Common sense about the genres of ancient poetry
1. Classification of ancient poetry
Ancient poetry includes poems, lyrics, and music.
1. From the form of poetry, it can be divided into:
①Ancient poetry, including ancient poetry (poetry before the Tang Dynasty), Chu Ci, and Yuefu poetry. Note that poems in ancient poetry genres such as "ge", "gexing", "yin", "qu", and "瀬" also belong to ancient poetry. Ancient poetry does not focus on antithesis and rhymes more freely. The development trajectory of ancient poetry: "The Book of Songs" → Chu Ci → Han Fu → Han Yuefu → Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties folk songs → Jian'an poetry → Tao Shi and other literati five-character poems → the ancient style and new Yuefu of the Tang Dynasty.
② Modern poetry, including verses and quatrains.
③Ci, also known as poetry, long and short sentences, tunes, tunes, music, etc. Its characteristics: the tune has a definite pattern, the sentences have a definite number, and the words have a definite tone. Depending on the number of words, it can be divided into long tune (more than 91 words), middle tune (59-90 words), and small tune (within 58 words). Words can be divided into monotonic and bimodal. Bimodal is divided into two paragraphs. The two paragraphs are equal or roughly equal in number of words. Monotonous only has one paragraph. A section of a word is called a que or a piece. The first section is called the front que, the upper que, and the upper piece. The second section is called the back que, the lower que, and the lower piece.
④Qu, also known as Ciyu and Yuefu. Yuan opera includes Sanqu and Zaju. Sanqu originated in the Jin Dynasty and flourished in the Yuan Dynasty, and its style is similar to the lyrics. Features: You can add lining words to the fixed number of words, and mostly use spoken language. Sanqu includes two types: Xiaoling and Taoshu (set of songs). A set is a continuous set of tunes, at least two tunes, and as many as dozens of tunes. Each set uses the tune of the first song as the name of the complete set, and the whole set must be of the same tune. It has no guest introduction and is only for a cappella singing.
2. The subject matter of poetry can be divided into:
①Lyric poems about scenery, lyric poems that sing about landscapes and scenic spots and describe natural scenery. In ancient times, some poets were dissatisfied with reality and often expressed their feelings in mountains and rivers. They expressed their thoughts and feelings by describing rivers, lakes and natural scenery. This type of poetry often embodies the emotions to be expressed in the scenery described later. This is what people often call embedding emotions in the scenery. Its style is fresh and natural.
② In poems about objects, the poet describes the appearance, characteristics, charm, and character of the object he is chanting, so as to express the poet's own feelings and express the poet's spirit, quality, or ideals.
③Poems about the immediate situation cause the poet to feel emotional due to a certain reason, such as missing relatives, homesickness, missing friends, etc.
④ Nostalgia for the past and chanting epic poems use historical allusions as themes to express one's own opinions, use the past to satirize the present, or express feelings about the vicissitudes of life.
⑤ Frontier fortress poems describe the scenery of the frontier fortress and the military life of the soldiers guarding the border, or express their optimism and heroism or their feelings of longing and separation. The style is tragic and grand, and the writing style is bold and unrestrained.
2. The development history of ancient poetry
1. Chinese classical poetry originated from folk songs, and labor created poetry. "The Book of Songs" is my country's first collection of poetry. It contains 305 poems from the early Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, about 500 years ago, and is also known as the "Three Hundred Poems". The Book of Songs is divided into Feng, Ya and Song according to its content. Among them, "Feng" is folk songs, which is the essence of it. The main expression techniques of "The Book of Songs" are Fu, Bi and Xing. Some people summarize "Feng, Ya, Song, Fu, Bi, Xing" as the six meanings of the Book of Songs. The Book of Songs is the glorious starting point of our country's realist literature.
2. During the Warring States Period, the first literati poet in the history of Chinese literature appeared and the poetic style he created based on Chu songs, namely Qu Yuan and Chu Ci. Because the representative work of Chu Ci is "Li Sao", Chu Ci is also called Sao style poetry. The characteristics of Chu Ci include sentences of varying lengths, flexible forms, and the frequent use of the word "xi". "Sao" is often called "coquettish" together with "wind" in the Book of Songs. It is often used to refer to literary works, or to represent the creative traditions of realism and romanticism.
Qu Yuan was the first great patriotic poet in the history of Chinese literature, and pioneered romanticism in Chinese poetry. "Li Sao" is his masterpiece. "Li Sao" is the longest political lyric poem in ancient my country and a masterpiece of romanticism. His works also include "Nine Songs" (nine is an imaginary number, ***11 chapters), "Tianwen", "Nine Chapters" (nine is an actual reference), etc.
3． Yuefu poetry represents the highest achievement of poetry in the Han Dynasty. Yuefu first refers to the music institution of the Han Dynasty. Its main task is to collect lyrics and train musicians. In the Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties, the poems sung by Yuefu were called "Yuefu", so Yuefu evolved from the official name to the name of a musical poetry style. The most basic artistic feature of Han Yuefu is narrative. The masterpiece "Peacock Flies Southeast".
"The Peacock Flying Southeast" is the earliest and longest existing narrative poem in ancient times and the highest peak in the development of Han Yuefu folk songs. Together with the folk song "Mulan Ci" of the Northern Dynasties, it is known as the "Shuangbi of Yuefu". "The Peacock Flying Southeast" is selected from "New Odes of Yutai" compiled by Xu Ling of the Southern Dynasty, and "Mulan Ci" is selected from "Collection of Yuefu Poems" edited by Guo Maoqian of the Song Dynasty.
4. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, literati's five-character poetry began to flourish. Its representatives are the Jian'an poets represented by San Cao and Tao Yuanming of the Jin Dynasty. Tao Yuanming, nicknamed Mr. Wuliu and posthumously named Mr. Jingjie, is called a "pastoral poet" or "hermit poet" by poetry commentators.
"Nineteen Ancient Poems" is the representative of literati's five-character poetry, marking the development of five-character poetry from its origin to its final maturity. It uses a resentful but not angry attitude, figurative language, and metaphorical techniques to form a unique and implicit style, which expresses the lyricism of later generations. Poetry has a direct impact.
5． Tang poetry is the highest peak of ancient Chinese poetry. Li Bai and Du Fu respectively represent the highest achievements of romanticism and realism in Chinese classical poetry, and are known as the "Gemini Constellations" of Tang poetry. Li Bai is known as the "Poetic Immortal" and his poems are fresh and elegant. Du Fu is known as the "Sage of Poetry". His poems are melancholy and frustrating, and are known as the "History of Poetry", such as "Three Officials" ("Shihao Officials", "Xin'an Officials" and "Tongguan Officials"), "Three Farewells" ("Wedding Farewell") ""Farewell to Homeless" and "Farewell to the Elderly"). Bai Juyi was another famous poet in the Tang Dynasty, known as Xiangshan Jushi. His literary proposition was that "articles are written according to the time, and songs and poems are written according to the situation." He is an advocate of the New Yuefu Movement.
The famous poetry schools of the Tang Dynasty include the landscape pastoral poetry school and the frontier fortress poetry school. The landscape pastoral poetry school is characterized by advocating seclusion, expressing feelings about mountains and rivers, and singing pastoral life. Representative writers include Wang (Wei) and Meng (Haoran). The works of the Frontier Poetry School mostly describe the strange scenery outside the fortress, expressing the optimistic and heroic spirit of soldiers and the complex and contradictory emotions in their military life. The poetic style is unrestrained and high-spirited. Representative writer Gao (Shi) Cen (Shen).
6. Ci originated in the late Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty. From the perspective of the style of Ci in the Song Dynasty, the most outstanding representatives of the bold school are Xin (Qiji) and Su (Shi); the representatives of the graceful school are Jiang (Kui), Liu (Yong), and Li Qingzhao.
7. Yuan Opera, including Sanqu and Zaju. Sanqu is a kind of song that emerged in the Jin and Yuan dynasties and evolved from "ci". The style is similar to that of Ci and is relatively free. You can add lining words to the fixed number of words and use more spoken language. Sanqu has two forms: Xiaoling and Taoshu. Xiaoling only uses one song, and the number of sets is a set of many songs in one tune. Sets are also called suites, which are consecutive sets of tunes in opera or Sanqu. It can range from at least two songs to as many as twenty songs, with no fixed number. Each set uses the title of the first song as the title of the complete set.