Li Po and Tu Fu: Poems

by Li Po, Tu Fu, Arthur Cooper (Translator)

Li Po (AD 701-62) and Tu Fu (AD 712-70) were devoted friends who are traditionally considered to be among China's greatest poets. Li Po, a legendary carouser, was an itinerant poet whose writing, often dream poems or spirit-journeys, soars to sublime heights in its descriptions of natural scenes and powerful emotions. His sheer escapism and joy is balanced by Tu Fu, who expresses the Confucian virtues of humanity and humility in more autobiographical works that are imbued with great compassion and earthy reality, and shot through with humour. Together these two poets of the T'ang dynasty complement each other so well that they often came to be spoken of as one - 'Li-Tu' - who covers the whole spectrum of human life, experience and feeling.

Genres: Poetry, China, Classics, Chinese Literature, Asia, Literature, Fiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 770

Reviews

[Katia N]

An update:

This update is more about translating than about the poems, but I've just found this website with 38 versions of Du Fu's poem Journey through the night. I've had a huge fun reading these different reflections on the same original that have been made by different people spanning more than a century between 1919 and 2015 o4 or so. The original poem is from 8th century. I am struggling to say something more profound about this experience at the moment apart from quoting Walter Benjamin:

Unlike a work of literature, translation does not find itself in the centre of the language forest but on the outside facing the wooded ridge; it calls into it without entering, aiming at that single spot where the echo is able to give, in its own language, the reverberation of the work in the alien one.

And following our wonderful conversation with Laura in the comments, I thought this collection of a single poem might be interesting to share.

Initial review:

If you want to know the history of Chinese classic poetry, philosophy and historical and literal context for these two major poets, this would be an excellent place to start. There is a great detailed intro and each poem comes with the commentary. The author has also referred to other major translations. However, unfortunately I cannot say I've enjoyed his translations per se. It is probably my fault though as he tries to convey the technical poetics of the original and I have not yet developed the appreciation and understanding of this without the access to language. If you want just to admire the poems Ezra Pound's Li Po translations would be my starting point (but are they Li Po's still is a big question).

[Jokoloyo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually I didn't rate the classic poems from considered two Chinese greatest poets. I rated the translation project. I like the 100+ pages introductions before the book showed the first poem. And even then, on poems themselves, the translator added some short descriptions too. I think the lengthy introductions is appropriate for introductory purpose of the poets. Please remember that this book published for the first time on pre-internet era.

There are only 100+ poems on this book, far from complete collections, even counting the surviving texts only.

[Nemo · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Li Po’s verses, where every word counts like a measured shot, we find the essence of a man who ultimately found solace amidst the mountains and the wilderness:

You ask why I make my home in the mountain forest,
and I smile, and am silent,
and even my soul remains quiet:
it lives in the other world
which no one owns.
The peach trees blossom,
The water flows.

And then, we meet his comrade, Tu Fu, who drifts through the the vast expanse of the earth:

Drifting, drifting,
what am I more than
a single gull
between sky and earth?

[Jonfaith · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wasn’t a question of taste.There were multiple fault-lines in this disappointment. It was a situation where I was excited by a hundred page introduction. I weathered that, but only just. No, a further issue was what resulted: translation. I had been spoiled by Kenneth Rexroth. Two fascinating poets are cottoned in digressions on meter and as quick as a summation at an academic conference, the very blood is removed from each of the visionaries. It is grossly unfair. I should probably try again in a few days, so edged is my anger.

[Roz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Penguin's compilation of the poetry of Li Po and Tu Fu isn't quite what it appears at first. It collects a healthy sampling of the two poets, but it's only a sampling: each poet is represented by about 50 pages worth of poems, with most of that space taken up with Arthur Cooper's voluminous annotations. And the first half of this book is a lengthy introduction by Cooper, covering not only the basics of these two poets, but is a good primer for Chinese poetry as a whole, ranging from early works like Songs of the South to poets of the T'ang dynasty.

On the whole, this is an interesting collection. It's a nice sampling of these two poets output, aided by Coopers notes and introduction, which helps even those who know next to nothing about Chinese poetry - myself included - get into these poems. Which brings up my main problem with this collection: there simply isn't enough of them! I found that once I was really getting into each of these poets, the well here ran dry. It'd be nice if there was more of their works and less of the little artistic, calligraphic flourishes included here. Maybe someone studying Chinese poetry would appreciate having Chinese script scattered throughout, but I don't think it adds much for the common reader.

Still, I enjoyed the bulk of this book. Recommended for those interested in Chinese poetry, especially if you don't have much of a foundation in it: the introduction itself is worth checking out for those curious in the genre.

[Akemi G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are two types of people who'd read classic poetry. One, those who simply love poetry for its beauty. Two, those who are interested in classic literature. For the first type, I have no comment; just read what you enjoy. This review is more for the second type, and by extension, those who want to gain better understanding of Asian culture.

Ancient China had huge influence in Asia, including Korea and Japan. Basho mentions Du Fu's poems in The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches--he doesn't even mention Du Fu's name, he just casually refers to one of the poems and the readers are expected to understand. Even today, we keep reading these old Chinese poems. Check Ōoku: The Inner Chambers, Volume 8. In the manga, Yoshimune says "she" is not well-read and only knows Du Fu and Li Bai when it comes to Chinese poems, encouraging her children to do better than herself. The manga then refers to one of Du Fu's poems. Yeah, in a manga. That's how these classic poems remain familiar in Japan. (I'm not sure if the Chinese people today read them--after the Cultural Revolution, they seem to have little appreciation for their own heritage.)

As Yoshimune says, Du Fu and Li Bai are only basics. But then, it doesn't seem there are good anthologies of classic Chinese poems translated into English.

I read a handful of them in Japanese with annotations. Hopefully, this book from Penguin covers the most important poems such as 春望 (A Spring View; this is what Basho mentions).

Other Tang period poets worth reading: Wang Wei(his poem 送別 is mentioned in another vol of Ōoku: The Inner Chambers, Vol. 2, Du Mu, Bai Juyi . . . then there are poets who didn't leave many poems, but what few they left are great, like 張継 (Zhang Ji)'s 楓橋夜泊 and 劉希夷 (Liu Xiyi)'s 代悲白頭翁.

(Btw if you think this review is snobbish, sorry--Asian culture is very snobbish traditionally.)

[Brok3n · Rating 4 out of 5]

Communications from aliens

Of all the arts, poetry is the one most tied to specific languages. This is why you will hear French speakers claiming that there is no such thing as English poetry -- English poetry is a different art from French poetry, so it's easy for a connoisseur of French poetry to dismiss English poetry. This question is especially pressing when a native English speaker (me) wants to read the poetry of two famous Chinese poets, Li Po and Tu Fu, who flourished in eighth-century China. (Don't be confused if you see their names written differently. Li Po, for instance, is also called Li Bai and Li Bo.) Chinese is a very different language from English, far more so than English is from French, and because Chinese is a living language, we can be confident that the Chinese of Li Po and Tu Fu was rather different from modern Chinese. If you have ever struggled to understand Geoffrey Chaucer's Middle English, you will appreciate this.

Translator Arthur Cooper undertakes the challenging job of bringing Li Po and Tu Fu to life for Modern English readers. He is fully aware of the difficulty. The book begins with 101 pages of front matter. Most of that is an 86-page introduction in which Cooper discusses the Culture of Tang China and Li Po and Tu Fu's place in it. He also, at considerable (and, it must be admitted, tedious) length discusses Chinese Poetic Prosody and how he rendered it in English. He ends with an admonition to read the poems aloud, and instructions on how to do so. Poets always tell you to read aloud, and I usually ignore them, but this time I did it. Every morning for a month and a half I read one poem aloud.

Li Po and Tu Fu were not only contemporaries -- they were friends and admirers of each other's work. They are, however, very different. Li Po's poems are often about drinking and idling -- he clearly had the ability to laugh at the world, including himself. Tu Fu's poetry is more serious. I found Tu Fu easier to understand, but the words that will stick with me are Li Po's. I definitely had the feeling that Cooper loves Tu Fu a bit more, although I'm sure he would claim that he loves all his children equally.

Cooper accompanies each poem with notes describing the circumstances under which they were written. These are especially useful in the case of Tu Fu's poems, which often relate to his career and to the historical upheavals of the time. Li Po's poems are more common and more universal.

Like most Penguin Classics collections, this is a well-constructed book.

Blog review.

[Ellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

if this was just the introductory essay it would be 5 stars. good old fashioned eloquent scholarship that you got from penguin classics from the olde days.

as for the poems, there is just too much lost in translation for me to really appreciate the artistry here.
syllables per line have to be changed.
literary allusions and other folklore are key.
even sometimes certain characters are used for a visual reference that you just can't get when it's translated.

but all being said, the essay and complimentary notes really give you an appreciation of the work being done here and inspire you to try a little harder to learn Chinese.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a massive fan of poetry in general, but I do love Chinese history. For me, the poems weren't as interesting as the explanation of them. Li Po and Tu Fu were definitely men of their time, as it was common for scholars to try their hand at poetry. And some of their poems are really interesting, painting a picture of both how life was during the Tang Dynasty as well as how differently they each saw the world. Li Po takes a more cynical view of the world, whereas Tu Fu seems to be more flowery in his writing. It's a fun book to read, both if you like poetry and if you're interested in Chinese history.

[Fin · Rating 4 out of 5]

NIGHT THOUGHTS AFLOAT

By bent grasses
in a gentle wind
Under straight mast
I'm alone tonight,

And the stars hang
above the broad plain
But moon's afloat
in this Great River:

Oh, where's my name
among the poets?
Official rank?
'retired for ill-health.'

Drifting, drifting,
what am I more than
A single gull
between sky and earth?

---Du Fu

QUIET NIGHT THOUGHTS

Before my bed
there is bright moonlight
So that it seems
like frost on the ground:

Lifting my head
I watch the bright moon,
Lowering my head
I dream that I'm home.

---Li Bai

In Tang poetry, the solution to these quiet, restrained sadnesses is always, wonderfully, drinking...

ABANDON

With wine I sit
absent to Night, till
(Fallen petals
in folds of my gown)

I stagger up
to stalk the brook's moon:
The birds are gone
and people are few!

---Li Bai

In his long, luxurious introduction Arthur Cooper notes that drunkenness was viewed benevolently in Classical and Early Modern Chinese poetry, and even as attuning the body perfectly to divine revelation (much like in Ancient Greek thinking); which makes this Du Fu poem even sadder...

FROM A HEIGHT

The winds cut, clouds are high,
apes wail their sorrows,
The ait is fresh, sand white,
birds fly in circles;

On all sides fallen leaves
go rustling, rustling,
While ceaseless river waves
come rippling, rippling:

Autumn's each faded mile
seems like my journey
To mount, alone and ill,
to this balcony;

Life's failures and regrets
frosting my temples,
And wretched that I've had
to give up drinking.

[Nikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

My interest leans to Li Po more than Tu Fu but contemplating on the period they become renowned poets in China, I could say that Tu Fu's poems are experimental and his style transcends the usual Chinese poetry form (maybe this is the reason why his readers back then tend to misunderstand his craft; hence, dismissing him as queer or challenging the tradition in an unpleasant way) and in it I found a foreign sharpness and beauty.

Introduction and annotations were a big help in understanding the text but sometimes the translator explains too much which, for me, ruins the experience of reading the poems.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

New to Tang poetry? Get this book--it includes a wonderful little selection of Du Fu's and Li Bai's [Li Po's] poems but the real reason to get hold of a copy is its excellent introduction to understanding Tang poetry. The inclusion of the original Chinese and in particular, one full-length Chinese poem that is dissected character-by-character to help explain the richness (and difficulty in translating) Chinese poems into European languages makes this little book invaluable to anyone who wants to learn how to read and extract the full meanings of Tang poetry.

The introduction covers a brief history of Chinese poetry and the various rhyme schemes used. Select poems have their full Chinese text on a side page; other poems include extremely helpful notes explaining some of the more difficult passages or allusions. (An example: "Whitestar Fell' translates the name of T'ai-po Mountain on the borders of [the Chinese states of] Ch'in and Shu; in which T'ai-po means 'very white' but is also the name of the planet Venus...." (p. 131)

The Chinese text is transcribed in the older Wade-Giles romanization which may cause some difficulties but there are easily downloadable WG-Pinyin translation charts available on the internet for those who haven't yet familiarized themselves with the two systems. Not sure if this book is still in print or not but there are lots of used copies readily found in campus bookshops and online. If you're a newcomer to Tang poetry, don't delay in finding a copy.

[Owain · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent selected collection of these two poets' work.

Like most good editions of oriental works this has a substantial introduction and comment throughout. It is in-fact a Li Po & Tu Fu reader for those using English. The introduction is amongst the best I've read for any work of any genre. Arthur Cooper really did well covering not only many topics of poetry but language, history and philosophy as well, explaining the workings behind his translations of these poems and providing complete context within which they should be read.

This is by far the most unputdowneable book I've read in a long while and I think this work has given me much for thought when composing my my own poetry.

[Al Maki · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the translations. I also found the introductory essay very helpful. Chinese being a very different language and its poetic tradition being completely distinct from the European, Cooper's explanation of some of the issues is important to understanding the issues. I've owned this book for going on forty years and been through it a number of times. When I was young I believed I should like Li Bai because he was so wild and free, but now that I've been much banged around, I greatly prefer Du Fu.

[Frank]

Zero stars. The only way to appreciate this poetry is by knowing the biographies of the poets and the history of parts of China during their lifetime. For me, this makes it impossible to enjoy the poetry.

There are many footnotes to give you this history, but there are more footnotes than there are lines of poetry!!!

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

turned me on to chinese poetry. the descriptions between the poems can be extremely informative for developing context, but are occasionally problematic. obviously there is only so much I can glean from poetry that is dependent on history and references outside of my knowledge base, but this is an excellent primer for the history of the Tang Dynasty and the lives lived in it.

[Biblio Curious · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gotta love a poet who drinks wine... in a boat... and drowns.

[Conor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Translated poetry is always weird for me, but the background notes were great.

[Robert Sheppard · Rating 5 out of 5]

WHAT EVERY EDUCATED CITIZEN OF THE WORLD NEEDS TO KNOW IN THE 21ST CENTURY: INTRODUCTION TO THE IMMORTAL TANG DYNASTY POETS OF CHINA----LI BAI (LI PO), DU FU (TU FU), WANG WEI AND BAI JUYI-----THE MEETING OF THE BUDDHIST, TAOIST AND CONFUCIAN WORLDS-----FROM THE WORLD LITERATURE FORUM RECOMMENDED CLASSICS AND MASTERPIECES SERIES VIA GOODREADS—-ROBERT SHEPPARD, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF



The Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) is considered the "Golden Age" of Chinese poetry and a time of cultural ascendency when China was considered the pre-eminent civilization in the world. At its commencement Chang'an (modern Xian) its capital with over one million inhabitants was the largest city on the face of the Earth and a vibrant cosmopolitan cultural center at the Eastern end of the Eurasian "Silk Road" when Europe had declined into the fragmented "Dark Ages" of the post-Roman Empire feudal era and the "Islamic Golden Age" of the Abbasid Caliphate was just beginning to rise to rival it with the construction of its new and flourishing capital at Baghdad. China itself had suffered a similar fragmentation and decline with the fall of the Han Dynasty, equal in scope and splendor to the contemporaneous Roman Empire, but with the comparative difference that Tang China had acheived reunification while Europe remained disunited and had lost much of its Classical Greek and Roman heritage, only to be recovered with the Renaissance. Tang Dynasty China by contrast was in a condition of dynamic cultural growth and innovation, having both retained its Classical heritage of Confucianism and Taoism but also assimilated the new spiritual energy of the rise of Buddhism, at the same time the European world assimilated the spiritual influence of Christianity and the Muslim world that of Islam.

Into this context were born four men of poetic genius who in the Oriental world would come to occupy a place in World Literature comparable to the great names of Dante and Shakespeare: Li Bai (Li Po), Du Fu (Tu Fu), Wang Wei and Bai Juyi. All of these geniuses were influenced by the three great cultural heritages of China: Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, just as Western writers such as Dante and Shakespeare were influenced by the three dominant Western Heritages of Greek Socratic rationalism, Roman law and social duty and Christian spirituality and moral cultivation. It was during the Tang Dynasty that Chinese culture became fully Buddhist, especially with the translations of Buddhist Scripture brough back from India by Xuanzong, the famous monk-traveller celebrated in the "Journey to the West." Each poet was influenced by all three heritages, but with perhaps one heritage on the ascendant in each man in accordance with his temperament and worldview, with Du Fu emphasizing the social conscience and duty of Confucianism in his poetry, Li Bai the free spirit and dynamic natural balances of Taoism, and Wang Wei and Bai Juyi emphasizing the Buddhist ethos of detachment from this world and overcoming desire in quest of spiritual enlightenment.



THE GLORIOUS TANG DYNASTY---HIGH POINT OF CHINESE CIVILIZATION


The Tang Dynasty, with its capital at Chang'an, then the most populous city in the world, is generally regarded as a high point in Chinese civilization—equal to, or surpassing that of, the earlier Han Dynasty—a Second Golden Age of cosmopolitan culture. Its territory, acquired through the military campaigns of its early rulers, rivaled that of the Han Dynasty. In censuses of the 7th and 8th centuries, the Tang records estimated the population at about 50 million people, rising by the 9th century to perhaps about 80 million people, though considerably reduced by the convulsions of the An Lu Shan Rebellion, making it the largest political entity in the world at the time, surpassing the earlier Han Dynasty's probable 60 million and the contemporaneous Abbasid Caliphate's probable 50 milliion and even rivaling the Roman Empire at its height, which at the time of Trajan in 117 AD was estimated at 88 million. Such massive populations, economic and cultural resources would not be matched until the rise of the nations and empires of the modern era.

With its large population and economic base, the dynasty was able to support a large proportion of its population devoted to cultural accompishments as well as a government, Civil Service administration, scholarly schools and examinations, and raise professional and conscripted armies of hundreds of thousands of troops to contend with nomadic powers in dominating Inner Asia and the lucrative trade routes along the Silk Road. Various kingdoms and states paid tribute to the Tang court, and were indirectly controlled through a protectorate system. Besides political hegemony, the Tang also exerted a powerful cultural influence over neighboring states such Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, with much of Japanese culture, government, literature and religion finding its model and origin in Tang Dynasty China.

In this global Medieval Era we can say with fairness that while Europe went into fragmentation and decline until the Renaissance the two pre-eminent centers of world civilization were Chang'an of the Tang Empire and Baghdad of the Abbasid Caliphate and the Islamic Golden Age. Two incidents characterize the interaction of these two Medieval "Superpowers," and also affected literary production of the age: The Battle of Talas and the An Lu Shan Rebellion. The Battle of Talas of 751 AD was the collision of the two expanding superpowers, the Tang and the Abbasid Muslims, which in the defeat of the Tang Empire's armies resulted first in the halt of its expansion along the Silk Road towards the Middle-East, and secondly, in the important transfer of Chinese paper-making technology through captured artisans from China to the Arabs, an important factor fueling the Islamic Golden Age and its literature. The An Lu Shan Rebellion, arising out of the doomed love affair of the Tang Emperor Xuanzong and the Imperial Concubine Yang Gui Fei disrupted all of China, perhaps causing the deaths of 20-30 million people, and affecting the personal lives and writings of all the poets including Li Bai, Wang Wei and Du Fu. It also was the occasion of the Abbasid Caliph sending 4000 cavalry troops to help the Tang Emperor suppress the rebellion, a force that permanently settled in China and became a catalyst for growth of the Muslim population in China and Muslim-Tang cultural interpenetration along the Silk Road. It also became the subject of the Tang poet Bai Juyi's immortal epic of the Emperor, the Rebellion and the tragic death of the beautiful Imperial Concubine, Yang Gui Fei in "The Song of Everlasting Sorrow."


THE COALESCING OF THE CONFUCIAN, TAOIST AND BUDDHIST WORLDS: THE PARABLE OF THE THREE VINEGAR TASTERS


The Parable of "The Three Vinegar Tasters" is a traditional subject in Chinese religious painting. and poetry. The allegorical composition depicts the three founders of China's major religious and philosophical traditions: Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. The theme in the painting has been variously interpreted as affirming the harmony and unity of the three faiths and traditions of China or as favoring Taoism relative to the others.


The three sages of the tale are dipping their fingers in a vat of vinegar and tasting it; one man reacts with a sour expression, one reacts with a bitter expression, and one reacts with a sweet expression. The three men are Confucius, Buddha, and Lao Zi, respectively. Each man's expression represents the predominant attitude of his religion and ethos: Confucianism saw life as sour, in need of rules, ritual and restraint to correct the degeneration of the people; Buddhism saw life as bitter, dominated by pain and suffering, slavery to desire and the false illusion of Maya; and Taoism saw life as fundamentally good in its natural state. Another interpretation of the painting is that, since the three men are gathered around one vat of vinegar, the "three teachings" are one.


CONFUCIANISM

Confucianism saw life as sour, in need of rules, social discipline and restraint to correct the degeneration of people; the present was out of step with a more "golden" past and that the government had no understanding of the way of the universe—the right response was to worship the ancestors, purify and support tradition, instil ethical understanding, and strengthen social and family bonds. Confucianism, being concerned with the outside world, thus viewed the "vinegar of life" as "adulterated wine" needing social cleansing.


BUDDHISM

Buddhism was founded by Siddhartha Gautama, who first pursued then rejected philosophy and asceticism before discovering enlightenment through meditation. He concluded that we are bound to the cycles of life and death because of tanha (desire, thirst, craving). During Buddha's first sermon he preached, "neither the extreme of indulgence nor the extremes of asceticism was acceptable as a way of life and that one should avoid extremes and seek to live in the Middle Way". "Thus the goal of basic Buddhist practice is not the immediate achievement of a state of "Nirvana" or bliss in some heaven but the extinguishing of tanha, or desire leading to fatal illusion. When tanha is extinguished, one is released from the cycle of life---birth, suffering, death, and rebirth---only then can one achieve Nirvana.

One interpretation is that Buddhism, being concerned with the self, viewed the vinegar as a polluter of the taster's body due to its extreme flavor. Another interpretation for the image is that Buddhism reports the facts are as they are, that vinegar is vinegar and isn't naturally sweet on the tongue. Trying to make it sweet is ignoring what it is, pretending it is sweet---living for illusion or Maya---is denying what it is, while the equally harmful opposite is being overly disturbed by the sourness. Detachment, reason and moderation are thus required.

TAOISM

Taoism saw life as fundamentally good in its natural state.
From the Taoist point of view, sourness and bitterness come from the interfering and unappreciative mind. Life itself, when understood and utilized for what it is, is sweet, despite its occasional sourness and bitterness. In "The Vinegar Tasters" Lao Zi's (Lao Tzu) expression is sweet because of how the religious teachings of Taoism view the world. Every natural thing is intrinsically good as long as it remains true to its nature. This perspective allows Lao Zi to experience the taste of vinegar without judging it, knowing that nature will restore its own balance transcending any extreme, via Yin and Yang and "The Dao," the underlying Supreme Creative Dialectic driving all things and human experiences.




LI BAI (LI PO), SUPREME TANG DYNASTY LYRICIST AND TAOIST ADEPT




Li Bai (701-762) came from an obscure, possibly Turkish background and unlike other Tang poets did not attempt to take the Imperial Examination to become a scholar-official. He was infamous for his exuberant drunkenness, hard partying and "bad boy" romantic lifestyle. In his writing he chose freer forms closer to the folk songs and natural voice, though laced with playful fancy, as in the famous example of his lyric conversations with the moon. He frequented Taoist temples and echoed the Taoist embrace of the natural human emotions and feelings; that connection got him an appointment to the Imperial Court, but his misbehaviour soon ended in his dismissal. Nonetheless, he became famous and invited into the best circles to recite his works. He emphasized spontanaeity and freedom of expression in his works, yet created works of extraordinary depth of feeling:


Drinking Alone With the Moon

A pot of wine amoung the flowers.
I drink alone, no friend with me.
I raise my cup to invite the moon.
He and my shadow and I make three.

The moon does not know how to drink;
My shadow mimes my capering;
But I'll make merry with them both---
And soon enough it will be Spring.

I sing--the moon moves to and fro.
I dance--my shadow leaps and sways.
Still sober, we exchange our joys.
Drunk--and we'll go our separate ways.

Let's pledge---beyond human ties---to be friends,
And meet where the Silver River ends.



Popular legend has it that Li Bai died in such a drunken fit, carousing alone on a boat on a like, when he, drunk, leaned overboard to embrace the reflecion of the moon in the waters, and drowned.



DU FU---SUPREME POET OF SOCIAL CONSCIENCE AND ENLIGHTENED CONFUCIAN SPIRIT


Du Fu (712-770) was the grandson of a famous court poet, and took the Imperial Examination twice, but faied both times. His talent for poetry became known to the emperor, however, who arranged a special examination to allow his admittance as a court scholar-official. His outspoken social conscience, denunciation of injustice and insistence on following the pure ideals of Confucianism however, alienated higher officials and his career was confined to minor posts in remote provinces, and his travels and observations were often the occasion of his poetry. He acutely rendered human suffering, particularly of the common people, and his stylistic complexity and excellence made him the "poet's poet" as well as the "people's poet" for centures, as exemplified in his famous "Ballad of the Army Carts:"


Ballad of the Army Carts


Carts rattle and squeak,
Horses snort and neigh---
Bows and arrows at their waists, the conscripts march away.
Fathers, mothers, children, wives run to say good-bye.
The Xianyang Bridge in clouds of dust is hidden from the eye.
They tug at them and stamp their feet, weep, and obstruct their way.
The weeping rises to the sky.
Along the road a passer-by
Questions the conscripts. They reply:

They mobilize us constantly. Sent northwards at fifteen
To guard the River, we were forced once more to volunteer,
Though we are forty now, to man the western front this year.
The headman tied our headcloths for us when we first left here.
We came back white-haired---to be sent again to the frontier.
Those frontier posts could fill the sea with the blood of those who've died.
In county after county to the east, Sir, don't you know,
In villiage after villiage only thorns and brambles grow.
Even if there's a sturdy wife to wield the plough and hoe,
The borders of the fields have merged, you can't tell east from west.
It's worse still for the men from Qin, as fighters they're the best--
And so, like chickens or like dogs they're driven to and fro.

Though you are kind enough to ask,
Dare we complain about our task?
Take, Sir, this winter. In Guanxi
The troops have not yet been set free.
The district officers come to press
The land tax from us nonetheless.
But, Sir, how can we possibly pay?
Having a son's a curse today.
Far better to have daughters, get them married---
A son will lie lost in the grass, unburied.
Why, Sir, on distant Qinghai shore
The bleached ungathered bones lie year on year.
New ghosts complain, and those who died before
Weep in the wet gray sky and haunt the ear.




WANG WEI--SCHOLAR-OFFICIAL, "RENAISSANCE MAN" AND BUDDHIST POET



Wang Wei was one of the most prominent poets of the Tang Dynasty, but also a famous painter, calligrapher and musician. He hailed from a distinguished scholar family, passed the highest Imperial Examination with honors and worked his way up the bureaucratic heirarchy, often assuming posts in far-away provinces. His poems displayed the high court poetic style--witty, urbane and impersonal, reinforced by the Buddhist detachment and equanimity of his religious beliefs. He became influential at the royal court until being captured in the An Lu Shan Rebellion, he was forced to work for the usurping Emperor, then punished by the reinstated Emperor. In accordance with Chan (Zen) Buddhism his work reflects the detached and melancholy view of transitory life seen as illusion. His official travels involving years of absence or threatened death far from home were often the occasion of many of of his poems:


Farewell to Yuan the Second on His Mission to Anxi

In Wei City mornibng rain dampens the light dust.
By the travelers' lodge, green upon green---the willows color is new.
I urge you to drink up yet another glass of wine:
Going west from Yang Pass, there are no old friends.





BAI JUYI (BO JUYI), AUTHOR OF THE "SONG OF EVERLASTING SORROW," TALE OF THE DOOMED LOVE OF THE EMPEROR XUANZONG AND THE BEAUTIFUL IMPERIAL CONCUBINE YANG GUI FEI




Bai Juyi (772-846) of a later generation from the other three poets, passed the Imperial Examination with honors and served in a variety of posts. He, like Du Fu, took seriously the Confucian mandate to employ poetry as vehicle for social and political protest against injustice. He also, like Bai Juyi, tried to simplify and make more natural and accessible his poetic voice, drawing closer to the people. His most immortal classic is the "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" which presents in verse the epic tragic tale of the great love affair between Emperor Xuanzong and his Imperial Concubine, Yang Gui Fei, reminiscent of the tragedy of Romeo an Juliet, which ended during the An Lu Shan Rebellion as the army accused her of distracting the Emperor from his duties and corruption and demanded her death. The poem relates how the Emperor sent a Taoist priest to find his dead lover in heaven and convey his devotion to her and her answer:

"Our souls belong together," she said, "like this gold and this shell--
Somewhere, sometime, on earth or in heaven, we shall surely meet."
And she sent him, by his messenger, a sentence reminding him
Of vows which had been known only to their two hearts:
"On the seventh day of the Seventh-month, in the Palace of Long Life,
We told each other secretly in the quiet midnight world
That we wished to fly in heaven, two birds with the wings of one,
And to grow together on the earth, two branches of one tree."...
Earth endures, heaven endures; sometime both shall end,
While this unending sorrow goes on and on forever.




SPIRITUS MUNDI AND CHINESE LITERATURE




My own work, Spiritus Mundi, the contemporary epic of social idealism featuring the struggle of global idealists to establish a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly for global democracy and to head off a threatened WWIII in the Middle-East also reflects the theme of the Confucian ethic that literature should contribute to social justice and public morality. Like Du Fu it abhors the waste, suffering, social irresponsibility and stupidity of war. Like Li Bai it celebrates the life of nature and human emotions, including sexuality. About a quarter of the novel is set in China, and one of its principal themes is a renewal of spirituality across the globe.


World Literature Forum invites you to check out the great Chinese Tang Dynasty poetic masterpieces of World Literature, and also the contemporary epic novel Spiritus Mundi, by Robert Sheppard. For a fuller discussion of the concept of World Literature you are invited to look into the extended discussion in the new book Spiritus Mundi, by Robert Sheppard, one of the principal themes of which is the emergence and evolution of World Literature:


For Discussions on World Literature and n Literary Criticism in Spiritus Mundi: http://worldliteratureandliterarycrit...


Robert Sheppard


Editor-in-Chief
World Literature Forum
Author, Spiritus Mundi Novel
Author’s Blog: http://robertalexandersheppard.wordpr...
Spiritus Mundi on Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17...
Spiritus Mundi on Amazon, Book I: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CIGJFGO
Spiritus Mundi, Book II: The Romance http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CGM8BZG


Copyright Robert Sheppard 2013 All Rights Reserved

[Neal Maro · Rating 4 out of 5]

I lean more towards the ethereal spirit journeys of Li Bai but don't let that take anything away from Tu Fu. I don't fully buy into the narrativistic simplification that the two poets are polar opposites of each other, they both have excellent poetic imaginations. My favourite line came from Tu Fu's Night Thoughts Afloat:

Drifting, drifting, what am I more than
A single gull between sky and earth?

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Li Po is the Taoist [the Yin] in this pair of poets, and his constantly recurring symbol is the reflected light of the Moon at night; whilst Tu Fu is the Confucian who from early childhood made the Phoenix his symbol, the Fire Bird symbolizing the Yang' (Penguin Classics, 1973, pp.18-19).

Li Po (or Li Bo, or Li Bai) therefore, represents the reflective Tao, while Tu Fu (or Du Fu) attempts to illuminate the Tao. Both versions of the underlying essential Tao are thus represented, as humankind consists of both the Yin (female) and the Yang (male), and the philosophies of Confucianism and Taoism are both useful to society. Confucianism is the moral philosophy, applicable to social behaviour, administration, government, and so politics; Taoism is the natural philosophy, and speaks of the numina of things in Nature, and thus is about the spirituality of Nature and the universe.

Cooper writes, in his excellent long introduction to both the poets and the history of Chinese poetry, the first 60 pages of which are background, the rest a discussion of the prosody (study of versification, esp. metre and rhyme) and technical issues of translation from Chinese etymological syllables, the characters, to English meaning:

'It was... part of [Li Po's] Taoism that his poems seem to receive rather than to give: to receive the light of the Tao without illumination of their own and to receive, hospitably, the reader's own imagination instead of informing it.' (p.30)

This impression of communing with the poet is precisely the reverie one feels also in reading Wang Wei's poetry - a profound sense of being there, in time as well as place. Wang Wei (AD 699-761) was contemporary with both Li Po (AD 701-62) and Tu Fu (AD 712-70) as the central T'ang poets. Cooper proceeds to analyse a line of Li Po's to illustrate his meaning:

'The real content of Li Po's best poetry seems to be not in the words but as if it were somehow inbetween them (Lao Tzu's "teaching without words"); as in the five simple syllables [translated]...: "drunkenly I rise to stalk the brook moon". Li Po had dozed over his wine outdoors in spring until night has fallen: that much we've been told. That the stream he followed on waking and getting up from the ground... ran between magical wooded slopes, we are not told; and these wooded slopes are made the more magical, their presence is the more felt, because we are not told. We are therefore there, just as we are where we are now; with nobody telling us where we are or describing what is around us.'

And then Cooper articulates this sense of communing quite superbly:

'We know, in fact, by two things that there are wooded slopes: that the moon belongs only to the brook and not also its banks, as it would if they were open fields; and that it has to be 'stalked', which is a reasonable translation of the Chinese verb used. But we have no need to think in this logical way and no time to do so, before being taken from wherever we may be and placed in that faraway landscape and at that moment more than twelve hundred years ago; bringing nothing but ourselves with us on the flight and so achieving perfect identity with the man Li Po, then and there.'

This... is the effect that the best literature, poetry, and here, Chinese poetry and their poets can give. And in giving, we give ourselves, across space and time, in a moment simultaneous in both worlds.

Even the simplest of poems - such as 'Bathed and Washed' by Li Po - have a history to them, referencing old stories and songs (Ch'u Tz'u: Songs of the South, ~100 AD), such as the meeting with the fisherman. This story represents a conflict between the Confucian way and the Taoist way. It has far more in it than we would ever know by its reading alone. Cooper's extensive footnotes are essential to the different layers of understanding: the background context; the differing poetic forms (such as the old ballad style or quasi-folk song, the yüeh-fu); the referencing of old stories, songs, poems and poets; the contention between the philosophies, Confucianism and Taoism; the context of the individual poem in the poet's work; and the meaning of the poem through all these references. This is a collection which needs to be studied - at least a little - to understand and appreciate.

Tu Fu particularly combined both Taoist and Confucian modes more obviously as complimentary of the art form (the 'visual rhyme', rather like those colourful 'epithets' of Blake's early verse which clarioned Romantic poetry) and the allegory (with often dense historical and political referencing). Such of his poems also exhibited complex and clever combinations of form (such as the combination of Chinese ballad and sonnet forms) - and reading them makes you as aware of his cleverness as your own ignorance of the medium. Of course, one is excused, since much of the original rhyme is lost in translation (and the original script is Chinese characters written right-to-left), where, in native English, for example, rhyming allows the eye through linear scansion to 'read' the form at the same time as the content. Much of this is lost to us here, but for Arthur Cooper's fascinating annotations, and his introductory remarks and examples on 'verbal parallelism' invite us to read these poems with a new eye and understanding.

Depending on mood and constancy of close reading (which varies from day to day, poem to poem), my favourite of Li Po's is 'Letter to his Two Small Children...', rivalled by the lyrical painting of 'The Waterfall on Lu Mountain'; and of Tu Fu's, 'From: The Journey North: The Homecoming' (which here is ~70 lines from the middle of 140, a long epic poem), which speaks of the strife and hardship of Tu Fu's middle life during the civil war (An Lu-shan's Rebellion), and his 'Ballad on Seeing a Pupil of the Lady Kung-Sun Dance the Sword Mime', which is a feast of visual imagery, biography and culture that expresses both the sad tristesse of beauty and time passing, and the glory that living, lasting culture brings.

[Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

The owning of this delightful little book was completely due to the influence of my other wife, Serendipity.
Of course it has poems in it... but to add to the wonder is the analysis of such for those who have not encountered the multi layering and technical skill of Chinese poets. The addition of calligraphy, in a hand which complements the style of poem, as well as an introduction to how the characters are formed and how they evolved, is fascinating.
Both poets, Li Po and Tu Fu, are fascinating: the drunken revelry and exuberance of Li Po contrasts with the dryer and more thoughtful Tu Fu, and the styles of contrast, of imagery, of metaphor, of the use of back linking to past literary and mythological references is inspirational.
Worth reading and ruminating upon.

[Billy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chinese Poets are better than many Japanese.

Maybe?

[Ian]

好極了

[Brooke]

Before my bed
there is bright moonlight
So that it seems
like frost on the ground:

Lifting my head
I watch the bright moon,
Lowering my head
I dream that I'm home.

[Ostap Bender · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Great men have a curious way of appearing in complementary pairs” – Kenneth Clark.

Li Po, perhaps better known as Li Bai, and Tu Fu, whose name is better Romanized as Du Fu, were two great poets of the Tang Dynasty in 8th century China.

Li Po was a rebel against conformity, a wanderer fond of wine and of spontaneous revelry in the moonlight. There is both an imagination and a loneliness to his work. Tu Fu was a traditionalist but also an innovator; his poetry has both the honesty and the subtlety often found in great art.

Tu Fu was clearly the “yang” to Li Po’s “yin”; Tu Fu the Confucian and Li Po theTaoist. The two met and respected one another, and in fact Tu Fu idolized the older poet.

One has to read the poems slowly and without distraction to be rewarded. Chinese is not a flowery language to begin with and I believe there is a bit lost in translation. Furthermore the translations in this edition are a bit dated and I’ve seen better in a collection from Whincup, which I’ll review later.

However, the overall ‘feel’ of this book is very nice – informative introduction, nice notes on the poems, and occasionally poems printed in both English and Chinese. It’s a great introduction to two great poets.

I extract three poems that resonated with me when I first read them long ago, and which still do as I read them today.


Quiet Night Thoughts (Li Po)
-----------------------
Before my bed
there is bright moonlight
So that is seems
like frost on the ground:

Lifting my head
I watch the bright moon,
Lowering my head,
I dream that I’m home.


Longing (Li Po)
------------
Sunlight begins to fade,
mist fills the flowers,
The moon as white as silk
weeps and cannot sleep,

Chao zither’s Phoenix frets
no more shall I touch,
Shu lute’s Mandarin Duck strings
I’ll sound instead:

This song has a meaning
that no one can tell,
It follows the Spring wind
as far as Yen-jan

To you far, far away
beyond the blue sky –

Whom once I gave
A sideways glance
With eyes that now
Are wells of tears –

If you do not believe
that my heart breaks,
Come back and look with me
into this glass!


Nine Thoughts Afloat (Tu Fu)
-----------------------
By bent grasses
in a gentle wind
Under straight mast
I’m alone tonight,

And the stars hang
above the broad plain
But moon’s afloat
in this Great River:

Oh, where’s my name
among the poet’s?
Official rank?
‘Retired for ill-health.’

Drifting, drifting,
what am I more than
A single gull
Between sky and earth?

[Richard Rogers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gotta admit--I didn't love it. This book is mostly introduction and annotations--probably less than 30% is poetry. And the poetry was the whole reason I got it.

Sure, the annotations, the lengthy explications, and the careful interpretation of unfamiliar idioms and allusions were useful, in a way. This is a primer in reading the poetry of these two men. For those studying their poetry, I would happily recommend this volume.

For the rest of us just wanting to read poetry and get lost in it, this one will annoy. Sure, I guess I could try re-reading it now, skipping all the extra text. I think I might do that, honestly, and see if I enjoy the translations more. Reading it as written feels more like listening to music on NPR, where you have a 3 minute song and then 10 minutes of discussion. Those proportions are all out of whack.

Ironically, the subtitle of this collection is simply "Poems," as if that's all you'll find here. I wish.

My purpose for reading poetry is to locate those poems or passages I connect with somehow. It's like hunting for easter eggs for me. I keep track of the ones I really liked and eventually copy them into a journal. In some collections, I find reason to genuinely connect with and return to a quarter or more of the poems. This collection: two. Just two. I don't know if it was all the notes on every side being a distraction or if the translations were not quite working for me or if the selection was skewed toward technically interesting poetry rather than human and accessible, but I didn't dig it.

And I wanted to.

Oh yeah. The translator frequently referred to Mao, kinda positively. I think maybe four times. The first time was forgivably odd, but each additional reference doubled and redoubled my disapproval. It soured the experience, honestly.

I'll put it aside and look at it again another day. Today I'm starting a different book. Here's to better luck!

[kevin zhu · Rating 4 out of 5]

1973 Arthur Cooper translation. One of the dirtiest books in my collection, not sure where I got it—possibly Thriftbooks, which has sold me the grimiest tomes I've laid hands on. I've since stopped buying from there, but the damage to my bedroom's air quality remains.

I had first encountered most of these poems in a "Chinese Poetry in English Translation" class I took during the pandemic. The professor was a sweet white lady who lived in the Catskills. She is an authority in the Dunhuang manuscripts. I bet she does what she loves. Ever notice how you can't do what you like for a living anymore?

Nowadays I'm a Du Fu person. We are living in the end times. The world has ended many times, but this time it's for real. We are not coming back from this. Anyway, the world ended during Du Fu's life, and he chronicled the apocalypse. He was the bard in the maelstrom. The Tang Dynasty's twilight came with the An Lushan Rebellion and its ruinous death toll. Du Fu wrote the greatest non-Iliad antiwar poem, 兵車行, and then the greatest non-Odyssey homecoming poem, 北征. Some may call him the Chinese Homer. Unlike Homer, Du Fu was just one guy! Unlike Homer, Du Fu was real. Astounding stuff.

When I was learning Chinese (actually, I still am), I was so impressed by Du Fu's "Night Thoughts Afloat" that I tried to memorize the entire poem, particularly the final couplet (in Cooper's translation): "Drifting, drifting, what am I more than / A single gull between sky and earth?" Rote memorization of Classical Chinese poetry is part of the curricula in Chinese schools, so I figured that whatever works for the kids should work for me. It was as if a Chinese kid learning English tried to memorize Beowulf's fight with Grendel.

[Marcos Augusto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Li Po and Tu Fu are two chinese Tang dynasty poets who rivaled each other for the title of China’s greatest poet.

Tu Fu was a master of all the poetic forms of his time, but is especially admired for his lüshi, or “regulated verse.” Poems of this form have eight lines of five or seven syllables and conform to strict tonal patterns. Born in 712 in Gongxian, he received a traditional Confucian education that should have enabled him to become a public official. Because he was unable to pass the required imperial examination, however, he became for a time a wanderer. He won some fame as a poet and met other writers of his time, including the brilliant Li Po. His poems celebrated nature, bemoaned the passage of time, criticized injustice, and condemned the senselessness of war.

Li Po was a romantic who wrote about the joys of nature, love, friendship, solitude, and wine. While gaining a reputation as a brilliant poet, he tried in vain to become an official at court. His lyrical poems are prized for their exquisite imagery, spontaneity, and rich language and allusions. Born in 701 in Jiangyou, in what is now Sichuan Province. He began to live as a wanderer when he was 24. After a few years he married and settled down temporarily with his wife’s family in Anlu, which is now in Hubei Province.

[Jorė · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not sure if i have ever read any of Chinese literature before, which feels quite ignorant.
I get that translations to english in this case turn poems into distand shadows of original, but i still had plenty enjoyable moments. For anyone wanting to go deeper, more than half of the book contains explanations giving historical, cultural and all other contexts. I skipped quite some as with no even basic knowledge they more confuse than explain. But again, that’s a faulf of my ignorance. The book is good and I like Li Po better.

With wine I sit
absent to Night,
till (Fallen petals
in folds of my gown)

I stagger up
to stalk the brook’s moon:
The birds are gone
and people are few!