Ts’ao Chih

Ts’ao Chih (AD 192–233) was the third son of Ts’ao Ts’ao. He was a great favourite with his father until he made a mistake in a campaign. His poem on the ruins of Lo-yang, where he had once lived, was sacked by Tung Cho, and is one of the best known of the period.

The poems here are Arthur Waley’s versions in A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems (1918), given with the poet’s name as spelled in those books.