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Click to printYan Shu 晏殊. "To the tune “Magpie Treads the Branch”—"Chrysanthemums by the railings wilt..."." Global Medieval Sourcebook.

Text based on Tang, Guizhang 唐圭璋 (ed.). Quan Song Ci 全宋詞. Vol 1. Beijing: Zhonghua shu ju, 1965, 91. .

鹊踏枝 | To the tune “Magpie Treads the Branch”

Source Information

鹊踏枝 | To the tune “Magpie Treads the Branch”

by Yan Shu 晏殊

Text Source:

Text based on Tang, Guizhang 唐圭璋 (ed.). Quan Song Ci 全宋詞. Vol 1. Beijing: Zhonghua shu ju, 1965, 91.

Responsibility Statement:
  • Text based on Tang, Guizhang 唐圭璋 (ed.). Quan Song Ci 全宋詞. Vol 1. Beijing: Zhonghua shu ju, 1965, 91.
  • Translation by Qian Jia
  • Notes by Nina Du and Runqi Zhang
  • Encoded in TEI P5 XML by Nina Du, Manya Bansal, and Danny Smith
Editorial Principles:

Transcriptions and translations are encoded in XML conforming to TEI (P5) guidelines. The original-language text is contained within <lem> tags and translations within <rdg> tags.

The original text of this ci is based on the edition by Tang Guizhang 唐圭璋 (Quan Song Ci 全宋詞. Vol 1. Beijing: Zhonghua shu ju, 1965). Punctuation follows the edition. Since ci poetry rarely includes personal pronouns, and gender-differentiated pronouns did not exist in Classical Chinese of this period, the gender of the speaker as well as their perspective (e.g. first, second or third person) must often be deduced by the translator from context.

Punctuation follows the edition.
Publication Details:

Published by The Global Medieval Sourcebook.

The Global Medieval Sourcebook is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Transcription
鹊踏枝 To the tune "Magpie Treads the Branch"
檻菊愁煙蘭泣露。 Chrysanthemums by the railings wilt in the mist, the orchids weep dew.
羅幕輕寒， Inside the silken bed canopy
c
Critical note:

Refers to silky curtain, mostly used in wealthy families.

, it is slightly cold;
燕子雙飛去。 Swallows fly away in pairs.
明月不諳離恨苦。 The bright moon does not know the bitterness of parting;
5
斜光到曉穿朱戶。 Its slanting light penetrates my painted window until daybreak.
昨夜西風凋碧樹。 Last night, the west wind withered the emerald tree.
獨上高樓， Alone, I ascended the high tower
c
Critical note:

Refers to an ancient Chinese tower, which is typically high and has many floors, originally for military usage, but when discarded, most towers became gathering places for poets alike.

,
望盡天涯路。 to stare at the road that leads to the edge of the world.
欲寄彩箋兼尺素。 I want to send letters on colored paper
c
Critical note:

Refers to the exquisite paper that people used to write poems or songs on.

and white silk,
10
山長水闊知何處。 The mountains are wide, the rivers broad, how do I know where you are?
Translation
鹊踏枝 To the tune "Magpie Treads the Branch"
檻菊愁煙蘭泣露。 Chrysanthemums by the railings wilt in the mist, the orchids weep dew.
羅幕輕寒， Inside the silken bed canopy
c
Critical note:

Refers to silky curtain, mostly used in wealthy families.

, it is slightly cold;
燕子雙飛去。 Swallows fly away in pairs.
明月不諳離恨苦。 The bright moon does not know the bitterness of parting;
5
斜光到曉穿朱戶。 Its slanting light penetrates my painted window until daybreak.
昨夜西風凋碧樹。 Last night, the west wind withered the emerald tree.
獨上高樓， Alone, I ascended the high tower
c
Critical note:

Refers to an ancient Chinese tower, which is typically high and has many floors, originally for military usage, but when discarded, most towers became gathering places for poets alike.

,
望盡天涯路。 to stare at the road that leads to the edge of the world.
欲寄彩箋兼尺素。 I want to send letters on colored paper
c
Critical note:

Refers to the exquisite paper that people used to write poems or songs on.

and white silk,
10
山長水闊知何處。 The mountains are wide, the rivers broad, how do I know where you are?
Critical Notes
Translation
Line number 2
Critical note:

Refers to silky curtain, mostly used in wealthy families.

Translation
Line number 7
Critical note:

Refers to an ancient Chinese tower, which is typically high and has many floors, originally for military usage, but when discarded, most towers became gathering places for poets alike.

Translation
Line number 9
Critical note:

Refers to the exquisite paper that people used to write poems or songs on.

Sorry, but there are no notes associated with any currently displayed witness.