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Title: Crossing the Yellow River : Three Hundred Poems from the Chinese (New American Translations: 13) by Sam Hamill ISBN: 1-880238-98-5 Publisher: BOA Editions Pub. Date: 01 September, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: An Embarassment of Riches
Comment: Here are 270 pages of the most sublimely beautiful poems in English that I have ever read. Sam Hamill has brought us one step closer to the music of an ancient and culturally distant aesthetic that, until the modernist revolution of the last century, was closed to English speaking readers and writers.
It is difficult to overestimate the impact that Chinese poetry in translation had on modern poetry in English. Arthur Waley's *170 Chinese Poems* and Ezra Pound's enormously important adaptions in *Cathay* are cornerstones of modernism. Kenneth Rexroth's translations, starting with *100 Poems from the Chinese*, were equally as important to the last quarter of the 20th century. Moreover, the interest that these translations produced sparked an interest in world poetry, that completely transformed poetry in English during the last 50 years. The obvious issue that is always before the reader of poetry in translation is authenticity. Octavio Paz said all poetry is translation. Still, as a reader, it's impossible to know what distance is really spanned in the journey from Tu Fu's mouth to my ears.
I think this book goes a long way toward settling, if not answering some of these concerns. I don't read classical Chinese, so I don't know exactly how accurate these translations are. Nevertheless, Sam Hamill's informative (though somewhat loopy) introduction makes a strong case for thier reliability. By showing his method, he inspires confidence that not only are you reading beautiful English poems, but that what you're reading is speaking to over the bridge of centuries and cultures.
The center 100 pages of this amazing book contains probably the finest translations to date of China's great 8th century poets, Li Po, Wang Wei, and Tu Fu (who is, according to K. Rexroth, the greatest non-epic, non-dramatic poet in any language in the history of the world). These treasures are surrounded by a generous selection of poems dating from the 1st century BCE to the 16th century CE.
Whether you already love poetry or you want to start loving it, don't pass up the enrichment that these poems can bring to your life.
Rating: 5
Summary: One of the best
Comment: The first book, after Rexroth, of Chinese poems I ever read from cover to cover in one sitting, for the pure joy of it, was Sam Hamill's first book of translations. Crossing the Yellow River is simply more and better, as far as I'm concerned. Great reading.
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Title: One Hundred Poems from the Chinese (New Directions Book) by Kenneth Rexroth ISBN: 0811201805 Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation Pub. Date: 01 June, 1971 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: Poems of the Masters: China's Classic Anthology of T'Ang and Sung Dynasty Verse by Red Pine ISBN: 1556591950 Publisher: Copper Canyon Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: Chinese Poems by Arthur Waley ISBN: 0486411028 Publisher: Dover Publications Pub. Date: 01 February, 2000 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: The Selected Poems of Po Chu-I by Chu-I Pai, David Hinton, Po Chu-I ISBN: 0811214125 Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation Pub. Date: 01 June, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Five T'Ang Poets (Field Translation Series) by David Young, Wang Wei, Tu Fu, Li Ho, Li Shang-Yin ISBN: 093244055X Publisher: Oberlin College Press Pub. Date: 01 March, 1990 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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