This document provides biographical information about several classical Chinese poets, including Li Bai and Tao Chien. It discusses Li Bai's background, characteristics of his poems, and one of his most famous works. It also provides details about Tao Chien's life and reclusion, and presents one of his poems about drinking wine. The document is organized with headings about the different poets and includes translations of some of their works.

1. Classical Chinese Poetry
Ayaz Hussain Mian
4121999142
08/03/2022
Tajdar Khan
4121999212
Ayaz Hussain Mian
4121999142
Faisal Nadeem
4121999195
XJTU PhD students

2. CONTENTS
3 Li Bai also known as Li Po (701–762)
Tao Chien, or Tao Yuan Ming (365–427)
5
A) Poems and Calligraphy of Li Bai
D) Tao Chien Poem Drinking Wine
4 Wang Bo (王勃) (650–676)
Chinese Ancient Poets
1
B) In the Mountains (山中 )
C) Preface to the Pavilion of King Teng
Chinese Modern Poets
2

3. Qu Yuan Du Fu
Chinese Ancient Poets
Li Bai
1

4. Su Dongpo
Chinese Ancient Poets
Bai Juyi
Wang Wei
1

5. Xu Zhimo Su Ting
Chinese Modern Poets
Dai Wangsu
2

6. Li Bai also known as Li Po
(701–762)
3 Li Bai

7. Background and birth
• Birth is generally considered to be 701
• Born somewhere in Central Asia
• Spent his childhood in Sichuan
• 725, Li Bai left Sichuan
• Hubei
• Marriage to the granddaughter of a retired Prime Minister, Xu Yushi
3 Li Bai

8. Li Bai
3
 Li Bai also known in the West by various other
transliterations, especially Li Po, was a major Chinese
poet of the Tang dynasty poetry period.
 Li Bai also called the Poet Immortal.
 He has been regarded as one of the greatest poets in
China's Tang period, which is often called China's
"golden age" of poetry.
 Around a thousand existing poems are attributed to
him.

9. 3
 Thirty-four of his poems are included in the popular
anthology Three Hundred Tang Poems.
 In the area of Chinese cultural influence, Li Bai's
poetry has been much esteemed from his lifetime
through the present day.
 His influence also extends to the West through many
translations, adaptations, and much inspiration.
Li Bai

10. Emperor Minghuang, seated upon a terrace, observing Li Bai write poetry
3 Li Bai

11. Characteristics of his poems
• Creative use of earlier styles
• Reworking of traditional themes
• Many poems satirize the world of fawning
and hypocrisy
• Show his rapport with nature and his love
of wine
3 Li Bai

12. 1
Poems and Calligraphy of Li Bai
3 Li Bai

13. A major Poet from Tang Dynasty
1 Li Bai

14. 3 Li Bai Famous Poem
Below is one of Li Bai's most famous works, Waking From Drunkenness on a Spring
Day (春日醉起言志, translated by Arthur Waley:
 Life in the World is but a big dream
 I will not spoil it by any labour or care.
 So saying, I was drunk all the day,
 Lying helpless at the porch in front of my door.
 When I woke up, I blinked at the garden-lawn;
 A lonely bird was singing amid the flowers.
 I asked myself, had the day been wet or fine?
 The Spring wind was telling the mango-bird.
 Moved by its song I soon began to sigh,
 And as wine was there I filled my own cup.
 Wildly singing I waited for the moon to rise;
 When my song was over, all my senses had gone.
 处世若大梦
 胡为劳其生
 所以终日醉
 颓然卧前楹
 觉来盼庭前
 一鸟花间鸣
 借问此何时
 春风语流莺
 感之欲叹息
 对酒还自倾
 浩歌待明月
 曲尽已忘情

15. The only surviving calligraphy in Li Bai's own handwriting
3 Li Bai

16. Journey toward the next world
• Li Bai, the great poet
• In his poem Song of Xiangyang, he said, “During the 36,000
days in 100 years, I must drink 300 cups of liquor every day.”
• Concluded his life’s journey in the town of Xuan
• Passing away from “excessive drinking.”
• left behind
• 20 volumes of writing
• 900 poems
3 Li Bai

17. 1
Wang Bo (王勃) (650–676)
4
Wang Bo (王勃) 650–
676)

18. Wang Bo courtesy name Zi'an (子安), was a Chinese poet
in the Tang Dynasty. He was born in 650 A.D into a family
with high literary status. His grandfather was the Sui
dynasty Confucian philosopher Wang Tong. His father was
named Wang Fuzhi (王福畤). Wang Bo is regarded as one
of the Four Greats of Early Tang 初唐四傑 (together with
楊烱 Yang Jiong, 盧照鄰 Lu Zhaolin and 駱賓王 Luo
Binwang). Unfortunately, he died at the age of 26, possibly
from drowning in South China sea, while going back from
交趾 Jiaozhi (Vietnam) where his father was posted to in
relegation. Wang Bo Statue
4
Wang Bo (王勃) 650–
676)

19. • Those people who like traditional culture should be familiar with Wang Bo. Wang Bo
opposed the spread of the Gong Ti Style (宫体诗风) of the Sui Dynasty, and advocated a
style rich in emotions. He was also famous for the essay Tengwang Ge Xu, which is
included in the Chinese middle school curriculum.
• When he was 6 years old, he was able to write poetry, known as a child prodigy.
• At the age of 10, he read all the books of sages and studied the Book of Changes and
medical books.
• At the age of 13, he began to inquire about politics and wrote political theories to the
government.
• At the age of 16, he wrote "Ode to Qianyuan Palace" to the emperor, which won the
emperor's appreciation and praise;
• In the same year, he was selected in the examination and entered into politics...
4
Wang Bo (王勃) 650–676)

20. In the Mountains (山中 )
1. 長江悲已滯
2. 萬里念將歸
3. 况屬高風晚
4. 山山黃葉飛
1. As languid, long as the river,
steeped in sorrow am I.
2. A myriad miles from home---
-to return, but when? I sigh.
3. And now as darkness nears,
high are the autumn winds that
4. On each and every
mountain, how the yellow
leaves fly!
Wang Bo Poetry Translated by Andrew W.F Wong
4

21. Translated by Jonathan Jay
1. Yangtze River and I now
sullen and listless
2. Yearning to return countless
miles distant
3. Alpine winds too, signal
autumn is nigh
4. In mountain upon mountain
yellowed leaves fly
1. The Long River in sadness
has been clogged
2. Three thousand miles
thoughts of home returning
3. Yet it belongs to a night with
so fierce winds,
4. From mountain to mountain
yellow leaves swirling.
Translated by Shifu Yuan
4 In the Mountains (山中 )

22. In this little poem , the poet skillfully borrows the
scenery to express his feelings in just twenty words,
showing a sad and strong momentum, creating an
open artistic conception that blends the scenes. The
Yangtze River is rolling eastward, and I have been
stuck outside for too long. My hometown is thousands
of miles away, and I miss it all the time. What's more,
the autumn wind is already blowing, and the
mountains are scattered with withered and yellow
autumn leaves.
Summery of the Poem
4 In the Mountains (山中 )

23. Summery of the Poem
4 In the Mountains (山中 )
The first sentence, "The Yangtze River has been
stagnant", is an instant revival. Literally, it may be
interpreted as lamenting because of being stranded by
the Yangtze River for a long time. The poet saw the
Yangtze River meandering eastward on the mountain in
Shuzhong, which touched the sad thoughts of being
stranded in a foreign land for a long time. The title of this
poem is "In the Mountains", and it may also be that the
poet got excited when he saw the Yangtze River on the
mountain, and used the river flowing eastward day and
night to compare his long-term stranded travel to
generate sad thoughts.

24. Wang Bo Poetry
1.關山難越
2. 誰悲失路之人
3. 萍水相逢
4. 盡是他鄉之客。
Translated by Frank C Yue
1. Border mountains are
difficult to cross –
2. Who'll ever feel sorry for
those who were lost?
3. Like the floating plants, by
chance, they all meet:
4. They're travelers from far-off
places, indeed!
4 Preface to the Pavilion of King Teng

25. Summery of the Poem
This poem was written by Wang Bo on his way to
Jiaozhi Province passing through Hangzhou. There
are few words about the difficulties of the journey:
The dangerous passes overflow and the mountains
are so steep that it is really difficult to walk and all I
meet on the way were strangers from other
countries and no one sympathized with me . The
words are really very sad and full of travel sorrow.
4
Preface to the Pavilion of King Teng

26. 1
Tao Chien, or Tao Yuan Ming
(365–427)
Tao Yuan Ming
5

27. Tao Yuan Ming
5
 Tao Yuanming, also known as Tao Qian (Hanyu Pinyin) or T'ao
Ch'ien (Wade-Giles), was a Chinese poet and politician who
was one of the best-known poets during the Six Dynasties
period. He was born during the Eastern Jin dynasty (317-420)
and died during the Liu Song (420-479) dynasty (Jin-Song
transition).
 Tao Yuanming spent much of his life in reclusion, living in the
countryside, farming, reading, drinking wine, receiving the
occasional guest, and writing poems in which he often reflected
on the pleasures and difficulties of life, as well as his decision to

28. 5
 Tao was open and straightforward, and had little patience with
the conventions and elaborate ceremonial of his day.
 Relatively well-known as a recluse poet in the Tang
dynasty (618-907), during the Northern Song dynasty (960-
1127), influential literati figures such as Su Shi (1037-1101)
declared him a paragon of authenticity and spontaneity in poetry,
that Tao Yuanming would achieve lasting literary fame.
 Tao's poems are mainly on rural life, he has always been
considered a pastoral poet.
Tao Yuan Ming

29. 5
 Most of his poems were written in the five-character-a-line metre
current at that time.
 This verse form had no strict rules. Though the number of words
in each line was fixed, a poem could be of any length, and this
was a good medium for lyrical poetry.
 Some of his verses describe natural scenery. But we find
expression of the poet's warm feelings, as well as praise of
labour and the labouring people. Such lines, we may claim,
express the true sentiments of the peasantry. Because Tao
shared their labours, he had genuine feeling for the peasants.
Tao Yuan Ming

30. 1
饮酒 , Drinking Wine
5

31. 5
Below is one of Tao Yuan Ming famous Poem, Drinking Wine 饮酒,
 Among the haunts of men I build my cot
 There’s noise of wheels and hoofs, but I hear not
 How can it leave upon my mind to trace
 Secluded heart creates secluded place
 I pick fence-side chrysanthemums at will
 And leisurely I see the southern hill
 where mountain air is fresh both day and night
 And where I find home-going birds in flight
 What is the revelation at this view
 Words fail me e’en if I try to tell you.
 结庐在人境
 而无车马喧
 问君何能尔
 心远地自偏
 采菊东篱下
 悠然见南山
 山气日夕佳
 飞鸟相与还
 此中有真意
 欲辨已忘言
Tao Yuan Ming Poem
Drinking Wine
饮酒

32. 5
Below is one of Tao Yuan Ming famous Poem, Drinking Wine 饮酒,
 I made my home amidst this human bustle
 Yet I hear no clamour from the carts and horses
 My friend, you ask me how this can be so
 A distant heart will tend towards like places
 From the eastern hedge, I pluck chrysanthemum flowers
 And idly look towards the southern hills
 The mountain air is beautiful day and night
 The birds fly back to roost with one another
 I know that this must have some deeper meaning
 I try to explain, but cannot find the words
Tao Yuan Ming Poem
Drinking Wine
饮酒

33. Thank You
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