Ancient Chinese poetry

題材文章詞數詩歌文化383 難度 ★★體裁建議用時說明文7 min

難詞探意

1. couplet /?k?pl?t/ n. 對聯；對句

2. rhythmically /?r?em?kli/ adv. 有節奏地

3.tonally/?t??nli/adv. 在調子上；就音色的方面

4. affective /??fekt?v/ adj. 情感的；感情的

5. puppet /?p?p?t/ n. 木偶

6. illuminate /??lu?m?ne?t/ v. 闡明；說明；照亮

7. prose /pr??z/ n. 散文

Poetry has been a favorite literary genre for thousands of years. Du Fu， Li Bai and Su Shi are considered among the best ancient poets， and there are five major kinds of major ancient poetic styles called Shi， Ci， Ge，Qu and Fu.

Shi

Shi poems are composed ofcouplets. They are poems of two more coupled lines. The two lines of a couplet usually rhyme and matchrhythmicallyand complement each othertonally.Modern Mandarin only has four tones， but ancient languages usually had more， so the tonal rhythms are generally lost.

Ci

Ci poetry can be described as poems that have patterns of syllables and tonal patterns. In making a Ci poetry， a poet chooses words that fit a specific pattern. These patterns may have once been part of a song. But the music has been lost. There are various patterns that provideaffectivesettings for various effects or moods.

Ge

The word “ge” means song. Ge poems are the words to a song that can be sung. There were folk songs as well as songs composed by the literate and educated composers.

Qu

When the Mongols established the Yuan Dynasty， they brought with them their own style of music and forms of entertainment. They especially liked to watch shadowpuppettheaters that were puppet plays of little guided figurines and puppetsilluminatedby a lamp so that the shadows fell against a screen. It is thought that the form of operatic drama of the Yuan Dynasty imitated their shadow play theaters. The style of music and song in the operas was called Yuan Qu or Mongol Music. The songs from the operas and popular songs were a poetic style called Qu that was also popular in later eras.The poetic style is freer in form.

Fu

A fifth major style of poetry is called “Fu”. These are descriptive poems that contain bothproseand couplets. These were popular about 1，500 years to 2，000 years ago. Often poets included rare or unusual written characters from preceding eras in their poems.

Reading Check

True（T）or false（F）questions

1. Ancient languages only had five tones. （ ）

2. Ci poems have the same patterns of syllables and tonal patterns. （ ）

3. The types of Ge poems can vary. （ ）

4. The poetic style of Qu is fixed. （ ）

5. Fu is a kind of informative poem that contains prose and couplets. （ ）