Po Chü-I: Selected Poems

By Chu-I Pai and Po Chü-i

Book Overview

The T'ang dynasty was the great age of Chinese poetry, and Po Chü-i (772-846) was one of that era's most prolific major poets. His appealing style, marked by deliberate simplicity, won him wide popularity among the Chinese public at large and made him a favorite with readers in Korea and Japan as well. From Po Chü-i's well-preserved corpus--personally compiled and arranged by the poet himself in an edition of seventy-five chapters--the esteemed translator Burton Watson has chosen 128 poems and one short prose piece that exemplify the earthy grace and deceptive simplicity of this master poet. For Po Chü-i, writing poetry was a way to expose the ills of society and an autobiographical medium to record daily activities, as well as a source of deep personal delight and satisfaction--constituting, along with wine and song, one of the chief joys of existence. Whether exposing the gluttony of arrogant palace attendants during a famine; describing the delights of drunkenly chanting new poems under the autumn moon; depicting the peaceful equanimity that comes with old age; or marveling at cool Zen repose during a heat wave... these masterfully translated poems shine with a precisely crafted artlessness that conveys the subtle delights of Chinese poetry.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0231118384
• ISBN13: 9780231118385
• Release Date: March 2000
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 172 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 9.3"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher