This article analyzes Li Qingzhao’s A Summer Quatrain. Set against the Jingkang Incident, it traces the poem’s allusions. By praising Xiang Yu, the work satirizes the Southern Song court’s cowardice and implicitly criticizes her husband’s shameful flight, revealing the poet’s bold patriotism.
Like duckweed drifting, you suddenly entered my humble gate,Coming and going in such haste, there was no time for warmth to stay.Fate was too shallow to keep the shadow of your yellow feathers,Leaving only my longing tied to the mossy traces you left behind.Master Tao long ago understood the cycle of life and death,Yet…
Amidst the flowers, a single pot of wine;I drink alone, with no companion near.I raise my cup to invite the bright moon,And with my shadow, we become a party of three.Yet the moon does not understand the joy of drinking,And my shadow merely tags along, a silent follower.For now, I’ll make the moon and…
By Su Shi The mighty Yangtze River flows eastward –Its waves wash away all heroes of bygone ages.
–Mao Zedong, May 1965 Tall trees pierce the sky, for miles around,Up soars this sacred peak in southern ground.Revisiting old haunts – what do I see?Pavilions new rise where none used to be.
–Mao Zedong, Spring 1964 Apes and men once bowed and took their leave;A few stones ground, our infancy weave.Furnaces flared with copper and steel’s bright sheen –When dawned that age? No guess is keen,But a thousand winters and summers green.