POEMS FROM CHINA
THE PEOPLE SPEAK OUT, translations of poems and songs of the people of China; PEACE THROUGH THE AGES, transtations from the poets of China; translated and published by Rewi Alley, Peking. ‘| HESE anthologies have a background of hunger, war and the fear of war. Beginning with extracts from the Shih Ching, or Book of Odes, which dates back to the days of Confucius, and concluding with some recent poetry written under the new Communist regime, the poenis that have been selected have for theme the unrest and suffering of the Chinese peasant and soldier over the centuries in the ever-recurring floods, famine and wars. The People Speak Out, which is divided into two sections, is. arranged to illustrate some of the changes that have come to the peasant with the coming of Communism, the first section containing titles like "The Last Bit of Bran.’ "The Hired Man," "The Yoke of the Landlord," and the second, "People’s Hope," "Widening Horizons," "Group Song." Peace Through the Ages is concerned | with soldiering, hardships of war and the desire of the Chinese for peace. In| the later poems there is much bitter (continued on next page)
BOOK
(continued from previous page) anger against the old society, against the Japanese, Chiang Kai-shek and the Americans. Al] the translations are simple, direct, colloquial; their main purpose, Rewi Alley states in a preface, "is to try and carry through the poet's idea into that kind of language which would enable the ordinary people of the English-speaking world to receive much of impact of the message given." But this with the loss of the serenity, the detached suggestiveness that we have learnt to associate with Chinese poetry. The old, leisurely, happy-go-lucky, gay or melancholy meandering that can be so charming is replaced by a kind ef military briskness. For the sake of the message the interpretation of a poem sometimes differs widely from translations with which we have become familiar in the work of Waley. Robert
Payne and others. :
Ruth
Dallas
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 801, 26 November 1954, Page 13
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336POEMS FROM CHINA New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 801, 26 November 1954, Page 13
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