Hello class,

While reading about both Wang Wei and Bo Juyi, along with their poems, I was relatively intrigued by their unique styles in writing. Before reading about them, I was unfamiliar with the concept of T’ang poetry altogether. After reading, I got a better understanding on how T’ang poetry can be expressed quite differently. Both Wang Wei and Bo Juyi are examples of how they use this style of poetry to convey very different messages. For example, Wang Wei’s poems seem to focus mostly on expressing a tranquil scenery of what he sees. He displays a bit of a detachment from reality. During the time period he lived on, there was the An Lushan Rebellion going on. Many writers and poets from that time decided to focus on the events from it, but Wang Wei decided not to for the most, despite being effected by it (i.e. becoming imprisoned). Wang basically created his own alternate reality through his writing, to perhaps escape what was actually happening. Interestingly, Bo Juyi uses T’ang poetry to bring focus towards social issues, unlike what Wang would have done. His style of writing is quite different from Wang’s as well. Juyi’s poems were relatively long and in the form of songs, whereas Wang’s poems were always very short and vague in comparison.

My question is: why do think Wang Wei steered away from any of the political and social issues going on in his time throughout most of his writing? Do you think it’s because he tried to escape that reality, or is it for a different reason?