Classic Chinese Poems of Mourning and Texts of Lament

Victor H. Mair is Professor of Chinese Language and Literature at the University of Pennsylvania, USA. He is the co-editor of Ming Dynasty Tales: A Guided Reader (Bloomsbury, 2022). Zhenjun Zhang is of Professor Asian Studies and Modern Languages at St. Lawrence University, USA. He is the co-editor of Ming Dynasty Tales: A Guided Reader (Bloomsbury, 2022).

• Introduction Part I CHINESE ELEGIES: POEMS OF MOURNINGI. Selections from Zhou through the Six Dynasties (c. 1045 BCE-581CE)Shijing (The Classic of Odes; c. 840-620 BCE)1.“Green Shirt” (Tr. Xiuyuan Mi) 2.“Kudzu Grows” (Tr. Xiuyuan Mi)3.“Yellow Bird” (Tr. Xiuyuan Mi)Pan Yue (247-300)4-6. “Poems Lamenting Her Death: Three Poems” (Tr. Chiu-Mi Lai) Shen Yue (441-513)7. “A Poem Lamenting the Dead” (Tr. Victor H. Mair)Jiangxi Yan (444-505)8.“Mourning My Deceased Wife: Ten Poems” No. 5 (Tr. Victor H. Mair)Yu Xin ?? (513-581)9.“Lamenting the Deceased: Two Poems” No. 1 (Tr. Victor H. Mair)II. Selections from the Tang (618-906) and Five Dynasties (906-960)Wang Wei (701-761)10.“Weeping for Meng Haoran” (Tr. Paul W. Kroll)Li Bai (701-762)11-12. “Facing Wine, Remembering Director He [Zhizhang]: Two Poems” (Tr. Paul W. Kroll) 13.“Weeping for Old-Timer Ji, Master Brewer of Xuancheng” (Tr. Paul W. Kroll)Wei Yingwu (c. 737-791) 14.“Returning from Outside” (Tr. Ji Hao)“My Heart Pained at Our Old Residence at Tongde Monastery” (Tr. Ji Hao)Du Fu (712-770)15.“Farewell at the Tomb of Defender-in-Chief Fang” (Tr. Daniel Hsieh)Bai Juyi (772-846) 16. “Li Bai’s Tomb” (Tr. Zhenjun Zhang)/17. “Courtesan Zhenniang’s Tomb” (Tr. Zhenjun Zhang)18. “Dreaming of Weizhi” (Tr. Hua Zhao)19.“Mourning for Xue Tai” (Tr. Zhenjun Zhang)Yuan Zhen (779-831)21-23. “Assuaging My Grieving Heart: Three Poems” (Tr. Zhenjun Zhang)24. “Parting Thoughts: Five Poems” No. 4 (Tr. Zhenjun Zhang)Chen Quji (d. 835)25.“Going West to My Mother’s Tomb to Say Goodbye” (Tr. Zhenjun Zhang)Li Chen (810-859)26.“Lamenting the Death of Bai Juyi” (Tr. Hua Zhao)Li Shangyin (c. 813-c. 858)27.“A Poem Mourning My Recently Deceased Wife to Explain Why I'm Not Going to the Party, Sent to Brother Wang, the Twelfth Son of His Clan, and Officiant Auxiliary Weizhi, Who Stopped By and Invited Me for a Few Drinks” (Tr. Hua Zhao)28.“Encountering Snow at Sanguan Pass during My Trip to the Eastern Shu to Assume a Position after Mourning My Newly Deceased Wife” (Tr. Hua Zhao)Cui Jue (fl. 850-858)29.“Weeping for Li Shangyin: Two Poems” No. 2 (Tr. Hua Zhao)Wei Zhuang (c. 836-c. 910) 30.“Mourning My Deceased Concubine” (Tr. Ji Hao)31.“Lamenting Zhuozhuo” (Ji Hao)Pei Yuxian 32-33. “Weeping for My Deceased Husband: Two Poems” (Tr. Zhanyong Wu)Wang Huan (c. 821-901)34. “Mourning the Departed” (Tr. Zhanyong Wu)Li Zhong (fl. 947)35.“Mourning the Departed” (Tr. Zhanyong Wu)III. Selections from the Song, Jin, and Yuan Dynasties (960-1368)Mei Yaochen (1002-1060)36-38. “Mourning the Departed: Three Poems” (Tr. Sidney Sondergard)Su Shi(1037-1101)39.Tune: “River Town” (Tr. James R. Hightower)Zhang Lei (1054-1114)40.“Mourning the Dead: Nine Poems” No.1 (Tr. Ying Liu)He Zhu (1052-1125)41.Tune: “Partridge Sky; “Half-dead Sycamore”(Tr. Lucas Klein)Zhao Ji (1082-1135)42.Tune: “The Hapless Drunk” ; “Previewing the Jinglong Gate Lanterns, Mourning Empress Mingjie” (Tr. Lucas Klein)Lu Xiu (1125-1210)43-44. “Shen’s Garden, Two Poems” (Tr. Zheng Wen)Dai Fugu (1167-?)45.“On the Portrait of My Deceased Wife” (Tr. Ying Liu)Wu Wenying (c.1200-c.1260)46.Tune: “Oriole Song Sequence” ; Late Spring Thought (Tr. Lucas Klein)Zhao Menfu (1254-1322)47.“The Tomb of Prince E Yue” (Tr. Lucas Klein)Chen Shen (1259-1329)48.“Mourning the Departed” (Tr. Ying Liu)Yu Ji (1272~1348)49.“Lamenting Chancellor Wen” (Tr. Zhenjun Zhang)Liu Zongyuan (a poet of Yuan)50.“Dreaming of My Mother in the Mountains” (Tr. Jing Hu)Fu Ruojin (1304-1343)51.“Visiting My Wife’s Tomb” (Tr. Ying Liu)Ding Henian (1335-1424)52.“Mourning the Departed” (Tr. Zhenjun Zhang)IV. Selections from the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368-1911)Yu Qian (1398-1457)53.“Lamenting My Deceased Wife” No. 3 (Tr. Zhenjun Zhang)Bian Gong (1476-1532)54.“Weeping for Vice Commissioner Fan Yuan, My Classmate in jinshi Examination, and Erudite Xu Zhenqing, composed with Mr. Li Kongtong” (Tr. Zhenjun Zhang)Yang Shen (1488-1559)55.“Dreaming of My Deceased Wife” No. 1 (Tr. Zhenjun Zhang)Xu Wei(1521-1593)56.“It Has Been Ten Years since My Wife’s Death” (Tr. Jing Hu)Zhang Juzheng (1525-1582)57.“It Has Been a Year since My Wife Died. Happening to read Wei Yingwu’s elegy on his wife, I was moved to write this” (Tr. Alice Cheang)Tang Xianzu (1550-1616)58.“Remembering the Dead on the Day of the Qingming Festival” No. 3 (Tr. Alice Cheang)Ma Shiqi (1584-1644)59-60. “Thinking of My Deceased Wife while Lodging in Jinling” No. 1 and No. 3 (Tr. Clara Ma)Bo Shaojun (fl.1596)61.“One Hundred Poems Lamenting My Husband” No. 5 (Tr. Wilt J. Idema)Chen Que (1604-1677)62.“Mourning the Departed” (Tr. Ming Feng Kee)Shang Jinglan (1605-1676)63.“Mourning the Departed” (Tr. Zhenjun Zhang)64.“Weeping for My Deceased Husband while Passing the Riverside and Ascending the Huanying Tower” (Tr. Zhenjun Zhang)Wu Weiye (1609-1671)65.“A Lament” (Tr. Zheng Wen)Wang Fuzhi (1619-1692)66.“Lamenting the Departed” (Tr. Zhenjun Zhang)Wang Shizhen (1637-1711)67-69. “Thirty-five Lamentation Poems Composed for Zhang Yiren” No.5, 13, & 18 (Tr. Richard J. Lynn)Pu Songling (1640-1715)70-72. “Lamenting My Deceased Wife” No. 1, 2 and 6 (Tr. Sidney Sondergard)73. “Weeping for My Older Brother” (Tr. Sidney Sondergard)74. “On the Fourth Day of the Second Lunar Month, I Went to Weep for Sun Sifu with Santai in View” (Tr. Sidney Sondergard)Nalan Xingde (1655-1685)75.Tune: “Sands of Silk-Washing Brook” (Tr. Jing Hu)Zhao Yi (1727-1814)76.“A Poem Composed after Dreaming of My Late Wife” (Tr. Zhenjun Zhang)/ Tong Jia (1737-1809)77-78. “Poems Lamenting My Husband” No. 4 and No. 86 (Tr. Wilt J. Idema) Zhou Shouchang (1814-1884) 79. “Drying Old Clothes” (Tr. Zhenjun Zhang) 80. “Weeping for My Late Father on New Year’s Day” ?????? (Tr. Ye Tian and Jing Hu)Part IICHINESE EULOGIES: TEXTS OF LAMENTI. Selections from the Zhou to the Six Dynasties (c. 1045 BCE-581CE)Duke Ai of Lu (c.508-c.468 BCE)77.“Dirge for Confucius” (Tr. Bryan Van Norden) Jia Yi (201-169 BCE)78.“A fu Lamenting Qu Yuan” (Tr. Trever McKay)Sima Xiangru (c. 179-118 BCE)79.“A fu Lamenting the Second Emperor [of Qin]” ???? (Tr. Trever McKay)Liu Che (156-87 BCE)80.“A fu Mourning Lady Li” (Tr. Trever McKay)Cao Cao (155-220)81.“An Eulogy for the Late Grand Commandant Qiao Xun” (Tr. Weiguo Cao)Cao Zhi (192-232)82.“A Lament for Jinhu” (Tr. Weiguo Cao) 83. “Dirge for Wang Zhongxuan” (Tr. Robert J. Cutter)Xiang Xiu (227-272)84.“A fu on Recalling Old Friends” (Tr. Yue Zhang and Graham Sanders) Tao Yuanming (365-427)85.“Offering Text for My Younger Sister Cheng” (Tr. Graham Sanders and Yue Zhang) 86.“Funeral Offering for Myself” (Tr. James R. Hightower)Yan Yanzhi (384-456)87.“Dirge for Recruit for Office Tao with a Preface” (Tr. Robert J. Cutter)88.“Sacrificial Offering for Qu Yuan” (Tr. Jeffrey Tharsen)Jiang Ya (444-505)89.A fu Lamenting My Friend (Tr. Paul W. Kroll)90.A fu Lamenting My Beloved Son (Tr. Paul W. Kroll)Liu Lingxian (fl. 525)91.“Sacrificial Offering for My Husband, Xu Fei” (Tr. Wilt J. Idema)II. Selections from the Tang and Song Dynasties (618-1279)Han Yu(768-824)92.“Sacrificial Offering for Liu Zihou” (Tr. Chen Wu)93.“An Offering for Lady Zheng” (Tr. Ming Feng Kee and Zhenjun Zhang) 94.“Offering Text for My Twelfth Nephew” (Tr. Nicholas Williams)Liu Zongyuan (773-819)95.“Offering Text for Lu Wen, Prefect of Hengzhou” (Tr. Nicholas Williams) Li Ao (772-841)96.“Sacrificial Offering for Vice Minister Han of Personnel,” (Tr. Chen Wu)Bai Juyi (772-846)97.“Offering Text for Weizhi” (Tr. Hua Zhao)Ouyang Xiu (1007-1072)98.“Sacrificial Offering for Shi Manqing” (Tr. Grace Huang and Liang H. Huang)99.“Memorial at the Tomb Pass on Shuanggang” (Tr. Nicholas Williams)100.“Eulogy for Su Zimei” (Tr. Chi-chiang Huang)Zeng Gong (1019-1083)101.“Sacrificial Offering for Wang Pingfu” (Tr. Clara Ma)Wang Anshi (1021-1086)102.“Eulogy for Prefect Fan of Yingzhou” (Tr. Chi-chiang Huang) 103.“Eulogy for Ouyang Wenzhong” (Tr. Chi-chiang Huang)Su Shi (1037-1101)104.“An Offering Text for Ouyang Wenzhong” (Tr. Benjamin Ridgway)Su Zhe (1039-1112)105.“Offering Text for My Deceased Older Brother Duanming” (Tr. Alice Cheang) Li Qingzhao (1184-c.1151) 106.“An Offering Text for Prefect Zhao of Huzhou” (Tr. Jing Hu)Lu You (1125-1210)107.“Lamenting Shen Zishou’s Mother, Lady Zhao (Tr. Zhanyong Wu)Xin Qiji (1140-1207)108.“Sacrificial Offering for Chen Tongfu” (Tr. Ying Liu)Wen Tianxiang (1236-1283)109.“Weeping for My Wife” (Tr. Jing Hu)III. Selections from the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties (1271-1911)Zheng Yundauan (c.1327-1356)110.“A Dirge for Myself”? (Tr. Wilt J. Idema) Yuan Hongdao (1568-1610)111.“Sacrificial Address to My Wife Li on the Day of Small Auspiciousness” (Tr. Shengyu Wang)Yuan Zhongdao (1570-1626)112.“Sacrificial Address for Zhongang” (Tr. Ying Zou)Chen Que (1604-1677)113.“An Offering for My Deceased Wife” (Tr. Guo-ou Zhuang)Fang Bao (1668-1749)114.“Lament for Xuan Zuoren” (Tr. Shengyu Wang)Liu Dakui (1698-1779)115.“Offering Text for My Uncle” (Tr. Guo-ou Zhuang)Yuan Mei (1716-1797)116.“In Memory of My Younger Sister” (Tr. Martin Huang) Biographical Sketches of Translators Selected BibliographyIndex

Mair and Zhang offer here the first study of traditional Chinese poems of mourning and prose laments of the dead. The 120 selections have been carefully chosen and accurately rendered by some of the best translators in the field. The book will appeal to students of Chinese literature and religion, among others.