Skip to content
PodParley
Cathay by Unknown podcast artwork

PODCAST · arts

Cathay by Unknown

by Loyal Books

The Cathay poems appeared in a slim volume in 1915. They are, in effect, Ezra Pound’s English translations/ interpretations from notebooks written by the Japanese scholar Ernest Fenollosa. Pound, not knowing any Chinese or Japanese at all, promptly created a new and somewhat complex style of translation, as he had done with words from several other languages. The Cathay poems are primarily written by the Chinese poet Li Po, refered to throughout these translations as Rihaku, the Japanese form of his name. These poems came to have a profound influence on 20th Century poetry, spawning, among other things, the Imagist movement, and helped in the generation of widespread interest in Asian literature and thought. Also included in this collection are two poems from Pound’s 1912 collection Ripostes. “The Seafarer” is another of Pound’s experiments in translation, this one from the Anglo-Saxon.

Publisher-supplied feed metadata · PodParley refreshed Jun 27, 2026 · Source feed

Subscribe · 0 Bookmark

Episodes

  1. Song of the Bowmen of Shu

    More great books at LoyalBooks.com

  2. The Beautiful Toilet

    More great books at LoyalBooks.com

  3. The River Song

    More great books at LoyalBooks.com

  4. The River Merchant’s Wife: A Letter

    More great books at LoyalBooks.com

  5. Poem by the Bridge at Ten-Shin

    More great books at LoyalBooks.com

  6. The Jewel Stair’s Grievance

    More great books at LoyalBooks.com

  7. Lament of the Frontier Guard

    More great books at LoyalBooks.com

  8. Exile’s Letter

    More great books at LoyalBooks.com

  9. Four Poems of Departure

    More great books at LoyalBooks.com

  10. The City of Choan

    More great books at LoyalBooks.com

  11. South-Folk In Cold Country

    More great books at LoyalBooks.com

  12. Sennin Poem by Kakuhaku

    More great books at LoyalBooks.com

  13. A Ballad of the Mulberry Tree

    More great books at LoyalBooks.com

  14. Old Idea of Choan by Rosoriu

    More great books at LoyalBooks.com

  15. To Em-Mei’s : The Unmoving Cloud

    More great books at LoyalBooks.com

  16. The Seafarer

    More great books at LoyalBooks.com

  17. The Alchemist

    More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Type above to search every episode's transcript for a word or phrase. Matches are scoped to this podcast.

Searching…

We're indexing this podcast's transcripts for the first time — this can take a minute or two. We'll show results as soon as they're ready.

No matches for "" in this podcast's transcripts.

Showing of matches

No topics indexed yet for this podcast.

Loading reviews...

ABOUT THIS SHOW

The Cathay poems appeared in a slim volume in 1915. They are, in effect, Ezra Pound’s English translations/ interpretations from notebooks written by the Japanese scholar Ernest Fenollosa. Pound, not knowing any Chinese or Japanese at all, promptly created a new and somewhat complex style of translation, as he had done with words from several other languages. The Cathay poems are primarily written by the Chinese poet Li Po, refered to throughout these translations as Rihaku, the Japanese form of his name. These poems came to have a profound influence on 20th Century poetry, spawning, among other things, the Imagist movement, and helped in the generation of widespread interest in Asian literature and thought. Also included in this collection are two poems from Pound’s 1912 collection Ripostes. “The Seafarer” is another of Pound’s experiments in translation, this one from the Anglo-Saxon.

HOSTED BY

Loyal Books

CATEGORIES

arts

Frequently Asked Questions

How many episodes does Cathay by Unknown have?

Cathay by Unknown currently has 17 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.

What is Cathay by Unknown about?

The Cathay poems appeared in a slim volume in 1915. They are, in effect, Ezra Pound’s English translations/ interpretations from notebooks written by the Japanese scholar Ernest Fenollosa. Pound, not knowing any Chinese or Japanese at all, promptly created a new and somewhat complex style of...

How often does Cathay by Unknown release new episodes?

Cathay by Unknown has 17 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.

Where can I listen to Cathay by Unknown?

You can listen to Cathay by Unknown on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.

Who hosts Cathay by Unknown?

Cathay by Unknown is created and hosted by Loyal Books.
URL copied to clipboard!