This anthology presents the principal forms in use during the Tang period: on the one hand, the jin-ti-shi (modem-style verse), which is divided into jue-ju (quatrains) and lü-shi (eight-line regulated verse); and, on the other hand, the gu-ti-shi (ancient-style verse).

The collection ends with five ci (lyric poems). This new genre was born near the end of the Tang, its birth due, to a great extent, to developments in music: the poets composed their poems to pre-existing melodies. Unlike the shi the lines of the ci were of variable length and the verses show the influence of linear development. The chosen examples show the genre in its newborn state, when the poets were beginning to draw away from the concise and ordered style of the shi, making more use of descriptive and spoken language. This change in the use of the poetic language communicates a deeper crisis. The Tang dynasty, undermined by foreign wars and domestic conflicts, saw its dream of unity and order being shattered. The poets entrusted their nostalgia to a language and a rhythm already decomposed, already shattered.

The poetry of the Tang is usually seen as falling into four rather distinct periods: the Early (620–710), the High (710–780), the Mid (780–830), and the Late (830–906). Although the poems in the anthology are arranged, within their groupings by form, in chronological order, a further listing of the major figures by period may help the reader gain an overall grasp of poetic development and change during the course of the dynasty. Early Tang: Wang Bo, Chen Zi-ang, and Zhang Jiu-ling. High Tang: Meng Hao-ran, Wang Wei, Wang Chang-ling, Li Bai, Liu Chang-qing, Du Fu, and Qian Qi. Mid Tang: Liu Zong-yuan, Jia Dao, Bai Ju-yi, Li He, and Zhang Ji. Late Tang: Du Mu, Li Shang-yin, and Wen Ting-yun.

F. C.