The Works of Li Qingzhao, Ci Poems 3.1 - 3.8

[x_los]

This week we start working with Li Qingzhao’s ci poetry. As usual, the book is freely available via De Gruyter's Library of Chinese Humanities in Mandarin and English and via several publication formats, including two open access options (the pdf appears to be better formatted than the ebook). We're reading the poems 3.1 through 3.8 inclusive.

This collection uses footnotes and endnotes to explicate the work. There are three endnotes for this week’s group of poems, but these aren’t very rich in exegesis.

CLP has an episode on Li Qingzhao you might find relevant.

Comments

3.3

[x_los]

漁家傲

天接雲濤連曉霧。
星河欲轉千帆舞。
彷彿夢魂歸帝所
聞天語。 殷勤問我歸何處。
我報路長嗟日暮。
學詩謾有驚人句。
九萬里風鵬正舉。
風休住。
蓬舟吹取三山去。


To the tune “The Fisherman Is Proud”

The sky joins billowing cloud-waves to morning mists.
 The River of Stars begins to turn, a thousand sails dance. 
My dreaming soul seems to have gone to the Lord of Heaven’s place,
where I hear Heaven speak.
What is your final destination, it asks, showing real concern.
The road is long, I say, and the day already late.
I write poetry, but my startling lines are produced in vain.
A wind blows thousands of miles, the giant phoenix will soon take
flight. 
Oh wind, do not slacken!
 Blow my little boat to the distant Isles of Immortals.

Re: 3.3

[x_los]

“The sky joins billowing cloud-waves to morning mists.” This is a cool natural effect I don’t see written about that much

“where I hear Heaven speak.
What is your final destination, it asks” like, the disembodied place asks her? Or the court?

Re: 3.3

[ann712]

It reminds me of my teenage prayer, “oh God, let me write one poem as good as one by Keats.”

Re: 3.3

[douqi]

“where I hear Heaven speak.
What is your final destination, it asks” like, the disembodied place asks her? Or the court? — I read that as Heaven, the entity, or the Lord of Heaven.

Although Li Qingzhao is normally classified as a wanyue school (elegant, restrained) poet, the capital-R Romantic vibes of this have a lot in common with the haofang (heroic abandon) school.

Re: 3.3

[superborb]

Huh, when I went on regular Baike to look for this poem, it only had a stub with a vernacular tl, which I thought was unusual-- and I found it on Baike's Hong Kong page with more annotation. I wonder why that happens? I checked for another poem on this page, and both Baike pages were identical for that one.

The 'thousands of miles' are glossed a Zhuangzi reference where it is said the Dapeng (bird of legend) flew 90000 miles.