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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

竹枝词·其二

Bamboo Branch Song (No. 2)

刘禹锡

Liu Yuxi

爱情love 民歌folk song

杨柳青青江水平，闻郎江上唱歌声。
东边日出西边雨，道是无晴却有晴。

By the river the willows are green, green; the water smooth and clear;
From the stream I hear my lover singing near.
In the east the sun shines, in the west the rain falls—
They say there is no clear, yet there is clear, it would seem.

Listen

Meaning

At the riverside the willows stand fresh and green, and the water lies calm and unruffled; suddenly she hears her lover's song drifting from the river. In the east the sun is out, yet in the west it is raining; they say there is no 'clear' (qing, a pun for love), yet clearly there is 'clear'—how can this young girl read her own heart?

江边杨柳青翠，江面风平浪静；忽听得江上飘来情郎的歌声。东边日出西边却下着雨，说是无晴（情）吧，却分明又有晴（情）——叫我这少女的心事如何猜得清。

Appreciation

This lyric opens with a quiet river scene—green willows and still water—then breaks the calm with the sudden sound of the lover's song, stirring the girl's heart. Its brilliance lies in the closing line, 'They say there is no clear, yet there is clear,' where the word for 'clear' (qing) sounds exactly like the word for 'love' (qing), a pun that turns the changeable weather into a riddle of her own uncertain heart. Through plain, song-like language Liu Yuxi captures the shy, half-spoken flutter of a girl in love, drawing on the local Bamboo Branch folk tune of Kuizhou to lend the poem its fresh, popular charm.

【白话串讲】和其一相同的意境：杨柳青青，江水平静，情郎在江上唱歌。“道是无晴却有晴”——刘禹锡把民歌的谐音双关，玩成了千古名句。【意象与手法】全诗最妙处在末句「道是无晴却有晴」，以天气双关人情，「晴」谐音「情」，似无却有，把少女欲说还休的揣度写得鲜活。前两句「杨柳青青江水平，闻郎江上唱歌声」白描江景与歌声，一静一动、一景一声；后两句「东边日出西边雨，道是无晴却有晴」以景喻情，由实入虚，语近情遥，深得南朝乐府与巴渝民歌之神。叠字「青青」写柳色之翠，转折「却」字写心理之变，皆炼字精工，堪称民歌谐音双关手法在文人诗中最成功的运用。【情感与主旨】刘禹锡（772—842）贬夔州（今重庆奉节）期间，喜当地《竹枝》民歌「含思宛转」之调，依调作词多首。此诗借江上天气的阴晴不定，写少女初闻情歌时的微妙心理：情郎歌声似有深情，却又捉摸不定，恰如「东边日出西边雨」的天气，说是有情却怕无情，说是无情又觉有情，患得患失、欲说还休，正是初恋少女最真实的心声，也是巴渝水乡儿女以歌传情的风俗写照。【名句点睛】高频考点：辨识「晴」谐音「情」的双关手法；赏析末句如何以天气写心理；把握全诗民歌风格与少女形象。默写易错处为「郎」「晴」二字，须注意「道是无晴却有晴」中两个「晴」字皆不可写作「情」。

Background

Liu Yuxi (772–842) was fond of the local Bamboo Branch (Zhuzhi) folk tune, with its 'winding, thoughtful' melody, during his banishment to Kuizhou (today's Fengjie, Chongqing). Kuizhou lay where Ba and Chu cultures met, and young men and women would answer each other in song; the Bamboo Branch lyrics often dwell on love between youths and on river-country scenery. This piece catches the delicate psychology of a girl hearing a love song for the first time.

刘禹锡（772—842），字梦得，洛阳人，中唐著名诗人，有「诗豪」之称。此诗作于其贬谪夔州（今重庆奉节）期间。永贞革新失败后，刘禹锡被贬朗州司马，后辗转连州、夔州、和州等地，困顿巴山楚水二十余年。夔州地处巴楚交汇，长江穿城而过，两岸山民质朴，风俗独特，青年男女常于江畔踏歌相答，以歌声传情达意。当地流行的《竹枝》民歌「含思宛转」，音节摇曳，俚俗而情深，深得刘禹锡喜爱。他依当地曲调创作《竹枝词》组诗多首，或写风土人情，或写男女情思，此首《竹枝词·其二》即为其一。据《乐府诗集》所载，刘禹锡在夔州时，见里中儿联歌《竹枝》，吹短笛击鼓以应其节，遂依其声作词，使诗人得以「变夷歌为文人之声」。诗中「杨柳青青江水平」的水乡景象、「东边日出西边雨」的巴蜀天气，皆是夔州当地风物的真实写照，可见诗人贬谪生涯中既含身世之慨，又不失对民间生活的深情体察，故能将民歌的清新活泼与文人的含蓄雅致熔于一炉，成就这一组雅俗共赏的千古名篇。

Art

The poem's wit resides in its last line, where the weather is made to pun on human feeling: the word 'clear' (qing) is a homophone for 'love' (qing), so what seems absent is in fact present, vividly rendering the girl's hesitant, half-guessed musing. The first two lines sketch the river scene and the song in plain description; the last two use scene to figure feeling, moving from the concrete to the suggestive, with words that are near yet emotion far—true to the spirit of Southern-Dynasty yuefu and Ba-Chu folk song.

此诗艺术上最显著的特征，是以天气写人情、以谐音寓双关，全篇由实入虚、由景入情，语近而旨远。前两句「杨柳青青江水平，闻郎江上唱歌声」纯用白描：首句写江岸杨柳青翠、江面风平浪静，是一幅明净的静景，杨柳之「青」与江水之「平」互为映衬，色彩清丽，气氛宁和，为少女出场铺下宁静的底色；次句「闻郎江上唱歌声」由静转动，一个「闻」字写出少女听觉的敏锐，歌声未至其人先闻，江上飘来的歌声打破了平静，也在少女心中激起层层涟漪。这两句一景一声、一静一动，配合得天衣无缝。后两句「东边日出西边雨，道是无晴却有晴」是全诗机杼所在：诗人不直接写少女的心理活动，而以江上天气的奇异变化——东边日出、西边下雨——暗喻情郎态度的捉摸不定，再以「晴」「情」谐音双关，将「无晴」与「有情」、「有晴」与「无情」两重意思交织在一起，似无却有、若有若无，把少女那种欲说还休、将信将疑的微妙心事写得活灵活现。全诗四句，前两句写景叙事，后两句写情喻理，章法上由外及内、由物及心，语言浅近如话而韵味深长，深得南朝乐府与巴渝民歌之神韵，是文人学习民歌而自出机杼的典范之作。

Allusions

The poem draws on the Southern-Dynasty yuefu tradition of punning on homophones—as in the 'Midnight Songs,' where 'lotus' (lian) puns on 'to love' (lian), 'mist hides the hibiscus, the lotus dimly seen.' Liu Yuxi transplants this device into the Ba-Chu Bamboo Branch tune, joining literati verse and folk love song in one bloodline, and opening the way for later 'sound-punning' poetry.

此诗化用了南朝乐府中「谐音双关」的悠久传统。六朝吴声歌曲中，民间歌手常以同音字相代，隐语传情，如《子夜歌》「雾露隐芙蓉，见莲不分明」以「莲」谐「怜」，写爱情之隐约；又如《读曲歌》「芙蓉腹里萎，莲汝从心起」亦以「莲」谐「怜」，以「丝」谐「思」、以「碑」谐「悲」、以「题」谐「啼」，皆是吴声民歌习见的双关手法。刘禹锡将这一传统移用于巴渝《竹枝》，以「晴」谐「情」，可谓得其所哉：巴蜀天气多变，「东边日出西边雨」本是当地真实可见的自然奇观，诗人信手拈来，既写景又写情，使天气之「晴」与男女之「情」在谐音中合而为一，天衣无缝。这一手法使文人诗与民间情歌血脉相通：一方面，《竹枝词》本就源于民间踏歌，谐音双关正是民歌本有的机趣；另一方面，刘禹锡以文人笔法点化之，使其含蓄蕴藉、余味曲包，达到「俗不伤雅、雅不避俗」的境界。后世「谐声体」诗词多承此一脉，如李商隐「春蚕到死丝方尽」以「丝」谐「思」的写法，皆可溯源于此。故《竹枝词》不仅是刘禹锡个人才情的展示，更是民间文学与文人文学双向交流的桥梁，在中国诗歌史上的意义不可低估。

Commentary

Su Shi said of it that 'its lucid, emptied meaning lies beyond the words.' The Qing critic Wang Shizhen, in his Daijingtang Remarks on Poetry, called the couplet 'In the east the sun rises, in the west the rain falls' 'wonderful in being near the common yet able to be refined.' The modern scholar Liu Yongji observed that writing local custom in a girl's own speech retains much of the yuefu legacy.

此诗历代评价甚高。苏轼尝谓刘禹锡《竹枝词》「清空之意，见于言外」，正指其语浅意深、含不尽之意见于言外的艺术特色；清初王士禛《带经堂诗话》称「东边日出西边雨，道是无晴却有晴」二句「妙在近俗而能雅」，点出其以民间俗语入诗而不失雅致之妙；近人刘永济评刘禹锡《竹枝词》「以儿女子语写风土，饶有乐府遗意」，亦深中肯綮。在诗歌史上，此诗是唐代文人向民歌学习、进行「文人化民歌」创作的成功范例。刘禹锡之前，文人写男女之情多取宫体之绮艳或乐府之古调，像这样以巴渝俚曲入七绝、以谐音双关写少女情思者实属罕见。它上承南朝乐府的情歌传统，下开宋代婉约词以景写情、以谐音见巧的先声，在七绝中别开生面。诗中少女形象尤为动人：她听见情郎歌声时的心湖微澜，面对天气阴晴不定时的患得患失，那种纯真、含蓄而略带娇嗔的情态，跨越千年依然鲜活。全诗二十八字，无一生僻字，无一典故痕迹，却能在平易中见深刻，在浅俗中含雅趣，这正是刘禹锡「沉舟侧畔千帆过」式的大手笔在小品中的体现，也是《竹枝词》组诗千载传诵、至今仍入选各版教材的根本原因。

Prosody

Form Seven-character quatrain (seven-character jue)七言绝句（七绝，四句二十八字）

Rhyme Ping-shui rhyme, lower-level eight geng group (still/bright, song, clear)平水韵·下平八庚（平、声、晴三字押韵，首句入韵，一韵到底）

Tone pattern Level-onset, first-line-enters-rhyme form; level-close首句入韵，平起平收；句内平仄交替，声调清婉流畅，近于民歌的往复回环

Reading note A standard quatrain; clear, gentle tone near folk song.此诗为七言绝句，属近体诗中最短小的体式，四句二十八字，首句入韵，一韵到底，押平水韵下平八庚韵（平、声、晴三字），平起平收，声调清婉流畅，朗朗上口，极近民歌。绝句之体源于南朝乐府小诗，至唐代定型为律绝，刘禹锡此诗妙在以律绝之形、纳民歌之神：句法上多用口语，如「闻郎」「道是」「却」等词皆来自日常言谈，不避俚俗；音节上则暗合民歌的往复回环，叠字「青青」与「却」「却」的转折相应，读来有踏歌的节奏感。第三句「东边日出西边雨」以「东边」「西边」对举，句内自对，工整而活泼；末句「道是无晴却有晴」平仄上「无晴」与「有晴」仅一字之转，声调也随之起伏，恰与内容上「似无实有」的双关相呼应，声情与辞情妙合无间。全诗语言浅近而格律精工，既保持了民歌的清新自然，又符合近体的声律要求，是文人向民歌学习、雅俗共赏的典型，故千百年来传诵不衰，凡识字者皆能成诵。

Line by line

杨柳青青江水平

The willows are green, green; the river lies still and bright.

江岸杨柳青翠，江面水波不兴

Willows are green, green; the river is calm,

首句以静景起笔，为全诗铺下明净安宁的底色。「青青」叠字写杨柳之色，翠绿欲滴，是视觉上的亮色；「水平」写江面之静，风平浪静，是形态上的平和。杨柳与江水一绿一平，色彩与形态相映成趣，共同构成一幅江畔暮春的静美图画。这静态的景物并非闲笔：少女独自伫立江畔，面对青青杨柳与平静江水，内心的期待与忐忑正与眼前的安宁形成对照——景越静，心越不静；越是风平浪静，越显少女等待情郎时那份按捺不住的心事。以静衬动、以景写情，正是此句的匠心所在。同时，「杨柳」二字在古诗中常与离别、相思相连，暗含折柳赠别之意，为下文歌声传情预作铺垫，读来含蓄蕴藉，耐人寻味。

The opening line opens with still scenery, laying the clear, calm ground for the whole poem. Green, green writes the willow's color in reduplication, green to the drip, the visual bright color. Calm writes the river's stillness, wind-and-wave-less, the form's peace. Willows and river, one green one calm, color and form setting each other off; together forming a riverbank late-spring still beauty. This static scenery is not idle brush: the young woman alone stands on the bank, facing the green willows and calm water; her inner expectation and trepidation precisely form a contrast with the眼前 calm - the stiller the scenery, the less still the heart; the calmer the wind, the more the girl's irrepressible heart waiting for her lover. Using stillness to set off motion, writing feeling through scenery, precisely this line's craftedness. Meanwhile willows in ancient poetry often linked with parting and longing, secretly holding the willow-breaking farewell meaning, preparing the later song's love-message; reading it reserved and thought-provoking.

闻郎江上唱歌声

I hear my love singing his song from the river.

忽闻江上情郎踏歌而来

I hear my love singing on the river.

次句由静转动，以一声歌声打破前句的宁静，是全诗由景入情的关键枢纽。「闻」字用得极妙：少女并非看见情郎，而是先闻其声，听觉先于视觉，正写出她侧耳倾听、心神专注的情态，也暗含江上烟波浩渺、人未见而声先闻的实境。「郎」字直呼，亲昵自然，民歌风味十足，显出少女与情郎关系之亲密。「唱歌声」三字将巴渝青年以歌传情的风俗写入诗中：江上飘来的歌声或清亮、或婉转，含情脉脉，分明是唱给江岸少女听的。这歌声打破宁静的一刹那，少女原本平静的心湖顿生波澜——歌声是真是假、是唱与自己还是唱与旁人、其中藏着怎样的情意，一连串的揣测由此生发，自然引出后两句「道是无晴却有晴」的心理波澜。由闻声而心动，由心动而猜疑，全诗的情感脉络在此悄然启动，环环相扣，浑然一体。

The second line turns from stillness to motion, using one song to break the previous line's quiet, the key pivot from scenery to feeling. Hear is used most subtly: the girl does not see her lover, but first hears his voice; hearing before sight, precisely writing her ear-tilted, heart-concentrated state, also secretly holding the river's vast mist, person unseen yet voice first-heard. Lover is directly addressed, intimate and natural, full of folk flavor, showing the girl's intimacy with her beloved. Singing voice three characters write the Ba-You youth's custom of love-message-through-song into the poem: the song drifting on the river, now clear now winding, brimming with feeling, clearly sung for the bank girl. The instant this song breaks the quiet, the girl's originally calm heart-lake suddenly rises waves - is the song true or false? Is it sung for me or for another? What feeling hides within? A string of surmisings generated from here, naturally leading the last two lines's they say no sunshine, yet there is sunshine psychological waves. From hearing the voice to the heart's stir, from the heart's stir to surmise; the whole poem's emotional thread quietly starts here, ring after ring, one whole.

道是无晴却有晴

They say there is no clear, yet there is clear, after all.

说是无晴却又有晴

You say no sunshine, yet there is sunshine.

末句是全诗的诗眼，以天气双关人情，将少女复杂微妙的心理写得活灵活现。「东边日出西边雨」本是巴蜀山区常见的天气奇观，诗人却信手拈来，作为少女心事的外化：情郎的歌声听起来似有深情，却又捉摸不定，恰如这半边晴半边雨的天气，说无晴（情）却又有晴（情），说有晴（情）又怕是无晴（情）。「晴」「情」谐音双关，一字双关两意，妙在似无却有、若有若无，把少女欲说还休、将信将疑、患得患失的恋爱心理刻画得入木三分。这一句既是写景，又是抒情，更是对情郎态度的猜测，景、情、理三者合一，浑然无迹。全诗前两句写景叙事皆实，至此由实入虚，以虚写实，语近而旨远，民歌的清新活泼与文人的含蓄蕴藉在此达到完美统一，令人回味无穷。

The last line is the poem's eye, using weather's double meaning for human feeling, writing the girl's complex subtle psychology vividly. The east sun rises, the west rain is originally the Bashu mountain region's common weather wonder; the poet yet picks it up as the girl's heart externalized: the lover's song sounds full of deep feeling, yet elusive, precisely like this half sunny half rainy weather - say no sunshine (feeling) yet there is sunshine (feeling); say there is sunshine (feeling) yet fear it is no sunshine (feeling). Sunshine and feeling are homophonic double meaning; one word double two meanings; the subtlety lies in seeming-yet-not, now-seeming-now-not, carving the girl's wanting-to-speak-yet-holding, half-believing-half-doubting, gain-and-loss psychology to the bone. This line is at once scenery, at once lyric, at once surmise of the lover's attitude; scenery, feeling, reason three fused,浑然 without trace. The whole poem's first two lines' scenery-and-narrative are both solid; here from solid to void, using void to write solid; words near yet purport far; the folk song's freshness and the literatus's reserve here reach perfect unity, making one savor endlessly.

Study

Word focus

晴 A homophone for 'love' (qing); this single punning word is the poem's eye and its chief wit, turning weather into feeling. 「晴」字是全诗的诗眼，一字双关，机趣横生。字面上指天气晴朗，与「东边日出西边雨」的天气描写相呼应；谐音上通「情」，暗指男女之情。诗人以「道是无晴却有晴」一语，将天气之晴与情郎之情叠合在一起：说是无晴吧，却分明又有晴；说是无情吧，歌声里又明明藏着情意。这「晴」字的有无，正是少女全部心事的焦点——她反复揣度、将信将疑、患得患失，都系于这一个字的肯定与否定之间。「晴」与「情」同音异义，诗人利用汉语谐音的特点，使一句之中兼含两意，妙在不言明而意自见。此字非但写出天气，更写出心理，非但写景，更写情，是民歌谐音双关手法在文人诗中最成功的运用，故历来被视为全诗的眼目与机趣所在，也是理解此诗的关键钥匙。

却 A forceful turn ('yet' / 'but') that writes the 'seems-absent-but-present' ambiguity and the girl's startled delight. 「却」字是转折副词，在此诗中却承担着揭示少女心理波澜的重任。「道是无晴却有晴」一句，前说「无晴」，后说「有晴」，中间全靠一个「却」字转折生波：它先否定了「无晴」的结论，再引出「有晴」的发现，语气由怀疑转向惊喜、由失落转向希望，把少女听歌后先疑后喜、先忧后乐的瞬间心理变化写得层次分明。若无此「却」字，则「无晴」「有晴」两语平列，语气呆滞，机趣全失；有此「却」字，则两句如抽丝剥茧，层层递进，「似无实有」的暧昧与「柳暗花明」的惊喜都在这轻轻一转中显现。更妙的是，「却」字还暗示了少女心理的反复：她或许已认定「无晴」，却又忍不住往「有晴」处想，一个「却」字，恰写出恋爱中少女那种不由自主地往好处想、又怕空欢喜一场的复杂心绪，炼字之精，令人击节。

青青 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「青青」叠字写杨柳之色，是全诗起笔的亮色，亦暗含深意。叠字的使用使杨柳的翠绿更具画面感与韵律感，「青」字重叠，如见柳色层层晕染，翠意欲滴，为全诗铺下明丽清新的基调。在古典诗歌传统中，「青青」一词源出《古诗十九首》「青青河畔草，郁郁园中柳」，本已与春景、相思相连；而「杨柳」折柳赠别、以柳寄情的意象更是源远流长，《诗经》「昔我往矣，杨柳依依」已开其端。故此句「杨柳青青」看似纯写景，实则暗含离别相思的文化密码：少女独立江畔，见杨柳青青而思情郎，柳色越青翠，心事越绵长。叠字的音韵之美亦不可忽视：「青青」二字平声相叠，读来轻柔悠长，如柳丝拂水，与「江水平」的静景相谐，声情并茂，先声夺人，为全诗定下含蓄蕴藉的情感基调。