Study of Sorrows
Translated by Shangyang Fang
ARC Review
Publisher: Copper Canyon Press
Release Date: October 7, 2025
When I first saw the title Study of Sorrows, I braced myself for a challenging read. Traditional Chinese poetry already has a reputation for being daunting, and pairing it with such a heavy title made me hesitate. What I found instead was something unexpectedly warm and remarkably accessible.
Shangyang Fang gathers poems from twenty-nine Song Dynasty poets, arranging them into categories: longing, love, exile, celebration. These voices belong to emperors, politicians, prisoners, and poets, their words surviving for centuries. A glossary at the end adds welcome context, briefly sketching who these writers were.
Certain lines stayed with me. A young man lingering behind a wall, listening to a girl’s laughter until it fades. A speaker musing that so many people have left his life that he’s not even sure if hair truly turns white with age. He’s never known anyone long enough to see it happen.
Even when the poems reference distant places or historical names, the emotions remain immediate. You can trace the geography and history if you want, but you don’t have to in order to feel their weight. As someone who’s neither a scholar nor fluent in Chinese history, I still found the work deeply moving. Fang’s choices make these poems approachable for casual readers while preserving the richness of the past.
In his postscript, Fang reflects on the challenges of translating from Chinese and how those difficulties multiply when you’re working into your second language. It’s a fascinating section, especially for readers with a scholarly or historical interest, as it reveals the many layers behind each poem.
What I loved most is how “sorrow” here is never just personal grief. It’s a collective, timeless feeling, stretching across lifetimes, voices, and landscapes. The result is a book that feels like a conversation between the ancient and the present.
Touching, unexpectedly engaging, and worth taking your time with. This is one to read slowly, maybe with a cup of tea.
Thank you to Copper Canyon Press for the ARC and the possibility to get the early read.
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