The Beautiful Xi Shi

Read 'The Beautiful Xi Shi' by 'Wang Wei' and provide your summary and literary analysis in the comments section below.

The Beautiful Xi Shi by Wang Wei

Since beauty is honoured all over the Empire, 
How could Xi Shi remain humbly at home? -- 
Washing clothes at dawn by a southern lake -- 
And that evening a great lady in a palace of the north: 
Lowly one day, no different from the others, 
The next day exalted, everyone praising her. 
No more would her own hands powder her face 
Or arrange on her shoulders a silken robe. 
And the more the King loved her, the lovelier she looked, 
Blinding him away from wisdom. 
...Girls who had once washed silk beside her 
Were kept at a distance from her chariot. 
And none of the girls in her neighbours' houses 
By pursing their brows could copy her beauty. 

Form: Free verse

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