Category: Chinese poets
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Life and Death from Beijing: a Poetry Sequence by Luisetta Mudie and Dreamer Fei
~~~~~ Editor’s note: The title of this post derives from one of the most important memoirs of the last century, Life and Death in Shanghai by Nien Cheng, which came out in 1987. She recounts in that book her imprisonment by the Red Guard during Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Politically speaking,…
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By Myself Pouring Wine as the Moon Shines
by Li Bai (701-762) By Myself Pouring Wine as the Moon Shines From the filled jug of wine left within the blossoming bed, I pour with no love nor family by. Loneliness sets in. Drawn to its beam, I raise a brimming cup and face the moon– an encounter…
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Li Bai drinking alone (with the moon, his shadow, & 43 translators)
The Tang poet Li Bai–a.k.a. Li Po, Li Bo and the Poet Immortal–left us over 1,000 poems. Besides these, he is also known by the way it is said he died. He supposedly drowned drunk, trying to embrace the moon’s reflection in the Yangtze River. Below are 41 English translations (from 43 translators (and counting))…
Clattery MacHinery on Poetry 