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唐 Tang · 诗 Poem

竹枝词·其一

Bamboo Branch Song, No. 1

刘禹锡

Liu Yuxi

爱情Love 民歌Folk song 双关Theme

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。

Willows green, green; the river water level and still. I hear my lad singing on the river.
In the east the sun rises, in the west the rain, they say no sunshine, yet there is sunshine.

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Meaning

A girl by the river hears her lad singing and feels the first flutter of love. The poem turns on a pun, 'sunshine' (晴) sounding like 'love' (情), capturing her half-doubt, half-joy with folk simplicity. It is a model of a literatus adopting the folk song.

江岸的杨柳青翠葱茏，江面风平浪静、水波不兴。忽然听见情郎在江上唱起了歌。东边天空出着太阳，西边却飘着雨——说是没有晴（情）吧，却又分明还有晴（情）。

Appreciation

The whole poem hinges on the pun 'sunshine' (晴) for 'love' (情), binding the weather's clear-or-cloudy to the girl's knowing-or-not. The first two lines set river scene and song with static 'green' and 'level' countering the surprise of 'hear my lad.' The last two lines use the sudden shift of a 'sun-rain' to figure fickle feeling; 'they say no sunshine, yet there is' writes the contradiction of half-belief, half-joy, plain words, deep feeling.

【白话串讲】 “东边日出西边雨，道是无晴却有晴”——刘禹锡在巴山听民歌，写一个姑娘听情郎唱歌：说是无情，又有情。“晴”和“情”双关，这个谐音梗玩了一千多年。【意象与手法】全诗以谐音双关为枢纽。前两句写景叙事：杨柳青青、江水平，以明丽安闲的江景起兴，「闻郎江上唱歌声」由静转动，写出少女闻声的惊喜；后两句即景抒情：「东边日出西边雨」写眼前晴雨交错的实景，「道是无晴却有晴」以晴谐情，将天气之晴与少女心中之情绾合无间，「道是……却」的转折写出少女由疑到喜、半信半疑的微妙心理。全诗语浅情深，双关自然天成，民歌风味浓郁，是文人拟民歌的典范。【情感与主旨】此诗写少女初恋时的微妙心理：江上传来情郎的歌声，少女心头波澜起伏——他对我究竟有情无情？诗人不写心理活动，而以天气之晴雨作比，把少女的猜测、喜悦、娇嗔写得含蓄而鲜活。全诗无一处直说情字，而情意自见，正合民歌以比兴写情的传统，也体现了刘禹锡谪居巴楚时向民歌汲取营养、以文人笔法提升民歌的努力。【名句点睛】高频考点：「道是无晴却有晴」的谐音双关手法（晴谐情）；「东边日出西边雨」的即景起兴；少女心理的含蓄表达；本诗与南朝乐府谐音双关传统的承继关系。

Background

Liu Yuxi served as prefect of Kuizhou from the first to fourth year of Changqing (821 to 824). Kuizhou, on the Ba-Chu border, abounded in the folk 'Bamboo Branch' song; Liu composed new lyrics in its tune, drawing its fresh, vigorous folk air. This one writes a girl's first love, using riverside scene and a pun to convey feeling, a model of the literatus's folk-song form, passed down with the rest of the set.

刘禹锡（772—842），字梦得，洛阳人，中唐诗人，与白居易齐名，世称刘白，白居易称其诗豪。唐穆宗长庆元年（821）至四年，刘禹锡任夔州刺史。夔州治所在今重庆奉节，地处巴楚之交、三峡之上，为巴渝民歌竹枝的故乡。当地风俗，里中儿郎联歌竹枝，吹短笛、击鼓以为节，歌声宛转悠扬，多咏男女爱情与风土人情。刘禹锡谪居于此，深受感染，遂依其声调仿作新词，得《竹枝词》九首及《竹枝词二首》，此为其一。他在序中自述：余来建平，里中儿联歌竹枝，虽伧伫不可分，而含思宛转，有淇澳之艳音，可见其有意向民歌学习。刘禹锡一生屡遭贬谪而豪气不衰，其向民歌学习的实践，既是对屈原《九歌》传统的继承，也为文人诗注入了清新刚健的民间气息。《竹枝词》之得名，源于巴渝民间以竹枝为节拍踏歌而唱之俗；刘禹锡此作及组诗，将这一民间声诗引入文人创作，使七绝获得新的生命力，其影响及于后世数百年，是唐诗与民歌结合最成功的范例之一。

Art

The whole poem hinges on the pun 'sunshine' (晴) for 'love' (情), binding weather's clear-or-cloudy to the girl's knowing-or-not. The first two lines set scene and song, static 'green' and 'level' countering the surprise of hearing. The last two lines use the sudden 'sun-rain' shift to figure fickle feeling; 'they say no sunshine, yet there is' writes half-doubt, half-joy, plain words, deep feeling.

全诗四句，前两句写景叙事，后两句即景抒情，以谐音双关为全诗枢纽。首句「杨柳青青江水平」，以叠字「青青」写杨柳之茂，以「平」字写江面之静，景致明丽而安闲，是民歌典型的起兴之笔；次句「闻郎江上唱歌声」，由静转动，一个「闻」字写出少女闻声的专注与惊喜，歌声成为触发情感的媒介，「郎」字则点出对方身份，亲切而含情。三四句「东边日出西边雨，道是无晴却有晴」，以眼前晴雨交错的实景起兴，巧妙地以晴谐情，将天气之晴与少女心中之情绾合为一：东边日出西边雨，本是巴蜀常见的太阳雨，诗人信手拈来，既写实景，又成双关；「道是……却」的转折句式，写出少女由疑到喜、口是心非的娇态，痴情宛然。全诗无一字直说情，而情意无处不在，语浅情深，双关不露斧凿之痕，正是民歌清新自然与文人凝练含蓄的结合。全诗语言平易如话，无一字雕琢，而情致婉转，韵致悠扬，读之如闻少女心声；此种以俗为雅、化俗入诗的本领，正是刘禹锡高出一般拟民歌诗人之处，也是此诗历经千年而仍具感染力的根本原因。

Allusions

This poem uses no historical allusion; it wins through the folk song's comparison (xing) and punning wordplay. 'Qing' (clear/fair) puns on 'qing' (feeling) -- a common device of the Southern Dynasties Wu-sheng songs: 'mist and dew hide the lotus, and seeing the lotus the love is not clear' (lian punning lian, love); 'the silk threaded into the broken loom -- how can it become a bolt?' (si punning si, longing, and pi the pairing of lovers); 'kill the long-crowing cock, shoot away the black-tailed bird' (wu jiu punning wu jiu, my uncle). Liu Yuxi inherits this tradition and turns the fair-weather pun into a quatrain figure with perfect naturalness. 'The willows green and green' also carries inherited imagery: since the Book of Songs' 'when I set out, the willows clung' (Caiwei), the willow has been tied to parting and longing; here it quietly hints the girl's feeling amid the riverside spring scene. 'East of the sun rises, west of it rains' records a real Ba-Shu spring shower, yet it becomes the vehicle of the pun, scene and feeling, fact and figure, fused in one. The whole poem lodges deep, delicate feeling in the scene before the eyes and homely language -- a living use of the folk song's xing, and a classic case of the literatus learning from folk literature and elevating it. It may be noted that the wordplay of the Wu-sheng songs arose naturally among the folk; Liu Yuxi's refinement makes it finer still -- qing and qing identical in sound, different in sense, and once yoked, a marvel. The literatus learning from the folk does not merely imitate its form but distills its spirit.

本诗不用事典，而以民歌的比兴和谐音双关取胜。晴谐情，是南朝乐府吴声歌曲中常见的修辞手法：如《子夜歌》「雾露隐芙蓉，见莲不分明」，以莲谐怜；「理丝入残机，何悟不成匹」，以丝谐思、以匹谐匹配之匹；《读曲歌》「打杀长鸣鸡，弹去乌臼鸟」，以乌臼谐吾舅。刘禹锡承此传统，以晴谐情，是吴声谐音手法在七绝中的化用，而用得更为自然天成。「杨柳青青」亦暗含传统意象：自《诗经·采薇》「昔我往矣，杨柳依依」以来，杨柳多与离别、相思相连，此处写少女眼中的江畔春景，于不经意间暗示情思。「东边日出西边雨」写巴蜀太阳雨的实景，是民歌记实之笔，却恰好成为双关的载体，景与情、实与虚在此合一。全诗以眼前景、家常语寄深婉之情，正是民歌兴体的活用，也是文人向民间文学学习而提升之的典范。又可注意者，吴声歌曲之谐音双关多在民歌中自然形成，经刘禹锡点化而更为精工：晴与情音同义异，一经绾合，便成妙语，可谓青出于蓝而胜于蓝，足见文人向民歌学习，非徒模仿其形，更在提炼其神。

Commentary

Qing scholar Guan Shiming's Tang Poetry Selection called the Bamboo Branch songs 'winding and turning, just like a girl's voice.' Liu's own preface says 'the closing stirs like the Wu songs'; though this one is reserved, the nine Bamboo Branch songs are famed together, discussed with Bai Juyi and Qu Yuan's Nine Songs, showing folk song entering refined poetry.

刘禹锡《竹枝词》自序称其卒章激讦如吴声，虽此首含蓄婉转，其组诗以清新刚健之风开文人拟民歌之先声。宋人黄庭坚评刘禹锡《竹枝词》「道风俗而不俚，追古昔而不愧」，谓其深得《诗经》国风之遗意；清人王士祯《带经堂诗话》以刘禹锡竹枝与李白《子夜吴歌》并举，称皆唐人绝句中之神品；清人管世铭《读雪山房唐诗钞》评竹枝词「婉转曲折，便肖儿女子口吻」，正指此类作品写少女情态之传神。此诗一出，仿作者代不乏人：苏轼、黄庭坚、杨万里、范成大皆有竹枝之作，至明清更衍为吟咏各地风土的重要诗体，其源头皆可溯至刘禹锡此作。「道是无晴却有晴」一语，至今仍是汉语谐音双关的经典范例，屡入教材与试题，足见此诗的生命力与艺术魅力。近人论唐诗与民歌之关系，多举此诗为例：它既保有民歌的清新自然，又具文人的凝练含蓄，是雅俗交融的典范。今日吟咏此诗，犹能想见巴渝江上歌声与少女情态，其艺术生命力正源于此。

Prosody

Form Seven-character quatrain (in the folk Bamboo Branch tune)七言绝句（仿竹枝民歌体）

Rhyme Pingshui rhyme, lower-level eighth Geng (平, 声, 晴)平、声、晴，押平水韵下平八庚，首句入韵

Tone pattern First line enters rhyme; level-onset first-line pattern首句入韵；句式整齐近七绝，而平仄不拘常格，保留民歌自然之音

Reading note Composed in the Ba-Yu folk 'Bamboo Branch' tune; near a seven-character quatrain with folk flavor.本诗依巴渝民歌竹枝调而作。竹枝本为巴渝民间踏歌之曲，以七言四句为基本句式，多平起平收、首句入韵，声调浏亮，宜于歌唱，间以和声「竹枝」「女儿」。刘禹锡此作句式整齐如七绝，而平仄不拘近体格律：首句「杨柳青青江水平」作平仄平平平仄平，次句「闻郎江上唱歌声」作平平平仄仄平平，均不严守七绝常格，正保留民歌自然流转之音；三四句「东边日出西边雨，道是无晴却有晴」，以仄起平收相配，晴雨对举，音节活泼。全诗押下平八庚韵，韵脚「平、声、晴」皆响声明亮悠长，与江上歌声、少女情思相谐，读来琅琅上口。刘禹锡以文人笔法改造民歌，使其既有民歌之清新刚健，又具文人诗之凝练含蓄，遂开后世竹枝词一体，苏轼、黄庭坚、杨万里等皆仿之，其格律上的解放正是竹枝词生命力的来源之一。

Line by line

杨柳青青江水平，闻郎江上唱歌声。

Green are the willows, calm the river; I hear my love's song on the water.

江岸的杨柳青翠葱茏，江面风平浪静，忽然听见情郎在江上唱起歌来

The willows are lush green, the river is calm; suddenly I hear my love singing on the water.

前两句写景叙事，为全诗蓄势。「杨柳青青」以叠字写杨柳之茂盛葱茏，「江水平」写江面之平静无波，一岸一水，色彩明丽，境界安闲，是民歌典型的起兴之笔：先咏他物以引起所咏之词，江景之静正为下文歌声之动作铺垫。次句「闻郎江上唱歌声」由静转动，「闻」字写出少女闻声那一刻的专注与惊喜：歌声未至，先闻其声，未见其人，而心已动，情郎在江上唱歌，歌声顺江而来，少女倚岸而听，画面如在目前。「郎」字点出对方身份，亲切而含情。两句一景一事，由景入事，由静入动，少女情窦初开、闻歌心喜的情态已在言外，为后两句以晴雨写心绪作好铺垫。

The first two lines write scenery and narrative, storing force for the whole poem. Green are the willows uses reduplication to write the willows' lushness; calm the river writes the water's wave-less stillness; one bank one water, color bright, realm peaceful; the folk song's typical bi-xing opening: first chanting another thing to raise the thing chanted; the river scene's stillness precisely preparing the later song's motion. The second line I hear my love's song on the water turns from stillness to motion; hear writes the girl's concentration and surprise at the moment of hearing: the song not yet arrived, the voice first heard; the person unseen, yet the heart already stirred; the lover singing on the river, the song coming downstream, the girl leaning on the bank listening, the picture as if present. Lover names the other's identity, intimate and feelingful. The two lines one scenery one event, from scenery to event, from stillness to motion; the girl's first love-awakening, hearing-song joy already beyond the words, preparing the last two lines's using sun-and-rain for the heart's mood.

东边日出西边雨，

In the east the sun rises, in the west it rains,

东边天空出着太阳，西边却飘着雨

Sun rises in the east, while rain falls in the west,

第三句写眼前实景：同一片天空，东边日出、西边下雨，正是巴蜀一带常见的太阳雨。诗人信手拈来这一自然现象，笔触轻快，画面鲜明，而其妙处在于为双关作好铺垫：晴雨并见，正是有情无情的象征——正如情郎的歌声，似有深情，又难以捉摸。此句承上启下：上承江上歌声引起的悬想，下启「道是无晴却有晴」的双关点题，景与情、实与虚在此交汇。以景起兴而兴中有比，是民歌兴体的活用；而「东边」「西边」对举，日出雨落并见，句式活泼，音节浏亮，正合竹枝词踏歌而唱的民歌风味。单看此句是写景，结合下句则句句关情，可谓一举两得的神来之笔。

The third line writes the眼前 real scene: the same sky, sun rising in the east, rain falling in the west, precisely the Bashu region's common sun-shower. The poet picks up this natural phenomenon at a touch; brush light, picture vivid; yet its subtlety lies in preparing the double meaning: sun and rain both seen, precisely the symbol of having-feeling-no-feeling - as the lover's song, seeming deep in feeling yet hard to fathom. This line carries above and opens below: above carries on the river song's raised surmise; below opens the they say no sunshine, yet there is sunshine double-meaning naming-the-theme; scenery and feeling, void and solid meet here. Opening with bi-xing yet within xing there is comparison - the folk song's xing form's free use. And east and west set against each other, sun-rise and rain-fall both seen; the syntax lively, the rhythm bright, precisely fitting the bamboo-branch song's stamping-singing folk flavor. Reading this line alone it is scenery; paired with the next line, every word touches feeling - one stroke, two gains' divine brush.

道是无晴却有晴。

In the east the sun rises, in the west the rain, they say no sunshine, yet there is sunshine.

说是没有晴（情）吧，却又分明还有晴（情）

You say it is not sunny - yet, after all, it is.

末句是全诗点睛之笔，谐音双关在此完成。晴谐情，「道是无晴却有晴」，表面说天气：说它没有晴吧，东边明明出着太阳；实际说情意：说他对我无情吧，歌声分明又含情意。「道是……却」的转折句式，写出少女反复揣度、由疑转喜的心理过程：先是猜疑（道是无晴），继而发现端倪（却有晴），半信半疑、欲嗔还喜的娇态跃然纸上。双关之妙，在于以天气之晴雨写心中之情愫，字面全是眼前景，骨子里全是女儿心，一语双关，两意兼到，却又自然天成，不见雕琢。此句以晴字收韵，双关之意随韵声而远扬，把初恋少女那点猜不透、说不明的欢喜写得含蓄而鲜活，遂成千古名句。

The last line is the poem's finishing stroke; homophonic double meaning completed here. Sunshine homophonic with feeling: they say no sunshine, yet there is sunshine - on the surface saying weather: say it has no sunshine, yet the east clearly has sun; in truth saying feeling: say he is feelingless toward me, yet the song clearly holds feeling. The say-yet turn syntax writes the girl's repeated surmise, the psychological process from doubt to joy: first suspicion (they say no sunshine), then discovering the clue (yet there is sunshine); half-believing half-doubting, wanting-to-chide-yet-joyful charm leaps onto the page. The double meaning's subtlety lies in using weather's sun-and-rain to write the heart's feeling; the surface all眼前 scenery, the bone all a girl's heart; one word double-meaning, both meanings hit, yet naturally heaven-made, no carving. This line closes the rhyme in sunshine, the double meaning's sound carrying far; writing the first-love girl's bit of unfathomable, unspeakable joy reserved and vivid - hence becoming an age-famous line.

Study

Word focus

晴 The 'sunshine' (晴) is a pun for 'love' (情); the poem's eye, writing the girl's subtle mind in a contradictory line. 「晴」字是全诗诗眼，谐音双关，既指天气晴朗，又谐情字指情意。末句「道是无晴却有晴」，字面上是写东边日出西边雨的天气：说无晴，东边却有日；说有晴，西边又在落雨。而少女心中所想的却是情郎的情意：说他无情，歌声分明含情；说他有情，又不敢深信。一语双关，两意兼到，把天气之阴晴与心中之有情无情绾合无间，字面全是实景，骨子里全是心事，正是谐音双关的最高境界。此字之所以妙，在于它不只是一个修辞机关，而是全诗情感结构的支点：前两句写景叙事皆为此字蓄势，此字一出，则景皆成情语，事皆成情事。以一字绾合全篇，而自然天成，不见斧凿，是民歌语言天才的体现，也是刘禹锡化俗为雅的本领所在。

却 The 'yet' (却) turns strongly; 'they say no sunshine, yet there is' turns from doubt to joy, the coy half-belief of a girl. 「却」字是末句转折的关键，写少女心理的翻转。「道是无晴却有晴」，「道是」二字写少女的猜疑——他大概是无情的吧；「却」字陡然一转——却又分明有晴，歌声里的情意骗不了人。这一个转折，把少女先疑后喜、欲信还疑的微妙心理写得活灵活现：若直说有情，则索然无味；若只说无晴，则失落无疑。唯有一转，才见出初恋少女那份患得患失、口是心非的娇憨。「却」字本是极平常的转折虚词，用在这里却力重千钧：它既是句法的转折，也是心绪的转折，更是全诗情感由猜疑到欢喜的转折。民歌语言之妙，正在于善用虚词传神，此字与「道是」相配，一问一答、一抑一扬，音节与情韵俱佳，可见虚词在诗歌中的妙用。

闻 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「闻」字写少女闻声的瞬间，是全诗由静转动的枢纽。「闻郎江上唱歌声」，一个「闻」字，写出少女倚岸而立、忽然听见江上歌声的那一刻：歌声顺风而来，她凝神而听，惊喜、羞怯、心动，都在这一个字里。闻是听觉，却带出视觉的想象：未见其人，先闻其声，歌声越近，情郎越近，少女的心跳也越快。若换作「听」字，则只是客观的听觉活动；「闻」字更多一层不经意间蓦然入耳的意味，正合少女毫无防备、猛然心动的情态。此字又承上启下：上承「杨柳青青」的静景，闻声而动，静中生动；下启「东边日出西边雨」的悬想，闻歌而思，思而成疑。全诗的波澜，皆由这一个「闻」字引出，平字见奇，正是民歌炼字以自然取胜之处。