Poets of the Tang Dynasty

Throughout human history, our beliefs have influenced our actions. This is why we have studies like the humanities. During the Tang Dynasty, different religions developing during the time had enormous influence on what was being produced during the era. When it comes to literature, poets like Wang Wei, Li Bai, Du Fu, and Bo Juyi expressed their religions through their poetry during the Tang era. While it was not always directly mentioned in their poetry, there are connections between the Tang Dynasty poets’ works and their respective religions.

Wang Wei (699-761CE), was a Buddhist poet that was born in to the upper class in Shanxi. He passed the Chin-Shi system – a system that was designed to challenge government and bureaucratic officials in all realms of knowledge from poetry and art to academia. However, Wei was exiled due to a loss of popularity during his career. This is when he really took on the role of a poet and became phenomenal with his craft. His exile was caused by a misunderstanding during the An Lushan Rebellion in 775CE (Davis et al. 1169). Wei was imprisoned by the state because they thought that he was a part of the rebellion. Amazingly, the way he got out of this imprisonment was through his poetry. He wrote two poems during his imprisonment proclaiming his faith to the emperor which restored faith in the court. You have to be pretty outstanding to get out of prison by means of poetics! Wei really enjoyed his time during the aforementioned exile because it gave him time to grow fond of nature and his serene estate along the Wang River. He found peace in nature, where in the city of Chang’an he had to deal with all of the business associated with the functioning of the government and bureaucraci...

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... he can totally be himself without getting judged. He feels more at home being away from everyone. The message, to me, in this poem is to express yourself with no regrets. The theme that stands out to me is the desire to be like a hermit. You can tell that this was written in the Chinese classical period because of the focus on the separation of the artist from the concerns of everyday society.

Works Cited

The Bedford Anthology of World Literature: The Ancient, Medieval, and Early Modern World, Beginnings—1650. Compact Ed. Eds. Paul Davis, et al. Beford: Boston, 2009. Print. 1163—1183.

Wen, Haiming. "Chinese Buddhism In The Sui And Tang Dynasties." China Today 60.12 (2011): 76-77. Academic Search Complete. Web. 16 Dec. 2013.

Richey, Jeffrey L. Teaching Confucianism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 16 Dec. 2013.