Review: How to Read Chinese Poetry, edited by Zong-Qi Cai

This guided anthology is an autodidact’s dream. It provides the breadth and depth of a university-level course in Chinese poetry, assuming little familiarity with Chinese literature, language or history. 

After an introduction to the general content and form of traditional Chinese poetry, each chapter focuses on a particular time period and style of poetry, starting with the Shijing (11th-7th centuries BCE), and ending with the Ming and Qing dynasties (1400s-1912). These chapters present and analyze a selection of representative poems, which are provided in translation, in traditional Chinese script, in pinyin, and in transliterated characters. This format allows appreciation of the emotional content of the poems, their syllabic patterns, the ambiguity in meaning, and the beauty of the organization of the characters. The chapters are written by different contributors, and so the historical and interpretive context provided and the emphasis of the analyses vary between chapters, however I found them to be consistently educational and enriching of my understanding of each era and style. 

The book then concludes with a chapter considering how specific aspects of the Chinese language lend themselves to the poetic devices commonly employed, and how grammatical constructs and thus presentation of ideas varied across the different eras as line length and structure changed. While the book does not assume the reader knows Mandarin, I believe my elementary grasp of the language helped me appreciate this chapter more (and in turn, this chapter helped me appreciate the beauty of the language).

While I found the regulated verse of the Tang dynasty impressive — the constraints in tone and structure produced some gorgeous creativity — I found the lyrical poems of the Song dynasties more often touched my heart. I was also delighted by the simple but timeless works of the ancient Shijing. The chronological order of the chapters also gave me an appreciation for the evolution in style, and the change in the role of elevated speech as society evolves.

I’d recommend this as a work for anyone with a broad interest in Chinese literature, which so often references their poetic tradition, or for anyone who enjoys studying ancient poetry.