Tang Poetry of China: the Peak of Chinese Literary Achievement

Due to the developed economy and frequent culture intercommunion with many foreign countries, the civilization of Tang Dynasty was on the top status in the world. "During the Tang era, Eurasian exchange flourished across what has become known as the Silk Road, contributing to the grand cosmopolitan culture of the Tang age" (Oxnam). The, China was the strongest country in the world and the most advanced (Silk Road). There is nowhere else in the world where poetry has taken such a central role in culture. "Tang poetry, as one who reads it will readily perceive, is not just the product of a particularly golden age in China's literary history, but a part of the universal human heritage (Watson 240). The best known and most valued of all Chinese Literary was Tang Poetry, so Tang Dynasty is generally recognized as the golden age of poetry by later generations.

The other aspect that caused the dramatic increase in the production of poetry was related to the Civil Service Examination at that time. According to Robert Oxnam, in the year 680 the composition of poetry was introduced as one of the requirements in the civil service examination. This exam was used to recruit candidates outside of the governing elite for civil service. It is important to know that Tang was an aristocratic society. It means that if a person's parents were nobility or high officials or powerful military people, this person didn't need take the examination. Consequently, the examination system is only for those people who hoped for some social mobility. Thus, "writing poetry was necessary for anyone who hoped to rise in the government in the Tang dynasty" (Owen). Also, the writing of poetry then became an element of everyday life in China. For example, when people went to parties, they were supposed to write poetry. When a friend was leaving or going on a journey, people would write poetry for send-off. Social customs like this really helped make Tang poetry an important aspect of culture and society.

Dr. Paul Rouzer points out that almost all Chinese poems are written in couplets, which is every two lines tend to for a separate poetic idea or a separate statement. There was no particular rule for couplets. However, in the Tang dynasty, many experimental poets developed a strict rigid form of "regulated verse" (Rouzer), which was basically confined to four couplets and was an important type of Chinese verse for the rest of the tradition.

There were really two important purposes for writing poetry during the Tang dynasty. The poetics thought that the most important function of poetry was to address social and ethical issues important to the people. However, Tang poetry also was written about personal issues. In fact, some of these poems were almost like diaries. They wrote mainly about nature, philosophy, and occasions, like moments in history or meetings with friends.

During Tang Dynasty, there were three traditional teaching that informed the thought and behavior of all the people. They are Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism. "Buddhism emphasized the transience and impermanence of life, while Daoism emphasized abandonment to the Way found in nature. Confucianism stressed moral responsibility and service to the state" (Oxnam). At that time, these three traditions are reflected vividly by three most well-known poets, Wang Wei, Li Po, and Tu Fu.

Dr. Rouzer points out that Wang Wei's poem combined many of the earlier poetic traditions, which involved writing about living in retirement and reclusion, sometimes by including the ideas of Buddhist quietism. He was not only a poet but also a painter. "While associated with the Buddhist belief that the world we perceive is illusory, Wang Wei was preoccupied with how perception is bound up with human feelings" (Oxnam). His poems are noted for their celebration of both nature and simplicity. In fact, after he took the vows of Buddhism, his poems reflected the Buddhist idea of emptiness (Tang Dynasty Poetry).

Li Po was someone with no real family background. He traveled through China to introduce himself to people, presenting that he was a wild free and eccentric person. He was actually known as the "banished Immortal" (Tang Dynasty Poetry). This phrase means he is seen as an immortal banished from heaven for some discretion and that he can see things that others cannot. According to Dr. Rouzer, Li Po extremely rejected to write about poetry of society and politics. He tended to write many other aspects like popular culture, Daoism, popular religion. He wrote as many as 900 poems. "Some of them describe the life of the people; some describe the magnificent scenery he saw; others express his own wishes and sorrows. His poems are characterized by unusual imagination and free and direct expression of feelings. That is why he is called a romantic poet" (Kiang Kang-hu). His gifts in the field of poetry and unique and universal. "Extreme exaggeration, apt comparison and profound imagination affected a high realism. When reading the lines, "Slashing water with the blade of my sword, it flows on all the more. I raise my goblet, drown my dolor deep, yet it waxes doubly sore," readers cannot help being moved by the despair a midst the grandiloquence" (Poetic Genius). In addition, his poems spoke of love of people and nature alike.

As Paul Rouzer mentioned, Tu Fu was a scholar official who lived at a time of great turbulence in China. Corruption and nepotism at the Tang court caused the Lushan Rebellion (755-762). After the rebellion began, he had a hard time as a refugee, but this brought him closer to the people. Thus, his poems have a main characteristic, which is deep sympathy for the people. "His poems have been called "poetic history", for they reflect the political and military situation of his time, and the life and miseries of the people" (Kiang). His commitment to political issues and family is evident. He had a unique way of expressing sympathy for the people. "In writing poems, Du Fu often hid his subjective feelings behind objective description. For example, in A Song of Fair Ladies, he did not denounce Lady Yang and her brother's wanton way of life directly but described their finery and diet in great detail, which implicitly unveils the poet's attitude" (Poetic Genius). In other words, he hid his feelings behind his words in a way that could be easily translated.

Li Po and Tu Fu are the greatest poets in China. Scholar Burton Watson said that the Tang poets "employed to record their deepest and most intimate feelings, crying out for the alleviation of all social ills, noting with wry candor the waning of their physical powers, longing for absent friends, or dreaming of the last journey home. And because they dealt with the basic impulses of the human being, their works easily survive the transition into another language and mileau" (Watson 240). In other words, their poems covered all the subjects essential to both the people of their time and the people of our time. Their poems gave the Chinese people and others infinite inspiration.

The Tang Dynasty will remain ever immortalized in the field of poetry. They were so uniquely important to every aspect of Chinese culture, in a way that has never been duplicated. The three major poets spoke of subjects so important and crucial to the lives of everyday people that they became incredibly popular. However, their themes are so universal that they have remained popular even today. Han Yu, who was also a famous Tang Poet, wrote: "The works of Li and Tu are there; their brilliant light will shine for ever." The beauty, eloquence, and timeless subject matter live on.

Work Cited

David D.W. Wang. Oxnam, Robert. Owen, Stephen. "Introduction to Tang Poetry" Columbia University. < http://www.columbia.edu/itc/eacp/asiasite/topics/index.html?topic=Tang+subtopic=Intro>

Kiang Kang-hu. "The Poems of the Tang Dynasty" July 20, 2008. < http://www.hornbill.cdc.net.my/e-class/oldchina/qt_inte.htm>

"The History of Chinese Poetry" Cultural Resources, Chinese language program. Pasadena City College. http://www.pasadena.edu/divisions/language/chinese/cultural/poetry.html#bai>

Miller, Stoller Barbara. Masterworks of Asian Literature in Comparative Perspective. 1994. M.E. Sharp. Watson, Burton, "Tang Poetry A Return to Basics" 232-241. http://books.google.com/books?id=_uel9rTSZDIC&pg=PA232&lpg=PA232&dq=tang+poetry:+a+return+to+the+basics&source=web&ots=Xn6xZkVrMZ&sig=dmcMbUqfenZq3k63AzflqsZTeqY&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result#PPA240,M1

"Poetic Genius, Sage of Poetry, Buddhist Poet and Poet-Ghost."

"Silk Road China" http://www.silkroadcn.com/chinainfo/tang.htm>

"Tang Dynasty Poetry, The Peak of Chinese Literary Achievment" http://tulsagrad.ou.edu/okitea/Tang%20Poetry%20PP.ppt.>