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Listening All Night to the Rain: Selected Poems of Su Dongpo
We find timeless expressions of human experience in the poems of Su Dongpo (1037-1101), translated with grace and power by Lin and Young. We follow Dongpo through his life of multiple political exiles. From early in his life he ponders the transitory nature of reality with beauty and a sober
“back to those earlier scenes / and the clouds of yellow dust along the roads”
“I lean on the railing, / my spirit flies away, / and I can’t call it back”
“The red-skirted beauty / turns into a fairy // the long flute carries / a lasting note of sadness”
“our only worries? / Moonset / and empty cups” (Poems 1, 7, 34, & 45)
Past mid-life a new perspective grows with energy, laughter, and
“Chilly spring air / for ten days / I haven’t stepped out of the house // and so I didn’t notice / how the willows have turned green / stroking the whole village // ... // This day one year ago / I walked a long way / through mountain roads and passes // the plum blossoms / shining in the drizzle / nearly broke my heart.” (Poem 50)
Su Dongpo’s sigh of older age carries a tender resolve laced with measured
“I’m like a little boat / sensing an expanse / of endless water // here under groves of trees / face to face in the bedroom / listening all night to the rain” (Poem 83)
“back to those earlier scenes / and the clouds of yellow dust along the roads”
“I lean on the railing, / my spirit flies away, / and I can’t call it back”
“The red-skirted beauty / turns into a fairy // the long flute carries / a lasting note of sadness”
“our only worries? / Moonset / and empty cups” (Poems 1, 7, 34, & 45)
Past mid-life a new perspective grows with energy, laughter, and
“Chilly spring air / for ten days / I haven’t stepped out of the house // and so I didn’t notice / how the willows have turned green / stroking the whole village // ... // This day one year ago / I walked a long way / through mountain roads and passes // the plum blossoms / shining in the drizzle / nearly broke my heart.” (Poem 50)
Su Dongpo’s sigh of older age carries a tender resolve laced with measured
“I’m like a little boat / sensing an expanse / of endless water // here under groves of trees / face to face in the bedroom / listening all night to the rain” (Poem 83)
288 pages, Paperback
Published May 4, 2020
About the author
Su Dongpo
13 books5 followersSu Dongpo (also, Su Tung-P'o) was a pen name of the classical Chinese poet, Su Shi.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 14, 2024
Great book of Chinese poems by Su Shi.
He was a Song dynasty poet and government official. This book is BILNGUAL with one page in Traditional characters and the facing page in English translation. There is lots of space given to work on one's own translations character by character too.
Hooray! I love books like this.
The poems and translations are good. I think this is way better than the Burton Watson book of Su Shi's poetry. Burton's book seems flat and does not have the Chinese versions along side.
Hooray for David Young and all his work in Chinese (even when he is retired from Oberlin)
He was a Song dynasty poet and government official. This book is BILNGUAL with one page in Traditional characters and the facing page in English translation. There is lots of space given to work on one's own translations character by character too.
Hooray! I love books like this.
The poems and translations are good. I think this is way better than the Burton Watson book of Su Shi's poetry. Burton's book seems flat and does not have the Chinese versions along side.
Hooray for David Young and all his work in Chinese (even when he is retired from Oberlin)
February 11, 2026
Su Dongpo writes like a mountain that has learned to laugh.
His poems balance grandeur and intimacy with astonishing control, moving from cosmic scale to the steam rising off a teacup without a seam showing. He is a virtuoso of regulated verse, bending strict tonal patterns into something that feels conversational, almost improvised. Parallel couplets arrive polished yet alive, their syntactic symmetry framing emotional asymmetry. His imagery works by precise placement rather than ornament, each word set like a stone in a scholar’s garden.
In Su’s hands, constraint becomes current and the poem flows brighter for its banks.
His poems balance grandeur and intimacy with astonishing control, moving from cosmic scale to the steam rising off a teacup without a seam showing. He is a virtuoso of regulated verse, bending strict tonal patterns into something that feels conversational, almost improvised. Parallel couplets arrive polished yet alive, their syntactic symmetry framing emotional asymmetry. His imagery works by precise placement rather than ornament, each word set like a stone in a scholar’s garden.
In Su’s hands, constraint becomes current and the poem flows brighter for its banks.
September 4, 2026
I am sure that these are lovely in the original Chinese. I did think that a couple of them were beautiful even in translation.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews