Writers › Writer / Poet
Zhu Dunru
Lyricist of the Northern-to-Southern Song transition whose Woodcutter's Songs moves from youthful abandon to exile's grief and recluse calm.
In a study at night, a desk holds a brush pot, a porcelain vase with a plum branch, a lit red lantern, a folded fan and an unrolled blank scroll, with no one seated there, while through a round window the moon rises over a lake with a sailboat.
Also known as Zi Xizhen · Hao Yanhe · Master Luochuan
- Roles
- Writer / Poet
Zhu Dunru, courtesy name Xizhen, from Luoyang, lived as a recluse in the Northern Song and repeatedly declined summons, earning fame as the 'brilliant lyricist' among the Eight Talents of Luoyang. After the Jingkang catastrophe he moved south and in the Shaoxing era was granted jinshi status, serving as judicial commissioner of East Zhejiang and vice-minister of the Court of State Ceremonial before retiring to Jiahe. His lyric collection Woodcutter's Songs is lucid and expansive in style, and the phrase 'to one's heart's content' appears in his lyrics.
Life and times
Dates 1081 CE–1159 CE