Poems of Farewell
The club explores the agonizing beauty of the Chinese farewell poem. Over ten expansive lessons, they construct the terrifying scale of the imperial geography, where bureaucratic transfers meant risking disease and bandits. They cross from the dry, lethal western deserts of Wang Wei's partings to the glorious, wealthy southern rivers of Li Bai. They dissect Wang Bo's radical philosophical defiance against weeping, Gao Shi's rugged winter optimism, and finally, they enter the Song Dynasty to examine Liu Yong's devastatingly romantic, urban heartbreak, tracing how separation evolved from a matter of state duty to intimate personal tragedy.
The evolution of farewell poetry as a vital social institution, driven by the brutal geography of the empire, bureaucratic displacement, and shifting social classes across the Tang and Song Dynasties.
Story Chapters & Progression
Follow the narrative path. Unlock chapters sequentially through completion.