The Selected Poems of Wang Wei.(Brief article)(Book review)

* The Selected Poems of Wang Wei WANG WEI, TRANS. FROM THE CHINESE BY DAVID HINTON. New Directions, $14.95 paper (128p) ISBN 0-81121618-7

A member of the intellectual class and a government official by profession, Wang Wei (A.D. 701-761) became one of China's greatest classical poets and painters, alongside Li Po and Tu Fu (both of whom Hinton has also translated). This selection arranges in roughly chronological order 80 short poems (only a few are longer than a page). Characterized by Zen-like calm, acceptance of the changing world and careful observation of nature, these poems make big, though quiet, …