Research On Classic Poetry Prosody In Early Qing Dynasty

Qing Dynasty is a prime period for the development of poetic theories, with prosody as one of the important issues. In comparison with the research on prosody of regulated verses starting from Tang and Song Dynasty, research on prosody of classic poetry only received attention since Qing Dynasty, with early Qing Dynasty as an important stage for its development. During this period, great research works such as On Prosody was flourishing and theoretical system of classic poetry had come into being, which strengthened the unique role of research on classic poetry This thesis focuses on researches made in early Qing Dynasty on prosody of classic poetry, expositing in detail its development from Ming Dynasty to early Qing Dynasty. From analyzing the theoretical achievement of researches on classic poetry, it endeavors to redisplay the research process as well as the profile of study being done during this period. The thesis is divided into five chapters.The Introductory part makes clear the subjects and approaches used in this research, as well as the status quo in current academic field about researches made in early Qing Dynasty on prosody of classic poetry.Chapter I exposits from the perspective of history of literature the diachronic change in study of prosody, mainly about poetic talks by poets, such as, Li Dongyang, former seven famous poets and latter seven famous poets, and Xiezhen in Ming Dynasty, supplemented by Poetry Law, a collective of poetic talks., to analyze the uprising of research on prosody of classic poetry.Chapter II summarizes the development of prosody of classic poetry during early Qing Dynasty. In addition to collection of poetic talks, it mainly introduces discussion about prosody theories in the conversation-like poetic talks, as well as theoretical works by Wang Shizhen and Zhao Zhixin.Chapter III, from the angle of interaction of different academic subjects, analyses the mutual influence of prosody and stylistics. Stylistics, from prosodic features of poems, classifies their styles precisely into classic poetry, regulated poetry or Qiliang-form poetry and even further divides them into formal style or variant style. Prosody was served as one of the most important criteria in classifying poetic styles at that time. Whereas achievements made in stylistics in turn become the foundation for further study of prosody. The mutual effects together push forward the theoretical development of both subjects.Chapter IV explores and analyses in detail "Babing"(eight faults) in poetry. Scholars in Qing Dynasty defined the concept of "Babing" from research on tones, rhymes and intonation. This chapter, from analyzing the phenomenon of avoiding prosodic faults, such as "Shangwei" and "Hexi", in relative poetic works, confirms the influence of theories of prosodic faults made in Qi and Liang Period on the creation of classic poems and regulated verses, and sums up the anti-regularity feature in classic poetry.Chapter V illustrates prosodic theories of classic poetry by Wang Shizhen and Zhao Zhixin. From analyzing and comparing the rules founded by them in5-character and7-character classic poetry, it summarizes the general rules and tries to build up a prosodic theory about classic poetry. From analyzing the comparison made by Zhao Zhixin on regulated verses and anti-regulated verses, it reflects that scholars in Qing Dynasty adopted deduction approaches in finding out prosodic rules of classic poetry from referring to that of regulated verses.Prosody of classic poetry is a remarkable achievement made in Qing Dynasty on poetic theory, but less attention has been put on this issue in academic field ever since, with little systematic framework and overall assortment, especially on research findings in early Qing Dynasty. This thesis, on exploring relative theories about prosody of classic poetry, endeavors to build up a systematic theoretical framework for prosody of classic poetry, to recover the panorama of research made during early Qing Dynasty, and to provides theoretical reference for further study into this field.