Classical Chinese poetry genres

Classical Chinese poetry genres are those genres which typify the traditional Chinese poems written in Classical Chinese. Some of these genres are attested to as early as the publication of the Classic of Poetry, dating from a traditionally, and roughly, estimated time of around 10th–7th century BCE, in what is now China, but at that time was composed of various independent states. The term "genres" refers to various aspects, such as to topic, theme, and subject matter, what similes or metaphors were considered appropriate or how they would be interpreted, and other considerations such as vocabulary and style. These genres were generally, but not always independent of the Classical Chinese poetry forms. Many or most of these forms and genres were developed by the Tang Dynasty, and the use and development of Classical Chinese poetry genres actively continued up to until the May Fourth Movement, in 1919, and still continues even today in the 21st century.

Similarly to the classification of Chinese painting, some poetry is regarded as "landscape poetry", because it primarily utilizes images of scenes of nature. Some of the genesis of this can be seen in the nature imagery of the Shijing. Also, the Orchid Pavilion Gathering was an important influence in this regard. Similarly, this genre may be divided into two subgenres: the more domestic nature poetry of the "Fields and Gardens" genre and the more completely untrammeled nature encountered in the "Rivers and Mountains" (shansui shi). The landscape style of poetry also developed an impetus through a happy conjoining with similar generic developments in Chinese painting such as the Shan shui style.

The Rivers and Mountains or shanshui style or genre of poetry involves or depicts naturalistic images or settings. Mountains, rivers and often waterfalls are prominent in this art form. The direct focus of this poetry tends to be explicitly on the scene itself, rather than the human elements or viewer(s) of the scene. One of the greatest exemplars of this type of poetry was Wang Wei.

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