Three Chinese Poets
Encyclopedia
Three Chinese Poets is a book of poetry by the titular poets Wang Wei
, Li Bai
and Du Fu
translated into English by Vikram Seth
. The Three Poets were contemporaries and are considered to be amongst the greatest Chinese poets, though Du Fu did not receive much recognition for his poetry during his life. The three have been described as Buddhist recluse, Taoist immortal and Confucian sage respectively. Though this trichotomy has been criticised as simplistic and artificial, it can act as a guiding approximation. They lived in the Tang Dynasty
and the political strife at that time affected all of their lives very much and this impact is evident in the poetry of all three.
It is not clear whether Wang Wei and Li Bai ever met, but they had a mutual friend in Meng Haoran
. Li Bai and Du Fu did meet and in fact Du Fu greatly admired Li Bai.
In the introduction of Three Chinese poets, Seth talks about the influence of translations on his life and work; that while sometimes he has been so moved by a translation that he learnt another language to read the original, he doubts that he would ever be able to do this as much as he wished to. However, he says that Charles Johnston
's translation of Aleksandr Pushkin
's Eugene Onegin
, Richard Wilbur
's translation of Molière's Tartuffe and Robert Fitzgerald
's translation of the Iliad
have helped him enter worlds without which would have been out of his reach. He states that he avoided the style and philosophy of the famous translations by Ezra Pound
which was to read and deeply understand a poem then to create an approximate translation inspired by the original - the judge of the merit being whether the new poem is a good poem in the new language. Instead he wanted to follow the example of the translators mentioned above to retain a greater fidelity and to try to preserve structure such as rhyme. He stresses that while he has tried not to lose meaning, he has often failed, explaining that because each word is much more important in poetry, the problem of losing associations of words is much greater than when translating prose. He also makes note that any satisfaction derived from the tonality of the poems is necessarily lost because of the non-tonality of English.
Wang Wei
Wang Wei , was a Tang Dynasty Chinese poet, musician, painter, and statesman. He was one of the most famous men of arts and letters of his time. Many of his poems are preserved, and twenty-nine were included in the highly influential 18th century anthology Three Hundred Tang Poems.-Name...
, Li Bai
Li Bai
Li Bai , also known in the West by various other transliterations, especially Li Po, was a major Chinese poet of the Tang dynasty poetry period. He has been regarded as one of the greatest poets in China's Tang period, which is often called China's "golden age" of poetry. Around a thousand existing...
and Du Fu
Du Fu
Du Fu was a prominent Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty.Along with Li Bai , he is frequently called the greatest of the Chinese poets. His greatest ambition was to serve his country as a successful civil servant, but he proved unable to make the necessary accommodations...
translated into English by Vikram Seth
Vikram Seth
Vikram Seth is an Indian poet, novelist, travel writer, librettist, children's writer, biographer and memoirist.-Early life:Vikram Seth was born on 20 June 1952 to Leila and Prem Seth in Calcutta...
. The Three Poets were contemporaries and are considered to be amongst the greatest Chinese poets, though Du Fu did not receive much recognition for his poetry during his life. The three have been described as Buddhist recluse, Taoist immortal and Confucian sage respectively. Though this trichotomy has been criticised as simplistic and artificial, it can act as a guiding approximation. They lived in the Tang Dynasty
Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
and the political strife at that time affected all of their lives very much and this impact is evident in the poetry of all three.
It is not clear whether Wang Wei and Li Bai ever met, but they had a mutual friend in Meng Haoran
Meng Haoran
Meng Haoran was a Chinese poet during the Tang Dynasty. Unsuccessful in his official career, he mainly lived in and wrote about his birthplace....
. Li Bai and Du Fu did meet and in fact Du Fu greatly admired Li Bai.
In the introduction of Three Chinese poets, Seth talks about the influence of translations on his life and work; that while sometimes he has been so moved by a translation that he learnt another language to read the original, he doubts that he would ever be able to do this as much as he wished to. However, he says that Charles Johnston
Charles Hepburn Johnston
Sir Charles Hepburn-Johnston GCMG, KStJ was a senior British diplomat.-Biography:He was born in London, the son of Ernest Johnston and Emma Hepburn, on 11 March 1912. He was educated at Winchester College, and Balliol College, Oxford, joining the Diplomatic Service in 1936...
's translation of Aleksandr Pushkin
Aleksandr Pushkin
Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin was a Russian author of the Romantic era who is considered by many to be the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature....
's Eugene Onegin
Eugene Onegin
Eugene Onegin is a novel in verse written by Alexander Pushkin.It is a classic of Russian literature, and its eponymous protagonist has served as the model for a number of Russian literary heroes . It was published in serial form between 1825 and 1832...
, Richard Wilbur
Richard Wilbur
Richard Purdy Wilbur is an American poet and literary translator. He was appointed the second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1987, and twice received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, in 1957 and again in 1989....
's translation of Molière's Tartuffe and Robert Fitzgerald
Robert Fitzgerald
Robert Stuart Fitzgerald was a poet, critic and translator whose renderings of the Greek classics "became standard works for a generation of scholars and students." He was best known as a translator of ancient Greek and Latin...
's translation of the Iliad
Iliad
The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...
have helped him enter worlds without which would have been out of his reach. He states that he avoided the style and philosophy of the famous translations by Ezra Pound
Ezra Pound
Ezra Weston Loomis Pound was an American expatriate poet and critic and a major figure in the early modernist movement in poetry...
which was to read and deeply understand a poem then to create an approximate translation inspired by the original - the judge of the merit being whether the new poem is a good poem in the new language. Instead he wanted to follow the example of the translators mentioned above to retain a greater fidelity and to try to preserve structure such as rhyme. He stresses that while he has tried not to lose meaning, he has often failed, explaining that because each word is much more important in poetry, the problem of losing associations of words is much greater than when translating prose. He also makes note that any satisfaction derived from the tonality of the poems is necessarily lost because of the non-tonality of English.
Contents
- Wang Wei
- Deer Park
- Birdsong Brook
- Lady Xi
- Grieving for Meng Haoran
- Remembering my Brothers in Shandong on the Double-Ninth Festival
- The Pleasures of the Country
- Autumn Nightfall in my Place in the Hills
- Zhongnan Retreat
- Living in the Hills: Impromptu Verses
- Lament for Lin Yao
- Ballad of the Peach Tree Spring
- Li Bai
- In the Quiet Night
- A Song of Qui-pu
- The Waterfall at Lu Shan
- Question and Answer in the Mountains
- Seeing Meng Hoaran off to Yagzhou
- Listening to a Monk from Shu Playing the Lute
- The Mighty Eunuchs' Carriages
- Drinking Alone with the Moon
- Bring in the Wine
- The Road to Shu is Hard
- Du Fu
- Thoughts while Travelling at Night
- Spring Scene in Time of War
- Moonlit Night
- The Visitor
- Thoughts on an Ancient Site: The Temple of Zhu-ge Liang
- The Chancellor of Shu
- An Autumn Meditation
- Dreaming of Li Bai
- To Wei Ba, who has Lived Away from the Court
- The Old Cypress Tree at the Temple of Zhu-ge Liang
- A Fine Lady
- Grieving for the Young Prince
- Ballad of the Army Carts