Research On Title And Preface Of Ci In Song Dynasty

As a literary form, Ci first has the lexical tone, then the title and preface. Title and preface are important constituent of Ci, not essential, but significant to comprehend the substance of Ci and understand the life of author. The Ci-Title is concise phrase or short sentence which summarizes the basic context under the tune names of Ci. The Ci-Preface is some illustrative words which interpret the context of Ci and Ci-Title between the tune names of Ci and the real text. The Ci-Title is generally brief and The Ci-Preface has a development from short to long, from simple to complicated, from applied to artistic. The Ci-Preface has functions of annotation and lyricism, supports literature basis to our researches. It also has absolute values in literary style and estheticism. According to the quantitative change of the title and preface of Ci in Song dynasty, we could divide it into four phases:first, the appearance phase. In this period, the Ci-Preface was generally brief, and not widespread. Su Shi was the first author to create Ci-Preface substantially. Second, the develop phase, in this period, the Ci-Preface was appreciated by authors, and increased promptly. Third, the prosperous phase, the Ci-Preface developed not only in quantity, but also in style. The Ci-Preface's style became more and more different and multiple. The composer named Jiang Kui had a large achievement in improving Ci-Preface's literariness. Last, the declining phase, though the Ci-Preface's quantity descended extraordinarily quickly, there were still some famous authors created many valued prefaces of Ci, such as Zhou Mi and Zhang Yan in this period.