Literary characteristics of Tang dynasty

As far as the development of literature itself is concerned, the poems before the Tang Dynasty have developed for nearly two thousand years, and accumulated a lot of creative experience, especially the tradition of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties, which is the direct source of the inheritance of Tang poetry. At the end of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, there was a confrontation between the North and the South in the literary world, and the emerging northern style of writing advocated simplicity and vigor. Literati in the Tang Dynasty directly followed the road of northern writing style and created Tang literature on the basis of inheriting skills and overcoming southern writing style. Therefore, the literature of the Tang Dynasty is the unity of the two styles of writing, with the characteristics of the North and the South.

Poetry and prose are the most popular literary works in the Tang Dynasty, followed by novels. A new style of ci appeared in the late Tang Dynasty. Great achievements have been made in the quantity and quality of Tang poetry, with extremely diverse themes, forms and genres, which is the heyday of Chinese classical poetry. In terms of prose, the stylistic innovation brewed since the Western Wei Dynasty was completed in the middle Tang Dynasty. With the efforts of Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan, the ancient prose movement began, and prose replaced parallel prose, which had a great influence on later generations.

China's classical novels, represented by the legends of the Tang Dynasty, are initially mature. People in the Tang Dynasty have begun to consciously engage in novel creation by writing legends, and have vaguely pursued complete stories and typical characters. There were also some rap arts and scripts in the Tang Dynasty, which had a certain influence on later dramas and novels. Ci appeared after the middle Tang Dynasty, and this genre gradually flourished in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, laying the foundation for Song Ci.