Chinese poetry

• DeadPoet

  15 Mar 05, 02:10

  I am thinking of reading up on Chinese poetry.
  
  Any idea where to get books on Chinese poetry with English translation?
  
  Thanks.
  
  
• Rhonda

  15 Mar 05, 02:14

  Chinese poetry can be soooo beautiful. Too bad my Chinese language proficiency ranks at the bottom, otherwise, I can appreciate them even more.
  
  I'm not sure where you can get the kind of book you mentioned. I'd just hop down to the nearest library and ask the librarian.
• DeadPoet

  15 Mar 05, 02:19

  It is quite easy to find books on Chinese poetry.
  
  But I've not seen any with English translation yet. I need to brush up on my Mandarin too.
• tare

  16 Mar 05, 01:39

  not sure where to get those with english translation... but i've seen some with hanyu pinyin above every word, and clear simple explanations... actually found them under the youth section at popular.... easy to read and understand.... u may wanna take a look....
• FireIce

  16 Mar 05, 01:52

  before u pounce on the 5-liners, take some time to read up on the history of poems, the diff periods, the diff poets and their lifestyles, visions......
  THEN, u go to their poems
  this way is easier to understand
  do oso note the diff categorizations and themes.....
  
  most english translations dun do justice to the poems
  somehow jus dun bring out the essence and the flavour of the poem in the translation process
  cos chinese poem is about "yi4 jing4".....
  5 words per line or 7 words per line yet can harbour very deep meaning......
  seldom get to read a good english translation of a chinese poem.....
• FireIce

  16 Mar 05, 02:08

  the major categories are
  - Wu Yan (5 words per line)
  - Qi Yan (7 words per line)
  
  further break down into Jue Ju (4 lines), Luu Shi (8 lines, usually), Gu Shi (longer and can dun rhyme or even prose-style) and Yue Fu (singable poems)
  
  most prosperous period for chinese poems is Tang Dynasty tt time
  but can be chopped into 4 eras......each era having own poets and style and theme of poems
  1st era....Chu Tang....initial Tang.....still considered a warring state....so most ppl write about wars, family breakups.....tone usually gloomy
  2nd era.....Sheng Tang.....Prosperous Tang......war over, everyone living well...ppl generally happy......so the poems become more on kinship, frenship, scenery, travels.....
  3rd era.....Zhong Tang......mid-Tang....though not as good as Sheng Tang, but in general still ok...mix of cheers and tears for this period......
  4th era.......Wan Tang......late Tang......war eminent, Emperor cannot make it.....brings back the gloom again....
  
  after Tang comes Song.......where Song Ci takes over
  Song Ci are prose more than poems and they can get quite lengthy at times.....
  
  i tink i shall stop here for now........or i can tok until tml......
• DeadPoet

  16 Mar 05, 23:55

  Thanks FI, this is very educational.
  
  Can you continue to tell me more about Chinese poetry?
• DeadPoet

  16 Mar 05, 23:59

  Originally posted by tare:

  not sure where to get those with english translation... but i've seen some with hanyu pinyin above every word, and clear simple explanations... actually found them under the youth section at popular.... easy to read and understand.... u may wanna take a look....

  Yup. I've seen them before.
  
  Will take a closer look the next time when I am at Popular.