| For a long time,modern Chinese poetics has discussed the musicality of poetic forms in terms of a musical sensibility that inheres within the text itself,one that does not have an immediate relationship to a particular oral tune.The field has defined such works as “textual poems”(tushi).Although scholarly attention has been paid to the issue of modern “singable poetry”(geshi)in the past decade,there have been few if any in-depth discussions of the musicality of modern singable poetry,an important issue that deserves further exploration.This dissertation sets out to re-examine the concept and practice of singable poetry,rediscovering a wide array of relevant historical materials in order to challenge the notion of a singular trajectory in the development of Chinese poetry.This dissertation attempts to break through this singular mode of criticism in modern poetics,focusing on the vernacular “new textual poetry” and “new singable poetry” from the late Qing Dynasty to the 1940 s,exploring the musicality of Chinese new poetry in the process of modernization.In this essay,the “singable poetry” refers to singable poems by literati,emphasizing the ideal status of the concepts of “musico-poetic” and “intimacy/harmony”(heyue).The “new poetry”,however,does not only refer to the Chinese new poetry since the May 4th Movement,but refers to different “new” practices carried out by Chinese intellectuals when confronting modern things and modern concepts during the late Qing till the 1940 s.Historical materials used in this dissertation are rich and reliable,including materials from the Shandong Museum,the Central Conservatory of Music,and the National Library,as well as primary sources collected in Taiwan,the United Kingdom,and the United States.In engaging deeply with these sources,important but rarely discussed issues while receive extensive examination,while some issues that have received past scholarly attention will be re-interpreted along new lines.This dissertation can be divided into two parts.The first part explores the musical tradition of Chinese poetry and its core elements.The first part of the dissertation grounds itself in studies of the primary etymon for “shi”(?),“zhi”(?)and “xing”(?)by archaic linguistics,as well as the classical poetic theories of Chen Shih-hsiang,i.e.his understanding of “the lyrical tradition” and “genetic significance of Xing.” It puts forward the concept that the primordial musical elements of Chinese poetry is “xing.” The musical tradition of Chinese poetry refers to the lyrical activities that express “mind articulation”(yanzhi)and “feeling expression”(yuanqing)with the aim of “purposiveness” through the “musico-poetic” musical language under the influence of “xing”.Its original form,“word-music”(yueshi),has developed into two forms after the “separation of sound and meaning.” The first form is “textual poetry” with textual musicality,the other is “singable poetry,” which has inherited the nature of the “musicopoetic” of its origin.As such,the musicality of new Chinese poetry has “xing” at its core,but “xing” is inherited and re-articulated within the context of modern China's particular historical experience.Such a discussion provides the theoretical premise for the rest of the dissertation,laying the conceptual foundation for the integration of the past and present,arguing for a dually-active-relationship between the two forms of poetry: textual poetry and singable poetry.The second part discusses,respectively,four significant aspects of the musicality of modern Chinese poetry in the modern context during the late Qing Dynasty till 1940 s,doing so in terms of the “‘circumstances' of singable poetry in the late Qing Dynasty and the early period of the Republic of China”;“the musical performance by ‘phonetic construction of meaning' of the new textual poetry”;“the gestural rhythm and the body”;and “the melodising of new textual poetry and the modernization of singable poetry.” Major conclusions to emerge out of such examinations are as follows:First,in terms of the “translingual practice” of poetry in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China,the modern structure of poetry has undergone a significant transformation,generating two new forms of singable poetry in terms of “ouge” and “changge”.In fact,the new singable poetry,with its breakthroughs and contradictions,is a new “situation” created by revolutionary Chinese intellectuals who suffered from anxiety when confronting the new things and “new music”.The contribution of the translingual practice of poetry to the musicality of modern Chinese poetry is just as important as the problem it exposes during this period.It evokes a complete system of linguistic expression for modern Chinese poetry that enables poets to create poetic expressions suitable to their perceptions of the modern world they confront.Secondly,rather than focuse on the rules of rhymes and poetic forms based on grammar,the issue of the musicality of Chinese new poetry during the May 4th Movement to the 1940 s should be discussed in the context of the modernization of the Chinese language.In order to do so,the second and the third chapters discusses respectively two different dimensions of the musicality of Chinese new poetry,namely,“soundability” and “embodying”.The second chapter analyzes the debates and discussions in the process of the construction and reflection of Chinese grammar from the late Qing Dynasty to the 1940 s.It explores how the Chinese new poems from the May 4th to the 1940 s excavated the nature of “soundability” of Chinese characters under the influence of the central concept of “xing,” creatively connecting “sound” with “meaning” by presenting three kinds of phonic performance: “phonic depicting and symbolizing”,“repeatedly circulating melody”,and “inaudible melodies in Chinese grammar”.The third chapter begins from an exploration of the “gestural significance” of modern poetic verses and a summarization of the series of classical and modern poetical theories related to the creation of poetry and physical rhythm.In doing so,the third chapter examines the concept of the “gestural rhythm” embodied by the human body,tracking how the new poetry “embodied” such rhythms in its linguistic constructions.This examination further transforms the issue of musicality into a creational metaphor centered on the “sense” of the body in the occurrence of “xing”.Thereby,poetry itself could embody the sensibilities and textures of lived experience within modern time and space.Such a perspective opens up a new understanding of the temporal and spatial dynamics of Symbolist,Modernist,and “July” School poems produced by Bian Zhilin,Feng Zhi,Mu Dan,Zang Kejia and Tian Bian in the 1930 s and 1940 s.Thirdly,in regard to the issue that “new poems can't sing”,the fourth chapter explores the question of the “melodising” of new Chinese textual poems in the 1920 s and 1940 s.Rather than examining how poems “entered music” by “setting lyrics/poem to music”(yiqu tianci),instead,this dissertation emphasizes that musical creation in poetry should be understood by returning to the level of the “sense” produced by the “phonic gesture” as a mediating agent.Here,the technique of “tailoring”(liangti caiyi)is used to give expression to Xing within creative practice.Meanwhile,this process of melodising also promotes the modernization of new singable poetry dominated by the “Chinese art song” during this period.As a result,the new singable poems transformed from the “stage of the imitation” in the early Qing and early Republic of China to the “stage of development”.It should be noted that although the techniques and concepts of modern composition since the May 4th solved the problem that vernacular poetry could not “sing,” this dissertation emphasizes the “convertibility” of the musicality of new textual poetry on the level of “gestural rhythm”,and by no means states that melodising would enhance the poetic artistry or that the former is a more advanced form of the latter.Finally,exploring the musicality of Chinese new poetry formed in the interactive development of “new tushi” and “new geshi” in the context of the modernity of Chinese poetry,this dissertation positively responds to the issue of how the Chinese language has made a sound to the world since the 20 th century.The musicality of modern Chinese poetry can be further understood as a lyrical “gestural” that can be listened to or read by the body,be transformed into music,and even be transformed into other arts such as dance,painting,etc.,being shared and expressed by all humanity by transcending time and space.The research presented by this dissertation will help bring about a more complete picture of modern Chinese poetry,illuminating a different beauty consigned to the shadows in current poetic criticism.Through this new perspective,the dissertation grounds itself not only in poetics,but also musicology,linguistics,philology,rhetoric,grammar,as well as psychology,which are combined in an interdisciplinary manner to provide a new interpretation of the musicality of modern Chinese new poetry. |
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