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Shi (Poetry)
中国古代文学的主要体式，也是中国古代最早产生的文学体式。它按照一定的节奏、韵律、字数和句式要求，用凝练的语言、丰富的想象反映社会生活、表达思想情感。“诗”与“文”是中国古代文学的主要形态，古人所说的“诗”主要分古体诗和近体诗，一般不包括唐以后出现的词曲。古体诗也叫古风，是近体诗产生前除楚辞体之外的各种诗体的通称，其格律比较自由，不拘对仗、平仄，押韵较宽，篇幅长短不限，句子有四言、五言、六言、七言、杂言；近体诗也叫格律诗，它的字数、押韵、平仄、对仗都有严格的规定，有五绝、七绝、五律、七律、排律等。诗与词曲的区别是：诗不配乐，词曲可配乐歌唱。在中国，诗已有两千多年的历史，古人认为诗能够连通人与自然、表达志向、抒发情性，集中体现了中国文学艺术的精神特质与审美追求，这与西方将诗看作文学的门类很不相同。在中国古代，儒家思想对诗的创作有重要指导作用，而道家与佛教思想对于诗的意境理论影响深远。因中国最早的诗集是《诗经》，所以后世也用“诗”专指《诗经》。
Shi (诗) is a major genre of ancient Chinese literature, the earliest literary form that emerged in China. Observing the requirements of a certain rhythm, rules of rhyming, number of characters, and type of verses, and using concise language and rich imagination, it reflects social life and conveys thoughts and emotions. Shi and wen (文) are two principal forms of ancient Chinese literature. Shi, as referred to by the ancient Chinese, consists of the older type of poetry and the latter type of poetry. It generally does not include ci (词 lyric) and qu (曲 melody), which appeared as literary genres after the Tang Dynasty. The older type of shi is also called gufeng (古风), meaning ancient style, which is a general appellation for all kinds of poetic forms produced prior to the latter type of shi, except the style employed in the odes of Chu. With relatively few restrictions in rules and forms, shi is not constrained by any antithetical arrangement or a fixed tone pattern, and its rhyme is fairly free. In addition, the length of a piece is not limited. A verse may have four, six, seven, or a mixed number of Chinese characters. The latter type of shi is also called gelüshi (格律诗), meaning poetry with fixed patterns. Its number of characters, rhyming, tone pattern, and antithetical arrangement are all strictly fixed. A poem of this type may contain four lines (known as jue 绝), each with five or seven characters, or eight lines (known as lü 律), each with five or seven characters. Occasionally, it is much longer than normal, expanding to one and a half dozen lines, which is referred to as pailü (排律). The difference between shi, and ci and qu is that the former is not set to music, while the latter may be set to music and sung. Shi has existed as a literary form for more than 2,000 years in China. Ancient Chinese used shi to connect humans with nature, voice aspirations, and give expression to emotions. It embodied the spirit and aesthetic pursuits of literature and art in ancient China, which is very different from the West, which only sees poetry as a category of literature. In ancient China, Confucian thought played an important guiding role in poetic creation, while Daoist and Buddhist thoughts had a profound influence on the theory of poetry’s artistic conception. Since The Book of Songs was China’s earliest collection of poems, later generations also used shi to refer to The Book of Songs in particular.
引例 Citations：
◎诗言志，歌永言，声依永，律和声。（《尚书·尧典》）
（诗是表达内心志向的，歌是用语言来吟唱的。随诗的吟唱而有抑扬疾徐的声音变化，再用音律来调和声音。）
Shi gives expression to aspirations while songs are verses for chanting. In singing, shi undergoes changes in tempo and tone; then it harmonizes sounds with meter and melody. (The Book of History)
◎诗，言其志也；歌，咏其声也；舞，动其容也；三者本于心，然后乐器从之。（《礼记·乐记》）
（诗，用语言表达人的志向；歌，用吟唱表达内心的想法；舞，是将内心的想法呈现于形体的各种舞姿。这三者都发自内心，之后才以乐器演奏加以配合。）
Shi expresses aspirations through written words, whereas songs do so via chanting. Dancing is a sequence of body movements to project one’s emotions. All these three forms of art come forth from the heart, accompanied by musical performance. (The Book of Rites)
◎气之动物，物之感人，故摇荡性情，行诸舞咏。照烛三才，晖丽万有，灵祗待之以致飨，幽微藉之以昭告。动天地，感鬼神，莫近于诗。（钟嵘《诗品序》）
（四季的气候引起景物变化，景物变化感发人的内心，引起人的性情起伏跌宕，并通过舞蹈吟唱表现出来。它辉映着天、地、人，让万物亮丽生辉，天上的神祇依赖它接受享祀，幽冥的神灵也通过它明告天下。而感动天地、鬼神的，没有比诗更接近的了。）
The four seasons bring changes in scenery, which in turn stir one’s emotions. One gives expression to such emotions through dancing and chanting. Poetry thus illuminates heaven, earth and humans, making everything clear and bright. The gods in heaven rely on it to perform sacrificial rituals and the spirits in the nether world use it to communicate with the world. Among those which move heaven, earth and the spirits, nothing comes near poetry! (Zhong Rong: Preface to”The Critique of Poetry”)
