— Li Shangyin
Having caressed the dancers in the vernal breeze,
You’re ravished amid the merry-making trees.
How can you wail until clear autumn days are done
To shrill like poor cicadas in the setting sun?
Note
Li Shangyin (c. 813–858) was one of the most enigmatic and stylistically refined poets of the late Tang Dynasty, renowned for his dense allusions, emotional depth, and hauntingly beautiful imagery. His poetry often explores themes of lost love, political disappointment, and the passage of time, frequently using natural symbols – like the willow – to convey subtle, melancholic reflections.
His poem “Willow” traces the life cycle of a willow tree as a metaphor for fleeting glory and inevitable decline. In spring, the willow “once chased the east wind,” gracefully swaying beside dancers at joyous banquets in Leyou Park – a place of imperial revelry and romantic splendor, described as a “heartbreaking day” not out of sorrow, but from the overwhelming beauty and transience of the moment.
But the tone shifts sharply: “How could it willingly come to this clear autumn day – / now bearing the slanting sun, and the cries of cicadas?” Autumn here symbolizes aging, loneliness, and decay. The once-celebrated willow, now bare and shadowed by dusk and insect lament, stands as a poignant image of fallen grace.
Through this contrast between spring’s exuberance and autumn’s desolation, Li Shangyin reflects on the fragility of fortune, beauty, and perhaps his own unfulfilled political and personal hopes.
Story behind the poem
This poem was likely written around 851 CE, shortly after Li Shangyin arrived in Chang’an to accept an invitation from Liu Zhongying, the military governor (jiedushi) of Dongchuan. In the following years, Li served as Liu’s secretary in his administrative headquarters – a role that kept him in a subordinate, itinerant position within Liu’s entourage. Because his patron’s surname was Liu (which is homophonous with “willow” [liǔ] in Chinese), Li Shangyin often used the willow as a poetic double entendre, weaving personal emotion into verses that ostensibly praised or reflected on the tree but subtly alluded to his relationship with his patron – and his own inner turmoil.
This particular “Willow” poem is one such example. At the time of writing, Li Shangyin had just lost his beloved wife to illness. Grieving and emotionally shattered, he was also preparing to travel alone to Sichuan (Shu) to begin another stint in a provincial military office – an existence he found wearying and unfulfilling. The poem thus intertwines private sorrow with existential dread: the willow’s fall from springtime splendor to autumnal desolation mirrors both his mourning for his wife and his despair over a future filled with lonely service and unrealized dreams. His anguish – deep, quiet, and layered – is palpable beneath the poem’s elegant surface.
柳
— 李商隐
曾逐东风拂舞筵，
乐游春苑断肠天。
如何肯到清秋日，
已带斜阳又带蝉。
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