元 Yuan · 曲 Qu song
殿前欢·客中
Dianqianhuan: Sojourning
望长安，前程渺渺鬓斑斑。
南来北往随征雁，行路艰难。
青泥小剑关，红叶湓江岸，白草连云栈。
功名半纸，风雪千山。
My future is dim, my temples grey.
South and north I drift, following the marching wild geese;
The road of travel is hard.
Green-mud like the lesser Sword Pass; red leaves on the Pen River bank; white grass joining the Cloud Plank Road.
Fame is half a sheet of paper; wind and snow, a thousand mountains.
Meaning
A sojourner gazes toward the capital with a dim future and grey temples, his life of drift measured against the hard roads of exile — closing on the bitter truth that a half-sheet of fame costs a thousand mountains of wind and snow.
遥望长安，前程渺茫、两鬓斑白。南来北往追随远征的雁群，行路何其艰难。青泥岭似小剑关，红叶染湓江岸，白草连着云栈。功名不过半张纸，却要踏遍风雪千山。
Appreciation
The song opens on gazing toward the capital with a dim future and grey hair, then the drift 'south and north following the wild geese' with its hard road. Three parallel lines — Green-mud, red leaves, white grass — unfold the perilous distance of travel in balanced color and place. The close sets 'half a sheet of fame' against 'a thousand mountains of wind and snow', a tiny against a vast, the contrast bitter and sharp, laying bare the vanity of the price. Elegant yet depressed, it is a Yuan qu of clear self-mockery.
【白话串讲】 “望长安，前程渺渺鬓斑斑”——张可久写客中：望着长安，前程渺茫，鬓已斑白。“南来北往随征雁，行路艰难”——“功名半纸，风雪千山”——功名不过半张纸，风雪却有千重山。元代文人的漂泊。 【意象与手法】 “青泥”“红叶”“白草”三句鼎足对仗，色彩与地景交错；“半纸”对“千山”以小博大，反差尖锐，议论透骨。 【情感与主旨】 借羁旅写对功名的幻灭——以千山风雪换半纸虚名，是元代文人仕途坎坷的自嘲与悲凉。 【名句点睛】 “功名半纸，风雪千山”——以极小对极大，写尽求名之虚妄代价，遂成元曲警句。
Background
Zhang Kejiu was a representative of the elegant (qingli) school of Yuan sanqu, who spent life in low office and constant wandering. This little song writes the sojourner's gaze toward the capital and the vanity of fame.
《殿前欢·客中》为元代张可久所作，是写客中行路、功名之叹的散曲。张可久（约1270—约1348），字小山，庆元人，元代散曲家。此曲：望长安，前程渺渺鬓斑斑。南来北往随征雁，行路艰难。青泥小剑关，红叶湓江岸，白草连云栈。功名半纸，风雪千山。全曲写客中行路、功名之叹，是张可久曲的名篇。
Art
A dianqianhuan little song: first the gaze and drift, then the tripod-parallel lines of travel and the sigh at fame. The parallel is neat, writing the great through the small; elegant on the surface, depressed within.
《殿前欢·客中》艺术上以客中行路的描摹与功名之叹的苍凉见长。全曲一气贯下：首写望长安——“望长安，前程渺渺鬓斑斑”写望长安、前程渺渺鬓斑斑，“南来北往随征雁，行路艰难”写南来北往随征雁、行路艰难；中用青泥剑关——“青泥小剑关，红叶湓江岸，白草连云栈”写青泥小剑关、红叶湓江岸、白草连云栈；末写功名之叹——“功名半纸，风雪千山”写功名半纸、风雪千山。全曲以客中行路写功名之叹，正是张可久曲苍凉的笔法。
Allusions
'Chang'an' stands for the capital (the place of official advancement). 'Marching wild geese' are far-flying geese. 'Green-mud' is Green-mud Ridge (a peril of the Shu road). 'Sword Pass' is the Sword Gate Pass. 'Pen River' is the Penpu (Jiangzhou). 'Cloud Plank Road' is the Cloud Plank Way. 'Half a sheet' is a meager official document of rank.
《殿前欢·客中》用典在“长安”“征雁”“青泥小剑关”“湓江”“连云栈”“功名”。“长安”写长安（帝都，指仕途）；“征雁”写征雁；“青泥小剑关”用青泥岭剑阁之典；“湓江”写湓江（九江）；“连云栈”写连云栈（栈道）；“功名”写功名（仕途之求）。全曲以这些典故写客中行路、功名之叹，用典自然而苍凉自见，正是张可久曲的笔法。
Commentary
The line 'fame is half a sheet of paper; wind and snow, a thousand mountains' is a warning quip on the Yuan official career, alongside Ma Zhiyuan's 'ants in dense array' showing the Yuan qu's cold eye on fame.
《殿前欢·客中》是张可久曲的名篇，也是元代散曲中写客中行旅的代表作。此曲写客中行路、功名之叹，向为论者称道。论者多赏其客中行路的描摹与功名之叹的苍凉——“望长安，前程渺渺鬓斑斑”用长安之典写望长安、前程渺渺鬓斑斑，苍凉之极；“青泥小剑关，红叶湓江岸，白草连云栈”用青泥剑关连云栈之典写青泥小剑关、红叶湓江岸、白草连云栈，更见其远；“功名半纸，风雪千山”写功名半纸、风雪千山，尤见其慨。张可久为元代散曲大家，其曲以清丽著称，此曲正是其代表——以客中行路写功名之叹，正是其曲风。
Prosody
Line by line
望长安，前程渺渺鬓斑斑。
I gaze toward Chang'an; my future is dim, my temples grey.
望长安，前程渺渺鬓斑斑。
Gazing toward Chang'an: the road ahead stretches dim, my temples already streaked with gray.
首用长安之典写望长安、前程渺渺鬓斑斑，是全曲写客中怅望的起点。“望长安”用长安之典写望长安——“望长安”用长安（帝都）之典写遥望长安——望长安；“前程渺渺鬓斑斑”写前程渺渺鬓斑斑——“前程渺渺鬓斑斑”写前程渺茫、两鬓已斑——前程渺渺鬓斑斑。二句写望长安、前程渺渺鬓斑斑：望长安，前程渺渺鬓斑斑。以“望长安”用长安之典写遥望帝都、仕途所向，以“前程渺渺鬓斑斑”写前程渺茫、鬓发已斑，正是张可久曲写客中怅望的起点——望长安，前程渺鬓斑。
The opening uses Chang'an to write the homesick gaze of the traveler. 'Gazing toward Chang'an' alludes to the imperial city, the goal of official ambition; 'the road ahead stretches dim, my temples already streaked with gray' writes the dim future against the graying hair. Gazing toward the capital, the career dim, the temples gray — the starting point of Zhang Kejiu's traveler's melancholy.
青泥小剑关，红叶湓江岸，白草连云栈。
Green-mud like the lesser Sword Pass; red leaves on the Pen River bank; white grass joining the Cloud Plank Road.
青泥小剑关，红叶湓江岸，白草连云栈。
The Qing泥 cliff path, the little Sword Gate; red leaves on the banks of the Pen River; white grasses on the cloud-linking plank road.
中用青泥剑关连云栈之典写青泥小剑关、红叶湓江岸、白草连云栈，是全曲写行路之远的深化。“青泥小剑关”用青泥岭剑阁之典写青泥小剑关——“青泥小剑关”用青泥岭、剑阁之典写青泥险道小剑关——青泥小剑关；“红叶湓江岸”用湓江之典写红叶湓江岸——“红叶湓江岸”用湓江（九江）之典写红叶飘飞湓江岸——红叶湓江岸；“白草连云栈”用连云栈之典写白草连云栈——“白草连云栈”用连云栈道之典写白草连云栈道——白草连云栈。三句写青泥小剑关、红叶湓江岸、白草连云栈：青泥小剑关，红叶湓江岸，白草连云栈。以“青泥小剑关”用青泥剑阁之典写青泥险关、剑阁之难，以“红叶湓江岸”用湓江之典写红叶湓江、江南之景，以“白草连云栈”用连云栈之典写白草栈道、连云之险，正是张可久曲写行路之远的深化——青泥剑关，湓江栈道。
These three lines deepen the distance of the road through the allusions of Qingni, Sword Gate, and the cloud-linking plank road. 'The Qing泥 cliff path, the little Sword Gate' draws on the perilous Qingni ridge and the Sword Gate defile of Shu; 'red leaves on the banks of the Pen River' uses the Pen River at Jiujiang for a southern riverside in red foliage; 'white grasses on the cloud-linking plank road' uses the famous hanging plank road in the clouds. The perilous passes of Shu, the red-leaf rivers of the south, the white-grass sky-high plank road — the deepened length of the traveler's way.
功名半纸，风雪千山。
Fame is half a sheet of paper; wind and snow, a thousand mountains.
功名半纸，风雪千山。
Fame and rank: half a sheet of paper. Wind and snow: a thousand mountains to cross.
末写功名半纸、风雪千山，是全曲写功名之叹的归结。“功名半纸”写功名半纸——“功名半纸”写所求功名不过半纸之薄——功名半纸；“风雪千山”写风雪千山——“风雪千山”写所历风雪却有千山之重——风雪千山。二句写功名半纸、风雪千山：功名半纸，风雪千山。以“功名半纸”写功名如半纸之薄、所求之虚，以“风雪千山”写风雪历千山之重、行路之苦，正是张可久曲写功名之叹的归结——功名半纸，风雪千山。
The closing resolves the song's lament for fame. 'Fame and rank: half a sheet of paper' — what is sought is thin as half a sheet; 'wind and snow: a thousand mountains to cross' — what is endured weighs a thousand mountains. Fame thin as paper, wind and snow heavy with mountain after mountain — the resolution of the lament: the prize so light, the road so hard.
Study
Word focus
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