Chinese Poems for Students of Chinese

Volume 1

Roger New

• Publisher: Roger New
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9781916109841
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Teaching Languages

Summary

This is a book to help students of Chinese increase their familiarity with Chinese culture and strengthen their command of the language. The book presents, in a unique format, 28 short couplets (5 character or 7 character cut-shorts) comprising Chinese poems all very well known to Chinese nationals. Explanatory notes for each poem are provided in English, and translations are given at the end of the book. This is an ideal textbook for both students and teachers wanting to incorporate Chinese poetry into their study curriculum.

Blurb

This is a book that every student of Chinese will want to buy. For the first time, Chinese poems are presented in an accessible form, with the characters, their pronunciation, and their English meaning all alongside each other, together with text in English providing insight on the poet, the cultural context and historical background for each one. English versions of all the poems are at the end of the book.

Poems are an important part of Chinese culture, and the ones included here are some of the best known, studied by Chinese schoolchildren from an early age. For foreign students of Chinese, these poems present a unique opportunity to get to know the culture and to strengthen their command of the language at the same time. All of the poems here are classics, and their study provides an entry into Chinese literature far more readily than immersion in weighty novels. Each poem is short and easy to assimilate; memorising the poems, both to write and to declaim, helps to embed the characters in the mind, and to build up confidence in reading, writing and speaking the language.

The poems are presented in such a way that the tools are available to understand each one, but the reader has the opportunity to come to their own conclusion as to the interpretation of the poem – in exactly the same way as an established scholar of Chinese might do. Reading a Chinese poem is a bit like solving a riddle, and indeed, the information and clues provided here are sufficient to allow even someone with no previous knowledge of Chinese to appreciate the beauty of these poems.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Contents
• 1. 寻隐者不遇 （贾岛 - 唐） Xún Yǐn Zhě Bù Yù (Jiǎ Dǎo - Táng)
• 2. 七步诗 （曹植 - 三国 - 魏） Qī Bù Shī (Cáo Zhí - Sān Guó - Wèi)
• 3. 悯农 （李绅 - 唐） Mǐn Nóng (Lǐ Shēn - Táng)
• 4. 春晓 （孟浩然 - 唐） Chūn Xiǎo (Mèng Hào Rán - Táng)
• 5. 回乡偶书 （贺知章 - 唐） Huí Xiāng Ǒu Shū (Hè Zhī Zhāng - Táng)
• 6. 草 （白居易 - 唐） Cǎo (Bái Jū Yì - Táng)
• 7. 夜宿山寺 （李白 - 唐） Yè Sù Shān Sì (Lǐ Bái - Táng)
• 8. 静夜思 （李白 - 唐） Jìng Yè Sī (Lǐ Bái - Táng)
• 9. 独坐敬亭山 （李白 - 唐） Dú Zuò Jìng Tíng Shān (Lǐ Bái - Táng)
• 10. 寂寂东坡 （苏轼 - 宋） Jì Jì Dōng Pō (Sū Shì - Sòng)
• 11. 赠外孙 （王安石 - 宋） Zèng Wài Sūn (Wáng Ān Shí - Sòng)
• 12. 鹿柴 （王维 - 唐） Lù Chái (Wáng Wéi - Táng)
• 13. 孟城坳 （王维 - 唐） Mèng Chéng Ào (Wáng Wéi - Táng)
• 14. 登鹳鹊楼 (王之涣 - 唐) Dēng Guǎn Què Lóu (Wáng Zhī Huàn - Táng)
• 15. 秋夕 （杜牧 - 唐） Qiū Xī (Dù Mù - Táng)
• 16. 有约 （赵师秀 - 唐） Yǒu Yuē (Zháo Shī Xiù - Táng)
• 17. 绝句 （杜甫 - 唐） Jué Jù (Dù Fǔ - Táng)
• 18. 暮江吟 （白居易 - 唐） Mù Jiāng Yín (Bái Jū Yì - Táng)
• 19. 秋浦歌 其五 （李白 - 唐） Qiū Pǔ Gē Qí Wǔ (Lǐ Bái - Táng)
• 20. 竹枝词 (刘禹锡 - 唐） Zhú Zhī Cí (Liú Yǔ Xī - Táng)
• 21. 其二 （杜牧 - 唐） Qí Èr (Dù Mù - Táng)
• 22. 枫桥夜泊 （张继 - 唐） Fēng Qiáo Yè Bó (Zhāng Jì - Táng)
• 23. 春暮 （曹豳 - 宋） Chūn Mù (Cáo Bīn - Sòng)
• 24. 游园不直 （叶绍翁 - 宋） Yóu Yuán Bù Zhí (Yè Shào Wēng - Sòng)
• 25. 春晴 （王驾 - 唐） Chūn Qíng (Wáng Jià - Táng)
• 26. 湖上 （徐元杰 - 宋） Hú Shàng (Xú Yuán Jié - Sòng)
• 27. 乐游原 （李商隐 - 唐） Lè Yóu Yuán (Lǐ Shāng Yǐn - Táng)
• 28. 早发白帝城 （李白 - 唐） Zǎo Fā Bái Dì Chéng (Lǐ Bái - Táng)
• Ān Lùshān Rebellion
• Renditions of poems in English