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Jueju (simplified Chinese: 绝句; traditional Chinese: 絕句; pinyin: Juéjù; Wade-Giles: Chüeh2chü4) is a style of jintishi, or "Modern shi poetry", that grew popular among Chinese poets in the fifth to sixth centuries in the Tang Dynasty. Jueju poems are always quatrains, with each line consisting of five or seven syllables each.[1]
The five-syllable-long form is called wujue (traditional Chinese: 五絕; pinyin: Wŭjué) and the seven-syllable-long form qijue (traditional Chinese: 七絕; pinyin: Qījué).[2]
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History
Origins
The origins of the jueju style are uncertain. The wujue form may have developed from the pentasyllabic yuefu song form as it carried over into shi composition. The result is a hybrid of yuefu quatrain and shi quatrain.[3]
Popularity
The jueju style was very popular during the Tang dynasty. Many authors composing jueju at the time followed a mantra to "see the big within the small" (traditional Chinese: 小中見大; pinyin: Xiăozhōng jiàndà), and thus wrote on topics of a grand scale; philosophy, religion, emotions, history, vast landscapes and more.[2]
Many wujue poems written during the Tang dynasty were inspired by yuefu songs dominant in the Six Dynasties period.[2]
Form
Restriction
Traditional literary critics considered the jueju to be the most difficult form of jintishi. Limited to exactly 20 or 28 characters,[4] writing a jueju requires the author to make full use of each character to make a successful poem. This proved to encourage authors to use poetic symbolism to a high degree.[2]
Tonal meter
Tonal meter in jueju, as with other forms of Chinese poetry, is a complex process. It can be compared to the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables in sonnets. A poet writing a jueju or lüshi-style poem needs to alternate level and oblique tones both between and within lines.[5]
Example
This poem is called "Spring Lament" (simplified Chinese: 春怨; traditional Chinese: 春怨; pinyin: Chūn yuàn) and was written by Jin Changxu (traditional Chinese: 金昌緒; pinyin: Jīn Chāngxù).[6]
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Traditional Chinese
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Simplified Chinese
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English translation
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春怨 打起黃鶯兒 |
春怨 打起黄莺儿 |
"Spring Lament" Hit the yellow oriole |
See also
Poets known to have written jueju
Notes
- ^ Tian (in Cai 2007), p.143
- ^ a b c d Egan (in Cai 2007), pp.199-201
- ^ Egan 1993, p.124
- ^ Egan 1993, p.84
- ^ Cai (in Cai 2007), pp.169-172
- ^ Egan (in Cai 2007), p.204
- ^ Egan (in Cai 2007), pp.216-217
- ^ Egan (in Cai 2007), pp.217-219
- ^ Egan (in Cai 2007), pp.210-212, 216
- ^ Egan (in Cai 2007), p.219
- ^ Egan (in Cai 2007), pp.213-215
- ^ Egan (in Cai 2007), pp.205-209
References
- Cai, Zong-qi (2007-12-14). "Recent-Style Shi Poetry: Pentasyllabic Regulated-Verse". in Zong-qi Cai. How to Read Chinese Poetry. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 161–180. ISBN 0231139411.
- Egan, Charles (1993), "A Critical Study of the Origins of Chüeh-chü Poetry", Asia Major, 3rd ser. 6 (pt. 1): 83–125, http://www.ihp.sinica.edu.tw/~asiamajor/pdf/1993a/83.pdf
- Egan, Charles (2007-12-14). "Recent-Style Shi Poetry". in Zong-qi Cai. How to Read Chinese Poetry. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 199–225. ISBN 0231139411.
- Tian, Xiaofei (2007-12-14). "Pentasyllabic Shi Poetry: New Topics". in Zong-qi Cai. How to Read Chinese Poetry. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 141–157. ISBN 0231139411.
External links
- "The Whole Collection of Tang Poetry" an excerpt of Three Hundred Tang Poems
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