Tang+Poems

Post your favorite Tang poem here. Explain what it reflects about Tang society and why you like it.

Tang Poems  Sam Wickham:

AT PARTING Wang Wei

I dismount from my horse and I offer you wine, And I ask you where you are going and why. And you answer: "I am discontent And would rest at the foot of the southern mountain. So give me leave and ask me no questions. White clouds pass there without end."

I like this poem for a few reasons. First, the situation described makes me curious: Why is the man discontent? Where is he going? Why does the other man care? The last line of the poem is also intriguing to me, as it implies natures influence on this particular man's motives. I think this poem connects with the Tang in terms of foreign policy, as the Tang seemed to expand quickly in an almost "discontent" manner. The reference of horses as a means of travel also indicates a connection with this expansion across Asia.

Derek Crowley:

Drinking Alone by Moonlight

Li Po

A cup of wine, under the flowering trees; I drink alone, for no friend is near. Raising my cup I beckon the bright moon, For he, with my shadow, will make three men. The moon, alas, is no drinker of wine; Listless, my shadow creeps about at my side. Yet with the moon as friend and the shadow as slave I must make merry before the Spring is spent. To the songs I sing the moon flickers her beams; In the dance I weave my shadow tangles and breaks. While we were sober, three shared the fun; Now we are drunk, each goes his way. May we long share our odd, inanimate feast, And meet at last on the Cloudy River of the Sky This poem shows the loneliness that people felt during the Tang Dynasty. In this poem the speaker has no friends to drink with other than the moon and the shadows he is able to create from the moonlight. This poem also shows the downsides of the Tang dynasties expansion, wars, and the many people who died during them. The speaker has no friends near him because they have all moved away from him leaving him to drink alone. I like this poem because Li Po's use of anthropomorphism with the moon. Li Po gives the moon human characteristics by having it act like a friend to the speaker. Li Po also refers to the moon as "he" as if the moon was a real person.

Jeffrey G. Rosenberg: Five-­‐character-­‐quatrain Wang Wei
 * // THE BEAUTIFUL XI SHI //**

Since beauty is honoured all over the Empire, How could Xi Shi remain humbly at home?-­‐ Washing clothes at dawn by a southern lake-­‐ And that evening a great lady in a palace of the north: Lowly one day, no different from the others, The next day exalted, everyone praising her. No more would her own hands powder her face Or arrange on her shoulders a silken robe. And the more the King loved her, the lovelier she looked, Blinding him away from wisdom. ...Girls who had once washed silk beside her Were kept at a distance from her chariot. And none of the girls in her neighbours' houses By pursing their brows could copy her beauty.

I like this poem because it shows a downside to beauty—one of the key elements of the T'ang dynasty. This poem explains how the T'ang dynasty allowed the Chinese to put beauty above all; culture flourished with the expansion of ethnic and religious diversity, types of cuisine, clothing and art, as well as musical education under Emperor Hsuan-tsung. Perhaps this poem is an appreciation for the new cultural developments that were being initiated during the T'ang dynasty—or perhaps it is a warning that China under the T'ang dynasty is too concerned with cultural advances, and should be wary of its leader's guidance. [Note: Emperor Hsuan-tsung fell hopelessly in love with Yang Guifei, one of his concubines, distracting him from leading China—so perhaps Wang Wei was in fact concerned that Emperor Hsuan-tsung was too infatuated with Yang Guifei's beauty to govern China, which is literally represented in the poem.]