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The development of Tang poetry is divided into four periods: the early Tang Dynasty, the prosperous Tang Dynasty, the middle Tang Dynasty and the late Tang Dynasty.
[1]
The early Tang Dynasty was the founding period of Tang poetry. The poetry circle in the early Tang Dynasty inherited the floating poetry style of Qi and Liang Dynasties, and palace poetry was popular. The poet who could get rid of the influence of the floating poetry style of palace poetry was Wang Ji. He admired Tao Yuanming's life attitude and poetry style, and mainly described pastoral scenery and personal pastoral life. , the poetic style is sparse and simple.
The "Four Heroes of the Early Tang Dynasty" refer to the four poets Wang Bo, Yang Jiong, Lu Zhaolin, and Luo Binwang. Their main contribution was to destroy and transform palace style poetry, establish the five rhymes, and develop the seven-character song line. After the "Four Masters", the two poets who shaped the rhythmic poetry were Shen Quanqi and Song Zhiwen.
The first writer in the Tang Dynasty to raise the banner of poetry innovation was Chen Ziang. He admired the ancient poetry of the Han and Wei dynasties, advocated the "character of the Han and Wei dynasties" and "elegance and prosperity". He used retrospection as innovation, eliminated the frivolous style of palace poetry, corrected the development direction of Tang poetry, and paved the way for the peak of Tang poetry. Leveled the road.
[2]
The poetry of the Tang Dynasty represents the highest achievement of Tang poetry. The two major poetry schools in the prosperous Tang Dynasty were the landscape pastoral poetry school represented by Wang Wei and Meng Haoran and the frontier fortress poetry school represented by Gao Shi and Cen Shen. Important poets of the Frontier Poetry School include Wang Changling, Wang Han, Wang Zhihuan, Li Qi, Cui Hao, etc. Li Bai and Du Fu were two great poets in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Their poems represent the highest achievements of Tang poetry and even Chinese classical poetry. Zhang Ruoxu, He Zhizhang, Zhang Xu, and Bao Rong are collectively known as the "Four Scholars of Wuzhong".
[3]
Poetry creation was at a low ebb in the early Mid-Tang Dynasty, but flourished again in the later period. The ten poets who were famous in the poetry world during the Dali period of Emperor Daizong of the Tang Dynasty were collectively called the "Ten Talents of Dali". In the early middle Tang Dynasty, Yuan Jie and Gu Kuang focused on reflecting the real people's livelihood. They were transitional poets between the new Yuefu movement initiated by Du Fu and the new Yuefu movement headed by Bai Juyi. Liu Changqing and Wei Yingwu in the early mid-Tang Dynasty were famous for their landscape poems, which were the afterthoughts of Wang Wei and Meng Haoran; the frontier poems of Lu Lun and Li Yi were the afterthoughts of Gao Shi and Cen Shen. The two major poetry schools in the late middle and late Tang Dynasty were the New Yuefu School and the Han and Meng Poetry School.
During the New Yuefu Movement in the mid-Tang Dynasty, a group of poets represented by Bai Juyi and Yuan Zhen consciously carried forward Du Fu’s realistic spirit, sought poetic materials from the sources of life, and wrote a large number of poems and chants on new themes and applications. The new language and Yuefu poems with new titles set off a New Yuefu Movement. The backbone poets of the New Yuefu Movement include Zhang Ji, Wang Jian, Li Shen, etc.
The Han and Meng poetry schools and the New Yuefu School appeared almost at the same time, represented by Han Yu and Meng Jiao. They advertised that they should "go away from Chen Yanwu", advocating for simplicity, pursuing strangeness and danger, and avoiding familiarity in art. Because it is difficult to find cleverness, they deliberately seek novelty, forming a unique and strange style. Apart from the two major poetry schools, poets who can stand out as their own and have made more outstanding achievements include Liu Yuxi, Liu Zongyuan, Li He, etc.
[4]
The late Tang Dynasty was the sunset period of Tang poetry. The overall situation in the poetry world is that sentimentality is strong and carving is prevalent. The most famous poets in the early late Tang Dynasty were Li Shangyin and Du Mu, known as "Little Li Du". They were also the most accomplished poets in the late Tang Dynasty. In the late Tang Dynasty, a group of poets represented by Pi Rixiu, Nie Yizhong and Du Xunhe appeared. They carried forward the creative spirit of the New Yuefu School of the Mid-Tang Dynasty and focused on reflecting the society and people's livelihood, but their artistic achievements were not high.