Research on Tang, Five Dynasties, and Early Northern Song Ci: With a Focus on the Interaction between Poetry and Ci

Author: Dong Xiping
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-03-01
Features: This book centers on the interaction of poetry and lyrics, selecting several landmark phenomena from the history of lyrics between Bai Juyi and Ouyang Xiu for analysis and discussion, revealing the development patterns of the history of lyrics in the Tang, Five Dynasties, and early Northern Song period from one perspective.
Chapter 1 analyzes the mutual penetration of poetry and lyrics during the mid-Tang period. Many poets of the mid-Tang period attempted to write lyrics, and poetry and lyrics often overlapped and intersected in creation and dissemination, with unclear boundaries between them. The external features of lyrics, such as sentence structure and titles, and their internal features, such as lyrical realm and expressive imagery, as well as the changes in popular tunes during the mid-Tang period and the activities of singers and instrumentalists, all reveal the close relationship in the development of poetry and lyrics.
Chapter 2 discusses the evolution of poetry in the late Tang and Five Dynasties and the establishment of the lyric form. The expressive content of lyrics was further expanded, and their emotions and artistic conception were further deepened. The new aesthetic pursuits in poetry had a significant impact on the formation of the intrinsic characteristics of lyrics. The emergence of lyric poets and their tendency toward similar personality traits, as well as the appearance of lyric anthologies and the formation of the dominant style of lyrics, all indicate that lyrics had established themselves as an independent literary genre.
Chapter 3 examines the lyric scene in the early Northern Song period. During the fifty-year decline of the lyric scene in the early Song period, a new type of scholar emerged to adapt to the demands of the time, shaping a new persona of Song Confucian scholars. As the mental state and creative style of lyric poets changed, more poets engaged in lyric composition. The flourishing of creation and the widespread dissemination of lyric works eventually made poetry and lyrics together an important part of the cultural life of the Song people. The prosperity of sanqu marked the further refinement of the development of lyrics, and the emergence of great lyric poets skilled in both poetry and lyrics signaled the beginning of lyrics reaching their peak.