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93 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Tang wen cui 唐文粹*
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one of the most important sources for Tang literature, compiled in the Northern Song
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New Tang History 新唐書
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Revised version of the Old Tang History by Ouyang Xiu Song Qi (宋祁) as well as other official scholars of the Northern Song. Presented to the throne in 1060. Written in guwen prose.
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"Late Tang” 晚唐*
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In early periodization of Tang poetry, everything after An Lushan rebellion was considered Late Tang; now it is considered as starting after 820s.
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“Mid-Tang,” Zhong Tang 中唐*
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Although we find clear antecedents in poetry and prose prior to
790, the literary activity in the decades between 790 and the roughly mid 820s is quite distinct; and we will here designate this period as the “Mid-Tang.” |
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Gao Bing 高秉*
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Wrote the massive anthology 唐詩品彙 Tangshi pinhui of 1393, the first important work to identify the Mid Tang as a
separate period |
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Tangshi pinhui 唐詩品彙*
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Written by Gao Bing 高秉*, a massive anthology, often given as the first important work to identify the Mid Tang as a
separate period |
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Yuanhe era 元和*
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in terms of reign period this refers to 806-820; as a generation, it refers to the group of literary men who were in their prime at that time, including Han Yu, Liu Zongyuan, Li He, and Bai Juyi.
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“Dali” 大曆*
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precise dates of the reign period are 766-779, refers generally to the bland and gracious polish of poetry in the
period roughly from the 760s to 790 |
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Guwen 古文
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“Old Style Prose,” there was an aggressively engaging tone of address, sometimes almost
theatrical, as if daring the reader to disagree. Second, we often find attempts to make more complicated arguments than we commonly find earlier in the eighth century. Such arguments sometimes involved turns that make a conclusion both necessary and surprising. Finally, there was a set of reiterated values that made much Mid-Tang prose as much “about” guwen as an example of it. |
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Lu Zhi 陸贄
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(754-805) was placed in
charge of the examination for jinshi candidates of 792. The successful young graduates were called the “list of dragons and tigers,” longhu bang 龍虎榜* |
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longhu bang 龍虎榜
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successful graduates of the examination for jinshi candidates of 792, including Han Yu, Li Guan,
Ouyang Zhan 歐陽詹 (d. after 799) and a number of other prominent intellectuals and writers of the next decades (Meng Jiao failed). |
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fugu 復古
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"Restoring antiquity", a discourse radicalized in the Mid-Tang by writers such as Han Yu. The
substantive ethical content of this discourse was rather general— to be virtuous and like the ancients. This discourse, however, carried with it a number of other values that were perhaps more significant than the actual ethical content: to be different from others and from most people of the age, even to defy their disapproval, the value of being poor and coming from a humble background, and the idea of a group unified by shared values rather than by personal allegiances. |
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Li Guan 李觀
[no asterisk] |
(766-794), a fugu 復古 figure of the Mid-Tang, was the nephew of the important intellectual and writer Li Hua 李華. Like others in the group Li Guan made his poverty and status as a commoner a point of pride, and took pride in being 'different' from most people.
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Wei Yingwu 韋應物*
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(737-791/93), in 790 the most admired poet of the time, once governor of Suzhou
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Jiaoran 皎然
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poet/monk; part of the post-Rebellion Jiangnan circle writing mostly in regulated verse/quatrains; wrote The Statutes of Poetry (Shishi 詩式) on technical poetics
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xingjuan 行卷, wenjuan 溫卷
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practice current in the Mid Tang, involved sending around one’s writings, usually entertaining in nature, to examiners to familiarize them with a candidate’s calligraphy and style
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Meng Jiao 孟郊
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751-814, major fugu 復古 poet of the Mid Tang, revered by Han Yu, but unsuccessful at the examinations. Wrote poetry unlike anything before, often bitter and ugly.
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lianju 聯句
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linked verses, with one poet writing one line or couplet and another poet answering. Rare until the Mid Tang, flourished on the model of lianju composed by Han Yu and Meng Jiao
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Xia’ai 峽哀
[no asterisk] |
“Laments of the Gorges,” 10 poems by Meng Jiao, describe the landscape of the Wu Gorges as the demonic embodiment of malevolence.
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Han Yu 韓愈
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(768-824)Han Yu was the central literary and intellectual figure of his age, a master rhetorician who believed he was a culture hero and persuaded history that he was one. He has an extensive corpus of both poetry (about four hundred poems) and prose. His fame as a prose writer eventually eclipsed his fame as a poet, although in the Northern Song he was ranked with Li Bai, Du Fu, and Bai Juyi. Wrote “Crocodile,” Eyu wen 鱷魚文 (ironic imperial edict to the crocodiles) and “Memorial on the Buddha’s Bone” Lun Fogu biao 論佛骨表
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yi 異
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“different,” a term of praise in guwen discourse of the mid-Tang. There was a new sense that deviation from the norm was the essence of interest and value. These terms yi and qi were the locus of immense ambivalence. Buddhism and folk religion were bad because they were “different” and “strange.” At the same time, the argument made in the “Letter in Answer to Li Zhengfu” held true: Han Yu was “interested” in them.
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qi 奇
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"strange", term of praise in the mid-Tang, when there was a new sense that deviation from the norm was the essence of interest and value. These terms yi and qi were the locus of immense ambivalence. Buddhism and folk religion were bad because they were “different” and “strange.” At the same time, the argument made in the “Letter in Answer to Li Zhengfu” held true: Han Yu was “interested” in them.
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wei chenyan zhi wuqu 惟陳言之務去
[no asterisk] |
“it is my task to get rid of clichés,” written by Han Yu in his “Letter to Li Yi”, expresses his desire for difference.
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Yuan Dao 原道
[no asterisk] |
“Tracing the Origins of the Way,” an important essay by Han Yu.
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xin 新
[no asterisk] |
radical novelty, a value held paradoxically by guwen writers who advocated returning to antiquity.
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Maoying zhuan 毛穎傳
[no asterisk] |
“Biography of Mao Ying [My Writing Brush],” by Han Yu, a delightful travesty of a Shiji biography.
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Eyu wen 鱷魚文
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"The Crocodile", by Han Yu, an excellent example of the problems of humor and irony in the tradition. When in exile in Chaozhou, Han Yu wrote this piece in the grand style, asserting imperial authority over the region, to banish the dangerous local crocodiles. The work was supposed to be thrown into the river where the crocodiles live, and the crocodiles were given a set span to evacuate or else Han would send people to kill them.
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Da Li Yi shu 答李翊書
[no asterisk] |
“Letter in Answer to Li Yi,” by Han Yu, discusses the nature of guwen.
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Nanshan shi 南山詩
[no asterisk] |
one of Han Yu's most famous poems, describing the Zhongnan Range south of Chang’an from many perspectives and representing it as a microcosm. The comparative evaluation of “South Mountains” and Du Fu’s “Journey North,” Beizheng 北征* as the alternative masterpieces of Tang poetry became a set topic in traditional criticism.
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Beizheng 北征
[no asterisk] |
“Journey North,” a poem by Du Fu, considered one of the masterpieces of Tang poetry.
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Song Meng Dongye xu 送孟東野序
[no asterisk] |
“Preface Seeing Off Meng Dongye,” in which Han Yu links the idea that suffering produced good poetry with the poetics of the "Great Preface," things produce sound out of some disequilibrium 物不得其平則鳴, of which poetry is the highest example, Meng Jiao’s arising from his misery.
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Fan Zongshi 樊宗師
[no asterisk] |
(d. c. 821), was part of the group around Han Yu. Fan was a prolific prose writer and poet, only two of whose prose works survive, neither of which is entirely comprehensible
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Lu Tong 盧仝
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(c. 775-812?), part of the group around Han Yu, a poet who wrote strange stuff.
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Yueshi shi 月蝕詩
[no asterisk] |
"Lunar Eclipse," the most famous poem of Lu Tong, imitated by Han Yu in shortened form.
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Li Ao 李翱
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(772-836 or 841), one of Han Yu's most famous younger associates. 809 wrote Lainan lu 來南錄, the first travel diary in the tradition.
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Fuxing shu 復性書
[no asterisk] |
“Letter on Recovering One’s Nature,” by Li Ao. Has an important place in the history of Confucian thought.
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Lainan lu 來南錄
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Written in 809 by Li Ao, the first travel diary in the tradition.
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Zhang Ji 張籍
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(c.767-c.830), a poet associated with both the Han Yu group and the Bai Juyi group. Like a number of other members of the Han Yu group he was from the southeast, Suzhou, and was associated with the poet Wang Jian 王建* Zhang Ji passed through a phase of infatuation with the poetic extravagances of Meng Jiao and Han Yu, but in the Yuanhe he turned to a more relaxed style. He is now best known for his yuefu, of uncertain date but some at least from the Yuanhe.
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Wang Jian 王建
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A mid-Tang poet from the southeast, member of Bai Juyi's circle. Wrote “Palace Lyrics,” Gongci 宮詞
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Jia Dao 賈島
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(779-843), Han Yu’s circle. Jia Dao was originally a Buddhist monk with the religious name Wuben 無本. Associated with kuyin 苦吟*, “bitter chanting,” an intense, painstaking attention to the craft of poetry itself.
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Wuben 無本
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Religious name of the poet Jia Dao.
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kuyin 苦吟
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“bitter chanting,” a term originally associated with writing about “bitter/painful topics,” but transformed to an intense, painstaking attention to the craft of poetry itself. Associated with Jia Dao.
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tuiqiao 推敲
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From the story of Jia Dao being unable to decide whether to use 'push' or 'knock' in a poem, became a standard term for the careful choice of words in poetic craft.
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jutu 句圖
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"illustrative couplets", lists of good couplets divorced from their poems.
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Li He 李賀
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(791-817) Marginally a member of the Han Yu group and clearly shared their fascination with daring and fantastic imagery,
- wrote Changji ti 長吉體 |
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Changji ti 長吉體
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One distinct group of Li He's poetic corpus, (after Li He’s zi), makes bold use of historical and mythical themes and images. Throughout these runs an obsessive concern with death. Li He’s most famous poems, those in the Changji ti, are usually not traditional yuefu, but the titles evoke the world of yuefu and “song,” gexing 歌行*. Bao Zhao is a poet often in the background of Li He’s work, but the poet with the strongest influence on Li He was Li Bai.
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gexing 歌行
[no asterisk] |
"song", a type of poetry related to yuefu.
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Qinwang yinjiu 秦王飲酒
[no asterisk] |
“The King of Qin Drinks,” a poem by Li He in which the First Emperor imagines himself conquering all space and time, until he sobers in the conclusion.
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Li Ping konghou yin 李憑箜篌引
[no asterisk] |
“The Ballad of Li Ping’s Harp,” poem by Li He in which the harpist becomes a cosmic musician whose music pervades the universe. A variation on the mid-Tang topic of praising a musical performance.
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Changping jiantou ge 長平箭頭歌
[no asterisk] |
“Song of an Arrowhead at Changping,” poem by Li He in which the poet crosses the ancient battlefield of Changping, where Qin’s armies crushed the army of Zhao, feeds hungry ghosts, and finds the arrowhead, selling it in an odd conclusion.
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Gong wu chu men 公無出門
[no asterisk] |
“Don’t Go Out the Gate,” poem by Li He in which he argues that a good person is destroyed by Heaven to prevent him from being eaten.
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Xin Yuefu 新樂府
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Both title of a poem series by Bai Juyi and a self-conscious literary form beginning in the circle around Bai Juyi and Yuan Zhen in the first decade of the ninth century. Tried to use yuefu and “songs,” (gexing) to address social problems. Grounded in the erroneous belief that the “Airs” of the Classic of Poetry and the Han yuefu had been written to present a vivid image of the social ills of the times to the ruler, in order to persuade him to effect reform.
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Bai Juyi 白居易
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(often referred to by his zi as Bai Letian 白樂天 or by his hao as Xiangshan jushi 香山居士, 772-846), major poet of the mid-Tang.
Wrote “Letter to Yuan Nine [Zhen],” Yu Yuan jiu shu 與元九書 (815, describes his new yuefu theory) and “New Yuefu” Xin yuefu 新樂府. Collection of poems: Baishi Changqing ji 白氏長慶集 (824) |
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Yuan Zhen 元稹
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(779-831) poet and friend of Bai Juyi, wrote many New Yuefu. Also wrote “Yingying’s Story,” Yingying zhuan 鶯鶯傳 (ca 804), story of Cui YIngying's seduction and abadonment
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Yu Yuan jiu shu 與元九書*
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“Letter to Yuan Nine,” letter from Bai Juyi to Yuan Zhen in 815, one of the most important documents in the New Yuefu movement.
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Li Shen 李紳
[no asterisk] |
Mid-Tang poet, seems to have written New Yuefu, though they don't survive.
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Wang Jian 王建
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(c. 766-c.830), Mid-Tang New Yuefu poet. Wang Jian’s most famous works were a series of one hundred quatrains in seven-syllable line from about 820, “Palace Lyrics,” Gongci 宮詞*, vignettes on palace life.
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Gongci 宮詞
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Wang Jian’s most famous works, a series of one hundred quatrains on palace life in the seven-syllable line, written about 820.
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Baishi Changqing ji 白氏長慶集
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Bai Juyi's self-edited collection of poetry, so named because it was first compiled in the fourth year of the Changqing era, 824. It was organized in a unique way.
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Pipa xing 琵琶行
[no asterisk] |
"Song of the Pipa", very famous poem by Bai Juyi, about his encounter with an aging female performer in Jiangzhou.
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Changhen ge 長恨歌
[no asterisk] |
“Song of Lasting Pain,” very famous poem by Bai Juyi, about the love story of Xuanzong and Lady Yang.
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su 俗
[no asterisk] |
"low" or "common", used by traditional critics to describe Bai Juyi's style.
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“Yuan Bai” 元白
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Bai Juyi and Yuan Zhen, who were close friends
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Liu Yuxi 劉禹錫
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(772-842), was a fascinating intellectual in whom there has been a great deal of modern interest, primarily for his philosophical and political leanings, but extended from that to his poetry. Part of the group around Bai Juyi. Wrote “Bamboo Branch Songs,” Zhuzhi ci 竹枝詞
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元和體
Yuanhe ti |
"The Yuanhe Style", a phrase used by Yuan Zhen referring to how everyone was copying his and Bai Juyi's compositions.
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Tian lun 天論
[no asterisk] |
“Discourse on Heaven,” best known work of Liu Yuxi, written to counter the position attributed to Han Yu in Liu Zongyuan’s “Argument About Heaven,” Tian shuo 天說*. In it, Liu Yuxi argues at length for Heaven’s neutral indifference.
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Tian shuo 天說
[no asterisk] |
By Liu Zongyuan, in which Han Yu argues that since man harms Nature, Heaven favors everything that harms man. Such an argument is anomalous in the Chinese tradition and runs counter to Han Yu’s human-centered vision in other contexts; we cannot say if it was a thoughtful position, the mood of the moment, or, as suggested above, tongue-in-cheek.
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Zhuzhi ci 竹枝詞
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“Bamboo Branch Songs,” quatrains in the seven syllable line, supposedly recreating the popular style of the Southeast. By Liu Yuxi 劉禹錫 (772-842)
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Xue Tao 薛濤
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(785-832), one of the most remarkable women poets of the mid-Tang, was a courtesan well known to the Bai Juyi circle. In her more mature years she took on Daoist registration. A particularly fine paper for writing poems was associated with her name (Xue Tao jian 薛濤箋), perhaps something she made herself and perhaps a sales gimmick of Chengdu paper-makers.
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Liu Zongyuan 柳宗元
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(zi 子厚, 773-819), famous “old-style” writer along with Han Yu; model writer of “accounts of excursions,” 遊記 (for example “Eight Accounts of Yongzhou,” Yongzhou baji 永州八記, describing a group of excursions made while he was in Yongzhou)
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Han Liu 韓柳
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Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan, often linked together as exemplary guwen prose writers.
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you ji 遊記
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“accounts of excursions,” among Liu Zongyuan's most famous prose works, later becomes a form taking Liu as its model.
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Yongzhou baji 永州八記
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Most famous of Liu Zongyuan's you ji 遊記, describing a group of excursions made while he was in Yongzhou, mingling the description of landscape with reflection and personal response.
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Du You 杜佑
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(735-812), author of the Tongdian 通典*, a massive compendium of historical institutions.
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Tongdian 通典
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Massive compendium of historical institutions, completed by Du You in 801.
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Tang huiyao 唐會要
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in 803 Su Mian 蘇冕 and Su Bian 蘇弁 completed a compendium of Tang institutions which they called the Huiyao 會要 in 40 juan, which was later supplemented in 853, then later supplemented in the Song by Wang Pu 王溥 to become the hundred juan Tang huiyao 唐會要*
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Kūkai 空海
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Early in 805 the Japanese monk Kūkai 空海* reached Chang’an, where he would gather extensive materials.
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Bunkyō hifuron 文鏡秘府論*.
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compilation of the literary critical texts Kukai brought back from Chang'an; the texts date from the seventh and eighth centuries.
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Wang Qi 王起
[no asterisk] |
(760-847), one of the best known fu writers of the mid-Tang. Wang Qi’s literary collection was once in 120 juan, but 58 regulated fu have survived, the largest number for a single author. Wang Qi also had a distinguished career and in his later years was closely associated with Bai Juyi.
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Tang guoshi bu 唐國史補
[no asterisk] |
Compiled by Li Zhao 李肇 (d.836) in early 820s as a continuation of Liu Su’s Sui Tang jiahua, enough “good stories” that it achieves the status of biji xiaoshuo, even though much of the material is also historically useful.
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Da Tang xinyu 大唐新語
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Compiled by Liu Su 劉肅 in 807, continued the Shishuo xinyu into the Tang. The anecdotes here, drawn primarily from earlier written sources, cover the period from the founding of the Tang through the Dali era (766-779).
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chuanqi 傳奇
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Has been called "Tang tales", supposedly longer than zhiguai, but this is a later creation. In the Tang itself there was no such “genre,” and the level of elaboration a story received depended on the disposition of the person recording or composing it.
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Taiping guangji 太平廣記
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immense early Northern Song compendium that copied and organized the scattered remains of Tang manuscript culture on topics of dubious cultural worth for the management of the state. Our knowledge of Tang fiction is almost entirely dependent on this work.
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Leishuo 類說
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Compendia of Tang materials, contains shorter versions of a great many Tang stories, occasionally with sections that tell us that we do not necessarily have complete versions in Taiping guangji. It was through the Leishuo and similar epitomes that many of these stories passed into the Yuan and Ming to serve as the basis for elaboration in drama.
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yeshi 野史
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“popular history,” should be seen as related to Tang fiction. While a few works appear both in the Taiping guangji and in Wenyuan yinghua (the latter considered “high” literature), modern scholars generally draw a generic line between biographies in classical prose and classical tales—though both share the generic marker zhuan 傳.
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Yingying zhuan 鶯鶯傳
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By Yuan Zhen, comes from the late Zhenyuan 貞元 Era (785-805), probably 804. A famous 'biography/fiction' of the mid-Tang.
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Changhen ge zhuan 長恨歌傳
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“Account for the Song of Lasting Pain,” by Chen Hong 陳鴻 in 806, gives a narrative of the story of Xuanzong and Yang Guifei.
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Li wa zhuan 李娃傳
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“Missy Li’s Story,” by Bai Juyi’s younger brother Bai Xingjian 白行簡, believed to have been written in 795. A Chang’an courtesan ruins a young man; and after his fortunes have reached their lowest ebb, she rescues him and supports him as he studies for the examination. When he passes and rises to high office, Missy Li is ennobled.
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Huo Xiaoyu zhuan 霍小玉傳
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“Huo Xiaoyu’s Story,” by Jiang Fang’s 蔣防, mid-Tang biography/tale, tells the story of how the poet Li Yi 李益 betrayed his lover; after she died, her vengeful spirit (or Li Yi’s guilty conscience) made him insanely jealous of his subsequent wives and concubines
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Renshi zhuan 任氏傳
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“Ren’s Story,” by Shen Jiji 沈既濟, dates itself to 781. The first part of the story is a highly conventional fox story: a man meets a beautiful woman, spends the night with her, and the next morning discovers that her splendid mansion has vanished and that she was a fox. In “Ren’s Story,” however, this is only the beginning.
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Nanke taishou zhuan 南柯太守傳
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Well known Tang tale written in 802 by Li Gongzuo 李公佐, on an interval of life spent in the ant kingdom.
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Liu Yi zhuan 柳毅傳
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Tang tale by Li Chaowei 李朝威 around 802, also known as Dongting lingyin zhuan 洞庭靈姻傳, richly elaborating the old motif of a mortal man marrying the dragon-king’s daughter.
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Shen Yazhi 沈亞之
[no asterisk] |
(jinshi 815), one of Han Yu’s protégés. In 818 wrote “Explanation of the Bitterness of the Xiang,” Xiangzhong yuan jie 湘中怨解. This is a standard tale type, with a young man marrying a river goddess, whose inevitable departure sets the stage for her reappearance and a chance for Shen Yazhi to write in the style of the Chuci.
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