All poems

元 Yuan · 曲 Qu song

红绣鞋·欢情

Red Embroidered Shoes: Joy of Love

贯云石

Guan Yunshi

散曲sanqu song 情爱romantic love 元曲Yuan song

挨着靠着云窗同坐，偎着抱着月枕双歌。
听着数着愁着怕着早四更过。
四更过，情未足；
情未足，夜如梭。
天哪，更闰一更儿妨甚么！

Pressing close, leaning together, we sit at the cloud window,
Nestling and embracing, we sing together on the moonlit pillow.
Listening, counting, fretting, dreading — the fourth watch is already gone.
The fourth watch gone, and love not yet filled;
love not yet filled, and the night flies like a shuttle.
Heaven! What harm would it do to slip in one more watch?

Listen

Meaning

A pair of lovers sit and sing together through the night, growing anxious as they count the watches slipping away. When the fourth watch passes and dawn is near, the speaker calls on heaven to add one extra watch to the night.

挨着靠着在云窗下同坐，偎着抱着对月枕边双双欢歌。听着数着愁着怕着，早过了四更。四更过了，情意还未满足；情意未足，夜却如梭般飞逝。天哪，再闰一个更次又妨碍什么！

Appreciation

The song is built out of repeated verbs, and the repetition is what makes it move. The first two lines pile up actions of closeness so quickly that the pleasure feels almost breathless, and then the third line switches to four verbs of listening and dreading, so that the same rhythm now carries fear. Linking phrases pass the fourth watch and the unfilled love from clause to clause, imitating a night running out. The final cry to heaven is absurd and entirely convincing, since it asks for exactly what any lover in that position would ask for. Its slangy directness is the particular strength of Yuan song.

【白话串讲】 “挨着靠着云窗同坐，偎着抱着月枕双歌”——贯云石写欢情：挨着靠着，偎着抱着。“听着数着愁着怕着早四更过”——“天哪，更闰一更儿妨甚么”——他盼着夜晚再长一点。元曲里最大胆的情歌。【意象与手法】通篇用连珠叠字（挨着靠着、偎着抱着、听着数着愁着怕着）与顶真（四更过，情未足；情未足，夜如梭），将欢情之急与怕别之怯写得活灵活现。语言俚俗泼辣，是元散曲本色。【情感与主旨】写男女欢会、贪恋不舍、怕天明别离的儿女痴情，末以'更闰一更'的痴愿收束，俏皮率真，尽显散曲的市井生机。【名句点睛】天哪，更闰一更儿妨甚么——以呼天痴愿写贪欢怕别，俚俗中见至情，最是散曲魂魄。

Background

Guan Yunshi, known by his studio name Suanzhai, was a leading writer of Yuan sanqu. Of Uyghur descent, he resigned from office and lived in retirement at Hangzhou, and his name is coupled with that of Xu Zaisi in a well-known pairing of the two masters of the form. This piece belongs to his frankly colloquial vein, treating the pleasures of ordinary life without literary disguise.

贯云石字浮岑，号酸斋，畏吾儿族（维吾尔）人，元代散曲大家，与徐再思（甜斋）并称「酸甜乐府」。其出身元代贵族，父祖皆显宦，本人官至翰林学士、知制诰，后却辞官归隐，变姓名卖药于钱塘，性任达不羁。元代城市商业繁荣，市井文学勃兴，散曲以小令、套数写儿女情、隐逸趣，语言俚俗泼辣，称之为「本色」。此首《红绣鞋·欢情》即写男女欢会、贪恋不舍、怕天明别离的儿女痴情，是贯云石散曲中极显「市井生机」的一篇。小令以连珠叠字写欢情之急，以顶真写光阴之促，末以「更闰一更」的呼天痴愿收束，俏皮率真，尽显元散曲不同于诗词的泼辣生气。其背景既是个体的儿女情长，也折射出元代文人挣脱礼法、纵情市井的时代风气，是散曲「写情无所避忌」的典型之作。贯云石字浮岑，号酸斋，畏吾儿族（维吾尔）人，元代散曲大家，与徐再思（甜斋）并称「酸甜乐府」。其出身元代贵族，官至翰林学士，后辞官归隐，变姓名卖药钱塘，性任达不羁。元代城市商业繁荣，市井文学勃兴，散曲以小令套数写儿女情、隐逸趣，语言俚俗泼辣，称之为「本色」。此首《红绣鞋·欢情》写男女欢会、贪恋不舍、怕天明别离的儿女痴情，尽显元散曲不同于诗词的泼辣生气与市井生机。

Art

Doubled verbs and linking repetitions give the song a jumping, speechlike rhythm that no regulated verse could produce. Time is measured in night watches, which turns an abstract shortness into a countable loss. The closing appeal to heaven ends the song on a joke that is also a confession of feeling. The whole is vulgar in the best sense, which is to say native to the form.

此曲凡四句，章法由欢而入怯、由怯而痴，层层递进，机趣横生。发端「挨着靠着云窗同坐，偎着抱着月枕双歌」以两组连珠叠字（挨着靠着、偎着抱着）写欢会之密，动作叠加如电影推近，将儿女缱绻写到极处；次句「听着数着愁着怕着早四更过」以「听、数、愁、怕」四字蝉联，写欢中已生别惧，一「早」字道尽怕天明之怯；三句「四更过，情未足；情未足，夜如梭」用顶真格（情未足三见），以回环写情之难尽、夜之易逝；末句「天哪，更闰一更儿妨甚么」陡呼于天，以痴愿收束，令人绝倒。全曲语言俚俗而章法精巧，叠字如珠、顶真如环，将欢情之急与怕别之怯活灵活现，是元散曲「以俗为雅、以巧为趣」的范本。此曲凡四句，章法由欢而入怯、由怯而痴，层层递进，机趣横生。发端以两组连珠叠字写欢会之密，动作叠加如电影推近；次句以四字蝉联写欢中已生别惧；三句用顶真格以回环写情之难尽、夜之易逝；末句陡呼于天，以痴愿收束，令人绝倒。全曲语言俚俗而章法精巧，叠字如珠、顶真如环，将欢情之急与怕别之怯活灵活现，是元散曲「以俗为雅、以巧为趣」的范本。

Allusions

The cloud window and the moonlit pillow are conventional terms for a woman's chamber and the bedside. The fourth watch is the last stretch of the night before dawn, so naming it announces that the meeting is nearly over. The request for an extra watch borrows the idea of the intercalary month in the traditional calendar, in which an extra month is inserted into the year, and applies it wittily to a single night.

此曲虽近白话，而用典与修辞皆有渊源。其一为「云窗」「月枕」，云窗本指雕饰华美的窗棂（如「云窗雾阁」），月枕指临月之枕，皆诗词中写闺情之雅语，贯云石移入散曲，以雅词写俗情，雅俗相生；「月」更暗点欢会之夜。其二为「更」与「闰更」，古以漏刻分夜为五更，更尽则天明人别；「闰一更」化用历法「闰月」之意，戏请上天于四更之后再「闰」出一个更次，以延欢期，是绝妙的口语化奇想，将「惜时」之愿化为呼天痴语。其三为顶真格「情未足」三叠，承汉乐府「鱼儿戏莲」及民间连环歌诀之体，使声情流转如环无端。数处用事皆融化于市井口语，不落书袋，正见散曲「文而不文、俗而不俗」的使事之妙。此曲用典与修辞皆有渊源：「云窗」「月枕」本诗词中写闺情之雅语，贯云石移入散曲以雅词写俗情，雅俗相生；「更」与「闰更」化用历法「闰月」之意，戏请上天于四更之后再「闰」出一个更次以延欢期，是绝妙的口语化奇想；顶真格「情未足」三叠承汉乐府及民间连环歌诀之体，使声情流转如环无端。数处用事皆融化于市井口语，不落书袋，正见散曲「文而不文、俗而不俗」的使事之妙。

Commentary

Guan Yunshi's songs run bright and quick, close to plain speech. Read next to Xu Zaisi's work in the form, this piece shows how openly Yuan song could treat desire, without the indirection that the classical lyric usually required. Its frankness is exactly what later readers have valued in it.

《红绣鞋·欢情》是元散曲写儿女情的一篇绝唱，向来为曲家所激赏。其异于诗词写情之含蓄蕴藉，而在以俚俗泼辣、机趣横生之笔，将欢会之密、怕别之怯、贪恋之痴写到极致。前人论散曲贵「本色」「当行」，此曲正其样板：连珠叠字如「挨着靠着」「偎着抱着」「听着数着愁着怕着」，纯用口语而节奏跳荡，活画出儿女缠绵的声口；顶真「情未足」三叠，回环往复，写尽良夜苦短；结句「天哪，更闰一更儿妨甚么」以呼天痴愿收束，俚俗中见至情，令人绝倒。较之诗词的「衣带渐宽终不悔」之深婉，此曲另辟「呼天抢地」的率真一途；较之同代关汉卿、白朴的题情之作，亦以其叠字之密、顶真之巧独标一格。其为后世重，正在于昭示散曲「无所避忌写人情」的文体生机，是元曲市井精神最鲜活的标本。《红绣鞋·欢情》是元散曲写儿女情的一篇绝唱。其异于诗词写情之含蓄蕴藉，而在以俚俗泼辣、机趣横生之笔，将欢会之密、怕别之怯、贪恋之痴写到极致。连珠叠字纯用口语而节奏跳荡，活画儿女缠绵的声口；顶真「情未足」三叠写尽良夜苦短；结句「更闰一更儿妨甚么」以呼天痴愿收束，俚俗中见至情。较之同代关汉卿、白朴的题情之作，此曲以叠字之密、顶真之巧独标一格，是元曲市井精神最鲜活的标本。

Prosody

Form Short song to the tune Red Embroidered Shoes散曲·中吕宫·红绣鞋（小令）

Rhyme The source records no detailed rhyme note; the piece follows the rhyming practice of the tune.歌、过、梭、么，皆元曲韵部歌戈韵（平仄通协：歌平、过仄、梭平、么平），小令一韵到底，声情俏皮流丽

Tone pattern The line lengths are uneven and the movement lively.红绣鞋句式参差错落，首二句多为六字（此曲衬字稍多），中用三字、五字短句，多衬字增趣；不拘平仄严律，以口语自然节奏行腔，符合散曲「当行本色」的体性

Reading note A short song that uses doubled verbs of nestling and embracing, then of listening and dreading, to convey both the heat of the meeting and the fear of daybreak, closing with the absurd plea for an extra watch. Sharp and playful, it is characteristic of Guan Yunshi's love songs.此曲为中吕宫《红绣鞋》小令，乃元散曲「市井声口」的声律标本。其声韵之特征在平仄韵通协、一韵到底：歌、过、梭、么皆归歌戈韵，平声（歌、梭、么）与仄声（过）相间，读来俏皮流转而不呆滞，最宜写儿女欢情之忽喜忽怯。句式则参差错落，首二句以连珠叠字「挨着靠着」「偎着抱着」铺排，音节密集如急管繁弦，写欢会之密；中句「听着数着愁着怕着早四更过」以四动词蝉联，腔急情迫，写怕别之怯；「四更过，情未足；情未足，夜如梭」用顶真短拍，回环往复，声情如梭穿行；末句「天哪，更闰一更儿妨甚么」以呼告起、反诘收，腔调娇憨。散曲小令本多衬字增趣，此曲衬字（如「儿」）更添口语活气。全曲不务诗词之严整，而以自然口语节律写尽人情，是元曲声情与市井生机相生的绝佳范本。

Line by line

挨着靠着云窗同坐，偎着抱着月枕双歌。

Pressing close and leaning together they sit at the cloud window, nestling and embracing they sing at the moonlit pillow; doubled verbs paint the intimacy while the setting stays elegant.

挨着靠着在云窗下同坐，偎着抱着对月枕边双双欢歌

Shoulder to shoulder, leaning, we sit together by the cloud window; nestling and clinging, paired in song on the moonlit pillow.

此句为全曲起笔，以两组连珠叠字写欢会之密，活色生香。「挨着靠着」「偎着抱着」两组动词叠加，如电影镜头由远及近地推入，将儿女缱绻的肢体之亲一层层写足，纯用口语而节奏跳荡，极具元散曲的市井声口；「云窗」「月枕」则点出欢会之地与之夜，雅词写俗情，雅俗相生。二句对仗工稳而意脉流走，同坐、双歌写出两情相悦之谐，一个「双」字与「挨」「靠」「偎」「抱」的密合相映，满纸皆是缠绵。此句之妙在以动作代心理——不写「爱」字而爱意自见，不写「欢」字而欢情已满，正是散曲「以形写神」的当行本色，亦为此曲由欢入怯、由怯入痴的基调定音之笔。

The opening begins the song, two chains of linked verbs writing the closeness of the tryst, vivid and warm. 'Shoulder to shoulder, leaning' and 'nestling and clinging' — two pairs of piled verbs, like a camera pushing in from afar, rendering the body's closeness layer by layer; pure vernacular in dancing rhythm, the very market voice of Yuan sanqu; 'cloud window' and 'moonlit pillow' name the place and the night, elegant words for an intimate mood, elegance and plainness born of each other. Balanced lines, flowing vein: 'sit together' and 'paired in song' write the harmony of two hearts; the single word 'paired' answers the closeness of 'shoulder,' 'lean,' 'nestle,' 'cling' — the page is all tenderness. The genius lies in gesture for feeling: the word 'love' unwritten, love self-evident; the word 'joy' unwritten, joy brimming — the native manner of sanqu 'writing spirit through form,' fixing the tone for the song's movement from joy to shyness, from shyness to obsession.

天哪，更闰一更儿妨甚么！

Heaven, what harm in adding one more watch! The plea to the sky is foolish and exact, and it is where the song's charm lies.

天哪，再闰一个更次又妨碍什么

O heaven — just one more watch added by leap, what harm in that?

此句为全曲收束之笔，以呼天痴愿写贪欢怕别，俚俗中见至情，是全曲机趣的巅峰。「天哪」一声呼告，如市井儿女脱口而出的娇嗔，将前面「怕早四更过」「情未足」的别惧，骤然升华为对上天的戏谑请愿；「更闰一更儿妨甚么」化用历法「闰月」之意，戏请上天于四更之后再「闰」出一个更次以延欢期，痴想绝妙而口吻率真。「闰一更」三字是神来之笔——把抽象的「惜时」愿望，化为可触可感的历法奇想，无理而妙。一个「妨甚么」以反诘收束，娇憨毕露，将儿女贪恋写到极致而不堕淫秽，恰得散曲「发乎情而不失其趣」的分寸。此句以呼天痴愿殿后，使全曲由缱绻而焦虑终归于绝倒之笑，是元散曲「无所避忌写人情」文体生机的集中爆发。

The closing line is the song's resolution, a foolish prayer to heaven writing the greed for joy and fear of parting, the vernacular holding deepest feeling, the peak of its wit. 'O heaven' is a cry like the bright pout of a market-bred girl, suddenly lifting the earlier dread — 'afraid the fourth watch will pass too soon,' 'love not yet spent' — into a playful petition on high. 'Just one more watch added by leap, what harm in that?' adapts the calendar's 'leap month,' playfully asking heaven to 'leap' one more watch after the fourth, to extend the time of joy — a wonderful folly, in the most candid tone. 'One more watch by leap' is the stroke of genius: the abstract wish for time made into a tangible, calendar-bound fantasy, absurd and excellent. 'What harm in that?' closes in a rhetorical question, the naivety complete — love's clinging to the utmost, yet never falling into the obscene, exactly the sanqu's measure of 'feeling born yet keeping its wit.' Closing on the foolish prayer to heaven, the song moves from tenderness to anxiety and ends in delighted laughter — the集中 burst of the genre's vitality in writing human feeling without reserve.

Study

Word focus

云窗 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「云窗」是起笔设景之眼，本指雕饰华美如云霭的窗棂（诗词中如「云窗雾阁常扃」「云窗月户」），属闺情雅语。贯云石移入散曲写欢会之地，以「云窗同坐」点出环境之丽与幽，雅词写俗情，使市井欢爱顿生诗意而不失亲切。此词之妙在与下句「月枕」成偶——云窗对月枕、同坐对双歌，一空间一物事、一静一谐，既承诗词写闺情之雅训，又借「挨着靠着」的俚俗动作将其俗化，雅俗之间张力十足。更者，「云」「月」皆清辉之象，暗点欢会之夜的温柔静好，为后文「怕早四更过」的夜逝之惧埋下时间伏笔。一字之中，雅俗、时空、景情俱藏，是散曲善于「以雅济俗」的练字典范。

夜如梭 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「夜如梭」是篇中写光阴之喻，语本「日月如梭」「光阴似箭」之熟谚，谓夜之飞逝如织梭之穿。贯云石置于顶真格「情未足，夜如梭」中，以「梭」之疾喻良夜之短，与「情未足」之难尽形成剧烈的反差——情方浓而夜已逝，欢之短暂愈显别之可怯。此喻之妙在与前后顶真相生：「四更过，情未足；情未足，夜如梭」，情未足三叠如环，而夜如梭一喻如箭，环转与疾逝并置，声情节奏恰似梭之穿行，形式与内容浑然莫辨。较之诗词写「良宵苦短」之含蓄，散曲以此口语化熟喻入顶真，既通俗易晓又机趣横生，是元曲「文而不文、俗而不俗」炼字精神的体现，亦全曲由欢转怯的关键意象。