Poetry, Lyrics, and Quatrain Q&A: Sub-series of "Outline of Poetry, Lyrics, and Quatrain Rules"

Author: Tu Zongtao
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: Most of the articles in this book are replies to readers' letters, but some correspondents are not readers of the "Outline" but rather familiar friends and unknown pen pals. Since the replies are targeted at different readers with varying levels of understanding, the content of the letters ranges from highly professional to basic common knowledge. The book discusses both obscure topics, such as the phonetic closeness of the characters "" (níng) and "" (yìng) in Middle Chinese, both pronounced with the "" (yí) initial, and introduces the basic knowledge of traditional poetic tones. The book also includes several notes, a speech at a conference, and an answer to students' questions, all related to poetry, lyrics, and quatrains. The book is organized into six practical categories, with similar questions grouped together. Often, relevant content from several replies is sampled and compiled into one article to consolidate issues of the same nature. For example, the article "Some Issues in the Three Quatrains of Lyric Forms" is composed of excerpts from replies to three different correspondents.