The Longman Anthology of World Literature, Volume B offers a fresh and highly teachable presentation of the varieties of world literature from the medieval era.
Table of Contents:
VOLUME B: THE MEDIEVAL ERA
MEDIEVAL CHINA
WOMEN IN EARLY CHINA
LIU XIANG (c. 78-8 B.C.E.)
Memoirs of Women (trans. Nancy Gibbs)
The Mother of Mencius
BAN ZHAO (c. 45-120)
Lessons for Women (trans. Nancy Lee Swann)
YUAN CAI (c. 1140-1195)
from Precepts for Social Life (trans. Patricia Ebrey)
VOICES OF WOMEN
Here's a Willow Bough (trans. J. R. Allen)
Midnight Songs (trans. Jeanne Larsen)
A Peacock Southeast Flew (trans. Anne Birrell)
Ballad of Mulan (trans. Arhur Waley)
YAUN ZHEN (c. 779-831)
The Story of Yingying (trans. Arthur Waley)
Resonance
Wang Shifu: from The Story of the Western Wing
TAO QIAN (c. 365-427)
Biography of the Gentleman of the Five Willows (trans. A.R. Davis)
Peach Blossom Spring (trans. J.R. Hightower)
Resonance
Wang Wei (701-761): Song of Peach Blossom Spring (trans. Yu)
The Return (trans. J.R. Hightower)
Returning to the Farm to Dwell (trans. J.R. Hightower)
From On Reading the Seas and Mountains Classic (trans. J.R. Hightower)
The Double Ninth, in Retirement (trans. J.R. Hightower)
In the Sixth Month of 408, Fire (trans. J.R. Hightower)
Begging for Food (trans. J.R. Hightower)
Finding Fault with My Sons (trans. J.R. Hightower)
Twenty Poems after Drinking Wine (trans. J.R. Hightower)
HAN SHAN (c. 600-800)
Men ask the way to Cold Mountain (trans. Gary Snyder)
Spring water in the green creek is clear (trans. Gary Snyder)
When men see Han-shan (trans. Gary Snyder)
I climb the road to Cold Mountain (trans. Burton Watson)
Wonderful, this road to Cold Mountain (trans. Burton Watson)
Cold cliffs, more beautiful the deeper you enter (trans. Burton Watson)
Men these days search for a way through the clouds (trans. Burton Watson)
Today I sat before the cliff (trans. Burton Watson)
Have I a body or have I none (trans. Burton Watson)
My mind is like the autumn moon (trans. Burton Watson)
Do you have the poems of Han-shan in your house? (trans. Burton Watson)
Resonance
Lu-qui Yin: from Preface to the poems of Han-shan (trans. Snyder)
POETRY OF THE TANG DYNASTY
WANG WEI (701-761)
from The Wang River Collection (trans. Pauline Yu)
Preface
1 Meng Wall Cove
5 Deer Enclosure
8 Sophora Path
11 Lake Yi
17 Bamboo Lodge
Bird Call Valley (trans. Pauline Yu)
Farewell (trans. Pauline Yu)
Farewell to Yuan the Second on His Mission to Anxi (trans. Pauline Yu)
Visiting the Temple of Gathered Fragrance (trans. Pauline Yu)
Zhongnan Retreat (trans. Pauline Yu)
In Response to Vice-Magistrate Zhang (trans. Pauline Yu)
LI BO (701-62)
Drinking Alone by Moon (trans. Vikram Seth)
Fighting South of the Ramparts (trans. Arthur Waley)
The Road to Shu is Hard (trans. Vikram Seth)
Bring in the Wine (trans. Vikram Seth)
The Jewel Stairs' Grievance (trans. Ezra Pound)
The River Merchant's Wife: A Letter (trans. Ezra Pound)
Listening to a Monk from Shu Playing the Lute (trans. Vikram Seth)
Farewell to a Friend (trans. Pauline Yu)
In the Quiet Night (trans. Vikram Seth)
Sitting Alone by Jingting Mountain (trans. Stephen Owen)
Question and Answer in the Mountains (trans. Vikram Seth)
DU FU (712-770)
Ballad of the Army Carts (trans. Vikram Seth)
Moonlit Night (trans. Vikram Seth)
Spring Prospect (trans. Pauline Yu)
Traveling at Night (trans. Pauline Yu)
Autumn Meditations (trans. A.C. Graham)
Yangzi and Han (trans. A.C. Graham)
BO JUYI (772-846)
Song of Unending Sorrow (trans. Witter Bynner)
Perspectives: What is “Literature”?
Cao Pi (187-226)
from A Discourse on Literature (trans. Stephen Owen)
Lu Ji (261-302)
from Rhymeprose on Literature (trans. Achilles Fang)
Liu Xie
from The Literary Mind (trans. Stephen Owen)
Wang Changling (c. 690- c. 756)
from A Discussion of Literature and Meaning (trans. Richard Bodman)
Sikong Tu (837-908)
from The Twenty-four Classes of Poetry (trans. Pauline Yu and Stephen Owen)
Crosscurrents
JAPAN
MAN'ÔSHÛ, COLLECTION OF TEN THOUSAND LEAVES (c. 702 — c. 785)
Emperor Yûryaku (r. 456-479) Your basket, with your lovely basket (trans. T. Duthie)
Emperor Jômei (r. 629-641) Climbing Kagu Mountain and looking upon the land
Princess Nukata (c. 638-active until 690's) On spring and autumn (trans. E. Cranston)
Kakinomoro No Hitomaro (active 689-700) On passing the ruined capital of ômi (trans. T. Duthrie)
Kakinomoro No Hitomaro(active 689-700) On leaving his wife as he set out from Iwami (trans. N. G. Shinkokai)
Kakinomoro No Hitomaro(active 689-700) After the death of his wife (trans. Ian Levy)
Yamabe No Akahito (fl. 724-736) On Mount Fuji (trans. Anne Commons)
Yamanoue No Okura (c. 660-c. 733) Of longing for his children (trans. Edwin Cranston)
MURASAKI SHIKIBU (c. 978 — c. 1014)
from The Tale of Genji (trans. Edward Seidensticker)
from Chapter 1: The Paulownia Court
from Chapter 2: The Broom Tree
from Chapter 5: Lavender
from Chapter 7: An Autumn Excursion
from Chapter 9: Heartvine
from Chapter 10: The Sacred Tree
from Chapter 12: Suma
from Chapter 13: Akashi
from Chapter 25: Fireflies
from Chapter 34: New Herbs (Part 1)
from Chapter 35: New Herbs (Part 2)
from Chapter 36: The Oak Tree
from Chapter 40: The Rites
from Chapter 41: The Wizard
Resonances
Murasaki Shikibu: from Diary (trans. Bowring)
Daughter of Sugawara No Takasue: from Sarashina Diary (trans. Arntzen)
Riverside Counselor's Stories: The Woman Who Preferred Insects (trans. Seidensticker)
Perspectives: Courtly Women
Ono No Komachi (fl. c. 850)
While watching (trans. Jane Hirschfield with Aratani)
Did he appear (trans. Jane Hirschfield with Aratani)
When my desire (trans. Jane Hirschfield with Aratani)
The seaweed gatherer's weary feet (trans. Jane Hirschfield with Aratani)
The autumn night (trans. Jane Hirschfield with Aratani)
I thought to pick (trans. Jane Hirschfield with Aratani)
I know it must be this way (trans. Jane Hirschfield with Aratani)
My longing for you (trans. Jane Hirschfield with Aratani)
Though I go to him constantly (trans. Jane Hirschfield with Aratani)
How invisibly (trans. Jane Hirschfield with Aratani)
This body (trans. Jane Hirschfield with Aratani)
Mitchitsuna's Mother (936-995)
from The KagerM Diary (trans. Sonja Arntzen)
Sei Shônagon (c. 965- c. 1017)
from The Pillowbook (trans. Ivan Morris)
Crosscurrents
TALES OF HEIKE (14th century)
Bells of Gion Monastery (trans. B. Watson)
Gio (trans. B. Watson)
The Death of Kiyomori (trans. B. Watson)
The Death of Lord Kiso (trans. B. Watson)
The Death of Atsumori (trans. B. Watson)
Death of Noritsune (trans. B. Watson)
The Drowning of the Emperor (trans. B. Watson)
The Six Paths of Existence (trans. B. Watson)
The Death of the Imperial Lady (trans. B. Watson)
Noh: Drama of Ghosts, Memories, and Salvation (trans. B. Watson)
ZEAMI (c. 1363- c. 1443)
Atsumori, a Tale of Heike Play (trans. Royall Tyler)
Pining Wind (trans. Royall Tyler)
Resonance
Kyôgen, Comic Interludes: Delicious Poison (trans. Kominz)
CLASSICAL ARABIC AND ISLAMIC LITERATURES
PRE-ISLAMIC POETRY
IMRU' AL-QAYS (d. c. 550)
Mu'allaqah “Stop, let us weep at the memory of a loved one” (trans. Alan Jones)
AL-KHANSA' (c. 575-646)
A mote in your eye, dust blown on the wind? (trans. Charles Greville Tuetey)
Elegy for Ritha Sakhr “In the evening remembrance keeps me awake” (trans. Alan Jones)
THE BRIGAND POETS — AL SA'ALIK (trans. Alan Jones)
Urwah ibn al-Ward, Do not be so free with your blame of me
Ta'abbata Sharra, Come, who will convey to the young men
Ta'abbata Sharra, A piece of news has come to us
THE QUR'AN (trans. N.J. Dawood)
from Sura 41. Revelations Well Expounded
from Sura 79. The Soul Snatchers
from Sura 15. The Rocky Tract
from Sura 2. The Cow
from Sura 7. The Heights
Sura 1. The Opening
from Sura 4. Women
from Sura 5. The Table
from Sura 8. The Spoils
from Sura 12. Joseph
from Sura 16. The Bee
from Sura 18. The Cave
from Sura 19. Mary
from Sura 21. The Prophets
from Sura 24. Light
from Sura 28. The Story
from Sura 36. Ya Sin
from Sura 48. Victory
Sura 71. Noah
Sura 87. The Most High
Sura 93. Daylight
Sura 96. Clots of Blood
Sura 110. Help
Resonance
Ibn Sa'ad: from The Prophet and his Disciples (trans. Haq and Ghazanfar)
HAFIZ (c. 1317 -1389)
The House of Hope (trans. A. J. Arberry)
Zephyr (trans. J. H. Hindley)
A Mad Heart (trans. A. J. Arberry)
Cup in Hand (trans. J. Payne)
Last Night I Dreamed (trans. Gertrude Bell)
Harvest (trans. Richard le Gallienne)
All My Pleasure (trans. A. J. Arberry)
Wild Deer (trans. A. J. Arberry)
Resonance
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Blissful Yearning (trans. Brown)
Perspectives: Poetry, Wine and Love
Abu Nuwas (755 — c. 815)
Splendid young blades, like lamps in the darkness (trans. Arthur Wormhoudt)
My body is racked with sickness, worn out by exhaustion (trans. Arthur Wormhoudt)
Praise wine in its sweetness (trans. Arthur Wormhoudt)
O censor, I satisfied the Imam, he was content (trans. Arthur Wormhoudt)
Bringing the cup of oblivion for sadness (trans. Arthur Wormhoudt)
What's between me and the censurers (trans. Arthur Wormhoudt)
His friend called him Sammaja for his beauty (trans. Arthur Wormhoudt)
One possessed with a rosy cheek (trans. Arthur Wormhoudt)
Resonance
Hasab al-Shaik Ja'far: from Descent of Abu Nuwas (trans. Der Hovanessian)
Ibn al-Rumi (836-889)
Say to whomever finds fault with the poem of his panegyrist (trans. Peter Blum, after Gregor Schoeler)
I have been deprived of all the comforts of life (trans. Peter Blum, after Gregor Schoeler)
I thought of you the day my journeys (trans. Robert McKinney)
Sweet sleep has been barred from my eyes (trans. A.J. Arberry)
Al-Mutanabbi (915-955)
On Hearing in Egypt that his Death had been Reported (trans. A.J. Arberry)
Satire on Kafur Composed... before the Poet's Departure (trans. A.J. Arberry)
Panegyric to Abdud al-Daula and his sons (trans. A.J. Arberry)
Crosscurrents
THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS (9th — 14th century)
Prologue: The Story of King Shahrayar and Shahrazad (trans. Husain Haddawy)
