Poetry of the Southern Courts (Owen, pp. 326-330) is often characterized as being too superficial and overly concerned with surface appearances when compared to High Tang poetry (Owen, pp. 385-440), which is seen as having more depth, being more expressive of the poets personality, and more concerned with moral issues. Answer all three of the following questions, based on your ownreading of the texts, commentary in the Owen anthology, and listening to the lectures. You can choose to address one or two poems from each group to support your answers. (Place close attention to the page #s cited above when choosing your poems. You can refer to Owens commentary outside of these page numbers if it is useful to you.)
What do you see as some of the major differences between the two groups of poems? You can address both the form of the poems and their content.
Do you personally feel that poetry of the Southern Courts is superficial and pays too much attention to surface appearances? If yes, why? If not, why not?
What do you feel High Tang poems are able to say when it comes to the personality of the poet and their morality?
Put the titles and page numbers for the poems you choose at the top of your response. Following this heading, include three numbered paragraphs (answering questions #1-3 above). Support your answers by referring to details from the poems, what you read in Owens commentary, and heard in the lecture (footnotes are not necessary). See the attached rubric for grading criteria.
Your entire submission should be 400-600 words, but can be up to 800 if necessary, typed or pasted directly into the text submission box. You can compose your response on your computer first, then paste it into Quercus, in case you lose your connection. This is an individual assignment, so do not work in groups. Your submission will be scanned to detect similarities with those of other students.
