Selected Poems of Chu Yuan

Selected Poems of Chu Yuan -Annotated Bilingual Edition
Rendered into English by Sun Dayu
Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2007
Paperback, 9.375 x 6.625 inches 572 pages
ISBN 9787544604598

Chu Yuan (or Qu Yuan, circ. 339-278, or 345-286 B.C.) is one of the great poets in ancient China. The history of poetry in China dates back for more than three thousand years according to written records. The number of poets, who left behind their names counts up by the thousands. Among those who turned out volumes of memorable poems, Chu Yuan takes the lead. Selected and translated poems include "Lee Sao: Suffering Throes", "Nine Songs", Sylva of Nine Pieces", "Distant Wanderings", "Divining to Know Where I Should Stay", "The Fisherman".

"As a flaming spirit of eternity, Chu Yuan is extolled as a thinker, personality, statesman and poet of the first magnitude in his native land. His conception of beneficence for the commonweal of the people as the beau-ideal of his political philosophy in close connection with ethics, and his deeds of fortitude through tribulation and martyrizing suicide cannot but give universality and permanence to him when immortalized by his superexcellent, fiery poetry. His hatred of tyranny and aggression was in his life as is in his poetry on a par with love of humanity and justice. His valiant, selfless opposition to totalitarian power politics-the regal and legalized terrorism of Tsing and its insidious spy trickeries-inconsequence of his whole-hearted support of united coalition in Ts'ou's foreign policy against cross conjunction, has won him on everlasting renown. So, in China's history, he keeps good company with the three hwang, five t'ih, three kings and their excellent ministers and Confucius and Mencius, as ho has openly avouched his place in these lines:
The world is in a muddle, kenning me not,
Heedless of it, I fleetly ride aloft;
Bridling blue dragonets two, white dragons three;
I and Tsoon-hwah range the land of the fairy.
Ascending the heights of the Mountains Quen-lung,
I eat gem sprouts that give life immortal;
Enjoying longevity with Heaven and Earth,
I vie in glory with the moon and sun. (ll. 6-12, Over the Streams)"
    --Sun Dayu's Introduction

Sun Dayu has devoted during his long life so much of his time and energy to the study and translation of Chu Yuan's poetry that there develops an intellectual as well as an emotional affinity between the ancient poet and the living.

This book of Sun's with its text featuring such beautiful wording, appropriate and precise as well as verifiably faithful in meaning , and such exceedingly detailed explanations and annotations so steeped in academic research as not easily to be superseded or neglected. It is the first contribution in a magnificent volume by a Chinese scholar and poet to the society. It will be glistening with unique beams of its own all the time.

About English Translator
Sun Dayu, born in 1905 in Shanghai, is a native of Zhuji County, Zhejiang province. His original name is Sun Ming-chuan and his style, Shou-zhu. Having successfully completed his courses, in the senior class, at Qing Hua College (now, Qing Hua University) in Beijing in 1925, he went to the U.S. to continue his education at Dartmouth College in 1926, and graduated as A.B. magna cum laude in 1928. During 1928-1930, he pursued a postgraduate study of English and American literature at Yale University, and then, came back in 1930 as professor of English literature at Wuhan University, Beijing Normal University, Women's College of Arts and Sciences, Beijing University, Qingdao University, Zhejiang University, Jinan University, Central Politics Institute, Fudan University and East China Normal University respectively. Chief works are The Book of Sun Sudan in A Collection of Modern Chinese Poetry, Sun Dayu's Book of Poems and Other Writings, Selected Poems of Chü Yuan (English Translation), translations of Shakespeare's works of Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, Macbeth, The Tempest, The Winter's Tale, Romeo and Juliet and The Merchant of Venice.

Chinese Painting Illustrations ("Chu Yuan," "Lee Sao: Suffering Throes," "The King of Clouds," "The Lady of Hsiang," "The Major God of Life-ruling," "The Minor God of Life-ruling," "East King," "The Count of Ho," "The Mountain Sprite," "Hymn on Spirits of State Warriors Slain in War," and "Epode to All the Hymns Above") by Liu Danzhai.

英译屈原诗选
—外教社中国文化汉外对照丛书
译者：孙大雨
出版社：上海外语教育出版社
版次：2007年9月第2版
印次：2007年9月版第1次印刷
页数：572 页
开本：16开平装
ISBN：9787544604598

屈原(约公元前339-约前278)，战国时期的楚国诗人、政治家,“楚辞”的创立者和代表作者。屈原作品,据刘向、刘歆父子的校定和王逸的注本，有25 篇。 中国诗歌的历史有文字可孝的长达三年多年。中国载入史册的诗人成千上万。屈原是写出大是不朽杰作的带头的第一位。由于年代的久远，汉语和汉语的变化和发展，现代中国人阅读和欣赏屈原作品已经感到困难很多。然而借助于注释、现代语言的翻译，以及许多学者的讲解和介绍，中国读者只要有钻研，还是可以克服困难的。

作者简介
孙大雨(1905- 1997)，祖籍浙江省诸暨市，出生地上海。1925年毕业于北京清华学校高等科。1926年赴美国留学，就读于达德穆斯学院，1928年获高级荣誉毕业。1928-1930年在耶鲁大学研究生院专攻英文文学。1930年回国后，所任武汉大学、北师范大学，北平大学女子文理学院、北京大学，青岛大学、浙江大学、暨南大学、中央政治学校、复旦大学、华东师范大学等校英文文学教授。主要著作有：《中国新诗库¡¤孙大雨卷》、《孙大雨诗文集》、《屈原诗选英译》、《古诗文英译集》、《英诗选译集》以及翻译莎士比亚的作品《罕秣莱德》、《黎琊王》、《奥赛罗》、《麦克自斯》、《暴风雨》、《冬日故事》、《罗密欧与居丽晔》和《威尼斯商人》。