Writing Another’s Dream: The Poetry of Wen Tingyun

This is the first full-length study of the poetry of Wen Tingyun (c. 812-c. 866), a major writer of the Late Tang. Though modern Chinese literary history has generally perceived Wen as an innovator of the song (ci), this study argues that he only gains full stature when his lyric poetry (shi) is examined. In such an examination, he emerges as the near equal of his great contemporaries Li Shangyin and Du Mu and as a powerful representative of the spirit of his age. Though the book focuses on a single poet, it takes larger poetic developments as its context and locates Wen within the cultural and literary changes of the early to mid-800’s, a period of poetic experimentation and innovation. It contains translations of more than 60 of Wen’s poems, most of which appear in English for the first time, and it examines the world of other poets in his milieu.