This article is devoted to daowang shi, or poems composed in memory of deceased wives, a so for largely neglected genre of medieval Chinese poetry which has been practiced continuous up to modern times. First, the relationship of the genre fo other threnodic genres of the early medieval period is introduced. Second, first examples of the daowang genre, namely poems by Pan Yue (247-300), are examined from the point of view of the establishment of the genre conventions and their impact on later daowang poetry. This is followed by examination of various daowang poems from late Six Dynasties through all of the Tang period. Attention is paid to conventionalized ways of expression and poetic forms, to the themes of love and of yongwu in connection with the daowang genre, to its deepening private dimension, as well to the daowang genre as social poetry. In these relations, compositions by both major and lesser poets of the Tang period are discussed.