Poem on a river sojourn

After Beijing fell to the invading Qing forces in 1644, a new court—the Southern Ming—was established in Nanjing in an attempt to save the dynasty. Wang Duo, a scholar-official known for his dynamic calligraphy, was among the chief ministers who served the short-lived dynasty. He wrote this poem in Nanjing during the lunar new year of 1645. Rejecting inherited ideas about elegance and propriety, Wang wrote at large scale and with performative abandon, often under the influence of wine. The effect is one of disequilibrium—characters sway within columns and elements of single characters lean and list against each other. Wang probably wrote on the silk while it was suspended horizontally by assistants, which amplified these qualities.