A Study Of Imperial Poems In The Tang Dynasty

Among the emperor poetries of the past dynasties, the emperor poetry in TangDynasty not only serves as a link between the past and future, but also blazes newtrails in a pioneering spirit. Tang Dynasty saw a climax of emperor poetries creationand directly affected later emperor poetries creation as well. In the history of Chinesepoetry, there are so many emperor poets and emperor poetries in this dynasty, whichcan be seen as a unique literary phenomenon.Focused on the study of the emperor poetry in Tang Dynasty, this paper conductsmacroscopic and microscopic analyses and also involves the emperors, politics andhistory. Macroscopic perspective mainly involves the following five aspects: the firstone is the content; the second one is the features; the third one is the development; thefourth one is the generative mechanism; and the last one is the value and contribution.While the microscopic analysis involves the following three aspects: Emperor TangTaizong’s poetries under the influence of the Northern and Southern Dynasties; thedifferent performances and characteristics of some of the emperor poetries; theanalysis of emperors’ growth situations and personalities. By means of theseresearches, this paper tries to reveal the general features of the emperor poetry in TangDynasty and objectively assess its value.This paper consists of six parts. The first introduction part demonstrates theconcept of the emperor poetry in Tang Dynasty; analyzes its origin and evolvement;introduces its basic situations; accounts for its present research status; illustrates thesignificance and methods of its study. The first chapter discusses the topic content ofthe emperor poetry in Tang Dynasty. On the whole, the emperor poetry in TangDynasty is characterized by various topics and rich contents. In light of themanifestation degree of the emperors’ double roles, we can divide the emperorpoetries into two types. One is imperial poetry, which reflects emperors’ governingthoughts, lofty aspirations and political appeals. The other one is poet poetryinvolving feasting and reciprocal singing poems, describing scenery and substancespoems, bestowing and seeing off poems. The second chapter shows the artisticcharacteristics of the emperor poetry in Tang Dynasty. With the drawbacks ofpalace-style poetry’s stylized structure and superfluous classical illusions, however,the emperor poetry in Tang Dynasty is of rich imagery and mighty masculine and elegant beautiful features. The third chapter demonstrates the development andevolvement of the emperor poetry in Tang Dynasty, which can be divided into fourstages, namely "Tang Taizong----From Tang Gaozong to Tang Ruizong----From TangXuanzong to Tang Dezong----After Tang Wenzong." Through longitudinal study andhorizontal comparison, the characteristics of each stage can be found and the generalfeatures can be summarized. Analyzing the transmutation of historical backgroundfrom the contents, themes, styles and other aspects of poetries, this chapter alsofocuses on the influence of Tang Poetry on the emperor poetry in Tang Dynasty andthe development of Tang Poetry under the influence of the emperor poetry in TangDynasty. The fourth chapter discusses the generative mechanism of the emperorpoetry in Tang Dynasty. The fifth chapter evaluates the literary status of the emperorpoetry in Tang Dynasty and analyzes its main value, which includes the literaturevalue, historical value and aesthetic value. The literary value is reflected in theexpansion of contents, themes and the variety of artistic expressions; the historicalvalue is reflected in the roles of the emperor poetry in Tang Dynasty as literatures,historical materials, history make-up and certification; the aesthetic value embodies inthe form of the beauty of poetry, music and color.By means of the comprehensive study of emperors in Tang Dynasty and theirpoetries, this paper represents the general features of the development of the emperorpoetry in Tang Dynasty. These features include making the definition of "the emperorpoetry in Tang Dynasty", investigating the interactive effects of Tang Poetry and theemperor poetry in Tang Dynasty, demonstrating the formation characteristics of theemperor poetry in Tang Dynasty, explaining the transmutation of historicalbackground and generative mechanism of the emperor poetry in Tang Dynasty and itsembodiment of “Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism”. Emphasizing the research ofunder-ordered poems, this paper shows the themes and subject matters of poetrieswhich emperors concerned with and the possibilities of their creation etc. The study ofthis paper is helpful to enrich the researches of imperial literature in Tang Dynasty,comprehensively summarize the relationship between Tang Poetry and the emperorpoetry in Tang Dynasty and it also can help to get a more solid study base of theemperor poetry in Tang Dynasty and imperial literature in Tang Dynasty.