Tang poets Li Bai and Du Fu learned the art of swordplay, and Li Bai wrote moving poetry about it, thus completing the sword's migration away from the battlefield and into the lives of the literati.
在佩飾功能之後，劍又染上道家法器的神秘色彩，唐代詩人李白和杜甫，年輕時都曾習過劍術，李白的「空餘湛盧劍，贈爾託交情」，代表了一種知己相交的深情與重託。劍也擺脫掉戰場上肅殺的戾氣，在文人心目中取得地位。