others contain stanzas with a different amount of lines per stanza. The “Monarch of the East” is a description of some kind of shaman ceremony where there are offerings in the form of food, drink, and incense that are given up to the Monarch and it seems to follow a ritual format. There are drums that are beaten, chimes that are struck, and songs that are chanted, all in attempts to bring pleasure to the deity. The spirit descends and the ritual is a success: the deity is pleased. In the “Lord in the Clouds,” again the shaman has prepared him/herself in anticipation of the deity: “I have washed in brew of orchid, bathed in sweet scents, / many-coloured are my garments; I am like a flower.” The deity descends down, but this time the deity leaves the shaman feeling empty, longing for the deity. This longing that the shaman is left with introduces an erotic element in the relationship between the shaman and the spirit, something that is common in these songs. In “The Princess of the Xiang River,” the “Princess” never actually has a meeting with the shaman in search of her. Along the Great River he searches for her, but all for naught. The shaman is left lonely and aimless. “The Lady of the Xiang River” is very similar to the previous song. There seems to be a pattern forming here. The shaman is in search of a spirit for romantic reasons, it seems. The spirit seems like it is teasing the shaman, leaving the shaman at the end of each song sad and utterly dejected. The patterns continue to form in “Senior Master of Lifespans.” In the previous songs, the shaman rides some sort of transport to meet the deity. In this particular song, the shaman rides a dark cloud. The shaman meets the deity, only to be abandoned in the end. Another reoccurring action seems to be the shaman picking a flower in hopes of giving it to the deity. In the “Juni...
