Golden Age Of Chinese Poetry Essay ⋆ History Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

The three centuries of the Tang (T’ang) dynasty (618–909) represent the golden age of Chinese poetry. Chinese poetry reached its pinnacle during the reign of Minghuang (r. 712–756, also known as Xuanzong (Hsuan-tsung). About 3,000 poets’s names have survived from the Tang dynasty; many of those works are extant. The Tang poets’ brilliance and inspiration have never been surpassed and have been the model for poets of later eras to emulate. During the long reigns of Empress Wu and Minghuang culture flourished and upper class life was cosmopolitan. Confucian philosophy provided moral grounding and objectivity, while Daoism (Taoism) favored introspection, and Buddhism brought otherworldliness to the era.

Most Chinese poems were short, with romantic love, a frequent theme of European poetry, rarely a subject. Friendship between men is a dominant theme and the emotional trauma of parting between friends is the inspiration of many poems. This is hardly surprising because most poets were educated men from among whom officials were drawn, and officials were regularly rotated throughout the empire. War as a subject of poems did not deal with heroism or conquest, but focused on the desolation and sorrows that accompanied invasions and losses. Nature is also often the subject of poetic inspiration. Among the galaxy of Tang poets this essay will feature three of the greatest: Li Bo (Li Po), also known as Li Taibo (Li T’ai-po), 701–762; Du Fu (Tu Fu), 712–770; and Bo Juyi (Po Chu-i) 772–846.

Li Bo was born in Sichuan (Szechwan) Province in southwestern China. A man of great vitality and a lover of nature, he traveled widely, studied Daoism, and characterized himself as an “an immortal banished from heaven.” However, Li was best known as a heroic drinker and versified while sober and drunk. He is believed to have written 20,000 poems; 1,800 among them have survived and are still widely memorized. Li briefly enjoyed court favor and lived in the Tang capital Chang’an (Ch’ang-an) for three years under the emperor’s patronage. However he fell out of favor when a poem he wrote in praise of Minghuang’s favorite, Lady Yang, was interpreted to be an insult. The story of his death, perhaps untrue, had him leaning out of a boat to embrace the Moon while at an outing with friends on a lake and drowning. The following short poem has Li celebrating the Moon and wine:

—–Drinking Alone in Moonlight

Among the flowers, with a jug of wine,

I drink all alone—no one to share.

Raising my cup, I welcome the moon,

And my shadow joins us, making a threesome….

As I sing the moon seems to sway back and forth;

As I dance my shadow goes flopping about.

As long as I’m sober we’ll enjoy one another,

And when I get drunk, we’ll go our own ways:

Forever committed to carefree play,

We’ll all meet again in the Milky Way!

Du Fu was more serious than Li Bo and was considered a scholar’s poet. He served the government but never attained major posts. Du and his family suffered terribly during the An Lushan (An Lu-Shan) Rebellion. The following is by Du describing the black goshawk, a forest hunting bird:

—–A black goshawk is not to be found staying among humankind;

She passed over the seas, I suspect, coming from the North Pole;

Her straightened quills beat the wind as she crossed over the purple borderland,

At winter’s onset she stayed some nights at the Solar Terrace.

The foresters’ nets were all out for her—but they applied their nets in vain;

The geese of spring which go back with her surely see her with misgivings.

A myriad miles in the cold void—it takes just a single day;

But these golden eyeballs and these jade talons are of no usual stock.

Bo Juyi was a brilliant student, passing the doctoral exams at age 18, and he enjoyed a successful official career. He was noted for the simplicity of language in his short poems. Reputedly he would read a new piece to an old peasant woman and would discard any that she could not understand. But he was most famous for a long poem titled “The Everlasting Sorrow,” which recounted Minghuang’s love for Lady Yang, their flight from Chang’an before An Lushan’s rebel army, her execution by Minghuang’s mutinous soldiers, and his sorrow and longing for her. The following poem celebrated Bo’s passing the doctoral examination:

—–After Passing the Examination

For ten years I never left my books;

I went up . . . and won unmerited praise.

My high place I do not much prize;

The joy of my parents will make me proud.

Fellow students, six or seven men,

See me off as I leave the City gate.

My covered coach is ready to drive away;

Flutes and strings blend their parting tune.

Hopes achieved dull the pains of parting;

Fumes of wine shorten the long road….

Shod with wings is the horse of him who rides

On a Spring day the road that leads to home.

Poetry is very difficult to appreciate in translation because translations lose the form of the poem itself even when they successfully convey its spirit. But for those acquainted with the beauty of written Chinese the works of great Tang poets have never been surpassed.

Bibliography :

Waley, Arthur. The Life and Times of Po Chu-i. New York: MacMillan Co., 1951;
Waley, Arthur. The Poetry and Career of Li Po. New York: MacMillan Co., 1958. Hung, William. Tu Fu, China’s Greatest Poet. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1952;
Twitchett, Denis, ed. The Cambridge History of China, Volume III, Sui and T’ang China, 589–906. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979.

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