Selected Poems of Su Tung-pʻo

Shi Su

Copper Canyon Press, 1994 - History - 145 pages

Burton Watson is our greatest translator of classical Chinese poetry, and here he presents 115 poems by the greatest poet of the Sung dynasty, Su Shih, more commonly known by his literary name, Su Tung-p'o. Many of the poems originally appeared in Su Tung-p'o: Selections from a Sung Dynasty Poet (Columbia U. Press, 1965).

Contents

• N Introduction: 3
• Translators Note: 13
• EARLY YEARS 10591073: 15

About the author

Burton DeWitt Watson was born in New Rochelle, New York on June 13, 1925. When he was 17 years old, he dropped out of high school and joined the Navy. He experienced Japan through his weekly shore leaves while stationed at Yokosuka Naval Base in 1945. After returning to the United States, he received a bachelor's degree in Chinese in 1949 and a master's degree in Chinese in 1951 from Columbia University. He spent time learning Japanese as a graduate student at Kyoto University before receiving a doctorate in Chinese in 1956 from Columbia. He has taught English at Doshisha University in Kyoto and Chinese at Stanford University and Columbia. He became a translator of Chinese and Japanese literature and poetry. His numerous translations included Cold Mountain: 100 Poems by the Tang Poet Han-shan, Han Fei Tzu: Basic Writings, The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu, and The Tso Chuan: Selections from China's Oldest Narrative History. His collections included Early Chinese Literature, Chinese Lyricism: Shih Poetry from the Second to the Twelfth Century, From the Country of Eight Islands: An Anthology of Japanese Poetry, and The Columbia Book of Chinese Poetry: From Early Times to the 13th Century. He received Columbia University's Translation Center's Gold Medal Award in 1979, the PEN Translation Prize in 1981 and 1995, and the Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation in 2015. He died on April 1, 2017 at the age of 91.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Selected Poems of Su Tung-pʻo
• Author: Shi Su
• Translated by: Burton Watson
• Contributor: Burton Watson
• Publisher: Copper Canyon Press, 1994
• Original from: the University of Virginia
• Digitized: Nov 9, 2007
• ISBN: 1556590644, 9781556590641
• Length: 145 pages
• Subjects: History / Asia / General; Literary Criticism / Poetry; Poetry / Asian / General; Poetry / General