Ci (poetry) - History

History

Although the oldest surviving textual examples of surviving ci are from 8th century CE Dunhuang manuscripts, 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 of ci 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. 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 ci 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 ci poem or a linked group of ci poems in an application of the chuanqi form of short story tales to poetry.