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Shi jing de niao lei yi xiang = Bird images of the Book of songs
Other titles
诗经的鸟类意象
Author
Foo, Wei Cheng
Supervisor
Chan, Chiu Ming
Abstract
Yixiang translated usually as "image" or "imagery", is one of the most important literary concepts in traditional Chinese literature. Yi, the first character in the term, refers to the sentiments, intention or thought expressed, while the xiang refers to the objects or things through which the yi is expressed. In literary appreciation, the two are closely related.
Shijing, or Book of Songs . is the first anthology of poems in the history of Chinese literature, and is said to have been edited by none other than Confucius himself. Therefore, it is only natural that it has exerted tremendous influence in later literary writings. In the 305 poems of the anthology, there are images of all kinds of things gf nature, among which bird-images constitute a most important one.
Given the importance of the concept of yixiang in literary appreciation and that of Book of Songs in Chinese literary history, and bearing in mind as well the special significance of bird-images in the songs, the author proposes to study the yixiang of the birds in the anthology. She begins with a concise definition of the term yixiang, and continues with an analysis of the various kinds of birds as they appear in the Book of Songs, studying their distribution and frequency of appearance in the various types of poems. This is followed by a detailed study of the individual bird-images, exploring into how the looks, sounds and movements of the birds matter in their function as images. In Chapter Three, the author examines the bird-images from a broader perspective. She looks into the relation between imagery and the two major rhetoric techniques which traditional Chinese critics called bi and xing in Shijing studies. Her argument is that images in general and bird-images in particular often do have the rhetoric functions of hi and xing. She further looks into how the various components in the bird-image combines as well as how the bird-images usually function together with other images in the Book of Songs. The last section of this chapter also examines into the relation between the bird-images and totems in primitive Chinese society. In the last chapter, the author examines the ways in which the bird-images in the Book of Songs might have influenced later Chinese poetry.
Shijing, or Book of Songs . is the first anthology of poems in the history of Chinese literature, and is said to have been edited by none other than Confucius himself. Therefore, it is only natural that it has exerted tremendous influence in later literary writings. In the 305 poems of the anthology, there are images of all kinds of things gf nature, among which bird-images constitute a most important one.
Given the importance of the concept of yixiang in literary appreciation and that of Book of Songs in Chinese literary history, and bearing in mind as well the special significance of bird-images in the songs, the author proposes to study the yixiang of the birds in the anthology. She begins with a concise definition of the term yixiang, and continues with an analysis of the various kinds of birds as they appear in the Book of Songs, studying their distribution and frequency of appearance in the various types of poems. This is followed by a detailed study of the individual bird-images, exploring into how the looks, sounds and movements of the birds matter in their function as images. In Chapter Three, the author examines the bird-images from a broader perspective. She looks into the relation between imagery and the two major rhetoric techniques which traditional Chinese critics called bi and xing in Shijing studies. Her argument is that images in general and bird-images in particular often do have the rhetoric functions of hi and xing. She further looks into how the various components in the bird-image combines as well as how the bird-images usually function together with other images in the Book of Songs. The last section of this chapter also examines into the relation between the bird-images and totems in primitive Chinese society. In the last chapter, the author examines the ways in which the bird-images in the Book of Songs might have influenced later Chinese poetry.
Date Issued
1997
Call Number
PL2466 F6
Date Submitted
1997