Poems of the Masters: China's Classic Anthology of T'ang and Sung Dynasty Verse

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Bilingual: Chinese/English Poetry is China’s greatest art, and for the past eight centuries Poems of the Masters has been that country’s most studied and memorized collection of verse. For the first time ever in English, here is the complete text, with an introduction and extensive notes by renowned translator, Red Pine. Over one hundred poets are represented in this bilingual edition, including many of China’s celebrated poets: Li Pai, Wang Wei, Tu Fu, Wang Po, and Ou-yang Hsiu. Poems of the Masters was compiled during the Sung dynasty (960–1278), a time when poetry became the defining measure of human relationships and understanding. As Red Pine writes in his introduction: "Nothing was significant without a poem, no social or ritual occasion, no political or personal event was considered complete without a few well-chosen words that summarized the complexities of the Chinese vision of reality and linked that vision with the beat of their hearts . . . [Poetry’s] greatest flowering was in the T’ang and Sung, when suddenly it was everywhere: in the palace, in the street, in every household, every inn, every monastery, in every village square." "Chiupu River Song" by Li Pai My white hair extends three miles the sorrow of parting made it this long who would guess to look in a mirror where autumn frost comes from Red Pine (the pen name of writer and independent scholar Bill Porter) is one of the world’s most respected translators of Chinese literature, bringing into English several of China’s central religious and literary texts: Taoteching, The Diamond Sutra, Zen Teachings of Bodhidharma, and Collected Songs of Cold Mountain. He lives near Seattle, Washington. Cover Title Page Note to Reader Dedication Contents Translator’s Preface PART ONE Spring Dawn Calling on Censor Yuan without Success Seeing Off Supply Director Kuo The Roads of Loyang Sitting Alone on Chingting Mountain Climbing White Stork Tower On Seeing Princess Yung-lo Leave for Manchuria Spring Complaint A Pear Blossom in the East Wing On Thinking of My Lord’s Grace On Mister Yuan’s Country Retreat Seeing Off Chao Tsung at Night Bamboo Retreat Seeing Off Chu Ta Leaving for Ch’in Ballad of Changkan Ode to the Past Resigning as Minister On Meeting a Chivalrous Man Traveling on the Yangtze In Reply to Li Huan Ode to the Autumn Wind To Secretary Ch’iu on an Autumn Night Autumn Day Autumn Day on the Lake Written in the Palace Looking for a Recluse without Success Surprised by Autumn on the Fen Delayed on the Szechuan Road Thoughts on a Quiet Night Chiupu River Song To Vice Censor Ch’iao In Reply to the Prefect of Wuling Thinking of My Home in Ch’ang-an While Traveling with the Army on the Ninth A Concubine’s Lament Written at Chulin Temple Passing the Shrine to the Master of the Three Gates Saying Goodbye on the Yi River Saying Goodbye to Lu Ch’in-ch’ing In Reply PART TWO Reaching Sword Gate Pass After Touring the Land of Shu Replying to a Poem by Prime Minister Lu of Chinling At an Imperial Banquet in Penglai Hall Offering Praise for the Chungnan Mountains Parting from a Friend on a Night in Spring Attending a Banquet at Princess Ch’ang-ning’s Eastern Estate Given the Word “Forest” by His Majesty at the Licheng Palace Library Banquet Seeing Off a Friend Seeing Off a Friend Leaving for Shu Stopping at Peiku Mountain Mister Su’s Country Retreat Staying Overnight at the Chancellery in Spring Painted on the Wall of Master Hsuan-wu’s Room The Chungnan Mountains To Censor Tu at the Chancellery On Climbing Tsungchih Pagoda Climbing Yenchou Tower On Deputy Prefect Tu Taking Up a Post in Shuchou Seeing Off Ts’ui Jung The Imperial Entourage on the Road from Tengfeng Written on the Wall of Master Yi’s Meditation Hut To Chang Hsu after Drinking Jade Terrace Temple On Seeing a Landscape Painted by My Commissioner Cousin for Li Ku Recording My Thoughts While Traveling at Night Climbing Yuehyang Tower Traveling South of the Yangtze Spending the Night at Lunghsing Temple The Meditation Hall behind Poshan Temple Written at the Sungting Relay Station Shengkuo Temple Gazing across the Countryside Seeing Off Editor Ts’ui Marching East Encountering Rain at Changpa Reservoir One Evening While Enjoying a Cool Breeze with Rich Young Men and Their Singsong Girls—I Encountering Rain at Changpa Reservoir One Evening While Enjoying a Cool Breeze with Rich Young Men and Their Singsong Girls—II Spending the Night at Yunmen Temple Pavilion Climbing Hsieh T’iao’s North Tower in Hsuancheng in Autumn Overlooking Tungting Lake—For Prime Minister Chang Passing Hsiangchi Temple For Censor Cheng on Being Banished to Fukien Miscellaneous Poem at Chinchou Shrine to Yu the Great Gazing at the Valley of Ch’in Commiserating with Gentleman-in-Waiting Wang on Tungting Lake Crossing the Yangtze Drinking at Night in Yuchou PART THREE Casual Poem on a Spring Day Spring Day Spring Night Early Spring East of Town Spring Night Light Rain in Early Spring New Year’s Day Attending a Banquet on the Great Beginning Occasional Poem on the Arrival of Spring On a Painting of Playing Football Palace Ode—I Palace Ode—II In Praise of Huaching Palace Chingping Ode Written on the Wall of an Inn Quatrain Begonia Grave Sweeping Day Chingming Festival Day Cold Food Chiangnan Spring For Gentleman-in-Attendance Kao Quatrain Visiting a Private Garden without Success Traveling Away from Home Written on a Screen Inspired The Peach Blossoms of Chingchuan Hermitage The Peach Blossoms of Hsuantu Temple Visiting Hsuantu Temple Again Chuchou’s West Stream Flower Shadows North Mountain On the Lake Inspired Spring Clearing Late Spring Falling Flowers Visiting a Private Garden in Late Spring The Oriole Shuttle Events of Late Spring Climbing a Mountain Lament of the Silkmaid Late Spring Spring Lament Seeing Off Spring Seeing Off Spring on the Last Day of April Away from Home at the Beginning of Summer Waiting for a Friend Waking Up in Early Summer On the Sanchu Road Impressions Visiting Chang’s Garden at the Beginning of Summer Written at the South Tower of Ochou A Mountain Pavilion on a Summer Day A Farm Family Village Events On the Pomegranate Flower Village Dusk Written on Mister Lakeshade’s Wall Black Robe Lane Seeing Off Yuan Er on a Mission to Anhsi On Yellow Crane Tower Hearing a Flute Written at Huainan Temple The Seventh Night Autumn Moon Autumn at the Gate Autumn Evening Mid-Autumn Moon Reflections at a River Tower Written at an Inn in Linan At Chingtzu Temple Seeing Off Lin Tzu-fang at Dawn Drinking on the Lake As It Clears Then Rains Retiring After Attending a Tea at Hsuante Palace Climbing to Canopy Pavilion on a Summer Day Written While Serving at Jade Hall Written at Secretary Wang’s Bamboo Tower Serving in the Secretariat Reflections While Reading—I Reflections While Reading—II Cold Spring Pavilion For Liu Ching-wen Anchored Overnight at Maple Bridge Winter Night The Frost and the Moon The Plum Early Spring The Snow and the Plum—I The Snow and the Plum—II Herdboy Anchored Overnight on the Chinhuai On Geese Turning Back Written on a Wall PART FOUR Morning Court at Taming Palace Responding to Secretary Chia Chih’s “Morning Court at Taming Palace” Responding to Secretary Chia Chih’s “Morning Court at Taming Palace” Responding to Secretary Chia Chih’s “Morning Court at Taming Palace” On Lantern Festival at Imperial Request On Lantern Festival at Imperial Request Attending a Banquet at the New Residence of Princess An-lo In Reply to Ting Yuan-chen Flower Garland Song Private Thoughts Cold Food Chingming Drinking Wine on Grave Sweeping Day Strolling outside Town The Swing While Drinking at the Chuchiang Waterway—I While Drinking at the Chuchiang Waterway—II Yellow Crane Tower A Traveler’s Thoughts on a Spring Evening In Reply to Li Tan River Village Summer Day Written at My Wang River Retreat after a Steady Rain New Bamboo at East Lake Spending a Summer Night with My Cousin Talking about the Past Occasional Poem on an Autumn Day Visiting Crescent Pond Autumn Inspiration—I Autumn Inspiration—II Autumn Inspiration—III Autumn Inspiration—IV Aboard a Boat on a Moonlit Night Autumn Longing in Ch’ang-an Early Autumn Mid-Autumn At Mister Ts’ui’s Villa in Lantien on the Ninth Autumn Thoughts For Hermit Chu, My Neighbor to the South Hearing a Flute Winter Scene Winter Solstice Eve How Plum Flowers Embarrass a Garden For My Nephew, Hsiang, on My Demotion and Arrival at Lankuan Pass Spears and Shields Returning to My Retreat A Mountain Widow Postscript Timeline About the Translator Index of Authors Index of Titles Books by Red Pine Copyright Special Thanks