War Poetry
War Poetry articles and guides
Du Fu's War Poems: Poetry as Witness to Catastrophe
The An Lushan Rebellion through the eyes of China's greatest poet — when personal suffering became universal art.
Frontier Poetry (边塞诗): War and Glory at the Empire's Edge
Sand, snow, and homesickness — the Tang Dynasty poets who wrote about life and death on China's distant borders.
Patriotic Poetry in Chinese History: From Qu Yuan to Modern Times
The tradition of poets who loved their country so much it destroyed them — from Qu Yuan's drowning to Lu You's deathbed verse.
War Poetry of the Tang Dynasty: When Soldiers Became Poets
The Tang Dynasty sent armies to Central Asia, Tibet, and Korea. The soldiers who survived wrote poems about what they saw. These poems are among the most powerful anti-war literature ever written.
War Poetry of the Tang Dynasty: Beauty in the Midst of Slaughter
Tang Dynasty war poetry does not glorify war. It does not condemn it either. It describes the experience of soldiers — the boredom, the fear, the homesickness, and the strange beauty of moonlight on a battlefield.