Out on the Autumn River: Selected Poems of Du Mu

Poetry. Asian Studies. Translated from the Chinese by David Young and Jiann I. Lin. Du Mu (803-852) is admired among the many gifted poets of the late Tang Dynasty for his immense technical skill--especially his mastery of the short lyric--and for his observant delight in the world around him. In a difficult life and a difficult time, he nevertheless managed to find sensuous joy in birds, wine, flowers, women, seasons, and, not least, China's great river systems, where he traveled both in his official duties and as a poet curious about his world. His poems still brim with life, humor, and wonder, and this generous selection of them is the first full-length volume in English. David Young is well known as both a translator and a poet. Jiann I. Lin is East Asian Librarian at Oberlin College.