Five Adaptations From the Chinese [Poems]

Five Adaptations From the Chinese [Poems]

The Messenger, 1929-1930

Page 4

These five poems are titled "Adaptations From the Chinese." It's unclear if these poems have any significant meanings behind them, but the tone of each of these poems appears to be negative. In "The Flowerless Garden" there is only a shadow and no flowers to gaze upon in a torn garden. In "An Elegy for a High Lady," the author explains that flowers will not be placed on a grave site. In "The Bed Curtains" and "Alba: The Lute," each refers to being cold and walking around the wet dew outside. Bruce Morrissette, who is credited with these adaptations, was asked in this issue if he was a student of the Chinese language and he responded negatively, and "hinted dubiously at the assistance of a laundry man in reducing the original Chinese into crude English."

Virginia Baptist Historical Society

Richmond, Va

1929-30

Matt Mullen