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Bao Zhao

Liu Song poet of humble family, known as Adjutant Bao, whose eighteen Imitations of the Hard Road widened the range of the seven-syllable ballad

Also known as Zi Mingyuan

Bao Zhao, courtesy name Mingyuan, came from Donghai and from a humble family. The History of Song, in an appendix to a princely biography, records that he presented poems to Liu Yiqing, Prince of Linchuan, and was given a post in his household. Under Emperor Xiaowu he served as a drafter in the Secretariat and then as magistrate of Moling and of Yongjia. In 466, when Liu Zixu, Prince of Linhai, rose at Jingzhou in support of the rival claimant Liu Zixun, Bao Zhao was his adjutant, and he was killed by soldiers when the revolt collapsed. His eighteen Imitations of the Hard Road (Ni xinglu nan), mostly in seven-syllable lines, voice the frustration of a man without family backing; he also wrote the Rhapsody on the Ruined City and a letter to his sister from the Dalei shore. Yu Yan compiled his works in the Southern Qi, and Du Fu likened Li Bai's verse to that of the free and graceful Adjutant Bao.

Life and times

  1. c. 414 CEBornJinNorthern and Southern
  2. 466 CEDied

Works

  1. Literature · Poetry12
    1. Imitating the Hard Roads (No. 4)Northern and SouthernBao Zhao's yuefu on water spilled on flat ground, protesting a world rigged against the lowborn
    2. Imitating the Hard Roads (No. 6)Northern and SouthernBao Zhao's yuefu of a man who strikes a pillar with his sword, refusing to fold his wings
    3. Enjoying the Moon at the West Gate of the CityNorthern and SouthernBao Zhao watches the moon at the west gate, from slender hook to a full moon shared afar
    4. After the Song of the Capital at LuoyangNorthern and SouthernBao Zhao's palace beauty in a phoenix tower, fearing favour will fade with the autumn dust
    5. Imitating the Yuefu "Song of White Hair"Northern and SouthernBao Zhao on an old yuefu theme: a heart pure as ice in a jade jar, cast off by a fickle world
    6. +7 more
      1. The Mulberry PickersNorthern and SouthernBao Zhao's late-spring mulberry picker answers a suitor's praise with constancy and wine
      2. Going Home in a DreamNorthern and SouthernBao Zhao dreams his way home from the frontier, then wakes to a river and a foreign land
      3. Imitating the Ancients: Before the Riverside Grass Turns YellowNorthern and SouthernBao Zhao in the old style: a wife weaving through autumn nights after news of her soldier
      4. On a Pair of SwallowsNorthern and SouthernBao Zhao's two swallows, shut out of a lord's hall, leave an old love to nest elsewhere
      5. Two Poems for an Old FriendNorthern and SouthernBao Zhao's two poems for an old friend: dead ashes that rekindle, and paired swords torn apart
      6. Song of the Bright Moon over the Eastern HillsNorthern and SouthernBao Zhao's moonlit beauties singing over wine, who prize true spirit above a thousand in gold
      7. Song of the East Gate: A Traveller PartsNorthern and SouthernBao Zhao's traveller torn by parting, whom neither music nor his own long song can console
  2. Literature · Sayings6
    1. Swallowing One's Words and Pacing in SilenceNorthern and SouthernFamous line from Bao Zhao's Hard Roads: grief that cannot be spoken
    2. A Heart Not Made of Wood or StoneNorthern and SouthernAphorism from Bao Zhao's Hard Roads: no heart of wood or stone can feel nothing
    3. Drawing a Sword to Strike the PillarNorthern and SouthernAphorism from Bao Zhao's Hard Roads: a frustrated scholar strikes the pillar and sighs
    4. Why Walk Timidly with Drooping Wings?Northern and SouthernLine from Bao Zhao's Hard Roads: refusing to creep along with drooping wings
    5. Alone and Upright, Like UsNorthern and SouthernLine from Bao Zhao's Hard Roads: sages were poor, let alone men alone and upright
    6. +1 more
      1. Water Poured on Level Ground Runs Every Way: Bao Zhao on FateNorthern and SouthernLine from Bao Zhao's Hard Roads: water on flat ground, like lives, flows every way
  3. Literature · Rhapsodies2
    1. Rhapsody on the Ruined City of GuanglingNorthern and SouthernBao Zhao's rhapsody on Guangling laid waste by war, a meditation on rise and ruin
    2. Rhapsody on the Dancing CraneNorthern and SouthernBao Zhao's parallel-prose rhapsody on a crane's dance, a free spirit in a courtly cage

Family tree

  1. Direct kin
    Bao LinghuiYounger sister
    Bao Zhao