Heavenly Questions

[1] According to legend, Qu Yuan wrote this series of questions in verse after viewing various scenes depicted on temple murals;[2][3] specifically, it is said that following his exile from the royal court of Chu, Qu Yuan looked upon the depictions of the ancestors and the gods painted upon the walls of the ancestral temple of Chu; and, then, in response, wrote his questions to Heaven, upon these same walls.

The poetic style of the Heavenly Question is markedly different from the other sections of the Chuci collection, with the exception of the "Nine Songs" ("Jiuge").

David Hinton finds that these features of the work suggest that Heavenly Questions has ancient sources in the oral tradition, although perhaps having been put together into its present form by Qu Yuan.

[7] Hinton finds that much of the power of the poetic impact of the Heavenly Questions derives from "its fragmentary and enigmatic character" combined with a pervasive sense of mystery throughout the poem.

American poet Gjertrud Schnackenberg used the title Heavenly Questions for her elegy of six linked poems on the death of her husband Robert Nozick in 2002.

Heavenly Questions (Tian Wen), attributed to Qu Yuan, but with evidence of an older source or sources. From the book The Illustrated Li Sao , illustrated by Xiao Yuncong, and inscribed by Tang Yongxian. Note that the title in the upper right is somewhat cut off due to some reason related to the historical preservation of the original before it was pasted down on a new sheet of paper.
"Question to heaven" from Wang Xiaolong 's 2007 series: Tao's Queries .