How to Read Chinese Poetry A Guided Anthology

Sh i P oe t ry oF t He m i ng anD q i ng Dy na s t i e s 371

催粧 (cuī zhuāng)

pearl headdress image robe suddenly add body 珠冠象服驟加身 (zhū guān xiàng fú zhòu jiā shēn)
go out chamber take leave home separate those whom close^ 出閤辭家別所親^ (chū gé cí jiā bié suŏ qīn)
daughter way announce end wife way begin^ 女道告終婦道始^ (nǚ dào gào zhōng fù dào shĭ)
what have not personal hand tie sash person^ 奈無親手結縭人^ (nài wú qīn shŏu jié lí rén)
[Tonal pattern Ia, see p. 171]

For ten years, Gan Lirou enjoyed a companionate marriage. She gave birth to
two sons and two daughters. She not only was a capable and supportive wife but
also served her parents-in-law in exemplary fashion and kept in touch with her
father and younger brother by letters and epistolary poems. When her husband
was home, the two of them also composed many linked verse together. The penta-
syllabic regulated poem “Night in the Boudoir,” one of many such joint efforts by
the young couple, demonstrates the romantic and poetic compatibility between
them.

C 1 7. 1 0

Night in the Boudoir

Your lovely sentiments transmitted in ink,
2 My good friend excels in poems and songs. (Baihuang)
Fragrant tunes rise from the zithers,
4 The tinkling gems enhance the jadelike beauty. (Ruyu)
As the temple bell sounds amid hushed bamboos,
6 The moon’s reflection rises late on the curtain. (Baihuang)
You want to put all your efforts into the vocation of a thousand years,
8 Deep in the night, not yet gone to bed. (Ruyu)
[YXLG 2.34b–35a]

閨夜 (guī yè)

lovely feeling transmit quill ink 芳情傳翰墨^ (fāng qíng chuán hàn mò)
good friend skill in poem song 良友擅詩詞(拜璜) (liáng yŏu shàn shī cí [Baihuang])
qin-zith^ er se^ -zither sound fragrant rhyme^ 琴瑟鳴香韻 (qín sè míng xiāng yùn)
tinkling jade support jade posture 琳瑯捧玉姿 (如玉) (lín láng pĕng yù zī [Ruyu])
bell sound knock bamboo quiet 鐘聲敲竹靜^ (zhōng shēng qiāo zhú jìng)
moon reflection ascend curtain late 月影上簾遲(拜璜) (yuè yĭng shàng lián chí [Baihuang])
want complete thousand autumn vocation 欲竟千秋業^ (yù jìng qiān qiū yè)
deep night not yet sleep time 深宵未寐時 (如玉) (shēn xiāo wèi mèi shí [Ruyu])
[Tonal pattern II, see p. 171]

Alternately composing couplets for the same poem, husband and wife shared
many conjugal moments and signed their courtesy names (Baihuang and Ruyu,
respectively) to the couplets they each composed. Her husband initiates the poem