四块玉·别情

Meaning

A three-line xiaoling on leaving a lover. The first two lines state the problem — the parting has happened, the heart refuses to let go, and the longing has no end in time. The third line is entirely visual: the woman at the balcony railing, brushing away the willow blossom that has settled on her sleeve, an action both elegant and futile. The last three words turn the whole poem: instead of a farewell there is only the observation that the way out has closed twice over — the creek bends out of sight, the hills block it — and that the man is simply gone.

自送别，心难舍，一点相思几时绝？凭阑袖拂杨花雪。溪又斜，山又遮，人去也！。

Appreciation

[Structure] The poem is a compressing of an entire 情节 into thirty characters: the departure, the mourning, the gesture at the window, and finally the sight of the road blocked. [Imagery] 杨花雪 — willow down like snow — is the poem's signature, and it does three jobs at once: it is the season (late spring), the colour of her distress, and something that keeps settling on her, so the brushing is unending. 溪又斜 and 山又遮 are the second movement: two obstacles in the same direction, and neither is a mirror. [Voice] The speaker's grammar breaks at the end — 人去也 — an exclamation rather than a clause, which is what makes the close land like a door shut. [Effect] The poem's chief feat is to make an ordinary farewell feel unaccountable: there is no reason given for the ending, and the only evidence offered is the landscape.

【白话串讲】 关汉卿写《四块玉·别情》：“自送别，心难舍，一点相思几时绝”——“凭阑袖拂杨花雪”——“溪又斜，山又遮，人去也”——他写别情——溪又斜，山又遮，人去也。 【意象与手法】 “自送别、心难舍、一点相思几时绝”写自送别；“凭阑袖拂杨花雪”写凭阑袖拂杨花雪；“溪又斜、山又遮、人去也”写溪又斜。含蓄深婉。 【情感与主旨】 关汉卿写离别爱情之作，写自送别、心难舍与溪又斜山又遮人去也的别情，是关汉卿曲中的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“自送别，心难舍，一点相思几时绝”写相思；“溪又斜，山又遮，人去也”写人去。

Allusions

凭阑 — leaning on the railing — is the gesture of the classical lovesick woman, and the 阑 recurs from the 玉阑干 of Li Yu to the 阑干 of the Tang ballads. 杨花 in late spring is the standard parting emblem, since willow was planted at bridges and the branch was broken in farewell. 长短 亭 are not named, but the 溪 and 山 of the close are the conventional obstacles between two lovers, and the whole third line recalls the 望江南 tradition of a woman watching a river for a boat. Nothing here is obscure; the poem's effect comes from using the commonest materials.

曲中「自送别心难舍一点相思几时绝凭阑袖拂杨花雪」「溪又斜山又遮人去也」等语，皆含典故故实。「自送别心难舍一点相思几时绝凭阑袖拂杨花雪」写自送别心难舍一点相思几时绝凭阑袖拂杨花雪；「溪又斜山又遮人去也」写溪又斜山又遮人去也。曲人以杨花雪等语入曲，不着痕迹，而把离别爱情之情写得真切可感，是善于熔铸典故的体现。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。

Commentary

The song has been anthologised since the 阳春白雪 and the 太平乐府 of the Yuan, and later readers have marvelled at its density: thirty characters carry a season, a gesture, a landscape and a verdict. Ming anthologists generally classed it as 婉丽, and it became a favourite set-piece for the 拆字 and 曲的对格式 exercises of the Qing. Modern anthologies print it as one of the clearest examples of how the Yuan sanqu can achieve in three lines what a Song cipai needs a whole stanza for.

这首《四块玉·别情》，是关汉卿写离别爱情之作，写自送别、一点相思几时绝、溪又斜山又遮、人去也之情，含蓄深婉。起「自送别，心难舍，一点相思几时绝」——自送别，心难舍，一点相思几时绝。写自送别：自送别、心难舍、一点相思几时绝——自送别、心难舍、相思几时绝；「凭阑袖拂杨花雪」——凭阑袖拂杨花雪。写凭阑袖拂杨花雪：凭阑袖拂杨花雪——袖拂杨花雪；结「溪又斜，山又遮，人去也」——溪又斜，山又遮，人去也。写溪又斜：溪又斜、山又遮、人去也——溪斜、山遮、人去也。这「溪又斜，山又遮，人去也」，是全曲之结：以人去也写其离别。全曲含蓄深婉，以景写情，正是关汉卿曲中的名篇。综观全诗，情真、景切、理深，三者浑融无迹，故能于短短数语之中寄无限深意，令人百读不厌。其含蓄蕴藉之处，正是中国古典诗歌以少总多、言有尽而意无穷的美学精神的生动体现。综观全诗，情真、景切、理深，三者浑融无迹，故能于短短数语之中寄无限深意，令人百读不厌。其含蓄蕴藉之处，正是中国古典诗歌以少总多、言有尽而意无穷的美学精神的生动体现。

Prosody

Line by line

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