A Critical Survey Of The Poems By Hanwo

Hanwo, a poet of striking personality and much experience, lives in the late Tang Dynasty, and has written more than three hundred and forty poems. This paper, which is divided into six chapters, attempts to present a true picture both of the themes and of the styles as concealed in his poems, which are the production of his thoughts and inner feelings shaped by his life and the historical background.The first chapter gives his biography and a rough introduction to posthumous interpretation and criticism of his poems, with the hope of making readers' understanding easier.The second chapter divides his writing career into four periods, with each marking a particular theme and style. His poems in the first period, as represented by Poems on Girls, have as themes romance and the failure in the Royal Examination and have the style of delicacy and tragic beauty, thus laying down the direction for his future writing. His poems in the second period, part of which are considered the epic of his times, with a stately and melancholy style, concentrate roughly on three themes: the climax in his political career, his confidence and glory, and the social reality, because he is appointed to the Imperial Academy, thus coming to know politics and society. His poems in the third period describe his exile, with both theme and style changed so radically that there is a tinge of compliance with injustice and weariness of politics in these poems. His poems in the last period, written during his stay in Fujian Province, represent his highest achievement in writing, because Hanwo returns to nature for inspiration, thus writing a lot of short poems which reveal both calm mood and simple, mature style. Much different as in theme and style, a fundamental principle of writing is the core: seeking simplicity and maturity.The third chapter, containing third sections, focuses on his Poems on Girls, the most attracting and the most controversial among his works. The first section lists some necessary reasons why the poems of this kind come into being: the declining dynasty and the turbulent society, the rigid routines and corruptions of the Royal Examination which exercise a negative influence on the general mood of the intellectuals, the thriving civil economy and the courage to break the shackles of the out-dated concept of marriage. The second section analyzes the poetical and aesthetical ideals in his poems—seeking artistical achievement, instead of ephemeral sensation, seeking sensual excitement, simple and profound style—with these ideals being pursued by nearly all poets of that age. The third section is a tentative reappraisal of his poems: in his poems which are much different from metaphorical expressions of his ideals by means of nature or beauties and from stale verses tailored to His Majesty or sexiness, a profusion of inner thoughts is encased so that his constant pursuits,simplicity,magnificence and delicacy,are integrated into his perfect personality and that his poems exert a strong influence on the poetical literature of the Five Dynasties.The fourth chapter points out some contrasts between Hanwo's poems on history and social reality, represented by his Thirty Four Poems on the Current Affairs . Although both Hanwo and Dufu share some experience in life and politics, although Hanwo's poems are considered as the epic of the late Dynasty, and to inherit much stylistical inspiration from Dufu's poems, although even both the theme and the attitude as revealed by the two poets are similar, because of their different experiences which are shaped entirely by different social background, they show quite different concerns and perspectives in their poems: Dufu is in the position of the ruled to expose the corruption of the ruling, while Hanwo, deeply involved in the cruel civil strife which makes an end to the traditional values and ideas, is in the position of an intellectual on the side of the ruling to show sympathy to the declining empire and the misery of the ruled. Moreover, they write poems in different wa...