Apparatus XY

15As indicated by the many poems written in her lifetime, Shen Yixiu (1590-1635) could be seen as suffering from depression. Her life seems to be ideal. She was the daughter of a high official and married to Ye Shaoluan, also from an elite family with literary aspirations. As an indication of her success as a poet, she was at the centre of a group of poets who were also female relatives (Idema and Grant 384). Her life, however, was marked by personal family losses. Her brother, two daughters and a son all precede her in death. Her poems seem to be a way of expressing her bereavements. In the poem, "Dreaming of Junyong," she writes to her dead brother after a dream. The topic and the way she talks directly to the subject of her poem, stating how she feels after his death, convey a tremendous sense of sadness typical of someone suffering from depression. This poem of sorrow over his death holds four of the five criteria, indicating that her bereavement might have turned into a disordered depression. The icons of depression are subtle but bleak. Miss Shen states that even though she can dream of heaven, she cannot go as the roads are unknown: "In other words, both of us are completely lost, and the long night is darkness without end. Unending is the way it wounds my heart" (385-386). Sadness over the loss of her brother has turned into depression, however, as this poem was written "seven autumns" later. This extended period of bereavement directly points to Miss Shen's possible disordered depression. This passage of time seems not to have lessened her sorrow, as she states that there is no limit to the pain of her separation. This pain and the wounding of her heart are two other metaphors used to convey some physical manifestations of her depression. While Miss Shen does not state outright that it is causing her severe illness, there is still a sense of physical pain. The last criterion that the poem fulfills is the psychological: she uses words such as "sad and distressed" and "vent my sorrows." This venting does not help her, as in the last lines of the poem she sees how the bird's wagtails fly and she wishes she could find a way to do the same.

16One poem in particular, written in memory of her daughter Ye Xiaoluan, holds four of the five criteria for disordered depression. "On A Cold and Sleepless Night, Remembering My Deceased Daughter" is again an example of how Shen Yixiu's bereavement evolved into depression. Her imagery is vibrant and powerful, as she uses "tears of blood," which is a clear icon of depression. What is less clear is the length of time Miss Shen has been depressed as it is tied into the physical manifestations of her depression: "My heart has been broken a hundred times; my innards are twisted into a thousand knots" (388). This may indicate that over a long period of grieving, the pain over losing her daughter has continued. To punctuate these feelings of depression, Miss Shen repeats words and phrases which, according to the criteria employed, convey disordered depression. "The grieving cold intense" and "my sorrow is unspeakable" are both repeated to punctuate the intense depression she is experiencing over the death of her daughter.

17 Li Qingzhao is another poet who seems to have had experienced disordered depression. Many of her poems seem to indicate a disordered depression due to the loss of home and her husband. Li Qingzhao's husband was Zhao Mingchen (1081-1129), an official in the Northern Song. Their marriage seemed to be one of mutual love and respect. They were very attached to each other, having compiled a book together on antiquities (Idema and Grant 449). As he was away on business often, Miss Li wrote about her feelings of loneliness and seemed depressed over missing her husband. In "To the Melody of 'Dotting Red Lips,'" four of the five criteria seem to be present. Miss Li uses many images that could be seen as icons of depression such as the "abandoned woman," a common literary device in traditional Chinese poems (Samei 110-114). She is the abandoned woman in her lonely inner chamber of her room, or looking out from the balustrade awaiting her love's return: "Fragrant grasses up to the horizon: I gaze at the road along which he'll come home" (225). We also know that her depression has spread over the length of a spring, as Miss Li states that it now departs with the rains. During the spring, her innards are being threaded with sorrow, a powerful image to the reader of the physical manifestation of her depression. In this line as well, the mental description of her emotions is manifested by using the word "sorrow." Another line is more direct, using the personal pronoun as well to convey her physical and psychological state of depression: "And I am filled by feelings of listlessness" (225).

18 This sadness and loneliness discernible in this poem increases due to the worsening of her life. Miss Li's and her husband's lives had been chaotic beforehand but increased with the invading Jurchen armies from the Jin state attacking the Northern Song in 1126. They had had to flee and followed the court to the south of China. Zhao had been appointed to a new government position but had died on the way to his new post. With Zhao's death, Miss Li was still homeless and now bereft of her husband. Years after these tragic events, she still grieved and was depressed over the loss of her husband and the loss of her homeland. The manifestation of this grief is seen in "To the Melody of 'Orphaned Goose,'" where again four of the five criteria appear. Many icons of depression are present in this poem, including the "abandoned woman" in the tower, but she provides a twist by saying that it is now empty since there is no one to wait for anymore. She writes that she is "unable to express all of her unhappy thoughts" (234). Physically, Miss Li has probably not been sleeping well, which is indicated by the images of the incense and jade burner that have expired because of having been burned all night. Mentally, Miss Li is also struggling, and says that she sheds "a thousand tears." She is lonely as well, which is indicated with her asking the question of whom to climb the jade tower with. Miss Li knows the answer. While the poem seems gentle enough emotionally, it is more direct and tells of an ongoing depression, as the line states so clearly: "And the feelings that won't leave me are like water" (234). In this line, Miss Li feels her feelings of depression are constantly flowing like water.

19 Li Qingzhao and Shen Yixiu seem to share one probable cause of their depression, that loss was an overwhelming factor in their lives. These three women in certain periods of their lives lost a great deal-homeland, love, and children-and were unable to heal from the loss. Loss is part of life: no one has not been touched by it. However, as mentioned earlier in regards to bereavement, some losses are so great that trying to get past them is difficult. In "normal" patterns of bereavement over any type of loss, humans are biologically created to feel sadness as a tool to cope with the world around them. However, this sadness brought on by loss can become disordered when constant grief and stress compound the already struggling person. Grief can turn into immobilization, psychotic ideation, or other severe symptoms of depression, and then it becomes disordered (Horwitz and Wakefield 32-33).