Du Fu (712-777) has been called China's greatest poet, and some call him the greatest nonepic, nondramatic poet whose writings survive in any language. Some 1,400 of Du Fu's poems survive today, his fame resting on about one hundred that have been widely admired over the centuries. Preeminent translator Burton Watson has selected 127 poems, including those for which Du Fu is best remembered, and lesser-known works.
The poems of Du Fu (712-77) had a diverse range of subject matter, from personal detail to historical fact, expressed with a richness of language that stretched from the elegant to the colloquial, and from the allusive to the direct. This selection includes both famous and lesser-known works.
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Summary
Du Fu (712-777) has been called China's greatest poet, and some call him the greatest nonepic, nondramatic poet whose writings survive in any language. Some 1,400 of Du Fu's poems survive today, his fame resting on about one hundred that have been widely admired over the centuries. Preeminent translator Burton Watson has selected 127 poems, including those for which Du Fu is best remembered, and lesser-known works.
The poems of Du Fu (712-77) had a diverse range of subject matter, from personal detail to historical fact, expressed with a richness of language that stretched from the elegant to the colloquial, and from the allusive to the direct. This selection includes both famous and lesser-known works.
Description
Du Fu (712–777) has been called China's greatest poet, and some call him the greatest nonepic, nondramatic poet whose writings survive in any language. Du Fu excelled in a great variety of poetic forms, showing a richness of language ranging from elegant to colloquial, from allusive to direct. His impressive breadth of subject matter includes intimate personal detail as well as a great deal of historical information-which earned him the epithet "poet-historian." Some 1,400 of Du Fu's poems survive today, his fame resting on about one hundred that have been widely admired over the centuries. Preeminent translator Burton Watson has selected 127 poems, including those for which Du Fu is best remembered and lesser-known works.
Critic Reviews
"Du Fu, long regarded as China's greatest poet, excelled in a variety of lyrical forms, displaying a richness of language that incorporated formal elegance and powerful colloquialism, flowery allusion and spare, unembellished verse... Watson has selected 127 poems for this collection, including those for which Du Fu is best remembered and several lesser known works that deserve to be rediscovered." -- "Translation Review"
Du Fu, long regarded as China's greatest poet, excelled in a variety of lyrical forms, displaying a richness of language that incorporated formal elegance and powerful colloquialism, flowery allusion and spare, unembellished verse . . . Watson has selected 127 poems for this collection, including those for which Du Fu is best remembered and several lesser known works that deserve to be rediscovered.
About the Author
Burton Watson is one of the most respected translators of Chinese and Japanese literature. He has translated Chinese and Japanese classics such as Chuang Tzu: Basic Writings, Ryo-kan: Zen Monk-Poet of Japan, and The Lotus Sutra.
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