Isn't she wonderful? She lived from 1084 till around 1150, was married to an aristocrat who was active in court politics. He was often absent on official business, which is why so many of her poems are about her missing him.
she's respected as China's greatest composer of tz'u, poems written to old song tunes (whose words were often lost), keeping the rhyme and tonal scheme and the irregular line lengths of the original, but using new words. And most often a completely different mood or theme than the original song.
I lucked across Plum Blossoms in a second hand bookshop. It's a printing of only 1,000, and this copy is signed by both translator and illustrator. It's one of my treasures.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-09-23 09:26 pm (UTC)she's respected as China's greatest composer of tz'u, poems written to old song tunes (whose words were often lost), keeping the rhyme and tonal scheme and the irregular line lengths of the original, but using new words. And most often a completely different mood or theme than the original song.
I lucked across Plum Blossoms in a second hand bookshop. It's a printing of only 1,000, and this copy is signed by both translator and illustrator. It's one of my treasures.