Tao Yuanming, who lives in seclusion and is not an official, regards pastoral life as an important creative theme, so people have always called him an "pastoral poet". At that time, Tao Yuanming inherited the realistic tradition of Yuefu, formed his simple and natural pastoral unity, and created a new realm of classical poetry. Five-character poetry was highly developed in his hands.
Xie Lingyun (385-433), who was about the same age as Tao Yuanming, was the first person to create the school of landscape poetry. The characteristic of his landscape poems is that he can put feelings into them, but some poems are too elaborate, lengthy in description and unnatural in the arrangement of allusions.
The Southern and Northern Dynasties is another development period in the history of China's poetry, which is manifested by the appearance of another batch of Yuefu folk songs. They not only reflect the new social reality, but also create new artistic forms and styles. The overall characteristics of folk songs in this period are short space and lyrical rather than narrative. There are more than 480 poems preserved by Yuefu in the Southern Dynasties, which are generally five-character and four-sentence poems, almost all of which are love songs. The number of Yuefu in the Northern Dynasties is far less than that in the Southern Dynasties, but the rich content, simple language and vigorous style are beyond the reach of Yuefu in the Southern Dynasties. If Yuefu in the Southern Dynasties is a romantic song, Yuefu in the Northern Dynasties is a veritable "military music" and "battle song". Stylistically, Yuefu in the Northern Dynasties created seven-character quatrains and developed seven-character ancient poems and miscellaneous words in addition to five-character quatrains. The most famous Yuefu in the Northern Dynasties is the long narrative poem Mulan Poetry, which, together with Peacock Flying Southeast, is called the "double gem" in the history of China's poetry.
The most outstanding poet in the Southern and Northern Dynasties was Bao Zhao (4 10-466). Bao Zhao inherited and carried forward the tradition of Yuefu in Han and Wei Dynasties, and created a large number of excellent Yuefu poems with five words and seven words. The number 18 in It's Hard to Go is his outstanding masterpiece. His mature use of seven-character syntax shows his personal misfortune and protests against social injustice.
During the Yongming period of the Southern Qi Dynasty, the theory of "temperament" prevailed, and poetry creation paid attention to tone harmony. In this way, the new poetic style of "Yongming Style" gradually took shape. This new poetic style is the beginning of metrical poetry. The famous poet in this period was Xie Tiao (about 464-499). Xie Tiao is famous for his landscape poems, and his poetic style is fresh and beautiful. His new style poems have a certain influence on the formation of regular poems and quatrains in Tang Dynasty.
Poetry developed into the Tang Dynasty and ushered in a highly mature golden age. Nearly 300 years ago, the Tang Dynasty left nearly 50,000 poems, and there were about 50 or 60 famous poets with unique styles.
Four outstanding poets in the early Tang Dynasty were the main poets in the pioneering period of Tang poetry. These four people are (649-676), Yang Jiong (650-693), Lu (637-689) and Luo (646-684). Although their poems inherited the atmosphere of the Qi and Liang Dynasties, the theme of their poems was expanded in their hands, and the form of five-character and eight-sentence rhythmic poems was also initially shaped by them.
After the "Four Great Scholars", Chen Ziang (66 1-702) clearly put forward his opposition to the poetic style of Qi and Liang, and advocated "the style of Han and Wei". There are 38 poems chanting for the bosom, which are his representative works with distinctive innovative spirit.
The prosperous Tang Dynasty is the peak of poetry prosperity. During this period, besides Li Bai and Du Fu, there were many accomplished poets. It can be roughly divided into two categories: one is an idyllic poet represented by Meng Haoran and Wang Wei; The other is frontier poets, among whom Gao Shi and Cen Can have the highest achievements, and Wang Changling, Li Qi and Wang Zhihuan are also outstanding frontier poets. Wang Changling's frontier poems mostly express the soldiers' homesickness with the ancient theme of Yuefu. His "Joining the Army" and "Going to the Frontier" have always been regarded as the representative works of frontier poems. Li Qi's frontier poems are few in number, but he has made outstanding achievements. A poem "Ancient Meaning" and "An Ancient Warsong" are his representative works. Wang Zhihuan, a frontier poet of the older generation, wrote a poem "Liangzhou Ci" and another poem "Denghe Quelou" is poetic and enlightening.