Category Archives: Chinese Literature

“Grass of the Ancient Plains” by Bai Juyi [w/ Audio]

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Lush grass covers the plains.
  One year it withers; the next, it thrives.
 Wildfires burn, but not to eradication.
   With Spring winds, it's rejuvenated. 
 Its aroma floats in to subdue derelict paths.
  Vivid green overtakes the ghost town.
 I say farewell to departing friends
  as intense feeling swells within. 
In Chinese [Simplified]:

离离原上草  一岁一枯荣
野火烧不尽  春风吹又生
远芳侵古道  晴翠接荒城
又送王孙去  萋萋满别情

River Snow by Liu Zongyuan [w/ Audio]

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From one thousand mountains, birds have vanished.
 Over ten-thousand paths, not one footprint.
 A lone boat, an old man in coarse cloak and hat:
 Just he, fishing in the cold, river snow.

Original Chinese:

千山鳥飛絕
萬徑人蹤滅
孤舟蓑笠翁
獨釣寒江雪

The Painting by Wang Wei [w/ Audio]

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Afar, colorful mountains.
 Near, silent waters.
 Spring 's gone but flowers remain.
 People come but birds aren't startled.
Original:

遠看山有色
近聽水無聲
春去花還在
人來鳥不驚

Cold Sparrows by Yang Wanli [w/ Audio]

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Hundreds of cold sparrows dive into the empty courtyard,
   cluster on plum branches and speak of sun after rain at dusk.
 They choose to gather en masse and kill me with noise.
 Suddenly startled, they disperse. Then, soundlessness.

NOTE: This translation from: Barnstone, Tony & Chou Ping. 2005. The Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry. New York: Random House. p.422.

The Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry ed. Tony Barnstone & Chou Ping

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The Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry: From Ancient to Contemporary, The Full 3000-Year TraditionThe Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry: From Ancient to Contemporary, The Full 3000-Year Tradition by Tony Barnstone
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Amazon.in Page

This poetry translation anthology presents examples from some of the earliest known Chinese poetry to authors who are still alive and composing. It’s arranged by dynastic period (up until the modern era,) and, within dynasties, by poet. Most of the poets merit only a poem or two, but some of the major poets are allotted many pages of poems. Of course, how much poetry per poet is included isn’t just a function of how prolific or popular the poet was, but also how much extant poetry remains — i.e. how much survived. Each dynastic section begins with an overview of the time and poetic trends, and there is bio blurb for each poet.

There is quite a bit of variation in the book beyond that of the changing nature of Chinese poetry. The translations are also by varied translators, including not only the book’s editors but also individuals from the past, such as Arthur Waley. I wouldn’t say there is any bad translation in the book, but some translators capture the feel, e.g. the relative sparseness, of Chinese better, and others show their English poetic educations more obviously.

All in all, I enjoyed this selection of poems immensely, and learned a lot about Chinese history as well as of the country’s changing poetic tradition. I gained new insight to some of my favorites (e.g. Li Bai, Han Shan, etc.) and gained new favorites I’d never heard of before. I’d highly recommend this book for readers of poetry in translation.

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Drinking Alone by Moonlight by Li Bai [w/ Audio]

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A pot of wine, under blossoms.
   I drink alone, no friends in sight.
 I raise a cup to lustrous Moon:
   Me, Moon, and Shadow will make three.
 But Moon is a teetotaler.
   And Shadow just skulks at my feet.
 Still, Moon & Shadow are my chums.
   We need a bash before Spring's end.
 But my singing makes Moon recoil.
   And Shadow flops hard when I dance.
 At first, we have a grand old time,
   But we part ways when I drift off.
 We should keep this epic friendship rolling,
   and meet again in the River of Stars.

NOTE: I produced this “translation” / arrangement, using translations by Arthur Waley, Ezra Pound, and that of “The Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry” [ed. by Tony Barnstone and Chou Ping] to get varied takes on the source poem.

BOOKS: The Poet Li Po AD 701-762 Trans. & Ed. by Arthur Waley

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The Poet Li Po A.D. 701-762The Poet Li Po A.D. 701-762 by Arthur Waley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Available online at: Project Gutenberg – The Poet Li Po

Li Po, also Romanized “Li Bai,” is one of China’s most famous poets, the prolific Tang Dynasty poet wrote extensively at the nexus of intoxication and the beauty of the natural world. His well-loved and evocative poem, “Drinking Alone by Moonlight,” is a prime example [and is included in this selection.]

The selection consists of a small number of translations by [20th-century Orientalist] Arthur Waley. It’s only 20-some of the 1,000-ish extant poems of Li Bai, but it does offer variety in form and subject matter. It doesn’t include all of Li Bai’s most anthologized poems, which I consider a plus — i.e. Waley didn’t just assemble a greatest hits album.

The Waley translations aren’t as sparse as many that one will read. That offers the advantage of being clearer in meaning while losing some of the feel of the original. That said, I enjoyed this group of translations and didn’t feel they were too verbose – for the most part. It’s a selection well worth reading for those who enjoy poetry.

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Li Bai [Lyric Poem]

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Li Bai fills his cup;
 Li Bai loves his wine;
  Li Bai sits in moonlight,
 staring at the sky.

Limerick of Confucius

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The great Chinese philosopher Confucius
 wrote in maxims to avoid being circumlocutious.
   [That's a word that absurdly
   describes being wordy.]
 Be like Confucius, not like this verbose doofus.

Ikkyū’s Poetry: The John Steven’s Wild Ways Selection / Translation

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Wild Ways: Zen Poems of IkkyuWild Ways: Zen Poems of Ikkyu by Ikkyu
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the John Stevens selection and translation of poetry from Ikkyū’s Crazy Cloud Anthology. Ikkyū was what might be called a mad sage of the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism. He once showed up at a temple in his vagabond rags and was turned away, when he came back the next day in the ceremonial robes that revealed him as a preeminent monk and was subsequently treated like royalty, he took the robes off and told the abbot that it was apparently the robes that were honored and deserving of a meal. Ikkyū was known not only for his rejection of dogmatic and highfalutin approaches to Buddhism, but also for his love of sex, brothels, meat eating, and poetry. Much of the poetry touches on those two subjects (disdain for dogma and pretension and love of pleasure,) though there are also poems that explore nature and the kind of imagery one might be more likely to expect in Japanese poetry.

Ikkyū mostly wrote in quatrains, using a Chinese style of verse. Though Ikkyū was no more dogmatic about following poetic protocols than he was following monastic precepts, and often went with the flow.

I read the Stephen Berg translation, Crow with No Mouth several years ago. I would put this one on par with that one. There are actually several translated selections from the Crazy Cloud Anthology poems that are available. If you are interested in Ikkyū’s poetry, this is as good a place to start as any. It should be noted that while some of the poetry is around sexuality, it’s not particularly graphic but more suggestive.

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