A Study Of Wu Zetian And Her Poems

As an outstanding stateswoman, the only empress in feudal China, Wu Zetian rose from a country girl to be a concubine of the second emperor of Tang Dynasty, then the queen of the third emperor, and eventually established a new "Zhou Dynasty" and declared herself the empress. Having been active in the political arena for nearly half a century, she had produced significant and lasting influence on Chinese history. For 1200 years, people kept arguing over her merits and defaults and couldn't reach a consensus on the evaluation of her work. In addition to the great political accomplishment she had achieved as an empress, Wu also boasted of expertise knowledge in literature. Thanks to her efforts to promote poetry and culture of the time, the following Tang Dynasty (renewed upon her death and was soon in its prime) had experienced a golden time in culture.This essay intends to make some initial study on Wu's poems, and the discussion shall be made within the framework of correlation between Wu and the politics, economy, culture and religion of that time while taking into account the relationship between Wu and the beginning days of Tang Dynasty. In contrast to the historical studies which mainly deal with the assessment of her political achievements, this essay shall instead focus on her literature accomplishment. Through a discussion of the only 47 poems composed by Wu that can now be found in A Complete Collection of the Poems of Tang Dynasty, this essay shall categorize and illustrated Wu's poems with notes, in attempt to offer a better understanding of her literature work..