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Li Bai | The Tang Poems
Tang Dynasty is known for its great poetry in Chinese literature. It is considered the golden age of Chinese poetry. There were many famous poets in that period and many great poems. Qian Jia Shi [3000 Poems], the early version of Tang Shi San Bai Shou [300 Tang Poems] is a collection of poems from this period. Most of the classical poetic forms and the best works are included in it. It becomes so popular that every Chinese knows it. It has also been used for centuries to teach school students to read and write. We would like to introduce a few poems from the [300 Tang Poems] to you. it reflects the feelings and emotions from all kinds of people at that time. It reveals the real life in the Tang Dynasty. Li Bai is one of the most famous poets in Chinese history. His poems are published every year and still popular after hundred of years. Many of his poems are selected into the textbooks of every grade in Chineseschools.
Song Proses
Song Proses is a unique collection of classical Chinese "ci" poetic gems rendered into naturally flowing modern Chinese and English verse. This book contains 59 "ci" lyrics from Song poets, among them, 7 from Liu Yong, 1 from Yan Shu, 1 from Ouyan Xiu, 1 from Yan Jidao, 9 from Su Shi, 1 from Qin Guan, 8 from Zhou Bangyan, 5 from Li Qingzhao, 20 from Xin Qiji, 6 from Jiang Kui.
In Chinese literary history, there were certain periods which were dominated by one distinctive predominant literary genre,
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Su Shi | such as "fu" (descriptive prose interspersed with verse) during the Han Dynasty, poetry in Tang, "Ci" poetry (a special poetic form) of Song and "qu" (singing verse) of Yuan. The "ci" lyric is very different from the "shi" type. While the older Tang Dynasty "shi" lyric can be read without minding the underlying melodies - even if there existed some underlying melodies - "ci" poetry must be seen as written songs. Most of the poems do not even have their own title, but they are named after an original melody. Composers and writers used this melody to write a new poem that could be sung to the original famous melody or tune pattern ("cipai"), a technique called contrafactum. This is the reason why we often see the same title for a "ci" poem, like "Die Lian Hua", "Man Ting Fang", "Yu Mei Ren". There are more than 800 tune patterns. "Ci lyric" emerged during the Tang Dynasty in response to the popularity of foreign musical tunes imported from Inner Asia. Already the outer shape of the "ci" lyric is clearly different to the "shi" lyric: the verses have different length. The early "ci" writers of the 9th century wanted to meet the needs of singing girls in the entertainment quarters in the lower Yangtse area. The most famous "ci" poets of Tang Dynasty are Wen Tingyun and the last king of Southern Tang, Li Yu. The great time of "ci" lyric was the Song Dynasty. Under the the influence of the great writer "Su Shi" ("Su Dongpo"), the "ci" poem began to free itself from its musical background and became primarily a literary creation. |
