Cathay

Ezra Pound (1885 - 1972) and Ernest Fenollosa (1853 - 1908)

The Cathay poems appeared in a slim volume in 1915. They are, in effect, Ezra Pound’s English translations/interpretations from notebooks written by the Japanese scholar Ernest Fenollosa. Pound, not knowing any Chinese or Japanese at all, promptly created a new and somewhat complex style of translation, as he had done with words from several other languages. The Cathay poems are primarily written by the Chinese poet Li Po, referred to throughout these translations as Rihaku, the Japanese form of his name. These poems came to have a profound influence on 20th Century poetry, spawning, among other things, the Imagist movement, and helped in the generation of widespread interest in Asian literature and thought. Also included in this collection are two poems from Pound’s 1912 collection Ripostes. “The Seafarer” is another of Pound’s experiments in translation, this one from the Anglo-Saxon. (Summary by Alan Davis-Drake)

Genre(s): Poetry

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 01 Song of the Bowmen of Shu Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
00:02:24
Play 02 Beautiful Toilet, The Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
00:01:07
Play 03 River Song, The Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
00:03:19
Play 04 River Merchant’s Wife: A Letter, The Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
00:02:13
Play 05 Poem by the Bridge at Ten-Shin Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
00:02:30
Play 06 Jewel Stair’s Grievance, The Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
00:01:21
Play 07 Lament of the Frontier Guard Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
00:02:03
Play 08 Exile’s Letter Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
00:05:54
Play 09 Four Poems of Departure Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
00:02:48
Play 10 City of Choan, The Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
00:01:16
Play 11 South-Folk In Cold Country Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
00:01:26
Play 12 Sennin Poem by Kakuhaku Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
00:01:31
Play 13 Ballad of the Mulberry Tree, A Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
00:01:30
Play 14 Old Idea of Choan by Rosoriu Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
00:02:18
Play 15 To Em-Mei’s : The Unmoving Cloud Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
00:02:30
Play 16 Seafarer, The Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
00:07:07
Play 17 Alchemist, The Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
00:04:41