Autumn Willows : Poetry by Women of China's Golden Age

From Booklist
Chinese culture reached its height during the Tang dynasty, 618-905, and the greatest Tang poets--Wang Wei, Li Po, Tu Fu, and Po Chu-I--are the commanding figures in Chinese literature. Tang China also boasted accomplished women poets. They aren't much translated--but see Kenneth Rexroth and Ling Chung's The Orchid Boat: Women Poets of China (1972)--so Chow and Cleary's versions of poems by three of them (rhymed, yet, like the old Chinese!) are welcome. Li Ye and Yu Xuanji were Taoist priestesses, brilliant and perhaps "uppity"--at any rate, both met violent deaths. Xue Tao was once a slave entertainer of military leaders; well educated, she traded verses with many reputable male poets during her long life. All three women's poems are full of the separations and reunitings of lovers and friends--stock Chinese themes that each exploits distinctively. Li and Yu's higher status shows, while Xue manifests a poorer person's greater intimacy with nature. Each effects the exquisite marriage of place and emotion for which classic Chinese poetry is prized. Ray Olson
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Book Description
The fabled middle Tang dynasty of China lasted almost three hundred years (618_905). These centuries embodied martial conflict, unbelievable wealth and opulence for a few, and horrible poverty for many. Through it all, an unwieldy caste system governed lord and serf alike. In this exotic, beautiful, and forbidding culture, poetry was revered and practiced by many. Three women poets, especially, endured through the centuries as the voices of their time. For the first time in English, the poetry of the Taoist priestesses, Le Yi and Yu Xuanji, and the slave, Xue Tao is presented.


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The fabled middle Tang dynasty of China lasted almost three hundred years (618-905). These centuries embodied martial conflict, unbelievable wealth and opulence for a few, and horrible poverty for many. Through it all, an unwieldy caste system governed lord and serf alike. In this exotic, beautiful, and forbidding culture, poetry was revered and practiced by many. Three women poets, especially, endured through the centuries as the voices of their time. For the first time in English, the poetry of the Taoist priestesses, Le Yi and Yu Xuanji, and the slave, Xue Tao is presented.


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