All About Chinese Poet's

Chinese poetry back to the time of Shakespeare and Milton 400 years

ago as a Golden age, Chinese look back far further, to the Tang dynasty 1200 years ago as their Golden age of literature. The longevity Of the language has much to do with the continuous poetic tradition. Chinese Poems written a thousand years ago still read fresh and modern and this is long because the language has changed so little. Poetry has only a popular literary form in China for many centuries and Chinese people will often know popular poems by heart. Many have had a go at writing poems themselves including political leaders like Chairman Mao. The golden age of Chinese poetry was the Tang dynasty when many poets composed. The golden age of Chinese poetry was the Tang dynasty when many poets composed Extensive sets of poems. After the Tang, poetry became stultified, the ancient tradition was so admired and well established that poets struggled to establish an individual style not rooted in the glories of the past. Many poems contain allusions to people and events from Chinese history , And that makes understanding poems a challenge to a non-Chinese. A key attribute of Chinese poetry is that it is concise, each character places a thought, an impression, an image. There is no need for formal grammar and the small words like in, the as well as 'verbs' are missed out. Emphasis Is put on use of rhythm and sometimes in a balanced form of the characters so that it looks visually pleasing on the paper. The reader assembles the series of impressions into a whole piece in a very direct way. Translating Chinese poems into English poses all sorts of experts and English curets have spent much time developing fine translations. Writers have tried to convey the spirit of poems in different ways. And appreciated.

Qu Yuan 屈原 [343 BCE - 278 BCE]

Qu Yuan is best known for his connection with the Dragon Boat Festival. He was a statesman and poet of the Warring States period (about 2,500 years ago). He wrote some of the earliest known poems including elegies. His poems were the first to be attributed to an individual writer, up until then poems were published as anonymous collections. His most famous poem Li Sao 离骚 (Encountering Sorrow) alludes to his fall from grace with the King of Chu. Later, when Qu Yuan was falsely accused by a prince he decided to take a stand for the truth and committed suicide.

Wang Wei 王维 [699 - 759]

Wang Wei was a leading Tang poet and painter. Born into an aristocratic family he passed the important jinshi examinations to become a senior court official in 721. Music and painting were among his many accomplishments and it was as a musician that he received his first post at court. Wang Wei was banished because of some minor breach in etiquette and traveled through the country being gradually promoted through a series of official positions. He owned a house in the hills 30 miles [48 kms] from the then capital of Chang'an. The An Lushan rebellion destroyed his career prospects and it was only around 759 that he was restored to his previous post. He is best remembered for poems that describe landscape and for his paintings of poetic landscapes.

Li Bai 李白 [701 - 762]

Li Bai together with Du Fu are considered the greatest of the Tang dynasty poets. Eleven years older than Du Fu, Li Bai, also known Li Po, was born north of China and moved into Gansu and then Sichuan when a young child. Li Bai's grandfather was also a well-known poet. He proved to be an able student but never took the examinations to become a government official. From Sichuan he traveled down the Yangzi River visiting friends and contacts. In 742 on the recommendation of a Daoist priest he was summoned before the Emperor Xuanzong. The emperor was impressed by his knowledge and philosophy and gave him an official position. He was eventually banished from court having upset a concubine and then backed the wrong prince in the An Lushan uprising. He was lucky to escape with his life and was banished to remote Yunnan. Eventually his banishment was annulled and Li Bai traveled around the Nanjing area.

Du Fu 杜甫 [712 - 770]

Du Fu stands out as one of the greatest of Chinese poets. Born in 712 close to Luoyang in Henan his ancestors were minor officials; Du Fu sought to follow the tradition by entering the Imperial service. For many centuries this meant a grueling study of Confucian classics to be tested in examinations. Because of political and stylistic considerations he did not pass the examinations; candidates were scored for precise recall of the classics not in creativity. In 744 he met the great Tang poet Li Bai and this spurred Du Fu's commitment to poetry. Li Bai was eleven years older and the relationship was one of student and master rather than equals. By the continued use of connections at court in 755 he was appointed to a minor post at the Imperial court. External events blew away his career path as the An Lushan rebellion broke out. After that his life was a series of short appointments at different locations, most importantly at Chengdu, Sichuan. His work was not much appreciated during his lifetime or for a couple of centuries after his death. Stylistically his work unites poet and Nature, actions in Nature interplay with the emotions of people. His poems are rooted in every day life with a somewhat positive outlook.

Su Shi 苏轼 [1037 - 1101]

Su Shi also known as Su Dongpo 苏东坡, arguably the greatest poet of his time, was born into a literary and wealthy family in Meishan, Sichuan. He excelled at his studies to pass the Jinshi examinations at the young age of 19 and soon became a protege of Ouyang Xiu 欧阳修. Su Shi took up government positions at various locations. Like many Northern Song dynasty scholars he had many accomplishments apart from poetry, he worked as an engineer, statesman, philanthropist and considered a great tea connoisseur. A piece of his calligraphy (Han Shi Tie 寒食帖 ) takes pride of place at the National Palace Museum, Taipei. A poem criticizing Wang Anshi led him to be exiled to Huangzhou, Hubei. Here he lived in poverty tending a small farm, it is then he took the name ‘Dongpo’ meaning Eastern Slope . On the fall of the Wang Anshi faction in 1086 he was summoned back to court before being banished again to Huizhou, Guangdong and then the island of Hainan. Although pardoned in 1100 he died on the way to take up the new post. Even though his work was banned for decades after his death 800 letters and over 2,700 poems have survived. The heritage of the Tang poems written over the previous 300 years can be seen in his work. Song poets wrote voluminously and the style is more expansive and wider than their more eminent predecessors. He is known collectively with his father and brother as one of the three Su poets. Changes in his circumstances required frequent moves and so travel is a recurring theme in his work. Contemplation of exile and the lack of challenging work add a bitter edge to his poems.

Bai Juyi 白居易 [772 - 846]

One of the most widely revered and read Chinese poet is Bai Juyi, another poet from the golden age of the Tang dynasty. His influence has spread to Korea and Japan. He was born in Taiyuan, Shanxi in 772 to a poor but scholarly family, in a period after the great Tang poets Li Bai; Du Fu and Wang Wei had already died. To avoid the wars in northern China he moved south to Jiangsu province in 782. He succeeded in the Civil Service Examinations to reach the grade of jinshi enabling him to serve as a government paid official. Bai Juyi rose to be a minor court position by 814 but then broke protocol in his writings and was banished to Jiujiang in Jiangxi province. He went back briefly to the capital Luoyang before being appointed governor of Hangzhou. In 825 he was governor of the rich city of Suzhou. After a period of semi-retirement he moved in 832 to the Longmen Buddhist caves close to Luoyang in Henan where he died at the venerable age of 74. He is remembered for his simple, readable style covering everyday life. He was later criticized for the vulgar, common style of his work but they retain popular appeal.