Review by Booklist Review
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 Copyright 2003 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
