Poetry
Song of Everlasting Sorrow
長恨歌
Bai Juyi · 806
Synopsis
An emperor falls in love with a young woman of great beauty and neglects the affairs of state for her. Then war breaks out: he flees and takes his favourite with him, but the soldiers demand her death, and he finally yields. Back in his palace, he mourns her without respite, and a Taoist priest sets out to seek her soul in the afterlife. The beginning of the poem mocks the emperor's excesses, the rest dwells on the love of the two characters.
Context
The poem was written in 806; it transposes to the Han period the story of the emperor Xuanzong and his favourite Yang Guifei, who died in 756 during the An Lushan rebellion. His friend Chen Hong drew a prose narrative from it, and plays have derived from it. It was an immediate great success and is still taught in China; Confucian scholars nonetheless reproached it with distorting history and with being sensual. It left its mark on the Japanese literature of the Heian period, down to the Tale of Genji.
Who it is for
A narrative poem to be read in one sitting; translated into French several times, notably by Jacques Chatain in 2006.
Prizes and reception
A success from the time of its publication according to the World History Encyclopedia, it inspired painters, playwrights and musicians down to the twentieth century.
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