About PoemWell
PoemWell publishes classical Chinese poems in English and a Japanese selection, with original translations, word glosses, source notes, and close readings.
PoemWell is an independent editorial project for reading classical Chinese poetry. The English edition contains 200 annotated poems by 30 poets, alongside a smaller Japanese selection. Translations into another language are not counted as additional works. A poem page carries the traditional Chinese text, Mandarin pinyin, word meanings, a translation written for this site, and notes on the form and the historical occasion. The language navigation offers the editions actually available for the page you are reading.
The Chinese texts are premodern and in the public domain. The edition is named on each poem. The English is new. It is not taken from another modern translator, and it is not presented as the only possible English. The gloss and the translation are different on purpose. How to read classical Chinese poetry explains the stack. The editorial policy is the set of rules behind it.
The site is a reading desk. It is a place to move from a poem to a poet, a form, a dynasty, or a theme, and back. Quiet Night Thought is the page we use as the measure of the others.
PoemWell does not speak for a school, a publisher, or a government. Corrections to a text, a tone, or a date are welcome through the editorial contact page.
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