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The Late Tang

Chinese Poetry of the Mid-Ninth Century (827–860)
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The Late Tang explores the poetry of China's Late Tang dynasty, highlighting its distinctive retrospective gaze. Stephen Owen examines how poets like Du Mu, Li Shangyin, and Wen Tingyun reshaped poetic styles after the High and Mid-Tang eras, creating a lasting literary legacy that influenced poetry for centuries.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Ideal for readers interested in Chinese literature, poetry enthusiasts, and scholars seeking a deep understanding of Tang dynasty cultural history.

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Owen analyzes the redirection of poetry following the deaths of the major poets of the High and Mid-Tang and the rejection of their poetic styles. In the Late Tang, the poetic past was beginning to assume the form it would have for the next millenniumβ€”a repertoire of styles, genres, and the voices of past poets.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

The poetry of the Late Tang often looked backward, and many poets of the period distinguished themselves through the intensity of their retrospective gaze. Chinese poets had always looked backward to some degree, but for many Late Tang poets the echoes and the traces of the past had a singular aura.

In this work, Stephen Owen resumes telling the literary history of the Tang that he began in his works on the Early and High Tang. Focusing in particular on Du Mu, Li Shangyin, and Wen Tingyun, he analyses the redirection of poetry that followed the deaths of the major poets of the High and Mid-Tang and the rejection of their poetic styles.

The Late Tang, Owen argues, forces us to change our very notion of the history of poetry. Poets had always drawn on past poetry, but in the Late Tang, the poetic past was beginning to assume the form it would have for the next millennium; it was becoming a repertoire of available choicesβ€”styles, genres, the voices of past poets. It was this repertoire that would endure.

Series: Harvard East Asian Monographs

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780674033283

Publisher: Harvard University, Asia Center

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 01 March 2009

Country: United States

Imprint: Harvard University, Asia Center

Audience: Adult education

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 38.0mm

Width: 152.0mm

Height: 229.0mm

Weight: 839g

Pages: 596

About the Author

Stephen Owen is James Bryant Conant University Professor, Emeritus, at Harvard University.

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