Facing the Moon: Poems of Li Bai and Du Fu, feature translations of two of China’s most celebrated poets. They had a lasting impact on Chinese poetry throughout the ages, from classical sources down to Mao Zedong.
The poems are by no means simple, declarative statements of harmony with nature or the Dao - despite the fog shrouded mountains on cover. They explore wrenching existential political, and family problems.
Yet one can’t help but think of mist shrouded mountains, home to hermits in huts, when reading many of these poems. For westerners, there is the deep pull of this Chinese ideal of harmony – even when it is not truly there.
The poems are by no means simple, declarative statements of harmony with nature or the Dao - despite the fog shrouded mountains on cover. They explore wrenching existential political, and family problems.
Yet one can’t help but think of mist shrouded mountains, home to hermits in huts, when reading many of these poems. For westerners, there is the deep pull of this Chinese ideal of harmony – even when it is not truly there.
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