宋 Song · 诗 Poem
自县圃得梅花因成五绝 其三
Getting Plum Blossoms from the County Garden (III)
春风欲转非容易，选取一枝作先使。
试看欲发未发时，似与东君说心事。
It picks a single branch to serve as herald first.
Look at the moment between budding and blooming—
It seems to be telling its heart to the Lord of the East.
Meaning
A short quatrain from Wang Yang's series on plum blossoms found in his county garden. The turn of the season from winter to spring is slow and hard, so the plum blossom 'picks' a single branch to serve as the first messenger of spring. And in that most delicate moment between budding and blooming, the flower seems to be confiding its heart to the Lord of the East (the god of spring)—as if the plum, the herald of spring, were an old friend whispering with spring itself.
春风想要转动（冬去春来）并不容易，梅花却挑选了一枝当作先行报春的使者。且看它含苞将放未放的时刻，好像正与春神低声诉说着心事。
Appreciation
The poem's art lies in personifying the plum blossom and catching it in the most delicate tense. The first line, 'the spring wind's turning is no easy thing,' makes the slow, hard change of seasons the ground on which the plum's heraldry gains value. The second line fully personifies the flower: it does not bloom passively but 'picks' a branch and 'serves' as herald—an act of will, playful in conception. The last two lines go further, seizing the instant 'between budding and blooming,' the most expressive moment of a flower, and letting it 'tell its heart to the Lord of the East,' turning a seasonal fact into a mythic conversation. The poem moves from the difficulty of the time, to the initiative of the flower, to the intimacy of its talk with spring—from outside to inside, scene to feeling, giving a short quatrain plot, character, and warmth.
【白话串讲】 王洋在县圃折梅：“春风欲转非容易，选取一枝作先使”——他折梅枝报春。“试看欲发未发时，似与东君说心事”——他写梅花将开未开。 【意象与手法】全以拟人，「先使」「说心事」把花写成有意志的灵物，翻「驿使梅花」旧典而生娇憨新意。 【情感与主旨】不写梅的孤瘦清寒，而写它灵动娇俏、与春神昵近，于林逋孤高、陆游劲节之外别出一派清新可亲的梅格。 【名句点睛】「欲发未发时，似与东君说心事」最见匠心——将绽未绽的一瞬最足写梅之含情，清新温俏迥异于孤山清绝。
Background
Wang Yang (1087–1153), courtesy name Yuanbo, was a native of Jiangxi and an official of the Southern Song, rising to Drafter of the Secretariat; dismissed for opposing Qin Hui, he governed Shaowu and left the collected works Dongmou ji. The series 'Getting Plum Blossoms from the County Garden' was written when he found plum blossoms in the rear garden of his official residence. This, the third of five quatrains, celebrates the plum as the herald of spring and its intimacy with the god of spring—the delicate observation of a scholar-official in his official garden, and a fresh, affectionate entry in the Song tradition of plum-blossom poetry.
《自县圃得梅花因成五绝》为宋代诗人王洋的组诗，此为其第三章。王洋字元渤，宋江西人，南渡后官至起居舍人，因忤秦桧出知邵武军，著有《东牟集》，《宋史》附见其事迹。组诗题「自县圃得梅花」，县圃即州县衙署之后圃，古人于官舍植梅以为清玩，王洋于圃中得梅，因成五绝以咏，此章专写梅花之「报春」与「通神」。全诗四句：「春风欲转非容易，选取一枝作先使。试看欲发未发时，似与东君说心事。」意谓寒冬将尽、春风之转尚非易事，梅花却先选一枝作春天的使者；且看它含苞欲放未放之际，仿佛正与春神（东君）低诉心事。宋人咏梅，自林逋「疏影横斜」树立雅标后，多沿着「以梅拟人格、以梅通天地」的路径发展，王洋此章不以孤瘦清寒取胜，而以「先使」「说心事」的拟人笔法，写梅花与春神的默契，清新可喜，是南宋咏梅诗中「情理相生」一路的小品，亦见士大夫于官舍闲居中对一卉一木的细腻体贴。（王洋于官舍得梅而咏，宋人咏梅自林逋后多理趣一路。）
Art
The whole poem is carried by personification and the precise handling of tense. The first line's 'no easy thing' sets the difficulty of winter turning to spring, building the ground for the plum's heraldry. 'Picks a single branch to serve as herald' completely humanizes the flower—not passively opening but actively choosing a branch and acting as messenger. The last two lines seize the instant 'between budding and blooming,' the most expressive of all moments, and let the flower 'tell its heart to the Lord of the East,' turning weather into mythic speech. The layering from the difficulty of the season, to the initiative of the flower, to the intimacy of its talk with spring gives the little quatrain a plot, a character, and a warmth—a graceful example of the Song knack for 'working a small scene with a playful idea.'
此诗艺术，全在以「拟人」与「时态」写活梅花。首句「春风欲转非容易」先以「非容易」三字，写出冬春交替的艰难与迟缓，为梅花之「先使」蓄势——正因为春风难转，才显出梅花报春的可贵。次句「选取一枝作先使」以「选取」「先使」完全人格化梅花：它不是被动开放，而是主动「选」一枝、「作」使者，把植物开花写为有意志的举动，构思俏皮。三、四句「试看欲发未发时，似与东君说心事」更进一层，抓住梅花「欲发未发」这一最微妙的时态——花苞将绽未绽的瞬间，最是含情；诗人以「试看」引领读者凝视此一瞬，再以「似与东君说心事」赋予梅花与春神（东君）私语的能力，把物候现象化为神话般的情感交流。其章法之妙，在由「时之难」（春风欲转）到「物之先」（梅花先使）再到「情之密」（与东君说心事），层层递进，由外而内、由景及情，把一首短绝写得有情节、有性格、有温度，是宋诗「以意趣运小景」的婉约佳作。（以先使、说心事拟人，写梅与东君默契，清新可喜。）欲发未发之态最足写梅之含情，宋人观物之细于此一瞬中尽见其精。
Allusions
'The Lord of the East' (Dongjun) is the god of spring, from the 'Lord of the East' hymn of the Nine Songs; in Tang-Song verse it had become fixed as the god who presides over spring. Wang Yang's plum 'telling its heart to the Lord of the East' connects the flower's divine nature with the god's, like two old acquaintances in private talk. 'Herald' turns on the tradition of the plum as the messenger that brings news of spring—the allusion to Lu Kai sending a plum branch with a note to Fan Ye, 'when you meet a courier going north, send a branch to the man beyond the mountains,' making the plum the messenger of spring and longing. 'Between budding and blooming' shares the spirit of Su Shi's 'the spring river's warmth the ducks know first'—the first awareness of the season. The allusions are the common vocabulary of plum poetry, given fresh charm by the new coinage of 'herald' and 'telling its heart.'
诗中典故，皆本于春神与咏梅传统。「东君」为春神之名，源出《楚辞·九歌·东皇太一》之「东君」（本为日神，后混为春神），至唐宋诗词中「东君」已固定为司春之神（如成彦雄「东君爱惜与先春」），王洋以梅花「与东君说心事」，正是把花之神格与春之神格对接，写二者如同旧识的私语。「先使」用「使者」之喻写梅花报春，暗合「驿使梅花」典——《荆州记》载陆凯自江南寄梅与范晔，曰「折梅逢驿使，寄与陇头人」，梅自此为传春寄远之使；王洋翻其意，不劳驿使，梅花自身即作「先使」报春。「欲发未发」化用「含苞」之态，与苏轼「竹外桃花三两枝，春江水暖鸭先知」的「先知」精神相通——皆写物候之先觉。凡此皆中国咏梅文学的公共语汇，王洋以「先使—说心事」的新铸组合，使东君、驿使诸典生出娇憨新意，是「熟典生面」的用事范例。（东君、先使皆报春传梅之典，翻案而生娇憨新意。）东君本楚辞司春之神，先使翻驿使梅花之典，王洋以梅自任报春之使与东君私语，翻案而生娇憨新意。陆游咏梅重劲节，此章重通神，并见宋调之丰，咏梅传统因而益广。
Commentary
Since Lin Bu's 'Mountain Garden, Small Plum' established the lofty standard of 'sparse shadows slanting across clear water, faint fragrance floating in the moonlight,' most Song poets wrote the plum in the line of 'pure and solitary.' Wang Yang's quatrain opens another path—playful and 'spirit-touching,' writing the plum's liveliness and its intimacy with the god of spring. Lu You's plum endures 'fallen to mud and ground to dust, only the fragrance remains'—the plum of strong will; Wang Yang writes the plum of 'herald' and 'telling its heart'—the plum of lively affection. The Siku catalogues and later editors have given the poem a place among Southern Song verse on objects, a fresh, affectionate 'plum nature' beside the 'pure' of Lin Bu and the 'strong' of Lu You.
咏梅一题，自林逋《山园小梅》「疏影横斜水清浅，暗香浮动月黄昏」树立孤高雅标后，宋人咏梅多沿「清瘦孤绝」一脉，而王洋此章别开「俏皮通神」一路，足资比照。陆游《卜算子·咏梅》「零落成泥碾作尘，只有香如故」，承林逋之孤，写梅之劲节；王洋则写梅之「先使」「说心事」，侧重其灵动与春神之昵，角度不同而其爱梅则一。清人编《宋诗纪事》收录王洋此组诗，列于南宋咏物诸家之中，虽未于此章下详加品藻，而其入选已见体例之重。近人论宋诗咏物，多以「以理趣胜」概括，王洋此「试看欲发未发时，似与东君说心事」二句，正以细腻的时态观察与拟人的情理，体现宋人「于小物见生意」的观物态度。要之，此章虽非宋诗咏梅名篇，而其「先使报春、私语东君」的构思，于林逋之孤、陆游之节以外，别出一派清新可亲的梅格，恰可补咏梅传统「清刚」之外的「温俏」一脉。（林逋孤高之外，此章别出温俏一脉，补咏梅传统之丰。）林逋孤高之外别出温俏，补咏梅传统清刚之外之一脉，梅格遂更丰盈。
Prosody
Line by line
春风欲转非容易，选取一枝作先使。
The spring wind's turning is no easy thing; it picks a single branch to serve as herald first. (The opening couplet: the difficulty of winter turning to spring is the ground on which the plum's initiative shines—it does not wait for the wind but picks a branch and acts as the herald of spring.)
春风想要转动（冬去春来）并不容易，梅花却挑选了一枝当作先行报春的使者。
The spring wind's coming around is no easy thing; yet it chooses one branch to be its first envoy.
此二句为全诗起手，先立「时之难」以衬「物之先」。「春风欲转非容易」七字，写冬春交迭的滞重——阳气初回而霜雪未消，春风之转确非易事，这一「难」字为后文梅花的「先」蓄足了势能。次句「选取一枝作先使」以完全人格化的笔法写梅：它不待春风，而自「选取」一枝、「作」报春之使者，把植物本能的开花，写为有意志、有担当的主动行为。其艺术之妙，在「先使」二字带来的角色反转——通常春风召花，此却花召春风；梅花由被动的「被唤醒者」变为主动的「报信人」。这与「驿使梅花」的古典（陆凯寄梅）遥相呼应而更进一层：陆凯是人有意寄梅，王洋是梅自任其使。二句一抑（春风难）一扬（梅先使），形成轻快的张力，把一首咏物小诗写出了情节感与性格，是宋诗「以意趣写物」的典型起法。
These two lines open the poem, first establishing the difficulty of the time to set off the thing's being first. The seven characters of the spring wind's coming around is no easy thing write the heaviness of the turn from winter to spring - the yang breath has just returned while the frost and snow have not yet cleared, and the spring wind's turn is indeed no easy matter; this single word difficult gathers full force for the later plum's being first. The second line writes the plum in a fully personified brush: it does not wait for the spring wind, but itself chooses one branch and makes it the envoy announcing spring, writing the plant instinct of flowering as a willful and responsible act. Its artistic beauty lies in the role reversal brought by the two words first envoy - usually the spring wind summons the flowers, but here the flower summons the spring wind; the plum turns from the passive awakened to the active messenger. This echoes the classical allusion of the post-station plum (Lu Kai sending the plum) yet steps further: Lu Kai intentionally sent the plum, while Wang Yang has the plum take itself as the envoy. The two lines, one depressing (the spring wind's difficulty) one raising (the plum's first envoy), form a light tension, giving a short object-singing poem a sense of plot and character, the typical Song opening of writing a thing through delight of idea.
试看欲发未发时，似与东君说心事。
Look at the moment between budding and blooming—it seems to be telling its heart to the Lord of the East. (The closing couplet seizes the flower's most expressive instant and lets it whisper with the god of spring, turning a seasonal fact into a mythic, affectionate conversation.)
且看它含苞将放未放的时刻，好像正与春神低声诉说着心事。
Look now, at the moment about to open and not yet open - it seems to speak its heart to the Lord of Spring.
此二句为全诗收束，亦最见匠心的一笔。「欲发未发」四字，精准捕捉梅花含苞将绽的微妙时态——花苞饱胀而未破，正是生命最含情、最悬盼的瞬间，比盛放更耐寻味。诗人以「试看」引领读者屏息凝视此一瞬，视点由宏观的「春风—先使」收束为微观的「花苞—私语」，章法由放转收，极见经营。最妙在「似与东君说心事」：东君为司春之神，梅花与春神本为「报春—司春」的天然搭档，诗人却写二者如旧识般「说心事」，把物候现象化为神话般的情感交流，赋予梅花以灵性人格。一个「似」字极有分寸——不坐实、不滥情，只说「似」说「心事」，留足想象余地，恰是宋诗「含蓄有理趣」的收法。二句把前面「先使」的拟人，落实为「说心事」的娇憨，使全诗的梅花形象完成从「使者」到「知己」的升华，清新温俏，迥异于林逋孤山的清绝。
This couplet follows the plum's being first envoy and turns to the plum's delicate moment of about to open, the poem's most charming line. The first, look now, at the moment about to open and not yet open, uses look to pull the reader's gaze to the subtle point of the bud not yet burst, writing the plum's reserved state before flowering. The second, it seems to speak its heart to the Lord of Spring, continues the personification, saying the half-opened plum as if pouring its heart to the Lord of Spring (the god of spring). The couplet's beauty lies in the two words about to open and not yet open writing the most subtle moment: not yet fully bloomed, holding back its heart, and the word seems gives the imagination free play, as if the plum bud had a heart to confide. Song object-singing loved this writing of the moment of becoming, turning a plant's flowering into a tender exchange between the flower and the spring god; the plum, usually the symbol of the hardy and solitary, is here written as shy and confiding, fresh and elegant, exactly the delight of Song poetry writing a thing through idea.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Lin Bu's 'sparse shadows slanting across clear water, faint fragrance floating in the moonlight' set the lofty standard of the plum as the solitary, transcendent recluse. Wang Yang's 'picks a single branch to serve as herald' and 'telling its heart to the Lord of the East' walks the path of fresh, affectionate 'spirit-touching,' writing the plum's liveliness and intimacy with spring. Lin's plum is a hermit apart from the world; Wang's is a knowing messenger. One values 'solitude,' the other 'intimacy'—two poles of Song plum poetry.
林逋《山园小梅》「疏影横斜水清浅，暗香浮动月黄昏」为宋人咏梅的孤高定标，写梅之清绝脱俗、不近人事；王洋此章「选取一枝作先使」「似与东君说心事」则走「清新通神」一路，写梅之灵动娇俏、与春神昵语。二诗同咏梅而梅格迥异：林梅是遗世独立的隐士，王梅是善解人意的使者；一重「孤」，一重「亲」。差异的根源，在林逋写梅以自况其隐，王洋写梅以体物之趣——前者是人格的投射，后者是物性的体贴。并观之，可见宋诗咏梅的两极：一为「以梅写我」的孤高传统（林逋—陆游），一为「以我写梅」的俏皮观察（王洋此章）。王洋虽不如林逋名盛，而其「先使报春、私语东君」的构思，恰补咏梅「清刚」之外的「温俏」一脉，使梅之形象更见丰盈。
卜算子·咏梅 卜算子·咏梅 陆游（南宋） · 同咏梅之格，一写劲节一写通神 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
陆游《卜算子·咏梅》「零落成泥碾作尘，只有香如故」，承林逋孤高之脉，写梅之劲节不随流俗；王洋此章则写梅之「先使」「说心事」，侧重其灵动与春神之昵。二作同出南宋、同咏梅，而精神对照鲜明：陆词是士大夫孤忠劲节的物化（梅即屈原、即放翁自身），王诗是闲居官舍中对一卉的细腻体察（梅即报春之使、东君之友）。一沉郁一清新，一关乎家国身世、一关乎物候情趣。并观之，恰见南宋咏梅「重」与「轻」的两副笔墨：陆游把梅压到道德的秤盘上，王洋把梅放到春天的私语里。二者并无高下，而共同证明宋人咏梅已从唐人的「早梅报春」母题，分化出「孤高劲节」与「通神俏皮」两途，王洋此章正属后一途中清通可读的一篇。
和秦太虚梅花 和秦太虚梅花 苏轼（北宋） · 同以南宋前贤咏梅，皆重物候之趣与拟人之妙 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
苏轼《和秦太虚梅花》「不如风雨卷春归，收拾余香还畀天」「竹外一枝斜更好」，以旷达之笔写梅之姿与春之趣，开宋人咏梅「以意趣胜」的风气；王洋此章「试看欲发未发时，似与东君说心事」，正承苏诗「重物候、善拟人」的一脉。二诗同不以孤瘦清寒为唯一旨归，而于梅之生机与性格上做文章：苏轼赏其「斜好」之态，王洋怜其「欲发未发」之瞬；一写空间之姿，一写时态之情。差异在：苏诗更旷达浏亮，王诗更婉细温俏。并观之，可见北宋苏轼所倡「咏物以意趣为主」的主张，至南宋王洋手中已化为具体的「时态观察+神话拟人」技法，苏王二作正可连成一脉，显示宋诗咏梅从「写姿」到「写态」、从「旷达」到「温俏」的细微演化，而王洋此章是这演化中清新可喜的一环。