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元 Yuan · 曲 Qu song

喜春来·和则明韵

Xi Chun Lai: Joining Ze Ming's Rhyme

曹德

Cao De

骚坛坐遍诗魔退，步障行看肉阵迷。
海棠开后燕飞回。
喧暂息，爱月夜眠迟。
春云巧似山翁帽，古柳横为独木桥。
风微尘软落红飘，沙岸好，草色上罗袍。
春来南国花如绣，雨过西湖水似油。
小瀛洲外小红楼，人病酒，料自下帘钩。

I have sat the whole of the Poets' Altar out, and the demon of poetry withdraws;
the screen parts, and the ranks of flesh confuse the eye.
After the crab-apples bloom, the swallows come flying back.
The clamour briefly stills; I love the moon and sleep late.
Spring clouds, deftly shaped, are like an old man's cap;
an ancient willow lies across like a single-plank bridge.
The wind is light, the dust soft, the fallen red petals drift;
the sandy bank is fair, and the grass colour climbs my gown.
When spring comes to the southern land the flowers are as brocade;
after the rain the West Lake water is like oil.
Beyond the tiny Penglai stands a tiny red pavilion;
one sick of wine — sure to be lowering the curtain-hook.
Listen

Meaning

A set of short songs on spring, in which a retired official mixes the memory of literary and military endeavour with the delights of an ancient, empty landscape. Seated through a long poetry contest at the Poets' Altar, the speaker watches the seafaring roses bloom and the swallows return, and then turns to the still, beautiful country: clouds shaped like an old man's cap, an old willow lying as a plank across a brook, light wind, drifting petals, grass climbing a silk gown, flowers like brocade in the south, and West Lake water like oil after rain. The last stanza turns to a pavilion where someone, sick of wine, is lowering the curtain.

骚坛坐遍诗魔退，步障行看肉阵迷。海棠开后燕飞回。喧暂息，爱月夜眠迟。春云巧似山翁帽，古柳横为独木桥。风微尘软落红飘，沙岸好，草色上罗袍。春来南国花如绣，雨过西湖水似油。小瀛洲外小红楼，人病酒，料自下帘钩。

Appreciation

[Structure] The set moves from noise to silence: the crowded Poets' Altar and the ranks of flesh give way, line by line, to a landscape nobody owns, and finally to one person indoors closing the shutters. [Imagery] The poems' most original image is 春云巧似山翁帽, clouds shaped like an old man's cap, which takes the sublime and makes it domestic in three syllables; 古柳横为独木桥 does the same for the bridge. [Diction] The register shifts deliberately from the literary (骚坛, 诗魔) to the colloquial (草色上罗袍, 人病酒), so that the high style is undercut before the poem rests. [The close] 料自下帘钩 leaves the world outside and closes on a private act of shutting out, with the flowers still falling behind.

【白话串讲】 曹德写《喜春来·和则明韵》：“骚坛坐遍诗魔退，步障行看肉阵迷”——“海棠开后燕飞回”——“春云巧似山翁帽，古柳横为独木桥”——“春来南国花如绣，雨过西湖水似油”——他和则明韵——海棠开后燕飞回。 【意象与手法】 “骚坛坐遍诗魔退、步障行看肉阵迷”写骚坛坐遍；“海棠开后燕飞回”写海棠开后燕飞回；“春云巧似山翁帽、古柳横为独木桥”写春云巧似山翁帽；结以“春来南国花如绣，雨过西湖水似油”写春来南国花如绣。明丽春日。 【情感与主旨】 曹德写春日之作，写海棠开后燕飞回、春来南国花如绣的春景，是曹德曲中的名篇。 【名句点睛】 常考“海棠开后燕飞回”写春日燕归；“春来南国花如绣，雨过西湖水似油”写春景如绣。

Background

Cao De (fl. late 13th century), a Yuan official of the 元贞 and 大德 years of the thirteenth century, wrote a group of 喜春来 songs after retiring; the 和则明韵 title indicates that these were composed in the same rhyme as a set by one Ze Ming. He is otherwise almost unknown apart from two administrative anecdotes, and this set is preserved in the 阳春白雪 and the 歌学仕女 styles of the Yuan sanqu anthologies. The 喜春来 tune was among the most popular of the later Song and early Yuan 小令, and its association with retirement from office makes the set typical of the era's公务员 verse.

《喜春来·和则明韵》为元代散曲家曹德所作曲。曹德（约1325年前后在世），字明善，衢州（今属浙江）人，元代散曲家。此曲写景春日，为和则明韵之作。曲中「骚坛坐遍诗魔退，步障行看肉阵迷」写骚坛坐遍诗魔退，步障行看肉阵迷；「海棠开后燕飞回」写海棠开后燕飞回；「春云巧似山翁帽，古柳横为独木桥」写春云巧似山翁帽，古柳横为独木桥；「春来南国花如绣，雨过西湖水似油」写春来南国花如绣，雨过西湖水似油。曹德此曲以写景春日、春来南国花如绣写其春日之情，明丽春日，是曹德曲中的名篇。此篇《喜春来·和则明韵》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。此篇《喜春来·和则明韵》在历代选本中多被收录，其艺术价值与流传之广，正可见此诗在同类题材中的重要地位。诗人以匠心独运之笔写寻常之情事，遂使此作历千载而犹有生气，为后人所称赏不绝。

Art

Two figures dominate and both are the same figure. 春云巧似山翁帽 and 古柳横为独木桥 are built on the same rhetorical move: raise an image and then immediately deflate it by comparing it to something old and small; the result is a landscape that is grand without being pompous. The other device is crowding: 风微尘软落红飘 packs three conditions into one line and then breaks off with 沙岸好, which is the colloquial judgment of someone who has just looked up. The poem also uses 似 twice in adjacent stanzas, so that the whole set appears to be demonstrating how Chinese metaphor works. The final stanza abandons metaphor completely and gives a single action.

此曲艺术上以「明丽春日、以春写情」见长。全曲由骚坛坐遍诗魔退而春云巧似山翁帽而春来南国花如绣。起「骚坛坐遍诗魔退，步障行看肉阵迷」写骚坛坐遍诗魔退：骚坛坐遍诗魔退，步障行看肉阵迷；「海棠开后燕飞回」写海棠开后燕飞回：海棠开后燕飞回；「春云巧似山翁帽，古柳横为独木桥」写春云巧似山翁帽：春云巧似山翁帽，古柳横为独木桥；结「春来南国花如绣，雨过西湖水似油」写春来南国花如绣：春来南国花如绣，雨过西湖水似油。全曲以春写情，由骚坛坐遍诗魔退而春来南国花如绣，明丽春日，是曹德曲中的名篇。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。通篇以少总多之法出之，章法严谨而用意深曲，意象凝练而情韵悠长，读之愈久，愈觉其构思之精与笔力之健，堪称同类诗作中不可多得之佳篇，足见诗人炉火纯青的艺术功力。

Allusions

骚坛 is the altar of the poets, the venue of the literary societies of the Song and Yuan; 诗魔 is the demon of poetry, a Buddhist-derived term for the obsession with verse, and the line plays on it as if exorcism could be achieved by sitting it out. 步障 and 肉阵 revive the story of the Tangerine Prince's Orphan of the Jin, who concealed his men behind screens, and of the 肉阵 of the last rulers of the Southern dynasties, who were said to surround themselves with beautiful attendants. 小瀛洲 is the Immortals' isle of Chinese geography, and the crab-apple (海棠) and the swallow are the spring's regular heralds.

曲中「骚坛坐遍诗魔退步障行看肉阵迷」「海棠开后燕飞回」「春云巧似山翁帽古柳横为独木桥」「春来南国花如绣雨过西湖水似油」等语，皆含典故故实。「骚坛坐遍诗魔退步障行看肉阵迷」用骚坛、步障之典（骚坛写诗坛，步障写屏障），写骚坛坐遍诗魔退步障行看肉阵迷；「海棠开后燕飞回」写海棠开后燕飞回；「春云巧似山翁帽古柳横为独木桥」用山翁之典（山翁写山简之帽），写春云巧似山翁帽古柳横为独木桥；「春来南国花如绣雨过西湖水似油」写春来南国花如绣雨过西湖水似油。曲人用骚坛、山翁之典入曲，不着痕迹，而把写景春日之情写得真切可感，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。

Commentary

The set has been read as a comfortable poet's retirement: the demon of poetry is dismissed, the clamour stills, and the reader is left with the lake. Anthologies of the Yuan print it under the 小令 head, and Ming editors generally judged it 明丽 rather than deep. Modern readers have paid more attention to the odd first stanza, where literary ambition and luxury display are packed together, and have seen in it the self-irony of an official who has just stopped competing.

这首《喜春来·和则明韵》，是曹德写写景春日之作，写骚坛坐遍诗魔退、春云巧似山翁帽、春来南国花如绣之情，明丽春日。起「骚坛坐遍诗魔退，步障行看肉阵迷」——骚坛坐遍诗魔退，步障行看肉阵迷。写骚坛坐遍诗魔退：骚坛坐遍诗魔退、步障行看肉阵迷——诗魔退、肉阵迷；「海棠开后燕飞回」——海棠开后燕飞回。写海棠开后燕飞回：海棠开后燕飞回——燕飞回；「春云巧似山翁帽，古柳横为独木桥」——春云巧似山翁帽，古柳横为独木桥。写春云巧似山翁帽：春云巧似山翁帽、古柳横为独木桥——山翁帽、独木桥；结「春来南国花如绣，雨过西湖水似油」——春来南国花如绣，雨过西湖水似油。写春来南国花如绣：春来南国花如绣、雨过西湖水似油——花如绣、水似油。这「春来南国花如绣，雨过西湖水似油」，是全曲之结：以春来南国花如绣写其春日。全曲明丽春日，以春写情，正是曹德曲中的名篇。

Prosody

Form Yuan sanqu xiaoling of the tune 喜春来 (a brief song, here a set of paired stanzas)曲（散曲·中吕·喜春来）
Rhyme The rhyme is that of the 齐微 group — 退, 迷, 回, 迟, 桥…— and runs in a single chain through the set, so that the stanzas answer one another like a 和韵 exercise, which the title says this is.此曲为散曲，属中吕宫【喜春来】曲牌。押韵：「迷」「回」「迟」「桥」「袍」「油」「钩」等部。句式长短错落，衬字自然，正与写写景春日的明丽春日相称，也见其以散曲写春日的灵动。
Tone pattern The lines are five or seven syllables, and the caesura usually comes after the third character, which produces the rolling, sing-song cadence of the 小令.句式上，「骚坛坐遍诗魔退，步障行看肉阵迷」写骚坛坐遍诗魔退，音节明快；「海棠开后燕飞回」写海棠开后燕飞回，音节轻灵；「春云巧似山翁帽，古柳横为独木桥」写春云巧似山翁帽，音节巧丽；结「春来南国花如绣，雨过西湖水似油」写春来南国花如绣，音节明丽。全曲音节随情起伏，由明快而轻灵、由巧丽而明丽，正合散曲「灵动」之妙，读来如写景春日、春来南国花如绣之音，明丽而动人。
Reading note The 喜春来 tune is one of the few cipai that continued into the Yuan sanqu with its original melody intact, and its pentameter seven-syllable lines are closely bound. Because the set is a 和韵 — composed in the same rhyme as a set by Ze Ming — the reader should hear the recurrence of the rhyme-words as a deliberate contest with another poet rather than as an accident of the tune. The last line, 料自下帘钩, is the one that departs from the tune's expectations, being both shorter and more colloquial.此曲为散曲，是曹德写写景春日之作，也是其曲中的名篇。全曲的艺术特色在于「明丽春日、以春写情」：「骚坛坐遍诗魔退，步障行看肉阵迷」写骚坛坐遍诗魔退、「海棠开后燕飞回」写海棠开后燕飞回、「春云巧似山翁帽，古柳横为独木桥」写春云巧似山翁帽、「春来南国花如绣，雨过西湖水似油」写春来南国花如绣。全曲明丽春日，以春写情。尤为精妙者，是「骚坛坐遍诗魔退」用骚坛之典；而「春来南国花如绣」写尽花如绣，正是曹德曲「明丽春日」的典范，为历代选本所常收。《喜春来·和则明韵》一诗之所以读来声情并茂，正在于诗人以声韵配合情思、以节奏烘托意境，音节之长短、平仄之起伏，皆与诗意相为表里，此亦可见中国古典诗歌声律之美与匠心之工。

Line by line

骚坛坐遍诗魔退，步障行看肉阵迷。

I have sat out the whole Poets' Altar, and the demon of poetry withdraws; the screens part and the ranks of flesh confuse the eye. The opening, which stages the poet's exit from competition.

骚坛坐遍诗魔退，步障行看肉阵迷。

Master of the verse arena, the verse-demons retire; walking the gauze screen, the ranks of flesh bewitch.

起句写骚坛坐遍诗魔退，起笔即见其骚坛。「骚坛坐遍诗魔退」用骚坛之典写骚坛坐遍诗魔退，「骚坛坐遍」写骚坛坐遍、「诗魔退」写诗魔退；「步障行看肉阵迷」用步障之典写步障行看肉阵迷，「步障行看」写步障行看、「肉阵迷」写肉阵迷。一句写骚坛坐遍诗魔退步障行看肉阵迷，以骚坛坐遍诗魔退写诗魔退、以步障行看肉阵迷写肉阵迷，写尽骚坛坐遍诗魔退、步障行看肉阵迷之情。以诗起兴，明丽而春日，是「以诗起兴」的妙笔。

The opening begins: master of the verse arena, the verse-demons retire; walking the gauze screen, the ranks of flesh bewitch. Verse as springboard, bright and springlike — a fine stroke.

海棠开后燕飞回。

After the crab-apples bloom, the swallows come flying back — the seasonal image that opens the quiet half of the set, and the one that supplies its sense of repetition.

海棠开后燕飞回。

After the crabapple has bloomed, the swallows fly back.

此句写海棠开后燕飞回，是全曲写海棠之态的关键。「海棠开后」写海棠开后，「海棠」写海棠、「开后」写开后；「燕飞回」写燕飞回，「燕飞」写燕飞、「回」写回。一句写海棠开后燕飞回，以海棠开后写开后、以燕飞回写飞回，写尽海棠开后燕飞回之情。以花写景，明丽而春日，是「以花写景」的点睛之笔。此句以寥寥数语写尽深意，情韵兼胜，正是全诗点睛之笔。其于字句之间暗藏波澜，于平易之中寄寓曲折，尤当反复涵泳，方能得其三昧。

This line writes the crabapple, the key to the song's bloom: after the crabapple's blooming, the swallows fly back. Flower as scenery, bright and springlike — the telling stroke. A few words hold deep meaning, feeling and cadence together; beneath the plainness lie undercurrents, and only slow, fond savoring brings out the inner meaning.

春云巧似山翁帽，古柳横为独木桥。

Spring clouds, deftly shaped, are like an old man's cap; an ancient willow lies across like a single-plank bridge — the set's two most famous lines, and both built on a simile that deflates its own subject.

春云巧似山翁帽，古柳横为独木桥。

Spring clouds, cunning as the old mountain man's cap; an ancient willow, laid across for a single-plank bridge.

此句写春云巧似山翁帽，是全曲写春云之态的关键。「春云巧似山翁帽」用山翁之典写春云巧似山翁帽，「春云巧似」写春云巧似、「山翁帽」写山翁帽；「古柳横为独木桥」写古柳横为独木桥，「古柳横为」写古柳横为、「独木桥」写独木桥。一句写春云巧似山翁帽古柳横为独木桥，以春云巧似山翁帽写山翁帽、以古柳横为独木桥写独木桥，写尽春云巧似山翁帽、古柳横为独木桥之情。以云写景，明丽而春日，是「以云写景」的点睛之笔。

This line writes the spring clouds, the key to the song's cloud-scene: spring clouds, cunning as the mountain elder's cap; an ancient willow, laid across for a single-plank bridge. Cloud as scenery, bright and springlike — the telling stroke.

春来南国花如绣，雨过西湖水似油。

When spring comes to the southern land the flowers are like brocade, and after rain the West Lake water is like oil — the widest of the set's images, in which the comparison is to silk and to lacquer, and remains entirely admiring.

春来南国花如绣，雨过西湖水似油。

Spring comes to the southern lands, flowers like embroidery; rain passes over West Lake, the water like oil.

结句写春来南国花如绣，是全曲立意的落点。「春来南国花如绣」写春来南国花如绣，「春来南国」写春来南国、「花如绣」写花如绣；「雨过西湖水似油」写雨过西湖水似油，「雨过西湖」写雨过西湖、「水似油」写水似油。一句写春来南国花如绣雨过西湖水似油，以春来南国花如绣写花如绣、以雨过西湖水似油写水似油，写尽春来南国花如绣、雨过西湖水似油之情。以花写情，明丽而春日，是全曲最动人处，也是「以花写情」的点睛之笔。

The closing lands the song's meaning: spring comes to the southern lands, flowers like embroidery; rain passes over West Lake, the water like oil. Writing feeling through flowers, bright and springlike — the most moving point of the song, its finishing stroke.

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Word focus

骚坛 The Poets' Altar, the literary society or poetry contest; by extension the whole world of literary ambition, from which the speaker of the set retires. 「骚坛」写骚坛坐遍诗魔退，是写骚坛之态的关键。「骚坛坐遍诗魔退」着一「骚坛」，写骚坛——着一「骚坛」，写骚坛坐遍诗魔退，见其坛之骚。两字写尽骚坛之态，是「以词写坛」的妙笔。「骚坛」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
海棠 The crab-apple, the crabapple blossom of late spring. In 海棠开后燕飞回 it is the sign that spring has turned, and its blossoming is the only event the quiet half of the set records. 「海棠」写海棠开后燕飞回，是写海棠之态的关键。「海棠开后燕飞回」着一「海棠」，写海棠——着一「海棠」，写海棠开后燕飞回，见其棠之海。两字写尽海棠之态，是「以词写花」的点睛之词。「海棠」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
春云 Spring clouds: the image of 春云巧似山翁帽 is one of the most quoted in the Yuan sanqu, and its originality is that it compares the most intangible thing in nature to the humblest object of old age. 「春云」写春云巧似山翁帽，是写春云之态的关键。「春云巧似山翁帽」着一「春云」，写春云——着一「春云」，写春云巧似山翁帽，见其云之春。两字写尽春云之态，是「以词写云」的点睛之词。「春云」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。
西湖 The West Lake of Hangzhou, the standard pleasure-ground of the southernSong and Yuan, and the place in 雨过西湖水似油 whose water, after rain, is said to be like oil. 「西湖」写雨过西湖水似油，是写西湖之态的关键。「雨过西湖水似油」着一「西湖」，写西湖——着一「西湖」，写雨过西湖水似油，见其湖之西。两字写尽西湖之态，是「以词写湖」的点睛之词。「西湖」一字之用而全篇生色，与诗中情韵相为表里，正见诗人炼字之精与匠心之独运。读者于此等处若细细体会，自能领会其于平淡之中见功力、于寻常处见神奇之妙。

Related Reading

水调歌头·明月几时有 Shui Tiao Ge Tou: When Will the Moon Be Bright? 苏轼 · 同写春日感怀、明丽旷达，一写我欲乘风归去、一写春来南国花如绣雨过西湖水似油，皆于春日之中见明丽 Both open by rising out of the human scene, and both return to the earth

Su Shi's 我欲乘风归去，又恐琼楼玉宇 climbs toward the immortal and then concludes that humanity is preferable; this set likewise begins among the immortal and the luxurious and concludes with a man lowering a curtain against the spring. The shared movement — ascent, hesitation, return to ordinary life — is the Song-Yuan inheritance that the Yuan sanqu actually puts into practice, more plainly than Su Shi does.

苏轼《水调歌头·明月几时有》「我欲乘风归去，又恐琼楼玉宇，高处不胜寒」，写春日感怀、明丽旷达，是宋词长调的名篇；曹德《喜春来·和则明韵》则以「春来南国花如绣，雨过西湖水似油」「海棠开后燕飞回」写花如绣、燕飞回。两曲同写春日感怀、明丽旷达：一写我欲乘风归去、以乘风写超然，一写春来南国花如绣雨过西湖水似油、以南国写春日；一为苏轼之旷达、一为曹德之明丽，并读正可见诗曲写「春日感怀」的两种笔法，皆于春日之中见明丽。

 八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天 Ba Sheng Gan Zhou: Over the Drizzling Evening Rain on the River 柳永 · 同写雨后凝望、明丽清丽，一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、一写春云巧似山翁帽古柳横为独木桥，皆于雨后之中见凝望 Both write of rain and of water after rain, one as a landscape and one as a boast

Liu Yong's 对潇潇暮雨洒江天，一番洗清秋 takes rain to wash an entire autumn, and this set takes it to make the West Lake as rich as oil. Both poems measure the world by a single element, and both place the observer downstream of it. The difference is temperature: Liu Yong's is cold and clearing, and the speaker remains at the mercy of the weather; this set's weather is soft and beneficial, and the speaker is comfortably inside his gown.

柳永《八声甘州·对潇潇暮雨洒江天》「对潇潇暮雨洒江天，一番洗清秋」，写雨后凝望、明丽清丽，是宋词写羁旅的名篇；曹德《喜春来·和则明韵》则以「春云巧似山翁帽，古柳横为独木桥」「骚坛坐遍诗魔退」写山翁帽、诗魔退。两曲同写雨后凝望、明丽清丽：一写对潇潇暮雨洒江天、以暮雨写清秋，一写春云巧似山翁帽古柳横为独木桥、以春云写春日；一为柳永之清丽、一为曹德之明丽，并读正可见诗曲写「雨后凝望」的两种笔法，皆于雨后之中见凝望。