Full moon over the west tower

Author: Wang Zhaopeng et al.
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2002-01-01
Features: The title of this book, "Full Moon Over the West Tower," is derived from Li Qingzhao's famous work "A Single Plume in the Moonlight," aiming to illustrate the characteristics of female lyric poets. The moon itself is a symbol of women and a common imagery used by female poets. "Full" signifies completeness, happiness, reunion, hope, and anticipation. "Full moon" symbolizes the happiness and fulfillment of marriage, love, and life's journey. The opposite of "full" is absence—love's loss, ideals' decline, and life's disappointments. Female poets often express in their lyrics their hopes and expectations for a complete and happy life, marriage, and love, as well as their disappointments and pains. Completeness and absence are reflections and summaries of the ideals and realities of female poets throughout history. "West Tower" symbolizes the living spaces of women. The unique living spaces of women make their poetic imagery generally deep and narrow, much like "deep courtyards," exquisite and profound but lacking grandeur. "Full Moon Over the West Tower" broadly encompasses the emotional qualities and thematic characteristics of female poetry. This book includes 222 lyric poems by 131 female poets. In selecting the poems, we prioritize readability and do not discriminate based on the poets' status, reputation, or stylistic schools. Of course, the giants of the Ming and Qing dynasties had to make some concessions, as their selected works are not as numerous. This may lead to accusations of favoring the "distant" over the "near." This book was rushed out by several colleagues in the scorching heat of summer in Wuhan, so errors are inevitable.