ABSTRACT
The poetry of the Yuan Dynasty presents a dreary picture with occasional flashes of brilliance. The dynasty's most celebrated poets were Liu Yin, Wang Mian and the Four Yuan Masters - Yu Ji, Yang Zai, Fan Peng and Jie Xisi. The structure of Liu Yin's poems was as lively as that of Yang Wanli. During the Ming Dynasty there developed a controversy in poetry circles over whether to adopt the Tang or Song style as a model. The period from the start of the Qing Dynasty until the mid-Qing was one of creative brilliance. The poets of this time were divided roughly into those who took the Tang poets as their models and those who favored the Song poets, with the former being the mainstream, represented by Gu Yanwu, Zhu Yizun, Wang Shizhen, Wang Fuzhi and Mao Qiling. Following the Opium Wars, there came a turnaround in poetic creativity.
