Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Moon As Bright As Water: Seventeen Poems By Qin Guan

Moon As Bright As Water: Seventeen Poems By Qin Guan

McNaughton, William
Young, David

Paperback

General Poetry

ISBN10: 1543085504
ISBN13: 9781543085501
Publisher: Createspace
Published: Feb 12 2017
Pages: 38
Weight: 0.11
Height: 0.09 Width: 5.00 Depth: 7.99
Language: English
Translated by William McNaughton, former chair at Hong Kong University, and poet David Young at Oberlin College, these poems showcase Qin Guan, a relatively unknown 11th -century master of Chinese verse whose company could include the likes of the esteemed Li Po (Li Bai) and Du Fu. Praised by the illustrious Wang An-shih, Guan was a disciple of Su Shih (Su Dongpo) one of China's masters of multiple literary forms, and who strived to loosen the poetic conventions of the day. As an acolyte would, Qin Guan blew out the conventional even more by writing about his encounters with courtesans, a subject considered to be a major indiscretion by Chinese society in Keifing. He wrote is a style called t'zu, a lyrical form that McNaughton likens to cabaret songs or words to music often chosen by the courtesans to sing during their professional entertainments. Quong lived a tumultuous life during the Northern Sung Dynasty (A.D. 960-1127) Political clashes led to a string of banishments and exiles, his poetry was shunned for its sensuality, and he suffered from the vicissitudes of love-all of which moved him to write these brief, incandescent poems of departure and long goodbyes.

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