Reply to Director Wang cover

Reply to Director Wang

Rating 3.8
Word count
4.2K words
Chapters
48

Tags

Summary

"Reply to Secretary Wang" is a five-character regulated verse by Wei Yingwu of the Tang Dynasty. The text of the poem reads: Lying in my chamber, I am favored with your fine verses; reading their purport, I feel desolate on an autumn morning.

Editor's review

"Reply to Secretary Wang" is a five-character regulated verse by Wei Yingwu. Only the opening couplet survives—"Lying in my chamber, I am favored with your fine verses; reading their purport, I feel desolate on an autumn morning." Brief as it is, it already conveys the mood of reading a friend's gifted poem on an autumn morning: lying in his chamber, honored by the beautiful verses sent to him, the poet reads their purport and is overcome with melancholy. Wei Yingwu's style is known for its plainness and spare, distant calm; beginning from an everyday poetic exchange, this poem blends the leisurely solitude of an autumn morning with gratitude toward a friend, and suits quiet, attentive reading. Readers can glimpse the Tang literati practice of exchanging poems in place of letters, and use it as an entry point to Wei Yingwu's five-character regulated verse. Given the limited material, one should not over-interpret; the focus is on savoring the diction and situation of the opening lines.

Who it's for

A good fit for

  • Readers who love Tang five-character regulated verse and the work of Wei Yingwu
  • Enthusiasts who want to understand how Tang literati wrote poems of exchange
  • Readers who need short Tang poems for recitation and appreciation

Not a good fit for

  • Readers seeking complete annotations and line-by-line explication
  • Readers who prefer long narratives or strong emotional expression

Reading tips

  1. First read the opening couplet aloud repeatedly, noting the word order and tone of "favored with your fine verses" and "desolate on an autumn morning."
  2. Read it alongside Wei Yingwu's other poems of exchange to appreciate his plain, spare style.
  3. After reading, try retelling the scene of reading a poem on an autumn morning in your own words to deepen your sense of the situation.

About the publisher

Jinzhang Book Company (Jinzhang Shuju) China · Founded in 1901

Jinzhang Book Company (Jinzhang Shuju) was a private publishing and distribution house in Shanghai during the late Qing and early Republican periods, issuing traditional works by lithographic printing. Judging from the 1,194 titles in the collection, its publishing focused on classical poetry, Eastern philosophy, historical reading, traditional Chinese medical texts, and canonical works, along with books on literary appreciation. Representative titles include the poetry and prose collections of Du Fu and Ouyang Xiu; historical works such as the Book of Han and Zizhi Tongjian; classical texts such as the Book of Documents and Mencius; and specialized and literary classics such as Treatise on Cold Damage and Li Sao. Its author resources cover major figures across the ages, including Du Fu, Ban Gu, Sima Guang, Zhang Zhongjing, Qu Yuan, Ouyang Xiu, and Tang Shenwei, reflecting the house's characteristic reliance on traditional scholarship and medical literature while serving general readers. Public information on its early history and operational details is limited, so no conjecture is offered here.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. 【送陆侍御还越】韦应物
  3. 【听江笛送陆侍御(同丘员外赋题)】韦应物
  4. 【送丘员外归山居】韦应物
  5. 【送崔叔清游越】韦应物
  6. 【送云阳邹儒立少府侍奉还京师】韦应物
  7. 【送豆卢策秀才】韦应物
  8. 【送王卿】韦应物
  9. 【送刘评事】韦应物
  10. 【送雷监赴阙庭】韦应物
  11. 【送秦系赴润州】韦应物
  12. 【送孙徵赴云中】韦应物
  13. 【期卢嵩,枉书称日暮无马不赴,以诗答】韦应物
  14. 【任洛阳丞,答前长安田少府问】韦应物
  15. 【假中枉卢二十二书亦称卧疾兼讶李二久不访问…戏李二】韦应物
  16. 【酬卢嵩秋夜见寄五韵】韦应物
  17. 【酬郑户曹骊山感怀】韦应物
  18. 【答李浣三首】韦应物
  19. 【酬柳郎中春日归扬州南郭见别之作】韦应物
  20. 【酬豆卢仓曹题库壁见示】韦应物
  21. 【酬李儋】韦应物
  22. 【酬元伟过洛阳夜燕】韦应物
  23. 【酬韩质舟行阻冻】韦应物
  24. 【李博士弟以余罢官居同德精舍共有伊陆名山…聊以为答】韦应物
  25. 【寄酬李博士永宁主簿叔厅见待】韦应物
  26. 【答令狐士曹、独孤兵曹联骑暮归望山见寄】韦应物
  27. 【答李博士】韦应物
  28. 【答刘西曹(时为京兆功曹)】韦应物
  29. 【答贡士黎逢(时任京兆功曹)】韦应物
  30. 【答韩库部(协)】韦应物
  31. 【答崔主簿倬】韦应物
  32. 【答徐秀才】韦应物
  33. 【答东林道士】韦应物
  34. 【答长宁令杨辙】韦应物
  35. 【答冯鲁秀才】韦应物
  36. 【答崔主簿问,兼简温上人】韦应物
  37. 【清都观答幼遐】韦应物
  38. 【善福精舍答韩司录清都观会宴见忆】韦应物
  39. 【答长安丞裴说】韦应物
  40. 【奉酬处士叔见示】韦应物
  41. 【答库部韩郎中】韦应物
  42. 【答畅校书当】韦应物
  43. 【答崔都水】韦应物
  44. 【酬令狐司录善福精舍见赠】韦应物
  45. 【沣上精舍答赵氏外生伉】韦应物
  46. 【答赵氏生伉】韦应物
  47. 【答端】韦应物
  48. 【答史馆张学士段柳庶子学士集贤院看花见寄兼呈柳学士】韦应物

FAQ

How much of this poem can be read today?
The material provides only the opening couplet—"Lying in my chamber, I am favored with your fine verses; reading their purport, I feel desolate on an autumn morning"—not the whole poem. Reading should be based on this; do not imaginatively supply the rest or infer a complete plot.
What does the line "favored with your fine verses" mean?
"Favored" carries the sense of being honored by a visit or gift, and "fine verses" refers to the other party's beautiful writing. Together it means the poet is honored to receive fine verses from a friend—a polite formula in poems of exchange.
Is it suitable for learning the rules of five-character regulated verse?
It can serve as supplementary material, but since only two lines survive, it is hard to observe the parallelism and structure of the whole poem. To study the rules, it is best to read it alongside complete five-character regulated verses.

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About the author

韦应物 Author

Wei Yingwu was a poet of the Tang dynasty. Publicly available sources provide only limited information about his life, including his birth and death dates and native place, so no conjecture is offered here. The library contains 12 of his works, commonly classified under ancient poetry and culture. Representative titles include Er Huangjing, Sending Off Fang of Hangzhou, Waiting for a Guest on the Terrace, To Cui Yuanwai, Sending Yuan Cangcao Back to Guangling, The Mountain Hermit, and Thinking of My Old Home in the South Garden in Early Summer. These titles suggest themes of farewell and poetic exchange, mountain retreats and Daoist reclusion, and seasonal reflections; his lines often move from the scenery before him to thoughts of friends and his old home, with plain language and deep feeling. Wei Yingwu is known for a clear, leisurely and distant style that gave him a distinct place in Tang poetry and influenced later landscape, pastoral and lyric verse. Given the limited materials in the library, details of his life and the dating of his works require further study.

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