Selected Poems of Taiwan

AnonymousJun 2024

3.6

Word count: 212K words
Chapters: 27

Summary

Traditional Chinese culture and thought have a long history and are highly original, inventive and literary. Early forms of thought are particularly distinctive: religious theology, classical texts of Chinese medicine, ancient military strategy, Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism and the Hundred Schools of Thought, feng shui and metaphysics, the Twenty-Four Histories, and local customs and geography are all vast and profound in content. This series, "Original Texts of the Essence of Classical Chinese Culture", preserves the appearance of the original books and focuses on preserving and transmitting traditional Chinese thought and culture. By reading the literary essence left by ancient sages, readers can cultivate their temperament and imperceptibly come to appreciate the classics of Chinese learning.

Editor's review

This book is one volume in the series "Original Texts of the Essence of Classical Chinese Culture". It gathers poems related to Taiwan in the form of a poetry collection and preserves the appearance of the original book. A poetry collection of this kind has a dual character, being both an anthology and a body of source material: readers can encounter the prosody and imagery of old-style poems, and through the poems catch glimpses of local scenery, human affairs and social exchanges, and the circles of literati. Unlike a systematic history of poetry or a collected edition of a famous poet, the value of a poetry collection lies in presenting a kind of reading scene shaped by compilation: not every piece is necessarily polished, yet together they constitute the actual face of poetic writing within a certain scope. For readers who wish to approach traditional literature through poetry, this book offers a relatively concrete textual entry point; for researchers concerned with local documents and the transmission of old-style poetry, it can also serve as material for checking and comparison. When reading, one may group the pieces by theme or genre, first clarifying words and allusions, then appreciating tone and sentiment; there is no need to finish it in one sitting. It is suitable as a bedside anthology for selective reading.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in old-style poetry and local poetry collections
Readers who wish to approach traditional culture through poetic texts
Students and researchers who need to check materials on poems related to Taiwan

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting modern or contemporary poetry anthologies
Beginning readers who need detailed annotations and piece-by-piece explanations

Reading tips

Read selectively by genre or theme, a few pieces at a time, first clarifying words and allusions, then appreciating prosody and sentiment.
Keep a rhyme dictionary or reference work on allusions at hand and check difficulties as they arise; there is no need to read every piece closely.
Read alongside other works in the same series, understanding the poems in the context of local scenery and human affairs.

版权信息
台湾诗钞卷一
台湾诗钞卷二
台湾诗钞卷三
台湾诗钞卷四
台湾诗钞卷五
台湾诗钞卷六
台湾诗钞卷七
台湾诗钞卷九
台湾诗钞卷十
台湾诗钞卷十一
台湾诗钞卷十二
台湾诗钞卷十三
台湾诗钞卷十四
台湾诗钞卷十五
台湾诗钞卷十六
台湾诗钞卷十七
台湾诗钞卷十八
台湾诗钞卷十九
台湾诗钞卷二十
台湾诗钞卷二十一
台湾诗钞卷二十二
台湾诗钞卷二十三
台湾诗钞卷二十四
台湾诗钞卷二十五
附录一
附录二

FAQ

Does this book collect modern poetry or old-style poetry?

Judging from the traditional compiling form of the "poetry collection" and the positioning of the series to which it belongs, this book gathers old-style poems and preserves the appearance of the original book. It is not an anthology of modern or contemporary poetry; readers should read it as traditional poetry, attending to prosody, allusions and imagery rather than judging it by the standards of modern poetry.

Without annotations, will it be very difficult to read?

The book focuses on preserving the appearance of the original, so annotations and explanations are relatively limited, and allusions and vocabulary in old-style poetry may indeed create obstacles for readers. It is advisable to keep reference works such as rhyme dictionaries and dictionaries of allusions at hand for checking, or to begin with pieces whose language is relatively plain and build up gradually; there is no need to read the whole book straight through from the start.

How should one read a poetry collection of this kind effectively?

A poetry collection is both an anthology and a body of source material, so it should not be forced through from beginning to end like a single poet's collection. One may group pieces by genre, theme or author and read a few closely at a time, first clarifying words and allusions, then appreciating prosody and sentiment; it can also be used as bedside material for checking and comparison, together with local documents and related background materials.

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About the author

Anonymous Author

Anonymous is not a real personal name but a general Chinese designation for authors whose names are unknown, lost, or unsigned. Neither nationality nor dates of birth and death can be verified, and available public information is limited, so the works attributed to this name are the only basis for description. The collection holds 2,078 works under Anonymous, spanning medicine, classics, historical readings, ancient poetry, classical literature, and philosophy. Representative works include The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon: Lingshu, Mencius, The Book of Documents, Nineteen Old Poems, Complete Song Ci, and The Peacock Flies Southeast. Most of these works took shape through long transmission and editing, emerging either from collective folk creation or from authors whose names were lost over time. In ancient China, the Book of Songs, the Great Learning, and many popular storybooks and plays were signed Anonymous because their authors could not be traced. Anonymous works cross the classics, histories, philosophical writings, medical texts, and poetry; their subjects are broad, and their styles vary from archaic simplicity to clear naturalness, making them important and influential sources for understanding ancient Chinese thought, medicine, and literature.