Comparing Chung Yuan's Poem to Wang Wei, Li Po, and Po-Chui

Comparing Chung Yuan's Poem to Wang Wei, Li Po, and Po-Chui

Comparing Chu Yuan’s poem to Wang Wei’s, Li Po’s, and Po Chu-I’s

Before comparing the poems of Chu Yuan, Wang Wei, Li po, and Po Chu-I, let me first introduce to you their biographies.

Chu Yuan (343-277 BC)



He is the main poet from the Chou dynasty. He has established the use of the Ch’u tz’u verse which is very apparent in his poem Encountering Sorrow (Li Sao). It is the longest romantic poem ever in China, consisting of 373 lines and 2490 words. The content relates his life story & his anger of the evils of court intrigue & the decadence of the nobility. After being banished from his beloved state at the orders of evil courtiers that influenced the ruler, the righteous poet was forced to wander about, writing poetry, including 'Li-Sao’, observing folk rites & legends that greatly influenced his works. Finally when the Chou capital fell to the Chin troops, he drowned himself in despair & agony on the 5th day of the 5th month of the Chinese Lunar year, into the River Mi-lo. There was a search for his body & the people threw rice dumplings into the river to feed the fish so they would not eat the poet's body. From this, we can see the love the people have for him, which leaves him an illustrious name in history who gained everlasting respect. Over the years, it came to be the famous Dragon boat/Rice dumpling Festival.

Wang Wei (698-759 AD)



He is a Tang dynasty poet and painter. He is well known for his quatrain, a four liner poem, depicting scenes of mist and water. It is evident in his poems like “Morning”, “Beside the Lake”, “After Long Rain”, “In a Bamboo Grove”, “Verses”, “A Song for Wei City”, “Thinking of My brother in Shantung on the Ninth Day of the Ninth Moon”, “Meditation”, and “Departure”.






Li Po (701-762)


He is a Tang dynasty poet, considered by many critics to be the greatest of China’s poets. He was a favorite of the Tang Ming Huang Emperor despite of his...