Chinese poetry: versions by Rexroth

2-page introduction: "In some cases they [the 35 Tu Fu translations] are very free, in others as exact as possible." The remainder of the book is poetry of the Sung Dynasty. For about half, he first translated from other western languages, later checking them against the Chinese. It is unclear how strong was Rexroth's Chinese and how much he leaned on the several non-Chinese books that he references.

35 poems by T'ang Dynasty Tu Fu. 4 of these appear also in Hinton; Rexroth presents them as 10-to-19-short-line poems whereas Hinton shows them all as poems of four couplets, perhaps reflecting better the structure of the Chinese. Here is a comparison of the opening of one poem by the two translators:

Rexroth's opening of "Night in the House by the River" (p.29)
It is late in the year; Yin and Yang struggle In the brief sunlight. On the desert mountains Frost and snow Gleam in the freezing night.

Hinton's opening of "Night at the Tower" (p.207)
Yin and Yang cut brief autumn days short. Frost and snow clear, leaving a cold night open at the edge of heaven.

Rexroth includes his versions of poems by these Sung Dynasty poets:

At the end of his notes, Rexroth adds:

I have 'translated out' or paraphrased many Chinese historical and literary references. ... At the suggestion of the publisher I have given my own titles, as simply as possible, to poems untitled in Chinese.

Rexroth's One Hundred More Poems From The Chinese

2-page introduction: "offered with no pretense to scholarship or to mastery of that complex subject, Sinology."
Rexroth includes his versions of poems by:
- Anonymous poets from the Han Dynasty.
- Anonymous poets from the Six Dynasties.
- One or two poems by almost 60 other poets, but with 6 from Li Ch'ing Chao, 6 from Li Shang Yin, 4 from Lu Yu, and 5 from Wang Wei.
- Rexroth titles one of his translations of a Wang Wei poem: "Deep in the Mountain Wilderness". His version is praised by Weinberger and Paz (Nineteen Ways of Looking at Wang Wei) as being the first translation into English that is successful as a poem, even though they seem dubious that "Rexroth ignores what he presumably dislikes, or feels cannot be translated, in the original".

Time Line

700-800: T'ang Dynasty early portion: 'Renaissance'.
701-761: Wang Wei, who "was with Li Po and Tu Fu one of the greatest poets of the reign of Emperor Hsuan Tsung.
712-770: The poet Tu Fu.
813-859: The poet Li Shang Yin, "the greatest T'ang poet after Po Chu I". However, Rexroth writes in Po Chu I's biographical note: "Po Chu I (772-846) is generally considered, with Li Po, Wang Wei, Tu Fu, one of the four leading poets of the T'ang Dynasty.
1000-1225: Sung Dynasty: 'Mainstream renewal'.
1002-1060: The poet Mei Yao Ch'en.
1007-1072: The poet Ou Yang Hsiu. Excelled at prose poetry. A politician and historian.
1036-1101: The poet Su Tung P'o. Of the scholar gentry (Confucianist), he opposed centralization of power forced by the reformer Wang An Shih: "one of China's very greatest poets" [p. xii].
1081-1140: The woman poet Li Ch'ing Chao, said by Rexroth to be "China's greatest poet of any period".
1125-1209: The poet Lu Yu was "the least classical of the major Sung poets".
1130-1200: Chu Hsi is "the great philosopher and historian, founder of Sung Neo-Confucianism".
About 1200: Hsu Chao.
About 1200: Chu Shu Chen, a woman poet: "Nothing definite is known about her".

Links and Books.

Links and Books.

Related pages: Poetry index. How to Write Poetry.
How to write specific forms: Haibun. Haiku. Hay(na)ku. Rengay. Tanka.

Books of Poetry Form.

Copyright © 2015-2016 by J. Zimmerman, except for the quoted poems.
All rights reserved.

[Thanks for visiting.]