Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T16:36:24.345Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Parallelism and Antithesis: Structural Principles in the Mind and in Literature from a Chinese Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2020

Zhang Longxi*
Affiliation:
Department of Chinese and History, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Email: [email protected]

Abstract

Roman Jakobson famously defined poetry as pivoting on the metaphorical axis with parallelism as a major feature, and James Kugel argues that parallelism is the defining feature of biblical poetry. The parallel structure – including its variations of symmetry and antithesis – is crucial for classical Chinese poetry. In drawing on both Chinese and Western critical views on the symmetrical structure of parallelism and antithesis, this paper will explore the relationship between the cognitive and linguistic correlation in the formation of parallel structure in literary language, particularly poetry, and argue for the basis of parallelism as deeply embedded in the mind and manifested in literary expressions.

Type
Articles
Copyright
© 2020 Academia Europaea

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Curd, P (ed.) (1996) A Presocratics Reader: Selected Fragments and Testimonia. McKirahan, RD (trans.). Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company.Google Scholar
De Saussure, F (1959) Course in General Linguistics. Baskin, W (trans.). New York: Philosophical Library.Google Scholar
Dickens, C (1996) A Tale of Two Cities. New York: The Modern Library.Google Scholar
Du, F (1979) Deng gao 登高 [Climbing up the terrace]. In Zhao’ao Q (ed.), Du shi xiangzhu 杜詩詳註 [Du Fuʼs Poems with Detailed Annotations], Vol. 4. Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju.Google Scholar
Freud, S (1959) Collected Papers, Vol. 4. Riviere, J (trans.). New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Hong, X (1983) Chu ci buzhu 楚辭補註 [Additional Annotations to the Songs of the South]. Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju.Google Scholar
Jakobson, R and Halle, M (1956) Fundamentals of Language. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Johnson, S (2014) Selected Poetry and Prose. Brady, F and Wimsatt, WK (eds). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Kugel, JL (1981) The Idea of Biblical Poetry: Parallelism and Its History. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Liu, X 劉勰 (1958) Wenxin diaolong zhu 文心雕龍註 [The Literary Mind or the Carving of Dragons with Annotations], Vol. 2. Beijing: Renmin Wenxue.Google Scholar
Milton, J (1957) Complete Poems and Major Prose. Hughes, MY (ed.). Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill.Google Scholar
Pascal, B (1913) Les Pensées. London: JM Dent & Sons.Google Scholar
Pope, A (1998) The Rape of the Lock. Wall, C (ed.). Boston/New York: Bedford Books.Google Scholar
Qian, Z (1986) Guan zhui bian 管錐編 [Limited Views], Vol. 4, 2nd edn. Beijing: Zhonghua.Google Scholar
Ruan, Y (ed.) (1987) Mao shi zhengyi 毛詩正義 [The Correct Meaning of the Mao Text of the Book of Poetry], Shisan jing zhushu 十三經註疏 [The Thirteen Classics with Annotations], Vol. 1. Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju.Google Scholar
Schiller, F (1967) Werke in 6 Bänden, Vol. 1. Zürich: Stauffacher.Google Scholar
Shakespeare, W (1967) Macbeth. Muir, K (ed.). London: Methuen.Google Scholar
Shklovsky, V (1965) Art as technique. In Lemon, LT and Reis, MJ (trans.), Russian Formalist Criticism: Four Essays. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, pp. 324.Google Scholar
Wang, B (1954) Laozi zhu 老子注 [The Annotated Laozi], Zhuzi jicheng 諸子集成 [Collection of Masters Writings], Vol. 3. Beijing: Zhonghua.Google Scholar
Wittgenstein, L (1983) Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, Ogden, CK (trans.). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar