Tang poem · five-character old-style poem唐诗 · 五言古诗

zǐ子yè夜wú吴gē歌·dōng冬gē歌

lǐ李bái白Li Bai · Tang唐

Midnight Song of Wu: Winter

míng明zhāo朝yì驿shǐ使fā发

yí一yè夜xù絮zhēng征páo袍

sù素shǒu手chōu抽zhēn针lěng冷

nǎ那kān堪bǎ把jiǎn剪dāo刀

cái裁féng缝jì寄yuǎn远dào道

jǐ几rì日dào到lín临táo洮

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 title is "Xianghe Song Lyrics: Midnight Songs of the Four Seasons, Winter". The common title is "Midnight Song of Wu: Winter". The text is the same.

语料题目作《相和歌辞·子夜四时歌四首·冬歌》，通行本题作《子夜吴歌·冬歌》，文字相同。

Line by line逐句翻译

明朝驿使发Tomorrow morning the courier sets out.明天一早，送信的驿使就要出发了，
一夜絮征袍All night she pads a warm robe for her husband at war.她连夜给出征的丈夫赶絮棉袍。
素手抽针冷Her pale hands pull the needle, and they are icy cold.白净的手抽针引线，冻得冰凉，
那堪把剪刀How can she bear to hold the freezing scissors?又怎么握得住冰冷的剪刀？
裁缝寄远道She cuts and sews it and sends it far away.裁好缝好，寄往遥远的边关，
几日到临洮How many days until it reaches Lintao?要过多少天，才能送到临洮呢？

Words字词注释

明朝míng zhāo: míng zhāo: tomorrow morning.明朝：明天早上。
驿使yì shǐ: yì shǐ: a courier who carried letters and parcels between post stations, a bit like a mail carrier long ago.驿使：在驿站之间传送公文、包裹的差人，有点像古代的邮递员。
发fā: fā: to set out.发：出发。
絮征袍xù zhēng páo: xù zhēng páo: to pad a soldier's robe with cotton. Xù means to stuff padding into clothes; zhēng páo is the robe worn by a soldier on campaign.絮征袍：往出征穿的棉袍里絮棉花。絮，往衣服里铺棉花。征袍，出征将士穿的袍子。
素手sù shǒu: sù shǒu: pale, delicate hands, a woman's hands.素手：白净的手，指女子的手。
那堪nǎ kān: nǎ kān: how can one bear it?那堪：怎么受得了。
把bǎ: bǎ: to hold, to grip.把：拿，握。
裁缝cái féng: cái féng: to cut and sew.裁缝：裁剪和缝制。
寄远道jì yuǎn dào: jì yuǎn dào: to send far away.寄远道：寄到遥远的地方去。
临洮lín táo: lín táo: Lintao, a place in today's Gansu, on the northwest frontier in Tang times. Here it stands for wherever her husband is guarding the border.临洮：地名，在今天甘肃，唐代是西北边防的地方，这里泛指丈夫守边的地方。

How to read it读音

朝zhāo: zhāo: here it means morning, so it is read zhāo, not cháo. Míng zhāo means tomorrow morning.朝：这里读 zhāo，意思是早晨。明朝就是明天早上。
那nǎ: nǎ: here it means how, asking a question that expects no, so it is read nǎ. Some read it nà.那：这里同“哪”，表示反问，读 nǎ。也有人读 nà。
缝féng: féng: here it is the verb "to sew", so it is read féng.缝：这里是动词“缝制”，读 féng。

Background创作背景

The Midnight Songs of Wu are a set of four poems Li Bai wrote in the style of southern folk songs, one for each season. This one is about winter. In the Tang dynasty, soldiers were often sent to guard the northwest frontier, and their families had to make their winter clothes and send them along. The woman in the poem hears that the courier leaves at dawn, so she works all night on a padded robe. The year the set was written is not known.

《子夜吴歌》是李白仿照南方民歌写的一组诗，共四首，分别写春、夏、秋、冬。这首写冬天。唐代常常派兵守卫西北边疆，士兵的家人要自己给他们做冬衣，再托人送去。诗里的女子听说驿使明天一早就要出发，连夜赶做棉袍。这组诗具体写于哪一年，已经不清楚了。

The poet作者

Li Bai (701 to 762) is one of the most famous Tang poets, called the Immortal of Poetry. He loved folk songs and often rewrote old song titles in his own way. The Midnight Songs of Wu began as folk songs of the Wu region in the south. Li Bai wrote one for each season: spring, summer, autumn and winter. The words are as plain as a folk song, but the feeling runs deep.

李白（701—762），唐代最有名的诗人之一，人称“诗仙”。他很喜欢学习民歌，把老的乐府诗题拿来重新写。《子夜吴歌》本来是南方吴地的民歌，李白按春、夏、秋、冬各写了一首，语言像民歌一样明白好懂，感情却很深。

The mood意境

This poem has only six lines, yet it is like a small scene on a winter night. By the lamp a woman is rushing to finish her work. The courier leaves in the morning. If she misses him, her husband will freeze at the border. The night is so cold that even pulling the needle chills her hands, and holding the scissors is almost too much to bear. Still, she sews it stitch by stitch until it is done. In the last line she asks how many days it will take to reach Lintao. In that question there is worry that the robe will arrive too late, and longing for a husband so far away. The poet never says she misses him, but we can feel the cold in her hands and the hurry in her heart.

这首诗只有六句，却像一个小小的冬夜镜头。灯下，一位女子在赶活：明早驿使就走了，错过这一次，丈夫就要在边关挨冻。夜里太冷了，她的手抽针都觉得冰，握剪刀更是冷得受不了。可她还是一针一线地缝完了。最后一句她问：要走几天，才能送到临洮呢？这一问里有担心，怕衣服到得太晚；也有思念，丈夫离她那么远。诗人没写一个“想”字，可是她手上的冷、心里的急，我们都能感觉到。