Poetry, Translations

Willow, Wine, Mirror, Moon: Women's Poems from Tang China, Translated

This collection of 106 poems by 44 female Tang era poets is the most comprehensive of its kind. Poets are organized based on their status in Tang Dynasty society: Women of the Court, Women of the Household, Courtesans and Entertainers, and Women of Religion. While each poet's concerns vary with their social status, common thematic threads include heartbreak and the mysteries of the natural world. Thumbnail biographies of each poet and notes regarding individual poems complete this important collection. "By far the best book of Chinese poetry in translation of the new century." --Pleiades

Written on a Wall of Abundance Temple, Built by the Independent Scholar, Hermit Ren
by Yu Xuanji (844?-68?)

a man who loves solitude
built this
domain of wonders

travelers find here
rest from the road

whitewashed wall
words left on it: pointless or
the empty

a lotus paradise
that so few know

pond dug out
springs filled it

pathways cut
the grass grew back

pagoda a hundred feet tall
gold spire like the dharma's wheel

facing the river
opens the eyes:
how it shines, that
light

© BOA Editions, Ltd 2005

Available editions:
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Cloth ISBN: 1-929918-73-9
Price: $23.95
Publishing Date: November 2005
Paperback ISBN: 1-929918-74-7
Price: $16.50
Publishing Date: November 2005

FormatPaperback , Hardcover

Publication DateNovember 1, 2005

ISBN1-929918-73-9

From $16.50

About the Author

Jeanne Larsen learned Chinese in the 1970s while in Taichung, Taiwan, on an Oberlin-Shansi teaching-study fellowship, studying Mandarin reading Tang poems. She is the author of three acclaimed novels set in historical China (Silk Road, Bronze Mirror, and Manchu Palaces) and has received numerous grants and awards for her writing. She holds a doctorate in Comparative Literature from the University of Iowa. Her poems, translated poems, short fiction, and creative nonfiction have appeared in many literary quarterlies. She is a Professor of English and director of the graduate program in Creative Writing at Hollins University. Larsen’s translations appear in Willow, Wine, Mirror, Moon and was published by BOA Editions in 2005.