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spacestationtrustfund's review against another edition
3.0
Three Hundred Tang Poems (唐詩三百首) was compiled during the Qing dynasty (清朝) by Sun Zhu (孫洙), also known by his style name, "Retired Master of Hengtang" (蘅塘退士), and ultimately published in 1764. Sun Zhu was displeased with the Southern Song dynasty (南宋)-era anthology Thousand Masters of Poetry (千家诗) compiled by Liu Kezhuang (刘克庄), and decided to publish his own. Sun Zhu's anthology was divided into different styles of poetry: yuefu (樂府 [yuèfǔ]); gushi (古詩 [gǔshī]), five- (五言) and seven-syllable (七言) versions; jintishi (近體詩 [jìntǐshī]), including five- (五言) and seven-syllable (七言) versions of lüshi (律詩 [lǜshī]); and jueju (絕句 [juéjù]), five- (五言) and seven-syllable (七言) versions. The first edition included 310 poems, although later editions had 313 or more poems.
Very few complete English-language translations exist, unfortunately.
JIANG KANGHU & WITTER BYNNER (1929)
Published as The Jade Mountain: A Chinese Anthology, Jiang's and Bynner's translation is the first full English translation of the anthology. For a translation that is nearly a century old, it's surprisingly excellent; the accuracy is quite good, and the translators' introductions are informative and factual. Provided you can get past the archaic romanisation system and the atypical numbering, this is a wonderful anthology that I would definitely recommend.
INNES HERDAN (1973)
PETER HARRIS (2009)
Published as Three Hundred Tang Poems
GEOFFREY WATERS, MICHAEL FARMAN, & DAVID LUNDE (2011)
Very few complete English-language translations exist, unfortunately.
JIANG KANGHU & WITTER BYNNER (1929)
Published as The Jade Mountain: A Chinese Anthology, Jiang's and Bynner's translation is the first full English translation of the anthology. For a translation that is nearly a century old, it's surprisingly excellent; the accuracy is quite good, and the translators' introductions are informative and factual. Provided you can get past the archaic romanisation system and the atypical numbering, this is a wonderful anthology that I would definitely recommend.
INNES HERDAN (1973)
PETER HARRIS (2009)
Published as Three Hundred Tang Poems
GEOFFREY WATERS, MICHAEL FARMAN, & DAVID LUNDE (2011)
spacestationtrustfund's review
2.0
Three Hundred Tang Poems (唐詩三百首) was compiled during the Qing dynasty (清朝) by Sun Zhu (孫洙), also known by his style name, "Retired Master of Hengtang" (蘅塘退士), and ultimately published in 1764. Sun Zhu was displeased with the Southern Song dynasty (南宋)-era anthology Thousand Masters of Poetry (千家诗) compiled by Liu Kezhuang (刘克庄), and decided to publish his own. Sun Zhu's anthology was divided into different styles of poetry: yuefu (樂府 [yuèfǔ]); gushi (古詩 [gǔshī]), five- (五言) and seven-syllable (七言) versions; jintishi (近體詩 [jìntǐshī]), including five- (五言) and seven-syllable (七言) versions of lüshi (律詩 [lǜshī]); and jueju (絕句 [juéjù]), five- (五言) and seven-syllable (七言) versions. The first edition included 310 poems, although later editions had 313 or more poems.
This version includes poems by the following poets: Bai Juyi (白居易), Cen Shen (岑參), Chang Jian (常建), Chen Tao (陳陶), Chen Zi'ang (陳子昂), Cui Hao (崔顥), Cui Shu (崔曙), Cui Tu (崔塗), Dai Shulun (戴叔倫), Du Fu (杜甫), Du Mu (杜牧), Du Qiuniang (杜秋娘), Du Shenyan (杜審言), Du Xunhe (杜荀鶴), Emperor Xuanzong (唐玄宗), Gao Shi (高適), Gu Kuang (顧況), Han Hong (韓翃), Han Wo (韓偓), Han Yu (韓愈), He Zhizhang (賀知章), Huangfu Ran (皇甫冉), Jia Dao (賈島), Jiaoran (皎然), Jin Changxu (金昌緒), Li Bai (李白), Li Pin (李頻), Li Duan (李端), Li Qi (李頎), Li Shangyin (李商隱), Li Yi (李益), Liu Changqing (劉長卿), Liu Fangping (劉方平), Liu Shenxu (劉眘虛), Liu Yuxi (劉禹錫), Liu Zhongyong (柳中庸), Lu Lun (盧綸), Luo Binwang (駱賓王), Ma Dai (馬戴), Meng Haoran (孟浩然), Meng Jiao (孟郊), Pei Di (裴迪), Qian Qi (錢起), Qin Taoyu (秦韜玉), Qiu Wei (邱為), Qiwu Qian (綦毋潛), Quan Deyu (權德輿), Shen Quanqi (沈佺期), Sikong Shu (司空曙), Song Zhiwen (宋之問), Wang Bo (王勃), Wang Changling (王昌齡), Wang Han (王翰), Wang Jian (王建), Wang Wan (王灣), Wang Wei (王維), Wang Zhihuan (王之渙), Wei Yingwu (韋應物), Wei Zhuang (韋莊), Wen Tingyun (溫庭筠), Xu Hun (許渾), Xue Feng (薛逢), Yuan Jie (元結), Yuan Zhen (元稹), Zhang Bi (張泌), Zhang Hu (張祜), Zhang Ji (張繼), Zhang Ji (張籍), Zhang Jiuling (張九齡), Zhang Qiao (張喬), Zhang Xu (張旭), Zheng Tian (鄭畋), Zhu Qingyu (朱慶餘), and Zu Yong (祖詠).
Peter Harris's translation does not include all of the poems (or, indeed, poets) included in Sun Zhu's original version; Harris also includes some of the anonymous poems, but without crediting them to the original pseudonyms (西鄙人 [xībǐrén] and 無名氏 [wúmíngshì]), which I thought was odd. The poets' names are only written in simplified pinyin (i.e., without the diacritics), meaning the disambiguation between 張繼 [Zhāng Jì] (字懿孙) and 張籍 [Zhāng Jí] (字文昌), for example, is much more difficult.
Zhang Bi (張泌)'s personal name is written correctly (instead of "Zhang Mi"—the character 泌 can be pronounced as either [mì] or [bì]). Li Pin (李頻)'s personal name, however, is written erroneously as "Li Bin"—the character 頻 [pín], meaning "frequent" or "incessant," is also an obsolete variant form of 瀕 [bīn], meaning "beside," "bordering on," or "approaching." Although it was never specified at the time which pronunciation was correct, the consensus in Chinese-language sources I could find seems to be in favour of [pín] rather than [bīn], making this particular change an odd one.
Anyway, there are very few translations of this anthology, although I've also read The Jade Mountain, translated by Jiang Kanghu and Witter Bynner, and 300 Tang Poems, translated by Geoffrey Waters, Michael Farman, and David Lunde.
This version includes poems by the following poets: Bai Juyi (白居易), Cen Shen (岑參), Chang Jian (常建), Chen Tao (陳陶), Chen Zi'ang (陳子昂), Cui Hao (崔顥), Cui Shu (崔曙), Cui Tu (崔塗), Dai Shulun (戴叔倫), Du Fu (杜甫), Du Mu (杜牧), Du Qiuniang (杜秋娘), Du Shenyan (杜審言), Du Xunhe (杜荀鶴), Emperor Xuanzong (唐玄宗), Gao Shi (高適), Gu Kuang (顧況), Han Hong (韓翃), Han Wo (韓偓), Han Yu (韓愈), He Zhizhang (賀知章), Huangfu Ran (皇甫冉), Jia Dao (賈島), Jiaoran (皎然), Jin Changxu (金昌緒), Li Bai (李白), Li Pin (李頻), Li Duan (李端), Li Qi (李頎), Li Shangyin (李商隱), Li Yi (李益), Liu Changqing (劉長卿), Liu Fangping (劉方平), Liu Shenxu (劉眘虛), Liu Yuxi (劉禹錫), Liu Zhongyong (柳中庸), Lu Lun (盧綸), Luo Binwang (駱賓王), Ma Dai (馬戴), Meng Haoran (孟浩然), Meng Jiao (孟郊), Pei Di (裴迪), Qian Qi (錢起), Qin Taoyu (秦韜玉), Qiu Wei (邱為), Qiwu Qian (綦毋潛), Quan Deyu (權德輿), Shen Quanqi (沈佺期), Sikong Shu (司空曙), Song Zhiwen (宋之問), Wang Bo (王勃), Wang Changling (王昌齡), Wang Han (王翰), Wang Jian (王建), Wang Wan (王灣), Wang Wei (王維), Wang Zhihuan (王之渙), Wei Yingwu (韋應物), Wei Zhuang (韋莊), Wen Tingyun (溫庭筠), Xu Hun (許渾), Xue Feng (薛逢), Yuan Jie (元結), Yuan Zhen (元稹), Zhang Bi (張泌), Zhang Hu (張祜), Zhang Ji (張繼), Zhang Ji (張籍), Zhang Jiuling (張九齡), Zhang Qiao (張喬), Zhang Xu (張旭), Zheng Tian (鄭畋), Zhu Qingyu (朱慶餘), and Zu Yong (祖詠).
Peter Harris's translation does not include all of the poems (or, indeed, poets) included in Sun Zhu's original version; Harris also includes some of the anonymous poems, but without crediting them to the original pseudonyms (西鄙人 [xībǐrén] and 無名氏 [wúmíngshì]), which I thought was odd. The poets' names are only written in simplified pinyin (i.e., without the diacritics), meaning the disambiguation between 張繼 [Zhāng Jì] (字懿孙) and 張籍 [Zhāng Jí] (字文昌), for example, is much more difficult.
Zhang Bi (張泌)'s personal name is written correctly (instead of "Zhang Mi"—the character 泌 can be pronounced as either [mì] or [bì]). Li Pin (李頻)'s personal name, however, is written erroneously as "Li Bin"—the character 頻 [pín], meaning "frequent" or "incessant," is also an obsolete variant form of 瀕 [bīn], meaning "beside," "bordering on," or "approaching." Although it was never specified at the time which pronunciation was correct, the consensus in Chinese-language sources I could find seems to be in favour of [pín] rather than [bīn], making this particular change an odd one.
Anyway, there are very few translations of this anthology, although I've also read The Jade Mountain, translated by Jiang Kanghu and Witter Bynner, and 300 Tang Poems, translated by Geoffrey Waters, Michael Farman, and David Lunde.
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