In this Book
The Matrix of Lyric Transformation: Poetic Modes and Self-Presentation in Early Chinese Pentasyllabic Poetry
Book
2020
Published by:
University of Michigan Press
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

summary
Pentasyllabic poetry has been a focus of critical study since the appearance of the earliest works of Chinese literary criticism in the Six Dynasties period. Throughout the subsequent dynasties, traditional Chinese critics continued to examine pentasyllabic poetry as a leading poetic type and to compile various comprehensive anthologies of it.
The Matrix of Lyric Transformation enriches this tradition, using modern analytical methods to explore issues of self-expression and to trace the early formal, thematic, and generic developments of this poetic form. Beginning with a discussion of the Yüeh-fu and ku-shih genres of the Han period, Cai Zong-qi introdues the analytical framework of modes from Western literary criticism to show how the pentasyllabic poetry changed over time. He argues that changing practices of poetic composition effected a shift from a dramatic mode typical of folk compositions to a narrative mode and finally to lyric and symbolic modes developed in literati circles.
Table of Contents
Cover
Half Title Page
pp. i-ii
Title Page
pp. iii
Copyright
pp. iv
Dedication
pp. v-vi
Contents
pp. vii-viii
Acknowledgments
pp. ix-x
Half-Title Page
pp. xi
List of Abbreviations
pp. xii
Introduction
pp. 1-6
1. An Overview: Pentasyllabic Poetry from the First to the Third Century
pp. 7-20
2. Han Yüeh-fu: Dramatic and Narrative Modes
pp. 21-60
3. Han Ku-shih: The Emergence of the Lyrical Mode
pp. 61-94
4. Tsâao Chih: The Development of the Lyrical Mode
pp. 95-146
5. Juan Chi: The Formation of the Symbolic Mode
pp. 147-188
6. Synthesis: Poetic Modes and Changing Forms of Self-Presentation
pp. 189-196
Notes
pp. 197-226
Glossary
pp. 227-232
Bibliography
pp. 233-252
Index
pp. 253-260
ISBN | 9780472901449 |
---|---|
Related ISBN(s) | 9780472038053, 9780472127498, 9780892641116 |
DOI | 10.1353/book.77776![]() |
MARC Record | Download |
OCLC | 1184508292 |
Launched on MUSE | 2020-09-29 |
Language | English |
Open Access | Yes |
Creative Commons | CC-BY-NC-ND |