Literature of the Song Dynasty Li Qing Zhao

Literature of the Song Dynasty Li Qing Zhao Feng Menglong Su Shi

Li Qingzhao • Born in A. D. 1084 (Song Dynasty) in an aristocratic family. • One of the most famous authors of ci. (詞) • China’s greatest woman poet. • Married to Zhao Mingcheng – the scholarly son of the prominent politician. • She was also known as a collector of antiques, painting and calligraphy.

Sheng-Shen-Man I keep searching, keep seeking, So lonely, so lonely Being utterly listless When the sudden warmth creeps in the cold season It is hardest to put away Two or three cups of light wine. How can they (help me) resist the sharpness of powerful wind in the evening? The wild geese passing by It is just what hurts more They happen to be my old acquaintances Yellow chrysanthemums piled all over the ground Wasting away Who would bear to pick them by now? Standing by the window How could I bear the darkness alone? Wu-tung trees in the evening drizzle That keeps dripping and dropping How could the word of “sorrow” sum up this condition?

Sheng-Man • This poem was written after the Juchen Tartar invasions in 1125, when the writer’s husband was dead. • They had been forced to flee their homeland in the north and cross the Yangtse River to avoid the Tartar armies. • It shows the writer’s day in misery, loneliness and profound melancholy. • “So lonely, so lonely. Being utterly listless. ” in which she poured out the boundless pent-up bitterness in her heart.

Sheng-Man • “Two or three cups of light wine. ” She wants to drink to help her forget her loneliness and misery. • “The wild geese passing by. It is just what hurts more. ” Geese flying south makes her think her old homeland. • “Yellow chrysanthemums piled all over the ground” – it’s just like her misfortune - becoming old and no one really cares. • Chrysanthemums-symbols of pride, solitude, and fortitude

Sheng-Man • “Standing by the window. How could I bear the darkness alone? ” The most distressed part in the poem. She felt a day passed like a year. • Wu-tung trees and drizzle are describing her sadness and loneliness. It’s just like a woman standing in the rain- feeling so cold and lonely. • Dripping and dropping are sounds showing distress makes her feel really bad. • This poem uses sounds and words to describe writer’s loneliness and helplessness. We can know the writer was really sorrowful from this poem.

Remorse To the Tune “Rouged Lips” Deep in the silent inner room Every fiber of my soft heart Turns to a thousand strands of sorrow. I loved the Spring, But the Spring is gone As rain hastens the falling petals I lean on the balustrade, Moving from one end to the other. My emotions are still disordered. Where is he? Withered grass stretches to the horizon And hides from sight Any road by which he might return.

Remorse To the tune “Rouged Lips” Summary: A woman is expressing her grief over a lost love. She hopes for his return; but is aware that he will not come back

Major Points • Remorse- This word has two meanings. 1. Anguish over something one has done in the past 2. Sorrow or sympathy. After reading the poem it is clear that the second definition was the one implied by the title. • Spring (st. 4)- Usually signifies life, peace, and happiness. The use of spring again in the next stanza uses it as a metaphor for death or no return

Main Points • Balustrade (st. 7)- shows how her heartbreak is so strong that she must cling to something for support. • Withered grass (st. 11)- reiterates the notion of death and no return

Relevancy to Earth • Death and heartbreak are as major a part of our life as they were in Classical China. This poem shows raw human emotion in its purest form. The feelings expressed by this woman in “Remorse” are something everyone has experienced or will experience at some point in their life.

Spring at Wu Ling The gentle breeze has died down. The perfumed dust has settled. It is the end of the time. Of flowers. Evening falls. And all day I have been too. Lazy to comb my hair.

Spring at Wu Ling (continue) Our furniture is just the same. He no longer exists. All effort would be wasted. Before I can speak. My tears choke me. I hear that Spring at Two Rivers is still beautiful. I had hoped to take a boat there. But I know so fragile a vessel Won’s bear such a weight of sorrow.

Wu Ling

Two River

Background • • War Husband Refugee Bankruptcy

Special Notice Tension Concrete object – weight of sorrow

The Courtesan’s Jewel Box

Background • Edited in Ming Dynasty, written in Song? Dynasty. • Original author unknown. • Feng Menglong (1574 -1645) edited original story. *Popular vernacular style writer. *Held women in high regard. *Failed imperial examinations repeatedly.

Story • Rich student goes to capital to study. • Bought position in imperial college. • Fell in love with the most beautiful courtesan, she falls in love with him. • Li Jia became poor spending all his money on Decima.

Story • Li Jia has to earn 300 taels to marry Decima, or never see her again. • Liu Yu-Chun and Decima together raised the 300 taels. • While traveling a man offers 1, 000 taels for Decima. Li accepts. • Disappointed by his betrayal Decima reveals a great treasure and throws it into the river, along with herself. • Liu was later rewarded for his kindness when he discovered the treasure in the river.

Analysis • Feng Menglong showed his high regard for women in the way he portrayed Decima. *Decima was the heroine of the story, and was uncorrupted. *Li was easily corrupted, and proved heartless. • Feng Menglong repeatedly failed the examination. *His characters also had the same problem; e. g. Li had to buy his position. *Since Li overall plays the part of a bad guy, this could be a criticism of the strict Confucian examination system.

Analysis • Kindness will be rewarded; e. g. Liu found treasure. • Relationships are more important than money. *Demonstrates Feng Menglong’s idea of humanitarianism. • Since the Ming Dynasty was a prosperous time, many points in the story reflect money’s power.

Su Shi (Su Dong-Po)

• • • (1037 -1101) Born in Meishan Su Xun and Su che Educated by his parents Go to kaifeng to take the government civil service examinations • By 1066 his father died • He was arrested on charges of slandering the emperor,

• Su Shi, greatest of all the Song writers, also tried his hand at song lyrics. Su largely abandoned themes of parties and lost love, turning instead to the more reflective themes of classical poetry.

In his two periods of exile (1080 -1084 and 1094 -1100) • He turned to in these exiles was commentaries on the Confucian classics. • The Book of Changes, the Book of Documents, and the Confucian Analects. • A statesman, governor, and artist

Song for the River Tune • • 1076 Mid- autumn Drinking till dawn Su Shi wrote this Also thinking of his brother

How long has the moon been up there? I ask blue heaven, wine in hand. And I wonder in those palaces of sky What Year this evening is? I would ride the wind up there, but fear those marable domes and onyx galleries are up so high I couldn’t bear the cold. I rise and dance, clear shadow capering What can compare to this world of mortal men!

Curving past crimson towers, then lower past grillwork doors, it shines upon the sleepless. It should not trouble me, but why, when people part, is it always full and whole? For mortals there is grief and joy, coming together and going apart; the moon has bright and shadowed phases, wholeness and then something gone things never stay at perfection. So I wish that we continue long to share across a thousand miles its lovely graces.

My feeling • Reflect the reality of his life • He was disappointed on the government • He missed his brother so much

Conclusion • Poet, prose writer, painter, philosopher and calligrapher • Combination of Confucian and Buddhist ideas

The Immortal by the River By Su Shi

About The Author I • Su Shi (also know as Su Dong-Po) was born in 1037 and died in 1101. • He mostly abandoned the popular poetic themes of his time, love and parties, and instead chose a more classical approach. • Su Shi wrote “The Immortal by the River” later in life. • Commonly regarded as the most influential poet of the Song dynasty.

About The Author II • After passing the jinshi examination in 1061, Su was appointed notary in Fengxiang, but his official career was marked by a series of political setbacks which included appointments to remote minor posts. • Su was a Confucian official who turned to Daoism in his later years, after he was exiled for slandering the king.

Drinking through the night at East Slope, still drunk on waking-up, I return home around midnight. My house-boy snores like thunder, no answer to my knock. Leaning on my stick, listening to the river, I wish this body belonged to someone else. When can I escape this turmoil?

In the deep night, with the wind still, the sea calm; I'll find a boat and drift away, to spend my final years afloat, trusting to the river and the sea.

Analysis • Though this poem is more classically oriented than many other poems of the day notice still the opening of the poem “Drinking through the night at East Slope, still drunk on waking-up” a modern theme of drinking and partying. • Notice the two main philisophical influences in this poem: Buddhist “I wish this body belonged to someone else. When can I escape this turmoil? ”, Toaist “to spend my final years afloat, trusting to the river and the sea. ”

Interpretation • It seems to me to be a poem about the ending of physical life. He wishes to leave the hardships of mortality and no longer worry over such things as social obligation. I believe he wishes to trust to nature “to spend my final years afloat, trusting to the river and the sea. ” to take care of everything.