Chinese "silver poets" of the high Tang

The article is focused, in discourse, on Chinese poetry of the period of High Tang (盛唐 sheng Tang ), traditionally corresponding with the reign of Emperor Xuan (玄宗, 712-756) and recognized as the highest flourishment period of native lyric poetry (詩 shi ). The discussion is based on analysis of composite features of the poetic anthology «Collection of divine [poems, created among] rivers and mountains» (河嶽英靈集 “He yue ying ling ji”) by Yin Fan (殷璠 VIII A. D.), promulgated in 753, and passed down to the present day, and in which a range of Sheng Tang ’s poets is recorded, especially admired by contemporaries, who are metaphorically named “silver poets”. The author’s main goal was to map the arrangement of “silver poets”, reproduced in anthology, with modern scholar knowledge about the Sheng Tang poetry and its leading representatives. Among a quantity of contrasts between Yin Fan’s and current viewpoints, the most significant ones hold no mention of Du Fu (杜甫, 712-770) and his rather skeptical attitude to Li Bai (李白, 701-762), Wang Wei (王維, 701-761/698-759) and Meng Haoran (孟浩然, 689-740); who are solidly valued as the Sheng Tang foremost masters and great poets of Chinese literature as a whole. Even more intriguing is the first position given to Chang Jian (常建, 708-765) considered today a marginal poetic figure. The similar situation comes out for Zhang Wei (張謂, d. ca. 778), Wang Jiyou (王季友 n. d.), and Tao Han (陶翰, n. d.) listed by Yin Fan among the first ten most prominent writers. And, on the contrary, a large bulk of those who are measured by him as “middle and low-ranged” poets, are argued by scholars to play an important role in poetic activities of the time, e.g. Cui Guofu (崔國輔, ca. 678-754), Chu Guangxi (儲光羲, 706/7-ca. 763), Wang Changling (王昌齡, ca. 689-ca. 765). Without going into thorough examination of Yin Fan’s outlooks, however it is possible to assume that many details of the Sheng Tang poetic processes and phenomena still require further studies, despite outwardly complete exploration of its poetic heritage.