Complete Examination of Poetic Forms in the Tang and Five Dynasties

Author: Zhang Bowei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-04-01
Features: In 1996, the book A Comprehensive Study of Poetic Forms in the Tang Dynasty was published. After its release, it received praise from academic circles both in China and abroad. Generally speaking, in ancient literary criticism works, the term "poetic form" () is considered to have emerged only in the Tang Dynasty. However, before the Tang Dynasty, works similar to "poetic form" had already appeared. "Poetic form" is a name for a certain category of books in the history of ancient Chinese literary criticism. As a proper noun for a category of books, its scope includes works named "poetic form" (), "poetic style" (), and "poetic method" (), among others. Later, the concept expanded from poetry to other literary genres, giving rise to books like "literary form" (), "rhapsody form" (), and "four-six form" (), as well as "calligraphy form" () and "character form" (), all of which share the same nature. In form, "poetic form" works are often composed of several subheadings, which are usually phrases consisting of a numeral followed by a noun or verb.