"The Interaction between Sound and Image": Understanding Classical Chinese Poetry

This course pursues two main objectives. First, through close readings of selected masterpieces from different historical periods, it seeks to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the distinctive features of classical Chinese poetry, which arise from the unique linguistic characteristics of the Chinese language. Second, by examining the dynamic interplay between the oral tradition and the written tradition, sound and image, and popular expression and literati production, the course aims to trace a circular-spiral intra-generic trajectory in the development of the Chinese poetic tradition.