Kenneth Rexroth - One Hundred Poems From the Chinese

T his book is in two parts. First there are thirty-five poems by Tu Fu. They are based on the text in the Harvard Yenching Concordance to Tu Fu, of which one volume gives the poems themselves. I have taken note of William Hungs prose translations, of Florence Ayscoughs literal renderings, and of the German of Erwin von Zach. Over the years I have had many discussions of the poems and my translations with Chinese friends, none of them specialists, notably my friend, C. Kwock. Kwock.

However, these translations are my own. In some cases they are very free, in others as exact as possible, depending on how I felt in relation to the particular poem at the time. The freer ones are usually those done long ago. I have had the work of Tu Fu by me since adolescence and over the years have come to know these poems better than most of my own. The second part is a selection of poetry of the Sung Dynasty, most of it never in English before. Margoulis. Margoulis.

Both of these translations have considerable merit as poetry in their own right. Later I took my translations to the originals and changed them around to suit myself. Again, what has resulted is my own responsibility, sometimes more literal, more often freer, than the Tu Fu renderings. I hope in all cases they are true to the spirit of the originals, and valid English poems. I might say that Sung poetry, so much less compact than that of Tang, Tu Fus period, permits more liberties. There is no special reason for this procedureI just happened to have a number of European versions of Sung poetry and a few texts at hand the last two summers in the mountains, and was able to finish up in libraries in the winter.

And, I was anxious to get a good selection of the vast mass of Sung poetry, not anthologized satisfactorily even in Chinese, into English. The whole spirit of this time in China is very congenial today, especially to the romantic, empirical-mystic and antinomian taste which has prevailed in the arts of the West since 1940. Not only does Sung poetry deserve to be better known, but it includes one of Chinas very greatest poets, Su Tung Po, and Li Ching Chao, her greatest poetess. Perhaps, someday, when I have more time to spend in the libraries of university Oriental departments, I will do 100 Poems of Sung and 100 Poems of Tu Fu. So, here are two selections of poetry, one the work of a couple of years, the other the personal distillate of a lifetime. I hope they meet the somewhat different ends I have in view.

I make no claim for the book as a piece of Oriental scholarship. Just some poems. K. R.