All poems

元 Yuan · 散曲 Sanqu song

山坡羊·春睡

Sheep on the Hillside: Spring Sleep

王实甫

Wang Shifu

写景scene painting 春思spring longing

云松螺髻，香温鸳被，掩春闺一觉伤春睡。
柳花飞，小琼姬，一声"雪下呈祥瑞"，把团圆梦儿生唤起。
谁，不做美？
呸，却是你！

Her spiral coils of hair are loose as cloud, the mandarin-duck quilt warm and fragrant;
behind the closed spring chamber she sleeps a spring-wounded sleep.
Willow catkins are flying. The little maid cries out,
'Snow is falling, an auspicious sign!'—
and her dream of reunion is jolted wide awake.
Who? Who spoils my pleasure?
Bah—so it was you!

Listen

Meaning

Her coiled hair is loose and tumbled like cloud, the mandarin-duck quilt is warm and sweet with scent, and in her spring chamber she sleeps a sleep wounded by spring, dreaming of being reunited with the one she loves. Just as the willow catkins begin to fly, her little maid calls out, 'Snow is falling, an auspicious sign!', and jolts her clean out of that lovely dream. She scolds, 'Who? Who spoils my pleasure like this?'—and then, seeing who it is, spits out, 'Bah, so it was you!'

如云般的螺髻蓬松散乱，鸳鸯被里香温情暖，她在春闺中伤春而眠，做着团圆的好梦。柳絮飞扬时，小丫环一声「雪下呈祥瑞」，生生把她从团圆美梦中唤醒。她嗔怪道：「谁，这么不做美？」待看清是那小丫环，便啐道：「呸，原来是你！」

Appreciation

This little song is shaped like a scene from a play. It opens with careful brushwork on the posture of sleep, hair loose as cloud and a quilt warm with scent, and hides inside that warmth the ache of a woman missing someone. Then comes the comic pivot: catkins in the air, a maid who takes them for snow, a cheerful shout of good omen, and a dream of reunion broken at a stroke. The close, two quick questions and a spit of annoyance, catches the very sound of a living voice. Sorrow is written with the lightest of hands, and the piece is all the more affecting for it.

【白话串讲】王实甫写一个女子春睡：“云松螺髻，香温鸳被”。她正做着团圆的梦，丫鬟喊了一声“下雪了”，把梦惊醒了。“谁，不做美？呸，却是你”——她娇嗔：谁这么坏？呸，原来是你。【意象与手法】此曲以「戏剧小品」格局写闺怨。开篇「云松螺髻，香温鸳被」工笔写睡态慵懒，「掩春闺一觉伤春睡」于温馨中暗藏怀人伤春之愁。中段设「戏眼」：柳花飞舞，小丫环误认飞絮为雪，脱口「雪下呈祥瑞」，将「团圆梦儿」生生唤起——以乐景破梦，冲突陡生。结尾「谁，不做美？呸，却是你！」两问一啐，声口毕肖，写尽梦醒嗔怪。全曲活泼精巧，以轻盈写哀婉。【情感与主旨】王实甫，名德信，元大都人，元代著名杂剧作家，代表作《西厢记》被誉为「天下夺魁」。其存世散曲极少，此《中吕·山坡羊·春睡》见于《雍熙乐府》等选本。元代闺怨多写思妇之悲，此曲却别开生面，截取春闺女子昼眠梦醒的戏剧片断，以轻盈喜剧笔法写深沉相思。【名句点睛】本曲适合考查：一、对比反衬——「香温鸳被」的温馨与「伤春睡」的孤寂、「团圆梦」与「梦醒嗔」之间的张力；二、「生唤起」之「生」字的口语传神；三、以戏剧手法写闺怨的独创性。

Background

Wang Shifu, personal name Dexin, was a native of Dadu and one of the most celebrated playwrights of the Yuan dynasty; his Romance of the Western Chamber was praised as the finest work under heaven. Very little of his song verse survives, only a single short lyric, and this piece, in the Zhonglu mode to the tune Sheep on the Hillside, is preserved in anthologies such as the Yongxi Yuefu. Yuan boudoir laments usually dwell on the grief of a woman waiting; this song takes another road, cutting out one dramatic moment, a woman waking from a daytime nap in her spring chamber, and using a light comic touch to carry deep longing. It shows how naturally he brought stage technique into song verse, of a piece with the liveliness with which he writes feeling in the Western Chamber.

王实甫，名德信，元大都（今北京）人，生卒年约与关汉卿同时，元代著名杂剧作家，代表作《西厢记》被誉为「天下夺魁」。其存世散曲极少，小令仅此一首，《中吕·山坡羊·春睡》见于《雍熙乐府》《词林摘艳》等选本。元代散曲中的闺怨之作多写思妇独守空闺的悲哀，笔调多悲戚；此曲却别开生面，截取春闺女子昼眠梦醒的戏剧性片断：春睡沉沉，正做团圆好梦，却被小丫环一声「雪下呈祥瑞」惊醒，遂有「谁，不做美？呸，却是你」的嗔怪。全曲以轻盈的喜剧笔法写深沉的相思，于嬉笑嗔怪之中见出对远方情人的思念，体现了王实甫将戏剧手法融入散曲的巧思，与《西厢记》写莺莺心理之细腻、声口之灵动一脉相承。又王实甫存世散曲极少，然《西厢记》中「长亭送别」「拷红」诸折写儿女情态、声口毕肖，足见其写情之能事；此曲以春睡梦醒的片断写闺怨，正是把戏曲家截取场景、刻画声口的手段移入散曲，于元曲闺怨中别开生面，亦可见《西厢记》之外，实甫于小令一体同样造诣精深，其写情之灵动一以贯之。

Art

The song is built like a short piece of theatre. It begins with fine brushwork on the posture of sleep, hair loose as cloud and the mandarin-duck quilt warm with scent, and then, in the line about sleeping a spring-wounded sleep behind closed doors, hides the ache of longing inside that warmth. The middle supplies the dramatic pivot: willow catkins are flying, the little maid mistakes them for snow and blurts out that snow is an auspicious sign, and the dream of reunion is jolted awake, a happy scene shattering a happy dream so that conflict springs up at once. The close, two questions and a spit of annoyance, catches the very sound of a voice and paints to the life the peevishness of a sleeper woken too soon. Lively and finely made throughout, it writes grief with a light hand, which is what Wang Shizhen meant by calling it quiet words inside feeling.

此曲以「戏剧小品」格局写闺怨，构思精巧。开篇「云松螺髻，香温鸳被」用工笔写睡态慵懒：发髻如云般蓬松散乱，鸳鸯被里香温情暖，写尽闺中环境的温馨；「掩春闺一觉伤春睡」点出题旨，「伤春」二字暗藏怀人相思之愁，温馨之中透出孤寂。中段设「戏眼」：柳花飞舞，小丫环误认飞絮为雪，脱口而出「雪下呈祥瑞」，将「团圆梦儿」生生唤起——以乐景破梦，喜剧冲突陡生，是全曲最精彩的转折。结尾「谁，不做美？呸，却是你！」两问一啐：先嗔怪「谁」如此扫兴，待看清是那淘气的小丫环，便啐道「呸，原来是你」，声口毕肖，写尽梦醒嗔怪的娇憨之态。全曲由静而动、由睡而醒、由梦而嗔，情节完整如一幕小戏，以轻盈写哀婉，活泼精巧，王世贞所谓「情中悄语」是也。全曲以「睡—梦—醒—嗔」四层递进，如一出微型喜剧：睡态写得温馨，梦境写得甜蜜，惊醒写得猝然，嗔怪写得娇憨，层层转折而自然无痕；且以「柳花飞」的乐景与「伤春睡」的哀情对映，以丫环的天真反衬闺妇的孤寂，哀乐相形，愈见情之深挚，正是「以喜写悲」的妙用，也是此曲超乎一般闺怨之处。

Allusions

The song quotes no story from the classics and wins entirely by plain description and dramatic situation. The spiral coiled hair is an old women's hairstyle, and the mandarin-duck quilt is embroidered with paired ducks as a token of married love; both are stock images of boudoir verse and quietly point to the sleeper's unspoken longing. The shout that snow is an auspicious sign is the innocent chatter of a young maid, not an allusion but a folk saying, since timely snow promises a good harvest, jokingly applied to flying catkins, which only sharpens the vexation of a fine dream spoiled. Free of learned ornament, the piece excels at voice, gesture and psychology, and stands apart in Yuan boudoir song as a work of the plain and natural school.

此曲无明显征引故实，纯赖白描与戏剧性情境取胜，正合元散曲「本色当行」一路。「螺髻」为古代女子盘绕如螺壳的发髻，「云松螺髻」写睡后发髻蓬松，如云之散，暗写女子睡态之美；「鸳被」即绣有鸳鸯的锦被，鸳鸯自来象征夫妇恩爱，故「香温鸳被」暗点女主人公思念团圆的心理，为下文「团圆梦」埋下伏笔。「雪下呈祥瑞」为小丫环的天真口吻，非用典，而是以民俗「瑞雪兆丰年」的吉祥语戏称飞絮，误认柳花为雪，反衬美梦被扰的懊恼；「团圆梦儿」之「团圆」亦暗合鸳被的恩爱意象。全曲不假典实，专以人物声口、动作、心理刻画见长，把一个春闺女子的相思写得既含蓄又活泼，在元散曲闺怨中别树一帜。又「掩春闺一觉伤春睡」之「掩」字，写春闺深掩、与世隔绝，暗含女主人公深锁闺中、无人相伴的境遇；「一觉」写睡之酣沉，然「伤春」二字已点破这酣睡实是愁眠，愈睡愈觉孤单，故才有「团圆梦儿」的渴望，一字一词皆紧扣怀人之旨，针线细密，正是曲家「于细微处见精神」的笔法。

Commentary

The Ming critic Wang Shizhen called this song 'quiet words inside feeling' in the appended discussions of his Yiyuan Zhiyan, meaning that it carries plaintive feeling in a light tone. Modern writers on Yuan boudoir song regularly praise it for treating a boudoir lament with the methods of the stage, something the Tang and Song did not attempt: a comic incident and a lifelike speaking voice used to convey the longing of a woman alone, lively and finely made. Lines such as the dream of reunion jolted awake and the exasperated 'so it was you' are as vivid as something seen, and show the playwright's hand at writing emotion, the same hand that traces Yingying's mind so delicately in the Western Chamber.

此曲历来为曲论家所称赏。明人王世贞《艺苑卮言》附论曲语，评此曲为「情中悄语」，谓其以轻盈俏皮的口吻传递深婉哀婉的情思，看似戏谑，实则情深，正是「以乐写哀」的妙用。近人论元散曲闺怨，多推此曲「以戏剧手法写闺怨，为唐宋诗词所无」：唐宋闺怨词多写思妇望月垂泪、孤枕难眠的悲苦，此曲却写春睡之美、丫环之憨、嗔怪之娇，以喜剧性情节、逼真声口写深闺相思，活泼精巧，别开生面。「把团圆梦儿生唤起」「呸，却是你」等句，生动如见，足见王实甫这位戏曲大家写情的手段：如《西厢记》写莺莺「顰愁眉、泪盈盈」之细腻，又如写红娘之俏皮泼辣，移之于散曲，遂成此绝妙好辞，为元散曲闺怨题材中的一朵奇葩。又近人吴梅《顾曲麈谈》论元曲，谓「王实甫之词，如花间美人，铺叙委婉」，此曲虽为小令，其委婉处正与《西厢》一脉相承；且全曲以口语入曲，「呸」字、「不做美」等语皆活脱脱是当时市井声口，正是元曲「本色当行」的极致，为后世曲论家所称道，亦为研究元代闺情散曲提供了生动的标本，其「以戏剧入散曲」的创格，尤为元曲研究之要题。

Prosody

Form Sanqu song, Zhonglu mode, to the tune Sheep on the Hillside (short lyric)元散曲·中吕宫《山坡羊》小令。

Rhyme Zhongyuan Yinyun, qi-wei rhyme group (coils, quilt, sleep, maid, sign, roused, pleasure, you)押《中原音韵》齐微韵：髻、被、睡、姬、瑞、起、美、你，一韵到底。

Tone pattern Zhonglu mode; lines of markedly uneven length《山坡羊》为中吕宫曲牌，句式固定为四四、七、三三、七、一三四、一三四，长短错落，末二句皆以一三三四句式收束，宜于转折顿挫。

Reading note The Sheep on the Hillside pattern runs four-four, seven, three-three, seven, one-three-four, one-three-four, and this song follows it.《山坡羊》为中吕宫曲牌，句式固定：四字句、四字句、七字句（云松螺髻，香温鸳被，掩春闺一觉伤春睡），三字句、三字句（柳花飞，小琼姬），七字句（一声雪下呈祥瑞，把团圆梦儿生唤起），然后以一字句、三字句、四字句（谁，不做美？呸，却是你）收束，句式长短错落，末二句短促跳脱，宜于转折顿挫、谐谑传神。此曲押《中原音韵》齐微韵，髻、被、睡、姬、瑞、起、美、你八字一韵到底，韵脚皆细声，读来轻俏圆转，正合春闺慵懒、嗔怪娇憨的情调。全曲句式由长而短、由缓而促：前段七字句写睡态，舒展绵长，如春睡之酣；中段七字句写梦醒，转折顿挫；末段一三四句式短促跳脱，如嗔语之脆，声情与词情相谐，把「春睡—梦醒—嗔怪」的情节跌宕化入音节的起伏之中，是《山坡羊》曲牌中声情并茂的佳作，也可见王实甫以曲写戏的功力。

Line by line

云松螺髻，香温鸳被，掩春闺一觉伤春睡。

Her spiral bun loosened like cloud; the quilt warm with love and scent; shut in the spring chamber, she sleeps, wounded by spring.

如云般的螺髻蓬松散乱，鸳鸯被里香温情暖，她在春闺中伤春而眠，做着团圆的好梦。

Her cloud-soft spiral bun fallen loose; the love-bird quilt fragrant and warm; shut in the spring chamber, a sleep wounded by spring.

起拍用工笔细写春睡之境，温馨中暗藏孤寂。「云松螺髻」写发髻蓬松如云，见出睡态之慵懒，也见出女子之美；「香温鸳被」写被衾香暖，「鸳被」绣鸳鸯以象征恩爱，温馨之中已暗点怀人之情；「掩春闺一觉伤春睡」点明题旨：春闺深掩，一觉睡去，却是「伤春」之睡——「伤春」二字是全曲的情感内核，写出女子独守春闺、思念远人的愁绪。三句由外而内、由物及人：螺髻鸳被写环境之温馨，伤春写心境之落寞，温馨与孤寂对照，正是「以乐景写哀」的笔法，也为下文「团圆梦」埋下伏笔——正因为思念团圆，才做了团圆的好梦。

The opening, in fine brushwork, paints the spring sleep, warmth with hidden loneliness. 'Her spiral bun loosened like cloud' — the bun loose as cloud, the laziness of sleep, and the woman's beauty; 'the quilt warm with love and scent' — the quilt fragrant and warm, the love-bird quilt embroidered with pairs, the symbol of affection, warmth already darkly marking longing; 'shut in the spring chamber, a sleep wounded by spring' fixes the theme: the spring chamber deeply shut, a sleep, yet a sleep 'wounded by spring' — the words 'wounded by spring' the emotional core of the song, writing the woman alone in the chamber, missing the far one. Three lines, outer to inner, thing to person: bun and quilt the warmth of setting, 'wounded by spring' the loneliness of mood, warmth against solitude, the art of 'writing grief through joyous scenery,' priming the 'dream of reunion' below — precisely because she longs for reunion, she dreams it.

把团圆梦儿生唤起。

She wakes from the dream of reunion, rudely, forcibly.

生生把她从团圆美梦中唤醒。

The dream of reunion is woken, rudely and suddenly.

此句是全曲喜剧冲突的爆发点，也是「戏眼」所在。「团圆梦儿」四字点出梦的内容——与远人团圆的甜蜜好梦，与「伤春睡」的落寞形成对照，见出女子日有所思、夜有所梦的深情；「生唤起」之「生」字是炼字的妙笔：生生地、硬硬地，写梦被突然打断的猝然与无理，含懊恼与不舍——好梦方酣，竟被一声惊呼生生唤回，惊醒的刹那，团圆的甜蜜与现实的孤寂轰然相撞。「生」字以口语入曲，传神地写出梦醒瞬间的错愕与懊恼，是元曲本色当行的典范。此句承上启下：由睡态写到梦醒，情节陡转，为结尾「谁，不做美」的嗔怪蓄足情势。

This line is the explosion of the song's comic conflict, the 'eye of the play.' 'The dream of reunion' names the dream's content — the sweet dream of reunion with the far lover, set against the loneliness of the 'wounded sleep,' writing the depth of her day-thought and night-dream; the word 'rudely' in 'wakes her rudely' is the crafted stroke: rudely, harshly, the dream's sudden, unreasoning breaking, holding chagrin and reluctance — the sweet dream at its height, woken by a cry, and in the waking instant the sweetness of reunion crashes into the solitude of reality. The word 'rudely,' colloquial in the song, vividly writing the stun and chagrin of waking, a model of Yuan qu's native manner. The line carries the part above to the part below: from sleeping to waking, the plot turning sharply, charging the reproach of the close 'who won't play the beauty?'

谁，不做美？呸，却是你！

Who? Who spoils my pleasure? Bah, so it was you!

「谁，这么不做美？」待看清是那小丫环，便啐道：「呸，原来是你！」

'Who, won't play the beauty?' — then, seeing the little maid, she spits: 'Pshaw, it's you!'

结拍以对话收束，是全曲声口毕肖的高潮。「谁，不做美？」先是一声嗔问：是谁这么不做美，惊破了我的好梦？——「不做美」是宋元口语，写女子梦醒后的懊恼，嗔怪之中见娇憨；「呸，却是你！」待看清原是那淘气的小丫环，便啐了一口：呸，原来是你！——一个「呸」字，写尽又恼又嗔、无可奈何的情态，怨不得、骂不得，只能啐她一口。两句一问一啐，如闻其声、如见其人，把春闺女子梦醒后的娇嗔之态写得活灵活现。全曲以喜剧收束，而「团圆梦」的甜蜜与梦醒的孤寂尽在其中，以轻盈写哀婉，正是王世贞所谓「情中悄语」的妙处。

The closing, in dialogue, is the peak of the song's lifelike voice. 'Who, won't play the beauty?' — first a reproachful question: who won't play the beauty, breaking my sweet dream? The phrase 'won't play the beauty' is Song-Yuan vernacular, writing the chagrin of waking, bashfulness within the reproach; 'Pshaw, it's you!' — seeing the naughty little maid after all, she spits: pshaw, it's you! The word 'pshaw' writes the whole mood — chagrined and reproachful, helpless, neither able to blame nor scold, only to spit. Two lines, a question and a spit, the voice heard, the person seen, writing the spring-chamber woman's bashful reproach after waking to the life. The song closes in comedy, yet the sweetness of the 'dream of reunion' and the solitude of waking are both within, writing grief through lightness — exactly Wang Shizhen's 'whispered words within feeling.'

Study

Word focus

伤春睡 The phrase joins a spring-wounded heart to the act of sleeping: the wound names the ache of missing someone, while the sleep reveals the reunion she can have only in dreams. Warmth and loneliness stand side by side, and the words work two ways at once. 「掩春闺一觉伤春睡」之「伤春睡」，是全曲题旨所在，三字包孕三层意蕴。「伤春」点出情感内核：春闺女子独守空闺，见春色而伤怀，思念远人不归，此「伤春」实为「怀人」；「睡」字点出状态：因伤春而眠，于梦中寻求慰藉；「伤春睡」三字连用，写这睡并非安稳闲适之睡，而是载着春愁入睡——睡中有愁，愁中入梦，故有下文「团圆梦」。此三字以「伤春」修饰「睡」，把愁绪化入睡眠这一寻常动作，温馨的鸳被、蓬松的螺髻之下，藏着无人知晓的相思，字面含蓄而情感深挚，是此曲以少总多的关键词，也是理解全曲由喜写哀的钥匙。

生唤起 The word rendered 'jolted' is wonderfully chosen: it catches both the suddenness of being startled out of sleep and the vexation that follows, colloquial and utterly alive. 「把团圆梦儿生唤起」之「生」，是宋元口语中的程度副词，意为生生地、硬硬地、偏要，是全曲炼字最传神的一字。「生唤起」写梦被硬生生唤醒的猝然：好梦方酣，一声惊呼，生生的、不容分说地把人从甜蜜中拽回现实——「生」字写出梦醒的突兀与无理，也写出女子惊醒瞬间的错愕与懊恼：这梦若无人惊破，本该多甜多久？「生」字以口语入曲，粗看俚俗，细品传神，比「竟」「忽」「骤」等文言副词更见情态，正是元曲「本色当行」的典范——不事雕琢而声口毕肖，把梦醒瞬间的心理写得活灵活现，足见王实甫驱遣口语的功力。

不做美 A key expression in the poem. Read it as an image, mood, or grammar point in context. 「谁，不做美？」之「不做美」，是宋元俗语，意为不成全好事、专扫人兴，是全曲嗔怪之情的点睛词。「不做美」三字，写出春闺女子梦醒后的第一反应：先不怪丫环、不怪柳花，只怪那个「不做美」的家伙惊破了团圆好梦——「美」指美好之事，即那团圆之梦，故「不做美」者，即不成全我团圆之愿者也。此语以嗔怪出之，看似埋怨，实则泄露天机：正因心中最盼团圆，才最恨人惊破团圆之梦，一句嗔语，深情自见。三字俗而有味，兼有懊恼、娇嗔、无奈诸般情态，与下句「呸，却是你」的啐骂连读，把一个春闺女子的心理写得纤毫毕现，是元曲以口语写情的绝妙之笔。