Concubine Guo (; died 1428), personal name Guo Ai (), courtesy name Shanli (善理), was a concubine of

Xuande Emperor The Xuande Emperor (16 March 1399 31 January 1435), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Xuanzong of Ming, personal name Zhu Zhanji, was the fifth emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1425 to 1435. He was the son and successor of ...

Biography

Concubine Guo was born as Guo Ai in Fengyang in present day Anhui province. She was selected into the palace because she was intelligent and quick witted, and excelled at poetry and prose. She died of illness soon after she was selected into the palace.

Poetry

Well versed in poetry, Gao composed a poem in the ancient rhapsody (''fu'') style, for her previous life didn't seem to be happy, and probably due to illness. Later critics commented that this poem lamenting her fate was in the style of

Cai Yan Cai Yan ( 178 – post 206; or 170–215; or died 249), courtesy name Wenji, was a Chinese composer, poet, and writer who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. She was a daughter of Cai Yong. Her courtesy name was originally ...

, a Chinese composer, poet, and writer who lived during the late

Eastern Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

of China. The way she expressed her feeling was neither overblown nor undignified. The poem appears in different anthologies with slight textual variations. The variant titles are version of "Feeling Sorry for Myself When Seriously Ill in My Residence in the Capital" (''jingdi bingji zi'ai/Bingley zi'ai/zi'ai'').

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Guo, Concubine Year of birth missing 1435 deaths Ming dynasty imperial consorts 15th-century Chinese women 15th-century Chinese people People from Fengyang