Old Chinese Poetry

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Hello

Is there any fans of old chinese poetry here?

I ordered a book called ''Cold Mountain Poems'' by Han Shan today. Anyone read this before? I'd love to know your thoughts.

-Ali

[stlukesguild]

Undoubtedly, JBI will be jumping in here shortly. Chinese literature is his current passion and area of study. I have come across Han Shan (Cold Mountain) in anthologies... but haven't read enough to form any opinion. At present I must admit that Tu Fu, Li Po, and Wang Wei... and a few others... are the only Chinese poets with whom I have more than a passing experience.

[JBI]

Undoubtedly, JBI will be jumping in here shortly. Chinese literature is his current passion and area of study. I have come across Han Shan (Cold Mountain) in anthologies... but haven't read enough to form any opinion. At present I must admit that Tu Fu, Li Po, and Wang Wei... and a few others... are the only Chinese poets with whom I have more than a passing experience.

I've read the bulk of what has been translated into English (that is, legitimate, comprehensive translations), and much of the major poems in Chinese. Unfortunately, to have a real discussion, we would need others, as quite frankly, I am in China right now doing some serious studying, and can't be online as often as I used to be.

As for the collections mentioned, one is probably best off, if wanting an introduction, to grab the Norton Chinese Literature, as it certainly is the most comprehensive in terms of exposure and introduction. There is also a great book by James J. Y. Liu about The Art of Chinese Poetry which is a fantastic introduction on how to approach it. That being said, some translations are better than others. Victorian ones and ones written before 1950 seem to be very very liberal, and as a hunch, Columbia university puts out probably the best translations, but for specific works, it really depends. I don't personally like that Red Pine translator at all though.