Great Tang poetry

Poetry flourished in the mid-Tang period, with Li Bai and Du Fu as the two greatest poets of the time. Li Bai (701-762), a romanticist master, had been acclaimed for more than 10 centuries as a "post-immortal". And Du fu (712-70), was a master of realism whose poetry has been described as "poetic history.

Li Bai liked to travel, and many of his poems sang of the beauty of the scenic areas he visited. In 742, he was summoned at the age of 42 to the capital by Emperor Xuan Zong and the courtiers as his fame as a poet had spread far and wide. He wrote poems to be sung at inner court occasions when members of the imperial harem, notable Yang Gui-fei, were present. In honour of Yang Gui-fei and the peonies planted in the palace garden, Li Bai was supposed to have composed three songs to the Ching-ping melody: The first of the series being:

Three years in court service broadened his poetic vision although it also brought him in touch with the corruption and decadence of official circles. Many of his works survive today, the best-known being "The Steep Road to Shu", " An Exhortation", "An Elegy" and "His Dream of the Sky-Land: A Farewell Poem". With their unrestrained feeling, rich imagination and unique style, Li Bai's poems often strike a responsive chord in readers' hearts. Speaking of Li bai's accomplishments at the time, his contemporary Du Fu said: " his writing brush sweeps like a thunderstorm, his lines touch the hearts of ghosts and spirits."

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