On the Replying to Tao Yuanming’s Works and Idyllic Poetry of Tang Shisheng

Tang Shisheng is a Jiading master in the late Ming Dynasty, facing the current situation of political sinisterity and official corruption, he resolutely gave up the imperial examinations and returned to the countryside with no intention of officialdom. Tang Shisheng wrote a large number of pastoral poems throughout his life, which was deeply influenced by Tao Yuanming’s pastoral poems. At the same time, Tang Shisheng is also known as a master who replying to Tao Yuanming’s works in late Ming Dynasty, with 55 poems that replying to Tao Yuanming’s works. In these poems, the author describes the beautiful pastoral life, expressing transcendent feelings, and also shows the author’s deep concern for people’s livelihood. Tang Shisheng’s poems are very close to Tao Yuanming’s works in terms of poetic language and style, or the use of imagery.