Jueju
Encyclopedia
Jueju is a style of jintishi
, or "Modern form poetry", that grew popular among Chinese poets in the Tang Dynasty
(618-907), although traceable to earlier origins. Jueju poems are always quatrain
s, or, more specifically, a matched pair of couplets
, with each line consisting of five or seven syllable
s each.
The five-syllable-long form is called wujue and the seven-syllable-long form qijue .
song form, dominant in the Six Dynasties
period, as it carried over into shi composition. The result is a hybrid of yuefu quatrain and shi quatrain. Indeed, many Tang dynasty
wujue poems were inspired by these yuefu songs.
The jueju style was very popular during the Tang dynasty. Many authors composing jueju poems at the time followed the concept of "seeing the big within the small" , and thus wrote on topics of a grand scale; philosophy, religion, emotions, history, vast landscapes and more.
Authors known to have composed jueju poems include Du Fu
, Du Mu
, Li Bai
, Li Shangyin
, Wang Changling
and Wang Wei.
s considered the jueju style to be the most difficult form of jintishi. Limited to exactly 20 or 28 character
s, writing a jueju requires the author to make full use of each character to create a successful poem. This proved to encourage authors to use symbol
ic language to a high degree.
Furthermore, 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 syllable
s in sonnet
s. A poet writing a jueju or similar lüshi-style poem needs to alternate level and oblique tones both between and within lines.
Regulated verse
Regulated verse, also known as Jintishi is a development within Classical Chinese poetry of the shi main formal type. Regulated verse is one of the most important of all Classical Chinese poetry types...
, or "Modern form poetry", that grew popular among Chinese poets in the Tang Dynasty
Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
(618-907), although traceable to earlier origins. Jueju poems are always quatrain
Quatrain
A quatrain is a stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four lines of verse. Existing in various forms, the quatrain appears in poems from the poetic traditions of various ancient civilizations including Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and China; and, continues into the 21st century, where it is...
s, or, more specifically, a matched pair of couplets
Couplet
A couplet is a pair of lines of meter in poetry. It usually consists of two lines that rhyme and have the same meter.While traditionally couplets rhyme, not all do. A poem may use white space to mark out couplets if they do not rhyme. Couplets with a meter of iambic pentameter are called heroic...
, with each line consisting of five or seven syllable
Syllable
A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus with optional initial and final margins .Syllables are often considered the phonological "building...
s each.
The five-syllable-long form is called wujue and the seven-syllable-long form qijue .
History
The origins of the jueju style are uncertain. The wujue form may have developed from the pentasyllabic yuefuYue fu
Yue fu are Chinese poems composed in a folk song style. The term literally means "Music Bureau", a reference to the government organisation originally charged with collecting or writing the lyrics....
song form, dominant in the Six Dynasties
Six Dynasties
Six Dynasties is a collective noun for six Chinese dynasties during the periods of the Three Kingdoms , Jin Dynasty , and Southern and Northern Dynasties ....
period, as it carried over into shi composition. The result is a hybrid of yuefu quatrain and shi quatrain. Indeed, many Tang dynasty
Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
wujue poems were inspired by these yuefu songs.
The jueju style was very popular during the Tang dynasty. Many authors composing jueju poems at the time followed the concept of "seeing the big within the small" , and thus wrote on topics of a grand scale; philosophy, religion, emotions, history, vast landscapes and more.
Authors known to have composed jueju poems include Du Fu
Du Fu
Du Fu was a prominent Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty.Along with Li Bai , he is frequently called the greatest of the Chinese poets. His greatest ambition was to serve his country as a successful civil servant, but he proved unable to make the necessary accommodations...
, Du Mu
Du Mu
Du Mu was a leading Chinese poet of the late Tang Dynasty. His courtesy name was Muzhi , and sobriquet Fanchuan .He was born in Chang'an into an elite family whose fortunes were declining...
, Li Bai
Li Bai
Li Bai , also known in the West by various other transliterations, especially Li Po, was a major Chinese poet of the Tang dynasty poetry period. He has been regarded as one of the greatest poets in China's Tang period, which is often called China's "golden age" of poetry. Around a thousand existing...
, Li Shangyin
Li Shangyin
Li Shangyin , courtesy name Yishan , was a Chinese poet of the late Tang Dynasty, born in Henei . Along with Li He, he was much admired and "rediscovered" in the 20th century by the young Chinese writers for the imagist quality of his poems...
, Wang Changling
Wang Changling
Wang Changling was a major Tang Dynasty poet. His zi was Shaobo . He was originally from Taiyuan in the Shanxi province of China, according to the editors of the Three Hundred Tang Poems, although other sources claim that he was actually from Jiangning near modern-day Nanjing...
and Wang Wei.
Form
Traditional literary criticLiterary criticism
Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals...
s considered the jueju style to be the most difficult form of jintishi. Limited to exactly 20 or 28 character
Chinese character
Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...
s, writing a jueju requires the author to make full use of each character to create a successful poem. This proved to encourage authors to use symbol
Symbol
A symbol is something which represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for...
ic language to a high degree.
Furthermore, tonal
Tone (linguistics)
Tone is the use of pitch in language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning—that is, to distinguish or inflect words. All verbal languages use pitch to express emotional and other paralinguistic information, and to convey emphasis, contrast, and other such features in what is called...
meter
Meter (poetry)
In poetry, metre is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse. Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse metre, or a certain set of metres alternating in a particular order. The study of metres and forms of versification is known as prosody...
in jueju, as with other forms of Chinese poetry
Chinese poetry
Chinese poetry is poetry written, spoken, or chanted in the Chinese language, which includes various versions of Chinese language, including Classical Chinese, Standard Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, Yue Chinese, as well as many other historical and vernacular varieties of the Chinese language...
, is a complex process. It can be compared to the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllable
Stress (linguistics)
In linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain syllables in a word, or to certain words in a phrase or sentence. The term is also used for similar patterns of phonetic prominence inside syllables. The word accent is sometimes also used with this sense.The stress placed...
s in sonnet
Sonnet
A sonnet is one of several forms of poetry that originate in Europe, mainly Provence and Italy. A sonnet commonly has 14 lines. The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning "little song" or "little sound"...
s. A poet writing a jueju or similar lüshi-style poem needs to alternate level and oblique tones both between and within lines.
Example
This poem is called "Spring Lament" and was written by Jin Changxu .春怨 打起黃鶯兒 莫教枝上啼 啼時驚妾夢 不得到遼西 |
春怨 打起黄莺儿 莫教枝上啼 啼时惊妾梦 不得到辽西 |
"Spring Lament" Hit the yellow oriole Don't let it sing on the branches When it sings, it breaks into my dreams And keeps me from Liaoxi! |
See also
- Classical Chinese poetryClassical Chinese poetrythumb|right|300px|Attributed to [[Han Gan]], Huiyebai , about 750CE .Classical Chinese poetry is that type of poetry that is the traditional Chinese poetry written in Classical Chinese. It is typified by certain traditional forms, or modes, and certain traditional genres...
- Shi (poetry)Shi (poetry)Shi is the Chinese word for "poetry" or "poem", anciently associated with Chinese poetry. In modern times, shi can and has been used as an umbrella term to mean poetry in any form or language, whether or not Chinese; but, it may imply or be used to refer certain classical forms of poetry, for...
- Ci (poetry)Ci (poetry)Ci is a kind of lyric Classical Chinese poetry using a poetic meter based upon certain patterns of fixed-rhythm formal types. For speakers of English, the word "ci" is pronounced somewhat like "tsuh"...
- Fu (poetry)Fu (poetry)Fu is a kind of rhymed prose, or poetry style essay, popular in ancient China, especially during the Han Dynasty. The term fu is often used in a multiway contrast with the more purely poetic shi style, with the fixed-rhythm forms of poetry , and with various more explicitly prosaic forms of...
- Qu (poetry)Qu (poetry)In Chinese literature, qu , or yuanqu consists of sanqu and zaju . Together with the various shi and fu forms of poetry, the ci, qu, and the other fixed-rhythm type of verse comprise the three main forms of Classical Chinese poetry.Yuanqu is a form of Chinese opera, which became popular in Yuan...
- Shichigon-zekkuShichigon-zekkuQiyan jueju , known in Japan as isa type of jueju poetry form consisting of four phrases each seven Chinese characters in length....
- Three Hundred Tang PoemsThree Hundred Tang PoemsThe Three Hundred Tang Poems is an anthology of poems from the Chinese Tang Dynasty first compiled around 1763 by Sun Zhu , the Qing scholar also known as Hengtang Tuishi . Various later editions also exist...