Name Wang Wei Role Poet | Died 1647 | |
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Two poems by wang wei
Wang Wei (Chinese: 王微) (1597 – 1647) was a Chinese poet. Her courtesy name was Xiuwei (Chinese: 修微).
Contents
Wang wei poem analysis
Biography
At age seven, Wang was orphaned and she became a courtesan in Yangzhou. In later life she was twice married and twice widowed, before becoming a priestess with the name "Taoist Master in the Straw coat". Thereafter she travelled throughout central China on a boat writing poems celebrating nature. She travelled to West Lake in Hangzhou, a hotspot for literati at the time. She later travelled to Japan for monetary endeavors and ended up in a brothel again because of finances.
Writing
Wang was a writer and anthologist of travelogues. Tina Lu has argued that nature was only the secondary topic of her work, with the primary focus being a, 'landscape of nostalgia,' that Wang used to express her identity as a traveller.
Her poetry appears in the anthology of late Ming-early Qing female poets Zhong Xiang Ci.
Wang's shi poems were described by Qing Dynasty commentators as comparable to those of Li Qingzhao and Zhu Shuzhen in their beauty and serenity.