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Intro Post: snowynight (Part redux)
Apr. 30th, 2012 12:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snowynightHi! I'm snowynight and I'll be your host for this week. Since the last time I was a host I've been an more avid reader of poetry and start to try my hand in writing poetry. It's a lot of fun. For more about me, please see my first introduction post here at the comm or visit my personal journal
This week I'll talk about Tang Dynasty poets in China (618-907). Tang Dynasty was an important period for the history of Chinese poetry, because during this period the quantity, quality and variety of poetry had climbed to a new high, which was very influential to later time. I would like to introduce some popular and overlooked poets in Tang Dynasty China.
Li Bai 李白 (701-762) was a profound and popular poet in China. He was nicknamed " Banished Immortal" because his poems were famous for his imagination, his willingness to break the formal poetic rules and his seemingly easiness to bound all these into great poetry. However, his life was tragic. He was unable to use his talent to serve the country as he wished and later died in exile. The conflict of Taoist belief of transcending the worldly affair and the Confucius ideal of building a name by serving the country built up the tension in his life. There's a more comprehensive account of his life on wikipedia.
I would like to share one of his popular poems Drinking Alone Under the Moon here, which I think gives a glimpse of why he was nicknamed "Banished Immortal." It 's a five-word poem in old poetry style.
( In amongst flowers with a bottle of wine / I drink alone for there is no one close by. )
Question: How do you enjoy the poem? Does the description of the poet remind you of anything? Are there any aspects of Tang Dynasty poetry and poets you're interested in?
This week I'll talk about Tang Dynasty poets in China (618-907). Tang Dynasty was an important period for the history of Chinese poetry, because during this period the quantity, quality and variety of poetry had climbed to a new high, which was very influential to later time. I would like to introduce some popular and overlooked poets in Tang Dynasty China.
Li Bai 李白 (701-762) was a profound and popular poet in China. He was nicknamed " Banished Immortal" because his poems were famous for his imagination, his willingness to break the formal poetic rules and his seemingly easiness to bound all these into great poetry. However, his life was tragic. He was unable to use his talent to serve the country as he wished and later died in exile. The conflict of Taoist belief of transcending the worldly affair and the Confucius ideal of building a name by serving the country built up the tension in his life. There's a more comprehensive account of his life on wikipedia.
I would like to share one of his popular poems Drinking Alone Under the Moon here, which I think gives a glimpse of why he was nicknamed "Banished Immortal." It 's a five-word poem in old poetry style.
( In amongst flowers with a bottle of wine / I drink alone for there is no one close by. )
Question: How do you enjoy the poem? Does the description of the poet remind you of anything? Are there any aspects of Tang Dynasty poetry and poets you're interested in?
