Choosing to Be Simple
Description
Navigating the uncertainty of a divided China wracked by warfare and corruption, Tao Yuanming's poetry-expertly translated by Red Pine-chooses the path walked by China's ancient sages, finding joy in living a simple life.
The latest work in Red Pine's rich career of translation, Choosing to be Simple: Collected Poems of Tao Yuanming, is a definitive portrait of the early Chinese politician and poet. Thoroughly researched and beautifully translated, this bilingual collection of over 160 verses chronicles Tao Yuanming's path from civil servant to reclusive poet during the formative Six Dynasties period (220-589). Familiar scenes like farming and contemplating the nature of work and writing are examined with intimate honesty. As Red Pine illuminates Tao Yuanming's sensitive voice, we find the poet's solace and sorrow in a China transformed by modernity.
Tao Yuanming's distinct verse shows a keen attention to rhythm as he explores the tension of scarcity and indulgence, duty and escape. Reverberating with clarity and sincerity and laced with humor, the poems of Choosing to Be Simple portray a man's timeless desire to live by the principles enshrined by China's sages. Guided by Tao Yuanming's own wonderment, we, too, find ourselves asking: "Why did I ever question my heart"? We are encouraged to find joy in simplicity-the tending of a garden, the sharing of wine with a stranger.
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About the Author
Early fifth-century poet Tao Yuanming (d. 427) was known for his love of rice wine and chrysanthemums, as well as for his disdain of official position. His hometown is Shahe, where the Tao Yuanming Memorial Hall is also located.
About the Translator
Bill Porter, under the pen name Red Pine, is the renowned translator of classic Chinese poetry. His translations have been honored with two NEA translation fellowships, a PEN Translation Prize, and the inaugural Asian Literature Award from the American Literary Translators Association. A Guggenheim Fellow, Porter also received the 2018 Thornton Wilder Prize for Translation bestowed by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. A full-length film documentary Dancing with the Dead: The Life and Times of Red Pine is forthcoming in 2023. He lives in Port Townsend, Washington.
Content
- Intro
- Title Page
- Note to the Reader
- Contents
- Translator's Preface
- 1. Stilling the Passions
- 2. Instructing My Son
- 3. Mister Five Willows
- 4. Held Up at Guilin by the Wind While Returning from the Capital in the Fifth Month of 400
- 5. Traveling Past Tukou at Night While Returning to Jiangling in the Seventh Month of 401 after My Leave
- 6. Matching Secretary Guo's Rhyme
- 7. Stopping Drinking
- 8. In Early Spring of 403, Thinking of Farmers of the Past
- 9. Encouraging Farming
- 10. Matching Administration Clerk Hu, Shared with Criminal Clerk Gu
- 11. For My Cousin Jingyuan, Written in the Twelfth Month of 403
- 12. Passing through Qu'e on the Way to Serve as Advisor to the Garrison Commander
- 13. Motionless Clouds
- 14. Seasonal Changes
- 15. Flowering Hedge
- 16. Written While Passing through Qianxi on the Way to the Capital in the Third Month of 405 as Advisor to the General of the Jianwei Army
- 17. Lord of Changsha
- 18. Returning Home
- 19. Returning to My Garden and Fields
- 20. In Response to Ding of Chaisang
- 21. Returning Birds
- 22. Criticizing My Sons
- 23. A Joint Outing under the Cypress Trees at the Zhou Family Cemetery
- 24. On Reading the Book of Mountains and Waters
- 25. Drinking Alone during Constant Rain
- 26. In the Sixth Month of 408, Encountering Fire
- 27. Matching Liu Chaisang's Rhyme
- 28. The Ninth Day of the Ninth Month of 409
- 29. Written in the Ninth Month of 410 upon Harvesting Dry Rice in West Field
- 30. On Moving
- 31. Parting from Yin Jin'an
- 32. Returning to My Former Residence
- 33. Lament for My Cousin Zhongde
- 34. On the First Day of the Fifth Month, Matching a Poem by Secretary Dai
- 35. Form, Shadow, and Spirit
- 36. Exchanging Poems with Liu of Chaisang
- 37. Untitled poems
- 38. Lament for Gentlemen Who Missed Their Time
- 39. The Eighth Month of 416, Harvesting at the Lower Xun Field Shed
- 40. For the Three Court Gentlemen: Zhou Xuzhi, Zu Qi, and Xie Jingyi
- 41. Drinking Wine
- 42. For Aide Yang
- 43. A Lament in the Chu Mode for Secretary Pang and Assistant Deng
- 44. Matching Attendant Zhang at Year End
- 45. Double Ninth, Living Retired
- 46. Outing on Xie Brook
- 47. At General Wang's Party for a Departing Guest
- 48. Imitating the Ancients
- 49. Regarding Wine
- 50. In Praise of the Two Shus
- 51. In Praise of Three Good Men
- 52. In Praise of Jing Ke
- 53. Peach Blossom Spring
- 54. Year-End Sacrifice
- 55. In Reply to Advisor Pang
- 56. In Reply to Advisor Pang
- 57. In Praise of Impoverished Gentlemen
- 58. Moved by Events
- 59. Begging for Food
- 60. Pallbearer Songs
- 61. My Epitaph
- Related Works of Interest
- About Red Pine
- Books by Red Pine/Bill Porter
- Copyright
- Special Thanks
