Pink Floyd's Allusions to Chinese Poetry:
Sources
Crossing over from A. C. Graham's translations of Chinese poetry to the original Chinese versions wasn't too painful as long as I was relying on modern Chinese sources. It was when I started looking at critical commentaries in Classical Chinese in an effort to understand more obscure poems that I literally started to 'get out of my depth and out of my mind'. Any shortcomings in the analysis of the poems on this site must be attributed to my woefully inadequate knowledge of Classical Chinese.
Sources used in writing this site are shown below. For on-line sources, please look at my Web Links.
| Poems of the Late T'ang | A. C. Graham | Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1965 | This is the source of the lyrics and an excellent anthology of poetry translations to boot. Very readable introduction to the Translation of Chinese Poetry. |
| The Penguin Book of Chinese Verse | Robert Kotewall and Norman L. Smith | Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1962 | Excellent introduction by A. R. Davis. |
| 三李詩鑒賞辭典 唐：李白 李賀 李商隱 (Dictionary for Appreciation of the Three Li: Li Bai, Li He, Li Shangyin) |
宋緒連 初旭 主編 (Edited by Song Xulian & Chu Xu) |
吉林文史出版社 Jilin Wenshi Chubanshe, Changchun 1992 |
Useful, but interpretations are distorted by a socialist version of the Chinese conventional view that poetry must have a moral and utilitarian purpose. |
| 李贺诗歌赏析集 (Collection for Appreciation and Analysis of Li He's Poetry) |
傅经顺 主编 (Edited by Fu Jingshun) |
巴蜀书社 Bashu Shushe, Sichuan 1996 |
Very useful. |
| 三家評注：李長吉歌詩 (Poetry of Li Changji: Annotations by three critics) |
王琦等評注 (Annotated by Wang Qi and others) |
上海古籍出版社 Shanghai Guji Chubanshe, Shanghai 1998 |
Annotations on Li He's poetry by the Qing Dynasty critic Wang Qi and others. Relatively easy to understand despite being in Classical Chinese. (Li Chang-ji is Li He) |
| 李商隐全集 附李贺诗集 (Complete Collection of Li Shangyin. Appendix: Collection of Poetry of Li He) |
朱怀春 曹光甫 高克勤 标点 (Punctuated by Zhu Huaichun, Cao Guangfu, Gao Keqin) |
上海古籍出版社 Shanghai Guji Chubanshe, Shanghai 1999 |
Texts only with no commentary. |
| 李商隱詩歌集解 (Analysis of Li Shangyin's Collected Poems) |
劉學鍇 余恕誠 著 (Liu Xuekai and Yu Shucheng) |
中華書局 Zhonghua Shuju, Beijing 1998 |
Where I met my nemesis. 5 volumes of extended commentary by critics in Classical Chinese. |
| 李商隠 （中国詩人選集15） Li Shōin (Selection of Chinese Poets 15) |
高橋和巳 注 (Annotated by Takahashi Kazumi) |
岩波書店 Iwanami Shoten, Tokyo 1958 |
Provided some extra information on some poems |
| 杜牧詩選 (Selection of Poetry by Du Mu) |
缪钺 选注 (Selected and Annotated by Miao Yue) |
人民文学出版社 Renmin Wenxue Chubanshe, Beijing 1997 |
Texts with limited commentary. |
| Li Sao and Other Poems of Chu Yuan Second Edition |
Yang Hsien-yi & Gladys Yang | Foreign Languages Press, Peking 1955 | Translation of 'The Riddles' (Questions to Heaven) and other poetry of Qu Yuan. Kuo Mo-jo's 'Sketch of Chu Yuan' is very useful. |
Besides the above, the poem 'Wanderer's Song' by Meng Jiao was photocopied from a collection of the poet's works, for which I do not have publication details.
