The Poems of Mao Zedong by Willis Barnstone,Ching-Po Ko,Zedong Mao

There are two questions you are probably asking yourself in considering whether or not to purchase this book: a) is Mao Zedong as accomplished a poet as legend has made him out to be, and b) are these accurate and faithful translations of his work. The answers, in my opinion, are a) not really, and b) not really.

As to the first, I am no expert on poetry, and certainly no expert on Chinese poetry, which has a completely different flavor than poetry in English, and I'll admit that Mao does have a gift for phrasing and a depth of perception that make him a much more complex character than most people in the West would ever give him credit for. But that said, my sense is, after translating these for myself from the original Chinese, that these verses are not any better than many other gifted but not great poets who never see the light of publication. What you would be purchasing would not be a volume of great poems, but a volume of poems by Chairman Mao.

As to the second, I should first point out that translating Chinese into English is difficult enough, and translating Chinese poetry into English poetry is many magnitudes more difficult. And it is not that this translator is that far off the mark. Certainly there were any number of occasions when I was glad to have his English version to keep me on track. But in my opinion he too often misreads the tone of what Mao has written. To me, Mao's poems have an edginess and at times even uncertainty about them that the translator glosses over and softens into a sort of happy camper revolutionary portrayal reminiscent of the late '60s (when in fact he actually translated these).

To give a few examples: In the poem Huichang, there is a phrase that the translator gives us as:"Our soldiers point and look eagerly south to Guangdong." The Chinese characters literally translated read: "soldiers point look south Yue." Nowhere do I see in this line or the line preceding or following any character to even imply "eagerly." Perhaps they did look eagerly, but there are also many other emotions they could have looked with, even some complex and contradictory ones, and as Mao does not specify, why should the translator assume?

In the poem Three Songs there is a line he translates as: "I whip my quick horse and don't dismount/ and look back in wonder." The character "jing" that he translates as wonder more properly carries the implication of being startled or frightened. To me there is a big difference between looking back in wonder (again that happy camper feeling) and looking back in shock or awe. Later in the poem there is a line that he translates as: "The sky would fall/ but for the columns of mountains." The character "yu" which he translates as "would" more properly carries the implication of wishing, or desiring, or being on the verge of. Again, I see a big difference between "wishes to" fall and "would" fall. It's the difference between being active and passive. And especially in this case, where the sky might be wishing to fall right on the heads of the soldiers crossing the pass.

There are many more examples like this, but I think this is enough to give you the picture. Be advised.

Masterful translation.

This is an odd little book. It begins with a brief biography of Mao, tracing the arc of his life. But the center of it is his poetry. I am no expert on Mao's poetry, but the editor of this volume observes (Page 21): "It is unexpected, however, that [Mao] is a major poet." And that is what makes this old work intriguing to me. There are many aspects of Mao--from revolutionary to taker of so many lives. But poet was not a role I had considered until I ran across this work decades ago.

Some quick selections from some of the poems.

"Warlords"

Wind and clouds suddently rip the sky
and warlords clash.
War again.
Rancor rains down on men who dream of a Pillow
of Yellow Barley. . . .

"Swimming"

After swallowing some water at Changsha
I taste a Wuchang fish in the surf
and swim across the Yangtze River that winds
ten thousand li.
I see the entire Chu sky.
Wind batters me, waves hit me--I don't care. . . ."

Some illustrations. . . .

Anyhow, if interested in Mao's poetry, this is an accessible work.

There are official translations of the Poetry of Mao Zedong but this is the best English translation. Willis Barnstone preserves the touching simplicity and vivid imagery of the poems and his introduction and notes on the poems provide the historical context in a way that is colorful and concise. The poems are printed in both English and Chinese.