RELATED TOPIC:
TANG POETRY

RELATED TOPIC:
LI BO (701-762)

RELATED TOPIC:
DU FU (721-770)

Robert Oxnam :: Wang Wei's poem "Deer Fence" is written in a form of regulated verse that was perfected in the Tang and established as the model poetic form thereafter.

The special metrical requirements produced poetry that exploited the full range of human experience within a brief, confined form — much like the sonnet in Western poetry.

"Deer Fence," by Wang Wei

No one is seen in deserted hills,
only the echoes of speech are heard.

Sunlight cast back comes deep in the woods
and shines once again upon the green moss.

Wang Wei's "Deer Fence" from An Anthology of Chinese Literature, Stephen Owen, ed. and trans. (New York: W.W. Norton, 1996) p. 393.