Ci (lyric)

Ci ( Chinese  詞  /  词 ; also 辭  /  辞 , cí ) is a Chinese genre of poetry that developed in the Liang Dynasty on the basis of Shi Jing and Yuefu .

They are folk tunes that often express feelings of longing in a - sometimes fictional - person. They were often created anonymously, especially in the entertainment districts of big cities. In addition, there are the creations of great Chinese poets, who opened the Ci form to a larger thematic range. Ci poetry reached its peak in the Song era , when the genre was particularly popular with the emperors Taizong and Renzong .

The Ci poems were largely free in their form and in particular were not subject to the various restrictions of the Gushi , but above all the Jintishi . Nevertheless, they were always sung to specific, fixed melodies that were recorded in extensive manuals. The Cilü ( 詞 律  /  词 律 , also 辭 律  /  辞 律 , cílǜ  - " rules of melody") and the Cipu ( 詞umfassende  /  词 谱 , also 辭 譜  /  辞 谱 , cípǔ  - "melody register").

The most important Ci poets include Wen Tingyun , Wei Zhuang , Li Houzhu , Su Dongpo , Liu Yong , Xin Qiji , Ouyang Xiu , Zhou Bangyan and Li Qingzhao .

A well-known poet of recent times is Lü Bicheng .

literature

• Helwig Schmidt-Glintzer: History of Chinese literature. Bern 1990, ISBN 3406453376 .