170 Chinese Poems

Published in 1918 when Waley was twenty-nine years old, his first translations of Chinese poetry still bear up under close scrutiny. It remains probably the best general anthology of Chinese poetry by a single translator in English. Waley's renderings are always serviceable, more often than not totally accurate, and often sublime. The introduction to part 1 gives a useful overview of the development of Chinese versification throughout its long history, and the introduction to part 2 contains a potted biography of the great Tang poet Bai Juyi.

'Above all, considering imagery to be the soul of poetry, I have avoided either adding images of my own or suppressing those of the original.'

One of the best works of translations from ancient Chinese poetry I've had the good fortune to stumble on. Beautiful moments in landscape observed well over a thousand years ago, and still shimmering in this English translator's verse from the early twentieth century.

One of the best-known pioneer works in translating
Chinese verse in English, notable for including a
substantial number of poems by Po Chu-i.