All poems

元 Yuan · 曲 Qu song

汉宫秋

Autumn in the Han Palace

马致远

Ma Zhiyuan

历史History 离别Parting 元曲Yuan Drama

呀！
俺向着这迥野悲凉。
草已添黄，兔早迎霜。
犬褪得毛苍，人搠起缨枪，马负着行装，车运着糇粮，打猎起围场。
他他他，伤心辞汉主；
我我我，携手上河梁。
他部从入穷荒，我銮舆返咸阳。
返咸阳，过宫墙；
过宫墙，绕回廊；
绕回廊，近椒房；
近椒房，月昏黄；
月昏黄，夜生凉；
夜生凉，泣寒螀；
泣寒螀，绿纱窗；
绿纱窗，不思量！
呀！
不思量，除是铁心肠；
铁心肠，也愁泪滴千行。
美人图今夜挂昭阳，我那里供养，便是我高烧银烛照红妆。

Alas! I face this wild plain, so bleak and cold.
The grass has yellowed; hares have met the frost.
The hounds' coats turn gray; men raise tasseled spears,
Horses bear gear, carts carry dried grain, and the hunting grounds are set.
He, he, he—heartbroken, says farewell to the Han lord;
I, I, I—hand in hand, we step onto the bridge.
His entourage enters the desolate wasteland,
My imperial carriage returns to Xianyang.
Return to Xianyang, pass the palace walls;
Pass palace walls, wind through corridors;
Wind through corridors, draw near the Pepper Chamber;
Near the Pepper Chamber, the moon is dim;
Moon is dim, the night grows chill;
Night grows chill, the cicadas weep;
Cicadas weep, the green gauze window;
Green gauze window—I cannot think!
Alas! Not to think—only an iron heart could;
An iron heart, too, would weep a thousand lines of tears.
Tonight her portrait hangs in Zhaoyang;
There I will make offerings—even as I burn a tall silver candle to illumine her red gown.

Listen

Meaning

In this celebrated aria from the fourth act, Emperor Yuan of Han voices his grief after the departure of Wang Zhaojun. He moves from the bleak autumn landscape of the hunt to the memory of parting at the bridge, then traces his return to the palace where every familiar sight sharpens his longing. He admits that only someone with a heart of iron could refrain from thinking of her, yet even such a heart would shed a thousand tears. In a final poignant gesture, he imagines hanging her portrait and burning a candle to gaze at her painted beauty.

呀！我面对这空阔原野的悲凉。草已添了枯黄，兔儿早迎着寒霜。猎犬褪尽了苍毛，人儿挺起缀缨的枪，马驮着行装，车装着干粮，打猎的围场已经起场。他他他，伤心地辞别汉家君主；我我我，携手走上送别的河梁。他的随从走入绝远荒郊，我的御驾返回咸阳。返咸阳，经过宫墙；过宫墙，绕回回廊；绕回廊，靠近椒房；近椒房，月色昏黄；月昏黄，夜已生凉；夜生凉，寒蝉悲泣；泣寒蝉，绿纱窗；绿纱窗，教人不敢思量！呀！不敢思量，除非是铁打心肠；铁打心肠，也愁得泪落千行。美人图今夜挂上昭阳殿，我且去供养，便算我高高点上银烛、照看她的红妆。

Appreciation

Ma Zhiyuan turns a historical tragedy into a universal meditation on loss. The aria's emotional power comes from its masterful use of anadiplosis, where each phrase repeats the ending of the previous one, mirroring the emperor's unbroken mental wandering. The repetition of 'he, he, he' and 'I, I, I' simulates sobbing, and the shift from the vast hunting plain to the palace's narrow chambers creates a claustrophobic sadness. The ending, with its extravagant gesture of burning a candle for a portrait, is both absurd and heartbreaking.

【白话串讲】马致远写《汉宫秋》：汉元帝送王昭君出塞。“他他他，伤心辞汉主；我我我，携手上河梁”——“返咸阳，过宫墙；过宫墙，绕回廊”——“呀！不思量，除是铁心肠；铁心肠，也愁泪滴千行”——元帝回宫后的凄凉，催人泪下。【意象与手法】顶真（联珠）手法的空前运用。自“返咸阳”起，“过宫墙、绕回廊、近椒房、月昏黄、夜生凉、泣寒螀、绿纱窗、不思量”句句首尾相衔，把元帝归宫后步步触景、层层思量的心理过程外化为连环句式，一唱三叹。又善用鼎足对与列锦，以肃杀荒寒反衬离愁。【情感与主旨】此段为《汉宫秋》第四折汉元帝闻孤雁悲鸣、梦回昭君后的著名唱段，抒其刻骨相思。“他他他，伤心辞汉主；我我我，携手上河梁”把帝王之尊与凡人之痛叠在一处，结以“不思量除是铁心肠”翻跌，马致远以散曲笔法写剧，使历史悲剧化为人人可感的人性之痛。【名句点睛】常考“返咸阳，过宫墙”一段顶真手法的连环递进；“不思量，除是铁心肠；铁心肠，也愁泪滴千行”以翻跌手法写思念之深。

Background

Ma Zhiyuan (c. 1250–1321), courtesy name Dongli, was a leading playwright and sanqu poet of the Yuan dynasty, one of the 'Four Great Yuan Dramatists.' His zaju 'Autumn in the Han Palace' (Hangong qiu) retells the story of Wang Zhaojun. In this version, the painter Mao Yanshou, angered by Zhaojun's refusal to bribe him, disfigures her portrait. When the emperor discovers her beauty, it is too late: the Xiongnu demand her in marriage. The fourth act, from which this aria comes, finds the emperor after his dream, haunted by the call of a lone wild goose. Ma uses the Han-Xiongnu conflict as a screen for the trauma of conquest, exile, and irretrievable loss felt in his own time.

马致远（约一二五〇—一三二一以后），号东篱，大都人，元曲四大家之一，有曲状元之誉。其杂剧《汉宫秋》全名《破幽梦孤雁汉宫秋》，演王昭君和亲故事：画工毛延寿索贿不遂，丑化昭君，元帝惊其美而欲留不能，匈奴兵临，昭君出塞投江。剧非正史，乃借汉匈之事写元初文人的家国之痛与无力之感——金亡后公主和亲、宋亡后后妃北掳的当代创痕，皆隐隐在其中。此段在第四折：元帝送别归宫，秋夜闻孤雁，梦回当年灞桥，遂唱【梅花酒】【收江南】。需要说明的是，马致远杂剧诗性浓于戏剧性，常借剧中人之口大段抒情，此曲即元帝（实即作者）的独白，重点不在情节而在别后之思，故情感高潮在分离之后而非之中。本条目所录即这一最负盛名的唱段，历来被视为元曲抒情的绝唱，也是研究顶真手法与帝王悲情书写的范本。马致远以秋思之笔写兴亡之感，此折为全剧情感之高潮所在。

Art

The aria's formal brilliance lies in the anadiplosis (顶真/联珠) that links eight groups of phrases from 'Return to Xianyang' through 'I cannot think.' This rhetorical chain externalizes the emperor's obsessive, circle-like movement through the palace. Ma also employs 'three-legged antitheses' and a catalog of objects (grass, hares, hounds, spears, horses, carts) to evoke the desolate hunting scene. The juxtaposition of vivid external scenery with inner grief is masterful, and the voice swings from declamatory sorrow to almost colloquial confession, exemplifying Ma's ability to infuse dramatic verse with sanqu-like freedom.

此曲艺术之冠，在顶真（联珠）手法的空前运用。自返咸阳起，过宫墙、绕回廊、近椒房、月昏黄、夜生凉、泣寒螀、绿纱窗、不思量，句句首尾相衔，如长河放舟，把元帝归宫后步步移步、处处触景、层层思量的心理过程，外化为连环的句式，一唱三叹，机趣盎然。其次善用鼎足对与列锦：草已添黄，兔早迎霜。犬褪得毛苍，人搠起缨枪，马负着行装，车运着糇粮，以六个短句铺排猎场景物，色（黄、苍）与物（草、兔、犬、人、马、车）并置，肃杀中见苍茫。再次以乐景与哀情反衬：迥野虽是打猎围场，于失侣帝王却只觉悲凉；末以高烧银烛照红妆的痴想收束，把思念写到逾礼逾常的执拗，凄艳之极。全曲情感由外景而内痛，由放而收，结构如 spiral，愈转愈深。顶真句式句句衔尾，如泪如缕不可断绝，音情顿挫而悲不自胜；外景与内心层层相推，景随情换，声情并茂，尤见剧曲抒情之能事。声情相生，尤见笔力。

Allusions

The phrase 'hand in hand we step onto the bridge' (携手上河梁) alludes to the parting of Li Ling and Su Wu, as recorded in the 'Wen xuan,' and here transforms the imperial farewell into a plain human leave-taking. 'Pepper Chamber' (椒房) and 'Zhaoyang' refer to the Han palace quarters of the empress and Zhao Feiyan respectively, and by extension to Zhaojun's former residence. The final line adapts Su Shi's poem on the crabapple, 'Only fearing that the flower might sleep in the deep night, I therefore burn a tall candle to shine on her red gown.' The adaptation changes a lyric on flowers into a declaration of deathless attachment to a painted image.

河梁用李陵与苏武河梁送别之典（携手上河梁），此处元帝以携手上河梁自况与昭君之别，把帝王降为寻常送客，极写平等的人间之痛。銮舆、椒房、昭阳皆汉宫故实：銮舆指帝王车驾，椒房为后妃所居，昭阳为昭君承幸之殿，美人图今夜挂昭阳即悬像以慰相思。高烧银烛照红妆化用苏轼《海棠》只恐夜深花睡去，故烧高烛照红妆，马致远移以写元帝对昭君画像的痴看，将咏花之句转为生死之恋，脱化无痕而悲慨过之。青苔巷、月昏黄等皆宫怨传统意象。他部从入穷荒写昭君没入匈奴，与返咸阳形成空间上的永隔。全曲用典皆熟，却经顶真串联与散文化驱遣，既不滞涩又增厚度，是文人剧曲用事的高境。以熟典写极痛，经顶真串联与散文化驱遣，既不滞涩又增厚度，宜其能于剧曲中独步千古。借汉宫旧事写兴亡之痛，以古讽今，寄托遥深而不失当行本色。

Commentary

The opening exclamation 'Alas!' sets a tone of raw lament. The autumn hunting scene—yellow grass, frost-hastened hares, gray moulting hounds, spears, horses, carts—creates an atmosphere of military rigor and desolation. The tripled 'he' and 'I' stop the sweep of narrative, isolating the moment of parting in a frozen tableau. The anadiplosis sequence then gives the aria its center: as the emperor moves from the city wall to the gallery, to the Pepper Chamber, to the dim moonlight, to the chill night, to the crying insects, to the green gauze window, each step is a step deeper into memory and despair. The final image of the candlelit portrait is a fantasy of presence, making absence all the more unbearable. The aria is a masterpiece of dramatic lyricism.

起句呀！俺向着这迥野悲凉，以一声叹领起，把人物掷于空阔荒野，孤寂顿生；草已添黄至打猎起围场，六句铺写秋原猎景，草黄、兔霜、犬苍、人枪、马装、车粮，看似客观列锦，实则以肃杀反衬失侣之悲。他他他，伤心辞汉主；我我我，携手上河梁，以三叠他我对照，写昭君辞主、元帝送别，把帝王之尊与凡人之痛叠合，语气哽咽。他部从入穷荒，我銮舆返咸阳，一南一北、一生离一独返，空间永隔。以下返咸阳一段十六句顶真，是曲心：元帝一步步走回宫墙、回廊、椒房，景随步移，愁随景生，月昏黄、夜生凉、泣寒螀、绿纱窗，终逼出不思量三字——明知思量徒苦，却偏说不思量，反衬思之深。呀！不思量，除是铁心肠翻跌：除非铁心，方能不思，而铁心亦泪千行，则思之不可遏可知。结以美人图挂昭阳、高烧银烛照红妆，于痴妄中作结，余痛无穷。美人之死即社稷之殇，痴妄作结，余痛无穷，是元剧抒情之极则。

Prosody

Reading note The aria is built on a chain of anadiplosis: each line or phrase begins with the last word(s) of the preceding one. This technique creates an unbroken stream of consciousness, mimicking the emperor's obsessive return to memory. The musical setting shifts from broader six- and seven-character lines to tightly interlocked short phrases, intensifying the dramatic urgency.此段为元杂剧双调中的【梅花酒】与【收江南】联唱，虽属剧曲，格律仍循北曲定式。【梅花酒】句式以六言、七言为主，多带衬字，首数句草已添黄，兔早迎霜等为六言对偶，平仄较宽而重气脉；自返咸阳以下转为顶真连环，句式短促重复，于格律中造回环之趣，唱时如一步一叹。【收江南】呀！不思量，除是铁心肠；铁心肠，也愁泪滴千行，承顶真之势，以铁心肠二字钩连，句式由短促到舒展，把情绪推至高潮后骤收。美人图今夜挂昭阳，我那里供养，便是我高烧银烛照红妆为七、七、七长句，韵脚转入江阳，声情由凄厉转痴婉。北曲用韵依中原音韵，此处多押江阳、先天等响亮韵，与悲凉内容形成声情反差，愈显苍凉。衬字的大量运用（如俺向着这、他他他、我我我）使板滞的定格化作说话般的泣诉，正是马致远以散曲法写剧曲的看家本领。

Line by line

他他他，伤心辞汉主；我我我，携手上河梁。

The triple repetition of 'he' and 'I' recreates the sound of choking tears. This couplet shifts the aria from landscape to the human parting. The allusion to the bridge (河梁) evokes the famous farewell of Li Ling and Su Wu, momentarily stripping the emperor of his imperial role and making him an ordinary man holding his beloved's hand. The juxtaposition of his 'farewell to the Han lord' and his 'hand in hand' highlights the clash between political duty and private love.

He, he, he — heartbroken, bidding the Han monarch farewell; I, I, I — hand in hand, stepping onto the river bridge.

这两句是全曲情感由景入人的转折点，也是最见元帝凡人一面处。他他他、我我我的三叠呼告，模拟哽咽难言的口吻，把帝王哭送爱妃的失态写得不加掩饰；携手上河梁用李陵苏武河梁握别的古典，却用来写皇帝与妃子的生离，这一用典极妙——它把九五之尊瞬间拉回寻常送客的平等地位，元帝不再是发号施令的君主，而只是个挽着爱人手、步上桥头的伤心人。他辞汉主与我上河梁的对照，一边是政治身份（汉主）的失去，一边是私人情感（携手）的眷恋，身份与情感的撕裂正在这两句中完成。马致远写帝王之痛，不写其威，而写其弱，正因如此，这曲才能超越历史故事，成为人人可感的别离之悲。

These two lines turn the song's feeling from scene to person, showing the emperor's mortal face. The thrice-repeated 'he, he, he' and 'I, I, I' mimic a choking voice, laying bare the imperial breakdown at sending off his beloved. 'Hand in hand, stepping onto the river bridge' uses the classical farewell of Li Ling and Su Su on the bridge, yet applies it to the emperor and his consort's parting — a brilliant use: it at once pulls the Son of Heaven back to the equal footing of an ordinary man seeing off a friend; the emperor is no longer the ruler who issues commands, but a heartbroken man holding his lover's hand on the bridge. 'Bidding the Han monarch farewell' against 'I step onto the bridge': on one side the loss of political identity (the Han monarch), on the other the clinging of private feeling (hand in hand) — the rending of identity and emotion completed in these two lines. Ma Zhiyuan writes the emperor's grief not through his power but through his weakness; precisely therefore the song rises above the historical tale to become the grief of parting that all can feel.

返咸阳，过宫墙；过宫墙，绕回廊；绕回廊，近椒房；近椒房，月昏黄；月昏黄，夜生凉；夜生凉，泣寒螀；泣寒螀，绿纱窗；绿纱窗，不思量！

This famous anadiplosis chain is the emotional core of the aria. Each two-character (or three-character) phrase picks up the tail of the previous one, forming a seamless thread that mirrors the emperor's step-by-step return to his empty palace. The series of images—palace walls, winding corridors, the Pepper Chamber, dim moonlight, chilly night, weeping insects, green gauze window—each adds a layer of desolation, until the final exclamation 'I cannot think' (不思量) ironically reveals that he can think of nothing else. The rhetoric becomes the very motion of grief.

Back to Xianyang, past the palace wall; past the palace wall, around the winding corridor; around the winding corridor, nearing the Pepper Chamber; nearing the Pepper Chamber, the moon dim-yellow; the moon dim-yellow, the night turns cool; the night turns cool, the cold cicada weeps; the cold cicada weeps, by the green gauze window; by the green gauze window — I will not think of her!

这一长串顶真，是元曲抒情技法的巅峰，也是中国文学中顶真（联珠）手法的典范。从返咸阳到不思量，九组首尾相衔的句子如石级登山，一步步把元帝从宫门外引入椒房、从黄昏引入夜凉、从寒蝉引入纱窗，最终逼出不思量三字。其妙不仅在形式：每一句的尾字（宫墙、回廊、椒房、月昏黄、夜生凉、寒螀、绿纱窗）都是引动相思的物事与时刻，元帝每过一处、每经一刻，便多一分疼痛，顶真在此不只是修辞，而是心理过程的具象化——思量本不可断，故句式亦不可断。最末绿纱窗，不思量以否定收，恰是反衬：正因处处皆思，才偏说不思。十六句的回环，把一步一痛、步步皆伤的帝王相思，写得机趣盎然又肝肠寸断。

This long chain of anadiplosis is the peak of Yuan drama's lyrical craft, and a model of the 'linked bead' technique in Chinese literature. From 'back to Xianyang' to 'I will not think of her,' nine groups of head-to-tail lines climb like stone steps, leading the emperor from outside the palace gate into the Pepper Chamber, from dusk into night's chill, from the cold cicada to the gauze window, and at last forcing out 'I will not think of her.' The genius is more than formal: the tail-word of each line (palace wall, winding corridor, Pepper Chamber, dim-yellow moon, cool night, cold cicada, green gauze window) is a thing and an hour that stirs longing; at each place passed, each hour endured, the pain grows — anadiplosis here is not rhetoric but the making concrete of a psychological process: longing cannot be cut, so the sentence cannot be cut. The last, 'by the green gauze window — I will not think of her,' closes in negation, precisely the reverse: because everywhere he thinks, he says he will not. Sixteen looping lines write the emperor's love grief, pain at every step, witty and heart-rending at once.

美人图今夜挂昭阳，我那里供养，便是我高烧银烛照红妆。

In the closing lines, the emperor imagines hanging Zhaojun's portrait in Zhaoyang Palace and making offerings before it, even burning a tall candle to shine on her painted, red-robed beauty. This act of devotion transforms Su Shi's famous line about a crabapple blossom into a projection of desperate love. The 'there' (那里) and 'even if' (便是) suggest a self-comforting delusion: worshiping the portrait is as close as he can ever come to her again. The quietness of the image makes the grief all the more profound.

Tonight the portrait of the beauty hangs in the Zhaoyang Hall; there I keep vigil, as I raise the silver candle high to light her painted face.

这三句是全曲的结穴，也是痴情的最高点。昭君已死（剧中投江），元帝不能见其人，只能挂一幅美人图于昭阳殿，以银烛高烧、夜夜照看画中红妆。高烧银烛照红妆明显脱化自苏轼海棠只恐夜深花睡去，故烧高烛照红妆，原是诗人爱花之句，马致远移来写帝王对亡妃画像的痴看，将惜花之情升格为生死之恋，脱化无痕而悲慨十倍。我那里供养的那里，是自我宽慰的口吻，仿佛只要烛照红妆，便算与她相伴；明知是画、明知人亡，仍执拗地供着、照着，这种逾常的痴妄，把思念写到荒谬又动人的境地。结句不设悲啼，只写一盏银烛照着画中红妆，于静默的痴里收束全曲，余痛比号啕更久。这正是马致远以淡笔写极哀的本领。

These three lines are the settling point of the song, and the height of foolish love. Zhaojun is dead (in the play, she has thrown herself into the river); the emperor cannot see her person, and can only hang a beauty's portrait in the Zhaoyang Hall, raising silver candles to watch the painted face night after night. 'Raise the silver candle high to light her painted face' is plainly adapted from Su Shi's poem on the crabapple — 'afraid that deep in the night the flower might sleep, I raise a tall candle to light her crimson face' — words of a poet loving flowers; Ma Zhiyuan transfers them to the emperor's foolish watching of his dead consort's portrait, elevating love of flower into love beyond death, seamless and tenfold more grief. The 'there' of 'there I keep vigil' is a tone of self-consolation, as if, so long as the candle lights the painted face, he is keeping her company; knowing it is a portrait, knowing she is dead, yet obstinately keeping vigil, lighting — this excess of folly writes longing to the point of absurdity and, absurdly, moving. The close sets no weeping, only a silver candle lighting a painted face; in silent obsession the song ends, the lingering pain longer than any wail. This is Ma Zhiyuan's gift for writing deepest grief in the lightest strokes.

Study

Word focus

迥野 Remote wilderness; a vast, empty plain. In the opening line, it establishes the desolate physical and emotional landscape, highlighting the emperor's isolation before he even enters the palace. 迥野（一作逈野）意为空阔辽远的原野。此词置于起句俺向着这迥野悲凉，既点明元帝送别归途所面对的物理空间，更以空阔反衬失侣后内心的空落——原野愈广，人之孤愈显。迥字自带遥远、空茫的质感，与悲凉连属，未写人悲而悲已弥漫天地。在元杂剧的宾白唱词中，这类开阔的空间词常用来衬托人物渺小，马致远尤善以此起势，如秋思之天涯。此处迥野与后文宫墙回廊的逼仄形成对照：野外是放不下的痛，宫中是绕不出的愁，空间由放到收，恰是情感由放散到凝聚的轨迹。一个寻常形容词，担起全曲空间的起势与情绪的基调。

河梁 Bridge (over a river); by allusion, a site of farewell. It refers to the parting of Li Ling and Su Wu and here transforms the imperial leave-taking into a universal human parting, erasing the distance between emperor and commoner. 河梁指桥梁，此用携手上河梁化用李陵与苏武于河梁握别、携手泣血的故实（见《文选》李陵诗）。在汉唐诗中，河梁早成送别之代语；马致远移写元帝送昭君，便把一场帝王与妃子的生离，纳入千古送别的人性传统之中。其妙在降尊：元帝不称朕、不称御，而说携手上河梁，与寻常离人无异，遂使权力符号暂时消隐，只剩两个相爱之人的执手。河梁二字因此既是用典，也是去蔽——它让历史悲剧中的帝王，显出与普通送客同样的脆弱与不舍。一个地名代语，经此一用，重量倍增，是剧曲用事以俗为真的范例。

铁心肠 A heart of iron; colloquial for someone lacking normal feelings. In the aria, the speaker claims that only a heart of iron could stop thinking about her, but even iron would weep a thousand streams—so love proves stronger than the hardest substance. 铁心肠是宋元口语，犹言铁石心肠、毫无知觉的人。不思量，除是铁心肠；铁心肠，也愁泪滴千行，以铁心肠为支点翻跌：除非是铁打的心，才能不想她；然而即便是铁心，也止不住泪落千行——则思念之不可遏、之深入骨髓，已不待多言。这个词的张力在于它的绝对性：铁本喻最坚最冷，作者却用它来反证情的不可挡，以最冷之物衬最热之痛，对比愈烈，哀愈深。同时铁心肠是市井熟语，入剧曲正合元帝此时如常人般哭诉的声口，不须雅言而痛自见。一词之间，逻辑翻覆、情感决堤，是马致远炼俗字以写极哀的典范。

汉宫秋