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618–907

Tang Dynasty

唐

Tang poetry as a reading shelf: regulated verse, the High Tang poets on this site, and the rebellion that cuts the century in half.

The Tang ran from 618 to 907. For shi poetry, the poems in lines of five or seven, it is the dynasty English readers mean when they say classical Chinese poetry. That is a simplification with a reason. The forms that became standard, the jueju and the lüshi, took their authority here. The poets people learn first wrote here.

A century with a break in it

Histories divide the dynasty into stretches: early, high, middle, late. The dates of the stretches vary with the historian. What a reader of these poems needs is coarser and more useful. There is a long period of court confidence, and then, from 755, the rebellion led by An Lushan, a general of the Tang, which broke the capital and the reign of Xuanzong. The rebellion and the wars that followed it are the middle of the story.

Meng Haoran died in 740, before that break. Wang Wei and Li Bai lived across it. Du Fu wrote his way through it. Spring View is a poem of the occupied capital in 757. Deer Enclosure is not. It belongs to the mountain estate, and the page says so. Putting every Tang poem “after the rebellion” in spirit is a way of not reading them.

What the poems on this desk are doing

Regulated verse is the craft you can point at: level-tone rhyme, a tonal pattern, and parallel middle couplets in the lüshi. Ancient-style verse kept its freedom beside it. Four-line poems in this collection include both regulated and ancient-style quatrains. The jueju page explains the distinction; an individual poem’s notes describe the evidence for its form rather than applying one classification to an author’s entire work.

The Tang poems here:

After, and before

Song poets kept writing shi. They also made the ci lyric the form English readers associate with the next dynasty. Su Shi’s mid-autumn lyric is the one Song poem on this desk, and the Song page is the short bridge to it.

Earlier than the Tang by a long way is the Book of Songs, the Shijing, an anthology of a different verse, much of it in four-character lines, gathered long before regulated tones existed. Later than the Song, Yuan sanqu is another song form. Both are part of the history of “classical” if the word is used for everything old. They are not the center of this site. The center is the Tang poem you can hold in one page, and the notes that keep its form honest.

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Poems in this hub

Li Bai Quiet Night Thought 靜夜思 Li Bai’s four-line night poem, with the traditional text, Mandarin pinyin, a word-by-word gloss, and an English translation written for PoemWell. Meng Haoran Spring Dawn 春曉 Meng Haoran’s Spring Dawn: birdsong, a night of wind and rain, and a question about fallen flowers, with gloss and an original English translation. Wang Wei Deer Enclosure 鹿柴 Wang Wei’s quatrain from the Wangchuan poems: an empty mountain, a voice, and late light on the moss, with gloss and a new English translation. Li Bai Drinking Alone beneath the Moon 月下獨酌 The first of Li Bai’s four poems called Drinking Alone beneath the Moon: wine, a shadow, and the moon as a third companion, with gloss and an original translation. Du Fu Spring View 春望 Du Fu’s Spring View, written in occupied Chang’an in 757: a regulated eight-line poem of a broken capital, with gloss, tone notes, and an original translation. Bai Juyi A Question for Liu Nineteen 問劉十九 Bai Juyi’s invitation to a friend before the snow: traditional Chinese, pinyin, a word-by-word gloss, original English translation, and close reading. Bai Juyi Grass on the Ancient Plain 賦得古原草送別 Read all eight lines of Bai Juyi’s grass poem, including its farewell ending, with Chinese, pinyin, a gloss, original English translation, and notes. Wang Wei Sending Yuan Er to Anxi 送元二使安西 Wang Wei’s farewell to Yuan Er, with Chinese text, pinyin, and English notes on the last cup, fresh willows, Yang Pass, and the prospect of leaving old friends. Li Bai Yellow Crane Tower Farewell 黃鶴樓送孟浩然之廣陵 Li Bai sees Meng Haoran off toward Yangzhou: Chinese text, pinyin, gloss, original English translation, and notes on the disappearing sail and text variants. Li Bai Sitting Alone on Jingting Mountain 獨坐敬亭山 Li Bai’s Jingting Mountain poem in Chinese, pinyin, and English: departing birds and cloud leave a solitary sitter and a mountain looking at one another. Li Bai Viewing the Waterfall at Mount Lu 望廬山瀑布（二首其二） Li Bai’s Mount Lu waterfall in Chinese, pinyin, and English: follow the distant hanging stream into a flying current and an imagined river from heaven. Li Bai To Wang Lun 贈汪倫 Li Bai’s To Wang Lun in Chinese, pinyin, and English: how a song from the shore interrupts departure and the depth of Peach Blossom Pool measures friendship. Wang Wei Red Beans 相思 Wang Wei’s red beans become a token of longing in twenty characters: Chinese, pinyin, word gloss, an original English translation, and textual notes. Wang Wei Bamboo Grove 竹里館 A qin, a long call, and moonlight enter Wang Wei’s solitary bamboo grove. Read the Chinese with pinyin, character glosses, original translation, and notes. Wang Wei Farewell in the Mountains 山中送別 Wang Wei closes a gate after a friend leaves, then asks about next spring. Chinese, pinyin, word gloss, original translation, and notes on the final question. Meng Haoran Mooring on the Jiande River 宿建德江 Meng Haoran’s Jiande River quatrain in Chinese and English, with pinyin and notes on a traveler’s sorrow, the low sky, and a moon that seems close. Meng Haoran Visiting an Old Friend’s Farm 過故人莊 Meng Haoran visits an old friend’s farm: Chinese text, pinyin, and English notes on the feast, talk of crops, and a return planned for the Double Ninth festival. Du Fu Two Yellow Orioles 絕句（兩個黃鸝鳴翠柳） Du Fu sets birds, snow, and distant boats within two balanced couplets. Chinese, pinyin, word gloss, original English translation, and a close reading. Du Fu Long Spring Days 絕句（遲日江山麗） Long spring days, soft mud, flying swallows, and sleeping ducks in Du Fu’s quatrain, with Chinese, pinyin, a character gloss, original translation, and notes. Bai Juyi Peach Blossoms at Dalin Temple 大林寺桃花 Bai Juyi finds spring flowering where he thought it had vanished: Chinese, pinyin, word gloss, an original English translation, and notes on the poem’s turn. Bai Juyi On the Pool: A Child in a Boat 池上二絕（其二） A child tries to keep a lotus-gathering trip secret, but the duckweed preserves the route. Read the original Chinese with pinyin, word meanings, an original English translation, and notes. Bai Juyi Song of the River at Dusk 暮江吟 Sunset divides the river into colors; night brings a crescent moon and pearl-like dew. Read the original Chinese with pinyin, word meanings, an original English translation, and notes. Bai Juyi Flower, Yet Not a Flower 花非花 A fleeting presence is compared to flowers, mist, dreams, and clouds without being named. Read the original Chinese with pinyin, word meanings, an original English translation, and notes. Bai Juyi Snow at Night 夜雪 A cold quilt, bright windows, and the snap of bamboo reveal snow to someone indoors. Read the original Chinese with pinyin, word meanings, an original English translation, and notes.