Poetry, Lyrics, and Prose Annotations (Volumes 1 and 2)

Author: Zhang Xiang
Publisher:
Publishing Time: Not available
Features: The special colloquial terms in poetry, ci, and qu, which flourished during the Tang, Song, Jin, Yuan, and Ming dynasties and were popular in poetry, classics, and other literary works, range from single characters to phrases. Their nature is mostly vernacular, not encompassed by classical or archaic meanings, nor commonly found in the classical prose of the Eight Great Masters. There has never been a dedicated book to explain them. However, since ci is the supplement of poetry, and qu is the supplement of ci, the three forms—poetry, ci, and qu—are distinct yet share the same origin. I believe that compiling and interpreting them together may be more convenient.
There are two methods for compilation:
1. Based on their distinct branches, poetry is used to verify poetry, ci to verify ci, and qu to verify qu, which is called self-compilation.
2. Based on their shared origin, the three forms or any two of them can be used to verify each other, which is called mutual compilation.
By synthesizing all the evidence, an interpretation is assumed. If one interpretation is insufficient to cover all meanings, another interpretation is sought and assumed as an alternative. For common meanings, the scope is broad, including both poetry and prefaces, as well as drama and spoken parts. The collected evidence often includes as many as ten or more examples.