A Little Primer of Tu Fu

The standard introduction to the poetry of Tu Fu (712-770) regarded by many Chinese as their country’s greatest poet. The thirty-five poems from the well-known Chinese anthology Three Hundred Tang Poems are each accompanied by a detailed and lively explication of form, historical background and meaning. At the same time, inclusion of Chinese characters, romanization, and both literal and prose translations offer the general reader or beginning language student the rare chance to savor the poet’s art first hand.