I am willing to live in the Song Dynasty: Thirty-seven ways to read Song Ci

Author: Tang Xin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: Like Dreaming · Li Qingzhao, "I remember the evening at the brook pavilion,
drunken and unaware of the way back. When the fun was over, I returned by boat,
and accidentally entered the deep among the flowers. Striving to cross, striving to cross,
startling a flock of wild geese."
Just as this "Like Dreaming" by Li Qingzhao evokes memories, the scene in the poem is expansive, unbound by time. A thousand years later, we read the charm of an era.
Rowing in the deep among the flowers is beautiful, even more so with the intoxicating evening breeze. The oar sounds echo on the water, clear and distant. This is a great joy deep within the world. It is a poem of happiness hidden in tranquility. Li Qingzhao recreates the illusion of an era, where above time, humanity ascends, and lotuses bloom.
There are countless clichés in Song poetry. You may feel that many Song poems are merely imitations of one another—either longing from a woman's quarters or melancholy at the roadside pavilion. Both emotion and scenery lack originality. But Li Qingzhao's poetry is uniquely hers. There is nothing in this poem that tries to "shock the world with every word," everything is natural and effortless.
The poem is simple.
Li Qingzhao, a poet so pure and untainted that it seems impossible for her to have any reputation issues. A celebrated female poet, she remains aloof from the world, standing alone amidst the autumn wind and yellow flowers, uninvolved in any trouble. What kind of reputation issues could she possibly face? This very question touches upon the perilous and mysterious nature of fame in life.
Yu Qiujiu reviews Li Qingzhao's "Sound of Sound Slowly"
Hangzhou was a great city of the Southern Song Dynasty where people indulged in fleeting pleasures and regarded aesthetics as the highest pursuit of life. Though destined to be destroyed, at its peak of prosperity, a poet praised and sang its praises—this was Liu Yong!
Bo Hai reviews Liu Yong's "Gazing at the Sea Tide"
Ci poetry emphasizes abrupt shifts, an extreme technique that should not be overused. If used too often, it becomes cheap, and artists are already cheap enough—artists are the same despised outcasts across different eras.
Che Qianzi reviews Ouyang Xiu's "Born to Search for a Word"
This poem by Li Qingzhao was written in her later years,
as if she had already witnessed a thousand springs. Every line is a vivid scene before her eyes, every line seeping into her skin with a chilling coldness. What truly haunts us is the final rhetorical question: "How can a single 'sorrow' suffice?" Readers today are also infected by this helplessness that has endured from ancient times to the present.
Zhai Yongming reviews Li Qingzhao's "Sound of Sound Slowly"
If I had a choice, I would rather live in China during the Song Dynasty.
(English) Toynbee
The dynasty I most long for is the Song Dynasty.
This book collects over one hundred reviews of Song poetry by renowned critics such as Yu Qiujiu, Deng Lijun, Zhao Lin, Bo Hai, and Che Qianzi, featuring thirty-seven experts presenting thirty-seven interpretations of Song poetry. Reading these insightful and original critiques, we discover that Song poetry is no longer so obscure, and appreciating it is not the exclusive privilege of scholars. In fact, Song poetry is life itself! Following the melodious verses of the Song poets, we return to that prosperous yet turbulent dynasty. "Where shall I seek when I wake from wine tonight? By the willow bank, under the morning wind and half-moon," "Ten years of life and death, unthought of, yet never forgotten," "I remember the evening at the brook pavilion, drunken and unaware of the way back." These lines bring scenes of prosperity vividly to life. Let us savor the feast of Chinese poetry history and journey through that era of passion and reason!