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宋 Song · 词 Ci lyric

桂枝香

Cinnamon Twig Fragrance

张炎

Zhang Yan

送别farewell 羁旅travel 怀古nostalgia for the past 遗民loyalist of a fallen dynasty

晴江迥阔。
又客里天涯，还叹轻别。
万里潮生一棹，柳丝犹结。
荷衣好向山中补，共飘零、几年霜雪。
赋归何晚，依依径菊，弄香时节。
料此去、清游未歇。
引一片秋声，都付吟箧。
落叶长安，古意对人休说。
相思只在相留处，有孤芳、可怜空折。
旧怀难写，山阳怨笛，夜凉吹月。

The bright river stretches far and wide.
Again a wanderer at the world's end — how lightly we sigh at parting.
Ten thousand miles of tide rise beneath a single oar; the willow threads are still knotted.
How well to mend one's lotus robe among the hills — together we've drifted, years of frost and snow.
Why so late to write of homecoming, by the lingering pathside chrysanthemums, in the season of their scent.
I reckon this departure — your pure roaming will not cease.
Leading a stretch of autumn sound, all entrusted to your singing satchel.
Fallen leaves at Chang'an — the old feeling, say it not to others.
Longing lives only where we lingered; a lone fragrance — pitifully plucked in vain.
Old feelings hard to write; the plaintive flute of Shanyang, played to the moon in the cool of night.

Listen

Meaning

This song of parting, written while the poet sojourned far from home, follows a friend's boat down the autumn river without ever naming the word 'farewell.' Beneath the scene of tide, willows, and falling leaves lies the exiled loyalist's grief for a lost dynasty and for friends now gone. The closing flute and moon gather every unspoken sorrow into a single ethereal image.

万里江潮涌起,一叶孤舟即将远行,岸边柳丝依然缠绵绾结。此去正可采荷为衣,在山中补缀度日,你我一同飘零,已有几年历尽风霜雨雪。眼前落叶纷飞,令人想起长安故国的旧事,这些古旧情思却对人难以言说。旧日的情怀难以尽写,就像山阳闻笛的哀怨,在夜凉之际对着明月吹响。

Appreciation

Zhang Yan achieves his characteristic 'clear and empty' (qingkong) manner by weaving the real autumn-river scenery together with the felt absence of a wandering life, so that sorrow emerges from objects rather than statement. The closing image of the plaintive flute and the cool moon is ethereal yet profoundly grieved — the finest kind of concluding stroke in the Yutian manner.

【白话串讲】张炎写桂枝香：“晴江迥阔。又客里天涯，还叹轻别”。“万里潮生一棹，柳丝犹结”——“荷衣好向山中补，共飘零、几年霜雪”——“引一片秋声，都付吟箧”——他写漂泊与归隐。【意象与手法】此词为送别之作,通篇不着一「别」字,秋江实景与身世虚感交织。「万里潮生一棹,柳丝犹结」,离愁自景物中渗出;「荷衣好向山中补」以荷衣客自许,补字见江湖落拓;「落叶长安,古意对人休说」化贾岛诗语而翻出故国之思;结句「山阳怨笛,夜凉吹月」以景结情,笛声月色,空灵中见沉痛,是清空一派最高结法。【情感与主旨】此词为张炎客中送别之作,而家国身世之悲尽寓其中。柳丝绾结见惜别之深,几年霜雪写飘零之痛;「落叶长安」暗含故都之思,「山阳怨笛」兼悼亡友与前朝。词人不直言愁,只借柳丝、孤芳、笛月诸物婉转传出,愈含蓄愈见其深。以清空之笔写沉挚之情,是宋亡遗民触处成愁心结的典型写照。【名句点睛】「落叶长安,古意对人休说」:化贾岛「落叶满长安」而翻进一层,落叶既写实景,又括尽身世之悲,「古意」二字将黍离之思凝成一点,「休说」而偏要说,欲言又止的吞声之态,见遗民词人的沉痛。

Background

Zhang Yan (courtesy Shuxia, hao Yutian, also Le Xiao Weng) was a six-generation descendant of the Southern-Song general Zhang Jun; his family had moved from Fengxiang to Lin'an (Hangzhou). When the Song fell he was about thirty-two; his household declined and he wandered in and around Hangzhou, joining the exiled loyalist poets Zhou Mi and Wang Yisun in poetry societies. In 1290 he went north to Dadu at imperial summons to copy a gold-lettered Buddhist canon, returned disappointed the next year, and thereafter roamed the rivers and lakes, ending his days in Lin'an. This lyric records a parting on his travels; 'fallen leaves at Chang'an' veils a thought of the lost capital, while 'the Shanyang flute' evokes Xiang Xiu mourning his dead friends — both gestures of loyalty to a fallen age. After the fall of the Song, Zhang Yan's songs dwell on wandering and national grief in a 'clear, empty, and refined' (qingkong saoya) style carrying forward Jiang Kui's line; his collected lyrics, 'Mountain White Clouds Lyrics' (Shan Zhong Bai Yun Ci), survive in about three hundred pieces.

张炎字叔夏,号玉田,又号乐笑翁,先世凤翔人,徙居临安,为南渡名将张俊六世孙。宋亡时张炎年约三十二,家道中落,流寓杭州,纵游浙东西,与遗民词人周密、王沂孙等结社唱和。至元二十七年(一二九〇年),张炎曾应诏北游大都,为书写金字藏经,翌年失意南归,此后浪迹江湖,终老临安。此词写客中送别,万里潮生一棹,柳丝犹结,正是一幅钱塘江头折柳送行的图景;落叶长安,古意对人休说,暗含故国之思;山阳怨笛,则用向秀闻笛思友旧事,寄托对亡友与前朝的追怀。张炎为词,于宋亡后多写羁旅飘零、家国之痛,而风格清空骚雅,远绍姜夔,近承史达祖,是南宋雅词殿军。词集名《山中白云词》,八卷,今存词约三百首,有清人江昱疏证本,今人吴则虞校辑本(中华书局)最为通行,此词即在其中。张炎词学理论见其所著《词源》,主张清空、雅正,以意趣为主,于本词之冷隽萧疏,正可互为印证。又按,张炎北游大都归来,词风愈转凄清,客里天涯之叹,固是流落江湖的实感,亦含家国身世的双重悲慨;此词送别之作,而落叶长安、山阳怨笛层层托出故国之思,正可与其高阳台西湖春感等篇并读,见遗民词人触处成愁的共同心结。

Art

The poem is a parting lyric that never writes the character for 'parting,' blending the actual scene of an autumn-river farewell with the felt absence of a drifting life — a typical 'clear and empty' construction. The opening 'The bright river stretches far and wide' establishes, in four characters, a spacious, lucid mood; 'Ten thousand miles of tide rise beneath a single oar; the willow threads are still knotted' shows both the irreversibility of departure and the lingering of attachment. 'How well to mend one's lotus robe among the hills' uses the high recluse's lotus garb to mark the poet's identity as a wanderer, while 'years of frost and snow' writes the hardship of the world. The lower stanza turns to the friend's future roamings — 'a stretch of autumn sound, all entrusted to your singing satchel' — and then, 'Fallen leaves at Chang'an — say it not,' swallows the antiquarian grief; the close, 'Old feelings hard to write; the plaintive flute of Shanyang, played to the moon,' ends on scene and feeling, its looming resonance the height of Zhang Yan's art. Throughout, a clear brush renders the deepest feeling, the real and the felt interplaying, and the parting is hinted by willows, lone fragrance, and flute-moon rather than stated — the more reserved, the deeper.

此词为送别之作,而通篇不着一别字,以秋江送别的实景与身世飘零的虚感交织成篇,是清空一路的典型写法。起句晴江迥阔,四字先立气象,秋江明净、水面空阔,为全篇定下疏朗的底色。万里潮生一棹,柳丝犹结,写潮涌孤舟、柳丝绾结,挽留之意与不可留之势并见,是即景传情之笔。荷衣好向山中补,共飘零、几年霜雪,由眼前别舟回溯数载飘零,荷衣用高士之典,与江湖身分相应,霜雪则暗写世路艰难与鬓发之侵。赋归何晚,依依径菊,弄香时节,转入陶令归田之思,径菊弄香,是好时节,何晚二字却见迟暮之恨。下片料此去、清游未歇,引一片秋声,都付吟箧,悬想别后行踪,清游、吟箧,词人本色,却以一片秋声括之,凄清不尽。落叶长安,古意对人休说,化贾岛诗语而更进一层,将怀古之意咽住不说,吞声之态可见。相思只在相留处,有孤芳、可怜空折,由去者转到留者,孤芳自喻,空折写相期之虚,语极凝练。末句旧怀难写,山阳怨笛,夜凉吹月,以笛声月色收束,怀旧之情尽付疏影寒声,余韵悠长,正是张炎所谓景中见情的结法。又全词以清空之笔写沉挚之情,景取疏朗,而情极深至,虚实相生,行止相形,是玉田家数中最见分寸的一篇;尤妙在不直说相思,而借柳丝、孤芳、笛月诸物曲曲传出,愈含蓄愈见其深,词心之细,于此可窥。

Allusions

The 'lotus robe' derives from the Chuci ('With a lotus robe and a magnolia belt') and the Lisao ('I made a robe of lotus and jacket of hibiscus'), the garb of ancient recluses; the poet counts himself a 'lotus-robe guest,' and the word 'mend' shows the reality of sewing out a living on the rivers and lakes. 'Fallen leaves at Chang'an' transforms Jia Dao's line 'autumn wind rises on the Wei, fallen leaves fill Chang'an,' here turned to a thought of the old capital (Bianliang or Lin'an), the word 'old feeling' piercing to the sorrow of a fallen state. 'The Shanyang flute' uses the tale of Xiang Xiu of the Wei, who passing the old dwelling at Shanyang heard a neighbor's flute and, mourning his dead friends Ji Kang and Lü An, wrote the 'Fu on Thinking of the Old' (Sijiu Fu); Zhang Yan uses it to mourn friends and the former dynasty. 'Write of homecoming' and 'pathside chrysanthemums' both borrow Tao Yuanming's 'Returning Home' ('the garden will be neglected — why not go back?'; 'the path is overgrown, yet pines and chrysanthemums remain'). The allusions are all common, yet the poet fuses them seamlessly with the autumn river and the farewell, so that real feeling and classical reference become one — the high achievement of Southern-Song refined lyric.

荷衣典出《楚辞·九歌·少司命》荷衣兮蕙带,又《离骚》制芰荷以为衣兮,集芙蓉以为裳,以荷为衣是古之高士隐者的服制,词人自许飘零如荷衣客,补字尤见流落江湖、缝补度日之实。落叶长安化贾岛《忆江上吴处士》秋风生渭水,落叶满长安,原写思念长安故人,张炎此处转用为长安之思,暗寓故都汴梁或临安之念,古意二字更点破黍离之悲。山阳怨笛用三国魏向秀事,向秀经山阳旧居,闻邻人笛声,感念亡友嵇康、吕安,作《思旧赋》,见《晋书·向秀传》及《文选》所载赋序,后以山阳闻笛为伤逝怀友之典,张炎用以悼念前朝故人,尤为沉痛。赋归与径菊皆用陶渊明事,《归去来兮辞》田园将芜胡不归,三径就荒,松菊犹存,径菊弄香,即陶菊之遗意。此外,清游、吟箧为词人习语,寄寓以吟咏自遣之意。诸典皆取习见书,然词人化用无痕,典故与眼前秋江、送别情景相融,是南宋雅词以故实织入真情的高境,可参吴则虞校辑《山中白云词》笺释。又此词用典尤重含而未吐,落叶长安不说长安故国而故国之思自见,山阳怨笛不写亡友姓名而悼亡之情自深,是南宋遗民词人借典故寄托微意的通行法门,读此类词须于字外求之,方能会其用心。

Commentary

Zhang Yan argued in his 'Sources of Lyric' (Ciyuan) that lyric should be 'clear and empty,' not 'solid and dense' — a canon for Southern-Song refined song, and his own lyrics are its practice. The early-Qing Zhexi school exalted Jiang Kui and Zhang Yan; Zhu Yizun's 'Poetry Compendium' (Cizong) selected dozens of Zhang's pieces as a standard, and Wang Sen's preface declared the two 'lofty beyond their age,' shifting the whole climate of lyric writing. The Qing critic Chen Tingzhuo, in 'White Rain Studio Lyric Talks,' praised Yutian's feeling as 'plaintive and exquisite, style clear and empty,' while noting his talent fell somewhat short of Jiang Kui's. Modern scholars such as Wu Zeyu have studied Zhang's life and craft in detail. For this very lyric, anthologists take it as a representative work of Yutian: it fills the page with parting without one 'parting' character, and with melancholy without one 'sorrow' character — a rare union of clarity and repressed depth.

张炎论词主清空,其《词源》卷下云词要清空,不要质实,清空则古雅峭拔,质实则凝涩晦昧,此论历来被奉为南宋雅词的美学纲领,而张炎自己的词正是清空说的实践范本。清初浙西词派推尊姜、张,朱彝尊《词综》选玉田词数十首,奉为圭臬,汪森《词综序》谓白石、玉田诸家,高绝一时,于是风气为之一变,张炎词遂成为清代词坛影响最大的南宋词人之一。清人陈廷焯《白雨斋词话》论玉田词,谓其情致凄婉,格调清空,而才力或稍逊白石,此评兼包其长与短。近人吴则虞校辑《山中白云词》绪言考其行迹词事甚详,论白石词者亦每旁及玉田,以两家同主清空故也;沈祖棻《宋词赏析》论宋末词人,于玉田一体尤致意焉。就本词而言,历代选家多以之作玉田代表作,谓其不写一别字而别情满纸,不著一愁字而愁绪无端,是清空而兼沉郁的难得之境。又近人论张炎词,多取其南浦春水、咏孤雁诸作以为压卷,而于此送别之篇着墨较少,然其寄慨之深、用笔之淡,实与上述名篇同一机杼,学者苟细味之,可免以才情字句论玉田之失。

Prosody

Form Ci tune 'Cinnamon Twig Fragrance' (also called 'Light Curtain, Pale Moon')词牌桂枝香(又名疏帘淡月)

Rhyme Entering-tone (rusheng) rhymes rhymed together (kuo, bie, jie, xue, jie, xie, qie, shuo, zhe, yue)入声韵通押(阔、别、结、雪、节、歇、箧、说、折、月)

Tone pattern Double mode, 101 characters; upper and lower stanzas each ten lines, ending on oblique-tone rhymes双调一百一字,上下片各十句,仄声收韵

Reading note 'Cinnamon Twig Fragrance' (Gui Zhi Xiang) is a double-mode ci tune, also called 'Light Curtain, Pale Moon' (Shu Lian Dan Yue), standard 101 characters: the upper stanza ten lines with four oblique-tone rhymes, the lower ten lines with four oblique rhymes; the first line of each stanza does not rhyme, the rest mostly do. Zhang Yan's lyric uses entering-tone (rusheng) rhymes: 'wide' (kuo) belongs to rusheng seventh ge; 'part' (bie), 'knot' (jie), 'snow' (xue), 'season' (jie), 'say' (shuo), 'break' (zhe) belong to rusheng ninth xie; 'moon' (yue) to rusheng sixth yue; 'cease' (xie) and 'satchel' (qie) are also rusheng. In the ci rhyme scheme entering tones are allowed to rhyme together; the oblique-tone rhyme feet are short and contracted, fitting exactly the repressed, depressed sorrow, in keeping with the cold, desolate, choking tone of the whole lyric. Entering-tone characters such as 'part,' 'knot,' 'snow,' 'break' are cut off the instant they are uttered, creating a choking, swallowing feeling — a model of sound and feeling united. In tonal structure this tune alternates mostly three- and four-character lines, e.g. 'ten thousand miles of tide rise beneath a single oar; the willow threads are still knotted,' with four- and six-syllable phrases in irregular measure, the rhythm halting; the closing 'Old feelings hard to write; the plaintive flute of Shanyang, played to the moon' ends with two four-character lines plus a three-character line, shifting from dense to sparse like a flute fading into distance. Zhang Yan knew music deeply; his 'Sources of Lyric' holds that lyric must accord with pitch, and here the characters and tones are matched so that the cold, lofty air flows with the rhythm — singable and recitable, a fine work of his self-composed line. Moreover the two stanzas differ slightly in line count, yet Zhang writes with order within irregularity: the compactness of four-character lines, the halting of three-character lines, and the flowing of seven-character lines sustain one another, read like a flute heard on and off, mirroring the resentful thought within — a fine union of sound and feeling.《桂枝香》为双调词牌,一名《疏帘淡月》,正格一百一字,上片十句四仄韵,下片十句四仄韵,上下片第一句不押韵,余各句多押韵。张炎此词押入声韵,阔属入声七曷,别、结、雪、节、说、折属入声九屑,月属入声六月,歇、箧亦入声,词韵入声通押,仄声韵脚短促收敛,正宜表现沉郁压抑的愁思,与全词清冷凄咽的基调相合。入声字如别、结、雪、折,在诵读时一发即收,造成哽咽吞吐之感,是声情与词情高度统一的范例。词律上此调多三字句、四字句相间,如万里潮生一棹、柳丝犹结,四六句式参差,音节顿挫;末句旧怀难写,山阳怨笛,夜凉吹月,以两个四字句加三字句收束,由密转疏,如笛声渐远。张炎深谙音律,其《词源》论词须协音律,此词字声相配,冷隽之气随音节流转,可诵可歌,是玉田自度一路的精品。又此调上下片句数略异,而张炎下笔能于参差中见整饬,四字句之凝练、三字句之顿挫、七字句之流宕,错落相济,读来如笛声断续,与内容之怨思相为表里,是声情合一的佳作。

Line by line

万里潮生一棹，柳丝犹结。

Ten thousand miles of tide rise beneath a single oar, while the willow threads remain knotted — the irresistible departure and the reluctant bond held in tension.

万里江潮涌起,一叶孤舟即将远行,岸边柳丝依然缠绵绾结。

The tide rises across ten thousand li; one lone boat is about to leave, and the willow threads still tangle.

一棹见孤、万里见远,潮生写不可挽的离势,柳丝犹结写未忍分的别情,动与静、去与留在这一句里相持不下。词人不言愁而离愁自满,柳丝绾结的意象尤其细腻,把抽象的依依惜别化为可见的牵挂,是即景传情的上乘笔墨。此句以画境起,而以离思结,潮与柳、棹与结,两两相形,是即景含情而情不外露的典型笔法,其妙处正在不写别而别意自深,为全词定了萧疏的基调。

One boat shows loneliness, ten thousand li shows distance; the rising tide writes the irresistible force of parting, and the willow threads still tangle writes the feeling of not bearing to separate. Motion and stillness, going and staying, contend in this line. The poet never names grief, yet parting grief fills it; the image of the willow threads knotting is especially delicate, turning abstract reluctance into a visible tether - a masterly stroke of conveying feeling through the scene before the eyes. The line opens in a painted scene and closes in parting thought, tide and willow, boat and knot, each setting the other off; it is the typical brush of scenery holding feeling without showing it, whose beauty lies in not writing parting yet the parting feeling growing of itself, fixing the ci's sparse, desolate key.

荷衣好向山中补，共飘零、几年霜雪。

How well to mend one's lotus robe among the hills — together we have drifted for years through frost and snow, a self-mocking image of a fallen wanderer's life.

此去正可采荷为衣,在山中补缀度日,你我一同飘零,已有几年历尽风霜雨雪。

Now I may sew my lotus robe in the hills; together we have drifted through how many years of frost and snow.

荷衣补缀,语带自嘲,实写江湖落拓之状;共飘零三字点破与友同命的处境,几年霜雪更把飘零的时长与艰辛一笔写出。由眼前之别回溯数载相从,情谊与沧桑俱在,笔意曲折,读来酸楚,是上片由景入情的枢纽。荷衣之补与江湖之飘,物象与身世双绾,霜雪既是自然之寒,亦是世路之艰,数载飘零尽括其中,语含自怜而不伤,正是遗民词人于沦落中自持风骨的声口。

Mending the lotus robe carries self-mockery, really writing the dereliction of the rivers and lakes. The three words together we have drifted name the shared fate with the friend, and how many years of frost and snow write the length and hardship of the drifting in one brush. Looking back from the present parting to the years of following, friendship and vicissitudes are both there, the brush winding and the reading sorrowful; it is the hinge of the upper stanza from scene to feeling. The mending of the lotus robe and the drifting of the lakes bind object and lot; frost and snow are both the cold of nature and the hardship of the road, and the years of wandering are all gathered in, the words holding self-pity without being wounded - the voice of a loyalist poet keeping his integrity amid decline.

落叶长安，古意对人休说。

Fallen leaves at Chang'an — the old feeling, say it not to others; the transformed line from Jia Dao hides a loyalist's grief for the lost capital.

眼前落叶纷飞,令人想起长安故国的旧事,这些古旧情思却对人难以言说。

Fallen leaves over Chang'an - those ancient thoughts I cannot bring myself to speak.

化用贾岛诗句而翻出故国之思,落叶长安四字既写实景又括尽身世,古意二字将秦离、麦秀之悲尽纳其中,休说却偏要说出,欲说还休之态倍见沉痛。亡国遗民的心事,不可对人言而终于入词,是南宋末词人最见肝胆处。落叶与长安,一实一虚,古意二字,把怀古伤今之情凝成一点,休说而偏说出,是欲言又止的吞声之态,此中消息,惟深于家国之感者方能领会,是遗民词最见肝胆处。

This transforms Jia Dao's verse and brings out longing for the fallen homeland. The four words fallen leaves over Chang'an write both the actual scene and one's whole lot; the words ancient thoughts gather the grief of the exiled Qin and the ruined wheat fields, and yet cannot bring myself to speak is the very act of speaking, the would-speak-and-stop showing double sorrow. The loyalist's grief, unspeakable, yet at last entering the ci, is the most gallant point of the late Southern Song poet. Fallen leaves and Chang'an, one solid one void; the two words ancient thoughts condense the mourning past and present into a single point, and cannot speak yet speaking is the swallowing of a voice about to speak - only one deep in the feeling of home and country can read the message, the most gallant point of loyalist ci.

旧怀难写，山阳怨笛，夜凉吹月。

Old feelings hard to write; the plaintive flute of Shanyang, played to the moon in the cool of night — the close entrusts all sorrow to flute-sound and moonlight.

旧日的情怀难以尽写,就像山阳闻笛的哀怨,在夜凉之际对着明月吹响。

Old feelings are hard to write; like the grieving flute at Shanyang, it sounds in the cool night against the moon.

结句以笛声月色收束全篇,山阳怨笛把怀友与悼亡并作一声,夜凉、吹月则渲染出清寒孤寂的意境。词人不说愁深,只写笛声在凉夜中飘散,一切难写之怀都交付给这疏疏的笛影月色,以景结情,空灵而余韵不尽,正是清空一派的最高结法。笛声月色,本无言语,而难写之怀尽托其中,山阳之怨,兼悼亡友与故国,夜凉吹月,更添一层清冷,以景收情,空灵中见沉痛,正是清空一派的最高结法。

The closing ends in flute and moonlight, the grieving flute at Shanyang fusing love of a friend and mourning the dead into one sound, while the cool night and the moonlit playing render a clear, cold, lonely mood. The poet does not say grief is deep, only writes the flute scattering in the cool night; all the hard-to-write feelings are handed over to the sparse flute and moonlight, ending feeling in scenery, ethereal with endless aftertone - the highest close of the clear-empty school. Flute and moonlight, voiceless of themselves, yet holding all the hard-to-write feeling; the Shanyang grief mourns both the dead friend and the fallen homeland, and the cool night moonlit playing adds a layer of cold. Closing feeling in scenery, the ethereal holds the grief - the highest close of the clear-empty school.

Study

Word focus

迥 In 'The bright river stretches far and wide,' the word 'far' (jiong) means distant and vast, giving the autumn river not merely width but a boundless, unending reach that prepares the spatial depth for the far parting. 晴江迥阔的迥字,作遥远、辽阔解,着一迥字,秋江便不只是宽阔,而带上一种辽远无边、望不断头的意味,为万里一棹的远别预设了空间纵深。迥字又与晴字相济,天晴水明而更见其迥,境界清而阔,气韵疏朗,是全词冷隽基调的第一笔。迥字还暗含望而不及之意,江天辽阔,行舟一叶,愈远愈不可见,空间之阻即离愁之深,一字而情、景、愁三者兼摄,是炼字而能统摄全篇的范例。

结 In 'the willow threads are still knotted,' the word 'knot' (jie) writes the willows' tangled, unloosened state, using the entwining of things to picture the lover's reluctance; 'still' shows the willful clinging of the branches though departure is known. 柳丝犹结的结字,写柳条绾结不解之状,以物之纠缠写人之留恋。着犹字,见其明知难留而柳丝偏要绾住离舟的痴态,物有情而人无情,一结字让别情从景物中自然渗出,不著议论而情致已深,是炼字炼意的佳例。结字写柳丝之绾结,亦写别绪之盘结,物之牵绊与情之牵挂同构,着一犹字,愈见无奈,而全句不著一情语,情味自浓,是张炎善用物态传情的明证。

空 In 'a lone fragrance — pitifully plucked in vain,' the word 'vain' (kong) writes the futility of plucking the lone blossom with none to share or receive it, condensing the longing's homelessness and the meeting's impossibility. 可怜空折的空字,写折取孤芳而无人共赏、无所归寄的徒然。空字将相思的无着、相会的无期一并道出,与上句只在相留处相映,留者之痴、去者之远,尽在空空一折中见之。着一空字,凄婉之情不点自明,是词眼所在。空字兼有空虚与枉然两义,折花而无从相赠,是空;相期而终难相遇,亦是空,两意叠加,凄婉益深,而字面仍极平淡,正是清空而不失厚味的词家三昧。

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