Poems of the Masters: China's Classic Anthology of T'ang and Sung Dynasty Verse (Mandarin Chinese and English Edition)
by Red Pine (Editor)
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Description
Poetry is China{u2019}s greatest art, and for the past eight centuries Poems of the Masters has been that country{u2019}s most studied and memorized collection of verse. For the first time ever in English, here is the complete text, with an introduction and extensive notes by renowned translator, Red Pine. Over one hundred poets are represented in this bilingual edition, including many of China{u2019}s celebrated poets: Li Pai, Wang Wei, Tu Fu, Wang Po, and Ou-yang Hsiu. Poems of the Masters show more was compiled during the Sung dynasty (960{u2013}1278), a time when poetry became the defining measure of human relationships and understanding. As Red Pine writes in his introduction: "Nothing was significant without a poem, no social or ritual occasion, no political or personal event was considered complete without a few well-chosen words that summarized the complexities of the Chinese vision of reality and linked that vision with the beat of their hearts . . . [Poetry{u2019}s] greatest flowering was in the T{u2019}ang and Sung, when suddenly it was everywhere: in the palace, in the street, in every household, every inn, every monastery, in every village square." Red Pine (the pen name of writer and independent scholar Bill Porter) is one of the world{u2019}s most respected translators of Chinese literature, bringing into English several of China{u2019}s central religious and literary texts: Taoteching, The Diamond Sutra, Zen Teachings of Bodhidharma, and Collected Songs of Cold Mountain. He lives near Seattle, Washington. show lessTags
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Red Pine spoke here Sunday night and I enjoyed his description of translation as starting out at a dance and not quite being able to hear the music or find your partner at first and then slowly to began dancing. Lovely.
Red Pine spoke here Sunday night and I enjoyed his description of translation as starting out at a dance and not quite being able to hear the music or find your partner at first and then slowly to began dancing. Lovely.
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Author Information
Red Pine (the pen name of Bill Porter) is an acclaimed translator and interpreter of Chinese and Sanskrit texts, primarily Buddhist, including poetry and sutras. Previous works he has translated into English include The Platform Sutra, The Heart Sutra, The Diamond Sutra, Lao-tzu's Taoteching, Guide to Capturing a Plum Blossom, The Zen Works of show more Stonehouse, and The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain. He is also the author of Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits and Zen Baggage: A Pilgrimage to China. He has lived in Taiwan and Hong Kong, and has traveled extensively in China, visiting Zen temples and the graves of poets, and seeking out hermits. He lives in Port Townsend, Washington. show less
Classifications
- Genres
- Poetry, Fiction and Literature
- DDC/MDS
- 895.11308 — Literature & rhetoric Asian Literature Literatures of East and Southeast Asia Chinese Chinese poetry Tang and Five dynasties 618-960
- LCC
- PL2658 .E3 .P634 — Language and Literature Languages and literatures of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania Languages of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania Chinese language and literature Chinese literature Collections
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 211
- Popularity
- 154,253
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.83)
- Languages
- Chinese, English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 2
