Tu Fu (712-770 C. E.) has for more than a millennium been widely considered by the Chinese to be their greatest poet, and Hinton's original Selected Poems played a key role in extending that reputation to America. Most of Tu Fu's best work was written in the last decade of his life as he fled the devastation of civil war. In the midst of his refugee struggles, Tu Fu's always personal poems managed to encompass a remarkable range: elegant simplicity and great complexity, everyday life and grand historical drama, private philosophical depth and social engagement in a world consumed by war. Through it all, his wisdom grew only more elemental: Armies haunt my homeland still, and war / drums throb in this far-off place. A guest // overnight here in this river city, I return / again to shrieking crows, my old friends." Tu Fu (712-770 C. E.) has for a millennium been widely considered the greatest poet in the Chinese tradition, and Hinton's original translation played a key role in developing that reputation in America. Most of Tu Fu's best poems were written in the last decade of his life, as an impoverished refugee fleeing the devastation of civil war. In the midst of these challenges, his always personal poems manage to combine a remarkable range of possibilities: elegant simplicity and great complexity, everyday life and grand historical drama, private philosophical depth and social engagement in a world consumed by war. Through it all, his is a wisdom that can only be called elemental, and his poems sound remarkably contemporary:Leaving the CityIt's bone-bitter cold, and late, and fallingfrost traces my gaze all bottomless skies. Smoke trails out over distant salt mines. Snow-covered peaks slant shadows east. Armies haunt my homeland still, and wardrums throb in this far-off place. A guestovernight here in this river city, I returnagain to shrieking crows, my old friends. " | The Selected Poems Of Tu Fu, Paperback | Indigo Chapters