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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

一剪梅·红藕香残玉簟秋

A Twig of Mume Blossoms: Red Lotus Fragrance Fades on the Jade Mat in Autumn

李清照

Li Qingzhao

相思Longing 爱情Love 婉约Graceful and Restrained

红藕香残玉簟秋，轻解罗裳，独上兰舟。
云中谁寄锦书来？
雁字回时，月满西楼。
花自飘零水自流，一种相思，两处闲愁。
此情无计可消除，才下眉头，却上心头。

Red lotus fragrance fades on the jade mat in autumn.
Lightly I loosen my silk robe and board my orchid boat alone.
Who in the clouds sends me a letter with brocade?
When wild geese return in a row, the moon fills the western tower.
Flowers drift away as waters flow;
One kind of lovesickness, two places of idle sorrow.
There is no way to remove this longing;
It just leaves my eyebrows but comes to my heart.

Listen

Meaning

The poetess, on an autumn day, feels the chill of the mat and sees the fading lotus. She undresses lightly and goes boating alone, hoping for a letter from her beloved. She sees the moon and wild geese, symbols of message, but no word comes. She reflects that flowers fall and water flows indifferently, while her lovesickness is shared yet separated. In the end, she admits that this feeling cannot be dispelled; it merely shifts from her brows to her heart.

红荷已残，竹席生秋，轻轻解开罗裙，独自登上那叶木兰小舟。云中是谁寄来了书信？待大雁排成人字飞回时，月光正满洒西楼。花自顾飘零，水自顾流淌，同一种相思，却分作两处的闲愁。这份情思全然无法排遣，才从眉间退下，却又涌上了心头。

Appreciation

The poem opens with three autumn images—color, scent, and tactile sensation—conveying a chill that foreshadows inner loneliness. The sudden question 'Who in the clouds...' injects longing, and the reply of wild geese and moonlight deepens the waiting. The second stanza uses natural flow to mirror helplessness, and the famous couplet 'just leaves my eyebrows but comes to my heart' vividly captures the persistence of lovesickness, making the abstract tangible.

【白话串讲】 “才下眉头，却上心头”——李清照把相思写得无处可逃。新婚不久丈夫外出，她一个人守着西楼，等一封“云中谁寄锦书来”。【意象与手法】全词意象圆融、语言清丽，章法上片景中寓情、下片情中见景【情感与主旨】此词约作于李清照与赵明诚婚后，明诚或因出游、外任暂别。清照早期生活优裕、夫妻志趣相投，词多写闺情相思，清丽婉约【名句点睛】常考相思主题与“才下眉头，却上心头”的流转之妙；名句亦含“一种相思，两处闲愁”

Background

Written during Li Qingzhao’s early married life, likely when her husband Zhao Mingcheng was away on business or official duty. The couple shared deep intellectual and emotional bonds. This poem reflects the tender, graceful longing of a newlywed, without the later sorrow of national ruin and personal loss. It is a masterpiece of the ‘Gentle and Restrained’ (wan yue) style.

李清照（一〇八四—约一一五五），号易安居士，济南章丘人，宋代婉约词之冠，与辛弃疾并称「济南二安」。此词题《一剪梅·红藕香残玉簟秋》，约作于其与赵明诚婚后，明诚或因出游、外任暂别之时。清照早年生活优裕，夫妻志趣相投，致力于金石书画校勘，然亦难免小别。词写秋日独泛、望雁怀人，正是新婚别后相思之作，与其晚年悲苦诸作情调迥异。就文学传统而言，闺情相思自《诗经·卷耳》《古诗十九首·行行重行行》已然发端，至六朝乐府、唐人闺怨诗渐成大宗，五代花间词更以香软为宗。李清照以女性之手写女性之相思，既承花间温丽，又洗去浮艳，于清丽中见真挚，开宋代闺情词一新境。版本上，此词异文多见于起句，或作红藕香残玉簟秋，亦有一本作红藕香残玉席秋者，今从通行本。其结句才下眉头，却上心头，亦见于其《凤凰台上忆吹箫》等作意绪相通处，可见易安写愁之一贯机杼。要之，此词虽为早期闲雅之作，已足见其炼字之精与写情之真。清照此词虽写闺阁相思，却无晚唐五代香艳浮靡之习，其清雅疏朗之格调，实开宋代女词人先声，与后世朱淑真诸家并耀闺帷，在女性文学史上尤具开创意义。

Art

The imagery is seamless and the language clear and beautiful. The first stanza shows feeling through scene, the second reveals feeling within scene. The phrase ‘just leaves my eyebrows but comes to my heart’ uses the verbs ‘leave’ and ‘come’ to render sadness mobile and inescapable. ‘One kind of lovesickness, two places of idle sorrow’ pairs the two sides of separation symmetrically, a brilliant touch.

此词艺术之妙，首在意象之圆融与章法之匀称。起句红藕香残玉簟秋七字，以荷残、席冷写秋来，物象与体温并写，一花一席之间已含孤寂。全词上片由景及事、下片由景及情，景中寓情、情中见景，结构如行云流水。修辞上，花自飘零水自流以双自字写物之无情与人之无奈，对仗天然；一种相思，两处闲愁将空间拉开，由我及君，见出相思之双向。最脍炙者，结句才下眉头，却上心头，以眉头与心头两个身体部位写愁之流转，化抽象为具象，且下与上一退一进，极具动感。语言清丽如话，用字考究而不堆砌，是易安体本色。整体以秋景起、以心愁收，景情相生，疏密有致。历来论者称其「用语如珠走盘」，于不经意处见工巧，看似平淡而反复咀含愈见其味，是婉约词中情景交融的典范之作。全词笔意流转而不失法度，上片景中寓情、下片情中见景，互为表里；虽仅小令篇幅，而含无尽低回之致，是易安体情景交融的早期范本，亦见其谋篇之省净。

Allusions

‘Who in the clouds sends me a letter with brocade?’ alludes to the legend of wild geese carrying letters (from Su Wu). ‘When wild geese return in a row, the moon fills the western tower’ also draws on imagery from earlier poetry. The famous ending ‘just leaves my eyebrows but comes to my heart’ transforms a line from Fan Zhongyan’s poem ‘Wandering on Golden Street’ (‘All this, between brows and heart, no way to avoid’), making it more fluid.

词中意象多有所本而能翻新。红藕即红荷，承六朝以来咏荷传统；玉簟谓竹席，玉字状其清凉光润，暗点闺阁之雅。兰舟用木兰舟之典，出于《述异记》鲁班刻木兰为舟之说，南朝梁任昉已载，唐人诗词中兰舟多为女子所乘之舟，李清照用之恰合女性口吻。锦书化用苏蕙回文锦之典，《晋书》载窦滔妻苏蕙织锦为回文旋图诗以寄夫，后世遂以锦书代指妻子致丈夫之书信，此处反用为盼夫之书信，情意更为深曲。雁字回时本于雁足传书故实，出《汉书·苏武传》雁足系帛书之事，唐人已多写雁传书，李清照以雁字（雁飞成人字）写之，更添画意。月满西楼则点出望月怀远之传统，自张九龄海上生明月、谢庄月赋以来，月即为相思之媒。凡此种种，皆融化无痕，是大家用典之境。兰舟、锦书、雁字诸意象，皆自六朝唐宋诗中提炼而来，经清照化用，遂成闺情词中经典语码；此后相思书写每沿此意象群，可见其沾溉后世之深。

Commentary

Ming critic Yang Shen praised Li Qingzhao as ‘a true poet in her own right.’ This poem is celebrated for its gentle beauty and musical flow. Modern critics note that she uses everyday language to achieve perfect lyrical effect—the last couplet being the prime example.

此词向来被视为李清照婉约词之代表作，明人杨慎《词品》称其「清丽其词」，清人王士禛亦赏其天然工巧，以为「婉约派之宗」。近人论易安词，多举此篇与《醉花阴·薄雾浓云愁永昼》并论，以为新婚相思双璧。才下眉头，却上心头一联，尤被推为写愁名句，其以身体空间写心理流转，启发后世无数拟作。此词因语言清浅、意境优美，历来被选入诗词总集与教材，传播极广，现代更常作为古典爱情词之范例。在经典地位上，它与《声声慢》一写少妇清愁、一写老妇深悲，恰见李清照一生词心之嬗变；而论宋代闺情词之清新真挚，则足与晏殊、欧阳修诸家并峙，而以其女性本真视角独步。学者每言易安词「别是一家」，此篇清丽婉转而情致深婉，正其说之佐证。明清选家多重其结句之巧，至近代更常以此与西方爱情诗对读，足见其跨越时空之感染力；亦证婉约一脉虽主柔情，而自有其不朽之文学价值。

Prosody

Form Ci poetry to the tune 'A Twig of Mume Blossoms' (double stanza, 60 characters, level-tone rhyme)词（小令）·《一剪梅》

Rhyme Level tone (Xiaping 11 You): qiu, zhou, lou, liu, chou, tou此词押平声尤侯韵，舟、楼、流、愁、头皆属尤侯部，一韵到底，声情悠婉缠绵。

Tone pattern Double stanza, 60 characters, level rhyme throughout; sentence patterns 4,5,4,5,5,5; second stanza begins with a new syntactic start ('Flowers drift away...')双调六十字，上下片各六句，句式以七、四、五、四、五等错落相间，平仄协调，节奏清匀，宜于写婉转情思。

Reading note Li Qingzhao starts with the word 'alone' and ends with the flowing parallelism of 'just leaves—but comes,' making longing linger and undulate. A model of the graceful style.《一剪梅》为双调小令，句式整饬而略带变化，最宜写清丽婉转之情。李清照此词上下片对称，上片由红藕秋景入独上兰舟之事，下片由花水自流入两处闲愁之情，结构如镜像，章法匀称。押韵上，全词落脚于平声尤侯韵，一韵到底，声情悠婉，与秋思之缠绵相协，读来如环如转。平仄方面，七字句与四、五字句错落，节奏疏密得宜，结句才下眉头，却上心头以三、四、三之短句收束，声吻轻捷而情致深长。整体格律与内容相生，是易安体调情相得之典范，亦见宋词小令炼句炼韵之精。其韵脚绵长，恰似愁绪之不断，声情与辞意互为表里。

Line by line

红藕香残玉簟秋，轻解罗裳，独上兰舟。

The first line combines three autumn images: red lotus faded, scent remaining, jade-like mat cool. 'Lightly loosen silk robe' and 'alone board orchid boat' emphasize solitary action and a quiet melancholy.

红荷已残，竹席生秋，轻轻解开罗裙，独自登上那叶木兰小舟。

Red lotuses have shed their scent, the jade mat feels autumn; lightly I unlace my silk skirt and climb alone into the orchid boat.

起笔七字红藕香残玉簟秋，以视觉之残荷与触觉之凉席对举，于物象凋零中暗写节序之秋与人心之孤，是易安体炼字如金的范例。香残二字写花事将尽，玉簟秋写竹席生凉，一外一内、一香一冷，已为全词定下清愁基调。继以轻解罗裳，独上兰舟，一个独字点出丈夫不在、形单影只，兰舟虽美却载不动孤寂。此句由景入事，景中含情，不着一愁字而秋意与孤意已满纸，足见大家开篇之手段。其妙在设色清丽而暗藏孤寒，于富贵闲雅中见出离索，是婉约起笔的极则。

The opening seven characters, red-lotus-scent-fallen-jade-mat-autumn, using the sight's withered-lotus and touch's cool-mat's parallel, within-the-things'-fading's secretly writing the season's autumn and the person's loneliness, the Yi-an style's character-refining-like-gold model. The scent-fallen two words' writing the flower-affair's ending, the jade-mat-autumn writing the bamboo-mat's coolness, one-outer-one-inner, one-scent-one-cold, already's establishing the whole ci's clear-grief tone. Then the lightly-unlace-my-silk-skirt-and-climb-alone-into-the-orchid-boat, the one du word's pointing out the husband's absence and the solitary shape, the orchid boat's though-fair-and-yet's no-bearing-the-loneliness. This line from the scene's to the affair, the scene's within's feeling, not-landing-one-grief-word and yet the autumn-feeling-and-loneliness's paper-full, enough to see the great-master's opening craft. Its wonder's in the color's bright-and-yet-the-hidden-loneliness, within-the-gentle-refinement's seeing-the-parting, the graceful-soft opening's extreme.

云中谁寄锦书来？雁字回时，月满西楼。

A sudden, hopeful question: who sends a letter from the clouds? The answer: when wild geese fly back in formation, moonlight fills the west wing—a beautiful, yet unanswered, waiting scene.

云中是谁寄来了书信？待大雁排成人字飞回时，月光正满洒西楼。

In the clouds, who sends the brocade letter? When the geese fly back in their V, the moon fills the west tower.

此句由实入想，由眼前云天转入对远方书信的期盼。谁寄锦书来以问句出之，盼夫之情溢于言表，锦书用苏蕙回文之典，暗含妻子寄夫、亦盼夫寄之双向情意。雁字回时承雁足传书故实，以雁飞成人字之画意写秋来；月满西楼则于明月满楼之景中写独倚之人对远人之思。云、雁、月三层意象由高而下、由远而近，空间层层收束于西楼一隅，而思念却随之越推越远，情景交融，婉转深至，是上片最具画境之美的一笔。其问而不答，留白余韵，正见相思之无可寄托。

This line from the solid's to the imagination, from-the-present-cloud-sky's turning to-the-far-letter's anticipation. Who-sends-the-brocade-letter's using the question's utterance, the husband-longing's overflowing-the-words, the brocade-letter's using Su Hui's verse-palindrome allusion, secretly carrying the wife's-sends-husband-and-also-the-husband's-sends-wife's two-way feeling. The geese-fly-back-in-their-V's inheriting the wild-goose-leg-carries-the-letter old fact, using the goose's flying-V picture for the autumn's coming; the moon-fills-the-west-tower's within-the-bright-moon-full-tower's scene's writing the lone-leaning person's far-person's thought. The clouds, geese, moon's three-layer images from-high-to-low and from-far-to-near, the space's layer-on-layer's gathering to the west-tower corner, and yet the longing's along-with-the-more-pushing-far, the scene-feeling's fusion, the gentle-deep, the first stanza's picture-realm's most beautiful stroke. Its question-and-yet-no-answer, the blank-reserve aftertone, precisely seeing the longing's no-way-to-entrust.

此情无计可消除，才下眉头，却上心头。

The feeling cannot be removed; it merely moves from the brows (external expression) to the heart (inner turmoil). The verbs 'leave' and 'come' turn abstract emotion into something almost tangible.

这份情思全然无法排遣，才从眉间退下，却又涌上了心头。

This feeling cannot be driven away; it has just left the brows, and it rises again in the heart.

结句是全词最脍炙人口之处，亦写愁之千古名句。无计可消除五字先以无可奈何总束，继以才下眉头，却上心头将抽象相思化为眉间与心头之间的流动。下与上一退一进，写出愁之无法驱遣、驱之复来，比直说相思无尽更具动感与真切。眉头属外显之愁容，心头属内蕴之愁绪，由外而内、由显而隐，构思极巧。此句以身体空间写心理流转，化虚为实，遂成后世写愁范式，易安以女性之细腻体察，于此可见一斑。其语虽浅，其情极深，于平易中见千回百转，是婉约词炼句之冠。

The closing line's the whole ci's most famed place, and the grief-writing's through-the-ages famed line. The no-way-to-drive-away five characters' first using the helplessness's total-closure, then the just-left-the-brows-and-it-rises-again-in-the-heart's turning the abstract longing into the brows-and-heart's-between's flow. The xia and shang's one-retreat-one-advance, writing the grief's no-driving-and-the-driven-and-yet-returning, compared to the direct the-longing's-endless's the more's the motion-and-truth. The brows' the outer-shown grief-face, the heart's the inner-lodged grief-thread, from-outer-to-inner and from-shown-to-hidden, the conception's the exquisite. This line using the body-space for the psychological flow, turning-the-void-into-solid, hence's the later grief-writing paradigm, Yi-an's using-the-woman's-fine-perception, here's the visible-in-one-view. Its words' though's plain, its feeling's extreme-deep, within-the-plain's seeing-the-thousand-turns, the graceful-soft ci's character-refining's crown.

Study

Word focus

独 Alone: initiates the sense of solitude, echoed by 'two places' later. 独字是全词情感之眼。轻解罗裳，独上兰舟，丈夫既不在侧，纵有红藕兰舟之清雅，亦只是形单影只的排遣。一个独字，把秋景之美与人心之孤陡然拉开张力，景愈美而人愈孤。它又与下片两处闲愁遥相呼应——我之独，正因君之远；我之闲愁，正是两处相思之一端。易安炼此一字，不事渲染而孤寂自见，是于寻常处见深情的范例。后人读此，每于独字中悟出夫妻相守之可贵，足见一字之力。

自 Self/without care: the flowers and water drift mindlessly, contrasting with the speaker's intentional longing. 花自飘零水自流两用自字，极见巧思。自者，自然、各自之意，写花之飘零、水之流淌皆任其自然、不关人意，以物之无情反衬人之有情。两个自字相对，构成天然对仗，亦暗喻我与君各在天涯、如花水之各自飘流。自字在此既是写景之客观笔法，又是衬情之反跌手法，物愈自在而人愈羁愁，平淡中藏曲折，是易安体于浅语中见安排的妙处。以虚字成句，对仗工稳而意韵悠长，非老手不能办。

锦书 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 锦书一词，典出苏蕙织回文锦寄夫之事，本指妻子致丈夫之书信。李清照此处云云中谁寄锦书来，以问句盼夫之音书，既用其典之夫妻情意，又反其单向为双向之期盼，情意更深。锦字本身兼含织锦之精美与书信之郑重，与全词清丽婉约的闺阁气息相协。以锦书代平白的书信，雅而不浮，恰见易安用典之自然妥帖，不堆垛而自厚。一典而兼盼与忆，含蓄蕴藉，是婉约用典的范本。