Ci (poetry)

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Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese

(pronounced [tsʰɨ̌]; Chinese: ) is a type of lyric poetry in the tradition of Classical Chinese poetry. use a set of poetic meters derived from a base set of certain patterns, in fixed-rhythm, fixed-tone, and variable line-length formal types, or model examples. The rhythmic and tonal pattern of the ci are based upon certain, definitive musical song tunes. They are also known as Changduanju (長短句/长短句, "lines of irregular lengths") and Shiyu (詩餘/诗馀, "that which is beside poetry").

Typically, the number of characters in each line and the arrangement of tones were determined by one of around 800 set patterns, each associated with a particular title, called cípái 詞牌. Originally, they were written to be sung to a tune of that title, with a set rhythm, rhyme, and tempo. Therefore, the title may have nothing to do with its content, and several ci often shared the same title had had little or nothing to do with the topics of those poems, which rather referred to their shared rhythmic and tonal patterns. Some would have a "subtitle" or a commentary, sometimes as long as a paragraph, indicating the content. Sometimes, for the sake of clarity, a is listed under its title, followed by its first line.



Although the oldest surviving textual examples of surviving are from 8th century CE Dunhuang manuscripts,[1] beginning in the poetry of the Liang Dynasty, the ci followed the tradition of the Shi Jing and the yuefu: they were lyrics which developed from anonymous popular songs into a sophisticated literary genre; although in the case of the form some of its fixed-rhythm patterns have an origin in Central Asia. The form was further developed in the Tang Dynasty. Although the contributions of Li Bo (also known as Li Po, 701 – 762) are fraught with historical doubt, certainly the Tang poet Wen Tingyun (812–870) was a great master of the ci, writing it in its distinct and mature form.[2] One of the more notable practitioners and developers of this form was Li Yu of the Southern Tang Dynasty during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. However, the ci form of Classical Chinese poetry is especially associated with the poetry of the Song Dynasty, during which it was indeed a popular poetic form. A revival of the poetry form occurred during the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty which was characterized by an exploration of the emotions connected with romantic love together with its valorization, often in a context of a brief poetic story narrative within a poem or a linked group of poems in an application of the chuanqi form of short story tales to poetry.[3]


Two main categories of employed in Song Dynasty were xiǎolìng 小令 (the original form since Pre-Song) and màncí 慢詞 (starting after Liu Yong), depending on the song being either short and in fast tempo or long and in slow tempo. Later in Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasties, the , or rather the cípái, are classified for the number of characters it dictates. It's called xiǎolìng 小令 if it's no more than 58 characters, zhōngdiào 中調 for 59–90, and chángdiào 長調 for over 90. If the ci appears in one stanza, it's called dāndiào 單調, mostly xiǎolìng written in Pre-Song era. The largest majority is shuāngdiào 雙調 with two stanzas or qüè 闋 in identical or nearly identical patterns. There also are rare cases of sāndié 三疊 and sìdié 四疊, for three and four qüè, respectively. In terms of style, can also be classified as either wǎnyuē 婉約 (grace) or háofàng 豪放 (bold).


Most cípái consist of three characters. The literal meaning of a cípái can be rather obscure, making it difficult to translate. Some are taken straight from earlier poems, and some are clearly of Non-Han origin—mostly songs introduced from Central Asia. Some cípái have alternative names, usually taken from a famous piece of that very cípái. There also are variants of certain cípái, indicated by a prefix or a suffix.




In the title of this , "the Tune of Riverside City" is the cípái, followed by the first sentence of the poem. Su Shi got married when he was 19, his wife 16. His wife died when she was only 27. Because of his government duties, Su Shi had moved to many different places in China, all far away from his hometown. One night in early 1075, about 10 years after her death, Su Shi dreamed of his wife, then composed this famous .

Famous poets[edit]

Tang Dynasty & Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms
Song Dynasty

See also[edit]

Notes and references[edit]

  1. ^ Frankel, 216
  2. ^ Davis, lxvii
  3. ^ Zhang, 76-80