Confucian Documents

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• A Feast of Lanterns Index

  | | A Feast of Lanterns by L. Cranmer-Byng [1916] | This is a short anthology of translations of classic Chinese poetry, including such…

• A Feast of Lanterns: A Word From The Wind

  From an ancient Chinese Ballad of the fourth century A.D. There is some one of whom I keep a-thinking; There is some one whom I visit in my…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Advertisements

  The following advertisements appeared at the end of the original book. They are included for completeness. The object of the Editors of…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Anon: Calycanthus Flower

  Robed in pale yellow gown she leans apart, Guarding her secret trust inviolate; With mouth that, scarce unclosed, but faintly breathes Its…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Anon: Plum Blossom

  The following two poems are anonymous, and belong to the Manchu period. They are but two of a series of flower studies endowing each flower…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Anon: Riding by Moonlight

  Out of the glistening gorge below The orient moon swims full and slow. Hair dishevelled and sleeves blown wide, Into the kind cool night I…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Ch‘ang-Ch‘ien: Ch‘...

  The story of the beautiful Chao-Chün is a favourite theme of Chinese poets and ballad-mongers. The Emperor Kaotsu, the founder of the…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Ch‘ang-Ch‘ien: The Tomb of Chao-Chün

  Night fell on chariots to the frontier ranged, But horses champed, for none were fain to part. Each cursed the lying hand, the traitor's…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Editorial Note

  The object of the Editors of this series is a very definite one. They desire above all things that, in their humble way, these books shall…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Han Yü: Disappointment

  One of the wittiest and most brilliant of the Tang statesmen and philosophers, Han Yü's poetry has been overshadowed by his prose essays…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Introduction: Chinese Verse Form

  In a previous book, A Lute of Jade, I have referred to the structure of Chinese verse. It is necessary to remember that the Chinese…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Introduction: Conclusion

  The great storehouse of Chinese poetry is still untouched. Forty-eight thousand nine hundred are the collected poems of the T‘ang dynasty…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Introduction: Dragons

  The Dragon is one of the four spiritually endowed creatures of China, the others being the Unicorn, the Phoenix, and the Tortoise. There…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Introduction: Epochs in Chinese Poetry

  Great dynasties in China made for great art and literature largely under the influence of a national awakening. Expeditions and embassies…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Introduction: Flowers

  In the time of the T‘ang dynasty there lived a retired scholar whose name was Hsuan-wei. He never married, but dwelt alone, yet his…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Introduction: Introduction

  In Spring, "for sheer delight," sang Yuan Mei, "I set the lanterns swinging through the trees." This was no formal Feast of Lanterns held…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Introduction: Moon

  The moon hangs low over the old continent of Chinese poetry. Chang O, Moon-goddess, is the beautiful pale watcher of the human drama, and…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Introduction: Sources of Inspiration

  "Once upon a time the Emperor Yuen Tsung, of the T‘ang dynasty, had imperial ink called Dragon Fragrance. One day he saw in the ink little…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Li Po: Along the Stream

  The rustling nightfall strews my gown with roses, And wine-flushed petals bring forgetfulness Of shadow after shadow striding past. I arise…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Li Po: Bright Autumntide

  I climb the mountain of Tsyu-i. I look down on clear rivers. Coldly the Syan speeds along, cold as it widens to meet the sea.

• A Feast of Lanterns: Li Po: II. Sadness

  The east wind has returned. The green of the grass renews and I know that spring is here. Streams unbound awake into the dance of life.

• A Feast of Lanterns: Li Po: III. Sorrow

  Dawn reddens in the wake of night; but the days of our life return not. Sweet-scented orchids blot out the path; but they die in the drift…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Li Po: Li Po

  The greatest of all the Chinese lyrists, Li Po was a child of Nature and subject like her to infinite moods. He may perhaps be called a…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Li Po: Spring Rhapsodies: I. Delight

  Once more Heaven bids the plough-star drive before the spring, and turn its handle to the east, Spring—the blue harmonies of tumultuous…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Li Po: The Palace of Chao-Yang

  No more the peach-tree droops beneath the snow; Spring draws her breath the willow boughs among. The mango-bird now maddens into song, And…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Li Po: The Two Visits

  I crossed the White Stream at its slender source When Dawn first cleft the tangle of the stars And shook the darkness from her. And I saw…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Lines From the Tomb of an Unknown Woman

  Sacred Texts Confucianism Index Previous Next Buy this Book on Kindle A Feast of Lanterns, by L. Cranmer-Byng, [1916] p. 39 LINES FROM THE…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Liu Chi: Night, Sorrow, and Song

  The rain's in the air And the winds arouse, Shaking the cinnamon boughs, And the begonias' gay parterre; Raising dust and wreathing mist…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Liu Chi: The Convent of Siang-Fu

  The most celebrated of the poets belonging to the Mongol period, Liu Chi was also one of the foremost adherents of the rising dynasty of…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Liu Ch‘ang: Autumn Thoughts

  Sacred Texts Confucianism Index Previous Next Buy this Book on Kindle A Feast of Lanterns, by L. Cranmer-Byng, [1916] p. 81 LIU CH‘ANG…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Liu Ch‘ang: On Waking From Sleep

  Sacred Texts Confucianism Index Previous Next Buy this Book on Kindle A Feast of Lanterns, by L. Cranmer-Byng, [1916] ON WAKING FROM SLEEP…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Liu Tzu-Hui: Autumn Moonlight

  Sacred Texts Confucianism Index Previous Next Buy this Book on Kindle A Feast of Lanterns, by L. Cranmer-Byng, [1916] AUTUMN MOONLIGHT Not…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Liu Tzu-Hui: Listening to the Harp

  The crowded chords I see not, but the heart Made visible by music far away Spells me her dreams. Ah! mourns she not the tryst New made and…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Lu Yu: Song of Three Gorges

  Sacred Texts Confucianism Index Previous Next Buy this Book on Kindle A Feast of Lanterns, by L. Cranmer-Byng, [1916] p. 80 LU YU A.D.

• A Feast of Lanterns: Note

  I am indebted to the editors of The Nation, The English Review, and The Poetry Review, for their kind permission to reproduce several of…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Ou-Yang Hsiu: Bell Hill

  In the ravine the water wanders through; Soundless it laps the stems of tall bamboo. Westward a tiny strip of green all scrolled With fairy…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Ou-Yang Hsiu: Return

  Ou-Yang Hsiu, Chief Minister of State 1061 A.D., was one of the two foremost poets of the Sung dynasty. His poems, which have been all too…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Ou-Yang Hsiu: Songs of the Night

  Spring-time, and sounds of the streaming water-fall; Deep night, on shrunken hill-tops spreads her pall. The moon steers through a maze of…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Ou-Yang Hsiu: The Pavillion of Abounding Joy

  Red trees, green hills in the sunset, and steppes of boundless grass. O little the pilgrim reckons of the Spring about to pass. In front of…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Ou-Yang Hsiu: Wild Geese

  Sacred Texts Confucianism Index Previous Next Buy this Book on Kindle A Feast of Lanterns, by L. Cranmer-Byng, [1916] WILD GEESE When wild…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Page Index

  Index A Feast of Lanterns: Page Index page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 page 9 page 10 page 11 page 12 page 13 page…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Po Chü-i: A Night on Lake T‘ai

  Water and sky, as dusk folds down, together blend in a grey green mist Clear silhouettes of the trees are limned on a sunset of rose and…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Po Chü-i: In Yung-Yang

  One of the greatest statesmen that China has produced. Po Chü-i comes nearer to our idea of a poet of the Romantic School than most Chinese…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Po Chü-i: Morning Studies

  Smooth and white the walls that ring the pool, Carefully swept the rose-walk's mossy green, Across the water dimpling winds blow cool Where…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Po Chü-i: Myself

  What of myself? I am like unto the sere chrysanthemum That is shorn by the frost-blade, and, torn from its roots, Whirled away on the wind…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Po Chü-i: Rain at Dawn

  RAIN AT DAWN At dawn the crickets shrill, then cease their ’plain, The dying candle flickers through my eaves; Though windows bar the wild…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Po Chü-i: The Little Crow

  THE LITTLE CROW The little lonely crow Hovered around a little empty nest, Waiting and wailing for the mother breast. Ah! cold and far…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Su Tung-p‘o: At the Kuang-Li Pavilion

  Red-skirted ladies, robed for fairyland, all have flown, But my heart to the wail of their long reed-pipes lilts on: Their clarion songs…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Su Tung-p‘o: Dreaming at Golde...

  Together with Ou-Yang Hsiu, Su Tung-p‘o ranks as the foremost poet of his age. His whole career is curiously similar to that of the older…

• A Feast of Lanterns: Su Tung-p‘o: Farewell to Chao ...

  Long do I sorrow that the spring should end; Fain is the host to stay the parting friend. When for a while the dull routine is done, We…

*Date-written sort isn't available yet - none of the five sources currently capture a work's original composition/publication date, only when it was harvested. Falls back to A–Z for now.