Han poetry

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A Han Dynasty terracotta horse head (1st-2nd century C.E.).

Han poetry refers to those types or styles of poetry particularly associated with the Han Dynasty era of China. This poetry reflects one of the poetry world's more important flowerings, as well as being a special period in Classical Chinese poetry, particularly in regard to the development of the quasipoetic fu;[1] the activities of the Music Bureau in connection with the collection of popular ballads and the resultant development of what would eventually become known as the yuefu, or as the rhapsodic formal style;[2] and, finally, towards the end of the Han Dynasty, the development of a new style of shi poetry.[3]

Background

An important poetic legacy received by Han Dynasty poets was the Shijing, typified by its "classic" four-character line verse. The influences of the Shijing verses during the Han era were directed towards what would later be confirmed as contributing to important aspects of Classical Chinese poetry, such as the direct voice of immediate experience which provides a window into a person's soul.[4] Another important legacy received by the Han poets was that of the Chu Ci genre of poetry with innovations in some of its verse forms, such as varied line lengths, a body of material which was expanded by further additions by Han poets, and then published in an edited anthology. Furthermore, there was a received tradition of orally transmitted folk songs and folk ballads.

Fu

Main article: Fu (poetry)

One of the major forms of literature during the Han Dynasty was the fu (sometimes translated as "rhapsody"), a kind of eclectic grab bag of prose and verse, not easy to classify in English as being either poetry or prose. In Chinese, the fu is classified as wen rather than shi, however these terms do not correspond to English categories of prose and verse (one of the differences in the traditional Chinese categorization being that shi was sung or chanted, whereas the fu was not, at least according to the Hanshu), the credibility of this being enhanced by the fact that one of the compilers of the Hanshu (also known as Book of Han or History of the Former Han Dynasty) was Ban Gu, who was himself a practitioner of the fu style.[5] The Han fu derived from the Chuci,[6] which was traditionally considered to be the work of Qu Yuan, who was a wanderer through the countryside and villages of the Kingdom of Chu, after his exile from court. In this context the "Li Sao" is particularly relevant. The Han fu of the second and first centuries BCE were intimately associated with the courts of the emperor and his princes.[7] In other words, they were refined literary products, ornate, polished, and with an elite vocabulary; and, often the subject matter include topics such as life in the palaces of the Han capital cities. The development of the fu form of literature during the Han Dynasty shows a movement toward later more personal poetry and the poems of reclusion, typical for example, of Tao Yuanming, the Six Dynasties poet.[8] The famous Han Dynasty astronomer, mathematician, inventor, geographer, cartographer, artist, poet, statesman, and literary scholar Zhang Heng (78–139 CE) wrote a fu about his own, personal experience (real or imagined) of getting out of the city and its politics and getting back to the country and nature.[9]

Oral tradition folk ballads

An important aspect of Han poetry involves the influence of the folk ballad tradition, which can be seen in the poetry collections Nineteen Old Poems and the yuefu of the Music Bureau.

Nineteen Old Poems of Han

Main article: Nineteen Old Poems

One of the stylistically most important developments of Han poetry can be found in the Nineteen Old Poems collection.

Music Bureau (Yuefu)

Main article: Music Bureau

Another important aspect of Han poetry involved the institution known as the Music Bureau, or, in Chinese, Yuefu. This is contrast with the "literary yuefu", which are written in the general style of Music Bureau's collection of yuefu, or derived from particular pieces thereof.

Literary Yuefu

Main article: Yuefu

An important genre developed out of the models of the Music Bureau poetry.

Jian'an poetry

Main article: Jian'an poetry

The final regnal era of Han was called Jian'an. At this period the political structure of Han was breaking down, while new developments in poetry were arising. This Jian'an poetry style continued on into the Three Kingdoms era.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Davis, xlvi
  2. ↑ Birrell, 5-13
  3. ↑ Watson, 7
  4. ↑ Hinton, 8
  5. ↑ Davis, xlvi
  6. ↑ Davis, xlviii
  7. ↑ Davis, xlviii
  8. ↑ Davis, xlix
  9. ↑ Davis, xlix-xl

References

    • Birrell, Anne (1988). Popular Songs and Ballads of Han China. (London: Unwin Hyman). ISBN 0-04-440037-8
    • Davis, A. R. (Albert Richard), Editor and Introduction,(1970), The Penguin Book of Chinese Verse. (Baltimore: Penguin Books).
    • Hinton, David (2008). Classical Chinese Poetry: An Anthology. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. ISBN 0-374-10536-7 / ISBN 978-0-374-10536-5.
    • Watson, Burton (1971). CHINESE LYRICISM: Shih Poetry from the Second to the Twelfth Century. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-03464-4
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