Ep. 219 | The History of Tang Poetry (Part 2)

In Part 2 Laszlo will finish up an overview of pre-Tang poetry and show where everything went from the Classic of Poetry and Songs of Chu.  Fu rhapsodies, Yue Fu poetry, and the works from the Jian’an era will be introduced. 

Tang poetry didn’t arise out of anything.  It was the collective genius and creativity of all these pre and post-Qin Chinese literati who built the foundation that the Tang masters built on.

Please come back for Part 3 where we’ll finally get to the early Tang.

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Terms in Episode

Pinyin/Term	Chinese	English/Meaning
Bān Gù	班固	Writer of great fu poetry but better known as the compiler of The Book of Han
Chángshā	长沙	Present day capital of Hunan province
Cháng’ān	长安	Ancient capital of more than a few dynasties/ Present day Xian
Chìbì Fù	赤壁赋	Two great Fu poems by Su Shi that marked the watershed battle in ancient Chinese history in 208 CE
Chǔ Cí	楚辞	the Songs of Chǔ the Verses of Chǔ
Chǔ State	楚国	Warring States kingdom that ran from 403 to 227 BCE
Chǔcí Zhāngjù	楚辞章句	The received version of the Songs of Chǔ that we read in our day
Cáo Cāo	曹操	All-time legendary great from Chinese history. Lived 155-220 CE
Cáo Pī	曹丕	Lived from around 187-226. Son of Cao Cao and the founder of the Cao Wei Dynasty
Cáo Zhí	曹植	Lived from 192-232. Brother to Cao Pi, son to Cao Cao
Cí	辞	A form of poetry often translated as "lyric poetry"
Diào Qū Yuán Fù	吊屈原赋	Lament for Qū Yuán, a Fu poem by Jia Yi
Dù Fǔ	杜甫	Another famous Tang poet. We'll get to him in Part 5.
Emperor Shùn	汉顺帝	Seventh emperor of the Eastern Han. Reigned 125-144
Emperor Wǔ of Liáng	梁武帝	Liang Dynasty founder, reigned 502-549. Great patron of arts and letters
Fù	赋	Also referred to as rhapsodies . More about the Fu genre next episode
Fúniǎo Fù	赋鸟赋	“On the Owl”, one of Jia Yi's other great Fu masterpieces
Guò Qín Lùn	过秦论	“Disquisition Finding Fault with Qin” also by Jia Yi
Guō Màoqiàn	郭茂倩	Compiler of the definitive anthology on Yuefu poetry. It contained almost 5,300 Yuefu poems.
Gǔ Shī	古诗	the old classical stuff told in a style more inline with the times. The verses were five characters long and later seven.
Gǔ Shī Shíjiǔ Shǒu	古诗十九首	“Nineteen Ancient Poems”
Han Dynasty	汉朝	Ran from 202 BCE to 220 CE
Han Emperor Wén	汉武帝	Fourth son of the founder Gāozǔ. Reigned 180-157 BCE
Han Emperor Āi	汉哀帝	Han emperor who reigned 7 to 1 BCE. No a big patron of the arts and letters
Han Xiàn emperor	汉献帝	Final emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, reigned 189-220
Heisei Era	平成时代	The Imperial Era Name of Japanese Emperor Akihito from Jan 8, 1989 to April 30, 2019
Hàn Gāozǔ	han gao zu	Han founding emperor, reigned 202 to 195 BCE
Jiàn’ān	建安	The final era of the Han Dynasty and final era of the final emperor. It ran from 196 to 220
Jiàn’ān Fēnggǔ	建安风骨	The style of Jian'an poetry
Jiàn’ān Qīzǐ	建安七子	Seven Scholars of Jiàn’ān, men of the day who received the highest acclaim for their literary achievements during Cáo Pī’s reign
Jiǎ Yì	贾谊	Writer, poet, politician from Western Han. Lived 200-169 BCE. A pioneer in the new style of Fu poetry
Jī Kāng	嵇康	Lived 223-262. Chinese writer, poet, Daoist philosopher, musician and alchemist of the Three Kingdoms period. He was one of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove
Luoyang	洛阳	One of China's ancient capitals, located in Henan province.
Lí Sāo	离骚	Qu Yuan's masterpiece, Li Sao, "Encountering Sorrow"
Líu Zhēn	刘桢	Scholar anf poet of the Eastern Han, lived from 180-217. One of the Seven Scholars of Jian'an
Lǐ Bái	李白	Famous Tang poet. We'll get to him in Part 4.
Mùlán	花木兰	Before becoming a Disney sensation, this story of Hua Mulan was told in a Yue fu poem
Qiánlóng	乾隆	Qing Dynasty emperor, reigned 1735-1796
Qín Shǐhuáng	秦始皇	The first Qin Emperor, unifier of ancient China
Qū Yuán	屈原	Chu poet and official who lived from around 340 to 278 BCE
Reiwa Era	令和时代	The new Japanese Imperial Era name that will commence with the accession of Prince Naruhito to the throne.
Ruǎn Jí	阮籍	One of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove. Poet and musician of the Eastern Han. Lived 210-263
Ruǎn Yǔ	阮瑀	one of the Seven Scholars of Jiàn’ān. Father of Ruan Ji.
Shī-Sāo	诗骚	The poetry of the Book of Odes and the Songs of Chu
Shījīng	诗经	The Book of Odes, Book of Songs, the Classic of Poetry
Sòng Huīzōng	宋徽宗	Northern Song emperor, great patron of the arts and letters. reigned 1100-1126. Came to a bad end.
Sīmǎ Qiān	司马迁	Han Dynasty historian. Lived around 145 to 86 BCE
Sīmǎ Xiāngrú	司马相如	Lived during Western Han around 179-117 BCE. Chinese poet, writer, musician, and politician. They love him in Chengdu
Sū Shì / Sū Dōngpō	苏轼 / 苏东坡	One of the all-time greats in Chinese history, He was a little big of everything and great at whatever he did. Featured in CHP episode 175
Táng Xuánzōng	唐玄宗	Tang emperor whose reign was called the High Tang (as far as poetry goes). He reigned 713-756
Wáng Càn	王粲	One of the Seven Scholars of Jian'an, Eastern Han scholar, official and poet
Wáng Wéi	王维	Another famous Tang poet. We'll get to him in Part 5.
Wén Xǔan	文选	“Selected Works” This was the most important literary source for students and scholars during the Tang and for many years after.
Wǔ yán shī	五言诗	Five Character Poems pentasyllabic-line verse
Yuè Fǔ	乐府	The Music Bureau and the poetry that was in the style of the Music Bureau
Yuèfǔ Shījí	乐府诗集	The name of the anthology written by Guo Maoqian
Yáng Xióng	杨雄	Lived from 53 BCE–18 CE. Chinese poet, philosopher, and politician of the Han dynasty known for his philosophical writings and fu poetry
Yèchéng	邺城	modern day Hándān 邯郸 in Hebei Province
Yī Shì zhī xióng	一世之雄	a hero for the age.
Zhou Dynasty	周朝	Ancient Chinese dynasty ran 1046 to 771 BCE
Zhúlín Qī Xián	竹林七贤	Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove

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