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Tang Dynasty Poetic Metre

Type Object Region China Time 618–700

The regulated verse metre system developed in the Tang dynasty on the basis of the Yongming style, characterized by the four tones, tonal patterns, p…

Timeline

  1. 618–650Chang'an · ShaanxiEarly Tang poets inherited the Southern Dynasties' Yongming-style prosodic tradition and began systematically exploring four-tone classification and tonal patterning, accumulating practical experience for the formation of regulated verse.
  2. c. 650–680Luoyang · HenanShen Quanqi, Song Zhiwen and others perfected the tonal and parallelism rules of five- and seven-character regulated verse and quatrains; the 'Shen-Song style' marks the basic fixation of regulated verse metre.
  3. c. 680–700Chang'an · ShaanxiThe imperial examination's recruitment of scholars through poetry and rhapsody promoted the spread of regulated verse; Tang treatises on poetic metre began summarizing rules of tone, parallelism, and rhyme, forming a teachable paradigm of poetic composition.

Sources