Tang Poetry Webquest
Using
Columbia University’s Asian Topics Website
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/eacp/asiasite/topics/index.html?topic=Tang+subtopic=Intro
Introduction to Tang Poetry
1. The dates of the Tang Dynasty were from __________ to ___________.
2. During the Tang era, Eurasian exchange flourished across what has become known as
the _________ __________________.
3. The Tang dynasty is often referred to as China's golden age. Why?
4. What type of literature reached its peak in the Tang Dynasty?
Tang Poetry and the Civil Service Examination
5. What was the civil service examination used for? How does the civil service
examination serve to promote Confucian values throughout the empire?
6. What do many scholars think caused the dramatic increase in the production of poetry
that occurred at this time?
Poetry a Part of Everyday Life
7. Under the Tang, the writing of poetry then became a feature of everyday life in China.
Name three times you would write a poem (if you lived in the Tang Dynasty). Name
three common topics for Tang poems.
8. What is one of the most distinctive things about Chinese poetry as it was practiced in
pre-modern times?
Tang Poetry and Regulated Verse
9. How are almost all Chinese poems written? Describe the form.
10. Up until the Tang dynasty, couplets could be of any particular length. However, what
changed in the Tang dynasty? Name this new verse.
Three Prominent Tang Poets
11. Name the three most prominent poets of the Tang era (with birth/death dates).
12. During the Tang era, there were three strands of China's philosophical-religious
braid. Name and describe each one.
Pick a Tang Poet
Poetry was often an expression of friendship, and a celebration of the one nonhierarchical relationship in the Confucian worldview. It was also often influenced by
Daoist ideals of escaping the corruption and frantic pace of official life and returning to,
and celebrating nature. This is the peak of Buddhist influence in China, and Buddhist
ideas and symbols often inform these poems.
Directions: Now please look at the works of the three most prominent poets of the Tang
era (they are listed on the left-hand side of the webpage below the information you just
read). Choose your favorite poet, read the accompanying materials, and answer the
questions below.
13. List the name and dates for your poet.
14. Select your favorite poem. Write the name of the poem and copy your favorite
line(s) below.
15. Summarize the story that the poet tells in this poem.
16. Paraphrase a section of the poem’s explication.
(1) Copy the sentence you are paraphrasing:
(2) Your paraphrased version of the sentence: