Research On Theories And Forms Of Rhythms In Chinese Modern Poems

"Rhythm", as the most essential issue of a poem, is helpful to the construction of the style of Chinese modern poems and poetic, and the cultivation of aesthetic taste. This dissertation aims at exploring the principles of rhythm in Chinese modern poems by collecting theories of poetic rhythm, examing texts and comparing different forms with the angles of comparative poetic, linguistics and psychology. It sets up the research system of rhythms in Chinese modern poems and lists representative theories and poems in every type of forms.The dissertation mainly illustrates three parts, which are theories of rhythm, forms of rhythm and comparison of rhythms.The first part involves Chapter One to Chapter Three. In this part, the theories of rhythm in modern poems are discussed and analyzed from such angles as the rhythms'features, organizations, forms and functions in the way of synchronicity research. Via the study in this part, the analysis and description of the forms of these theories are founded, and they also serve the means and evidence for further explanation.The first chapter discusses the features of rhythms in modern poems.Rhythm in Chinese modern poems refers to the generally regular situation of language perception of some key items in language, and its style, form, meaning, emotion and in physiological sense in the process of creation, broadcasting and reception. Rhythms formed by phonetic, stylistic, formal and meaning features intend to express the essential meaning of the poem, while those formed by emotional and physiological features aim at the functional meaning of the poem. The former rhythms are classified as external rhythms, while the latter internal. Combining all above, it forms the rhythm system of Chinese modern poem.Rhythm is different from poetic meter. Poems with the latter contain certain historical connotations and it is rather complicated to transfer from meter to rhythm. From the angle of rhythm, it needs further discussion about the term of "modern poems with meter". Rhythm fundamentally speaking, is a psychological phenomenon. It is interconnected with human physiological issues such as breaths, and vision, which forms the physiological and psychological basis of rhythm in Chinese modern poems.Chapter Two mainly discusses the forms and functions of rhythm in Chinese modern poems.The form of rhythms in poems refers to. firstly, the structure of levels which is the external and organizational form of rhythm. Secondly, it indicates the using and moving of rhythms, such as the forms of repetition, interconnection and so on. Lastly, rhythm is the specific forms, such as phonetic rhythms, emotional rhythms and so on. The poetic text is composed of different levels of rhythmic units, forming the external form of rhythm; it exists in forms of moving throughout every phase of creation, broadcasting and reception of poems. It filters into different levels, expressing in a variety of ways. Rhythm could be classified in to several types according to the ways of its using and organization in different rhythmic perspectives. These three aspects describe the form of rhythm in poems in different angles. They interact with each other and are inseparable.Consulting poetic texts and following the basic theories, rhythm in Chinese modern poems is put into the five levels, that is, syllables, foot, line, stanza, composition. The moving ways of rhythm in modern poems are complicatedly interconnected with each other, such as combining, repeating and so on. Rhythms in classical poems are advancing along the road of "meterization", while that in the modem ones shows a trend of diversification, such as the changing of forms of rhythms.The third chapter continues analyzing the forms and functions of rhythm in Chinese modern poems.There are some special items in the rhythm in Chinese modern poems such as punctuation and form words. They are involved in the construction of rhythmic units and become a part of the form of rhythm. Due to the peculiarity of their grammatical function, they play a role of coordinating different forms of rhythm, which can be viewed as a special rhythmic function. Punctuation is helpful to adjust the rhythm of meanings, simulate phonetic rhythm and present emotional rhythm, though they may cause negative effects if not used properly. As a large number of form words have flushed into Chinese modern poems, bringing changes in the stress in the language flow, causing the problems of dividing rhythmic units and classifying rhymes, form words have played a significant role in the phonetic and meaning rhythms in Chinese modern poems.The basic function of rhythm in Chinese modern poems should be inspiring, coordinating, concentrating and creating. The mode of rhythm could affect the creation of poetic thoughts, and vice versa. Rhythm in Chinese modern poems has unique functions in the interaction of body and heart, the coordination of feelings and the creation of poetic beauty. Generally speaking, Rhyme, as the most obvious mode of response, is capable of producing expected effects, and then further changing readers" attention. Strict rhythmic form could ease physical tension and search for balance between poetic sentiment and beauty. Phonetic rhythm is repeated in continuous order, bringing either heavy or swift aesthetic effects. The inverted repetition of phonetic rhythm and language formal rhythm can result in echoing effects, while the repetition of visual rhythm can. more often than not, achieve the effects of harmony.The second part includes Chapter Four. Five and Six. It analyzes and summarizes the representative poetic theories and creation practices in the history of Chinese modern poems. It also analyzes every kind of theoretical forms of poetics, the practices of rhythm by modern poets and their experiences using the rules summed up in the first part of this dissertation.Chapter Four deals with theories of natural syllable rhythm.New poetic school of vernacular Chinese was in agreement with natural syllables, but might have some different understandings among its members. Hu Shi fully illustrated his view on natural syllables from the perspectives of function, connotation and principle of organization. In his opinion, natural syllables could change with the poetic materials. Hu shi classified syllables into the parts of yin and jie, that is phones and stops respectively, which actually explained the connotation of natural syllables. He regarded freedom and nature as the organizational principles of natural syllables. Kang Baiqing, on the other hand, put stress on the interaction between emotional rhythms and natural syllables. He particularly pointed out the importance of emotion for natural syllables. He proposed a way of descriptive poetic creation by clearing up items to become natural, which should follow the principle that natural syllables were natural emotional rhythms. Yu Pingbo's view was similar with that of Kang Baiqing's. Suggesting combination of the natural and the artificial, he replaced Hu's "freedom and nature" with "freedom and reality", calling for the art of phonetic organization with refined arts and modification.There were two leads in the creation practice of natural syllable rhythm. Hu Shi, Yu Pingbo, Liu Bannong, Liu Dabai all did by reforming the traditional verses. Earlier experiments of Hu Shi on syllables mainly applied the old types, while his later ones formed free and stylistic verses. Yu Pingbo adopted some classical ways of creating rhythm such as repeated phones and words. The westernization in his poems were mainly punctuations, which helped casting of syllables. Liu Bannong and Liu Dabai's practices were the adoption of ballads, making use of a large number of vernacular oral expressions. In terms of styles of ballads, Liu Bannong borrowed more from folk songs, while Liu Dabai mainly made use of ballads. Zhou Zuoren. however, studied western art of poetic syllables, and practised from the outside (prose) of poetic genres. His experiment mainly included phonetic rhythms with prose features, and western stylistic rhythms which certainly paved the way for arts of syllables in new poems, but caused some problems as well.The fifth chapter discusses the theory of emotional rhythms.Guo Moruo and Dai Wangshu are the representatives of this theory. Emotional rhythm is one of the forms of internal rhythms, which is an organic unity. Both of them focused on emotional rhythm and its functions, but never excluded external rhythms. There is not much difference in their views of emotional rhythms. Nevertheless. Guo believed that poetic rhythms are the natural ups and downs of emotions, and emphasized the direct description and natural flow of emotions in the process of poetic creation. To be specific, he applied rhythms with repeated forms, the tones of exclamation and wailing, and the styles of different forms of languages. Dai Wangshu thought poetic rhythms is the changes of emotions, stressing the ingenious style of writing in creation. He often used echoing rhythms to achieve the effects of strengthening emotions by adjusting light and stressed rhythms and stopping or extending the rhythms.Chapter Six illustrates the theory of harmonious rhythm.New Moon poets are representatives of this theory. They believe the harmony indicated by rhythms, that is, an aesthetic effect of changing syllables and organic unity. In the construction of rhythmic units, they pursued feelings of proportion. Sun Dayu proposed the term of phonetic groups, Rao Mengkan suggested the idea of stresses, while Wen Yiduo came up with the expression of foot. They attached importance to the organization of rhythmic levels, especially the construction of lines. Sun Dayu explored the numbers of syllables in a foot and the number of feet in a line. Zhu Xiang emphasized the independence and balance of lines. In the construction of poetic styles, New Moon poets mostly used the method of adjusting lines with different lengths and attempting to achieve unity and harmony in the experiments of rhymes and phones.Wen Yiduo was outstanding in the theory of harmonious rhythm. He dealt with rhymes and rhythms in the same way, emphasizing the structural function of rhythms in modern poems, thus establishing the macro view of rhythms in modern poems. In his creation, audio rhythm and visual rhythm weigh the same, reaching the rhythmic effects of keep balance, though it might fail from time to time.The third part, that is. Chapter Seven, looks at rhythms in Chinese modern poems in a comparative perspective.In the process of transformation, the "three issues of rhymes" which were depended on by rhythms in Chinese ancient poems changed along. Modern Chinese has taken the place of ancient Chinese, causing the collapse of tradition rules of stresses and tones which had been accepted partly by modern rhythms. The old and new phones and rhymes are the same, but the difference lies in the ways of rhymes. Modern poems have adjusted their rhymes according to the features of modern Chinese. Rhyme, as a key rhythm stop, is always vital, but whether it is applied or not is determined by modern poems. During the learning and experimenting of western poetics, the importance of syllables is stressed. However, the term "syllables" means differently in both features and connotations. Rhythms in both ancient and modern poems are the same in expressing the inner part of humans. Modern poets made use of harmonious rhythms in ancient poems to form their theories of rhythms and skills. Modern poems began to show signs of visualizing the styles in the process of learning, such as "jumping lines" and so on. Western rhymes' effects on Chinese poems are mainly in the styles. Chinese poems largely made use of "repeated sentence patterns", which can be considered as a response to the repetition in Chinese ancient poems. Nonetheless, viewing from the diversity and creation of repetition, it seems that modern poems accepted more from western poems. Chinese poems have turn to the direction of narrative rhythms rather than the perceptual rhythms in ancient Chinese poems.