Editing Han Yu (section)

==Literary works==

===Prose===
Han Yu is often considered the greatest master of classical prose in the Tang.  He was listed first among the "Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song" by Ming Dynasty scholar Mao Kun.  Together with [[Liu Zongyuan]] he headed the [[Classical Prose Movement]] to return to the unornamented prose of the Han Dynasty.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PvlthkbFU1UC&pg=PA1082 |title=History of Humanity: From the seventh to the sixteenth century|year=1994|editor =Sigfried J. de Laet |page=1082 |isbn=978-92-3-102813-7}}</ref> He considered the classical "old style prose" (古文, ''guwen'') to be the kind of writing more suited to argumentation and the expression of ideas.<ref name=barnstone/>  Han Yu's ''guwen'' however was not an imitation of ancient prose, but a new style based on the ancient ideals of clarity, concision, and utility.<ref name="indiana"/> Han Yu wrote in many modes, often with discursiveness and daring experimentation.

Among his most renowned essays are his polemics against Buddhism and Taoism and support for Confucianism, such as "Buddhism Memorial on Bone-relics of the Buddha" and "The Origin of Dao".  Other notable works include "Text for the Crocodiles" ({{lang|zh-hant|祭鱷魚文}}) in which he declares that crocodiles be formally banished from Chaozhou,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=626CZk84adAC&pg=PA57 |title=The End of the Chinese 'Middle Ages': Essays in Mid-Tang Literary Culture |author= Stephen Owen |pages=57–60 |publisher=Stanford University Press|year= 1996 |isbn= 978-0-8047-2667-2 }}</ref> and "Goodbye to Penury" ({{lang|zh-hant|送窮文}}) that describes his failed attempt to rid himself of the ghost of poverty.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1QkljPvYOe4C&pg=PA35 |title=The Chinese Essay |editor= David E. Pollard |pages=35–37 |publisher=C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd |date=28 June 2000|isbn= 978-1-85065-537-4 }}</ref>

===Poetry===
Han Yu also wrote poetry. However, while Han Yu's essays are highly regarded, his poetry is not considered exceptional.  According to ''[[A History of Chinese Literature]]'' by [[Herbert Giles]], Han Yu "wrote a large quantity of verse, frequently playful, on an immense variety of subjects, and under his touch the commonplace was often transmuted into wit. Among other pieces there is one on his teeth, which seemed to drop out at regular intervals, so that he could calculate roughly what span of life remained to him.  Altogether, his poetry cannot be classed with that of the highest order, unlike his prose writings".{{sfnb|Giles|1901| p = 161-162}}

The poem where Han Yu ruminated on getting old by recounting how he lost his own teeth is "Losing Teeth" ({{lang|zh|落齒}}).<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BztKfrD57s8C&pg=PA172 |title=Sunflower Splendour: Three Thousand Years of Chinese Poetry 葵曄集: 大漢歌聲: 中國三千年詩選 |editor1= Wuji Liu |editor2=Irving Yucheng Lo |page=172&ndash;173 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |date= 1990|isbn= 978-0-253-35580-5}}</ref>