Ye Shaoweng ( Chinese: 葉紹翁; Wade–Giles: Yeh Shao-weng; fl. 1200–1250) was a Southern Song dynasty Chinese poet from Longquan, in modern Lishui, Zhejiang province. [1] He belonged to the Jianghu (Rivers and Lakes) School of poets, known for its unadorned style of poetry. [1] He was an academician serving in the imperial archives in the capital Hangzhou, [1] and authored a history on the reigns of the first four emperors of the Southern Song entitled Sicao Jianwen Lu (四朝見聞錄), covering the period of 1127–1224. He was a friend of the Neo-Confucian scholar Zhen Dexiu. [2] Little else is known about his life. [1]
Ye Shaoweng's most famous poem is Youyuan Buzhi (Visiting a Private Garden without Success):
The last couplet is often reused in later works, its meaning recast as a sexual innuendo. [3] The African-American author Richard Wright wrote two haikus which bear close resemblance to Ye's poem. [4]
Ye Shaoweng ( Chinese: 葉紹翁; Wade–Giles: Yeh Shao-weng; fl. 1200–1250) was a Southern Song dynasty Chinese poet from Longquan, in modern Lishui, Zhejiang province. [1] He belonged to the Jianghu (Rivers and Lakes) School of poets, known for its unadorned style of poetry. [1] He was an academician serving in the imperial archives in the capital Hangzhou, [1] and authored a history on the reigns of the first four emperors of the Southern Song entitled Sicao Jianwen Lu (四朝見聞錄), covering the period of 1127–1224. He was a friend of the Neo-Confucian scholar Zhen Dexiu. [2] Little else is known about his life. [1]
Ye Shaoweng's most famous poem is Youyuan Buzhi (Visiting a Private Garden without Success):
The last couplet is often reused in later works, its meaning recast as a sexual innuendo. [3] The African-American author Richard Wright wrote two haikus which bear close resemblance to Ye's poem. [4]