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Women and Women's Writings from Antiquity Through the Middle Ages - Pan Chao (Poem Date C. 1St Century)
PAN CHAO (POEM DATE C. 1ST CENTURY)
SOURCE: Pan Chao. Pan Chao: Foremost Woman Scholar of China, translated by Nancy Lee Swann. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Center for Chinese Studies, 1932.
The following is an excerpt from the poem "Traveling Eastward," the oldest surviving work composed by the first century A.D. Chinese writer Pan Chao (or Ban Zhao).
It is the seventh year of Yung-ch'u;
I follow my son in his journey eastward.
It is an auspicious day in Spring's first moon;
We choose this good hour, and are about to start.
Now I arise to my feet and ascend my carriage.
At eventide we lodge at Yen-shih:
Already we leave the old and start for the new.
I am uneasy in mind, and sad at heart.
Dawn's first light comes, and yet I sleep not;
My heart hesitates as though it would fail me.
I pour out a cup of wine to relax my thoughts.
Suppressing my feelings, I...
[The entire page is 397 words long]
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- Pan Chao (Poem Date C. 1St Century)
- Yu Xuanji (Lyric Date C. 9Th Century)
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