Review (PDF) Du Fu: A Life In Poetry
Du Fu (712–770) is one of the undisputed geniuses of Chinese poetry—still universally admired and read thirteen centuries after his death. Now David Young, author of Black Lab, and well known as a translator of Chinese poets, gives us a sparkling new translation of Du Fu’s verse, arranged to give us a tour of the life, each “chapter” of poems preceded by an introductory paragraph that situates us in place, time, and circumstance. What emerges is a portrait of a modest yet great artist, an ordinary man moving and adjusting as he must in troubled times, while creating a startling, timeless body of work.Du Fu wrote poems that engaged his contemporaries and widened the path of the lyric poet. As his society—one of the world’s great civilizations—slipped from a golden age into chaos, he wrote of the uncertain course of empire, the misfortunes and pleasures of his own family, the hard lives of ordinary people, the changing seasons, and the lives of creatures who shared his environment. As the poet chases chickens around the yard, observes tear streaks on his wife’s cheek, or receives a gift of some shallots from a neighbor, Young’s rendering brings Du Fu’s voice naturally and elegantly to life.I sing what comes to mein ways both old and modernmy only audience right now—nearby bushes and treeselegant houses standin an elegant row, too manyif my heart turns to ashesthen that’s all right with me . . .from “Meandering River”
Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Knopf; First Edition edition (November 4, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0375711600
ISBN-13: 978-0375711602
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #899,663 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #96 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Regional & Cultural > Asian > Chinese #229 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Asian > Chinese
It is most of a life in poetry--and occasionally, pictures from that life that are startling, both for their strangeness and their familiarity. How much do we know of the the private feelings of a man from 8th century China? David Young ties the story together, with his translation, and his references to people, places, times, and the translators who have gone before him. (All my comments around the three poems are either his, or inspired by his).Du Fu has already failed the Imperial exam, already met Li Bai, whose poetry he loves, and thinks, but restlessly, of becoming a hermit-poet. At thirty, he looks at a painting--with the eyes of a young man(how many old Chinese paintings can we see today with "white" silk? How many--fragments-- that anyone could have seen in 742?):Memorable portraitof a falconthe white silkgives off wind and frostis he watching fiercelyfor a rabbit?angry foreignerhe looks at me askancehe has a chain and ringready to unfastenI could almosttake him off his perchsend him out to findsome of those little larksscatter blood and featherson the prairie. *Five years before the An-Lushan rebellion (755), the border fighting which--partly-- inspired it was already underway:...tax gatherers go back and forthbut where will the taxes come from?it makes us question whetherthere's any sense in having sonsdaughters can marry neighborsboys seem born to die in foreign weedshave you seen how the bones from the pastlie bleached and uncollected near Black Lake?
Oh, mine! Du Fu in his life time never was praised and respected with such attention, even though he (my idol) deserved all the praise!A Poet's Biography and his Poetry in one booklet in picturical and musical English!This is the best way to honor a poet, and all of English poems of Du Fu, that I always telling myself that poetry can be translated when I become a part of that poet, and what's better than a bio and poems on every page in the order of years (timeline). David Young is awesome poet and I can feel how much life he spends to just meditate with the words of Du Fu, I am a Chinese and American too, I could recite most beautiful verses of Tang and Song poets, I have so many poetry dictionaries that categorized by topic, object, style, scene, image... but I have not seen a lot of poet's bio and poems in 'one', but Mr. Young created something new for poets. This way readers may understand the poet more, why he writes curtain poem and how he feels at that moment in his life, and the same journey we are guided by this.This book is must buy! and Mr. Young's Five Tang Poets too!If our parent is smart, then we must give our teenage children this book and along some others, these poets are the best teachers in human history, because they condense their life and soul into a few beautiful words that we can obtain the lesson of art, wisdom and humanity thru all the natural English poems. And this translation, all the poems are natural as Chinese aesthetic standard, Natural (Zi Ran ''''the highest standard for art or skill, which the thought and character and action of a person harmoniously meld into one with nature and society, and Wang Wei, Li Po, Du Fu... and many are all natural, and now Mr.
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