The T'ang dynasty was the great age of Chinese poetry, and Po
Ch?-i (772--846) was one of that era's most prolific major poets.
His appealing style, marked by deliberate simplicity, won him wide
popularity among the Chinese public at large and made him a
favorite with readers in Korea and Japan as well. From Po Ch?-i's
well-preserved corpus -- personally compiled and arranged by the
poet himself in an edition of seventy-five chapters -- the esteemed
translator Burton Watson has chosen 128 poems and one short prose
piece that exemplify the earthy grace and deceptive simplicity of
this master poet.
For Po Ch?-i, writing poetry was a way to expose the ills of
society and an autobiographical medium to record daily activities,
as well as a source of deep personal delight and satisfaction --
constituting, along with wine and song, one of the chief joys of
existence. Whether exposing the gluttony of arrogant palace
attendants during a famine; describing the delights of drunkenly
chanting new poems under the autumn moon; depicting the peaceful
equanimity that comes with old age; or marveling at cool Zen repose
during a heat wave... these masterfully translated poems shine with
a precisely crafted artlessness that conveys the subtle delights of
Chinese poetry.
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