Tang poem · seven-character quatrain唐诗 · 七言绝句

hè和lè乐tiān天chūn春cí词

liú刘yǔ禹xī锡Liu Yuxi · Tang唐

Spring Song, Replying to Letian

xīn新zhuāng妆yí宜miàn面xià下zhū朱lóu楼

shēn深suǒ锁chūn春guāng光yí一yuàn院chóu愁

xíng行dào到zhōng中tíng庭shǔ数huā花duǒ朵

qīng蜻tíng蜓fēi飞shàng上yù玉sāo搔tóu头

Underlined words have notes: tap one. The Pinyin button below shows or hides all pinyin. 一 and 不 are marked with the tone you actually say.字下有虚线的，点开有注释。下方的“拼音”按钮可以显示或隐藏全部拼音。“一”“不”标的是实际读出来的变调。

The corpus has a slightly different first line, "face after face". Common editions, such as Three Hundred Tang Poems, have "makeup that suits her face", which is used here. In the title, the word for "replying" (hè) means writing a poem to answer a friend's poem.

资料库原文第一句作“新妆面面下朱楼”。通行本（如《唐诗三百首》）多作“新妆宜面下朱楼”，这里用通行本。题目里的“和”读 hè，是应和别人的诗。

Line by line逐句翻译

新妆宜面下朱楼Her fresh makeup suits her face; she comes down from the red tower.她化好了漂亮的新妆，走下红楼，
深锁春光一院愁The spring light is locked deep inside, and the whole courtyard is full of sorrow.满院春光被深深锁住，院子里满是愁绪。
行到中庭数花朵She walks to the middle of the yard and counts the flowers one by one.她走到院子中间，一朵一朵地数着花，
蜻蜓飞上玉搔头A dragonfly flies up and lands on her jade hairpin.一只蜻蜓飞来，落在她的玉簪上。

Words字词注释

新妆xīn zhuāng: xīn zhuāng: freshly done makeup.新妆：刚刚化好的妆。
宜面yí miàn: yí miàn: suiting her face well.宜面：和脸很相配，化得很好看。
朱楼zhū lóu: zhū lóu: a red-painted tower, where women of a rich family lived.朱楼：红色的楼，指富贵人家女子住的楼。
深锁shēn suǒ: shēn suǒ: locked up tight.深锁：紧紧地锁住。
一院愁yí yuàn chóu: yī yuàn chóu: a whole courtyard full of sorrow.一院愁：满院子都是愁。
中庭zhōng tíng: zhōng tíng: the middle of the courtyard.中庭：院子中间。
玉搔头yù sāo tóu: yù sāo tóu: a jade hairpin. Legend says a Han emperor once used a lady's jade pin to scratch his head, so it got the name "head-scratcher".玉搔头：玉做的簪子，插在头发上的首饰。传说汉武帝曾拿妃子的玉簪来挠头，所以叫“搔头”。

How to read it读音

数shǔ: Here the character is read shǔ, meaning to count.数：读 shǔ，是数数的意思。

Background创作背景

Letian was the courtesy name of Bai Juyi. Bai wrote a "Spring Song" about a woman feeling sad in spring. Liu Yuxi read it and wrote this poem on the same theme in reply, so the title says "replying to Letian". The two were close friends and often traded poems like this. We are not sure of the year it was written.

乐天是白居易的字。白居易写了一首《春词》，写一个女子在春天里发愁。刘禹锡读了，按同样的题目写了这首诗来应和，所以题目叫《和乐天春词》。两人是好朋友，常常这样互相写诗唱和。这首诗具体写于哪一年，不太清楚。

The poet作者

Liu Yuxi (772–842) was a mid-Tang poet called the Hero of Poetry. He was a close friend of Bai Juyi; in their later years they often wrote poems together in Luoyang, and people named them together as "Liu and Bai". His poems are usually bold and bright, but this one is gentle and quiet, which shows he could also capture a woman's private feelings well.

刘禹锡（772—842），中唐诗人，被称为“诗豪”。他和白居易交情很深，晚年两人常在洛阳一起写诗，世人合称“刘白”。他的诗一般爽朗有力，这首却写得细腻含蓄，可见他也很会写女子的心事。

The mood意境

The woman dresses up with care and comes downstairs, but the courtyard gate is locked and no one comes to see her. Spring is so lovely, yet it is shut in, and the whole yard fills with sorrow. With nothing to do, she counts the flowers one by one. That small action brings her boredom and loneliness to life. At the end, a dragonfly lands on her jade hairpin. Maybe she has stood still for so long. Maybe she is so pretty that it takes her for a flower. No person comes, only a dragonfly, and that quiet makes us feel for her all the more.

女子精心打扮好，走下楼来，可院门紧锁，没有人来看她。春光那么好，却被锁在院子里，满院都是愁。她没事可做，只好一朵一朵地数花，这个小动作把她的无聊和寂寞写活了。最后，一只蜻蜓落在她的玉簪上。也许是她站得太久，一动不动；也许是她太美，蜻蜓把她当成了花。人不来，只有蜻蜓来，这份冷清更让人心疼。