In The Silk Dragon II, National Book Award–winning poet Arthur Sze presents a sophisticated vision of the vitality, diversity, and power of the Chinese poetic tradition. Traveling over one and a half millennia, Sze guides readers through a luminous history of verse—from the contemplative insights of fifth-century poet Tao Qian, through Tang-dynasty poets such as Wang Wei and Du Fu, and into subsequent centuries in which lived such innovative artists as Li Qingzhao and Bada Shanren, among many others.
ISBN: 9781556597077
Format: Paperback
Deer Park
The mountain is empty, no man can be seen;
but the echo of human sounds is heard.
Returning sunlight, entering the deep forest,
shines again on green moss, above.
Reviews
“Exhilarating . . . less sequel than elaboration, a widening of its predecessor’s lens.”—David Ulin, Alta
“In these lucid translations, Sze offers pleasures for all types of readers, those who want another taste of ancient favorites like Du Fu (“The nation is broken, but hills and rivers remain”) and Li He (“I will cut off the dragon’s feet / and chew the dragon’s flesh”), those new to Chinese poetry (his candid account of one poem’s tortuous process remains the best introduction to the art of Chinese translation that I know of), and those who admire Sze’s own work for its telling specificities, as in Wen Yiduo (“I feed the fire cobwebs, rat droppings, and also the scaly skins of spotted snakes”), and its prismatic finesse, as in Xi Chuan (“The figures acquire the mountains / and waters, just as the mountains acquire the emerald and lapis”).” — David Woo, Literary Hub
“Arthur Sze’s concise anthology of translated and edited Chinese poetry The Silk Dragon II, which is to be released next month with Copper Canyon Press, is a welcome volume to enter our own republic of letters at a fraught time of acerbic mutual misunderstanding in the political realm. Alexis de Tocqueville taught us about democracy. Perhaps the Tang Dynasty can teach us manners within the body politic, if only by instructing us in the art of reflection. This book is a balm to apply to the suppurating wound, self-inflicted and visited on others alike, of permanent discord, as we strive (some of us), impossibly it seems, for comity.” — Johnny Payne, Merion West