Archie Barnes (1931–2002)

The introductory material gives a great explanation of how to identify radicals and stroke order and would be useful to any beginning writer of Chinese characters. It was interesting to see the analysis of how characters are formed.

I have quibbles with some of the translation word choices and over specification of information to make the poems fit English grammar. The book has a subsection on "optional precision", so I suspect the translation over specifies for the sake of the beginning show more reader.

A good grounding in formal grammar and English grammar will help immensely in reading this book. Otherwise, a some sections comparing English and Chinese grammar are heavy going.

While I know nothing of either grammar or poetry in general, this book seems an excellent introduction to Chinese language and Chinese poetry. show less