Origins of Ancient Chinese Poetry

The two major sources of the development of classical poetry both appeared in the pre-Qin period, the first is the source of realism, the "Classic of Poetry"; the second is the source of romanticism, the "Chu Rhetoric".

The Book of Poetry is the first collection of music and songs in China, which was collected, processed, and compiled by a number of poetic officials, gathering 305 poems*** from the beginning of the Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period of more than 500 years, and is therefore also known as the "300 Poems".

The expression of "The Book of Songs" is rich and colorful, which is summarized as "Fugue, Bie, Xing", "Fugue" is a narrative, which can be a direct narration, and "Bie" is a simile, which is a metaphor, which is based on the other's words, and "Bie" is a metaphor, which is based on the other's words. The "Fu" is a narrative, which can be a direct narrative or a direct statement of one's thoughts; the "Bi" is a metaphor, which compares one thing with another; the "Xing" is a rising, which touches something to arouse emotion, and is usually found at the beginning of a poem or a chapter of a poem.

Another source of Chinese poetry is Chu Rhetoric. Chu Rhetoric is a new style of poetry with a strong local color developed on the basis of the folk songs of Chu in the late Warring States period. Compared with the culture of the Central Plains, the Chu culture was more splendid and romantic.

The founder and representative writer of Chu Rhetoric is Qu Yuan, but Chu Rhetoric is not his own words, but a collection of poems written on this topic during the 300-400 years from the Warring States period to the Eastern Han Dynasty. The 17-volume book contains Qu Yuan's "Li Sao" and "Heavenly Questions," Song Yu's "Nine Arguments," Dongfang Shuo's "Seven Remonstrances," and Liu Xiang's "Nine Sighs," among others.

Based on the three- and four-character stanzas of the Classic of Poetry, the Chu Rhetoric developed the five- and seven-character stanzas, which pioneered the Romantic style of composition in Chinese literature in terms of content, and exerted a far-reaching influence on later generations.

Expanded Information

Developmental Order: Poetry Classic -- Ch'u Rhetoric -- Le Fu -- Fu -Rhetoric - Tang poetry - Song lyrics - Yuanqu

1, the ancient poetry of the Han Dynasty

Lefu poetry was formed during the Han Dynasty. Lefu poems were sung to music, equivalent to lyrics in modern society. This kind of music poetry is called "song", "rhetoric", "song", "line" and so on. During the Three Kingdoms period, the poems represented by Jian'an literature absorbed the nutrients of Lefu poems, and laid the foundation for the later, more rigorous metrical proximity poems.

2. The Tang and Song Dynasties

During the Tang Dynasty, the four-stanza stanza and the eight-stanza metered stanza appeared in Chinese poetry. In the poems, the rhymes were flat, and there were rules about the level and tone of each stanza. The rules for stanzas were a little looser.

In addition, the word, which reached its peak in the Song Dynasty, was also an important form of poetry. The format of the word should follow some fixed words, so that it can be sung with music.

3. Late Development

Since the Yuan Dynasty, the golden age of Chinese poetry gradually passed, and literary creation gradually shifted to other forms such as opera and novels.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Ancient Chinese Poetry