A Sprig of Plum Blossom (李清照 一剪梅)
66 X 27 cm
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A Sprig of Plum Blossom (李清照 一剪梅)
66 X 27 cm in Semicursive Script (行書)
Historical Information
“A Sprig of Plum Blossom (一剪梅)” was composed by Li Qingzhao (李清照, 1084 – 1151 AD) of the Song Dynasty. Li is often revered as the greatest female poet in Chinese history (1). However, Li's life was rather miserable (2)(3), and this particular poem reflected her sad feelings for her husband, who was always absent from home due to his official duties.
Text Translation
花自飄零水自流，
Flowers wither as water flows;
一種相思，兩處閒愁。
one kind of longing, two places of sorrows;
此情無計可消除，
These feelings cannot be washed away;
才下眉頭，卻上心頭。
Just as they drop out of my eyebrows, they all surge towards my very heart.
(translated by KS Vincent Poon, Oct . 2015)
Personal Comments
Li was extremely talented, but her life was tragic. At the age of eighteen, she married her first husband, who was frequently not home due to official duties. After fifteen years of marriage, the country's capital, Kaifeng (開封), fell to the Jurchens (女真) and her home in Shandong (山東) was burnt to ashes, forcing her and her husband to flee to Nanjing (南京). Her husband died three years later in 1129 AD due to sickness(4). She then never fully recovered from her husband's death emotionally. As scholar Zhu Yu (朱彧) remarked, "Fate had blessed her with great talent but not a good life (天獨厚其才而嗇其遇)”.
Talented people often face great tragedies. Beethoven's deafness and Vincent van Gogh's mental illness are prime examples. Nature indeed works in mysterious ways: without tragedies, can their talents be honed and manifested?
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