Chapter 1: Classical Poetry (shi 詩 and fu 賦)
1.1
The End of Spring
At the end of spring, what causes me to miss my homeland so intensely?
In sickness I comb my hair, resenting how long it is.
Swallows in the rafters are full of chatter the whole day long,
[4] a gentle breeze blows on the rose bushes, making the entire window fragrant.
1.2–3
The Wuxi Restoration Eulogy Tablet, Matching a Poem by Zhang Wenqian (Two Poems)
These poems are thought to have been early compositions by Li Qingzhao, composed probably when she was seventeen or eighteen years old. They “match” a prior poem on the same theme by Zhang Lei 張耒 (1052– 1112) or Qin Guan 秦觀 (1049–ca. 1100) (there is a disputed double attribution of the earlier poem), both important poets who were members of Li Qingzhao’s father’s generation. (A “matching” poem uses the same rhyme words as an earlier poem by a different writer, and treats the same theme.) The subject is a Tang dynasty stone inscription by the statesman Yuan Jie 元結 (719–772), written in 761 and erected at Wuxi, that celebrates the suppression of the An Lushan Rebellion and the “restoration” of Tang imperial order. The original composition, as well as Zhang’s or Qin’s treatment of the theme, are fulsome in their praise of the generals who led the imperial armies that eventually prevailed over the rebels. Li Qingzhao’s poems are considerably more critical of the imperial carelessness and corruption that led to the rebellion in the first place. These poems by the youthful Li Qingzhao seem to have been among the earliest of her literary works to circulate, and their boldness attracted the attention of prominent literati.
I
Fifty years’ achievement was gone in a bolt of lightning.
blossoms and willows of Huaqing Palace became the weeds of Xianyang.1
Lads who trained fighting cocks in Five Imperial Pens
[4] never worried about growing old amid their meat and ale.
Barbarian soldiers swooped down from the heavens,
the rebel barbarian was a hero of treachery.2
Barbarian steeds galloped before Diligent Governance Tower,
[8] crushing pearls and feathers until the dirt was fragrant.3
Why were imperial armies routed so readily?
Too many horses had died transporting lychees from distant lands.4
Yao’s merit and Shun’s virtue were as grand as Heaven,
[12] what need had they to record it meticulously in writing?5
To commemorate virtue in a tablet truly is debasing,
left then for spirits and ghosts to obliterate on a cliff.
Ziyi and Guangbi had no doubts or jealousies,
[16] heaven regretted the tragedy, the people found ease.6
The Xia and Shang are a mirror, we are sternly warned.
Their treated bamboo slips are still extant today.1
Don’t you know —
[20] Zhang Yue had the most wiles and ruses of his day,
yet Yao Chong managed to deceive him from the grave.2
II
Don’t you know —
Those stirring tales of Tianbao era rise and fall — 7
today the Restoration Tablet is covered with weeds!
[4] It says nothing of treacherous ministers who betrayed the empire,
and speaks only of elder statesmen and their meritorious deeds.
Who was it allowed the imperial concubine to ascend into Heaven?
The ladies of Guo, Qin, and Han were surely divine!8
[8] A nomadic drum of mulberry wood, hanging chimes of jade,9
the spring wind did not dare to stir up dust or dirt.
Who even knew the names of An and Shi?
Valiant warriors and fierce generals died peacefully in their sleep.1
[12] Baoweng Peak is barely five feet short of Heaven,
on its summit they planned to carve the words “Kaiyuan.”2
How pitiful, the way power vanished as times changed,
the traitor’s wickedness was as precipitous as a steep cliff.3
[16] The former ruler managed to return ten thousand miles from Western Shu,
but once the southern enclosure was locked, it was never reopened.4
What a shame! Filial love as expansive as Heaven itself
eventually caused a general to inquire timidly, “Is everyone well?”10
[20] How disgraceful! That slave could not mention Fuguo’s scheming with Empress Zhang,
but still recalled shepherd’s-purse sold by the catty in Chang’an.11
1.4
Written Upon Being Assigned the Rhyme “Zhi”1
I’ve studied poetic language for thirty years
but kept my mouth shut, not seeking to be known.
Whoever sent a gentleman fond of the marvelous and strange
[4] to meet Xiang Si and spread word of him?2
1.5
Stirred by Feelings3
I arrived in Lai on the tenth day of the eighth month of the xinchou year of the Xuanhe period (1121) and found myself sitting alone in a single room. Nothing of what I was used to seeing my entire life was there before my eyes. A copy of Rhymes for Rituals was on the table, and I opened it randomly, having decided that I would use whatever rhyme I opened to write a poem. By chance I opened to the character “son” and used it for my rhyme, composing a poem titled “Stirred by Feelings.”
A cold window, a broken desk, and no books in sight,
now I know the pitiful condition that Gonglu endured!12
Qingzhou wine attendants and Lord Square Hole
[4] enjoy causing no end of trouble all day long.1
I shut my door, declining all inquiries, to compose poetic lines;
as incense suffuses the prefectural room, I find relief in elevated thought.
In quiet and solitude I obtain perfect companions:
[8] Lord No-such and Sir Vacuity.13
1.6
Dawn Dream
A dawn dream follows t...
