The Works of Li Qingzhao, Ci Poems 3.25 - 3.32

[x_los]

The fourth instalment of Li Qingzhao’s ci poetry. This 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 3.25 through 3.32, inclusive.

Four of this week’s poems have endnotes, but these offer only small points of Chinese language exegesis. 

How to Read Chinese Poetry has three chapters on the ci forms Li Qingzhao uses here:

 

Chapter 12, Ci Poetry: Short Song Lyrics (Xiaoling) 

Chapter 13, Ci Poetry: Long Song Lyrics (Manci) 

Chapter 14, Ci Poetry: Long Song Lyrics on Objects (Yongwu Ci)

This week, we look at Chapter 13 as recommended additional reading. 

It may interest you to know that if you’ve been doing the additional reading, you’re now more than 1/3 of the way through How to Read Chinese Poetry:

Ch 1 (Shi Jing)
Ch 5 (19 Old Poems)
Ch 8 (Du Fu
Ch 9 (Du Fu)
Ch 10 (Du Fu)
Ch 12 (Li Qingzhao)
Ch 18 (Du Fu)

These next two chapters related to ci poetry will see us to the halfway point.

In contrast, I’ve been neglecting Chinese Poetry in Context: I believe we've read only Ch 15. I hope to be more assiduous about recommending it in future, when we cover pertinent people. So far, we’ve been a bit misaligned (or I wasn’t yet recommending specific chapters for discussion, when something pertinent came up).

THIS WEEK, recall from the introduction that 3.24 - 3.28 may be misattributed.

If you’d like to be added to the reminder email list, let me know the address you wish to be contacted via. (You can also unsubscribe from the reminders at any time simply by replying ‘unsubscribe’.)

Comments

Re: 3.31 The Lantern Festival

[x_los]

Another title! And a holiday that is not Cold Food Day!

“the clouds at dusk are a disk of jade.” Weird image—how are they disc-like?

““Plum Blossom” flutes” oh it’s the tune mentioned in the earlier footnote I guess

“It was one of the few times of the year that women were permitted to go out at night, to view the lanterns that were hung everywhere to celebrate the start of the New Year.” He should maybe specify the class he means, because working women must have had marketing and such anyway. Also, many of the women in Li’s poems seem to be mobile and active at night?

“poetry friends” a whole category of friends

“and snowy willows of plied gold,” ?

Re: 3.31 The Lantern Festival

[superborb]

Baike says the property of the jade disk that's being compared is that it's all one piece.

I think it might be a different tune, bc Baike calls it 梅花落 which might translate to something more like 'plum blossom falling'

Baike says the snowy willows are a white head ornament like willow leaves, made of thin white silk and silver paper.