Genres of Ancient Poetry

Ancient poetry can be divided into poems, lyrics and songs.

1. Poetry can be divided into two genres: ancient poetry and proximate poetry. The proximity poetry was originated in the North and South Dynasties and flourished in the Tang Dynasty, relative to the poetry before that. However, poets of the Tang Dynasty also wrote ancient style poems.

Ancient style poems can be divided into four-character poems (such as "The Classic of Poetry" and Cao Cao's "Short Songs and Acts"), five-character poems (such as "Nineteen Ancient Poems" and "Southeast Flight of the Peacock"), seven-character poems (such as Cao Pi's "Swallow Songs and Acts") and miscellaneous poems (such as the "Shangxie" in Han Lefu folk songs), with the five-character poems and the seven-character poems referred to as wugu (five-word poems) and sevigu (seven-word poems).

Of course, from the historical staging and poetic features can also be divided, such as Chu Rhetoric, folk songs, literati five-character poem. Ancient poetry is characterized by its flexible length, the number of words is not limited, there is no fixed rhyme scheme, and there is no conscious requirement for the level and tones.

And the near-poetry was originally relative to the ancient style of poetry. From the number of lines, the near-poetry can be divided into metered poems (four lines) and stanzas (two lines). The metered poems can be divided into seven lines, five lines, and a row of lines (also called long lines); the stanzas can be divided into seven lines and five lines), all of which are divided by the number of words. Both poems and stanzas pursue harmony in sound and rhyme, with strict regulations on leveling, rhyming, and counterpoint. For example, in terms of the level and oblique tones, it can be divided into "flat and level" and "oblique and level", which are very complicated.

2. Words are a genre of poetry that originated in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty. The biggest difference between the word and the poem is that the word can be sung to music, so the word is also called "song word". Another difference between the word and the poem is that the number of words varies in length, which is why the word is also called "long and short sentences". Like poems, they are also very strict in their requirements for leveling and rhyming.

There is also a difference in genre between words and lyrics. This difference is actually a difference in musical tunes. All words have a word brand, and it can be said that the genre is different depending on the word brand. The number of sentences is the same for all the words written in the same word brand. So writing words is also called filling words.

3. There are many similarities between songs and words. The most important similarity is the point that the music can be sung. The most important similarity is the point that the music can be sung. In the Yuan Dynasty, it reached its prosperity. Yuanqu can be divided into two kinds of suites and loose songs. The so-called suite refers to a group poem composed of a set of different tunes; the loose tune is, of course, a tune of a tune. On the one hand, the difference between words and compositions depends on whether they are compositions or words, and on the other hand, the contents of compositions are more "vulgar" than those of words. That is to say, the phenomenon of colloquialization is more. Of course, there are also very elegant Yuanqu.