WANG CAN AND THE POETRY OF SCHOLAR-OFFICIALS DURING THE HAN Introduction |
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Robert Oxnam :: The Han dynasty developed a government bureaucracy staffed by ministers educated to follow the Confucian precept of service to the state. Toward the end of the Han rule, some members of this governing elite emerged as a new generation of lyric poets, following in the tradition of the Book of Songs. Stephen Owen :: One thing that changes when that tradition is picked up again at the end of the second century and the beginning of the third century is that the poets not only talk about history, become witnesses of history, they also are people who themselves are known, whose biographies are known, who are themselves figures in history. And so, when they write, we see not only their comments on ... their representation of history, we see their own personalities. |
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