The earliest Chinese poems which have been preserved and handed down to
posterity are contained in the 'Shi-King', or Book of Poetry.
Translations of this book were first made by Roman Catholic
missionaries, and later by Dr. Legge whose translation, being in
English, is better known.
The Shi-King contains three hundred odd poetical compositions, or odes,
as they might more correctly be described, most of them being set to
music and sung on official and public occasions.
But many more odes than those in the Shi-King existed at the dawn of
Chinese literature. Some native scholars think that several thousand
odes were composed by princes, chiefs, and other men of the numerous
petty States which were included in Ancient China; and that criticism
and rejection by later literary compilers, especially Confucius, reduced
the number deemed worthy of approval to 305, which make up the Shi-King.
It is, however, quite impossible to say how many odes were composed in
that early period; many more than those preserved in the Shi-King
undoubtedly were made, and we can only regret that, when later scholars
began to collect and criticize these earliest poetical effusions of
their ancestors, political and other motives induced them to prune or
lop off whole branches of the nascent tree of poetry with such unsparing
hands. Fragments of a few early odes not contained in the Shi-King
remain, but such fragments are not numerous.
As to the value of these early odes critics differ widely. By some
Western writers they have been compared favourably with the Psalms, the
Homeric poems, &c., while other writers think that they do not rise
above the most primitive simplicity. Some of the odes are undoubtedly of
considerable poetical value; and all critics must acknowledge that the
Shi-King contains a great deal of valuable information respecting the
States of Ancient China, and the people who inhabited them in the
earliest stages of their existence.
It has been necessary to give this brief account of the Shi-King because
it has loomed so largely in the eyes of students of Chinese literature
as to exclude from their vision the vast field of Chinese poetry in
which hundreds of famous Chinese poets have, at different periods,
wandered, and mused, and sung, for two or three thousand years, and
their wanderings are described and their musings sung in thousands of
poems which are unknown to foreign students of Chinese literature. They
have heard of the Shi-King, a few even have read it; but of the great
poets of China, who have in a long succession appeared and done immortal
work and passed away during nearly three thousand years, they know but
little or nothing at all. My object in publishing this little book is to
correct this false perspective, not by assailing the Shi-King, but by
bringing into view a few of the poets and a few of their poems (which
can only be very inadequately set forth in translations by a writer who
is not a poet), and thus make a beginning in an undertaking that will
be, I hope, continued and perfected by men who have more leisure and
greater poetical skill and inspiration than I possess.
After the compilation of the 300 odes by Confucius, there was a period
of about one hundred years during which but little attention was given
to the making of poetry. The earliest poetical compositions handed down
after those preserved in the Shi-King are the 'Li-Sao' by Kueh-Yuen, of
the Tsu State, 280 B.C., several poems by Su-Wu and Li-ling, and
nineteen poems by unknown writers. All these were composed during the
Han Dynasty or earlier, and they are regarded as poetical compositions
of great worth by native scholars, although they do not conform to the
rules which have guided Chinese poets in writing poetry since the T'ang
Dynasty. Indeed, one commentator has described their perfection as 'the
seamless robe of heaven', i.e. the dome of heaven--the sky. These early
poetical compositions are marked by greater simplicity of language,
deeper feeling, and more naturalness than the poetry of later dynasties,
which is often cramped by the highly elaborate technique introduced by
the poets of the T'ang Dynasty.
'The Journey Back,' 'Only a Fragrant Spray,' 'The Swallow's Song,' 'The
Innkeeper's Wife,' 'A Song of Tze-Yuh,' 'A Maiden's Reverie,' 'Su Wu's
Farewell to his Wife,' 'Reflections on the Brevity of Life,' are
specimens of this period.
During the later Han Dynasty, especially in the reign of Kien-An (A.D.
196), and in the reign of Hwang-T'su (A.D. 220) of the Wei Dynasty,
several poets of conspicuous ability arose, and their compositions
compare favourably with the three hundred odes and the ancient poems
following the odes.
From the Wei Dynasty to the T'sin Dynasty, and on through the 'Luh-Chao'
(Six Dynasties--the Wu, Tsing, Sung, T'si, Liang, and Chen, covering the
period from A.D. 220 to 587), one poet after another gained an
ascendancy and each found many imitators; but the poetry of this period
is more elaborate and florid than deep and natural.
From the Chen Dynasty (A.D. 557-587) to the end of the Sui Dynasty (A.D.
589-618) there was but little good poetry produced: it was, in fact, a
time of literary decadence which continued even into the beginning of
the T'ang Dynasty. Then a change took place, and great poets arose who
formed the T'ang School of Poetry, and the poetical technique of that
school has been more or less closely copied by all writers of poetry to
this day; and during the most flourishing years of the T'ang Dynasty the
production of poetry was so rich and abundant that that period is
regarded by the Chinese as the Golden Age of Poetry.
One native commentator has likened the development of poetry to a tree:
'The three hundred odes of the Shi-King may be regarded as the root: the
poems of Su-Wu and Li-ling as the first sprout from the root, and those
of the Kien-An period as the increasing growth of the sprout into a
stem, while the poems of the Six Dynasties are the first branches and
leaves; then in the T'ang Dynasty the branches and leaves became more
and more abundant, and flowers and fruit appeared crowning the noble
tree of perfect poetry.' He then goes on to say: 'Students of poetry
should carefully study the matter, and form, and style of the poetry of
this period, as they show the source and development, the root and the
full-grown flourishing tree of poetry. The root must not be lost sight
of in the profusion of branches and leaves, that is, students must not
read the poems of the T'ang period and neglect those of ancient times;
both must be studied together in order to understand the poetry of the
later periods.'
Another native critic writes: 'The poets of the T'ang Dynasty developed
a style of their own in poetry different from those that preceded it.'
The leading poets of the T'ang period had ability to seize all that was
best in ancient poetry and embody it in a style of their own which is a
natural development and not a slavish imitation.
The most prominent among the men of genius who effected this great
change were Chen Tze-ang, Chang Kiu-ling, Li-Peh, Wei Ying-wuh, Liu
Tsong-Yuen, Tu-Fu, Han-Yue, Tsen-T'san, Wang-Wei, Wang-Han, Li-Kiao and
Chang-Shoh; and of these Li-Peh is regarded by all Chinese as a
heaven-born genius--'an Immortal banished to earth,' while Tu Fu is the
scholarly poet, deeply versed in all branches of Chinese literature,
which gives depth, and breadth, and style, and infinite variety to his
poetical compositions, which, however, though very numerous, form but a
part of his contributions to the literature of his country.
The glory of the T'ang poetry dimmed somewhat towards the end of the
dynasty; but during the Song Dynasty (A.D. 960-1278), which followed the
brief epoch of the Five Dynasties (A.D. 907-960), Eo Yang Siu,
Wang-An-shih, Hwang Ting-kien, Ch'ao Pu-chi, Luh-Yu, and other poets
added fresh lustre to the glory of Chinese literature by producing many
poetical compositions which could not be omitted from a large anthology
containing all the best Chinese poems; but in this small book space for
two or three only can be found.
It should be remembered that the great poets of the T'ang and later
dynasties did not always follow the new poetical technique of the T'ang
Dynasty. Many of their best poems are written in the ancient style; and
I have written 'ancient style' against a few of such poems among the
translations, but not against all of them.
An introduction to Chinese poetry, reviewing extensively its rise and
progress, the style of each period, and the characteristics of the work
of each poet, would fill a large volume--several volumes indeed would
hardly suffice for an exhaustive review of such a vast field of work.
But the very brief review contained in the preceding pages will enable
readers to see that the three hundred odes are by no means the whole of
Chinese poetry; they are, indeed, only the beginning--the source of a
great river whose countless branches, some deep and pure, others
shallow and sparkling, have flowed down the ages, fertilizing and
beautifying every period of Chinese life and thought, and producing a
vast reservoir of poetry which has inspired many in every generation
with higher sentiments of nature, country, love, friendship, and
literature.
As this book of translations is chiefly intended for readers who do not
understand the Chinese language, no attempt has been made to insert the
Chinese characters for the names, &c., printed in the Romanized form;
but, following the advice of friends who are well versed in Chinese
themselves, I hope, hereafter, to publish a small volume containing the
Chinese text of the translated poems only, with a few notes which may be
useful to beginners. To reprint the Chinese text and notes with the
English translations in one volume would add considerably to the cost of
the book, while only a comparatively small number of readers--students
of the Chinese language--would find the Chinese text and notes useful.