Poetic Coherence in Late Tang Poetry

“Early and High Tang poetry set a premium on unity. There should be the formal unity of both the parallel couplet and regulated verse structure (introduction 起, elaboration 承, [turn 轉,] response 合). There should be thematic unity: one states the theme and calls forth the appropriate allusions and images. That is, there is a “thing” the poem is about, and one should not lose sight of that “thing” in writing. There also usually is a unity of perspective: one stands with the author and views the scene.

These rules for the crafting of a poem break down after the An Lushan rebellion. In Late Tang poetry, for example, couplet-crafting becomes more important at the expense of the poem as an integrated whole. Still, the idea of a poem as an integral unit remains. The question is, “What is the basis for this unity?” What belongs in a poem? How much belongs in a poem? What holds a poem together as a single “thing?” Consider, for example, the complexity of Bai Juyi’s “Song of the Pipa.” The poem is a good example of one new, more complex aesthetic: it is not heterogeneous despite its length and despite its various stylistic shifts.”

Questions to be discussed in the paper:

Discuss this Later Tang poem as a constructed object, explain the rules by which it coheres.
Does it follow the formal unities of the High Tang?
Are the parallel couplets, for example, truly parallel, or is the author using the generic requirements to in fact yoke together very different sorts of categories?
Do the couplets evolve easily from one to the next, or are the shifts hard to follow? try to think of what validates the shifts.
Are the couplets different aspects of experience with a particular object (the topic of the poem), or do they perhaps reflect the movement of the author’s mind as it shifts from image to image?
In the end, what is the point of the complex structure that is the poem, and how do the pieces fit together?

*********please use the outline I provided (the poem is in the outline and the thesis statement for each paragraph.)

Please come up with a title for the paper (do not use the poem’s name for the title)
**Need to have:
1. introduction paragraph with the main argument I provided, bold the main argument
2. Follow the arguments for paragraph 1-5, they are part of the paragraph, please bold them in the paragraph
3. conclusion, bold the argument I provided for the conclusion