Examination Of The Tang Dynasty Poetry And Rhapsody Study

Content: A comprehensive survey on Wen Yuan Ying Hua, Entire Tang Poetry , Entire Tang Poetry Supplement, Past Dynasties Poetic Prose will provide a chance to grasp the overall situation of examination-oriented poems and poetic prose in the Tang Dynasty. This paper is composed of three parts: the introduction, main body with four chapters and conclusion.The introduction part gives an outline for the current study on examination-oriented poems and poetic prose in the Tang Dynasty so as to clarify the object and the purpose of this study.The first chapter is a summary of examination-oriented poems and poetic prose in the Tang Dynasty. Based on the elaboration on the historical development of imperial examination systems from the pre-Tang period to the Sui Dynasty, this part offers a brief account of the examination system in the Tang Dynasty that candidates are judged and chosen according to their talent in composing poems and poetic prose. The definition of examination-oriented poems and poetic prose is given in this part as well.The second chapter expounds the content of examination-oriented poems and poetic prose. This chapter introduces the categorization of examination-oriented poems and poetic prose, which is illustrated in tables. Each of the eight types is further explained by examples.The third chapter presents a case study, that is, examination-oriented poems and poetic prose themed on celestial phenomena. Grounded on the records about celestial phenomena through ages, poems of such a theme can be traced to its source: as the first collection of poems in China, The Book of Songs includes a number of poems concerning celestial phenomena. The celestial phenomena have been painted by the myth color under the influence of traditional thoughts. The descriptions of the celestial phenomena in Chinese classical poetry give a full expression to the artistic functions of symbol and metaphor in terms of esthetics. Among various depictions of the celestial phenomena, those about sun and moon take up a large portion as a result of the traditional Chinese concepts of "yin" and "yang"(the two opposing principles in nature, the former feminine and negative, the latter masculine and positively). It is valuable that some of the poems related to celestial phenomena embody the unification of art and science. The study of examination-oriented poems and poetic prose themed on celestial phenomena shows that the subjects of such poems are all assigned by chief examiner, only on some special occasions by the emperor himself. A majority of these subjects are in the form of Er Xie verse and Cao Zhi verse. A statistical graph about the subjects is also listed in this part. Many subjects derive from Records of the Historian, The Book of Rite and Zuo Zhuan. The subjects of examination-oriented poetic prose come from different sources, too. People's ideology in the Tang Dynasty can be seen from examination-oriented poems and poetic prose themed on celestial phenomena, among which prominent are the unification of heaven and human beings and Taoism. The differences between examination-oriented poems and poetic prose and non-examination-oriented ones lie in their rhyme schemes and repetition of words.The fourth chapter makes an evaluation of examination-oriented poems and poetic prose in the Tang Dynasty. The defects of these poems and prose are the use of flowery language, loss of the rhyme scheme, and the over-extolment of historical feats and achievements.The conclusion part 'explains the influence of examination-oriented poems and poetic prose in the Tang Dynasty and forecasts a further study on them.