c i P oe t ry : long s ong ly riC s on ob j eC t s 299precipitous pavilion gaze limit 危亭望極
(wēi tíng wàng jí)
grass color heaven edge 草色天涯
(căo sè tiān yá)
sigh sideburn invade half white ramie 嘆鬢侵半苧 ▲
(tàn bìn qīn bàn zhù)
secretly mull over parting trace playful spit 暗點檢、離痕歡唾
(àn diăn jiăn lí hén huān tuò)
still stain shark (silk) kerchief 尚染鮫綃
(shàng răn jiăo xiāo)
drooping phoenix lost return 嚲鳳迷歸
(duŏ fèng mí guī)
broken mirror lazy dance 破鸞慵舞 ▲
(pò luán yōng wŭ)
fervently diligently want to inscribe 殷勤待寫
(yīn qín dài xiĕ)
letter inside long lasting sorrow 書中長恨
(shū zhōng cháng hèn)
blue mist vast sea sink passing wild goose 藍霞遼海沉過雁
(lán xiá liáo hăi chén guò yàn)
in vain love longing play into mournful zither strings 漫相思、彈入哀箏柱 ▲
(màn xiāng sī tán rù aī zhēng zhù)
grieving heart thousand mile south- land 傷心千里江南
(shāng xīn qiān lĭ jiāng nán)
resentful melody again summon 怨曲重招
(yuàn qŭ chóng zhāo)
sundered soul be there or not 斷魂在否 ▲
(duàn hún zài fŏu)
Wu Wenying was one of the best ci poets of the Southern Song. Just like Jiang
Kui, Wu Wenying never entered officialdom and remained a commoner all his life.
He worked for a period in the clerical staff of prominent officials. He appears to
have lived all his life in present-day Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces and stayed
for the longest period of time in the cultural centers of Suzhou and Hangzhou,
enjoying the patronage of certain prominent people in the region.20 He was one of
just a small number of ci writers who had dual competence in poetry and music.
Divided into four stanzas and containing 240 characters, Wu Wenying’s “Prelude
to the Oriole’s Song” is the longest in the entire repertory of song lyric works still
in existence.
Wu Wenying’s collected works include many passionate song lyrics devoted to
the memory of a woman (or women); all are cast in similar language and images.21
This has prompted a few modern Chinese scholars to speculate about the romances
in Wu Wenying’s life. Unfortunately, these scholars have derived their speculations