The Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry

BOOK: The Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry
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TONY BARNSTONE AND CHOU PING
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

CONTENTS

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

ZHOU DYNASTY
(
1122–256 BCE
)

    
BOOK OF SONGS
(
C. 600 BCE
)

    
White Moonrise

    
Fruit Plummets from the Plum Tree

    
Serene Girl

    
In the Wilds Is a Dead River-Deer

    
All the Grasslands Are Yellow

    
Ripe Millet

    
I Beg You, Zhongzi

    
When the Gourd Has Dried Leaves

    
LAOZI
(
FOURTH-THIRD CENTURIES BCE
)

    
from the
Dao De Jing

    
VERSES OF CHU
(
THIRD CENTURY BCE
)

    
from Encountering Sorrow

HAN DYNASTY
(
206 BCE-220 CE
)

    
NINETEEN ANCIENT POEMS

    
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”

    
4. “At today's great banquet”

    
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”

    
JIA YI
(
200–168 BCE
)

    
The Owl

    
LIU XIJUN
(
LATE SECOND CENTURY BCE
)

    
Lament

    
ANONYMOUS FOLK SONGS FROM THE MUSIC BUREAU
(c. 120 bce)

    
The East Gate

    
A Sad Tune

    
He Waters His Horse Near a Breach in the Long Wall

    
At Fifteen I Went to War

    
An Ancient Poem Written for the Wife of Jiao Zhongqing

SIX DYNASTIES PERIOD
(
220–589
)

    
CAO CAO
(
155–220
)

    
Watching the Blue Ocean

    
Song of Bitter Cold

    
RUAN JI
(
210–263
)

    
from
Chanting My Thoughts

    
FU XUAN
(
217–278
)

    
To Be a Woman

    
ZI YE
(
THIRD-FOURTH CENTURIES
)

    
Three Songs

    
Four Seasons Song: Spring

    
Four Seasons Song: Autumn

    
LU JI
(
261–303
)

    
from
The Art of Writing

    
Preface

    
1. The Impulse

    
2. Meditation

    
3. Process

    
4. The Joy of Words

    
9. The Riding Crop

    
10. Making It New

    
11. Ordinary and Sublime

    
18. The Well-Wrought Urn

    
19. Inspiration

    
20. Writer's Block

    
21. The Power of a Poem

    
PAN YUE
(
247–300
)

    
In Memory of My Dead Wife

    
TAO QIAN
(
C. 365–427
)

    
Return to My Country Home

    
Begging for Food

    
I Stop Drinking

    
Drinking Alone When It Rains Day After Day

    
Scolding My Kids

    
Fire in the Sixth Month in 408 ce

    
from
Twenty Poems on Drinking Wine

    
Elegies

    
SU XIAOXIAO
(
LATE FIFTH CENTURY
)

    
Emotions on Being Apart

    
The Song of the West Tomb

    
To the Tune of “Butterflies Adore Flowers”

    
BAO ZHAO
(
C. 414–466
)

    
from
Variations on “The Weary Road”

    
On the Departure of Official Fu

    
BAO LINGHUI
(
FL. C. 464
)

    
Sending a Book to a Traveler After Making
an Inscription

    
PRINCESS CHEN LECHANG
(
SIXTH CENTURY
)

    
Letting My Feelings Go at the Farewell Banquet

TANG DYNASTY
(
618–907
)

    
WANG BO
(
649–676
)

    
On the Wind

    
HE ZHIZHANG
(
659–744
)

    
Willow

    
ZHANG RUOXU
(
C. 660-C. 720
)

    
Spring, River, and Flowers on a Moonlit Night

    
MENG HAORAN
(
689–740
)

    
Parting from Wang Wei

    
Spring Dawn

    
Spending the Night on Jiande River

    
WANG CHANGLING
(
C. 690-C. 756
)

    
Song from the Borders

    
WANG WAN
(
693–751
)

    
Stopping at Beigu Mountain

    
WANG WEI
(
701–761
)

    
Watching the Hunt

    
Walking into the Liang Countryside

    
A Young Lady's Spring Thoughts

    
For Someone Far Away

    
Climbing the City Tower North of the River

    
Deep South Mountain

    
Living in the Mountain on an Autumn Night

    
Drifting on the Lake

    
Cooling Off

    
Return to Wang River

    
Written on a Rainy Autumn Night After Pei Di's Visit

    
To Pei Di, While We Are Living Lazily at Wang River

    
Birds Sing in the Ravine

    
Sketching Things

    
from
The Wang River Sequence

    
Preface

    
1. Deer Park

    
2. House Hidden in the Bamboo Grove

    
3. Luan Family Rapids

    
4. White Pebble Shoal

    
5. Lakeside Pavilion

    
6. Magnolia Basin

    
Things in a Spring Garden

    
Answering the Poem Su Left in My Blue Field Mountain
Country House, on Visiting and Finding Me
Not Home

    
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

    
Seeing Zu Off at Qizhou

    
A White Turtle Under a Waterfall

    
Song of Peach Tree Spring

    
Sitting Alone on an Autumn Night

    
Green Creek

    
Visiting the Mountain Courtyard of the Distinguished Monk
Tanxing at Enlightenment Monastery

    
Questioning a Dream

    
Weeping for Ying Yao

    
Suffering from Heat

    
LI BAI
(
701–762
)

    
A Song of Zhanggan Village

    
Grievance at the Jade Stairs

    
Seeing a Friend Off at Jingmen Ferry

    
Watching the Waterfall at Lu Mountain

    
Hearing a Flute on a Spring Night in Luoyang

    
River Song

    
I Listen to Jun, a Monk from Shu, Play His Lute

    
Seeing a Friend Off

    
Drinking Alone by Moonlight

    
Seeing Meng Haoran Off to Guangling at the
Yellow Crane Tower

    
Saying Good-bye to Song Zhiti

    
Song

    
In Memory of He Zhizhang

    
Confessional

    
Zazen on Jingting Mountain

    
Questioning in the Mountains

    
Missing the East Mountains

    
Having a Good Time by Myself

    
Drinking Wine with the Hermit in the Mountains

    
Sent Far Off

    
Inscription for Summit Temple

    
Summer Day in the Mountains

    
Brooding in the Still Night

    
Singing by Green Water in Autumn

    
Drunk All Day

    
Song on Bringing in the Wine

    
On My Way Down Zhongnan Mountain I Passed by Hermit
Fusi's Place and He Treated Me to Wine While I Spent
the Night There

    
Song of the North Wind

    
War South of the Great Wall

    
Hunting Song

    
CHU GUANGXI
(
707-C. 760
)

    
from
Jiangnan Melodies

    
DU FU
(
712–770
)

    
Facing Snow

    
Gazing in Springtime

    
Ballad of the War Wagons

    
Moonlit Night

    
Thinking of My Brothers on a Moonlit Night

    
Broken Lines

    
Thoughts While Night Traveling

    
A Hundred Worries

    
Standing Alone

    
To Wei Ba

    
Dreaming of Li Bai

    
A Painted Falcon

    
New Moon

    
Spring Night Happy About Rain

    
Brimming Water

    
River Village

    
Looking at Mount Tai

    
Jiang Village

    
Jade Flower Palace

    
Newlyweds' Departure

    
Old Couple's Departure

    
A Homeless Man's Departure

    
Song of a Thatched Hut Damaged in Autumn Wind

    
The Song of a Roped Chicken

    
Poem to Officer Fang's Foreign Horse

    
Qu River

    
Leaving in My Boat

    
Guest's Arrival: Happy About County
Governor Cui's Visit

    
A Lone Goose

    
A Traveler's Night

    
from
Five Poems About Historical Sites

    
On Yueyang Tower

    
Climbing High

    
Traveler's Pavilion

    
LIU CHANGQING
(
C. 710-C. 787
)

    
Spending the Night at Hibiscus Mountain
When It Was Snowing

    
To Official Fei on His Demotion to State Ji

    
JIAO RAN
(
730–799
)

    
On Lu Jianhong's Absence During My Visit to Him

    
MENG JIAO
(
751–814
)

    
Complaints

    
Song of the Homebound Letter

    
Statement of Feelings in a Shabby Residence on an Autumn Evening

    
Visiting Zhongnan Mountain

    
Frustration

    
Borrowing a Wagon

    
After Passing the Highest Imperial Examinations

    
LADY LIU
(
MID-EIGHTH CENTURY
)

    
To the Tune of “Yangliuzhi”

    
ZHANG JI
(
MID-EIGHTH CENTURY
)

    
Moored by the Maple Bridge at Night

    
HAN YU
(
768–824
)

BOOK: The Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry
10.35Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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