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The Sui Dynasty had only 37 years of history and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms had 79 years of history, the focal point in these times was the poetry of the Tang Dynasty (618-907).
Poetry in the Tang Dynasty was flourished and created a new era in the history of Chinese poetry.
The boom of the Tang Dynasty poetry firstly was its quantity. In the Quan Tang Shi -- the Complete ( Collection) of Tang Dynasty Poetry (the other version: The Complete of Tang Poems), which was edited in the Qing Dyansty (1636-1912), there are more than 2,600 poets represented, more than 48,900 poems, making up 900 volumes.
In quality, not only were there the great poets Li Bi, Du Fu, but there were also Wang Wei, Bai Juyi, Li He, Li Shangyin, Du Mu and groups of the excellent poets. The level of the Tang Dynasty poetry surpassed that of any other dynasty in Chinese history. This was the meridian period of Chinese poetry.
The main reasons for the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty :
-- In the Tang Dynasty (618-907), China had a highly developed economy and was the strongest society in the world. This gave its people much national self-confidence and a sense of national pride, their creative ability was at an unprecedented level.
-- Poetry was free from the monopoly of the court and noblemen and shifted to the intellectuals in the middle and lower classes.
-- The culture and circles of thought were free, religions other than Confucianism, Buddhism Taoism could be spread and cultural exchanges were active.
-- The rulers and the government paid more attention to develop literature and poetry, poetry was one of the must sit for exams for any person that wanted to be enrolled as an officer by the court.
-- Chinese poetry had already developed for about 2,000 years before the Tang Dynasty and was ready for the new developments in the Tang Dynasty.
The 4 development phases of Tang Dynasty poetry
Usually, people divide the development of Tang Dynasty poetry into 4 phases:
The Poetry in the Early Tang Dynasty (618 - 713):
In this phase, Chinese poetry critically inherited the forepassed poetry styles, emerged a new fresh progress, mainly it was developed on three hands.
-- Broke through the narrow subject matters of the later Northern and Southern Dynasties 锛�420-589) to express the wider social life and more important events in that times.
-- Gave up the flippant and soft style and created a new, more vigorous and lively style.
-- Established the rules and forms of classical poetic composition (with respect to tonal pattern, rhyme scheme, etc.)
The representative poets of this phase were Chu Tang Si Jie - The Four Outstanding Poets (Wang Bo, Yang Jiong, Lu Zhaoling and Luo Binwang), Chen Zian, Shen Quanqi and Song Zhiwen.
The Poetry in the Prosperous Period of the Tang Dynasty(713 - 766):
This was the flourishing peak of Tang Dynasty poetry, within a space of about 53 years, there were more than 10 great poets, with different styles, and they involved themselves with the creative process of Tang Dynasty poems.
Concerning content, the positive romanticism of pursuing positive political ambitions and dreams, the heroism and patriotism that found great achievement for the country, and the spirit of being against the dignitaries were the mainstream of the poetry.
Li Bai (701-762) was the greatest representative.
Apart from the traditional mountain and water (landscape poetry), pastoral (idyll) poetry, complaints from the palace, farewell and so on, it is the political poetry and frontier poetry (frontier - style poetry) that most clearly reflects the characteristics of the poetry in the glorious age of Tang Dynasty.
The Rebellion of An and Shi from 755 to 763 was the turning point for the Tang Dynasty (618- 907) and marked the transition from prosperity to decline.
The poet at the center of this enormous change and who expressed the change in society was Du Fu (712 - 770).
With a Prosperous Tang poet's eyes and courage, he observed and reflected the social reality, he not only revealed social contradictions, but was also full of the spirit of optimism.
Du Fu was the last poet of the Glorious Age of Tang Dynasty and opened the way for the realistic poetry of the Middle Part of Tang Dynasty. He was an epoch-making poet.
The Poetry in the Middle Part of the Tang Dynasty (766 - 835):
There were about 570 poets during this period, and they produced the most (about 19,000) poems, there were also most poetry schools (sects) .
During this phase, the positive romantic passion and dreams disappeared, severe and grim reality caused the poets to observe and think calmly and poetry reverted to realism.
The New Yuefu Movement represented by Bai Juyi was just like a big river flowing through whole of the Middle Part of Tang Dynasty poetry.
The content of the realistic poetry of this time mainly expressed people's livelihoods; the language was easy to read and understand and the poetic form was mainly folk song style.
The main poetry schools (sects) were:
-- Han (Han Yu) and Meng (Meng Jiao) Poetry School (sect): reflected reality with their bad experiences and enjoyed pursuing an unusual, unique and surprised style.
-- The Romantic Poetry School (sect) represented by Li He: used plenty of imagination to express a strong sorrowful sentiment.
-- The Seclusion School (sect) represented by Wei Yingwu, Liu Zhangqing: with their disappointment and dissatisfaction with society, they retreated into the mountains.
-- With a quiet, delicate and graceful style, Liu Zongyuan and Liu Yuxi created their own school (sect).
The Poetry in the Late Tang Dynasty (836 - 906 ):
The worsening social environment and poorer life of the people triggered new peasant uprisings. The poetic style represented by Li Shangyin and Du Mu is full of nostalgia for a flourishing age that would not come again.
At that time, love became a popular topic. poetry was more emotional and had more feelings of civilians.
Ci - Lyric poetry appeared at this time, founded by Wun Wei (according to another version: Lyric originated in the Sui Dynasty).
The main poetry during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907锝�960) was Ci - Lyric.
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