An Introduction to Chinese Poetry: From the Canon of Poetry to the Lyrics of the Song Dynasty

Description

This innovative textbook for learning classical Chinese poetry moves beyond the traditional anthology of poems translated into English and instead brings readers—including those with no knowledge of Chinese—as close as possible to the texture of the poems in their original language. The first two chapters introduce the features of classical Chinese that are important for poetry and then survey the formal and rhetorical conventions of classical poetry. The core chapters present the major poets and poems of the Chinese poetic tradition from earliest times to the lyrics of the Song Dynasty (960–1279). Each chapter begins with an overview of the historical context for the poetry of a particular period and provides a brief biography for each poet. Each of the poems appears in the original Chinese with a word-by-word translation, followed by Michael A. Fuller’s unadorned translation, and a more polished version by modern translators. A question-based study guide highlights the important issues in reading and understanding each particular text. Designed for classroom use and for self-study, the textbook’s goal is to help the reader appreciate both the distinctive voices of the major writers in the Chinese poetic tradition and the grand contours of the development of that tradition. Author’s Note How to Use This Book Chronology List of Terms 1. The Classical Chinese Language Classical Chinese in Historical Perspective The Basis for the Written Record: Chinese Characters The Sound Systems of Classical Chinese The Phonology of Middle Chinese The Sounds of Old Chinese The Morphology of Classical Chinese Topic—Comment Verb—Object Modifier—Modified Coordination The Syntax of Classical Chinese Conclusion 2. The Formal and Rhetorical Features of Chinese Poetry The Formal Structures of Chinese Poetry The Line The Couplet The Quatrain Stanza and the Octave Poem Rhetorical Features of Chinese Poetic Language Rhetorical Tropes Ornamentation Allusion Qualities of Voice: The Person in the Poem Summary Interlude: On the Translation of Poetry 3. Origins of the Poetic Tradition The Canon of Poetry (Shijing) The Origin of the Canon of Poetry The Canon of Poetry and the Development of the Poetic Tradition The Structure of the Canon of Poetry Selections from the Canon of Poetry From the “Airs of the States” From the “Greater Ya” From the “Hymns of Zhou” The Lyrics of Chu (Chu ci) Selected Poems from the Lyrics of Chu Encountering Sorrow The Nine Songs The Nine Pieces The Nine Transformations “The Fisherman” 4. Poetry in the Han, Wei, and Jin Dynasties Anonymous Poetry from the Music Bureau Early Pentasyllabic Poetry Poets of the Jian’an Reign Period Cao Cao Cho Zhi Wang Can The Wei Dynasty Ruan Ji The Western Jin Dynasty The Dominant Western Jin Literary Form: The Fu Pan Yue Zuo Si Lu Ji Guo Pu Appendix to Chapter 4: Cao Pi, A Discourse on Literature 5. The Maturing of Convention—The Poetry of the Northern and Southern Dynasties North and South Tao Qian Xie Lingyun Bao Zhao Xie Tiao Southern Folk Songs He Xun Xiao Gang Yu Jianwu Yu Xin Appendix to Chapter 5: Wang Xizhi, “Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Collection” 6. Early and High Tang Poetry before Du Fu Wang Bo Song Zhiwen Shangguan Wan’er Chen Zi’ang Wang Zhihuan Meng Haoran Wang Wei Cui Hao Li Bai 7. Du Fu Du Fu’s Life Du Fu’s Poetry 8. Middle and Late Tang Poetry The Historical Context Bai Juyi Han Yu Meng Jiao Jia Dao Li He Li Shangyin Du Mu Wen Tingyun Yu Xuanji 9. The Growth of a New Poetic Form—The Song Lyric The Early Development of Ci during the Tang Dynasty “Southern” Ci by Bai Juyi and Liu Yuxi Wen Tingyun and the Entertainment Quarters Literati Appropriation of Ci in the Five Dynasties The Former Shu The Later Shu Among the Flowers Wei Zhuang Gu Xiong The Southern Tang Court Feng Yansi Li Yu Poetic Innovations during the Northern Song Yan Shu Zhang Xian Liu Yong Su Shi 10. The Song Lyric in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries Introduction Zhou Bangyan Li Qingzhao Xin Qiji Jiang Kui Wu Wenying Zhang Yan Conclusion Appendix I. List of Poems, Sources, and Translators Appendix II. List of Variant Characters Suggested Readings Permissions