A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems

by Various authors

 

A HUNDRED AND SEVENTY
CHINESE POEMS

 

TRANSLATED BY
ARTHUR WALEY

 

 

NEW YORK
ALFRED • A • KNOPF
MCMXXII

 

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 jēn," 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		15
The Limitations of Chinese Literature		17
Technique		22
The Method of Translation		33
Bibliographical Notes		35
Chapter One:
	Battle	39
	The Man-Wind and the Woman-Wind	41
	Master Tēng-t'u	43
	The Orphan	45
	The Sick Wife	47
	Cock-Crow Song	48
	The Golden Palace	49
	"Old Poem"	50
	Meeting in the Road	51
	Fighting South of the Castle	52
	The Eastern Gate	53
	Old and New	54
	South of the Great Sea	55
	The Other Side of the Valley	56
	Oaths of Friendship	57
	Burial Songs	58
	Seventeen Old Poems	59–68
	The Autumn Wind	69
	Li Fu-jēn	70
	Song of Snow-white Heads	71
	To his Wife	73
	Li Ling	74
	Lament of Hsi-chün	75
	Ch'in Chia	76
	Ch'in Chia's Wife's Reply	77
	Song	78
Chapter Two:
	Satire on Paying Calls in August	83
	On the Death of his Father	84
	The Campaign against Wu	85
	The Ruins of Lo-yang	86
	The Cock-fight	88
	A Vision	89
	The Curtain of the Wedding Bed	90
	Regret	91
	Taoist Song	92
	A Gentle Wind	93
	Woman	94
	Day Dreams	95
	The Scholar in the Narrow Street	96
	The Desecration of the Han Tombs	97
	Bearer's Song	99
	The Valley Wind	100
Chapter Three:
	Poems by T'ao Ch'ien	103–116
Chapter Four:
	Inviting Guests	119
	Climbing a Mountain	120
	Sailing Homeward	121
	Five "Tzǔ-yeh" Songs	122
	The Little Lady of Ch'ing-hsi	123
	Plucking the Rushes	124
	Ballad of the Western Island in the North Country	125
	Song	127
	Song of the Men of Chin-ling	128
	The Scholar Recruit	129
	The Red Hills	130
	Dreaming of a Dead Lady	131
	The Liberator	132
	Lo-yang	133
	Winter Night	134
	The Rejected Wife	135
	People hide their Love	136
	The Ferry	137
	The Waters of Lung-t'ou	138
	Flowers and Moonlight on the Spring River	139
	Tchirek Song	140
Chapter Five:
	Business Men	145
	Tell me now	146
	On Going to a Tavern	147
	Stone Fish Lake	148
	Civilization	149
	A Protest in the Sixth Year of Ch'ien Fu	150
	On the Birth of his Son	151
	The Pedlar of Spells	152
	Boating in Autumn	153
	The Herd-Boy	154
	How I sailed on the Lake till I came to the Eastern Stream	155
	A Seventeenth-century Chinese Poem	156
	The Little Cart	156
PART II
Introduction		161
By Po Chü-i:
	An Early Levée	171
	Being on Duty all night in the Palace and dreaming of the Hsien-yu Temple	172
	Passing T'ien-mēn Street in Ch'ang-an and seeing a distant View of Chung-nan Mountain	173
	The Letter	174
	Rejoicing at the Arrival of Ch'ēn Hsiung	176
	Golden Bells	177
	Remembering Golden Bells	178
	Illness	179
	The Dragon of the Black Pool	180
	The Grain-tribute	182
	The People of Tao-chou	183
	The Old Harp	185
	The Harper of Chao	186
	The Flower Market	187
	The Prisoner	188
	The Chancellor's Gravel-drive	192
	The Man who Dreamed of Fairies	193
	Magic	195
	The Two Red Towers	197
	The Charcoal-seller	199
	The Politician	201
	The Old Man with the Broken Arm	202
	Kept waiting in the Boat at Chiu-k'ou Ten Days by an adverse Wind	205
	On Board Ship: Reading Yüan Chēn's Poems	206
	Arriving at Hsün-yang	207
	Madly Singing in the Mountains	208
	Releasing a migrant "Yen" (Wild Goose)	209
	To a Portrait Painter who desired him to sit	211
	Separation	212
	Having climbed to the topmost Peak of the Incense-burner Mountain	213
	Eating Bamboo-shoots	214
	The Red Cockatoo	215
	After Lunch	216
	Alarm at first entering the Yang-tze Gorges	217
	On being removed from Hsün-yang and sent to Chung-chou	219
	Planting Flowers on the Eastern Embankment	220
	Children	221
	Pruning Trees	222
	Being visited by a Friend during Illness	223
	On the way to Hangchow: Anchored on the River at Night	224
	Stopping the Night at Jung-yang	225
	The Silver Spoon	226
	The Hat given to the Poet by Li Chien	227
	The Big Rug	228
	After getting Drunk, becoming Sober in the Night	229
	Realizing the Futility of Life	230
	Rising Late and Playing with A-ts'ui, aged Two	231
	On a Box containing his own Works	232
	On being Sixty	233
	Climbing the Terrace of Kuan-yin and looking at the City	234
	Climbing the Ling Ying Terrace and looking North	235
	Going to the Mountains with a little Dancing Girl, aged Fifteen	236
	Dreaming of Yüan Chēn	237
	A Dream of Mountaineering	238
	Ease	239
	On hearing someone sing a Poem by Yüan Chēn	240
	The Philosophers	241
	Taoism and Buddhism	242
	Last Poem	243