The Will and Fate in Tang Poetry

The relationship between the will and fate is the unavoidable issue of human life. However, we have to choose the era when the human vitality and the will were the most exuberant and vigorous to feature this issue. In Tang Dynasty, the spirit and action of humans equal the grandeur and eternity of nature. Therefore, the groundbreaking, heroic and forthright spirit was re-presented. And thus the main themes of the will and the fate seemed able to be highlighted mostly in Tang Dynasty for the collision at then was the most intensified.
The poetry of Tang Dynasty is the art form that contains the most momentum, and the momentum is powerful enough to enable Tang poetry to go deeply into the world of infinity. In other words, in the same predicament of re-presenting the eternity, Tang poetry could gaze into the depth of souls. Thus, Tang poetry is a suitable means to probe into the delicate human nature and the deeper conflict. Under the main themes of the will and the fate, five aspects of discussions could be extracted as follows: the homeland—inside; the capital—outside; vicissitudes—entirety; success and failure—individual; life and death—time limit. The aspects of inside, outside, entirety, individual, time and space are all covered, and they are in fact the miniature of the whole life of the scholars in Tang Dynasty.
From this miniature we could see the things as follows: Tang people’s tough spirit and the splashing sparks of their life; the time-responding actions and the unprecedented momentum; the demonstration of human power and the establishment of extraordinary values, and finally, the crucial inspiration is: no matter how disappointing the aspects of inside, outside, entirety, individual, time and space are, one should always be insistent. As long as the will is secured, there will be the infinite hopes of development. The will and fate are two sides of one body as the two sorts of power in the universe opposing and supporting each other; each power is necessary. Thus probing into the issue this far, it could be considered that we are thinking further than half way to the end.