A Little Primer of Tu Fu

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In this brilliantly-executed book, David Hawkes examines thirty-five poems by Tu Fu (also known as Du Fu), an eighth-century Chinese poet. For each poem, Hawkes provides the original Chinese, a transliteration, a general discussion, a line-by-line examination that includes a word-by-word translation, and lastly a prose rendering of the whole poem. I found it wonderful. As a non-Chinese reader, this is the closest I've approached to understanding the original version of classic Chinese poetry. It's painstaking but illuminating. I recommend it very highly indeed.I note that the final prose translations of the poems are rather flat. The examination leading up to each prose rendition, however, conveys both meaning and impact. I also note that the book often made me melancholy. The upheavals of war and shifting political power were not kind to Tu Fu. A sense of loss pervades the collection, as in the fourth poem where he thinks about his far-distant wife and children, or the tenth poem where briefly meets an old friend for a single night, or the thirty-first poem where he thinks about a dead dancer whom he saw as a small boy.Two additional remarks. Firstly, I was interested to learn that Tu Fu was a huge admirer of Kongming (Zhuge Liang), advisor to the ruler Liu Bei, who lived about five hundred years before Tu Fu. Secondly, this is a minor point, but I think the discussion of poem 25 erroneously compares it to poem 7 instead of to poem 16.An excellent, excellent book.About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).

This book is out of print and almost impossible to find used. A copy recently sold for $170 on ebay. But it is a testament to its high quality that people are willing to spend that much to own it.Tu Fu (AD 712-770) and his contemporary Li Po are the two great masters of Tang Dynasty poetry. To greatly simplify, Li Po is the Taoist free spirit, while Tu Fu is the Confucian, concerned for the welfare of China, from the peasant on up to the emperor. While Li Po's touching and often whimsical accounts of wine and song under moonlight are perennial favorites with audiences around the world, Tu Fu is often considered harder to translate, and hence less accessible to those who do not read Chinese. However, poet and critic Kenneth Rexroth expressed the view that Tu Fu was THE greatest non-epic poet that the world has ever produced, in any language.David Hawkes was for many years a professor of Chinese at Oxford. He has also published what is perhaps the definitive translation of the great Chinese novel _Story of the Stone_ (also known as _Dream of the Red Chamber_). In _A Little Primer of Tu Fu_, Hawkes has taken thirty-five of Tu Fu's most highly regarded poems, and provided for each1. the original Chinese text2. the pronunciation of the text (in Pinyin romanization with tones)3. a note on the "Title and Subject" of the poem, including a discussion of the poem's context in Chinese history and Tu Fu's life4. a discussion of the "Form" of the poem ("regulated verse," "old style" etc.), including meter and rhyme5. a line-by-line "Exegesis" of the poem, which translates each line word-by-word and comments, typically after each couplet, on the word choice, imagery, etc.6. a free translation of the poem (into prose form, interestingly)There is also an "Author's Introduction" to the book, but it is more like a preface, describing the origin and format of the book.The poems are beautiful and moving. Among the better known ones are "Spring Scene," which evokes the sadness of the Chinese capital when it has been occupied by invaders, and "Arrival of a Guest," which describes Tu Fu's humble life in the country.I think anyone who really wants to understand Tu Fu's poetry would get a lot out of this book. However, the characters and the Pinyin romanizations may be a bit intimidating if you have not already had a year or two of Chinese language study. If you do read Chinese, you will find this an invaluable aid to understanding Tu Fu (since Tang poetry -- like poetry in any language -- is often among the challenging texts to read). Finally, you should be aware that this is an interpretive commentary on some of Tu Fu's poems, rather than a general study of Tu Fu's life and work.

This book serves as a good general introduction to Chinese poetry. It explains some of the conventions of historical verse forms, and the way they are used by this poet. For the poems of Tu Fu, it provides both a bare-bones, line-by-line translation of the displayed Chinese text, and a good English version of each poem. There is also interesting commentary on the poems, and details of the poet's life.This is a memorable book.

Containsall DuFu's [pems from the Chinese anthology, 300 Tang Poems. Translations. Chinese text and pinyin romanization. First rate .

An excellent 1967 book by a very distinguished scholar on Tu Fu's poetry without any equivalent up to now as far as the language analysis is concerned .

Not bad

Tremendous introduction to Chinese poetry & language, and to Chinese culture generally.