SOURCE: A review of Poems of Wang Wei, in Literature East & West, Vol. XVII, No. 2, 3, 4, June, September, and December, 1973, pp. 421-23.

In this review, Wagner comments favorably on G. W. Robinson's translations of Wang Wei's poems and praises his poetic judgment.

… G. W. Robinson's graceful translations of over 120 of Wang Wei's poems constitute the most successful English version to date.

Robinson's selection generally overlaps previous translations, emphasizing Wang Wei's most popular and personal poetry while avoiding more heavily allusive court poems and Buddhist poems. It is regrettable that Robinson did not include more poems which have not been anthologized in the past; not all of Wang Wei's occasional poetry is as devoid of feeling and interest as Robinson suggests. His criterion was to choose poems which did not require extensive annotation, and the relatively few explanatory notes which Robinson does give, although brief, are clear and adequate for...