The fifth 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 3.33 through 3.40, inclusive.
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 14 as recommended additional reading.
Recall from the introduction that everything after 3.35 is relatively likely to be misattributed.
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3.40
髻子傷春慵更梳。
晚風庭院落梅初。
淡雲來往月疏疏。
玉鴨薰爐閒瑞腦
朱櫻斗帳掩流蘇。
通犀還解辟寒無。
To the tune “Sands of the Washing Stream”
My topknot suffers from spring, but I’m too weary to comb it again. Evening winds come to the courtyard, the plums blossoms first fall. As pale clouds come and go, the moon is barely visible.
In the jade duck censor, the camphor incense is sits unused, tassels hang from the cherry-red bed awning. Does antique rhinoceros horn still know how to dispel the cold?
Re: 3.40
“the camphor incense is sits unused,” come on guys, copy edit
Re: 3.40
Re: 3.40