Must every poet bow to the past, or can each age find a voice of its own?

In Oubei Poetry Talks, Zhao Yi makes the case for poetry that changes with its time. A Qing dynasty poet and scholar, he looks across centuries of Chinese verse and asks what makes a poem fresh. The stakes are clear: if earlier masters set every rule, what room remains for later writers to speak?

His approach is a conversation, not a rigid system. In the Chinese form called shihua, or talks on poetry, remarks, judgments and small stories bring poems and their writers into view. Moving among Tang poets, Song poets and writers nearer his own time, Zhao Yi weighs craft, life and daring without treating one period as the final authority.

この本で学べること

• A voice for every age Explore the bold claim that poetry must change rather than live by inherited rules.
• Beyond the earlier masters Follow a critic who respects earlier poets without granting them the last word.
• Craft, life and daring Consider how these three concerns shape Zhao Yi’s judgments of poets across centuries.
• A poet’s attentive ear Notice how a working poet’s feeling for sound and image informs his criticism.
• Thought through conversation Enter a loose weave of remarks and stories that invites you to weigh each judgment.

どのような方におすすめですか？

This book suits readers who love Tang and Song poetry, enjoy literary gossip and detective work, and like a critic who takes sides. It rewards anyone curious about how poets lived and why some lines travel for centuries.