Last night's stars

Author: Li Kehe, Zheng Xiaoning, Yu Fuzhi (Editor)
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2002-01-01
Features: Most classical Chinese poets did not want to "reflect" on reality in a straightforward manner. They had many real-life experiences, which led to numerous life insights, and they only wanted to convey their unique life experiences. They firmly believed that readers with discernment would also bring their own life experiences to resonate with the author. Reading Du Mu's poetry requires striving to align with his life experiences. Du Mu, like many classical poets, favored conveying meaning beyond the literal words. Much of his thoughts needed to be grasped by piercing through the surface meaning of the text. He did not state things directly but trusted readers to understand implicitly. A prime example is "The Songstress Unaware of the Nation's Shame," which is widely known not to be blaming the songstress but rather the officials lacking a sense of crisis. Making such an inference relies on an understanding of Du Mu's compassionate nature and also on grasping the tone and atmosphere of the poem's "text." The continuity of the poetic world is like a river flowing eastward. Frivolous poets churn up a few bubbles in the river, glittering under sunlight and moonlight, and then claim to be innovators. Unbeknownst, when the waves surge and the tide rises, they vanish without a trace in an instant. Calm and steadfast poets, however, persevere, carving new patterns on cliffs, leaving eternal memorials. Du Mu belongs to the latter. This book selects over 140 of Du Mu's poems, most of which are quatrains. Old-style poems are not selected extensively, especially the very long ones. For example, the "Poem for Du Shi" praised by literary historians is not necessarily bad, but reading the annotations alone can be confusing, so it was excluded. If someone is truly interested in it, there are other anthologies available.