“What I have set out to do is to provide for an English-speaking reader with a general interest in the subject matter but who does not read Chinese some general impression of what, to a Chinese reader, is conveyed by the words or characters of the poems …
“[Li Yu’s] poetry is widely read, much loved and the subject of lengthy scholarly analysis. Most Chinese school children will know two or three of these poems by heart. However, his work is not at all well known outside Chinese communities. This is surprising because he is a very accessible poet in the sense that his poetry is largely free of the complex, and frequently obscure, historical and literary references which bedevil the understanding of a good deal of classical Chinese poetry. He wrote directly from the heart about his emotions in simple and direct but lyrical language. There is a haunting melancholy in his verse.”
Each poem is presented in three versions – the original Chinese ideographs; a pin yin phonetic version; and a translation in English.
