''Shi'' and ''shih''Based on the Wade-Giles system formerly used by

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

and

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. are

romanization In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Latin script, Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and tra ...

s of the character /, the Chinese word for all

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

generally and across all languages. In Western analysis of the styles of

Chinese poetry Chinese poetry is poetry written, spoken, or chanted in the Chinese language, and a part of the Chinese literature. While this last term comprises Classical Chinese, Standard Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, Yue Chinese, and other historical and vernac ...

, ''shi'' is also used as a

term of art Jargon, or technical language, is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular communicative context and may not be well understood outside that context. The conte ...

for a specific poetic tradition, modeled after the

Old Chinese Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese language, Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones ...

works collected in the

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, religion, theory of government, or way of life. Founded by Confucius ...

Classic of Poetry The ''Classic of Poetry'', also ''Shijing'' or ''Shih-ching'', translated variously as the ''Book of Songs'', ''Book of Odes'', or simply known as the ''Odes'' or ''Poetry'' (; ''Shī''), is the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry, co ...

''. This anthology included both aristocratic poems (the "

Hymns A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...

" and " Eulogies") and more rustic works believed to have derived from Huaxia

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

s (the " Odes"). They are composed in ancient Chinese, mostly in four- character lines. In such analysis, "''shi''" poetry is contrasted with other forms such as the Chu-derived "'' cí''" and the Han-era "'' fu''".Watson, Burton. ''Chinese Lyricism: Shih Poetry from the Second to the Twelfth Century''. Columbia Univ. Press (New York), 1971. .Frankel, Hans. ''The Flowering Plum and the Palace Lady''. Yale Univ. Press (

New Haven New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...

), 1978. . This use is not common within Chinese literature, however, which instead classifies these poems into other categories such as classical Chinese poetry, Fields and Gardens poetry, and "curtailed" poetry.Yip Wai-lim. ''Chinese Poetry: An Anthology of Major Modes and Genres''. Duke Univ. Press ( Durham), 1997. .

Forms

Gushi

''Gushi'', which means "Ancient Poetry", may be used in either of two senses. It may be used broadly to refer to the ancient poetry of China, chiefly the mostly

anonymous work Anonymous works are works, such as art or literature, that have an anonymous, undisclosed, or unknown creator or author. In the case of very old works, the author's name may simply be lost over the course of history and time. There are a number ...

s collected in the

'', the separate tradition exemplified by Qu Yuan and Song Yu's '' Songs of Chu'', and the works collected by the Han " Music Bureau". It may also be used strictly to refer to poems in the styles of the Confucian classic, regardless of their time of composition. Owing to the variety of pieces included in the ''Classic'', there are few formal constraints apart from line length (usually four characters and no more than seven) and rhyming every other line.

Jintishi

''Jintishi'', which means "Modern Poetry", was actually composed from the 5th century onwards and is considered to have been fully developed by the early Tang dynasty. The works were principally written in five- and seven-character lines and involve constrained tone patterns, intended to balance the four tones of

Middle Chinese Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese language, Chinese recorded in the ''Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expande ...

within each couplet. The principal forms are the four-line '' jueju'', the eight-line '' lüshi'', and the unlimited '' pailü''. In addition to the tonal patterns, ''lüshi'' and ''pailü'' were usually understood to further require parallelism in their interior couplets: a theme developed in one couplet would be contrasted in the following one, usually by means of the same parts of speech.

References

*Davis, Albert (ed.) ''The Penguin Book of Chinese Verse''. Penguin Books (Baltimore), 1970.

External links

*
Chinese Poems
', a collection of Chinese poems with pinyin and parallel translation *

, an introduction to regulated verse {{DEFAULTSORT:shi Chinese poetry forms

Forms

Gushi

Jintishi

See also

References

External links