Four Seasons of T'ang Poetry

John C.H. Wu

Dis 1989 · Tuttle Publishing

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This substantial collection of Tang Dynasty poetry includes extensive commentary and notes—offering insight into this rich literary heritage.

"Stretching out my hand I feel the pulse of the stars," wrote Li Po, one of the most famous of the T'ang dynasty poets. This superlative study of the Golden Age of Chinese poetry, based on nearly 50,000 poems written by more than 2,000 poets, captures not only the pulse of that period but also the spirit and soul.

Of this Tang blossoming, Dr. Wu says that for nearly thirteen centuries after Christ, poetry in Europe, with the exception of Juvenal, kept a death–like silence. It hibernated so long that when it woke up again in the person of Dante, the last poetic voice it could remember was that Virgil. It seems though Mother Earth purposely rocked Europe to sleep for some time that she might teach Asia to sing.

These poetic interpretations, including comparisons with many Western poets such as Shakespeare and T.S. Eliot, represent a remarkable scholarly achievement.