Song Zhiwen

Song Zhiwen
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	宋之問
Simplified Chinese	宋之问
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Sòng Zhīwèn Wade–Giles Sung Chih-wên Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Sung3 Zi1-man6 Middle Chinese Middle Chinese SuongC Tśi-mjwənC
Japanese name
Kanji	宋之問
Hiragana	そうしもん
Transcriptions Romanization Sō Shimon

Song Zhiwen (simplified Chinese: 宋之问; traditional Chinese: 宋之問; c. 660–712), also known by his courtesy name of Yanqing (Chinese: 延清, pinyin: Yánqīng), was a Chinese poet considered to be of the Tang poetry tradition of the Tang Dynasty, although technically his poetic career was largely within the anomalous dynastic interregnum of Wu Zetian. Together with Shen Quanqi, Song Zhiwen is considered to have the "credit for the final perfection" of the "new style" poetry of regulated verse (jintishi) which was one of the most critical poetic developments of the early Tang poets, and much followed as a style which inspired future generations of poets.

Poetry

Song Zhiwen was particularly known for his five-character-regular-verse, or wujue, one of which is included in the famous poetry anthology Three Hundred Tang Poems.

As an outstanding court poet in Early Tang dynasty, Song Zhiwen's poems are famous for his regulated verse which are regarded as lüshi, including heptasyllabic songs. His early opuses focus on court life and imperially assigned poems. Later, he prefers to write landscapes and inner embitterment feelings due to exile. His most famous poems are "度大庾岭"（A.D.705） and "渡汉江" (Crossing the Han River, A.D.706). Actually, he rather creates court poems than other topics when he stays in the royal circle, while composing lyrics instead when he is banished from the capital.

See also

• Classical Chinese poetry forms
• Regulated verse
• Lantian County
• Wangchuanji

References

• Davis, A. R. (Albert Richard), Editor and Introduction, (1970), The Penguin Book of Chinese Verse. (Baltimore: Penguin Books).
• Stephen Owen, "The Poetry of Early T'ang",New York:Yale University Press, 1977

External links

• Works by Song Zhiwen at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• Books of the Quan Tangshi that include collected poems of Song Zhiwen at the Chinese Text Project:
  • Book 51
  • Book 52
  • Book 53