Ci began in Nanliang, formed in the Tang Dynasty, flourished after the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and reached its peak in the Song Dynasty, so it was commonly known as Song Ci. The formal characteristics of words are "the tone has a fixed frame and the sentence has flaws." According to Old Tang Book; "Since Kaiyuan (the year of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty), singers have mixed the songs of Okoyi Lane." At that time, there were many talented musicians in the city who made a living by singing. According to the need to coordinate the lyrics with the music beat, they created or adapted some long and short sentence lyrics, which are the earliest words.
Development:
Ci reached its peak in Song Dynasty, declined for more than 300 years in Yuan and Ming Dynasties, and re-entered the development state in Qing Dynasty. In the history of literature, Ci has become a popular literary genre with its unique musical beauty, intricate rhythm, uneven syntax and strong and profound emotional expression.
[Details:]
1, Tang: the popular folk words in the early Tang Dynasty are the embryonic stage of words. The inflectional characters written by the literati in the prosperous Tang Dynasty are basically neat five-character and seven-language forms, and some are long and short sentences. In the mid-Tang Dynasty, literati began to seriously rely on sound to write lyrics. After the end of Yuan Dynasty, the number of literati ci gradually increased, and ci formally became one. However, at this time, the scope of literati's use of tunes is still relatively narrow. As far as the available materials are concerned, they usually use a limited number of tunes, such as Qi Yiling, Yi Chang 'an, teasing and Santai. But in terms of language, they began to introduce the language of modern poetry, which is exquisite, concise and beautiful. In this way, the language, thoughts and feelings of literati poetry began to penetrate into ci, which gradually broke away from the original pure and sincere, simple and vivid but rough primitive state and formed a formal literary genre of literati. By the end of the Tang Dynasty, literary words described images and psychology with rich colors, gorgeous rhetoric and delicate techniques, forming an artistic style of fragrance, softness, density and concealment. This is a sign that literati ci tends to mature. Since writing, more and more scholars have begun to write ci.
2. Five Dynasties and Ten Countries: It is a common practice to write lyrics by voice. Xishu and Nantang, which have the most developed economy and culture, have become two bases for poets to gather. Huajian Collection contains most of the words of poets in West Shu. Among the poets in Xishu, Wei Zhuang has the highest achievement; Li Jing, Li Yu and Feng Yansi are the most outstanding poets in the Southern Tang Dynasty.
3. Song Dynasty: Ci reached its peak and became a completely independent literary form to compete with poetic style. In the history of literature, Ci is called Song, which reflects the important position of Song Ci as a generation of literature. The mainstream of Ci in the Northern Song Dynasty is still following the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, paying attention to the lyricism and musicality of Ci, such as Er Yan and Zhang Xi 'an. They deliberately refined, making the form of words richer, the language of words more refined, the artistic conception of words more profound, the style of words more delicate, especially the rhythm of words more delicate and harmonious. However, there were other poets in the Northern Song Dynasty, such as Su Shi and Liu Yong, who started with the style of ci and focused on the reform of it. In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, Fan Zhongyan's "Fisherman's Passion" and Wang Anshi's "Guizhixiang" were dripping, full of pen and ink, broad and desolate in tone, broad and tragic in realm, and depressed in feelings, which opened the prelude to the bold ci works represented by Su Shi and Xin Qiji. After that, Su Shi deliberately used some characteristics of ci in language form to express all kinds of life interests and feelings freely and smoothly. He not only wrote the content of "expressing ambition" that originally belonged to poetry into his words, but also applied the prose sentence patterns and words that had appeared in poetry to his words, enriching the content of his words and changing the formal skills of his words. In addition, before Su Shi, music was the life of ci, and the characteristics of music were more important than those of literature, so harmony and music were the primary conditions of ci. Su Shi liberated Ci from the framework of attaching importance to music for the first time, and initially separated Ci from music, making Ci become a literary genre first, not just a vassal of music, thus making Ci have an independent position in the history of literature. After Du Nan, poets wrote in different attitudes and ways on their own creative paths, which played different roles in the continued development of Song Ci. Li Qingzhao's Ci is the transition from the Northern Song Dynasty to the Southern Song Dynasty. Li Qingzhao personally experienced social changes from north to south, and her life experience, thoughts and feelings have undergone great changes. Correspondingly, the content, artistic conception, color and voice of her words have also changed, from bright and fresh to melancholy and deep sorrow, but the true colors of her words have never changed. Her creation set an example for poets in the Southern Song Dynasty to express new content in old forms. After the middle period, a generation of heroes Xin Qiji and Jiang Kui formed another prosperous period of Ci in Song Dynasty. Xin Qiji, in particular, not only represents the highest achievement of Ci in the Southern Song Dynasty, but also occupies a very important position in the whole history of China literature. The failure of Kathy's Northern Expedition was a turning point in the Southern Song Ci. At this time, the theme of ci creation is to lament the feelings of daily life and linger in the natural scenery, and the mood turns to sadness. But this is not just a return to tradition. After long-term development and many poets' explorations in many directions, Ci is facing another opportunity to sum up after absorbing the expressive techniques of poetry and prose. Poets in the late Southern Song Dynasty played a great role in this respect. Although they paid more attention to tradition, they also screened and sorted out the techniques of previous poets, and made a new summary in the form and language skills of words. Although their works are not strong enough and the realm is not open enough, they have made important contributions to the development of Ci. ?
4. Yuan: Inherited from the Song Dynasty, he made great achievements, but there were also many poets, including many excellent works. The creation of meta-words can be divided into two stages. The first stage includes the creation of poets born in Mongolia before the unification of Yuan Dynasty. Poets at this stage include Yuan Haowen, Lu Wengui, Zhang Zhihan and Liu Min. Because most of them have the experience of national subjugation and war, the most valuable part of their poems is to express their yearning for the motherland and the feeling of thorns and camels brought about by the change of the world. The second stage includes the works of poets born after the unification of Yuan Dynasty and before the death of Yuan Dynasty. The poets in this period are Yu Ji, Wang Xu, Zhang Yu, Sadulla and Zhang Jian. They were born after Kublai Khan's political reform and did not experience too many wars. Their main content is to explore the origin of luggage and praise the semi-hidden and semi-vulgar life. In addition, there are a considerable number of Taoist words in Yuan Ci, accounting for about one seventh of the total. This is closely related to the reclusive social nature of neo-Taoists in the Jin and Yuan Dynasties and the fact that Taoists often associate with intellectuals. The achievements of these words are not high either. Generally speaking, the number of meta-words that are perfect in thought and art is very small, and the whole creative situation is declining. ?
5. Ming: Ci in Ming Dynasty is still in decline. But there are also some poets who are quite influential in the field of ci, leaving some excellent works. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Liu Ji, Yang Ji, Gao Qi and others suffered political setbacks, and their ci became a school of their own, each with its own characteristics, and the legacy of the Song and Yuan Dynasties remained. After the middle of Ming Dynasty, the style of ci declined. Yang Shen, Wang Shizhen, Tang Xianzu and others have created many works, but they are not writers. By the time of Yang Shen's creation, there were many incongruities with the movement, which actually led Ming Ci astray. At this time, the creation of ci has gradually declined. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, due to social changes, it brought a glimmer of life to the creation of Ci. Chen Zilong and Xia Wanchun died in the Qing Dynasty. Chen Zilong's ci is full of coquettish meaning and profound implication. His early works are romantic and gorgeous, graceful and restrained, while his later works are tender and sad, natural and charming. He turned over the nearly extinct words in Yuan and Ming Dynasties, which can be regarded as a master of Ming Ci. ?
6. Qing Dynasty: Ci experienced decline in Yuan and Ming Dynasties and flourished again in Qing Dynasty. This change is closely related to the changes of the times. Traditionally, words and Sanqu are more relaxed, close to daily life and fresh in emotion than poetry. Compared with Sanqu, the words are more elegant, and the language of Sanqu is sharp, novel, vulgar and lively, close to spoken language. The decline of Ci in Yuan and Ming Dynasties was actually the result of Sanqu replacing Ci. The language style of Sanqu is not suitable for introverted and elegant literati in Qing Dynasty. On the other hand, although many styles of Qing poetry coexist, from the beginning of Qing dynasty, the trend of emphasizing learning and knowledge is obvious. This has also caused the defect of lyric function of poetry, which needs to be made up from other styles. The prosperity of ci is the compensation for poetry. Among the main poets in the early Qing Dynasty, Chen Weisong and Zhu Yizun were Han poets, and Nalan Xingde was the most famous among Manchu poets.
Features:?
Ci is a lyric poem and a Yuefu poem that can be sung with music. Its strict beat and various characteristics in form are stipulated by the requirements of music.
Format:?
Characters can be roughly divided into three categories: (1) Xiao Ling (less than 58 words); (2) alto (59-90 words); (3) Long tune (above 9 1 word). This method was imposed by the Ming Dynasty and unscientific. Song people divided ci into four categories: preface, introduction, proximity and delay. However, this method also has the disadvantage of unclear classification. Simply put, preface is a small preface, quotation and approximate contract are equal to the middle tone, and slow word is the so-called long tone. There are 60 pieces of Liang Zhu and 70 pieces of Jiang Chengzi, but they all belong to the spiritual ci of the Song Dynasty. Dunhuang Quzi ci has some medium-long tunes. Liu Yong wrote some long tunes in the early Song Dynasty. Su Shi, Qin Guan, Huang Tingjian and others followed suit, and the long tune quickly moved from bud to peak. The characteristics of long tunes, in addition to the large number of words, are that the rhyme is generally sparse.