This collection of 17 essays contains three chapters on "shih" poetry, ten chapters on Sung "tz'u", and four chapters on the works of Wang Kuo-wei. It includes ten previously published works, including Hightower's work on T'ao Ch'ien and Yeh's studies of Sung "tz'u", as well as seven additions to the literature on Chinese poetry. The essays treat individual poets, particular poetic techniques (allusion, for example), and general issues of period style and poetry criticism. The previously published items have been updated to include the Chinese texts of all the poems presented in translation.