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五代 Five Dynasties · 词 Ci lyric

长相思·云一緺

Everlasting Longing: Cloud-like Tresses

李煜

Li Yu

爱情Love 离别Parting

云一緺，玉一梭，淡淡衫儿薄薄罗。
秋风多，雨相和，帘外芭蕉三两窠。
夜长人奈何！

Cloud-like tresses, jade shuttle,
Light gown and thin silk gauze.
Many autumn winds, rain joins in,
Outside the screen, two or three plantains.
The night is long, what can one do!

Listen

Meaning

The poem depicts a woman's delicate attire and the dreary autumn scene, conveying her longing and loneliness in the long night.

如云的发髻挽成一緺，玉簪斜插如梭，淡淡衫子薄薄罗衣。秋风凄紧，冷雨相和，帘外芭蕉三五丛。长夜漫漫，叫人奈何！

Appreciation

This lyric, written in Li Yu's early court life, portrays a woman's longing on an autumn night. The first stanza describes her elegant dress, while the second uses wind, rain, and plantains to evoke desolation, concluding with a sigh of helplessness.

【白话串讲】 “云一緺，玉一梭，淡淡衫儿薄薄罗”——李煜写一个女子：头发像云，簪子像玉梭。“秋风多，雨相和，帘外芭蕉三两窠。夜长人奈何”——夜深人静，她等的人没来。【意象与手法】此词以白描写人写境，上片'云一緺，玉一梭，淡淡衫儿薄薄罗'三句叠用数量与形容词，于极省净中勾出女子素洁容饰【情感与主旨】李煜（937—978）初名从嘉，南唐后主，前期词多写宫廷宴乐与男女情思，风格绮丽柔婉【名句点睛】备考要点：一、叠字赏析，'淡淡''薄薄'如何写素洁闲雅；二、写景作用，秋风秋雨芭蕉如何烘托孤寂

Background

Li Yu (937–978), also known as Li Houzhu, was the last ruler of the Southern Tang. His early ci poems often depict courtly pleasures and romantic feelings in a ornate style. This piece, written from a woman's perspective, reflects her autumn longing and shows the refined daily life of palace women.

《长相思·云一緺》是南唐后主李煜的前期词作。李煜（937—978），初名从嘉，字重光，南唐中主李璟第六子，宋建隆二年（961年）嗣位于金陵，世称李后主，开宝八年（975年）国破降宋，太平兴国三年（978年）被宋太宗赐药毒死。其词以亡国为界，分为前后两期，前期多写宫廷宴乐与男女情思，风格绮丽柔婉，后期多写故国之思与亡国之痛，风格凄怆悲凉。此词写一女子秋夜怀人的孤寂，属前期之作，然其具体创作年代与所咏对象已难确考，或以为写宫女之怨，或以为泛写闺情，学界多不深究其本事而赏其意境。就版本而言，此词收入《南唐二主词》，各本文字小有出入，「云一緺」的「緺」字，或作「窝」，指发髻之形；「三两窠」或作「三两棵」，皆义近。此词是李煜以小令写闺情的代表作，通篇白描，不着一情语而情自深，在五代词中以其省净素雅而独标一格，与其后期「一江春水向东流」的沉痛恰成两端，可见后主词风的丰富。此词虽小，然其写女子秋夜孤寂的笔法，已见李煜词「以淡语写深情」的端倪。就版本而言，「云一緺」的「緺」字，或作「窝」，或作「涡」，字形相近而皆状发髻之盘旋，今本多从「緺」；「帘外芭蕉三两窠」的「窠」字，指丛，与「棵」义近而更见芭蕉成丛的姿态。此词与李煜《长相思》诸作同属《南唐二主词》所收的早期小令，其柔婉绮丽的风格，正是后主前期「伶工之词」的典型。

Art

The poem uses plain language to depict the woman and scene. The first three lines use reduplicatives to convey simplicity; the latter part contrasts the bleak outdoor scene with her inner solitude. The colloquial closing emphasizes the depth of longing.

此词以白描写人写境，于极省净的笔墨中勾出女子素洁的容饰与秋夜的孤寂。上片「云一緺，玉一梭，淡淡衫儿薄薄罗」三句，以「云」「玉」「罗」三个意象写女子的发髻、玉簪与衣衫，「淡淡」「薄薄」两个叠词并置，于颜色的素淡与衣料的轻薄中，勾出一个闲雅素洁的女子形象，无一字写容貌而容态自见，是白描写人的极高境界。下片「秋风多，雨相和，帘外芭蕉三两窠」转写外景，秋风凄紧、冷雨相和，帘外芭蕉三两丛，以风、雨、芭蕉三个秋夜意象铺写环境，秋声秋色的萧瑟与上片女子的孤影相映，情寓景中而不着一字。末句「夜长人奈何」以五字收束，一声长叹，将长夜的难捱与女子的无奈尽数托出，戛然而止而余韵不绝。全词以景起、以景承、以叹结，上下片由人及境、由境及情，层次井然而过渡无痕。其「淡淡」「薄薄」的叠字运用，既状衣饰之素，又见心情之闲，柔婉之中暗含孤寂，正是李煜前期词绮丽而不失清雅的本色。此词的结构，上片写人、下片写境，人与境之间以「帘」字勾连——上片女子在帘内，下片秋风冷雨芭蕉在帘外，一帘之隔，里外相应，人的孤寂遂在景的萧瑟中加倍。其叠字的运用尤见匠心，「淡淡」「薄薄」既状衣饰，又暗传心情的闲淡与落寞，与下片「秋风多，雨相和」的风雨交加形成反差，闲淡其表而凄清其里，正是小令含蓄蕴藉的妙处。

Allusions

No explicit allusions; the plantain imagery traditionally evokes sorrow (e.g., Du Mu's poems). The tune 'Everlasting Longing' is a Tang melody suitable for expressing lingering feelings.

「云一緺」的「云」字指发，以云喻发是古典诗歌的常法，《诗经·鄘风·君子偕老》有「鬒发如云，不屑髢也」，以云状黑发之浓密，此词「云一緺」正承其喻，写发髻如云，一个「云」字既状发之浓黑，又含蓬松轻盈之态。「緺」字本义为盘结，此处指发髻挽成一盘，白居易诗中屡见「緺」字状发，此词用之，见出五代词人语汇的承续。「玉一梭」指玉簪，以「梭」状玉簪之形，取其两头尖、中段微收的样态，与发髻相映，写女子妆饰的精巧。「罗」为轻软的丝织品，「薄薄罗」写罗衣之薄，其语可上溯《古诗十九首》「被服罗裳衣」及汉乐府写罗衣的旧格。芭蕉意象为此词写愁的关键，芭蕉叶大而雨打有声，秋夜听雨打芭蕉，遂成孤寂的经典象征，白居易《夜雨》「隔窗知夜雨，芭蕉先有声」已开其端，至宋代李清照「梧桐更兼细雨」、蒋捷「一任阶前，点滴到天明」，芭蕉夜雨遂成写愁的固定意象，此词「帘外芭蕉三两窠」正是这一意象链上的重要一环。又「夜长人奈何」的「奈何」之叹，直承乐府「夜长人奈何」的古辞，将词中女子的孤寂，接续到汉魏以来无数长夜难眠者的共同叹调上，使一己的闲愁具有了历史的厚度，此种以古叹写今愁的笔法，正是李煜善化古语的体现。「奈何」一词出《史记·项羽本纪》「虞兮虞兮奈若何」及乐府「夜长人奈何」之类，本为无可奈何之叹，此词以之收束，直抒长夜难捱的无奈，语浅而情切。

Commentary

Later critics compare this poem with those of Wen Tingyun and Wei Zhuang, praising its genuineness and lack of ornamentation. Wang Guowei, though favoring Li Yu's later works, appreciated the charm of these early pieces.

李煜词向以「眼界始大，感慨遂深」著称，此评出王国维《人间词话》，然其所指多在后主后期词；此首前期之作，则以省净素雅见长，王国维又谓「词至李后主而眼界始大」，盖统前后期而言之。就选本而言，此词收入《南唐二主词》，明毛晋汲古阁本、清侯文灿本皆录，文字略有出入。清沈谦《填词杂说》有「男中李后主，女中李易安」之评，将李煜与李清照并称，此词「淡淡衫儿薄薄罗」的省净，与易安「玉枕纱橱，半夜凉初透」的清雅，确有同调之妙。谭献《复堂词话》论词贵「柔厚」，此词不着一怨字而怨自深，正是柔厚之境的体现。就接受史而言，此词的叠字白描直接影响后世，李清照「寻寻觅觅，冷冷清清」的叠字法，虽气象更为阔大，其以叠字写愁的手法，实可于此词「淡淡」「薄薄」见其端倪。今人詹安泰《李璟李煜词》对此词笺注最详，王仲闻《南唐二主词校订》于字句校勘尤为精审，皆为此词研究的基本文献。又清谭献《复堂词话》论词贵「柔厚」，此词不着一怨字而怨自深，正是柔厚之境的体现。近人王国维《人间词话》虽以「眼界始大」许后主后期词，然此首前期之作的省净，亦自有其不可掩之美，王国维所谓「词至李后主而眼界始大」的转变，正可于此词与《虞美人》的对读中见出。就影响而言，此词「淡淡衫儿薄薄罗」的叠字白描，直接下开李清照「凄凄惨惨戚戚」的叠字法，虽一写容饰之素、一写愁绪之浓，而以叠字传神入妙的笔法则一脉相承。

Prosody

Form Ci poetry, pattern 'Everlasting Longing', 36 characters词，调寄《长相思》（双调小令）

Rhyme First stanza oblique tone, second stanza level tone全词押平水韵下平五歌韵，韵脚为「緺、梭、罗、多、和、窠、何」，一韵到底，皆属平声歌戈韵

Tone pattern Short lines, suitable for lingering emotion此词句式参差，为三三七、三三七、五的句式结构。上片「云一緺，玉一梭，淡淡衫儿薄薄罗」三句，前三字短句两叠，后七字句收束；下片同构，末以五字句「夜长人奈何」煞尾。全词平声歌韵贯串，音色轻柔婉转，与词的婉约情调相谐。

Reading note Originally a Tang melody, the prosody matches the mood.《长相思》为唐教坊曲，又名《双红豆》《山渐青》，白居易以「汴水流，泗水流」一阕定其格律，双调三十六字，上下片各三句，句式三三七，后多一五字句者则为别体，此词即属带五字煞尾的一体。全词押平声歌韵，「緺、梭、罗、多、和、窠、何」皆属下平五歌，一韵到底，歌韵属开口呼而音色柔和，恰合词中女子素洁娴雅的形象与秋夜孤寂的情调，读来轻软缠绵，如闻女子低语。三个三字句的连用，是《长相思》调的声律特点，「云一緺，玉一梭」两短句如珠落玉盘，节奏明快，至「淡淡衫儿薄薄罗」七字句则舒展开来，快慢相济，音韵之美，正是小令声情的本色。末句「夜长人奈何」以五字煞尾，变快为慢，一叹三折，与全词的无奈之情声情相应。此词叠字的运用与平声韵的贯串相得益彰，「淡淡」「薄薄」的轻软与歌韵的柔婉，共同织成一种柔美而略带凄清的声情，是五代小令以声传情的典型。

Line by line

云一緺

A cloud of hair coiled in a bun.

如云的发髻挽成一緺

Her cloud-like tresses are wound into a single coil.

此句以「云」写发，三字状尽女子的发饰之美。「云」字承《诗经》「鬒发如云」之喻，写发之浓黑蓬松，「一緺」则状发髻挽成一盘的形态，云之轻与緺之整，一虚一实，女子的妆饰宛然在目。以「云一緺」起笔，不写面容而先写发髻，是词家以偏概全的写法，发髻既美，其人可知，且「云」字自带一种轻盈飘渺之感，为下文的素洁形象定下基调。此句又是全词的第一个三字句，短促而轻灵，与「玉一梭」对举，两个三字句如珠落玉盘，先声夺人，其音韵之美，正是小令本色。

The line writes the hair through the word 'cloud,' three characters rendering the beauty of a woman's coiffure. 'Cloud' inherits the Book of Songs' comparison of thick black hair to cloud, writing its darkness and fluffiness; 'a coil' renders the bun wound into a single round mass—the lightness of cloud against the order of the coil, one virtual, one solid, the woman's adornment visible at once. Opening on 'a cloud of hair coiled,' the face unwritten, is the lyricist's method of saying the whole through the part: the bun being beautiful, the woman may be inferred, and the word 'cloud' carries an airy, ethereal feeling, setting the keynote for the pure, spare figure to follow. The line is also the first three-character phrase of the lyric, short and light, paired with 'a jade hairpin,' the two trios like pearls falling on a jade plate, seizing the ear at once—the very music of the short lyric.

淡淡衫儿薄薄罗

Light gown and thin silk gauze – reduplicatives show her refined plainness.

淡淡衫子薄薄罗衣

A pale little gown, a gauze robe of the thinnest weave.

此句七字，连用「淡淡」「薄薄」两个叠词，写女子衣衫的素淡与轻薄，是白描写人最精到的一笔。「淡淡」状颜色之素，不施浓艳，「薄薄」状衣料之轻，轻若无物，两个叠词并置，音韵轻软，与衣衫的轻柔相得益彰，一个闲雅素洁的女子形象遂于字里行间浮现。此句不写容貌、不写体态，仅以衣饰之素淡见人之淡雅，正是「不著一字，尽得风流」的白描之法。「衫儿」「薄薄罗」的儿化与叠字，又带出一种柔婉的声口，与词的婉约本色相合，其以叠字写人的笔法，下开李清照「凄凄惨惨戚戚」的先河。

The seven characters use two reduplicatives, 'pale' and 'thin,' to write the plainness and lightness of her clothing, the finest brushwork of plain depiction. 'Pale' renders the quiet color, no gaudy dye; 'thin' renders the lightness of the fabric, light as if weightless; the two reduplicatives set side by side give a soft rhythm that matches the lightness of the dress, and a woman of quiet, spare elegance emerges between the lines. The line writes neither face nor figure, but lets her refinement show through the plainness of her dress, the plain method of 'saying everything without saying a word.' The softened 'little gown' and 'thin gauze' carry a tender tone fitting the lyric's graceful nature, and its method of writing a person through reduplication opens the way to Li Qingzhao's 'so wistful, so sad, so sharp.'

秋风多

The autumn wind is many.

秋风凄紧

The autumn wind is shrill and insistent.

此句三字写秋夜的风，是全词由写人转入写境的枢纽。「秋风」点明节令，「多」字状风之频、风之紧，秋风一阵紧似一阵，一个「多」字写尽秋夜的萧瑟。此句与「雨相和」连读，风多雨和，风雨交加，秋夜的凄清由此铺开，与前文女子的素洁形象相映，人在风中、风在帘外，孤寂之感不待言而自生。以「多」字写风，不假修饰而情味自足，正是小令炼字的妙处——一字的简省，反胜于铺陈的渲染。此句又为末句「夜长人奈何」蓄势，风既多，则夜愈显其长，女子的难捱亦愈显其深。

The three characters write the wind of the autumn night, the hinge where the lyric passes from the person to the scene. 'Autumn wind' fixes the season; 'many' renders the frequency and insistence of the wind, gust upon gust growing sharper, the single word writing all the bleakness of the autumn night. Read with 'rain answers it,' wind and rain together make the night of autumn, and the desolation spreads, answering the pure figure of the woman—she in the wind, the wind beyond the curtain, the loneliness arising before it is named. Writing the wind through 'many,' unadorned yet self-sufficient, is the art of the short lyric's diction: the economy of one word outweighs elaboration. The line also stores momentum for the closing 'the night is long, what can be done': the more the wind, the longer the night, and the deeper her endurance.

夜长人奈何

The night is long – what can one do? – a colloquial sigh that ends with lingering feeling.

长夜漫漫，叫人奈何

The night is long—and what can one do?

此句五字收束全词，是一声无奈的叹息，将全词的孤寂推向顶点。「夜长」承前文的风雨芭蕉而来，风多雨和、芭蕉滴沥，则长夜更显其长，「人奈何」三字，写女子面对这漫漫长夜的无可奈何，不诉相思、不言离愁，只一句「奈何」，万般心事尽在其中。此句以「奈何」收束，语浅而情切，正合乐府「夜长人奈何」的古老叹调，将个体的孤寂接通了千百年来无数长夜难眠者的共同体验。全词至此戛然而止，不着一怨字而怨自深，不着一愁字而愁自浓，正是李煜词「以淡语写深情」的极致。

The five characters close the lyric in a helpless sigh, pushing the loneliness to its peak. 'The night is long' follows from the wind and rain and the plantains: with wind and rain, and the dripping of the leaves, the long night grows longer; 'what can one do?' writes her powerlessness before the endless night—no words of longing, no words of parting, only this 'what can be done,' and every care within it. Closing on 'what can be done,' plain in speech yet deep in feeling, matches the old Yuefu sigh of 'the night is long, what can one do,' connecting the individual loneliness to the common experience of all who have lain sleepless through long nights. The lyric stops abruptly here, naming no resentment yet resentment deep of itself, naming no sorrow yet sorrow rich of itself—the extreme of Li Yu's 'deep feeling in plain words.'

Study

Word focus

緺 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「緺」字本义为盘结，此词作「云一緺」，指发髻挽成一盘的形态，是写女子发饰的关键字。此字生僻而古雅，李煜用之，既状发髻盘结之形，又避开了「髻」「鬟」等习见字的熟滑，于省净中见出用字之精。以「緺」写发，白乐天诗中已有先例，此词承之，见出五代词人语汇的承续与新变。此字与「云」字相配，「云」状发之浓黑蓬松，「緺」状髻之盘结成型，一虚一实，发饰之美尽在二字之间。此字又为全词定下「发髻—玉簪—罗衣」的写人序列，以发饰起笔，先声夺人，正是词家以偏概全的匠心。

薄 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「薄薄罗」的「薄」字，以叠字状衣料之轻，是写女子衣衫的关键一笔。罗本为轻软的丝织品，再著「薄薄」二字，则其轻若无物、薄可透光之态尽出，一个「薄」字，既写衣之轻，又暗含人之弱，罗衣之薄与女子之单，在秋风的吹拂下合成一种不胜其寒的柔弱之美。此字与「淡淡」的「淡」字并置，一状色之素、一状质之轻，两个叠词交相映衬，女子的素洁形象遂因衣饰而呼之欲出。以「薄」字写罗衣，其轻软之质感可触可感，正是白描以一字传物之神韵的典范。

奈何 A sigh, turning longing into a helpless exclamation. 「奈何」二字是全词情感的总收束，以一声无可奈何的叹息作结，语浅而情切。「奈」者如何也，「何」者何也，二字连用，本是古汉语中表无奈的惯语，此词以之收束，将女子面对长夜的万般心事尽数凝于一声「奈何」之中，不诉相思而相思自见，不言离愁而离愁自深。此二字又接通了「虞兮虞兮奈若何」「夜长人奈何」的古老叹调，使一己的孤寂获得了历史的回响，个人的无奈遂升华为人类共通的体验。以「奈何」作结，戛然而止而余韵不绝，正是词家「以淡语收深情」的笔法，二字之重，实不下于千言万语。