Research On Xu Ning And His Poems

Xu Ning was a poet in the mid-Tang dynasty， he was famous during the period ofYuanhe， Yuan Zhen and Bai Juyi were his good friends． Zhang Wei， who was apoet in the late Tang dynasty， looked Xu Ning as one of Bai Juyi’s students in hispainting the Host and Guest Poets， spoke highly of Xu Ning． Research on Xu Ningand his poetry was rare over the years， and there were some misunderstandings． Thispaper started from Xu Ning’s poems collected in chapter474of the Poetry in the WholeTang Dynasty and Complement of the Poetry in the Whole Tang Dynasty， researchedhis life experiences and poems， explored the artistic value and gave an evaluation to hispoems．The first chapter cut in from Xu Ning’s biography which came from the bookBiographies of the Talents in Tang Dynasty， found that his hometown was muzhou，he lived during the period of Yuanhe and Kaicheng， got on well with Bai Juyi andYuan Zhen， never worked as an official in his lifetime， and went back to live in thecountry-side when he was old． Xu Ning’s poetic themes are extensive， the secondchapter divided his poems into five categories: Ode to the ancient history and allegoricalpoems， ode to the nature， the complaint of the women living in the Palace，landscapes and social intercourse． By analyzing these poems， summarized the maincontents of his poems and language characteristics． The third chapter explored thewriting styles and artistic characteristics of Xu Ning’s poems， and pointed out thelimitations and shortcomings． Although only a few of Xu Ning’s poems exists now，his status in the mid and late Tang dynasty should not be ignored． The last chapter triedto show the artistic glamour of his poems under that specific history era， reflected outthe significance of the learning cases and controversy in the history of literature．...