The Poems of Meng Haoran: Translations from Classical Chinese

Book excerpt: The Poems of Meng Haoran is a collection of English translations from Classical Chinese of the 267 extant poems of the Tang Dynasty poet, Meng Haoran (689-740 CE), one of the important and influential figures of the "golden age" of Chinese poetry. The source of the Chinese texts is the Quan Tang shi (The complete Tang poetry, 1705 CE). In addition to translations of the poems, this volume also contains an introduction by the translator, a set of appendices that includes translations of the surviving early documents of the of the life of the poet, and an extensive glossary of Chinese terms, names and places to which reference is made in the poems. Standard pinyin romanization is used for transliteration and Chinese characters are supplied for poem titles and terms in the glossary and at appropriate places in the preface and introduction.