Clear River Song, Parting Sorrow (清江引·惜别) by Guan Yunshi

Meaning

If I could yet meet him, pray carry him a true message: it is not that I do not write letters, nor that I lack the talent or the thought—it is only that, round this clear river, one cannot buy paper as vast as the heaven, to write out my longing.

倘若还能与他相见，请替我捎一句真切的传语：不是我不写信，也不是我缺少才情与心思，实在是绕着这清清的江水，也买不到像天那样大的纸，写不尽我的相思。

Appreciation

The conception is exquisite: the first two lines set the supposition 'if I should meet him again,' entrusting a message; the middle two lines first put aside with 'not that I do not write letters; not that I lack the wit or the thought,' using double negatives to pave the way, and finally burst out with the wondrous metaphor 'round the clear river I could not buy paper as vast as the sky.' The language is forthright as talk, yet it turns the formless longing into a weighable 'paper,' the imagination strange and lofty, most showing the Yuan song's sharp, fresh, pretty charm—deep and gentle within the vulgar, grasping the soul of the songlet.

【白话串讲】 “若还与他相见时，道个真传示”——贯云石写惜别：要是再见到他，替我带句话。“不是不修书，不是无才思，绕清江买不得天样纸”——不是不写信，不是没文采，是绕着清江，买不到天那么大的纸。【意象与手法】构思极妙：前两句设“若还相见”的假想，托人传语【情感与主旨】贯云石为元代畏兀儿族文学家，号酸斋，散曲风格爽朗俚俗，与徐再思（甜斋）并称“酸甜乐府” 【名句点睛】中高考若考此曲，重点在：一、修辞，末句夸张（或比喻）将相思量化，突出“写不尽”的离愁

Background

Guan Yunshi was a Yuan literatus of Uyghur descent, style name Suanzhai, whose sanqu style is bright and colloquial; with Xu Zaisi (Tianzhai) he is called the 'sour-and-sweet arias.' This songlet, in a spokeswoman's voice, writes the pain of separation and the impossibility of sending word; it belongs to the common 'parting sorrow' theme of Yuan sanqu, reflecting the universal emotional experience of the market song houses, and also showing the sanqu's source in the pleasure quarters and closeness to the market.

《清江引·惜别》为元代散曲家贯云石所作，是写惜别之情的散曲小令。贯云石（1286—1324），维吾尔族人，原名小云石海涯，号酸斋，元代散曲家。此曲：若还与他相见时，道个真传示：不是不修书，不是无才思，绕清江买不得天样纸。全曲写别后相思、欲寄书信而无从写起，是贯云石散曲的名篇。

Art

The conception is exquisite: the first two lines set the supposition 'if I should meet him again,' entrusting a message; the middle two lines first put aside with 'not that I do not write letters; not that I lack the wit or the thought,' using double negatives to pave the way, and finally burst out with the wondrous metaphor 'round the clear river I could not buy paper as vast as the sky.' The language is forthright as talk, yet it turns the formless longing into a weighable 'paper,' the imagination strange and lofty, most showing the Yuan song's sharp, fresh, pretty charm—deep and gentle within the vulgar, grasping the soul of the songlet.

《清江引·惜别》艺术上以转折的巧妙与夸张的深沉见长。全曲五句，层层写来：首二句写托言相告——“若还与他相见时，道个真传示”写若相见时道真传示；中二句写非不修书——“不是不修书，不是无才思”写不是不写信、不是无才思；末句写无纸之叹——“绕清江买不得天样纸”写绕清江买不得天样大的纸。全曲以转折写相思之深，正是贯云石散曲的笔法。

Allusions

The song uses no obvious allusion, purely colloquial hyperbole. 'Writing letters' is everyday speech; 'clear river' marks the place, a general word for the river, not a specific one. The closing 'paper as vast as the sky' is a folk exaggeration, touching no historical anecdote, exactly embodying the sanqu's 'street songlet' character of valuing the popular and the playful, writing the deepest love in vulgar speech, which contrariwise seems natural and moving, unlike poetry and lyric that must use allusion and shun the popular.

《清江引·惜别》用典少而夸张自明。“清江”写清江（水名）；“天样纸”写天样大的纸，为夸张之喻——相思之情如天大，纸买不到天样大。全曲以这些口语写惜别之情，不用深典而情致深婉，正是贯云石散曲以俚俗鲜活写情的笔法。

Commentary

Modern critics on Guan Yunshi's sanqu say his is 'like a heavenly horse freed of its tether,' bright and lofty. This piece writes deep parting love in market colloquial speech, brisk yet lingering; the Ming scholar Wang Jide, in his Qu Laws, says Yuan songlets 'value the plain and near yet not the vulgar,' and this song exactly gets the method—always one of the representative Clear River Songs, enough to show Suanzhai's sanqu skill of making the popular elegant and the shallow deep.

《清江引·惜别》是贯云石散曲的名篇，也是元代散曲中写惜别之情的代表作。此曲写别后相思，向为论者称道。论者多赏其转折的巧妙——“不是不修书，不是无才思”写不是不写信、不是无才思，正为末句作势；“绕清江买不得天样纸”写买不得天样纸，夸张而深婉。贯云石为元代维吾尔族散曲家，其曲以豪放清丽著称，此曲正是其代表——以转折写相思，正是其清丽深婉的风格。

Prosody

Form Sanqu, Shuangdiao mode, Clear River Song (songlet)散曲·双调清江引

Rhyme Lines long and short, the closing word 'paper' rhymes (zhi-si rhyme), one rhyme throughout《清江引·惜别》为双调散曲小令，五句，押仄声韵。此曲用韵：示、思、纸（支思部），音节流转。

Tone pattern Song not strict on level-oblique, fits natural colloquial speech to the tone散曲小令以音节流转、语言俚俗见长。此曲写惜别之情，音节流转而深婉。全曲以散曲贯底，声调与相思之情的内容相合，是元代散曲中写情的一路。

Reading note Five lines, twenty-seven characters, a shuangdiao songlet, good at writing feeling in colloquial speech; the closing strange metaphor is the piece's eye.《清江引·惜别》为元代贯云石所作，是写惜别之情的散曲小令。此曲以“若还与他相见时，道个真传示”写托言相告，以“不是不修书，不是无才思”写非不愿写，以“绕清江买不得天样纸”写相思如天、纸无可载。以转折写相思，正是贯云石散曲清丽深婉的名篇。

Line by line

若还与他相见时，道个真传示

If ever I see him again, give him a true message.

如果还能与他相见时，替我道个真实的口信。

If ever I can see him again, take him a true word.

首写托言相告，是全曲写惜别之情的起点。“若还与他相见时”写若还能相见——“若还”写如果还能，“与他相见时”写与他相见之时；“道个真传示”写道个真实的口信——“道个真传示”写代道一个真切的口信。二句写若见时托言相告：若还与他相见时，道个真传示。以“若还与他相见时”写相见之愿、托言相告，以“道个真传示”写道个真传示、情意叮咛，正是贯云石散曲写惜别之情的起点——若见时，代道真传示。

The opening writes the entrusted message, the starting point of the song's tender farewell. 'If ever I see him again' — 'if ever' writes the hope; 'give him a true message' — a true word borne on the speaker's behalf. The hope of meeting, the message entrusted, the heartfelt charge — the point from which Guan Yunshi begins.

不是不修书，不是无才思，绕清江买不得天样纸。

It is not that I will not write, nor that I lack the wit; around the whole clear river, I could not buy paper as big as the sky.

不是我不写信，不是我没有才思，是绕着清江也买不到天样大的纸。

Not that I will not write a letter, not that I lack the gift; but circling the whole clear river, I cannot buy paper as big as the sky.

末写非不修书、无纸之叹，是全曲写相思之深的归结。“不是不修书，不是无才思”写非不修书——“不是不修书”写不是不写信，“不是无才思”写不是没有才思；“绕清江买不得天样纸”写无纸之叹——“绕清江”写绕着清江，“买不得天样纸”写买不到天样大的纸。三句写非不愿写、纸无可载：不是不修书，不是无才思，绕清江买不得天样纸。以“不是不修书，不是无才思”写其非不愿写，以“绕清江买不得天样纸”写相思如天之大、纸无可载，正是贯云石散曲写惜别之情的归结——相思之深，纸无可写。

The closing writes the lament: not unwilling to write, but no paper to hold it — the resolution of the song's deep longing. 'It is not that I will not write, nor that I lack the wit' — disclaiming the refusal, the lack of gift; 'around the whole clear river, I could not buy paper as big as the sky' — the lament for paper: longing as vast as the sky, no sheet on earth to hold it. Longing so deep, no paper to write it — the resolution.

Study

Word focus

真传示 'True word' (chuan shi) means to carry a message; colloquial speech entering the song, showing the native colour of Yuan song. “道个真传示”之“真传示”，写真实的口信，是全曲写托言的关键词。“真”写真切，“传示”写传告——替我道个真实的口信。这一词写所托之言：不是敷衍之语，而真传示；不是寻常之信，而真切之告。以“道个真传示”写托言，正是贯云石散曲写惜别、托言传情的笔法。

修书 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “不是不修书”之“修书”，写写信，是全曲写相思之由的关键词。“修”写撰写，“书”写书信——不是我不写信。这一词写写信之事：不是不写信，而修书；不是无由不写，而是另有其故。以“不是不修书”写其非不愿写，正是贯云石散曲写相思之深、为末句作势的笔法。

才思 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. “不是无才思”之“才思”，写才情文思，是全曲写相思之由的关键词。“才思”写才情——不是我没有才思。这一词写其才之足：不是无才思，而是有才思；不是不能写，而是写不尽。以“不是无才思”写其才思有余，与“买不得天样纸”相对，正是贯云石散曲写相思之深的笔法。

天样纸 'Paper as vast as the sky' uses 'sky' as a metaphor for the paper's vastness, hyperbolically writing out the longing, clever within the vulgar, a startling imagination. “绕清江买不得天样纸”之“天样纸”，写天样大的纸，是全曲夸张写相思的关键词。“天样”写如天之大，“纸”写纸——买不到天样大的纸。这一词以“天样纸”夸张写相思：不是寻常之纸，而天样纸；不是可买之纸，而买不得之纸。以“绕清江买不得天样纸”写相思如天之大、纸无可载，正是贯云石散曲写惜别之情的归结——相思如天，纸难尽写。

清江引·惜别