五言詩起源於婦女文學考

Abstract

In early Han, the author notes that there are five poems whose metre is based on the five syllable line (五言詩), i.e. ① "The Song of C'hi Fu-jen" (戚夫人歌), ② "The Song of Li Yen-nien" (李延年歌), ③ "The Resentful Poem fo Pan Chieh-yü" (班●妤怨歌), ④ "The Song of Yü Chi" (虞姫歌) and ⑤ "The Song of Yin Shang" (尹賞歌). At least three of these five poems were written by women, and all five poems deal with the life of women in this period. Many poems in the famous "Ku-shih Shih-chiu-shou" (古詩十九首) and "Yü-t'ai Hsin-yung" (玉臺新詠) likewise are the work of female poets or take women's life as their theme. Some of these poems were written by women and perhaps revised by male literate. Thus, the statement that "Poems In The Five-syllable Metre Originated From Women's Literature" appears to have considerable support. Moreover, some of the poems in the five-syllable metre included in the "Wen Hsüan" (文選) and "Yü-t'ai Hsin-yung" (玉臺新詠) take the form of narratives, which is an important characteristic of the style of folk songs in Chinese literature. The narrative style had a great influence on the later poems, both in the five-syllable metre such as "Yü-lin Lang" (羽林郞) by Hsin Yen-nien (辛延年) and the anonymous "Mo-shang Sang" (陌上桑) and "K'ung-chüeh Tung-nan Fei" (孔雀東南飛), and in the seven-syllable metre, such as "Lien-ch'ang Kung T'zu" (連昌宮詞), "Ch'ang-hen Ko" (長恨歌), "P'i-p'a Hsing" (琵琶行), "Chin Fu Yin" (秦婦吟), and "Yüan-yüan C'hü" (圓圓曲).