Nursery rhymes, sounds of nature, the soul of the nation and the root of culture. There have always been different opinions on the definition and interpretation of nursery rhymes. We believe that nursery rhymes are songs compiled by children themselves or compiled by adults for children. They are suitable for children to sing. The content is popular and simple, the language is simple and simple, and they are mostly written in rhyme. The form can be long or long. Short, generally brief.
What is a nursery rhyme? We need to first clarify the meaning of "ballad". "Mao Zhuan" explains "The heart is worried, so I sing and ballad" in "The Book of Songs: There are Peach in the Garden" and says, "The music combined with music is called a song, and the song alone is called a ballad." "Korean Poetry Chapters" also says: "There are chapters called songs, and songs without chapters are called ballads." Later generations have a clearer explanation of "ballads" and "nursery rhymes". Yang Shen of the Ming Dynasty said in "Danqian Zonglu": "Erya said that apprentice songs are ballads,... In this case, apprentice singers are not used. Silk and bamboo are in harmony with each other. Singers of fleshy words are called fleshy words because they come from the heart. Children's songs are called nursery rhymes because they come from the heart and cannot be taught by others. Meng Jia of Jin Dynasty said: Silk is not as good as bamboo, and bamboo is not as good as flesh. The word "tu song" means "meat sound", which means "literary and flesh words". It can be seen from the above that the so-called "nursery songs" of the ancients only refer to a kind of "tudent songs" for children without musical accompaniment.
In ancient times, there were many names for nursery rhymes. In "Ancient Ballads and Proverbs·Fanli" by Du Wenlan of the Qing Dynasty, "children's ballads, girls' ballads, children's ballads, and baby ballads" are all classified as "nursery ballads". In other ancient books, there are also "children's ballads", "children's ballads", "children's ballads", "Rurs' songs", "children's words", "children's words", "girls' nursery rhymes", etc. Although the names are different, the content is the same.
At the beginning of the 20th century, around the time Peking University published "Song Weekly", many folk literature researchers called nursery rhymes "children's songs". Zhou Zuoren said in his article "Research on Children's Songs" written in 1923: "Children's singers, children's praising words, and ancient nursery rhymes." This is to think that nursery rhymes and children's songs are the same thing. Most children's literature textbooks now use this statement, and many people think so. However, there is still no very clear definition and consistent explanation. The 1999 edition of "Ci Hai" explained nursery rhymes as follows: "A type of children's literature, generally called children's songs together with children's songs. They are short in form, simple in language, and have clear meanings. They are suitable for children to recite. Some are composed and sung by children, and some are composed by adults. "Its explanation of children's songs is: "A type of children's literature, generally called children's songs together with nursery rhymes. Most of them reflect children's lives, thoughts and feelings, and their views on objective things, and their yearning for a better life in the future." Like "Cihai", the book treats "nursery rhymes" and "children's songs" as two related but different literary styles.
The "nursery rhymes" in this article include children's songs, and their connotation is wider than children's songs. The author believes that "nursery rhymes" generally include the following aspects: songs compiled by children themselves or compiled by adults for children, suitable for children to sing, with popular and simple content, simple and simple language, mostly written in rhyme, and the form can be long or short. , generally shorter.
People often confuse nursery rhymes and children's poems, two rhyme genres. They are closely related, but there are still differences between the two: the wording and sentence making of children's poems are in Xiaochang Qianbai More "elegant", nursery rhymes pay attention to the smooth and natural use of words, and have a "vulgar taste"; children's poems are more free and less restrained in rhythm than nursery rhymes, and the beauty of music is reflected in the poetic meaning, which is called "free style", while nursery rhymes pay attention to Rhythm focuses on the musicality of the external expression of speech, and is called "semi-metrical poetry"; nursery rhymes are generally humorous, alert, and interesting, while children's poetry pays more attention to the expression of emotions and the creation of artistic conception; nursery rhymes are suitable for singing games, and some With the characteristics of entertainment and use, children's poems are more suitable for reciting and appreciation, and focus on spiritual pastimes.