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先秦 Pre-Qin · 诗 Poem

郑风·溱洧

Qin and Wei (Zheng Wind)

诗经

Anonymous (Book of Songs)

爱情Love 上巳Theme 郑风Theme 民俗people 诗经poetry

溱与洧，方涣涣兮。
士与女，方秉蕳兮。
女曰观乎？
士曰既且。
且往观乎？
洧之外，洵訏且乐。
维士与女，伊其相谑，赠之以勺药。
溱与洧，浏其清矣。
士与女，殷其盈矣。
女曰观乎？
士曰既且。
且往观乎？
洧之外，洵訏且乐。
维士与女，伊其将谑，赠之以勺药。

The Qin and the Wei, their waters spread wide and free.
The gentlemen and the maidens, each holds a sprig of orchid.
The maid says, 'Shall we go and see?' The man says, 'I have already been.'
'Then come and see once more—beyond the Wei the ground is wide and gay.'
So the gentleman and the maiden laugh and jest together, and pledge each other with peony.
The Qin and the Wei, their clear currents ripple bright.
The gentlemen and the maidens, thronging the banks in delight.
The maid says, 'Shall we go and see?' The man says, 'I have already been.'
'Then come and see once more—beyond the Wei the ground is wide and gay.'
So the gentleman and the maiden jest anew together, and pledge each other with peony.

Listen

Meaning

A bright spring-festival scene in which young men and women gather by the rivers, tease one another, and exchange sprigs of peony.

溱水与洧水，正春波荡漾啊。男士与女子，正手持兰草啊。女子说：去看看吧？男子说：已经去过了。（女子说：）再同去游观吧？洧水堤外，实在宽广又欢乐。于是男士与女子，彼此调笑戏谑，赠给对方芍药花。溱水与洧水，水波浏然清澈啊。男士与女子，熙熙攘攘满岸啊。女子说：去看看吧？男子说：已经去过了。（女子说：）再同去游观吧？洧水堤外，实在宽广又欢乐。于是男士与女子，彼此将要戏谑，赠给对方芍药花。

Appreciation

From the "Zheng Wind" section of the Book of Songs, this lyric captures the Shangsi spring festival, when young men and women left the city to bathe in the Qin and Wei rivers and wash away the year's impurity. Its art lies in repetition and voice: the two stanzas echo each other almost verbatim, the swelling spring waters (first "spread wide," then "clear and flowing") mirroring the growing crowds of merrymakers. The bright, colloquial dialogue—"Shall we go and see?" "I've already been." "Then come again!"—lifts the formal ritual into playful flirtation, and the sprig of peony exchanged at the close seals the day's courtship with a single tender object. Unlike the courtly odes, the poem records folk custom without moralizing, presenting desire and celebration as natural and joyous. As one of the guofeng love songs it stands as a vivid snapshot of pre-Qin social life and of the relative freedom women enjoyed in these spring gatherings, and it remains the best-known example of the Book of Songs' earthy, songlike celebration of love.

【白话串讲】 “溱与洧，方涣涣兮”——诗经《郑风·溱洧》：溱水洧水涨了。“士与女，方秉蕳兮”——男男女女拿着兰草。“女曰观乎？士曰既且”——女孩问：去看看？男孩说：去过了。“伊其相谑，赠之以勺药”——他们互相打趣，互赠芍药。上巳节恋爱的节日。【意象与手法】以一对青年男女的对话为经纬，写溱洧二水春波涣涣、士女秉兰、相谑赠芍的明媚场景；二章叠唱，极富画面感与生活气息，毫无幽怨，一派生命本然的欣悦。【情感与主旨】极少数正面、欢快描写男女自由相会的诗篇，被视作上古“上巳节”春游祓禊风俗的活化石。女子主动邀约、男子憨直回应，终以“赠之以勺药”定情，让后人得窥周代郑地青年男女率性真诚的情感生态。【名句点睛】常考“女曰观乎？士曰既且”以对话写男女相会的自然；“伊其相谑，赠之以勺药”以互赠芍药写定情风俗。

Background

From the 'Zheng Wind' section of the Book of Songs (Shi Jing), China's earliest poetry anthology (compiled by c. 6th c. BCE). It captures the customs of the Shangsi spring festival, when people bathed in rivers to cleanse impurity.

《郑风·溱洧》产生的背景，与周代上巳节（农历三月上旬巳日，后固定为三月三）的祓禊风俗密不可分。郑国地处今河南中部，溱、洧二水穿境而过，水畔开阔，正是青年男女踏青游乐、临水祓除不祥的天然场所。据《韩诗》说与汉代记载，郑俗「三月上巳，之溱洧两水之上，招魂续魄，秉兰草，拂不祥」，士女云集，自由欢会。本诗正是这一民俗的忠实记录：诗中「方秉蕳兮」的「蕳」即兰草，秉兰祓邪；「赠之以勺药」的勺药（芍药）则谐音「约」、象征「结恩情」，是定情的信物。其创作当在春秋时期，由采诗官录自郑地民间，原是一首用于节令欢会的乐歌。值得注意的是，孔子虽谓「郑声淫」，却仍将《郑风》二十一篇尽数收入《诗经》，而《溱洧》以如此坦荡的欢会入诗，正说明周代前期民风开放、情欲未被礼教严密禁锢的事实。它为我们保存了先秦社会「发乎情、止乎礼」之前，那一段更自然、更舒展的情感记忆。

Art

The poem repeats its two stanzas almost verbatim, letting the refrain build a sense of communal joy. The crisp dialogue—'Shall we go?' 'I've been'—'Then come again!'—gives the formal ritual a playful, flirtatious voice.

《溱洧》艺术上最独特的创获，在于以「对话体」入诗与「风俗画」式的场景经营。全诗二章，章九句，结构几乎全同，仅易「涣涣」为「浏其清」、「盈」为「将谑」等数字。其叙事核心是一段极生活化的男女对白：「女曰观乎？士曰既且。且往观乎？……」女子邀约、男子推说已去、女子再邀，三言两语便写出一个主动、一个憨直的鲜活形象，对话的穿插使诗歌跳出《国风》常见的独唱模式，具备早期戏剧的雏形，历来被视为汉乐府「杂言对话诗」的先声。场景描写则以「溱与洧，方涣涣兮」「士与女，方秉蕳兮」的宽镜头起，以「洵訏且乐」的 environment 烘托，终以「伊其相谑，赠之以勺药」的特写收束，由景及人、由群像及个案，层次分明如一幅设色清明的上河图。叠字「涣涣」「殷其」与语气词「兮」「乎」的大量运用，使全诗洋溢着春水般轻快流转的节奏，把「乐」字从文字变成可感的声气。对话的穿插使诗歌跳出《国风》惯有的独唱模式，具备早期戏剧雏形，历来被视为汉乐府杂言对话诗的先声，其轻快节奏正与春水涣涣同调。

Allusions

The peony (shaoyao) was believed to ward off ill fortune and was exchanged as a love token at the festival.

《溱洧》的意象谱系，深植于先秦水滨祓禊与香草定情两大传统。「溱」「洧」二水本为郑地实有河流，因这首诗成为「春游欢会」的地理符号，后世「溱洧」竟成男女游春的代称。「蕳」（兰草）秉之以祓不祥，承《诗经》「香草」传统，亦启屈原泽畔行吟之先声；兰之「坚」与「国香」，使它始终是洁净与高情的物化。「勺药」即芍药，诗中「赠之以勺药」尤可玩味——马瑞辰《毛诗传笺通释》谓「勺与约同声，故假借为结约也」，即芍药谐音「约」，赠之寓意「结恩情、定婚约」，是以物之音寄人之心的最早双关之一。这一「花语定情」的母题，直接孕育了后世上巳、元宵「以花赠人」的节俗与诗词（如「维士与女，伊其相谑」之烂漫，直启李白「溱洧碧于草」的怀古）。而「洵訏且乐」的坦然欢乐，亦成为中国文化中少有的、对自由情爱毫不讳言的古典声音。「溱洧」一词自此径成男女游春的代称，而「勺药」的谐音定情更奠定了上巳元宵以花赠人的浪漫传统，其意象生命力跨越千年而不衰。

Commentary

Confucian later commentators read it as satire of Zheng's 'licentious' customs, but the poem itself is a warm, unjudging snapshot of youthful courtship.

全诗二章，章法如双帧连作，同写一日之游而微变其景。每章前四句布景：「溱与洧，方涣涣兮（浏其清矣）」写春水方盛、波光清涣，是欢会的天然舞台；「士与女，方秉蕳兮（殷其盈矣）」写士女执兰、岸上充盈，点出节俗与人潮。中间四句为一幕微型对话：女子主动问「观乎」（去看看吧），男子答「既且」（已经去过了），女子不依，再邀「且往观乎」，并描绘「洧之外，洵訏且乐」的广阔欢乐，活画出女子的大方与男子的憨直——对话的推进本身，就是一场温柔的邀约攻势。末二句「维士与女，伊其相谑（将谑），赠之以勺药」收束于定情：二人终相戏谑、互赠芍药，以「约」结情。两章仅「涣涣／浏其清」「盈／将谑」小异，前者写水之盛、后者写水之清，前者写人之「盈」（多）、后者写情之「将谑」（渐入佳境），于复沓中见出春游由盛到浓的自然流动。全诗不着一「爱」字，而春水、兰草、笑语、芍药已将上古爱情的欣悦写到极致。两章于复沓中见出春游由盛到浓的自然流动，不着一爱字而欢会之欣悦已写到极致，是《国风》里最像春风的一首。

Prosody

Reading note One of the most vivid records of ancient Chinese courtship rituals.《郑风·溱洧》为二章重章体，每章九句，是《国风》中杂言对话诗的早期代表，句式于四言为主中参以「方涣涣兮」「洵訏且乐」等带「兮」「乎」语气词的舒长句式，节奏轻快跳脱，最宜于表现春游的欢畅。押韵上，每章随句换韵而内部自协：首章「涣」「蕳」「观」「且」「观」「乐」「谑」「药」间用元寒歌部通押（涣蕳元寒，观乐元，谑药药部），韵脚疏朗如笑语；次章「清」「盈」「观」「且」「观」「乐」「谑」「药」清盈庚部与元歌通协，换「清」「盈」二字而气脉一贯。其最特殊者在结构上：中间嵌入「女曰……士曰……且往观乎」的散文化对白，打破了四言严整，形成「韵语叙事—散文对话—韵语收束」的错落，这种「以对话入诗」的杂言处理，被后世视为汉乐府《陌上桑》《孔雀东南飞》对话体的先声。语气词「兮」「乎」的密集使用，更使全诗如一曲春水般的吟唱，充分体现了郑风「淫泆」背后的轻灵与生机。

Line by line

溱与洧，方涣涣兮。

The Qin and the Wei, their waters spread wide and free.

The Zhen and the Wei, oh, brimming and flowing.

「溱与洧，方涣涣兮」是全诗每章的起手与背景幕布。「溱」「洧」为郑国两条实有河流，因本诗而成为「春游欢会」的文学地理符号；「涣涣」形容春水汹涌、波光荡漾之貌，点明时当暮春、冰雪消融、河水方盛的节令。这一起兴之妙，在于以自然之「活」衬人事之「欢」：春水涣涣不可拘，正如士女之情不可禁；水之满溢，恰呼应岸上「士与女」之充盈。更深层看，溱洧二水的「交」与「汇」，本身即暗喻男女之交会，使地理空间天然带上情爱的隐喻。后世「溱洧」一词径成男女游春的代称（如唐人诗中「溱洧」屡见），其源头正是这两句以春水开幕的明净笔触——它不写人而人已在景中，是中国诗「以境起情」的早期典范。

'The Zhen and the Wei, oh, brimming and flowing' is the opening of every stanza and the backdrop curtain of the poem. The Zhen and Wei are two real rivers of the state of Zheng, become through this poem the literary-geographic symbols of 'spring outing and lovers' tryst'; 'brimming and flowing' describes the surging spring water, the ripples, fixing the season of late spring, the ice melted, the rivers at their height. The art of this opening lies in setting the 'living' nature against the 'joy' of human affairs: the brimming spring water cannot be restrained, as the feelings of the young men and women cannot be; the fullness of the water answers the fullness of the 'young men and women' on the banks. On a deeper layer, the 'meeting' and 'mingling' of the Zhen and Wei themselves secretly images the meeting of men and women, so that the geographic space is naturally charged with the metaphor of love. Later the word 'Zhen and Wei' became the byword for spring love-outings (as in Tang verse, where 'Zhen and Wei' appears often), its source precisely in these clear brushstrokes that open on spring water—it writes no person, yet the person is already in the scene, an early model of Chinese poetry's 'stirring feeling through setting.'

女曰观乎？士曰既且。

The maid says, 'Shall we go and see?' The man says, 'I have already been.'

The girl says: 'Shall we go see?' The young man says: 'I've already been.'

「女曰观乎？士曰既且」是全诗最具生活灵气的一笔对话。「观乎」即「去看看吧」，是女子主动的邀约；「既且」（「且」通「徂」，训往）意谓「已经去过了」，是男子带着点憨直的推托。这两句之珍贵，在于它让女性成为爱情场景中的主动者——不是「士」追逐「女」，而是「女」来邀「士」，且遭拒后仍不放弃（「且往观乎」再邀）。在强调「男外女内」的后世礼教视野里，这种女子大方邀约的描写几近惊世，而在周代郑地开放的民俗中，却是节令欢会的常态。对话的口语化（「乎」「且」）使诗歌骤然有了呼吸与体温，也使其具备早期戏剧独白/对白的性质。这一男憨女俏的剪影，比任何道德说教都更真实地保存了上古青年情感的本然状态。

'The girl says: Shall we go see? The young man says: I've already been' is the most lifelively dialogue of the poem. 'Shall we go see?' means 'let's go look,' the woman's active invitation; 'I've already been' ('been' read as 'gone') means 'already went,' the man's slightly blunt evasion. The preciousness of these lines lies in making the woman the active one in the love scene—not the man pursuing the woman, but the woman inviting the man, and persisting even after refusal ('then come, let's go look' a second invitation). In the later moral vision that stressed 'men outside, women inside,' this plain description of a woman's open invitation was almost scandalous, yet in the open folkways of Zheng at the time it was the norm of seasonal trysts. The colloquialism of the dialogue (the sentence-final 'oh,' the 'been') suddenly gives the poem breath and body temperature, and the quality of early dramatic monologue and dialogue. This silhouette of the blunt youth and the lively girl preserves, more truly than any moral lesson, the natural state of early Chinese youthful feeling.

赠之以勺药。

They pledge each other with a sprig of peony.

He presents her, oh, with a peony.

「赠之以勺药」是全诗的点睛与定情之印。「勺药」即芍药，春末夏初开花，本为香草；诗人写士女相谑之后互赠此花，表面是节俗中临别赠芳，内里却藏着一个精妙的谐音双关——马瑞辰指出「勺与约同声，故假借为结约」，即「芍药」谐音「约」，赠之寓意「结恩情、定婚约」。如此，一朵寻常的春花，便成了上古的「定情信物」，使这场春游欢会由游戏升格为盟誓。这一「以花语寄心」的手法，是《诗经》「谐音双关」传统的早慧运用，也奠定了后世上巳、元宵「赠花传情」的浪漫母题（如「维士与女」之烂漫直启六朝《子夜》歌）。一个「勺药」，把全诗的「乐」最终落到了「约」上——欢会或许短暂，而约誓长存，正是这首春之诗最温柔的余韵。

'He presents her, oh, with a peony' is the luminous point and the seal of troth. The 'peony' (shaoyao) blooms in late spring and early summer, by nature a fragrant plant; the poet writes the young man and woman, after their banter, presenting each other this flower—on the surface the seasonal custom of giving a flower at parting, within hidden an exquisite homophonic pun: Ma Ruichen notes 'shao and yue share the same sound, so it is borrowed to mean a bond'—i.e., 'peony' sounds like 'bond,' and giving it means 'tying affection, plighting troth.' Thus an ordinary spring flower becomes the early 'token of troth,' raising the spring tryst from play to vow. This method of 'lodging the heart in the flower's language' is an early, clever use of the Book of Songs' homophonic pun tradition, and lays the romantic theme of 'gifting flowers to convey feeling' at the Shangsi and Lantern festivals (the 'young men and women' of this poem directly opening the Six Dynasties 'Ziye' songs). A single 'peony' lands the poem's 'joy' at last on 'bonding'—the tryst may be brief, but the vow endures, the tenderest afterecho of this spring poem.

Study

Word focus

涣涣 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「溱与洧，方涣涣兮」之「涣涣」，形容春水盛大、波光涣散流淌的样子。从「涣」从水，本义为水流分散，此处写暮春冰消、河水涨满、波光粼粼之象，是全诗春景的基调词。「涣涣」不仅状水之盛，更透出一种不受拘管、自在漫溢的生气，恰与岸上士女无拘无束的欢会互为表里。叠字本身即带水波荡漾的声韵感，与下章「浏其清矣」（水清貌）形成「盛」与「清」的互补：首章写水之满，次章写水之澈，由外而内，由盛而净，暗合游春由热闹渐入清欢的节奏。一个「涣涣」，以最简的字形承载了最饱满的春意，是《诗经》炼叠字写物候的妙例，也使「溱洧涣涣」成为后世咏春游的法定意象。

相谑 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「维士与女，伊其相谑（将谑）」之「相谑」，意为彼此调笑、戏谑、打情骂俏。「谑」本指开玩笑、逗趣（如「善戏谑兮，不为虐兮」），在男女相会的语境里，则特指带着爱意的调笑。诗中「伊其」为发语词，无实义，加「相谑」便写出一对青年由邀约、同游，终至亲密戏谑的自然进程——这正是爱情萌芽最生动的瞬间。尤为难得的是，诗人不写「相恋」「相悦」而写「相谑」，以「戏」代「爱」，反而更见真情的自然与轻快，毫无后世情诗的酸腐或沉重。下章易「相谑」为「将谑」（将要戏谑），暗示情意由已谑到将谑的递进，于复沓中见出欢会之渐入佳境。一个「谑」字，把《溱洧》的「乐」写活了，也使它成为《国风》里最烂漫的一个动词。

勺药 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「赠之以勺药」之「勺药」即芍药，古又名「将离」「可离」，多年生草本，花大而美。它在本诗中的分量，远超一朵春花：马瑞辰《毛诗传笺通释》明言「勺与约同声，故假借为结约也」，即「芍药」谐音「约」，士女互赠此花，实是以花之音寄「结约、定情」之心。这是《诗经》「谐音双关」传统中极早也极美的用例——物与情通过声音暗通，使寻常赠芳升格为盟誓信物。芍药之「将离」别名，更添一层「赠以惜别、别而相约」的缠绵。自此，花与情、音与心便在中国诗里结下不解之缘，六朝《子夜歌》「理丝入残机」的丝匹双关、唐诗「芍药绽红绡」的定情写真，皆可视作《溱洧》这一朵芍药的远裔。一个名词，因一次上古的春游，成了千年浪漫的密码。