Chinese Erotic Poems

by Barnstone, Tony; Ping, Chou; Barnstone, Tony; Ping, Chou

• ISBN13: 9780307265678
• ISBN10: 0307265676
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-10-16
• Publisher: Everyman's Library

Summary

The ancient Chinese tradition of erotic poetry has been largely ignored in the west. Now, a vast continent of sensual verse is opened to us with this glorious collection spanning nearly three thousand years and including many poems never before translated into English. Tony Barnstone and Chou Ping have brought together poems about deep love and pure lust, enticement and seduction, ecstasy and disappointment. Here are poems that express need, hunger, grief, and longingfor husbands and wives and for concubines and lovers; poems by turns explicit or subtle, light-hearted or desperate, written from both men's and women's points of view. The editors have drawn on a wide range of sources from 600 BCE to the present, including highly literary poems, popular verse, and folk songs, as well as poems that appeared in ancient Daoist sex manuals, in classical novels of the Ming Dynasty, and in collections of erotic prints. The result is a dazzling array of voices that speak the universal language of desire. For the first time, all the major works of this beloved writer are gathered together in one hardcover volume.

Author Biography

Tony Barnstone is Professor of English at Whittier College and the recipient of the Pushcart Prize in Poetry as well as fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the California Arts Council. His books include Sad Jazz: Sonnets; Impure: Poems by Tony Barnstone; The Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry; Out of the Howling Storm: The New Chinese Poetry; Laughing Lost in the Mountains: Poems of Wang Wei; The Art of Writing: Teachings of the Chinese Masters; and the textbooks Literatures of Asia, Africa and Latin America, Literatures of Asia, and Literatures of the Middle East.

Chou Ping took his doctorate in Asian literature from Stanford University and his MFA in creative writing from Indiana University and has taught at Reed College, Oberlin College and Washington University, among other places. His books include The Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry and The Art of Writing: Teachings of the Chinese Masters. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

Table of Contents

Foreword

The Book of Songs(c. 600 BCE)

In the Wilds is a Dead River-Deer Portrait of a Bride

The Riverbank Grasshoppers and Baby Locusts Zhen and Wei Rivers Stripping Off Clothes White Moonrise

There are Tall Weeds in the Fields Fruit Plummets from the Plum Tree I Beg You, Zhongzi Sima Xiangru(179–117 BCE)

The Prose-Poem of the Beautiful Person Zhang Heng(78–139 CE)

FromT’ung-sheng-ko Anonymous FromNineteen Ancient Poems (Han Dynasty)

Zi Ye(3rd–4th Centuries CE)

From42 Songs

The Cheating Lover From42 Songs: Night is Forever From42 Songs: Her Shyness From42 Songs

The Untied Skirt From42 Songs: Undressing From42 Songs: Street Encounter From42 Songs: Tangled Hair From20 Spring Songs: Spring Wind From20 Summer Songs: Lotus Flower Girl From20 Summer Songs: After Lovemaking From20 Summer Songs: Flaming Love From20 Summer Songs: Melons and Plum From20 Summer Songs: Sleeping with One Pillow From18 Autumn Songs

The Lovers From17 Winter Songs: Lust for the Summer Lover Late Autumn Sleeves Lifted A Charcoal Stove Two Love Songs Anonymous(Six Dynasties)

My Lover Will Soon be Here This Morning Our Boat Left Shen Yue(441–513)

FromSix Reminiscences To a Friend I Met Early One Morning While She Was in Her Carriage For My Neighbor Who Was Waiting for Someone Who Didn’t Come Emperor Wu of Liang(464–549)

The Morning Sun Shines Emperor Jianwen of Liang(503–551)

A Beautiful Woman Emperor Hou Zhu of Chen(553–604)

A Jade Tree Blossoms in the Back Garden Zhang Wencheng(c. 657–730)

FromThe Dwelling of Playful Goddesses —A Poem About His Knife —A Poem About Her Sheath —A Poem About a Broken Copper Flat-Iron —A Poem About Writing Brushes and Inkstones 57 —Her Poem About a Bow —His Reply About the Bow Zhao Luanluan(8th Century)

Cloudlike Hair Slender Fingers Creamy Breasts

The Sandalwood Mouth Xie Wen(Tang Dynasty)

To Lady Zheng Wang Wei(701–761)

A Young Lady’s Spring Thoughts For Someone Far Away Li Bai(701–762)

Confessional Sent Far Off Singing by Green Water in Autumn An Encounter in the Field Si Kongshu(740–790?)

I Fall Ill and Have to Marry Off My Singing Girl Meng Jiao(751–814)

Departure in Ancient Times Xue Tao(768–831)

Spring Gazing Bai Juyi(772–846)

FromSong of Everlasting Sorrow Song of Collecting Lotus Seeds Bai Xingjian(776–826)

The Wedding Night (from the “Rhyme-Prose on the Supreme Joy of Sexual Union of Yin and Yang, Heaven and Earth”)

Yuan Zhen(779–831)

The Poem of Xuizhen Late Autumn White Dress Reminiscences (5 Poems)

Missing Her After Separation (Poem Two)

Spring Dawn Han Shan(c. Late 8th–Early 9th Centuries)

Behind Pearl Curtains Full of Girls Woman in Her Prime A Flock of Beauties Du Mu(803–852)

Given in Parting (Two Poems)

Sharing My Feelings Xue Feng(c. 806–876)

In the Palace Wen Tingyun(812–870)

To the Tune of “Beautiful Barbarian” Du Qiuniang(Early 9th Century)

The Coat of Gold Brocade Li Shangyin(813–858)

Secret of the In

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