Complete Poems [Paperback]

Ching-Chao Li (Author), Kenneth Rexroth (Translator), Ling Chung (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 17, 1980

The Complete Poems of Li Ch'ing-chao (1084-c. 1151) brings together for the first time in English translation all the surviving verse of China's greatest woman poet.

Written during the final years of the Sung Dynasty, with its political intrigues and collapse in the face of the Tatar invasions, her poems reveal an imaginative freshness, sensuous imagery, and satirical spirit often at odds with the decadent Confucian code of the day.

Editorial Reviews

Review

At A Poetry Party I Am Given The Rhyme Chih
Banana Trees
The Beauty Of White Chrysanthemums
Cassia Flowers
Cassia Flowers
Cassia Flowers
The Day Of Cold Food
Dream
Fading Plum Blossoms
Farewell Letter To My Sister Sent From An Inn At Lo Ch'ang
I Gave A Party To My Relatives On The Day Of Purification
I Smell The Fragrance Of Withered Plum Blossoms By My Pillow
In The Emperor's Chamber
Joy Of Wine
The Magnolia Flower
A Morning Dream
Ninth Day, Ninth Month
On History
On Plum Blossoms
On Spring
Our Boat Starts At Night From The Beach Of Yen Kuang
Peonies
Picking Mulberries
Plum Blossoms
Plum Blossoms
Poems Dedicated To Lord Han, The Minister Of The Council
Poems On Yuen Chieh's Ode To The Restoration Of T'ang
Red Plum Blossoms
Remorse
A Satire On The Lords Who Crossed The Yangtse In Flight
Sentiment
A Song Of Departure
Sorrow Of Departure
Spring Ends
Spring Ends
Spring Ends, I
Spring Ends, Ii
Spring Fades
Spring In The Women's Quarter
Thoughts From The Women's Quarter
Thoughts From The Women's Quarter
Thoughts From The Women's Quarter
Thoughts From The Women's Quarters
To An Imperial Lady
To The Empress
To The Imperial Concubine
To The Tune A Song Of The South
To The Tune Clear Peace Happiness
To The Tune Everlasting Joy
To The Tune Happiness Approaches
To The Tune Immortals On The River Bank
To The Tune Partridge Sky
To The Tune The Bodhisattva's Headdress
To The Tune The Bodhisattva's Headdress
To The Tune The Perfumed Garden
To The Tune The Silk Washing Brook
To The Tune You Move In Fragrance
Two Springs
Watching Lotuses
A Weary Song To A Slow Sad Tune
When The Plums By The Back Pavilion Bloomed
Written By Chance
Written On Climbing Eight Poems Tower
Written On The Seventh Day Of The Seventh Month
The Wu-t'ung Tree
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

About the Author

Poet-essayist Kenneth Rexroth (1905-1982) was a high-school dropout, disillusioned ex-Communist, pacifist, anarchist, rock-climber, critic and translator, mentor, Catholic-Buddhist spiritualist and a prominent figure of San Francisco's Beat scene. He is regarded as a central figure of the San Francisco Renaissance and is among the first American poets to explore traditional Japanese forms such as the haiku.

Product Details

• Paperback: 118 pages
• Publisher: New Directions (January 17, 1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811207455
• ISBN-13: 978-0811207454
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #391,951 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sensual plum blossoms everywhere!, August 9, 2001

By 

DONALD G. FOX "Santee Sioux" (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Complete Poems (Paperback)

I bought this book in 1983 and it has stayed in my permanent collection of books. It is some of the most sensuous and vibrant poetry I have ever come upon. The poetry conveys the despair, hope and longing that the poet lives with in her life of waiting for love while at court. "The Wu-Tung Tree" is one of the most beautiful poems that I know. The biography of Li Ching-Chao is not only informative, but nicely written.and the notes to the poems give the reader a greater sense of some of the symbolism and cultural significance of tunes and imagery.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great poet, January 3, 2007

By 

Eduardo Castillo Jr. (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Complete Poems (Paperback)

Li Qingzhao was a supremely talented poet of the Sung dynasty period of China. She broke taboos concerning women writers by writing openly and creatively over a wide range of topics, both personal and social. She is revered in China today as being perhaps the greatest woman poet in Chinese history. It is enchanting to read her complete works and discover her recurring use of motifs and symbolism. Her voice is very feminine and very passionate but also very humble. It gives a glimpse of how women were expected to behave in Confucian society.

5.0 out of 5 stars Vignettes Imbued with the Fleeting Nature of Life, September 24, 2011

By 

Jack Donachy (Point Hope, Alaska) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Complete Poems (Paperback)

In about 1985, while I was a student at the University of Colorado, Boulder, a fellow student in one of my writing classes gave me the beautiful hardbound edition of this book. It remains a treasured item among the limited number of books I have kept through many moves over the past 27 years. These poems are vignettes that chronicle a woman's life , describing, at first, youth and love and later absence and loneliness, the society and politics of her time, and finally old age. And "vignette," which refers to a thought concise enough to be written on a grape leaf, is an appropriate appellation: many of the poems are infused with plum blossoms and wine and, occasionally, hangovers. The best of this writing transcends boundaries of geography, culture and time. Consider these lines from "Written by Chance."

Fifteen years ago, beneath moonlight and flowers,
I walked with you.
We composed flower-viewing poems together.
Tonight the moonlight and flowers are just the same
But how can I ever hold in my arms the same love.

Li Ching Chao--and Kenneth Rexroth's translations--beautifully capture the sense that our time here is fleeting.