Hailed as the most important and most comprehensive single study of Tang poetry to have appeared in English when originally published by Yale University Press in 1981, this Quirin Press Revised Edition brings back into print this much sought after title and offers the full original text with the following features: Older Wade-Giles transliteration fully updated and revised to the current Pinyin standard; Fully re-typeset and proofed for typographical errors and inconsistencies. New expanded index including Chinese characters.

Following Owen's analysis in "The Poetry of Early Tang" (also available from Quirin Press) of poetry as an art of social gesture and occasion this title explores the poetry of the High Tang which has often been referred to as "apogee of all Chinese poetry." Rather than merely defining the poetic art of eighth century China through Wang Wei, Li Bai, and Du Fu, Owen delves into the norms of the age to become acquainted with the symbiotic relationship that existed both between the major and lesser talents of the age, and the overall literary tradition. In these pages the poetry of the High Tang comes to life as a self-conscious art form, which, combined with a rekindling of China's poetic past, lead to a more personal mode of expression and individual voice that culminated in the unprecedented and dazzling efflorescence of the art.
Extracts available on [...]
Keywords: Chinese Poetry - Tang Dynasty 618-907 - Poetics - History & Criticism.

Owen's companion volume on the Early Tang is also available from Quirin Press ISBN: 978-1-922169-02-0 (paperback). For further information and extracts visit [...]