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Poems of the Masters : China's Classic Anthology of T'ang and Sung Dynasty Verse
Poems of the Masters China's Classic Anthology of T'ang and Sung Dynasty Verse Poetry is China_s greatest art, and for the past eight centuries Poems of the Masters has been that country_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 th... more »is bilingual edition, including many of China_s celebrated poets: Li Pai, Wang Wei, Tu Fu, Wang Po, and Ou-yang Hsiu.Poems of the Masters was compiled during the Sung dynasty (960_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_s] greatest flowering was in the T_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." "Chiupu River Song" by Li PaiMy white hair extends three miles
the sorrow of parting made it this long
who would guess to look in a mirror
where autumn frost comes from
Red Pine (the pen name of writer and independent scholar Bill Porter) is one of the world_s most respected translators of Chinese literature, bringing into English several of China_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.« less