Poems
by Wei Wang
On This Page
Description
Strikingly contemporary-feeling poems about Buddhism and luxury from Wang Wei, one of the greatest poets in Chinese literature Wang Wei, one of Chinese literature's greatest poets, divided his time between the court and his country estate, where he drew inspiration from the mountains and solitude. His poetry affirms his belief in a whole natural order, and his delicately observed descriptions of landscapes are infused throughout with a sense of unity and Buddhist devotion. Yet it also bears show more testament to the tension Wang Wei experienced in his own life between that unity and life's various pleasures, as he experienced in the court.Translated with an introduction by G. W. Robinson. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
Lovely collection of poems from a time that Britain calls the dark ages because so few written records survived from the other end of Eurasia. Wang Wei was particularly good at capturing small details of scenes - the way a canoe's paddle moves through the water, or subtle changes in a town with the seasons - but he must also have taken great joy in people because another rich seam in this collection is poems of farewell, greeting, and missing people in between.
Lovely collection of poems from a time that Britain calls the dark ages because so few written records survived from the other end of Eurasia. Wang Wei was particularly good at capturing small details of scenes - the way a canoe's paddle moves through the water, or subtle changes in a town with the seasons - but he must also have taken great joy in people because another rich seam in this collection is poems of farewell, greeting, and missing people in between.
I usually do not read poetry in translation, unless (a)it's a narrative poem or (b)it's translated by a poet who has essentially recreated the poem, rather than faithfully translating word by word. In my opinion, poetry owes its beauty to the cadence of the language, a kind of rhythmic beat as the words trip over one another, which is well nigh impossible to achieve in translation. However, I bought this book against my better judgement because it was going dirt cheap at a garage sale, and I felt the need to expand my reading horizon to ancient China.
Well, I should have listened to my judgement, as the poems fell flat with me. Wang Wei seems to be a nature poet, and all his poems are full of descriptions of the landscape. No doubt they show more would be beautiful in the original Chinese, but in English they seemed repetitive and uninteresting.
My review is not a judgement on the book, author or translator: it is just my reading experience based on my personal preferences.
I am not rating the book, as I do not feel qualified to do so. show less
Well, I should have listened to my judgement, as the poems fell flat with me. Wang Wei seems to be a nature poet, and all his poems are full of descriptions of the landscape. No doubt they show more would be beautiful in the original Chinese, but in English they seemed repetitive and uninteresting.
My review is not a judgement on the book, author or translator: it is just my reading experience based on my personal preferences.
I am not rating the book, as I do not feel qualified to do so. show less
With most simple words
the poet reaches upwards
to seize a bright star.
the poet reaches upwards
to seize a bright star.
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Lists
Philip Ward's Lifetime Reading Plan
592 works; 22 members
Author Information
Wang Wei is an exceptionally visual poet, and in reading his descriptions of the play of light over forest and moss, or the reflection of bamboos in a meandering stream, we can easily accept that in his lifetime he was known as much for his paintings as for his verse. In fact, there is some evidence to suggest that he was the first to paint show more landscapes on long horizontal scrolls, an innovation that brought much greater scope and complexity to Chinese painting. Originally written to accompany such a scroll of unfolding landscapes along the river is a series of poems, the "Wang River Sequence," in which Wang Wei writes of scenes near his country estate in Lan-t'ien (a day's journey in his time from the capital in Ch'ang-an). Unfortunately, though the poems survive, the paintings do not. Wang Wei had the best pedigree of all of the greatest T'ang poets. His father hailed from the T'ai-yuan (Shensi) Wang clan, one of the most powerful in the capital region, and his mother was a Ts'ui, an equally old and prominent family of accomplished literati. Therefore, it is not surprising that his talents were noticed early and that he passed the highest examinations when he was only 23. His career, however, was not outstanding. He served on and off in a number of modest posts, interspersed with periods of retirement at his beloved estate. What distinguishes Wang is that this failure to rise to high position was probably largely his own choice. While he did not shun the court and politics for the life of a total recluse, he also did not strive. He was a devout Buddhist and seems to have had as strong a pull toward passive contemplation as toward active involvement. It is his Buddhist inclinations which inspire Wang Wei's poetry; he loves natural imagery as a focus of contemplation, but it is a means for him of reaching integration and harmony with the universe and not merely an end in itself. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
All Editions
Some Editions
Awards and Honors
Notable Lists
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Penguin Classics (L296)
Common Knowledge
- People/Characters
- Wang Wei
Classifications
- Genres
- Poetry, Fiction and Literature
- DDC/MDS
- 895.1 — Literature & rhetoric Asian Literature Literatures of East and Southeast Asia Chinese
- LCC
- PL2676 .A27 — Language and Literature Languages and literatures of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania Languages of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania Chinese language and literature Chinese literature Individual authors and works
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 165
- Popularity
- 197,790
- Reviews
- 4
- Rating
- (3.75)
- Languages
- Chinese, English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 5
- ASINs
- 1
