Book Review: The Poems of Mao Tse-tung by Mao Zedong, Willis Barnstone (Translator)

This is a translation of Mao’s poems. The translator includes an introduction to Mao’s life and revolution. Early parts of his life have been discussed very briefly. His movement to Peking and later working with Kuomintang against the Japanese invading forces are also included. 

Mao developed guerilla armies by continuously engaging with the Japanese forces. This army later played a pivotal role in the civil war for the CCP. The author of this book views the Japanese as the ones who prepared the way for the Chinese Communism, much as Nazi Germany had done for the Soviet Communism in Eastern Europe.

Furthermore the second part of the book includes the poems in Chinese and their translation in English. Mao portrays his times of struggle, personal experiences during the long march and difficulties faced by his comrades in his poetry.

The notes on the poems tell us about the historical background/idea about each poem. For instance Kunlun Mountains, long march and the capture of Nanking have been described in his poetry. Mao has used the traditional style of Chinese poetry by including characters from Chinese mythology too.