Appreciation Dictionary of Yuan, Ming and Qing Ci Poetry

Author: Qian Zhonglian
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2002-12-01
Features: This book collects 843 works of poetry by 403 lyricists from the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, including 127 works by 58 Yuan lyricists, 134 works by 77 Ming lyricists, and 582 works by 268 Qing lyricists. The main text is arranged in chronological order by the birth years of the lyricists. If birth years are the same, those who died earlier are listed first. For those whose birth years are unknown, their approximate birth years are deduced based on their academic achievements and social connections, and then the order is determined. The works of each lyricist are arranged by the length of the tunes, with shorter ones listed first, followed by longer ones. For writers from the transition period between dynasties, those who were born in the late Yuan (or Ming) but lived for a long time in the Ming (or Qing) are generally classified under the Ming (or Qing) dynasty. However, those who died resisting the Qing in the Southern Ming are still classified under the Ming. The poems selected in this book are as follows: Yuan lyric poetry is selected from Complete Lyrics of Jin and Yuan, Ming lyric poetry is selected from Compendium of Ming Lyrics, Collected Ming Lyrics, and some lyric poetry discussions, Qing lyric poetry is selected from Pearl Blossoms, Compendium of Lyrics of Our Dynasty, Continuation of the Compendium of Lyrics of Our Dynasty, Lyrics in a Box, Supplement to the Compendium of Lyrics of Our Dynasty, Lyrics of Famous Qing Scholars, Compendium of Complete Lyrics of the Qing Dynasty, Supplement to the Compendium of Lyrics, Major Modern Lyrics, Compendium of Lyrics of the Shunzhi and Kangxi Dynasties of Complete Lyrics of the Qing Dynasty, and some lyric poetry discussions and anthologies. The creation period of the poems included in this book is limited to the end of the Qing dynasty and the founding of the Republic of China. Lyricists who wrote lyrics after the Qing dynasty ended and entered the Republic of China are generally excluded. In principle, each poem is accompanied by an appreciation article. For better understanding, sometimes multiple poems are discussed together. The book uses simplified characters. When simplified characters may cause repeated rhymes or ambiguity, traditional characters or variant characters are used as needed. The textual and melodic explanations of the poems are generally included in the appreciation articles. For clarity, occasional notes are added at the end of the text to avoid disrupting the flow. The appendices include: brief biographies of lyricists, brief biographies of lyric schools, introductions to the names, titles, and aliases of lyric schools and clubs, bibliographies of Yuan, Ming, and Qing lyric poetry, an index of famous lines, and a stroke index of titles. This book collects 843 works of poetry by 403 lyricists from the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. The main text is arranged in chronological order by the birth years of the lyricists, and the creation period of the selected poems is limited to the end of the Qing dynasty and the founding of the Republic of China.