Shi (lyric)

Shi ( Chinese  詩  /  诗 , Pinyin shī ) is the Chinese word for " poem ". But it also stands for a classical genre of poetry , which originated in the Han dynasty , reached its peak in the Tang dynasty and is above all to be distinguished from the older Ci poem .

Origins - "Yuefu"

From the 2nd century BC Chr. The started Yuèfǔ ( 樂府  /  乐府 ) for Shi further - the poem that was to the modern master the Chinese poetry. The authors of these poems adopted the five-character line of Yuefu , but expressed more complex ideas. Shi poems generally express more of the poet's own person than, as in yuefu , that of a fictional character. Often they were of a romantic nature and particularly influenced by Taoist ideas. With a newer variant, the seven-character line, the possibilities inherent in the form have been further developed. In any case, there is a caesura before the last three characters of a line , which divides the line into groups of two and three or four and three characters.

Gushi

As Gǔshī ( 古詩  /  古诗 ) "poems in the classical style", the above-mentioned, mostly anonymous Shi poems are sometimes referred to. In addition, the term stands for the creations of later poets written in the same form.

The form of the Gǔshī is still largely free compared to the later Jìntīshī ; There are only two restrictions: the line length of five or seven characters , i.e. Wǔyán Gǔshī ( 五言 古詩  /  五言 古诗  - "Gushi with five characters") or Qīyán Gǔshī ( 七言 古詩  /  五言 古诗  - "Gushi with seven characters ”) and the requirement of a rhyme on every other line.

The gǔshī was particularly popular in narrative poetry, as well as among authors who wanted a relaxed and imaginative style. Li Bai is the most famous of them, but most of the great lyric poets wrote great gǔshī .

Jintishi

Jìntǐshī ( 近 體 詩  /  近 体 诗  - "poems of the newer form"), originated in the 5th century and reached their peak in the Tang dynasty .

Compared to the gushi, they are subject to much stricter metrical rules: their eight lines, arranged in pairs, always consist of five or seven characters . In addition, Jintishi require a balance between the four tones of Classical Chinese (even, rising, deep, falling) and, depending on the subtype, a certain verse structure in which the third and fourth pair have to form exact parallels both grammatically and in terms of content. Basic forms of Jintishi are:

• Lüshi ( 律詩  /  律诗 , lǜshī  - "strict rhyme, more precisely: poem according to a fixed rule") A stanza consists of two stanzas of four verses each. Pairs of parallelisms are required.
• Jueju (絕 詩  / 绝 诗 , juéshī  - "short rhyme") A stanza consists of only four verses.
• Pailü ( 排律 , páilǜ  - " straightened , strict rhyme") A certain number of verses per stanza is not prescribed. The tone patterns and parallelisms of the second and third pair of rhymes are repeated any number of times. The first and last pair of rhymes do not require parallelism.

The most important Jintishi poets include Wang Wei , Cui Hao , but above all Du Fu .

literature

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