China and Chinese Lit. PDF

 CHINA: A Journey to its History and Literature CHINESE LITERATURE WHO IS CONFUCIUS? OTHER CHINESE POETS WANG WEI (699-759 AD) Chinese painter and the poet of landscape, has written lots of elegant and exquisite verses, such as 'bright moon lighting on...

 CHINA: A Journey to its History and Literature CHINESE LITERATURE WHO IS CONFUCIUS? OTHER CHINESE POETS WANG WEI (699-759 AD) Chinese painter and the poet of landscape, has written lots of elegant and exquisite verses, such as 'bright moon lighting on the pine forests, clear water found running on the stones’. He regarded landscape painting as as an intimate communion with nature. A scholar poet who withdrew from society to paint, he was considered by later Chinese art historians to be the founder of the southern school of Chinese art and became the model for the later literati (wen-jen) artist, or unworldly poet-painter. OTHER CHINESE POETS LI PO(701-62 AD) Chinese poet and one of the greatest figures of Chinese literature who was born into the minor nobility in what is now the Sichuan province. After an apprenticeship with a Taoist hermit and a time of wandering, he lived briefly as a poet at the T’ang court but left as the result of intrigue. Most of his vast output is lost but about 2000 poems collected in 1080 are remarkable for their musical quality, rich and exact imagery and beauty of OTHER CHINESE POETS The theme of Li Po’s poems include the sorrows of those separated by the demands of duty, the relief found in wine, and a Taoist appreciation for the awesome tranquility of mountains and rivers and a sense of the mysteries of life. OTHER CHINESE POETS TU FU(710-70) He was raised according to Confucian tradition in a family known for its scholarly interests. Having failed the examination that would have assured him of a government post, he spent much of his youth traveling around China. His early poetry is marked by lyrical praise of the beauties of the natural world, but as his own life became more difficult, elements of satire and expressions of somber feeling about the suffering. OTHER CHINESE POETS PO CHU-I(772-864) He was a Chinese poet and a government official who held various posts, starting in the palace library and rising to become a provincial governor. He retired from public life as major of Luoyang, the eastern capital. As one of the greatest writers of the T’ang dynasty, he was much influenced by his predecessor Tu Fu. He employed satire and humor in his work to protest against contemporary evils READING FOR PLEASURE Read the given Chinese poems and answer the following questions: 1. Pick out some catchy or interesting lines from all the poems. 2. What figures of speech are used in the poems? Read/Interpret the lines that use such figures of speech. 3. Do the poems speak about the poets who wrote them? Why did you say so?