Achieve The Heart Of Chinese Poetry Executed By Greg Whincup Listed As Paper Copy

was my first introduction to Chinese poetry when I began learning Chinese, After earning a master's degree in Chinese literature where I specialized in medieval Chinese poetry, it is still my favorite recommendation,

Gregory Wincup touches on the historical, political, and aesthetic issues of each poem, For each poem, a first page presents the reader with a full translation in English, A second and third page provide a vertical character wordbyword translation, alongside of which is given an explanation of historical background, the art of writing Chinese poetry, and the significance of the poem in the history of Chinese literature.


Chapters are broken down into themes such as military, religion, and women's writing, Because Wincup provides both the wordforword translation and the full translation, the reader is able to see how the characters relate particularly rhyme schemes and the visual aspects of the characters.
While a sinologist might not always approve of the final translation of a poem, no educator would deny how well the information is provided for a firsttime reader of Chinese and Chinese poetry.


By the way, the romanizations of the characters are Yale, not Wide/Giles or pinyin, This might be confusing to some, but it is a good choice for firsttime users, even if they move on to learn pinyin while learning Chinese.
This is a brilliant collection I love the poetry selected as well as the detailed explanations relative to the original Chinese, which is printed and translated character by character on the page facing the English translations.
The pinyin is also printed so Westerners like me who would like to practice or learn their Chinese can do so via great poems.
I extract a few of these here, including one of my alltime favorites to start:

Seeing Off a Friend Li Bai

Green mountains
Lie across the northern outskirts
Of the city.

White water
Winds around the eastern
City wall,

Once we make our parting
Here in this place,
Like a solitary tumbleweed
You will go
Ten thousand miles.


Floating clouds
Are the thoughts of the wanderer,
Setting sun
Is the mood of his old friend,

With a wave of the hand
Now you go from here,
Your horse gives a whinny
As it departs,


Ballad of the Northwest Frontier Chen Tau

Sworn
To sweep away the barbarians
And heedless of their own lives,
Five thousand soldiers
In martentrimmed brocade
Perished in the alien dust.


How sad it is
That bones
By the River of Shifting Sands
Still are men
In spring bedchamber
Dreams.



Snowy River Lyou DzungYwan

A thousand mountains
Where birds have ceased to fly,
Ten thousand pathways
Where tracks of men are gone,

A solitary boat,
An old man in reed cloak, bamboo hat
Fishing alone
On the cold river in the snow.



Written after Drinking Wine Tau Chyen

I built my shack
Amid the haunts of men,
And yet there is no noise
Of horse or carriage.


You ask
“How can this be”
Any place becomes secluded
When the mind is far away,

I pluck chrysanthemums
By the eastern fence,
In the distance
I see the mountains to the south,

The light of the mountains
Is lovely at sunset,
Flocks of birds
Fly back together for the night,

In this
There is an intimation of the Truth,
I want to express it,
But have forgotten all words,


Spring Prospect Du Fu

The nation
Has been destroyed,
Mountains and rivers remain,
In the city
It is spring,
Grass and trees grow deep,

Moved by the time,
Flowers blooming
Make me weep,
Resentful of separation,
Singing birds
Shock my heart,

The beaconfires of war
Have been lit for three months now,
Ten thousand goldpieces
I would give
For a letter from home,

My white head
I have scratched
Till it is so sparse
That soon
The hatpin
Will not hold.



At Yellow Crane Tower, Seeing Off Meng Hauran on His Way to YangJou Li Bai

My old friend
Bids farewell to me
In the west at Yellow Crane Tower.

Amid Aprils mist and flowers
He goes down to YangJou,

The distant image
Of his lonely sail
Disappears in blue emptiness,
And all I see
Is the Long River
Flowing to the edge of sky.
This book will always be on my currently reading shelf as I am constantly turning to it when I have a spare moment, Reading a poem by Du Fu is like listening to a Bach cello suite or loosing yourself in some of Turner's watercolors, This is, genuinely, the way I think all poetry in translation should be presented, I have studied Chinese in the past and I enjoy going back and forth between the English and Chinese, The selection of poets during the classical period include famous poets such as Li Bai and Du Fu as well as others that represent their period.
I love the simplicity and directness of the poems, This marvelous book presents fiftyseven Chinese poems, dating from as far back asB, C. , up to aboutA. D. The poems are short but resonant, capturing something universal whether speaking of war, or of seeing a friend leave, or a snowy river, Each is first presented in English, followed by the original Chinese, The poetry is accompanied by exemplary notes that range from Chinese history and culture, to information about the poets, to the meanings of individual Chinese characters.
I have never read a book that offers such a clear glimpse into the original meaning of nonEnglish

poetry, Excellent.

About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying, The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction, I am miserly withstar reviewsmeans I liked a book very muchmeans I liked itmeans I didn't like it though often thestar books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved.

Greg Whincup offers a varied and unique approach to Chinese translation in The Heart of Chinese Poetry, Special features of this edition include direct wordforword translations showing the range of meaning in each Chinese character, the Chinese pronunciations, as well as biographical and historical commentary following each poem.
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