Introduction: The Cultural Role of Chinese Poetry

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. CONTENTS v
3. THEMATIC CONTENTS vii
4. PREFACE TO THE HOW TO READ CHINESE LITERATURE SERIES xix
5. PREFACE TO THE VOLUME xxi
6. CHRONOLOGY OF HISTORICAL EVENTS xxiii
7. SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS xxvii
8. Introduction: The Cultural Role of Chinese Poetry 1
9. PART I: PRE-HAN TIMES
10. 1. Poetry and Diplomacy in Zuo Tradition (Zuozhuan) 13
11. 2. Poetry and Authorship: The Songs of Chu (Chuci) 30
12. PART II: THE HAN DYNASTY
13. 3. Empire in Text: Sima Xiangru’s “Sir Vacuous/Imperial Park Rhapsody” (“Zixu/Shanglin fu”) 51
14. 4. Poetry and Ideology: The Canonization of the Book of Poetry (Shijing) During the Han 65
15. 5. Love Beyond the Grave: A Tragic Tale of Love and Marriage in Han China 78
16. PART III: THE SIX DYNASTIES
17. 6. Heroes from Chaotic Times: The Three Caos 99
18. 7. The Worthies of the Bamboo Grove 116
19. 8. The Poetry of Reclusion: Tao Qian 130
20. 9. The Struggling Buddhist Mind: Shen Yue 146
21. PART IV: THE TANG DYNASTY
22. 10. Knight-Errantry: Tang Frontier Poems 159
23. 11. Tang Civil Service Examinations 173
24. 12. Tang Women at the Public/Private Divide 185
25. 13. Poetry and Buddhist Enlightenment: Wang Wei and Han Shan 205
26. 14. Drinking Alone Beneath the Moon: Li Bai and the Poetics of Wine 223
27. 15. Du Fu: The Poet as Historian 236
28. 16. Poetry and Literati Friendship: Bai Juyi and Yuan Zhen 248
29. 17. Li He: Poetry as Obsession 261
30. Acknowledgments 275
31. Contributors 277
32. Glossary-Index 281