What are the latest works of narcissus poetry?

The narcissus is pure and elegant, transcendent and set apart from the crowd. With her fragrant bearing that could “captivate a whole city with her scent and pure substance,” her character that “refuses to let mud sully her pure white bloom,” her spirit that “fears not the cold of dawn,” and her way of taking root and sprouting everywhere from just a spoonful of water, blooming to welcome spring, she is deeply loved by people and regarded as a symbol of good fortune and peace and friendship, an indispensable treasure of the “New Year pure offering” in countless households. No wonder even the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty could not help but compose a poem in praise, saying: A jade coronet of white on a green mantle and yellow crown, her pure bearing never sullies itself with mud or sand. The poets vainly sing of fragrant angelica, not knowing the first flower that treads the waves.

Narcissus

Song Dynasty · Huang Tingjian

The fairy who treads the waves wears dusty stockings, lightly stepping on the water in the faint moon.

Who summoned this heart-breaking soul, planted as a cold flower to lodge utter sorrow?

With scent and pure substance she could captivate a city; the mountain alum is her younger brother, the plum her elder.

Sitting facing her, one truly becomes vexed by the flower; stepping out the door, one laughs as the great river stretches across.

Narcissus

Song Dynasty · Liu Kezhuang

The years' splendor falls away and all things are bleak, yet one kind of pure breeze is utterly lovable.

She does not let mud sully her pure white, relying wholly on wind and dew to bring forth her hidden beauty.

The poet's soul, free and untrammeled, like the exile sunk in the Xiang River; her jade hue faintly like the immortal who grasped the moon.

Yet I laugh at Old Fu for being too fond of rouge and powder, mistakenly matching lofty elegance with a fair maiden.

Narcissus

Song Dynasty · Liu Bangzhi

Given water she can become immortal, a wonder bestowed by heaven; her cold fragrance in solitude stirs her icy flesh.

Who today possesses immortal bearing and Daoist bone? Lightly painted moth eyebrows, a single sprig pinned in hair.

Narcissus

Yuan Dynasty · Yang Zai

The flower is like a golden cup presented on a jade plate, brightly illuminating a whole courtyard's cold.

If there were again a ladder to the clouds in this world, I would offer it to Chang'e to gaze upon in the moon.

Four Quatrains on Narcissus

Ming Dynasty · Yang Shen

Riding the koi, Qin Gao gathers the fresh blooms; in the azure sky there is little red dust.

By the shore of Huanggu, the water for washing skirts; it is not the jealous woman's ford of the mortal world.

Narcissus

Qing Dynasty · Tao Fuyin

The orchid of the school pool and the angelica of the Yuan River seem to be her neighbors; lightly swaying, one suspects dust on her silk stockings.

Last night under the bright moon she stood by the river; who knows to whom she would untie her girdle and give it?

Narcissus

Qing Dynasty · Wang Fuzhi

In chaotic embrace of red clouds, what can be done? She does not know the world has spring waves.

Washing away all mortal thoughts, she leaves only her fragrant shadow; delicate and small, icy flesh and jade, a single shuttle.

Broad Compendium of Fragrant Flowers

Qing Dynasty · Liu Hao

Six petals on a jade plate, a golden curved goblet; from the green jade thicket emerges the flowering branch.

Her clear fragrance confidently surpasses all other ranks, and so she keeps company with the river plum.

Narcissus

Song Dynasty · Yang Wanli

Her charm is peerless, her fragrance likewise peerless; the flower is pure while the moon is not yet pure.

A heavenly immortal does not walk on earth; she borrows water for her name.

Where she blooms, who is her companion? So solitary she cannot be approached.

In the snow palace she plays alone with her shadow; in the water hall there is no one around.

Narcissus

Qiu Jin

The wave-treading maiden of the Luo River, her weary eyes open to the wind.

Her petals seem like jade cups, her roots exiled from the jade terrace.

Her tender white would shame the snow, her clear fragrance yields not to the plum.

For the rest of my life I have a passion for flowers; facing her I linger day after day.

Narcissus

Song Dynasty · Lai Shi

From the Jade Pool she comes to feast at the old immortal's home, drunk and fallen, the elegant E'lü Hua.

White jade broken hairpin, golden haloed crown, transformed into the utterly infatuated maiden flower.

Borrowing water to bloom is a wonder in itself; water sinks as her bones, jade forms her flesh.

Her hidden fragrance already presses down the dog rose; only this cold plum has no good branch.

The Song Dynasty poet Liu Bangzhi's poem “Ode to the Narcissus” praises the narcissus for standing gracefully erect in the severe winter cold with only a spoonful of clear water.

Zhu Xi's poem says: “Where does the fairy in the water come from, in green sleeves and yellow crown and white jade blossoms.” Yao Wenhuan's poem says: “Parting thoughts like clouds compose the Ode to the Luo Goddess; her flower face graceful, jade bringing forth spring. Her wave-treading stockings cold, her fragrant soul far; her jade pendants tinkling, the moonlight new.” In the Qing Dynasty, Wu Maoqian wrote in his poem “Narcissus”: “The true ones of Mount Guye emerge fresh from the water; stately jade cups that of themselves transcend the dust. Her icy flesh has even more of an immortal bone; she does not learn from the sleeve-hiding people of the spring wind.”

Huang Tingjian wrote many poems on the narcissus. The most famous is “Wang Chongdao Sends Fifty Stalks of Narcissus”: “The fairy who treads the waves wears dusty stockings, lightly stepping on the water in the faint moon. Who summoned this heart-breaking soul, planted as a cold flower to lodge utter sorrow? With scent and pure substance she could captivate a city; the mountain alum is her younger brother, the plum her elder. Sitting facing her, one truly becomes vexed by the flower; stepping out the door, one laughs as the great river stretches across.” He says the narcissus is the transformation of the sentimental fairy of the Luo River. The phrase “fairy who treads the waves” vividly captures the narcissus's charm. Thus, ever since Huang's poem appeared, the elegant name and lovely title “fairy who treads the waves” for the narcissus has been passed down to this day.

The narcissus has two major cultivar groups, single-petaled and double-petaled. Zhu Xi's line “green sleeves and yellow crown and white jade blossoms” describes the single-petaled flower: its petals are white, and the center of the flower is bright yellow, shaped like a six-sided white jade plate holding up a golden wine cup, hence the alias “golden cup and silver terrace.” The double-petaled form produces no corona and is pure white as jade throughout, hence the alias “jade exquisite.” The Ming Dynasty poet Chen Chun greatly admired it and wrote: “Her jade face fair and small, her sandalwood heart richly fragrant. Full of immortal bone is she, truly about to leave the wheat waves.”

The narcissus possesses a plain and noble character, winning the praise of countless famous people. In the Song Dynasty, Jiang Teli's poem says: “Her clear fragrance confidently surpasses all other ranks, and so she keeps company with the river plum.” This praises the narcissus's clear fragrance that rises above all other ranks. In the Ming Dynasty, Li Dongyang's poem says: “Light ink gently blends with the fragrance of jade dew; the fairy in the water in plain garments. Her wind-tossed hair and misty temples with no binding; it is not the adornment of wealth in the mortal world.” This praises the narcissus's plain and unadorned conduct. The modern-era female revolutionary Qiu Jin wrote a poem praising it: “Her petals seem like jade cups, her roots exiled from the jade terrace; her tender white would shame the snow, her clear fragrance yields not to the plum.” Praising the narcissus's noble temperament, it cannot but make one seem to see its beauty and seem to smell its fragrance, endlessly evocative.

Chinese narcissus is most famous for the Zhangzhou narcissus of Fujian, with millions of bulbs exported each year to Japan, the United States and the countries of Southeast Asia, and it is hailed as the “Chinese Yichun narcissus.” The modern poet Guo Moruo sings of the nature of the Chinese narcissus as lying in “living on just a spoonful of water and a few pebbles;” the contemporary poet Ai Qing deeply sings of the narcissus: “Not contending in beauty with the hundred flowers, alone she leads in quiet and fragrant elegance.”