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snowynightTang Dynasty is considered the golden period of classical Chinese poetry. Li Bai & Du Fu were particularly the superstars of Chinese poetry. Poets born after them have received less attention, but they also inherited and innovated the poetry tradition. Here I would like to cover several poets in the mid/late Tang Dynasty: Han Yu (768 – 824), Meng Jiao (751–814), Li He (c. 790–791 – c. 816–817), Liu Zongyuan (773-819) & Li Shangyin (813-858).
History Background
The start of the mid-Tang Dynasty was marked by the the catastrophic events of the An Lushan Rebellion. Even the emperor had to flee from the capital. The rebellion lasted 8 years, causing huge loss in population, and fragmentation of China. Autonomous regional authorities headed by regional military commanders became virtually independent. Frequent wars with neighboring countries, the rise of eunuchs who later controlled royal successions and the general economic decline plagued the Tang Dynasty to its end in 907. It was hard for intellectuals without connection to find a living. Han Yu, Meng Jiao, Li He & Li Shangyin all suffered from this problem.
Politically it was a turbulent time. Patronage and connection were key to get a government position, the only way for an intellectual to have a respected career. The enunches bloodily suppressed the Yongzhen Reformation, ruining many lives including its proponent Liu Zongyuan. Han Yu was on the opposite side as Liu Zongyuan, but their friendship persisted after Liu's banishment. The Niu–Li factional strife (821-846) has divided the government officials into two sides, which was the context for Li Shangyin's unsuccessful career.
Meng Jiao
Meng Jiao was the oldest out of the mid-Tang poets. 500 of his poems existed to this day, all in 5-syllable gushi (lit. ancient style poems). He was a hermit and only started attending the imperial exam at about 40 under his mother's request. His poetry is noted for the unusual forcefulness and harshness. Comtemporaies praised his poetry highly and considered him an equal to Han Yu. Han Yu once wrote a poem comparing themselves to two dragons. They also collaborated and wrote ten long poems
Two of his poems have been collected in the popular anthology "Three Hundred Tang Poems". His most famous poem is "遊子吟", lit: "The Song of a Travelling Son". It compares a mother's love to her children to sunlight.
Meng Jiao received very few attention in English academics, so it's hard for me to find good translation of his poems online. This one is another of his popular poem.
"Ancient Grievance"
translated by Michael A. Fuller
You and I, let us try with our tears
In two places, drop them into pond water,
Watch, in picking lotus flowers.
This year, for whose [tears] will they die?"
Another translation of the poem bylarryhammer
Wikipedia page
Han Yu
Han Yu was an essayist, Confucian scholar, poet, and government official during the Tang dynasty. Orphaned at birth, he was raised by his elder brother and sister-in-law. When he was seven, his elder brother was exiled and died three years later. His childhood as an orphan, struggle to support his clan in his middle years and exiles shaped his writing.
While he championed Confucianism, he also praised rival philosophers to Confucius and Mencius. He encouraged his son to study hard to secure a good career, but took a great risk to protest against the emperor. He was opposed to Liu Zongyuan's political position, but also deified Liu after his death.
Han was extremely social and willing to patron younger people. He was associated with a lot of poets of his time. Li Shangyin expressed his admiration of Han's prose in his poem and writing.
This's a good summary of his life with interesting facts: a tale of genius, moral uprightness, power, and exile.
Wikipedia page
Facts about Han Yu:
- In AD 819, the Emperor Xianzong of Tang had what was alleged to be Gautama Buddha's finger bone escorted from a temple in Fengxiang (in modern Baoji, Shaanxi) to the palace in a grand ceremony, kept the bone in the palace for three days, and encouraged the people to worship it and make donations to the temples. Some people were reported to burn their arms and heads and donated everything in tribune. Han Yu protested against the practice and ended up exiled to Chaozhou, the extreme south of the Tang Dynasty Empire. Even his family and grand nephew weren't spared.
- At that time, crocodiles plagued rivers in Chaozhou. During his time as a Chaozhou, Han Yu wrote the Proclamation against Crocodiles and organized a hunt of crocodiles. According to legend, the crocodiles disappeared ever since from Chaozhou
- Han Yu's poetry is controversial because he deliberately breaks the poetical convention: word order, phrases, imagery, topics, rhyming etc. He wrote poems about losing teeth, an ungrateful owl and dead bodies in graves. He also wrote a long poem consisted only of nouns. His imagery was striking. Even flower fragrance is "fierce". One scholar said Han Yu was modernist in his approach.
- He wrote a fictional biography of an ink brush, which is considered one of the earliest Chinese novel.
-Han Yu was generous with his friends and a patron of many younger people. He helped Meng Zhao to find jobs, taking care of Liu Zongyuan's son after Liu's death. He also encouraged and defended Li He's decision to take the imperial exam.
Three slected poems from the "A Pond in a Jardiniere" series by Han Yu
Liu Zongyuan
Liu Zongyuan was a Chinese philosopher, poet, and politician. Along with Han Yu, he was a founder of the Classical Prose Movement. He has been traditionally classed as one of the "Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song".
Liu initially had a successful civil service career and joined a reformist movement to suppress powerful enunches and regional warlords. When the enunches revolted and forced the emperor to step down, Liu was banished and spent the rest of his life in minor positions in isolated regions. He worked with courage and integrity as a government official and wrote a lot of prose and poetry.A temple was built in his name. According to Han's obituary, Liu told the locals in a dream that he would become a patron god of the place of his final exile.
Liu's most famous poem is "River, Snow".
Translation bylarryhammer
A thousand mountains, birds depart;
Ten thousand paths, footprints vanish.
A lone boat, straw rain hat, old man
Fishing alone, cold river, snow.
Source of translation<
Wikipedia Page
Li He
What we knew about Li He mainly came from "The Short Biography of Li He" written by Li Shangyin. He was described as a diligent poet, who carried an old brocade bag around with him, and when a line of poetry came to him he would jot it down and put it in this bag. Then he completed the poems when he arrived home in the evening. His mother often said, "My son has given his heart and blood to poetry." When he died at 27, a scarlet figure was reported to visit him and told him that Shangdi had summoned him to heaven to write poetry for a new white jade building.
Li He was distantly related to the royal family and was proud of his heritage. At 20, he attempted to take the imperial exam to fulfill his ambition and secured a living. However, he faced attack because of a naming tabo: the first character (晉, jin) of his father's given name (晉肅, Jinsu) was homophonous with the first character (進) of Jinshi (進士), the name of the degree that would have been conferred on him had he passed. Han Yu wrote the Argument against Naming Taboo to defend him, but Li He ended up couldn't/didn't take the exam.
Li He's poetry famously depicted ghostly, supernatural and fantastic themes. He was known as Poetry Ghost in comparison to Li Bai (Poetry Immortal) He described himself as a thin guy with thick eyebrow and big nose. He was sickly, and his hair turned entirely white since 18.
Here's one of his poem:
"Sky Dream"
translated by David Himton
A moon's old rabbit and cold toad weeping colors of sky,
lucent walls slant across through half-open cloud towers.
A jade-pure wheel squeezes dew into bulbs of wet light.
Phoenix waist jewels meet on cinnamon-scented paths.
Transformations of a thousand years gallop by like horses,
yellow dust soon seawater below changeless island peaks,
and all China seen so far off: it's just nine wisps of mist,
and the ocean's vast clarity a mere cup of spilled water.
Wikipedia Page
Li Shangyin
Li Shangyin was a poet famous for his elegant and symbolic poetry. The Niu–Li factional strife was often stressed in his biography, but there wasn't a consensus about his role in the strife and the impact on his unsuccessful career. He was highly rated as a formal, elegant prose writer in his time. Similarly, his poems were densely allusive, rigidly structured and full of beautiful otherworldly imagery. They built a world of grief and longing, with hope always out of reach.
He has been one of the most controversial, difficult, and complex of Chinese poets. Many critics tried to explain his densely allusive poems, but their meaning remained elusive. He was most famous for his "Untitled" poems.
Untitled ("Seeing one another is hard")
translated by Michael A. Fuller
Seeing one another is hard;
separation is also hard.
The east wind is without force,
the hundred flowers tattered.
The tears of the wax torch begin to
dry only when it has become ash
At the sawn mirror, she only grieve at
the change in her cloud-like forelocks.
Chanting at night, she surely is aware
that the moon's gleam is cold.
Mount Penglai is not far from here;
Bluebird, try your best to spy her out for me.
History Background
The start of the mid-Tang Dynasty was marked by the the catastrophic events of the An Lushan Rebellion. Even the emperor had to flee from the capital. The rebellion lasted 8 years, causing huge loss in population, and fragmentation of China. Autonomous regional authorities headed by regional military commanders became virtually independent. Frequent wars with neighboring countries, the rise of eunuchs who later controlled royal successions and the general economic decline plagued the Tang Dynasty to its end in 907. It was hard for intellectuals without connection to find a living. Han Yu, Meng Jiao, Li He & Li Shangyin all suffered from this problem.
Politically it was a turbulent time. Patronage and connection were key to get a government position, the only way for an intellectual to have a respected career. The enunches bloodily suppressed the Yongzhen Reformation, ruining many lives including its proponent Liu Zongyuan. Han Yu was on the opposite side as Liu Zongyuan, but their friendship persisted after Liu's banishment. The Niu–Li factional strife (821-846) has divided the government officials into two sides, which was the context for Li Shangyin's unsuccessful career.
Meng Jiao
Meng Jiao was the oldest out of the mid-Tang poets. 500 of his poems existed to this day, all in 5-syllable gushi (lit. ancient style poems). He was a hermit and only started attending the imperial exam at about 40 under his mother's request. His poetry is noted for the unusual forcefulness and harshness. Comtemporaies praised his poetry highly and considered him an equal to Han Yu. Han Yu once wrote a poem comparing themselves to two dragons. They also collaborated and wrote ten long poems
Two of his poems have been collected in the popular anthology "Three Hundred Tang Poems". His most famous poem is "遊子吟", lit: "The Song of a Travelling Son". It compares a mother's love to her children to sunlight.
Meng Jiao received very few attention in English academics, so it's hard for me to find good translation of his poems online. This one is another of his popular poem.
"Ancient Grievance"
translated by Michael A. Fuller
You and I, let us try with our tears
In two places, drop them into pond water,
Watch, in picking lotus flowers.
This year, for whose [tears] will they die?"
Another translation of the poem by
larryhammer Wikipedia page
Han Yu
Han Yu was an essayist, Confucian scholar, poet, and government official during the Tang dynasty. Orphaned at birth, he was raised by his elder brother and sister-in-law. When he was seven, his elder brother was exiled and died three years later. His childhood as an orphan, struggle to support his clan in his middle years and exiles shaped his writing.
While he championed Confucianism, he also praised rival philosophers to Confucius and Mencius. He encouraged his son to study hard to secure a good career, but took a great risk to protest against the emperor. He was opposed to Liu Zongyuan's political position, but also deified Liu after his death.
Han was extremely social and willing to patron younger people. He was associated with a lot of poets of his time. Li Shangyin expressed his admiration of Han's prose in his poem and writing.
This's a good summary of his life with interesting facts: a tale of genius, moral uprightness, power, and exile.
Wikipedia page
Facts about Han Yu:
- In AD 819, the Emperor Xianzong of Tang had what was alleged to be Gautama Buddha's finger bone escorted from a temple in Fengxiang (in modern Baoji, Shaanxi) to the palace in a grand ceremony, kept the bone in the palace for three days, and encouraged the people to worship it and make donations to the temples. Some people were reported to burn their arms and heads and donated everything in tribune. Han Yu protested against the practice and ended up exiled to Chaozhou, the extreme south of the Tang Dynasty Empire. Even his family and grand nephew weren't spared.
- At that time, crocodiles plagued rivers in Chaozhou. During his time as a Chaozhou, Han Yu wrote the Proclamation against Crocodiles and organized a hunt of crocodiles. According to legend, the crocodiles disappeared ever since from Chaozhou
- Han Yu's poetry is controversial because he deliberately breaks the poetical convention: word order, phrases, imagery, topics, rhyming etc. He wrote poems about losing teeth, an ungrateful owl and dead bodies in graves. He also wrote a long poem consisted only of nouns. His imagery was striking. Even flower fragrance is "fierce". One scholar said Han Yu was modernist in his approach.
- He wrote a fictional biography of an ink brush, which is considered one of the earliest Chinese novel.
-Han Yu was generous with his friends and a patron of many younger people. He helped Meng Zhao to find jobs, taking care of Liu Zongyuan's son after Liu's death. He also encouraged and defended Li He's decision to take the imperial exam.
Three slected poems from the "A Pond in a Jardiniere" series by Han Yu
Liu Zongyuan
Liu Zongyuan was a Chinese philosopher, poet, and politician. Along with Han Yu, he was a founder of the Classical Prose Movement. He has been traditionally classed as one of the "Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song".
Liu initially had a successful civil service career and joined a reformist movement to suppress powerful enunches and regional warlords. When the enunches revolted and forced the emperor to step down, Liu was banished and spent the rest of his life in minor positions in isolated regions. He worked with courage and integrity as a government official and wrote a lot of prose and poetry.A temple was built in his name. According to Han's obituary, Liu told the locals in a dream that he would become a patron god of the place of his final exile.
Liu's most famous poem is "River, Snow".
Translation by
larryhammer A thousand mountains, birds depart;
Ten thousand paths, footprints vanish.
A lone boat, straw rain hat, old man
Fishing alone, cold river, snow.
Source of translation<
Wikipedia Page
Li He
What we knew about Li He mainly came from "The Short Biography of Li He" written by Li Shangyin. He was described as a diligent poet, who carried an old brocade bag around with him, and when a line of poetry came to him he would jot it down and put it in this bag. Then he completed the poems when he arrived home in the evening. His mother often said, "My son has given his heart and blood to poetry." When he died at 27, a scarlet figure was reported to visit him and told him that Shangdi had summoned him to heaven to write poetry for a new white jade building.
Li He was distantly related to the royal family and was proud of his heritage. At 20, he attempted to take the imperial exam to fulfill his ambition and secured a living. However, he faced attack because of a naming tabo: the first character (晉, jin) of his father's given name (晉肅, Jinsu) was homophonous with the first character (進) of Jinshi (進士), the name of the degree that would have been conferred on him had he passed. Han Yu wrote the Argument against Naming Taboo to defend him, but Li He ended up couldn't/didn't take the exam.
Li He's poetry famously depicted ghostly, supernatural and fantastic themes. He was known as Poetry Ghost in comparison to Li Bai (Poetry Immortal) He described himself as a thin guy with thick eyebrow and big nose. He was sickly, and his hair turned entirely white since 18.
Here's one of his poem:
"Sky Dream"
translated by David Himton
A moon's old rabbit and cold toad weeping colors of sky,
lucent walls slant across through half-open cloud towers.
A jade-pure wheel squeezes dew into bulbs of wet light.
Phoenix waist jewels meet on cinnamon-scented paths.
Transformations of a thousand years gallop by like horses,
yellow dust soon seawater below changeless island peaks,
and all China seen so far off: it's just nine wisps of mist,
and the ocean's vast clarity a mere cup of spilled water.
Wikipedia Page
Li Shangyin
Li Shangyin was a poet famous for his elegant and symbolic poetry. The Niu–Li factional strife was often stressed in his biography, but there wasn't a consensus about his role in the strife and the impact on his unsuccessful career. He was highly rated as a formal, elegant prose writer in his time. Similarly, his poems were densely allusive, rigidly structured and full of beautiful otherworldly imagery. They built a world of grief and longing, with hope always out of reach.
He has been one of the most controversial, difficult, and complex of Chinese poets. Many critics tried to explain his densely allusive poems, but their meaning remained elusive. He was most famous for his "Untitled" poems.
Untitled ("Seeing one another is hard")
translated by Michael A. Fuller
Seeing one another is hard;
separation is also hard.
The east wind is without force,
the hundred flowers tattered.
The tears of the wax torch begin to
dry only when it has become ash
At the sawn mirror, she only grieve at
the change in her cloud-like forelocks.
Chanting at night, she surely is aware
that the moon's gleam is cold.
Mount Penglai is not far from here;
Bluebird, try your best to spy her out for me.
