Writers › Writer / Poet
Wang Su
Liu Song recluse from Langye, courtesy name Xiuye, who three times declined imperial summons and lived by farming and study at Dongyang; he wrote the Rhapsody on the Cicada Shell.
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 Courtesy name Xiuye
- Roles
- Writer / Poet
Wang Su, courtesy name Xiuye, came from Linyi in Langye, a descendant of Wang Bin, Right Vice-Director under the Eastern Jin, and was a recluse of the Liu Song. Poor in youth, he took a post as gentleman attendant in Luling to support his mother; after her mourning period he refused further office and lived at Dongyang, farming and studying literature and principles. Emperor Xiaowu, Liu Yigong, Prince of Jiangxia, and Emperor Ming each summoned him and he refused all three, winning great renown. Tradition has him comparing himself to a clear-voiced insect in the hills in the Rhapsody on the Xian. He died in 471.
Life and times
Dates 418 CE–471 CE