Tu Fu and Langston Hughes

As a way to continue yesterday's conversation about group-reading possibilities, I've posted the openings of three Tu Fu poems and three Langston Hughes poems. Tu Fu (712-770) was a relatively unknown poet and minor civil servant during the Tang Dynasty but is now celebrated, along with Li Po, as the greatest of the Chinese poets. Langston Hughes (1902-1967) was a prolific writer in many genres, an innovator in jazz poetry, a leader of the artistic, literary, and social movement called the Harlem Renaissance, and a civil rights activist.

For each poet, I have chosen three openings from three different poems, which I hope will give you a taste of the poet's stylistic and subject-matter variety while hinting at some continuities in his work. Please feel free to share your reactions in the comments.

the opening of "By the Winding River II," by Tu Fu 

Everywhere petals are flying
And Spring is fading. Ten thousand
Atoms of sorrow whirl away
In the wind.


the opening of "To Pi Ssu Yao," by Tu Fu

We have talent. People call us
The leading poets of our day.
Too bad, our homes are humble,
Our recognition trivial.


the opening of "Night in the House by the River," by Tu Fu

It is late in the year;
Yin and Yang struggle
In the brief sunlight.

[all three from One Hundred Poems from the Chinese, translated by Kenneth Rexroth (1971)]

the opening of "Black Maria," by Langston Hughes

Must be the Black Maria
That I see,
The Black Maria that I see--
But I hope it
Ain't comin' for me.


the opening of "Spirituals," by Langston Hughes

Rocks and the firm roots of trees.
The rising shafts of mountains.
Something strong to put my hands on.


the opening of "Preference," by Langston Hughes

I likes a woman
six or eight and ten years older'n myself.
I don't fool with these young girls.

[all three from Selected Poems of Langston Hughes (1958)]