CHISWICK
PRESS: CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.
Waley - 170 Chinese Poems
?
Project Gutenberg's A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems, by Various
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www. gutenberg. org
Title: A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems
Author: Various
Translator: Arthur Waley
Release Date: March 10, 2013 [EBook #42290]
Language: English
Character set encoding: UTF-8
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHINESE POEMS ***
Produced by Henry Flower and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www. pgdp. net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive/American Libraries. )
A HUNDRED AND SEVENTY
CHINESE POEMS
TRANSLATED BY
ARTHUR WALEY
[Illustration]
LONDON
CONSTABLE AND COMPANY LTD.
1918
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN.
CHISWICK PRESS: CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.
TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.
PRELIMINARY NOTE
In making this book I have tried to avoid poems which have been
translated before. A hundred and forty of those I have chosen have not
been translated by any one else. The remaining thirty odd I have
included in many cases because the previous versions were full of
mistakes; in others, because the works in which they appeared are no
longer procurable. Moreover, they are mostly in German, a language with
which my readers may not all be acquainted.
CHISWICK PRESS: CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.
TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.
PRELIMINARY NOTE
In making this book I have tried to avoid poems which have been
translated before. A hundred and forty of those I have chosen have not
been translated by any one else. The remaining thirty odd I have
included in many cases because the previous versions were full of
mistakes; in others, because the works in which they appeared are no
longer procurable. Moreover, they are mostly in German, a language with
which my readers may not all be acquainted.
With some hesitation I have included literal versions of six poems
(three of the "Seventeen Old Poems," "Autumn Wind," "Li Fu-j? n," and "On
the Death of his Father") already skilfully rhymed by Professor Giles in
"Chinese Poetry in English Verse. " They were too typical to omit; and a
comparison of the two renderings may be of interest. Some of these
translations have appeared in the "Bulletin of the School of Oriental
Studies," in the "New Statesman," in the "Little Review" (Chicago), and
in "Poetry" (Chicago).
CONTENTS
PART I
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 3
THE METHOD OF TRANSLATION 19
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 21
CHAPTER I:
Battle 23
The Man-Wind and the Woman-Wind 24
Master T? ng-t'u 26
The Orphan 27
The Sick Wife 29
Cock-Crow Song 30
The Golden Palace 31
"Old Poem" 32
Meeting in the Road 32
Fighting South of the Castle 33
The Eastern Gate 34
Old and New 35
South of the Great Sea 35
The Other Side of the Valley 36
Oaths of Friendship 37
Burial Songs 38
Seventeen Old Poems 39-48
The Autumn Wind 48
Li Fu-j? n 49
Song of Snow-white Heads 50
To his Wife 51
Li Ling 52
Lament of Hsi-chun 53
Ch'in Chia 53
Ch'in Chia's Wife's Reply 54
Song 55
CHAPTER II:
Satire on Paying Calls in August 57
On the Death of his Father 58
The Campaign against Wu 59
The Ruins of Lo-yang 60
The Cock-fight 61
A Vision 62
The Curtain of the Wedding Bed 63
Regret 63
Taoist Song 64
A Gentle Wind 64
Woman 65
Day Dreams 66
The Scholar in the Narrow Street 66
The Desecration of the Han Tombs 67
Bearer's Song 68
The Valley Wind 69
CHAPTER III:
Poems by T'ao Ch'ien 71-79
CHAPTER IV:
Inviting Guests 81
Climbing a Mountain 81
Sailing Homeward 82
Five "Tz? -yeh" Songs 83
The Little Lady of Ch'ing-hsi 84
Plucking the Rushes 84
Ballad of the Western Island in the
North Country 84
Song 86
Song of the Men of Chin-ling 86
The Scholar Recruit 87
The Red Hills 87
Dreaming of a Dead Lady 88
The Liberator 89
Lo-yang 89
Winter Night 90
The Rejected Wife 90
People hide their Love 91
The Ferry 91
The Waters of Lung-t'ou 92
Flowers and Moonlight on the
Spring River 92
Tchirek Song 93
CHAPTER V:
Business Men 95
Tell me now 95
On Going to a Tavern 96
Stone Fish Lake 96
Civilization 97
A Protest in the Sixth Year of
Ch'ien Fu 97
On the Birth of his Son 98
The Pedlar of Spells 98
Boating in Autumn 99
The Herd-boy 99
How I sailed on the Lake till I came
to the Easter Stream 100
A Seventeenth-century Chinese Poem 100
PART II
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 105
BY PO CHU-I:
An Early Levee 115
Being on Duty all night in the
Palace and dreaming of the
Hsien-yu Temple 116
Passing T'ien-m? n Street in Ch'ang-an
and seeing a distant View of
Chung-nan Mountain 116
The Letter 117
Rejoicing at the Arrival of Ch'? n
Hsiung 118
Golden Bells 119
Remembering Golden Bells 120
Illness 120
The Dragon of the Black Pool 121
The Grain-tribute 123
The People of Tao-chou 123
The Old Harp 125
The Harper of Chao 125
The Flower Market 126
The Prisoner 127
The Chancellor's Gravel-drive 131
The Man who Dreamed of Fairies 132
Magic 134
The Two Red Towers 135
The Charcoal-seller 137
The Politician 138
The Old Man with the Broken Arm 139
Kept waiting in the Boat at Chiu-k'ou
Ten Days by an adverse Wind 142
On Board Ship: Reading Yuan Ch?
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www. gutenberg. org
Title: A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems
Author: Various
Translator: Arthur Waley
Release Date: March 10, 2013 [EBook #42290]
Language: English
Character set encoding: UTF-8
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHINESE POEMS ***
Produced by Henry Flower and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www. pgdp. net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive/American Libraries. )
A HUNDRED AND SEVENTY
CHINESE POEMS
TRANSLATED BY
ARTHUR WALEY
[Illustration]
LONDON
CONSTABLE AND COMPANY LTD.
1918
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN.
CHISWICK PRESS: CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.
TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.
PRELIMINARY NOTE
In making this book I have tried to avoid poems which have been
translated before. A hundred and forty of those I have chosen have not
been translated by any one else. The remaining thirty odd I have
included in many cases because the previous versions were full of
mistakes; in others, because the works in which they appeared are no
longer procurable. Moreover, they are mostly in German, a language with
which my readers may not all be acquainted.
CHISWICK PRESS: CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.
TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.
PRELIMINARY NOTE
In making this book I have tried to avoid poems which have been
translated before. A hundred and forty of those I have chosen have not
been translated by any one else. The remaining thirty odd I have
included in many cases because the previous versions were full of
mistakes; in others, because the works in which they appeared are no
longer procurable. Moreover, they are mostly in German, a language with
which my readers may not all be acquainted.
With some hesitation I have included literal versions of six poems
(three of the "Seventeen Old Poems," "Autumn Wind," "Li Fu-j? n," and "On
the Death of his Father") already skilfully rhymed by Professor Giles in
"Chinese Poetry in English Verse. " They were too typical to omit; and a
comparison of the two renderings may be of interest. Some of these
translations have appeared in the "Bulletin of the School of Oriental
Studies," in the "New Statesman," in the "Little Review" (Chicago), and
in "Poetry" (Chicago).
CONTENTS
PART I
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 3
THE METHOD OF TRANSLATION 19
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 21
CHAPTER I:
Battle 23
The Man-Wind and the Woman-Wind 24
Master T? ng-t'u 26
The Orphan 27
The Sick Wife 29
Cock-Crow Song 30
The Golden Palace 31
"Old Poem" 32
Meeting in the Road 32
Fighting South of the Castle 33
The Eastern Gate 34
Old and New 35
South of the Great Sea 35
The Other Side of the Valley 36
Oaths of Friendship 37
Burial Songs 38
Seventeen Old Poems 39-48
The Autumn Wind 48
Li Fu-j? n 49
Song of Snow-white Heads 50
To his Wife 51
Li Ling 52
Lament of Hsi-chun 53
Ch'in Chia 53
Ch'in Chia's Wife's Reply 54
Song 55
CHAPTER II:
Satire on Paying Calls in August 57
On the Death of his Father 58
The Campaign against Wu 59
The Ruins of Lo-yang 60
The Cock-fight 61
A Vision 62
The Curtain of the Wedding Bed 63
Regret 63
Taoist Song 64
A Gentle Wind 64
Woman 65
Day Dreams 66
The Scholar in the Narrow Street 66
The Desecration of the Han Tombs 67
Bearer's Song 68
The Valley Wind 69
CHAPTER III:
Poems by T'ao Ch'ien 71-79
CHAPTER IV:
Inviting Guests 81
Climbing a Mountain 81
Sailing Homeward 82
Five "Tz? -yeh" Songs 83
The Little Lady of Ch'ing-hsi 84
Plucking the Rushes 84
Ballad of the Western Island in the
North Country 84
Song 86
Song of the Men of Chin-ling 86
The Scholar Recruit 87
The Red Hills 87
Dreaming of a Dead Lady 88
The Liberator 89
Lo-yang 89
Winter Night 90
The Rejected Wife 90
People hide their Love 91
The Ferry 91
The Waters of Lung-t'ou 92
Flowers and Moonlight on the
Spring River 92
Tchirek Song 93
CHAPTER V:
Business Men 95
Tell me now 95
On Going to a Tavern 96
Stone Fish Lake 96
Civilization 97
A Protest in the Sixth Year of
Ch'ien Fu 97
On the Birth of his Son 98
The Pedlar of Spells 98
Boating in Autumn 99
The Herd-boy 99
How I sailed on the Lake till I came
to the Easter Stream 100
A Seventeenth-century Chinese Poem 100
PART II
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 105
BY PO CHU-I:
An Early Levee 115
Being on Duty all night in the
Palace and dreaming of the
Hsien-yu Temple 116
Passing T'ien-m? n Street in Ch'ang-an
and seeing a distant View of
Chung-nan Mountain 116
The Letter 117
Rejoicing at the Arrival of Ch'? n
Hsiung 118
Golden Bells 119
Remembering Golden Bells 120
Illness 120
The Dragon of the Black Pool 121
The Grain-tribute 123
The People of Tao-chou 123
The Old Harp 125
The Harper of Chao 125
The Flower Market 126
The Prisoner 127
The Chancellor's Gravel-drive 131
The Man who Dreamed of Fairies 132
Magic 134
The Two Red Towers 135
The Charcoal-seller 137
The Politician 138
The Old Man with the Broken Arm 139
Kept waiting in the Boat at Chiu-k'ou
Ten Days by an adverse Wind 142
On Board Ship: Reading Yuan Ch?
