Jueju(traditional Chinese:Tuyệt cú;simplified Chinese:Tuyệt cú;pinyin:juéjù), orChinese quatrain,is a type ofjintishi( "modern form poetry" ) that grew popular amongChinese poetsin theTang dynasty(618–907), although traceable to earlier origins.Juejupoems are alwaysquatrains;or, more specifically, a matched pair ofcouplets,with each line consisting of five or sevensyllables.[1]
| Jueju | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | Tuyệt cú | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | Tuyệt cú | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | "cut-off lines" | ||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
| Japanese name | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Kanji | Tuyệt câu | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Hiragana | ぜっく | ||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
The five-syllable form is calledwujue(Chinese:Ngũ tuyệt;pinyin:Wǔjué) and the seven-syllable formqijue(Thất tuyệt;Qījué).[2]
History
editThe origins of thejuejustyle are uncertain.[3]Fränkelstates that it arose from theyuefuform in the fifth or sixth century.[4]This pentasyllabic song form, dominant in theSix Dynastiesperiod, may have carried over intoshicomposition and thus created a hybrid of theyuefuquatrain andshiquatrain.[3]Indeed, manyTang dynastywujuepoems were inspired by theseyuefusongs.[2]
In the seventh century the jueju developed into its modern form, as one of the three "modern" verse forms, orjintishi,the other two types ofjintishibeing thelüshiand thepailu.[4]
Thejuejustyle was very popular during the Tang dynasty. Many authors composingjuejupoems at the time followed the concept of "seeing the big within the small" (Chinese:Tiểu trung thấy đại;pinyin:Xiǎozhōng jiàndà), and thus wrote on topics of a grand scale; philosophy, religion, emotions, history, vast landscapes and more.[2]
Authors known to have composedjuejupoems includeDu Fu,[5]Du Mu,[6]Li Bai,[7]Li Shangyin,[8]Wang Changling[9]andWang Wei.[10]
Form
editTraditionalliterary criticsconsidered thejuejustyle to be the most difficult form ofjintishi.Limited to exactly 20 or 28characters,[11]writing ajuejurequires the author to make full use of each character to create a successful poem. This proved to encourage authors to usesymboliclanguage to a high degree.[2]
Furthermore,tonalmeterinjueju,as with other forms ofChinese poetry,is a complex process. It can be compared to the alternation ofstressed and unstressed syllablesinsonnets.A poet writing ajuejuor similarlüshi-style poem needs to alternate level and oblique tones both between and within lines.[12]
Some of the formal rules of theregulated verseforms were applied in the case of thejuejucurtailed verse: these rules as applied to thejuejuinclude regular line length, use of a singlerhymein even-numbered verses, strict patterning oftonalalternations, use of a majorcaesurabefore the last three syllables, optional parallelism and grammaticality of each line as a sentence. Each couplet generally forms a distinct unit, and the third line generally introduces some turn of thought or direction within the poem.[13]
Structure
editJuejufollows one of the following tonal patterns:[12]
- Type I, Standard
| Additional inqijue | wujue | Rhyming |
| ○○ | ●●○○● | |
| ●● | ○○●●○ | ✓ |
| ●● | ○○○●● | |
| ○○ | ●●●○○ | ✓ |
- Type II, Standard
| Additional inqijue | wujue | Rhyming |
| ●● | ○○○●● | |
| ○○ | ●●●○○ | ✓ |
| ○○ | ●●○○● | |
| ●● | ○○●●○ | ✓ |
- Type I, Variant
| Additional inqijue | wujue | Rhyming |
| ○○ | ●●●○○ | ✓ |
| ●● | ○○●●○ | ✓ |
| ●● | ○○○●● | |
| ○○ | ●●●○○ | ✓ |
- Type II, Variant
| Additional inqijue | wujue | Rhyming |
| ●● | ○○●●○ | ✓ |
| ○○ | ●●●○○ | ✓ |
| ○○ | ●●○○● | |
| ●● | ○○●●○ | ✓ |
○ is a character with alevel tone,while ● is a character with anoblique tone(a rising, departing or entering tone).
Example
editThis poem is called "Spring Lament"(Chinese:Xuân oán;pinyin:Chūn yuàn) and was written byJin Changxu.[14]
Traditional Chinese
|
Simplified Chinese
|
English translation
|
|---|---|---|
|
Xuân oán Đánh lên hoàng oanh nhi |
Xuân oán Đánh lên hoàng oanh nhi |
"Spring Lament" Hit the yellow oriole |
This poem concerns a standard figure in this type of poetry, a lonely woman who is despondent over the absence of a husband or lover, probably a soldier who has gone toLiaoxiin present-dayMongolia.She chases away the orioles to stop their singing in the first couplet. The second couplet gives the reason. The bird songs interrupted her sweet morning dream to see her husband in the far away land. The words and phrases tug at her heart.[14]
See also
edit
References
editCitations
edit- ^Tian 2007,p. 143.
- ^abcdEgan 2007,pp. 199–201.
- ^abEgan 1993,p. 124.
- ^abFränkel 1978,p. 212.
- ^Egan 2007,pp. 216–217.
- ^Egan 2007,pp. 217–219.
- ^Egan 2007,pp. 210–212, 216.
- ^Egan 2007,p. 219.
- ^Egan 2007,pp. 213–215.
- ^Egan 2007,pp. 205–209.
- ^Egan 1993,p. 84.
- ^abCai 2007,pp. 169–172.
- ^Fränkel, 212–214.
- ^abEgan 2007,p. 204.
Sources
edit- Cai, Zong-qi (December 2007). "Recent-StyleShiPoetry: Pentasyllabic Regulated-Verse ". In Cai, Zong-qi (ed.).How to Read Chinese Poetry.New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 161–180.ISBN978-0-231-13941-0.
- Egan, Charles (1993)."A Critical Study of the Origins ofChüeh-chüPoetry "(PDF).Asia Major.3rd ser.6(pt. 1): 83–125. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2010-12-04.Retrieved2008-06-26.
- Egan, Charles (December 2007). "Recent-StyleShiPoetry ". In Cai, Zong-qi (ed.).How to Read Chinese Poetry.New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 199–225.ISBN978-0-231-13941-0.
- Tian, Xiaofei (December 2007). "PentasyllabicShiPoetry: New Topics ". In Cai, Zong-qi (ed.).How to Read Chinese Poetry.New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 141–157.ISBN978-0-231-13941-0.
- Fränkel, Hans H.(1978).The Flowering Plum and the Palace Lady(2nd ed.). New Haven: Yale University Press.ISBN0-300-02242-5.