"Nan gezi: Autumn Thoughts"
紀映淮 Ji Yinghuai (fl. ca. 1642)
Asters enliven fall colors,
Hibiscus gleams golden in the evening light;
Weary and without strength, I lean on thin red silk
And hate to death
the single speck of a
wild goose crying on the horizon.
[trans. Carol R. Kaufman]
Kaufman says she is a poet "in whose work bright setting both veil and enhance feelings of grief" (366). She was born in Nanjing; widowed during the Manchu invasion, she managed to support both her son AND her mother-in-law for the rest of her life. She eschewed more 'imagistic' language in favor of more flowing styles, and wrote often in the xiaoling styles of the Tang and Song dynasties (ibid.).
Her collection of poetry does not survive (367), but she was a favorite of a particular critic & poet who considered her to be an emblem of Nanjing's "vanished artistic life" when composing his own set of poems (ibid).
It's been a while - don't have much to say on this one (beyond I think her nickname of 阿男, referring to the courtesan habit of dressing up in male scholar gear, is neat), just wanted to get back in the habit.
[366-9]
Asters enliven fall colors,
Hibiscus gleams golden in the evening light;
Weary and without strength, I lean on thin red silk
And hate to death
the single speck of a
wild goose crying on the horizon.
[trans. Carol R. Kaufman]
Kaufman says she is a poet "in whose work bright setting both veil and enhance feelings of grief" (366). She was born in Nanjing; widowed during the Manchu invasion, she managed to support both her son AND her mother-in-law for the rest of her life. She eschewed more 'imagistic' language in favor of more flowing styles, and wrote often in the xiaoling styles of the Tang and Song dynasties (ibid.).
Her collection of poetry does not survive (367), but she was a favorite of a particular critic & poet who considered her to be an emblem of Nanjing's "vanished artistic life" when composing his own set of poems (ibid).
It's been a while - don't have much to say on this one (beyond I think her nickname of 阿男, referring to the courtesan habit of dressing up in male scholar gear, is neat), just wanted to get back in the habit.
[366-9]