The Poetry of Li Yu

Download or read book The Poetry of Li Yu written by Yü Li and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Li Yu was the last ruler of the tenth century Chinese kingdom known as the Southern Tang. The author comments:"This book contains my translations of, and musings about, the surviving poetry of the ruler of an area of China during the confused period between the collapse of the Tang dynasty in 907 and the re-unification of the country under the Song in 960. What I have set out to do is to provide for an English-speaking reader with a general interest in the subject matter but who does not read Chinese some general impression of what, to a Chinese reader, is conveyed by the words or characters of the poems. [Li Yu's] poetry is widely read, much loved and the subject of lengthy scholarly analysis. Most Chinese school children will know two or three of these poems by heart. However, his work is not at all well known outside Chinese communities. This is surprising because he is a very accessible poet in the sense that his poetry is largely free of the complex, and frequently obscure, historical and literary references which bedevil the understanding of a good deal of classical Chinese poetry. He wrote directly from the heart about his emotions in simple and direct but lyrical language. There is a haunting melancholy in his verse."