五代 Five Dynasties · 词 Ci lyric
长命女·春日宴
Chang Ming Nu: A Spring Banquet
春日宴，绿酒一杯歌一遍。
再拜陈三愿：一愿郎君千岁，二愿妾身常健，三愿如同梁上燕，岁岁长相见。
Twice bowing, I make my three wishes:
first, that my lord may live a thousand years;
second, that this low body of mine may always be sound;
third, that we may be like the swallows on the beam,
meeting, year after year, for ever.
Meaning
A short vow taken at a spring banquet in the female voice of the Southern Tang court. After a cup of green wine and a song, the speaker kneels and makes three wishes in ascending order of selfishness: that her husband may live a thousand years, that she herself may always be healthy, and finally that, unlike mortals, they might meet like the swallows on the beam — year after year, without end. The third wish converts ordinary conjugal longing into a wish for immunity from time, and the poem's whole charm is in the plainness with which a grown woman asks to see her husband again.
春日宴，绿酒一杯歌一遍。再拜陈三愿：一愿郎君千岁，二愿妾身常健，三愿如同梁上燕，岁岁长相见。
Appreciation
[Structure] The poem is a frame around a vow: the banquet sets the scene, 再拜陈三愿 makes the ceremony, wish by wish, and the last wish supplies the poem's condition. Because the speaker counts aloud — 一愿，二愿，三愿 — the verse has the texture of a rite rather than of a lyric, and the repetitions give each line an increased weight. [Imagery] Only two images carry the whole poem: 绿酒, the green wine of the Southern Tang, and 梁上燕, the swallow on the beam. The swallow is the poem's entire metaphysics: it is small, unfussy, and it returns. [Voice] The language is unornamented to a rare degree; 岁岁长相见 is five plain characters and asks for nothing but company. [Effect] What makes the poem remembered is its refusal of literary grief: there is no parting described, no separation complained of, only a wish for a meeting.
【白话串讲】 冯延巳写《长命女·春日宴》：“春日宴，绿酒一杯歌一遍”——“再拜陈三愿：一愿郎君千岁，二愿妾身常健，三愿如同梁上燕，岁岁长相见”——她写春日宴——岁岁长相见。 【意象与手法】 “春日宴、绿酒一杯歌一遍”写春日宴；“再拜陈三愿”写再拜陈三愿；“二愿妾身常健”写二愿妾身常健；结以“三愿如同梁上燕，岁岁长相见”写岁岁长相见。真挚动人。 【情感与主旨】 冯延巳写祝祷之作，写春日宴中再拜陈三愿、愿岁岁长相见的真挚情感，是冯延巳词中的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“再拜陈三愿：一愿郎君千岁”写三愿；“三愿如同梁上燕，岁岁长相见”写岁岁长相见。
Background
Feng Yansi (903—960), courtesy name Zhengzhong, was from Guangling, today Yangzhou, and rose to the chancellorship of the Southern Tang under Yuan Zong and Later Zhou. He is reckoned the most important lyricist between Wen Tingyun and Li Yu, and his 阳春集 collects songs written for the court and for himself; the quiet, feminine, interior tone of this poem is typical of the period, in which the cipai were still largely the娱乐 of a Southern Tang court that believed its last decades were a golden age. The tune 长命女 is short, and this is its most famous setting.
《长命女·春日宴》为五代词人冯延巳所作词。冯延巳（903—960），字正中，广陵（今江苏扬州）人，五代南唐词人，官至宰相。此词写抒情祝祷，为春日宴上祝祷之作。词中「春日宴，绿酒一杯歌一遍」写春日宴，绿酒一杯歌一遍；「再拜陈三愿：一愿郎君千岁」写再拜陈三愿：一愿郎君千岁；「二愿妾身常健，三愿如同梁上燕」写二愿妾身常健，三愿如同梁上燕；「岁岁长相见」写岁岁长相见。冯延巳此词以抒情祝祷、岁岁长相见写其祝祷之情，真挚动人，是冯延巳词中的名篇。此篇《长命女·春日宴》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。此篇《长命女·春日宴》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。
Art
The art is arithmetic. Three wishes, each of one clause, each introduced by a numeral, and the sequence moves from the other man (千岁) to the speaker's own body (常健) and then to a form of immortality shared with a beloved (如同梁上燕). The rhetorical shape is a rising enumeration, and the third item carries the poem because it is the least literal: to be 如同梁上燕 is to belong to a pair that returns every spring. The diction is deliberately low — 妾身, 郎君, 岁岁 — and the effect is of a votive text rather than a poem of feeling. Nothing is described twice, and the banquet of the first line is never mentioned again.
此词艺术上以「真挚动人、以愿写情」见长。全词共九句，由春日宴而再拜陈三愿而二愿妾身常健。起「春日宴，绿酒一杯歌一遍」写春日宴：春日宴，绿酒一杯歌一遍；「再拜陈三愿：一愿郎君千岁」写再拜陈三愿：再拜陈三愿：一愿郎君千岁；「二愿妾身常健，三愿如同梁上燕」写二愿妾身常健：二愿妾身常健，三愿如同梁上燕；结「三愿如同梁上燕，岁岁长相见」写岁岁长相见：三愿如同梁上燕，岁岁长相见。全词以愿写情，由春日宴而岁岁长相见，真挚动人，是冯延巳词中的名篇。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。
Allusions
梁上燕 is the one the poem wears visibly: the swallow on the beam is the standard emblem of a married pair who live together through ordinary seasons, and its return each year supplies the model for 岁岁长相见. 绿酒 is the green wine of the Song and Southern Tang, made from green millet and mentioned in the subunit of the Ts'ao; its colour makes the banquet concrete and slightly inebriated before the vow is taken. 再拜 is the formal double obeisance of the address to a superior, so the speaker stages the wish as a court ceremony; 郎君 and 妾 are the ordinary terms of address between husband and wife, not the literary 君 and 妾 of the classical lament.
词中「春日宴绿酒一杯歌一遍」「再拜陈三愿一愿郎君千岁」「二愿妾身常健三愿如同梁上燕」「岁岁长相见」等语，皆含典故故实。「春日宴绿酒一杯歌一遍」写春日宴绿酒一杯歌一遍；「再拜陈三愿一愿郎君千岁」写再拜陈三愿一愿郎君千岁；「二愿妾身常健三愿如同梁上燕」写二愿妾身常健三愿如同梁上燕；「三愿如同梁上燕岁岁长相见」用梁上燕之典（燕双飞比夫妻相守），写三愿如同梁上燕岁岁长相见；「岁岁长相见」写岁岁长相见。词人以梁上燕之典入词，不着痕迹，而把抒情祝祷之情写得真切可感，是善于熔铸典故的体现。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。
Commentary
The song has been in almost every anthology since the Song, and Zhu Xi is said to have held it up as an example of a poem that is 语拙而情深 — clumsy in diction, deep in feeling — the very quality later critics praise in Li Yu. Modern readers have often read the three wishes as a feminist document: a woman articulating, in her own voice and without shame, exactly what she wants. Its continued popularity rests on the opposite of sophistication — it is short, sounds like a personal prayer, and can be sung.
这首《长命女·春日宴》，是冯延巳写抒情祝祷之作，写春日宴、再拜陈三愿、二愿妾身常健、岁岁长相见之情，真挚动人。起「春日宴，绿酒一杯歌一遍」——春日宴，绿酒一杯歌一遍。写春日宴：春日宴、绿酒一杯歌一遍——春日之宴、绿酒歌一遍；「再拜陈三愿：一愿郎君千岁」——再拜陈三愿：一愿郎君千岁。写再拜陈三愿：再拜陈三愿、一愿郎君千岁——拜陈三愿、郎君千岁；「二愿妾身常健，三愿如同梁上燕」——二愿妾身常健，三愿如同梁上燕。写二愿妾身常健：二愿妾身常健、三愿如同梁上燕——妾身常健、梁上燕；结「三愿如同梁上燕，岁岁长相见」——三愿如同梁上燕，岁岁长相见。写岁岁长相见：三愿如同梁上燕、岁岁长相见——梁上燕、长相见。这「三愿如同梁上燕，岁岁长相见」，是全词之结：以岁岁长相见写其祝祷。全词真挚动人，以愿写情，正是冯延巳词中的名篇。综观全诗，情真、景切、理深，三者浑融无迹，故能于短短数语之中寄无限深意，令人百读不厌。其含蓄蕴藉之处，正是中国古典诗歌以少总多、言有尽而意无穷的美学精神的生动体现。
Prosody
Line by line
春日宴，绿酒一杯歌一遍。
A spring banquet, a cup of green wine and a song sung through: the scene before the vow, set in one line and never mentioned again, the only image of celebration the poem will allow itself.
春日宴，绿酒一杯歌一遍。
At the springtime feast, a cup of green wine and a song through once.
起句写春日宴，起笔即见其宴。「春日宴」写春日宴，「春日」写春日、「宴」写宴；「绿酒一杯歌一遍」写绿酒一杯歌一遍，「绿酒一杯」写绿酒一杯、「歌一遍」写歌一遍。一句写春日宴绿酒一杯歌一遍，以春日宴写春日之宴、以绿酒一杯歌一遍写歌一遍，写尽春日宴、绿酒一杯歌一遍之情。以宴起兴，真挚而动人，是「以宴起兴」的妙笔。
The opening sets the scene of the spring feast, the warm starting point of the lyric. 'The springtime feast' fixes the time and place—flowers, wine, and music, a spring banquet. 'A cup of green wine and a song through once' writes the rhythm of the drinking and singing, each cup matched to a verse, plain in speech yet festive. The word 'green wine' is the southern wine of the Five Dynasties era, clear and pale, carrying the lightness of spring. Opening on the feast and wine, the whole lyric carries a joyous, devotion-filled warmth. The simple repetition of 'a cup' and 'a song' gives the music a swaying, hand-clapping lilt, preparing the three wishes that follow, and is the typical plain, direct opening of Feng Yan's words—deep feeling wrapped in the speech of everyday life.
再拜陈三愿：一愿郎君千岁，
Twice bowing, I state my three wishes: first, that my lord may live a thousand years — the wish made for another, and the one that shows the speaker has begun with the man rather than with herself.
再拜陈三愿：一愿郎君千岁，
I bow again and set forth three wishes: first, that my lord may live a thousand years,
此句写再拜陈三愿，是全词写三愿之态的关键。「再拜陈三愿」写再拜陈三愿，「再拜」写再拜、「陈三愿」写陈三愿；「一愿郎君千岁」写一愿郎君千岁，「一愿」写一愿、「郎君千岁」写郎君千岁。一句写再拜陈三愿一愿郎君千岁，以再拜陈三愿写陈三愿、以一愿郎君千岁写郎君千岁，写尽再拜陈三愿、一愿郎君千岁之情。以拜写愿，真挚而动人，是「以拜写愿」的点睛之笔。
The line writes the two bows and the three wishes, the turning of the lyric from the feast to the vows. 'I bow again' writes the ceremony of double bowing—bowing twice in earnest, the solemnity of the wish visible at once. 'Set forth three wishes' names that three wishes are made, the structure of the whole. 'First, that my lord may live a thousand years' writes the first wish, wishing the beloved long life—the 'thousand years' of old toasts to longevity, the most heartfelt blessing of a wife to her husband. The line moves from the ritual to the content of the wish, and its plain, spoken quality—'first, that my lord may live a thousand years'—renders the devotion entirely without adornment. Beginning with 'longevity,' the first wish sets the order of the three: life, health, and togetherness, each rising from the real life of a loving couple, the most ordinary yet most profound of wishes.
二愿妾身常健，三愿如同梁上燕，
Second, that this low body of mine may always be sound; third, that we may be like the swallows on the beam — the wish that turns the poem from health toward love, and from a body toward a pair.
二愿妾身常健，三愿如同梁上燕，
second, that I myself may ever be strong; third, that like the swallows on the beam,
此句写二愿妾身常健，是全词写妾身之态的关键。「二愿妾身常健」写二愿妾身常健，「二愿」写二愿、「妾身常健」写妾身常健；「三愿如同梁上燕」写三愿如同梁上燕，「三愿」写三愿、「如同梁上燕」用梁上燕之典写如同梁上燕。一句写二愿妾身常健三愿如同梁上燕，以二愿妾身常健写妾身常健、以三愿如同梁上燕写梁上燕，写尽二愿妾身常健、三愿如同梁上燕之情。以燕写愿，真挚而动人，是「以燕写愿」的点睛之笔。
The line writes the second wish of health and the third of swallows on the beam, deepening the lyric's vows layer by layer. 'Second, that I myself may ever be strong' writes the second wish, wishing the wife her own health—not wishing grand blessings for herself, but only the strength to stay by him, a quiet, selfless wish. 'Third, that like the swallows on the beam' writes the third wish through the metaphor of the swallows—swallows nesting under the beam, pair upon pair, year after year, never parting. The word 'like' compares the couple to the swallows, longing to be like the paired birds under the beam. The art lies in writing the third wish not in words but through the image of the swallows, letting the desire for lifelong togetherness take shape in the everyday sight of nesting birds, concrete and warm, the Huajian method of 'writing the wish through the thing.'
三愿如同梁上燕，岁岁长相见。
Like the swallows on the beam, meeting year after year — the close, which converts conjugal longing into an endlessly repeated return, and leaves the reader with nothing but the plainest possible statement of what the speaker wants.
三愿如同梁上燕，岁岁长相见。
like the swallows on the beam, may we meet again and again, year after year.
结句写三愿如同梁上燕，是全词立意的落点。「三愿如同梁上燕」写三愿如同梁上燕，「三愿如同」写三愿如同、「梁上燕」用梁上燕之典写梁上燕；「岁岁长相见」写岁岁长相见，「岁岁」写岁岁、「长相见」写长相见。一句写三愿如同梁上燕岁岁长相见，以三愿如同梁上燕写梁上燕、以岁岁长相见写长相见，写尽三愿如同梁上燕、岁岁长相见之情。以见写情，真挚而动人，是全词最动人处，也是「以见写情」的点睛之笔。
The closing line, repeated and resolved, is the most beloved passage of the lyric, the point where the wish reaches its peak. 'Like the swallows on the beam' repeats the image from the previous line, and 'year after year' writes the recurrence—the swallows return every spring to nest under the beam, and the wife wishes the same for the couple: year after year, together, never parted. 'May we meet again and again' closes the wish, the word 'meet' carrying all the hope of lifelong companionship. The art of the line is the repeated image and the plain speech: the swallows on the beam are the most ordinary of sights, yet invested with the deepest wish, and 'year after year' condenses a lifetime of longing into four plain characters. Critics praise it as 'devotion spoken through a smile,' because the wish is not mournful but joyous, not grand but intimate—the commonest hope of every loving couple, and that universality is why these lines have been recited for a thousand years.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Su Shi ends 但愿人长久，千里共婵娟 by asking that lovers be separated as little as possible and share the same brightness; Feng Yansi ends 岁岁长相见 by asking to meet as the swallows meet. The situations are almost identical, but the registers are not: Su Shi writes a philosopher's benediction that the moon remains, while Feng Yansi writes a wife's vow about a particular man. Where Su Shi's wish survives distance, Feng Yansi's is a wish that there be no distance to survive.
苏轼《水调歌头·明月几时有》「但愿人长久，千里共婵娟」，写祝祷感怀、真挚旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；冯延巳《长命女·春日宴》则以「三愿如同梁上燕，岁岁长相见」「一愿郎君千岁」写梁上燕、郎君千岁。两词同写祝祷感怀、真挚旷达：一写但愿人长久、以千里共婵娟写思亲，一写三愿如同梁上燕岁岁长相见、以燕写祝祷；一为苏轼之旷达、一为冯延巳之真挚，并读正可见词写「祝祷感怀」的两种笔法，皆于祝祷之中见真挚。
八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Ba Sheng Gan Zhou: Over the Drizzling Evening Rain on the River 柳永 · 同写凝望思亲、真挚深婉，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写再拜陈三愿一愿郎君千岁，皆于凝望之中见思亲 Both treat longing seen from a distance, one from a tower, one from a banquetLiu Yong's 对潇潇暮雨洒江天 opens an enormous landscape and then narrows it to one person leaning out; the present poem begins with a small scene, a cup of wine, and narrows to three wishes. What they share is the ordinary venue of emotion — a place where people are together and cannot be — and what separates them is scale. Liu Yong's longing is matched against the whole river; Feng Yansi's is matched against a swallow's comings and goings, and is the warmer and more modest of the two.
柳永《八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天》「对潇潇暮雨洒江天，一番洗清秋」，写凝望思亲、真挚深婉，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；冯延巳《长命女·春日宴》则以「再拜陈三愿：一愿郎君千岁」「二愿妾身常健」写拜陈三愿、妾身常健。两词同写凝望思亲、真挚深婉：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写再拜陈三愿一愿郎君千岁、以三愿写祝祷；一为柳永之清丽、一为冯延巳之真挚，并读正可见词写「凝望思亲」的两种笔法，皆于凝望之中见思亲。