Transcript From One Page Songs to 4000 Page Books

From One Page Songs to 4000
Page Books
THE HISTORY AND CREATION OF ANCIENT
CHINESE POETRY
BY: LILY BROOKS
During the Beginning of Time
 This great creation started thousands of years ago
 Poetry just started out as songs on simple bamboo
 One of the first books of ancient poetry was “The
book of Songs” this was written on bamboo sticks at
about 600 B.C.E
The Meaning of the Lyrics
 The songs usually were performed in front of a big
crowd to express the problems with the court
officials to show the king how they were doing.
Confucius
 The Scholar (551-479 B.C.E) wanted his song to learn
poetry so he could fit into educated society.
 After the time of Confucius the simple songs started
to transform more into real poetry
The Set-Up of a Poem
 A typical poet used the first two lines to paint a
picture for the reader
 The third line would offer a twist or a different point
of view.
 And the last line would reflect on the poet’s thoughts
The Hard Truth
 Man in society were required to learn poetry in order
to pass as civilized
 They would also have to pass it on to their kids
Shi Poetry
 Empress Wu Zetian who ruled in the Tang Dynasty
(684-704) composed the shi style of poetry.
 Shi actually means “poetry” in Chinese.
An Example
 Though a shower bends the river-grass, a bird is
singing, while ghosts of the Six Dynasties pass like a
dream around a Forbidden City, under weeping
willows which loom still for three miles along the
misty moat. Bynner 308
So Think Twice
 When you think of the poets that we have/ had today
like, Shel Silverstein or even Robert Frost. Their
amazing and fascinating poetry would have been not
created if it was not for the ancient Chinese poets.
Bilbliography
Book Resources:
Liu, Siyu. “A Thousand Peaks” Poems from China.”
BCDS Library. Pacific View Press, Berkeley
California. 2002. 895.1.
Internet Resources:
Pei, Ming L. Poetry. China is Beautiful 1995-2005. 12
May 2009 http://www.chinapage.org/portrait.htm
Bibliography
 The Tang Dynasty “Cultural Resources: Chinese
Language Program.” 2002. Pasadena City College. 12
May 2009.
http://www.pasadena.edu/divisions/language/chine
se/home.htm