Bu Ju - Misplaced Pages

Bu Ju (Chinese: 卜居; pinyin: Bǔ Jū; English: Divination) is a short work anthologized in the Chu Ci (楚辭 Songs of Chu, sometimes called The Songs of the South). Although traditionally attributed to Qu Yuan, there is little likelihood that he is the author. (Hawks 2011 : 203) Rather, "Bu ju" is a biographical or pseudobiographical account of an incident in Qu Yuan's life, mostly in prose, but with a short, incidental verse ascribed to be a quote from Qu Yuan. The anecdotal story tells of how Qu Yuan visited a Great Diviner to resolve some of his moral dilemmas, by means of plastromancy or by casting yarrow stalks. However, in the end the diviner excuses himself on the grounds that in a case such as this one, divination would be of no help.

References

Hawkes, David, translator and introduction (2011 ). 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
Mingyuan Hu, translator (2024). Lament in Love: The Verses of Qu Yuan. London: Hermits United. ISBN 978-1-7391156-4-7

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 Poems of a Thousand Masters 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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