Selected Poems

by Lu Xun, 魯迅

Although not known primarily as a poet, Lu Xun composed many short, delicate poems in both the classical and modern styles. Here are are over 40 of his best, in a bilingual edition.

Genres: Poetry

97 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Lu Xun (鲁迅) or Lu Hsün (Wade-Giles), was the pen name of Zhou Shuren (September 25, 1881 – October 19, 1936), a leading figure of modern Chinese literature. Writing in Vernacular Chinese as well as Classical Chinese, Lu Xun was a novelist, editor, translator, literary critic, essayist, and poet. In the 1930s he became the titular head of the League of Left-Wing Writers in Shanghai.


For the Traditional Chinese profile: here.
For the Simplified Chinese profile: 鲁迅

Reviews

[Carolina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything about this book was brilliant: the introduction was concise but simultaneously provided enough detailed context for the reader to have a proper grasp on Lu's life and to understand how it impacted his poetry; Lu's poetry itself was beautifully written and packed with emotion in every line; the context for each individual poem at the end really allowed the importance of each individual poem to shine through and not be forgotten. I loved Lu's use of metaphors, particularly across poems (my favourite was the recurring theme of Spring vs Autumn - I was interested that this was the primary antithesis he portrayed rather than Summer vs Winter, and its different implications.) I also particularly liked reading what could very well be counted as "war poetry", but that focused far more on individual perspectives rather than the revolution as a whole. Was a lovely poetry collection and I'll 100% be giving this a reread!

[Louis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great little book of poetry. I believe it took me all of about 30 minutes to read, but I keep coming back to several lines and poems over and over.