This book, the work of a great scholar, is reliable--except
in its information about Chinese prosody.
in its information about Chinese prosody.
Waley - 170 Chinese Poems
I do not, at any rate,
know of any example to the contrary. What is generally known as "blank
verse" is the worst medium for translating Chinese poetry, because the
essence of blank verse is that it varies the position of its pauses,
whereas in Chinese the stop always comes at the end of the couplet.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
1. H. A. Giles, "Chinese Poetry in English Verse. " 1896. 212 pp.
Combines rhyme and literalness with wonderful dexterity.
2. Hervey St. Denys, "Poesies des Thang. " 1862. 301 pp. The choice of
poems would have been very different if the author had selected from the
whole range of T'ang poetry, instead of contenting himself, except in
the case of Li Po and Tu Fu, with making extracts from two late
anthologies.
This book, the work of a great scholar, is reliable--except
in its information about Chinese prosody.
3. Judith Gautier, "Le Livre de Jade. " 1867 and 1908. It has been
difficult to compare these renderings with the original, for proper
names are throughout distorted or interchanged. For example, part of a
poem by Po Chu-i _about_ Yang T'ai-ch? n is here given as a complete poem
and ascribed to "Yan-Ta-Tchen" as author. The poet Han Yu figures as
Heu-Yu; T'ao Han as Sao Nan, etc. Such mistakes are evidently due to
faulty decipherment of someone else's writing. Nevertheless, the book is
far more readable than that of St. Denys, and shows a wider acquaintance
with Chinese poetry on the part of whoever chose the poems. Most of the
credit for this selection must certainly be given to Ting Tun-ling, the
_literatus_ whom Theophile Gautier befriended. But the credit for the
beauty of these often erroneous renderings must go to Mademoiselle
Gautier herself.
4. Anna von Bernhardi, in "Mitteil d. Seminar f.
know of any example to the contrary. What is generally known as "blank
verse" is the worst medium for translating Chinese poetry, because the
essence of blank verse is that it varies the position of its pauses,
whereas in Chinese the stop always comes at the end of the couplet.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
1. H. A. Giles, "Chinese Poetry in English Verse. " 1896. 212 pp.
Combines rhyme and literalness with wonderful dexterity.
2. Hervey St. Denys, "Poesies des Thang. " 1862. 301 pp. The choice of
poems would have been very different if the author had selected from the
whole range of T'ang poetry, instead of contenting himself, except in
the case of Li Po and Tu Fu, with making extracts from two late
anthologies.
This book, the work of a great scholar, is reliable--except
in its information about Chinese prosody.
3. Judith Gautier, "Le Livre de Jade. " 1867 and 1908. It has been
difficult to compare these renderings with the original, for proper
names are throughout distorted or interchanged. For example, part of a
poem by Po Chu-i _about_ Yang T'ai-ch? n is here given as a complete poem
and ascribed to "Yan-Ta-Tchen" as author. The poet Han Yu figures as
Heu-Yu; T'ao Han as Sao Nan, etc. Such mistakes are evidently due to
faulty decipherment of someone else's writing. Nevertheless, the book is
far more readable than that of St. Denys, and shows a wider acquaintance
with Chinese poetry on the part of whoever chose the poems. Most of the
credit for this selection must certainly be given to Ting Tun-ling, the
_literatus_ whom Theophile Gautier befriended. But the credit for the
beauty of these often erroneous renderings must go to Mademoiselle
Gautier herself.
4. Anna von Bernhardi, in "Mitteil d. Seminar f.
