The Roll of Arts and Letters of The Han Chronicle indicates that Qu Yuan wrote 25 works, but the names of these works are not available in it. In Interpretations of the Songs of the South by Wang Yi, a writer in 2 A.D. of the Western Han Dynasty, these works including Lee Sao: Suffering Throes, Nine Songs (11 songs in total), Sky-vaulting Queries, Sylva of Nine Pieces, Distant Wanderings, Divining to Know Where I Should Stay, The Fisherman, amounting to 25 pieces, are believed to be written by Qu Yuan. But the author of another work, Summoning the Soul, couldn’t be identified. Sima Qian (the historian from 145 to 90 B.C.) held that it was written by Qu Yuan, but Wang Yi argued that it is written by Song Yu (a poet from 290 to 222 B.C.) It still remains a controversial issue till today. Most of current scholars hold that the only work, Summoning the Soul, except Distant Wanderings, Divining to Know Where I Should Stay, The Fisherman, was written by Qu Yuan.
1.Lee Sao: Suffering Throes
Lee Sao: Suffering Throes, Qu Yuan’s masterpiece, with 373 sentences about 2,477 words, is really a great work. To the name of this work different people had different explanations. Sima Qian thought that it means Liyou (grief for departing). Ban Gu’s explanation is Zaoyou (suffering from grief). Wang Yi thought it should mean Biechou (sadness for departing). Yang Xiong’s explanation is Laochou (complaining). You Guo’en, however, suggested that in the State of Chu there was a Qupai (the names of the tunes to which qu are composed), namely Lao Shang whose pronunciation is similar to Lao Chou, Lao Sao and Lee Sao (the pronunciation of Lee Sao: Suffering Throes), so Lee Sao: Suffering Throes is probably the name of one kind of songs in the State of Chu. Regarding the specific years when Lee Sao: Suffering Throes was written, Liu Xiang, Ban Gu, Wang Yi, and Ying Shao in the Han Dynasty, and Wang Fuzhi in the Qing Dynasty hold that it was probably written when Qu Yuan was estranged from the Emperor Huai, but most of other scholars thought that it was written when Qu Yuan was exiled by Emperor Qing Xiang. The State of Chu at that time when this work was written was in the suburbs of destruction. The poet however could do nothing to save his own nation. Recalling memories of the past, he felt very sad for his failure to realize his great ideal and finally fused into this poem his sad emotion. This poem can also be seen as an autobiography of Qu Yuan, because it involves his background, thoughts and so on.
The first part of this poem is the reflection of the poet upon history. Firstly he introduces his family background, birthday and his high personal quality. Then he introduces the political reform of the State of Chu and his estrangement. The poet, making great efforts to achieve self-perfection since his early age, made up his mind to shoulder the responsibility as a pioneer. The reform he advocated, however, endangered the interests of the aristocrat and finally resulted in the persecution.
The second part of Lee Sao: Suffering Throes centers on his exploration of future. The most famous sentence of it is: May way layeth remote and so far, far away; I shall go up and down to make my long search aye. It is a problem for him to think which way he should take after he was excluded from the politics, to renounce the world or to reconcile himself with failure as Nǔxū suggested. After his careful reflection upon his past, the poet then decided to advise the Emperor to continue the reform, but unfortunately all the efforts were proved fruitless. Hoping to find the way out, he turned to a fortune-teller. But finally he decided to sacrifice for his great ideal.
Lee Sao: Suffering Throes, as a long lyric poem and a political lyric, is the first of this kind in the literature history of China. It reflects Qu Yuan’s life, struggle, psychology and social confliction and is a patriotic carol and an official denunciation of the enemy. The poet’s sedulous life-long struggle and the faithful action to sacrifice to his ideal embody his great ideal to pursue advancement and high morals to realize this ideal; his militancy to fight against all evils; his patriotism to attach his own fortune to that of his country. All of these are not only the personal characteristics of Qu Yuan, but also a precious part of Chinese spirit.
There is also a great deal to say about the art of Lee Sao: Suffering Throes. Firstly, it containing too much romantic elements became the origin of Chinese romantic literature. Secondly, it is also characterized by heavy use of comparison and symbolism. The characters of each sentence rang from three to ten, six or seven one in most cases. Every sentence is composed of two small clauses with the first clause ending with Xi (auxiliary word in Chinese poems). Most of the sentences start with a monosyllabic word, and the function words are also made full use of. The rhythm of the whole poem is quite beautiful with every sentence rhyming every other line, and rhythm changed every four lines. Besides this poem is full of many monologues, questions and answers between guests and hosts, and expatiations and parallelism, which have a great impact on the poems of the later generations.
2.Sky-Vaulting Queries
Among Qu Yuan’s works, the length of Sky-vaulting Queries is the second only to Lee Sao: Suffering Throes. It is full of heckles, and more than 170 questions are asked, ranging from fairy tales, to historical legends, heavens and earth and mountains, human affairs and life facts. All these indicate that the poet is not only knowledgeable, but also possesses the great personality of skepticism and seeking truth. Besides, the passion of the poet who paid great attention to the politics, and his resent can easily be felt after careful reading.
Sky-vaulting Queries is quite precious in terms of its literary success for it covers a lot of data of fairy tales, history and philosophy in ancient times (normally it refers to the period from the Shang Dynasty to the Han Dynasty). Every line of this poem has four characters and normally four lines make a stanza whose rhythm is quite natural and beautiful. Contrary to most of Qu Yuan’s lyrical works, Sky-vaulting Queries is mainly characterized by arguments and criticisms, which is the unique style in Chuci.
3.Nine Songs
The origin of Nine Songs used to be the folk Nine Songs of the State of Chu. Because the tradition of embracing witchcraft was very popular in the State of Chu especially in the regions of Yuan and Xiang, songs were often used to sacrifice to Heaven with the hope to expel disaster and bring happiness. Qu Yuan got the inspiration from these simply composed songs, collected them together, and made them elegant songs. Nine Songs is a series of Songs, 11 in total sang in the sacrificial rites. It was composed when Qu Yuan was in his youth, so it has high artistic value.
4.Sylva of Nine Pieces
Sylva of Nine Pieces consists of 9 works including Plaintive Lines, Over the Streams, Plaint on Ying, Thinking of Sah, Musing on the Beauteous One, Pining My Past Day, Ode to Orange Tree, Lamenting on Whirlblasts. Sima Qian in one of his works, The Life of Qu Yuan of The Chronicle mentioned Plaint on Ying, Thinking of Sah but Sylva of Nine Pieces was not mentioned. Zhu Xi (1130-1200, the great poet and philosopher of the South Song Dynasty) accordingly hold that Sylva of Nine Pieces was the name for the all nine works after they were combined to one book. This opinion is accepted by most researchers today. Some of the scholars think that Musing on the Beauteous One, Pining My Past Day, Ode to Orange Tree, Lamenting on Whirlblasts, were probably passed off, but that cannot be determined.
Sylva of Nine Pieces is related to Qu Yuan’s life experience, which is similar to Lee Sao: Suffering Throes. Each poem in Sylva of Nine Pieces is much shorter than that in Lee Sao: Suffering Throes and is full of real facts. The content and style of Ode to Orange Tree, however, is quite special. Personification is applied to describe orange tree’s splendid appearance and strong quality so as to embody poet’s talent, high morals and his love to his homeland.
Most parts of Sylva of Nine Pieces focus on Qu Yuan’s life experience in exile, which provide us with a lot precious data to research his experience in that period. These poems combine description of real life facts and landscape, and the expression of poet’s emotion together, and fully reflect poet’s complicated internal conflicts.