Song poetry

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about poetry of the Chinese Song dynasty, sometimes referred to as the "Sung Dynasty" in older sources. For song lyrics set to music for a fee in 20th century North America, see Song poem. For poetry that is sung, see Sung poetry.
Song Huizong
's "Listening to the Qin".

Song poetry refers to Classical Chinese poetry of or typical of the Song dynasty of China, established by the Zhao family in China in 960 and lasted until 1279.

Many of the best known Classical Chinese poems, popular also in translation, are from the Song dynasty poets, such as Su Shi (Dongpo), Ouyang Xiu, Lu You and Yang Wanli. This was also a time of great achievement in painting and literature, and many artists were accomplished in more than one of these fields while simultaneously holding government positions.

Historical background

The Song dynasty (960–1279) was the first time that China was unified into one state since the

Jurchens, who formed their own Jin dynasty (1115–1234) out of former Song imperial territory. The Southern Song then faced a protracted struggle against the Mongol Empire before finally succumbing to the Mongol forces, who then established themselves as the Chinese Yuan dynasty
. Despite the constant military pressure and numerous foreign affairs challenges, the Song dynasty saw growing population, economical prosperity, and excellence in the fine arts.

The poetic tradition

The poets of the Song dynasty drew on a long tradition of poetry in China, particularly upon forms prevalent in the Tang dynasty, together with influences from Central Asia.The ci form is especially associated with the Sung dynasty period shows signs of development toward the end of the Tang dynasty and the period of disunity immediately before the Song dynasty, especially as exemplified in the works of

Li Yu of the Southern Tang dynasty. One of the new developments was a large increase in the popularity of the Ci form of poetry, a form based on the traditional forms and rhythms, ultimately drawn from popular songs, but with new words. Many of these tunes were imported from Central Asia and were popularized outside of mainstream scholarly culture, and some of them were indigenous Chinese folk developments, developed in the streets and the pleasure houses. The ci form centered around providing new lyrics to existing tunes. Another development was an increasing fusion of painting and poetry, such as in the various Eight Views of the Xiao Xiang series of matched paintings and poems. Many of the Song Dynasty poets were greatly affected by the politics of the time.[1][additional citation(s) needed
]

Poetry and politics

During the Northern Song many of the government officials/poets were caught up on one side or the other over the controversial reformism of the powerful government minister

Jurchen invasion. Lu You
was one of the poets who considered reconquering the north his patriotic duty and wrote poems in this regard.

Poets

Main page: Category:Song dynasty poets
Distribution of birthplaces of Song Dynasty poets (Ci poets).

Famous Song dynasty poets include

Li Houzhu, Li Qingzhao, Lin Bu, Liu Kezhuang, Lu You, Mei Yaochen, Mi Fu, Ouyang Xiu, Qian Chu, Qin Guan, Shao Yong, Shen Kuo, Song Qi, Su Shi, Su Zhe, Wang Anshi, Wang Yucheng, Wen Tianxiang, Wen Tong, Xin Qiji, Yan Yu, Yang Wanli, Yue Fei, Zeng Gong, Zhang Xian, Zhu Shuzhen, and Zhu Xi
.

Poetry, painting, and calligraphy

Mi Fu, calligraphy detail.
Mi Fu, c. 1100, Indian ink and color on paper.

The Song Dynasty is known for its achievements in terms of combining poetry, painting, and calligraphy, called the three perfections, into a shared art form, or as complementary activities. Scroll paintings often included accompanying calligraphy poems on the same page which expanded on the themes of the visual artwork. One renowned practitioner of this combination of talents was Mi Fu (also known as Mei Fu).[2] This practice was perhaps more of a rule then an exception for the Song Dynasty poets. Involvement in the writing of prose works was also not uncommon for the Song Dynasty poets; Song Qi and Ouyang Xiu collaborated on the now classic history of the Tang Empire New Book of Tang.

The Ci form

Main article: Ci (poetry)

The Ci as a poetic form perhaps reached a high point during the Song Dynasty. The ci is a kind of

poetic meter based upon some 800 prototypical fixed-rhythm forms, originally tunes of songs, each having a traditional title. Each song title therefore came to specify particular fixed pattern of tone, rhythm, number of syllables (or characters) per line and the number of lines. Therefore, it is common for several ci to share the same title, which often has little or nothing to do with the topics of those poems, but rather the patterns that the lyrics follow. Many of its prime proponents were female poets, such as Li Qingzhao. Su Shi
was another prominent Song poet famous for writing in the ci form.

Xiaoxiang: poems of exile

Part of the imaginary tour through Xiao-xiang by Li from the 12th century. Scroll, 30.3 cm x 400.4 cm. Ink on paper. Located at Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo.
Main article: Xiaoxiang poetry
Further information: Xiaoxiang and Eight Views of Xiaoxiang

As in Tang times, many were the poems written by poets, who found, then lost, or never received the high paying and socially prestigious governmental positions that they desired or expected from the imperial court for their perceived abilities, talents, or application thereof: verified through the

civil service examinations, actual political management services, or personal perception. Although service to the imperial court (and to the people which it theoretically represented) was a general societal ideal and frequent personal ideal, the arbitrary nature of the imperial power system, its censorial powers, and the vicissitudes of the historical process resulted in a poetic tradition of a strong but subtle dissent. The Xiaoxiang genre of poetry dates back at least to the third century, BCE.[3]
It continued to develop to new levels of subtle expressions of discontent through the Song Dynasty era.

See also

Further reading

Young, Gary (2019-04-19). "Classical Chinese Poems from Song Dynasty"[1]. The Bangalore Review. Retrieved 2023-11-07.[4]

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.

ISBN 978-0-674-97701-3.[5]

References

Citations

  1. ISSN 2468-502X
    .
  2. ISBN 978-0-300-06569-5
    .
  3. ^ Murck, 6
  4. ^ Young, Gary (2019-04-19). "Classical Chinese Poems from Song Dynasty". The Bangalore Review. Retrieved 2023-11-07.
  5. ISBN 978-0-674-97701-3
    .

Sources
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