Wang Wei (8th century poet)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This is a Chinese name; the family name is 王 (Wang).
| Wang Wei | |
|---|---|
| Born | 701 |
| Died | 761 |
| Occupation | Poet, Painter, Chancellor |
Wang Wei (traditional Chinese: 王維; simplified Chinese: 王维; pinyin: Wáng Wéi, 701–761), posthumously titled the Poet Buddha, was a Tang Dynasty Chinese poet, musician, painter and statesman. His courtesy name Mojie (摩诘). Originally from Qi (Modern day Qi County of Shanxi) moved to PuZhou (Modern day Yong Ji, Shanxi), he was of Han ethnicity. He was famously known for both his poetry and paintings, Su Shi had famously coined a phrase stating that his works of both art and poetry, “The quality of Wang Wei’s poems can be summed as, the poems hold a painting within them. In observing his paintings you can see that, within the painting there is poetry.” He’s especially known for his compositions on the Mountains and Streams （山水诗） genre, along with Meng Haoran， they're family names were combined and commonly referred as ‘Wang Meng’ due to their excellence in poetic composition at that time. In his later years Wang Wei lost interest in being a statesman and became more involved in Buddhism and his poems reflected his focus on Zen/Ch'an practice, therefore he was posthumously referred to as the “Poet Buddha”. His works are collected in Chancellor Wang’s Anthology, which includes 400 poems. He excelled in painting images of people, bamboo forests and sceneries of mountains and rivers. It’s recorded that paintings of mountains and streams have two different genres, one is of the Father and Son of the Li Family （李氏父子） and the other being of strong brush strokes, his work of Picture of Wang River is of the latter, but unfortunately the original no longer exists. His works of Scenery of Snow and Creek and Jinan’s Fusheng Portrait both are realistic in their representation of the subjects. Wang Wei is obviously more famous for his poetry which had more success, he’s known as Tang Dynasty’s representative writer of the ‘Mountain and River’s’ or commonly referred to as landscape school of poetry.
From an aristocratic family, he passed the civil service entrance examination in 721 with being awarded Zhuang Yuan (placing first in the examination) and had a successful civil service career, rising to become Chancellor in 758. During the An Lushan Rebellion he avoided actively serving the insurgents during the capital's occupation by pretending to be deaf other sources state that he drank medicine which created cankers on his mouth and feigned sickness. After the suppression of the rebellion he was demoted and served as a TaiZi ZhongChong (太子中充） and over time was moved to the position of JiShiZhong （给事中） and his last position was held as ShangShu YouCheng （尚书右丞）.
He spent ten years studying with Chán master Daoguang. After his wife's death in 730, he did not remarry and established a monastery on part of his estate.
He is best known for his quatrains depicting quiet scenes of water and mist, with few details and little human presence. The Indiana Companion comments that he affirms the world's beauty, while questioning its ultimate reality. It also draws a comparison between the deceptive simplicity of his works and the Chan path to enlightenment, which is built on careful preparation but is achieved without conscious effort.
None of his original paintings survive, but copies of works attributed to him are also landscapes with similar qualities. He influenced what became known as the Southern school of Chinese landscape art, which was characterised by strong brushstrokes contrasted with light ink washes.
Wang Wei's most famous poetry, such as the poem "Deer Park," form a group titled Wang River Collection. They record a poet's journey, ostensibly that of Wang Wei and his close friend, P'ei Ti. They are far more universal than a simple journey and have inspired generations of poets since, including recent adaptations such as Pain Not Bread's Introduction to the Introduction to Wang Wei (ISBN 1-894078-09-8), Barry Gifford's Replies to Wang Wei (ISBN 0-88739-441-8) and Gary Blankenship's A River Transformed (ISBN 1-4116-6227-X).
Eliot Weinberger and Octavio Paz's 19 Ways of Looking at Wang Wei (ISBN 0-918825-14-8) is an essay concerning more than 19 translations of Wang Wei's "Deer Park."
One of Wang Wei's poems, called Weicheng Qu or "Song of the City of Wei" has been adapted to the famous music melody, Yangguan Sandie or "Three Refrains on the Yang Pass". The most famous version of this melody is that of the guqin, which Wang Wei probably played.
Wang-Wei's poetry, in translation, formed the inspiration for the final Der Abschied movement of the Austrian composer Gustav Mahler's penultimate completed work, Das Lied von der Erde.
[edit] Poetry sample
- 《竹里館》 "Hut in the Bamboos"
- In the secrecy of the wood, no one can hear;
- Only the clear moon, comes to shine on me."
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Wang Wei |
[edit] References
- Wang Wei:Poems, translated with an introduction by G W Robinson.Penguin Books, Harmondsworth 1973
- The Poetry of Wang Wei,New translations and Commentary, Pauline Yu. Indiana University Press 1980-extensive comments ,with Chinese texts.
- Seth, V. (translator) (1992). Three Chinese Poets: Translations of Poems by Wang Wei, Li Bai, and Du Fu. (New York: HarperCollins). ISBN 978-0060950248.
- Nienhauser, William H (ed.). The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature. Indiana University Press 1986. ISBN 0-253-32983-3
- Yuan Xing-pei (ed.)History of Chinese Literature, Higher Education Press 1999/袁行霈主编，《中国文学史》，高等教育出版社 ISBN 7-04-006387-5
[edit] External links
- Wang Wei (8th century poet) at the Open Directory Project
- Regulated verses of Wang Wei, with English translation, pinyin transliteration, and tonal patterns.
- Translations by sixteen poets of "Deer Park"
- a fabulous poem of Wang Wei in Manipuri, translated by Konthoujam Suranjit
- Selections of Wang Wei Professor Lu-sheng Chong (Chinese Cultural Learning Center)
