The Classic of Poetry

The Classic of Poetry (Shijing), also known as the “Mao Poetry” (Mao Shi), is the oldest existing collection of poetry in China, or indeed anywhere in the world. As a fountainhead of the Chinese literary tradition, it has endured over two and a half millennia of continuous readership. In this volume, eminent sinologist Edward L. Shaughnessy presents a complete English translation of the 305 discrete poems from the Classic of Poetry, divided into the Feng 風 “airs,” Ya 雅 “odes,” and Song 頌 “hymns.” Combining the received text with newly unearthed manuscript discoveries, Shaughnessy offers a modern, authoritative interpretation that departs from the dated translations of earlier scholars. His masterful rendering encapsulates the essence of this poetic treasury, reflecting the diverse aspects of life, love, nature, and ritual in ancient China.

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Professor Shaughnessy’s translation of the Classic of Poetry provides us with a new and definitive rendition of this classic in world literature. For both specialists and general readers, this is certainly the definitive Classic of Poetry translation to have.

Solidly grounded in classical and modern scholarship, this book offers a thoughtful and highly readable English version of an archaic monument of world literature that in many of its lines appears once again as fresh and beautiful as it remains richly ambiguous and open to every new reader’s intuition.

Professor Shaughnessy has translated the verses and prefaces of the Classic of Poetry into colloquial English that belies the philological labor subtending each line, with a preface that lays out the current state of manuscript variants. Here the classic appears in a less burdened form, regaining its directness and continuity.