Having climbed to the topmost Peak of
the Incense-burner Mountain 148
Eating Bamboo-shoots 149
The Red Cockatoo 149
After Lunch 150
Alarm at first entering the Yang-tze
Gorges 150
On being removed from Hsun-yang and
sent to Chung-chou 151
Planting Flowers on the Eastern
Embankment 152
Children 153
Pruning Trees 154
Being visited by a Friend during
Illness 155
On the way to Hangchow: Anchored on
the River at Night 155
Stopping the Night at Jung-yang 156
The Silver Spoon 156
The Hat given to the Poet by Li Chien 157
The Big Rug 157
After getting Drunk, becoming Sober in
the Night 158
Realizing the Futility of Life 158
Rising Late and Playing with A-ts'ui,
aged Two 159
On a Box containing his own Works 160
On being Sixty 161
Climbing the Terrace of Kuan-yin and
looking at the City 162
Climbing the Ling Ying Terrace and
looking North 162
Going to the Mountains with a little
Dancing Girl, aged Fifteen 163
Dreaming
of Yuan Ch?
Waley - 170 Chinese Poems
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?
n's
Poems 142
Arriving at Hsun-yang 143
Madly Singing in the Mountains 144
Releasing a migrant "Yen" (wild Goose) 145
To a Portrait Painter who desired him
to sit 146
Separation 147
Having climbed to the topmost Peak of
the Incense-burner Mountain 148
Eating Bamboo-shoots 149
The Red Cockatoo 149
After Lunch 150
Alarm at first entering the Yang-tze
Gorges 150
On being removed from Hsun-yang and
sent to Chung-chou 151
Planting Flowers on the Eastern
Embankment 152
Children 153
Pruning Trees 154
Being visited by a Friend during
Illness 155
On the way to Hangchow: Anchored on
the River at Night 155
Stopping the Night at Jung-yang 156
The Silver Spoon 156
The Hat given to the Poet by Li Chien 157
The Big Rug 157
After getting Drunk, becoming Sober in
the Night 158
Realizing the Futility of Life 158
Rising Late and Playing with A-ts'ui,
aged Two 159
On a Box containing his own Works 160
On being Sixty 161
Climbing the Terrace of Kuan-yin and
looking at the City 162
Climbing the Ling Ying Terrace and
looking North 162
Going to the Mountains with a little
Dancing Girl, aged Fifteen 163
Dreaming
of Yuan Ch?
n 163
A Dream of Mountaineering 164
Ease 165
On hearing someone sing a Poem by
Yuan Ch?n 165
The Philosophers 166
Taoism and Buddhism 167
Last Poem 168
PART I
INTRODUCTION
PRINCIPAL CHINESE DYNASTIES
Han, 206 B.C.--A.D. 220.
Wei, 220-264.
Chin, 265-419.
(Northern Wei, ruled over the North of China, 386-532.)
Liang, 502-556.
Sui, 589-618.
T'ang, 618-905.
Sung, 960-1278.
Yuan (Mongols), 1260-1341.
Ming, 1368-1640.
