Fir-Flower Tablets: Poems Translated from the Chinese

Although Li T'ai-po had asked for his own dismissal, he had really been forced to ask it, and his banishment from the "Imperial Sun," with all that "Sun" implied, was a blow fro...

Literally "the first," it being the first of the "hundred flowers" to open. It suggests the beginnings of things, and is also one of the "three friends" who do not fear the Wint...

Gibbons, which are very common in this part of China, are a small species of tailless ape, thoroughly arboreal in their habits. They make the woods sound with unearthly cries at...

The old Imperial Park--the ruined Terrace--the young willows. The water-chestnut pickers are singing, a simple song unaccompanied by instruments--but joy is unbearable. For now...

As we read this poem, instantly pictures of American travel start before our eyes: rushing trains with plush-covered seats, negro porters in dust-grey suits, weary ticket-collec...

If the Emperor were the "Son of Heaven," he administered his Empire with the help of very human persons, the various officials, and these officials owed their positions, great a...

In Yang Chou, the blossoms are dropping. The night-jar calls. I hear it said that you are going to Lung Piao--that you will cross the Five Streams. I fling the grief of my heart...

In both these poems, Ts'ui is compared to T'ao Yüan-ming, author of "Once More Fields and Gardens," published in this volume. T'ao is the ideal of the educated scholar, who pref...

Last year they fought at the source of the Sang Ch'ien, This year they fight on the road by the Leek-green River. The soldiers were drenched by the waters of the Aral Sea, The h...

The _ch'in_, or table-lute, lies on a table like a zither, and is played with the fingers. It is "one of the most ancient instruments, and certainly the most poetical of all.......

Already the drought is terrible beyond expression! The heated air is overpowering; it is a concentrated fierceness. I have not ceased to offer the pure sacrifices, I myself have...

Another, simpler, example is in a case where the Chinese poet speaks of a rising sun. There are many characters which denote sunrise, and each has some shade of difference from...

_No. 9._ _Ch'ih._ A stone-paved courtyard. It has no roof and is raised in the centre. On great occasions, such as weddings, birthdays, and so on, it can be roofed and floored,...

Let me state at the outset that I know no Chinese. My duty in Mrs. Ayscough's and my joint collaboration has been to turn her literal translations into poems as near to the spir...