Copihue Poetry

“Palace Poem” is excerpted from the manuscript Spring Mountain: Complete Poems of Nansŏrhŏn, scheduled for publication by White Pine in 2025. The poem was translated from hanmun, which is classical Chinese used by Korean scholars of the 16    century to write literature. Nansŏrhŏn—meaning “White Orchid”—is the penname of Hŏ Ch’ŏhŭi (1563-1589), a Korean noblewoman. As a noblewoman of the 16   century writing poetry, Nansŏrhŏn faced tremendous obstacles. Noblewomen in the time of Nansŏrhŏn were generally not given a classical education on a par with noblemen; it was socially unacceptable for noblewomen to paint, sing, learn music, or write poetry because learning such arts would have equated the noblewoman with a courtesan. Courtesans learned to sing, paint, and write poetry so that they could entertain noblemen. A noblewoman who did write poetry had to do so privately and share her writing with only a select few. As a child, Nansŏrhŏn was an exception to these social norms because she was a prodigy, her family placed a high value on literary learning, and her father was broad-minded.

Despite her liberal upbringing, Nansŏrhŏn was sequestered from the world and moved far from her family when she had an arranged marriage at the age of 12. A soothsayer said the marriage would help Nansŏrhŏn overcome health problems and live a long life. Nansŏrhŏn died at the age of 27, and there is speculation she may have committed suicide.

“Palace Poem” imagines daily life in a Han Dynasty Chinese palace from the point of view of different palace maids; each section of the poem represents the perspective of a different palace maid. As an exploratory, Nansŏrhŏn chose this topic because palace maid was a station in which a woman could rise to the highest position possible outside of queen or concubine. The poem is therefore a consideration, from a feminist perspective, of what it might mean to live in a position of opportunity for a woman, something Nansŏrhŏn could only imagine as a sequestered noblewoman.