Writers › Writer / Poet

Shen Yue

Writer and historian who served the Song, Qi and Liang courts, compiled the Book of Song, and laid down tonal rules for verse in his Register of the Four Tones

Also known as Zi Xiuwen

Shen Yue, courtesy name Xiuwen, came from Wukang in Wuxing; his father Shen Pu was executed at the end of the Yuanjia era of the Liu Song. He held office under the Song and the Qi, and under Emperor Wu of Qi he was one of the Eight Friends who gathered around Xiao Ziliang, Prince of Jingling, together with Xiao Yan and Xie Tiao. Ordered in 487 to write the Book of Song (Songshu), he finished its annals and biographies the next year. As the Qi collapsed he urged Xiao Yan to accept the throne and drafted the abdication documents, then served the Liang as vice director and director of the Department of State Affairs. His Register of the Four Tones argued for tonal patterning in verse, though Emperor Wu cared little for it. He died in 513; officials proposed the posthumous name Wen, but the emperor changed it to Yin. His Songshu, in a hundred chapters, is one of the Twenty-Four Histories.

Life and times

  1. 441 CEBornNorthern and Southern
  2. 513 CEDied

Works

  1. Literature · Prose104
    1. Book of SongNorthern and SouthernShen Yue's history of the Liu Song, whose treatises keep yuefu lyrics and institutional records
    2. Book of Song: Basic AnnalsNorthern and Southern
    3. Book of Song: TreatisesNorthern and Southern
    4. Book of Song: BiographiesNorthern and Southern
    5. Book of Song: Annals of Emperor Wu, Part 1Northern and Southern
    6. +25 more
      1. Book of Song: Annals of Emperor Wu, Part 2Northern and Southern
      2. Book of Song: Annals of Emperor Wu, Part 3Northern and Southern
      3. Book of Song: Annals of the Young EmperorNorthern and Southern
      4. Book of Song: Annals of Emperor WenNorthern and Southern
      5. Book of Song: Annals of Emperor XiaowuNorthern and Southern
      6. Book of Song: Annals of the Former Deposed EmperorNorthern and Southern
      7. Book of Song: Annals of Emperor MingNorthern and Southern
      8. Book of Song: Annals of the Later Deposed EmperorNorthern and Southern
      9. Book of Song: Annals of Emperor ShunNorthern and Southern
      10. Book of Song: Preface to the Treatises; Treatise on Pitch-pipesNorthern and Southern
      11. Book of Song: Treatise on the Calendar, Part 1Northern and Southern
      12. Book of Song: Treatise on the Calendar, Part 2Northern and Southern
      13. Book of Song: Treatise on Rites, Part 1Northern and Southern
      14. Book of Song: Treatise on Rites, Part 2Northern and Southern
      15. Book of Song: Treatise on Rites, Part 3Northern and Southern
      16. Book of Song: Treatise on Rites, Part 4Northern and Southern
      17. Book of Song: Treatise on Rites, Part 5Northern and Southern
      18. Book of Song: Treatise on Music, Part 1Northern and Southern
      19. Book of Song: Treatise on Music, Part 2Northern and Southern
      20. Book of Song: Treatise on Music, Part 3Northern and Southern
      21. Book of Song: Treatise on Music, Part 4Northern and Southern
      22. Book of Song: Treatise on Astronomy, Part 1Northern and Southern
      23. Book of Song: Treatise on Astronomy, Part 2Northern and Southern
      24. Book of Song: Treatise on Astronomy, Part 3Northern and Southern
      25. Book of Song: Treatise on Astronomy, Part 4Northern and Southern
    7. Open all works→
  2. Literature · Poetry23
    1. Climbing High to View the SpringNorthern and SouthernShen Yue views the spring splendour of the two capitals and sighs for a tryst that never comes
    2. Lament of Zhaojun · From the Pixiang HallNorthern and SouthernShen Yue follows Wang Zhaojun from palace to desert, her song turning from spring to cold
    3. Written for a Young Man Newly MarriedNorthern and SouthernShen Yue writes for a young groom: praise of his bride, then a boast in the old ballad's style
    4. Song of Walking Hand in HandNorthern and SouthernShen Yue's song: a beauty dresses to attend her lord, fearing that bloom and favour are brief
    5. There Is One I Long For · Westward to LongshouNorthern and SouthernShen Yue's frontier song: a soldier on Longshou looks east and sends a letter home by the envoy
    6. +18 more
      1. Song of Night After Night · The River of StarsNorthern and SouthernShen Yue's yuefu: a wife weaves all night under turning stars, with no one to hear her grief
      2. A Spring Poem: Willows Like SilkNorthern and SouthernShen Yue's spring poem: willows and new grass move a traveller's heart to tears of longing
      3. On Peach BlossomsNorthern and SouthernShen Yue's peach blossoms blaze in the sun yet only deepen the spring tears of one who longs
      4. On the Moon · Moonlight on a Quiet NightNorthern and SouthernShen Yue follows moonlight through doors and cracks to a lonely wife's tower and a poets' park
      5. On the Willow · Light Shade over JianzhangNorthern and SouthernShen Yue's palace willows, soft and long in wind and dew, stir the grief of forsaken ladies
      6. On the Transverse Bamboo FluteNorthern and SouthernShen Yue's southern flute: music that circles the beams and hides a true heart in its tune
      7. Six RemembrancesNorthern and SouthernShen Yue remembers a beloved as she came, sat, ate and went to bed, each moment shy and tender
      8. Embroidery at the CollarNorthern and SouthernShen Yue on embroidery at a collar: butterflies and flowers so lifelike they move without wind
      9. The Slippers on Her FeetNorthern and SouthernShen Yue on a dancer's slippers, ringing through the hall and left aside by the bed at night
      10. Imitating 'Green, Green the Riverside Grass' · Dust on the BedNorthern and SouthernShen Yue reworks an old poem in linked lines: a wife sighs at midnight beside an empty bed
      11. Imitating 'The Three Wives'Northern and SouthernShen Yue's three wives: the elder two at their chores, the youngest painting her brows
      12. In the Old Manner: Below Cong TerraceNorthern and SouthernShen Yue's zither girl under Cong Terrace waits till dusk, her fine quilt warm for no one
      13. Dreaming of a BeautyNorthern and SouthernShen Yue dreams a beauty comes to him through Heaven's gates, then wakes to find her gone
      14. Imitating the Ancients: A Lone Bird on the Cassia BoughNorthern and SouthernShen Yue in the old style: a lone bird on a cassia bough, parted, and faithful to the end
      15. Early SpringNorthern and SouthernShen Yue goes looking for spring with his love too early, finds bare woods, and turns to wine
      16. Mourning One GoneNorthern and SouthernShen Yue sets the moon and orchids that return each year against the dead who never return
      17. Song by the Pond: The Marsh OrchidNorthern and SouthernShen Yue's pond song: a marsh orchid that blooms and fades, like a palace lady out of favour
      18. Autumn Night · The Moon Sets Toward MidnightNorthern and SouthernShen Yue's autumn night of setting moon, fireflies and geese, and old vows lost to new friends
  3. Literature · Sayings2
    1. Different Mouths, One VoiceNorthern and SouthernIdiom from the Book of Song: different mouths speaking with one voice
    2. Armoured and Armed in the Front Line: Liu Yu at GouzhangNorthern and SouthernIdiom from the Book of Song: Liu Yu in armour, leading his soldiers in every fight

Family tree

  1. Direct kin
    Shen Yue
    Granddaughter
    Shen Manyuan

Connections

  1. Rulers and officials1
    1. Xiao YanSovereign, Fellow of the Eight Friends of Jingling · 464 CE–549 CE