Alas That My Lot Was Not Cast

"Alas That My Lot Was Not Cast" or "Ai shi ming" (traditional Chinese: 哀時命; simplified Chinese: 哀时命; pinyin: Āi shí mìng; "Lamenting this Season of Fate") is one of the poems anthologized in the ancient Chinese poetry collection, the Chu ci; which, together with the Shijing comprise the two major textual sources for ancient Chinese poetry. "Alas That My Lot Was Not Cast" is an example of the Sao type of Chu ci poetry, in the "O tempora o mores!" vein. The authorship of the "Alas That My Lot Was Not Cast" poem has been attributed to Zhuang Ji (also known as Yan Ji). (Hawkes, 2011 [1985]: 262)

References[edit]

Hawkes, David, translator and introduction (2011 [1985]). Qu Yuan et al., The Songs of the South: An Ancient Chinese Anthology of Poems by Qu Yuan and Other Poets. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-044375-2

v t e Chinese poetry
Major eras	Classical Chinese poetry Modern Chinese poetry
Poetry by dynasty	Han poetry Jian'an poetry Six Dynasties poetry Tang poetry Song poetry Yuan poetry Ming poetry Qing poetry
Poetry works and collections	Classic of Poetry Chu Ci New Songs from the Jade Terrace Nineteen Old Poems Complete Tang Poems Three Hundred Tang Poems Wangchuan ji Wen Xuan Zhuying ji
Major forms	Antithetical couplet ci fu shi qu yuefu
Individual poems list	Chinese poems (category list) List of poems (article)
Modern compilations	Sunflower Splendor: Three Thousand Years of Chinese Poetry The Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Literature
Regional styles	Cantonese poetry

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