Four Seasons of T'ang Poetry

By John C.H. Wu

This substantial collection of Tang Dynasty poetry includes extensive commentary and notesoffering insight into this rich literary heritage.

"Stretching out my hand I feel the pulse of the stars," wrote Li Po, one of the most famous of the T'ang dynasty poets. This superlative study of the Golden Age of Chinese poetry, based on nearly 50,000 poems written by more than 2,000 poets, captures not only the pulse of that period but also the spirit and soul.

Of this Tang blossoming, Dr. Wu says that for nearly thirteen centuries after Christ, poetry in Europe, with the exception of Juvenal, kept a deathlike silence. It hibernated so long that when it woke up again in the person of Dante, the last poetic voice it could remember was that Virgil. It seems though Mother Earth purposely rocked Europe to sleep for some time that she might teach Asia to sing.

These poetic interpretations, including comparisons with many Western poets such as Shakespeare and T.S. Eliot, represent a remarkable scholarly achievement.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
• Release date: Dec 15, 1989
• ISBN: 9781462912476

John C.H. Wu

John C. H. Wu (1899–1986) was a diplomat, scholar, and authority on international law. He wrote works in Chinese, English, French, and German on topics as diverse as Chinese literature (including a translation of the Tao Teh Ching) and law. A graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, he was the principal author of the constitution of the Republic of China. He maintained a correspondence with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., and later produced scholarly work examining Holmes's legal thought.

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