Title

A Prosodic Explanation for Chinese Poetic Evolution

Author

Feng, Sheng-li  

Genre

Article  

Pages

223-257  

Download

PDF

Language

English  

Key words

poetic evolution, trisyllabic line, pentasyllabic line, poetic prosody, prosodic grammar   

Abstract

         This paper proposes an independent system of prosodic application used in Lisao離騷 (attr. Qu Yuan, c.340-278 B.C.), different from the one in Shijing詩經 (Book of Odes). It is shown that while a fixed dipodic prosody (二步律) was used in Shijing, a caesura-based prosody (頓歎律) was developed in Lisao during and after the Warring States period (475-221 B.C.). By the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.) however, flexible caesura prosody was gradually replaced by syllabically-fixed patterns: first
trisyllabic, then pentasyllabic and finally heptasyllabic. To date, there has been no reasonable explanation proposed for why and how only odd numbers of syllables in lines developed. This paper deals with this question from a prosodic point of view. It is argued here that poetic evolutions in classical Chinese are determined by the grammar of poetic prosody.