Chinese Poetry in English Verse
Translated by Herbert A. Giles
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The opening
TO A YOUNG GENTLEMAN
Don’t come in, sir, please! Don’t break my willow-trees! Not that that would very much grieve me; But alack-a-day! what would my parents say? And love you as I may, I cannot bear to think what that would be.
Don’t cross my wall, sir, please! Don’t spoil my mulberry-trees! Not that that would very much grieve me; But alack-a-day! what would my brothers say? And love you as I may, I cannot bear to think what that would be.
Keep outside, sir, please! Don’t spoil my sandal-trees! Not that that would very much grieve me; But alack-a-day! what the world would say! And love you as I may, I cannot bear to think what that would be.
Odes^
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About this edition
- The words
- Herbert A. Giles's English translation, copied word for word.
- Copied from
- Left out
- Page numbers and running heads from the printed pages, in 193 places
- Notes and pages added by translators, editors or publishers, in 62 places
- Other material that isn't the author's
- The title page and opening pages before chapter 1, in 2 places
- The printer's imprint at the end ("PRINTED BY E. J. BRILL, LgYDEN (HOLLAND).")