New Songs from a Jade Terrace An Anthology of Early Chinese Love Poetry, Translated with Annotations and an Introduction

This book, first published in 1982, was the first translation of the Chinese classic Yü-t-‘ai hsin-yung – the unique anthology of love poems, compiled in AD 545. This traces the development of love poetry from the second century BC to its full flowering in the fifth and sixth centuries AD. Dr Birrell’s incisive introductory essay provides a concise survey of the historical and literary setting to the poems and explains the conventions governing courtly love poetry. In particular, the reader’s attention is drawn to the many and varied artistic uses of imagery in the poems. Major poets are noted for their artistic achievement and for their contribution to the development of the genre. Dr Birrell also supplies a valuable section of notes on the poems to guide the reader through unfamiliar historical events, legends, anecdotes and famous places and people, and there is a similar section of notes on the poets offering biographical details.

1. Early Folk Songs and Ballads 2. Poets of the Wei and Chin Dynasties 3. Poets of the Chin Dynasty 4. Poets of the Southern Dynasties (early fifth century) 5. Poets of the Southern Dynasties (the decades AD 490-510) 6. Poets of the Southern Dynasties (early sixth century) 7. Royal Poets of the Liang (the Hsiao family) 8. Twenty Poets of the Liang Dynasty (sixth century) 9. Love Songs in Irregular Metres (from second century BC to sixth century AD) 10. A Treasury of Short Love Poems (from third to sixth centuries AD)

Anne Birrell