Cathay


Read by Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)

(4.3 stars; 9 reviews)

The Cathay poems appeared in a slim volume in 1915. They are, in effect, Ezra Pound’s English translations/interpretations from notebooks written by the Japanese scholar Ernest Fenollosa. Pound, not knowing any Chinese or Japanese at all, promptly created a new and somewhat complex style of translation, as he had done with words from several other languages. The Cathay poems are primarily written by the Chinese poet Li Po, referred to throughout these translations as Rihaku, the Japanese form of his name. These poems came to have a profound influence on 20th Century poetry, spawning, among other things, the Imagist movement, and helped in the generation of widespread interest in Asian literature and thought. Also included in this collection are two poems from Pound’s 1912 collection Ripostes. “The Seafarer” is another of Pound’s experiments in translation, this one from the Anglo-Saxon. (Summary by Alan Davis-Drake) (0 hr 45 min)

Chapters

Song of the Bowmen of Shu 2:24 Read by Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
Beautiful Toilet, The 1:07 Read by Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
River Song, The 3:19 Read by Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
River Merchant’s Wife: A Letter, The 2:13 Read by Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
Poem by the Bridge at Ten-Shin 2:30 Read by Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
Jewel Stair’s Grievance, The 1:21 Read by Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
Lament of the Frontier Guard 2:03 Read by Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
Exile’s Letter 5:54 Read by Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
Four Poems of Departure 2:48 Read by Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
City of Choan, The 1:16 Read by Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
South-Folk In Cold Country 1:26 Read by Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
Sennin Poem by Kakuhaku 1:31 Read by Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
Ballad of the Mulberry Tree, A 1:30 Read by Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
Old Idea of Choan by Rosoriu 2:18 Read by Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
To Em-Mei’s : The Unmoving Cloud 2:30 Read by Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
Seafarer, The 7:07 Read by Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)
Alchemist, The 4:41 Read by Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010)

Reviews

Please rest well, Alan Davis Drake...


(5 stars)

I've never heard of you before, you died when I was still young, but... Rest in peace, Mr. Alan Drake. I will pray for your eternal soul, that it may reach God all the easier...