Chinese poem illustration: 左迁至蓝关示侄孙湘 Abandoned to Chaozhou and Words to Grand Nephew Sun Xiang by Han Yu
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An annoying paper to the emperor in the morning made Han Yu expelled to the most remote and uncivilised county at dusk, this is the complicated politics in the mid-to-late Tang period(中晚唐), always unexpectable even Han Yu was the emperor’s teacher once.
Han Yu was among the few game changers in the Chinese history of literature, he was the top one among the Great 8 writers in Tang and Song dynasty(唐宋八大家), his poetry is less famous compared to his articles, yet still among the top poets in the Mid-Tang period with his own characteristics: strong classic spirits, refined words of creativity.
This poem is plain and straightforward, in other words, with the classic spirits and uncommonly simple words. The real feeling , fury and sorrow make the difference.
左迁至蓝关示侄孙湘
韩愈
一封朝奏九重天，
夕贬潮州路八千。
欲为圣明除弊事，
肯将衰朽惜残年！
云横秦岭家何在？
雪拥蓝关马不前。
知汝远来应有意，
好收吾骨瘴江边。
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