The poetry of the Tang Dynasty represents the highest achievement in the development of ancient poetry. From the Book of Songs and Songs of Chu to the folk songs of the Northern Dynasties, poetry has reached a very high level and accumulated huge energy. By the Tang Dynasty, After the Tang people cooked wine and discussed poetry, Tang poetry exuded a long-lasting mellow fragrance and became a bright galaxy in the sky of poetry, reaching the highest state of "unprecedented and unprecedented".
The prosperity of Tang poetry is of course inseparable from the external factors such as social politics, economy, and culture at that time, as well as the internal factors of the traditional development of poetry itself. At the same time, the prosperity of Tang poetry is closely related to the creators of poetry and the audiences of poetry. , science, weightlifting, poetry, poetry and scholar selection, as well as its extensive social application value are also inseparable. "The road to the east of my hometown is long, and my sleeves are full of tears. We will meet soon without paper or pen, and I will rely on your words to report peace." Cen Shen went to the border with the ambition of seeking fame and longing to contribute to the frontier. In the poem It is full of fresh frontier atmosphere, and full of life interest and human touch. It makes people feel infinitely emotional when reading it. The poets' rich life experiences have accumulated a lot of materials for poetry creation and accumulated deep thoughts and emotions.
In the Tang Dynasty, literati had to go through a long and arduous period of study before entering the society and becoming officials. Many literati studied hard for many years. "It is the time for men to study when the lights are on at three o'clock and the chicken is on the fifth o'clock." In its true portrayal, Du Fu even reached the state of "reading thousands of volumes and writing like a god". Most of the poets of the Tang Dynasty were from common people, and they generally chose to study in monasteries and Taoist temples in the mountains and forests. For example, Chen Ziang, Li Bai, Bai Juyi, Cen Shen, Gao Shi, Meng Jiao, Li He, Du Mu, etc. all studied and lived in the mountains and forests. Secondly, there were a lot of books in temples and Taoist temples at that time. In addition to Buddhist scriptures, there were also a large number of classics and historical books from the pre-Qin and Han Dynasties, such as the Four Books and Five Classics, "Historical Records", "Book of the Later Han Dynasty", etc. Scholars had the opportunity to read a lot of books. The literati of the Tang Dynasty studied in the mountains and forests, accumulating huge energy for their poetry creation.
In addition to reading thousands of books, literati in the Tang Dynasty also actively advocated traveling thousands of miles. So many literati traveled around the world with a bag of books and a sword, singing as they walked, singing wherever they went. They traveled to famous mountains and rivers, they traveled to the vast borders, and they also traveled to the capitals and cities. In this During his roaming, he wrote many beautiful poems, such as "Feng Ru" written by the frontier poet Cen Shen.
The prosperity of poetry in the Tang Dynasty was not only due to the large number of poets who loved and diligently wrote at that time; A high-quality audience with wide dissemination and high expectations for poetry. This has played a very good role in improving the quality of Tang poetry. First of all, I heard a singer singing: "I enter Wu at night in the cold rain, and I see off my guest Chu Shangu in the morning. Relatives and friends in Luoyang are like asking each other, and a heart of ice is in a jade pot." This is Wang Changling's "Farewell to Xin Jian at the Furong Tower". Wang Changling is very happy. proud. Then, another singer sang: "I opened the suitcase with tears in my eyes. I saw the letter written in front of you. The night platform is lonely now, and I still live in the clouds." This is Gao Shi's poem, and Gao Shi is also very happy. This is another poem by Wang Changling. At this time, Wang Zhihuan became anxious. He told everyone that if this most beautiful singer sings other than my poems, I will stop writing poems from now on and will be willing to worship you as my teacher. Sure enough, the most beautiful singer sang Wang Zhihuan's "Liangzhou Ci": "Far above the Yellow River among the white clouds, there is an isolated city in Wanren Mountain. Why should the Qiang flute blame the willows? The spring breeze does not pass through Yumen Pass." No matter the poet himself, Ligong people, scholar-bureaucrats, and even ordinary people all like poetry very much. Poets have won social respect, honor and even status with their poems. The audience's love also inspires creators to create better poems.
The imperial examination system was initiated in the Sui Dynasty and further developed in the Tang Dynasty. Since then, the selection of talents was mainly based on examination results rather than status, so that children from poorer families also had the opportunity to enter the officialdom. Yan Yu's "Canglang Poetry Talk·Poetry Commentary" said: "You may ask why Tang poetry surpassed our dynasty? The Tang Dynasty relied on poetry to recruit scholars, so there were many specialized studies, and the poetry of our dynasty was not as good as that." This also reflects the Tang Dynasty's emphasis on poetry. The imperial examination system for selecting scholars promoted the creation and research of poetry by literati, which was also an important reason for the prosperity of Tang poetry.