Shi (poetry)

Shi^[1] and shih^[2] are romanizations of the character 詩/诗, the Chinese word for all poetry generally and across all languages.

In Western analysis of the styles of Chinese poetry, shi is also used as a term of art for a specific poetic tradition, modeled after the Old Chinese works collected in the Confucian Classic of Poetry. This anthology included both aristocratic poems (the "Hymns" and "Eulogies") and more rustic works believed to have derived from Huaxia folk songs (the "Odes"). They are composed in ancient Chinese, mostly in four-character lines. In such analysis, "shi" poetry is contrasted with other forms such as the Chu-derived "cí" and the Han-era "fu".^[3]^[4] This use is not common within Chinese literature, however, which instead classifies these poems into other categories such as classical Chinese poetry, Fields and Gardens poetry, and "curtailed" poetry.^[5]

^ Based on the Hanyu Pinyin romanization system developed by mainland China in the 1950s and used by Taiwan since the 2000s.
^ Based on the Wade-Giles system formerly used by Taiwan and English-speaking countries.
^ Watson, Burton. Chinese Lyricism: Shih Poetry from the Second to the Twelfth Century. Columbia Univ. Press (New York), 1971. ISBN 0-231-03464-4.
^ Frankel, Hans. The Flowering Plum and the Palace Lady. Yale Univ. Press (New Haven), 1978. ISBN 0-300-02242-5.
^ Yip Wai-lim. Chinese Poetry: An Anthology of Major Modes and Genres. Duke Univ. Press (Durham), 1997. ISBN 0-8223-1946-2.