Selected Poems of Ruan Ji: The Great China Collection

Author: Ruan Ji
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Ruan Ji (210-263), styled Sizong, was a poet during the Wei-Jin period and one of the famous "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove." Living in turbulent times, despite his aspiration to "save the world," he had to feign madness to avoid worldly affairs, seeking solace in poetry, philosophy, music, and indulgence in drinking. The eighty-two "Poems on Contemplation" selected in this book hold an important position in the history of Chinese poetry. The poet expresses his profound "laments on life" in elegant and ethereal prose, using various symbolic techniques such as historical allusions, mythical tales, imagery of flying birds, and aesthetic distance to transform the concrete into the abstract. In the poet's hands, the hardships and trials of life become ethereal and even carefree, setting a model for later poets to express their emotions and ideals, and is hailed as an "extraordinary masterpiece." This translation is a collaborative effort between Wu Fusheng, a U.S.-born non-native speaker, and the British poet Green Lushan, presenting a bilingual Chinese-English translation of Ruan Ji's "Poems on Contemplation."