Sacrificial Songs to the Goddess of Fish Mountain On the Theme, “Pure as the Ice in the Jade Vase” On the Ninth Day of the Ninth Month, Remembering My Brothers East of the Mountains An Inscription for a Friend’s Mica Screen

Chapter Two: Juvenilia and Other Literary Exercises.

Punctuated Chinese texts for all translations and a character glossary of key terms and names appear in appendixes-both of these features are unique among translations of Wang Wei's work. The individual poems, however, are allowed to speak for themselves and are accompanied only by notes and commentary explaining historical and literary allusions. Pauline Yu's exegeses opening each chapter of poetry suggest some interpretive guidelines. An extensive introductory chapter discusses Taoist and 'metaphysical' traditions in Chinese literature as well as Western Symbolist, post-Symbolist, and phenomenological theories as they pertain to the poetry of Wang Wei.

She corrects previous translators' prejudices for the nature poetry of Wang Wei by including generous samplings of the poet's juvenilia, court poetry, and Buddhist verse. Pauline Yu has translated and annotated 150 of his poems, the most representative selection of Wang Wei in English to date. Although his poetry has been translated in the West, Wang Wei has not received a great deal of critical attention because of the elusive quality of his work. Moreover, since Wang Wei was known for being a devout Buddhist, having the complete poetry available in reliable translation as well as all of the prose that is connected to the Buddhist faith will be useful to students of Chinese religion.A central figure during the peak of Tang dynasty literary activity, the poet Wang Wei (701-761) combined a subtle, deceptively simple imagery with a profound philosophical interpretation of the world based on integration and harmony. This translation will enable students with limited or no knowledge of Chinese to get a full sense of Wang Wei's compositional range. In spite of the importance of Wang Wei's poetry in the history of Chinese literature, no one has attempted a complete translation of all of his surviving poems moreover, even though he was known for his skill in composing prose pieces in the recognized genres of his day (especially as a writer of commissioned compositions), very little of his prose has been translated. For the first time, readers encountering his work in English translation will get a comprehensive understanding of Wang Wei‘s range as a poet and prose writer. This is the first complete translation into English of all of his poems, and also the first substantial translation of a selection of his prose writings.

Wang Wei has traditionally been considered one of the greatest of Tang dynasty poets, together with Li Bo and Du Fu.

The poetry of wang wei