Studies On Wang Bo's Works

Wang Bo was a prominent writer in the literary arena of the early Tang Dynasty, boasting of 12 odes and 107 parallel prose (24 of which was copied from Japan by Luo Zhenyu). Exceeding contemporary studies on his poetry necessitate this paper's concentration on his prefaces. This paper consists of the following three parts:Chapter 1 focuses on the content and artistic features of his ode. Long years of traveling experiences enrich the content of his ode with descriptions of royal banquet, entertainments and casual sentiments absent. Feeling in adversity, thoughts over personal living status and pursuit of ideals are the preoccupations in his ode, which was truly a great breakthrough in the Zhenguan Period. Artistically speaking, Wang Bo's ode mainly displays some of his personal sentiments, yet with power and force thanks to his great talent and unique personality.Chapter 2 is mainly preoccupied with Wang Bo's various practical writings with odes for emperors and superiors and epitaphs at the request of other people, all of which are generally stylistically consistent but restricted in the expressions of inner mind. Typical articles include "Letter to the Prime Minister Surnamed Liu" and "Letter to High Official Surnamed Pei", both of which were written in parallel prose in brevity and variety. "Gravestone of Jinghui Temple" also has huge literary value with strict structure and delicate description of the temple environment.Chapter 3 concentrates on Wang Bo's prefaces which are classified into two groups: one is written before the body while the other is simply a single preface mainly talking about drinking or a trip. His collection of preface is a good reflection of his achievement in parallel prose. First of all, environment and feelings are seamlessly compatible and artistically inspiring. Secondly, contrary to the over-fancy style of the Six Dynasties, Wang Bo's parallel prose is aesthetically forceful and fantastic. Starting from stylistic aspects and taking into account social background, this paper undertakes a all-around study on Wang Bo's odes, parallel prose, preface and other practical writings based on text analysis and comparisons with the creations of odes and parallel prose in Six Dynasties and Zhenguan Period, which will be hopefully significant for the appreciation of Wang Bo's works.