Ci (poetry)

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Template:Short description Template:Italic title Template:Infobox Chinese Template:Tlit (pronounced Template:IPAc-cmn; Template:Lang-zh), also known as Template:Tlit (Template:Lang-zh) and Template:Tlit (Template:Lang-zh), is a type of lyric poetry in the tradition of Classical Chinese poetry that also draws upon folk traditions. Template:Tlit, also known as "song lyrics,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>" use various poetic meters derived from a base set of fixed pattern forms, using fixed-rhythm, fixed-tone, and line-lengths varying according that of the model examples. The rhythmic and tonal pattern of the Template:Tlit are based upon certain, definitive musical song tunes (Template:Tlit), and in many cases the name of the musical tune is given in the title of a Template:Tlit piece, in a form such as "after (the tune of)...."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Typically, the number of characters in each line and the arrangement of tones were determined by one of around 800 set patterns, each associated with a particular title, called Template:Tlit (Template:Lang). Originally, they were written to be sung to a tune of that title, with a set rhythm, rhyme, and tempo. Therefore, the title may have nothing to do with its content. Indeed, several Template:Tlit often shared the same title. The titles did not refer to the content, but rather their shared rhythmic and tonal patterns. Some Template:Tlit have a "subtitle" or a commentary, sometimes as long as a paragraph, indicating the content. Sometimes, for the sake of clarity, a Template:Tlit is listed under its title, followed by its first line.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

History

File:Cave 76, detail.jpg
Kizil Caves, Cave 76, detail, 7th century, Kucha, depicting a type of musician influential to development of Template:Tlit
File:Wen Tingyun.jpg
Wen Tingyun, Late Tang dynasty Template:Tlit poet (among other things), from a much later time (1921)

Although the oldest surviving textual examples of Template:Tlit are from 8th century CE Dunhuang manuscripts,<ref>Hans Frankel, 216</ref> beginning in the poetry of the Liang dynasty, the Template:Tlit followed the tradition of the Template:Tlit and the Template:Tlit: they were lyrics which developed from anonymous popular songs into a sophisticated literary genre. In the case of the Template:Tlit form, some of its fixed-rhythm patterns have been influenced by music and poetry of Central Asia and elsewhere.

The Template:Tlit form developed during the late Tang dynasty. Although the contributions of Li Bai (701–762) are fraught with historical doubt, certainly the Tang poet Wen Tingyun (812–870) was a great master of the Template:Tlit, writing it in its distinct and mature form.<ref>A. R. Davis, lxvii</ref> One of the more notable practitioners and developers of this form was Li Yu of the Southern Tang dynasty, during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, subsequent to Tang. Before the Template:Tlit form was formalized by the scholarly, it's antecedents had grown up in a setting of popular music. Serindian influences were particularly important in this regard; with the influence of Kucha drum dance tunes being the most important.<ref>Edward S. Schafer 1963, 52</ref> Much of the process of importing Serindian influence into Classical Chinese poetry was mediated through the short-lived state of Western Liang (555–587). Western Liang was basically a city-state centered on the city known in Tang times as Liangzhou. In Western Liang a musical hybrid of Chinese and Kuchean traditions developed, and became popularized throughout the Tang culture, from the people to even the emperor Xuanzong (reigned 713–756).<ref>Edward S. Schafer 1963, 52</ref> This was part of a larger movement: "...of all the specialists of ambiguous social status who were sent to China by a foreign government, the most popular and influential were the musicians―instrumentalists, singers, and dancers―and the instruments and musical modes that they brought with them....For many centuries, the music of the West had had its admirers in China, but under the Sui Template:Bracket emperors there was a great vogue for it, which continued into T'ang times."<ref>Edward S. Schafer 1963, 50–51</ref> Foreign music (in terms of performers, instruments, musical modes, and songs) was brought to China, often as a result of wars of conquest or as a type of "tribute" and this music found a place in informal settings at the imperial court to other less reputable settings.<ref>Edward S. Schafer 1963, 50–51</ref> Ci poetry largely developed during the late Tang from the music made in popular settings such as houses of pleasure and from the inclusion of romantic and erotic themes of late Tang poets such as Li Shangyin.<ref>A. C. Graham 1977, 141–142</ref><ref>David Hinton 2008, 308</ref>

However, theTemplate:Tlit form of Classical Chinese poetry is especially associated with the poetry of the Song dynasty, during which it was indeed a popular poetic form. A revival of the Template:Tlit poetry form occurred during the end of the Ming dynasty and the beginning of the Qing dynasty which was characterized by an exploration of the emotions connected with romantic love together with its secularization, often in a context of a brief poetic story narrative within a Template:Tlit poem or a linked group of Template:Tlit poems in an application of the Template:Tlit form of short story tales to poetry.<ref>Zhang, 76–80</ref>

Classification

Song

During the Song dynasty (960–1279), two main categories of Template:Tlit employed were Template:Tlit (Template:Lang; the original form since pre-Song) and Template:Tlit (Template:Lang; starting with Liu Yong), depending on the song being either short and in fast tempo or long and in slow tempo. Most Template:Tlit were written in the pre-Song era.

Ming and Qing

Later, during the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1912) dynasties, the Template:Tlit, or rather the Template:Tlit, became classified for the number of characters it dictates. It is called

  1. Template:Tlit Template:Lang if it is no more than 58 characters,
  2. Template:Tlit Template:Lang for 59–90 characters, and
  3. Template:Tlit Template:Lang for over 90 characters.

If the Template:Tlit appears in one stanza, it is called Template:Zhp. The largest majority is Template:Zhp with two stanzas or Template:Zhp in identical or nearly identical patterns. There also are rare cases of Template:Zhp and Template:Zhp, for three and four Template:Tlit, respectively. In terms of style, Template:Tlit can also be classified as either Template:Zhp or Template:Zhp.

Formation

There are four main tones in Mandarin Chinese, though a fifth ("neutral") tone may be considered.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The tonal systems of past centuries were different. The term "tonal contour" is used to indicate that these tones are not tones in the sense of absolute musical pitches, but rather in terms of the overall relative "shape" of the tones as spoken or chanted.

The four tones of Middle Chinese were first described by Shen Yue around AD 500. They were the "level" (Template:Zhi), "rising" (Template:Zhi), "departing" (Template:Zhi), and "entering" (Template:Zhi) tones. The level is classified as Template:Zhi; all three other tones (rising, departing and entering) are classified as oblique Template:Zhi. So, in any cipai, the formation of Ci, each Chinese character in Ci will be required in detailed tones with Template:Zhi, shown using Template:Lang and Template:Lang.

Cipai

Cipai (Template:Lang-zh), also called Cige and Cidiao, is the name of various formations of Ci. Most Template:Tlit consist of three characters. The literal meaning of a Template:Tlit can be rather obscure, making it difficult to translate. Some are taken straight from earlier poems, and some are clearly of Non-Han origin—mostly songs introduced from Central Asia. Some Template:Tlit have alternative names, usually taken from a famous piece of that very Template:Tlit. There also are variants of certain Template:Tlit, indicated by a prefix or a suffix. The formations of Ci are complicated, in different names of Template:Tlit, the number of characters, syntactical structure, tones and rhyme are also different.

For example, choosing the Template:Tlit Template:Zhp, the tone requirements of each character in this cipai is following:

Template:Lang
Template:Lang
Template:Lang
Template:Lang
Template:Lang
Template:Lang
Template:Lang
Template:Lang
Template:Lang
Template:Lang

The following is a Template:Tlit poem based on Jiang Chengzi. Template:Verse transliteration-translation Su Shi, Template:Lang

In the title of this cí, Template:Zhp is the name of Template:Tlit. Su Shi was married when he was 19, and his wife was 16. His wife died when she was only 27. Because of his government duties, Su Shi moved to many different places in China, all far away from his hometown. One night in early 1075, about 10 years after her death, Su Shi dreamed of his wife, then composed this famous cí.

Famous cí poets

Tang, Five Dynasties, Ten Kingdoms

Song

Post-Song

See also

Further reading

Fuller, Michael A. (2018-02-12). An Introduction to Chinese Poetry: From the Canon of Poetry to the Lyrics of the Song Dynasty. Harvard East Asian Monographs. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Template:ISBN.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

References

Template:Reflist

References

  • Davis, A. R. (Albert Richard), Editor and Introduction,(1970), The Penguin Book of Chinese Verse. (Baltimore: Penguin Books).
  • Graham, A. C. (1977). Poems of the Late T'ang. New York, New York: The New York Review of Books. Template:ISBN
  • Hinton, David (2008). Classical Chinese Poetry: An Anthology. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. Template:ISBN
  • Frankel, Hans H. (1978). The Flowering Plum and the Palace Lady. (New Haven and London: Yale University Press) Template:ISBN
  • Schafer, Edward H. (1963) The Golden Peaches of Samarkand. Berkeley: University of California Press. Template:ISBN.
  • Sun Chang, Kang-i. The evolution of Chinese tz'u poetry from late T'ang to Northern Sung. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1980.
  • Wagner, Marsha The lotus boat: origins of Chinese tz'u poetry in T'ang popular culture (New York: Columbia University Press, 1984).
  • Zhang, Hongsheng (2002). "Gong Dingzi and the Courtesan Gu Mei: Their Romance and the Revival of the Song Lyric in the Ming-Qing Transition", in Hsiang Lectures on Chinese Poetry, Volume 2, Grace S. Fong, editor. (Montreal: Center for East Asian Research, McGill University).

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