Child prodigy who became a Song chancellor and promoted 范仲淹 and 欧阳修. His ci on passing time include the 浣溪沙 that gave the phrase 似曾相识, 'as if met before'.
'Helpless, I watch the flowers fall; the swallows return, as if I knew them' is a famous couplet from a ci by Yan Shu.
Tips
history
His son 晏几道 was also a fine ci poet, and father and son are known as 大晏 and 小晏, 'the elder and the younger Yan'.
culture
王国维 took three lines of his 《蝶恋花》, ending 望尽天涯路 'gazing to the end of the road at the sky's edge', as the first of the three stages of any great achievement: climbing high alone and looking far ahead.