社甫と七言律詩 : ことに拗體詩について

Abstract

A sequence of eight poems in heptasyllabic regulated verse entitled "Autumn Meditations" ("Qiuxing" 秋興), composed by Du Fu 杜甫 in his final years, is highly rated as a masterpiece in which the form of regulated verse and poetic sentiment are in perfect harmony. Generally speaking, the later Du Fu's poems in heptasyllabic regulated verse were written, including these eight poems, the greater their reputation, and Du Fu is considered to have reached an almost perfect state of poetic creativity in his final years. It is true that he aimed to perfect heptasyllabic regulated verse as a sophisticated verse form, but this represents no more than one side of his intentions for heptasyllabic regulated verse. Regulated verse is a form of verse in which rules governing the use of level and deflected syllables, syllabic patterns in adjacent lines, and parallel constructions are systematically observed, and although Du Fu worked rigorously to refine the heptasyllabic regulated verse form, at the same time he also undertook experiments that completely undermined its rules. These were his poems that did not follow conventional rules of prosody, which are known as aotishi 拗體詩. These poems are characterized by the use of unconventional metre that would appear to completely ignore the tonal prosody of regulated verse. In the history of Chinese poetry, an awareness of the existence of four tones in the Chinese language emerged during the Six Dynasties, and eventually methods were devised for artificially regulating the four tones to give poems a particular rhythm. By the Tang period, the four tones had been divided into the level tone and the deflected tones (rising, departing, and entering), and the prosody of regulated verse, with its different patterns of level and deflected syllables, was born. While making every effort to refine the format of heptasyllabic regulated verse, which still had only a short history, Du Fu could also be said to have undertaken experiments with the aotishi to deliberately deviate from artificial tonal rhythm and restore the natural rhythms of old-style poetry. However, the aotishi was not a return to the unconstrained old style of poetry, but represented a new poetic order that allowed freedom in the use of level and deflected syllables but partially reflected the distinctions between the four tones at the ends of odd-numbered lines. Du Fu continued experimenting with the aotishi throughout his life.