Abstract: Wu Xiao and Sun Yunfeng were lucky in terms of poetic talent but unlucky in terms of marriage. Wu Xiao’s love for her husband died soon after marriage because the latter turned out to be a philanderer. She left home and had a 4-year-long extramarital relation with Tao Jishi that again ended in misery due to various reasons. Sun Yunfeng’s love for her husband died as quickly after she found the latter a person of mediocrity. She was unilaterally divorced and had to return to the home of her parents where she lived till the end of her life. Into words both talented women poets poured their miserable sentiments, but in different styles. While Wu Xiao used ample literary illusions to contrast her sad married life with fiery extramarital love, Sun Yunfeng concentrated on her gloomy days as a discarded woman in more euphemistic lines.

Key words: Xu Xiao, Sun Yunfeng, miserable marriage, ci-poem of sorrow