The Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry
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Authors: Tony Barnstone
The Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry
Tony Barnstone is an associate professor of creative writing and American literature at Whittier College. His first book of poetry,
Impure
, was a finalist for several national literary awards, among them the Academy of American Poets Walt Whitman Prize, the National Poetry Series Prize, and the White Pine Prize. His other books include
Out of the Howling Storm: The New Chinese Poetry, Laughing Lost in the Mountains: Selected Poems of Wang Wei
(with Willis Barnstone and Xu Haixin),
The Art of Writing: Teachings of the Chinese Masters
(with Chou Ping), and several textbooks about world literature. His poetry, translations, essays, and fiction have appeared in dozens of literary journals, from
The American Poetry Review
to
Agni.
He lives in California.
Chou Ping writes poetry in both Chinese and English. His poems and translations have appeared in such journals as
The Literary Review
and
Nimrod.
Born in Changsha City, Hunan province, in 1957, he holds degrees from Beijing Foreign Language University, Indiana University, and Stanford University. He is the translator, with Tony Barnstone, of
The Art of Writing: Teachings of the Chinese Masters
, and he has taught at Stanford, Washington University, Oberlin College, The College of Wooster, and Reed College. He lives in Oregon.
Please visit
The Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry
Web Companion:
http://web.whittier.edu/barnstone/poetry
This book is dedicated to
Caroline Heldman
and
Joey
A Note on the Selections and Some Words of Thanks
Preface: The Poem Behind the Poem:
Literary Translation as English-Language Poetry
BY TONY BARNSTONE
Introduction to Chinese Poetic Form
(
as a Function of Yin-Yang Symmetry)
BY CHOU PING
Fruit Plummets from the Plum Tree
In the Wilds Is a Dead River-Deer
When the Gourd Has Dried Leaves
LAOZI
(
FOURTH-THIRD CENTURIES BCE
)
VERSES OF CHU
(
THIRD CENTURY BCE
)
1. “Traveling traveling and still traveling traveling”
2. “Green so green is the river grass”
3. “Green so green are the cypress over the burial mounds”
5. “A tall tower in the northwest”
6. “I cross the river to pick lotus flowers”
7. “Clear moon pours bright light at night”
8. “Soft and frail is a solitary bamboo”
9. “There is a wonderful tree in the courtyard”
10. “Far and far is the Cowherd Star”
11. “I turn my carriage around to return”
12. “The east wall is tall and long”
13. “I drive my wagon to the east gate”
14. “Day by day the dead are receding”
15. “Man dies within a hundred years”
16. “Chilly, chilly, the year-end clouds darken”
17. “A cold current in early winter”
18. “A traveler came from afar”
19. “Pure and white bright moon”
LIU XIJUN
(
LATE SECOND CENTURY BCE
)
ANONYMOUS FOLK SONGS FROM THE MUSIC BUREAU
(c. 120 bce)
He Waters His Horse Near a Breach in the Long Wall
An Ancient Poem Written for the Wife of Jiao Zhongqing
Drinking Alone When It Rains Day After Day
Fire in the Sixth Month in 408 ce
from
Twenty Poems on Drinking Wine
SU XIAOXIAO
(
LATE FIFTH CENTURY
)
To the Tune of “Butterflies Adore Flowers”
from
Variations on “The Weary Road”
On the Departure of Official Fu
Sending a Book to a Traveler After Making
an Inscription
PRINCESS CHEN LECHANG
(
SIXTH CENTURY
)
Letting My Feelings Go at the Farewell Banquet
Spring, River, and Flowers on a Moonlit Night
Spending the Night on Jiande River
Walking into the Liang Countryside
A Young Lady's Spring Thoughts
Climbing the City Tower North of the River
Living in the Mountain on an Autumn Night
Written on a Rainy Autumn Night After Pei Di's Visit
To Pei Di, While We Are Living Lazily at Wang River
2. House Hidden in the Bamboo Grove
About Old Age, in Answer to a Poem by Subprefect
Zhang
To My Cousin Qiu, Military Supply Official
On Being Demoted and Sent Away to Qizhou
For Zhang, Exiled in Jingzhou, Once Adviser
to the Emperor
Seeing Off Prefect Ji Mu as He Leaves Office and Goes East
of the River
Winter Night, Writing About My Emotion
A White Turtle Under a Waterfall
Sitting Alone on an Autumn Night
Visiting the Mountain Courtyard of the Distinguished Monk
Tanxing at Enlightenment Monastery
Seeing a Friend Off at Jingmen Ferry
Watching the Waterfall at Lu Mountain
Hearing a Flute on a Spring Night in Luoyang
I Listen to Jun, a Monk from Shu, Play His Lute
Seeing Meng Haoran Off to Guangling at the
Yellow Crane Tower
Drinking Wine with the Hermit in the Mountains
Singing by Green Water in Autumn
Thinking of My Brothers on a Moonlit Night
Thoughts While Night Traveling
Song of a Thatched Hut Damaged in Autumn Wind
Poem to Officer Fang's Foreign Horse
Guest's Arrival: Happy About County
Governor Cui's Visit
from
Five Poems About Historical Sites
Spending the Night at Hibiscus Mountain
When It Was Snowing
To Official Fei on His Demotion to State Ji
On Lu Jianhong's Absence During My Visit to Him
Statement of Feelings in a Shabby Residence on an Autumn Evening
After Passing the Highest Imperial Examinations