Literature

As the population in the countryside grew, huge numbers of workers joined the shopkeepers, merchants, and artisans, who jammed the cities. The focus of Chinese life, like the tax base, shifted from the countryside to the town and cities. New, popular, art forms developed alongside the traditional arts of the rich. Storytellers wandered the streets charming audiences with yarns, jokes, and folk tales. These stories, written down, formed the basis of the Chinese novel and drama.

Below are a few examples of the style of poetry written during the Song dynasty. Enjoy!!

The Lantern Festival by Ou-yang Hsiu (1007-1072)

Last year at the Lantern Festival

The flower-market lights were bright as day;

When the moon mounted to the tops of the willows,

Two lovers kept their tryst after the yellow dusk.

This year at the Lantern Festival

The moon and the lights are the same as then;

Only I see not my lover of yesteryear,

And tears drench the sleeves of my gown.

Enjoying The Peonies At The Temple of Good Fortune by Su Shih (1036-1101)

In myold age I adorn myself with flowers, but blush not;

It is the flowers that should blush for decking an old man's head.

Half tipsy I fumble along home, and men must be laughing at me,

For along the road half the folks have hooked up their blinds.

 

The Color of Life by Ssu-K'ung Tu (834-908)

Would that we might for ever stay

The rainbow glories of the world,

The blue of the unfathomed sea,

The rare azalea late unfurled,

The parrot of a greener spring,

The willows and the terrace line,

The stranger form the night-steeped hills,

The roselit brimming cup of wine.

Oh for a life that stretched afar,

Where no dead dust of books were rife,

Where spring sang clear from star to star;

Alas! what hope for such a life?

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