Li Qingzhao

Li Qingzhao

Li Qingzhao (李清照; 1084 – c. 1156) was a Chinese writer and poet in the Song dynasty. She is considered one of the greatest woman poets in Chinese history.

Quotes

• 簾捲西風，人比黃花瘦。
  • The West Wind blows the curtains
    And I am frailer than the yellow chrysanthemums.
    • 《醉花陰》 ("Ninth Day, Ninth Month"), as translated by Kenneth Rexroth and ‎Ling Chung in Li Ch'ing-chao: Complete Poems (New Directions, 1979), p. 14

• 见有人来，袜铲金钗溜，和羞走。倚门回首，却把青梅嗅。
  • Seeing a guest come, she feels shy;
    Her stockings coming down, away she tries to fly.
    Her hairpin drops;
    She never stops
    But to look back.
    She leans against the door,
    Pretending to sniff at mume blossoms once more.
    • 《点绛唇》 ("Rouged Lips"), as translated by Xu Yuan Zhong in Song of the Immortals (New World Press, 1994), p. 227

• Who sits alone by the bright window?
  My shadow and I, only we two.
  But the lamp burns out, there is darkness.
  Even my shadow forsakes me.
  Alas, alas!
  I am forlorn!
  • "To the Tune of ‘Like a Dream’", in The White Pony: An Anthology Of Chinese Poetry (G. Allen & Unwin, 1949), ed. Robert Payne, p. 300

Quotes about Li

• Li Yi-an was the greatest poetess of China. Once her husband asked one of his friends to pick out the best lines that he liked from a number of his poems, having, however, concealed in them some pieces by his wife. The friend picked out, to his dismay, only lines from her pen.
  • Lin Yutang, The Importance of Understanding (Cleveland and New York: World Book Publishing, 1960), p. 143

External links

• Encyclopedic article on Li Qingzhao on Wikipedia
• Li Ching Chao Poems and Poetry at Famous Poets and Poems