All poems

元 Yuan · 散曲 Sanqu song

落梅风·楼台小

Plum-Blossom Wind · A Small Tower

周文质

Zhou Wenzhi

写景landscape 闲适leisure

楼台小，风味佳，动新愁雨初风乍。
知不知对春思念他，倚栏杆海棠花下？

A little tower, but a fine delight; new sorrow stirred as rain begins and wind breaks out.
Do you know, facing spring, I think of him — leaning on the rail beneath the crabapple bower?

Listen

Meaning

The tower is small, yet its charm and delight are fine. Wind and rain, suddenly sprinkling, stir a fresh sorrow. Does he know that, facing the full spring, I think of him, leaning on the rail beneath the crabapple tree?

楼台很小，但是风情趣味却很好。风和雨忽飘洒触动起新愁。他知不知道我正对着大好春光想念他，倚着栏杆站在海棠树下？

Appreciation

The whole aria is neat and delicate, scene first then feeling, feeling born of scene. 'A little tower, but a fine delight' points, in general terms, to the setting of longing from afar — the spring scene is fair yet none shares it. 'New sorrow stirred as rain begins and wind breaks out' uses the first rain and sudden wind to hint at the rising gloom, moving from scene to feeling naturally. The close, 'Do you know, facing spring, I think of him — leaning on the rail beneath the crabapple bower', ends on a rhetorical question, fixing the woman's infatuation and quiet grievance in the pose of leaning alone beneath the crabapple, good at leaving blank space and stirring wonder, implicit and flavourful.

【白话串讲】周文质写一个女子：“楼台小，风味佳，动新愁雨初风乍”——小雨刚起，风刚吹，新愁就来了。“知不知对春思念他，倚栏杆海棠花下”——她倚着栏杆，在海棠花下想他。【意象与手法】全曲简练精巧，先景后情、情由景生。「楼台小，风味佳」以概括语点出思远背景，春景虽好却无人共赏；「动新愁雨初风乍」以风雨初起暗逗愁绪，由景入情自然。结句「知不知对春思念他，倚栏杆海棠花下」以设问收束，将女子的痴盼与幽怨凝于海棠花下独倚之姿，善留空白，引发遐想，意境含蓄而有韵味。【情感与主旨】周文质（？—1334）字仲彬，建德人，后居杭州，与钟嗣成交厚。《录鬼簿》称其「学问该博，文笔新奇」，《太和正音谱》谓其词「如平原隼」。此曲为代言体，假托女子声口写对远人的春日思念，具体作年无考。元散曲中此类闺情小令多产生于歌筵社交场合，由男作家拟女性口吻，本曲即其清丽含蓄一路的代表。【名句点睛】考查重点：①情感——分析女子春日怀远的孤寂与痴盼；②手法——先景后情、情景交融与设问「知不知」的妙用；③「海棠花下」意象的含蓄蕴藉。

Background

Zhou Wenzhi (?–1334), courtesy Zhongbin, from Jiande, later lived in Hangzhou, close friend of Zhong Sicheng. 'Record of Ghosts' calls him 'broad in learning, fresh and strange in brush', and 'Correct Tone of the Grand Harmony' says his lyrics 'are like a falcon on the plain'. This aria is in the persona style, feigning a woman's voice to write spring longing for one far away; its exact year is unknown. Such boudoir xiaoling in Yuan sanqu were mostly born of the song-feast social scene, with male writers assuming the female voice; this piece is a representative of its clear and restrained vein.

周文质（？—1334），字仲彬，建德（今属浙江）人，后居杭州，元代散曲家，与《录鬼簿》作者钟嗣成交谊深厚，钟嗣成《录鬼簿》称其「体貌清癯，学问该博，资性工巧，文笔新奇，家世儒业，俯就路吏」。其生卒年跨元世祖至文宗时期，一生沉沦下僚，郁郁不得志，卒时年仅四十余。此曲为代言体，假托女子声口，写春日照守楼台、思念远人之情，具体作年无考。元代散曲中此类闺情小令多产生于歌筵酒席的社交场合，由男作家代拟女性口吻，供歌女演唱，本曲即其清丽含蓄一路的代表。曲中以「风味佳」的楼台春景反衬独守之孤寂，以海棠花下的倚栏之姿写痴盼之态，可见元散曲代言体善于以景物与姿态传情的艺术特点。元代曲家多沉沦下僚，其闺情小令虽为代言，实亦寄寓自身怀才不遇之感；周文质一生仅任路吏之类小职，郁郁而终，其笔下的春日怀人、倚栏独望，多少也投射了曲家自身对理想、对知音的期待。此曲虽短，而弦外之音不绝，正是元代文人以曲写心的典型。

Art

The whole aria is neat and delicate, scene first then feeling, feeling born of scene. 'A little tower, but a fine delight' points, in general terms, to the setting of longing from afar — the spring scene fair yet none shares it; 'new sorrow stirred as rain begins and wind breaks out' uses the first rain and sudden wind to hint at the rising gloom, moving from scene to feeling naturally. The close, 'Do you know, facing spring, I think of him — leaning on the rail beneath the crabapple bower', ends on a rhetorical question, fixing the woman's infatuation and quiet grievance in the pose of leaning alone, good at leaving blank space and stirring wonder, implicit and flavourful.

全曲简练精巧，先景后情、情由景生。「楼台小，风味佳」以概括语点出思远背景：楼台虽小，春景风物却佳，唯其景佳而无人共赏，更添孤寂；「动新愁雨初风乍」以风雨初起暗逗愁绪，化用冯延巳「风乍起，吹皱一池春水」之意，以风雨之动写心潮之动，由景入情自然无迹。结句「知不知对春思念他，倚栏杆海棠花下」以设问收束：「知不知」三字直问远人，将相思一径道出；「倚栏杆海棠花下」则又收笔写景，以女子独倚花下的姿态作结，善留空白。全曲由景入情、由情入态，层层递进，意境含蓄而有韵味，是元散曲闺情小令中的精巧之作。全曲五句，起承转合井然：起句写楼台风味之佳，承句写风雨新愁之生，转句以设问直写相思，合句以倚栏花下收束；由景而情、由情而态，层层递进，而末句不答前问，反以一幅静态的画面作结，把动态的愁思凝为永恒的瞬间，空白之处，正是想象驰骋之地，此曲之妙，全在留白。

Allusions

This aria uses few allusions: 'rain begins and wind breaks out' transforms Feng Yansi's 'Wind rises sudden, wrinkling a pool of spring water', using the first rain and wind to write the feeling's ripple born; 'crabapple' in Tang-Song poetry often stands for spring and for the woman (as in Su Shi's 'I fear at deep night the flower sleeps'), here the scene of leaning beneath the crabapple writes the person, quietly inheriting the traditional boudoir image without a trace — on the whole it excels in plain description.

本曲用典无多而融化自然。「雨初风乍」化用冯延巳《谒金门》「风乍起，吹皱一池春水」之意：风雨初动，春水吹皱，而女子之心亦如春水为风所动，新愁由此暗生，以景语写情波，不着痕迹。「海棠」在唐宋诗词中常喻春色与女子之美，如苏轼「只恐夜深花睡去，故烧高烛照红妆」以海棠喻美人，此处以海棠花下倚栏之景写人，花面交映，人更娇媚，也暗承传统闺情意象而不用典实。「倚栏杆」是唐宋诗词中思妇怀远的典型姿态（如温庭筠「独倚望江楼」、柳永「想佳人妆楼颙望」），一倚字写尽凭栏远望、望而不见的神态。全曲以白描见长，用典皆化于景，是元曲「以俗为雅」的体现。雨初风乍化用冯延巳词意而更简省，海棠花下暗承苏轼诗境而不着痕，倚栏杆远承温庭筠、柳永的思妇传统而自有新意，三者皆化古为新、以俗为雅；元代散曲语言之妙，正在于这种对唐宋诗词意象的通俗化改写，使深闺幽怨走进了寻常百姓的日常场景。

Commentary

The 'Dictionary of Yuan Aria Appreciation' says this aria 'is neat and delicate, scene first then feeling, feeling born of scene... showing the woman's look of missing her man, at once stirring one's pity'. Its deepening of feeling through the rhetorical question 'do you know' matches Zhou Wenzhi's praise as 'fresh and strange in brush', long a small yet flavoursome piece among Yuan boudoir arias.

《元曲鉴赏辞典》评此曲「简练精巧，先景后情，情由景生，词虽短小而情意深长，表现出女子思人的神态，使人顿生怜香惜玉之感」。周文质曲风在元代散曲家中以「新奇清丽」著称，《太和正音谱》评其词「如平原隼」，言其清劲迅捷。此曲以短短三十余字写尽春日怀远之情，先景后情、以问收束，正见其构思之新、笔意之巧。曲中「知不知」的设问与「海棠花下」的留白，为后世闺情小令提供了范本；其代言体的运用，亦可见元代文人曲家对女性心理的细腻揣摩，以及散曲由案头走向歌筵、由文人抒情走向代言之作的发展轨迹。历代曲选多录此曲，以为元代闺情小令的代表；其以三十余字写尽春日怀远之情，先景后情、以问转、以态结，构思精巧，语言清丽，与徐再思《沉醉东风·春情》等并称元曲闺情名篇。曲学研究者论元散曲之清丽一派，每举此曲为例，可见其在文学史上的定位。

Prosody

Form Sanqu aria, double-mode 'Plum-Blossom Wind' (Luo Mei Feng), also called Shou Yang Qu散曲·双调《落梅风》（又名寿阳曲）

Rhyme Rhymes with jia, zha, ta, xia (Zhongyuan Phonology, Jia-Ma / Che-Zhe loose, as northern arias allow)押佳、乍、他、下（中原音韵家麻/车遮通协，北曲宽松）

Tone pattern Form: level-level-oblique, oblique-oblique-level / oblique-level-level-oblique-level-go, level-level-oblique-level-level-go / oblique-level-level-oblique-level-go句式：平平仄，仄仄平，仄平平仄平平去；平平仄平平去上，仄平平仄平平去

Reading note Xiaoling short; ends on a rhetorical question, gentle and turning in voice〔落梅风〕为双调曲牌，又名寿阳曲，小令五句，句式短小错落（三、三、七、七、七字式），宜写轻巧含蓄之情。此曲首两句「楼台小，风味佳」以三言对起，音节轻快，写春景之佳；第三句「动新愁雨初风乍」七言转促，一「动」一「乍」声情顿挫，写愁绪骤生；后两句「知不知对春思念他，倚栏杆海棠花下」皆七言，前句以口语设问，声情摇曳，后句以景收束，声调低回。韵押家麻韵（佳、乍、他、下），北曲押韵较宽，平仄通协，此曲于宽松中自见音律之谐。全曲体制虽小而起承转合俱全，先景后情、以问转、以态结，是元代散曲小令中「以少胜多」的典范，亦见周文质度曲之工。

Line by line

楼台小，风味佳

A little tower, but a fine delight

小楼虽小，春趣却好。

The tower is small, yet its charm is exquisite.

以概括语点出思远背景，留白生韵：楼台之小写居处之窄，风味之佳写春景之好，一窄一好对照，见出小楼春光的别样风情。唯其风味佳而无人共赏，则景愈佳、情愈孤——大好春色独对，正是相思的起因。两句以极简的笔墨交代环境，不写人而人的处境自见，为全曲定下「景佳人独」的基调，也为后文「对春思念他」的直白抒情作了铺垫。

The opening states the background of longing in summary, leaving blank space for resonance. 'The tower is small' — the narrow dwelling; 'its charm is exquisite' — the beauty of the spring scene. Narrow and beautiful set in contrast: a small tower holding a peculiar spring charm. Precisely because the charm is exquisite with none to share it, the fairer the scene, the lonelier the heart — facing glorious spring alone is the very cause of longing. Two lines give the setting in the fewest words; the person is unwritten, yet her plight is self-evident, fixing the song's tone of 'fair scene, solitary person,' and paving the way for the plain cry 'facing spring, I think of him.'

动新愁雨初风乍

New sorrow stirred as rain begins and wind breaks out

风雨初起，触动新愁。

New grief is stirred by the first falling rain, the first rising wind.

以景逗情，是全曲由景入情的枢纽：雨初下、风乍起，本是寻常天气，却「动」了「新愁」——一个「动」字写风雨之动与心潮之动同时发生，化用冯延巳「风乍起，吹皱一池春水」之意，以景语写情波暗生，不着痕迹。新愁者，因春思人而生之愁也，非旧恨而是新忧，更见愁绪之无端而起、随时而生。两句将春日风雨写得与人心相感相应，情景交融，是全曲最见功力的一笔。

Scene stirring feeling, the hinge by which the song turns from landscape to emotion: rain just begun, wind just risen — ordinary weather, yet it 'stirs' 'new grief.' The word 'stirs' renders the motion of wind and rain and the motion of the heart-waves at once, adapting Feng Yansi's 'the wind rises, wrinkling a pool of spring water' — scenery writing the dark rising of feeling, without a trace. 'New grief' is the grief born of spring and absence: not old sorrow but fresh care, all the more showing how longing rises of itself, hour by hour. Spring rain and wind answering the heart, scene and feeling fused — the song's most crafted stroke.

知不知对春思念他

Do you know, facing spring, I think of him

他可知我正对着大好春光思念他。

Do you know, or not, that facing this spring I am thinking of him?

以设问领起，将单恋痴盼写得摇曳生姿：「知不知」三字直问远人，如当面嗔怪，又似自言自语——他可知我正对春思他？这一问把深藏的心事一径道出，痴情中带着幽怨，嗔怪里含着期待。对春二字点出思念的时间与缘由：正值春光烂漫，本该携手同游，而人在天涯，唯余独对。设问而不答，相思之深、之切、之无奈尽在问中，是全曲情感的高潮。

The opening question, rendering the foolish hoping of unreturned love in swaying cadence: 'do you know, or not?' asks the distant lover directly, like a face-to-face reproach, like a soliloquy — does he know that, facing the spring, I think of him? The question speaks the buried heart outright: foolish love holding hidden grievance, reproach holding expectation. 'Facing this spring' marks the time and cause: spring in its glory, when they should roam hand in hand, while he is at world's end, leaving her alone to face it. Question without answer — the depth, the keenness, the helplessness of longing all lie in the asking, the emotional peak of the song.

倚栏杆海棠花下

Leaning on the rail beneath the crabapple bower

倚着栏杆，站在海棠花下。

Leaning on the balustrade, beneath the crabapple blossoms.

以人入景，神态如画，是全曲最富韵味的收束：问过「知不知」之后，镜头忽转，定格于海棠花下倚栏独望的女子——倚栏杆是凭栏远望、望而不见的典型姿态，海棠花下是花面交映的明丽场景，人倚花、花映人，春色愈美而孤独愈深。此句不答前问，而以姿态作结，善留空白：女子的痴盼、幽怨、无奈，尽在这花下一倚之中，让读者自己去想见、去体味，含蓄蕴藉，余味悠长。

Person entering the scene, expression like a painting, the most resonant close of the song: after the 'do you know, or not,' the camera suddenly turns, freezing on the woman alone beneath the crabapple blossoms, leaning on the rail — leaning on the balustrade is the classic pose of gazing afar, gazing and not seeing; beneath the crabapple blossoms, the bright setting of flower and face answering each other. Person on the flower, flower in the person: the fairer the spring, the deeper the solitude. The line answers nothing, closing in posture, keeping the blank space well: the woman's foolish hoping, grievance, helplessness, all in that one leaning beneath the flowers — leaving the reader to imagine, to savor, reserved and long in aftertone.

Study

Word focus

乍 'Sudden' in 'rain begins and wind breaks out' writes the wind and rain just rising, hinting that the gloom is born in a moment. 「雨初风乍」之「乍」字，写风雨方起、猝然而至之态，暗喻愁绪骤生。乍者，忽然、刚之谓，与「初」字对举，雨初下、风乍起，风雨之来无端，正如愁之袭来无端。此字化用冯延巳「风乍起，吹皱一池春水」而更简练，以一字写尽风雨骤至的动态，也写尽春心为风雨所动的瞬间，是全曲炼字的点睛之笔，可见周文质「文笔新奇」之风。

知不知 A rhetorical question that leads, writing the pining, one-sided love tender and swaying. 「知不知对春思念他」之「知不知」，设问领起，将单恋痴盼写得摇曳生姿。知不知三字，既是问远人，也是问自己，更是问天问春——明知无人作答，偏要一问再问，痴情之态毕现。三字以口语入曲，通俗而传神，把深藏的相思一径道出，嗔怨中见期待，是元曲「以俗为雅」的典型用语，也是全曲情感由含蓄转向直白的枢纽，一问之下，相思无处遁形。

倚 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「倚栏杆海棠花下」之「倚」字，写女子凭栏远望之态，一字传神：倚者，身靠栏杆、伫立凝望之谓，既有姿态之静态美，又含等待之动态情——倚栏而望，望而不见，望而不归，痴盼之状尽在此一字。此字承唐宋词思妇「独倚望江楼」的传统而更见清新，与海棠花下的明丽场景相映，人倚花、花衬人，把相思之苦写得美而不怨，是全曲收束处最见功力的动词。