Yang Mu is a towering figure in modern Chinese poetry. His poetic voice
is subtle and lyrical, and his work is rich with precise images and
crystalline thoughts invoking temporality and remembrance. A bold
innovator and superb craftsman, he elegantly combines cosmopolitan
experimentation with poetic forms and an allusive reverence for
classical Chinese poetry while remaining rooted in his native Taiwan and
its colonial history.
Hawk of the Mind is a comprehensive collection of Yang Mu's poetry
that presents crucial works from the many stages of his long creative
career, rendered into English by a team of distinguished translators. It
conveys the complexity and beauty of Yang Mu's work in a stately and
lucid English poetic register that displays his ability to range from
meditative to playful and colloquial to archaic. The volume includes an
editor's introduction and definitive commentary that offer insights into
the poet's major themes and motifs, explaining how he draws on deep
engagement with Chinese and Western literary traditions, history, and
art as well as mythology, philosophy, and music and a profound love for
the natural world to create a nuanced and multifaceted artistic
universe. It also contains translations of prefaces and afterwords
written by Yang Mu for collections of his poetry. Hawk of the Mind
demonstrates the breadth and depth of Yang Mu's oeuvre, illustrating the
distinctive style and affective power of a great poet.
