This innovative textbook for learning classical Chinese poetry moves beyond the traditional anthology of poems translated into English and instead brings readers—including those with no knowledge of Chinese—as close as possible to the texture of the poems in their original language. The first two chapters introduce the features of classical Chinese that are important for poetry and then survey the formal and rhetorical conventions of classical poetry. The core chapters present the major poets and poems of the Chinese poetic tradition from earliest times to the lyrics of the Song Dynasty (960–1279).
Each chapter begins with an overview of the historical context for the poetry of a particular period and provides a brief biography for each poet. Each of the poems appears in the original Chinese with a word-by-word translation, followed by Michael A. Fuller’s unadorned translation, and a more polished version by modern translators. A question-based study guide highlights the important issues in reading and understanding each particular text.
Designed for classroom use and for self-study, the textbook’s goal is to help the reader appreciate both the distinctive voices of the major writers in the Chinese poetic tradition and the grand contours of the development of that tradition.
Author(s): Michael A. Fuller
Series: Harvard East Asian Monographs 408
Publisher: Harvard University Asia Center
Year: 2018
Language: English
Pages: 496
Tags: History, Literature, Poetry
Author’s Note
How to Use This Book
Chronology
List of Terms
1. The Classical Chinese Language
Classical Chinese in Historical Perspective
The Basis for the Written Record: Chinese Characters
The Sound Systems of Classical Chinese
The Phonology of Middle Chinese
The Sounds of Old Chinese
The Morphology of Classical Chinese
Topic—Comment
Verb—Object
Modifier—Modified
Coordination
The Syntax of Classical Chinese
Conclusion
2. The Formal and Rhetorical Features of Chinese Poetry
The Formal Structures of Chinese Poetry
The Line
The Couplet
The Quatrain Stanza and the Octave Poem
Rhetorical Features of Chinese Poetic Language
Rhetorical Tropes
Ornamentation
Allusion
Qualities of Voice: The Person in the Poem
Summary
Interlude: On the Translation of Poetry
3. Origins of the Poetic Tradition
The Canon of Poetry (Shijing)
The Origin of the Canon of Poetry
The Canon of Poetry and the Development of the Poetic Tradition
The Structure of the Canon of Poetry
Selections from the Canon of Poetry
From the “Airs of the States”
From the “Greater Ya”
From the “Hymns of Zhou”
The Lyrics of Chu (Chu ci)
Selected Poems from the Lyrics of Chu
Encountering Sorrow
The Nine Songs
The Nine Pieces
The Nine Transformations
“The Fisherman”
4. Poetry in the Han, Wei, and Jin Dynasties
Anonymous Poetry from the Music Bureau
Early Pentasyllabic Poetry
Poets of the Jian’an Reign Period
Cao Cao
Cho Zhi
Wang Can
The Wei Dynasty
Ruan Ji
The Western Jin Dynasty
The Dominant Western Jin Literary Form: The Fu
Pan Yue
Zuo Si
Lu Ji
Guo Pu
Appendix to Chapter 4: Cao Pi, A Discourse on Literature
5. The Maturing of Convention—The Poetry of the Northern and Southern Dynasties
North and South
Tao Qian
Xie Lingyun
Bao Zhao
Xie Tiao
Southern Folk Songs
He Xun
Xiao Gang
Yu Jianwu
Yu Xin
Appendix to Chapter 5: Wang Xizhi, “Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Collection”
6. Early and High Tang Poetry before Du Fu
Wang Bo
Song Zhiwen
Shangguan Wan’er
Chen Zi’ang
Wang Zhihuan
Meng Haoran
Wang Wei
Cui Hao
Li Bai
7. Du Fu
Du Fu’s Life
Du Fu’s Poetry
8. Middle and Late Tang Poetry
The Historical Context
Bai Juyi
Han Yu
Meng Jiao
Jia Dao
Li He
Li Shangyin
Du Mu
Wen Tingyun
Yu Xuanji
9. The Growth of a New Poetic Form—The Song Lyric
The Early Development of Ci during the Tang Dynasty
“Southern” Ci by Bai Juyi and Liu Yuxi
Wen Tingyun and the Entertainment Quarters
Literati Appropriation of Ci in the Five Dynasties
The Former Shu
The Later Shu
Among the Flowers
Wei Zhuang
Gu Xiong
The Southern Tang Court
Feng Yansi
Li Yu
Poetic Innovations during the Northern Song
Yan Shu
Zhang Xian
Liu Yong
Su Shi
10. The Song Lyric in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries
Introduction
Zhou Bangyan
Li Qingzhao
Xin Qiji
Jiang Kui
Wu Wenying
Zhang Yan
Conclusion
Appendix I. List of Poems, Sources, and Translators
Appendix II. List of Variant Characters
Suggested Readings
Permissions
