wild, the more's the refusing-to-put-down-this-infatuation. This line using the witty words for the helplessness, the heaven-complaint's actually the self-mockery, storing the force for the below's year-after-year and day-after-day's long waiting, the whole ci's opening-developing-turning-concluding key link.
年年陌上生秋草，日日楼中到夕阳
Year by year by the path the autumn grass grows; day by day in the tower I reach the setting sun.
年年郊野小路上生出秋草，日日独倚楼中直到夕阳。
Year after year autumn grass grows on the road; day after day the sun sets at the tower.
此联是全词的警策，以流水对写相思的绵长循环。「年年」对「日日」，是时间的复沓——年复一年，日复一日，等待没有尽头；「陌上」对「楼中」，是空间的对照——陌上是情人离去的路，楼中是思妇凝望的处所，一远一近；「秋草」对「夕阳」，是意象的苍凉——秋草年年生而复衰，如相思年年起而复积，夕阳日日到而复落，如等待日日重复而无果。此联的妙处在于「以景写情」：不写相思之深，而写秋草之荣枯、夕阳之来去，相思的绵长与无望，尽在时空的循环中自然呈现。「年年」「日日」的复沓，造成音律的回环，如心跳的节律，一唱三叹，把抽象的相思写得可感可触，是婉约词中写相思的千古名联。
This couplet's the whole ci's warning stroke, using the flowing-couplet for the longing's long cycle. The year-after-year to the day-after-day, the time's repetition — the year-after-year and the day-after-day, the waiting's no-end; the road to the tower, the space's contrast — the road's the lover's gone road, the tower's the gazing-place, one-far-one-near; the autumn-grass to the sunset, the image's bleak — the autumn grass's year-after-year's growth-and-decay, like the longing's year-after-year's arising-and-accumulation, the sunset's day-after-day's arrival-and-setting, like the waiting's day-after-day's repetition-and-no-fruit. This couplet's wonder's in the scene-writes-feeling: not writing the longing's depth, and yet writing the autumn-grass' flourish-and-wither and the sunset's arrival-and-departure, the longing's long-and-hopeless, all within the time-space's cycle's natural-present. The year-after-year-and-day-after-day's repetition, causing the rhythm to circle like a heartbeat, the one-sing-three-sighs, turning the abstract longing's the perceivable-and-touchable, the graceful-soft ci's longing-writing's through-the-ages famed couplet.
云渺渺，水茫茫，征人归路许多长
Clouds are vague, waters are vast; the traveler's homeward road is so very long.
云烟渺渺，流水茫茫，远行人的归途那样漫长。
Clouds stretch vague, waters stretch vast; the traveler's homeward road is very long.
过片三句写归路之远，是全词由「等待」转入「绝望」的转折。「云渺渺，水茫茫」以两个三字句叠用，如烟波顿起——云烟渺远，流水茫茫，天地之间一片苍茫，正是归人无路的象征；「征人归路许多长」以口语入词，「许多长」三字极平常，而分量极重——归路不是一般的远，而是「许多长」，长到望不见尽头，长到等待成了虚妄。此三句的妙处在于「以景写情」：云水之渺茫，正是相思之无望的投影；归路之漫长，正是等待之无期的具象。过片「云渺渺，水茫茫」与上片「年年陌上」「日日楼中」遥相呼应：陌上秋草与云水茫茫，都是望不到尽头的意象，等待的循环与归路的渺茫，合起来便是相思的全部绝望。此三句为结句「莫向花笺费泪行」蓄足了势。
The second stanza's opening three lines write the return-road's distance, the whole ci's waiting-to-despair turn. The clouds-vague-waters-vast using two three-character lines' doubling, like the misty-wave's sudden-arising — the clouds' vague-far and the waters' vast, the heaven-and-earth's between's one-piece bleakness, precisely the return-person's no-road symbol; the traveler's-homeward-road-is-so-very-long using the colloquial for the ci, the so-very-long three words' the most-ordinary, and yet the weight's the heaviest — the return-road's not the ordinary-far, and yet the so-very-long, long-to-the-gaze's-no-end, long-to-the-waiting's the illusion. These three lines' wonder's in the scene-writes-feeling: the clouds-and-waters' vagueness, precisely the longing's hopeless projection; the return-road's length, precisely the waiting's no-date's concrete. The second-stanza-opening's clouds-vague-waters-vast and the first stanza's year-after-year-road and day-after-day-tower's far-echo: the road's autumn grass and the clouds-and-waters' vast, both's the gaze-no-end image, the waiting's cycle and the return-road's vagueness, together's the longing's whole despair. These three lines' storing the force for the closing line's waste-no-more-tear-stains-on-the-letter-paper.
相思本是无凭语，莫向花笺费泪行
Love's longing is after all words without proof—do not spend tear-lines on the flower note.
相思本就是没有凭据的空话，不要再向花笺上枉自耗费泪行的墨痕。
Longing is, after all, words without proof; waste no more tear-stains on the letter paper.
结句以反语收束，是全词情感的至深处，也是全词最耐人寻味处。「相思本是无凭语」——相思这东西，本就是无凭无据的话，说了也没人信，写了也寄不到，一个「本」字写尽看透后的清醒；「莫向花笺费泪行」——既然如此，又何必再向花笺上耗费泪墨呢？表面是劝自己放下，实则是放不下的反证：正因为写了又写、泪流了又流，才会这样劝自己「莫费」；越是说「莫」，越是欲罢不能。此句的妙处在于「以淡写浓」：不说相思之深，而说「莫费泪行」，把千般痴情、万种无奈，都压在这一句平淡的劝告中，愈抑愈深，愈淡愈痛。陈廷焯评小山词「情真意切」，此句正是「以反语写痴情」的极致，与上片「醉拍春衫惜旧香」首尾呼应，痴情一以贯之，余韵悠长。
The closing line using the irony's close, the whole ci's emotion's deepest place, and the whole ci's most thought-worthy place. The longing-is-after-all-words-without-proof — the longing thing, originally's the no-proof words, the spoken's no-one's-believe, the written's no-arrival, the one ben word's exhausting the seeing-through's-after sobriety; the waste-no-more-tear-stains-on-the-letter-paper — since thus, why's the more's the letter-paper's wasting the tear-ink? The surface's the self-admonition's letting-go, actually's the no-letting-go's counter-proof: precisely because of the written-and-written's and the tears'-flowing-and-flowing's, then's the thus's the self-admonition's no-waste; the more the saying-the-no, the more's the cannot-stop. This line's wonder's in the plain-writes-thick: not writing the longing's depth, and yet saying-the-no-waste-tear-stains, turning the thousand-infatuation-and-ten-thousand-helplessness's all-pressed into this one plain admonition, the more-restrained-the-deeper and the more-plain-the-pain. Chen Tingzhuo's reviewing the Xiaoshan ci's feeling-genuine-and-meaning-earnest, this line's precisely the irony-writes-infatuation extreme, with the first stanza's drunken-pat-the-spring-robe's head-tail echo, the infatuation's one-breath-through, the aftertone long.
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Both recalling singing girls (e.g. Xiaoping) with obsessed memory; see Xiaoshan's 'clear-strong, plain flavor.'
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晏几道·蝶恋花·梦入江南烟水路 Die Lian Hua — Dream into Jiangnan Misty Water Roads 晏几道 · 同写相思无凭、梦里追寻，与「无凭语」主题呼应 SameBoth longing without proof, dream-pursuit; echoes 'words without proof'—his fond words consistent.
《蝶恋花·梦入江南烟水路》「梦入江南烟水路，行尽江南，不与离人遇……欲尽此情书尺素，浮雁沉鱼，终了无凭据」与《鹧鸪天》同写相思的「无凭」：蝶恋花写「欲尽此情书尺素」而「终了无凭据」，鹧鸪天写「相思本是无凭语，莫向花笺费泪行」，一写想寄而寄不成，一写寄了也白寄，主题如出一辙，可见「相思无凭」是小山情词的核心母题。相异处在于结局的取向：蝶恋花以「梦入江南」「行尽江南」的追寻终归徒然，结句「斜阳只与黄昏近」写绝望中的幽怨；鹧鸪天以「莫向花笺费泪行」的自我劝解收束，写绝望中的看透。一追寻一劝解，一小令一长调，两词并读，可全面把握晏几道情词中「痴」与「悟」的张力。
李清照·鹧鸪天·暗淡轻黄体性柔 Li Qingzhao — Zhe Gu Tian, Dim Light Pale Yellow 李清照 · 同用《鹧鸪天》词牌，一写离愁一咏桂花，取径不同 DifferentSame tune; one parts with grief, one praises the osmanthus—shows the tune fits both refined parting and object-praise.
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