楚歌体论略

The Theoretical Study on Chu Ballads

楚歌源远流长,有着丰富的文化思想内涵与独特的艺术魅力。它既不是“楚人之歌”,也不是“楚地之歌”,它是具有鲜明的荆楚地域文化色彩,在先秦时代就流传于诸侯各国的一种以即兴而歌为表演形式,以短章杂言为主要体式,词句多带有“兮”字的诗歌体裁。先秦两汉时的绝大部分楚歌主要留存于古代文献的叙事中,其创作者与歌唱者同一,并有特定的叙事背景,楚歌与叙事相互说明与印证。“以悲为美”的审美特性决定了其审美倾向,因此,其主体风格多为悲凉哀婉。汉以后,楚歌经历了一次重大转变,此后便失去了其音乐色彩而不再有特定的叙事背景,演变成一种与其他文学样式并行的书面化的楚歌体。

The Chu ballads run a long history,which have rich cultural meaning and unique artistic charm.It is neither“the songs of Chu folks”,nor“the songs of the state Chu”,but a poem genre that marks distinct Jing Chu local culture,starting from pre-Qin,which was created improvisationally,using short and mixed poetic forms and the character“Xi”often.During the era of pre-Qin and Han,most of the Chu ballads were recorded in narrative documents.The improvisers were also singers,and the songs mostly had special narrative backgrounds.The songs and stories explained and demonstrated each other.“Sadness is beauty”explains its aesthetical tendency,and that is why its main style is sad and grievous.After Han dynasty,Chu ballads have changed their style,losing their musical color along with the narrative background,and becoming a genre which is equivalent with other literary genres.