The Magpie at Night

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this poetry collection, however, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Before seeing this on Netgalley I had never heard of Li Qingzhao and now I'm about to preorder this and see what other books I can hunt down. It's a new sort of niche interest I suppose, but I find Li Qingzhao's life equal parts interesting and tragic. I used to live in Hangzhou where she eventually settled at one point and now I wish I had known about her then. I'm sure that if I had shown an interest one of my students would have mentioned her, but I didn't know enough at the time. However, based on my Google Maps history I did visit her Memorial Hall/Pavillion while I was there. For me, it is both a miracle that so many of her poems survive, but also disappointing that more didn't.

Her poetry has a descriptive and yet ethereal quality to me. However, there is a distinct shift in tone from her earlier poetry to her later poetry. I wish that some of her essays survived, but in my research it seems that mostly only her ci form poetry survived. Wendy Chen does an excellent job giving us readers an overview of Li Qingzhao's life and poetry at the beginning of the book, but also for stoking the flames of curiosity to learn more.

Overall, I think that fans of classic Chinese poetry will probably have already read the poems here, but I this could be a chance to reexamine or compare. Fans of poetry looking to dip their toes into classic Chinese poetry will find this to be a friendly and enchanting place to start. I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of this for my shelf and to seek out some friends to go next to it. I also hope that Wendy Chen does more work either for Li Qingzhao or some other aspects of Chinese poetry/culture. I found her writing in the beginning to be clear, concise, and educational.

A fascinating bundle of poems of an 12th century female poet. Li Qingzhao her work is full of nature depictions and melancholy, and feels remarkably modern at times
Now, I can no longer embrace
anything near the past.

Idle, I have doubts numerous
as moonbeams.
- Fragrant Courtyard, a Modulation

I had never heard of Li Qingzhao before, a Song dynasty poet, finally translated by a female scholar and poet Wendy Chan.
The life of Li Qingzhao is fascinating. Displaced (and losing an acclaimed library and antiquities collection) by the fall of the Northern Song, losing her husband Zhao Mingcheng to dysentery.
Being physically abused by her second husband, who she got convicted and exiled for corruption. However women who brought their husbands to court where jailed, imprisonment only her late husband’s familial ties could help her escape of.
Even in her later years her talent is clear, with records of her presenting poems to the court of the emperor, even though in her poems she was critical of the abandonment of the Northern Song lands.

I also learned a lot about Chinese poetry in its many forms. Ci, poems set to music meters, wen, essays and shi, political writings, are some of the types of works Li Qingzhao produced.
Her poems are very visual and vivid, evoking both natural and domestic settings.
Seasons, passage of time, wine, plum blossoms and migrating birds appear often. Many festivals mark the passage of time. Tranquility and transience for main grounding themes in the grouping Wendy Chan made, ranging from initially more light and spring oriented poems to more wintery, melancholy ones at the end of the bundle.

An interesting bundle from a woman who lived through extraordinary times, skilfully brought to life for a modern audience.

Poems:
Do not resent their vanishing
fragrance, their falling
jade petals.
Have faith feelings will remain
when all traces have been swept away.
- Fragrant Courtyard

Longing saturates the human world,
the heavens.

A stair of clouds to the moon.
A thousand locked gates.
- Offering Incense

A breeze blows in
misty rain.

The pear blossoms want
to wither.

I fear
I cannot stop them.
- Silk-washing Stream

I fear our bitter parting,
your absence.

Still so much
I want to say
but cannot.
- At Phoenix tower remembering the tune of the flute

Who will drink with me
from wine and poems?

Tears ruin
the powder on my face.
- Butterflies long for the flowers

My journey is long, I say
and the sun is setting.
I have studied poetry
and attempted startling phrases
to no use.
- The Fisherman’s Pride

Soft wind. Pale sun.
Spring is just beginning.

I feel good
in my lined jacket.

But rising from sleep,
I am a little cold.

The plum blossoms in my hair
have withered.

Where is my homeland?
Only drunk can I forget.

The incense burning while I sleep
is gone when I awake.
Still, more wine remains.
- Barbarian Bodhisattva

When I studied Chinese language and history, I had a professor who said that she wasn't allowed to cover art and poetry in the history classes because of their social science designation. And then she did it anyway, exposing us to these beautiful works in context of the historical times. That was where I got the appreciation for this kind of poetry, which is deceptively simple.
This is a collection by an author I was unfamiliar with. Reading ger descriptions of nature is relaxing, but the words and perception are so sophisticated and intelligent. It's amazing to think that I can relate this much to someone from that far away and that long ago.
Her life was really interesting too, and it seems as though she was a strong, interesting lady.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this