One of the best works of translations from ancient Chinese poetry I've had the good fortune to stumble on. Beautiful moments in landscape observed well over a thousand years ago, and still shimmering in this English translator's verse from the early twentieth century. ( )

Published in 1918 when Waley was twenty-nine years old, his first translations of Chinese poetry still bear up under close scrutiny. It remains probably the best general anthology of Chinese poetry by a single translator in English. Waley's renderings are always serviceable, more often than not totally accurate, and often sublime. The introduction to part 1 gives a useful overview of the development of Chinese versification throughout its long history, and the introduction to part 2 contains a potted biography of the great Tang poet Bai Juyi.

'Above all, considering imagery to be the soul of poetry, I have avoided either adding images of my own or suppressing those of the original.' ( )

One of the best-known pioneer works in translating
Chinese verse in English, notable for including a
substantial number of poems by Po Chu-i. ( )