25 Classic Chinese Love Poems

25 Classic Chinese poems presented in Chinese characters, English phonetic transliteration, and English interpretation all in line. Plus cultural notes on the background of each poem and an 100-word "Poem in a Nutshell" description.

Qiu Xiaolong is extravagantly qualified for translating these poems, having as a citizen of China won prizes for his own poetry and for translating T.S. Eliot and other English and American poets into Chinese and, more recently, as a citizen of the United States, won prizes for his own poetry and fiction in English. To my mind, the Changgan Song in this collection rivals Ezra Pound's justly famous, loosely translated version, The River Merchant's Wife. These renderings have a limpidity of the language and metaphor and a subtle rhythm, and Qiu has a poet's sixth sense for when (occasionally) to lift the line with a less direct and more evocative word; we are thus rescued from the flatness of some translations of early Chinese poetry. This is a generous book and a very welcome addition to the poetry of love and longing from our Significant Stranger, the Chinese nation. --Mona Van Duyn.

A selection of 40 classical and contemporary love poems, illustrated with original brushwork calligraphy and scenes from rarely exhibited paintings and prints from the British Museum.

In this book we invite you into the immense and alluring world of Chinese love poetry. Hundreds of love poems from almost every era of Chinese history still exist; we have decided to present twenty-five of them to you, complete with fresh translations and line-by-line analysis. Among these twenty-five poems are some of the most beloved poems in Chinese history; others are probably familiar to few people. Our special interest is in poems that describe the full range of the experience of love, from wooing the beloved, to missing out on a hopeful connection; to the problem of distance and absence in a relationship and, finally, to losing a beloved partner much too early. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

This book, first published in 1982, was the first translation of the Chinese classic Yü-t-‘ai hsin-yung – the unique anthology of love poems, compiled in AD 545. This traces the development of love poetry from the second century BC to its full flowering in the fifth and sixth centuries AD. Dr Birrell’s incisive introductory essay provides a concise survey of the historical and literary setting to the poems and explains the conventions governing courtly love poetry. In particular, the reader’s attention is drawn to the many and varied artistic uses of imagery in the poems. Major poets are noted for their artistic achievement and for their contribution to the development of the genre. Dr Birrell also supplies a valuable section of notes on the poems to guide the reader through unfamiliar historical events, legends, anecdotes and famous places and people, and there is a similar section of notes on the poets offering biographical details.

An assemblage of delicate Chinese verse which delicately explore the worlds of love, nature, and meditation.

English translations of well-known Chinese poems.