The very ancient poetry that     1     (write) a thousand or more years ago was simpler and about common things like love, romance and nature that people appreciate. Though much poetry was created in the eras following the Song dynasty, it is thought that the poets became increasingly     2     (academy) and hard to understand so that modern Chinese can’t appreciate the style and meaning.

For foreigners, ancient Chinese poetry     3     (be) more difficult     4     (comprehend). One of the reasons is the nature of Chinese characters     5     (they).Often one character has many meanings,     6     makes the translation of Chinese into English a key part of reading and understanding Chinese poetry. Put simply, good translation is essential to     7     (full) understand Chinese poems.

Another point worth     8     (notice) about ancient Chinese poetry is that itis influenced by Confucian and Taoist thinking. Ancient Chinese poetry has a focus of friendship besides love or being     9     lover. Friendships, to the village, the community, the country or your drinking friends are dominant themes. The poets’ main task seems to be just writing poetry, because a life as a poet is an important thing. In this respect, Chinese poetry is all     10     the poet, the “meaning” for the poet and not what is happening around the poet.