Classical Chinese Poetry: An Anthology Book

A collection of translated classical Chinese poems might seem like a rather academic, dry, book targeted towards a professional readership and not something newsworthy for the mass media, however, David Hinton is considered the dean of scholars of Chinese poetry and what he has provided us here is a consummate and rewarding volume for anyone interested in poetry, even those without a specific interest in classical Chinese literature. As one would expect from such a book, Hinton provides not only his translations of a variety of Chinese poems spanning a broad time period, but introductions to various eras, poets, and styles to inform the reader of both the literary and sociocultural background to the poems he is about to encounter. In doing so, the poems themselves are easily approached by the lay-reader yet the serious student or expert will find plenty of new information and the fruits of Hinton's ample research on these pages also.

The real pleasure though is coming to these poems simply as poems and to read Hinton's adroit translations into English as if one was reading any other English-language poetry. While reading a poem telling of a warrior's longing to return to his home from the battlefield, it struck me that the language and feeling found in this poem could represent the emotions of many a U.S. service-member in Iraq right now, despite having been written in another place and time and about another conflict. Hinton has not attempted to update or at all alter these poems as such would defeat his primary goal in presenting them in English, yet many are so heartfelt that they do not require anything beyond the gravitas of astute translation to impart their meaning (and often stark beauty) to the contemporary reader in English. T'ao Ch'ien's poetry, in example, resonates with emotion that implores empathy while Meng Chiao's work reflects nature in much the way that Robert Frost has in our own language. The influence of Taoist and Buddhist thought in many of the poems collected here is very apparent and expected but the diversity of approaches taken by the poets considered are ample and Hinton has collected enough poems from each major poet included to provide a real introduction to these poets' work, a nice touch given how many anthologies of this nature skip around and seem to attempt a broad scope of the writers covered over the depth of the work included.

Li Po, the classical Chinese poet who is perhaps best known today in the West, demonstrates exactly why the poems included here are still important and why in English-language translation they still hold a haunting ability to communicate the splendors of nature. Li Po wrote, as did most of the classical Chinese poets, mainly about personal reflection in nature and poems such as his "Spring Thoughts" illustrate the beauty and common joy found in natural settings by Chinese poets. Philosophy and poetry were especially close in their communication with each other for the early Chinese writers and in the classical age of Chinese poetry we find many of the origins of longstanding, even contemporary, outlooks on nature and society in China. Hinton also provides helpful explanations of key terms such as "wu-wei" and "hsin" in an included glossary which are essential to develop a more nuanced understanding of the philosophical underpinnings of these poems, yet such a deep understanding is not required to simply enjoy the poems on their own grounds of beauty. Still, the inclusion of this glossary and other additional devices to help explore and understand the poetry is most welcome and certainly needed by students, scholars, and certain other readers.

Meo Yao-Ch'en, another poet of roughly the same period as Li Po, explores complex concepts about nature and the role of the poet in society and Hinton does a sterling job of translating what has to have been very difficult concepts into English in a manner which results in Yao-Ch'en's voice sounding both original and easy to approach. When Yao-Ch'en speaks of renting a place not far from a temple, we can imagine his mountain retreat in vivid terms and understand his desire for solace. Despite the centuries between his time and our own and despite the vast differences in language and society, David Hinton has brought the core thoughts and concepts of this talented poet into the current day and done so with grace and depth. For their part, the publishers, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, have presented this volume in a sturdy, attractive, edition that is a pleasure to read.