Write a poem in the style of the feng poems from the Book of Odes. You should try to follow as many of the formal features of the feng style as possible (i.e. 3 or 4 stanzas, four-line stanzas, short lines, repetition, use of natural imagery, rhyme, alliteration, etc). You should also try to write on a general theme that is typical of feng poems (i.e. love, courtship, festivities, labor, etc). However, and this applies to all the writing assignments you will be doing, I do not want you to pretend you are living in the Zhou dynasty and to write your poem from that perspective. Rather, you should draw from your own lives, experiences and emotions. Make the poem personal, but express your subjectivity through the feng style.
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In this assignment, you are asked to write a short biography (no more than 3 pages, typed, double-spaced), in the style of Ssu-ma Ch'ien. Write about a historical figure with whom you are familiar, for example someone from US history or the history of your home country, dead or still living. Like Ssu-ma Ch'ien, you need not restrict your subject to politicians, military figures, etc, (in other words, figures from popular culture are also certainly acceptable), but your subject should be someone well enough known that the TA grading the assignment knows about him/her. In writing your biography, you should try to convey a sense of the historian's (yourself) attitude to the subject. You should do this in two ways: (a) through narrative techniques like dialogue, description, etc; (b) direct moralizing intervention at the end of the biography. Do not try to cover the entire life of the figure you have chosen; rather, focus on one or two important incidents or events that bring out the character (with emphasis on moral character) of your subject.
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For your third assignment, you are asked to write a short philosophical parable (no more than 2 pages, typed, double-spaced), in the style of Chuang Tzu. Through this parable you should convey an idea that is consistent with Chuang Tzu's Taoism. You might want to focus on his attitude toward such things as death, society and civilization, morality and ethics, sagehood, nature, inaction, etc. But rather than use explicit language, try to convey your point through the story. Chuang Tzu's parables are often centered around a dialogue between two characters, one of whom is deluded, the other somehow enlightened. Sometimes they focus on a single figure who embodies in his behavior the Taoist ideal. Metaphoric language, word play, humor, etc. are all part of the Chuang Tzu style. Chuang Tzu is irreverent and even makes fun of himself.
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For your fourth assignment, you are asked to write a Quatrain,
5- or 7-character, in the style of Wang Wei. You will write two
versions of your poem. The first will be a "Chinese"
version of the poem, by which I mean something like the English
word-to-word translations that appear beneath the Chinese romanization
in your supplementary materials. Think of each individual word
as a Chinese character and show me that you understand the formal
rules for the Quatrain. Remember, classical Chinese has no articles
("a" or "the") and uses very few grammatical
words such as prepositions. So each word should be a "full"
word (noun, verb, adjective). First person pronouns are rarely
used in Chinese poetry. Remember also that the meter determines
the grammatical groupings of the words in the line.
In the second version, "translate" your first poem into
a more literary English style. Here make the poem read like an
English poem. Thematically, the poem should be consistent with
the kinds of poems Wang Wei wrote. Wang tended to write landscape
poetry in which a concrete scene is described and which may have
a meditative or philosophical dimension. He would likely not write
a passionate love poem.
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For the final writing assignment you are asked to write a lyric meter poem in the style of either Liu Yung or Li Ch'ing-chao using a popular tune with which you are familiar. Your lyrics should conform to the metrical patterns of the tune. You should write at least two verses, but need not write lyrics to the entire song. You poem might then consist of verse/chorus/verse/chorus, or some variation thereof. If the tune you chose is not commonly known, you might want to submit with your own lyrics a copy of the original lyrics so that we can judge how well you have followed the meter. There are numerous online resources that give lyrics to all kinds of popular songs. Students have the option of performing their song for the class on the last day of classes.
Remember, Liu Yung's poems tend describe love and eroticism, while Li Ch'ing-chao's are more refined and sophisticated. Be sure to indicate on your paper which poet you are emulating. Remember also that all Chinese poetry tends to use imagery to express emotion indirectly.
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