Li Sao

"Li Sao" (Chinese: 離騷; pinyin: Lí Sāo; translation: "Encountering Sorrow") is an ancient Chinese poem from the anthology Chuci traditionally attributed to Qu Yuan. Li Sao dates from the 3rd century BCE, during the Chinese Warring States period.

The poem "Li Sao" is in the Chuci collection and is traditionally attributed to Qu Yuan of the Kingdom of Chu, who died about 278 BCE.

Qu Yuan manifests himself in a poetic character, in the tradition of Classical Chinese poetry, contrasting with the anonymous poetic voices encountered in the Shijing and the other early poems which exist as preserved in the form of incidental incorporations into various documents of ancient miscellany. The rest of the Chuci anthology is centered on the "Li Sao", the purported biography of its author Qu Yuan.

In "Li Sao", the poet despairs that he has been plotted against by evil factions at court with his resulting rejection by his lord and then recounts a series of shamanistic spirit journeys to various mythological realms, engaging or attempting to engage with a variety of divine or spiritual beings, with the theme of the righteous minister unfairly rejected sometimes becoming exaggerated in the long history of later literary criticism and allegorical interpretation. It dates from the time of King Huai of Chu, in the third century BCE.

The meaning of the title "Li Sao" is not straightforward. In the biography of Qu Yuan, li sao is explained as being as equivalent to li you 'leaving with sorrow' (Sima Qian, Shiji or the Records of the Grand Historian). Inference must be made that 'meeting with sorrow' must have been meant.

However, the 1st century CE scholar Ban Gu explicitly glossed the title as "encountering sorrow".

The Li Sao begins with the poet's introduction of himself, his ancestry, and his former shamanic glory.

Of the god-king Gao-yang I am the far offspring,
My late honored sire bore the name of Bo-yong.
The she-ti stars aimed to the year's first month;
Geng-yin was the day that I came down.

He scanned and delved into my first measure,
From the portents my sire gave these noble names:
The name that he gave me was Upright Standard;
And my title of honor was Godly Poise.

Such bounty I had of beauty within,
And to this was added fair countenance.
I wore mantles of river rush and remote angelica,
Strung autumn orchids to hang from my sash.