Ye Shaoweng (Chinese: 葉紹翁; Wade–Giles: Yeh Shao-weng; fl. 1200–1250) was a Southern Song dynasty Chinese poet from Longquan, in modern Lishui, Zhejiang province.[1] He belonged to the Jianghu (Rivers and Lakes) School of poets, known for its unadorned style of poetry.[1] He was an academician serving in the imperial archives in the capital Hangzhou,[1] and authored a history on the reigns of the first four emperors of the Southern Song entitled Sicao Jianwen Lu (四朝見聞錄), covering the period of 1127–1224. He was a friend of the Neo-Confucian scholar Zhen Dexiu.[2] Little else is known about his life.[1]
Ye Shaoweng's most famous poem is Youyuan Buzhi (Visiting a Private Garden without Success):
- 遊園不值 Visiting a Private Garden without Success
- 應憐屐齒印蒼苔 It must be because he hates clogs on his moss
- 十扣柴扉久不開 I knock ten times still his gate stayed closed
- 春色滿園關不住 but spring can't be kept locked in a garden
- 一支紅杏出牆來 a branch of red blossoms reached past the wall[1]
The last couplet is often reused in later works, its meaning recast as a sexual innuendo.[3] The African-American author Richard Wright wrote two haikus which bear close resemblance to Ye's poem.[4]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e Red Pine 2012, p. 109.
- ^ Davis 1990, p. 46.
- ^ Lowry 2005, p. 280.
- ^ Hakutani 2011, p. 31.
Sources[edit]
- Davis, A.R. (1990). A Book of Chinese Verse. Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 978-962-209-228-0.
- Hakutani, Yoshinobu, ed. (2011). Cross-Cultural Visions in African American Literature: West Meets East. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-11912-3.
- Lowry, Kathryn A. (2005). The Tapestry of Popular Songs in 16th- and 17th Century China: Reading, Imitation, And Desire. BRILL. ISBN 90-04-14586-9.
- Red Pine (2012). Poems of the Masters: China's Classic Anthology of T'ang and Sung Dynasty Verse. Copper Canyon Press. ISBN 978-1-61932-088-8.
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