Sorrow for Troth Betrayed

"Sorrow for Troth Betrayed" (Chinese: 惜誓; pinyin: Xī shì; literally: "Sorrow for Troth Betrayed") is one of the poems anthologized in the ancient Chinese poetry collection, the Chu ci, which together with the Shijing comprise the two major textual sources for ancient Chinese poetry. The "Sorrow for Troth Betrayed" describes a shamanistic or Daoist type of flight over an area including the axis mundi, Bactria, and the Middle Kingdom, during which the wise and virtuous narrator observes the evils rampant in the world with grief, concluding that in such a case that withdrawal from the world is the only valid option. The poem appears to have been preserved in a somewhat fragmentary form, with several lacunae. The authorship of the "Sorrow for Troth Betrayed" poem has been attributed to both Qu Yuan (d. about BCE 278) and Jia Yi (d. BCE 168 or 169); but, based on internal evidence, Sorrow for Troth Betrayed appears to have been written by an anonymous author after the lifetimes of both Qu Yuan and Jia Yi. (Hawkes, 2011 [1985]: 239)

References

Hawkes, David, translator and introduction (2011 [1985]). Qu Yuan et al., The Songs of the South: An Ancient Chinese Anthology of Poems by Qu Yuan and Other Poets. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-044375-2

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Xi Shi

Chinese poetry

Major eras	Classical Chinese poetry Modern Chinese poetry

Poetry by dynasty	Han poetry Jian'an poetry Six Dynasties poetry Tang poetry Song poetry Yuan poetry Ming poetry Qing poetry

Poetry works and collections	Classic of Poetry Chuci New Songs from the Jade Terrace Nineteen Old Poems Quan Tangshi Three Hundred Tang Poems Wangchuan ji Wen Xuan Zhuying ji

Major forms	ci fu shi qu yuefu

Individual poems list	Chinese poems (category list) List of poems (article)

Modern compilations	Sunflower Splendor: Three Thousand Years of Chinese Poetry The Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Literature

Sorrow for Troth Betrayed

See also

References