How to Read Chinese Poetry A Guided Anthology

r e C e n t-s t y l e Sh i P oe t ry : quat ra i n s 219

the emperor’s palm. “Green mansions” is a euphemism for the dwellings of the
courtesans.
Li Shangyin (813–858) deserves his reputation as one of China’s most obscure
poets; some critics have explained certain poems as autobiographical works about
clandestine love affairs with palace ladies and Daoist priestesses, while others see
the same poems as simple expressions of personal sadness, or even as satirical po-
litical allegories.

C 1 0. 1 7

Chang’e

Behind the mica screen, candles cast deep shadows

The Great River slowly sinks, and dawn stars are drowned

Chang-e must regret stealing the elixir—

Over blue sea, in dark sky, thinking night after night

[QTS 16:540.6197; QSTRJJ, 755–757]

嫦娥 (cháng é)

cloud mother screen — candle reflection deep 雲母屏風燭影深 (yún mŭ píng fēng zhú yĭng shēn)
long river gradually fall dawn star submerge 長河漸落曉星沉 (cháng hé jiàn luò xiăo xīng chén)
Chang -e should regret steal divine herb/medicine 嫦娥應悔偷靈藥 (cháng é yīng huĭ tōu líng yào)
blue ocean dark sky night night heart/mind 碧海青天夜夜心 (bì hăi qīng tiān yè yè xīn)
[Tonal pattern IIa, see p. 171]

Chang’e, the goddess of the moon, had been the wife of the legendary archer Yi.
After he saved humankind by successfully shooting down nine of the ten suns that
were burning up the earth, the Queen Mother of the West rewarded him with the
elixir of immortality. Chang’e stole and consumed the elixir and became immor-
tal. However, in doing so, she lost her corporeality and, to her surprise and horror,
floated up to the moon, where she remains. Li Shangyin integrates the Chang’e
legend into his own melancholy reflections. After sitting up through the night by
candlelight, he watches the “Great River” (Milky Way) fade in the dawn light. His
thoughts turn to Chang’e, up in the moon. Yet who or what is she to him? A former
lover who is now unattainable? An unattainable ideal? Or does he see himself in
Chang’e, a loner emotionally or spiritually cut off from others by circumstances?
The first couplet may provide a hint: the candles reflected in the mica screen glit-
ter like a thousand stars in his room, just as Chang’e is surrounded by stars in the
sky.

P r o s oD y oF j u e j u

By now readers are familiar with the prosodic rules of regulated verse, so those of
jueju should pose few difficulties. The prosody of jueju allows for some variation,
but it is by and large standardized. Line length is fixed and regular, and, as in most
other forms of shi poetry, lines are read with breaks or pauses in predictable places.