Jueju

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Jueju (traditional Chinese: 絕句; simplified Chinese: 绝句; pinyin: Juéjù; Wade-Giles: Chüeh²chü⁴) is a style of jintishi, or "Modern shi poetry", that grew popular among Chinese poets in the fifth to sixth centuries in the Tang Dynasty. Jueju poems are always quatrains, with each line consisting of five or seven syllables each.^[1]

The five-syllable-long form is called wujue (traditional Chinese: 五絕; pinyin: Wŭjué) and the seven-syllable-long form qijue (traditional Chinese: 七絕; pinyin: Qījué).^[2]

Contents 1 History 1.1 Origins 1.2 Popularity 2 Form 2.1 Restriction 2.2 Tonal meter 3 Example 4 See also 4.1 Poets known to have written jueju 5 Notes 6 References 7 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Origins

The origins of the jueju style are uncertain. The wujue form may have developed from the pentasyllabic yuefu song form as it carried over into shi composition. The result is a hybrid of yuefu quatrain and shi quatrain.^[3]

[edit] Popularity

The jueju style was very popular during the Tang dynasty. Many authors composing jueju at the time followed a mantra to "see the big within the small" (traditional Chinese: 小中見大; pinyin: Xiăozhōng jiàndà), and thus wrote on topics of a grand scale; philosophy, religion, emotions, history, vast landscapes and more.^[2]

Many wujue poems written during the Tang dynasty were inspired by yuefu songs dominant in the Six Dynasties period.^[2]

[edit] Form

[edit] Restriction

Traditional literary critics considered the jueju to be the most difficult form of jintishi. Limited to exactly 20 or 28 characters,^[4] writing a jueju requires the author to make full use of each character to make a successful poem. This proved to encourage authors to use poetic symbolism to a high degree.^[2]

[edit] Tonal meter

Tonal meter in jueju, as with other forms of Chinese poetry, is a complex process. It can be compared to the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables in sonnets. A poet writing a jueju or lüshi-style poem needs to alternate level and oblique tones both between and within lines.^[5]

[edit] Example

This poem is called "Spring Lament" (Chinese: 春怨; pinyin: Chūn yuàn) and was written by Jin Changxu (traditional Chinese: 金昌緒; pinyin: Jīn Chāngxù).^[6]

Traditional Chinese	Simplified Chinese	English translation
春怨 打起黃鶯兒 莫教枝上啼 啼時驚妾夢 不得到遼西	春怨 打起黄莺儿 莫教枝上啼 啼时惊妾梦 不得到辽西	"Spring Lament" Hit the yellow oriole Don't let it sing on the branches When it sings, it breaks into my dreams And keeps me from Liaoxi!

[edit] See also

• Ci (poetry)
• Fu (poetry)
• Qu (poetry)
• Three Hundred Tang Poems

[edit] Poets known to have written jueju

• Du Fu^[7]
• Du Mu^[8]
• Li Bai^[9]
• Li Shangyin^[10]
• Wang Changling^[11]
• Wang Wei (8th century poet)^[12]

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Cai, Zong-qi (2007-12-14). "Recent-Style Shi Poetry: Pentasyllabic Regulated-Verse". in Zong-qi Cai. How to Read Chinese Poetry. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 161–180. ISBN 0231139411. 
• Egan, Charles (1993), "A Critical Study of the Origins of Chüeh-chü Poetry", Asia Major, 3rd ser. 6 (pt. 1): 83–125, http://www.ihp.sinica.edu.tw/~asiamajor/pdf/1993a/83.pdf 
• Egan, Charles (2007-12-14). "Recent-Style Shi Poetry". in Zong-qi Cai. How to Read Chinese Poetry. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 199–225. ISBN 0231139411. 
• Tian, Xiaofei (2007-12-14). "Pentasyllabic Shi Poetry: New Topics". in Zong-qi Cai. How to Read Chinese Poetry. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 141–157. ISBN 0231139411. 

[edit] External links

• "The Whole Collection of Tang Poetry" an excerpt of Three Hundred Tang Poems