초록 열기/닫기 버튼
Liu Cang, a poet of the Late Tang, was a native of Wenyang(the north of the Wen river, Shandong), later lived in Henan, including Luo Yang and the banks of the Yi river. It's estimated that he was born in around 800 and died in around 865. Liu Cang passed the jin-shi examination in 855. Before his passing the examination, he engaged upon his restless troubles, seeking the social connections necessary to gain a public recognition and high rank; after his passing, he held few provincial posts, which were too low in position for him to think that he has accomplished his desire in his life. His own personal situation and the confusing backdrop of the Late Tang had made a great influence on his writing poems. This thesis aims to analyze the themes of his poetry. Liu Cang's 101 extant poems, all of which consist of the regulated forms, especially heptasyllabic regulated verse can be divided into four groups. The first group showed a sense of futility and a historical lesson through the medium of poems on mediating on the past. The second one poured out complaint of his ill fate, mostly due to his repeated failures in the jin-shi exam and his having no one to turn to. The third one expressed his homesickness in the wake of the long residence in a strange land. The fourth one expressed the pursuit of retirement, which was born for being disappointed with politics. I will say that one of the most distinctive characteristics of his poems is that though Liu Cang did not represent many different things, he played on an important role in change and development of tonal regulations and parallel couplet in heptasyllabic regulated verse. It is considered that such a distinction gave his poetry its place in the history of the Late-Tang.
