元 Yuan · 曲 Qu song
小桃红·采莲女
Little Peach Blossom Red: The Lotus-Gathering Girl
采莲船上采莲娇，新月凌波小。
记得相逢对花酌，那妖娆，殢人一笑千金少。
羞花闭月，沉鱼落雁，不恁也魂消。
采莲人唱采莲词，洛浦神仙似。
若比莲花更强似，那些儿，多情解怕风流事。
淡妆浓抹，轻颦微笑，端的胜西施。
采莲湖上采莲人，闷倚兰舟问。
此去长安路相近，恨刘晨，自从别后无音信。
人间好处，诗筹酒令，不管翠眉颦。
brows like a new moon, her step light on the water.
I remember our meeting, the cups raised among flowers, that bewitching air,
one clinging smile that a thousand pieces of gold could not buy.
A face to shame the flowers and hide the moon, to sink the fish and drop the geese -
even without all that she would steal the soul away.
The lotus girl sings her lotus-gathering song,
like the goddess of the river Luo.
Set her against the lotus and she outdoes the flower;
for all her tenderness she is afraid of romance.
Lightly powdered or richly made up, faintly frowning or half smiling,
she truly surpasses Xi Shi.
On the lotus lake the lotus girl
leans on her orchid boat in low spirits and asks:
from here the road to Chang'an is short enough,
yet I hate that Liu Chen of mine -
since we parted there has been no word at all.
All the fine places of this world, the poem tallies and the drinking games,
go on without a thought for her knitted kingfisher brows.
Meaning
Three linked songs praise a girl gathering lotus, first her beauty, then her singing and charm, and finally let her speak for herself. She waits in her boat for a lover who has sent no word since he left, while the world amuses itself without noticing her.
采莲船上的采莲女娇媚可人，眉如新月，步履轻盈。 记得相逢时对花共饮，那一份妖娆，缠人的一笑纵使千金也嫌少。 羞花闭月、沉鱼落雁的容颜，不必这般也早已教人魂消。 采莲女唱着采莲的曲词，宛如洛水之滨的神仙。 若把她比作莲花，竟比莲花更胜一筹，那一点点多情，偏又懂得畏惧风流情事。 淡妆也好，浓抹也罢，轻皱眉、浅含笑，实实在在胜过西施。 采莲湖上的采莲人，闷闷地倚着兰舟自问。 从这里去长安本来路近，只恨那如刘晨般的情郎，自从分别后再无音信。 人世间那些好去处，赋诗行令、饮酒作乐，全不管我双眉紧锁。
Appreciation
The three songs move from outside to inside and from an admirer's voice to the woman's own. The first two heap up comparisons - a new moon, a goddess walking on water, the lotus itself, Xi Shi - in an unembarrassed catalogue of praise. Then the third turns without warning: the same girl leans on her boat in silence, resenting a man who has vanished, while elsewhere people play at verse and wine. The reversal makes the earlier praise painful in retrospect, since the more perfectly she is described the more clearly she has been wasted. The set keeps the fresh southern flavor of the old lotus-gathering songs while adding the colloquial ease of Yuan song, and its resentment never rises into anger.
【白话串讲】 “采莲船上采莲娇，新月凌波小”——杨果写采莲女：“记得相逢对花酌，那妖娆，殢人一笑千金少”——她的笑，千金难买。“采莲人唱采莲词，洛浦神仙似”——她美得像洛神。 【意象与手法】 三支联章，视角由外而内、由男而女。前两支连用新月、凌波、洛浦神仙、西施诸典状貌，是铺采摛文的赞美；第三支陡然翻转，以兰舟、翠眉写幽怨，是以乐衬哀。全曲不脱采莲曲的江南本色，却把民歌的清丽与散曲的俚趣熔为一炉。 【情感与主旨】 曲子表面写采莲女的容色与爱情，内里却藏着一段被辜负的心事。前两支愈是极写其美，后一支的冷落便愈见可叹；美人如花隔云端，而薄幸者自在诗酒之间，两相对照，怨而不怒，哀而不伤。 【名句点睛】 人间好处，诗筹酒令，不管翠眉颦——鼎足三句，前二句写他人的热闹，末句写自己的清愁，冷暖相形，一片痴怨尽在不言中。
Background
Yang Guo, styled Zhengqing, took his advanced degree in the Zhengda years of the Jin dynasty and rose after the fall of the Jin to be an assistant administrator under the Yuan, making him a first-generation sanqu writer who crossed from one dynasty to the other. This set of three linked short songs appears in the Sunny Spring White Snow anthology and in the Complete Yuan Sanqu under the title The Lotus-Gathering Girl. It treats the beauty and the love affair of a southern lotus girl and still carries much of the flavor of Song lyric.
杨果（一一九五至一二六九），字正卿，号西庵，祁州蒲阴（今河北安国）人，金末正大年间进士，金亡入元，历官县令、参知政事，是由金入元的重要曲家。《太和正音谱》评其曲「如花柳芳妍」。采莲是乐府旧题，自汉乐府《江南》以来，经梁元帝《采莲赋》、唐代皇甫松李珣的《采莲子》《南乡子》，一直是江南水乡最富诗意的题材；入元以后，这一题材移入散曲，增添了市井的俚趣与声口。杨果这组《小桃红·采莲女》以联章体咏采莲之事，前三支最为流传：第一、二支以游赏者的眼光极写采莲女之美，第三支忽转而为女子自诉幽怨。曲中的长安、刘晨、西施诸语，都是借熟典写痴情，既见文人涵养，又存民歌本色，是元初散曲中采莲题材的代表作。元初散曲方兴，小令多调笑、咏物、闺情诸题，杨果以名臣而作俗曲，一时传为佳话；此组联章见于《阳春白雪》诸选，正可见散曲初起时文人参与之早、写作之勤。
Art
Three songs in sequence praise in turn her looks, her art, and her sorrow, advancing step by step. The first two speak as an admiring onlooker; the third suddenly adopts the woman's own voice, and this shift of vantage deepens the feeling at a stroke. It is a standard device of the linked sanqu set.
此曲最见匠心处有三。其一为联章的结构：三支曲子视角由外而内、由男而女，前两支连用新月、凌波、洛浦神仙、西施诸典铺采摛文地赞美，第三支陡然翻转，以兰舟、翠眉写幽怨，前扬后抑，是以乐衬哀。其二为鼎足对的运用：「羞花闭月，沉鱼落雁，不恁也魂消」「淡妆浓抹，轻颦微笑，端的胜西施」「人间好处，诗筹酒令，不管翠眉颦」，皆三句成对，鼎足而立，这是散曲特有的句法，整齐中见流转，铺排中见俚趣。其三为口吻的设色：第一支是男子的惊艳，第二支是旁观者的赞叹，第三支直换作女子的自怨，「恨刘晨」「不管翠眉颦」，声口宛然如闻，全曲不着一字叙写离别，而相思之深尽在其中。尤可注意者，三支曲的结尾各以警策收束：第一支收于不恁也魂消，第二支收于端的胜西施，第三支收于不管翠眉颦，皆是前三句铺陈、末一句翻转的结构，收处愈重，则铺陈愈见其功。联章之间又以前二支之浓丽反衬第三支之冷落，浓淡相激，情致乃深一层。
Allusions
The goddess of the river Luo is Fufei, drawn from Cao Zhi's rhapsody on the Luo goddess and used here for a woman of unmatched beauty. Liu Chen comes from the Records of the Hidden and Visible Worlds, where Liu Chen and Ruan Zhao enter the Tiantai mountains, meet immortal women, and return home to find a century gone; in the song he stands for a lover who goes and does not come back. Xi Shi was the famous beauty of the state of Yue in the Spring and Autumn period, and the phrase about light powder and rich paint derives from Su Shi's poem on drinking by the lake in clearing weather after rain.
曲中用典绵密而不觉堆砌。①「凌波」出曹植《洛神赋》「凌波微步，罗袜生尘」，以洛神步态拟采莲女踏波之姿。②「羞花闭月，沉鱼落雁」是旧小说形容女子绝色的成语，分别系于貂蝉、昭君、西施、王嫱故事，元曲中常连用。③「洛浦神仙」仍用洛神事，宓妃溺于洛水为神，故云。④「淡妆浓抹」化用苏轼「欲把西湖比西子，淡妆浓抹总相宜」。⑤「刘晨」用刘阮入天台典故：东汉刘晨、阮肇入天台山采药遇仙女，留半年归乡，人间已历七世；曲中以刘晨代指一去不返的情郎。⑥「诗筹酒令」指宴席上行令劝饮的筹子，代指男方的宴游生活。另可补者：翠眉即女子以黛所画之眉，翠眉颦则兼有美人蹙损之态，与开头新月凌波之娇影遥相对照。长安为元代仕宦辐辏之地，曲中女子以路相近怨其不归，则男方行迹之可知。诸典皆咏俗情之常语，联缀成章，遂觉语语本色，不见獭祭之迹。又西施实为联章之枢纽典：前支以端的胜西施许其貌，此支以不管翠眉颦转其怨，褒贬皆取西施为衡，足见此名在元人曲中已成品题美人之公共尺度，随取随用而各得其宜，此亦用典成熟之征。
Commentary
The Formulary of Correct Sounds of Great Harmony describes Yang Guo's writing as being like flowers and willows in full bloom, and this set of songs displays exactly that clear, tender charm, still standing close to the world of Song lyric.
《太和正音谱》置杨果于元曲名家之列，评其词「如花柳芳妍」，此曲正是恰当的注脚：写人则新月凌波，写怨则翠眉不展，芳妍之外自有情致。后世曲选如《雍熙乐府》皆录此组曲，论者多举「人间好处，诗筹酒令，不管翠眉颦」为元人小令中写痴怨的俊语——鼎足三句，前二句写他人的热闹，末句写自己的清愁，冷暖相形，不着一字怨语而怨意弥深。今人论元初散曲，多以此曲与王恽、卢挚诸家小令并举，视为散曲初兴、尚未尽脱词的雅致而又已具曲的俚趣的过渡标本；其采莲联章上承乐府、下启明清小曲，在题材史的链条上亦有位置。后人论元初小令，谓其正处于词曲嬗变之际：体制承词之遗，声情已开曲之渐。此组采莲曲雅言与俚语并陈、颂美与怨叹相续，恰是这一过渡的活标本；而其以联章成篇的规模，亦为后来散曲组曲导夫先路，在曲史链条上有其不可移的位置。
Prosody
Line by line
采莲船上采莲娇，新月凌波小。
On the lotus boat the lotus girl is lovely, her brows like a new moon, her step light as if she walked on waves. Comparing the woman to the moon, the opening sketches her grace at once, and the word for small conveys her lightness.
采莲船上的采莲女娇媚可人，眉如新月，步履轻盈。
The lotus-picking boat, the lotus-picking maid so charming; her brows like a new moon, her steps light over the waves.
起句叠用「采莲」二字，船上是采莲人，人又是采莲之娇，回环往复，正是民歌起兴的声口。「新月凌波小」五字兼用二典——眉如新月，步若凌波——却不觉其用典，只觉一船清丽扑面而来，是为化典入景的妙手。起句又以叠语取胜：采莲船上采莲娇，船与人、采与娇，回环相叠，正合舟歌摇橹的节拍，未及用典而江南水乡的声景已扑面而来。
The opening doubles the word 'lotus-picking': the boat holds the picker, the picker herself the lotus-picking beauty, looping back and forth, very the folk-song springboard. 'A new moon, small as she steps on the waves' uses two allusions at once — brows like a new moon, steps like the goddess treading the waves — yet the allusions unfelt, only a boatful of freshness rushing to the face, the fine hand of turning allusion into scene. The opening also wins on the doubled word: the lotus-picking boat, the lotus-picking beauty, boat and person, picking and charm, looped together, matching the rowing beat of the boat-song; before the allusions, the sound and scene of the southern water country have rushed to the face.
羞花闭月，沉鱼落雁，不恁也魂消。
A face to shame the flowers and make the moon hide, to sink the fish and bring down the geese - and even without all that she would take a man's soul away. The classic phrases exhaust her beauty, and the last clause goes one better by saying such extremes are not even required.
羞花闭月、沉鱼落雁的容颜，不必这般也早已教人魂消。
A face to shame the flowers, to hide the moon, to sink the fish and down the geese — even without all that, she would steal one's soul.
鼎足对连用四个形容绝色的熟语，本已铺张到极处，妙在末句「不恁也魂消」轻轻一收：纵然没有这般容貌，也已教人魂销——赞其貌而实赞其情，铺陈之后的一转，使浓丽化出空灵，这是元曲特有的机趣。此三句又与下支淡妆浓抹遥相映带：同是鼎足，同以末句翻转，一支翻出魂消之叹，一支翻出胜西施之评，结构呼应而情意递进，联章之密如此。
The balanced triplet piles four set phrases of peerless beauty, already spread to the extreme; the genius lies in the light close of 'even without such looks, she would steal the soul away': even without such a face, she would steal the soul — praising her looks, yet praising her charm, the turn after the spread turning the rich into the airy, the peculiar wit of Yuan qu. These three lines also echo, from afar, the plain and painted next song: both balanced triplets, both turned by the closing line, one turning out the sigh of soul-stealing, one turning out the praise of surpassing Xishi, the structure echoing, the feeling advancing, the linked song's closeness like this.
此去长安路相近，恨刘晨，自从别后无音信。
From here the road to Chang'an is short enough, yet she hates that Liu Chen of hers, who has sent no word since the parting. The allusion to mortal and immortal separated carries the sense that the road is near but the news never comes, and the word of hatred holds all the strain of waiting.
从这里去长安本来路近，只恨那如刘晨般的情郎，自从分别后再无音信。
The road to Chang'an is near from here; I only hate that lover, like Liu Chen, who since the parting has sent no word.
「路相近」与「无音信」对举成怨：不是路远，是人薄幸。以刘晨代指情郎，则情郎之别去便如入天台遇仙、乐而忘返，痴语中含讥刺。一个「恨」字领起，恨的分明是人的负心，说的却只是「无音信」，怨而不怒，分寸极稳。长安路相近一语亦见当世人情：仕宦与商旅皆辐辏于大都旧地，女子独守空舟，其怨正托于路之近、信之无这一重反差，愈近而愈怨，语淡而深。
'The road is near' set against 'no word' to make the grievance: not the road far, but the man faithless. Taking Liu Chen for the lover, the lover's departure is like entering the heavenly terrace and meeting the fairy, joy and forgetting return; the痴 holding satire. The word 'hate' leads, the hating plainly the man's heartlessness, yet spoken only as 'no word' — grievance without rage, the measure most steady. 'The road to Chang'an is near' also shows the world of the day: office and travel converging on the old capital, the woman alone in the empty boat, her grievance resting on the contrast of the near road and the absent letter — the nearer, the more the grievance, the words plain, the depth within.
人间好处，诗筹酒令，不管翠眉颦。
All the good places of this world, its poem tallies and drinking games, go on with no regard for her knitted kingfisher brows. Public gaiety is set against private grief, and the poem ends on a cold, hard note.
人世间那些好去处，赋诗行令、饮酒作乐，全不管我双眉紧锁。
The world's best pleasures, the verse contests and wine games, take no account of my knitted brows.
全曲警策。前二句写对方在长安诗酒流连的热闹，末句写自己在兰舟翠眉紧锁的清冷，鼎足相对，两幅画面互为镜像。「不管」二字是痴怨的顶点——不是不能管，是不肯管；不说自己如何苦，只说对方不管，则苦自见，此所以为怨词高境。以颦字结全组曲，与开端新月凌波之娇影首尾相照：娇由人见，颦无人怜，联章至此，怨意乃醇，收束之妙在不着怨字。
The song's aphorism. The two preceding lines write the other's revelry in Chang'an, the last writes her own cold, brows locked in the orchid boat, a balanced couplet, two pictures mirroring each other. The words 'take no account of' are the peak of foolish grievance: not unable to account, but unwilling; not saying her own suffering, only saying his disregard, the suffering self-evident, which is why this is the high realm of grievance verse. Closing the whole song on 'knitted brows,' echoing the opening's charming image of the new moon over the waves: charm as others see, knitting as none pities, the linked song here, the grief grown mellow, the close's wit in never uttering the word 'grievance.'
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Compare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
皇甫松词「船动湖光滟滟秋……无端隔水抛莲子」，以少女抛莲子的动作写初恋的娇羞，情在隐约之间；杨果曲则铺陈容色、直诉幽怨，情在明处。一词一曲，可见唐宋词含蓄与元曲直露两种笔致写同一题材的分野。两作句法亦异趣：词用三五七言错杂，曲用鼎足对铺排，体制之变正见证词曲嬗代的轨迹，由词而曲，同一莲塘而声容已换。
南乡子·乘彩舫 Song of the Southern Country: Riding a Painted Barge 李珣 · 同写莲舟女子 Related readingCompare this related work with the poem above through theme, imagery, tone, and emotional movement.
李珣「乘彩舫，过莲塘，棹歌惊起睡鸳鸯」，女子「竞折团荷遮晚照」，景丽而情欢；杨果第三支却由丽景转入长安无信的冷落。两作对读，可见采莲题材从五代的欢愉到元曲的怨悱，情感重心已然转移，此中亦见时代风气之变。又词为宴席清唱之曲，故曲折含蓄；曲为弦索市井之声，故痛快淋漓——同一采莲女，在词中是一瞥的惊艳，在曲中是一生的相思，媒介之异于此可见。