Publisher's Synopsis
The Shattered Lute is a collection of English translations of 220 poems from Tang dynasty China [618-907 CE]. It includes verses by giants like Li Bai, Du Fu, and Wang Wei as well as work by several less known poets from a fascinating time and place.
From the introductory chapter:
"The Tang dynasty was the golden age of Chinese poetry and one of the high points of Chinese history. Never before or since has poetry held the literary stage in China the way it did during the Tang. Similarly, at no time before the 21st century was China as prominent in world civilization as she was during the 7th and 8th centuries CE. Never was the Chinese polity more powerful relative to its neighbors nor was Chinese society and culture more attractive to foreigners while remaining, at the same time, open to outside influences and products. Chinese poetry did not begin during the Tang, but the poetry of that era set the terms under which poetry would be written in China down to the 20th century. Something remarkable happened during these centuries: technique matured, bureaucrats morphed into poets, and what had been a concoction of song and ritual crystallized into literature once and for all."
The collection is organized into the following chapters, each with its own introduction: [1] The shattered lute, [2] Tao Qian: before the beginning, [3] Chen Ziang: selections from the Ganyu shi, [4] Gongti shi the poetry of the palace, [5] Meng Haoran: recluse and friend, [6] Cycles: poetic sequences by Wang Wei, Li Bai and Du Fu, [7] Songbie "given at parting," [8] Li Bai: the poet as mage, [9] Metaphysical poets: the Buddhist persuasion, [10] Madame Butterfly: The lay of enduring remorse, [11] Du Fu: the poet as sage, [12] A gallery of Silver Age literary lions: Han Yu, Bai Juyi, Li Shangyin and Lu Guimeng, [13] Late peonies: Xue Tao and Yu Xuanqi, [14] Year Zero: The lay of the Lady of Qin, [15] Winter pollen: Wei Zhuang and the lyric ascendancy.
The shattered lute concludes with a list of "Suggested reading" and an "Index of poets and their poems."
