On Poems by the Early-Qing Poet Li Yesi

Born into a family with generations of its members having been government officials in Yinxian,a county in east Zhejiang province,Li Yesi(1622-1680) was well-known for his poems when he was a teenager.He was an intimate friend of Huang Zongxi(1610-1695),the famous thinker in east Zhejiang,and was deeply influenced by the latter.After the failure of the war of resistance against the Qing army,he devoted himself to the writing of books,resulting in 20 volumes of essays and 18 volumes of poetry anthologies.Nostalgia,reclusive loneliness and pastoral peace became his perpetual themes of poetry,reflecting his loyalty to the former dynasty and his determination never to serve the new rulers.His poems were distinguished in east-Zhejiang poetic circles during the early Qing dynasty(1644-1910),and played an irreplaceable role in shaping the later east-Zhejiang poetic style.