Selected Song Ci Poems

AnonymousAug 2021

3.0

Word count: 8.2K words
Chapters: 83

Summary

Poetry is the finest material for cultivating linguistic competence and literary sensibility and for learning to master the art of language. The ci poems here range over patriotic aspiration, boudoir love, the sorrow of travel and parting, frontier scenery, history and objects, fields and mountains, and local customs. Some are ingeniously conceived, some picturesque, some steeped in local color, some profound in meaning. Together they reflect the historical character of the Song dynasty and the artistic course of ci poetry's development.

Editor's review

This is a selected reader devoted to Song ci, whose core value lies in presenting the diversity of its subjects and styles within a limited space. From patriotic aspiration and boudoir love to the sorrow of travel and parting and frontier scenery, and further to history and objects, fields and mountains, and local customs, the selections cover the common lyrical directions of Song ci and roughly trace its course from the lingering strain of the Five Dynasties to the Southern Song. For the general reader its use is not to replace a literary history but to supply a body of texts worth reciting again and again: in ingenious conception one sees the poet's craftsmanship, in picturesque passages one feels the beauty of the language, and in local color and profound meaning one is led to think about Song society and the minds of its literati. Read "selected" as an entrance, not the whole picture; when you find a poet you like, go on to a dedicated collection. The book offers no complex textual scholarship, and suits bedside reading, memorization, or supplementary material for the Chinese classroom, as well as adults wishing to take up classical literature again.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Classical literature lovers who want to read famous Song ci in concentrated form and cultivate a feel for the language
Chinese teachers and writers who need poetic material for teaching or writing
Students and self-learners who hope to memorize one short ci a day
Casual readers who enjoy short lyrical pieces and prefer to dip in at random

Not a good fit for

Researchers who need a complete Song ci anthology or the full works of a single poet
Specialist readers looking for detailed chronology, textual collation, and scholarly annotation
Readers entirely new to classical verse who are unwilling to consult reference works

Reading tips

Read by theme: begin with love and parting, then move to patriotism and history, to hear the different voices within one form.
Read each ci twice: first for the literal sense, then for how it opens, closes, and turns, and try retelling it in your own words.
Keep a small notebook of lines you like and return to it regularly; this yields more than reading straight through.
Read aloud or follow an audio recording to feel the musicality and the rhythm of long and short lines.

版权信息
宴山亭
木兰花
醉垂鞭
一丛花令
天仙子
浣溪沙
浣溪沙
清平乐
木兰花
木兰花
踏莎行
踏莎行
蝶恋花
玉楼春
采桑子
踏莎行
蝶恋花
木兰花
浪淘沙
曲玉管
雨霖铃
蝶恋花
定风波
少年游
八声甘州
桂枝香
千秋岁引
清平乐
蝶恋花
蝶恋花
鹧鸪天
生查子
木兰花
清平乐
阮郎归
六令
御街行
虞美人
留春令
水调歌头
永遇乐
临江仙
江城子
贺新郎
念奴娇
满庭芳
满庭芳
浣溪沙
阮郎归
风流子
兰陵王
琐窗寒
八丑
夜飞鹊
满庭芳
花犯
解语花
蝶恋花
关河令
绮寮怨
应天长
夜游宫
青玉案
浣溪沙
石州慢
蝶恋花
天香
望湘人
石州慢
兰陵王
满江红
卜算子
贺新郎
念奴娇
水龙吟
永遇乐
祝英台近
青玉
菩萨蛮
点绛唇
踏莎行
声声慢

FAQ

This book contains only Song ci. What advantage does it have over a general poetry anthology?

The advantage of focusing on Song ci alone is concentration: over a period readers stay with one form and more easily see the similarities and differences in subject and style. Compared with anthologies mixing shi, ci, and qu, it removes the distraction of switching forms and suits those who want to become specifically familiar with Song ci.

There are no annotations or translations. What if I don't understand it?

Start by using reference works or reliable online resources for difficult words and allusions; there is no need to wrestle with every character. Begin with short pieces built on common images, build up a stock of frequent words and allusions, then go on to longer or more allusion-heavy pieces.

Will a selection like this leave out important poets?

Every anthology is limited by space and by the editor's judgment and cannot exhaust the poets of the Northern and Southern Song. Treat this book as a starting point: after finishing it, supplement your reading by interest with a collection of a particular school or poet, and use a literary history to grasp the overall outline.

Is it suitable for exam preparation?

It can serve as supplementary material for memorizing and becoming familiar with famous pieces, but it cannot replace textbooks or the exam syllabus. For exams, select pieces according to specific requirements and add annotation, appreciation, and background knowledge; avoid memorizing lines without understanding them.

Comments

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About the author

Anonymous Author

Anonymous is not a real personal name but a general Chinese designation for authors whose names are unknown, lost, or unsigned. Neither nationality nor dates of birth and death can be verified, and available public information is limited, so the works attributed to this name are the only basis for description. The collection holds 2,078 works under Anonymous, spanning medicine, classics, historical readings, ancient poetry, classical literature, and philosophy. Representative works include The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon: Lingshu, Mencius, The Book of Documents, Nineteen Old Poems, Complete Song Ci, and The Peacock Flies Southeast. Most of these works took shape through long transmission and editing, emerging either from collective folk creation or from authors whose names were lost over time. In ancient China, the Book of Songs, the Great Learning, and many popular storybooks and plays were signed Anonymous because their authors could not be traced. Anonymous works cross the classics, histories, philosophical writings, medical texts, and poetry; their subjects are broad, and their styles vary from archaic simplicity to clear naturalness, making them important and influential sources for understanding ancient Chinese thought, medicine, and literature.