Jueju
Jueju | |
---|---|
Chinese name | |
Tâi-lô | tsua̍t-kù |
Transcriptions | |
---|---|
Romanization | zekku |
Jueju (
The five-syllable form is called wujue (Chinese: 五絕; pinyin: Wǔjué) and the seven-syllable form qijue (七絕; Qījué).[2]
History
The origins of the jueju style are uncertain.
In the seventh century the jueju developed into its modern form, as one of the three "modern" verse forms, or jintishi, the other two types of jintishi being the
The jueju style was very popular during the Tang dynasty. Many authors composing jueju poems at the time followed the concept of "seeing the big within the small" (Chinese: 小中見大; pinyin: Xiǎozhōng jiàndà), and thus wrote on topics of a grand scale; philosophy, religion, emotions, history, vast landscapes and more.[2]
Authors known to have composed jueju poems include Du Fu,[5] Du Mu,[6] Li Bai,[7] Li Shangyin,[8] Wang Changling[9] and Wang Wei.[10]
Form
Traditional
Furthermore,
Some of the formal rules of the regulated verse forms were applied in the case of the jueju curtailed verse: these rules as applied to the jueju include regular line length, use of a single rhyme in even-numbered verses, strict patterning of tonal alternations, use of a major caesura before the last three syllables, optional parallelism and grammaticality of each line as a sentence. Each couplet generally forms a distinct unit, and the third line generally introduces some turn of thought or direction within the poem.[13]
Structure
Jueju follows one of the following tonal patterns:[12]
- Type I, Standard
Additional in qijue | wujue | Rhyming |
○○ | ●●○○● | |
●● | ○○●●○ | ✓ |
●● | ○○○●● | |
○○ | ●●●○○ | ✓ |
- Type II, Standard
Additional in qijue | wujue | Rhyming |
●● | ○○○●● | |
○○ | ●●●○○ | ✓ |
○○ | ●●○○● | |
●● | ○○●●○ | ✓ |
- Type I, Variant
Additional in qijue | wujue | Rhyming |
○○ | ●●●○○ | ✓ |
●● | ○○●●○ | ✓ |
●● | ○○○●● | |
○○ | ●●●○○ | ✓ |
- Type II, Variant
Additional in qijue | wujue | Rhyming |
●● | ○○●●○ | ✓ |
○○ | ●●●○○ | ✓ |
○○ | ●●○○● | |
●● | ○○●●○ | ✓ |
○ is a character with a level tone, while ● is a character with an oblique tone (a rising, departing or entering tone).
Example
This poem is called "
Traditional Chinese
|
Simplified Chinese
|
English translation
|
---|---|---|
春怨 打起黃鶯兒 |
春怨 打起黄莺儿 |
"Spring Lament" Hit the yellow oriole |
This poem concerns a standard figure in this type of poetry, a lonely woman who is despondent over the absence of a husband or lover, probably a soldier who has gone to Liaoxi in present-day Mongolia. She chases away the orioles to stop their singing in the first couplet. The second couplet gives the reason. The bird songs interrupted her sweet morning dream to see her husband in the far away land. The words and phrases tug at her heart.[14]
See also
References
Citations
- ^ Tian 2007, p. 143.
- ^ a b c d Egan 2007, pp. 199–201.
- ^ a b Egan 1993, p. 124.
- ^ a b Fränkel 1978, p. 212.
- ^ Egan 2007, pp. 216–217.
- ^ Egan 2007, pp. 217–219.
- ^ Egan 2007, pp. 210–212, 216.
- ^ Egan 2007, p. 219.
- ^ Egan 2007, pp. 213–215.
- ^ Egan 2007, pp. 205–209.
- ^ Egan 1993, p. 84.
- ^ a b Cai 2007, pp. 169–172.
- ^ Fränkel, 212–214.
- ^ a b Egan 2007, p. 204.
Sources
- Cai, Zong-qi (December 2007). "Recent-Style Shi Poetry: Pentasyllabic Regulated-Verse". In Cai, Zong-qi (ed.). How to Read Chinese Poetry. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 161–180. ISBN 978-0-231-13941-0.
- Egan, Charles (1993). "A Critical Study of the Origins of Chüeh-chü Poetry" (PDF). Asia Major. 3rd ser. 6 (pt. 1): 83–125. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-12-04. Retrieved 2008-06-26.
- Egan, Charles (December 2007). "Recent-Style Shi Poetry". In Cai, Zong-qi (ed.). How to Read Chinese Poetry. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 199–225. ISBN 978-0-231-13941-0.
- Tian, Xiaofei (December 2007). "Pentasyllabic Shi Poetry: New Topics". In Cai, Zong-qi (ed.). How to Read Chinese Poetry. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 141–157. ISBN 978-0-231-13941-0.
- ISBN 0-300-02242-5.