SOURCE: "Wang Wei: The Artifice of Simplicity," in The Great Age of Chinese Poetry: The High T'ang, Yale University Press, 1981, pp. 27-51.

In the following excerpt, Owen examines the perceived conflict between public and private life in Wang Wei's poetry.

Wang Wei, your brother, was the most revered man of letters in all the world. He served throughout the former reign, and his fame was great among the treasures of the age. High he soared among Chou's Odes; deeply he reverenced the Songs of Ch'u. In all his works the humors of the cosmos were in harmony, and the rules of musicality were correct in his noble rhymes. The waterfall sent his lush imagination leaping into the sky; scattering clouds spread his innermost emotions with them.

Emperor Tai-tsung to Wang Chin in 763, on the presentation of Wang Wei's collected works to the throne.

 Now, late in life, I...